Oct. 21, 2024

Join us at the The Real Talk Conference: Opening Pathways to Embrace Our Humanity on Friday, Oct. 25. Come make new connections while engaging in powerful conversations that promote understanding, increase empathy, and facilitate change in our community. Experience dynamic keynote speakers and interactive sessions led by NIU's students, faculty, and community members.

During the month of October, the following three (3) mandatory trainings for all employees will be available in Blackboard:

Each training varies in length from 45 minutes to one (1) hour. These trainings will be open from Oct. 7-31, 2024. All training must be completed by the last date of the training period prior to midnight. There will be no extensions available. Learn more about the trainings by visiting the NIU Calendar.

Effective Oct. 1, 2024, allowance maximums for lodging and meal per diems have been updated and should be verified through the GSA Per Diem Rates in accordance with 80 Ill. Adm. Code 3000.400, 3000.500, 3000.510 and Appendix A.  You may search for per diem rates by selecting the state and city of the travel location or by zip code.  You must also utilize the drop-down box to select the appropriate fiscal year of travel. Please note that the federal fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 of the subsequent year. 

Per diem on travel days is still based on time of travel using the quarter system per HETCB allowances. This information may be found here under the “Meals- Employees in Travel Status” section. When using the GSA meal per diem rate tables, please do not include the “incidental expenses” in the amounts submitted for reimbursement. The policy for day trip meal allowances for reimbursement of breakfast and/or dinner has not changed.  If you have any questions, please contact Accounts Payable Services at 815-753-1514 or email AccountsPayableSrvs@niu.edu.

NIU's Green Office Certification program recognizes the use of sustainable practices in everyday office operations. By getting your area certified, you support NIU’s commitment to being a leader in sustainability and promote the use of sustainable practices across campus.

The practices recognized by the program align with those recommended by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Implementing them will help us work toward the goals in the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan and build a stronger campus culture of sustainability. 

To improve our university’s security, the Department of Information Security and Operations has made changes to the university’s password/passphrase blocking list. This change strengthens our passwords and brings us into alignment with recommendations from external security professionals. We are now blocking additional words associated with NIU, Chicago and the university in general that could be guessed, and thereby make a hacker’s job easier (i.e., we’ve added over 100 common words to our list that cannot be used in part of a password/passphrase). Some variants using different capitalization, or some special characters, will also be blocked. Users will see these changes upon their next password change.

Any questions can be directed to the Division of Information Technology.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced, effective Oct. 27, 2024, that they are implementing multifactor authentication (MFA) for Research.gov. Sponsored Programs Administration encourages faculty and staff who plan to work with NSF, or who currently have NSF funding, to review these requirements as soon as possible to ensure uninterrupted access to Research.gov.

For more information, please visit our Sponsored Programs Newsblog.

A total of 19 crowdfunding teams from across our NIU campus are raising money to help fund projects in their departments. Project initiatives include student travel, food insecurity, equipment, scholarships and so much more. Visit crowdfund.niu.edu to learn more and make you donation today.

2024 NIU Campus Flu Clinic is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23 in the Holmes Student Center Ballroom.

They do not offer COVID-19 or high-dose vaccines at this clinic.

Please read the information regarding receiving your vaccine, on what you may need to know or bring to your appointment, as well as booking the appointment and pre-fill. Download and print the client consent form to bring to your appointment at the Employee Well-being website.

If you need to reschedule or cancel your appointment, go to your confirmation email you received and scroll down to the button “Reschedule.”

For questions regarding the vaccine, or your insurance if you are not covered under one of the offered NIU insurances, call the DeKalb County Health Department at 815-758-6673.

If you have any questions regarding booking an appointment or the event, please contact NIU Employee Well-being at 815-753-9191 or email ksmith12@niu.edu.

NIU is proud to celebrate National Transfer Student Week this week! With transfer students making up 40% of our undergraduate population, we value the critical role community colleges play in shaping our students’ journeys. We encourage you to participate by wearing your community college colors this Wednesday, Oct. 23, and join us from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. for a photo at the NIU letters in MLK Commons.

Tip: Submit your event, lecture, training session or deadline to the NIU calendar to help inform Huskies about everything that is happening on campus. 

The month of October is closing for all financial reporting activity at noon Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. Journals not posted at that time will go into November business. Submit October journals before end of business Friday, Nov. 8. Final October reports are scheduled to be availableTuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. In addition, November reports are scheduled to be available Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. These and other important dates can be found on the Controller's Office website.