5th Annual Oxfam America Hunger Banquet

WHAT: Join UIS during National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week for a powerful two-part exploration of poverty, featuring Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and author of the book All You Can Eat. Stay for the Oxfam Hunger Banquet, and experience a taste of the incredible human suffering still being caused by hunger in the United States and abroad.

WHEN: Monday, November 16, 2009 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Registration begins at 4:30p.m.

WHERE: Student Life Building (SLB) Gym on the UIS campus

DETAILS: With the biting wit of Supersize Me and the passion of a lifelong activist, Joel Berg has his eye on the growing number of people who are forced to wait in lines at food pantries across the nation-the modern breadline. All You Can Eat reveals that hunger is a problem as American as apple pie, and shows what it is like when your income is not enough to cover rising housing and living costs and put food on the table. Berg takes to task politicians who remain inactive; the media, which ignores hunger except during holidays and hurricanes; and the food industry, which makes fattening, artery-clogging fast food more accessible to the nation’s poor than healthy fare.

The Hunger Banquet and presentation are free and open to the public. Participants are encouraged to bring canned goods to donate towards the UIS Holiday Stars Project benefiting Central Illinois Foodbank.

The Hunger Banquet will be emceed by former television anchor Julie Staley from the Staley Foundation.

For more information on the Oxfam Hunger Banquet contact Kelly Thompson, Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center Director at 217/206-8448 or kthom03s@uis.edu.

Speakers Series presents Paul Simon: A public career worth imitating

WHAT: University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speakers Series presents journalist Robert Hartley discussing the political career of Paul Simon

WHEN: Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Brookens Auditorium on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS
(The event will be available via live webcast and video on demand at http://www.uis.edu/technology/uislive.html)

ADDITIONAL INFO: The personal value system and attitudes toward government that Simon followed over 40 years in elective office were developed in large part during his service as a newspaper editor and state legislature. How those played out in terms of specific experiences will be discussed. The emphasis will be on his Illinois political years ending in 1973, with some references to his later congressional service.

Robert E. Hartley is the author of several published books and articles concentrating on Illinois politics and history. Hartley has written books on prominent political figures in Illinois, including Charles H. Percy, James R. Thompson, Paul Powell, and Paul Simon. Hartley had a long career in communication fields (newspapers and governmental affairs) from 1959 to 1999. From 1962 to 1979 he worked as an editor and columnist on newspapers in central and southern Illinois.
http://www.illinoisauthors.org/authors/Robert_E._Hartley

For more information and a list of other speakers series events visit http://illinois.edu/goto/speakerseries or contact Kimberly Craig at 217/206-6245 or craig.kimberly@uis.edu.

Constitution Day Panel: Lincoln and the Constitution

WHAT: University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speakers Series presents Constitution Day Panel: Lincoln and the Constitution featuring Dr. Thomas F. Schwartz, John A. Lupton and Dr. Daniel W. Stowell.

WHEN: Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: Brookens Auditorium on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS

(The event will be available via live webcast and video on demand at http://www.uis.edu/technology/uislive.html)

ADDITIONAL INFO: Dr. Thomas F. Schwartz will present Lincoln, Politics and the Constitution. Dr. Schwartz is the Illinois State Historian and Director of Research at the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. He recently participated in the Global Lincoln Conference at Oxford University that explored how other nations view Abraham Lincoln. http://www.alplm.org/

John A. Lupton will present Lincoln's War Powers. Mr. Lupton is the Associate Director and Associate Editor of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln. He has spoken widely on Abraham Lincoln and on the law. He received his M.A. at UIS. http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/

Dr. Daniel W. Stowell will present Seceding from the Secessionists: The Constitutional Problem of West Virginia. Dr. Stowell is the director and editor of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Georgia, and his doctorate in American History from the University of Florida.

The event is co-sponsored by the UIS Center for State Policy & Leadership.

For more information and a list of other speakers series events visit http://illinois.edu/goto/speakerseries or contact Kimberly Craig at 217/206-6245 or craig.kimberly@uis.edu.

Speakers Series: Transforming "China" in American Eyes

WHAT: University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speakers Series presents Transforming “China” in American Eyes featuring Dr. Zhou Liu of Northeastern University of China.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: Brookens Auditorium on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS
(The event will be available via live webcast and video on demand at http://www.uis.edu/technology/uislive.html)

ADDITIONAL INFO: Dr. Liu will discuss the transformative images of China and Chinese in the United States, addressing Chinese American immigration history and the mainstream’s cultural shift from Anglo-Saxon’s WASP dominance to multicultural era. Dr. Liu is currently a visiting scholar at the Department of English at the University of Washington.

For more information and a list of other speakers series events visit http://illinois.edu/goto/speakerseries or contact Kimberly Craig at 217/206-6245 or craig.kimberly@uis.edu.

"Central Illinois: Patchwork of Creative Minds" to begin this fall

“Central Illinois: Patchwork of Creative Minds,” a three-session educational series about the heartland of Illinois, will begin in September at the University of Illinois Springfield. The series is sponsored by the UIS Alumni SAGE Society and the Illinois State Historical Society.

Each session will include presentations by two experts. UIS professor emeritus Dr. Larry Shiner and UIS alumnus William Furry, director of the Illinois State Historical Society, will moderate the series. The presentations take place from 12 to 1:30 p.m., and a hot buffet luncheon is available at 11:30 a.m. There is a charge for lunch, but the presentations are free and open to the public. The luncheon and presentations will be held in the UIS Public Affairs Center (PAC) Conference Rooms C/D, located on the lower level.

The series will begin on Wednesday, September 16, with the topic “Through the Lens - Images of Nature and Humanity.” Featured speakers will include Judith Lloyd Klauba, associate curator of Fine Arts for the Illinois State Museum in Chicago. Her presentation, “Photographic Visions: The Frank Sardorus Collection”, will feature an Illinois farmer's innovative photographs of the people and landscapes he knew intimately (from 1880 to the 1930s). Dr. Michael Jeffords, entomologist and photographer and public relations/educator for the Illinois Natural History Survey, will provide a whirlwind tour of the arthropod/insect fauna in a presentation titled, “A Close Look at the Insects of Central Illinois.”

The second program will be on Wednesday, October 21, and the topic will be “Springfield Public Garden Design: Historic and Modern.” Terri Cameron, master gardener, historic preservation advocate and retired webmaster of SIU School of Medicine, will make a presentation titled “Springfield's Early Park Design and Its Impact,” which will examine Springfield’s early parks through archival photos, publications and Springfield Park District minutes. Diane Mathis, director of marketing and development for the Springfield Park District, will speak on “Innovative Park Design.” She will preview Southwind Park, Springfield’s new universally-accessible and environmentally-friendly park.

The last session of the series on Wednesday, November 18 will focus on “Creative Images: Canvas and Glass.” Local architect and stained glass restoration expert, Ralls Melotte, principal of Melotte Morse Leonatti Parker Ltd., will make a presentation on the history and evolution of stained glass in Central Illinois. “Painters from the Heart of Lincolnland" is the topic to be addressed by Robert Sill, curator and assistant director of Art for the Illinois State Museum in Springfield. Selected paintings from regional artists will be displayed and discussed.

Paid reservations are required for the luncheon at least one week before each session. The cost is $20 per person for lunch and the presentations or $50 per person for three lunches and the presentations if paid reservations are received by September 9. Pre-registration is also requested from those not purchasing the lunch who wish to attend the presentations. To register or for more information, visit www.uiaa.org/uis, or contact the Office of UIS Alumni Relations at 217/206-7395 or alumni @uis.edu.