We at Illinois Institute of Technology will be hosting the September 17 meeting of the IBHE FAC. The meeting will run from 8:30am to 3pm in the Armour Dining Room in the basement of the Hermann Union Building, 3241 South Federal Street, Chicago. We will be using the Trustees Dining Room adjacent to the Armour Dining Room for breakout sessions. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. I have enclosed two maps showing the location: one at low resolution, and the other at higher resolution. Parking arrangements and wireless connectivity for you are still being negotiated: I'll provide an update about a week before the meeting with that information.

We have a block of rooms reserved at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, 350 W. Mart Center Drive, at a rate of $175 per night plus taxes and parking. The rate is set up for the nights of 16 September and 17 September, for those of you who might choose to stay over Friday night.

We are definitely offering both the White Sox - Twins baseball game at US Cellular Field and the Santorini's dinner as social events on Thursday evening, September 16. I will be leading a group to the ballgame, and my colleague, Howard Eglit of IIT's Kent College of Law, will host the group at Santorini's restaurant, 138 S. Halsted Street, Chicago. I have received answers from fewer than half of you about your Thursday night plans; I'd be grateful to hear from the rest of you as well by return email.

Those of you who would like to use public transportation from the hotel to the social events or to IIT on Friday will find that it's pretty easy to do. For the Holiday Inn - Santorini trip, you can cross the river bridge just south of your hotel and continue west and south on Wacker Drive to West Madison Street. You can catch a #20 bus west to Halsted Street, where the restaurant is; or you can simply walk west on W. Madison for seven more blocks. The bus fare is $2.25. If you instead wish to drive to the restaurant, the easist route would be to drive north on N. Orleans St to W. Grand Avenue, turn left, and follow Grand west to Halsted. Turn left (south) on Halsted and follow it about 12 blocks to Santorini's. There is valet parking available at the restaurant, and there is metered street parking along some of the streets west and north of the restaurant.

For the Holiday Inn - US Cellular Field trip, it's even simpler. Walk across the river bridge and continue south and east to the corner of State and Lake, where you can catch the southbound CTA Red Line Train, which will be marked "95th Street". Disembark at the 35th/Sox Park stop, emerge at the main (south) entrance to the station, and walk a block west to the ballpark. Again, the fare is $2.25. We'll gather our group (both the people taking the train and the people coming by other means) just outside the south entrance to the train station around 6:30pm so we have plenty of time to get into our seats before the 7:10 game start. I'm arranging for IIT to buy the tickets for you, and you can reimburse us later.

For the Holiday Inn - IIT trip, I would recommend that you take the Green Line rather than the Red Line. To do that, walk south across the river and then east along Lake Street to Clark and Lake, where you can catch the Green Line train southbound to the 35th / Bronzeville / IIT stop. Exit by the north exit of the station, which deposits you right on 34rd Street, on the southeast edge of campus. Walk a block north, two blocks west, and you're there. To drive from the Holiday Inn to IIT, I would recommend going north on North Orleans Street to West Ontario Street, where you can get onto the feeder ramp for the southbound Kennedy Expressway (I90/94). Follow the Kennedy south to 31st Street, turn left (west) onto 31st, and follow 31st to State. Visitors' parking is in the lot on the east side of State Street at 32nd Street, i.e., one block south of 31st.

I've supplied maps of the public transportation routes for both the Santorini trip and the UC Cellular trip and the IIT trip. I've also supplied a driving map for the trip from the hotel to Santorini's and from the hotel to Hermann Union at IIT.

I'm working to organize an architectural tour of the campus following the end of the meeting on Friday. That will probably begin in the McCormick - Tribune Campus Center (MTCC), just east of State & 33rd, and will run about a half hour. You'll be able to view the fabled Ludwig Mies van der Rohe buildings on campus, as well as the MTCC itself. I'll offer you my own opinions of the Mies buildings, but only if you're interested.

Please let me know if there are other aspects of the campus or the meeting plans for which you'd like more information. I'm also open to setting up additional activities either Thursday night or Friday afternoon if you have any specific interests.