February 18, 1999 / Volume 18, Number 15
News Bureau | Calendar | II Info | II Archives
- Key gene that controls emergence of salmonella identified
- A gene that dictates salmonella's ability to live dormantly or cause disease in pigs has been found by researchers at the UI. In the laboratory, the scientists even fooled the bacteria in one strain into switching back and forth between these two forms.
- Computer simulation could ease production of tiny lasers
- A new computer simulation method developed by National Computational Science Alliance partners at the UI at Urbana-Champaign could make it easier and quicker to produce tiny lasers used in everything from surgical instruments to bar-code scanners.
- Knots of evaporating gas in supernova remnant support theory
- The expanding shock wave of a supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud has provided strong evidence to support a popular model of the interstellar medium, says a UI astronomer who directed an international team studying the object.
- NASA supports two-year study
- The UI has received a $700,000 award from NASA to develop technology for studying waves in Earth's upper atmosphere. The award will fund a two-year study supporting development of specialized instrumentation -- including advanced infrared detectors -- that could be used on a future space satellite.
Allen Hall offers students unique living/learning environment
Online courses offer another way to earn degree
Group looks at bringing course evaluations online
Virtual Campus will be ultimate resource for online learning
New book reveals history of 'Majestic Allerton'
Illinois Economic Outlook: Growth in service and financial sectors predicted
East Asian language and culture program gains ground
New service offers parents both local and national resources
Activist claims U.S. policy harms Iraqis while bolstering Saddam
TAB, PITA help professors improve in fine art of teaching
TV, computers can be tools to encourage young readers, scholars say
Event features bloodsucking insects and humans
KAM sponsors photography contest ... DRES sponsors teleconference Feb. 25 ... Human Genome Project to be focus Feb. 27 ... PI seed grant proposals due April 12 ... Campus Profile now online ... SportWell offers walk-in sessions ... Student leadership nominations due ... CDL applications due April 1 ... SWE invites daughters to work ... Toni Morrison 'read-in' is Feb. 19 ... Retirement sessions announced.
By Jim Barlow
A gene that dictates salmonella's ability to live dormantly or cause disease in pigs has been found by researchers at the UI. In the laboratory, the scientists even fooled the bacteria in one strain into switching back and forth between these two forms.
The finding, says Richard E. Isaacson, a professor of veterinary pathobiology, is the first documentation of a phase-shifting process in salmonella and in any food-borne bacteria that is related to its ability to grow in specific environments. Finding the controlling switch, he said, could pave the way for developing methods to rid the disease-causing form from farm animals.
Salmonella attacks the stomach and intestines in animals and humans, and is a leading cause of gastrointestinal infections. Some 2,000 strains have been identified. Until now, scientists have not been able to explain why salmonella is often found in apparently healthy animals.
"We think that the reason that animals can appear healthy but go on with long-term infection is because the bacteria switches back and forth between these two forms, so that it has just the right combination of the right kind of cells to survive and linger there but not cause disease," Isaacson said.
Isaacson and graduate student Lola Y. Kwan, now at Northwestern University, reported their finding in the December issue of the journal Infection and Immunity. The work -- funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- points to a sugar-containing substance known as O-antigen that sits on the outside of the bacterial cell. When produced inside an animal, salmonella cells become less visible to the immune system and cause illness as levels increase. The other version, normally found in the environment, lacks O-antigen and is easily removed when detected by the immune system once inside.
"What we have identified is an important gene that is involved in the ability of salmonella to cause disease," Isaacson said. "We now know that this gene can be turned on or off depending on where the organism is growing. What we think is really important is that this gene or a master switch controlling this gene is really a key process in how salmonella makes a living in animals."
Isaacson reported salmonella's two genetic phenotypes in 1992. The new work sought to find the differences by comparing mutants with the two forms of the Salmonella typhimurium strain. Using antibiotic-resistant markers and a detection technique called SDS-polyacrylamine gel electrophoresis, they identified the RfaL gene that is required to produce O-antigen.
UI scientists also have been looking on farms for reservoirs of salmonella. Their results suggest that the prevalence of salmonella in swine herds is high, and that the pig is an important reservoir. "It does look like the most likely reservoir is the pig itself," Isaacson said. "It may be that the only real solution is a biotechnological approach that would trick salmonella into turning itself off so it could be naturally cleared from the pigs."
By Karen Green, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
A new computer simulation method developed by National Computational Science Alliance partners at the UI at Urbana-Champaign could make it easier and quicker to produce tiny lasers used in everything from surgical instruments to bar-code scanners.
Karl Hess, a professor of physics and electrical engineering, designs vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL), which are as small as devices on silicon chips and could pave the way for ultra-fast, laser-driven computers and telecommunication devices. Although a basic design for VCSELs exists, optimization of the design requires long, tedious recomputing of design parameters.
Until recently, some refinements of a VCSEL's design took at least 12 hours -- and sometimes as long as a month -- to recompute on a desktop workstation. Hess, a member of the alliance Nanomaterials Applications Technologies team, and his colleagues have developed an algorithm that reduces recomputing time to 30 seconds to several minutes. Hess, graduate student Benjamin Klein and Leonard F. Register, a research scientist at the UI's Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, mathematically restructured the calculations done each time a laser design is refined on the computer. The new system allows the bulk of computations to be processed in parallel on a supercomputer. It was developed in collaboration with Dennis Deppe, an electrical engineer at the University of Texas at Austin.
"Basically we are taking a step toward turning laser design into interactive CAD [computer aided design]," Hess said. "Now, it is possible to make small refinements to the design and see the changes on your desktop computer in less than a minute."
Typically, researchers simulate VCSELs by placing a computational grid, or mesh, over their model and attaching to each grid point linear equations that express the laser's optical and electronic behavior at that point. This involves solving millions of equations to describe how the entire laser behaves, a process that is painfully slow. The new process is dramatically faster because only a small area is meshed, yet by using a mathematical expression called Green's function, just as much information about the laser can be obtained from this scaled-down mesh. In addition, the computations can be done in parallel on a supercomputer, which further reduces computing time. From this point, small refinements to the laser design can be done on a workstation, with each refinement taking no more than a few minutes to calculate.
"The old method did not lend itself to parallel computing," Hess said. "The new method brings complete linear scaling to a very complicated problem."
Hess, Klein and Register have been working on the new simulation method for about two years and did their experimental calculations on the SGI CRAY Origin2000 supercomputer at the UI's National Center for Supercomputing Applications. VCSELs are expected to be a billion-dollar industry by 2002, and to pave the way for integration of microelectronics and laser technology.
"This is an area of research that will have a major impact on a developing 21st century industry," said Larry Smarr, director of the alliance and the supercomputing center. "VCSELs will revolutionize the technology behind the way we communicate and the way we conduct business. It's exciting to see the alliance playing a role in this emerging, cutting-edge technology."
For more information about the work of Hess, Klein and Register see Access Online at http://access.ncsa.uiuc.edu.
The alliance is a partnership to prototype an advanced computational infrastructure for the 21st century and includes more than 50 academic, government and industry research partners from across the United States.
The alliance is one of two partnerships funded by the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure program, and receives cost sharing at partner institutions. NSF also supports the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is the leading-edge site for the alliance. The supercomputing center is a leader in the development and deployment of cutting-edge high-performance computing, networking, and information technologies. The NSF, the state of Illinois, the UI, industrial partners, and other federal agencies fund the supercomputing center.
By James E. Kloeppel
The expanding shock wave of a supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud has provided strong evidence to support a popular model of the interstellar medium, says a UI astronomer who directed an international team studying the object.
"One theory concerning the global structure of the interstellar medium says that supernova shock waves will interact with the cold gas and dust of the interstellar medium, eventually forming three distinct temperature phases," said You-Hua Chu, a UI professor of astronomy. "Although this 'three-phase model' has been popular for the past 20 years, no one had found convincing evidence for one of the model's basic tenets -- a cold cloud evaporating in the hot medium."
To study the supernova remnant -- called N63A, Chu and her colleagues obtained optical images from the Hubble Space Telescope and high-resolution X-ray images from the ROSAT X-ray telescope. "The X-ray observations reveal the full extent of this huge supernova remnant," Chu said, "but the optical images show the features we are most interested in."
Among those features are three bright clouds of gas and dust, similar in size to the Orion Nebula. Two of the clouds show distinct filamentary structures indicative of shock-wave compression, Chu said. The outward rushing shock wave has not yet reached the third, most distant cloud.
Numerous shocked cloudlets -- smaller clumps of gas embedded in the interstellar medium -- also were detected within the supernova remnant. "Swept back by high-velocity shock waves, these evaporating cloudlets provide clear support for the three-phase model," said Chu, who presented the team's findings at the American Astronomical Society meeting, held Jan. 5-9 in Austin, Texas.
After a massive star is formed, its stellar wind blows much of the surrounding interstellar medium away, creating a huge shell in space called an interstellar bubble. "Because the interstellar medium is not homogeneous, the denser knots of material [cloudlets] are left behind," Chu said. "The optical emission region of this supernova remnant appears the way it does because the supernova exploded inside an interstellar bubble in a cloudy medium."
The supernova remnant lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighboring galaxy to our own Milky Way, about 160,000 light-years from Earth.
In addition to Chu, collaborators on the project included astronomer John Dickel, visiting researcher Adeline Caulet, and graduate students Sean Points and Rosa Williams (all at the UI); astronomer Margarita Rosado and graduate student Lorena Arias-Montano at the Universidad Nacionale Autonoma de Mexico; astronomer Annie Laval and graduate student Patricia Ambrocio-Cruz at the Marseille Observatory; and astronomer Dominik Bomans at the University of Bochum in Germany.
By James E. Kloeppel
The UI has received a $700,000 award from NASA to develop technology for studying waves in Earth's upper atmosphere. The award will fund a two-year study supporting development of specialized instrumentation -- including advanced infrared detectors -- that could be used on a future space satellite.
"Such a satellite would be designed to study the effects of small-scale gravity waves in Earth's upper atmosphere," said Gary Swenson, a UI professor of electrical and computer engineering who will direct the study. "Small-scale gravity waves play a key role in defining the large-scale circulation, the thermal structure, and the variability of the atmosphere at altitudes extending from the stratosphere into the ionosphere."
The payload would serve as a platform to remotely sense the upper atmosphere and to study wind dynamics, with a focus on small-scale gravity waves.
"Winds forced over mountains, for example, can produce waves that propagate to the upper atmosphere where they interact and become a major factor in atmospheric flows," Swenson said. "The satellite would measure the various sources, their propagation through the middle atmosphere, as well as their effects on the upper atmosphere."
The UI study is being funded through the medium-class Explorer (MIDEX) Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The program is designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for physics and astronomy missions using small to mid-sized spacecraft.
By Becky Mabry
When Patch Adams arrived on campus earlier this week, he threw his bags and toothbrush into the familiar surroundings of a three-room apartment in Allen Hall, and settled in for a week's visit.
The famous physician, the subject of the popular Robin Williams movie "Patch Adams," has spent weeks in Allen Hall many times and years before he was riding this latest wave of popularity and fame.
At least four times he has been the guest-in-residence there, meaning that he lives in the hall and has nightly get-togethers with students, as well as informal chats.
Perks like having famous or near-famous people drop by has attracted students to the Unit One program at Allen Hall since 1972. The now famous living-learning community at Allen also offers academic freshman-sophomore courses such as introductory courses in psychology, sociology and others in classrooms right in the residence hall. Students can take Psych 100 with 25 students they know, rather than a larger class with a few hundred students they probably wouldn't know.
Plus they can take courses such as ceramics or photography and make use of equipped photo labs and ceramics studios in the basement. There also are soundproof rooms with pianos for music practice.
"I'm a very happy parent,'' said Sandy Goss, who is an associate director of introductory courses for psychology. Her daughter, Stephanie, is a third-year resident at Allen Hall.
"I think it's a wonderful experience. It's a way of getting that small-college feeling with all the advantages of being at a big research institution," Goss said.
Jo Kibbee said she encouraged her daughter to live in Allen Hall after hearing positive comments about it on campus. Kibbee is head reference librarian and a professor in library administration.
"The school is so big and particularly with the large enrollments in courses for freshmen, I thought this would give her a more personal experience, particularly in classes," Kibbee said. "She's appreciated the classes she takes at Allen Hall. One of the freshman introductory classes she is taking is usually taught to large groups, but she is in a class of 15 or 20."
The Guest-in-Residence program is one of the most popular benefits for Unit One participants. The invited guests stay in a large, cozy apartment on the main floor of the residence hall, just a few steps from the students' mailboxes and central office.
Often these guests keep their doors open, which invites Allen Hall kids to come in and visit.
"Fifty percent of what they do is a nonscheduled event -- and that could mean a one-on-one with a kid who will walk in and talk with them for a few hours," said Howard Schein, the longtime director of Unit One.
"That's as valuable as the formal programming. I'm positive about that."
Guests have included former U.S. Rep. and presidential candidate John B. Anderson; gymnast and broadcast journalist Nancy Thies Marshall; Rolling Stone magazine film and music critic Ellen Willis; and documentary filmmaker and Academy Award winner Barbara Trent.
The guest-in-residence program is unique, according to Schein.
"It's the only one of its sort that I can find nationally," he said. "Originally, they were called artists-in-residence and they lived here for an entire year. But now we bring in six to eight people a year. We bring in people we think would be interesting to students -- and usually that is somebody doing something nontraditional."
Another popular benefit of Unit One is that students can take music lessons -- voice, piano, guitar or other instruments -- for free. Also, students can get help from advanced students in math, chemistry, writing and term-paper counseling -- again free of charge.
It feels like a community
When students are asked what they like best about Allen Hall, they usually don't talk about the free music lessons, famous live-in guests, computer lab or the ease of having classes such as Psych 100 just a few steps away from their rooms, Schein said. They say they like it because it is a community -- a connection and base for everything else that they do.
Third-year Allen Hall resident Britta Ennen agrees.
"I love it here," said Ennen, a junior in kinesiology. "I guess from the beginning it was the idea of the smaller classes, the diversity and the community within such a small building," she said. "That's the part I like the best."
"People who live in apartments have to go out and find their friends where they live, but I just go and open my door," Ennen said. "There's plenty of activities and groups here so you can get to know the people in your hall. You don't feel so foreign. You can trust. And it makes you feel safer."
Unit One students pay $220 more a year for the extras, like the music lessons and photo and ceramic labs. Allen Hall is never short of people wanting to get in.
"We always end up turning people away," said Schein. "Word of mouth provides for about 50 percent of our applicants. And we get tons of siblings. And now we're getting kids of former residents."
"And the alums come back still. There really is a feeling of community. I'm still in contact with kids who were here 20 or 30 years ago," Schein said.
UI administrators are interested in creating more learning-living communities in more residence halls. Already, a program called WIMSE in Trelease Hall consists of two floors of women residents who are in math, science and engineering.
Weston Hall has a learning-living community for students undecided about vocation and major. Weston Explorations students have access to career development staff and a variety of workshops and activities to help them make those decisions.
For more information on Allen Hall's Unit One or the other living-learning communities, go to www.housing.uiuc.edu.
By Becky Mabry
At 6:15 p.m. on Wednesdays, Christine Jenkins sits face-to-face with a computer monitor and talks to it about young adult literature.
It's a class she's taught many times as a professor in library and information science. But this time her classroom is a 10-foot by 12-foot office with a technical assistant and an array of high-tech computer equipment. She speaks into a microphone clipped to her blouse; a camera near the monitor occasionally clicks photos of her.
On the computer screen, comments and questions scroll by from students in Alaska, Japan, the Virgin Islands, Alabama, New Hampshire and cities and towns across Illinois.
To an outsider, it appears at times like an on-air studio with a DJ playing hits at a radio station. In another instant one can almost imagine a professor holding class like this aboard a great starship journeying through space in the 22nd century.
Whatever the perspective, there is no doubt that Jenkins is one of many pioneers here at the UI who are providing education to knowledge-hungry students all over the world.
These online education programs at the UI are breaking new ground and leading the world toward a day when online classrooms are commonplace, rather than unique.
Some UI students are earning master's degrees solely through courses taken on the Internet. Michelle Meyer, for example, comes home from a day of work near Chicago and attends her library and information science class in Urbana via the Internet.
"This has allowed me to work and stay in my hometown while obtaining my degree," Meyer said. "I didn't have to pick up my entire life and move downstate."
Meyer is one of the nearly 1,300 students who didn't pick up their lives and move to the UI campus last year. By 2002, UI administrators predict that 10,000 men and women will be taking online UI courses for degrees and certification.
Same course, different delivery
But just because students don't sit in campus classrooms doesn't mean the course work is any easier. In most programs, the admission requirements are the same. Online students pay the same tuition. Course requirements are the same; the same faculty members teach the classes.
Jenkins said she enjoys classroom work but also finds the online teaching just as challenging and exciting. She has one "live" session with her students each week, but the lines of communication remain open on other days through e-mail. The students also communicate among themselves and develop friendships through the live chat sessions and assigned group projects.
"In normal classrooms, you attend class for two to three hours once a week and don't have the opportunity to continue the discussions as the week goes on," said Meyer of Mount Prospect.
"We not only 'attend' live class sessions with the professor but we continue the discussion," she said. "I believe I am learning a great deal."
Library program leaps to front
The Graduate School of Library and Information Science was the first functioning online degree program at the UI and was recently featured in a documentary on PBS. Thirty students have earned online master's degrees in LEEP3, as the master's program is called.
Other online master's degree programs are in education, management information systems and computer science. A professional degree in pharmacy also is offered. The College of Engineering has launched a major effort to provide six different master's degrees; another four professional degree sequences are being developed.
"Now there are three existing online degree programs -- one in library science and two in education -- but within a year I think we'll probably have close to a dozen going online among the three university campuses," said Jeff Stuit, assistant director of the UI Online program.
"There's more demand now than we can fulfill for the two education programs we offer now," Stuit said, noting that more than 100 people are on a waiting list for one of the online master of education programs.
The UI is one of the leaders among other universities with online education, Stuit said.
"We're among the few that have put that emphasis on degree programs as opposed to single courses," he said.
So far the university has committed $3 million to the development of new online education programs. It recently received a $750,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to expand online course offerings over the next two years. The Sloan Foundation, a national leader in promoting online learning, has given the UI about $4 million for that effort since 1993.
Online degrees of equal value
Will employers consider a degree earned online the same as one earned in a traditional classroom?
All signs indicate they will, said Linda Smith, professor and associate dean of Library and Information Science. In fact, some graduates of the GSLIS program found they had an advantage over traditional applicants because their experience with so much technology made them appealing candidates.
"We're finding students perceive (the online education) as an immediate benefit," said Smith. "They have developed Web pages and other skills in how to present information using technology.
"As far as job placement. We have no evidence that there is any discrimination,'' Smith said. "One student finished her degree in Tampa and applied for a job in a special library and she said she felt she was offered the job over several other candidates partly because they recognized her initiative in pursuing the degree and because she had demonstrated an ability to work independently. In this particular instance, all of that was considered a plus by her employer."
In Kobe, Japan, Courtney Lowe says the work he is doing for his online master's degree in library and information science is just as demanding and challenging as the work he did for another traditional degree.
"I have good rapport with the instructors and I feel the classes I have taken have been very well prepared in order to maximize my learning," Lowe said.
He gets up early in the morning to attend the live sessions that are scheduled for early evening in this time zone. Often his 3-month-old daughter sits on his lap while he's participating.
"In general I have not been associated with a group as committed to making something work,'' Lowe said. "Even if I were living in the United States I would be impressed. Their ability to make as far-flung a relationship as ours appear seamless is noteworthy."
By Becky Mabry
Now that more than 1,000 UI students attend class by means of the Internet, isn't it a little silly to have them use an archaic system -- like pen and paper -- to evaluate their courses and instructors?
That's the question some UI faculty members are asking as they look at creating an online evaluation system.
And it isn't just the long-distance students who could be using online evaluations in the near future.
"For instructors on campus who are teaching courses with a lot of technology, this is a natural fit for them," said Katherine Ryan, head of the Division of Measurement and Evaluation in the Office of Instructional Resources.
Faculty members from across campus are talking -- electronically, naturally -- about the pros and cons of online evaluations, she said. Mostly they see benefits, according to Ryan.
It would meet UI President James Stukel's goal of eliminating paper from the university, she said. Plus, it makes sense, that courses that are already taught with computers use that same kind of technology for evaluations.
"Just the sheer paper is an issue to consider,'' she said. "And there are some privacy issues. We can ensure anonymity on an online basis."
Establishing a way to have online evaluations is especially important for younger faculty members, said Jeff Stuit, assistant director of UI Online.
"Younger faculty members who are teaching a lot of online courses need to get evaluated for things like tenure and promotions. Now there's really no established way to evaluate online courses," Stuit said.
The online interaction also would help determine how students best learn online, and could consider a whole gamut of other factors, including a comparison of completion rates of students online versus those in campus-based classes, Stuit said.
Online evaluations may not be practical in all classes, however.
"It isn't clear to us yet that it's going to work under all circumstances in all courses," she said. "It seems to really fit some courses better than others."
Student evaluations, no matter how they are received, are serious business, she said.
"Faculty are very interested in what students have to say," she said. "They make changes in their teaching based on feedback the students give them. In addition, these issues also weigh into decisions about promotion and tenure."
A few departments will pilot online evaluations in courses this spring. It may be offered in more courses next fall, according to Ryan.
But there is still more study to be done before it becomes a campus standard.
In these early stages, she emphasized, it's an exciting opportunity for the faculty members who are driving the effort.
"Faculty are very much involved," Ryan said. "And several faculty have really spearheaded the effort. It really is everyone working together, and in the process people are coming up with creative and interesting ideas. Faculty are really beginning to think about new ways we can use technology to improve instruction."
By Becky Mabry
One of these days -- maybe as early as this spring -- you will be able to go to a computer and call up a catalog that lists all the courses being offered online in all the community colleges and 4-year universities in Illinois.
For example, interested in a course in introductory American history? The online catalog would tell what campus is offering it, the cost, the hours, the requirements, the start and end dates, the registration information and so on.
It's called the Illinois Virtual Campus, and it just opened its doors last October in the Henry Administration Building.
Though Virtual Campus is located in Urbana, it's a statewide initiative supported by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Already 68 universities and community colleges have signed on to list their distance courses, said Director Cathy Gunn.
"We'd like to have an online catalog the public could see by late spring," Gunn said. Until then, provider institutions will be linked to a special Web page just for distant students.
Another component will be a student support system, which will link a student with a contact person at the nearest community college. For example, if a student doesn't have a computer, she can go to her local community college and use a computer there. Or if a student would need to download a file for the online course but didn't know how, the student could get help from the local community college.
"Illinois Virtual Campus will not be developing courses, teaching courses or registering students," said Gunn. "We are a clearinghouse for information."
Other distance courses taught by television or mail also will be included in the catalog.
For more information, visit the Illinois Virtual Campus Web site: www.IVC.Illinois.edu.
By Melissa Mitchell
For more than half a century, the UI's Robert Allerton Park and Conference Center near Monticello has been the undisputed great escape for UI faculty and staff members, students and area residents seeking the three Rs: refuge, recreation and renewal.
Favored as an idyllic country retreat by hikers, bikers, picnic-packers, cross-country skiers, conference-goers -- even wedding parties -- Allerton is arguably among the rarest of jewels in the UI crown. The university's very own "Camelot" is how it is described in a new book, "Majestic Allerton: The Story of the Creation of an Oasis on the Prairie."
The book's author, Kay Bock, is a communications associate at the UI Foundation. Bock said she has been awed by the park since her days as a UI student, and she developed an especially powerful connection with the place after a weeklong conference stay there several years ago. In choosing a title for the book, Bock drew on those personal observations and associations.
"I was searching for a word that seemed to portray all the various aspects of the park," she said. Then, it came to her when she realized how "I'd always been overcome by the majesty of the place."
Beyond the majesty, Bock said, Allerton often has an almost spiritual effect on visitors, who sense the presence of a history that practically begs people to notice -- and take pause -- as they wander through the estate's gardens and on its woodland trails.
"Allerton is a kind of time machine that allows you to get in touch with a time and place that doesn't exist anymore," she said.
In "Majestic Allerton," Bock mines that history, pulling together a wealth of stories and information -- much of it long buried in memory and in Allerton's on-site archives -- and puts human faces on the family behind the legacy.
"The book helps people to know there is a story and a family that have been touched by -- and have been touching -- history for generations," she said.
Much of the 28-page book focuses on Robert Allerton, son of Chicago millionaire Samuel Allerton, whose creative vision inspired not only the construction of the property's impressive English- country-style mansion but the artistic landscaping of the surrounding grounds and gardens, as well.
Robert Allerton originally aspired to be an artist, but after completing studies in Paris and Munich, he concluded -- at age 24 -- that he had no real talent. Instead, he set his sights on becoming a "gentleman farmer," and succeeded in convincing his father to allow him to manage the family farmstead in Piatt County.
Although Samuel comes across in Bock's account as a shrewd, though somewhat unrefined, businessman compared with his more cultured son, the elder Allerton was "a real character and a talent," Bock said. "He had an appreciation for art, even though he seemed more pragmatic." And, she said, he believed in sharing his wealth and knowledge.
As an example, she noted that it was Samuel who ordered the planting of 5,000 fruit trees along the roads bordering the Allerton estate. Besides enhancing the landscape, the trees were to be considered public property, and the Monticello Bulletin reported that it was "Mr. Allerton's wish that passers-by will be free to help themselves" to the fruit the trees bore.
Bock said Allerton's generosity with respect to the fruit trees was rooted in an incident from his childhood, which he translated into a major life-lesson about love, respect and friendship. Confronted by a Quaker farmer who knew young Samuel had made a habit out of stealing cherries from his orchard -- damaging branches to get to the fruit -- the boy admitted his guilt. The farmer rewarded him for his honesty by giving him permission to help himself to the cherries in the future, as long as he agreed to be careful not to break off any limbs in his pursuit of the fruit.
The story ranks among Bock's favorite Allerton anecdotes.
"Once you know the history, it really knocks your socks off," she said, adding that while she was researching the book, she just kept uncovering surprises. Among the biggest, for Bock, was her discovery that the earliest American Allerton, Isaac, journeyed to this country on the Mayflower.
"Not only did he come here on the Mayflower, he ranked third in importance among the Pilgrims and was connected with Miles Standish," she said. In the book, she notes that Isaac Allerton concluded the nation's first peace treaty with the Indians in 1621 and later became assistant governor of Plymouth Colony.
Although Bock is responsible for unearthing the family history and telling the stories in her own voice, she is quick to credit the research and assistance of others. Among her many sources were master's theses by Nancy Becker Hahn, Georgia K. Soruika and Laura Klemt, and a cache of information compiled by Susan Enscore, with assistance from UI archivist Bill Maher. Also providing invaluable assistance, Bock said, was park superintendent David Bowman, and her boss at the UI Foundation, communications officer Jim Gobberdiel. She said Gobberdiel was the driving force behind the book project and served as its creative director.
The book, which was published by the Foundation last November, coincides with the launch of a fund-raising effort aimed at restoring the Allerton mansion and grounds. The campaign marks the 100th anniversary of the home, which was completed in 1900. Among the improvements planned are replacement of the building's slate roof; development of a master garden restoration plan; road maintenance and reconstruction of an arched bridge; and restoration of various sculptures, including the Sun Singer and Japanese garden fish in the Sunken Garden, which have been damaged by lightning.
"Majestic Allerton," which retails for $20, is available at area bookstores, including the Illini Union Bookstore, and at the Allerton Visitor Center, where UI employees may purchase it through payroll deduction. Orders also may be placed by phone at 333-3287, or by sending e-mail to blacker@staff.uiuc.edu.
By Mark Reutter
Uneven growth is forecast for the Illinois economy in 1999, UI economists say in their annual outlook.
Propelled by strong consumer spending, expansion will be concentrated in the services and financial sectors, a report by the UI Institute of Government and Public Affairs predicted. Because the service sector now dominates the state economy, growth in this field will keep the economy expanding at a steady inflation-adjusted rate of about 2 percent.
Aiding the state's modest growth in 1999 will be the stock market, whose surprising rebound since October has added to the wealth of many Illinois citizens. So long as the financial markets do not undergo wild price swings or last summer's free fall, the improvement in stock valuations will spur consumer spending.
There are two trouble spots. Illinois manufacturing is expected to contract in 1999, though not as sharply as elsewhere in the United States. Furthermore, the flood of foreign imports arising from Asia's economic woes "will reduce sales and limit price increases for Illinois companies," Robert W. Resek, chief author of the UI report, said.
Resek credited Illinois companies with a quick response to the Asian crisis. By reducing their inventory and taking immediate write-downs of any business losses, many corporations will ride out the expected manufacturing doldrums this year. As a result, overall manufacturing employment in the state will drop by only by 1 percent this year, Resek predicted.
"A second problem that started abroad is the low price for agricultural commodities," the report noted. "While these prices will hurt profits of Illinois farmers, productivity remains great and there will be little or no impact on total farm activity in 1999."
The state government will end the 1990s in far better financial shape than it began the decade, according to UI economists J. Fred Giertz and Therese J. McGuire.
"Jim Edgar has left the governorship with the state fiscal condition arguably the best in history," Giertz and McGuire wrote.
Even though tax revenues are coming in at a slower rate this year as compared to 1998, the economists still predict a healthy $1.2 billion general funds balance when the 1999 fiscal year ends June 30.
Illinois was in the middle of a recession and state tax revenues were far short of expectations when Gov. Edgar took office eight years ago. For most of his first term, Edgar walked the tightrope of managing "a huge overhang of unpaid state bills" without resorting to a major tax increase. The state's current budget surplus reflects both a buoyant state of the regional economy and "strong fiscal discipline exercised by the governor and General Assembly," Giertz and McGuire concluded.
By Huey Freeman
As East Asians have grown in numbers and influence in the United States in recent years, the UI's East Asian language and culture department has steadily developed to keep pace.
Department head Ronald Toby said he is excited by a hat trick of grants EALC has recently received.
"The fact that three separate East Asian foundations in two different countries have expressed their confidence and endorsement in what we are doing is a source of real pride and gratification," he said.
The awards, adding up to more than $210,000, enable the program to hire two new professors and add about 1,000 Korean volumes to the university's Asian Library.
Toby said a three-year $75,000 grant from the Korea Research Foundation, a quasi-independent agency established by the South Korean government, will be used to bring Han Sohn here as a visiting professor for several years, beginning this fall.
Sohn, now a professor at Yonsei University in Korea, earned a doctorate in linguistics at the UI in 1976. As a visiting professor here in the early 1980s, he worked with Chin-woo Kim, helping to set up the current Korean language program. Sohn went on to direct the Language Institute at Yonsei, the world's preeminent facility in the field.
"He's a fascinating guy and an incredibly bright and energetic person," Toby said of Sohn. "He'll be reorganizing the Korean language program, strengthening and building on the program we have developed over the last 15 years."
The other addition at EALC this fall will be Brian Ruppert, a specialist in Japanese Buddhism and popular religion. He accepted a position as an assistant professor of EALC and religious studies, which will be funded in part by an award of about $100,000 from the Japan Foundation, also a government sponsored entity.
The purpose of the faculty expansion grant is to establish a new position in Japanese religions. Toby said Ruppert, now a popular teacher at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, will be teaching a course in Zen Buddhism and a class on religion and culture in historical Japan.
"He's a prolific young scholar," Toby said. Ruppert is the author of "Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan," a book scheduled for publication in 2000.
"I'm extremely excited to be coming to the UI, which has for a long time had an internationally known reputation for excellence in the study of East Asia and of religion," Ruppert said in an e-mail from Japan, where he is visiting Osaka University on a separate Japan Foundation research fellowship.
Toby said the new hires and the books added to the library will help fulfill his department's mission -- to add to the understanding of the peoples of East Asia.
"It's a third of humanity that's becoming increasingly important to the cultural, economic and strategic life of the United States and the entire world," he said.
Toby, a scholar who has written on the relationships between Japan and its neighbors in premodern times, said the behavior of the increasingly powerful nations of China, Japan and Korea affects us all, in large and small ways. In recent years, they have influenced the kinds of foods we eat, cars and electronics we use, and the design of our clothes.
"In order to understand how these people think and see the world, we have to understand their linguistic and cultural traditions," Toby said.
Students who earn an undergraduate or graduate degree from EALC can expect to find jobs in international business, international law or foreign service. Last fall the department began offering a Ph.D., the first new doctoral program on campus in over 25 years. Toby said other fields open to graduates include banking and journalism.
"There's an almost unlimited range of things you can do," he said. "Anything you can do in the United States, if you know the language and culture of East Asian countries, you can do straddling the Pacific. Increasingly our worlds are interconnected."
Professor Nancy Abelmann, who teaches courses on Korean culture in EALC and anthropology, said one of the unique features of the UI's East Asian program is its growing emphasis on Korea.
"Part of that is because we have a large undergraduate population of Korean-Americans," she said. "Chicago has the third-largest Korean population in the United States."
Abelmann, who is writing a book on women in modern Korea, said the thousand new Korean books will be welcome. They are headed here thanks to a $35,000 grant from the Seoul Broadcasting System Foundation.
"One of the weak links in our program has been the library," she said. "We don't have a full-time librarian for the Korea collections."
Karen Wei, head of the Asia Library, said it is always a struggle to find space for new books on the shelves.
"Right now we have about 9,500 volumes of Korean language materials," she said. This compares with about 61,000 books in Japanese and 130,000 in Chinese. She said receiving 1,000 books in general is not that unusual, but it is an enormous addition to the Korean collection.
Toby said enlarging the collection is part of a commitment to Korean studies that he has tried to help nurture, especially since taking the department's reins in 1996. There were no courses about Korea at Urbana before 1982 -- now about 100 students a semester study the language and dozens more take classes in history, literature and society.
He attributes this growing interest in part to the approximately 1,500 Korean international students and Korean-Americans on campus.
"Understanding Korea is understanding the larger processes of history and culture in all of East Asia as a region," he said.
By Craig Chamberlain
Moms and dads with parenting concerns often want the best information they can find. But they also may need help close to home and don't know where to look.
Parents in Illinois now have one place to go: NPIN Illinois.
Through a Web site, or by phone or e-mail, Illinoisans can use the service to access a massive national database of articles and documents on education and parenting. Through the same means, they can locate a source in the state or their community for the hands-on help they need.
This melding in one place of links to both national and local resources, both expertise and service, is a joint project of the state's Lincoln Trails Libraries System and the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, based at the UI -- one of 16 clearinghouses in the federally funded ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) system. The money to create NPIN Illinois was provided by the Illinois State Library, using federal Library Services and Technology Act funding.
"One of the interesting things about the World Wide Web is you can think and act globally and locally, and the new service takes advantage of that," notes Dianne Rothenberg, associate director of the UI-based clearinghouse. "Part of our goal with NPIN Illinois is to be a model for how other states can combine resources."
A few other states have started similar services, but without the connection to either ERIC or libraries, noted NPIN Illinois coordinator Amy Aidman. Libraries play a key role, said Brenda Pacey, associate director of the Lincoln Trails system, because they have local information already in hand, can make patrons aware of the service and can assist them with the Web in finding materials.
The new service operates in collaboration with the Illinois Family Partnership Network, composed of human service professionals and parent groups; about 2,700 libraries; the Illinois State Board of Education; regional offices of education; local school districts; and UI Extension.
NPIN Illinois developed through discussions with all of those agencies and organizations, but it also grew from experience with the National Parent Information Network (NPIN), established at the UI-based clearinghouse in 1993 as a means for giving parents access to ERIC resources.
"We've learned from experience that very often parents are looking for a service that's right across the street, but they don't know it," said Lilian Katz, director of the clearinghouse. Staff would try to find those local resources, but the information often was not up-to-date or readily at hand.
According to NPIN's Anne Robertson, they wanted a service "that integrated NPIN's philosophy and use of research-based information with what we knew -- really knew -- was going on locally."
The Web address for NPIN Illinois is http://npinil.crc.uiuc.edu. For questions or requests, e-mail npinillinois@illinois.edu; the toll-free phone number is (800) 583-4135.
By Huey Freeman
Mike Bremer, a member of Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign opposed to U.S./ U.N. sanctions against Iraq, told an audience Feb. 12 that the embargo has resulted in the deaths of about a million civilians, while strengthening Saddam Hussein's government. U.N. resolutions and U.S. laws have sharply restricted Iraqi oil sales and importation of foods, medicines and other necessities.
"It's become one of the great catastrophes of this century," Bremer said at a noon forum at the Channing-Murray Foundation attended by 15 people.
Bremer has made two trips to Iraq in the past 16 months to deliver medicine to more than 10 hospitals.
"Our observation is that many children and especially older people are dying needlessly in hospitals of diseases that are epidemic in the country -- cholera, typhoid, all kinds of gastrointestinal illnesses -- because people can not get clean water," said Bremer, who was a human rights activist with Witness for Peace in Central America in the 1980s.
Bremer, who works as a carpenter in Chicago, contrasted the depleted Iraqi medical system today with the care delivered before 1990, when the sanctions were implemented. The embargo was imposed then after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. He said the United Nations used to hold Iraq up as a model in the region, with free health care and an abundance of well-trained physicians.
"We have seen that public health system destroyed," he said. This was accomplished in two ways, he said: by 88,000 tons of allied bombs dropped in the Gulf War -- more than the total dropped in World War II -- and 8 1/2 years of sanctions. The hospitals now don't have the medications necessary to treat rampant illnesses in Iraq, he said.
"The sewage treatment plants still don't have spare parts," he said. "They're still dumping raw sewage into the Tigris River."
There is an acute shortage of clean drinking water because chlorine, used in water purification, is allowed into Iraq only in limited quantities, Bremer said.
"The economy has been destroyed," he said. "People, starting with the lower classes are deprived of proper nutrition and proper sanitation, so their children are dying."
Bremer said the middle and upper middle class Iraqis have become very poor. However, the sanctions have strengthened one group.
"That's the group of people who are somehow tied to the government or military," he said. Luxury goods such as TVs and leather coats are smuggled in by people tied to the military, Bremer said. Because of the relatively few goods and the favored few who control them, the blockade has created a patronage system.
"The sanctions have served to strengthen economically and politically the regime that's in power now," Bremer said.
In an interview after his speech, Bremer said there was one thing that stood out in his mind from his many visits to Iraqi hospitals.
"The leukemia wards were filled with children," he said.
Bremer said Abdul Satar, a physician practicing at Al Monsour Hospital in Baghdad, told him there has been a five-fold increase in childhood leukemia cases. Many physicians and others believe these are caused by the use of depleted uranium in U.S. bombs dropped on Iraq.
There also have been many children born with birth defects, especially in areas that were heavily bombed, Bremer said.
Bremer remembered a confrontation with an Iraqi in a leukemia ward.
"A man began to yell at us in Arabic," he recalled. A doctor explained that he was angry because his son was dying from lymphoma, which had a 60 percent cure rate, but he couldn't get medicines. "He saw us as people from the country that denied his son life."
Bremer said after the man was told why his group was there, he held his hand out in friendship.
"It was painful to see how much people are suffering, yet hopeful to see that capacity for forgiveness and reconciliation," he said.
Voices in the Wilderness, a national group of about 50 members founded in 1996 by Chicagoan Kathy Kelly and four others, has sent 18 delegations to Iraq. Group members have been threatened by the U.S. Department of the Treasury with 12-year prison sentences and $1 million fines for bringing medicine to Iraqi hospitals without a license. The activist organization's position is it refuses to go through the difficult bureaucratic process for export licenses because the Iraqi people have a basic right to medicine.
In 1996, The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released a statement titled "The Disastrous Situation of Children in Iraq." In it, a UNICEF representative for Iraq said, "Around 4,500 children under 5 are dying here every month from hunger and disease." In a more recent UNICEF analysis, 57,000 children under 5 -- or 4,750 per month -- died in 1997 from malnutrition alone. UNICEF spokeswoman Yasmin Zaman said in a recent phone interview that the situation is not improving.
After Bremer's speech, audience member Belden Fields said he agreed with him that the American people don't understand what's going on in Iraq.
"It's difficult for them to see the damage this policy is doing to the children and older people," said Fields, a UI professor of political science.
Fields said a distinction must be made between the Iraqi government and its people.
"We are denying their human rights by denying them access to food and medicines they need to live," he said. "There's no excuse for that. Now I think there has to be a change of policy to recognize the horror inflicted on the civilian population."
Research. Research. Research.
It's an essential part of the foundation this university has bricked and mortared into a worldwide reputation for excellence.
But lately, efforts are being made to ensure that the art of teaching rises to higher levels of importance.
Now when professors take their cups of coffee and go next door to chat about some exciting research that's going on, more of them also are talking about innovative teaching techniques.
"I think we're finally coming of age at the university level," said Kirby Barrick, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.
No more lip service to what "should" be going on in the classrooms, UI administrators say. The provosts -- past and present -- have created programs, backed with university dollars, that will allow faculty members to attend teaching workshops and seminars or bring in experts to hold seminars and workshops on campus.
Barrick has taken advantage of the offer twice by creating a project that provides for peer observation in the classroom. In that project, about 90 faculty members, administrators and others in ACES either have been observed by another faculty member or have done the observing.
The observers take notes to critique the class sessions. For example, the observer would keep an eye on students' reactions. Are the students actively engaged in listening and taking notes? The observer would turn over his confidential notes to the instructor.
"The folks who have participated in it have given us very positive reactions," said Barrick. "They say things like they are paying more attention to their own teaching and learning styles, and how students learn. They say they are thinking about teaching more, and talking about it with colleagues more. And they say they pay more attention to what the goals and objectives for the students are for that day."
It did take time, however, for all involved. And it did require additional money, which was provided by the Provost's Initiative on Teaching Assessment, called PITA for short.
Across campus, other deans and department heads are realizing that even the best of their teachers can use some training to improve what goes on in their classrooms.
PITA funded 14 faculty projects this year aimed at assessing and improving teaching.
The Teaching Advancement Board, comprising 14 professors from a variety of disciplines, also promotes and oversees efforts to enhance undergraduate teaching. TAB has provided travel grants to nearly 15 faculty members to attend teaching workshops and seminars. John Braden, associate provost, encourages more faculty members to apply for the grants.
Hassan Aref, professor and head of the department of theoretical and applied mechanics, was the first chairman of TAB. He said it was created with the hope that it would do for teaching what the Research Board has done for research.
"I think we encountered basically the old can of worms about teaching versus research and the fact that most of the university's rewards sit in the research area," said Aref. "So we looked at how to encourage faculty to become more engaged in teaching.
"Teaching is obviously a big enterprise and something that consumes a lot of our time," he said. "It's not something you can have an impact on very quickly. It's important that the senior administration is behind this. It articulates that teaching is important, and that there is some follow-up to that articulation, in terms of raises and promotions and honors and awards -- all the things that go into the value system in the university."
Marne Helgesen, head of the Division of Instructional Development in the Office of Instructional Resources, has helped several departments establish teaching assessment and enhancement programs through PITA. Bruce Litchfield, professor of agricultural engineering, currently serves as chairman of TAB.
Other TAB committee members are James Gentry, finance; Gary Gladding, physics; William Greenough, Beckman Institute; Achsah Guibbory, English; Steven Helle, journalism: Joanna Maclay, speech communication; Kent Monroe, business administration; Diane Musumeci, foreign languages: Allan Paul, veterinary medicine; Adelle Renzaglia, special education; Shelly Schmidt, food science and human nutrition; Steven Zumdahl, chemistry; and Braden.
TAB grants available
The provost's Teaching Advancement Board encourages faculty members to apply for travel grants to attend meetings or seminars aimed at improving teaching. Grant money also is available to departments or colleges to hold on-campus workshops or institutes that promote teaching innovations.
For more information, call Cel Daniel or John Braden at 333-8159.
Looking for a way to boost your child's interest in reading?
Experts say something as old as the human voice and as new as cyberspace may help.
Betsy Hearne, an international authority on children's literature and professor at the UI, believes that the time-honored tradition of storytelling "can be a bridge between a world that is focused on television, computers and other kinds of media stories, and the world of books."
While today's children seem more attuned to the visual tradition than they are to the print tradition, and while there now are far more distractions from pleasure reading than ever before, those very distractions -- in the form of computer games, movies and television -- "can stimulate interest in reading and in books. 'The Little House on the Prairie' is a good example of that," Hearne said.
"Electronic media and reading are not necessarily antithetical, not necessarily opposing forces," said Hearne, a co-editor and contributor to a new book on storytelling. "The World Wide Web is one great big storytelling device."
Hearne and 11 other children's literature/storytelling experts explore ways to help reconnect children and narrative in a new book titled "Story: From Fireplace to Cyberspace." The book, which includes papers delivered at a conference on the topic, was just published by the UI Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), which is home to the Center for Children's Books and to The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.
According to the editors of "Story," the essays stress "the critical need to connect children and narrative as a way to affect children's development as listeners, readers, viewers and evaluators of literature -- and information in all forms." The book offers practical, theoretical, literary and cultural aspects of storytelling, told from the perspectives of professional storytellers, school media specialists, editors, librarians and university professors. It is intended for anyone interested in storytelling, including teachers, school media specialists, librarians and professional storytellers.
Hearne, a GSLIS professor and author of five children's novels and the critically acclaimed picture book "Seven Brave Women," said that storytelling is enjoying "a revival of interest," and that she and the other editors wanted to include in their book "some of the more innovative aspects of the genre, such as storytelling and storytelling resources on the Web and contemporary viewpoints on the way story is being used, particularly with children in libraries today, but in other modes as well."
In her essay, Janice Del Negro, the current editor of The Bulletin, writes that "using stories with children has a number of benefits, from the practical increase of attention spans to the lyrical soaring of the soul that occurs when art is experienced."
Editors, in addition to Del Negro and Hearne, are Christine Jenkins and Deborah Stevenson, all from the UI "Story" can be ordered by calling the GSLIS publications office, (217) 333-1359.
Mosquitoes will be the guests of honor Feb. 20, and those who come to see them are invited to get pumped for blood. It's the 16th annual Insect Fear Film Festival; this year featuring a blood drive.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. at Foellinger Auditorium (at the south end of the Quad) for viewing exhibits, which will include live -- but contained -- mosquitoes. Admission is free.
Visitors also can be donors. Community Blood Services of Illinois will be on hand. Mosquitoes routinely make people into donors, of course. "We've heard a lot about the shortage of blood because of the wintry weather, so we thought it would be appropriate to have the bloodmobile come to the festival," said Mark Carroll, president of the entomology department's Graduate Student Association.
"Everybody hates mosquitoes," said May Berenbaum, head of the entomology department. She started the festival to educate people about insects by pointing out inaccuracies about them -- and often about entomologists -- in usually bad films. "The one redeeming value of mosquitoes is that you can slap them into pulp. But when they grow to 3-foot proportions they become a bit formidable. They become everyone's worst nightmare. Yet we here in the developed world have only the tiniest inkling of the gravity of the nature of the interaction between people and mosquitoes."
Such is the case in the night's feature films, which are still in the process of being arranged. In "Mosquito," a 1994 film also known as "Night Swarm" and "Blood Feast," mosquitoes become giants and terrorize a town after feeding on the blood of a dying alien whose spacecraft crashes. Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre") yields a chainsaw as a flyswatter in the ensuing battle. Next is the 1991 film "Popcorn," in which college students put on a film festival, including a mosquito film, to save a theater, but disaster strikes. Ray Walston ("My Favorite Martian") appears.
Most films fail to show mosquitoes as vectors. "Mosquitoes are carriers of all kinds of human diseases [malaria, yellow fever, St. Louis and Lacrosse encephalitis]," she said. "They account for millions of deaths and illnesses worldwide every year. Their true nature isn't shown." A rare exception, she noted, is the evening's other feature, "Yellow Jack" (1938), which depicts the work of Dr. Walter Reed and colleagues to link mosquitoes to the transmission of yellow fever.
Only female mosquitoes pose a threat to human health; they feed on the blood of birds and animals, including humans. Males feed on plant juices, and juvenile mosquitoes on decaying plant debris in standing or slow-moving water.
The films begin at 7 p.m. with an hour of short films that span eight decades. Among them will be "How a Mosquito Works" (1912) and "The Winged Scourge" (1943). Also to be shown are old public education films, which are worth seeing not only for the biological information they contain but also for the sociological changes that have occurred since they were released.
Insects, teachers, Chinese pigs, farmers, schoolchildren, technology, soybeans, corn and even walking vegetables all will have a place March 5-6 at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences 10th annual Open House at the UI.
This year's open house gateway will be the Plant Sciences Laboratory, 1201 W. Dorner Drive. Inside, visitors can learn about America's latest uninvited pest -- the Asian long-horned beetle -- that has been raising havoc and headlines after attacking trees in several cities. An exhibit will show what trees it attacks, the damage it causes, its life stages and the fight to eradicate it. Various life stages of the beetle will be depicted, and a preserved specimen of an adult beetle will on display.
In addition, visitors can see the "Plant and Insect Place" and the "Little Shop of Horrors," which provides a close-up look at carnivorous plants, and a display featuring "Herbs of the Year From 1995 to 2004." Science teachers will be able to examine, and order, teaching kits on a variety of topics for their classrooms.
The open house, while not carrying a unifying theme this year, marks a decade of success, said Scottie Miller, chairperson and associate director of the ACES Office of Development, Alumni and Corporate Relations. "We are building on the tradition of the past nine open houses in providing an outreach effort to the public," she said. "We're trying to present our college at all different levels. There will some high-tech things. We'll have areas aimed at high school students who may be considering enrolling in our programs, and some things for the parents -- the taxpayers -- who can come and see what we are doing with their money as we take agricultural, consumer and environmental sciences into the 21st century."
In the Agricultural Engineering and Sciences Building, 1304 W. Pennsylvania Ave., visitors can enjoy orange-and-blue Illini Ice Cream. They can see how a food extruder turns corn meal into cereal-quality food. Recent experiments have combined corn and soy protein into products that may help deliver the healthy benefits of soy to breakfast tables.
Other exhibits will show how technology is changing many farm tasks and how rain causes soil erosion. The department of agricultural and consumer economics will feature a full lineup of displays detailing its outreach efforts for consumers and farmers.
In the Stock Pavilion, 1402 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Friday-only shows will feature sheep shearing and wool carding and spinning, at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Visitors to the Stock Pavilion also can donate cans of food at the "4-H Can Make a Difference" food-drive booth. Kids who don't like vegetables may find pleasure in at least shaking hands with the bigger-than-life costumed varieties that will be roaming throughout the building.
Visitors also can mingle with various farm animals and learn about such issues as child care and veterinary medicine. Experts also will be available to answer questions about environmental issues, watershed management, water quality and trees.
Before leaving for home, visitors can stock up on beef, pork and lamb products at the Meat Science Laboratory, near Pennsylvania Avenue and Maryland Drive, where there also will be taste testing and meat-cutting demonstrations, which will explain why meat becomes either steak or hamburger.
Visitors can take shuttle buses from the Stock Pavilion to the other side of campus to explore the College of Engineering Open House. Round-trip shuttles will depart on the hour and half-hour both days.
Open House guests may park free Friday in the south end of Lot F-23 at the southwest corner of Lincoln and Florida avenues in Urbana. Free shuttle service will provide round-trip transportation between the parking lot, Stock Pavilion and Plant Sciences Laboratory from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturday, on-street and campus-lot parking will be available.
Robots battling one another while running an obstacle course, whimsical Rube Goldberg contraptions, and laboratory tours of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology are among the attractions awaiting visitors to the 79th annual Engineering Open House at the UI.
The event, organized by UI engineering students, will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 5 and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 6. The UI Engineering Open House is one of the largest technological showcases of its kind in the nation, attracting more than 30,000 visitors each year. This year's theme -- "Millennium of Innovation" -- attempts to combine the technological strides made in the past millennium with visions of future innovations.
Visitor guides containing a campus map and descriptions of the activities and exhibits will be available at an information booth in the Kenney Gymnasium Annex. All events are free and open to the public.
"During Engineering Open House, the campus will be transformed into a stage for students from all engineering disciplines to showcase their talent," said Thomas Barich, a UI engineering student and this year's open house director. "Through exhibits, demonstrations and design competitions, visitors will be treated to an interactive and fun-filled educational experience in the wonders of engineering."
Highlighting this year's celebration will be the 12th annual W.J. "Jerry" Sanders Creative Design Competition, sponsored by Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and named for the company's founder, a UI alumnus. The theme for this year's competition is "Y2K: Race Toward the Millennium" and promises to be exciting for both participants and spectators.
"Student teams have constructed remote-controlled vehicles capable of negotiating a multi-level obstacle course and performing various tasks while simultaneously battling their opponents for over $5,000 in prizes," said Chris George, a UI graduate student and this year's contest director. "The winning teams will be determined by distance traveled and time taken through the obstacle course, but prizes also will be given for the most ingenious design, the most impressive arsenal and the most spectacular failure."
Approximately 40 teams from the UI, University of Michigan, Purdue University, Washington University and the University of Waterloo (Canada) will compete in the contest, which will be held both days in the Kenney Gymnasium Annex.
In the high school design competition, students will pay homage to Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist best known for his designs of ridiculously complicated gadgets that performed the simplest tasks in whimsical roundabout ways.
"This year the task will be to place a golf ball on a tee," said Brian Pokrzywa, chair of the high school design contest. "Students must accomplish the task in a minimum of 20 steps by combining their engineering skill, creativity and odd pieces of worn-out junk into contraptions that function in fun and wacky ways."
The high school competition will be held on March 5 in the Great Hall of the Wesley Foundation.
Younger visitors, too, will have an opportunity to learn about science and to test their creativity. On Friday, for example, grade school and middle school students will construct towers out of food, using pasta for girders and marshmallows for joints.
"The towers will be judged by how much they weigh and how much additional weight they can support," said Amy Pufahl, a chemical engineering major and this year's grade school programs director. "This design challenge will be more competitive for the 7th and 8th graders, who will compete for $100 savings bonds."
Another attraction this year is the Grade School Village, which will consist of a series of basic science exhibits intended to spark an early interest in science and engineering.
"By using simple, hands-on experiments, ranging from kitchen chemistry to computer logic, we want to convey the message that science and engineering are fun and exciting," Pufahl said.
A special on-site design contest -- called the Illini Engineering Challenge -- will be open to visitors of all ages. The contest features two structural design projects. On Friday, the goal will be to construct a wall that can withstand a catapult attack; contestants on Saturday will attempt to build an "unsinkable" boat using limited materials.
At the north end of the Engineering Quad, student members of the Society of Inventors will demonstrate a working, full-size hovercraft they built. At the south end, food and entertainment -- featuring local bands, singing groups and dance teams -- will be located in "Area 51."
As in years past, hundreds of exhibits featuring student research, engineering societies and major corporations will be on display. State-of-the-art computer demonstrations will take place at the Digital Computer Lab, while the ever-popular car crusher will be squashing away at the Talbot Lab.
Special tours of the Beckman Institute, including virtual reality demonstrations, also will be offered during the two-day event.
Visitors are encouraged to park in Lot E-14, near the Assembly Hall, and take a shuttle bus to Kenney Gym.
The UI library was once considered the third best academic library in the United States, but that's no longer true, according to the Urbana-Champaign Senate's committee on the library.
Inadequate funding has resulted in fewer acquisitions and fewer library personnel, according to the committee's report.
If the volumes were counted, the library would still be the third largest collection in North America, said Alexander Scheeline, professor of chemistry and chair of the library committee. But the current acquisitions budget ranks the UI 19th, according to the Association of Research Libraries; total budget was 15th in the ARL listings.
In 1967, the UI ranked second, behind Harvard University, he said.
"We desire, and believe that the rest of the campus desires, that the excellence of our library should be part of its future as well as its past," according to the report.
By a voice vote Feb. 15 , Senate members showed near unanimous support for increased library funding by adopting a resolution that calls for the library budget to increase to $45 million a year through FY 2004.
The resolution language states that the library is the "lifeblood" of the university but has been "grievously underfunded" for the last two decades.
The resolution will be forwarded to campus Provost Richard Herman and the Campus Budget Oversight Committee. The CBOC makes funding recommendations to the provost, who then decides how money will be divided among the departments.
Students want a course syllabus from their instructor that offers a timeline for exams, grading policies and other pertinent "need-to-know" information, according to Joe Oberweis, president of the Student Senate Caucus, which comprises the 50 student senators.
And most faculty members provide them.
But a student resolution proposing that faculty be required to give course syllabi was deemed worthy of more study, according to a majority vote of the Urbana-Champaign Senate on Feb. 15. The resolution will now go to the senate's educational policy committee. That committee is charged with bringing back a recommendation no later than the last meeting of the senate this school year.
Oberweis, a sophomore in commerce and business administration, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the action.
"I think it's an appropriate compromise," Oberweis said. "The fact that it is going to come back to us by the end of this year is reassuring."
Comments from several faculty members focused on the same point -- that the resolution if passed would constrain faculty, and that those kinds of requirements should be coming from individual departments, rather than the senate.
But Lawrence Tabone, junior in Liberal Arts and Sciences, argued that it is a simple request from the majority of the student body.
"Students across campus have a consensus that we would like to know what we are responsible for in our classes," Tabone said. "Northwestern puts their syllabi online before students register for classes. Maybe the philosophy behind that is that students should be educated when they register for classes about the depth of material, rather than just read a brief paragraph in a course catalog."
Oberweis said most faculty members already provide syllabi, but the few who don't make it difficult for students.
"All good faculty members provide syllabi and all good faculty members acknowledge syllabi need to be provided," Oberweis said. "But there are some who choose not to for whatever reasons. And it has created some problems for some students."
The majority also voted down a student-sponsored resolution that called for the Student Senate Caucus to be recognized as the official voice of the student senators.
Richard Schacht, who is Senate Council president, was one who objected to the term "official voice," saying that it is important for individual student senators to speak for themselves.
Also on Feb. 15, the senate approved a slate of nominees to be presented to the Chancellor for appointment to the Athletic Board. Nominees are Steven Leigh, Liberal Arts and Sciences; William D. O'Brien Jr., Engineering; Lawrence DeBrock, Commerce and Business Administration; and Donald J. Wuebbles, Engineering.
Law student Richard Stockton is the student nominee.
The faculty members serve four-year terms; students serve one year.
Photographs may be in black and white or color. The photo title, photographer's name and date should be typed on a label and affixed to the back of each photograph. A self-addressed envelope with postage should be included if photographs are to be returned. Three entries per participant are permitted. Deadline for entries is March 12. Awards will be announced March 26. For information, call Krannert Art Museum at 333-1861 or visit the museum's Web site, www.art.uiuc.edu/kam.
DRES sponsors teleconference Feb. 25
The Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services (DRES) will sponsor a satellite downlink of a national teleconference, "Psychological Disorders in Higher Education, Part II Focus: Accommodations." The teleconference will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 25 in 149 Environmental and Agricultural Sciences Building.
Presented by the University of Georgia Distance Learning Link, topics scheduled for discussion include legal issues, inclusion, attendance and access, disruptive behavior, confidentiality and disclosure, clinical courses, role of faculty members and appropriate accommodations. To reserve a seat or to request disability-related accommodations, call 333-9155 (voice) or 333-4603 (TDD), or e-mail mlswanso@illinois.edu. Deadline for reservations is 5 p.m. Feb. 22.
Human Genome Project to be focus Feb. 27
The Human Genome Project and the challenges of its completion will be the topic of a public talk at 2 p.m. Feb. 27 in the auditorium of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
The speaker will be Dr. Robert Waterston, director of the Genome Sequencing Center and head of the genetics department at Washington University in St. Louis. Last year, Waterston's research group announced the completion of the first genetic blueprint of a multi-celled animal, a roundworm known as C. elegans.
The Human Genome Project, directed by the National Institutes of Health, is projected to be completed by 2003. The project will provide a window to the 80,000 genes and 3 billion chemical bases in human DNA.
Waterston is appearing at the UI as part of the sixth annual Medical Scholars Program Research Symposium, being held Feb. 26-27 by the College of Medicine. Admission to his talk is free and open to the public.
PI seed grant proposals due April 12
The Partnership Illinois Council requests proposals for seed grants for new collaborative ventures with external partners. Full proposals are due April 12. A one-page letter of inquiry may be submitted by March 10 to receive feedback prior to preparation of a full proposal.
Faculty members and academic professionals at the UI are eligible to apply for PI seed grants. Anyone interested in submitting a proposal is strongly encouraged to attend a workshop at 1 p.m. March 1 in 407 Levis Faculty Center. The coordinators of the committees reviewing the proposals will provide information and guidance on the preparation of proposals. If you plan to attend the workshop, call 333-6394 or e-mail Ellen Foran at c-foran@illinois.edu.
The application guidelines are available from the Office of the Chancellor at 333-6394 or on the Web at www.admin.uiuc.edu/oc/pi. Partnership Illinois is a campuswide strategic initiative to promote, renew and expand the public service mission of the UI campus.
Campus Profile now online
The 1998-99 version of the online Campus Profile is now available on the Web at www.dmi.uiuc.edu/cp. Ten years of data for all academic and administrative departments and offices, with totals at the school, college and campus level are available.
This year's new features include the ability to customize the reports, allowing visitors to select the units and items they want to see. It also is possible to download the customized reports into Excel. The site only can be a ccessed from a computer physically located at the UI. If you have difficulty connecting, contact Carol at livngstn@illinois.edu from the computer you are using. Comments and suggestions about the data in the profile are welcome.
SportWell offers walk-in sessions
The SportWell Center, a cooperative program between McKinley Health Center and the Division of Campus Recreation, is again offering a walk-in program for UI faculty and staff members who are DCR members. The sessions will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 24, March 24 and April 28. A $10 fee will allow the individual to consult with a registered dietitian or an exercise physiologist for 15 to 20 minutes. Clients will be served on a first-come, first-served basis. Up to 12 individuals can be seen each session. For more information, call 244-0261.
Student leadership nominations due
Nominations are now being accepted for Student Affairs' Student Leadership Awards. Since 1987, Student Affairs has presented annual awards to students and student organizations who demonstrate exemplary leadership. The recipients will be honored at a luncheon April 24. Some of the leadership awards are named in honor of distinguished alumni, companies and organizations. Monetary prizes accompany all of the awards.
To honor the most deserving candidates for the awards, Student Affairs depends on faculty members to nominate students and student organizations for consideration.
This year nomination material is being distributed electronically. Award information, descriptions and nomination forms can be found at www.odos.uiuc.edu/awards/index.htm. The required nomination forms and material may be submitted electronically or by mail, with the exception of the Consent to Release Records form, which must be mailed.
Nomination forms must be received by 5 p.m. on Feb. 24. For further information, contact Willard Broom, associate dean of students, at 333-0055.
CDL applications due April 1
The UI Child Development Laboratory is accepting applications for the 1999-2000 school year. Half-day preschool programs for 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children meet Tuesday through Friday for three hours a day during the regular academic year. Full-day child-care programs for 3- and 4-year-old children are in session Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. year-round. For further information, to obtain an application or to schedule a classroom visit, call Debbie Trouth at 244-8063. Application deadline is April 1.
SWE invites daughters to work
The Society of Women Engineers will offer tours and lab demonstrations for "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" on April 22. Participants interested in math and science can join SWE members for tours and lab demonstrations between 1 and 4 p.m. Planned activities are targeted for participants between the ages of 7 through 17. The day's agenda will be determined based on the number of participants and age groups.
If you are interested in having your child take part, you can register on the Web at www.uiuc.edu/ro/swe/todtwd.html before March 15. Children 10 years old and under should be accompanied by an adult for the afternoon. All adults are welcome to attend. Any questions should be directed to swe-todtwd@illinois.edu or 244-8867.
Toni Morrison 'read-in' is Feb. 19
The second annual "read-in" of works by American novelist Toni Morrison will be held at the UI on Feb. 19 in celebration of Morrison's birthday on Feb. 18.
The event, to be held from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Afro-American Studies and Research Program building, is free and open to the public.
The event organizer is Alice Deck, a professor of English at the UI who has taught an English course on Morrison nearly every year of the past decade. Deck is planning to write a critical study of Morrison, a distinguished professor at Princeton University.
According to Deck, Morrison stands out among her contemporary African-American female writers for being the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for the body of her work.
"In terms of subject matter, her novels tell the story of African Americans from the perspective of the black woman writer," Deck said, and they do so on a large scale.
"Morrison has repeatedly said in her interviews that she writes the kinds of novels that she wished she had been able to read as a child growing up. This is important because it reveals a truth about the way so many African Americans were educated in American schools up until the 1980s, namely that very few of the books -- textbooks and novels -- taught in public schools included the African-American experience or were written from the black point of view."
Morrison is the author of seven novels and one short story. She also edited collections of essays on the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, and on the O.J. Simpson trial.
Information about these and other benefits is available by contacting the Benefits Center, 807 S. Wright St., Suite 480; 333-3111; or at http://webster.uihr.uiuc.edu/benefits.
Retirement sessions announced
Since July 1, UI has offered three retirement plan options in the State Universities Retirement System: SURS Traditional Benefit Package, SURS Portable Benefit Package and SURS Self-Managed Plan.
All Employees hired before July 1, 1998, have until June 30, 1999, to notify SURS of the plan they have selected. Employees hired on or after July 1 have 60 days to select a plan. Once an employee selects a retirement option, it is permanent.
To help employees determine the plan best for them, two types of meeting have been scheduled. At general information meetings, representatives from SURS will describe the two new options. Representatives from each of the service providers -- Aetna, ICMA and TIAA-CREF -- also will conduct informational meetings.
The remaining presentations in Illini Union, Room A:
SURS overview sessions:
Self-managed plan provider sessions:
These are approved events for staff employees. Employees may be released from work to attend a SURS presentation and a service-providers' presentation without loss of pay, departmental operations permitting, and with appropriate supervisory approval. The approved time with pay may be combined with the lunch break if requested by the employee. For more information, see the Benefits Center home page at http://webster.uihr.uiuc.edu/benefits.
The Office of Academic Human Resources, Suite 420, 807 S. Wright St., maintains the listings for faculty and academic professional positions. More complete descriptions are available in that office during regular business hours. Job listings are also updated weekly on its Web site at: webster.uihr.uiuc.edu/ahr/ahrjobrg.asp. Any other information may be obtained from the person indicated in the listing.
faculty
University Laboratory High School. Teaching associate, computer science. Bachelor's degree in computer science, educational technology, telecommunications, media or a related field with relevant experience required; master's preferred. Must have experience in C, C++ or Java programming, UNIX system administration and TCP/IP networking, and extensive experience with MacOS or Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95. Teaching experience required; preferably in a technical area at the secondary level. Starting date: negotiable. Contact Greg Smith, 333-2870, gd-smith@illinois.edu. Closing date: April 2.
academic professional
Administrative Information Systems and Services (Chicago or Urbana). System engineer. Bachelor's degree and two years' experience in data processing or related areas required. Must have one year's experience developing client/server applications using Oracle and Powerbuilder. Skills in GUI and database design preferred. Position #CDBS 4-0308-1. Available immediately. Contact AISS, aissap@uillinois.edu. Closing date: March 8.
Biotechnology Center. Research specialist, chemistry. Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree in chemistry, biochemistry or related natural science or the equivalent combination of education and laboratory experience preferred. Available: March 21. Contact Henriette Remmer, 333-4695. Closing date: Feb. 25.
Computer Science. Resource and policy analyst. Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance or general business administration and minimum three years' experience in a position requiring utilization of financial and administrative skills required. Familiarity with university business procedures and experience with sponsored research project administration essential. Available immediately. Contact Barbara Armstrong, 333-3501, barb@cs.uiuc.edu. Closing date: Feb. 28.
Geology. Program coordinator. Bachelor's degree required; preferably in the areas of business administration or management. Should have knowledge of basic accounting principles and have experience with computer applications such as spreadsheets, word processing and e-mail. Must be familiar with the administration of grants and contracts at the university and have two years' experience working with grants and contracts or the equivalent. Available: March 1. Contact Jay Bass, 333-3440. Closing date: Feb. 21.
Government and Public Affairs, Institute of (Springfield). Senior associate. Bachelor's and/or master's degree and at least eight to 10 years' experience at a level of government requiring regular contact with elected officials or with executives or administrative officers required. Should have a record of distinguished public/governmental service, and experience in the development of executive management training programs for government. Available immediately. Contact Robert F. Rich, 333-3340, jerryw@illinois.edu. Closing date: March 5.
Human Resource Management, Center for. Assistant director. Bachelor's degree required; master's in human resources, marketing, business or related field preferred. Experience in conference planning or development desired. Available immediately. Contact Susan M. Sands, 333-1534, susanm@illinois.edu. Closing date: March 1.
International Programs and Studies. Coordinator of international projects. Bachelor's degree with relevant experience required; master's in an international and/or administrative field preferred. Should have experience working and/or studying abroad and with administrative experience in an educational institution. Knowledge of foreign university systems and proficiency in one or more foreign languages preferred. Available: May 10. Contact Nancy Wilson, 333-8304. Closing date: March 15.
Student Affairs. Assistant vice chancellor for development. Bachelor's degree and a minimum of three years' development experience required; master's preferred. Experience in a capital campaign in a college or university setting desired. Available immediately. Contact S. Eugene Barton, 333-1300. Closing date: March 31 or when position filled.
Veterinary Medicine, College of. Management methods analyst. Bachelor's degree in biological sciences or computer science and experience in large application computer or in the biological sciences required. Minimum of two years' professional employment preferred. Experience using UNIX and PERL, working in medical environments, and working with end users desired. Available: April 15. Contact Yvonne Sergent, 244-1829. Closing date: March 15.
Volunteer Programs, Office of. Program manager. Master's degree and two years' experience working with college students and/or community service programs required. Experience in a college union/student activities department preferred. Available: May 17. Call 244-8332. Closing date: March 8.
staff
Personnel Services Office, 52 E. Gregory Drive, Champaign, conducts open and continuous testing for civil service classifications used on campus. More information is available by calling 333-2137. Or visit its Web site at: www.pso.uiuc.edu.
A report of honors, awards, offices and other outstanding achievements of faculty and staff members.
Jim Brademas, professor of leisure studies and of UI Extension, received the President's Citation Award at the Illinois Association of Park Districts and Illinois Park and Recreation Association Annual Conference. It is the highest award given by the Illinois Association of Park Districts. Brademas was cited for his leadership of an innovative and award-winning project for rural recreation that has benefited many rural communities in Illinois.
Jack Collins, director of the Housing Division, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award at the 1998 Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers Conference held in November. This award is the highest honor given at the conference.
Carroll E. Goering, professor of agricultural engineering, achieved fellow status in the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. Goering was honored for many contributions in the area of education, research and farm machinery design. A scholar in alternative fuels for engines, off-road machine design and site-specific farming techniques. Goering and his research team pioneered the development and evaluation of microemulsions of soybean oil, alcohol and surfactants as diesel fuel. He has written two textbooks and more than 60 refereed publications, two of which won ASAE Superior Paper Awards.
Nick Holonyak Jr. has been inducted as an eminent member of Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical engineering honor society.
Michael Overby, technical program manager for Administrative Information Systems and Services, has received the Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute. This is the project management profession's most globally recognized and respected certification credential. To obtain PMP certification, a person must satisfy education and experience requirements, agree to and adhere to a code of ethics, and pass the PMP certification examination.
V.R. Pandharipande, professor of physics, was named recipient of the 1999 Tom W. Bonner prize in nuclear physics. The prize, presented by the American Physical Society, recognizes and encourages outstanding experimental research in nuclear physics, including the development of a method, technique or device that significantly contributes in a general way to nuclear physics research. The annual prize consists of $5,000 and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient.
Kathleen Pecknold, associate vice chancellor for administration and human resources, has been elected to the board of directors for the Central Association of College and University Business Officers. Pecknold will represent large universities to the association board. CACUBO is a nonprofit association representing chief business officers at more than 700 institutions in the North Central region of the United States.
Ken Reardon, professor of urban and regional planning, recently was honored with an Action Research Award by the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE). Reardon was honored for using participatory action research to connect classroom-based instruction and field-based research. NSEE is a national, nonprofit educational association that works to advance experienced-based approaches to teaching and learning.
Nikolaos Sahinidis, professor and research scientist in chemical engineering, was one of 11 U.S. researchers named as winners of Industrial Ecology Research Fellowships by the National Science Foundation and the Lucent Technologies Foundation. The fellowships reward researchers who are focusing on research or teaching with to $50,000 a year for two years to help industry design processes that prevent pollution and to create environmentally friendly products. Sahinidis' project will be to design environmentally benign refrigerants.
Paul Selvin, professor of physics, has received the 1999 Young Fluorescence Investigator Award from the Biophysical Society. Selvin has focused on applying fluorescent techniques to understanding basic biological processes at the molecular level. The award is sponsored by the Biological Fluorescence Subgroup of the Biophysical Society and SPEX Industries, a division of Instruments S.A. The award is based on novel applications of fluorescence spectroscopy to current work in biology and biophysics by a pre-tenure faculty member. The awardees receive a cash prize of $1,000 and present a lecture on their research at the Annual Biophysical Society Meeting.
Two agricultural engineering faculty members were awarded Educational Aids Blue Ribbon Awards by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers for "outstanding effort and achievement in the development of noteworthy educational aids." Michael C. Hirschi, professor in the soil and water section, received a blue ribbon award for an outstanding entry in publications. Yuanhui Zhang, professor in the bioenvironmental engineering section, received a blue ribbon award for an outstanding entry in the educational aids competition.
UI was named No. 1 on New Mobility magazine's list of Disability Friendly Colleges. The Division of Rehabilitation Education Services (DRES), the world's first program of its kind, has been a leader in services for students with disabilities since its founding in 1948. Mobility cited UI for its "comprehensive support for students with disabilities, along with its unrivaled wheelchair sports program."
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. She gives in-service training; and she helps communities launch drives to pass referenda to support extension programs. She's frequently on the road, and every summer she's a regular at the Illinois State Fair, publicizing the 7,500 youngsters in 4-H events.
When I had the opportunity to do the show on DWS it seemed like the old stuff -- Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat Cole, Rosemary Clooney -- was a really good fit for a news talk station for Sunday morning, and it's proven to be. I do the Sunday morning show from 6:15 to 9:30. It's more of a hobby than anything else. It's something I enjoy.
Survivors include his wife, Norma; two sons; a daughter; two grandchildren; a brother; and six sisters.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Leukemia Society.
Kaczkowski worked from 1962 to 1991 as a professor in the Educational and Psychological Counseling Division at the UI. He served in the Army Air Forces in World War II and retired from the Air Force Reserve as a major.
Survivors include his wife, Maryalyce; a son; three daughters; nine grandchildren; and five brothers.
Memorial contributions may be made to the School of St. Thomas More which will be built in Champaign.
Kinard worked for 27 years at the UI before she retired in 1992. She was a member of St. Luke Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and served on the usher board at the church.
Survivors include her mother, a son, a daughter, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Tremaine served in the Navy aboard the USS Lexington from 1943 to 1946. From 1956 until he retired in 1980 he worked in the botany department at the UI.
Survivors include his wife, Katharine; two daughters; a brother; a sister; and seven grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. George's School, 2929 W. Waikiki Road, Spokane, WA 99208.
Wehmer retired from the UI in 1981.
Survivors include a son, a daughter and a granddaughter.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Christian Church Building Fund.