Are you graduating this May? Join us for the Graduate College Doctoral Hooding Ceremony on Friday, May 10. The focus of this ceremony will be the formal hooding of doctoral graduates by their faculty mentors. Make sure to review the requirements for graduation. More details and the link to register can be found on the doctoral hooding event website. Registration deadline is April 7.

The Graduate College invites graduate students enrolled in on-campus or online programs to apply to serve on SAGE (Students Advising on Graduate Education) in 2024-2025. SAGE members build leadership skills and provide varied perspectives that enhance the academic, professional, and social experiences of graduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Meetings are hybrid or virtual. 

Join us for the Research Live! Finalist Showcase! This event will include screenings of the finalists' presentations, live voting for the People's Choice Award, and an announcement of the winners! You can view the full list of finalists on the Graduate College website. Mark your calendars for the final event on Tuesday, April 2, at 5:00 pm at the Campus Instructional Facility and online.

Grad Students, come cheer on the Illinois baseball team against Northern Illinois University! Join us if you're a baseball fan or if this is your first Big10 sporting event! Tickets are free for all. We'll have a grad student seating section. The game starts at 6 pm. Come early to say hello at the Grad College table and pick up a sticker. Sign up here to let us know you’re coming!

April 6 is the last day for doctoral students to take their final exam (thesis defense) if intending to graduate in Spring 2024. Have questions about a final doctoral exam? Click here for an advising appointment!

RECHARGE: Rest, Enjoy Conversation and Have A Really Great Experience! Join International Education in our new office space at the University YMCA for hot tea, international snacks, and a comfortable place to relax. Bring a friend and or meet other students from all over the world. Anyone is welcome to drop in between 2-4pm on Mondays in Spring 2024. 

Join the Women’s Resources Center and UIPD (and K9 Huff) to discuss tips and tricks for dating safety. Together we’ll learn how dating online can be safe and fun but also what to do if (when) it feels scary! Participants will engage in Interactive activities with real life scenarios. Dinner provided. 

Google offers fellowships to PhD students in computer science and related fields. The fellowship offers two years of support and provides a $35K annual stipend, coverage of tuition & fees, and access to a Google research mentor. Applicants must complete all graduate coursework by August 2024. Students must be nominated by their department, & departments may nominate two students each. For details, visit the Google listing in the Fellowship Finder database.   

If you are a doctoral student planning to deposit your dissertation for May graduation, get a head start by taking your exit surveys now! These surveys will only take a few minutes for you to complete, and (if you take them before you submit your document to the Thesis Office) it will make the deposit process move much more quickly. You can learn more about these surveys on the Thesis Office website. Remember – you cannot deposit your dissertation until the Thesis Office receives notification that you have completed these surveys.

Do you have questions about formatting your thesis? Do you want to know more about the deposit process? Do you have questions about preliminary and final exam committees? The Thesis Office is here after hours to help! Sign up here for an online, 15-minute appointment with Emily on Thursday, April 4.

Are you preparing for a class or conference presentation? The Writers Workshop & Office of Undergraduate Research will help you figure out what your presentation should include, share tips and strategies for engagement, and discuss how to present with confidence online and in-person. We will offer an online session on 4/4 and an in-person session on 4/16. Registration required for online sessions and requested for in-person sessions. Register by 11:59pm CT the day prior to the event.

The Writers Workshop will review genre expectations for diversity statements and provide examples from a range of disciplines. We will share strategies for drafting and tailoring your own diversity statements. This virtual workshop is open to current U of I students, faculty, and staff. Please register with your University of Illinois email account by 11:59pm on April 2, and we will send the Zoom invitation on the morning of the event.

Are you preparing for an upcoming conference? Need to design a poster for your class? This workshop will give you tools for communicating your research for academic conferences and professional meetings in a concise and visually effective poster presentation. This event is co-sponsored by the University Library, the Writers Workshop, and the Office of Undergraduate Research.

A manuscript should be evaluated by reviewers based on its quality and scientific merit. However, peer review has been pointed out in literature as a biased system comprised of biased people. This workshop will discuss types of bias in the peer review process such as gender, race, nationality, prestige, and reputation of authors, and share some recommendations to deal with reviewers and their biases.

Planning a social science or humanities research project this summer? Putting together your dissertation or thesis proposal and not sure where to start? Join us for a hands-on workshop on project organization. We’ll discuss how a project charter can help you refine your research questions, identify models, and create a timeline. Plus, we’ll discuss examples from the humanities and social science to guide you as you think about your own project.

This video editing software created by Adobe and part of the Adobe Creative Suite is available free of charge to all UIUC students, faculty, and staff. It is the industry standard among videographers, directors, and editors. This workshop will introduce this powerful workstation to anyone interested in video production. No experience required, but helpful.

A manuscript submitted for publication in a scholarly journal is usually reviewed by 2 or 3 reviewers who are selected by the editor and/or indicated by the author in a traditional peer review model. A reviewer is generally an academic who writes reports to help authors improve their manuscripts and to assist the editor in making the decision of accepting or rejecting a manuscript. We will learn about the role and the non-role of the reviewer in the peer review process in contrast to the roles of authors and editors, and we will discuss concepts such as bias and reviewer agreement.

Learn about the methodology and procedures for different types of scientific literature reviews — systematic, meta analysis, scoping, and more —to determine which process aligns with specific research projects. Acquire tools and explore University Library resources to implement in future research projects or assignments.We invite students, faculty, staff, and anyone else interested in learning more about literature reviews to join us for this informative workshop.

Looking for a new way to conduct your research? Tired of getting zero results in your database searches? This workshop will break down how the professionals identify resources, and search for articles, books, and other scholarly works. We’ll cover chasing citations, creating optimal keyword searches, using built-in database functions to improve your searches, and other strategies to make you a more efficient researcher.

Join us to make progress on your writing! Our hybrid writing group provides grad students with dedicated time to make progress on any writing project in a supportive atmosphere. Each meeting consists of a short goal-setting conversation, quiet writing time, and a concluding reflection and wrap-up. You only need to register once with your U of I email to receive weekly email reminders all semester! 

Come learn about the Orchard Downs fall preschool program for children ages 3-5. The preschool welcomes residents of University Housing and Urbana-Champaign community members. Register your child onsite. Meet the teachers.

In this workshop we will cover how to build, transpile, verify, and run quantum circuits written in Qiskit on both simulators as well as IBM Quantum Systems backend. Mainly, we will focus on using the Estimator and Sampler primitives of both the Qiskit SDK as well as Qiskit Runtime. Find more info and register by 4/3 with the link in the title.

Adobe InDesign is a layout and design software program that allows you to create print and digital media. It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, which is available to all UIUC students for free! This workshop is designed for those with little to no experience with InDesign to help you learn the basics of using this document design program. During the workshop, we will create a sample flyer. You will gain experience navigating the features and there will be time to explore.

All graduate students are invited to submit proposals to the 14th annual Gesa Kirsch Grad Symposium! Proposals for presentations, panels, workshops, and more are invited on topics related to writing, literacy, rhetoric, discourse, education, media, and communication. The planning committee is particularly interested on presentations related to academic labor and writing in activist and organizing spaces. In-progress, reflective, and multimodal projects are all welcome. The symposium will take place on April 25 & 26. Submit proposals at https://go.illinois.edu/GKSProposals2024 by April 9.

The F&S Diverse Internship Program provides extensive opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups to explore future employment in the facilities management and utilities industries. Students participating in the program will receive experiential learning in areas of interest or study. Positions are available in utilities and energy management, safety and compliance, customer relations and communications, code compliance and fire safety, capital project delivery, and more. Click the link to view the full descriptions. Applications are due by April 5.

Registered Student Organizations with academic year (August - May) officer terms can register for the next cycle beginning April 1. To register your student organization, click the blue "+ Group Re-Registration" button on your student org profile in OneIllinois. Registration is accessible to current officers only for the first fifteen days of the Primary Registration Period. Starting April 16, any member on the roster may submit the student org’s registration. 

We are now recruiting presenters for the 2024 Summer Self-Care Series. Our first session will be June 26th, 2024. In this series, we are looking for presenters with a research focus on aging populations. If you have relevant experience and/or are passionate about exploring your studies through the lens of aging, please let us know. As always, the CSS is open to health topics of any background. We have a limited number of speaking spots, so please email Max Wallace (below) if you are interested in being a presenter.

Going to be on campus this summer? Garden at Orchard Downs! Orchard Downs 10x10 garden plots are open from April - October. $40 for Orchard Downs residents, $70 non-residents. Plots can be shared - find a friend and grow something!

Grad students are invited to enter Beckman's annual research image contest. Winning images will be displayed in the Beckman Institute Director's Conference Room for one year, celebrated on Beckman's website and social media channels and showcased on campus and in the community. Images submitted by Beckman affiliates and images captured within Beckman's core research facilities by non-Beckman affiliates will be considered. Submit your image by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, May 1.

The University of Illinois System and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) have established a joint seed research grants program for one year, starting with the academic year 2024-25. This program will fund projects in three thematic areas: Food and Health; Water; Energy. The overarching goal is to contribute towards solving problems related to poverty, the environment, and sustainable well-being. Transdisciplinary approaches will be particularly welcome.  https://files.blogs.illinois.edu/files/6758/1179929229/224694.pdf

The Intensive Language Instruction Program (ILIP) offers classes in 13 different languages. ILIP classes combine language and culture via engaging activities led by skilled instructors. No grade, just for fun! Students receive 30 hours of enjoyable language instruction which maximizes exposure to the target language to help them meet their own personal learning goals. Register for ILIP today!

An absurdist fable commemorating the October Revolution, Black Square is, as described by its creators, “a tragicomic love story that mixes intellectual traditions of Russian avant-garde and the fast pacing style of an action thriller." The work features music by Ilya Demutsky, celebrated composer of the ballets Anna Karenina and Eugene Onegin, and libretto by Olga Maslova and Igor Konyukov. Performances April 2, April 4, and April 6 in Krannert Center's Tryon Festival Theatre.

April is the National Arab American Heritage Month. To celebrate it, The Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies is organizing a one-day symposium next Friday, April 5.

Fatima T. Husain will discuss two hearing disorders: tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and hyperacusis (sensitivity to the loudness of everyday sounds). The sounds of tinnitus may vary (e.g., high pitch tone, hissing, cicadas) but are only heard by the individuals experiencing this condition. In hyperacusis, you find the loudness of everyday sounds more bothersome than those around you. Husain's lab uses behavioral and brain imaging tools to study these conditions with a goal to helping individuals improve quality of life. Join us Wednesday April 3rd at 5:30 PM at Cafeteria and Company.

The Astronomy Department welcomes everyone to attend the Icko Iben Jr. Distinguished Lecture, "Signals from the Beginning of the Universe," presented by Jo Dunkley, Joseph Henry Professor of Physics and Astrophysical Sciences. The Iben Lectures bring high-profile astronomers to campus to speak to a general audience. Join us in person or via Zoom.

Join us for a discussion featuring Temple Grandin. Panelist and moderator Laura Hetrick will lead the discussion. Panelists Nien-Pei Tsai, Marie Channell, Amy Cohen, Tracey Wszalek, and Stephanie Ceman will join her. Space is limited; please register in advance.

The Institute of Communications Research will present a Distinguished Speaker Series this spring, showcasing some of the most renowned scholars in the fields of communication and media studies. Mary Beth Oliver will present "Media-Induced Self-Transcendence: Evidence and New Directions" on Thursday, April 4 at 12:30 p.m. Oliver is the Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Film/Video & Media Studies at Penn State. This talk is co-sponsored by the Department of Communication.

How are scholars of Black Britain addressing the erasure which Black people across the United Kingdom have faced? Join us for an evening with Caroline Bressey (Geography, University College London), Kennetta Hammond Perry (Black Studies, Northwestern University), and Rochelle Sennet (Music and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, College of Fine and Applied Arts) as they share their research on Black Britons in a variety of media.

Join us for an online lecture with Silvia Federici (Emerita Professor, Hofstra University) entitled "Feminist Insurgencies and the Reconstruction of the Commons." Federici is a feminist activist, teacher and writer. Advanced registration is required to attend this event. This event is part of the Interseminars series for "Improvise and Intervene," supported by the Mellon Foundation.

Film Screening & Discussion with Egyptian Filmmaker Rasha Azab, “Trapped,” will take place on April 3 at 4 pm, Illini Union Room A, Illini Union.  This is part of the "Transnational Feminist Resistance(s) Against Contemporary Violence(s)" conference taking place April 4-5, 2024. Registration appreciated.

Dr. Amina Mama from UC Davis will deliver the keynote for the Common Differences Conference II. The conference, focuses on transnational feminist resistance, spans April 4-5, with pre-registration recommended. Her lecture addresses our witness to violence in Gaza through media and the resulting global and feminist responses informed by historical struggles. More information is available here. 

Are you interested in extracellular vesicles? Extracellular vesicles are important mediators of cell-cell communication and are currently used as important biomarkers in the clinic. Come learn more at the upcoming EV Imaging and Therapy Working Group workshop. The full agenda includes campus and external speakers, a poster session, and boxed lunches. Register by April 5. 

Join our upcoming lunch! We will discuss how to work together with Python and MATLAB, being able to interchangeably call algorithms developed in one of the two languages from the other, thus expanding the possibilities when carrying out Data Science projects. The session focuses on and pivots around the different reasons why a Python user would call MATLAB algorithms!

Learn to better serve undocumented students at the University of Illinois. The training will be held on Tuesday, April 2 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in-person in the iSchool 4th floor Multipurpose Room. Light refreshments will be provided. Please register at go.illinois.edu/UndocuAlly. Contact undocumented@illinois.edu for more information. Sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, La Casa Cultural Latina, the Immigration Law Clinic, and the Illinois Coalition Assisting Undocumented Students’ Education (I-CAUSE).

How might community service and volunteering subtly (and not-so-subtly) promote racism? Join We CU on Wednesday, April 3, at 5:30 PM for a workshop on combatting racism in service learning. We will discuss how systemic racism comes up in our lives and in our service work. We will also talk about how we can critically examine biases and center the voices and experiences of the communities we are serving. This training will also help you develop strategies for promoting anti-racism in your own volunteer and service work. Dinner will be served. Space is limited, so register today! 

We are delighted to announce that the Edible Book Festival will be taking place on Saturday April 6th at the Common Ground Co-Op, Lincoln Mall in Urbana. This year will be particularly exciting since we have a new roster of judges including our very own dean of Libraries, Dean Claire Stewart and some fun prizes to win! Register now to submit your culinary creation! 

Join us for a special event featuring the Oscar-winning short documentary "Period. End of Sentence." by Rayka Zehtabchi. This 25-minute film sheds light on the efforts of village women in Northern India to improve feminine hygiene and destigmatize menstruation through their sanitary pad business. Following the screening, stay for a discussion moderated by Kate Clancy. Registration appreciated.

Jeremy Sarkin is a Research Professor of Law at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and has held a position at the University of Pretoria. He has extensive experience in international law, having served as an acting judge in Africa and Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Lunch is provided with RSVP.

The Conference is hosted by the Women and Gender and Global Perspectives Program and the Gender & Women's Studies Department and organized by WGGP and GWS graduate students. It brings numerous feminist scholars and activists from different countries and continents to the campus. Find more information here. Pre-registration is appreciated to provide conference materials and luncheon.

McKinley Health Center serves on-campus students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

The University of Illinois Counseling Center provides mental health counseling and well-being education for students. 

If you or a student you know may need support with their basic needs or financial stressors, please reach out.