Campus Humanities Calendar
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
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12:00 - 1:00 pmLucy Ellis Lounge (LCLB 1080) and online (TBA)New France once stretched from the St. Lawrence to New Orleans. As borders shifted and the US and Canada formed, French communities grew isolated, yet their vibrant cultures endured. Through story, song, and "Creole Fiddle," you’ll explore this rich history and its distinctive musical traditions.
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4:00 - 6:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, UrbanaThe Leopard in the Garden: Animal and Human Lives in Paris at the First Public Zoo of the Modern Era presents the inner workings of the menagerie at the Paris Museum of Natural History and how visions for the zoo collided with the interests of humans and animals alike.
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5:00 - 8:00 pmSpurlock Museum: 600 S Gregory St, Urbana, IL 61801Celebrate the opening of Spurlock's newest exhibit, "Unfinished Revolutions: Living Stories of American Rights". Stop by anytime between 5pm and 8pm to explore the exhibit, enjoy light refreshments, and listen to protest music performed by Paul Kotheimer.
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5:30 - 7:00 pmCollege of Education, Room 10 (O'Leary Center)
Join We CU and DSJE on Wednesday, April 1, at 5:30 PM for a workshop on Practicing Social Justice in Community Service. We will discuss how systemic forms of oppression come up in our lives and in our service work and how to center the voices and experiences of the communities we are serving.
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6:00 - 7:00 pm614 East Daniels Street, Multipurpose Room, 4th Floor, Room 4045Join us for a conversation with Keith Self-Ballard, Senior Manager of Creative at PlayStation. Keith will share his journey as an artist in the games industry and will highlight tips and techniques for developing a stellar game design portfolio.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
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3:00 pm1000 Lincoln HallSocial and digital media are reshaping how information and politics circulate worldwide. From conspiracy theories to viral falsehoods, the “attention dynamics” of online platforms amplify rumors and enable efforts to influence public opinion.
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4:30 pmIllini Union Bookstore Author's Corner
A reading by alumni of the creative writing program, Jessica Tanck and Matthew Gavin Frank. This event is made possible by the Robert J. and Katherin Carr visiting author series.
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5:00 - 6:30 pmCampus Instructional Facility (CIF) Room 1035
2026 Pakistan Studies Lecture by Professor Saad Gulzar, University of Notre Dame on "Governing Against the Odds: Lessons from Research in Pakistan".NO REGISTRATION required.
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5:30 - 7:00 pmKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign
Listen to a series of short readings from artist and Art & Design faculty member, Deke Weaver, followed by a short Q & A and informal reception in the Another Place: Storymaking the Entangled Prairie exhibition. Part of “The Unreliable Bestiary” series. Presented in conjunction with Another Place: Storymaking the Entangled Prairie exhibition (on view through July 2). *Park
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6:00 - 7:30 pmKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign
SPEAK stands for Song, Poetry, Art, and Knowledge. It is an open-mic public performance space at Krannert Art Museum curated by local artist, Shaya Robinson, featuring guest performers and welcoming all to the mic. *Parking nearby is free after 5 pm and on weekends.*
Friday, April 3, 2026
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10:00 am - 4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, UrbanaThis symposium presents a series of four talks and a concluding roundtable, which together will take up the question of how the study of literary history can contribute to our understanding of both the causes of and potential solutions to the crisis of climate change.
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10:30 - 11:30 amKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign
Join us for a special tour with the Women’s Collective from Lota, Chile, who created the narrative textiles on display in Memorias de la Mujer Lotina: Arpilleras, Women, and Coal in Chile (on view through Sep 5). Gain insights about their practice and listen to the stories behind the stitches. Presented in Spanish & English.
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12:05 - 1:30 pmKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign
Join members of the Women’s Collective from Lota, Chile, together with University of Illinois scholars and area activists, for a midday panel discussion exploring the Collective’s work, the history of coal mining in their community, and the role of arpilleras in preserving bilingual participation. Reception to follow. Presented in Spanish and English.
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1:30 - 3:00 pm306 Coble Hall, 801 S. Wright St., Champaign
Join us for a hybrid CEAPS Speaker talk "Finding An Audience: Japan’s First Women Architects and the NHK Ladies' Classroom" with Dr. Michelle L. Hauk (Washington University in St. Louis).
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2:00 pmGregory Hall 319 or Zoom
Please join us for an event in the Timbuktu Talks series with Aly Drame, a professor of history at Dominican University. His lecture will call attention to the need to better reframe the rise and development of Islam in the wider Senegambia, considering the role played by the Mandinka Muslim settlements in the Middle Casamance in this process through intermarriage...
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3:00 pm2049 Natural History Building and via Zoom
As climate change accelerates pressures on land, water, and mineral resources, communities increasingly face decisions under deep uncertainty.
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3:00 - 5:00 pm223 Gregory Hall
Philosopher Kendall Walton argued that emotions toward fictional people and situations do not motivate behavior. Andrea Scarantino, Georgia State University, disagrees, asserting that emotions about fictional objects are motivationally powerful.
Saturday, April 4, 2026
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10:00 amSpurlock Museum: 600 S Gregory St, Urbana, IL 61801
This special guided tour will present how death practices are displayed across different ancient cultures and societies. Through the comparison and contrast of their different displays of death, we will examine the significance of the memorial of past societies through their individual representations. This tour will explore mainly the theme of class/status.
Monday, April 6, 2026
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4:00 pm306 Coble Hall, 801 S Wright St, ChampaignJoin us for the screening of two films, "Sotong" and "Against This Messy World", to learn about the challenges to art and expression in Malaysia’s complex political, legal, and societal landscape. Pizza will be served!
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4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 422This talk will highlight the Kinsey Institute’s founding and multi-disciplinary history, continued cultural impact, current research program, and reflect on the ways in which today’s social and political climate presents new challenges for multi-disciplinary sex research.
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5:30 pmSpurlock Museum, Knight Auditorium 600 S Gregory St, Urbana, IL 61801
The AsiaLens film screening of Our Mr. Matsuara (scheduled on 4/6) was cancelled and will be rescheduled to sometime next semester. We apologize for the confusion!
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
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3:00 pmNCSA Auditorium
For this event, Dr. Holloway (President and CEO, Henry Luce Foundation, and former President of Rutgers University) will join Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor John Coleman for a moderated conversation about their experiences and observations on the role of risk management in leadership for higher education today
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5:30 pm404 David Kinley Hall, 1407 W Gregory Dr, Urbana
The Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies will be hosting the 2026 CHINA Town Hall via live webcast, featuring Stephen Biegun, former U.S. deputy secretary of state, and Sarah Beran, former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and former senior director for China and Taiwan affairs at the White House National Security Council...
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7:00 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory
Award-winning Palestinian artist and filmmaker Basma al-Sharif explores cyclical political histories and conflicts. In films and installations that move backward and forward in history, between place and non-place, she confronts the legacy of colonialism through satirical, immersive, and lyrical works.
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
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8:30 am - 1:30 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210
This Symposium will explore the relationships between social media and politics in contemporary Brazil. The rise of social media altered the way information is produced, disseminated, and mobilized by political parties at a time of heightened public distrust. Join us for an opportunity to learn from experts on Brazilian media.
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4:30 pmTBD
A reading by Stephen Markley, made possible by the Robert J. and Katherin Carr visiting author series. Stephen Markley is the author of The Deluge, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as an Editor's choice. His previous books include the critically acclaimed bestseller Ohio, as well as Publish this Book and Tales of Iceland.
Thursday, April 9, 2026
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9:30 amOffice of the Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation NCSA | National Center for Supercomputing ApplicationsGoogle and NVIDIA will host a research workshop on emerging technologies, AI and high-performance computing. Open to students, faculty and staff, the session will feature industry insights and opportunities for collaboration. Register now.
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4:30 - 6:00 pmLevis Faculty Center (919 W Illinois St., Urbana, IL), Room 422
Join us for a lecture by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, Associate Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His lecture will explore the ways that history teaching and writing gave way to racialized tropes of Puerto Rican docility and laziness...
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5:30 - 7:00 pmCampus Instructional Facility, Room 2035
Love and consciousness seem to differ. But what if it is the conviction that consciousness is divorced from value, from sociality, and from striving for intimacy that gets in the way of making sense of this phenomenon? Philosopher Alva Noë, University of California, Berkeley, argues that consciousness, like love, is bound up with the work of making relationships.
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7:00 pm
Illinois Alumna, Mansi Sachdev will share insights from her professional journey in this virtual discussion. Her talk will offer a reflective look at how her academic foundation, particularly her GRID minor, has informed her approach to integrating gender perspectives into urban sustainability projects worldwide.
Friday, April 10, 2026
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11:00 amLevis Faculty Center 400
The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures invites you to a lunch seminar with celebrated writer Yan Geling on April 10 (Fri), 11:00 AM at Levis Faculty Center (4th Floor). The discussion focuses on her novel Criminal Lu Yanshi, the inspiration for Zhang Yimou’s films Coming Home and One Second. Translator Lawrence Walker will also join.
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1:30 - 3:00 pm306 Coble Hall, 801 S Wright St, Champaign
Join us to help celebrate Political Science professor & CEAPS Advisory Board member Yujeong Yang on her new book! Refreshments will be served. Please register here!
Saturday, April 11, 2026
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1:00 - 3:00 pmKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign
As part of Boneyard Arts Festival and Mom's Weekend on campus, come experience immersive sound as you view artwork! Members of Improvisers Exchange Ensemble will create soundscapes within Krannert Art Museum’s galleries through site-specific solo performance and collective improvisation in reflection and response to artwork on display.
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
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3:00 - 6:00 pmWomen's Resources Center, 616 E Green St #202, Champaign, IL 61820
“Bridging Ancestral Knowledge and Scientific Research: Community Perspectives from the Caribbean”. During this session, students will work in small groups to read one or more selected articles that we will provide beforehand.
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6:00 - 7:30 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
2026 Indian Languages and Cultures Lecture by Professor Andrew Ollett, University of Chicago, on "Context, from 7th century India to today". NO REGISTRATION required.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
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12:00 pmBruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center (1212 W Nevada St., Urbana)Undergraduates of any major are invited to this informal lunch talk with Rita Dove. Dove served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993–1995. She was a winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and the 2023 honorary National Book Award.
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7:30 pmAlice Campbell Alumni CenterJoin us for a free public reading by award-winning poet Rita Dove. Dove served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, and was a winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and the 2023 honorary National Book Award.
Thursday, April 16, 2026
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11:00 am - 1:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St
Join us for presentations by our recent CAS Associates. At 11am Ramón Soto-Crespo (English) discusses the origin of Puerto Rico's ecological literature and at noon, Alison Bell (Evolution, Ecology, & Behavior) presents the evolution of family life in a small fish.
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4:00 pmBruce Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, 1212 W. Nevada, Urbana
Join CSGGE for a lecture by Dr. Frieda Ekotto. Dr. Ekotto is an intellectual historian and philosopher with areas of expertise in 20th and 21st-century Anglophone and Francophone literature and in the cinema of West Africa and its diaspora, she concentrates on contemporary issues of law, race and LG BTQIA2S+ issues.
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4:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 210, 919 W Illinois St, Urbana
How does Greek tragedy respond to and reflect the concerns of modern communities? Drawing on his experiences staging and reimagining Greek literature in theatres, online and within community settings, Paul O’Mahony explores the issues and opportunities these ancient texts present.
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5:30 - 7:00 pmKrannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign
Join us for a talk by Peruvian archaeologist and curator Luis A. Muro Ynoñán, as part of the Living Legacies series, presented in conjunction with the Fragmented Histories; Andean Art Before 1600 exhibition. *Parking nearby is free after 5 pm and on weekends.*
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7:15Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum.
2026 Screening and Discussion: Zinda Bhaag (2013), will be an event of film screening and introduction followed by Q/A with Professor Iftikhar Dadi, Cornell University. A reception will follow. NO REGISTRATION required.
Friday, April 17, 2026
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3:00 - 5:00 pmMain Library, Room 346
This public event will begin with a lecture by Dr. Warren C. Brown (California Institute of Technology discussing medieval textuality and materiality. A reception and open house will follow where visitors may view our recently acquired Merovingian manuscript and Greek papyrus. All are welcome, and refreshments will be served.
Monday, April 20, 2026
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5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center 208
Please join us for the launch of Ethan Madarieta’s first book, Land's Language: On Mapuche Memory, Translation, and the Territorial Aporia.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
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5:30 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
Drawing on scholarship about the value of suspending economic incentives in everyday life, Dr. Newfield will argue that public universities must replace a financial model that harms education and erodes solvency. His presentation will also examine and challenge the belief that “learning equals earning” amid deep dependence on debt, asset inflation, and risk management.
Thursday, April 23, 2026
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All Day
Grad students from all disciplines are invited to the 16th Gesa E. Kirsch Graduate Student Symposium, April 23–24, 2026—an interdisciplinary, student-led event featuring diverse presentations, workshops, and a keynote by Kaia Simon (UW Eau Claire). Proposals on writing, rhetoric, media, education, and more are welcome in traditional or experimental formats.
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5:00 pmTBD
Annual Armenian Genocide Event, featuring Helen Makhdoumian (Postdoc, Vanderbilt University)
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5:00 pmLevis Faculty Center Room 208
In honor of the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, Helen Makhdoumian will give a talk entitled "On Beginnings, or the Roots and Routes of the Nested Memory Concept.”
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
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5:30 - 7:00 pmGregory Hall 112
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat posits that under the influence of digital technologies and in the shadow of AI, civilization is entering a period of pressure that threatens cultures, communities, and individuals.
Friday, May 1, 2026
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12:00 - 1:30 pm404 David Kinley Hall, 1407 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana
Join us for a hybrid CEAPS Speaker/Political Science Workshop titled “From Correction to Connection: Relational Approaches to Countering Misinformation” with Cesi Cruz (University of Michigan). Register here!
Thursday, May 7, 2026
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10:00 am - 12:00 pmPlym Auditorium, Temple Hoyne Buell Hall
The PhD Program in Architecture and Landscape Architecture hosts a keynote lecture by Hi'ilei Julia Hobart (Native and Indigenous Studies, Yale) as part of the symposium "Creativity in Modern Heritage." Hobart is author of Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment (Duke University Press, 2022).
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3:00 - 5:00 pmCelebrate the semester’s end with RBML! We are diving into the trendy book decoration world — bring your own books and paint the edges with our supplies, then view various historical fore-edge paintings from the collection in our Reading Room. All are welcome to attend, and refreshments will be served.
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4:00 - 6:00 pmLevis Faculty Center, Room 422
Prizes for Research Ceremony and Reception