Burris refuses to resign from Senator seat

Illinois Senator Roland Burris refused to resign on Tuesday, February 24, despite pressure from his home state, fellow Senators, including Illinois Senator Richard Durbin, and others. Burris has changed his story several times about whether he tried to raise money for former governor Rod Blagojevich.

According to Kent Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at UIS, national Democrats are feeling like Burris "hung them out to dry," as quoted in a February 24, 2009, article in the Associated Press.

Download a PDF of the article
20090224-AP-Burrisnotresigning.pdf

Burris returns to DC despite calls for resignation

Illinois senator Roland Burris returned to Washington D.C. on February 24 in the midst of calls for his resignation because of accusations that he has lied about circumstances surrounding his appointment from former governor Rod Blagojevich.

If Burris chooses not to resign, he may find it difficult to recruit a staff and could be isolated politically, according to Kent Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at UIS.

Redfield's quotes were featured in a February 24, 2009, article from the Associated Press about Burris.

Download a PDF of the article
20090224-AP-BurrisDC.pdf

UIS spearheads online learning collaboration

UIS recently joined a handful of other universities for a new online learning effort spearheaded by UIS and supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to improve the overall quality, offerings and availability of online courses.

The collaboration is one of the latest directions of online learning at a time when the recession
has driven more people to enroll in post-secondary education classes.

The effort was detailed in an article in the February 23, 2009, Southern Oregon's Mail Tribune with quotes from Ray Schroeder, director of the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning at UIS.

Download a PDF of the article
20090223-MailTribune-onlinelearning.pdf

Governor tells U of I that education is priority

New governor, Pat Quinn, gave the University of Illinois some hope when he visited and told university leaders that education is at the top of his priority list.

The governor will give his budget address on March 18, and the university will wait to take action on its budget deficit based on the future of the state budget.

The governor's visit was reported on during a February 18, 2009, newscast by WCIA.

Download a PDF of the newscast
20090219-WCIA-universitybudget.pdf

UIS students' CNN interview covered in SJ-R

Five UIS students were part of the celebration of President Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday as they took part in an interview with CNN during Lincoln events on Thursday, February 12.

Coverage of the students' interview was mentioned in a column by Bernard Schoenburg in the February 15, 2009, State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article
20090216-SJR-Schoenburgcolumn.pdf

UIS spring enrollment increases

UIS' enrollment for Spring 2009 has increased over last year's enrollment for the spring semester. A total of 4,535 students are attending UIS, 105 more than last spring, which is an increase of 2.3 percent.

The news was featured in a February 10, 2009, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article
20090210-SJR-springenrollment.pdf

New DNR director is UIS graduate

Gov. Pat Quinn named Springfield resident Marc Miller as the new director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, as reported in a February 9, 2009, article in the Galesburg Register-Mail.


Miller has a master’s degree in environmental administration from the University of Illinois at Springfield.


Download a PDF of the article
20090209-GalesburgRM-DNR.pdf

State is drowning in debts

Bills at the state of Illinois comptroller's office are backing up and growing, forcing the state into deeper debt.

One move the state could make if the financial situation becomes too dire is to not pay back money it has borrowed. But that wouldn't be a smart move, according to Beverly Bunch, associate professor of public administration at UIS.

Bunch's comments were featured in a February 9, 2009 article in the Daily Herald.

Download a PDF of the article
20090209-DailyHerald-Statebills.pdf

UIS thanks Employees of the Month with ad

Tammy Craig, director of the Career Development Center at UIS, was named UIS Employee of the Year for 2008. To congratulate Tammy and all of our other wonderful Employees of the Month from 2008, UIS ran an ad in the State Journal-Register with their photos and information about UIS.

Download a PDF of the ad
2009EOYad.pdf

Course helps students understand evolution and creationism theories

The debate about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution continues even 200 years after his death, and to help the public study and understand his views, local colleges, including UIS, offer classes on evolution and creationism.

UIS' class is taught by Dennis Ruez, Jr., assistant professor of environmental studies at UIS. His course is part of a feature story written about such classes in a January 30, 2009, article in the Galesburg Register-Mail.

Download a PDF of the file
20090130-GalesburgRM-Evolutionclasses.pdf

Gov. Quinn faces many challenges in new role

While new governor Pat Quinn has the advantage of coming into office on a surge of goodwill and without corruption, he also faces many daunting challenges because the former governor left the state in such dire condition, according to Dr. Christopher Mooney, professor of political science at UIS.

Mooney's quotes were featured in a February 1, 2009, article published in the Christian Science Monitor about Quinn's new role as governor.

Download a PDF of the article
20090201-CSMonitor-PatQuinngovernor.pdf