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UIC VOLUME 32 / NUMBER 15
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013 Last print issue of fall semester! Next issue Jan. 15
For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago
Amy Watson’s cause: better lives for people with mental illness More on page 2
INSIDE: Profile / Quotable 2 | Campus News 4 | Calendar 8 | Student Voice 9 | Police 10 | People 11 | Sports 12
Illinois legislature passes pension changes More on page 3
Ten and counting! New awards for UIC News More on page 11
Daley: the mayor and the manPhoto: UIC Library Archives
Richard J. Daley (center in suit and tie) and winners of a 1975 summer fishing derby in a photograph taken by then-Chicago Daily News photographer John H. White. Official mayoral photographer Laszlo Kondor (left of Daley), recently added his work to the thousands of other photos, documents and memorabilia included in the UIC Library’s Richard J. Daley Collection. More on page 6 and youtube.com/uicmedia
Five wins in a row for women’s basketball More on page 12
Library archive offers scholars insight into Chicago political, social history
2 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I DECEMBER 4, 2013
Send profile ideas to Gary Wisby, [email protected]
“People take a certain glee in shaming other people.”
Steve Jones, professor of communication, on the extreme reaction — death threats and job loss — to a woman who posted photos online of her Halloween costume as a Boston Marathon victim, Nov. 29 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
quotable
“The best way to enable healthy cognitive aging is by regularly challenging your brain.”
Renae Smith-Ray, research scientist in the Institute for Health Research and Policy, on a study that found brain training computer games slowed the decline of older people’s balance and walking speed, Nov. 28 Reuters
Amy Watson trains police for crisis intervention teamsBy Gary Wisby
Police officers face special challenges when dealing with individuals who have mental illness, and Amy Watson is here to help.
She and her team in the Jane Addams College of Social Work are carrying out a study funded by $3.1 million from the National Institute of Mental Health.
They will look at the effectiveness of a police approach that uses Crisis Intervention Teams, or CIT.
“They coordinate with mental health providers,” said Wat-son, associate professor of social work. “CIT-trained officers are working in all of Chicago’s 22 districts.”
Specially trained officers will take people who show signs of experiencing mental health crises to hospitals for emer-gency assessments, or refer them to providers.
“They’re trained to recognize symptoms and de-escalate tense situations,” she said. “They give people time to calm down.”
People experiencing acute mental health symptoms may be agitated and appear to be hearing voices.
“Often they don’t follow instructions immediately because they are filtering out other stimuli,” Watson said.
The police training includes a session with family mem-bers of people with serious mental illness.
“They often share stories of situations in which they feel the police were helpful with their loved one, as well as those in which they felt officers did not respond appropriately because they lacked training and understanding,” Watson said.
She said training can make a big difference.“Many officers, whether CIT-trained or not, do a decent
job responding to mental health crisis calls,” she said. “However, CIT-trained officers have a few additional tools
in their toolbox that may decrease the like-lihood that a call will escalate and result in use of force and inju-ries. Non-CIT officers may also be less aware of potential options for referring people to services.”
In another facet of Watson’s work, she is studying the stigma
of mental illness. She works with the Center for Adherence and Self-Determination and previously was affiliated with the
Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research.“People may be blocked from housing, jobs and relation-
ships because the public has misguided ideas of what it means to have mental illness,” she explained.
This effort is also NIH-funded.Watson is a former probation officer for DuPage County.
She worked with individuals with mental illnesses sentenced to probation to make sure they understood the conditions of probation and helped link them to services.
“Sometimes they were court-ordered to go to mental health or substance abuse treatment, or complete job training or community service,” she said.
She is following cases handled by CIT-trained officers to see if subjects are still linked to services or had additional con-tacts with police a year later.
Watson grew up in La Grange. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Aurora University and a master’s and Ph.D. in social service administration from the University of Chicago,
joining UIC in 2005. She lives in Brookfield with her daugh-ter, Shannon, 16, and son, Sean, 13.
Watson spends time with fictional cops too. She’s a fan of Scandinavian crime fiction, including the novels of Henning Mankell and Maj Sjowall and her partner, Per Wahloo.
“And Jo Nesbo,” she added. “I just finished his most recent book, Police.”
Asked what she finds most rewarding about her work, Watson said, “I get to work with really smart and passionate people — including police officers, clinicians, advocates, per-sons with mental illnesses and other researchers — to move the field forward and improve the lives of persons with mental illnesses and their families.”
What’s the hardest thing about what you do?“Patience,” she replied. “The research process takes a long
time and is fraught with administrative and bureaucratic tangles.”
Photo: Jenny Fontaine
Amy Watson is conducting a $3 million study on the effectiveness of a police approach that uses Crisis Intervention Teams. “They’re trained to recognize symptoms and de-escalate tense situations. They give people time to calm down,” says Watson, associate professor of social work.
“We must unleash the artistic imagination to confront the problems of today.”
Lisa Yun Lee, director of the School of Art and Art History, on her plans for the new school, Nov. 12 New City
“I get to work with really smart and passionate people to improve the lives of persons with mental illnesses and their families.”
3DECEMBER 4, 2013 I www.uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS
Food additive may block deadly avian fluBy Sharon Parmet
A common food additive can block a deadly new strain of avian influenza virus from infecting healthy cells, Col-lege of Medicine researchers found.
The compound, widely used as a pre-servative, binds to a part of the flu virus that has never been targeted by any exist-ing antiviral drug, raising hopes for its effectiveness against multidrug-resistant flu viruses.
“The recent H7N9 outbreak in China this past March had a mortality rate of more than 20 percent,” said Michael Caf-frey, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics.
That strain, which is new, is already showing resistance to most drugs used to treat it, Caffrey said.
Preventing an outbreak that could lead to mass casualties would be difficult with the current arsenal, he said.
“The need to develop new antiviral therapeutics now is crucial.”
Flu viruses enter host cells using a special protein called hemagglutinin, which acts as a “key” that opens recep-tors on the cell surface. If hemagglutinin is disabled, the virus is locked out and can’t infect cells.
UIC researchers, led by Caffrey, found that the FDA-approved food ad-ditive tert-Butylhydroquinone — known as TBHQ, commonly used in fast foods, pet foods and cosmetics — sticks to a specific region on the hemagglutinin molecule.
The additive, he said, “attaches to the Achilles’ heel of the virus’ loop-shaped portion of hemagglutinin necessary for binding to cells, making cell infection impossible.”
The loop on the hemagglutinin molecule represents a new therapeutic target, since existing drugs don’t go after it, Caffrey said.
“Any drugs that focus on the hemag-glutinin loop would be totally novel to flu viruses, and so resistance, if devel-oped, would still be a long way off.”
The researchers are looking for ways to enhance tert-Butylhydroquinone’s ability to prevent infection. One way might be to add it to poultry feed, Caf-frey said.
The findings were published in the online journal PLOS ONE. Co-authors are graduate student Aleksandar Anta-nasijevic, postdoctoral researcher Han Cheng, Duncan Wardrop, associate professor of chemistry, and Lijun Rong, associate professor of microbiology and immunology.
By Christy Levy
The Illinois General Assembly passed pension legislation Tuesday that university leaders said would “adversely impact public university employ-ees, place higher education in Illinois at a competitive disadvantage, and ulti-mately weaken the state’s economy.”
Proponents of the bill, which passed the Senate 30-24 and the House 62-53 just minutes later, say it will address the state’s $100 billion pension shortfall. Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Re-publican Senate leader Christine Radogno, among other top legislators from both po-litical parties, pushed for the plan.
“In a statement regarding the public pension funding crisis a year ago, the Uni-versity of Illinois called for a pension sys-tem that would be reasonable, responsible, sustainable and competitive with those of-fered by our peer institutions,” said a state-ment issued Monday by U of I President Bob Easter, UIC Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares, UIUC Chancellor Phyllis Wise and UIS Chancellor Susan Koch.
The pension measure “fails to meet those basic principles,” the statement said.
Last April, heads of all 14 Illinois public universities sent a six-point proposal to Gov. Pat Quinn and legislative leaders as a long-term solution for reforming the uni-versity pension system.
“We are profoundly disappointed that in nearly three years of engaging the legislative process on this crucial issue, the state’s nine
Lawmakers pass pension changes
public universities’ counterproposals will not be included,” university leaders said.
The measure just passed by legislators is complex, said Katherine Laing, executive director of the university’s Office of Govern-mental Relations. How it would affect UIC employees and retirees “really depends on your particular circumstances,” she said.
“It will severely upset the status quo,” Laing said.
The pension law would reduce cost-of-living adjustments, increase the retirement age for some employees and put a cap on pensionable earnings.
“The likely changes arguably lessen the retirement commitments made to employ-ees and retirees, and their net effect also will harm the public higher education sector in Illinois,” university leaders said in their statement.
The plan would mean less money for university employees and retirees, said David Merriman, professor of economics
and public adminis-tration.
“It’s potentially a very large cut in benefits,” said Mer-riman, associate director of the Insti-tute of Government and Public Affairs.
“It’s a very pro-gressive change in the sense that it’s a much larger cut in the pension of those with higher incomes than those with smaller in-comes and smaller pensions.”
The pension plan also includes
a reduction in employee contributions for some participants and stronger legal re-quirements that the state makes its pension funding commitment.
“It would certainly improve the fund-ing of the pension plan and move it toward stability, but it’s difficult to tell exactly how much,” Merriman said.
Gov. Pat Quinn has said he would sign the bill into law, making the changes effec-tive July 1.
However, many political leaders and experts say the measure will be challenged in court because the Illinois Constitution says state retirement benefits “shall not be diminished or impaired.”
For more information, visit:• Institute of Government and Public
Affairs, igpa.uillinois.edu• Northern Illinois Univer-
sity State Pension and Budget Update, niu.edu/statebudget/pension_reform/
By Anne Brooks Ranallo
Technology increasingly drives gov-ernment and citizenship, health care, workforce development and metropoli-tan growth.
This year’s UIC Urban Forum will explore the causes and effects of this de-velopment at “Technology and the Resilience of Metropolitan Regions,” 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Thursday in the UIC Forum.
Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares will introduce keynote speaker Toni Preck-winkle, president of the Cook County Board.
Preckwinkle’s talk will be followed by five panel discussions featuring civic, business, academic and health care lead-ers from around the country, moderated by Chicago journalists.
Topics include:• Creating Informed Communities:
accessible technologies to help enhance
the quality of life• Advanced Technology Driving
Our Workforce: the growing effect of technology on tomorrow’s jobs
• Tuning In: how can technology help unite the government with its people?
• High-tech Healthcare: what is the potential global impact of health ser-vices with smart technology?
• The Growing Metropolis: how will emerging technologies influence urban growth and development?
• Workforce Development: how can we adapt technology to create and retain jobs?
The event is open to the general public.
Registration is required at uicurbanforum.org.
Follow the forum on Twitter at @UIC_UrbanForum and on Facebook at facebook.com/UICUrbanForum
UIC Urban Forum explores role of technology
Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin
Toni Preckwinkle is the Urban Forum’s keynote speaker.
4 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I DECEMBER 4, 2013
Send campus news to Sonya Booth, [email protected] newsArt on display
Check out student artwork at the UIC Art Fest today.
More than 25 students will showcase their work, which they had one week to create for the art festival. Votes will be tallied for the best paint-ing and the top three entries will receive prizes.
The event, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Montgomery Ward Gallery in Student Center East, is hosted by Campus Programs.
For more information, email [email protected]
Singing for scholarships John McDermott, a founding member of the
Irish Tenors, will headline the 13th annual S.E.E. Benefit Friday.
The event will also feature the Dee Alexander Trio. Alexander is an award-winning jazz vocal-ist and UIC employee in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
The event, hosted by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, funds scholar-ships for UIC students who demonstrate strong leadership skills.
A reception, dinner and concert are included in the $225 ticket price ($125 is tax-deductible). The event begins at 5 p.m. with the concert start-ing at 8 p.m. in the UIC Forum.
For information or tickets, call 312-413-0077 or e-mail [email protected]
Flames vs. IlliniUIC faculty and staff can purchase discount-
ed tickets to watch the Flames take on the Fight-ing Illini at 1 p.m. Dec. 28 at the United Center.
Employees can reserve tickets in the UIC fans section without any fees by purchasing through the UIC Athletics ticket office. Call 312-413-8421 by 5 p.m. Thursday.
The teams last met in 2010, when the Flames topped the Illini, 57-54, at the United Center.
Renew license todayThe mobile Illinois Secretary of State office
will be on campus today from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Student Center East concourse.
Students and employees can renew their driv-er’s license or state ID, buy vehicle license plate stickers, register to be an organ or tissue donor, and buy specialty UIC license plates to support student scholarships.
Giving back UIC students have organized toy drives and a
blood drive for #GivingTuesday. UIC student-athletes will host a blood drive
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Physical Edu-cation Building. Student-athletes will also donate at least one item to military service personnel abroad through the Operation Care Package project.
Student employees at campus recreation cen-ters are hosting a toy drive through Tuesday to benefit Noah’s Arc Foundation. Collection bins are in the UIC Bookstore in Student Center East and the Student Recreation Facility on the east side of campus.
Student Leadership Development and Vol-unteer Services is collecting new books and toys
By Brian Flood
A Victorian holiday costume party Thursday with music by ragtime musician Reginald Robinson marks the closing of the exhibition “The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition” in the African American Cul-tural Center.
The exhibition, on display since June 6 on the second floor of Addams Hall, closes Friday.
The costume party, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., is the final event for the interactive exhibition about black Americans’ contributions to
the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Guests are encouraged, but not required, to wear costumes.
Robinson, a composer, jazz pianist, edu-cator and recording artist, was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, or “ge-nius” grant, in 2004.
Inspired by the same-titled pamphlet co-authored by famed civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, the exhibition highlights the historical accounts of black Americans’ thoughts, feel-ings and experiences related to the Chicago’s World’s Fair.
The exhibition draws on the 120th an-niversary of the exposition to explore how
blacks felt about their exclusion from the planning processes, some of the lesser-known contributions of black Chicagoans during that period, and ethnic representation in the fair’s exhibits.
The exhibition included pro-grams with the DuSable Museum of African American History and “traveling suitcases” for K-12 classrooms, senior centers and community organizations with
Victorian costume party marks end of exhibition
information about exploring city sites related to the World’s Fair.
Admission is free to the exhibition and party.
For more information, call [email protected]
for patients at the Children’s Hospital University of Illinois. Items must be new. Requested toys include infant toys, books, coloring books, crayons, Play-Doh, rattles, board games, stuffed animals, playing cards and toys that light up or make noise.
Collection bins are located in the Behavioral Sciences Building, Student Services Building, Commons West, Commons East, Stukel Towers, Marie Robinson Hall, Thomas Beckham Hall, Honors College, Student Recreation Facility, College of Applied Health Sciences, College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy.
For more information, call 312-996-4500 or email [email protected]
Urban Forum ThursdayCook County Board President Toni Preck-
winkle will give the opening keynote address at the 2013 UIC Urban Forum Thursday.
This year’s event at the UIC Forum will ex-amine the role of technology in metropolitan regions’ emerging economic, political and social changes.
Preckwinkle and Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares are co-chairs.
Admission is free for Chicago-area faculty and students; tickets for the general public are $25.
Register and view the agenda at uicurbanfo-rum.org
Songs of the seasonThe UIC Choirs, String Orchestra and Con-
cert Band present a holiday concert Saturday.Students will perform holiday music ranging
from favorites such as Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker
Suite” to Saint-Saens’ “Christmas Oratorio.” The concert is directed by Michael J. Anderson, An-drew Lewis, Daniel Black and Jose Oliver Riojas.
The event begins with a reception at 6:30 p.m. and the concert starts at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Epis-copal Church, 924 Lake St., Oak Park.
RSVP at celebrate.theatreandmusic.uic.edu
Online tax information Employees can sign up through Jan. 15 to
receive their Form W-2 online.The 40,000 employees who received their
W-2 electronically last year do not need to sign up again this year. Others can request an online W-2 through NESSIE, the university’s HR web-site, nessie.uihr.uillinois.edu, under the “compen-sation” tab.
Employees who do not receive the W-2 elec-tronically will be mailed a copy.
Plans for developmentA seminar today examines plans for a 600-
acre site along Chicago’s south lakefront. “Transportation Vision for Chicago Lakeside
Development” is part of the Urban Transporta-tion Center’s 2013 Fall Seminar Series. Speaker is Nasutsa Mabwa, project manager of develop-ment for McCaffery Interests, developers of Lakeside.
Mabwa, who received her master’s in urban planning and policy from UIC, will discuss the recent opening of South Lake Shore Drive, pro-posed water taxi service and bus rapid transit to downtown and connections to CTA and Metra.
The talk takes place from noon to 1 p.m. at the Great Cities Institute, 400 CUPPA Hall.
For more information, call 312-413-1967.
Ragtime musician Reginald Robinson
5DECEMBER 4, 2013 I www.uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS
6 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I DECEMBER 4, 2013
By Anne Brooks Ranallo
Photographs of family dinners and fishing trips. Souvenirs of Venetian Night, a visit from the Apollo as-tronauts and the 1959 Pan American Games. And letters — lots and lots of letters, asking for jobs, new garbage cans and tickets to see the Beatles in the band’s first Chi-cago appearance.
These items and more from Richard J. Daley’s six terms as mayor of Chicago are available for review by researchers in the Richard J. Daley Collection, which opened in July in the UIC Library.
Housed in a 2,550-square-foot room in the Special Collections Department, the Daley collection contains 150 linear feet of documents from Daley’s years as mayor of Chicago and simultaneous terms as chairman of the Cook County Democratic Committee.
Daley was mayor from 1955 until his death in 1976, a period when American cities faced population declines, job losses, infrastructure decay and social unrest.
Under his leadership, Chicago gained new skyscrap-ers, expressways, public art, an expanded airport and the UIC campus.
After his death, his widow, Eleanor Daley, donated his archives to UIC — the institution the mayor consid-ered one of his greatest achievements.
Daley had important relationships with many national po-litical leaders of the time, including presidents Truman, Ken-nedy, Nixon and Johnson. He met all manner of celebrities, from Pope Paul VI to Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Roosevelt and Anwar Sadat.
The collection includes photos documenting those occa-sions, as well as his personal life. There are decades’ worth of news clippings, memorabilia from Daley’s campaigns for sheriff, county clerk, state senator and mayor, and his auto
Library collection highlights Daley’s life and times
By Christy Levy
When László Kondor flew from his home in Hungary to UIC earlier this month, he didn’t travel lightly.
Kondor, the former official photographer for the late Chi-cago Mayor Richard J. Daley, brought with him 32 pounds of photography negatives and duplications — about 4,000 im-ages — to donate to UIC Daley Library archives.
“This material really belongs to you, the people of Chicago, not just me,” he said.
Kondor immigrated to Chicago from Hungary in 1961, then received a fellowship to study international relations at the University of Chicago.
He began his photojournalism career chronicling the an-tiwar movement, the 1968 Democratic Convention and race riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He was a combat photographer with the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970, then photographed the war for the Department of Army Special Photographic Office until 1972.
After his discharge, Daley’s press secretary, Frank Sullivan, offered Kondor a job as the mayor’s official photographer, a job he held until Daley’s death on Dec. 20, 1976.
“Until then, he never had a photographer,” Kondor said. “All kinds of people took photos of him, really haphazardly.”
Kondor often photographed Daley in his office but also traveled with him to press conferences and political events.
“He was always on the go, visiting somebody, doing some-thing,” he said. “I had a relatively free hand covering Daley. After a year or so, they trusted me.”
Former mayoral photographer connects city history through imagesfor home life.
“He was a very businesslike person and he was very good with people. I never saw him without his jacket — he was an extremely formal man.”
The image that Kondor treasures most is Daley’s of-ficial portrait — his signature photo.
“He never would have sat for an official portrait,” Kondor said. “I had to sort of sneak up on him.”
After the mayor’s death, the political changeover was very disorganized, Kondor said.
“A good part of my photos got tossed out by some clumsy people,” he said. “I grabbed the photos I found and kept them.”
Kondor ran a commercial photography studio in Chicago until 1996, when he returned to Hungary. He is retired but still takes photos that capture Hungarian life, exhibiting his work.
The photos will be added to the Richard J. Daley Col-lection, which includes photos and papers generated and received during Daley’s time in office. The collection is available for viewing in UIC Special Collections, 3-330 Daley Library.
“His photos are a wonderful complement to the Daley papers collection,” said Peggy Glowacki, archival opera-tions and reference specialist.
“To make it possible to visualize what the mayor looked like during that time, and what the city looked like, is tremendously helpful for university researchers.”
See the video atyoutube.com/uicmedia
license plates with number 708222, the vote tally from his first mayoral election.
His personal library is part of the collection, ranging from Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen to The Shadow that Scares Me by Dick Gregory. There are painted portraits, commemorative items from other governments — even a framed skyline image made of matchbooks, created by the president of an associa-tion of Chicago crossing guards.
Items from the collection are showcased in a temporary
exhibit through Feb. 8 in Special Collections.The collection is available to the public for study and re-
search, with assistance from librarians, during regular Special Collections hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Appointments are recommended.
For information, visit the library’s Special Collections web-site, library.uic.edu/special-collections
Daley was a “terribly private man,” Kondor said.“When he went home to his relatively modest bungalow,
very few people ever stepped foot inside,” he said. “Home was
Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin
László Kondor (right) and Peggy Glowacki, manuscript archivist, look over some of the 4,000 donated images available for viewing.
Photo: László Kondor. University of Illinois Library Archives
A photo of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley with Santa is part of the Richard J. Daley Collection, which opened in July in the UIC Library.
7DECEMBER 4, 2013 I www.uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS
8 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I DECEMBER 4, 2013
Send information about campus events to Christy Levy, [email protected]
HIGHLIGHT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
‘A Victorian Holiday Costume Party’
Dec. 5Dec. 4. 1961: The Museum of Mod-ern Art in New York hangs Matisse’s Le Bateau — upside down — and it goes unnoticed for 47 days.
Le Bateau (“The Boat”) is composed from pieces of paper cut out of sheets and painted.
DECEMBER 4 IN HISTORY
Mixup at art museum
Featuring ragtime pianist and composer Reginald Robinson. Presented by the African-American Cultural Center, part of the World’s Fair exhibi-tion. 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sec-ond floor, AH. Attendees encouraged, but not required, to wear Victo-rian era costumesReginald Robinson
Dec. 4-Jan. 31
“Traces of Memory: A Contemporary Look at the Jewish Past in Poland”Exhibit organized by the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, including photographs by Chris Schwarz and text by Jonathan Webber that present a picture of the relics of Jewish life and culture in Polish Galicia that can still be seen. First floor, Daley Library. 312-413-0394
Jan. 17-March 1
“Ghost Nature”Group exhibition based around the strangeness of the natural world. Curated by Caroline Picard. Opening reception, 5-8 p.m. Jan. 17. Gallery 400, ADH. Exhibit hours, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; noon-6 p.m. Sat. 312-996-6114
LECTURES/SEMINARS
Dec. 4
“Transportation Vision for Chicago Lakeside Development”Nasutsa Mabwa, project manager of development for McCaffery Interests, developers of Lakeside, a nearly 600-acre site along Chicago’s south lakefront slated for de-velopment. Sponsored by the Urban Transportation Center. Noon-1 p.m. Great Cities Institute, 400 CUPPA Hall. [email protected]
Dec. 5
“Technology and the Resilience of Metropolitan Regions”UIC Urban Forum debates the role of technology as a critical element in enhancing the capacity of institutions to adapt to metropolitan regions’ emerging economic, political and social challenges. Doors open at 8 a.m.; program starts at 8:45 a.m. View complete schedule at http://uicurbanforum.org. Tickets free for Chicago area faculty and students; $25 for general public. Online registration required.
Dec. 12
“Developing a Meaningful Summary/Profile for Résumés and LinkedIn”U of I Alumni Career Center webinar. 7-8 p.m. Alumni free; others $45. Register at http://bit.ly/19X69UH
SPECIAL EVENTS
Dec. 7
Holiday ConcertUIC Choirs, String Orchestra and Concert Band perform sea-sonal favorites. Directed by Michael J. Anderson, Andrew Lewis, Daniel Black and Jose Oliver Riojas. 7:30 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake St., Oak Park
WORKSHOPS
Dec. 5
“PubMed in 30 Minutes”Online library workshop. 5-5:30 p.m. http://library.uic.edu
EXHIBITS
Through Dec. 14
“It’s the Political Economy, Stupid”The traveling group exhibition includes vid-eos documenting artist Dread Scott burning dollars on Wall Street, flamenco flash mobs taking over Spanish bank lobbies, barbarism spreading through a doomed hedge fund and other works from around the world that address the prolonged economic crisis. Curated by Oliver Ressler and Gregory Sholette. Gallery 400, ADH. Exhibit hours, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; noon-6 p.m. Sat. 312-996-6114
Through Dec. 6
“The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition”Interactive exhibit presents historical accounts of black Ameri-cans’ thoughts, feelings and experiences related to the Chicago World’s Fair. African American Cultural Center, 207 AH. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Friday. Other tours by appointment. 312-996-9549
Photo: Jamel Mims
“It’s the Political Economy, Stupid.”“Ghost Nature”
For more UIC events, visit www.events.uic.edu
Nasutsa Mabwa
9DECEMBER 4, 2013 I www.uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS
student voice Want to contribute a story? Email Christy Levy, [email protected]
By Danielle Leibowitz
Do you think you’re paying too much for textbooks? If you say yes, you’re in good company.
Data from the College Board speaks to this cost — during the 2012-2013 aca-demic year, the average cost for college textbooks and supplies was $1,200.
Because of this high expense, the U.S. PIRG reports that 7 out of 10 current college students have skipped buying a textbook.
This data has made it clear that our current system is not working, but thank-fully, a couple of U.S. senators are trying to mitigate this issue and there is a solution in sight.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Sen. Al Franken recently introduced legislation, known as the Affordable College Text-book Act, that aims to help students man-age textbook costs by making textbooks available to the public for free.
To do this, a competitive grant pro-gram would be put in place to fund the creation of high-quality “open textbooks” written by professors and organizations.
This initiative is similar to a project that took place more than three years ago when Sen. Durbin worked to secure funding for the University of Illinois to produce a textbook that was used widely by students for free, inside and outside of the University of Illinois.
The Affordable College Textbook Act intends to replicate this success on a larger scale, making college costs more afford-able.
It is exciting for me to see this vision become realized as I remember talking with Sen. Durbin about the topic of text-book affordability before this legislation was introduced.
In September, I met with Sen. Durbin and I thanked him for his constant ef-forts to make college accessible. When he mentioned this textbook legislation he had been working on, I was sure to show support for the initiative on behalf of the students at UIC.
While attending college is still a fi-nancial burden for many, there is reason to remain hopeful. As we begin chipping away at the costs associated with attending college, more and more students will be able to attain a college education.
[email protected] • Danielle Leibowitz, an Honors College
student majoring in the teaching of math-ematics, is UIC’s student member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
Expensive textbooks? Hope in sight
Photo: Timothy Nguyen
Cook County assessor Joseph Berrios addresses students’ top issues.
By Timothy Nguyen
UIC political science students gathered in Student Center East Nov. 15 to discuss local and national issues with public officials during the National Issues Convention.
From the beginning of the con-vention, we were divided into four groups so we could have small de-bate sessions within our group.
My group debated extensively about health care coverage, Chi-cago public school funding and the crumbling of the family structure.
Halfway through the conven-tion, all of the groups came together
back in the Cardinal Room and a representative from each group explained their group’s five most im-portant issues.
After all representatives talked, students voted on the most impor-tant issues and Cook County asses-sor Joseph Berrios went up to the stage and gave us his opinion on each issue.
From this experience, I learned that UIC students can come up with issues and possibly make a powerful change in the Chicago area.
[email protected]• Timothy Nguyen is a freshman in computer science
Political science students speak up on issues
Sarah Lee, a sophomore in biochemistry, is the newest campus blogger, sharing her experi-ences each week about what it’s like to be a UIC student. Read a new update every weekday from our five “I Am UIC” bloggers at iam.uic.edu
By Sarah Lee
My current state-of-being: secluded in the corner of Caribou Coffee, huddled over my laptop and textbooks while binge-drinking vanilla tea latte.
I’m quietly singing to the Alanis Morissette and Avril Lavigne songs that keep playing over the café speakers, but I should probably stop since the barista keeps giving me odd looks.
It’s a peaceful Sunday, even though as always, I’m barely keeping up with plenty of work to get done. The weekend is always too short, and this semester is just flying by. I can’t believe I registered for spring courses.
At the moment I’m just relieved to take a break from my treacherous organic chemistry homework to introduce myself to the UIC community as the newest “I am UIC” blogger.
I am a sophomore biochemistry major and Russian minor, which I am often told is an odd combination. But I studied abroad in Russia in high school and fell in love with the language, so I’ve kept up with it ever since. It’s my hope to study there again sometime in the next three years.
I am “one of those crazy pre-med students” and a member of GPPA medicine. It’s an in-credible honor to be a part of that program, and one of the big lessons I take away from it is to never let myself settle for complacency, in classes or otherwise. I try to consistently challenge myself and take risks, even if it leads to a rather hectic lifestyle with long days and late night.
After a long day, I decompress by making all types of hot tea, tinkering on the piano,
Tea, music make Sunday studying easier
and reading for fun, especially young adult books from my childhood. I have awful eye-sight and somehow I went from being farsight-ed as a toddler to extremely nearsighted now.
My go-to series to watch on Netflix is “How I Met Your Mother” but my all-time favorite shows are probably “Game of Thrones” and “Breaking Bad.”
Whenever I get a chance to head home to Naperville, I like to relax by baking with my mom, going to the movies with my brother or cheering on the Chicago Bulls with my dad. I own over 30 scarves and always have trouble picking the right one every morning. It seems like the weather is getting colder every day and I’m dreading the frigid days ahead because I get cold very easily.
I love music and couldn’t live without it. One of my favorite things to do is to craft play-lists for specific people, occasions or memories. I have all kinds of artists and genres in my
iTunes library. While I listen to instrumental or piano music when I study, I indulge in Taylor Swift and radio music, especially when I work out.
I try really hard to carve out an hour a day to go to the gym, and my workouts usually consist of running, Pilates and some casual lifting. I like to challenge myself by signing up for various races throughout the year. My longest one yet was the Chicago Half Mara-thon in September, and I finished the Chicago Perfect 10 (10K) this month at Navy Pier.
I work as a peer mentor in Courtyard residence hall for Campus Housing, and I’m planning a tea-tasting program. I’m super excited because I absolutely love tea and can’t wait to share it with my residents. In the meantime, though, I’m keeping to my corner in Caribou with my books, although I think it may be time for another latte.
“I am UIC” blogger Sarah Lee is a sophomore in biochemistry and a peer mentor in UIC Campus Housing.
10 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I DECEMBER 4, 2013
policeUIC Police emergency: 312-355-5555Nonemergency: 312-996-2830
Nov. 25-Dec. 1
Crimes reported to UIC PoliceNarcotics: 1 Theft: 5Criminal damage: 3
Arrests by UIC PoliceDec. 1: A woman was arrested for nar-
cotics at 6:26 p.m. at 1218 S. Halsted St.
For more information on police activity, visit the UIC Police crime map, www.uic.edu/depts/police, and the Chicago Police CLEAR Map, http://gis.chicagopolice.org
Crimestopper tip UIC Police have recovered several bicy-
cles but they were not registered with UIC or the city, making them nearly impossible to identify.
Register your bike with UIC Police on-line at www.uic.edu/depts/police/index.html to help with its recovery in case of theft.
Published on Wednesdays during the academic year (monthly during summer) by the Office of Public Affairs of the University of Illinois at Chicago. 1320 University Hall (MC 288), 601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7113.http://www.uicnews.uic.edu
Editorial: ..................................(312) 996-7758Advertising:..............................(312) 996-3456Fax:.............................................(312) 413-7607
EditorSonya [email protected] editorChristy [email protected] editorGary [email protected]
Visual communications and designAnna [email protected] graphic designerMegan [email protected] associatesS.K. [email protected] O’[email protected] internsBritney Musial, Humaa SiddiqiPhotography contributorTimothy NguyenAdvertising coordinatorSamella [email protected] associate chancellor for public affairsBill Burton........................................burton@uic.eduPhotographyRoberta Dupuis-Devlin, Joshua ClarkUIC Photo [email protected]
UIC NEWS
By Sharon Parmet
Mutations in the genes that defend the body against cancer-related viruses and other infections may play a larger role in breast cancer than previously thought, according to a study by UIC researchers.
Bernard Friedenson, associate profes-sor of biochemistry and molecular genet-ics, looked at the DNA sequences of breast cancers from 21 different women and found mutations in genes involved in immunity in every one.
The mutations were different in each of the breast cancers he analyzed, but all the mutations would have affected some aspect of pathogen recognition and defense, especially against viruses, Frie-denson said.
The finding suggests that mutations af-fecting the immune system play an impor-tant role in the development of breast cancer, contrary to the prevailing notion that muta-tions in the genes that regulate cell division are primarily responsible.
Viruses such as human papilloma virus, which can cause cervical cancer, and Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause certain lym-phomas, have also been implicated in breast cancer.
Mutations of immune system found in breast cancer cases
“Almost every human being is infected with one or more of these viruses, but most people never develop symptoms, much less breast cancer,” Friedenson said.
Friedenson thinks that cancer-related vi-ruses that are normally harmless can become dangerous if genes involved in immunity are mutated, either through heredity or environ-mental causes.
He identified gene mutations in breast cancer cells that affect their ability to recog-
nize viruses, including mutations that would be expected to significantly increase the cells’ vulner-
ability to viruses implicated in breast cancer.“If we know which genes are damaged
in a breast cancer patient’s immune system, prevention or even therapy can be tailored by giving vaccines or perhaps antiviral drugs to reduce the chances of recurrence,” Frieden-son said.
“Sequencing the genomes of individual breast cancers now costs about $2,000, and the cost continues to fall. This information could help physicians prescribe more targeted and effective treatments.”
The study’s results were published in the November issue of Functional & Integrative Genomics.
11DECEMBER 4, 2013 I www.uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS
lows older adults to effectively communicate with a robotic assistant.
“If we want a robot to communicate with a human being, we first have to see how hu-mans communicate through haptics,” Javaid said.
“Our work is kind of like the preliminary work in this area. So it’s not like we’ll solve the whole problem of how to understand com-munication through haptics — but we are starting that.”
Robotic assistance for seniors may seem distant today, but Javaid believes it’s just a matter of time.
“A few decades ago people didn’t think everyone would have iPads,” she said. “The elderly population is growing and there is a
need to develop this tech-nology.”
Javaid also educates Col-lege of Dentistry students on tooth anatomy, using 3-D simulation technology.
With a handheld device, students can control a dental tool onscreen and interact with a jaw in a 3-D virtual environment — like an in-teractive video game.
“Someone can grab a tooth in a 3-D environment — they can feel it and rotate it to see where it belongs
in the gum,” she said. “That teaches them the right posi-
tion and orientation of the tooth.”Javaid completed her undergraduate and
master’s degrees in electrical engineering at the University of Engineering and Technology at Lahore in Pakistan, where she was the first female lecturer in electrical engineering.
She joined UIC in fall 2008 and plans to finish her Ph.D. by summer 2014, she said.
By Matt O’Connor
When it comes to the growing field of haptics technology, Maria Javaid is at the forefront.
“There are few people who have realized that this should also be considered a mode of communication,” said Javaid, a doctoral can-didate in electrical engineering. “So it is a very new field.”
Haptics uses a tactile feedback technol-ogy that sends force or vibrations back to the user — found in video games, cell phones and laptops.
It was Javaid’s research on haptics that brought her to WE13, the Annual Conference for Women Engineers that drew more than 6,000 women to Baltimore Oct. 24-26. She gave a pre-sentation on the emerging field and her recent work on improving the lives of older adults through haptic technology.
“It was an introduction of my work,” she said. “So other colleagues would know what haptic technol-ogy is and may want to work on it.”
Javaid is using a data glove covered in pressure sensors developed by the UIC Robotics Laboratory to study physical interac-tions between an older adult and the care-giver, a RUSH nursing student.
The caregiver wears the glove when help-ing with everyday activities such as getting out of bed, moving around a studio apartment and preparing a meal. The glove records hand motions and delivers the data wirelessly to a computer.
The goal: to develop an interface that al-
At the forefront of haptics
Send news to Sonya Booth, [email protected]
Maria Javaid
Doctoral student Maria Javaid uses a data glove covered in pressure sensors developed by the UIC Robotics Laboratory to study physical interactions between an older adult and his or her caregiver.
Photo: Jenny Fontaine
UIC News staff (from left): Christy Levy, Megan Strand, Gary Wisby, Sonya Booth and Anna Dworzecka.
UIC News wins CASE V awardsUIC News received two awards for publications excellence from CASE V, the regional organization of
the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. UIC News has received a total of 10 CASE awards, nine since 2009.The newspaper received the Silver Award for Best Tabloid for an Internal Audience. The “Profile”
series, by assistant editor Gary Wisby, received a Silver Award for Excellence in Feature Writing/Series — Wisby’s third CASE award for “Profile.”
UIC News staff in 2012-2013 also included editor Sonya Booth, associate editor Christy Levy, design manager Anna Dworzecka, graphic designer Megan Strand and editorial associate Alex Rauch.
The UIC Office of Development and University of Illinois Foundation received an honorable mention for Best Program in Donor Recognition/Stewardship for an annual event celebrating the impact of private giving, “UIF@UIC: Discover. Experience. Connect.”
Staff members working on the event included Michelle Michael, executive director of donor programs; Shannon Hynes, director of special events; Jessica Olive, associate director of communications; David Scott, senior associate director of donor relations; and former associate chancellor Penelepe Hunt.
12 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I DECEMBER 4, 2013
For more Flames sports, visit www.uicflames.comsports
By Brad Taylor
The women’s basketball team (5-2) won its fifth consecu-tive game Saturday with a 70-66 victory over Texas Southern (3-4) Saturday to conclude the San Juan Shootout.
Katie Hannemann had 19 points and 12 rebounds for her eighth career double-double, Ruvanna Campbell added 15 points and Rachel Story finished with 14 points.
UIC hit 27-of-36 free throws, including 16-of-16 in the first half. The Flames’ 75 percent shooting from the charity stripe ties a season high. UIC had 11 steals and scored 18 points off 20 Texas Southern turnovers.
UIC held a 47-38 advantage on the glass and improved to 5-1 this season when out-rebounding its opponent.
UIC had 17 offensive rebounds and put back 17 second-chance points while limiting Texas Southern to six second-chance points.
UIC trailed for much of the first half and was down 30-19 with 4:46 left on the clock. The Flames responded with a 17-4 run — including seven points from Story and four from Hannemann — to end the half, 36-34.
Strong play from Texas Southern’s Jazzmin Parker and Morgan Simmons helped the Lady Tigers take a 55-50 lead with 8:29 remaining in the game before UIC stormed back. Campbell and Hannemann combined for 15 of the Flames’ final 20 points and UIC limited Texas Southern to 11 points the rest of the game.
Hannemann set a season high with 19 points and hit 7-of-8 attempts from the free throw line. She had 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor in the second half. Hannemann’s seven offensive rebounds ties her career high set against Wright State in February.
Campbell came on strong late in the game, scoring nine points in the final eight minutes. She had 11 points and six rebounds in the second half to finish with 15 points and nine rebounds. Campbell, who has been in double-digits every game this season, also collected three steals.
Story hit 6-of-6 free throws in the first half and entered the break with 10 points. She finished the contest with a team-high three assists and two steals.
Sophomore Terri Bender had four steals and senior Emily Kobel had two. Kobel also collected nine rebounds, one short of her career high.
The Flames received strong play from their reserves as UIC
Women’s basketball team on a roll
By Mike Laninga
Senior Kelsey Barlow poured in a career-high 38 points — tied for the third-highest total in program his-tory — in UIC’s (3-4) 94-76 victory against Wagner (4-4) Nov. 27 to clinch third at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
The Flames return to action at 7 p.m. tonight, hosting Southern Methodist University at the UIC Pavilion.
At the showcase, Barlow was 8-of-11 from the field, 5-of-8 from behind the arc and 17-of-19 from the foul line, while adding eight rebounds and five assists.
“Kelsey had the hot hand,” head coach Howard Moore said. “He benefitted from many trips to the free throw line, but Kelsey is able to score in bunches.
“I think this trip reenergized our guys and our season.”UIC started out fast by jumping to a 12-4 lead in the
first three minutes of the contest. The Flames led, 46-37, at the half and midway through the second period ex-ploded for an 18-2 run, putting the game out of reach.
Barlow’s 17 free throws ties for the second-highest mark in program history and UIC’s team total of 34 foul shots is the most in more than a decade.
Freshman Pat Birt tied a career high with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and Jake Wiegand matched a career best with 11 points. Sophomore Gabe Snider shot 4-of-6 for eight points as Junior Marc Brown added seven.
UIC shot the ball well, hitting 27-of-53 (50.9 percent) from the floor, and held the Seahawks to 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) overall.
For his efforts, Barlow was named to the All-Tour-nament Team along with Johnny Dee (University of San Diego), Matthew Wright (St. Bonaventure), Chris Anderson (Louisiana Tech) and MVP Raheem Appleby (Louisiana Tech).
Barlow leads Flames at Gulf Coast Showcase
held a 15-11 advantage in points off the bench. Senior Megan Wallace had seven points while sophomore Caitlin Garant added six points and hit 4-of-4 free throws.
UIC looks for six consecutive victories Saturday when the Flames play at Butler (2-4). Tip-off is scheduled for 11 a.m. inside Hinkle Fieldhouse.
UIC hosted Butler in January and dropped an 84-61 deci-sion at the UIC Pavilion. The Bulldogs received 31 points from Daress McClung, who is now a senior.
Another win would give UIC its first six-game win streak since 2007.
Photo: Steve Woltmann
Katie Hannemann scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds Saturday to help UIC pull away with its fifth consecutive win.
Photo: Steve Woltmann
Kelsey Barlow scored a career-high 38 points Nov. 27.
By Carly Abate
After scoring an NCAA Qualifying Standards Score last week on the 1-meter board, diver Whitney Johnson picked up Horizon League Diver of the Week honors.
The recognition is Johnson’s seventh career honor.
Johnson, a junior, claimed first place at the TYR Invitational Nov. 22-24 on the 1-meter board with a score of 279.75, an NCAA Qualifying Standards Score.
Johnson also took first on the 3-meter board, scoring 279.75.
The competition was Johnson’s fourth-consecutive meet where she has won both diving events. She has achieved
NCAA Zone scores at every meet this season.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams produced a collection of season-best times and scores at the TYR Invitational.
The three-day event hosted by North-western concluded with the men’s squad (2-5, 1-2 Horizon League) taking fourth place with 370.50 points and the women’s team (2-5, 1-2 Horizon League) placing fifth (385 points).
“The coaching staff is extremely proud of how the team competed,” head coach Paul Moniak said.
UIC returns to competition at 2 p.m. Dec. 14 to face Western Illinois and Oliv-et Nazarene at the Flames Natatorium.
Johnson clinches league honor
Photo: Ross Dettman
Whitney Johnson is the Diver of the Week.
