The University Libraries are closed Saturday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Aug. 17. Normal interim hours resume at 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18.
Penne McCabe, secretary in the NIU Office of Publications, will retire Friday, Aug. 29, after 27 years of service.
In lieu of a formal farewell reception, McCabe would appreciate cards or notes to include in a memory book. Send remembrances to Virginia Seymour, Gilbert Hall B105, by Friday, Aug. 22.
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours for the fall semester.
Fall hours begin Monday, Aug. 18. 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 (open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, and from 2 to 10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1) and the Thanksgiving recess (open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, from noon to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, and closed in between).
The extended scheduled for College of Law reading/final examination period begins Monday, Dec. 1.
Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.
Media Services is offering training on using the audiovisual equipment in Provost-sponsored SMART classrooms. Both new and returning instructors should benefit from these brief seminars. Refreshments are provided.
These seminars are open-ended and run continually. A complete demonstration with hands-on practice could take 30 minutes. Those who cannot attend one of these sessions can contact Keith Bisplinghoff at (815) 753-0172 for other training opportunities.
Fall registration for the Community Dance School at NIU begins soon. Classes meet weekly from Monday, Sept. 8, through Saturday, Dec. 13.
The school is sponsored by the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and is directed by Diane Rimmer. The Community Dance School’s mission is to reach all members of the NIU community and surrounding areas, teach fundamentals of various dance forms and to allow each individual to expand upon their own abilities. Its main focus is to explore the joy of movement through dance, instilling a strong appreciation and understanding for it.
Classes begin at age 4 and continue through teen and adult. Classes offered include creative movement, ballet, tap, Irish step dancing, jazz/hip-hop, modern as well as ballroom, Latin and swing. Students are taught by NIU faculty and instructors who hold degrees in dance education, have danced professionally or who are currently dance performance majors at NIU.
NIU faculty member Barbara Heimerdinger will teach the ballroom, Latin and swing classes.
Registration will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, in Anderson Hall Studio, Room 130. For more information, call (815) 753-0277 or (815) 756-4092.
NIU innovators have less than a month to submit proposals to the Technology Transfer Office for the further development of inventions for entry into the commercial marketplace.
Friday, Sept. 5, is the deadline to apply for up to $20,000 to support development of novel applied technologies which have the near-term potential for licensing and commercialization.
The Technology Development Fund is a new program offered by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies to
Exact funding guidelines and applications are available online at www.tto.niu.edu.
The fund, which does not support basic research, has a limit of $50,000 for Fiscal Year 2009. Money awarded is available for up to one year and is not renewable. The proposed work must have a reasonable chance of being accomplished in one year.
Awards can be used only for technical support, supplies and contracted services directed to the funded projects. The money is not meant to supplement investigator’s salaries.
Members of the university’s Intellectual Property Committee will review the submitted proposals for commercial feasibility with the assistance of technical evaluators and will make recommendations for award to the interim vice president for research.
For more information, contact Rita Yusko, acting manager of the Technology Transfer Office, at (815) 753-9281 or ryusko@niu.edu.
Two NIU professors are asking professors and departments to donate used textbooks and research journals to a university in Kenya.
Jane Rose Njue, from NIU’s School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, and Moses Mutuku, from the Department of Teaching and Learning, are collecting the books to ship to Kenyatta University. Kenyatta’s professors and students, who cannot afford to buy text books often and who do not have much access to journals, will find great value in the donation.
Donations are needed quickly, however: Olive Mugenda, chancellor of Kenyatta University, will visit NIU this week through Wednesday, Aug. 13.
“It would be good for her to be presented with books that NIU community has donated,” Njue said. “Kenyatta University pays for the shipment of books.”
FCNS Chair Laura Smart is providing space to store the books before they are transported Aug. 13. Donations can be taken to Wirtz 122.
NIU faculty members have collaborated in recent years with colleagues from Iowa State University, the University of Minnesota and Hamline University to donate books to Kenya through Books for Africa.
Based in St. Paul, Minn., the non-profit organization established in 1988 is the largest shipper of donated books to African countries.
The organization believes that the greatest equalizer is to give individuals access to an education whether self taught or in a school to all people. Its staff works with organizations throughout Africa and the United States to end the country’s “book famine” by transporting more books and educational materials to areas in need.
After 27 years on the job, Leroy Mitchell will retire as director of the CHANCE program.
All are welcome to an open house celebration from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.