PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 26, No. 17, April 5, 2007

brief notes

Krannert Art Museum
‘Petals & Paintings’ benefit is April 13-15
The UI Krannert Art Museum Council will host the 15th annual “Petals & Paintings” benefit April 13-15 in support of the museum’s upcoming exhibitions and related educational programming.

Champaign florist Rick Orr is guest curator. The exhibition features floral arrangements created by regional floral designers in response to works of art selected by Orr from the museum’s permanent collection.

The exhibition will open with a reception at Krannert Art Museum from 6-8 p.m. April 13. Guests may view the floral displays as they enjoy hors d’oeuvres, wine and music.

Tickets for the reception are $55 for museum members and $65 for non-members. For more information, call 244-0516. Limited tickets will be available at the door.

The “Petals & Paintings” exhibition may be viewed from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 14 and noon-5 p.m. April 15. Docent-led tours will be available April 14 beginning at 10 a.m.

WILL awarded grant
Local WW II veterans’ stories will be told
WILL AM-FM-TV received a $10,000 grant to capture the stories of Central Illinois World War II veterans and their families in conjunction with the broadcast of Ken Burns’ “The War” on PBS in September. The station will use the grant to collaborate with community groups to target hundreds of individual stories to be broadcast locally, and shared online and through community events.

“Although much has already been written and produced about World War II, our focus will be on storytelling,” said Mark Leonard, general manager of WILL. “We’d like to encourage people young and old to talk about what happened in their families and communities during the war.”

WILL wants veterans and their families to contact the station if they are interested in telling their World War II stories and talking about their experiences both in the war and at home. Contact Mary Barrineau at 244-5080 or barrinea@uiuc.edu.

WILL is one of 47 public broadcasting stations to receive a $10,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and WETA, in Washington, D.C., the sponsoring station for “The War.” Another 69 stations received $3,000 grants.

WILL will use the grant to present 12 community screenings of excerpts from “The War” and discussions throughout the WILL coverage areas; produce TV, radio and Web content; train volunteers to collect stories, and create a World War II kit with primary source material for Central Illinois teachers.

Theatre department
Two play readings featured April 14, 21
The UI theatre department will present two play readings in Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ Colwell Playhouse in April:

• “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters,” by James Still, at 7:30 p.m. April 14. Actors from the theater department, campus organizations and the community will portray 40-plus characters in the play, which was the culminating effort in a four-year, faith-based theater cycle by Los Angeles’ Cornerstone Theater. The play addresses the question, “How does faith both unite and divide us?” The local production will be directed by the playwright.
• “Third,” by Wendy Wasserstein, at 7:30 p.m. April 21. The department will present this reading, originally directed in New York by UI theater professor and Swanlund Chair Daniel Sullivan, in celebration of the late playwright’s creativity, humor and insight. The play addresses issues of politics and higher education through its story about a professor and a student at a preppy East Coast liberal arts school. The reading will feature theater faculty members and students, and will be directed by Nagle Jackson.
  

Tickets for both performances are $5 and can be purchased at the Krannert Center ticket office, online at www.KrannertCenter.com, or by calling 333-6280.

Social entrepreneurship
Visiting Beijing lecturer to talk April 19
Visiting lecturer Wu Qing will talk about “A Global Perspective on Socially Responsible Entrepreneurship” at 4 p.m. April 19 in Room 2 of the Education Building.

“Social entrepreneurship focuses on stressing actions, not victimization, in addressing gender disparities and other pressing social problems around the world,” said Gale Summerfield, director of the UI’s Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program.

WGGP and the university’s Academy of Entrepreneurial Leadership are the main sponsors of the talk. Summerfield said the two units plan to continue to collaborate on work related to social entrepreneurship.

Since 1984, Wu has been a People’s Deputy in the Beijing People’s Congress, where she has been an influential force in developing laws and policies for the Beijing city government. Known for her passionate advocacy for social justice issues and the rights of women – especially those living in rural areas of China – Wu was instrumental in the development of the country’s first university course on feminism.

WILL chief meteorologist
Tornado safety seminar is April 12
WILL AM-FM-TV chief meteorologist Ed Kieser will present a free tornado safety seminar at 7 p.m. April 12, with tips people can use to protect themselves when tornadoes threaten, and new information about changes in the way the National Weather Service issues weather warnings.

Rick Atterberry, public information officer for the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency, also will provide information about what to expect from local government in a disaster. The seminar takes place at the Beckman Institute auditorium.

Kieser, now in his 17th year of presenting tornado safety shows, uses spectacular video and graphics to help arm Central Illinois residents with information that could save their lives.

In addition to tornado information, Kieser will discuss recent changes that affect forecasts of tornadoes and other weather events as well as about changes to the F scale for rating the strength of tornadoes.

Free parking for the event is available in the parking garage at the corner of University and Mathews avenues. For more information, call 244-5072 or go to www.will.uiuc.edu.

Vintage Vinyl
Used records and more on sale April 14
The Vintage Vinyl sale is 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 14 in Lincoln Square Village in Urbana.

Thousands of used records, tapes and CDs will be for sale. Used stereo equipment, including CD players, turntables and speakers, will be offered at bargain prices. This year’s sale benefits WILL’s Illinois Radio Reader Service and WEFT-FM (90.1), which has coordinated a used record sale in the past.

“This year, while we have a lot of items for sale, we are focusing more on quality items rather than quantity,” said Deane Geiken, director of the IRR.

Anyone wanting to volunteer to help sort the items prior to the sale can contact Geiken at 217-333-6503.

Illinois Radio Reader, a service of WILL, provides news and information to blind and print-handicapped audiences in East Central Illinois.

‘Internet evangelist’
Google VP will speak April 10
Google corporation’s chief Internet evangelist, considered one of the fathers of the Internet, will speak April 10 at the UI.

Vinton Cerf, also a Google vice president, will deliver the 23rd annual Arnold O. Beckman Lecture in Science and Innovation, scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Foellinger Auditorium.

The title of Cerf’s lecture is “Technology and Policy Challenges for the Internet in 2007,” and in it he plans to discuss numerous issues of concern as the Internet expands in its size, applications and number of users. In his position at Google, Cerf is responsible for identifying new technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms.

The lecture is free and open to the public, and questions will be taken afterward.

Among the numerous topics Cerf is likely to address are the challenges of scale that still need to be solved, security problems, and limits of access and speed.

Cerf is credited as the co-designer, with Robert Kahn, of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet. In recognition of that work, Cerf has been awarded the U.S. National Medal of Technology and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Japan House
Open house is April 14
Kenji Shinoda, the consul general of Japan in Chicago, will be the featured speaker April 14 at the annual spring open house of Japan House.

Japan House is an educational and cultural facility focusing on Japanese arts and is affiliated with the university’s College of Fine and Applied Arts.

The open house is scheduled from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Shinoda will speak at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on “Japan and Illinois: Partners for Today and Tomorrow.” He also will present the Japanese Foreign Minister Commendation to Morton Weir, former UI chancellor. The award recognizes Weir’s long-time promotion and support of Japanese arts and culture.

Also during the open house, Japan House gardens designer and builder James Bier will conduct garden tours at 1 and 3 p.m.

Throughout the day, members of the Urbana-Champaign Association of Chado Urasenke Tankokai will present tea ceremonies, and ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) by UI art students will be on display.

More information about the open house, and other upcoming Japan House events – including a workshop (and lecture-demonstration at the UI’s Krannert Art Museum) by Japanese calligrapher Eishi Sakuta on April 25 – is available online at www.art.uiuc.edu/galleries/japanhouse, or by calling 244-9934.

The Environmental Council
Environmental scholarship showcased
The Environmental Council will host “Environmental Horizons” on April 25. The annual event showcases environmental scholarship at the UI.

This year’s highlights include:

• Keynote address: “The Science, Economics and Politics of Global Warming,” by Robert Watson, chief scientist and senior adviser for sustainable development at the World Bank (noon, Illini Room A of the Illini Union)
• A reception after Watson’s talk will feature posters presented by 60 undergraduate and graduate students; artwork from students, faculty and staff members, and community members; and exhibits by Building a Lasting University Environment grant recipients, Earth and Society grant recipients, and other campus environmental programs.
• A panel discussion titled “Putting Knowledge to Work: Designing a Sustainable Agricultural System” (3:30 to 5 p.m., Illini Room A)
  

Environmental Horizons will be a carbon neutral event. All carbon emissions, including emissions from participant and speaker transportation, speaker hotel rooms, electricity use at the Illini Union, food preparation, poster preparations and incidental carbon emissions, will be offset by planting trees and investing in renewable energy technology, such as wind turbines and solar panels. A $1 voluntary registration fee will be requested from participants to purchase these offsets.

More information about Environmental Horizons 2007 and a complete agenda can be found at www.environ.uiuc.edu/horizons.htm.

Physical Electronics Conference
Deadline to submit abstracts is April 20
The 67th annual Physical Electronics Conference, including the Nottingham Prize Competition for best presentation based on doctoral research, will be held at the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory June 19-22. The deadline to submit abstracts and enter the Nottingham Prize competition is 5 p.m. April 20. The required registration deadline is June 1.

The conference, “A Topical Conference on the Physics and Chemistry of Surfaces and Interfaces,” will provide a forum for the dissemination and discussion of new research results in the physics and chemistry of surfaces and interfaces. The conference will continue to emphasize fundamental science in materials systems, including metals, semiconductors, insulators and biomaterials. Experimental and theoretical talks on research performed at exposed (gas-solid), buried (liquid-solid and solid-solid) and hybrid (for example, semiconductor-biomaterial) interfaces are solicited.

Confirmed invited speakers are professor Charles Campbell, University of Washington and Frances Ross, IBM.

Questions can be addressed to Ramona Simpson, 333-1381 or pec07@mrl.uiuc.edu. More information also is available at http://cmm.mrl.uiuc.edu/PEC07/.

Center for Healthy Minds
‘RealAge’ author will speak April 29
According to Dr. Michael F. Roizen’s birth certificate, the Cleveland Clinic anesthesiologist and bestselling author is 59 years old. But his RealAge – a formula developed by Roizen that measures the biological age of your body based on lifestyle, genetics and medical history – is 41.2.

Roizen, a co-author of the New York Times best-sellers “YOU: The Owner’s Manual” and “YOU: On a Diet,” will speak at 2 p.m. April 29 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ Foellinger Great Hall. His presentation, “Real Age: Are You as Young as You Can Be?” explores how to slow the aging process.

Roizen’s appearance is sponsored by the Center for Healthy Minds at the UI. The center, which is headquartered at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, stimulates research on the topic of healthy minds and seeks to educate the public about the factors that facilitate maintenance of a healthy mind into late adulthood.

“Dr. Roizen’s RealAge theory is particularly relevant to research by Center for Healthy Minds investigators, who are examining intervention strategies that may maintain and improve cognitive function in older adults,” said Denise C. Park, co-director of the Center for Healthy Minds.

A book signing will take place after the lecture.

This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. They are available through the Krannert Center ticket office by calling 333-6280 or 800-KCPATIX or online at www.krannertcenter.com. There is a ticket limit of four per person.

Opening address by CDC expert
Ecology of infectious diseases explored
Some of the nastiest pathogens threatening global human health will be on the agenda at the 10th annual Conference on New and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases, on April 19 and 20 at the UI College of Veterinary Medicine.

Leading scientists from various disciplines will cover:

• New diseases such as Ebola, hantavirus and ehrlichoisis that have emerged in various parts of the world
• Known diseases such as tularemia, American trypanosomiasis and rabies that remain a major threat to human and animal health.
  

The goal of the conference, which is hosted by the UI Center for Zoonoses Research, is to promote interdisciplinary research efforts and to call attention to the problems that infectious diseases pose locally and around the world.

The public is invited to attend the opening address by Marta Guerra, a senior staff veterinary epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a Ph.D. graduate of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Her talk, “Investigations and Responses at CDC: Epidemiology in Action,” takes place at 5:30 p.m. April 19 in the Large Animal Clinic Auditorium. Parking is available at 2001 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana.

The conference will continue April 20, with six additional speakers and a poster presentation.

Dr. Roberto Docampo, former scientific director of the Center for Zoonoses Research, returns to Urbana to speak on “Novel Targets for the Treatment
of Trypanosomiasis.” Docampo is a Sanford Orkin Eminent Scholar at the University of Georgia’s department of cellular biology.

The conference is co-sponsored by these UI units: Center for Zoonoses Research, College of Veterinary Medicine department of pathobiology, Environmental Council’s Earth and Society, Host-Microbe Systems Theme of the Institute for Genomic Biology, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, and by the Conservation Medicine Center of Chicago.

For more information on conference speakers, schedule, scientific poster presentation and registration, visit www.cvm.uiuc.edu/idc/.

Cool it
F&S shifts from heat to AC
Facilities & Services has begun its annual transition from heating to cooling. This transition can take up to several weeks to ensure all buildings are properly converted and regulated. F&S staff members are asking for help during this transition.

Turning on the air conditioning on the UI campus is not as simple as flipping a switch. F&S employees work three shifts, 24 hours a day, to get the systems running. Cool air circulation, especially in older facilities, must be brought up slowly, and, once running, kept constant – cooling down and heating up numerous times can cause system failures.

Here’s how to help:

• If you open windows in a room to regulate temperature, remember to close them when you leave the area.
• If you rely on a window air conditioning unit for cooling, consider having it serviced in the beginning of the year. Early service calls offer the added value of quicker response and problems are usually resolved prior to warm weather.

Direct questions, comments or concerns to the F&S Service Office, 333-0340.

April 19-24
Journalists from Europe and Asia to visit
Fourteen journalists from Eastern Europe and Central Asia will visit the UI campus April 19-24 as part of an initiative by the U.S. Department of State.

The group is one of 11 from different regions of the world participating in the second year of the Edward R. Murrow Journalism Program. Each group, as part of a three-week visit to the U.S., will visit a different university or college campus and its respective journalism school.

“We hope the journalists learn about our version of a free press and why we think a critical and vigilant press is so important,” says Louis Liebovich, a professor of journalism at Illinois and the organizer of the local visit.

As part of their five days in Champaign-Urbana, the journalists will sit in on several journalism classes, visit the WILL broadcast studios and the News-Gazette, attend a performance at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and tour some local sites.

They also will attend two panel discussions, the first featuring faculty members from the journalism department and from the Russian and Eastern European Studies Center, on cultural differences between Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the U.S. The panel will begin at 2 p.m. on April 20 in Room 223 of Gregory Hall.

The second panel, involving journalism faculty members and local journalists in a discussion on the First Amendment, will begin at 10 a.m. on April 21 in Room 336 of Gregory Hall.

Both panel discussions are free and open to the public.

McCarthyism and academic freedom
UI alumnus returns to campus April 17
Courtney Cazden, professor emeritus of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and UI alumnus, will return to the UI campus to share her story of the personal costs when civil liberties collide with zealous patriotism.

The title of her lecture and discussion is “McCarthyism, Academic Freedom and the University of Illinois: A Community Stand for Civil Liberty and a Personal Account.” The event is 4-5:30 p.m. April 17 at the Krannert Art Museum auditorium.

In 1953, McCarthy supporters advanced Illinois legislation that threatened civil liberties of state residents. At the time, Cazden was working toward a master’s degree in education at the UI, and her husband, Norman, was a professor of music. They found themselves part of a local committee that organized significant local and statewide public opposition to the proposed bills – a fight that ended successfully. But, while the community celebrated a victory for personal rights, later that spring, the Cazdens found themselves facing the power of the McCarthy movement on a personal level. Norman was denied tenure and his contract terminated based on anonymously presented evidence of Communist Party connections. A year later he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment Rights. For more information, visit www.ed.uiuc.edu.

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