PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 27, No. 12, Jan. 17, 2008

Brief Notes

Office of the Provost

2008 Annual Faculty Retreat is Jan. 31

The 2008 Annual Faculty Retreat will take place Jan. 31, in Illini Rooms A and B in the Illini Union. The theme of this year’s retreat is “Understanding the Science of Instruction to Foster Learning.” The event brings faculty members from across campus to learn about and discuss best practices in teaching at the college level.

Peter D. Doolittle will present two keynote talks. The morning address will be “Bogus and Beneficial Pedagogical Concepts:  From Common Sense to Common Science”; the afternoon address is “Multimedia Learning: The Science of Instruction in a Multimedia World.”

Doolittle is the director of the Educational Psychology Research Program in the department of learning sciences and technology at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. He also is the executive editor of the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. His academic background includes teaching in K-12 and higher education, using traditional and online formats, across several subject areas including mathematics, computer science, statistics and educational psychology. He is an invited speaker nationally and internationally on learning, motivation and the educational usage of technology. His current research focus includes the investigation of learning efficacy in multimedia learning environments.

Following the keynote there will be concurrent sessions featuring UI faculty members sharing their teaching innovations and insights from their classes. During lunch, poster presentations will highlight the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research projects and campus initiatives with opportunities for further dialogue with the presenters.

The retreat will begin with a welcome by Provost Linda Katehi, who will present the 2007-2008 Distinguished Teacher/Scholars: Walter L. Hurley (animal sciences), Prasanta K. Kalita (agricultural and biological engineering), and Bruce Michelson (English and Campus Honors Program).

Additional information about the retreat and registration is available online. Registration is limited.

Concert tribute

Friends, performers remember tenor Jerry Hadley through music

A concert tribute to the late tenor and UI alumnus Jerry Hadley will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in the Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

The event will be broadcast live on Chicago radio station WFMT and streamed live at www.wfmt.com.A 30-minute feature on Hadley’s life and career will precede the concert broadcast, at 7 p.m., and the station also will air an intermission feature.

The concert program will include some of the opera world’s most celebrated performers: Elizabeth Futral, Thomas Hampson, Richard Leech, Samuel Ramey and Frederica von Stade.

Conceived by Jerold Siena, professor of voice, and co-directed by Siena and Eduardo Diazmuñoz, director of the UI Opera Program, the memorial program is a joint production of the School of Music and Krannert Center, where Hadley made his debut in the UI Opera production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” in 1974. An exhibit featuring highlights from the tenor’s 32-year career will be on display in the center’s lobby the evening of the concert.

The musical program, conducted by Diazmuñoz, will include songs and arias, ranging from musical theater to Verdi. A grand finale presentation of “Let our Garden Grow” from Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” will feature the combined vocal and instrumental talent of the UI Chamber Choir, Oratorio Choir and Concert Choir, directed by Fred Stoltzfus; the UI Symphony Orchestra; and guest artists.

“It is a fitting tribute to the life and career of Jerry Hadley that so many of the world’s most famous singers will join us here at the University of Illinois, where Jerry sang as a student several of the roles that made him famous,” Siena said. “Hadley was one of our own and truly one of the finest singing actors on the operatic stage.”

Concert tickets are free and available through the Krannert Center ticket office. However, at press time, few tickets remained. People are encouraged to return tickets they do not plan to use; those without tickets are advised to contact the ticket office at 333-6280 to check for availability of returned tickets.

Performances, talks

Discover dance at Illinois

Festival Dance 2008, Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, will feature work by dance department faculty members Tere O’Connor, Renée Wadleigh and Linda Lehovec, alumni performers and a reconstruction of Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones’ 1989 classic “D-Man in the Waters.” All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

The performance of “D-Man in the Waters” is dedicated to Demian Acquavella, a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company who died of AIDS at age 32. The performance was reconstructed for 10 UI dance undergraduates by the company’s Catherine Cabeen. The reconstruction was funded by an American Masterpiece Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Dance|USA, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.

The program includes a performance by guest artists Leslie Cuyjet, Justin Jacobs, Krista Nelson, Tricia Weidmann, Darrin  Wright, Cathy Young and Kimberly Young – all UI alumni who dance professionally in the New York area. As part of “Dancers Come Home,” a joint initiative of the dance department and UI Alumni Association, the dancers will repeat a recent performance at the Baryshnikov Arts Center of O’Connor’s 2002 masterwork “Winter Belly.”

Planned in conjunction with this year’s Festival Dance performances is a series of educational events, including a post-performance discussion by Cabeen and Randy Martin, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, at 9:30 p.m. Jan. 31, and a free public lecture by Martin titled “Allegories of Passing in Bill T. Jones” at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 1 in Krannert Center’s Colwell Playhouse.

Also offered as part of “Dancers Come Home” will be a weekend getaway Feb. 2-3 for alumni and others wishing to immerse themselves in the Illinois dance experience. “Behind the Curtain: Discovering Dance at Illinois” includes admission to various dance-related events as well as accommodations at the university’s Allerton Retreat Center near Monticello. The cost is $205 for double occupancy, $260 for single. Participants will be bused from Allerton to campus on Feb. 2 to attend a 5 p.m. reception (with hors d’oeuvres) and talk by O’Connor on the creative process of making “Winter Belly,” at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. The event also is open to the public at a cost of $45, including concert admission, or $32 without. Pre-registration is required by Jan. 23.

The program also includes a brunch at 9 a.m. Feb. 3 at Allerton, followed by a brief talk about dance at Illinois by department head Jan Erkert, and a lecture-demonstration titled “Embodied Migration,” by dance professor Jennifer Monson at 10:45 a.m. Through video, discussion and sensory practices, Monson, an environmental activist and choreographer, will provide insights on her navigational dance project “BIRD BRAIN and the Ridgewood Reservoir Project.” The session also is open to the public, at a cost of $22. Pre-registration is required by Jan. 23.

Tickets for Festival Dance concerts are available at the Krannert Center ticket office, 333-6280, or www.krannertcenter.com/tickets. For more information or to register for the alumni weekend events, go to www.uiaa.org/urbana, or contact Lynn Chaney, lmchaney@illinois.edu, 333-3597.

Campus Profile

New campus profile now available

The 2007-08 version of the Campus Profile is available at www.dmi.uiuc.edu/cp. The profile contains 10 years of data for all academic and administrative departments and offices, with totals at the school, college and campus level.

Customized reports and downloadable spreadsheets can be created by selecting the units and data items needed from simple drop-down menus. This year’s profile has been significantly modified to incorporate the metrics collected as part of the campus strategic planning process. More than 150 items were added to the profile, including senior survey results, patents, startups and underrepresented employee counts. A new “Strategic Profile” is now available as a choice from the front page for each unit and “strategic indicators” may be selected from the custom reports page.

The campuswide strategic indicators were developed by the Provost’s Office after a year of consultation and discussion with the colleges.

WILL-TV

President White to appear live on TV

UI President B. Joseph White joins WILL-TV’s John Paul in the WILL studio for “A Conversation With President B. Joseph White” at 9 p.m. Feb. 4. WILL-AM (580) will simulcast the program.

White and Paul will discuss academics, budget concerns and the future of the university. Viewer calls are welcome.

I space

Digital Collective to perform Jan. 19

A UI ensemble that uses diverse multimedia technologies – including Wii controllers functioning as instruments – to create hybrid works that combine elements of dance, music, film and visual art will perform Jan. 19 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the UI.

The Digital Collective, which brings together the talents of faculty and staff members and students from various units in the UI College of Fine and Applied Arts, will present four new collaborative works at 3 p.m., followed by a repeat performance at 7:30 p.m. Both presentations at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago, are free and open to the public.

Collaborating artists, under the direction of Guy Garnett, a professor of music and the director of the UI’s Cultural Computing Program, are music composition graduate student Ben Smith; dance graduate student Kimber Andrews; and Damon Baker, associate curator of the university’s Krannert Art Museum.

Featured on the program:

• The “MusiVerse,” a real-time, online collaborative environment for creating  aural-visual performances and artworks.

• “White Lies,” a computer-mediated duet for viola and violin in which the computer records, then restructures the tempo and pitch of the performers’ improvisation into new relationships based upon the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical concept in which each number, after the beginning values, is the sum of the two preceding numbers.

• “Wii Dance,” which takes the relationship of music and dance into a new realm by using Wii game controllers as instruments.

• “What Remains,” a multimedia work that follows the logic of memory and recollection. The work uses Isadora – a real-time video software – to manipulate the image of the body into multiple forms, from recognizable to abstract images.

For more information, visit www.news.uiuc.edu/news/08/0107ispace.html.

Martin Luther King Jr. Events

Events commemorate MLK

A Boeing Co. executive and the head of the Black American Studies Program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale are among the speakers scheduled to participate in free, public events this month honoring the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Joyce Tucker, the vice president for global diversity and employee rights for Boeing, will deliver the keynote address during the Countywide Day of Celebration, which begins at 4 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1501 S. Neil St., Champaign. The theme of the event is “transforming our communities through peace and justice.” UI music professor Ollie Watts Davis will lead the UI Black Chorus during the event, which will be followed by a reception.

The Rev. Joseph Brown, the director of the Black American Studies Program at SIU-C, will give the keynote speech Jan. 20 beginning at 5 p.m. in the Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Among the UI sponsors of the events are the offices of the chancellor and of the provost.

A complete schedule of events is at www.admin.uiuc.edu/mlk/calendar/calendar.html.

Community Informatics Initiative

Applications available for seed funding

The newly formed Community Informatics Initiative in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the Illinois Informatics Institute is accepting applications from tenured and tenure-track UI faculty members for seed funding. Community informatics focuses on examining and implementing information technology that is synergistic with community needs and uses, and adds value to the community.

Funds are available for course development to support the development or revision of courses incorporating community informatics across the curriculum at the UI and research in community informatics.

See www.cii.uiuc.edu/ for complete details.

Moms Association

Proposals for funding needed

The Moms Association at the UI is soliciting requests for funding proposals to be awarded this spring for a project, program or event that promotes the growth and development of the students at the UI.

The proposals must include the following: name of the project, program or event nominated to receive the award; description; budget outline and amount of request; and two letters of support for the nomination.

Recipients of the award will be invited to attend the 2008 Moms Weekend kick-off dinner.

Proposals and supporting materials are due by Feb. 29 in the Parent Programs Office, 227 Illini Union, MC-384.

The Moms Association board of directors will make its final decision at the association’s March 30 board meeting.

NCSA

Improve your grant-writing skills

Those intimidated by the thought of writing a grant proposal, or who write grants but don’t get funded, should plan to attend a free workshop hosted by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

“Grant Writing: Steps and Strategies for Successful Proposals” will take place at NCSA from 2-5 p.m. Feb.  26. Learn how to organize the proposal-writing process and how to write for your reviewers – including what reviewers are looking for and tips to improve your odds for success.

The workshop is free but registration is required. Register online at www.uiuc.edu/goto/grant.

The keynote speaker will be Garth Fowler, professor and assistant chair, department of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University.

Other speakers: Jan Cuny, program director of the Division of Computer and Network Systems at the National Science Foundation, speaking through the Access Grid on what NSF program officers look for in proposals; and Lori Williamson, senior director of development for foundation relations in the Office of Institutional Advancement, on the assistance the office provides campus researchers.

The afternoon will conclude with a panel of campus researchers sharing some additional tips for grant writers. Panelists: Richard Braatz, chemical engineering; Laura Greene, physics; Eric Jakobsson, NCSA and Beckman Institute; and Stephen Long, Institute for Genomic Biology.

For more information, contact Barbara Jewett at barbaraj@ncsa.uiuc.edu or 265-0748.

‘For the People: Primary Focus’

WILL special spotlights candidates

Where do the candidates in the Illinois presidential primary stand on major issues such as taxation, health care and energy? Will the candidates’ positions or plans really work? How might the candidates’ proposals affect residents of Illinois?

WILL-TV and the UI Institute of Government and Public Affairs will examine these questions in a series of 30-minute programs beginning at 7:30 p.m. Thursday nights in the weeks preceding the Feb. 5 Illinois primary. “For the People: Primary Focus” will dissect the candidates’ proposals with analysis from institute policy experts and others. WILL’s John Paul will moderate the discussions.

Remaining programs:

• Jan. 17: “Taxes and Taxation,” with J. Fred Giertz, interim head of economics and IGPA faculty member; and David F. Merriman, professor of public administration and IGPA faculty member, UIC.

• Jan. 24: “Energy,” with Andrew P. Morriss, professor of law and of business and IGPA faculty member, and George Gross, professor of computer and electrical engineering and IGPA faculty member.

• Jan. 31: “Health Policy,” with Robert F. Rich, the director of IGPA, and Robert Kaestner, professor of economics and IGPA faculty member, UIC.

Each program also will be broadcast on WILL-AM (580) at 6 p.m. on the Saturday following the Thursday television broadcast.

Digital Asia

Documentary Digital Video Workshop

The Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, the Asian Educational Media Service, and Applied Technologies for Learning in the Arts and Sciences at the UI invites applications for a weekend workshop on documentary digital video for scholars in Asian studies May 15-16.

This workshop is intended for faculty members and graduate students who are interested in turning a current Asia-focused research project into a documentary digital video for an educational or public audience. Today’s easy-to-use media inspires many scholars to envision an audio-visual expression of their research. Eight such scholars will offer introductory training toward the creation of a professional video, in the context of an academic career.

Applications and more information on eligibility and the format of the workshop are available at www.aems.uiuc.edu. Deadline for receipt of applications is Feb. 28. 

The workshop will provide an introductory overview of the filmmaking process – from framing a project, through funding and planning, to filming in the field, and finally, to post-production and distribution. Equipment choices, ethical issues and resources for further assistance will be discussed. Both lecture and hands-on components will be included. Participants will produce a short interview project in the course of the weekend. No prior experience or training in media design or techniques are assumed.

The workshop will be led by academics with filmmaking experience and professional filmmakers with research experience.

After completing the workshop, participants will be eligible to compete for two small seed grants to produce pilot videos to launch their projects. 

Moms Association

Nominations, committee members sought

The Moms Association at the UI wishes to recognize the support, encouragement and inspiration that moms offer their students. In honor of these gifts, the Moms Association has established the Amelia Alpiner Stern Mom of the Year Award.

The Moms Association board of directors establishes a committee of faculty and staff members and students each year to solicit and review the nominations. This committee will bring its recommendations to the Moms Association board for final approval and will announce the recipient and finalists at the Moms Weekend kick-off dinner on April 11. If you are interested in serving on this committee, complete the application  at www.uofiparentprograms.uiuc.edu/moms/MoYcmte08.pdf and return it to the Parent Programs Office by Jan. 31.

Nominations for Mom of the Year 2008 will be accepted through March 7. To nominate a mom, complete the application at www.uofiparentprograms.uiuc.edu/moms/MoYnom08.pdf and return to the Parent Programs Office by the deadline.

Study Abroad Development Grants program

Proposals sought for study abroad

The Office of the Associate Provost for International Affairs requests proposals for the Study Abroad Development Grants program. The purpose of the program is to facilitate the development of new or substantially revised faculty-led study-abroad programs at the UI.

Specifically, the program seeks to increase the number and variety of faculty-led programs at UI, involve more UI faculty in leading study abroad experiences, and support the integration of study abroad experiences and on-campus curriculum.

Grants awarded in this funding period will be for planning trips and other activities during spring and summer of 2008. Full-time tenured or tenure-stream faculty members as well as academic professionals with a teaching appointment are eligible to submit an application. Applicants must be employed by the UI during the subsequent academic year and are expected to lead at least one study-abroad program developed with the help of the grant.

For details on the grant program, including funding priorities, selection criteria, eligibility, guidelines and more, visit www.ilint.uiuc.edu/apia/sadev.php. Proposals must be received by Feb. 15. Decisions will be announced by mid-March. Contact Andrea Bohn, assistant dean of Academic Programs, at 333-3380 or abohn@illinois.edu for more information.

Hospitality management

Spice Box renovated

Fine-dining meals in the Spice Box at the UI will look different this spring as a result of the Spice Box’s renovation during 2007. Beginning Jan. 18, students and guest chefs will kick off another season serving themed meals to the public in the spruced-up Spice Box, located on the second floor of Bevier Hall.

A long-standing tradition, the Spice Box is a working laboratory for students majoring in hospitality management in the department of food science and human nutrition.

“The new appearance and technology of the Spice Box will now more closely match the quality and elegance of the food and service that the Spice Box has long been known for,” said Jill North Craft, Spice Box manager and instructor.

The theme for the first meal of this dining season will be “Run for the Roses: A Kentucky Derby Party.” Additional meals will offer an array of themes, including “A Chocolate-themed Wine Dinner,” “Fat Tuesday Cajun Festival,” “Hollywood Boulevard” and more. Meals will be offered on Wednesday and Friday evenings throughout the semester.

“The themes of the meals are once again unique and offer diners experiences that will engage all of their senses,” Craft said. 

A complete list of the dates of the meals, meal themes and guest chefs is available on the Spice Box Web site at www.spicebox.uiuc.edu. Full menus will be posted there as they become available. Interested persons also can be placed on an e-mail list that will keep them informed about upcoming offerings by e-mailing jnorth@illinois.edu.

Each dining event offers either a four-course meal, including salad, appetizer, featured entrée and dessert, or a special salad and entree combination. A specialty alcoholic beverage also is offered. Price varies according to the menu. Meals are available by reservation only. Reservations are available at 5, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 7 and 7:30 p.m. To reserve seating, call 333-6520.

University Primary School

Enrollment applictions due March 14

University Primary School is accepting enrollment applications though March 14 for the 2008-2009 academic year. For more information, contact Nancy B. Hertzog, director, at 333-3996 or visit www.ed.uiuc.edu/ups. Applications are available in Room 98 of the Children’s Research Center or can be downloaded from the Web site.

University Primary School is an early childhood program that serves preschool, kindergarten and first-grade children in a project-based curriculum. Children must be 3 years old on or before July 1 for the preschool classroom and 5 years old before Sept. 1 to be considered for kindergarten.

An informational meeting about the program will be from 7 to 8 p.m. Feb. 21 in Room 26 of the Children’s Research Center. Child care will be provided.

School of Art and Design

Saturday Art School registration open

Register now for the spring semester of Saturday Art School, a community art school taught by art education undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members in the School of Art and Design. Classes are held at the Art and Design Building beginning Jan. 26. Classes will meet for 10 Saturdays culminating in an Open House/Krannert Art Museum Family Fest for students and families on April 26 in the Link Gallery of the Art and Design Building. The cost is $75 per student, ages 4  through 18. Elementary classes meet for two sessions each Saturday morning, 9-10:30 or 11-12:30 p.m. Students in seventh through ninth grades and high school students will meet 9 a.m.-noon each Saturday in a studio format.

The spring curriculum offers new media experiences as well as opportunities to improve traditional media skills. For information about the spring themes or to download and print the brochure and registration form, visit www.art.uiuc.edu/groups/satschool and click on “Parents.”

Contact Carole Smith at 333-1652 or cssmith2@illinois.edu for more information.

Spring lectures

Biofuels, computer tech among topics

One laptop per child; biofuels and world food; the rapid loss of languages; the consequences of knowing your genes; Shakespeare as an astronomer, and Muslim reactions to a Danish cartoon – all will be among the topics this spring in lectures and discussions sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study at the UI.

Also included in the spring lineup: the fifth annual Chancellor’s CAS Special Lecture, this year given by Renee Baillargeon, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Psychology and director of the Infant Cognition Laboratory at Illinois, on psychological reasoning in infancy.

Most of the spring lectures are part of the CAS MillerComm series, begun in 1973 and supported with funds from the George A. Miller Endowment and several co-sponsoring campus units. The MillerComm lectures provide a forum for discourse on topics spanning the university’s many disciplines. All CAS talks are free and open to the public.

The first event of the spring semester will be a forum on Jan. 22 titled “One Laptop Per Child: Technology and the Developing World.” The principal speaker will be Langdon Winner, a George A. Miller Endowment Professor at the UI and the Thomas Phelan Chair of Humanities and Social Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Winner will discuss the One Laptop Per Child project, which developed low-cost computers for the developing world, and the questions it raises about information technology, computer design, global markets and other issues. A discussion will follow with UI professors Bill Hammack, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Robert Markley, English. The forum begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum.

Other upcoming lectures:

• Jan. 23, “Information Technology and the Dream of Democratic Renewal,” with Winner again as the speaker. He will discuss whether new technologies such as the Internet will revitalize democratic society, a recurring theme through two centuries of American technological developments, or whether that vision will be derailed by mechanisms of inequality and centralized control. His MillerComm talk begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum.

• Feb. 6, “Mr. Death’s Ephemeral Pageant: The Work of Audrey Niffenegger,” presented by Audrey Niffenegger, author of “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and a faculty member in the MFA Program in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College, Chicago. Niffenegger will discuss her work as a writer and visual artist, which includes several narrative visual novels and an upcoming novel about identical twins. Her MillerComm lecture begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum.

For the entire schedule, go to www.cas.uiuc.edu. Those interested in attending CAS lectures should note that occasionally a lecture must be canceled or rescheduled, and lectures may be added later in the semester. To confirm details prior to a lecture, check the events link on the CAS Web site.

To receive notification on individual events, phone 333-6729 or e-mail cas@illinois.edu; indicate your preference for postal mail or e-mail.

Also check the Web site for audio podcasts and streaming video of many CAS presentations, which are generally posted one to two weeks after the event.

Allerton Park

Winter weekend getaway is Jan. 19-20

Allerton Park and Retreat Center will host a Winter Weekend Getaway on Jan. 19-20. Allerton includes 1,500 acres of outdoor surroundings and a century-old Georgian-style mansion. The weekend includes overnight stay on the Allerton estate, dinner in the Allerton Mansion on Saturday (6:30 p.m.), breakfast on Sunday (9:30 a.m.); and a guided mansion tour.

To learn more, visit www.allerton.uiuc.edu or call 333.3287. Space is limited. 

Back to Index