News Bureau

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.- Six students at the University of Illinois are wearing white gloves in class this semester. They're learning to handle issues of age and fragility with aplomb and to make excellent first impressions.

Thomas J. Farrell, the president of the U. of I. Foundation, wants to establish a new strategic direction for the U. of I. to not only to raise more money, but also to engage its alumni and donors in supporting the university on various levels, including serving on volunteer boards and serving as ambassadors for the university.

The U. of I. and the U. of I. Foundation continue to raise the fundraising bar.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois will use advanced videoconferencing technology to connect Illinois families with loved ones who are stationed in Iraq this December. On Dec. 5 and 6, individuals and families can visit one of 17 sites around Illinois for private, interactive 30-minute videoconferencing sessions in which they can see and talk with their soldiers stationed at either Camp Al Asad (Air Force) or Camp Taji/Cooke (Army) in Iraq.

Heat is the enemy for people designing cars, construction machinery, aircraft and mobile electronics. When electrical systems do more work, they get hotter. When they get too hot, they operate inefficiently, fail or even melt.

In December, the Obama administration announced that increasing the number of U.S. college graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by one million over the next decade is a top priority that will be bolstered by several federal agencies.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of 20 universities selected to participate in the 2007 Solar Decathlon, a competition in which teams of students from colleges and universities in the United States, Europe and Canada compete to design, build and operate homes powered exclusively by solar energy.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Japan House, an educational and cultural facility at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, invites the community to its annual spring open house on April 8. The event, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is free and open to the public.

The Illinois-Sweden Program for Educational Research and Exchange this week was awarded the Institute of International Education's Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education for the best international partnership in the country.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, or A*STAR, a Singapore government agency that oversees 22 research institutes, consortia and centers, are establishing a major research center in Singapore. The Advanced Digital Sciences Center will be focused on breakthrough innovations in information technology that are expected to have a major impact in transforming human beings' utilization of information technology.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois has promised to achieve climate neutrality by joining a nationwide consortium of concerned colleges and universities that are signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. By signing the commitment, Chancellor Richard Herman pledged that the U. of I. is developing a long-range plan for reducing and neutralizing greenhouse gas emissions on campus and is accelerating its research and educational efforts to equip society to re-stabilize Earth's climate and help the U.S. achieve energy independence.

The U. of I. and the U. of I. Foundation had another record-setting year in fundraising for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The university will celebrate its 150th birthday the same way it spreads knowledge -- all around the world. Pradeep Khanna, the associate chancellor for corporate and international relations, told the Board of Trustees at its Sept. 10 meeting that in addition to campus events, preparations are being made for a worldwide celebration in 2017 to mark the U. of I.'s start as a land-grand institution in 1867.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new discussion series sponsored by the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois is bringing together authors and U. of I. scholars to discuss recent books. The Author's Roundtable series, which began this semester, gives invited scholars opportunities to discuss their work with a panel of U. of I. faculty members and graduate students in a conversational setting.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Officials at the U. of I. are asking for the public's help in locating several historical markers stolen from sites around the Urbana campus.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois college students preparing to apply to law school are invited to attend Law School Day at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Oct. 17.

Researchers have uncovered the existence of a dwarf “dark galaxy” lurking nearly 4 billion light-years away from Earth. The discovery was made when a team of researchers, including astronomers at the University of Illinois, using the Blue Waters supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, noticed subtle distortions in the image of gravitational lens SDP.81. The discovery paves the way to spot many more such objects, which could help astronomers address important questions on the true nature of dark matter.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has received the unusual distinction of having all of its campus international regional studies programs receive designation by the U.S. Department of Education as National Resource Centers.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be used to market and support existing air services at the university's Willard Airport in Savoy.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -A new initiative by the Facilities and Services department at the Urbana campus of the University of Illinois aims to encourage sustainable practices and "green" designs through the word "blue." BLUE, an acronym for "building a lasting university environment," is a broad-based program that heightens awareness of environmental issues and encourages initiatives that reduce waste; diminish usage of chemicals, water and energy; improve building efficiency; and otherwise protect the environment.

Shakespeare had it right, of course: The course of true love never has run smooth. But with the publication of "The Developmental Course of Romantic Relationships," people who are baffled by love and its mysteries have a new source of wisdom.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Attention fans of University of Illinois music makers: Did you miss the "Beyond Cool" performance of Mile Davis' "Bobplicity" at last year's Allerton Music Barn Festival? What about the Opera Program's production of "Cosi fan tutte" last spring at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts? Wishing you could hear - and see - highlights of the Jerry Hadley Memorial Concert one more time?

As most observers predicted, the U. of I. was censured June 13 by the American Association of University Professors.

Leaders at the U. of I. presented a united front at a Jan. 3 State Universities Civil Service System public hearing, asking SUCSS officials to recommend that job classification exemption authority be left with universities.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Brant Houston, the executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. (IRE), has been named to the Knight Chair for Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the University of Illinois, pending approval by the U. of I. Board of Trustees at its May 17 meeting in Chicago.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Varsity Men's Glee Club at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will host its first men's choral conference on campus April 21-22.

Administrators are continuing to apply pressure to state leaders for a budget resolution, and are working to have the University of Illinois removed from the American Association of University Professors censure list.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the second top destination for international students attending public universities in the United States, according to the annual Open Doors report, released Nov. 16 by the Institute of International Education. The report ranks Illinois as second in the nation for international students in 2014-15 (fifth when accounting for private schools) and ninth for students participating in study abroad programs in 2013-14. According to the report, there are more international students studying in the U.S. today than at any time in history.

A record 43 students have been offered Graduate Research Fellowships by the National Science Foundation to pursue graduate studies at the U. of I. Another 38 Illinois students were accorded Honorable Mention.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Got a bright idea for a clean-energy project? The Energy Subcommittee of the Committee on a Sustainable Campus Environment wants to hear it.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - How can we predict and plan for the next Katrina-size natural disaster - be it hurricane, tsunami, flood, earthquake or even meteorite? What do these events reveal about social and economic disparities? How can we cope with and recover from such catastrophes?

U. of I. Extension, the sponsor of a new federally funded program teaching small-scale farmers to think bigger, is starting to see the fruits of its labor - figuratively speaking.

The U. of I. is expanding its pioneering two-year partnership with online course content provider Coursera, announcing Oct. 15 a new cohort of classes and a unique approach for delivering them.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - She exhibited with the surrealists in Paris in the 1930s and with the abstract expressionists in New York in the 1940s and 1950s. Today, her work is in the collections of some of the most respectable art museums in the United States. Yet, if the name Hedda Sterne appears at all in textbooks documenting 20th-century art history, it's typically as a passing reference or a footnote.

The small animal emergency service at the U. of I. Veterinary Teaching Hospital is one of nine U.S. veterinary hospitals and clinics to be provisionally designated as a Veterinary Trauma Center by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care.

Coursera, a leading online education company known for massive open online courses, announced March 30 a professional data science master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The university's budget won't be granted relief anytime soon and will continue to suffer in the shadow of the state government's financial crisis, said Christophe Pierre, the vice president for academic affairs.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It was 40 years ago this summer when civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael first uttered the phrase "black power" and sparked a movement that changed the nature of U.S. race relations.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Civitas, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Community Design Center, will host a grand opening at 112 W. Main St., Urbana, from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 1.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Students no longer need to wait until their junior year to apply for admission to the College of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Starting today (Jan. 18), the college will accept applications from any current U. of I. student who will be at least a sophomore by the start of the fall semester.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Richard Herman, the chancellor of the Urbana campus of the University of Illinois, was named Monday to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Most days of the year, Nicholas Temperley is a relatively

The effort to save a group of historic campus murals received a boost last week after officials agreed to help fund the project.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Chancellor Richard Herman announced today (Sept. 5) that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has begun a yearlong campuswide effort to study its athletics program as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I athletics certification program. Specific areas the study will cover are academic integrity, governance and commitment to rules compliance, equity and student-athlete well-being.

University leaders are bracing for the deep funding cuts proposed in new Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's Feb. 18 budget address, but are hopeful they won't have to actually institute them.

The U. of I. Board of Trustees concluded the administrative chapter of the Steven Salaita saga Sept. 11, voting 8-1 to not appoint Salaita as a tenured professor in American Indian Studies on the Urbana campus.

Leaders of the Urbana campus's College of Engineering say not pursuing an Urbana-based school of medicine could render the renowned engineering program irrelevant in the future.

For the second straight year, the University of Illinois has proposed holding the line on base tuition for in-state freshmen next fall, a move that officials say reflects the university’s commitment to student access and affordability.

The University of Illinois has received a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to support economic revitalization in Illinois communities affected by reductions in federal military spending.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The new Asian American Cultural Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will celebrate its grand opening Friday with a ribbon-cutting at 3 p.m. at the center, 1210 W. Nevada St., Urbana.