NIU conducted its last systematic review of the general education curriculum about seven years before this fall’s freshmen were born.
With that in mind, seven university leaders will attend the American Association of Colleges and Universities Institute on General Education this weekend in Minneapolis. They hope to return with ideas on how to launch an all-campus discussion on revamping and assessing general education at NIU.
“It’s been a very long time – about 25 years – since NIU evaluated its general education program in any kind of a comprehensive sense,” said Greg Long, chair of NIU’s General Education Committee.
“Coupled with the increased need for accountability and increased competition, we feel there is a real need to seriously look at what we want student learning objectives to be and to enhance the program we have,” added Long, a professor in the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders. “Students need and want to see something in return for their dollar and their participation as a student.”
Updated measurable student outcome goals are a longtime area of great interest at Altgeld Hall, Vice Provost Earl “Gip” Seaver said.
“We’re hoping to come back with a plan that will include starting a dialogue on campus about what general education at NIU should be,” Seaver said. “We want to make sure the general education goals we have still fit the students we are graduating. This is a more global society now with issues of social responsibility. We have to determine if there are additional or modified goals we should have for our students.”
David Changnon and Carolinda Douglass, respective chairs of the strategic planning task forces on curricular innovation and student success, also will make the trip. The Minnesota delegation also includes Paul Stoddard, president of the Faculty Senate; Lucy Townsend, a professor in the College of Education; and Jes Cisneros, assistant director of the Honors Program.
Long, Cisneros and Townsend all served on Changnon’s task force, which examined the general education program as one part of its work during the spring semester.
According to the task force’s May 2 recommendations to President John Peters and Provost Ray Alden, development and implementation of a significantly enhanced general education program will address imperatives that preserve, strengthen and extend NIU’s teaching and learning environment and will help to make NIU an institution of “first choice” for students, faculty and staff.
Reports from other public universities maintain that a strong general education program benefits students, schools and the greater public.
Students feel a sense of belonging and pride, enjoy improved chances for academic success and receive better advising.
Schools see higher retention rates, gain a better profile that spurs more applications, enhance the intellectual life on campus, broaden core values and stir alumni enthusiasm and support. The diverse world welcomes new citizens who are lifelong learners with the ability to integrate knowledge and skills creatively to meet social needs.
“This work can only lead to better outcomes,” Long said. “We’ve engaged a lot of people in some serious thought about what’s important to the university and our place in the region and the world. We’ve got a lot of potential, and it’s a question of how we most effectively use our resources to do the best good.”
The process should take three or four years, he said.
Members of the Minnesota delegation will create a white paper on how to include the entire university community of students, faculty and staff in the process. They also will bring different strategies and models to demonstrate what other schools have done.
A series of town hall meetings on general education are planned for the fall semester, not only to solicit input but to build excitement and collaboration among the campus stakeholders.
“How do we get faculty and staff to buy in?” Changnon asked. “How do we get them to take greater ownership of their participation in the process?”
Ironically, Long said, February’s tragedy will help the upcoming talks.
“We have an opportunity now to get a sense of what it really means to be an NIU student,” Long said. “I’m excited to begin and continue the process. We will be successful.”
A move to the NIU Family Health, Wellness and Literacy Center has finally ended concerns of cramped spaces at the university’s Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic.
The new 26,330-square-foot clinic, which opened earlier this month in the old Monsanto building on Sycamore Road, now enjoys incredible flexibility and sports plenty of room for evaluation, treatment, observation, research, student computer labs and workspaces with Internet access, offices and storage.
Wide hallways, tall ceilings and the smell of new carpet immediately tell visitors, staff and clients that they’re not in the old building on campus. What remains intact, however, is the clinic’s focus on families and the top quality of services.
Four spacious and modern sound suites are in use to test hearing.
An “evoked potentials” room, where newborns come for diagnostic auditory brainstem response testing if they fail initial hearing exams at the hospital, includes a Pack ’n Play or a black leather recliner to boost child-and-parent comfort.
A new service offered at the clinic is the evaluation of dizziness and balance disorders. People experiencing these symptoms can visit the clinic for videonystagmography (VNG), which will help determine if the problems are caused by inner ear dysfunction or a neurological condition. Further care coordination will be available cooperatively with area and university physical therapists. It’s a service currently unavailable in the DeKalb County area.
There are 18 treatment rooms – 10 for individuals, five for small groups and three for large groups – with adjoining observation rooms fitted with two-way mirrors.
Cameras (sometimes four in one room for multiple angles) and microphones broadcast and record sessions; DVDs are made for later analysis by not only the clinical faculty but also the students. Some of the observation rooms are large enough to seat small classes of students; some of the closed-circuit monitors can handle four pictures at one time or picture-in-picture.
One room is set aside for faculty research. Another will house a display of assistive devices, such as visual doorbells. Another will host patients to determine their vocational capabilities.
Clinic Director Anne D. Davidson calls the new space “marvelous and grand.” The sharp surroundings raise client confidence in the services, she adds.
“What’s most rewarding is to see the reaction of our students when they come in and the reaction of our clients. It’s ‘wow.’ That’s the word we hear most frequently,” Davidson says. “This facility also gives a much better reflection of the quality of service. It matches now.”
Opened in 1938, the year-round clinic is housed in NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences and its School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders.
The new facilities are expected to double the clientele: Close to 3,500 different people from babies to great-grandparents already take advantage of clinic services each year.
Staff and students from the clinic test the hearing of about 900 newborns each year at Kishwaukee Community Hospital; babies who fail are referred to the evoked potentials room at the clinic. Babies also are referred from hospitals in Aurora, Geneva and Rockford.
Children at St. Mary’s School in Sycamore receive speech and language services, as do the senior citizens of Oak Crest Retirement Center, who also benefit from rehabilitative assistance. Bilingual services are provided in audiology and speech-language pathology.
The clinic serves clients who need hearing aids – from as early as six to eight weeks of age to 106 years of age – and provides digital programming, fittings, cleanings and checks.
Walk-in visitors who want their hearing aids checked or repaired are welcome from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Mondays and 10 to 11:30 a.m. Thursdays. Each of the three hearing aid walk-in rooms has the most recent hearing aid fitting technology in addition to its own telephone to contact with manufacturers if needed.
One storage room is stocked with toys, games and software that helps children relax during their sessions. Materials for adult clients (stroke, traumatic brain injury and other communication problems) are also maintained in the area.
Some of the rooms are also equipped with “little people” furniture. “If that makes the child more comfortable,” Davidson says, “that’s what we’re going to do.”
Another room (one that is always locked) houses patient medical records in fire-protected shelves situated on rollers to maximize space.
Staff also are making plans for a voice clinic. “It’s something we haven’t had before,” she says.
Meanwhile, Davidson is quick to credit “all corners of NIU” for their support in the move. The list includes the college; the school and its chair, Sue Ouellette; the Division of Finance and Facilities; and Media Services.
She’s also proud of the front office staff, which includes Beth McCarroll, Rebecca Radtke, Evy Smith and Marlene Tyne.
Who hasn’t ever struggled with a set of instructions on how to put something together?
For the sake of example, let’s say it’s a new gas grill that’s in more pieces than you can count. The directions and illustrations are hardly ever crystal clear, and one misstep might end up costing you hours of work.
Now imagine putting that grill together with a set of instructions that includes comments from others who have completed it successfully and the aid of color photos, diagrams, hyperlinks, references, online discussion areas and even video – all at your fingertips.
Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor James Horn is bringing the same basic concept to the laboratory, where students conducting experiments and research often must follow a precise set of instructions or protocols.
Based on his work in this area, Horn has been named as the recipient of the 2008 David W. Raymond Grant for Use of Technology in Teaching.
The grant was endowed in 1998 by Raymond, a former NIU trustee who donated $25,000 to the NIU Foundation to fund faculty innovations in computer-aided teaching. The initial gift was invested, with annual interest earnings matched by the provost’s office, to fund the yearly award to a faculty member whose proposal best matches Raymond’s gift criteria.
Horn will use the $2,500 award to expand the innovative lesson he has developed. It takes advantage of the features of wiki-technology – the same software responsible for the popular Wikipedia Web site. The aim is to engage undergraduates in a way that helps them to develop protocol skills, hone technical writing abilities and become accustomed to the peer-review process.
Instead of using a static set of protocol handouts, students in two of Horn’s advanced undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry courses (CHEM 498 and CHEM 571) will conduct independent experiments in the laboratory with the aid of mini-laptops, a digital camera with video and photo capabilities and wiki-based Web sites.
Students will be required to write and edit research protocols and mini-reviews of their lab research projects, thus providing a collaborative-authorship resource for fellow and future students.
“Chemistry majors often struggle with scientific writing and aren’t exposed to peer review at the undergraduate level. Yet both play vital roles in the progression of science,” Horn says. “The wiki technology provides exciting new opportunities to engage students in both components, allowing them to serve as scientific writers and reviewers. It will also serve as a centrally located and evolving resource on research.”
The wiki technology will allow students to make protocol improvements from one semester to the next, using photos and video to clarify steps, if needed. They also will be able to create new content related to cutting-edge research.
Meanwhile, the instructor can monitor student entries and edits to better assess comprehension of laboratory exercises and possibly intervene to address any deficiencies.
“The wiki technology really could be used in any course,” Horn adds. “My hope is that the work funded with the Raymond grant will demonstrate its multiple applications and help in adapting the technology to other departments and disciplines across campus at NIU.”
On the same day John Puterbaugh began his first professional job at the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, the recent editor of the Northern Star was named among the nation’s 100 most promising student journalists.
Puterbaugh, who graduated May 17 and guided the student newspaper through NIU’s Feb. 14 tragedy, is in good company on the list compiled by college journalism association UWIRE and released May 21.
A seven-member panel considered 500 nominations from 132 campuses to create the honor roll of “hard workers, big thinkers and gifted storytellers” with the “potential to shape the media industry in the years ahead.”
The students represent 66 different schools, ranging from small liberal arts colleges to large state universities. The full list is available online at www.UWIRE.com.
“I’m honored and proud to be on there,” Puterbaugh said. “I’m trying not to let it be too big. I’m more interested in reading about everyone else – the columnist from Northwestern who pried into the dean’s facts; a photojournalist in Iraq who got kicked out. There is some cool stuff there, and it’s cool to be among that.”
“This is really a nice honor for John. It’s a reward for some incredible work done since February, and really before that, too,” said Jim Killam, adviser to the Northern Star. “John is thoughtful, low-key and calm, and he had a good calming influence on the staff, especially after the shootings. That kind of approach was contagious in our newsroom.”
Puterbaugh called Feb. 14 “a defining moment” that confirmed his chosen career path.
“I love journalism, and I love working for a community. Right now, I love working for this community – DeKalb and Sycamore and everyone who’s a part of it,” he said. “This is something I realized in the aftermath of the shooting: what a community can do for one person and what one person can do for a whole community. That will be my credo in whatever I do in the future as a journalist.”
He is working the day shift on the Daily Chronicle’s copy desk, editing inside pages and designing pages. It’s a return to his roots: Puterbaugh first joined the Northern Star as a copy editor.
“John came to editor-in-chief through the copy desk, which is unusual route for a student to become editor-in-chief,” Killam said. “But he was good at getting the paper out at night. He was responsible, made good editing decisions and won the respect of the staff from that side of the newsroom. It carried over very well.”
When angry readers came to the Star office with complaints, Puterbaugh handled them well.
“John can be very disarming and very diplomatic, and that’s a sign of his leadership skills,” Killam said. “He really doesn’t get ruffled.”
A native of Carmel, Ind., Puterbaugh celebrated his recognition over the weekend with his annual trip to the nearby Indy 500 in Indianapolis.
NIU is one of the sponsors of a June 12 panel of prominent Chicago journalists asking the question: Can newspapers survive in the Internet age, with circulation falling and advertising shrinking at almost every big paper in America?
It is hard to imagine life without newspapers. But the bottom line rules. And the question begs: Is print news the horse-and-buggy of the 21st century communications world?
In a rare and candid conference, award-winning Chicago journalists have agreed to sit down and face tough questions about what the newspaper business needs to do to survive.
The program is set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, at the offices of Mayer Brown LLP, 71 S. Wacker Drive, 33rd Floor. Guests are invited to gather afterward at the Billy Goat tavern, where beer, wine or soda will be compliments of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association (NINA), one of the partners in the event.
The event is free and open to the public. According to building security policy, people who plan to attend must send an e-mail to Kathy Catranbone at chc.kathy@gmail.com by June 10.
The panelists:
The moderator will be Dirk Johnson, a former bureau chief for The New York Times and Newsweek magazine who teaches journalism at NIU.
Brown, Slonoff and McNamee are NIU alums. The event is also being sponsored by the Chicago Headline Club.
For more information about this event, call Johnson at (815) 761-6579 or e-mail sycamoredirk@aol.com.
Normal Road, from Davis Hall north to Lucinda Avenue, is closed until Aug. 1 as crews install chilled water lines beneath the pavement. Pedestrian crossings will be maintained throughout the project.
Work to install water lines also continues along the east/west sidewalk on the north side of Faraday East. Parking Lot 10, where construction materials are being staged, remains closed.
Caution is urged when walking or driving around any of the construction work because of the heavy equipment and truck traffic. Work is scheduled between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 4:30 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.
East Campus: 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.
Parking permits for the 2008-09 academic year go on sale June 2.
The price of the permits for faculty and staff increased by $15, while prices for student parking permits increased by $10. A blue, non-reserve parking permit now costs $100 a year, and permits reserving parking spaces between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. now sell for $580. (The price of a reserved permit was incorrectly reported in last week’s Northern Today.) Student permits now will range in price from $37 to $75 per year for non-reserve permits (depending on type) and $395 for reserve permits.
“We regret having to raise the fees so dramatically, but sharply rising costs and a lack of other funding alternatives leave us with little choice,” said Sam Baker, chair of the Campus Parking Committee.
Permits can be purchased in person at the Parking Services office on the corner of Normal Road and Lincoln Terrace or ordered via campus mail using the form sent to all current permit holders.
New permits must be displayed beginning July 1.
NIU’s Alumni Association will thank NIU faculty and staff for their support and dedication to the university by offering two-for-one pricing for two upcoming Chicago White Sox games Friday, June 13, or Tuesday, July 1.
Join the Alumni Association in a private suite featuring indoor and outdoor open seating and continuous buffet and bar starting at 6 p.m. through the seventh inning stretch. Packages cost $125 and include two game tickets, all food and beverages and a wonderful atmosphere. Join us on Friday, June 13 or Tuesday, July 1 for an exciting baseball reception.
Call (815) 753-1452 to order.
Discover Dalmatia’s ruggedly beautiful, island-dominated shoreline on this touring itinerary which takes travelers from Dubrovnik in southern most Croatia to Ljubljana, the beautiful capital city in Slovenia.
The trip begins Sept. 19.
The Dalmatian Coast offers an unmatched collection of Roman ruins, medieval towns, gorgeous rivieras, picturesque lakes, mountain views and idyllic islands. Visitors step back in time at beautiful Dubrovnik, an architectural gem that is more than 1,000 years old.
More information about this and other NIU Alumni Association Travel Programs is available online.
Portions of the campus parking deck will be closed through June 15 for maintenance.
During this time, crews will clean, seal and stripe the pavement in the parking deck. At any given time during this period, two levels will be closed while three will remain open for parking.
There is a possibility that the entire parking deck will close on the weekends of June 6 through June 8 and June 13 through June 15 to ensure that striping is completed and dried by the start of summer classes.
Linda Timm, assistant controller at NIU, is celebrating her retirement after 35 years of service.
NIU will honor Timm from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room in the Holmes Student Center. A presentation begins at 3 p.m.
NIU’s Community School of the Arts will hold auditions for the 2008-2009 CSA Sinfonia and the CSJazz Band beginning at noon Saturday, May 31.
All auditions are held in NIU’s Music Building. To arrange for an audition time, players should call the NIU Community School of the Arts office at (815) 753-1450. Auditions are free, but there is a fee upon joining one of the ensembles.
Wind, string, and percussion players wishing to join the CSA Sinfonia will be expected to play two pieces in contrasting styles for a maximum of five minutes and may be asked to sight-read. Musicians should be in middle school or high school.
The CSA Sinfonia, directed by conductor and cellist Linc Smelser, explores challenging and fun orchestral masterpieces from Dvorak and Vivaldi to the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Rehearsals are Wednesday evenings in the NIU Music Building. There are three performances throughout the year.
To audition for the CSJazz Band, players ages 14 to 20 are expected to play a prepared piece and may be asked to sight-read and perform a jazz improvisation. This top regional jazz band plays the classics of Ellington and Basie as well as new jazz band material, some composed by director Doug Stone. The band rehearses Sunday evenings in the NIU Music Building and performs three times during the school year.
To learn more about this program and the other music and arts opportunities offered by the NIU Community School of the Arts, call (815) 753-1450 or visit www.niu.edu/extprograms.
Housing and Dining staff and its partners are working hard to coordinate the best Opening Day Team ever. Nearly 4,000 students will arrive at NIU for Opening Day – Thursday, Aug. 21 – and approximately 3,000 of these will be new students.
Join the Opening Day Team to ensure that students will remember their arrival on campus as a day filled with welcoming smiles and helping hands. Be the face of NIU for each student you greet, for each student you assist with a bulky suitcase or box and for each student you aid with a cold drink on that hot and busy day.
Be a part of a great Huskie welcome to our students on Opening Day. To volunteer, visit http://www.housing.niu.edu and click on the Team NIU link.
Huskie Pup Camp, a summer camp for children ages 6 to 12, is being offered again by Recreation Services.
The nine-week camp is designed to help campers become more independent, enhance self-confidence and develop both mind and body in a fun and safe learning environment. Camp registration is on-going. For complete information, a copy of the brochure can be obtained at www.rs.niu.edu.
If you’re a current or retired NIU faculty or SPS staff member who wants to extend the spirit of “NIU Cares” to new freshmen next fall, First-Year Connections (FYC) is looking for you: Join a team of volunteers interested in mentoring new students during their transition to NIU.
The Student-Faculty Links mentoring program is a component of Orientation & First-Year Experience. Mentors are asked to fill out a short survey to match them with new students who express similar interests or are in a related academic department.
Mentors and protégées are contacted in early August with each other’s contact information, and are invited to an informal reception hosted by the FYC staff Friday, Aug. 22. All meetings after the reception are to be determined by the mentor and the student.
Student-Faculty Links gives NIU faculty and SPS staff a unique opportunity to reach out and make a difference in the lives of new students. Your involvement is highly beneficial to new students seeking support and encouragement to make their college experience successful and enjoyable.
If you are interested in mentoring a new student for fall 2008 or would like to learn more, contact First-Year Connections by phone at (815) 753-0028 or e-mail firstconn@niu.edu.
NIU’s Fall 2008 Teaching Effectiveness Institute is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 14, and Friday, Aug. 15, in the Capitol Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Hosted by the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, the workshop is open only to NIU faculty and staff. Registered participants will receive workshop materials, lunch and refreshments and certificates of participation.
Advanced registration for both days is required by Friday, July 25. Register early at http://www.facdev.niu.edu or via e-mail at facdev@niu.edu. Those who register and later are unable to attend should inform the center by Monday, Aug. 11, so others on the waiting list can enjoy the opportunity.
Day One – “Fundamental Principles of Effective Instruction” – will introduce faculty to basic principles of teaching, offer information about support resources related to teaching and discuss how faculty deal with students’ needs. Participants will have opportunities to network with new and experienced faculty at NIU.
Day Two features speaker Robert Noyd, a professor of biology and former director of faculty development at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he teaches botany, general biology and senior seminar courses. Noyd is known for his innovations in faculty and curriculum development, including work with classroom observations, microteaching and course design.
Noyd will cover “Overteaching: When is Less Really More?” and offer his expertise on selection of effective instructional methods and simple ways to drive content, promote thinking and assess learning.