Monday, October 31, 2016

UIS Speaker Series presents a screening and discussion of "Shakespeare Behind Bars"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series presents “Shakespeare Behind Bars”, a documentary film by Curt Tofteland about the creative process and power of art to heal and redeem. A discussion will follow the screening.

WHEN: Monday, November 7, 2016, at 7 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Studio Theatre, Lower Level of the Public Affairs Center

DETAILS: The film documents Shakespeare’s final play, “The Tempest”, as told from the ultimate venue of confinement – prison. The result is an extraordinary story about the power of art to heal and redeem, in a place where the very act of participation is human triumph and a means of personal liberation.

“Shakespeare Behind Bars” depicts inmates who cast themselves in roles reflecting their personal history and fate. Their individual stories, including information about their heinous crimes, are interwoven with the plot of “The Tempest” as the inmates delve deeply into the characters they portray while confronting their personal demons.

Curt Tofteland brings 38 years of professional theatre experience to his current role as a freelance theatre artist – director, actor, producer, playwright, writer, teacher, program developer and prison arts practitioner. Tofteland is the founder of the internationally acclaimed Shakespeare Behind Bars program, now in its 21st year of continuous operation.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

UIS students to Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods to benefit the Central Illinois Foodbank

WHAT: University of Illinois Springfield students will be going door-to-door on Halloween night collecting canned goods for the Central Illinois Foodbank. The goal is to collect more than 10,000 pounds of food. 

WHEN: Monday, October 31, 2016 from 4 to 8 p.m. 

WHERE: Various Springfield neighborhoods (call for specific details)

 DETAILS: A total of 18 teams, consisting of nearly 175 students, have registered for the annual Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods drive. The teams have been assigned specific neighborhoods to collect non-perishable food items.

Earlier this month, the teams canvassed the neighborhoods and distributed door hangers that explained the project. Collected items will be weighed and prizes will be awarded to the teams that collect the most food.

The Central Illinois Foodbank distributes over 9 million pounds of food annually to over 150 food pantries, soup kitchens, residential programs and after-school programs in a 21 county region.

Kids at the UIS Cox Children’s Center also went trick-or-treating on campus this past week to collect nonperishable food items for the new UIS Cares Food Pantry, which is open to all UIS students in need.

For more information on Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods, contact Mark Dochterman, director of the UIS Volunteer & Civic Engagement Center, at 225/921-9398, or go to www.uis.edu/volunteer. 

Media Coverage: To arrange media coverage on the day of the event, please contact Mark Dochterman at 225/921-9398.

Monday, October 24, 2016

UIS presents the 39th annual International Festival

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield invites the Springfield community to join us for the 39th annual International Festival. UIS students, faculty, and staff and our guests will share an evening of cultural exhibits, artistic performances, food tasting and more. This year’s theme is the "World as One: Uniting Peoples and Cultures.” Admission is free.

WHEN: Friday, November 4, 2016, from 5-8 p.m.

WHERE: The Recreation and Athletic Center (TRAC), located on the south side of the UIS campus. Parking is available in lot F and I, located next to TRAC. A map of the campus is available at www.uis.edu/maps/.

DETAILS: For over 35 years, the University of Illinois Springfield family has celebrated its rich international and cultural diversity with the annual International Festival. Many of our friends from the greater Springfield community will be joining UIS students, faculty, and staff to share an evening of cultural exhibits, artistic performances and food tasting.

Countries and organizations that will be represented include several African nations, Asian nations, India, Peru, Ireland, Scotland, the nations of the Middle East and more. Guests will have a chance to sample delicious ethnic dishes from many of the counties represented.

Guests are invited to pick up a program as they enter so they can find their way to the many exhibits, food tastings, and performances. Guests can also participate in a special event, “World as One: Handprint,” which will be held in the TRAC multipurpose room. Come join us and spend some time getting to know people from every part of the world!

For more information, please contact the Office of International Student Services at 217/206-6678 or e-mail iss@uis.edu.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

UIS Speaker Series presents "Radical Presence: Black Faces, White Spaces and Other Stories of Possibility"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series presents the Sustainability Week Keynote Lecture, “Radical Presence: Black Faces, White Spaces and Other Stories of Possibility.”

WHEN: Thursday, November 3, 2016, at 6 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Professor Carolyn Finney argues that the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow and racial violence have shaped our cultural understandings of the “great outdoors” and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces.

Finney’s lecture will explore environmental narratives and their relationship to race, identity and decision making. Her recent book, “Black Faces, White Spaces,” explores the role of memory and identity in influencing African American environmental participation, and the general disconnect between African American environmental professionals and their white counterparts regarding perceptions of exclusion and racism. To envision a path forward, she highlights the work of African American environmentalists while exploring issues of identity, visibility and the concept of home.

Finney is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Kentucky. Her research explores how issues of difference impact participation in decision-making processes designed to address environmental issues.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

Friday, October 14, 2016

UIS Speaker Series presents “Social Justice Activism: A Hallmark of Democracy” discussion and workshop

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series presents “Social Justice Activism: A Hallmark of Democracy,” a panel discussion and workshop focusing on developing the leaders of tomorrow.

WHEN: Friday, October 28, 2016, from 1 to 4 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Public Affairs Center – Room G

DETAILS: The panel discussion and workshop will explore social justice activism as a leadership model and knowledge framework and practice that has played and continues to play a significant role in advancing and developing our democratic ideas, principals, and policies by promoting active engagement in the civic and democratic life of our nation and communities.

This two-part forum includes a panel discussion lead by prominent scholars and activists in the field of social justice activism. The panel will examine social justice activism and its historical, political, economic and social impact on American Life. Panelists include Lara Trubowitz, an emeritus professor at Northwestern University; Larry Golden, UIS emeritus professor and founding director of the Illinois Innocence Project; Teresa Haley, president of the NAACP Illinois State Conference; Pauline Kayes, feminist social activist; Magic Wade, UIS assistant professor of political science; and Kerry Poynter, interim director of the UIS Diversity Center.

The second part of the forum features a “Tools for Change” workshop, which draws insights and lessons from effective social justice movements and activists. Workshop participants will learn how to organize, strategize, plan and implement effective social justice campaigns.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

UIS Lincoln Legacy Lectures to examine reconstruction and the struggle for equality

The 14th annual Lincoln Legacy Lectures presented by the University of Illinois Springfield will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 20, 2016 in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS.

This year’s topic is “Lincoln and Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Equality.” The lectures, and a reception and book signing that will immediately follow, are free and open to the public. No reservation is required.

The Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series brings nationally known scholars to Springfield to present lectures on topics that both engaged Abraham Lincoln and the citizens of his era and are still timely today.

This year’s featured speakers are Allen C. Guelzo, the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, and Brooks D. Simpson, Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University. Michael Burlingame, Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS, will give opening remarks on “Lincoln’s Changing Thoughts on Reconstruction,” and serve as moderator.

In the first lecture, Guelzo will describe “Reconstruction as a Bourgeois Revolution.” In the second lecture, Simpson will explore “Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction: Did Booth’s Bullet Change History?” The speakers will discuss the contemporary implications of their lectures at the beginning of the Q & A session.

All three speakers are the authors of prize-winning books. Guelzo is the author of “Fateful Lightning, A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction” (Oxford University Press, 2012). Simpson is the author of “The Reconstruction Presidents” (University Press of Kansas, 2009). Burlingame is the author of the two-volume biography, “Abraham Lincoln: A Life” (Johns Hopkins University Press, paper, 2012).

The Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series is sponsored by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership, in cooperation with the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies. Cosponsors of this year's event include the Abraham Lincoln Association, Brookens Library John Holtz Memorial Lecture, Engaged Citizenship Speaker Series, Gobberdiel Endowment, Illinois State Historical Society, Illinois State Library, Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, NPR Illinois, Springfield Branch of the NAACP, UIS Colleges of Education and Human Services, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Public Affairs and Administration and the UIS Office of Advancement.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. Seating in Brookens Auditorium is limited; however overflow seating will be available in the Public Affairs Center, Level 1, Conference Rooms C/D and G, where the audience can watch a large-screen live video feed. Those unable to attend in person can watch a live webcast by going to www.uis.edu/technology/uislive.html at the time of the event.

For more information, contact the Center for State Policy and Leadership at 217/206-7094 or visit http://go.uis.edu/LincolnLegacyLecture.

Friday, October 7, 2016

The UIS Visual Arts Gallery presents "Mirror|Mirror" by alumni Stanley Bly and Amanda Greive

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “Mirror|Mirror”, a two-person and collaborative exhibition that features UIS alumni Stanley Bly of Springfield and Amanda Greive of Edinburg. The exhibit will open on Thursday, October 27, and run through Thursday, November 17. A reception for this exhibit will take place on Thursday, October 27, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Bly and Greive divergently approach depiction and storytelling through figurative painting, though “Mirror|Mirror” brings these differences together in reverence towards each artist's work. This is pronounced by the inclusion of two portraits -- a portrait of Bly painted by Greive, and a portrait of Greive painted by Bly -- and a collaborative installation that the artists developed together for this exhibit.

Bly was born surrounded by Midwestern iconography and was taught early on of "the fruits of our labors." This ethic became engrained into Bly's imagery, and also into others work that he finds himself attracted to. "I was talking with a close friend one night. We were talking about old things, like mythology, archetypes, Shakespeare, and how these stories repeat themselves over and over,” said Bly. His affinity for a retelling can be seen through his love of mythology and art history, all painted with a feel for the blue-collar conundrum.

Greive’s hyper-realistic compositions reference both classical and contemporary symbolism and iconography. While the primary motivation behind her work is to tease out the nuanced emotions embedded within the human condition and to confront isolation and anxiety born of gender-based stereotypes, she also looks to comment on the contradiction between creating realistic imagery and portraying emotional rawness, as well as the uncompromised truth in the imagery portrayed versus its symbolic ambiguity. Her work has been exhibited at a number of galleries and venues, both regionally and nationally.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217/206-6506 or alach@uis.edu.

UIS Speaker Series presents "The Townshend Moment: How Two Brothers Started an Age of Revolution"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series, University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Lecture Series and the Notre Dame Club of Central Illinois present “The Townshend Moment: How Two Brothers Started An Age of Revolution.”

WHEN: Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 7 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Patrick Griffin, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, will lead a discussion exploring the relationship between imperial reform and revolution in the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world. He will focus on the lives and experiences of two brothers: George and Charles Townshend, who tried to transform relations between Ireland, America and Britain in 1767, leading to political upheaval in both Ireland and the American colonies. The talk will examine the brothers’ colorful background, their vision for empire and how their ideas led people to provinces far away to imagine new political futures.

Griffin was named the Madden-Hennebry Professor in 2008 and is currently the chair of the University of Notre Dame History Department. His work explores the intersection of colonial American and early modern Irish and British history, focusing on Atlantic-wide themes and dynamics.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

UIS Illinois Innocence Project Exonoree Teshome Campbell to speak at UIS

The Illinois Innocence Project (IIP), based at the University of Illinois Springfield, will host its most recent exonoree, Teshome Campbell, for an informational talk on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in the UIS University Hall Building, Classroom 3080.

Teshome Campbell spent 18 years of his life in prison for a Champaign murder he did not commit.

In January 2016, Campbell became IIP’s most recent exonoree and walked away from the Danville Correctional Facility a free man.

Campbell will share his story with the public and explain how ineffective counsel, erroneous eyewitness identification and incentivized witnesses shaped his wrongful conviction.

Campbell will be available for media interviews from 5-5:30 p.m. in the Public Affairs Center (PAC) Atrium or in the office of the Illinois Innocence Project (PAC 429).

The Illinois Innocence Project is dedicated to releasing innocent men and women imprisoned in Illinois for crimes they did not commit.

For more information on the Illinois Innocence Project contact Larry Golden at 217/206-6569.

Monday, October 3, 2016

UIS Speaker Series presents The Legacy Wall: LGBT History Exhibit

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series, LGBTQA Resource Office, Diversity Center, College of Public Affairs and Administration and UIS Departments of Women & Gender Studies, History and Political Science are proud to host the opening of The Legacy Wall: LGBT History Exhibit.

WHEN: Wednesday, October 5, 2016, at 7 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Public Affairs Center Concourse

DETAILS: The Legacy Wall is a one-of-a-kind traveling exhibit filled with photographs and biographies of 125 LGBT people well-known in the realms of politics, the arts, religion, sports and social activism. The project pays tribute to the contributions of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender individuals throughout history. The wall is designed to share the often-hidden LGBT lives to foster a culture of respect and appreciation for diversity.

Founder and Executive Director of The Legacy Project, Victor Salvo, is a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign alumnus, who has also been inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. UIS Assistant Professor of History Holly Kent and Political Science Professor Jason Pierceson will help kick-off the celebration.

The opening celebration for the exhibit also kicks off a month of LGBT activities honoring Queertober. Find out more about these activities at www.uis.edu/lgbtqa/programs/queertober.

The Legacy Wall will be on display from October 3-15 in the PAC Concourse.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.