MDF Test Calendar
Friday, September 11, 2026
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Monday, September 14, 2026
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Our Mr. Matsura is the story of Frank (Sakae) Matsura, the orphaned son of a samurai, who emigrated to Washington State in 1901, eventually settling in remote Okanogan County.
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Please join us for a talk by Prof. Neem, where he will examine the ideological challenges to scientific knowledge from both the left and right and their implications for the future of the American university.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
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The Farms: Fall Yoga
Recurring
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Danielle Chynoweth (Supervisor, Cunningham Township) on Democracy.
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Museums hold objects that reflect cultural values, from everyday items to religious and ceremonial works. But how should museums interpret objects of hate? Join museum professionals for a conversation about the challenges of displaying charged objects and thoughtful ways to facilitate dialogue around difficult histories, emotions, and themes.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
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In 1968, Alejo Hernández, a resident of Stanislaus County, California, sued the USDA because the county failed to implement the Food Stamp Program.
Saturday, September 19, 2026
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Join us for a special gallery talk with Catherine Weisener, artist, educator, and teaching professor in the School of Art & Design, as she explores themes, techniques, and the enduring impact of ceramics in conjunction with Centering Clay: Connection and Innovation in American Studio Ceramics.
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Drop in for a tour given by our student gallery guides! Topics vary weekly. Free admission and all ages welcome. No reservation required.
Sunday, September 20, 2026
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Culture wars, including battles over how history is taught in public schools, reflect deeper struggles over what it means to be American and what rights citizenship entails. These conflicts have shaped American political culture since the 1960s.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
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The Farms: Fall Yoga
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Economic, Social, and Environmental Aspects of Conservation Agriculture in Brazil. Tiago Santos Telles is a Researcher at the Instituto de Desenvolvimento Rural do Paraná & a Professor at the Universidade Estadual de Londrina.
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Jonathan Rosa (Education, Stanford) on Semiotics.
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Please join us for the Game Studies and Design September Town Hall presentation titled, "Game Audio: A Composer's Perspective" with Benny Wollin, Music Composer and Sound Designer at Squish Studios. We'll also share information about the new MS in Game Development Program and opportunities to engage with The Studio at Illinois.
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
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Interested in exploring text mining, but not sure where to start? This beginner-friendly workshop introduces the fundamentals natural language processing (NLP) using AI-generated code to identify repetitious language.
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Please join us for the first of 2 talks in the Center for Advanced Study Climate | Change Initiative's Victorian Culture and Climate Change series. Nathan Hensley (English, Georgetown U) will discuss how close attention to Victorian literature can recover a prehistory for the deeply felt sense of powerlessness many of us know all too well today.
Thursday, September 24, 2026
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Please join us for an opening reception to celebrate the acquisition of the first edition of Frankenstein and explore the life and career of Mary Shelley. Exhibit curator Lynne Thomas will give brief remarks, and refreshments will be served. This exhibit will be on display through Summer 2027.
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Join us for a reading by author Mary Helen Specht! Mary Helen Specht is the author of the forthcoming novel Mudlark (July 2026) and the novel Migratory Animals, a New York Times Editors' Choice and winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Best First Fiction Award and the Writers’ League of Texas Fiction Prize.
Friday, September 25, 2026
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Readings in theme with "Up Against Erasure," with: Andrea Giugni + Malina Infante + Nathan Metz; Lisa Low.
Saturday, September 26, 2026
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Readings in theme with “Up Against Erasure,” with: Steven Bergmark + Mason McVeigh + Diana Towne; Gabriela Garcia.
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
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The Farms: Fall Yoga
Recurring -
Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Lisa Saltzman (History of Art, Bryn Mawr) on Walter Benjamin.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
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Please join us for the second of 2 talks in the Center for Advanced Study Climate | Change Initiative's Victorian Culture and Climate Change series. Stephanie O'Rourke (Art History, U of St Andrews) discusses the relationship between new pictorial formats for representing landscapes and industrial mineral extraction in Victorian England.
Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Join us for an info session to learn more about the Humanities in Action program and receive insight into the application process.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
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The Farms: Fall Yoga
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Design controls and risk management aren't just compliance tools for FDA. They are fundamental approaches to developing safer, more robust products that attract investors, funding agencies, and industry partners. In this two-part, virtual symposium series, learn how implementing both processes early, and throughout your development stages—strengthens your research, creates
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This panel brings together scholars and experts to discuss key issues surrounding Brazil's electoral process. Participants will explore the political landscape, major campaign themes, and the broader implications of the election for Brazilian society and democracy.
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Maryam Kashani (Gender & Women's Studies, UIUC) on Visual Theory.
Thursday, October 8, 2026
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Please join us for presentations by recent CAS Fellows. At 11am, Nicholas Jackson (Chemistry) discusses Designing Polymers in the AI Era and at noon, Stefan Vogler (Sociology) presents Police Consciousness and the Potential for Reform.
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“Staying with the Trouble of Preservation: The Ambivalent Politics of Deletion in Digital Societies.” Presented by Nanna Bonde Thylstrup (Art and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen).
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Join us for a reading by poet Philip Metres! Philip Metres (he/him) grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, the grandchild of Lebanese refugees and migrants and the descendent of Irish famine survivors. Metres has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.”
Friday, October 9, 2026
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This is a panel discussion with artists and scholars on Everett’s Erasure. Each panelist will provide a different window into what’s beyond Erasure or what reading Erasure inspires (broadly conceived).
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CAS Professor of Psychology Brent Roberts draws from the science of personality development to discuss the following questions: How important are my genes for my personality? What effect did my parents have on who I am? Does my personality matter for love, work, and health? And “am I stuck with my personality or can I change?" A reception follows this CAS Annual Lecture.
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
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The Farms: Fall Yoga
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by John Lurz (English, Tufts) on Poststructuralism.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
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Join us as we highlight the incredible work of each of Humanities Without Walls' Reciprocity and Redistribution Grand Research Challenge projects in four virtual showcases over the 2026-27 academic year. During each event, 2-3 teams will present their projects and share a bit about the centrality of reciprocal and redistributive methods to their work.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
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Professor Ángel García (English/Creative Writing) will read from his latest collection, Indifferent Cities.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
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The Farms: Fall Yoga
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Greta LaFleur (American Studies, Yale) on Gender.
Friday, October 23, 2026
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Please join us for the Game Studies and Design October Town Hall. This month's guest speaker is Amber Holkenbrink, Principal Experience Designer on Apex Legends at Respawn Entertainment. She has worked in the game industry for over 16 years and has contributed to the art, animation, and design of more than 30 titles, including Call of Duty: Warzone.
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In this CAS/MillerComm presentation, GAM Visiting Scholar Professor Sangaré (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales - INALCO) treats Islam in France as a case study in the state management of minority religion in a secular republic. Hosted by the Department of History.
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Join us for a professional development presentation from a visiting literary agent! Rayhané Sanders will give a glimpse at the nuts and bolts of publishing, working in publishing, query letters, and other aspects of the literary trade. This will include some do's and don'ts and plenty of time for questions and answers.
Sunday, October 25, 2026
Monday, October 26, 2026
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Following the election, this panel examines the results and their significance for Brazil's future. Speakers will analyze voting patterns, political shifts, and the potential impact of the election on governance, public policy, and democratic institutions.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
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The Farms: Fall Yoga
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The techniques for making texts have changed across multiple media and historical contexts since antiquity, but a regular feature of the work of authors and scholars through all those changes is the reliance on helpers or amanuenses. Dr. Ann Blair (Harvard) will discuss the factors that have made them both invisible and occasionally visible, and the kind of work they did.
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Rob Rushing (European Languages & Transcultural Studies, UCLA) on Biopolitics.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
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Professor Gillen D'Arcy Wood (English and Earth Science & Environmental Change) will discuss his book, The Wake of HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Oceans’ Decline.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
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Design controls and risk management aren't just compliance tools for FDA. They are fundamental approaches to developing safer, more robust products that attract investors, funding agencies, and industry partners. In this two-part, virtual symposium series, learn how implementing both processes early, and throughout your development stages—strengthens your research, creates
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Professor Xiao Su presents innovative electrochemical approaches for addressing environmental challenges and improving water purification technologies. The lecture explores emerging research that advances sustainable solutions for water treatment and environmental remediation.
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Chi-Ming Yang (English, University of Pennsylvania) on Orientalism.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
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Representatives from the HuMetricsHSS Humane Metrics Initiative will present on the values-based frameworks they’ve developed to guide all kinds of scholarly processes. The session will include time for audience questions.
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Join us for a reading by Illinois Alumni, Chekwube Danladi, Chris Vanjonack, and Weston Morrow!
Friday, November 6, 2026
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Professor Stefania Chiarelli explores representations of water, rivers, and aquatic environments in Brazilian literature. Drawing on examples from Brazilian prose, the lecture examines how aquatic imagery shapes narratives, cultural memory, and literary interpretations of place and identity.
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
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The Lemann Center Grad Forum showcases research conducted by graduate students whose work engages with Brazil. Through presentations and discussion sessions, participants share emerging scholarship, exchange ideas across disciplines, and strengthen connections within the Brazilian studies community at Illinois.
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
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Please join us for this community building event! We will share information about the new MS in Game Development, and showcase games we are building and playing right now. We will also hear from our guest speaker Jeremy Moncauskas, Senior Level Designer at WB Games.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
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Emblematica (Illinois) and Compositor (U. of Birmingham) are databases that use digital technologies to explore the early modern text-image interface. Join Dr. Hazel Wilkinson (Birmingham) to learn how historical readers used “emblem-literacy” to engage with ornamented books in ways previously unaccounted for in scholarship.
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
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Please join the Unit for Criticism for a Modern Critical Theory lecture by Thomas Davis (English, Ohio State) on Environmental Humanities.
Tuesday, November 24, 2026
Wednesday, December 2, 2026
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Join us as we highlight the incredible work of each of Humanities Without Walls' Reciprocity and Redistribution Grand Research Challenge projects in four virtual showcases over the 2026-27 academic year. During each event, 2-3 teams will present their projects and share a bit about the centrality of reciprocal and redistributive methods to their work.
Thursday, December 3, 2026
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Join us for our December Town Hall with special Guest Speaker Shad Bradbury, Animator with Pixar Animations Studios. Shad Bradbury has worked in animation for over 20 years at studios like Pixar, Sony, Tippet, and Rhythm and Hues. His credits include, "Elio", "Coco", "Finding Dory", "Inside Out", "Hotel Transylvania", and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2".
Friday, December 4, 2026
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The Fall 2026 Game Studies and Design Showcase is a day for student gamers to share their new games, designs, and game components. Join us for a day of play-testing and fun!
Thursday, February 11, 2027
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Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights
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Join us for a reading by author Carmen Maria Machado! Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House, the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods, and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties.
Friday, February 19, 2027
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Following an introduction to the book proposal and publishing process, this presentation and panel will also cover recent experiences by faculty and editors in this important component of humanistic scholarship. Co-organized by the Humanities Research Institute and OVCRI’s Office of Research Advising and Project Development.
Thursday, February 25, 2027
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With Roderick Wilson (East Asian Languages and Cultures and History) and Anna Jungeun Lee (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
Wednesday, March 3, 2027
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More information is coming.
Thursday, March 4, 2027
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Patricia Owens Book Talk: Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men.
Thursday, March 25, 2027
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March 25-26, more information is coming soon. Part of the Up Against Erasure event series.
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Join us for a reading by author Brandon Hobson! Dr. Brandon Hobson is a 2022 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. His novel, Where the Dead Sit Talking, was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Friday, March 26, 2027
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March 25-26, more information is coming soon. Part of the Up Against Erasure event series.
Thursday, April 1, 2027
Thursday, April 15, 2027
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More info is coming.
Monday, April 26, 2027
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“Once Upon a Time in the Jazira: Archaeology and the Mass Graves of the Armenian Genocide”. Professor Lori Khatchadourian, Departments of Near Eastern Studies & Anthropology, Cornell University. Director, Cornell Institute of Archaeology & Material Studies.
Thursday, May 6, 2027
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Gather with us in community to celebrate this year's HRI research prize recipients and to mark the close of another academic year!