PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 27, No. 8, Oct. 18, 2007

brief notes

Illinois Brass Quintet

Halloween concert is Oct. 28

The Illinois Brass Quintet hosts its fourth annual Family Halloween Spooktacular at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 28 in Foellinger Great Hall at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Members of the Illinois Brass Quintet: Michael Ewald and Ronald Romm, trumpet; Kazimierz Machala, horn; Elliot Chasanov, trombone; and Mark Moore, tuba.

Amber Jenne of WCIA-TV and Roger Cooper of WILL-FM will be guest hosts.

The Yankee Ridge Dance Group (from Urbana’s Yankee Ridge School) with Betty Allen, director, will be featured in selections from Camille Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals.”

Everyone is encouraged to attend in costume. A costume contest will be held for children, ages 1 to 12 years, at 12:30 p.m. in the Krannert Lobby.

Tickets are available at the Krannert Center box office.

WILL-TV

Emergency grant pays for new tower

WILL AM-FM-TV received a $236,582 emergency grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to help pay for construction of a taller tower to enable the station’s microwave signal to pass above a new 18-story high-rise building.

The new Burnham310 apartment and office building, under construction at Springfield Avenue and Fourth Street in Champaign, is in the direct line of the microwave signal between WILL’s studios in Urbana and its transmitter located 22 miles southwest near Monticello. The building would have blocked the signal and permanently interrupted WILL’s television and FM broadcasting.

The UI paid for half the construction costs for the tower, which was completed Sept. 28, adjacent to the station’s old tower near its studios at 300 N. Goodwin, Urbana. The new tower is 250 feet tall compared to the old 195-foot tower, thus allowing the station’s signal to pass over the new building’s height of 221 feet.

“This grant is a great relief for WILL, since we didn’t have the money in our budget and we had to find an immediate solution,” said Mark Leonard, general manager of WILL AM-FM-TV. “We are grateful to the university for providing half the cost of the tower.”

The federal funds came from the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, which assists public radio, public television and distance learning projects across the country.

Japan House

Edo culture is focus of open house talk

A presentation on Edo culture by a visiting speaker will be among the highlights at the annual fall open house at the UI Japan House from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 20.

 “Japan Cool: Edo Culture Revealed” is the title of the featured talk, which will be presented at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. by Takuji Okuno, a professor of sociology at Kwansei Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan. Okuno’s presentation will explore the way in which many forms of contemporary Japanese popular culture, such as anime, are rooted in the traditional Edo culture of Japan, which dates from about 1600 through the 1850s.

Other activities planned include tours of Japan House’s gardens with its designer and builder, James Bier, at 1 and 3 p.m.

Throughout the day, members of the Urbana-Champaign Association of Chado Urasenke Tankokai will present tea ceremonies.

More information about the open house, and other upcoming Japan House events – including “Simple Elegance,” a Nov. 10 trunk show and sale featuring jewelry, wearable artwork and textiles – is available at www.art.uiuc.edu/galleries/japanhouse or by calling 244-9934.

WILL-TV

‘C is for Crockpot’ needs cooks, recipes

Are you a crockpot queen or king? Have a good recipe that allows you to have dinner waiting when you get home from work? Would you like to demonstrate your slow-cooker skills on WILL-TV?

During Winterfest on Dec. 3, WILL-TV will broadcast a new live, local cooking special. “C is for Crockpot,” hosted by WILL-AM’s David Inge, will show viewers how to make a variety of slow-cooker cuisine.

WILL needs crockpot recipes for a cookbook that will be offered during the show as a thank-you gift for supporting WILL, and cooks who would like to prepare their recipe on television.

Send crockpot recipes by 5 p.m. Nov. 9 to “C is for Crockpot,” WILL-TV, 300 N. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 or by e-mail to will-tv@uiuc.edu with “C is for Crockpot” in the subject line. Include a comment about what you enjoy about WILL-TV. The comments may be used in the cookbook.

If you’d also like to appear as a cook on the show, please include an explanation of why you’d like to participate.

For more information, call Heather Miller at 333-1070.

Campus Recreation

Breast Cancer Awareness activities

Campus Recreation has announced the “Campus Rec Cares for Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign” presented by Carle Foundation Hospital throughout October. Highlighting the campaign will be the Campus Recreation Student Professional Organization selling Campus Rec Cares T-shirts for $5 each with all money going to the Mills Breast Cancer Institute at Carle Foundation Hospital.

The month of awareness will be capped off Oct. 19 with an information table set up in Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE) from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. with a 30-minute Awareness Walk at 12:10 p.m. starting and ending at CRCE, taking participants around the Quad.

“Our student organization took this on as their philanthropic initiative and we are very pleased to help with the promotion so they can raise money for this great cause,” said Erik Riha, assistant director of marketing for Campus Recreation.  “Unfortunately, just about everyone in some way or another is touched by cancer, so this is just a small way that we can help in the fight and the student organization can help out the community.”

Ebert film fest no longer ‘overlooked’

Film festival passes go on sale Nov. 1

Festival passes will go on sale Nov. 1 for the 10th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, to be held April 23-27 at the Virginia Theater in Champaign, and at the UI.

The passes, which cover all 12 screenings during the five-day event, are $100. They can be purchased through the theater box office or through TicketWeb by way of the festival Web site at www.ebertfest.com.

Tickets for individual movies will be available April 4. Admission is $10 ($8 for students and seniors).

The 1,000 festival passes available for last spring’s “Ebertfest” sold out in the first two weeks after they went on sale, according to Mary Susan Britt, the festival’s associate director. That was four months before the films were announced and five months before the festival. The same number of passes will be available again this year.

Ebert, a 1964 Illinois journalism graduate, adjunct professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, again will host the event and select the films that he believes have been overlooked by audiences, critics and distributors. The festival was previously titled “Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival,” but “overlooked” has been removed because the festival itself is no longer overlooked, according to Ebert.

The lineup of films, along with additional information on film-associated guests and other festival events, will be announced several weeks before the festival. Updates on the festival, an event of Illinois’ College of Communications, will be posted on the festival Web site.

Sponsors and volunteers for the festival are being sought. Those interested should get in touch with Britt at 244-0552 or marsue@uiuc.edu.

Off-campus and distance education faculty/staff

Academic Outreach hosts open house

An open house for faculty and staff members involved in credit outreach for the Urbana campus is being hosted by Academic Outreach in the Office of Continuing Education. The open house will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 30 in the General Lounge of the Illini Union.  A brief program is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Those engaged in off-campus and distance education, including online, are encouraged to attend.  RSVP by Oct. 23 by calling 333-3061 or e-mail gisinfo@uiuc.edu.

WILL-TV

Berenbaum to appear on PBS’ ‘Nature’

UI entomology professor May Berenbaum will appear in the season premiere of the PBS program “Nature” at 7 p.m. Oct. 28.

Berenbaum is featured in three different short segments in the one-hour program, which is about disappearing honey bees. The insect crucial to our food supply and economy has disappeared in droves, and no one has yet been able to say why. The problem has a name – Colony Collapse Disorder – but not an explanation. From crop fields to high-tech labs, “Nature” follows scientists and bee experts investigating the potential ecological disaster.

“Silence of the Bees” examines a number of scientific theories about the crisis. Is CCD caused by pesticides? Genetically modified crops? An AIDS-like virus? Is it even a new plague, or perhaps a recurring cycle? The search for CCD’s cause takes viewers from the northeast United States to London; Paris; Provence, France; southern Spain; and Sichuan Province in China.

CAPE awards

Nominations accepted until Oct. 26

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2008 Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence (CAPE) Award.

Academic professionals perform a wide range of critical functions for the campus community and beyond. They advise, counsel and assist UI students, faculty and staff members and provide critical administrative support. Their work supports UI research laboratories and educational programs, and they offer important outreach programs throughout the state.

The award’s purpose, criteria, eligibility requirements and nomination procedures are online at www.ahr.uiuc.edu/cape/index.htm.

The deadline for submitting nominations for the award is 8 a.m. Oct. 26. Questions may be directed to Elyne Cole, associate provost for human resources, e-cole1@uiuc.edu.

The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program

Lecture on ‘nourishing family resiliency’

The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program’s fall 2007 lecture will feature author Miriam Weinstein speaking on “Nourishing Family Resilience: Our Mealtimes, Ourselves.” Weinstein will speak at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum. She is a journalist, filmmaker and author specializing in food, family life and Jewish culture. Among her books is “The Surprising Power of Family Meals” (2005). The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program was established in the department of human and community development in 2000 through a donation from the Pampered Chef Ltd. to support faculty research, graduate student fellowships and dissertation awards, and a lecture series in the area of family resiliency. For more information, contact Diane Marlin, coordinator, 265-0334, or visit www.familyresiliency.uiuc.edu.

Illini Union Bookstore

Poet to read from her book Oct. 29

Donna J. Gelagotis Lee, author of “On the Altar of Greece,” will read from her book of poetry at the Illini Union Bookstore at 5 p.m. Oct 29. Lee won the Gival Press Poetry Award, a 2007 Eric Hoffer Book Award and was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry.

Homecoming

Jacqueline Mitchard will speak Oct. 24

Best-selling author Jacquelyn Mitchard returns to the UI to talk about life, love and writing. The luncheon begins at noon Oct. 24, with a 12:30 p.m. lecture in the Alice Campbell Alumni Center.

Mitchard has written 13 books – her first work, “The Deep End of the Ocean” was a New York Times No. 1 best-seller and the basis for a 1999 feature film with Michelle Pfeiffer. Copies of “Still Summer,” her latest novel, will be available for purchase and signing.

Doors open at 11:45 a.m. Cost is $12 for alumni association members; $15  for non-members

Registration is required for the luncheon. The last day to register is Oct. 18.

Tickets to the luncheon are available at www.uiaa.org/urbana/writerscomehome07.html.

UI Library

Mortenson lecture is Oct. 19

The 17th Annual Mortenson Distinguished Lecture, “The Enchanted Libraries of Chile: A Story of Transformation,” begins at 11 a.m. Oct 19 in Room 126 of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

The featured speaker is Clara Budnik, executive director of Fundacion Democracia y Desarrollo (Democracy and Development Foundation) in Santiago, Chile.

Budnik has served as executive director of the foundation since 2006. Prior to that, she worked for 14 years in archives and museums within the Chilean Directorate of Libraries, serving as the director during the final six years. She has been a consultant to the Organization of American States, assisting in creating networks for centers of documentation. Her experience includes a professorship in the School of Librarianship at the University of Chile and work with various institutions in Venezuela promoting books and reading.

For more information, visit www.library.uiuc.edu/mortenson or call 333-3085.

WILL-AM-FM-TV

ATC host Robert Siegel to speak Nov. 6

Robert Siegel, senior host of National Public Radio’s news magazine “All Things Considered,” will help WILL AM-FM-TV celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act with a fundraising luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Champaign Country Club.

The fundraiser will provide financial support for the Donald P. Mullally Internship Program at WILL, which provides College of Communications and other UI students opportunities to work in a professional media environment through paid internships.

Tickets are $75; more information is available by contacting Martha Brown at WILL, 333-1070 or m-brown3@uiuc.edu.

The 1967 Public Broadcasting Act created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help develop public telecommunications, and provide maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.

The act was the culmination of decades of work, much of it at the UI, to develop the philosophy and role of public broadcasting, said Mark Leonard, general manager of WILL.

As an NPR host, Siegel has reported from Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Israel. He now concentrates on domestic stories. Before joining “All Things Considered” in 1987, Siegel served for four years as director of NPR’s News and Information Department, overseeing production of NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition,” as well as special events and other news programming.

Survey Research Laboratory

Dissertation Award apps due Dec. 14

The Survey Research Laboratory is now accepting applications for the annual Robert Ferber Dissertation Award and the Seymour Sudman Dissertation Award, both for excellence in survey research as part of a doctoral dissertation. These awards are open to any doctoral student on campus with a  dissertation that broadly relates to survey methods.

Past winners have come from an array of disciplines in the social sciences, humanities and business. An award of $2,400 will be given to the winner of each of these two awards. Applications are due Dec. 14. Complete eligibility and application information is available at www.srl.uic.edu/ferbersudman.htm.

Student Affairs

Town Hall meeting is Oct. 23

In keeping with the spirit of Inclusive Illinois, Student Affairs is hosting a town hall meeting from 7 to 8:30 p.m Oct. 23 in the Courtyard Cafe of the Illini Union. The purpose of the meeting is to examine stereotype-themed parties, racial epithets and hate speech in the context of institutional values and the First Amendment.

The program will include insights from expert panelists as well as open discussion.

“These types of incidents are antithetical to the values of the UI and thwart our efforts to create and maintain a safe and welcoming campus for all students, faculty and staff,” said Renee Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs, in an e-mail to the campus. “To fully embrace the vision for an Inclusive Illinois, we must address these issues within our community.”

‘TRACE: Body/Memory/Movement’

Site-specific dances performed Oct. 19-20

Connections in time and space; bodies responding to location and design … come and trace your own journey through an evening of three site-specific dance works in locations across the UI campus at 5:30 p.m., 6:15 p.m. and 7 p.m. Oct. 19 and 20. All dances will run simultaneously. Choreographed by Master of Fine Arts candidates Renay Aumiller, Laura Chiaramonte and Angeline Holmes from the UI department of dance, these dance events take place in the Undergraduate Library courtyard, Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, and under a beech tree located in front of the Early Child Development Laboratory on Nevada Street. Admission is free and open to the public.

The dances:

• Undergraduate Library Courtyard: More than 20 dancers will take over this unique space in “Chapter 31 and 3 Quarters,” a new work by Holmes. View the dance from the top looking down, or venture down into the courtyard to observe the piece from within it.
  

• Early Childhood Development Lab: In “Foothold,” Aumiller reveals the journey from a place of isolation to a desire for human connection. Illustrated through aerial dance techniques, this piece takes place within the branches of the beech tree located in front of the Early Child Development Lab. 
  

• Temple Hoyne Buell Hall: Does architecture have some direct connection to the past and memory? Does architecture have some direct connection to the body? These are the questions Chiaramonte poses in her new site-specific work, “Understanding Dimensions.” The design of Temple Hoyne Buell Hall will be an investigation through use of space, design and motion in an exploration of movement, body and form.

University Primary School

Open House is Oct. 26

University Primary School, an early childhood gifted education program that serves preschool, kindergarten and first-grade children in a project-based curriculum, is hosting an open house Oct. 26. Visitors may see the preschool in action from 8:30 a.m.-noon and the combined kindergarten-first grade class from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Applications for the 2008-2009 academic year will be available in January. For more information, contact director Nancy Hertzog at 333-3996 or nhertzog@uiuc.edu.

English department

Fiction writers to visit UI, read from work

Roy Kesey and Katharine Min will visit the UI on Nov. 5 and Nov. 7, respectively, to read from and talk about their work.

The presentations are free and open to the public as part of the 2007 Carr Reading Series, which is presented by the English department’s Creative Writing Program. All readings begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Authors Corner of the Illini Union Bookstore.

The Authors Corner will also be the site of a faculty reading on Nov. 14. LeAnne Howe, UI professor of English and of American Indian Studies, will read from her new book, the novel “Miko Kings: An Indian Baseball Story.” The reading will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Next spring, four authors – two with close ties to the UI – will participate in the 2008 Carr Reading Series: Mark Costello on Feb. 13; Mariko Nagai on March 3; Patrick Rosal on April 3; and David Foster Wallace on April 11.

More information on the speakers and the Carr series is at www.english.uiuc.edu/mfa/content/events.shtml.

LAS Teaching Academy

Forum examines classroom political bias

In order to promote an open discussion of political bias in the classroom, the UI is holding a forum on the topic.

“Politics in the Classroom: Bias, Academic Freedom and Student Learning” will begin at noon on Oct. 23 in 319 Gregory Hall. It is free and open to the public.

The forum is co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teaching Academy (LASTA), the American Association of University Professors and the Campus Faculty Association.

“The forum responds to the ongoing national controversy on college campuses about the bias, usually liberal, of professors in their teaching,” said Paul Diehl, an organizer of the forum, the Henning Larsen Professor of Political Science at the UI and the director of LASTA.

According to Diehl, UI faculty members representing a range of views on the controversy will serve on the panel.

Diehl said that complaints about political bias in the classroom “have been made at the UI and indeed at campuses around the country.”

“Such charges raise questions about appropriate pedagogical strategies, the limits of academic freedom and the effect on student learning,” Diehl said. The AAUP recently released a report, “Freedom in the Classroom” (www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/A/class.htm), which addresses these issues.

The report “stands in contrast to critics such as David Horowitz, who have devised their own ‘Academic Bill of Rights’ ”(www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/abor.html), he said.

The AAUP report will be one basis of discussion, Diehl said.

I space gallery

Pottery and paintings featured

Ceramic pieces created by imaginary employees of a make-believe pottery company and encaustic paintings by an art therapist will be featured in two exhibitions Oct. 19 through Dec. 1 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

 “Don Pilcher: Rascal Ware” will give gallery-goers a glimpse into the creative mind of the artist, who taught for many years in the UI’s School of Art and Design. The exhibition focuses on a body of work Pilcher has been making since 2002, which includes vessels and sculptures produced at the fictional Rascal Ware Pottery company by an assortment of characters – among them, Junior Bucks and Hairy Potter.

The project is conceived as both a ceramic and literary expression. Pilcher himself is a character in the Rascal Ware narrative, and the text and art are always presented together.

 “Mari Marks: Sedimentary Series, Terra” consists of a dozen 12-foot-square encaustic paintings created using a cyclic process in which layer after layer of hot wax is applied, allowed to dry, then scraped or otherwise augmented. Marks compares the layering process in her art – with its complex, variable terrain – to what occurred as Earth’s crust was formed. Her references to the number 12 and the natural world are not coincidental, as she observes that “in metaphysics, 12 describes life-giving forces,” and “structures and interpretations of 12 permeate the natural world.”

An opening reception is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 19 at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago. I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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