In Brief

Toolkit available online

The Office of Assessment Services has published the February issue of Toolkit, its quarterly “nuts and bolts” e-newsletter.

This issue features results of alumni surveys; a rubric that helps Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty assess student learning at the capstone level; and an inside look at Residential Dining taste tests. This issue also features multiple opportunities to attend assessment workshops and conferences, which offer faculty and staff plenty of prospects for discovering new tools, and networking with one another. Back issues are posted on the Assessment Services Web site under Resources.

Toolkit is specifically designed to assist the NIU community with practical assessment issues in a user‑friendly format. Contributions to the newsletter are welcome at any time. The deadline for submitting articles for the next issue is Wednesday, April 5.

Founders lobby exhibition
highlights black arts movement

“The Black Panthers and Black Arts Movement: The Fortieth Anniversary” is on display in the Founders Memorial Library lobby through Tuesday, Feb. 28. Contact Ladka Khailova at (815) 753-1351 for more information.

NIU School of Art presents
visiting artist program Feb. 8

Christopher Roy, professor of art history at the University of Iowa, will speak at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, on “Religious Laws and Graphic Patterns in the Art of Burkina Faso.”

Roy will speak on the ways graphic patterns are used by the Lobi and the Bwa in Burkina Faso to communicate the moral and ethical laws people must follow to receive God's blessings.

The event in Room 100 of Jack Arends Hall is free and open to the public. A reception follows in Gallery 214. Free event parking provided in the parking lot on the south side of Jack Arends Hall from 4:45 to 7 p.m.

For more information, contact Peter van Ael at (815) 753-1473 or via e-mail at pvanael@niu.edu.

Kishwaukee Concert Band
to resume rehearsals Feb. 8

The Greater Kishwaukee Area Concert Band will resume rehearsals for the spring on at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8. The rehearsals are held in the band room of Huntley Middle School, located at the corner of Seventh and Taylor streets in DeKalb.

John Hansen is the director for this all-volunteer band made up of anyone 18 and older who has played a wind or percussion instrument in the past. No auditions are necessary; all that is needed is the enjoyment of playing an instrument. New members are always welcome.

For more information, call Sue at (815) 899-4867 or John at (815) 825-2350.

University Women's Club
hosts valentine's/TGIF party

The University Women's Club will host a valentine's/TGIF party from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, at Taxco, 223 State St. in Sycamore.

The “South of the Border Social” features Mexican appetizers and cash bar. The cost of $7.50 per person is due today to Joyce Angotti. Spouses, friends and partners are invited.

Unity in Diversity hosts
contest to select theme

NIU's Unity in Diversity Steering Committee each year selects a theme that is used during the following academic year to promote diversity awareness on campus. The contest is open to all students, faculty and staff, and offers a $75 prize for the winning entry.

Submission criteria and entry forms are available at:

Student Involvement & Leadership Development, Campus Life Building 150
Diversity & Equity Office, Campus Life Building 230
LGBT Resource Center, Holmes Student Center 7th Floor
Women's Resource Center, 105 Normal Road
Asian American Center, 429 Garden Road
Center for Access-Ability Resources, Health Services, 4th Floor
Latino Resource Center, 515 Garden Road
Center for Black Studies, Lincoln Highway
Affirmative Action & Diversity Resources, Lincoln Highway

Entries must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, to Student Involvement and Leadership Development, Campus Life Building Room 150.

The winning theme will be used in the design of the Unity in Diversity Poster, which will be professionally printed and distributed throughout campus, and also will be framed and mounted as part of the permanent UID poster collection display in the Holmes Student Center.

The theme contest winner will be recognized at the Diversity & Equity Award Ceremony, held at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom.

AADR presents series
of stories, experiences

Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources (AADR) has announced the first spring 2006 date of its Collective Stories and Cultural Experiences series.

Leroy Mitchell, director of CHANCE, and Nakia Brown, from the Center for Black Studies, are the guest panelists from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in Room 306 of the Holmes Student Center. Mitchell and Brown will lead discussion on “Why You Need Me: Red, Yellow, Black and White.”

Does cultural competency knowledge and awareness of diversity shape everything important in relating to one another? Where does the responsibility fall in deepening the understanding of assumptions and stereotypes which guide thought and behavior in the treatment of others and their differences?

These informative and interactive discussions focus upon various issues and concerns that impact the working and learning environments on campus. All are welcome.

For more information, contact Phinette Maszka, assistant director of mediation and diversity awareness programming, at (815) 753-6030, TTY (815) 753-2000 or at pmaszka@niu.edu. Please feel free to bring a lunch.

ITS explains coming changes
to enterprise directory structure

The method in which new NIU employees and all student employees access information on our network will change Friday, March 10.

Local Area Network (LAN) administrators attended an informational session last month where they learned how to prepare their department for the event. An ITS “Let's Talk” brown bag lunch will be held Thursday, Feb. 23. At this time, any remaining questions will be answered by project team leads.

For more information, please read the NIU Enterprise Directory Update on the ITS Web site.

Nursing's Lusk to speak
at networking luncheon

Brigid Lusk, acting chair of the NIU School of Nursing, will speak from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, on “Pretty and Powerless: A Historical Perspective of Nurses' Public Image.”

Reservations for the luncheon in the Chandelier Room of Adams Hall are required by Friday, Feb. 17. Cost is $7.50 per person. Call (815) 753-0320 for more information.

All NIU women – students, faculty and staff – are invited. The luncheon is sponsored by the Presidential Commission On the Status of Women.

Nominations sought for
Outstanding Service Award

All university employees are reminded that nominations for the 2006 Outstanding Service Award for NIU civil service employees are due in Human Resource Services no later than 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28.

The Outstanding Service Award is presented each year to as many as four NIU Civil Service employees. The program recognizes individual Civil Service employees who have demonstrated outstanding service and have made significant contributions to the university community.

A $1,500 award and a plaque will be presented this spring to each award recipient at the Annual Operating Staff Service Awards Banquet.

Nominations may be submitted by any current or retired employee of NIU. Nominees must be full- or part-time Civil Service employees who have been continuously employed at NIU since Feb. 1, 2000 or before.

More detailed information, including nomination forms and guidelines, can be found at http://www.niu.edu/osc/service.html.

Luncheon scheduled for
International Women's Day

Valentine Moghadam, chief of gender equality and development for UNESCO's Social and Human Sciences Sector, will speak at NIU from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, for International Women's Day.

Moghadam will address “Feminism, Legal Reform, and Women's' Empowerment in the Middle East ” in the Chandelier Room of Adams Hall. Cost for the luncheon is $7.50 per person, and seating is limited. Reservations is required by March 1 at (815) 753-0320.

The luncheon is co-sponsored by the Women's Resource Center , Women's Studies Program and the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.

Faculty Development seeks
proposals for development grants

Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center is offering grants of up to $2,500 each annually to regular, continuing tenured or tenure track faculty.

The purpose of the grants is to encourage and support faculty development activities that directly benefit the applicants' departments, colleges and/or the university. Equal matching from the applicants' academic units or appropriate external sources is 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, Adams Hall 319, by Friday, April 7, for activities scheduled between July 1 and Dec. 31.

Complete proposal guidelines and cover sheet are available here. Faculty who plan to submit proposals and need more information are encouraged to register and attend the grant writing seminar scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, March 9. To register online, click here or e-mail facdev@niu.edu.

NIU Steel Band to play
with Chicago Sinfonietta

The NIU Steel Band is performing NIU faculty member Robert Chappell's “Wood 'N Steel” with the Chicago Sinfonietta twice in March.

The groups will play at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 12, with a pre-concert lecture from 1:30 to 2 p.m. at Dominican University , 7900 W. Division in River Forest, and at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 13, with a pre-concert lecture from 6:30 to 7 p.m. at Orchestra Hall in Symphony Center.

Click here for more information.

Faculty Development seeks
proposals for Raymond grant

Proposals are sought for the David W. Raymond Grant, an annual grant to faculty who are working on ways to use new technologies in their teaching. The $2,500 grant is awarded to the faculty member with the best proposal for incorporating new technologies into his or her teaching.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty are eligible to apply for the grant. Applicants must describe a project that incorporates instructional technologies in the teaching of a course or the preparation of supporting materials for a course according to the proposal format.

The proposal must include a budget for the project and a letter of support from the chair of the applicant's department, school or division. Five copies of each proposal should be submitted to the Grant Review Committee, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center , Adams Hall 319, by March 20.

For proposal format and additional information about the grant, click here or contact facdev@niu.edu or (815) 753-0595.

2-6-06