Whether you’re a first-year student, sophomore, or junior, please contact Elizabeth Rockman at rockman@illinois.edu if you’ve earned any scholarships (campus-wide or national) recently, published, or achieved something else that you’d like us to know about – if we hear from you in the next few weeks, we may be able to include that information into the CHP Annual, the Campus Honors Program newsletter that comes out each August.

“New” news items from graduating seniors would be too late to have the CHP Yearbook updated, but you are all welcome – and encouraged – to be in touch now and always about all future news and achievements!

Whether you’re graduating, have friends who are graduating, or are just interested in all the amazing things that seniors have accomplished, please RSVP to cupps@illinois.edu by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 if you can make the CHP Graduation Reception on Friday, May 15, 2009 between 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. in the Illini Union’s Pine Lounge. Good food and conversation is guaranteed!

The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Office of Student Financial Aid announces the Award Guidelines for the Class of 1941 Memorial Excellence Awards. The Donors are the Members of the Class of 1941, and the Purpose is: To recognize the academic achievement of students who have demonstrated unusually high academic accomplishments and who have contributed to the life of the campus through extra curricular activities through five semesters at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. (The award is not intended for students who have done significant amounts of undergraduate work at other campuses.) The amount may vary as funds permit, but it should not exceed the full amount of tuition and fees for residents of the State of Illinois; the award is to be offered to at least one male and one female from the junior class annually. Additional awards may be made as funds from the invested principal become available. Awards from the income of the endowed Class of 1941 fund, held by the University Foundation, will be made by a selection committee comprised of representatives from the Office of Student Financial Aid. The Class of 1941 Memorial Excellence Awards will be offered to students with five graded semesters at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign campus.* Students eligible for these awards must have earned high grade point averages and demonstrated leadership by their work and involvement in extracurricular campus life activities.

University YMCA Dump and Run Collections:

Don’t throw it away -- give away your old stuff to the University YMCA's Annual Dump and Run program. The basic concept of Dump and Run is simple: they collect reusable items that students (and folks in the community) would otherwise dispose of during the typical move-out/Spring cleaning period in May. The Y collects these items, sorts them, and stores them through summer until their large fundraising sale in the fall. Items collected include (but are not limited to): furniture, working electronics, backpacks, bicycles, school supplies, jewelry, winter clothing, shoes, kitchen appliances, glassware, CDs/records (vinyl!!), books, working computers, artwork, toys, sporting equipment, non-perishable food items, toiletries, lawn and garden items, and other household goods. The Y does NOT accept: individual computer monitors, sleeper sofas, large appliances (stoves, washers, and dryers), non-working electronics, tires, non-working computers or parts, holiday decorations, video and audio cassettes, large exercise equipment, or mattresses. They will be collecting items Monday, May 11 through Friday, May 29, 2009.

STUDYING FOR FINALS? STRESSED? ANXIOUS? HUNGRY?

Stop by the Honors House during the week of finals (May 8 and May 11-15) for a sweet or salty snack - or both!

Good Luck with Finals and Have a Great Summer!!

Whether you’re graduating, have friends who are graduating, or are just interested in all the amazing things that seniors have accomplished, please RSVP to cupps@illinois.edu if you can make the CHP Graduation Reception between 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. in the Illini Union’s Pine Lounge. Good food and conversation is guaranteed!

"Through the Lens of History: Teaching, Learning, and Using History in the 21st Century," a history senior honors thesis, will premiere on Monday, May 4, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. in 213 Greg Hall.

The film is the work of history major (and Chancellor’s Scholar) Anne Shivers and her faculty advisor, Dr.
Carol Symes. In the film, Shivers studies how students and teachers interact with and learn from history, using the University of Illinois as a case study. Using interviews of professors and students, as well as clips from a variety of films and other programs, she looks at the gen-ed experience through a large Western Civ class, the experience of history majors and historians working with sources, and the influence of history on popular culture and popular culture on history.

The Film Screening and discussion of “Who Does She Think She Is?” on 5/7/09 is presented by the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. The movie is directed by Pamela Tanner Boll (Oscar-winning producer of Born Into Brothels) and Co-Directed by Nancy Kennedy (Why We Fight) – 82 minutes; discussion follows screening. This will take place on Thursday, May 7, 2009 from 4:00 -6:00 p.m. in Krannert Art Museum, Room 62.

Director’s statement about the film:
In a half-changed world, women often feel the need to choose: Mothering or working? Your children’s well-being or your own? Who Does She Think She Is? features five fierce women who refuse to choose. Through their lives, we explore some of the most problematic intersections of our time: mothering and creativity, partnering and independence, economics and art. The film invites us to consider both ancient legacies of women worshipped as cultural muses and more modern times where most people can’t even name a handful of female artists.

The Undergraduate Library will host a focus group (free pizza for you, in return for honest feedback) during the week of May 18, 2009! A day has not yet been finalized, but if you are available and on-campus that week, email your availability for the week (May 18 - May 22, 2009) and they will schedule a day and time (send email to Jim Hahn, Orientation Services Librarian: jimhahn@illinois.edu).

The focus group will entail asking questions about how the library can improve their orientation services and develop library orientation games; they will have a few educational PC based games set up in the computer lab for you to evaluate.

Come volunteer at the Twilight Basketball Jam at Douglass Park on Friday, May 15, 2009 from 5:00 - 10:00 p.m. Help with crowd control, score keeping, and numerous other tasks. To sign up, please contact David Genty at david.genty@cparkdistrict.com or by phone at (217) 398-2550.

Thanks to the OVP listserv for this information item.

Special Opportunity for Chancellor’s Scholars: Fall 2009 Evolution lecture series for credit sign up now!

Evolution - Biology and Beyond! (Currently restricted to Chancellor’s Scholars and graduate students.) This course presents evolution in its fullest and most general sense as the fundamental generator of complexity. The concepts of evolution apply to the unfolding of the Universe at all levels: from physical processes, through the evolution of biological organisms to the emergence of social, cultural and technological systems. The Course runs in tandem to the Chancellor's Colloquium on Evolution, in which a number of distinguished external speakers will present unique perspectives on these different facets of evolution. Students enrolled in the course will be required to read, discuss and react to works related to the Colloquia, participate in discussion groups involving the external speakers as well as UI faculty, and will help create a permanent record of the course activities. For more information on the course, including the CRN, go to http://courses.illinois.edu/cis/2009/fall/schedule/LAS/490.html?skinId=2169