News Bureau

Money in U.S. politics will be the theme of a U. of I. symposium starting Friday, Nov. 11, with the director of the watchdog website OpenSecrets.org giving the keynote.

Passes for the 19th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or "Ebertfest," coming April 19-23, 2017, will go on sale Nov. 1. The passes cover all 12 or more screenings during the five-day event at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign.

The Illini Union Office of Volunteer Programs will sponsor the annual Thanksgiving Basket Drive starting Tuesday, Nov. 1. The drive provides families with a basket of nonperishable items and a $25 gift card, which can prepare a Thanksgiving meal. The entire Illinois campus is invited to participate.

In honor of the 96th anniversary of the dedication of the chimes played in the Altgeld Hall Tower, performers will replay the concert first performed in 1920, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30. The date is also Sue Wood’s 45th anniversary as chimesmaster.

Two special Halloween concerts will be performed on Monday, Oct. 31: a Halloween concert preview at 4:50 p.m. and an extended concert at 8 p.m.

Illinois Newsroom – the statewide, seven-station journalism collaborative, spearheaded by Illinois Public Media and funded through a $715,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as well as support from the public media partner newsrooms – launches with the appointment of a new leader.

Many know Robert Zuppke (1879-1957) as Illinois’ longest-serving football coach, whose teams won or tied for four national championships and seven conference championships between 1913 and 1941. But he also was an in-demand motivational speaker, a syndicated sports writer, co-author of a popular sports comic strip and an accomplished and prolific artist.

The University of Illinois Wind Symphony will present its “Orange and Boo” concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, in Foellinger Great Hall in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

About 90 local schools will welcome award-winning authors and book illustrators as part of the University of Illinois’ 2016 Youth Literature Festival.

The fifth annual Materials Research Laboratory Biological Conference will be held Nov. 2-3 at the laboratory on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

The annual All Employee Expo will take place Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana, in rooms A, B and C.

A new research project led by University of Illinois recreation, sport and tourism professor Matthew Browning intends to explore how urban forestry affects health care spending, and then build a free online modeling tool city arborists can use to estimate their communities’ potential rate of return on their investments in parks and other natural elements.

The Audiology Clinic at Illinois is offering free hearing screenings through Nov. 18. Screenings appointments may be scheduled by calling 217-333-2230. The clinic does not schedule appointments via email.

The Champaign Park District invites the community to celebrate the 25th year of the Tribute to Olympic and Paralympic Athletes monument on Saturday, Oct. 1, at noon at Dodds Park.

University Primary School, the laboratory school of the College of Education, will host an open house for the community on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Children’s Research Center, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers and instructors have the opportunity to learn about the information technology services that are available to them by attending the Faculty Technology Summit. The event will take place in Illini Union Rooms A, B, and C on Wednesday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Immigration, migration and refugees – topics that have loomed over both the U.S. presidential campaign and world politics – will be the subject of a two-day conference Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 26-27) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Office of Volunteer Programs is co-sponsoring the Campus and Community Food Drive with the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, iHelp and Student Alumni Ambassadors on Saturday, Sept. 24 and Tuesday, Sept. 27.

This year’s collection goal is 3,000 meals, with every 1.2 pounds of food equaling one meal. The state of hunger in Illinois is alarming: 22 percent of children live in poverty, 33 percent of the population is in poverty or very close to it, and 7 percent are in extreme poverty.  In Champaign County, 40,848 people live in poverty.

“This year, we are modifying what was previously known as Cans Across the Quad,” said John Race, program advisor for the Office of Volunteer Programs. “We are excited about this new format and think it will be more accessible for people to participate in and meet our goal.”

Participants should bring nonperishable packaged or canned goods. Meats and fish, complete meals, fruit and peanut butter are the most requested items. The Eastern Illinois Foodbank will collect all donations at the end of the event and distribute the contributions to food shelters across the county.

Drop-off times are Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Quad and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. On Tuesday, donations will be accepted at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Quad is located directly south of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana. The Alice Campbell Alumni Center is located at 601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana. Cans that are dented, rusted or expired cannot be accepted.

The University of Illinois Press announced the debut of a new logo in anticipation of its upcoming 100-year anniversary.

Founded in 1918, the University of Illinois Press publishes 33 scholarly journals and 100 new books per year, distributed worldwide, with 2,500 books currently in print. The Press's publishing program promotes research and education, enriches cultural and intellectual life and fosters regional pride and accomplishments, enhancing and extending the reputation of the University of Illinois.

Bree Newsome, the community organizer and activist who removed the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse in 2015 after the Charleston shootings, will be the keynote speaker for this year’s iUnite Week.

Her talk, titled “Tearing Hatred from the Sky,” will be presented Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. in rooms A, B and C at the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana. The event is sponsored by the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations, Inclusive Illinois and the Illini Union Board. The event is open to the public.

Newsome established herself as a touchstone of empowerment for disenfranchised people around the world when she tore down the Confederate flag  in the name of social justice and equality. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Newsome blends her artistic talents with her activism, encouraging audiences to transform society into a world where the lives and contributions of all individuals are recognized equally.

Each year, faculty members are invited to submit scholarly and creative proposals for consideration by the Center for Advanced Study’s permanent professors. Faculty members with winning proposals are appointed associates (tenured) or fellows (untenured) and are awarded one semester of release time to pursue their projects in the coming year.

Robert Sapolsky, a science writer, biologist, neuroscientist and stress expert, will present his lecture “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Stress and Health” Thursday, Sept. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Colwell Playhouse.

The Campus Faculty Association will award up to five $1,000 scholarships to undergraduate students at the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus who demonstrate a commitment to social justice in the community.

This fall, U. of I. graduate students in the School of Architecture's recording historic buildings seminar will prepare drawings and other documentation on the historic Paul Schweikher House in Schaumburg, Illinois, for the Historic American Buildings Survey.

A brown-bag session, “Still Too Slow: The Advancement of Women,” will be held Wednesday, Sept. 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana, Room 314A.

The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is celebrating the opening night of its 2016-17 season with a party at the center on Friday, Sept. 9, at 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana.

Dr. King Li, a renowned researcher, educator, inventor and clinician in molecular imaging and radiology, will become the inaugural dean and chief academic officer of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine effective Oct. 1. 

Kofusion will hold the grand opening of its Illini Union Food Court location Thursday, Aug. 25, at 10 a.m., with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. A limited number of free sushi samples will be available during remarks from Illini Union Board President Sophie Ruiz-Gehrt, KoFusion owner Janet Bubin and Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and the Director of Auxiliary Services Lowa Mwilambwe. 

Today, the National Science Foundation  announced a $110 million, five-year award to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois and 18 partner institutions to continue and expand the activities undertaken through the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, a cornerstone of the nation’s cyberinfrastructure ecosystem.

The University YMCA is seeking volunteers in Champaign County to join the 15th annual Dump & Run community recycling event to help divert reusable items from the landfill. Volunteers are needed beginning Aug. 8 and up to Aug. 21 to help collect, sort, price and sell household items at the garage sale on Aug. 20-21. Volunteers at last year’s event were able to divert approximately 27 tons of reusable items from the landfill.

A seed grant, along with some hard work by U. of I. student volunteers and museum staff, has grown a butterfly garden at the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum in Champaign. The “Growing Prairies and Growing Minds” butterfly garden and an archaeology exhibit will open to the public on Saturday, July 30, from 1-5 p.m. at the museum, 346 N. Neil St., Champaign. Guest speakers at the beginning of the event include Illinois state Sen. Scott Bennett and Deb Frank Feinen, the mayor of Champaign. 

Applications for the 2017 Alternative Academic Career Summer Workshops for Pre-Doctoral Students in the Humanities – an initiative of the Humanities Without Walls consortium – are now available at the HWW website. These workshops will showcase opportunities beyond the walls of the academy in an uncertain academic job climate. They are a continuation of a workshop series offered in 2015 and 2016 in conjunction with the Chicago Humanities Festival for students from HWW member institutions. In 2017, HWW will sponsor its first national summer workshop for graduate students interested in learning about careers outside of the academy and/or the tenure track system.

Registration is now open for Spanish classes for the 2016-17 academic year at the University Language Academy for Children for pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade, as well as middle school. The latter program is now in its second year for the academy, which opened in 2010. For pre-K through fifth grade, classes meet four times a week, Monday-Thursday from 3:15-4:10 p.m. or 4:20-5:15 p.m. Classes are at the University Primary School (Children’s Research Center), 51 E. Gerty Drive, Champaign. For middle school, classes are offered three times a week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, from 3:45-5 p.m. Classes are at the Foreign Languages Building, 707 S. Mathew Ave., Urbana. The academy’s academic year begins Sept. 6 and ends May 20.

A hazardous materials drill will take place on the University of Illinois campus July 27 from 8:30-11:30 a.m.

New U. of I. chancellor Robert Jones will be introduced at a public event Wednesday

Currently the executive associate dean of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University, Kimberlee Kidwell will be the new U. of I. dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences effective Nov. 1, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. She also will hold the inaugural Robert A. Easter Chair.

Twenty-four U. of I. research teams have been awarded allocations on the National Center for Supercomputing Applications’ Blue Waters, the most powerful supercomputer on a university campus.

“The U. of I. is a tremendous university with plenty of talented people who can take effective advantage of a resource like Blue Waters,” said Blue Waters project director Bill Kramer. “It’s important for the project that our home institution has a close relationship with this great supercomputer, and we look forward to seeing more groundbreaking science come from the researchers at Illinois.”

Amazon has announced an agreement with the U. of I. to open Amazon@Illinois, a staffed pickup location in the Illini Union Bookstore, 809 S. Wright St., Champaign. The first Amazon pickup location in the state of Illinois, Amazon@Illinois offers the campus community a place to pick up and return Amazon orders.

The Advanced Visualization Lab at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois was recently invited to present its recent film “Solar Superstorms” at the 2016 SIGGRAPH Conference.

 This conference will be the 43rd annual international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, and will take place July 24-28 in Anaheim, California.

2016 graduates of the U. of I. teacher preparation programs who will begin their first teaching jobs this fall are invited to take part in a boot camp offered June 30-July 1, including joint sessions with the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative's Beginning Teacher Conference.

All faculty and staff are asked to register campus automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by 5 p.m. Friday, July 8. The information will better equip the Illinois Fire Service Institute to maintain and provide access to this life-saving equipment.

 Please coordinate reporting within your unit to avoid multiple submissions. Questions should be addressed to IEMS-AED@illinois.edu.

The University of Illinois Summer Band will present its annual summer concert series on the Quad on Thursday, June 23, and Thursday, July 21, both at 7 p.m. The performances are free, and attendees are welcome to bring lawn chairs and blankets.

With the Ebola virus outbreak now ended in Sierra Leone, the University YMCA, the Illinois State Alliance of YMCAs and the Sierra Leone YMCA are revisiting an international-service learning exchange partnership that was brought to a halt by the Ebola outbreak relief efforts in 2014.

Campus members are invited to meet Christian Kamara, the CEO and national secretary of the YMCA of Sierra Leone, to learn more about the work that the organization performs and to explore possible collaborations.

The Audiology Clinic at the U. of I. is offering free hearing screenings June 1 to July 22. Screenings appointments may be scheduled by calling 217-333-2230. The clinic does not schedule appointments by email.

Illinois Theatre, the producing entity of the department of theatre at Illinois, announces the 2016 presentation of “The Sullivan Project,” a new-play production curated by Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan. Sullivan is the holder of an endowed Swanlund chair and a theatre professor at Illinois.

The Illini Union Board’s Summer Quad Cinema Series features four films open to the Champaign-Urbana community, free of charge. 

Film titles, run dates and ratings are Zootopia, PG, May 26; Eye in the Sky, R, June 9; The Boss, R, July 7; and The Angry Birds, PG, Aug. 4. Start time for all films is 9 p.m. In case of inclement weather, the movies will be shown inside the Illini Union.

The Illinois Learning Sciences Design Initiative recently awarded $164,000 in grants to six interdisciplinary research teams on campus.

The awards were disbursed under the second phase of ILSDI’s seed-funding program, which was implemented to foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations among faculty members on campus and facilitate development of large-scale proposals for external funding

The College of Engineering seeks applicants to its Faculty Entrepreneurial Fellows Program. Selected fellows receive $50,000 in proof-of-concept funding, along with release from their teaching and committee service, to focus on bringing their work to the world by developing a specific technology innovation. In return for their release from teaching, fellows educate students about innovation and entrepreneurship. Students receive course credit.

Organizers of a new independent high school, Academy High, will share details with prospective parents and students at two meetings May 18 at the I Hotel and Conference center.

Amazon will host an AWSome Day for U. of I. researchers from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 11. The event will take place in the Training Room of the Atkins Building, 1800 S. Oak St., Champaign, in the Research Park. The goal of this event is to help researchers and their staff members understand Amazon Web Services.

The U. of I. chapter of the American Association of University Professors will host an open meeting with former Gov. Jim Edgar from 3 to 4:30 p.m. May 10 in the General Lounge of the Illini Union Room 210.