New research adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting the Red Planet once had an ocean.
In a new study, scientists from NIU and the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston used an innovative computer program to produce a new and more detailed global map of the valley networks on Mars. The findings indicate the networks are more than twice as extensive (2.3 times longer in total length) as had been previously depicted in the only other planet-wide map of the valleys.
Further, regions that are most densely dissected by the valley networks roughly form a belt around the planet between the equator and mid-southern latitudes, consistent with a past climate scenario that included precipitation and the presence of an ocean covering a large portion of Mars' northern hemisphere.
Scientists have previously hypothesized that a single ocean existed on ancient Mars, but the issue has been hotly debated.
“All the evidence gathered by analyzing the valley network on the new map points to a particular climate scenario on early Mars,” NIU Geography Professor Wei Luo said. “It would have included rainfall and the existence of an ocean covering most of the northern hemisphere, or about one-third of the planet's surface.”
Luo and Tomasz Stepinski, a staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, publish their findings in the current issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research — Planets.
“The presence of more valleys indicates that it most likely rained on ancient Mars, while the global pattern showing this belt of valleys could be explained if there was a big northern ocean,” Stepinski said.
Valley networks on Mars exhibit some resemblance to river systems on Earth, suggesting the Red Planet was once warmer and wetter than present.
But, since the networks were discovered in 1971 by the Mariner 9 spacecraft, scientists have debated whether they were created by erosion from surface water, which would point to a climate with rainfall, or through a process of erosion known as groundwater sapping. Groundwater sapping can occur in cold, dry conditions.
The large disparity between river-network densities on Mars and Earth had provided a major argument against the idea that runoff erosion formed the valley networks. But the new mapping study reduces the disparity, indicating some regions of Mars had valley network densities more comparable to those found on Earth.
“It is now difficult to argue against runoff erosion as the major mechanism of Martian valley network formation,” Luo said.
“When you look at the entire planet, the density of valley dissection on Mars is significantly lower than on Earth,” he said. “However, the most densely dissected regions of Mars have densities comparable to terrestrial values.
“The relatively high values over extended regions indicate the valleys originated by means of precipitation-fed runoff erosion—the same process that is responsible for formation of the bulk of valleys on our planet,” he added.
The researchers created an updated planet-wide map of the valley networks by using a computer algorithm that parses topographic data from NASA satellites and recognizes valleys by their U-shaped topographic signature. The computer-generated map was visually inspected and edited with help from NIU graduate students Yi Qi and Bartosz Grudzinski to produce the final updated map.
“The only other global map of the valley networks was produced in the 1990s by looking at images and drawing on top of them, so it was fairly incomplete and it was not correctly registered with current datum,” Stepinski said. “Our map was created semi-automatically, with the computer algorithm working from topographical data to extract the valley networks. It is more complete, and shows many more valley networks.”
Stepinski developed the algorithms used in the mapping.
“The basic idea behind our method is to flag landforms having a U-shaped structure that is characteristic of the valleys,” Stepinski added. “The valleys are mapped only where they are seen by the algorithm.”
The Martian surface is characterized by lowlands located mostly in the northern hemisphere and highlands located mostly in the southern hemisphere. Given this topography, water would accumulate in the northern hemisphere, where surface elevations are lower than the rest of the planet, thus forming an ocean, the researchers said.
“Such a single-ocean planet would have an arid continental-type climate over most of its land surfaces,” Luo said.
The northern-ocean scenario meshes with a number of other characteristics of the valley networks.
“A single ocean in the northern hemisphere would explain why there is a southern limit to the presence of valley networks,” Luo added. “The southernmost regions of Mars, located farthest from the water reservoir, would get little rainfall and would develop no valleys. This would also explain why the valleys become shallower as you go from north to south, which is the case.
“Rain would be mostly restricted to the area over the ocean and to the land surfaces in the immediate vicinity, which correlates with the belt-like pattern of valley dissection seen in our new map,” Luo said.
The research was funded by NASA.
Friday marks the official start of the Christmas shopping season, but its arrival comes weeks after stores of all sorts transformed part of their spaces into junior-grade North Pole workshops.
Portable walls of red and green, Santa Claus castles, pre-lit Christmas trees and miles of gold and silver tinsel combine to bring joy to the hearts of shoppers – and to open their pocketbooks.
It’s a holly jolly facade that Terrence McClellan knows well.
As a scenic designer of “environments” for not only the legitimate theater but also for corporate communications, McClellan has spent his career traveling the United States and abroad to create the backdrops for everything from actors and rock stars to Fortune 500 executives and the products they hope to sell.
“At my age, not being bored is one of my goals, and this is a good way not to be bored. And I get to travel,” says the professor with a wry sense of humor. “One of the fun things about being a freelance designer is looking for work, and I don’t have to do that anymore, which is kind of sad. I used to go through the phone book, category by category, looking for opportunities that matched my skill set. It was frightening and exciting.”
Now McClellan teaches his craft to NIU students while, like many of his colleagues in the School of Theatre and Dance, keeping his feet firmly in the business.
His students learn how the real world works; in one classroom exercise, they are required to design three scenic environments for three different events – a rock concert, a political event and a new product introduction, for example – that take place over three days on the same stage.
For third-year students, it gets even more real: they accompany him on gigs.
“I really like working with students,” McClellan says. “I tell them, ‘You’re not wasting your life here. You can keep doing this for the rest of your life. It’s a career, not a job, and you’re being well trained for that.’ ”
McClellan is the perfect example.
When he graduated from college in the early 1970s, he began working for the Off-Loop Theatres, the Goodman School and the Chicago Opera Theatre, but it wasn’t really paying the bills. He decided to return to school to study architecture: “I had to find a way to buy tires for my car,” he says.
Yet his expenses couldn’t wait for the degree, and he started flipping through the Yellow Pages. His fingers walked upon a listing of “theater for industry.”
He tried it. He liked it. He started taking whatever gigs he could find.
The three men who first hired him rented their office space in a building on Fullerton Avenue, and their landlord needed a designer for her grandson’s bar mitzvah. When McClellan scheduled a meeting, the grandmother and her daughter and the grandson all came with shopping bags full of examples of centerpieces and party favors from other bar mitzvahs they had attended recently.
“They said, ‘It can’t be like this. It has to be better than this,’ ” McClellan says with a laugh.
After settling on a theme of “movies,” McClellan created invitations and pieces for the party that included slate boards, movie cameras and crew sign-in sheets. His wife, artist Kathleen Smigielski, helped. They earned $1,500.
“It was lots of fun, and I was making more money than I would have coming out of school as an architect,” he says. “I like to draw and paint. I like to imagine spaces and create spaces. Eventually someone will build it, and I’ll get to play in it.”
McClellan, whose company with Smigielski is called Scenographix, Ltd., now enjoys a well-developed method to his madness.
Between McClellan and Smigielski are nearly 1,000 projects ranging from design of theatrical scenery and lights and tradeshow booths to illustration of space and special objects.
He continues to meet face-to-face with his clients, who for the past seven years have included the Ford Motor Co., and simply asks them to talk about their products.
“I get their take on how high-end it is. How elegant. How wonderful. I listen to the words they use,” he says. “And anyone who does what I do constantly has to look at things. I ride a bike a lot and just look at things. I keep up on architecture, current industrial design. But mostly I just try to restate what clients tell me but in a common language. I try to tap into a common language we all use.”
People who study and work in theater “probably have the best handle on this,” he adds. “We’re trained in human drama, human connection, that script that turns human situations into something we all can empathize with.”
The environment must not overshadow the product but still must make a strong impression. “I make people look at that new vehicle in a new light – a passionate and supportive light,” he says.
“It’s a pretty strenuous life. There are lots of deadlines. You draw up stuff, and they have to like it. You lay yourself on the line every couple weeks. Sometimes you’re designing for committees, and that’s just dreadful,” he says.
“Everything I do is prototype. I can’t do perfect. I can’t tell you what’s working until it’s done, and that’s exciting. I really enjoy that,” he says. “The projects I always feel the best about are the ones that were the hardest, the ones I wasn’t sure about. I have a fascination with the edge, walking the line between failure and success.”
“Walking the line” is the same approach he took to the professorial life.
He had teaching jobs before NIU, at the State University of New York at Brockport and at the University of Iowa, but lacked confidence that he was providing a good education.
“I didn’t know if I knew what I was talking about,” says McClellan, who came to NIU after professors here sent their theater students to him as prospective employees. “Now I know. This industry is out there – entertainment and corporate communications – and it’s huge.”
Even in a down economy, the day after Thanksgiving is a crazy one for retailers as they roll out their Christmas specials and shoppers seem to forget about bleak sales forecasts.
But for the parents and grandparents who will cram the aisles of toys and electronics that day and for the rest of the holiday season, their thoughts should focus on more than avoiding crowds and comparing prices to the sizes of their wallets.
And, unlike the Christmas presents they’re scooping up, this advice is priceless: Some toys are loud – and can easily and insidiously damage the hearing of children.
Danica Billingsly, a clinical audiology faculty member in the NIU School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders, will speak at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, about the potential for toy-induced hearing loss.
Her presentation, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the Family Service Agency, 14 Health Services Drive in DeKalb.
Billingsly will explain how to know if a toy is too loud, describe the ways ears can be hurt and offer tips on how to prevent overexposure from toys and mp3 players. She also will run down the annual list of noisy toys compiled by the Sight and Hearing Association.
“Even the toys that are low on that list are pretty bad. The problem we have is that kids use toys in ways adults don’t think about,” Billingsly said. “When adults take noise measurements of toys, they measure for exposure at a distance of 10 inches. But with children, sometimes they stick their faces right up to things. The exposure is much greater.”
That problem is compounded by normal methods of calculating exposure, she added.
“When we have measurements that are made with traditional equipment, using traditional calculations, a lot of those are normed on the adult ear,” she said. “A child’s ear is much, much smaller inside.”
Billingsly has several tips for parents and grandparents to become smart shoppers and good stewards of their loved ones’ hearing.
Teenagers who live inside the musical world of mp3 players create a different dilemma for parents, Billingsly said.
“The biggest problem we have with teenagers is the length of exposure time. They’ll listen to music eight to 10 hours a day – and happily. Talk to any parent of a teenager, and you’ll find their children are frequently wearing their headphones, whenever they can get away with it,” she said.
And today’s earbuds aren’t yesterday’s headphones, she added.
Most of today’s parents grew up wearing loose-fitting headphones that allowed the sound to bleed; if their parents could hear the music, they were usually quick to tap on shoulders and insist that their teens turn the volume down.
“We can’t use that rule of thumb anymore,” Billingsly said. “Earbuds go straight down into the ear canal. Little escapes.”
Fortunately, negative press and parental pressure are convincing some manufacturers to put voluntary limits on their equipment. With an iPod, for example, a parent can set a maximum volume and lock it with a password.
Parents who are indifferent about the hearing damage caused by toys and electronic music players should know that noise exposure in children is an “insidious condition” that manifests itself years later.
“Cumulative noise exposure is what causes the big problems. It’s what we see in the 23-year-old or the 35-year-old or the 47-year-old who are having hearing loss years before they should,” she said. “This is about making children healthier adults who are less prone to hearing loss.”
The School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders is housed in NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
For more information about the Dec. 2 event, call (815) 758-8616.
America might have been in the depths of The Great Depression in 1934, but it was the start of a golden age for Christmas music, says noted Christmas carol expert Bill Studwell.
As a tip of the stocking cap to that era, Studwell has named “Winter Wonderland,” which was released in 1934, his 2009 Carol of the Year, with an honorable mention to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” which burst on to the scene that same year.
Those songs opened the flood gates to two decades of classics such as “White Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Silver Bells,” “Blue Christmas,” “The Christmas Song” and nearly 20 others. All were released between 1932 and 1951, and all remain popular today. It was an unprecedented period of growth for the genre,” says the professor emeritus from NIU.
Studwell has written about all of these songs, and hundreds of others, researching their history and origins, become the nation’s recognized expert on Christmas music in the process. That status was reaffirmed this year when the 73-year-old Studwell earned his first movie credit for serving as a technical consultant to the producers of Disney’s latest version of “A Christmas Carol.” He reviewed songs used in the movie to ensure that they were appropriate to the Victorian era depicted in the Dickens story.
The songs he chose to recognize in this, the 24th edition of his Carol of the Year series, are of much more recent vintage, but no less classic and beloved.
Studwell is particularly fond of “Winter Wonderland,” ranking it 18th on his list of personal favorites. “The image of a couple strolling through the romantic setting of a snowy winter day is an experience which many of us, including the authors, have enjoyed at one time or another,” says Studwell, who grew up in Connecticut.
“It’s a beautiful tune, very lyrical in that compelling big band style, and the lyrics are even better.”
The piece was by far the most popular effort of lyricist Richard Smith (who wrote the song while in a sanitarium, recovering from tuberculosis) and composer Felix Bernard. It was an immediate hit and has been popular since its 1934 debut. A 1946 version of the song by Johnny Mercer rose to No. 4 on the Billboard airplay charts, and Perry Como’s rendition of the song on his 1959 Christmas album made it into the top 10. Dozens of other artists have recorded the song over the years including the Andrews Sisters, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Elvis Presley and the Eurythmics.
Sadly, neither Smith nor Bernard lived long enough to enjoy much of that success. Smith died just one year after the song was released, while Bernard died 10 years later.
Without Ida Cantor, “Santa Claus is Coming Town” might never have made the big time. Never heard of her? That’s not surprising. She wasn’t famous, but her husband, Eddie was one of the most popular entertainers of the early 20th century. He didn’t want to sing the song, noting that other artists had passed on the song as being too silly and childish. Undeterred, Ida convinced him to sing it on his radio show anyway.
Cantor performed the song just before Thanksgiving in November of 1934 and the next day 100,000 orders for the sheet music came pouring in. By Christmas, 400,000 copies of the music had been sold and an instant classic had been born. George Happle and the Hotel Taft Orchestra recorded the song that same year, becoming the first in a long list of performers that today includes Bing Crosby, Bruce Springsteen, Ella Fitzgerald, Aerosmith, Randy Travis, Merle Haggard and dozens of others. The piece also spawned a Rankin and Bass Christmas special based on the song.
The tune was a collaborative effort by Haven Gillespie, a fourth-grade dropout who was a veteran of the original Tin Pan Alley, and J. Fred Coots, who eventually went on to great success writing revues for the Ziegfeld Follies and the Cotton Club before starting his own career as a night club singer.
When Gillespie brought him the lyric for “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” Coots dashed off the tune in 10 minutes. It took two years before Cantor (whom Coots was working for at the time) launched it on its path to becoming one of the most popular Christmas songs ever.
“The song is mostly for children, but the lyrics include so many iconic lines like ‘You better watch out, you better not cry…’ and ‘making a list and checking it twice.’ Those have become ingrained in society,” Studwell says.
Over the next two decades there seemed to be a new hit Christmas song every year. It is difficult to say why that era spawned so many great Christmas songs, but Studwell has a theory.
“That period, from the 1930s until the 1950s, was a difficult period. In that span you have the Great Depression and World War II. They were hard times, and there is something about hard times that seems to spur creativity,” he says.
Studwell began researching Christmas carols in 1972 when he created a pamphlet about “Oh Holy Night” as a gift for a family member. Since then, he has researched and written handbooks, dictionaries, essays and booklets on the topic, delving into the background of hundreds of carols. He has conducted more than 500 media interviews on the topic for newspapers, magazines, radio and television and has served as an adviser to several projects compiling recordings and lyrics of carols.
He estimates that he has devoted more than 6,000 hours of his life to studying and writing about Christmas carols. At the height of his research, he immersed himself in collections at libraries across the country and had a room full of tables stacked high with more than 400 reference volumes from around the globe.
He also champions several other musical genres that he believes are under-appreciated and has written extensively on college fight songs, state songs, patriotic music and circus music, becoming a nationally recognized expert in each. He recently began writing fiction. In all, he has authored more than 45 books, with several set for publication in the months and years ahead.
Studwell now resides in Bloomington, Ind.
Deborah Haliczer, director of employee relations in Human Resource Services, is the National Association of Social Workers-Illinois Chapter’s Social Worker of the Year for 2009.
In March, nominated by nominator was Sheryl Frye of NIU’s Office of Support and Advocacy, Haliczer was named “Social Worker of the Year” by the Jane Addams District of the NASW.
She is a member of NASW in good standing who reflects and promotes the organization’s values and mission and is an advocate for the populations served by social work. She represents the highest ethical standards of social work, contributes to the improvement of the social fabric in tangible and intangible ways, takes risk and enlists public support for improved human services.
Her nomination demonstrated those attributes and commended her instrumental effort in organizing and implementing debriefing services for the NIU community after the Feb. 14, 2008, tragedy. She also played a major role in planning the commemorative event held last month.
Luis Flores, a professor in the College of Business’ Department of Management, was a guest on the Nov. 15 edition of the WLS-TV public affairs show, “Chicagoing.”
Flores discussed the efforts of the Amazon Rainforest Conservation Society, for which he serves on the board of directors. Flores is using his expertise in strategic management to help the young organization get organized and launch its efforts to find a comprehensive approach to protecting the rainforests.
Kristin M. Spangler, a visiting assistant professor in the School of Theatre and Dance, died Thursday, Nov. 12, in Chicago. She was 39.
President John and Mrs. Barbara Peters will host their annual Holiday Luncheon at the Holmes Student Center Duke Ellington Ballroom from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1.
All are invited to attend and join their colleagues in celebrating the start of the holiday season at this festive event.
The NIU Philharmonic, under the direction of conductor Lucia Matos, will present its final concert of the fall at 8 p.m. today in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall.
On the program is Schubert’s “Symphony No. 9, in C Major” and Mahler’s “Kindertotenleider.” School of Music faculty member Myron Myers is the guest bass vocalist.
The concert is free and open to the public, and the auditorium is accessible to all. The concert also is scheduled for Webcast with four cameras.
Call (815) 753-1551 for more information.
A new Web site highlights the scientific research and related activities nationwide made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the stimulus.
The purpose of the ScienceWorksForUS site is to ensure that the public is aware of the important work being made possible by the funding for scientific research that was included in the ARRA.
ScienceWorksForUS is an initiative of the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the Science Coalition.
Join the NIU Community School of the Arts this December with a variety of music performances.
All recitals are scheduled in the Recital Hall of the Music Building unless otherwise noted, and many end with a gala reception. The recitals are free and open to the public.
Lessons, classes, and ensembles in music, art and theater are offered for children and adults throughout the year. The spring semester begins in January. Scholarships are available for those in financial need; the deadline for spring applications is Monday, Jan. 4.
For more information about classes, ensembles and lessons, contact Renee Page at (815) 753-1450 or visit www.niu.edu/extprograms.
President John and Mrs. Barbara Peters will open the Altgeld Hall castle to local families for the annual holiday gala from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4.
This annual celebration of the season is a kid-focused event that is fun for all ages.
Bring your family, friends and neighbors to an evening of activities, entertainment and good things to eat. More details will follow in the Nov. 30 issue of Northern Today.
The DeKalb Festival Chorus, under the direction of Jennifer Whiting, will perform a holiday concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall of the Music Building.
The chorus again welcomes the Prairie Brass Band from Arlington Heights, directed by Dallas Niermeyer. Also sharing the program is special guest organist Keith McNabb, who holds degrees in organ performance from the University of Michigan and Eastman School of Music.
The program features John Rutter’s “Gloria,” with additional musical works by Pachebel, Dandrieu, Lauridsen, Alice Parker and an American premiere by Herbie Martin.
Tickets are available in advance from chorus members or at the door: $10 for adults and $5 for children, students and seniors. The concert will be recorded, so audience members are asked to plan accordingly.
Founded in 1975, the DeKalb Festival Chorus has striven for a balance between traditional and contemporary vocal works.
Nominations are open for the annual Presidential Commission on the Status of Women awards.
Each year, the commission recognizes a number of women students through the Outstanding Women Student Awards. Students who are eligible are female seniors, graduate students or third-year law students who will graduate in May, August or December 2010. Nominations for these awards are open until Friday, Dec. 18.
The commission also has three staff awards; the Wilma D. Stricklin Award, Outstanding Mentor Award and Women Who Make a Difference Award. Nominations for these awards are open now until Friday, Feb. 19.
The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women encourages continued support of the annual awards through nomination and promotion. Contact mwoiwode1@niu.edu with any questions about the awards.
Visit www.niu.edu/pcsw for more information on PCSW and its awards or to make nominations.
Vendor space is still available for the annual Bridal Expo to be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.
The show features more than 40 exhibitors, taste testing from the student center’s catering department and a professional fashion show at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
For more information or to register, visit www.niu.edu/hsc or call Karen Villano at (815) 753-6389.
The last remaining data files and jobs will be removed from the mainframe Monday, Nov. 30. Any accounts still active will be disabled.
The permanent shutdown of all mainframe services – CICS, TSO, Wylbur – will take place at the end of the semester. This is the culmination of planning that began more than a year ago, and could not have been done without the work of many all across campus.
While NIU has migrated to new software, it is acknowledged that the legacy system provided the university with many years of reliable service.
For more information, e-mail helpdesk@niu.edu or call (815) 753-8100.
The Office of the Vice Provost is seeking proposals from NIU faculty to create themed learning communities for fall 2010.
In these communities, faculty will offer incoming freshmen a unique opportunity to engage deeply with the course theme, connect learning across the linked course(s) in collaborative and active ways, develop relationships with peers and faculty and ease the transition to college.
The goal is to create between seven and 10 themed learning communities for fall 2010. The full
Request for Proposals and proposal form are online at http://www.niu.edu/provost/tlc/.
All proposals are due by Friday, Dec. 11.
At the request and under the guidance of NIU faculty, ITS has been working throughout the summer and fall to develop a building block for Blackboard that will allow NIU faculty to send course grades from the Blackboard Grade Center directly to course grade rosters in MyNIU.
The grade submission tool was designed and pilot-tested successfully with the help of faculty focus groups and the tool will be available for use in December 2009.
Faculty who use the Blackboard Grade Center to calculate final grades soon will be able to choose to export final grades from Blackboard instead of manually entering grades in MyNIU, saving time and the reducing the opportunity for data entry errors. This tool will especially be helpful to faculty who teach classes with large enrollments.
After submitting grades from Blackboard using this new tool, faculty will have to log in to MyNIU to view the final grades and post them officially.
Features of the new Blackboard Grade Submission Tool include:
The Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, in conjunction with ITS, will offer several workshops in December to demonstrate the new Blackboard Grade Submission Tool and will provide faculty with step-by-step instructions on submitting their final grades from Blackboard to MyNIU.
For more details or to register, visit http://www.niu.edu/blackboard/workshops.
NIU’s Graduate School has issued its annual call for nominations for honorary doctoral degrees to be awarded from NIU.
This year’s nominations, with the required supporting information, are due Friday, Dec. 18, to James Erman, interim vice president for research and graduate studies.
Awarding an honorary degree is an opportunity for NIU to recognize someone especially outstanding in a field of interest to the university. It is necessary, though not sufficient, for a nominee to be accomplished and renowned in his or her field; an honorary degree recipient should be clearly exceptional among other outstanding persons in that field.
While a connection to NIU or to the State of Illinois is not a requirement for nomination, any such relationship should be noted and will be considered during the selection process.
A nomination must be accompanied by:
Any person affiliated with NIU may submit a nomination, indicating the nominator’s identity and connection with the university. The Honorary Degree Committee encourages nominations by groups as well as by individuals. Nominators should alert all university departments and divisions related to the area of the nominee’s accomplishments and invite those units to provide the committee with input regarding the merits of the nomination.
As the university does not intend to award more than two honorary degrees in a year, the selection process is stringent. Furthermore, as the committee recommendations subsequently pass through several other approval steps, the process is lengthy.
Twenty-seven honorary degrees have been awarded since 1983.
NIU’s Committee for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education is administering four different types of grants to support research in and projects for the improvement of instruction in undergraduate courses.
Copies of the grant forms and guidelines are attached or can be accessed through the Provost’s Office Web site. It is mandatory to use the current forms and not previous forms.
All proposals must be submitted to jganshir@niu.edu by Wednesday, Jan. 20. Projects must be accompanied by approval from the department chair and college dean as outlined in the proposal form.
All expenditures apart from salary must be made by June 1, 2010. Normally salary associated with projects will be paid May 16, 2010, through June 15, 2010, regardless of when the work is actually completed.
Nominees are sought for the awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching and instruction.
The Committee for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education recommends that special attention be paid to the suggested timetable: Suggested deadlines begin Tuesday, Dec. 1, the recommended date for submission of nominations to the departmental chair of student adviser committee.
Student advisory committees are encouraged to make an early start in the selection process to make the best possible presentations for their candidate.
Electronic nomination forms, complete with examples, are available. Nominations must be made using these forms.
As always, significant student participation at all levels of the process is expected, and deans and department chairs are urged to do everything possible to ensure that this occurs.
It is very appropriate for faculty to provide assistance to students with preparing the career profile, eligibility for nomination and nomination procedures. Supporting information must clearly have been prepared by students.
Please note the strict interpretation of the maximum word count listed for the various boxes on the nomination form and the limited number of required letters of recommendation.
For more information, call (815) 753-0494.
NIU’s Art Museum has scheduled a lecture series in conjunction with the School of Art Faculty Exhibition, which opened last week and runs through Saturday, Dec. 5. All are held in Altgeld 315 unless otherwise noted.
The exhibitions and programs of the NIU Art Museum are sponsored in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency with additional support from the Friends of the NIU Art Museum and the Arts Fund 21.
For up-to-date information, and additions to the calendar, visit www.niu.edu/artmuseum.
NIU students are invited to participate in a juried art competition with a $1,000 prize for the first place piece, $500 for second place and $250 for third.
The competition is sponsored by NIU’s Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) in preparation of its 40th anniversary celebration. CGS is a public service, applied research and public policy development center with clients throughout the region and beyond.
CGS is hosting a conference of regional leaders Dec. 10 and Dec. 11 focused on how the region can adjust to the new economic realities of the 21st century and how area residents can prosper within these realities.
The art competition reflects the focus of this event and should interpret its theme of “Returning Prosperity to America’s Heartland: Building a Shared Vision for our Region’s Future.”
Art work must be submitted by Tuesday, Dec. 8. Submitted work will be displayed during the conference. The jury panel will include faculty members of NIU’s School of Art and a CGS representative.
Winning pieces will be incorporated into the conference proceedings and provide an important and unique visual component to the event. The winning artists will be invited to a gala dinner and celebration scheduled for Friday, March 5, 2010.
Details on the art competition, including rules, regulations and registration forms, are online.