Millions of readers, viewers and listeners tuned in last week to a very old story – prehistoric, in fact.
NIU geologist Joe Peterson’s research shows adolescent T-Rex dinosaurs fought with each other in the same way that many young mammals do today.
The evidence can be found on Jane, the museum’s prized juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, discovered in 2001 in Montana.
Jane’s fossils show that she sustained a serious bite that punctured through the bone of the dinosaur’s left upper jaw and snout in four places, the researchers report. The injury wasn’t life-threatening and eventually healed over, according to the scientists. The bite did leave scars, however.
The researchers determined that another juvenile tyrannosaur was responsible for the injury.
“Only a few animals could have inflicted the wound,” Peterson says, noting that the bite marks were oblong-shaped. A crocodile or an adult T. rex would have left different types of bite marks.
Peterson’s discovery made worldwide headlines thanks to the expert writing and news-pitching skills of Public Affairs science writer Tom Parisi.
The “T-Rex Terrible Teens” story went global through a combination of standard and new-age media strategies, including use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and EurekaAlert.
U.S. media outlets that ran the story included ABC News, Fox News, MSNBC, USA Today, the Discovery Channel, Science Daily, the Chicago Tribune and WBBM all-news radio. Beyond our borders, Peterson’s discovery received significant media play in England, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Spain, India and Japan.
To review media “hits” of Peterson’s story and other recent NIU media placements, visit “NIU in the News.”
Paul Carpenter is no stranger to the highly personal challenge of pedaling a bicycle through the harshest of conditions, from scorching heat and bitter cold to severe fatigue and uncomfortable hallucinations.
Yet Carpenter, chair of NIU’s Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, will tackle his greatest challenge ever next June: the Race Across America, a grueling 3,014-mile marathon from California to Maryland in 12 days or less. The winner is likely to arrive on the early side of Day 9.
And as Carpenter prepares for what’s called the “second-toughest sporting event in the world,” he wants to give the campus community a glimpse into his pending adventure.
“Bicycle Dreams,” a documentary about the 2005 RAAM, will show at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, in Cavan Auditorium (Gabel 126). Doors open at 3:15 p.m. Carpenter will conduct a question-and-answer session at 5:35 p.m. Popcorn and water are free.
The College of Education, the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, the KNPE Majors Club and the NIU Athletic Training Student Association are presenting the film with special permission from Stephen Auerbach, who directed the 2009 movie that has won the top award at several film festivals.
“I thought this might be a useful idea of what this RAAM thing is all about,” Carpenter says. “You can put it down on paper. You can describe it. Actually showing it to people makes all the difference.”
Carpenter has watched “Bicycle Dreams” five times this year, each viewing leaving him excited and overwhelmed.
One scene – he doesn’t want to go into specifics that might spoil the experience for Thursday’s audience, but calls 2005 “a particularly unique year” – has made “a huge impact” on him every time.
“There are some who watch it and think, ‘These people are absolutely insane.’ There are those who actually get inspired,” Carpenter says. “I typically run the gamut, wondering what I’ve gotten myself into.”
Carpenter, who has become locally famous for his daily commute from Batavia to NIU on his bicycle, has qualified several times for RAAM. In 2008, he won the 1,044-mile Race Across the West. In 2007, he won the Tejas 500.
As he has climbed the ladder into the upper echelons of competition, however, the costs and logistics have risen accordingly.
Joe Jamison, past-president of the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association Inc., volunteered to manage Carpenter’s organizational needs and crew. The on-road support team also includes Carpenter’s wife, Melissa Hyams, as well as some Kinesiology and Physical Education faculty members.
Two other professors will conduct research during the race; Carpenter’s son Sam, who works at a post-production film company in Los Angeles, is planning to film his father’s journey.
Carpenter, who has “sort of harbored this dream – this fantasy – of taking part in RAAM for 20 years now, and until about three years ago, it was nothing more than wishful thinking,” is hard-pressed to say why 2010 is the right year.
“It’s more a case of, ‘Why not this year?’ At some point, you just have to make the decision to do it. There’s nothing special about 2010. In 2008, I started seriously thinking about this. In 2009, there was just too little time to get things organized. Now I’ve had some chances to save money and work out the logistics,” he says.
“I’m hoping by showing the movie that we will raise awareness and encourage people to become part of it, whether it’s just tracking my progress during the race or helping with resources they are willing to contribute in any way shape or form.”
Diane Schroer graduated from NIU in 1977 – as David Schroer – and went on to a decorated career as an Airborne Ranger who was hand-picked to head up a classified national security operation.
But when David Schroer retired as a colonel after 25 years of distinguished service in the Army, he transitioned from male to female, and as Diane Schroer faced one of her biggest challenges yet: living her life as a woman and fighting discrimination from the country she had served.
Schroer will visit NIU at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, to discuss her groundbreaking Title VII sex discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress, which established that discriminating against someone for changing genders is sex discrimination under federal law. The presentation will take place in the Francis X. Riley Courtroom, Swen Parson Hall, Room 170, with a reception following.
Schroer will be joined by her former NIU college roommate, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown, who wrote a series of columns about Schroer’s court fight; and the attorney who represented her, Sharon McGowan from the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I knew I was different before I was old enough to remember things,” Schroer said of her childhood in Chicago. “My earliest memories are of just feeling I should be a girl and wondering why I wasn't.”
Her ability to keep a secret served her well in her military career, but ultimately became something she wanted to stop doing in her personal life. After leaving the Army in 2004, she began researching gender issues online. “Things I’d not comprehended before started rapidly falling into place and making sense,” she said. “I realized I could finally fully become who I’ve always known I was inside.”
When she interviewed for a job as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress, she thought she’d found the perfect fit, given her background and 16,000-volume home library collection on military history, the art of war, international relations and political philosophy. Schroer accepted the position, but when she told her future supervisor that she was in the process of gender transition, they rescinded the job offer, leading to the court challenge that Schroer ultimately won.
Brown wrote about Diane’s gender transition in a June 2005 Chicago Sun-Times column, describing his shock and confusion, but also his high regard for his college buddy: “As awkward as I feel, however, I try to keep in mind what it's like for Diane, emerging anew into the world at age 48 – and now having been put into the position where she must do so quite publicly in order to fight for what she thinks is right. I'm taking her side in that fight, not just because I know she’d do the same for me, but also because I'm sure we owe it to her after 25 years in the service of our country – during which she pulled duty in many of the world's hot spots.”
Brown went on to record the progress of his renewed relationship with his former roommate and her lawsuit through a series of newspaper columns.
Although transsexual identity was something new to him, Brown challenged his own and his readers’ discomfort: “The natural inclination might be to look away to avoid seeing something that we might prefer not to know. People in Diane’s situation could use a little more understanding from the rest of us. There are more of them out there than we realize, many suffering silently with their tortured thoughts. Since [my last column], I’ve heard from several other buddies of Dave’s going back to high school and college who expressed support because they knew him as a quality person, something that’s not dependent on any feature of his anatomy or how he dresses.”
The event is the second annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Alumni presentation, and is cosponsored by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center, College of Law, Department of Communication, and NIU College of Law Gay-Straight Alliance.
For more information, contact the LGBT Resource Center at (815) 753-5428 or lgbt@niu.edu.
A reception recognizing the Outstanding International Educator for the past year and a keynote speech by a Turkish government official headline International Education Week 2009 at NIU.
A joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, International Education Week will be celebrated on campuses nationwide beginning Nov. 16.
“Each year NIU mounts one of the broadest selections of events during this national observation, in order to highlight the many outstanding aspects of our global endeavor,” said Deborah Pierce, associate provost for International Programs. “This year’s theme, ‘Going Global with NIU,’ reflects the idea that students and faculty already have many pathways to an international experience through a wide variety of NIU programs.”
The annual International Recognition Reception will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center. The event is open to the public, and a light buffet lunch will be served.
At the reception, the Outstanding International Educator Award will be presented to an NIU faculty member who has contributed significantly to international education through his or her teaching, research, public service and student service. International Programs also will honor the department that has made the most significant contribution to the internationalization effort across campus.
In addition, for the first time the division will honor a student who has made an outstanding contribution to international education at NIU.
Deputy Provost Harold Kafer and political scientist Daniel Kempton, who also directs the University Honors Program, will speak at the reception. Kafer is a leader in NIU’s strategic planning efforts, while Kempton was named Outstanding International Educator in 2008.
Later in the week, Alpaslan Korkmaz, president of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey, a government agency within the office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, will present a keynote lecture. Korkmaz will discuss international business as it relates to cross-cultural negotiation and dispute resolution. Sponsored by the College of Business, the event will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in the Barsema Hall Auditorium.
“As NIU develops stronger ties with institutions in Turkey, we are honored to have an official from the prime minister’s office speak on our campus,” Pierce said.
Other events also are on tap for International Week. Zeta Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Delta, the Honor Society for International Scholars, is holding its sixth annual induction ceremony (by invitation only) on Thursday, Nov. 19. For the second consecutive year, Zeta Gamma Chapter was honored as the Outstanding Midwest Regional Chapter of the international society, in part thanks to excellent support from NIU faculty and staff.
Dennis Barsema – NIU alumnus, benefactor and instructor – will be inducted into the society. He will speak about his work in microfinance in developing nations, while professor emeritus Ladd Thomas of the Department of Political Science will be initiated as an honorary member of the chapter.
Provost Ray Alden will also speak at the event. “Recognizing achievements in global education, research and service through the international academic honor society is one of the highlights of this week,” Alden said.
Another event during the week will recognize the culture of France.
Professor Catherine Raymond, director of the Center for Burma Studies, will share secrets of French style through scarf-tying at a 3:30 p.m. workshop Monday, Nov. 16. A native of France, Raymond will demonstrate how to make an outfit soignée with just a few flicks of a scarf, using fabrics she has collected in her work in Southeast Asian nations. International flag scarves will also be available for purchase.
Other activities during the week include a luncheon (by invitation only) to honor NIU faculty leading study abroad programs; two workshops for students interested in the Student Fulbright Program; an ongoing exhibition titled, “Tourist Art: Exploring Authenticity in a Museum Collection,” in the Anthropology Museum; and a Global Village Luncheon, featuring different foods from different cultures, at noon Friday in the College of Business Atrium.
The week will conclude with a presentation by NIU political scientist Danny Unger, an expert on Thai politics, at 11:45 a.m. Friday, Nov. 20, in the Sky Room of Holmes Student Center. Light refreshments will be served.
A full schedule of events for International Education Week is available online.
NIU strives to be an institution where students are actively involved in the learning process: Engaged learning occurs both inside and outside of the classroom and often results in greater educational benefits for students.
Based on recommendations from the Strategic Planning Task Force on Curricular Innovation, a sample of NIU students participated during spring 2009 in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to examine the undergraduate experience at NIU.
The NSSE provides data from students on five benchmarks of student engagement: Level of Academic Challenge, Active and Collaborative Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, Enriching Educational Experiences, and Supportive Campus Environment.
NIU’s results of the NSSE benchmarks are now available at http://www.niu.edu/nsse.
On the menu at Ellington’s this week: Santa Fe Café is scheduled for Tuesday. La Perla takes over Wednesday. Parthenon concludes the week 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.
Santa Fe Café features Mexican cheese soup or orange and jicama green salad for starters, flame-grilled chicken breast or tempe fajitas for entrees and Mexican hot chocolate mousse or caramel apple burritos for dessert. Each table will be served corn muffins with jalapeños and lime butter.
La Perla features fried shrimp with orange syrup or Peruvian chopped salad for starters, Peruvian-style beef kabobs with grilled vegetables or layered potato bake for entrees and citrus yogurt and mixed berries or caramel pecan bars for dessert.
Parthenon features orange, arugula and cucumber salad or balsamic marinated olives for starters, lemon herb chicken and orzo or orecchiette pasta mixed with white beans, tomatoes, feta and mint for entrees and semolina and ground almond cake or roasted plums with Greek yogurt for dessert. Each table will be served pita wedges and roasted red pepper hummus.
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.
NIU’s Avalon String Quartet will continue its 2009-10 season at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Music Building.
The quartet will play Haydn’s “String Quartet Op. 76 No. 5 in D Major,” Bartok’s “String Quartet No. 6” and Dohnanyi’s “Piano Quintet in C Minor, Op. 1.”
NIU piano professor JeongSoo Kim will be the guest pianist for this concert. Kim is associate professor of piano at NIU, where she teaches applied piano, piano literature and piano pedagogy.
As an active performer and teacher, she has had numerous solo and chamber music performances throughout the United States and South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Costa Rica, and has participated in the Aspen and Chautauqua music festivals. Her solo recitals have been radio broadcasted in Buffalo, New York and South Korea, and she has performed as a soloist with the Philippines Philharmonic Orchestra, Kun-San City Orchestra, NIU Philharmonic Orchestra and the Eastman School of Music Student Orchestra.
The concert is free and open to the public, and the building is accessible to all. For more information, contact Lynn Slater (lslater@niu.edu) in the School of Music at (815) 753-1546. This concert also will be live-streamed on the School of Music Web site. Click on “Live HD Webcasts.”
NIU’s Community School of the Arts will offer three one-day classes this month. All are held in the Visual Arts Building, and all are ideal for parents and/or grandparents to enjoy with children.
From 12:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, the community school and the NIU Art Museum team up to present “Seeing Art/Making Art.” The class begins with a private tour of the new NIU School of Art faculty exhibition, led by NIU Art Museum marketing and education coordinator Diana Arntzen. Following the tour, students enjoy a short drawing class facilitated by local artist and teacher Victoria Peel. The class is open to those ages 12 and older. Students are asked to bring drawing materials to the class.
From 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, students learn how to rewire consumer electronics into new noise machines and music makers in Circuit Bending 101. Students ages 15 and older rewire battery-operated electronic toys to find the weird noises lurking inside. The class also examines other applications for electronic music making. Children ages 9 to 14 are welcome with an adult. The class is taught by Austin Cliffe. The class fee includes the cost of materials.
From 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, students learn the art of egg design in Decorating Pysanky Eggs. Using two different styles of Pysanky – the Polish drop/pull folk style and the Ukrainian method – students work with hot wax application and color dye baths. The class is for ages 13 through adult. There is a discount when two people register together. Instructor Billie Giese is an associate professor of drawing in the NIU School of the Art. The class fee includes the cost of materials.
To learn more about these classes and other activities offered by the NIU Community School of the Arts, call (815) 753-1450 or visit www.niu.edu/extprograms.
NIU’s Civic Leadership Academy will host a workshop Tuesday, Nov. 17, called “Governmental Cooperation, Collaboration, and Consolidation in the New Economy: It’s Not Just a Concept Anymore.”
Why is real cooperation and shared services so difficult? Revenues are shrinking, reserves have been tapped, expenses continue to mount and service cuts are an unattractive path. Now could be the time to explore shared services with sincerity and purpose.
This workshop will explore the changing dynamics between units of government. Current research and writings on the topic about “the strains on the system” will be shared and debated. Participants also will be stimulated to ponder the question, “How long can we go on and operate like this?”
A panel of experienced professionals will highlight the afternoon. Their experience with real-life examples of shared services, consolidation studies and intergovernmental agreements will be a great source of information and lessons learned. Their insight will add to what’s realistic, what’s on the horizon and what might be forced on government with regard to consolidation or cooperation. Examples to be reviewed include shared fire/emergency medical services, shared facilities and managing the dynamics of conducting a real feasibility study and other examples.
Facilitators are Kurt Thurmaier, director of NIU’s Division of Public Administration; Greg Kuhn, assistant director of the NIU Center for Governmental Studies; and a select panel of Illinois local government professionals.
Workshops are held at the NIU Naperville campus from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Continental breakfast, buffet lunch and afternoon snack are included in the registration fee.
Registration and more information about CLA and its upcoming workshops are available online.
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 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 Division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management has invited three candidates to campus to interview for the position of associate vice president for Enrollment Management.
Members of the NIU community are invited to attend open forum sessions, where each candidate will give a presentation on “Keys to a Successful Enrollment Management Operation.”
All forums will be held in Room 100 of the Campus Life Building.
For additional information, contact the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management at (815) 753-1573.
NIU students, faculty, staff and local residents can renew driver’s licenses and state IDs, purchase their annual vehicle license plate stickers, register to be organ and tissue donors or conduct other transactions at a mobile office coming to campus.
The mobile office will visit campus from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, in 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. Other services available include vehicle title registration and parking placards for persons with disabilities.
A complete list of acceptable forms of identification is online at www.CyberDriveIllinois.com.
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’s Christian faculty-staff prayer group will meet from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Blackhawk East. For more information, contact Tom Bough at (815) 753-7978 or via e-mail at tbough@niu.edu.
The Friends of NIU Libraries invites the public to a talk led by Owen Muelder of Knox College on the Underground Railroad in Illinois and the DeKalb area.
Muelder’s presentation, titled “Slavery, Anti-Slavery, and the Underground Railroad,” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, in the Rare Books and Special Collections Department on the fourth floor of Founders Memorial Library.
Muelder is director of the Galesburg Colony Underground Railroad Freedom Center at Knox College. Discussion and light refreshments will follow the presentation. Free parking is available after 7 p.m. in the Visitor’s Parking Lot located on Carroll Avenue.
For more information, please call (815) 753-8091.
NIU’s Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language & Literacy will host a November seminar series on Response to Intervention (RtI). These informative and engaging talks will begin at either 4 or 4:30 p.m.
For more information, call (815) 753-5793.
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.
The Division of International Programs will host its Fall 2009 Brown Bag Series from noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays in Faraday West, Room 300.
Attendees are invited to bring lunch and listen to speakers covering a variety of topics such as international perspectives, cultural diversity and study abroad experiences.
Upcoming lunches:
For other details, contact Heesun Majcher, director of the International Student and Faculty Office, at (815) 753-8275 or hmajcher@niu.edu.