Paul Vallas, the former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, will give two presentations Thursday, Jan. 31, at NIU.
Vallas is now the superintendent of the New Orleans Recovery School District. His visit is co-sponsored by the NIU College of Education, the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations and DeKalb Unit Community School District 428.
He will speak at 7 p.m. in Altgeld Hall Auditorium on topics ranging from the politics of schools, school funding and the need to ensure educational opportunities for all. The speech is open to the public, including lawmakers and media. For more information, call (815) 753-4404.
Called a “veteran tamer of hard-case schools” by the New York Times, Vallas also will deliver an afternoon symposium and question-and-answer session for NIU students and faculty involved in teacher education. The symposium, which is also open to the public, begins at 2 p.m. in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Organizers hope both audiences walk away with a sense of the complexity of challenges facing modern school administrators and, at least for the students and their professors, some inspiration to teach in or lead urban school districts.
“Paul Vallas is a very innovative leader in education,” said Charles Howell, chair of the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations.
“We’re quite interested in what he has to say about the challenges for contemporary administrators in terms of political stability and increasing public confidence in schools,” Howell added. “We also recognize that he has original ideas about student engagement, technology in schools, small schools, teacher professional development, building community support for schools and finances for schools.”
“District 428 is pleased to partner with Northern Illinois University in hosting Mr. Vallas to share his views about reforming education, particularly in urban settings,” said Paul Beilfuss, superintendent of District 428. “We believe educators, both young and seasoned, will benefit from his experiences and insights.”
Before his arrival last year in New Orleans, Vallas earned praise in Chicago and Philadelphia for contributing to higher test scores, opening new schools and launching after-school programs.
“He was confident that he could raise the level of achievement in a school system that had been very inadequate for a long period of time,” Howell said. “He opened magnet and charter schools with the goal of maintaining the economic and racial diversity of the Chicago public school system and stabilizing student enrollments within the city.”
In post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, however, he faces a profoundly different set of challenges. The devastating hurricane came on top of an already troubled school system and frail city infrastructure. Vallas has tried to meet these challenges, Howell said, by refurbishing school buildings, reducing class sizes, introducing technology and more rigorous curricular materials and even offering health services to New Orleans students.
“These are kids who’ve only ever been to schools that operate in an environment of low expectations,” Vallas said in a recent issue of Education Week. “What we are telling them now is that we have high expectations for them, and they have to step up.”
Cynthia Taines, a professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations who focuses on urban schools, admires Vallas’ energy, his focus and his “controversial” and “exciting” solutions to urban educational problems.
“He’s doing some cool things in New Orleans,” Taines said. “He gave every high school student a laptop, which some think is pretty risky given the crime there, but he said he trusted students to use the laptops as educational tools. He thinks this technology will advance their education.”
Taines conducts research with urban students to gain their perspectives on schooling and school reform. She wants those in leadership positions to recognize urban students as stakeholders in reform and to involve them in the process.
Students in the College of Education can benefit from Vallas’ message, she said.
“I think the students will leave with maybe a certain sense of hope that some of these urban issues can be tackled,” Taines said. “I believe that many students think, ‘This is just the way it is. It’s so depressing and there are so many problems.’ Vallas shows just how much effort and energy and investment in going into solving these problems. Maybe this will inspire students to contribute to an urban system when they get their teaching credentials, or to take up the call of leadership.”
Other sponsors of the event include the NIU chapter of Kappa Delta Pi and the NIU Society of Educational Administrators.
NIU Political Scientist Daniel R. Kempton has won a prestigious Fulbright Scholar grant to Russia, where he arrived this week to begin a nearly six-month research and teaching assignment.
This is Kempton’s fourth trip to the world’s largest country (in terms of area). He is a scholar of Russian domestic politics, Russian foreign policy, missile proliferation and global terrorism.
The former chair of NIU’s Department of Political Science will teach a course on international relations, with a focus on terrorism, at Tver State University. The city of Tver is located about 140 miles northwest of Moscow.
He also will conduct interviews with governors, deputy governors and members of regional parliaments for a book examining the changing state of federalism under President Vladimir Putin.
Kempton said Putin has made a number of significant political changes during his tenure. For example, governors used to be elected by a popular vote, but now gubernatorial candidates are selected by the federal president and are confirmed or rejected by the relevant regional parliaments.
“If they disapprove three times, the president can call for new parliamentary,” Kempton explained. He said Putin also has reduced the number of regional governments.
“The popular perception in the West is that Russian federalism has been destroyed by Putin’s changes,” Kempton said. “But when you talk to Russians, the evidence suggests that even though they’ve been reined in, regional politics still matter. It would seem there is more federalism in Russia than western analysts give it credit for.”
Kempton previously edited a book on Russian federalism that was published in 2002.
“I’ve worked on Russian federalism before, but most of my writing is on the Yeltsin years,” he said. “The Fulbright allows me to revise my work for the contemporary period.”
Of great assistance to Kempton’s work will be a former student, Andrey Loshakov, who received his Ph.D. from NIU in 1996. Loshakov now serves as a deputy governor of Tver.
“That’s why I chose this region,” Kempton said. “With Andrey’s help, I should have better access. In general, though, Russians are more open in this era than during the Soviet period. In some ways, it’s easier getting access to officials in Russia than it is in America because Russians are often eager to explain their system to foreigners.”
In addition to Loshakov, Kempton will see another familiar face during his Fulbright assignment. His oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Ukraine.
This is Kempton’s second Fulbright Fellowship, and he hopes it is as inspirational as his first, which took him to South Africa in 1992.
“I would say it was the best experience of my academic career,” he said. “Apartheid was coming to an end in South Africa, and I was able to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Nelson Mandela. I taught in a very meaningful master’s-level program, and the experience really helped me grow as a scholar.”
A new software tool called Articulate has inspired and enabled NIU’s Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center to create short online tutorials on effective teaching that seamlessly match PowerPoint slides with recorded narration and video.
The goal, Director Mural Krishnamurthi said, is to offer important facts on timely teaching issues in five or six minutes with no appointment or seminar necessary. The ideas are practical and ready for immediate application.
“Our approach is to deliver needed information quickly to our audience, whether it’s faculty, staff or students,” Krishnamurthi said. “The simple fact is that not everyone can attend workshops. It’s difficult to get all the faculty into one room. It’s nearly impossible.”
Users can watch “Quick Tips” online or via download, podcast, text transcript and even YouTube, which ensures that Google’s video search engine will index the presentations. No special plug-ins or players are necessary, and the transcripts make the tutorials accessible to people with disabilities.
“For new mobile media player devices, such as the iPod and iPhone that have built-in integration with YouTube, users will have one-click access to viewing the presentations on a YouTube-enabled mobile device, either via a Wi-Fi connection or the data connection provided by their smart phones,” said Jason Rhode, assistant director of Faculty Development.
“Users who find the presentations on YouTube can leave comments, link to them or e-mail them others as well as embed them in their own Web sites or blogs.”
The first “Quick Tips,” hosted by Micky Sharma of NIU’s Counseling and Student Development Center, teaches faculty how to recognize and help students in emotional distress.
The second gives faculty tips on the “clicker” system that allows students to communicate electronically with professors during class. Others are planned on syllabus design and podcasting; all will remain in easily accessed archives.
“Although Micky’s particular tutorial is very important, it’s just the beginning of a series of tutorials we’re going to be providing,” said Dan Cabrera, the center’s multimedia coordinator. “The concept behind the whole ‘Quick Tips’ project is that it’s effective instruction. It needs to be brief – five minutes – and it focuses on an important topic.”
“These are meant to be practical, immediate-application types of resources,” Rhode added. “As new technologies come out, and as new methods come out, we can introduce them to faculty with these presentations. If they want to learn more, a lot of these will be things we offer in face-to-face and online workshops.”
Or, Krishnamurthi said, viewers can and should feel free to contact any “Quick Tips” presenters for more information afterward.
Sharma, now known as the “Quick Tips trailblazer,” said the process offered a chance “to really assist NIU in being on the cutting-edge of support for our faculty.”
“This was a great opportunity for our department to get a lot of information out in a short amount of time. I strongly encourage other departments or individuals on campus who want to highlight a service to go forward and do a ‘Quick Tip.’ It’s not time- or labor-intensive,” Sharma said.
“Quite frankly, I was both honored and a little anxious to be the initial person to go through this process, because you don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” he added. “But they were understanding and patient with me. They were really supportive and told me to take my time. Before distributing it to anyone, they allowed me to see the finished product and give my edits. They didn’t go with mass distribution until I gave them the A-OK.”
Faculty can contact Dan Cabrera at (815) 753-0613 or Rhode at (815) 753-2475 for more information on how to use the Articulate software to develop online tutorials that promote effective teaching.
President George W. Bush has nominated Gary D. Glenn, a Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus in NIU’s Department of Political Science, to serve on the National Council for the Humanities.
The council is as an advisory board to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Glenn’s nomination requires Senate confirmation and has been referred for confirmation to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
A resident of DeKalb, Glenn has taught a wide array of political science courses over more than four decades at NIU, where he earned a reputation for being among the university’s top teachers. He was recipient of the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Great Professor Award bestowed by the Honors Program and a Presidential Teaching Professorship, the university’s top recognition for excellence in the classroom.
While Glenn retired last year, he continues teaching and working with students, especially on theses and dissertations. This semester he is teaching POLS 353H Courting, Marrying and Politics.
“Gary Glenn devoted his professional career to defending and promoting liberal education and studying American political thought with an emphasis on the U.S. Constitution. These issues are central to the NEH,” said Christopher Jones, chair of the Department of Political Science. “Moreover, Gary has done these things exceedingly well.”
An independent federal agency, the NEH promotes excellence in the humanities and is charged with conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by providing grants for high-quality humanities projects in four funding areas: education, research, public programs and preserving and providing access to cultural resources.
The National Council on the Humanities consists of 26 distinguished private citizens who advise the NEH chairman. Board members serve staggered 6-year terms.
Glenn intends to accept the nomination if confirmed.
“I didn’t seek it – it came seeking me – but it’s an honor to be nominated,” he said.
The post will require reading through and providing recommendations on numerous NEH grant applications. Council members, who typically meet quarterly in Washington, D.C., also provide recommendations on matters of policy.
“Funding decisions are a big responsibility,” Glenn said. “Those of us who have worked as faculty members at research universities have all applied for grants, and we know what it’s like to be turned down. We hope that the people who are making decisions are paying close attention to both the importance and the effort that goes into these proposals. It’s consequential work.”
NIU will hold a Harry Potter Conference geared for the general public later this year, and organizers are hoping Potter fans will help provide a proper name for the event.
Potential names should be e-mailed to niuharrypotter@yahoo.com. The deadline for entries is Friday, Jan. 25.
The winner of the naming contest will receive a prize package consisting of a Harry Potter T-shirt, collectable figure and free entry into all conference events.
The inaugural Harry Potter Conference at NIU will be held from Nov. 14 through Nov. 16. Conference events will be geared for both adults and children and will include such activities as a Yule Ball and Trivia Contest. More details will be posted in February on a Web site devoted to the conference.
NIU has hosted a Harry Potter-themed summer camp and winter academy for the past two years. Mark Pietrowski, external programming coordinator for the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said the goal of the conference is to provide an affordable, university-sponsored event that will offer a fun and educational experience to both adults and children.
For more information, contact Pietrowski at 815-753-1456 or e-mail niuharrypotter@yahoo.com.
This NIU event is not endorsed, sanctioned or in any other way supported, directly or indirectly, by Warner Bros. Entertainment, the Harry Potter® book publishers, or J.K. Rowling and her representatives.
Professor Milivoje M. Kostic of NIU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering has been invited to deliver a plenary lecture at the fifth WSEAS International Conference on Heat and Mass Transfer.
The conference is held from Jan. 25 through 27 in Acapulco, Mexico, and is organized by the World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS)
Kostic’s plenary lecture focuses on philosophical and practical aspects of energy, heat and entropy, with emphasis on reversibility and irreversibility, and a goal to establish the concept of ideal “reversible heat transfer,” regardless that heat transfer is a typical irreversible process.
Heat transfer, like any other energy transfer, can be achieved from any-to-any temperature level, and in limit be reversible, if temperature of an intermediary cyclic substance is adjusted as needed, using isentropic compression and expansion.
The reversible heat transfer limits are the most efficient and demonstrate limiting potentials for practical heat transfer processes. 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 applications.
More information on Kostic and his research and teaching interests is available at www.kostic.niu.edu.
Northern Pride, a social support network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender faculty and staff, invites interested LGBT and Ally individuals to join them for a weekly lunch.
The group meets at noon Thursdays in the Blackhawk East room of the Blackhawk Dining Room in the Holmes Student Center. For more information about Northern Pride or other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender resources, contact the LGBT Resource Center at (815) 753-LGBT or lgbt@niu.edu.
A calendar of events is available online at www.niu.edu/lgbt/resourcecenter/news/index.shtml.
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced hours for the spring semester.
Hours from Monday, Jan. 14, through Friday, April 25, are 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 11:30 p.m. Sundays. The library is open from 1 to 10 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21.
Hours during Spring Break are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, March 10, through Friday, March 14. The library is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 8, Sunday, March 9, and Saturday, March 15. Hours Sunday, March 16, are noon to 11:30 p.m.
Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.
Join the LGBT Resource Center, PRISM and the Women’s Resource Center for a continuation of last semester’s successful movie series. This semester, the series will take a look at the intersections between LGBT and other identities.
The films are shown at noon in the LGBT Resource Center and 9 p.m. at the Women’s Resource Center. The first date is Wednesday, Jan. 16. Other dates are Feb. 6 and 20, March 5 and 26 and April 23.
Bring a friend for snacks, movies and fun discussion as organizers screen films exploring the experiences of people who are LGBT and Asian, African American, Latino, Jewish, Native American and other identities.
The NIU Annuitants Association presents “A Night at the Opera,” the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of “The Barber of Seville” by Giaochino Rossini. The trip is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 19.
This is a wonderful evening featuring the beauty, pageantry and thrill of grand opera, designed especially for members of the NIU Annuitants Association.
Departure is at 3:30 p.m. from the Normal Road entrance to the Holmes Student Center. Cost includes round-trip motor coach from DeKalb, a pre-opera dinner at Lloyd’s Chicago, tickets to the Lyric Opera (seats are in the first balcony and main floor), all taxes and gratuities.
Tickets are limited, so reserve soon. The deadline is Friday, Jan. 18. For more information, contact Steven Johnson at sjohnso11@niu.edu.
The Ally Program is a campus-wide program designed to foster a welcoming and supportive campus environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, faculty and staff by creating a visible network of allies.
NIU employees and students interested in volunteering for the Ally Program can learn more and register online. The online form http://www.niu.edu/lgbt/resourcecenter/programs/ally.shtml provides the specific workshop dates and times and allows registrants to indicate first, second and third choices.
Training is divided into two two-hour workshops (Part I and Part II). Volunteers must attend both Part I and Part II. Space is limited, and advance registration is required. Multiple dates are available.
Part I
Monday, Jan. 28: 9 to 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 5: 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 13: 2 to 4 p.m.
Part II
Wednesday, Feb. 20: 2 to 4 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 25: 9 to 11 a.m.
Tuesday, March 4: 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
The Ally Program is a program of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center, Division of Student Affairs.
Monique Bernoudy, associate athletics director at NIU, is the speaker at a Friday, Feb. 8, networking luncheon for NIU women faculty, staff and students.
The luncheon takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Chandelier Room of Adams Hall. Bernoudy’s presentation begins at 12:05 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the NIU Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and the Women’s Resource Center.
The cost is $8 per person. Reserve a place by Tuesday, Jan. 29, by calling (815) 753-0320.
Bernoudy’s presentation will focus on the current status of women in sports in relation to Title IX and how universities across the United States fare on a comparison scale. Findings indicate that much work still needs to be done.
She will conclude with recommendations for improving women’s equality and status in sports.
The Greater Kishwaukee Area Concert Band will resume rehearsals Wednesday, Jan. 30, for the March 16 concert.
Rehearsals are held from 7:30 to 9 p.m. every Wednesday (except Feb. 6, which is Ash Wednesday) in the Huntley Middle School band room. The school is located at the corner of South 7th and Taylor streets in DeKalb.
Membership is open to anyone 18 and older who has played a wind or percussion instrument in the past. For more information, call (815) 899-4867 or (815) 825-2350.
The NIU Foundation invites applications for the 2008 Venture Grants. All proposals must be received in the Foundation Office by Friday, Feb. 1. Awards will be announced no later than the first week of April.
The Foundation anticipates awarding between two and four grants at a minimum level of $5,000 and up to $25,000, with a total amount available of $55,000. All faculty and staff from units within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, the Division of Administration and University Outreach and Intercollegiate Athletics are eligible to apply.
For complete information about the grants as well as application information and forms, visit the NIU Foundation Web page.
The NIU Foundation looks forward to supporting faculty and staff in the pursuit of excellence in research, teaching and outreach to the larger community. Call (815) 753-7539 for more information.
DeKalb’s Target store recently presented the NIU Community School of the Arts and the NIU Art Museum with an award of $1,500 to provide arts programs for children and adults in the community.
The award was made as part of Target’s community relations program to support local initiatives.
“Seeing Art/Making Art” is a project that connects museum exhibits shown at the NIU Art Museum with hands-on art projects taught by NIU artists and faculty.
Children ages 7 to 11 and parents are invited Saturday, Jan. 26, for a private tour of Japanese prints on exhibit in Altgeld Hall. Participants learn some historical aspects of Japanese printmaking, mostly examining the works of the Modern Creative Print Movement in Japan.
The tour moves to the Art Building for a project in which participants learn how to make their own prints using a technique that mimics the soft color mixing of some of the Japanese prints on display.
Leading the tour and teaching the class is NIU Art Museum curator and artist Jessica Witte will lead the tour and teach the class. The class is free, but pre-registration is required and space is limited. Today is the deadline for pre-registration.
More information is available at www.niu.edu/extprograms or by calling (815) 753-1450. More information the NIU Art Museum is available at http://www.vpa.niu.edu/museum or by calling (815) 753-1936.
The NIU Community School of the Arts has an exciting spring semester planned.
Classes, lessons and ensembles begin in January. Highlights of the season include the Honors Recital featuring the six winners of the talent scholarship competition perform Saturday, Jan. 26. On Wednesday, Feb. 20, DeKalb teen Jaimie Sachay performs a viola concerto with the CSA Sinfonia.
Many soloists can be heard Sunday, Feb. 10, at the Performathon, the event that raises money to provide scholarship support for young people in the community to further their studies of the arts. The event features an afternoon of solo and group performances, a bake sale, a music swap, face painting and a raffle. This year’s Performathon is a celebration of the community school’s 20th anniversary.
Private music lessons begin in January and are available on all instruments. Teachers are students and faculty in the NIU School Music as well as community artists. String ensembles for children, a Celtic band, a guitar ensemble, a group guitar class and a full orchestra are a few of the music offerings in spring.
Art classes for adults and children are also available, including a new class, “Drawing from Nature.” The popular theater games class for children returns.
The NIU Community School of the Arts is sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Classes and lessons are taught on campus. Scholarships for families in financial need are available. Applications forms are due today. More information about the program, the Performathon and scholarships, as well as application and registration forms, are available at www.niu.edu/extprograms or by calling (815) 753-1450.
What do Katharine Hepburn, Vanna White, and Sarah Jessica Parker have in common? They are all avid knitters.
Whether new to knitting, a skilled crocheter or somewhere in between, join the gathering at Neptune Central’s Fireside Lounge from 9 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 16, for snacks and creativity. Finished crafts will be donated to Hope Haven, DeKalb’s homeless shelter.
Other dates are Feb. 13, March 12 and April 16. The Women’s Resource Center, the LGBT Resource Center and PRISM are co-sponsors.
NIU will offer a class at University Center in Grayslake for teachers interested in learning how art can be used to help students with special needs. The course begins Thursday, Jan. 17, and meets from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday evenings. “Art for Special Needs Populations” is designed for teachers and includes a wide variety of teaching styles and content. No art experience is required.
The course is available for undergraduate and graduate credit to those who have the academic credentials. The class explores these topics through group activities, stations, games, and art making. Among the topics covered are:
The instructor is Susan Metcalf, a visiting assistant professor in the NIU School of Art. Metcalf received her doctorate in education (specializing in art education) from NIU in 2001. She was awarded a certificate of recognition by the NIU Center for Accessibility Resources in 2001. She was an elementary art teacher for many years in Buffalo Grove and has written many articles on the topic of art education and special needs.
Students must be registered as an NIU student to take the class. Information is available on the NIU Web site about how to register as an NIU student and for the class at www.niu.edu. On the A-Z index, click on Registration and Records.
Contact Deborah Booth, director of the Office of External Programs in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at (815) 753-1450 or dbooth@niu.edu for more information.
NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences External Programming retiree Steven Johnson will exhibit items from his collection of NIU and DeKalb postcards, as well as NIU collectibles such as spoons, pitchers, candy dishes, ash trays and bowls, during January in the DeKalb Area Women’s Center (DAWC) Galleries.
Johnson’s collection began shortly after his employment at NIU in 1981.
“I came across some old postcards of Altgeld Hall at an auction, bought them and that started the collection. I then added postcards of DeKalb schools, homes, businesses and the main street, and have always enjoyed showing them to people from DeKalb and NIU,” he says.
“A few years later, a friend found a candlestick with a picture of Altgeld Hall and asked if I wanted it,” Johnson recalls. “Since then friends have found many additional ceramic and china pieces decorated with NIU’s most famous landmark.”
A free, public reception is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. The exhibition of DeKalb postcards and NIU memorabilia is open for public viewing from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, and by appointment throughout the month.
The DAWC is located at 1021 State Street in DeKalb. Parking is available in the paved lot off of Eleventh Street, one-half block south of the building. The handicapped-accessible lift can be reached from the alley north of the building.
For more information, or to arrange a group showing, call gallery director Anna Marie Coveny at (815) 758-1351.
The NIU community is invited to help wish Jim Lockard a happy retirement and to celebrate his contributions to the College of Education and NIU during his many years on campus.
The event takes place from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
NIU’s Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity has limited travel funds available to help support faculty, staff and students who wish to attend conferences, workshops or seminars for the purpose of learning about or presenting scholarship on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender topics.
Individuals requesting funds will be asked to submit a PCSOGI Request for Travel Support form, including a breakdown of costs and other sources of funding support. Travel taking place during the current fiscal year (through June 30) is eligible for funding. More information and an online request form is available at www.niu.edu/lgbt/pcsogi/support/index.shtml.
For more information, contact Julia Lamb, PCSOGI finance committee chair, at (815) 753-1591 or via e-mail jlamb@niu.edu.
Tired of all the snow and ice? Plan an exciting getaway with the Alumni Association. Trips are planned to Costa Rica in March and to Holland in April.
Unsurpassed natural beauty awaits travelers on this exploration of Costa Rica’s natural wonders. This tropical and secure paradise features lush rainforests, beautiful beaches, cloud forests, abundant wildlife, dynamic volcanoes, vanishing ecosystems and warm and hospitable people. It’s nature’s museum.
In Holland, visitors will find vibrant flower gardens, quaint villages, windmills and markets of all kinds. This touring itinerary includes the Anne Frank House, Keukenhof Gardens and the annual Flower Parade in Noordwijk. Visit the famous cheese market of Zaanse Schans and learn first-hand how the Dutch make their wooden shoes.
Visit the Alumni Association Web site or call (815) 753-1452 for more information.