June 20, 2005, Northern Today Abridged

Trustees approve raises for faculty, staff

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, said Steve Cunningham, associate vice president for Administration and Human Resources.

The board also voted to continue an effort launched in 1999 to make salaries for civil service clerical classifications more competitive. That program includes an additional January allocation for those classifications.

Similarly, the university also will work with colleges and divisions to identify operating staff classifications for which salaries may need to be adjusted to remain competitive with the market. The amount of those increases will be determined and announced as the year proceeds, and is also contingent upon the state funding picture at that time, Cunningham said.

Peters said he is pleased that the university was able to reward employees who have helped the university weather some difficult financial times.

“Since 2002, we have had to absorb a loss of $40 million in financial resources,” Peters said. “Yet, through the sustained commitment of our faculty and staff, we continue to offer our students an outstanding education, excellent services and first-class facilities. That is truly a testimony to the quality of the people who work here at NIU.”

NIU Board of Trustees approves 2005-06 tuition rates

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. Under the law, incoming students are guaranteed that the tuition rate quoted their freshman year will remain fixed for eight consecutive semesters, or four years, compelling universities to predict average cost increases over that period of time. NIU has elected to add an additional “grace semester” to that guarantee, locking tuition rates for nine semesters.

Tuition for students enrolled prior to the fall 2004 implementation of Truth-in-Tuition will be considered separately until that cohort has graduated.

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.

“This is the second straight year that the state has frozen our funding,” said NIU President John Peters. “While that is certainly better than the cuts we have endured in recent years, it still does nothing to help us keep pace with inflation. We have developed a tuition plan this year that keeps an NIU degree affordable, while maintaining the value of that degree.”

The new rates bring the typical cost for a newly enrolled undergraduate student living in a campus residence hall to about $12,200 a year.

The board also set tuition rates for graduate students and law students, raising each 6.75 percent.

Rockford native to lead NIU governing board

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.

“Student numbers are soaring,” Giorgi-Vella said. “But at NIU and around the country, those greater numbers are bringing more students who are unprepared – academically, financially and motivationally – to succeed in college. NIU has many existing support programs, and it's one of my goals to help students take better advantage of those systems.”

Giorgi-Vella obtained both her master's and law degrees at NIU. She is a partner with Vella & Lund, P.C. of Rockford, and specializes in family law and mediation. In Rockford , Giorgi-Vella has served on the Saint Anthony Medical Center Advisory Board, the Winnebago County Bar Association Board of Trustees, the Holy Family Foundation Endowment Committee, the Crusader Clinic Board of Directors, the Rockford Public Library Board and on many other civic boards and commissions.

NIU's new board chair began her career as a public school teacher, and has carried an interest in education and children's issues throughout her career and in her volunteer work. In 2001, Giorgi-Vella helped dedicate a new NIU facility in Rockford : the Zeke Giorgi Legal Clinic, named for her late father and member of the Illinois General Assembly.

In 1998, Giorgi-Vella was named Volunteer Lawyer of the Year by the Prairie State Legal Services for her work with children and families. The following year, she received the NIU Alumni Association's coveted Distinguished Service Award.

Other board officers elected today include vice chair Cherilyn Murer of suburban Homer Glen and secretary Marc Strauss of DeKalb. Murer is president and CEO of The Murer Group, a legal-based healthcare consulting company headquartered in Joliet . Strauss is general counsel for First Rockford Corporation, a Rockford-based commercial and residential development company.

All board officer terms begin July 1.

Senior history major named student trustee

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.

“It's been a wonderful experience, and I think I have been able to better the campus and the quality of life for NIU students and the community,” Nelms says.

His experience in politics, however, extends far beyond campus.

In 2004, Nelms spent the summer in Washington, D.C., working as an intern in the office of Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, helping to respond to concerns and complaints raised by constituents in the congressman's district. His duties included attending congressional hearings on the rising cost of college text books.

Nelms also has worked in the office of Illinois legislator Robert Pritchard since 2003, and ran his own successful campaign in 2004 to become a DeKalb Township trustee. Not surprisingly, Nelms hopes to pursue a career in politics after graduation, either in Springfield or in Washington , D.C.

In the meantime, Nelms expects his time as student trustee to be busy and educational.

“As student trustee it's hard to say, ‘I'm going to work on X, Y or Z.' I just want to represent the student body to the best of my ability,” he says. “As senate speaker, I have had the opportunity to meet Dr. Peters (John Peters, president of NIU) and several members of the Board of Trustees, and I am excited about working with them. One of the unique things about NIU is how dedicated everyone is to this institution, and I am looking forward to be a part of that.”

Nelms is the son of Donna Behlke, of Rockford, and Russ Nelms, of Genoa .

Vohra named dean of College of Engineering

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.

“Dean Vohra has always worked with tremendous energy and ambition on behalf of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology,” NIU President John Peters said. “With him at the helm, I look for the college to mature into a research and education powerhouse.”

NIU Trustee Robert Boey, a professional engineer associated with CEET since its founding, served on the search committee to fill the dean's post and shared in the excitement over Vohra's selection.

“Dr. Vohra is the right hire at the right time,” Boey said. “He has an exciting and dynamic vision for the college, and I look forward to seeing that plan brought to fruition in the years ahead.”

Vohra's ability to bring that vision to life was demonstrated during the last two years while he served as acting dean of the college.

During that time, he was instrumental in launching initiatives that secured more than $8 million in funding to jump-start research in areas such as acoustics and vibration control and fuel cells. He also helped launch programs devoted to nano- and micro-electronics, and steered the college through a re-accreditation process that resulted in all of its programs attaining the highest accreditation levels possible.

Vohra takes particular pride in all of those accomplishments, as he is not only a longtime administrator at CEET but also a former member of the faculty and an alumnus.

After earning his bachelor's degree in 1981, the New Delhi native worked for Philips Electronics for five years. IN 1986, he came to NIU, enrolling as the first-ever graduate student in the CEET electrical engineering program. Upon completion of that degree in 1988, Vohra became an instructor at the college and eventually attained the ranks of assistant, associate and full professor in the Department of Technology.

He earned his Ed.D. degree in instructional technology in 1993.

As a member of the faculty, Vohra has published nationally and internationally and has developed several models to address important issues in engineering education. In 1995, he received the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, one of the university's highest honors for teaching. His resume also includes several substantial cash and equipment grants secured for the college.

Vohra was named associate dean of the college in 1997, and spearheaded recruitment efforts that increased enrollment in the college by 45 percent over five years. He also built upon his association with various boards and professional organizations, working to strengthen the college's partnerships with industry to provide mutually beneficial and meaningful experiences.

As dean, Vohra said he will strive to maintain the enrollment gains of recent years while working to improve the caliber of students enrolling in the college. “I want to develop a unique niche for CEET and build its image so that we are the first choice of more students,” he said.

Other goals include establishing a collaborative Ph.D. program in nanosciences with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and strengthening partnerships with industry to enhance experiential learning and employment opportunities within the college.

“Reaching those goals will not be easy, but with the support of our excellent faculty, dedicated staff and outstanding students – all of whom have a high level of ownership and pride for CEET and NIU – I am certain that we can achieve these things,” Vohra said. “As an alumnus of NIU, I am committed to the success of this college and this university and will do everything possible to elevate NIU to new heights.”

Vohra becomes the second dean of the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, replacing Romualdas Kasuba, who guided the college from its inception in 1986 through 2003.

Steven Ralston takes reins of NIU Department of Communication

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.

At the University of Michigan-Flint, he served as chair of the Department of Communication for the past four years. In addition, Ralston held the title of interim chair of art for the past three years. The two departments merged last year to become the Department of Communication and Visual Arts.

“We think he's an excellent fit for NIU,” said Mary Larson, a professor of communication who served on the search committee.

“Steve has experience working as a chair in a department with diverse teaching specialties,” Larson said. “We think he will be adept at dealing with the diversity in our department as well, where faculty members have research concentrations in such areas as journalism, rhetoric, film, media studies and corporate communication.”

Ralston was raised in Richmond , Va. , served in the military during the Vietnam era and earned his Ph.D. in communication theory and research from Indiana University in 1986. He has been a member of the faculties at the University of Arkansas , Creighton University , Iowa State University and East Tennessee State University .

Ralston also is the editor of the Journal of Business Communication and serves on several scholarly editorial review boards, including the Journal of Applied Communication Research. Presently, he and a colleague are editing a scholarly book that focuses on business communication pedagogy.

“I'm pleased to be coming to NIU, and my family is looking forward to it as well,” said Ralston, who in addition to his administrative duties will teach two courses per year. “NIU has a great reputation, and I like the people I've met and the energy in the department. Clearly, faculty members have good working relationships.”

NIU's Department of Communication offers bachelor's degrees in journalism and communication studies (with three sub-specialties) and grants more degrees yearly than any other department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. At any one time, the university has more than 1,000 undergraduates seeking degrees in the Department of Communication, which also offers a comprehensive master's degree program.

Ralston said his first year will be mostly a learning experience. He plans to establish a task force to look at space needs within the department and would like to see how faculty members feel about the possibility of establishing a Ph.D. program.

“I'd like to open the discussion,” Ralston said. “One of the things that struck me early on was the fact that we have such high quality faculty members.”

Self, the communication department's outgoing chair, will be around to help smooth the transition of her successor.

Although she is officially retiring after three decades of service to NIU, she will continue to teach one graduate-level course each semester. Self also has volunteered to work in the department on development and alumni relations and will continue to serve as executive secretary of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association.

While she wasn't a member of the search team, Self said she is pleased with its selection.

“Steve has a lot of good experience,” she said. “I know he'll pick up the reins and do a great job.”

Hinckley Lions Club donates $5,400
to NIU's Programs in Vision for equipment

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. “One hundred percent of the 17 people who were at the meeting that night were in favor of donating money. If we can help somebody else teach blind people, then that's something the Lions Club is all about.”

Founded in Chicago in 1917, the International Association of Lions Club is the world's largest service organization, with more than 1.4 million members covering 182 countries and geographic areas.

NIU has one of the country's best and largest programs in blindness and visual impairment, preparing students to become teachers of visually impaired children, rehabilitation specialists for newly blinded adults and instructors of orientation and mobility.

The program offers extensive training in assistive technology – software and hardware that augment and support learning, communication and mobility. The Hinckley Lions Club's donation purchased two Braille displays for the Visual Disabilities Lab.

A Braille display is a tactile device consisting of a row of special ‘soft' cells, each of which has six or eight pins made of metal or nylon. These pins are controlled electronically to move up and down to display Braille characters as they appear on the display of the source system, usually a computer screen or a Braille note-taker.

As an individual types on the computer keyboard, brings up documents or surfs the Internet, the pins form Braille characters reflecting the text on the screen. Visually impaired individuals then can read the text with their fingertips. The most up-to-date Braille displays also have audio features, which read the display aloud to the user.

“When teachers know how to use this kind of technology, they can in turn teach their students how to use it effectively to enhance their educational experiences and their lives,” Kapperman said.

“As a result of this gift, I am also working with two of NIU's computer science professors to develop software to teach math to the visually impaired using Braille displays. This is a very complex undertaking, but I am convinced that we will be successful,” he added. “And, when we are, it will benefit thousands of blind youngsters across the nation, significantly changing and improving the way math is taught to blind children.”

Learning math is notoriously difficult for the visually impaired, Kapperman said.

“There is a tremendous need for better tools in this area,” he said. “The Hinckley Lions Club's gift is making this project possible. If they had not been so generous, we would not have had the equipment to get this project off the ground. Their gift will, indeed, have very far-reaching benefits.”

NIU bought Braille displays from two different manufacturers, Optelec (Braille Voyager 44) and Freedom Scientific (Focus Braille 80). Each has a plaque affixed that reads – in Braille – “Gift of Hinckley Lions Club, March 2005.”

“It is important to have these two Braille displays, as they are configured slightly differently and also offer different tactile experiences,” said Deborah Fransen, the College of Education 's development officer. “Some visually impaired people will prefer one style or ‘feel' over the other, and it is important for our students and future teachers to be able to ascertain which type might be most beneficial for a particular student.”

Unfortunately, the need for such devices and for Kapperman's graduates is growing while funding is tight.

Researchers project that the number of blind and visually impaired children and adults in the United States will climb in coming years as the Baby Boomers age and many of the congenital defects and diseases that result in vision impairment or loss remain incurable.

“This is one of the largest single-item gifts we've ever given,” Haseman said. “Everybody felt it was going for a good cause.”

NIU scholar sees place among literary giants
for ‘Little Women' author Alcott 

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.

“Despite all of her success, Alcott isn't always taken seriously, especially because she's seen as a children's author,” Shelden says. “Yet anyone who reads ‘Little Women' with attention knows she was writing for adult readers as well.

“There's a tendency to see women's coming-of-age stories as works for children, while men's coming-of-age stories are viewed as literature,” Shelden adds. “ ‘Huck Finn' is taught to almost every high school student, but ‘Little Women' is rarely taught in high school. I'd like to see that changed.”

Shelden, an assistant editor at the “Writings of Henry D. Thoreau,” based at NIU, recently spearheaded the founding of the Louisa May Alcott Society. The national scholarly organization was established in late May at the 16th annual conference of the American Literature Association. It will foster scholarship on Alcott and support the study of her work.

Shelden earned her doctorate in English in 2003 at NIU and included a chapter on Alcott in her dissertation. She was astonished to learn that no scholarly society existed to support the study of Alcott's prodigious body of work. It includes writings in several different genres, from firsthand accounts of her service as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War to thrillers written anonymously or under pseudonyms for the sensational press that flourished during the 1860s.

Alcott is best known, though, for “Little Women.”

Originally written in two volumes published in 1868 and 1869, the story is a fictional account of her own experiences growing up. Shelden notes that Alcott remains the most widely read author of the 19th century, with “Little Women” consistently outselling such works as “Moby Dick” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” both considered literary masterpieces. Figures as influential and diverse as Jane Addams, Josephine Baker and Teddy Roosevelt have noted their personal debt to Alcott's masterwork.

“ ‘Little Women' continues to resonate with audiences today, in part because it's a wonderful story about an interesting, progressive family,” Shelden says. “The four sisters portrayed in the book each have different journeys as they come of age. There's an affirmation of both traditional roles for women and new womanhood as it was evolving into the turn of the century. The character that Alcott drew from herself, Jo March, is a gender rebel who is blazing a new trail for women in the world.”

Shelden says her position with the “Writings of Henry D. Thoreau,” a project dedicated to producing accurate texts of the author's complete works, provided access to scholars who helped create the Alcott Society. During her lifetime, Alcott had personal connections to Thoreau as well. Her father, Amos Bronson Alcott, a well-known transcendentalist philosopher and educator, was a friend of Thoreau's. Louisa May Alcott's first published work, “Flower Fables,” was based on the fairy stories that Thoreau used to tell Louisa and her sisters in their excursions around Walden Pond .

Shelden is serving as secretary of the newly created Louisa May Alcott Society. Other scholars serving on the society board include Elaine Showalter of Princeton, Daniel Shealy of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte , Joel Myerson of the University of South Carolina and Madeleine Stern, author of the first important Alcott biography, published in 1950.

“The formation of the Louisa May Alcott Society is a dream come true for me,” Shelden says. “I'm delighted to have this opportunity to interact with scholars whose work I have so long admired.”

Those interested in joining the society can contact Shelden at mshelden@niu.edu .

Field trip to Sicily proves golden for student archaeologists

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 earring, which depicts a gold lion head, was produced by the Hellenistic Greek colonies in southern Italy , Kolb says. The jewelry is made of a high quality gold and weighs about 4 grams.

“The condition is exceptional, and it is quite a rare piece,” Kolb writes via e-mail from Sicily. “There are maybe only 15 to 20 of these pieces known in Italy . It was found within a Hellenistic period house floor and was probably dropped by its original owner and never recovered. We also found a variety of domestic debris, including wall stones and roof tiles.”

The earring is being restored in an Italian laboratory. “It will become the centerpiece of NIU's contribution to a major museum exposition that will be held concurrently with the preliminary races of the America 's Cup in Trapani , Sicily , next fall,” Kolb says.

Striking gold is always good, but it isn't the primary quest of the NIU field school participants, who have been exploring ancient Greek and Roman ruins in pursuit of the lost city of Alicia.

Cicero, the great Roman statesman, and two Greek historians, Thucydides and Diodorus Siculus, write of the settlement as a place of wealth and strategic importance, occupied 2,300 years ago by the Elymian peoples. However, the exact location of Alicia, known in Greek as Halikyai, has been lost through the ages.

On previous trips, Kolb and his students have uncovered tantalizing clues that indicate the location of Salemi and Alicia might be one in the same.

NIU to host Jazz at Lincoln Center's sixth annual Band Director Academy

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.

“We want to give the band directors some tools to take into the classroom. We're trying to provide another avenue to learn about jazz in a structured environment.”

Taught by some of the foremost jazz educators in the country, the academy emphasizes hands-on learning and a focus on concepts and techniques immediately applicable in the classroom. It offers the opportunity for individual attention and active participation and free educational materials and music.

The intensive sessions of professional enrichment integrate jazz performance, history, pedagogy and discussion, including:

• Bass, drum, guitar and piano pedagogy.
• Rhythm section in a big band setting with student demonstration band.
• Instrument interactions: drums/bass, piano/bass/drums, piano/bass and full rhythm section.
• Big band-swing style and straight eighth-note style.
• Roundtable discussions.

Optional graduate credit is available through NIU for both sessions, the second of which is scheduled from Thursday, July 14, through Saturday, July 16, in New York City. The later session, focused on teaching improvisation, takes place at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Joining Carter on the faculty for the DeKalb academy are drummer Dana Hall, assistant professor of jazz at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; guitarist Rick Haydon, professor of music at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville; pianist Reginald Thomas, associate professor of music at SIU-E; and bassist Rodney Whitaker, director of jazz studies at Michigan State University.

The academy's roots are found in Jazz at Lincoln Center's “Essentially Ellington” program, Cartano said.

Each year, Essentially Ellington creates new transcriptions of six Duke Ellington songs and sends them to more than 1,000 high schools. Each school's jazz band has the opportunity to record the charts and send the disc to New York for free feedback; some will receive an invitation to compete in the Big Apple.

“We learned there are a lot of great bands out there, but that those band directors typically had jazz experience or were players themselves. A lot of directors didn't have that background, or that much experience. We realized there was a definite need for this,” Cartano said.

“It is America's art form. There's so much history attached to it,” he added. “In terms of pop genres, and rhythm and blues and soul music, there's a lot of jazz influence. It's good for students to know about that in order to appreciate what's out there now.”

NIU wrestling alum pins dream on movie

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.”

“7 Minutes,” which also will be shot at locations in Ottawa , New Lennox and Wisconsin , already is generating some buzz. The Chicago Sun-Times published a story on the project in May, and the Web site for the movie ( www.7minutes-movie.com ) has received tens of thousands of hits. Oliva says three corporate sponsors are on board, along with a group of private backers who are financing the project.

He also has some vocal supporters at NIU.

“I never thought it possible for me to find wrestling beautiful to watch,” says Laura Vazquez, one of Oliva's former communication professors. “But James depicts it in a way that evokes the spirit of the competitor – not in the typically aggressive way of commercial sports media.”

The idea for the movie came to Oliva early into his wrestling career at NIU. He collaborated on the script with longtime friend and NIU alumnus Joseph Ziegler (Communication, '02).

“Wrestling is without a doubt the most misunderstood sport out there,” Oliva says. “There are all types of stereotypes, and people don't realize that the sport requires an incredible amount of hard work and sacrifice.

“Mainstream America could use some education,” he adds. “Wrestling is growing at every level except in the NCAA, where more than 300 wrestling programs have been cut since 1972.”

The sport is fertile ground for drama. Set at a fictional university that is considering cutting its wrestling program to meet Title IX requirements, “7 Minutes” focuses on one athlete's quest for a championship. Earlier this year, about 70 people showed up for auditions at the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago .

Jeff Harrison, who plays the lead role, was ranked in the top 10 nationally at 149 pounds while competing for the University of Northern Iowa last season. Matt Kucala, a former NIU wrestler and state champ at Providence High School , also is in the cast and working on the production of the film. Ken Chertow, a 1988 U.S. Olympian and well-known wrestling coach, has agreed to do commentary.

“My goal is to get as many wrestling people behind the film as possible, to give them something they can call their own,” says Oliva, who plans to enter “7 Minutes” in several top film festivals.

Oliva is originally from west suburban Bartlett and coached this past year at Streamwood High School . He will return to NIU in the fall, where he has accepted a post in the Division of Media Services as a videographer/editor for Inside Huskie Sports.

Kudos

Mary Pritchard, associate dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, is serving as president of the Council of Administrators of Family and Consumer Sciences. Pritchard took office in February, and will serve until February 2006. She served one year as president-elect and then will continue on the board as chair of a couple committees.

Pritchard previously served a two-year term as secretary on the board at CAFCS, a national organization of individuals who hold administrative roles in family and consumer sciences in colleges and universities. Its mission is to strengthen family and consumer sciences and related units in higher education through the development of excellence in administration.

* * *

University Police Sgt. Samuel Louis Bandy Jr. is one of 25 recipients of the Allan J. Cross Award, presented by the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) Foundation. Bandy has been a member of the Chicago chapter of ASIS International for almost three years.

Award recipients receive a scholarship to attend the Certified Protection Professional review courses, intended to help security professionals prepare for the rigorous certification exam. Security professionals who meet the stringent educational and experience requirements, and pass the comprehensive certification exam, become Board Certified in Security Management.

NIU Web page explains status of campus flags

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.

Campus map expands for mobile devices

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 .

First-Year Connections seeks faculty, SPS for fall mentors

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.

NIU Art Museum prepares to rent artworks for offices

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.

B.B. King to return to Convocation Center

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.

6-20-05