News Bureau

This year’s Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest,” has been canceled due to concerns related to the coronavirus.

A post-World War II romance is the first film announced for this year’s “Ebertfest,” coming April 10-13 to downtown Champaign and the U. of I. The film will be shown in memory of its co-star, Scott Wilson, a frequent past festival guest. Organizers also announced an added role in this year’s festival for film critic Richard Roeper.

The 2021 edition of Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest,” has been moved to early September due to uncertainties related to COVID-19.

Journeys that foster self-discovery are not always easy or pleasant – but can be empowering and liberating, says Elka Kazmierczak, a slender woman with short gray hair and sparkling brown eyes. She seems to vibrate with energy and purpose. At the first meeting of the semester for the Illini Art Therapy Association, Kazmierczak invites participants to take such a journey with her.

Kolten Conklen, a junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from Sterling, Illinois, is among 16 students nationally awarded the Beinecke Scholarship. Illinois is one of 135 colleges and universities annually invited to nominate one junior for a Beinecke Scholarship.

Labor and employment relations professor Michael LeRoy discusses his research about confronting a resurgent white supremacy movement.

A U. of I. specialist on Middle Eastern politics explains why Kurds often feel they have “no friends but the mountains,” why they’re a political threat to Turkey’s president and motivations for the recent Turkish attack on the Kurds in Syria.

Summer is normally a season for blockbusters, but movie theaters will have special challenges this year, starting with a gamble on a few July releases. Derek Long, a professor of media and cinema studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, looks at the present and future of the business.

Returning service men and women have always faced the challenge of reintegrating into civilian life. But those returning with disabilities because of a combat injury face the additional challenge of having to redefine their physical identity.

Thirty-six University of Illinois students have won National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, including 31 graduate students and five undergraduates. An additional 52 students were accorded honorable mention.

Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the prime minister of the country of Georgia and a 1998 master’s degree graduate in finance from the University of Illinois, will speak on campus April 27. He will make remarks and take questions at 4:45 p.m. in the Deloitte Auditorium of the Business Instructional Facility, 515 E. Gregory Drive, Champaign. The event is open to the public.

Influenza has no cure, but vaccines and anti-viral treatments could help thwart another deadly outbreak, says microbiology professor Christopher Brooke.

Wencui Han is a new assistant professor in the department of business administration in the College of Business.

Sixteen academic professionals and civil service staff members have received the inaugural Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award recognizing exceptional performance at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Another round of federal stimulus checks and increased unemployment benefits would be “economic stabilizers” for the working poor during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, says U. of I. labor expert Robert Bruno.

The exhibit “Cahokia’s Religion: The Art of Red Goddesses, Black Drink and the Underworld” is on display at the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois. Created in cooperation with the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, the exhibit features objects from the ancient city of Cahokia, which was located near what is now Collinsville, Illinois, as well as objects from surrounding areas.

According to a new report co-written by Illinois Natural History Survey postdoctoral researcher Valeria Trivellone, climate change, poverty, urbanization, land-use change and the exploitation of wildlife all contribute to the emergence of new infectious diseases, which, in turn, threaten global food security. Trivellone spoke with News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates about how global authorities can tackle these intertwined challenges.

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. 

What has become a favorite feature of the annual Engineering Open House is the Tesla Coil Concert, hosted this year on the Bardeen Engineering Quad.

Six Urbana campus faculty members have been named University Scholars and will be honored at a campus reception Sept. 26 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the ballroom of the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana.

A Minute With™... LeAnne Howe, a professor of American Indian Studies

The economic devastation wrought by COVID-19 accounts for an almost 43% increase in food insecurity in the U.S., said Craig Gundersen, the ACES Distinguished Professor in the department of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Chief Illiniwek performs last dance amid continued controversy

The debate surrounding the independent state legislature theory, which is at the heart of the U.S. Supreme Court Moore v. Harper case, is ultimately a lopsided one that, under a principled originalist approach, should result in the court rejecting the theory, says Vikram Amar, the dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and a constitutional law scholar and expert on this theory.

Edward Feser, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, discusses a new budgeting approach. He said the approach is needed to help the campus move toward less dependency on state funding, to increase transparency in budgeting, and to ensure fiscal stability and academic excellence into the future.

Five University of Illinois professors at the Urbana-Champaign campus have been named University Scholars in recognition of their excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. 

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.

The chirp of screws being driven into wood and the whirr of drills filled the air in the front room of the old white house at 510 E. Chalmers St. that’s the birthplace of La Casa Cultural Latina and the former home of the U. of I.’s department of Latina/Latino studies.

Art-handling company Terry Dowd Inc. project manager Darren Martin and his work crew are creating a roughly 6 feet by 6 feet panel, part of the “bread” that will be used to make a large art “sandwich.”  The “meat” is a section of lathe, plaster and wallpaper of part of a wall covered with a vivid mural filled with bold depictions of heritage and social justice, of individual and community strength.

“We basically sandwich the walls,” Martin said. “It almost turns it into a crate.”

It’s unlikely that the ongoing Jan. 6 committee hearings will resonate with the public as much as the Watergate hearings did 50 years ago, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign political science professor Brian Gaines.

The availability of a COVID-19 vaccine for school-aged children offers protection for children as well as eases challenges faced by their families and their schools, says Rebecca Lee Smith, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

News reports, social media campaigns such as #MeToo are raising awareness of sexual misconduct and helping survivors find their voices, says educational psychologist Anita Hund

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign electrical and computer engineering professor Lav Varshney is a co-author of a new study that explores how social capital influences choices regarding COVID-19 mitigation compliance. Illinois News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian spoke with Varshney about the lessons learned from this study and how they may help in other public health crises.

A Minute With™... astronomy professor Leslie Looney

Speech and hearing science professor Laura DeThorne and doctoral students Henry Angulo and Veronica Vidal discuss how the neurodiversity movement recognizes autistic individuals’ unique experiences, skills and strengths, and resists the medicalization of autism.

A Minute With...™ computer scientist Roy H. Campbell

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign computer science professor Sarita V. Adve and physics professor Philip W. Phillips have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honor societies in the nation.

Experts have ranked May 2019 as one of the wettest Mays on record in central Illinois. Is it possible that the incidence of mosquito-borne illnesses increases with the amount of rainfall? To find out, News Bureau science writer Ananya Sen asked Brian F. Allan, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois.

Illinois history professor Yuridia Ramírez and Latina/Latino studies professor José de la Garza Valenzuela have been awarded 2023 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowships.

Champaign, Ill. – Graduate students Bradford Coyle, Miriam Keep and Phoebe Shelor and undergraduate Daniel Levin have received prestigious Boren Awards for study abroad during 2016-17.

While many think of COVID-19 as primarily a respiratory disease, its effects on the heart contribute to nearly 40% of deaths – and can strike even healthy children and athletes, says Mariam Bonyadi Camacho, a student in the medical scholars program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Camacho co-wrote a recent report on the coronavirus’ cardiac effects, both short- and long-term. She discussed the risks to heart health and possible treatments in an interview.

Horror will get its due at this year’s Ebert Film Fest with “Hereditary” now in the lineup, which one critic described as “creepy beyond belief.” The 2018 film will be one of at least two from the horror genre at “Ebertfest,” with an Alfred Hitchcock classic due to be announced later along with the rest of the schedule.

Changes to the age for required minimum distributions from retirement accounts could be made after the 2018 mid-term elections, said Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on tax policy and retirement issues, and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

Four University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students received Boren Awards for intensive language study abroad during the 2023-24 academic year.

A Minute With...™ John Kindt, expert on business and legal policy

The Opioid Alternative Pilot Project offers medical cannabis as a pain-relief option for those looking to avoid or reduce opioid use, said Julie Bobitt, the director of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences program at Illinois.

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.

The Cline Center for Advanced Social Research’s Coup d’État Project initially categorized the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as an “attempted dissident coup.” But that classification has evolved to include the additional classification “attempted auto-coup d’état,” said Scott Althaus, the center’s director and a professor of both political science and communication at Illinois.

Sixteen academic professionals and civil service staff members have received the 2024 Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award. Employees with at least three years of service are eligible for nomination in one of eight functional categories.

By legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana, the state of Illinois could fund additional pension payments while making investments in public education, construction projects, and drug treatment and prevention programs, says Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the Urbana campus of the University of Illinois and the director of the Labor Education Program in Chicago.

Richard Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on U.S. tax policy, discusses the Republican tax overhaul plan now before Congress