Kudos

Rebecca P. Butler, associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, was selected to sit on a review panel for the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, which supports the recruitment and education of the next generation of librarians and the faculty who prepare them for careers in library science.

Butler will serve as a panelist reviewing grant proposals for continuing education and training in library and information science for librarians and library staff. The panel will meet Monday, March 27, and Tuesday, March 28, in Washington , D.C.

Butler, who recently wrote a book titled “Copyright for Teachers and Librarians,” teaches current and future school library media specialists about such topics as library media center administration, information access and social responsibility for library information specialists and media for young adults.

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Kerry Freedman, a professor in the NIU School of Art, was selected by the National Art Education Association to receive the National Higher Education Art Educator of the Year Award.

This award recognizes the exemplary contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding NAEA member annually at the national level. The award will be presented to Freedman during the NAEA National Convention that takes place from March 22 to March 26 in Chicago.

“This award is given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service by a dedicated art educator,” NAEA President Susan Gabbard said. “Kerry Freedman exemplifies the highly qualified individuals active in the field of art education today: leaders, teachers, students, scholars, and advocates who give their best to the profession.”

The membership of NAEA includes elementary, secondary, middle level and high school art teachers in 50 states, representatives from the country's major art museums, state-level departments of education, arts councils and major colleges and universities throughout the United States and 66 foreign countries.

For more information, visit http://www.naea-reston.org.

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National Public Radio listeners might have heard biology Professor Rich King and his students at NIU on the air last week.

A featured segment on King's research into the Lake Erie water snake aired Feb. 13, as WNIJ kicked off a series of reports on threats to the Great Lakes. Click here for the audio segment and a transcript.

For more than two decades, King has been monitoring the population of the water snakes, which occupy a limited region on the islands and mainland of Lake Erie between the Ohio and Ontario borders. It's the only region in the world where the snakes can be found. Research by King and his students contributed to a decision in 1999 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the snake as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Last summer, reporter Rebecca Williams of the Great Lakes Radio Consortium spent a day in the field with King and his students. She reports on how the snake may be showing signs of a comeback thanks to an unlikely suspect – an invasive species known as the goby.

Williams' story originally aired in October on dozens of NPR affiliates and local radio stations in the Great Lakes region.

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NIU College of Law Professor Jeffrey A. Parness was named one of the “Best Law Professors in Illinois” by Chicago Lawyer Magazine.

In its January 2006 issue, the publication profiled outstanding professors selected from a pool of nominations submitted by faculty, staff and students at the nine Illinois law schools. Parness' ability to challenge his students' prevailing perspectives and his penchant for legal research and policy reform placed him among the leading law professors in the state.

Since joining the NIU College of Law faculty in 1982, Parness has taught a variety of civil procedure and administrative law courses. Parness particularly enjoys teaching the civil procedure course to first-year law students, which he has done every year for his more than 30 years in teaching.

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Vince Tinerella, an assistant professor and the coordinator of electronic reference services at Founders Memorial Library, is the recipient of the 2006 John Brubaker Memorial Library Award from the Catholic Library Association.

The award honors Tinerella's article, “The American Catholic Effort to Preserve European Manuscript Collections after World War II,” which appeared in the March 2005 issue of “Catholic Library World.”

Tinerella will receive the award at the association's annual conference in April.

2-20-06