IN THIS ISSUE: BROADCASTING | LAS | FAA | DADS ASSOCIATION
broadcasting
Two UI projects recently were named winners of the Illinois Governor’s Home Town Awards, a recognition given to people and projects that improve their communities. Forty projects were recognized at the 26th annual awards ceremony in Springfield on Nov. 27.
WILL AM-FM-TV’s Illinois Radio Reader service won first place in the general category for communities with a population of more than 75,000 for its program to serve vision-impaired residents of East Central Illinois. The service, housed on the UI campus, enables blind and print-handicapped people to use a special radio receiver to hear volunteers read newspapers, books and other materials live each day.
The city of Hoopeston’s Youth Town Hall Project, a partnership among WILL AM-FM-TV, the city of Hoopeston and Prairie Center Health Systems, won first place in the youth involvement category for communities with a population of 5,901 to 10,000. WILL worked with youth and community leaders in Hoopeston to address youth concerns and to develop an action plan to address needs of teenagers.
liberal arts and sciences
The Granger Centre Conference was held in honor of Paul Newbold, former UI professor and head of the department of economics, Sept. 21-22 at the University of Nottingham. The conference, “Non-Stationary Time Series Econometrics,” marked the contribution of Newbold following his recent retirement. Newbold was a faculty member at the UI from 1979-1994.
fine and applied arts
Gary Kesler, associate head of landscape architecture, received the 2007 American Society of Landscape Architects President’s Medal in recognition of his “sustained, unselfish and devoted service to the society at the national level for more than 30 years.” The medal was presented during the society’s annual meeting in San Francisco in October.
dads association
The UI Dads Association recently presented its annual Certificate of Merit Awards to an outstanding faculty member, staff member, student and student organization.
Andrea Ray, staff secretary in the Institute of Communications Research, was named Outstanding Staff Member. According to her nomination, since her January 2006 arrival, Ray has reorganized operations, established constructive practices and created new ways of handling information, people and questions that have made the unit far more productive.
Two were named Outstanding Faculty Member.
Nancy Benson, professor of journalism, was honored for her creation of an international reporting class in broadcast. In 2005, Benson took 10 students to Peru and this summer, 10 to China. The students research stories, conduct interviews and produce radio stories that were broadcast on WILL-AM (580).
Wayne Banwart, an associate dean in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, was honored for his dedication to students and for his leadership and administrative oversight. Banwart serves as the college’s liaison to the Graduate College on matters of academic policy and programs; represents the college on academic policy at the campus, state, regional, national and international levels; supervises personnel and administers budgetary and fiscal matters in the Office of Academic Programs.
