 Burpee Museum of Natural History, which in 2001 discovered the now-famous juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex dubbed Jane, might have more prehistoric giants in the rough.
This past spring and summer, expeditions led by NIU and the Rockford museum surveyed three promising sites in Carter County, Mt., where Jane was discovered, and removed dinosaur fossils from each.
Two of the sites yielded the bones of Triceratops, a large horned dinosaur that grew to about 30 feet in length and weighed up to 5 tons. At a third site, expedition members unearthed some bones from an equally large duck-billed dinosaur known as Edmontosaurus, a plant eater that lived at about the same time as Jane.
“These are important finds. If it turns out that we have enough bones at these sites, we'll be able to display some spectacular new dinosaurs for people here in Rockford,” says Mike Henderson, Burpee curator of earth sciences. “The fact that these discoveries were made by people from our community is a huge shot in the arm for this program that already has the Jane find to its credit.”
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 For 90 minutes each week, they are immersed in a world of disabilities, examining lives they might not know or understand, or ones they hide.
They dissect disability from personal, philosophical, sociological, psychological, medical and legal perspectives. They hear of stigmatization and oppression as they read first-person accounts from people who have disabilities.
If they become uncomfortable, good. If they become more aware, even better.
“Disability is so very prevalent. Every one of us, if we live long enough, will have a disability, and people with disabilities are not given the same rights. They're oppressed,” said Greg Long, professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders in the College of Health and Human Sciences. “I want students to have some issues-sensitivity and awareness. I want to push these students a little beyond their comfort level sometimes.”
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 For nearly 30 years, the tutoring program run by NIU ACCESS has saved the academic day for thousands of students. Now, at last, they have a home worthy of a hero.
Just opened this fall, the Grant South Tutoring Center provides ACCESS (Access to Courses and Careers through Educational Services) with a spacious, well-lighted and technology-rich facility where students can find drop-in, one-on-one or small group tutoring help for their short-term needs.
An all-campus open house to showcase the new facility will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, in the lower level of Grant South. The event will include tours, door prizes and refreshments.
“The services provided by ACCESS are vital to retention efforts,” said NIU Vice Provost Earl “Gip” Seaver, whose office collaborated with Housing and Dining to create the new center. “So often, when you think of tutoring, you picture somebody working out of a little closet of an office. This state-of-the-art facility sends a message to students, elevating these important services to a more appropriate environment.”
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 Diann Musial realized early on in her four-year journey as a NIU Presidential Teaching Professor that she wanted a challenge – more specifically, a self-examination.
Never comfortable with courses taught totally online, she decided to immerse herself in one as an adjunct instructor at a certified online graduate university.
“I studied, I read, I participated, and I hated it,” Musial said.
“My strengths as a teacher tend to come from the interaction face-to-face with students. I am a natural in terms of just noticing body language, reacting to tone of voice, listening carefully, both with my ears and my eyes, and then dynamically coming up with brilliant words – that's a joke, but I say things I find I didn't think I knew,” she added. “It's something that brings out a talent from me. Without that context, I'm dull and uninteresting.”
Thoughts of context “catapulted” her in another direction: What context works best to engage students in meaningful learning?
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 In early 2004, U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Thomas A. Hall sent a gift of an American flag to the NIU Department of Political Science. On Monday, Sept. 12, he visited the campus of his alma mater to tell the flag's story.
A native of Highland Park, Hall graduated from NIU in 1983 with a degree in political science. He enlisted in the U.S. Army a year later and left active duty as a major in 1998. He was reactivated in 2003, served in Afghanistan as an intelligence adviser and executive officer, and later was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
“No one I know who went to Afghanistan and served there left the country thinking that we weren't there for the right reasons,” Hall said during a small flag presentation in the political science office at Zulauf Hall, where his gift is prominently displayed.
“Afghans are pretty positive about (the American) presence because they realize we ended the Taliban (rule),” he added. “When I first got to Afghanistan, if you drove around the city of Kabul, you could count on one hand the number of women who were not wearing burkas. By the time I left, 10 months later, less than 10 percent of women were wearing them. There were huge social changes in the country during the time I was there.”
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 Few campus visitors would guess incorrectly what building the NIU School of Art calls home, given the assorted works in progress typically strewn near the side door along Gilbert Drive.
But Peter Van Ael, new coordinator of the Jack Olson Gallery, said he believes the school's true outward impression is found inside on the Art Building 's main floor.
“Not unlike the theater stage to the theater school, or the concert hall stage the School of Music performs on, the gallery is the public's way to gain a view into the School of Art . It's the school's calling card,” Van Ael said.
“The gallery has to work on different levels. We are a forum for informal education in the arts. Our main constituency is the NIU School of Art,” he added. “Beyond this primary group, we seek to engage the broader NIU community and target the local and regional art scene. In order to reach this broad public in a meaningful way, Olson Gallery needs to schedule exhibitions and programming capable of challenging its diverse audience both visually and intellectually.”
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 NIU's popular Haunted Physics Laboratory is hitting the road, accompanied by the ghost of the past century's greatest scientist, Albert Einstein.
The haunted laboratory, which boasts dozens of hands-on demonstrations with a Halloween theme, will be exhibited in the communities of Oglesby, Freeport and Dixon. The exhibit also will again be held in DeKalb this Halloween season.
Geared for families with children in kindergarten through eighth-grade, demonstrations will include laser displays, disappearing test tubes, pumpkin pendulums, oscillating apples, fun-house style mirrors and ghostly images. Visitors will come under the watchful gaze of a likeness of Einstein, whose eyes appear to follow guests around the laboratory.
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 Some NIU alums will celebrate a special homecoming a week before the official event.
About two dozen members of the Northern Star staff from the years 1957 to 1963 will return to campus Friday, Oct. 7, and Saturday, Oct. 8, for a reunion. For some in the group, the gathering marks their first return to campus since their graduation four decades ago.
Former “Star-types” are expected from Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. Their weekend begins with a Friday night reception at Best Western DeKalb Inn & Suites and continues Saturday with campus tours and a closing dinner at Carls Fargo in Sycamore.
“Our people still identify their college experience with the Star more than anything else,” Northern Star Adviser Jim Killam said. “These folks have a strong affinity.”
Chuck Shriver, a 1962 alum, and Al Erisman, class of 1963, organized the get-together.
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 Curators of “The Art of Burma,” a stunning display of artworks from two of the top Burmese art collections in the United States, will lead a tour and give a public talk about the exhibition from 4 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at the NIU Art Museum Gallery in Chicago.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 29 and is free and open to the public.
On display are sculptures, lacquerwares, palm-leaf manuscripts and tapestries dating from the 7th through 19th centuries. The artworks were selected from the vast collections of the Center for Burma Studies at NIU and Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
“The Art of Burma” examines the transmission, protection and sponsorship of Buddhism in Burma, as seen through visual art and artifacts.
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 Read good news about – and send congratulations to – Pamela "Pommy" Macfarlane and Carole Minor.
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NIU President John G. Peters will deliver the annual State of the University address at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, in the auditorium of Altgeld Hall.
A reception will follow in the auditorium foyer.
The Office of Registration and Records invites the NIU community to a retirement reception for Don Larson, executive director for enrollment services and university registrar.
The event takes place from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center. A short program will be held at 3:30 p.m.
A memorial service for the late English Professor Gustaaf Van Cromphout is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
For more information, contact Jan Vander Meer at (815) 753-0612 or jvander@niu.edu.
The lobby of the Founders Memorial Library will host an exhibition called "Battle of the Titans: D.C. versus Marvel" during October.
For more information, contact Charles Larry at (815) 753-0616 or clarry@niu.edu.
University Bookstore will start returning books to the publishers for the first-half classes beginning the week of Oct. 3. The return of second-half books begins the week of Oct. 25.
Faculty should advise students to make all necessary book purchases immediately. Also, faculty who plan to start any books later in the semester should notify the bookstore to prevent their return.
For more information, call (815) 753-1866.
The NIU Art Museum Altgeld Gallery's new hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Additional hours can be arranged by appointment. The Museum office is closed Mondays.
Currently on exhibit is Helene Smith-Romer's collage imagery “Confessions of a Dadaist …” in the South Galleries and “Bob Emser: Shadow Drawing,” a sculpture exhibition, in the North and Rotunda Galleries. Both exhibitions run through Dec. 11. The NIU Art Museum office and galleries are located on the first floor, west end of Altgeld Hall. Exhibitions are free and open to the public.
For more information, call (815) 753-1936 or visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum.
The Office of Assessment Services is pleased to present the September 2005 issue of “Toolkit,” a nuts-and-bolts newsletter designed to assist with practical assessment issues in a user-friendly format.
This issue features articles on a rubric for critical thinking, the 2005 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, an interview with Lemuel Watson of the College of Education and more. Click here to view “Toolkit” online.
For more information, contact Carolinda Douglass at (815) 753-7120 or cdoug@niu.edu.
The DeKalb Neighborhood Association Council is partnering with the DeKalb Park District, DeKalb Elks, DeKalb Moose and the Sprint Store to present a concert, “Tribute to New Orleans,” to raise funds for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
The concert is from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2, at the Hopkins Park Band Shell and Shelter House on Sycamore Road. Performers are the NIU Liberace Jazztet, the Chris Lougeay Quartet (featuring solos by DeKalb's renowned jazz trumpeter Ron Modell), the DeKalb Footstompers and Basically Bluegrass.
The Sprint Store, with an NIU sorority, will host children's games and face-painting along with a clown. Food will be available.
Donations will be collected by the Elk Lodge upon entrance to the park. An account is being established at Resource Bank. Those who cannot attend but would like to donate can contact Resource Bank. Proceeds will be used for the families now staying in DeKalb and for the Red Cross.
The Oct. 21 nomination deadline is fast approaching for NIU's 2005 Outstanding International Educator award.
The Division of International Programs bestows the award during the annual International Recognition Reception, which will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room of Holmes Student Center.
The award recognizes an NIU faculty or staff member who has contributed significantly toward international education at the university. The award also aims to heighten visibility and awareness of international education.
Last year's winner, Presidential Teaching Professor Gene Roth of the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education, will speak at the 2005 presentation.
The 2005 award recipient will have made sustained contributions to the enhancement of international education at NIU through teaching, research, public service and student-service efforts.
Nominations (including self nominations) are being solicited from the Council of Deans, department chairs and all regular faculty members. Staff members of the Division of International Programs are ineligible.
For application information, click here or contact Sara Clayton at (815) 753-9526. -- MORE
NIU's Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center is offering grants of up to $2,500 each annually to regular continuing faculty (tenured and tenure track). The grants encourage and support faculty development activities that directly benefit the applicants' departments, colleges and/or the university.
Equal matching funds from the applicants' academic units or appropriate external sources are required.
Five copies of each proposal, including the proposal cover sheet, accompanying letters of support and other relevant documents, must be submitted to the Grant Review Subcommittee, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, by Friday, Nov. 11, for activities scheduled between January and June of 2006. Complete proposal guidelines and cover sheet are available here.
Tenured or tenure-track faculty who plan to submit proposals by the Nov. 11 deadline and need more information are encouraged to register and attend the grant writing seminar that will be held from noon to 1 pm Friday, Oct. 28. Register online here or e-mail facdev@niu.edu.
After releasing their 10 th album “Don't Tread On Me,” alternative rockers 311 are coming to NIU's Convocation Center at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Ticket prices are $34 for the general public and $29 for NIU students (limit 2). Tickets are available at the Convocation Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, via Ticketmaster.com, or charge by phone at (312) 559-1212.
An exhibition honoring Hispanic Heritage Month is in the lobby of Founders Memorial Library through Friday, Sept. 30. Call (815) 753-9896 for more information.
The deadline to apply for the Operating Staff Council Dependent Award is Friday, Sept. 30.
Applicants must be the children of NIU Operating Staff employees or Operating Staff retirees; full-time NIU students pursuing an undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree; meet all admission requirements of their college, department or program; and have an overall 3.0 GPA.
The award of $250 per semester will be awarded for both fall 2005 and spring 2006. Previous award recipients may reapply. The maximum that will be awarded to any individual is $2,500.
For an application and more information, click here to visit the OSC Web site. -- MORE
Employers will descend on campus this month to start recruiting for their spring hiring needs at the annual Fall Job Fair, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, September 28, in the Convocation Center.
Meanwhile, students looking for a major related career experience prior to graduation are encouraged to attend the Internship Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, in the Convocation Center. -- MORE
All letters of nomination for the 2006 Presidential Teaching Professorships should be submitted to Vice Provost Earl Seaver in Altgeld Hall 215 no later than Monday, Oct. 10.
Following receipt of a letter of nomination, the Selection Committee will invite each nominated faculty member to prepare materials in accordance with the published procedure. Only full professors with tenure and at least six years service at NIU are eligible for the award.
Call (815) 753-8381 for information. -- MORE
A printable abridged version of Northern Today is available. --CLICK HERE |
