The February 14th Memorial Committee has been officially established and will meet for the first time Tuesday, April 8, to begin the process of developing recommendations for a fitting permanent memorial to victims of the shootings on campus earlier this semester.
The advisory committee to NIU President John Peters is co-chaired by Michael P. Malone, NIU vice president for university advancement, and former Provost Lynne Waldeland.
Other committee members are alumni Bob Marshall and Maryann Olivier; NIU annuitants Joe Vaughn and Linda Schwarz; NIU art expert Jo Burke; community members Gary Seegers and Kurt Schweitzer; Chris McCord of the NIU Council of Deans; Mike Thomas of the DeKalb Fire Department; Mallory M. Simpson of NIU Development; Mary Drain and Jeff Daurer of NIU Finance and Facilities; Todd Henert of campus police; faculty members Paul Stoddard, Jeff Kowalski, Kendall Thu, Clark Neher (retired) and Lynne Thomas; Bill Nicklas of the NIU Foundation; operating staff members Linda Jennings and Theresa Kinniry; Tom Parisi of NIU Public Affairs; Supportive Professional Staff members Steve Lux and Michael Stang; students Brent Keller, Adekunie Sosina, Ashley Walters and Mona Farraj; graduate student James Younkin; and victim advocates Scott Peska, James Brunson and Cindy Henderson.
Additionally, Bob Gleeson and Diana Robinson of the NIU Center for Governmental Studies have volunteered their professional expertise to help facilitate the process of developing recommendations.
“I’ve asked this group to provide me with a summary report by the end of May that will provide a platform from which we can develop specific plans for a fitting tribute to the five students we lost, those who were injured, and all those deeply affected by the tragic events of Feb. 14, 2008,” President Peters said.
“The committee will conduct a very open, inclusive and thoughtful review of alternatives,” Peters added. “Ultimately, this group will aid the healing process on campus. Above all, we need this memorial to respectfully recognize our loss and honor the enduring Huskie spirit of NIU.”
Peters gave the committee four specific charges:
The Memorial Committee continues to solicit suggestions for the creation of the permanent physical memorial. Members of the NIU community are encouraged to send their suggestions to memorial@niu.edu.
The Memorial Committee is not examining issues, however, related to the future of Cole Hall. Those issues are being addressed separately by various campus groups.
Student government is working on the Cole Hall issue, gathering opinions and discussing options. Provost Ray Alden and Paul Stoddard, executive secretary of the University Council, are likewise assessing campus views on immediate, mid-range and long-term space needs related to the closure of Cole Hall.
The provost’s work group, consisting of faculty, staff and students, is looking carefully at all of the details involved in short- medium- and long-term replacement of instructional space lost in the Cole Hall closure.
All members of the NIU community are invited to participate in the Huskies for Hokies Candlelight Vigil at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, in the Martin Luther King Commons.
The event is intended as a show of support and sympathy for the Virginia Tech community, which will mark the one-year anniversary of a shooting spree on their campus that claimed 32 lives.
Faculty, staff and students from VT have been extremely supportive of NIU in the wake of its own shooting tragedy on Feb. 14.
Administrators from VT have shared information and advice; counselors briefed their NIU counterparts on how best to help students and assisted in training sessions; and several student groups traveled to DeKalb to meet and comfort NIU students. More than 1,000 VT students participated in a candlelight vigil of their own Feb. 18 to show support for NIU.
“We really wanted to do something for Virginia Tech because they have done so much for us. They have truly helped in our recovery,” said Brittany Brzezinski, a senior from Libertyville who is helping to organize the event.
Candles and lighters will be provided at the ceremony. Sponsors for the event include the NIU Student Association and the Residence Hall Association.
Four members of the Supportive Professional Staff (SPS) have been chosen to receive the university’s Presidential Awards for Excellence.
The recipients are Margaret M. “Margie” Cook, director of the LGBT Resource Center; Daniel J. Ihm, project manager in Information Technology Services; Jennice O’Brien, assistant director for Web communication in the Office of Public Affairs; and Judy Santacaterina, academic adviser in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Although all four played critical roles in the response to NIU’s Feb. 14 tragedy, it is important to note they were nominated in December and chosen in January for recognition. Their biographies are based on their nominations and do not reflect their work and service Feb. 14 or during the difficult days and weeks that followed.
Cook (1987), Ihm (’88), O’Brien (’96) and Santacaterina (’78) share another common bond: All earned their bachelor’s degrees at NIU.
The quartet will be honored at a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center. The awards ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. Each will receive a plaque and $1,500 in appreciation for their outstanding contributions to NIU.
University Counsel Norden Gilbert and Jonathon Ostenburg, helpdesk support manager in Information Technology Services, will receive SPS Council Service Awards.
Refreshments will be served, and the reception is open to all.
Margie Cook, director of NIU’s LGBT Resource Center since its establishment in 2003, is described in many ways by colleagues: forceful and firm. Mentor and friend. Sensitive and tactful. Honest, courageous, humane and compassionate. Patient, understanding, generous and tireless. Pioneer.
Her creation and development of the resource center, along with its support services, educational programming, consulting and advocacy, has profoundly impacted countless lives. An NIU employee since 1994, her “official” advocacy for the LBGT population began three years later as a half-time position.
Since then, Cook has assisted students and colleagues with personal crises and academic needs. She has transformed hundreds of colleagues into allies for LGBT students. She has helped faculty integrate LGBT issues into their teaching. She has advocated for students who experience discrimination and harassment.
The Advocate College Guide recognized Cook’s role as a “central, consistent driving force behind the transformation in the services and climate” at NIU, among its top 100 campuses for LGBT students. Prism members honored Cook by affixing her name to their annual leadership award.
“Margie does what she does to promote social justice and to make the world a better place for all,” said Norden Gilbert, chair of the Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. “We have Margie to thank for developing a program that in its effectiveness, its responsiveness and its richness has had a profound impact on the university community as a whole.”
Since 2003, NIU’s use of Blackboard has exploded from a few hundred users and courses to nearly 23,000 users and 1,900 courses.
Yet the man who coordinates the Blackboard system on campus – along with WebCRMA (NIU’s primary content management system) and several other information systems – works in relative anonymity while patiently ensuring smooth operations.
Daniel J. Ihm, project manager of the Campus Web Services team in Information Technology Services, is anonymous no more.
“I intentionally do not publicize his name to protect him from being bombarded with e-mail messages and phone calls about the various systems he is in charge of,” said Murali Krishnamurthi, director of Faculty Development. “My staff and I contact him day, night or weekends about issues related to various systems, and he is always prompt and responsive.”
When work began on NIU’s Web Presence Project, Ihm attended meetings to prepare for redesign of the templates and quickly became a facilitator who organized the group’s work on Web design, standards and accessibility, and enabled successful collaboration. When leaders of the university’s strategic planning process needed a Web-based application for entering and maintaining information, Ihm and his team responded in record time.
He also displays professionalism through participation in the Midwest Blackboard Users Group and other technology committees.
“Dan is unruffled by difficult project developments,” said Diana L. Robinson, assistant director for NIU’s Center for Government Studies, “and always prepared to think constructively.”
When the Internet began to blossom in the late 1990s, it was Jennice O’Brien who drove NIU onto the so-called information superhighway.
And as the technical and graphic savvy of Web architects and visitors soared, O’Brien stayed ahead of the traffic as she launched a complete overhaul of NIU’s Web presence, not only on the homepage but across campus.
Her command of language and technology, and her understanding of NIU’s strategic themes, has built a front door to the university that is responsive, dynamic, functional and, of course, unified.
And, for most prospective students and their parents, it is O’Brien’s online vehicles that generate their important first impressions of NIU.
“It is difficult to overestimate Jennice’s impact on NIU’s image, identity and reputation,” said Melanie Magara, assistant vice president for public affairs. “Jennice plans, writes, creates and manages the most critical sections of NIU’s most important communications vehicle with near-complete autonomy.”
When the new Web site launched in October of 2006, the work was truly just beginning.
O’Brien leads a team that meets with university units interested in “moving” to the new templates. To date, 122 sites have been transformed and another 20 are in progress.
Clients praise her collaborative spirit and her commitment to excellence along with her talent, creativity and patience.
“Cloning Jennice and placing her in many of our public offices,” said Vice Provost Earl “Gip” Seaver, “would greatly improve our image.”
To some, she is the coach of NIU’s forensics team. To others, she’s the 30-year instructor in the Department of Communications who teaches freshman honors public speaking and senior-level performance.
But to most, Judy Santacaterina is the force behind the bachelor of general studies degree program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
“When off-campus BGS students attend commencement ceremonies, sometimes arriving in DeKalb for the first time, Judy welcomes them with roses, hugs and tears that celebrate the long journey she’s traveled with them, often one course at a time,” said Sue Warrick Doederlein, associate dean.
Santacaterina’s on-campus BGS advising reaches “an eclectic group” that includes clerical staff, student-athletes and students displaced from other programs.
Every summer, she runs a speech camp for high schools and speaks at orientation programs. Every fall, she joins the Honors Program retreat. During every athletic season, she’s a fixture in the cheering section.
She received the Dennis/Ross Coaching Award from the Illinois Intercollegiate Forensics League, the American Forensics Association’s Distinguished Service Award and the Larry E. Norton Award from Bradley University. Her former competitors – “the Kids” – donated $3,000 as seed money for an NIU forensics scholarship and planted a tree in her honor at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center.
“Judy Santacaterina came to Northern as a transfer at the age of 19, and she’s never left,” Doederlein said, “and we are all richer because of that.”
NIU is working to improve the reception of its distance education courses – both literally and figuratively.
Newly purchased equipment will catapult the system forward multiple generations (in technological terms) resulting in clearer pictures, crisper sound and an overall improved experience for both faculty and students.
Among the upgrades:
The equipment, purchased at a cost of $170,000, is scheduled for installation between the end of the spring semester and the start of the summer session. New systems will be installed in NIU Outreach Centers in Rockford, Hoffman Estates and Naperville and two of the systems will be installed in the Gable Hall Learning Center.
Perhaps best of all, the new equipment should all but eliminate the frequent “drops” of the signal that had become an all-too-frequent part of distance education classes utilizing the present systems.
“The drops are terribly frustrating,” said Cliff Mirman, chair of the Department of Technology in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, whose department uses the existing system to teach three or four classes per semester. “It’s gotten to the point where it is unbearable. Both students and faculty are complaining about it.”
Those complaints were a major factor in the decision to replace the equipment and to pay for a portion of the upgrade using funds from the technology fees paid by students who take classes at NIU Outreach Centers, said Anne Kaplan, vice president for Administration and University Outreach. “This is an investment in the quality of the classes we can deliver to those students,” she said.
Benefits from the upgrade will not be limited to an enhanced distance education experience. The state-of-the-art video conferencing facilities also will make the outreach centers more attractive to the many businesses that rent them during off hours, Kaplan explained. The more compact nature of the new equipment means that the distance education rooms at the centers will also be able to accommodate regular classes, which will generate additional revenue.
Rich Casey, who oversees operations of the Learning Center in Gable Hall, where most of the current distant education equipment on the main campus is housed, hopes that the new gear will stimulate increased use of the technology.
“I think video conferencing for education is seriously underutilized. It’s a resource that should be used more,” said Casey, who sees the technology as a useful middle ground between live instruction and courses taught online.
With the new, easier-to-operate equipment in place, Casey believes the possibilities are endless. “The only limitation on this technology is people’s imaginations, and we will do whatever we can to help people explore its limits,” he said.
Paul Bauer, director of the School of Music, shares Casey’s excitement over the possibilities created by the new technology. His college was able to purchase two of the systems this year (paying for them in part with a Venture Grant from the NIU Foundation), and faculty have been extremely impressed by the quality of both the sound and picture.
Other music schools use the technology extensively, Bauer said.
The Cleveland Institute of Music, for instance, has used similar equipment for eight years to teach music lessons to K-12 students in 20 states. The Manhattan School of Music has harnessed the power of the technology to enable professors to keep up with their classroom teaching commitments while on the road performing. The system could also be used to allow students to observe master teachers at remote locations, he said.
“Once people see the quality of the picture and hear the quality of the sound this system can deliver,” Bauer said, “I think the possibilities are endless.”
NIU’s Chamber Choir took the national stage in November of 2006 as one of eight choirs in the United States selected to sing before the annual conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization.
On Saturday morning, April 12, the singers will take the stage in Milwaukee as the only collegiate choir from Illinois invited to perform at the 61st biennial national convention of the National Association for Music Education (MENC).
The 24 vocalists will offer a half-hour program “refined to the highest level of musicianship,” director Eric Johnson says, as they perform “for an audience of people who understand what they’re doing.”
Meanwhile, Johnson added, the continued coast-to-coast acknowledgement of NIU’s choral excellence marks another example of distinction for prospective students and to employers of future NIU music graduates.
“It’s really cool and a very intense experience,” said Johnson, director of choral activities in the School of Music. “It’s more recognition for the school and, subsequently, their program. These kids are going to be music teachers and performers, and that we’re doing these concerts means their degrees mean more – things are happening here.”
Adding to NIU’s reputation at the Milwaukee conference are Mary Lyn Doherty, a professor of choral music education here who will present an interest session, and Gordon Krauspe, an NIU alum who directs the choir of Wheaton Warrenville South High School, which is also performing.
Johnson and the choir members have prepared traditional choral anthems along with modern works, spirituals, Estonian folk songs about marriage and more. All are performed a cappella.
They will have additional chances to rehearse during a four-day tour of Wisconsin on their way to Milwaukee.
First on the itinerary is a 7:30 p.m. concert Tuesday, April 8, at the First United Methodist Church, 230 Wisconsin Ave. in Madison. A concert at Mequon United Methodist Church, 11011 N. Oriole Lane in Mequon, Wis., begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10.
Wednesday is scheduled for a choral exchange with the Lawrence University Concert Choir, whose director is a friend of Johnson’s. Both groups will perform at First Congregational Church of Appleton, 724 E. South River St.
“Lawrence has a really good choral program, probably one of the best in Wisconsin, and we’ll be singing for each other,” Johnson said.
“The exchange serves many purposes,” he added. “We get to run our program again, just for the practice of doing it. We also get to show off what Northern is doing for choral students, building up our reputation in the region, and we get to hear the Lawrence Concert Choir. Through such exchanges, our singers improve their performing skills and develop a stronger musical foundation to be future choral music educators and singers.”
Anyone who attended or watched broadcasts of the Feb. 24 memorial service to remember NIU’s tragedy is unlikely to believe the NIU Chamber Choir needs improvement. Their gorgeous tones and harmonies rang through the Convocation Center that evening, stirring emotions and tears.
Johnson said he has received congratulations and thanks from across the country.
“Everybody who heard it was just astounded by the musicianship and the emotional depth the choir was able to pull off in an incredibly emotional situation,” he said. “Most important to me was that when we were in a back hallway waiting for security to clear … a lot of the family members were exiting past us, and many of them just stopped to say how much they appreciated our contribution to the service.”
Pam Smith’s willingness to live on the edge – or at least teach there – has helped the NIU professor earn the distinction of being named the Illinois CPA Society’s 2008 Educator of the Year.
Smith, who teaches in NIU’s Department of Accountancy, regularly takes on the task of training professionals at leading accounting firms across the country in the latest rules and techniques of the field. Constantly tackling new material in front of seasoned professionals can be a bit unnerving, she admits, but it pays dividends – both for her and for her NIU students.
“Training working professionals takes me way out of my comfort zone. It stretches me as a teacher, which ultimately improves my teaching in the classroom,” Smith says. “It keeps me on the edge, technically speaking.”
That edge has made Smith one of the most highly rated teachers in her department for years and helped her stand out from a field of candidates for the award, which included nominees from community colleges, colleges and universities across the state. The award recognizes teachers who have demonstrated leadership and who have made continuous and outstanding contributions to accounting education in Illinois.
“The Illinois CPA Society’s selection of Pam Smith as the 2008 ‘Educator of the Year’ is a testament to her talents, abilities and track record as a teacher and mentor,” says Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the NIU College of Business. “Pam not only plays a big role in the success of the accountancy program – her contributions reflect the larger commitment of the college to support the profession and help bridge accounting education and practice.”
The award is the latest in a long line of teaching awards that Smith has earned since she arrived at NIU in 1994.
In 2007, she received the NIU Executive MBA’s Golden Apple Award, and in 2006, she received their Teaching Excellence Award. For four consecutive years (1999-2002), Smith was selected to receive the NIU Accountancy Department’s Outstanding Educator of the Year Award and was the NIU College of Business nominee for the university’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
“I have been honored to receive several teaching awards over the years, and every one of them is a tremendous honor,” Smith says. “Teaching is what I love to do, so it is great to be recognized for that,” she said, adding that she was humbled to have been selected from a pool of great accounting professors statewide.
Smith, who is the KPMG Professor of Accountancy at NIU, also has made many contributions outside of the classroom, most notably as the catalyst behind the creation of an honor pledge and code of conduct for accountancy majors, both of which were developed and written by NIU students with guidance from Smith. She is also one of three authors of the NIU College of Business Building Ethical Leaders Handbook and one of the developers of the college’s BELIEF initiative (Building Ethical Leaders using an Integrated Ethics Framework).
Smith is the latest in a long line of NIU College of Business educators to receive the Illinois CPA Society Educator of the Year award. Previous recipients include NIU accountancy members Don Kieso (1988), Pat Delaney (1991), Richard Baker (1993) and Debra Hopkins (1997).
NIU’s accountancy program, widely known for its long-standing and active involvement in the profession, has a strong reputation of excellence in both the accounting and finance fields as well as in academic circles. The NIU College of Business undergraduate accountancy program ranked in the top 20 nationally for each of the last 19 years by Public Accounting Report, a major trade publication for the accounting industry
The Illinois CPA Society represents 23,000 accounting, finance and business professionals throughout Illinois and worldwide.
Sandra Meister, the graduate student in nutrition and dietetics who last year created a guide to healthy eating in DeKalb restaurants, has been named the state’s outstanding dietetic intern.
Meister traveled to the Illinois Dietetic Association’s spring assembly, held Thursday, March 20, in Oak Brook, to receive her honor – one she didn’t expect. Her dietetic internship only began this semester, she says, and most of her notable accomplishments came during her graduate assistantship last year.
“This gives me a lot more purpose to prove I’m a good dietetic intern,” Meister says. “It is very challenging, and I’m only now completing the first phase, but I will work a lot harder knowing I have that title.”
The Illinois Dietetic Association also selects outstanding educators and outstanding undergraduate students for statewide honors. Nominations required letters of support that indicate academic excellence, leadership potential and exemplary on-site performance.
NIU’s dietetic internship, housed in the College of Health and Human Sciences, requires 900 hours of supervised on-site practice. After students complete the practicum, they are qualified to sit for the exam to become registered dietitians.
Meister began work in Douglas Hall food service in January as a management trainee, completing that initial phase Friday. She learned every aspect of the job, from procurement to production to management. Part of her time was spent in the test kitchen, where managers sampled new recipes of cultural foods up for trial during next semester’s Unity in Diversity week.
Phase Two takes her to Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, where she will work in medical nutrition therapy.
“I shadow dietitians, and then move into staff relief, becoming one of the dietitians on the floor,” she says. “We’re looking at various diseases states, making nutritional recommendations, writing diets.”
This fall, Meister will begin the third and final phase of her internship in community nutrition. “I’m excited for that, because that’s my interest,” she says.
Options for autumn include eating disorder clinics, corporate wellness programs, diabetes education and the Rec Center on campus.
Community nutrition work is reminiscent of her recent activities with NIU Huskies athletes, trainers and coaches, all under the supervision of FCNS professor Judith Lukaszuk.
Meister’s presentations to those groups enhanced the athletes’ performance and overall health, including discussions of fluid replacement, pre- and post-competition meals, portion sizes, protein, healthy snacking and label reading.
A number of NIU football players kept three-day food records – two weekdays and one weekend day – and sent the information to Meister, who analyzed their nutritional practices through the Foodwise computer program.
When she noticed that many of the athletes used Huskie Bucks for meals at McDonald’s – “a fast way for them to eat after practice,” she says – she assembled her guide to local healthy eating.
She analyzed the menus of 19 local restaurants, all of which accept Huskie Bucks, in an effort to find the healthy selections. Her 16-page report lists the best options from each with occasional tips on how to eat even smarter.
Interest in the work earned Meister a number of interviews last fall with newspapers and on television and radio.
“Sandra is really an outstanding student,” says Lucy Robinson, director of the dietetic internship program in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences. “She’s very knowledgeable, very much a leader and very much committed to a high level of performance. She’s going to make a great dietitian some day.”
Meister expects to complete her master’s degree in May 2009 and hopes to enroll in a doctoral program at Arizona State University, which offers an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in health, nutrition and physical activity.
The NIU Department of Communication will host its eighth annual Reality Bytes Student Documentary Film Festival, recognizing exceptional student-produced films nationwide.
The festival will kick off from 9 to 11 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, at The House Café, 263 E. Lincoln Highway. Festival screenings will continue from 7 to 9 p.m. on both Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, in Room 100 of the NIU Visual and Performing Arts Building.
Admission is free and all screenings are open to the public.
The festival will feature 17 short documentary films, each with a running time under 30 minutes. Submissions have been received from film students at NIU, Florida State University, Old Dominion University, California Institute of the Arts, Virginia Wesleyan College, Rowan University and the universities of Georgia, New Orleans and Iowa.
Audiences can expect a diverse viewing experience as filmmakers explore historical, biographical and social issues. Each festival screening will feature no less than five films.
Featured films will include: “Speed Limit 120: The First Skydive,” in which cameras follow four individuals as they skydive for the first time; “When I was 19,” which reveals hardships faced by Iraq war veterans; and “Eyes of the Storm,” which documents the experiences of newspaper photographers who covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Other topics include the sport of roller derby, the struggles of homelessness and the harmful truths behind marijuana addiction.
Awards will be presented to the winning documentaries on the final night of the festival. The Best of Festival winner will receive $200 and Avid video editing software. The second place winner will receive $150, and third place will receive $100.
Discussions will follow the Friday and Saturday night screenings. Free candy will be provided. While there is no charge for the events, donations in support of next year’s festival are welcome.
Visit the festival Web site at www2.comm.niu.edu/~realitybytes/ to purchase Reality Bytes T-shirts and view a complete listing of events.
For more information, contact Professor Laura Vazquez at lvazquez@niu.edu or (815) 753-7132.
NIU’s Department of English will hold a “Unity in Adversity” writing contest that will recognize undergraduate writing that speaks to the courage and unity of the NIU community in the wake of the events of Feb. 14.
The contest is open to NIU undergraduates, who are encouraged to submit fiction or non-fiction writing in any genre or form, including essays, letters, narratives and poems.
Cash prizes will be awarded to the authors of the winning first-, second- and third-place entries, as deemed by a panel of judges.
“Writing after a traumatic event can be therapeutic,” said Michael Day, director of the First-Year Composition Program at NIU. “Although we can’t really grade student writing on the tragic events of Feb. 14, we want to foster self expression and encourage students to celebrate the ways that NIU has come together since the tragedy.”
English Instructor Lori Lawson came up with the contest idea. Many faculty members in the Department of English already had provided students with opportunities to write ungraded responses to the tragedy.
“With this contest, we wanted to provide another vehicle for students to write about their feelings and create an opportunity to recognize the best in the NIU community that has resulted from this worst-case scenario,” she said.
Winners of the Unity in Adversity writing contest will be recognized at the Department of English awards ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 27, in the Chandelier Room of Adams Hall.
Contest entries must be submitted by 4 p.m. Friday, April 18, to the English Department office in Room 215 of Reavis Hall. All entries must include a separate cover sheet listing the following information: name, essay title, campus phone, cell phone, e-mail address, campus address, permanent phone and permanent address.
For full contest details, including submission guidelines, contact Diane Smith at (815) 753-1607.
More than 500 students from 52 high schools across northern Illinois came to NIU on March 18 to compete in the state sectionals for the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Academic Challenge.
The Academic Challenge is a competitive series of tests created and administered by WYSE and offered to high school students in Illinois and Missouri to present a challenge to the brightest students. The students participated as teams and as individuals in the areas of biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering graphics, English, math and physics.
NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology played host to the event, and Dean Promod Vohra had some words of encouragement for the competitors.
“Don’t think twice about pursuing careers in science and engineering,” Vohra urged the high school students. “As scientists and engineers you will create new wealth for the world, and it is important to the future of our company that youth like you pursue that challenge.”
Winners in the competition will compete in the state finals from April 14 to April 17 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Barbara M. Posadas, professor of history, will receive the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association for Asian American Studies at the association’s annual meeting in Chicago on April 19.
Posadas has been a leader in the fields of U.S. immigration and ethnicity, U.S. women and the history of Chicago. A pioneering specialist in Filipino American labor and women’s history – especially the history of Filipino Americans in the Midwest – she is the author of “The Filipino Americans” and articles in such publications as Labor History, Amerasia and the Journal of American Ethnic History as well as in various scholarly collections.
She has held a Senior Fulbright Research Award at the Asia Center of the University of the Philippines, a post-doctoral fellowship at the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA and an NEH Summer Research Grant. In addition, she has been a leader in organizing within the community and the professions.
Posadas received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University and has been at NIU since 1974. She served as a member of the Organization of American Historians’ Committee on the Status of Minority History and Minority Historians from 1996-1999, chaired that committee in 1998, and also served as a director of the Urban History Association, a trustee of the Filipino American National Historical Society, and president of the Illinois State Historical Society.
She is currently vice president/president-elect of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society and will serve as the society’s president in 2009-12.
BusinessWeek’s 2008 ranking of best undergraduate business schools continues to place the NIU College of Business within an elite group of b-schools nationwide.
The college was ranked 81st nationally out of an elite group of 96 elite business schools from across the country. Of the 540 AACSB-accredited business colleges worldwide, 127 were invited to participate in the BusinessWeek ranking survey.
NIU is one of only three Illinois schools to be included in BusinessWeek’s short list this year, and NIU ranks ahead of schools such as the University of Iowa (84) and Loyola-Chicago (91).
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.