IN THIS ISSUE: BUSINESS | FAA | LAS | PUBLIC AFFAIRS
business
Anthony Mendes, executive director of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the UI, has been elected one of the directors-at-large for the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship for 2009.
The association is the leading non-profit national organization dedicated to entrepreneurship education, research, outreach and public policy, and trains entrepreneurs.
fine and applied arts
Dana Hall, UI professor of music, has been appointed music director of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. In this role, Hall will assist artistic director Jon Faddis in running the nationally noted big band, which is based at Columbia College Chicago.
“One of the things I want to do is to see if there’s some way of putting fresh ears and eyes on the music of Bill Russo,” said Hall, referring to the late founder-director of the ensemble. In addition, Hall hopes to help the band explore neglected scores of Benny Carter and Fletcher Henderson, and to deepen the band’s links with the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
“Dana’s just a superb musician and represents all of the things that Jon (Faddis) does, in terms of quality and musicianship,” said Richard Dunscomb, chairman of the music department at Columbia College Chicago and executive director of the ensemble.
New paintings by art and design professor Laurie Hogin will be featured in two simultaneous exhibitions in New York City.
On display at Littlejohn Contemporary art gallery until Jan. 3, the works in “Neuromantic Evening, Psychotropical Paradise” include several large, allegorical paintings of creatures in pastoral or languishing landscapes. Landscapes represent “nature” as it is defined by the culture as well as depicting a landscape altered by history and shaped by cities, highways, parks and other manifestations of human activity.
“Monkey Brains” refers to the notion that human behavior is determined not by a disembodied rationality, as suggested in the history of many patriarchal narratives and philosophies, but rather by our being the sum total of our genetics and experience. It will be on display at Schroeder Romero art gallery until Jan. 10.
liberal arts and sciences
Two UI researchers are among a national group of scientists selected to help leaders in the entertainment industry improve the accuracy of the scientific content of their productions.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, which led the initiative, the newly formed Science & Entertainment Exchange will connect those in the entertainment industry to “some of the nation’s leading scientists, engineers and health professionals. The exchange will facilitate a dialogue and foster deeper connectivity between science and entertainment.”
Illinois entomology professor and department head May Berenbaum is on the advisory committee of The Exchange, and Illinois entomology professor and neuroscience program director Gene Robinson participated in an inaugural event for the initiative on Nov. 19 in Los Angeles.
Robinson, who said he is eager to participate in the project, said he hopes that this leads to “better portrayals of science and scientists in the mass media.”
“This is the most positive development for depictions of science in the movies in decades,” Berenbaum said. “I wouldn’t mind if mad scientists ultimately become an endangered species.”
public affairs
Two photographs taken by L. Brian Stauffer, photographer for the News Bureau, were recognized in the monthly image contest sponsored by the University Photographers’ Association of America.
Stauffer’s “Rock Climbing Wall” photograph of a student at the new Adventure Recreation Center placed first in the News and Features category. A portrait of Thomas Huang, professor of electrical and computer engineering was awarded third place in the Portraits category.
Founded in 1961, the association is “an international organization of college and university photographers concerned with the application and practice of photography as it relates to the higher education setting,” according to its Web site.
