March 6, 2006, Northern Today Abridged

NIU harnesses power of Internet2

NIU quietly crossed into a new frontier of Internet communication earlier this year.

With the “lighting” of the first leg of its NIUNet fiber optic communication network in January, NIU for the first time obtained a connection to Internet2 creating the potential for students, faculty and staff to use the Internet in previously unimaginable ways.

Researchers can download enormous databases they previously had to travel to use. For instance, a four terabyte file (one terabyte equals 1,024 gigabytes) that would take 23 days to download over the regular Internet could be downloaded in about one hour.

Musicians might play along with colleagues at universities across the globe as if they were in the same room.

Virtual classes and conferences could be offered in an online environment that all but duplicates face-to-face interaction with high definition picture and sound.

Created in 1996 by elite researchers who were already frustrated by the speed and capacity limitations of the existing Internet, Internet2 was developed as a separate network for use only by universities, national laboratories and other high-level, non-commercial users who often have a need to transfer enormous batches of data quickly.

From its inception, the system was designed and built to handle those demands – moving all traffic across fiber optic “pipes” that provide users a capacity akin to a water main, compared to the drinking straw-sized “pipes” of the commercial Internet. While its use is currently restricted to about 260 member institutions, one of the purposes of creating and operating I2 is to develop the next generation of the “commodities Internet.”

How best to take advantage of having access to such a resource will be the topic of the university's first-ever Internet2 Day, scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, March 30.

This event, hosted by the Division of Outreach and Administration and the Office of the Provost, will provide deans and department chairs with an overview of what Internet2 can do for their faculty. Faculty and staff may also attend, but pre-registration is required and seating is limited. Those interested in attending the event can register online at http://registeruo.niu.edu/iebms/reg/reg_p1_form.aspx?ct=STD&EventID=7831&oc=40&coecc=COE.

“Internet2 has broadband capabilities far beyond those we are used to on the commodities Internet,” said Robert Brookey, a professor of communication who helps oversee the Laboratory for Interaction, Networking, and Communications (LINC). “We will use this day to give examples of how I2 has been used to facilitate research and pedagogy in the arts, humanities and sciences. We will focus on real-world examples from other universities, not hypotheticals.”

Guest speakers at the event will be Ann Doyle, Internet2 manager for arts and humanities, and Joel Mambretti, director of the International Center for Advanced Internet Research at Northwestern University.

Doyle will discuss her work with the Internet2 organization which includes collaborating with campuses across the nation to produce master classes and performance events enabled by high-speed networking. She has been the executive producer of the two largest collaborations in the performing arts. Mambretti will address his work at iCAIR (and as part of such organizations as Metropolitan Research and Education Network and I-WIRE), which is aimed at developing the next generation of high-speed communications networks.

Also speaking at the event will be Professor of Communication David Gunkel (co-director of LINC) who will focus on end-user software required to reap the benefits of I2, and NIU's Chief Network Architect Herb Kuryliw, who will discuss the build-out status of NIUNet.

Computer users on campus might already have noticed some improvement in computing services since the I2 connection was made, Kuryliw said. Since that time, any electronic communication with other I2 institutions (mostly research universities and national laboratories) has been diverted to that channel automatically, relieving the existing campus network of about 20 percent of its typical load and resulting in better performance.

The biggest benefits of I2, such as the ability to download huge files, are still a ways down the road for most users, said Kuryliw, explaining that some system upgrades will be required to make those services available to the average desktop computer on campus.

NSF awards $396,000 grant to NIU chemistry professor

The National Science Foundation is providing a major boost to the research of NIU Professor Narayan Hosmane, whose work in the area of boron chemistry ranges from developing new cancer treatment drugs to finding ways to make better plastics.

NSF is awarding a grant of $396,000 over three years to the chemistry professor's research program. Since arriving at NIU in 1998 after 16 years at Southern Methodist University, Hosmane now has secured three NSF grants totaling more than $1 million.

The continued funding success is good news for Hosmane and his students. During Hosmane's tenure at NIU, 17 post-doctoral students, 6 Ph.D. candidates, four master's-level students and 18 undergraduates have worked as members of his research team, often publishing academic papers with their professor.

“I consider working with undergraduates my strength and take great pleasure in seeing them succeed,” Hosmane said. “All of my past undergraduate student workers had a minimum of two research publications each. Some that I worked with years ago have gone on to the point where they are now conducting research at other institutions and are competing with me for grant money.”

Hosmane's distinguished career has produced a long list of awards and recognitions.

In 2001, he was named a Presidential Research Professor at NIU. Later that year, he won the Humboldt Research Award for senior scientists (with a stipend of about $100,000) from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Bonn, Germany. He also was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Distinguished Chair of Chemistry at the University of Hyderabad, India and the Gauss Professorship at Göttingen Academy of Arts and Sciences in Germany.

Hosmane's area of expertise is in boron chemistry, and his multidisciplinary research has both applied and basic components. It involves making chemical compounds from scratch or modifying them to obtain desired effects. His research group also investigates the composition, properties and chemical structure of these compounds.

The newly funded research will involve elements of nanotechnology and work toward the development of both therapeutic compounds for cancer treatment and improved catalysts for production of superior plastics.

Hosmane has been working for many years to advance Boron Neutron Capture Therapy – an experimental, two-step approach to cancer treatment.

The treatment employs a boron-containing compound administered intravenously or through injection into a patient's tumor. A beam of low-energy neutrons is then directed at the tumor. The interaction between the boron and the beam is designed to kill tumor cells that have high concentrations of boron without harming normal cells.

The trick is finding a way to deliver optimum levels of boron to the cancer cells.

Hosmane's group recently published a research paper that details a technique for attaching boron cages to the walls of carbon nano-tubes, resulting in a water-soluble compound that can be absorbed by and selectively concentrated in human cells. One of the anonymous reviewers of the paper called the results “unbelievably spectacular.”

Hosmane's group now is working to perfect the technique, while also investigating the potential for the creation of boron nano-tubes.

Carbon nano-tubes also feature in Hosmane's efforts to create improved catalysts that would produce superior-quality plastics, important for uses in healthcare and other industries. A catalyst is a chemical compound that makes a chemical reaction work more effectively.

The carbon nano-tubes, with boron cage compounds attached, can serve as a template for the production of plastic, helping to orient the individual polymer units properly so that they only connect in a desired manner, resulting in fewer defects.

The new NSF funding also will support research that aims to improve and extend the uses of two classes of catalysts that are important in the plastics industry. Preliminary work indicates that some new boron compounds synthesized by Hosmane's group could significantly increase the effectiveness of these catalytic systems and, in one case, increase the product's recycling potential.

A portion of this research will be carried out collaboratively with scientists at BP Amoco's research center in Naperville.

NIU Supportive Professional Staff announces
recipients of Presidential Awards for Excellence

Four members of the Supportive Professional Staff (SPS) have been chosen to receive the university's Presidential Awards for Excellence.

The recipients are Sandi Carlisle, associate director for residential facilities; Glen A. Gildemeister, director of the Regional History Center and university archivist; Bradley Hoey, producer and director in Media Services; and Derrick Smith, academic counselor in the Center for Black Studies.

They will be honored at a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 28, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room in the Holmes Student Center. The awards ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. Each will receive a plaque and $1,500 in appreciation for their outstanding contributions to NIU.

SPS President Shey Lowman will receive the SPS Council Service Award.

Refreshments will be served, and the reception is open to all.

Sandi Carlisle

Employees of NIU's Physical Plant who work or supervise in the residence halls know Sandi Carlisle personally.

So do many students who live in the halls, which she has made safer.

Carlisle, associate director for residential facilities in Housing and Dining for four years, makes weekly trips to the plant. She meets with the director to discuss and plan critical maintenance issues and projects, followed by individual meetings with each of the trade foremen to talk job progress and staff concerns.

When one of the halls recently saw a $500,000 lobby and floor lounge upgrade, complete with brand new furniture in all 40 floor lounges in the complex, Carlisle collaborated extensively with the hall governments and staff to select furniture and fabric that would best suit the students' needs.

When approval came to open a new, 8,000-square-foot tutoring center in an old residence hall weight room, with only 12 months for the renovations, including clearing away equipment stacked floor to ceiling, Carlisle worked closely with ACCESS to make it happen.

“Sandi approaches the work environment from a win-win perspective,” added Michael Stang, director of residential operations. “She truly sees the benefit in developing staff skills and recognizing their contributions to the success of the team, the department and the university.”

Glen Gildemeister

Glen Gildemeister's history with NIU spans 34 years, but his intricate knowledge of the university's story reaches back more than a century.

The university archivist and director of the regional history center since 1977, who arrived on campus seven years earlier to earn his master's degree, is the author of “A Castle on the Hill.”

Published in 2005, the book is a three-year labor of love for Gildemeister, who wrote the pictorial history of NIU to raise money for University Libraries. Since he became treasurer of the Friends of NIU Libraries, its endowment has doubled to $150,000.

He also has augmented the archive's collections by 800 percent: NIU now keeps 600 collections occupying 7,000 feet of shelves. An adjunct professor of history since 1982, Gildemeister guided hundreds of visitors through Altgeld Hall after its renovation.

“He has done so much so quietly, unobtrusively and humbly, even as he at times explodes with contagious enthusiasm for the various 'causes,' only a few of which were part of his job description,” said William Johnson, distinguished teaching professor in the Department of English. “Professor Gildemeister has been and continues to be involved in making this not only an historically significant institution but one that serves – actively and continually – the campus, local and regional communities.”

Bradley Hoey

Brad Hoey's supervisors often urge the producer and director in Media Services to slow down.

From August until March – football through basketball – Hoey is known to work 15-hour days seven days a week. When relief is provided, or responsibilities delegated, he fills the breathing room by expanding the scope and quality of his other projects.

A familiar face to Huskies fans since 1990, he annually produces as many as 25 television shows on the teams. He packages video of Huskies highlights for awards ceremonies, fundraising events, recruiting trips and commercials broadcast during nationally televised games. He tapes press conferences, creates promotional spots for ticket sales and trains and manages crews of student workers who film practices and road games.

During football games aired on Comcast Sports Net, he serves as a sidelines reporter. During NIU contests inside the Convocation Center, he becomes the public address announcer.

When the sports calendar slows, Hoey turns his camera toward public relations elsewhere on campus and maintains his attention to mentoring students.

“He truly lives for NIU,” said Gordon Means, director of Media Services. “Having labored so successfully for so long has greatly helped to provide a ready audience and supportive professional media backing for the recent athletic successes that NIU is now proudly enjoying.”

Derrick Smith

Students who meet Derrick Smith, an academic counselor for the Center for Black Studies for the last decade, will learn the meaning of “success.”

Smith helped to create the “Success and Succeed Program,” affectionately called the “S plan,” that pairs upper-level African-American students with younger students in the same majors. Around 200 students have participated over the last six years, many going on to hold campus leadership positions before graduation.

His willingness to accompany students to meetings with professors has, in some cases, resulted in their retention. His annual summer basketball mentoring program helps financially disadvantaged DeKalb families. His involvement with African-American students in the DeKalb Public Schools works to create a healthy and empowering experience.

He counsels students who are struggling with drugs and alcohol and, if it's what they know from home, will visit their families to explain its impact on academic success.

Smith's encouragement and guidance has rescued many students either lost or on the verge of defeat. In 2005, the NIU doctoral candidate won the African Student Association's Most Supportive Faculty Member award.

“His work with the students has made them feel like someone cares for them,” said LaVerne Gyant, director of the Center for Black Studies. “He has been their advocate, counselor, father and big brother.”

Northern Television Center expands reach, newscast
thanks to new agreement with Comcast

NTC News Tonight, a full-length 10 p.m. news broadcast created by NIU journalism students, has made its debut on Comcast Channel 74.

The commercial-free, 20-minute newscast airs Monday through Thursday with next-day repeats at noon Tuesday through Friday. Cable subscribers in the Rochelle area can view the newscast on Comcast Channel 20.

Monday's official launch marked not only a return of the long-missing 10 p.m. newscast but also solved a mystery: whether NIU broadcast journalism students would ever return to the local “airwaves.”

“When this started,” said Allen May, the general broadcast manager, “we thought it was the end of the world.”

May is referring to a move last fall by Comcast officials to replace NIU's occasional five-minute local news segments during CNN Headline News breaks with its own content. Northern Television Center students had filled those slots for a decade; May's predecessor brokered the deal – the first such between Turner Broadcasting System and a university, he said – after the previous cable provider to DeKalb yanked NIU off Channel 8.

The CNN Headline News inserts became “all this little department had,” May said.

But Comcast then “pulled the plug without telling us, apparently unaware we were still doing this. Nobody realized they were knocking us off the air after 10 years,” he said. “Since last fall, we've been working with the Comcast folks to find a home. We're now, after more than a decade, able to reach greater DeKalb and Ogle counties with a full-length newscast, covering the news you won't see in Rockford and Chicago.”

“It's a great opportunity for our students, and that's the primary value: that our students' work is now aired, and it's aired regionally,” said Steven Ralston, chair of the NIU Department of Communication, where the journalism program is housed. “It's great for the department and the institution to provide that with our partner, Comcast. They worked with Allen for several months to get that done, and they got it done for us. They're a great partner.”

May promises local viewers will find “meaningful” news in the nightly broadcasts, produced “top to bottom” by students.

Each night includes a full weather forecast, prepared and delivered by students in NIU's meteorology program who have TV aspirations, and a full sports report that spotlights the NIU Huskies and nearby high school teams.

Enrollment in NIU's broadcast journalism program has tripled in recent years. A “staff” of 60 students at NTC learns the ropes of being reporters, camera operators, producers, directors, anchors and writers through their upper-level coursework.

The department and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have supported the program with a new and professional news writing and production system, a fully digital editing system and a sophisticated system for automated graphics that rivals those of other Illinois schools.

“It means we're able to give people in the whole community credible and relevant news and information that will help them stay in touch with themselves. It's about the connections we make in a community, to our government, our organizations and each other,” May said. “This is the only TV coverage on a day-to-day basis for our area, and it's getting our students out of the classroom to really learn journalism, out in the trenches where it's really happening. And our students are fully conscious that when they're on the air, people out in the community see it.”

“Community folks will see what NIU is producing, both in terms of the students' quality, and the students' work, and that's a point of pride,” Ralston added. “Plus, the community folks will see some interesting work you won't see every day.”

Comcast also benefits, May said.

“They recognize that a successful broadcast journalism program is certainly something they can proudly say they facilitated,” he said. “Cable operators like Comcast are becoming more directly involved, not just in distribution of programming but in creation of programming, especially in news and public affairs.”

May, who came to NIU in 2000 after a long career in TV news in Milwaukee, ultimately hopes to gain a permanent home for NTC on an “educational access” channel. The City of DeKalb has allowed the students to broadcast on its government access channel, and NTC will share Comcast Channel 74 with the Chicago Wolves, whose contests might preempt the news.

He also wants to begin airing additional types of programming, including documentaries made by Department of Communication film students and other pieces that promote agencies and services in the community.

“This is a remarkable victory,” he said, “and a remarkable opportunity.”

School of Music professor of conducting
to help lead Orchestre National de France

Brett Mitchell, a first-year assistant professor of conducting in the NIU School of Music, will this year experience Paris in June.

And August. And December. And maybe May.

Mitchell has been selected as the assistant conductor of the Orchestre National de France. He will make at least half a dozen trips a year to Paris to assist and cover for Maestro Kurt Masur in a role that eventually could expand to conducting the orchestra during educational and outreach performances.

The Seattle native learned of his success immediately after his audition, which took place in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The concert hall was the site of the world premiere of Stravinsky's “The Rite of Spring,” a work so avant-garde it caused riots in the audience.

“I was thrilled, obviously, and stunned. You get so used to rejection after a while – you're ready for it, you're prepared for it – I just remember when I heard my name,” Mitchell said. “The orchestra is just phenomenal, not only in their technical prowess, but they play with so much heart. They are never hesitant to dig in, and I love it.”

His opportunities in Paris, where he will meet, observe and work alongside some of the world's greatest conductors, will benefit his students in DeKalb as well as audiences for Philharmonic and Opera Workshop performances.

“Spending so much time with these great musicians can't help but affect my work here,” he said. “How could it not influence what I do?”

Mitchell's road to Paris began in New York by way of Austin, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees at The University of Texas.

Masur, who conducted the New York Philharmonic during the 1990s, returned in 2004 to lead a master-class for young conductors. Mitchell wanted to submit his name, but the course's culminating concert would take place the night before his wedding in Austin. His fiancée, flutist Holli Ryan, urged him to apply.

Five of the 100 applicants – Mitchell included – made the cut.

“Holli told me, ‘Go. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,' ” he said, quoting his now-wife.

When Mitchell returned to New York two months ago to conduct a performance of Mozart's 40th Symphony on the composer's 250th birthday, it was at Masur's invitation. Mitchell told the maestro how he had hoped to audition for the position in Paris, but had not heard of the opening until the application deadline had passed. Masur arranged the successful audition.

The position will not interfere with Mitchell's work on campus, where he is music director of both the NIU Philharmonic and the Opera Workshop.

He also will continue in his five-year role as the Dominion Foundation Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, where he spends all of July and part of August.

Originally a pianist, Mitchell earned a bachelor's degree in composition from Western Washington University. He had conducted a bit in high school, frequently filling in during his band director's absences, but hadn't considered the career path until putting his own music on paper.

“I began just by conducting my own works, hoping to just get some good performances of them,” he said. “After a while, I realized how much I also loved performing my colleagues' music, and how lucky I was to spend every day with geniuses like Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Bringing masterpieces both old and new to life with 100 colleagues – there's nothing I love more.”

Professor visits NYC to see play inspired by her textbook

Carla Montgomery just couldn't pass up what might have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Montgomery traveled to New York City two weeks ago to catch the final performances of a successful off-Broadway production. It was inspired by a geology textbook that Montgomery originally wrote in 1987.

The dance and acrobatics performance, titled “(w)HOLE,” an acronym for the (Whole) History Of Life on Earth, had a seven-week run at the Flea Theater. It was staged by LAVA, an award-winning Brooklyn-based troupe headed by founder and artistic director Sarah East Johnson.

Johnson invited Montgomery to a performance after informing her last semester that the geology book was the source of inspiration. Montgomery was thrilled, but she didn't think her schedule would permit a visit to the Big Apple. Montgomery serves half-time as acting associate dean in the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and also is teaching two geology courses this semester.

“I finally decided it was just too special not to go see the show,” said Montgomery, who took in two performances and dined with Johnson and other cast members.

“We talked for the better part of two hours over a Korean dinner,” Montgomery said. “Sarah developed the performance concept during an invitation-only small-group artists' retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2004. She took my book with her and used it to create (w)HOLE as her project for the retreat.”

Johnson wanted to treat Montgomery 's textbook as if it were a play. Geologic systems and processes, such as volcano formation, magnetic polarity reversal and rock cycles, were choreographed to dance, music, acrobatics, trapeze acts and background video images.

Montgomery 's book also was one of the stage props, along with other geologic equipment. During each performance, Johnson also inserted a mini-lecture to highlight for the audience some key geologic concepts, and she introduced Montgomery during that segment.

“In retrospect, I can't believe I even thought about not going,” Montgomery said. “It was a blast.”

Northern Star inducts six to Hall of Fame

Membership in the Northern Star Hall of Fame grew to 53 last month with the induction of six new alums, including two with connections to Hollywood.

Gerald DiPego, a reporter and columnist for the campus newspaper who graduated in 1963, is a screenwriter who includes “Phenomenon” and “The Forgotten” on his resumé. Diane Mermigas, the Northern Star's arts editor in 1972, is a contributing editor and columnist for The Hollywood Reporter and editor of her own “Mermigas on Media” subscription newsletter.

DiPego and Mermigas are among a class that includes the first graduate of NIU's journalism program, a former nationally syndicated sports columnist, a writer of plays, poems and short stories and the managing editor of a daily newspaper in a fiercely competitive suburban market.

Christy Arnold, a 1999 alum and reporter for the Pulitzer-finalist Charlotte Sun of Port Charlotte, Fla., received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Mark McGowan, of the NIU Office of Public Affairs, and a 1992 alum, received the annual BridgeBuilder Award.

The induction ceremony was held Saturday, Feb. 25, in Altgeld Hall, NIU's flagship building.

“We have a two-fold purpose with this,” Northern Star adviser Jim Killam said. “One is for the alumni to re-establish old friendships and to come back and see the campus again. The other is for our current students to see first-hand how much the Northern Star means to the people who have been here, even decades after their graduation.”

The Northern Star Hall of Fame honors former students, advisers and friends of the Northern Star who significantly affected the Northern Star, journalism or related fields, or who have otherwise received acclaim based in part on experience gained at the Northern Star.

Created in 2000, the Hall of Fame serves as a means to keep alumni actively involved in support of the Northern Star and to encourage Northern Star students toward excellence in their chosen career paths.

During the event, several honorees spoke about the Star students' publishing the controversial Danish cartoons.

“Even in that room full of journalists there were differences of opinion on the issue,” Killam said, “but what all of the speakers kept coming back to was the thoughtful, professional way the students handled it, and the courage it took to make the decision they did. Coming from journalists of that high caliber, those words meant a lot to our students.”

More information is available online at http://www.northernstar.info/alumni.

This year's inductees are:

• Mike Burke, a 1982 alum who serves as the public affairs director for the Bounce Learning Network, which develops early childhood education programs for low-income families. Burke also chairs the board of the Community Media Workshop, an organization devoted to teaching grassroots groups how to get their stories told by the mainstream media. He also has seen his fiction published in numerous magazines and his plays produced on Chicago stages.
• Gerald DiPego, class of 1963, who moved to California in 1970 to try his hand at screenwriting. The former reporter, public relations specialist and journalism and English teacher has written several novels in addition to his numerous screenplays for television and movies, including “Angel Eyes,” “Instinct” and “Message in a Bottle.” DiPego's novels include “Cheevey.”
• Diane Mermigas, who graduated in 1974 and later earned a master's degree in English from DePaul University. Mermigas covered the media for the Arlington Heights-based Daily Herald by attending press tours and interviewing stars, but expanded the beat by interviewing executives and covering the business end of entertainment. She later wrote for Crain Communications before her current job as a columnist and editor-at-large for The Hollywood Reporter. Her “Mermigas on Media” newsletter finds its way to the desks of industry leaders.
• Jim Price, class of 1961, NIU's first journalism graduate. Price worked for newspapers in Illinois, Iowa and Texas before settling in the Lone Star State at the San Antonio Light and, later, the San Antonio Express-News. He covered the courts and served as an investigative reporter before becoming an editor on the city and state and regional desks. Now retired, Price writes and edits releases for goodwill organizations, including his church.
• Greg Rivara, a 1991 alum and managing editor of the Kane County Chronicle. Rivara previously covered crime and courts at the Chronicle as well as the Ottawa Daily Times and the Crystal Lake-based Northwest Herald, where he also served as a bureau chief and news editor. He holds a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield and is president of the Northern Star Alumni Board of Directors as well as vice president of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association.
• Gary Stein, class of 1969, West Broward editor for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Sun-Sentinel. On a Northern Star staff with numerous future big names in journalism, Stein's peers agreed his words sparkled the most. He covered sports in Rockford for 11 years and later became a national sports columnist for Gannett before switching to the city desk in the Sunshine State. Stein wrote 3,000 news columns over 15 years, signing off in 1996 to take his current position.

Anthropology Museum exhibition examines
Islamic expressions in Southeast Asian cultures

A new exhibition opening soon at the NIU Anthropology Museum will explore the different expressions of Islam in Southeast Asian cultures.

“In light of the events unfolding around the world, there are a lot of stereotypes about the Islamic religion,” said Nagasura Madale, guest curator of the exhibition. “Our hope is people will leave the museum with a better understanding and appreciation of the rich tradition of Islam and of the cultural diversity among Muslims in Southeast Asia.”

“Islam in Southeast Asia: Common Themes, Diverse Expressions” will open Monday, March 20, and run through the summer at the Anthropology Museum, located in the Stevens Building on campus. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays or by appointment.

Artifacts featured in the new exhibit will include religious or ceremonial clothing, brassware, banners, woodcarvings, paintings and Arabic writings.

The exhibit will trace the history of Islam, the life of Mohammed and the spread of Islam to Southeast Asia through trade. It also will examine closely the overlay of Islamic values in all Southeast Asian cultures, as well as the underlying foundation of folk traditions and customs that pre-date the rise of Islam.

“The core elements of Islam are the same in Southeast Asia as in the Middle East,” said Ann Wright-Parsons, museum director. “But expressions of Islam vary widely across individual cultures. Each culture, be it Southern Thai, Malay, Indonesian or Filipino, gives its own unique flavor to Islam.”

“We demonstrate this fusion between folk tradition and Islam in a number of artifacts,” Madale added. For example, a long ceremonial cloth known as a lalansai is adorned with traditional Islamic symbols as well as a dragon.

“In the arts, you see that Islam didn't completely eliminate folk traditions; there was a degree of accommodation,” Madale said.

While the exhibit will feature artifacts from various Southeast Asian cultures, it will have a special focus on the guest curator's native Maranao people of Mindanao Island in the Philippines. Madale serves as vice president for research and extension at Capitol University there.

He is no stranger to NIU, however.

Madale was a graduate student at Northern in 1978 under the Fulbright Enrichment Program. He also serves as a project coordinator for the ACCESS Philippines initiative. For the third consecutive spring, the initiative will bring a group of young people from the southern Philippines to NIU for an intensive one-month training institute promoting conflict resolution and interethnic and interfaith dialogue.

“Every student who has participated in the institute has brought two cultural items to NIU, one for his or her host parents and one for the museum,” Madale said. “Over the years, the museum has acquired a number of artifacts this way.”

Some of those items will be among those displayed in the current exhibition, although the majority of artifacts are from the museum's substantial Southeast Asian collection.

The museum exhibition is being funded through a major grant from the Illinois Humanities Council. Related mini-exhibits also are being made available free of charge for a one-month loan to libraries and communities. Libraries in Sycamore, Rockford and Belvidere and at Kishwaukee College are among those planning displays.

For more information, contact the NIU Anthropology Museum at (815) 753-0230.

Geography alum spots NIU-produced maps
on display at Library of Congress in Washington

NIU alumnus Matthew Van Eck ('02) recently was reminded of the widespread influence of his alma mater during a visit to the Library of Congress in Washington , D.C.

Van Eck, who holds a degree in geography, naturally stopped by the new “Maps of our Lives” exhibition, where he spotted two maps produced by the NIU Cartography Lab. One satellite-image map depicts landscapes of northern Illinois, while the other map shows the Rockford mass transit system.

Van Eck said NIU is the only university to have two of its cartographic products featured in the exhibit, which will run through Jan. 7, 2007.

The cartographic section of “Maps in Our Lives” highlights more than 40 items selected from the annual map design competition of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM). The exhibits demonstrate notable advances in cartographic interpretations, design and production during the last 22 years.

Van Eck is a certified Geographic Information Systems professional who works for Texas-based BDS Technologies. While at NIU, he won the ACSM's annual map design competition for students. That map, related to WWII bombing missions, is part of the Library of Congress collection.

Passages

Frances Marion Miller, a professor of chemistry from 1968 to 1991, died Feb. 20 in Maryland. He was 80.

John S. Bainbridge, dean of the NIU College of Law from 1979 to 1982, died Jan. 25 in Kennett Square, Pa. He was 90.

Kudos

NIU geologist Ross Powell is lead author of a five-page feature spread in the March issue of Geotimes, an international news magazine for the geosciences.

Titled “Drilling Back to the Future,” the feature story provides an overview of the ANDRILL (Antarctic Geological Drilling) program, a $30 million international effort to recover geologic records buried beneath the Antarctic sea. (Click here to read the story online.)

The rock cores ultimately will provide scientists with a history of ice sheet behavior over millions of years, helping them to better understand contemporary global warming trends.

Powell is co-leader and co-chief scientist for the U.S. contingent of ANDRILL, which is getting substantial funding from the National Science Foundation. In all, about 150 scientists worldwide are involved in the drilling effort, which will be carried out in the fall seasons of 2006 and 2007.

At least half a dozen NIU scientists and students are expected to participate in the project.

* * *

NIU anthropologist Kendall Thu will travel to Rome later this month and to East Asia later this year as part of an effort to address global structural changes and emerging issues in livestock production. The United Nations and an international scientific community are leading the initiative.

Two conferences are aimed toward the publication of a scholarly book and policy recommendations that will focus on the consequences of the rapidly expanding livestock industry on health, economic, social and ecological systems. It is projected that by 2020, meat production will have to increase by 60 percent to meet population growth and a growing standard of living.

Thu, who for many years has been investigating the social implications of agricultural change, will be among 25 scholars leading the effort and contributing to the book volume.

Founders lobby exhibition focuses on women's history

“Women's History Month: Re-imagining Sisterhood” is the lobby exhibition for March in Founders Memorial Library. For more information, contact Leanne Vandecreek at (815) 753-4025 or via e-mail at lvandecreek@niu.edu.

'Locks of Love' drive seeks donations of hair

NIU' Health Professions House and College of Health and Human Sciences will host a hair donation drive Tuesday, March 7, to benefit the Locks of Love Organization.

Members of the NIU and DeKalb County communities are invited to participate in the drive from 12:30 to 5:30 pm in the Diversions Lounge of the Holmes Student Center.

Area stylists from such salons as Amanda's Spa and Beauty, Serenity Salon and New Style Hair Salon have donated their afternoons to provide haircuts free of charge for individuals willing to donate 10 inches (or more) of hair. For persons who cannot donate this amount but still would like to participate, regular haircuts will be given for a $5 each with all proceeds donated to Locks of Love.

Contrary to popular belief, individuals with colored (dyed) hair in good condition still can donate their locks. Only completely bleached hair or recently permed hair cannot be donated.

Locks of Love is a not-for-profit organization that provides recipients with a custom, vacuum-fitted hairpiece made entirely from donated human hair. The vacuum-fit is designed for children who have experienced a total loss of scalp hair and does not require the use of tape or glue.

For more information about the donation drive, call (815) 753-1891.

Nominations sought for Deacon Davis Diversity Award

NIU's Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities (PCSM) invites nominations for the 2006 Deacon Davis Diversity Award. Created in 2004, this award recognizes the significant contributions made to the improvement of the status of minorities on campus by members of the university community.

The PCSM encourages nominations from the university community including current NIU undergraduate, graduate or professional students; faculty, SPS or civil service staff; academic units, offices, programs or organizations. Nominations and an additional letter of support must be in writing and received by Wednesday, March 15.

The Deacon Davis Award is named in honor of the late founder and former director of the CHANCE (College Help & Assistance Necessary for College Education) Program. Davis passed away March 20, 2003.

Past award recipients include LeRoy Mitchell, director of the CHANCE Program; Monique Bernoudy, associate athletics director; Michael Kirkwood, recent law school alumnus; Dr. James Brunson, assistant vice-president of Diversity & Equity; LaMetra Curry, doctorial student; and the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center.

The Deacon Davis Award is a non-monetary award. Awards will be bestowed upon the selected recipients during the Annual PCSM Spring Banquet held Wednesday, April 5.

Nomination forms and guidelines can be found at www.niu.edu/pcsm/, or contact Melody Mitchell at (815) 753-1027 or via e-mail at mmitchell@niu.edu.

NIU Art Gallery presents 'Strange Fictions' exhibition

The NIU Art Gallery in Chicago announces “Strange Fictions,” a group exhibition organized by guest curator Chris Kahler. The exhibition runs Wednesday, March 15, through Saturday, April 29, with a public reception for the artists from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 24.

The 10 participating artists use the visual language of science fiction to create works of art that both play to our fascination and fear of the possibilities of the future.

Hours at the gallery, 215 W. Superior, 3 rd Floor, are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. All gallery events are free and open to the public. Call (312) 642-6010 or visit http://www.vpa.niu.edu/museum for more information.

Ashlee Simpson coming to NIU Convocation Center

Ashlee Simpson will bring her “ I Am Me” tour to the NIU Convocation Center at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 29.

Tickets are $29 for students (limit two) and $34 for the general public. Tickets are available at the NIU Convocation Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling (312) 559-1212, or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

For more information call (815) 752-6800 or visit www.niuconvo.com.

Host families sought for international exchange

NIU is seeking families in DeKalb, Sycamore and the surrounding area to host Muslim and non-Muslim youth and adult community leaders from the southern Philippines for two weeks this spring.

The visitors will be participating in a training institute led by the university's Center for Southeast Asian Studies and International Training Office. Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the institute is designed to promote conflict resolution and interethnic and interfaith dialogue. Participants are selected through a competitive application process, have outstanding academic credentials and are fluent in English.

The training institute will introduce participants to American institutions that promote tolerance and will expose them to the religious and ethnic diversity of the United States. NIU hopes to place the high school students with local families who have students of about the same age, if possible. Host families also are needed for adult leaders who will be working with the young people.

The Filipino students and adults will stay with their host families from April 23 to May 7. Host families will provide the visitors with transportation to and from campus, where workshops will be held daily. Students will join their host families for breakfasts and most dinners. They will have at least one free day each week during the two-week host-family experience.

Host families will be required to attend a March 30 orientation session, where past host families will share their experiences from a similar program held in 2004 and 2005.

Interested families should contact Julie Lamb, outreach coordinator for the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, at (815) 753-1595, (815) 753-1771 or jlamb@niu.edu. More information is available here.

'Walk 4 Wisdom' scheduled
for pediatric brain tumor research

The NIU community is invited to participate in the first annual “A Walk 4 Wisdom” on Sunday, May 7, at DeKalb's Hopkins Park to raise awareness and funding for pediatric brain tumor research.

The event will feature a 5K run, 3K family walk and a kids walk. Check-in begins at 12:30 p.m.

Proceeds will benefit pediatric brain tumor research at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago . The event is organized by Caps4Sam, a local organization started by ITS employee Dan Ihm and his family. For more information, or to download a registration form, visit http://www.caps4sam.com.

3-6-06