New Zealand Ambassador to speak in Springfield

His Excellency Roy Ferguson, ambassador from New Zealand, will be the featured speaker Wednesday, December 3, at a lunch at the Prairie Heart Institute's Dove Conference Center. The event is part of the Ambassador Series co-sponsored by the University of Illinois at Springfield and WSEC-TV. Advance reservations are required.

The program begins at 11:30 a.m., with lunch served at noon.

At the lunch, Ambassador Ferguson will share business, economic, and political insights from his distinguished career in public service, which includes ambassadorships to South Korea and North Korea and other foreign affairs positions. A question-and-answer period will follow his presentation.

This is the second event in the Ambassador Series. Future programs include:
His Excellency Welile Nhlapo, ambassador from South Africa (January 22); His Excellency Oleh Shamshur, ambassador from Ukraine (March 11); and His Excellency Wegger Christian Strommen, ambassador from Norway (date TBD).

Cost for the remaining five events is $720 for a table of eight for the series, and $90 per person for the series.

For more information, contact Stacey Willenborg at 217/206-6058.

Ira Glass coming to Sangamon Auditorium, UIS

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 sponsors are ACE Hardware and Public Radio WUIS 91.9.

Glass is the affable host and producer of the quirky hit show This American Life, now heard by millions 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, UIS.

Glass began his career in 1978, when he was 19, as an intern at National Public Radio's network headquarters in Washington, DC. Over the years, he worked on nearly every NPR network news program and held virtually every production job in NPR's Washington headquarters. He has been a tape cutter, newscast writer, desk assistant, editor, producer, and has filled in as host of Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered. He moved to Chicago in 1989 and put This American Life on the air in November 1995. Under Glass's 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. To order tickets visit www.SangamonAuditorium.org 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 simply choosing at least five events from the Visiting Artists Series, Broadway Series, and Family Events at UIS. 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 email at onstage@uis.edu.

World AIDS Day

The campus will host a number of activities in observance of World AIDS Day, Monday, December 1

11:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m., PAC F

• Free AIDS testing

2:30 - 7:30 p.m., PAC C/D

• Movie and dialog
• Second Life (UIS virtual reality) - Scavenger hunt and dance
• Suffice, the Center for First-Year Students - chorus, writers, & poets speak out against AIDS
  

6 p.m.

• Special guest speaker: Nigerian artist Ibiyinka Alao, first-place winner of the 2001 UN International Art Competition

Co-sponsors: BASUAH (Brothers and Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS); Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Minority Services; and UIS African-Caribbean Student Organization, African Student Association, Center for First-Year Students, Counseling Center, Diversity Center, Health Services, Office of Student Life, Office of Technology Enhanced Learning, and Public Health program

Brookens to host "An Evening with Ray Bradbury"

Brookens Library will host an evening with legendary author Ray Bradbury, via a live satellite interview, beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 19, in Brookens Auditorium. The program and a reception in the PAC restaurant immediately following are free and open to the public.

Bradbury is the author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. From his home in Los Angeles, he will discuss his life and work in a conversation with Dr. Loren Logsdon, professor emeritus of English and Western Civilization & Culture at Eureka College. Logsdon, a friend of Bradbury and an expert on his writing, will open the evening with a short address.

Bradbury is a native of Waukegan, Illinois, and one of 35 Illinois authors whose names are engraved on the fourth floor frieze of the Illinois State Library. Fahrenheit 451 is a cautionary tale about a media-obsessed society where citizens have stopped reading. Some of its themes are censorship, freedom of expression, and the effects of television and technology on society.

The program is part of The Big Read in West Central Illinois. For more information about the program at UIS, contact the office of the dean of Library Instructional Services at 6-6597.

Veggie Club art show

Accepting submissions through 5 p.m., Wednesday, December 3
Artwork should relate to nature, animals, or vegetarianism

• Exhibit runs December 3 to 5, in Brookens concourse
• Opening night reception begins at 6 p.m.
• 1st and 2nd place prizes awarded
  

For more information, contact Ashleen Woods at awood03s@uis.edu

UIS to host artist's talk "Strangers in a Familiar Land"

The Visual Arts Visiting Speakers Series at the University of Illinois at Springfield will present "Strangers in a Familiar Land," a brown bag talk featuring Jeff Curto, beginning at noon on Friday, November 21, in UIS' Visual Arts Gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

Curto (left) is coordinator and professor of photography at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, where he has taught since 1984. His presentation at UIS will complement and expand on "Indians from India," the concurrent exhibition by contemporary photographer Annu Palakunnathu Matthew. Matthew’s work references 19th century colonial photography in this country and India.

The Visual Arts Gallery is located in room 201 of the Health and Sciences Building on the UIS campus. Gallery hours are 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 visarts-ga@uis.edu.

International Education Week activities

Presented in conjunction with International Education Week 2008, November 17 to 21, a program of the U.S. Departments of State and Education

Sunday, November 16
31st annual International Festival, 4 to 8 p.m., lower level PAC and Brookens Auditorium

Monday-Wednesday, November 17-18
Information Fair, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m., Food Emporium
Information on Study Abroad, ESL, International Student Association, Global Studies major, Diversity Center
T-shirt sales (Ashikaga, Japan and Study Abroad themes), games, and surprises

Monday, November 17 and Tuesday, November 18
Presentation on Study Abroad Opportunities, noon and 5 p.m., PAC conference room F

Wednesday, November 19
Presentation on the new Global Studies Major, noon and 5 p.m., PAC conference room E

Thursday, November 20
International Center Open House, 1 to 2:30 p.m., HRB 52

For more information, contact Jonathan GoldbergBelle at 6-8319

UIS to host program in "Central Illinois Patchwork of People" series

The University of Illinois at Springfield is holding a program in its "Central Illinois Patchwork of People" series on Tuesday, November 18, in Conference Room C/D in the Public Affairs Center lower level on the UIS campus. A luncheon buffet begins at 11:30 a.m. and the presentation will take place at noon. Tickets for the luncheon are no longer available, but the presentation is free and open to members of the public who make reservations.

The presentation is part of a series that is examining the people and cultures that have influenced life in Central Illinois and will feature the topic "What They Built." John Hallwas, professor emeritus of English at Western Illinois University and Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholar, will discuss "Small Town Heritage: Illinois Townscapes 1870-1920." Richard Hart, president of the Elijah Iles House Foundation, will present "Prairie Acropolis: Greek Revival Influences on the Architecture of Central Illinois."

This series is being co-sponsored by the UIS Alumni SAGE Society and the Illinois State Historical Society. Reservations to attend the presentation should be made by Monday, November 17. For more information or to make a reservation, contact the UIS Office of Alumni Relations at alumni@uis.edu or 217/206-7395.

UIS Emiquon Field Station to host lecture on "Deep Views of the Past"

The University of Illinois at Springfield's Emiquon Field Station will host a public lecture titled "The Emiquon Archaeo-Geological Project: Deep Views of the Past" at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18, at the Field Station, which is at The Nature Conservancy's Emiquon Preserve, located between Havana and Lewistown. The program is free and open to the public; reservations are not required.

The featured speaker will be Alan Harn, assistant curator of anthropology at Dickson Mounds Museum.

In 2004, before water returned to the historic floodplain, the Ameren Corporation worked to anchor a gas pipeline that stretches across parts of the Emiquon Preserve. The excavations that resulted provided an opportunity for Harn and Sally McClure of The Nature Conservancy to gain new insights into paleo climates, bottomland geomorphology, and their relationships to past human civilizations at the site.

In this talk, Mr. Harn will describe the excavations and interpret the complex array of subsurface information that was revealed. Deep sediment profiles indicated that today's Thomson Lake is only the most recent in a series of Illinois river paleochannels to have occupied the bottomland. Archaeological remains distributed along these water courses allowed researchers to determine when the paleochannels and their associated landforms developed and died away. Uniquely preserved deposits of paleo vegetation on the lake beds also provided botanists with new information about climate more than 10,000 years ago.

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. See a map.

For more information, contact Mike Lemke, Emiquon Field Station director, at lemke.michael@uis.edu or 217/ 206-7339.

Artist's lecture and demonstration

Featuring Doug Jeppesen, associate professor of ceramics, Waubonsee College, Sugar Grove

Wednesday, November 12
Ceramics studio, VPA 76

• Demonstration: 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.
• Lecture: 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
  

Sponsors: Visual Arts Department, UIS Speakers Award Committee

Bookstore Grand Opening

UIS' new bookstore will celebrate its Grand Opening in Founders Hall on Thursday, November 13.

• Ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m.
• Discounts on clothing and gift items
• Refreshments
• Prizes
  

Sustainability brown bag

"Save Time, Save Money, Save Trees: Conserve Your Limited Resources through Office Sustainability"

noon to 1 p.m., Thursday, December 4, PAC F

Speaker: Rose Schweikhart Cranson, dean's assistant, College of Public Affairs & Administration

Next program: February 4. Jamie McGill, campus recycling coordinator, will talk about Recycling at UIS.

Campus blood drive

• 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 19
• Bloodmobile will be parked near Lincoln Residence Hall
• If you have questions about donating, call 753-1530.
• Walk-ins are welcome, but to schedule an appointment, call Jessica at 753-1530 x 6814 or sign up online.
  

Central Illinois Community Blood Center is the only blood provider to 19 central Illinois hospitals, including Memorial Medical Center and St. John's Hospital in Springfield.

Cherryholmes Christmas kicks off the holiday season at Sangamon Auditorium

Kick off the holiday season at Sangamon Auditorium with Cherryholmes Christmas on Saturday, November 22, at 8 p.m. Presented in cooperation with Midwest Bluegrass Festivals and 91.9 WUIS Public Radio.

Until April 1999, this dynamic family band did not exist, and half of its youthful members hadn't even picked up an instrument. By 2005, this high-energy Nashville-based group was named IBMA's Entertainers of the Year. Since then, Cherryholmes has been nominated for a Grammy (for their self-titled album in 2006) and their latest album, Cherryholmes II Black and White, debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Bluegrass chart.

Watch a Cherryholmes video
Read the Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November cover story

Audience members at this performance are invited to help UIS support the Central Illinois Food Bank by bringing canned goods for the Holiday Stars Project. The goal of this campus-wide community service project is to collect 4016 pounds of food. Donations will be collected in the Sangamon Auditorium lobby prior to the performance.

Tickets for this event are $37 or $32 and are on sale now. Order tickets online 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 simply choosing at least five events from the Visiting Artists Series, Broadway Series, and Family Events at UIS. 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.

UIS hosts expert to discuss “The Psychology of False Confessions”

The University of Illinois at Springfield will be hosting Richard Leo, associate professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, for a presentation on “The Psychology of False Confessions” on Monday, November 10 at 7 p.m. in the Lincoln Residence Hall Great Room on the UIS campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Leo is an expert on false confessions and his research of police interrogation procedures has led to a movement toward the video-taping of custodial interrogations. During the event, Leo will address questions regarding why individuals would falsely confess to crimes they did not commit and discuss measures to avoid false confessions from being used in the justice system for wrongful convictions.

Prior to the event, there will be an author’s reception in the Public Affairs Center restaurant in the lower level of the PAC from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. The cost is $50, and funds raised during the reception will go to support the work of the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project. The book The Wrong Guys, which Leo co-authored, will be available for purchase, and Leo will hold a book signing after both the reception and the presentation.

The subject of Leo’s book The Wrong Guys - a group of four Norfolk, Virgina men wrongly convicted based on false confessions - is also the focus of a film called “Eight Men Out,” which the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project will be running on cable channel Access 4.

Leo’s appearance is sponsored by the UIS Speakers’ Award Committee. The lecture has been certified for 1.5 hours of credit in the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, a national organization that provides continuing legal education to lawyers.

The UIS Downstate Illinois Innocence Project is housed within the Institute for Legal and Policy Studies. Under the project, students in Legal Studies and other degree programs provide research and investigative assistance to attorneys who are helping individuals who have been arrested, tried, found guilty and imprisoned for crimes the Project believes they did not commit.


For more information, contact Rhonda Keech at 217/206-7989.

University to hold Sustainability Week

The University of Illinois at Springfield is raising awareness about sustainability and the environment by hosting Sustainability Week from November 10 through November 15. Activities held throughout the week focused on sustainability include:

Monday, November 10
A bike ride will begin at 1:30 p.m. in front of Lincoln Residence Hall on the UIS campus and will be led by UIS Bike Enthusiasts.
Battery recycling begins – dead batteries will be collected in designated containers in the Public Affairs Center (PAC) Food Emporium and the lobby of University Hall until 12 p.m. on Friday, November 15.

Tuesday, November 11
Students Allied for a Greener Earth (SAGE) will be holding a recycled art contest, and judging will take place in the PAC Food Emporium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wednesday, November 12
Judging for the SAGE recycled art contest will take place in the PAC Food Emporium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Thursday, November 13
Judging for the SAGE recycled art contest will take place in the PAC Food Emporium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A Sustainability Forum will be held at 6 p.m. as part of the ECCE Speakers Series at 6 p.m. in PAC Room F. Members of the UIS faculty from various disciplines will discuss ideas generated from current literature on sustainability and shared societal responsibility.

Friday, November 14
A Coffee House with Chad Perrone, a singer/songwriter, will be held at 8:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Residence Hall Great Room. Students are encouraged to bring their own coffee mugs, and attendees will be entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift card to Target.

Saturday, November 15
The UIS Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center will hold a service project in coordination with America Recycles Day. America Recycles Day is a national event promoting the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling. For more information about or to participate in America Recycles Day, contact the UIS Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center at 206-7716 or volunteer@uis.edu.

“We hope the events planned for the week will help students learn more about ethical and sustainable decision-making and will encourage students to evaluate their impact on the environment,” said Mae Marie Noll, undergraduate academic advisor and co-presenter of Sustainability Week.

For more information about UIS Sustainability Week, email Noll at mnoll1@uis.edu.

Microbial ecologist from Michigan State University to deliver Merck Science Seminar

Dr. Jay Lennon, assistant professor of Microbiology at Michigan State University, will present the third annual Merck Science Seminar at the University of Illinois at Springfield on Wednesday, November 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lennon’s presentation, “Energetic Importance of Terrestrial Carbon in Lake Ecosystems” will be held in Conference Room H of the Public Affairs Center. The seminar is free and open to the public.

Lennon’s research is in the area of aquatic ecology with a focus on the microbial community. During the seminar, he will present on the export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from land to water based on data collected at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. He will discuss experiments, surveys and theory that examines how terrestrial DOC is used by aquatic microbes, and how this material subsequently moves through aquatic food webs.

The seminar is sponsored by a grant from the Merck Institute of Science Education and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The grant is part of the Merck/AAAS undergraduate science research program started in 2000, and UIS was one of only 11 universities in the nation to receive the award in 2006.

In addition to funding the annual seminar, the grant has supported the research of four undergraduate students each summer for the past three years. The students were mentored in collaborative projects by faculty from the science programs, including Chemistry (Keenan Dungey and Gary Trammell), Biology (Michael Lemke, Amy McEuen and Lucia Vazquez) and Clinical Laboratory Science (Wayne Gade and James Veselenak).

For more information, contact Keenan Dungey, associate professor of Chemistry, by phone at 217/206-7345 or by e-mail at dungey.keenan@uis.edu.

UIS to display paintings by UN award-winning artist

"One Night of Grace," paintings by Nigerian artist Ibiyinka Olufemi Alao, will be on display in the Student Access Gallery at the University of Illinois at Springfield from Monday, November 17, through Friday, November 21. (The painting "One Night of Grace" is shown at left.)

An artist's talk beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18, will be held in conference room H of the Public Affairs Center on the UIS campus. A reception will also be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 20, in the Access Gallery, which is located in the Visual and Performing Arts Building on the east side of the campus. Get directions

The exhibit, artist's talk, and reception are all free and open to the public.

The events are sponsored by the UIS Art Students League; co-sponsors are the Illinois Department of Public Health Center for Minority Health Services and Springfield School District 186.

Alao recently took first place in the prestigious United Nations International Art Competition. His winning entry, "Girls and a Greener Environment," chronicles the life of a young girl from infancy to adulthood, and the values she acquires along the way.

His paintings have been exhibited in this country at a number of venues, including the Harvard Business School, the Indianapolis Art Center, the Martin Luther King Art Center, the African Unity Festival, the Nigerian Consulate, the Nigerian Embassy, the United Nations headquarters, the World Bank headquarters, and the Empire State Building. His work has been published by the Metropolitan Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

Alao is currently touring the United States with his art, working with school-aged children, and giving talks about the mystery and magic of Africa.

For more information about the exhibit at UIS, contact Dannyl Madura, Art Students League president, at 217/220-2320 or dmadu2@uis.edu.

Paralympic athlete Jean Driscoll to speak at UIS

Paralympic athlete Jean Driscoll (left) will be presenting "Dream Big and Work Hard" on Thursday, November 6, from 5 to 6 p.m. at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The program, part of the Girl 2 Girl DreamSpeakers series, will be held in the Student Life Building gym on the east side of the UIS campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Driscoll, a 1991 graduate of the University of Illinois, is recognized by Sports Illustrated for Women as one of the top 25 female athletes of the twentieth century. She won silver medals in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games and served as a Presidential delegation member to the 2008 Olympics. She holds the world record in the 10,000 meter track event and marathon road racing distances and is the only person ever to win the Boston Marathon eight times.

The presentation is sponsored by the UIS Volunteer & Civic Engagement Center, Athletics, and Office of Disability Services.

Girl 2 Girl DreamSpeakers is a mentoring program for girls in grades 8, 9, and 10 in Springfield School District 186 and is made possible through a grant from the Sangamon County Community Foundation and its Women for Women Fund.

For more information, call 217/206-7716, e-mail volunteer@uis.edu or go online to www.jeandriscoll.com.

UIS political art series to screen "American Blackout"

The University of Illinois at Springfield series Political Art and the Public Sphere will conclude for the fall semester with a screening of the film "American Blackout" at 6 p.m. Monday, November 10, in Brookens Auditorium, lower level of Brookens Library on the UIS campus. Both the film and the discussion session that follows are free and open to the public.

While much has been said about alleged voting irregularities during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, these incidents are nevertheless often dismissed as rumors or unintentional mishaps resulting from an overburdened election system.

Filmmaker Ian Inaba's "furious documentary" chronicles recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 and follows the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who not only took an active role in investigating these election debacles, but found herself in the center of another controversy after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9/11 attacks. New York Times movie critic Jeannette Catsoulis concluded: "'American Blackout' isn't a conspiracy rant. It's a methodical compilation of questions and irregularities that deserves a wider audience."

This fall the PAPS series focused on questions of race and class in modern American politics. Series facilitator Richard Gilman-Opalsky, assistant professor of political philosophy at UIS, said, "This is a provocative film and it should lead us into an open discussion about the disenfranchisement of African American voters one week after the 2008 presidential election, where tales of long lines, voter suppression, and vote counting questions littered the news in the preceding weeks."

Gilman-Opalsky explained that the basic idea of PAPS is to consider how "art" can raise important social and political questions. "Public spheres are the places where people come together to communicate, to evaluate, and to circulate ideas and arguments," he added. "In the public sphere, people form a collective political opinion and will. Ultimately and ideally, the public sphere brings the interests and demands of the public to bear on those who hold power."

For more information about this program or the PAPS series, contact Gilman-Opalsky by phone at 206-8328 or by e-mail at rgilm3@uis.edu.

Black Springfield Speakers Series

Part I: Education

7 to 9 p.m., Wednesday, November 5, Brookens Auditorium

Speakers include

• Santita Nunn, director, School-aged Programs, Springfield Urban League
• Farries Morrison, first black educator and administrator in Springfield
• Dr. Walter Milton Jr., superintendent, Springfield School District #186
• Sharon Beler, director, LLCC Springfield East Campus
  

Reception immediately follows presentations

Presented by UIS African-American Studies Department

Co-sponsors: Diversity Center, Speakers' Award and Diversity Task Force Funding Committee

For more information, contact Kemau Kemayo at 6-8248