The City of Champaign is conducting a Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy to better understand housing needs across the community—and we want to hear from you. Your input is essential. Share your experiences living in housing in Champaign by taking our short survey. 

The C-U FIRST Lego League Robotics Tournament occurs December 7th at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building. Support young STEM-enthusiasts by volunteering as a judge, queuer, hosts, etc. No experience needed. Training provided. Register as a volunteer HERE or contact Lara Hebert at wyse@illinois.edu for more information.

Are you interested in learning a specific bioinformatics analysis? HPCBio (High Performance Computing in Biology) is planning future workshop offerings and we’d love your input! Please take a moment to complete our short survey (~5 minutes) and help shape the training and resources we provide to the university community. Thank you in advance for your invaluable feedback!

The Graduate College is revising its social media strategy. To best serve our graduate students, we would like to hear from you about which platforms you use and what types of information you want to see from the Graduate College. Please help us by taking a few minutes to share your thoughts in this anonymous survey.

Immigrant Student Support has recently released a resource guide for students whose families and loved ones may be impacted by deportation or removal. Because individuals who are impacted may visit a number of different resources across campus for support, this resource encourages impacted students to connect with Immigrant Student Support directly, as well as other resources in the guide. Contact Ross Wantland at wantland@illinois.edu or 217-244-1814 for more information. 

The Student Health Insurance Office invites you to its November 2025 Town Hall event starting at 12:00PM CST on Tuesday, November 18th, 2025.  The event will be held via Zoom and will last about one hour.

Everybody Eats offers free meals for anyone in our Illini community, especially those who may find it hard to get safe, nutritious food from time to time. If you would like a meal, please come eat. Find information about options in Ikenberry Commons, ISR Dining Hall, and Bevier Café at the link above.

Boren Awards enable undergrad and grad students who are U.S. citizens to study languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests. Grad students from any field may apply for Boren Fellowships to combine language study with research, if desired. Boren awardees agree to seek national security employment in the federal government for at least one year upon graduation. Grad student applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their draft applications to the Office of External Fellowships by January 5 for review in advance of the national deadline. See details in our Fellowship Finder listing. 

Many funding agencies require a personal statement in addition to an applicant’s research proposal. Why?! What on earth are you supposed to talk about? If these questions have induced writer’s block, this workshop is for you. We will assess the range of personal statement prompts you may encounter and distill their shared essence. Participants will learn the qualities of a compelling statement as well as a writing process they can implement to arrive at a complete first draft. Please register at the link below for this online workshop. 

Discover how to transform your research into a compelling story that communicates the significance of your work, connects with diverse audiences, and strengthens grant proposals and publications. Speakers from the Center for Writing Studies, ACES, and the College of Engineering will demonstrate humanities-inspired approaches to crafting engaging, persuasive research narratives. Attend in person or via Zoom and leave with practical tools to make your research more impactful. Light refreshments provided.

Learn more about the literature review's purpose and gain tips for writing an effective one, either as a stand-alone piece or part of a larger project. Register by 11/18 to receive the Zoom invitation on the morning of the event.

If you are a doctoral student planning to deposit your dissertation for December 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.

Curious about the 120+ tech companies and startups that call the U. of I. Research Park home? It’s one of the best places on campus to find a paid internship or full-time job. Hear student interns share their experiences and get tips from staff on opportunities, hiring timelines, and the application process. Registration is encouraged but not required. Learn more on Handshake. 

PhD students and postdocs, join us for a virtual panel with international postdocs and assistant professors from the U. of I. who are early in their academic careers. Panelists will share their career paths, experiences, and practical tips for academic job applications and interviews. Registration is encouraged but not required. Zoom link: go.illinois.edu/AcademicCareerINTL.

Grab your lunch and join us online for this chance to explore careers in engineering. Hear from industry experts as they share real-world insights, career advice, and tips for success in this dynamic and growing field. Registration is encouraged but not required. Zoom link: go.illinois.edu/CareerInsidersEng.

Graduate College Career Development advisors specialize in the needs of grad students and postdocs. Meet one-on-one to revise application documents, prepare for interviews, get ready to negotiate, explore new career paths, develop a job search strategy, and more. We work with students/postdocs on any kind of job search, including industry, nonprofit, faculty, and government. Appointments are available in person or on Zoom. Learn more at https://grad.illinois.edu/professional-development/career-dev-office/career-advising.

From Game Development to Everywhere: A 30-Year Journey Discover how one veteran's three-decade career in the games industry reflects the evolution of technology, creativity, and career paths. Learn how game development skills now power innovation across industries - and bring your questions for an open, student-driven conversation. NVIDIA pioneered accelerated computing to tackle challenges no one else can solve. Our work in AI and digital twins is transforming the world's largest industries and profoundly impacting society. Guest Speaker: Jeff Hanna, Manager, Software Engineer, Nvidia

Grad students from any discipline are invited to the 16th annual Gesa E. Kirsch Graduate Student Symposium, April 23–24, 2026. This student-led, interdisciplinary event features diverse presentation formats, professionalization workshops, and a keynote by Kaia Simon, Associate Professor of English at UW Eau Claire. The symposium encourages interdisciplinary exchange and welcomes proposals on writing, rhetoric, media, and education in both traditional and experimental formats. Please submit a proposal by completing this Google Form by March 13, 2026.

Join GradSWE on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at the IHotel for weSTEM, an annual conference for graduate women and gender minorities in STEM. Leaders from academia, industry, and national labs will share insights on career paths that begin in grad school. Enjoy panels, networking, and small-group sessions focused on the graduate student experience. Leave inspired to finish your degree and make an impact. Registration will close on December 19th. Learn more and register at: https://westem.engineering.illinois.edu/

In this talk, Dr. Qingqing Chen of James Madison University will detail how smells can shape people’s perceptions of urban spaces, positing smell as an important aspect of wellbeing and sensory richness. Her research consists of interviews across nine New York counties and classifying perceived smells based on geosocial media data. This approach can not only reveal “hidden” neighborhoods with clear spatial patterns, but also capture smells that may otherwise be overlooked. Dr. Chen will also propose how this research can help shape identity, policy, and urban design. Lunch will be provided!

Matthew Soener (Sociology, UIUC), "Global Capitalism, Climate Change, and Emerging Fault Lines."  This talk places the growing greenhouse emissions in the Global South in the historical context of capitalist configurations, focusing both on the role IMF policies had in the growth of emissions and rise of exploitation, and the current and new institutional changes such as the “Wall Street Consensus” and hegemonic rivalry between the US and China – which includes energy investment.

Are we building God? In an era where AI and the ubiquity of the Internet age renders the realm of information more present—and real-feeling—than the physical one, how do we understand ourselves theologically? And, no less importantly, how do we understand our relationship to reality? Join us for the next lecture in the Forum on Human Flourishing in a Digital Age by Tara Isabella Burton to explore these questions.

Join us for a thought-provoking panel on decolonizing knowledge with Associate Professor Jenny L. Davis, Ph.D. (Chickasaw Nation); Doctoral Student David Eby (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma/Muscogee Creek); Assistant Professor Oliver Tapaha, Ph.D. (Diné/Navajo); and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Carle Illinois College of Medicine Heather Wright (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa). Panelists will discuss academia’s exclusion of Indigenous voices and centering Indigenous knowledge to reshape research. Open to all interested persons! Food from Y-Thai provided; raffle for Trickster Academy!

Women have largely been written out of the ancient world. Dealing with the silences of the archive requires new and innovative tools, and in this talk, Dr. Emily Hauser surveys the many different approaches she has taken across her fiction and non-fiction writing to recover women: from deep analysis of Greek texts to popular contemporary myth retellings to innovative takes on history that mix fact and fiction to uncover new ways of knowing. 

Enjoy performances by the School of Music's Campus Concert Band & University Concert Band, or the Illini Strings and University of Illinois Philharmonia Orchestra. Bang on a Can All-Stars present David Lang's new work Before and After Nature with The Los Angeles Master Chorale. Hear the Hindsley Symphonic Band & Wind Orchestra, and the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Groove at Uncorked with Candy Foster and Shades of Blue, and don’t miss the East-meets-West musical fusion of Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East. Visit KrannertCenter.com for tickets or more information.

SPEAK stands for Song, Poetry, Art, and Knowledge. It is 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.  **Parking nearby is free after 5 pm and on weekends. The museum is open Thursdays until 8 pm when classes are in session. Dec 4 is the last open evening for the semester. Jan 22 will be the first Thursday open late in the new year.**

Join us for a Talk & Tour with Curator Maureen Warren. Gain insights about 100+ extraordinary prints—including artwork by Rembrandt, Goya, and Dürer—on display as part of Imagination, Faith, and Design: Art and Agency in European Prints, 1475–1800 (on view through February 28).

Following the wars in Vietnam, over two million people fled the country. That exodus resulted in nearly half dying in flight. Vietnamerica follows Master Nguyen Hoa as he returns to former refugee camps in Southeast Asia after three decades abroad to search for the graves of his wife and two children. Executive Producer Nancy Bui joins GETSEA and 20+ universities across North America for a simultaneous Zoom screening and filmmaker discussion. Pizza will be served.

The Department of Dance will present full of woe & far to go, an evening of new dances by emerging student choreographers. The concert will include works created by MFA students Paula De Oliveria E Sousa and Sophia Vangelatos as well as BFA students Jayla Anderson, Gabriella Quaresima, and Anna Brady. 

Want to learn how to swing dance? Come check out the Illini Swing Society! Our 7-week lesson series has begun and registration has closed, but we host free weekly drop-in lessons to get you on the dance floor! No partner or experience necessary. Intermediate lessons are from 6:30-7:30pm, beginner and drop-in lessons are from 7:30-8:30pm, and our social dance is from 8:30-10pm every Thursday at the Illini Union Room 103. We can't wait to dance with you!

Experience the warmth of fall with the bold flavors of South Asia! Join us for Fall Break Autumn Celebrations:  a festive gathering featuring street foods from South Asia. Taste, connect, and celebrate community through food and culture. Open to all!

Brazil is home to the largest ethnic Japanese community outside of Japan, with over 2 million people. Japanese presence in Brazil has strongly influenced Brazilian culture in many areas. Come and meet Brazilians in our community, learn about the Japanese diaspora, and experiment and savor Japanese cuisine with Brazilian flavors - Nikkei cuisine. Open to all, Dinner provided.

NCSA is hosting a Machine Learning and Big Data workshop presented by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. This workshop will focus on big data analytics and machine learning with Spark, and deep learning using Tensorflow. This is an IN PERSON event, there WILL NOT be a virtual option for this event.

The IGB Postdoctoral Association and IGB Graduate Student Association are hosting a joint Coffee Hour, a casual community-building event that will include warm beverages, sweet treats, and roundtable discussions with IGB postdocs. Open to all graduate students, regardless of IGB affiliation. Please RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/IGBtrainees-F25coffee and consider joining our mailing list https://lists.illinois.edu/lists/info/igbgrads.

Are you ready to make an impact? Join Gamma Theta Upsilon and the Department of Geography & GIS as we map the Amazon region of Colombia to support community-based disaster management. Every building and road we trace helps local communities prepare for climate challenges and strengthen their response to disasters. Be sure to bring a laptop!

Join us for Artventures—an interactive afternoon designed for children (ages 5+) with their families and caregivers. Each session features stories inspired by artworks on view followed by playful gallery exploration that connects the stories to the art. The experience wraps up with open-ended artmaking led by guest artists inspired by the exhibition. Experience the museum in a fun, welcoming way that sparks creativity, curiosity and imagination for the whole family. Stop by to enjoy listening, exploring and creating together! Sponsored by Krannert Art Museum and The Urbana Free Library.

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 wellbeing education for students. 

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