UIS Women's Center Hosts "Love Your Body Day" Fair

WHAT: University of Illinois Springfield Women’s Center will hold a “Love Your Body Day” Fair as part of the national annual event

WHEN: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Public Affairs Center Concourse (PAC) on UIS campus

DETAILS: Everyone is welcome to participate in the fair and will have the opportunity to create buttons with phrases such as “This is why I’m hot” and “I’m kind of a big deal because…” all in an effort to promote healthy body image. The Women’s Center will also be handing out information highlighting “10 Steps to Positive Body Image.”

The UIS Women’s Issues Caucus (WIC) club will have a table at the event selling “This is what feminist look like” t-shirts and promoting their domestic violence cell phone “Light Vigil” on the UIS Quad taking place on October 28, 2009 at 9:30 p.m.

The UIS Alpha Phi Omega club will focus on breast cancer awareness by selling pink cupcakes. All the proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for cancer research.

UIS Recreational Sports will be talking about the effects supplements have on the body. They’ll also have information about finding your “happy” weight.

Planned Parenthood Illinois Action will also have a table at the event where they’ll register voters for the upcoming primary and general elections.

For more information on the “Love Your Body Day” Fair contact Women’s Center Director Lynn Otterson at 217/206-7173 or lotte1@uis.edu.

Homecoming 2009: Over the Rainbow Relay Race

University of Illinois Springfield students slipped into ruby red high heels to face off during the Over the Rainbow Relay Race on Wednesday. The relay was part of the Homecoming 2009 at UIS, but similar events sponsored by Recreational Sports are held every week as part of “Wacky Wednesday”.

The Student Life Office helped to bring in a giant inflatable bounce house to campus for students to run through. They first started off in the high heels having to maneuver between orange cones before ditching the heels and jumping inside.

“I have a lot of respect for women because I can’t do it and women walk around in high heels all the time,” said junior criminal justice major Andrew Crain.

The male and female students with the fastest time both got an “I Won Wacky Wednesday” t-shirt.

UIS hosts Distance Credentialed Counselor Workshop

The University of Illinois at Springfield will host a Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC) Workshop on Thursday, July 23, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday, July 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

ReadyMinds, a leader in distance counseling, will be offering this training under the authorization by the Center for Credentialing and Education, Inc., an affiliate of the National Board of Certified Counselors.

Counselors will experience hands-on training that can be applied effectively in their current work environment. The need for distance services is growing, and the workshop will provide professional enhancement to counselors who are engaging in more e-mail and telephone exchanges with their clients.

The workshop will cover such topics as establishing a counselor/client relationship via distance, determining counselor and client suitability to distance counseling and confidentiality strategies.
This workshop has been approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC), and by the Human Services Education Council (HSEC), for up to 15 continuing education hours.

To attend the DCC training, participants must possess a master’s degree in counseling or an appropriately-related field from a regionally-accredited college or university. To also obtain the DCC Credential in addition to attending the DCC training, participants must have a master’s degree, be licensed to practice counseling or a related field in the state or country in which the candidate resides or works or be certified in good standing as a National Certified Counselor, and successfully complete the DCC Training Program and the DCC written Training Accountability Requirement document.

The training fee is $595 and includes the two-day training, all training materials and breakfast and lunch on both days. Licensed professional counselors and national certified counselors are eligible to receive a $150 discount. Contact Lisa Miller at lisa@readyminds.com or call (888) 225-8248 to receive this discount.

To register for the DCC training, go online to www.readyminds.com/dcclocations and click on the training site “University of Illinois at Springfield.” For more information about the DCC credential, visit www.cce-global.org or call (336) 482-2856.

Voices in Praise choir to perform at Six Flags St. Louis

The Voices in Praise choir at the University of Illinois at Springfield, along with other choirs and groups, will be participating in Gospel Fest with the Spirit of Praise 2009 on Saturday, May 9, in St. Louis. The choirs will perform live in front of an audience and a panel of judges at Six Flags St. Louis for a chance to open for renowned artist Kirk Franklin.

Voices In Praise will be singing “My Name is Victory” and “If It Wasn’t For Your Grace.”

Voices in Praise has performed at various local events such as the “Amazing Grace” event at the Old State Capitol and Lincoln’s Tomb in celebration of Lincoln’s 200th birthday and the “Do the Right Thing” Festival for the Springfield Urban League. They have also performed at Living Word Fellowship Ministries and Abundant Faith, the Healing Waters Reception, the grand opening of the new Springfield Urban League Studio and Faith AME Church in February for the Black History Month Women's Breakfast.

Future endeavors for the choir include singing at the Graduating Seniors Capitol Honors Breakfast for the Capitol Honors Scholars Program at UIS on Saturday, May 16.

UIS holds 2nd annual Take Back the Night with LLCC

The University of Illinois at Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College are teaming up to hold the second annual LLCC/UIS Take Back the Night on Saturday, May 2, from 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Take Back the Night is a movement inclusive of all genders and sexual orientations that brings survivors, supporters and activists together in a call for the end of violence against women.
The Speak Out and March start at the Lincoln Land campus in the Helen Hamilton Area at 7:30 p.m. Musician Tom Irwin, a UIS student, will perform at the start of the rally.

The keynote speaker for the Speak Out will be Candi Clouse, UIS alum and Prevention Coordinator for the Sojourn Shelter.

Around 8:15 p.m., the group will then march to the UIS campus. The band A Day and a Wake Up will play at around 8:30. There will also be an Information Fair and refreshments on the UIS Quad, as well as The Clothesline Project, a project to support victims of domestic violence.

The event is presented by the Women’s Issues Caucus club from UIS and the Feminist Activist Coalition student club at LLCC. Co-sponsors of the event include the Lincoln Land Women’s Studies and International Club and the UIS Women’s Center, Women and Gender Studies, Student Government Association, African Student Association, Black Student Union, Christian Student Fellowship, Delta Sigma Omicron, Diversity Center, Indian Student Organization and Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS).

More information about Take Back the Night is available at www.takebackthenight.org/. For more information about the rally and march, contact womenscenter@uis.edu or 206-7173.

Project Success focuses on proper business attire

The University of Illinois at Springfield will host “Project Success: Dress to Impress” on Thursday, April 2 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Sangamon Auditorium on the UIS campus. Project Success is a runway fashion show and presentation about how to dress for business casual and business professional.

UIS students have been invited to gather teams of five and compete by showing their best and worst examples of business attire. The runway show will be judged by the audience and a panel of judges. Each member of the winning student team will receive a $100 gift card.

Following the runway competition, Jennifer Hunt, extension educator in Computer and Family Economics for the University of Illinois Extension, will give a presentation on business attire, first impressions and on creating an affordable professional wardrobe.

The event will also be available via live Webcast, and the online audience can participate in the runway judging through Elluminate.

Project Success is sponsored by UIS’ Career Development Center, Alumni Relations, Student Government Association and Diversity Center.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Kristen Chenoweth at 217/206-6501 or kchen01s@uis.edu.

Annual Etiquette Dinner helps participants with social and business etiquette

An enjoyable and informative dinner featuring instruction in business and social etiquette will be hosted by the University of Illinois at Springfield on Tuesday, March 31, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Public Affairs Center restaurant on the UIS campus. The etiquette dinner program is open to the public; however, space is limited, and advance registration is required.

The four-course dinner will give participants a chance to brush up on their table manners and learn other tips that will enhance their careers and personal lives. Beth Reutter, coordinator of the Hospitality Management Program at the U of I campus at Urbana-Champaign, will be the instructor. Reutter, who is a corporate etiquette consultant certified by the Protocol School of Washington, has presented this program to students and other college groups as well as to business groups in the Champaign-Urbana area.

The cost of the event, including dinner, is $10 for current UIS students and $25 for everyone else. The deadline to make a reservation for the program is March 24. Reservations may be made online at www.uiaa.org/spfld or by contacting Alumni Relations by phone at 206-7395 or by e-mail at alumni@uis.edu.

The event is presented by the Office of UIS Alumni Relations/U of I Alumni Association and co-sponsored by the UIS Career Development Center, Student Government Association, Office of Student Life and Graduate Public Service Internship Program. Northwestern Mutual Financial Network is the local business sponsor.

For more information, contact Mary Caroline Mitchell at 217/206-7395.