PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 28, No. 19, May 7, 2009

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Brief Notes

Graduate College

Focal Point proposals due June 1

The Graduate College has created a program, Focal Point, that is intended to engage faculty members and graduate students to advance knowledge in areas of critical national and human need.

Whether looking at the increasing challenges in global health and engineering, global economic and social issues, or the challenges of understanding and communicating in an increasingly complex world, solutions will encompass multiple disciplines and require innovative thinking.

The scope of this initiative is broad, and bold ideas are encouraged. Of particular interest are new collaborations that explore the interfaces between disparate fields of scholarship.

Up to $15,000 may be awarded to organizers for selected projects. Proposals must be submitted electronically by June 1 by faculty members or doctoral students. Selection criteria will include intellectual merit, impact on graduate students and education on campus, and contributions to interdisciplinarity on campus. Projects must begin August 2009 and contain activities for two academic semesters or a 12-month period.

For details – including examples of Focal Point projects, organizer responsibilities, expected outcomes, proposal content and budget template – visit www.grad.illinois.edu/general/focal_point.htm.

‘Response: Art and Art of Criticism’

Exhibition on view through May 30

An exhibition that explores the sometimes graceful, sometimes awkward pas de deux between artist and art critic will be on view through May 30 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the UI.

“Response: Art and the Art of Criticism” pairs nine artists with nine critics. The exhibition features works by each contributing artist, juxtaposed with essays that provide insights on the art as well as the critics’ own musings about the process of writing criticism.

Artist-critic pairings: Adelheid Mers, Fred Camper; Silvia Malagrino, Janina Ciezadlo; Carrie Schneider, Alicia Eler; Carol Jackson, Jason Foumberg; Claire Prussian, Claire Wolf Krantz; Duncan MacKenzie and Christian Kuras, Corey Postiglione; Conrad Bakker, Lane Relyea; Christopher Meerdo, Polly Ullrich; Dianna Frid, Lori Waxman. Bakker is a UI art and design professor.

The exchanges will be documented in a catalog and recorded on CDs, which exhibition visitors may listen to in the gallery. Visitors also will be encouraged to record their own critical responses to the exhibition – either in a notebook in the gallery or by way of e-mail. Those responses will be published online on the I space Web site: http://ispace.uiuc.edu/.

I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is at 230 W. Superior St., Chicago.

Staff Advisory Council

Nominations sought for SAC

The Staff Advisory Council is seeking nominations for one representative each from the Technical/Paraprofessional Group (EEO 05) and the Clerical/Secretarial Group (EEO 04) to serve a four-year term beginning July 1. The council acts in an advisory role and meets regularly with the associate provost for human resources on the Urbana campus.

To be considered for the positions, prospective candidates may download petitions from the Staff Advisory Council Web site at www.pso.uiuc.edu/sac/election.html beginning May 8. Petitions also may be picked up at the Staff Human Resources Office. Deadline for returning petitions is May 15.

Voting will be conducted electronically from May 27-28 and winners will be announced May 29. For more information, contact Jane Dowler at 333-3105 or e-mail dowler@illinois.edu.

Vintage Vinyl

Used records, tapes and CDs for sale

The Vintage Vinyl sale, with thousands of used records, tapes and CDs offered for sale, takes place May 16 in Lincoln Square Village in Urbana.

An entrance fee of $5 will be charged from 8-11 a.m. Admission is free from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. After the sale closes for an hour of reorganizing, all items will be half price from 4-6 p.m. Used stereo equipment, including CD players, turntables and speakers, also will be offered at bargain prices.

The sale benefits Illinois Radio Reader, a service of Illinois Public Media that provides news and information to blind and print-handicapped audiences in East Central Illinois.

Deane Geiken, director of the IRR, said that the sale includes a superb group of more than 3,000 swing, big band and jazz albums donated by a single collector.

“Our rock collection is growing day by day, and we have a really nice selection of audio equipment as well,” Geiken said.

John Frayne, who is sorting classical records for the sale, said the classical selection includes piano records by artists ranging from past great Josef Hoffman to the experimental John Cage; excerpts from a rare Bizet opera, “Ivan IV”; some stereo quadraphonic discs from Japan and a promo LP for a Sir Georg Solti Chicago Symphony Orchestra recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

WILL AM-FM-TV

WILL is now Illinois Public Media

WILL AM-FM-TV is taking a new name – Illinois Public Media.

The individual stations, WILL-AM (580), WILL-FM (90.9) and WILL-TV, retain their names and individual identities. But the overall organization has adopted the new name to reflect WILL’s expansion into the Internet and outreach projects in the community, neither of which was overtly included in the AM-FM-TV designation, said WILL general manager Mark Leonard.

“The media landscape is changing, and the ways that people use media are changing as well,” Leonard said. “Our name change signals to people that we’ll continue to be relevant and that we’ll continue to be a public media organization.”

Leonard said WILL also wanted to use the name to strengthen its ties to the UI. “We’re licensed to the university, and every day we draw on the rich knowledge of the people who work at the UI,” he said. “We maintain our editorial independence, but putting the Illinois in our name emphasizes our relationship with the university.”

The name change doesn’t mean a change in WILL’s programming or mission, he said. “We’re still WILL, but we’re now reaching many people with our programming, such as our agriculture service, on the Internet. They may have never heard of WILL, but they do know about Illinois. Illinois has a global reputation, and WILL, now Illinois Public Media, is part of that,” Leonard said.

The name change also reflects the expansion of WILL-TV’s programming elsewhere in the state and country.  WILL-TV’s “Illinois Gardener” is now being distributed to other public television stations in the state, and its recent documentary, “Lincoln: Prelude to the Presidency,” was seen on more than 100 stations around the country.

Community engagement, including its Youth Media Workshop and Young Learners Initiative, is becoming an increasingly important part of WILL’s mission, and the new name better encompasses this work as well as the Illinois Radio Reader, a WILL service that provides news and information to blind and print-handicapped audiences in east central Illinois, Leonard said.

Along with the new name, users of WILL’s services will see a new look for WILL’s logos.

Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory

Register for workshop by May 22

The Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory presents its Advanced Materials Characterization Workshop on June 3-4. The workshop will provide a condensed overview of the most important analytical techniques available in the Center for Microanalysis of Materials, with a strong focus in practical applications and problem-solving strategies.

The workshop will consist of lectures covering mainstream techniques such as atomic force microscopy; X-ray diffraction, reflectivity and fluorescence; scanning electron microscopy, focused ion beam; Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopy; secondary ion mass spectrometry, Rutherford backscattering; and optical spectroscopy. The lectures will be given by laboratory facility scientists with more than 10 years of hands-on experience in each technique. The workshop will cover:

• The fundamentals of each analytical technique.

• Comparative review of the instrumentation options with emphasis on differences in resolution, sensitivity, sample requirements.

• Data-acquisition strategies and data-interpretation methods.

• Expert tips on how to avoid measurement artifacts.

• Critical review of strengths and weaknesses of each technique: how to combine techniques to extract the best possible complementary information.

• Detailed discussion of practical examples including industrial applications in nanotechnology, microelectronics, thin films, coatings, bioengineering, mineralogy, medical and pharmaceutical research.

The deadline for required registration is May 22. Visit the Web site for additional registration information, http://cmm.mrl.uiuc.edu/workshop2009. Questions can be sent to Mauro Sardela, sardela@illinois.edu, or Julie ten Have, tenhave@illinois.edu.

University YMCA

Donate to annual garage sale

Collections for the University YMCA’s annual Dump and Run garage sale will begin May 11 and run through May 29. This year the sale will be coordinated with International Student and Scholar Services.

Dates and times to drop off items at the University YMCA:

• May 11-16 and May 18-29: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• May 14, 21, 28: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There will be no collections on Memorial Day, May 25. To schedule a pick-up for large items, call Erika at 337-1500. For information on what will be accepted, visit: www.universityymca.org/dumpandrun/.

Dump and run is a fundraising program that the University YMCA has been doing for the past six years. Reusable items are collected – often things that students would dispose of as they move out – and the collected items are sold at the annual garage sale, which will take place Aug. 22 and 23 at the UI Stock Pavilion.

The project reduces litter and consumer waste, saves space in landfills, lowers dumping costs for certified housing units, provides inexpensive items for students to purchase in the fall and acts as a significant fundraiser for the University YMCA.

To volunteer, call Kasey at 337-1514 or e-mail kasey@universityymca.org to sign up. Anyone who volunteers for at least six hours can shop before the sale.

IPRH

Help publicizing your reading group

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities has announced that it will provide support to faculty and graduate student Reading Groups in the 2009-10 academic year. Reading Groups may investigate any topic and need not be coordinated with the IPRH theme. The IPRH will publicize the groups and their activities to the campus community, and make its seminar room and lecture hall available for use by the groups throughout the year.

Because of the current budget situation, the IPRH will not be able to provide financial support to the Reading Groups. IPRH hopes that the suspension of funding is temporary and encourages existing and new groups to continue meeting during the year.

As in past years, the IPRH will circulate information about the Reading Groups, with the hope of widening the reach of the groups and attracting new members. Any interested groups (regardless of whether they have received past IPRH sponsorship) are encouraged to submit a description of the group and contact information for the group’s organizers. This information will be included on the IPRH Web site and in its fall newsletter and will be circulated to the IPRH mailing list at the start of the fall semester.

Each Reading Group will be wholly responsible for its own administration, including all clerical and meeting-related activities and the distribution of readings and publicity materials. The IPRH will make its facilities available for use by the Reading Groups, who will be responsible for scheduling all facility use in advance with the IPRH staff; all scheduling will be based on availability.

Reading Groups wishing to be included in the IPRH publicity materials are asked to submit the following information no later than June 5:

 The names, departmental affiliations, and e-mail addresses of the group’s organizers (a maximum of two names may be listed);

 A short statement (no more than 75 words) describing the goals of the group and a brief outline of the proposed activities

Materials should be sent as a Word attachment to Christine Catanzarite at catanzar@illinois.edu.

Christmas card display

Woodblock prints by former dean featured

The Champaign County Historical Museum, 102 E. University Ave., Champaign (located at the Cattle Bank), is featuring an exhibition of woodblock-printed Christmas cards done by Fred Turner, former dean of students. Turner and his wife, Betty, sent out the cards – printed on 9” x 12” card stock – annually from 1946 through 1974. The cards, created by Fred Turner by carving and then printing with woodblocks, feature historic structures of Illinois.

The museum received a complete set of 29 prints in 1975, soon after Fred Turner’s death. Today, more than 30 years after both of their deaths – Betty Turner died in 1978 – the prints find ready buyers on the antiques-collectibles market on those rare occasions when they come up for sale.

The wood used for the blocks came from shelving in the trustees’ room of University Hall, an early campus building built in 1878. It stood close to where the Illini Union stands today. After showing signs of imminent collapse, University Hall was taken down in 1938. Fred Turner bought the shelving from the contractor who handled the demolition.

The prints may be viewed from noon until 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The exhibit is expected to be on display until fall. 

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