News Bureau

The University Library has announced plans to redesign the Main Library at Illinois. As an ongoing project, the Senate Committee on the Library will regularly discuss this project throughout the 2018-19 academic year. Those interested in this conversation are invited to attend the upcoming Library Committee Meeting on Thursday, Dec. 6, from 9 to 10 a.m., Room 232 in the English Building, 608 S. Wright St., Urbana.

Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois invites faculty, staff and graduate students to attend an open house on specialized research and learning opportunities on Thursday, March 8, from 3-6 p.m. The museum welcomes proposals for collaborative exhibitions, research projects and public programs. The event highlights opportunities for using the museum’s collection of more than 50,000 objects from six continents for classes and outreach.

More than $44 million in student funding will go toward modernizing teaching and learning environments that will benefit the Illinois campus, Facilities and Services announced. Capital improvement projects were selected and approved by the Academic Facilities Maintenance Fund Assessment Oversight Committee and are in development. 

The statewide average temperature in January was 31.4 degrees, 5 degrees above normal, and the 14th-warmest January on record, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

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.

Illinois Theatre, the producing entity of the department of theatre at Illinois, announces the 2016 presentation of “The Sullivan Project,” a new-play production curated by Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan. Sullivan is the holder of an endowed Swanlund chair and a theatre professor at Illinois.

Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois will hold its annual Winter Tales concert, a celebration of American Indian storytelling, on Sunday, March 4, from 1-2:15 p.m. The featured storyteller is SleepyEye LaFromboise of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Tonawanda Seneca tribes. This family concert is free and no advanced reservations are required.

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.

A brown-bag session, “Still Too Slow: The Advancement of Women,” will be held Wednesday, Sept. 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana, Room 314A.

The new exhibit “Chess: Gymnasium of the Mind” opens April 4 in Spurlock Museum of World Culture’s central core gallery, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana. The display features a variety of chess sets from around the world highlighting unique pieces, boards and moves, and runs through July 7.

The statewide average temperature for May in Illinois was 70.6 degrees, 7.9 degrees above normal and the warmest May on record, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. The old record was 69.4 degrees in 1962.

In honor of the 96th anniversary of the dedication of the chimes played in the Altgeld Hall Tower, performers will replay the concert first performed in 1920, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30. The date is also Sue Wood’s 45th anniversary as chimesmaster.

Two special Halloween concerts will be performed on Monday, Oct. 31: a Halloween concert preview at 4:50 p.m. and an extended concert at 8 p.m.

Soils are drying out after the early September rain, 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.

The U. of I. Wellness Center’s “Climb Illinois Challenge” runs March 15 to April 11. The challenge helps employees be more active at work by taking the stairs. Stair use is an easy way to include physical activity in a busy day.

Kevin Favor, a U. of I. alumnus and a psychologist, and Khalid el-Hakim, the founder and the curator of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, will be among the speakers at the seventh annual College of Education Graduate Student Conference on March 11.

Just in time for the 2016 primary election, Illinois Public Media is providing Illinois citizens with Voter’s Edge Illinois – a free, nonpartisan online voter guide.

The 14th Annual Edible Book Festival, sponsored by the University Library at the University of Illinois and Common Ground Food Co-operative, will be held April 6. The campus and local community are invited to experience this unique intersection of literature and cuisine.

The Program in Jewish Culture and Society's new lecture series, “21st Century Jewish Writing and the World,” features four award-winning Jewish writers.

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.

2017 was the sixth-warmest year on record in Illinois, with a statewide average temperature of 54.3 degrees, or 2 degrees above normal, in spite of the extremely cold ending to December.

Eight of the 12 months in 2017 brought above-normal temperatures, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. The state experienced the warmest February on record with a statewide average of 41 degrees, 10.1 degrees above normal.

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.

Steven Weitzman, a professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s department of religious studies, will present a lecture titled “The Double Helix of Jewish History: Genetics and the Search for the Origin of the Jews” on Monday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana.

Since at least 1906, South Asian students have attended the University of Illinois. In a talk scheduled for March 21 at 5 p.m. at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, archivist Salvatore V. De Sando will highlight some of the first South Asian students, early South Asian student-organized events on campus and early South Asian student organizations. This presentation is based on original archival research, and historic campus photos will be featured to bring the story to life.

This fall, U. of I. graduate students in the School of Architecture's recording historic buildings seminar will prepare drawings and other documentation on the historic Paul Schweikher House in Schaumburg, Illinois, for the Historic American Buildings Survey.

Robert Sapolsky, a science writer, biologist, neuroscientist and stress expert, will present his lecture “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Stress and Health” Thursday, Sept. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Colwell Playhouse.

In celebration of the 18th Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, Illinois Public Media – in partnership with the College of Media at the University of Illinois – produced “Ebertfest 2016: Center of the Universe.” This 30-minute companion documentary covers the life and legacy of Roger Ebert as well as the history of the festival. It also includes a short preview of Ebertfest 2016.

After a cooling spell last weekend, soil temperatures are once again rising in Illinois, 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.

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.

Come Home to Krannert Center weekend, Friday-Sunday, April 12-14, celebrates Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ 50th anniversary. The cornerstone event of the weekend, the Come Home Gala, will be held in the center’s lobby Saturday, April 13 at 6 p.m.

Since 1982, thousands of young people have experienced the performing arts at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts by attending creative daytime programs. These performances are designed to invigorate students’ imaginations while also addressing Common Core and Illinois learning standards.

The University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign, is launching its “Transforming Lives, Connecting Communities” campaign to support capital renovations to its historic building, programming support and strengthening of its endowment. The public is invited to the campaign kickoff Tuesday, Sept. 25, from 5-7:30 p.m. at Riggs Brewery, 1901 S. High Cross Road, Urbana.

A new program for worldwide agricultural development kicked off Nov. 30 at Illinois. AgReach was welcomed by a West African drum performance and introduced by professor Alex Winter-Nelson, representing the agricultural and consumer economics department in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

A worldwide smallholder farming initiative, AgReach closes gaps in agrisystems so that smallholder farmers thrive. Paul McNamara, an economist and a professor at Illinois, leads the initiative and the team of 18 professionals based at Illinois and in some of the poorest countries in the world, including Sierra Leone, Malawi and Bangladesh.

With more than 20 years of experience in agricultural economics and development, McNamara founded AgReach to continue building the $22 million development portfolio composed of projects that have improved the quality of farming in more than 50 countries.

“One thing notable about the AgReach program is the mix of disciplines and the breadth of experience among the team,” said Kim Kidwell, the College of ACES dean. “People are a key ingredient in any well-functioning and impactful extension program, and in a relatively short amount of time, the AgReach team has assembled a world-class group of development professionals and scholars to implement its program of capacity development and action-oriented research.”

Initiated by the Modernizing Agriculture and Extension Services in 2012, AgReach builds upon other programs including the Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services and the Malawi Strengthening Agriculture and Nutrition Extension Services Project, both housed at Illinois.

More information may be found online.

University Primary School, the laboratory school of the College of Education at Illinois, is enrolling students in preschool to fifth grade and is holding an open house for the communityon Saturday, Feb. 16, any time between 10 a.m.-noon.

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 on the Senate website.

The Illinois 4-H Robotics Showcase will be 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. April 23 at the Activities and Recreation Center, 201 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign.

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.

The Advanced Visualization Lab at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois was recently invited to present its recent film “Solar Superstorms” at the 2016 SIGGRAPH Conference.

 This conference will be the 43rd annual international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, and will take place July 24-28 in Anaheim, California.

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.

David P. Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics and the director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, will deliver the annual Marjorie Hall Thulin Lecture in Religion on Wednesday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m., in Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana.

The Illinois statewide average temperature for September was 70 degrees, 3.8 degrees above normal and the 12th-warmest September on record, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois. 

The Illini Union will feature “Ms. Marvel #1: No Normal” by G. Willow Wilson as this year’s One Book One Campus selection. Wilson will speak at a free public lecture Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. in the Illini Union Ballroom. An informal reception and book signing will follow.

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.

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.

Spurlock Museum presents the panel discussion “Looking Back, Looking Forward” on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. The discussion at the museum is held in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center at Illinois.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association announced that CSOA-presented concerts scheduled to take place from Wednesday, April 10, to Tuesday, April 23, are canceled due to the current strike by musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

A hazardous materials drill will take place on the University of Illinois campus July 27 from 8:30-11:30 a.m.

The University YMCA’s Art at the Y initiative presents “Seeds of Resistance,” featuring works by artist Ricardo Levins Morales, from Jan. 25 to March 2 at Murphy Gallery, 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign. The display is a selection of Morales’ work for social justice and liberation. Admission is free and the display is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

On Nov. 10, the Illinois Fire Service Institute will host the inaugural “Veterans in the Fire Service Day: An Opportunity for Firefighters Past, Present, and Future.” It is a professional development opportunity for U.S. Armed Forces veterans who also have served, are serving or may be interested in serving as firefighters.

An initiative of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the Health Make-a-Thon aims to help Champaign County residents bring to life their ideas for improving human health through the Health Maker Lab – a network of maker labs, design spaces and fabrication facilities across the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. Out of 140 ideas submitted, 20 finalists have been selected to pitch their concepts to a panel of judges and a live audience on April 13. Ten will each win $10,000 in Health Maker Lab resources to create a prototype of their idea.

The Dads Association at the U. of I.  named Christopher Thilmany of Schaumburg, Illinois, King Dad 2017 during the annual Dads Weekend on Nov. 11. Thilmany was recognized on the field during the football game with Indiana University. He was nominated by his daughter Gabriella Welch, a sophomore studying public policy and law.