Illinois believes in creating an academic community that celebrates and supports the identities, cultures and faiths of all members of our university. To that end, the university has designated a campus coordinator to respond to complaints that pertain to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Please read the Massmail sent to the campus community on Jan. 13 for more information. 

University Primary School's admissions period is open through March 1 for priority consideration for the 2025-2026 academic year in grades preschool through 5th grade. Uni Primary has been the lab school of the College of Education here on campus for more than 50 years. Visit our website to learn more and schedule a tour. At University Primary School, learning is serious delight!

Connect with your body in a peaceful environment during one of Allerton Park’s winter 2025 Community Yoga classes from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, March 5 and April 9, in the Mansion Library. Josie Heck with Yoga Off the Square will lead the classes. Free, but registration is required here one week prior to each session. 

The C-U FIRST Lego League Robotics Sectional Tournament occurs Feb. 1 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 (select the Champaign/Urbana Sectional event). Contact Lara Hebert (wyse@illinois.edu) for more information.

The Grainger College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will host the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Fair from 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 11, 2025, Illini Union rooms A, B, C and South Lounge. We are seeking representatives from research groups, centers, institutes and programs to present and promote undergraduate research opportunities. SIGN UP here. Deadline: Feb. 3, 2025.

We are excited to invite you to the Global Mental Health Research and Services Conference on Oct. 9 and 10, 2025, in Champaign. Coinciding with World Mental Health Day, our theme is "From Local to Global: Encouraging creative solutions to transcultural mental health challenges." To participate in this conference, please submit a proposal. Abstracts are due Jan. 31, 2025.

Get Fresh! allows you to try a variety of produce and locally sourced products each week! In addition to a sample of local goods from Common Ground Food Co-op and fresh produce from the Sustainable Student Farm, you will also receive recipe packets, educational handouts curated by the McKinley Health Center and a reusable tote bag. Price for students: $60; non-students: $75.

The WebStore is an online store offering a wide range of free and discounted software to all university students, faculty and staff. Get started by heading to the WebStore, log in with your NetID/password and start shopping! Once you find the software you need, download it to your device, then the product will be activated once purchase or registration is finished. 

Students can schedule in-person, video call or written feedback appointments at the Writers Workshop to receive feedback on their writing. The Workshop provides tailored presentations for courses and student organizations by request, and we host presentations throughout the semester about common academic writing concerns. View our calendar for upcoming workshops and events!

"Our Beloved Community: Protecting, Freedom, Justice and Democracy" is the 2025 MLK Commemorative theme. The Commemorative Committee invites you to attend the MLK Champions Recognition that honors those who have demonstrated the pillars of Dr. King's legacy. Ashley Etienne, known as the "Queen of the War Room" after roles as a CBS News contributor and a former senior advisor to Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, will deliver the keynote with Q&A to follow.    

Join us at McKinley Foundation Artists' Alley for the Opening Reception of "Between Us," an exhibition that shines a spotlight on BIPOC communities that have long been marginalized or overlooked, capturing the essence of its people, landscapes and cultures with honesty and reverence. New work by Asa Featherstone will feature stories and photos from the Champaign-Urbana community. The exhibit runs until March 16, 2025.

Sip on your favorite beverage in the Allerton Park Solarium and learn about the Oakley Dam crisis during History Happy Hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23. Learn about this key point in the history of Allerton Park, when a project threatened to flood half the park. A cash bar will be open from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. $5 per person. Register here. 

Taste a journey through various wines with educator Mike Lee at Talking and Tasting Wines: An Intro to Wines of the World at Allerton Park on Friday, Jan. 31, in the Mansion Library. These sampling sessions coincide with our Weekend Wind Downs, where you can extend your stay with discounted rooms. Register for tastings here. Reserve a room online here.

Join Yanfeng Ouyang, George Krambles Professor, Paul Kent Faculty Scholar, and Donald Willett Faculty Scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as he presents in person at the Spring 2025 Kent Seminar Series from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23. Food and soft drinks will be provided beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the Illinois Center for Transportation Classroom. 

Join us at Riggs Beer Company at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, to hear Dr. Karen Tabb Dina discuss her work identifying risk factors for morbidity and mortality among perinatal women. Hope to see you there! 

Jamal Greene (Columbia Law) will present "A Republic, If We Can Build It" for the David C. Baum Memorial Lecture on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. Free and open to the public with a limited number of lunches available to attendees. Livestream is also available here: https://www.youtube.com/live/UCdTiYDIb1A.

"Why refugee-led organizations must be at the forefront of leading change" - Robert Hakiza, co-founder of Young African Refugees for Integral Development, will deliver a powerful talk on the transformative impact of refugee-led organizations in displaced communities. This presentation promises to challenge norms and inspire action toward equitable refugee assistance. Hakiza's talk will be followed by lunch and a panel discussion on "Refugee and Global Research," moderated by Dr. Tara Powell.

Registration is now open for the 2025 Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress, co-organized by the University of Illinois System. Join us in Chicago, June 16-19, for the first North American event. Early bird tickets (through March 15), student discounts and limited scholarships are available. Explore pathways to sustainable solutions and tackle hurdles to equitable, resilient futures. Learn more! 

The Illinois Center for Family and Community Engaged STEAMM invites you to the winter STEAAM Outreach and Public Engagement Network Luncheon and Discussion: “How will we know if we get it right?” Saturday, Jan. 25 at Siebel Center for Computer Science. Connect with campus and community organizations and individuals with common interests in engaging the public in STEAMM activities and experiences. Lunch provided, limited seats. RSVP HERE.

Donna Rae Pearson is a passionate curator described as a “radical historian, who gives under-represented groups agency to tell their stories in the most accessible way possible.” Join the campus community in the Illini Union South Lounge, where Donna will discuss Oliver Brown, et al. vs. Board of Education and the twelve female plaintiffs in the 1954 Supreme Court case. 

Emeritus professor Kimiko Gunji will be presenting three unique New Year's and winter wagashi paired with three kinds of tea featuring recipes from her cookbook, "Wagashi: Season by Season." Enjoy this special event at Japan House! Reservations required.

Start the semester the "write" way! 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!

Enjoy a romantic evening Feb. 14 with Sinfonia da Camera! Featuring a program of passionate Romantic masterworks including Tchaikovsky’s "Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture" and the "Concerto for Two Pianos by Poulenc." The program concludes with Rachmaninoff’s expansive "Symphony No. 2," a melodic tour-de-force. Limited-time offer: use promocode DATENIGHT for BOGO tickets!

The AIFARMS Institute invites you to attend the "Seeing the Unseen: Modular Open-Source Ecosystem for GeoAI” seminar in person or on Zoom. Purdue University's Jinha Jung is developing an open-source online platform, Data to Science Engine (D2SE), to address big data challenges in UAS HTP data management. Come learn about D2SE in this free seminar. More details and registration info here.

The annual Illinois Interfaith Conference is a FREE opportunity for students, campus allies and community leaders to engage in conversation on interfaith cooperation. The schedule includes keynote and workshops with psychologist Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith, workshops on critical service engagement and an interfaith service project. Visit go.illinois.edu/InterfaithConference to learn more.

February Dance 2025 celebrates the fierce commitment to artistic innovation in the Department of Dance. Works will be performed by professor Paige Cunningham Caldarella and MFA alumna Anna Peretz Rogovoy (’24), professor Rebecca Nettl-Fiol and the Illinois Modern Ensemble, and two MFA thesis works by Gabriel Bruno Eng Gonzalez and Banafsheh Amiri.

Music culled from testimonies will be accompanied by stellar musicians for a unique experience in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. "Songs from Testimonies" brings to life through music how people managed to survive one of the worst experiences in human history.

At this free workshop, explore the beautiful world of bacteria, molds and fungi through embroidery. Attendees will learn to embroider different stitches to artfully represent microorganisms. Attendees will be able to take home craft materials at the end of the workshop. Workshops are from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 3 and Feb. 5. Registration required. This event is sponsored in part by the Urbana Arts and Culture Commission.

Bring some calm to the start of your year with some mindfulness meditation practice. This series offers mindfulness-based meditation instruction and easy stretching exercises. Classes are from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. Tuesdays, Feb. 4 through March 11, or Wednesdays, March 26 through April 30. For more information or to register, contact us at wellbeing@illinois.edu.

I-ADVANCE, a new NSF-funded initiative, is sponsoring this campuswide webinar presented by Dr. Paolo Gaudiano, founder of DEI tech company Aleria. This presentation takes a candid look at some of the problems with typical DEI approaches that have contributed to the backlash. Dr. Gaudiano will present an approach to DEI that recognizes the foundational role of inclusion as a source of greater diversity and higher performance. See event announcement for more details.

The Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS) will host a talk by James Zou, a professor at Stanford University, on “AI Scientists for Biomedical Discoveries” as part of its Generative AI and the Future of Research speaker series. Details available here.

This presentation will describe MSE wall failures and the lessons learned that include cold weather construction, the important design issues for MSE walls, field QA/QC requirements for MSE walls, especially in cold weather, impact of cold weather on backfill compaction and wall performance, and the steps involved in a forensic evaluation of an MSE wall failure. 1.0 PDH.

The Alcohol Research Lab is looking for social drinkers to participate in our study. Participation involves attending one 6- to 9-hour laboratory session and completing cognitive, social and communicative tasks while EEG brain responses are recorded. A referral of at least one same-gender friend is required at the time of sign up. Up to $100 in compensation. Fill out our interest form!

Help us uncover electric vehicle adoption intent and charging infrastructure use across our University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Completing the online survey will take 10 minutes. Please access the survey here: https://go.cee.illinois.edu/EV-campus-survey. You’ll have a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card in our raffle. For more information, reach out to Dr. Eleftheria Kontou at kontou@illinois.edu.

Help make the next Alcohol Fitbit! The Alcohol Research Lab is looking for participants for a validation study of transdermal biosensing bracelets. Participation involves attending three laboratory sessions, wearing a transdermal bracelet and filling out surveys for two weeks. Up to $400 in compensation for participation.

Recruiting 3- to 4-month-old infants who are exclusively breastfed since birth and have not received any solid foods. We request the collection of three to four infant stool samples. Participants will receive a gift certificate upon sample pick up. For more information, contact Dr. Marcia Siegel at monaco@illinois.edu or 217-244-2873.

Looking for adults ages 40-75 for a study on prolonged sitting and cognition. The study tests interrupting sitting with short, high-intensity exercises and measures brain and cognitive functions before and after. Participants earn $280, with travel expenses covered if living 30+ miles from Champaign. Interested? Click here to join.

We are examining the effects of complementary protein in a meal on the rate of building muscle proteins. The study requires three days of participation, including two full-day trials with blood and muscle sample collection. You get $250 upon completion, information about your body composition (muscle and fat) and results of your lower body strength testing. Contact Zan for more information!

Master’s or sophomore-through-seniors: your work is sought for our study, "Argumentative writing with Generative AI to learn from texts." One in-person session will be held for 75 minutes, reading four brief texts and writing three essay drafts. Must be native English speakers, experience writing generative AI prompts in ChatGPT, etc (not extensive), 18 years or older. Paid up to $30 for completion. Interested students should contact jcromley@illinois.edu.