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 Join NIU President John G. Peters as he delivers his annual State of the University Address.
The address begins at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium. A reception immediately follows the address in the Altgeld Auditorium Foyer.
For more information, call the Office of Special Events at (815) 753-1999 or e-mail ellena@niu.edu.
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 Moses Mutuku’s transformation of Mwala, which started with roofs and dams, has reached hearts and minds.
Mutuku and his NIU College of Education colleagues have worked in the small Kenyan village since 2000 to narrow the education gap between rural and urban students. Their simple and unwavering policy: Empower the people.
This summer, parents in Mwala demonstrated startling and critical confirmation that change is afoot.
“It’s something we never expected. We knew by empowering people we were doing something, but we never knew they’d have so much insight into their own needs,” Mutuku said. “It was really something. We were just taken aback. We were really proud.”
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 The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the NIU Center for Southeast Asian Studies a $1.7 million grant for its continued program and worldwide outreach efforts.
The award is a renewal of the Center’s Title VI Undergraduate National Resource Center Grant. The grants are awarded every four years to support efforts to increase the national capacity of trained specialists in world languages and cultures.
With 45 faculty associates and staff specialists, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies is recognized internationally for its scholarship and resources.
“Our faculty and staff continue to make NIU a world-class resource on Southeast Asia,” said political scientist Dwight King, who serves as center director. “The award also underscores the growing importance of Southeast Asia on the world stage.”
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 Promod Vohra, dean of the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, has announced that Chien-Chung “Shark” Teng is the first student from the college to pursue an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in nanotechnology.
Teng, who earned his master’s degree at NIU in mechanical engineering, has a joint appointment this fall with the Department of Mechanical Engineering in CEET and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
His research focuses on the growing ultrananocrystaline diamond films. The films may have potential applications in satellite communication, creating sensors that are sensitive to minute changes in weight or to detect the presence of oxygen and certain enzymes.
Vohra heralded the announcement, saying it opens the door to expanding nanotechnology research at NIU.
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 Marc D. Falkoff, a new professor in the NIU College of Law, was counsel to prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and one of the first U.S. citizens to visit the controversial military detainment camp in Cuba.
Now Falkoff is among a distinguished group of panelists participating Thursday, Oct. 5, in a national teach-in titled “Guantánamo: How Should We Respond?”
The teach-in is a series of panels and lectures featuring Guantánamo lawyers, journalists, doctors, theologians, historians, human rights activists and released detainees. It will be simulcast from Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CDT. As one of more than 250 participating colleges, NIU Law will broadcast the conference live in Altgeld Hall Room 100.
For his part in the event, Falkoff will introduce and read poetry written by Guantánamo Bay detainees.
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 NIU is the force behind “Visual Culture & Gender,” an online academic journal that debuted Sept. 15.
Each fall’s multimedia posting will encourage and promote an understanding of how visual culture puts gender into context alongside age, class, race, sexuality and social units.
The brainchild of Deborah Smith-Shank, head of the School of Art’s art education division, and Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education at Pennsylvania State University, also will make the most of its technological origins through embedding full-color images and even films inside the articles.
“Our primary objective is to facilitate the use of color imagery in scholarly publications,” Smith-Shank said. “This online journal is not as evolved as it will be, but we haven’t seen any other journal out there that does what we’re doing with VCG right now. We really wanted to include visual essays because, although we realize that text is important, there are other ways of communicating, especially for artists.”
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 Melissa Hawkins stands alone on the stage, inhabiting the body and soul of a woman who is possibly dead.
The woman, whose name is Juliet, tells stories of the desolate Romanian prison where she was captive after the Hungarian revolution of 1956.
Her husband was imprisoned elsewhere, she reveals, and her seven children clamored around her for any morsel of food. Juliet clung to memories of her husband – his photographs, his love letters – and longed to hear his voice, touch his hand and share his bed.
When she succumbed to illness and was carried to the prison camp’s morgue, she met God, the one in whom she had placed so much trust. Their encounter was not peaceful.
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 The College of Law is mourning the loss of Francis X. Riley, one of its most renowned professors and advocates, who died Sept. 14 in Chicago. He was 93.
Riley devoted his life to the law and education. He was one of the law school’s original faculty members when it opened in 1975 at Lewis University in Glen Ellyn, Ill. He also played an integral role with the transfer of the law school to NIU in 1978. He taught full-time until 1983 and then part-time until 1987.
Highly respected among the student body, he received the NIU Law Faculty Member of the Year Award from the classes of 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984. In 1998, the NIU Law Alumni Council named Riley an honorary alumnus.
After his retirement, Riley remained highly involved with NIU Law as an active member of its Board of Visitors.
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 Read good news about – and send congratulations to – Rosemary Feurer, Milivoje Kostic and Daniel Unger.
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The Women’s Resource Center has posted its current newsletter online. The newsletter includes information about and nomination deadlines for several awards, including the Outstanding Women Student Awards.
Fall programming, including brown-bag lunches, is posted on the center’s Web page.
The NIU Division of International Programs is seeking nominations for two awards that will be presented later this fall during the annual International Recognition Reception.
The Outstanding International Educator Award recognizes an NIU faculty or staff member who has contributed significantly toward international education at the university. The award also aims to heighten visibility and awareness of international education.
The 2006 award recipient will have made sustained contributions to the enhancement of international education at NIU through teaching, research, public service and student-service efforts. The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, Oct. 20. Nomination forms are available online.
The second major honor, the award for Outstanding Contribution to International Education at NIU, recognizes the academic unit or support unit that has made the most significant contribution toward international education on campus during the last academic year.
The deadline for the nominations this fall is Wednesday, Nov. 1. Nomination forms are available online.
For more information about the awards, contact Sara Clayton at (815) 753-9526. -- MORE
The Insurance and Employee Benefits Office of Human Resource Services has announced the month of October as an open enrollment period for employees wishing to enroll in the Prudential Long-Term Disability Plan.
Enrollment forms are available from the Insurance and Employee Benefits Office in person or by phone at (815) 753-6000. Applications should be returned directly to the office by Tuesday, Oct. 31, and coverage will begin Dec. 1. Deductions begin the first pay period in November.
Employees not currently enrolled will receive an enrollment kit through campus mail, pre-printed with the monthly benefit and monthly premium. Individuals who miss this open enrollment opportunity can enroll at a later time, but will have to go through medical underwriting and must wait until they are approved by Prudential.
All currently enrolled participants in Prudential should be aware that new premiums will begin Dec. 1, though these figures are not available yet.
A representative from Prudential will visit campus for two informational sessions at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, in the Illinois Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Call (815) 753-6000 for more information.
NIU's Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center is offering grants of up to $2,500 each annually to continuing tenured and 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 funds from the applicants' academic units or appropriate external sources are required.
Tenured or tenure-track faculty who plan to submit proposals by the Nov. 10 deadline and need more information are encouraged to register and attend the Faculty Development Grant Writing Seminar from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6. Register online at or email facdev@niu.edu. -- MORE
The NIU men’s and women’s golf teams host the Huskie Fall CoAm, scheduled Friday, Oct. 6, at River Heights.
This interactive event allows boosters to enjoy meeting and playing with Huskie golfers while competing in an 18-hole scramble with cart. Lunch is included prior to play at 12:30 p.m., and a light meal will be provided during the open bar. A hospitality hour and awards presentation takes place after play.
All amenities, plus a Huskie Golf welcoming gift, are available for a $90 package price. Guests wishing to join the festivities for the 6 p.m. hospitality hour and awards presentation can do so for $20.
Contact Assistant Women’s Coach Jen Clark for entry forms and confirmation at (815) 753-6888 or via e-mail at jaclark@niu.edu. All proceeds benefit NIU men’s and women’s golf.
The Greater Kishwaukee Area Concert Band will present a pops concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall.
Sponsored by Kishwaukee Community Hospital, the concert will feature a variety of songs, from “The Godfather” to “Sentimental Journey” to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” The concert is free, open to the public and accessible to all.
The next production of the NIU School of Theatre and Dance, "Exercises in Style," is the story of an incident involving a man on a bus, re-told many times in a variety of ways.
Presented as the school’s first 2006-2007 Season Studio Series production, the play is directed by Dr. Robert Schneider. The show will be held Thursday, Oct. 12, through Sunday, Oct. 15, in the Stevens Building Corner Theatre. Thursday through Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 and available only at the door.
Schneider describes the production as a series of skits with a continuation of the initial incident integrated throughout the play. “Within each skit of the incident,” he says, “there is no limitation on creative styles. The styles of the different skits are based on anything and everything, giving each its own unique style, or flavor.”
Contact the Stevens Building Box Office at (815) 753-1600 from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. weekdays from or visit the School of Theatre and Dance Web page at www.niu.edu/theatre/ for further information.
NIU’s Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute has announced dates and times for this fall’s small group presentations.
All are held in the Latino Resource Center, 515 Garden Road.
For more information, contact MCTI graduate assistant Kimberly Reuille, at mcti@niu.edu or (815) 753-8557 for more information. -- SCHEDULE
The fourth premiere video presentation of NIU sociology professor George Kourvetaris’ Paideia Projects takes place at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, at the Fountain Blue, 2300 S. Mannheim Road in Des Plaines.
The donation is $60 for general admission, $45 for faculty and staff and $35 for students. The dinner includes filet mignon and breast of chicken, appetizers, cocktails before and after dinner, wine on the table, an assortment of musicians, the show and a book exhibit.
For tickets, contact (847) 296-6223 or e-mail ykourvet@niu.edu. Tickets are limited. All videos are produced by NIU Media Services.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s mobile drivers’ facility will return to the NIU campus for its third consecutive year. Officials will set up a “mini facility” once a month outside Diversions Show Lounge.
The facility allows students, faculty and staff of NIU, along with the public, to get driver’s licenses or state IDs. This would include new, renewals and replacements. In addition, staff will renew license plate stickers, register applicants to vote and sign interested parties up for the new Organ Donor Registry.
October’s date is Monday, Oct. 16. The hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The NIU Christian Faculty and Staff Prayer Group meets from noon to 12:50 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month in the East Room of Blackhawk Cafeteria. Bring your own lunch or purchase one there.
October’s date is Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Join fellow Huskie fans at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8, to watch NIU take on Miami Ohio University on the big screen.
Enjoy giveaways, snacks, a halftime buffet and cash bar. Children will enjoy balloon animals, face painting and more. The event is sponsored by Goose Island Brew Pub. Tickets cost $15; children 12 and younger are free when accompanied by a parent or guardian.
NIU’s Alumni Association is offering a New Year’s trip to Sicily and Rome from Dec. 27 through Jan. 5.
Celebrate the New Year in the “Eternal City” of the West and capital of Italy: Rome. Visit the Vatican Museums, the Basilica of San Pietro, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, or relax at one of many luxurious cafes.
The cost is $2,599 per person, double occupancy; single supplement available. Optional side trips are an additional cost. For more information, or to place your reservation, call Pat Anderson at (815) 753-1512.
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