In Brief

NIU Athletic Board seeks
faculty, staff opinions in survey

To provide a world-class experience for NIU’s student-athletes and members of the faculty and staff, the NIU Athletic Board is asking for participation in a brief online survey.

Click on this survey link and answer the questions as they pertain to your interests in NIU intercollegiate athletics. The survey should take only two or three minutes to complete.

NIU Art Museum opens cases
to local non-profit organizations

This summer, in the spirit of the “Museum without Walls,” the NIU Art Museum offers its prominent location to assist other non-profit arts organizations and museums in making more public their own programming and accomplishments.

Eight organizations will be represented in “Community Windows” by posters in the NIU Art Museum’s Hall Case Gallery in Altgeld Hall through Saturday, Aug. 11.

The DeKalb County Community Foundation has generously funded the creation of a professionally designed poster display stemming from a grant proposal authored by the NIU Art Museum. NIU’s Media Services Imaging Production Studio worked with each organization to design a poster with the option to augment their displays with small objects. 

This year’s eight organizations were chosen for their location, range of offerings and outreach to the people of DeKalb County: DeKalb Municipal Band (DeKalb), Egyptian Theatre (DeKalb), Kishwaukee Valley Heritage Society and Museum (Genoa), Malta Historical and Genealogical Society Museum (Malta), Marie Louis Olmstead Museum (Somonauk), Midwest Museum of Natural History (Sycamore), NIU Community School of the Arts (DeKalb) and the Stone Mill Museum (Sandwich).

The NIU Art Museum’s Hall Case Gallery is located on the first floor, west end, of Altgeld Hall. The “Community Windows” poster display may be viewed on weekdays whenever Altgeld Hall is open. The Rotunda, North and South galleries are closed for the summer.

For more information, call (815) 753-1936.

DeKalb Public Library joins NIU
for two pop-up book workshops

The NIU Art Museum will partner with the DeKalb Public Library to offer two children’s pop-up book and card workshops as part of this summer’s DeKalb County Passport to Adventure program.

NIU Art Museum Education Coordinator Jess Witte will conduct the approximately one-hour workshops in the library’s conference room.

The first workshop will be offered at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, for children ages 6 to10. Children younger than 8 must be accompanied by an adult. The second workshop will run at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, for ages 8 to 15.

Space is limited, so registration at the library’s youth desk is required at (815) 756-9568.

The DeKalb County Passport to Adventure is a free program sponsored by the DeKalb County Historical and Genealogical Society and the DeKalb County Community Foundation that encourages families to visit the many museums, cultural centers and archives throughout the county.

More information on Passport to Adventure can be found at the DeKalb Library’s youth desk and www.dekalbcountypassport.org. The DeKalb Public Library is located at 309 Oak Street in DeKalb.

Retirement party scheduled
for IASBO’s Barbara Koca

A reception to honor Barbara Koca, who is retiring from NIU after 30 years of service, is scheduled for 1 to 3:30 p.m. Monday, June 18.

The reception takes place at the Illinois ASBO/NIU Professional Development Center in the Henry Yankow Board Room.

NIU Community School offers
summer camp for vocal youth

Young voices fill the air this summer in a new day camp offered by the NIU Community School of the Arts.

The CSA Choral Camp is for children ages 8 to 13 and meets the week of June 18. The camp is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and concludes with a final concert for family and friends in the Concert Hall of the Music Building. Campers bring a packed lunch each day and receive a T-shirt.

Campers are assigned to choirs by age and rehearse with their choir twice each day. In addition, they attend classes in singing, drumming, movement, reading music and playing the piano. Each day, a guest performer will share his or her talents with the group.

The camp director is Mary Lynn Doherty, who is on the faculty at NIU, where she teaches music education courses. She was the associate conductor of the Chicago Choir Academy, a charter school in Chicago, and has taught choirs all across the Midwest.

She brings a wealth of experience and talent to the camp and is joined by two well-known local choral conductors, Travis Erikson of DeKalb High School and Brian Kowalski of Kaneland Middle School.

For more information about this camp or about the many other arts opportunities for children and adults at the community school this summer, call (815) 753-1450. More information is available online at www.niu.edu/extprograms.

Nehring Gallery to host
‘Civil Rights’ exhibition

The Nehring Gallery, a facility of the DeKalb Park District, will host “Civil Rights: Making and Remembering History” throughout the month of June.

The exhibition aims to call attention to the individuals, groups and especially students who have affected change in working toward advocating and protecting civil rights.

The exhibition is comprised of an introduction to the Chicano Movement, documents from the NIU Libraries’ African-American Special Collection and the sixth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration Traveling Gallery.

Gallery visitors have the opportunity to vote on their favorite Traveling Gallery entries at the exhibition.

West Chicago Museum Education Coordinator Sara Phalen curated and prepared the introduction to the Chicano Movement.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration Traveling Gallery is comprised of literary and artistic entries completed by DeKalb-area students and is a by-product of the collaborative efforts from a number of organizations in the DeKalb-Sycamore community.

This year’s sponsors include New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, DeKalb High School, 1360 WLBK, National Bank and Trust of Sycamore, A Place to Stand and One Body in Christ. The wooden display cases that debut in the “Civil Rights” exhibition are the result of a generous DeKalb County Community Foundation grant for permanent fixtures for the gallery.

Admission is free (donations are greatly appreciated) and the gallery is accessible to all. The Nehring Gallery is located at 111 S. Second Street on the second floor of the Nehring Center. Free parking is available in the public lots behind the building.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment for tours. For more information, contact the gallery at (815) 758-6363
and leave a message or visit www.nehringgallery.org.

Community School to host
Brass Boot Camp for teens

Junior and senior high school brass players are invited this summer to learn from some of the best brass teachers in the region. Brass Boot Camp is scheduled for the week of July 8.

Professor Tom Bough, director of the camp, also is director of the Huskie Marching Band and the University Band at NIU. Assisting as teachers during the week are NIU brass faculty, including Mark Ponzo, Paul Bauer and John Fairfield, as well as NIU music students.

Throughout the week, players of tuba, French horn, trumpet, trombone and euphonium (baritone) receive personal attention on improvement of technique, increased lip flexibility and endurance, production of a professional tone, solutions to intonation problems, the acquisition of fluency in all key signatures and expansion of playing range.

Campers sleep and eat in residence halls on campus and enjoy the music facilities in the NIU Music Building. The camp is open to those who have graduated from grades 8 to 12.

In addition to the Brass Boot Camp, the NIU College of Visual and Performing Arts offers summer camps in July in jazz, theatre, vocal arts and visual arts. More information about Summer in the Arts at Northern is available online at www.niu.edu/extprograms or by calling (815) 753-1450.

Employee Wellness to host
preventative health screening

The Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center is the site of a preventative health screening for the faculty, staff, their families and friends Tuesday, Aug. 14.

Life Line Screening screens the carotid arteries in the neck to determine if you are at risk for stroke. Up to 75 percent of all strokes are linked to carotid artery blockage. Screenings of the arteries of the legs are offered to check for peripheral artery disease, which is linked to heart disease.

A third test is performed for aneurysms in the aortic vessel of the abdomen. Life Line also offers a bone density screening to test for early detection of osteoporosis.

These non-invasive and completely painless ultrasound screenings take about 10 minutes each. Each of the three vascular tests is offered for $45. The osteoporosis test is $35. A complete vascular screening (three tests) costs $109; all four tests are $129.

New blood tests now are available as well: glucose (blood sugar to test for diabetes) and a complete lipid panel (LDL, HDL and triglycerides). All are conducted with a finger-stick blood test. Results are available in 10 minutes. The glucose costs $25 and the complete lipid panel is $45. Call for package pricing with vascular screenings.

Pre-registration is required. Call (800) 324-1851 for appointments and more information.

6-4-07