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NIU President John G. Peters sent the following letter to the campus community March 27.
 Dear Colleagues,
Spring is a time of renewed optimism and heightened expectations for what lies ahead. With that in mind, I want to bring you up to date on the university's FY08 budget allocation in Springfield, Foundation fund-raising initiatives, Provost Alden's Strategic Planning Process and summer work hours.
This year, the governor presented a budget to the legislature calling for a 1.9 percent increase in general revenue funding for public universities, which represents an increase of approximately $2 million for NIU. If approved, this would be the second straight increase, reversing a period of flat or declining appropriations.
In addition, the governor is proposing a capital budget that includes $19 million in funding for the long-awaited renovation of the Stevens Building, home to our theater, dance and anthropology programs. This has been at the top of our improvement requests for more than a decade, and we are hopeful that it will remain on the state's priority list at the conclusion of the current legislative session.
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 Supporters of higher education from across the state will rally Wednesday, April 25, in Springfield to raise awareness of the challenges facing higher education in Illinois.
Gathering under the banner of The Higher Education Legislative Coalition, the group will hold a rally at the Illinois Education building in the morning and then spend the afternoon lobbying lawmakers on issues related to higher education.
“Every other group with a vested interest makes their presence known in Springfield, and organizers of this event felt it was time for higher education to do the same,” said Ken Zehnder, associate director of external affairs for NIU. “The goal is to make sure that higher education is a priority in this year’s budget.”
The 10:15 a.m. rally, at the Illinois Education Association parking lot, is intended as an attention-getter designed to remind lawmakers that higher education is a large and important industry in the state.
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 There are many ways to define a great teacher.
Some say great teachers are those who take a very personal interest in their students. Some say it is innovation in the classroom that makes great teachers stand out. Still others define great teachers are those who inspire students to great scholarship.
It is difficult to disagree with any of those definitions. However, few would quibble that teachers who display all of those traits are truly at the top of their field, and that is the case with all three of this year’s Presidential Teaching Professors.
Selected for that honor this year are Tomis Kapitan, from the Department of Philosophy; Lee Shumow, from the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations; and James Young, from the Department of Accountancy.
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Nursing’s Oldenburg honored for excellence in instruction
 Good teachers know it when they see it: the “a-ha moment,” that instant when a student’s eyes light up in recognition of a concept newly understood.
For good teachers, it’s a frequent and favorite reward for their work. They pay attention to their pedagogy to adjust, enhance and improve what they do, spreading the light bulbs across as many minds as possible.
NIU has many good teachers, and Judith Lukaszuk, Carla Montgomery and Julie Robertson stand tall among them. The three are this year’s recipients of the Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Joining them in honor is Nancy Oldenburg, an instructor in the School of Nursing, who has received the university’s second Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction award.
Lukaszuk, from the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences in the College of Health and Human Sciences; Montgomery, from the Department of Geology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Robertson, from the School of Nursing in the College of Health and Human Sciences, now enjoy the university’s longest-standing honor.
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 Four members of NIU’s Operating Staff have been chosen to receive the Outstanding Service Award for 2007.
The recipients are Margie Foshe from the Office of the Provost, Varsie Geisler from the School of Allied Health Professions, Diana Grace from the College of Law and George Tarbay from Media Services.
About 1,800 employees make up the Civil Service staff. Each year, four are selected by a committee of their peers to receive the award of plaques and $1,500. They will be honored at a Thursday, May 10, banquet.
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 NIU History Professor Heide Fehrenbach, whose books on the social and cultural effects of World War II on post-war Germany are being taught in advanced courses at leading universities worldwide, has been awarded a highly competitive Guggenheim Fellowship for 2007.
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation ran a full-page ad in Friday’s New York Times announcing fellowship recipients. Fehrenbach is among 189 artists, scholars and scientists selected from nearly 2,800 applicants for awards totaling $7.6 million.
Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. Award decisions are based on recommendations from hundreds of expert advisers.
“The Guggenheim is a major award, and the history department is absolutely delighted to see Heide Fehrenbach named as a fellow,” chair Kenton Clymer said. “She is certainly one of our very best scholars and her research has been very well received.”
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 Composer Kevin Puts, whose works include “Einstein on Mercer Street” and “Symphony No. 2: Island of Innocence,” is coming to campus later this month as a guest of the NIU Philharmonic.
Brett Mitchell, director of the Philharmonic and an assistant professor in the NIU School of Music, arranged the visit that begins Monday, April 23, and concludes Wednesday, April 25.
The three days will include two concerts, an all-school convocation, a composition seminar and the Illinois premiere of “Island of Innocence.” All events are free and open to the public.
“It’s a pretty big coup. Kevin is an internationally recognized composer and someone who’s gaining more and more in prominence,” says Mitchell, who attended the University of Texas at Austin while Puts served on the music faculty there.
 Is the mass media undermining democracy? Scholar and well-known media critic Robert W. McChesney would argue that it is – and that government is complicit in the process.
McChesney will visit NIU for a lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in the NIU Music Building, Room 173. The lecture will focus on the foundations of the media-reform movement, of which he is a leading member.
The event is free and open to the public.
“We are currently experiencing a time of profound distrust of both the media and political leaders,” says Steven Ralston, chair of the NIU Department of Communication. “Dr. McChesney offers a careful analysis not only of what ails our media, but how this affects the functioning of democracy, and what can be done to reform the current way the media works.”
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Funeral services have been scheduled for Tara Lee Dirst, technical coordinator for digitization projects in the University Libraries. Dirst died Sunday from injuries suffered in a March 7 automobile accident. She was 33.
A wake is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at Anderson Funeral Home, 2011 S. Fourth St.
Her funeral will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 900 Normal Road. The visitation is scheduled from 6 to 7 p.m. Cookies and coffee will be served after the service.
The Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities (PCSM) will host its eighth annual Friendships Abloom Spring Luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10.
All are invited to attend in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center. Brief remarks and award presentations begin at 12:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Created in 2004, the Deacon Davis Diversity Award was named in honor of Deacon Davis, founder and former director of the CHANCE (Counseling Help & Assistance Necessary for a College Education) Program. This award recognizes the significant contributions made to the improvement of the status of minorities on campus by members of the university community.
This year’s recipients are Promod Vohra, dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology; professors Luis and Clersida Garcia from the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education; and Minority Science Association Student Officers Nicole Gabriel, Ruth Molokwu and Heema Soni.
Each recipient will be recognized and presented with a plaque.
The commission also will make special presentations to retiring faculty/staff members Walter Owens, a professor from the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, and Linda Peterson, CHANCE counselor.
The NIU Art Museum will host “Josef Albers: Formulation: Articulation” in the North and Rotunda Galleries from Tuesday, April 10, through Saturday, May 12.
The public is invited to an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10.
Albers (1888-1976) is remembered chiefly as an abstract painter, printmaker, teacher and theorist. A German native, he was a student and later instructor at the Bauhaus, a pioneering design school that focused on the interdependency of craftsmanship, aesthetics, and technology.
He emigrated to the United States in 1933, and continued to create artworks and teach at several notable institutions here, including the innovative Black Mountain College, Harvard and Yale. His writings, print portfolios and painting series gained him an international reputation for his unending inquiry and meticulous exploration of abstraction and color theory.
The “Josef Albers: Formulation: Articulation” exhibition is curated by graduate students in ART 556, taught by Peter Van Ael, coordinator of the Jack Olson Gallery in the NIU School of Art. Enrolled in the graduate certificate in museum studies program, the students worked in teams to organize, design, install and program the exhibition using a portfolio of serigraphic prints from the NIU Art Museum collection.
The exhibition has selected pieces from Alber’s “Formulation: Articulation” portfolio, biographical information and a timeline of significant events.
International museum consultant Beverly Serrell is the guest lecturer for “Fireworks for Evaluation: Judging Exhibitions,” scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, in the Museum’s Rotunda Gallery. A reception will follow. This public presentation and reception are sponsored by the NIU School of Art Visiting Artist/Scholar Program.
A children’s event organized by the graduate museum studies class will take place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 21. The free event is limited to 20 students in third- through fifth-grade who pre-register. A tour of the museum, a take-home art activity and refreshments will be offered. Call (815) 753-1936 by Tuesday, April 17, to register.
The NIU Art Museum’s North and Rotunda Galleries are located on the first floor, west end of Altgeld Hall. The galleries are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and by appointment for group tours.
Exhibitions are always free. This exhibition was sponsored in part by the Friends of the NIU Art Museum and the Arts Fund 21. For more information, visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum or call (815) 753-1936.
The legendary NIU Jazz Ensemble will perform its annual spring concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 12, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center. The concert is free and open to the public.
Director Ron Carter and the ensemble welcome special guest John Clayton, jazz composer, arranger and bassist.
Call (815) 753-1546 for more information.
The 12 schools of the Mid-American Conference are coming together to compete in the MAC Penny Bowl while raising money for a good cause.
The MAC Penny Bowl is a fundraiser that will donate all proceeds to an organization that will be determined by the school that contributes the most money.
Each school will do its part to raise money between April 1 and April 22. At the end of these three weeks, all the MAC schools will contribute half of what they raised to the Penny Bowl.
The school that contributes the most money will pick the organization that will receive the Penny Bowl earnings. The other half of each school’s earnings will go toward the charity it chooses. The money raised at NIU will benefit Relay for Life.
For more information, contact Ajahnae Hinley at (815) 753-8447 or ahinley@niu.edu.
A retirement party for Linda Dersch, senior assistant director of Student Financial Aid, is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
The 10th annual Administrative Professionals Day seminar will be held from 7:45 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 24, in the Altgeld Hall Ballroom.
The event includes a deluxe breakfast and a presentation by Rita Emmett, author of “The Clutter-Busting Handbook” and “The Procrastinator’s Handbook.”
Cost is $44 per person ($54 after April 17). Employees of NIU and other governmental agencies are invited at a special rate of $34 ($44 after April 17). Register online or call (815) 753-0277.
“Audio-Visual Explanations: Enriching the Classroom through Emerging Technology,” a presentation by recipients of the 2006 David W. Raymond Grant, is scheduled for noon Thursday, April 26.
Geography professors Mace Bentley, Andrew Krmenec and Phil Young will demonstrate their podcasts, vodcasts and screen-capture movies developed for classroom application.
The event, which also will include Provost Raymond Alden’s announcement of the 2007 grant winner, takes place in the University Suite of the Holmes Student Center. Refreshments will be served.
The event is sponsored by the NIU Foundation, Office of the Provost and the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center.
A reception to honor the retirement of Earl Shumkaer, head of government publications and coordinator of branch libraries at NIU, is scheduled for 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 2.
A special recognition from the U.S. Government Printing Office will come at 2 p.m.
The event takes place in Rare Books and Special Collections on the fourth floor of Founders Library. RSVPs are requested by Wednesday, April 25. Contact Kathy Sherman at (815) 753-9802 or ksherman@niu.edu.
The geography department has organized a series of public presentations and discussions revolving around the recent International Panel on Climate Change report on global climate warming.
Symposiums on climate-change related topics will be held April 12, April 19, April 26 and May 3. All will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Montgomery Hall Auditorium.
The NIU Alumni Association invites you to experience the romance that is Paris from May 18 through May 26.
Travelers can choose which days to browse the fashion houses and shops, contemplate art in one of the 90 museums, be amazed at the architecture, relax and people-watch in the sidewalk cafes or venture outside of the city on the optional tours.
Optional side-trips are planned to Giverny and Rouen, two Chateaux in the Loire Valley, and Mont Saint Michel, along with a Parisian cooking class.
The cost is $2,195 per person, double occupancy; single supplement is available. For more information or to place a reservation, call Pat Anderson at (815) 753-1512.
FY07 cut-off dates
"Service, Disney style" seminar
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