News Bureau

The University of Illinois Board of Trustees on March 16 approved the state’s first contracts under a new Illinois purchasing initiative enacted to attract more minority- and female-owned businesses as vendors for state agencies and universities.

March 2016 was the 10th-warmest March on record with an average temperature of 46.5 degrees, 5.2 degrees above normal.

Several events have been scheduled on the U. of I. campus to commemorate Black History Month.

Willie Deverell is a food service administrator III in the cafeteria at Bevier Hall. He works for the department of food science and human nutrition, overseeing the cooking of the daily meals and catering services.

A set of energy conservation projects on the Urbana campus will guarantee more than $41million in cost avoidance over the next 20 years and reduce the campus deferred maintenance backlog by an estimated $25million.

The last person who ever expected Jack Peltason to be the head of a major university, let alone two of them, may have been Peltason himself.

UI officials are moving forward on a plan designed to reverse a four-year downward faculty-hiring trend caused by financial constraints.

Interim Chancellor Barbara J. Wilson said removing the U. of I. from the American Association of University Professors censure list continues to be a top concern on campus and a top priority of her administration.

This year's new faculty members included in our annual "New Faces" feature. Inside Illinois continues its tradition of introducing some of the new faculty members on campus and will feature two new colleague in each edition of Inside Illinois during the fall semester. 

A campus forum to discuss the search process for a permanent chancellor will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 11 at the Illini Union Ballroom.

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.

Nelson Luyando is a storekeeper in Stores, Mail and Receiving.

This year's new faculty members included in our annual "New Faces" feature. Inside Illinois continues its tradition of introducing some of the new faculty members on campus and will feature two new colleague in each edition of Inside Illinois during the fall semester. 

More than 56,000 prospective first-time freshmen have applied for enrollment next fall across the University of Illinois system, record demand that is up 13 percent from the year before, officials announced Feb. 5.

Chet Utterback - known to some as 'Chet the Chicken Man' - is foreman of the campus poultry farm.

Tucked away behind a grassy knoll next to a small pond, Japan House is a tiny oasis of tranquility and natural beauty seemingly far from the traffic on South Lincoln Avenue only yards away. Nancy Quinn is one of a handful of lucky staff members who work at Japan House. Quinn's job responsibilities include planning the tea ceremonies and scheduling other events - experience that may come in handy as she helps plan a large August wedding for her son, Patrick. Quinn, who began her career at the UI and at Japan House in August 2000 as an Extra Help secretary, joined the UI's staff in August 2001.

Liliane Windsor, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, is among the new faculty members to be featured in our annual "New Faces" feature. Inside Illinois continues its tradition of introducing some of the new faculty members on campus and will feature one new colleague online each week during the fall semester. 

Tori Exum is a human resource officer in Staff Human Resources. A busy mother of three children, Exum plans to enter the UI's master's degree program in human resources in the spring.

Just as the fall 2010 semester was winding down, junior Andrew McFadden got an email from a friend, alerting him to a video contest. The challenge: Make a short film showing what the world might be like devoid of humanities and the arts.

Angela Reggans, labor relations specialist for Staff Human Resources, has worked at the UI since 2001.

 IPRH has rescheduled its "Cell Phone Slam!" for 4 p.m. March 9 in the IPRH Lecture Hall at the Levis Center, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana.

The era of judging a book by its cover won't end anytime soon thanks to a new high-tech book-making machine being used at the Illini Union Bookstore.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Jesse G. Delia, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be named acting provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, pending approval of the board of trustees at its July 15 meeting in Chicago.

The chancellor's search committee is nearly formed, with senators last week choosing seven members and selecting two faculty members for chairman consideration.

It’s official: Chief Illiniwek, the symbol of the athletic teams at the Urbana campus since 1926, will be retired. The UI Board of Trustees, which met March 13 in Urbana, voted 9-1 in favor of retiring the Chief, the object of heated debate in recent decades by opponents who viewed him as offensive and racist, and advocates who said that he honored Native Americans.

Service members often jokingly say that military intelligence is an oxymoron.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - H. Edward Seidel, the senior vice president of research and innovation at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow, has been named the director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, pending approval of the U. of I. Board of Trustees.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Michael Aiken, the chancellor of the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois, announced today that he is retiring.

Jennifer Barnhart is a confident person, but she was just being honest with herself when she asked: Am I still capable, after 14 years as a stay-at-home mom, of holding down a full-time job?

Renowned investigative journalist and nonfiction author Bob Woodward spoke Jan. 26 at Foellinger Auditorium in the first of the College of Law’s lecture series about Abraham Lincoln. Woodward spoke about how Lincoln relates to the 21st century and the country's more recent presidents. The next lecture features award-winning columnist and political commentator George Will at 7 p.m. March 1 at Foellinger Auditorium.

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has awarded its inaugural 2016-18 IPRH-Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Bio-Humanities and its 2016–17 IPRH-Andrew W. Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellowships in Bio-Humanities.

Vibrant colors surround the north entrance to the Illini Union on a recent fall day. 

Conducting an interview with Todd Moeglich from the sales floor of the Illini Union Bookstore is foolish and futile.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Wild and wacky Rube Goldberg machines, robots fighting for possession of a bowling ball, lively talks by Bill Nye the Science Guy, and more than 150 fun-filled exhibits are among the attractions awaiting visitors to the 82nd annual Engineering Open House at the University of Illinois.

The Senate Executive Committee won't be involved in the selection of search committee members for a permanent chancellor. The SEC met in a special meeting Aug. 31, called after leaders received a directive from President Timothy L. Killeen to begin the chancellor search process. 

Rachel Magee is a new assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

The Urbana-Champaign Senate voiced its disapproval Dec. 7 for the university's new criminal background check policy, even as campus administrators continue their work to implement it.

A student housing area and new dining hall will be named after former university president Stanley O. Ikenberry in recognition of Ikenberry’s years of service to the UI.

Aaron Landers is a police officer with the UI Division of Public Safety.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - For superior scholarship, 234 junior, senior and graduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been elected to the Phi Kappa Phi honor society for the spring semester 2003.

University of Illinois President Timothy L. Killeen has enlisted a transition team to guide the process of reconfiguring UIC’s medical school structure in light of the creation of an Urbana-based medical school.

Alma Mater, center, and Labor and Learning don custom-made hats and a scarf during a winter storm earlier this week after the wind chill factor dipped below zero. Snow flurries continued over the next few days without significant accumulation. January marked the fifth consecutive month that Champaign-Urbana temperatures were above average.

Among the newcomers to the Urbana campus are faculty members whose appointments began this summer or fall. Inside Illinois continues its tradition of introducing some of the new faculty members on campus and will feature at least two new colleagues in each fall issue.

A recent racially motivated incident aimed at U. of I. minority students is a reminder that racism continues to be a serious societal problem.

Many of those who helped make the Chez Family Foundation Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education a reality were on hand to cut the ribbon Oct. 2 to  mark the official opening of the center. 

Nine staff employees were honored with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award at a banquet April 17.

Many adults who mentor students in the Illinois Promise program often had "aha moments" during their youth, instances when a caring adult's guidance or insight changed the course of their lives, said Susan Gershenfeld, the director of Illinois Promise Student Services.

Gordon Oyer for years has had a casual interest in Thomas Merton, the 20th-century Trappist monk known for his popular philosophical writings and penchant for living in hermitage. Wanting to know more, he wrote a book about Merton.

While thousands of new students were strolling the Quad behind the Illini Union enjoying the hubbub of Quad Day, inside the Union, new faculty members – and new academic professional staff members – were getting information to help them adjust to campus.