Jeff Machota attended the U of I from 1984 to 1986 and took full advantage of what Unit One/Allen Hall had to offer. He made connections with artists-in-residence and also got involved in the anti-apartheid movement. In this interview, he discusses his early life, activism, and his impressions of the University.
Jeffrey Roberts was the only black student in the journalism program when he came to the University of Illinois in the fall of 1968. The passion for writing he brought with him to Illinois stemmed from high school experiences as a bat boy for the Chicago White Sox. In this interview, he recalls his varied experiences as a young black man at Illinois in the 60s and 70s, including: his dating life, his involvement with Project 500 and the Black Student Association, and his "Black Vibrations" column with the Daily Illini.
Jennifer Creasey Assistant Vice President of External and State Relations, Office of External Relations and Communications, University of Illinois System. Oral history conducted for inclusion in the COVID-19 Documentation Project, a collaboration between the University of Illinois Archives and the University of Illinois System.
James Andrew Dengate is an emeritus professor of Classics at Illinois and has worked with campus museums since 1975. With a B.A. from Michigan State University and M.A. and Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania, he is currently Director of Record for the Excavations at Halieis, Greece with which he has worked since 1965. Two volumes of the final reports of these excavations have appeared along with many preliminary reports.
Dengate and Pitard discuss the origins and vision of the Spurlock Museum. The collections, their organization, and repatriation are also major topics. Thumbnail image courtesy of The Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jo Jones first made contact with the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated Alpha Nu Chapter at the University of Illinois on a high school visit. She enrolled at the University of Illinois in 1959 and, although the Chapter House was sold in 1962 (the year following her initiation), she remembers her experience as an undergraduate and as an Alpha Nu very fondly. Meeting lifelong friends, experiencing personal growth, and playing cards with sisters are among the highlights she mentions.
Joe Kraus (1917-2010) came to the UI Library School in fall of 1938, but his education was suspended after Pearl Harbor in late 1941. After being drafted, he served as a teacher in the Officer Candidate School and as a director of technical libraries on Army bases during the war before eventually returning to get a PhD in Library Science during the 1950s.
Joseph “Joe” Rank’s connection with the University of Illinois goes back to 1952, when he and his family moved to Champaign-Urbana. As an undergraduate from 1965-69, he studied advertising, and was active in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the Marching Illini, and Naval ROTC. He returned to teach naval science and attend graduate school in the early ‘70s and came back once again to work at the Alumni Association from 1995 to 2018. Then, he helped establish the history and traditions program and rededicate Memorial Stadium. In this interview, he discusses these experiences and shares stories of his longtime association with the University.
