Students and leaders at NIU cheered Thursday’s news that Illinois lawmakers had approved a plan to restore second semester MAP grant funding for 137,000 college students statewide
“I commend Gov. Pat Quinn, the leaders in the General Assembly and all of our lawmakers for recognizing that it is in the best interest of the state to find a way to restore funding for second semester MAP grants,” NIU President John G. Peters said. “For the students who rely upon those grants, this keeps the goal of a college education within their reach.”
The Illinois House and Senate voted to provide an additional $205 million for the state’s Monetary Award Program, which provides financial aid of up to nearly $5,000 a year to the neediest college students in the state for tuition and fees. Legislators did not identify any specific funding mechanism to pay for the program.
At NIU, more than 5,600 students – nearly one in three undergraduate students – rely upon MAP grant funding to help pay for their education. The average MAP recipient at NIU receives nearly $4,200 a year.
Nearly 60 NIU students made the trek to Springfield to participate in the rally and to lobby legislators from their home districts. Word that their efforts had helped win the day reached them during the trip back to campus.
“A big cheer went up on the bus,” said Robert Sorsby, 20, president of the NIU Student Association. “We were all relieved to hear that the state sees how important MAP grants are to students.”
While excited at the day’s developments, both Sorsby and Peters acknowledge that work remains to be done.
“Thursday’s vote was a great victory, but the entire higher education community needs to remain united and see this through to completion,” Peters said. “Yesterday’s action was a tribute to the unified efforts of the leadership at every public and private university, college and community college across the state. Working in concert with the leadership of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, with the invaluable support and assistance of students and faculty, we were able to help the legislature understand the importance of our cause. We must all continue to work together to ensure that a source of funding is identified.”
Peters added that he is thrilled by the turnout of students from colleges and universities across the state. An estimated 3,000 students descended upon the state capitol to push for restoration of the funding.
“That’s what state legislators needed to see. That is who they needed to hear from – the students whose lives are affected by this decision,” Peters said. “I think it is fantastic that those students got to learn firsthand that their voices can help shape policy.”
NIU Student Trustee Matt Venaas, of Ottawa, agreed.
“The students I spoke to were excited to have an opportunity to participate in the process,” Venaas said. “It was very empowering for them.”
It is time again for all NIU employees to complete ethics training.
Under the terms of the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, all full-time and part-time, regular and temporary faculty, staff, graduate assistants, extra help and student employees must complete online ethics training.
The training covers such topics as prohibitions against accepting gifts and bribes, conflict of interest, inappropriate use of university resources for personal matters, whistleblower protection and avoidance of political activities during the work day. The training module ends with a 10-question quiz. Everyone who receives a paycheck from the university must complete this training.
Ethics training begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, and concludes at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18. There are no extensions. Employees who do not comply with the annual training mandate can be subject to fines and disciplinary action.
Employees are notified by e-mail and campus mail. Training should be completed during normal work hours. Employees should check with their department on what arrangements are made for workstation access and scheduling of training times.
Contact Human Resource Services at (815) 753-6039 or (815) 753-6000 for information or assistance. Technical questions can be answered by Information Technology Services at (815) 753-8100.
For further information regarding ethics questions, contact NIU Ethics Officer Kenneth Davidson at (815) 753-8364) or Deputy Ethics Officer Greg Brady at (815) 753-2621.
NIU has chosen Brandon T. Lagana as the university’s new director of admissions.
Lagana comes to NIU from the University of Maine at Farmington, where he has served as the director of admissions for the past three years. His first day is Monday, Nov. 16.
He has spent his entire professional career in college admissions, including positions as director in Maine, senior assistant director of admissions, Early Outreach Programs counselor and admissions counselor at Ball State University and as admissions counselor at Albright College.
Lagana has worked with diverse student populations and created programming for TRIO program participants. He has presented on technology in admissions, adult learning strategies, managing stress and developing professionally among student affairs professionals, and on pathways to college success.
In addition, he has been published in the NASPA Journal and other professional publications related to college admissions. Lagana also has served as an adult learning consultant with the living history museum, Conner Prairie in Fishers, Ind.
Lagana earned a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from West Chester University in Pennsylvania, and a master’s in student personnel administration in higher education and Ed.D. in higher education/cognate: adult education from Ball State University. His doctoral dissertation related to student affairs and readiness for professional development.
He succeeds Bob Burk, who will retire at the end of the fall semester. Burk began at NIU in 1986 as associate director of admissions, and has served as director since 1995.
Affirm. Support. Stimulate. Establish. Sustain. Succeed.
These verbs – and 10 more like them – are part of a new “Map to Excellence” poster campaign launched this fall by the Campus Assessment Network. The goal: to colorfully remind administrators, faculty, students and community partners of the value and importance of assessing student learning outcomes.
“We went through an iterative process with various constituents on campus to develop tailored messages for the promotion of assessment,” said Carolinda Douglass, director of the Office of Assessment Services. “We’re trying to help constituents understand how assessment can support and improve teaching and learning at NIU. It’s all part of creating an evidence-based culture of assessment.”
“I hope the campaign will contribute to our campus dialogue about assessment and strengthen the already strong assessment culture at NIU,” added Amy Franklin, director of planning and assessment in Student Affairs & Enrollment Management. “By keeping assessment in our conversations, we can focus on identifying what students are gaining from their time here and on finding ways to support their success.”
Launched in 2006, the Campus Assessment Network (CAN) brings together assessment professionals and other interested parties across NIU for networking, sharing of information and assessment tools and promotion of assessment as an integral part of student success.
Douglass, Franklin and Carrie Zack, assessment coordinator for the University Office for Teacher Certification, comprised a subgroup to develop the messages and accompanying posters.
“If assessment is used to its full potential, students will know what they are expected to learn, how they are to demonstrate this learning, how the learning will be evaluated and what areas they need to improve based on the results of the evaluation,” Zack said. “Faculty and staff will know what aspects of learning need more attention for each student as well as for their program overall and they will be able to adjust their teaching or other aspects of the program to improve student learning.”
The posters were distributed to academic and student support units with requests to display them in faculty, staff and student lounges, departmental bulletin boards, computer labs, learning centers and the shared offices of teaching assistants.
Presentations were made at the new faculty forum and the recent P-20 poster expo, and articles were published in “Toolkit,” the online newsletter of the Office of Assessment Services and in the October 2009 edition of the newsletter of the University Office for Teacher Certification.
Downloadable versions of the posters also are available on CAN’s Web page.
“By continuing to advocate for strong assessment practices by faculty and staff, we will keep our focus on providing optimal learning experiences for students, both inside and outside the classroom,” Franklin said.
Posters also were sent to NIU’s community partners, urging them to “affirm” and “support” what students are learning, to “strengthen” external accountability, “establish” how their involvement benefits students, to “shape” tomorrow’s leaders and to “showcase” joint successes.
“It is my hope that community partners will become engaged with us to jointly determine what students need to learn to be successful contributors to the community,” Zack said, “and how best to assess that learning and its effect on our students’ and graduates’ outcomes, and how to improve students’ experiences at NIU in order to improve these outcomes. If we all fully engage with assessment, we will be on our way to excellence.”
For more information, call (815) 753-8659 or e-mail assess@niu.edu.
An NIU student is developing new insights into why the city of Jerusalem became the City of David – and his research seems to hold water, quite literally.
NIU senior Michael Bramnik says Jerusalem’s karst limestone bedrock – which contained sinkholes, caverns, underground streams and an ample water supply – played prominent roles in the founding and flourishing of the holy city.
Bramnik, who is working toward bachelor’s degrees in history and geology, is scheduled to make a presentation on the topic Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Ore. His abstract won the student award, usually given to graduate students, in the “history of geology” category.
“It’s pretty rare that you have a bachelor’s-level student so well-versed in two disciplines that he can even attempt something like this, much less do it well and present his work in such a prestigious forum,” says Jason Hawke, an NIU professor of ancient history who advised Bramnik on his research.
“Being able to use science to answer questions in history is to me the best of both worlds,” says Bramnik, a 30-year-old student who lives in DeKalb and originally is from suburban Deerfield.
Bramnik concludes from his analysis that the Israelites must have had an extensive familiarity with Jerusalem’s sub-surface geology. The Spring of Gihon, located outside the old city walls, is the only source of freshwater near the surface for a great distance.
When King David first attempted to seize the city from the Jebusites in 1000 B.C., the city’s defenders sealed themselves in its citadel. According to the Bible, David’s elite guard went down into the Spring of Gihon and then up a shaft before striking the Jebusites.
Bramnik, who studied ancient historical texts, the Tanakh (or Hebrew bible) and geologic records, says it’s entirely plausible. The ancient Israelites might have simply exploited naturally formed tunnels in the limestone.
Bramnik believes the Israelites entered the spring, climbed a vertical tunnel now known as Warren’s Shaft and dug the remaining few meters to the surface, entering the citadel from within. He says a scientist who investigated the shaft concluded it was naturally formed and has existed for 40,000 years.
After David seized the city, the ample water supply likely factored into David’s decision to make the location the capital of his new kingdom.
“He had other cities to choose from,” Bramnik says. “The holiest place in Judaism at the time was Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was located. And given David’s mastery of the region, he could have made Damascus his capital because it was much more defensible.
“We don’t really know why he chose Jerusalem,” he adds. “I think it was largely because he had intimate knowledge of the subterranean water system.”
Centuries later, Jerusalem’s geology would play a crucial role in helping the Israelites fend off an attack by the brutal Assyrian war machine, which was known to cut off the water supplies of its enemies. Before the Assyrians arrived at the city in 701 B.C., King Hezekiah had an 1,800-foot-long tunnel dug to reroute the Spring of Gihon’s flow into the protective city walls. This manmade tunnel still exists, Bramnik points out.
“The rerouting of the water supply played a pivotal role in making Jerusalem the only city in history to have survived an Assyrian siege,” he says.
Biblical accounts indicate tens of thousands of Assyrians died while camped outside Jerusalem from causes other than battle.
“That might have been related to Jerusalem’s geology as well,” Bramnik says. “It’s possible that local sinkholes could have been filled with rainwater, or even drainage from Jerusalem’s waste, and the Assyrians could have died from disease such as cholera, which was particularly lethal in ancient times.
“Because Jerusalem was the only city to survive an Assyrian siege, the record seems to indicate the inhabitants attributed the victory to God and felt it was their faith that saved them,” Bramnik adds.
The Babylonians took the city in 587 B.C. and carted its inhabitants to Babylon. The Israelites reasoned that their enslavement had resulted from the unfaithfulness of their leaders, who were worshipping multiple gods.
“While in captivity, modern Judaism formed,” Bramnik says. “It’s when the Israelites shifted wholeheartedly to a monotheistic belief structure and congregational Judaism, which allowed one to worship even if you were not in the land of God.”
At 21 years old, Shay Galto has done more volunteer work on issues related to social justice than most citizen advocates will do in a lifetime.
As a young child, she worked alongside her mother, Nancy, at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. In high school she did volunteer work with senior citizens, on toy drives for needy children and as a Special Olympics coach.
The pattern didn’t end when she went off to college at NIU.
As a freshman, Galto founded “Reading Rocks,” a small group of college students that helps underprivileged children in Aurora sharpen their reading skills. She regularly volunteers at the Hope Haven homeless shelter in DeKalb. And she serves as president and was a founder of the NIU chapter of STAND, a student-led anti-genocide coalition.
Just this past summer, Galto won an NIU grant enabling her to travel to Cambodia, where she conducted research into the terrible legacy of genocide in that country.
For her achievements, both in and out of the classroom, Galto has been named the NIU Student Lincoln Laureate, an honor reserved for the university’s top senior.
On an annual basis, each of the state’s four-year public universities selects one Student Lincoln Laureate, recognizing excellence in both curricular and extracurricular activities. Galto will travel Nov. 7 to Springfield for the Lincoln Laureate ceremony in the House of Representatives of the Old State Capitol.
“Truthfully, I was honored to be even nominated,” Galto says. “The students I was up against were just incredible.”
Galto is no slouch in the incredible category, says NIU History Professor J.D. Bowers, who nominated her for the award.
“Shay is far and away the most outstanding undergraduate student I have encountered in my 10 years of teaching at the university level,” Bowers says. “The Lincoln Laureate and Shay’s many other awards all speak to her compassion, desire to leave the world a better place and her dedication to higher learning.”
It’s a wonder Galto has time for her studies – she also works 20 to 30 hours weekly at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yet the senior from Wheaton is an honors student at NIU, carrying nearly a straight-A average while double majoring in history and psychology.
She has been the recipient of numerous honors and grants, including the Outstanding Student Scholarship from the NIU Department of History and the Undergraduate Special Opportunities in Artistry and Research (USOAR) award, which provided funding for travel to Cambodia. She also serves as vice president for community service in Mortar Board, the senior honor society.
A course taught by Bowers, who specializes in the history of genocide, sparked Galto’s interest in forming the NIU chapter of STAND, the anti-genocide coalition. Bowers is particularly impressed with its work, which has included efforts to raise awareness among lawmakers over current situations in Sudan, Burma and the Congo. The two-year old group already counts some 60 student members.
“Shay is tireless, persistent, compassionate and engaged,” Bowers says. “Through her leadership, the organization is growing, active and making a difference.”
Galto says her mother has been a lifelong role model and inspiration, and helping others simply makes her feel good.
“When I see others suffering, whether abroad in Cambodia or in Chicago, I feel obligated to step up,” she says.
“I would like to think it’s selfless, but at the same time it’s not,” Galto adds. “I always feel good about helping other people. The children especially always make me smile and laugh, and it definitely brightens my day. I still have all the thank-you notes from children I’ve worked with.”
Galto hopes to someday become a professor of clinical psychology, working internationally with victims of trauma. She believes such a job would allow her to combine her love of learning with research and community activism.
“It’s one thing to be great in academics,” she says, “but it’s another to show you can apply what you’re learning to helping other people.”
In winning NIU’s Student Lincoln Laureate award, Galto was competing against top NIU seniors in a wide variety of disciplines. Other nominees for the award included first finalist Bradley Broughton (geography, political science and translation and business Spanish); finalists Chelsey Newcomb (Spanish language and literature, English/pre-law) and Matthew Venaas (English and political science); and Deanna Bach (Spanish language and literature), Kyle Knotek (business administration), Clare Kron (biology), Lisa Loring (nursing), Michelle Mutch (health sciences-pre physical therapy), Kevin Naglich (computational software/computer science) and Stephanie Pieczynski (music composition).
Organizers of NIU Cares Day 2010 will hold an informational meeting from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in Room 100 of the Campus Life Building.
NIU Cares Day is a campus-wide day of community service that brings students, faculty and staff together to complete projects for a number of not-for-profit organizations and community agencies. NIU Cares Day 2010 is scheduled for April 17.
This meeting is set up in an open house fashion, with a short welcome in the beginning. Leaders will begin to assemble the planning committee and encourage interested individuals to become a part of the action by registering for sub-committees.
NIU Cares Day has four sub-committees. Meetings begin the week of Nov. 2.
For more information, contact Becky Harlow at (815) 753-6703.
NIU political science professor Ross Corbett recently won the second-place award in the Templeton Fellowship Essay Contest. His award is accompanied by a cash prize of $5,000 and an honorary Templeton Fellowship.
The annual international contest for junior faculty is conducted by the Independent Institute. In the junior faculty category, first-, second- and third-place awards were presented.
Essayists were asked to consider this Benjamin Franklin quote: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” They were then asked to respond to the question: “Which virtues contribute the most toward achieving freedom, and how can the institutions of civil society encourage the exercise of those virtues?”
Corbett’s winning essay was titled “Liberal Education for a Liberal Democracy.”
The Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest encourages college students and young college professors around the world to study the meaning and significance of economic and personal liberty. Co-sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the Independent Institute, the essay contest honors Sir John M. Templeton and is held with a different topic each year.
“The contest winners deserve our highest accolades,” said Carl Close, academic affairs director of the Independent Institute. “By identifying key connections between virtue, freedom and civil society, these young scholars have reinforced the intellectual edifice on which liberty stands.”
Corbett teaches courses relating to the history of political philosophy and the theoretical foundations of the American regime.
ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, has bestowed its annual ASCAPLUS Award on NIU School of Music faculty member Greg Beyer. This is the fifth consecutive year that Beyer has won this prestigious award.
Beyer has been receiving recognition for his groundbreaking compositions involving the Brazilian instrument known as the berimbau.
For 2009, he composed for two projects that included the berimbau and the use of max/MSP (a visual programming language for music and real-time digital audio signal processor). These works were performed at New York City’s The Stone, one of the most significant venues for experimental and avant-garde music in the United States.
Beyer’s two compositions are “My One and Only Loop,” for percussion, piano and interactive electronics, and “The Northern Wind,” for solo percussion, berimbau and interactive electronics.
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. today in the lower level of the Holmes Student Center. The next fall date is Monday, Nov. 16.
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 education program will welcome visiting 2009 Fulbright Scholar and guest speaker, Andrea Kárpáti, at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Kárpáti will give an open lecture titled, “Hungarian Gypsy: Child-Art-Culture.” All are welcome to attend this event in Room 110 of the Visual Arts Building.
Professor and head of the UNESCO Centre for Information and Communication Technologies at ELTE University, Faculty Sciences, in Budapest, Hungary, Kárpáti is a member of the editorial board of three international research journals. She also sits on the executive committee of EDEN (European Distance Education Network), the executive board of the UNESCO commission-Hungary, and the educational committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Her current research focuses on the study of the traditional and digital visual expressions of youth subcultures, testing art and design skills, visual talent in multicultural communities and the use of multimedia applications in education.
E-mail debatart@niu.edu for more information.
Yale historian Jonathan Spence, among the world’s leading authorities on the shaping of modern China, will deliver the sixth annual W. Bruce Lincoln Lecture at 7:30 p.m. today in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium. The event is free and open to all.
British born and educated at Cambridge and Yale, Spence has written more than 15 books, including “The Search for Modern China,” which has become one of the standard texts on the last several hundred years of Chinese history. Every edition of the book has been a bestseller.
His NIU lecture is titled, “China and the West: A Seventeenth Century Chinese Pioneer.”
“In the 17th century, it was already becoming moderately common for some Western missionaries, traders and diplomats to visit China,” Spence said. “This lecture looks at the other side of this story, to the fragments of evidence that let us study one of the first Chinese visitors to travel to England and France, and to examine what he experienced when he was there.”
Spence holds the title of Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and has long been regarded as one of the most popular undergraduate lecturers at the university. He has been the recipient of both the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Guggenheim Fellowship and has received 10 honorary degrees.
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.
On the menu at Ellington’s this week: Calavance Restaurant is scheduled for Tuesday. Caribbean Cove takes over Wednesday. Wasabi Bistro 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.
Calavance Restaurant features sundried tomato triangles or tabbouleh salad for starters, Mediterranean chicken kabobs or eggplant matzo lasagna for entrees and Turkish pudding or almond lemon torte for dessert. Each table will be served zatter sticks with garlic yogurt dip.
Caribbean Cove features jerk-spiced shrimp with fruit salsa or avocado salad for starters, calypso chicken or spicy Caribbean stew with pumpkin for entrees and chocolate coconut rum cake or mango-lime ice for dessert. Each table will be served plantain chips with warm cilantro dipping sauce.
Wasabi Bistro features sushi or miso soup for starters, udon noodles with beef or hoisen-drenched tofu and stir-fried vegetables for entrees and green tea cheesecake with raspberries or vanilla ice cream with oranges and sake cream for dessert. Each table will be served freshly steamed edamame.
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.
Northern Pride weekly lunches offer an informal opportunity for those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally community at NIU to meet, socialize and network.
The lunches take place every Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Blackhawk Cafeteria East meeting room and are open to students, faculty and staff. Those attending can purchase lunch at the Blackhawk Cafeteria or bring their own lunch. The meeting room is located directly across from the cash registers in the cafeteria.
For more information, contact the LGBT Resource Center at (815) 753-5428 or lgbt@niu.edu.
NIU’s Art Museum will host the NIU School of Art Faculty Biennial from Tuesday, Oct. 27, through Saturday, Dec. 5. An opening reception for the exhibition is scheduled from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29.
The exhibition features recent work by the faculty, visiting faculty and members of the Supportive Professional Staff in a variety of media, including ceramics, design, drawing, fiber, illustration, jewelry, metal work, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, time arts, video and visual communication. Also featured are research in art education and art history.
Spanning all four galleries of the museum, this exhibition provides an opportunity for the NIU and greater DeKalb and Sycamore communities to discover or become reacquainted with the research, ideas and artwork of these faculty members.
For details on lectures offered in conjunction with the exhibition, visit www.niu.edu/artmuseum. The museum will be closed from Nov. 25 through Nov. 30 for the Thanksgiving recess.
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.
A retirement party for Pat Foster has been scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room in the Holmes Student Center.
Foster began working in the University Bookstore in 1995 and has been responsible for the custom publishing service for faculty.
A retirement party for Marsha Hogeveen, office support specialist in Student Financial Aid, is planned for 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30.
The party will be held in Room 245 of Swen Parson Hall. Enter through the Scholarship Department. Light snacks and beverages will be served.
Musical tricks and tasty treats for children of all ages are served up at a pair of special Halloween concerts at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, in Boutell Memorial Concert Hall.
Conductor Linc Smelser and the KSO will perform season-appropriate pieces, including “Phantom of the Opera,” Meyer’s “Rosin Eating Zombies from Outer Space,” “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Grieg and “A Night on Bald Mountain” by Mussogrsky.
These concerts are especially programmed for family audiences. Performers and audience members all are encouraged to come in costume, and the concert hall is decorated in a Halloween spirit.
There will be trick-or-treating opportunities for children from 5 to 5:30 p.m. with students and faculty members distributing free candy. Prairie View Dental of Sycamore, the concert sponsor, will hand out free dental samples to all trick-or-treaters.
Both concerts are free and open to the public, and the building is accessible to all. For more information, contact Amanda Nelson at (815) 756-3728 or contact@kishorchestra.org.
NIU’s Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity has limited travel funds available to help support faculty, staff and students who wish to attend conferences, workshops or seminars for the purpose of learning about or presenting scholarship on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender topics.
Individuals requesting funds will be asked to submit a PCSOGI Request for Travel Support form, including a breakdown of costs and other sources of funding support. All travel must take place in the current fiscal year (through June 30, 2010). The Request for Travel Support form is available online.
For more information, contact Patricia Liberty Baczek at (815) 753-5428 or via e-mail at pcsogi@niu.edu.
NIU Athletics will host a three-mile run/walk next month to raise money and awareness for cancer research in honor of the late NCAA President Myles Brand, who died Sept. 16 from pancreatic cancer.
Athletes, coaches, staff, students and community will come together with universities across the nation Saturday, Nov. 7, to participate in the “Miles for Myles” race for cancer.
All are invited to attend the 10 a.m. race at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex. A $1 donation from each participant is sought. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the complex’s concession area.
Proceeds raised will be donated to three organizations fighting cancer: Coaches vs. Cancer (NABC), the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund and The Myles Brand Endowed Chair for Cancer Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
The event is open to anyone who wishes to participate. Free parking will be available at the Convocation Center. For more information, call Janaan Mickey at (815) 753-7370.
For those who haven’t had an opportunity to participate in the NIU Foundation’s Faculty & Staff Campaign, now is the time. Participation is easy and every gift, no matter its size, will make an immediate impact at NIU.
Here are five simple ways to participate to make your gift count in the 2009-10 campaign:
Give online
Gifts made by Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express can be quickly and safely processed through our secure Web site.
Give offline
One-time credit card or check gifts may be made using the Outright Gift Form. Make checks payable to the NIU Foundation.
Give through payroll deduction
Download the Payroll Deduction Gift Form. Payroll deduction gifts have a minimum of $5 per pay period and can be ongoing or limited to a certain amount.
Give over the phone
Call 1-877-GIV-2-NIU (1-877-448-2648) and a friendly Faculty & Staff Campaign representative will process your credit card gift.
Give in person
Visit the Advancement Services office in Swen Parson Hall 220.
While this year’s campaign focuses on expendable scholarship support for students, your gift can be designated to any area at NIU. Also, no matter which method of giving you prefer, 100 percent of your gift will support your area of choice.
The NIU Chemistry Club invites the public to celebrate National Chemistry Week with an evening of chemistry demonstrations beginning at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Faraday Hall 143. This year’s theme is “Chemistry – It’s Elemental!”
“Since the theme deals with the ‘elemental’ nature of chemistry, we have selected demos that involve reactions of elements,” says Professor David Ballantine, faculty adviser for the Chem Club.
“Some of the more dramatic elemental reactions involve the thermite reaction, the reaction of white phosphorus with air, potassium with water and combustion of magnesium with carbon dioxide.”
The evening will conclude with an always crowd-pleasing demo – the making of liquid nitrogen ice cream.
Some of the experiments planned for the evening might involve loud noises and produce some smoke and/or unpleasant smells and might be inappropriate for small children. To ensure the safety of the audience and the presenters, flash photography will not be permitted. For some experiments, members of the audience might be asked to move away from the demonstration area, again for safety precautions.
Parking will be available in the NIU Parking Deck along the west side of Normal Road. The Parking Deck is open for general parking after 7 p.m., except for reserved and handicapped spaces.
NIU’s Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy has announced a mini-grant program.
Mini-grants are designed to assist CISLL faculty in the development of research or service oriented grant proposals for external funding. Awards may be used to support travel to confer with funding agencies, attendance at workshops for seeking external funding, salary to support proposal development or salary for assistance (typing, etc.).
Faculty are required to apply in multidisciplinary groups with at least two departments represented. Awards only will be given to individuals affiliated with CISLL; however, individuals hired by the awardees need not be affiliate of the center.
Award amounts can vary depending on need, with a maximum amount per award of $1,000 per individual. The deadline for applications is Friday, Oct. 30.
Direct questions to cisll@niu.edu or Anne Darfler at adarfler1@niu.edu. For more information, call (815) 753-5793.
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’s Stroke Networking and Activity Program (SNAP), a stroke support group operated by speech-language pathology faculty in the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders, has announced its fall schedule of activities.
Lilli Bishop, a clinical faculty member, and Jamie Mayer, assistant professor, invite stroke survivors and their loved ones to programs held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, and Thursday, Dec. 3, in Room 1219 of the NIU Family Health, Wellness and Literacy Center, 3100 Sycamore Road.
The topic for Nov. 5 is “Enhancing Memory: Exercises or Strategies?” and the topic for Dec. 3 is “Learn about Tai Chi!”
SNAP’s programming teaches stroke survivors and their loved ones more about stroke recovery, rehabilitation and prevention while it introduces participants to other individuals in the community who have shared similar experiences.
For more information, or to arrange transportation, call (815) 753-9166 or e-mail jmayer1@niu.edu.
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.
NIU’s Committee on the Undergraduate Academic Environment (CUAE) is seeking proposals from undergraduate students for the 2009-10 USOAR awards. The deadline for students to submit 10 copies of their proposals to the appropriate college office is Wednesday, Dec. 2.
The USOAR program provides funds to students to carry out an independent artistry or research project under the guidance of a NIU faculty or staff member.
All undergraduates in every major are eligible to apply. Students must be available to carry out their USOAR project during part or all of the period March 1, 2010, through Feb. 28, 2011. Students can receive up to $2,500 to fund their independent artistry or research project. Proposal materials can be found online.
Information sessions are scheduled from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Thursday, Oct. 15, in Room 405 of the Holmes Student Center. Current USOAR students will share experiences and projects. For more information, contact Julia Spears at (815) 753-8152 or jspears1@niu.edu.
The Northern Illinois University Executive Club will hold its 11th Annual Scholarship Dinner Dance Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Oak Brook Hills Marriot Resort.
The event raises funds for scholarships for students attending the NIU College of Business.
The black-tie optional event begins at 6:30 p.m. with a reception and silent auction, followed by dinner and a live auction at 7:30. Entertainment and dancing will commence at 9 p.m. For more information, or to purchase tickets, contact NIU’s College of Business alumni office (815) 753-1433.
Established in 1996, the NIU Executive Club is an alumni organization specifically designed for business executives. It was formed to bridge the business community and the NIU College of Business, providing opportunities for networking and professional development for alumni and business students alike.
NIU Annuitants Association President Linda Schwarz will hold a meet-and-greet with coffee from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, at Barnes & Noble, 2439 Sycamore Road in DeKalb. Refreshments are provided by the NIU Credit Union.
LGBT History Month this year will feature several NIU faculty presentations along with the popular "Do Ask, Do Tell" sticker day and annual Creating Community fall reception.
Faculty presentations include:
Full details about these and all other events are available by calling (815) 753-5428, e-mailing lgbt@niu.edu or visiting the LGBT Resource Center Web site.
Learn to design one-of-a-kind eggs, which can be given as gifts, kept as family heirlooms or treasured as holiday decorations.
The NIU Community School of the Arts is offering a workshop, Creating Pysanky Eggs. The class meets from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, in the Visual Arts Building. The workshop is for anyone ages 13 through adult.
Egg decorating is a skill that has been handed down through many generations, usually from mother to daughter. Pysanky are Ukrainian/Polish eggs, decorated using beeswax and dyes that are applied in layers.
Students learn to decorate eggs using two different styles of Pysanky: the Polish drop/pull folk style and the Ukrainian method, which uses the delrin kista tool. Both use hot wax applied to the egg surface and color dye baths. The fee includes the cost of materials.
The class is ideal for mothers and daughters or for friends; 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.
For registration forms or information about this and other programs of the NIU Community School of the Arts, visit www.niu.edu/extprograms or call (815) 753-1450.
Phi Sigma Biology Honors Society, the Pre Professional Association and the Chemistry Club will host a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the Holmes Student Center Capital Room.
Refreshments will be provided after the donation, and every donor will receive a free pair of flannel pants.
To schedule a time to donate, contact Kate Krise at (815) 821-5688 or by e-mail at katekrise@yahoo.com. Walk-ins also are welcome.
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.