Instructor:
Nancy Amato
Office Hours: usually 2-3pm on Fridays on zoom - join online. Check the department calendar for schedule and link each week.
Teaching Assistant:
James Motes
This course is designed to inform students about a variety of career-oriented topics and current issues in computer science and assist them in planning and preparing for the next step in their career. It will cover career opportunities and pathways for those with undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in computer science, and will include discussion of aspects of graduate studies such as admissions, funding, and success in graduate school. The course will also cover practical issues such as internships, resumes/CVs, finding a job, interviewing, job negotiations, company work environments. Finally, the course will include seminars on social and professional issues in computing, such as bias, privacy and generally the impact of technology on society.
The course will consist of presentations and will involve a variety of invited speakers in an interactive seminar environment. To receive credit for this course you must attend and satisfactorily complete a report for at least 12 presentations/activities. Occasionally, there may be other presentations/activities that can be used for class credit, such as the career fairs; these will be announced to the class via email and/or posted on the course webpage. Grades can be seen at learn.illinois.edu.
All students are expected to complete this STUDENT INFORMATION AND INTERESTS SURVEY. This will be used to customize the seminars to fit your interests.
Presentation/Activity Reports: For each presentation/activity you attend and want credit for CS 491 PD/PDO, you need to complete THIS REPORT FORM. The report should be completed within one week of the presentation/activity so that you have the details fresh in your mind. The form asks you to provide:
On campus (face to face) Section: There will be additional requirements for students registered in the on campus (in person) section of this course. Information will be provided here as it is available.
The standard class meeting time will be Wednesdays from 5:00-5:50pm - they will be virtual and conducted over zoom. When possible (speakers must agree), they will be recorded and made available to students and others.
| Date | Topic | Speaker | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:00pm Wed Jan 27, 2021 | Student Organization Events & Participation Opportunities for Spring 2021 | Student Organization Leaders | There are numerous extra-curricular activities and experiences available to students in CS. Opportunities include gaining leadership and professional development experience, being a mentor or mentee, volunteering for a wide range of service projects, and social events to meet new friends and just have fun. In this session, representatives from CS student organizations and other departmental groups will describe events and opportunities for students to get involved this semester. They are excited to share their opportunities with you - please join us and make plans to do something new this semester! |
| 5:00pm Wed Feb 03, 2021 | Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) - What, Why & How | Nancy M. Amato (UIUC)
Nancy M. Amato is Abel Bliss Professor and Department Head of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on robotic motion planning, computational biology and geometry, and parallel computing. She has graduated 24 PhD and 33 Masters students, and has worked with more than 100 undergraduate and more than 10 high school student researchers. Since 2000, she has Co-Directed the CRA-WP Distributed REU (DREU) program that matches undergraduates from groups underrepresented in computing for a summer research experience with a faculty mentor, typically not at the student's home institution. Hannah Lee (UIUC)I am a first-year PhD student at UIUC studying multi-robot task and motion planning. I did my undergraduate degree in computer science at the Colorado School of Mines and became involved in research as a part of the distributed research experience for undergraduates (DREU). Through DREU, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Nancy M. Amato and James Motes, my mentor. After graduating from Mines, I joined the PhD program at UIUC to continue my work with Dr. Amato and James. James Motes (UIUC)I am a second year PhD student here at UIUC working on multi-robot task and motion planning. I began my research journey as an undergrad working with Dr. Nancy M. Amato at Texas A&M University. I completed my master's degree at Texas A&M with Dr. Amato as well before joining her here at Illinois. In my three years of grad school, I have mentored and worked with ten undergrads on various research projects. |
Summer Research Internships (aka Research Experiences for Undergraduates or REUs) allow undergraduates to be involved in a research project fulltime over the summer and interact with graduate students and professors on a daily basis. This provides students a chance to see what graduate school would really be like and to increase their competitiveness for grad admissions and fellowships. Mentoring REU studnets is also an excellent and rewarding experience for graduate students, giving them practice to develop skills they will need later on as faculty members or researchers in labs hosting interns. Are you intrigued but have questions such as are REUs paid? Can international students participate? How can these opportunities be found? When are applications due? Can grad students or postdocs apply as REU mentors? This session will feature students who can share their experiences as REU participants, grad student mentors and faculty who have mentored students and run REU programs who will be able to answer these questions and more. |
| Jan 27 - Feb 10, 2021 | Career Fair Prep Activities | Various | We will NOT meet during the scheduled class time on Wed Feb 10. Instead, you are encouraged to attend the seminars offered by the Engineering Career Services to help you prepare for the two Career Fairs that will be held next week - the CS/ECE AfterHours event on Tuesday February 16 and the Engineering Career Fair on Wednesday Feb 17. Both will be virtual and will be conducted on the CareerEco Platform. You can receive a CS 491 PD/PDO presentation credit by attending any of these seminars and submitting a report (you can attend as many as you wish, but a maximum of 2 attendance credits can be received).
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| Tue Feb 16 & Wed Feb 17, 2021 | CS/ECE After Hours (Tue Feb 16) and Engineering Career Fair (Wed Feb 17) | N/A | Attend CS/ECE After Hours and/or Engineering Virtual Career Fair. No CS 491 PD/PDO presentation is scheduled this week so students can attend the career fairs this week, one of which overlaps our class meeting time. Both will be virtual and will be conducted on the CareerEco Platform. You can receive a CS 491 PD/PDO presentation credit by attending these career fairs and submitting a report (you can attend as many as you wish, but a maximum of 1 attendance credit can be received).
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| 5:00pm Wed Feb 24, 2021 | Equity & Justice in Computing Conversation: American Inflection: Civil Rights Past, Technical Future | Kamau Bobb (Georgia Tech)
Kamau Bobb is the Global Lead for Diversity Strategy and Research at Google and the founding Senior Director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech. He is an engineer and science and technology policy scholar whose work focuses on the STEM enterprise, large educational systems, and the structural conditions that influence contemporary American life. |
Dr. Bobb will discuss the challenges of contemporary education in a moment where American justice and democracy are wounded. Based in Atlanta, Dr. Bobb will explore the relevance of the 20th century struggles for racial justice in the context of a 21st century search for a tech identity. |
| 5:00pm Wed Mar 03, 2021 | Interviewing Skills - What to Expect and How to Prepare | John Mahlmeister (UIUC)
John is a Career Services Coordinator in Engineering Career Services. John has been assisting Grainger Engineering students with career development since 2019. Prior to joining the ECS team, John was Internship and Employment Coordinator at Lake Land College. Ken Taylor (UIUC)Ken Taylor currently serves as the Cloud Architect at the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign. For the past ten years he has focused on large-scale data analytics and data engineering using cloud technologies in a variety of industries including agriculture, Internet advertising and finance. He has been mentoring and lecturing on entrepreneurship topics for many years in the community. He got his start in entrepreneurship by co-founding a computer consulting company where he helped secure venture capital funding for a fingerprint biometric device. Misha Shah (AGCO Acceleration Center)As the Site Manager at the AGCO Acceleration Center, my responsibilities include seeking out areas of applicable research, developing mutually beneficial partnership opportunities and creating lasting relationships with faculty, startups and other companies at UIUC & Research Park. I also oversee an internship program at the AAC with 25+ interns coming from a variety of majors including: CS, Engineering, Business, Information Science, Analytics, Market Research and more. I enjoy working with students and cultivating long-term talent for AGCO. |
You've landed an interview - congrats! But now you're wondering what you can do to prepare. There are many types of interviews, they come at different stages of the recruitment process, are of varying lengths - quick chats during career fairs, short on campus, and longer ``on site'' visits - and have different formats. And nowadays they are all being adjusted for the virtual mode we're all operating in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This session will feature panelists who can share their perspectives as alums, recruiters, and career services advisors and provide insight and advice on what you can expect, how you can prepare, and do's and don'ts of interviewing. |
| 5:00pm Wed Mar 10, 2021 | Startups & Entrepreneurship 101 | Amaan Abbas (Founders)
I am a junior studying finance and supply chain management at the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I am also a part of The Hoeft Technology and Management Program Class XXVI. I've had a variety of experiences from working at startups, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. As president of Founders, I work to grow a community of innovators and entrepreneurs at the University of Illinois and university campuses across the country. Asutosh Katyal (Captech)Asutosh R Katyal is a tech entrepreneur. He is the Founder & CEO of Cap-tech Technologies which is a venture of Capacite Infraprojects. Before starting Captech, he worked on EPC operations for few years as part of family business Asutosh graduated as a Computer Scientist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2017. He believes in finding new ways using technology which can augment and transform existing construction practices globally. Their proprietary digital platform eFORCE is trying to solve the labour shortage, improve worker safety, strengthen risk management, and boost efficiency and productivity of the Indian Construction industry. Ranjitha Kumar (UIUC)Ranjitha Kumar is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she leads the Data-Driven Design group. She is also the Chief Research Scientist at UserTesting, a market leader in digital user experience testing. Ranjitha received her PhD from the Computer Science Department at Stanford University in 2014, and was formerly the Chief Scientist at Apropose, Inc., a data-driven design company she founded that was backed by Andreessen Horowitz and New Enterprise Associates. Michael Sun (Founders)I am the Vice President of Founders – Illinois Entrepreneurs, the premier student run entrepreneurship organization at UIUC. Our mission is to expand and bolster the entrepreneurship ecosystem at UIUC and across the Midwest. I’m currently a Sophomore majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science with a minor in Applied Statistics. |
Do you dream of having your own startup? Are you curious to know what it would be like to work on a startup and wonder what you can do as a student to prepare? This session will feature current students, alums and faculty who can share their experiences, give you tips that they wish someone had shared with them, and answer your questions. |
| 5:00pm Wed Mar 17, 2021 | Negotiating Your Offer | Nathan Handler (Reddit)
Nathan Handler graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2015 with his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. He has been involved with the open source community for over a decade, primarily through his roles as an Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux Developer and a member of the freenode IRC staff. During the day, he works at Reddit as a Site Reliability Engineer on the Video team based out of San Francisco. Previously, he has worked at Orchid Labs to help build the crypto powered VPN and as a Site Reliability Engineer on Yelp's Operations team. As a student, he co-directed HackIllinois 2015 and helped found Sail. He served as ACM Treasurer in 2012 and was a sysadmin and member of the Reflections | Projections staff. Corly Leung (Google)Corly Leung graduated from UIUC with a BS/MS in Computer Science. While she was there, she helped plan HackIllinois, Sail, and was president of WCS. She interned at State Farm, Groupon, and Google, and is currently a Software Engineer at Google Lens - a visual search engine. She has worked on integrating third-party content, data quality, and visual search quality within Lens. During her time at Google, she has also been part of Google TechDay, a version of Splash, and have taken cooking, aerial silks, and acroyoga classes! Arnav Mishra (Siteline)I graduated from Illinois back in 2018 with my bachelors + masters in CS. While there, I ran HackIllinois and OTCR Consulting and was also involved with Contrary Capital, ACM, and WCS. On campus, you could usually find me splitting between hanging out at Firehaus (a now closed bar that had karaoke), grabbing a burger at Joes, or furiously working in a Siebel conference room. I grew up in the Bay Area, and after graduation returned here to join Rubrik, an enterprise data management startup. Then, this past April, I joined Siteline, a construction-tech startup, as a SWE and the 5th employee - Joel Poloney, another alumni, is actually one of the founders of the company. Previously, I interned at Uber and VMWare. While I am currently a SWE, I've heavily considered consulting, product management, and VC roles so I'm happy to talk about any of those. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, sports of all kinds (both playing and watching), and reading fantasy/sci fi books. Lauren Stites (UIUC)Lauren Stites, Associate Director with Engineering Career Services at Illinois. An energetic communicator with a passion and proven ability to motivate and empower others to take action towards their career goals while providing resources to encourage informed decision-making. She brings over a decade of experience with personal branding, career coaching and preparation of early-career talent for the job market. |
So now you've got an offer from someplace you'd like to work. But you're not sure how to evaluate the offer.... Can, or even should, you ask for more? What is and what isn't negotiable? What should you be asking about that you aren't? Are there any resources to help you determine if the offer is competitive? This session will feature panelists who can share their perspectives as alums, recruiters, and career services advisors and provide insight and advice on what you can expect, how you can prepare, and do's and don'ts of negotiating. |
| 5:00pm Wed Mar 24, 2021 | No Class | No classes meet today. | |
| 5:00pm Wed Mar 31, 2021 | Equity & Justice in Computing Conversation: Auditing Discrimination Online | Karrie Karahalios (UIUC)
Karrie Karahalios is a University Scholar, Professor of Computer Science, and Co-director of the Center for Just Infrastructures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed an S.B. in Electrical Engineering, an M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and an S.M. and Ph.D in Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. Her main area of research is Social Computing. Research themes include social network analysis, relationship modeling, social media site development, social media feed algorithm awareness/literacy, algorithm audits, social visualization, group dynamics analysis, the creation of tools to encourage speech in children with speech delays, and tools for speech-delay diagnoses. The work has resulted in a book and over 100 publications. She has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society Fellowship, the A. Richard Newton Breakthrough Research Award, an NSF Early Career Award, and an NCSA Fellowship, among others. |
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and later on gender identity and sexual orientation. The Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act augmented previous acts to prohibit housing and credit discrimination. Originating in the social sciences, the audit, has emerged as one means of civil rights law enforcement. Housing audits, for example, compare outcomes offered to two equally qualified home seekers in different groups (e.g., different racial groups) by a realtor. While housing audits are mandated in a face-to-face context, what accountability can we expect in an online algorithmically-mediated environment? I this talk, I discuss techniques for approach online audits, and the opportunities and challenges surrounding their operationalization. |
| 5:00pm Wed Apr 07, 2021 | Career Opportunities outside of Traditional Tech | Brianna Ifft (Francis W. Parker School)
I am a high school computer science teacher at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, but that is a recent change... I graduated from UIUC in 2017 with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science. During undergrad, I served as the WCS Outreach Chair and revived ChicTech retreats! I also had an opportunity to volunteer with Girls Who Code in its baby stages. Following graduation, I worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch for three years, where I worked on full stack web applications for an operations team in Brazil (and also still got to volunteer with GWC). In June 2020, I left corporate America and found my way to Parker; here I can combine my interest and expertise in technology with my passion for teaching and mentoring. Being a first year teacher during a pandemic has been a wild ride, but I'm so glad to be where I am! Lavanya Iyer (JP Morgan)Lavanya Iyer is a Scrum Master and Full Stack Web Developer, leading three teams at JPMorgan Chase. Lavanya is also a member of the company's internal Women in Technology organization. Outside of work, she has participated in the Clarifai Champions program, which provides tools and resources for Technologists to become Developer Evangelists. She currently helps organize annual Aspirations Award ceremonies for the National Center for Women In Technology, which congratulate high school women for their achievements in technology. Lavanya feels that Computer Science is helping shape our world into a better place to live in. Literally any profession in the world today needs some aspect of Computer Science in any shape or form. It is up to our generation to increase this influence and solve many of the problems that plague our world today. Lavanya hopes to be a significant contributor towards this goal through her work at JPMorgan Chase and other activities. Daniela Markazi (John Deere, UIUC)Daniela Markazi graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in December 2019 with dual bachelor's degrees in Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE). As an undergraduate student, she created her own computer science class within the ABE Department, conducted multiple research projects, including one in robotics engineering, and held leadership positions in various STEM organizations. Currently, she is an Informatics Ph.D. student at the School of Information Sciences at UIUC. Her research focuses on how technology is designed to contribute to, enhance, and influence social change and development. Outside of the university, Daniela has been working since 2018 as a robotics engineer at the John Deere Technology Innovation Center in Champaign, Illinois. |
Do you wonder what you might do with your computing degree if you don't work in a traditional tech company? Actually, there are a ton of options where you can use your computing skills and have an exciting and fulfilling career. This session will feature panelists who can share their personal perspectives and experiences and provide tips on how to find these non-traditional opportunities, including advice on how to succeed and things to watch out for. Come with questions. |
| 5:00pm Wed Apr 14, 2021 | Tips for Successful Onboarding for your Job or Internship | Erik Muro (M1 Finance)
Erik Muro received his B.S. in Computer Science in 2015 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently working at M1 Finance as a Senior Data Engineer and building his own business part-time as an Independent Business Owner at ACN. Rashad Russell (Beyond Light Creations)Rashad Russell is a software engineer, consultant, and founder of Beyond Light Creations, a software design and technology consultancy that advises on tech solutions and helps companies build custom software. Rashad's work specializes in web design, web application development, mobile development, e-commerce, database design, API design, and tech strategy. He is a class of 2016 Computer Science & Linguistics graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Shachi Solanki (GoDaddy)I received my B.S in Computer Science from UIUC in December 2019. During my time at Illinois I had two software engineering internships. The first was with The Climate Corporation in 2018 and the second was with GoDaddy in 2019. Since March 2020 I have been working full time for GoDaddy as a software engineer. |
So now you've landed that great job or internship and the start date is creeping up on you. What should you do now to ensure you have a smooth start? What can you prepare in advance? What should you do during your first week or two? How about things to watch out for or avoid? What's different when everything is remote? This session will include advice from students and alums who can share their experiences and answer these questions and more. |
| 5:00pm Wed Apr 21, 2021 | Equity & Justice in Computing Conversation: Tackling the Human Bias in Robotics | Ayanna Howard (The Ohio State University)
Dr. Ayanna Howard is the Dean of Engineering at The Ohio State University and Monte Ahuja Endowed Dean's Chair. Previously she was the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Endowed Chair in Bioengineering and Chair of the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Howard’s research focus is on intelligent technologies, encompassing advancements in artificial intelligence, assistive technologies, and robotics. Dr. Howard received her B.S. in Engineering from Brown University, and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. Dr. Howard is an IEEE and AAAI Fellow and recipient of the CRA A. Nico Habermann Award, Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award, and NSBE Janice Lumpkin Educator of the Year Award. To date, Dr. Howard’s unique accomplishments have been highlighted through a number of other public recognitions, including being recognized as one of the 23 most powerful women engineers in the world by Business Insider and one of the Top 50 U.S. Women in Tech by Forbes. In 2013, she also founded Zyrobotics, which develops STEM educational products to engage children of all abilities. From 1993-2005, Dr. Howard was at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. |
People tend to overtrust sophisticated computing devices, including robotic systems. As these systems become more fully interactive with humans during the performance of day-to-day activities, the role of bias in these human-robot interaction scenarios must be more carefully investigated. Bias, as a feature of human life, has often been encoded in and can manifest itself through robots and AI, which humans then take guidance from, resulting in the phenomenon of excessive trust. Bias further impacts this potential risk for trust, or overtrust, in that these systems are learning by mimicking our own thinking processes, inheriting our own implicit gender and racial biases, for example. Consequently, the propensity for trust and the potential of bias may have a direct impact on the overall quality of the interaction between humans and machines, whether the interaction is in the domains of healthcare, job-placement, or other high-impact life scenarios. In this talk, we will discuss this phenomenon of integrated trust and bias through the lens of robotic systems that interact with people in scenarios that are realizable in the near-term. |
| 5:00pm Wed Apr 28, 2021 | Grad School 101 | Robin Kravets (UIUC)
Robin Kravets is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the head of the Mobius group, which researches communication issues in all types of networks that are challenged by mobility, including IoT ecosystems, wireless LANs, sensor networks, vehicular networks, mobile social networks and personal area networks. Beyond looking at snapshots of wireless networks, she also loves taking pictures of the world around her. Kelly Mack (UIUC Alum, UW PhD Student)Kelly is a second year PhD student at the University of Washington's school of Computer Science and Engineering and is advised by Jennifer Mankoff. Her research focuses on accessibility and adaptive technology. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for undergrad, where her research focused on databases. She has done software engineering internships at several big tech companies. She has also done research internships and Snap Inc. (Snapchat) and Microsoft. Kelly aims to hold the following titles one day: successful professor, supportive mentor, 5K race finisher, and owner of multiple cats. Darko Marinov (UIUC)Darko Marinov is Professor and Associate Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His main research interests are in Software Engineering, especially improving software reliability using software testing. He has lots of fun looking for software bugs and little fun writing short bios. More info is at |
This session will help answer questions such as: What is grad school like? How is it different from undergrad? How do you pay for it? Is it for everyone? Masters vs. PhD--what do these degrees do for you? Do you need to put your life on hold when you are in grad school? What are some of the best things about grad school? It will also offer tips on how to prepare a competitive application for graduate school and external fellowships. For example, what should you write in the personal / research statement? What should you highlight in your resume? Should you take the GRE? Who and how should you ask for letters of recommendation? How are applications reviewed? Should you contact professors at the schools to which you are applying? How important is prior participation in research? Come with your questions and we'll do our best to answer them! |
| 5:00pm Wed May 05, 2021 | Career Opportunities in Big Tech | Ellick Chan (Northwestern University, Intel)
Dr. Ellick Chan is passionate about bringing advanced artificial intelligence technology to students. He has taught deep learning in Northwestern's data science program for the past 3 years and he extends his commitment to AI education at Intel where he leads university relations and research worldwide for the Intel® AI Academy. Dr. Chan holds 3 computer science degrees and an MBA from the University of Illinois where he studied operating systems and security. He brings this deep technical expertise to optimize AI systems. Dr. Chan has also worked as a postdoc at Stanford University and as a deep learning consultant serving many industries including defense, automotive and healthcare. Joanne Kao (Facebook)Joanne Kao is a software engineer at Facebook in San Francisco. Over the past three years she has worked on bullying & harassment, voter empowerment, social impact, and UI infrastructure for Instagram. Joanne is originally from the Chicago suburbs and graduated with a Bachelors in CS at UIUC in 2013. Fernanda Richnak (Microsoft)I am a Program Manager on the Outlook team at Microsoft in Redmond, WA. Over the past ten years I've focused on building delightful end-user experiences for Office 365, Microsoft Store, and Outlook. I am originally from Brazil, and grew up in Champaign-Urbana. I graduated with a Bachelors in CS at UIUC in 2010. I am passionate about increasing diversity in technology. While at UIUC I was President of Women in Computer Science (WCS) and co-founded Latinos in Computer Science (LCS). | Many computer scientists spend their entire careers in large tech companies. Do you wonder what it would be like to do that long term? Might you get stuck on a project and have to change companies to stay excited about your work? Or maybe you're concerned that if you stay too long with one company that it would be hard to change later if you'd like to? Are you worried that you would only interact with other computer scientists? Or maybe you're not convinced that it's possible to have a life and also succeed in a place like this. This session will feature alums and recruiters who can share their perspectives from the trenches - come with your questions and they will do their best to answer them! |
The intent of this section is to raise student and instructor awareness of the ongoing threat of bias and racism and of the need to take personal responsibility in creating an inclusive learning environment.
The Grainger College of Engineering is committed to the creation of an anti-racist, inclusive community that welcomes diversity along a number of dimensions, including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity and national origins, gender and gender identity, sexuality, disability status, class, age, or religious beliefs. The College recognizes that we are learning together in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, that Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous voices and contributions have largely either been excluded from, or not recognized in, science and engineering, and that both overt racism and micro-aggressions threaten the well-being of our students and our university community.
The effectiveness of this course is dependent upon each of us to create a safe and encouraging learning environment that allows for the open exchange of ideas while also ensuring equitable opportunities and respect for all of us. Everyone is expected to help establish and maintain an environment where students, staff, and faculty can contribute without fear of personal ridicule, or intolerant or offensive language. If you witness or experience racism, discrimination, micro-aggressions, or other offensive behavior, you are encouraged to bring this to the attention of the course director if you feel comfortable. You can also report these behaviors to the Bias Assessment and Response Team (BART) (https://bart.illinois.edu/). Based on your report, BART members will follow up and reach out to students to make sure they have the support they need to be healthy and safe. If the reported behavior also violates university policy, staff in the Office for Student Conflict Resolution may respond as well and will take appropriate action.
Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, substance/alcohol abuse, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance, social development, and emotional wellbeing. The University of Illinois offers a variety of confidential services including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, psychiatric services, and specialized screenings at no additional cost. If you or someone you know experiences any of the above mental health concerns, it is strongly encouraged to contact or visit any of the University's resources provided below. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do -- for yourself and for those who care about you.
The University of Illinois is committed to combating sexual misconduct. Faculty and staff members are required to report any instances of sexual misconduct to the University's Title IX Office. In turn, an individual with the Title IX Office will provide information about rights and options, including accommodations, support services, the campus disciplinary process, and law enforcement options.
A list of the designated University employees who, as counselors, confidential advisors, and medical professionals, do not have this reporting responsibility and can maintain confidentiality, can be found here: wecare.illinois.edu/resources/students/#confidential.
Other information about resources and reporting is available here: wecare.illinois.edu.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Student Code should also be considered as a part of this syllabus. Students should pay particular attention to Article 1, Part 4: Academic Integrity. Read the Code at the following URL: http://studentcode.illinois.edu/.
Academic dishonesty may result in a failing grade. Every student is expected to review and abide by the Academic Integrity Policy: https://studentcode.illinois.edu/article1/part4/1-401/. Ignorance is not an excuse for any academic dishonesty. It is your responsibility to read this policy to avoid any misunderstanding. Do not hesitate to ask the instructor(s) if you are ever in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism, cheating, or any other breach of academic integrity.
Illinois law requires the University to reasonably accommodate its students' religious beliefs, observances, and practices in regard to admissions, class attendance, and the scheduling of examinations and work requirements. You should examine this syllabus at the beginning of the semester for potential conflicts between course deadlines and any of your religious observances. If a conflict exists, you should notify your instructor of the conflict and follow the procedure at https://odos.illinois.edu/community-of-care/resources/students/religious-observances/ to request appropriate accommodations. This should be done in the first two weeks of classes.
To obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course instructor and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES, you may visit 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-4603, e-mail disability@illinois.edu or go to https://www.disability.illinois.edu. If you are concerned you have a disability-related condition that is impacting your academic progress, there are academic screening appointments available that can help diagnosis a previously undiagnosed disability. You may access these by visiting the DRES website and selecting "Request an Academic Screening" at the bottom of the page.
Any student who has suppressed their directory information pursuant to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) should self-identify to the instructor to ensure protection of the privacy of their attendance in this course. See https://registrar.illinois.edu/academic-records/ferpa/ for more information on FERPA.