Teague, Alexis ready
to lead NIU Steel Band

Thirty years after G. Allan O’Connor founded the NIU Steel Band, international pan superstar Liam Teague is taking the figurative baton.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago who became the recognizable face – and hands – of the NIU Steel Band since his arrival on campus more than a decade ago, Teague has grand ambitions for the country’s first and foremost collegiate steelband.

“I want to make NIU the Mecca, at least in the United States, of the steelband. I want to make this the place people come to study,” Teague said. “We are one of DeKalb’s best-kept secrets. God willing, the world will be talking about this band. That’s my goal.”

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Cliff Alexis stands outside the old Wurlitzer piano factory, scanning the scarce traffic for his 10 a.m. visitor.

Past the door that heralds the “NIU PANYARD” inside, Alexis offers a crash course in the building and tuning of steel drums – skills he is known for around the world – and eventually pulls a worn three-ring binder from his locked toolbox. Inside are design specifications, many hand-drawn, for various types of steel pans.

One of the plastic-covered pages holds a yellowing newspaper clip, probably about Alexis, but something obscures the photo and the headline. Such humility is typical of Alexis, named a Legend of Pan in 2000 and inducted last fall into the Pan Hall of Fame.

“I see people on TV getting inducted (into halls of fame) and getting awards, and sometimes they’re lost for words. It’s the same feeling. There’s so many millions of people in this world, and you get picked. I guess the one word is, ‘Wow,’ ” said Alexis, longtime co-director of the world-acclaimed NIU Steel Band. “I remember getting the call for Legend of Pan. I say, ‘Me?’ and the guy says, ‘You.’ ”

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It was a dirty job, but this time everyone wanted to do it.

Or so it seemed recently as archaeologists and student workers in NIU’s Contract Archaeology Program conducted an excavation in west suburban St. Charles. The NIU crew turned the job into a unique educational experience, inviting all comers to visit the site and get their hands dirty.

The dig site was located at Campton Hills Park, where a private surveyor in 1990 discovered a spear point fragment that dates back thousands of years. The St. Charles Park District commissioned the NIU survey of about one-half acre at the popular park to find out if any other Paleo-Indian artifacts were buried there.

Over the past two weeks, NIU archaeologists and graduate students led a series of tours that drew about 200 visitors.

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Some users of the Founders Memorial Library reference desks won’t have as far to travel this fall.

The library is consolidating all reference services to the main desk on the first floor in response to university-wide budget cuts. The library’s total rescission exceeds $400,000.

Physical moving of about 40 percent of the reference materials from the second and third floors will begin soon.

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Carmen Pursley has made a generous donation to create an endowed scholarship in the name of Wilbur Pursley, her late husband and former NIU School of Music faculty member.

Additional contributions to the Wilbur Pursley Endowed Scholarship in Music are invited. Should anyone wish to make a contribution, checks should be made out to “NIU Foundation” with the memo reading “Pursley Endowed Scholarship.”

The purpose of the fund is to provide scholarship support for junior or senior undergraduate trombone or composition students majoring in music at NIU. This fund shall be known as THE WILBUR PURSLEY ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP IN MUSIC.

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Student Affairs schedules
July 22 blood drive

A blood drive sponsored by Student Affairs and Heartland Blood Centers is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, in the Holmes Student Center. Inventories of all blood types reach critical levels in the summer.

Please call 753-1573 or e-mail at mwild@niu.edu to schedule an appointment or to sign up to help with registration and refreshments. Walk-ins are welcome. Blood donors must bring photo identification.

State raises lodging rates

The State of Illinois has approved lodging rate increases that went into effect July 1, NIU Assistant Controller Linda Timm said.

The rate increases from $60 to $70 per night for lodging in the counties of Champaign, Kankakee, LaSalle, McLean, Macon, Madison, Peoria, Rock Island, St. Clair, Sangamon, Tazewell and Winnebago. Rates in all other downstate counties are up from $50 to $60 per night.

All other rates will remain unchanged.

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.

All new employees must enroll in the health insurance plans provided by the State of Illinois Central Management Services (CMS) within 10 days of the starting date of their appointment.

Many new faculty appointments begin Aug. 16 with a 10-day insurance enrollment deadline of Tuesday, Aug. 26. Employees who fail to enroll within the 10-day time frame will be enrolled automatically in the Quality Care Health Plan.

However, the dependent coverage must be established by the employee. Therefore, unless enrollment is completed within the CMS 10-day time frame, dependent coverage cannot be established until next May during the Benefits Choice Period, with proof of medical insurability required at that time.

All sessions are held in Room 178 of the Human Resource Services building on Lincoln Highway. Scheduled orientation dates are:

1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6
9 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Aug. 12
6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19
1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20

If new faculty and SPS cannot attend these special orientation sessions, they may attend the benefits portion of the weekly orientation provided for civil service and other employees. These sessions are conducted from 9 a.m. to noon each Monday at HRS and are scheduled for Aug. 4, 11, 18 and 25.

For information, please contact the HRS Service Center at 753-6000 or visit the Human Resource Services Web site at www.hr.niu.edu. A brochure on benefits and services for faculty and SPS is also available at the Swen Parson HRS Service Center, located in room 232.

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.

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