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 The NIU Board of Trustees last week approved a recommendation from President John Peters to create an overall 4 percent pool of funds for faculty and staff raises during the 2006 fiscal year, which starts July 1.
“I am delighted that the board was able to fund this initiative, as maintaining competitive salaries for faculty and staff has always been one of my top priorities,” said President John Peters, noting that the salary increases are on par with those at other universities around the state and nation.
The plan for pay raises is similar to the program implemented last year, with a 3 percent pool of money being released for raises at the start of the fiscal year, and plans for an additional pool of money, up to 1 percent, for raises at mid-year, contingent upon stable state funding up to that point.
Raises should be reflected in paychecks sometime in August and will be retroactive to July 1 for those on 12-month contracts.
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 NIU's Board of Trustees last week approved tuition rates for students enrolling during the 2005-06 academic year.
New undergraduate students enrolling in 15 hours of classes per semester will pay $5,061 in tuition for the 2005-06 academic year, up 9.75 percent compared to new students last year. The differing increases in tuition are due to the Truth-in-Tuition law, which went into effect in 2004. Statewide, public universities raised tuition for new students by an average of about 11.3 percent, ranging from a low of 7.7 percent at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale to 29 percent at Northeastern Illinois University .
NIU officials said that the increase was necessary to offset the impact of a state budget that provides no new money for higher education this year.
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 The NIU Board of Trustees last week approved the appointment of Promod Vohra as the new dean of the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.
Upon his confirmation, Vohra laid out an ambitious program for the future of the university's youngest college.
“For the first 15 years of its existence, CEET has focused on creating a viable college with a critical mass of students. We have succeeded in those efforts, building some excellent programs as we have grown,” Vohra said. “Now, the time has come to become a more mature college, one that stresses excellence not only in teaching, but in research as well. It is time for us to attain regional prominence and national recognition.”
That plan was applauded by the board and university leadership.
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 Rockford attorney and longtime community leader Barbara Giorgi-Vella has been elected Chair of the NIU Board of Trustees.
Giorgi-Vella is both the first Rockford resident and the first woman to lead NIU's independent governing board since its inception in 1996. She was appointed to the board in 1999, and has since chaired both the finance committee and the academic affairs committee.
“Barb Vella understands the complexity of NIU's service region, the changing nature of our students, and the need to become less reliant on state funding,” said Trustee Bob Boey in his nomination remarks. “She will bring great skill and new perspectives to the chair's role at a time of great challenge and great opportunity for NIU.”
For her own part, Giorgi-Vella outlined an agenda for the coming year that includes a focus on student retention.
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 Though only 22, NIU's newly elected student trustee is no stranger to politics and public service.
Andrew Nelms, a native of Genoa, Ill., is a senior studying history who has been involved in student government almost from the day he first set foot on campus. He has served four years as a senator in the NIU Student Association, two of those as speaker of the senate.
“I am a firm believer that everyone can contribute in their own way, and I felt that the way I could contribute the most to campus was through the Student Association,” says Nelms, who is on track to graduate next spring.
As a member of the SA, Nelms has helped champion such issues as improved software for student records that minimizes the use of Social Security numbers, establishing a fund to subsidize the cost of security required of student groups hosting events and the adoption of an extended fall break.
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 It's no wonder that Steven Ralston impressed interviewers during a national search for the new chair of communication, one of NIU's largest academic departments.
His research specialty: employment interviewing.
“It's one thing to know all about it, another to be good at it,” Ralston demurred. “The interview process is so full of uncertainty.”
The Department of Communication seems to have landed the ideal candidate to replace Lois Self, who is retiring at the end of this month after nine years as department chair. Ralston starts July 1.
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Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has issued a proclamation that all state facilities fly the United States flag at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on the day of the funeral of every fallen Illinois resident serving in the U.S. Armed Forces who is killed in the line of duty.
NIU's Office of Public Affairs maintains an online Campus Flag Status page that lists the governor's proclamations (for example, “Tuesday, June 7, 2005, on behalf of Air Force Capt. Todd Bracy”). NIU students, faculty and staff and visitors to campus should check the page first if they have questions about the position of the flags.
The U.S. flag also is flown at half-staff on Memorial Day (until noon) and at the direction of the U.S. president or a state's governor as a mark of respect to the memory of principal government figures.
NIU's Campus Web Map has been expanded for use with mobile devices.
The new mobile map is customizable for either Web-enabled cellular phones or PDAs. Users can search by building, office or department, and view either a map or aerial photo of a location. Visit the mobile map online at http://www.webmap.niu.edu/mobile.
For more information on the Campus Web Map, contact Phil Young at pyoung@niu.edu.
The First-Year Connections program is looking for faculty and SPS staff to be mentors this fall with Student-Faculty Links.
First-Year Connections, coordinated through the Orientation Office, consists of the UNIV 101/201 courses and the Student-Faculty Links mentoring program.
First-Year Connections provides an excellent way for faculty and staff members to get in touch with NIU's student body and help new students succeed their first year at the university.
Student-Faculty Links is an informal mentoring program in which students are paired with mentors based on interest surveys completed by both. Mentors are paired with new students throughout the summer and are invited to an informal reception during Welcome Days in August. After that, the pairs determine their own contact.
Those interested in learning more about Student-Faculty Links program or applying to become mentors should e-mail firstconn@niu.edu.
The NIU Art Museum, which returned to Altgeld Hall when it reopened last fall, will reinstate its popular “Art to Lend” program and exhibition next month.
NIU employees can view available artworks from the museum's permanent collection that can be rented for display in university offices. Visit the Altgeld Gallery, on the west end of the first floor, between Monday, July 18, and Thursday, July 28, to view and make selections from the works on exhibit. Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or by appointment.
As in previous years, works will be assigned by lottery based on preferred selections. The lottery is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday, July 28, in the North and Rotunda galleries of Altgeld Hall.
Works on paper currently on loan to borrowers, and those that have been out for more than the maximum five years, will need to be retrieved by the museum for conservations purposes. Museum staff will contact current borrowers regarding their return. To cause less disruption to offices, a single de-installation of current holdings and installation of new selections can be arranged.
All funds generated from this program are used for the direct care and maintenance of the collection, including matting and framing, which makes new selections available. Fees have risen over the years, but both the initial installation fee and the yearly rental fee cover only part of the museum's actual incurred costs.
Delivery and installation for signed contracts will begin the week of Aug. 1. Those not at the drawing, or without completed contracts, will be notified by phone Aug. 1 or Aug. 2. A contract/invoice then will be sent.
For more information, or a copy of the “Art to Lend” policy, call (815) 753-1936.
Blues legend B.B. King will return to the NIU Convocation Center this fall as part of the guitarist's “80 th Birthday Celebration Tour.”
Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa will join King for 3-1/2 hours of rockin' blues at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, to mark the birthday of one of the genre's most beloved performers. This is the only Chicago-area appearance.
King previously played the Convo in April of 2003.
Tickets are $36.50, $46.50 and $66.50 (additional fees and charges may apply). Tickets are available at the Convocation Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling (312) 559-1212 or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.
For more information, visit www.niuconvo.com or call (815) 752-6800.
A printable abridged version of Northern Today is available. --CLICK HERE |
 NIU professor Gaylen Kapperman's presence at a winter “zone meeting” of area Lions Club chapters has turned into a gift of $5,355 to the College of Education's Programs in Vision.
The donation, Kapperman believes, could help change the way math is taught to children with visual impairments.
Al Haseman, president of the Hinckley Lions Club, and three of his members liked what they heard at the zone assembly. They invited Kapperman, coordinator of the Programs in Vision in the Department of Teaching and Learning, to their February meeting.
“We thought it was a good way to help out the university – somebody close by. We let him talk for 45 minutes or so. He said that's the most any club has ever let him talk. We enjoyed listening to him. He had a lot of interesting stories,” Haseman said.
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  Mary Shelden first read “Little Women” when she was about 10, has read it many times since and considers the coming-of-age story among her all-time favorite books.
Now she's working to ensure that more students nationwide are exposed to the genius of author Louisa May Alcott.
Alcott's “Little Women” has enjoyed immense and enduring success, in its original form and in adaptations in print, on stage, in film and on television. Most recently, the story of the March sisters growing up in 19 th Century New England was adapted as a Broadway musical that will begin touring nationally in August.
Since it was published shortly after the Civil War, the book has never been out of print.
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  An NIU field school conducted in Sicily and led by Anthropology Professor Michael Kolb has proven over the years to be a research goldmine for students.
This season, however, participants struck gold in a more literal sense.
Digging earlier this month in the hilltop village of Salemi in west-central Sicily, a student joining the NIU group from another university found a rare gold earring, dating to the 3 rd or 4 th century B.C.
“The condition is exceptional, and it is quite a rare piece,” Kolb writes via e-mail from Sicily.
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 NIU will host the first three days of the Jazz at Lincoln Center's sixth annual Band Director Academy from Thursday, July 7, through Saturday, July 9.
The topic: rhythm section technique.
Twenty-five band directors from middle schools and high schools are registered. Ron Carter, director of jazz studies at NIU, is director of the academy.
“The rhythm section is always the most problematic section, because it's the heart and soul. They play all the time, and they have to be consistent and tight. It's essential that band directors know how to teach the rhythm section,” said Jonas Cartano, an associate in the education department of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
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 Former NCAA wrestlers will invade DeKalb next week to show off – not their athletic abilities, but their acting skills.
NIU alumnus James “J.D.” Oliva, who wrestled for five seasons for Coach Dave Grant, is directing a feature-length independent movie titled “7 Minutes,” a reference to the length of a collegiate wrestling match. All of the actors who will portray wrestlers in the film actually did compete at the collegiate level.
Oliva says the cast and crew will shoot at various locations on campus and in DeKalb over three weeks beginning Wednesday, June 22. The movie's climactic scene will be shot at the NIU Convocation Center .
“There aren't really any good wrestling movies out there,” says Oliva, who graduated in 2003 with a degree in communication. “The wrestling community is starving for something like this.”
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 Read good news about – and send congratulations to – Mary Pritchard and Samuel Louis Bandy Jr.
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