Friday, January 29, 2010

2010 UIS Technology Day focuses on social technologies

WHAT: The University of Illinois at Springfield will host its tenth annual Technology Day to showcase the innovative ways that faculty, staff and students are using technology in education. The theme for this year’s event is “What Are You Learning Now? Teaching with Social Technologies.”

WHEN: Wednesday, February 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

WHERE: The Public Affairs Center (PAC), lower level, on the UIS campus

DETAILS: Participants will have opportunities for networking and for exchanging knowledge and expertise related to technology and education. All activities are free and open to the public. Participants are welcome to attend some or all of the sessions, and prizes and refreshments will also be available.

Kyle Bowen will be the keynote speaker for Technology Day 2010, and his presentation will start the event. Bowen is the director of informatics at Purdue University and recently led the development of Hotseat, a new social networking-powered tool that enables students to collaborate via Twitter or Facebook both inside and outside of the classroom.

K-12 educators may receive 3 CPDUs for attending Technology Day. Teachers interested in obtaining CPDU credit for participation should email Mae Noll at mnoll1@uis.edu prior to February 5.

UIS sponsors of the event include the Academic Technology Committee, Brookens Library, Information Technology Services, the Office of Web Services, and the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service.

For more information, contact Tulio Llosa, director of educational technology in the office of Information Technology Services, at 217/206-7755 or tllos1@uis.edu.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Speakers Series presents AIDS in the African Continent

WHAT: University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speakers Series presents AIDS in the African Continent. The free of charge event features a film screening of Living with AIDS, followed by a discussion moderated by Africa Action's Briggs Bomba and UIS International Admissions Counselor, Samba Dieng.

WHEN: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: Brookens Auditorium on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS

DETAILS: Living with AIDS documents the work of an orderly in a hospital in Zambia, where the majority of the patients are HIV-positive. In the film, the orderly, Samura, exposes the untold story of AIDS: how poverty and the complex nature of African culture and sexuality are hampering efforts to eradicate this horrifying disease.

Briggs Bomba of Africa Action has extensive experience working with civil society organizations in Zimbabwe and other African countries and has traveled extensively on the African continent.

Samba Dieng has a master’s degree in international relations and political science. He grew up in seven countries and has worked for Africa Action as an intern. While at Africa Action, he helped design a campaign update on the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids relief and developed a monthly HIV/AIDS fact sheet. Both Briggs and Dieng are natives of Africa and have first-hand experience of the disease.

For more information and a list of other speakers series events, visit the speaker series Web site or contact Kimberly Craig at 217/206-6245 or craig.kimberly@uis.edu.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

UIS Theatre to hold open auditions for spring production

UIS Theatre will be holding open auditions for the spring 2010 production of The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt, directed by Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson. All theatre artists are invited to audition for roles or apply for work offstage.

The auditions will be held Sunday, January 31 and Monday, February 1 from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Studio Theatre, located on the lower level of the Public Affairs Center (PAC). Callbacks will be held Tuesday, February 2. Performance dates for the production will be April 23, 24 and 25, and April 29, 30 and May 1.

During auditions, actors are asked to fill out the audition form upon arrival. Auditions will consist of "cold readings" from the script. Prepared monologues and resumes are appreciated but are not required. Roles are available for four women and five men.

Scripts are available for reserve check-out in Brookens Library, and also for check-out with a $10 refundable deposit in the Communications Department office, located in University Hall 3010.

Those interested in working backstage (stage managers, props crew, sound research, costumes, dresser and running crew) are asked to attend one night of auditions to fill out an audition form and indicate an area of interest. Thibodeaux-Thompson will take a few moments to meet with those interested to discuss the area of interest.

For more information, contact Thibodeaux-Thompson at mthom1@uis.edu or 217/206-8307.

Illinois primary election examined by UIS political experts



Three noted University of Illinois Springfield professors recently took part in a community forum, answering questions about the upcoming Illinois primary election. The presentation was held on January 26 at the Public Affairs Center on campus.

Political experts Chris Mooney, Professor of Political Science; Kent Redfield, Professor Emeritus of Political Science; and Charlie Wheeler, Director of the Public Affairs Reporting Program presented insight and analysis and invited questions from the audience.

“It’s an opportunity we like to take, to get together and talk about elections. People get very interested and excited. You’ve got races that are close,” said Mooney.

The February 2 primary election features a battle for the GOP and Democratic nomination for governor, as well as the U.S. senate seat once held by President Barack Obama. Political experts say it’s the governor’s race that could turn out to be the most interesting.

“If you look at the polling, you’ll see on the democratic side the two major candidates, Governor Quinn and Comptroller Hynes are within the margin of error for the polls. On the republican side, nobody seems to have emerged from the field,” said Wheeler.

The UIS political team takes hundreds of phone calls every year from members of the media looking for experts to speak on election and legislative topics.

“The media always need to get a fresh perspective that doesn’t come from one of the candidates or the parties,” said Mooney.

The primary forum was sponsored by Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science National Honor Society. The group plans to host similar forums in the future.

“UIS is sort of wired into state government and politics in a way that really makes us unique,” said Mooney.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

UIS political experts to discuss Illinois primary election

WHAT: Three noted University of Illinois Springfield political experts will discuss the upcoming February primary election in Illinois during an open forum.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: Public Affairs Center (PAC), Conference Room C/D

DETAILS: Chris Mooney, Professor of Political Science; Kent Redfield, Professor Emeritus of Political Science; and Charlie Wheeler, Director of the Public Affairs Reporting Program will present insights and analysis and invite questions about the election. The forum is open to the UIS community and the general public.

The forum is being hosted by Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science National Honor Society. More information about the chapter can be found online at http://www.uis.edu/politicalscience/students/pi-sigma-alpha.html.

For more information on the forum contact Jason Pierceson, Chair of the Department of Political Science at 217/206-7842 or jpier2@uis.edu.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

WUIS holds annual essay contest for high school seniors

Public radio station WUIS 91.9 FM is holding an essay contest open to all central Illinois high school seniors on the topic of your personal philosophy, This I Believe.

The top ten essays as selected by a panel at WUIS will air between February 15-26, 2010, once during Morning Edition at 7:50 a.m. and again during All Things Considered at 4:45 p.m. It will also be posted at WUIS.org and Facebook.com/WUIScommunity.

Entrants whose submissions are aired will also receive a $100 scholarship from the Rotary Club of Springfield Sunrise.

WUIS encourages students to get their teachers involved in the process. The essays should be between 350 and 500 words, or about three minutes when read aloud at a natural speaking pace (4,000 character limit). The essays should be submitted electronically through the WUIS website.

All of the essays submitted will be posted on the national This I Believe Essay Collection website after a review process.

The deadline to submit essays for the contest is January 28, 2010 at 11:59 p.m.

For more information and a list of past essay contest winners visit the WUIS website or e-mail WUIS@uis.edu.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Visual Arts Gallery hosts 2010 biennial alumni exhibition

WHAT: Every two years, the UIS Visual Arts Gallery hosts a juried exhibition of the work of outstanding alumni of the UIS Visual Arts Department.

WHEN: Thursday, January 21, 2010 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Visual Arts Gallery, Room 201 of the Health and Sciences Building

DETAILS: The alumni artists selected for the 2010 show are William Crook Jr. (1982), Merlin Foltz (1990), Patrick Messamore (1990), Deborah Smith (2001), Michael Bliss (2002), Dave Kube (2007), Megan Rigoni-McCormic (2007), Adam Perschbacher (2007), Ryan Sponsler (2007), and Jeremy Wilburn (2007).

The Visual Arts Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. For further information, go to www.uis.edu/visualarts/ or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or by e-mail at gallery@uis.edu.

The reception and exhibit are open and free to the public.

Friday, January 15, 2010

UIS offers technology workshops for alumni members



The University of Illinois Springfield is offering a series of technology classes to educate alumni on web trends and the latest technology.

The UIS Alumni SAGE Society and the College of Education and Human Services Alumni Council are sponsoring the classes to teach alumni about social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Participants are also learning about digital cameras, Kindles, flash drives, iPhones and BlackBerrys.

“Everything keeps changing and this has just sort of whetted our appetite. It’s an overview and makes me aware of how much more I need to know,” said Dee Clump, UIS alumnus.

This is the first time that UIS has partnered to offer technology classes to alumni members. The classes are taught by the UIS Information Technology Service staff and cost $10 per session.

“It’s a great way to tell our story and these are alumni, so we really care about them and it’s a great way also for them to find out what we’re doing and how technology’s changing,” said Munindra Khaud, ITS Multimedia Education Coordinator.

Alumni can still sign up for the final workshop entitled “Technology Tools for Teaching and Learning” on Friday, January 22, 2010. You must sign up in advance and pre-payment is required. To reserve a seat for the sessions contact munindra.khaund@uis.edu.

For a complete description of each technology workshop visit www.uiaa.org/uis or contact Alumni Relations at 217-206-7395.

Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon to host lecture on mallards

The University of Illinois Springfield’s Alfred O. and Barbara Cordwell Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon (formerly the Emiquon Field Station) will be hosting a public lecture titled “Monitoring mallard movements in the Illinois River valley and beyond” on January 26 at 6:30 p.m. The lecture will be presented by Danielle DeVito and Curt Kleist, waterfowl research technicians with the Illinois Natural History Survey of the Forbes Biological Station in Havana.

The program is free and open to the public; reservations are not required.

DeVito and Kleist will discuss how mallards use the Illinois River valley as stop-over sites during fall migration. They will present capture methods, details about marking procedures such as attaching radio transmitters to mallards, and the multiple methods they use to track the ducks on a day-to-day basis. They will also present results from their research using the technology of radio-telemetry in other parts of the country.

The Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon is at The Nature Conservancy’s Emiquon Preserve, located between Havana and Lewistown near the Dickson Mounds Museum. 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 at the turnoff.

A map is also available online at www.uis.edu/emiquon/about/images/mapToTNCEmiquon.jpg or as a Google map at https://edocs.uis.edu/kmill2/www/map-simple-edocs.html.

For more information, contact Hua Chen, interim director of the Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon, at hchen40@uis.edu or 217/206-8339.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

UIS Employee of the Year Recognition and Reception

The 2009 Employee of the Year Recognition will be held on January 28, 2010, from 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. in the Auditorium Lobby on the second floor of the PAC.

The finalists for the award are the 2009 Employees of the Month:

Emily Welch Boles
Michelle Green
Tom Micklus
Laurie Koehne
Patricia Stoutamyer
Terry Minder
Bob Lael
Bobbie Fults
Kimberly Craig
Patty Sullivan
Pam Rodgers

Refreshments will be served

To register online click HERE or respond by e-mail to Jackie Gillock, jbarn1@uis.edu. Please respond by January 14th.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

WILL program focuses on the U of I in transition

The University of Illinois is coping with a state budget crisis and a change in university leadership. Furloughs were announced Tuesday for many university employees as a cost-cutting measure. How will the university handle these challenges? Find out and be a part of the dialogue.

At 9 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11, on WILL-TV and WILL-AM 580, host David Inge will talk to Interim President Stanley O. Ikenberry and Urbana-Champaign campus Interim Chancellor/Provost Robert A. Easter about the transition period. Send in your questions beforehand by email to will-talk@uiuc.edu.

Live video streaming of the program will be available on the Internet at the Web site of the Urbana-Champaign campus cable channel, UI-7: http://www.media.illinois.edu/service/ui7live.html. UI-7 will also broadcast the program live on Champaign-Urbana cable TV. Live audio of the program will also be available on WILL-AM’s Web stream at will.illinois.edu.