Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Speaker series to discuss the research university of the future

The UI is offering a seminar series starting in May, designed to give educators a multifaceted peek at how higher education is changing to address society’s changing needs.

Urbana Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise recently announced the first two speakers of the series, who will talk about “The Research University in the World of the Future” beginning May 2.

“In the world of 2030, how do we best extend our capacity to propel young people into their lives, to deal with global challenges, to provide opportunities for discovery and to preserve and enhance the life of the mind?” Wise said.

She said the impetus for the series is the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the U.S. Land Grant Act, which established the UI and a host of public universities across the country.

The future-oriented theme will be examined by several renowned speakers, two of whom have committed to speak in May and two others in the fall. Details for the fall sessions are being completed and more speakers could be added.

“The hope is, this will help us establish a long-term vision for our campus,” Wise said. “We are inviting leaders of higher education and research to dream along with us. We want them to discuss their vision for the research university 20 years hence as it sets the stage for the subsequent 20-30 years.”

The May 2 speaker, Maria Helena Nazaré, is the newly elected and first female president of the European University Association. She will deliver her public message from 4-5 p.m. May 2 in the ballroom of the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. A reception follows.

In addition to the seminar, Nazaré, a physicist, will meet with several campus leaders during the day, including the Chancellor’s Cabinet, the provost, the Council of Deans and faculty members. She also will be invited to tour the university’s libraries and the Blue Waters supercomputer facility, and lead a roundtable discussion with administrators and senior faculty members.

Nazaré is a past president of Portugal’s University of Aveiro, has led several committees as vice president of the EUA (including the Internationalization Working Group) and serves on the board of directors of Portugal Telecom.

The second speaker in the series, Wei Yang, the president of China’s Zhejiang University, is scheduled to deliver his public address from 4-5 p.m. May 31 in the auditorium of the Beckman Institute.

Yang, a nanoscience researcher and past president of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, also will meet with campus leaders during his visit, including at a post-seminar reception and roundtable discussion with administrators and senior faculty members.

Wise, in her first year as chancellor, also is completing an in-house initiative, Visioning Future Excellence, addressing the university’s future. She said she is eager to hear the leaders share their vision of higher education’s future.

“These are some of the same things we’re already talking about and thinking about,” she said. “Some of the very issues we face are the same for our international colleagues. I’m eager to hear their perspectives and learn from them.”

Read Next

Life sciences Photo of Michael Ward standing in tall grass on a riverbank.

How are migrating wild birds affected by H5N1 infection in the U.S.?

Each spring, roughly 3.5 billion wild birds migrate from their warm winter havens to their breeding grounds across North America, eating insects, distributing plant seeds and providing a variety of other ecosystem services to stopping sites along the way. Some also carry diseases like avian influenza, a worry for agricultural, environmental and public health authorities. […]

Announcements Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering.

Illinois faculty member elected to National Academy of Engineering

Champaign, Ill. — Marcelo Garcia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Social sciences Male and female student embracing on the quad with flowering redbud tree and the ACES library in the background. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Dating is not broken, but the trajectories of relationships have changed

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010