Support the College

Knowledge is key to acting as an informed citizen. Project Democracy, our wide-ranging program provides students and their communities with a greater understanding of every citizen's responsibility to protect our democratic institutions.

With a liberal arts approach, the program delivers diverse research, experiential learning and study abroad opportunities, helping our students expand their knowledge, build perspective and become active, engaged citizens.

With research collaborations spanning seven continents, CLAS is the university's greatest producer of transformational new knowledge.

With unusually diverse STEM disciplines, strong links to area assets like Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab, and the highest research grant earnings of any NIU academic unit, CLAS is increasingly prized as a producer of science and technology professionals for northern Illinois and beyond.

NIU today is pivoting toward education that uses communities as learning laboratories.

Across the street and around the world, NIU students and faculty engage with community organizations and conduct community-based scholarship. Scholars practice the liberal arts in the real world, engaging in multidimensional, cross-disciplinary inquiry that yields deeper insights and transformative solutions.

CLAS will begin by leading the charge to make NIU a carbon-neutral institution, signaling to students our commitment to their future world. As we do, we will tap our faculty's renowned experts on climate change, ecosystem restoration and environmental justice to equip students with the skills and passions it will take to transform our society.

Activities supported include funding green engagement and sustainability projects on and off campus, providing scholarships for students majoring in environment-related studies and supporting wide-ranging, grant-funded research like what is currently being conducted within our new Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment.

We educate a high percentage of students who are first in their families to attend college, who hail from underrepresented communities, who work hard to afford their education, and who qualify for the very highest levels of financial aid. Scholarships and other support funds are absolutely mission-critical to our institution. To help all students thrive and persist to graduation, we must provide academic support services on campus to assist them on their journey. No deserving student should have finances stand in the way of their dreams.

In an academic unit as large and innovative as CLAS, new opportunities and needs arise continually: new academic opportunities, student enrichment activities, research projects, equipment needs and many more.

The CLAS Fund for Excellence will provide crucial flexibility to meet these needs, allowing the College to take advantage of emerging opportunities, bridge gaps and plan with confidence. Contributions to the Fund help CLAS make good on its promise to prepare graduates who are ready to lead in a dynamic, fast-paced world.