Northern in the News
a sampling of NIU's recent media mentions compiled
by the Office of Public Affairs

National and Regional Headlines
Local Headlines
Broadcast Media Placements

National and Regional Headlines

Public Administration Professor Irene Rubin commented on the Village of Oswego's plan for shepherding municipal spending. "You can put policy in a budget," Rubin said in the Nov. 18 Aurora Beacon News. "You can say, `this is where we want to go and here's how we're going to get there.' As a public-management tool, there's just no question the budget is a better device."

NIU's Center for Telematics will help students stay ahead of the rapidly growing technological curve, reported the Nov. 28 Elgin Courier News. "We hope to create a place where people who go through the program have a place to come back to," said Communication Associate Professor David Gunkel. He also predicts wider use of broadband cable and DSL Internet connections in the home. "Even in an economic downturn, people still pay for entertainment. I think we'll find that people will be willing to spend money on the Internet."

NIU Professor Emeritus J. Dixon Esseks reported at the third annual conference of the Corporation for Affordable Homes of McHenry County that there are only a handful of homes in the county in the price range for people employed in fields such as teaching and nursing. "A lot of the people who are needed to power the commerce of our industry cannot afford this," he said in the Nov. 29 Daily Herald. "We don't want to lose those people." Esseks noted that housing trends in the county during 1999 and the first three quarters of 2000 indicate the median price of homes was $216,978, far above the $132,500 he deemed affordable for those with a median income. The Elgin Courier News ran a similar story.

Fantasy plays an important part in childhood, whether in the form of imaginary friends or hearing a bedtime story, said Associate Professor Sherry Fang and Professor Susan Bowers, both from the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences. In the Dec. 2 Elgin Courier News, Fang said creative or dramatic play helps children explore symbols and develop their creativity and language. Bowers said the term "fantasy" sometimes gets misconstrued because for children it means what is pretend, as opposed to what is real. Fang also noted that children start to have nightmares between the ages of four and eight because they are sometimes unable to differentiate between reality and fantasy.

Several NIU faculty members were featured in the Dec. 3 Elgin Courier News story about emotionally-overcharged media coverage of Sept. 11. Journalism Associate Professor Orayb Najjar said that personalizing to the point of entertainment has been prevalent in broadcast media. "They take a very political subject and strip it of its essence. This is dangerous because some things are more serious than broadcast media make them out to be." Journalism Professor Abraham Bass added, "We have to personalize a tragedy in order to understand it. And often, we have to find a human level by finding someone we can empathize with, and share our fears and lack of knowledge of what may happen next."

The Dec. 9 Washington Post examined the possibility of terrorist attacks wiping out the United States government. "We don't have anything in place that would deal very adequately with that matter," said History Professor David Kyvig. "That could be a cause for chaos." Kyvig noted that the framers of the Constitution understood warfare, but not terrorism, nuclear bombs and biological germs such as anthrax. "James Madison was not exactly in tune with the nuclear age," he added.

The Dec. 9 New York Times recognized NIU as the first university to begin a social norms marketing campaign to reduce drinking. Michael Haines, director of NIU's National Social Norms Resource Center, said social norms marketing works because after years of "wars on drugs, kids, teens and STDs, the time is right for messages that are affirming and positive." The article reported that nine years after the campaign's inception, incidents of heavy drinking by NIU students were down 44 percent.

The Dec. 9 Aurora Beacon News mentioned History Professor Christine Worobec's book, "Possessed: Women, Witches and Demons in Imperial Russia," which was awarded the Heldt Prize in the category of Slavic, East European or Eurasian women's studies. "So much of the research on peasants in the Russian Empire, including my own, had ignored the topic of religion that I felt compelled to broach it," she said. "I'm flattered that my peers have acknowledged my book. It's a great honor." Worobec also won a Heldt Prize a decade ago for a book on peasant Russia in the post-emancipation period.

NIU's Department of Geography offers the state's only bachelor's degree in meteorology, reported the Dec. 13 Elgin Courier News. "We're proud of the fact that our students graduate with superior critical-thinking skills," said Andrew Krmenec, chair of the Department of Geography. "Those skills give them flexibility to work in a wide variety of fields." The article noted that NIU's meteorology alumni include a number of TV forecasters, such as The Weather Channel's Melissa Barrington.

The Dec. 14 issue of FermiNews, a publication of Fermilab in Batavia, mentioned a survey by NIU's Public Opinion Laboratory to gauge neighbors' opinions of the Fermilab facility. Results concluded that 90 percent of respondents say they trust Fermilab to do the right thing environmentally and 81 percent feel Fermilab is open to feedback from community members.

The Dec. 15 Rockford Register Star examined the Regional Initiative for Community Excellence (RICE), a planning group tackling such topics as distance learning. "There are students who would not come to our campus because their lives preclude that," said Anne Kaplan, NIU's vice president for administration and a RICE member. "It's an obstacle to lifestyles. We must begin to deal with that."

The Dec. 16 Rockford Register Star featured Cindy Lynn Ostergard, director of Northern Illinois Radio Information Service, in their "Get To Know Me" column. Ostergard is a Rockford native.

Computer Science Assistant Professor Nicholas Karonis was noted in the Dec. 19 Aurora Beacon News as part of a team of researchers that received the Gordon Bell Award, one of the world's most prestigious prizes for computing research. The Sycamore News also ran a similar story.

The Jan. 6 Chicago Tribune featured a story on what first-graders should know by the end of the school year. "As methods change—from rote math to hands-on and from drilled phonics to whole language to a balance between the two—the good teachers know that there is no one-size-fits-all," said Toma Heldt, instructor in the Department of Teacher Education. "They take the good techniques and adapt them to the kids."

English Assistant Professor Michael Day was interviewed in the Jan. 7 Kane County Chronicle about his discussion series on Japanese literature and culture, held at the Geneva Public Library earlier this year. "One basic reason we learn about other cultures and value systems is to understand more about our own," Day said. "Around the world, there are a variety of different ways of looking at truth, beauty, good behavior and communication."

The Jan. 24 Kane County Chronicle reported that English Professor William Baker and History Assistant Professor Beatrix Hoffman have received National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships. Baker will research Wilkie Collins, a famous British writer who pioneered the detective novel, and Hoffman will study the history of U.S. health care. "Americans spend more per capita on health care than other industrialized countries, yet more than 40 million Americans have no health coverage at all," Hoffman said. "So it's not only an unjust system but an inefficient one."

Psychology Assistant Professor Holly Orcutt was consulted in January on the way police officers react to deaths on the job. She noted that about 30 percent of people who encounter a traumatic event will suffer from post-traumatic stress or depression. "Guilt can be very debilitating," she said in the Jan. 25 Aurora Beacon News. "If a person feels guilty about the death he caused, he believes he's a bad person. He will need all the help he can get from professionals, family, friends and co-workers."

The January 2002 issue of the scientific journal/magazine Discover mentioned Anthropology Associate Professor Winifred Creamer's discovery of Caral, the oldest city in the Americas, in their "year in science" section.

NIU Associate Professor Anne T. Berg received a $4.1 million grant from the National Institute of Health for her epilepsy research, reported the Feb. 1 Kane County Chronicle. "Epilepsy is still very much a mystery," Berg said. "It can be a serious, chronic illness that is extremely debilitating and hard on both children and their families." Berg will receive the grant over the next five years.

The Feb. 5 Elgin Courier News featured a story on Provost Ivan Legg, who lived in the residence halls during his first year at NIU. "Part of higher education is the social structure, and many students come here having been around one type of people all their life," Legg said. "Sometimes I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have some of the other administrators live in the dorms, as well," he added in the Jan. 6 Daily Chronicle.

Kinesiology and Physical Education Professor Marilyn Looney's research study on judging bias in figure skating was featured in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper on Feb. 16. Looney took the highly disputed results of the 1994 women's Olympic skating final and subjected them to what is known as the Rasch measurement, which breaks down the judging process to take into consideration the judges' idiosyncrasies and the program's technical difficulty. The Elgin Courier News ran a similar story.

Biological Sciences Associate Professor Virginia Naples took part in Rockfords's Out of the Rock Paleo Festival in February at the Burpee Museum of Natural History, where she discussed pre-historic Ice Age saber-tooth cats. A photo of Naples, as well as an interview about her research, was included in the Feb. 23 Rockford Register Star.

Rockford's black barbershops and salons offer a place of cultural gathering and an opportunity for entrepreneurship, noted the Feb. 23 Rockford Register Star. "Beauty salons and barbershops have been one of the main avenues for African Americans to start their own businesses," said Laverne Gyant, director of the Center for Black Studies. She added that by frequenting black beauty salons or barbershops, African American people "learn how to deal with our relationships, how to dress—the ABC's of how to be men and women."

The Rockford Register Star examined the competition between the Convocation Center and Rockford's MetroCentre on Feb. 24, although Convocation Center Director John Gordon downplayed the rivalry. "We're in different markets. We may, in fact, enhance each other and give promoters coming this way more options," he said. The MidWeek also announced the booking of the Northern Illinois Farm Show, scheduled for January 2003. "We're very excited about this event and looking forward to the long-term relationship with the Northern Illinois Farm Show," Gordon added. The Daily Chronicle and the Sycamore News ran similar stories, and an update was featured in the Northern Illinois Real Estate Magazine in January.

Communication Associate Professor Ferald Bryant spoke on Martin Luther King Jr.'s `I Have a Dream' speech in the Feb. 24 Rockford Register Star. "What I like about the speech and what I try to point out to students is...the musicality of the speech, the repetition of the refrain. It has an eloquence that you can look at in the context of its musical rhythm," he said. Laverne Gyant, director of the Center for Black Studies, said, "For Americans in general, it made them look at African Americans in another way, and more importantly, it made white Americans look at what they had been doing for hundreds of years."

In response to crime in Rockford by released juvenile offenders, Sociology Professor David Luckenbill said communities should not rely on the penal system to address the issue of youth violence. "Violence in the lives of people ages eight to 12 is a very good predictor for violence at a later age. Don't expect it to suddenly end," he said in the Feb. 25 Rockford Register Star. "People have to look at their communities, families, schools and the resources available to kids like after-school and mentoring programs." FCNS Associate Professor Laura Smart added that parents need support in order to keep their children out of gangs. "I've got a 15-year-old daughter, and we've gone through some rough times, but we were able to resolve it because of a strong foundation we have that started at birth," she said.

NIU officials say more students are interested in classes on terrorism since the Sept. 11 events, reported the March 3 Aurora Beacon News. "Students see terrorism has a certain relevance to the future, said Political Science Chair Daniel Kempton. "The war on terrorism won't be won in the short term. It is a problem that this generation will face in years and decades to come." However, William Oleckno, professor in Public and Community Health, said there will be a declining interest with the public. "There will be certain people motivated to keep the torch going. But in terms of the issue being in the public consciousness, it will wane," he said. The Daily Herald also ran a similar story.

Numerous NIU professors were consulted for a special five-part series about the aftermath of Sept. 11 in the Aurora Beacon News. On March 4, History Professor David Kyvig said that patriotism relates to the way media has symbolized the events that took place. "Flag-waving is something they can do because it's very visual, but it will be interesting to see what happens as time goes on. There already is a considerable amount of skepticism about the way the government is conducting itself," he said. On March 6, Don Larson, director of Registration and Records, noted that it's too early to tell if students are changing their majors because of Sept. 11, but travel insecurities and a desire to be near family may prompt some high school students to choose colleges closer to home.

History Professor David Kyvig's book "Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939: Decades of Promise and Pain," was noted in the March 5 Rockford Register Star. "What's distinctive about this period, and relates to our own era, is that the 1920s was the advent of the mass consumer society," Kyvig said. "New technologies such as automobiles and radio quickly turned from toys for the wealthy to necessities for ordinary people." The MidWeek ran a similar story.

Marketing Associate Professor Carol DeMoranville spoke on the growing consumer market of "tweens," or children between the ages of five and 14, in the March 8 Aurora Beacon News. "Tweens are very influenceable, and it is easier to get to younger people nowadays," she said. "They are very exposed to media, much more so than 30 or 40 years ago." DeMoranville noted that tweens rely mainly on peer influence for purchases, and are an important market for retailers that want to create brand loyalty at an early age.

NIU researchers Amy Levin and Diana Steele have set out to change negative misconceptions about women's abilities in math. "In conversations we had with women on campus, it was very clear that a lot of them shared the larger social misperception that they have less ability or interest in math," Levin said in the Feb. 6 Elgin Courier News. The article noted that Steele and Levin's pilot calculus course for women was quite successful. "Nobody got below a C in Calculus I, and nobody withdrew from the course," Steele added. The Aurora Beacon News, Kane County Chronicle and The MidWeek also ran similar stories.

NIU has been commissioned by the Illinois Department of Transportation to study development and growth issues related to the possible outer-belt expressway in the western suburbs. "NIU is committed to playing a role in the formation of regional planning policy, particularly as it relates to the development of a framework for managing the divergent interests along the proposed outer-belt corridor," said NIU President John Peters in the Jan. 25 Chicago Tribune. "It is part of our public service mission to add our unique expertise to this important discussion." John Lewis, associate director of the Center for Governmental Studies, will head the study. The Aurora Beacon News, Daily Herald, Elgin Courier News, Kane County Chronicle and Daily Chronicle also ran similar stories.

Chick Evans Field House closed its doors to Huskie basketball in February, and thousands of fans were on hand for "The Last Hurrah." The Chicago Tribune, as well as the Daily Herald, ran tribute stories about the building. "It was an overwhelming and a special privilege to come here and close out Chick Evans Field House," said Men's Basketball Coach Rob Judson in the Feb. 24 Daily Chronicle. "We talked about enjoying the last moments. We've come a long way and we don't want this to be the end of it." The Daily Chronicle also ran a special section on the field house and former NIU athletes.

NIU Bioinformatics Professor Long Mao is part of a team of researchers who described the draft sequence of the rice genome in the April 5 issue of the prestigious journal, Science. "The genetic map for rice will hopefully lead to the development of more nutritious rice, higher yields, more economical means of production and crops that are more tolerant to harsh growing conditions," Mao said in the April 6 Aurora Beacon News. Rice, the staple cereal for half of the world's people, appears to be more densely populated with many more small genes than most scientists had expected. "The genetic map for rice provides us with a critical resource that allows us to better understand the genetic makeup of other crops," Mao said. The Elgin Courier News and Sycamore News also ran similar stories.

Janet Lessner, director of E-Learning Services, was interviewed on WGN Radio-Chicago last fall regarding NIU's award of a $1.56 million LAAP grant, part of the Learning Anytime, Anywhere Partnerships program. The grant will fund NIU's participation with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and Training Inc. National Association, in a project aimed to help welfare recipients cross the digital divide and sustain employment. The Chronicle of Higher Education covered news of the grant, as well.

Local elementary, middle and high school students are learning more about science, thanks to Physics Outreach Coordinator Pat Burnett and his visits to local schools. Barnett and his assistants use innovative ways to attract children to science, such as freezing flowers with liquid nitrogen and popping balloons filled with hydrogen gas. "The best part of this job is that every day I get to do this all over again. I'm always changing things to teach different concepts or sometimes I find a new, cool way to get a principle across," Burnett said in the Feb. 6 Genoa-Kingston-Kirkland News. The Daily Chronicle and The MidWeek also ran similar stories.

Kendall Thu, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, conducted a study that detected an unusual foul-call pattern in NCAA Division I officiating, which shows that the presence of a national television spotlight influences referees' calls. "Referees tend to keep nationally televised games close by calling a significantly higher number of fouls against teams that are ahead in the score," Thu said in a March 15 United Press International article. "This results in more competive games that maintain an edge of suspense for viewers," he added. The news also was covered by the Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Herald, Elgin Courier News, Illinois Information Radio Network, WSCR Radio-Chicago and WREX-TV Channel 13 and WTVO-TV Channel 17, both in Rockford.

Local Headlines

Last fall, a group of NIU's marketing students worked on a project to determine the marketability of a new water-ski handle that causes less stress on the skier's arms. "I've had a lot of students tell me that it is the toughest three credits they have ever earned," said Marketing Associate Professor Carol DeMoranville in the Nov. 25 Daily Chronicle. "It's not like a typical school project where the only consequence of slacking off is a lower grade. Here you are dealing with somebody's livelihood." The Sycamore News ran a similar story.

The Illinois Humanities Council Board of Directors awarded NIU a $260,050 grant for the development of an Abraham Lincoln film project, reported the Nov. 28 Sycamore

News. "Lincoln's Illinois—Society, Culture and the Legend of the Frontier" and "Abraham Lincoln and the Legacy of Emancipation" will explore the former president's role in history.

The Jan. 9 MidWeek highlighted the $1 million grant awarded to NIU's colleges of Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences, in consortium with area school districts, community colleges and the Dukane Corp. The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education, will fund the Partnership to Infuse Technology into the Teacher Education Curriculum program. "It's not technology for technology's sake," said Lisa Mehlig, instructor in the College of Education. "It's about these tools that may motivate and entice kids and foster their learning in ways a book or other traditional tools might not."

The Jan. 25 Daily Chronicle announced the partnership between NIU and Rock Valley College (RVC) to offer bachelor's degreee programs in Rockford by this fall. "We've worked hard to find innovative ways to make public education more accessible to the area," said NIU President John Peters. Under the agreement, NIU faculty will teach courses on the RVC campus and centers, and graduates will receive NIU degrees.

President John Peters accepted a position on the Castle Bank board of directors, reported the Feb. 20 MidWeek. "We are pleased to strengthen our relationship with NIU and be in a positive position to draw upon Dr. Peters' knowledge and experience as an outstanding teacher, political scientist and administrator," said Dewey R. Yaeger, president and CEO of Castle Bank. The news also appeared in the Daily Chronicle and the Rockford Register Star.

NIU celebrated Body Image Awareness Week in February, and the Daily Chronicle ran a related article on Feb. 25. "There are a lot of students who either come to campus or are already here that have eating disorders," said Becky Lewis, fitness coordinator for the Office of Campus Recreation. "I think the media plays a big part in it. I also think there is peer pressure for false images."

From Broadcast Media

In February, CNN News interviewed Meteorology Associate Professor David Changnon about the effects of El Nino. The interview appeared on March 7.

WIFR-TV Channel 23 (Rockford) featured Men's Basketball Coach Rob Judson in March, including footage of games and practice sessions, as well as an interview with Judson regarding NIU's program and its participation in the Mid-American Conference.

In March, School of Art Professor Dorothea Bilder received local, regional and national media attention in Brazil for her solo exhibit, the first-ever art exhibit in Brazil by a U.S. artist. Among those covering the exhibit were several Brazilian television networks including No Globo, a network similar to CNN.

NIU's Chamber Choir, directed by School of Music Assistant Professor Eric A. Johnson, performed at the prestigious Universitas Cantat 2002 in Poznon, Poland, during April. Their final performance on April 21 was broadcast by Poland's public radio station. WNIJ Radio-DeKalb aired a story on this event on April 19.

NIU Department of Accountancy Chair Greg Carnes and an accountancy student appeared in a report aired nationally on the Nightly Business Report. The show aired April 2 on public broadcasting stations.

In January, NIU and Rock Valley College formed a partnership to bring bachelor's degree programs to Rockford. The partnership was covered by WNIJ Radio-DeKalb/Rockford.

NIU's Center for Governmental Studies became involved in the planning process of a proposed north/south highway in the far western suburbs, and will conduct a study for the Illinois Department of Transportation. WNIJ Radio-DeKalb covered the story in late January.

NIU's Department of Public Safety recently added a bomb-sniffing dog to the force. WNIJ Radio-DeKalb interviewed NIU Police Chief Don Grady and the owner of the company that trains the dogs for their report.

The Vermeer Quartet performed "The Seven Last Words of Christ" at NIU in April. WNIJ Radio-DeKalb produced a story on the performance including interviews, as well as airing the concert in its entirety on Good Friday.