LAS News Archive

2006-09-01 - The University of Illinois has received the unusual distinction of having all seven of its international regional studies programs named as National Resource Centers (NRC's) by the U.S. Department of Education. Five of those centers are in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.Competition for the NRC grants is intense because only 142 centers were funded nationally. With all seven U. of I....

2006-08-01 - Apalai shaman's parrot-feather cape.The skillfully handcrafted, turtle-shaped, wooden stool offers a simple but eloquent greeting to visitors entering the South American exhibit at the University of Illinois Spurlock Museum. However, this Achuar Chimbuí shaman's stool from Ecuador is only the first of many unique artifacts to draw...

2006-06-01 - Three graduates of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences-a renowned molecular biologist, a "people's judge," and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee-have been named winners of the 2006 University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award. The award, established in 1957, is the highest honor given to alumni who have attained outstanding success in their chosen profession, business, or life's work....

2006-06-01 - Two students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois have been named Goldwater Scholars for the 2006-2007 academic year. The students are among 323 winners nationwide, including another U. of I. student, Gleb Akselrod, from the College of Engineering. The scholarships are given to sophomores and juniors from the United States on the basis of academic merit from a...

2006-06-01 - Seated, far left, is Elizabeth Narvaez-Luna (first place); next to her is Zoe Robles (third place). At the podium is Associate Professor Joyce Tolliver.On a balmy spring evening filled with the scent of lilacs and the poignant memories of a much-beloved LAS professor, the Foreign Language Building's Lucy Ellis Lounge was the unlikely setting for a night of poetry and song. And almost all of it...

2006-06-01 - The Volcan Reventador volcano erupted in 2002, emitting a plume of ash unlike anything seen before-and potentially more dangerous. Now, a team of University of Illinois researchers has published a groundbreaking theory explaining why the plume from this volcano in Ecuador was scallop-shaped, producing highly dangerous ash flows. Normally, volcanic plumes appear in a mushroom-shape that resembles...

2006-06-01 - More women are pursuing higher education and doctoral degrees than ever before, breaking down barriers in formerly male-dominated fields. But women still are a rare commodity in math-related professions. Is there truth to the stereotype that males are inherently stronger in math than females? Not so, says a new study by Eva Pomerantz, a professor of ...

2006-06-01 - Nisin, a powerful, naturally occurring antibiotic, has been created in a test tube for the first time, opening the door to variations that may become important new weapons in the battle against infections in humans. This groundbreaking research comes from a University of Illinois team led by LAS researchers Wilfred van der Donk in chemistry and Satish...

2006-06-01 - The blue-white glow of the computer reflects across Ashley Houtsma's face as she leans in towards the screen, scanning for any updates on her Facebook profile."It's like Christmas," says Houtsma, a senior in molecular and cellular biology, curled up in her black office chair. "Will there be a friend request? I don't know-better check!"Not everyone takes such delight in Facebook.com as Houtsma,...

2006-06-01 - President George W. Bush frequently has been criticized for being verbally challenged, but a new rhetorical analysis of the Bush White House, based on the public record, argues that the president and his colleagues have demonstrated an impressive facility with the language.According to the researchers, the Bush presidency has built a verbal "operation of deception" characterized by fabrications...

2006-06-01 - Just call it CSI: Interstellar Space.Like deep-space forensic experts, astronomers Rosa Williams and You-Hua Chu from U. of I.'s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences approach the death scenes of exploding stars as if they were crime scene investigations. And among their mostly recently solved mysteries is the Case of the Odd-Couple Stars.When a star dies a...

2006-06-01 - The house looks like a typical, small, farm-style home-with one major difference. Thousands of people cross its threshold every year. Tucked in among the larger buildings on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, this ordinary house is home to some extraordinary work by the advising staff of the General Curriculum Center in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In fact, GCC-as the...

2006-06-01 - Tracking down the specific genes that trigger a disease is more than just searching for individual needles in a "genetic haystack." It requires sorting through massive amounts of data to look for clusters of genes that work together to influence human traits. To make this formidable task significantly easier, researchers draw upon the latest statistical analysis tools. And this calls...

2006-06-01 - It is often said that aging is not for the faint of heart. Today, we can also add that aging is not for the faint of mind. As we get older our ability to perform a whole range of cognitive tasks decreases. Those tasks, which begin to decline in our 30s, include information retrieval, reaction time, and inhibitory functioning. Yet, there are many older adults whose cognitive abilities remain as...

2006-05-01 - Four students from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at U. of I. earned National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren Undergraduate Scholarships for study abroad during the 2006-07 academic year."Over the past five years, U. of I. has been among the national leaders in numbers of recipients for Boren Undergraduate Scholarships, and this year will match the most students we have ever...

2006-05-01 - Microbiologist Carl Woese of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been elected as a foreign member of the Royal Society, the world's oldest continuously active scientific academy in the world. Woese was among six newly chosen foreign members, one honorary member and 44 Fellows...

2006-04-01 - In honor of the Latina/Latino Studies Program's 10th anniversary, artist Oscar Martinez restored, completed, and added to murals on the walls of the house at 510 E. Chalmers Street in Champaign where the program is located. Martinez started the murals 30 years ago when he was a student, using his own paints and small donations from other students. "The wall mural represents the struggles that...

2006-04-01 - Mickey Mouse became a household name, thanks in part to such uncommon names as the "thaumatrope," the "zoetrope," and even the tongue-twisting "phenakistoscope." These nineteenth-century contraptions laid the groundwork for Walt Disney's cartoon creations, as well as the animated films of today, including Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit-this year's Oscar winner for...

2006-04-01 - Five faculty members from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-four of them from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences-have been awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships for 2006. This is the sixth time in 40 years that the U. of I. has won five Guggenheims in one year. Only New York University, with seven recipients, topped the U. of I. in the number of honorees from one campus in...

2006-04-01 - The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their excellence in teaching and advising in 2005. Their contributions are vital to maintaining LAS as a great college. Academic Advising Award David Skadden, Academic Advisor, Psychology Humanities Award for Excellence in Teaching...

2006-04-01 - Cary Nelson, a professor emeritus of English and Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been elected president of the American Association of University Professors.His two-year appointment, which is renewable, begins June 12. It is a non-salaried office in what he describes...

2006-04-01 - The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their excellence in teaching and advising in 2006. Their contributions are vital to maintaining LAS as a great college. Academic Advising Award Phyllis Vanlandingham, Coordinator for Secondary Advising, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Honorable...

2006-04-01 -   Eleven faculty and staff from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences were recently honored for excellence in teaching and advising at the University of Illinois. They comprised half of the 21 faculty and staff recognized across the Urbana-Champaign campus. LAS winners were honored in the following categories: Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching....

2006-04-01 - Fuel cells powered the space program to the Moon, but the quest continues to make fuel cells more economical and practical for Earth-bound uses. University of Illinois researchers have nudged the technology farther down that path with a small, innovative, new fuel cell that "breathes" air and boosts power levels. Fuel cells convert the chemical energy of hydrogen and oxygen to produce water,...

2006-04-01 - Surviving the frigid waters surrounding Antarctica requires ingenious adaptations, such as the antifreeze protein discovered in fish by a U. of I. biologist in 1968. Following several trips to the Ross Sea at McMurdo Sound in the early 1960s, Arthur DeVries identified a protein in the bloodstream of a large group of fish called notothenioids that lowered the freezing point of their internal...