PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 26, No. 5, Sept. 7, 2006

brief notes

Center for Advanced Study
Disaster, biology, oil and art among fall topics
Disasters and biological issues will get special attention this fall among 13 lectures sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study at the UI – along with topics as varied as Mexican politics, Caspian oil, Senegalese art, indigenous rights and the nature of thinking.

Most of the fall 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.
Also part of the fall program is the CAS Annual Lecture, to be given this year by Abigail Salyers, a CAS Professor of microbiology, on the subject of antibiotics. Other lectures are sponsored by CAS initiatives on globalization, immigration and mega-disasters.
All CAS talks are free and open to the public. To receive notification on individual events, call 333-6729 or e-mail cas@illinois.edu; indicate your preference for postal mail or e-mail.

Upcoming lectures this month:

• Sept. 11, “How Our Genes Shape the Way We Respond to Our Environment,” by Avshalom Caspi, a professor of personality development at King’s College, London, and a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. (8 p.m. in the auditorium of the Beckman Institute)
• Sept. 14, “Analogy as the Core of Cognition,” by Douglas Hofstadter, director of the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition at Indiana University and the author of the 1979 bestseller “Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.” (7:30 p.m. in the theater of Lincoln Hall)
• Sept. 25, “The 1994 Rwandan Refugee Crisis: Cultural Awareness in Managing Natural Disasters,” by Tom Casadavall, Central Region director for the U.S. Geological Survey. (Part of the “CAS Initiative on Mega-Disasters,” (7:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center)
• Sept. 26, “The December 26, 2004, Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami: Field Perspectives on the Impacts to the Peoples, Cultures, Politics and Economies of One of the World’s Most Vibrant Regions,” also by Casadavall and part of the “CAS Initiative on Mega-Disasters.” (4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum)
  

For the lecture 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. For additional information, or to confirm details prior to a lecture, check the events link on the CAS Web site.

Also, CAS now is making audio podcasts and streaming video of many of its presentations available on the Web site, generally one to two weeks after the event.

Spurlock Museum
‘Greek auction’ will be Sept. 16
The Spurlock Museum Guild will host the 15th annual “Greek Auction” beginning at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16 in the ballroom of the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. The event celebrates the museum’s antiquities collection and will raise money to support educational programs that benefit more than 10,000 area schoolchildren and residents each year as well as UI students and faculty members.

Provost Linda Katehi, and her husband, Spyros Tseregounis, will be honorary hosts.

In keeping with the Greek theme, a Mediterranean buffet, wine, and authentic home-baked Greek desserts will be offered. Auction items will include a shard from a Magna Grecia Apulian ceramic vase from 320 B.C. (above) and a stay in a house near Ephesus with a view of the Aegean. Items representing other world cultures will also be up for bid as well as donations and gift certificates from many restaurants and local stores.

There will be a silent auction and a live auction. Preview of the items starts at 6:30 p.m., followed by the buffet at 7 p.m. Live auction bidding begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person, sponsorships are $100 and a patron’s contribution is $250.

For tickets or to donate items, call auction co-chairs Robin Fossum at 359-4270 or Joy Thornton-Walter at 351-5197.

Faculty/Student Senate
Annual meeting of the faculty is Sept. 11
The campus Senate Executive Committee will host the annual meeting of the faculty at 2:10 p.m. Sept. 11 on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center.  Professor Vernon Burton, SEC Chair, will host the event. Guest speakers will be UI President B. Joseph White and Urbana Chancellor Richard Herman. A discussion session with time for questions and comments is scheduled after the speakers.

The annual meeting serves as a forum for issues affecting the campus community, such as shared governance, the university and campus strategic plans, rehiring of retirees and the global campus initiative, to which both faculty members and administrators contribute. Following the meeting, there will be a reception, sponsored by the chancellor.

For more information, go to www.senate.uiuc.edu.

Artist exhibition and book signing
Siti Mariah Jackson featured Sept. 8
The Asian American Cultural Center and the Asian American Studies Program will feature an exhibition opening and book signing by local artist Siti Mariah Jackson on Sept. 8.

The open house, at 1208 and 1210 W. Nevada St., Urbana, will run from 2 to 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

The exhibition, “Siti’s Diary,” is a collection of watercolors by Jackson, which will remain on display through Jan. 5. It includes portraits, landscapes and paintings from her personal experience in Malaysia. At the opening, Jackson will sign copies of the book “On This Island: An Artistic View of Martha’s Vineyard,” a collection of paintings of the island’s life and people by the artist and her husband, Billy Morrow Jackson, who died June 16.

For more information on the open house, call 333-9300.

UI conference in Chicago
Russian politics, business to be discussed
The business of politics and the politics of business in Russia will be the focus of a conference sponsored by UI Chancellor Richard Herman on Oct. 12 and 13 at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel, Chicago.

The Chancellor’s Conference on Russia: Business/Politics, Challenges and Opportunities will bring together scholars, policy analysts, business leaders and others to assess a range of issues in Russia from a global perspective.

“The relationship between the U.S. and Russia remains a critical piece of our nation’s global strategy,” Herman said. “The University of Illinois has long been a leader in the field of Russian studies, which have contributed significantly to the dialogue on that relationship. This conference will bring together Illinois faculty members with distinguished keynote speakers, business leaders and other internationally renowned specialists who have helped shape economic and political policies to discuss the current state of affairs and to explore what is possible through creative thinking.”

The keynote speakers will be William Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management; James F. Collins, U.S. ambassador to Russia from 1997 to 2001; and David Satter, former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times of London.

Among participants from Illinois: William Davey, professor of law; Peter Maggs, professor of law; Mark Steinberg, professor of Russian history; Robert Thompson, professor of agricultural policy; Paul Vaaler, professor of international business; and Ronald Yates, dean of the College of Communications.
The conference will feature panel discussions, roundtables and informal break-out sessions. The panelists will address the implications of Russia’s transition from a centralized command to market economy; the investment and trade opportunities presented by Russia; and the nation’s security, energy and governance policies.

The conference has been organized by the Russian, East European and Eurasian Center at Illinois and is co-sponsored by the Illinois Center for International Business Education and Research; Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership; the colleges of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Business; Law; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; departments of political science and Slavic languages and literature; and the Illinois International Trade Center.

Registration is $200 until Sept. 28 when a late fee will be added. A $75 rate is available for college students. The fee for the Oct. 12 session is $120; the Oct. 13 session is $100.

See www.reec.uiuc.edu/RBPConf/index.html for more information, including schedule of events, registration and a full list of participants.

Bevier Café
Grand reopening celebration is Sept. 15
A grand reopening celebration for Bevier Café will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 15 in the café in the northwest corner of the second floor of Bevier Hall. “We hope the community will come out to see the renovated café and enjoy the food and fun,” said Gregory Knott, assistant to the head of the UI department of food science and human nutrition.

The reopening signifies the completion of the first step of a larger renovation project for the Quantity Foods Facilities, which includes the café, the Spice Box and the kitchen they share. The renovation not only improves the customer experience, it also benefits the students in the hospitality-management and dietetics programs. “Serving customers in an updated dining area will better prepare students for work in the ever-changing food and hospitality industry,” Knott said.

Gary O’Brien of WDWS-AM (1400) will broadcast his afternoon show during the reopening. His guests will include food science and human nutrition professors, students and alumni. Prizes donated by local businesses and food companies will be given away throughout the event.

College of Business
Pampered Chef founder to speak Sept. 12
An entrepreneur who started an international corporation in her basement using a $3,000 loan will offer her business insights in the 2006 V. Dale Cozad Lecture sponsored by the College of Business.

The public is invited to hear Doris Christopher’s real-life lessons for small-business owners and entrepreneurs at 4:15 p.m. Sept. 12 in 141 Wohlers Hall. Free parking is available in lots E-12 and E-47 after 4 p.m.

Christopher founded The Pampered Chef because she wanted a business that would draw on her professional training but give her time with her family. She came up with the idea of selling high-quality kitchen tools by holding cooking demonstrations at customers’ homes. Her first presentation to 15 women assembled at a friend’s house launched the business model that would become The Pampered Chef. Christopher, an Illinois alumna, taught high school home economics and worked for the Cooperative Extension Service.

Israeli Film Series
Lecture is Sept. 20; first film is Sept. 27
The Israeli Film Series will will begin Sept. 20 with a lecture by Amnon Lord, Israeli journalist and author. The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in 101 Armory. Films will be shown beginning Sept. 27.

The series represents the wide-ranging, award-winning films being produced in Israel. From documentaries to light-hearted comedies, the offerings of Israeli cinema are being internationally recognized.

Each film will be introduced with commentary by visiting Israeli author Gail Hareven. The movies will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in 101 Armory.
The films: “Ushpizin,” Sept. 27; “Underdogs: A War Story,” Oct. 4; “Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi,” Oct. 11; “Saint Clara,” Oct. 18; and “James’ Journey to Jerusalem,” Oct. 25. For more information: www.jewishculture.uiuc.edu. 

The Israeli Film Series is sponsored by the Program in Jewish Culture and Society, Cinema Studies, the Hillel Foundation, the Israeli Studies Project of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation.

WILL-TV
Student forum focuses on segregation
After hearing from students that campus interaction between students of different races and backgrounds is limited, a UI Faculty Senate Committee sponsored a student forum last spring on the issue.

The forum, “Legally Integrated but Social Segregated: Life on Campus for Students at UIUC,” was taped in the WILL-TV studio and made into DVDs for distribution to campus residence halls, cultural houses and other groups.

A one-hour excerpt from the 90-minute forum will be broadcast at 9 p.m. Sept. 12 on WILL-TV. The Office of the Chancellor provided funding for the project.
Reginald Alston, chair of the Faculty Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity and Access, said the discussion shows that the university needs to monitor the campus social climate, even in 2006.

Graduate student Coleman Evans moderates the forum, prodding the students to consider whether assimilation is a good or bad thing and how the campus could preserve different cultures but integrate them at the same time.

WILL-TV executive producer Henry Szujewski said WILL-TV decided to broadcast the forum because it opens a window into student perceptions. “Maybe this is the dialogue that will open this up to discussion,” he said.

Spice Box
Specialty meals offered for fall semester
Beginning  Sept. 8, area diners will be able to experience fine cuisine at the UI Spice Box during the fall semester. The Spice Box, on the second floor of Bevier Hall, is run by hospitality-management students in the department of food science and human nutrition. The students take turns providing a theme, a menu and a guest chef for each evening.

The Sept. 8 meal will be a “Medieval Autumn Feast” prepared by guest chef Bob Rowe of Classic Events Catering in Urbana.

“These meals are a great way for local diners to enjoy fine dining at a reasonable cost while supporting the hospitality-management program. And the students are quite excited to be adding an extra semester of the specialty meal experiences,” said Jill North, the Spice Box manager and teacher of the department’s course on fine dining.

The success of the Spice Box specialty meals and the growth of the hospitality management program have created a need for more class sections, requiring the course to be offered during both semesters, North said.

Each evening offers either a four-course meal, including salad, appetizer, entrée and dessert, or a special salad and pasta/casserole combination. Meals are available by reservation only. Reservations are available at 5:30, 6, 7 and 7:30 p.m.

The medieval feast will be followed by 15 other meals, scheduled on Friday nights and some Tuesday evenings. A complete list of meal themes, menus and guest chefs is available at the Spice Box link at www.fshn.uiuc.edu. To reserve seating, call 333-6520. Diners also can receive  e-mail updates by contacting jnorth@illinois.edu.

Campus Rec
Ice Arena announces new schedule
The UI Ice Arena is gearing up for another season, this year with an upgraded lobby and expanded menu and hours at its concession stand.
The Ice Arena is now open for public skating from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays (except when there is an Illini Hockey home game) and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Lunch-time skating is 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. weekdays. Admission is free for UI students, Campus Rec members and children under 3; $4 for nonmembers (12 and under); $5 for nonmembers (13 and older).

The Illini Hockey season resumes Sept. 29. For ticket information, go to www.illinihockey.com.

Registration for Learn-to-Skate and Learn-to-Play Hockey is under way. See Web for class descriptions, schedules and fees. The Ice Arena also offers freestyle sessions, for intermediate to advanced skaters, and pick-up hockey for beginners and advanced players. Also the Ice Arena now offers parties for birthdays or other special events.

For more information on any UI Ice Arena offerings, visit www.campusrec.uiuc.edu or call 333-2081.

School of Art and Design
Saturday Art School offers classes
Registration is now under way for the fall 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 will be held at the Art and Design Building beginning Sept. 9. Classes will meet for 10 Saturdays culminating in the Krannert Art Museum Family Fest for students and families Dec. 2.

For more information, contact Carole Smith at 333-1652 or cssmith2@illinois.edu for a brochure and application form. Registration will end when classes are full.

Free conference
Statistical software introduced
Applied Technologies for Learning in the Arts and Sciences in the College of Liberal Art and Sciences and the SAS Institute will present the most recent information about statistical analysis software technology to UI students and faculty members in a free 1 1/2-day conference Sept 25 and 26.

At “SAS Festival: Lunch and Learn,” representatives from the institute will offer free tutorials so that faculty members and students can learn more about how statistical analysis software can be applied to enhance teaching and research at the university. To optimize the value of the presentations, there will be a panel of Illinois researchers from several disciplines who will share insights about their SAS experiences. Registration for the conference and luncheon is free, but spaces are limited. For more information and to register, go to: https://secure.las.uiuc.edu/SASFest or e-mail atlas-training@illinois.edu.

UI Library
ARTstor workshops to be offered
Two ARTstor workshops will be offered this semester. ARTstor is a digital image database with more than 400,000 images. Participants will learn how to search for and manipulate images, create groups and shared instruction folders and create dynamic presentations using the proprietary software download called Offline Image Viewer.

Registration for the workshops is required and space is limited. The workshops are open to all UI faculty and staff members and students. The workshops will be in Room 291 Undergraduate Library from 10-11:30 a.m. Sept. 15 and 1:30-3 p.m. Oct. 31.

To register, go to the library’s online calendar, http://130.126.32.16/evanced/lib0/eventcalendar.asp, and click on ARTstor Workshop. For more information, contact Meg Burger at 244-3776 or mhburger@illinois.edu.

Local art
Entrepreneurial artists share experiences
From photographers to musicians and painters, artists make a splash in the community through their creative works and entrepreneurial spirit. Champaign-Urbana’s finest artists will reveal how they got their start and what inspires them during a panel discussion from 5-6:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center Ballroom.

Panelists will share their personal stories, as well as take questions from audience members. Participants will be Chip McNeill, professor of music, and photographer Larry Kanfer, and representatives of The Ninth Letter literary magazine, OPENSOURCE Art, Pogo Studios, SURFACE 51, Taylor Studios and Wind Water & Light gallery.

The event is sponsored by the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and 40 North. Those attending will receive a free ticket to the Krannert Center kick-off party that evening beginning at 6:30 p.m.

CITES
Computing enhancements announced
Major increases in the quotas available to faculty and staff members for their campus e-mail and file-storage accounts lead the list of improvements to services provided by Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services.

CITES Express E-mail account quotas increased to 150 MB. The Express E-mail upgrade also includes improvements in e-mail management. 
CITES NetFiles storage space is now 500 MB. If NetFiles guest tickets are used instead of e-mail attachments, for example, e-mail storage space will be saved and it will ensure that valuable data will be accessible and secure.

CITES Spam Control, which is blocking literally billions of viruses and junk e-mails from campus inboxes, now includes a “Cautious Plus” personal spam policy in its settings.

Campus units now access and download their list of current telecommunications services, work orders, and monthly billing statements through secure Web pages. For more information, contact CITES Communications Customer Service at 333-1161.

To learn more about these and other service upgrades, go to www.cites.uiuc.edu/services/highlights.html. For questions about any CITES service, contact the CITES Help Desk at 244-7000 or e-mail consult@uiuc.edu.

UI Library
Fall workshops offered in RefWorks
The UI Library will offer a series of free workshops this fall for faculty and staff members and students.

“Library Catalog Workshop” will explain basic and advanced searching techniques as well as online research resources. Workshop dates: Sept. 7, 20 and 21, and Oct. 4, 10 and 16.

“Basic RefWorks Workshop” will explain the software that organizes and automatically formats citations for papers. Workshop dates:  Sept. 12, 14, 20, 27 and 28, and Oct. 3, 5 and 18.

More information, including specific times, is available at www.library.uiuc.edu, under the “News Items” category. Register online at http://130.126.32.16/evanced/lib0/eventcalendar.asp. For more information, contact Joe Straw, 244-1880 or jstraw@illinois.edu.

Remembering Sept. 11
Commemorative program planned
The School of Music will mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States with a short commemorative program Sept. 11.
The free observance is open to the public and begins at 7:46 a.m. in the recital hall of Smith Hall.

UI music school director Karl Kramer said the program’s start time coincides with the time the first hijacked jetliner crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The program will conclude at 8:03 a.m., marking the time that the second jetliner hit the center’s south tower.

The program will consist of J.S. Bach’s Cantata 51, “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!” (“Praise God in All Lands!”) and will feature UI music faculty members Ollie Watts Davis, Michael Ewald and Michael Cameron, and the Pacifica Quartet. Charlotte Mattax will direct the performance from the harpsichord.
“As in previous years, there will be no speeches or  talking – just reflection,” Kramer said.

I space
Artists examine political violence, war
Political violence and war are among the themes that will be explored in an exhibition on view Sept. 8 through Oct. 7 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the UI.
“Under Fire,” which brings together the contributions of an international roster of artists working in cross-disciplinary and multimedia forms, is a continuation of global discussions and publications initiated by artist and writer Jordan Crandall. According to organizer Ryan Griffis, a UI professor of art and design, the exhibition serves as a “discursive engagement with global militarization and political violence, incorporating perspectives from multiple disciplines to explore the contemporary organization, representation and materialization of war.”

Featured artists are Annie Abrahams/Clément Charmet, An Architektur, deGeuzen, Joy Garnett, Mariam Ghani, Dara Greenwald, Tsila Hassine, Richardo Miranda-Zuñiga, Hillary Mushkin, Trevor Paglen, Joel Ross, Michael Wilson and xurban_collective.

Events planned on the UI’s Urbana-Champaign campus in conjunction with the Chicago exhibition include a talk by Israeli architect, activist and scholar Eyal Weizman (time, date and location to be announced); the exhibition “In War/At War: The Practice of Everyday,” Oct. 5 through 29 at OPENSOURCE Art, 12 E. Washington St., Champaign; and a screening of “The Marching Plague,” a film about biological warfare produced by the Critical Art Ensemble, at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Krannert Art Museum.

A reception will be from 5-8 p.m. Sept. 8 at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Translational Biomedical Research Seminar Series
Cardiologist inaugurates lecture series
Robert Hamlin, a pioneer in veterinary cardiology, will speak on “Translational Biology: The Glue between Basic and Clinical Science” at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 18. The talk is free and open to the public.

This is the first talk in the 2006-2007 weekly seminar series on Translational Biomedical Research, hosted at the College of Veterinary Medicine. All talks will be in the Small Animal Clinic auditorium.

Using cardiac resynchronization therapy as an example, Hamlin will explore the idea that, in translational biomedical research, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts: The basic scientist describes the parts, and the clinical scientist provides the glue to integrate the parts for an application that improves the quality and duration of life.

Hamlin is the Stanton Youngberg Professor of Veterinary Medicine (physiology/pharmacology) and a professor of veterinary biosciences and in the department of biomedical engineering at Ohio State University.

Hamlin’s talk is co-sponsored by the Dr. Robert and Cynthia Pensinger Fund. The lecture series highlights fundamental research discoveries with potential to be directly translated into applications that impact human and animal health and society. Next in the series, on Sept. 25, Gabriela Gebrin Cezar, University of Wisconsin at Madison, will speak on “Human Embryonic Stem Cells: A Novel Resource for Predictive Toxicology and Biomarker Discovery.”
For the complete schedule, visit: www.cvm.uiuc.edu/trbioseries.html.

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