PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 28, No. 14, Feb. 19, 2009

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Brief Notes

Krannert Center

‘Day of the Drum’ is Feb. 24

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts will host “Day of the Drum” Feb. 24. The event will comprise four main performances, three of which are free lobby events.

The drummers of Kodo (pictured) will anchor the event with a 7:30 p.m. performance in the Tryon Festival Theatre. The drummers wield astonishing rhythmic technique to imitate a delicate heartbeat or brute force to conjure a call to arms. Their angular frozen poses and playful tapping contribute to an electrifying atmosphere at turns thunderous and tranquil.

The free lobby events will be a noon “Interval” performance (Glen Velez with Lori Cotler, and Liam Teague with Robert Chappell), at 5 p.m. “Traffic Jam” with Dahui, and a 9:30 “Afterglow” with the Rocky Maffit Group.

In addition Maffit will be featured at noon at the University YMCA. Maffit, a noted percussionist and former member of the band Champaign, has joined with Krannert Center to curate the “Day of the Drum.” In this lecture, Maffit will share stories from his own career as well as a sampling of his rhythmic styles.

“Day of the Drum” also will feature two workshop sessions (at 2 and 3:30 p.m. on Stage 5), and displays from Ten Thousand Villages and the Robert E. Brown Center for World Music.

During the 5 p.m. lobby performance, the group Dahui will bring more than 100 percussion instruments to share with audience members who wish to play along.  Everyone is encouraged to bring drums for this collaborative music-making experience.

Throughout the day, Intermezzo cafe will be open for service, and the Stage 5 Bar will offer drink specials.

For a complete schedule of events visit KrannertCenter.com or contact Bridget Lee-Calfas at 333-6282.

Asian Educational Media Service / Spurlock Museum

AsiaLENS series to present films monthly

Organized by the Asian Educational Media Service in collaboration with the Spurlock Museum, the spring 2009 AsiaLENS series will present films the first Tuesday of the month.

AsiaLENS features free public screenings of recent documentary and independent films addressing issues of contemporary life in Asia, introduced by local experts who lead audiences in post-screening discussions.

Upcoming films: “Kabul Transit” on March 3, and “The Last Ghost Of War” on April 7.  Complete information on the AsiaLENS series can be found at www.aems.uiuc.edu/events/asialens.htm.

AsiaLENS films are screened in the Knight Auditorium at the Spurlock Museum.  For more information, call 333-9597 or e-mail aems@illinois.edu.

Child Development Laboratory

Apply now for 2009-10 child care

The Child Development Laboratory, 1105 W. Nevada St. and 1005 W. Nevada St., Urbana, is accepting applications for the 2009-2010 school year.  Half-day preschool programs for 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children meet Tuesday through Friday for three hours a day during the regular academic year.  Full-day child-care programs for children from 6 weeks to 4 years are in session Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. on a year-round basis. 

Orientation tours of both facilities are offered weekly.  Hourlong tours depart from the lobby of the Early Child Development Lab on Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m., and on Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. Visitors should use the Lincoln Avenue entrance off of the Jimmy John’s parking lot. Tours are suspended during the enrollment months of April and May.

For full consideration, applications for the half-day programs are due by April 1 and for the full-day programs by May 1. Online enrollment applications are available at cdl.uiuc.edu. For more information or to schedule a tour, call 244-8622.

Center for Children’s Books

2009 Gryphon Award given to ‘Frogs’

“Frogs,” written and illustrated by Nic Bishop, has won the 2009 Gryphon Award for Children’s Literature.

The award, which includes a $1,000 prize, is given annually by the Center for Children’s Books at the UI. The center is a unit of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

The prize is awarded to the author of an outstanding English language work of fiction or non-fiction for which the primary audience is children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Award winners best exemplify “those qualities that successfully bridge the gap in difficulty between books for reading aloud to children and books for practiced readers,” said Christine Jenkins, the director of the center and a GSLIS professor.

According to Jenkins, “Frogs” (Scholastic, January 2008) combines photographs worthy of National Geographic with an information-rich text featuring frogs of all sizes, colors, habitats and habits.

“Bishop’s accessible text and brilliant photographs create an engaging book that young readers will return to again and again,“ Jenkins said.

Two Gryphon Honors winners also were named: “Bad Kitty Gets a Bath,” written and illustrated by Nick Bruel; and “Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog,” written and illustrated by Mini Grey.

The award was established in 2004 to focus attention on transitional reading – “an area of literature for youth that, despite its importance to the successful transition of children from new readers to independent lifelong readers, does not receive the critical recognition it deserves,” Jenkins said.

I Space

Faculty exhibition on display

A new exhibition of drawings, paintings and collages is on view through March 14 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the UI.

“Sam Ainsley and Barbara Kendrick: Atlas of Encounters” features drawings and paintings by Ainsley, and collages and mixed-media drawings by Kendrick.

Until recently, Ainsley was the head of the master of fine arts program at the Glasgow School of Art. She serves as the school’s unofficial “international ambassador” and also teaches part-time in the painting department.

According to Kendrick, professor emeritus in the UI School of Art and Design, she and Ainsley, who have exhibited together at the UI’s Krannert Art Museum, are concerned with “an emotional mapping” of the body.

“In both of our work there is a tension that arises from the ‘argument’ between abstraction and representation,” she said.

That argument will be advanced to another level in the exhibition, which will also feature a collaborative work by both artists.

The gallery is at 230 W. Superior St., Chicago. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Communications Professionals

Public Affairs offers workshop series

Public Affairs is offering a series of workshops designed to cover a variety of topics of interest to communications professionals. All workshops are free of charge and are open to the campus community. Topics include:

•   “Introduction to Adobe Creative Suite for Non-designers,” March 17

•   “We Think We’ve Got News – Now What?” April 22

•    “Design and Marketing With the Toolbox,” May 21

•    “Lights, Camera, Action!” June 16 

For session overviews, panel members and to register, visit: http://publicaffairs.illinois.edu/communicators/workshopseries.html.

Center for Training and Professional Development

Training center has new name

Training for Business Professionals has changed its name to The Center for Training and Professional Development. The new name describes the variety of services offered: training programs as well as strategic planning assistance, process improvement consulting and coaching. The center’s new Web site is www.trainingcenter.illinois.edu. Contact Renee Lyell at rlyell@illinois.edu for more information.

Survey Research Laboratory

Free survey research methods seminars

The Survey Research Laboratory is offering four introductory seminars on survey research methodology this semester. The series is free to UI faculty and staff members and students. Attendance for each seminar is limited and advance registration is required.  

All seminars are scheduled to meet from noon to 1:30 p.m. in classroom 201, 505 E. Green St., Champaign.

Topics include:

• “Introduction to Questionnaire Design,” Feb. 25

• “Introduction to Survey Sampling,” March 4

• “Web Surveys,” March 11

• “Survey Data Analysis,” March 18

To register, go to www.srl.uic.edu/seminars.htm.

Urbana Chapter of AAUP

Promotion-tenure workshop is March 5

On March 5, Provost Linda Katehi will be the principal panelist at a workshop on “Achieving Tenure and Promotion – Policies and Procedures on the UIUC Campus” sponsored by the UI Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.  The program will begin at 2:30 p.m. in Latzer Hall, University YMCA.

Katehi and her fellow panelists will make short presentations, lead the discussion and answer questions from the audience. This program should be of particular interest to new and continuing tenure-track assistant professors and to associate professors seeking promotion.

The panelists (and the topics they will address): Katehi and Vice Provost Barbara Wilson (campus policies, three-year review procedures); James A. Imlay, a professor of microbiology, past chair of the Campus Promotion and Tenure Committee (procedures followed by the UI Promotion and Tenure Committee); and Billie Jean Theide, a professor of art and design, chair of the UI Faculty Advisory Committee (appeal procedures).  There also will be a representative from AAUP.

Registration is not required and all faculty members are welcome.  Refreshments will be served.  For further information, contact Harry H. Hilton, 333-2653 or h-hilton@illinois.edu, or Donald Uchtmann, 333-1829 or uchtmann@illinois.edu.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Pre-symposium events announced

The second annual UI Undergraduate Research Symposium will be held at the Illini Union on April 7. The symposium provides undergraduates with the opportunity to present the fruits of their research and creative activities to the larger university community.  Students may offer oral presentations, artistic performances or poster displays at the symposium. 

To participate, students are encouraged to submit a proposal by 11:59 p.m. Feb. 22.

A series of pre-symposium events have been scheduled to support students in preparing both proposals and their presentations: 

A workshop for those seeking advice on preparing a proposal for the symposium will be from 6 to 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Undergraduate Library, Room 295. 

Once proposals have been accepted, workshops designed to help students develop their presentations effectively will also be available from 6 to 7 p.m. March 17 and March 18, both at the Undergraduate Library, Room 295. Students may choose either date.

Encouragement and support from the faculty will help make this event a significant part of the undergraduate experience at the UI.

More information about the symposium may be found at http://provost.illinois.edu/ugresearch/. Questions should be directed to Wayne Pitard at wpitard@illinois.edu.

College of ACES

ExplorACES scheduled for March 13-14

ExplorACES is a two-day event designed to acquaint prospective students and their families with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the UI.

The event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 13 and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 14.

Details about ExplorACES can be found at www.aces.illinois.edu/ExplorACES/.

The Web site includes information about exhibits as well as an interactive map to help guide visitors through the buildings and activities and online registration to attend receptions for admitted freshmen and others.

“The College of ACES is one of the largest colleges at Illinois, but this event lets students and their families see how comfortable and friendly it really is, despite the size,” said Jeremy Robinett, one of the coordinators of the event.

Current ACES students plan the event, handle publicity and staff the exhibits. There will be dozens of hands-on exhibits relating to classroom work, club activities and honors research. Visitors also will have opportunities to tour lab and classroom facilities and meet ACES faculty members.

The College of ACES offers 10 undergraduate majors with 39 different concentrations, and ExplorACES helps prospective students get an overview of the potential areas of study, including bioengineering, community development, economics, human nutrition, plant breeding, and pre-veterinary studies.

For more information, call 333-2728.

University Primary School

Annual art exhibition opens Feb. 20

“Artistic Conversations,” the University Primary School Annual Art Exhibition, opens Feb. 20 with a reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the third floor of the College of Education building. A pizza-dinner fundraiser also will take place in the north lobby and will cost $5 per dinner.  The exhibit will remain open to the public until March 6.

Saving Our Lives Hearing Our Truths

Exhibition on black girlhood on display

An exhibition of artwork, poetry and photography by local artists that celebrates black girlhood will be on display at Krannert Art Museum through Feb. 27.

“Reflections of Black Girlhood:  Necessary Truths” will feature works created by black women and girls involved in the Saving Our Lives Hearing Our Truths outreach program and SOLHOT/Sisterhood, a collaboration between SOLHOT and Urbana Middle School.

SOLHOT is an experience for and about black girls living and learning in Central Illinois co-founded and led by Ruth Nicole Brown, a professor of gender and women’s studies and of educational policy studies at the UI. SOLHOT provides a space for black girls to explore their experiences and what it means to be young, black and female in today’s society.

SOLHOT encourages black girls to create spaces of their own – physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually – to express who they are and desire to be through discussion, song, storytelling, dance, photography, poetry, video and other media.

To celebrate the exhibition and the publication of Brown’s book, “Black Girlhood Celebration: Toward a Hip Hop Feminist Pedagogy” (Peter Lang Publishing, 2008), a reception will be at the art museum from 5-7 p.m. Feb. 19. The event is free and open to the public.

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