News Bureau

Students, faculty members and staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who are asked to quarantine after COVID-19 exposure or a positive test now have the opportunity to participate in a study that will help inform the national effort to manage the pandemic.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign dance professor Cynthia Oliver is leading the chancellor’s arts integration initiative for campus.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s “With Illinois” philanthropic campaign has met its $2.25 billion mark in gifts and commitments, but the campaign will continue in light of a variety of ongoing needs.

Faculty members selected for endowed chairs and professorships in recognition of their excellence and prominence in research, teaching and service, are Christopher Freeburg, a professor of English; D. Fairchild Ruggles, a professor of landscape architecture; Charles Gammie, a professor of astronomy and physics; James Imlay, a professor of microbiology; Klara Nahrstedt, a professor of computer science; Chrystalla Mouza, a professor and dean of the College of Education; Andrew Leakey, a professor of plant biology; Cynthia Oliver, a professor of dance and Brent Roberts, a professor of psychology.

Illinois professors Erik McDuffie and Carol Symes have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for 2017.

Amazon has announced an agreement with the U. of I. to open Amazon@Illinois, a staffed pickup location in the Illini Union Bookstore, 809 S. Wright St., Champaign. The first Amazon pickup location in the state of Illinois, Amazon@Illinois offers the campus community a place to pick up and return Amazon orders.

Three University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. They are William Hammack, the William H. and Janet G. Lycan Professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering; Youssef Hashash, the William J. and Elaine F. Hall Endowed Professor and John Burkitt Webb Endowed Faculty Scholar in civil and environmental engineering; and Klara Nahrstedt, the Grainger Distinguished Chair of Engineering in computer science and the director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the U. of I.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert J. Jones and Kimberlee K. Kidwell, the dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, invite faculty members, staff, students and the public to the dedication of the YingYing Zhang Garden.

A new, automated system that allows flyers to pay for parking with credit cards has replaced the parking booth at the University of Illinois Willard Airport. Customers who wish to pay with cash may pay for parking inside the terminal.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

The Carle Illinois College of Medicine has appointed a permanent executive associate dean: Rashid Bashir, a professor and the department head of bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Chemistry professor Mei Shen is among 126 early-career researchers receiving the 2023 Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. According to the foundation, the awards “honor extraordinary U.S. and Canadian researchers whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.” Awardees receive a two-year $75,000 fellowship to advance their research.

University of Illinois entomology professor and department head May Berenbaum, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and longtime editorial contributor to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and other journals, has been appointed editor-in-chief of PNAS, effective Jan. 1.

Mary Henson, the wife of the legendary Fighting Illini basketball coach and ambassador Lou Henson, will serve as grand marshal of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 2021 Homecoming Parade. The parade will take place Saturday, Oct. 9, at 11 a.m.

Experts from a variety of fields at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are available to the news media to discuss COVID-19-related topics.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert Jones will join campus experts to discuss modeling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois – at the state and campus levels – during an event Thursday. 

A new resource is available to help guide teachers and school administrators as they reopen schools amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assembled by researchers and experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The K-12 Shield Playbook is based on the SHIELD Illinois program used to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic at the university.

The inaugural Illinois Statewide K-12 Computer Science Education Summit will bring together teachers, lawmakers and others stakeholders to discuss computer science education in Illinois schools.

Passes for the 22nd annual Ebertfest will go on sale June 7. Festival passes cover all of the screenings during the festival, which runs Sept. 8-11 at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Ill.

Scott E. Denmark, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive. Denmark is one of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates recognized for distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

“The New Normal,” a 30-minute documentary premiering May 23 at 1:30 p.m. CST/ 2:30 p.m. EST on the Big Ten Network, documents the journey of University of Illinois Urbana Champaign researchers to create a fast and inexpensive coronavirus test to ensure that U. of I. students, faculty and staff could remain safe and healthy during the pandemic

A $40,000 reward was raised by the community to generate information leading to the arrest of those involved in the apparent kidnapping of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old visiting scholar who has been missing since June 9. The reward will be discussed at a 7 p.m. news conference tonight on campus.

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.

Two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members from The Grainger College of Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. The new members are Kiruba Haran, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Grainger Endowed Director’s Chair in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics, and Taher Saif, the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor in mechanical science and engineering.

“The Big Lebowski” is coming to the 20th annual “Ebertfest,” along with the man who inspired the movie’s central character, “The Dude,” as a guest.

A Chicago-based architecture firm led by an Illinois alumna has been selected to design the rebuilt Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

A remastered “Cotton Club,” directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and the comedy “There’s Something About Mary” will be featured as part of this year’s Roger Ebertfest’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest.”

A Native American dance exhibition is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois. Sponsored by the Native American House and Spurlock Museum, the free event features interactive Native American dances highlighting the Men’s Traditional and Woodlands styles.

Eleven students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be featured in an edition of “The College Tour,” a television series that gives admitted and prospective students the opportunity to tour campuses virtually and learn about academic and extracurricular experiences available to undergraduates. This advisory is distributed on behalf of the public affairs unit in the Office of Public Affairs.

An Aretha Franklin concert film from nearly 50 years ago, now restored and released, will open this year’s Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, or “Ebertfest.”

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemistry professor Nancy Makri has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive. She is among 120 members and 23 international members elected this year to recognize their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Edward Feser is leaving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to become the provost and executive vice president at Oregon State University.

Four University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members were honored by the Office of the Provost with the 2023 Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership.

At its November 16 meeting, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees will consider a three-year extension for U. of I. athletics director Josh Whitman through June 30, 2031.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of the top university and college producers of Fulbright student grant recipients in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which announced the 2023-24 awards.

Three prominent documentary filmmakers who’ve tackled subjects ranging from biography and history to sexual assault and hip-hop will be featured guests for an online Ebert Symposium discussion, “Documentary Film and Social Change,” on Oct. 22. Kirby Dick, Sacha Jenkins and Dawn Porter have had films aired or streamed on CNN, HBO, Netflix, PBS and Showtime, among other venues. Three documentary filmmakers on the Illinois faculty will also be on the panel.

Two University of Illinois students, Christiana Lewis, a junior in psychology, and Andres Vazquez, a junior in urban and regional planning, have received the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service.

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.

Since its inception in 1992, the Faculty and Staff Emergency Fund has helped more than 1,000 academic professionals, faculty members and staff.

Marcy Frerichs, an administrative assistant in the Office of the President, was named  Office Professional of the Year by the Illinois Administrative Professionals organization at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The 20th Ebert Film Festival will open with "The Fugitive" and feature Ava DuVernay, the director of the Oscar-nominated "Selma" and "The 13th," among its guests.

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.

Oscar nominee Isabelle Huppert and TV legend Norman Lear are coming to this year’s “Ebertfest,” along with two films, the first announced in this year’s lineup.