June 9, 2003, Northern Today Abridged

NIU sets sights on Ohio administrator
who aims to expand university research mission

NIU appears to have landed its top candidate – an accomplished scholar, award-winning teacher and experienced administrator – to lead the Graduate School and shape the university’s research mission for years to come.

The Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee of the NIU Board of Trustees on Thursday recommended approval of the appointment of Rathindra N. Bose as vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, effective July 1. The chemistry professor currently holds the identical title at Kent State University in Ohio.

The full NIU Board of Trustees is expected to confirm the appointment at its June 19 meeting.

Bose will be responsible for maintaining NIU’s high standard of graduate studies and for providing leadership in expanding faculty research and scholarly activities. He plans to hit the ground running and already has a list of ambitious goals.

Among them: doubling the amount of external funding that the university attracts for research, to $100 million within five years.

“I think it’s doable,” Bose said. “I want to enhance the existing graduate programs and expand doctoral programs in a couple of areas, mostly interdisciplinary. Achieving these goals will require increased funding, and I intend to work with faculty, the president, the provost and the NIU Foundation to attract more government grants, industrial support, private donations, endowed assistantships and endowed faculty positions.”

Bose holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Georgetown University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Rajshahi University in Bangladesh.

Summer enrollment nears 10,000

A weak summer job market and fewer internship opportunities for students, combined with greater competition for classes during the regular school year, are nudging summer school enrollment higher.

According to Director of Admissions Bob Burk, summer school enrollment is about 350 students ahead of this same time last year, putting NIU on track for a summer enrollment of about 9,800 students – undergraduate, graduate and law school. The top three colleges for summer enrollment are Education (2,499), LA&S (2,495) and Business (1,390).

This year’s upsurge follows a jump of about 400 students last year. Those substantial increases indicate just how popular – and/or necessary – summer school has become for some students, Burk said.

“I know that a lot of college presidents were looking at cutting summer classes – but we didn’t want to do that. It’s a matter of service to our students,” Burk said. “With the job market and internship market so tight, at least our students can continue on with their education.”

NIU scientists help refine genetic map of rice

Two Northern Illinois University researchers are part of a team of scientists announcing that they have completed detailed gene mapping of a rice chromosome.

Long Mao and Mitrick Johns, both professors in the NIU Department of Biological Sciences, participated in the sequencing of chromosome 10. With 23 million base pairs of DNA, it is believed to be the smallest of the dozen chromosomes that make up the rice genome.

“This is the first completed map of this chromosome,” Mao said. “Its sequencing is another key step toward unraveling the genetic makeup of the world’s most important food crop.”

Led by Rod A. Wing of the University of Arizona, more than 100 scientists from universities and research institutions across the country participated in the chromosome’s gene mapping. The scientists describe their findings in the June 6 issue of the prestigious journal, Science.

The rice genome presents a potential genetic blueprint for other cereal crop plants.

Vorha recommended for acting dean of CEET

Promod Vohra has been recommended for the position of acting dean in the Northern Illinois University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.

The recommendation was made Thursday by the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee of the NIU Board of Trustees. The full board will consider the recommendation June 19.

Vohra came to NIU as a student and was the first graduate student ever in the electrical engineering program.

“My heart is at NIU,” Vohra says. “I feel emotionally and professionally connected to the university. One of my primary goals in this job will be to cultivate the same pride of ownership in all of our faculty, staff, students and alumni. I want them all to have a vested interest in the success of the college.”

Pending BOT approval, Vohra, who has been associate dean of the college since 1997, will officially become acting dean July 1. He succeeds Romualdas Kasuba, who has been dean of the college since its inception in 1986.

Theater students study in Russia

A shiver seems to dance along Chris Hibbard’s spine when he speaks of Konstantin Stanislavsky, the legendary Russian trainer of actors, or of studying in the master’s home.

Hibbard’s lack of breath is easily explained: He and 14 other students in the NIU School of Theatre and Dance are indeed taking some acting classes this month in Stanislavsky’s Moscow home, now part of the century-old Moscow Art Theatre School that Stanislavsky helped to found.

“It’s a pilgrimage for an actor,” says Hibbard, a graduate student on the month-long trip that began June 1. “It’s the Mecca of our craft.”

Stanislavsky (1863-1938) is considered the father of actor training in the Western world, and his influence is great in the United States. He spent several weeks in 1925 working with American actress Stella Adler, his only American student, who later would impart his teachings to such screen legends as Marlon Brando, James Coburn and Robert DeNiro. Stanislavsky’s work also deeply influenced Sanford Meisner, whose technique for training actors is used at NIU.

“We’re all a bit giddy,” says Alexander Gelman, director of the NIU School of Theatre and Dance. “There’s no Russian theater student who wouldn’t want to study at the Moscow Art. Few get the chance.”

New NICADD equipment scintillating for scientists

The Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development (NICADD) has a new tool that will help scientists capture data on the basic building blocks of the universe.

The extruder, which stretches 70 feet in length in assembly-line fashion, is up and running at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia.

The cutting-edge, custom-built extruder line will produce scintillating detectors – plastic devices injected with dye so they glow when struck by high-energy particles or photons. Scientists who work in the field of accelerator physics can use scintillators to see what’s happening during their experiments.

Historian takes top prize with book on all that jazz in Japan

NIU History Professor E. Taylor Atkins has won a major award for his book on the history of a uniquely American art form as it developed and took hold in an unlikely setting: Japan.

“Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan” won the annual John Whitney Hall Book Prize for best book on Japan or Korea. The Association for Asian Studies Northeast Asia Council presented the prize, which includes a $1,000 stipend, at its spring conference in New York.

Atkins says he wrote the book for anyone interested in jazz, music or Japan. “Blue Nippon” (Duke University Press, 2001) presents a social and cultural history of jazz in the land of the rising sun from the 1920s to the 1990s.

Atkins devotes equal attention to the circumstances and practice of jazz at various historical junctures, including “Taisho democracy,” wartime, occupation, postwar and the contemporary scene.

“The practice of jazz changed pretty dramatically, as jazz styles and historical conditions changed,” Atkins says. “During World War II, for instance, there were many marginally effective campaigns to remove jazz music’s most pernicious influences. Wartime policymakers actually tried to craft a new form of popular music with patriotic aspirations. They assumed that some degree of jazz influence was inescapable.”

College lauds FCNS academic adviser

Sharon Louis, academic adviser in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences at NIU, is the winner of the 2003-04 Excellence in Academic Advising Award.

The award was established in the fall of 1998 by the College of Health and Human Sciences. Members of the Student Advisory Committee review the nominations and select the winner. Selection is based on an individual’s interpersonal skills and caring attitude toward students as well as their mastery of institutional requirements and procedures.

Louis holds a master’s degree in family social services – an area of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences – and came to NIU two years ago to get back in the field. She previously had worked as a family support specialist for a Head Start program, an office manager for a property management company and in marketing.

“Students often turn to advisers in times of confusion,” Louis said. “Advisers must be knowledgeable enough to provide a variety of solutions so that when students leave the adviser’s office they no longer feel confused, but instead feel an assured sense of direction. Advisers must be dependable, enthusiastic, trustworthy and approachable.”

Student Affairs departments honor
achievements during spring convocation

Employees from the nine Student Affairs departments came together May 8 to celebrate the annual Student Affairs spring convocation, highlighting department and staff achievements from the 2002-2003 academic year.

About 140 of the 440 Student Affairs employees convened in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center for a celebratory afternoon.

Several special awards were given out at the convocation ceremony:

Student Affairs Recognition Award

The Student Affairs Recognition Award was established as a means of providing recognition to individuals who are not employed in the Student Affairs area but who have made significant contributions to programs and services provided by the Student Affairs area of the Division of Academic and Student Affairs. The 2003 award winners were:

Professor Carole DeMoranville, Marketing Department
Peg Crittenden, Information Services
Chris Cole, Krueger International
University Police
Office of Campus Recreation custodial staff

Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award

This award was established to recognize a maximum of two graduate assistants who have given much toward Student Affairs and their departments through departmental activities, commitment to diversity and/or current university leadership positions. Their invaluable time and efforts are felt throughout the NIU community. The 2003 award winners were:

Minh Nguyen, Student Housing and Dining Services
Angela McCord, Student Housing and Dining Services

Outstanding New Professional Award

The Outstanding New Professional Award is presented to a maximum of two Supportive Professional Staff members new to full-time Student Affairs work who have made significant contributions toward the achievement of department/Student Affairs goals and objectives. The 2003 award winners were:

Kwanda Scott, Student Housing and Dining Services
Heather Wunsch, Student Housing and Dining Services

Student Affairs Outstanding Operating Staff Award

The Outstanding Operating Staff award is presented to a maximum of two Operating Staff members in Student Affairs who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism and effectiveness in the performance of responsibilities and daily interactions with others and who consistently assist others “beyond the call of duty.” The 2003 award winners were:

Ruth Jordan, Student Housing and Dining Services
Carole Swanson, Student Housing and Dining Services

NIU Art Gallery in Chicago
announces annual MFA exhibit

The NIU Art Gallery in Chicago is pleased to announced the Annual NIU School of Art Master of Fine Arts Exhibition to be held Friday, June 13, through Saturday, July 12.

Two public receptions for the artists will be held, the first from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 13, with an awards presentation at 6:30 p.m., and the second from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 18, to coincide with Absolut Vision, the annual art event in the River North District.

The work of Yongkook Byun, Andrew J. Chobot, Jo-An Vincer Clay, McCauley Hart, Moon Ja Kim, Ben Kohli and Patrick Teramoto Moreland will be exhibited, offering a unique opportunity for graduating MFA candidates to exhibit their work in Chicago and providing exposure for these students beginning their fine art careers.

Highlighting the diversity of the MFA program – it offers specialization in drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, media studies, electronic media design, fiber/fabric, photography, metalwork and jewelry – the Annual NIU MFA Exhibition offers a broad sampling of materials and processes, styles and concerns affecting these emerging artists.

The NIU Art Gallery is located at 215 W. Superior, 3rd floor. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free and open to the public. Please visit http://www.vpa.niu.edu/museum or call (312) 642-6010 for more information.

University Libraries announces
summer building, service hours

Founders Memorial Library building hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday of this week. The library is closed Saturday and open from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Beginning Monday, June 16, and continuing through Friday, Aug. 8, the hours are 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. The library is closed Saturdays as well as the Fourth of July. It will close at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 3.

Hours for the interim session from Saturday, Aug. 10, through Sunday, Aug. 24, are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Call 753-1670 for the most current building and service hours.

NIU School of Music sponsors
summer Brown Bag concert series

The NIU School of Music is delighted to release the following schedule for the ever-popular Wednesday Brown Bag Summer Concert series.

All free, open-to-the-public concerts are held at noon in various NIU Music Building areas. Performance room locations will be posted in the Concert Hall lobby on the day of the concert.

• June 18 – Chamber Music: piano, clarinet and horn: JiHae Kim and friends
• June 25 – Harp and guitar duo: Nicole Young and Klaus Luchs
• July 2 – Brass Bonanza, Fourth of July celebration: Courtney Curtis and friends
• July 9 – Cello Capers: Kasia Bielak-Hoops, in conjunction with Arts Jam
• July 16 – Musical Theater Review: Alumna Tammy Meneghini returns in conjunction with Junior Theater Arts Camp
• July 23 – Jazz Concert: Greg Ward and Friends, in conjunction with “Summer in the Arts at Northern”
• July 30 – Suzuki Strings: Ann Montzka-Smelser, director, in conjunction with the NIU Community School of the Arts
• Aug. 6 – World Music Concert: Nadine Gonzales and friends

For more information, call the School of Music at 753-1551 or Lynn Slater at 753-1546.

6-9-03