2020-10-28
- During the shutdowns, social distancing, and fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to become isolated. That’s why the College of LAS has used this unusual time to provide students with an opportunity to reach out and make the pandemic easier to overcome.
The College of LAS has created...
LAS News Archive
2020-10-27 - The Class of 2020 was much like any other of the graduating classes before it— eager, inspired, and prepared to change the world. This class, however, will long be remembered for how they were forced to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic that closed the university and brought their time on campus to...
2020-10-27 - From witnessing airplanes stuck in the mud to hearing predictions that Champaign and Urbana would soon unite into one city, the University of Illinois has played host to several memorable presidential visits since the early 1900s. In fact, more than half of the U.S. presidents elected since 1911...
2020-10-27 - We’d all like to think we’re rational beings who arrive at our political views strictly through logic. That anyone faced with the same obvious facts would reach the same obvious conclusion. But according to Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz, professor of political science...
2020-10-26 - Let’s rewrite a little bit of recent history. Let’s pretend that the first presidential debate on September 29 was a picture of civil discourse, and that President Donald Trump never fell ill with COVID-19 and that the second debate went on as planned. In this alternate reality, would the...
2020-10-23 - Two Illinois professors have been named geospatial fellows for the Geospatial Software Institute (GSI) Conceptualization Project, which aims to study the spread and impact of COVID-19 and offer solutions to vulnerable populations it has affected. Ruby Mendenhall and Andrew J. Greenlee comprise a...
2020-10-23 - Born in Guam and having lived in Korea, Kuwait, and the U.S., Ann Lee Joe (BA, ’96, anthropology) has had a lifelong interest in international experiences. “With the opportunities that (Illinois) offered, I studied abroad to explore...
2020-10-22 - The banyan fig tree Ficus microcarpa is famous for its aerial roots, which sprout from branches and eventually reach the soil. The tree also has a unique relationship with a wasp that has coevolved with it and is the only insect that can pollinate it. In a new study, researchers identify...
2020-10-20 - For 100 years, the Altgeld Chimes have provided a soundtrack for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. The chimes’ 10-minute concerts between classes feature songs ranging from “Illinois Loyalty” to movie themes, and from hymns to pop...
2020-10-19 - Perhaps it’s coincidence—and perhaps not—that two of the most symbolic moments in the history of the Altgeld Chimes have come during some of the hardest times in campus history. Look back to early 1920. A student fundraising drive to purchase chimes for Altgeld Hall had come to a halt. What...
2020-10-14 - For many U of I students, pastries and coffee are one way to soothe the mind after hours of studying. That, along with their own fond memories of coffee-making college days, is what prompted a pair of former students to revive several Espresso Royale locations in Champaign-Urbana when COVID-19...
2020-10-12 - Baseball is America’s game. But for more than a century it’s also been the game of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and many others in Latin America. It’s also been the game of immigrants who came to the U.S. from those places and their descendants. “They brought baseball with them. It was not...
2020-10-08 - Socialism has become a divisive word in American politics. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brought its tenets into mainstream discussion, and polls indicate that younger Americans are becoming more open to the concept, but polls also indicate that older Americans remain staunchly...
2020-10-07 - As a way to amplify voices of expertise on pressing issues, a national program called the Public Voices Fellowship will allow professors from across the country to pair up with journalists and learn more...
2020-10-02 - How do you find the words to describe the moments and perceptions that shape your life? This is what Janice Harrington helps others do. The award-winning poet, author, and professor of English talks about teaching poetry, shares one of her own poems, and...
2020-09-30 - Daily life in Beirut is subject to violence and an ever-changing series of disruptions – a reality that residents refer to as “al-wad” or “the situation.” Ghassan Moussawi – an ethnographer and a professor of...
2020-09-23 - In breast cancer tumors, a molecule produced when the body breaks down cholesterol hijacks the myeloid immune cells that normally arm T cells to fight cancer, a new study in mice found. Instead, the hijacked myeloid cells disarm the T cells and even tell them to self-destruct. By inhibiting the...
2020-09-22 - With research interests ranging from migration to hip hop, and personal backgrounds ranging from Texas to Tajikistan, more than 40 new faculty members in almost 25 departments joined the College of LAS this fall. Their experiences as new faculty members have been different than any before them....
2020-09-21 - Editor's note: This commentary by Don Wuebbles, the Harry E. Preble Professor of Atmospheric Science, originally appeared in the...
2020-09-21 - As a national correspondent for ESPN, Michele Steele is at home whether she is on the sidelines during a Monday night NFL game or behind the anchor desk on SportsCenter. Based in Chicago, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences alumna has covered some of the...
2020-09-18 - David Wright wrote the real-life story of Richard Etheridge, the only Black man to lead a lifesaving crew along the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the late 19th century, and his crew’s heroic rescue efforts during a hurricane. In his latest work, Wright – an...
2020-09-14 - Ten alumni from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences have named recipients of the college’s 2020 annual alumni awards. Their professions range from novel-writing to pharmaceutical development, overseeing national science policy, emergency medicine, and managing the central bank of China. The...
2020-09-14 - Since July, the University of Illinois has conducted more than 300,000 COVID-19 tests on students, faculty, and staff to provide a safe environment for a mix of online and in-person classes on campus. The rapid, saliva-based tests, which are being administered at 17 sites across campus, were...
2020-09-11 - Editor's note: Samantha Boyle is a student writer for the College of LAS Office of Communications and Marketing. She is taking a mix of online and in-person classes. Like many other students at the University of Illinois, I was not expecting to start my senior year of undergrad partially...
2020-09-11 - Twelve faculty members have taken new leadership positions in departments and other academic units within the College of LAS. Leadership changes within academic units are normal during the start of the new school year. The College of LAS has more than 600 faculty in almost 70 departments,...