UIS student to serve as the Student Representative on the Illinois Board of Higher Education

Mackenzi Matthews of Springfield, a senior political science major at the University of Illinois Springfield, has been chosen to serve as the Student Representative on the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Matthews was elected by her peers, after having successfully served on the IBHE Student Advisory Committee articulating policy and student issues on their behalf. The Illinois Board of Higher Education is made up of 14 members, one student representative and one non-traditional student representative.

“Mackenzi has personified Leadership lived in her extracurricular involvement, academic diligence, and active interest in student leadership and policy development,” said Ginger Ostro, IBHE executive director.

At UIS, Matthews currently serves as the parliamentarian for the Student Government Association (SGA). Last year, she worked to rewrite parts of the SGA constitution and bylaws as chair of the Constitution and Rules Committee. As a member of Model Illinois Government, she was elected as Majority Leader and was awarded Outstanding Member of the House in 2020.  Matthews currently works as a committee clerk in the Office of the Clerk for the Illinois House of Representatives.

Matthews plans to earn a master’s degree and pursue a career in politics. She hopes to one day become a United States Senator.

Collaboration Success

The moment the Illinois “stay at home” order went into effect on March 21, the wheels were turning in Bruce Sommer’s head. Sommer, UIS’ Director of Economic Development and Innovation knew businesses would have questions on how to handle the temporary shutdown, so he gathered a team of experts to field those questions online.

“In the beginning, there were so many questions and so many things going on,” Sommer said. “People were concerned, so our first webinars were about the relief programs for businesses, how to take your business online and the economic impact of a shutdown. No one was providing them that information.”

Sommer used his own personal Zoom account for the first free webinar which limited his capacity to 100 attendees. Those spots filled within the first minute. The next week he used a UIS Zoom account, and attendance surpassed 100.

Since that time, Sommer and his rotating team of experts have hosted nearly 1,500 attendees with weekly webinars on business, education, health and the economy. Some topics came about as suggestions from frequent flier attendees.

“The amazing thing is that, for many of the panelists, I’ve asked them to participate on very short notice and no one has turned me down. We typically have five panelists each week. The collective collaboration around this has been my greatest reward,” Sommer said.

The weekly webinars are a collaboration between the UIS Office of Economic Development and Innovation, Innovate Springfield, and the UIS colleges of Business and Management and Public Affairs and Administration. Community partners include The Community Health Round Table, SIU School of Medicine, local businesses and state and local government officials.

“When I moved back to Springfield, people in social impact circles within the community felt like UIS was an underutilized resource,” Sommer said. “Through these webinars, we have inserted UIS into the conversations. We have incredible researchers and teachers and the community is craving that leadership."

Sommer said the success of the webinars is directly attributable to the layers of knowledge around the Springfield community and UIS campus. That is what Innovate Springfield, the first hub in the Illinois Innovation Network is about, bringing local resources and collaboration together.

“People came together in a time of crisis,” Sommer said. “It’s a great example of IIN’s goal of working collaboratively at all times.”

Moving forward, webinars will alternate between a business and health focus. Older webinars can be accessed on the UIS Academic Affairs website.

Virtual summer stargazing

The University of Illinois Springfield's long-standing Star Parties have gone online, for now, to accommodate safe social distancing of participants. UIS Associate Professor of Astronomy and Physics John Martin hosted the first virtual Star Party on May 30.

“We didn’t know what to expect. We could have had from three to 300 participants,” Martin said. “We did not have 300, but it went really well. Those who showed up were interested and captivated.”

UIS Information Technology Associate Jeff Suddeth logged on to the virtual Star Party to make sure all technology was working properly. His children logged on to participate in the fun.

“The iPad app that Dr. Martin used was really fun because you could see what was happening in the sky right now,” said Suddeth’s son, Weston, age 11. The free app is called GoSkyWatch.

Suddeth said his youngest child was equally captivated by the constellations and how they could create pictures in the sky.

“I encouraged people to be outside,” Martin said. “We started with a tour of the night sky just before sunset. I told them that if they looked west, they could see planets and the Big Dipper. We looked at the moon and were able to identify where the first moon landing happened.”

The virtual Star Party happened the same day SpaceX launched. “We had a visible pass of the International Space Station where the Dragon capsule was six to ten minutes behind it,” Martin said.

The next UIS Star Party also will be hosted virtually on June 27. Viewing information can be found on the star party website.

 

“We are taking it a month at a time,” Martin said. “We like to do the live ones; they are a ton of fun with more than a few telescopes. The Sangamon Astronomical Society comes out with their telescopes. But in the meantime, we wanted to do something to sustain the interest.”

Martin said he will be working with Lincoln Memorial Gardens, with advice from health professionals, to assess transitioning back to live Star Parties later in the summer.

Photography students shift focus to capture pandemic moments

UIS Associate Professor of Communication Kathy Novak, Ph.D., was only a few weeks into  her COM 407 Photojournalism and Photo Documentary Class when Illinois began to shelter in place and UIS students returned home to begin remote learning.

The already-online class did not have to adjust for remote learning, but assignments had to be modified immediately.

“Their weekly photo assignments normally send them out into the public to photograph people, places and events,” Novak said. “I encourage them to meet people, introduce themselves and take photographs, these are all professional skills. Meeting and photographing people are central to what this course is about.”

But in the midst of a pandemic, when the world is essentially shut down, meeting people in public spaces would prove to be a challenge.

“A teacher’s goal is to impress and exercise the content of the course, and I was worried that wasn’t going to happen,” Novak said.

But it did.

Olivia Mitchell, a 2020 PAR graduate and student in the class, was worried whether she would be able to complete assignments on lighting, profiles and angles.

“I was scared to be outside and be around people,” Mitchell said. “But I let go of the fear and decided to take pictures of any opportunity I saw.”

One of those opportunities was her 30th birthday, when she snapped photographs of her niece and nephew playing outdoors.

Mitchell admits the pandemic closures forced her to re-think her dynamic angles assignment, as she had originally planned to take pictures from the top of the Wyndham Hotel.

“I still went downtown. It was so empty,” she said. “Since I couldn’t go inside, I laid down on the ground to take the photo looking up. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, I still accomplished everything I was supposed to do.”

Novak said when students turned in their final project photo essays, she was amazed at the stark moments that were captured; photos that tell the story of how the world stood still and how life was altered by COVID-19.

Some of those photos included a hospital laryngoscope prepped and ready to be used on patients, a pop-up COVID-19 testing site, social distancing while grocery shopping, volunteers delivering meals and the empty streets of downtown Chicago during rush hour.

“Even with the added restraint on their daily lives, students were able still to chronicle what it has meant to live during the COVID-19 outbreak, to create visual work of consequence,” Novak said.

A sampling of this important work can be found on the UIS Communication Department Facebook page. Mitchell’s work is also featured on the NPR Illinois website.

“I learned that I loved to take photographs,” Mitchell said. “People may read the story, but they will always look at the photos. A picture really is worth one-thousand words.”

Governor appoints UIS professor to Illinois State Museum Board

University of Illinois Springfield Wepner Distinguished Professor of Lincoln Studies Graham Peck, Ph.D. has been appointed to the Illinois State Museum Board by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Peck was one of ten people appointed in the Governor’s administration. Pritzker called the group a strong team of diverse experts in their fields.

Peck was the author of the book “Making an Antislavery Nation: Lincoln, Douglas and the Battle Over Freedom,” which received the 2018 Book of the Year Award from the Illinois State Historical Society. He also wrote, directed and produced a feature-length documentary on Stephan A. Douglas, which is on permanent exhibit at the Douglas Tomb State Historic Site and has numerous scholarly publications.

Peck received his master’s and doctorate in American History from Northwestern University and, before joining the UIS faculty in 2019, taught for 17 years at Saint Xavier University in Chicago.

UIS names new director of economic development and innovation in an effort to spur local business growth

The University of Illinois Springfield has named Springfield-native Bruce Sommer as its new director of economic development and innovation. Sommer will serve as the lead facilitator in UIS’ efforts to spur local business growth in the Springfield area as a hub of the Discovery Partners Institute and the Illinois Innovation Network (DPI-IIN).

Sommer will work with local business and community partners, linking the region with the wide array of economic and educational resources and opportunities being created by the DPI-IIN within Illinois and beyond. Sommer will foster the development of local partnerships to create the capacity for Springfield to be a vital and sustainable hub in the statewide network.

“This hiring, coupled with the acquisition of Innovate Springfield and the announcement of Springfield as the first hub of the Discovery Partners Institute and the Illinois Innovation Network, reflects a serious and sustained commitment by the University of Illinois Springfield to advance the economic health and vitality of Springfield and the region through partnership with the state of Illinois, the city of Springfield, and local business leaders,” said Dennis Papini, UIS vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost.

Sommer has taught at UIS since 2010 as a visiting instructor in the Department of Management and has served as an executive-in-residence at the UIS Center for Entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder and chair of Innovate Springfield, a business and social incubator located in downtown Springfield that was recently acquired by the University of Illinois Springfield. Sommer is a co-founder and previously served as chair of the Sangamon CEO program, a year-long curriculum for high school seniors in Sangamon County that teaches them about entrepreneurship.

“I am looking forward to working with local business and community leaders to grow our economy by utilizing our incredible talent and new resources at UIS, as well as the Illinois Innovation Network and Discovery Partners Institute, to expand existing businesses and develop new ones,” said Sommer.

Formerly a startup entrepreneur and now an established business leader and investor, Sommer is currently a founder and managing partner of Springfield-based private equity firm NextGen Ventures, which invests in startups and mature companies. He is also a founder and managing partner at Hill-Hanover Group, a real estate investment firm based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Sommer earned his bachelor’s degree in public accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire. He also worked as a research associate at the Center for Venture Research and as a fellow/lecturer at the Whittemore School.

In August 2018, it was announced that Springfield would become the first hub of the statewide Discovery Partners Institute and the Illinois Innovation Network. The new initiative, led by the U of I System, was announced last fall and is being developed to accelerate statewide job creation and economic development through groundbreaking research and innovation.

As the network’s first hub, UIS will receive $1.5 million in funding over the next three years to expand programs supporting start-up businesses, entrepreneurs and innovation that promotes the public good.

DPI will be developed in Chicago and will bring together top faculty in agriculture, healthcare, computing and other critical fields from the U of I System and partner universities. Nearly 100 new researchers also will be added, and together they will connect with hundreds of businesses and thousands of students over time, as well as with entrepreneurs and venture capital firms.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery announces Allyson Packer as its summer Enos Park artist-in-residence

Allyson Packer (Photo: Lincoln Draper)

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery has once again partnered with the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists to award a funded summer residency and solo exhibition. After a successful inaugural partnership last summer, which yielded active community engagement through contemporary art, the organizations are working together again to offer this opportunity. After the review of a competitive applicant pool that represented national and international applicants, Albuquerque-based artist Allyson Packer has been awarded the opportunity.

Allyson Packer, who has recently shown work at Nahmad Projects in London and the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, will be in residence at the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists from July 1 through July 28. Her exhibit at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, “Interior Space,” will open with a reception on Thursday, July 26, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will run from Thursday, July 26 through Saturday, August 11. The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is open for the duration of the exhibit on Saturday afternoons from 12 to 4 p.m. or throughout the week by appointment.

Community engagement is a core consideration for the summer resident. Allyson, who holds a master of fine arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a bachelor of fine arts from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, will work with Springfield residents directly to realize her project.

In her proposal, Packer wrote, “My exhibition, called ‘Interior Space,’ will draw on my interest in brining visibility to the unseen. I will ask people in Springfield to participate in the exhibition by loaning me one item from their attic (or garage or closet)—something that they find valuable enough to hold on to, but also do not keep on public display. These objects will then form the basis for a gallery installation.”

In addition to welcoming Allyson Packer, the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists will welcome two additional summer residents. Artist Nick Wylie will use his time in Springfield to research Elmer Ellsworth, a close and personal friend of Abraham Lincoln who was the first Union officer killed in the Civil War while he was removing a Confederate flag. Wylie is an accomplished artist who holds a master of fine arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a founder of the ACRE (Artist Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions). Enos Park will also welcome Zack Buckley, an artist, composer and student at Illinois State University. While in residence, he plans to record various types of audio from Enos Park to create a multi-channel installation. The UIS Visual Arts Gallery plans to support these projects and look for ways to present this work to the public.

For more information on becoming involved with these summer projects, or to learn about exhibition programming at UIS, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery, or email alach3@uis.edu.

UIS Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Clarice Ford named a Woman of Influence in Springfield

Clarice Ford, Ed.D., University of Illinois Springfield vice chancellor for student affairs, has been named one of five Security Bank Women of Influence for 2018.

Women of Influence honors local women for their contributions to the Springfield area community.

Ford has been a member of the UIS community since 2008. She has served as the executive director of the UIS Diversity Center, associate dean of students and associate vice chancellor of student services.

One of her nominator’s described her as “a passionate advocate for all students but especially for students who are first in their family to attend college, low-income students and students from underrepresented groups such as African American and Hispanic students. She has implemented many innovative initiatives at UIS to enhance retention and degree completion for at-risk students, including a successful Living-Learning program for first-generation college students called “Necessary Steps.”

Ford earned her doctorate in educational leadership and change from the Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, California. She holds a master’s degree in religious education and theology from Lincoln Christian Seminary and a master’s degree in adult education/multi-cultural education from Antioch University. She also received her bachelor’s degree in human services from Antioch University. She is also a United States Military Veteran.

The 15th annual program is sponsored by Security Bank and the Springfield Business Journal and will be held on May 22, 2018.

Winners are selected by their peers through submitted nominations.

UIS emeritus professor writes a book tracing the history of the Upper Delaware Forest

Robert McGregor, emeritus professor of history at the University of Illinois Springfield, has written a new book on the historical significance of the forests along the Upper Delaware Valley.

The book, published by McFarland Press, is titled “The Story of a Forest: Growth, Destruction and Renewal in the Upper Delaware Valley.”

McGregor said the book grew out of his passion for teaching environmental history at UIS coupled with his dissertation research from 35 years ago.

“The book traces the development of forests along the Upper Delaware River in New York and Pennsylvania, beginning at the close of the last glaciation,” said McGregor.

 McGregor’s book is an analysis of how the forests were first modified by Native Americans to promote hunting and limited agriculture, followed by the disappearance as Europeans clear-cut farmland and fed sawmills and tanneries.

Railroads accelerated the demand and within 30 years, industry had left barren hillsides.

The book goes on to explain the forest’ subsequent recovery nearly a century and a half later.

McGregor taught environmental history, early American history, and the history of popular culture, before he retired after 26 years of teaching at UIS, in 2012. He now lives in Corning, New York.

UIS students, who are leaders in fighting hunger, to share their knowledge at a national summit

Five University of Illinois Springfield students, who are campus leaders in the fight against hunger, will be featured during the 2018 Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit (UFWH) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign March 15-17, 2018.

Daniel Rodriguez, Rachel Mau and Katie Simpson will be featured during a Leaders Forum panel at the Presidents United to Solve Hunger Conference (PUSH.) The panel is titled, “Students Fighting Hunger through Collaborative Partnerships.”

Daniel Rodriguez, a pre-nursing major from Joliet, serves as the UIS Community Garden coordinator. He oversees the planting, care and maintenance of the garden, coordinates volunteers and helps educate the public about the importance of gardens.

The UIS Community Garden’s mission is to provide fresh, organic, chemical free produce to anyone in need, and eventually the Student Union. “I love what I do,” said Rodriguez. “It is a proactive activity that teaches, not only me, but everyone else about plants and how to maintain them in hopes they will create a garden of their own.”

Rachel Mau, from Algonquin, is majoring in pre-nursing and serves as the student director of the UIS Cares food pantry, to ensure UIS students always have enough food to eat. The UIS Cares food pantry is directly partnered with the Central Illinois Foodbank and receives donations from faculty and staff bins placed in campus buildings. Mau helps coordinate those donations, creates the marketing and advertising campaigns, and works in the pantry during operating hours.

“UIS Cares has had such a positive impact on this campus because it helps the community realize how many students may need some extra support to ensure the best outcome in their college careers and it builds a stronger community by helping one another,” said Mau.

Katie Simpson, a psychology major from Joliet, serves as the Leadership for Life Sustainability Committee Chair and is directing a project that partners the Cox Children’s Center and UIS Green Fee Committee to establish a teaching garden on campus.

“I think making our campus a more sustainable place is incredibly important,” said Simpson. “I think that the best time to start education on living more sustainably is at a young age. When a person is being raised being conscientious of environmental issues, they are more likely to keep them in mind as they get older.”

Jacqualine Simone Jarju, a graduate student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will present her research, “The Culture of Food,” as part of the PUSH conference, and Assistant Professor of Public Health, Brian Chen will speak on using comprehensive systematic reviews to alleviate food insecurity and chronic disease.

The UFWH Summit will also include a poster presentation on Food Waste Management: Food insecurity as a socioeconomic paradigm, by UIS Public Health graduate student Christopher Vemagiri Marbaniang from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

According to a Hunger on Campus report, 22% of U.S. college students report having the lowest levels of food insecurity. For more information on the 14th annual UFWH Summit or PUSH Leaders Forum, visit https://publish.illinois.edu/push-conference/.

UIS and SIU researchers to collaborate on mapping asthma and COPD healthcare in Springfield

Five faculty and staff from the University of Illinois Springfield, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have been awarded grants from the Caryl Towsley Moy, Ph.D., Endowed Fund for Collaborative Research to study asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Sangamon County has among the highest number of emergency department visits related to asthma and COPD in the state. Wiley Jenkins, Ph.D., associate professor in the Office of Population Science and Policy at the SIU School of Medicine and Egbe Egiebor, Ph.D., UIS assistant professor of public health, are employing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to discover patterns and correlations that might aid in the treatment of adults with asthma and/or COPD.

By mapping these incidents and correlating with environmental factors, geographically targeted interventions will be developed to increase health and decrease costs. Maithili Deshpande, Ph.D., SIU Edwardsville assistant professor of pharmacy, Kristin Osiecki, Ph.D., UIS assistant professor of public health, and Amanda Fogelman, SIU School of Medicine Population Science and Policy senior research development coordinator, will also will join the team.

Richard Moy, M.D. (1931-2013), founding dean of the SIU School of Medicine, and his sons Philip and Eric Moy created the $250,000 endowed fund at UIS in honor of their wife and mother, former professor Caryl Moy (1932-2010). The fund supports faculty from UIS and the SIU School of Medicine who do team-based research. Caryl Moy taught for 21 years at UIS (then Sangamon State University) beginning in 1970. She also served as a clinical professor at the SIU School of Medicine.

For more information, contact Keenan Dungey, UIS associate vice chancellor for research and institutional effectiveness, at 217/206-8112 or kdung1@uis.edu.

UIS Chancellor wins bid on Illinois State Fair Grand Champion ice cream made in Eureka

University of Illinois Springfield Chancellor Susan J. Koch was the winning bidder of 3 pounds of Uncle Bob’s Homemade Ice Cream at the Governor’s Sale of Champions at the Illinois State Fair on Tuesday, August 15, 2017.

The ice cream, which is manufactured in Eureka, Illinois, was named the Illinois State Fair Grand Champion in the ice cream category. Koch bid $600 to win the grand prize-winning blackberry ice cream.

According to their website, Uncle Bob's Homemade Ice Cream opened on July 10, 1980, at the Heart of Illinois Fair. Uncle Bob's now has a permanent location in Eureka where fresh ice cream is made year round.

Koch plans to donate the champion ice cream to the University of Illinois Springfield to be served at a special event on campus.

The Governor’s Sale of Champions is held each year at the Illinois State Fair on Agriculture Day.

UIS Visual Arts Gallery announces its summer Enos Park artist-in-residence

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery has partnered with the new Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists to award a funded summer residency and solo exhibition. After a review of a competitive applicant pool that represented national and international applicants, German-born and San Francisco-based artist Astrid Kaemmerling has been awarded the opportunity.

Kaemmerling will be in residence at the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists from June 9 through July 28. Her exhibit at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, “Walking Enos Park: Who is your neighborhood?” will open with a reception on Wednesday, June 28 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will run from Wednesday, June 28 through Friday, July 28. The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is open for the duration of the exhibit on Saturday afternoons from 12 to 4 p.m. or throughout the week by appointment.

While in residence, Kaemmerling will develop a new project to support her exhibit: the “Enos Park Community Walking Laboratory”. She is seeking participants -- local artists, Enos Park residents and residents of Springfield -- to walk with her in Enos Park from June 11 through July 28. The “Enos Park Community Walking Laboratory” sets out to provide artist and local residents opportunities to exchange information about the neighborhood. While meandering the streets of Enos Park, artist and community members will engage in conversations about the past, present and future of the district with a specific focus on arts & culture. Meet Kaemmerling for a 1 hour walk through your neighborhood, show her around and tell her who your Enos Park is and moreover what resources you think artists may need in this district. Reach her via email at EnosParkCommunityLaboratory@gmail.com to set up a walking appointment.

Kaemmerling is a German-born artist, scholar and educator based in San Francisco, California. Her work as an interdisciplinary artist spans the genres of visual, performance and media art and strives to connect place memories of the past, such as collected travel experiences, with a critical exploration of specific neighborhoods and selected urban places.

Kaemmerling has been exhibited internationally in Germany, Italy, Korea and the United States. Her work has won several awards and fellowships, such as at the Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto (Italy) and the Vermont Studio Center (Vermont). She is the founder of The International Community of Artist-Scholars, a community of artists who work at the intersection of art & research, as well as founder of The Walk Discourse, a Bay Area based laboratory for walking artists and walking enthusiasts to share walking art methodologies, practices and tools. The interest in interdisciplinary collaboration has led her to the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University where she received her Ph.D. and completed a dissertation on walking art. Her writing has been published in peer-reviewed journals and publications.

The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, room 201 (HSB 201). For more information on exhibition programming, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery, or email Amanda Lazzara at alazz2@uis.edu.