January 9, 2006, Northern Today Abridged

Vermeer Quartet nominated for Grammy
for recording of Bartók string quartets

Grammy nominees from Chicagoland include more than Kanye West, Common and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

NIU's Vermeer Quartet has earned its third Grammy nod, this time for a two-disc package that its members say represents the second notch on the measuring sticks for string quartets.

“Bartók: Complete String Quartets,” released in 2004 on the Naxos label, is nominated in the Best Chamber Music Performance category. The Vermeer was nominated for Grammy honors in 1994 for Haydn's “The Seven Last Words of Christ” and in 2003 for a CD of piano quintets by Russian composers Shostakovich and Schnittke.

Competition for the award comes from Martha Argerich, the Borodin Quartet, the Borealis Wind Quintet and the Emerson String Quartet.

The Grammy Awards are televised Wednesday, Feb. 8, on CBS.

“Of the hundreds of CDs released this year, for this to be acknowledged as one of the best in the chamber music field is an honor,” said Richard Young, violist with the quartet which has been part of the resident artist faculty of the NIU School of Music since 1970.

“It's fair to say that, for every string quartet in the world, the repertoire by which we are all measured is the Beethoven string quartets,” Young added. “But if there is any other group of works that provides a similar test, particularly from the 20th century, it would be these six Bartók quartets. These works have been part of our repertoire throughout our career, and it's nice to finally get them recorded.”

Members of the Vermeer – Young, violinists Shmuel Ashkenasi and Mathias Tacke, and cellist Marc Johnson – recorded the six quartets over the last two years at a studio near Toronto .

“Whenever we could grab some time, or were performing somewhere nearby, we would use that chance to record,” Young said.

“In the first half of the 20th century, when they were still new, the Bartók quartets were considered the most challenging ever written from a technical standpoint. And it's true that they revolutionized string quartet technique, just as Beethoven's had done a century earlier. Over the years, performances have too often tended to showcase the music's raw energy at the expense of its inner beauty,” Young added. “But the public's appreciation of the Bartók quartets has evolved, and ensembles are now expected to bring more than high energy and impressive technique to the table. Therefore, just as with Beethoven, the ultimate challenge today is to communicate the broadest possible range of beauty, intellect and passion.”

In 2000, the quartet was named Outstanding Studio Teachers by the Illinois chapter of the American String Teachers Association, based on their commitment to fine teaching, high standards of musicianship and community involvement.

The quartet also stirred justices of the U.S. Supreme Court with a 2003 command performance at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Ashkenasi, Johnson, Tacke and Young now are in the middle of a recording of English music by composers Benjamin Britten and Arthur Bliss for release next fall by Cedille Records. For two of the works they'll be joined by Alex Klein, the former principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony. The third string quartet by Britten completes the disc.

Meanwhile, the Vermeer members will wait for the news from Los Angeles.

“The Grammies have really spread their focus in recent years in order to broaden their cultural appeal. For instance, it wasn't all that long ago that they established a whole new category for Latino music. They're trying to touch as many bases as possible,” Young said. “But thank goodness they're not doing so at the expense of classical music.”

NIU, Chicago museum will document stories
from survivors of Cambodia's ‘killing fields'

NIU will collaborate with the Cambodian American Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial in Chicago to produce several new museum exhibitions and a collection of oral histories from survivors of the killing fields who now live in Illinois.

The Henry Luce Foundation in New York has awarded a grant of $115,000 over three years to NIU in support of the Cambodia cultural heritage project, directed by NIU's Judy Ledgerwood and Ann Wright-Parsons.

Ledgerwood is a cultural anthropologist specializing in Cambodia, while Wright-Parsons directs the Anthropology Museum at NIU and also is a specialist in Southeast Asia.

“This project will improve the collections of the Cambodian American Heritage Museum in Chicago and our museum at NIU, while at the same time providing unique opportunities for student involvement,” said Ledgerwood, who serves as chair of the NIU Department of Anthropology.

“The biggest beneficiary of the work, however, stands to be the Cambodian community in the Chicago region and beyond,” she added.

About 5,000 Cambodians live in Chicago. Last year, after decades of planning and fundraising, the Cambodian Association of Illinois opened the Cambodian American Heritage Museum on Chicago's North Side at 2831 W. Lawrence Ave.

The museum is home to the Killing Fields Memorial, comprised of 80 glass columns, each representing 25,000 lives lost in the killing fields, a term popularized by a 1984 movie on the topic. Led by Pol Pot, the infamous leader of the Khmer Rouge, the genocide claimed the lives of about 2 million Cambodians between the years of 1975 and 1979.

The names of about 1,500 victims, most of whom were relatives and friends of Cambodians now living in Illinois, are etched on the glass columns. Leon Lim, chairperson of the Cambodian American Heritage Museum, said the oral histories exhibit will be designed to complement the existing memorial.

“The stories of the survivors need to be documented as soon as possible because these folks are getting older and they are the essential primary sources for the truth,” Lim said.

Under the direction of Ledgerwood, NIU graduate students will be enlisted to work with museum volunteers on collecting the stories of survivors of the killing fields. The oral histories exhibit will debut in 2008.

Also as part of the project, Wright-Parsons and a representative from the Cambodian American Heritage Museum will travel to Cambodia next year to purchase artifacts that will bolster the collections of both institutions.

The Chicago museum will concentrate on acquiring icons from the fine arts, including paintings, sculpture and wood and stone carvings. NIU, which has a strong Southeast Asian textile collection, will focus on the acquisition of fine silk weavings used in Cambodian ceremonial life, as well as clothing from everyday life, such as skirts, sarongs, shoulder wraps and baby carriers. The Anthropology Museum also hopes to acquire a loom and the implements used in all aspects of textile production, from processing the raw material to the weaving of the finished product.

Wright-Parsons, who teaches a course in museum studies, and Bill Westerman, the director of the Cambodian American Heritage Museum , will provide training to staff of the Chicago museum in cataloging and storage. Wright-Parsons' NIU students next fall will work in cooperation with the Chicago museum staff on documenting the new pieces in preparation for the exhibitions, which will be unveiled in 2007.

“This partnership is a nice fit in so many ways,” Wright-Parsons said. “Not only will our students receive wonderful experiences learning about the material culture of Cambodia, but they will experience working with staff from another museum. This project also serves to reaffirm the university's mission of outreach to the region.”

NIU has long had a research emphasis in Southeast Asia. The university's Center for Southeast Asian Studies, founded in 1963, is the second oldest of its kind nationwide and one of seven National Resource Centers for Southeast Asian studies.

The Henry Luce Foundation (www.hluce.org) was established in 1936 by the late Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc. The foundation supports programs focusing on American art, East Asia, higher education, theology, public policy and the environment, and women in science and engineering.

NIU researcher developing diagnostic tool for eye doctors

A group of researchers led by NIU Chemistry Professor Elizabeth Gaillard is developing a high-tech diagnostic tool that could vastly improve detection of blinding diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration.

Gaillard's research group has built two prototypes of its modified confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

“This is a powerful diagnostic tool that will be enormously useful for clinicians. It also will help us understand how diseases progress,” Gaillard said.

“With most eye disorders, by the time the doctor and patient notice something is wrong, irreversible damage may have already occurred,” she added. “This new tool is able to detect subtle metabolic changes in the tissue of the eye that are indicative of a problem. It should give ophthalmologists a tool for making much earlier diagnoses of retinal disorders. The earlier you intervene, the better the outcome for patients.”

Gaillard's research group includes research scientists James Dillon at Columbia University in New York and Dietrich Schweitzer at the University of Jena in Germany .

The traditional ophthalmoscope is a relatively simple device that has been used for decades to examine the eye's interior structures. Doctors also use a more advanced scanning laser ophthalmoscope, used primarily to evaluate the vascular structure of the eye after a fluorescent dye has been injected. The tool can't detect anomalies at the molecular level and doesn't discriminate differences among a large number of fluorescing compounds found in the human eye.

“There are compounds in the retina that fluoresce under light,” Gaillard explained. “Some of these compounds should be present in healthy tissue, and others accumulate as a result of disease. Our instrument can discriminate between normal and abnormal fluorescing compounds. No commercially available instruments can do that.”

In several seconds, the new modified confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope produces a series of scans that can be stacked together to produce a multi-dimensional image on a computer screen.

“Confocal means that we're able to achieve very good spatial resolution, so we know where we are in terms of x, y and z coordinates in the retina,” Gaillard said. “We receive temporal information as well, so we can monitor what's happening in real time. This detection system will give doctors vastly more information. The new instrument would allow doctors to detect abnormalities at the molecular or cellular level.”

The two prototypes built by Gaillard's research group are in Germany . The group hopes to build two additional instruments. One would be housed at Columbia University in New York , where Gaillard's group is involved in a study examining genetic links to age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older adults. The study aims to pinpoint genetic mutations responsible for the disease.

The researchers will collect DNA samples from patients in the study. They then hope to correlate retinal abnormalities discovered with the new instrumentation to patients' genetic profiles.

Gaillard hopes the modified confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope will be available commercially to ophthalmologists within several years. The instrument would need to pass the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process, which would include clinical trials. In Germany , Gaillard said, the instrument already has been approved by the German equivalent of the FDA and is being used in clinical research on patients.

Development of the new prototypes is just one research aspect being investigated by Gaillard's group, which more broadly examines the effects of light on biological tissue.

“Our research group studies the mechanisms involved in photo-oxidative damage to biological systems, in particular the human eye,” Gaillard said. “Aging oftentimes has to do with oxidizing tissue, and light can accelerate the oxidation process.

“Our work is somewhat unique,” Gaillard added, “because there aren't many researchers doing basic research on the chemistry of eye diseases. We're working on a number of projects that have to do with age-related eye diseases, such as macular degeneration and cataract development, and are developing models that will help us understand these diseases truly at the molecular level.”

Accountancy's Carnes leaves for Lipscomb

For Greg Carnes, the chance to return to his alma mater as dean of the Lipscomb University College of Business was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

That doesn't mean, however, that it was an easy decision for the longtime chair of the NIU Department of Accountancy.

“Once I decided that I wanted to accept the job at Lipscomb, it took me two more weeks before I decided that I could leave NIU. It was really two distinct decisions,” says Carnes, who arrived at NIU in 1994 and became chair of Accountancy in 1999.

“NIU Accountancy is a very special place,” he explains. “There is a rich heritage. The program is very highly regarded by many different constituencies. We have great faculty and some of the best students on campus. You put all of that together and it's very difficult to leave.”

Prying him away required a special set of circumstances, Carnes says.

First, both he and his wife, Jan, are alumni of Lipscomb; on top of that, Nashville, where the school is located, is one of their favorite cities; and, finally, both have family nearby. All of that is to say nothing of becoming dean of a well-regarded business school, which recently added an MBA program and is looking to take on increased stature.

“There is a great foundation to build upon, and we intend to continue to develop better working relationships with the Middle Tennessee business community,” Carnes says.

Administrators at Lipscomb say they are confident that Carnes is just the person to accomplish that task.

“Greg Carnes will be a great asset to Lipscomb University's College of Business as we seek to grow our program in the future. NIU's programs are nationally recognized for excellence, and his experience leading those programs will help strengthen Lipscomb's already solid business program,” says Lipscomb President Randy Lowry.

Those he leaves behind at NIU are also sure that Carnes will succeed.

“I think he will make an excellent dean. I have absolute faith in that,” says Denise Schoenbachler, the chair of Marketing who has worked alongside Carnes for years. “He's very even-keeled, very fair and very talented. Lipscomb pushed hard to get him, and they knew what they were doing.”

Bill Tallon, who understands that transition ahead for Carnes, having himself moved into the role of interim dean at the NIU College of Business this year, agrees.

“His departure is a great loss for the college, but we wish him well at Lipscomb,” Tallon says. “I'm certain that Greg will do very well. Departments here are very decentralized and his experience as a chair will be very valuable. His leadership of the accountancy program was always very foresighted, and he always kept in mind the bigger picture – how things affect the college.”

Carnes agrees that his time as chair has prepared him well for his new position.

He moved into that job under difficult circumstances, shortly after the death of longtime chair Patrick Delaney. Taking the reigns of one of the university's most high-profile programs, he guided it through a period of great change.

“When I took over, the average length of service on the faculty was about 18 years. Today it is about seven years,” he says. Building upon the reputation nurtured by the retiring faculty, Carnes helped recruit and hire another excellent group of educators who have maintained the program's reputation, improving its ratings in some national rankings.

The job also provided him with the opportunity to work on alumni relations, fundraising and managing faculty, all things he will have to do at Lipscomb, where the business school enrollment is roughly the same as that for the NIU Department of Accountancy.

“The scale of the job won't change much, but the scope will,” Carnes says. “It will be a big challenge managing four departments as opposed to just one, making sure that they are all treated fairly.”

While excited to start (he actually accepted the job last spring, but negotiated a delayed starting date so his daughter can finish high school here), and looking forward to joining an institution that stresses “faith-based” education, Carnes says he will miss NIU.

“The thing I will miss most is the relationships I have with the faculty and the other administrators. They are a great group of people, and great friends,” he says. “And I am going to miss being the spokesperson for such a great program; that is something I have been very honored to do. Being chair of the NIU Department of Accountancy was a great job.”

Jim Young, an associate professor in accountancy, succeeds Carnes as chair.

Young named new chair of Accountancy

Jim Young, newly appointed chair of NIU Accountancy, says he is honored and excited about his new job – and also a little bit apprehensive.

“I've never done this before. This is a new experience,” he says, explaining that last emotion.

The reasons for the first two emotions are a bit more obvious. As the new chair of Accountancy, he inherits a program that has a history of excellence, which has earned it a reputation as one of the best in the nation.

“Our department is unique among its peers,” says Young, who came to NIU from George Mason University in 2000 and took over as director of the master's in taxation program a year later. “We stand out because of our close professional ties to the Chicago financial community; because we are consistently rated in the top 20 programs in the nation, despite the fact that we don't offer a doctoral degree; and because of our legacy.”

That legacy, built by Don Keiso, Pat Delaney, John Simon and a roster of other stellar names that brought the program to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, is something that the faculty is aware of and aspires to maintain, Young says.

Backed by a faculty that the likes of Keiso and others have characterized as better suited to the current era than they were to their own, Young feels the department is poised to carry on the tradition.

However, that does not mean that it will be easy.

Among the challenges Young expects to face will be maintaining the quality of the faculty in a hiring environment where there are three times as many jobs available as there are new Ph.D.s entering the field. On top of that, accounting remains a hot career field and demand for the program is extremely high – from both prospective students and employers – so the department will have to carefully manage enrollment to maximize opportunities while preserving high standards, he says.

Young comes to the job with no pre-conceived notions about how to deal with those challenges.

“I plan to work on those issues collaboratively with the faculty, and I'm going to begin by listening and learning,” he says. “In November, we asked our external advisory board to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our department along with any opportunities and threats that might exist, and I am asking the faculty to do the same this semester. Once that's completed, we'll spend time thinking about what we need to do to continue that tradition of excellence.”

While Young is quick to say he has plenty of on-the-job learning to do, he has no plans to give up his teaching duties.

“When I was approached about becoming chair, the one thing I was most concerned about was giving up teaching, so I am glad I will still be able to get into the classroom,” says the recipient of outstanding teaching awards from George Mason University, Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University .

As for his apprehension about taking over as chair, others say Young has little to worry about.

“He has terrific communication and relationship skills and great knowledge of the field. I think he will be a great fit,” says Bill Tallon, interim dean of the College of Business.

Young's immediate predecessor, Greg Carnes, who left to become dean of the College of Business at Lipscomb University, agrees.

“He's going to be a great chair,” Carnes says. “He's a strong leader and will be a great spokesperson for the department.”

NIU mourns death of Michael Salovesh

Michael Z. Salovesh, a retired professor of anthropology who spent nearly three decades at NIU, died Wednesday, Dec. 7, at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Baltimore, just two days prior to the death of his new bride, Louana M. Lackey. He was 74.

Salovesh underwent treatment for a type of melanoma three years ago, but the disease resurfaced this past spring, according to a family member. Salovesh and Lackey, a 79-year-old ceramics historian and archaeologist, married in May, and she was later diagnosed with cancer as well. Both had entered the Gilchrist Center in recent months.

Salovesh retired from NIU in 1998 after 28 years at the university but continued to live in DeKalb until earlier this year. He was preceded in death by his first wife of 45 years, Margaret L. “Peggy” Salovesh.

Born May 6, 1931, in Chicago, Salovesh served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Korean War. He earned his Ph.D. in 1971 from the University of Chicago. A social anthropologist, he studied social organization and inter-group relations in Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. He also conducted research on Attention Deficit Disorder, having overcome learning disabilities himself, said his son, John Salovesh of DeKalb.

Friends and relatives remember a man of many talents, with an intellectual sense of humor, an innate curiosity about life and a storyteller's gift.

“He was an experiential teacher,” John Salovesh said. “I still bump into his former students, who loved his storytelling approach to learning, instead of just rote lecture. He loved teaching and was a man of education to the very end. Even at the hospice and hospital in Baltimore, he invited medical students to come in and ask him questions.”

Michael Salovesh instilled that love of learning in his two sons. “Growing up a lot of kids would go camping or to a ballgame with their dads; we'd go to the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, where my father did his research, or go exploring in Mexico City,” John Salovesh said.

“Mike really was a character – an intelligent man with a wide range of interests,” added NIU Professor Emeritus Susan Montague, who now lives in Las Vegas . Montague was a longtime officemate and close friend of Salovesh.

“He was a very generous man,” Montague said. “For three years while I was commuting between DeKalb and Chicago, his family took me in as a boarder. They were like family to me.”

Salovesh served on the NIU faculty senate. He was a past president of the Central States Anthropological Society and served on the governing boards of the American Anthropological Association, the Society for Latin American Anthropology and the Chicago Anthropological Society. He also was among the founders of the Illinois Society of Latin Americanists.

“He was an extremely capable scholar and was very active in doing ethnographic fieldwork, and he continued his research even after retirement,” Montague said. “I remember him also being a brilliant one-on-one teacher. A constant stream of students visited his office, where he would sit and talk, often for hours, with each of them.”

Salovesh had a wide range of interests outside the university.

He was a talented folk singer and musician who played classical guitar and jazz piano. He was an active volunteer with Meals on Wheels, the DeKalb Noon Lions Club, the DeKalb County Sheriff's Radio Watch and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-affiliated social-justice organization.

“He said he was one of the only Jewish Quakers he knew,” John Salovesh said, adding that his father embraced Quaker values of helpfulness and tolerance.

At NIU, Salovesh also was known as a frequent contributor to the TOMPAINE listserv, an online discussion group for NIU faculty and staff.

“He was just an amazing teacher, and not just in the classroom,” said Irene Rubin, professor emeritus of public administration. “Mike would jump in on TOMPAINE and raise the level of discussions with just one well thought-out post. He personified what the 0educational community is supposed to be about.”

Survivors include his sons, John Salovesh (Tricia) of DeKalb, Ill., and David Salovesh (Jean DeStefano) of Washington , D.C.; four step-daughters and 11 grandchildren.

A memorial service is being planned this spring at the University of Chicago. In memoriam, donations may be sent to the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care, 6601 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21204 or a local hospice.

NIU Jazz Ensemble to perform Tuesday
at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase for CD release

The world renowned NIU Jazz Ensemble will perform two shows Tuesday at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago.

Admission to the 7 and 9 p.m. concerts at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave., is $10 for students and $15 for the public. NIU School of Music faculty – Steve Duke, saxophone; Rodrigo Villanueva, drums; Art Davis, trumpet; Fareed Haque, guitar; Tom Garling, trombone; and Willie Pickens, piano – join the band. For more information, call (312) 670-2473.

NIU Jazz Ensemble members also will celebrate the release of their new CD, funded by university retiree and friend Sally Stevens.

Titled “Swinging Every Which Way But Loose,” the nine-song disc features live performances from the 2002 and 2003 ensembles. It also includes original compositions by ensemble members Alex Austin and Wesley Jackson alongside tunes by Quincy Jones, Duke Ellington and Frank Foster.

The Chicago gigs come the night before the student musicians leave for New York City, where they will perform with trumpeter Eddie Henderson and bassist Rodney Whitaker at the annual conference of the International Association of Jazz Educators.

NIU doctoral student honored
among 'American Stars of Teaching'

The skies over NIU doctoral student Michelle Lia-Twohy grew brighter this fall.

Lia-Twohy, who is working toward an Ed.D. in the College of Education's Department of Literacy Education, was selected as one of 51 “American Stars of Teaching” by the U.S. Department of Education.

Already an NIU alumna with a master's degree in reading, she is a reading specialist at Western Trails School in Carol Stream. Lia-Twohy's principal nominated her, putting her in competition with 1,800 other educators across the country.

One winner was chosen from each state and from the District of Columbia.

“I was completely and totally shocked,” Lia-Twohy said. “One of the parents told me after I received the award that I am the kind of teacher who tries to teach the whole child and not just the subject area.”

The American Stars of Teaching are, according to the U.S. Department of Education, “classroom teachers who are successful in raising student academic achievement for all of their students, often through the use of innovative classroom strategies … (and) representatives of the thousands of teachers who, regardless of the challenges they face, are making a difference in the lives of their students.”

Part of the Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, the program includes teacher and principal roundtables, summer and fall teacher workshops, a research-to-practice teacher summit and a weekly e-mail update called “Teacher E-Bytes.”

Laurie Elish-Piper, director of the NIU Reading Clinic, said Lia-Twohy is “extremely knowledgeable and insightful about teaching reading.”

“She's an incredibly smart and talented teacher. She's a very warm and kind person, and that allows her to work well with children at that intermediate elementary level who are struggling and need help,” Elish-Piper said. “She also works well with teachers, and she works diligently, always looking for ways to improve her practice.”

Lia-Twohy was a teacher in second- and fourth-grade classrooms when she began graduate school in DeKalb.

“When the position of reading specialist opened, I was interested in actually using my degree,” she said. “I work with primarily grades two to five. My students are one grade level or more behind in reading, and they just need a little help.”

Children in those grades often are left behind in reading intervention, Elish-Piper said, which makes Lia-Twohy's service all the more valuable.

“School districts need to make decisions about where they have their reading specialists focus their work, and they prioritize the very youngest children, figuring that's where it's most critical,” Elish-Piper said. “But by fourth- or fifth-grade, some children still need help in reading.”

Lia-Twohy integrates other parts of elementary school curriculum during her sessions. When children came to her not knowing the worth of a dime, she taught a unit on counting money. She also keeps a globe in her room.

“Reading is everything,” she said. “Without reading, you can't read a math story problem or read a map.”

“Reading is the hub of the curriculum. Everything students do is somehow related to reading, be it the sciences, social studies or even math,” Elish-Piper agreed. “Beyond school, reading is essential for life. It provides us with options for jobs, avenues for involvement in the community and ways to support our own families.”

Kudos

Gerald Blazey, a distinguished research professor in NIU's Department of Physics, has been named a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in recognition for his leadership role in groundbreaking research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia.

The distinction is awarded each year to no more than one-half of 1 percent of APS members.

Since 2002, Blazey has served as co-spokesperson of Fermilab's DZero project, which brings together the expertise of more than 675 researchers from nearly 40 U.S. universities and 40 foreign institutions.

DZero is one of two proton/antiproton particle collider experiments at Fermilab, where scientists are exploring the subatomic universe using the world's most powerful particle accelerator, known as the Tevatron. The Tevatron effectively uses electric power with almost 1 trillion volts to hurl protons and antiprotons toward each other at nearly the speed of light in a four-mile underground ring. Scientists study the particle collisions for traces of matter that have never before been documented.

The APS cited Blazey “for leadership of the DZero experiment and the study of jet production at the Tevatron.” Particle collisions produce jets, the manifestations of fundamental quarks, antiquarks and gluons (the particles that make up protons, antiprotons and neutrons).

“The systematic and complete study of jets at DZero was only possible because a great number of people worked together for many years,” Blazey said. “I would like to thank all of my collaborators at DZero and Fermilab for the opportunities to participate in the studies and the entire Tevatron program.”

In addition to his work at Fermilab, Blazey serves as co-director of the Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development (NICADD). The NIU center is dedicated to the development of a new generation of particle accelerators and detectors.

Public Affairs seeks updates for online experts guide

The Office of Public Affairs is in the process of updating the NIU Experts Guide.

The guide is a searchable, online tool for members of the news media who are looking for experts to comment on particular subjects. Faculty and staff are encouraged to visit the guide at http://experts.niu.edu and check their listing by searching the guide by area of expertise or academic department.

If your listing needs updating, or if you are not listed and would like to be, click on the “Add or Update a Listing” button and fill out the online form.

For more information, call 753-1681 or e-mail publicaffairs@niu.edu .

FIT Program opens spring registration

New and returning members are eligible to register for the FIT Program during the following days/times in Anderson Hall 127. Contact the FIT staff at (815) 753-0335 or via e-mail at fit@niu.edu for more information.

Today: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., returning members only.

Wednesday, Jan. 11: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., new members only. Each of the first 10 new members to join the FIT Program this spring will receive a free water bottle.

Friday, Jan. 13: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., open registration.

ITS hosts workshop on best practices

ITS will host a free workshop Friday, Jan. 13, that will address the development and procurement of accessible electronic and information technology resources. Experts from the University of Illinois , Great Lakes ADA and Southern Illinois University are invited.

The workshop takes place from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center Hunt Room. A box lunch will be provided. Registration is required, and space is limited.

For more information, click here. http://www.its.niu.edu/its/PublicRelations/Access-Workshop-January13-2006.shtml

NIUTEL announces new hours for 2006

NIUTEL has changed its opening time to 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Call (815) 753-0963 for more information.

NIUTEL offers office calendars

Poster-size 2006 calendars from NIUTEL are now available. They feature Julian dates, and university holidays and academic dates are highlighted. Calendars for anyone who pre-ordered are set aside. Remaining calendars are available for pick-up on a first-come, first-served basis. Call (815) 753-0963 for more information.

Parking Services closes lobby for January

The service lobby at Campus Parking Services will close temporarily for maintenance through Tuesday, Jan. 31.

A temporary service office is open on the main floor of the Holmes Student Center near the computer lab. Visitors to this location can purchase parking permits, obtain temporary or visitor permits, file parking ticket appeals, report lost or stolen parking permits and make ticket payments.

Office hours through Friday, Jan. 13, are 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Extended office hours for Jan. 17 to 31 are 7:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fridays.

Customers still can use the depository on the east side of the Campus Parking Services building for making ticket payments. Call (815) 753-1045 for more information.

Law Library posts hours for spring

The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced hours for the spring semester.

Hours from Tuesday, Jan. 17, through Friday, April 28, are 7:15 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:15 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 11:30 p.m. Sundays.

Hours during Spring Break are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, March 13, through Friday, March 17. The library is open from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 11, Sunday, March 12, and Saturday, March 18. Hours Sunday, March 19, are noon to 11:30 p.m.

Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.

NIU professor to discuss future of Supreme Court

Artemus Ward, an assistant professor in NIU's Department of Political Science, will present “Justice John Roberts and the Future of the U.S. Supreme Court” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19.

The program will be held in the Staff Lounge located on the lower level of Founders Memorial Library. Call (815) 753-8091 for more information. There will be an opportunity for discussion and light refreshments following the presentation.

NIU Community School announces spring classes

Musicians, artists and thespians of all ages and abilities have much to choose from this spring at the NIU Community School of the Arts.

Lessons, ensembles and classes meet weekly and many begin in January. Teachers with the community school are NIU faculty and students, as well as community artists. All classes and lessons are taught on campus.

Private Lessons

Weekly private lessons are available on all instruments, as well as in art and theatre. Suzuki lessons for young children are also available on violin, guitar, and piano.

Music Ensembles

The community school has a number of ensemble opportunities for those who enjoy playing in a group setting. Join a jazz combo, a full or string orchestra, a Celtic band, or a flamenco guitar ensemble.

Music Classes

For Young Children

Prelude, Gavotte, and Development are fun music classes for young children and meet on Saturday mornings. Prelude is for ages 1 and 2, Gavotte for ages 3 and 4 and Development for ages 4 through 6. Teacher Laurie Rodriguez brings a fresh approach to these appealing and popular classes.

Carol Stubbs brings her skill and experience to the Music for Children with Special Needs class for children ages 18 months to 8 years old. Thanks to grants from several local Kiwanis groups, first-time students pay no tuition to attend this class, which meets on Thursday evenings.

Piano Players 1 is a group piano class for children ages 6 to 9 to learn the basics of music and piano. Graduate student Mabel Kwan teaches this class on Mondays.

For Teens and Adults

Beginning Jazz Arranging and Composing is taught on Wednesdays by jazz band director Johan Eriksson.

Music and Computer Technology and Electronic and Computer Music Overview are taught by Mike Taylor on Sunday afternoons.

Two group guitar classes, one for children ages 8 to 12 and one for ages 13 to adult, are taught Mondays at 7 p.m.

New this spring

Jazz Combo for Adults (ages 18 and older) and the Jazz Improv Class (ages 12 and older) meet on Wednesday evenings and are taught by jazz saxophonist and director Johan Eriksson.

The Harp Circle is for ages 10 and older and meets once, on Feb. 4. Teacher Carl Johnson demonstrates the basics; then, everyone gets to play.

Art for Children

Children ages 4 to 12 enjoy Art Express, a five-week class that meets Saturday afternoons beginning February. This long-running and popular class offers a variety of art experiences in different media, all tied to a central theme.

Art for Adults

Danielle Barton teaches beginning portraiture beginning in January and open studio beginning in March. She is offering a new class for older adults, Drawing for the Timid, beginning in March.

Victoria Peel teaches Using Perspective in Drawing on Saturdays beginning in January.

Theatre Classes

Children ages 6 to 9 are encouraged to bring lots of energy to Kinetic Energy, a unique theatre games class. Telling Tall Tales is a general survey class of storytelling for ages 10 to 15. Both classes are taught by NIU theatre student Kristine Stephens on Saturday mornings.

NIU Art Museum hosts video art installation

The NIU Art Museum announces “Estuarine Spaces,” a solo showing of video and multimedia installations by noted Illinois artist Joan Truckenbrod.

The exhibition takes place in the South Galleries of Altgeld Hall from Tuesday, Jan. 17, through Saturday, March 11. The opening reception is from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18. A special closing reception and artist talk will take place Thursday, March 9, with the reception from 5 to 7 p.m. in the museum galleries and the artist's slide talk at 7 p.m. in Room 315 of Altgeld Hall.

The NIU Art Museum Altgeld Galleries are located on the first floor, west end of Altgeld Hall. Gallery Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. The Galleries are accessible to wheelchairs, and exhibitions are free and open to the public.

The programming of the NIU Art Museum is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, the Friends of the NIU Art Museum and the Arts Fund 21. For more information, call (815) 753-1936 or visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum.

NIU Art Musuem exhibits 'rotating' installation

The NIU Art Museum announces “Jin Soo Kim: roll-run-hit-run-roll-tick-,” a sculpture-sound installation in the Rotunda Gallery of Altgeld Hall from Tuesday, Jan. 17, through Saturday, May 13.

The exhibition will change monthly with the additional installation of NIU students' work created during a series of workshops with Kim as a visiting artist. The opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, followed by a public slide talk by the artist in Room 100 of the Visual Arts Building (Jack Arends Hall) at 7 p.m.

The installation, consisting of eight 10-inch-tall-by-8-foot-long steel tunnels and an audio element featuring layered sounds of ticking clocks, breaking light bulbs and clanging plates from railroad tracks reverberating from speakers within the tunnels, emphasizes the physical and psychological nature of travel, experience and memory. It first was exhibited in the NIU Chicago Gallery in the fall of 2003.

Participants in the workshops (Feb. 3 and 4, March 3 and 4 and April 7 and 8) will explore materials and methods including drawing, assemblage, installation, poetry and recorded sounds, to address issues of displacement, immigration and travel, memory and loss.

Each workshop will culminate in the installation of the participant's work in the NIU Art Museum Rotunda Gallery where it will remain on view until the next workshop. A public reception will be held in the museum on the Saturday of each workshop from 5 to 6 p.m.

“roll-run-hit-run-roll-tick-” was funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, Friends of the NIU Art Museum and the Arts Fund 21. The workshops were funded by the NIU School of Art Visiting Artist Fund.

For more information, call (815) 753-1936 or visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum.

NIU Art faculty show works at Chicago gallery

The NIU Art Gallery in Chicago announces the Biennial Exhibition of Work by NIU School of Art Faculty through Feb. 25.

Thirty-one artists, featuring work in a variety of media including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, fiber, jewelry, performance and design, reflect and celebrate the diverse interests and disciplines of the School of Art faculty.

Exhibiting artists include Jeffrey Morgan Adams, Jon Ashmann, Michael Barnes, Karen Brown, Todd Buck, Andrew Byrom, Yale Factor, Billie Giese, Aleksandra Giza, Debra Grall, Larry Gregory, Manny Hernandez, Katie Kahn, Frank Kulesa, Yih-Wen Kuo, Andrew Liccardo, Christine LoFaso, Kimberly Martens, Ron Mazanowski, Ashley Nason, Jamie Obermeier, Steve Quinn, Charlotte Rollman, Lee Sido, Deborah Smith-Shank, Kryssi Staikidis, Mary Stewart, Adrian Tió, Frank Trankina, Elizabeth Vallance and Harry Wirth.

The NIU Art Gallery in Chicago is located at 215 W Superior , 3rd floor. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 312.642.6010 or visit our website at www.vpa.niu.edu/museum.

NIU art alums featured in local exhibition

Three NIU fine arts graduates will lead off the 2006 exhibition schedule at the DeKalb Area Women's Center in a group show titled “Recent Graduates: aka Grads A-Go-Go” until Jan. 27.

The artists, Sarah Beth Woods of Palatine, Lori Ann Ayers of DeKalb and Jennifer Krantz of Machesney Park , will be present for a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, which is free and open to the public.

Woods will exhibit new work in the On Stage Gallery including a large-scale painting on handmade paper, an artist's book made of handmade paper illustrated with woodcuts, and small gouache paintings. “Pattern is a reoccurring theme in my work,” Woods said. “I use it to create narrative languages that explore certain emotions and aesthetics. My patterns often morph into landscapes, creating their own environments, never wavering from their feminine ideologies.”

Ayers' paintings are created in gouache on paper. Her powerful images depict aerial views that take the form of idealized environments. In describing her work, she stated, “The artwork is intensely colorful and portrays a vastness of space along with a distanced isolation. Each piece achieves harmony within contradictions.”

A marketing communications professional, Ayers relocated to DeKalb three years ago to complete her degree in painting at NIU. Also, her work is currently showing at an online Web gallery at www.emergingartistsgroup.com in the Sarah's Vineyards Submissions space.

From her “Opulent Indulgences” series, Krantz presents 10 chandelier paintings inspired by the antique chandelier that hung in her 1920s-style home. Her paintings incorporate a translucent linear style, a use of pattern and a complexity that plays with space within the paintings. Her focus is to create aesthetically pleasing paintings that capture a complex beauty, mystery and a feeling of nostalgia. “My paintings work to convey a sense of beauty, intricate pattern and a decorative quality,” she said.

The DAWC is located at 1021 State Street in DeKalb, and the exhibition is open for public viewing from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. the first and third Saturdays, and by appointment.

Parking is available in the newly paved lot one-half block south of the building off of Eleventh Street . The handicapped accessible lift can be reached from the alley north of the building. For further information or to arrange a group showing, call (815) 758-1351.

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