UIS to hold Take Back the Night march and rally against sexual violence

2016 File Photo

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Women’s Center will hold its annual Take Back the Night march and rally against sexual violence during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 

WHEN: 7-9 p.m. Friday, April 16, 2021

WHERE: UIS Student Union North Patio

DETAILS: Take Back the Night is an opportunity to raise awareness about sexual violence and for students to express themselves as survivors and allies. This year’s event will be held completely outdoors in order to follow COVID-19 safety protocols.  

Students will gather on the Student Union North Patio before the event starts to create posters with supportive messaging. The march will begin shortly after 7 p.m. The march will travel throughout campus ending back at the Student Union North Patio. After the march, a slate of scheduled speakers will kick off the event, followed by an open mic where students, faculty and staff in attendance can share stories, poetry and messages of solidarity. 

Take Back the Night is the culmination of 10 days of events that began with the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action on April 6 and has also included poster making, a workshop series and student-led events. 

The Take Back the Night march and rally has been an annual event on the UIS campus for the past 13 years.

For more information, contact Rexann Whorton, UIS Women’s Center program director, at 217-206-7197 or rwhor2@uis.edu. 

UIS College of Business and Management hosts author Benjamin Powell to speak on the economic benefits of immigration

The University of Illinois Springfield College of Business and Management will host a presentation by author Benjamin Powell as part of the Christine & Lou Friedrich Speaker Series. Powell will present “Business, Ethics and Immigration – Why we should welcome the ‘Wretched Refuse,’” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 20 via Zoom.

Powell, author of “Wretched Refuse: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions,” will speak on the economic benefits of immigration. Drawing on examples from the United States, Israel and Jordan, Powell makes the case that open labor markets benefit countries, businesses and individuals. In turn, this economic flourishing lays the foundation of an ethical argument for why we should welcome immigrants. 

Powell is also the executive director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University and a professor of economics in the Rawls College of Business. He is the author of “Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy,” co-author of “Wretched Refuse: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions” and of the Amazon best- selling book “Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World.” He is editor or co-editor of five other books including, “The Economics of Immigration: Market-Based Approaches, Social Science and Public Policy.” He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Showtime, CNBC and was a regular guest commentator on Fox Business's Freedom Watch and Stossel.

This speaker series is made possible thanks to a gift from Christine and Lou Friedrich to help jump-start the Business and Society project which includes initiatives in finance, economics, and the future of business education. Lou Friedrich is a life director of the University of Illinois Foundation Board of Directors, and an alumnus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in general engineering. 

The Zoom can be accessed by visiting uis.edu/cbm/ and clicking on the Zoom link provided. 

The UIS College of Business and Management is AACSB accredited and offers nine undergraduate and three graduate degrees, in addition to seven graduate certificates.

For more information, contact William Kline at 217-206-8138 or wklin2@uis.edu.

UIS and Community Health Roundtable to host a webinar on “COVID-19 and the Health of the Community”

The University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Hub, UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free public webinar titled “COVID-19 and the Health of the Community: Moving from the Old to the New Normal” at Noon Friday, April 16 via Zoom.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of how people and communities take care of their health. Some of these changes may end as the pandemic recedes, but many will be permanent. In this webinar, panelists will discuss the baseline pre-COVID-19 health outcomes of people in Sangamon County; how social determinants of health, such as housing quality and affordability, have earned increased attention during the pandemic; and the trajectory of the pandemic in light of recent trends in health care practices, new COVID cases, vaccine administration and COVID-19 variants.  

Panelists include Dr. David Steward, retired faculty member, SIU School of Medicine and convener of the Community Health Roundtable; Ty Price Dooley, UIS associate professor of public administration; and Dr. Vidya Sundareshan, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at SIU School of Medicine and medical advisor to the Sangamon County Department of Public Health. The discussion will be moderated by Molly Lamb, executive director of the UIS Center of State Policy and Leadership.

In order to attend the event, please register online at go.uis.edu/COVIDwebinar. The Zoom link can be found on the registration page. 

For more information, contact Bruce Sommer at 217-899-3186 or bsomm2@uis.edu. Past UIS webinars can be found online at go.uis.edu/Webinars. 

Explore “Flash Point || Liminal Lost,” an art exhibition featuring works by UIS Visual Arts Program seniors

The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is pleased to present “Flash Point || Liminal Lost,” two exhibitions showcasing works of art created by graduating seniors in the UIS Visual Arts Program. The exhibitions will open on April 26 and run through May 12, 2021. A closing remote exhibition reception will be held via Zoom from 6-7 p.m. May 13. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Face masks are required on campus. 

“Flash Point || Liminal Lost” will be hosted in two locations:

• In the Access Gallery, located within the Visual and Performing Arts Gallery Building (VPA), from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday 
• In the Visuals Arts Gallery, Room 201 in the Health and Science Building (HSB), from 12-5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday 

The exhibits explore the boundaries of realism that are blurred as artists evoke emotions and memories that transcend the real and virtual world. “Flash Point || Liminal Lost” features a diversity of media including digital media, installation, mixed media and photography. Works by seniors Kortney Correa, Aaron Elmore, Claude Henry, Zoey Pritchett, Megan Roberts and Elizabeth Shumake will be featured. 

The artists have prepared works that expand the emotional impact the world has on us – both physically and digitally – encouraging the viewers to ponder their own liminal experiences as they explore the exhibition.

For more information, visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at uis.edu/visualarts/gallery or contact the gallery at 217-206-6506 or alach3@uis.edu. 

UIS students to create 1,000 flag display on the quad for Sexual Assault Awareness Month’s Day of Action

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Women’s Center and Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center will co-sponsor a visual display of 1,000 flags on the UIS quad for Sexual Assault Awareness Month’s Day of Action.

WHEN: 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, 2021

WHERE: UIS campus quad near the colonnade

DETAILS: Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action is observed on the first Tuesday of every April. This year, UIS student volunteers will be creating a display of 1,000 flags on the quad near the campus colonnade. These flags, which display the teal sexual assault awareness ribbon, will each represent the 433,000 Americans in the United States who are sexually assaulted or raped every year according to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network. Each flag will represent 433 Americans (433 x 1000).

The display will include signage explaining the meaning behind the display, and include information about resources on campus a student could contact if they or someone they cared about is a survivor of sexual assault. The student volunteers will be setting up the display early in the morning, and the display and information will remain until early evening.  

For more information, contact Rexann Whorton, UIS Women’s Center program director, at 217-206-7197 or rwhor2@uis.edu.