Upward Bound Program wins renewed federal grant

NIU’s Upward Bound program has earned a renewed $1.8 million federal grant to provide another four years of service to high school students in Rockford and Aurora.

Upward Bound offers college preparation activities to low-income youth whose parents do not have bachelor’s degrees. Services include after-school tutoring up to five days a week, SAT and ACT test preparation, assistance with applying for financial aid, a six-week summer program on the NIU campus, visits to colleges and universities and other cultural enrichment activities.

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Between sips of cappuccino at an Internet café in Moscow, an NIU theater student thousands of miles from home hurriedly taps on the computer keyboard. Imagine the moment as only a movie would, with an echoing voice-over speaking the words aloud as he or she types them.

“Sunday, June 15, 2003. OK. The most amazing experience so far. I visited the cemetery where Stanislavsky and Chekhov are buried. I cannot explain what went through (me) while I knelt in front of Stanislavsky’s tomb and asked that he bless all modern actors with the passion and soul that he had for the theater … I was truly moved by my surroundings, and I left knowing that a little bit of that history came with me.”

Fifteen students from the NIU School of Theatre and Dance drank in some of that history in June as they took classes at the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre School that Konstantin Stanislavsky helped to found a century ago.

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From the total reconstruction of Gilbert Drive on the east, to the remodeling of the Chick Evans Field House on the west, it is another busy construction season on the NIU campus. All of the hustle and bustle might make some wonder whatever happened to the tight budgets so much in the news?

Don’t be fooled, says Bob Albanese, associate vice president for Finance and Facilities and director of the Physical Plant. Many of the major projects under way this summer are being funded by money appropriated by the state several years ago, or by money unavailable for other uses.

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Huskie Bash – NIU’s annual Move-In Day party that welcomes new students and their parents to campus – is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, in Central Park on West Campus.

Tickets are $10 and available at the event. Each ticket provides 10 coupons redeemable at vendor locations.

NIU President John Peters, Residence Hall Authority President Keith Kruchten and Student Association President Shaun Crisler will speak at 5 p.m. NIU Huskie Football Coach Joe Novak will speak at 6 p.m. Freshman players will be introduced and sing, accompanied by the NIU Pep Band.

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George Shur, who last year retired as the university’s general counsel after nearly 20 years of service, was recently selected to receive a Life Membership by the National Association of College and University Attorneys.

NACUA extends Life Membership honors to individuals who are deemed to have made outstanding contributions to the association.

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Community Dance School
registration begins

Fall registration for the NIU Community Dance School has begun.

Classes meet weekly from Sept. 8 through Dec. 12. The school is sponsored by the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and is directed by Diane Rimmer.

The Community Dance School’s mission is to reach all members of the NIU community and surrounding areas, teach the fundamentals of various dance forms and to allow each individual to expand upon his or her own abilities. Its main focus is to explore the joy of movement through dance, instilling a strong appreciation and understanding for it. -- MORE

Law Library announces fall hours

The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours from Sunday, Aug. 17 (1 to 10 p.m.) through Sunday, Nov. 30 (10 a.m. to 2 a.m.)

Hours Monday through Thursday are 7:15 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday hours are 7:15 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday hours are noon to 11:30 p.m.

Exceptions include Labor Day weekend, when the library is open from 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, and Monday, Sept. 1. During Thanksgiving recess, the library is open from 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26 and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29. It is closed Thursday, Nov. 27, and Friday, Nov. 28.

Reference services are available from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and from noon to 11:30 p.m. Sundays.

For more information, call 753-0505.

HRS schedules orientation
for new faculty, staff

Human Resource Services has scheduled this year’s orientation sessions for new faculty and Supportive Professional Staff whose appointments begin in August.

The orientation program presents new academic employees with basic information on employment, insurance and benefits, payroll, campus resources and support services and an introduction to university non-discrimination and compliance policies. -- MORE

Course Mapper no longer available
for Fall 2003

Course Mapper (CM) – made unnecessary by Blackboard – will no longer be available after summer 2003 in ITS student computing labs.

Hours of processing time will be saved by eliminating CM, which allowed faculty and students to share access to drives G, H, I, J, K and L. These drives will no longer be available.

Faculty and students now are encouraged to use the Blackboard course management system to share files and store course-related documentation. Blackboard allows the flexibility of using the World Wide Web to access shared information in a secure environment.

For more information on how to migrate to Blackboard, please contact the NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at 753-0595 or facdev@niu.edu. Click here for more information.

--CLICK HERE