Thursday, May 24, 2012

Would you like fries with that?

If you happened to drive into the UIS campus this week near the Public Affairs Center, you may have noticed something new and very interesting in the landscape. Art collectors extraordinaire, Bob and Ruth Vogele, who have been great supporters of UIS, donated a sculpture by artist John Henry to UIS. It was being installed near the teardrop drive at PAC. It's a wonderful addition to what we hope will eventually be a campus-wide outdoor sculpture garden that will add to our beautiful grounds. This great piece is titled, “Dodger”; but I can't help but think of it as, "French fries." It is always so exciting to add to the artistic culture of a university campus!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

770 hands shook, and 770 plus smiles

Commencement this past Saturday was such a gratifying event for me, as I am sure it was for all of those involved. I shook 770 hands at our commencement ceremony. And I know I had more smiles than that. What a wonderful feeling that day brought and I know the memories will be with our students and their families forever. I wish our graduates great success and as I always say, “Aim high”!


Friday, May 11, 2012

Pomp and Circumstance

Commencement is tomorrow – my favorite day of the year. Congratulations and best wishes to all UIS graduates! I'm looking forward to shaking 770 hands!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Art makes life

One end-of-year event I have been looking forward to all year is the UIS Senior Art Show …. and it did not disappoint! The galleries were packed Friday evening with students, faculty, parents, grandparents and member of the Springfield community – all enjoying the great show that our visual art students had assembled. I was delighted to present the Chancellor's Award (for best in show) to Karen Boerema for her ceramics installation titled "Coupled." Karen is a ceramics artist who has been studying here at UIS with faculty/artist Shane Harris and is graduating this year with her degree in Visual Arts and plans to make art, I hope, long into the future. She is not only a skilled artisan, but is also a highly intellectual artist whose work is challenging, complex and beautiful. Brad Balster and Skan Jolly received Honorable Mention Awards and I'm looking forward to more great work from them as well.

My congratulations to all of the UIS Art Seniors who contributed their work to the Senior Exhibition as well as to the UIS Art faculty who have contributed so much to the professional development and artistic advancement of our students. (It is art that makes life . . . and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process. - Henry James)

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Stretch run

Well, here we are with two weeks left to go into the semester. This is the “stretch run” as some students call it. Last week was filled with all kinds of activities and excitement for our campus. Springfest was a tremendous success as was our women’s softball team. (Our first athletic team to qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament) That is just to name a couple of items from the action-packed week. But now is also the time, to buckle up and end the school year on a great note. I know many students have papers and finals due, and here is hoping that it is a great last two weeks.