Each autumn, the Foundation hosts an Annual Meeting of Foundation Members (key stakeholders) and other constituents. Beginning in 2002, I've been charged with creating an event theme idea, to serve as the message platform for the event. Part of this concept development is drafting content for the event invitation booklet. This upload represents the content that I wrote and edited for the 72nd Annual Meeting in 2007. The graphic design was developed by a vendor.

1. CREATING STUDENT ACCESS AND
EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Seventy-Second Annual Meeting
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION
Activities and Registration

2. CREATING STUDENT ACCESS AND
EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Seventy-Second Annual Meeting
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION
“The purpose of this Campaign is to support
students so that education is accessible and
affordable, and it is to support faculty so that
we can ensure that education is excellent, period.”
University President B. Joseph White
Campaign Public Launch, Chicago, June 1, 2007

3. BRILLIANT FUTURES
The University’s Brilliant Futures Campaign reminds all of us about
“We take your interests, the importance of mission.
your concerns and the In a very real sense, this University belongs to the world...to every person who
benefits in some way as a result of the learning, work and accomplishments
needs of society and that proceed from the University of Illinois. Interested in biofuels or wetlands
restoration? The U of I is as well. Concerned about the future of the family?
turn them into the future.” So are we. Want to make sure that transplant patients have the greatest chance
for survival? We do, too. We take your interests, your concerns and the needs
of society and turn them into the future. The aura of Illinois innovation is
everywhere, from the MRI used by your hospital to the city revitalization ideas
used by your community to the sustainable energy practices used by your state.
At the core of such innovations lie two vital elements: students and faculty.
They are the heart of the University’s educational enterprise, the heart of its mission.

6. CREATING STUDENT ACCESS…
University-level academic work is full of When you talk to them, students say that a own business, curing diseases such as cancer
challenges. As a student, you need to figure scholarship or fellowship is the opportunity or healing pediatric heart defects, discovering
out how to afford college, how to adapt to of a lifetime. It’s an adventure. A chance to solutions to the world’s energy problems,
college life and, often, get used to an entirely grow. It’s a chance to do research, real research finding new construction methods to with-
new community or even a new country. that influences you to start to think beyond stand hurricane winds or even building a
Illinois students undergo a personal and yourself and how you might use your educa- state-of-the-art rocket for the next generation
social transformation. Their education shapes tion to make life better not just for you, but of space exploration.
our students into lifelong learners, permits also for others. It’s the freedom to discover
them to engage the knowledge and experience and explore, and it’s a chance to acquire But many students say that receiving a scholar-
of others and asks them to fully develop their knowledge that might one day transform not ship is not entirely about you. When someone
own powers of empathy, critical thinking only your own life but the life of the commu- helps you to earn a world-class education, it
and communication. nity where you live, maybe even the world. makes you realize, maybe for the first time,
how much we need each other to thrive.
Student support can lessen a lot of challenges Some say a scholarship is a real incentive, the
for students, giving them the chance to focus motivation to do your very best, because even And often, students say, you feel so grateful
more fully on the real reason that they’re here on days when you have your doubts, someone for receiving such amazing support, it makes
learning and personal growth. For students else really believes in you. you realize that maybe the only way you can
system-wide, scholarships and fellowships ever really show your appreciation is to one
have made a quality University of Illinois And it makes it possible for you to begin to day help someone else down the line, another
education possible. fulfill your dreams whether it’s starting your student who might benefit from your support.

7. GIVING STUDENTS THE CHANCE TO LEAD,
INNOVATE AND SUCCEED
How Your Gifts Help U of I Students
There are many ways to give to the University of Illinois whether specifically
directed to your favorite college, department or program, or to the University as a
STUDENT SUPPORT whole. But regardless of how or how much you choose to give, your contribution
to the University has an impact on students’ lives by:
Motivation. Inspiration. New career
avenues. Above all, student support ■ Providing scholarships and other financial assistance
changes lives. Maybe even yours or for hardworking, talented students
your family’s.
■ Enabling students to take part in research
■ Scholarships
■ Making sure that students have the best classrooms, labs, studios,
■ Student research support
study spaces, libraries, clinics and athletic and recreation facilities
■ Graduate fellowships
■ Funding innovative educational, service and research programs
■ Graduate assistantships
that prepare students to think critically and solve problems creatively
■ Helping faculty to be the best educators they can be,
in the classrooms and by conducting important research
that keeps the U of I at the forefront of inquiry and imagination

8. …AND EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Computer science, agricultural economics, not making it about us, but rather about the chief goals is to be an educational leader in
health informatics, medicine, pharmacology, students and about the work that they will do today’s evolving global society. The creation
homeland security, e-government, public in the future. One life, one career brightens and support of endowed chairs and professor-
affairs… They have a wide variety of interests. another, and another, leading to generations ships can attract and retain exceptional faculty.
But what they all share is a passion for teaching of impact. With your faculty support, you’re making a
a commitment to the intellectual, professional powerful commitment to fostering research
and personal progress of each and every student While University of Illinois students live the and scholarship in a given discipline and to
at the University of Illinois. connection between faculty research and building outstanding academic programs at
learning every day, many of us are not that both the graduate and undergraduate level.
Because professional growth can be a challenging aware of the role that academic scholarship and
process when undertaken single-handedly, research plays in our daily lives. Most Our University not only transmits knowledge,
mentor relationships are significant sources people never think about where the diagnostic it also advances knowledge, and outstanding
of guidance and support for students. Mentors criteria used in healthcare, medications or student and faculty scholarship is critical to
play a vital role in developing organizational counseling intervention methods actually both endeavors. Research shapes education
and societal leaders by passing on valuable come from or why they change and improve and education shapes society around the
insights, in addition to knowledge. Our over time. Many of us don’t question where world. We all need as many brilliant futures
educators distinguished scholars, widely advances in the understanding of aging comes as this University has the potential to produce.
respected researchers, published authors and from, or why practices in e-commerce or Our students and their professors have the
successful industry professionals from around government alter from year-to-year. power to change the world we have the
the world try to speak directly to the hearts power to help them do it.
of our students. They ask: ‘Who will you Smart, talented people are the epicenter of our
become?’ turning the dialogue around by knowledge economy, and one of the University’s

10. FACULTY SUPPORT
U of I students are challenged by faculty whose research and scholarship
invigorate their teaching. Help us discover the next frontiers in new
knowledge and revolutionize the world’s future one student at a time
with your faculty support. “U of I students are
CHAIRS, PROFESSORSHIPS & VISITING SCHOLARS challenged by faculty
■ Endowed chairs
■ Endowed professorships whose research and
■ Visiting faculty and exchanges
■ Scholars-in-residence
scholarship invigorate
their teaching.”
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH
■ Faculty research support
■ Career development awards
■ Endowed funds for specific academic units or areas

11. Join us at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the U of I Foundation and learn
more about how you can help and what’s in store next. Our Campaign
goal is nothing less than making sure that the University of Illinois is well
recognized both around the nation and around the world as the top public
university in the U.S. When you come together with the passionate teachers,
talented researchers and gifted students of the University of Illinois
BRILLIANT FUTURES HAPPEN.

12. CREATING STUDENT ACCESS AND
EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
September 27-28- 29, 2007 I Champaign-Urbana

13. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
6:00 P.M. FOUNDATION COCKTAIL BUFFET RECEPTION 8:00 A.M. REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
Alice Campbell Alumni Center Krannert Center, Lobby
601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana
Until 9:00 p.m.
9:00 A.M. 72ND ANNUAL
Hosted by U OF I FOUNDATION BUSINESS MEETING
Foundation Chairman and Mrs. Steven L. Miller; Krannert Center, Tryon Festival Theatre
Foundation President and Mrs. Sidney S. Micek;
and, University President and Mrs. B. Joseph White. WELCOME
Steven L. Miller and Sidney S. Micek
Business Casual
THE UNIVERSITY’S YEAR-IN-REVIEW
PRESENTATION OF FOUNDATION MEMBERS
AND ELECTION OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jane Phillips Donaldson, Chair, Membership
and Governance Committee
ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT OF PRIVATE GIVING
Walter K. Knorr, Chief Financial Officer,
University of Illinois, and Treasurer, U of I Foundation
SPECIAL GIFT ANNOUNCEMENTS
University President B. Joseph White

14. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 CONTINUED
11:30 A.M. FOUNDATION LUNCHEON visit the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) and glimpse
Illini Union, Illini Rooms A-B-C and South Lounge our renewable energy future.The EBI is the largest university-
Until 1:00 p.m. corporate partnership in U.S. history;
PRESENTATION OF THE WILLIAM E. WINTER see one of the world’s most powerful mass spectrometers,
AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ADVOCATE used for identifying new antibiotics to treat and prevent
LEADERSHIP human diseases;
George J. Kottemann, Chair,
explore the origins and the complexity of life on earth
The Presidents Council
through the prism of nature’s most extreme environments;
CREATING STUDENT ACCESS AND
learn how IGB has integrated law, economics and business
EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
into its research enterprise, spurring economic development
University President B. Joseph White
in the state and the nation;
1:30 P.M. SHAPING THE LIFE SCIENCES REVOLUTION: stroll through “Darwin’s Playground” and learn how IGB is
PRESENTATION AND TOUR OF THE INSTITUTE reaching across campus to bring together the fine arts and the
FOR GENOMIC BIOLOGY humanities to share in the excitement of genomic exploration.
Until 2:30 p.m.
The Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) is the University
1:30 P.M. INNOVATIVE INITIATIVE:
of Illinois’s newest center for interdisciplinary research in the
A PRESENTATION ON THE CENTER FOR
life sciences. Its mission is to create solutions for improving
EDUCATION IN SMALL URBAN COMMUNITIES
healthcare, energy efficiency, agriculture, and the environ-
Until 2:30 p.m.
ment, using knowledge gained from genomics. To fulfill its
promise as an engine of economic development for the state No longer is a “college of education” simply a physical
and the nation, the IGB has developed and implemented location for research, scholarship and training. It’s about
peerless programs to accelerate technology transfer and innovation, and the College of Education must lead the
commercialization. You will be among the first to preview way in building local and global collaborative relationships.
the IGB’s spectacular facilities and path-breaking research In this presentation, hear about one of the College’s emerging
programs. During your visit you can: continued on next page

15. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 CONTINUED
initiatives that will facilitate breakthrough knowledge and and future librarians and teachers who learn to reach children
innovation from community leaders and senior faculty through reading aloud, storytelling, book-talking, community
members, including President Emeritus Stanley O. Ikenberry. projects, and other creative ways to “do literature.”
The Center for Education in Small Urban Communities is
The Center is also home to The Bulletin, an authoritative
positioned as the premiere center for educational scholarship
review journal that identifies the best in children’s literature
and practice in small urban communities, like Champaign
annually and is available by subscription. During this session
and Urbana, which comprise 10,000 of the nation’s 14,000
we will talk about how those reviews are conducted, share a
school districts. A panel will discuss the strategies involved
story and a reading. This session will inform and demonstrate
in tackling community-wide concerns involving families,
how The Center for Children’s Books works to inspire and
community organizations, businesses, civic groups, and
inform adults who connect with young people in public
educators at every level, and the promising outcomes
libraries and schools with resources in person, in print,
achieved by working collaboratively.
and online.
3:00 P.M. A VISIT TO THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS
3:00 P.M. TOUR OF THE THOMAS M. SIEBEL CENTER
Until 4:00 p.m.
FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE
Literacy begins at birth! Children need books they can Until 4:00 p.m.
drool over, chew on, hug, drop in the sand, listen to, laugh at,
The Department of Computer Science at Urbana-Champaign
and love. The Center for Children’s Books at the Graduate
is recognized throughout the world as a leader in both educa-
School of Library and Information Sciences has the best and
tion and research. The department and its graduates have long
the latest, from picture books to fiction and nonfiction for
been at the forefront of modern computing and are now on
teenagers. Do you know how to select the best in children’s
the threshold of new implicit computing that will change
literature for your children, grandchildren, or students?
computing as profoundly as it did in the earlier eras.
We would like to share some of these books with you.
The department has a long and rich history of computing
Ranked as the “Number One” program in Library and
research. The faculty has designed and built the world’s fastest
Information Science and Youth Services in U.S. News and
computers, co-founded the field of computer arithmetic
World Report, the Center serves as a vital resource for current
continued on next page

16. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 CONTINUED SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
and explored the operating system and processor architecture
models that underlie modern computer systems. Current 10:30 A.M. PRE-GAME SOCIAL HOUR AND BRUNCH
research into areas such as smart spaces, multimedia operating The President’s House, Gardens
systems, vision and robotics, and computer security will be 711 W. Florida Ave., Urbana
no less influential.
Hosted by University President
The home of the department is the Thomas M. Siebel Center and Mrs. B. Joseph White
for Computer Science, that opened its doors in 2004. Siebel and Urbana-Champaign Chancellor
Center is an interactive computing habitat. Advanced wireless and Mrs. Richard Herman
and wired communications networks, sensors, actuators, video
capture and display equipment, video walls and information
1:00 P.M. ILLINOIS VS. PENN STATE
panels and storage and computing capabilities within the
Memorial Stadium, Zuppke Field
building allow researchers to examine communication and
computation issues related to pervasive computing, multi- Game kick-off time may be affected
media infrastructure, building intelligence, security and by television coverage.
privacy, and art.
NCAA regulations prohibit sale or
gifting of game tickets.
6:00 P.M. CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION AND
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DINNER
Krannert Center, Lobby SPECIAL SESSION:
9:30 P.M. DESSERT BUFFET, COFFEE AND CORDIALS FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Until 10:30 p.m. Friday, September 28, at 1:30 p.m.
Harker Hall, Executive Conference Room