News Bureau

Brad Hedrick is interim director for the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services and head coach of the men's and women's wheelchair basketball teams.

Charles Stites is a research animal scientist in the department of animal sciences. 

Susan Kies Roth is assistant dean of educational affairs in the College of Medicine.

Greg Peters is the assistant dining services director for housing, snack bars and vending operations.

Jonathan Ying is an assistant dean in the Office of the Dean of Students.

Lillian Morales earned a master's degree at the UI studying the work of Rembrandt, Monet and Jackson Pollock, but these days she earns a living by shooting photographs of (mostly) four-legged creatures at the UI veterinary clinics.

As assistant director of food services at the Illini Union, Rollie Smith makes sure that hundreds of thousands of meals served on the UI campus throughout the year are the best they can be. He has been in food service for 35 years, and 10 of those have been with the university.

Kathy Reiser is a field services coordinator with the UI Extension. From her office in Mumford Hall she keeps in touch with the academic professionals, staff members and volunteers who work in extension offices around the state.

Ken Beck is the staff musician for the UI's dance department.

Craig Cohen is producer and local host of National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" on WILL-AM (580).

Husband and wife Joe and Phyllis Williams have been UI building service workers for 20 and 23 years, respectively.

Faculty members and students who have had anything to do with UI correspondence courses probably know Susan Campanini, whose official title is that of coordinator of instructional development for the Guided Individual Study unit.

After working for 20 years at the UI, most of them in the Housing Division, electrician John DeHaven now specializes in setting up sound equipment for events around campus.

As staff secretary for the theater department, Cindy Hall says she does a little bit of everything, from making travel arrangements for staff members and guests to making sure that paychecks get delivered.

When visitors attend the Illinois State Fair Aug. 12 – 21 in Springfield, they'll likely see a booth for the College of Veterinary Medicine among the UI exhibits. One of the people who will have worked to create the booth is Beth Erwin, staff secretary for Vet Med's development office.

Since 1978, Margaret "Maggie" Agnew has been handing out towels in the locker room in the lower level of the Intramural Physical Education Building.

Betsy Kleiss originally intended to use her degree in physical education from Eastern Illinois University to teach P.E. But after graduating college and waiting for a teaching position to open, she took a job at the UI.

David Thiel, program director for WILL-Channel 12, is frequently seen by the public during the campaign drives when he appears on camera to make pitches for public support. Behind-the-scenes he scans thousands of potential shows each year, and in his free time treats himself to science fiction movies and TV shows, such as "Star Trek" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Don Hardin is the UI women's volleyball coach.

Kirk Zymkie is a coin machine mechanic for campus housing for more than 23 years. He's the vending division's only full-time fix-it man.

Gregg Homerding is the library technical assistant at the UI's newspaper library.

Rebecca McBride is associate director for marketing and patron services at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. 

Gaylon Reeves has been the business manager of the department of nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering for two months. 

Nathaniel Banks is the director of the African American Cultural Program. He has been involved with the program since its inception 30 years ago, first as a student playing in its band, as a graduate program assistant, as its assistant director and then as the director since 1997.

One of the most familiar faces to longtimers on campus may be that of Carlos Donaldson, mail supervisor II. For 38 years, Donaldson has been making sure that UI faculty and staff members and students get their campus mail.

Susan Temmink Layton is the marketing assistant at the UI Press.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The College of Engineering has received a $2 million gift for endowed fellowships from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Study circles, hate groups and zero-tolerance policies aimed at curbing school violence are just a few of the topics that will be explored during the University of Illinois' third annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Symposium.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Gender, genetics and aging are just a few of the general topics that will provide a springboard for more focused discussions by speakers participating in the Center for Advanced Study/MillerComm lecture series at the University of Illinois this spring.

Becky Lauher is the crime prevention coordinator with the UI Police Department. 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon will be the featured speaker at the University of Illinois Commencement ceremonies May 14.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Although fewer crimes against people occurred on the University of Illinois campus during the fall 1999 semester, police officials still are concerned about the numbers of aggravated assaults and batteries and robberies that put students in harm's way.

Joe Barron has been manager of the research farms for animal sciences since 1990.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - CNN political commentator Robert Novak will join three University of Illinois political science professors Feb. 22 in a free, public discussion about the value of presidential primaries.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - "We Are One" is the theme of this year's Black History Month at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Scholars and other experts on Russia will meet at the University of Illinois next month to do some collective prognosticating on what results of that nation's March 26 presidential elections may hold in store for the Russian people and the world.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - For centuries, ethnic, religious and political differences have divided the various groups of people who inhabit the Balkans, yet many of the Balkan people remain linked by shared aspects of musical heritage. That heritage will be celebrated during the Balkan Relief Benefit Concert Feb. 22 at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Want to get your hands on a strand of real DNA? Visitors can pretend to be a molecular scientist March 3-4 at one of several exhibits that reflect the "Beyond 2000" theme of this year's College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) Open House at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Today's college students are expecting more from their residence-hall experiences than ever before. And at the University of Illinois, student needs are being met through a number of innovative housing plans.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - As media reports and the court of public opinion have fixed on the fate of Elian Gonzalez, interest in Cuban-U.S. relations has never been greater in recent history.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The police are looking for you, but there's no reason to hide.

In August, Terry Cole was promoted to senior associate athletic director.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Siebel Systems Inc. and the University of Illinois today announced that alumnus Thomas M. Siebel agreed to donate $32 million to the university to construct state-of-the-art facilities for the department of computer science at the Urbana campus.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Two new exhibitions will be on view March 3 through April 8 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Gov. George Ryan, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees and UI administrators and faculty members will celebrate the beginning of the campus's Research Park with a groundbreaking ceremony beginning at 12:30 p.m. Thursday (March 2) at the corner of First Street and St. Mary's Road in Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Tony Waldrop has agreed to accept the position of vice chancellor for research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, pending approval of the board of trustees at its meeting Thursday (March 2) in Urbana.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The National Computational Science Alliance will enter a new phase today when Larry Smarr, founding director of the Alliance and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, assumes the new role of Alliance Strategic Adviser. This change will free him of his management responsibilities of the Alliance and NCSA.

John Sudlow is the Project Coordinator of the UI's Motorcycle Rider Program, located on Gerty Drive next to the Fire Service Institute. 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois will be submitting a bid to the Illinois High School Association in an effort to bring championship games in three sports to campus. The bid seeks a five-year commitment from the IHSA for the events to be held at the UI.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Internationally known obesity researcher Richard Lee Atkinson will discuss the prospects for effective treatment in a public lecture at 7:30 p.m. March 20 at the University of Illinois. The lecture is free and will be in Room 150 of the Animal Sciences Laboratory, 1207 W. Gregory, Urbana.