NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS Published August 27, 2026 at 10:23 AM CDT The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery will open in a newly renovated space in the Public Affairs Center (PAC) this fall, marking the gallery’s first move in more than three decades. Located in PAC 115, the new space provides a dedicated venue for exhibitions, artist talks and public programs in a central location on campus. The move places the gallery alongside other cultural programs in th

August 12, 2026 MOLINE, IL - -The Museum Studies Graduate Program at Western Illinois University-Quad Cities (WIU-QC) has been awarded a $249,694 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to launch Building Capacity Through Apprenticeship and Microcredentials: An Integrated Workforce Development Model for Museum Professionals.

August 14, 2026 Northeastern Illinois University is one of the best colleges in the United States for women, according to Newsweek’s “America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026” list. The inaugural list ranked Northeastern as No. 35 (tied) in the country and placed fourth in the state of Illinois. FB POST

The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country. The Zinn Education Project is coordinated by two non-profit organizations, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, that have spent decades developing and providing social justice resources for teachers. Since 2008, the Zinn Education Project has introduced students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than is found in traditiona

June 17, 2026 DEKALB, IL — When NIU Electrical Engineering Professor Lichuan Liu’s toddler struggled to breathe, it sparked feelings of helplessness—but also an idea. Liu asked herself, how might artificial intelligence help both clinicians and parents with diagnosing breathing illness? Her research team, which includes NIU students, is now working to develop an AI-powered stethoscope to help healthcare providers detect respiratory disease. The team also hopes to create a scr

WGLT | By Lauren Warnecke Published June 8, 2026 at 12:12 PM CDT A notable graduate of Illinois State University’s theater program was among the winners at Sunday’s Tony Awards. Considered the Oscars of Broadway, Laurie Metcalf won the Tony for best supporting actress in a play, recognized for portraying Linda Loman in a Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

June 19,2026 ...[EIU] A fallen tree struck by lightning in the parking lot of Andrews Hall on Wednesday, June 17, 2026 night just minutes after the tornado passed Charleston.

June 11, 2026 Did you get a $15,000/15% raise this year? That's the pay bump #UISedu is giving to a newly announced position in the Chancellor's office. 2025-26 salary: $102,024. 2026-27 salary: $110,000-117,000. This, at a time the administration is running a $19 million deficit and threatening to close academic programs that serve our students. It's another example of Chancellor Gooch's misallocation of resources and failure to responsibly steward the university!

IFT 6/10//2026 MACOMB, Ill. — The University Professionals of Illinois (UPI) Local 4100 is celebrating a major victory for students, faculty, staff, and Illinois public higher education after an arbitrator ruled that Western Illinois University's decision last year to lay off all nine of its academic librarian faculty and two additional bargaining unit professionals was illegal. Read the full article at IFT by pressing the button below.

OP-ED: KIRK DILLARD May 27, 2026 By KIRK DILLARD As someone who has spent their career in both policy and higher education, and as a current trustee for Western Illinois University, I have sadly witnessed the erosion of state support for regional universities. In fact, the western region of Illinois isn’t known as “Forgotonia” for no reason. Illinois has over time morphed into a public higher education system of inadequate, inequitable and unstable funding of our vital region

Special to the McDonough County Voice Updated May 15, 2026, 5:19 p.m. CT Western Illinois University is the most underfunded public university in Illinois. According to Advance Illinois, WIU currently gets less than half the state funding needed to serve its students. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, however, is funded at nearly 90% adequacy. The gap is no accident, but the result of a funding system that has never been based on equity or student need, but only on

Walter Hudson, May 1, 2026 from The EDULedger Between 2012 and 2024, the number of faculty represented by unions at private colleges and universities increased by 56 percent. For graduate student workers, the growth has been even more explosive, with a 133 percent increase over the same period... ...Long before St. John's University decided to dismantle its faculty union, American higher education had already undergone a seismic structural shift in who teaches. Since the 1970

4/23/2026 Special thanks go to Dr. Kristi Barnwell for also giving testimony on the critical need for equitable funding. Please see her statement below: I am first-generation college student, the child of a single mother who lived in financial precarity for most of my childhood. I loved learning always. Like many of my students, I understood higher education’s value for creating social mobility and increasing my chances of having financial stability. My university education i

Allan Bettis Special to the State Journal-Register April 14, 2026, 3:31 a.m. CT I’ve worked as a building service worker at the University of Illinois Springfield for seven years. I take pride in what I do. My job is to make sure students walk into clean classrooms, that buildings are safe, and that the campus runs the way it should. Some may think it’s not glamorous work, but it’s essential. I’m also a proud husband and a father of two amazing children. My kids are growing f

April 2, 2026 UIS students, staff, and faculty rally for a #FairContractNow outside the Chancellor's philanthropy dinner. We're grateful for donor contributions but wanted them to know what Chancellor Gooch does with their money—busting staff and faculty unions!

April 3, 2026 UIS Faculty FB page

By Isabella Froh , News Editor Feb 20, 2026 DeKALB — A projected budget deficit was discussed during Thursday’s Board of Trustees Finance, Audit, Compliance, Facilities and Operations Committee meeting. The budget deficit for Fiscal Year 26 (FY26) will cause a tuition increase and rising operational costs across the university despite improvements from the previous year. The university recommended a 2.5% increase in base tuition and no change in undergraduate differential

February 24, 2026 MACOMB, IL - - After countless hours of dedication, Western Illinois University alumna and nationally-recognized artist and Professor Tyanna J. Buie can now add a new location to her long list of places her work is featured: the Obama Presidential Center. Buie's story of resilience and freedom was jumpstarted by her time at WIU , and her newest installment, "Be the Change!" will be available to view by the general public when the Center opens later this Sum

Official UIS News By Blake Wood 2026-02-26 The University of Illinois Springfield College of Business and Management celebrated the opening of the Sean and Taryn Grant/Landmark Auto Trading Lab on Feb. 26 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The lab features 12 Bloomberg Terminals that support hands-on learning for UIS students pursuing careers in finance, data analytics and related fields.

February 19,2026 By Nihya Walker , Former News Reporter DeKALB — In 1915, Fanny Ruth Patterson made history as the first Black woman to graduate from NIU, then known as Northern Illinois State Normal School. She earned her two-year degree at a time when opportunities for Black Americans, especially women, were limited by segregation and discrimination.