Thursday, May 28, 2015

Rickson to play soccer at UIS

Kimmie Rickson, a girls soccer player at Peotone High School, recently signed her letter of intent to continue her soccer career for the Prairie Stars of University of Illinois-Springfield. 

Kimmie will be majoring in Biology.

This story appeared online in the Peotone Vedette on May 28, 2015.

Read the entire article here.



Tuesday, May 26, 2015

UIS' link to Cybersecurity

The head of the Computer Science Department at the University of Illinois-Springfield says it’s pretty hard to fight cyber attacks.

But Ted Mims says his students try to do it, as there’s a curriculum in place dealing with computer and network security, and forensic investigation of computers.

That said, Mims says there’s nothing you can do once a data breach has hit a retailer, except try to make the system better.

Mims says if the Pentagon can’t even keep its computer systems perfectly secure, no one can. UIS, though, has been recertified as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education through the government.

This story appeared on WTAX Newsradio on Monday, May 25, 2015.

Read the article here

Monday, May 25, 2015

Professor writes book about father's World War II experiences

Growing up, Paul McDevitt never knew what his father did during World War II. About six years ago, all that changed when he was given a box full of old letters that his late father, Joseph B. McDevitt, had written home during the war.

The letters revealed a perilous career as the leader of a group of landing boats from the attack transport ship USS Leon. It was the elder McDevitt’s job to lead the boats to shore under heavy enemy fire, unload the Marines, and then return to the Leon so the whole process could be repeated.

As McDevitt thumbed through more and more of the letters, he realized that his father had participated in amphibious assaults at Saipan, Palau, Leyte, Luzon and Okinawa.

“My dad was like many of those veterans. He came home from the war, and I think he tried very hard to forget the things he had seen and the things he had done. He never talked to any of my brothers or sisters or to me about the war,” McDevitt said. “When I read about the five amphibious assaults he participated in as boat group leader for an attack transport … I was unbelievably stunned.”

McDevitt, professor emeritus in business administration at the University of Illinois Springfield, was so moved by his father’s letters he decided to write a book based on them.

“All Came Home” is available online from Amazon and Barnes and Noble Booksellers.

This story appeared online in The State Journal-Register on May 24, 2015.

Read the entire article here