October 27, 2003, Northern Today Abridged

Manzullo: NIU will get funding to work
with Rockford museum on dinosaur

Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) is helping NIU strengthen its ties to the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, home of the celebrated 65-million-year-old dinosaur fossil known as Jane.

Frederick Kitterle, dean of the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was on hand this morning in Rockford as Manzullo announced that he has secured $1 million to advance plans for the Burpee Museum campus and research center.

That figure includes $100,000 for NIU to bolster its collaboration with the museum on the dinosaur project. Manzullo said the House and Senate are expected to vote on the funding in the next few weeks before sending it to the president for his signature.

“The incredible find of the unique Jane by Burpee paleontologists offers our region a one-in-a-million tourism and educational opportunity,” Manzullo said during his keynote address at the annual breakfast of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “With a little help from Northern Illinois University, the new Museum Campus and Research Center would become one of the foremost places in the world to study and view paleontology.”

With the discovery of Jane, Burpee is expecting about 115,000 visitors this year – and the dinosaur isn’t even on full display yet. However, visitors can watch as the bones are prepared and assembled in a viewing laboratory. Burpee Museum officials plan to build a new campus around the dinosaur exhibit and connect a research and educational center.

“The bottom line for me is to have this be the beginning of a permanent relationship with NIU,” Burpee Museum President Lew Crampton said. “We talked with other universities in Chicago, but it just seems to me NIU is the obvious connection. We have a great working relationship.”

Kitterle said NIU is excited to be working with the museum, responsible for one of the most important North American dinosaur finds of the last century.

“Already there has been successful collaboration between Burpee Museum and NIU on the excavation of Jane,” Kitterle said. “Federal support will help to further strengthen our collaborative research ties.”

Burpee Museum staff and volunteers, including NIU Foreign Languages Professor Bill Harrison, discovered Jane in the summer of 2002 during a Montana expedition. A significant portion of the skeleton was recovered, enough to create an accurate skeleton model of Jane in her new home at Burpee.

Dinosaur experts disagree over whether Jane is a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, or a smaller, poorly known relative called Nanotyrannus. Jane stood about 8 feet tall and weighed about one ton.

NIU is known internationally for its work in paleontology, making the collaboration with Burpee a natural.

“Burpee Museum is an invaluable educational resource,” Kitterle said, “so we view this as a significant opportunity, and I would hope to have undergraduates work at the museum as research apprentices.”

NIU to build alumni, visitors center

More than 200 alumni and friends of NIU cheered plans for a new Alumni and Visitors Center announced during ceremonies prior to the Oct. 18 homecoming football game.

“This building will be a symbol for the excellence of NIU,” said NIU President John Peters. “It will be a place where alumni can reconnect with the university, a gathering place for faculty and a tremendous starting point to introduce prospective students to what it means to be part of the NIU family.”

Drawings unveiled at the event showed a two-and-a-half story, 37,000-square-foot building of brick, stone, glass and steel to be built on the southwest corner of Annie Glidden Road and Stadium Drive.

The building will include a faculty library, state-of-the-art meeting and conference facilities and office space for the NIU Alumni Association, the NIU Student Alumni Association and other university departments. Its centerpiece will be the Great Hall featuring plaques, displays and exhibits highlighting the history of NIU and the accomplishments of the university’s alumni.

Plans have been proposed to make the building the starting point for all university tours.

Depending upon the success of fundraising efforts, groundbreaking for the building could take place as early as spring 2004, with an opening 12 to 14 months later.

“This beautiful building, this new gateway to campus, is going to make a difference in how we are perceived – by our alumni, by the community, by our students – it will be transformational,” Peters said.

Provost Ivan Legg said he saw first-hand the benefits of such a building during his tenure at Auburn University.

“In the long term, this building will generate more support for the university. It will add a quality of awe and respectability that no other facility on campus provides,” Legg said. “The richness of our campus is conveyed by its physical presence, and this beautiful building will stand as a tangible symbol of NIU as a quality institution of higher learning. When you have quality – which we do – you have to package it right. This is an investment that can pay off.”

Nancy Castle, who earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in psychology from NIU and now works as a professor in the communicative disorders program, said she believes the building will serve as a “focal point” for the pride that all NIU alumni feel.

Castle, along with her husband, John, who serves as vice chair of the NIU Foundation, will co-chair the fundraising campaign for the building. The couple has made a leadership gift toward the project.

“It will be a place where anyone coming to campus can learn about all that we have accomplished – the type of honors we have earned, the discoveries that are being made here and the success that our alumni are experiencing.” Castle said. “We are a first-class university, and I think this project will help drive home that realization for anyone who walks through the doors.”

Slightly more than half of the construction cost already has been pledged, with gifts totaling nearly $3.6 million.

Of that amount, Dennis and Stacey Barsema have made a naming gift commitment of $2.5 million and the NIU Alumni Association has pledged $500,000 to the project. Other alumni and friends of the university have made additional leadership commitments, including a generous bequest from the estate of an anonymous donor.

“When Stacey and I reconnected with NIU three years ago, we said that we planned to become active, involved supporters of the university for many years,” said Dennis Barsema, who will co-chair the fundraising committee with Castle.

“This project appealed to us because it will enhance the reputation of NIU and help attract top-flight students to what we truly believe is an outstanding public university,” he added. “In researching projects at other universities, I heard again and again that centers like these have helped other schools reconnect with their alumni and raise their profiles. I have no doubt this center will succeed similarly.”

• Conference facilities. The ballroom and a series of meeting rooms will make the facility suitable for academic and corporate meetings.
• Banquet facilities. An elegant 4,100-square-foot ballroom – suitable for conferences, formal dinners, reunions, weddings and anniversaries – will allow the university to entertain on a scale, and at a level, currently unavailable on campus.
• A faculty library. This facility will provide the first formal gathering place on campus designed exclusively to promote faculty interaction and collegiality.
• An information center. A reception desk in the Great Hall will provide maps of the campus and community as well as information regarding events on campus.
• An alumni hall of fame. The Great Hall of the facility will feature displays, plaques and exhibits highlighting the proud accomplishments of NIU alumni.

Nation catches Huskie fever

It is said that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that has proven to be the case this football season, as the sudden national fame of the Huskie football team has brought unprecedented levels of attention to NIU as a whole.

The team’s status as media darlings has rubbed off in many ways, from alumni reconnecting with the university and robust sales of licensed merchandise, to people across the country suddenly perking up at the mention of NIU.

“The tremendous success of Coach Joe Novak, his staff and the team have given us the chance to tell the NIU story to a new, much-larger audience, and we have jumped at every opportunity,” President John Peters said.

Those opportunities began before the nationally televised opening night kick-off, when running back Michael Turner was featured on the front page of the USA Today sports section. By the next morning, the Huskies’ win over 15th-ranked Maryland was trumpeted in sports pages across the nation, and the Huskie media juggernaut was rolling.

It picked up steam a few weeks later with a victory over the legendary Crimson Tide of Alabama in front of 80,000 screaming fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. For good measure, the Huskies also knocked off Iowa State of the powerful Big 12 Conference the following week.

The wins kept piling up, and along the way, the Huskies ranking climbed to 12th in the Associated Press Coach’s Poll.

In no time, the acrobatic catches of receiver P.J. Fleck became a staple on ESPN’s nightly SportsCenter program, and the team was featured in a four-page spread in Sports Illustrated. Once the Cubs were eliminated from the Major League Baseball playoffs, the Huskies began taking the top spot in Chicago. Reporters from as far away as New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta profiled the team.

Soon, NIU was at the heart of every debate over the fairness of the Bowl Championship Series, which limits access to major bowls to a handful of schools.

In the week leading up to Saturday’s game at 23rd ranked Bowling Green, the glare of the spotlight grew still brighter with the announcement that ESPN GameDay, the premier college football pre-game show in the land, would air live from the campus of Bowling Green – an honor typically reserved for games deemed the hottest ticket around.

And why not? The game marked the first meeting of two ranked MAC teams since 1973.

All of that attention has energized the NIU alumni base, and as alumni have started showing their Huskie pride, people are expressing amazement at the number of NIU graduates who populate the region. One alum, a high-level executive at a pharmaceutical company, wore an NIU shirt to work for casual Friday and quickly discovered that many of those who worked for him also had NIU diplomas.

The university has reaped other financial gains, too. Over the first nine months of the year, sales of Huskie merchandise is up 21 percent compared to last year, and whereas gate receipts for football tickets totaled about $300,000 two years ago, that number could top $1 million this year.

“The excitement generated by national media coverage of NIU does wonders in building alumni pride and encourages them to reconnect with their alma mater,” Peters said. “And we have worked hard to take advantage of this opportunity to introduce NIU to the nation – not just the football team, but the fine academic institution which it represents. It’s a great time to be a Huskie.”

Despite a disappointing loss to Bowling Green, fans showed no indication of giving up on the Huskies. The east side of the stadium has already sold out for Saturday's game, and projections are for the West side stands to be close to capacity.

NIU teams with State Board of Education
to recognize 26 ‘Spotlight Schools’

NIU and the Illinois State Board of Education last week began recognition of 26 public schools that have achieved high academic performance in an environment in which a majority of students come from low-income families.

The first ceremony took place in Rock Island, honoring seven “Spotlight Schools” located in Freeport, Monmouth, Peoria, Quincy and Rock Island.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to honor these schools,” said Robert E. Schiller, state superintendent of education. “Each of them shows that students at any grade level and in a challenging economic environment can be motivated to learn and, more importantly, to achieve.”

The “Spotlight Schools” are Illinois public schools where a majority of students come from low-income families, and in which 60 percent or more of students passed rigorous state tests in 2003. These schools also met the “Adequate Yearly Progress” standards imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind initiative as well as the state’s accountability system.

The accomplishments of these schools demonstrate that high-poverty schools can bridge the well-documented “achievement gap” between high-income and low-income students, and between students of color and their white and other peers, Schiller said.

The Spotlight Schools awards are a joint effort between ISBE and NIU, which has researched high-poverty, high-performance schools.

“There are not many Spotlight Schools,” NIU President John Peters said, “but their significance is monumental. Our research at NIU has identified 10 commonalities among high-poverty, high-performing schools. Given the importance of their accomplishments, these schools deserve close attention from scholars and dedicated support from all of us interested in raising student achievement.”

The extraordinary accomplishments of the Spotlight Schools are thrown into relief by NIU statistics that, unfortunately, paint a bleak picture.

Nearly 38 percent of the 2.1 million children in Illinois come from low-income families. Percentages of achievement drawn from low-income schools can dwell in the bottom quarter. At one high-poverty high school, only 17 percent of students met reading standards while the percentages of student meeting math, writing and science standards were 7 percent, 4 percent and 3 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, numbers at schools with more affluent students often are quite opposite.

While just 40 percent of Illinois third-graders from low-income families meet state standards, 75 percent of their peers do. Merely 20 percent of low-income high school juniors meet math standards, a number that more than triples to 65 percent in schools with more affluent students.

The 26 Spotlight Schools have beaten the odds, however, proving the gap can be closed.

Four criteria were used to determine which schools are making the grade:

• At least 50 percent low-income students in 2002 and 2003.
• At least 50 percent of students meet or exceed state standards in reading and math in 2002.
• At least 60 percent of students meet or exceed state standards in reading and math in 2003.
• “Adequate yearly progress,” as prescribed by No Child Left Behind, was made in 2003. This includes a 95 percent participation rate in state assessments for all students and for each subgroup, at least 40 percent of students meeting and exceeding standards in both reading and mathematics, and an attendance rate of at least 88 percent for elementary and middle schools and 65 percent for high schools.

NSF grants help raise profile of NIU’s geology program

For the third consecutive year, the National Science Foundation has given a major boost to NIU’s geology program with funding for cutting-edge technology that will vastly enhance faculty and student research capabilities.

NSF is providing the Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences with $206,000 for the purchase of an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The research tool could arrive as soon as February. It is a particular boon to NIU’s blossoming research specialties in global climate change and environmental studies.

The funding comes through NSF’s highly competitive Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI), designed to improve the condition of scientific equipment for research and training in U.S. academic institutions.

“A university can only submit three MRI proposals a year. For one department to win three consecutive grants, that’s very unusual,” said Jonathan Berg, chair of Geology and Environmental Geosciences.

The department won previous MRI grants to purchase an environmental scanning electron microscope and a drilling rig used for climate study in Antarctica. The NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences also contributed matching funds equaling 30 percent or more of each grant.

“With the matches, the equipment upgrades total more than $1 million and are making a tremendous impact on our facilities,” Berg said. “I think it speaks to the fact that the work of our faculty and student researchers is recognized internationally as being relevant and important.”

The department’s improved facilities also can be expected to attract high quality researchers and students. “Our department has really grown in its research capabilities,” said professor Paul Loubere, who along with professors Eugene Perry and Melissa Lenczewski spearheaded the latest MRI proposal.

“We’ve been successful in acquiring equipment that enhances both our fieldwork and our ability to analyze materials that we bring back to NIU. There aren’t many universities or departments that offer the wide spectrum of tools that we have or will soon have at our disposal.”

The new isotope ratio mass spectrometer will detect the amount of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen isotopes in liquid, solid or gaseous samples. The information helps scientists discover the origin and distribution of these elements in the environment.

NICADD celebrates $2 million grant

The Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development (NICADD) has received a congressional appropriation of nearly $2 million to continue its development of next generation particle accelerators and detectors.

NICADD was established two years ago with what was then the university’s largest federal grant ever. The laboratory supports experimental physics being developed at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia.

“The latest grant will allow us to solidify our research and development of accelerator techniques and detectors,” said NIU Physics Professor Gerald Blazey, NICADD co-director. “The center is now on sound footing, and we can look forward to a successful future.”

NIU President John Peters said the support of U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was instrumental in securing NICADD funding.

“We’re thankful that Speaker Hastert recognizes the significant role of NICADD,” Peters said. “This grant is important for the entire northern Illinois region. Fermilab is a world-class laboratory, a major employer and a source of pride for the entire state. The federal dollars enable NICADD to continue its efforts to assist Fermilab as the laboratory plans for its future.”

Located near Batavia, about 30 miles east of DeKalb, Fermilab boasts more than 2,000 employees, including many preeminent physicists and engineers. The laboratory also has more than 2,300 visiting scientists and students from universities and institutions worldwide.

Particle physicists at Fermilab are trying to understand the nature of nature at its smallest scales. Scientists use powerful accelerators to create high-energy collisions between protons and antiprotons. The collisions produce different, more massive and more exotic particles of matter. Detectors are the instruments that count particles, visualize tracks, measure particle energies, record time-of-flight and identify different particles.

Fermilab’s Tevatron Collider, a facility that includes a 4-mile underground ring, is the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. The Tevatron uses almost 2 trillion volts of electric power to hurl protons and antiprotons toward each other at nearly the speed of light.

Fermilab’s research advances scientists’ understanding of the subatomic world, but it also has practical applications. It has led to new technologies used in the medical and imaging industries. Accelerator scientists also have developed machines for cancer therapy.

NIU School of Music partners with Norris Cultural Arts Center

Music lovers in the Tri-Cities of Kane County can enjoy the sounds of Northern Illinois University this year.

The NIU School of Music will stage three concerts this season at the Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles. The NIU Philharmonic offers a Halloween “treat” Friday, Oct. 31, the NIU Steel Band plays Saturday, Jan. 31, and the NIU Jazz Ensemble plays Friday, April 2.

“It is a good opportunity for NIU to get some more exposure in the western suburbs,” said Paul Bauer, director of the School of Music. “The venue will allow us to further develop the partnership with Norris, including possible performances by the School of Theatre and Dance and exhibitions in the gallery space by the School of Art and/or the Art Museum.”

Mark Smith, a member of the Norris board of directors, made the first contact with Bauer. Smith is a 1973 NIU alum.

“It just makes sense to take advantage of the proximity of Northern and to bring some of the talent from Northern out to our part of the Chicago area,” Smith said. “They gain access to an audience that includes a number of potential students, a number of potential donors and a lot of alumni, and it’s a way of showcasing the School of Music to a larger part of the community.”

Smith hopes the coming years see a rotation of NIU music inside the Norris that becomes “a very important presence on our schedule.”

“We’re always hopeful of presenting the finest quality of entertainment that’s family-oriented and affordable,” Smith said. “The NIU performing ensembles really fit the bill for us.”

Bauer shares Smith’s enthusiasm.

“There are many people in the western suburbs who would like to attend our performances, including alumni and students in schools, but they find that DeKalb is a bit too far for travel,” he said. “Here is a very fine performance facility – one of the finer such facilities in west-suburban Chicago – that presents us in a professional venue and reflects well on the quality of the School of Music and on the university.”

NIU art education majors teach St. Mary students

Although one might expect divine intervention is always at work inside DeKalb’s St. Mary School, Principal Pat Weis is grateful when it comes to life.

This fall, the angels are actually 20 art education majors from the NIU College of Visual and Performing Arts who teach the parochial school’s fourth- through eighth-graders each Wednesday morning.

Prior to the first week of October, when the program began, St. Mary had no art curriculum whatsoever. An unexpected phone call from Deborah Smith-Shank, professor of art and education in the School of Art, struck like a bolt of lightning.

“When the professor called, I was just ecstatic. This was just like a prayer from heaven answered,” said Weis, new to the school this year. “When I learned of her distinguished awards, I felt very honored that she would come here. I hope this the first step of a bond between our school and NIU.”

Smith-Shank contacted St. Mary out of necessity.

NIU’s art education program, which once certified 25 or 30 teachers annually, now certifies up to 60 each year. Each must complete 25 hours of clinical work at each school level – elementary, middle and high – which is more than the area’s public schools could accommodate.

“I simply ran out of junior high/middle level schools,” said Smith-Shank, the 2003 Illinois Higher Education Art Educator of the Year. “I remembered I’d been out at the old St. Mary to teach volunteer lessons a long time ago, so I called the principal. She said, ‘I hope you’re wanting to do what I’ve been praying for.’ I think it’s the answer to both of our prayers.”

NIU’s art education majors are providing an intense, eight-week curriculum that adheres to state learning goals and parallels what students in public middle schools receive.

Students enrolled in the NIU teacher certification course called Art Methods for Middle Level design two-day lessons themselves under Smith-Shank’s supervision. The NIU School of Art provides art materials for the lessons, which are taught in the St. Mary cafeteria, a science lab and a regular classroom.

Linda Williams, a master’s student in art education who took the ARTE 344 class last spring and now assists Smith-Shank, said NIU’s work is making St. Mary students aware of a “visual culture.” Art is all around them on a daily basis, from traditional works to computer graphics to newspaper and television advertising.

“This is really a unique experience for the St. Mary students, and for ourselves,” Williams said. “Our students are getting the experience, and their students are getting the respect for art. They’re totally excited about it. Anytime you bring anything new into anything, it’s going to be exciting, and we’re all learning so much.”

Senior art education major Donnell Rader has enjoyed the experience so far – especially the reception of St. Mary students hungry for an art curriculum – and knows he has chosen the right career.

“It’s good for us as beginning teachers. When you’re just starting out, it’s always good to teach kids who really want to learn. We just feed off them,” Rader said. “I’ve always loved art. I always felt I was good at it. And I felt I was good with kids, and always wanted to teach, so I put the two together. The reaction I get from kids kind of cemented the decision.”

NIU Foundation presents annual awards

The NIU Foundation presented its annual awards earlier this month in Naperville at the Foundation Donor Annual Recognition Dinner.

Joseph Locke won the award for volunteer service, Earl and Margaret Hoffmann and J. Patrick White won awards for individual philanthropy and Caterpillar received the award for corporate philanthropy.

“What wonderful donors and volunteers we have,” said Mallory M. Simpson, chief development officer for NIU and president of the NIU Foundation.

“One of the great privileges of being associated with the NIU Foundation is this opportunity we take each year to recognize those who have contributed so significantly to advance excellence at NIU and the Foundation,” Simpson said. “Our Leadership Committee annually selects volunteers and donors whose contributions were not only noteworthy, but have inspired others to support the university as well.”

Locke, who graduated from NIU in 1968 with a degree in business, enjoyed a distinguished career of executive positions in the financial services industry. In 2003, he received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Business.

As a member of the NIU Executive Club board, Locke was instrumental in organizing the speakers bureau, identifying experienced alumni who could speak to groups of students and share “real life” business wisdom.

Locke also initiated and has chaired the NIU Executive Club dinner dance and silent auction, which raises funds for an endowed scholarship for business students. This annual event has raised a total of $140,000, and Locke’s additional efforts have brought nearly $31,000 more into the scholarship fund.

“Joe’s commitment to professional success has never pulled him away from the things he holds most dear – his family and friends, his faith and his community,” Simpson said. “We are grateful to be among those communities with which Joe has chosen to share so generously.”

Philanthropy awards recognize those who are helping to establish a culture of philanthropy at NIU by demonstrating a long history of giving, wide-ranging support, giving that acts as a catalyst for others or giving that profoundly impacts students and programs at NIU.

The Hoffmanns are best described as “lifelong learners.”

Earl was a faculty member in the College of Education, teaching and supervising student-teachers until 1993. Earl and Margaret hold five degrees between them and enjoyed various teaching and school administrative positions.

Both grew up on farms during a time when education beyond eighth-grade was unusual, but both were determined to leave the farm and embark on a quest for learning.

Their philanthropy at NIU has created endowed scholarships in elementary education and educational administration – to help future teachers gain an “insatiable desire and insistence on meeting the specific needs of children” – and for vocal music students.

They also have given their time and talents to such causes as Habitat for Humanity and Northern Public Radio.

“The Foundation Award for Philanthropy isn’t about just dollars,” Simpson said. “It’s about the heart – the spirit of giving – and the giving spirit in Margaret and Earl is beautiful to behold.”

White, an NIU history professor emeritus with more than 30 years of service to the university, taught some of the most popular courses in the department and won the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1986.

And when White retired in 1993, he wanted to continue investing in the lives of students.

He established and funded the J. Patrick White History Education Endowment to support seniors preparing to teach history at the secondary level. He also contributes generously to an endowed scholarship fund supporting graduate students doing research as well as a variety of other funds.

“It is his persistent pattern of giving that is truly noteworthy,” Simpson said. “About every month or so, he sends another check to help NIU students, distinguishing himself among other donors.”

Several NIU colleges have received large and generous gifts from Caterpillar, as well as gifts from alumni employees matched by Caterpillar.

Over the years, Caterpillar has contributed more than $319,000, including gifts to the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Student Placement Services.

Caterpillar recently made a commitment of $150,000 to NIU’s College of Business to name a tiered classroom in Barsema Hall. The funds will support technology innovation, faculty and staff development and professional development for students.

“Few corporations have taken a more active and supportive role in partnering with NIU to expand opportunities for our students than Caterpillar and its affiliated Caterpillar Foundation,” Simpson said. “Caterpillar has pioneered strategies with NIU for providing ‘real-life’ opportunities for students to learn, develop and apply classroom learning.”

Kudos

NIU meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste received a $4,500 grant from UNIDATA (www.unidata.ucar.edu), a branch of the University Center for Atmospheric Research, funded by the National Science Foundation, to upgrade his office’s computer system. This will allow NIU Weather to reach out and become a database warehouse for those doing research in the field of meteorology, as well as upgrade the severe warning system on campus by providing faster delivery of e-mail warnings. In addition, the main Web site eventually will have more data for students and faculty to help them see when bad weather is on the way. Sebenste plans to add more near-real-time lightning and radar data to the site this winter.

Spring registration begins next month

Registration for Spring 2004 courses will begin Nov. 10 for graduate students and students-at-large and Nov. 11 for postgraduates and undergraduate students.

The Spring 2004 Schedule of Classes is available on the Web through Registration and Records at http://www.reg.niu.edu/regrec/schedbkinstr/spring/spring_2004.pdf. Schedule books will be made available as usual before registration begins.

Sick Leave Bank sign-up continues through Nov. 28

Sign-up for the Sick Leave Bank for temporary faculty collective bargaining unit and temporary faculty is in October and November, with a Nov. 28 deadline to join. Donations will be taken from the non-accumulative sick leave.

For more information, or to join, call Veris Hawkins-Smith, Human Resource Services, at 753-6044 or via e-mail at vhawkins@niu.edu.

Flu shots offered

The university will offer free flu shots to any faculty or staff with insurance coverage through the State of Illinois Central Management Services (CMS).

Flu shots will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in the HSC Regency Room, and again from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20.

Please bring proof of insurance and your NIU OneCard ID to receive a free flu shot. Spouses and Dependents and non-eligible employees also can receive flu shots at a cost of $20 each.

Also, representatives from some of the State and University Employees Combined Appeal (SECA) Charitable Organizations will be on hand Oct. 29 to answer questions.

School of Art to welcome speaker on ’80s New York artists

Barry Blinderman, director of the University Galleries at Illinois State University, will present a slide presentation and discussion titled “Robert Longo & Keith Haring: Power & Myth in New York in the ’80s.” Blinderman will speak at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in the School of Art Room 100.

Blinderman has produced and curated, as well as contributed critical essays to, the catalogs of Wojnarowicz, Tasset, Haring and Scharf. A recent effort, “Ready for War,” exhibited earlier this year.

For more information, call 753-1474.

School of Theatre & Dance ready to scare audiences

“Children of the Corn II,” the second annual NIU School of Theatre and Dance Halloween show, is a collection of your favorite scenes from the most popular classic and contemporary scary movies.

Show times are 8:30 and 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, and Friday, Oct. 31. Tickets are $5 and are available at the door of Players Theatre. This show might be inappropriate for children younger than 14.

The production first was performed last year as a fundraiser for graduating performance majors. The funds are used for a Chicago showcase that will take place in April.

Deaf Awareness Week activities scheduled for Nov. 3 through 7

Five days of “priceless” activities are planned for Deaf Awareness Week, which begins Nov. 3. All on-campus events are free and open to the public.

“Connecting with the Deaf Community” takes place at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3, in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center. Connecting within the community is very important to Donald Tinsley, founder of Indiana’s Black Deaf Advocates, assistant director of Indiana State Deaf Services and an ordained minister.
Tinsley will offer priceless insight from this invaluable role model in making connections and gaining community.

“Survivor: Deaf Island” is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, in the Heritage Room of the Holmes Student Center. Survive an evening immersed in a deaf paradise run by “connected” members of the deaf community, and learn the different strategies of communication used by the deaf community for daily activities of living. Find out how priceless it is to connect with deaf neighbors.

“Priceless Sign Sync” begins at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, in the Sandburg. Learn how the deaf community connects with the world of music. Sit back and appreciate the song interpretations via sign language performed by NIU students, faculty and staff and Program for Hearing Impaired students and staff.

A panel discussion – “What’s Your Connection?” – will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Heritage Room. Share in the panelists’ stories, ask questions and find out their connections to the deaf community and how priceless these connections are. In this talk-show host moderated panel discussion, a variety of members with connections to the deaf community will help show where connections occur, how they happen and ways
to make a priceless connection.

At 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, “Making a Connection within the Community,” an open-captioned movie, will show at DeKalb Market Square Cinemas. See how your own community reaches out to the deaf community and show support for accessibility at the movie theaters. Specific movie and admission cost information can be obtained by
calling the DeKalb Market Square Cinemas at (815) 748-7887.

Sponsors are NIU Center for Access-Ability Resources, Department of Communicative Disorders, DeafPRIDE, Department of Literacy Education-Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Illinois Teachers of Hard of Hearing/Deaf Individuals, Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities, Program for Hearing Impaired, RAMP Center for Independent Living, and Unity in Diversity Steering Committee.

For more information, call (815) 753-6527 V/TTY or (815) 753-1694 V/ TTY or e-mail: mcormier@niu.edu or jmontag@niu.edu.

Sign Language/Voice Interpreters provided. To request other accommodations, please contact the Center for Access-Ability Resources at (815) 753-1694 V/TTY.

Employee Relations & Training to offer four courses

Employee Relations & Training will offer four courses next month. To register, or for more information, call 753-6039.

• Wednesday, Nov. 5, “Employment Issues for Alien Workers at NIU.”
• Thursday, Nov. 6, “Scanning for Hazards in Office Environment.”
• Wednesday, Nov. 12, “Where to go for the Information You Need.”
• Wednesday, Nov. 19, Myers-Briggs I. This is a great class for learning about yourself and your preferences and how we work with others. There is a cost for this class.

Community School of the Arts presents gala teachers’ recital

Classical music on the tenor pan, a percussion/violin duet, piano, voice and flute are only a few of the instruments to be heard at the annual Gala Teachers’ Recital at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Recital Hall of the NIU Music Building.

The recital is sponsored by the NIU Community School of the Arts and is a fundraising event for the scholarship programs. Both need and talent scholarships are available through the community school and more than $4,000 a semester is awarded to students as scholarship support.

The performers are all members of the teaching staff of the community school: Ann Montzka-Smelser, Linc Smelser, Cheryl Haines, Miguel dePablo, Jiafeng Yan, Malika Green, Vickie Myrick, Georgia Price, Zara Zaharieva, Ha-Young Park, and Jessica and Mark Breen.

The NIU Community School of the Arts offers music lessons, ensembles and art and theatre classes to area children and adults. More than 600 people travel from 50 area cities and towns to the NIU campus for programming. A total of 82 people teach for the community school.

Tickets are available at the door on the night of the recital. The cost is $12 for a family, $5 for adults, and $3 for children younger than 12 and seniors older than 65.

HRS schedules fall open house

In appreciation of campus community support, Human Resource Services invites all faculty, Supportive Professional Staff and Operating Staff to attend the second Autumn Fall Open House from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11.

Refreshments will be provided and are compliments of the HRS staff.

Please plan to attend this exciting event and enjoy door prizes, music and food as the 2003/2004 holiday season approaches. For more information, call 753-6000 or visit http://www.hr.niu.edu/ on the Web.

10-27-03