One week before she is to open a solo exhibition at the University of Illinois Springfield, Felicia Olin is sitting in the living room of her Springfield home, surrounded by her work.
Some paintings are stacked against the fireplace mantel. Others are lined up beneath the television in the corner. More are on the landing of the stairs.
Liz Murphy Thomas, the director of the visual arts gallery and an assistant professor of art and digital media at UIS, said she tries to program a diverse array of exhibits each academic year at the gallery. That diversity includes local and national artists and both two- and three-dimensional work.
The article was published in a February 18, 2010, edition of the State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100218-SJR-Curious-collection-UIS-exhibit.pdf
The event was a rah-rah session for Sangamon County Republicans, but U.S. Rep. JOHN SHIMKUS, R-Collinsville, couldn’t let his time in front of a microphone pass without making clear his disdain for those who are sounding the climate-change alarm.
DENNIS RUEZ JR. is assistant professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.
“Most people do not understand the difference between climate and weather,” he said. “Ice fishing in Illinois does not necessarily mean cooling climate; similarly, a hot summer does not necessarily mean warming climate. Additionally, southern Illinois ponds can’t be used as a climate proxy for the entire planet.
Reuz's comments were featured in a February 18, 2010, Bernard Schoenburg column in the State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100218-SJR-Bernard-Schoenburg-Shimkus.pdf
One longtime legislative expert said he'd never seen a similar instance of barring public access in four decades of watching the Senate.
"When it's a briefing about fiscal matters, I don't think there's a valid reason that it shouldn't be open," said Charles N. Wheeler III, director of the University of Illinois at Springfield's Public Affairs Reporting program and a former Sun-Times Statehouse bureau chief.
Wheeler's comments were featured in a February 18, 2010, edition of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100218-SunTimes-No-more-private-sessions.pdf
What turned out to be a mistaken assumption by a college professor back in 1984 led to revealing new information about Abraham Lincoln.
"I assumed everything that was important that Lincoln ever said or was said about him or his administration had long since been discovered by an army of Lincoln scholars and I could do my research by just consulting these published sources," said Michael Burlingame, who holds the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Fresh off an election with seemingly little voter interest, state lawmakers are pushing several proposals to increase voter participation and make for a smoother election process.
Matt Van Vossen, president of the Student Government Association at the University of Illinois at Springfield, supports the measures. He said many students choose not to vote because they cannot reach the polling place in time.
“If early voting were to be made available on campuses, student voter turnout would increase,” Van Vossen said.
UIS spokesman Derek Schnapp said students who live on campus can vote at nearby Lincoln Land Community College. He said the school’s student government group offers carpools for students who need rides to polling places.
The article was featured in a February 14, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100214-Legislators-offer-ideas.pdf
When a preview version of Google Wave became available last September, some higher ed users dove right in to try the real-time collaboration tool. The University of Illinois Springfield’s Center for Online Learning, Research and Service (COLRS) is an early adopter.
Last semester, students taking “Internet in American Life” built a wave with peers at the Institute of Technology Sligo (Ireland). Ray Schroeder, director of COLRS and a co-teacher of the course, hopes to create a matrix where faculty can post their interest in creating a wave with people at other institutions.
UIS' use of Google Wave for online learning and teaching was mentioned in a February 2010 article in University Business.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100211-UBusiness-googlewave.pdf
The controversy surrounding Scott Lee Cohen's nomination and subsequent withdrawal from the race for Illinois lieutenant governor has renewed the debate over whether the position is needed at all.
Kent Redfield, a professor emeritus of political science at UIS, said changing the way the nominee is selected is the ideal way to prevent a Cohen-like scenario from unfolding again.
Under current law, lieutenant governor nominees are selected independently of the candidate for governor, yet they run on a joint ticket in the general election. Running as a team in the primary election, Redfield said, would prevent it from being "just luck if the two
know each other and get along."
Redfield's comments were featured in a February 9, 2010, article in the Daily Herald.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100209-DailyHerald-Cohen.pdf
Although the outcome of the Republican race for governor remains in flux, state Sen. Bill Brady headed out on the campaign trail Friday.
For now, Brady and Kirk Dillard are waiting for final ballots to roll in from absentee and provisional voters. If an official count in March shows the two still neck and neck, a recount process could be launched, forcing an even longer delay in determining who will represent the GOP in November, but that's not stopping Brady from plotting his run against Gov. Pat Quinn.
Chris Mooney, a professor of political science at UIS, said Brady is trying to define himself before Quinn gets a chance.
Mooney's comments were featured in a February 6, 2010, article in the Herald & Review.If Illinois decides on doing its first ever statewide election recount, the process won't begin for at least a month. No recount can be started until the election results — including early and absentee ballots — are finalized March 5.
The monetary cost of a recount shouldn't mean much to candidates who have raised and spent far more during their primary campaigns. But the political price of a fierce intraparty battle could be enough to give candidates pause, said Ron Michaelson, former director of the state board of election and a political science professor at the University of Illinois-Springfield.
Michaelson's comments were featured in a Feburary 4, 2010, article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Download a PDF of the article: 20100204-STLpostdispatch-recount.pdf
Recently, wildlife technicians Danielle DeVito and Curt Kleist, of the Illinois Natural History Survey of the Forbes Biological Station in Havana, have been studying the migration of water fowl at the Emiquon Preserve.
Their mallard research, based at the Therkildsen Field Station - a teaching and research facility owned by UIS - is part of a larger effort to transform Emiquon from farmlands to floodplain.
Their research and details about Emiquon were featured in a February 4, 2010, article in the Illinois Times.
Download a PDF of the article: 20100204-ILTimes-mallards.pdf