brief notes


Former HHS administrator to speak

Mary Jo Bane, former assistant secretary for children and families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be the keynote speaker at a forum sponsored by the School of Social Work and the Children and Family Research Center. The forum, which will explore the impact of welfare reform, will be from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. March 15 in the Geneva Room of the McKinley Foundation.

Bane, who resigned in protest when President Clinton signed the new welfare legislation, was responsible for managing 60 federal programs, including Aid to Families With Dependent Children, Child Support Enforcement and Head Start. Following the presentation, representatives from state and local organizations will discuss their plans for implementing welfare reform and how their agencies are preparing for its consequences. Advance registration is recommended. The event is free, although those who want social work continuing education credits will be charged a $10 processing fee.

Bane also will deliver the seventh annual Daniel S. Sanders Memorial Peace and Social Justice Lecture, "Protecting Poor Children in the Wake of Welfare Reform," at 4 p.m. March 14 at the McKinley Foundation. This event is sponsored by the George A. Miller Committee and is part of the MillerComm '97 Series. For more information on either the lecture or the forum, call 333-2261 or e-mail phavlik@illinois.edu.

Illinois Brass Quintet performs March 9

The Illinois Brass Quintet, made up of five UI School of Music faculty members, will perform at WILL's Second Sunday Concert at 2 p.m. March 9 at the Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion.

Featured are Michael Ewald and Charles Saenz, trumpets; Kazimierz Machala, horn; Elliot Chasanov, trombone; and Mark Moore, tuba.

The free concert, which will be broadcast live on WILL-FM (90.9) with host Roger Cooper, includes J.S. Bach's "Contrapunctus I," Jan Bach's "Laudes," Tony Plog's "Four Sketches for Brass Quintet," selected works by Percy Grainger, and Norwegian folk tunes.

INDIA 50 celebration scheduled

The South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Program is sponsoring INDIA 50, a series of events celebrating 50 years of Indian independence. The series will be inaugurated with two lectures presented by Harold Gould, professor emeritus of anthropology and former associate director of the Center for Asian Studies. "India at the Half-Century: Has Democracy Worked?" will be presented at 10 a.m. March 8 in 1210 Digital Computer Laboratory. An informal reception with refreshments will be held at 9:30 a.m. to welcome Gould. The second presentation, "U.S.-Indian Relations: Post-Cold War Challenges and Opportunities," will be at 8 p.m. March 10 in 2240 Digital Computer Laboratory.

Web-designing classes announced

Space is still available for the noncredit series "Publishing on the World Wide Web" offered through the Division of Extramural Programs. Some prior experience with creating Web pages is required for the classes.

In "Intermediate HTML" (Module 103), students will learn how to use Microsoft FrontPage to create new Web pages or enhance existing ones. In addition to learning basic skills, students will learn how to add tables to documents, add "wallpaper," create transparent images and create clickable maps. The four-session course meets Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 16 through 30 and Thursday, May 1. The cost is $59.

"Advanced HTML" (Module 104) is an introduction to the use of frames and multimedia on the Web. Students will learn how to add frames, sounds, movies and animation to HTML documents. The six-session course meets Mondays from 3 to 5 p.m., March 10-April 21. The cost is $89. There is no class during spring break.

"Introduction to the Use of Forms and CGI Scripts" (Module 105) will teach students to create forms and Perl scripts that e-mail form data, add information from forms to databases, and use form/HTML information. Participants will need access to a Web server that supports Perl. This four-session course meets Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m., March 12-April 9. The cost is $59.

To enroll or for more information, call the Office of Statewide Programming, 333-6305.

Poetry workshop for all ages set

Gale Reneé Walden, visiting professor of English at the UI and a poet ("Same Blue Chevy"), will host a poetry-writing workshop from 7 to 8 p.m. April 18 at the Champaign Public Library. Walden will discuss the poetry-writing process and assist participants in generating ideas for their poetry. The workshop will be limited to 25 people; registration begins March 18. Call 356-3980.

Multiculturalism lecture announced

The recent French-American debates concerning the theory and practice of multiculturalism are the focus of a lecture by Jean-Philippe Mathy, professor of French, of comparative literature, and of criticism and interpretive theory. The presentation, "Continental Divide: On Some Recent Transatlantic Intellectual Debates," will be from 4 to 6 p.m. March 10 at the Center for Advanced Study. The lecture will concentrate on exploring the controversy concerning the theory of multiculturalism and its practice in both France and the United States. Mathy will examine the French centralist and homogenizing idea of the nation and the liberal-pluralist conception of American society. Responses will be made by Eyamba G. Bokamba, professor of linguistics and of African languages, and Janet L. Smarr, professor and acting director of comparative literature and professor of criticism and interpretive theory and of women's studies.

Tornado seminars set for March 15, 17

WILL-AM (580) meteorologist Ed Kieser will present tornado safety seminars at 3 p.m. March 15 and 7 p.m. March 17. Focusing on lifesaving tornado safety advice, this year's seminars also will include dramatic new video footage from the April 19 tornado that struck the area last spring. Both seminars will be in the auditorium of the Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences building. For those unable to attend the seminar or who want to learn more about tornadoes, WILL will provide free copies of its video "Tornadoes With Ed Kieser" to 100 Central Illinois libraries for library patrons to borrow. The video was produced by WILL-TV last year and will air again on Channel 12 at 5:30 p.m. March 9.

McConnell to speak at Baum lecture

Michael W. McConnell will deliver the David C. Baum Memorial Law Lecture at 4 p.m. today (March 6) in the Max Rowe Auditorium of the College of Law.

A law professor at the University of Utah, McConnell will discuss the evolution of "modern rights" not grounded in the Constitution's Bill of Rights as a product of changes in technology and social mores. The lecture, "Deriving Modern Rights from 'The Ancient Constitution,' " is free and open to the public.

Researchers can use new supercomputer

During a test period, researchers will not be charged to use the newest supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

NCSA announced in January that the SGI/Cray Origin2000 systems had entered a "friendly user mode." Until it is ready for production use, any U.S. faculty member or postdoctoral associate of an academic institution, or corporate users who already have an agreement with NCSA, may apply for free time on the system.

"The point of the friendly user period is to shake out the system and uncover problems before going into the production phase," said John Towns, technical program manager at NCSA.

Initial accounts will be limited to 1,000 hours, but additional time may be requested. Faculty members and postdoctoral students serving as principal investigators also may request additional logins for collaborators.

The application for a friendly user account is located at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Consulting/HPCC/Systems/Origin2000/FUApp.html. Further details on the hardware and software configurations of the Origin2000 systems can be found at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Consulting/HPCC/Systems/Origin2000.

WILL Ag Outlook meeting is March 11

WILL-AM (580) will hold its annual all-day Agricultural Outlook meeting at 8 a.m. CST (9 a.m. EST) March 11 at The Beef House restaurant in Covington, Ind. The meeting is free; lunch is $7. Among the meeting's highlights will be two commodity outlook panels, moderated by Charles Lindy, AM 580's director of agricultural programming; sessions on fundamental and technical analysis; and an agricultural weather session with AM 580 meteorologist Ed Kieser and Ken Kunkel of the Midwestern Climate Center.

For more information, contact Lindy, 333-0850.

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Comments to: Inside Illinois Editor Doris Dahl, (217) 333-2895, d-dahl2@illinois.edu

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