DCFS looks to NIU for help in assessing children

Under a new partnership with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, NIU will help the agency provide necessary services to abused and neglected children in state custody.

NIU is one of several Illinois universities and hospitals that will play key roles in the new “Integrated Assessment Program,” a major reform effort that aims to provide intensive mental health assessments of children entering the state’s child welfare protection system and to develop long-term service plans.

“This program emphasizes prevention and early identification of emotional or behavioral problems,” said Charles Miller, chair of the NIU Department of Psychology and project director for the NIU portion of the program.

NIU will receive $1.2 million over the next year to launch the initiative in the DCFS northern region, which covers the top portion of the state, excluding Cook County. Miller will use the funds to hire a program coordinator and team of eight clinical psychologists and licensed clinical social workers who will conduct the assessments.

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Two NIU psychology professors have received a $1.5 million grant to develop an automated online test that could revolutionize how reading comprehension is assessed in the future.

The test, dubbed the R-Sat, for Reading Strategy Assessment Tool, will measure not only how well college and high school students understand the text they read but also pinpoint the areas where comprehension breaks down as students are interpreting the material.

“We’re trying to get into the window of comprehension as it is happening,” Professor Keith Millis says. “This will be a revolutionary way to assess reading skills.”

Millis and Professor Joe Magliano are developing the R-Sat. The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Educational Sciences is funding the pair’s four-year research project, which will produce a Web-based comprehension test that eventually could be used by students and educators worldwide.

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Ben Ogle is a quick study. Given his daunting schedule, he has no other choice.

Ogle is president of Phi Sigma Zeta, the political science academic fraternity. He’s a member of the History Club, the Model United Nations Club and the Political Science Student Advisory Committee. In May, Ogle will graduate from NIU with honors, receiving bachelor’s degrees in history and political science.

Did we mention he’s taking Indonesian and Chinese language courses, has interned with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and plans to work for the government in international relations or national security?

All the hard work is paying big dividends. Ogle, of St. Charles, has been named NIU’s 2005 Student Lincoln Laureate, an annual honor reserved for the university’s top senior.

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NIU faculty and staff with new and different ideas to cooperate across disciplines can apply for financial support through the NIU Foundation’s Venture Grants.

Foundation leaders are announcing today the availability $50,000 in private money – grants can range anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 – for projects that show innovation, including imaginative use of new technology, interdisciplinary focus, collaboration, community outreach, sustainability, image enhancement and appeal to donors.

Proposals are due Feb. 4, 2005, to the Office of the Provost.

“The Foundation board relishes the opportunity to support the work of faculty and students whose exceptional work brings further acclaim to NIU,” said Mallory M. Simpson, president of the NIU Foundation.

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After 19 years of serving as an aviator in the U.S. Army’s combat divisions, Lieutenant Colonel Craig Engel considered himself ready to tackle a new challenge: ROTC.

“I really enjoy how much the cadets want to learn,” says Engel, who took over NIU’s program May 28 after the retirement of Lt. Col. Steve Payne. “I’ve got all this experience now. I really felt like I was in a position to help train lieutenants to come into today’s Army.”

That’s translated into a host of changes for NIU’s 80 cadets, who Engel says are reporting satisfaction with his first semester in charge.

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Jazz great and Sony/Columbia recording artist Eddie Henderson will make his first visit to NIU to perform with internationally known NIU Jazz Ensemble.

The campus concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, November 4, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom. The concert is free and open to all.

Henderson will be the special guest with the Jazz Ensemble for an entire week during their Fall Jazz Tour, scheduled for Nov. 2 to 10. The trumpet great will be featured on selections from his new CD release “So What” (tribute to Miles Davis).

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Ron Carter, Walter Owens, Admasu Zike and the NIU Black Choir are among the honorees at this weekend’s Kemet Awards ceremony during the 2004 Legacy event.

Legacy is a concept developed two years ago to attract black alumni back to campus.

The premiere component of the event is the Kemet Awards ceremony. This award was created to recognize NIU black alumni for their professional accomplishments and commitment to serving humanity; and NIU faculty, staff, alumni, and other noteworthy people for their success, presence, personality, achievement, history, and contribution to NIU, particularly African American Students. The Kemet is Nubian for Egypt, the great predecessor to all modern societies.

The ceremony will commence during a champagne reception for the NIU community, black alumni and other guests Saturday, Nov. 6, in the NIU Convocation Center South Lobby.

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Ralph Wallis, business manager in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, doesn’t have any illusions of making the New York Times Best Seller list, but he is proud to call himself a published author.

Wallis, 59, who has worked at NIU for the past 27 years, recently published his autobiography, “Memoirs of a Rambling Mind,” through Infinity Publishing, a vanity press. He wrote and published the book as a gift to his five children, ages 25 to 30.

He began the project just before last Christmas, presenting his children with a few pages and promising to write more. Seven months and 200 pages later, the book was complete.

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NIU recently played host to David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, who had plenty of praise for the university.

Walker’s agency has a lengthy history of recruiting top students out of NIU’s highly regarded programs in accountancy and public administration. Also, NIU has been represented on the agency’s Educators Advisory Panel since the inception of that group five years ago.

Flu shots cancelled

Employee Assistance and Wellness Program regrets to announce that the flu shots scheduled at NIU for Wednesday, Nov. 3, and Wednesday, Nov. 10, are cancelled.

This Public Service Announcement issued by the DeKalb County Health Department explains the reasons for the decision to cancel all community flu clinics and identifies who is eligible to receive the limited flu vaccine available.

Stay healthy: remember to get sufficient rest, eat healthy, drink plenty of water and take Vitamin C.

NIU to celebrate
Deaf Awareness Week

These events are scheduled as a part of NIU’s celebration of Deaf Awareness Week:

7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1
Guiding Hands: The Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission
Carl Sandburg Auditorium, Holmes Student Center

7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2
The Days of our Deaf Lives: Deaftown
Regency Room, Holmes Student Center

7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3
All My Deafies: Reality Show
Carl Sandburg Auditorium

9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4
The Bold & The Signing: Sign Sync
Carl Sandburg Auditorium

7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5
One CODA Life to Live: The Abababa Tour
Carl Sandburg Auditorium

Sponsors are Affirmative Action & Diversity Resources, Center for Access-Ability Resources, Department of Communicative Disorders, DeafPRIDE, Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission, Illinois Teachers of Hard of Hearing/Deaf Individuals (Areas 5 & 6), Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities, Program for Hearing Impaired, and Unity in Diversity Steering Committee.

For more information, call 753-6527 V/TTY or 753-1694 V/TTY or E-mail: mcormier@niu.edu or jmontag@niu.edu. Sign Language/Voice Interpreters provided. To request other accommodations, please contact the Center for Access-Ability Resources at 753-1694 V/TTY.

All events are free and open to all. -- MORE

NIU Community School
to perform four concerts

The NIU Community School of the Arts is going on the road.

On Saturday, Nov. 20, performers from the program will take the stage at the Barnes and Noble Store in DeKalb. The concert is part of a fundraising book sale the store is holding on behalf of the community school. The store will donate a percentage of all purchases made from Nov. 19 to 21 by people who use a special voucher. Call 753-1450 for a voucher. All proceeds will go toward the program’s scholarship fund.

Other free concerts this month:

• at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, the CSA Sinfonia, a regional youth orchestra, performs under the direction of Linc Smelser in the Concert Hall of the NIU Music Building.
• at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, November 7, the CSJazz Band performs under the director of Johan Eriksson in the Concert Hall of the NIU Music Building.

Meanwhile, teachers in the NIU Community School of the Arts are featured in the Gala Teachers’ Recital at NIU at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, in the Recital Hall of the NIU Music Building.

The annual recital showcases the talented teachers of this local arts organization. Performing on viola is director of the Suzuki violin program and NIU violin instructor Ann Montzka-Smelser. She will be joined in a duet by cellist Linc Smelser, conductor of the community school’s two youth orchestras, as well as the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra and NIU cello instructor.

This recital is a scholarship fundraising event. The community school awards more than $5,000 in talent and need scholarships to young people each year. Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the door and cost $6 for adults, $3 for children under 12, and $12 for families.

The NIU Community School of the Arts is sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Classes and lessons are year-round and are offered in music, art, and theatre for children and adults.

For more information, call Renee Page, NIU Community School of the Arts, at 753-1450. -- MORE

Visiting scholar will lecture
on Islam, international relations

Visiting scholar Muddathir Abdel-Rahim will present a public lecture titled, “Islam and International Relations: Peace, Conflict and Diplomacy,” from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4, in the Heritage Room of Holmes Student Center.

Abdel-Rahim is a professor of political science and Islamic studies at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Malaysia. He joins NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies through funding from the American University of Beirut program, “Understanding Contemporary Islam.”

“Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim world is rooted in Islam, a word that means peace,” Abdel-Rahim said.

“My lecture will examine the principles on which international relations were conceived and evolved in Islamic civilization, going back to the rise of Islam in the 7th century. In the Muslim world view, peace remains the highest priority.”

Abdel-Rahim is visiting NIU for the fall semester, presenting lectures in various political science and anthropology courses. Originally from the Sudan, he at one time served as a Sudanese ambassador to the Nordic countries.

He also has worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and has taught at universities in Africa, England, the United States and the Arab world. He has been teaching in Malaysia for the past decade.

Black Studies hosts
sixth Kuumba Festival

The Center for Black Studies and several co-sponsors announce the sixth annual Kuumba Festival at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.

The purpose of the Kuumba Festival must begin with the definition of Kuumba. The term Kuumba is derived from the Swahili language meaning creativity. Kuumba is also the sixth principal of the Nguso Saba, part of the Kwanza celebration, beginning Dec. 26 and ending Jan. 1.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Hip-Hop Meets Jazz,” incorporating creative expression through music and dance in the hopes of celebrating and beginning to restore the community to its original greatness.

Call 753-5960 for more information.

PCSW hosts luncheon
on women in literature

Lynne M. Thomas, curator of rare books and special collections at Founders Memorial Library, will speak at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 19, at a network luncheon in Chandelier Room B of Adams Hall.

Thomas will speak on “Heroines, Harlots and Homebodies: Women in Popular Literature Special Collections at NIU.” Tickets are $7.50 per person ($6.50 for students). Reservations are required by Friday, Nov. 12. Call 753-6351 or e-mail juxl@niu.edu.

The luncheon is co-sponsored by the NIU Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and University Resources for Women. Call 753-9614 for more information.

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