Friday, August 29, 2014

The "Blue Men" are coming!

One of the best things about being part of the UIS community is that we have a fabulous performing arts center right on our campus. Sangamon Auditorium offers a terrific slate of top-level performances every year – from Broadway shows to professional dance ensembles to musical artists to theatre to comedians – it’s a wonderful resource for the university and for the entire central Illinois region. 

One of my favorite activities as Chancellor is sharing the Chancellor’s reserved seats with special invited guests – especially students. The wildly popular Blue Man Group will be performing in our Sangamon Auditorium next week with two shows on September 5 & 6. 

If you are a student reading this blog post, I have a special offer for you. For the first ten students who send an email message to UIS Director of Community Relations, Joan Sestak, I’ll provide you with a free one (in a pretty darn great seat) to see Blue Man Group on campus next week. Send your request (better hurry) to Joan Sestak at jsest1@uis.edu. If you are a winner, Joan will respond and let you know how to pick up your free ticket. 

By the way, whether you win or not, keep in mind that Sangamon Auditorium has special student rates for performances all year long. I hope you will become a regular member of the audience this year.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Chancellor’s Welcome Picnic – A great tradition at UIS

For all readers of the UIS Chancellor’s blog, welcome (or welcome back) to the 2014-2015 Academic Year at UIS! I appreciate your participation in the life of our campus via the Chancellor’s blog and look forward to sharing lots of news, stories and thoughts about our campus and the members of our academic community throughout the coming year. 

The Chancellor’s Welcome Picnic is a wonderful tradition of fun, food, music, meeting, and greeting during the first week of classes on campus. As expected...it didn’t disappoint yesterday. This gathering was my fourth serving as picnic “Host”, and the event continues to be one of my favorites of the year. I’ll grant you, at 92 degrees it was a little warmer than usual; but the heat didn’t seem to discourage the hundreds of students, faculty and staff who enjoyed the great food, awesome DJ (UIS alum Jaime Cruz) and the opportunity to get together for enjoyable conversation. The crowd was large and energetic ….. and grateful for the option to sit either outside and enjoy the music or inside where the temperature was at least 20 degrees cooler. 

I had a great time walking around and talking with so many students and staff – many of whom are new to our campus this year. Thanks everyone for joining us for this annual campus tradition and best wishes for a productive and enjoyable year!