News Bureau

Conferences of the organizations Presidents United to Solve Hunger Leaders Forum and Universities Fighting World Hunger will take place on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus this week, co-hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Illinois at Springfield and the University of Illinois System.

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the U. of I. has awarded its annual faculty and graduate student fellowships for the 2018-19 academic year to seven faculty members and seven graduate students. IPRH also announced the Ragdale Residential Creative Fellow for 2018.

Illini Emergency Medical Services, a student program under the Illinois Fire Service Institute, received national recognition recently when the U. of I. was awarded the designation of a HEARTSafe Campus. IEMS accepted the award Feb. 24 at the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation Awards Reception in Philadelphia. 

Max Levchin, a U. of I. alumnus, co-founder of PayPal, former chairman of Yelp and currently the CEO and founder of the consumer-financing platform Affirm, will serve as the commencement speaker Saturday, May 12.  

The 20th Ebert Film Festival will open with "The Fugitive" and feature Ava DuVernay, the director of the Oscar-nominated "Selma" and "The 13th," among its guests.

Tom Percival ... Penny A. Watkins-Zdrojewski ... Robert J. Cheek

Drawing from the experiences of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students who recently completed undergraduate degrees, an annual survey indicates that the campus will once again exceed national averages related to graduates securing first destinations.

Illinois’ milder winter soil temperatures may have an impact on pest populations, according to researchers at the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

Overall, soil temperatures were milder than normal, according to Jennie Atkins with the Illinois State Water Survey’s Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program. At depths of 4 inches under bare soil, temperatures averaged 35.2 degrees this winter, or 1.4 degrees above the long-term average. Soils averaged 1.8 degrees cooler than last winter. 

Krannert Art Museum at the U. of I. has published a multiauthored catalogue in conjunction with the exhibition “World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean.”

On view at the museum, located at Sixth Street and Peabody Drive in Champaign, until March 24, “World on the Horizon” will travel to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., in May and then to Fowler Museum at UCLA in October.

News reports, social media campaigns such as #MeToo are raising awareness of sexual misconduct and helping survivors find their voices, says educational psychologist Anita Hund

Thomas B. “Tom” Berns ... Richard “Dick” Blaney ... Karen M. Dudas

Ruth Nicole Brown, a professor of gender and women’s studies at Illinois, received a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship for $50,000 to expand Black Girls Genius Week, a series of humanities-based workshops for African-American middle school- and high school-aged girls, from central Illinois to Chicago, San Diego and Columbia, South Carolina.

The Ecological Society of America has named Wendy H. Yang, a professor of plant biology and geology at Illinois, as an Early Career Fellow. The society’s fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which its members contribute to ecological research and discovery, communication, education, pedagogy, management and policy.

The University of Illinois theatre department is celebrating its 50th anniversary with events March 3-5.

For the seventh time in the past eight years, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is among the top producers of Fulbright U.S. Student Awards, part of the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program.

Marilois Barker ... Donald “Don” Lee Day ...Steven J. D’Urso ... Charles Walter “Erik” Eriksen ... Jack Theodore Harroun ... C. Rex Mahannah ... Kenneth Neil Statzer

Swapping food stamps for food boxes would mean scrapping 'the most successful government program we have going today,' said U. of I. professor Craig Gundersen

Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois invites faculty, staff and graduate students to attend an open house on specialized research and learning opportunities on Thursday, March 8, from 3-6 p.m. The museum welcomes proposals for collaborative exhibitions, research projects and public programs. The event highlights opportunities for using the museum’s collection of more than 50,000 objects from six continents for classes and outreach.

Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois will hold its annual Winter Tales concert, a celebration of American Indian storytelling, on Sunday, March 4, from 1-2:15 p.m. The featured storyteller is SleepyEye LaFromboise of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Tonawanda Seneca tribes. This family concert is free and no advanced reservations are required.

Donna Kuhlman ... Elsie Willfong ... John E. Zehr

Leah Matchett, of Grand Haven, Michigan, and an alumna of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is one of 49 students selected in the first year of the Knight-Hennessy Scholar program for postgraduate study at Stanford University.

The 35th Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois will focus on ticks, which are not insects but arachnids and are important for humans to understand as they are vectors for Lyme disease.

Krannert Art Museum will host Art Remastered, a performance by six local musicians who composed new music in response to a piece of art at the museum.

The University YMCA announces the Friday Forum lecture series “Art + Activism: Transforming Silence into Action.” The series begins Feb. 16 with Ricardo Levins Morales’   discussion of how art can be used to address personal and historical trauma, challenge common beliefs, assist in building alliances and contribute to culture change.

Robert Duane Mackey ... Kevin Daniel Peterson ... James Richard "Dick" Teague

The university’s Solar Farm resumed full electricity production Jan. 25 after repairs to the site’s three inverters were completed. Inverters change direct current to alternating current to prepare energy for delivery to the campus electrical grid. The installation went offline Oct. 29 after a malfunction of the array’s electrical system.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts has announced a five-year, $30 million fundraising initiative.

January in Illinois was colder and drier than normal without much snow, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey at Illinois.

Robert J. Cheek ... Alfred Wilhelm Hubler ... Kenneth Earl Raymond

The exhibit “Cahokia’s Religion: The Art of Red Goddesses, Black Drink and the Underworld” is on display at the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois. Created in cooperation with the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, the exhibit features objects from the ancient city of Cahokia, which was located near what is now Collinsville, Illinois, as well as objects from surrounding areas.

The National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students recognized Holly Herrera, the coordinator of transfer advising at Illinois, with the Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion Rising Star Award. She will be honored Wednesday, Feb. 7, during the opening session of the 16th Annual Conference of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students at Loews Atlanta Hotel.

The University Scholars program recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. Six Urbana campus faculty members have been named University Scholars and will be honored at a campus reception Jan. 31.

Whether or not survivors share their stories publicly, they often carry lifelong scars associated with being sexually traumatized

Following the Graduate Employees Organization’s issuance of an intent to strike notice, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost Andreas Cangellaris shared information with the campus community today. 

February Dance, presented by the University of Illinois dance department, will include performances that explore responses to crisis, look at protest in an airport setting and celebrate the music of Tom Petty.

Rick Frederick ... Frank M. Williams

The University YMCA’s Art at the Y initiative presents “Seeds of Resistance,” featuring works by artist Ricardo Levins Morales, from Jan. 25 to March 2 at Murphy Gallery, 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign. The display is a selection of Morales’ work for social justice and liberation. Admission is free and the display is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Targeted marketing threatens to end the 'Super Bowl of ads' and to further erode privacy, says an Illinois advertising professor.

Krannert Art Museum will open two exhibitions on Jan. 25: Artist Allan deSouza looks at the legacy of colonial imperialism, and Palestinian artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme will have the U.S. premiere of their work, which offers new narratives from the Middle East.

Four University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been selected for endowed chairs deemed to be among the most distinguished honors on the campus.

The Audiology Clinic at Illinois is offering free adult hearing screenings Jan. 23 through April 27. Appointments may be scheduled by calling 217-333-2230. No scheduling is available by email.

University Primary School’s preschool to fifth-grade classrooms are now accepting enrollment applications for the 2018-19 academic year. University Primary School is the U. of I. College of Education’s lab school. The curriculum is meaningful, engaging and project-based. For more information, visit the school website or call 217-333-3996. University Primary School is located on campus at 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, in the Children's Research Center. Children must be 3 years old on or before Sept. 1 to enroll in the preschool classroom and 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 to enroll in kindergarten.

Rosalee June Cobb ... Margie “Pud” Eastin ... Belva M. Edwards ... Joe B. Vermillion Jr.

The University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra will perform some of Mozart’s best-loved works and less familiar pieces in celebration of the composer’s Jan. 27 birthday.

Opera singer and University of Illinois School of Music alumnus Nathan Gunn will make his directorial debut at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts with Lyric Theatre at Illinois’ production of “Don Giovanni,” in addition to singing the title role.

Elizabeth “Betty” Jeanette Baniassadi ... Edward Eugene Jones ... Rosanne Janice Koehler ... Helen Lucille Wheatley

"Stoking the Flames of Passionate Teaching" will be the theme for the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative's Winter Leadership Summit on Jan. 26.

Nearly everyone is. And the culprits, Meltdown and Spectre, could wreak havoc on personal security if ignored, says computer science professor Chris Fletcher

The University of Illinois Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee organized a series of events celebrating the life of civil rights leader, under the theme of “Dream, Believe, Do.”

Jeanne Synon Folts ... Marjory A. Hudson ... David Bruce Langendorf ... David B. “Dave” Lawrence ... Eva Claire Rosenfield