Northern Illinois University

Northern Today

In Brief

August 24, 2009

Nominations sought for
2009-10 BOT professors

Provost Ray Alden has called for nominations for the 2009-10 NIU Board of Trustees Professorships. Nominations are due Friday, Sept. 25.

The professorships were established in 2007 by President John Peters and the Board of Trustees to recognize those tenured professors who:

  • have achieved a consistent record of excellence in teaching, scholarship or artistry, service and outreach and academic leadership;
  • have earned a national or international reputation for professional achievements;
  • and are deemed likely to make continued and substantial contributions in higher education.

In considering the qualifications of nominees, special emphasis will be placed upon those who are renowned scholars or artists and have engaged students in their research and/or other professional activities.

Up to three professorships can be awarded each academic year; the 2009-2010 awards will be made at the Faculty Awards Recognition Ceremony in April 2010. The recipients will receive a stipend of $10,000 per year that will be renewed annually during the five-year period term of appointment as Board of Trustee Professors.

The responsibilities of the professorship include delivering the Board of Trustees Professorship Lecture; participating in workshops for the professional development of junior faculty and in activities that advance the university’s reputation and mission; maintaining an active program of teaching, scholarship or artistry, and service; and submitting a report detailing activities and accomplishments during the award period.

Additional information about the nomination process and the professorships is available online. Application portfolios should be submitted electronically to the Office of the Provost, Kathleen Carey (kjahns@niu.edu).

FIT Program begins registration

NIU’s Fitness Images Today (FIT) Program is an exercise program for NIU employees, spouses, retirees and residents of the surrounding community. FIT staff can help individuals start and maintain a scientifically based exercise program. Membership in FIT includes access to cardio- and weight-training facilities, Anderson pool and a variety of group exercise classes.

Cost is $65 per semester, $120 for fall and spring semesters and $150 for the entire year.

The FIT program will take registrations from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. through Friday, Aug. 28, in Anderson Hall Room 126. Call (815) 753-0335 for more information.

Community School of the Arts
begins classes, ensembles, lessons

NIU’s Community School of the Arts begins fall semester classes, ensembles and lessons in August and September. Information is available online and by mail about the many options for programs for children and adults.

The teachers in the community school are NIU arts faculty, professional teachers who live in the area and NIU students and graduate students, all of whom specialize in the area that they teach.

Traditional music lessons, taught on a weekly basis, are available on all instruments. Lessons using the Suzuki approach in violin, piano and guitar are available to young children. Group classes are taught in guitar and piano for adults and children. Music classes for young children are taught for children between the ages of 1 and 5.

Children and teens are invited to join a variety of ensembles, including a children’s chorus, a string ensemble, a full orchestra, a brass ensemble and a jazz band.

Financial aid is available for students 18 and younger who want to pursue their study of the arts, but who cannot afford the cost. Applications are available online and by calling the office. The application deadline for financial aid for fall semester is Monday, Aug. 31.

Learn more about the program, take a free sample music lesson or participate in a variety of classes and ensembles between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday, Aug. 29, at CSA O’Rama. All activities for CSA O’Rama take place in the Music Building at NIU. A full schedule is available online or by calling the office.

The NIU Community School of the Arts is sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Approximately 80 teachers offer lessons on most musical instruments as well as in art and theater. More than 500 community people from nearly 50 towns and cities travel to DeKalb each semester for lessons and classes.

Call (815) 753-1450 or visit www.niu.edu/extprograms for more information. The NIU Community School of the Arts is located in Room 132 of the Music Building.

University Women to hold
annual fall reception Sept. 23

The University Women’s Club of NIU will hold its annual fall open house from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, at the home of President and Mrs. Peters, 901 Woodlawn Ave. in DeKalb.

The University Women’s Club invites every woman associated with the university, whether she is a current or retired faculty or staff member, or the wife of a current, retired or deceased faculty or staff member, to join this long-standing organization of NIU women.

Meet people with a common interest in NIU, participate in distinct interest groups, enjoy social events and support the club’s philanthropic endeavor of providing scholarships to deserving NIU women students.

Women’s chorus offered

Women’s Chorus (AURA) is offered from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays in Room 171 of the Music Building.

This small choral ensemble is open to faculty, staff and students (both undergraduate and graduate) for one credit under course number MUSC 290 (undergraduate) and MUSC 590 (graduate).

The group will become a female vocal jazz ensemble this year, and the first program will feature songs made famous by great women jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughn and Billie Holliday.

No auditions required. Music-reading is not essential, but a good ear for music is helpful. Call Director Glenda Cosenza at (815) 751-2301 with questions or for further information.

Art Museum opens three exhibitions

The Northern Illinois University Art Museum will open three exhibitions Tuesday, Aug. 25. All run through Saturday, Oct. 10. An opening reception is scheduled for 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept 10, with an artists’ talk planned at 6 p.m. in Altgeld Hall Room 315.

Elona Van Gent will present an artist talk at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Jack Arends Hall/Visual Arts
Building Room 111. Jessica Gondek will present a curator’s talk at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, in the gallery.

  • Imperfect Models: Jessica Gondek, Paintings and Prints. Since the dawn of the machine age, artists have struggled with the dynamics of hand vs. machine, artificial vs. natural, and the dichotomy of traditional medium with the variety of expression that technology allows. The fall Art and Technology Suite highlights artists who embrace technology as a partner in their creative process. Jessica Gondek, curator of the group exhibition Dimensional Figures and Environments: Artists Engaging Technology and an asssociate professor at Loyola University, is featured. Gondek begins with compositions created via 3-D modeling programs that are then collaged and overprinted to reinterpret and humanize the computer-generated forms. The intermingling of hand and mechanical approaches in the work prompts a collision between intuition and computation.
  • Karen Hanmer, Retro Tech. Chicago artist Karen Hanmer looks back at early forms of technology to
    see their impact on us. Of her work, she writes: “My sculptural books and installations fragment and layer content to mirror the experience of personal and cultural memory.” Her History and Technology series of artist books link the creative process of the artist with that of the inventor, explorer or scientist through first person accounts and archival photographs and artifacts. She combines the ancient act of book-binding with the high-tech use of the computer to create her work.
  • Dimensional Figures and Environments: Artists Engaging Technology. This exhibition features three artists who conceive spaces and figures mediated through computer software tools as part of their creative vocabulary. Both Gerald Guthrie and Elona Van Gent use 3D-modeling software to develop sculpture, digital prints and animated works. Gloria DeFilipps Brush creates photographs from built models that are transformed using computer technology. These artists use technological art tools as partners in their image-making processes and forge new creative territory. New media such as digital printmaking and photography, rapid prototyping and animation are represented in the range of works included in the exhibition.

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.

University Police to hold auction Aug. 29

The NIU Department of Public Safety will hold its annual NIU Police Auction Saturday, Aug. 29, on the east side of Huskie Stadium under the student bleachers. Items will be available for viewing at 9 a.m. Bidding begins at 10 a.m.

Items included in this year’s auction include, bicycles, jewelry, iPods, a Rolex watch and other miscellaneous items.

For more information, visit http://www.niu.edu/publicsafety.

College of Education invites
campus to ‘gala celebration’

Lemuel W. Watson, dean of the College of Education, invites the campus community to its Gala Celebration fundraiser to support the college’s programs and students.

The celebration takes place from 5:30 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Aug. 29, in the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center. The cost is $100 per person and $175 per couple, including two drink tickets per person.

The evening will include cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres, a silent and live auction, dancing and cordials on the patio at the evening’s end. The dress is cocktail attire (black tie optional).

RSVP to Gail Hayenga at (815) 753-8370 or via e-mail at ghayenga@niu.edu by Friday, Aug. 21.