Locals weigh in on U.S. in Afghanistan

Local veterans weighed in about the strategy of the U.S. in Afghanistan during a news story from WICS channel 20 on Sunday, November 29, 2009.

Chris Mooney, professor of political science at UIS, commented during the story about the connection of health care reform and sending more troops in.

To watch the news clip, go here.

UIS Diversity Center sponsors film premiere

A locally-directed short film aimed at challenging stereotypes surrounding HIV and AIDS is premiering Tuesday, December 1, at UIS.

The screening of the film, called "This Life Ain't Pretty," is free and open to the public, and it will be held at Brookens Auditorium. An article about the screening and the film was featured in a November 26, 2009, article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article
20091126-SJR-filmpremiere.pdf

U of I plans public forums on president search

The University of Illinois plans to hold public forums on its three campuses in December to seek input on the search for a new president.

The university says the committee is starting to build a pool of applicants. Forums will be held Dec. 2 at the Chicago campus, Dec. 3 at the flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign, and Dec. 8 in Springfield.

The university wants to hire a replacement for outgoing President B. Joseph White by July 2010.

The forums were featured in an November 25, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091124-SJR-U-of-I-plans-public-forums.pdf

UIS men's basketball team routs MacMurray

The University of Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars didn’t score more than 100 points in a men’s basketball game last season.

The Stars lit up the scoreboard in this season’s opener for a 115-60 non-conference victory over the MacMurray Highlanders on Tuesday at The Recreation and Athletic Center.

“I liked our pace of the game,” UIS coach Kevin Gamble said. “What I didn’t like was we didn’t play hard the entire game. We took plays off. You can’t do that against good teams.”

The team was featured in an November 25, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091125-SJR-UIS-mens-basketball-team.pdf

Cuomo took campaign cash from lawyers with matters before him

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s campaign fund took tens of thousands of dollars from law firms representing clients his office investigated or accused of wrongdoing, state records show.

If Cuomo were to reject lawyer donations to avoid any appearance of conflict, he could still raise enough for “a credible campaign,” said Ronald Michaelson, a former national chairman of the Council of Governmental Ethics Laws who teaches at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

“Even if he’s going to use the money in a gubernatorial race, he would still be the attorney general,” he said in an e- mail. “The perception of impropriety is obviously clear, and that’s reason enough to refuse the money.”

Michaelson's comments were featured in an November 23, 2009 Bloomberg.com article.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091123-Bloomberg-Cuomo.pdf

Access 4 producers wish to take over station

Comcast took over operation of Access 4 several years ago. Before then, it had been operated at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Gerald Burkhart, director of the Office of Electronic Media at UIS, said Comcast pulled Access 4 out of the university when UIS decided not to renew its contract with Comcast to provide cable to apartments and dorms on campus.

Comcast and predecessor cable companies had paid UIS to operate Access 4. The station’s budget at the time was about $170,000 per year, Burkhart said, and Access 4 had one full-time employee, one part-time worker and numerous student workers.

The station was featured in an November 21, 2009 article.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091121-SJR-Access-4-producer.pdf

Area colleges: Baseball: UIS signs six recruits

University of Illinois Springfield coach Brian Grunzke has signed the fledgling program’s first recruiting class.

The Prairie Stars will play their first season in the spring of 2011, and Lincoln High School senior infielder Hayden Cosby is among their six signees.

UIS’ other recruits are Bartonville Limestone High School senior pitcher Barry Arnett, Lincoln College sophomore outfielder Nate Blessman, Princeton High School senior catcher Reid Clary, Naperville Central High School senior Matt Cmiel and Washington senior infielder Marshall Escue.

The team was featured in an November 21, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091121-SJR-Area-colleges-Baseball-UIS.pdf

Special Report: Why so few male elementary teachers?

Why are there so few male elementary teachers locally and across the nation?

"I think it has a lot to do with perceptions of what teachers do during the day, especially elementary school teachers," said Dr. Curby Alexander, UIS assistant professor of education.

Alexander is a former elementary teacher and says many men stay out of the classroom because they think being a teacher means being a babysitter.

Demetrius Davis wanted to go into criminal psychology, but spent a summer teaching kids how to read. Now he is one of only a handful of male UIS students studying to become an elementary school teacher.

The special report aired on News Channel at Nine on Fox Illinois (WRSP-TV) on November 18, 2009.

Watch the report online:
http://www.myfoxillinois.com/dpp/springfield/11192009_why_so_few_male_teachers

College Notes: UIS men's basketball made progress in loss

The University of Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars’ exhibition men’s basketball game against Illinois-Chicago finished better than it started.

The end result was a 72-59 loss Saturday to UIC, but UIS made progress. After trailing 33-19 at the half, the Stars bounced back and outscored the Flames 40-39 in the second half.

“UIC played a zone the whole night and we didn’t get to see much in our man-to-man offense, which we really worked on,” UIS coach Kevin Gamble said. “We didn’t play bad. We just didn’t make shots."

The team was featured in an November 20, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091120-SJR-College-Notes-UIS-men.pdf

Dedication Day: 146th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

On Thursday, the 146th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address will be honored with numerous events in Gettysburg.

Dr. Michael Burlingame will deliver the 48th Annual Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture at 8 p.m. Burlingame is currently the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Burlingame's lecture was featured in an November 18, 2009 article in The Gettysburg, PA Times.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091118-Getty-Dedication-Day.pdf

Win worth the wait for UIS women

The University of Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars waited and then waited some more for their first women’s basketball game of the season.

After practicing and scrimmaging against each other for more than 34 days, the Stars had their urge to play quenched Wednesday. UIS welcomed the Robert Morris University Eagles to The Recreation and Athletic Center. The end result was a 78-58 non-conference victory for the Stars.

“It felt good to finally get on the floor,” UIS sophomore guard Alex Blair said. “It was a long preseason, but it just gave us time to work harder and prepare.”

The win was featured in an November 19, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091119-SJR-Win-worth-the-wait-for-UIS.pdf

Books of the Year: The Top Five

Dr. Michael Burlingame’s book “Abraham Lincoln: A Life” has been picked by The Atlantic Monthly magazine as one of the top five books of 2009. Burlingame is a professor of history at the University of Illinois Springfield and holds the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies.

Read more online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/books2009

Download a PDF of the article:
20091116-Atlantic-Monthly-Books-2009.pdf

U of I graduate instructors go on strike

Officials at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say classes are continuing after graduate instructors went on strike.

The strike hasn’t been felt at the U of I Springfield because graduate assistants are handled differently at each campus.

“We do not have any graduate assistants not showing up for work today,” said Leslie DeFrates, assistant to the vice chancellor for graduate education and research at UIS. “We don’t use graduate assistants as instructors of record,” she said. “We do have teaching assistants, but they assist professors in areas such as tutoring and grading papers.”

DeFrates' comments were featured in an November 16, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091116-SJR-U-of-I-graduate-instru.pdf

Good Deeds: UIS canned food drive

"I want to thank the people of Springfield for their generosity this Halloween. I was captain of a team of students from the University of Illinois Springfield that spread throughout the city on Halloween collecting canned goods for the Central Illinois Foodbank. There were 14 teams total, and together UIS collected more than 4,000 pounds of food!"

UIS student Jaleesa Earthely was featured in the Good Deeds section of the State Journal-Register in a November 14, 2009 edition.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091114-SJR-Good-Deeds.pdf

Review: 'Shape of Things' pushes boundaries of art, love

By the final curtain, the first line in “The Shape of Things” could be directed at every character: “You stepped over the line.”

The Neil LaBute play, which opened Friday in the Studio Theatre at the University of Illinois Springfield, follows four college students testing the boundaries of love and life — and each other.

As Adam, Joey Cruse displays some of the same fecklessness he used to great comic effect as Leo Bloom in “The Producers” this year at The Muni. Evelyn has to be everything Adam isn’t, and Carol Schulte plays the role with enough of an edge to make you wonder if everything is as it seems.

Lauren Braden’s Jenny blends likability with vulnerability, and Kevin Brownell’s Phil steals several scenes with some of the funniest lines in the play.

The review was published in an November 14, 2009 edition of the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091114-SJR-Review-Shape-of-Things.pdf

U of I committee starts presidential search

The retiring president of the University of Illi­nois got a standing ovation at his final meeting of the school’s board of trustees.

Meeting in Springfield, the board also ap­pointed a 19-member committee, including for­mer Springfield Mayor Karen Hasara, to search for a new president. The committee will be chaired by trustee Pamela Strobel.

Also appointed to the committee from the Uni­versity of Illinois Springfield were:

* Faculty members Tih-Fen Ting, chair of the campus senate and associate professor of envi­ronmental studies, and James Patrick Hall, di­rector of the MBA program and vice chair of the campus senate.

* Student representative Charles Olivier, vice president of the Student Government Associa­tion. He is an undergraduate in accountancy and business administration.

The appointments were reported in an November 13, 2009 State Journal-Register article.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091113-SJR-U-of-I-committee.pdf

U of I President Apologizes, Search for New President

The University of Illinois Board of Trustees has picked a committee to search for a new president for the university.

The U of I Board of Trustees meeting took place all day at UIS Thursday. The meeting started off with an apology from President B. Joesph White. He told the board he regrets the admissions problems at occured at the Urbana campus.

The Springfield meeting was featured in a live report on WICS-TV 20 on November 12, 2009.

Watch the report online:
http://www.wics.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wics_vid_916.shtml

Washington's Escue Signs with UI-Springfield

Grant Escue likes to be first.

The Washington senior is one of the first recruits for the new baseball program at Illinois-Springfield. Escue signed his National Letter of Intent with UIS Thursday.

"I think I might have been one of the first guys to officially commit to the program which is unique," said Escue. "Not too many guys can say that. I think that's pretty cool. It means a lot."

Escue was featured on November 12, 2009 in a sports report on WMBD-TV in Peoria.

Watch the report online:
http://centralillinoisproud.com/content/fulltext/?cid=86421

The Intern Queen visits UIS

UIS students got a dose of reality to help them gain an edge in today’s tough job market and it came from the queen herself, "The Intern Queen".

Lauren Berger had 15 internships under her belt by the time she graduated from college, each with different companies. Now the self-titled "Intern Queen" has made a career of helping others land internships.

Berger's visit to the UIS campus was featured by WICS-TV reporter Heather Hubbs in a November 11, 2009 report.

Watch the report online:
http://www.wics.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wics_vid_906.shtml

Young characters walk fine line in UIS play

At the center of “The Shape of Things” is the line between art and life.

The Neil LaBute play, which opens Friday at UIS Theatre, begins with a literal interpretation of that divide when Adam, a college student and part-time museum security guard, finds Evelyn on the wrong side of a velvet rope guarding a statue.

Suffice to say that Evelyn’s can of spray paint was just a small indication of how dirty she’s willing to get smudging the line between art and life.

“In other words, how much should art be infused in our daily living?” director Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson said. “Is art something that should just be seen on the occasional weekend visit to the museum, and keep it over there, safe? Or should we live all our lives artistically?”

The play was featured in an November 12, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091112-SJR-Young-characters-UIS-play.pdf

If not for Richard, Prairie Stars would be poorer

The University of Illinois Springfield men’s basketball team is depending on Richard Oruche, and the 6-foot-3 senior guard is expecting a lot from himself.

A role player last season, Oruche will look to continue to contribute but in a larger quantity.

“He was more of an energy guy last year because we had some very good players on our ballclub,” UIS coach Kevin Gamble said. “He didn’t get the time he felt he could get, but the time that he got we wanted him to come in with high energy, guard the best player and just be one of those guys that puts it all on the floor when he gets out there.”

Oruche was featured in an November 12, 2009 State Journal-Register article.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091112-SJR-If-not-for-Richard.pdf

UIS student gov't backs athletic fee increase

The University of Illinois Springfield’s move to NCAA Division II athletics got another boost Sunday night when the Student Government Association voted to support a $17 increase in the intercollegiate athletic fee paid by students.

If the increase is approved by the U of I board of trustees, UIS students next fall will be paying an athletic fee of $149 per semester, up 12.9 percent from the 2009-2010 school year.

The increase will be used to help cover equipment and travel costs for the inaugural UIS baseball team, which scheduled to compete in 2010-11.

The fee change was featured in an November 10, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091110-SJR-UIS-student-government.pdf

Military loan program expanding in Illinois

State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is expanding a state-operated loan program that aims to help military veterans regain their financial footing once they return home from deployment.

Shannon Kirby, a University of Illinois Springfield student and a Navy veteran, said she wished the program had been available for her after she left active duty in 2008.

“I came back home. I didn’t have a lot of money saved up,” said Kirby, 30, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Kirby was featured in an November 10, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091110-SJR-Military-loan-program-expan.pdf

UIS student addresses dignitaries at academic awards ceremony

Priyanka Deo, a 21-year-old student at the University of Illinois Springfield who is studying pre-law and sociology, knows the importance of hard work.

And on Saturday, she got reinforcement of the payback for such work.

She was one of 50 Illinois college students who received a Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award for their outstanding curricular and extracurricular work. The award is given to only one student at each of Illinois’ four-year, degree-granting colleges and universities, and Deo got the extra honor of addressing the crowd of dignitaries and students during the ceremony at the Old State Capitol.

Deo was featured in an November 8, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091108-SJR-UIS-student-addresses.pdf

Area colleges: UIS volleyball finishes with victory

The University of Illinois Springfield ended the season by beating Kentucky Wesleyan 25-19, 25-14, 25-14 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference match at The Recreation and Athletic Center.

UIS won two of its last three matches to finish 11-20 overall and 2-12 in the GLVC.

Courtnee Brown led UIS with 14 kills and 10 digs, and Cayla Roberts added 10 digs. Carrie Gerberding had 36 assists and four service aces for the Prairie Stars.

The game was featured in an November 8, 2009 edition of the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091109-SJR-Area-colleges.pdf

UIS' Glogovsky gets it done on and off basketball court

Erin Glogovsky is a college sophomore, but that didn’t stop her from trick-or-treating last weekend.

It was for a good cause. Glogovsky and her teammates on the University of Illinois Springfield women’s basketball team weren’t going door-to-door wanting candy. The players collected canned goods for a Trick-Or-Eat competition with the products going to a local food bank.

Glogovsky, a 6-foot center from Gurnee, has involved herself with community service for years. At Mundelein Carmel Catholic High School, she dedicated herself to 20 service hours each semester.

Glogovsky was featured in an November 6, 2009 State Journal-Register article.

Download a PDF of the article.
20091106-SJR-UIS-Glogovsky-gets-it-don.pdf

Funding in limbo for low-income college students

Gov. Pat Quinn pledged in October to reinstate the remaining $205 million in Monetary Award Program (MAP) funds to keep the program in full force for the next fiscal year. But where exactly the money will come from, and its effect on a growing state budget deficit, is undecided.

“This was done without a real clear revenue source,” said University of Illinois-Springfield political science professor emeritus Kent Redfield. “This is one more drop in the bucket in terms of a really, really bad (budget) situation.”

Redfield's comments were featured in a November 5, 2009 Elmhurst Press article.

Download a the article as a PDF.
20091105-Elmhurst-Funding-in-limbo.pdf

Richard Judd: Small business recovery is lagging

If the economic recovery touted as taking place right now seems weak and prepared to relapse, what might be the causes of a relapse?

Unemployment has crept above 10 percent and may stubbornly stay there if not rise higher for some time to come.

Richard Judd is a National City Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Springfield. Judd's comments were featured in an November 4, 2009 opinion article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article.
20091104-SJR-Richard-Judd-.pdf

UIS Hopes to Gain International Appeal

In an effort to increase enrollment from students overseas UIS is hosting a group of EducationUSA advisers who come from 5 different countries around the globe.

"By brining international students here they connect with our students, they're involved in our courses, they're helping to internationalize the curriculum," said Dana Atwell, UIS ESL Coordinator in the Office of International Programs.

The international visitors were featured in an November 2, 2009 report by Heather Hubbs of WICS-TV 20 Springfield.

Watch the report online:
http://www.wics.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wics_vid_839.shtml

February primary ballots to be lengthy

The question almost becomes, “Who’s not running for governor or U.S. Senate?”

The close of the filing period for the Feb. 2 primary on Monday left seven Republicans, four Democrats and two Green Party candidates running for governor and eight Republicans, seven Democrats and one Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate.

Kent Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield, said Democrats have the problem of having inherited “an incredible mess” from ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Redfield's comments were featured in an November 3, 2009 State Journal-Register article.

Download a PDF of the article.
20091103-SJR-February-primary-ballots.pdf

Illinois' borrowing bonanza

Facing both an election and the politically unpalatable prospects of raising taxes or cutting social programs, Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers increasingly have turned to borrowing as a quick fix and are on track to rack up more than $6.5 billion in loans to keep the state afloat.

As University of Illinois at Springfield state budget expert Charles Wheeler asks: "How are they going to pay that money back?"

Wheeler's comments were featured in an November 2, 2009 article in the Chicago Tribune.

Download a PDF of the article.
20091102-TRIB-chi-state-of-denial.pdf

UIS Notebook: It's all new for Gamble's Prairie Stars

Not only will the University of Illinois Springfield men’s basketball team play in a new division and a new conference this season, but the roster will have a new look.

UIS officially will move up from NAIA to NCAA Division II in 2009-10 and from the American Midwest Conference to the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Nine of coach Kevin Gamble’s 14 players are new to the UIS Prairie Stars program.

“It was a little scary at the beginning, but I like the intensity and the effort that the guys are putting out,” Gamble said.

The team was featured in an October 31, 2009 article in the State Journal-Register.

Download a PDF of the article.
20091031-SJR-UIS-Notebook-Gamble.pdf