The Division of Research and Graduate Studies will hold its Outstanding Graduate Student Reception from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, April 28, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.
An awards ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. to honor students who are receiving the following awards: the Carter G. Woodson Fellowship, Jeffrey T. Lunsford Fellowship, Dissertation Completion Award, University Fellowship, Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois Award and the Outstanding Graduate Student Award.
Graduate faculty and advisers are encouraged to attend the event. Refreshments will be served.
NIU’s Office of Assessment Services presents the Summer 2008 issue of “Toolkit,” its quarterly “nuts and bolts” e-newsletter. Toolkit is specifically designed to assist the NIU community with practical assessment issues in a user friendly format.
This issue features a review of NIU’s first Assessment Expo, including a video of speaker highlights; and a look at resources for creating rubrics, including a rubric builder database and rubrics available in the Toolkit archive. Also featured is a team-based assessment model for creating change and highlights of 2006 Graduate Alumni Survey.
Back issues are posted on the Assessment Services website under Toolkit. Contributions to the newsletter are welcome at any time.
On the menu at Ellington’s this week: Cocina Cubana is scheduled for Tuesday, Lemon Grass Lounge takes over Wednesday and Mesogieos concludes the week Thursday.
Cocina Cubana features shrimp picadillo empanadas or tomatillo and tomato salad for starters, Cuban mojo chicken or Cuban black beans and rice for entrees and rum cake or flan delite for dessert. Each table also will be served a salsamole with tortilla chips.
Lemon Grass Lounge features silky-coconut pumpkin soup or fresh cucumber salad with toasted black sesame seeds for starters, flavorful black Thai pork or vegetarian pad Thai for entrees and creamy coconut tapioca pudding with cayenne-spiced mango or strawberry-lychee shortcake for dessert. Each table also will be served Thai iced tea.
Mesogieos features Greek salad or spinach triangles for starters, Mediterranean orange roughy with couscous and currants or Greek pasta with tomatoes and white beans for entrees and olive oil Bundt cake with tangerine glaze or Greek-style yogurt with honey and walnuts for dessert. Each table also will be served herbed breadsticks.
Seating is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with service until 1 p.m. The cost is $8 per person. Ellington’s is located on the main floor of the Holmes Student Center. Call (815) 753-1763 or visit www.ellingtons.niu.edu to make reservations.
NIU’s LGBT Resource Center invites the campus community to a reading and reception Tuesday, April 29, featuring NIU alumnus and current Board of Trustees member John Butler.
Tuesday’s event is the inaugural LGBT Resource Center Alumni Presentation. Butler will read “Going Home for a Funeral: A Reading on Loss, Identity, and Community,” a recent creative nonfiction essay that focuses on his interest in the intersections of personal identity and community.
The reading and reception begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center Glass Gallery on the main floor. Contact the LGBT Resource Center at (815) 753-LGBT (5428) or at lgbt@niu.edu for more information.
The next CLA workshop on “Fundamentals of Economic Development and Land Use Planning: Conflicting or Parallel Goals – Exploring the Role of Government,” is scheduled for Thursday, May 1.
This workshop will present insights into economic development and the role governments increasingly play in this critical piece of community health. Recent trends and debates in approaches, tools and the relationship between land use decisions, planning, zoning and other regulatory frameworks also will be covered.
The workshop will provide participants with key concepts and models of economic development and land use planning which, coupled with realistic expectations and strategies, will equip participants with a foundation for supporting their own existing economic development strategies or implementing changes where needed.
Presenters are Robert Gleeson, director of the Center for Governmental Studies and associate director of the Regional Development Institute; Mike Peddle, associate professor of public administration; and Roger Dahlstrom, senior research associate for the Center for Governmental Studies.
Registration and more information about CLA and upcoming workshops are available online.
Fans of the popular public radio show “This American Life” can see host Ira Glass beamed live via satellite into hundreds of select movie theaters nationwide – including Rockford’s Showplace 16 – at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 1.
“This American Life – Live!” is a one-time-only special event offering an exclusive look at never-before-seen stories and outtakes from the show’s critically-acclaimed television series, an audience Q&A, a radio segment and more. It will originate from the campus of New York University and broadcast live in high definition.
WNIJ (89.5 FM) airs the weekly radio series at 7 p.m. Fridays with repeats at 3 p.m. Sundays. WNIJ staff will be on hand before the feature presentation to greet guests at Showplace 16, 8301 E. State Street, which is across the street from NIU-Rockford.
Online ticketing and a complete list of participating theaters are available at www.FathomEvents.com. WNIJ is the news/talk service of Northern Public Radio, the broadcast service of NIU.
Students in the Museum Studies program at NIU have planned free activities based on the “Examining Audubon” exhibition from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 3.
Children ages 6 to 13 are invited to the museum, located on the west end of the first floor of Altgeld Hall.
Participants can make bird feeders and flatboats, play animal charades and draw and label parts of a bird. The drawing will take place outside weather permitting; children should dress appropriately.
The activities are limited to 20 students. Pre-register at (815) 753-1936 by Friday, May 2.
The Community Dance School, sponsored by the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, will hold its annual spring concert at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 3, in Anderson Hall.
Dances in different levels of ballet, Irish step, jazz/hip-hop and tap will be performed. The recital is free and open to the public. For more information about the recital and dance program, contact Diane Rimmer at (720) 394-8543.
The Greater Kishwaukee Area Concert Band will present “Stage and Screen Scenes” at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 3, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the NIU Music Building.
Under the baton of John Hansen, the band will play selections from “West Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Chicago,” “Wicked” and many more stage and screen productions.
This free concert is ponsored by the Friends of Malta. The concert hall is accessible to all.
A farewell reception for Rathindra N. Bose, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Brief remarks begin at 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology will sponsor “Natural Winds and Traffic Safety,” a presentation by visiting Fulbright scholar Hrvoje Kozmar.
The presentation takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, in Room 211 of the Engineering Building. Refreshments will be served.
Kozmar is on the faculty of mechanical engineering and naval architecture at the University of Zagreb in Croatia. He also is a visiting Fulbright scholar with the Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
If bringing classes, RSVP by Monday, May 5, to Mia Hannon in the dean’s office at (815) 753-1284 or via e-mail at hannon@niu.edu. For more information, contact Frank Gruber at (815) 751-2012 or frankgruber@sbcglobal.net.
A book drive is being held in the Founders Memorial Library lobby through Thursday, May 15.
Textbooks, picture books, law books, medical literature and general literature (good reads) are being collected. Donations will become part of the new library for Restore Academy in Gulu, Uganda.
For more information on the academy’s sponsor, Restore International, visit http://restoreinternational.org/. For information on the book drive specifically, contact NIU student Jessica Goodrum at goodrum.jessica@gmail.com.
Eligible faculty and staff now can obtain their new NIU OneCards.
To get new IDs, members of the faculty and staff should bring their current NIU OneCards to the OneCard Office, located on the lower level of the Holmes Student Center across from the University Bookstore, from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Lost ID charges will apply for failure to return current cards. Call (815) 753-9569 for more information.
Friends of the NIU Libraries invites the public to attend its second annual Book Appraisal Fair from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 4, in the Heritage Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Members of the Friends of NIU Libraries will receive their first three books appraised free of charge, with additional appraisals at a rate of $5 each. Appraisals for non-members will cost $10.
“We will gladly accept new members that day for non-members who wish to take advantage of the ‘member rate’ for appraisals,” said Lynne Thomas, faculty liaison to the Friends of NIU Libraries and head of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Thomas Joyce of Thomas J. Joyce & Company and the Chicago Rare Book Center, who has also appeared on HGTV’s “Appraisal Fair,” and Bill Butts of Main Street Fine Books in Galena, will serve as book appraisers. Joyce specializes in printed books, and Butts has extensive experience in appraising autographs and other ephemeral materials.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Friends of the NIU Libraries. For more information on the book fair, call (815) 753-8091.
NIU’s School of Music will offer a new choral ensemble during the fall 2008 semester.
Women’s Chorus, a one-credit, non-auditioned elective course is open to NIU undergraduate students (MUSC 369, Sect. P-2) and graduate students (MUSC 769, Sect. P-2). NIU full- and part-time female faculty and staff and alumni also are invited to join.
The chorus will rehearse from 4:30 to 6:40 p.m. Mondays in Room 171 of the Music Building and will hold one performance each semester. Glenda Cosenza, associate professor of music education and an experienced choral conductor, will be the group’s director.
Repertoire will include treble voice works by male and female composers from the Western art music tradition and from non-Western oral traditions as well. While the ensemble will be primarily a vocal one, instruction also will be given on ethnic instruments, and performances occasionally will include dances and mimes.
MUSC 369/769 cannot be considered as meeting required choral ensemble credits for NIU music majors. Applied voice majors are admitted by permission of School of Music Voice Area only.
NIU’s Alumni Travel Program is getting ready for some exciting trips over the summer to Alaska and Russia.
Travelers can head to Russia to experience Moscow’s rich history, and then it’s off to Finland to discover the Nordic mystery of Helsinki.
Or, have an Alaskan adventure in July featuring majestic mountains, lush forests and magnificent national parks as well as immense glaciers and icy inlets. Explore it all by foot, rail, sea and motorcoach on this dynamic touring itinerary with a land and sea tour.
More information about these and other NIU Travel Programs is available online.
To perform maintenance and repairs on high pressure steam lines on campus, the Physical Plant and Heating Plant will conduct the annual steam outage.
West Campus: 9 p.m. Monday, May 19, through noon Friday, May 23. This will include all buildings west of Carroll Avenue, except Stevenson and the Neptune Complex, and various other smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.
East Campus: 9 p.m. Sunday, May 25, or Monday, May 26, through noon Thursday, May 29. This will include all buildings east of Carroll Avenue and the Neptune Complex, except for various other smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.
Address any questions or concerns to Kevin Vines, chief engineer, at (815) 753-6090 or via e-mail at kvines@niu.edu.