PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 22, No. 9, Nov. 7, 2002

brief notes

Silicon, Carbon, Culture
Initiative kicks off Nov. 7 with panel
An innovative initiative at the UI will officially kick off Nov. 7 with a panel discussion.

The panel discussion of the initiative, titled "Silicon, Carbon, Culture: Combining Codes Through the Arts, Humanities and Technology" (SCC), will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium (Room 62) of the Krannert Art Museum. A reception will take place afterward. The events are free and open to the public.

The panelists, all from the Illinois faculty, include Narendra Ahuja, electrical and computer engineering; Ann Bishop, Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS); Bruce Hannon, geography; and Joseph Squier, art and design.

According to Christine Catanzarite, project director of SCC, the initiative is "a three-semester exploration of the interplay between the arts, humanities, sciences and technology fields at Illinois."

Sixteen projects involving more than 40 faculty members were awarded support in a campuswide competition. Funding supports courses, performances, exhibitions, speaker series, conferences, virtual reality projects and demonstrations.

Many of the projects will address the initiatives outlined by Chancellor Nancy Cantor: globalization and the humanities, the arts in a technological world and the implications of virtual reality and nanotechnology.

Catanzarite said "the technological excursions of recent decades have advanced societies in which silicon (symbolizing information systems) and carbon (symbolizing biological systems) – and the systems they generate – permeate our lives and weave webs of complexity that will profoundly challenge the way we live and how we see ourselves and relate to each other, locally and globally.

"New engineering capacities, political spaces, ethical dilemmas, forms of social existence and means of expressing and representing ourselves all indicate that the future will be quite unlike the past."

For more information about the program and a list of projects as well as dates of individual demonstrations of projects, most of which are free and open to the public, check the SCC Web site. Catanzarite can be reached at 244-7913 or catanzar@illinois.edu.

The initiative is a joint venture of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Fine and Applied Arts, with support from the Madden Initiative in Technology, Arts and Culture, and the Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Campus Recreation
Mid-semester memberships for sale
Campus Recreation is offering mid-semester memberships for $54. Memberships are available to UI faculty and staff members and their spouses/partners and are valid through Jan. 19.

For more information, visit Member Services in 140 IMPE or call 333-3806. A membership form is available online.

I space Gallery
UI faculty, alumni art on display
Works by six diverse artists will be showcased in an exhibition through Nov. 16 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the UI’s Urbana campus.

"The Future is Now Right" includes sculpture, video and works on paper by Conrad Bakker, Ron Fondaw, Jennifer Gutowski, Frank Magnotta, Melissa Pkorny and Bill Smith. Bakker and Pokorny are faculty members in the university’s School of Art and Design; the other artists are alumni of the school.

The show, which is curated by Illinois art and design professors Ron Kovatch and William Carlson, is being organized as part of the gallery’s 10th anniversary season.

I space gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

TAB Distinguished Teacher/Scholar Program
Diversity Focus Groups scheduled
Arlette Ingram Willis, a 2002-03 Distinguished Teacher/Scholar, will host a Diversity Focus Group from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 13 in 209 Illini Union.

Focus groups are planned to assess instructors’ attitudes, levels of comfort, knowledge and teaching techniques for addressing issues of diversity. Following each focus group a summary will be mailed to the participants and a final report will be made after all the data have been collected. Drawing on the information from fall focus groups, two workshops are planned for the spring semester.

There is no charge for these seminars, but registration is limited to 20 participants. Lunch will be provided. To register, e-mail Lisa Ochoa,


WILL-FM Second Sunday Concert
Pianist Tim Ehlen featured Nov. 10
Pianist Timothy Ehlen, UI professor of piano, will perform for the WILL-FM Second Sunday Concert on Nov. 10.

The public is invited to the 2 p.m. free concert in the West Gallery of the Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion. It will be broadcast live on WILL-FM (90.9/101.1 in Champaign-Urbana) with WILL-FM music host Vic DiGeronimo.

Because of the Chicago Bears football game at Memorial Stadium, a shuttle service will be provided between WILL’s Campbell Hall and the museum. The bus will leave the parking lot behind Campbell Hall at 1 p.m. and return immediately following the concert. Tours of the museum will be offered between 1 and 2 p.m.

Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award
Nominations sought for award
Nominations are being accepted through Nov. 22 for the 18th annual Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award. The program is designed to recognize outstanding contributions by staff members to the UI.

As many as eight support staff members will be honored with a plaque of appreciation, a $2,000 award and a recognition dinner in April 2003.

Any member of the campus community may make nominations. A nomination information packet is available in Room 141, Personnel Services Office. The packet also may be dowloaded from the Web or contact Cindy Reed at 333-3105.

Krannert Art Museum
Family Festival is Nov. 17
Krannert Art Museum is hosting its Family Festival from 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 17.

The event, which the museum hosts twice each year, features family art activities and entertainment in the galleries. Guests can explore the art work in the museum’s galleries in innovative ways. Music will be provided by Green Mountain Grass. Admission is free.

This public program is offered in conjunction with the School of Art and Design Art Education Program featuring selected works from the Saturday Art Program.

Learn how to recruit online
Free e-recruiting training offered
The University Office of Human Resources is offering a free workshop to help departments integrate online recruiting (e-recruiting) into their recruiting strategies.

The half-day workshop, "Get Hooked On E-Recruiting," is an introduction to using the Internet to advertise positions, search for applicant resumes and network with potential applicants. The workshop is from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Nov. 14. The morning workshop is in Room 27 Illini Hall; the afternoon session is in Room 219 Tech Plaza.

Participants will receive an e-recruiting guide and job aids for reference after the course. Seating is limited. Register online or call 333-2590.

Climate change and environmental policy
Conference is Nov. 11-12
Scientists from around the world will gather on the UI campus Nov. 11-12 for the International Conference on Climate Change and Environmental Policy, to be held in the Monsanto Room of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Library. Attendance is free, but advance registration is requested.

James A. Edmonds, senior scientist and economist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, D.C., will open the event at 9 a.m., speaking on "Technology and Stabilization." At 12:30 p.m., Robert Mendelsohn of Yale University will address "Comparing Forecasts of the Global Impacts of Climate Change."

During five sessions, social and physical scientists will present the latest research on the severity of the problem of climate change and evidence linking it to human agricultural activity, as well as on cost-effective strategies for mitigating climate change. The implications of differences in perspectives toward the Kyoto Protocol between the United States and the European Union also will be discussed.

To register or learn more, call Madhu Khanna, professor of environmental economics, at 333-5176.

‘Getting Started With Investing’
Retirement seminar rescheduled
The November date for a retirement planning seminar has been rescheduled. "Getting Started With Investing" will be offered 10:30 a.m. to noon or 1:30 to 3 p.m. Dec. 17 (instead of Nov. 7) in Room 406 Illini Union. The interactive workshop will stress the importance of investing in a 403b plan. Register online.

UI YMCA
Nigerian art exhibition/sale
The University YMCA will host the final sale of Nigerian art work from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 17. The sale, which will include baskets, cloth, batiks, masks and other items, is designed to benefit the artists of Nigeria. All of the featured artists are from Lagos, Nigeria, and all proceeds will return to Nigeria to produce additional work.

For more information, call 337-1514.

UI professor of English
Powers to speak Nov. 9, 19
Richard Powers, a prize-winning fiction writer and UI professor of English, will deliver two humanities talks in November, one in Chicago, the other on the Urbana campus.

On Nov. 9, Powers, Swanlund Professor of English and Professor at the Center for Advanced Study, will speak at the Chicago Humanities Festival XIII. His topic is "When Software is Like a Story." The talk, which requires registration and a fee, is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at Roosevelt University, 430 Michigan Ave., Chicago.

On Nov. 19, Powers will give the Humanities Lecture on the Urbana campus. His talk, "Literary Devices: Fiction in the Digital Age," begins at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. It is free and open to the public.

The author of seven novels, Powers said that he would speculate in both talks "about the ways that fiction may change as our machines get increasingly more sophisticated at telling stories. I explore the ways that advances in digital intelligence change the ways we think about and use narrative, not to mention the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves."

For more information, contact Cara Augspurger, 244-4152..

UI Library
Communications forum is Nov. 12
The University Library’s first scholarly communications forum for the campus will feature Joan Catapano, associate director and editor-in-chief at the UI Press. Catapano will speak on "Beating the Odds: Finding a Publisher for Your Manuscript in the Humanities." She will speak from 12 to 1:30 Nov. 12 at the Spice Box in Bevier Hall.

In her current position, Catapano handles lists in film; feminist studies and theory; history; anthropology; and African-American, ethnic and cultural studies.

For more information, call Kim Reynolds at 333-0790.

Opening reception is Nov. 16
Faculty display art through Jan. 5
The most brilliant display of fall color to be found this season may be indoors – at the UI’s Krannert Art Museum.

On view at the museum Nov. 16 through Jan. 5 is the always-colorful annual Faculty Art Exhibition and "Summoning the Sacred: The Art of Lorena Johnson, 1993-2000."

An opening reception for both exhibitions is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Nov. 16.

The faculty show, one of the oldest, continuous-running shows of its kind in the nation, features recent works by faculty members in the university’s School of Art and Design. The exhibition includes painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, metals, glass, installation work, design, and video and digital media.

Coinciding with the exhibition will be three gallery talks by Illinois faculty members, beginning at noon in the museum’s Light Court Gallery:

• Nov. 20, Rosalyn Schwartz, painting program.
• Dec. 4, Judi Ross, foundation program.
• Dec. 11, Billie Jean Theide, metal program

"Summoning the Sacred" features pastels by Johnson, a self-taught artist whose work has been characterized as spiritual explorations of personal identity.

Two related events:

• Nov. 20, 5:30 p.m., gallery talk by Johnson in the museum’s Contemporary Gallery.
• Nov. 23, 9 a.m.-noon, workshop, museum auditorium. Johnson will conduct the workshop, "Art as Window and Mirror: Art-Centered Diversity Education in Teaching and Learning." Participants will explore art as a tool and strategy for diversity education, and will examine the capacity of the visual arts to develop students’ intercultural competency. Registration is required; call 333-1861.

Ellis Distinguished Lecture
Spinal cord regeneration discussed
Michael Selzer, professor of neurology and rehabilitation medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will give the 2002 Michael J. Ellis Distinguished Lecture on Disability Science and Practice. His talk, "Axon Regeneration in the Spinal Cord: What We Can Learn From the Sea Lamprey," begins at 4 p.m. Nov. 14 at Pollard Auditorium at the Forum at Carle, 611 W. Park St., Urbana. A reception will follow.

The Ellis lecture will discuss how work in the sea lamprey contributes to an understanding of the potential for recovery after spinal cord injury.

Michael Selzer is internationally known for his research in regeneration of the central nervous system, where he uses the sea lamprey spinal cord as an experimental model.

No pre-registration is required. Free parking is available in the Champaign County Fairground parking lot just north of the hospital. A shuttle is available for transportation between the fairgrounds and hospital.

This lecture is funded through a gift from UI alumnus, Kenneth M. Viste Jr. and is sponsored by the College of Applied Life Studies and Carle Foundation Hospital.

For more information, call 333-9155.

Children and Family Research Center
Family expert kicks off series
A nationally known expert on the strengths of African-American families will kick off a new guest-lecture series sponsored by the Children and Family Research Center in the School of Social Work. Robert B. Hill’s lecture, "Understanding Black Families: Strengths and Challenges," will begin at 10 a.m. Nov. 12 in Room 406 Illini Union. The program will provide an overview of the strengths of African-American families and will address the strength of kinship bonding and its implications for subsidized guardianship programs for children in the care of relatives.

The lecture is open to the public and is the first in a new series to continue through spring semester. The Visiting Scholars in Child Welfare Series is designed to provide a forum on issues that impact child welfare policy in Illinois and nationally.

Hill is currently a senior researcher at Westat Inc., an opinion and research firm based in Rockland, Md. He has been researching and publishing in the topic of African-American families since 1972.

Buying books for kids
Guide helps in choosing books
Reviewers at The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books at the UI have culled the titles of more than 150 of the best books they have reviewed during the past two years to help gift-givers navigate the dense forest of children’s books.

The "Guide Book to Gift Books: An Annotated List of Books for Youth" is available as a downloadable PDF file that can be printed out. The price for the 13-page guide is $3.50, which can be paid online with a major credit card. The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Illinois published the guide, which can be purchased online.

According to Deborah Stevenson, the editor of the guide and of the Bulletin, all titles are in print. Entries are divided into three age groups: picture books for young readers, 6-8 years old; books for middle readers, 9-11 years old; and for older readers, 12-18 years old.

In addition to a brief annotation, each entry includes author, title, publisher and current list price.

A wide range of styles, genres, subjects and challenge levels are included in the new guide. Books deal with personal challenges, including ADHD, sibling rivalry, dysfunctional families, Chinese poetry, divorce, growing up Arab-American and even with the late but ubiquitous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

‘Brains & Beauty’
UI poet/songwriter featured
Evelyne Accad, a poet, musician-songwriter, author and UI professor of French, will talk and perform several original works at the Chicago Humanities Festival XIII. The theme of the festival is "Brains & Beauty."

Accad’s performance, part of Series 9: "In the Spotlight," is scheduled for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 in the Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., Chicago. Two other Arab-American women, Roxane Assaf and Laila Farah, also will perform. Although Series 9 is free and open to the public, tickets are required.

According to the festival program, Accad will use "a combination of original compositions for voice and guitar to explore issues related to being an Arab woman who has left her home in Lebanon, the subsequent war and exile in the United States."

Accad will sing and accompany herself on guitar. All of the songs describe the catastrophic effects of war in Lebanon and the often simple, but heroic, efforts to maintain hope and normalcy in such an environment.

At Illinois, Accad teaches and does research in a wide variety of areas, including Francophone studies and literatures; feminist movements, particularly in the Arab world; oppressed groups in literature; woman, violence and war; and cross-cultural studies of cancer and other contemporary diseases.

She is the author of 13 books, including "The Wounded Breast: Intimate Journeys Through Cancer" (Spinifex Press).

America Recycles Day
Waste Transfer Station offers tours
Experts say that recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a computer for three hours. And if America recycled 30 percent of all solid waste generated – 42 million tons a year – it would save enough gasoline to power nearly 15 million cars for one year averaging 18 miles per gallon at 12,000 miles per year.

In observance of America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, Campus Recycling invites the campus community to tour UI’s Waste Transfer Station during November. For available times, groups or individuals can contact Tim Hoss, 244-7283.

The Waste Transfer Station handles 16,000 tons of waste materials each year and about half is recycled.

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