An email signature is a tool to share our basic contact information — and more importantly, to let our recipients know we are connected to and communicating on behalf of Illinois. Our templates help standardize email signatures throughout the university and better tie them to the Illinois brand. Find all the information you need here to sign off your emails with an official Illinois-branded signature. 

Love books? Love food? Register an entry for the University Library's 19th Annual Edible Book Festival. Edible entries should have a connection to books as shapes or content. Prizes will be awarded for the best culinary creations, which will be displayed and judged at the festival on March 29 at Common Ground Co-Op (Lincoln Square Mall). For more information, visit library.illinois.edu/ediblebooks.

Self-paced (1.5-2 hours) online training program for Illinois faculty, staff and graduate assistants to build their knowledge, confidence and skills about topics related to student mental health. Open through Aug. 15, 2025.

The University of Illinois System and the I-MMAS program, in collaboration with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, have established a joint seed research grants program for the academic year 2025-2026. This program will fund projects in the areas of Food and Health, Water or Energy. The goal is to contribute towards solutions related to poverty, the environment and sustainable well-being. A proposal can have a budget request of no more than $40,000 dollars jointly. Applicants should submit their proposals by April 15. Download proposal requirements and evaluation criteria.

We are pleased to offer new awards supporting and rewarding instructors of general education courses to demonstrate the importance of general education to the undergraduate experience. The Gen Ed Professional Development Award offers eligible faculty up to $5,000 for professional development to attend national/international conferences focused on general education. The Gen Ed Innovation Award provides faculty with $7,500 to develop and implement educational innovations within a Gen Ed course to enhance the General Education Program and improve students' learning experiences. 

PITA grants enable recipients to design, implement and assess instructional innovation that has a high probability of enhancing education at Illinois. Successful applicants will receive $10,000 in financial assistance for their proposed activities. Application deadline is at 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 31.

The CQI Community invites you to submit a proposal for the 2025 Annual Continuous Quality Improvement Conference. The conference will be held Oct. 28 and 29, at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign. As we celebrate 10 years, we are seeking proposals for workshops that feature innovative quality improvement strategies, methods and tools. RFPs are due Friday, May 2. Find all the details on what type of presentations styles we are looking for, a list of suggested topics and how to submit a proposal on our website: https://cqi.cfrc.illinois.edu/index.php.

Are you retiring or separating from the university? You may defer a portion of your vacation leave payout to your 403(b) and/or 457 retirement accounts. Deferral forms must be completed 60 days prior to your last day of employment. Contact University Payroll and Benefits to complete the necessary form(s). Create a UPB Service Ticket or call 217-265-6363 for more information.

Join these Quick Start Workshop to learn how to make your Excel spreadsheets (March 25) and PowerPoint presentations (March 27) accessible to everyone. You'll explore key accessibility tips and practical solutions. Additional workshops on document and course accessibility, including Microsoft Word and PDF, are scheduled throughout the spring semester. Sign up and expand your accessibility skills!

The IMMERSE Symposium - combining immersive technologies, applications and human experience - is a unique meeting to showcase the work of our campus, engage with leaders from academia and industry, foster collaborations and build community to accelerate the era of immersive computing (including AR, VR, MR). The theme is "Unlocking the potential of immersive computing: what will it take?" The program features an exciting slate of speakers, breakouts and interactive posters and demos. If you work in this area, we invite you to contribute to the program by March 31 and register by April 10.

Join us at Riggs Beer Company at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 23, to hear Dr. Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, who will discuss his work with speech recognition technologies and their impacts on different communities. Specifically, his talk will examine the importance of collaborating with communities of people with disabilities and their allies when developing these technologies. Hope to see you there! 

The Bureau of Educational Research and IMMERSE Center for Immersive Computing invite you to a joint event on challenges and opportunities around designing and assessing immersive environments (augmented, virtual and mixed reality) for education. Attendees will have a chance to learn about existing projects on our campus and discuss potential for synergies and collaborations. The program includes lighting talks, a panel discussion with faculty collaborating around XR learning and assessment and time for informal networking and ideation. More information here.

Join acclaimed artist LaToya Ruby Frazier for her upcoming lecture "Art as Transformation: Using Photography for Social Change." Frazier’s artistic practice spans a range of media, including photography, video, performance, installation art and books, and centers on the nexus of social justice, cultural change and commentary on the American experience. Frazier won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2015 and was included in TIME100’s Most Influential People of 2024. 

An ACES International Lecture presented by Michael R Carter, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis, and Honorary Professor of Economics, University of Cape Town. Reception to follow. Registration requested.

Join the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the DRIVE Committee for the Illinois Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship Annual Symposium. Our fellows are among the most talented and accomplished emerging scholars in the country, representing a broad array of disciplines. The Symposium celebrates their accomplishments and features presentations of their research.

The department of astronomy welcomes everyone to attend the Icko Iben Jr. Distinguished Lecture, "The Universe in Us," presented by Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor and director of the Center for Reimagined Leadership. The Iben Lectures bring high profile astronomers to campus to speak to a general audience.

John the East Central Illinois Master Naturalists to explore how these destructive phenomena develop and evolve and discuss the tools that meteorologists use to detect these weather events. Our presenter is Dr. Bob Rauber, an emeritus professor in the department of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at U. of I. In-person and online, see the title link for details and registration.

Join us for an engaging, hands-on cooking class that explores how balanced eating supports health at every stage of life! Co-led by the registered dietitian from McKinley Health Center, Brie Whitted, and nutrition peers, this class will teach you how to build vibrant, nutrient-packed meals using all food groups. Learn practical tips for meeting changing nutrition needs, making sustainable food choices and creating colorful, delicious dishes that nourish your body at any age. Fee is $12 for students; $20 for non-students.

The 2024-2025 Dean's Distinguished Speaker Series aims to facilitate conversation with preeminent scholars in education about the connections between Community, Schools and Identity. As schools face existing and emerging challenges, they weigh shifting opportunities for educating and nurturing the students and communities they serve. 

Join us for a lecture in the Illinois Forum on Human Flourishing in a Digital Age speaker series with Antón Barba-Kay. We live in an age of hyper-awareness of generational differences. What are the consequences of this disorienting acceleration of differences? What does it teach us about the nature of time itself? How can we take our time again? 

Join us as Gies Business welcomes Roshaunda Breeden, Ph.D., for the next installment of the Seen, Heard, Valued Speaker Series from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 26, in Deloitte Auditorium. Her presentation, titled “#FatOnCampus: Exploring Identity, Space, and Belonging,” will explore the connections between body types, educational experience and impact on future business leaders. This experiential workshop will feature the #FatOnCampus photo exhibit, which is part of a participatory action/photovoice research project exploring how college students navigate campus spaces.

Please join the European Union Center for a brown bag talk by the European Commission’s Kristijan Ležaić. This talk will focus on Croatia's EU accession process, 10 years of membership and the transformative effect that the EU membership had on Croatia. The newest EU member state, Croatia is now seen as a poster child of EU integration and a benchmark for aspiring countries, such as Ukraine and the Western Balkans Six (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia).

In conjunction with Prudential Pathways, Well-Being Services is offering financial wellness education seminars. "Is Your Financial House in Order" is a seminar providing guidance on assessing your financial situation, protecting yourself and your assets, setting financial priorities and managing debt. This seminar takes place from noon to 1 p.m. March 27. Click here to register. More information and Well-Being programs can be found here.

Join a webinar with Emilee Mathews, head of the Ricker Library of Architecture and Art, who will share insights from her recent book-buying trip to Japan. She expanded the library’s collections with rare books, fabrics and ephemera, deepening her understanding of Japanese visual culture. Steve Witt, head of the International and Area Studies Library, will discuss how the Library’s International Buying Trip program strengthens global partnerships and enhances research opportunities.

Join CDA and National Taiwan University for the free "Controlled Environment Agriculture" webinar at 7 p.m. March 19. This session is part of our "Global Perspectives on Digital/Smart Agriculture" joint seminar series. Attend to learn about intelligent indoor plant production systems, CEA practices in NTU's precision greenhouse and recycling wastewater to grow food. More details here.

CCUS technologies are regarded by experts as important to deep decarbonization, yet they have been contentious on local and regional levels. What are the main concerns people identify? How do they see these technologies fitting into the landscape of climate action and energy transition more broadly? We will discuss carbon management within the context of attitudes on green industrial development, net zero policy and desired economic activities to better understand the social challenges these technologies will likely face if stakeholders continue to try to develop carbon management projects.

On March 27 at noon, Cara Bertram (archives program officer at U. of I.) will be speaking about the American Library Association Archives and their relationship with communities of faith! Registration link is available here: Registration link.

Testing the effect of soy flour on hunger, blood sugar and insulin responses. Participants ages 21-45 who are non-smokers, BMI 25-40 kg/m2 and no diabetes will complete questionnaires, product tasting (bread, tortilla or arepa), body composition scans and blood draws. You will receive $260 upon completion of four visits for 3- to 4-hour sessions along with free parking. Please fill out our online screening if interested. 

Tell us how your household manages food! We are seeking participants for our Household Food Management Study. Your participation will help inform future initiatives to improve household food conservation and decrease food waste. Plus, participation will increase your understanding of how your household manages food, including how much food is wasted. Study enrollees will be compensated up to $100 in Amazon gift cards for participating. Learn more at http://tiny.cc/StudyFlyer. 

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-plus miles from Champaign. Interested? Click here to join.