New interactive Campus Web Map gives
lay of the land — and then some
 NIU is unveiling its interactive Campus Web Map, a sophisticated tool that allows users to create custom maps and quickly locate campus features, from buildings to bicycle racks.
Produced by the Department of Geography’s Advanced Geospatial Laboratory as a service to the NIU community, the Campus Web Map can be accessed from the NIU Home Page or directly at www.webmap.niu.edu.
“This is one of the most advanced Web-based campus maps in the country,” said Phil Young, a research scientist in the Department of Geography. “Map users virtually have the campus at their fingertips. We think the map will be an incredibly useful resource for faculty, students and visitors to campus.”
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NIU’s Vermeer Quartet earns
Grammy nomination for recording
of Russian piano quintets
 Members of the world-acclaimed Vermeer Quartet and noted pianist Boris Berman completed recordings of piano quintets by Russian composers Shostakovich and Schnittke in December of 2000.
Released in 2002, the disc now is nominated for a Grammy in the Best Chamber Music Performance category. It is the second chance at Grammy honors for the Vermeer, earlier nominated for its 1994 recording of Haydn’s “The Seven Last Words of Christ.”
The Grammy Awards are televised Sunday, Feb. 8, on CBS.
Members of the Vermeer – violinists Shmuel Ashkenasi and Mathias Tacke, violist Richard Young and cellist Marc Johnson – know Berman through the Yale Summer Chamber Music Festival at Norfolk, Conn., where both have taught and performed. Berman, a native of Russia who trained at the Moscow Conservatory, teaches at Yale.
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Fulbright-Hays award winner traces
prostitution in the ‘Bohemian Lands’
 Professor Nancy Wingfield is spending the academic year investigating a little-studied aspect of Bohemian culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — prostitution.
Wingfield, a faculty member in NIU’s Department of History, won nine months of support for the project through the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship Program. The federal program provides funding to select faculty members working to improve their area studies and language skills.
Wingfield’s project examines arguments for and against the regulation or abolition of prostitution. The scope of the research extends through the fin-de-siecle, or the period from about 1890 through 1918, in the Bohemian Lands, a region encompassing most of the present-day Czech Republic.
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Chicago’s Channel 5 TV airs
NIU student documentary
 Two student filmmakers from the NIU Department of Communication received a special present over the holidays in the form of big-time television exposure.
“Please Wait to be Seated” — a documentary created by Casper Rice, who graduated last summer, and Lauren Pollock, who graduated in December — aired at 11:30 a.m. Christmas Day on WMAQ-Channel 5, the NBC affiliate in Chicago.
The 22-minute documentary explores the life of 19-year-old Sam Williams of Elmhurst, who has cerebral palsy. Williams uses a wheel chair and speaks with the aid of a computerized speech synthesizer. The filmmakers followed him as he graduated from high school last spring (with a 4.0 grade point average) and moved on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Toni Falvo, director of research and programming at Channel 5, was impressed with the story and the students’ work: “ ‘Please Wait to be Seated’ is a heartwarming and positive film.”
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School of Nursing grads
rank high on state boards
Graduates from the NIU School of Nursing continue to turn in brilliant scores on the state board exams.
Scores in the 97th percentile on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensure Examination (NCLEX) rank NIU as ninth among Illinois’ 72 nursing programs with graduates in the spring semester of 2003 and 156th among the nation’s 1,376 programs with spring semester graduates.
Comparatively, the pass rate is 88 percent for all nursing programs in Illinois and for all U.S. programs. Nursing school graduates must pass the comprehensive four-hour test to officially become registered nurses and practice anywhere in the country.
For NIU, the impressive spring 2003 results come on the heels of a 95th percentile performance by December 2002 graduates.
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University Libraries ends
‘renewal-by-phone’ service
The University Libraries’ “Renewal-by-Phone” service is no longer available. Everyone is encouraged to renew their books online at the NIU Libraries Web site (www.niulib.niu.edu). Select “Our Catalog” from the Quick Links drop-down menu and click “My Account” on the menu bar to log in.
Faculty Development announces
January seminars, workshops
The Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center has scheduled five seminars and workshops for January, including an overview of Blackboard. Please contact Amy Deegan at the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at 753-0595 or send e-mail to facdev@niu.edu to pre-register. Program locations will be made available when you register. If you register for a program and are unable to attend it, please notify the center at least two working days in advance so that those on the waiting list can be given the opportunity to attend that program. --MORE
Relay for Life to host
kick-off party Jan. 21
NIU’s American Cancer Society Colleges against Cancer will hold a Relay for Life kick-off party from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, at the Rec Center. Everyone interested in participating in NIU’s Relay for Life, the festive overnight fundraiser scheduled for April 2 and 3, is invited to attend.
Saturday art classes
available for children
The spring semester session of Saturday art classes for children will cost only $15. The program has been expanded to include 4- and 5-year-olds, so the age range of eligible children is 4 to 14. There are five sessions beginning Saturday, Jan. 31, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Classes meet in the Art Building. The teachers are art education majors supervised by NIU faculty.
Children are divided into classes by age. They work on a variety of projects, in a range of art media and reflecting a variety of world cultures. The children’s art is displayed in a public exhibition with a reception Wednesday, March 3. To learn more, or to receive a registration form, contact the NIU Community School of the Arts by Friday, Jan. 23, at 753-1450. Be sure to mention that you are an NIU staff or student calling about the Saturday art classes.
Euchre tournament, raffle
to benefit NIU softball team
The NIU Softball Euchre Tournament and Raffle is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, at the River Heights Golf Course Clubhouse, 1100 S. Annie Glidden Road. Enjoy a ballpark atmosphere and the opportunity to meet the NIU softball team and coaching staff. The cash bar opens at 6 p.m., and the first shuffle will begin at 7 p.m. There will be raffle opportunities and prizes for the tournament winners.
The cost is $25 pre-registration (by Tuesday, Feb. 3) or $30 at the door. Pre-registration is encouraged, as space is limited. For more information, call Tara Hawkins at 753-5510 or send e-mail to thawkins@niu.edu.
NIU Clarinet Cornucopia
scheduled for Feb. 21
The third annual Clarinet Cornucopia is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 21.
The event focuses on Japanese music this year and features a solo performance of Japanese music by John Bruce Yeh, clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other highlights are a talk on jazz clarinet and Japan by E. Taylor Atkins, associate professor, Department of History; a clarinet choir composed of attendees; and master classes with John Bruce Yeh and faculty host Greg Barrett.
All events are in the Music Building. The day begins at 9 a.m. For more information, call Renee Page at 753-1450.
Community School of the Arts
announces sixth Performathon
On Saturday, March 6, the NIU Community School of the Arts hosts the sixth Performathon, featuring music performances, a student art exhibit, a music swap, and much more. This fundraising event is for the scholarship programs, so participating students will be requesting pledges from friends and family.
The community school is accepting contributions for the music swap. Please bring your used sheet music, CDs, records, tapes and any other musical items to Room 132 of the Music Building during office hours, or call 753-1450 to arrange a pick-up.
Summer in the Arts program
announces 2004 camps
Camp booklets are available for the 2004 Summer in the Arts at Northern program.
Four residential camps are scheduled for the last two weeks of July: Theatre Arts Camp Junior (grades 6-8) is July 18-23, while Theatre Arts Camp Senior (grades 9-12), NIU Jazz Camp (grades 8-12) and Visual Arts Experience (grades 8-12) are July 25-30.
Campers stay in the Summer Conference Center and enjoy a full daytime curriculum of focused arts activities. For more information, call Renee Page at 753-1450.
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