News Bureau

Starting in 2023, all police recruits in the state of Illinois must take a Wrongful Conviction Awareness and Avoidance course as part of their training. This course was first developed by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Police Training Institute director Michael Schlosser with leaders of the Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois Springfield.

The course impresses upon new recruits the importance of carefully gathering and analyzing evidence in investigations and not jumping to conclusions about potential suspects. It offers real-world examples of the harm that accrues from wrongful convictions, including a presentation from an exoneree.

Four women choreographers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign dance department will present their work at Studiodance 2023.

Krannert Art Museum has reinstalled its Moore Gallery of Decorative Arts to highlight new acquisitions and tell the stories of diverse artists, as well as examine the history of decorative arts collecting.

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.

Nine U. of I. researchers have been named to the 2022 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. This year’s list includes 6,938 individuals from around the world whose papers rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science.

Tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and sitar player Niladri Kumar will perform together Nov. 16 at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts during their first tour as a duo.

Pianist Rochelle Sennet and Sinfonia da Camera will perform a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.

October Dance – the dance department’s fall performance – will feature premieres of dances by choreographers from diverse backgrounds.

The documentary “Jimmy in Saigon,” by Champaign native and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus Peter McDowell, explores the life and death of McDowell’s older brother Jimmy in Vietnam in the early 1970s.

The EU Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will host political scientist and author Ivan Krastev for a lecture on how the Russian invasion of Ukraine is reshaping the political imagination of Europe.

David Rosenboom, a pioneer in experimental music, will lecture, perform and conduct workshops with students during a two-week series of events beginning Oct. 3. “Experimental Arts & Sciences at UIUC” is hosted by the School of Music.

The “Black on Black on Black on Black” exhibition at Krannert Art Museum showcases the work of Black art and design faculty members in a new approach to the annual faculty art event.

Illinois theatre students are presenting the first public readings of a new play during the inaugural workshop performances of the department’s Daniel J. Sullivan Playwright-in-Residence Program.

“The Joy of Regathering” combines science, music and movement to explore humanity’s place in the universe in a Sept. 17 performance at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is investing $50 million to hire new faculty members. As part of this new multiyear initiative, academic units will hire additional faculty in specified strategic areas.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's incoming class of 7,957 first-year students brings greater representation by gender, nationality and students who are the first in their family to go to college, while a change in the application process resulted in greater academic competition.

A new exhibition at Krannert Art Museum, “Fake News & Lying Pictures: Political Prints in the Dutch Republic,” examines the visual strategies of Dutch printmakers and the ways they used images to promote political interests.

Illinois Chancellor Robert Jones has been named to the board of directors of Hope Chicago, a nonprofit organization seeking to reduce economic and social inequity by funding postsecondary scholarships and nontuition costs for Chicago Public Schools graduates and adult family members. Founded by businessman Ted Koenig and entrepreneur Pete Kadens, Hope Chicago has a goal of raising and investing at least $1 billion dollars over the next decade to help tens of thousands of Chicago students and family members earn postsecondary credentials.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ upcoming season will include touring artists, rescheduled performances that were canceled due to COVID-19 and work from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s dance, music and theatre departments.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is partnering with local businesses and organizations to invest $300,000 to fight violent crime in Champaign County. The university is joined by Busey Bank, Carle Health, Christie Clinic, OSF HealthCare and the United Way of Champaign County, each of which is investing $50,000.

The Illinois Neurodiversity Initiative, a pilot program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will provide autism-specific support to freshmen with autism.

Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost Andreas C. Cangellaris will leave the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in August to become the Founding President of NEOM University in Saudi Arabia, Chancellor Robert J. Jones announced today.

Sixteen University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students and recent graduates were offered Fulbright grants to pursue international education, research and teaching experiences around the globe this coming year. Another six Illinois students were named Fulbright alternates.

In the fall of 2020, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign welcomed students back for in-person instruction amid the powerful first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The university successfully maintained operations throughout the semester – with zero COVID-19-related deaths or hospitalizations in the campus community – thanks to its “SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell” program. In a sweeping report, the team behind the campuswide collaboration details the innovations in modeling, saliva testing and results reporting that helped mitigate the spread of the virus, and shares the data collected and lessons learned through the process.

Outstanding individual and group outreach efforts were recognized with the 2022 Campus Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement. The awards spotlight individuals at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who have consistently applied their knowledge and expertise to issues for the public good.

Ingrid S. Fulmer will be the next dean of the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. The appointment takes effect July 1.

The annual exhibition includes work from a variety of disciplines and allows students to highlight their senior projects.

The concerts will show the breadth of the school’s music programs, with performances by jazz ensembles, choirs, orchestras and others.

I-Ready, a virtual summer camp for college-bound high school students on the autism spectrum, is being offered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Deadline to register has been extended to May 16.

War correspondent and Illinois alumnus Terrell Jermaine Starr will visit the Urbana campus April 19 for a Q&A session about his experiences as a journalist reporting from Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

The 22nd Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert and also known as “Ebertfest,” announced additional actors and musicians who will appear as guests at this year’s festival, as well as a bonus film.

Registration is open for I-Ready, a virtual summer camp for college-bound Illinois high school students on the autism spectrum. I-Ready is being offered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Mohegan playwright Madeline Sayet’s adaptation is a work of Indigenous futurism about building a world where all people and cultures are valued.

Barrington Coleman, the director of the Varsity Men’s Glee Club and a professor of vocal jazz studies, initiated the New Awakenings concert series. It will include a work that was commissioned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Coleman’s directorship of the Varsity Men’s Glee Club.

The School of Art and Design Master of Fine Arts Exhibition opens April 2 and runs through April 23. It will be the first in-person MFA exhibition since 2019.

The lineup for the 22nd Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert and also known as “Ebertfest,” takes the festival back to the roots established by late co-founder Roger Ebert, an Urbana native and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus who gained a wide following as a film critic until his death in 2013.

Dr. Mark S. Cohen will be the next dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and senior vice president and chief academic officer at Carle Health, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Cohen is currently a professor of surgery and pharmacology at the University of Michigan.

The seventh annual Illini Success report shows that recent University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduates found jobs, enrolled in graduate school or began volunteer programs on par with previous years – despite the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Kim Morgan will screen a black-and-white version of their Oscar-nominated movie “Nightmare Alley” at the 22nd Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert and also known as “Ebertfest.” Director Terry Zwigoff also will attend with his cult classic film “Ghost World.” Previously announced participants are directors Azazel Jacobs and Ramin Bahrani.

The oratorio depicts the events of Kristallnacht. The music includes five spirituals that express hope and reconciliation.

“Reckless Law, Shameless Order: An Intimate Experience of Incarceration” explores shared experiences of detention.

Illinois theatre students’ adaptation of “An Enemy of the People” considers how the truth gets told (or not told) during a public health crisis.

The dance concert will be performed Feb. 3-5 at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

The exhibition features work from family pottery lineages and shows how women were inspired by previous generations of artists while developing their own interpretations of the designs.

Lee’s portrait is installed near a display of the history of housing on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.

The works include Christian imagery, as well as devils, demons and monsters.

Shari Mickey-Boggs has been selected as the senior associate chancellor for human resources at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with an "interim" job title pending approval by the Board of Trustees. She will begin in this role March 1.

A new book, "Dangerous Ideas on Campus: Sex, Conspiracy and Academic Freedom in the Age of JFK," explores how the prevailing moral values of the 1960s affected protections for scholars at the U. of I.

The project includes a community read, book discussions, an art exhibition and an opera based on the novel.

The 20th annual EU Day at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will feature an online talk by former Canadian political leader turned academic Michael Ignatieff about threats to intellectual freedom in Europe.