Illinois International News

Illinois International News is a collection of globally-focused blogs and stories from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Music, movement, and the aroma of traditional Kazakh dishes filled the room inside the Levis Faculty Center on March 27 as guests gathered to celebrate Nauryz—a holiday centered on renewal, unity, and togetherness.   

Global Education and Training (GET), the Russian, Eastern Europe, and Eurasian Center, and Bolashak Scholars from Kazakhstan organized the celebration, which felt less like a campus event and more like a family gathering.   

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Prof. Joyce Yen Feng, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumna and professor emerita in the Department of Social Work at National Taiwan University (NTU), is the recipient of the 2026 Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement.  

She will deliver this year’s Sheth Distinguished Alumni Lecture in celebration of her recognition from noon to 1 p.m. on April 28 in Room 103 at the Illini Union.