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 Laurie Elish-Piper, professor of literacy education and director of the NIU Reading Clinic, was elected this week as president of the College Reading Association.
Elish-Piper will begin her service next year as the organization’s vice president before becoming president-elect in 2009 and president in 2010. Her first duty is to organize the association’s annual conference for November of 2008 in Sarasota, Fla.
As the fourth professor from the NIU College of Education’s Department of Literacy Education to lead the College Reading Association, she views her upcoming responsibilities as “a great opportunity.”
“What’s different about this organization is the emphasis on teacher preparation and the work we do at colleges and universities with regard to reading,” Elish-Piper says. “I would like to see the CRA expand its leadership role as an advocate for policy that supports sound literacy instruction for all students and for literacy teacher education.”
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 A longtime chemistry professor now at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will lead the NIU College of Education’s Department of Teaching and Learning.
Paul Kelter, who arrives in July, says the opportunity to connect with students on a personal level is one he’s desired for more than a quarter-century across several campuses and appointments. Each “huge” lecture to 350 students of “General Chemistry” provided that reminder.
And, he adds, “education is my natural home.”
“I wanted something different than to be at a place where the goal is to be away from the process of education,” Kelter says. “My goal was to come to a place where education – the life of the mind – is the focus.”
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 NIU climatologist David Changnon will be among the experts featured in a new documentary on global warming that will air at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 28, on CBS Channel 2 in Chicago.
CBS 2 Meteorologist Steve Baskerville will host the one-hour special, titled “Truth About Global Warming.” He visited the NIU campus earlier this month to interview Changnon.
Changnon, a professor in the Department of Geography, spent an hour with Baskerville discussing potential impacts of climate change.
“The scientific community has come to an overwhelming consensus that the climate of the planet is changing and that there is a significant probability that those changes are related to enhanced levels of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Changnon, who specializes in the study of climate variability and its economic impacts.
“For me, the big question is this: How do we use the information that scientists are gathering?”
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 Even though students come to Mira Reisberg’s ARTE 383 course to learn how art can integrate into a traditional elementary school curriculum, they leave with something greater: a better understanding of young minds.
Reisberg teaches concepts of visual culture – the principal focus in the NIU School of Art’s art education division giving her students a good dose of social consciousness. Reisberg connects students’ learning with their local community.
Each semester, students create local animal paper maché banks to learn about their environment. They creatively paint the banks and place them out in the community to raise money for DeKalb homeless shelter Hope Haven.
“Hope Haven’s Lesly Wicks talks with the students about the surprisingly large number of homeless families in our community, how to figure out if kids are homeless or not and how to help kids in their classroom who are homeless,” Reisberg says.
“The idea is to raise the students’ awareness about participating in community life and being aware of people who, through no fault of their own, just don’t earn enough money to pay rent.”
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 In a world of fad diets, metabolism pills and gastric bypass surgeries, it’s not always easy to find unbiased advice on how best to eat.
That’s where nutritionists come in – and NIU is making sure the nutritionists it produces have practical experience in delivering that message to the public.
Housed in the College of Health and Human Sciences, the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences includes a hearty portion of service learning in its Nutrition and Dietetics program.
“Allowing students to do outreach in the community introduces them to a different side of dietetics. It’s a whole new venue where they can find jobs beyond clinical and food service,” FCNS professor Amy Ozier said. “A special thing about our program is that we’re not only didactic. We keep the didactic work, and in every sense we have them apply it to real life. We bring the real world to them.”
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 Amy Levin and Judy Skorek are the winners of two new awards given by the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.
Levin, of the Women’s Studies Program, has received the “Outstanding Mentor Awards.” Skorek, an instructor in the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education, is the winner of the “Women Who Make a Difference” award.
During the past decade, the commission has offered an annual award to a woman judged to have achieved lasting changes in the climate for women on campus.
Named after Wilma D. Stricklin, one of the first female chairs in the traditionally male field of management, this award has typically been given to women in positions of authority or to those most able to influence university policies and procedures.
But commission members had talked for years about the need to create awards for faculty and staff invest their time and energy not just in improving the climate for all women on campus, but in helping women succeed in the existing climate.
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 Read good news about – and send congratulations to – the School of Music's Ron Carter.
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The latest issue of Assessment Services’ “Toolkit” is online.
Registration for Huskie Pup Summer Camp continues until all weekly sessions are filled. This camp is designed for children ages 6 to 12.
For more information, contact Recreation Services at (815) 753-0231 or visit the summer camp online.
Jerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon will present “Israel and the Press: Why it is so Difficult for Israel to Get a Fair Shake in the Media” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, in the Barsema Hall Auditorium.
The lecture is sponsored by the JCRC Hillel Israel Initiative in celebration of the 59th anniversary of Israel Independence Day. No food or drink is allowed in the auditorium.
Two NIU graduate students will lead guided interpretive tours of the “Josef Albers: Formulation: Articulation” exhibition at the NIU Art Museum.
The public tours are scheduled for noon in the museum’s Rotunda Gallery on Wednesday, April 25, led by Pam Rohleder, and on Thursday, April 26, led by Dave Binder. The tours provide historical background and insights on the artist and his optical and color theories.
The exhibition is on display in the NIU Art Museum North and Rotunda galleries through May 12. For more information, visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum or call (815) 753-1936.
Choreographer and dancer Martha Graham said in her 1992 autobiography, “Bloody Memory,” that “Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.” Dancers from NIU’s School of Theatre and Dance use the language of ballet in order to tell the story of Giselle from April 26 through April 29 in the Stevens Building O’Connell Theatre on the DeKalb campus.
Giselle runs Thursday, April 26, through Sunday, April 29, in O’Connell Theatre, in the Stevens Building. There is no children’s matinee for this production and children younger than 5 will not be allowed in the theatre. Show times are 7:30 p.m. weekdays and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $14 for adults, $8 for seniors and $7 for students. For more information and reservations, call the Stevens Building box office at (815) 753-1600. -- MORE
Want to meet other art lovers, keep up with what’s happening in the art world, see innovative historical exhibits and travel without the hassle of traffic, tolls and parking?
Then “Get-on-the-Bus” and enjoy the ride.
The NIU Art Museum schedules the trip and makes the itinerary and arrangements. Travelers just need to sign up and prepay by the deadlines posted. All trips depart from the NIU School of Art parking lot.
Friday, April 27
Artropolis: International Antiques Fair & Art Chicago
Friday, May 4
Members Only: “Birds in Culture, Art & Nature”
Saturday, June 23
Madison, Wis.
To register, stop by the museum (first floor, west end of Altgeld Hall), call (815) 753-1936 or e-mail jburke2@niu.edu. More information is online at www.vpa.niu.edu/museum. Payment can be made with cash, a check made out to NIU or a major credit card. Payment must be made in advance to guarantee your seat on the bus. -- MORE
The mixed media paintings of NIU alumnus Edgar Yanez are featured in two exhibitions celebrating Venezuelan Culture Day.
A double closing reception will be held Friday, April 27, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the NIU Latino Resource Center, 515 Garden Road, and from 5 to 7 p.m. at the DeKalb Area Women’s Center (DAWC), 1021 State Street.
The Latino Resource Center gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Parking is available for a fee on campus in the NIU visitor lot. An accessible ramp is located on the north side of the building. For further information, call (815) 753-1986.
DAWC gallery viewing hours are from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays and by appointment. Free parking is available one-half block south on Eleventh Street. The accessible lift can be located from the alley just north of the 1021 State Street building. To arrange a group showing, call (815) 758-1351. -- MORE
The second annual Benefits Choice Fair will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, May 3, in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center. This event is co-sponsored by Human Resource Services and the Operating Staff and Supportive Professional Staff councils.
Employees will have the opportunity to talk with representatives from Human Resource Services and from the various benefits vendors in preparation for making benefit choices and changes during the annual Benefits Choice Period in May.
Representatives of SURS, Social Security, Deferred Compensation (403b), Health Plans and various campus resources will be present with current information on questions including health coverage, sick leave bank, insurance and other benefits. Operating Staff Council will sell raffle tickets in support of the Operating Staff Dependent Scholarship.
The Benefits Choice Fair is a university-sponsored event and supervisors are encouraged to provide employees with the opportunity to participate. For more information, contact Employee Relations at (815) 753-6039 or Eric Smith at (815) 753-2345. -- MORE
A retirement party for Trish Sellers, alumni relations coordinator in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, will take place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 1, in Room 354 of the Engineering Building.
Call (815) 753-1284 for more information.
The NIU School of Theatre and Dance's all-student run “The Third Onion” theater company presents “Topdog/Underdog,” a 2002 Pulitzer Prize winning play by Suzan-Lori Parks, opening May 2.
The play will run Wednesday, May 2, through Friday, May 4, at the Stevens Building Corner Theatre. Performance times for all three days will be 7:30 pm. The Stevens Building is located on the NIU campus behind the McDonald’s and Pizza Hut restaurants on East Lincoln Highway.
Tickets are $3 and available only at the door. More information is available by contacting Robert Schneider at the School of Theatre and Dance at (815) 753-8263. -- MORE
The Greater Kishwaukee Area Concert Band will present the final concert of the fifth season at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 5, in Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the NIU Music Building.
Director John Hansen has titled this concert “Made in America,” and all selections but one are by American composers.
The concert will be dedicated to Tara Dirst, a band member and NIU employee who recently died as a result of an auto accident. The band will play Bach’s “May Sheep
Safely Graze” in her memory.
A retirement party for Sharon Freagon, director of the Center for Child Welfare and Education, is scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, in the HSC Heritage Room.
A retirement reception for Toni Heinze, professor in the college’s Department of Teaching and Learning, takes place from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 9, in the HSC Capitol Room.
FY07 cut-off dates
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