NIU’s strategic planning process continues to gain focus and momentum.
Two task forces are working to create goals and initiatives related to curriculum innovation and student success. Authors of nearly 300 concept papers submitted last fall are invited to “thematic conversations” to narrow and enhance those topics.
Provost Ray Alden now has requested proposals, due April 4, for new initiatives for possible inclusion in the strategic plan. Alden soon will make a formal announcement about strategic initiative grants of between $5,000 and $20,000 that either fully implement modest proposals or fund demonstration projects that can serve as “proof of concept” or pilot projects.
And, beginning next week, all students, faculty and staff will have a two-week opportunity to complete a critical online survey about the NIU campus experience for students.
“These are exciting times for our university, and I’m so pleased by the participation Provost Alden and I have witnessed. As I reported in my State of the University Address last fall, we are thinking and conversing about our purpose, our strengths, our challenges and the needs of our global region,” President John Peters said.
“I’m confident that, as this work goes on, we will revolutionize the way we teach our students and the way we interact with our world,” Peters added. “The goals we set this year will guide us successfully through these coming years of rapid change and mounting expectations.”
“The success of our students is of paramount importance to NIU,” Alden wrote in his charge to the task forces. “We are concerned that our students succeed in graduating and moving on successfully along their career paths. Furthermore, we want our students to have an unsurpassed learning experience while attending NIU.”
The two task forces, led by David Changnon and Carolinda Douglass, have spent most of their meetings engaged in brainstorming as well as the collection of data.
But that’s about to change.
In April, both groups must present lists of strategic university goals to the president. Specific initiatives to accomplish these goals, and names of “champions” who will carry out those programs, also are expected.
Alden is impressed with Changnon and Douglass, who have met every other week with the provost to update him on the discussions.
“These were two task forces that President Peters and I decided on before he announced them in his State of the University Speech. We felt, obviously, that student success and curricular innovation are really at the heart of the university’s strategic imperatives,” Alden said.
“We thought that having a group of individuals from various perspectives come together and focus on these areas to come up with plans that address these university-wide initiatives was very appropriate,” Alden said. “We essentially want to see very impactful and transformational goals supported by strategies we can prioritize for support.”
Plenty of ideas already arrived in the form of last fall’s concept papers, dozens of which are being given to the task forces for review.
Many of the authors of the nearly 300 concept papers touch on certain themes. Some, such as curricular innovation and student success, speak to a campus-wide interest. Others, such as homeland security or museum studies, cross the borders of two or three colleges. Finally, some fall within one college.
Yet the authors come from different places and situations, bringing to the table unique ideas and multiple points of view.
The convergence of thoughts presents a special opportunity: What if the authors with similar ideas came together in one room simply to talk, to passionately explore words printed on papers until they become high-impact, transformational dreams within reach? What if they weaved some of their proposals together in ways that built on their strengths and imagined new collaborations and exciting possibilities? Could NIU capitalize on its intellectual energy and value to foster real progress in the way we teach, learn and discover?
A series of “Thematic Conversations” for the university-wide topics are being scheduled to allow that brainstorming. Faculty and staff who submitted papers, along with anyone else with interest, are encouraged to participate.
Deans of the appropriate colleges also will schedule and invite interested faculty to other conversations that touch on the multi-college topics brought up in the concept papers. Multidisciplinary topics involving a number of colleges include professional climate and faculty success, globalization, education, environment and energy, health and wellness and regional engagement.
Inter-collegiate topics involving two to three colleges include arts and humanities, ethics, homeland security, media studies, museum studies, nanotechnology and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) research.
Meanwhile, deans and university vice presidents will coordinate efforts regarding concepts that fall within a single college or unit. They will integrate the plans that arise with those coming from the larger themes to create comprehensive college strategic plans.
Not all the papers fit into a theme, of course, and other important issues were not addressed by the concept papers at all. A next stage of the strategic planning process will neither limit itself to the themes nor the participation of the paper authors. The college-level and university-level strategic plans that emerge will become “living documents” that will evolve over time.
For more information on NIU’s strategic planning, visit http://www.niu.edu/strategicplan/.
Carolinda Douglass, chair of the Task Force on Student Success, truly cannot imagine a better place to work than a university campus.
“When I was younger, I was looking for a job that would have intellectual stimulation, ongoing learning, autonomy and the ability to help people,” she says. “I can’t think of the position that allows you do that more than being a university professor.”
Douglass, 46, holds a bachelor’s degree in human development, three master’s degrees (gerontology, policy analysis and public administration) and a Ph.D. in policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School. All of her degrees are interdisciplinary, enabling her to develop a broad perspective on higher education.
With a strong interest in gerontology, she began her professional life in nursing homes and senior high rises and continued her teaching and research in these areas, focused on finding ways to deliver the best possible person-centered care.
Now an NIU professor and director of the Office of Assessment Services, she finds a similar challenge: working to find ways to facilitate student-centered learning. Many young students are in a critical time of personal development, she says.
“Are we helping them with their own personal growth and development? Are we making them good citizens of the world?” Douglass asks. “Obviously, parents and families play a huge role for all those young adults, but it doesn’t stop at 18 or 19, and that’s a role we play a part in too.”
Her task force, fittingly, is on a quest to make sure students achieve their goals.
“We began with what student success meant,” she says. “A big part of what constitutes students’ success is that students have to stay in college to be successful. Student retention became our overarching theme.”
Retention-related topics now on the table include the migration of students from one college, school or department to another and the issue of “impacted majors” it creates.
Majors such as communications and sociology receive great numbers of students who come “late” to the program because they have switched their course of study, Douglass says. Although NIU’s retention of freshmen into their sophomore years is good, she says, the rate falls from the sophomore to junior years.
In some cases, those migrating students have realized that they will not succeed in their chosen majors. Then, further discouragement is possible. Those students sometimes need three more years of school because they can’t get the classes they need. They also might endure a difficult transition.
Other discussions therefore include academic advising: Would early advising help students find more appropriate majors that reduce migration? Does campus climate play a role in retention? NIU’s upcoming Noel-Levitz survey of the campus experience could shed some light on the questions.
They’re also looking at questions of diversity, levels of engagement between faculty and students and even how to foster school spirit in spite of students and professors who flee DeKalb on weekends. Another factor to weigh is whether NIU is meeting all of the needs of its students, she says.
“We have a tremendous amount of learning going on around retention,” Douglass says. “A lot of our assumptions have been challenged. People thought that they knew why people leave their majors and where they go, but we’ve been asked to draw conclusions from the data.”
The group has enjoyed several speakers, including students, Vice Provost Earl “Gip” Seaver, Assistant Vice Provost Brent Gage and Dan Turner, acting director of NIU’s Academic Advising Center, who explained the centralized advising offered there.
Task Force site visits now are planned to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to visit its academic advising center and to the University of Connecticut, where they will explore the Student Success Center. The group also will attend an institute on general education sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Webinars on academic advising are scheduled in February and March.
Douglass also is leading discussions on the Voluntary System of Accountability, an approach of data transparency developed by National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and American Association of State Colleges and Universities in response to issues raised by the Spellings Commission.
VSA communicates information on the undergraduate student experience through a common Web reporting template, the College Portrait. The voluntary initiative for four-year public colleges and universities helps to demonstrate accountability and stewardship to the public, measure educational outcomes to identify effective educational practices and to assemble information that is accessible, understandable and comparable.
The task force’s list of concrete goals, strategies and champions will come soon, says Douglass, who’s confident her group is on the right road: All of the members are deeply engaged in the process and eager for their “turn” to make a culture shift at NIU.
“All of these activities really are needed to promote student learning at NIU. To me, that’s the most important thing,” she says. “I’m extremely committed to the ideas of student-centered learning. We have to create an environment that is as conducive as possible to optimum student learning.”
“Carolinda has been involved in assessing learning outcomes for many years, which makes it particularly appropriate for her to lead efforts related to the VAS. Plus, she’s an excellent planner and has great skill in working with groups so she was a natural to recommend as chair for the task force on student success,” says Virginia Cassidy, vice provost for academic development and planning. “I’ve always been impressed with her ability to see the big picture, and that's an important perspective to have in strategic planning.”
In 2005, with encouragement from Cassidy, Douglass applied to lead the Office of Assessment Services. “I understand more about the campus experience all across the campus now. Honestly, that has been the most wonderful part of the job. It’s almost like starting in a new place,” she says.
Douglass now spends part of her time visiting classes, including art history, business, math and meteorology, to observe the teaching styles of the professors and the learning styles and academic outcomes of the students.
Some of her visits include observing the excellent assessment of student work in the Experiential Learning Center in the College of Business, Senior Day presentations in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology and performances in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Of course, time is not easy to find with the responsibilities of the task force on her shoulders. She also continues to teach one class a semester in the School of Nursing and Health Studies; this spring it’s the “Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System” course in the master’s of public health program.
And when asked why she continues to teach on top of her main job, she has a ready answer.
“One, I have a passion for it. I love to teach. Two, I’m an associate professor, and that is my profession,” she says. “And, three, it gives me credibility. I’m addressing some of the same issues other faculty working to assess student learning are addressing. I want to walk the talk.”
Like all parents, David Changnon looks at his child and glimpses the future.
In 11-year-old Ben, Changnon sees a bright boy who already has decided to attend the university where his father is a professor of meteorology. And, like any anxious parent, Changnon wonders about what foundation Ben will have when he graduates in 2018 and takes on the world of work.
“Our kids, 10 and 20 years from now, are going to be out there, prepared and ready for a very different world than when we left college,” Changnon says. “What kind of tools are they going to need?”
Such questions fascinate Changnon, chair of the Task Force on Curricular Innovation.
His group is exploring ideas to improve teaching at NIU in ways that will keep courses current and engaging to best promote student learning. They’re also examining proposals such as the “themed year” and programs such as capstone experiences and general education.
So far, he says, the group members have thought “big” with no limitations. Their brainstorming sessions have been comfortable and relaxed, he says, and faculty from various colleges have lowered their guards for honest and “outside the box” conversations about effective teaching.
This week, however, they will begin to narrow their thoughts to identify clear goals along with initiatives that could create those results and the champions who will carry them through.
President John Peters, Provost Ray Alden and the various task forces will set the ball in motion, he says, but others will need to keep it rolling.
“I’m not the only faculty member who loves this place, wants it to be successful and wants the students to be successful. But it’s not about me. It’s about everyone. It’s about the students, and moving their learning forward,” he says. “I take this personally. It’s been fun to be a facilitator of this. It’s been a great experience. But I’m only as successful as the whole group. The success of this is measured by what the group wants to put into this.”
Changnon, 47, came to NIU in 1992 without any experience in teaching.
He had earned a Ph.D. from Colorado State University in 1991 and, like many of his classmates, embarked on a career in research. He was hired by the Southeast Regional Climate Center in Columbia, S.C., but realized quickly he wouldn’t stay there long. The position entailed managing researchers rather than conducting research; Changnon, who was young and eager, figured that was a job for someone twice his age.
When he heard of an opening at NIU, he applied. Based partly on his strong communication skills and his research and teaching interests in climatology, an offer was made and accepted.
A few years later, Changnon realized he was a natural in front of the classroom. “God’s given me the talents,” he says.
But was he effective? Were students advancing in their learning? He wasn’t so sure.
The uncertainty inspired Changnon to serve on various curriculum review committees and to learn about program assessment. He forced himself to reflect on his own teaching – on his lectures, his classroom activities, his presentation style – and to determine whether students were leaving with not only knowledge of the content but with critical thinking skills as well.
“I have a passion for doing things well. I want to participate,” he says. “There are a lot of people who want to sit on their hands and watch life go by, but I can’t do that. I want to give back.”
When Alden needed a leader for the task force, Changnon seemed a natural.
“We were looking for a faculty member who knew about curriculum, particularly undergraduate, and was really dedicated to looking at those sorts of issues,” Alden said. “David has always been heavily involved in undergraduate education and served a long time on the general education committee.”
Changnon illustrates the task force’s process with his coffee mug, which reads: “Those who can, do. Those who can do more, teach.”
He moves it from one corner of his desk onto his large blotter calendar – “You’ve got to be able to walk away and look from a different perspective,” he says – and later turns the mug 180 degrees as if to view yet another angle.
Consider general education, for example. Its last overhaul occurred in the early 1980s, he says, and the goals were modified about a decade later. What goals should NIU have for general education now? Are they successful? What do we want general education to become? How do we make sure it continues to thrive in the future?
Or what about capstone experiences? Not all departments require them, he says, but should they? Changnon submits that faculty need not limit capstones to research projects, suggesting that internships, study abroad and special classroom presentations all could fill that requirement.
And how should NIU “put all the pieces together” for its students so that they graduate with good oral and written communication skills, critical thinking skills and a solid grasp of the importance of citizenship, diversity and multidisciplinary philosophies?
NIU has “great teachers,” he says, but should professors occasionally visit other classes to watch their colleagues teach? Perhaps the university should launch a “master teachers” institute, he says: “We should all want to be master teachers. That might be a heck of a goal.”
Some companies are spending as many as two years providing skill sets for success to their newly hired college graduates, according to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article. Colleges and universities need to fix that, he says.
“We’re at a critical juncture in higher education. Big changes are coming. We have to adjust what we do to keep up,” Changnon says. “I don’t care if you’re a parent, a husband or a teacher: If you don’t become reflective about where you are, what you’re doing and how you can improve, you’re missing the boat.”
For Changnon, reflection on his teaching efficacy is both a constant and a “moving target.” He now can say with confidence that he’s a good teacher.
“Ten years ago, no. At this point in my life, I’d say yeah,” he says. “I try to mix content with a lot of application and relate it with how they live their lives. I try to put the student first as much as I can, and I try to put myself in their shoes. We can all learn from each other. That’s one of the great joys in life.”
NIU Political Scientist Matthew Streb says the presidential primary season need not be as long and grueling as a Chicago winter.
His solution: Do away with Super Tuesday, individual state primaries and the entire current system in favor of a national single-day primary election.
Streb convincingly argues in favor of a national primary in his new book, “Rethinking American Electoral Democracy” (Routledge, 2008). Due out in mid-February, the book provides a critical examination of the state of electoral democracy in the United States and an analysis of the major debates that rage among scholars and reformers.
Ultimately, Streb argues for a less burdensome democracy, one in which citizens can participate more easily. The presidential primary provides a prime example. Reforms could make the process less fatiguing on voters, Streb says.
“The national primary season might be entertaining, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he says. “It places far too much emphasis on results in early and often less-populated states. And it’s the only election where we don’t all show up on the same day and vote.”
What would make more sense, Streb says, is a national single-day primary with “instant runoff voting,” a process that asks voters to rank candidates in order of preference and ensures a majority winner.
The NIU political scientist says a single-day national primary would provide equity among voters, bring dominant national issues to the forefront, increase voter turnout and shorten a campaign season that is tediously long—in fact far longer than in other democratic countries.
In “Rethinking American Electoral Democracy,” Streb also argues in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, reducing the number of elections, use of non-partisan redistricting commissions and an easing of voter-registration rules and of ballot requirements for third-party and independent candidates.
“A central theme in this book is that we shouldn’t overburden citizens,” Streb says. “Democracy is a good thing, everyone agrees, but more democracy isn’t always best. There are times when it doesn’t make sense to have citizens vote for certain offices and go to the polls numerous times in one year. In Georgia, for example, voters have the potential to go to the polls as many as six times this year alone.”
Other reforms favored by Streb include:
More information on Streb’s new book is available online.
Nearly a century ago, some of the world’s top architects transformed a portion of Chicago’s South Side into a gleaming “White City” for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition. Most of the architectural wonders are long gone, but UCLA’s Lisa Snyder can still take you on a stunning tour.
Snyder, a senior member of the Urban Simulation Team at UCLA, has created a highly detailed, computerized visual reconstruction of the exhibition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair. She will provide a virtual tour at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center. Sponsored by the Friends of NIU Libraries, the event is free and open to the public.
The tour includes both static images and video simulations that provide a stroll through the White City. The Chicago Tribune has called it “the next best thing to a walk through the fairgrounds in all its glory.”
Snyder recently launched a two-year installation of the work-in-progress model with a series of presentations at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, the only major building surviving from the 1893 exhibition. She will discuss the challenges of building the exhibition from the remaining visual and textual evidence.
“This is absolutely cutting-edge digital humanities work,” says NIU’s Drew VandeCreek, director of University Libraries’ digitization unit. “Lisa uses very sophisticated technology. She works from architects’ original plans and drawings to provide users with an opportunity to explore a virtual model of a built environment that no longer exists.”
Recent popular novels such as “The Devil in the White City” and “Against the Day” have drawn increased interest in the World’s Columbian Exhibition. But it has long been considered a milestone event in American history. Its grounds covered more than 600 acres and featured canals, lagoons and nearly 200 buildings.
None other than Daniel Burnham served as director of works, coordinating a team of the country’s most prominent architects. Their White City would have lasting impacts on American design ideals and spark the American Renaissance and City Beautiful movements.
Snyder has also produced three-dimensional interactive models of historical structures for the Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of Los Angeles. Her work was recognized as being among “the best of UCLA” by the institution’s vice chancellor.
Sample images and video of the virtual White City can be found on the UCLA Urban Simulation Team’s Web site at http://www.ust.ucla.edu/ustweb/Projects/columbian_expo.htm.
A symposium, “Exploring the New Media,” is slated for 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center.
Aimed at current news media staff and NIU journalism and communication students, it is being sponsored by the Northern Star Alumni group.
Featured panelists include political blogger Markos Moulitas, founder of the Daily Kos; Diane Mermigas, contributing editor at The Hollywood Reporter; Kurt Gessler, assistant managing editor/online at the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights; and Mitchell Locin, senior editor for electronic news for the Chicago Tribune. Moulitsas, Mermigas and Gessler are NIU graduates.
Northern Star adviser Jim Killam said the panel members will discuss the quickly changing media landscape. In particular, the focus will fall on how traditional news and entertainment outlets are being pressured by what some call “democratizing digital media” such as blogs, Web sites and delivery of information anytime, anywhere.
Questions for explorations include: As business models evolve, how will the mainstream media mesh the old and new effectively enough to stay solvent and compete?
Reservations can be made by contacting Maria Krull at (815) 753-0707 or at mkrull@niu.edu. The program is free and open to the public and the media, as well as NIU students and faculty.
Following the symposium, a dinner will be held for attendees who make reservations in advance. The dinner will be $30 a person and begins at 6:30 p.m. A reception to include the panelists, students and other participating news media will precede the dinner.
The votes are in and the new NIU OneCard has been determined. Visit http://www.niu.edu/OneCard/ to see the results.
Students can turn in their current OneCard and receive a new one free when registering for Fall 2008 classes. (Lost ID charges will apply for cards not turned in).
Employees also are eligible to receive a new OneCard at no charge. Details will be available in the near future.
NIU’s Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences has announced the schedule for its Spring 2008 Colloquia.
All talks will be held at 4 p.m. in Davis Hall 308 unless otherwise noted and are co-sponsored by NIU’s Graduate Colloquium Committee. Call (815) 753-1943 or click here for schedule updates and more information.
Friday, Feb. 8: Leslie Melim, Western Illinois University, “Geomicrobiology of Subaqueous Speleothems; A Geologist’s View”
Friday, Feb. 15: Kevin Smart, Southwest Research Institute, “Applications of Geomechanical Modeling to Problems in Structural Geology and Tectonics”
Friday, Feb. 22: Paul Wallace, University of Oregon, “The Role of Water in Subduction Zone Magmatism: New Insights from Melt Inclusions in High-Mg Basalts from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt”
Wednesday, Feb. 27: Michael Celia, Princeton University, National Groundwater Association 2008 Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecture, “Geological Storage as a Carbon Mitigation Option”
Friday, Feb. 29: Jack Horner, Montana State University, “Dinosaur Diversity and Extinction Approaching the K-T Boundary” – LOCATION CHANGED TO MONTGOMERY HALL AUDITORIUM
Friday, March 7: Enrique Gomezdelcampo, Bowling Green State University, “A Modified DRASTIC Model for Siting Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Williams County, Ohio”
Friday, March 28: Sallie Greenberg, Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois carbon sequestration, title TBA
Friday, April 4: Bryce Willems, Northern Illinois University, “Jokulhlaups of Disenchantment Bay, Alaska: Actions of a Misbehaving Glacier” / John Sosulski, Northern Illinois University, “Utilizing Ichnology to Understand the Depositional Environment of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, during the late Oligocene and early Miocene”
Friday, April 11: Cliff Clark, Sr. Division Geologist/Geophysicist, Cohort Energy Company, “Exploration Trends in the U.S. Domestic Energy Industry with an Emphasis on Shale Gas Developments”
Friday, April 25: Beth Aarestad, Northern Illinois University, “CH3OH in high-pressure phases of H2O: Implications for Ice-rich Planets”
Join the NIU Women’s Resource Center on the second Saturday of each month for bagels, coffee and a little dose of “do-goody-ness” as it partners with several organizations in the DeKalb community for different volunteer activities.
This Saturday’s event is from 9 a.m. to noon at the Senior Service Center, 330 Grove St. in DeKalb.
Volunteers should meet at the Women’s Resource Center, 105 Normal Road. The center will provide transportation and supplies; volunteers should bring a good attitude and a willingness to help. For more information, or to RSVP, contact Patrice Rounsaville at (815) 753-0320.
Because everyone should enjoy Valentine’s Day, join the Women’s Resource Center, the LGBT Resource Center and Recreation Services for an inclusive ice skating outing to Millennium Park.
Grab your honey and a scarf for some pre-Valentine’s Day fun where all couples (and singles) are welcome. Half of the registration cost is being paid, so ice skaters can go for just $10. Spots are limited, so reserve today by stopping by the Outing Centre on the west side of the Student Recreation Center.
The group will leave from the Outing Centre at 9:45 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 10.
Join the Women’s Resource Center for a screening of “DreamWorlds 3,” the groundbreaking video exploring the stories told in music videos about girls and women.
Audience members will discuss how these videos help shape individual and cultural attitudes about sexuality and how pop culture filters the identities of young men and women through a very narrow set of myths about sexuality and gender.
The event takes place from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, in the New Orleans room of Stevenson Towers.
Part Two of the personnel workshop series, “Managing Personnel and the Human Capital of Your Organization,” will press into matters concerning wages, benefits, job content, classifications and labor relations.
Do governments compete in the market place for employees? Do the wages you offer matter? Is internal equity an important issue? Is interest-based bargaining a myth or realistic option? These are some of the common policy themes that come up year after year in organizations, but are often ignored until a crisis emerges.
Other topics to be covered Thursday, Feb. 14, are: What are the benefits of “designed” HR management systems? The policies and practices of HR management aren’t just an afterthought; it’s the primary system available to manage the most expensive and important assets: people.
Presenter Greg Kuhn has 25 years of combined experience in government administration, consulting and academics. Kuhn is a senior associate at NIU’s Center for Governmental Studies.
Registration and more information about CLA and its upcoming workshops are available online.
After 15 years as a neo-Nazi white supremacist activist and recruiter, Tom “TJ” Leyden experienced a profound change of heart, turned away from hate and began teaching tolerance.
Leyden is the featured speaker for “Turning Away from Hate,” scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center. For more information, call the Center for Black Studies at (815) 753-1709.
NIU’s Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center is offering grants of up to $2,000 each annually to regular continuing faculty (tenured and tenure track).
The purpose of the grants is to encourage and support faculty development activities that directly benefit the applicants’ departments, colleges and/or the university. Equal matching funds from the applicants’ academic units or appropriate external sources are required.
Five copies of each proposal, including the proposal cover sheet, accompanying letters of support and other relevant documents must be submitted to the Grant Review Subcommittee, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, by Friday, April 4, for activities scheduled between July and December 2008.
Complete proposal guidelines and cover sheet can be obtained online. Tenured or tenure-track faculty who plan to submit proposals by the April 4 deadline and need more information are encouraged to register and attend the grant-writing seminar that will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 5. Register online or e-mail facdev@niu.edu.
NIU’s Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center and Human Resource Services are offering grants of up to $1,000 each to Supportive Professional Staff (SPS) pursuing professional development activities that benefit the individuals as well as their academic units.
Proposal guidelines and other information are available online. Five copies of each proposal, including other relevant documents, must be submitted to the SPS Awards Committee, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, by Friday, April 18, for activities proposed between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2008.
SPS who plan to submit a proposal by the April 18 deadline and need more information are encouraged to register to attend the grant writing seminar from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, April 4. Register online or e-mail facdev@niu.edu.
Join the NIU Alumni Association for a beautiful Spring Break trip to Holland from April 19 to 27.
Vibrant flower gardens, quaint villages and windmills await. Spring is the most popular time to visit when the tulips and other bulb flowers are spectacular. This touring itinerary includes visits to the Anne Frank House, Aalsmeer Flower Auction, Keukenhof Gardens and the annual Flower Parade in Noordwijk.
Visit myniu.com or call (815) 753-1512 for more information.
NIU’s Division of Student Affairs will host a speaker this week on race and conflict.
Art Munin, assistant dean of students at DePaul University, will present “White Privilege 101” at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in the ballroom.
Call (815) 753-1573 for more information.
David W. Raymond, while a member of the first NIU Board of Trustees, created an endowment to fund an annual grant to faculty who are working on ways to use new technologies in their teaching.
Income from the endowment is supplemented with funds from the Provost’s Office to provide a $2,500 grant to the faculty member with the best proposal for incorporating new technologies into his or her teaching. Tenured and tenure-track faculty are eligible to apply for the grant.
Grant funds may be used for software purchases, equipment upgrades, graduate assistantship time or other costs associated with developing courseware or supportive materials that make effective and innovative use of instructional technology.
The proposal must include a budget for the project and a letter of support from the chair of the applicant’s department, school or division. Five copies of each proposal should be submitted to the Grant Review Committee, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, Adams Hall 319, by Monday, March 17.
A proposal format and additional information about the grant are available online. For more information, contact facdev@niu.edu or (815) 753-0595.
Valentine’s Day is meant to spend with that special someone. Whether you choose to spend it with friends, a loved one or by yourself is up to you.
Come join the Women’s Resource Center and Health Enhancement to discuss celebrating Valentine’s Day in a healthy way. We will discuss ways to have a happy Valentine’s Day by yourself, with friends or that special someone by exploring safer sex methods and giving ideas to have a fun day Valentine’s Day, no matter what your situation is.
The event takes place from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, in the Grant A Formal Lounge.
The University Women’s Club invites all members, spouses and friends to a TGIF party from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, at Taxco Restaurant in Sycamore. Join UWC for warm mid-winter fun and unlimited appetizers.
Cost is $8 per person; a cash bar will be available. RSVP to Dorothy Razniewski by Tuesday, Feb. 4, at (815) 895-8046.
The University Women’s Club welcomes all women associated with the university – current or retired faculty or staff member, or wife of a current, retired or deceased faculty or staff member – to join this long-standing NIU organization.
NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women is seeking nominations for four awards to be presented in April.
All nominations are due Monday, March 3, to Betty Baugh, Women’s Resource Center, 105 Normal Road, DeKalb, Ill., 60115. Fax to (815) 753-0337 or e-mail to bbaugh@niu.edu. Call (815) 753-9614 for more information.
The Wilma D. Stricklin Award for the Enhancement of the Climate for Women on Campus is given to an NIU-affiliated individual who has distinguished herself or himself by making continual and extraordinary contributions to the climate for women across campus.
Created in 2007, the Outstanding Mentor Award is presented to one or two NIU civil service, professional staff or faculty employees (male or female) who have shown exceptional commitment to advancing the career and/or educational goals of NIU women students, staff and/or faculty.
The Women Who Make a Difference Award honors one or two NIU civil service, professional staff or faculty women who have shown outstanding dedication to the empowerment of NIU women by making changes at the unit level; by making important contributions to addressing issues that are important to women; and going “the extra mile” to assist others on campus.
Established in 1997, the Martha Cooper Journalism Award recognizes outstanding writing on women’s issues at NIU. Named for Cooper, a journalism alumna, the award is open to all NIU students and alumni who have written and published about women’s issues at NIU during the time frame of March 1, 2007, to the present. Eligible entries include news coverage and/or commentary, either individual articles or a series of articles on a topic or topics related to NIU women.
For details regarding eligibility, criteria and nomination process for each of these awards, call (815) 753-9614 or visit http://www.niu.edu/women/PCSW and click on Awards.
The NIU Division of International Programs is accepting applications for Lillian Cobb Faculty Travel Fellowships, supporting faculty members who seek international teaching and public service experiences.
The fellowships will support faculty members for international travel through Aug. 15. All tenured or tenure-track faculty members at NIU are eligible to apply.
The deadline for proposals is Friday, Feb. 8. Applicants will be notified whether they have received an award by March 15.
A total of $8,000 will be available for awards of varying amounts. Except for extraordinary circumstances, a match of 20 percent (with a maximum of $500) is expected from the faculty member’s department and/or college.
The travel fellowship was established with an endowment from the estate of Lillian Cobb, the first chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
More information is available at www.niu.edu/international/resources/lillian_cobb.shtml.
Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, one of the most distinguished active honor societies in higher education, is looking for members for the 2008-2009 NIU chapter.
Eligible students must have senior status by fall 2008, have at least a 3.2 GPA and have demonstrated commitment to Mortar Board’s ideals of scholarship, leadership and service. Mortar Board is a selective senior honor society and will choose only 50 to 60 eligible students for membership.
Founded in 1918, Mortar Board has a long history of recognizing outstanding students for their active contributions to the community.
Please encourage eligible students to visit the chapter Web site for more information and to apply for membership: www.mortarboard.niu.edu. Applications are due Friday, Feb. 15. For more information contact chapter adviser, Daniel Turner, danturner@niu.edu, in the NIU Academic Advising Center.
NIU’s Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center is seeking nominations for the 2008 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards. Nominations are due Friday, Feb. 29.
These awards acknowledge and recognize outstanding graduate teaching assistants for their contributions to the teaching mission of NIU. Each recipient of the award will be presented with a plaque and recognized at a reception held at the end of the spring semester. At least one will be presented to an outstanding teaching assistant pursuing a master’s degree.
To be eligible for this award, each candidate must be enrolled as a graduate student in good standing at NIU during the semester the award nominations are due, have been employed as a graduate teaching assistant for at least two complete semesters (excluding the semester of nomination) during the past two years at NIU, have been responsible for teaching a course fully or teaching-related support that involved student contact as part of the graduate teaching assistant employment, and have not previously received this award at NIU.
Each academic or academic support unit that employs graduate TAs for teaching and related activities is invited to nominate two outstanding graduate teaching assistants (one at the master’s level and the other at the doctoral level) from its department for the awards.
Nominations submitted to the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center must include supporting documents to be considered for the award. The nominations can be submitted by the head of the unit or designee, and each nomination should include five hardcopies of the following:
A subcommittee of the Faculty Development Advisory Committee will review the nominations and select the recipients of the award. The committee may request additional information or clarifications from the nominees or nominators.
Submit nominations to the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, 319 Adams Hall. Call (815) 753-0595 for more information.
Nominations for the Outstanding Service Award are now being accepted.
Presented each year to up to four NIU Civil Service employees, the objective of this award program is to recognize individual Civil Service employees who have demonstrated outstanding service and have made significant contributions to the university community.
A $1,500 award, which is considered taxable wages and subject to payroll deductions, and a plaque will be presented to each recipient of the award at the Annual Operating Staff Service Awards Banquet in Spring.
Nomination packets must be received in Human Resource Services no later than 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28.
For details, including nomination forms, visit http://www.niu.edu/osc/serviceaward/index.shtml.