NIU plans partnership school with District 428

Occasionally vacant and dormant since 2000, the old Malta High School will reawaken next fall to greet students beginning a new school year.

If the walls can speak, however, they might wonder if the building is still asleep and dreaming: The faces – up to 275 young children, most not even near their teenage years – and even the school’s name will have changed.

But it’s simply a dream come true for District 428 and NIU, who have planned the partnership school, and especially for those parents in the district who want a unique and challenging learning experience for their children in kindergarten through fifth-grade.

Each school day will present children with opportunities to use higher-order thinking skills and creativity in problem-based learning activities.

Teachers will employ multiple learning strategies. They also will weave fine arts and technology across the core curriculum so children not only learn about fine arts and technology but learn through fine arts and technology.

Partnership leaders will announce the school’s new name, chosen from nominations submitted this fall by children, in January.

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NIU’s Center for Governmental Studies is recommending a model for coordinating development in key new transportation corridors, with the proposed Prairie Parkway serving as the potential pilot project.

The model was unveiled over the past few weeks at public meetings in towns along the proposed path of the Prairie Parkway, a 36-mile highway that would link interstates 80 and 88, from Minooka to Elburn.

The NIU model calls for creation of a special “Corridor Council” to manage development within a new transportation corridor requiring major public investments. Counties and municipalities along the route would appoint members of the council.

“This model provides the benefits of strong centralized planning throughout the corridor, while ensuring a voice for all impacted communities,” said NIU Associate Vice President for Outreach John Lewis, who led the transportation corridor study. “History tells us that the best, most durable spaces are the places that are well planned.”

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As the fall semester nears its end – and faculty begin to prepare or revise syllabi for the spring’s courses – Susan Vogel has a request of faculty.

Vogel, a Presidential Research Professor in the Department of Literacy Education and project director for “Enhancing Success for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education,” wants her colleagues to add one paragraph to their course descriptions.

“Faculty and administration should work together,” Vogel said, “to consider including a paragraph in syllabi that welcomes students with disabilities who need accommodations to speak to faculty early in the semester.”

The recommendation is one of five that have resulted from years one and two of Vogel’s project, funded by a three-year, renewable Illinois Board of Higher Education HECA (Higher Education Cooperation Act) grant almost $200,000.

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President to host
annual holiday luncheon
NIU President John and Mrs. Barbara Peters invite all members of the university community to enjoy the festivities from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, at NIU’s annual holiday luncheon in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center. Visit with your colleagues, enjoy a buffet luncheon and show your Huskie spirit during special presentations. For more information, call 753-1999.

School of Music low brass
to celebrate Christmas
The 18th annual “It’s a Low Brass Christmas” takes place at noon Tuesday, Nov. 25, in the Music Building Concert Hall Lobby.

Law Library announces
hours for finals, holidays
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has released a schedule of hours for the period covering final exams and the holidays. -- MORE

Festival of Trees comes
to downtown DeKalb
Beautifully decorated trees and wreaths will be on display in downtown DeKalb beginning Friday, Nov. 28.

The Festival of Trees, sponsored by the Jefferson Elementary School PTA, is a holiday event for the whole family. In addition to the tree display, a craft show will feature vendors from all over northern Illinois. A full slate of entertainment is planned including pictures with Santa, storytelling, and dance and music performances by local groups. A tree-decorating clinic will be held, and a kids area will include face painting and holiday movies. A sampling of holiday sweet treats also will be available. -- MORE

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. -- MORE

Financial Aid office reminds
students of March 1 filing date
March 1 is the financial aid priority filing date. Complete the NIU Verification Form (www.fa.niu.edu) and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (www.fafsa.ed.gov)
each and every year.

Please provide an NIU e-mail address on the FAFSA. Requests for additional information and notification of awards will be sent to the NIU e-mail address. Students can access their NIU e-mail at www.webmail.students.niu.edu via the Internet.

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Another graduate student documentary from NIU’s Department of Communication has won a top award at a major film festival.

Paul Butler’s film, “Save Them!: The Life of Paul Rader,” was voted the best documentary at the fourth annual What You See if What You Get (WYSIWYG) film festival in San Francisco. The festival specializes in Christian-themed film and video material, and features four days of screenings of a variety of media.

Butler’s film, created for his master’s degree thesis, is a 60-minute biography of Paul Rader, who was arguably the first evangelist to take to the radio waves. In the 1920s, Rader laid down a style of reaching out to the masses through the technology of radio that influenced all Christian broadcasters following him.

Butler did extensive research on Rader, uncovering rarely seen photographs and unreleased audio recordings, and wove together a Ken Burns-style presentation of the broadcaster’s life and work.

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Nurses in the northwestern suburbs now can complete their bachelor’s degrees without driving to DeKalb.

Faculty from the Northern Illinois University School of Nursing are teaching courses necessary for the bachelor’s degree completion program at Sherman Hospital in Elgin, which serves as a course delivery site for area nurses. The hospital rewards its employees with full tuition reimbursement. Nurses who stay with the program earn degrees in the spring of 2005.

Marilyn Frank Stromborg, chair of the nursing school, said the partnership ultimately benefits patients.

A landmark study recently reported in the American Medication Association Journal noted four fewer deaths per 1,000 new surgical patients when 20 to 60 percent of nurses hold bachelor’s of science degrees in nursing.

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Shirley Richmond, dean of the NIU College of Health and Human Sciences, recently was chosen as a fellow of the Association of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP).

With no more than five fellows named each year, being chosen is an honor. This year, the national organization selected only four individuals to receive this honor.

Fellow designation is given to recognize members who have contributed significantly to allied health as an administrator, educator, clinician or researcher. Individuals must have long-standing membership and involvement in the organization. They must demonstrate leadership, publication in professional journals, have professional creativity and stimulate members to strive for excellence.

“I was surprised and pleased. This is an honor for me personally and professionally as well as an opportunity for recognition of the college and NIU,” Richmond said.

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One of every three job applicants in 2001 lacked the skills necessary to become industrious employees, hurting their own pocketbooks and costing U.S. businesses an estimated $60 billion in lowered productivity.

One solution is found in workplace learning programs designed to provide employees with the basic proficiency needed to get and keep jobs, advance careers or boost efficiency.

NIU’s Workplace Learning Conference, widely considered the country’s premier single source of strategies, resources and connections, will help employers understand the importance of workplace learning and find ideas that might work for them.

The goal is match the pace of innovation in workforce development with the speed of economic change.

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William Baker, Ronald Carter, Nadine Dolby, Marilyn Looney, Andrew Morrison and Al Ottens all earn honors.

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