The last time Northern Illinois University saw enrollment top 25,000 (1987), Ronald Reagan was in the White House, "Dirty Dancing" was playing in movie theaters, and the state of Illinois provided more than half of NIU's operating budget.

Sixteen years later, NIU enrollment has once again topped the 25,000 mark, with an official tenth-day count of 25,260 or 1.3 percent more than the same time last year.

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Ever the chemist, Rathindra Bose plans to mix things up.

The man newly appointed to oversee NIU research efforts is searching for just the right chemistry among faculty members to propel the university to new heights.

A renowned researcher in his own right and former administrator in charge of Kent State’s research agenda, Bose arrived in July with a formidable goal to double NIU’s external funding – to $100 million in five years.

To do this, he says, faculty must work across disciplines, combining resources to form new, innovative research groups that will take aim at some of society’s most pressing and complex problems.

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NIU awarded more doctoral degrees in education to African-Americans than any other public university in the nation, according to a recent survey in Black Issues in Higher Education.

The magazine annually publishes its listings of “Top 100 Degree Producers,” a national survey of degrees awarded to minority students. The survey was based on U.S. Department of Education data for 2001-2002.

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Former NIU President Rhoten A. Smith, who presided over the university during a period of rapid expansion and student unrest, has died in Colorado at the age of 82.

Smith served as NIU’s sixth president from 1967 to 1971, presiding over a tumultuous period of rapid campus growth and Vietnam-era protests. The first NIU president to come from a non-teachers-college background, Smith brought a vision for a new, comprehensive university with high academic standards and full integration of teaching, research and public service missions. Among longtime NIU staff and DeKalb-area residents, Smith also is remembered as the president who stopped a campus riot by joining a student sit-in on the Lincoln Highway bridge.

“He was the right person for the times,” said long-time presidential secretary Sally Stevens. “He established a rapport with the students, and they trusted him.”

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Late in the afternoon of Sept. 4, Mary Pritchard turned in her keys to three buildings where the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences has office and laboratories.

Pritchard, who chaired the school for 11 years and joined its faculty in 1984, is now associate dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. And with the change in office and job, she spent the first couple weeks of the semester moving the contents of her office and gradually making the break from her longtime home.

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NIU receives $25,000 grant from EPA
to train educators in environmental management

NIU is among six organizations in the state recently awarded grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for proposing innovative environmental education programs.

NIU will receive $24,726 to fund the design, development and distribution of a Web-based training program (and subsequent day-long workshops) for high school and college teachers to learn concepts of pollution prevention through environmental management systems.

EMS entails creative approaches to preventing pollution before it happens in the home, community and business rather than cleaning up after the fact.

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The NIU Department of Public Safety’s commitment to “community-oriented policing” paid off earlier this month when the department received $300,000 from the Department of Justice to hire four new officers.

“Most departments do community-oriented policing as a program with just a handful of people involved,” says NIU Chief of Police Don Grady. “Here, it is a department-wide endeavor. It’s what we do all day every day. This will allow us to better meet our goal of being the safest college campus in the state. This grant is a tremendous opportunity for the university.”

Grady hopes to have the new officers hired by January and working in the Community Safety Centers by March.

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When Robert Gleeson talks about loving his new workspace, he doesn’t mean his new office.

That office is nice enough, but what the new director of the Center for Governmental Studies is truly excited about is working in the western suburbs of Chicago.

“NIU finds itself in the fortunate position of being the premier public institution in one of the great American developing spaces. Places like this are where 21st century America is being defined,” said Gleeson, who joined the center July 1.

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Save the Date
NIU President John Peters will deliver his annual State of the University Address at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center. A reception will follow.

No classes to be held
day before Thanksgiving
By vote of the University Council, and notice to the Board of Trustees, Thanksgiving break has been approved to extend over the entire day before Thanksgiving. As listed in the NIU Fall 2003 schedule book, beginning with the 2003-2004 academic year, no classes will be held the day before Thanksgiving.

It is important to note, however, that this policy pertains to academic classes only. It is not a closure day for NIU offices or non-instructional employees. Supervisors are encouraged to exercise leniency with respect to employees who wish to take vacation time on that day.

Speaker to address
conditions in Iraq
Kathy Kelly, founder of Voices in the Wilderness, will report on her time in Iraq, “before,” “during” and “after” the recent war. She will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, in the Heritage Room of the Holmes Student Center.

Kelly has been twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and received the 1998 Pax Christi Teacher of Peace Award, as well as the Newberry Library Free Speech Award.

Her DeKalb appearance is sponsored by the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace & Justice and NIU’s Northern Coalition for Peace & Justice. There is no admission fee.

For further information, call Cele Meyer at 758-0796.

Program unvieled to lower
students’ risks from alcohol
The college experience is sometimes better known for drinking escapades than for a valuable education, et the truth is that most students behave responsibly and have their eye on that degree around the corner.

NIU wants to decrease the risk of alcohol-related problems for students who put themselves and others in harm’s way when using alcohol precariously.

With the start of fall semester, the Student Affairs Division of NIU is introducing MyStudentBody.com, an online alcohol education program tailored specifically for college students. This program offers confidential, anonymous and customized information for students about their own personal use of alcohol and the associated risks.

Students can use MyStudentBody.com to calculate their blood alcohol levels, calorie intake, STD risk, drug effects and even monthly expenses related to alcohol. They also can hear personal stories of other students’ experiences related to alcohol.

MyStudentBody.com will be managed by Health Enhancement Services at the University Health Service. It will be one of a variety of health promotion and risk reduction efforts available to students on campus.

MyStudentBody.com is accessible to all NIU students at www.mystudentbody.com
Call 753-7702 for more information.

Lincoln Laureate
nominees sought
An outstanding senior from each of the four-year, degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois is chosen annually to receive the Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award. The University Scholarships Committee asks your assistance in identifying the student, graduating during 2004, who will be NIU’s recipient of this year’s award.

Lincoln Student Laureates are honored for their overall excellence in both curricular and co-curricular activities. The NIU Student Laureate should have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and should have demonstrated leadership in extra-curricular activities.

The person selected will represent the university at one of the most distinguished gatherings in the state, a special ceremony held Nov. 1 in the House of Representatives of the Illinois State Capitol. Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, president of the Academy, will present each Student Laureate with a Lincoln Academy Medallion and a check for $150.

The ceremony will be followed by a luncheon in the Executive Mansion. Nominator(s) of the recipient will be asked to represent the university at this event.

The person selected from NIU to receive this award should be our most outstanding senior student. Please be selective in your nomination. Nomination forms and supplementary pages should be returned to the Office of the Scholarship Coordinator, c/o Retention Programs, by noon Friday, Sept. 26, for the nomination to be considered by the selection committee. If you care to hand-deliver nomination forms, please submit them to 402 Adams Hall.

University Women’s Club
to host fall reception
Plans are under way for the University Women’s Club’s annual fall reception. This event is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the president’s residence, 901 Woodlawn Drive in DeKalb.

Barbara Peters and members of the board of the University Women’s Club are looking forward to greeting and meeting women of the university community as the new academic year begins. This year, the reception will be a wine and cheese event with an opportunity for newcomers to meet women with an NIU connection.

Current members are encouraged to invite women who are eligible but perhaps have not already joined. Membership is open to women who are employed at the university, the spouse of an employee, retirees or the spouse of a retiree.

The purpose of the organization is two-fold: to support philanthropic and educational activities within the university and the community, and to create opportunities for friendly social contact among its members in a spirit of fellowship.

For more information, call Nancy Norris at 756-3292 or Sally Stevens at 756-2343.

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NIU Dialogue on Race seeks
to foster appreciation of diversity

NIU’s fourth Dialogue on Race will offer 40 students the chance to talk about themselves, learn about others and spread the message of understanding diversity.

Scheduled for Oct. 24 and 25, the weekend retreat gathers students from varying racial backgrounds to engage in dialogue about the role that race plays in their lives.

Those chosen are asked for a “strong commitment to improve the current racial climate at NIU” as well as “a willingness to explore their own racial prejudices.”

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The Northern Star, the university’s award-winning student newspaper, is launching an online radio station.

The student-run NS Radio will debut early next month. Listeners will log onto the Star’s Web site at www.northernstar.info and click on the NS Radio link in the top left corner of the home page.

The 24-hour Webcast will feature local bands and an eclectic mix of alternative, hip-hop and Top-40 music. NS Radio also will phase in live student broadcasters and deejays to provide evening news, sports and talk radio.

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Winners of SAGE recognition – Significant Advisor, Guide and Enlightener – from the University of Illinois-Chicago’s College of Nursing are mentors of today’s leaders of nursing.

Eligible candidates are “a nurse administrator, educator, researcher or expert clinician who has impacted the lives and spirits of many nurses” – qualities the selection committee found in Mary Uscian, longtime director of the Tri-County Community Health Center, who will receive the honor Oct. 17.

“No more deserving a person exists,” said Donna Plonczynski, a faculty member in the NIU School of Nursing and one of nearly 20 people who wrote letters of support.

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William Benjamin Gould IV will be a 2003-2004 Scholar-in-Residence at the NIU College of Law Wednesday, Oct. 1, and Thursday, Oct. 2.

Gould is the Charles A. Beardsley Emeritus Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he has been professor of law since 1972, and the William M. Ramsey Distinguished Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law.

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NIU political scientist Gary Glenn will deliver the fall Presidential Teaching Professor seminar.

The seminar – titled “On the Future Possibility of Liberal Education at Northern Illinois University” – will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, in the Heritage Room of the Holmes Student Center. Refreshments will be served at 11:30 a.m., and the public is welcome.

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NIU-based Panoramic to play
Chicago World Music Festival

Panoramic, featuring world-renowned steelpan virtuoso Liam Teague, will perform Thursday, Sept. 18, at World Music Festival: Chicago 2003.

The group, formed by Teague and Robert Chappell, both of whom are members of the percussion/steelpan faculty in the Northern Illinois University School of Music, takes the stage at 6:45 p.m. at the Randolph Café of the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. The concert is free.

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Students interested in studying overseas can get more information on available opportunities at the 11th annual Study Abroad Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center.

The theme of this year’s fair is “Explore More.” The fair will feature informational booths on study abroad programs in 65 countries. Students can meet with faculty and program representatives who coordinate NIU study abroad programs to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America.

Academic advisers and representatives from international study abroad institutions will be on hand as well.

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