Daniel Kempton believes he is in the enviable position of being in the right place at the right time.
The newly appointed director of the University Honors Program takes over the post with a brand new strategic plan already in place for the program – it’s one that he helped to initiate – and a commitment from the university to strengthen the program.
“I believe that for a long time the Honors Program at NIU has been doing some very impressive things with few resources,” said Kempton, who has served on the University Honors Committee several times, including as chair last year. “I think we are at a juncture where there is a commitment to increase that support so that we can do even greater things.”
A few of the initiatives outlined in the plan for the program are immediate priorities, Kempton said. They are:
To help pay for all of those initiatives, Kempton also has plans to increase fundraising activities for the program.
“To date, the program hasn’t worked much with the NIU Foundation. Other departments and colleges on campus have been having increased success with outside funding and I would like to start down that path,” he said. Part of those efforts, he added, will be to improve relationships with honors alumni, who also will be solicited for ideas on how to improve the program.
It is an ambitious agenda but one that Kempton is capable of moving forward, said Vice Provost Earl “Gip” Seaver.
“Daniel is very dedicated to students and to the Honors Program,” Seaver said. “I think he brings a vision to the program that will strengthen it and help it grow.”
Nancy Castle, who has filled the role of Honors Program director on an interim basis for the past year, said she is sad to give up the post but knows she will leave it in good hands.
“I haven’t had this much fun in 25 years of teaching,” she said. “Daniel is coming into a great situation, and he is a great fit for the job. He connects very well with students; he’s an excellent teacher and an outstanding researcher. He is well-known and respected across campus, and his years of experience as chair of political science will be invaluable.”
Kempton, who takes over the job Aug. 1, is eager to get started.
“The program has a very good staff and an interim director who really built some momentum. I’m really looking forward to building on that success,” he said.
Leading the Honors Program is the latest step in an NIU career that began in 1987, shortly after Kempton earned his doctoral degree at the University of Illinois, where his expertise in the classroom earned him the top award for excellence in undergraduate teaching – both in his department and university-wide.
At NIU, he has served as chair of the Department of Political Science from 1999 until 2006, and prior to that served stints as assistant chair, director of graduate studies and director of undergraduate studies. He has been the recipient of 11 different fellowships, received top honors for teaching within his department and has been nominated for some of the top teaching awards at the university.
His scholarly interests include Russian domestic politics, Russian foreign policy, missile proliferation, the international diamond trade and global terrorism.
For the second consecutive year, two newly minted NIU graduates have won prestigious Fulbright fellowships to work and study abroad for the coming academic year.
Lauren Hansen, who earned bachelor’s degrees in marketing and foreign languages in December, will work as an English teaching assistant in Germany. Zach Sands, who earned a master’s degree in English in May, will conduct research in the Republic of Moldova.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships for U.S. graduating college seniors, graduate students and artists to study abroad for one academic year.
“This is a highly competitive program,” said Deborah Pierce, associate provost of International Programs. “However, the fact that we’ve had two students win Fulbrights in each of the last two years demonstrates that NIU students should be applying for these scholarships because they can compete with anyone.”
Hansen, 23, of Tinley Park, will depart in early September to teach English to students in middle school or high school in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz.
It will be Hansen’s second trip to the southwest region of Germany, known for its rolling hills and vineyards. In the summer of 2007, she interned with a company in Worms, Germany, gaining work experience and a desire to return.
Hansen only learned of the Fulbright opportunity two weeks prior to the application deadline last September. She scrambled to get her application materials together.
“At first it seemed daunting, but the process actually wasn’t that bad at all,” Hansen said. “My academic background was strong, and I thought my application would be competitive. I wrote up a good cover letter. I also knew my professors would back me up with strong letters of recommendation.
“I’m really overjoyed that I got it,” she added.
Hansen received one of only 140 grants available for teaching assistantships in Germany. Following her Fulbright experience, she will be further studying German at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she has won the Max Kade Fellowship.
Sands, 32, who has lived in Sycamore for the past two years, will leave in September and spend nearly 10 months in the Republic of Moldova, where he will work on a documentary film that explores Moldovan cultural identity.
“It’s going to be an adventure,” said Sands, who also holds an undergraduate degree in film production. “I’m sure it will change the way I look at just about everything.”
Moldova is located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, south and east. The territory was annexed by Russia in 1940, and Moldova emerged as an independent nation following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. Two-thirds of the population speaks Romanian, which Sands began teaching himself in preparation for the Fulbright experience, even when the fellowship was still in the application phase.
“If you don’t take your project seriously, neither will the people who read your application,” Sands said.
“Moldova is at a crossroads, not only at the borderlands where East meets West, but between a rich past and a promising future,” he added. “It has also the paradoxical distinction of being a democratic nation with a communist government.
“The documentary will explore what it means to be Moldovan,” he said. “But one of the things that makes the production of a documentary so engaging is that you never know where exactly it’s going to take you. Ideally, what I’d like to do with this film is to look past mere nationalism in search of a common humanity.”
Sands’ Fulbright fellowship makes provisions for him to bring his wife and two young children along to Moldova as well.
“I think it will be a great experience for everybody,” he said. “Even though our kids probably won’t remember much of our adventures in Eastern Europe, I hope that on some level, it instills in them a sense of just how big the world can be.”
Northern Illinois University Press and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) have joined forces to create a new book series devoted to important works in Southeast Asian Studies.
An international editorial board of distinguished scholars has been established for the series, with James T. Collins, center director, serving as editor.
The editorial board will include Judy Ledgerwood (NIU), Kenton Clymer (NIU), Michael Buehler (Columbia University/NIU), Trudy Jacobsen (NIU), David Chandler (Monash University), J. Joseph Errington (Yale University), W.A.L. Stokhof (Leiden University), Shamsul Amri Baharuddin (National University of Malaysia) and Michael Laffan (Princeton University).
NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies is within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
“After taking the helm at the center last year, I began to look for avenues to increase our presence in the publishing area,” Collins said. “While we have had a publications imprint for over four decades, the imprint was just one part of the center’s many facets. I realized the value of having a discussion with NIU Press, which has a long-standing record of producing high-quality books and whose sole purpose is to publish.”
“The Center for Southeast Asian Studies has earned an astounding reputation both here and overseas,” said J. Alex Schwartz, director of NIU Press. “Its expertise and access to top scholars in the field, coupled with NIU Press’ publishing experience, made this partnership a wise decision. Through this collaboration, we aim to become the leading scholarly publisher of Southeast Asian Studies books.”
The first book to be published in this new series is titled, “Wives, Slaves, and Concubines: A History of the Female Underclass in Dutch Asia,” by Eric Jones, an assistant professor of history at NIU and faculty associate of CSEAS. Jones’ book is scheduled for publication in December.
The legend of Don Juan, a Noel Coward poke at marriage, divorce and social conventions, an absurdist comedy and a sampling of Greek myths are only a few of the live theater productions that the NIU School of Theatre and Dance will present as part of its upcoming 2009-2010 Subscription and Studio Series seasons.
The school recently announced both its new series lineups, which will also include a cabaret-style variety show, the debut of two never-performed works, a musical review and a puppet show.
The Subscription Series mainstage performance schedule kicks off Sept. 24 with a musical review of the lyrics and music of cultural satirist Tom Lehrer. “Tomfoolery” is a collection of 28 of Lehrer’s irreverent and witty jabs at just about everything.
“The Trickster of Seville and His Guest of Stone” opens Oct. 22. Not simply a vainglorious lover in this tale, Don Juan is a notorious trickster who seduces women by presenting a false identity to his victims. Certain that he will never be caught, Don Juan dares the wrong person to return from the dead to defend one victim’s honor. The play is a translation by Roy Campbell of what is widely accepted as the first rendition of the 17th century Don Juan legend by Tirso de Molina.
Opening on Nov. 19, Fall Dance Concert 2009 will present several dance pieces representing a wide range of dance styles and techniques. The concert will feature a modern piece, “How Slow the Wind,” based on the poem of the same name by Emily Dickinson.
“Private Lives” is a Noel Coward comedy about the hypocrisies and pretensions of manners, social conventions and romance. A high-society divorced couple bump into each other at a hotel while honeymooning with their new spouses – they somehow manage to justify running off together to try again. The play runs Jan. 28 through Feb. 7, 2010.
Opening Feb. 18, “Metamorphoses” is the modern retelling of eight Greek myths and morality plays from Ovid’s epic poem of the same name. The stories include the legends of King Midas, Pomona and Vertumnus, Phaeton and Apollo and Eros and Psyche. Incorporating the production’s most unique feature, all the ancient tales are told in and around a pool of water on stage.
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” by Tom Stoppard, elaborates on the trials and tribulations of two relatively minor and stupefied characters from the play, Hamlet, thereby turning Shakespeare’s tragedy into what has been referred to as one of the finest examples of theater of the absurd. It runs March 25 through April 11.
Modern dance work “Carmina Burana” opens next April 22, and concludes the mainstage season. It combines the music, words and movement of classical Greek tragedy with Italian Baroque musical theater to follow the exploits of monks and troubadours of medieval Europe who have forsaken their frocks for a life of wild abandon.
The seven-show Subscription Series packages are on sale now for $72 and are available by calling the School of Theatre and Dance at (815) 753-1335. An “early bird” price of $62 applies if purchased before July 31. Subscriptions for the Studio Series lineup of six shows cost $15.
For show dates, descriptions and complete details, or a copy of the 2009-2010 season brochure, call the school or visit http://www.niu.edu/theatre.
Northern Illinois University Press has announced that one of its recently published books, “Before the Eyes of the World: Mexico and the 1968 Olympic Games,” by Kevin B. Witherspoon, was honored with the 2009 North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) Book Award in Sport History.
The Book Award is presented for a distinguished book written in English on any aspect of sport history. The announcement was made May 25 at the NASSH annual conference. Witherspoon is an assistant professor of history at Lander University in South Carolina.
“Before the Eyes of the World” is an ambitious and comprehensive study that highlights the intersection of sports with the historical, political and social climate of 1968. It was published in July 2008, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, which will long be remembered as fraught with discord.
“Not only is this book important to U.S. history and Mexican history, but also to sports history. I am very pleased that the NASSH recognized Witherspoon’s contribution,” said J. Alex Schwartz, director of NIU Press.
Witherspoon’s award-winning book can be purchased through NIU Press by calling (815) 753-1075, by ordering online at www.niupress.niu.edu or by visiting a bookstore.
Susan R. Goldman, distinguished professor of liberal arts and sciences, psychology and education, and co-director of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will speak at NIU this week.
Goldman will present "Literacy in the 21st Century: Challenges for Research and Practice" at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, in Room 01D of the Learning Center in Gabel Hall.
This event is free and sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Institute for the Study of Language & Literacy.
The Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra will host its 11th annual golf outing Friday, July 17, at the Sycamore Golf Club, 940 E. State St.
Golfers can hit the links with KSO Conductor Linc Smelser, the Illinois Council of Orchestras’ 2009 Conductor of the Year. Smelser is also an applied artist in the NIU School of Music.
Lunch and registration begin at 11:30 a.m., and the shotgun start is at 1 p.m. Rates range from $115 for an individual golfer to $551 for the deluxe Beethoven Package for four.
Special events include a 50/50 raffle and silent auction (supported by the generosity of local businesses and individuals). On-the-course events include longest drive, closest to the pin, straightest drive and shortest drive.
All proceeds benefit the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, 2009 recipient of Community Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.
More information and registration materials are available online. For other questions, call Phyl Naffziger, chair of the KSO Golf Committee Chair, at (815) 748-7071.
Kishwaukee Corporate Health, which NIU generally uses as an occupational medicine physician service, has opened an “Exclusive Convenient Care” center for the companies it serves. It is closed to the general public.
The center, located at 3251 Commerce Drive in DeKalb, is two blocks west of Kishwaukee Community Hospital off Bethany Road. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday. Walk-ins are welcome; patients who call for appointments will reduce their wait times.
Services for minor, non-work-related injuries and illnesses are available for employees and family members of participating client companies only. Patients must be 18 or older. No pediatric or OB/GYN care is provided.
For more information, call (815) 754-4882 or visit www.kishcorporatehealth.com.
It is time once again for the NIU Art Museum’s annual “Art to Lend” exhibition. Works from this exhibition from the permanent collection are available to hang in secure campus offices.
Those who are interested in considering the selections should stop by the Altgeld Gallery (first floor, west end) between Monday, June 29, and Thursday, July 9. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. As in previous years, works will be assigned by lottery-based preferred selections. The lottery drawing will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 9.
There are nominal fees for this service to cover part of the Art Museum’s incurred costs and for the direct care and maintenance of the collection, including matting and framing to make new selections available.
Check www.niu.edu/artmuseum for more information on the rental policy. For any other questions, contact Pete Olson at (815) 753-7867 or via e-mail at polson@niu.edu.