UIS to host Campus Preview Day

UIS will host a Campus Preview Day for prospective students and their families from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 13. The program will include an academic fair, campus tours, lunch, and greetings from the chancellor and provost. Find out how to make a reservation>>

Ribbon cutting officially opens Recreation and Athletic Center

Calling it a great day for UIS, Chancellor Richard Ringeisen joined with students and other dignitaries on September 26 to celebrate the official opening of the university's new Recreation and Athletic Center.

Many members of the Springfield community and UIS campus attended the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony held just outside the north entrance of the $16.2 million, two-story facility. Read more>>

UIS to host stop on Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour will visit UIS on Tuesday, October 2, from 3 to 7 p.m. in Lincoln Residence Hall. Participants can attend all or part of the event.

Speakers on the tour include many young entrepreneurs who have made, earned, or sold a company for millions and/or otherwise made an impact before age 30. The event is designed to provide both inspiration and practical advice for emerging entrepreneurs and students. Read more>>

Media Advisory: Dedication of new Recreation and Athletic Center

UIS will dedicate the new Recreation and Athletic Center at 2 p.m., Wednesday, September 26. A brief ceremony will be held near the north (campus) entrance of the Center, followed by tours of the facility. Read more>>

Alumni Association to sponsor Sangamon Trailblazers Dinner

The Sangamon Trailblazers Dinner, an opportunity for SSU/UIS alumni and retired faculty and staff to celebrate the campus' past and future, will be held from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m., Friday, October 5, in the PAC Restaurant. The evening will include a presentation by Dick Williams, former director of the Sangamon State University Physical Plant, and Dave Barrows, current executive director of Facilities and Services, as they reflect on "Then and Now: Field of Dreams – the Development of the UIS Campus." Read more>>

UIS schedules events for Homecoming Week

"An A-maze-ing Experience," Homecoming Week at UIS, will be celebrated October 1 through 6 with a variety of activities. See a partial schedule of events>>

UIS to host 12-hour festival Wig Out!

WIG OUT! – a 12-hour festival showcasing nationally known drag performers, allied musical groups, and local community organizations – will take place from noon to midnight on Saturday, September 22, on the UIS Quad.

Springfield's first non-Pride Week event for the LGBTQ and allied community, the festival will present song, dance, comedy, and speech to raise voices for human civil rights. The program is presented by UIS' Queer-Straight Alliance. Read more>>

UIS to host conference on the future of English studies

The UIS English Department will host "The Purpose(s) of English: A Conference on the Future of English Studies" Friday and Saturday, October 19 and 20, on campus. Advance registration is required to attend the conference, however two keynote addresses on Friday will be presented free and are open to the public.

The event will examine responses to issues facing college and university English departments in an era that increasingly pressures them to teach workplace literacy skills and career-specific knowledge. Keynote speakers will be Christine Farris, professor of English and director of composition at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, and John Schilb, Culbertson Chair of Writing at IU and editor of College English. Read more>>

Defending the Caveman coming to Sangamon Auditorium

Defending the Caveman, the longest-running solo play in Broadway history, is coming to the Sangamon Auditorium, UIS Studio Theatre, on Friday, October 5, at 8 p.m. and on Saturday, October 6, at 5 and 8 p.m. This prehistoric look at the battle of the sexes stars Tyler Bohne. Read more>>

Visual Arts Gallery presents "Faces of Paris"

"Mary Alice Johnston: Faces of Paris" will be on display at the Visual Arts Gallery from October 4 through November 1. An artist's talk sponsored by the UIS Alumni Association will be presented at 5:30 p.m. on October 4 in the gallery, followed by an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m.

The series is inspired by the passage of time and its effect on the life of a great city and its people. Johnston began taking the photographs in 1950 when she arrived in Paris for a year of study at the Sorbonne. Read more>>

Peoria-area alumni event to focus on security issues

"Business and Community Security in the 21st Century" will be the focus of A Taste of UIS Peoria program sponsored by the Peoria Chapter of the UIS Alumni Association. The event will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 16, in the LaSalle Room of Hotel Pere Marquette, 501 Main St., Peoria. An alumni panel of three experts will discuss this issue from their unique perspectives. Read more>>

Georgian State Dance Company comes to Sangamon Auditorium

The artistry and athleticism of the Georgian State Dance Company will come to Sangamon Auditorium at UIS on Wednesday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. Performing traditional folk dances from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, the company was named "Best Show of the Year on Broadway" in 1990. Read more>>

"Where have all the leaders gone?"

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David S. Broder, national political correspondent for The Washington Post, will present the latest in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation's Jim Edgar Lecture Series, "Where have all the leaders gone?" on Thursday, October 18, at 8 p.m. in the Sangamon Auditorium at UIS. Tickets are $10 and are on sale now through the Sangamon Auditorium Box Office, (217) 206-6160 or (800) 207-6960. Broder's presentation is sponsored by the Foundation and by UIS. Read more>>

Shimkus announces grant to WUIS

Congressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-19) has announced federal funding through the U.S. Department of Commerce for infrastructure improvements to WUIS. Through the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, WUIS will be receiving $137,512.

Bill Wheelhouse, WUIS general manager, said that the station would use the grant to purchase new digital equipment and overhaul internal wiring. Read more>>

SRO finds Obama, Giuliani lead in Illinois Presidential Preference Poll

Heading into the fall of 2007, Illinois Senator Barack Obama holds a commanding lead over New York Senator Hillary Clinton as the choice for the 2008 Democratic nomination among potential Illinois primary voters. On the Republican side, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani holds a narrower but still sizeable lead. These are the results of a statewide survey of randomly selected Illinois households conducted from late July through early September by the Survey Research Office at UIS. Read more>>

UIS to present screening of "The Shape of Water"

Filmmaker Dr. Kum-Kum Bhavnani will show and discuss her documentary The Shape of Water at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 20, in Brookens Auditorium. The event is part of UIS' Engaged Citizenship Common Experience Speakers Series and is sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education.

The Shape of Water, which Bhavnani produced and directed, takes viewers around the globe for a look at five "powerful, imaginative, and visionary" women who are working to create social justice. Read more>>

Fall foreign and independent film series begins

UIS' Division of Student Affairs is sponsoring an Independent and Foreign Film Series on Friday nights this fall. All films will begin at 7 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend. The series begins September 21 with Pan's Labyrinth. See a complete list of films>>

Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series examines "Lincoln and the Law"

The 2007 Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series presented by UIS – this year focusing on "Lincoln and the Law" – will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, October 4, in Brookens Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Featured discussants will be Dr. Mark E. Steiner, who will speak on "'The Sober Judgement of Courts': Lincoln, Lawyers, and the Rule of Law"; and Dr. Brian R. Dirck, whose topic will be "Abraham Lincoln: The Lawyer in the White House." Cullom Davis, UIS professor emeritus of history, will moderate.

This year's lectures are presented in memory of Professor Phillip Shaw Paludan, Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS, who had served as host of the series and who passed away on August 1. Read more>>

WUIS to host reception honoring "Skirting Convention" subjects

WUIS will host a reception celebrating the conclusion of the station's oral history series "Skirting Convention: Twelve Women Who Changed Springfield" from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, September 27, at The Sangamo Club in downtown Springfield.

Funded by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the series highlighted path-breaking contributions of women whose activism changed the community. The reception will also mark the release of an audio CD of the series. Read more>>

WUIS hosts area visit by NPR's Liane Hansen

On Wednesday, September 19, Liane Hansen, host of NPR's award-winning series Weekend Edition Sunday, will be the guest of honor at a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Sangamon Auditorium lobby. She will speak on "People, Puzzles, and Politics" and, with WUIS News Director Rich Bradley, will discuss memorable moments in her career as well as the challenges and joys of producing a weekly radio program. Hansen is visiting the area as the guest of public radio station WUIS. Read more>>

Innocence Project discovers evidence leading to new trial

Students and staff of UIS' Downstate Illinois Innocence Project were instrumental in uncovering new evidence that helped win a new trial for Herbert Whitlock, currently serving a life sentence for the 1986 murder of Dyke and Karen Rhoads. An appeal filed by Whitlock's attorneys seeking a new trial was granted by Illinois' 4th District Court of Appeals on September 6.

Whitlock's attorneys in this appeal were assisted in the post-conviction investigation by students in Wrongful Convictions class taught by Larry Golden. Under the direction of Bill Clutter, the Project's director of investigations, the students interviewed witnesses and helped prepare for the evidentiary hearing. Clutter had also worked to develop forensic evidence that was used earlier in successful efforts to free Whitlock's co-defendant, Randy Steidl, from death row. Read more>>

Fall enrollment sets another record; student body more diverse

Enrollment at UIS this fall is the largest ever in the institution's 37-year history. A record number of freshmen and online students helped boost total enrollment to 4,855, a 3.8% increase over last fall's record of 4,761 students.

UIS is also setting other records this fall. Marya Leatherwood, director of Enrollment Management, noted, "This is one of the most diverse student bodies in the history of the campus with respect to geography, race, and ethnicity." Read more>>

BOT okays increased cost for residence hall with green roof

The U of I Board of Trustees has approved an increase in the cost of constructing a new residence hall at UIS, bringing the total cost for the 200-bed structure to $16,777,677. The hall will open in fall 2008 and feature a green (grass) roof, the first one on a public building in Springfield. Read more>>

UIS to offer ASL concentration

Thanks to a $30,000 gift from Springfield attorney Joe Gibbs and his wife, Lynn, UIS will offer a concentration in American Sign Language beginning in the 2008 spring semester. The Gibbses provided funding for first-year development and implementation of the concentration, to be offered by the Teacher Education Program.

Under the direction of Allan Cook, associate professor of Teacher Education, the concentration will be called American Sign Language, Deaf Culture, and Linguistics and will consist of six courses. Read more>>

Marvin Hamlisch coming to Sangamon Auditorium

Sangamon Auditorium at UIS will open its 2007-2008 Performing Arts Season with composer, songwriter, conductor Marvin Hamlisch, Friday, September 14, at 8 p.m.

One of the preeminent pop artists of our time, Hamlisch is perhaps best known for his smash Broadway hits including "A Chorus Line" and "The Goodbye Girl," as well as for such film scores as "The Way We Were" and "The Sting." Read more>>

UIS alum named White House press secretary

UIS alumna Dana Perino has been named White House Press Secretary, according to an August 31 announcement by President George Bush. Perino, Deputy White House Press Secretary since 2006, will assume the position when current Press Secretary Tony Snow steps down on September 14. Perino, 35, graduated from UIS in 1995 with a master's degree in Public Affairs Reporting. Read more>>

Political art series resumes for fall with "Control Room"

UIS' series Political Art and the Public Sphere resumes for the fall with a screening of the film "Control Room" at 6 p.m. Monday, September 17, in Brookens Auditorium. This award-winning documentary takes viewers inside Iraq and Al-Jazeera TV headquarters to provide a critical look at international perception of the war, as presented by the Arab world's most popular news outlet.

Series facilitator Richard Gilman-Opalsky notes that the film is centrally concerned with the importance of media bias, and the degree to which media is steered by politics. Read more>>