As NIU students settled into their desks Monday morning, few could appreciate the extraordinary efforts over the weekend that allowed the academic year to start on time.
Between Thursday afternoon, when torrential downpours interrupted the university’s annual Opening Day – nearly 5 inches of rain fell in 24 hours on already saturated ground – and Monday morning, when fall semester classes began, more than 150 employees from the Physical Plant, Building and Grounds, the Heating Plant, Building Services and other departments labored in shifts around the clock.
They first worked to protect the campus from flood waters and then began to clean up the mess left behind when those waters receded.
“The entire campus community owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to those employees who toiled tirelessly to protect the campus from floodwaters,” NIU President John Peters said. “They rose up to an extraordinary challenge and did an outstanding job to get the academic year under way on schedule.”
Deputy Provost Frederick Schwantes, who was anticipating a massive game of musical chairs to accommodate classes Monday morning, was even more effusive in his praise.
“I doff my hat in absolute amazement, gratitude and awe to our colleagues in the Physical Plant for the superb job that they put together over the last few days in preparing, protecting and readying our classrooms for the start of fall classes,” Schwantes said Monday.
When the first bell of the semester rang, only three classrooms, all on the lower level of the Visual Arts Building, remained closed for ongoing cleanup efforts.
That building, located in a low area along the banks of the Kishwaukee River, was one of the hardest hit by the floods. Also experiencing substantial flooding were Still Hall, Still Gym and the NIU Broadcast Center, which houses WNIU/WNIJ.
Several other buildings experienced minor flooding in basements and below-grade areas, including Altgeld Hall, Barsema Hall, Cole Hall, the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Faraday East and Faraday West, Kishwaukee Hall, the Music Building, the Psychology-Computer Science Building, the Stevens Building and Swen Parson Hall. Basements in the Lincoln and Douglas residence halls also experienced minor flooding, as did the breezeways in the Neptune Hall complex.
Bob Albanese, associate vice president for Finance and Facilities, said damage to campus buildings was limited almost entirely to some carpet and floor tiles that will have to be replaced.
That the damage was not far worse is amazing to anyone who toured the east side of campus on Friday. By sunrise that day, the East Lagoon was indistinguishable from the Kishwaukee River, which was flowing just below record high levels. Water from the lagoon swamped Castle Drive.
Flooding was also severe on the far west side of campus where parking Lot C-3 (at the Convocation Center) was swamped and a number of cars were damaged.
Nearby, Housing and Dining took the precautionary measure of evacuating about 75 occupants from the nearby Northern View housing complex, which opened just two days earlier. Residents there were asked to leave Friday morning and were allowed to return home Saturday.
The buildings themselves were safe, said Executive Director of Housing and Dining Kelly Wesener. They were surrounded by floodwaters, however, and officials did not want residents trapped there and cut off from emergency vehicles.
One factor in the decision to evacuate Northern View was a weather forecast calling for 3 to 5 inches of additional rain Friday.
That forecast also prompted university officials to send home all non-essential personnel home by 10 a.m. Any additional rain would have forced the closure of all bridges over the Kishwaukee River (only two remained open at that time, and only one by afternoon) and prevented many employees from reaching home.
That rain, however, stayed south of DeKalb County, provoking a collective sigh of relief. Warm dry weather for the balance of the weekend provided further breathing room.
“Had the rain predicted for Friday actually materialized, much of campus would have been in serious trouble,” said Mike Saari, director of the Physical Plant. “As it turned out, the damage was contained to about 10 percent of campus.”
Saari credited the millions of dollars in storm control projects (completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s) with preventing a re-run of flooding that occurred in 1996 and caused millions of dollars in damage. He speculated that the improvements spared the campus from much more significant damage to Anderson Hall, the Neptune Hall complex, the Music Building and probably to the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology and Barsema Hall.
Even with those improvements in place, however, the floodwaters created tremendous challenges for university employees who scrambled from one trouble area to the next.
Crews were kept busy sandbagging, pumping water out of basements and steam tunnels, and cleaning and sanitizing areas swamped by floodwater. They also worked at replacing a 1,400-foot stretch of underground electrical cable that shorted out during Thursday’s rain. Crews were able to quickly reroute electricity from other lines to most buildings, but as of Monday morning, Anderson Hall was still operating on generator power.
Those efforts left Saari almost at a loss for words.
“I don’t know how to describe how great our people were,” Saari said.
“For 72 straight hours our radio frequency was going non-stop with people asking for equipment and materials, asking for help, shifting manpower from one location to the next. It was constant,” he added. “But our employees never let up for a minute. Everyone knew where to go, what to do and how to deal with the situation, and they all worked together. That attitude really saved the day.”
Word arrived late Sunday that the university might be able to recoup some of its clean-up costs thanks to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s declaration of DeKalb County as a disaster area in the wake of last week’s flooding.
While crews from the Physical Plant scrambled last weekend to clean up campus in the wake of flooding, the Division of Student Affairs was faced with challenges of its own.
Employees of the division found their best-laid plans washed away by the torrential rains that interrupted what had been an exemplary Opening Day, with 3,337 students checking in to the halls.
Packing 40 mph winds, the storm not only drove hundreds of volunteers and thousands of students and their parents inside but also eventually forced them into storm shelters when tornado sirens began to wail in the midst of the downpour.
Despite the disruptions, most agreed that those working the event made the best of the situation.
“I am proud and appreciative of the Student Affairs staff members who worked tirelessly to create an important first impression for 3,500 new students and their parents, and, from what I saw, succeeded admirably in spite of pouring rain, tornado sirens, evacuations and subsequent flooding,” said Brian Hemphill, vice president for Student Affairs.
The disruptions to the move-in process were just the start of a wild weekend for Student Affairs.
The rains that left parts of campus awash also washed out several events.
Canceled were Thursday night’s Great Huskie Bash, Friday’s New Student Convocation, Friday Fest and a number of other events on campus, as well as all Friday events at DeKalb’s annual Corn Fest. As a result, dining halls found themselves springing into action a bit faster than anticipated, serving up more than 2,000 meals Thursday night and Friday to students who typically would have dined at Welcome Week events.
“The dining staff really pulled together and everything went fine,” said Kelly Wesener, executive director of Housing and Dining.
Hall directors and community advisers also had to think on their feet, finding ways to keep students entertained and interacting while they were cooped up in the halls instead of partying in Central Park as planned. Among the solutions were karaoke contests, impromptu alcohol education seminars, an evening of board games and (between rain showers on Friday) campus tours.
“Our staff came together, brainstormed a list of things they could do and ways they could begin to build a sense of community,” Wesener said. “We always try to do that during those first few days; we just had to deal with some different circumstances this year.”
One unique activity that kept students busy was filling sand bags.
Student Affairs recruited more than 60 students from residence halls, and another 40 from Greek organizations and area apartment complexes, who were bused to a City of DeKalb facility where they helped to fill 10,000 sandbags that were credited with protecting many area homes and buildings from floodwaters.
“Our call for volunteers to help with the flood effort resulted in an impressive turnout by the NIU community,” said DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki. “We are grateful to the many students who came out and filled sandbags, saving many people’s homes from the floodwater and flood-related damage.”
Meanwhile, Housing and Dining also found itself faced with evacuating students from its newest housing complex, the Northern View Community.
Floodwaters surrounded the facility, located just northwest of the Convocation Center, creating concerns that residents might be trapped and cut off from emergency services should more rain fall. Working with NIU police and Transportation, Housing and Dining moved residents out and relocated them to appropriate housing around campus while also trying to contact other Northern View residents scheduled to arrive and move in Friday.
“For the most part, students were very understanding and appreciated that we were just trying to keep them safe,” Wesener said.
By Saturday morning, Northern View residents were returning to their homes and the planned schedule of Welcome Week activities resumed.
Reflecting on the weekend, Hemphill said his entire division, as well as all the students affected by the situation, deserved praise for prevailing over difficult circumstances.
“Housing and Dining, Student Involvement and Leadership Development, Recreation Services and the Crisis Response Team were critical in balancing the needs of the DeKalb community in crisis, and of the students we serve,” Hemphill said. “I commend the incoming students for their flexibility, understanding and resilience throughout the unpredictable weather situations and challenging start to their fall semester.”
Stop the presses. Mary Lincoln, the woman who put Northern Illinois University Press on the map as a university publishing house that produces nationally significant works, is retiring at the end of this week.
The university community is invited to a gathering in her honor from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, in the Pollock Ballroom of the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center.
Lincoln has worked at NIU for 31 years and served as director of the NIU Press for 27 years. She holds the distinction of being the longest-serving university press director in the country.
The NIU Press publishes non-fiction on a variety of topics in the humanities, arts and social sciences. The press has more than 400 books in print on aspects of history, politics, anthropology and literature.
“She took the university press and made it quite prominent and distinguished in its specialty fields,” said Jerrold Zar, who served as vice provost for research and Graduate School dean from 1984 to 2002, and as such chaired the University Press Board.
“What the NIU Press does, it does very well,” Zar said. “Interestingly, it’s probably more well-known outside the university than inside.
“It’s a feather in the cap of NIU to have a good press,” he added. “It adds to the prestige of the university as a research institution, because the press ultimately fosters and promulgates research.”
Lincoln began working at NIU Press soon after completing her doctorate in English at Washington University in St. Louis. When she became director in 1980, the press was publishing just two books per year. Today the press averages about 21 new titles annually.
“She really rescued the press,” said Julia Fauci, graphic design supervisor for the NIU Press. She has worked with Lincoln for 20 years.
“For a while there, the press was only publishing two books a year and they were expensively produced. Mary brought the press in line financially and expanded the regional history book publications, an area that is very competitive,” Fauci said.
Lincoln felt a strong conviction that it was important for NIU Press to publish books on Illinois and the Chicago region. The regional history series has flourished and produced the press’s all-time best seller, “City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago.”
The press also boasts a national reputation for excellence in Russian, American and transportation history.
“NIU Press has an excellent reputation in the academic community,” said David Kyvig, a Distinguished Research Professor of history at NIU. “When I taught history at the University of Akron, my colleagues considered it to be a great achievement to get a book accepted at NIU Press. They all had great success.”
Lincoln worked with the late W. Bruce Lincoln, a world-renowned historian of Russia, to help establish the NIU Press as one of the nation’s elite publishers of scholarship on Russia. Later in her career, the two were married.
“Mary also has been a real benefactor to the university,” Kyvig added. “She established the W. Bruce Lincoln Memorial Lecture in her husband’s honor. It has made a substantial impact on the outreach of the history department and education of our own students.”
While the regional emphasis of the press brought works about Illinois and Chicago to the world, the Russian Studies works are probably the most distinguished of NIU Press series.
“Mary built the series, and she is very well-known within the Slavic studies profession,” said Christine Worobec, Distinguished Research Professor of Russian history at NIU.
Worobec has served as general editor of the Russian series since 2001 and before that was co-editor with W. Bruce Lincoln. Each year the series considers more than 100 manuscript proposals and publishes about three to four titles.
“Mary is highly professional and very solicitous of scholars’ needs,” Worobec said. “She has an eye for what works and what doesn’t. One of her real fortes is a very sharp business sense. Mary not only acquires manuscripts but also must run the press operation on a tight budget. She’s a whiz at it.”
Lincoln also is beloved by her colleagues. Three of her staff members have worked alongside her for more than two decades.
“She is a really good person,” Fauci said. “Mary gives us all input, so we always feel like it’s a real team effort.”
Lincoln will continue to live in DeKalb. She plans to spend more time with her six grandchildren.
“I have loved this job,” Lincoln said. “I think it’s the most interesting job on campus. It’s always challenging. There are always new ideas, new authors and new projects. It’s a pleasure to work with a professional staff eager to publish better books and books that will reflect well on NIU.”
J. Alex Schwartz, an editor with an impressive record of success at top university publishing houses, including Yale and the University of Chicago, has been named director of Northern Illinois University Press, effective Tuesday, Sept. 4.
He will replace Mary Lincoln, who is retiring at the end of this week.
“Mary Lincoln has had a long and distinguished career with the NIU Press, where her work brought national recognition to the university, so we knew we had big shoes to fill,” said Rathindra Bose, NIU vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School.
“Alex Schwartz will be an excellent fit for the university,” Bose added. “He comes highly recommended, brings strong publishing skills to NIU and has well established contacts in the university publishing community. At the University of Chicago Press, he was responsible for a number of book projects that resulted in best-sellers. We’re thrilled to have him at NIU.”
Schwartz has nearly 15 years of experience in publishing, having spent the last year as an executive editor in the business unit of McGraw-Hill, a major commercial publishing house where he acquired and developed new trade and professional books in finance.
The majority of his career, however, has been spent at university presses, including four years with the University of Chicago Press, where he was senior acquisitions editor for economics and law. He averaged 25 new book signings per year. Schwartz also worked as a senior acquisitions editor at Yale University Press.
“We were impressed with his background,” said NIU Distinguished Research Professor David Kyvig, who chaired the search committee.
“Alex has worked at more than one distinguished university press and brings extensive experience in manuscript acquisition,” Kyvig said. “He also has substantial experience in developmental editing, which is taking an idea and working with authors to turn it into a book. He has developed a lot of manuscripts into successful books.”
Schwartz also has been invited to speak as a guest lecturer at universities across the country on the topic of how to get published.
“We hope he will do some of that with our junior faculty here,” Kyvig said. “We think they could learn from Alex how to be effective in efforts to publish their books at university presses.”
Schwartz will continue to serve as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Chicago and lecture on fiction writing at an annual summer writers’ conference at Northwestern University. He holds a master’s degree in English from Western Connecticut State University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Tufts University.
“The NIU Press has been very successful in key areas such as Russian history, regional history, American history and transportation,” he said. “We will continue to build on those successes while looking to new areas where we can increase our name recognition among scholars and boost the number of titles we publish.”
The NIU Press publishes non-fiction on a variety of topics in the humanities, arts and social sciences. The press has more than 400 books in print on aspects of history, politics, anthropology and literature.
“I’m excited about the opportunities we’ll have to bring in high quality, award-winning books,” Schwartz said. “I’m also excited about working at the university. I think it’s a tremendous institution with quality staff and students. NIU is going places, and I’m happy to be part of it.”
In his first official address to the NIU College of Education since becoming dean earlier this summer, Lemuel Watson frequently urged his colleagues to “step up to the plate” and congratulated those who already had done so.
The new dean, who proclaimed himself “first among equals,” told the packed ballroom of Altgeld Hall last week that his administration is a participatory one.
Watson asked everyone in the room to submit one or two pages of their ideas and innovations. He announced that he will ask some professors to attend dinners with donors so they can discuss their research and outreach initiatives.
Even the meeting adopted his attitude: Watson later turned over the stage to Associate Dean Carol Logan Patitu, six department chairs and two representatives from the Provost’s Office before opening the floor to questions in an open forum.
“It’s time to step up to the plate to reclaim our place here at NIU, in the region and across the nation,” Watson said. “The issues facing us are daunting, but we will face those challenges with grace. We will face them with creativity. And we will face them with innovation.”
Chief among the issues: meeting the economy’s need for workers with at least some postsecondary education while coping with problems of the access to and affordability of college.
According to 2004 statistics Watson presented from the U.S. Census Bureau, 60 percent of the U.S. population ages 25 to 64 has no postsecondary education credentials. Forty percent of college students will take at least one remedial education course. Thirty-four percent of white adults have obtained bachelor’s degrees before age 30, but those numbers dip to 18 percent for African-Americans and to 10 percent for Hispanics.
Meanwhile, Watson quoted from a 2004 census that average tuition and fees rose 51 percent from 1995 to 2005 when adjusted for inflation. At private colleges, however, those costs climbed only 35 percent during the same period.
“We’ve romanticize about the notion that as academicians we can just pursue knowledge and not worry about funding,” Watson said. “Gone are those days.”
The growing demand and need for accountability also poses anxiety.
P-12 schools, some of which are NIU’s partners and many of which are employers of current and future alumni from the college, are under great pressure to meet the stringent federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings also is on the offensive when it comes to higher education, said Watson, who displayed quotations from Spellings on the ballroom’s big screen.
“There is little to no information on why costs are so high and what we’re getting in return. Over the years, we’ve invested tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money and just hoped for the best. We deserve better,” Spellings said. “No current ranking system of colleges and universities directly measures the most critical point – student performance and learning.”
Unfortunately, Watson said, educators aren’t always at the decision table with the policymakers. The higher education community is in a struggle for control of its future, he said.
At the NIU College of Education, he said, accountability must come from within.
Watson announced the college will continue to follow former Dean Christine Sorensen’s “PRIDE” agenda: partnerships, research, innovation, development and diversity, and evaluation and assessment.
He also unveiled his own vision for “A National Premier College of Education” that prepares professionals who are focused on P-20 issues:
The dean said he plans to spend around 40 percent of his time involved in finding and securing external dollars; his “invisible” leadership style with his leadership team will keep the ship sailing steadily when he is off campus.
For their part, faculty must examine themselves and the practical value of their teaching contributions.
“This is a business – and you need to know what your business is,” Watson said. “You need to ask yourself, ‘Am I delivering what I’m saying I’m delivering?’ ”
Carla Pfalzgraf-Vedro is a wife and mother of two young daughters with a background in industrial quality control.
Marilyn Larsen, a grandmother whose sons are grown, managed the overnight crew at a McDonald’s restaurant. Tammy Alexander, whose children are 10 and 13, worked in retail management and jewelry sales.
The three are among 14 students from the Rock River Valley who are earning bachelor’s degrees in education through Northern Illinois University’s partnership with Rock Valley College.
And they’re about to enter the classroom.
Members of the group will complete the 16-week, student-teaching component of their education this fall before graduation from NIU in December. It’s the second cohort to move through the RVC-NIU partnership; the first graduated in the fall of 2005.
For these students, the commencement ceremony at NIU’s Convocation Center will represent their first and only trip to DeKalb. The hometown-only classes at affordable public university prices are truly what allowed many of them to enroll.
“Balancing a full-time job, family and trying to get a degree? This program has made it possible,” said Mary Keil, academic adviser for elementary education in NIU’s Department of Teaching and Learning. “We’re offering higher education to people who wouldn’t have been able to have it otherwise. They’re grateful to NIU, and our professors have really loved working with them.”
“What’s been so great about it is that it’s a very doable program. You can keep a job and raise a family,” Pfalzgraf-Vedro said.
“At first, I thought it was just too good to be true, and there must be some catch to it, that I could do all of my coursework here in Rockford at a public university. The quality of the faculty they have provided us with has been second to none.”
The students began their three-year trek in January 2005, meeting together every Monday and Wednesday night for three hours, summers included.
Many already had some sort of education job in their past, but one was a school bus driver. Another was an interpreter for persons with hearing impairments. Another was retired from a military career.
About 16 different professors from the NIU College of Education commuted to NIU-Rockford to teach, Keil said. Neither online learning nor closed-circuit TV was used, she said; rather, the 61 hours of upper-level courses were packed with classroom discussions, projects, presentations and other hands-on activities.
Now their education takes a real-world turn.
“For some of them, it’s a dream they’ve had that they didn’t think they’d ever be able to achieve. It’s so nice to see that coming about,” Keil said. “They know this is what they were meant to do, and they’re so excited. They’re definitely more excited than the typical student-teacher.”
“NIU appreciates the high level of support and collaboration we have had with Rock Valley College,” said Anne Kaplan, vice president of University Administration and Outreach at NIU. “Without RVC’s strong advocacy, such a partnership would not have been possible, and Rockford wouldn’t have these 14 new teachers joining those 21 who graduated in 2005.”
Pfalzgraf-Vedro will spend her semester at the Rockford Environmental Science Academy, where she will teach science and math to seventh-graders.
Two years ago, she enjoyed three weeks at RESA as part of the cohort: The middle school is involved in Project REAL, NIU’s federally funded partnership with the Rockford Public Schools and Rock Valley College to enhance teacher quality.
Now she’s looking forward to “learning from my teachers what it takes to become a veteran teacher, learning techniques to reach as many students as I can – hopefully all of them – and feeling what it’s like to really manage a classroom by myself.”
“I can’t wait. It’s been a lifelong pursuit for me that started when I was 5, with my mother taking me down to Sinnissippi and teaching me about the difference between an annual and a perennial and about different kinds of birds,” Pfalzgraf-Vedro said.
“I always loved the prospect of teaching, but I never wanted to commute and never wanted to pay the price of a private college,” she added. “I started working in the Rockford Public Schools in 2001 as a para-professional. I dipped my toes in and tested the waters. I really enjoyed the work, and I enjoyed working with the students. When this cohort came up, I said, ‘OK.’ ”
Alexander, who lives in Machesney Park, will teach kindergarten in Poplar Grove.
Early childhood is an age level Alexander loves and one she’s familiar with: She’s spent several years as a para-professional with the Harlem School District’s preschool program, working with children ages 3 to 5.
“There are a lot of changes going on in kindergarten,” Alexander says. “They’re learning a lot of things they need in the future: letters, numbers, colors, how to read small words, how to read altogether. When I was in kindergarten, we learned our letters, and in first grade, we learned how to read.”
Descended from a family of educators, teaching has been her dream for years.
She also made a promise to herself to earn a bachelor’s degree by her 40th birthday, a goal she will meet with three months to spare.
“I’ve known I wanted to be a teacher since I was 14. It just took me 26 years to get there,” she laughs. “I joined the Future Teachers of America club in high school and realized that this was what I wanted to do. In every job since then, I’ve always enjoyed the teaching part.”
Like the others, Alexander appreciated the cohort’s flexibility.
“I could actually still work my full-time job, and get the experience there, and also go to school and raise my family,” she says. Otherwise, “I would have had to spend more money, and probably more time. It would’ve taken a long time.”
For Larsen, who lives in Winnebago, the schedule meant everything.
“I had started back at Rock Valley, working overnight and going to school during the day. I couldn’t keep it up,” says Larsen, a non-traditional student in her 50s. “It kept me going that NIU was just two nights a week.”
Larsen’s family played a major role as well.
Her husband “literally did all the cooking and cleaning” at home. One of her sons, an English teacher, helped her with her term papers; he and another of her three sons occasionally opened their homes for Larson to take a quick shower before class.
“Everyone has been behind me,” she says. “I hope I can get 100 tickets to graduation.”
Larsen is scheduled to student-teach in a fourth-grade classroom at Machesney Elementary School. The former teacher’s aide and longtime Sunday School teacher enjoys “a real good rapport” with children that age.
“The kids are at an age level in reading where they can start discussing the story with you because they can comprehend it,” she says. “I really enjoy the reward of seeing them grasp ideas, understanding something they didn’t think they could.”
Meanwhile, she finds herself eager for more education and excited for the start of her new career.
“I really enjoyed the classes enough that I would like to keep taking classes,” Larsen says. “I want to get my own classroom and build things. My cooperating teacher has got such a fantastic room – so organized – and has developed her lesson plans over the years. I see that happening for myself, and then refining those things to where I can be one of the great teachers.”
For more information, visit http://www.niu.edu/offcampusacademics/ccp/rvc.shtml.
Summer didn’t exactly provide a break for NIU’s Ilona Meagher.
Since the spring semester closed, Meagher published a new book, embarked on a cross-country speaking tour and cemented her reputation as a leading voice for combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Meagher has been quoted widely in the media, ranging from The New York Times to Pat Buchanan’s magazine, The American Conservative. In August, she served as a panel member, along with Gen. Wesley Clark, at the annual convention of the popular liberal blog, the Daily Kos. She even received a phone call one morning recently from presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, who said he was moved by her book.
These would be heady accomplishments for any faculty member. But Meagher isn’t a professor, she’s a student at NIU – a junior studying journalism.
“It’s been an incredible journey,” Meagher says from her home office in small-town Caledonia, northeast of Rockford. A 41-year-old former flight attendant, Meagher is not a traditional student nor is she a traditional journalist.
Her work would best be described as “citizen journalism” – the use of blogs and new media by people at the grassroots level to collect, report, analyze and disseminate news and information.
And while her role as an advocate for victims of PTSD became more prominent this past summer, it wasn’t achieved overnight.
Her book, “Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America’s Returning Troops,” was the result of a year of intense research, but her journey really began in August 2005. That’s when she read a story in Seattle Weekly titled “Homefront Casualties.”
The article focused on seven homicides and three suicides in the State of Washington involving active troops or veterans of Iraq. One incident in particular struck a nerve with Meagher. Army Specialist Leslie Frederick Jr. had served with distinction in Iraq. Stateside, he became among the first soldiers to receive the U.S. Army’s new Combat Action Badge.
Less than two weeks after receiving the award in a formal ceremony, he committed suicide.
“I wanted to know what happened to him, so I started digging,” Meagher says. “And I wondered how much this was going on. I realized that PTSD affects not only soldiers but also their families, employers, churches and communities.”
She began collecting media reports of combat-related PTSD incidents.
Eventually her work developed into the “PTSD Timeline” that is now maintained by ePluribus Media, a citizen-journalism initiative. The only public collection of possible, probable and confirmed reports of post-combat reintegration difficulties, the timeline has been accessed by dozens of media outlets and government offices.
“That’s the most significant contribution I’ve made on this issue. No one else was keeping track of this information,” Meagher says. “All types of news media, from The New Yorker to the New Republic, have used the database in their reporting.”
Meagher also launched an online blog, “PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within.” In the spring of 2006, her work drew the attention of Ig Publishing in New York, which asked her to write a book on the plight of returning veterans. Meagher devoted herself to the project, reading all she could on PTSD and interviewing veterans, their family members, veterans’ advocates and medical experts.
“Moving a Nation to Care” was published in late May 2007.
“The whole point of the book is to bring the average person, just like me, up to speed on the issue of PTSD,” Meagher says. “I also wanted to provide a resource for veterans and military families while pointing out why average citizens should care about the issue and what they can do about it.”
The book frames present-day debates over PTSD in the context of history. Meagher found mentions of combat stress in ancient Greek writings and eventually chronicled 80 different names for the disorder, including nostalgia, hysteria, shellshock, buck fever, combat fatigue, battle reaction and disorderly action of the heart. Her studies at NIU helped as she researched and wrote the book – and worked to publicize it.
“So many of my professors went out of their way to help me,” Meagher says. “They gave me opportunities to practice my presentations and broadcast news of my work to others. And they gave me personal assurances that I could accomplish my goals.”
In Communication Professor Jeff Chown’s class, Meagher studied films on Iraq, learned about Middle East history and participated in intense discussion about representations of the war. In an honors class taught by English Professor Steve Franklin, her work would crop up in discussions about the great thinkers throughout history and their views toward war. Franklin, himself a veteran, took an interest in her work outside of the classroom as well.
“Ilona is really engaged in life, in terms of politics, policy and contemporary and moral issues,” Franklin says. “She provides an exemplary example for students and citizens.”
Communication Professor Laura Vazquez led Meagher to resources for her book and helped her prepare for speaking in front of a camera. Meagher also presented her work to students in the classes of Instructor Jason Akst.
“My students were just stunned,” Akst said. “What she’s accomplished so far is a testament not only to her work but also to the rise and possibility of citizen journalism.”
Meagher continues to be active as an advocate for PTSD. She recently visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which is giving copies of her book to military chaplains. Just last week she served as a panel member on a discussion of PTSD that followed a screening in Chicago of “In the Valley of Elah,” the story of an Iraq War veteran’s disappearance, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon.
Akst says he expects more great things from Meagher in the future.
“I’ve already asked her what her next book is going to be about,” he says.
College students are like most adults: busy and on a budget.
The temptation of fast food, with its convenience and affordability, lures many into the drive-through lanes. Extra pounds usually come as part of the package.
But fast food lovers can avoid obesity if they just choose wisely, says Sandra Meister, an NIU graduate student in nutrition and dietetics.
Meister analyzed the menus of 19 local restaurants, all of which accept Huskie Bucks, in an effort to find the healthy selections. Her 16-page report lists the best options from each with occasional tips on how to eat even smarter.
“There are more healthy choices out there than I thought there would be,” says Meister, a master’s student in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, housed in NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
“On each menu, I was looking for the leanest meats possible for sandwiches; whole grains; grilled items rather than fried; vegetable toppings for pizza and sandwiches; and low-fat dressings and condiments,” she adds. “For side items, if instead of choosing fries you could choose baked chips or fruit or something else, then I had that as an option, too.”
For example, Meister offers several good decisions at McDonald’s. Among them:
At Chipotle, Meister recommends chicken, steak and vegetarian selections.
“Salsas are fat-free and full of veggies. You can’t eat too much of these,” she writes. “Choose as many veggies as possible. Black beans and pinto beans add complex carbohydrates and fiber and taste great! Go light on the cheese, sour cream and guacamole (one small spoonful of sour cream and/or guacamole is plenty).”
Headed to KFC? Order the chicken breast without skin or breading, Meister says. Long John Silver’s? The baked cod is best, she says. Pizza? Forget the sausage and pepperoni, she advises, in favor of chicken, green peppers, ham, jalapeños, mushrooms, pineapples, red onions and tomatoes.
Some items in the document, such as smoothies, milk shakes, pasta and pizza are included because the project was originally developed for use by athletes who need carbohydrates to fuel their activity. The general population must know that all foods should be eaten in moderation and within caloric needs, Meister says.
Judith Lukaszuk, a professor in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, says Meister’s “in-depth and thorough” work is valuable to everyone on campus.
“It’s promising that there are some better choices to make. You have to be educated,” Lukaszuk says. “Some people think they’re doing really well by getting a salad, for instance, but then they load it up with crumbled bleu cheese and then dressing. They would’ve been better off getting a sandwich.”
Meister’s informal research stems from a project last year to analyze the diets of NIU athletes. Lukaszuk, a licensed professional, supervised the interaction.
“I know that a lot of the athletes use their Huskie Bucks for their meals, and it’s a fast way for them to eat after practice. I saw a lot of McDonald’s dollar-menu items, twice a day, in their diets,” Meister says. “You can’t always choose those.”
She found an online list of restaurants that accept Huskie Bucks and visited each in search of menus and nutritional guides. Taking the pile home, she dug through them for the choices that make the best dietary sense.
The report came together over a long weekend. Meister then e-mailed her work to one Huskie football player, who had expressed interest in a copy, and to Clete McLeod, an assistant coach in strength and conditioning.
McLeod calls Meister’s report “very comprehensive.”
“We’ve shown the athletes the information. We’ve displayed the information. We’ve given it to them in print,” he says. “At this level, eating well is their job. It’s as important as any other part of their training. They really need to treat their bodies like the job it is.”
McLeod, who holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition, says he and Meister enjoy an ongoing collaboration. “We approach all the athletes about nutrition, and then I refer them to Sandra,” he says. “Any help that I can get with the athletes over here is welcome.”
“Sandra’s report is a nice tool for them to use,” Lukaszuk adds. “It says, ‘Hey, this is where you could make improvements. You would have more energy if you would eat more of these types of foods.’ A lot weren’t getting enough carbohydrates, and carbohydrates give you energy for your muscles.”
Now Meister is mulling the next step.
“I wish I could go into those restaurants and put a little Huskie symbol by each of those healthy menu choices,” she says. “It would be so helpful for the athletes if they didn’t have to think about what to order: Just eat what’s by the symbol. It’s a healthier choice.”
Of course, Meister’s own diet is not a stranger to fast food.
“But I know exactly what to choose,” she says. “If I’m in a hurry, and I go to Taco Bell, I eat grilled chicken taquitos, Fresco style. They come with a salsa mix of tomatoes and onions. It’s probably one of the healthiest choices I can make.”
NIU’s Community School of the Arts offers a wide variety of art, music and theater classes and lessons for adults and children.
Sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the programs are taught by NIU student, faculty and community artists. Approximately 80 teachers offer lessons on most musical instruments as well as in art and theater. More than 600 community people from nearly 50 towns and cities travel to DeKalb for lessons and classes.
Scholarships awarded on the basis of need are available for children ages 18 and younger. The application deadline is Friday, Aug. 31.
Application forms are available by calling the office at (815) 753-1450 or online at www.niu.edu/extprograms. The NIU Community School of the Arts is located in Room 132 of the Music Building.
For more information about these or any of the other offerings of the community school, contact Renee Page at (815) 753-1450 or visit www.niu.edu/extprograms.
The public is invited to the annual Open House, which begins at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, to learn more about the many arts opportunities available in the NIU Community School of the Arts.
The event is held in the lobby of the Concert Hall in the NIU Music Building.
Free parking is available in the lot immediately adjacent to the Music Building on the south side. This lot is accessible from Castle Drive.
Staff and teachers will be available to answer questions about music lessons, classes and ensembles scheduled for fall and spring and to take registrations.
Free 15-minute sample music lessons are available from 3 to 5 p.m. To reserve a slot,
call the office at (815) 753-1450 no later than Wednesday, Aug. 29. There is a limit of one free sample lesson per person.
Two talks are scheduled at 4 p.m.
“Is Suzuki Right For You?” by Ann Montzka-Smelser. Learn more about this approach for teaching a young child to play violin, piano or guitar. Montzka-Smelser is the director of the Suzuki violin program at NIU. Room 101, NIU Music Building.
“How to Buy A Piano” by Dave Graham. Learn what to look for when buying a new or used piano for your own personal use. Graham is a registered member of the Piano Technicians’ Guild and has worked on pianos at NIU and the Lyric Opera of Chicago for about 25 years. Recital Hall, NIU Music Building.
A recital will begin at 5:05 p.m. in the Recital Hall. Students in the community school perform solos and in small ensembles.
Except where noted, supplies are not included. A list will be provided at the first class.
Art Express
Art classes for children and adults are offered Saturdays and Sundays this fall.
“Art Express” is a five-week, multi-media art class for children ages 4 to 12. This innovative, hands-on program encourages creative thinking in children as they explore a variety of creative art activities to stretch the imagination.
The class meets from 1 to 3 p.m. beginning Sept. 15 and is taught by NIU art majors enrolled in an art education class. All materials are supplied.
The tuition fee of $30 is waived for NIU staff, faculty and students who wish to send their children to Art Express. Indicate at the top of the registration form that you are a student or employee of NIU. The form and a $15 program registration fee should be sent to Room 132 of the Music Building.
Drawing the female fashion figure
“Drawing the Female Fashion Figure: A One-Day Art Project” is a free activity for students ages 10 to adult from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8.
First, tour the exhibition at the NIU Art Museum: “Some Enchanted Evening: 100 Years of Evening Gowns.” Then, enjoy a related drawing activity. This is a great parent/child experience.
All materials are supplied.
Oil painting
“Oil Painting” is an eight-week class for students ages 13 to adult.
Students focus on the basic techniques of oil painting. The class meets from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays beginning Sept. 16.
Drawing
“Drawing – The Basics” is an eight-week class for students ages 13 to adult. Students learn the basic drawing elements of line, shape, value, texture and perspective through the use of still life and a live model.
The class meets from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturdays beginning Sept. 15.
Young children
Children are born with a love of music. Nurture this love by enrolling your child in one of the early education music classes or with a group piano class.
Ensembles
Playing a musical instrument with an ensemble is a great way to improve musicianship, as well as a wonderful way to meet people. The NIU Community School of the Arts offers a wide variety of ensembles for children and adults.
All the groups rehearse in the Music Building and perform regularly throughout the year.
Guitar
The guitar is a versatile instrument for creating music in many styles. The NIU Community School of the Arts offers both classes and private lessons, taught in the NIU Music Building, for beginning, intermediate and experienced guitar players.
Students must have a guitar for lessons and classes. Children might need a child’s-size instrument.
Children ages 6 to 10 with lots of imagination and energy learn more about the theatre world in a fun six-week class. The class meets at 9 a.m. beginning Saturday, Sept. 15, and is taught in the Stevens Building.
“Kinetic Energy” helps children develop stage skills through theater games that connect emotions with the body as they learn to sculpt with their bodies. Class activities include animal work, mime, improvisation, playing with nature and building a character.
Learn how to rewire consumer electronics into new noise machines and music-makers during a six-week class that meets on Sunday afternoons this fall.
“Circuit-Bending Workshop” demonstrates the basics of electricity and electronics to students ages 13 to adult who are encouraged to bring old electronic toys to class. The results are unique sound-generating creations. Safety precautions are explained and demonstrated.
The class meets from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the NIU Music Building from Sept. 23 through Oct. 28.
Jon Carnahan, chair of the NIU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has been elected president of the Frederick, Md.-based Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
Carnahan, of Sycamore, will begin his duties as president-elect in January and will serve as president of the non-profit society beginning in 2009.
Spectroscopy is the use of radiation and light to study the composition and structure of matter. It is used in chemistry to identify substances through the spectrum emitted from or absorbed by them.
The Society for Applied Spectroscopy, with about 3,000 members worldwide, works to advance and disseminate knowledge and information concerning the art and science of spectroscopy and other allied sciences. It also publishes the journal, Applied Spectroscopy.
“One of my goals is to increase student membership,” Carnahan said. “We want to get students more involved in presenting their work and exchanging ideas at conferences. We also want to increase our outreach to students in both college and high school, in terms of providing teaching materials related to spectroscopy.”
Carnahan began his career at NIU in 1983, the same year he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. He held the title of director of graduate studies in chemistry and biochemistry for more than a decade before becoming department chair in 2006
Carnahan also is a widely published scholar. His research team focuses on the development of new optical spectrometric methods of chemical analyses. The group’s research ranges from working with Pfizer Inc. developing methods to identify trace impurities in pharmaceutical drugs to working with NASA on ways to detect the presence or past presence of water on planets and other celestial bodies.
* * *
Xuwei Chen, a newly hired assistant professor in the Department of Geography, recently received two major awards from the Association of American Geographers at its annual meetings in San Francisco.
Chen won the 2007 J. Warren Nystrom Dissertation Award, based on her paper, “Microsimulation of Hurricane Evacuation Strategies of Galveston Island.”
The Nystrom Award is the most prestigious award given by the Association of America Geographers to young scholars. Competition is open to any member of the association completing the dissertation within the last year.
Chen also received the 2007 Ph.D. Dissertation Award in Transportation Geography from the Transportation Geography Specialty Group.
Chen received her Ph.D. in Geography from Texas State University, San Marcos, in December 2006. Her research specialties include geo-visualization, spatial analysis, transportation analysis and modeling, and emergency evacuation.
Join NIU President John G. Peters as he delivers his annual State of the University Address.
The address begins at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, 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.
The Office of Registration and Records has developed an online tutorial for faculty and staff regarding FERPA (Federal Educational Right to Privacy Act). This new site serves two key purposes for NIU personnel.
First, staff who are requesting computer access to systems which contain student information protected under FERPA must complete the tutorial prior to access being granted. Once the tutorial is completed, staff are then asked to submit their name and Novell login information to Registration and Records for system access to be granted.
Second, this site will serve as a good resource for staff who encounter requests for information or who have questions regarding FERPA throughout the course of the year.
Please visit and bookmark the following site: http://www.reg.niu.edu/regrec/confidentiality/ferpa/tutorial.shtml.
An outstanding undergraduate senior from each of the four-year, degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois is chosen each year to receieve the Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award.
The University Scholarships Committee asks your assistance in identifying the student, graduating during 2007-2008 (August 2007, December 2007 or May 2008), who will be NIU’s recipient of this year’s award.
Lincoln Student Laureates are honored for their overall excellence in both curricular and co-curricular activities. The NIU Student Laureate should have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and should have demonstrated leadership in extra-curricular activities.
The person selected will represent the university at one of the most distinguished gatherings in the state, a special ceremony to be held Saturday, Oct. 27, in the House of Representatives of the Illinois State Capitol. Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich (or his designee) will present each Student Laureate with a Lincoln Academy Medallion and a check for $150. The ceremony will be followed by a luncheon. Nominator(s) of the recipient will be asked to represent the university at this event.
The person selected from NIU to receive this award should be our most outstanding undergraduate senior student. Please be selective in your nomination. The attached form and any supplementary pages should be returned to the Office of the Scholarship Coordination/Scholarship Services, 245 Swen Parson Hall, by noon Monday, Sept. 10, for the nomination to be considered by the selection committee.
Nomination forms are available online or by calling (815) 753-4829.
The University Women’s Club of NIU will host its annual fall open house from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, at the home of Barbara Peters, 901 Woodlawn Drive, DeKalb.
The University Women’s Club invites every woman associated with the university, whether she is a current or retired faculty or staff member, or the wife of a current, retired or deceased faculty or staff member, to join this long-standing organization of NIU women.
Meet people with a common interest in N IU, participate in distinct interest groups, enjoy social events and support the club’s philanthropic endeavor of providing scholarships to deserving NIU women students.
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours for the fall semester.
Fall hours begin Monday, Aug. 20. The library is open from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and from noon to 11:30 p.m. Sundays.
Exceptions include Labor Day weekend (from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2, and from 2 to 10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 3.) and the Thanksgiving
recess (open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21, from noon to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 25, and closed in between).
The extended scheduled for final exams week begins Saturday, Dec. 1.
Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.
NIU’s Art Museum will host “Some Enchanted Evening: 100 Years of Evening Gowns (1900-1999)” in its Rotunda Gallery from Tuesday, Aug. 28, through Saturday, Oct. 13.
The public is invited to an opening reception from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30. Collector Barbara Cole Peters will speak briefly about the exhibit at 5:15 p.m., and again
at 6 p.m., during the reception.
“Some Enchanted Evening: 100 Years of Evening Gowns (1900-1999)” includes nearly 30 evening gowns from the private collection of Peters. The garments, created by anonymous dressmakers and famous designers, are presented with contemporary newspaper text alongside written commentary by Peters that examines cultural developments decade by decade.
Richly adorned with embroidery, appliqué, sequins and intricate beading, these garments speak to the artistry of fashion design and serve as an ornate and visceral historical timeline reflecting the 20th century’s changing notions of beauty, elegance, romance and fantasy.
The exhibition also features 20th century dance music and a brief journey though social dance. Additional vignettes display the influences of psychedelic design, Orientalism and the Ballets Russes on garment design.
The NIU Art Museum’s Rotunda Gallery is located on the west end of the first floor of Altgeld Hall. The gallery is 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. The exhibitions of the NIU Art Museum are funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, 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.
NIU’s Art Museum hosts the traveling exhibition “Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art” in its Hall Case Galleries from Tuesday, Aug. 28, through Saturday, Oct. 13. The public is invited to an opening reception from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30.
“Dafatir” brings Iraqi art to Illinois at a crucial time when daily news images fail to present a living culture which is reacting to both its history and recent events. This exhibition is the third in the museum’s series of artist-made books.
“Dafatir” (“notebook” in Arabic) presents the works of three generations of Iraqi artists working in the book form. Iraqi art historian Dr. Nada Shabout curated the exhibition featuring the work of 17 artists, some still working in Baghdad, as well as several others living in exile for various lengths of time.
The selections of “Dafatir” present experimentation with book arts, ranging in subject from contemporary events to modern poetry and stylistically from representation to abstraction.
“Dafatir” was organized by the University of North Texas Art Gallery in Denton, Texas, and supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts.
The NIU Art Museum’s Hall Case and North galleries are located on the west end of the first floor of Altgeld Hall. The Hall Case Galleries are open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Exhibitions are always free. The exhibitions of the NIU Art Museum are funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, 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 NIU Alumni Association is accepting reservations for its travel program to Germany. The trip takes place from Sept. 27 to Oct. 6. This travel program encompasses the historical beauty of Berlin, the magical medieval towns of Bamberg and Rothenburg, the fun of an exuberant Oktoberfest celebration, and the charm and warmth of the German people. For more information, call Pat Anderson at (815) 753-1512 or visit the Alumni Association website.
Treat yourself to a New Year’s getaway in London, where old English charm and endless sightseeing await.
Whether you want to visit the London Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, shop at Harrods or enjoy the theater, London will delight you. For more information, call Pat Anderson at (815) 753-1512 or visit the Alumni Association Web site.