President John and Barbara Peters invite families for a fun-filled evening of music, crafts and refreshments to the annual Holiday Family Celebration from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5.
Visitors to historic Altgeld Hall can hear a festive handbell choir perform at 5:30 and 7 p.m. and learn how to create music with their own handbells.
Families also can learn about nutrition and how to use the colors of the rainbow as a dietary guide. They then can put their knowledge to use as they play the rainbow nutrition game; a pot of gold awaits at the end.
Tours of “The Castle” and visits with President and Mrs. Peters round out the celebration.
Admission and parking are free for the event, which is open to the public. Contact Ellen Andersen at (815) 753-1999 or via e-mail at ellena@niu.edu for more information.
NIU’s School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences is ready to accept students into a new master’s degree program that offers two specialties in the field of family and consumer sciences.
The specialty in apparel studies is intended for professionals in the apparel industry who wish to enhance their understanding of the behavior of consumers of clothing and accessories. They will learn why consumers choose particular items over others as well as how clothing choices reflect human behavior.
A master’s degree in apparel studies also opens the door for graduates of textiles, apparel and merchandising (TAM) programs who hope to pursue doctoral degrees to obtain management positions at top retailers or to enter academia.
The specialty in family and consumer sciences education is intended for teachers of that subject in middle schools and high schools who wish to move forward in their careers while maintaining their teaching certification.
“With just about any occupation now, people who want to advance in their career need to strongly consider earning a master’s degree,” said Laura Smart, chair of the school housed in NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
“It’s clear for teachers. They are required to get continuing education,” Smart added. “And the very top stores, such as Nordstrom, hire people with Ph.D.s in apparel-related fields because they recognize the added value of the ability to interpret and produce research related to apparel.”
Students in the apparel studies specialization will develop skills in critical thinking, communication and data interpretation related not only to the apparel and fashion retail industries but to consumer actions in regard to clothing.
Meanwhile, those fashion professionals who hold undergraduate degrees in business can gain a deeper and more academic comprehension of their field.
“For a number of years, we’ve worked with internship sites for TAM students where the only educational option that the bachelor’s degree-level supervisors have had is to get master’s degrees in business,” Smart said. “Ours gives a different focus in that apparel industry professionals will better understand both the product and the consumer of the product.”
Core requirements include courses in educational statistics and research methods. Students also can take courses in the economics of the apparel and textile industries, consumer behavior related to apparel, fashion process analyses, clothing and human behavior and issues in eating disorders and obesity.
A thesis is required.
“There is no other master’s degree in this topic in the state,” said Sarah Cosbey, the associate professor of textiles, apparel and merchandising who wrote the proposal for the apparel studies specialization. “This is for someone who is interested in continuing academic studies in the human behavior aspect of apparel, whether from a consumer or social-psychological aspect, or for someone who is entertaining going on into education with a doctorate.”
Teachers who choose the specialization in family and consumer sciences education will keep pace with a changing school of thought in what once was called “home economics.”
Family and consumer education is “vital” in northern Illinois, Smart said, and many recently built high schools boast excellent facilities. Some even have student-run dining facilities.
And, like the apparel studies specialization, this emphasis is unique in Illinois. A thesis is similarly required.
“Home Ec traditionally focused on what people did inside the home,” said Bette Montgomery, associate professor of family and consumer science education and coordinator of the textiles, merchandising and educational services area of FCNS.
“Now we’re looking at contexts outside of the home that relate to family life,” Montgomery added. “We look at the issues of families and communities today. There’s much more of a problem-solving and issues-oriented approach.”
Today’s field reflects a progression of what Marjorie Brown and Beatrice Paolucci started in their 1979 paper, “Home Economics: A Definition.” The two adopted theories of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, who held that human beings could create mutual understanding through competent communication.
“Within the family, that could apply to parenting,” Montgomery said. “For example, parents really need to talk about what their beliefs are about raising children. What are their rules about discipline? What is their emphasis on particular family values?”
The new degree and its pair of specializations also benefits the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, Smart said: No school can retain its best and brightest undergraduates for advanced studies without strong and challenging graduate programs.
“It’s important for undergraduate students, in any program, to be aware there is graduate education in their field,” she said.
“With NIU serving so many first-generation college students, my experience over the years has been that even the top students – the ones we would really like to see in graduate school – have never thought of graduate school. No one has encouraged them to attend graduate school. This makes it easier for these students to conceptualize themselves as graduate students.”
For more information, visit www.niu.edu/fcns/index.shtml or e-mail bmontgomery@niu.edu.
Registered nurses in the DuPage County area can complete their bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degrees at the College of DuPage Glen Ellyn campus, thanks to a new agreement with NIU.
Taught by NIU School of Nursing and Health Studies professors, as well as members of the C.O.D. nursing faculty, the program is tailored to meet the employment- and family-related needs of working nurses who want to enhance their knowledge and advance in their profession.
“This agreement is an excellent example of two-year and four-year schools working together to provide an educational program designed to meet the needs of today’s students,” said Joseph Collins, executive dean of Academic Affairs at C.O.D. “Working nurses and C.O.D. nursing students will both have a tremendous opportunity to continue their education, resulting in increased career opportunities for them.”
The program will enroll a cohort of up to 35 students for the fall of 2009. Two courses are provided each semester, held back-to-back one evening each week from 4 to 10 p.m. Graduation is expected in the spring of 2011. A second cohort will begin that fall.
“This is the fifth area community college at which we will offer our RN-BS degree completion program,” said Anne Kaplan, vice president for Administration and University Outreach at NIU. “Given the number of health care facilities in the College of DuPage district, we’re delighted to now be able to begin to respond to this need.”
Qualified current and former College of DuPage students are given enrollment preference for half of the cohort capacity. This preference is suspended two weeks prior to the start of classes.
Nurses admitted to NIU will receive 32 semester hours of credit for their previous nursing coursework. Students can choose to maintain dual admission and obtain the related benefits.
NIU will provide 24 semester hours toward degree completion; students can complete the remaining coursework required for the baccalaureate degree with approved transfer credit from C.O.D. or another Illinois community college. All non-nursing coursework can be completed at any time and is not considered a prerequisite for the upper division nursing courses provided by NIU.
NIU will supply academic advisers and will help students arrange their community health/leadership clinical course assignments within the C.O.D. community. Several scholarships, as well as other financial aid sources, are available through NIU.
“This arrangement will make it possible for nurses in the area to get their degree with minimal interruption with their current work schedule. Due to the shortage in nurses, this will provide a great benefit to the community as well as the students involved,” Collins said. “This agreement is also a great benefit for our students, who will be able to take up to 96 hours at C.O.D. and transfer these on to NIU, thereby saving significantly in tuition.”
Brigid Lusk, chair of the NIU School of Nursing and Health Studies, said the new partnership centralizes something that has been offered at several hospitals.
“Our school has been running several off-campus degree programs, mainly at hospital sites,” Lusk said. “But we have to look very carefully at our resources, and the best way to give the higher education that NIU can offer is going through community colleges. We’re now starting to limit our offerings to community colleges.
“College of DuPage is one of the largest premiere community colleges in a high-density area. We are just delighted to be able to support their program with the optimal availability to our programs,” Lusk added. “The education that comes with a bachelor’s degree is known to support excellence in patient care in varied situations.”
Meanwhile, the partnership could help to ease the critical nursing shortage by preparing nurses to pursue necessary graduate degrees. It also permits NIU to employ and deploy its nursing professors as efficiently as possible.
“We need nursing faculty. That’s a key issue in the nursing shortage,” Lusk said. “You can’t find new nursing faculty if nurses don’t have the appropriate degrees that allow them to earn graduate degrees.”
Nursing programs at the College of DuPage are housed in the Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences Division. For more information, visit: http://www.cod.edu/hsbs or call (630) 942-3924.
The NIU School of Nursing and Health Studies is housed in the College of Health and Human Sciences. For more information, visit http://www.niu.edu/offcampusacademics/nursing or call (815) 753-6556.
Four NIU professors – David Hedin, Vishnu Zutshi, Chhiu-Tsu Lin and Pamela Macfarlane – are the recipients of the inaugural Technology Development Fund awards.
Offered by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies, the fund encourages and advances the development of novel applied technologies which have a near-term potential for licensing and commercialization.
A total of $50,000 was available in this year’s program to support development of three promising products.
David Hedin and Vishnu Zutshi
Department of Physics
“Developing Fabrication Techniques for Concave Compensated Cells”
Scintillators are substances that glow when hit by high energy particles, and they are commonly used to detect charged particles, such as electrons or protons. Scintillation cells monitor radiation levels in both nuclear applications and medicine and detect the presence of certain nuclei useful for homeland security applications.
These NIU physicists have found a way to promote uniformity of performance in silver-dollar-sized scintillating cells by modifying the geometry with holes or dimples in the center of the cells. The procedure of adding these dimples to the cells currently is labor intensive and must be performed one at a time by a skilled machinist. The money awarded will develop new techniques to mass produce these dimpled cells at a reasonable cost.
Chhiu-Tsu Lin
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
“Molecular Fan”
Electronic devices, such as computers, are becoming increasingly smaller and more compact via miniaturization and concentration of densely packed parts. But as devices get smaller, there is a problem: Intense heat is generated from inside the electronic parts. Today’s cooling techniques are challenged to maintain effective heat dissipation. The result is overheated, unworkable products.
The NIU chemist has developed a unique thin film coating containing nanomaterials for use in heat management for electronic devices, especially nanoelectronic devices. The thin film coating can be designed and assembled on the surface of a coated substrate. The molecules on the coating surface can be energized by a heat source. The molecules then emit, or dissipate the energy, cooling the device.
Dr. Lin will use the award to continue his research and the development of the molecular fan in commercial parts and devices.
Pamela Macfarlane
Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education
“The PowerTool: Producing a Prototype”
Athletes know how to target sport-specific muscle groups and how to obtain the maximum benefit from their training exercises. Rapid changes in speed or direction, along with muscle quickness and strength, are key.
But when fatigue sets in, muscle reaction slows and the effectiveness of the exercise begins to diminish. If a feedback device measured muscle power with each repetition, the athlete would stop when the power decreases.
The NIU professor has developed a unique portable power tester for testing reaction time and muscular power. The “PowerTool” utilizes the speed of movement in conjunction with the mass being moved to calculate muscle power. It provides power assessment for both healthy and injured athletes or can be a screening tool measuring the fall risk in patients with low leg power.
The “PowerTool” is a portable microprocessor device equipped with photo detectors and receivers as well as a digital display. It is effective for a wide variety of exercise movements deemed suitable for sport performance enhancement.
The fund dollars support the development of a newer streamlined model that resolves limitations of the current prototype. Additional research and development will include exploration of other instrumentation techniques to improve or enhance the instrument’s user interface performance.
A song that has struck fear into the heart of every caroler who ever forgot his or her song book, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” has been selected as the Carol of the Year for 2008.
Even William Studwell, acknowledged by many as the nation’s foremost authority on Christmas carols, freely admits that he cannot remember the dozen gifts that are at the heart of the song.
“There are two reasons,” says Studwell, a professor emeritus at NIU, where he worked as a librarian. “First, there are many different versions, so it’s hard to say which is definitive. Second, it’s just not one of my favorite songs.”
Despite his personal feelings, Studwell chose the song as Carol of the Year (now in its 23rd year) due to its tremendous popularity and longevity.
Like many older carols, the origins of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” are vague. Some say it was written in France, but Studwell is firmly in the camp of those who trace its roots to England. It was most likely written, he believes, during the period of history known as the Restoration, a brief interlude from about 1660 to 1730, between the Puritan Revolution and the rise of Methodism. It was a period of lightheartedness (relative to the eras it separated, anyway) which would have allowed for the rise of such a frivolous song, Studwell says.
The acclaimed researcher puts little stock in the theory that the carol originated as a code developed by English Catholics to secretly teach their children catechism. The idea was first set forth by the Rev. Harold Stockert in 1969 and has been revived on the Internet in recent years.
Studwell rejects that notion for several reasons. First, Catholics of that era were not terribly persecuted, he says, so there would have been little need for their teachings to have been secretive. Also, the breezy, bouncy nature of the tune hardly fits with the character of the church at that time. Finally, neither Studwell , nor any other reputable researcher, has never found a definitive explanation of what each of the 12 gifts in the song would have correlated to in the Catholic catechism.
The folk song made its first official appearance in a songbook around 1780 and has been a staple of just about every caroling party ever since. It also has been a popular target for parody artists, with dozens of versions created. They range from at least one by Disney (which substitutes onion rings for golden rings, a popular twist) to another by a pair of Canadian comedians masquerading as Bob and Doug MacKenzie (they substitute a beer for the partridge and end up shortening the song so they can drink).
While something of a purist about Christmas music, Studwell is not put off by the parodies. He considers “The Twelve Days of Christmas” to be the holiday equivalent of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” pointing out that both have a repetitive tune and lyrics that rely heavily on barnyard fowl. How could such a song become a perennial favorite? Studwell sums it up in a single word: Christmas.
“Christmas has preserved lots of mediocre music,” he says. “Just look at ‘All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth,’ which is silly; or ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,’ which is an abomination. If they weren’t linked to Christmas we never would have heard of them, but every holiday season you hear them on the radio.”
Studwell, 72, began researching Christmas carols in 1972 when he created a pamphlet about “Oh Holy Night” as a gift for a family member. Since then, he has researched and written handbooks, dictionaries, essays and booklets on the topic, delving into the background of hundreds of carols. He has conducted more than 500 media interviews on the topic for newspapers, magazines, radio and television and has served as an adviser to several projects compiling recordings and lyrics of carols.
He estimates that he has devoted more than 6,000 hours of his life to studying and writing about Christmas carols. At the height of his research, he immersed himself in collections at libraries across the country and had a room full of tables stacked high with more than 400 reference volumes from around the globe.
He also champions several other musical genres that he believes are under-appreciated and has written extensively n college fight songs, state songs, patriotic music and circus music, becoming a nationally recognized expert in each. He recently began writing fiction. In all, he has authored more than 50 books, with several set for publication in the months and years ahead.
Studwell now resides in Bloomington, Ind.
Professor Milivoje M. Kostic of NIU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering has been invited to deliver a plenary lecture at the sixth annual WSEAS conference on heat and mass transfer.
Organized by the World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS), the conference takes place Jan. 10 to Jan. 12 in Ningbo, China.
Kostic’s plenary lecture – “Heat Transfer, Thermal Energy and Entropy - Demystified” – focuses on different but strongly interrelated fundamental physical concepts of temperature, thermal energy and heat transfer, and entropy and entropy generation.
Heat transfer is known as typical spontaneous irreversible process where all organized (structural) energies are disorganized or dissipated as thermal energy with irreversible loss of energy potential (from high to low temperature) and overall entropy increase.
The heat transfer and thermal energy are unique and universal manifestation of all natural and artificial (man-made) processes, and thus are vital for more-efficient cooling and heating in new and critical applications, including energy production and utilization, environmental control and cleanup and bio-medical.
Kostic’s teaching and research interests are in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer and related fluid-thermal-energy sciences. More information is available at www.kostic.niu.edu.
NIU President John and Mrs. Barbara Peters have announced their annual holiday luncheon for the NIU community, a festive tradition for all friends and colleagues of the university.
This spirited event to celebrate the joy of the holiday season is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center. A buffet lunch will be served.
Contact Ellen Andersen at (815) 753-1999 or via e-mail at ellena@niu.edu for more information.
Human Resource Services will host its annual blood drive from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4.
The drive is held in rooms HR166 and HR178 of the Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources section of the HR building. The average time for blood donation is 45 minutes.
Heartland Blood Centers will conduct the blood drive. HBC is a community blood center open 24 hours a day seven days a week, providing and delivering all blood products to local hospitals for total patient care.
HBC works toward collecting more than 100,000 units of blood annually. At least 1,900 donors are needed each week to meet this need. One blood donation can save up to three people because the pint is broken down into three distinct components – plasma, platelets and red blood cells.
Appointments can be made by scheduling online at www.heartlandbc.org or calling Human Resource Services at (815) 753-6000. Walk-ins also are welcome, but appointments will be taken first. Donors should remember to bring a photo ID to the drive. Each donor will receive a free pair of Heartland lounge pants.
NIU’s Avalon String Quartet will continue its 2008-09 season at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall with an all-Beethoven program.
Quartet members Blaise Magniere, Marie Wang, Anthony Devroye and Cheng-Hou Lee plan to play Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Op. 18 No 1, String Quartet in F minor, Op. 95. Serioso, and String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130.
The concert is free and open to the public. The building is accessible to all. For more information, contact Lynn Slater at (815) 753-1546 or via e-mail at lslater@niu.edu.
A “Winter Wonderland” concert is planned for 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, at the Egyptian Theater.
The Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra presents seasonal favorites: a guest performance by the Celebration Chorale, the annual community sing-along and the popular Toy Symphony (instruments for children will be provided).
Santa will be on hand to greet families before the concert, and a post concert meet-and-greet with the musicians will include holiday treats. This performance is supported in part by the George E. and Betty B. Dutton Foundation.
General admission tickets are available at the door after 6 p.m. and cost $13 for adults, $10 for seniors age 62 and older, $10 for students with valid ID and $5 for children 12 and younger.
The CSA Children’s Choir gives its first concert at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, in the Recital Hall of the Music Building.
The 17 children from DeKalb, Sycamore, Kingston, Kirkland and Shabbona began rehearsals in September, and the children have learned vocal techniques and musicianship skills as they have worked on high-quality choral literature.
The concert includes holiday music sung in Latin, French and English and features guest musicians on a variety of instruments. It is free and open to the public.
Choir members include Eliza Bowers-Chen, Eliza Coran, Rachel Day, Violet DeStefano, Katie Hagaman, Daphne Howell, Allison and Rachel Hunter-Rosene, Kaleb Jeske, Ryan Johnson, Katelynn Lothson, Zoe Markle, Samantha Myers-Miller, Benjamin Rodriguez, Sadie Schultz, Grace Verbic and Athena Ye.
Mary Lynn Doherty, on the faculty of the NIU School of Music, is the director. Travis Erikson, music coordinator for the DeKalb Public Schools and choir director at DeKalb High School, also works with the singers as the choir’s accompanist.
The CSA Children’s Choir is one of many programs offered by the NIU Community School of the Arts. The choir welcomes new members in January. Registration for the spring semester begins Dec. 15.
For more information about the community school, call Renee Page at (815) 753-1450. Information also is available at www.niu.edu/extprograms.
The DeKalb Festival Chorus, under the direction of Jennifer Whiting, will perform its holiday concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall.
Chorus members again welcomes the Prairie Brass Band from Arlington Heights, directed by Dallas Niermeyer.
The program takes shape around the beloved story by Dylan Thomas, “A Child's Christmas in Wales,” with Robert Dean Ludden as the dramatic reader. Musical works include “Gloria” from Haydn’s “Theresienmesse” and a selection of traditional and contemporary seasonal pieces. Amanda Hughes is the piano accompanist.
Tickets are available in advance from chorus members or at the door: $8 for adults and $5 for children, students and seniors. The concert will be recorded; audience members are kindly asked to “be as quiet as Christmas mice.”
Founded in 1975, the DeKalb Festival Chorus has striven for a balance between traditional and contemporary vocal works. Ellwood Smith, a music professor at NIU, was the first director. Today’s chorus includes several members who have been with the group since its beginning, while others have joined over the years to bring the current membership to more than 50 singers.
Whiting, who teaches music classes at Kishwaukee Community College, joined the chorus as director in 2004. She holds a master’s degree in music and a performer’s certificate in conducting from NIU.
The Southeast Asia Club of NIU announces a call for papers for the 2009 Student Conference on Southeast Asian Studies. One-page abstracts are due by Wednesday, Dec. 31.
One of the distinct characteristics of Southeast Asia is its complex and deep mixings of traditions, cultures and systems. This conference will explore these blends on various levels. Papers from all disciplines pertaining to the 2009 theme will be accepted from undergraduate and graduate students.
E-mail the following information to conference organizers:
Final drafts are due by Feb. 13, 2009. Best papers will be awarded $150 (undergraduate) and $250 (graduate).
Housing with students on campus can be arranged.
Please direct inquires and abstracts to Sarah Wiley, conference coordinator, Southeast Asia Club at NIU, by calling (630) 670-5703 or e-mailing SEA.Conference.2009@gmail.com.
The 2009 Graduate Student Research Conference on Education, Learning and Human Development is scheduled for March 27 and March 28 in the Holmes Student Center and will feature paper and poster presentations by NIU graduate students.
Sponsored by the College of Education, the conference seeks proposals for research papers in education, health and human services, the social sciences and in liberal arts areas that focus on education-relevant issues (for example, history and economics of education, human learning and human development).
Workshops, a keynote speaker, a series of brief “how-to” sessions by NIU faculty and a free buffet lunch are all part of the GSRC 2009. All NIU students, faculty and instructors are invited to attend this free conference.
Deadline for submission of proposals is Thursday, Jan. 15. All proposals will be peer-reviewed by a panel of graduate students. Accepted proposals are notified Feb. 15. Registration deadline is March 10.
Contact Professor M Cecil Smith at mcsmith@niu.edu or 753-8448 for more information.
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours through Jan. 11.
The law library will extend its hours for reading period and final exams, ending Thursday, Dec. 18. Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sundays.
The library is open 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, and Tuesday, Dec. 23. The library is closed Saturday, Dec. 20, and Sunday, Dec. 21, as well as from Wednesday, Dec. 24, through Sunday, Jan. 4.
Hours in the first part of January are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 10 p.m. Sundays. Regular hours resume Monday, Jan. 12.
Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.
Join the NIU Community School of the Arts this December with a variety of music performances.
All recitals are scheduled in the Recital Hall of the Music Building unless otherwise noted, and many end with a gala reception. The recitals are free and open to the public.
Lessons, classes and ensembles in music, art and theater are offered for children and adults throughout the year. The spring semester begins in January. Scholarships are available for those in financial need; the deadline for spring applications is Monday, Jan. 5.
For more information about classes, ensembles and lessons, contact Renee Page at (815) 753-1450 or visit www.niu.edu/extprograms.
NIU’s annual Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute is scheduled for the week of May 11, 2009, at the Holmes Student Center.
Full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty, instructors and supportive professional staff are invited to participate in the institute, which assists participants in incorporating multicultural perspectives and content into their courses, improving communication with students and preparing alumni to participate in a diverse workplace and society.
The institute features plenary sessions by prominent specialists, focused thematic discussions by NIU faculty and students, syllabi critiques, video presentations and small group discussions. The sessions in the institute focus on topics such as race, gender, social class, disabilities and sexual orientation. Plenary sessions and some panels are open to the public; small group sessions are restricted to participants.
Approximately 220 individuals have participated in the institute since its inception, and they have benefited from opportunities to learn about multicultural issues, share experiences and ideas and establish lasting professional relationships. Participants have made a significant impact on NIU’s programs at all levels across all colleges.
Qualified faculty and instructional staff interested in participating in the institute are encouraged to apply for Multicultural Curriculum Transformation stipends. Individuals selected will receive $1,000 stipends to support transforming existing courses or developing new classes that address multiculturalism. Faculty and staff on 12-month contracts can participate in the institute but are not eligible for the stipend.
The deadline for applications is Thursday, Dec. 18. Information about applications for the institute is available on the Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Web site. Applications should be submitted electronically to mcti@niu.edu.
For more information, contact graduate assistant Charles Stapleton at (815) 753-8557 or e-mail mcti@niu.edu.
“Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges,” established in 1934, is a program honoring outstanding college students for their scholastic, extracurricular and community achievements. NIU is one of more than 2,300 institutions of higher education which annually nominates junior, senior and graduate-level students for these awards.
Students whose academic standing, participation and leadership in extracurricular activities and community service are decidedly above average should be considered for nomination. A campus selection committee will review all nominations and will recommend approximately 50 students, representing a variety of academic and extracurricular areas, to the national program for this honor. Students who have previously been named to “Who’s Who” cannot be nominated again.
Students selected will receive personalized certificates, local and national publicity, and be included in the 2008-2009 edition of “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.” “Who’s Who” recipients will be recognized further during the Kevin D. Knight Leadership Awards Ceremony in late April 2009.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to submit nominations for this honor. Nominations (with student signature) must be received by Student Involvement & Leadership Development no later than Wednesday, Dec. 17. Late nominations cannot be considered.
Please respond fully to all items on the nomination form. Nominators may solicit information from the candidate to give the selection committee a more complete picture of the student’s qualifications, but it is the committee’s intent that the form be completed by the faculty or staff nominator.
Women students, faculty and staff who love to sing and want to explore music from multiple cultures and traditions are invited to join the Women’s Chorus.
Rehearsals are held from 4:30 to 5:40 p.m. Mondays in Room 171 of the Music Building.
The chorus is a non-auditioned ensemble available for credit as MUSC 369 (undergraduate) and MUSC 769 (graduate credit). The Spring 2009 concert will feature music for women’s voices, instruments and dance from northern Spain. The chorus performs one concert per semester; the spring performance is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 20.
For more information, contact Glenda Cosenza at glenza@niu.edu.
The Committee for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education is seeking nominations for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction Awards.
Students in all majors are encouraged to make nominations for these prestigious awards. Nomination procedures, guidelines, and forms are available online for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award and for the Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction Award.
The Committee for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education is administering four different types of grants to support research in and projects for the improvement of instruction in undergraduate courses:
Use current grant forms only. Do not use any previous forms.
All proposals must be submitted to the committee by Tuesday, Jan. 20. E-mail the forms to jganshir@niu.edu by the deadline.
Candidate interviews for the position of director of NIU’s CHANCE Program have been scheduled.
Open interview forums are scheduled for faculty (4 to 5 p.m.) and the public (5 to 6 p.m.) on each date. All open forums will be held in Room 203 of Altgeld Hall. Call (815) 753-8381 for more information.
There are still a few seats available for the NIU Alumni Association holiday trip to Hawaii.
Warm trade winds and a traditional Hawaiian “Aloha!” await on this three-island touring itinerary. The islands of Maui, Hawaii and Oahu offer a vast diversity of landscapes, natural beauty and attractions.
Visit myniu.com or call (815) 753-1452 for more information.