News Bureau

2017 was the sixth-warmest year on record in Illinois, with a statewide average temperature of 54.3 degrees, or 2 degrees above normal, in spite of the extremely cold ending to December.

Eight of the 12 months in 2017 brought above-normal temperatures, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. The state experienced the warmest February on record with a statewide average of 41 degrees, 10.1 degrees above normal.

Ronald Dean Bagley ... Mary Elizabeth Butts Creech ... Teddy Georgia Eddleman ... Jean Frazier Patterson ... Barbara J. Perrero ... Randy B. Rogers ... Phillip Andrew Wassom ... John Wrinkle Welch 

More than $44 million in student funding will go toward modernizing teaching and learning environments that will benefit the Illinois campus, Facilities and Services announced. Capital improvement projects were selected and approved by the Academic Facilities Maintenance Fund Assessment Oversight Committee and are in development. 

The American Concrete Pavement Association presented its 2017 Hartmann-Hirschman-Egan Award to Michael I. Darter, principal engineer with Applied Research Associates, Inc. and a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at Illinois.

“Illinois Icons,” a new 30-minute documentary premiering Jan. 16 on BTN, tells the stories of three men who left enduring marks on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Max Abramovitz, Robert Zuppke and Lorado Taft.

The current tax bill fits with a 30-year trend that doesn’t favor income from work, says sociologist Kevin Leicht

Charles Edward “Chuck” Matz

Six University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for 2018. It is the third year in the last four that the Urbana campus has garnered more fellowship awards than any other single institution.

Illinois experienced wide temperature swings in November, with colder-than-normal temperatures canceling out the warmer-than normal days. By month’s end, November was slightly cooler than average in Illinois, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

The Dads Association at the U. of I.  named Christopher Thilmany of Schaumburg, Illinois, King Dad 2017 during the annual Dads Weekend on Nov. 11. Thilmany was recognized on the field during the football game with Indiana University. He was nominated by his daughter Gabriella Welch, a sophomore studying public policy and law.

Women often don’t report sexual harassment because grievance procedures frequently take on the feel of litigation, an Illinois professor says.

Barbara Ledora Butts Anderson ... Barbara Ann Armstrong ... Sharol L. "Sherry" Hanson ... Robert J. Mosborg ... Steven Nicholas ... Bernard Spodek ... Ralph R. Swarr

Even though several states have these regulations on the books, they’re really a last resort for collecting student loan debt, says Professor Angela Lyons

Japan House will hold its annual Mottainai Holiday Bazaar this weekend. The bazaar will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at Japan House, 2000 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana.

Mottainai is a Japanese word meaning “what a waste” or “don't waste” and is a treasured Japanese concept.

The University of Illinois Library has added its 14 millionth volume to its collection -- “The University of Illinois: Engine of Innovation” by Frederick E. Hoxie, a professor emeritus of history and American Indian studies, written to commemorate the U. of I.’s sesquicentennial. The Library will create a new, permanent display to recognize all its millionth volumes.

Jon Seydl, an art historian and currently the senior director of collections and programs and curator of European art at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, has been named the new director of Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois.

Richard Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy, discusses the Republican tax overhaul plan now before Congress

See-Wing Chiu ... C.E. “Gene” Hughes ... Arthur “Art” Ramer Wyatt ... Robert Scott Zeiders

The Secretariat organization at Illinois announced that Susan Key, the director of portfolio human resources in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has been named the 2017 Boss of the Year. 

The Secretariat is comprised of U. of I. staff members in certain civil services classifications. Kate Day nominated Key, her supervisor, for the annual award, which is celebrated during Bosses Week each year.

Susan L. Conrad, the office manager for the Department of Journalism in the College of Media, received the Bess G. Matteson Award at a Nov. 15 luncheon. The Secretariat, an on-campus organization comprised of U. of I. staff members in certain civil services classifications, makes the award.  

Higher education finance expert Jennifer Delaney talks about the possible ramifications for college students and their families of tax reform proposals being considered by the U.S. Senate 

Krannert Art Museum will show seven short films about the impact of the AIDS crisis in black communities as part of Day With(out) Art. It is the first year the museum is hosting the film program in recognition of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

Judges can unilaterally dismiss sexual or racial harassment cases through summary judgment, a legal maneuver that ends up favoring employers over employees, says Law professor Suja Thomas

On Nov. 14, the International and Area Studies Library at Illinois hosted a ceremony to celebrate a new Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies. The center was established through a memorandum of understanding between Illinois and the National Central Library of Taiwan

LaVerne Elizabeth Smith ... Rita Jo Wingler

The annual Carbon Budget report found that fossil fuel emissions are on the rise again in 2017, says atmospheric sciences professor and report contributor Atul Jain

Thomas Dowling, a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is among 32 U.S. students selected as Rhodes Scholars. Dowling is the first Rhodes Scholar on the Urbana campus since 1998.

Five faculty members have been named to the 2017 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list (previously known as the Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers list). The list recognizes “leading researchers in the sciences and social sciences from around the world."

David R. Hamilton ... Bernhard “Bernie” Works

Soil temperatures were above normal in mid-November, according to Jennie Atkins, the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

Andreas Cangellaris has been selected by Chancellor Robert Jones to be the Urbana campus’s next vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost. Cangellaris, the dean of the College of Engineering, will start in his new role Jan. 16, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Several faculty musicians from the School of Music will perform a concert this weekend with donations going to help victims of natural disasters in Mexico and Puerto Rico. The concert is 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign, 309 W. Green St., Urbana.

The University of Illinois School of Music and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Thelonious Monk’s birth by staging performances of Monk’s music and looking at his impact through a graduate seminar.

Jerry Dobrovolny ... Marisa Lu Rubenking Meador ... David L. Shipley

Spurlock Museum of World Cultures and the Illinois Alumni Association will present “Music at Illinois,” a special program on popular music written especially for or about the university. The free program will be presented by retired Alumni Association Vice President Joe Rank at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory Drive, Urbana.

Gaines Hall, an associate dean emeritus in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, received the 2017 Gold Medal Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects Illinois Council. The Gold Medal Honor Award is the organization’s highest honor, recognizing exemplary contributions to the discipline and profession of architecture.

The November Dance performance will feature a work by Latvian choreographer Olga Zitluhina, created during a cultural exchange with the University of Illinois dance department.

In 2018, the University of Illinois Press will mark its 100th anniversary with numerous events in Champaign-Urbana, Chicago and Springfield. A founding member of the Association of American University Presses in 1937, the UIP has published more than 4,500 books in its first century.

 The statewide average precipitation in Illinois for October was 4.94 inches, 1.70 inches above normal, and the 10th-wettest October since 1895, said Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

Bernadine Carter ... Kathleen M. Dysart ... Toby Yale Kahr

The University of Illinois System has officially launched its largest, and most ambitious, comprehensive fundraising initiative that aims to raise $3.1 billion over the next five years to support students, faculty and academic and research programs and facilities. 

This initiative is built on individual campaigns for each of the System’s universities in Chicago, Springfield and Urbana-Champaign that were officially launched during campus-based kickoff events in October.

A Facebook user experience researcher will be the keynote speaker Nov. 8 at the School of Information Sciences Research Showcase.

Funda Kivran-Swaine is a research manager at Facebook who has worked in user experience design and whose research focuses on computer-mediated communication. She will give the keynote address at 1 p.m. Nov. 8 in Illini Union Rooms A and B.

A lecture by educational psychologist Kathleen Gallagher is among the events planned to celebrate the Child Development Laboratory's 75th anniversary.

Passes for the 20th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, coming in April, go on sale Nov. 1.

Alfred Broccardo

A U. of I. history professor takes a fresh look at the Russian Revolution on its centennial.

Traffic patterns in the campus area will be affected by the annual Homecoming Parade, which takes place Friday, Oct. 27 from 6 to 7 p.m.

A series of events at the University of Illinois called Speculative Futures will bring artists together with technology innovators with the goal of sparking new creative projects at the intersection of computer science and science fiction.

The University Library will honor the only University of Illinois alumnus to receive the Medal of Honor.

Soil moisture levels improved throughout the state during the first half of October, said Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the U. of I.