Downtown Jacksonville Gallery Hop to feature UIS professor's photography

The photography work of Kathy Petitte Jamison, assistant professor of Communication at the University of Illinois Springfield will be on display during a Downtown Gallery Hop in Jacksonville on Friday, June 3, from 5-8 p.m.

Jamison will display about 20-25 color digital photographs at downtown Jacksonville business Inner Harmony Day Spa, located at 227 South Main Street. The hop itself will feature the work of other local and nonlocal artists, music, food and fun! All sales benefit Imagine Foundation, which promotes area arts.

Jamison’s primary subject for the upcoming show is a study in hedge apples. She was inspired to photograph them last fall while shooting other photos of pre-dawn scenes.

“I picked up two hedge apples and brought them back to my house where I played with the different early autumn lighting and the textures around my house, such as concrete, rusted metal and brick,” said Jamison. “I had been thinking for some time about going for more abstraction in my photos, and I always love the play of natural light and manual maneuvers on the camera.”

Additionally, the exhibition will feature a few studies in light and abstraction of a South African seed pod, which she brought home from a safari.

“The hedge apples, of course, are local through and through,” said Jamison. “I always thought these fruit from the Osage Orange tree were alien-looking, so it's only appropriate to photograph them as abstractions in bold color and light so that they almost look like odd planetoids, in my opinion.”

Before joining UIS, Jamison was a photojournalist and long-time area reporter, columnist and feature writer for the Jacksonville Journal-Courier. As a Jacksonville resident, she has taken part in a number of art shows in area since 1991.

For more information about her exhibition, contact Jamison at 217/206-8032 or email kjamison@uis.edu.

Renowned Lincoln scholars' speech to air on C-SPAN

Renowned Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame, Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield is scheduled to appear on C-SPAN 3 on Saturday, May 14, at 11 p.m. (CDT) and on Sunday, May 15 at 9:30 a.m. (CDT).

The network is expected to air part of Burlingame’s speech on “Lincoln & Secession: The Evolution of His Strategy”, which was delivered at Union League Club of Chicago on March 4, 2011. The speech was given as part of The Lincoln Inaugural Sesquicentennial, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of his oath of office.

When southern states seceded from the Union during the winter of 1860-61, Lincoln intended to take a hard line by reclaiming forts, court houses, mints, arsenals, and other federal facilities commandeered by secessionists. Persuaded to take a softer line, Lincoln refused to compromise on two essential matters: he would not sanction the expansion of slavery into the territories, nor acknowledge the legitimacy of secession. Dr. Burlingame explains why Lincoln changed his mind and why he rejected the one compromise likely to prevent war.

Burlingame’s two-volume biography Abraham Lincoln: A Life was the recipient of the 2010 Lincoln Prize. Burlingame received his Ph.D. in 1968 from Johns Hopkins University and joined the history department at Connecticut College in New London, where he taught until retiring in 2001 as the Sadowski Professor of History Emeritus. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield in 2009.

C-SPAN 3 is available locally on Comcast Cable channel 447 in Springfield. The channel is also available online at www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/.

Faculty honored for excellence and commitment as teacher-scholars

The University of Illinois Springfield held its annual Faculty Honors and Recognition Reception on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. Chancellor Harry Berman and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Lynn Pardie presided over the ceremony honoring faculty members who have received tenure and/or promotion, been awarded sabbaticals, or granted emeritus status. Four major awards -- the Pearson Faculty Award, the Spencer Faculty Service Award, Oakley Distinguished Online Teaching Award and the Faculty Excellence Award -- were also presented.

The Pearson Award for outstanding teaching was presented to Heather Dell, associate professor of Women & Gender Studies. The award recognizes a faculty member who has established a record of teaching excellence and supports his or her continuing development as a teacher and a scholar. The award was established by a gift from Dr. Emmet and Mary Pearson, longtime benefactors of the campus.

“Professor Dell is known as a teacher-scholar whose passion for excellence in teaching and commitment to scholarship serves both her students and her colleagues well,” said Berman in presenting the award. “Her colleagues praise her ability to inspire students through her use of thought-provoking questions, skillfully conducted substantive discussions, creative exercises, and innovative approaches to experiential learning and study abroad.”

The Spencer Award was given to Tih-Fen Ting, associate professor of Environmental Studies. Honoring Robert Spencer, founding president of Sangamon State University, this award recognizes faculty who best exemplify the ideal of the “professor-citizen” through public service and service to the academic community.

“Professor Ting brings an impressive level of focus, energy, dedication, and skill to her professional service endeavors, and she has established a remarkable record of substantive and meaningful service at every level,” said Berman.

Ting has been a long-standing member of the Campus Senate and has served as chair for several years. She has also served on or chaired multiple search committees for campus-level administrative personnel, including a search for a Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Most recently, she represented the campus as a member of the University Senates Conference and as a member of the U of I Presidential Search Committee.

Michael Cheney, professor of Communication was honored with the Oakley Distinguished Online Teaching Award. The award was established by Burks Oakley II, who helped launch UIS’ online programs. Cheney is known for his creative use of a wide variety of technologies to reach students with varying learning styles, and his openness to the use of new technologies in teaching has made him a role model among his peers.

“By all accounts, he has been quite successful in designing high quality online courses that students find both engaging and educational,” said Berman. “Not surprisingly, web statistics indicate that his work is also very popular. Podcasts of his course on the Beatles have been accessed more than 2 million times and downloaded by nearly 500 thousand.”

Professor Cheney has also been instrumental in developing and delivering several innovative online courses involving the Emiquon project.

The Faculty Excellence Award was given to Peter Boltuc, associate professor of Philosophy. The award is intended to recognize sustained, career-long accomplishments at UIS in teaching and scholarship. It provides an opportunity to honor colleagues who best exemplify the ideal of the teacher-scholar and whom the faculty recognize as role models. The award is funded through the generosity of Wilbur and Margaret Wepner.

Boltuc has established a strong record of scholarship that includes having published in international as well as national journals in his field. His recent work on machine consciousness has brought him international attention. In addition to his scholarship, Peter has served on the Board of the American Philosophical Association and as editor of the Association’s newsletter on Philosophy and Computers, which is gaining in prominence under his direction.

“Dr. Boltuc’s combined interests in computers and philosophy are also reflected in his teaching,” said Berman. “He successfully led the UIS Department of Philosophy in developing an online baccalaureate degree program, which was one of the first of such programs in the world, and has published and presented work on e-Learning and philosophy.”

Recommended for tenure and promotion to associate professor were Len Bogle, Tena Helton, Kathy Jamison, Nithya Karrupaswamy, Jennifer Manthei, Linda McCown, Sheryl Reminger, Peter Shapinsky, Holly Thompson, John Transue, Te-Wei Wang, and Yifeng Zhang. Michael Lemke was promoted to the rank of full professor.

Receiving the designation of emeritus faculty were Harry Berman, Mary Bohlen, Loretta Meeks, Tim Miller, Don O’Neal, and Theresa Sullivan-Stewart.

Sabbatical leaves were granted to John Barker, Sara Cordell, Shahram Heshmat, Jason Pierceson, Sheryl Reminger, and Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson.

All promotions, tenure, sabbatical leaves, and emeritus status are approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

College of Business and Management honor society inducts new members

The University of Illinois Springfield Beta Gamma Sigma honor society chapter inducted 34 College of Business and Management students and three faculty members during a ceremony on Sunday, May 1, 2011 in Brookens Auditorium.

Beta Gamma Sigma is the international honor society serving business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International). Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a business program accredited by AACSB International. The society grants admission to the top 10 percent of the baccalaureate class and the top 20 percent of graduate students.

Students inducted at this year’s ceremony are Jiraphan Boonprakob, Aprile Combes, Lawrence Crowley, Taralee Darst, Trevor Debelak, Bradley Gaylord, Brett Gerger, Stephen Goudreau,
David Guggenheim, Allison Hester, Cori Hurt, Richard Johnson, Joshua Kilhoffer, Jodi Killion, Prajakta Kulkarni, Janice Marvel, John Mayer, Todd Metcalf, Satoko Mizuno, Vidya Nagarajan, Shilpa Perugupalli, Mark Pfister, Amruta Prabhuwaingankar, Laura Rabe, Soorya Ramanathan, Hari Ravi, Charles Satterlee, Preston Searl, Bereket Seyoum, Michele Stine, Robert Vansolo, Amanda Wells, Ashley Wilson, and Joshua Winkler.

Faculty members inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma are Xiaoqing Li Ph.D., Atul Agarwal, Ph.D, and Feng-Shun (Leo) Bin, Ph.D.

Douglas Rahn, Vice President and COO of Memorial Health Systems was also recognized as Chapter Honoree in acknowledgment of his support for UIS and the College of Business and Management.

The mission of the society is to encourage and honor academic achievement in the study of business, to foster personal and professional excellence, to advance the values of the Society, and to serve its lifelong members.