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Central Management Services, the agency that administers health plans for state employees, last week announced significant changes in insurance options available during the upcoming benefits choice period.
Of particular concern to many NIU employees were CMS plans to drop Health Alliance HMO, a longstanding managed care provider covering more than 1,000 NIU staff and 5,000 of their dependents. Another managed care program CMS chose to drop was OSF Health Plans, a Rockford-based provider covering about 60 NIU employees and their families.
Statewide, the CMS decision raised substantial protest. A special legislative hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. today in Springfield, and state employees from across Illinois are expected to testify. Because the CMS decision must be confirmed by a joint House and Senate committee called the Economic and Fiscal Commission, opponents hold out hope that it might be overruled this week.
Nonetheless, NIU officials have moved quickly to explain the proposed changes and help employees prepare for the scenario described in CMS’s new plan. Late last week, Associate Vice President for Human Resources and Enterprise Planning Steve Cunningham issued the following memo explaining both the proposed changes and the preparations NIU is making to meet those changes:
The State of Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) has announced several changes effective for this year’s FY05 Benefits Choice process. The public universities were also recently informed of substantial changes in the availability of Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) or managed care options that CMS will authorize beginning in FY05. President Peters updated the campus community on many of these subjects in his message of April 28. As expressed by President Peters, NIU and the other universities are reacting with surprise to the most recent announcement made by CMS concerning long-standing HMO option eliminations. We know that many employees have become accustomed to these options, which help them afford locally provided health care. Also as indicated by President Peters, NIU is committed to work at every level to influence decisions made by CMS that negatively affect the affordability and scope of employee health care benefits. Additionally, we are committed to providing you with as much information as possible concerning Benefit Choice changes and we will keep you updated on the most current basis possible as new information is forthcoming from CMS.
CMS has recently posted an information announcement concerning the Benefits Choice changes.
Please refer to this on-line announcement at: http://www.state.il.us/cms/3_servicese_ben_choice/.
The information outlined below is intended to provide you with a summary of Benefit Choice and CMS health insurance changes that have been announced to date. This information is divided into three categories concerning a two-phase benefits choice process, managed care HMO program revisions, and new procedures for obtaining CMS-provided Benefits Choice information.
Summary of Announced Changes
Initial information provided by CMS concerning FY05 benefit changes includes the following information:
- Benefits Choice Phase One: May 31 - June 18, 2004.
- Benefits Choice Phase Two: CMS has stated that “there will likely be a second [Benefits Choice] period” at a future date yet to be announced (probably the September, 2004 time frame).
- Health Alliance, Order of Saint Francis, and Unicare HMOs will no longer be available.
- HMO Illinois will continue to be available and new HMO vendors will include United Health Care and John Deere HMO.
- CIGNA remains the health care administrator for the State of Illinois Quality Care health benefit program.
- Spectera Vision Plan will replace the Vision Care Program.
- Benefit choice forms will be made available on-line through CMS at www.benefitschoice.il.gov, through the HRS website, and at the HRS facility.
- Benefit plan changes are in effect as of July 1, 2004.
Two-phase FY05 Benefits Choice Process
Benefits Choice will presumably be conducted in two phases this year. The first phase will start on May 31, 2004, and extend until June 18, 2004. CMS has stated that a second phase is “likely.” The dates for the second phase will be announced when benefit program details are finalized by CMS. Based upon information that CMS has provided to the university Group Insurance Representatives, Phase Two would reopen these choices (except for DCAP enrollment) when CMS finalizes its new premium/deductible/co-payment schedule.
- Phase One (May 31 through June 18) will provide an opportunity to change health or dental plans, add/change eligible dependents, elect/adjust optional life insurance coverage, and to enroll in a Medical Care Assistance Plan (MCAP) or Dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP). CMS has announced the elimination of several HMO programs as of July 1 (see below).
- Phase Two (when announced by CMS) would reopen these choices (except for DCAP enrollment) when CMS finalizes its new premium/deductible/co-payment schedule. CMS has indicated that modifications to choices made during Phase One would be permitted during Phase Two.
If no new elections are made during either Phase One or Phase Two of the Benefits Choice process, employees will remain enrolled in existing options that remain available; otherwise, the traditional Quality Care plan administered by CIGNA will be the default plan for those not exercising an alternative election in either phase of the Benefit’s Choice program.
Managed Care HMO Program Revisions
CMS has announced the termination of several HMO options as of July 1, 2004, in which several thousand NIU employees and their dependents participate. For NIU employees the most significant of these are:
Health Alliance HMO (includes DeKalb Clinic and the state-wide Health Alliance HMO network)
Order of Saint Francis HMO (includes Rockford area health care providers and the state-wide OSF HMO network)
Unicare HMO (includes Chicago area health care providers)
CMS has announced the substitution of different managed care plans in various regions. The programs mentioned include HMO Illinois, United Healthcare Select, Health Link Open Access, and the John Deere plan. These programs are not presently affiliated with many DeKalb-area providers and the HealthLink and John Deere plans are not available in DeKalb County. While negotiations are underway between these insurers and various physician groups, the present menu of providers available for DeKalb-area residents is very limited. Accordingly, in order to retain their current health care providers, many NIU and other state employees may find it necessary to move into the traditional and higher-priced state Quality Care program, administered by CIGNA. Finally, CMS is in the process of implementing a revised rate structure for the Quality Care Program that is likely to involve increases in monthly premiums, deductibles, and co-payments associated with the traditional plan. CMS will not announce these changes until later in the year when (presumably) the second Benefits Choice phase would be conducted in late summer/early fall. We will inform you as soon as CMS releases additional details concerning these options.
New Procedures for Obtaining CMS-provided Benefits Choice Information
CMS has also recently announced (in an effort to reduce printing costs) that employees will be required to access their Benefits Choice Option Booklet on-line through the Internet. CMS will establish a benefits website for this purpose. All benefit publications will eventually be published on this website. By May 2005, CMS intends to be entirely paperless and all benefit information will be accessed on-line.
When the website is established, you will receive a notice referring you to the CMS Benefits Choice website to read your Benefits Choice Option Booklet to learn about changes that will be effective July 1, 2004, including:
- Changes in employee costs for health, dental and life insurance
- Changes in plan benefits and change deadlines
- Changes in deadlines for enrollment in MCAP and DCAP
The availability of Benefits Choice information is very important and new procedures are being implemented at the same time as many other changes are being announced. Given the scope of these changes, it is very important that all eligible employees gain access to the CMS-published information. Accordingly, we will rely upon the assistance of all of our departments in helping to provide employees with access to the CMS on-line information. When CMS publishes the FY05 Benefits Choice Booklet, upon request, HRS will provide a copy of the FY05 Benefits Choice Booklet to any employee who does not have access to a computer capable of providing on-line access to the CMS information. HRS will also continue to make periodic announcements and to assist employees in evaluating the changes announced by CMS.
CMS Benefits Choice updates will also be available as follows:
- When CMS makes new information available, Human Resource Services will post the latest information on the HRS website (www.hr.niu.edu), which you may consult at any time.
- Additional internal announcements will be made to employees and departments.
- HRS will provide campus departments with a limited number of printed reference copies of the CMS Benefits Choice booklets.
Because many faculty and staff will be away from campus during this critical time period, it is important that all employees use every available method to inform themselves about CMS health plan benefit changes as they occur during both phases of the FY05 Benefits Choice process.
Additional Information
Employees are reminded that many benefit changes require documentation. A list of required documentation is available from HRS and will be made available at the HRS website.
Remember that Phase One of the annual Benefits Choice Period will begin on May 31, 2004 (when CMS will post the Benefits Choice information online). If you wish to make a change in your benefit selections during the Benefits Choice period, please be aware that the Insurance and Employee Benefits Office must receive your request in printed copy, fax, or online by the deadline announced in the Benefits Choice Option Booklet.
We will make every effort to keep the campus community informed of any new information as soon as it is available to us. HRS will also schedule Benefits Choice informational meetings when more details become available. We regret any inconvenience these changes may cause for you, and we appreciate your cooperation with these new state initiatives.
A hardcopy memorandum of this announcement will be sent to all employees.
NIU Board approves tuition plan
Members of NIU's Board of Trustees approved a tuition plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 that incorporates one rate for continuing students and a different rate for new students.
To meet the requirements of Illinois’ new “truth in tuition” law, trustees approved an increase for new freshmen and transfer students that will remain in effect for four-and-a-half years – or the average time it takes most full-time students to receive an undergraduate degree.
New students will pay 15 percent more than current tuition rates beginning this fall. Divided by four-and-a-half, that amounts to an increase of just 3.33 percent per year.
Continuing students will face an increase of 7.75 percent next year.
“This is in keeping with NIU’s history of low tuition increases,” said NIU President John Peters. “Over the course of the last 10 years, in good times and bad, NIU tuition hikes have been among the lowest in the state, and that tradition continues this year.”
Board Chair Gary Skoien said trustees approved the increases “reluctantly, but with the knowledge that state funding cuts have given us no other choice.”
“This university has lost more than $30 million is base funding over the past three years, and we stand to lose more this year,” Skoien explained. “The negative effects on class size, course offerings and our ability to replace retiring faculty are well-known among those who attend and teach at NIU.”
"Tuition largely funds direct classroom instruction, and it is the only source of revenue we can influence to make up for losses on the state side,” Skoien added. “So while we all find it difficult to ask students and their families to pay more, I think we would find it even more difficult to watch academic quality continue to erode.”
Peters said NIU is in line for another $2 million state budget cut this year under the governor’s proposed budget, and he warned that fiscal losses could be even worse.
“Each year it seems we have to redefine what we mean by a legislative victory,” Peters noted. “We had hoped for a flat budget, fought a 2 percent reduction, and now are looking a scenario that could be even worse than that.”
Peters told the board that NIU is at capacity for fall, with more than a thousand qualified students on a “wait list.”
“This is precisely the time when we should be recruiting new faculty to replace those who have retired,” Peters said. “This is the time when we should be rewarding our loyal faculty and staff with reasonable salary increases. This is the time we should be fixing buildings and otherwise preparing for a future in which the demand for higher education will continue to increase.”
Student trustee Kevin Miller said his yes vote on the tuition hike “came down to the issue of quality.”
“I want my degree to have value, and I know that’s what all of my fellow students here want as well,” Miller said.
Trustee Bob Boey echoed Miller’s remarks, saying that as a businessman, he understands the need to invest in the institution.
“There are two things in business that you can’t touch: quality and customer service,” Boey said. “If you don’t deliver on your promise, your reputation will suffer, period. This vote is about maintaining quality and service to our students.”
5-4-03
As announced by President John Peters in response to the continuing condition of the state budget and higher education funding, NIU again will implement a four-day work week for the DeKalb campus during the summer of 2004.
The four-day work week schedule will begin Monday, June 7, and extend through Friday, Aug. 6. The regular five-day schedule will resume as of Monday, Aug. 9.
The operational savings generated from last year’s summer work schedule were sufficient to assist in the funding of significant priorities. However, collapsing the normal five-day schedule of university operations into a four-day summer work week results in substantially longer and more concentrated daily operations.
“We appreciate the dedication of the campus community and staff in adapting to and accepting the inherent hardships of the summer work schedule,” said Steve Cunningham, associate vice president for enterprise planning and human resources. “The president has made this decision following extensive consultation with the leadership of the employee councils, and is confident that the campus is prepared to again proceed with the four-day schedule.”
During the Monday through Thursday work week, university offices will be open from 7:30 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. each day. All university offices will be closed on Friday with limited exceptions related to essential service functions and other events/functions that might be scheduled at the university during the summer time frame.
The general lunch period is from noon until 12:40 p.m. Individual lunch breaks may vary depending on employee schedules. Supervisors may approve alternative lunch periods depending upon employee and operational needs. Hourly employees may not forego a lunch period for purposes of late arrival or early departure.
As indicated above, this summer work week schedule is being implemented with the general concurrence of staff councils and the university community.
As a result, consistent with commitments made to employee councils and the shared response provided by all members of the university community, university supervisors are asked to allow as much flexibility as possible with respect to employee schedules. However, individual supervisors also will be responsible for ensuring that university offices remain open during the required hours of operation and that the business needs of the university are met. The divisional vice presidents will monitor implementation of summer work schedule options within their respective areas of administration.
The four-day summer schedule applies to the DeKalb campus and will include non-negotiated civil service exempt and non-exempt personnel, supportive professional staff, and 12-month administrative faculty who normally work the regular five-day week.
Negotiated employees will be subject to provisions of applicable collective bargaining agreements. The four-day schedule and overtime provisions pertain to the standard 37.5-hour work week. Related provisions shall be prorated for employees whose normal work schedules exceed the standard 37.5-hour work week. It is understood that certain operations cannot precisely conform to this schedule and designated employees therein will continue on regular or specifically amended schedules. Seven-day, 24-hour operations, such as Public Safety, will remain on current schedules.
To provide employees with additional flexibility during the extended four-day working schedule, and subject to operational needs and supervisory approval, employees may adjust the starting and ending times of their daily schedules within a 7 a.m. through 6 p.m. schedule. Supervisors are encouraged to provide employees with as much additional flexibility as possible for this purpose. If an employee cannot adapt to the four-day schedule, the employee (with concurrence of the supervisor) may work something less than the 9.4-hour scheduled work day and utilize accumulated vacation time for the remainder of the day or take the time without pay.
Hourly employees are eligible for overtime pay or compensating time off if the employee works more than 9.4 hours in any one day or more than 37.5 hours in one work week. Overtime schedules are subject to supervisory approval.
Sick leave and vacation days will be earned and used on the basis of 9.4 hours per day. Exempt civil service and supportive professional staff employees will claim 1.25 days while hourly employees will claim 9.4 hours for each sick day used.
With an awareness that employees will lose 30 minutes of rest period time while working a full schedule during four days instead of five days per week, supervisors may adjust employees’ rest periods on a daily basis to allow for the additional 30 minutes. The rest period must be preceded and followed by a substantial work period. Rest periods may not be taken as late arrivals, early departures or extended lunch periods.
Monday, July 5, is a scheduled holiday. During this week the four-day schedule will continue to be recognized with Tuesday, July 6, through Thursday, July 8, remaining as the 9.4-hour summer work day schedule.
To facilitate implementation of the four-day summer schedule, applicable provisions of university policies pertaining to scheduled hours and overtime are amended as outlined above during the four-day summer work schedule time frame.
Subject to the availability of funding and pursuant to policies established in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, colleges may authorize summer teaching appointments contingent upon the attainment of sufficient enrollment limitations for each course.
Consequently, the majority of offering letters and summer appointments can be issued when the respective course(s) has been filled.
Summer appointments for currently employed temporary and regular Faculty/SPS will be processed by means of the “Additional Pay Authorization” form. Summer appointments for other new regular or temporary faculty employees must be processed by using the Personnel Action Form and assignment to an authorized position.
Temporary employee offering letters concerning summer teaching appointments should also be provided outlining the specific assignments. Any such correspondence issued in advance of the deadline for course cancellation should contain the following statement:
“Should your course(s) fail to enroll the minimum number of students as determined by the college, the course(s) may be canceled. In the event of a course cancellation this contract may be voided or (in the case of multiple course assignments) reduced proportionally by the number of courses canceled. The decision to cancel a course beginning in (May) (June) (July or August) shall be made no later than (April 28, 2004) (May 26, 2004) (June 28, 2004).”
All paperwork for summer teaching appointments for faculty/instructors funded in whole or part by the Office of the Provost should be forwarded through the Office of the Provost for signature to the appropriate Human Resource Officers in Contracts, Records and Reports for verification and processing. Be sure to allow sufficient time for the Office of the Provost approval to meet HRS timelines.
The course cancellation deadlines specified above will provide sufficient time for cancellation of paperwork for faculty members who have agreed to teach courses during the months of May through August which fail to fill. The majority of paperwork related to teaching appointments for the regular eight-week summer session appointments beginning June 16 should be forwarded to the appropriate personnel officer by June 8.
Processing deadlines in Human Resource Services pertaining to summer session appointments are as follows:
- May 7 – deadline for summer session appointments beginning during the month of May (Intersession).
- June 8 – deadline for summer session appointments beginning June 16.
- June 23 – deadline for summer session appointments beginning July 1.
- July 8 – deadline for summer session appointments beginning July 16.
Referencing the payroll deadlines specified above, the cancellation date for the regular summer eight-week session is June 15. Prompt notification to Contracts, Records and Reports will avoid the issuance of overpayments in cases where any course cancellations occur following the paperwork processing deadline dates.
The payment distribution and payroll schedules for the 2004 summer session will be as follows:
Summer Session Appointments – June 16 through Aug. 15
June: 1/2 month(s) salary/stipend (payable June 30)
July: full month(s) salary/stipend (payable semi-monthly July 15 and July 31)
August: 1/2 month(s) salary/stipend (payable Aug. 15)
First half of Summer Session Appointments – June 16 through July 15
June: 1/2 month(s) salary/stipend (payable June 30)
July: 1/2 month(s) salary/stipend (payable July 15)
Second half of Summer Session Appointments – July 16 through Aug. 15
July: 1/2 month(s) salary/stipend (payable July 31)
August: 1/2 month(s) salary/stipend (payable Aug. 15)
Direct any questions regarding the paperwork processing deadlines or payroll schedules specified above to the Contracts, Records and Reports Department. Direct any questions concerning summer session appointment authorizations to the Office of the Provost at 753-0495.
Lin, Bonnicksen, Gonzales win NIU’s top prize for research
NIU faculty members Andrea Bonnicksen in political science, Michael Gonzales in history and Chhiu-Tsu “C.T.” Lin in chemistry have been awarded 2004 Presidential Research Professorships.
Given out annually since 1982, the prize is the university’s top recognition for outstanding research.
“The Presidential Research Professorship is a fitting award for Andrea Bonnicksen, Michael Gonzales and C.T. Lin,” said Rathindra Bose, NIU vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School.
“Their research has gained international attention. While their fields of study vary, they share a common passion for creating new knowledge about the world around us. And they bring that new knowledge into the classroom, providing us with prime examples of the synergy between outstanding research and teaching. It’s no surprise that the three are faculty leaders on campus as well,” Bose added.
Presidential Research Professors receive special financial support of their research for four years, after which they carry the title of Distinguished Research Professor.
Here’s a closer look at this year’s award recipients.
Biomedical policy expert
Andrea Bonnicksen shines a light on some of society’s most complex modern issues, exploring the dilemmas that arise when scientific discovery and technological innovation collide with public perception and issues of policy.
As a political scientist, her research efforts aim to help government officials and medical professionals identify and manage the thorny policy issues that often accompany reproductive technologies such as cloning, egg donation, in vitro fertilization, embryonic genetic testing and stem cell science.
“She consistently provides a clear, careful and useful policy perspective on issues and developments that are all too often clouded with apocalyptic fears and moralistic pronouncements,” says John Robertson, a writer and lecturer on bioethical issues who serves as Vinson and Elkins Chair at The University of Texas School of Law at Austin.
“Based on my knowledge of the field of bioethics policy and her writings and contributions to the field, I would rate her as one of the top three political scientists working on these issues today in the United States, ” Robertson says.
Bonnicksen’s interest in biomedical policy began in the 1980s, when reproductive technologies were in their infancy. While doing research for a book chapter on in vitro fertilization, she visited clinics, witnessed egg-retrieval surgery and embryo-transfer procedures and interviewed patients, doctors and administrators.
“I came away fascinated with the many ethical and policy dimensions,” Bonnicksen says. “As a political scientist, I was interested in policy making, which partly because of controversies surrounding the technologies, was avoided by publicly elected policy makers.”
The experience led to her book, “In Vitro Fertilization: Building Policy from Laboratories to Legislatures,” and ultimately launched her exploration of genetic technologies.
In 1991, Bonnicksen came to NIU, serving as chair of the Department of Political Science from 1996 to 1999. She is one of three NIU faculty members who train graduate students in the specialized field of politics and the life sciences, also known as biopolitics. NIU’s program is believed to be the only one of its kind nationwide.
History south of the border
He grew up in San Diego, the son of a Mexican national. And while he long ago moved away, Michael Gonzales continues to straddle the border – through his research.
Gonzales, a history professor, has devoted his scholarly career to helping Americans better understand their neighbors to the south. His research focuses on the social, economic and political history of modern Latin America, particularly Mexico and Peru. It’s an increasingly important area of study in the United States, since Latinos represent the largest and fastest growing minority (and the fastest growing segment of NIU’s student population).
“The more we know about one another, the better our chances of living in harmony and making democracy work,” Gonzales says.
His passion for Latin American history has led him to exotic locales, from the sugar cane plantations of Peru to the isolated copper mining camps of the Mexican desert. Though the circumstances were trying, the work paid off, resulting in numerous scholarly articles and two highly regarded books, including “The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1940.”
Described as path-breaking, the 2002 book on the Mexican Revolution presents an overview of the first social revolution of the 20th century. It already is being used in advanced courses at Princeton, Harvard, Vanderbilt and other universities across the country. The book also was named as a selection of the prestigious History Book Club, advised by a panel of distinguished historians.
“He is widely recognized as a leading scholar among specialists in this country,” says Eric Van Young, a Latin American history specialist at the University of California, San Diego. “With the publication of his Mexican Revolution book, his stock and name recognition are likely to rise even higher.”
The book even has found an audience among the public.
“With scholarly research, that’s a difficult jump to make,” says Presidential Research Professor David Kyvig, also a historian. “Michael successfully presents sophisticated ideas in a way that makes them understandable to people who are not specialists.”
Gonzales received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He came to NIU in 1984 and is now the university’s senior Latin American historian. For the past 16 years, he also has served as director of the university’s Center for Latino and Latin American Studies.
Creative chemistry
Winning the Presidential Research Professorship completes a triple crown for Chhiu-Tsu “C.T. ” Lin.
The veteran professor of chemistry and biochemistry has now won all three of NIU’s major faculty awards, including the Presidential Teaching Professorship (2001) and the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (1999).
His teaching credentials are awe-inspiring. Consider that Lin has directed three honors capstone theses, a dozen Ph.D. dissertations (with two more pending) and 20 master’s theses. He also has mentored scores of students. Lin’s research credentials, however, are equally impressive. He has written 131 scientific papers and attracted about $2.5 million in research funding. He also has five U.S. and three international patents.
A native of Taiwan, Lin earned his Ph.D. at UCLA, where he received the Bronze Medallion for the top dissertation in the physical sciences. He taught in Taiwan, Singapore and Brazil before coming to NIU in 1985.
Lin’s research pursuits include environmentally friendly chemistry, materials processing at the nano-scale and the development of optical sensors through laser technology.
Those diverse interests have produced a broad range of specialties. For example, in one area, Lin is conducting research for the military, developing sensors that would identify chemical and biological agents. In another area, he is developing glass-like cages to encapsulate nano-materials.
Lin’s invention of an environmentally friendly metal-surface coating technology led to the creation of ChemNova Technologies, Inc. The 5-year-old university spin-off company is marketing the process, called “in-situ phosphatizing coatings.” It eliminates the health, safety and waste disposal concerns of standard metals-coating technology. The innovation led then-Gov. George Ryan to honor ChemNova in 2000 with the Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award.
Lin believes his “green technology” will replace the standard coatings practice. As one example of its usefulness, he points to rusted bridges seen along the way to Chicago. “With my technology, it will be possible to repaint these bridges in an environmentally friendly manner and prevent further corrosion,” he says.
“My research activities seem to be very diverse but can be summarized in only four words: ‘better materials through chemistry,’ ” Lin adds. “My industrial consortium and collaborators demand innovative technologies and products that lead me to generate many new ideas.”
Blair, Giles, Ridnour named 2004 Presidential Teaching Professors
If NIU had a “hall of fame” for teaching, Mathematics Professor William Blair, English Professor James Giles and Marketing Professor Rick Ridnour would be in it.
The three faculty veterans have been named as NIU’s 2004 Presidential Teaching Professors. The annual recognition is the university’s highest honor for outstanding teaching.
“The aim of any institution of higher education is to teach future generations. At NIU, we pride ourselves in providing students with professors who are both experts in their respective fields and highly skilled in the art of teaching,” NIU Provost Ivan Legg says.
“Bill Blair, Jim Giles and Rick Ridnour fit that mold perfectly,” he adds. “They are top scholars and extraordinarily effective teachers whose passion and commitment to their students often extends even beyond the classroom.”
Presidential Teaching Professors receive a salary boost and grant money to further develop their classroom talents over their four-year appointments. After four years, they are awarded the title of Distinguished Teaching Professors. (Click here for a list of past winners.)
Here is a closer look at this year’s winners.
The right equation
Mathematics Professor William Blair has zeroed in on the perfect equation: Make complex topics approachable, show how mathematics relates to the real world, inspire students’ confidence in their own skills.
As a result, thousands of NIU students over the years have come to appreciate the beauty of math and power of numbers.
“He approaches the study of mathematics as an intellectual adventure,” says former student Hisaya Tsutsui, now a mathematics professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. “As a result, he doesn’t give away solutions, but patiently – and brilliantly – guides students through that process of discovery.”
Blair, of DeKalb, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and came to NIU in 1971. He has taught 34 different undergraduate and graduate courses, with calculus and abstract algebra being among his mainstays.
For the past 14 years, he has served as chair of the department, which serves about 6,000 students each semester. While that responsibility alone is a full-time endeavor, he chooses to continue teaching. Despite his busy schedule, his door is always open to students.
“In conversations outside of class, I try to learn my students’ majors and interests,” Blair says. “Showing how a particular topic in mathematics relates to their major subjects helps them to see how they might apply it in the future.”
Students consistently give Blair among the highest marks in the department on evaluations. They describe him as personable, organized and highly skilled at bringing out the best in students. Back in 1999, Lanea Keller thought she had made a mistake by enrolling in honors calculus. Thinking it would be too challenging, she intended to transfer out. But after one week with Blair, she was hooked.
“He has an incredible knack for explanation and illustration that made the very complex comprehensible,” says Keller, now a medical student at Rush University. “He made it so we believed in ourselves. I realized math was fun for me for the first time in my life.”
Blair convinced Douglas Mupasiri to pursue mathematics, rather than chemistry, as a career. “He was the one who changed my mind,” says Mupasiri, now a mathematics professor at the University of Northern Iowa. “Professor Blair is a real master craftsman, extremely knowledgeable about his subject, and always, always prepared. Above all, he struck me as a man who truly loved teaching.”
Blair won the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1990. During his tenure as chair, he has helped raise the department’s stature, but his influence extends well beyond the university. He and Distinguished Teaching Professor John Beachy co-authored the textbook, “Abstract Algebra,” which is used at NIU and universities across the country.
‘The Giles experience’
Whether their last class with English Professor James Giles was three or 30 years ago, students never forget “the Giles experience,” as it’s known.
Just ask Shannin Schroeder, a professor at Southern Arkansas University. Or Zerrie Campbell, president of Malcolm X College. Or Don Henley, yes, that Don Henley, of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“Meet Jim Giles and you might not know what to expect of him as a teacher,” says Schroeder, who recalls her first class nearly 10 years ago. “He appears disorganized; his hair becomes disheveled as he ruffles it in thought, and his materials form a haphazard stack under his arm as he makes his way to class. Take his course, however, and you understand that there is marvelous method to what you originally took as ‘madness.’ ”
Malcolm X’s Campbell took three Giles classes in the early 1970s. It was during that time that Giles launched NIU’s first course in African-American literature.
“The fact that he took a risk to examine issues of race, culture and diversity through the exploration of African-American literature is a testimony to his courage in expanding his own vistas in his pursuit of lifelong teaching and learning,” Campbell says. “More than 30 years after having been a student in his class, I can recall vividly the encouragement I received to engage in the exchange of free ideas through the respect for intellectual diversity.”
As for Henley, the Eagles front man took a course from Giles in the 1960s, when he was teaching at North Texas State University. It left such an impression that, in 1998, Henley invited Giles and his wife, Wanda, to be guests at the dedication of the Henry David Thoreau Institute at Walden Pond. Henley introduced his college professor to the audience, which included Bill and Hillary Clinton.
A native of the Lone Star State, Giles earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas. He came to NIU in 1970 and over the years developed courses in African-American, ethnic-American and multicultural literature. In 2002, he won NIU’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. He also has directed 11 dissertations, more than any current English faculty member.
With publication of eight books and more than 40 short stories and essays, Giles is considered a leading scholar in American literary naturalism, the urban novel and multi-ethnic literature. Over the years, he has played various leadership roles within the English department. He co-authored a winning Fulbright grant proposal that brought 36 foreign scholars to campus the past two summers to learn about America through its literature.
He also has served on the NIU Faculty Senate and as elected executive secretary of the University Council.
Super salesman
Typically, letters nominating an individual for the honor of Presidential Teaching Professor are signed by a close friend and colleague of the nominee. In the case of Rick Ridnour, however, the letter was signed by all 18 of his colleagues in the Department of Marketing in the College of Business.
Ridnour joined the department 14 years ago as a part-time instructor, teaching classes in the evening as he began his ascent through the ranks to full professor.
“He raises the bar for all of us,” says Denise Schoenbachler, chair of marketing. “He makes all of us want to be like him.”
Add to that a perpetually positive attitude, a sincere willingness to help any student or colleague who asks and a genuine passion for education, says Schoenbachler, and Ridnour seemed a natural choice for the Presidential Teaching Professorship.
That assessment seems to be shared by nearly every student who ever passed through Ridnour’s “Principles of Sales” class. One of the cornerstones of the nationally recognized Professional Sales Program, which Ridnour helped foster from its earliest days, the course is challenging, comprehensive and capped by a nerve-wracking live sales presentation before the class.
Despite the demands he places on them, students are effusive in their praise of Ridnour’s teaching. In fact, for 14 straight years, he has earned the highest student evaluation scores of any teacher in the department.
“Were you to ask our alumni which faculty member had the most profound impact on them during their stay here, I would confidently venture to say that Dr. Ridnour’s name would be mentioned most often and by a wide margin,” said Geoff Gordon, one of Ridnour’s longtime colleagues.
“He is a power-packed semester of success. Going to his classes was like going to a high-priced motivational seminar for three hours a week,” says Gayle DeHaan-Garland, now an adviser coach and financial adviser for American Express Financial Advisors.
While Ridnour counts the PTP among his most prominent awards, it is hardly the first.
He received the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2001 and the Ideal Industries Excellence in Business Education award in 1992. An active participant in campus life, he has served as a presenter at the Master Teacher Forum, is a frequent speaker at summer orientation programs, serves as a Huskie Host at university open houses and is regularly called upon by the Athletics Department to meet with recruits and their families.
Stromborg to leave NIU for law career
Marilyn Frank Stromborg is trading the halls of academia for the halls of justice.
Stromborg, chair of the NIU School of Nursing, begins a new career today as a prosecutor in the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office. Stromborg, who earned her juris doctorate from the NIU College of Law in 1994, will prosecute domestic violence cases, including elder abuse.
Her new calling ends a 37-year association with the School of Nursing, where her mother began teaching in 1967, and her simultaneous 37-year career in nursing.
Nursing Professor Brigid Lusk will serve as acting chair, said Shirley Richmond, dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. A search committee will form in the fall or early spring to begin the process to find Stromborg’s successor, she added.
“Getting into a different profession, what I think is scariest is that I’m going from expert to novice, leaving a career after so long,” Stromborg said. “I will miss the faculty, the students and the university setting, the quality of life when you’re in academics. You really have the potential to make so much of a difference in a person’s life.”
Stromborg, who worked a semester’s externship in Winnebago County traffic court while still a law student, said she was surprised to receive the domestic violence assignment as a rookie. “The thought is my nursing background would help me,” she said.
She came to the School of Nursing in 1976 as an oncology clinical specialist – she was the project director on a three-year federal grant – before joining the faculty in 1979 and working alongside her mother. Roseanne Krcek Frank retired in 1981. (Stromborg’s father, Irving Frank, served as an adjunct professor, teaching growth and development from 1968 to 1973.)
In 1996, after a year as acting chair, Stromborg became chair.
An NIU Presidential Research Professor, she is the author of seven books, more than 72 articles and more than $3 million in grant funding. She also is the recipient of the 2004 Distinguished Advocate for Nursing Award from the Illinois Nurses Association (District 3).
She holds an NIU bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry (1964) and an Ed.D. in educational psychology (1974). She earned her R.N. and M.S. in nursing from New York Medical College, and received her certificate as a medical nurse practitioner from Rush University College of Nursing in 1974.
Much of her career has focused on cancer nursing and research, an area in which she is recognized and published internationally.
“We are happy for Dr. Stromborg and her retirement from NIU,” Richmond said. “She will be following her other dreams.”
Search committee named for new athletics director
A 12-member search committee made up of faculty, staff, students, coaches, athletes, administrators and community representatives will begin work this week on finding NIU’s next athletics director.
NIU Vice Provost Earl "Gip" Seaver will chair the committee. Seaver said the group’s first order of business – the selection of a search firm to aid in identifying top candidates for the position – will likely be accomplished this week.
In addition to Seaver, committee members include:
- Jan Rintala (faculty)
- Terry Bishop (faculty; Athletics Board)
- Craig Marcus (student)
- Tim Struthers (community representative)
- Admasu Zike (diversity advisor)
- Steve Cunningham (central administration)
- Mallory Simpson (development)
- Rob Judson (coach)
- Shantel Twiggs (coach)
- A.J. Harris (student athlete)
- Marie Zidek (student athlete)
Seaver said he and fellow committee members hope to identify NIU’s next AD sometime within the next three months.
"I think all of us are very honored to serve on this important committee," said Seaver, who also served on the last AD search committee in 1994, when former Athletics Director Cary Groth was hired.
"I expect we’ll receive a great deal of interest from some very qualified applicants," Seaver said. "The NIU athletics program has built a great reputation nationally, and coming off last year’s successful football season, our profile is higher than ever."
NIU President John Peters echoed those sentiments.
"This is a great group of people with strong ties to NIU and a tremendous interest in keeping up the momentum of our program," Peters said. "I’m confident that they’ll find the right person, and that the next era of Huskie athletics will be even more exciting than what we’ve seen so far."
Project REAL adds cutting-edge technology to Rockford classrooms
Project REAL – the federally funded partnership between NIU, Rock Valley College and the Rockford Public Schools to enhance teacher quality – has donated 141 “mimios” to help students become better gatherers of information.
Mimios are portable computers that turn any whiteboard into a “smart board” that instantly transmits handwriting, symbols, graphs and lecture notes to a computer.
The units are at Jefferson High School, Rockford Environmental Science Academy and Rolling Green and Nelson elementary schools. The donor is a community partner in Project REAL – or Rockford Education Alliance – funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant of $4.875 million to NIU, Rock Valley College and District 205.
Project REAL stems from NIU’s significant interest in improving Rockford’s public schools through enhancing teacher quality. Mimios further this mission by bringing Rockford classrooms into the 21st century while preparing students and teachers to use learning technologies.
“The idea is to get the teachers to look at ways the technology can facilitate student learning,” said Sharon Smaldino, Project REAL director and NIU’s LD and Ruth G. Morgridge Chair in Teacher Education and Preparation in the College of Education.
“The ability to capture and retrieve notes, drawings and other class materials creates a better learning environment. Teachers are much more easily able to incorporate learning material into reviews and homework, and students benefit because mimios help with information retrieval.”
Ann Rundall, director of professional development in District 205, said teachers are completing training on the machines and “should be in full swing by summer.”
Jefferson High School teachers just began using the mimios, Smaldino said, and early reports indicate they are “thrilled.”
“The mimio machines are another wonderful tool to help with instruction,” Rundall said. “Anything we can do to make learning more engaging and interactive is great. There’s no reason why these four schools can’t become models of excellence for us all.”
“I have seen that the teachers are very excited about what this equipment can do. Even just to take notes and capture them is wonderful, or if a student is absent, that student could get missed notes much easier,” added Mary Lai, business education teacher at Jefferson and coordinator of installation and training for the mimios.
“For kids who have trouble or need additional tutoring, this is an excellent way to give them typed notes. The mimios will have a positive impact especially for learning-disabled students, whose caseworkers often request that classroom materials be presented in typed note form.”
Steve Builta, information systems manager in the NIU College of Education, said he hopes Rockford teachers latch on to the technology.
Mimios easily transfer a teacher’s prepared materials and spontaneous notes jotted on the white board during class to floppy disks or Web sites.
“The mimios do an excellent job of recording things written to a white board and make it easier for classroom discussion to take place. Students don’t have to fixate on writing all the notes down. They can participate in the brainstorming activity,” Builta said.
“It will do a real good job of helping to reinforce those images and those pictures and those things that were written down on the board, and provide students with an instructor’s version of what went on in the classroom that they can add to their notes and compare to their notes.”
Northern Public Radio informs country on Utica tornadoes
When the tornadoes of April 20 ravaged downstate Utica – killing eight in the small LaSalle County town south of DeKalb – reporters from Northern Public Radio’s WNIJ newsroom were called on to spread the word nationwide.
Reporter Simone Orendain filed the first account to National Public Radio and was interviewed by the NPR news desk, which used soundbites from that conversation through the evening and the next morning.
News Director Susan Stephens and reporter Chris Lehman, both of whom reported from Utica the day after the fatal storm, also filed reports to the national desk as well as for the “All Things Considered” program.
“During the height of the storms, our newsroom was busy serving our local listeners by getting all of the tornado warnings on all of our stations – WNIJ, WNIU, our three repeaters and NIRIS. That’s when NPR’s news desk called and wanted a story,” Stephens said. “Simone Orendain quickly put one together and managed to continue delivering updates on our stations.”
Orendain had one story and one interview segment about the early reports of the tornado damage in northern Illinois, particularly in Utica. The interview segment aired repeatedly overnight and during "Morning Edition" newscasts.
Stephens filed a story by phone from Utica for the Wednesday newscasts. She also produced a three-minute piece that aired during “All Things Considered,” which was broadcast several times and is on NPR’s Web site.
Lehman filed two stories Wednesday evening for NPR’s newscasts about Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s visit to Utica and his disaster declaration. Those aired throughout the evening and overnight, and even during Morning Edition newscasts Thursday.
“The great news is that NPR contacted us to do these stories, before we had a chance to contact them. They recognized that the storms happened in our coverage area, and trusted us to cover them well,” Stephens said. “It means a lot because it shows we’re up to the standards of National Public Radio.”
WNIJ plans follow-up stories on the rebuilding process, Stephens said.
“It was really sad,” she said of the scene. “By the time we got there (early Wednesday morning), it was still all just devastation. People were out, stumbling across the streets, looking at what they had lost, what they didn’t have any more. It was surprising to see how much damage could be done in such a short time,” she added. “There were also the ordinary things that link you to ‘this could happen to anyone’ – the contents of someone’s house all over the yard, all over the street, someone’s clothes up in a tree.”
Jan Bach lowers baton on prolific NIU career – with high note
Jan Bach glimpsed his career destiny at a young age – and it had nothing to do with his last name.
“I started playing piano, and then I was able to play chords. I started rewriting songs my teacher gave me. It just drove her nuts,” Bach says. “The old lady piano teacher wanted me to play what was on the page, and told me Mozart and Beethoven didn’t need improving. Then I started composing my own pieces. I was 8 or 9.”
More than a half-century later, with an impressive resume of symphonies, operas, choral pieces, string quartets and more, Bach is still busy writing music while his own career of teaching music gradually comes to an end.
Bach, who came to NIU in 1966 and taught his last class in the fall semester of 2002, is gradually cleaning out his office in the Music Building.
The task is not without challenges: His St. Charles home has no room left for his career artifacts, including the published scores of pieces he wrote and his hand-written pencil drafts. He also is converting old reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes of his own works and student compositions into mp3 files, although he’s beginning to doubt he’ll finish.
Perhaps someone else will want his mementos, however: The Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame has inducted Bach into its ranks of honor.
The mission of the Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame is to remember the famous artists of the past, celebrate the outstanding artists of the present and inspire future artists who might one day themselves become icons of the arts in the Fox Valley.
“I remember that Cary Grant, the popular and accomplished actor who had never received an Academy Award for his many movies, remarked when receiving a special Oscar for his body of work that ‘there is no greater tribute than the one that comes from your peers,’ ” Bach says.
“I’ve been thrice-blessed in that regard: honored by my students with the Excellence in Undergraduate Education award, honored by my university colleagues with a Presidential Research Professorship, and now honored by my Fox Valley friends and neighbors with this recognition of my activities in musical composition.”
Growing up in the small Illinois town of Forrest during World War II, he was fortunate to study the violin under an excellent music teacher who would’ve moved on had not all the jobs been frozen. When that day did come, in 1948, Bach decided to learn another instrument.
His father, a successful lumber dealer who benefited from robust homebuilding activity following the war, could have afforded to buy the oboe recommended by the local band director. Bach instead chose the French horn, something available at school.
It proved a wise decision.
Bach played the horn all through elementary school, middle school and high school, earning scholarships for high school music camps and college along the way. It was during middle school that he began arranging and composing music on request, either adapting tunes for school events or creating new works for classmates.
And “the horn kept me out of Vietnam,” he says. “I was drafted in ’62, after the Berlin Wall went up in ’61. I auditioned for and was accepted into the U.S. Army Band in Washington. I played for presidents. I played Kennedy’s funeral. I played the White House several times. I stayed in Washington all three years of my enlistment.”
When he left the Army in 1965, he found a job at the University of Tampa in Florida, where he taught while continuing to work on his doctorate in composition and playing in the Tampa Philharmonic and the St. Petersburg Symphony.
Missing the Midwest’s change of seasons, however, he returned to Illinois a year later and joined the music faculty at NIU. His teaching duties included both French horn students as well as theory and composition.
“I was getting notice, and winning awards, for my compositions,” Bach says. “It made a good case for going 100 percent into teaching theory and composition.”
His list of compositions and their subsequent honors is long.
He figures he’s written music for every instrument or ensemble – although “not much” for organ or guitar – including band, orchestra, choir, strings, brass and even accordion, steel pan and tuba. Unique combinations of instruments intrigue him.
Bach’s resume notes six Pulitzer Prize nominations, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, two Illinois Arts Council grants and countless commissions from international music groups and performers. He won NIU’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1978 and, four years later, was among the first class of Presidential Research Professors.
Now he’s marked his calendar for 7 p.m. Sunday, May 30.
The Lyric Opera Orchestra and its first horn, 1976 NIU alum Jon Boen, will perform (and record for an upcoming CD) Bach’s “Concerto for Horn and Orchestra” at Pick-Staiger Hall on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston. Bach dedicated the piece to Boen when he composed it in 1983.
“When Johann Sebastian Bach was alive, he rarely heard a piece of his music played more than once because he had to provide new music every week for churches,” Bach says. “I’ve had the good luck to have many of my pieces played countless times, and I still get a rush every time I hear a piece of mine played.”
Nursing grad student prepares for African experience
Mahedere Solomon, a graduate student in the NIU School of Nursing’s family nurse practitioner program, is among a team of young Americans who will visit Africa this summer to learn more about research ethics – and the work to prevent HIV.
Solomon has received a scholarship from the Minority International Research Training in Nursing Science (MIRT) program, funded by the Fogarty International Center in the Office for Research on Minority Health at the National Institutes of Health.
“This is one of my greatest opportunities to reach my goals of what I want to do. I’m in a position where I really can learn about research, about ethics and about people and cultures,” said Solomon, a native of Ethiopia who, as a young girl, moved to the San Francisco Bay area for political reasons.
“My mom is a nurse,” she added, “and it’s a profession that allows me to use some of the things I believe in, and my personality. I like to care and to advocate for people who can’t do things for themselves.”
MIRT’s purpose is to develop leaders in the field of nursing science and increase collaboration to resolve global health issues.
The program is coordinated by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Nursing to provide international research training experiences in nursing sciences for minority baccalaureate and graduate nursing students and nursing faculty mentors.
NIU’s School of Nursing is an affiliate of the UIC College of Nursing World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for International Nursing Research in Primary Health Care. Because of the NIU School of Nursing’s affiliate status, MIRT scholarship opportunities are made available to NIU nursing students.
Solomon – the first graduate student from NIU to receive a MIRT scholarship – will spend 10 weeks in Malawi, in southern East Africa. She must write a paper on her experiences upon her return.
Work for the team, which also includes students from UIC, Case Western Reserve University, Dillard University, Howard University and the University of Alabama, revolves around “several aspects of community health” to be identified later – perhaps by medical professionals in Africa based on local needs.
According to a 2000 statistic, the country only has one doctor for every 50,000 people. The conditions in Ethiopia, Solomon’s homeland, are similar.
“I ultimately want to do something in Ethiopia,” she said. “They have a lot of health problems, and not all of it is due to resources. Some is due to policy.”
One goal is to help people who are terminally ill to die with dignity, and to help their family members become caregivers.
Another is to lessen maternal mortality. “There’s no prenatal care like here. Either they don’t have the facilities, or it’s too far for people to travel,” she said. “There are deaths during pregnancy that are absolutely preventable.”
One-Room Schoolhouse supporters plan fundraiser banquet in June
Friends of the Milan Township One-Room Schoolhouse are planning a banquet for Friday, June 11, to celebrate country education and to help build the country school endowment fund.
The banquet and cash bar – from 6 to 11 p.m. in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center – will include a silent auction, featuring such items as African art, antiques, a camping weekend, a ride in an antique airplane, a quilt and four tickets for a 2004 Huskies football game.
Organizers also will honor friends of the country school, including Resource Bank, which funded a video on the history of education in DeKalb County, and the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, which has sent hundreds of farmers to the country school to teach children about agriculture in this area.
Pianist Georgia Price will provide entertainment. Tickets are $50 per person, or $400 per table. For more information, or to make a reservation, call 753-1561.
“Our main goal in raising this endowment is to continue to allow school groups and other visitors to use the country school free of charge,” said Lucy Townsend, a professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational and Psychological Foundations and curator of the Blackwell Museum.
“We plan to revise and expand the curriculum and purchase a full wardrobe of costumes for student-teachers. When classrooms of children come to the school, their ‘teachers’ will have all they need to play their historic roles authentically,” Townsend added. “In addition, we should be able to collect and preserve many more artifacts and memories of life in one-room schools.”
The endowment will continue the free use of the school, create regular hours for visitors, revise and expand curriculum for school groups and improve and change the informational, educational and promotional materials.
It also will expand and improve the school’s presence on the Internet, develop cooperative efforts with other regional museums to better increase and coordinate visits from area schools, provide for more special programs, including guest speakers, and help defray the rising costs of maintenance and upkeep on the building.
The Milan Township District 83 one-room school was dedicated in 1900 on land that was originally part of the Osmund Knutson Tysdal farm. Commonly known as either the Tysdal or Berg school, it replaced an earlier structure that had become too small to handle the student enrollments. The school was 13 miles southwest of DeKalb on the corner of Perry and Tower Roads near the town of Malta.
The schoolhouse was built by local farmers at a cost of $850 and measured 24 by 36 feet. It was heated by a coal-burning furnace in the basement through a single, large register in the classroom floor. There was no indoor plumbing and no water well outside. A neighbor across the road provided drinking water and students used two privies behind the school.
During the school year a solitary teacher provided education for students in grades one through eight in the large, central classroom. Enrollment varied from year to year, but the typical class size was around twenty students or more. Instruction was given in reading, writing, and arithmetic as well as geography, physiology, grammar, U.S. history and drawing.
The school finally closed at the end of the school year in 1942 because of the shrinking number of school-age children in the district.
More than 14 teachers taught in this school, and half of them served just one year. Only one of the teachers was a man. Eight of the women received their teacher preparation at Northern Illinois Normal School or State Teachers College (NIU). Because of the school’s connection with NIU and the university’s continuing commitment to teacher education, the school was reconstructed on Northern’s campus and dedicated Sept. 12, 1999.
Commission names recipients of Davis Diversity Award
NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities (PCSM) at NIU has named university staff members Leroy Mitchell and Monique Bernoudy and law student Michael Kirkwood as recipients of the first Deacon Davis Diversity Award.
Named in honor of Deacon Davis, founder and former director of the CHANCE (Counseling Help & Assistance Necessary for a College Education) program, the award was created to recognize the significant contributions made to the improvement of the status of minorities on campus by members of the university community.
Mitchell has been director of the CHANCE program since 1980. Bernoudy, associate athletics director since 1999, has been instrumental by implementing and facilitating diversity training among staff and students throughout the university. Kirkwood, a second year law student, serves as president of the Black Law Students Association and admissions representative for the law school’s Office of Admissions & Financial Aid.
Eighteen nominations were received for the award.
“It was a difficult selection process for the awards committee,” said LeRoy Pernell, dean of the NIU College of Law and chair of the PCSM. “Each nominee was exceptional and deserving of this award.”
The PCSM was established to assure that NIU consistently and comprehensively will reflect, sponsor, mandate and totally support action designed to enhance the status of minorities. It is the oldest commission in existence on the NIU campus.
The Deacon Davis Diversity Award was presented during the Annual PCSM Spring Banquet held April 14 in the Holmes Student Center.
NIU Alumni Association names 2004 award recipients
NIU’s Alumni Association named 11 recipients of its annual awards program for 2004. Recipients are selected based on outstanding professional and personal successes, as well as involvement in civic, cultural or charitable activities.
“NIU alumni have gone on to distinguish themselves and Northern in countless ways,” said Lee McCauley, assistant vice president for alumni relations. “Our Alumni Awards Program seeks to recognize some of these outstanding individuals who have gone out and achieved great success in their personal and professional lives.”
The Alumni Association presented Juan Andrade, Jr., president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, with the prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award. Weather Channel on-camera meteorologist Melissa Barrington received the Outstanding Alumni Award.
In addition, nine alumni received an Outstanding College Alumni Award from their respective areas of study. Those recipients are: James R. Grabek and Kathy Halloran from the College of Business; Robert J. English from the College of Education; Kent M. Foster from the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology; Glenn R. Janicki from the College of Health and Human Sciences; Diann Marsalek from the College of Law; James B. Pick and Raymond G. Smerge from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Dean Michael Auriemma from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Distinguished Alumni Award
The most prestigious award given by the NIU Alumni Association, the Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to an alumnus who has achieved outstanding success in his or her profession. The selection committee particularly looks for individuals who have achieved national, regional, or statewide prominence and who have significant involvement in civic, cultural, or charitable activities.
Dr. Juan Andrade Jr., Ed.S., ’95; Ed.D. ’98, Leadership and Educational Policy Studies
Griffith, Ind.
President, United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, Chicago
Toiling away in the fields under the Texas sun, Juan Andrade Jr., learned the virtue of hard work and the value of an education at an early age. The son of migrant farm workers, Andrade worked alongside his family at the tender age of four. A self-described quintessential learner, Andrade has earned five college degrees, including an educational specialist certificate from NIU in 1995 and a doctorate in 1998. Today, Andrade is respected as one of the nation’s most influential Hispanic leaders. He is co-founder and president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute based in Chicago. Under his guidance, the Institute has trained more than 200,000 present and future leaders, registered two million voters, published 425 studies on Hispanic demographics, and sponsors the largest Latino leadership conference in the nation. Andrade’s long list of accolades includes the prestigious Presidential Medal, which he received from President Bill Clinton in 2000 for his accomplishments promoting civic participation and leadership development.
Outstanding Alumni Award
The Outstanding Alumni Award is presented to an individual who has exhibited outstanding professional and personal accomplishments within ten years of earning an undergraduate degree at NIU. The selection committee also looks for evidence of civic, cultural, and charitable involvement.
Melissa Barrington B.S. ’93, Meteorology
Douglasville, Ga.
On-Camera Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Melissa Barrington honed her on-camera meteorology skills delivering nightly weather forecasts to the NIU community via the student-run TV-8 newscast. Less than 10 years after earning a meteorology degree in 1993, Barrington landed her dream job as an on-camera meteorologist with The Weather Channel. In May 2001, Barrington received the Americas’ Award for Best Weather Presentation in North and South America at the 11th annual International Weather Festival. She also holds both the American Meteorological Society’s Television Seal of Approval and the National Weather Association’s Seal of Approval. In addition, she volunteers in local classrooms teaching the weather to children. Barrington is married to fellow NIU Huskie James Noel, ’92, who is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Kudos
Ron Carter, director of jazz studies in the NIU School of Music, is featured on the cover of the current issue of the Jazz Education Journal, a publication of the International Association of Jazz Educators.
Carter, who also is director of the NIU Jazz Ensemble and the NIU Liberace Jazztet, is profiled in an eight-page, question-and-answer interview with Thomas W. Streeter, director of jazz studies and professor of music at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Carter talks about his youth, his career at Lincoln High School in East St. Louis and his teaching techniques and philosophies.
“You have to develop a work ethic,” he says of teachers. “You work until your job is done, and you do make any excuses. At East St. Louis, I could have made all the excuses I wanted: no money, no rehearsal hall, etc. But within two years, I took my band to Europe.”
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NIU cheerleaders finished eighth at the recent College Cheerleading National Championships in Daytona Beach. Coach Al Enlow’s squad was third after the preliminary competition, but an injury forced the cheerleaders to alter the routine. They appeared on CBS Sports Saturday, April 17, and were mentioned many times, while Northern Illinois was listed on the screen twice.
PT3 technology showcase scheduled for Tuesday
The PT3 initiative in the College of Education will host a Spring '04 Technology Showcase from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 4. More than 25 faculty technology integration posters will be on display in the Learning Center, Gabel 01. Try out new technology and handhelds in the electronic playground in Gabel 01D, and learn about available technology resources at NIU.
Visit the PT3 Web site www.cedu.niu.edu/pt3 for more information and to view posters displayed at the March 29 Teaching Projects Poster Session. Many of the same posters will be exhibited Tuesday.
Horatio Alger comes to NIU
“Dash to DeKalb II,” the 2004 Horatio Alger Society convention, will be held at NIU from Thursday, May 13, through Sunday, May 16.
Kyoko Amano, Ph.D., will speak at the Friday evening dinner. Dr. Amano is the first recipient of the Horatio Alger Fellowship award. Nicholas Basbanes, nationally prominent bibliophile and best-selling author (A Gentle Madness, A Splendor of Letters), will provide the keynote address at the Saturday annual meeting and banquet.
All members of the university and the local community are invited to attend the Basbanes presentation in the HSC Clara Sperling Skyroom, free of charge. Approximate start time for his presentation is 7:45 p.m. Please call 753-9802 if you plan to attend.
The registration fee of $85 per person includes the Friday and Saturday dinners, Friday luncheon buffet, and Sunday breakfast, as well as a variety of presentations, book auctions and other activities. On-site accommodations are available at the University Guest Rooms at 753-1444.
See http://www.niulib.niu.edu/rbsc/DashtoDeKalb2.html for convention schedule, registration form, accommodations and more. For additional information, call 753-9802 or e-mail ksherman@niu.edu.
Heating Plant announces annual steam outages
To perform maintenance and repairs on high pressure steam lines on campus, the Physical Plant and Heating Plant will have its annual steam outage on the following dates:
West Campus: Beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 16, through noon Friday, May 21. This will include Neptune and all buildings west of Carroll Avenue, except Stevenson and various smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.
East Campus: Beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 27, through noon Friday, June 4. This will include all buildings east of Carroll Avenue, except for various smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.
Any questions or concerns can be addressed to Kevin Vines, chief engineer, at 753-6090 or via e-mail at kvines@niu.edu.
Art Attack festival committee to meet
Do you like to paint? Do you play an instrument? Do you do ceramics? Are you asking what do those have in common?
All that and more will take place Sept. 18 at Sycamore’s “Paint the Pavement” festival. The Art Attack School of Art will team up with the Annual Downtown Sycamore’s Block Party to create an exciting outdoor art festival.
The next organizing meeting for this event is at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 17, at the Art Attack of Sycamore, located at 215 W. Elm Street. Come and bring your input to make this a great art day. Call Susan Edwards, executive director of the Art Attack, at (815) 899-9440 to register or get more information, or visit the Art Attack Web page at www.sycamoreartattack.com.
Theatre and Dance announces 04-05 season
A foul-mouthed Santa's elf, a phony priest, a love-starved cynic, and a classic beauty are some of the characters that will appear onstage during the NIU School of Theatre and Dance’s upcoming season.
The Jeff Award-winning pre-professional theatre program recently announced its 2004-2005 season, and audiences can expect the nationally renowned school to produce a mix of famous plays, novelists, and playwrights, alongside lesser known little gems in both their Subscription Series and Studio Series production schedules.
An adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel "The Grapes of Wrath," and the ballet based on the classic fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty," will head the list of well known theatre productions. Weekday matinees of these two productions will introduce local school children to live theatre and enhance their studies.
A rousing "25th Anniversary Gala Dance Concert" will feature faculty, alumni, and students and dance pieces from the dance program's 25 year history.
Two selections by 17th century French playwright Moliere round out the mainstage season. His bitingly satirical comedies, "Tartuffe" and "The Misanthrope," will be updated to a modern setting.
An exciting selection of new works and old classics will be featured in the smaller Stevens Building venues, Players and Corner Theatres, including: NIU faculty Robert Schneider's new translation of Aristophanes' classic Greek comedy "The Birds," which returns from its world premiere staging by NIU students in Moscow this summer; two one-act plays by Tennessee Williams; Caryl Churchill's eerie fable "Far Away"; David Sedaris' scathing memoir of life as a Macy's elf during Christmastime, "The Santaland Diaries"; and Arthur Giron's "Becoming Memories."
In addition to the productions held at NIU, a student touring company will be performing an adaptation of Dylan Thomas' epic poem "A Child's Christmas in Wales" at schools throughout northern Illinois.
Look for show dates, descriptions, and full details in the coming weeks when the 2004-2005 season brochure is released. For additional information, or to be placed on the mailing list, call the School of Theatre and Dance marketing office at 753-1337.
Competition opens for Fulbright U.S. Student Program
The Institute of International Education (IIE), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, is launching its 2005-2006 Fulbright U.S. Student Program competition.
The U.S. government-sponsored program provides future American leaders with an unparalleled opportunity to study, teach and conduct research in other nations. Fulbright student grants aim to increase mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchange while serving as a catalyst for long-term leadership development.
The U.S. Student Program awards about 1,000 grants annually and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide. Fulbright full grants generally provide funding for round-trip travel, maintenance for one academic year, health and accident insurance and full or partial tuition. Fulbright travel-only grants are also available.
Applicants to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program must be U.S. citizens at the time of application and hold a bachelor's degree or the equivalent by the beginning of the grant. In the creative and performing arts, four years of professional training and/or experience meets the basic eligibility requirement. (Non-arts applicants lacking a degree but with extensive professional study and/or experience in fields in which they wish to pursue a project may also be considered.)
For more information, applicants can visit the Fulbright U.S. Student Program Web site at www.iie.orq/fulbright. Students enrolled at NIU also can contact International Programs Executive Director Deborah Pierce, who serves as the campus Fulbright Program adviser.
NIU applications must be submitted in full to Sara Clayton in NIU International Programs by Oct. 1.
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