Campus Humanities Calendar
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
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3:00 - 5:00 pm223 Gregory HallWhile the second law of thermodynamics states that entropy increases over time, in some systems entropy decreases in parts of the system while increasing in others. A zebra resists or exploits the second law by shunting extra entropy into its environment. Philosopher Heather Demarest (University of Colorado, Boulder)
Thursday, February 26, 2026
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3:00 - 5:00 pmMain Library, Room 346
Dr. Elias Petrou will explore the evolution and transmission of the Greek book from East to West, beginning with an overview of the Byzantine educational system, the preservation and transmission of classical Greek knowledge through manuscripts, and how this inherited book culture was transformed through the new technology of print.
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4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 422Erin Brock Carlson’s research centers the relationships between place, technology, and power, focusing on how communities work together to address complex public problems through communication and community organizing. She uses community-based and participatory approaches in her research.
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5:30 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory, Urbana
Chicago-based artist Oscar Joyo will discuss his vivid and colorful public murals, underscoring the purpose of art and understanding the power of art to create narratives and tell stories about the history of place, the significance of the present, and the hopes for the future. He will also share details of his local engagement with students from Stratton Elementary School
Friday, February 27, 2026
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1:30 - 3:00 pm306 Coble Hall
Join us for our HYBRID Brown Bag talk titled “Zhou Zuoren at Tiger Bridge” with Professor Jingling Chen from the East Asian Languages & Cultures Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Saturday, February 28, 2026
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11:00 amSpurlock Museum: 600 S Gregory St, Urbana, IL 61801Sneakers or “kicks” hold iconic status in hip hop culture. From shell-toe Adidas to crisp Nike Air Force 1, the right pair signals style, status, and influence. Design, color, and assemble a paper replica of kicks that define hip hop in the U.S. and beyond.
Monday, March 2, 2026
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11:00 am - 1:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 208, 919 W. Illinois St
Join us for talks from our recent Associates and Fellows. At 11am Yi-Cheng Wang (Food Science & Human Nutrition) discusses the development of self-powered light-based sanitizers to enhance food safety and at noon...
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
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3:00 pm114 Huff Hall
Please join the HRI Sport Studies Research Cluster for a guest talk by Dr. Anna Baeth, senior research manager for Athlete Ally. Her talk will center on the science of trans athletes. What does bench science empirically prove about transgender athletes and their place in sport?
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7:30 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 422This talk will highlight the Kinsey Institute’s founding and multi-disciplinary history, continued cultural impact, current research program, and reflect on the ways in which today’s social and political climate presents new challenges for multi-disciplinary sex research.
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
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3:30 - 5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 300The Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity and the Humanities Research Institute host the annual campus celebration of International Women's Day with “12 Women Who Changed the World: Untold Stories.”
Thursday, March 5, 2026
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All DayLevis Faculty Center 210The 24th annual Women’s and Gender History Symposium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will take place March 5-7, 2026. This year’s theme is Gender and Labor. This year's conference will feature graduate research and keynote speakers Dr. Arunima Datta and Dr. Eric McDuffie.
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5:00 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
Professor Buff (Univ. of Wisconsin) traces the rise of private consultancies from 20th-century managerial capitalism and the military-industrial complex to their entry into higher education during neoliberal reforms of the 1980s, expanding further through disaster capitalism after the 2008 Great Recession and the Covid-19 pandemic.
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6:00 - 7:30 pmKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., ChampaignSPEAK stands for Song, Poetry, Art, and Knowledge. It is an open-mic public performance space at Krannert Art Museum curated by local artist, Shaya Robinson, featuring guest performers and welcoming all to the mic. *Parking nearby is free after 5 pm and on weekends.*
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7:00 pmKrannert Center for the Performing Arts
Studiodance offers two different programs. Program A (at 7pm) features the MFA thesis works of Maggie Segale and e g condon. Program B (at 9pm) features solo works by Assistant Teaching Professors Jacob Henss and Samuel Hanson, a duet by 2nd year MFA candidates Chelsea Wahrendorf and Ethan Rome, and a group work by junior BFA candidate, Anna Brady.
Friday, March 6, 2026
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11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Professor Bharat Mehra, University of Alabama, on "From Trauma, Anxieties, and Dislocation at Intersecting Margins in a South Asian Experience and Beyond to Social Justice: “If Life Gives You Bananas Make Mango Shake”
Saturday, March 7, 2026
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8:30 amLevis Faculty Center, Room 210This informal group aims to bring together graduate students from across campus to share their enthusiasm for the thought-provoking scholarship that animates them as people. Light refreshments will be provided. This edition of Scholarship Out Loud will be part of the 2026 Women’s and Gender History Symposium.
Monday, March 9, 2026
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5:00 - 7:00 pmAlice Campbell Alumni Center (601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana)
Please join us for the launch of Black, Jewish, and Beautiful: Contemporary Blewish Voices (Syracuse University Press, 2026). This anthology, co-edited by Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Sara Feldman, and Brett Ashley Kaplan, brings together impactful perspectives from diverse Blewish/Black Jewish landscapes in the U.S. and globally.
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5:00 - 7:00 pmAlice Campbell Alumni Center (601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana)
Please join us for the launch of Black, Jewish, and Beautiful: Contemporary Blewish Voices (Syracuse University Press, 2026). This anthology, co-edited by Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Sara Feldman, and Brett Ashley Kaplan, brings together impactful perspectives from diverse Blewish/Black Jewish landscapes in the U.S. and globally.
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
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5:00 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. GregoryIngrid Sinclair’s feature-length film Flame (1986) tells the story of two young African women who join the liberation struggle for Zimbabwe in the 1970s. The film follows Flame and Liberty as they are faced with sexual harassment by male freedom fighters and later, by the patriarchy of the newly liberated Zimbabwe.
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
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3:30 - 5:00 pmGregory Hall 319
Join us for a lecture with Jennifer Chuong, an assistant professor in the Department of Art History at the U of I. This lecture examines the invention of carborundum mezzotint by the African American artist Dox Thrash (1893-1965), arguing that the technique's significance lies not only in its aesthetic effects but in the labor surrounding its discovery and production.
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7:00 - 10:00 pmVirginia Theatre (203 W Park Ave, Champaign, IL 61820)Illinois Public Media and the Japan House present KOKUHO (2025). Kokuho, meaning "National Treasure," is a highly successful 2025 Japanese epic film by director Sang-il Lee about the intense, decades-long rivalry between two men destined for greatness in the traditional world of Kabuki theater.
Thursday, March 12, 2026
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11:00 am - 1:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 208 919 W. Illinois St, Urbana
We are delighted to showcase the work of some of our most productive and creative faculty in this informal series of intellectually and spiritually invigorating presentations. You are invited to drop in when you can to learn about the exciting projects undertaken by our faculty.
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12:00 - 1:30 pmIllini Union Bookstore, Room 514
The Center for Writing Studies will be hosting Dr. Bobby J. Smith II for a brownbag talk! Dr. Smith will be giving a lecture titled "Writing the Forgotten Black Past: Brief Notes on Recovery." Please join us on Thursday, March 12!
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
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5:30 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
Journalist Helmuth (Slate, Scientific American, Washington Post) will argue that as universities, public health bodies, science agencies, and publishers face growing political attacks, scholars must build public support for academic freedom, long-term research, honest history, and life-saving health policy by engaging journalists and mass media directly.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
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12:00 - 1:30 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, Urbana
Merle Bowen, CAS Associate 2024-25 (African American Studies), presents her recent work that sheds light on the hitherto untold stories of Black rural life in Atlantic Canada, analyzing the diverse experiences of people of African descent and by situating them as speakers and agents of their own lives.
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12:00 - 1:30 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W. Illinois St
CAS Associate 2024-25 Merle Bowen (African American Studies) discusses her research that brings to light untold stories of African-descended communities in Atlantic Canada. With support from the Center for African Studies and the Department of African American Studies.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
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3:00 - 5:00 pmMain Library, Room 346
From its invention in the Bronze Age, glass was conceived as “molten stone” and continuously used to emulate gems, gold, and rare marbles. Drawing on archaeological finds, representations in art works, and written sources, Dr. Anastasios Antonaras (Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki,)
Friday, March 27, 2026
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9:00 am - 5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center 210
HGMS annual conference, 9a-5pm. Location TBD.
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9:00 am - 5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center 210
Please join us for the seventh annual symposium in Holocaust, Genocide, Memory Studies. The past annual symposia were wonderful, and we hope that this conference will continue to showcase diverse and brilliant work within memory studies (broadly conceived) of graduate students. The keynote will be at 11am by Solomon Brager, author of Heavyweight.
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4:00 - 7:00 pmLevis Faculty Center 300Join us for the Big Ten Trans Studies Initiative's research symposium, March 27-28. Friday, March 27: opening plenary session, featuring past and present University of Illinois Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellows in Trans Studies: Emi Frerichs, Sawyer Kemp, Ava L.J. Kim, and Adrian King. Reception to follow.
Saturday, March 28, 2026
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9:00 am - 4:30 pmLevis Faculty Center 208 and 210
Join us for the Big Ten Trans Studies Initiative's research symposium, a full day of panels featuring scholars from institutions across the Big Ten network.
Monday, March 30, 2026
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12:00 - 1:30 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 424This informal group aims to bring together graduate students from across campus to share their enthusiasm for the thought-provoking scholarship that animates them as people. Bring your lunch and stop by to listen and chat!
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4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210Story & Place event series: Anke Pinkert Book Talk 4pm
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
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4:00 - 6:00 pm
Join us to celebrate the book launch of Richard (Chip) Burkhardt's The Leopard in the Garden: Animal and Human Lives in Paris at the First Public Zoo of the Modern Era (U of C Press, April 2026). Professor Burkhardt will share some highlights of the book, then participate in a panel discussion with local and visiting scholars.
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4:00 - 6:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, Urbana
The Leopard in the Garden: Animal and Human Lives in Paris at the First Public Zoo of the Modern Era presents the inner workings of the menagerie at the Paris Museum of Natural History and how visions for the zoo collided with the interests of humans and animals alike.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
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4:30 pmIllini Union Bookstore Author's Corner
A reading by alumni of the creative writing program, Jessica Tanck and Matthew Gavin Frank. This event is made possible by the Robert J. and Katherin Carr visiting author series.
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5:00 - 6:30 pmCampus Instructional Facility (CIF) Room 1035
2026 Pakistan Studies Lecture by Professor Saad Gulzar, University of Notre Dame on "Politics, Bureaucracy, and the Promise of Better Governance in Pakistan" NO REGISTRATION required.
Friday, April 3, 2026
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9:00 am - 5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St
Jesse Oak Taylor (U Washington), Jonathan Howard (Yale U), Sarah Dimick (Northwestern U), and Min Hyoung Song (Boston College) join UI faculty in a series of talks and a concluding roundtable, which together will take up the question of how the study of literary history can contribute to our understanding of both the causes of and potential solutions...
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10:00 am - 4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, UrbanaThis symposium presents a series of four talks and a concluding roundtable, which together will take up the question of how the study of literary history can contribute to our understanding of both the causes of and potential solutions to the crisis of climate change.
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1:30 - 3:00 pm306 Coble Hall, 801 S. Wright St., Champaign
Join us for a hybrid CEAPS Speaker talk "Finding An Audience: Japan’s First Women Architects and the NHK Ladies' Classroom" with Dr. Michelle L. Hauk (Washington University in St. Louis). Register here!
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
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3:00 pmNCSA Auditorium
For this event, Dr. Holloway (President and CEO, Henry Luce Foundation, and former President of Rutgers University) will join Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor John Coleman for a moderated conversation about their experiences and observations on the role of risk management in leadership for higher education today
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7:00 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S Gregory St. Urbana
Award-winning Palestinian artist and filmmaker Basma al-Sharif will present early and recent film works, Morgenkreis/Morning Circle (2025, 20:31minutes), which follows a father and son in their intimate rituals as they prepare to start the day and head to kindergarten; Capital (2023, 19 minutes)...
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7:00 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory
Award-winning Palestinian artist and filmmaker Basma al-Sharif explores cyclical political histories and conflicts. In films and installations that move backward and forward in history, between place and non-place, she confronts the legacy of colonialism through satirical, immersive, and lyrical works.
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
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4:30 pmTBD
A reading by Stephen Markley, made possible by the Robert J. and Katherin Carr visiting author series. Stephen Markley is the author of The Deluge, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as an Editor's choice. His previous books include the critically acclaimed bestseller Ohio, as well as Publish this Book and Tales of Iceland.
Friday, April 10, 2026
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11:00 amLevis Faculty Center 400
The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures invites you to a lunch seminar with celebrated writer Yan Geling on April 10 (Fri), 11:00 AM at Levis Faculty Center (4th Floor). The discussion focuses on her novel Criminal Lu Yanshi, the inspiration for Zhang Yimou’s films Coming Home and One Second. Translator Lawrence Walker will also join.
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1:30 - 3:00 pm306 Coble Hall, 801 S Wright St, Champaign
Join us to help celebrate Political Science professor & CEAPS Advisory Board member Yujeong Yang on her new book! Refreshments will be served. Please register here!
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
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6:00 - 7:30 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
2026 Indian Languages and Cultures Lecture by Professor Andrew Ollett, University of Chicago, on "Context, from 7th century India to today". NO REGISTRATION required.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
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12:00 pmBruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center (1212 W Nevada St., Urbana)Undergraduates of any major are invited to this informal lunch talk with Rita Dove. Dove served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993–1995. She was a winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and the 2023 honorary National Book Award.
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7:30 pmAlice Campbell Alumni CenterJoin us for a free public reading by award-winning poet Rita Dove. Dove served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, and was a winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and the 2023 honorary National Book Award.
Thursday, April 16, 2026
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11:00 amLevis Faculty Center, Room 208, 919 W Illinois St, Urbana
In this talk, Professor Soto-Crespo discusses Enrique Laguerre’s literary works The Blaze (1935) and Montoya’s Plantation (1941), as key roots of ecological thought in Puerto Rico. Laguerre’s ecological viewpoint offers a way to understand the connection between humans and non-human entities within a landscape of harsh exploitation.
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11:00 am - 1:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St
Join 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 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St
Join us for a discussion with GAM Visiting Artist Paul O'Mahony, Founder and Director, Out of Chaos Theatre (London, UK).
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4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, Urbana
How 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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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 346
This 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.
Monday, April 20, 2026
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5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 208
Book launch of Ethan Madarieta's Land's Language: On Mapuche Memory, Translation, and the Territorial Aporia.
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5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center 208
Please 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 Museum
Drawing 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.
Thursday, April 23, 2026
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All DayCenter for Writing Studies
Grad 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 pmTBD
Annual Armenian Genocide Event, featuring Helen Makhdoumian (Postdoc, Vanderbilt University)
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5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center Room 208
In 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.”
Friday, April 24, 2026
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All DayCenter for Writing Studies
Grad 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.
Friday, May 1, 2026
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12:00 - 1:30 pm404 David Kinley Hall, 1407 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana
Join 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!
Thursday, May 7, 2026
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10:00 am - 12:00 pmPlym Auditorium, Temple Hoyne Buell Hall
The 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 pm
Celebrate 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 422
Prizes for Research Ceremony and Reception