1. family and parenting
2. children

InsideIllinois
April 16, 2015
Vol. 34, No. 19
For Faculty and Staff, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • http://news.illinois.edu/ii
Town Hall touts progress despite state budget concerns
By Mike Helenthal
Assistant Editor
T
he U. of I. is thriving and, despite
threatened state funding, will continue to do great things in the future.
That was the message delivered
by Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise and Ilesanmi
Adesida, the provost and vice chancellor for
academic affairs, at the April 9 Town Hall
meeting.
“By every measure, we are making impressive strides,” Wise said as she recounted the various highly ranked programs at
the university, noting the progress already
made on the campus strategic plan.
She said the fact that this year’s incoming class is the most academically talented
ever and the recent vote by the U. of I.
Board of Trustees to create the new CarleIllinois College of Medicine both are proof
that great things are still happening at
Illinois.
Still, the state’s funding problem remains a threat, she said.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed cutting
nearly a third of next year’s higher education budget, and the Legislature is considering rescinding an additional $15 million
from the current appropriation.
University officials hope the cuts do not
go as deep as initially proposed.
They have testified before legislators,
telling them the cuts would diminish the
university’s competitiveness. Officials have
made contingency plans in the event the full
cut is implemented.
Wise said the current-year rescission
would be absorbed administratively, but the
bigger cuts considered for next year could
change the campus landscape.
“As President Easter has said, cuts of
that magnitude – absorbed over a single
year – would have lasting and significant
impacts on our ability to carry out our educational mission,” Wise said.
She said the goals of the strategic plan
can still be met, despite the threats ahead.
“This is not the time to back away from
our strategic plan,” she said, which was
set following a process that provided input
from all corners of campus. “It is the time to
become even more focused and more strategic and agile. We can’t let long-term opportunities be lost to short-term thinking.”
Adesida said the state Legislature will
likely make cuts to the university’s budget,
but it still is a question of how much.
“Whether the final decrease is 31.5 percent, 20 percent or even 10 percent, the
numbers are disturbing,” he said. “We must
realize that everything must be on the table.
We must protect our core education and
scholarly missions, but to do so will mean
carefully examining all of our operations
and considering fundamental changes in
them.”
Adesida said programs and courses with
low enrollments would be evaluated to see
if restructuring is required.
“We may very well need to look at our
ambitious hiring plans – and perhaps slow
them or extend them over a longer period,”
photo by L. Brian Stauffer
Wise counsel Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise answers a question from an audience
member at the Town Hall meeting April 9 in the Illini Union ballroom. Wise and Ilesanmi Adesida, the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the
university continues to do great things despite the threat of further eroding state
support.
he said.
The campus is in the midst of a hiring
plan expected to bring on 500 new faculty members in the next five years. So far,
about 150 have been hired and 130 searches
have been authorized.
Adesida and Wise said they would soon
be asking the campus to help update the
strategic plan to guide the university for the
next five years. The plan will be supported
by a new fundraising campaign in 2017, the
university’s 150th anniversary.
Despite challenges, Wise said there is
no choice for the university but to move
forward.
“That is how we earned a reputation as
a place that keeps achieving what everyone
says is impossible,” she said. u
Amygdala encodes ‘cooties,’ ‘crushes’ in the developing brain
By Diana Yates
Life Sciences Editor
S
cientists have found
a signal in the brain
that reflects young
children’s aversion to
members of the opposite sex (the
“cooties” effect) and also their
growing interest in opposite-sex
peers as they enter puberty. These
two responses to members of the
opposite sex are encoded in the
amygdala, the researchers report.
The findings, reported in the
Journal of Cognitive Neurosci-
ence, challenge traditional notions
about the role of the amygdala, the
researchers say.
The team evaluated 93 children’s attitudes toward same-sex
and opposite-sex peers. Using
functional MRI, which tracks how
oxygenated blood flows in the
brain, the researchers also analyzed brain activity in 52 children.
The amygdala was once
thought of as a “threat detector,”
said U. of I. psychology and Beckman Institute professor Eva Telzer, who led the new analysis.
graphic by Julie McMahon
The role of the amygdala A brain structure called the
In This Issue
amygdala responds more to opposite-sex faces in children ages 4-7
and increases again in puberty, but prepubescent children respond
no differently to same-sex and opposite-sex faces, researchers report.
“But increasing evidence indicates that it is activated whenever
someone detects something meaningful in the environment,” she
said. “It is a significance detector.”
The finding that very young
children are paying close attention
to gender is not a surprise, Telzer
said.
“We know that there are developmental changes in terms of the
significance of gender boundaries in young kids,” Telzer said.
“We also know about the whole
‘cooties’ phenomenon,” where
young children develop an aversion to opposite-sex peers and act
as if members of the opposite sex
could, if they got too close, contaminate them with a dreadful infestation. Children at this age also
tend to strongly prefer the company of their same-sex peers, she
said.
This phenomenon was reflected in young children’s evaluations
of each other.
“Only the youngest children in
our sample demonstrated a behavioral sex bias such that they rated
same-sex peers as having more
positive (and less negative) attributes than opposite-sex peers,”
the researchers wrote.
“And so we think the amygdala
is signaling the significance of
CDSAs awarded
Eight civil service employees
were honored with
the Chancellor’s Distinguished
Staff Award.
PAGE 10
Developmental
differences
Psychology
professor Eva
Telzer and her
colleagues found
that children’s
brain responses to
opposite-sex faces
differ as they mature.
photo by L. Brian Stauffer
cooties at this developmental period,” Telzer said.
The interest in opposite-sex
peers tends to wane in later childhood, just before puberty, Telzer
said. The researchers saw no difference in the amygdala’s response to same-sex and oppositesex faces in children between the
ages of 10 and 12. (See graphic.)
But in puberty, children’s interest in opposite-sex peers blooms
anew. They may become infatuated with a member of the opposite
sex, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as a “crush,” Telzer said.
Helping others
Faculty members, academic
professionals and students
were honored for their
public engagement efforts.
PAGE 11
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“When puberty hits, gender
becomes more significant again,
whether it’s because your body
is changing, or because of sexual
attraction or you are becoming
aware of more rigid sexual boundaries as you become more sexually mature,” Telzer said. “The brain
is responding very appropriately,
in terms of what’s changing developmentally.”
The National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health supported this
research. u
INDEX
A MINUTE WITH … ™
8
BENEFIT CHOICE
2
BRIEF NOTES
17
ON THE JOB
3
DEATHS
2
InsideIllinois
PAGE 2 Benefit Choice enrollment is May 1-June 1
C
hanges to health care and other
benefits – including medical care
and dependent care assistance
(flexible spending) plans – can be
made during the Benefit Choice enrollment
period, which runs May 1 through June 1.
Changes must be made through NESSIE,
the U. of I.’s human resources employee
website. All changes will be effective July 1.
The Benefit Choice Options booklet and online enrollment forms will be available May
1 on NESSIE at: go.uillinois.edu/Benefit
Choice.
What changes can be made?
During the FY2016 Benefit Choice period,
employees can access NESSIE to make the
following changes:
Enroll or re-enroll in the Medical Care
Assistance Plan and Dependent Care Assistance Plan. MCAP and DCAP are the only
plans requiring re-enrollment every year.
Change health, dental, life and dependent coverage. If you do not want to change
insurance coverage, you do not need to
do anything. Note that documentation is
required to add dependents or opt out of
health insurance.
FY2016 premiums
Insurance premiums will not change for
full-time employees. The employer portions of the insurance premiums are expected to increase; therefore, part-time employees’ health and dental costs are likely
to increase. Part-time rates will be available
as soon as the employer portions have been
finalized.
Insurance plan changes
There are no provider changes for health,
dental and vision plans, although the prescription plan administrator may change for
Quality Care Health Plan, Coventry Open
Access Plan and HealthLink Open Access
Plan. Employees will be notified if a change
occurs. Review the Benefit Choice Options
booklet on NESSIE, which will be available
May 1.
MCAP changes
There are several changes to the Medical
Care Assistance Plan program.
n The annual plan limit will increase to
$2,550.
n All services must be received by June
30, 2016.
n Employees will continue to have until
September 30, 2015, to submit claims for
FY2015.
n MCAP balances up to $500 remaining
after September 30, 2015, will automatically carry over to the FY2016 MCAP account. A new enrollment is not required to
use the carryover funds.
n This carryover could result in an
MCAP account of $3,050 for the FY 2016
plan year.
n The carryover provision does not apply to DCAP accounts.
n Employees should monitor their official university email address for University, Payroll and Benefits notifications and
requests for additional information.
Dependent audit
Central Management Services has tentatively scheduled the Dependent Eligibility
Verification Audit for fall 2015. An employee found to be covering an ineligible dependent may be subject to a financial penalty,
April 16, 2015
ON THE WEB
go.uillinois.edu/BenefitChoice
including but not limited to repayment of
all premiums the state of Illinois made on
behalf of the employee as well as expenses
incurred by the program.
Employees may remove dependents
without providing documentation during
the Benefit Choice election period.
CMS has contracted with HMS Employer Solutions to perform the audit. CMS,
HMS and the university will send communications with detailed audit information
later this year.
Information sessions
University Payroll and Benefits has
scheduled three information sessions to
provide employees with Benefit Choice
information and answer benefit questions. Registration is not required.
n 2 p.m. May 6, Ikenberry Commons
Student Dining and Residential Programs
building, Multipurpose Room 2025 A, B
and C
n 10 a.m. May 12, Beckman Institute
for Advanced Science and Technology auditorium, Room 1025
n 2 p.m. May 22, Bevier Hall, Room
180 u
Senate backs idea of students serving on conduct boards
By Mike Helenthal
Assistant Editor
T
he Urbana-Champaign Senate has
backed an April 6 student-sponsored resolution calling for student
membership on the hearing board
that considers sexual violence accusations.
The students told senators the resolution was constructed in response to recent
guidelines released by the U.S. Department
of Education’s Office of Civil Rights discouraging schools from including student
members on campus conduct boards.
They said officials at other universities
have misinterpreted the recommendations
and had removed students from conduct
boards.
“Although OCR has not directly stated
the rationale for this recommendation,
there is a consensus (the) recommendation
is based on the belief students do not have
sufficient adjudicator training and are not
capable of remaining unbiased,” the senate
resolution says.
The issue of sexual violence was added
in 2011 to the Title IX classification prohib-
iting campus gender discrimination.
The senate resolution also recommends
additional training for students, and faculty
and staff members who serve on the board.
Training already includes the topics of confidentiality, procedures and other processes.
The resolution says having student
members on the conduct board is necessary
to provide a fair hearing.
“Students provide critical peer perspective in conduct hearings that administrators,
faculty and staff may lack,” it says.
University officials supported student inclusion on the boards and said they were reviewing the university’s procedures in light
of the new Education Department guidelines. The overarching goal is to protect the
victim’s identity and ensure due process for
the accused.
In other business, Gay Miller, a professor of pathobiology and chairman of the
senate’s Education Policy Committee, was
elected as the 2015-16 Senate Executive
Committee chair.
She replaces Roy Campbell, a professor
of computer science.
Miller ran against Hadi S. Esfahani, a
professor of economics.
Kim Graber, a professor of kinesiology
and community health, retained her position
as vice chair of the SEC. Other candidates
included Harry Hilton, National Center for
Supercomputing Applications; and Matt
Hill and Alex Villanueva, both students in
liberal arts and sciences.
Miller said her term as the SEC’s leader
will be one of “service leadership.”
“I want to lead by understanding the issues that faculty, staff and students are finding of greatest concern,” she said. “Then
I can better advise our campus leaders on
ways that will help us continue to be a productive and vibrant campus, full of engaged
and creative people.”
She said she expects the major senate issue in her term to be the state budget crisis
and its effect on the university. She pledged
to keep faculty informed and involved in
the process.
“Then, through our faculty governance
processes, they can provide appropriate and
reasoned input about how to deal with the
budget constraints,” she said.
She said she hopes those conversations
lead to a “multiyear approach” to budget
planning, rather than the longstanding “reactionary” approach. She said the discussions also should focus on long-term pension funding challenges.
Graber agreed that funding will be the
top issue affecting campus in the upcoming
year.
“We face difficult challenges, but I am
confident that we will do whatever is necessary to preserve our institutional excellence,” she said. “We have a bright future
ahead and will continue be world leaders
with respect to our research, teaching and
service missions.”
The election for the senate’s Committee
on Committees was held April 13-15, results were not available by press time. The
general election for senators will be held at
the April 20 senate meeting.
New senate terms begin in August. u
retiring in 1988. Memorials: Russian, East
European and Eurasian Center, Ralph and
Ruth Fisher Endowment Fund No. 773497,
U. of I. Foundation, P.O. Box 3429, Champaign, IL 61821-3429, https://www.uif.
uillinois.edu/Gifts/StartGiving.aspx.
Joanne G. Hartman, 85, died Jan. 20 at
her home in Normal, Illinois. She worked
in administrative assistant roles for the U.
of I. Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Memorials: Faith in Action, 705 E. Lincoln
St. #110, Normal, IL 61761; or the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org.
Thomas Alphonsus O’Halloran Jr., 83,
died March 28 in Green Valley, Arizona.
He was a researcher and professor of physics at the U. of I. for 27 years, retiring in
1993. Memorials: Pima County Democratic
Party, www.pimadems.org; or to Habitat for
Humanity of Tucson, Arizona, www.habitat
tucson.org.
Helen Pauline Mitchell, 99, died March
31 at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana.
She worked as an accountant for the Illinois State Geological Survey financial office for 20 years, retiring in 1982. Memorials: First Baptist Church of Champaign at
Savoy, 1602 Prospect at Burwash, Savoy, IL
61874.
Ruth Pembroke, 75, died April 3 at the
C-U Regional Rehab Center, Savoy. She
worked for the U. of I. for 38 years, retiring
in 1995 as a secretary IV for the department
of civil engineering. u
deaths
Ansel C. Anderson, 81, died March 30
at his Savoy home. He was a professor of
physics for 31 years, retiring in 1992. He
served as the department head from 198692. Memorials: Grand Prairie Friends, P.O.
Box 36, Urbana, IL 61803-0036, or the
Champaign County Forest Preserve Friends
Foundation for the Kickapoo Rail Trail,
P.O. Box 1040, Mahomet, IL 61853.
Robert A. Brown, 56, died March 29 at his
Ludlow home. He was an instrument maker for the U. of I. department of chemical
science. He had worked at the U. of I. since
2009.
Sherman Daniel Brown, 85, died March
27. He was a professor of materials science
and engineering for 29 years, retiring in
1997.
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Dennis William Campbell, 73, died March
27 at HCR ManorCare, Champaign. He
worked at the U. of I. for 30 years, retiring
in 2000 as a driver for Facilities and Services. Memorials: Alzheimer’s Association,
www.alz.org.
Jennie L. File, 61, died March 4. She
worked for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications for 25 years, starting as a data processing controller I and
retiring in 2009 as a systems administrator III. Memorials: St. Malachy Catholic
Church, 340 E. Belle Ave. #1, Rantoul, IL
61866, or St. Mary School, 2000 Richmond
Ave., Mattoon, IL 61938.
Ralph Talcott Fisher Jr., 94, died April 4.
He was a professor of history for 31 years,
InsideIllinois
Editor
Doris K. Dahl
217-333-2895, [email protected]
Assistant Editor
Mike Helenthal
Photographer
L. Brian Stauffer
Student Interns
Ali Braboy
Austin Keating
News Bureau contributors
Liz Ahlberg
engineering, physical
sciences
Craig Chamberlain
media, international
programs, social sciences
Phil Ciciora
business, labor, law
Sharita Forrest
education, social work
Jodi Heckel
arts, information science,
humanities, library
Diana Yates
agriculture, applied health
sciences, life sciences
Inside Illinois is an employee publication of the
Urbana-Champaign campus of the University
of Illinois. It is published on the first and third
Thursday of each month by the News Bureau of
the campus Office of Public Affairs, administered
by the associate chancellor for public affairs.
Distribution is by campus mail.
News is solicited from all areas of the campus
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April 16, 2015 InsideIllinois
PAGE 3
On the Job Laura Manrique
By Mike Helenthal
Assistant Editor
L
aura Manrique brought something
important with her when she started working for the university 18
months ago: experience.
Manrique, a business/administrative associate for Merchant Card Services, a unit
within university administration’s treasury
operations department, was raised in Chicago and worked there for about 12 years at
three different financial institutions.
It was the beginning of the “branded”
debit card revolution. She was on the
ground floor of developing methods and incorporating procedures from both the bank
and customer perspectives.
“My job here involves some of the same
things I was doing up there,” she said.
“When I saw the job description, it seemed
like it was written for me. I was able to
move right in and apply my skills.”
Her department is in charge of supporting debit card payments on behalf of university departments. They work behind the
scenes to set up new merchant locations,
help solve problems, provide credit card
terminals and supplies, and ensure the proper posting of revenue.
The office facilitates debit transactions
for 300 university merchants, which include not only direct payments made to the
university by students, but also goods and
services available to the general public.
If you pay for your medical bill at UIC’s
hospital with a debit card, Manrique’s office
helps facilitate that. The same goes for your
cup of coffee at the Starbucks in the Illini
Union Bookstore.
The university supported more than 2.4
million transactions last year.
Manrique works with several divisions
within university administration. She said
she has been amazed at the communication
and camaraderie between them all.
“I work with some of the best and brightest people I’ve ever been around,” she said.
“We are all very supportive of each other,
willing to share and have the common goal
of serving the university, which is very
humbling. It’s like a family here.”
Manrique manages the relationship
between the university and the vendors,
which she said requires a lot of communication and sometimes travel.
“One of my favorite things is to go on
site and speak with the merchants directly,”
she said. “You learn a lot more in person
than you would on the phone or by email.”
She said card security is the biggest issue facing the electronic payment industry;
it’s an ever-evolving threat that constantly
becomes more sophisticated.
Manrique and her husband, Peter, moved
to Philo in 2001 after he was offered a job
in the area.
She quit her financial services job and
stopped working altogether – if you consider raising three children and volunteering not working.
The children, 9- and 13-year-old sons
and an 11-year-old daughter, grew healthy
and happy, became more independent – and
mom started looking to get back into the
workforce.
“We still spend a lot of time together and
they still keep me very busy,” she said of
the myriad activities in which the children
are involved. “Now it’s busy in a really
good way.”
She said the area has been an ideal place
to raise children, and she doesn’t miss the
long work commutes she and her husband
had in Chicagoland.
photo by L. Brian Stauffer
Charging ahead Laura Manrique, a business/administrative associate for the U. of
I.’s Merchant Card Services, is in charge of supporting debit and credit card payments
on behalf of university departments. The office facilitates payments for almost 300
university merchants. Last year the university processed more than 2.4 million
transactions.
“Life is so much better and more relaxed
here,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful place
to raise a family.”
The Manrique family loves to travel. She
said the most memorable trip was to Ireland,
while other favorite family getaway spots
include Mexico, New York and California.
“It’s a big world out there, and traveling
gives the kids a little bit different perspective than they might otherwise have,” she
said. “It has taught us that we should appreciate how good we have things.”
Her personal hobby is learning.
Over the years she has taken class after
class, working the past three years to finish a master’s degree in technology through
Eastern Illinois University.
And after a small celebration, she plans
to move on to a master’s degree in public
administration at UIS.
“I really enjoy the process of learning,”
she said. “There’s no time to rest. I like the
process of continual improvement.” u
On the Job features U. of I. staff
members. To nominate a civil service
employee, email [email protected].
By Liz Ahlberg
Physical Sciences Editor
T
he John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded 2015
Guggenheim fellowships to U. of
I. faculty members Wendy K. Tam
Cho, a professor of political science and of
statistics, and Philip W. Phillips, a professor
of physics.
Cho and Phillips are among 175 fellows
chosen for “prior achievement and exceptional promise” from a group of more than
3,100 applying scholars, artists and scientists. To provide creative freedom, fellows
are awarded unrestricted grants that they
can apply to work of their choosing.
Cho conducts research on statistical and
computational models for social science,
looking for ways to advance social science
in step with scientific and technological
growth. She also is a senior research scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Her political science research in recent
years has included studies of political participation, voter migration, contextual influences on voting behavior, and redistricting.
She also studies statistical methods that
are applied in a variety of fields, including
medicine, economics and psychology.
She will use her fellowship on work
aimed at harnessing the power of information by developing statistical and mathematical models to guide computing technology
toward intelligent information extraction.
Cho earned her doctorate in 1997 from
the University of California at Berkeley and
joined the U. of I. faculty the same year.
Phillips works in theoretical condensed
matter physics. He has developed various
models of how electrons travel through superconductors containing copper and iron
and how electrons interact at temperatures
near absolute zero.
He is known for devising the random
dimer model, a one-dimensional model
that conducts electricity,
thereby providing a concrete
counterexample
to Anderson’s localization theorem, and for
developing the concept
of Mottness, in which
strong electron interactions lead to a breakdown on the particle
concept in high-temperature superconductors.
Phillips plans to apply
his award to understand
how collective phenomena emerge from strong Philip W. Phillips
electron interactions and
precisely how the principle of scale invariance simplifies the normal state of copperoxide superconductors.
Phillips earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1982. He worked
U. of I. photo
Two Illinois professors receive 2015 Guggenheim fellowships
Wendy K. Tam Cho
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at Illinois in
1993. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and
of the American Physical Society. u
CIC, ACM receive joint $8.1 million Mellon Foundation grant
By Mike Helenthal
Assistant Editor
A
n $8.1 million grant will be used
to build a two-way street between
the Committee on Institutional
Cooperation and the Associated
Colleges of the Midwest.
The grant, awarded by the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation, will serve as the foundation for a seven-year initiative encouraging students from underrepresented backgrounds to participate in graduate school
preparation and to consider careers teaching
at liberal arts colleges.
The money will be used for a host of
programs meant to increase student oppor-
tunity in the CIC-ACM partnership.
The fellows program will offer 280 undergraduate fellowships for ACM students
to support mentoring, career development
and experiential research, including a
paid summer research internship on a CIC
campus.
It also will create 30 faculty fellowships
in tenure-track positions at ACM colleges
for underrepresented CIC students working toward master’s or doctoral degrees,
and includes mentoring and other developmental benefits during the first two years of
appointment.
The program will include a series of annual ACM-CIC meetings and workshops
to improve communication and share best
practices for supporting diverse faculty.
Barbara McFadden Allen, the CIC executive director, said the benefits of the Mellon-funded program would flow both ways.
“The fellows program will leverage the
strengths of these two consortia, both individually and as partners in collaboration, to
address the challenges of diversifying the
professorate,” she said. “Together we can
connect undergraduate and graduate programs across research universities in liberal
arts colleges.”
Amber Cox, the CIC associate director,
said the program has the added benefit of
targeting liberal arts disciplines.
“These programs usually target underrepresented students in the STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
disciplines,” she said.
Most important, she said it would offer
new opportunities and options for students
who aren’t necessarily seeking a researchrich career path.
“It’s going to help create more-interested
candidates,” she said. “It’s a very strategic
way to attract them and has the added benefit of offering the program across sets of
schools. It addresses the parts of the puzzle
in so many different ways.” u
PAGE 4 InsideIllinois
April 16, 2015
Humanities research program announces fellowship awards
By Jodi Heckel
Arts and Humanities Editor
S
even faculty members and seven
graduate students are recipients
of Illinois Program for Research
in the Humanities fellowships for
the 2015-16 academic year. The fellowships support research and writing on topics
chosen by the fellowship recipients.
Faculty fellows are released from one
semester of teaching and receive a research
allocation. Graduate student fellows receive
a stipend and a tuition and fee waiver. All
fellows are expected to remain on campus
and participate in the research program’s
yearlong interdisciplinary Fellows Seminar during the award year. The theme for
the seminar and other events during the
year is “Intersections” – looking at literal
and figurative spaces of coming together
and departing, and how ideas, cultures and
identities overlap and collide.
“The scholarship produced by our faculty, graduate student and Mellon post-doctoral fellows stands among the very finest
work being produced in the humanities,”
said Dianne Harris, the director of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. “The IPRH and the University of
Illinois play such an important role in supporting the production of this outstanding
research that will impact cultural production and the generation of new knowledge
internationally.”
The faculty fellows, their departments
and their research topics are:
n Ikuko Asaka, history, “Geographies of
Black Freedom: Race, Intimacy, and Empire in the Anglo-American World, 1775–
1879”
n Eric Calderwood, comparative and
world literature, “‘The Daughter of Granada and Fez’: Al-Andalus in Spanish Colonial Morocco (1859–1956)”
n Anita Chan, media and cinema studies/Institute of Communications Research,
“Civic Technoscience, Digital Pedagogies,
and Intersectional Research Practice Beyond Innovation Centers”
n Rana Hogarth, history, “Blackness in
Transit: Medicine and the Making of Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780–1840”
n Mimi Nguyen, gender and women’s
studies/Asian American studies, “The
Promise of Beauty”
n John Randolph, history, “When I
Served the Post as a Coachman: Empire
and Enlightenment in Russia’s Eighteenth
Century”
n Maria Todorova, history, “Life in the
Times of Utopia: The Lost World of Early
Socialists at Europe’s Margins”
The graduate student fellows, their departments and their research topics are:
n S. Moon Cassinelli, English, “‘We are
Here Because You Were There’: Kinship
and Loss in 20th- and 21st-Century Korean
American Narratives”
n Bryce Henson, Institute of Communications Research, “Beauty in the Dark: Racial Politics in Brazilian Hip-Hop”
n Milos Jovanovic, history, “Bourgeois
Balkans: World-building in Belgrade and
Sofia (1840–1912)”
n John Musser, English, “Radiant Divas:
In Pursuit of the Queer Sublime”
n Stephanie Rieder, sociology, “Missions of Biomedicine: Transnational Conflicts of Morality, Technology, and Care”
n Zachary Sell, history, “Slavery Beyond Slavery: The American South, British
Imperialism, and the Circuits of Capital,
1833–1873”
n Devin Smart, history, “Exchanging
Meals: Capitalist Culture, Labor Migration
ON THE WEB
iprh.illinois.edu
and Food History in Kenya since the Nineteenth Century.”
Two of the graduate fellowship recipients, Rieder and Smart, have been designated as Nicholson-IPRH Fellows for
2015–16, supported by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Nicholson
Endowment Fund.
IPRH also has awarded its 2015-17 Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship
in the Humanities to Nili Belkind. Belkind
earned a doctorate in ethnomusicology
from Columbia University in 2014, and will
be affiliated with the musicology division
of the School of Music while at the U. of I.
Her research project is “Music in Conflict:
Palestine, Israel and the Politics of Cultural
Production.”
In addition to conducting research, Belkind will teach two courses per year and
give a public lecture on her research. This is
the sixth year of the IPRH-Mellon postdoctoral fellowship program, which is funded
by a six-year $1.25 million grant awarded
in 2009. u
CAS to host inaugural research symposium April 20-21
By Jodi Heckel
Arts and Humanities Editor
T
he Center for Advanced Study will
host an inaugural research symposium April 20-21 to showcase the
work of the center’s associates and
fellows.
“This inaugural two-day Interdisciplinary Spring Symposium will provide an
opportunity for some of our recent associates and fellows to talk about the projects
they have pursued during their residency in
CAS,” said Tamer Başar, the director of the
Center for Advanced Study and a profes-
sor of electrical and computer engineering.
“The broader campus community as well as
the public will have the opportunity to hear
about some of the best innovative research
recently carried out by faculty members
across multiple disciplines.”
Held in the Knight Auditorium of Spurlock Museum, the symposium is free and
open to the public. It will feature an opening panel discussion of interdisciplinary research at the U. of I. The panel will include
the directors of the Center for Advanced
Study, Illinois Program for Research in the
Humanities, the Beckman Institute for Ad-
vanced Science and Technology, the Carl R.
Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and
the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications.
The panel discussion will be followed by
five sessions over a day and a half during
which 14 faculty members will discuss their
research. The topics range from petascale
astronomy to the globalization of music and
functional DNA technology to the American Arts Colony.
“Our Center for Advanced Study is one
of a kind in the country, serving our faculty
and students across all disciplines by pro-
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ON THE WEB
cas.illinois.edu
viding special recognition for achievement,
release time from academic duties for pursuing meritorious special projects, and opportunities for participation in an interdisciplinary scholarly community,” Başar said.
More information about the symposium
and the research projects is available online
at the center’s website. u
April 16, 2015 InsideIllinois
PAGE 5
Absence of copyright has economic value, social benefits
By Phil Ciciora
Business and Law Editor
A
new study co-written by a U. of
I. expert in intellectual property
law demonstrates that the value
of creative works in the public
domain such as books, images and music
can be estimated at least as precisely as the
value of commercially available copyrighted works.
The implications of the study for both
copyright term extension and orphan works
legislation are substantial, says law professor Paul Heald.
“Copyright owners frequently talk about
the private value of copyrights, which isn’t
difficult to see: If you have a monopoly on
something, you get to make a lot more money,” said Heald, the Richard W. and Marie
L. Corman Research Professor of Law at
Illinois. “What they conveniently ignore is
that the absence of copyright creates value,
and that creative industries rely on public
domain works as building blocks for many
valuable new creations.”
The paper, co-written by Kristofer Erickson and Martin Kretschmer, both of the
University of Glasgow, is one of the first attempts to quantify in monetary terms a portion of the public domain.
“Calculating the entire value of all public domain works would be overly ambitious, so we attempted to calculate the value
of a small slice of it,” Heald said.
To put a monetary value on how much
creative works in the public domain contribute to the creation of new works, the authors
used Wikipedia pages as an example of new
authors creating new works that rely on the
public domain in the authorship process.
“We studied the biographical Wikipedia
pages of a large data set of authors, composers and lyricists to determine whether the
public domain status of available images
leads to a higher rate of inclusion of illus-
trated supplementary material, and whether
such inclusion increased visits to individual
pages,” Heald said.
The authors found that the most historically remote subjects were more likely to
have images on their Wikipedia pages, most
likely because their lives predate the existence of in-copyright imagery. They also
discovered that the vast majority of photos
and illustrations used on subject pages were
obtained from the public domain.
By estimating their value in terms of
costs saved to Wikipedia page builders
and increased traffic corresponding to the
inclusion of an image, and then extrapolating from a random sample to a further
300 Wikipedia pages, the paper concludes
that the total value of public domain photographs on Wikipedia is $246 million to
$270 million per year.
“That really highlights the cost of excessive copyright law,” Heald said. “As
we show in the paper, it’s not just a net win
for everybody when we extend copyright.
There are clear, measurable and palpable
losses. And we believe that the empirical
example we provide can demonstrate to
policymakers how the absence of copyright
can add economic value to a discrete set of
works.”
Even though the estimates make use of
several proxies, the implications are considerable and significant, according to Heald.
“As long as lobbyists for copyright expansionists assert that royalty checks going to private owners is a proper measure
of public welfare, then policymakers will
need to be confronted with dollar figures on
the monetary value of the public domain,”
Heald said. “There’s no reason why the
public should want to see income streams
created through copyright law continue. It
increases the private wealth of individual
and corporations, but outside of that it’s
nothing but a drag on consumer surplus
and social welfare. As long as the
copyright term is long enough to
stimulate the creation of the work
in the first place, then society actually has no interest in seeing
copyright law enforced at all.”
According to Heald, the most
convincing policy implications of
the paper concern photographs.
“We show that photographs
have significant value in the
Wikipedia context, and that photographs pose a particular problem that other copyrighted works
don’t,” he said. “And that’s because it’s very difficult to find out
who owns a photograph.”
Photographs from magazines
or newspapers from the 1940s,
1950s, 1960s or 1970s could still
be protected by copyright – if
they were properly registered and
published with the proper notice,
Heald said.
“But you can’t easily find out
if a copyright was renewed or
photo courtesy College of Law
registered properly in the first
place, or who owns it, because Public domain value New research co-written
there’s no easily searchable data- by Paul Heald, the Richard W. and Marie L. Corman
base at the copyright office,” he Research Professor of Law at Illinois, explores the
said. “Chances are, many if not cost of excessive copyright law and the value of the
most of the photos from that pe- public domain.
riod are in the public domain and
could be used for free, but there’s no system ple of years ago. Then the economic crisis
for people to make that determination with hit, and it got buried. But I think our paper
any confidence.”
provides a nice argument for resurrecting it.
The study also provides a strong justifi- It doesn’t strip copyright; essentially, you
cation for the enactment of orphan works get a compulsory license to use the photolegislation that has languished in Congress graph and have to pay fair market value for
for years.
it if the owner steps forward. So it doesn’t
“Orphan works are creations that are hurt copyright owners because they get a
technically protected by copyright, but their fee, and it would really be a boon to those
owners are unknown or can’t be found,” who find a photograph they want to use and,
Heald said. “That type of legislation was in good faith, try to track down the its rightproposed by the Library of Congress a cou- ful owner. It’s really a win-win situation.” u
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PAGE 6 InsideIllinois
April 16, 2015
Program reduces bullying by students with disabilities
By Sharita Forrest
Education Editor
B
ullying perpetration decreased by
20 percent over a three-year period among youths with disabilities
who participated in a social and
emotional learning program, a new study
found.
More than 120 students with disabilities
at two school districts in the Midwest participated in the research, which was part of
a larger three-year clinical trial of the widely used social-emotional learning curricula
Second Step.
Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the study was led by
U. of I. bullying and youth violence expert
Dorothy L. Espelage. Co-authors of the
study were Joshua R. Polanin, of Vanderbilt
University’s Peabody Research Institute,
and Chad A. Rose, of the University of Missouri at Columbia.
During the sixth through eighth grades,
students in the intervention schools received a total of 41 Second Step lessons,
which addressed bullying, emotional regulation, empathy and communication skills.
Forty-seven children received the curricula,
and 76 peers were in the control group.
At the beginning of the study, students
were surveyed on their involvement in verbal and relational bullying, victimization
by peers and fighting. Students were re-assessed during each of the three subsequent
spring terms.
Self-reported bullying perpetration significantly decreased over the course of the
study among students with disabilities who
received the Second Step lessons.
“The significant reduction in bullying
perpetration over this three-year study is a
notable finding, because much of the existing literature suggests that students with
disabilities are overrepresented in the bullying dynamic,” said Espelage, the Gutgsell
Endowed Professor of child development
and Hardie Scholar of Education in the department of educational psychology. “Evidence suggests that this may be because
they are more likely to have social and
communication skills deficits, and these
are foundational skills taught in the Second
Step program.”
Equal numbers – 47 percent – of youths
in the intervention and the control groups
had learning disabilities, while the remainder had cognitive, speech/language
or emotional disabilities and/or health
impairments.
According to prior research, students
with behavioral disabilities are more likely
to be identified as bullies by their teachers
and peers than are other students.
Espelage and her co-authors hypothesize that the prevalence of peer aggression
among these students may be a function or
manifestation of their disabilities – perhaps
an aggressive reaction to social stimuli –
and whether they are placed in inclusive or
restrictive classrooms.
The potential impact of educational
placement is a notable issue, the researchers
said, because more than 39 percent of students with behavioral disorders are educated
in restrictive environments, according to
data from the U.S. Department of Education.
In a 2009 study, Rose and his colleagues
found that students with disabilities who
received their educational services in restrictive environments were twice as likely
to be bullies compared with peers without
disabilities.
They also were 1.3 times as likely to
bully peers compared with students who
had similar disabilities but were educated in
more inclusive environments.
Reductions in fighting were not significant among children who received the
Second Step intervention or their peers in
the control group, a finding that was unex-
photo by L. Brian Stauffer
Bullying and disabled students A study led by Dorothy L. Espelage, the Gutgsell
Endowed Professor of child development and Hardie Scholar, found that the popular
social-emotional learning program Second Step effectively reduced peer aggression
among youths with disabilities.
pected, given that significant reductions in
fighting were found in the larger clinical
trial from which the sample was drawn, the
researchers said.
The researchers hypothesized that the
SEL programming may have been more
successful at teaching students with disabilities to reflect on and actively manage
their impulses toward proactive aggression,
but not reactive aggression.
These students’ reactive aggression could
be a manifestation of the social information
processing deficits associated with their behavioral disabilities, prompting them to respond aggressively in nonthreatening social
situations, the researchers suggest.
If these behaviors are disability-related,
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specific interventions need to be developed – above and beyond universal SEL
programming – to identify and address possible triggers and social reinforcers for each
child and incorporate them into each child’s
Individualized Education Program, the researchers recommended.
Under federal law, each child eligible
for special education services must have an
Individualized Education Program, a document that specifies how their disability affects their learning process and provides
goals and objectives to help them learn
more effectively.
The paper is available online ahead of
publication in the journal Remedial and
Special Education. u
InsideIllinois
April 16, 2015 PAGE 7
Ancient human fossils from Laos reveal early human diversity
By Diana Yates
Life Sciences Editor
A
n ancient human skull
and a jawbone found
a few meters apart in a
cave in northern Laos
add to the evidence that early
modern humans were physically
quite diverse, researchers report in
the journal PLOS ONE.
The skull, found in 2009 in a
cave known as Tam Pa Ling in the
Annamite Mountains of presentday Laos, and reported in 2012 in
the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the
oldest modern human fossil found
in Southeast Asia. Its discovery
pushed back the date of modern
human migration through the region by as much as 20,000 years.
It revealed that early humans who
migrated to the islands and coasts
of Southeast Asia after migrating out of Africa also traveled inland much earlier than previously
thought, some 46,000 to 63,000
years ago.
The jaw was discovered in late
2010 and is roughly the same age
as the skull. Unlike the skull, it
has both modern and archaic human traits.
“In addition to being incredibly
small in overall size, this jaw has
a mixture of traits that combine
typical modern human anatomy,
such as the presence of a protrud-
photo by Fabrice Demeter
Human fossils Researchers found an ancient human skull, left,
with modern characteristics, and a human jaw, right, with modern
and archaic traits, in the same cave in northern Laos. Both artifacts
date to 46,000 to 63,000 years ago.
ing chin, with traits that are more
common of our archaic ancestors
like Neandertals – for example,
very thick bone to hold the molars
in place,” said U. of I. anthropology professor Laura Shackelford,
who led the study with anthropologist Fabrice Demeter, of the National Museum of Natural History
in Paris.
This combination of archaic
and modern human traits is not
unusual, Shackelford said. Other
ancient human fossils from Africa,
Eastern Europe and China also ex-
On vacation?
hibit this amalgam of characteristics, she said.
“Some researchers have used
these features as evidence that
modern humans migrating into
new regions must have interbred
with the archaic populations already present in those regions,”
Shackelford said. “But a more
productive way to look at this
variation is to see it as we see people today – showing many traits
along a continuum.
“Tam Pa Ling is an exceptional
site because it shows that very ear-
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Inside Illinois and receive by email an index and news updates between issues: go.illinois.edu/iiSubscribe
photo by L. Brian Stauffer
Early man U. of I. anthropology professor Laura
Shackelford and her colleagues found an ancient jaw and
skull fragments that show the diversity of early modern
humans in Southeast Asia.
ly modern humans migrating and
settling in eastern Asia demon-
strated a wide range of anatomy,”
Shackelford said. u
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Advertising rates and a full schedule with deadlines are
available online. go.illinois.edu/iiads
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InsideIllinois
PAGE 8 April 16, 2015
U. of I. expert Linda Tortorelli
A Minute With … TM Archives
on funding loss for the Autism Program
Editor’s note: April is Autism Awareness Month.
Earlier this month Illinois lawmakers announced that
$26 million in grant funding for social programs would
be suspended to help close a multibillion-dollar budgetary gap. Among the programs to lose funding is
the Autism Program (TAP) of Illinois, a statewide network of 13 nonprofit agencies and four universities,
including the U. of I. Linda Tortorelli is the Urbana campus resource coordinator for
TAP, which is a collaborative initiative of the departments of special education, and
of human and community development. Tortorelli spoke recently with News Bureau
education editor Sharita Forrest about TAP and the latest research on autism spectrum disorder.
What types of services does TAP
provide, and what will be the impact if
the state funding ends?
We are a community resource center
and part of the Family Resiliency Center.
We provide information, resources, training and consultations for parents, professionals or anyone interested in autism or
working with people on the spectrum.
We are the only parent training and education facility in the Champaign-Urbana
community, so when a child is diagnosed
with autism spectrum disorder, the family
is encouraged to call TAP.
Last year, we provided 270 consultations for parents and educators, and conducted training for 1,700 people, such as
teachers, first responders and health care
workers.
We also provide internships and educational experiences for U. of I. students.
Students gain experience working with
individuals who have autism and their
families through our resource center, and
they provide support for children with
ASD at University Primary School or by
participating in our social skills group.
All of our services are free and are not
billable under insurance or Medicaid. The
state budget reductions targeted programs
that don’t have Medicaid matching funds.
We have enough money in our rainy day
fund to carry us over until June 30, but all
of our funds will be gone then if the grant
is not reinstated.
What are some common
misconceptions about autism?
Some people believe that vaccines cause
autism. We have plenty of research that
definitively says that vaccines do not cause
autism.
Another common misconception is
that poor parenting causes autism. We still
don’t know what causes autism, but genetics and environment certainly are factors.
Most of the stories in the media focus
on children who have autism, but how
does ASD affect adults?
ASD is one of the few developmental
disabilities where people can have normal
or above-average intelligence but still be
quite impaired. Everybody thinks that if
you have a high-enough IQ, you should be
able to do whatever it is you want to do,
and that just isn’t the case.
It’s very challenging for people who
work with these individuals to understand
how to help them compensate for their severe social cognition deficits.
I am working with a young adult who
has high-functioning ASD and a master’s
degree in engineering, but is unable to
get a job because his social skills are so
impaired that he is not able to get past the
Recent interviews with UI experts
n Illinois historian Bruce Levine
on the 150-year anniversary of
the Confederate surrender at
Appomattox, Virginia.
April 6, 2015
n Anthropology professor Lisa
Lucero on how humans have a
history of contributing to and
adapting to climate change.
photo by David Riecks/ACES ICTS
interview. We have seen computer geniuses
who are unable to control their impulse to
touch other people’s computers.
Because they were so bright, most of
these people did not receive interventions
as children. People around them had no
idea how to address their odd or difficult
social behaviors and hoped they would just
outgrow these social challenges.
The research shows people with highfunctioning autism aren’t faring much
better in their adult lives than individuals
who have more severe disabilities. More
research is needed to figure out how to
help them.
Our schools are making strides but still
are a long way from helping these individuals obtain the social skills to be successful
in the workplace. Many of the higher-functioning people with ASD are unemployed
or under-employed.
Are there people who fly under the
radar and don’t get diagnosed until
adulthood?
I’ve had spouses come in and say, “I
think my husband is on the spectrum,” and,
usually, they are correct. I try to help them
understand what might be going on. I had a
very successful educator in his 50s come to
my new-diagnosis group, and it offered a
lot of hope to the parents of small children
and teenagers with ASD who were in that
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April 1, 2015
A Minute With ...™ is provided by the
U. of I. News Bureau. To view
archived interviews, visit
go.illinois.edu/amw.
group.
I had a woman in her 60s who received
an ASD diagnosis, and it was revolutionary
for her to finally piece everything together.
We are available and willing to help
anyone with ASD, regardless of age. I have
a group of professional women who came
to me individually looking to connect with
others who have ASD. They meet once a
month to network and share their
experiences.
We have had groups for teens and
adults, and we support other professionals
in the community who work with adults.
What might be important to know
about working or living with people who
have ASD?
People with ASD want the same things
that everyone else wants – meaningful
relationships, employment and involvement in their communities that contribute
to a happy life. Have patience and be open
to the unique contributions that people on
the spectrum can make when you just take
the time to get to know them and help
support them so their special gifts can be
realized. u
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InsideIllinois
PAGE 10
April 16, 2015
Eight honored with distinguished staff award
E
ight civil service staff employees
were honored with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Staff Award at
a banquet April 13. The award recognizes exceptional performance.
ON THE WEB
Recipients reshr.illinois.edu/
ceived $2,000, and
cdsa/cdsahall.html their names appear
on a plaque displayed in the Staff Human Resources Office. The names of past winners are available online.
Permanent staff employees with at least
two years of service or retired employees
in status appointments during the calendar
year may be nominated for the award. A
committee recommends finalists, who are
approved by the chancellor.
vvv
Carrie J. Anderson, an executive chef
for University Housing Dining Services,
oversees the chefs and production staff
members in residential dining. She also
serves as a role model, mentor and teacher
to many of these employees.
Michael D. Clark, a clerk for University
Housing who nominated Anderson, applauds her commitment and passion. “Her
collaborations, relationships with students
and employees, and her vast passion and
knowledge of food and people forms the
very environment that the University of Illinois prides itself on – an enriching experience that engages our future generations,”
he said.
Anderson goes beyond her expected
duties, Clark said. She has developed recipes for students with food allergies, taught
cooking classes and attends culinary conferences to learn about menu trends and
new preparation methods.
Anderson also has developed relationships with other organizations at the U. of I.
to create themed dinners and events, including the Lunar New Year Celebration with
the Asian American Cultural Center and
the Harvest Meal with the Native American
Cultural Center.
During Anderson’s time at the university, the U. of I. Dining’s Annual Chef’s
Challenge became an American Culinary
Federation-sanctioned event in 2013. She
also has received a bronze medal in the
American Culinary Federation Sanctioned
2006 Tastes of the World Chef Culinary
Conference at the University of Massachusetts. Most recently, she accepted FoodService Director magazine’s request to be on
its panel of 50 chefs.
vvv
Mary J. Ellerbe, an office support specialist for Asian American Studies, is responsible for answering questions from
students and visitors, scheduling classes,
arranging for classroom space and supervising student workers.
Christine Lyke, an office administrator
for Asian American Studies, said Ellerbe
is one of the most dedicated individuals on
the U. of I. campus. She has served the unit
since its inception in 1997, and was the only
support staff member during a transitionary
period during the academic year 2012-13.
“Mary’s knowledge of the department
and university, along with her diligent work
ethic, helps her complete projects in a timely manner, handle problems and make good
decisions with little supervision,” Lyke
said.
Lyke said Ellerbe is dedicated to the
department and her job, and Ellerbe constantly looks for ways to make the work
environment pleasant for faculty members.
“The department can always count on her
to be in attendance making sure that events
run smoothly, guests are taken care of and
students’ needs are met.”
In addition, Soo Ah Kwon, a professor
of Asian American Studies, said Ellerbe is
the face and heart of their department and
“there is always a solution with Mary, no
matter how difficult the situation may seem.
“She goes beyond anyone in our depart-
Carrie J. Anderson
Mary J. Ellerbe
Diane K. Kiddoo
Jessica R. Risley
Douglas V. Robertson
Kathryn D. Schilson
Virginia G. Swisher
Brian K. Woller
vvv
Jessica R. Risley, a veterinary technician specialist in the department of anesthesiology and pain management for the
Veterinary Teaching Hospital, performs duties similar to those of a certified registered
nurse anesthetist at a hospital for people.
Risley works toward giving her patients
the highest standard of care in the intensive
care unit. She also manages technicians,
residents and an intern.
Ashley Mitek, a veterinary resident for
the department of veterinary clinical medicine who nominated Risley, said she goes
beyond her assigned job responsibilities
and will stay after hours to help a recovering patient or to start an emergency case.
She said other specialists constantly look
to Risley for advice and help.
“In a crisis, Jessica is calm and quickly
troubleshoots the problem to save lives,”
Mitek said.
Risley is one of 186 technicians in the
United States who has earned the certification of Veterinary Technician Specialist
(Anesthesia) after passing a rigorous examination, demonstrating advanced skills,
and logging thousands of critical anesthesia
cases. She has taught more than 1,000 veterinary students and has anesthetized 7,800
client-owned cats and dogs, 1,000 cats and
dogs from humane societies, and eight tigers from when she worked at an exotic feline rescue center.
“I admire her character and willingness
to go above and beyond what is necessary
to help others make it through the ups and
downs of life,” Mitek said.
vvv
SEE CDSAS, PAGE 19
photos by L. Brian Stauffer
ment to promote positive morale by displaying a congenial, supportive attitude,
and providing service to others.”
vvv
Diane K. Kiddoo was hired as the water
station subforeman for University Housing
in 2013. Her responsibilities include assisting the building craftsmen supervisor
with supervisory and administrative duties,
along with operating and maintaining the
water distribution systems, cooling towers
and water softeners. She also works with all
pest control operations.
According to nominator Margaret Machele Caston, a water station operator for University Housing, dealing with pest issues is
where Kiddoo shines.
“She successfully relates with students
and their parents when dealing with delicate
pest issues, informing them of the facts of
the situation and what will be done to resolve it,” Caston said.
In addition, Kiddoo trains building service workers to teach them about identifying
and protecting themselves from pests, most
notably bed bugs. She works to get Housing
crafts and trades involved with the exclusion aspect of the Integrated Pest Management program, which includes physically
keeping pests out, such as by adding a door
sweep or fixing a window screen.
In addition, after much hard work and an
on-site evaluation, Housing earned Green
Shield Certification by the IPM Institute of
North America, becoming only the second
institution of higher education to earn this
certification.
For the past two years, Kiddoo has attended the Midwest Association of Higher
Education Facilities Officers conference
as a speaker, teaching Housing’s integrated pest management techniques to other
universities.
InsideIllinois
April 16, 2015
PAGE 11
Awards recognize campus excellence in public engagement
O
utstanding individual and group
outreach efforts were recognized
April 14 with the 2015 Campus
Awards for Excellence in Public
Engagement. The awards were presented
by Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise and Pradeep
K. Khanna, the associate chancellor for corporate and international relations.
The awards recognize faculty members,
academic professionals and students who
have consistently applied their knowledge
and expertise to issues for the public good.
Each faculty member and academic professional receives $1,500 and a permanent
$1,500 salary increase. The team award
includes $5,000 to the sponsoring unit to
support or enhance the project honored.
Students receive $1,500 to be used for professional development or other educational
activities.
Those honored:
Mark Taylor, a professor in the School
of Architecture, was honored for his untiring contributions to improve lives in Haiti.
In 2010, the magnitude 7.0 Haiti earthquake left the town of Léogâne, at the epicenter of the quake, catastrophically damaged – 80 to 90 percent of the town’s buildings were affected. Taylor has made many
trips to Léogâne to help assess the damaged
buildings. His trips revealed the enormous
challenges related to building safe and
resilient structures in a country where
many people live on less than $1 a day. Undaunted by these challenges, Taylor developed collaborations, both internationally
and locally, to improve building design,
construction practices and the quality of
locally produced building materials.
He brought his experiences back to U.
of I. students and encouraged them to engage in addressing the real-world problems
of rebuilding in a very challenging context.
Taylor’s direct positive impact on Léogâne
exemplifies true engagement. He designed
and helped to construct a six-classroom
school. He worked to build a midwiferytraining center known locally as the Kay
Fanm Yo (Women’s House).
Taylor listens to the needs of the Haitian
communities, understands what skills and resources are available and then works with each
community to rebuild with more resilience.
Whenever possible, he brings this research into the U. of I. classroom, where he
inspires the next generation of architects to
work passionately with underserved communities. He also aims to reach a wider
audience through online open-source resources and informative videos.
Jerrod Henderson, a lecturer in the
department of chemical and biomolecular
engineering, is passionate about advancing
the U. of I.’s public engagement mission.
In the hallway of Noyes Laboratory
hangs a framed photograph of U. of I.
graduate St. Elmo Brady, the first AfricanAmerican to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry
in the United States. Henderson has always
been inspired by the photo, and he and his
team named their program after the famous
chemist.
The St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy
was created to expose underrepresented
fourth- and fifth-grade boys to science,
technology, engineering and mathematics,
using an innovative approach. Participants
engage in hands-on STEM experiments,
inquiry-based learning modules and learn
about STEM pioneers and inventors. In addition, fathers, male relatives or mentors
attend sessions and conduct experiments
alongside participants. Elementary-age
boys who show interest in the disciplines
are invited to participate in this program.
Henderson joined the department in
2010. Since then, he has been dedicated to
increasing the number of students who pursue STEM careers. He speaks to students
about the keys to academic success, describing the challenges he faced during his
pursuit of a STEM career. He has a passion
for mentoring and believes that exposing
Mark Taylor
Jerrod Henderson
Rachel Storm
photos by L. Brian Stauffer
students to STEM early will have a lasting
impact on their lives and their academic
pursuits.
Henderson’s efforts provide unique opportunities for other U. of I. faculty and
staff members to become involved in community outreach activities, especially those
involving minorities.
Rachel Storm, the director of the Women’s Resources Center, has a passion for
community, media and art. Storm’s name is
synonymous with volunteer work and activism, focusing on anti-violence and justice
both locally and internationally.
She is the founder of Four Walls and a
Roof, a nonprofit organization that seeks to
establish sustainable housing for survivors
of violence in Cotacachi, Ecuador.
In 2012, Storm founded Outta the
Mouths of Babes, a youth education program dedicated to media literacy, community engagement and cultural diversity. The
project invites area youth to become radio
correspondents, where kids comment on
social, political and cultural happenings
around the Champaign-Urbana area.
In July 2014, Storm spearheaded the Annual Feminist Film Festival, which screens
short films made by U. of I. students. The
festival drew more than 100 people to the
Independent Media Center. Storm supports
the YWCA Women in Leadership program
and collaborates on the Hot Topics dialogue
program. She was part of the recent fifth annual Ecofeminism Summit at the U. of I.
The Women’s Resources Center seeks
to improve the campus climate for women
and develop and implement programs that
address women’s issues and gender-related
concerns.
She earned her B.A. at the U. of I. in international studies/gender studies and her
M.Ed. in education policy, organization and
leadership. Currently pursuing her Ph.D.,
Storm’s research examines relationships of
power between the state, nongovernment
organizations and grassroots feminist organizations in Ecuador.
She works to build bridges where there
are social divides, and she does it with exuberance and energy.
Vivian Carla A. Felicio, a doctoral student in the department of curriculum and
instruction in the College of Education,
exudes the true meaning of public engagement through the work she does related to
diversity, multiculturalism and the advancement of the education of socioeconomically
challenged children.
Vivian is a leader and supporter of the
Luso-Brazilian Association on the U. of I.
campus. She has embraced the challenge
of highlighting a culture and language
relatively unfamiliar to the Midwest. She
has developed programs on Brazilian culture for specific campus and community
Societal impact Nicole Allen, center, a professor of psychology, is pictured with
many of the students that have helped her with the Psychological Services Center
Advocacy Project, which was recognized with a Campus Award for Excellence in
Public Engagement. The project serves girls involved in (or at risk for involvement in)
the juvenile justice system and survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
audiences.
She was awarded a grant from the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago for purchasing literature books for public libraries of
Champaign-Urbana.
She has engaged in international outreach partnerships with governmental organizations and the private sector in Brazil
to improve the educational experiences of
students in Brazilian public schools and to
increase international relations beyond Brazilian borders.
Noah Lenstra, a doctoral student in the
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, is known for working in community informatics. Lenstra has worked to
preserve the Katherine Dunham Archives
in East St. Louis, Illinois, which document Dunham’s contributions as a dancer,
scholar, activist and leader in the AfricanAmerican community.
Lenstra has used digital technology to
preserve and provide access to the history
of Champaign-Urbana’s African-American
community. He joined community gatherings, attended church services and contacted public institutions and private individuals to assemble and place online 60,000
documents, 30,000 photos and 7,000 hours
of video.
As part of eBlackCU, Lenstra worked
to organize both the campus and the community, and to better connect the two. He
produced a 222-page monograph profiling
how the U. of I. has engaged the local African-American community, both past and
present.
The Psychological Services Center
Advocacy Project, led by Nicole Allen,
a professor of psychology, connects the U.
of I. with the broader community on issues
of critical social impact. The project serves
girls involved in (or at risk for involvement
in) the juvenile justice system and survivors
of sexual assault and domestic violence.
This strength-based, client-directed empowerment program connects individuals
and families with trained advocates for 10
to 15 weeks to work on their chosen goals.
The project is based on an ecological and
empowerment approach to intervention.
This approach recognizes that for individuals facing complex challenges, there is often a pressing need to change the context in
which they are living and to activate and encourage existing strengths so that individuals are poised to proactively respond to their
life circumstances and to pursue individual
changes on their own terms.
The project has provided a superb opportunity for undergraduates. The effort has
trained and supervised hundreds of advocates, supported hundreds of women and
girls and mobilized more than 18,000 hours
of service for these vulnerable populations
who are often grossly underserved by the
traditional service-delivery system.
The project is delivered through a service-learning framework in the department
of psychology. Supervision for the project
has been provided by eight graduate students: Jennifer Trotter, Sadie Larsen,
Shara Davis, Emily Dworkin, Shabnam
Javdani, Angela Walden, Elizabeth Trawick, Miatta Echetebu and Suvarna Menon.
The project is changing lives, empowering people and improving the
community. u
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InsideIllinois
April 16, 2015 briefnotes
PAGE 17
Allerton Park and Retreat Center
‘Forest to Mansion’ dinner is April 26
Take “know your food” to the next level with a
“Forest to Mansion” morel mushroom dinner at Allerton
Park and Retreat Center. The event takes place from 2-7:30
p.m. April 26.
The event begins as guests join Allerton’s natural areas
manager Nate Beccue on an educational hike through Allerton Woods to forage for morel mushrooms and learn to
identify other spring edibles. Guests then return to the mansion for a meal prepared by Chef Ann Swanson.
Cost is $95 per guest for the hike and dinner or $90 per
guest for dinner only. Reservations are required and seating
is limited. For reservations, call 217-333-3287. For more
information visit http://allerton.illinois.edu/event/forest-tomansion-dinner/.
Allerton Park and Retreat Center
Volunteer sessions are April 25, May 16
For anyone interested in volunteering at Allerton Park
and Retreat Center, orientation sessions are April 25 and
May 16. Volunteers only need to attend one session.
Those interested in volunteering should meet in the visitor center auditorium from 9-10 a.m. to get questions answered and find out about volunteer opportunities. Events
and programs are getting into full swing for the year, and
dedicated volunteers are critical to the success of these programs. The events are open to the public and no preregistration is required.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Activities aim to create awareness
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The U. of I.
is committed to creating and sustaining an environment
where sexual violence, both verbal and physical, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The university’s commitment to supporting survivors includes opening up dialogues and avenues of discussion, providing educational
events and activities, and engaging in conversations to end
this social problem.
“One of the largest obstacles we see in sexual assault is
the silence that many bystanders choose to take when they
have witnessed or are aware of a sexual assault,” said Kimberly Dalluge, a member of the Rape Awareness and Prevention Committee. “This can be deadly because it could
encourage the offender to repeat the same actions.”
To support this cause throughout April, the community
is encouraged participate in the scheduled events found at
go.illinois.edu/saam2015. The lineup includes activities to
spread awareness and to support victims.
Allerton Park and Retreat Center
Concert series highlights music, nature
Allerton Park and Retreat Center will host a concert
series throughout the spring, summer and fall, featuring a
variety of musical genres performed in its unique natural
setting. The series is presented by the U. of I. Employees
Credit Union.
The rustic Allerton Music Barn will be hopping with
the Allerton Hootenanny on April 17 featuring three different musical performances: Bow-Dacious String Band (6-7
p.m.), Sam Payne and Friends (7-8 p.m.) and Bones Jugs
‘N Harmony (8:30-10 p.m.). The second annual Children’s
Fair and Concert on May 3 will feature The Dreamtree
Shakers in two separate performances.
Young and old will enjoy the lively Irish Fest on June 5,
complete with Irish dancing, a Celtic kids’ playground and
performances from The Shanties (6-7:30 p.m.) and Fiddle-
“
YMCA hosts exhibition that explores African-Native American identity
IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas” will be on view at the University YMCA’s Murphy Gallery through May 14. The photography exhibition focuses on the seldom-viewed history and complex lives
of people of dual African-American and Native American
ancestry.
Through the themes of
ON THE WEB
policy, community, creative
www.nmai.si.edu/
resistance and lifestyles,
exhibitions/indivisible/
the exhibition tells stories
of cultural integration and
diffusion as well as the struggle to define and preserve identity. “IndiVisible” is produced
by the National Museum of
the American Indian in collaboration with the National
Museum of African American
History and Culture and the
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. After
a brief pause of the exhibition,
viewing of “IndiVisible” will
resume at the Murphy Gallery
from June through August and
then will continue to travel to
museums around the nation.
For more information, see
universityymca.org/art. Local
sponsorships include the Bruce photo by Graham F. Page, courtesy Experience
Project and Science Fiction Museum
D. Nesbitt African American Music
and Hall of Fame
Cultural Center, the Native Musical legend Jimi
American House and the Com- Hendrix, at The Royal
mittee on Race and Ethnicity. Albert Hall, London, Feb. 18,
The exhibition was curated 1969, who spoke proudly of
by leading scholars, educators his Cherokee grandmother,
and community leaders includ- was one of many famous
ing Gabrielle Tayac, (Piscat- African-Americans in the
away), Robert Keith Collins, 1960s who cited family
(African-Choctaw
descent), traditions linking them to
Angela Gonzales (Hopi), Judy Native American ancestry.
Kertèsz, Penny Gamble-Williams (Chappaquiddick Wampanoag) and Thunder Williams (Afro-Carib). African-Native
Americans from across North America share their perspectives
in a 10-minute video in the exhibition.
Support for the exhibition is provided by the Akaloa Resource
Foundation and the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the
Smithsonian Latino Center. The University YMCA’s showing
of “IndiVisible” is a part of the Art at the Y program, a causedriven, public arts initiative of the University YMCA. u
Fire (8-9:30 p.m.). On June 19, the musical Garden Walk
will start at the mansion and end in the Sunken Garden with
The Chip McNeil Quartet (7:30-9:30 p.m.). Other groups
will be announced.
Outdoor summer music continues on Allerton’s gatehouse lawn with Candy Foster and Shades of Blue with his
strong vocals and high-energy style 7-9 p.m. July 10. Traditional bluegrass from Big Bluestem String Band (6-7 p.m.)
and The Special Consensus (7:30-9 p.m.) is featured Aug.
21. St. Louis-based country/rock Matt Poss Band will perform 7-9 p.m. Sept. 11, and the series will culminate with
U. of I. alumnus Viktor Krauss at the Allerton Homecoming
courtesy Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University
Jazzman Adolphus “Doc” Cheatham
(1905-97)of Cherokee and Choctaw heritage,
was a journeyman trumpeter and vocalist
who received many awards in recognition
of his remarkably long career. Here, he
joins trombonist Vic Dickinson and alto
saxophonist Earle Warren during an
appearance at the Overseas Press Club in
New York.
courtesy Sam DeVenney
Family portrait A Comanche family
from the early 1900s is shown. The elder
man and his wife, in traditional Comanche
attire, are shown with their niece (center),
Wife-per (also known as Frances E. Wright).
She was the daughter and wife of an
African-American. Her father was a Buffalo
Soldier who deserted and married into the
Comanches. Frances married an AfricanAmerican man. Henry (center left) and
Lorenzano (center right) are her sons.
concert 7:30-9:30 p.m. Sept. 17.
In addition to series sponsor U. of I. Employees Credit
Union, sponsors include The News-Gazette, Illinois Public
Media, The Ayers Family, The Friends of Allerton, Country
Arbors, The Atkins Group, Barham Benefit Group, Champaign Surplus, Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District,
Kennedy Hutson Associates, Kirby Medical Center, Rick
Ridings Ford and These Four Walls.
For more information about performers, concert fees
and overnight accommodations, visit [email protected]
or call 217-333-3287.
SEE BRIEFS, PAGE 18
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April 16, 2015
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iSEE/OBFS
Great pricing on recycled paper
The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment and the Office of Business and Financial Services
are encouraging campus units to buy reams of 30 percent
recycled paper from Facilities and Services’ iStores page
for less cost than reams of virgin paper from OfficeMax
on iBuy.
Joining in this effort will help reduce demands on new
paper made only from tree pulp. After a recent agreement
between Office Depot OfficeMax and Facilities and Services Stores and Receiving, Aspen 30 high-quality 30 percent
recycled content office paper can now be purchased from
iStores for $3.16 per ream, $31.28 per case (10 reams) and
$1,226 per pallet (40 cases). By comparison, virgin paper
from OfficeMax costs $3.30 per ream.
University Housing is the first customer to take advantage of this offer. As a participant in iSEE’s Certified Green
Office program, Housing already had committed to buying
at least 30 percent recycled content that is Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper. Housing now will fulfill all
of its office paper needs with Aspen 30 purchased through
iStores.
The campus uses an estimated 300 tons of virgin paper
per year. According to calculations made through the Environmental Paper Network’s Paper Calculator, switching all
campus offices from zero percent recycled content paper
to 30 percent recycled content paper would annually save
2,182 trees, reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
into the atmosphere by 188,026 pounds and save 1,019,769
gallons of water that would otherwise be used for paper
production.
Orders may be placed at my.fs.illinois.edu/istores; prices
are subject to change.
iSEE
Green marketing pioneer to give keynote
Sustainability strategist, green marketing pioneer and
founder of J. Ottman consulting firm Jacquelyn Ottman will
inspire the U. of I. to make sustainability part of everyone’s
work and play during the Earth Week 2015 keynote address
April 22.
Ottman will recount her personal journey of integrating sustainability into her marketing career and offer ways
students and faculty and community members can do the
same.
The keynote begins at 4 p.m. in Room 149 of the National Soybean Research Center, and will be followed
immediately by an awards ceremony for the Institute for
Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Certified Green
Office Program, Greeks Go Green and Campus Conservation Nationals.
The Earth Week 2015 keynote address is made possible
by support from ActGreen; Students for Environmental
Concerns; the Student Organization Resource Fee; the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment; and the
Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations. More Earth
Week information, including the schedule, may be found at
sustainability.illinois.edu.
U. of I. chapter of AAUP
Promotion, tenure workshop is April 30
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Urbana Provost Ilesanmi Adesida will be the principal panelist April
30 at a workshop titled “Achieving Tenure and Promotion –
Policies and Procedures on the Urbana Campus” sponsored
by the U. of I. Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The program will begin at 2:30 p.m. in
Room 210 Illini Union, the General Lounge.
Adesida and his fellow panelists will make short presentations and then lead a discussion and answer questions
from the audience. This program should be of particular
interest to new and continuing tenure-track assistant professors and associate professors seeking promotion, and to
those mentoring these individuals or serving on promotion
and tenure committees.
The panelists (and the topics they will address): Adesida
and Abbas Benmamoun, the vice provost for faculty affairs
and academic policies (campus policies, three-year review
procedures); Barbara Wilson, the dean of the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences (dean’s and college’s perspective); James A. Imlay, a professor of microbiology and past
chair of the Campus Committee on Promotion and Tenure
(procedures followed by the U. of I. Promotion and Tenure Committee); Craig M. Koslofsky, a professor of history
and past chair and current member of the U. of I. Faculty
Advisory Committee (FAC, appeal procedures); and John
Prussing, the past president of the U. of I. Chapter of the
American Association of University Professors (association’s position and support provided by the association at
the national and campus levels).
No prior registration is required and all faculty members
are welcome. Refreshments will be served. For further
information, contact Harry H. Hilton at 217-333-2653 or
[email protected].
U. of I. chapter of the SUAA
Local legislators to speak April 26
A panel of local legislators will discuss major issues facing the Illinois General Assembly this spring session at the
spring meeting of the U. of I. chapter of the State Universities Annuitants Association on April 26 at the I Hotel and
Conference Center.
Refreshments will be served starting at 1:30 p.m., and
the panel presentation will begin at 2 p.m. The event is free
and open to the public.
The panel will include Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet;
Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign; and Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana. The General Assembly’s spring session
will consider many substantive issues facing higher education. The program will begin with a brief presentation
from each legislator followed by ample time for questions
about the issues of greatest concern to the association’s
members.
Linda Brookhart, the executive director for the association, will provide the latest information on the association’s
legal challenges to recent health care and pension legislation. There will be a brief business meeting at which members of the executive committee will be elected.
The association is a statewide organization whose members are current employees and retirees of Illinois public
universities, community colleges and allied agencies (i.e.,
those in the State Universities Retirement System). The association’s main purpose is to advocate a strong and secure
retirement pension and health benefit system for all SURS
members, whether active employees or retirees.
Spring Jam 2015
Quad concert noise may impact others
On April 26, several campus organizations will host the
Spring Jam 2015 outdoor concert on the U. of I. Quad. The
show is open only to U. of I. students with an i-Card and
will feature several national acts. Amplified sound will be
in use intermittently on the Quad beginning with equipment
sound checks at 10 a.m., with the two bands playing continuously from 2 to 6 p.m.
The hosting organizations are working closely with various campus units – including the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Public Safety, Facilities and SerSEE BRIEFS, PAGE 19
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April 16, 2015 BRIEFS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
vices and the Office of the Registrar – in the planning of
this event to ensure that it is a fun and safe celebration.
The event may affect others who are on campus at the
time, particularly those in buildings on or near the Quad.
Those with concerns about the concert may contact Laurel Rosch, the Illini Union associate director, at ljrosch@
illinois.edu.
Beckman Institute
Video game support for kids with cancer
Steven Gonzalez Jr., the founder of The Survivor Games,
will present a seminar titled “The Survivor Games: Surviving Chemotherapy through Video Games” at noon April 24
in Room 5602 Beckman Institute.
The Survivor Games is a virtual arcade where teenagers with cancer can play, watch and discuss video games in
a safe and supportive environment that builds friendships,
confidence, strength and hope so that they don’t have to
endure cancer alone. Gonzalez, a cancer survivor, will describe his journey and the benefits of gaming technology
for health.
A roundtable discussion will follow.
The lecture is sponsored by the Beckman Institute for
Advanced Science and Technology and the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Initiative.
Krannert Art Museum
MFA students exhibit, perform
Eleven MFA candidates from a broad range of disciplines in the School of Art and Design are exhibiting at
Krannert Art Museum through May 2. The annual Master
of Fine Arts Exhibition, sponsored by the museum and by
CDSAS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
Douglas V. Robertson, a building service worker for Facilities and Services,
does his job admirably, always with a smile
and a willingness to go above and beyond
what is required.
His duties involve ordering supplies, caring and maintaining for equipment, reporting needed repairs, seasonally removing
snow from building entrances, emptying
waste containers and restocking supplies.
Carla E. Caceres, the director for the
School of Integrative Biology and a professor of animal biology, said Robertson is
very respectful of the lab space and of those
working in Morrill Hall. The hall houses
plants, animals and insects, and there are
multiple restrictions in place regarding the
types of cleaning products and procedures
that may be used.
“Doug has worked to form personal relationships with the scientists in the building.
He has been most respectful of lab and office space, asking occupants what can and
cannot be cleaned,” Caceres said. “As a result, both Doug and the faculty and students
feel that their labs are cleaned appropriately, without doing harm to the scholarship in
the space.”
Caceres said Robertson maintains a positive attitude.
“Doug’s attitude is such that everyone
wants to work with him to keep the building clean, and his high standards and attention to details add the extra sparkle to our
home,” Caceres said.
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PAGE 19
John and Alice Pfeffer, showcases works that represent the
culmination of intense artistic development for graduate
students in studio art and design. The exhibition highlights
and celebrates the artists’ exceptional creativity, curiosity
and inventiveness. Exhibiting artists include Megan Diddie, Jie (Sylvia)
Ding, Cherie Fanning, Krystal Harper, Maurice Meilleur,
Daniella Pavlic, Jaime Sawka, Alexandra Schutz, Randi
Stella, Laura Wennstrom and Hailun Zhou. The exhibition opened on April 11 with a public reception and performance art by Wennstrom with Kirstie Simson titled “It’s Heavy on this Side.” A second performance
involving Wennstrom’s artwork titled “mass” by Simson
and Elise Frost will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 16.
For more information, visit the Krannert Art Museum
website at kam.illinois.edu/mfa.
tion of production photos and designs from six of Williams’
plays.
n 10 p.m. April 16, Studio Theatre. Tom Mitchell will
lead a post-show discussion of “Not About Nightingales.”
n 1 p.m. April 17, Krannert Room (Level 5 of Krannert
Center). “Recognizing Genius in the Young Playwright.”
Undergraduate students will present their papers on the
early works of Williams.
n 2 p.m. April 18, Drama Rehearsal Room (Level 2 of
Krannert Center). “Act of Love: A Multimedia Performance
of an Early Political Play.” This is a performance of an unpublished early manuscript of Williams, an anti-war play
that includes music, dance and poetry.
All the events are free and open to the public.
More information about the production can be found online at krannertcenter.com.
Department of theatre
Beckman Institute
Events celebrate ‘Nightingales’
Optical imaging workshop is May 26-29
Several special events will look at the early work of Tennessee Williams in conjunction with a production of Williams’ “Not About Nightingales” at Krannert Center for the
Performing Arts.
The play about prisoner abuse was written by Williams
while he was a college student and was first produced in
1998. The Krannert Center production is directed by Tom
Mitchell, a professor and the associate head of the U. of I.
department of theatre. The production continues April 1619, the final production in the department’s multiyear project of producing Williams’ early plays.
Special events in conjunction with the production:
n Krannert Center’s Studio Theatre lobby. An exhibi-
The Fast Optical Imaging Workshop, organized by Gabriele Gratton and Monica Fabiani, professors of psychology and part of the Beckman Institute’s Cognitive Neuroscience Group, will be held at the Beckman Institute on May
26-29. The four-day workshop will cover basic principles
of fast optical imaging, common applications, and recording and analytic techniques. The workshop will include lectures and hands-on sessions. Reference tools and software
will be provided.
The registration deadline is May 1. More information
can be found at publish.illinois.edu/optical-imaging-summer-school/.u
Kathryn D. Schilson, an office administrator for the department of Spanish and
Portuguese in the School of Literatures,
Cultures and Linguistics, is the sole executive officer support person for the head
of the department and for the director of
Second Language Acquisition and Teacher
Education. She also has administrative responsibilities for the University Language
Academy for Children, which provides
Spanish-language instruction to children at
University Primary School. She works on
appointment paperwork for faculty members and graduate students, arranges course
schedules, and makes travel and purchasing
arrangements for the department.
Melissa A. Bowles, a professor of Spanish and Portuguese and the director of graduate studies, said she believes Schilson’s
title as office administrator does not do justice to the “multitude of responsibilities she
takes on and the innovation she shows in
her work.” Bowles said the department of
Spanish and Portuguese formerly had four
support staff members, but now Schilson
“literally does the job that those four used
to do.”
“She has graciously and humbly been
providing excellent service to the university
for more than 20 years,” Bowles said.
Bowles said Schilson constantly looks
for ways to improve the department.
“I have asked if she had any suggestions
for improving the way we do things, and in
every case, she has had valuable feedback
that has ultimately simplified processes and
made them more transparent for students,
faculty and staff, alike,” Bowles said.
vvv
Virginia G. Swisher, an office support
specialist for the department of gender and
women’s studies, approaches new tasks
with enthusiasm and volunteers for additional work, according to Stephanie Foote,
the department chair and a professor of
English.
Foote said when Swisher first took on
work in the department, the unit had been
going through difficult changes, but Swisher energetically stepped into the position.
“I will always be grateful to her for filling that void, and for shouldering additional
work so that others could put their families
and their health first,” Foote said.
The small department and small staff
means workers must take on multiple roles,
and they must constantly learn and relearn
their jobs, Foote said.
“Fortunately for GWS, Virginia is always up for that challenge,” she said.
Swisher’s job duties range widely and
include updating the department website,
purchasing supplies and maintaining inventories, scheduling equipment and building
maintenance, processing reimbursements
as well as making faculty purchases (books,
travel and accommodations), maintaining
calendars for the chair and the unit, ordering textbooks and inputting courses into
Banner, creating the course guide and managing the logistics of departmental event
programming.
Foote is grateful to have Swisher in the
department.
“Virginia says that she loves her job and
looks forward to coming to work every
day. In that sense, she is fortunate – but not
nearly as fortunate as GWS is to have her,”
Foote said.
vvv
Brian K. Woller, a lab animal caretaker
for the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, is responsible for the overall care of small pets,
horses, cattle or other farm animals.
Dennis D. French, a professor of veterinary clinical medicine, said he is impressed
with Woller’s ability to quickly troubleshoot and solve problems while never appearing to be overwhelmed during demanding situations.
“Brian is routinely working to improve
the workflow and cleanliness of our hospital, as well as organizing our student employees with regard to their work schedule
and how they manage their hours,” French
said. “I have been excited and exhilarated to
observe Mr. Woller’s initiative and suggestions for new work methods that increase
productivity within our hospital setting.
He has taken steps to identify various tools
that enhance our environment and ability to
maintain bio-secure areas, as well as saving
time and money for the university.”
Woller is dedicated to his work and those
he serves, according to Cynthia Pruitt.
Pruitt, an office administrator for the
Agricultural Animal Care and Use Program, said Woller makes sure the animals
are cared for, and he offers suggestions and
creative ideas to manage the animals.
“With a huge reduction in staffing of the
Large Animal Clinic caretakers over the last
few years, excellence and perfection could
easily take a back seat, but not with Brian,”
Pruitt said. u
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PAGE 20
InsideIllinois
photo – and how they used it to negotiate
their anxieties then about immigration, somericans see a lot of Abraham cial change and American identity.
Lincoln – on our money, in adThe photo published in McClure’s magvertising, in photos and films. It’s azine that year was unlike any the public
easy to think we know the guy.
had seen before. This was not Lincoln in the
But what we see in Lincoln may say years leading up to and then during his presmore about us and our times than about idency, where he was visibly worn down by
him, said U. of I. the Civil War.
ON THE WEB
communication
This was a 30-something Lincoln:
press.uillinois.edu professor Cara well-groomed, clean-shaven, looking like
Finnegan.
a middle-class gentleman. He was at least
“Today, we get lots of Lincolns,” she 10 years younger than in any other known
said, but there have been many different photo, and many readers even had trouble
versions of Lincoln through the 150 years recognizing him, Finnegan said.
since his assassination in April 1865.
“This image really did kind of blow peoFinnegan is the author of an upcoming ple’s minds,” she said. In two later issues,
book, “Making Photography Matter,” about McClure’s would publish seven full pages
how people viewed and experienced cer- of letters responding to the image, many of
tain photos at the time they first were made them coming from society’s elite.
public. Her book examines the reaction to
A Brooklyn newspaper editor wrote
photos of the battlefield dead during the that the photo showed a young man “upon
Civil War, of child labor early in the 1900s, whose brow there already gleamed the iland of economic hardship during the Great lumination of intellect, the inspiration of
Depression.
patriotism.”
Another chapter explores the flood of reA history professor wrote that the portrait
sponse in 1895 to a newly discovered photo “indicates the natural character, strength,
of Lincoln, three decades after his death. insight, and humor of the man.”
Finnegan describes how the times shaped
A former state supreme court justice
what people saw, or wanted to see, in the made note of Lincoln’s “pleasant and kindly
eyes, through which you feel,
as you look into them, that you
Young Lincoln are looking into a great heart.”
This photo of a
Yet as Finnegan points out
30-something
in
her
book, the photograph is
Abraham Lincoln,
“not
particularly
unusual” and
the earliest portrait
hardly
seems
to
justify “such
of the future
broad
claims
or
florid
prose.”
president, brought
So
why
the
reaction?
a flood of letters to
For one thing, “we have
the magazine that
to
keep in mind that people
first published it,
just
didn’t see a lot of photothree decades after
graphs
for much of the 19th
Lincoln’s death.
century,” Finnegan said. That’s
Image from McClure's magazine
difficult to grasp in the age of
By Craig Chamberlain
Social Sciences Editor
A
Instagram.
Viewers
at
that time also had
particular ideas
about what a photo could tell you
about a person’s
character, influenced by pseudosciences
about
facial traits and
the shape of one’s
head, Finnegan Cara Finnegan
said. These were
ideas that predated photography, but photography had given them new life.
As a result, viewers at the time believed
a photographic portrait communicated evidence of moral character, both good and
bad, Finnegan said. The same ideas could
also suggest that someone was criminal, immoral or not American, often based problematically on features common to certain
racial or ethnic groups.
The letters in McClure’s “are a place
where you see really concretely how people are using these ideas about Lincoln and
these images of Lincoln to support their arguments about what America should be at
the end of the 19th century,” Finnegan said.
“They also are asking, essentially, ‘what is
a true American?’”
As a result, Lincoln is becoming what
some would call the “first American,” or
what Carl Sandburg would call the “national head” – a kind of embodiment of the
nation.
That’s further illustrated in the way that
many of the McClure’s letter writers addressed Lincoln’s physical appearance,
“going to great lengths to prove that Lincoln wasn’t the stereotype of a kind of ugly,
awkward person that a lot of people said
that he was,” Finnegan said.
“I think they were going to those
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photo by Della Perrone
How we view Lincoln may say more about us than him
April 16, 2015
Photo history “Making Photography
Matter: A Viewer’s History From the Civil
War to the Great Depression” is scheduled
for publication in June by U. of I. Press.
lengths,” she said, “because if you want to
argue that somebody is an embodiment of
the nation, the ‘first American,’ etc., he has
to somehow be worth that designation.”
Finnegan starts her chapter on the Lincoln
photograph with a quote from an unidentified writer, published with a 1917 article in
Life magazine: “People take awful liberties
with Lincoln … It almost makes you wish
that Lincoln had been copyrighted.”
The need to see Lincoln in a way that fits
the times seems as true in the present as in
the past, Finnegan said. One example might
be found in the 2012 film “Lincoln,” where
the president was portrayed as a man “who
sought political compromise while trying to
keep his moral character intact,” Finnegan
said.
For current-day politicians who might
want to move beyond political deadlock, she said, that’s a Lincoln who might
“resonate.” u