October 30, 2006, Northern Today Abridged

NIU archaeologist says cotton seeded
growth of ancient Peruvian civilization

The ancient Peruvians living on the country’s central coast made regular inland pilgrimages for trade, feasts, religious ceremonies and temple construction, giving rise to the first-known complex civilization in the Americas, suggests a new hypothesis by NIU anthropologist Winifred Creamer.

Creamer and her husband, Jonathan Haas of Chicago’s Field Museum, describe what they believe was a unique path to civilization in the October issue of Current Anthropology.

The cultivation of storable grain, such as corn or rice, was a key ingredient to the growth of ancient civilizations in other areas of the world, but Creamer and Haas believe a different crop spurred the rise of complexity in Peru: cotton.

“The coastal waters were rich in tiny fish, and fishermen needed the cotton grown at inland sites to make their nets,” Creamer said. “It’s not that the people on the coasts couldn’t farm, but they would have had to leave the coast and set up inland. You can’t plant and fish at the same time.”

Archaeological excavations in recent years have continued to shed light on the ancient Peruvian civilization that arose more than 5,000 years ago in the “Norte Chico,” a dry and dune-covered region of four valleys about 100 miles north of Lima.

It is believed to be the place where cultural evolution in the Andes first diverged from simple hunting and gathering into a trajectory that ultimately led to such highly complex civilizations as the Moche, Wari and Inca.

Over the course of more than a millennium, the Norte Chico saw the development of more than 20 major inland communities, each with dwellings, irrigated agriculture, large circular ceremonial structures and one or more rectangular, terraced pyramids.

The new premise by Creamer and Haas challenges previous theories that suggest maritime activities drove the growth of the Peruvian civilization and that the ancient inland site of Caral was the region’s central city.

“If maritime exploitation was the driving engine behind the development of complex political systems, there should have been examples up and down the coast,” Haas said. “Also, while there were ancient coastal settlements, all of the truly monumental architecture is inland. Based on the currently available picture of site occupation in the Norte Chico, the maritime coastal sites seem to be secondary elements in the overall political system.”

“Our research shows that numerous inland centers developed rather than a single capital for the region,” Creamer added. “While Caral is an important archaeological site, it’s not the oldest, nor the largest, nor the most complex in the Norte Chico.”

The relatively small number of dwellings found at inland sites led the researchers to conclude that the inlanders probably didn’t build their large monumental temples by themselves.

“Although the inland sites are quite large in terms of total area occupied, comparatively little of this space is taken up by permanent residential architecture,” Creamer said. “This suggests that coastal fishermen were participants in periodic activities at inland centers such as trade, feasting and ritual activities.”

Archaeologists have found botanical remains of domesticated plants such as cotton, corn, squash, beans and avocadoes at the inland sites, as well as numerous remains of shellfish and fish bones.

“Only by combining the total output of numerous coastal villages up and down the Peruvian coast could the quantity of marine resources consumed at these inland centers be accommodated,” Haas said.

He and Creamer believe the “inland innovators” were the effective power-holders on a regional scale, and that separate inland sites might have competed against each other. Their power was based on the production of cotton, critical for exploiting marine resources, and domesticated plants, critical for a balanced diet.

“The coastal trade partners are likely to have visited the inland sites and contributed labor to mound-building efforts,” Creamer said. “We also find stones that were burned bright red and appear to have come from cooking on earthen ovens. The fire-altered rock is scattered consistently on the surface and in the fill of almost every platform mound. We speculate that the feasts may have marked the beginning or completion of construction segments.”

Both Creamer and Haas said more research is needed to confirm their hypothesis. “It is not thoroughly confirmed with diverse data sets and certainly still needs to be rigorously tested with collection of new field data and analysis,” Creamer said.

“Still, it’s clear that the rise of civilization in the Norte Chico represents a unique cultural development without clear counterparts anywhere in the world,” she added. “Our perspective is very different today from that of only 10 years ago. If scholarly research is allowed to continue in the area, our understanding of this critical period in Andean history will continue to grow rapidly.”

Book names NIU among nation’s
top campuses for LGBT students

NIU is among the nation’s best campuses for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, according to the recently published Advocate College Guide.

The Advocate, the leading magazine for the LGBT community, calls its book “a comprehensive guide to colleges and universities with the best programs, services and student organizations for LGBT students.”

“I’m very excited,” said Margie Cook, director of NIU’s LGBT Resource Center. “NIU has been on a trajectory since about 1991 of gradually improving its policies, programs and services to ensure that LGBT students, faculty and staff are welcome here, and that this is truly a university for everyone.”

NIU was nominated anonymously for the rankings, Cook said, and survived the first cut after she and some students completed online surveys.

After a second round of more extensive surveys, and a requirement to supply more student voices, NIU scored 16 of a possible 20 points on the book’s “Gay Point Average.”

Among the positives: Student and ally organizations. A resource center. An ally program, started in 1997. LGBT-inclusive health and counseling services. A nondiscrimination statement inclusive of sexual orientation. LGBT history and awareness months. Significant numbers of LGBT educational and social activities. A variety of LGBT courses. Benefits for domestic partners.

Two of the missed points – scholarships for LGBT students and an active alumni group – already are being remedied, Cook said: NIU will award its first LGBT scholarship, bequeathed by a former professor, next year. Alumni outreach is beginning.

And after years of “slow and difficult work,” she said, the Advocate’s nod provides welcome validation.

“We have finally arrived, and we have come so far,” she said. “This really puts us on the map as one of the top 100 campuses in the nation – it’s an elite group – and puts a positive message out for those there who are searching for an accepting campus.”

“NIU has plenty of people on campus who are aware of LGBT issues,” the book quotes a 20-year-old lesbian sophomore. “I felt very safe after finding all the resources available to me, and didn’t have any problem coming out.”

About 8 percent of NIU’s students identify as LGBT, according to a 1992 survey. The LGBT Resource Center has about three visitors a day, Cook said, and the Prism student organization has about 215 e-mail addresses in its database.

Cook herself began work at NIU in 1994 and started the development of LBGT services three years later. The center was created in March of 2003.

Both were later steps in a march toward an “accepting, progressive and inspiring campus” begun in 1970, with the creation of the Gay Liberation Front, and later in 1992, when former NIU President John La Tourette created the Task Force on Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation.

The task force’s 1993 report, “Building Community: The Inclusion of Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals,” gave birth to the Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in 1994.

Cook said LGBT students still in high school will find the Advocate’s book invaluable.

“They have the same concerns as anybody: ‘Will I fit in? Will I make friends?’ But for an LGBT student, there’s an added layer. ‘Will I be accepted? Will I be able to find other students with whom I share this in common?’ And although there’s more visibility of LGBT identity, and more discussion in society, there’s still a stigma. There’s still discrimination,” she said.

“Many young people still feel a great sense of isolation when they go through the process of understanding their own LGBT identity,” she added. “College offers probably the first opportunity for many young people to find a connection and to find a place where they’ll be accepted as LGBT individuals.”

The book also is good resource for parents of LGBT teens and for prospective students who are straight but have LGBT relatives and friends, Cook said.

“As our society has opened up a little about LGBT identity, we know that more and more people are coming out in high school,” she said. “I interact with parents who know their students are LGBT and want to know that their children will be in a safe and supportive environment at college.”

For more information about NIU’s LGBT programs and services, visit www.niu.edu/lgbt.

NIU’s backstage man loves his job

Tracy Nunnally is a bear of a man with a deep, warm voice and a curly reddish beard that skirts the line between well-groomed and unruly.

But when he speaks of his life’s work – making actors fly and sharing that skill with others – his eyes gleam with the sly twinkle of an impish elf.

Or maybe that’s just the sleep deprivation.

“My husband has stamina like no one I’ve seen in my whole life,” says Gabe Nunnally, married to Tracy since 2000. “I’ve tried to keep up with him, but I can’t. Last night, he didn’t come to bed until 5:30 in the morning, and I had to get him back up for work at 7:30. One of my roles is to go to bed early whenever possible.”

“I’ve mastered the art of sleeping on planes,” adds Tracy, associate professor and technical director in the NIU School of Theatre and Dance. “In this business, you just train yourself to get sleep when you can. Sometimes you go three, four, five days without sleep. Sometimes you get three hours of sleep a night for three weeks. You just manage.”

Yet Nunnally, 41, keeps a schedule quite the opposite of what’s usually considered manageable.

In addition to teaching 19 hours of classes across both levels, he teaches and supervises the graduate students who serve as technical directors for the school’s stage productions. “You can’t survive being this busy if you can’t delegate,” he jokes.

His cozy office in the Stevens Building, decorated with small toys, Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals and take-out menus, is a Grand Central Station of sorts for his students. His computer has three monitors, and he’s permanently wired to his cell phone through an ear bud.

A rundown of his upcoming freelance gigs, sent via e-mail at 3:59 a.m. on a Tuesday, tells the real tale.

Hall Associates Flying Effects, the company Nunnally bought in December of 2004, is in high demand around the globe – and the boss has a hard time saying no. Business has blossomed 400 percent since he took ownership, and Gabe, who Nunnally calls “the love of my life,” handles all the day-to-day operations.

Nunnally, professionally certified as a rigger and one of only 45 to pass both sections of the industry’s first-ever examination in 2005, spent a few days earlier this month in Colorado to mount a production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Over the next six weeks, he’s providing special effects for four high school productions across the suburbs. His work near the teens discretely woos them to the NIU College of Visual and Performing Arts.

In December, he will fly Santa Claus over the winter festival of Owensboro, Ky.

A motor-driven sleigh will soar above the outdoor crowd and land on a sidewalk near the Riverpark Centre, where Santa will jump out to greet the children. The sleigh will glide along cables strung from the top of a parking ramp and the rooftop of the town’s performing arts center.

December also takes him to Knoxville, Tenn., for the town’s annual production of “The Living Christmas Tree.” It’s become a tradition for Nunnally’s students, who fly everyone from Santa Claus to angels.

The Calvary Church in Naperville booked Nunnally and Co. for Christmas shows that require a hot air balloon gondola to transport three travelers, and the audience’s imaginations, to places around the world.

His company also has other Christmas shows booked in Arizona, California, New York, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. It’s a return engagement in the nation’s capitol. They’re rigging the flying systems for “A Christmas Carol” in the historic Ford’s Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was shot.

And before the New Year begins, they’re flying Peter Pan in Missouri and Nebraska, Aladdin in Minnesota and Othello in California.

The industry is paying attention: Stage Direction magazine recently devoted an article to Nunnally’s work on “Dr. Doolittle,” a Broadway show he remounted for the road.

“The better you are, and the busier you are, people just seem to find you. You know, it’s said that ‘if you want it done right, find the busy guy.’ Well, people are finding us,” he says. “And this is what we live for. The world is safe if I’m busy. My mind is always busy.”

As are the minds of his fortunate students.

“It’s the firm belief of this faculty that we need to practice what we preach,” says Alex Gelman, director of the NIU School of Theatre and Dance. “It’s important that the faculty in the professional-training tracks remain active in the profession, and he is working at a number of different levels. That’s just of tremendous benefit.”

So are the associations. Paul Rubin, a friend of Nunnally’s who practices extensively on Broadway choreographing flying effects, spent last Monday on campus working with students on a day off from the Chicago production of “Pirate Queen.”

“This is at no charge to me or the school,” Nunnally says, “and a great connection for any of my students who want to go to NYC.”

Nunnally’s love of this life began in high school.

He grew up in Buford, Ga., near Atlanta. His father worked as a scheduler for a pipeline company, using math to determine the when, where and how much of transporting gas underground. It was a daily grind – a job tied to a desk – and a path Nunnally was determined to avoid.

Meanwhile, the 16-year-old and his buddies began fooling around with a video camera. Nunnally figured out how to “fly” his pal Bill Jones, starring as Superman in their homemade movie.

“That just migrated over to the live stage,” he says. “I like the stage better. It’s more of a challenge. It’s a deadline-driven industry. People are walking through that door on opening night, and you don’t have a second chance.”

Theater also presents puzzles.

Every space is different. Every actor is different. Some things have never been done before. The illusion of flight must seem real. The trickery of the movie camera or computer-generated imagery is not available. Safety is paramount.

“Tracy’s company is one of three in the country. I would trust him over the competition any day, and I’ve worked for the competition,” graduate student and Hall employee Scott Madaski says. “His tenacity to make it correct, and safe, is amazing.”

Producers whose pocketbooks cannot match their grand ambitions to fly actors, especially actors playing the boy from Neverland, discover a “good heart” in Nunnally.

“He’ll say, ‘I can’t turn myself away and know that they’re going to try to do it on their own,’ ” wife Gabe Nunnally says. “He would rather lose money on a job if he thought someone might get hurt.”

Clients hear this: “Of course we can do it.” They don’t hear what Nunnally asks himself: “How can we do it?”

So far, though, no one has stumped him. Credit experience.

While earning his bachelor’s degree at LaGrange College in Georgia, he realized he wanted to teach college students. While earning his MFA at Florida State University, he learned enough to understand he knew nothing at all.

“I decided to work professionally for 10 years,” he said. “I had to make myself worthy.”

Nunnally moved to Canada, where he was hired as technical director for Theatre Calgary. He also found work for a film production company called Unreel Effects and as a rigger for the International Alliance for Theatre and Stage Employees, Local 212, of which he is still a member.

Eventually, the theater department at Calgary’s Mount Royal College asked him to teach one day a week.

The small class met from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a schedule that sometimes interfered with Nunnally’s regular day job – and inspired his teaching philosophy. If he was unexpectedly needed on a set, he’d pile the whole group in his Chevy Suburban for an impromptu field trip backstage.

“I started to develop the idea that on-the-job training was so valuable,” he says.

After a decade in Canada, Nunnally felt ready to teach. His feelers found NIU. “The size, the proximity to Chicago, the attitude of the other professors – there are so many things good about DeKalb.”

Now students have an additional factor to count among those positives: Tracy Nunnally, a teacher for whom “Does that make sense?” ends most of his sentences.

Many disciples have come from far away simply for the rare chance to spend three years studying under Nunnally, who they most likely discovered at work on professional jobs. “I’ve gone out. I’ve worked with them. They like what they see,” he says. “They say, ‘Hey, I could learn from that guy. The stuff he’s teaching could be valuable to me.’ ”

Madaski, a native of Iron River, Mich., and a graduate of Northern Michigan University, is one who followed the piper to DeKalb.

“I met up with Tracy on a ‘Beauty and the Beast’ gig at Northern Michigan University,” says Madaski, who already had logged 15 years as a pro. “He told me about the program he had and what they did here as far as technical direction and all the different projects we can do with Hall Associates. There are more opportunities here than at other grad schools.”

“There are several schools where you can go to learn how to make a motor spin, or how to do rigging, but it’s an academic classroom example and it’s right out of a book,” adds Ryan Poethke, a Cedarburg, Wis., native who found NIU while working as a freelance theater tech in Chicago. “If students are interested, Tracy takes them to flying gigs around the country and the world. We learn by doing practical projects.”

Madaski, who leaves for Singapore soon to install a two-motor flying winch system he and Poethke designed and built for a nightclub there, hopes to follow Nunnally into academia.

“He is a confident professional, and I find it interesting that his patience level for freshmen and undergraduates can be so pronounced,” Madaski says. “I know many professionals who could not deal with brand new 18-year-old freshmen, but he is professionally and educationally calm and straight-forward. The term is ‘professional,’ but in our realm, it’s being very direct and very sociable and getting what you need without having to coax.”

Nunnally beams when he speaks of the experiences he provides his students, whether through internships, freelance jobs at his side or on tech crews for the School of Theatre and Dance.

“My students have a reputation of getting the job done and following through. To me, that’s just part of their education,” he says. “Being able to put people like Ryan and Scott out there, with the confidence to do what it is they want to do, gives me a great sense of satisfaction.”

It’s only one of the rewards that make his crazy schedule worthwhile.

The other comes in a darkened theater when one of his amazing effects begins its magic. He can feel the shift in the room. He can hear the collective inhale.

“When Peter Pan takes off from the stage and flies out over the audience and buzzes the Jones family in the seventh row … I’m getting goosebumps on my arm just thinking about it,” he says. “I love the look on kids’ faces when you have taken something from someone else’s imagination and brought it to life. That’s all the thanks I need. I don’t need a standing ovation or applause.”

Cosmologist, author Rocky Kolb will visit NIU

Cosmologist Rocky Kolb, a well known author, popular speaker and pioneering researcher on the early universe, will visit NIU to lead a colloquium from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, in Faraday West 200.

The public is invited to attend the event, which also will include a question-and-answer period.

Kolb is a founding head of the NASA/Fermilab Astrophysics Group at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia and a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago. He presently serves as director of Fermilab’s Particle Astrophysics Center.

Kolb’s book for the general public, “Blind Watchers of the Sky,” received the 1996 Emme Award of the American Aeronautical Society. In addition to more than 200 scientific papers, he is a co-author of “The Early Universe,” the standard textbook on particle physics and cosmology. He has appeared in several television productions, as well as the IMAX film “The Cosmic Voyage.”

“Rocky is an accomplished researcher and leader in the field of cosmology. He is also a highly sought-after public speaker who has lectured across the world. We’re thrilled to have him visit our campus,” NIU physicist Dhiman Chakraborty said. “I’ve heard Rocky speak many times, and he’s very entertaining and engaging.”

The field of Kolb’s research is the application of elementary-particle physics to the very early universe. In the first seconds after the Big Bang, extreme conditions of temperature and energy were similar to those produced in the high-energy collisions of particle accelerators, such as the Tevatron at Fermilab.

Kolb will speak about the remarkable observational results and bold theoretical ideas that have resulted in a standard cosmological model. Capable of precise predictions of many cosmological events, the model also suggests the existence of little understood dark matter, dark energy and an early inflationary period.

A native of New Orleans, Kolb is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical Society. He was the recipient of the 2003 Oersted Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the 1993 Quantrell Prize for teaching excellence at the University of Chicago. 

In addition to writing articles for magazines and books, he teaches cosmology to non-science majors at the University of Chicago and is involved with pre-college education, participating in Fermilab’s Saturday Morning Physics Program for high school students and the U.S. Department of Energy high school physics program for gifted students, as well as lecturing in institutes and workshops for science teachers.

More information on Kolb can be found at http://home.fnal.gov/~rocky/.

Graduate School dean calls for honorary-degree nominations

Rathindra Bose, NIU vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, is issuing a call for nominations for honorary doctoral degrees to be awarded from the university.

“Awarding an honorary degree is an opportunity for the university to recognize someone especially outstanding in a field of interest to the university,” Bose said.

An honorary-degree recipient should be clearly exceptional among other outstanding persons in his or her field. While a connection to NIU or the State of Illinois is not a requirement for nomination, any such relationship will be considered during the selection process.

A nomination must be accompanied by:

• A supporting narrative that indicates the nominee’s distinction in business, education, the liberal arts and sciences, technology, the fine arts, other professional fields or public service.
• One or more standard biographical statements from appropriate reference sources.
• The current mailing address of the nominee.

Any person affiliated with NIU may submit a nomination.

The Honorary Degree Committee encourages nominations by groups as well as by individuals. Nominators should alert all university departments and divisions related to the area of the nominee’s accomplishments and invite those units to provide the committee with input regarding the merits of the nomination.

This year’s nominations, with the required supporting information, should be submitted to Bose by Friday, Dec. 8.

Past recipients of NIU honorary degrees have included Hermann A. Grunder, director emeritus of Argonne National Laboratory; J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; distinguished historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner Arthur Schlesinger Jr.; astronomer Carl Sagan; and Leon Lederman, former Fermilab director and winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in physics.

Kudos

Cliff Alexis, co-director of the NIU Steel Band, is among the 2006 Arts-in-Education awardees of the Cultural Academy for Excellence, Inc.

The Maryland-based organization, which provides “an innovative approach to education through the performing arts,” ensures that its students are prepared academically, mentally and spiritually to become the leaders of tomorrow.

CAFE’s Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra is a highly acclaimed orchestra comprised of the students who attend its Saturday Academy. Students are prepared to sit for the theory exams given by an associate body of the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music of Edinburgh, England. They also sit for the practical examination given by the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.

* * *

The honors keep rolling in for NIU senior Samie Chaudhry, who is pursuing a double major in political science and geography.

Chaudhry learned earlier this month that he had been selected as NIU’s Student Lincoln Laureate, an annual honor reserved for the top senior from each of the state’s public and private four-year colleges and universities.

Each year, one laureate is selected to speak on behalf of all the winners at the statewide ceremony in Springfield. John Simon, chancellor of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, informed NIU President John Peters last week that Chaudhry had been selected to deliver the address.

The ceremony was held Saturday in the House of Representatives of the Old State Capitol.

* * *

NIU’s Refrigeration Department has been honored by software maker Environmental Support Solutions for its innovative use of one of the company’s products.

The Heating Plant uses software intended to track the use of refrigerants to also keep detailed maintenance records on all cooling equipment. Doing so has helped the department save tens of thousands of dollars a year by spotting recurring problems and looking for deeper causes. In one instance last year, the software helped officials spot a problem that could have destroyed a $90,000 piece of machinery.

School of Music conjures two Halloween concerts

NIU’s School of Music stages its annual Halloween concerts tonight. All are welcome and encouraged to come in costumes. The musicians will wear theirs.

The free concerts, featuring graduate small ensembles (Brett Mitchell, music and stage director) take place at 6 and 8 p.m. Trick-or-treating is scheduled from 5:30 to 6 p.m.

A Halloween raffle, face painting and a bake sale also are offered. All are welcome.

SPS Council to host annual networking event

The Supportive Professional Staff Council will host its annual SPS networking event Wednesday, Nov. 1. Please RSVP by Tuesday, Oct. 31, at http://www.niu.edu/its/apps/sps.

This event provides an opportunity to meet and network with fellow SPS members, learn about SPS resources and benefits and about how to get more involved in shared governance at NIU.

Check-in and refreshments begin at 8 a.m. with the program starting at 8:30 a.m. Spend part or all of the morning. Information packets and door prizes also will be available. A flier with complete information is available at the SPS Web site at www.niu.edu/spsc.

NIU Community School invites singers for concerto competition

The NIU Community School of the Arts invites instrumentalists and vocalists who are 18 and younger to participate in a concerto competition.

The winner receives a cash prize and performs next February with the CSA Sinfonia in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. Applicants must live within a 45-mile radius of DeKalb.

The audition date is Sunday, Dec. 10, and takes place before a panel of judges in the NIU Music Building. The music must be one movement of a standard solo concerto or an appropriate one-movement composition. The piece must be memorized and played for the audition with an accompanist.

The postmark application deadline is Wednesday, Nov. 1. Information and application forms are available from the NIU Community School of the Arts office by calling (815) 753-1450 or online at www.niu.edu/extprograms.

Olson Gallery presents ‘Alphabet’ exhibition

The Jack Olson Memorial Gallery presents “Alphabet: An Exhibition of Hand-Drawn Letting and Experimental Typography,” from Nov. 3 to 21. A reception is scheduled from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2.

“Alphabet” is a design exhibition curated and traveled by Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen from Post Typography. Post Typography was conceived by Strals and Willen as an avant-garde anti-design movement and design sleeper cell located in Baltimore.

The exhibition features 60 alphabets by 48 American, Asian and European artist designers, representing well-known typographers such as Ed Fella and Ken Barber as well as rising stars Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Andrew Byrom and NIU alum Michael McErlean.

The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Free parking is provided for the reception only in the parking lot south of Jack Arends Hall.

Call Peter Van Ael at (815) 753-4521 for more information.

Faculty, staff invited Nov. 8 to business enterprise fair

NIU will sponsor its first Minority, Female and Persons with Disabilities-Business Enterprise Program networking fair Wednesday, Nov. 8.

The event is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Holmes Student Center Capitol Room and includes a breakfast buffet. The purpose of is to provide an opportunity for business enterprises to exhibit products and services and to network with university personnel.

Contact Wesley Coats at (815) 753-6108 or via e-mail at wcoats@niu.edu to confirm a reservation or for more information.

DAWC features art student

An NIU fine arts major is the featured artist Nov. 1 to 26 at the DeKalb Area Women’s Center (DAWC) Galleries in a solo exhibition titled “Entanglement: Solo Exhibition by Michelle Ramirez.”

The artist creates installations using handmade paper made from the yucca leaves that she has collected from the DeKalb area. By removing the dried, dead leaves, the plant is rejuvenated and continues to grow. After collection, leaves are processed through many stages of papermaking – a long and intensive process.

The public is invited to view the exhibit from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, or by appointment with Anna Marie Coveny, gallery director. An artist’s reception will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16. The reception is free and open to the public.

The DAWC is located at 1021 State Street in DeKalb, one block south of Pleasant Street, between 10th and 11th streets. 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.

Community School students to perform at Borders store

Saturday, Nov. 11, is a big day for the NIU Community School of the Arts.

Many music students are performing from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Borders Store in DeKalb in a gala extravaganza of a concert.

The performance is a fundraising event for the program’s scholarship fund, which provides financial aid for arts students in need. 

Coupons are available by calling (815) 753-1450 or from community school staff at the store on the day of the event. In addition to giving the user a 10 percent discount on purchases made all weekend, Borders is generously donating a percentage to the program’s scholarship fund.

Trio of faculty to speak on international activities

NIU professors Kay Forest, Moses Mutuku and Susan Russell will sit on the faculty panel during an International week event Monday, Nov. 13.

Mutuku will speak about a literacy project in Kenya. Forest will address “A Modest Contribution of Significance” from Sri Lanka. Russell will talk on inter-ethnic dialogue in the Philippines.

The discussion, sponsored by the Division of International Programs, takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center. Distinguished Teaching Professor Gene Roth is the moderator.

The event is open to all, and refreshments will be served. Contact Rey Ty at (815) 753-1098 or via e-mail at rty@niu.edu for more information.

10-30-06