Campus Humanities Calendar
Thursday, April 16, 2026
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11:00 am - 1:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois StJoin us for presentations by our recent CAS Associates. At 11am Ramón Soto-Crespo (English) discusses the origin of Puerto Rico's ecological literature and at noon, Alison Bell (Evolution, Ecology, & Behavior) presents the evolution of family life in a small fish.
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4:00 pmBruce Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, 1212 W. Nevada, UrbanaJoin CSGGE for a lecture by Dr. Frieda Ekotto. Dr. Ekotto is an intellectual historian and philosopher with areas of expertise in 20th and 21st-century Anglophone and Francophone literature and in the cinema of West Africa and its diaspora, she concentrates on contemporary issues of law, race and LG BTQIA2S+ issues.
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4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, UrbanaHow does Greek tragedy respond to and reflect the concerns of modern communities? Drawing on his experiences staging and reimagining Greek literature in theatres, online and within community settings, Paul O’Mahony explores the issues and opportunities these ancient texts present.
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4:30 pmSpurlock Museum: 600 S Gregory St, Urbana, IL 61801"Quilt Whisperer" Connie Martin, MA provides an American historical information presentation from research on her family history to reveal secret codes in quilts as a 6th generation descendant of enslaved Africans in Kentucky.
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5:30 - 7:00 pmKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., ChampaignJoin us for a talk by Peruvian archaeologist and curator Luis A. Muro Ynoñán, as part of the Living Legacies series, presented in conjunction with the Fragmented Histories; Andean Art Before 1600 exhibition. *Parking nearby is free after 5 pm and on weekends.*
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7:15Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum.2026 Screening and Discussion: Zinda Bhaag (2013), will be an event of film screening and introduction followed by Q/A with Professor Iftikhar Dadi, Cornell University. A reception will follow. NO REGISTRATION required.
Friday, April 17, 2026
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3:00 - 5:00 pmMain Library, Room 346This public event will begin with a lecture by Dr. Warren C. Brown (California Institute of Technology discussing medieval textuality and materiality. A reception and open house will follow where visitors may view our recently acquired Merovingian manuscript and Greek papyrus. All are welcome, and refreshments will be served.
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4:30 - 6:00 pm1080 LCLBDr. Sidney Lu (Associate Professor of Transnational Asian Studies, Rice University) will deliver the keynote based on his recently published book, Collaborative Settler Colonialism: Japanese Migration to Brazil in the Age of Empires.
Saturday, April 18, 2026
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1:00 pmSpurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, ILThis special guided tour will focus on various textile arts throughout the world. It will take a look at the processes behind creating textiles, as well as the different purposes that textile arts can have in our lives. These may range from everyday wear, to expressing political beliefs, identity, religion, creativity, and more.
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1:00 pmSpurlock Museum: 600 S Gregory St, Urbana, IL 61801This special guided tour will focus on various textile arts throughout the world. It will take a look at the processes behind creating textiles, as well as the different purposes that textile arts can have in our lives. These may range from everyday wear, to expressing political beliefs, identity, religion, creativity, and more.
Monday, April 20, 2026
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5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center 208Please join us for the launch of Ethan Madarieta’s first book, Land's Language: On Mapuche Memory, Translation, and the Territorial Aporia.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
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5:30 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock MuseumDrawing on scholarship about the value of suspending economic incentives in everyday life, Dr. Newfield will argue that public universities must replace a financial model that harms education and erodes solvency. His presentation will also examine and challenge the belief that “learning equals earning” amid deep dependence on debt, asset inflation, and risk management.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
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4:00 - 6:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 422Dr. Elisa Frühauf Garcia, Fluminense Federal University (Brazil) and Drs. Christian Darko and Fuk Ying Tse, University of Birmingham will discuss the importance of embedding scholarship in an interdisciplinary and global context. This talk is part of a new initiative, Gender@Work: A Global Lab on Bodies and Politics.
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6:00 pmThe Literary, 122 N. Neil, Champaign, ILFree and open to all, two College of Education faculty members will share their recent work in educational leadership. Osly Flores will discuss his book, Race-Conscious Caring in Educational Leadership: A Narrative Ethics, and Rachel Roegman will talk about her newly released book, K-12 Schools and Public Health Partnerships...
Thursday, April 23, 2026
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All DayGrad students from all disciplines are invited to the 16th Gesa E. Kirsch Graduate Student Symposium, April 23–24, 2026—an interdisciplinary, student-led event featuring diverse presentations, workshops, and a keynote by Kaia Simon (UW Eau Claire). Proposals on writing, rhetoric, media, education, and more are welcome in traditional or experimental formats.
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5:00 pmTBDAnnual Armenian Genocide Event, featuring Helen Makhdoumian (Postdoc, Vanderbilt University)
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5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center Room 208In honor of the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, Helen Makhdoumian will give a talk entitled "On Beginnings, or the Roots and Routes of the Nested Memory Concept.”
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5:30 pm62 Krannert Art MuseumThis talk argues that paintings exhibited in London in the mid-nineteenth century should be understood within polluted atmospheres that shaped not only artistic representations, but also practices of conservation, collecting and display, within a broader culture of technological accommodation to pollution.
Friday, April 24, 2026
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11:30 am - 1:30 pmNatural History Building 2049What makes a map readable? Join Izabela Gołębiowska, PhD of the University of Warsaw to explore factors driving the success of maps and geovisualizations as tools for informed decisions. Dr. Gołębiowska will discuss a range of empirical studies involving map users, addressing the challenges of naïve cartography and CartoAI. Lunch will be provided!
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1:00 - 2:20 pmSpurlock MuseumDance at Illinois presents the research symposium, "Dancing Discourse," featuring four BA candidates, Anna Carlson, Harper Clark, Sofia Corrales, and Jasmine O'Connor. This event is free and open to the public.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
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5:15 pmSkateland SavoyDance at Illinois presents "Roller Skating while Black," an interactive lecture-demonstration on the history, technique, and cultural influences of Black rhythm skating, by guest artist Isaiah Harris. Lecture begins at 5:15pm, skating follows at 6:30pm. $8 admission fee, $4.50 skate rental.
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5:30 - 7:00 pmGregory Hall 112New York Times columnist Ross Douthat posits that under the influence of digital technologies and in the shadow of AI, civilization is entering a period of pressure that threatens cultures, communities, and individuals.
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6:00 - 7:15 pmApril 29: 6:00 pm at Lincoln Theater, UIUC. May 1: 6:00 pm at Station Theater, Urbana.Cancer Voices performs true stories from survivors, doctors, family members, nurses, & researchers. Our 45-minute script and following community discussions work toward effective, just healthcare for all. Events are free & open to all. April 29: 6:00 pm at Lincoln Theater, UIUC. May 1: 6:00 pm at Station Theater, Urbana.
Friday, May 1, 2026
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12:00 - 1:30 pm404 David Kinley Hall, 1407 W. Gregory Drive, UrbanaJoin us for a hybrid CEAPS Speaker/Political Science Workshop titled “From Correction to Connection: Relational Approaches to Countering Misinformation” with Cesi Cruz (University of Michigan). Register here!
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1:00 - 5:00 pm614 East Daniel Street, 4th Floor, Multipurpose Room 4045Have you created a game, art work, program, poster, class project or research about games and design? If so, we encourage you to showcase your work at the Game Studies and Design Spring Showcase on Friday, May 1. Undergraduate and graduate level projects are welcome. These projects will be included in Undergraduate Research Week and Research Symposium 2026.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
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10:00 am - 12:00 pmPlym Auditorium, Temple Hoyne Buell HallThe PhD Program in Architecture and Landscape Architecture hosts a keynote lecture by Hi'ilei Julia Hobart (Native and Indigenous Studies, Yale) as part of the symposium "Creativity in Modern Heritage." Hobart is author of Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment (Duke University Press, 2022).
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3:00 - 5:00 pmCelebrate the semester’s end with RBML! We are diving into the trendy book decoration world — bring your own books and paint the edges with our supplies, then view various historical fore-edge paintings from the collection in our Reading Room. All are welcome to attend, and refreshments will be served.
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4:00 - 6:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 422Prizes for Research Ceremony and Reception