December 8, 2003, Northern Today Abridged

Accountancy earns highest rankings

The Department of Accountancy in the NIU College of Business has secured its highest-ever rankings in the annual Professor’s Survey conducted by the Public Accounting Report.

For the second straight year, accounting professors across the country rated NIU’s undergraduate program seventh in the nation, tying last year’s all-time high rank for the program. Among graduate programs, NIU placed 10th, moving up six spots from the previous poll.

“These are tremendous honors, and well-deserved for the members of our outstanding faculty who have worked so diligently to uphold our program’s longstanding reputation for excellence,” said Greg Carnes, chair of accountancy.

The survey, conducted annually by the magazine, asks academics in accounting programs across the country a simple open-ended question: “What are the top five accounting programs you would recommend to someone considering the accounting profession?”

Since the survey debuted 22 years ago, the NIU undergraduate program has been a fixture on the list, with rankings fluctuating from year to year, which is what made the program’s second straight year at No. 7 so gratifying.

“Historically, the nature of these rankings has been for the top six programs to remain very consistent – Texas, Illinois, Brigham Young, USC, Notre Dame and Michigan – with the remainder of the list being very fluid. That is why it was so gratifying to see our status among the upper echelon remain steady,” Carnes said. “We would love to see the list start becoming solid in the top seven spots – with NIU holding one of those.”

NIU is one of the smallest schools ranked on the list, and sits ahead of five Big 10 institutions.

While the undergraduate program has been a regular part of the annual rankings, the graduate program is a relative newcomer. It first cracked the top 20 just last year, entering the rankings at 16th before vaulting to 10th in this year’s survey. In doing so it passed program from institutions such as Virginia, Texas A&M and Pennsylvania.

Helping to propel the graduate program up in the rankings was a revamping of the program in recent year. The changes were made in response to new requirements for those wishing to take the CPA exam.

“We put a lot of effort into revising the graduate program, which meant a lot of work by the faculty,” Carnes said. “Recognition like this is a direct result of those efforts and well-deserved.”

Three NIU professors win Fulbright awards

A trio of NIU professors are recipients of prestigious Fulbright Scholar Awards for 2003-2004 year.

The three are Kenton Clymer, who will chair the Department of History beginning next summer; Rebecca Houze, assistant professor in the School of Art; and Lemuel W. Watson, chair of the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education.

Clymer, Houze and Watson are three of about 800 U.S. faculty and professional who will travel abroad to some 140 countries for the 2003-2004 academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United Stages and other countries.

The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Over its 57 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. They are among more than 250,000 American and foreign university students, K-12 teachers and university faculty and professionals who have participated in one of the several Fulbright exchange programs.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.

Here is a closer look at NIU’s three.

Kenton Clymer

Kenton Clymer received one of only two distinguished Fulbright grants to China this year. He traveled in August to Beijing, where he is spending two semesters teaching the history of American foreign relations at Renmin University of China.

If Clymer’s name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, that’s because he won’t officially assume his NIU post as chair of the Department of History until he returns in July. “I applied for the Fulbright grant before the NIU position was advertised,” he says. “After NIU appointed me, I was offered the Fulbright. The university was kind enough to give me a year’s leave.”

Clymer specializes in the history of American foreign relations, with an emphasis on Southeast Asia. He has authored three books and numerous articles. Additionally, he just completed a two-volume history of the U.S.-Cambodian relationship, which will be published next spring.

Clymer won two previous Fulbright awards to teach in the Philippines and in Indonesia.

He also held the George Bancroft Visiting Chair in American History at the University of Göttingen, Germany. In Beijing, Clymer and his wife Marlee live on the 17th floor of a residence hall filled with Ph.D. students. One big challenge is learning the language.

“Although the students have had English in school, it is still useful to speak Chinese,” Clymer says. “When we lived in Indonesia, I learned the language reasonably well, but Chinese is much more difficult. I hope to develop a conversational ability.”

Rebecca Houze

Rebecca Houze’s Fulbright project has roots in her graduate school days.

“I worked in Vienna while I was writing my dissertation,” said Houze, a second-year member of the School of Art faculty. “I wrote about Viennese modern art and design, and I actually spent a year in Vienna while I was doing that. In some ways, it’s kind of an extension of that.”

Houze will return to Vienna – and also to Budapest – to examine photographs, articles and reviews of early 20th century decorative arts and design and the ways in which these objects (such as furniture or vases) were displayed in shops and advertised to the public.

She will work from February through May at the Museum of Applied Arts, both in Vienna and Budapest, as well as the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest. She hopes to view textiles, such as hand-embroidered table linens and traditional costumes that were collected by modern artists, and photographs of painted decoration on the interior of buildings and in furniture.

The Fulbright research on the relationship between art and commerce draws on a folk art revival popular in Hungary and other parts of the Austrian empire before World War I.

“The Austrian government was able to appropriate the folk art for its own ends – paper currency, postage stamps – using these folk art styles,” she said. “A lot of modern designers decorated pavilions at the worlds fair and exhibition, hired by the Austrian government to work in a particular way linked with the official style of the Austrian government.”

Lemuel Watson

For Lemuel W. Watson, chair of the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education, his upcoming Fulbright experience in Belarus is more about teaching than learning.

Watson has a three-month appointment at the National Center for Postsecondary Education at Belarussian State University, where he will serve as a lecturer and specialist in the country’s mission to improve its system of higher education.

He will collaborate with “people from all spectrums of their society” – from government officials, college and university administrators and faculty to young school children – as they work to understand and enrich the national system, the state systems and the systems within individual institutions.

“My focus will be on helping them in whatever area they need. I imagine I will be talking about funding issues, faculty development and educational outcomes,” said Watson, new to NIU this year. “Since Belarus is one of the ‘old-new’ countries, since the fall of the U.S.S.R., it is like most of the eastern European countries. It’s a developing country. It’s a place where they’re rebuilding what they need.”

Watson said he plans to coach the Belarussians on “how to empower themselves and how to improve what they have. I want to help them think of their own models to move education forward in their country.”

FCNS report on ‘food security’ reminds
holiday revelers of nutritional disparity

As most Americans gather this month for abundant amounts of turkey, ham, chocolate and perhaps even fruitcake, many in the northern Illinois region will face a more sparse plate.

Such a statement is common knowledge – and heard frequently at this time of year – but the nutritional issues of the low-income population go far beyond simple hunger.

Many have “food insecurity,” a sense that they are unable to provide adequate food for themselves and family. Food insecurity can lead them to go without food, to eat too much food, to make unhealthy food choices or to force unwise food behaviors on their children. Furthermore, many of the food insecure lack the knowledge necessary to change or even where to seek information and help.

Food security means having access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. The food must be readily available by legal and socially acceptable means, nutritionally adequate and safe.

“People in our back yard and next door to us may not be getting their food needs met, or fear that they won’t get their food needs met,” said Ellen Parham, a professor in the NIU School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences and coordinator of the dietetics, nutrition and food systems program.

“They probably run out of food and run out of money before they get another stock. They may get to the point where there’s not anything to eat, or what’s available may not be adequate or quality, or they’re not comfortable with the means to get it,” she added. “A food pantry is usually everyone’s last resort.”

Food insecurity can cause a feast-or-famine mentality.

“They may have to go to their sister’s house to eat. Their children then are not hungry, and they’re not hungry, but this is not really acceptable. When people have had that experience, we hope that they will manage more effectively next time, but more likely they will anticipate the insecurity and act unwisely,”

“A wise behavior is to say, ‘I’ve got this amount of money to last this amount of time. I’m budgeting to buy the most frugal foods.’ In someone who has had the experience of food insecurity, they might say, ‘Oh, we made it through the month. Now we’ve got some money. Let’s go and have some steaks. Let’s invite the family over.’ Not everyone who is food insecure suffers actual hunger of malnutrition, but they all expect to. This is, in part, a factor that contributes to the higher incidence of obesity among low-income people. A person anticipating hunger will overeat when food is available.”

Parham and others in Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, located in the College of Health and Human Sciences, conducted an assessment of the nutritional education needs of low-income residents in NIU’s 17-county service region.

NIU’s study surveyed 119 food pantry clients from eight counties. Less than half – only 45 percent – indicated any participation in the food stamp program.

Ages ranged from 18 to 90. Most – 81 percent – were white. Hispanics, however, are under-represented in the study. Many declined to participate because they did not speak or read English and could not complete the survey questionnaire.

Eighty percent report running out of food before the end of the month at least sometimes, and 42 percent indicated they run out food either most or all of the time. For most, this situation is what sends them to the pantry.

“In a household with children, it’s usually the adults who will go hungry. They’ll cut back on their intake in order to feed the children, which, of course, is the appropriate thing to do, because the children’s needs are more pressing,” Parham said. But “most food pantries are limited by funding, what they have available and what facilities the family has. If they don’t have a refrigerator, you can’t give them milk.”

National Art Education Association honors Madeja

Stan Madeja, a professor in the NIU School of Art, found his life’s calling as an undergrad at the University of Minnesota.

Madeja started toward an engineering career – a metal smith, he long had loved simply making things – but stumbled into art during his liberal arts classes. An art professor named Reid Hastie then encouraged the young artist to pursue teaching as well. Hastie became Madeja’s mentor as he eventually went on to earn three degrees and, in 1956, began teaching art in secondary schools.

Forty-seven years later, as Madeja looks forward to a spring retirement, he is being named the National Higher Education Art Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association.

He will receive the award April 17 at the 2004 NAEA Convention in Denver.

“This is a nice way to leave. I’ve been in art education most of my career, and I’m pleased to be acknowledged by colleagues,” Madeja said. “They’ll invite me back next year to give a paper, which is a good way to summarize my career. I’ve always been a producing artist, and I think teaching art and producing art are compatible with one another.”

Madeja originally came to NIU in 1967 as an art professor, but left after one year for Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Arts and Humanities Program of the U.S. Office of Education. While there, he helped mold a campaign for schools to integrate the arts into the core curriculum.

He returned to DeKalb in 1983 to become dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, a position he held until 1994, when he stepped down to return to his first love.

“Deans only last so long. It was time for a change,” he said. “I always wanted to finish out my career as a teacher.”

The administrative ranks were not ready to lose Madeja, though, and in 1997 he became head of the art education division.

Since then, the program has become one of the country’s largest producers of art teachers, certifying up to 60 each year and placing 99 percent of graduates in jobs. It competes for students on a level with the nation’s top schools, including the prestigious art education programs in the Big 10. Enrollment in NIU’s undergraduate program has risen to 185, and the number of students pursing master’s degrees with a specialization in art education has quintupled from 12 to 60.

Madeja also points to the hiring of key professors, including Doug Boughton and Kerry Freedman, a husband-and-wife team recognized internationally for their work in art education, and Elizabeth Valence, the former director of education at the St. Louis Art Museum. Longtime Professor Deborah Smith-Shank, meanwhile, is the 2003 Illinois Higher Education Art Educator of the Year.

“The program we’ve built is able to compete with any program. I’m very proud of it. There are very strong programs in the Midwest, and we hold our own with all of them,” Madeja said. “Our students have to know the subject area. We give them a strong base in their own discipline, which includes the history of art, studio processes and techniques and the art’s relationship to the popular and visual culture. We’re also on the forefront of how we can use the new imaging technology.”

NIU accountancy students write honor pledge, code of conduct

As the accounting profession continues to mend a reputation damaged by recent scandals at Arthur Andersen, Enron, WorldCom and other companies, students in the NIU Department of Accountancy have struck a small blow for professional ethics by writing their own honor pledge and code of conduct.

“It seemed like something that was needed, since after graduation any student that becomes a CPA will be required to adhere to a number of ethical codes,” said Ryan Cleary, 22, of Mt. Prospect.

Now a graduate student in the program, Cleary was instrumental in the creation of the code while he was an undergraduate.

The idea for the code was suggested at the start of Cleary’s junior year, when all students in the nationally respected program (ranked 26th in the latest rankings by U.S. News and World Report) are introduced to the topic of professional ethics.

“I talk about how we are all accountable and responsible for our actions, and share with them examples from places where I have worked that have a pledge or a code of conduct,” said Pam Smith, who has given these presentations for the past 10 years. “I have always thought it would be a wonderful legacy for a group of students if they were to develop such a thing.”

But no one ever took up that challenge until Cleary.

He began by contacting other accountancy programs across the country for examples of student-derived pledges and codes, but quickly discovered there was none. Undaunted, he recruited a group of about 10 students and, together, they set about crafting the pledge.

After a semester’s worth of work and haggling, they arrived at a straightforward, eloquent pledge that encourages students to commit to behaving honorably in all their academic pursuits.

In the end, the pledge proved the easier part of the task, Cleary said.

When students began hammering out the Honor Code, which provided some more specific guidelines, they quickly became bogged down in semantics and arguments over how specific the guides should be. Whereas the pledge had been developed with little outside assistance, the students finally turned to a skilled arbitrator for assistance in crafting the code.

“As accountants we are very analytical, and perhaps not as artistic as some other people on this planet,” Cleary said. “He showed us that creating these things is more of an art than a science. He provided us a broader context in which to work and helped us realize that we all wanted the same things. After that, the extraneous stuff just sort of fell away
and we were able to get to the heart of the matter.”

The resulting document was less a list of rules, and more a set of virtuous behaviors to be aspired to.

Both the pledge and the code were submitted to the faculty, the department’s Executive Advisory Council and to student leadership organizations within the department for review and input. The final draft incorporates many suggestions from these reviews, but remains very close to those presented by the student committee.

“The faculty was very excited to see students take such initiative,” said Greg Carnes, chair of accountancy department.

“A major part of accountancy education is ensuring that students understand the codes of ethics that apply to their chosen field. From the time they enroll, we treat our students as professionals, so expecting them to adhere to a code like this is just an extension of that philosophy,” he added. “The code is posted in the lobby of the departmental office, is presented to each student during orientation, featured on the department Web page, and is included in the course materials distributed by many professors.”

“These students did an awesome job. Each and every one of them put tremendous energy and effort into it,” said Smith, who helped facilitate the process, but tried to take a hands-off approach. “I think the fact that it came from students lends much more credence to the pledge and the code.”

New online course delves into Catholic Church history

NIU is offering a new online course focusing on the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Distinguished Research Professor Stephen Haliczer will lead the course, which begins Jan. 31. The author of six books, Haliczer is a renowned expert on Catholic Church history and is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on the Spanish Inquisition.

The course will explore the evolution of the Roman Catholic Church from the period of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) to the present. The course is geared toward traditional students, working adults, seniors or anyone interested in the topic.

“Although the course will discuss the beginnings of Christianity, and how it evolved within the religious framework of the ancient world, it is not really about religion,” Haliczer said. “Instead, the class deals fundamentally with the Roman Catholic Church as an institution.”

Haliczer notes that the church has undergone numerous crises throughout its history. Both the Reformation and the French Revolution, he said, nearly doomed the church to extinction.

“More than anything, this course is timely because the Catholic Church again is experiencing a turbulent time in its history,” Haliczer said. “The Reformation and French Revolution both presented very serious crises, but I would say this current period is even more serious.”

Modern day crises include debates over church authority, reproductive rights, the role of women, the role of the laity and the disciplining of priests involved in sexual scandals. “I try to put these critical issues into historical perspective,” Haliczer said. “The course is really an examination of the church’s institutional and political history.”

The External Programming Office of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is sponsoring the church history course. Registration for credit or non-credit is open now through Jan. 26.

For more information, visit www.niu.edu/clasep/profdev/HIST320.htm or call 753-5200.

DeKalb County Community Foundation partners with NIU for Golden Years Plaza

The DeKalb County Community Foundation has funded two projects through the gerontology program in the NIU College of Health and Human Sciences that benefit seniors at Golden Years Plaza.

The foundation’s check for $1,235 will purchase exercise equipment for the plaza, located on Taylor Street, as well as books and tapes to train students who volunteer to befriend the seniors.

Pamela “Pommy” Macfarlane, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education in the College of Education, will coordinate an exercise program with her students beginning next spring. The books and tapes, on topics such as communicate with people who are hard of hearing and tips on being a caregiver, will help students participating in the “Senior Friends Program.”

COMD offers virtual seminar

The NIU College of Health and Human Sciences and its Department of Communicative Disorders recently invited area professionals to participate in a virtual seminar broadcast by the American Academy of Audiology. This continuing education opportunity, presented by Patricia Kricos of the University of Florida, spoke to the importance of monitoring, intervention and educational issues for children with unilateral hearing loss.

The presentation addressed questions such as: Is it true that a child only needs one good ear to learn language? In this era of early identification of hearing loss in children, how soon should intervention begin for babies identified with hearing loss in one ear, and what factors need to be considered in designing appropriate intervention for younger as well as older children with unilateral hearing losses?

All costs were covered by the NIU Speech and Hearing Clinic.

Scholarship honors memory of Sally Saksa

A scholarship has been established honoring the memory of Sally Saksa, a 37-year NIU employee and former administrative secretary in the Division of International Programs. Saksa died Nov. 4 after a long battle with cancer.

The Sally Saksa Study Abroad Scholarship will assist NIU students planning to study overseas. Saksa was known for her dedication to International Programs and as a mentor to many students.

“Sally Saksa’s life was focused on care and concern for others,” said Sally Stevens, longtime presidential secretary. “Since Sally was employed in the Division of International Programs, it is natural for friends and colleagues to support a scholarship endeavor that will give financial care and concern to study-abroad students.”

Contributions to the scholarship fund may be sent to the attention of Anne Seitzinger at the NIU Study Abroad Office, Williston Hall 417, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, 60115.

Seitzinger, who spoke with many people who knew Saksa, offers this tribute to her longtime friend.

A DeKalb native, Saksa began working at NIU after graduating from high school in 1957. She served in several clerical positions, working in the offices of former NIU President Leslie Holmes, Business Services, the Physical Plant and Career Planning and Placement.

She joined the Division of International Programs in 1982 and worked there until her retirement from NIU in 1994.

“Sally and I worked together for 11 years,” said Daniel Wit, who founded the NIU Division of International Programs in 1969.

“During that period she demonstrated that she was a loyal, energetic and dedicated person – a great administrative secretary. Personally, she was also a warm concerned human being who empathized with people in trouble,” Wit added. “When you combine her job-related characteristics and her personal attributes, she was a fine human being who reached out to others. Her passing is very sad and a great loss to her family and the NIU, DeKalb and Sycamore communities.”

Saksa served as an ambassador for NIU to countless international students and visiting foreign administrators and dignitaries.

She also was active in the NIU and local communities. She served on the Operating Staff Council for three years, and was awarded the Operating Staff Outstanding Service Award in 1992. Saksa was instrumental in planning the welcome reception for former NIU President John LaTourette in 1986, and she delivered the welcome speech on behalf of the Operating Staff Council.

Saksa also served on the DeKalb Planning Commission, and was one of the first volunteers for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), an agency that works on behalf of abused and neglected children. She also volunteered for the DeKalb County Hospice and was an active member of St. Mary Parish in DeKalb. At the time of her passing, Saksa was employed by Catholic Charities.

“During the past 40 plus years, I was privileged to have known Sally as a loyal friend,” said James Harder, former NIU vice president for Business Services. “Her dedication to Northern and her ready smile will remain as fond memories.”

When Saksa came to International Programs in 1979, she reorganized the office. Later, when Wit retired, she was effectively “the glue that kept the people of the division together as a team,” said Dena Funkhouser, former business manager for the division and now the assistant director in the Office of Finance and Facilities.

Sharon Howard, director of University Resources for Women, served as acting dean of the division at that time.

“During the time we worked together, Sally’s skill, good sense, tact and compassion were critical to getting the division and those of us who worked there through an extremely difficult period,” Howard recalled. “As a newcomer to that office, I had to rely heavily on Sally’s memory, her efficiency and her readiness to go the extra mile to keep things moving in the right direction. She came through every time.”

Saksa was also viewed as an “NIU mom” by students who studied abroad and looked to her for guidance and reassurance, according to Pat Sauter, former administrative assistant in the Office of the University Council.

“Her intense desire to assist was a result of her professionalism, but also came from the heart,” Sauter said. “In 37 years of service to the university, Sally established a reputation for being hardworking, enthusiastic and dedicated far beyond the call of duty.”

Saksa is survived by her sister, Betty (Dave) Vicini of Shorewood, three nieces, two nephews, several cousins and countless friends.

Kudos

Gregory Barrett

Gregory Barrett, professor of clarinet in the NIU School of Music, has a special fondness for music written by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Barrett, a clarinetist, was reading Sibelius’ biography in hopes of a mention of a chamber music work with clarinet when he stumbled on a musical mystery.

In 1891, Sibelius began writing a piece for flute, clarinet and five strings while studying in Vienna. He wrote to a friend that it was “… completely like a fairy tale in the romantic style …” Sibelius rewrote the piece several times until it became an orchestral piece, “En Saga.”

At some point, the chamber version was lost. The orchestral score was first kept in the library of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra but, somehow, it also disappeared. In the 1970s, it miraculously was found in an antiquarian shop in Oxford and, amazingly, returned to the Helsinki Philharmonic.

Barrett was given a copy of this orchestral score by the Helsinki Philharmonic and began reconstructing the lost chamber work from it. When it was complete, Breitkopf & Härtel, a major international publishing house located in Wiesbaden, Germany, offered to publish the work. The Austrian-Finnish Friendship Society asked to sponsor the world premiere in Vienna, the city where Sibelius wrote the original work.

In June 2003, Barrett and six musicians from the Lahti (Finland) Symphony met in Vienna for rehearsals and the premiere concert. The performance was held in the Brahms Hall of Der Musikverein, famous for its annual televised New Year’s concert. The Finnish Embassy gave a gala reception after the performance.

Tanuja Singh

Professor of Marketing Tanuja Singh has been selected by the Academy of Marketing Science as North American program chair for the academy’s 2005 World Congress to be held in Muenster, Germany.

The Academy of Marketing Science is devoted exclusively to the marketing professorate and is on the forefront of the marketing discipline and is considered one of the premier organizations in the field. Singh has been active in the organization for many years, and in the past has served as a track chair.

As program chair, Singh will be responsible for many aspects of the congress, including identifying and organizing the various tracks and recruiting academics from around the world to chair each. She also will be active in calling for and selecting papers, inviting plenary session speakers and developing special sessions to be presented.

Heating Plant employees

Employees of the Heating Plant recently were honored by the Illinois State Water Survey for their expertise in maintaining water quality in all water-based heating and cooling systems on campus.

For the fourth straight year, that department earned the highest score in the state for their work, earning 92 points out of 100. That four-year streak is thought to be unprecedented in the 55 years that the state has monitored such systems.

The goal of the program is to extend the lifetime of the heating and cooling systems, to keep them operating efficiently and to reduce maintenance. Such measures result in short and long-term savings.

The program also helps determine best practices to recommend to the 87 other sites monitored by the state at agencies such as the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health and Human Services. The NIU Heating Plant has originated several such practices.

“The key to the success is the good personnel that you have,” said Charles Curtiss, an assistant chemist with the Illinois State Water Survey, who presented the award. “We can make all the recommendations in the world and it won’t do any good if you don’t have good people.”

Operating Staff Council presents open forum with SURS director

NIU’s Operating Staff Council will sponsor a public forum with Tom Morelock, State University Civil Service System (SUCSS) executive director, and his staff from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of Holmes Student Center.

The purpose of the SUCSS is to establish a sound program of civil service personnel administration for many educational entities in Illinois, including NIU.

Morelock, who was appointed to his position July 1, 2002, previously served as director of enterprise information systems in NIU Human Resource Services for four years. He served in various capacities for 22 years in the private sector, mostly with the Pillsbury Co. in Springfield.

Morelock will give operating staff employees the opportunity to learn more about the State University Civil Service System, and he and his staff will answer questions from individuals.

Topics that will be covered are online testing and Operating Staff Council, scoring of civil service exams, sensible classification specifications, and a systems office that works as the advocate for NIU’s operating staff.

For more information, contact Sara Clayton at 753-9526, or see the Operating Staff Council Web site at http://www.niu.edu/osc.

Alumni Association seeks annual award nominations

NIU’s Alumni Association is seeking nominations for its 2004 Alumni Awards Program.

The program recognizes graduates who have achieved national, regional or statewide prominence either in their professional fields or through their involvement in civic, cultural or charitable activities. The nomination deadline is Friday, Dec. 12.

For more information or to request a nomination form, contact the Alumni Association at 753-1452 or e-mail alums@niu.edu. Visit www.myniu.com to learn more about the Alumni Awards Program and view previous recipients.

Individuals may be nominated for the following awards:

The Distinguished Alumni Award
The most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association, the Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to an alumnus from any of the seven colleges.

F.R. Geigle Service Award
This award is given to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding service and commitment to the best interests of NIU. This award may be given to non-alumni.

Outstanding College Alumni Awards
Seven Outstanding College Alumni are chosen to represent the university’s seven colleges, highlighting the diverse disciplines of a comprehensive university.

Outstanding Young Alumni Award
This award is presented to an alumnus who received his or her undergraduate degree from NIU within the past 10 years.

DeKalb to host walkers for peace

Members of Steps for Peace are coming through DeKalb and welcome the community to meet them at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, and hear their message for global peace.

The four walkers are on a cross-country pilgrimage from Portland, Me., to the California coast to spread the peace platform of Congressman Dennis Kucinich, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. The walkers will arrive in DeKalb in time for the local weekly peace vigil from 5 to 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, in Memorial Park, on the corner of First Street and Lincoln Highway. There will be a potluck in their honor afterward at the Unitarian Universalist Church on the corner of Fourth and Locust streets. Each of the four will speak briefly on their inspiration for the arduous journey.

The Steps for Peace walk was initiated Oct. 17 by 21-year-old Iowan Jonathan Meier. Since its inception, Steps has picked up three more members: Clara Wilson, 25, of Lexington, Ky.; Tom Schmitz, 48, former management consultant; and his son Tak, 14. They usually average about 20 miles a day. From DeKalb, they will go through Rochelle to the Sterling/Rock Falls area.

The DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice, which sponsors the weekly peace vigil, is hosting the walkers and also has offered to host at a later date representatives of other candidates in the March primary who wish to present their anti-war message to our community.

The pubic is invited to the vigil and to the supper and presentation afterward. For information about the potluck, call Joe or Patty Rieman at (815) 758-4897, who are providing soup. There is no charge, and it is not necessary to bring food, but a goodwill offering will be taken to help cover the supper and walkers’ expenses.

SPS council seeks nominations for annual awards for excellence

The Supportive Professional Staff Council is requesting nominations for the Presidential Supportive Professional Staff Award for Excellence.

The award is to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the university. All Supportive Professional Staff are eligible. If you have previously nominated an individual, please consider re-nominating them. Four awards will be presented, and each award will be $1,000. In addition, each awardee will receive a plaque in recognition of the accomplishment.

The nominator is asked to address the following topics in a letter addressed to the SPS Awards Coordinator:

• Significant contributions made by this individual to the university. (Consider service, support and professionalism.)
• Evidence of excellent performance this individual has demonstrated in her/his position.
• Evidence of commitment to her/his professional development.
• Nominee’s involvement with committees or organizations.

A completed application consists of the Nomination Referral Form and four letters: a nomination letter and three letters of support. The support letters must address the above four topics. Only these four letters will be considered for each nominee.

All nominations must include the nominees’ and nominator’s name, title and department. Awardees will be announced by the president in February, and awards will be presented at a reception hosted by the president in early April. Nominators are responsible for submitting the complete set of nomination materials.

The Nomination Referral Form, nomination letter and letters of support should be sent to J. Daniel House, SPS awards coordinator, and must be received in the Office of Institutional Research (LH103) by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17. There will be no extension of the deadline.

Nominations sought for NIU’s outstanding women

NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women will recognize the achievements of outstanding women who will graduate from NIU in 2004.

In cooperation with the Office of the President, the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, Women’s Studies Program and the Office of University Resources, the awards honor a select group of senior women, graduate students and third-year law students for their contributions to the university through leadership, community involvement, volunteer service and scholarship.

Preference in the selection process is shown to women with a GPA of 3.0 or better.

The deadline for nominations is Dec. 19. For a nomination form, call 753-9614 or visit www.niu.edu/women/pcsw/nonform.shtml online.

12-8-03