News Bureau

This year’s Ebert Symposium will focus on inclusion and diversity in the media industry, with a keynote address provided by Stacy Smith, director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, a global think tank studying inequality in entertainment.

The 11th annual Edible Book Festival, sponsored by the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be April 4. The campus and local communities are invited to experience this unique intersection of the book arts and cuisine.

The Educational Technology Leadership Summit will be from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 9 at the I Hotel and Conference Center. The summit will bring state educational leaders to the U. of I. to participate in a unique professional learning opportunity on educational technology.

Since 2008, the Education Justice Project, a unit of the College of Education, has offered for-credit courses and other programs to incarcerated men at the Danville Correctional Center, a men’s medium-security prison.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Eight professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been elected 2019 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Eight University of Illinois researchers have been named to the Thomson Reuters / Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list for 2016. The list identifies scientists “whose research has had significant global impact within their respective fields of study."

Eight researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2023 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list. The list recognizes research scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated exceptional influence – reflected through their publication of multiple papers frequently cited by their peers during the last decade. 

Einstein Bros. Bagels has opened two more campus locations: the Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science and the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Basic Sciences Building.

The 2019 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference is May 21-22 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign. This year the conference will expand beyond the aquatic environment to include air and soil studies, along with the effects of contaminants on human and animal health.

In May 2015, the campus announced that modifications would be made to its Smoke-Free Campus Policy in accordance with the State of Illinois Smoke-Free Campus Act (110 ILCS64/1-99).

The College of Engineering seeks applicants to its Faculty Entrepreneurial Fellows Program. Selected fellows receive $50,000 in proof-of-concept funding, along with release from their teaching and committee service, to focus on bringing their work to the world by developing a specific technology innovation. In return for their release from teaching, fellows educate students about innovation and entrepreneurship. Students receive course credit.

“The STEM of Innovation” is the theme for the 96th annual Engineering Open House at the U. of I. In addition to more than 200 exhibits, the open house this year offers several new attractions, with exhibits ranging from student startup exhibits to non-Newtonian fluid demonstrations.

Students, faculty members and staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who are asked to quarantine after COVID-19 exposure or a positive test now have the opportunity to participate in a study that will help inform the national effort to manage the pandemic.

The Provost's Roundtable on Entrepreneurship will host its annual Entrepreneurship Forum from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 28 at the Illini Union.

Espresso Royale will celebrate the opening of its fourth campus location, in Grainger Engineering Library, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. Jan. 14.

The Estonian ambassador to the U.S. will address the state of the European Union as part of EU Day on Oct. 20.

The European Union ambassador to the U.S. is speaking March 15 at the University of Illinois, part of EU Day 2017.

The EU’s ambassador to the U.S. will discuss the U.K. Brexit process and transatlantic relations as part of EU Day on Nov. 9.

European Union Day at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is online this year, with Sweden’s ambassador to the U.S. speaking on gender equality and a Swedish hip-hop artist discussing racial concerns. EU Day will also include a U.K.-based theater performance of an ancient Greek play focused on refugees.

“’Before the sun is set ...’: Imagining Granada between light and lines,” an exhibition of works on paper by architect Jose Vazquez representing the architecture, landscape and city of historic Granada, Spain, begins Monday, March 4, at 5:30 p.m. in Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, 611 E. Lorado Taft Drive in Champaign.

The exhibit “Cahokia’s Religion: The Art of Red Goddesses, Black Drink and the Underworld” is on display at the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois. Created in cooperation with the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, the exhibit features objects from the ancient city of Cahokia, which was located near what is now Collinsville, Illinois, as well as objects from surrounding areas.

Allerton Park and Retreat Center will host a winter weekend seminar on topics related to beer and brewing from 1 p.m. Feb. 27 to noon Feb. 28.

Brian A. Boyd, an expert on autism spectrum and related developmental disorders, will give the annual Goldstick Family Lecture in the Study of Communication Disorders at the University of Illinois.

Nancy C. Brady, an expert on pre-language communication and language development in young children, will give the annual Goldstick Family Lecture in the Study of Communication Disorders at the University of Illinois.

Have you wondered how to preserve an old film of family memories or take proper care of grandma’s quilt? Bring your small items or come with images of larger pieces to the Preservation Emporium at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois on Saturday, April 7, from 1-4 p.m., and have your preservation questions answered by experts.

A Facebook user experience researcher will be the keynote speaker Nov. 8 at the School of Information Sciences Research Showcase.

Funda Kivran-Swaine is a research manager at Facebook who has worked in user experience design and whose research focuses on computer-mediated communication. She will give the keynote address at 1 p.m. Nov. 8 in Illini Union Rooms A and B.

The Advance Illinois Project is replacing the FACTS legacy system with a new customer relationship management database and related document management and business intelligence functionality.

Crisis knows no season. For as little as $5 per month, faculty and staff members can make a difference in the life of a co-worker in crisis by donating to the Faculty and Staff Emergency Fundat Illinois.

Over the past year, the fund provided about $30,000 in grants to employees experiencing temporary financial hardship. Since the fund’s inception in 1992, more than 1,000 academic professionals, faculty and staff members have been helped.

Crisis knows no season, and for as little as $5 per month, faculty members and staff can make a difference in the life of a co-worker in crisis.

Four University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members were honored by the Office of the Provost with the 2023 Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership.

Three faculty panelists will lead a discussion of the issues arising from the June censure of the U. of I. by the American Association of University Professors and the proposal by the U. of I. Board of Trustees this fall to require criminal background checks for all new faculty members. The event, sponsored by the Urbana campus AAUP Chapter, will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 20 in Room 314A Illini Union.

Three faculty members will join Krannert Art Museum curators at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 1 for a discussion of the current exhibition “Attachment.”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers and instructors have the opportunity to learn about the information technology services that are available to them by attending the Faculty Technology Summit. The event will take place in Illini Union Rooms A, B, and C on Wednesday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The fifth annual Materials Research Laboratory Biological Conference will be held Nov. 2-3 at the laboratory on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

Through the centuries, people have devised imaginative puzzles to test our wits. Three-dimensional puzzles crafted of wood, metal, plastic and other durable materials are designed to be taken apart, rearranged or untangled. The exhibit “Fall to pieces: Ingenious mechanical puzzles from around the world,” debuts June 4 at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures and runs through July 21.

February was particularly cold and stormy in Illinois, with an almost constant succession of storms resulting in moderate snow accumulations for the northern counties and persistent rain events and widespread flooding for the far southern counties.

The preliminary average statewide precipitation was 3.33 inches, which is 1.27 inches above the long-term average, according to Brian Kerschner, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Climatologist Office at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. 

Edward Feser is leaving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to become the provost and executive vice president at Oregon State University.

A film screening and discussion of “This Changes Everything” will be at 5 p.m. Dec. 9 in Room 319 Gregory Hall.

A transit boarding island on Green Street, reconfigured Illini Union vehicle entrance and parking, all-way pedestrian crossing and protected bicycle lanes are some of the new features to be developed by the Multimodal Corridor Enhancement Project starting in 2016.

A post-World War II romance is the first film announced for this year’s “Ebertfest,” coming April 10-13 to downtown Champaign and the U. of I. The film will be shown in memory of its co-star, Scott Wilson, a frequent past festival guest. Organizers also announced an added role in this year’s festival for film critic Richard Roeper.

Interested in meeting writing goals in a distraction-free setting?

First Street northbound between Peabody Drive and Gregory Drive is closed for repairs and will reopen on Nov. 30, weather permitting.

Five University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honorary societies in the United States. Nancy M. Amato, Rashid Bashir, Alison Bell, Charles Gammie and Paul Selvin are among the 250 inductees for 2024.

University of Illinois students Syliva E, Amelia Korveziroska, Daniel Feng, Alice Gao and Riley Trendler were awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.

Five University of Illinois professors at the Urbana-Champaign campus have been named University Scholars in recognition of their excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. 

Benjamin Cashore, a professor of environmental governance and political science with the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, will speak on campus April 8. The Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy program is sponsoring the event.

Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, will visit the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as part of the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government, presented by the University of Illinois System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs to recognize public officials who promote or demonstrate the highest standards of public service.

Four professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been elected 2018 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are: mechanical science and engineering professor Narayana Aluru, computer science professor William Gropp and plant biology professors Andrew Leakey and Ray Ming.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education Dean James Anderson, physics professor Nadya Mason, chemistry professor Nancy Makri and materials science and engineering professor Kenneth Schweizer have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honor societies in the nation.

Four University of Illinois students received U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships to study foreign languages this summer.