Dear IGI community,

The last two months have brought continuing challenges. Across academia, we are navigating uncertain circumstances. There have been conflicting announcements about suspension of disbursement of federal funds and visa revocations, as well as a “Dear Colleague” letter on DEI matters. I have attended several meetings that analyze the changing situations from different perspectives. We have been working with LAS and the Office of the Provost on contingency plans. This has included the formulation of different scenarios designed to protect the integrity of IGI’s work that may be affected by stop-work orders. IGI members have been in communication during the past two months sketching out contingency plans for an uncertain future. This effort will continue to succeed thanks to the partnership among all our centers, faculty, students, staff, and community.

I am very pleased to share the news that the stop work order and termination work order that had affected REEEC’s Title VIII grant, which funds the Research Laboratory program in East European and Eurasian Studies and the Slavic Reference Service, has been lifted. The REEEC and ISRL team is hard at work preparing for the summer meeting which will host dozens of researchers from around the world on our campus to conduct research in our library’s renowned Slavic, East European, and Eurasian collections. Thank you all for staying focused on our mission of making these resources available for the research community.

In the meantime, I encourage you to keep attending our events and being part of our community. In the span of just one week, it was possible to learn about so many interesting topics! I will list only some of them here. I learned about embroideries created by women who fled the civil war in El Salvador. They stitched memories of the war, massacres, and life in refugee camps. There was a great talk about pen-pal friendships that American and Soviet women formed during WWII, and how they struggled to maintain those friendships during the Cold War and McCarthyism. Swedish author Jonas Hassen Khemiri read from his latest novel, The Sisters, on themes of identity and memory. I attended a fascinating discussion about the Democratic Republic of Congo—the history of the conflict and its implications for the African region. Graduate students who are part of the interdisciplinary minor in Gender Relations in International Development (GRID) presented their research on global human security and gender equity issues. IGI hosted an interdisciplinary symposium on climate justice and climate futures. We welcomed a visit of faculty and students from Osaka Metropolitan University who conducted a symposium on the internationality of Japanese culture. We held a conference on Andean and Amazonian archaeology and ethnohistory that included scholars from all over the Midwest.  Finally, we offered a reading of children’s stories in Quechua at the Urbana Free Library.

Going forward, we will continue to find strength in community, resilience in our shared purpose, and hope in the promise of what lies ahead. We will continue our partnership in advancing the research and teaching that are hallmarks of our institute. Together, we will learn, grow, and support one another through every challenge and opportunity. Always remember that we remain here for you—with open doors, open hearts, and unwavering commitment.

Warm wishes,

Gisela