The Quadrangle

Spring 2025 coverThe College of Liberal Arts & Sciences publishes The Quadrangle magazine to tell stories about and impacting the college's alumni, students, faculty, and staff. 

View highlights from our most recent issue below.

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News & research from LAS

Click on the images to read recent news and research from faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Workers removing the Altgeld bells. A man in a hard hat stands above a bell, getting ready to remove it
Cherry blossoms on the Main Quad
The freshman in the Fall of 2024 gather at Memorial Stadium to form a Block-I
Students in the Econometrics Data Lab gathered around laptops with professor Daniela Alonso Fontes.
History professor Robert Morrissey at Musee du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris with a robe featuring one of the best examples of the tribes' hide-painting tradition. (Photo courtesy of Robert Morrissey.)
Researchers start the first experiment with sugarcane in the new Plant Biology Innovation Greenhouse. (Photo by John Hodge/CABBI.)
Teenage girls in discussion
Kendra Calhoun
Landslide area
Never saying no to science

To chemistry professor Joaquín Rodríguez-López, science begins with opportunity.

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Book covers from LAS facultyBooks from LAS

Indigenous poetry, natural disasters, political philosophy, and racism in Russia were just some of the subjects of books published recently by LAS faculty members. 


 

 

 

Juan E. Velàsquez (PhD, ’11, chemistry) serves as the director of biocatalysis and protein engineering at Merck, where he has led efforts in enzyme discovery and engineering for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals targeting cancer, HIV, and cardiovascular diseases.

 

Anthropology professor LaKisha David
The profound quest of LaKisha David
Anthropology professor has navigated a long path to research questions of ancestry and identity.
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Illustration taken from a photograph of undergraduate students sitting on the grass on the Main Quad facing Lincoln Hall
The lessons of COVID-19
LAS builds on meaningful changes that started with the outbreak of the pandemic.
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LAS alumna and volleyball player Laura DeBruler Santos
Spike squad sensation

LAS alumna Laura DeBruler Santos is named to Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame.

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Kenn Allen
The life of a volunteer
Kenn Allen receives an alumni award for more than 60 years of service.
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Image of a robot looking pensive
Deep thinking in an age of artificial thought
The Department of Philosophy leads an important endeavor: how to deal with the AI revolution.
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Shaowen Wang
LAS Experts: Shaowen Wang
Shaowen Wang, professor of geography and geographic information science and associate dean for life and physical sciences in the College of LAS, discusses the dramatic advancement of his work and field.
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The movement for more opportunity

The creation of the Department of Latina/Latino Studies grew out of the spring 1992 student protests for Latina/o rights on campus. The Latina/Latino Studies Program was created in 1996, and the unit became a department in 2010. In 2026, it will celebrate 30 years on campus. Photos courtesy of La Casa Cultural Latina and the University of Illinois Archives. 

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Bonnie Kim standing in front of the Alma Mater statue on her first day of her senior year of college
The degrees of pride
The Student Academic Affairs Office works hard to resolve many varieties of circumstances, as evidenced by the recent story of Bonnie Kim, who returned to U of I after 45 years to earn her bachelor’s degree.
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Ljubica Basica
LAS@Work
For Ljubica Basica (BA,’18, history and political science; MBA,’23), a project manager at Google with Mandiant Cybersecurity Consulting, the critical thinking and analytical skills she gained in LAS are essential for tackling complex cybersecurity projects.
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