Thursday, July 25, 2013

UIS Student Trustee

Today is the first University of Illinois Board of Trustees meeting for our new UIS Student Trustee, Jamaal Hollins. Jamaal is a Computer Science major from Chicago who is doing a summer internship in the Systems Division of State Farm. Welcome to the Board, Trustee Hollins! I look forward to the leadership you will provide this year for the University of Illinois in this very important role. 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Community engagement… and some friendly competition

UIS was well represented a few days ago at the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament. As you can see from this photo, I had an exceptional team – husband, Dennis, Head Men's Basketball Coach, Ben Wierzba, and Head Women's Softball Coach, Matt Mundell. We didn't claim the traveling trophy, but I can report that each member of the team made a great shot at least once! More importantly, it was a good opportunity for us to reach out to our community and support the Springfield Chamber. That having been said, I'm planning on working a little harder on my putting as soon as I get the chance!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Harnessing the winds of change

I've been in Annapolis for the past few days participating in the AASCU Summer Presidents and Chancellors meeting, a gathering of my colleagues, all of whom lead regional public universities throughout the U.S. We had the pleasure of meeting Joel Podolny, Senior Vice President of Human Resources of Apple, Inc. and Dean of Apple University, who provided a provocative keynote presentation and discussion about "change". It's no secret that much about how we engage in and deliver higher education is changing rapidly and the same is certainly true at Apple. I've come home with much to think about and among those thoughts is this statement from Joel: "Everyone must agree that where we are now is not where we want to be."

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

UIS grads well represented in "Forty Under 40"

Last night UIS hosted the annual Forty Under 40 reception co-sponsored by the UIS College of Business and Management, the Springfield Business Journal and Security Bank. "Forty Under 40" is a group of young Springfield professionals, selected each year because they are among our community’s best and brightest. The impressive list of honorees included 13 UIS alums and three current members of our UIS community - Dr. Nathan Steele, associate professor of Management, Dr. Ashley Kirzinger, director of the Survey Research Office in the Center for State Policy and Leadership and Sheleda Doss, who is an adjunct professor at UIS in addition to being a deputy director at the Illinois Department of  Transportation. Each of these 40 individuals has made and will continue to make contributions to our local community and I couldn’t help but have a sense of pride knowing that 16 of this year's "Forty Under 40" class have such close ties to the University of Illinois Springfield. Congratulations to all the honorees!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The many talents of UIS

The Springfield Area Arts Council hosted the city-wide Exhibit and Awards presentation for the "On My Own Time" program last night and UIS staff members took home several awards. Our very own Douglas Levi Brackney from Career Services took first place in the painting category and Donna Haynes from Conference Services took third place in mixed media. "On My Own Time" is a city-wide exhibit of visual art works created by employees of local businesses, agencies, and institutions in their off-duty hours. Judging by the Arts Council took place in early June and our first-place winners became part of the city-wide exhibit. Thanks to all UIS faculty and staff who took part in and exhibited work on campus this past June. The award- winning artwork will be on display at Union Station in Springfield until July 12, 2013.