PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 24, No. 1, July 1, 2004

brief notes

Allerton Park and Conference Center
Volunteers needed to spruce up park
Volunteers can help restore and maintain the natural areas, formal gardens and sculptures at Robert Allerton Park and Conference Center, Monticello, during volunteer work days in July. Snacks and social times are provided as part of the day. In the event of rain, work days will be held indoors.

• July 7, 9-11 a.m.: Garden Work Day. Help maintain the formal gardens surrounding the visitor center and conference center by helping with a special project or assisting with watering, weeding, and cutting back or deadheading flowers.
• July 10, 9 a.m.-noon: Natural Areas Restoration /Allerton Allies. Help care for Allerton Park’s “wild side” by removing honeysuckle or garlic mustard, clearing and marking trails or other maintenance of natural areas. All materials and equipment will be provided, but volunteers should bring work gloves.
• July 14, 9 a.m.-noon: Sculpture Conservation Work Day. Assist with maintaining and cleaning the more than 100 outdoor sculptures and garden ornaments found throughout the park. May require working on scaffolding.

Facilities & Services
Mainframe printing services to relocate
Effective July 1, printing of reports and documents on the high-speed printers in 54 Henry Administration Building will be moved to the Facilities & Services Printing Department’s main location at 54 E. Gregory Drive. The relocation should have no impact on most customers since documents will continue to be printed and delivered to the appropriate department addresses.

However, beginning July 1, customers who have been retrieving documents from the secure bins in Henry will have their documents delivered to their preferred campus addresses by the Printing Department. Questions about document delivery should be directed to Barbara Childers at 244-9486 or bchilder@illinois.edu.

Customers who use preprinted, multi-part forms will need to make arrangements to convert the preprinted forms to digital templates. Contact John Zuckerman, Office of Administrative Information Technology Services, at 312-996-8903 or jzucker@uic.edu.

Contact Childers at 244-9486 with any questions.

Spurlock Museum
Exhibit highlights state’s biological diversity
Spurlock Museum will mark the opening of the exhibit “Illinois: An Epic Landscape” with a celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 10. The exhibit created by the Illinois Natural History Survey will highlight the stunning array of biological diversity found in Illinois, with a focus on the cypress swamps of southern Illinois.

At the opening celebration, visitors can enjoy hands-on activities in the Rowe Learning Center and nature films in the Knight Auditorium. Beginning on the half hour, the INHS Mobile Science Center will present an interactive, hands-on display, “Arthropods Across Illinois,” in the museum’s parking lot.

Admission to the museum and science center are free; tickets are required for science center visits. To reserve tickets or for further information, stop by the museum’s information desk or call 333-2360. The exhibit will be on display July 10-Aug. 28. Museum hours: Tuesday, noon to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Office of Publications and Marketing
Update Student/Staff Directory online
Retirees and people working for UI-affiliated agencies who want to be included in the 2004-05 Student/Staff Directory as well as people who want to suppress their home addresses and/or phone numbers from publication are being asked to submit their requests online. Those who want to suppress their directory information must complete and submit online forms, even if they have submitted suppression requests in the past. Past requests are no longer viable because of the conversion to the Banner software system.

Paper forms can no longer be accepted. People without Internet access are asked to visit their local public libraries to submit their information online.

Forms are available at www.uiuc.edu (click on student/staff directory forms under the announcements header). Deadline for submissions is Sept. 17. For more information, contact the Office of Publications and Marketing at 333-9200 or by e-mail at opm@illinois.edu.

Allerton Park and Conference Center
Children’s programs are July 5 and 17
Children ages 2-5 and their parents can enjoy stories, songs and activities with nature themes from 10-11 a.m. July 5 and July 17 during the “ ‘N’ is for Night” program at Robert Allerton Park and Conference Center, Monticello. The program is part of the “Nature ABCs and 123s” series. Fee is $3 per child. Register three days in advance by calling 217-762-2721 or 244-1035 or by e-mailing allertoninfo@illinois.edu.

Illinois State Water Survey
Cllimate Atlas of Illinois now available
“With the release of the 310-page Climate Atlas of Illinois by the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), more data and information are available about the climate of Illinois than any other area in the world, and much of the material is available nowhere else,” says Stan Changnon, Illinois State Water Survey Chief Emeritus and adjunct professor of geography and of atmospheric sciences.

The atlas by Changnon and survey co-authors Jim Angel, Ken Kunkel and Chris Lehmann focuses on the 20th century and presents both spatial patterns and temporal distributions of climate conditions in Illinois. Special field projects and studies since 1947 have provided in-depth information about all aspects of Illinois’ climate, including precipitation, severe storms, droughts and floods, air quality, and the effects of urban areas (Chicago and St. Louis) and Lake Michigan.

“The general public will find answers to questions about all aspects of climate, including records of the warmest and wettest Illinois locations, and how much snow their hometown annually receives. Others who will find the atlas useful are scientists and students interested in assessing the climate and its effects on people, places, the environment, and economic activities. Those involved in design/planning of weather-sensitive towers and buildings, crops, and activities also will find the atlas to be a valuable resource,” Changnon said.

Individual chapters address what controls our climate and historical climate periods; temperatures and precipitation, including snowfall; the statewide energy budget and wind conditions; special climate conditions caused by Lake Michigan, the southern hills, large cities, and human activities; atmospheric quality, including acid rain; climate extremes, such as droughts, cold winters, and various kinds of storms; outstanding weather and climate events of the 20th century; weather conditions and air masses; and climate issues, such as global warming and El Nino.

The Climate Atlas of Illinois is available from the ISWS for $20 plus $7 for shipping and handling. Credit card orders also will be accepted. For more information or to order a copy, call (217) 333-8888. More information also is available online, www.sws.uiuc.edu/docs/climateatlas.

Intensive English Institute
Host families needed for visiting students
Japanese college students coming to Champaign-Urbana in August to spend a month brushing up on their conversational English are hoping to find friendly local hosts to share their American experience with.

Female students from Dokkyo University in Tokyo need hosts who will meet with them two or three times a week while they are living in a campus residence hall from July 31 to Aug. 13, and then will provide a home stay for them, including room and board, from Aug. 14 to 26. Male students from Konan University in Kobe will need home-stay host families from July 31 to Aug. 28.

Individuals, families and couples, including “empty-nesters,” are welcome to apply as hosts. Hosts spend a few hours a week with the students in typical household activities and outings – from meals, ball games and movies, to picnics, concerts and county fairs; home-stay hosts put the students up in their homes and provide meals for them, as well as spend time in activities or outings, said Dawn MacLellan, host coordinator of the Intensive English Institute.

Home-stay hosts receive a stipend to help defray the costs of room and board. Host and home-stay families for Korean students who are attending institute classes in July have already been found.
The new home-stay room and board option began a couple of years ago and has proven extremely satisfying for students and hosts alike, MacLellan said.

In past years, students stayed in residence halls the entire duration of their intensive English courses, but participated with host families in activities in and outside the home.

That arrangement was a bit disruptive, MacLellan said, since the late summer IEI programs overlapped with the beginning of the fall semester at Illinois, meaning the international students had to move out of their university rooms and into local hotels during their last week of their programs to allow incoming UI students to move in.

There was another motivation for the new option: Japanese universities desired home stays for their students.

“Since the students are here for such a short period of time, having a home stay really offers them a lot more opportunities to interact with hosts and experience daily life with members of the community,” MacLellan said.

“Hosts, whose primary language is English, and who have extra room for an adult student, give students the chance to experience daily life in the United States.

“At the same time, it is also a wonderful opportunity that gives hosts a greater understanding of other countries, cultures and customs,” MacLellan said, noting that reference and background checks are required of selected host and home-stay families.

A host-orientation meeting provides hosts information about their students. After the students arrive, a picnic or reception allows hosts and students to meet and get to know each other.

A host application may be downloaded at www.iei.uiuc.edu/host/. The site has an FAQ link. More information is available by contacting IEI at ieihosting@ad.uiuc.edu or calling 217-333-6598.

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