PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 22, No. 16, March 20, 2003

brief notes

Spurlock Museum
Museum to host auction April 5
The Spurlock Museum Guild will celebrate the opening of the new museum building with its 12th annual auction, "Spring Into the Future," on April 5.

A selection of unique items up for auction includes art, antiques, collectibles, Krannert and UI sports tickets, restaurant certificates and cooking lessons.

The evening begins with a private museum visit at 4 p.m. and will be followed by a buffet dinner at Levis Faculty Center at 5 p.m. The live auction will start at 6:30 p.m., followed by a silent auction throughout the evening.

Tickets are $40. Guests wishing to contribute $100 may serve as Sponsors, and those who contribute $250 each may serve as Patrons. All proceeds will be used to support the museum. For more information, contact Helen Burch, 328-1186, or Jacqueline Gergen, 352-9800.

Ethical and social issues
IEEE SSIT regional meeting
The regional meeting of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology will be from 1 to 6 p.m. April 4 at the Coordinated Science Laboratory.

Five distinguished scholars from regional universities will speak on ethical and social issues in engineering and computing.

In a poster session at the meeting, undergraduate and graduate students from regional institutions will present projects that they have completed on topics related to the themes of the meeting.

SSIT is one of more of 37 societies and four technical councils of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. that span the range of electrotechnologies and information technologies.

The meeting is open to the public.

Campus Recreation
Cheap Skates is April 2
Campus Recreation is holding an evening open skate at the Ice Arena from 7:30 to 9 p.m. April 2. The open skate is part of the "Cheap Skates" program, which takes place on the first Wednesday of every month. The event is free to UI students and Campus Rec members; admission is $1 for others. Skate rental is $1.

For more information, call 333-2081.

Campus Recreation
Bicycle maintenance offered
Campus Recreation Outdoor Adventures will host a bicycle maintenance clinic from 1 to 3 p.m. April 2 at the Outdoor Center. The cost is $10 for UI students and Campus Rec members and $14 for nonmembers and the public.

Demonstrations will focus on brake and gear adjustments, bearing adjustments, lubrication and fixing flats.

Registration is required. For more information, call 333-TRIP (8747), visit the Web, or stop by the Outdoor Center.

‘Reel Queer Film Festival’
Films, workshops announced
The UI’s second annual "Reel Queer Film Festival" kicks off with "Trembling Before G-d," a movie exploring the ways Orthodox Jews reconcile their love of Judaism with biblical prohibitions against homosexuality.

"Trembling" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. April 1 in 100 Gregory Hall. A discussion led by Matti Bunzl, a professor of Jewish culture in the anthropology department at Illinois, will follow. All of the 12 films and special events in the festival, which runs through April 5, are free and open to the public.

A highlight of the festival will be the area premiere of Sherman Alexie’s film, "The Business of Fancydancing," on April 4 in 192 Lincoln Hall. In the film, which Alexie wrote and directed, a successful gay Native American poet confronts his past when he returns to the reservation to attend a close friend’s funeral. A short film titled "Two Spirit People" will precede the Alexie film. The 20-minute short begins at 7:30 p.m.

Another festival highlight is the workshop to be conducted by the transgender slam poet Marcus Rene Van at 2 p.m. April 4 in 101 Armory. Van also will introduce his five-minute film "Junk Box Warrior" and respond to questions beginning at 7:30 p.m. the previous day, April 3, in 213 Gregory Hall. Van’s film is the leadoff for "An Evening of Shorts."

Film director Johnny Symons also will take part in the festival, showing his film "Daddy and Papa," which deals with gay fatherhood, at 7:30 p.m. April 2.

For more information, visit the festival Web site at or call the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Concerns at 244-8863.

University Primary School
Applications due March 21
The deadline for applying to University Primary School for the 2003-04 school year is March 21. The school serves children ages 3 to 7. More information is available by calling 333-3996.

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
The science of Mercedes-Benz
Alumni and friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are invited to the next chapter meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 8 at Sullivan Parkhill Imports, 440 W. Anthony Drive, Champaign.

The meeting will feature a German-style buffet dinner at 6:30 p.m. followed by a technical presentation at 7 p.m. with Wayne Shewchuk from Mercedes-Benz USA, who will discuss "Aspects of the Engineering Design of a Mercedes Benz, for the Engineer and the Layperson." Discussions and demonstrations will continue until 9 p.m.

Interested members of the university and prospective members are invited to attend. E-mail reservations to white5@illinois.edu.

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation grants more than 800 fellowships and awards to highly qualified scholars and leaders around the world. New programs include sponsoring regional and interdisciplinary conferences and Summer Research Fellowships designed for junior faculty members in the United States. Further information about the Humboldt Foundation will be available at the meeting and at www.avh.de. Information about the local chapter is available at www.german.uiuc.edu/events/avh/index.html.

Van Arsdell Lecture
Equal justice in death penalty
Stephen B. Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, will deliver the Paul M. Van Arsdell Jr. Memorial Lecture at 4 p.m. April 1 in the College of Law Auditorium.

Bright’s lecture, "The Need to Realize the Promise of Equal Justice in Death Penalty and Other Criminal Cases," will discuss how poor people accused of crimes – including those facing the death penalty – often receive inadequate legal representation from court-appointed lawyers. According to Bright, decisions in the criminal justice system often are influenced by the race of the person accused and the race of the victim of the crime.

This event is free and open to the public.

Larsen Human Development Award
Nominations due April 7
The Counseling Center will accept nominations for the Robert P. Larsen Human Development Award through April 7.

The award goes to a person or group that is part of the university community with preference going to students or a student group. The award honors those making a significant contribution to the campus that is consistent with the general mission of the Counseling Center.

Nomination forms are available at the Counseling Center or online. Forms also may be requested by phone, 244-3356.

The award is named in honor of a 50-year Counseling Center staff member.

Chicago’s I space gallery
Architecture featured in exhibitions
Architecture – both historic and futuristic – will be featured in three new exhibitions opening this month at I space, the Chicago gallery of the UI’s Urbana-Champaign campus.

The exhibitions, on view through April 5:

"Walter Burley Griffin: Architectural Models of Projects and Demolished Buildings," features nine basswood models of Griffin buildings by students of Paul Kruty, a professor of architecture at Illinois and the author of the book "Walter Burley Griffin in America." Information about the Prairie School architect and his work – much of which can still be found in the Chicago area – accompanies the student designs.

"Sullivanesque: Urban Architecture and Ornamentation" is a collection of decorative ornaments, terra cotta fragments, drawings, photographs and prints that provide a historical overview of modern American architecture derived from the style originated by Louis Sullivan. The exhibition is organized by UI architecture professor Ronald Schmitt, the author of the book "Sullivanesque: Urban Architecture and Ornamentation."

"Interactive Architecture: Habitable Software/Wearable Architecture," a multimedia installation presenting highlights of a thesis project by Illinois alumnus Jereme Smith. The main components of the project are a "techpack," a foldable, solar-charged laptop computer worn by the user, and a bus shelter.

An opening reception is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. March 21 at the gallery, 230 S. Superior St., Chicago. I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday,
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities
Conference explores ‘The South’
The fifth annual conference of UI’s Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities will explore "The South" as it is multifariously defined by seven invited speakers and two dozen other scholars from Illinois and across the country. In some cases the South will mean the American South, in others, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, the South Side of Chicago and even the work of artist Diego Rivera.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, will be April 3-5 at several locations on the campus, primarily the Levis Faculty Center and the Illini Union. No registration is necessary.

More than 20 papers will be given in 10 categories including writing the Southern woman, the South as fact and fiction, and the literatures of the South.

Keynote speakers are Saskia Sassen, sociology, University of Chicago, who will speak about "The Participation of States and Citizens in Global Governance" (7:30 p.m. April 3, Levis Center), and James L. Peacock, anthropology, University of North Carolina, who will talk about "Exploring Identity in the Global South" (7:30 p.m. April 4, Krannert Art Museum).

The 2002 IPRH faculty, graduate student and Illinois Humanities Postdoctoral Fellows, who recently concluded a year in interdisciplinary activity considering "The South," also will present their research at the conference.

For more information about other guests and their topics, visit the IPRH Web site, which has a full program schedule, or contact Christine Catanzarite, IPRH associate director, at 244-7913 or catanzar@illinois.edu.

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