LAS News Archive

2017-09-29 -     When and where professional athletes have the right to voice their political opinions became an issue following comments by President Donald Trump aimed at players in the NFL. History professor Adrian Burgos Jr. focuses his research on...

2017-09-29 - Susan Martinis, head of the Department of Biochemistry, has been named interim vice chancellor for research designate. Her appointment will begin on Oct. 16, pending review and approval by the Board of Trustees.“Professor Martinis has...

2017-09-26 -     Marlyn Whitsitt came to the University of Illinois as a graduate student in English in 1957, having been awarded a teaching assistantship in rhetoric. Her first two classes were scheduled in a room in Noyes Laboratory. Kenneth...

2017-09-25 -     Andrew A. Gewirth, a professor at Illinois since 1988, has been named Peter C. and Gretchen Miller Markunas Professor of Chemistry. A named professorship is one of the highest honors a faculty member can receive. Gewirth was chosen by...

2017-09-22 -     The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.2 million, three-year grant to four professors in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for a project that has potential to advance the frontiers of 3-D printing. Charles...

2017-09-20 - Advanced math is critical to people pursuing countless careers, but living on a university campus and paying a full college-tuition for only a few math courses that one may need isn’t always an option. With their program, NetMath, however, the Department...

2017-09-19 - For Daniel Leon, professor of classics, a recent discovery about ancient life in Athens occurred because of what he calls “serendipity”—and a bit of 21st century technology.Leon was going to the Greek city to examine a couple of transcriptions when he...

2017-09-18 - This academic year marks 20 years of Asian American studies at the University of Illinois. The Department of Asian American Studies is considered a leader in the study of Asian Americans, their movements, and globalization—and, according to Martin...

2017-09-15 -     A $45 million reinvestment in U of I's Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) research project, which has already garnered international attention for demonstrating dramatic yield increases in food crops, will help researchers...

2017-09-13 -     This year’s new faculty in the College of LAS come from as far away as Germany and Florida. In the case of Adam Dolezal, it's a homecoming. Some 11 years after earning his bachelor’s degree in integrative biology at Illinois, and then going...

2017-09-12 - For all the exams, papers, and lab reports in college, there’s one question facing students that potentially causes more anxiety than all the rest: What comes next after graduation? This fall, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences hopes to give students tools to answer this question by opening...

2017-09-11 -     Wilfred van der Donk, the Richard E. Heckert Chair of Chemistry, professor at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is a leader in the area of antibiotics research. Read...

2017-09-07 - The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has announced seven recipients of its 2017 annual alumni awards. The awardees represent several different fields of study and have remarkable accomplishments that are linked to their experiences and connections at the University of Illinois.Summaries of...

2017-09-07 -     Colleagues, friends, and family gathered with Satish K. Nair on Tuesday to celebrate his being named the I.C. Gunsalus Professor in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. A named professorship is one of the highest honors a faculty member can receive. Nair, a professor of...

2017-09-05 -     Antiviral drug resistance has long been a problem in modern society. As viruses evolve, they develop resistance to antiviral drugs, which become less effective at treating diseases such as influenza. Now, a group of researchers is approaching this problem with a new idea: what if...

2017-09-01 - You don’t have to be a student of architecture to see that there’s something different about Altgeld Hall. Maybe it’s the Romanesque façade of dark, roughly hewn Minnesota sandstone, or its striking—and sometimes unsettling—artistic features, such as a savage gargoyle over a small door on the west...

2017-09-01 - When John Milton Gregory became the first regent of the University of Illinois—then called Illinois Industrial University—in 1867, higher education was at a crossroads. The Civil War had just ended, and with it came an economic downturn accompanied by strong sentiment against certain aspects of a...

2017-09-01 - Until recently, Samantha Frost knew nothing of the complex interactions happening at the molecular level that influence human behavior. But that all changed in 2010 when the professor of political science and gender and...

2017-09-01 -     You’ve seen the heartwarming images of U.S. military service members returning home from overseas deployments— military personnel in uniform emerging unexpectedly from the crowd at youth baseball games, the joyful airport reunions, and all the hugs and tears that ensue. But what...

2017-08-30 - One hundred years ago, the Russian Revolution “shook the world,” in the words of a famous book.This fall at the University of Illinois, organizers are hoping to “shake the campus,” at least a little, with a series of events reflecting on that anniversary and its legacy.Many other schools have...

2017-08-29 - Prominent entomologist May Berenbaum at the University of Illinois has been recognized by the British Ecological Society for her work benefiting the scientific community and society in general.Berenbaum received the Honorary Membership award...

2017-08-28 - Monday was a big day for the renovated Natural History Building—it was the first time since 2014 that the 125 year-old campus landmark reopened for classes. Many of the students who passed through were impressed by the building’s new interior.“I was walking in and I said, ‘Wow, this is quite the...

2017-08-25 - Fifteen faculty and staff members have assumed new leadership roles in departments and units across the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences this fall semester. LAS is home to more than 60 departments, centers, schools, and programs.Feng Sheng Hu, Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of LAS,...

2017-08-23 - Bruce Murray, resident director of the Austria—Illinois Exchange Program, is retiring this month after running the program for 25 years. And to say the professor of Germanic languages and...

2017-08-18 - John Lynn, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois, has received a Public Scholar award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The award follows news earlier this spring that Lynn had received the 2017 Samuel Eliot Morison...