Welcome back, students.

If you're new to town or it's been a while since you've strolled down Green Street or since you've read about what's been happened in recent months in Champaign-Urbana, here's a roundup of what you may have missed.

New leaders

— Last summer the University of Illinois welcomed a new president, Michael Hogan. This time around it's a new chancellor, the leader of the Urbana-Champaign campus. Phyllis Wise, the interim president at the University of Washington, will start in Urbana on Oct. 1. Wise replaces Richard Herman, who resigned from the position in the fall of 2009 in the wake of the "Category I" admissions scandal. What's new? Besides being the first Asian-American to lead the campus (and being one of three female chancellors leading the three UI campuses) Wise has a new title. The president and UI board of trustees added the words "vice president" to the chancellor title to reflect that the chancellor reports to the president.

— Not long after the Wise announcement came the news the campus had a new athletic director. Longtime director Ron Guenther retired July 1 and the UI announced earlier this month Guenther's successor would be Mike Thomas, the athletic director at the University of Cincinnati. Thomas said he intended to be in town for the fall football opener on Sept. 3.

— Next up: provost. The provost is considered the chief academic officer for the campus. Prior to filling in as interim chancellor following Herman's resignation, Robert Easter had this position. While Easter was filling in as interim chancellor, vice provost Richard Wheeler was acting as the interim provost. What will happen with the provost position has not been announced yet.

— The new student body president (replacing the always suit-clad David Olsen) will be David Pileski.

Getting around

— You probably already noticed the new signs at the crosswalks throughout campus that went up over the summer. The yellow yield signs have been replaced by white ones featuring little stop signs on them. While you're driving through town and come upon these signs and crosswalks, instead of yielding to pedestrians, you will need to stop to allow the pedestrians to cross safely. Stop when someone's in the crosswalk. If no one's in the crosswalk, you don't need to stop.

— Bicyclists will notice a smoother First Street from University Avenue to Gregory Drive. That section has been resurfaced over the summer with new bike lanes and new street markings. New bike lanes (and curb cuts) also have been added to Fourth Street from Green Street to Gregory Drive.

Shopping and dining out

A lot's happened in the retail and restaurant world since you've been gone.

— In food-related news, Pita Pit, 611 E. Green St., C, has closed (despite a sign on its door saying it's moving to a new location.) Big Mouth's, the Chicago-style hot dog place at 408 E. Green St., also has closed.

Sushi Ichiban has replaced Sarku Japan at 619 S. Wright St.

Smoothie King moved from Green Street to the shopping plaza at Cunningham and University Avenues in Urbana.

Sliders, a burger joint owned by the same company that runs Insomnia Cookies, has moved into the former Smoothie King space at 616 E. Green St. in the heart of Campustown.

Carmon's, the downtown Champaign creperie, closed. But Bacaro restaurant owner Thad Morrow has plans to reopen it next month.

Cafe Latino, which cooks up empanadas, crepes, ice cream and other goodies, opened recently at 515 W. Town Center Blvd. across from Menard's.

El Progreso, which sells baked goods, produce, meat, canned goods and frozen foods from Central America, opened recently at the same shopping center as Smoothie King.

Construction is ongoing at the fire-damaged building on Green Street once home to Zorba's. The Greek eatery served up gyros and other items at the Taste of Champaign over the summer and is preparing for reopening sometime in late fall or early winter.

— In retail news, Old Navy moved to Market Place Mall. A new golf store, Golf Etc., opened at 907 W. Marketview Dr., C. And B. Lime, the earth-friendly retailer at 12 E. Washington St., closed, but is maintaining its online store at http://www.blimegreen.com.

If you plan to hit Urbana's Market at the Square, leave your dogs at home. The market's new pet policy asks shoppers to refrain from bringing pets.

If you're on the Quad on Thursday, drop by their farm stand from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m..

Construction updates

— Last year saw the debut of the first phase completed at Ikenberry Commons, the multimillion dollar housing complex being built to replace what some locals and students have called the "Six Pack," which is around Gregory, Peabody, Fourth and First Streets. That first phase including the dining hall and residential programs for wheelchair students who need assistance. Now that the first wing of Nugent Hall is complete, the UI is working on completing the final two wings at Nugent Hall, and those are scheduled to open next fall.

First and Peabody Drive will be the site of a suite-style residence hall (no name yet) that will open in fall 2013. Construction recently began there. This is the last year for Garner Hall; next summer, Garner will be demolished. And Forbes Hall will come down in the summer of 2013.

— While major construction continues at Ikenberry, some smaller-scale residence hall projects have recently been wrapped up on campus. For example, the dining room at Busey-Evans was updated over the summer and air conditioning was added to Hopkins Hall. Students can now sign up for laundry e-mail alerts which will tell them when a machine opens or when your laundry is done.

And this fall marks the opening of the "Scholars Community" in the Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls. This is a co-ed community on the second floor of Leonard, home to residents interested in working on research projects and other academically-focused programming.

— As for general campus construction news, the renovation overhaul of Lincoln Hall continues. It's not scheduled to reopen until next fall. The $66 million project entails updating the theater, classroom space, the portraits of Lincoln on the building's exterior, and many other improvements.

The south one-third of the Natural History Building was closed last year when the floors were found to be "structurally insufficient." However the area closed was mostly home to labs and offices. The auditorium and elevator remain open.

As for the south edge of campus, the research park will expand onto land east of First Street. And talk has resurfaced about a possible ice arena south of St. Mary's Road.

In case of emergency

There's a new vendor for the university's emergency Illini-Alert system. If you were signed up previously, there's no need to do so again. But if you're new to campus and you or your relatives haven't signed up and want to, visit the UI's public safety website, http://www.dps.uiuc.edu. You'll receive texts and e-mails when there's an emergency on campus.

Editor's note: For more on East Central Illinois, be sure to get a copy of today's newspaper for the Answer Book. It's got even more information for those who are new to town, and for those who've been here for a while.