Monday, April 27, 2009

UIS holds 2nd annual Take Back the Night with LLCC

The University of Illinois at Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College are teaming up to hold the second annual LLCC/UIS Take Back the Night on Saturday, May 2, from 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Take Back the Night is a movement inclusive of all genders and sexual orientations that brings survivors, supporters and activists together in a call for the end of violence against women.
The Speak Out and March start at the Lincoln Land campus in the Helen Hamilton Area at 7:30 p.m. Musician Tom Irwin, a UIS student, will perform at the start of the rally.

The keynote speaker for the Speak Out will be Candi Clouse, UIS alum and Prevention Coordinator for the Sojourn Shelter.

Around 8:15 p.m., the group will then march to the UIS campus. The band A Day and a Wake Up will play at around 8:30. There will also be an Information Fair and refreshments on the UIS Quad, as well as The Clothesline Project, a project to support victims of domestic violence.

The event is presented by the Women’s Issues Caucus club from UIS and the Feminist Activist Coalition student club at LLCC. Co-sponsors of the event include the Lincoln Land Women’s Studies and International Club and the UIS Women’s Center, Women and Gender Studies, Student Government Association, African Student Association, Black Student Union, Christian Student Fellowship, Delta Sigma Omicron, Diversity Center, Indian Student Organization and Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS).

More information about Take Back the Night is available at www.takebackthenight.org/. For more information about the rally and march, contact womenscenter@uis.edu or 206-7173.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

UIS Music presents Spring Showcase Concert

University of Illinois at Springfield Music will present its annual Spring Showcase Concert on Friday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the Studio Theatre, located on the lower level of the Public Affairs Center on the UIS campus.

A live webcast of the event will also be available.

The concert will feature the UIS Band, Chorus and Chamber Orchestra. The UIS Band will present a program designed to kick off the summer concert season, presenting works by Henry Fillmore, D’Arcangelo, Andrew Boysen Jr., and Percy Grainger.

In addition to their individual repertoire, the Chorus and Chamber Orchestra will also combine and perform Eric Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs.

The program is free and open to the public. Donations benefiting the UIS Music Student Merit Award will be accepted.

For more information, contact Todd Cranson, director of the Chamber Orchestra and Band, at 217/206-7549.

Alpha Phi Sigma honor society to hold inductions

Induction ceremonies for four new members of the Epsilon Chi Chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma at the University of Illinois at Springfield, the national criminal justice honor society, will be held at 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, in the Public Affairs Center restaurant on the UIS campus. A dinner will accompany the induction ceremonies.

Alpha Phi Sigma, the only national honor society for criminal justice majors, recognizes the academic excellence of undergraduate and graduate students. To be eligible, students must have completed at least one-third of the total hours required for graduation and must maintain specified grade-point averages overall and in the major.

Students being inducted are Ashley Douglas, Kaila McKenzie, Leslie Ochoa and Joe Sawyer. Leanne Brecklin, associate professor of Criminal Justice at UIS, serves as chapter adviser.

The ceremony will also honor 12 members who are graduating this academic year: Joe Dattoli, Ashley Douglas, Michelle Edwards, Karen Harrold, Jon Hartwig, Shane Hibbs, Jennifer Lamb, Anthony Mikels, Audra O’Brien, Howard Purdue, Nicole Reynolds and Samantha Wood.

UIS’ Criminal Justice department is housed within the College of Public Affairs and Administration and offers the baccalaureate degree and undergraduate minor.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Emiquon hosts lecture on bird migration

“Spring Migration by the Numbers,” a public lecture and nature walk, will be presented at the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Emiquon Field Station beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29. The program is free and open to the public; reservations are not required.

The program will be led by Jim Herkert, director of conservation science for The Nature Conservancy. Heckert will explore the phenomenon of migration in birds, discussing how many species of birds migrate through Illinois each year, how birds navigate while migrating, Emiquon’s role in migration and more.

“Emiquon is a great place to observe bird migration because it contains a wide variety of habitats, including woodlands, prairie and wetlands, and therefore provides habitat for a wide range of migratory birds,” Herkert noted. “Because of its large size, Emiquon allows for very large concentrations of birds to use the site during their annual migrations.”

The Emiquon Field Station is at The Nature Conservancy’s Emiquon Preserve, located between Havana and Lewistown. Entrance to the field station is on Prairie Road, located off Illinois Rts. 97/78, approximately one-and-a-half miles north of the Dickson Mounds turnoff. A sign will be posted. A map is also available online at www.uis.edu/emiquon/about/images/mapToTNCEmiquon.jpg.

The program will start with a presentation and then follow with a walk on the nearby trails.
Everyone entering the property will be asked to sign a liability waiver. Participants younger than 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult and must have their waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian. All are encouraged to wear walking or hiking shoes and to bring binoculars.

For more information, contact Mike Lemke, Emiquon Field Station Director, at lemke.michael@uis.edu or 217/206-7339.

Earth Day speaker to focus on cleaning nation's rivers

The University of Illinois at Springfield will be celebrating Earth Day on Tuesday, April 21, with a presentation by Chad Pregracke called “Making a Difference in the World: My Journey to Clean America’s Rivers.” The program will be held at 7 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library on the UIS campus. It is free and open to the public.

Pregracke is the founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, a not-for-profit environmental organization based in East Moline, Ill. The organization has involved tens of thousands of volunteers with community-based river cleanups, Riverbottom Restoration Projects, Adopt-a-River Mile Program and Big River Educational Workshops.

Pregracke has been the recipient of more than 40 national awards for his service and is the author of From the Bottom Up: One Man’s Crusade to Clean America’s Rivers, which chronicles his journey to clean up America’s rivers one tire at a time.

During Pregracke’s Earth Day program at UIS, he will discuss his experiences growing up on the Mississippi River and how it led to his unique vision to clean up the Mississippi River, from underwater shell-diving to open-air community clean-ups.

Sponsors of the event include the ECCE (Engaged Citizenship Common Experience) Speaker Series and Office of the Provost. Co-sponsors are Students Allied for a Greener Earth (SAGE), College of Public Affairs and Administration, Department of Environmental Studies and the Senate Committee on Sustainability.

For more information, contact Tih-Fen Ting, professor of environmental studies, at 217/206-7876 or tting1@uis.edu.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

UIS professor emeritus to give ECCE presentation

The University of Illinois at Springfield’s Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series will present UIS professor emeritus of History Cullom Davis for a lecture titled “Prisoners of Conscience in the Modern Era” on April 16 at 7 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library on the UIS campus. The event is free and open to the public.

During his presentation, Davis will reflect on the lives of modern and contemporary prisoners of conscience, such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma), who has been under house arrest for much of the time since 1988 for opposing the repressive national government.

Davis served for fifteen years as founding director of Sangamon State University’s Oral History Office and helped found the university’s master’s program in Public History. From 1988 to 2000, he was also director and senior editor of The Lincoln Legal Papers. In 2008, Davis was one of thirty citizens world-wide to receive the special bicentennial edition of The Order of Lincoln, the state’s highest honor.

A dessert reception will follow the lecture in the Public Affairs Center Restaurant. The event is sponsored by the Friends of Brookens Library.

The complete schedule of ECCE speakers and topics for the 2009 Spring Semester is available at http://illinois.edu/goto/speakerseries. For information about any ECCE event, contact Kimberly Craig, series coordinator, at 206-6245 or e-mail speakerseries@uis.edu.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Stalking Victimization is focus of ECCE Speaker Series program

The University of Illinois at Springfield’s Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series will host a program called “Real Fear, Real Crime: Stalking Victimization in the United States” on Wednesday, April 15, at 4 p.m. in the Public Affairs Center, room G, on the UIS campus. The event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be provided.

A recent national report showed that 3.4 million people are stalking annually in the United States, and this program will address the realities of stalking and the role everyone can play to stop stalking.

The program’s speaker is Michelle Garcia, director of the Stalking Resource Center in Washington D.C., a non-profit program within the National Center for Victims of Crime working to raise national awareness about stalking. Garcia, a past resident of Champaign-Urbana, has more than fifteen years experience working with victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking in both rural and urban settings and advocating for victims’ rights on a local, state and national level.

The event is sponsored by the ECCE Speakers Series and the UIS Women’s Center. The complete schedule of ECCE speakers and topics for the 2009 Spring Semester is available at http://illinois.edu/goto/speakerseries. For information about any ECCE event, contact Kimberly Craig, series coordinator, at 206-6245 or e-mail speakerseries@uis.edu.

UIS Theatre’s 2008-2009 season concludes with Shakespeare’s "As You Like It"

The Theatre Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield will conclude its 2008-2009 season with the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare, opening Friday, April 17. Six performances will be presented in the Studio Theatre, on the lower level of the Public Affairs Center at UIS - on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, April 17, 18, and 19, and Thursday, Friday, Saturday, April 23, 24, and 25. All shows will begin at 8 p.m. except the Sunday performance (April 19), which will begin at 2 p.m.

As You Like It is set in France, where Duke Senior and his followers are hiding in the Forest of Arden after Duke Senior is usurped and exiled by his brother, Duke Frederick. Duke Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, is permitted to stay at court because she and Frederick’s daughter are close. But when Rosalind falls in love at first sight with young Orlando, and after Orlando is forced to flee persecution by his older brother, Rosalind and Celia flee to the Forest of Arden, and Rosalind disguises herself as a man.

As is common in many of Shakespeare’s plays, confusion and mistaken identity ensue, lovers pine for each other, and Duke Senior and his followers search for meaning while in hiding in the Forest of Arden.

Characters in the play include Duke Frederick; Duke Senior; Rosalind, daughter to Duke Senior; Celia, daughter to Duke Frederick and Rosalind’s cousin; Orlando, youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys; Oliver and Jacques, his brothers; Adam and Dennis, servants to Orlando and Oliver respectively; Touchstone, a court Fool; Charles and Le Beau, part of Duke Frederick’s court; and Jacques and Amiens, lords attending to Duke Senior. Other characters are Corin and Silvius, shepherds; Phoebe, a shepherdess; Audrey, a goatkeeper; William, who is in love with Audrey; and Sir Oliver Martext, a parish priest.

Eighteen actors are playing 23 roles in the production. The cast is Dwight Langford* (Orlando); Ben Beams* (Oliver); Matt Craven* (Jacques the brother/Dennis); Patrick O’Brien (servant/Sir Oliver Martext); Aasne Vigesaa (Rosalind); Ashley Warren* (Celia); Joey Cruse* (Touchstone); Kevin Purcell (Duke Frederick/Corin); Larry Smith (Charles/William); Karina Diaz* (Le Beau); Kevin Cline (a lord); Tom Hutchinson (Duke Senior); Ted Keylon (Jacques the lord); Nick Teeter* (Amiens); Nicole Butts (a lord); Roger Boyd* (Silvius); and Sarah Clinch* (Phoebe).* denotes a UIS student.

UIS Associate Professor and Director of Theatre Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson will direct.

Tickets – $12 general adult; $10 senior citizen, 65+ with photo ID; $8 UIS faculty/staff with current I-card; $6 all students with current school ID – are available now at the UIS Ticket Office, located on level two of the Public Affairs Center. Purchase tickets in person, by phone at 217/206-6160 or 800/207-6960 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or online at www.uis.edu/theatre. Tickets will also be available at the ticket office on the day of the performance, beginning 90 minutes before curtain time.

For more information, contact Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson at 217/206-6613.

Friday, April 3, 2009

PAPS series to show film “Montoneros”

The third and final installment for the University of Illinois at Springfield’s spring 2009 Political Art and the Public Sphere (PAPS) series will be held on Monday, April 13, at 6 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library on the UIS campus.

The event will offer a viewing of the film “Montoneros” with a discussion to follow. Special guest Adriana Crocker, professor of political science at UIS, will speak about her personal experience as a young child living in Argentina during the time of the Montoneros.

The Montoneros Movement was an Argentine left-wing guerrilla group active during the 1960s and 1970s. The Montoneros were dedicated to the overthrow of the government in Argentina.

Founded as a militant fighting division by General Juan Perón before his exile to Paraguay in 1955, the Montoneros remained active during his 18-year absence. When Perón returned to Argentina in 1973, he condemned the Montoneros, who in response formed a revolutionary left wing. The military government and right-wing groups suppressed the Montoneros in the late 1970s.

Political Art and the Public Sphere features a showing or performance of some kind of “political art,” followed by a group discussion of the issues it raises. “The basic idea behind PAPS is to consider how ‘art’ raises provocative social and political questions,” noted Richard Gilman-Opalsky, coordinator of the series and professor of political philosophy at UIS.

“Public spheres are the places where people come together to communicate, to evaluate, and to circulate ideas and arguments,” Gilman-Opalsky added. “In the public sphere, people form a collective political opinion and will. Ultimately and ideally, the public sphere brings the interests and demands of the public to bear on those who hold power.”

For more information about this program or the PAPS series, contact Gilman-Opalsky by phone at 217/206-8328 or by e-mail at rgilm3@uis.edu.

UIS hosts 6th annual U of I Communication Collaboration Conference

The Sixth Annual University of Illinois Communication Collaboration (UICC) Conference will be held at the University of Illinois at Springfield on Friday, April 10.

The conference will take place in University Hall Building, room 2008, on the UIS campus from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Communication students from all three University of Illinois campuses will participate in an academic forum where they are able to present their planned, in-progress and finished work.

Guest speaker Dr. Sandra Metts will speak on “The Role of Emotion Experience and Expression in the Development and Maintenance of Close Relationships” at 11 a.m.

The conference is free and open to the public. Attendees of the conference must register by Wednesday, April 8. For more information or to register, contact conference organizers at uicc2009@gmail.com.

UIS to hold Symbolism conference in Monticello

The University of Illinois at Springfield will be holding a three-day conference called “Symbolism, Its Origins and Its Consequences” from April 22 through April 25 at Allerton Park and Retreat Center in Monticello, Illinois.

The purpose of the conference is to explore the origins of Symbolism, a variety of Symbolist manifestations in art, literature, music and philosophy, its consequences in art and literature, and to understand how ideas moved from one European country to another.

Symbolism was based on a certain world view that expressed itself in different genres in different countries. European Symbolism was a complex movement that started in England, then moved to France, back to England, and then finally into Russian culture.

The keynote address for the conference will be given by Geneviève Lacambre, general honorary curator of the patrimony at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and is titled “Toward Symbolism: Gustave Moreau and the Masters of the Past and his Contemporaries.”

Each day of the conference will be comprised of various sessions focusing on Symbolism, with breaks for meals. Registration fees are $180, and $90 for students.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Strategic Initiative Grant from the UIS Provost’s Office and UIS’ Information Technology Services, Visual Arts Department and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Lodging can be booked at the Allerton Retreat Center by calling 217/333-3287. For more information or to register for the conference, go online to http://www.uis.edu/hosted-orgs/conferences/symbolism/index.html or contact Rosina Neginsky, organizer and coordinator of the conference, at 217/206-7431.