News Bureau

A candlelight vigil to honor missing scholar Yingying Zhang will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Illini Union. In the event of rain, the vigil will be held in the Union’s Courtyard Cafe.

Campus Recreation at Illinois will hold a grand reopening of the newly renovated Ice Arena on Friday, Sept. 15 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Remarks from Marcus Jackson, the director of Campus Recreation, will be at 7:30 p.m.

University of Illinois urban and regional planning professor Robert Olshansky is available for interviews regarding post-disaster recovery in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

U. of I. Chancellor Robert J. Jones and Krannert Art Museum Director Kathleen Harleman welcomed visitors to “World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean” on the exhibition’s opening night at the museum Thursday, including Robinson Njeru Githae, the Kenyan ambassador to the United States, and Mzalendo Kibunjia, the director general of the National Museums of Kenya.

“It is fitting that ‘World on the Horizon’ is organized by Krannert Art Museum, that it begins here but will travel across the country,” Jones said. “This exhibition and its underlying research reflect the vital and important work we do at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and demonstrate how far the impact of our scholarship can reach.”

Jones and Harleman acknowledged the significance of the exhibition, which includes many works of art from Kenya and Oman that are being exhibited in the U.S. for the first time. “World on the Horizon” will be on view at the museum through March 24 in the East Gallery.

“We hope this exhibition of Swahili art will begin an era of partnership between Kenya and the United States,” Githae said. “As the exhibition travels to other museums, we invite all to get to know and understand this art and culture.” There are more than 30 works of art from the National Museums of Kenya in the exhibition.

The exhibition “reflects years of research and tremendous cooperation among institutions, including the National Museums of Kenya and dozens of other museums and private collectors who have lent their work to this endeavor,” said Allyson Purpura, the senior curator and curator of Global African Art at the museum. She and Prita Meier, a professor of art history at New York University, co-curated the exhibition.

“World on the Horizon” will later travel to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., and to Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles. The exhibit enriches understanding of the Swahili coast of Africa by emphasizing its global connections, deepening discourse and advancing knowledge in important ways, Purpura said.

“It asks visitors to ponder how artistic practice and human creativity can lead people to remap their relationship to seemingly distant places and societies,” she said. “It will encourage visitors to make connections between artworks and to question their own expectations of what African, Asian, Islamic or Western culture looks like.”

Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion are part of the College of Fine and Applied Arts at Illinois.

The Center for Advanced Study invites U. of I. faculty members to submit scholarly and creative proposals for consideration for its research appointments program.

Soils across Illinois were cooler and drier than average in the first half of August, said Jennie Atkins, the water and atmospheric resources monitoring program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

The University YMCA will hold its annual Dump and Run sale Saturday, Aug. 26, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of Illinois Stock Pavilion, 1402 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Urbana. Admission is $3. A follow-up sale will occur Sunday, Aug. 27, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the pavilion, with a “free” sale from 2:30 to 3 p.m. Dump and Run is a community recycling program that reduces litter and consumer waste, saves space in landfills, lowers dumping costs for certified housing and apartments, and provides inexpensive items for people to purchase.

John A. Lynn II, a professor emeritus of history at Illinois, will give a talk and answer questions covering the events depicted in the film “Dunkirk” immediately following the 1 p.m. screening Aug. 20 at the Virginia Theatre, 203 W. Park Ave., Champaign.

The Carle Illinois College of Medicine has appointed a permanent executive associate dean: Rashid Bashir, a professor and the department head of bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Northern Illinois experienced heavy rain and widespread flooding in July. Meanwhile, parts of central and southern Illinois experienced dry weather that caused crop damage, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

On average, however, the statewide precipitation was 4.81 inches, which is 0.73 inches above normal.

Krannert Art Museum recently launched an expanded, redesigned website that will allow online visitors to search the museum’s art collection.

Culture’s pivotal role in effective educational and social assessments – and how related research findings can spark social change – will be the focus of an international conference in Chicago this fall.

Soil temperatures are above normal in mid-July, according to Jennie Atkins, the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

The reward for information about missing scholar Yingying Zhang’s whereabouts will be raised to $50,000. The increase, requested by Zhang's family, will be announced at a news conference Friday morning.

Gavin Horn, the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute’s director of research,  will testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Subcommittee on Research and Technology. The hearing, scheduled for July 12, is titled “U.S. Fire Administration and Fire Grant Programs Reauthorization: Examining Effectiveness and Priorities.” The hearing will review the effectiveness and priorities of the United States Fire Administration and the Assistance to Firefighters and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Firefighters grant programs.

The average temperature for June in Illinois was 72.8 degrees, 0.9 degrees above normal, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel with the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

A public event in support of missing scholar Yingying Zhang will take place Thursday evening at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The event is organized by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.

Soil temperatures have been rising throughout the first half of June, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

Members of the news media are invited to attend a community meeting Thursday, June 22, to discuss campus support for the search for Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old visiting scholar from China who has been missing since June 9.

A $40,000 reward was raised by the community to generate information leading to the arrest of those involved in the apparent kidnapping of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old visiting scholar who has been missing since June 9. The reward will be discussed at a 7 p.m. news conference tonight on campus.

Danita M. Brown Young will become the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign effective Aug. 7. She currently is the vice provost for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Minnesota.

Milan Bagchi, the head of the department of molecular and integrative physiology, was named the next director of the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois.

The statewide average temperature for May was 61.9 degrees, 0.8 degrees below normal, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel with the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the U. of I. A few locations in Illinois reached 90 degrees, including Moline and Springfield. In mid-May, several locations reported temperatures below freezing, including Mount Carroll with 29 degrees.

The New Americans Initiative of the University YMCA is hosting three free U.S. citizenship information sessions in June. The final meeting will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, at the University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign. Free child care is available. Topics include the process of naturalization and how to prepare for the citizenship exam. For additional event details and program fliers, visit http://www.universityymca.org/welcome/#nai.

The Audiology Clinic at Illinois is offering free adult hearing screenings June 1 through July 28. Screening appointments may be scheduled by calling 217-333-2230. No appointments are accepted via email.

Beginning Monday, May 22, two sections of Green Street between Wright Street and Goodwin Avenue will close to through traffic as construction resumes on Multimodal Corridor Enhancement (MCORE) Project 1 (see map). Significant detours for vehicular and pedestrian traffic will occur for primary campus locations.

After a cool beginning of the month, soil temperatures are rising throughout the state in mid-May, according to Jennie Atkins, the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. 

The University YMCA seeks volunteers to collect, sort and pack donations for its annual Dump and Run recycling sale in August. The program has been a completely volunteer-run program since its inception 15 years ago.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Richard L. Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law at Illinois, is an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy and retirement issues who is available for media interviews on issues surrounding the efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature health care law.

Kaplan has lectured on taxation and retirement issues on three continents and has testified before the U.S. Congress on several occasions, and has developed one of the first law school courses on elder law, an emerging specialty dealing with the legal implications of extended life.

According to Kaplan, the proposed American Health Care Act would further complicate an already complicated health insurance system.

“The most layered and complex health insurance system in the developed world would become even more incomprehensible if the new health reform legislation gets enacted, because it authorizes each state to isolate persons with pre-existing conditions so others can enjoy lower insurance premiums until they develop medical conditions themselves,” he said.

To contact Kaplan, call 217-333-2499; email rkaplan@illinois.edu.

The Carle Illinois College of Medicine has announced nearly 100 inaugural faculty members.

The Senate Committee on Honorary Degrees invites all departments and units to identify and nominate individuals who have made substantial contributions to their respective academic disciplines for an honorary degree award. Information regarding the nomination procedure and criteria for honorary degree award nominations can be found online.

Students, faculty members, staff and visitors to the U. of I. campus can grab a shovel and help plant one of five new trees Friday, April 28, on National Arbor Day.

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities will hold its annual award reception honoring the faculty, graduate student and undergraduate student recipients of this year's IPRH Prizes for Research in the Humanities at 4 p.m. May 1 at IPRH Lecture Hall, Levis Faculty Center, fourth floor, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana.

NPR’s 1A, hosted by Joshua Johnson, will join the WILL-AM 580 lineup May 1, airing from 9-11 a.m. Monday through Friday. With a name inspired by the First Amendment, 1A explores important issues such as policy, politics and technology. The program delves into pop culture, sports and humor.

The Moms Association at Illinois announced the winners of its annual awards and scholarship programs during Moms Weekend on April 7-9.

Abbott Power Plant’s 77-year-old south stack will be taken down in much the same way it went up, one piece at a time. Crews this month began preparations to disassemble the 197-foot concrete stack at the plant, located on the U. of I. campus at 1117 S. Oak St. The work is expected to end this summer.

Organizers of the 19th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival have announced the slate of panel discussions for the festival.

Scott E. Denmark, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Patricia Hruby Powell, an award-winning young-adult author and Illinois alumna, will provide the third reading and discussion for the Illini Union Bookstore reading series marking the University of Illinois’ 150th year.

Artistically enhanced research images from the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology will be shown at the Art of Science 7.0 exhibit.

The Urbana campus will host two sessions April 11-12 to brief the campus community and the general public on the design update of the campus master plan.

Disinformation, “alternative facts” and the Trump administration’s battle with the mainstream media all will be topics in a panel discussion, “The War on Facts: Costs and Casualties,” April 13 at the University of Illinois.

Performance artist Autumn Knight will be on campus this month for two performances.

Krannert Art Museum is hosting the first solo museum presentation – “Autumn Knight: In Rehearsal” – by Knight this semester. Knight incorporates elements of theater, dance, psychology and religious studies into her work, which examines with perceptions of race, gender and authority.

The last films have been added and the schedule is out for this year’s Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, coming April 19-23 to downtown Champaign.

The 1979 musical film “Hair” has been added to the schedule for this year’s “Ebertfest,” along with four additional films and directors, actors and other guests who will accompany them.

Ten U. of I. history professors, staff and students will each make their case for a book that changed everything at the “History Soapbox” on March 30.

Oscar nominee Isabelle Huppert and TV legend Norman Lear are coming to this year’s “Ebertfest,” along with two films, the first announced in this year’s lineup.

Serionix, a startup based on a technology created at the U. of I. and incubated at the EnterpriseWorks accelerator at Illinois, received a $750,000 contract from NASA to fund continued development of filters to remove toxic gases from next-generation spacesuit life-support systems. The same technology is on its way into consumer products expected to launch within the year. 

Edward H. Kaplan, the William N. and Marie A. Beach Professor of Operations Research, Public Health and Engineering at Yale University’s School of Management, will present “Adventures in Policy Modeling!” from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications auditorium at 1205 W. Clark St., Urbana. A reception will follow in the NCSA atrium.

 The Illini Union Bookstore at Illinois announces the second installment of its Sesquicentennial Reading Series on Tuesday, March 14 at 4:30 p.m. in the Authors Corner on the second floor of the bookstore, located at 809 S. Wright St., Champaign.