General Events

The ancient poet Sappho coined "sweetbitter" in one of her most evocative verses, still striking us to the heart nearly three millennia later. As with so many ancient figures, the poet is more legend than person today, her story told and retold even as her poetry continues to enchant and move. This exhibit will be on display through mid-August 2026.

"The Black Gaze: Portraits of Community through an African American Lens,” a photography exhibit featuring 30 photos by Dwayne Banks Jr. (MS ’25, journalism), is on display at the University YMCA through August 9.

Come plant a pocket forest with us—be part of a Sunrise May Day forest-planting parade with Unreliable Bestiary artists Deke Weaver and Jennifer Allen, Landscape Architecture students and faculty members Brian Deal and David Hays, and musician Jason Finkelman. Meet in Japan House parking lot (F32). Rain date: Saturday, May 2.

Startup companies and their employees who work within the EnterpriseWorks building are invited to join us for networking and breakfast from 9 to 10 AM on the first Friday of every month. 

The 2026 Skornia Symposium will feature a panel of academic and industry experts who will explore how public media can best engage with audience research to identify and meet community needs, strengthen audience relationships, and innovate content in ways that honor public media’s mission.

​From Noon to 4:00 PM, the library's Grainger Commons will transform into a drop-in study space so you can finish up that last assignment or get in the zone to study for finals.

Beckman’s Visualization Lab is open for office hours weekdays between 1-3 p.m. in 2203 Beckman, which is located just across the atrium bridge from the elevator.

Join us for Crafternoons every month on the first Friday at the WRC. This month, we will be making beaded animal keychains!! All materials are provided. This event is free and open to everyone.

Want to learn more about entrepreneurship opportunities throughout EnterpriseWorks? Starting promptly at 3 p.m., join us for tours through the EnterpriseWorks incubator to gain an understanding of the different resources EnterpriseWorks has to offer.

The IGB’s Art of Science program is a celebration of the common ground between science and art. Images from Illinois research were the starting point for these works, which were created by researchers working in partnership with IGB artist Julia Pollack. These pieces are the result of conversations between the scientists and the artist. The show will run through the mon

View arrangements made by ARTJ 199 students at Japan House! There will also be a pop-up matcha café.

Join us to shut off lights in buildings around campus to save energy and reduce the environmental impact of our massive university!

VR Club at UIUC and the Creative Writing Club invite you to a collaboration meeting on "Exploring Immersive Storytelling Through VR Technology" at the Grainger Library IDEA Lab on Friday, May 1 from 6-8 PM.

To honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives and to bring attention to the ongoing violence faced by Indigenous communities, the Native American House (NAH) invites the campus community to participate in an MMIR Prayer Walk from NAH to Alma Mater.

Join us for a special tour led by exhibiting artists from Another Place: Storymaking the Entangled Prairie. Gain insights into their creative practice and research. Today's tour features Ryan Griffis (video), Melissa Pokorny (sculpture), and Stacey A. Robinson (graphic design).

Natural crystals, with their perfectly repeating arrangements of atoms, lie at the very heart of modern technology. Lee will talk about how crystal growth techniques unleashed innovations such as transistors, microchips, lasers, and Nick Holonyak’s invention of the LED.

Join us for a celebration of student filmmaking at the Illinois Student Film Festival, featuring the work of students from across the University of Illinois campus. The programming will include about two hours of shorts and other activities to celebrate the hard work being done by student filmmakers across the University of Illinois campus.

Join us to attempt to craft your own textiles out of the supplies we have provided for you. Whilst you craft, feel free to learn about, feel, and experience different textiles from all over the world that we will have out for everyone to experience.

Beckman’s Visualization Lab is open for office hours weekdays between 1-3 p.m. in 2203 Beckman, which is located just across the atrium bridge from the elevator.

Learn the accessibility requirements for making your Canvas courses accessible. This hands-on workshop will cover using the Canvas editor to create navigable pages, writing effective alt text description for images, charts, and graphs, ensuring readable color contrast, creating accessible tables and links, and using Canvas accessibility tools to fix common issues.

Join us for Connecting Across Generations in the Workspace on Tuesday, May 5 from 12 to 1 p.m.

Peter Kim, PhD Department of Biochemistry; Stanford University School of Medicine "Protein Engineering of Vaccines and Antibodies for Infectious Disease"

Beckman’s Visualization Lab is open for office hours weekdays between 1-3 p.m. in 2203 Beckman, which is located just across the atrium bridge from the elevator.

College of Media students are invited to join this Cinco de Mayo Cooking Class.

Dr. Samar Hegazy, Teaching Associate Professor of Biomedical and Translational Sciences, will discuss her research on pathologies in female reproduction and her work on improving pathology education.

“Small Molecule Ion Channels Restore Anion Movement to Cystic Fibrosis Epithelia” Nohemy Celis PhD Candidate Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois

Beckman’s Visualization Lab is open for office hours weekdays between 1-3 p.m. in 2203 Beckman, which is located just across the atrium bridge from the elevator.

Join Maui, Georgia and the rest of the therapy dog team for pets and a relaxing break at Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES), 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign.

Learn about IGB research, hear about current issues in the life sciences, and connect with others at our popular poster session at the 2026 Fellows Symposium.

Need a spot to prep for finals? 📚✨ Join us Thursday, May 7 from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. for an all-day study space and crafternoon (crafterday???)! We're bringing back some of this year's crafting greatest hits ICYMI. Drop in anytime to decompress, study, or say hi.

On Reading Day, take a study break to relax and refresh at the library’s end-of-semester tradition, De-Stress Fest! Participating locations include Main Library, Funk Library, Grainger Engineering Library, and the Music and Performing Arts Library (MPAL). Full schedule in description.

Get up to speed on using the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide to make Canvas pages more accessible for everyone! In this hands-on workshop, we’ll start with an overview of the Pope Tech Canvas Accessibility Guide, how it functions, what the various errors, alerts, structural elements, and features mean, and how to fix these issues on a Canvas page.

Calling all students! Come rest up, study, and relax during this semester's Reading Day! Good luck on finals! FAA Finals Fest includes a coffee bar, snacks, study space, and art-making for students. Outlets and study tables will be provided in our galleries for students seeking a calm and inspiring place to study.

Take care of yourself before finals start or create a Mother’s Day gift. Make a card, decorate a pot, and plant your own plant, and pack a destress tea jar.

Beckman’s Visualization Lab is open for office hours weekdays between 1-3 p.m. in 2203 Beckman, which is located just across the atrium bridge from the elevator.

Join us every Thursday for Snack & Study at AAS! From 1:00-4:00, the AAS building is open for student use. Pull up a seat in our cozy Reading Room and enjoy a quiet space where you can study, read, or just take a break from it all. Free hot drinks and snacks available while supplies last!

Attend a lecture in the Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar "At Risk U: The Past, Present, & Future of Academic Freedom" lecture series with Chris Newfield (Independent Social Research Foundation, London).

Celebrate 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.

Prizes for Research Ceremony and Reception

The Writers Workshop will be at the Grainger Engineering Library's De-Stress Fest on Thursday, May 7, from 4-6pm.

Weekly interactive tabling events to learn about resources for stress management individually and throughout the campus community.

Join the Data + AI User Group on Friday, May 8 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM for their monthly meetup.

Pankaj Jaiswal, Ph.D. Program Director Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) National Science Foundation “Navigating NSF/BIO – Updates and Funding Opportunities”

Beckman’s Visualization Lab is open for office hours weekdays between 1-3 p.m. in 2203 Beckman, which is located just across the atrium bridge from the elevator.

Want to learn more about entrepreneurship opportunities throughout EnterpriseWorks? Starting promptly at 3 p.m., join us for tours through the EnterpriseWorks incubator to gain an understanding of the different resources EnterpriseWorks has to offer.

Get up to speed quickly on the basics of making PDF documents accessible for all while meeting state and federal accessibility standards. For hands-on participation, you will need Adobe Acrobat Pro (not Acrobat Reader). U of I, UIS, and UIC faculty and staff can obtain Acrobat Pro free from the U of I Webstore: https://webstore.illinois.edu/shop/product.aspx?zpid=6065

Celebrate opening night of the 2026 School of Art & Design Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition. Explore a wide range of art and design work created by 100+ BFA graduates in studio art, new media, art education, graphic design, and industrial design. Reception for artists and visitors in the Link Gallery. Exhibition on view through May 16.