/PRNewswire/ KCIC, a consulting firm that helps companies manage their product liabilities, has expanded its leadership team by welcoming Diana Kantner as.
June 3, 2021
Two new faculty members who specialize in Native American and Indigenous literatures will join the Department of Literatures in English for the fall of 2021.
The hires of Jodi Byrd, currently faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Juliana Hu Pegues, currently faculty at the University of Minnesota, build upon the 2019 addition of Kiowa filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer to Performing and Media Arts in broader efforts to increase faculty diversity, said Derk Pereboom, senior associate dean for arts and humanities and the Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy.
“On a number of fronts, the College of Arts and Sciences is working to advance the cause of Indigenous and Native American studies, and these two hires are a very important part of that vision,” Pereboom said.
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The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in which the maternal death rate has been rising. Each year, about 700 deaths are due to pregnancy, childbirth or subsequent complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When someone dies while pregnant or within a year of childbirth in Illinois, that’s considered a maternal death. Karen Tabb Dina is a maternal health researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who serves on a state-level committee that’s trying to figure out what’s killing these mothers.
The group’s most recent analysis found that about 75 women in Illinois die from pregnancy-related causes each year. Consistent with national trends, Black women are at greater risk than white women, and most of the deaths were preventable.
Chemical engineering senior Awele Uwagwu grew up in Nigeria, where his life was shaped by the dominant oil and gas industry. Now, while studying at MIT, he has started his own company to bring efficient and affordable solar energy back to Nigeria.