The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is celebrating its 50th anniversary during academic year 2020-21, as the public liberal arts university reflects on a bold legacy and looks forward to a bright future as an educational leader in central Illinois and beyond.
Billboards featuring UIS’ 50th anniversary logo and tagline “Bold Legacy. Bright Future.” are now up in Springfield. UIS also plans to celebrate the anniversary on its social media channels.
After the first 10 days of classes, University of Illinois Springfield Fall 2020 census numbers show the total number of students enrolled in classes stands at 4,146 compared to 4,275 students in Fall 2019 (a 3 percent decrease from last year). However, the total number of credit hours taken by students remains steady at 43,130 (down only 1.2 percent from last fall).
The University of Illinois Springfield has been ranked the top public regional university in Illinois and the fourth best public university in the Midwest regional category for a second year in a row by U.S. News & World Report in 2021 Best Colleges rankings released today.
UIS was also ranked fifth best by U.S. News & World Report when it comes to students graduating with the least amount of debt in the Midwest regional category.
Ten years after her book about Mulan was published, UIS English Professor Lan Dong, Ph.D. is still sought out for her expertise on the subject. With Disney’s live-action film, Mulan, released to Disney Plus earlier this month, Dong again found herself in the national spotlight.
Vickie Cook, executive director of online, professional and engaged learning at the University of Illinois Springfield has been recognized by the University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) as the 2020 Central Region Outstanding Leader.
University of Illinois Springfield Professor of Political Science Jason Pierceson’s “LGBTQ Americans in the U.S. Political System: An Encyclopedia of Activists, Voters, Candidates, and Officeholders” was recently featured on Choice’s top ten editors’ pick list for June 2020.
Choice is a publishing unit of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.
The University of Illinois Springfield will offer 27 new accelerated eight-week courses for prospective and current students. Most will begin Monday, Oct. 19 and end on Saturday, Dec. 5. Others, like athletic training, will start on Nov. 2 and end on Jan. 15, 2021.
“We know this has been a challenging year for many people,” said UIS Interim Chancellor Karen Whitney. “Many students may not have been ready to start classes in August due to the COVID-19 pandemic but are ready to start now.”
Donald Morris, a University of Illinois Springfield emeritus professor of accountancy, has written a new book, “Taxation in Utopia: Required Sacrifice and the General Welfare.”
The University of Illinois Springfield, Junior League of Springfield and the United Way of Central Illinois honored more than 50 Sangamon County volunteers and businesses during the virtual 12th annual Good as Gold Ceremony. The winners were announced in a video released Monday on the UIS Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center’s website.
The University of Illinois Springfield ION Professional eLearning Program’s Overview of Online Instruction course has seen a large jump in enrollment, as more Illinois higher education professors and K-12 teachers are wanting to learn how to better teach online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Course enrollment jumped from 793 students in 2019 to 1,819 students so far in 2020. Just recently, 1,153 students completed the course during the April to July term.