The Mentoring Matters Summer Institute is a 2-day, interactive event to support the development of strong mentoring skills. In addition to keynote addresses for all participants, the institute will feature a special track for graduate students. Grad students will collaborate with one another and with experts to identify effective mentoring practices, learn strategies for strengthening your own network of mentors, and develop your skills as a mentor. The focus will be on mentoring in a higher education context, especially in research settings. Learn more and register.

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 8, at 5:00 pm at the Campus Instructional Facility.

Every year, as we prepare for the annual Image of Research exhibition, we are amazed at the diversity and beauty of graduate student research on our campus. We invite you to explore the online exhibition and vote for your three favorites. Your votes will determine the People's Choice winner. The exhibition will also be on display on the second floor of the Graduate College during Graduate Student Appreciation Week (April 7-11). Stop by anytime between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. during the week to see them in person.

April 18 the last day to drop a semester course or withdraw from ALL courses without a grade of W. To drop a course, students submit a Late Registration Change via the Grad College Student Portal. To withdraw from the term, students complete a Withdrawal Form and get their department's signature. International students need a signature from ISSS. Students should discuss these decisions with their advisor and/or program. Students in non-standard part of term courses should refer to their graduate program for deadlines. Questions about deadlines or forms? Click here for an advising appointment!

April 18 is the last day to submit a credit/no-credit request via the Graduate College Student Portal. Please consult with your program if you are considering this grading option for any course because course and department restrictions may apply. Students enrolled in non-standard part of term courses should refer to their graduate program for deadline information. Have questions about registration deadlines or submitting a Credit/No Credit form? Click here for an advising appointment!

April 11 is the last day the last day for doctoral students to complete their Final Examination (thesis defense) for May 2025 degree conferral. Students should request their Final Exam Committee via Graduate College Student Portal at least one week prior to the date of the exam. Have questions about final doctoral examinations? Click here for an advising appointment!

The Family & Graduate Housing Office is excited to announce the opening of garden plot registration for the community gardens, which are located behind the Orchard South apartments! These gardens are available to all residents and community members. If you’re interested in renting a plot or raised bed, please register through the Orchard Downs Garden Plots registration form. For any questions, please email apartments@illinois.edu. You can also read the story of two longtime community members who have experienced the joy of gardening while forming new friendships.

Transform discomfort into confidence with simple, yet effective strategies to stay grounded and calm. Learn how to thrive in any situation and turn challenges into opportunities for growth, led by the Counseling Center staff during the interactive workshop.   

Google offers fellowships to PhD students in computer science and related fields. The fellowship offers two years of support and provides a $15K annual stipend, $70K for tuition & fees, and access to a Google research mentor. Applicants must complete all graduate coursework by August 2025. Students must be nominated by their department, & departments may nominate three students each. For details, visit the Google listing in the Fellowship Finder database.   

Make sure to carefully consider the thesis release options, which determine the visibility of your work in IDEALS—the University’s digital repository. When you submit your thesis to the Graduate College, you will be asked to select a release option. Check out our website to learn more. Remember, no matter which release option you choose, the abstract of your thesis will be visible in IDEALS. Talk with your adviser about these release options and contact the Thesis Office with any questions.

Do you have questions about copyright and your thesis? Check out the online resources developed by Copyright Librarian Sara Benson. In addition to copyright reference guides, she's also developed the videos "Four Copyright Tips for Graduate Students" and "Fair Use." You might also check out our blog, Grad School 101: Copyright and Your Thesis, to read answers to frequently asked questions.

Labs That Work for Everyone is an interactive, asynchronous professional development program designed to promote healthy lab environments and equip lab members with skills to own and manage their careers. Join the pilot and develop vital leadership and communication skills today. Pilots can be fully independent or take place with your lab group.

The Doctoral Research Support Program and the Writers Workshop are hosting Writing in the Disciplines, an online series that connects doctoral students with faculty, journal editors, and publishers to discuss writing styles and skills in specific disciplines. It complements existing services offered by the Writers Workshop as well as resources at the departmental level. These events are open to all current doctoral students.

Are you preparing to go on the academic job market? The Writers Workshop will review genre expectations for diversity statements and provide examples from a range of disciplines. We will share strategies for brainstorming and drafting your own statement. This event is open to current University of Illinois affiliates (students, faculty, and staff). Please register with your University of Illinois email account by April 9, and we will send a reminder email with the Zoom meeting invitation on the morning of the event.

Are you overwhelmed by organizing your sources? Zotero is a free, open-source citation manager that helps you store and organize your files and insert formatted citations into papers. You will leave this hands-on workshop with a Zotero library set up and ready to use!

Attendees will become familiar with the differences between a dissertation and first book manuscript, and will further learn about identifying points of revision, creating a revision plan/timeline, approaching editors/presses, writing a book proposal, and the publishing process at a glance.

Join the Writers Workshop to learn about genre expectations for personal statements and strategies for drafting and tailoring your statement. We will review a range of disciplines. Register using your Illinois email by April 8 to receive the Zoom details on the morning of the event.

This hands-on workshop will teach you how to make common word processing documents accessible for screen readers, and how to make presentations accessible for a wide range of users. We’ll cover MS Word and PowerPoint as well as general best practices for accessibility that you can incorporate across formats. You’ll leave this workshop with readily implementable strategies and checklists you can start using immediately to ensure your research, teaching, and presentations are more accessible to diverse audiences. 

In this introductory workshop, we will be learning about basic 3D Printing modeling with TinkerCAD. We will provide a walkthrough and activity with this software. After registering, please create a TinkerCAD account. TinkerCAD is a free browser-based software that we will be using in the introductory 3D design workshop. Choose the “Create a personal account” option for this workshop and follow the registration steps.

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.

We are looking for participants to read poems in any language or subject, along with translation to or from English. We welcome original or published translations. If you would like to read a poem, please contact Marek Sroka (msroka@illinois.edu) or Paula Carns (pcarns@illinois.edu) and provide the title/language of the poem of your choice (5 minutes per presenter). This event is free and open to all. Refreshments will be provided. 

On Saturday, April 19 at Spurlock Museum in the Knight Auditorium, Japan House is pleased to welcome Japanese calligrapher Seiran Chiba for a performance and keynote lecture titled, Stories of Fukushima: The Journey of Seiran Chiba. Chiba's performance will be interactive with the audience and features musical accompaniment from Ho Etsu Taiko. Doors to the Knight Auditorium will open at 12:45PM. Registration is strongly recommended and seating is first-come, first-serve. Walk-ins are welcome if seating is available.

Japan House is pleased to partner with the Spurlock Museum to feature the exhibition opening of Kogei: Traditional Japanese Arts and Crafts of Fukushima, Japan. The reception and artist meet and greet will be in the Charles M. and Barbara. S. Hundley Central Core Gallery at the Spurlock Museum, and it features Fukushima artists Seiran Chiba, Akie Hashimoto, and Ayako Hirai. There will be light refreshments served and visitors can mingle with the artists and view their creations. Reservations recommended, walk-ins welcome if space is available.

Celebrate the season with us at Coffee Across Cultures as we explore Spring Traditions from Around the World on Friday, April 11, 1pm-3pm at Siebel Center for Design, Starlight Room and Upper Lobby. From colorful festivals to meaningful rituals, discover how different cultures welcome renewal, growth, and sunshine. Enjoy free coffee, tea, and pastries while connecting with international and American students, scholars, and fellow globally curious guests in a warm, relaxed setting. Everyone is welcome!

Join us for a Spanish and Filipino Names training! This session will introduce the history and diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds that shape names in Spanish speaking regions and the Philippines. Our presenters from Latin America and the Philippines will guide participants through key pronunciation techniques, name structures, and cultural insights. Feel free to submit or bring names to practice! You must register here in advance in order to receive the Zoom meeting link to attend this training.

Celebrate the exhibition opening of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR): Red Regalia Project created with Chicago-based Native artist Angel Starr (Omaha, Odawa, Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota) to call attention to violence against Indigenous Peoples. Part of the 2024–2025 Native North American Art Residency. The exhibition will be on view through April 11. Reception in Link Gallery.

SPEAK stands for Song, Poetry, Art, and Knowledge. It’s an open-mic public performance space at Krannert Art Museum curated by local artist, Shaya Robinson, featuring guest performers and welcoming all to the mic.

The Center for Children's Books will be hosting a mini-book sale in the Main Quad consisting of Young Adult (YA) books! Funds will be used to support CCB staff and programs. This will be a touchless/card only sale. This book sale is open to all students of UIUC.

Please join the School of Social Work for the final Research Methods event of the semester with Dr. Lonny Avi Brooks, professor of communication and Afrofuturism at California State University, East Bay. For the last two decades, Dr. Brooks has advanced futuristic thinking in communications curriculum and created games to envision social justice futures, including Black and Queer liberation. Lunch will be served and CEUs are available. Please register by April 9th: visit our webpage. We hope to see you!

It's Earth Month! Each April, iSEE joins Facilities & Services, the Student Sustainability Leadership Council and other campus and community groups to celebrate Earth Day (April 22) all month long! This year, Earth Month includes the popular "Sustainapalooza" (and iSEE Clothing Swap) on April 12, an Earth Day Trash Pickup, a new Bike for Earth Day event, and the Green Globes + iCAP Reception honoring student sustainability achievements and showcasing objectives for the 2025 Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP)! Find all the details on iSEE's Earth Month calendar >>>

Sustainapalooza on the Quad is returning to campus on Saturday, April 12 from 1-6pm! This annual Earth celebration features live music, food, craft vendors, composting, tabling, a clothing swap, and more. Facilities & Services needs your support with running the composting operation to make this event truly zero waste. As a volunteer, you will help event attendees properly sort their organic waste. Flexible shifts are available and volunteer service hours can be earned. See more details and register to volunteer using this sign-up sheet >>>

Take a deeper dive into visual design with the Speakers Workshop! This workshop will focus on poster design, data visualization, and connecting with your scholarly audience. We will also consider aspects of delivery in poster presentations.

The 2025 Science & Spirits organizing committee invites you to our annual networking event. This event provides a unique opportunity for UIUC undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty in plant sciences and related fields to connect with industry representatives and fellow researchers. The deadline to submit an abstract for the lightning talk and poster presentation is 12th April 2025. You can register to participate until 23rd April. Register or submit an abstract to participate or present. Only undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for prizes.

Co-sponsored by the Student Sustainability Leadership Council and the Illini Union Board, this Earth Month festival will include many activities such as games, crafts, a student art show, live music, delicious food, craft vendors, and engagement and education about sustainability efforts by different campus organizations and RSOs. 

Join us for an evening of axes and ambiguity, gender and genetics, spirits and science…There will be an information presentation about differences in sexual development followed by ample time for Q&A. Stick around afterwards to continue the conversation while tossing an axe or two.

Join us for a free screening of Queendom (2023), followed by a discussion with producer Igor Myakotin. This documentary follows Jenna, a queer artist in Russia, who stages radical public performances to challenge perceptions of beauty and queerness while protesting government oppression. Myakotin, an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, brings this powerful story to the screen. 

Please join us to celebrate the book launch of LLS professor, Aja Y. Martinez's new book The Origins of Critical Race Theory: The People and Ideas That Created a Movement, co-authored with Robert O. Smith (University of North Texas). The book weaves together the many sources of critical race theory, recounting the origin story for one of the most insightful and controversial academic movements in U.S. history. 

We are thrilled to let you know about our AI for Science seminar series, hosted biweekly on Thursdays in Everitt 1103 at 12:30pm with free lunch. These sessions feature discussion and presentations by graduate students & postdocs, aiming to cultivate a collaborative environment at the crossroads of machine learning and natural sciences. Our April 10th session will feature a talk on “Evolutionary Genomics of Prostate Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa” by Rohini Janivara from Georgia Tech. Lunch is provided!!

Explore the intersection of AI, ethics, and social justice in Africa! This discussion explores AI’s ethical impact, addressing bias, data privacy, and the digital divide. Learn how inclusive policies and Africa-specific ethical frameworks can drive sustainable development. Discover how collaboration among governments, academia, industry, and civil society is essential to ensuring AI advances social justice and equitable growth.

Join Funk ACES Library for its 7th Solving the World’s Challenges panel on April 15 (2:30-3:30 p.m.) During this hybrid event, 3 campus experts (from Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences, Urban & Regional Planning, and the Illinois State Water Survey) will discuss their work related to environmental justice and respond to Q&A. Please register to receive a Zoom link or join us in-person to enter a book drawing and to enjoy the post-panel reception. 

Resisting Digital Surveillance in Brazil: Preliminary Fieldwork on AI and Facial Recognition at Carnaval with Kainen Bell (Information Sciences Ph.D. student) on April 9th on Zoom - Last year, the Panopticon, a Brazilian project that monitors how police acquire new technologies, reported a record increase in festivals—such as Carnaval—being monitored using facial recognition technologies (FRTs). During this presentation, I will introduce the debates against using surveillance technologies and AI in public security and present firsthand experience of FRT and AI use at this year’s Carnaval. 

Join us for the final Interseminars lecture of the year with Dr. Bryce Henson (Communication & Journalism, Africana Studies Program Affiliate - Texas A&M University), professor and author of the book Emergent Quilombos: Black Life and Hip-Hop in Brazil. The book explores the historical and contemporary significance of “quilombos”—Black encampments formed by enslaved people who escaped captivity in Brazil. Henson is an alum of the Institute of Communications Research at the College of Media at Illinois and was also a past HRI Campus Fellow.

Join us for a lecture in the Illinois Forum on Human Flourishing in a Digital Age Speaker Series with Christine Rosen. Her lecture "Defending the Human in a Technological World" will explore what it means to be human in a world that promises near-endless opportunities for virtual, disembodied experience. 

Please join us for the University Archives' monthly Women in Science Lecture Series, April 10 from 12 -1 pm. Dr. Taiye Winful, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology, will discuss her research on the biological mechanisms linking stress to health, with a focus on inflammation. This is a hybrid event and will take place in the University Archives, Main Library 146 or you can register for the zoom link.

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.