April 25, 2005, Northern Today Abridged

NIU to honor Monat at Tuesday ceremony

NIU will recognize its former president, William R. Monat, by renaming the university property at Third and Locust streets in his honor.

The ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, in the lobby of the building. The public is invited to attend.

The honor recognizes Monat for his many contributions to NIU as a professor, department head, provost and president.

His leadership of NIU, from 1978 until 1984, is best remembered for his role in securing two new colleges for the university: the NIU College of Law and the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. Monat was also instrumental in construction of the Martin Luther King Commons, the creation of new doctoral programs and acquisition of the building that now will bear his name.

Built in 1927, the building at Third and Locust streets was originally the Rice Hotel. It has a long and storied history as a hotel, but fell on hard times in the 1980s. In 1982, it was purchased by local developer Thomas Rosenow who restored the building, converted its interior to office space and then leased it to the university. Monat immediately designated the building as home to several of the university's most prominent social science research centers, which have gone on to do great service to the region.

“Bill Monat set the stage for the university to become the mature teaching and research institution that it is today,” NIU President John Peters said. “It is only fitting that we honor him with such a substantial and lasting tribute.”

Monat and his wife, Jo, reside in DeKalb.

NIU honors Hillery, Shumow, Zollman
for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

Good teachers can capture imaginations and light paths. Good teachers can confirm decisions and provide tools. Good teachers can stir passions and change lives.

NIU has many good teachers, and Julie Hillery, Lee Shumow and Alan Zollman stand tall among them. The three are this year’s recipients of the Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Hillery, from the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences in the College of Health and Human Sciences; Shumow, from the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations in the College of Education; and Zollman, from the Department of Mathematics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; now enjoy the university’s longest-standing honor.

It stands in a class of its own because the nominations and subsequent words of support originate with the young minds on the other side of the classroom.

“When I read what the students had written, I cried. That was the reward: reading these very thoughtful and kind things they had said. I work very hard at teaching, and a lot of them recognize it,” Shumow says. “A lot of them say I’m passionate, and I am passionate. I care about them as people and about their learning. I make them work hard, and I have very high expectations, but I’ll help them achieve them.”

Initiated in 1966, the awards honor excellent undergraduate teaching in the university, encourage improvement of instruction and promote discussion among members of the university community on the subject of teaching.

Nominees must be full-time faculty whose major responsibility is teaching and must have worked at least five full academic years at NIU. Hillery, Shumow and Zollman each receive a check for $2,000.

Here is a closer look at the three.

‘They can see that passion in me’

As a non-traditional student who started college “later in life,” Julie Hillery gained a fervent appreciation of education while continuing to work and thrive in the apparel industry.

“One night,” says Hillery, a professor whose primary appointment is in the Textiles, Apparel and Merchandising program in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, “I woke up and thought, ‘I just really want to teach college. What an impact those teachers made on me.’ I followed my dream and my passion, and every day I see the rewards of that.”

Now, with a courtesy appointment as the Kohl’s Professor of Retailing and Apparel Merchandising in the Department of Marketing in the College of Business, Hillery strives to make the same impression on her students.

“Many of my students get a lot of pressure from their parents or friends that they should get a different major. I try to show a lot of enthusiasm for what I do, because that’s the key,” says Hillery, who began her career in retailing at the age of 16. “I use humor. I’m in your face. We laugh and have a good time, and we learn something at the same time: You can find something you love to do. You can build a career around something you’re passionate about. I think they can see that passion in me.”

They do.

“Even though I haven’t been a student in the classroom for some time, Dr. Hillery still continues to teach me,” says Donna Brennan, a 2000 alumna and a buyer/product developer for The Art Institute of Chicago. “I always find myself referring to things that Dr. Hillery had taught me while I was a student.”

Hillery’s classes – and her new book, “Careers! Professional Development for Retailing and Apparel Merchandising,” published in January with co-author V. Ann Paulius – expose students to the wide array of career opportunities. Hillery also leads occasional trips to New York City for “an eye-opener.”

“People think they’re going to work at the mall, and that’s the only thing,” Hillery says. “There are so many facets to retailing: buying, retail management, visual merchandising, product development, stylists for photo shoots.”

Hillery also has built a valuable bridge between NIU and Kohl’s. She began cooperating with Kohl’s to place interns from FCNS in their stores in 1998.

Since then, the percentage of interns from NIU who then enter the Kohl’s executive training program has climbed above the national average as has the job acceptance rate of NIU students who interview with the company and the subsequent retention rate. NIU is the No. 1 recruiting university in the country for Kohl’s. Hillery, meanwhile, stays current with industry trends.

Although her career trajectory has given her opportunities to move on – while boggling the mind of someone whose associate’s and bachelor’s degrees came 11 years apart – she has goals here. The TAM program is growing strong, and Hillery hopes to cultivate relationships with alumni and area professionals by creating an advisory board.

But mostly, she says, “NIU values teaching. That’s what keeps me here.”

‘As teachers, you have a choice’

Teenagers can provoke uproarious laughter from Lee Shumow, a professor in the College of Education’s Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations.

They also cause her to listen, to reflect, to empathize, to sympathize, to rejoice and to hope – all through the honesty of their voices and the idealism of their thoughts.

It’s a lesson Shumow aims to imprint on the undergraduates who take her “Adolescent Development & Learning” course, one she believes critical for shaping tomorrow’s best teachers in middle schools and high schools.

“We have a whole cultural stereotype of how bad adolescents are,” says Shumow, who joined NIU in 1995. “I want them to see adolescence as a very instrumental period of life – and very hopeful. There’s all of this potential. As adults, as teachers, you have a choice about how you’re going to impact them.”

Shumow drives her point home with a tough syllabus and the demand that students consider each topic personally and professionally. They don’t hear lectures in class; rather, Shumow leads a lively discussion laced with hard questions.

After each week’s reading, students must determine whether the information supports or contradicts their own memories of adolescence. They also must glean what their future students – and they, in turn, as teachers – need to know about their own development as adolescents.

Her students keep journals, due every Tuesday, and build Web pages with “inside information for teens” that they researched, wrote and submitted for expert review before posting.

Enlightenment also is gained through analyzing popular media for its messages about adolescence. Alongside the books on the shelves in Shumow’s office are films such as “Thirteen,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Ghost World,” “Hoop Dreams,” “Real Women Have Curves,” “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” “Now and Then,” “KIDS” and “Spellbound,” a 2004 documentary about the national spelling bee that Shumow calls “awesome.”

Shumow also is a collector of teen-produced videos on adolescence, which she enjoys for their contrasting – usually positive – views on those years.

“The class I teach is a class about their students,” she says. “If you want to teach something, you have to really know your student – their motivation, their peer interaction, how they learn. Practicing teachers will tell you this is the most important thing.”

She stresses authentic experiences for her students, and even sends their Web projects to high school students for review.

“I want them to do things that have real consequences,” she says, noting a spelling error in the title of one student’s project. “A lot of high school students are going to read that and comment on it, and it’s going to make a real impression on her, more than my circling it with a red pen.”

Students appreciate the lessons.

“As a future high school teacher, I will be forever indebted to Dr. Shumow for engendering in me a sincere fondness for, and the desire to understand, adolescents,” English major Gail Anne Rover says. “She is demanding but reasonable, showed no favoritism, listens well, sets high standards – and seems clearly invested in our becoming skilled and compassionate teachers.”

X + Why = Zollman

Professor Alan Zollman doesn’t only teach his students how to solve equations. He teaches them to reflect on their work, make larger connections and think like mathematicians.

“He’s one of the best teachers that I’ve ever had,” says sophomore Julie Pattermann, adding that she never enjoyed mathematics until taking Math 201, a requirement for elementary education majors.

Zollman, with his easy-going style and interactive lessons, helps students develop confidence in their abilities. Now a math tutor, Pattermann is considering a minor in the subject area.

“I realized that I wasn’t bad at math after all,” she says. “Dr. Zollman not only helped me understand what to do but also why to do it that way.”

Zollman says students are more likely to learn when they grasp the big picture. “It’s not enough to demand that students memorize a set of mathematical steps,” he says. “They’ll be good at making bricks but won’t be able to build anything. I want students to see larger connections, to understand where we’re going and why. In that way, they’ll learn to build a house.”

Zollman serves as chair of the teacher education committee in the NIU Department of Mathematical Sciences, which is consistently one of the country’s largest programs for certifying math teachers. He has taught a variety of courses and recently led a department overhaul of Math 201.

“With Alan’s guidance, we now encourage the students to work in groups to learn the material and guide them through the activities, instead of just lecturing to them,” says math instructor Marcia Lack. “He knew students would benefit by becoming more engaged learners, an attitude they will pass on to their students.”

Zollman holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University and began his career teaching middle school and high school mathematics. He moved on to the university level and came to NIU in 1993.

On the national level, Zollman is a sought-after speaker, having given more than 90 presentations to more than 15,000 teachers. His scholarship focuses on research-based and classroom-tested curriculum innovations. He has served on the Illinois Teacher Certification Standards Committee and as an elected director of an international association for science and math teachers.

In the classroom, Zollman is known as a tough grader. Yet he consistently receives high marks on student evaluations.

“This is remarkable when one considers that his students are not mathematics or science majors. They often begin the class with negative feelings toward mathematics,” says Presidential Teaching Professor William Blair. “His curriculum not only prepares teachers who are technically proficient, but also ones who have developed an appreciation for mathematics, and a belief in its importance for their future students.”

Zollman says his teaching philosophy has evolved into a less-is-more approach.

“Some of my students might say I don’t teach that much at all, and I’d take that as a compliment, because a lot of the learning is their responsibility,” he says. “I don’t give them everything. I give them structure and let them learn how it all fits together.”

NIU-produced Lincoln documentary,
local history Web site debut April 28

History buffs will be treated to a double feature Thursday, April 28, with the premiere of a NIU-produced documentary on Abraham Lincoln’s involvement in the Black Hawk War and the debut of a newly enhanced Web site focusing on local history.

The event begins at 7 p.m. in the Visual Arts Building auditorium (Room 100) and is free and open to the public.

The first hour of the program will feature Drew VandeCreek, director of University Libraries’ Digitization Unit, and Phyllis Kelley, director of the Joiner History Room at the Sycamore Public Library, who will introduce “Taming of the Wild Prairie,” a Web site on DeKalb County history.

Funded through a grant from the Illinois State Library, the site (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/dekalb/) provides online access to much of the Sycamore library’s extensive photo archive. It includes Civil War photographs and diaries, as well as hundreds of historic photographs and pictures from across the county.

The documentary, “Lincoln and the Black Hawk War,” will screen at 8 p.m. Produced by VandeCreek in collaboration with Communication Professors Jeff Chown and Laura Vazquez, both award-winning documentary makers, the 50-minute documentary focuses on Lincoln’s service in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War of 1832.

During the spring of that year, Sac and Fox Indians under the leadership of Black Hawk left the Iowa territory and returned to their homes in northern Illinois. The Native Americans had lost their Illinois lands in a disputed 1804 treaty. Their return sparked widespread panic among white settlers, and Illinois Gov. John Reynolds quickly called up the militia, which included a young Lincoln.

The militia pursued Black Hawk’s band into southwestern Wisconsin, where the Indians were massacred Aug. 2 at a site near the mouth of the Bad Axe River.

“The issue of wartime service by presidential candidates is always a salient one in American society,” said Chown, the documentary’s director. “We traced Lincoln’s participation as a 23-year-old militia recruit in 1832. This was his only military experience prior to leading us through the Civil War.”

Lincoln once joked that he fought only mosquitoes during the Black Hawk War. Yet, while he did not see combat action, his experiences made a lasting impression.

“He participated in a battlefield-cleanup detail and saw scalped bodies and the result of atrocities,” Chown said. “We end the film with a story in his campaign biography that narrates how as a young captain he intervened to prevent the lynching of an Indian scout who had wandered into the militia’s camp. However, as president, he would later preside over the largest mass execution of Indians in U.S. history at Mankato, Minnesota. Although Lincoln pardoned 268 Indians, another 38 were hanged. Native Americans didn’t fare very well during Lincoln’s administration.”

The documentary features interviews with top Lincoln experts and 19th century historians, including Richard Slotkin of Wesleyan University, John Mack Faragher of Yale University, Cecil Eby of the University of Michigan and Douglas Wilson and Rodney Davis of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College. The project took three years to produce and presented unique challenges to the filmmakers.

“There are multiple issues that arise when making a documentary about such a complex and important figure as Abraham Lincoln and those experiences which contributed to his understanding of a multi-racial America,” said Vazquez, who served as editor on the documentary. “Bringing these issues to a contemporary American audience by working with still images also is a rather daunting task.”

Documentary screenings in Dallas and Springfield have received enthusiastic responses. “Immersing ourselves in Lincoln history, we realized you never get bored with this fellow,” Chown said. “He’s complicated and reflective in a way that is unusual for famous leaders.”

Clips from “Lincoln and the Black Hawk War” ultimately will appear on the Lincoln/Net Web site (http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/) created by VandeCreek. That site focuses on Lincoln’s life before his presidency.

The documentary was funded by two Illinois Humanities Council grants to Chown and VandeCreek totaling about $20,000.

Art professor to bike with brother
from Lombard to Fairbanks for charity

Dreams are stubborn things, especially when life gets in the way.

Ask Todd Buck, an assistant professor in the NIU School of Art. Buck took a nasty header off his bike last August, landing on his noggin and making good friends with the neighborhood chiropractor. His older brother, Bob, an NIU alum, once was an avid bicyclist who hasn’t pedaled seriously in a quarter-century.

But there is that itch the two share – to embark on a long-distance ride on their bicycles – and it seems nothing will stop them from scratching.

The Buck brothers will leave Todd’s Lombard home Sunday, May 22, and pedal 4,500 miles to Fairbanks, Ala., arriving the first week of August. The trip will span 10 weeks at a pace of 75 miles a day, six days a week.

“Chicago to Seattle, you’re halfway there. That kind of puts it into perspective,” Buck says. “It’s a lot of time to think, a lot of hours in the saddle, a lot of daydreaming. It’s a whole different experience of seeing the countryside. You feel the hills. You feel the wind. You feel the rain. You smell the roadkill. Your endorphins are pumping. Everything seems more magnificent.”

Yet an entire summer on two wheels is also “a pretty selfish endeavor,” he says, noting the time away from wives and families and jobs.

This trip, however, has “more of a purpose than selfish wanderlust.”

The Bucks hope to raise $30,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. The foundation typically spends about $5,000 per wish, Buck says, so the brothers are striving to emulate the fictional genies who grant three wishes each.

“We’re living our dream so we can help these kids live their dreams,” he says. “It’s an awesome charity. We believe in their mission. It’s a special kind of medicine to these kids who are sick – a break from reality.”

Long bike trips are nothing new for the 39-year-old Buck, who has pedaled the 1,000 miles from Connecticut to Chicago, logged 800 miles in Alaska and rode 400 miles up the west coast of Ireland.

Buck’s passion for the outdoors runs in the family. His father was a landscape architect for the Cook County Forest Preserve District who helped to design Busse Woods. His mother was an elementary school P.E. teacher and guidance counselor in Barrington, where the family lived, who fueled the love for long-distance biking and other outdoor sports.

This summer’s excursion will include camping and plenty of opportunities for fishing.

The brothers are carrying their tents, sleeping bags, clothes, collapsible fishing poles, tackle and one day’s food in panniers, custom-made bags that lay across the front and back of each cycle and snap to the sides. The panniers add between 40 and 50 pounds to each bike.

But the summer also brings a tinge of anxiety.

Buck, whose August accident caused a bulging disc in his cervical spine, still sees his chiropractor for the pain.

Bob, who is 45 and lives in Holmen, Wis., near LaCrosse, had gained some weight over the years. Bob has turned things around, though, with two hours a day on the basement training cycle throughout the winter. “Now the guy’s just kicking butt,” Todd says.

They’re both preparing with short trips – Todd on his Bianchi touring bike, Bob on his Trek – as they pack the panniers with books to simulate the load.

“We know if we wait another 10 years, we’ll never get it done,” Todd says. “People usually say it sounds crazy, but we’ve had a lot of positive feedback, that there’s someone in the family who was a Make-A-Wish recipient. I didn’t know it hit so many families close to home. Is this trip necessary? No. Is this trip necessary for these kids? No – but it will offer a sense of relief for these kids.”

Buck joined the School of Art last fall. It’s the first teaching job for the formerly full-time freelance medical illustrator who “needed to get out of the studio. I needed to go out and bump elbows and exchange ideas.”

He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and pre-medical illustration from Iowa State University – he was among the first six or seven graduates of the program – and a master’s degree in medical illustration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Buck had planned to become a high school biology teacher when he decided to combine his love of drawing with science. He now juggles NIU with his freelance business, and is currently drawing the cover for the next issue of American Family Physician magazine.

The summer will present two other opportunities for creative expression – writing and photography – as the Bucks maintain a blog complete with photos from the road with help from Todd’s wife, Janet, an NIU alumna.

Visitors to www.buckbrothersbiketour.typepad.com also can download donation forms.

“We’re just going to experience North America,” he says, “at a much, much slower pace.”

NIU Foundation announces 2005 Venture Grant awards

From sensing earthquakes to promoting heavenly music, the 2005 Venture Grant awards will benefit a variety of endeavors at NIU.

The grants, which are made annually by the NIU Foundation, are intended to support faculty in their pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the larger community. The funding is intended as an investment in the imagination, intellect and dedication of NIU’s faculty and students.

The grants are awarded through a competitive application process, one that forces the NIU Foundation Board to make some difficult decisions. “There are so many excellent proposals, but funds are limited,” says Mallory M. Simpson, president of the NIU Foundation.

This year, five Venture Grants totaling $50,000 were distributed. The winning projects were:

Modernizing the NIU Seismic Station
The Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences received $8,000 to purchase a new broadband seismometer with digital recording capability to replace the 20-year-old seismic station located in the lobby of Davis Hall. The new station will make data available online, benefiting the community and providing resources for schools, community colleges and other universities. It also will foster research collaboration between NIU and other institutions. The grant was awarded to Professor Philip Carpenter, who will involve geology students in the installation and testing of the new station.

Physics outreach programs
The Department of Physics received $5,000 to bolster its Physics Olympics and Frontier Physics Road Show programs, which have exposed thousands of elementary and secondary school students across the region to physics. The programs are intended to enhance science education and encourage students to consider further study in the sciences. They include school visits, a Web site, a summer science camp and other activities. The grant was awarded to Distinguished Research Professor David Hedin and Physics Outreach Coordinator Patricia Sievert.

Assisting not-for-profit agencies
NIU Business Outreach received a grant of $16,000 to provide students in the College of Business with opportunities to gain real-world experience while assisting not-for-profit agencies and community organizations with business-related challenges. The grant will allow the college to work with organizations that otherwise could not afford such assistance. The grant was presented to Jane Mall, director of Experiential Learning/Outreach in the College of Business.

Learning through exhibits
The NIU Center for Burma Studies and the NIU Anthropology Museum both will benefit from a $5,000 grant that will allow them to better showcase the university’s Southeast Asian collection through exhibits, workshops and interactive displays. A guest curator will lead a workshop for museum personnel and students from the NIU Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies Program, focusing on care and preservation of metal artifacts. The project is a collaborative effort between Catherine Raymond, director of the Center for Burma Studies, and Ann Wright-Parsons of the NIU Anthropology Museum.

Branding the Vermeer Quartet and NIU
The College of Visual and Performing Arts received $16,000 to launch a campaign that will more closely identify the Vermeer Quartet with NIU. Arguably the most internationally recognized aspect of the university, the world-class string quartet has been in residence as regular faculty at NIU since 1970, but often the Vermeer is not perceived as being connected with the university. The grant, sponsored by Dean Harold Kafer, will expand the current marketing profile of the Vermeer Quartet series at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago in an effort to change that perception.

Proposals will be sought again in January of 2006. For additional information concerning the NIU Foundation’s Venture Grant program, visit http://www.niufoundation.org.

NIU Alumni Association names Alumni Award recipients for 2005

NIU’s Alumni Association honored 13 recipients of its 2005 Alumni Awards at a private reception and dinner Thursday, April 21, at the Chicago Athletic Association. Recipients were 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 those outstanding individuals who have gone out and achieved great success in their personal and professional lives.”

This year, NIU recognized the significant contributions to the university made by Darrell “Doc” Newell by presenting him with its F.R. Geigle Service Award. The Alumni Association presented chemist and marketing professional Ronald R. Ream with the prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award. Gospel music industry leader Tracy Williamson received the Outstanding Alumni Award.

In addition, 10 alumni received Outstanding College Alumni Awards from their respective areas of study.

Those recipients are: Jeffrey Aronin and James Rose for the College of Business; joint recipients Anthony and Carolyn Kambich and Kathleen Kiernan for the College of Education; Kenneth Hartman for the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology; Lora McDonald McGuire for the College of Health and Human Sciences; Michael Vitale for the College of Law; Peter Butterfield for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Anthony Padilla for the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

For more information about the NIU Alumni Association Awards Program, call (815) 753-1452.

F.R Geigle Service Award
This award is given to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding service and commitment to the best interests of NIU. This service may have been given in the classroom, in other university activities, or in the wider community.

Darrell “Doc” Newell
Professor Emeritus, NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology

Fondly known simply as “Doc” to his students and colleagues, Darrell Newell came to NIU as a part-time professor in the Department of Industry and Technology and went on to build a life-long relationship with the university. After receiving full-time status, Newell went on to chair the electrical engineering department from 1986 through his retirement in 1990, in addition to serving several years as the college’s interim associate dean. As a recipient of the NIU Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Newell’s students regarded him as an outstanding educator whose ability to balance theory with practical, hands-on experience prepared them well for their careers. Although he retired nearly 15 years ago, Newell has remained involved with the college’s progress as a consultant and professor emeritus. He also is working with NIU to establish an endowed scholarship fund for engineering students.

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.

Ronald L. Ream
B.S. ’64, Chemistry
Executive Director of Corporate Development, Wrigley Yorkville

Here’s something to chew on: Fatigue was the main cause of casualties among U.S. troops in the Gulf War, and chewing gum created by NIU alumnus Ron Ream will help today’s soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan remain alert while performing military duties. As the executive director of corporate development at Wrigley in Yorkville, Ill., Ream worked with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research to produce a caffeinated gum that quickly delivers the energizing drug into the body’s system, resulting in increased alertness, cognitive abilities and physical performance. The product is only one of more than 70 patents created by Ream throughout his 40-year career in the confectionary industry at Wrigley. Among his well-known creations are Hubba Bubba, Big League Chew and Bubble Tape, which he not only helped develop in Wrigley laboratories, but also marketed to net the company more than $1 billion in total sales.

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 from NIU.

Tracy Y. Williamson
B.S. ’99, Marketing
Label Director, Tyscot Records
President and Producer, Early Growth Productions

For Tracy Williamson, 2005 is already starting out to be a stellar year. In February, she walked the red carpet at the Staples Center in Los Angeles as one of the gospel recordings she produced was nominated at the 2005 Grammy Awards. The 27-year-old also graced the pages of Ebony magazine’s April issue as one of its “30 Leaders of the Future” for her work in the music industry. In addition, another one of her productions received two nominations at the 2005 Stellar Awards. As a premier up-and-coming professional in the music industry, Williamson operates Early Growth Productions, a music services company she founded at the age of 12. She also serves as label director for Tyscot Records in Indianapolis, where she has written and produced for such music award nominees as The Rance Allen Group, Chicago Mass Choir, DeAndre Patterson, and Rodnie Bryant, in addition to producing two Gospel Kid’s projects. Williamson honed her industry know-how by studying music, songwriting and producing at the Van Moody School of Music. Among her mentors is Percy Gray, Jr., a Grammy-nominated and Stellar Award-winning producer, who introduced Williamson to the inside workings of the music business.

Outstanding College Alumni Awards
In addition to the award presented to a member of the general alumni population, individual awards are given to a representative from each of the university’s seven colleges, thereby highlighting the diverse disciplines of a comprehensive university.

College of Business
Jeffrey Aronin
B.S. ’89, Marketing
Founder and president, Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Jeffrey Aronin has spent the past four years successfully guiding one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in the United States. In 2001, he founded Ovation Pharmaceuticals in Deerfield, Ill., which has emerged as a leading specialty pharmaceutical company. With his experience leading two venture-backed health care companies, RxMarketing and MedCare Technologies, Aronin followed through on his strategic vision to acquire so-called “orphan drugs” that serve specialized patient groups, which he realized were often overlooked by big pharmaceutical companies in favor of more popular prescriptions that generate greater returns. As the company’s president, Aronin oversees the development and marketing of 11 drugs, with several more pending. Ovation’s products, such as Nembutal and Membaral, which aid those with epilepsy, typically treat central nervous system disorders and other rare diseases. The company has doubled every year in size and revenues with a goal of $200 million in revenues for 2006. Aronin also received the American Porphyria Foundation 2004-2005 Partner of the Year Award, as well as being named the 2004 Corporate Citizen of the Year by the Chicago Chapter of the Epilepsy Foundation.

James M. Rose
B.S. ’83, Management
CEO, Mosaic Sales Solutions

Jim Rose has been described as a visionary whose abilities captured the attention of Mosiac Sales Solutions, which last year tapped him to run its operations as chairman and chief executive officer. The Dallas-based company employs 10,000 people and provides a variety of marketing resources and solutions in consumer and business-to-business environments in the areas of merchandising, selling, customer acquisition, and event marketing to such clients as Microsoft, Disney and Best Buy. Rose joined Mosaic from his position as CEO for Media Planning Group North America, one of the largest full-service media planning and buying companies in North America. Prior to MPG, Rose served as CEO for numerous organizations, including London-based QXL Ricardo PLC, where he still serves as chairman, and led the process of taking the company public on both the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. Rose also has remained active with his alma mater, serving on the NIU College of Business Board of Executive Advisors and being a member of the NIU Executive Club.

College of Education
Anthony L. Kambich
B.S. ’59, Physical Education
Carolyn A. Kambich
B.S. ’60, Elementary Education
Founders, Deerfield Montessori Schools

“What can we do to help?” is Tony and Carolyn Kambich’s trademark saying, as they have spent the past 45 years putting their NIU education to its best use on local, national, and international levels. In 1966, they founded the Deerfield Montessori School, a private, nonsectarian school accredited by the American Montessori Society, which Carolyn oversees as its executive director with Tony serving as president of the board of directors. Today the school, which serves infants through sixth-grade children, has grown to four locations throughout the northern Chicago suburbs and enrolls children from more than 350 families. Through their service with Rotary International, Tony and Carolyn extended their talents and support globally, assisting with the development of Montessori schools in Uganda as well as Slovenia, the homeland of Tony’s father. Serving on the NIU College of Education development committee, Tony is leading the drive to raise funds for the college’s project to provide educational and economic development opportunities in Mwala, Kenya. Carolyn also has led discussions on the Montessori method with the college’s faculty and is helping them build a Montessori resource library. They also provide financial support for technology needs, student scholarships and faculty development within the college.

Kathleen L. Kiernan
Ed.D. ’03, Adult Continuing Education
Senior Executive Vice President for International Law Enforcement, MZM, Inc.

Kathleen Kiernan was the most senior woman in the history of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, rising through the ranks from special agent to the assistant director of intelligence. Assigned to the interagency task force on the first World Trade Center bombing, Kiernan has led the intelligence efforts throughout the events and aftermaths of terrorist activity on domestic soil. A 29-year federal law enforcement veteran, today Kiernan is the senior executive vice president for international law enforcement with MZM, Inc., a national security firm in Washington, D.C. She is currently leading a nationwide Intelligence Community project involving the active interdiction of weapons of mass destruction through the law enforcement and public safety communities. Additionally, Kiernan is guiding a multi-disciplinary team bridging the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. She is a senior member on the International Association of Chiefs of Police Terrorism subcommittee and has presented training on critical incident management and explosives response protocol on a global basis. In 2002, Court TV recognized her as a Criminal Justice Superstar and Ladies Home Journal named Kiernan one of its Ten Women in America who are Making a Difference.

College of Engineering and Engineering Technology
Kenneth D. Hartman
B.S. ’76, Electrical Engineering Technology; M.S. ’90, Electrical Engineering
Chief Technical Officer, Connor-Winfield Corp.

In addition to enjoying a successful career at The Connor-Winfield Corporation in Aurora, Ill., as its chief technical officer, Ken Hartman finds time to remain active with his alma mater. In his position overseeing all aspects of technological innovation and advancement at the company, as well as directing its research and development group in addition to four other areas, Hartman plays a pivotal role in the hiring of NIU graduates at Connor-Winfield. He also enhances the NIU engineering program by serving on its Alumni Society Board of Directors, where he helped establish the Engineering Excellence Awards program. Hartman’s involvement at NIU also includes membership on the Industrial Advisory Board for the Department of Electrical Engineering and educating future engineers as an adjunct professor in the Department of Technology. In his career, Hartman has received more than $80,000 in research awards, holds eight patents, and is often called upon to share his knowledge at conferences and in publications.

College of Health and Human Sciences
Lora L. McDonald McGuire
B.S. ’74, Nursing
Professor of Nursing, Joliet Junior College

Lora McDonald McGuire is a nationally renowned expert in the field of pain management, having improved the quality of life for countless people through lectures, medical journals and textbooks, and magazine articles. Teaching has always been a true passion for McGuire, who is presently a professor of nursing at Joliet Junior College. When she’s not in the classroom or consulting with medical professionals on pain management, McGuire manages to find time to volunteer within her community, including the Will-Grundy Medical Clinic, Zonta International, and Take Back the Night domestic violence awareness event. In 2003, McGuire was the first woman to receive the Silver Cross Sehring Medal of Excellence from Silver Cross Hospital – the highest recognition for a health professional. Additional accolades for her work include the 2001 ATHENA award from the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Joliet Junior College Distinguished Service Award, the Joliet Area Hospice Volunteer Award, and the St. Francis Academy’s Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Career Achievement.

College of Law
Michael Vitale
J.D. (Law) 1979
Attorney, Law Offices of Michael Vitale

Michael Vitale likens his role as a pro bono attorney to his days as a little league coach, where he believed that every kid, no matter their ability, deserved a chance to play. As with his little leaguers, Vitale believes in giving all of his clients a fair chance, regardless of their ability to afford his services. In addition to operating his solo practice in Berwyn, Ill., where he focuses on bankruptcy, juvenile and criminal law, Vitale also has devoted nearly 20 years providing pro bono services through Chicago Legal Clinic, which honored his dedication with its 2003 Pro Bono Award. He also serves as a court-appointed mediator for custody and visitation cases in DuPage County, as well as a bar attorney for the Cook County Juvenile Court, where he represents people who do not qualify for a public defender but are unable to afford customary legal fees. In addition to earning his law degree from NIU in 1979, Vitale also holds a master of law degree in juvenile and family law from Loyola Law School.

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Peter M. Butterfield
B.A. ’76, Psychology
President and CEO, Kia Motors America

Peter Butterfield has been a driving force in the automotive industry for more than 25 years and today heads one of the fastest-growing car companies in the U.S. – Kia Motors America – which he leads as its president and chief executive officer. Butterfield has steered Kia in a direction of significant growth and development, resulting in increased annual sales and innovative advances in its product line. Coming to Kia from Volvo Cars of North America, where he rose from managing its incentive and marketing programs to serving as its executive vice president and senior American executive, Butterfield’s priorities at Kia have been on improving its products’ safety and quality. And his efforts have paid off. Since joining the Korean-based business in 2001, sales under his direction have accelerated and Kia, a relatively new-comer to the car scene, now ranks 14th among 40-odd-brands sold in the nation. Also under his leadership, Kia has continued to rake in various accolades and recognition for its growing line of vehicles. Examples of such honors include several Strategic Vision Awards, MotorWeek’s Driver’s Choice Award for Best Midsize SUV in 2003 (for the Kia Sorento), and earning the five-star side-impact crash test safety rating by the NHTSA.

College of Visual and Performing Arts
Anthony P. Padilla
B.M. ’88, Music – Piano Performance
Association Professor of Music and Chair, Keyboard Department
Conservatory of Music, Lawrence University

Recognized internationally as a pianist of remarkable sensitivity, refined interpretation and dazzling technique, Anthony Padilla made his debut with the Seattle Symphony at the age of 16. After studying with the legendary pianist Jorge Bolet during his freshman year at the Curtis Institute of Music, Anthony transferred to NIU specifically to study with the late Donald Walker, whom he considers one of the most extraordinary and charismatic teachers he has known. Since his gradation from NIU, Padilla has continued to astound audiences as a guest artist with orchestras and at concert series throughout the world. When not on tour, Padilla can be found in the classrooms at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wis., where he serves as an associate professor of music and chair of the Keyboard Department. His engaging master classes and clinics are in high demand, especially his lecture-recital titled, “The Element of Humor in Classical Music.” Most importantly, his students regularly receive top recognition at state and national auditions. Padilla is a recipient of the prestigious Beethoven Fellowship and won the top prize in the esteemed Concert Artists Guild International Competition. In addition, Padilla has garnered highest honors from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Society of American Musicians, and the Music Teachers National Association, among many others. He also released a debut recording of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s, “Statements: Sonata No. 2 for Piano.”

Kudos

English Professor Amy Newman’s collection of poems, titled “fall,” received high praise in an April 16 review published in The Guardian, a leading British newspaper.

Critic Danny Leigh describes Newman’s poetry as breathtaking and her wit as addictive.

“There is a brimming humanity to these poems, a rare intimacy,” the reviewer writes. “There’s an aptly vertiginous quality to much of the material here, the way a vivid juxtaposition grabs at you or a nimble switch in rhythm catches you off guard. Newman's default style is a clipped lyricism loaded with similes, but within that there is no end of surprises. Over and again, her imagery startles.”

The full review can be found online at http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/poetry/0,6121,1460612,00.html.

Newman’s collection of poetry was released in September through Wesleyan University Press. The book explores the 72 definitions of the title word, “fall,” with each definition engendering its own poem and serving as a selection title.

The poems span a narrative drama – from the creation of the world and the subsequent exile of its first inhabitants, through the downward movement of the human body in its surrender to illness, to the beauty in the descent of spent foliage in autumn.

University Libraries expand hours for finals

University Libraries has expanded its hours for Finals Week.

Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, May 6, and from Monday, May 9, through Thursday, May 12. Hours for Saturday, May 7, and Sunday, May 8, are 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. For more information, call (815) 753-1995.

Law Library announces hours for reading period, final exams

The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its schedule covering April 30 through May 31, which includes reading period and final exams.

Extended hours for Saturday, April 30, through Tuesday, May 17, are from 7:15 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays, from 7:15 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sundays. The library is open from 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 19.

Hours from Thursday, May 19 through the end of the month are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The exception is Memorial Day Weekend, when the library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 28, and closed Sunday, May 29, and Monday, May 30.

Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.

Allied Health students celebrate National Medical Laboratory Week

Students in the clinical laboratory sciences program in the NIU College of Health and Human Sciences will celebrate National Medical Laboratory Week today through Saturday. More than 70 percent of all objective information used in medical diagnosis and treatment decisions is made possible through the expertise of clinical laboratory practitioners.

Clinical laboratory services include health screening tests, tests for detection of infectious diseases and cancer markers, DNA-based tests for genetic diseases and more. There are 171,000 clinical laboratories in the United States that perform more than 7 billion diagnostic tests annually.

Despite increased demand for clinical laboratory services, an acute and long-term shortage of competent clinical laboratory practitioners is felt nationwide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 12,000 additional qualified clinical laboratory professionals will be needed annually through 2010. Accredited clinical laboratory science programs in this country produce about 4,200 new professionals annually.

Professional organizations representing clinical laboratory practitioners, such as the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) and others, are actively engaged in the recruitment of students into programs, lobbying legislators for student loan forgiveness and other similar programs, and other efforts to ensure that competent laboratory practitioners are plentiful enough to ensure the public health and safety.

Faculty and students of the NIU Clinical Laboratory Sciences Program in the School of Allied Health Professions serve and promote the profession.

Professor Dianne Cearlock, CLS program coordinator, is a former ASCLS Region VI director. Associate Professor Jeanne Isabel is serving a third two-year term as a council member for the International Federation of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists.

CLS students regularly serve in leadership positions in professional organizations at the state, regional and national levels. Graduating students find many and varied employment opportunities and many secure positions by graduation.

For more information, call (815) 753-1382.

Kishwaukee Symphonic Band to perform April 30

The Greater Kishwaukee Symphonic Band will present its final concert for this season at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 30. The “Music Around the World” concert will be held at Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in NIU’s Music Building. The concert is free, and the auditorium is accessible to all.

Friends of NIU Libraries to host program on Einstein

University Libraries, the Friends of the NIU Libraries and the NIU Physics Department will co-sponsor a panel discussion Monday, May 2, titled “An Evening with Einstein in the Library: The First Beautiful Mind.”

The event is in conjunction with the “World Year of Physics 2005” celebration. This year’s theme is “Einstein in the 21st Century.”

Panelists are Physics Professor Carol Thompson; Harold Brown, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus from the NIU Philosophy Department; and Roger Dixon from Fermi National Laboratory. Each will present a topic related to the early development of physics in the 20th century, particularly the work of Einstein and his persona.

The program will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Staff Lounge located on the lower level of Founders Memorial Library. Free parking may be available after 7 p.m. in the Visitor’s Parking Lot on Carroll Avenue. There will be an opportunity for discussion and light refreshments following the presentation.

In addition to the program, visit the “World Year of Physics 2005: Einstein in the 21st Century” exhibit located on the first floor of the library during the month of May. For more information, call (815) 753-9394 or e-mail cditzler@niu.edu.

Annual steam outage scheduled for mid-May

To perform maintenance and repairs on high pressure steam lines on campus, the Physical Plant and Heating Plant will conduct its annual steam outage in May.

West Campus: From 8 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, through 4 p.m. Friday, May 20. This will include Neptune and all buildings west of Carroll Avenue, except Stevenson, and various other smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.

East Campus: From 9 p.m. Sunday, May 22, through 4 p.m. Thursday, May 26. This will include all buildings east of Carroll Avenue, except for various other smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.

Address any questions to chief engineer Kevin Vines at (815) 753-6090 or via e-mail at kvines@niu.edu.

4-25-05