FAA
"I get nervous when I come to the Career XPO, but once I attend the first booth, it`s really easy to continue with the next ones!" - Karina, School of Architecture student
The 2026 Career XPO connects our students with firms from across the country, creating space to build confidence, make connections, and take the next step toward summer and full-time opportunities.
Hosted by @archatillinois with @illinoislandarch and Urban & Regional Planning at the I Hotel.
Dance @ Illinois presents... March Studio Dance! 🕺
Programs A & B feature the MFA thesis works of multidisciplinary choreographic artists Maggie Segale and e g condon, as well as works by a range of other graduate, undergraduate, and faculty artists exploring relationships and identity.
March 5, 6, & 7th
Program A @ 7pm - Program B @ 9pm
Studio Theatre
Tickets available at krannertcenter.com
@danceatillinois @krannertcenter
How to Make the Most of Your Illinois Campus Visit! 👈🏻📌
Whether your`e wondering what to wear or which buildings to explore...
Check out the link in our bio for tips and tricks for maximizing your trip!🔗
Congratulations to all those involved in @lyrictheatreillinois Mardi Gras celebration, Carnaval! ⚜️🎭💜💚💛
The Night featured music and dance from Latin America and France-with brilliant samba, cha-cha, and salsa!
Congratulations to the entire company of Illinois Theatre`s Everybody on a beautiful opening weekend! ☠
You can still catch a performance...
February 18th, 19th, & 20th @ 7:30pm and 21st @ 2pm
👉 @krannertcenter for tickets
Director: Quenna Barrett
Scenic Designer: Nicholas Taboni
Costume Designer: Elena Hevrdejs
Lighting Designer: Paige Vick
Sound Designer: Lizi Shaul
Vocal Coach: Marie Ramirez Downing
Dramaturg: Yingman Tang
Stage Manager: Basil Wang
Asst. Stage Managers: Stazi Showerman, Sebastian Gould
Technical Director: Dylan Scott
Properties Manager: Noah Russell
Photography: Darrell Hoemann
@illinoistheatre
T-minus 86 days until Commencement!💙🎊
Be sure to complete all the steps on this checklist during the semester you intend to graduate this May! Download the FAA commencement guide for more information and to find contact information for your unit’s convocation ceremony.
Find countdown to graduation checklist at the link in our bio!🔗
🤝 “The Student Planning Organization (SPO) is the glue between all undergrad, graduate, and PhD students within the department of Urban and Regional Planning. Our events are open to all, and we bring together planning students who may not have ever crossed paths with one another before. At each event, connection and community is our focus.” - Joe Hissem, SPO Vice President
Learn more about the SPO and the students who are building connections and careers long before graduation through leadership!
Read the rest of our Dimension story at the link in our bio🔗!
⛩ "As someone deeply passionate about traditional art, I often find myself wondering whether it still holds space in our fast-paced, technology driven world. Do people still practice and pursue traditional crafts? Are these art forms still recognized, respected, and celebrated? And if I choose to follow a more traditional path, can I truly succeed?
The [2025] Japan House Spring Open House, featured a group of extraordinary visiting artists from Fukushima. The experience offered more than just a glimpse into traditional Japanese art—it reaffirmed my belief in the enduring power and relevance of these time-honored practices."
Read the rest of our Dimension story at the link in our bio!🔗
@japanhouseuofi
Photo 1: Artist Seiran Chiba with the author, Art & Design student Aditi Khandelwal.
Photo 3: Visiting Fukushima artists Akie Hashimoto, Seiran Chiba, and Ayako Hirai.
BSSD
As career month wraps up, we`re looking back with appreciation for the alumni who kicked us off with a BSSD mentorship event and round table. Here, they share some of the skills they`ve found essential working in the Sustainable Design field.
🌱 What if we created a library outside? What if the clouds and leaves, snowflakes and weeds, roots and rocks were our collection?
Join us on Zoom, Monday, March 2nd at 5:30 pm for a special guest lecture with Shannon Mattern. Use the QR code or go to the link in bio to register in advance.
Shannon Mattern is the Director of Creative Research at the Metropolitan New York Library Council. In this talk, she will explore the cross-disciplinary design practice through which the Metropolitan New York Library Council’s new Library Field project is coming into fruition. We’ll examine how myriad design fields — from traffic and water engineering, to landscape and interface design, to wayfinding and media curation — converge in this project, sited on a plot of land just north of New York City.
Previously, Mattern held full professorships in media studies, anthropology, and art history at The New School and the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and teaching focus on media architectures, information infrastructures, and urban technologies. She is the author of The New Downtown Library: Designing with Communities; Deep Mapping the Media City; Code and Clay, Data and Dirt: 5000 Years of Urban Media; and A City Is Not a Computer. She also contributes a regular long-form column about urban data and mediated infrastructures to Places Journal and regularly collaborates on public design and interactive projects and exhibitions. In 2025, she was the Kluge Chair in Modern Culture at the Library of Congress and the Design Indexer in residence at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. You can find her at wordsinspace.net.
Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting 12 Sustainable Design Program Alumni for a mentorship event. Alums provided portfolio reviews for current students and participated in a round table, sharing their diverse career paths and advice for getting the most out of the program.
Make sure to check out what’s coming up for the next two weeks!
📚 Feb 16- Opportunity Scholarship Application Closes at 11:59 pm.
This scholarship is designed to provide financial support to students within the Sustainable Design program, enabling them to pursue academic and professional opportunities that would otherwise be unattainable without additional funding. For Spring 2026, scholarships of $300 or $500 will be awarded to selected students based on the clearly defined benefit to the student’s academic or professional growth. Link in bio.
👥 Feb 17- LAS Get Experience Expo | 4-6 pm | Illini Union Ballroom ABC
Hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, this expo is designed for students to explore research programs, internships, volunteering, and academic opportunities, network with faculty and peers, and take their first steps toward academic and career success! Open to all Illinois undergraduates. Register at https://las.illinois.edu/research/students/fair
💼 Feb 17- Essential Strategies to Land a Job | 5-6 pm | Temple Buell Hall Rm 104
Learn how to comfortably navigate interview and networking scenarios to help you land a job. Understand what is expected of you and what each question is meant to find out. There will be time to practice the information you have learned and to ask your questions. Register on Handshake
📕 Feb 23 - Beinecke Scholarship Application Closes
This is a merit- and need-based scholarship that funds juniors in the arts, humanities, and social sciences who will pursue a Ph.D. or MFA degree. The Beinecke Scholarship provides $5,000 to recipients immediately prior to entering graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school. For more information, visit topscholars.illinois.edu.
👾 Feb 27- Design Illinois | 9 am- 3 pm | Siebel Center for Design
Design Illinois is an in-person event that connects employers with emerging graphic, UI/UX, industrial, and sustainable designers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Attending students should have their profile completed by Feb 16, including: resume, cover letter, and portfolio.
💕 BSSD Students, Be our Valentine!! We are so proud of you and your accomplishments! Make sure to apply for the Opportunity Scholarship, which closes Monday, February 16th at 11:59pm. Link in bio for application and scholarship details
💟 This scholarship is designed to provide financial support to students within the Sustainable Design program, enabling them to pursue academic and professional opportunities that would otherwise be unattainable without additional funding. For Spring 2026, scholarships of $300 or $500 will be awarded to selected students based on the clearly defined benefit to the student’s academic or professional growth.
📢 BSSD students, check out all of the professional development opportunities during career fair month and remember the deadline to submit your portfolio for Design Illinois on Handshake is Feb 15! Make sure to take advantage of all these opportunities!
🚀✏️ FAA431 – Sustainable Design Capstone just wrapped up a Design Sprint led by Professor Eric Benson, TA Camila Madariaga, and invited professor John Stallmeyer (who led FAA430 in the fall). The sprint marked the transition from project topics and scope development into the design phase, students will be diving into this spring 🌱🏗️. Stay tuned for what’s next!
☀️ Leilany Fuentes-Garcia and Dale Sink created a collaborative poster documenting their experience in the Sustainable Design study abroad program with Casa Pueblo in Puerto Rico in 2025 which is now on view on the 2nd floor of the Architecture Building.
☀️ Q. BSSD: Tell us a bit about yourself and your experience with Casa Pueblo.
☀️ A. Leilany Fuentes-Garcia: “I am currently a senior studying Sustainable Design and I participated in the Casa Pueblo program in Spring 2025. As a Sustainable Design student, I have learned a lot about the importance of community-based sustainable design and why a just energy transition is urgently needed, so it was incredible being able to experience and learn first-hand what this can actually look like.”
☀️ Dale Sink: “I am in the Sustainable Design program with minors in urban planning and landscape architecture. The urban planning department led the trip I took to Adjuntas as a Junior.”
☀️ Leilany and Dale: “Our visit to Adjuntas, Puerto Rico completely transformed our understanding of what sustainability means and the power of grassroots action. This experience has given us new perspectives that sustainable design expands beyond a set of design criteria to how it can be a deeply human process rooted in care, equity, and environmental protection. What struck us most was how resilience comes alive through human interaction. The way people support one another, share knowledge, and build together out of love for their community shows that environmental justice is inseparable from cultural resilience.
☀️ Our collage represents the story of Casa Pueblo as we experienced it. It is a collection of stories from the past and the ongoing journey that we cannot see. It is a story about protecting the place and the people around you; about refusing to remain complacent in an exploitative system; and about employing a praxis of love above all to guide your actions. Adjuntas is truly a unique place, but we hope that you feel a familiarity in this collage and are inspired to exercise your praxis of love, no matter how small the task.”
