NIU-produced report on state's economy
shows spending power sliding backward
 The recently released State of Working Illinois report produced by the NIU Regional Development Institute likely will be at the top of the “must read” list for policy makers across the state in the coming weeks and months.
The report, a comprehensive examination of the nation's fifth largest economy as it begins to find its way in the evolving global economy, painted a rather bleak picture.
“When we analyzed the economic data for the last 15 years, it was as if income gains from the 1990s boom economy never happened,” says Robert Gleeson, director of RDI. “Since 2000, we have backtracked. Based upon the measure of median household income, we are back where we were before the 1990s. When you adjust for inflation, the buying power of the average family in Illinois is the same as it was in 1989.”
Just as concerning, the data indicate that the trends causing that decline (mostly the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs which are being replaced by lower-paying service sector jobs) are likely to continue in coming years.
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 For lovers of historic clothing, the museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City is a Mecca of sorts.
According to its Web site, the museum is “the repository for one of the largest collections of costume and textiles in the world, which it preserves for both study and exhibition purposes.” Its “collections have a dual function: as design laboratories used by students and professionals and as repositories where historically important objects can be safely preserved and exhibited for the education and aesthetic pleasure of present and future generations.”
Part of that legendary collection now has come to NIU to take permanent residence in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences.
“We always visit their museum. It's just unparalleled,” said Julie Hillery, a professor in the textiles, apparel and merchandising unit of FCNS, who routinely escorts her students to the Big Apple for study tours.
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 Three NIU professors have been awarded prestigious Fulbright Scholar grants to lecture and conduct research abroad.
The Fulbright Scholars are Jeff Brown in the College of Law, Eric Jones in the Department of History and Doris Macdonald in the Department of English.
They are among 850 U.S. faculty and professionals who are traveling this academic year to some 150 countries through America 's flagship international educational exchange activity.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright program was established in 1946 to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries.
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 The place where Daisy Porter once worked is now desolate, its once busy parking lot littered with trash and dead fish.
For two years, Porter had worked as an assistant manager at the East New Orleans Regional Branch Library. About 1.5 miles south of Lake Pontchartrain, the library suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina and won't likely reopen for another year. In the hurricane's aftermath, 90 percent of the employees in the New Orleans public library system were laid off.
Porter was one of them, but this holiday season she can count her blessings. She is working at NIU's Founders Memorial Library, where she was appointed as a Visiting Katrina Fellow. University Libraries created the six-month post to provide assistance to one of the many New Orleans librarians displaced by the hurricane.
“We wanted to do our part to help the survivors of the disaster,” says Mary Munroe, an associate dean at University Libraries.
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 By his own estimate, William Studwell has devoted nearly 6,000 hours of his life to researching, writing about and talking about Christmas carols.
In all that time, few carols he encountered have been shrouded in more misinformation than his selection for the 2005 Carol of the Year, “Angels We Have Heard on High.” “Sometimes, you have to be a bit of a detective,” says Studwell, 69, a professor emeritus from NIU who began researching carols in 1972 and initiated his Carol of the Year series in 1986 to draw attention to what he believes is an important, but underappreciated, musical genre.
In the case of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” his snooping turned up tales tracing the origins of the song to the year A.D. 129, when Bishop Telesphorus of Rome ordered the singing of a nativity hymn. That song, legend holds, ultimately evolved into the refrain of a famous French carol which was translated into its English form in the 19 th century.
“It's a great story, but there are three enormous problems with it,” says Studwell, a retired university librarian and musical gumshoe who is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on Christmas carols.
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 The NIU Foundation celebrated the arts, the spirit of philanthropy and its donors this fall at the 2005 “Red and Black” gala held at the Oak Brook Hills Resort.
This year's celebration paid tribute to philanthropy with musical, theatrical and dance performances from the students and faculty of NIU's College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Foundation leaders honored some of NIU's most exceptional supporters at the event. Donald and Donna Kieso were named Outstanding Philanthropists for more than 20 years of support to NIU programs, scholarships and campus projects, and Rege Eisaman was named Outstanding Volunteer for his leadership on the NIU Foundation board and finance committee.
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 Read good news about – and send congratulations to – Michel van Veenendaal, Nicholas Karonis and Sandi Splansky.
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The ITS Helpdesk newsletter is now available and is a “must read” before December break.
For more information, visit www.helpdesk.niu.edu.
Hours at Founders Memorial Library are extended Monday through Thursday of this week for final exams. The library is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Call (815) 753-1798 for more information.
The Founders Memorial Library lobby exhibition in December is “Campaign to Champagne: The Road to the White House.”
For more information, call Cindy Ditzler at (815) 753-9394.
NIU's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, in cooperation with the Office of the President, Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources, the Office of the Provost, the Division of Student Affairs and the Women's Resource Center, recognize the achievements of outstanding women students on an annual basis.
This recognition process was begun in 1980 as the Women's Student Leadership Awards to foster the development of leadership among women students, both graduate and undergraduate.
The awards are intended to encourage the full participation of women students in all facets of the university experience and in their communities; to support their development of corresponding strengths, both cooperative and competitive; and to celebrate their achievements and contributions, including those not usually recognized by other award programs.
Eligibility is restricted to women students with an expected graduation date during the award year: May, August or December 2006.
Nominations are invited from interested faculty, staff and students. Women who are nominated will be notified and invited to complete an information sheet which includes specifics of their scholarship, leadership service to the university, community involvement, goals and obstacles overcome.
The deadline is Friday, Jan. 13. Call (815) 753-9614 for more information.
In honor of its 25th anniversary, NIU's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, in cooperation with the Office of the President, the Women's Resource Center and the Women's Studies Program, recognizes the achievements of 25 amazing NIU women employees.
Awards will be presented at the PCSW 25th Anniversary Gala being held in the spring.
The awards are intended to celebrate women's achievements and contributions in their career and personal endeavors. Nominations of women from all employment classifications are encouraged. Nominees must be currently employed as members of the operating staff, supportive professional staff or faculty.
Please submit the nomination form and accompanying statement with two additional letters of support by Feb. 15, 2006, to the Women's Resource Center, 105 Normal Road. For more information e-mail urwomen@niu.edu.
NIU fine arts major Sarah Beth Woods is the featured artist at the DeKalb Area Women's Center (DAWC) Galleries all this month.
The exhibit will showcase large scale paintings with drawings, mixed-media and printmaking.
The public is invited to view the exhibit from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, or by appointment with Anna Marie Coveny, gallery director. Woods will be present for a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8. The reception is free and open to the public.
The DAWC is located at 1021 State Street in DeKalb. Parking is available in the newly paved lot one-half block south of the building off of Eleventh Street. The handicapped accessible lift can be reached from the alley north of the building. For further information or to arrange a group showing, call (815) 758-1351.
The fifth annual Clarinet Cornucopia, a one-day event at NIU devoted to the clarinet, will focus on the clarinet and basset horn music of Mozart.
The event is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 21. Clarinet performers, teachers, students and avid listeners are invited to attend and to join the Clarinet Cornucopia Choir, this year directed by noted Illinois conductor Harvey Hermann.
On the program are master classes with Russell Dagon, clarinet professor emeritus from Northwestern University, and Gregory Barrett from NIU, as well as a talk about mouthpieces by Walter Grabner. Clarinet products will be on display and for sale.
Hosting the evening concert are NIU music professors Brian Hart and Janet Hathaway. Performing are clarinetist Dileep Gangoli and the Sheridan Chamber Players. Joining them are several NIU performers, including Clarinet Cornucopia organizer Gregory Barrett.
For more information and a registration form, contact Renee Page, Office of External Programs in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, at (815) 753-1450. More information is available at www.niu.edu/extprograms.
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours for through Jan. 17.
The law library will extend its hours for reading period and final exams, ending Wednesday, Dec. 21. Hours are 7:15 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:15 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sundays.
The library is open 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22, and closed Friday, Dec. 23, through Monday, Jan. 2. Hours in the first part of January are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Hours on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, Jan. 16) are 1 to 10 p.m.
Regular hours resume Tuesday, Jan. 17. Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.
Spring 2006 parking permits will go on sale Dec. 5 for faculty, staff and students at Campus Parking Services at Lincoln Terrace and Normal Road.
Students also can purchase parking permits online at www.niu.edu/parking. For more information, please check online or call (815) 753-1045.
Beginning Jan. 1, a new state law will go into effect to address the fraud and abuse of disability placards and license plates.
For vehicles not displaying a valid disability license plate, disabled veteran plate or placard parked in spaces reserved for persons with disabilities, the fine will rise from $100 to $250. NIU's parking fine for “No Permit for Handicapped Space” will reflect this change and increase to $250.
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