President John Peters invites nominations of faculty, staff and students for appointment to the four presidential commissions.
The nominations will be for appointments effective in the 2008-09 academic year. The four presidential commissions, and sources where additional detailed information on each commission can be found, are:
President’s Commission on Persons with Disabilities
Greg Long, chair
glong@niu.edu
(815) 753-6508
http://www.niu.edu/pcpd/
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0708/disabilities.htm
President’s Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Norden Gilbert, chair
norden@niu.edu
(815) 753-8365
http://www.niu.edu/lgbt/pcsogi/index.shtml
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0708/sexualori.htm
President’s Commission on the Status of Minorities
Ronnie Wooten, chair
rwooten@niu.edu
(815) 753-4739
http://www.niu.edu/pcsm/
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0708/minorities.htm
President’s Commission on the Status of Women
Rhonda Robinson, chair
rrobinson@niu.edu
(815) 753-9323
http://www.niu.edu/pcsw/
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0708/women.htm
Self-nominations are welcome. Please forward nominations, including name, address, e-mail and telephone number to krepel@niu.edu.
Nominations should be submitted on or before Friday, April 18.
The NIU Library Memorial Quilt Committee is sponsoring a community quilt project in memory of the victims of the Feb. 14 tragedy. The goal is to create a king-size quilt, as a gift from the community, which will be housed permanently in Founders Memorial Library.
The project is open to the NIU community including students, staff, faculty, affiliates and members of the greater DeKalb/Sycamore community.
Through Tuesday, April 8, the committee will distribute red, white and black fabric squares to be used in the quilt. The number of squares available will be limited to 288, and they will be provided free, one square per person. Those wishing to receive the fabric can stop by the information desk in the Founders Memorial Library lobby from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday or from 1 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Each participant is invited to create a tribute on their square; guidelines will be provided. Once all submissions are collected, the quilters will arrange them and sew them together.
Completed quilt squares must be turned in no later than Wednesday, April 30. Once the quilt is finished, all participants will be invited to a dedication ceremony.
For more information, contact Rebecca Martin at (815) 753-9896 or rmartin2@niu.edu.
On the menu at Ellington’s this week: Cocina Cubana is scheduled for Tuesday, Lemon Grass Lounge takes over Wednesday and Mesogieos concludes the week Thursday.
Cocina Cubana features shrimp picadillo empanadas or tomatillo and tomato salad for starters, Cuban mojo chicken or Cuban black beans and rice for entrees and rum cake or flan delite for dessert. Each table also will be served a salsamole with tortilla chips.
Lemon Grass Lounge features silky-coconut pumpkin soup or fresh cucumber salad with toasted black sesame seeds for starters, flavorful black Thai pork or vegetarian pad Thai for entrees and creamy coconut tapioca pudding with cayenne-spiced mango or strawberry-lychee shortcake for dessert. Each table also will be served Thai iced tea.
Mesogieos features Greek salad or spinach triangles for starters, Mediterranean orange roughy with couscous and currants or Greek pasta with tomatoes and white beans for entrees and olive oil Bundt cake with tangerine glaze or Greek-style yogurt with honey and walnuts for dessert. Each table also will be served herbed breadsticks.
Seating is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with service until 1 p.m. The cost is $8 per person. Ellington’s is located on the main floor of the Holmes Student Center. Call (815) 753-1763 or visit www.ellingtons.niu.edu to make reservations.
April is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Awareness Month. A online calendar for the full schedule and details about events is available.
Some events include:
NIU will present the magical gypsy music of the Roby Lakatos Ensemble, direct from Brussels, Belgium, during a Thursday, April 3, concert in the auditorium of Altgeld Hall.
Lakatos is being brought to NIU as a result of a personal relationship with Myron E. Siegel, a member of the NIU Board of Trustees, and Siegel’s wife, internationally renowned artist Deborah Levy.
The concert, which begins at 5 p.m., also features Myriam Fuks, a Klezmer and Yiddish folk singer with performances on the big screen and stage. Admission is free.
Gypsy violinist Lakatos is known as the “devils’ fiddler” and mixes classical and jazz music with Hungarian gypsy magic to produce a different sound.
Lakatos is not only a scorching virtuoso, playing 10 notes in the time it takes others to play just one, but a musician of extraordinary stylistic versatility.
Equally comfortable performing classical music as he is playing jazz and in his own Hungarian folk idiom, Lakatos is the rare musician who defies definition. He is a classical virtuoso, a jazz improviser, a composer and arranger, and a 19th-century throwback – and he is actually all of these things at once. He is the kind of universal musician so rarely encountered today, a player whose strength as an interpreter derives from his activities as an improviser and composer.
He has performed at the great halls and festivals of Europe, Asia and America with an incredible energy that music lovers of any genre will instantly love.
Accompanying Liatos are Lászlo Bóni as second violin, Jeno Lisztes on the Cimbalom, Laszlo Balogh on the guitar, Robert Fehér on the double bass and Frantisek Janoska on the piano.
They now tour the world with his ensemble and, on occasion, Fuks. In 2007, his tours took him to Chicago’s Grant Park where he thrilled more than 10,000 people with the magic of his gypsy violin.
In response to inquiries from faculty interested in gaining more work space on their smart podia, Media Services and the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center will offer a side-by-side comparison of two of the latest document cameras.
Faculty are invited to Room 305 of the Holmes Student Center from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, April 7, to examine the latest document cameras from Elmo and AverMedia.
Faculty and staff feedback is needed to proceed with replacement devices for coming years. Refreshments will be provided.
Call (815) 753-6677 or e-mail jbollenbach@niu.edu for more information.
Would you know what to do if you got a flat? Does your dad change your oil and check the tire pressure on your car for you? Do you think it’s time to learn how to do it yourself?
Join the Women’s Resource Center at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, for a workshop on the basics you need to know – and often are not taught growing up – in order to deal with and maintain a vehicle. Learn how to check fluid levels, change a tire and jump a dead battery.
The group will meet in Parking Lot J, east of Grant Towers.
Interested in trading a story about nature for a massage?
Just e-mail a nature story with your desired appointment time to artist Gabriel Akagawa at cratespace@gmail.com. As part of the “Unpacked/Offset” exhibition at the NIU Art Museum, artist Gabriel Bizen Akagawa will give “free” massages every Friday (except April 25) in the gallery through May 10.
Akagawa has been giving free massages as part of his artwork for more than five years. He was taught by his family in Japan, who give massages as part of their barbering practice. He extends this into the gallery as an exchange program. He trades free head, neck, arm and hand massages for a story about nature in the DeKalb area. He is looking to create a gallery and online archive of the history of natural events, ecologies and any experiences with nature in this region.
There will be 10-minute sessions each Friday during gallery hours (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at the museum. He will massage by appointment and limited walk-ins. To ensure a massage, please e-mail him at cratespace@gmail.com with a desired time and a nature story.
Participants also may choose to dictate an audio recorded story on site.
More details about “Unpacked/Offset” and other ways to participate in the project are available online.
NIU’s baseball team will face Notre Dame in a 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, contest at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. Tickets are on sale today.
Proceeds from tickets sales will benefit NIU’s February 14 Student Scholarship Fund. The Huskies and Fighting Irish last met on the diamond in 2005.
“It is an incredible show of support from the Chicago White Sox and from [head coach] Dave Schrage and the University of Notre Dame to be able to do this,” NIU head coach Ed Mathey said. “To have the ability to put together an event like this at an amazing facility like U.S. Cellular Field to generate financial support for the scholarship fund is tremendous.”
All tickets are $10 for lower-level reserved seating and are available at whitesox.com, Ticketmaster phone lines, Chicagoland Ticketmaster outlets, the NIU campus box office and the U.S. Cellular Field box office.
Gates to the ballpark will open at 6 p.m. Parking is free in Lots A (bus parking), B and C, and concession stands will be open during the game.
“We look forward to a great contest on the field and hope that all the NIU alumni and fans in the Chicago area will come out to support this endeavor,” Mathey said. “Because the proceeds for this event are going to the February 14 Student Scholarship Fund, I would certainly like to see this become one of the highest-attended college games in the Midwest this season.”
“The White Sox are honored to host Northern Illinois and Notre Dame at U.S. Cellular Field for this special game and important cause,” said Brooks Boyer, White Sox chief marketing officer and vice president. “Both schools boast a significant fan base in Chicago that will make for a great night of baseball while serving a much more important cause.”
The ReadNex Poetry Squad, four spoken-word poets and emcees from New York City, will come to NIU at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 31, in the A/B Formal Lounge of the Grant South Complex.
Squad members will give a spoken word performance with the purpose to uplift urban communities using hip-hop, soul, Latin and Caribbean music. Afterward, they will host an open mic event.
Call (815) 753-1555 for more information.
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 will visit campus at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, to speak on “Turning Away from Hate.” The free speech takes place in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center.
Call (815) 753-1963 for more information.
All University Women’s Club members, spouses and guests are invited to attend the annual potluck supper to be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, at the Ellwood House Visitor Center in DeKalb.
Bring a dish to share and your own table service. Donna Peterson of Sycamore’s Chapel in the Pines will entertain with “The Bride Wore Duct Tape.”
For details, contact Mary Lu Strack at (815) 756-4390 or strackfolk@tbcnet.com.
The NIU Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities (PCSM) invites nominations for the 2008 Deacon Davis Diversity Award. Created in 2004, this award recognizes the significant contributions made to the improvement of the status of minorities on campus by members of the university community.
The PCSM encourages nominations from the university community including current NIU undergraduate, graduate or professional students; faculty, SPS or Civil Service staff; academic units, offices, programs or organizations. Nominations and an additional letter of support must be in writing and be received by Thursday, April 10.
The Deacon Davis Award is named in honor of the founder and former director of the CHANCE (College Help & Assistance Necessary for College Education) Program. Davis died March 20, 2003.
Award recipients in 2007 were Promod Vohra, dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology; Luis and Clersida Garcia, associate professors in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education; and Nicole Gabriel, Ruth Molokwu and Heema Soni, student officers of the Minority Science Association.
The Deacon Davis Award is a non-monetary honor. Awards will be bestowed upon the selected recipients Tuesday, April 22, during the Annual PCSM Spring Banquet. Nomination forms and guidelines can be found at www.niu.edu/pcsm/ or by contacting Melody Mitchell at (815) 753-1027 or mmitchell@niu.edu.
NIU’s Latino Resource Center, along with Castle Bank, is seeking nominees for the 2007-08 Outstanding Latino Community Awards.
Self-nominations are welcome as are nominations of NIU students, NIU faculty and staff, Latino student organizations and local businesses. Nominations are due Friday, April 11, to the Latino Resource Center, LC-515 Garden Road, NIU, DeKalb, Ill., 60115.
Winners will be announced Saturday, May 3, at the annual Outstanding Latino Community Awards gala luncheon.
Nomination applications are available online. For more information, call (815) 753-1986.
David Solomon, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, will speak at NIU at 3 p.m. Friday, April 11, on “Elizabeth Anscombe’s ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ and Virtue Ethics.”
Solomon’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Graduate Colloquium Committee and the Department of Philosophy. It takes place in the University Suite of the Holmes Student Center.
Call (815) 753-0331 for more information.
NIU will salute administrative professionals Tuesday, April 22, during the 11th annual Administrative Professionals Day Seminar in the Altgeld Hall ballroom.
The event takes place from 7:45 to 10 a.m. and includes a deluxe breakfast buffet and several door prizes contributed by local businesses. Rita Emmett, author of “The Procrastinator’s Handbook” and “The Clutter-Busting Handbook,” will speak on “Blast Away Procrastination! Mastering the Art of Doing It Now.”
Parking is available for $5 in the NIU visitor’s parking lot for off-campus registrants. Parking passes are mailed with receipts if registration is received by Friday, April 11.
Registration is $44 per person (or $54 after April 11) and includes breakfast, the presentation and all materials. Employees of NIU and other governmental agencies are invited at a special rate of $34 per person ($44 after April 11). Registrations are not accepted without full payment, and there are no refunds on or after April 11. Parking payments are not refundable.
To register, call (815) 753-0277 or visit www.niu.edu/clasep. For more information, call (815) 753-5200 or e-mail lasep@niu.edu.
The Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities (PCSM) will host its ninth annual Friendships Abloom Spring Luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22.
All are invited to attend the luncheon in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center. Brief remarks and award presentations begin at 12:15 p.m.
To perform maintenance and repairs on high pressure steam lines on campus, the Physical Plant and Heating Plant will conduct the annual steam outage.
West Campus: 9 p.m. Monday, May 19, through noon Friday, May 23. This will include all buildings west of Carroll Avenue, except Stevenson and the Neptune Complex, and various other smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.
East Campus: 9 p.m. Sunday, May 25, or Monday, May 26, through noon Thursday, May 29. This will include all buildings east of Carroll Avenue and the Neptune Complex, except for various other smaller buildings not served by steam. Domestic and heating hot water will not be available.
Address any questions or concerns to Kevin Vines, chief engineer, at (815) 753-6090 or via e-mail at kvines@niu.edu.
WNIJ (89.5 FM) and classical music WNIU (90.5 FM) are preparing for a spring membership campaign from Wednesday, April 2, through Saturday, April 12.
Volunteers are needed to answer pledge calls. Those interested in helping should click on the “Volunteer” link at www.northernpublicradio.org or call (815) 753-9000 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to find out which hours are left to fill on the schedule.
Northern Public Radio is the broadcast service of NIU.
NIU’s Art Museum will present “Examining Audubon” in the South Galleries of Altgeld Hall from Tuesday, April 8, to Saturday, May 10. The public is invited to an opening reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8.
Prior to the reception, Brian “Fox” Ellis will present a first-person interpretation of John James Audubon as a storyteller. “Adventures with John James Audubon” begins at 5 p.m. in Room 315 of Altgeld Hall. From 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, Chicago History Museum Curator Joy Bivens will present “Assessing Excellence in Museum Exhibitions” in the South Galleries.
“Examining Audubon” considers the ways in which the works of Audubon created a bridge between art and science, and contributed to the fields of ornithology, ecology and conservation. Gathered from collections throughout the Midwest, this exhibition includes about 30 prints ranging from the small octavo prints to the large elephant folio, which portrays life-size birds such as the flamingo.
Since his death, Audubon’s name has become synonymous with conservation and his images have been adopted and commercialized by numerous organizations. This exhibition also presents a sampling of these products and reproductions. “Examining Audubon” is organized by students enrolled in ART 556, “Exhibition Interpretation” of the NIU Graduate Certificate program in Museum Studies.
The NIU Art Museum is located on the first floor, west end, of Altgeld Hall. The galleries are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and by appointment for group tours. Exhibitions are free; donations are appreciated. Exhibitions of the NIU Art Museum are funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, the Friends of the NIU Art Museum, and the Arts Fund 21.
For more information, call (815) 753-1936 or visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum.
Members of the NIU Concert Choir will contribute to Wheaton College’s upcoming performances of the Berlioz Requiem, conducted by John Nelson. The performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, April 18, and Saturday, April 19, in Edman Memorial Chapel on the campus of Wheaton College.
The Apollo Chorus of Chicago as well as the Valparaiso University Choir will join the Wheaton College choruses and orchestra. John Tessier is the tenor soloist.
Nelson, chorus master Paul Wiens, Dean Curtis Funk and Tony Payne, director of the Wheaton Conservatory of Music, are dedicating the concert to the memory of the NIU students who lost their lives in the Feb. 14 incident. Tickets will be made available at the Wheaton College family price.
Interested in helping first-year students learn how to succeed at NIU? Become a UNIV 101/201 instructor for fall 2008.
UNIV 101 is a one-credit, 12-week course focused on helping freshmen develop the essential academic and social skills needed to make an enjoyable and successful transition to NIU. UNIV 201 is a similar course designed specifically for transfer students.
In fall 2007, NIU offered 91 sections of UNIV 101/201; more than 1,800 first-year NIU students enrolled. As a UNIV 101/201 instructor, you can impact the experiences of these new students and provide them with resources to help them adjust to life at NIU.
Instructors must be a current or retired member of the NIU faculty, staff, or administration, hold a master’s degree and have prior teaching experience. Candidates who do not meet the last two criteria might be paired with teaching coaches.
UNIV 101/201 instructors typically receive a stipend of $1,000 for teaching an individual section or $500 for co-instructing. Once hired, all instructors are required to attend training workshops and department meetings and participate in course feedback through e-mail correspondence and surveys.
An overview session is scheduled for 3 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in the Illinois Room of the Holmes Student Center to share more information about teaching these courses. Please RSVP to firstconn@niu.edu.
More information and application materials are available online. Contact First-Year Connections at firstconn@niu.edu.