Bapat makes podcasting presentation at ACS meeting

Harshavardhan D. Bapat, assistant professor of Chemistry, made a presentation titled "Podcasting and general chemistry: What is my chemistry professor doing in my iPod?" at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society held in Chicago in March. Bapat examined the use of podcasting to deliver course content to students anywhere the Internet can reach. He also discussed the process of developing and delivering a podcast, as well as measuring the effectiveness of podcasting as a pedagogical tool.

UIS Music at Regional Tuba-Euphonium Conference

UIS Music was well represented at the Hawkeye Regional Tuba-Euphonium Conference, hosted by John Manning and held in March at the University of Iowa.

Todd Cranson and Rose Schweikhart made an invited presentation titled "Opportunities Abound: Innovation is the Key," which featured the UIS Celluba Quintet (Cranson and Schweikhart on tuba; Lynn Fisher, Marque Haupert, and Peter Shapinsky on cello) and the UIS Fiddle Band (Cranson on tuba, Schweikhart on euphonium, Sharon Graf on violin, and Brian Pryor on trumpet).

During the groups' warm-up and sound check, conference host Manning invited both to perform in the evening's "Midwest Showcase Concert" and Cranson was also invited to participate in the following day's panel discussion "New Currents in Deep Waters."

Shank & Singh represent UIS at EDUCAUSE Regional Conference

Ralph Shank, multimedia specialist with Information Technology Services, and Uttra Singh, ITS graduate assistant, were among the presenters at the EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference held March 12-14 in Chicago. The theme for the conference was "Facing a River of Challenges."

Shank and Singh joined six other presenters as part of a session on The Lightning Round of Innovative Work and Projects. Their presentation was titled "Working around Limitations" and focused on the challenges of providing quality instructional support to faculty at small and medium-size public universities with limited personnel and funding.

A brief version of the presentation can be viewed at www.uis.edu/its/about/EDUCAUSE2007/EDUCAUSE2007.html.

Nancy Genevieve Perkins reads at Stone Soup Poetry

Nancy Genevieve Perkins, associate professor of English and past chair of the program, read a selection of her poems March 12 at Stone Soup Poetry in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Now in its 36th year, Stone Soup is the longest-running poetry venue in Massachusetts. All Stone Soup poets are filmed for public access television in Cambridge and Lowell. Perkins writes and reads her creative works as nancy genevieve.

Michael Cheney discusses Illinois Report

Michael Cheney, professor of Communication, appeared on "Afternoon Magazine" on WILL-AM to discuss the IGPA annual state assessment - Illinois Report 2007 - following the Governor's State of the State speech on March 7. Cheney also spoke on the same topic to the Champaign Chamber of Commerce Board later that day.

UIS represented at Apple iTunes U workshop

Will Vautrain of the Office of Web Services, Ralph Shank of Information Technology Services Multimedia Education and Production, and Uttra Singh and Benjamin Joel Snider, both graduate assistants with ITS Multimedia Education and Production, represented UIS at an iTunes U workshop held by Apple at the SIU Edwardsville campus on March 1.

This was the first workshop Apple has held for regional higher education users of iTunes U, and focused on IT integration and production solutions.

The workshop included discussions on authentication and authorization, as well as production of iTunes U content. Representatives from the University of Missouri-Columbia and Concordia Seminary also led discussions of their experiences with iTunes U, focusing on production and pedagogical issues. The workshop also featured a live video chat with the lead iTunes U engineer at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.

UIS represented at UICC conference

Several graduate students in UIS' Communication program made a debut appearance at the University of Illinois Communication Collaboration held March 2 in Urbana. The conference invites students from all three U of I campuses to share their research interests. This was the first time since the conference began four years ago that UIS sent students to the event.

Graduate students Rochelle Arjmand and Wesley Wasmundt presented papers about their research. Arjmand's paper was titled "The Changing Face of Media: Exploring the Effect of Media Conglomeration on the Broadcast Industry." Wasmundt's paper was titled "Faculty Attitudes toward Educational Technology in 'Smart' Classrooms at UIS."

UIS was also represented by students Meredith Long and Jessica Zaiz-Stanley as well as Communication faculty members Kathy Jamison and Mary Bohlen. Jamison has agreed with UICC organizers to bring the conference to the Springfield campus in the future.