Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of Andreas Cangellaris' arrival on the UI campus — as a young professor of electrical and computer engineering, by way of the University of Arizona.
That was four job titles and umpteen honors ago.
A frequent member of the UI’s List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent By Their Students, Cangellaris was named an associate provost fellow in 2006, the M.E. Van Valkenburg Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2007, then head of the department, then dean of the whole college, then vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, the role he’s had since 2017.
A 1981 graduate of Greece’s Aristotle University who added his master’s and Ph.D. from Cal, Cangellaris took us for a guided, virtual tour of some of his most memorable places and spaces on and around the campus he’s spent more time on than any other.
Actually, the place was the Champaign Country Club. My department head, Professor Dick Blahut, took me there for lunch and shared the news that I was going to be invested as the M.E. Van Valkenburg Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The interactive, augmented-reality mural in the Siebel Center for Design.
I was interviewing for a faculty position with the ECE department and, at that time, in 1997, Everitt Lab was the department‘s headquarters. That’s where I spent most of my time during the interview.
I will never forget the first dinner the evening I arrived. The restaurant we went to is not around anymore. It was a very poorly attended dinner. Yo-Yo Ma was performing at Krannert that night and competing with him for people’s attention was “mission impossible.”
The second floor of the Grainger Engineering Library, even though much larger and majestic, brings back memories of the main hall in the public library in Argostoli, the city on the island of Kefalonia, Greece, where I was born and raised.
Altgeld Hall. For me, it’s our community’s iconic, academic cathedral.
As its long-overdue renovation gets under way, keeping its compelling exterior intact is our responsibility and commitment.
Krannert Center and State Farm Center.
Long gone are the days when I could afford the luxury of going to a favorite place to think.
I love Italian food. I enjoy being surprised by the rotating menu at Timpone’s.
