One is finding clues to climate change beneath the ocean depths, another spearheading a movement that applies evolution to human politics and a third probing the atomic structure of materials for potential technological breakthroughs.
Meet the 2009 winners of NIU’s Presidential Research Professorships: Reed Scherer in the Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences; Larry Arnhart in the Department of Political Science; and Michel van Veenendaal in the Department of Physics.
“This year’s award winners are internationally known for truly pushing the envelope in their research and scholarship,” says James Erman, interim vice president for research and graduate studies at NIU. “They’re shedding new light on the challenges of our day, providing insights into human behavior and stretching our knowledge of new scientific frontiers. They inspire our students and their colleagues alike.”
The Presidential Research Professorships are NIU’s top awards for faculty research. They have been awarded annually since 1982 in recognition and support of the university’s research and artistic mission. Award winners receive special financial support of their research for four years, after which they carry the title of Distinguished Research Professor.
Here’s a look at this year’s award winners.
As a youngster in Brooklyn, N.Y., Reed Scherer loved the ocean and the diversity of its creatures. By age 7, he had started collecting fossils, and by fifth grade, classmates had affectionately dubbed him “the mad scientist.”
From those childhood interests blossomed a research specialty that is helping scientists better understand one of the most pressing problems of our day – global warming.
“I have been fortunate enough, and stubborn enough, to have built a career that fulfilled my childhood dream,” Scherer says.
The NIU paleontologist’s research has taken him to the planet’s Polar Regions and fundamentally influenced two seemingly distant scientific fields: micropaleontology and glaciology. Both are central to understanding and documenting climate change.
In a sense, Scherer is still collecting fossils. He’s a world expert in the study of fossil diatoms – microscopic single-celled algae that live in shallow seawater, evolve rapidly and are deposited on the ocean floor, leaving behind glass-like shells.
Because diatom varieties are linked to water temperature, their presence in sediment cores extracted from the seabed provides a record of ancient ocean temperatures and climates. At Earth’s poles, this record is helping unravel what happened when ice sheets melted in the past – and what could happen in the future.
Not long ago, most scientists believed it would take tens of thousands of years to melt polar ice sheets. This view changed in the 1990s, partly due to research by Scherer, who was a key member of a research team that confirmed the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been unstable in the past and even collapsed, raising sea levels by 18 feet.
“No other researcher has broken so much ground in characterizing how the large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica have responded to past changes in climate,” says Douglas MacAyeal, a University of Chicago geophysical sciences professor. “Reed’s work is the gold standard.”
Scherer earned his Ph.D. in paleontology at Ohio State University and worked at a Swedish university before coming to NIU in 2000. He teaches a wide range of courses and has attracted and inspired successful Ph.D. students who have themselves made impressive discoveries, including well-publicized dinosaur fossil finds.
Scherer has generated several million dollars in research grants, won a Fulbright Senior Research Award, presented more than 100 professional papers and published descriptions of 24 new taxa of diatoms and single-celled animals. He helped establish NIU’s Analytical Center for Climate and Environmental Change and sits on the Board of Directors of Burpee Museum in Rockford.
Along with NIU’s Ross Powell, Scherer has played a leadership role in the $30 million Antarctic Geological Drilling program, among the largest scientific projects ever conducted in the Antarctic. He has published numerous studies in top-tier journals, such as Nature and Science, and his work has drawn media attention from the likes of the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Discover magazine.
“His work has become policy relevant in recent years as we turn more often to the paleo record of climate change to understand the possible outcomes of our greenhouse future,” says Robert Dunbar, director of the Earth Systems Program at Stanford University. “I expect great things from him in the future.”
Larry Arnhart is an expert in the history of political philosophy and a leading thinker in the field of American political thought, but he might best be described simply as a “political animal.”
In fact, we’re all political animals, according to Arnhart. And, as the term implies, we can’t truly understand human politics without considering the intrinsic roles of biology and evolution.
In his 2005 book, “Darwinian Conservatism,” and a lively blog by the same name, Arnhart spearheads a new movement among conservatives who believe the scientific theories of Charles Darwin can be applied to human behavior and political thought. He argues that natural selection supports many conservative ideas.
The book has drawn international attention. None other than the New York Times, in a front-page story in 2007, identified Arnhart’s lead role in this emerging conservative philosophy.
“The book comes out of my many years of debating those American conservatives who reject Darwinian science as morally and politically corrupting, and who propose creationism or intelligent design theory as alternatives to Darwinism,” he says. “I argue that Darwin is not the enemy of American conservatives, because Darwinian science can actually support traditional morality, religious belief and political principles of limited government.”
Arnhart also has authored numerous articles, book chapters and conference papers, and his willingness to engage supporters and critics alike has resulted in countless invited speaking engagements nationwide.
His work has caught the attention of the leading evolutionists of our day, including two-time Pulitzer-Prize winner E. O. Wilson, and has been cited in hundreds of articles and books. He also has received more than $300,000 in grants to direct seven colloquia on such topics as “Darwinism and Political Liberty.”
Darwin’s theories “have transformed the understanding of our species and its social nature,” says Roger Masters, a research professor of government at Dartmouth College. “As a result, what thinkers like Hobbes, Locke or Rousseau called ‘natural right’ must now be reconsidered in light of human evolution. Larry is one of the world’s leading thinkers on this important subject.”
“In my judgment (Arnhart) is one of the 10 most important political philosophers writing in the United States today,” adds Carl Mitcham, director of the Henneback Program in the Humanities at the Colorado School of Mines.
Arnhart received his master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago.
He joined the faculty in the NIU Department of Political Science in 1983 and is one of three professors who train graduate students in the specialized field of biopolitics, or politics and the life sciences. NIU’s program is believed to be the only one of its kind nationwide, and Arnhart’s work has attracted numerous students. Four of the dissertations that he directed were later published as books.
In addition to “Darwinian Conservatism,” Arnhart has penned three other books, including a broad survey of the history of political philosophy that has been adopted as a textbook at more than 200 colleges.
An expanded version “Darwinian Conservatism” is being published this spring. Arnhart also is working on a fifth book “that will develop a theoretical framework for political science as a biological science of political animals.”
In a sense, Michel van Veenendaal has X-ray vision.
Van Veenendaal is an expert in the field of X-ray science, which uses powerful X-rays produced by giant research machines known as synchrotrons to probe the atomic structure of materials, particularly those that hold promise for technological breakthroughs.
The NIU physics professor develops the theories and complex mathematics that help scientists predict and interpret the results of these experiments.
“The common thread in my work is the study of materials and nanostructures that have properties that might lead to the invention of devices that could improve our quality of life,” van Veenendaal says.
In 2007, for example, he was a member of a team of scientists that examined the orbitals of electrons and uncovered a potential path for manipulating superconductivity at the atomic scale. Cited by the journal Science as one of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of the year, the research opens up a new area of investigation into ways of designing nanoscale superconductors.
“Michel is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in theoretical X-ray science,” says Clyde Kimball, Distinguished Research Professor of Physics at NIU. “His theoretical work has enabled experimental scientists to push the envelope of the development of new X-ray probes and has clarified their results to explain the links between atomic and molecular interactions and the visible behavior of matter.”
Van Veenendaal grew up in the Netherlands, earning his doctorate at the University of Groningen. He joined the NIU faculty in 2001 and teaches a variety of courses, from intermediate physics to graduate-level courses in quantum mechanics.
He serves as deputy director of the NIU Institute for Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology and played an essential role in its design and organization. Additionally, he co-founded the NIU startup company, Northern Illinois Nanotech.
Outside of NIU, van Veenendaal has worked closely with scientists at two of the world’s premier research institutions: the European Synchrotron Research Facility in France and Argonne National Laboratory in suburban Chicago. He is widely published in premier physics journals, his works having attracted more than 1,300 citations.
At Argonne, van Veenendaal works with scientists conducting experiments at the Advanced Photon Source, a synchrotron that produces the Western Hemisphere’s most brilliant X-ray beams. His collaborations there led to the establishment of a joint NIU-Argonne theory group, which supports post-doctoral students. He is responsible for the search and selection of joint Argonne/NIU faculty positions.
Van Veenendaal’s work attracts substantial external funding as well.
He has secured about $1.4 million in grants through NIU and Argonne. Additionally, he is a co-leader of a new network of 25 scientists from across the world who are working to lay the theoretical foundation for understanding “resonant X-ray scattering” – a developing and important tool for materials science researchers. The U.S. Department of Energy provided $840,000 in support of the effort.
“Dr. van Veenendaal is a recognized authority in the world in matters involving X-ray scattering from complex materials,” says Arun Bansil, professor of physics at Northeastern University in Boston. “There is little question that he will continue to remain at the forefront of this active research area long into the future.”
Members of the Baccalaureate Review Task Force will host a final open forum Tuesday to conclude a semester-long collection of opinions on the meaning of an NIU bachelor’s degree.
Scheduled for 3 p.m. in Altgeld Hall Room 315 (the Board of Trustees meeting room), the session will again focus on broad questions: What do we want our students to know? What do we want them to be able to do? What kind of citizens – what kind of people – do we want them to be?
The process has gone well, said Greg Long, a professor in the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders who chairs the committee.
“People are ready to have a discussion on this topic, and the vast majority have been very appreciative. There is a general consensus that there is value in talking about this. We haven’t done this in a serious, cross-university fashion for many years,” Long said.
“We have, at this point, hit a lot of our constituencies in a couple different fashions. We’ve completed well over 30 focus groups, and we’ve had approximately 850 people respond to the online survey,” he added. “Students make up about half of the respondents so far. We’ve had professors who have been quite active in encouraging their students to participate.”
The online survey remains open through April.
“Our online survey has provided excellent coverage,” Long said. “We’ve heard from about 130 employers, many of them NIU alums.”
Spawned by the university’s strategic planning process, the committee has labored on the basis that every institution must periodically review what it believes and make sure its curriculum supports those beliefs. The committee also realizes a general agreement is necessary for change.
NIU’s last baccalaureate review of this scope took place 25 years ago.
Committee members will spend the summer sifting through the eventual reams of data to create a report and, come the fall, present recommendations to administrators and campus leaders. They will keep a devotion to transparency and an open mind to suggestions and tweaks, Long said.
Provost Raymond Alden has praise for the committee’s work so far.
“It’s quite appropriate coming out of a strategic planning process that had, as its first goal, to preserve and enhance the academic quality,” Alden said.
“This is a process that many universities are going through, and I’m excited about it. I look forward to seeing a faculty-driven product that says, ‘These are our educational values, and they are reflected in the learning outcomes that all students should attain while at NIU.’ ”
Discussion has centered on two themes, Long said: the basic skills that bachelor’s degree graduates need and the values they should have.
“We’ve had a consistency in terms of responses – critical thinking, ethics, global citizenship, issues of diversity,” he said. “I’ve been impressed by people’s willingness to participate and be creative and to see how curriculum relates to the overall experience and not just their courses.”
Members of the steering committee also include David Changnon, Jes Cisneros, Carolinda Douglass, Barbara Fouts, Elisa Fredericks, Omar Ghrayeb, Jeff Kowalski, Michelle Mingas, Earl “Gip” Seaver, Paul Stoddard and Lucy Townsend.
The Federal Stimulus Package (ARRA), the FY09 federal budget and the FY10 federal budget all contain significant new funds to support university-based research and development efforts.
The ARRA alone will add roughly 30 percent ($21.5 billion) to research and development funding available in the coming year. The federal FY09 research and development budget calls for $151 billion in spending for the rest of the fiscal year.
NIU faculty should position themselves to be prepared to compete for these funds in areas that support their existing research and development funds.
If NIU is competitive, the university could see an increase in federal research funding of as much as $4 million.
To facilitate this effort, the Office of Sponsored Projects will host an informational presentation from 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center. The session is open to all faculty in order to direct them to funding possibilities available through the ARRA, key funding possibilities in the FY09 budget and an overview of the FY10 budget to help faculty begin to think ahead for next year.
Presentations will cover the NSF, NIH, DOD, DHS, NASA, Department of Energy, USDA, Department of Education, Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation, DOJ and HUD as well as discussions of funds that might be available through the State of Illinois and the outlook for funding from foundations for the coming year.
Slide presentations will be posted on the OSP Web site after presentations are given.
Call (815) 753-1581 for more information.
A reunion between NIU professor Kurt Thurmaier and an old college friend has resulted in the first-ever NIU Study Abroad program to Tanzania, where students this summer will help build a high school dormitory for girls and learn about the workings of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Thurmaier, a professor of public administration, visited Tanzania last year with his wife, Jeanine, and reunited with their friend, the Rev. Leo Kazeri. The parish priest serves as development director for the diocese, director of a secular economic development organization and business manager for a secondary boarding school with an enrollment of 500 students.
Kazeri and Kurt Thurmaier had met years ago, when they both were working toward their public administration degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Seeing the substantial work that the priest is accomplishing and the great need that remains in the region was a life-changing experience for the Thurmaiers.
“There is so much need in so many ways in one place,” Kurt Thurmaier says.
“At the same time, the generosity of the average person there is just overwhelming. So you have this contrast between abundant need and abundant generosity. It’s a paradox that makes you say to yourself, ‘The world is different than I thought it was.’ ”
The experience prompted Thurmaier to initiate the Study Abroad program, which will run from June 1 through June 28. Nine undergraduates and graduate students already are signed up.
During the program, students will learn about non-governmental organizations in developing countries and about the government and politics of Tanzania and the East African Union. They will work to develop marketing plans with entrepreneurial women’s groups.
They also will join forces with a volunteer group led by Jeanine Thurmaier and help build the new dormitory for high school girls in the small village of Nyegina.
The service group is organized through Tanzania Development Support, a nonprofit organization created in 2008 by the Thurmaiers and friends to raise funds for the dormitory and other needs. Future projects and study abroad groups will enhance the school library and equip chemistry, physics and computer labs as well.
“The single most effective way to fight poverty is to provide secondary education to young women,” Kurt Thurmaier says. “That’s true in the United States as well as in developing nations.
“A woman who has a high school education is more likely to choose a better mate, have fewer children and have a higher income, and her children are more likely to meet higher health measures,” he adds. “In other words, the household has a better chance to succeed.”
The study abroad program is open to all students. Under several enrollment options, a student can receive three to six undergraduate or graduate credit hours.
“I think we can learn firsthand how NGOs work and make a difference in a community,” says Lucy Carter Smith, a student in the Master of Public Administration program who is participating in the study abroad adventure.
“Then we’re going to help bring the school to another level,” she adds. “I’m excited about that. What I would really like to do is come back and do something similar in an area of the United States that needs help.”
Thurmaier said the experiential learning component of the study abroad program taps a strong desire of students today to contribute to society through volunteerism.
“It’s not just study abroad, where students go and look, but where they go and look and do,” Thurmaier says. “Students can experience a different culture and leave knowing they’ve made a lasting contribution.”
Of course, there will be time to take in the considerable sights of Tanzania.
The Study Abroad experience will include an overnight camping trip and safari to the Serengeti during the wildebeest migration. Students also will take a trip to the island of Zanzibar for tours of the spice markets and slave market historical sites.
“Kurt is a very dynamic and enthusiastic program director,” says Anne Seitzinger, assistant director of the Study Abroad Office. “I’m quite sure this is going to be an amazing program for everyone involved.”
In addition to running the study abroad program, Thurmaier is leading fundraising efforts to pay for construction materials for the girls’ dormitory.
So far, $30,000, or 75 percent of the goal, has already been raised. Those wishing to make a contribution can write a check to Tanzania Development Support NFP, 201 Thornbrook Road, DeKalb, Ill., or contact Thurmaier via e-mail at TDSNFP@hotmail.com.
BusinessWeek Magazine once again has included the NIU College of Business on its list of the top undergraduate business schools in the nation, ranking it 73rd, up eight spots from last year.
“I was delighted to see that we climbed in the rankings, because that is external validation of the quality of our program,” said Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the business school. “Even more exciting, however, were the comments and rankings from our students that demonstrate that they find real value in our strategic decision to incorporate real-world experience into their education at every opportunity.”
The BusinessWeek methodology incorporates measures of student satisfaction, post-graduation outcomes and academic quality. What makes it unique from some other popular rankings (such as U.S. News & World Report) is that the methodology places a premium on input from people who have interacted with the college – whether as students or as business recruiters.
Recruiter rankings were compiled using data from nearly 200 companies. They were asked to evaluate schools they recruit from based on quality of graduates, innovativeness of curricula and the effectiveness of career services departments.
Based on that criteria, recruiters ranked the NIU College of Business 48th overall. That was good enough for second best amongst the five Illinois business schools that qualified for the survey, trailing only the University of Illinois, which recruiters ranked seventh.
To get the student perspective, the magazine polled 85,000 graduating seniors at the 137 eligible schools. They were asked to complete a 50-question survey on everything from the quality of teaching to recreational facilities. Among those results, NIU business students gave the college a grade of “A” for facilities and career services and a “B” for faculty.
Based on student satisfaction ratings, the college ranked 50th once again trailing only U of I, which ranked 28th in the category. The student survey accounted for 30 percent of a school’s final score.
When provided an opportunity to comment on their experience, NIU students said that one of the best things about their education was that it didn’t rely solely upon text books. “Professors invite CEOs, presidents and high-level executives into the classroom to talk about the business world,” wrote one student. Another commented, “The access to business contacts is extensive. I interact with alumni on a weekly basis and have opportunities to tour businesses regularly.”
Other Illinois undergraduate business schools included in the rankings were University of Illinois (22nd overall), University of Illinois-Chicago (94), DePaul (71) and Loyola (95). Other schools from the Mid-American Conference included in the rankings were Miami (18) and Akron (93).
NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities (PCSM) has announced the winners of the 2009 Deacon Davis Diversity Awards.
Created in 2004 and named in honor of Deacon Davis, founder and former director of the CHANCE (Counseling Help and Assistance Necessary for a College Education) Program, this award recognizes the significant contributions made to the improvement of the status of minorities on campus by members of the university community.
The Deacon Davis Diversity Award recipients will be recognized during the 10th Annual PCSM “Friendships Abloom” Spring Luncheon. The luncheon will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 15, in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Brief remarks and the awards presentation begin at 12:15 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
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 AY2009-10. The four presidential commissions, and sources where additional detailed information on each commission can be found, are:
Greg Long, chair
glong@niu.edu
(815) 753-6508
http://www.niu.edu/pcpd/
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0809/disabilities.htm
Norden Gilbert, chair
norden@niu.edu
(815) 753-8365
http://www.niu.edu/lgbt/pcsogi/index.shtml
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0809/sexualori.htm
Kay Shelton, Chair
kshelton@niu.edu
(815) 753-2315
http://www.niu.edu/pcsm/
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0809/minorities.htm
Rhonda Robinson, Chair
rrobinson@niu.edu
(815) 753-9323
http://www.niu.edu/pcsw/
http://www.niu.edu/u_council/commbook0809/women.htm
Self-nominations are welcome. Forward nominations, including name, address, e-mail and telephone number, to krepel@niu.edu.
Nominations should be submitted on or before Friday, May 1.
NIU Cares Day, an annual service event that brings students, faculty and staff members together to complete service projects throughout Sycamore and DeKalb, is scheduled for Saturday, April 18.
The event begins at 9 a.m. with a kickoff at the Chick Evans Field House and continues through 4 p.m.
It benefits not-for-profit community agencies and individual residents. Past community partners have included the DeKalb Park District, the Salvation Army, T.A.I.L.S. Humane Society, District 428 schools and the DeKalb and Sycamore public libraries.
NIU Cares Day is seeking faculty, staff members and graduate assistants to serve as project site leaders.
PSLs work alongside the student volunteers at each site. They maintain communication with the site staff contact throughout the day as well as the student team leader(s) in order to ensure things are running smoothly and in a way that keeps everyone safe. They also work with student team leaders to facilitate small-group discussion on-site, regarding the impact of the day’s work on the community and on the volunteers themselves.
Training will be provided. Interested individuals can register online with the Project Site Leader Team or contact Becky Harlow, assistant director in Student Involvement & Leadership Development, at rharlow@niu.edu or (815) 753-6703.
History professor Nancy Wingfield has received an International Research & Exchanges Board Short-Term Travel Grant that will support a trip to L’viv, Ukraine, this summer for research on trafficking in women and girls for a book she’s writing.
The book, titled “Bohemian Bodies: The Regulation of Prostitution in the Habsburg Fin de Siècle,” examines the regulation of prostitution in late imperial Austria from 1880 to 1918. The travel grant has a policy component, so the research could be used to provide historic background to officials currently addressing contemporary trafficking of women and children.
While in L’viv, Wingfield also will participate in an interdisciplinary conference, “Sex in the Cities: Prostitution, White Slaving, and Sexual Minorities in Europe,” to be held at the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe. The conference includes a roundtable presentation by members of local NGOs on trafficking in contemporary Ukraine.
The Improvement Dimension is examining how the first-year experience at NIU is linked to the institution’s overall assessment and at how those assessments can be used to promote and sustain ongoing improvement. The committee members are also looking at the first-year experience practices at other institutions and as documented in the current research.
The committee members will:
For additional information about, to participate in, or to provide information for the Improvement Dimension contact co-chairs Angela Branson (abranson@niu.edu) or Sherrill Morris (srmorris@niu.edu).
Nina Mounts from the Department of Psychology is also a $50 cash prize winner in the faculty/staff survey drawing.
On the menu at Ellington’s this week: Nuestra Inspiracion is scheduled for Tuesday. Athena’s Place takes over Thursday.
Continuing this semester is the option to enjoy wine with your meal. One red and one white wine choice will be available with meal service. Wine will be selected for the menu based on wine-and-food pairings made by the students. Wine selections will range from $4.50 to $6.50 per glass.
Nuestra Inspiracion features chorizo a la llama or flatbread with tomato vinaigrette for starters, chicken kabob with remeso sauce or tortilla Espanola for entrees and pineapple ice cream or churros with chocolate sauce for dessert. Both entrees are served with traditional Spanish baked rice.
Athena’s Place features avgolemono soup or Greek salad for starters, chicken oreganata or Mediterranean lasagna for entrees and Greek-style yogurt with honey and walnuts or baklava for dessert. Each table also will be served tzatziki with pita pieces.
Seating is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with service until 1 p.m. The cost is $9 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.
The NIU women’s golf team will hold its annual spring outing Sunday, April 19, at Whisper Creek Golf Club in Huntley.
Be a part of one of the most unique events in golf: Your foursome will be paired with talented NIU women golfers, allowing you to use their shots on the challenging track at Whisper Creek Golf Club.
All skill levels are welcome in this fun, interactive scramble format. Check-in is at noon. Tee times are from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. or a modified 12:30 p.m. shotgun start. Cost is $125 per player.
A cocktail hour, awards and raffle will follow Sunday’s play. Register by Thursday, April 16. Contact coach Pam Tyska at (815) 753-1548 or ptyska@niu.edu.
The 18th annual NIU College of Law Review Symposium will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 17, in the Riley Courtroom.
The symposium, “Confronting the Challenges of Persons Who Are Mentally Ill: Best Practices and Remaining Issues in the Law,” will feature internationally renowned speakers Chief Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren of the Broward County Florida Mental Health Court and New York Law School Professor Michael Perlin.
It will focus on how the legal system and laws have changed in an effort to meet the needs of persons with mental illness. Topics include adequate representation of a person who is mentally ill, the emergence of mental health courts across the United States and legal issues surrounding the recent changes in Illinois’ civil commitment procedures.
Lerner-Wren will present the luncheon keynote address, “Why Jurisdictions Should Consider Establishing Mental Health Courts.”
Perlin, an internationally recognized expert on mental disability law, has devoted his career to championing legal rights for people with mental disabilities. He will present the afternoon keynote address“A Change Is Gonna Come: The Implications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for the Domestic Practice of Constitutional Mental Disability Law.”
A special rate of $25 is available for NIU faculty and staff. Call (815) 753-2515 to register for this rate. Additional symposium details are also available at www.niu.edu/law. Full-time students interested in attending should contact the College of Law Office of Alumni Events and Public Relations at (815) 753-9655.
The final exhibit of the 2008-2009 gallery season is a significant show of drawings and prints at the Nehring Gallery, in the historic bank building on the corner of Lincoln Highway and Second Street in downtown DeKalb.
“P2: Peter Squared” is a collection of contemporary artwork by NIU artists Peter Olson and Peter Van Ael that was assembled to coincide with the Southern Graphics Council, held last month in Chicago.
Olson, assistant director of the NIU Art Museum in Altgeld Hall, holds a master’s degree in printmaking and has accumulated a wide record of exhibitions. He works with an ornithological theme conveying a sense of his vast knowledge of species found in Illinois, Oregon and Costa Rica. Visit www.peterolsonbirds.com for more information.
Olson will share his expertise in bird walks from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on two upcoming Sundays: May 3 at Afton Forest Preserve on Crego Road, and May 10 at Wilkinson-Renwick Marsh on Annie Glidden Road.
Van Ael, coordinator of the Jack Olson Gallery on the second floor of the NIU Visual Arts Building, comes to residency in Illinois with an extensive exhibition record from Belgium and throughout the United States. Van Ael’s specialty is reduction wood cuts in which the wood block is carved, inked and printed; it then is further carved to develop the design in layers of intense hues. For more information and visuals, visit www.petervanael.com.
The public is invited to a free reception to meet the two artists from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, and to participate in their gallery talks beginning at 5:00 p.m. Additional viewing hours are from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays, from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays through May 2, and by appointment at (815) 758-1351.
Artworks are available for purchase from the artists, and a drawing for one print by Olson and one by Van Ael will be held to benefit the gallery.
Free parking is available on-street and in the city lots to the south. Entrance is under the logo awning at 111 S. Second Street to use the stairs or elevator to the second floor. All ages are welcome.
NIU’s Art Museum will present “The Life and Art of Käthe Kollwitz,” a lecture by Eva-Maria Worthington, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, in Altgeld Hall Room 315.
Worthington, an art historian, founded the Worthington Gallery Chicago in 1970. The gallery specializes in German Expressionism as well as contemporary painters and sculptors. She has curated many exhibitions, including 10 featuring the art of Kollwitz. She will share insights into the life and work of Kollwitz and other German artists of the early 20th century, a time when Germany was in great turmoil before, during and after the two world wars.
Kollwitz (1867-1945) is recognized as one of the premier artists of the early 20th century. She is known primarily for her emphasis on the social content of her work, but this often overshadows her technical and artistic mastery. The current exhibition at the NIU Art Museum is a selection of original etchings, woodcuts and lithographs that span her long career and showcase her unmistakable graphic style, empathic humanity and mordant social commentary.
This exhibition was curated by Peter Olson, assistant director of the NIU Art Museum, and is part of the spring printmaking suite that also includes contemporary posters by Jay Ryan, hand- printed, hand-bound books by David Johnson and a retrospective of the distinguished career of
printmaker and NIU Professor Emeritus David Driesbach.
The exhibition will run through Saturday, May 9.
Located on the west-end first floor 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 and lectures are free; donations are appreciated.
The 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, visit www.niu.edu/artmuseum or call (815) 753-1936.
NIU’s Public Relations Student Society of America will host the “Rock 4 Life” benefit concert from 5 p.m. to midnight Saturday, April 18, at Molly’s Eatery and Drinkery, 1022 W. Lincoln Hwy.
All proceeds will be donated to the February 14th Fund for the Forward, Together Forward Scholarship.
The concert features Train Company, a blues/jazz/rock band; Whiskey and a Gun, a funk band; and 80’s Proof, a 1980s tribute hair band.
Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Admission includes drinks, food from 5 to 7 p.m., live entertainment and raffle prizes. E-mail Michele.Westergaard@gmail.com to reserve tickets at the advance sale price, or purchase tickets in person in DuSable Hall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, April 16.
For more information, contact Michele Westergaard at Michele.Westergaard@gmail.com.
NIU students, faculty, staff and local residents can renew driver’s licenses or state IDs, purchase annual vehicle license plate stickers, register as organ and tissue donors or conduct other transactions with the Secretary of State’s Office on campus Monday, April 20.
The office will provide certain driver and vehicle services until 3 p.m. on the lower level of the Holmes Student Center. Acceptable forms of payment include personal checks, cash, MasterCard, American Express and Discover credit and debit cards.
Customers can purchase vehicle registration renewal stickers for license plates as well as passenger vehicle license plates, motorcycle license plates and B-Truck plates. Other services available include vehicle title registration and parking placards for persons with disabilities. A complete list of acceptable forms of identification is available at www.CyberDriveIllinois.com.
NIU’s Latino Resource Center will host “Crime Against Humanity,” a play presented by the Latino Cultural Awareness Committee and based on the real life experiences of 14 Puerto Rican political prisoners who spent more than two decades in prisons for seditious conspiracy.
Discover what these prisoners endured to raise consciousness and support for the campaign to free the remaining Puerto Rican political prisoners.
The event takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, in the Holmes Student Center, Room 506. Admission is free and open to all. For more information, contact (815) 753-1986 or www.niu.edu/lrc.
All business managers and departments are advised that the NIU PeopleSoft financial system will be down from the close of business Thursday, April 23, through Monday, April 27, for required software and system maintenance.
Journals, budget journals, purchase orders, vouchers, checks and student refunds, etc., will not be processed on these business days. Campus queries also will not be available.
Access to financial and budget reports, accounting and procurement forms via the Web will not be affected by the outage. Normal operations should resume Tuesday, April 28.
NIU’s Interdisciplinary Institute for the Study of Language & Literacy will host a talk with Timothy Shanahan, director of the Center for Literacy at UIC.
Shanahan will discuss “Disciplinary Literacy: Teaching the Literacy of History, Chemistry, & Mathematics” at 4 p.m. Friday, April 24, in Room 2305 of the NIU Wellness & Literacy Center, 3100 Sycamore Road.
For more information, call (815) 753-5793 or e-mail iisll@niu.edu.
Fans of “A Prairie Home Companion,” broadcast each weekend on 89.5 FM-WNIJ, might be interested in a new feature-length documentary which looks behind the scenes and inside the imagination of the man who created it: Garrison Keillor.
WNIJ presents an exclusive sneak-preview of this new film by Peter Rosen at the Sycamore Theater, 420 W. State St. in Sycamore.
Show times are 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 25, and noon Sunday, April 26. Admission is $4 per person, and all ticket proceeds from these weekend screenings benefit the station. In addition, the back side of WNIJ’s souvenir movie pass lists several Sycamore vendors offering money-saving specials to ticket holders.
More details about the documentary can be found at www.wnij.org.
The NIU Women’s Rights Alliance will host a benefit production of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” raising funds for the Women’s Rights Alliance and V-Day
The production takes place in the Barsema Auditorium inside Barsema Hall. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 26. Tickets are $5 for students and senior citizens and $7 for the general public and are sold at the door.
For more information, contact niuwra@gmail.com.
Calling all sellers of antiques, collectibles, sports cards, crafts and garage sale items.
The NIU Convocation Center will host the first “Convo’s Colossal Clean Sweep” from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 2, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 3. Admission is $1 for adults and free for children ages 6 and younger.
Vendors are encouraged to register by Monday, April 27, with the added incentive of a 10 percent discount for those who register by Friday, April 17. All NIU students with a valid NIU OneCard will receive a 15 percent rental fee discount. Only indoor space is available for rent.
To reserve your spot, download a registration form or visit the Convocation Center ticket office. For more details, call (815) 752-6800.
Volunteers are needed Saturday, May 9, to assist with NIU Athletics’ Inaugural Track and Field Meet. E-mail Sue Hansfield at shansfield@niu.edu with name and contact information.
The NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences External Programming will sponsor a trip Wednesday, June 3, to Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” performed at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier.
Depart from the Normal Road entrance of the Holmes Student Center at 2 p.m. and return at approximately 12:30 a.m. Explore Navy Pier and enjoy dinner on your own before the performance begins at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $85 or $55 for students. Fee includes theater ticket and transportation. Parking is available at the NIU visitor parking lot for a $5 fee.
For more information, contact (815) 753-5200 or LASEP@niu.edu.
NIU’s Office of Assessment Services presents the Summer 2009 issue of Toolkit, its quarterly “nuts and bolts” e-newsletter. Toolkit is specifically designed to assist the NIU community with practical assessment issues in a user friendly format.
This issue looks at highlights from the 2009 Assessment Expo, including links to view each poster presented at the event. Also included are the debut of NIU’s Assessment Manual, a new resource for assessment on campus; a tool for assessing poster presentations; a look at assessment myths; and results from the class of 2007 alumni survey and annual update reports.
Back issues are posted on the Assessment Services Web site under Toolkit. Contributions to the newsletter are welcome at any time.
To help celebrate April 2009 Asian American Heritage Month at NIU, faculty, staff and students have displayed 30 enlarged photos of their travels in Asian countries such as Taiwan, China, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia and others.
Photos displayed through Tuesday, April 14, in the Holmes Student Center’s Gallery Lounge portray historical sites such as the Terra Cotta Soldiers, Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, as well as everyday photos that depict the heritage and culture of people, foods and lifestyle.
The purpose of the “Tour of Asia” exhibition is to visually represent and raise global awareness of Asian heritage through the use of photography.
Photographers include Leo Ku, Philip Wilkinson, Linh-Han Nguyen, Lavinia Lement and F. Michelle Bringas.
Visit http://www.niu.edu/aac/ for a compete calendar of events for Asian American Heritage Month. For more information, call (815) 752-1167.
The submission deadline for Academic Convocation faculty presentations has been extended to April 15.
Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your faculty/undergraduate student academic and/or research project to 3,000 new students and 150 of your faculty colleagues. Submissions from every discipline are encouraged; this opportunity is not limited to the traditional sciences.
Committee members will make presentation selections based on the following:
Student and faculty team members must be available to present for five to 10 minutes at the Academic Convocation, scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 21, in the Convocation Center.
A proposal form can be downloaded at www.convocation.niu.edu. Submit proposals to
Academic Convocation Committee, c/o Mary Spring, Student Affairs, AL 208, or fax to (815) 753-5100.
NIU’s Literacy Clinic will hold a book fair Friday, April 17, at Barnes & Noble, 2439 Sycamore Road.
A percentage of the net sales during the fair – exclusions include gift cards, bookstore memberships, textbooks and magazine subscriptions – is donated to the Literacy Clinic. Customers must present Literacy Clinic vouchers prior to making their purchases.
Children can create pictures of their favorite stories for the Literacy Clinic Student Art Gallery. Several other events also are planned:
The Literacy Clinic also is accepting donations of books purchased that day. A “wish list” will be available at the store.
Supporters unable to attend can call in orders to the store at (815) 787-3234, prepay and reference the Literacy Clinic book fair number: 505099.
For more information, call the Literacy Clinic at (815) 753-1416 or e-mail literacyclinic@niu.edu.
The Division of Research and Graduate Studies will hold its Outstanding Graduate Student Reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.
An awards ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. to honor students who are receiving the following awards: the Carter G. Woodson Fellowship, Jeffrey T. Lunsford Fellowship, Dissertation Completion Award, University Fellowship, Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois Award and the Outstanding Graduate Student Award.
Graduate faculty and advisers are encouraged to attend the event. Refreshments will be served.
The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its schedule covering April 25 through May 31, which includes reading period and final exams.
Extended hours for Saturday, April 25, through Tuesday, May 12, are from 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays, from 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sundays. The library is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 13.
Hours from Thursday, May 14, through the end of the month are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The library is closed Saturdays. An exception comes Memorial Day Weekend, when the library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 23, and closed Sunday, May 24, and Monday, May 25.
Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.
Registration is open for ACT test prep scheduled for four Saturdays in May.
Classes meet from 9 a.m. to noon May 9, May 16, May 23 and May 30 in the Monat Building, 148 N. Third St. in DeKalb.
The program covers English, math, reading and science reasoning. The final session covers a sample testing of an actual retired ACT test and scoring.
Cost is $175 (or $200 one week before start of class) and includes instruction, textbook, CD-ROM and retired ACT tests. It does not include registration to take the actual ACT test.
For more information, contact Mark Pietrowski at (815) 753-1456 or pietrowski@niu.edu.
Students are now able to apply for the NIU Speech Camp, Creative Writing Camp, Film Camp, Sci-Camp Discovery, Sci-Camp Explorations, Sci-Camp Investigations and, for the first time, the KEMPA Journalism Workshop.
The camps allow students to explore topics of interest to them, experience life on a college campus and have fun learning.
The camp fees include room and board. An early bird discount applies until June 1, but parents and students are urged to apply as soon as possible to guarantee spots in their camps of choice.
A full application packet is available for download at www.niu.edu/clasep under Academic Summer Camps.
For more camp details, contact Mark Pietrowski at (815) 753-1456 or pietrowski@niu.edu or visit www.niu.edu/clasep.
Experience the cultural explosion and natural beauty of Iceland with the NIU Alumni Association from July 20 to July 26.
Where else can travelers witness such marvels as a tremendous icecap and slow grinding glaciers, spouting geysers, magnificent waterfalls, a multitude of birds, cavorting whales just offshore and fearless little puffins? Meanwhile, because of Iceland’s endless supply of geothermal energy, pollution is nonexistent.
Visit myniu.com or call (815) 753-1512 for more information.
Nearly one dozen programs and activities are planned throughout the month to raise awareness of and help bring an end to sexual assault and other forms of relationship violence.
“This month is designed to create many different avenues for people to discuss and learn about issues surrounding sexual violence,” said Andrea Drott, health educator for NIU’s Health Enhancement. “Everyone is encouraged to support the events and be a part of the solution.”
A complete schedule of discussions, performances and other activities is available online.
Events include:
All events are open to the public and, unless otherwise noted, are free. Sign language interpreters will be provided upon request; call (815) 753-6515. One week’s notice is preferred.
Event sponsors include NIU Health Enhancement; Men Against Sexual and Interpersonal Violence; Women’s Resource Center; Women’s Rights Alliance; PRSSA; Women’s Studies; and Safe Passage.
For more information, call Health Enhancement at (815) 753-9767.
Candidate interviews for the position of director of NIU’s University Honors Program have been scheduled. A 20-minute candidate presentation will be followed by an open interview forum for faculty and staff.
Interested in helping first-year students learn how to succeed at NIU? Become a UNIV 101/201 instructor for fall 2009!
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 2008, more than 1,600 first-year NIU students enrolled in 84 sections of UNIV 101/201. 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:
If candidates do not meet the last two criteria, they can be paired with a teaching coach.
Instructor overview sessions are being offered from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 2, and Monday, April 6. The meetings take place in Holmes Student Center Room 306. If you are interested, please RSVP to firstconn@niu.edu.
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, department meetings, and participate in course feedback through e-mail correspondence and surveys.
More information and application materials are available online or by e-mail at firstconn@niu.edu.
Education, activism, art and entertainment are all part of the calendar of events for April’s celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Awareness Month.
A new art installation focused on the themes of pride, empowerment and community is taking shape at the LGBT Resource Center; there will be multiple dates in April for participation.
Many other events are also planned throughout April. Full details about all events are available by visiting the online calendar of events at www.niu.edu/lgbt/resourcecenter/news. Request a printed or electronic copy of the calendar by contacting the LGBT Resource Center at (815) 753-5428 or lgbt@niu.edu.
Join the Lifelong Learning Institute in a fascinating and picturesque trip Friday, April 24, through regional and national history: A professional tour guide will take participants on a day-long tour of the Illinois-Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor.
The opening of the 100 mile-long canal in 1848, from Chicago to LaSalle-Peru, linked the Gulf of Mexico with the Great Lakes and launched Chicago on its greatest period of growth. While eventually superseded by the Sanitary and Ship Canal, a rediscovery of the old canal and the communities along it has resulted in an impressive array of restored buildings, landscapes and historic sites.
Participants will go to the St. James of the Sag Church in Lemont, the headquarters of the I&M Canal at Lockport. Members will visit the marvelously restored Gaylord Building along with a small museum devoted to the canal as well as the Public Landing Restaurant, where they will have lunch. Afterward, they will continue on a driving tour of Lockport and the Joliet Museum, featuring a replica lock used on the I&M and a Route 66 Experience Exhibit.
The trip will depart from the Normal Road entrance of the Holmes Student Center at 8:15 a.m. and return at approximately 6:30 p.m. Fee includes professional guide, lunch, entrance fees and transportation.
The field trip is open to everyone in the community, while LLI members, NIU Cardinal & Black Alumni members and University Women’s Club members are eligible for a discounted rate.
For more information or to register for the field trip, contact the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences External Programming at (815) 753-5200, online at http://www.LLI.niu.edu or in person in Room 152 of the Monat Building, 148 N. Third St.
A minimum of 25 registrants is needed by Friday, April 10, to offer this trip.