April 5, 2004, Northern Today Abridged

President comments on Tennessee candidacy

NIU President John Peters released the following statement over the weekend in response to news that he has been nominated for the presidency at the University of Tennessee:

“Last month, I was nominated to become a candidate for the presidency at the University of Tennessee. Given the extraordinary openness of the UT search process, all expressions of interest require nominees to publicly accept or decline their nominations at a very early stage. Respecting both the letter and the intent of this requirement, and in keeping with my practice of fully informing the NIU campus of my actions, today I am publicly affirming my interest in further discussions about the UT presidency.

The University of Tennessee is one of our country’s great public universities. Its presidency is a system-level position, overseeing four campuses, a medical school and many research centers and institutes, as well as the education of more than 42,000 students. I was honored to serve UT as provost, and more honored still to be considered for its presidency.

My nomination to head such a large and complex institution is testament to the growing reputation of Northern Illinois University and the equally complex role that NIU fills so successfully in this nation’s third-largest metropolitan region. The success of our efforts to establish NIU as the nation’s premier regional public university – driven by the needs and aspirations of the richly diverse Chicagoland area – is underscored by this recognition.

In the spirit of openness that has so characterized this search, I pledge to make my intentions known, quickly and publicly, at each stage of the process. I remain fully committed to Northern Illinois University, its continued growth and development, and the course we have set for the future. I look forward to being a part of NIU’s continued growth and development, and remain invigorated by the challenges that lie ahead.”

Shur named interim athletics director

Search firm to assist in finding new A.D.

Former NIU General Counsel George Shur has been appointed to serve as interim athletics director while NIU conducts a national search to find a permanent replacement for outgoing A.D. Cary Groth.

Shur, who served as NIU’s head lawyer for 20 years before retiring last year, also served 20 years on the university’s Athletic Board. His background includes extensive work on personnel matters, student issues, Title IX and NCAA regulations.

"George will be an invaluable help to me and to senior staff in Athletics as we work through this short transition period," said NIU President John Peters. "He knows the university, knows Athletics and is highly regarded throughout the university for his knowledge, expertise and commitment to NIU."

For his part, Shur says the temporary appointment is "a labor of love."

"I’m very flattered to be the temporary guardian of a very well-run, congenial and honest athletic program," Shur said. "I truly love NIU and I have a deep and abiding respect for what Cary Groth has done here."

Peters said RFPs (request for proposals) have been issued for a search firm to help identify program strengths and attract qualified candidates. Peters said that firm, which he expects to have hired within the next two weeks, will perform an assessment of the current status of NIU’s athletic program, and will assist in recruitment and selection of a new athletic director.

"NIU’s athletic program presents a very attractive opportunity, and I have no doubt that we will attract a number of very exciting candidates," Peters said. "We’re on a fast track in this search, and I expect to be able to have a new A.D. on board here July 1."

Geography professor receives NASA grant to study Martian valley networks

Wei Luo, an NIU professor of geography, is leading a new study that aims to shed light on whether cold, desolate Mars has a wet, warm history that might have been more hospitable to life.

Luo’s team is examining the Red Planet’s extensive dry river valley networks to determine whether they were shaped predominantly by flowing rivers or by the action of groundwater, a process of erosion known as groundwater sapping. The valley networks are located throughout the southern highlands of Mars.

“The topography of Mars holds secrets to the planet’s climate history dating back billions of years,” Luo said. “Determining how the valleys formed on the Martian surface will begin to unlock those secrets and have important implications in the study of whether the planet ever could have supported life.

“If surface runoff is the dominant erosion style on Mars, then it must point to an early warmer and wetter climate with an Earth-like hydrologic cycle, including rainfall,” Luo added. “On the other hand, if groundwater sapping is the dominant erosion style, the valley networks could have been formed under current climatic conditions, perhaps under a thick ice cover.”

NASA is funding Luo’s three-year, $187,000 research project, which begins this spring.

In a preliminary report two years ago, Luo concluded that the Martian topography in an area called Margaritifer Sinus displays features of groundwater sapping and to a lesser extent surface-water runoff.

“The different processes generally leave different shapes on the landscape,” Luo said. “The key question I want to answer this time is the relative importance of each process in forming the valley networks. My gut feeling is that Mars at one time had a climate that was Earth-like. If you look at images of Mars and the patterns of the valley networks, they look just like the dendritic drainage systems found on Earth.”

Under current atmospheric and climatic conditions, liquid water is unstable on the Martian surface, meaning that it either would freeze or evaporate almost immediately. NASA discovered ice at the planet’s south pole in 2002. This year, the rover mission has confirmed that water existed in a liquid form at one time on the Martian surface.

Luo’s research project will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS), high-resolution satellite imagery and computer simulations to examine valley network basins located in a wide range of latitudes and elevations. The relative importance of surface water, groundwater and impact cratering (from large meteoroids, asteroids or comets) in forming each basin will be determined. The study also will attempt to measure the secondary effects of wind, gravity and volcanic lava flow in modifying the valley network forms.

By quantifying the surface characteristics, coupled with the computer simulation and image analyses, the researchers can infer past processes and thus past climatic conditions. Their study also could be useful to NASA for the selection of future landing sites, because the results will suggest where deposits generated by surface water or groundwater will most likely be found.

If the scientists conclude that surface water was plentiful on the Red Planet, then that does not necessarily mean that life existed there. “The presence of water is one necessary condition, but it’s not sufficient to say there was life,” Luo said. “That’s one of the motivations for sending astronauts to Mars.”

FCNS tastes success with cultural foods class

Imagine a Thursday night class that lasts nearly five hours.

OK, so maybe that doesn’t sound so appetizing. But what if the class included dinner? A really good dinner?

Sixteen students in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences are taking an international journey of the taste buds this semester in “Cultural Foods,” a 400-level elective class offered for the first time in years.

The classmates learn about various cultures of the world and their cuisine, and spend their Thursday nights either cooking and eating the topic du jour or visiting one of the area’s many ethnic restaurants for a chef-prepared meal with explanations of each dish and stories from the homelands.

Instructor Joan Quinn, coordinator of the FCNS food systems labs, said the growing popularity of the hospitality major persuaded the provost’s office to fund an additional class in the school. Cultural Foods, listed in the catalogue for years but rarely offered, got the nod.

Quinn had no trouble or delay filling the limited-enrollment class, and hopes this semester’s recipe for success allows new sections in the future.

“The students are interested in finding out about foods they’re not used to. Their reaction has been, ‘I’m glad I had this class because I never would’ve gone into a restaurant and ordered this,’ ” she said. “There are so many cultures to explore that we can’t get through them in one semester.”

It’s provided a smorgasbord of new tastes, even for Quinn, who considers her palate well-versed.

The semester’s menu includes foods from Africa, Brazil, China, Cuba, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Mexico, the former Soviet Union and Thailand. So far, the class has sampled cactus (served as a vegetable in Mexico), bean cake (a Korean dessert made with sweet beans and rice flour, which created a gelatinous texture) and juniper berry tea (a Native American beverage).

One field trip took the group to Taxco Restaurant in Sycamore, where owner Jesus Romero prepared and presented a seven-course meal. (Students pay their own bills while eating out.) Many of the dishes are not found on Romero’s menu, but reflect what is served in a normal Mexican home.

While at Taxco, the NIU group also experienced the first of many surprises: Only one of the foods was spicy, although the students expected many or all of the foods would come with a kick.

At It’s Greek to Me in DeKalb, owner Thedore “Ted” Panourgias served the class an 11-course dinner.

The “Taste of Greece” started with saganaki (flaming cheese), soup and a Greek salad, which includes feta cheese, Greek olives, pepperoncini and anchovies.

It also featured pastichio (baked macaroni with ground beef, topped with béchamel sauce, a white sauce spiced with pepper and nutmeg); mousaka (baked eggplant with potato and ground beef, topped with béchamel sauce); gyros; chicken roletini (stuffed chicken breast with spinach and feta cheese, topped with egg lemon or marinara sauce); rice; potato; coffee; and baklava, a rolled pastry with nuts, almonds and honey.

One week, the FCNS foods lab within Wirtz Hall came alive with the aromas of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, courtesy of NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

Julie Lamb, the center’s outreach coordinator, found a group of graduate students willing to cook some foods from their native countries and to talk about their homelands. That evening brought Surprise No. 2: Many of the dishes packed an extra spicy punch.

Quinn hopes she can teach the course again, and soon.

“Our graduates will become either dietitians or hospitality managers, and they need to recognize that they foods they think of as normal may not be acceptable to people of other cultures," Quinn said. "There are food preferences. There are religious beliefs.”

NIU’s energy reduction saves money

Talk in Springfield of a new requirement that could compel state universities to report annually on steps taken to cut utility costs was welcome news at NIU.

After all, who doesn’t like a chance to brag a little?

By using tools such as performance contracts and learning how to purchase gas and electricity in the recently deregulated markets for those commodities, NIU has saved more than $9.3 million over the last two years alone.

“Looking for ways to save money on energy costs is not a new idea for us,” said Robert Albanese, associate vice president for finance and facilities for NIU. “We have been working to trim those costs for years, and we have developed some fairly sophisticated tools to assist us in that process.”

Among the biggest cost-saving tools used are “performance contracts,” which allow the university to pay for energy-saving improvements using the resulting savings.

Currently, the university is realizing a savings of about $2.8 million a year as a result of performance contracts to install more energy efficient lighting in some buildings and to convert other buildings on campus to chilled water cooling (vs. standard air conditioning).

According to a report released this week by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, that total makes NIU the leader among state universities, accounting for almost half of the $6.2 million in savings realized from such contracts at all universities across the state.

Northern also has realized significant savings on natural gas and electricity costs in recent years by taking advantage of the recently deregulated markets for those commodities.

In 2002, NIU’s ability to negotiate with electricity vendors allowed the university to save $1,074,000 on electricity, and its natural gas buying strategy netted a savings of $1.2 million vs. what it would have paid had it purchased those commodities at the standard index rates in effect at those times.

In 2003, those cost-cutting measures resulted in savings of $978,000 on electricity and $320,000 on natural gas.

The university also has saved tens of thousands of dollars through its participation in special rider programs with electricity providers, receiving a cash incentive in return for its willingness to make emergency reductions in power usage during times of peak demand on the power grid.

Those cost-cutting efforts were recognized in an evaluation conducted in 2003 by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, which found that NIU had the lowest per-kilowatt electricity costs in the state despite being located in a region that traditionally is saddled with some of the highest electricity costs.

NIU’s graduate nursing students help combat worker shortage

For years, the words “nursing” and “shortage” have been stitched at the hip.

A Vanderbilt University School of Nursing study released a few years ago indicated the number of full-time registered nurses would peak around 2007 and then decline steadily as more and more nurses retired while fewer and fewer joined the profession.

By the year 2020, the study predicted, the R.N. work force would remain at roughly the same size as it is today, nearly 20 percent below projected R.N. work force requirements. To make matters worse, the shortage would come at a time when the country’s aging population would require more care.

And though it now appears the publicity is working – applications to nursing schools are hitting record levels, and many of those applicants already hold bachelor’s or master’s degrees in other disciplines – whether it will change the future is unknown.

The unresolved problem is that nursing schools, NIU included, cannot handle larger enrollments.

NIU can accept 60 new students each semester. About 400 are enrolled altogether, a number limited only by the availability of faculty, classroom space and clinical site opportunities.

Yet applications for enrollment this fall top 950, with more than half of those (503) coming from new freshmen. Students hoping to transfer from community colleges submitted 314 applications, and on-campus students wanting to change their majors to nursing turned in 94 applications.

“This is an all-time high, reflected throughout Illinois. The message has gotten out about the shortage of nurses,” Stromborg said. “A lot of these people are coming in from other jobs and already have their bachelor’s or master’s degrees. People with other degrees are flocking in, and it’s the same at the community colleges. I think people want some stability – something constant.”

Admitting more students requires hiring more faculty as well as finding more clinical sites. Illinois state law allows only a 10:1 ratio between students and clinical supervisors, and many clinical sites independently cap the ratio at 8:1 simply because attention to patient care must outweigh supervision of student nurses.

Hiring of faculty is a double-edged sword.

Increasing the ranks of nurses in academia merely expands the shortage of nurses in active health care, at least in the short term. Meanwhile, the average age of NIU’s tenured nursing faculty is in the 50s, setting the stage for a mass retirement within the next decade and further draining the nursing supply as they are replaced.

Despite the obstacles and challenges, however, the NIU School of Nursing continues to do its best to prepare and enhance top nurses.

All of the 10 graduate students who took the 2003 national certification exam to become family practitioner nurses passed – a 100 percent pass rate that far exceeds the national pass rate of 85 percent. All 17 NIU family nurse practitioner students who took the exam in 2000-01 passed – a spotless record 11 percentage points higher than the national pass rate that year.

All seven adult nurse practitioners who took the test in 2003 passed, exceeding the national pass rate of 87 percent.

NIU one of 10 schools selected to join National Electronic Portfolio Coalition

NIU has been selected as one of 10 colleges and universities nationwide to become a member of the newly formed National Electronic Portfolio Learning Coalition.

English Professors Michael Day and Bradley Peters wrote the proposal for membership.

The American Association of Higher Education Research Forum and Clemson University’s Pearce Center are coordinating the coalition. It will bring together representatives from each university twice a year during the summer to design, share and extend their research on the learning that takes place inside of and around digital portfolios.

The participants will collect information about electronic-portfolio learning initiatives at their home institutions and together develop research questions that will help all members better document the learning that takes place when students “collect, select and reflect” on their own work in electronic portfolios.

“NIU has an exciting opportunity to join with cutting-edge researchers at respected campuses across the country to investigate how electronic portfolios can improve the learning and assessment climate for students, faculty and administrators,” Day said. “We have a chance to become national leaders in this area.”

“On the local level,” Peters added, “NIU faculty in every college and department stand to benefit, because we will be able to tap into national resources that focus on valid and reliable assessment of writing – a topic that is of perennial concern not only to faculty, but to taxpayers, legislators and employers. In other words, this opportunity provides us a way to sustain NIU’s ongoing response to The Illinois Commitment (initiative) in times when the support for better writing assessment in higher education is vital.”

This innovative approach allows for the assessment of student work at individual, class, program and university levels. It assumes that electronic-portfolio initiatives can change the climate of learning at institutions across the country.

The Office of the Provost, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Department of English are supporting NIU’s involvement in the project.

LGBT Awareness Month offers new, traditional events

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Awareness Month at NIU offers a slate of new and traditional events throughout April.

Popular performers and speakers who have visited NIU before are returning to showcase their new work. In addition to these NIU favorites, new acts and events will round out a busy month of events.

Musician and singer Gregory Douglass, who performed on campus in February of 2003, will be returning with a new performance showcasing his new independent CD, "Pseudo-Rotary." His musical stylings have been compared to Jeff Buckley, Tori Amos, Peter Gabriel and Bjork. The winner of the 2003 GrammyFest in New York City, he has toured with artists such as They Might Be Giants, Tracy Chapman, Third Eye Blind, Melissa Ferrick and Michelle Branch. Douglass will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, in the Diversions Lounge of Holmes Student Center.

New to NIU will be a drag show and party featuring the Chicago Kings at 8:30 p.m. Friday, April 9, in the Holmes Student Center Duke Ellington Ballroom.

Bending gender lines and breaking hearts, the Chicago Kings create a place for everyone to celebrate diversity in genders, masculinities, sexualities and cultures. The Windy City's premiere drag king troupe, the Chicago Kings are a fun-loving rowdy bunch of personas, ranging from cowboy to punk, business man to geek and everything in between. Everyone is welcome, drag attire is optional, but style and attitude is a must.

Internationally known performance artist Tim Miller, in his fourth appearance at NIU, will bring his new show, “Us,” to campus at 8 p.m. Monday, April 12, in the Stevens Building Players Theater. His show ricochets between Miller’s love affair since childhood with Broadway musicals, crosscut with an exploration of home, exile and the injustices lesbian and gay couples face in the United States. "Us" is a funny, sassy and outraged exploration of these most American contradictions, as the piece careens from childhood memories to meditations on Miller’s impending exile from America.

Acclaimed author John D’Emilio, who spoke at NIU last April, will discuss his newest book, “Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin,” on Thursday, April 15. He will present “Listening to Bayard Rustin: Lessons from an Activist’s Life” at 7 p.m. in the Montgomery Hall Terwilliger Auditorium, as well as a seminar, “Writing the Biography of a Lost Prophet,” at 3:30 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center Room 306.

Rustin is one of the most important figures in the history of the American civil rights movement. A teacher to Martin Luther King Jr. and the organizer of the famous 1963 March on Washington, Rustin largely has been erased by history, in part because he was an African-American homosexual.

An LGBT Awareness Month tradition, Gay Jam, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 17, in the Holmes Student Center Diversions Lounge. Gay Jam is in its eighth year, and is DeKalb’s own drag and variety show, featuring local talent and a raffle benefiting Questioning Youth Center and United Campus Ministries.

Another NIU tradition, the Eychaner Award Banquet, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary.

The Eychaner Award recognizes an NIU student, along with an NIU staff, faculty, or alumnus/a who has made a significant contribution to the LGBT community. The 10th Annual Eychaner Award Banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 23, in the Chandelier Dining Room of Adams Hall. The cost is $3 for NIU students and $8 for the general public. Tickets must be purchased by April 12 from the NIU LBGT Resource Center.

Rounding out the month will be a film series, dances, panel discussions and more. For additional information, or for a complete schedule of events, contact the LGBT Resource Center at 753-5428, via e-mail at lgbt@niu.edu or visit the Resource Center's Web site at www.niu.edu/lgbt.

April marks NIU celebration of Asian American heritage

NIU will celebrate Asian and Asian American Heritage Month with a wide variety of activities in April, including brown-bag lectures, a career workshop series, a fashion show, an outing to an Asian neighborhood in Chicago and the popular “Taste of Asia.”

“The activities are designed to meet the needs and interests of Asian and Asian American students, faculty and staff,” said Michelle Bringas, program coordinator for NIU Asian American Resources. “We’re also looking to raise awareness about Asian culture and heritage at NIU.”

The Career Workshop Series, geared especially for freshmen and sophomores, will be held each Tuesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. For the first three workshops, participants will gather in the Sunset Room of Stevenson Towers, while the April 27 workshop will include an “etiquette dinner” and be held in the Hunt Room of Holmes Student Center. The dinner fee is $8.90 and registration is required by April 20. Call (815) 753-1421.

The Brown Bag Lecture Series will be held at noon Fridays in Room 110 of the Campus Life Building. (No lecture will be held on Good Friday, April 9). To order lunch, call (815) 753-1771 or e-mail nschunem@niu.edu at least 24 hours in advance.

Other highlights include:

• Monday, April 5: Seminar titled, “Religious & Ethnic Diversity in Southeast Asia: The Conflict in Southern Philippines,” 9 a.m. in the Heritage Room, Holmes Student Center.
• Wednesday, April 7: Lecture titled, “Distinctions between Morals, Religion and Social Conventions,” 9 a.m. in the Heritage Room, Holmes Student Center.
• Thursday, April 8: Historical Asian Fair, 7 p.m. in Room 405, Holmes Student Center.
• Friday, April 9: Asian Awareness Culture Night, 7 p.m. in the Capitol Room, Holmes Student Center. The event will feature performances and a celebration of Asian American heritage.
• Thursday, April 15: Lecture titled, “A Place at the Table: The Battle Against Intolerance and Discrimination,” 9 a.m. in the Heritage Room, Holmes Student Center.
• Friday, April 16: Burma Cultural Night, 5 to 8:30 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 511 Russell Road, DeKalb. To order dinner, call (815) 753-1771.
• Saturday, April 17: Asian American Association Fashion Show, titled “Encore,” 3 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb.
• Saturday, April 17: Indian Students Association “ Cultural Night,” 7 p.m. in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall, Music Building.
• Saturday, April 24: Shop at Indian grocers and experience Indian cuisine for lunch during a trip to Chicago’s Devon Avenue from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Van seating is limited; call (815) 753-1421 to reserve a spot.
• Thursday, April 29: Presentation titled, “Empowering Grassroots Women,” on the experience from a two-year NIU project in Sri Lanka. The presentation will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the Illinois Room, Holmes Student Center. A light buffet lunch is included but reservations are required. Contact Jaya Gajanayake at (815) 753-9546 by Monday, April 26.
• Friday, April 30: “Taste of Asia,” 6 to 9 p.m. at the Newman Catholic Student Center, 512 Normal Road. The event will feature a variety of Asian delicacies and hands-on opportunities for participants to experience origami, Indian Henna painting, Chinese writing, sushi making, the making of spring rolls and other Asian skills. Special presentations will be made to winners of the Asian and Asian American Essay Contest.

For a complete, more detailed listing of events, visit the Asian and Asian American Heritage Month online calendar at www.niu.edu/aar, call the Asian American Resource Program at (815) 753-1421 or e-mail Michelle Bringas at mbringas@niu.edu. Sign language interpreters are available upon request (753-6515 V/TTY).

Kudos

The leader of NIU’s Campus Web Map initiative has taken home a prize for his work.

Phil Young, a research scientist in geography, won second place in the International GeoMedia Best Practices Competition, a contest that draws entries from university educators worldwide displaying their best uses of geographic information systems (GIS) software. The prize was based on Young’s work on the interactive Campus Map, which debuted in January.

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions, an industry-leading geospatial solutions provider, sponsored the competition. Young will pick up his award and make a presentation on his contest entry during the GeoSpatial World 2004 convention to be held next month in Miami.

RedBall Project comes to NIU

It’s big, it’s red and it’s popping up unexpectedly on campus and in town. It’s the RedBall Project.

Join artist Kurt Perschke in exploring and noticing our unique local architectural spaces through the punctuating drama (and humor) of the giant red ball.

A Museum without Walls project, presented by the Northern Illinois University Art Museum with the support of the Fine Arts Committee of the NIU Campus Activities Board, Perschke will be in residence working with NIU students, both art and non-art majors, through Saturday, April 10.

Perschke will present a public slide talk about his artwork at 6 p.m. today in Room 100 of Jack Arends Hall (Visual Arts Building) on the NIU campus. A meeting for those interested in working with Perschke in selecting sites for the work to be installed in DeKalb will follow. Installations of the RedBall will take place both on campus and in the community later in the week.

Perschke’s RedBall Project is an international series of temporary site-specific installations that respond to the built environment we inhabit and the sculptural space embedded throughout that architectural landscape.

Conceived to expand into space where it doesn’t quite fit, the 15-foot RedBall acts both as visual punctuation to the perception of our surroundings and as a surrogate to our own body’s navigation of those spaces. Oversized, expanding and contracting, it both questions and celebrates the environments we have built for ourselves.

For further information please contact the NIU Art Museum at (815) 753-1936.

Huskie Pup Camp registration begins

Registration begins today for NIU’s Huskie Pup Camp, a recreational day camp for children ages 6 to 12. Ten weeklong sessions are offered from June 1 through Aug. 6. Camp hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Huskie Pup Camp provides children with an exciting, well-rounded summer experience. Children participate in arts, crafts, sports and games and go on a variety of field trips to local attractions. Experienced, caring counselors, many of whom are pursuing degrees in education, lead these activities.

Campers can attend one or more of the 10 session; each week is different and filled with activity. Junior Huskie Pup Camp is planned for ages 6 to 8, while Senior Huskie Pup Camp is for ages 9 to 12.

Camp fees are $120 per week ($72 per week for sessions 5 and 6) for Office of Campus Recreation members and $150 per week ($90 per week for sessions 5 and 6) for non-members. A non-refundable deposit of $10 per session-per child is required at time of registration. Space is limited.

Registration must be done in person at the NIU Student Recreation Center front desk, located on the southwest corner of Annie Glidden Road and Lucinda Avenue, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

For more information, call camp coordinator Amy Fawcett at 753-0516 or the OCR at 753-0231.

DeKalb Area Women’s Center features NIU student exhibitions

Two NIU students are this month’s featured artists of the month at the DeKalb Area Women’s Center.

In “Dreams – The World of Fugitive Pleasures,” Taiwanese student Po-Wen Liu is exhibiting slab-built ceramics, referencing traditional Chinese culture in the form of pillows, once functional, now sculptural objects of glazed porcelain. Liu expects to receive his master’s of fine arts degree in ceramics from NIU in May.

Liu’s wife, Eun-Hee Lim of Korea, with a specialty in the fiber arts, is exhibiting installations titled “Family Where You Are,” in which she arranges four 10-foot weavings to fit the exhibition space. Lim is pursuing a doctoral degree in art education.

Some of the artwork will be available for purchase. The galleries are open from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays and at other times during special events. A closing reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 30, and is free and open to the public

For individual or group showings by appointment, please leave a message at 758-1351. Off-street parking is available one-half block south of the building. Enter the alley from 11th Street (between State and Market streets).

A handicapped accessible lift is located in the alley between State and Pleasant streets, north of the center. Please call ahead to arrange for the use of the lift.

NIU Percussion Ensemble plans ‘world’ concert

The NIU Percussion Ensemble will present its world percussion concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 8, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Music Building. Assistant Professor Orlando Cotto will direct the concert with the assistance of graduate students Mark Breen and Ben Wahlund.

Audience members will be treated to a variety of world percussion music from Brazil, Cuba, North America and Puerto Rico.

The concert is free. For more information, call 753-7891 or 753-1546.

Vermeer Quartet presents ‘Seven Last Words’

The world renowned Vermeer Quartet will present Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Seven Last Words of Christ” at 8:15 p.m. Friday, April 9, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Music Building.

Quartet members Marc Johnson and Richard Young will offer a pre-concert lecture at 7:15 p.m. in the concert hall. Father Andrew M. Greeley, a Catholic priest and professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, is the evening’s guest speaker.

The Vermeer has played “The Seven Last Words of Christ” across the world. Since their first “live” broadcast of this work in 1988 over Chicago’s WFMT radio, more than 100 different speakers have collaborated with the Vermeer, including some of the most renowned religious figures in the English-speaking world. Their performances have by now reached an estimate 75 million listeners.

The concert is free. For more information, call 753-1546.

Nominations sought for 2004 graduate TA awards

Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center has established Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards to acknowledge and recognize outstanding graduate teaching assistants for their contributions to the teaching mission of NIU.

Each recipient of the award will be presented with a plaque and recognized at a reception held at the end of the spring semester.

Each academic or academic support unit that employs graduate TAs for teaching and related activities is invited to nominate one outstanding graduate teaching assistant from its department for the award. The nominations can be submitted by the head of the unit or designee and are due by Friday, April 9. Nomination guidelines can be found at http://www3.niu.edu/facdev/ta/tasupport.htm.

Five copies of each nomination should be submitted to Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards Committee, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, 240 Gilbert Hall.

NIU Latin Jazz Ensemble to perform spring concert

The NIU Latin Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Assistant Professor Orlando Cotto, will perform its spring concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 10, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall.

Dancing in the aisles is permitted – and encouraged.

The evening of Latin jazz will feature music by Poncho Sanchez, David Torres, Cal Tjader, Mark Levine, Eddie Palmieri, Cedar Walton, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Osvaldo Farrés and Sonny Bravo.

Cotto founded the ensemble in 2002. The group performed at the House in DeKalb last year, and received a standing ovation for its performance at the 2004 Illinois Music Educators Association’s annual conference in Peoria.

The concert is free and open to the public. Call 753-1546 for more information.

NIU Jazz Ensemble hosts annual spring jazz concert

The legendary NIU Jazz Ensemble will play its annual spring jazz concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 15, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom.

The concert will feature vocalist Catherine Moody and jazz great Byron Stripling on vocals and trumpet. Stripling, who also will conduct an improvisation clinic at noon Thursday at the School of Music, formerly played with the Basie Orchestra, the GRP Big Band and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.

Admission is free. Call 753-0643 for more information. People interested in reserving seats for their bands should call Lynn Slater at 753-1546.

NIU theater continues storytelling tradition

When the NIU School of Theatre and Dance presents its seventh annual Storytellers Theatre from April 15 to 18, audiences will be treated to both modern and classic stories told by students who have spent the semester learning the craft.

Storytellers director Professor Patricia Ridge teaches a class devoted solely to the art of storytelling, and she’s more than qualified to do so. Ridge herself is a professional storyteller who performs regularly at schools, libraries, bookstores and festivals across the country.

“Storytelling has an inherent healing quality, something that is indispensable in our country right now,” Ridge said.

Storytellers Theatre runs April 15-18 at the Corner Theatre in the Stevens Building. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. All tickets are $3 and are available only at the door.

Workers needed for Huskies football games

NIU Intercollegiate Athletics will host a job fair for people or fundraising groups interested in working at the 2004 home NIU football games this fall. Job openings are for ticket takers, ushers and parking personnel.

The job fair will begin in the east concourse of Huskie Stadium at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 15, before the spring football game.

The fair is organized by the facility/event staff within Intercollegiate Athletics. For more information, call Sue Hansfield, director of athletic facilities, at 753-9544.

Child Care Center hosts open house

The NIU Campus Child Care Center will be hosting an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 23, in celebration of its 25th anniversary and the Week of the Young Child. NIU faculty, staff and students are invited to attend.

Visitors may tour the facility and gain information about the program as well as early childhood education in general. Door prizes will include mugs, T-shirts and framed children’s art work.

For more information, contact Chris Herrmann at 753-0125.

Shapiro Law Library sets end-of-semester hours

The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours for the end of the semester.

From Saturday, April 24, through Thursday, May 13, which includes Reading Day and final exams, the library is open from 7:15 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:15 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday.

The library is open from 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 14.

From Saturday, May 15, through Friday, May 21, and from Sunday, May 23, through Friday, May 28, hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 22.

Hours for Memorial Day weekend are 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 29, and Sunday, May 30. The library is closed for Memorial Day.

Call 753-0505 for more information.

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