2008-09-01
- New research challenges a growing trend toward holding kids out of kindergarten until they're older, arguing that academic advantages are short-lived and come at the expense of delaying entry into the workforce and other costs. The findings show older kindergartners fare better academically largely because they learn more before starting school, not because age improves aptitude, says Darren...
2008-09-01 - When the bell rings to signal the end of a class, the corridors of Lincoln Hall are now eerily silent. No throng of students filing down the staircase from the theater nor emptying out of the classroom. Fall 2008 was supposed to kick off the long-overdue renovations of Lincoln Hall. But due to budget battles in Springfield, the $55.1 million remodeling is again on hold. "Maybe in January or late...
2008-09-01 - Without ATP, life as we know it would end. Any time something in your body, such as a hormone, moves from one place to another, you use ATP, or adenosine triphosphate. Now, for the first time, LAS researchers have simulated a key step in the cellular recycling of ATP, shedding new light on one of the most vital biochemical functions in the human body.In fact, this is the first time that...
2008-09-01 - Discovering and creating new drugs has always been a slow leg in the never-ending fight against disease. A researcher in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, however, is being recognized for his work in simplifying the process and potentially getting new, promising discoveries to patients sooner. Martin D. Burke, a professor of chemistry, is one...
2008-08-01 - Charles P. Slichter, Research Professor of Physics and Center for Advanced Study Emeritus Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Illinois, has been selected as a recipient of the 2007 National Medal of Science. President George W. Bush will present the medal at a White House ceremony on September 29. During the ceremony, he also will...
2008-07-01 - Conveying what it’s really like to attend a traditional Sufi dhikr, an Islamic ceremony to bring one closer to God, is too much to ask of a classroom environment, no matter how brilliant the professor. One class in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had a method that worked, however—they went to Egypt. Eleven students in the Study Abroad course “Islam in Egypt” traveled in May with a...
2008-06-01 - Students participating in the Summer Cooperative African Language Institute will perform a night of songs, skits, poetry and more to showcase what they’ve learned during the two-month, nationwide program being hosted this year by units in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dr. Eyamba Bokamba, director of SCALI and a professor of linguistics and African languages in LAS, says 11...
2008-05-01 - When Sara Gibbs was deciding which university to attend for her undergraduate degree, she compared community service opportunities at the University of Illinois against those offered by another leading candidate, Washington University. The winner? Illinois, by far.Now that she's graduating from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Gibbs can say she's made the most of the myriad volunteer...
2008-05-01 - Health-insurance costs could ultimately balloon if President Bush signs a bill forbidding insurers from using genetic tests that gauge disease risks when setting premiums or deciding eligibility for coverage, a University of Illinois insurance expert says. Hailed by advocates as the first major civil rights bill of the 21st century, the effort to bar health-related discrimination could also...
2008-05-01 - Many scientists have theorized that there is a second, deeper core buried within Earth's solid inner core. But now, for the first time, LAS scientists have confirmed it, creating a three-dimensional model that shows the Earth's "inner inner core.""For many years, we have been like blind men touching different parts of the elephant," says U of I geologist...-
2008-05-01 - Two undergraduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have won prestigious Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their senior year. Trent Michael Graham, a junior majoring in LAS physics, and Tim Kevin O'Connor, a junior in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology, were chosen from a pool of applicants across the nation to receive the...
2008-05-01 - If you've got a problem at work, a good option is to talk it out. Or, to take it a few steps further, there's Rachael Levine's approach: An anthropological study.Levine is a people-watcher, which is one reason she joined the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to major in anthropology and psychology. But she's also an active observer, and after seeing some discontent faces at a previous...
2008-05-01 - The son of an ambitious business executive, Justin Doran spent his childhood on the move. He bounced around places such as southeast Asia and California, never living more than three years in one spot until he enrolled at the University of Illinois. Doran was still unsettled, however, as he realized that his major, computer science, was a wrong choice for him. Looking for more interaction in his...
2008-05-01 - Yes, the University of Illinois does get you places—sometimes at speeds exceeding 160 mph. Thanks to a sponsorship by Beverage Plus Inc., the University saw its name prominently displayed on a Dodge driven by D.J. Kennington during the recent Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR race in South Carolina. Beverage Plus Inc. is headed by Ron Serota, an LAS alumnus who received his bachelor's degree in...
2008-05-01 - In the human body, nerve cells communicate with other cells at blazing speeds using a sophisticated system that is still not fully understood. However, LAS researchers have shed new light on how the flow of information is regulated between these neurons and skeletal muscle cells.Information is carried in the form of charged particles, or ions, which flow from the neuron through the membrane of...
2008-05-01 - Anyone who's ever wasted time looking for something, only to later find it in plain view—think of how many times your eyes passed over Waldo before you actually saw him—might be interested in the work of Alejandro Lleras. The assistant professor in psychology is studying how past experience affects what people pay attention to, and what they disregard...
2008-05-01 - Though Cristie Labus sometimes needs a moment to explain what she wants to do with her life, it's a mistake to call her indecisive. Unlike many college students, she picked her career even before enrolling at the University of Illinois.Her choice, however, defies easy summation. The graduating senior from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences laughs as she describes the looks she gets when she...
2008-05-01 - What's in a name? Members of the Department of Speech Communication would know, as their long quest to change their title has ended with a new, more appropriate identifier: Department of Communication.The old name, assumed in 1973, became outdated as the field grew to the broader study of messages—many of them nonverbal—and how they're produced, disseminated, and received in a variety of settings...
2008-05-01 - College graduates typically wait about six weeks after commencement before receiving their bachelor degree certificate. The delay seemed endless to one Chicago-area doctor, however, who waited almost half a century.This month, Thomas Victor will at last be an official alumnus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, closing a chapter that began when he left the University of Illinois's former...
2008-04-01 - The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their excellence in teaching and advising in 2008. Their contributions are vital to maintaining LAS as a great college.Academic Advising Award Carl Niekerk, Professor, Germanic Languages and Literatures Gary Spezia, Academic Advisor, School of Integrative Biology Award for Excellence in Undergraduate...
2008-04-01 - When the poet T.S. Eliot wrote that "April is the cruelest month," he was referring to the weather. But for those with a love for language, the last gasp of winter is becoming a time to celebrate one of literature's liveliest forms—poetry. April is National Poetry Month, and in the College of LAS, that means a time for recognizing an art that has inspired revolutions and warmed the soul. U of I...
2008-04-01 - The time has come for university rankings, cheers, and controversy—and college football is still months away. U.S. News & World Report, however, has released its latest list of best graduate schools. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences fares well. Among graduate programs with new rankings this year (the magazine does not update all program rankings every year), the Department...
2008-04-01 - After 30-plus years of teaching, committees, and tenure reviews, professors have earned the break offered by retirement. It's just that a growing number of them don't want to stop. On a typical weekday, for example, you'll find 76-year-old Tom Phillips in heavy gloves and a lab apron, still examining some of the roughly 50,000 chunks of coal that he's collected during his career. He's a time...
2008-04-01 - When it comes to protecting teenagers from dangers on the Internet, there's such thing as being too vigilant, according to a researcher at the University of Illinois. Brendesha Tynes, an assistant professor of educational psychology and African American studies, acknowledges the risk of online predators, cyber bullies, hate groups, and other harmful...
2008-04-01 - The road to discovering new pharmaceuticals and other vital biotechnological products just got a little smoother. LAS scientists have found a way to prevent the pH of laboratory samples from changing as the samples are cooled—a long-standing problem that has been known to throw off test results.Even tiny changes in the pH—the acidity or alkalinity—of a lab sample can influence its properties,...