IN THIS ISSUE: Vet Med Open House is April 11 | African women writers featured April 4-11 | Lecture focuses on religion and culture | Donations sought for Vintage Vinyl sale | Proposals requested for Focal Point initiative | Volunteer mentors needed | Don't use dollar coins in parking meters | Petals & Paintings benefit is April 16 | Proust conference is April 8-10 | Cultural anthropologist to speak April 8 | TED-inspired events on campus, online | Biofuels conference is April 9
New facility debuts
Vet Med Open House is April 11
More than 300 veterinary students will host the College of Veterinary Medicine’s annual Open House, a behind-the-scenes look at the state’s only veterinary college. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 11.
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Free parking will be provided in Lot F-27 at 2001 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana.
Highlights of the 2010 Open House:
Clinical Skills Learning Center: Learn about radiology and emergency medicine in the new facility with state-of-the-art teaching equipment. The Clinical Skills Learning Center is a key component of the radically revised Illinois Integrated Veterinary Professional Curriculum introduced last fall with the incoming Class of 2013. The public will be invited to vote on a name for the life-size model horse used to teach equine anatomy and large animal imaging techniques. A sneak peek of the facility is online at vetmed.illinois.edu/asa/cslc/.
Admissions information: Career talks will demystify the path to becoming a veterinarian and explain how the Illinois Integrated Veterinary Professional Curriculum emphasizes clinical knowledge and skills throughout the four-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree program.
Ask a Vet: Dr. Kandi Norrell provides “primary care” – similar to a family general practitioner – for area dogs and cats. She’ll be on hand to answer questions about companion animal health. There also will be drawings for dog-, cat- and horse-themed giveaways from the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Hands-on Exhibits and Learning: More than 40 exhibits and demonstrations will focus on the art and science of veterinary medicine and animal-related areas. Animals on display will include police dogs, miniature horses, rabbits, greyhounds, fistulated and milking cows, parrots, birds of prey, and a large assortment of reptiles.
'Writers From Africa and the Diaspora Festival'
African women writers featured April 4-11
The department of theater, in cooperation with the Center for African Studies, will host the inaugural “Writers From Africa and the Diaspora Festival” from April 4-11. The program will celebrate and acknowledge the writings – plays, novels, poetry and short stories – by African women.
In addition to lectures, film presentations and roundtable discussions, there will be free performances featured April 9-11 at the Armory Free Theatre, 505 E. Armory Ave., Champaign. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 and 7 p.m. on Sunday.
The performances:
- “Resident Alien,” performed by Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka (Friday only)
- “A Coloured Place,” by Malika Lueen Ndlovu (performed by Chantal Snyman)
- Stage reading of “Homecoming,” by Andia Kisia (directed by Lisa Dixon, UI)
- Poetry/spoken word, by Malika Lueen Ndlovu
- “Echoes From a Thousand Hills,” presented by Hope Azeda
- “May I Grow as Tall as My Mother,” performed by Mshai Mwangola
- Inner Voices Social Issues Theatre, directed by Azeda
Because of limited seating, it is recommended patrons reserve tickets by e-mailing msohaj2@illinois.edu. Tickets must be picked up the day of the show at the Armory Free Theatre no later than 15 minutes before the performance or they will be released. Tickets will be available one hour before the show begins.
The visiting artists will participate in two roundtable discussions April 9 on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center. From 10 a.m. – noon, scholars will focus on African women and performance, and from 1-3 p.m., discussion will center on publishing and the inclusion of works by African women into university curriculum.
On April 10, a communitywide celebration will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. at Temple Hoyne Buell Hall featuring music, dance and poetry, as well as African food.
All events are free and open to the public.
2010 Thulin Lecture
Lecture focuses on religion and culture
Sabina Alkire, a Champaign native and director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford, will deliver the annual Marjorie Hall Thulin Lecture on Religion and Contemporary Culture at the UI.
Alkire’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled “How an Adequate Notion of Human Flourishing Challenges Economics.” Alkire will speak at 8 p.m. April 7 in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum.
During her talk, Alkire will discuss the rapid pace of change occurring in economics and “the fact that economic growth has not always ushered in advances in other dimensions of life that matter to people.” Alkire will draw on new natural law theory as advanced by Australian philosopher John Finnis and the capability approach of Harvard University economist Amartya Sen, 1998 winner of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his work on poverty and welfare economics.
While on campus, Alkire will be a guest on “Focus 580 With David Inge,” broadcast on WILL-AM (580) beginning at 10:06 a.m. on April 6.
Alkire’s research interests include multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis.
She is the author of “Valuing Freedoms: Sen’s Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction” (Oxford University Press, 2002) as well as many publications about the dimensions of human development and multidimensional measures of poverty andwell-being.
Alkire graduated from the UI in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where she earned master’s degrees in theology and economics as well as a doctorate in economics.
The Thulin lecture, which is sponsored by the department of religion, is named in honor of Thulin (1910-2009), a 1931 UI graduate.
For more information, contact Robert McKim, the head of the department of religion, at 217-244-5832 or rmckim@illinois.edu.
Vintage Vinyl sale
Donations sought for annual sale
The Vintage Vinyl used record sale is now accepting donations of LPs, CDs, DVDs, video games and players, stereo equipment, speakers, and CD and DVD players.
Donations can be taken to the former Dr. John’s School of Cosmetology at Lincoln Square Village in Urbana from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday through May 3 and to Busey Bank locations in Champaign, Urbana and Savoy during business hours through April 30. Donations should be delivered in sturdy containers or boxes.
The sale, set for May 8 at Lincoln Square, 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.
The Vintage Vinyl sale reserves the right to refuse any items deemed unsellable or not suitable.
For more information, contact Deane Geiken at 217-333-6503.
Graduate College
Proposals requested for Focal Point
The Graduate College invites proposals from faculty members and graduate students for 2010-2011 Focal Point projects. The full RFP and a list of current projects is available at www.grad.illinois.edu/focal-point-feature.
Focal Point is an initiative that seeks to catalyze the formation of intellectual communities made up of faculty members and graduate students around topics that undergird important contemporary issues. The initiative 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. Of particular interest are new collaborations that explore the interfaces between disparate fields of scholarship.
Projects must begin August 2010 and contain activities for two academic semesters or a 12-month period. Funding of up to $15,000 per selected project is available. Selection criteria will include intellectual merit, impact on graduate students and education on campus, and contributions to interdisciplinarity on campus. Proposals should be submitted electronically (PDF format) by April 16 to Lynn Schaefer, axlschae@illinois.edu.
Illinois Promise
Volunteer mentors needed
Organizers of the Illinois Promise scholarship program are seeking volunteers for its second mentoring program for freshmen. Illinois Promise scholarships benefit more than 600 low-income students, many of whom are first-generation college students. In addition to financial support, the program matches scholarship recipients with mentors who help them succeed by giving them advice about getting through first-year college obstacles.
Susan Gershenfeld, the director of Illinois Promise Student Services in the Office of the Provost, said students who wanted a mentor could choose either an adult mentor or a peer mentor. The program is a yearlong commitment and the pairs would meet at least once a month.
“The purpose is really to help with that first year transitioning to college,” Gershenfeld said.
Gershenfeld will speak at a luncheon at noon April 5 at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, 2021 S. First St., Champaign. She will explain the intergenerational mentoring program for Illinois Promise students and discuss how volunteers can play a role in the success of these students. Current OLLI mentors also will share their experiences. A box lunch will be available for $8.50 and can be paid for at the door. Registration is required. To register, call 217-244-9141 or e-mail olli@illinois.edu.
Parking changes
Don’t use dollar coins in parking meters
The UI and the cities of Urbana and Champaign recently announced that city and campus parking meters will no longer accept dollar coins.
A problem relating to meter jamming and time theft was recently identified and resolved. As a result, all meters are being reprogrammed to accept nickels, dimes and quarters only. CashKey use will not be affected. Meter coin slots are being modified to be consistent with the change and work will be completed over the course of the next six to eight weeks. Stickers reflecting the change in the types of coins accepted are being applied as available. Until the new coin slots are installed, users are being asked not to insert dollar coins in the meters because they will not be recognized and no time will be registered when they are deposited. This applies to all UI, Champaign and Urbana parking meters.
All three jurisdictions would like to remind their patrons that tampering with parking meters is illegal. Any person caught inserting a foreign object into the equipment is subject to fines and/or penalties as set forth in respective city ordinances or university policy.
Krannert Art Museum Council
Petals & Paintings benefit is April 16
The UI Krannert Art Museum Council will host its 18th annual Petals & Paintings benefit April 16 in support of the museum’s upcoming exhibitions and related educational programming.
Champaign florist Rick Orr is guest curator. The exhibition will feature floral arrangements created by award-winning regional floral designers in response to works of art selected by Orr from the museum’s permanent collection.
The gala is from 7 to 9 p.m. at Krannert Art Museum. Guests may preview the floral displays and meet the florists at 6:30 p.m. The evening will include music by the Darden Purcell Quartet, cocktails and light hors d’oeuvres by Michael’s Catering. There will be a raffle for original art by Robert Chapman. (Chapman’s painting will be on display at the museum April 6-16 and featured on the Web at www.kam.illinois.edu.)
Tickets for the opening reception are $75 each. For information about the event, reservations or membership, call 217-244-0516.
International conference
Proust conference is April 8-10
The UI department of French will host an international conference, “Marcel Proust and His Era,” April 8-10 at the Illini Union and Levis Faculty Center.
The goal of the conference is to bring together a group of eminent scholars to talk about Proust’s worlds, “both the ones depicted in the novel and the one in which he lived,” according to Lawrence R. Schehr, a professor of French and co-organizer of the conference along Patrick Bray, also a professor of French. “We will thus include papers not only on Proust’s work, but also on works by authors in the early 20th century, including, for example, Colette and André Gide,” Schehr said.
The conference will begin at 7 p.m. April 8 on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center with a lecture by independent scholar Jonah Lehrer, “Proustian Intuitions: What Marcel Proust Can Teach Neuroscientists about Memory.”
Events on April 9 and 10 will be at the Illini Union.
Considered one of the most important novelists of the 20th century, Proust was a pillar of modernist writing, as illustrated in his massive seven-volume novel, “A la recherche du temps perdu” (known in English as “In Search of Lost Time” and “Remembrance of Things Past”). In his famous novel, Proust (1871-1922) provided analyses of social structures, family life, Parisian society, social movement, sexualities, gender roles, religion, citizenship, politics, science and the arts.
For more about the conference, including the complete program, visit www.french.illinois.edu/proustconf/ or contact Schehr, schehr@illinois.edu, or Bray, pbray@illinois.edu.
Modern Greek Studies
Cultural anthropologist to speak April 8
The program in Modern Greek Studies will host a lecture “Cultural Memory in Diaspora,” by C. Nadia Seremetakis at 8 p.m. April 8 in the Lincoln Room at the I Hotel and Conference Center. Seremetakis is an innovative and widely published and translated author and a professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Peloponnese.
Her lecture will summarize her research during the past 20 years synthesizing historical, archaeological and anthropological perspectives on the Southern Peloponnese as well as her intellectual contribution to the Greek Diaspora in general.
Best known for her books “The Last Word” and “The Senses Still,” both published by the University of Chicago Press, Seremetakis also is the author of several books in Greek, including a book of poetry and numerous articles in scientific journals and newspapers.
She has taught and lectured at major universities in the U.S. and Europe and served as an adviser to the minister of public health in Greece and the World Health Organization.
Seremetakis also will participate in “Soundscapes of the Spirit: Cosmology and Sound Art From the Black to the Aral Seas” on April 8-9. The Russian, East European and Eurasian Center Annual Conference, co-sponsored by the Division of Musicology in the School of Music, will be held in the Reading Room of Levis Faculty Center.
Through an investigation of song, instrumental melody, timbre, vocalization techniques, instrument construction, music iconography, local music theories and philosophies, and verbal arts, this conference will examine the interrelationship between sound art and cosmology in the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia from both historical and contemporary perspectives. For conference details, visit www.reeec.illinois.edu/.
TEDxUIllinois
TED-inspired events on campus, online
Conferences that will bring together UI and Champaign-Urbana experts from the worlds of technology, entertainment and design (TED) will be the first of their kind on campus this month.
The TED talks were originally created in California in the ’80s and now have resulted in a non-profit organization. Speakers at TED events are challenged to give “the talk of your life” in 18 minutes or less.
The inaugural “TEDxUIllinois” conference on April 1 carries the theme of “Life and Death.” Topics to be discussed include artificial intelligence, virtual lives online, the mysterious deaths of millions of bees, raising the quality of life despite disabilities, the life and death of the American auto industry, and the death and rebirth of the music industry. The April 10 event, titled “TEDxUIUC,” carries the theme “Bold – Ideas, Innovations, Performances.”
Attendance at the events is by invitation only, but the recorded talks should be available online for live viewing, and for later viewing. Both UI events are titled “TEDx” to show they are local, independently organized TED events. Journalism professor Brant Houston and UI alumnus and writer Greg Lindsay chair the TEDxUIllinois events. For the lineups of speakers and topics, as well as other information and links to online viewing, visit www.tedxuillinois.com and www.tedxuiuc.com.
Legal and regulatory changes
Biofuels conference is April 9
The second annual Biofuels Law and Regulation Conference, “The Renewable Energy Legislation Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together,” will take place at the I-Hotel and Conference Center on April 9.
Contributions from the symposium’s speakers will be published as the Law Review’s March 2011 issue. The symposium will focus on a broad array of legal and regulatory challenges to establishing viable renewable energy systems in the United States.
Topics include:
- Incorporating agriculture’s role in combating climate change into national legislation
- The economic and policy implications of the proposed Biomass Crop Assistance Program regulation
- Integrating assessment, planning, and practice protocols and models from existing agricultural conservation programs into sustainability requirements for biomass cropping systems
Each session will offer question-and-answer and brainstorming opportunities with renowned academic experts in biofuels law and regulation. Attendees will represent a variety of law and regulatory fields encompassing government, academia, industry and non-governmental organizations.
Sponsors of the conference include the University of Illinois Energy Biosciences Institute’s Biofuels Law and Regulation Program and the Program in Intellectual Property & Technology Law at the College of Law.
For more information, visit www.biofuelslawconference.org. The conference is free, but registration is required. Registration questions should be directed to Elizabeth Stull, estull@illinois.edu.
