PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 27, No. 17, April 3, 2008

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brief notes

‘Jazz from the Archives’

Faculty member’s music featured

The music of UI music professor and baritone saxophonist Glenn Wilson will be featured during a one-hour radio show, “Wailin’ With Wilson,” on New York City radio station WBGO-FM (88.3) at 10 p.m. (CDT) on April 13. The program, part of the station’s weekly “Jazz from the Archives” series hosted by Bill Kirchner, also will be broadcast on the Internet at www.wbgo.org.

“The baritone saxophone has been played by relatively few major jazz improvisers; one of the most underheralded of these is Glenn Wilson,” notes Kirchner.

On the program will be samples of Wilson’s recorded work with his own groups, with pianists Harold Danko and Steve Kessler, guitarist Rory Stuart, bassists Dennis Irwin and Jim Masters, and drummers Adam Nussbaum. Wilson also will be featured in performances with the Bob Belden Ensemble and the Bill Kirchner Nonet.

College of Veterinary Medicine

Annual open house is April 5

More than 300 veterinary students at the UI College of Veterinary Medicine will host the college’s annual open house from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. April 5.

The behind-the-scenes look at the state’s only veterinary college is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Free parking will be provided at the college.

Open house provides information about veterinary careers and admission to veterinary school. While many people associate veterinary medicine with routine health care for dogs and cats, the profession offers a world of career options.

Activities of the veterinary medical profession benefit every person in the state, either directly – by providing care to companion animals and livestock – or indirectly – through work in medical research, public health, food safety, disease surveillance, environmental health promotion and many other areas.

The open house includes more than 50 exhibits and demonstrations for all ages. The focus is on the art and science of veterinary medicine and animal-related areas, including demonstrations of dogs on the rehab program’s underwater treadmill; obedience and police dog demonstrations; Wildlife Medical Clinic birds of prey; and exhibits from area breed rescue clubs.

Additionally, the college’s veterinary heritage collection will make its open house debut this year. The UI, College of Veterinary Medicine and the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association opened the Dr. Walter E. Zuschlag/ISVMA Veterinary Heritage Collection in October. The state of Illinois played a significant role of the national development of the veterinary profession. The collection includes more than 30 cabinets featuring artifacts from the beginning days of the veterinary profession. These items explain the societal forces that led to the closure of two prominent veterinary colleges in Chicago at the start of the 20th century.

African American Studies and Research Program

Conference looks at racial violence

The African American Studies and Research Program at the UI is sponsoring a conference, “Rupture, Repression and Uprising,” April 3-5 at the Illini Union. Participants and attendees are asked to register, but the conference is free and open to the public.

By marking the anniversaries of the 1908 Springfield race riot and the cataclysmic events of 1968, this conference investigates their legacies for a dawning new century. This commemoration also provides a powerful point of entry into larger scholarly conversations about the history of riots, other organized violence against radicalized bodies (including sexual and state violence), rebellions and resistance, and their reverberations across time and space.

Award-winning poet Sonia Sanchez and prolific historian Gerald Horne will be keynote speakers. The event also will feature plenary panels, including racial violence in the U.S. during the period of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot with a workshop by James Loewen on “sun-down towns”; a multiethnic plenary panel on sexual violence; and a panel on the Kerner Commission Report on race and violence in America with black journalists Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune, Laura Washington of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Jabari Asim, editor of the NAACP’s Crisis.

For more information, contact aasrp@illinois.edu, call 333-7781 or visit www.aasrp.uiuc.edu.

Japan House

Open house features art of incense

A demonstration of Kodo, the traditional Japanese art of incense, will be among the highlights at the annual spring open house at Japan House on April 12.

The educational and cultural facility will welcome visitors from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Affiliated with the College of Fine and Applied Arts, Japan House this year is celebrating its 10th anniversary at its current location.

The Kodo demonstrations, presented by Gyosetsu Maruyama and Nobue Irako, representatives of Nippon Kodo Inc., Tokyo, will take place at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

“Breathing in and appreciating the different varieties of incense is called ‘listening to the Koh,’ ” said Japan House director Kimiko Gunji, who explained that the Koh represents the realm of spiritual pleasure. Not as well known to Western audiences as some other Japanese arts forms, the Kodo tradition – which can be practiced individually or in groups – dates back to the 15th century. Several Kodo schools have since evolved, and the art and culture of incense continues in practice today.

Other activities planned during the open house include tours of Japan House’s gardens led by James Bier, garden designer and builder, at 1 and 3 p.m.

Throughout the day, members of the Urbana-Champaign Association of Chado Urasenke Tankokai will present tea ceremonies. Examples of ikebana – or floral arranging – by art and design students, also will be on display.

More information about the open house, and other upcoming Japan House events is available on the Web at www.art.uiuc.edu/galleries/japanhouse, or by calling 244-9934.

College of Law

Conference looks at ‘A Debtor World’

Perhaps the most common American experience today is debt. While debt can enable individuals and companies to do useful things they would otherwise be unable to do, excessive debt can cause serious financial problems for individuals, businesses and society at large.

The UI College of Law, in cooperation with the American Bankruptcy Institute, will host a conference May 2-3 focused on the deepening debt crisis in America. “A Debtor World: Interdisciplinary Academic Symposium on Debt” will explore debt as neither a problem nor solution but as a phenomenon. Many different academic disciplines can make important contributions to help us understand why consumers and businesses decide to borrow money, what happens to businesses and consumers under a heavy debt load, and what norms and institutions societies need to encourage the efficient use of debt. Much of this knowledge is compartmentalized into intellectual silos that are rarely cross-fertilized. The goal of the conference is to promote the sharing of this knowledge.

This conference will include renowned lecturers from a variety of disciplines, including law, business, psychology, economics, finance, strategic management and sociology.

James Scurlock, producer of the critically acclaimed 2007 documentary “Maxed Out,” is the keynote speaker. His follow-up print work, “Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders,” was published last year and further highlights the dilemma of pervasive debt in our society.

The full conference schedule and information about other speakers is available at www.abiworld.org/Debt08/.

UI faculty and staff members and UI students will receive a discount for the conference. Tickets regularly priced at $395 are available for $50. This fee includes conference registration, all sessions and meals. There is no cost to attend conference sessions without meals. To register, visit www.law.uiuc.edu/debt08/registration.asp.

WILL-AM-FM-TV

Kieser presents free tornado safety show

WILL chief meteorologist Ed Kieser will present a free tornado safety seminar at 7 p.m. April 10, with tips people can use to protect themselves when tornadoes threaten.

Kieser, now in his 18th year of presenting the shows, uses spectacular video and graphics to help arm Central Illinois residents with information that could save their lives. The seminar takes place at the Beckman Institute auditorium.

“Tornadoes have already caused 69 deaths in the United States in 2008,” Kieser said. “The number of fatalities this year is already ahead of the 30-year average for the entire year, and we’re just entering the prime tornado season.”

Rick Atterberry, public information officer for the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency, will provide information about what to expect from local government in a disaster. Atterberry also will talk about what the Emergency Management Agency does in times of crisis and how people can be prepared during an emergency.

Free parking for the event is available in the university parking garage at the corner of University and Mathews avenues. For more information, call 244-5072 or visit the WILL Web site at www.will.uiuc.edu.

Marketing pioneers honored

Marketing symposium is April 17-19

Five pioneers will be honored for their contributions to the field of marketing during an international symposium April 17-19 at the UI.

The Paul D. Converse Symposium is held every four years, presenting achievement awards that constitute a “Marketing Hall of Fame,” according to Fortune magazine. The UI department of business administration and the Central Illinois chapter of the American Marketing Association sponsor the event.

Winners who will be honored:

• Joe Alba, chairman of the marketing department at the University of Florida, an authority in retail marketing;

• Len Barry, a marketing professor at Texas A&M who studies how customer expertise influences shopping.

• Kent Monroe, a visiting professor of marketing at the University of Richmond and a former UI marketing professor, a leading researcher on pricing strategy.

• Rajan Varadarajan, a marketing professor at Texas A&M who specializes in services marketing.

• Valerie Zeithaml, a marketing professor at the University of North Carolina and a pioneer in services marketing, is the first woman honored in the nearly 50-year history of the awards.

Honorees will present programs and answer questions from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 18 and from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 19 at Wohlers Hall. Presentations are open to the public, but seating is limited. The honorees will receive their awards during a dinner April 19 at the Levis Center.

“The symposium is our chance to showcase the best and the brightest in the field,” said Cele Otnes, co-chair of this year’s symposium along with UI marketing professor Bill Qualls. “We’ll have five of the world’s greatest marketing minds on campus and that’s great exposure for our faculty and students.”

For the first time, the symposium also will host students seeking doctoral degrees in marketing from other Big Ten universities, expanding exposure to the award winners, Otnes said.

The American Marketing Association established the symposium in honor of Converse, a former UI business professor who was a pioneer in developing the field of marketing. The UI College of Business is the permanent host for the event.

Campus Recreation

Event teaches women how to live ‘well’

Want to learn to live “well,” but would like to learn more? The LifeStudio is a place you can learn about wellness and then find ways to implement the activities into your healthy lifestyle either at Campus Rec or on your own.

The next event is “Stress Management & Women’s Hormones,” with Dr. Jeffery Melby from 1:30-2:30 p.m. April 19 in Multipurpose Room 1 at Campus Recreation Center East.

Register at CRCE Member Services or call 244-3440. The event is free for students and campus recreation members and $8 for non-members.

‘Exhibitionism at its Best’

Workshop shows how to design exhibits

Pat Miller, executive director of the Illinois Heritage Association and adjunct lecturer in the department of urban and regional planning, and Christa Deacy-Quinn, collections manager of the Spurlock Museum, will host “Exhibitionism at its Best: How to Design A Great Exhibit.”

The session, designed to teach how to design attention-getting exhibits, will include selecting a main theme and sub-themes, design concepts and text for labels; copyright issues; and environmental and security concerns. To illustrate these concepts, a “dummy exhibit” will be constructed. Examples of exhibit “furniture” and other equipment available for use in the Main Library’s exhibit cases also will be shared. The session is from 1-3 p.m. April 10 in the Grainger Commons of the Grainger Engineering Library

This workshop, organized by the University Library’s Exhibit Committee, is open to all university staff members. Register in advance online at www.uiuc.edu/goto/exhibit08. For more information, contact Annette Morris at 244-5276 or morrisa@illinois.edu.

Campus Recreation

Taste of Campus Recreation is April 11

The first Taste of Campus Recreation will be April 11. This all-day event offers an opportunity to try a little bit of everything Campus Recreation has to offer.

To participate, pick up a punch card at Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE,) then attend six events of your choice and redeem the card for a free Chipotle burrito and the chance to win other great prizes. Events will include a free yoga class, wellness check-ups, martial arts demonstrations, a pool party, and a demonstration of the Nike+ iPod.  For a complete schedule of events, visit www.campusrec.uiuc.edu.

African-American history makers

‘Agents of Change’ opens April 7

“African-American HistoryMakers: Agents of Change,” an exhibition produced by the UI and The HistoryMakers, will be installed in the Illini Union South Lounge on April 7 and will run through the end of the semester. An opening reception will be held at 2 p.m. April 17, also in the South Lounge.

The HistoryMakers represents the single largest archival project of its kind in the world and is unique among other collections of African-American heritage, because of its massive scope. The organization is committed to preserving, developing and providing easy access to an internationally recognized, archival collection of thousands of African American video oral histories.

HistoryMakers to be featured in this exhibition include Nelvia Brady, Carol Moseley Braun, Frances Carroll, George Carruthers, Emil Jones, James Montgomery, Linda Rae Murray, Barack Obama, Monica Faith Stewart, Eddie Williams, and Olly Wilson. This exhibition is one of three that will be installed on all three UI campuses.

Program for the Study of Religion

Feminist theologist to lecture April 10

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, a pioneer in biblical interpretation and feminist theology, will deliver the 2008 Marjorie Hall Thulin Lecture in Religion at the UI.

Fiorenza, the Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, will speak at 8 p.m. April 10 in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum. Her talk is titled “Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire.”

The Program for the Study of Religion is sponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.

Fiorenza’s teaching and research focus on questions of biblical and theological epistemology, hermeneutics, rhetoric and the politics of interpretation, as well as on issues of theological education, radical equality and democracy.

In her presentation, Fiorenza will explore how the power of empire has shaped and affected Christian Scriptures and “how it continues to shape our cultural and religious ethos.”

“Because Christian Scriptures and interpretations were formulated in the context of Roman imperial power, they lend themselves to being used in the service of empire, colonialist expansion and heterosexist discrimination,” Fiorenza said. “Therefore, they are determined by this rhetorical political imperial context.”

Fiorenza said that through the process of reading Scripture, therefore, “we internalize the ethos of empire: violence, exclusion and submission to God, the almighty King and Christ the Lord, if we do not critically become conscious of the language of empire inscribed in it.”

Fiorenza calls on readers to avoid such internalizations by adopting “an understanding of Scripture that will allow us to deal critically with the biblical ethos of empire, rather than repeating and perpetuating it.”

Marjorie Hall Thulin, for whom the annual lecture is named, graduated from the UI in 1931, and had a successful career in advertising.

For more information about the lecture, contact Robert McKim, the director of the Program for the Study of Religion, at 244-5832 or rmckim@illinois.edu.

European Union Center

EU Day activities are April 14-15

This year’s European Union Day activities at the UI will take place April 14-15.

The schedule of events, sponsored by the UI’s European Union Center and free and open to the public, begins with a panel discussion titled “Slovenia and the Global Economy: Doing Business with the EU’s Eastern Members,” at 4:30 p.m. on April 14 in 210 Illini Union. Panelists will be Charles Bukowski, professor of international relations at Bradley University; Irena Lukac, trade and economic counselor at the Embassy of Slovenia; and Wilmer Otto, president of Equipment Direct-USA.

At 10 a.m. on April 15, the annual State of the European Union Keynote Address will be presented by Samuel Zbogar, ambassador of Slovenia to the United States.

More information about the events and the UI’s EU Center is available online at www.ips.uiuc.edu/eu.

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