Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Variety of spring events honor Lincoln Bicentennial

UIS will host a variety of programs during the 2009 spring semester in observance of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial.

Applications are being accepted for the Lincoln Legacy High School Forum -- a statewide contest for high school juniors and seniors co-sponsored by UIS and the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Three categories of competition are: Historical Essay, Creative Expression in the Written Word, and Performance/Visual Arts; the first prize in each category is a one-year tuition scholarship to UIS. Winners will come to campus to present their work to the public in April. Entries must be postmarked by January 2, 2009. Get complete information

Jay Ungar and Molly Mason will lead a musical "Early Birthday Celebration for A. Lincoln" at 8 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2009, in Sangamon Auditorium. Their performance of Ungar's composition "Ashokan Farewell," heard in Ken Burns' The Civil War, earned the couple an Emmy nomination and a Grammy award. Special guests for this program are the 10th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry Regiment Band, directed by Todd Cranson, assistant director of co-curricular music.

In February, WUIS will broadcast a number of special programs focusing on Lincoln. More information about "Lincoln the Poet," "Lincoln the Lawmaker," and "Lincoln and Humor," including broadcast times and dates, will be available from the WUIS website.

On Saturday, February 21, faculty and students will present a readers' theater production of Ronald Gow's one-act play The Lawyer of Springfield beginning at 7 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium. A discussion session with the audience will follow the performance.

At 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 28, Wynton Marsalis will lead the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a concert at Sangamon Auditorium. This "extraordinarily versatile" orchestra is composed of leading jazz soloists performing a repertoire that ranges from their own compositions to jazz classics.

From April 2 to 17, a juried "Lincoln Legacy" exhibit of selected artwork from the High School Forum will be on display in the VPA Access Gallery.

All three U of I campuses are hosting events in the University's Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration. Get more information.

Also see information about programs and events sponsored by the Illinois Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

Art Students League Holiday Sale

  • 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Thursday, December 11
  • PAC concourse
  • Artwork and art supplies

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Finals Week Cram-a-thon

  • Monday & Tuesday, December 15 & 16
  • 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. in the Diversity Center, SLB 22
  • Free limited printing, on-campus transportation, and laptops available for use within the center

Ira Glass coming to Sangamon Auditorium this week

Host of NPR's This American Life will present "Radio Stories and Other Stories"

Popular National Public Radio host Ira Glass will visit the University of Illinois at Springfield's Sangamon Auditorium on Saturday, December 13, at 8 p.m. to present "Radio Stories and Other Stories," based on his award-winning Showtime and public radio shows. The event is sponsored by ACE Hardware and 91.9 WUIS Public Radio.

Glass is the affable host and producer of the quirky hit show This American Life, now heard by millions of public radio listeners each week and recently adapted for television by Showtime. He travels the country meeting everyday people from all walks of life telling "unexpected stories that happen to be true." Glass will share some of his favorite yarns and answer questions from the audience when he visits Sangamon Auditorium.

Glass began his career as an intern at National Public Radio's headquarters in Washington, DC, in 1978, when he was 19 years old. Over the years, he worked on nearly every NPR news program and held virtually every production job – including tape cutter, newscast writer, desk assistant, editor, producer, and substitute host (for Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered) -- in NPR's Washington headquarters. He moved to Chicago in 1989 and put This American Life on the air in November 1995. Under Glass' editorial direction, the program has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including the Peabody and DuPont-Columbia awards, as well as the Edward R. Murrow and the Overseas Press Club awards.

Tickets for this event are $42 or $37 and are on sale now. Order tickets, or call the Sangamon Auditorium Ticket Office at 217/206-6160 or toll free at 800-207-6960. Tickets can also be purchased in-person at the Ticket Office, which is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Individual tickets to all Visiting Artist Series and Family Events are on sale now, and tickets to Broadway shows go on sale approximately six weeks prior to each event. Patrons can receive a discount through the Create Your Own Series option by choosing at least five events from the Visiting Artists Series, Broadway Series, and Family Events. Please call the Ticket Office for more information.

About Sangamon Auditorium, UIS
Sangamon Auditorium, located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Springfield, hosts more than 120 performances annually. Also home to the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Springfield Ballet Company, it is the only auditorium of its kind and size in the Springfield area, with a seating capacity of 2,018. Sangamon Auditorium continues to fulfill its mission of presenting and supporting varied cultural and educational professional arts activities to audiences in Springfield, Sangamon County, and the surrounding areas. The auditorium administrative offices can be reached at 217/206-6150 or by e-mail at onstage@uis.edu.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) training for women

Free 12-hour self-defense course for all UIS women students, staff, and faculty
  • Wednesday evenings in February (Feb. 4, 11, 18, & 25)
  • 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
  • Led by Sgt. Mike Stuart and Ofc. Amanda Baughman of the UIS Police
Contact the UIS Women's Center at 6-7173 or womenscenter@uis.edu to enroll.

Learn more about RAD

For more information on acquaintance and stranger rape prevention as well as rape survivor support, information and referrals, contact the Women's Center.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Playing Shakespeare

2 p.m., Tuesday, December 9, in VPA 170, the Acting Studio

Students will perform two contrasting Shakespearean monologs -- "audition packages" that are a major piece of their work in the course.

For details, contact Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson at 6-6613.

Film screening

Jashn-e-Azadi (How We Celebrate Freedom) presented by the director, Sanjay Kak

1:30 p.m., Sunday, December 7, Brookens Auditorium

Discussion session will follow

The film is a provocative look at democracy in India's 60th year of independence, through Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state -- a reflection on power, resistance, and freedom.

Sponsor: Illinois Network on Islam and Muslim Societies

CTL Finals Help House

Workshops
  • Tuesday, December 9
    Prewriting Strategies & Thesis Statements - 10 a.m., Founders Hall 153
    Integration - noon, BRK 416
    MLA Style - 4 p.m., Founders Hall 153
  • Wednesday, December 10
    Grammar & Mechanics - 10 a.m., Founders Hall 153
    Avoiding Plagiarism - 11 a.m., Founders Hall 153
Walk-in Math & Writing Tutoring
December 9 & 10 - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Founders Hall 153

Advocates for Academics 2nd Annual Winter Wonderland
December 10 - 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Founders Hall
  • Homemade soup
  • Prizes
For more information: afa@uis.edu

UIS music groups to present Fall Showcase Concert

Music groups at the University of Illinois at Springfield will present their annual Fall Showcase concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 12, in the Studio Theatre, located on the lower level of the Public Affairs Center on the UIS campus. The event is free and open to the public; however tax-deductible contributions to the UIS Music Student Merit Award will be accepted.

The program will feature the UIS Chorus, Band, Chamber Orchestra, and related small ensembles.

The UIS Chorus will perform a variety of vocal selections including secular music by Mozart, an Agnus Dei setting by Hassler, American folk songs, and a contemporary composition featuring a Zimbabwean proverb. The UIS Chamber Orchestra will perform works by Respighi and Hindemith. Three small ensembles will perform Renaissance works, and the UIS Jazz Workshop will share their interpretation of some American classics.

The UIS Band will pay homage to the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln with two works -- Francis Scala's Union March, written for Lincoln's 1861 inauguration, and Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait, featuring David Kuhn narrating as Civil War General Benjamin H. Grierson.

Audience members who arrive early can hear a pre-concert lecture by Jessica Davis, graduate student in musicology at the U of I at Urbana-Champaign. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Studio Theatre lobby; doors will open for the concert immediately following the lecture.

For more information, contact Sharon Graf, associate professor of Ethnomusicology, at 206-6570.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

UIS to co-sponsor "Merry TubaChristmas 2008"

Two performances of "A Merry TubaChristmas" will be held Saturday, December 13, in downtown Springfield. The first performance will be inside the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum at 1 p.m., followed by a second performance (weather permitting) on the steps of the Old State Capitol at 2 p.m. The concerts are open to the public and are free, except for the price of admission to the museum.

All tuba and euphonium/baritone players in the area are invited to take part in the concerts, which are sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and the University of Illinois at Springfield. Both concerts will be directed by Todd Cranson, UIS Director of Bands.

Created by Harvey Phillips in 1974, Merry TubaChristmas is celebrating its 35th anniversary with concerts in over 200 cities throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. Under the program, tuba and euphonium players of all ages gather every Christmas season to pay respect to the great artists/teachers who represent their heritage. While the size and make-up of each TubaChristmas ensemble varies by community, every performance features traditional Christmas carols specially arranged for the first TubaChristmas -- December 22, 1974, in New York City's Rockefeller Plaza -- by American composer Alec Wilder.

Musicians who would like to play in the concerts should register at Union Station across from the Lincoln Museum at 11 a.m. There is a $5 registration fee, and music books will be available for $15. A short rehearsal will be held in the station at noon. All participating musicians will be admitted to the museum free.

For more information, contact Cranson at 217/206-7549, or Jerry Dunn at 217/854-7442.

Monday, December 1, 2008

UIS Visual Arts Gallery to hold annual silent auction

The Visual Arts Gallery at the University of Illinois at Springfield will hold its 18th Annual Benefit and Silent Auction fundraiser Tuesday, December 9, through Thursday, December 11. Art in every medium – including paintings, drawings, prints, ceramics, and photography – will be on display for silent bids each day in the gallery, located in room 201 of the Health and Sciences Building on the UIS campus. The event concludes Thursday evening with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. in the gallery, with final bids placed at 7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Gallery manager Morgan Carroll said that donations of artwork will be accepted through December 3. Inclusion of donated items is subject to approval by the faculty of UIS' Visual Arts department.

The auction is the gallery's only fundraiser and all proceeds are used to support future exhibitions. The 2008 fall season included "Talking Stones," an exhibition by visual and performance artist James Luna, and "An Indian from India/Bollywood Satirized," a group of selected works from two exhibitions focused on culture by photographer Anuu Palakunnathu Matthew.

Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Contact Carroll by phone at 206-6506 or by e-mail at gallery@uis.edu for more information or to arrange to drop off a donation.

UIS student groups to present "Patriotic American Muslims through History"

"Patriotic American Muslims through History," a panel discussion on the contributions American Muslims have made to this country through to the present day, will be presented at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, December 4, in conference room C/D, lower level of the Public Affairs Center at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The event is free and open to the public.

Sponsors are UIS student groups Muslim Students Association and Peace Students Organization.

Panelists will include Dr. Maryam Mostoufi of the Islamic Society of Greater Springfield and the Greater Springfield Interfaith Association, and Dr. Baker Siddiquee, UIS associate professor of Economics. The discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.

The Peace and Muslim Students organizations work to unite people of all religions, races, castes, origins, ethnicities, colors, and sexes; promote peaceful and nonviolent solutions to problems; and encourage peaceful means of negotiation.

For additional information, contact Mohammed Khaleel Yacoob, PSO/MSA vice-president, at 405/537-5081.