PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 27, No. 13, Feb. 7, 2008

brief notes

Institute of Government and Public Affairs

Report seeks to focus lawmakers on issues

Chronic budget shortfalls, a lingering health-care crisis and other crucial problems facing Illinois are worsening as polarized politics stalls real solutions, according to a new UI report.

The Illinois Report 2008, published by the university’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs, seeks to refocus legislators, providing an in-depth analysis of issues critical to the state’s future that also include education, rising energy costs and a transportation system in need of repair.

“The university is trying to make (the state of) Illinois a better place to live, trying to make our government a more effective government, trying to help society at large and trying to address real problems and help solve them,” said IGPA Director Robert F. Rich.

The 94-page report gives lawmakers a nonpartisan, evidence-based assessment of where Illinois stands on 10 key issues ranges from finances to poverty, providing both a historical perspective and comparison with what’s happening in other states, Rich said.

He says the analysis by IPGA experts who are among the nation’s leaders in their fields shows that Illinois is facing a dual crisis in state government.

“One is we have a set of serious problems that are long term and we’re providing Band-Aids as opposed to real solutions,” Rich said. “The second is we have a polarized policy-making environment. Our policy makers are not getting along, they’re not working together and that exacerbates these long-term problems.”

Along with academic expertise, Rich said, the university also has offered to serve as a “safe home,” providing neutral ground where now-divided lawmakers can meet to tackle problems and explore solutions.

Rich says unsolved problems include a structural budget deficit, with more recurring expenses than revenue, even though Illinois is a transportation crossroads with a strong farm economy and “many other assets we’re not realizing.”

Health care also remains in crisis, with nearly a quarter of the state’s population uninsured or underinsured, and the gap continues to widen between high-performing and underachieving schools, he said.

“The University of Illinois is the state’s most valuable asset, a dynamic example of the transforming power of public higher education in the lives of individuals and society. The Illinois Report 2008 illustrates one way in which this power can assist those who develop and implement the public policies that affect us all,” UI President B. Joseph White wrote in a foreword to the report.

This is the second year the annual report has been developed by the institute, which already has presented its latest findings to the chiefs of staff of the four legislative caucuses and to the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Rich said.

“It’s not an accident that we did this at the beginning of the legislative session,” he said. “Our hope is by doing it now we can have an impact on the dialogue that is going to occur over the next several months.”

An interactive presentation of the report, including executive summaries and interviews with experts who analyzed key issues, is available on the institute’s Web site.

Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities

Film series continues ‘Rupture’ theme

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities will present its spring 2008 film series beginning Feb. 7. The series will show films related to the 2007-2008 IPRH theme, “Rupture.” Although the fall films considered ruptures of a personal nature, the spring schedule focuses on rupture on a wider cultural level – from the financial and cultural fissures of the Depression to the 1960s-era generation gap, and into a fractured, violent future.

All screenings begin at 5:30 p.m. in Room 62 of Krannert Art Museum. The series is free and open to the public.

Scheduled films: Feb. 7, “Blow Up” (1966); March 6, “Sullivan’s Travels” (1941); April 3, “Children of Men” (2006); April 24, ‘The Graduate” (1967). For more information, visit www.iprh.uiuc.edu or contact film series organizer Christine Catanzarite at catanzar@illinois.edu. 

Opening reception

‘Community as Classroom’ exhibit

The Community Informatics Initiative and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science invite the public to view the work of Community Informatics students and faculty members. GSLIS course work has taken students and researchers to communities in and around Champaign-Urbana, Chicago and East St. Louis. Student-designed posters show the variety of action research projects that engage students with community organizations to learn about and participate in the creation, dissemination and flow of knowledge in communities.

Join students and faculty and other community members for refreshments in the southeast room of the University YMCA from 5-6 p.m. Feb. 8 for the opening reception. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit will be on display through the end of February. Contact Sharon Irish at slirish@illinois.edu for more information.

WILL-TV

New season of ‘Prairie Fire’ announced

As the new season of WILL-TV’s “Prairie Fire” begins this month, viewers can soar with butterflies at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Butterfly House, look back at two true love stories from the World War II, or compete in the Edible Books Festival. All stories are broadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.

The season will include seven new local “Central Illinois World War II Stories,” as well as an hourlong special March 27 combining all of WILL-TV’s local World War II stories that were broadcast in conjunction with the Ken Burns’ documentary “The War” last fall.

The new war stories include a Feb. 7 segment about Champaign’s Iris Nig Lundin, who left her teaching job in a small Minnesota town to join the newly formed Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. She became one of the first four female navigation instructors. In other stories on Feb. 7, “Prairie Fire” host Alison Davis Wood finds out that many of the world’s radio-controlled model aircraft and boats are made in Champaign-Urbana. She visits with members of the Champaign County Radio Control Club who meet to share their love of model aviation. The program also takes a fun look at the Urbana Farmer’s Market.

In a story on love and war on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, producer Denise La Grassa visits with two couples whose relationship bloomed during the war, Bob and Hattie Marion, of Urbana, and Wilma and Gerald Ashenbremer, of Oakwood. The show also travels to St. Louis to look at the beauty of the Butterfly House inside the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and looks at the workshop of Charlie and John Sweitzer, a father and son team who make Shaker-style furniture. Then it goes along as WILL producer Eleanore Stasheff competes with her Rosetta Scone in the UI Edible Books Festival, in which people make and submit food inspired by literature.

Then on Feb. 21, “Prairie Fire” profiles Elmer Jones, one of the first aviation cadets at Chanute Field in Rantoul. Wood also visits with members of the Moore family in Watseka, who are farming without pesticides and herbicides, providing produce to people who are interested in buying locally produced food. She also takes a look at how to farm the old-fashioned way at the Illinois and Indiana Antique Tractor Show in Penfield.

For information on upcoming episodes, visit www.will.illinois.edu.

Citizen Police

Academy teaches about law enforcement

Champaign County residents interested in getting an inside look at how local law enforcement works may participate in the Champaign County Citizen Police Academy.

The academy, which meets from 6-9 p.m. Thursdays for 10 weeks beginning Feb. 21, will cover crime prevention, community-based policing, drugs, gangs, school safety, DUI enforcement, citizen-police contacts, use of force and firearms safety, crime scene investigation, a tour of the Champaign County Jail, and a patrol ride-along with your local department.

Starting its 22nd session, the academy strives to help local residents better understand police work. In addition, the police agencies involved in the academy seek feedback from participants about law-enforcement issues.

For more information or to enroll in the program, call your local law enforcement agency or contact the Police Training Institute at 333-2337. 

Research integrity

Symposium focuses on grad education

The UI Graduate College, in conjunction with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, will host its sixth annual Symposium on Graduate Education. This year’s event is dedicated to responsible conduct of research and will be from 1-6 p.m. Feb. 25 in Illini Union Rooms B and C.

The keynote address by Drummond Rennie, “Who Wrote My Paper? R & R in Academe,” will explore issues of authorship, peer reviewing, and the influence of commercial sponsors in academic research. Rennie is the deputy editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association and adjunct professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. He was a member of the Commission on Research Integrity to the Public Health Service and has taken a leading role in the debate on research misconduct.

Following the keynote address, there will be a resource fair and breakout sessions focusing on topics pertinent to graduate education and research. Topics include copyrights and patents, authorship, research compliance regulations, human subject research, animal research, responsible data reporting, whistle-blowing and more.

This event is free but advance registration is recommended. For program details and to register, visit www.grad.uiuc.edu/events/symposium/.

Library

Authors to discuss work Feb. 7, March 3

Two best-selling writers will discuss their work and their craft as guests of the UI Library.

Audrey Niffenegger, a book artist and author of fantasy, and Gary Blackwood, primarily an author of works for children and young adults, will visit the library on Feb. 7 and March 3, respectively. Both events are free and open to the public.

Niffenegger will visit from 9-11 a.m. at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Room 346.

A professor at Columbia College’s Center for Book and Paper Arts in Chicago, Niffenegger is the author of The New York Time’s best-seller “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” The highly acclaimed book has been praised as a “soaring” love story of a dashing librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, who, according to Publishers Weekly, “finds himself unavoidably whisked around in time.”

Niffenegger also is the author of “The Adventuress” and “The Three Incestuous Sisters: An Illustrated Novel.”

Blackwood will speak from 3-4 p.m., also in the Rare Book Library. His informal discussion, which is part of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s “Books in Culture/Culture in Books Series,” will include comments about writing historical fiction.

Blackwood is the author of “The Shakespeare Stealer,” “The Shakespeare Spy,” “Second Sight” and “Wild Timothy,” among other titles. Blackwood’s work covers the entire spectrum of children’s books – from picture books to young adult books, both fiction and nonfiction.

University Primary School

Informational meeting and open house

University Primary School (preschool, kindergarten, first grade) will have an informational meeting 7-8 p.m. Feb. 21 in Room 26 of the Children’s Research Center for parents who are interested in enrolling their child for the 2008-09 academic year. Child care will be provided.

In addition, the school will host an open house Feb. 27. Visitors may see the preschool in action from 8:30 a.m.-noon and the combined kindergarten-first grade class from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. The deadline for applications for the 2008-09 academic year is March 14. For more information, contact director Nancy Hertzog at 333-3996 or nhertzog@illinois.edu.

Pet Dental Health Month

Small animal clinic offers dental exams

February is National Pet Dental Health Month. The dental service at the UI Small Animal Clinic is offering Saturday appointments on Feb. 9 to raise awareness about the importance of oral health for pets. Good dental care can save pain and expense in the long run and prevent infections that spread to other parts of your pet’s body.

To schedule an appointment for a complete dental and general physical examination of your dog or cat at the Small Animal Clinic call Misty Finn at 333-5859. The $25 exam fee may be credited toward the cost of a dental cleaning scheduled within 90 days.

For more information about pet dental health, visit www.petdental.com.

Center for African Studies

African films to be shown during festival

Champaign-Urbana audiences will have a rare opportunity to screen a half dozen of the best recent films originating from Africa.

Organized by the Center for African Studies at the UI with support from several campus units, the weeklong African Film Festival will take place Feb. 22-28 at the Beverly 18 Carmike Cinemas, 910 Meijer Drive, Champaign. Films will be screened on a rotating basis throughout the festival. Three will be shown, beginning at 7 p.m., on the opening day. After that, several films will run continuously each day, beginning at noon. Admission is $5, with tickets available at the theater box office prior to each showing.

“There are a lot of foreign film festivals that take place in town, but except for an occasional screening of an African film at a conference or at Ebertfest, nothing like this has happened in this community since I have been teaching here,” said festival coordinator and UI anthropology professor Mahir Saul. “When I arrived in 1982, not many people knew about African cinema,” said the professor, who teaches a course on African film and organized a conference on African cinema last fall.

Despite receiving top honors at some of the most prestigious international film festivals, however, “these movies don’t usually come to our town.”

And some, Saul said, such as the 2005 sci-fi thriller “Les Saignantes,” by Cameroon’s maverick experimental filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekelo, “haven’t been seen that much in the United States.” Saul procured the festival copy from the director.

In addition to “Les Saignantes,” the festival will feature the 2007 Lumiere Award-winning drama “Bamako,” and “Ezra,” grand prizewinner at the 2007 Festival Panafricain du Cinéma de Ouagadougou and an International Critics Week selection at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Also, from Angola, “O’Heroi” (The Hero), the 2005 grand prizewinner in the world drama competition at the Sundance Film Festival; “Tasuma,” a 2003 comedy from Burkina Faso that received the Bronze Stallion of Yenenga Award at FESPACO 2005; and the animated children’s film “Kirikou & the Sorceress,” a hit when it was released in 1998, and grand prizewinner at the International Festival of Animated Film.

More information about the festival is available online at www.afrst.uiuc.edu.

Insects without fear

Annual insect film festival is Feb. 23

The 25th Insect Fear Film Festival will be Feb. 23 in Foellinger Auditorium. Admission is free and doors open at 6 p.m. This year’s theme, “Animated Social Insects,” is a change from the usual fare of scary and horrible films. Simon Smith, the director of “Bee Movie,” will keynote the festival. A schedule of films will be posted on the Entomology Graduate Student Association Web site at www.life.uiuc.edu/entomology/egsa/ifff.html.

Higher Education Collaborative

Education lecture series begins Feb. 29

Who will control the accreditation of colleges and universities?

That will be the featured topic among several this spring in a series of education-related seminars.

Addressing the issue, on Feb. 29, will be Judith Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, in a seminar titled “Self-regulation or Government Regulation: Accreditation at the Tipping Point.”

Eaton will discuss the recent scrutiny given to accreditation, especially by the federal government over the last two years, and the major effort to federalize the process. She will discuss what this might mean for colleges and universities, if accreditation moves from being self-regulating to being a mechanism under which the government will define and judge academic quality.

The seminar will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Law Building.

Participating in a panel discussion following Eaton’s talk will be education professor Nicholas C. Burbules, chair of the Conference on Conduct Governance in the faculty senate; law professor Matthew W. Finkin; physics professor George Gollin, member of the CHEA board of directors; Elaine Johnson, vice president of the Illinois Community College Board, and Ruth Watkins, a vice provost at Illinois. The panel will be moderated by UI president emeritus Stanley Ikenberry.

A reception will follow in the Law Building foyer.

Other talks in the series, all running from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Room 242 of the Education Building, except where noted:

• Feb. 7, “Color-blind Racial Ideology: The Politics of Ignoring Race(ism) in Education,” by Helen A. Neville, a professor of educational psychology and in the African American Studies and Research Program. This seminar will be in Room 28 of the Education Building.

• March 12, “Interrogating the University, One Archive (Entry) at a Time: The Daily Life and Research of the Ethnography of the University Initiative (EUI),” by Nancy Abelman, professor of anthropology, Asian American Studies, and East Asian Languages and Cultures; Priscilla Fortier, assistant dean of students and associate director of Minority Student Affairs and the McNair Scholars Program, and Gina Bessa, anthropology, Illinois State University.

• March 31, “Beyond Desegregation: Achieving the Benefits of Integration,” by William Trent, professor of educational policy studies. Trent will discuss what is required to achieve the hoped-for benefits of diverse educational bodies – far more than just the mixing of races – drawing on his research and past experience as an expert witness in school desegregation cases.

• April 9, “The Impact of Merit-based Scholarship Programs,” by  Greg Kienzl, a visiting professor of education. Kienzl will discuss the results from a study of 12 years of national data looking at whether merit-based programs are effective in encouraging students to enroll in postsecondary education.

The seminar series is organized by the Higher Education Collaborative in the College of Education. The accreditation seminar is sponsored by the Forum for the Future of Public Education, also in the college, and co-sponsored by HEC.

For additional information or updates, check the Higher Education Collaborative Web site at www.ed.uiuc.edu/hedcollaborative.

I space

Female artists work featured

The work of a cosmopolitan collection of artists will be featured in a new exhibition on view Feb. 8 through March 22 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the UI.

The exhibition, titled “We Construct the Chorus,” brings together the work of five influential female artists contributing to today’s international discourse on contemporary art: Emily Jacir,  Alice Könitz, Katrina Moorhead, Rivane Neuenschwander and Luz Maria Sanchez.

The I space exhibition’s title is a nod to artist Barbara Kruger’s 1983 work “Untitled (We construct the chorus of missing persons).” It was organized by Julie Rodrigues Widholm, the Pamela Alper Associate Curator at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

An opening reception is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago. I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information about the artists, go to: www.news.uiuc.edu/news/08/0204ispace.html.

Women and Gender in Global Perspectives

Multidisciplinary Award Opportunities

Several fellowships and grants are available to new and continuing graduate students at the UI through Women and Gener in Global Perspectives. For details on the awards and to apply, visit: www.ips.uiuc.edu/wggp/grantfund.shtml. Students can submit a single application form to be considered for one or more awards. To apply for the fellowship and/or grants, submit the required materials by 5 p.m. Feb. 15 to: Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, 320 International Studies Building, MC-480. For more information, call 333-1994.

Creative Writing Program

Costello leads off Carr Reading Series

Mark Costello, a celebrated short-story author and UI emeritus professor of English, will return to campus to kick off the spring 2008 Carr Reading Series.

The lecture series is sponsored by the Creative Writing Program at Illinois. All series events are free and open to the public.

Costello will speak at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Authors Corner of the Illini Union Bookstore Building. Costello taught creative writing in the UI English department from 1972 to 2002.

He is the author of two collections, “The Murphy Stories” and “Middle Murphy.” His work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies, including the “Norton Anthology of Short Fiction,” “The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction” and “The Best American Short Stories.” His “Murphy Stories” won the St. Lawrence Award for Short Fiction.

Other Carr speakers, all scheduled to begin readings at 4:30 p.m. at the bookstore, except where noted:

• March 3, Mariko Nagai, poet and short-story author, who teaches creative writing and literature and directs the writing programs at Temple University Japan Campus. Born in Tokyo but having lived most of her life in America and Europe, Nagai was the Erich Maria Remarque Poetry Fellow at New York University.

• April 3, Patrick Rosal, the author of “Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive,” finalist for the Asian-America Writers’ Workshop Literary Awards and winner of the AAWW Member’s Choice Award. His second full-length collection, “My American Kundiman,” was published in 2006. Rosal’s chapbook “Uncommon Denominators” won the Palanquin Poetry Series Award.

• April 11, Levis Faculty Center, David Foster Wallace, an award-winning author of novels, short stories and books of essays. In 2005 he published “Consider the Lobster,” a book of essays, and last year served as editor of The Best American Essays 2007, part of The Best American Series. Wallace, the son of professors at Illinois and Parkland College, grew up in Philo.

The Carr Reading Series is made possible by a gift from Robert J. and Katherin Carr.

For more information, visit the Carr series Web site: www.english.uiuc.edu/creativewriting/carr/.

‘Special collections month’

UI Library’s hidden treasures highlighted

The UI Library has proclaimed February as Special Collections Month with “discovery” events that explore some of the library’s hidden treasures.

The events “showcase what can happen and what you can be inspired to do when you are offered access to original historic artifacts,” said William Maher, university archivist and coordinator of Illinois’ special collections.

The events, all free and open to the public except where noted:

• Visit with author-artist Audrey Niffenegger, Feb. 7, 9 to 11 a.m. in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 346 Library.

• Valentine’s Day Concert, Feb. 14, 3 p.m. in the Rare Book Library. Soprano Tania Coambs accompanied on guitar by Alvan Bregman, curator of rare books.

• Love Stories: Gift Buildings at the UI, Feb. 15, 3 p.m., ACES Library, an exploration of the history of donor-funded buildings on campus, presented by Lex Tate, a visiting lecturer in journalism.

• Exotica from the Far Side of Brass Bands: Sarrusophones, Antoniophones and Ophecleides, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m., Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, tickets required. Unique historical instruments from the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music featuring the UI Symphonic Band 2 and Concert Band I.

• “The Play’s the Thing: Shakespeare’s Contemporaries on the Art and Business of Play Writing,” March 4, 3 p.m., Krannert Center, a multimedia presentation by Valerie Hotchkiss highlighting the Library’s English drama collections and other “treasures from the vault.” Hotchkiss is the rare book and manuscript librarian.

Special Collections Month is sponsored by five units of the University Library: the Map and Geography Library, the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, Student Life and Culture Archival Program, and the University Archives.

University YMCA

Friday Forum series begins Jan. 25

The spring 2008 Friday Forum lecture series continues Fridays at the University YMCA. Lectures run from 12:15-12:55 p.m. each Friday with a question and answer period from 1-1:30 p.m. Anyone may attend and participate in the discussion.

Upcoming lectures: Feb. 8, “Wal-Mart: The General Motors of the Early 21st Century?”; Feb. 15, “Unraveling Spin: Is There Hope for Uncle Sam?”; Feb. 22, “Creating Opportunity for Technology.”

For more information about lectures, vist www.universityymca.org/friday_forum.html.

University YMCA

Know Your University lecture series

The spring 2008 “Know Your University” lecture series continues Tuesdays at noon at the University YMCA. Lectures are from noon-1p.m. and are free and open to the public.

Upcoming lectures include: Feb. 12, “Leadership in the 21st Century,” with Sara Thompson, acting director of the Illinois Leadership Center; Feb. 19,  “Student Veterans’ Call for Peace,” with Jason Walace of Iraq Veterans Against the War – Central Illinois Chapter; Feb. 26, “Building International Communities Locally,” with Cheryl Hinkel, assistant director, International Student and Scholar Services

Lunch is available through the Y Thai Eatery. For more information on the lectures, visit www.universityymca.org/kyu.html or contact Phoebe Smith at phoebe@universityymca.org.

Chocolate festival

Monticello festival is Feb. 8-10

“Monticello Covered in Chocolate” combines past events – the “Chocolate Fantasy” hosted by Monticello Main Street and Allerton’s “For the Love of Chocolate Weekend” –  on Feb. 8-10, with activities for all ages. The weekend includes a blending of local businesses and organizations with classes, food and drink, vendors, contests and children’s activities all centering around chocolate. The festival is presented by Monticello Main Street and Chamber of Commerce and Allerton Park and Retreat Center. To learn more and to register online, visit www.allerton.uiuc.edu or call 333-3287.

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