[Peace-discuss] A particularly fatuous article in today's Gazoo

[David Green]

*UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FIVE-YEAR PLAN*

*‘We are planning to tear down many academic walls’*

*Diversity in its many forms key to progress, professors say*

By JULIE WURTH

jwurth at news-gazette.com

URBANA — In a book published after his assassination, the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. asked the question: “Where do we go from here? Chaos or
community?”

On the first day of Black History Month, University of Illinois Professor
Ruby Mendenhall cited the civil-rights leader as she and a half dozen other
UI faculty members explained Friday how they hope to fulfill the goals of
the campus strategic plan, “The Next 150.”

 “We are planning to tear down many academic walls and engage the community
in unprecedented ways that will transform Champaign-Urbana and hopefully
the larger society,” said Mendenhall, a professor of sociology and
African-American studies and assistant dean at the new Carle Illinois
College of Medicine.

A crowd of several hundred people gathered at the Illini Union for the
launch of the five-year plan, which calls for an emphasis on diversity and
public service in key areas such as the arts, data sciences, the
humanities, globalization, food security, undergraduate education, health
sciences and sustainability.

Bioengineering Professor Rohit Bhargava, head of the UI’s new Cancer
Center, described how it will pull together experts from across campus —
who study everything from biology to engineering to racial disparities in
health care — to “change the way we monitor people with cancer, change the
way we diagnose cancer, change the way we treat cancer ... and invent
tomorrow’s technology to change their lives.”

History Professor Antoinette Burton, director of the Illinois Program for
Research in the Humanities, talked of infusing humanities throughout the
curriculum, to meet a rising demand for workers with imagination and
critical-thinking skills, and investing in emerging areas such as
environmental and medical humanities.

Psychology Professor Brent Roberts, faculty coordinator for the Center for
Social and Behavioral Science, said it will work with other disciplines to
take on “grand challenges” such as poverty, the impact of human behavior on
cancer and heart disease, and how people interact with technology.

Professor Jana Diesner of the School of Information Sciences outlined
initiatives already underway to expose every student to data science and
apply it to real-world problems. A task force is working on ways to improve
datascience course offerings, and a new pilot statistics course that drew
students from 20 different majors will be expanded next fall. Professors
from colleges across campus are also working on a proposal to the National
Science Foundation to develop a multidisciplinary approach.

 “Here at Illinois, we believe that data acumen is becoming vital to every
discipline ... and a range of professions,” she said. “Data science is
there for all of us.”

Tracy Sulkin, dean of the College of Media, described proposals for
“modular curricula” and collaboration across departments so students have
more opportunities for dual degrees and joint majors.

And Mendenhall, who researches the health impact of gun violence on mothers
in Chicago, described how the medical school and other units are working
with “citizen scientists” to collect data and participate in research. She
mentioned two young girls who took part in an NAACP program, one working on
a cure for sickle-cell anemia and one researching the triggers for children
with epilepsy. Both will take part in a “health make-athon” this spring.

 “We are creating an ecosystem where we can nurture diverse types of
genius,” she said.

The strategic plan builds on the “Visioning Future Excellence” plan
developed in 2013 under former Chancellor Phyllis Wise, which focused on
six themes — education, economic development, energy and environment,
health and wellness, information and technology, and social equality and
cultural understanding.

That plan led to the creation of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine,
the Siebel Center for Design, and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy
and Environment, which recently attracted a $115 million grant.

Chancellor Robert Jones said the plan lays out a collective vision and
priorities for the campus over the next five years and beyond, as it
defines what it means to be a land-grant university for the 21st century.

 “You won’t find any big surprises here. What you will find are big ideas
with the potential to transform the way the world lives, thinks and
learns,” he said.

Provost Andreas Cangellaris called it a “bold and ambitious vision for our
future.”

 “For 150 years, University of Illinois has changed the world,” he said.
“We cannot afford to rest on our accomplishments.”

The plan includes two key principles: — That the diversity of the campus is
its most powerful asset, so removing any barriers that limit access to
opportunity, financial or otherwise, is a priority.

— The UI’s service mission, making a positive impact on the community,
should be part of “everything we do,” Cangellaris said. “As a public
university, it should be the centerpiece of our mission.”

Afterward, city of Champaign Planning Director Bruce Knight gave the plan
high marks, saying it presents an opportunity for the university and
community to work together.

 “They really opened the door through their strategic initiatives to that
idea,” he said. “The University of Illinois is what makes Champaign-Urbana
what it is. We would not be the same community without it. I think it’s
exciting that they’re looking for ways to innovate and improve the world,
starting with the local community.”
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