Libraries! Snacks! Swag! Raffle Prize! Explore Illinois’ AMAZING campus library system during the Library Crawl that will take you from the South Quad to the Engineering Quad. Visit all 3 participating library locations anytime during open hours 9/23-9/27. Stop by the desk at each library to get a passport stamp, information about the library and services, and a snack or library swag (while supplies last). More info here. 

Your emails can reflect your connection to the university with an Illinois-branded email signature. Check out all the templates on the brand website along with detailed instructions on how to upload each signature, including PC and Mac users. 

The First-Generation Student Initiatives wanted to announce that, except for First-Gen Week @ Illinois (November 3rd - 8th), all Proud to be First-Gen events will be hosted at the FGSI Office (Turner Student Services Building, 4th Floor). Please contact our email firstgen@illinois.edu for any questions. 

We’ve joined the Big Ten® in the We Give Blood competition! Donate blood @ any blood drive (on-campus blood drives count: https://bigten.org/abbott/illinois) or blood center until Dec. 5. On-campus donors will get a limited-edition Homefield® vintage Illini T-shirt* 👉 Schedule your appointment @ https://bigten.org/Abbott/illinois AND 📲 Register your donation @ https://bigten.org/Abbott/submit or text ‘DONATE’ to 222688 (ABBOTT) to get your tee (tees for on-campus donors only) & give Illinois credit. Plus, the university w/ the most donations wins $1 million from Abbott! *While supplies last.

The Reading Room will be closed for a private event on September 26 from noon onwards. Normal hours resume September 27. The Main Library building will be open normal hours September 26, with all other service points accessible to patrons. Parking in Lot E3 may be limited. Library digital resources remain available and can be accessed through the Library Gateway. Please adjust your schedule.

The Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act aims to “address gaps in mental health services on college campuses in Illinois through training, peer support, & community-campus partnerships.” To support this, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs offers Mental Health First Aid training, the Faculty-Staff Mental Health Ambassador Program, & SOS for Higher Ed: Suicide Prevention self-guided training for faculty, staff, & TAs/GAs. These programs equip you with the skills to recognize when a student is experiencing mental health challenges and connect them to appropriate resources.

Grab a friend and sign up for a 4-week physical training program focusing on full body strength and conditioning. These small groups help build community, motivate an active lifestyle, and keep you accountable to reach your personal fitness goals. Two sessions are offered on Oct. 7 - 30 and Nov. 4 - Dec. 4. Classes meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5-6pm in the Activities and Recreation (ARC) HIIT Pod. Open to all levels; no Campus Recreation membership necessary. Register on Active Illini.

Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowships support doctoral candidates in their final year of writing whose dissertations engage with conversations about religion, ethics, values, or morals. Students in any discipline may apply, and there is no citizenship requirement. The initial application requires a brief proposal; finalists will be invited to submit a full proposal and letters of recommendation. Applications are due November 1. The funder will host two info sessions for potential applicants on Monday, Sept. 22 at 10AM CT and Monday, Oct. 6 at 3PM CT. 

New to the university? Need a refresher on using the library? This hands-on workshop will introduce you to library resources and services. After this workshop, you’ll be able to navigate the library website with confidence to access print and electronic materials. Come with questions if you have them! 

MAXQDA is a robust software for analyzing qualitative data, including text, media, and survey data. MAXQDA is available for free to all campus users via Illinois Computes. This workshop is the second in a three-part series on using MAXQDA for analyzing qualitative data and assumes that you know how create, manage, and use documents and codes in MAXQDA. Offered twice: 2-3 PM September 25 (in-person) and 10-11 AM September 26 (online).

Are you struggling to keep track of all your sources? Looking for an easier way to cite as you write? Mendeley is a free citation manager that helps you organize your citations, store and annotate your files, and insert formatted citations into papers. You will leave this hands-on workshop with a Mendeley library set up and ready to use!  

Scholarly databases feature common operators and special features that allow you to create more precise search results. The more you use these features and tools, the better your search experience will be. In this workshop, we talk about these search operators, special characters and limiters and discuss how to learn a new database in a way that is efficient and effective. This workshop will include hands-on time, so bring a computer and search along with us. Offered twice:  4-5 PM September 23 (in-person) and 11AM-12PM September 26 (online). 

Google Scholar is an incredibly popular and useful tool for research with several features that scholars may not be familiar with. This workshop will elaborate on the difference between searching in Google Scholar and academic databases, demonstrate how to use Google Scholar’s Advanced Search, explain how to get to connect your library access to Google Scholar, and cover some of the other more sophisticated features Google Scholar offers to support your research. 

In this workshop, you will learn the basics of Illinois REDCap and how it can be used for the collection of research data, including how to create projects, instruments, and surveys and how to start collecting research data. It is recommended (but not required) that you have a REDCap account prior to attending the workshop. Information about accessing Illinois REDCap is available here: https://healthinstitute.illinois.edu/redcap. No prior REDCap experience is necessary. 

NCSA is offering a 2-hour workshop to introduce the DeltaAI cluster and teach how to perform basic tasks in its cluster environment. There are no prerequisites for this workshop. Attendees will be added to a training allocation for the workshop, if they do not already have DeltaAI allocations. Register by October 2.

When you're writing your thesis, you probably have tons of files to keep track of. As a graduate student, Emily (who now oversees the Thesis Office) learned the hard way how important having a data management plan is. Learn from her mistakes in our blog "How to Keep Track of Your Stuff, or Four Horror Stories in Two Parts" (Part I and Part II).

Just a friendly reminder to back up your thesis files, including drafts, data, spreadsheets, pictures, and notes. You might consider signing up for Data Nudge through Research Data Service, which will send you monthly email reminders and tips for managing your research. Check out the Research Data Service website for more tips and to schedule a one-on-one appointment to speak with a data management expert. While backing up files might seem like a tedious task, make sure to do so regularly so you don’t lose all of your hard work!

Start your GradSWE Mentorship journey with us! 🌟🤝 Join our introduction session to learn about the program, connect with mentors and mentees, and begin building meaningful relationships for the year ahead. Not sure if you want to be a mentor or mentee? No worries—sign up and come explore the program with us! 

Are you ready to enhance your intercultural skills? Join us for Exploring Intercultural Communication Styles, an interactive training session designed to help you navigate various intercultural communication skills. This session explores key communication styles, including: direct vs. indirect, linear vs. nonlinear, affective vs. neutral, and more. Participants will learn how adapting to different communication approaches can lead to more effective interactions. Registration is required, so secure your spot now! 

Landing the job is just the first step—securing the right offer is just as important. Join us for an interactive lunch seminar where you’ll learn practical strategies for evaluating and negotiating job offers with confidence. We’ll cover salary, benefits, and non-monetary perks, as well as how to approach conversations with professionalism. Whether you’re job searching now or planning ahead, this session will help you maximize your opportunities and set yourself up for success. Lunch will be provided. Bring your notes and drink

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.

What can you ask for and how do you ask for it? After you receive a faculty job offer, you have a short period to evaluate it, negotiate and make your decision. In this workshop, you will learn how to develop a strategy to help you know when and how to negotiate effectively. This session will be held on Zoom at https://go.grad.illinois.edu/eventspace

This workshop is a 2-hour session that will introduce interactive Jupyter notebooks, particularly the web-hosted version provided by Illinois Computes Research Notebooks (ICRN) service. We will discuss the benefits that Jupyter can bring to research workflows, how you can set up Jupyter locally or with cloud providers, how to use Jupyter with ICRN, and how to navigate the interface. Some familiarity with Python will be useful. Register by October 3.

PubMed is a free online database used to search the medicine and health literature with the aim of improving both global and personal health. In this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to access PubMed and perform basic searches, as well as how to use some unique functions such as search filters and MeSH terms. This workshop is geared towards those who are new to PubMed and will be a mixture of lecture, demonstration, and hands-on learning. 

Join a 3-part hands-on workshop introducing researchers and practitioners with disabilities to the NCSA Delta HPC cluster. Build command-line skills, create scripts, submit jobs with Slurm, and explore Delta’s software tools and version control for reproducible research. Verbal instruction and accessibility prioritized. 

Join us for the First Friday Psychology-Beckman Colloquium Series, monthly events bringing together members of the campus community for faculty-led lectures, panel discussions, and research spotlights that showcase the breadth and depth of work happening in psychological science at U of I. On Friday, October 3rd, Assistant Professor Benedek Kurdi will speak about Malleability of Racial Evaluations in Response to Counterattitudinal Exemplars, followed by an open Q&A session moderated by Professor Eleanor Seaton. 

“Land, property, and the story of 18th-century race-making: displacement and belonging between the Caribbean and Britain.” Presented by Catherine Hall (Modern British Social and Cultural History, University College London; fellow of the British Academy), with Jennifer Morgan (History, New York University) responding.

Adham Sahloul (LAS '15) is the co-founder and senior advisor of the North Star Policy Initiative. A former U.S. national security official, he served as a special advisor in the Biden-Harris Administration, 2022-2025, at the Department of Defense & U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). As a member of USAID Administrator Samantha Power's Office of Policy, he focused on China & strategic competition. Cookies, Coffee & Conversations begin at 3:00, with Adham's remarks at 3:30, followed by Q&A.

Join us November 7–8, 2025 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for kinSTEM: Kinship in Sciences conference engaging Indigenous Knowledge and representation in STEM. The conference schedule and speaker lineup are forthcoming. Limited spots for attendance are available; Register today and stay tuned for exciting updates! https://publish.illinois.edu/-kinstem-/kinstem-registration/

Join us for a hybrid event with Uluğ Kuzuoğlu, a historian of modern China and the world, currently teaching at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on the history of non-Western information and communication technologies, spanning from printing devices to artificial intelligence, and their intersections with political ideologies and social imaginaries.

Join us for our first CEAPS Brown Bag of the 25-26 school year with Faculty Travel Grant recipient Sarah Park Dahlen & Michelle Lê for their talk, "Keeping Afloat: Water, War, and Vietnamese Diaspora in Picture Books." Sarah Park Dahlen 박사라 is an Associate Professor at the School of Information Sciences. Michelle Lê is a current PhD candidate in the School of Information Sciences.

Created for Krannert Art Museum's Contemporary Gallery, 3rd year MFA candidate, Juli Brandano presents music, an investigation of our personal and collective connections to rhythm. In pursuing visual and sonic forms of cacophony and harmony, the dancers create a kind of orchestra, through which they relay distinct relationships to time and cyclicality. music also considers the dancing body on display in the gallery setting and exists as a durational installation from 12-1 p.m. on September 30-October 3 and a theatrical performance Friday, October 3 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, October 4 at 2 p.m. 

With over 100 prints on display—including works by Rembrandt, Goya, and Dürer—"Imagination, Faith, and Desire" is extraordinary for the significance of the works and the exceptionally high quality of the impressions, the excellence of which rivals the holdings at many major museums. On view September 25, 2025, through February 28, 2026. Krannert Art Museum is hosting a daylong symposium in conjunction with the exhibition: "Envisioning Gender and Sexuality in Premodern European Prints" (Oct 17). The museum is free and open to everyone. Parking nearby is free after 5 pm and on weekends.

Join us for a fun fall outing with GradSWE! We’ll enjoy apple picking, exploring the pumpkin patch, and spending time together at Curtis Orchard. You can also visit the large country store to shop for specialty foods, take home fresh apple cider, and try their famous donuts and pies. Please RSVP here so we can plan transportation.

Join us from Sept. 21–28 for a weeklong celebration of Homecoming events! This year's theme is "Illinois: Where Legends Begin." Members of the chart-topping classic rock band REO Speedwagon return to campus to serve as grand marshals of the Homecoming parade Friday, Sept. 26. Check out the full slate of 2025 Homecoming events at https://homecoming.illinois.edu/schedule/. Don't forget to purchase your official Illinois Homecoming t-shirt and get a collectable button, available exclusively at the Illini Union Bookstore -> https://bookstore.illinois.edu/.

How has your interaction with International Education and Asian American Cultural Center shaped your identity, fostered community building and enriched your college lives? Come and join current students and alum to share stories of Illinois experience! Dinner is provided.This program is open to all current students, regardless of race, color or national origin. Reasonable accommodations are available upon request, please contact internationaled@illinois.edu

Register and attend the Asian American Cultural Center's 20th Anniversary Open House on October 3rd from 2-4 p.m. by September 30. Join us in celebrating 20 years of community and culture! 

Japan House will be open from 4–6:30 p.m. for Homecoming on Friday, September 26. Please stop by and have a bowl of tea and sweet at our Homecoming Matcha Café, view progress on the Ogura-Sato Annex, and enjoy the gardens! There is no formal tea ceremony offered but guests will be able to still enjoy a bowl of matcha and a special autumn wagashi. Walk-ins welcome but reservations preferred.

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.