September 29, 2003, Northern Today Abridged
Peters to speak Thursday
NIU President John Peters will deliver his annual State of the University Address at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center. A reception will follow.
Huskies improve to 4-0 after 24-16 win over Iowa State
For the first time since the 1965 season, 20th-ranked NIU is a 4-0 football team.
The Huskies wrapped up the non-conference portion of their schedule Saturday with a 24-16 win over the Iowa State University Cyclones at Huskie Stadium at Brigham Field before a record crowd of 28,218.
In addition to its Week Two win over Tennessee Tech, NIU has now defeated teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (Maryland), Southeastern Conference (Alabama) and now the Big 12 Conference with the win over the Cyclones to complete the non-MAC slate with a perfect 4-0 record.
The Huskies rode the legs of Michael “The Burner” Turner to victory as the senior Heisman Trophy candidate broke both the NIU career rushing record and the career all-purpose yard record in the win.
With a 12-yard run at the 12:31 mark of the third quarter, Turner eclipsed the 20-year-old rushing plateau of 3,745 yards held by fullback Mark Kellar (1971-73). In addition to finishing the game with his 15th career 100 yard rushing day, Turner ran past the Cyclone defense for 134 yards on 30 carries and now has 3,807 career rushing yards. Turner also hauled in 30 yards as a receiver and 15 yards as a kick returner, to finish the game with 179 all-purpose yards, breaking the NIU career all-purpose mark of 4,746 yards, which previously was held by wide receiver Deon Mitchell (1995-98).
Turner now has 4,761 career all-purpose yards.
“It's one of the greatest achievements a back can have,” NIU wide receiver P.J. Fleck said. “It’s a great tribute to Mike and the offensive line. That fourth quarter shows what kind of back Mike is. I’m glad he could get that record.”
Iowa State jumped on the board first after NIU went three-and-out on its opening possession. The Cyclones did most of their damage on the ground as they rushed six times during the eight-play drive that ended with a two-yard TD run by tailback Hiawatha Rutland. Rutland toted the ball five times during the series for 24 yards that would end up being ISU’s only trip to the end zone.
After trading punts, NIU defensive end Vinson Reynolds came up with a play that turned the tide in favor of the Huskies. With the Cyclones driving to the NIU 16, Reynolds shed a cut-block by an Iowa State offensive tackle, picked off a swing pass by freshman quarterback Austin Flynn and took it 65 yards down to the Iowa State 13. Three plays later, Turner scored from two yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
Adam Benike made the score 10-7 in favor of Iowa State after he hit a 23-yard field goal, but the Huskies came right back on the next possession to take their first. Following a series of Turner runs, Josh Haldi hit a streaking Dan Sheldon down the right sideline for a 38-yard score to make it 14-10 in favor of NIU.
Iowa State cut the Northern Illinois lead to 14-13 after Benike hit his second field goal of the day, this one from 43 yards out. Benike’s third field goal, a 26-yarder, gave the Cyclones a 16-14 advantage with 11:53 left in the game.
The Huskies came right back with three points of their own however as they marched 59 yards in 11 plays to set Steve Azar up with a 29-yard kick that gave NIU a 16-13 advantage.
The opportunistic Huskie defense thwarted any hopes ISU may have had for a comeback on the ensuing possession as Akil Grant picked off Austin Flynn’s pass near the Huskie sideline to set up the NIU offense at midfield.
Following eight consecutive runs that marched the ball down to the ISU nine, Fleck took a flanker screen the remaining nine yards to pay dirt as NIU moved to 4-0.
Nationally ranked Northern Illinois opens Mid-American Conference play Saturday, Oct. 4, when it hosts the Ohio Bobcats at 6:35 p.m.
Two NIU faculty receive federal funds
for computer-based research ethics projects
Scholarly research involving human subjects has inherent risks, even if the study has nothing to do with medicine or disease.
“Over the last couple years,” said Jeffrey Hecht, chair of NIU’s Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, “folks who do research with human subjects have had a number of very notable, very public kinds of incidents where things haven’t gone the way they should have. Patients have died. Data has been compromised.”
Federal officials responded with policies trying to oversee the process, later withdrawn after causing a furor in Congress. Nonetheless, Hecht said, identical or similar legislation eventually will become law.
In the meantime, however, the government is granting money to universities to create training modules for people involved in research. “The idea that people ought to be trained kind of caught on,” he said.
Hecht and Murali Krishnamurthi, director of the NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, each have received $25,000 for separate projects. The university is matching the funds.
Hecht’s project – “RCR For the Rest of Us” – will become a CD-Rom packed with information relative to the 11 specific areas of concern in conducting responsible research, which include humans, animals, money, security and laws.
He and his grad students will gather material from subject matter experts over the next year and transform it into the computer-driven tutorial.
“It’ll be a self-paced CD type of project that a prospective researcher or grad student could sit down with and, in a fairly short time, learn about these 11 areas. It’ll give them an overview and enough of a sense that their awareness has been raised and they’re now ready to proceed,” he said.
Krishnamurthi’s project – “Online Decision Instruction on Data Integrity” – will guide its online users through hypothetical situations and allow them to make choices.
Scenarios might touch on how data is collected, used, released, archived or documented for research purposes. After the computer poses a question, and a decision is made, the computer will present the consequences of that action – and the dilemmas.
“Sometimes researchers may have the right intention, but may not be aware of all the issues related to data integrity,” Krishnamurthi said. “Who really owns the data? If someone is involved in a research project, and they leave the project, do they still have some rights? Is somebody sponsoring it? Some corporation? Do they have any rights? Does NIU?”
The program lets researchers “not just read about, but experience” the decision-making process, he said.
“It’s not just a Web site or documentation. There’s a lot of information available already on research integrity,” he said. “This is something more interactive, more interesting, and can be made available to everybody, from graduate students to researchers. They have to experience it in some way to understand research data-related dilemmas.”
Campus Child Care celebrates 25 years of providing ‘peace of mind’
True or false? The freshman class of 1978 numbered only 30, and their parents paid just $1 an hour for them to attend.
Surprise: It’s true – although this “freshman class” is actually the first group of children ages 2 to 5 who were enrolled at the NIU Campus Child Care Center when it opened a quarter-century ago this fall.
“It all started with a group of people who saw a need for child care on campus, specifically for student families, so they went to the Student Association and got some funding,” said Christine Herrmann, the center’s third director. “They were looking for additional space after the first year. They already needed to grow.”
Gabel Hall 170 served as the original 1,800-square-foot home to the center, which now enjoys its own 16,000-square-foot building on Annie Glidden Road just southwest of Gabel.
“This building is hugely beneficial,” Herrmann said. “It’s important to have a facility really built for children and their families. Every space we have is so utilized, because it’s really built specifically for the needs of children.”
Small-sized amenities include miniature toilets, tables, chairs, sofas and hat racks as well as sinks and drinking fountains so close to the floor adults must kneel to use them. The 10-classroom facility also features a large motor room where children play and exercise, a parent conference room, a private nursing room, two-way-mirrored observation rooms for parents or for students conducting research and several laundry machines.
But the building, which opened in the fall of 2000, is just one of many changes.
Only students could enroll their children at first, although now the center accepts children of faculty and staff. Still, 70 percent of the 115 children enrolled this year are the offspring of students.
The center itself is open year-round rather than just during the fall and spring semesters, and ages now range from as young as two months to as old as 10 years.
First director Chris McKillip’s original staff consisted of three full-time teachers, a part-time secretary and some student workers. Now Herrmann, who succeeded second director Diane Kubetz, oversees an assistant director, 14 teachers, a full-time secretary, 50 students workers and a kitchen helper.
Children then could stay no more than five hours a day because no nap time was offered. Parents chose a five-hour block – for example, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. or noon to 5 p.m. Now the center accepts young guests anywhere from three to 10 hours a day. Full-time scheduling began in 1987, and napping was added as an option for part-time children in 1994.
Hourly fees of $1 for children of students and $1.25 for children of employees now are based on ranges of age and hours enrolled. In 2001, the center received a four-year federal grant of $327,000 to fund scholarships for those student-parents with legitimate need of reduced child care.
Because no hot meals were provided – an addition in 1987 – children brought their own brown-bag lunches. In 1996, a five-year playground project was completed.
And, in 1992, the center first earned accreditation from the National Academy for Early Childhood Programs, a status it continues to enjoy.
The center provides a structured program, within a play-based setting, designed to meet the children’s developmental needs. Teachers plan and implement an appropriate curriculum that includes activities in art, music, motor skills, dramatic play, language and literacy. A balance of active, quiet, individual and group activities assist in social, emotional, physical and cognitive development.
But for parents – especially those who are students trying to balance classes with children and maybe even work – the center mostly offers convenient peace of mind, Herrmann said.
And among the things that have remained constant is the support of the Student Association, which pays 10 percent of the child care fees for each NIU student-parent.
“Students will tell you it’s significant, and Northern is very lucky to have it,” Herrmann said. “Some students choose Northern because of the child care center. I hear that every now and then.”
Plans for the future include expansion of a summer program for school-age children and hiring a couple more teachers to open another pre-school classroom.
Herrmann and her staff will celebrate the 25th anniversary with a logo contest – original, child-related designs incorporating “NIU Campus Child Care” are due on 8½-inch-by-11-inch white paper by the end of the fall semester – and an April open house that coincides with the Week of the Young Child. A nostalgic display from the 1970s forward is planned, and suggestions are welcome.
Many ideas could come from the memory of Herrmann herself, who began at the center in 1980 as a student volunteer in child development, returned for a graduate assistantship and is marking 14 years as a professional there.
“No matter what happens throughout the day, there’s always going to be a funny, little story, something with a child that’ll make you laugh, to share with their parents,” she said. “You always come away with a smile.”
Chicago attorney hired as university counsel
NIU Legal Services has announced that Vickie Gillio will join that office as a university counsel, effective Oct. 1.
Gillio brings with her two decades of experience in representing colleges and universities in legal matters, as well as an extensive background in employment and labor law.
“She is precisely the type of lawyer we were looking for when we launched our national search back in January,” said NIU General Counsel Ken Davidson. “She has been a general counsel at the community college level, she has advocated on behalf of colleges and universities in her private practice and she will add tremendous depth to our employment and labor law team.”
While she enjoyed many aspects of private practice, Gillio is looking forward to becoming part of the NIU legal team.
“The business and office administration issues related to having my own law firm were always of secondary importance to me,” Gillio said. “It is serving my clients, and the legal aspects of my work, that I have always found the most enjoyable, and I look forward to devoting my full energy to the university and its legal issues.”
Gillio, who earned her juris doctorate from the University of Illinois, is excited at the prospect of working full-time in higher education.
In many regards, it is a sort of homecoming for her.
During her undergraduate days at St. Norbert College, she served as a student trustee. While at Illinois, she sat on a university-wide committee devoted to undergraduate educational reform, and later was part of the law school’s board of visitors.
During her professional career, she has spent a good deal of time immersed in issues relating to higher education, including three years (1985-88) as the general counsel for Waubonsee Community College.
In 1992, she founded Gillio and Associates, a Chicago-based law firm concentrating in labor and employment law, administrative law and education law. Gillio plans to relocate to the DeKalb area.
New CAHE chair Watson embraces challenges, opportunities
A provocative bumper sticker in Lemuel Watson’s office with a bold, red-and-black message sticks out among the customary shelves of scholarly books and cultural artifacts.
“Men Who Change Diapers Change the World.”
The movement was sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children organization.
Watson – the new chair of the Department of Counseling, Adult and Health Education in the NIU College of Education –was inspired to become involved with that group by his appointment as a research to the “Call Me Mister” program at his former employer, Clemson University. It aimed to recruit 200 African-American men to become elementary school teachers and to change perceptions of male teachers in the lower grades.
His research interests include examining institutions of higher education (IHE) and how their structures, practices and policies affect learning, development and educational outcomes of students, especially historically under-represented students. In addition, he chooses to examine, through critical theory and policy analysis, the impact that sociopolitical factors have on IHEs and their agents, constituents, resources and operations.
A love of research, and its evolving questions, is one of many things Watson plans to bring to NIU.
“Research is wonderful, an intimate experience,” he said. “I have the opportunity here to work with faculty and their research agendas, and we have tons of doctoral students at the dissertation stage. One of my goals is to breathe some fire, life and urgency into these students.”
For Watson, the path to a life in higher education was a left turn from his expectations of a bachelor’s degree in business. When he began work in the business and finance offices for his alma mater, the University of South Carolina, he discovered and embraced an unexpected opportunity.
“I started teaching in the evenings,” he said, “and fell in love with that experience.”
Those classes were related directly to his degree – introductory courses in business and computer science – but the taste of teaching adults taking their first steps beyond high school inspired Watson to seek a master’s degree in higher education and human development.
Watson worked in the office of the chancellor at Indiana University, where he conducted faculty development, assessment and orientation.
He took his first faculty position at Illinois State University after earning his doctorate, and later expanded his resume as a community college dean and by building grad programs in higher education and student development at Clemson.
His journey to DeKalb began when he helped a doctoral student look through the higher education job ads.
“Right below was the chair’s job,” he said. “I was able to bring my counseling background, my adult education experience and my higher education and administrative experience to one place with an outstanding faculty at an undiscovered gem.”
NIU’s Thoreau Edition named ‘We the People’ project
The National Endowment for the Humanities has designated NIU’s center dedicated to the writings of American author Henry David Thoreau as a “We the People” project.
The goal of “We the People,” a high priority NEH initiative, is to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture. Projects that share the designation have a common goal of advancing knowledge of the principles that define America.
Since 1966, NEH has funded the Thoreau center, more formally known as The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau or the Thoreau Edition. The project’s mission is to edit all of Thoreau’s writings. While the special “We the People” designation was not accompanied by a new grant, it could open future funding avenues.
“We’re pleased that the NEH continues to recognize the value of our work,” said Elizabeth Witherell, who has been editor-in-chief of the Thoreau Edition since 1980. The project moved to NIU in 1999 and is located at Founders Memorial Library.
The Thoreau Edition leads scholars from around the country in recovering the lost words of one of America’s most influential writers. Without the project, a large portion of Thoreau’s manuscript journal, now considered his most significant work, might never appear in print.
“Dealing with and recovering from the events of Sept. 11, 2001, requires a deep understanding of what it means to be an American,” Witherell said. “Thoreau’s writings both expressed and shaped fundamental aspects of the American character – our individualism, our optimism, our confidence in an inner voice as a reliable guide to moral action. Thoreau reminds us that we have a duty to discover that inner voice and act in consonance with it.”
More information on the Thoreau Edition is available at the project’s newly redesigned Web site at www.thoreau.niu.edu.
NIU students keep Oak Crest seniors moving
Molly Hauswald shifts the blue, plastic, circular maze with her feet, causing the red ball to roll around the round hallways and through the small passages toward the bull’s-eye center.
Turns out Hauswald’s an old pro who usually requires less than a minute to maneuver the ball from the bottom of the outside rung to the hole in the middle.
“Finally!” she sputters after each victory, seemingly frustrated that the not-so-easy task took more than a few seconds.
Hauswald, a feisty 94, promptly asks the NIU student kneeling beside her chair to return the ball to its starting position, her feet still rocking the maze from side to side.
Left, right, left, right, left, right. Another quick success.
“Finally!” Hauswald says again.
The long-retired physical education teacher from Sycamore is one of 50 active residents of Oak Crest Retirement Center who exercise in the facility’s basement with the help of 20 students from the NIU Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education.
NIU kinesiology professor Pamela “Pommy” Macfarlane wanders the makeshift gym like the amiable owner of a posh restaurant meanders through the tables, calling all the seniors by name, stopping to offer encouragement and occasionally engaging them in exercise.
“Okay, shut your eyes now. Use the ankles to balance. Hold it, hold it. Good job,” she cheers one. “Go, go! Just two more reps, all the way up. Good!” she encourages another.
Macfarlane has operated this 15-year-old program since 1999, modeling it after observing a balance clinic in California and after implementing an 18-week program in her native South Africa.
Its focus includes balance challenges, walking skills and strength.
Mobility is emphasized because older adults lose strength and balance, putting them at risk for all activities. Mobility training can restore some loss and stop further deterioration, allowing an active and safe lifestyle. Heart-healthy and flexibility activities also are included but are secondary because mobility is necessary for such exercise.
The average age of the seniors is 86.
“This is completely unique. Most places have group exercise, but there’s not another program in the country with one-on-one attention,” Macfarlane says. “We’re minimizing their risk of falling, and they’re in much better shape if something does go wrong. They’re able to come back, and we’ve got the facilities to help people come back.”
Oak Crest funds a graduate assistantship and provides the facility while Macfarlane’s department provides the program administration, equipment and supervision of the students who are earning academic credit for their three hours of weekly participation.
Many of the students are working on bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology and exercise physiology and are destined for careers in prevention and rehabilitation as well as athletic training. The program also welcomes NIU gerontology students, who learn the ropes from kinesiology majors before starting individual work with the seniors.
The program won the 2003 Excellence in Programming Award from the Council on Aging and Adult Development of the American Association for Active Lifestyles and Fitness in recognition of programs promoting, advocating and encouraging physical fitness, wellness and the importance of seniors remaining active throughout their lives.
The seniors pedal stationary bikes, jog on treadmills, raise their legs, stand from a sitting position, throw, bounce and catch balls, shoot basketballs, pitch horseshoes, walk on their heels, walk on their tip-toes, walk along two-by-four boards, pull weights down from above and push weights ahead of their chests.
The NIU-directed exercise is “the best program we’ve ever had the good fortune to be involved in,” says Stephen Cichy, executive director of Oak Crest.
Prospective residents are attracted to Oak Crest by the chance to exercise under supervision and to interact with fellow residents and college students, adds Liz Hoppenworth, director of resident services.
“It’s a very rewarding program for our residents, a very rewarding program for the students who have participated and, overall, very good for the center,” Cichy says. “It’s helped our residents to be able to live their life to the fullest. They’ve been able to maintain and improve their strength and abilities as well as their outlook on life.”
NIU gerontology program targets graying nation
Everyone knows scores of elderly people.
Maybe it’s their dad, or their grandma, or a great uncle. Maybe it’s their next-door neighbor, or the woman who runs the church bake sale, or the friendly old fellow behind the counter at the lakeside bait-and-tackle shop. Maybe it’s a shut-in who receives Meals on Wheels.
Soon, though, everyone will know a countless number of senior citizens as the nation’s elderly population explodes.
The first members of the Baby Boom generation – those born in 1946, the requisite nine months after World War II ended – have received the American Association of Retired Peoples’ “Modern Maturity” magazine in the mail for years, and are only three years from turning 60.
And yet the country is mostly unprepared for this rapidly approaching onslaught of aging residents, whose growing sophistication and incredible demand for goods and services will tax both industry and government.
NIU’s gerontology program – “designed to play a part in meeting the health-related needs and challenges of the fastest-growing segment of the American population” – is working to change that.
“A young person who is going for a marketing degree without taking a gerontology minor is going to be missing something. The market is graying,” said John Stolte, the program director. “People need to be sensitive to the culture.”
The program, housed in the College of Health and Human Sciences for a decade, began in 1986. It offers either a minor to undergraduates (between 30 to 35 usually are enrolled) or a graduate certificate to graduate students (between eight and 12).
Students come from a wide variety of majors, from the expected, such as nursing, communicative disorders, physical therapy and psychology, to the innovative, such as business, education or public administration.
Careers in education, employment, finance, housing, legal aid, medical service, mental health, nutrition, recreation and more await graduates.
Meanwhile, Stolte said, the program is experiencing “exciting” changes as new professors from a dozen departments or schools in three different colleges have started to teach courses, diverse types of students have enrolled and a stronger outreach push has blossomed.
The program now staffs and supports a team-taught “Issues in Gerontology” course. Distance-learning options will become available in the spring.
The challenge is to convince traditional college-age students, many as young as 17, about the need to round off their education with courses in gerontology. American society has “a natural tendency for age segregation,” he said, as “older people are relegated to gated communities, or high rises.”
Students in NIU’s gerontology program, however, are going into local nursing homes and senior centers to meet and befriend the elderly who live or visit there, sometimes to teach them physical fitness activities or sometimes to simply chat or to take a walk or a drive. Eyes are opened to similarities across the age span.
“Intergenerational contact is crucial,” he said. “Young people can get excited. They can ask questions and get a vivid sense of history.”
HHS appoints two acting department chairs
NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences has named Sue E. Ouellette as acting chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Laura Smart as acting chair of the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences.
Ouellette replaces Earl “Gip” Seaver, who is now vice provost, and Smart replaces Mary Pritchard, who now is associate dean of the college. Both assume their positions immediately.
Ouellette is a professor in the rehabilitation counseling area of the Department of Communicative Disorders.
Her past experience includes serving as the director of the Northern Illinois University Research and Training Center on Traditionally Underserved Persons who are Deaf and as project director of a number of federally funded research and training projects representing more than $5 million in funding.
She is a past president of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, the Illinois Rehabilitation Association and the American Society for Deaf Children. She also has served as both chair and a member of the Illinois State Advisory Council on the Education of Deaf Children and has been a member of the faculty of Project Inclusion, a multinational collaborative effort that resulted in the first comparative course on the inclusion of deaf persons in society.
Ouellette has authored more than 35 articles and monographs on deafness-related topics and has delivered in excess of 200 presentations at various national and international meetings of professionals, consumers and family members. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist and licensed clinical professional counselor in Illinois, a certified rehabilitation counselor and a nationally certified counselor.
Smart is a professor in the family and child studies area in the School of Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Sciences.
She earned her Ph.D. in family studies at the University of Connecticut in 1979 and joined the NIU faculty later that year. She has worked closely with the Family Social Services internship program since joining the faculty, and became an associate in NIU’s gerontology program when it started in 1986.
Smart has been active in the National Conference on Family Relations and the Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family for more than 30 years, and has held leadership positions in both organizations. She also has served as secretary of the Illinois Council on Family Relations. She is the author of two textbooks and one scholarly monograph, and has authored numerous scholarly articles and several book chapters. Smart is a certified family life educator.
NIU jazz faculty headline ‘Jazz Fest in DeKalb’
Jazz aficionados know the world-renowned NIU Jazz Ensemble.
What they may not know is the wonderful faculty professionals who teach in the jazz studies program in the NIU School of Music, which has produced outstanding ensembles and combos for more than 30 years.
On Saturday, Oct. 11, the public will have the rare opportunity to hear most of that faculty together at one time for a showcase concert that is the centerpiece of “Jazz Fest in DeKalb,” a day-and-a-half mini-festival. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. in the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. Second St. Admission is $10, and $7 for students and senior citizens.
The concert will feature saxophonists Ron Carter, Steve Duke and John Wojciechowski; Art Davis, trumpet; Tom Garling, trombone; percussionists Robert Chappell, Rich Holly and Orlando Cotto; Marlene Rosenberg, bass, and Liam Teague, steel pan. Collectively, this group of musicians has worked with virtually every recognizable name in jazz over the past 30 years, and each maintains an active performing career in addition to their teaching duties.
Harold Kafer, chair of the Nehring Center for Culture and Tourism and dean of NIU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, said the concert is a rare occurrence.
“I’ve been at NIU since 1991 and I’ve never heard the entire jazz faculty in one place at one time,” Kafer said. “It took over a year of advance planning to find a viable date, given their professional schedules.”
“Jazz Fest in DeKalb” opens Friday, Oct. 10, when the DeKalb Gallery will host a jazz reception to celebrate the Jazz Fest and give jazz and art lovers a chance to indulge both interests.
A 3 p.m. Saturday lecture performance will take place at the Ellwood House Museum Visitor’s Center. Radio station WDCB music director and jazz host Paul Abella will present a lecture titled “Historic Trends and Jazz Today,” with musical assistance provided by students from the NIU jazz studies program.
Several downtown restaurants will host jazz dinners from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring student jazz combos.
As an incentive for non-locals to stay overnight, or for those in commuting distance to come back on Day Two, a special Sunday, Oct. 12, jazz brunch at The House restaurant in downtown DeKalb will feature the NIU Liberace Jazztet. This septet of senior and graduate students is recruited nationally to NIU and is supported by the Liberace Foundation.
On Sunday evening, the House will host a Jazz Wine Master dinner.
“Since improvisation is so central to jazz, I thought it would be great fun to take an improvisational approach to a wine dinner,” House owner Sven Hanson said. “We are going to let the wine master for the evening, Grant Olson and chef Eric Moss, improvise on the food and wine pairings. The results should be fun.”
Central to jazz studies at NIU is Carter, the program coordinator, who joined the university in 1993 after 18 years in the St. Louis area as a public school educator and freelance musician.
At NIU, he has established himself internationally as one of higher education’s most-respected jazz educators. In addition to a dizzying schedule as a guest conductor/clinician and guest artist, Carter’s current projects include serving as MidAmerican coordinator for the Essentially Ellington Project, sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and as a member of the Philadelphia National Jazz Curriculum Project-Miles 2001, St. Louis.
In the past 10 years, the NIU Jazz Ensemble has appeared at the Montreaux, North Sea, and Jazz à Vienne festivals. The NIU Liberace Jazztet appeared at the International Association for Jazz Education conference in Toronto and the JVC Jazz Festival in New York City. Alumni can be found in university jazz faculties and in performance venues internationally.
“Jazz Fest in DeKalb” is co-sponsored by the Nehring Center for Culture and Tourism of the DeKalb Park District, the City of DeKalb, the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, Mainstreet DeKalb and the NIU School of Music. Additional sponsors are The House, Hillside, Eduardo’s and Rosita’s restaurants.
For more information, call the chamber at (815) 756-6306.
Schedule of Events
Friday, October 10, 2003
6 to 8 p.m. Jazz Reception
The DeKalb Gallery
161 E. Lincoln Hwy.
Saturday, Oct. 11
3 p.m. Lecture at Ellwood House Visitor’s Center
Paul Abella, WDCB Public Radio
5 p.m. Jazz Dinners
Downtown DeKalb Restaurants
7:30 p.m. Concert by NIU School of Music Jazz Faculty
Egyptian Theatre
135 N. 2nd Street
Sunday, Oct. 12
10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jazz Brunch featuring the Liberace Jazztet
House Restaurant
263 E. Lincoln Hwy.
6 p.m. Jazz Wine Masters Dinner
House Restaurant
263 E. Lincoln Hwy.
Johnson to lead Illinois American Choral Directors Association
Eric A. Johnson, director of choral activities in the NIU School of Music, was elected president-elect this summer for the Illinois American Choral Directors Association. After two years, he will become acting president.
Johnson’s election honors his work promoting the choral arts the great strides the NIU Choral program has made under his leadership.
He was selected through a process of statewide nominations, board selection for inclusion on the ballot and finally a vote of his peers of all members of IL-ACDA, which includes college, public school and church choir directors across Illinois.
NIU Jewish community to observe Yom Kippur
Most Jewish students, faculty and staff will be absent from classes Monday, Oct. 6, for Yom Kippur. “Please allow accommodations, following university guidelines,”
says accountancy professor David Sinason, the Hillel faculty adviser.
Bookstore to return texts to publishers
University Bookstore will begin this week returning books to the publishers for the first-half classes and will return second-half books beginning the week of Oct. 27. Faculty should advise students to make all necessary book purchases before these dates.
For more information, call the Text Office at 753-1866.
Disability Awareness Day scheduled for Oct. 15
NIU Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources, The Center for Access-Ability Resources, and the Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities invite participation in NIU’s Disability Mentoring Awareness Day on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Set aside some time to mentor a student with disabilities during a job shadow experience from 9 to 11 a.m. and attend the Disability Forum from noon to 2 p.m. in the Campus Life Building, room 100. Enjoy dialogue with panel guests, including community members and students. The participants will share personal experiences with the audience in an effort to promote awareness and improve understanding. More importantly, the mentoring experience helps students enrich their life plan by considering more career options.
The events of the day will conclude with the third annual disABILITY open house from 3 to 6 p.m., featuring displays by community resources dedicated to helping people with disabilities. Adaptive technology demonstrations will be conducted, and refreshments served.
At 4:30 p.m., the 2003 John Clogston Spirit Award will be presented to the NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design team for their outstanding contribution to improving the educational experience for people with disabilities at NIU.
To register for mentoring day, and for more information, please visit:
http://www.hr.niu.edu/news/story_detail.cfm?id=102.
Child Care to host annual book fair
The NIU Campus Child Care Center will host its annual Children’s Book Fair during the week of Oct. 27.
The book fair is held at the center on Annie Glidden Road west of Gabel Hall. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.
Come browse a wide selection with multiple copies of books, early readers, parent resource materials, calendars and much more. At least 15 tables are set up with about 1,800 books and other items available for purchase.
Conference for Young Women scheduled for Oct. 29
The seventh annual NIU Conference for Young women – high school sophomores, juniors and seniors – takes place from 8:15 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in the Holmes Student Center.
The conference will feature tours of the campus, presentations by NIU faculty on topics relevant to women’s collegiate experience and career choices and panel discussions in which professors in law, management, physics and sociology talk about career fields and professional opportunities for women.
The cost for the conference is $33 before Oct. 15 and $38 afterward. Lunch is included. Registration is limited to 30 students on a first-come, first-served basis. A limited number of scholarships will be available to those who need assistance with registration expenses.
For more information, call the Women’s Studies Program at 753-1038 or visit www.niu.edu/clasep online.
Library hours offered in e-mailed PDF format
The University Libraries has produced its final three-panel brochure listing building and service hours. Starting with the Spring 2004 semester, the library will issue a single-sheet, two-sided schedule and begin offering a PDF format of the information via e-mail.
Library hours also are always available in both regular and PDF format at www.niulib.niu.edu/hours.cfm.
REACHing out to new students
The Orientation Office will launch a new retention effort in the coming weeks as part of the First-Year Connections program. The new initiative is called REACH: Retention Effort for All inComing Huskies.
Trained student employees will call selected new students to welcome them to NIU and help them get connected to resources on campus and in the community. NIU faculty and staff might receive inquiries from students who have been referred to various services through the REACH program.
For more information, please contact Chris Kubic at 753-1933 or firstconn@niu.edu.
Call for nominations issued for Presidential Teaching Professorships
All letters of nomination for the 2004 Presidential Teaching Professorships should be submitted to Earl Seaver, in the Office of the Provost (Lowden Hall 307), no later than Monday, Oct. 13.
Following receipt of a letter of nomination, the Selection Committee will invite each nominated faculty member to prepare materials in accordance with the published procedure. Only full professors with tenure and at least six years service at NIU are eligible for the award.
The Presidential Teaching Professorships were established in 1990 to recognize those outstanding teachers who have demonstrated over time that they:
- instill and develop in students an intensity of interest in, and an appreciation for, the value of the subject.
- apply rigorous standards to student performance, inspire students to become the best that they can be, and stimulate student growth.
- command respect and esteem as a teacher rather than merely being popular.
- demonstrate extraordinary commitment to students and their welfare, not only that the nominee is knowledgeable and prepared for class but is available to them outside of class for help with materials, for advising them, for listening to their concerns, and for assisting them with extra-class projects or activities.
- explore and develop effective instructional methods and technologies.
- work actively with students, faculty, and administrators to improve undergraduate and/or graduate education at NIU, and other activities directed toward the improvement of instruction.
The procedure calls for a rigorous and thorough portfolio review including contacting former students. The 2004 recipients will be announced next spring.
Relay for Life meeting scheduled for Oct. 20
An informational meeting will be held at 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, for all those interested in participating in the American Cancer Society’s Colleges against Cancer third annual Relay for Life ACS fundraiser to be held in April, 2004.
The meeting will take place in DuSable 459. Refreshments will be served.
The Relay itself is an overnight event with food, activities, entertainment, games and cancer information in a festive atmosphere. Relays are made up of 10-member teams, with each member responsible for raising $100 for the American Cancer Society. Last year the NIU faculty/ staff fielded one team (plus 20 or so student teams). More are desired.
Anyone interested can either attend the meeting or call Mary Cozad, of the Department of Foreign Languages, at 753-6448 or 756-9908.
9-29-03
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