Campus News: symposium honors scholar

A symposium next week honors gay history scholar John D’Emilio. Photo: Jenny Fontaine

Symposium honors scholar

The career of John D’Emilio, pioneering gay history scholar and professor emeritus of gender and women’s studies and history, will be honored with a two-day symposium Sept. 11 and 12 on campus.

D’Emilio, who retired from UIC in May, has been involved for more than four decades in the rise of gay and lesbian issues to the center of American social and political debate.

Founding director of the Policy Institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2005.

His 1997 book Intimate Matters was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision striking down state anti-sodomy laws, regarded by constitutional scholars as the first step to establishing full civil rights for gays.

Estelle Freedman, Stanford University professor and co-author of Intimate Matters, will give the keynote speech Sept. 11 on “Sexual Violence and Citizenship: Rape Reform in American History.”

Three panel sessions Sept. 12 will discuss the legacy and influence of D’Emilio’s work, as well as current and future issues in the fields of LGBT history, sexuality history and queer studies.

The symposium is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and registration is required by calling 312-413-8381.

Grants encourage discussion

Applications are due Sept. 19 for Civic Engagement Discourse Fund Grants, which support events to encourage public discussion on policy issues or the implications of university research.

Eligible events include forums, town hall meetings and small workshops open to the public or for a specific audience.

All UIC faculty and staff of research institutes or centers are eligible for the awards, a maximum of $4,000 each.  Events must be held by May 31, 2015.

The grants are sponsored by the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement. For more information, call 312-355-0095.

Happy birthday, Jane!

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum celebrates her Sept. 6 birthday two days early Thursday with Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, executive director of the Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project.

She is a veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Riots and the 1971 Attica State Prison Riots, events considered pivotal to the gay rights and prisoners’ rights movements.

She will speak on “The Ebb and Flow of Resistance,” beginning at 7 p.m.

The event is free but advance registration is encouraged.

Humanities fellowships

The Institute for the Humanities offers several awards for interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

Faculty fellowships, available to full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty in humanities and related disciplines, release the fellows from other duties to pursue their scholarship. Applications are due Nov. 3.

Two dissertation fellowships will be awarded for 2015-16 to advanced humanities graduate students. Deadline is Jan. 26, 2015.

Faculty Research Awards of $1,000 to $5,000 are available for tenured or tenure-track faculty with at least a half-time appointment in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Applications are due Feb. 16.

The Mellon Humanities Without Walls consortium offers funding for cross-institutional teams of faculty and graduate students working on topics related to “The Global Midwest.” Deadline is Oct. 30.

Urban neighborhoods

The 2014 Urban Forum will spotlight “The Return of the Neighborhood as an Urban Strategy.”

The event, Sept. 18 at the UIC Forum, brings academics, planners and community leaders together to discuss the complexities of metropolitan regions.

This year’s co-chairs are Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Susana Vasquez, executive director of LISC/Chicago.