Official Employee Announcements

Chancellor Ringeisen and I would like to invite you to join the campus community to celebrate the beginning of a new academic year.

Our annual Convocation will be held on Thursday, August 19 at 3pm in the Studio Theatre.  During this event, the Chancellor will deliver his Convocation Address, and we will introduce new faculty and administrators.  Refreshments will follow.

I hope you are able to join in this celebration of a new year at UIS.

Harry J. Berman, Ph.D.
Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
University of Illinois Springfield

Last evening, we launched the new Illinois Springfield home page.

Send your comments via this online form:
http://illinois.edu/goto/uisfeedback

The page uses the colors, design, and branding elements that are beginning to appear in all university recruitment materials. The primary audiences for the home page are prospective students and external groups.

The page is also important to campus faculty, staff, and students. On the right, the links to Webmail, eDocs, Enterprise and the myUIS portal open login screens right on the page. Current calendar and news items appear below the login links.

On the left side of the page, our Social Player includes buttons to view our latest Flickr slideshow and two new videos, as well as a selected group of UIS-related Twitter feeds. The Live Stream button will automatically display Live Webcasts whenever they are offered. When no webcasts are available, click the buttons to listen to 3 channels of WUIS/WIPA radio, the student radio station, or the campus cable TV channel.

Between the Social Player and the news are two feature boxes that will change regularly. These photo boxes will showcase faculty research, new initiatives, and other important happenings at UIS.

On the lower left of the page, you'll find a GPS button with the coordinates for a GPS device. Also, we have a new Web App for smartphones. Click the link at lower left to see the instructions.

While we were creating the new home page, we asked for and received comments and ideas from the UIS community. We made use of as many suggestions as possible.

We also made use of an external concept feedback service. Industry experts from around the world commented on the design, purpose, originality, and engagement of our draft home page. The advice we received was particular, instructional, and extremely useful for us.

BTW, asking communities to help you perform or evaluate a task is referred to as 'crowdsourcing.' The basic idea is to tap into the collective intelligence of the public at large to complete tasks that you would normally perform yourself. This technique allows you to gain deeper insight into how others see you, and what the external community really wants.

We greatly appreciate all of the feedback we received from the UIS community and others. Thank you all for helping us make the Illinois Springfield website the best it can be.

Please send your comments about the new home page via this online form:http://illinois.edu/goto/uisfeedback


Thank you.

Office of Web Services
Sherry
Munindra
Ralph
Mohan

Special thanks to the UIS offices of Public Relations, Marketing, Community Relations, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Campus Services.

I want to provide a brief update about our budget situation as we begin FY2011.

Overall, UIS will have about a 3 percent reduction in operating funds this year. This takes into account cuts in state funding and increases in certain "unavoidable" expenses such as energy costs. It also takes into account additional revenue generated by tuition increases from new students. Thanks to your great cooperation, we held back and set aside some funding last year. If we hadn't done that, the cuts would be even greater this year. The cuts are not across the board; we are continuing to do all that we can to maintain and even enhance our academic programs.

Also, I regret to announce that there will not be funding for a general salary increase program for UIS staff and faculty. This is difficult but necessary as we continue to navigate through very difficult and unprecedented budgetary times.

I will have more to say about the budget situation in my convocation speech on Thursday, August 19. After several years of budget cutting, I’m sure we’re all tired of the expression "we have to do more with less." Instead, I think it is important to understand that we have to do our best work with the resources we have.

We have a great staff and faculty--eager and motivated to serve our students and other constituencies--and I continue to sense that UIS IS on an upward trajectory in spite of the obstacles in our way. That is not an accident. It is because of the things you all do every day.

So thank you again for your great work and tireless efforts.

Richard D. Ringeisen, Chancellor
The University of Illinois at Springfield

Faculty, Staff and Students:
 
UIS Athletic Director Rodger Jehlicka received a call this morning from the NCAA, and he is pleased to announce to all that we are now a full NCAA Division II member!  We all have been working toward this goal for 3 years, after we first applied for NCAA Division II membership in 2007.  Rodger and his team did a great job of getting through this three year procedure and are to be complimented.  The past year was our provisional year, when we competed at the Division II level for the first time. Today's announcement means that UIS will compete in 2010-11 as a full member of the NCAA , the Great Lakes Valley Conference and be eligible for NCAA post-season competition for the first time.  After having attended the NCAA DII presidents and chancellors meeting a month ago, where for both days the discussion was about academics and the "student" in student-athlete, I feel it important to say that this is a great day for all of UIS.  

So many students, faculty, staff, and community members have worked hard to reach this accomplishment.  I would like to invite everyone to the TRAC this afternoon for a brief official announcement about the certification and some refreshments.  Please join us at 1:30 pm in the TRAC lobby as we celebrate this special day for the university.  Thank you and I'll see you there.   

Richard D. Ringeisen, Chancellor
The University of Illinois at Springfield

On Monday and Tuesday, the 12th and 13th of July, both the Tower 3 Elevator (by the Cahiers Office) and the Tower 1 Elevator (by the Capitol Perks coffee area) will be out of service.  The Tower 2 Elevator (closest to LRH) however, will still be in service on those two days.  The closure of the Tower 1 & 3 Elevators in the PAC on those two days, will allow for the contractor to tear down the enclosure around the newly renovated Elevator (Tower 3) and begin work on the last Elevator
(Tower 1).  Given these two additional days of work, will hopefully precipitate the early completion of the final Tower 1 Elevator.

Thank you for your cooperation.  This nearly $500,000 PAC Elevator Replacement project, has been funded through the Facility Renovation fees paid for by all UIS students.

Thanks,
David T. Barrows
Associate Chancellor of Administrative Affairs
Executive Director for Facilities and Services