PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 27, No. 5, Sept. 6, 2007

brief notes

Krannert Center
Second Wall to Wall Guitar Festival is Sept. 13-15
The return of Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ biennial Wall to Wall Guitar Festival is Sept. 13-15. This three-day festival rejoices in all things guitar in a nearly-round-the-clock celebration and exploration of an instrument that holds an essential place in almost every musical tradition around the globe.

The Wall to Wall Guitar Festival, Take Two, boasts more than 30 diverse musicians.

There will be nine main stage concerts (most with multiple billings), six free performances in the Krannert Center lobby, the return of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, GarageBand workshops presented by Apple Computer, guitar workshops at local music stores, Guitar Hero competitions (including a local-celebrity competition on opening night featuring Jennifer Roscoe from WCIA; Kate Porkonoy from WAND; David Spelman, artistic adviser to the festival; Mike Ross, director of Krannert Center; UI Chancellor Richard Herman; and others), exhibits at Techline and the Center for American Music, a Krannert Center Youth Series performance and numerous opportunities to dive into the instrument through commentaries, discussions and interactive workshops.

Partners such as Apple Computer and iTunes will provide podcasted interviews with artists, special festival downloads, and opportunities to listen to music and readings from Wall to Wall musicians. Regular updates will be posted at WalltoWallGuitar.com. Single tickets are on sale now. The Studio Theatre Store also will be open throughout the festival and provide opportunities to meet the artists, get autographs, participate in the One Main recording booth, view an exhibit curated by Mark Rubel, and purchase festival and artist merchandise.

For more information, a schedule of events or to purchase tickets, call 333-6280 or visit WalltoWallGuitar.com or KrannertCenter.com.

Veterinary Medicine
Event celebrates human-animal bond
Oskee Bow Wow 2007, the second annual fundraiser for the CARE Pet Loss Helpline, will take place at the UI Veterinary Teaching Hospital from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 21.

The evening will celebrate the human-animal bond. Guests will get a behind-the-scenes look at the ICu, rehab, imaging, and oncology facilities in the teaching hospital at the state’s only College of Veterinary Medicine. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital is a referral center that provides care for more than 15,000 animals every year.

Live music by Desafinado, wine selected by Picadilly, and hors d’oeuvres and desserts donated by English Hedgerow, Jim Gould, Pasha Mediterranean Cuisine, and Sweet Indulgence will add to the festivities.

The event also commemorates the 10th anniversary of the CARE Pet Loss Helpline, an outreach program of the college. Through the Helpline, compassionate veterinary students have helped more than 2,000 grieving pet lovers from 48 states, Canada and England cope with the death of their companion animal. An informative Web site – www.cvm.uiuc.edu/CARE/ –offers ideas about memorializing an animal friend and explaining a pet’s death to children.

Last year Oskee Bow Wow was held at the home of UI President B. Joseph White, where Mary White and “first dog” Webster White greeted guests. Webster and Mary will again welcome guests this year at a new venue, the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. (For the safety of the hospital’s patients, only human guests may attend Oskee Bow Wow.)

Registration is $50 per person. Those who register for the event with friends can form a “pack” and receive special recognition and prizes. To register, visit www.cvm.uiuc.edu or call 333-2761.

Spurlock Museum
‘Egyptian Auction’ is Sept. 15
The 16th annual Spurlock Museum Guild auction is Sept. 15 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center ballroom. Proceeds of the event will support the educational programs of the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures. To date, the auction has raised more than $300,000 for instructional activities that annually benefit more than 10,000 area school children and residents.

This year’s “Egyptian Auction” celebrates the exhibit “Ancient Egypt: the Origins,” co-sponsored by the Brooklyn Museum opening at Spurlock on Sept. 25. There will be both a silent and live auction. Preview of items begins at 6 p.m., followed at 6:30 by a Mediterranean buffet catered by the UI Catering Services. Live auction bidding starts at 7:30 p.m. Traditional and modern interpretations of the ancient art of belly dancing will be performed by Trikhala, a local dance group. Sarah Mangelsdorf, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and her husband, Professsor Karl Rosengren, will be honorary hosts.

Artist Siti Mariah Jackson has donated her watercolor “Mare of Rockome Gardens” to be given to a lucky ticket holder at the end of the evening.

Auction items include a Bakhtiari rug from the Eastern Rug Gallery, Egyptian papyrus paintings, Jim Thompson Thai silk elephant prints, Silver Oak cabernet, and choice pieces of antique Sèvres and Meissen porcelain. UI memorabilia also will be offered, as well as original designs from local jewelry-makers, craftsmen and artists, movie and theater tickets, as well as donations and gift certificates from area restaurants and stores.

Tickets are $50 per person, sponsorships are $100, and a patron’s contribution is $250. For tickets or to donate items, call Vivian Larson at 367-0800 or Judy Hummel at 344-0606.

New student fee
Library hours are extended
A new library fee is opening doors like never before for UI students.

The fee, passed by the UI Board of Trustees in March, means Illinois students will be able to spend much more time in the library. On Aug. 23, the Undergraduate and the Grainger Engineering libraries began offering significantly extended hours, 63 in total.

The library fee of $200 a semester for new full-time undergraduate and graduate/professional students supports several initiatives in addition to increasing library hours, including developing electronic media and digitization; improving information technology services; creating and enhancing tools for online learning and research; and increasing the positions focused on direct support of students’ learning and services.

The Undergraduate Library’s new hours: Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 3 a.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. In addition, it will offer “study hall” hours from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday.

The new Grainger hours: Monday through Thursday, open 24 hours; Friday, 12 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to midnight.

For more information, contact Scott Walter, associate university librarian for services, at swalter@uiuc.edu or 333-0318.

Illinois Project for Research in the Humanities
Fall film series announced
The Illinois Project for Research in the Humanities has released its fall film series schedule. All screenings begin at 5:30 p.m. in Room 62 of the Krannert Art Museum. The series is free and open to the public.

The movies:

• Sept. 13:  “Vertigo”
• Oct. 4: “Truly Madly Deeply”
• Nov. 8: “Pennies From Heaven”
• Dec. 6: “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing”

For more information, go to www.iprh.uiuc.edu or contact film series organizer Christine Catanzarite at catanzar@uiuc.edu.

From hip-hop to yoga
KAM plans diverse events for fall
Art isn’t the only draw at the Krannert Art Museum.

The museum’s 2007-08 season schedule overflows with cultural-arts events, from standard complementary programming such as lectures, films and gallery talks to activities that stray outside the lines of convention for an art museum. Among the latter, a free rock concert, an avante-garde music series, a hip-hop/spoken-arts performance series and even yoga classes.

On Sept. 6, the museum events sampler includes a 5 p.m. gallery talk with Ryan Griffis and Deke Weaver, planned in conjunction with the annual School of Art and Design Faculty Art Exhibition. At 6 p.m., art and design professor Judi Ross kicks off the first in the lecture series “A Taste of Art.” Each lecture in the series is followed by a wine-and-cheese reception. Rocking the museum from 8-11:30 p.m. will be local favorites Poster Children and Headlights, along with Normal, Ill.-based avant-pop band Oh Astro.

Once again this semester, the museum will offer free yoga classes Fridays at noon, beginning Sept. 7. Classes, taught by Deb Lister in the museum’s Collections Resource Laboratory, are limited to 20 participants, on a first-come, first-served basis.

A complete schedule of special events is available on the museum Web site, www.kam.uiuc.edu.

Biomedical Research Seminars
Health issues bridge human-animal gap
Stem cell therapy, cross-species infectious disease and ecosystem health are among the topics slated for the fall seminar series on translational biomedical research – interdisciplinary collaborations that “translate” fundamental research discoveries into practical biomedical applications to improve human and animal health and society.

The seminars, organized by the College of Veterinary Medicine, will be Mondays at noon in the Large Animal Clinic auditorium. Metered parking is available outside the Basic Sciences Building.

The series kicks off in this month with talks on wildlife conservation and managing endangered species through “metamodeling.”

In early October two talks will address stem cell research. Suzanne Berry, from the college’s department of veterinary biosciences, will report on her work with myogenic stem cells that have been shown to regenerate skeletal muscle and restore muscle protein expression in a mouse model for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Infectious disease, ranging from RNA viruses to vaccination and immunity to the emergence of diseases transmitted from animals to humans, will serve as the topic for four talks.

Jakob Zinsstag, of the Swiss Tropical Institute in Basel, Switzerland, will discuss the implications of a “one health” approach for integrated human and animal health systems, the simultaneous study of zoonoses in humans and animals, and health economic assessments, using his studies in Africa and East Asia as a model.

For the full schedule see www.cvm.uiuc.edu/research/tbrseries.html.

‘Collections’ in 14th- to 17th-century Europe
Conference is Sept. 13-15
Scholars will meet at the UI from Sept. 13-15 to discuss the idea of “collections” in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries.

During those centuries the cost of producing books dropped dramatically, making it possible for more people to own them. Collection became a method of gathering information, of composing and ordering a text, and of circulating it.

Entitled, “Collections in Context: the Organization of Knowledge and Community in Europe (14th-17th Centuries),” the conference will be in Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Languages Building. All sessions are free and open to the public.

Speakers represent a variety of disciplines and include keynote speaker Nancy Freeman Regalado of New York University, Peter Ainsworth of the University of Sheffield, Andrew Taylor of the University of Ottawa, Craig Taylor of the University of Leeds, and Elissa Weaver of the University of Chicago, as well as numerous speakers from the UI.

“Manuscript and print collections also have a commemorative function: texts are put into anthologies to prevent their loss,” said Karen Fresco, UI professor of French and co-organizer of the conference. “So common is the practice that imagined collections figure in individual works from this period, whether the fictional libraries described by Rabelais or the collections of paintings and art objects glimpsed in the backgrounds of paintings.”

For more information, contact Fresco (kfresco@uiuc.edu), Charles Wright (cdwright@uiuc.edu), or Anne D. Hedeman (ahedeman@uiuc.edu).

European Union
Lecture on EU expansion is Sept. 19
The ongoing expansion of the European Union will be the focus of a lecture at 11 a.m. Sept. 19 in 314A Illini Union.

“The European Union’s Enlargement: Opportunity or Risk?” is the title of the talk to be presented by Martin Sajdik, co-author with Michael Schwarzinger of the book “European Union Enlargement: Background, Developments, Facts” (Central and Eastern European Policy Studies, Volume 2).

Sajdik is director general for integration and economic policy at the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and chief strategist of Austria’s policies on the enlargement process. He and co-author Schwarzinger, the Austrian ambassador to Lithuania, were insiders to proceedings and negotiations that resulted in the addition of 10 new countries in the EU in 2004 and another two this year.

Sajdik’s talk is sponsored by the UI’s European Union Center.

School of Music
Concert planned to commemorate 9/11
The UI School of Music will once again mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States with a short commemorative program on Sept. 11.

The free observance is open to the public and will take place at 7:46 a.m. in the recital hall of Smith Hall.

UI music school director Karl Kramer said the program’s start time coincides with the time the first hijacked jetliner crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The program will conclude at 8:03 a.m., marking the time that the second airplane hit the center’s south tower.

In keeping with tradition, there will be “no speeches or talking, just music and contemplation,” Kramer said.

The program will feature the UI Trombone Choir, under the direction of UI trombone professor Elliot Chasanov. The ensemble will perform “Dido’s Lament” from “Dido and Anaes,” by Henry Purcel; “Christus Factus Est,” by Anton Bruckner; and “In Memoriam,” by Raymond Premru. Joining the choir on Gabriel Faure’s “Cantique de Jean Racine” will be UI organ professor Dana Robinson.

“The trombone ensemble has an incredibly sonorous and beautifully powerful sound, which should make for an extremely moving performance,” Kramer said.

American Indian Studies
Lecture series planned for fall
The American Indian Studies program has planned a lecture series, “Indigeneity as a Category of Critical Analysis.”

Three lectures are scheduled for fall. “Keeping Culture in Mind: Therapeutic Integration in a First Nation Treatment Center” is at 5 p.m. Sept. 20. Joseph P. Gone, professor of psychology and American Culture at the Unviersity of Michigan will be the speaker. An enrolled member of the Gros Ventre tribe of Montana and a cultural psychologist, Gone will address a key dilemma confronting mental health professionals who serve Native American communities.

Jeff Corntassel, professor of indigenous governance programs at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, will speak on “Persistence of Peoplehood: Regenerating Indigeneity during the Forced Federalism Era” at 4 p.m. Oct. 10. A member of the Cherokee Nation, Corntassel’s forthcoming book, “Forced Federalism: Contemporary Challenges to Indigenous Nationhood,” examines how Indigenous nations in the U.S. mobilize politically during the 1990s up to the present day as they encounter new threats to their nations at the state and federal levels of governance.

“Indian Studies and Postcoloniality: An Analysis” features Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, professor emeritus of Native American studies and of English at Eastern Washington University. She will speak at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 6. Cook-Lynn is Isianti/Ihanktowan, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Fort Thompson, S.D. She is an award-winning poet, essayist, and scholar, and a founding editor of the journal Wicazo Sa Review.

The lectures will be on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center. For more information, visit www.uiuc.edu/goto/indigeneity.

Authors Corner
Robert Novak book signing is Sept. 13
UI alumnus and Washington columnist/commentator Robert Novak will sign his new autobiography, “The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington,” from 3-4 p.m. Sept. 13 on the second floor of the Illini Union Bookstore.

Novak was born in Joliet. He attended the UI from 1948 to 1952, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree.

Novak’s journalism career began when he wrote for the Joliet Herald-News, The Daily Illini and The Champaign-Urbana Courier while in college.

During the Korean War, Novak served in the U.S. Army. After the war, he joined the Associated Press and became a political correspondent in Indianapolis. In 1957, Novak was transferred to Washington, D.C. to cover Congress; then joined the D.C. bureau of The Wall Street Journal in 1958 to report on the Senate, and in 1961 became its chief congressional correspondent. In 1963, he teamed up with Rowland Evans to create the “Evans-Novak Political Report” until Evans died of cancer in 2001.

Novak’s newspaper column is syndicated by the Chicago Sun-Times. He currently serves as a FOX News Channel  contributor.

Asian American Cultural Center
Open house to feature paintings
The UI Asian American Cultural Center and Asian American Studies Program will host an annual open house from 2 -4 p.m. on Sept. 7 at 1208 and 1210 W. Nevada St., Urbana.

The event will feature remarks by Chancellor Richard Herman and the artwork of Fred DeAsis, a Filipino-American artist from Chicago, who practices an ancient Philippine art style called Kut-kut. Local Asian American community organizations also will be present to show how students and the campus community can become involve in their missions.  

Kut-kut is based on early century Oriental and European art forms: sgraffito, encaustic and layering.  When these ancient techniques merge, it produces kut-kut, which is characterized by delicate swirling interwoven lines, multi-layered texture and an illusion of three-dimensional space.

The exhibit, “Kut-Kut – Lost Art of the Philippines,” will be on display until Nov. 7 at the center, which is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 333-9300.

Chanute Air Museum and WILL
99th Pursuit Squadron event is Sept. 20
Original members of the all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron formed during World War II at Chanute Field will join a discussion sponsored by the Chanute Air Museum and WILL AM-FM-TV in conjunction with the broadcast of Ken Burns’ new documentary series, “The War,” on WILL-TV.

The event, from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 20, at the Rantoul Business Center, 601 S. Century Blvd., will feature a discussion about the squadron as well as a screening of excerpts from the Burns’ series and a video about the pursuit squadron produced by WILL-TV.

Participating will be Elmer Jones, one of six original aviation cadets to be trained at Chanute; William Surcey, an original member of the 99th Pursuit Squadron; and Mrs. Eunice Dansby Gingery of Decatur, wife of Ellsworth Dansby, who was one of the first enlisted volunteers to arrive at Chanute Field in 1941. State Sen. Mike Frerichs and WILL-TV station manager Carl Caldwell will make introductory remarks.

The 99th Pursuit Squadron members who trained as ground crew at Chanute went to Tuskegee, Ala., where they joined with the squadron’s pilots, and became the first unit of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. The 99th Pursuit Squadron was deployed to North Africa, Sicily and Italy where it supported the invasion of Sicily and Italy, and protected Allied bombers sent to destroy Axis targets in Europe.

The museum, based at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, features a long-term exhibit about the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

“The War” premieres on WILL-TV on Sept. 23. WILL-produced local stories about Central Illinois during World War II on the home front and the battle front will air on radio beginning Sept. 17 and WILL-TV beginning Sept. 26, with more stories featured on the WILL Web site at www.will.illinois.edu.

For more information about the Rantoul event, call Mark Hanson or Robyn York, Chanute Air Museum, at 893-1613.

School of Art and Design
Register now for Saturday art classes
Registration is under way for the fall semester of Saturday Art School, a community art school taught by art education undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members in the School of Art and Design.

Classes, held at the Art and Design Building beginning Sept. 8, will meet for 10 Saturdays culminating in an open house during the Krannert Art Museum Family Fest on Dec. 1 in the Link Gallery of the Art and Design Building.

The cost is $75 per student, ages 4  through 18. Elementary classes meet for two sessions each Saturday 9-10:30 or 11-noon. Seventh- through ninth-grade students and high school classes meet 9-noon each Saturday in a studio format.

The fall curriculum offers new media experiences as well as opportunities to improve traditional media skills.

For a brochure and application form, contact Carole Smith at 333-1652 or cssmith2@uiuc.edu. Registration will end when classes are full.

Center for Advanced Study
Lectures covers immigration to nukes
Immigration, Islam, nukes, Plato, and Asian science and technology will be among the topics this fall in lectures and discussions sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study at the UI.

Most of the fall lectures are part of the CAS MillerComm series, begun in 1973 and supported with funds from the George A. Miller Endowment and several co-sponsoring campus units.

Also part of the fall program will be lectures by two prominent Illinois faculty members: Susan W. Kieffer, a CAS professor of geology and of physics, who will give the CAS Annual Lecture on the subject of earth research, and Frederick Hoxie, a Swanlund professor of history and of law, who will give a Chancellor’s CAS Special Lecture on the birth of federal Indian law.

All CAS talks are free and open to the public.

Upcoming lectures this month:

• Sept. 10, “Building a Knowledge-Based Economy Pyramid,” by Philip Yeo, special adviser for economic development for the prime minister of Singapore. (4 p.m. in rooms 612 and 614 in the Gatehouse Building at the Institute for Genomic Biology)
• Sept. 13, “Love and Beauty in Plato’s ‘Symposium’: ‘Only in the Contemplation of Beauty Is Human Life Worth Living,’ ” by Alexander Nehamas, the Carpenter Professor of Humanities at Princeton University. (7:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center)
• Sept. 18, “The University of Illinois in Asia,” a panel discussion with UI Chancellor Richard Herman and Vice Chancellor for Research Chip Zukoski. (3p.m. in the auditorium of the Beckman Institute)
• Sept. 25, “Researching the Earth: Living it, Loving it and Sharing it,” the CAS Annual Lecture, given by Kieffer, who also is a Charles R. Walgreen University Chair. (7:30 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum)

For a full schedule, go to www.cas.uiuc.edu. Those interested in attending CAS lectures should note that occasionally a lecture must be canceled or rescheduled, and lectures may be added later in the semester. For additional information, or to confirm details prior to a lecture, check the events link on the CAS Web site.

To receive notification on individual events, phone 333-6729 or e-mail cas@uiuc.edu; indicate your preference for postal mail or e-mail.

Also check the Web site for audio podcasts and streaming video of many CAS presentations, which are generally posted one to two weeks after the event.

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