Benefits Usage and Work Schedule Flexibility survey
We recognize that there is variability across campus in terms of work schedule flexibility and attitudes/beliefs about using employee benefits, which influences employees’ experiences at NIU. This survey (accessed through the link below) seeks input about employees’ experiences with benefits usage and work schedule flexibility.
All faculty, Supportive Professional Staff (SPS) or civil service employees at NIU are invited to participate until Dec. 15, 2023. Responses will be anonymous. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Survey results will be shared with campus administrators potentially contributing to recommendations for revision to campus policy and training of individuals in supervisory position.
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Faculty and staff open portrait session.
NIU Institutional Communications will offer free environmental portraits to faculty and staff on Friday, Dec. 1 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Atrium of Cole Hall. In order to provide the most flexibility for everyone we will not be scheduling appointments. Portraits will be taken on a first-come first-serve basis.
For clothing, we recommend you wear professional attire that makes you feel comfortable and confident. Dress casually if your line of work calls for it, or feel free to dress more formally. Choose solid colors and avoid busy patterns, obvious brand names, or other university names. For more examples, you can check out other faculty portraits in NIU’s Experts Guide.
A link to your photographs will be sent in 10-14 business days. We would also like to invite all faculty and staff to share your story with the NIU community. Please consider taking a moment to fill out a brief questionnaire to be featured in our Huskie Spotlight. If you have any questions please contact photography@niu.edu.
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Sara Evans coming to NIU Convocation Center during Go Tell It On the Mountain tour.
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Sara Evans is at the top of her game. Her five number one singles include “No Place That Far,” “Suds In The Bucket, “A Real Fine Place To Start,” “Born to Fly,” and “A Little Bit Stronger.” Sara’s “stunning, country voice” (Rolling Stone) has earned her the prestigious Academy of Country Music Top Female vocalist accolade as well as numerous American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Country Music Association, CMT and Grammy Awards nominations. In addition, the CMA awarded Video of the Year honors for her hit chart-topping single, "Born to Fly" from her landmark double-platinum album of the same name.
Join her for a holiday experience at the NIU Convocation Center on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
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RIPS STARS Academy Call for Applications
The Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships Strategic Transdisciplinary Art, Research and Scholarship Faculty Academy (RIPS STARS Academy) is accepting applications for its 2024 cohort. The RIPS STARS Academy seeks applicants from all colleges and strongly encourages applications from a wide range of disciplines inclusive of the breadth of NIU research, scholarship, artistry and engagement.
The RIPS STARS Academy offers professional development centered around external funding success. While RIPS STARS Academy targets early career faculty, eligibility is not limited to tenure-track faculty. Individuals with demonstrated potential and a clear expectation for attracting external funding for their research, engagement, scholarship or artistry may apply. RIPS STARS Academy programming includes onboarding, professional development, networking/building community and mentoring.
Individuals interested in participating in the 2024 RIPS STARS Academy must submit a brief application in the NIU InfoReady internal competition space and be nominated by their department and college.
Applications must be submitted in InfoReady by Dec. 6, 2023, for forward to the department and college. More information is available on the Office of Research Development website.
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Civil Service recruitment posting and holiday closures.
Human Resource Services (HRS) reminds the campus to be mindful of the winter holiday closures and how those dates might impact recruitment. HRS encourages hiring officials to be mindful of setting the close dates within the two weeks before and one week after the New Year’s holiday closures to accommodate the search committee/team and HRS’ administrative support schedules. HRS recommends that vacancies posted after Dec. 8, 2023, consider a closing date after Jan. 2, 2024. If you have any questions, please reach out to TalentAcquisitionHRS@niu.edu or vwronkowski@niu.edu.
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Illinois minimum wage update.
Effective Jan. 1, 2024, the minimum wage in Illinois will increase to $14.00 as authorized by Public Act 101-1. As a result, Human Resource Services (HRS) will run a program that will convert the pay rates for any hourly employees who are paid less than $14.00 an hour to the new minimum of $14.00 effective January 1. Accordingly, you will need to adjust resource allocations in cost centers to support the new minimum wage. No additional resources will be provided to fund the increases. Please note that this change occurs in the middle of our fiscal year, so it will be necessary to account for future changes in the budgeting process that may occur in the spring at NIU. While it is not necessary to submit requests to change pay rates for those employees to be raised to the new minimum, if your department has adjustments that need to be made outside of this process for students and extra-help employees, we would appreciate receiving the paperwork by Dec. 15, 2023.
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Go paperless! Elect to receive your 2023 W-2 electronically
The Payroll office will process and mail calendar year 2023 W-2s by the Internal Revenue Service’s deadline of January 31, 2024. These tax forms are required to be mailed to an employee’s home address unless the employee elects and consents to receiving the form electronically. When you opt to receive your W-2 form electronically, you will have convenient, secure access to your tax information as soon as it has been produced instead of waiting for the forms to arrive in the mail.
The deadline to elect and consent to receiving your 2022 W-2 electronically is Friday, January 5, 2024.
To elect and consent to receiving your 2023 W-2 electronically, please follow the steps below:
- Go to MyNIU.
- Click on the "MyNIU Human Resource System" panel.
- Login with your NIU User ID and password.
- Select the "Payroll" tile.
- Click on “W-2/W-2c” on the left menu bar.
- Click on “W-2/W-2c Consent.”
- To receive your W-2 electronically, check the box next to the message that reads “I consent to receive W-2 or W-2c forms electronically.”
- To complete your request, click the Submit button.
If you have previously consented to only receive your W-2 form in electronic format through MyNIU, you do not need to take any action. Questions regarding this information can be directed to payroll@niu.edu.
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NSF Virtual Grants Fall Conference scheduled for Dec. 4-7, 2023
The National Science Foundation (NSF) will be hosting their free 2023 Fall NSF Virtual Grants Conference for anyone new to NSF looking to learn key insights into a wide range of current issues at NSF, and for those who are experienced and would like to be caught up on the latest agency policies and funding information.
See the Sponsored Programs Administration Newsblog for additional information.
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Policy Library update – new policies
New policies are open to review and comment for a 30-day period. This provides our NIU community the opportunity to consider and respond to the new policies before they take effect. The new policies are:
- HIPAA Security and Privacy Compliance Policy; comments due by Dec. 1.
- Interest Income Distribution Policy; comments due by Dec. 16.
To submit a comment, go to our policy library website. Click on “Comment on New/Renew Policies.” You’ll be able to review the policies and provide your comments. If you have any questions, please contact the university policy librarian at policy-library@niu.edu.
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Applaud a Colleague is a show of appreciation for those coworkers who go above and beyond. These are just a few of the employees throughout the university that go the extra mile:
- Marissa Wolfe
- Angela Bross
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Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Insights
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NIU’s draft HLC Assurance Argument to be released in stages.
NIU’s Higher Learning Commission site visit will take place on March 25-26, 2024. In preparation, a team has spent the last 18 month preparing our Assurance Argument. We would like to solicit campus feedback. We invite all thoughts. In particular, if you have compelling examples that illustrate ways that NIU is meeting the criteria, we ask that you share them. We will use Qualtrics to collect feedback and release the draft argument. Criteria 1 and 2 will be released on Nov. 27, Criteria 3 and 4 will be released on Dec. 4, and Criterion 5 will be released on Dec. 11. All Qualtrics surveys will remain open until Jan. 12, 2024. We will be keeping the campus informed of each release by sending out weekly reminders.
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Annual President's Holiday Gathering is Thursday, Nov. 30.
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Join President Lisa Freeman, her leadership team and fellow colleagues for the Annual President's Holiday Gathering on Thursday, Nov. 30 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium. Employees are granted release time to participate. Beverages and desserts will be provided. A photo station will be available to take holiday photos with colleagues and Mission III will make an appearance. You can also purchase our 2023 Pride with Purpose shirt, which would make a great holiday gift. Donations will also be accepted for the Huskie Food Pantry. A full list of items needed by the pantry can be viewed on the Huskie Food Pantry website.
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Research and Artistry 2024 internal grant competition open
Our 2024 Research and Artistry competition is accepting applications. This annual internal grant competition provides funding support for faculty research, scholarship and artistry activities. More information, including the 2024 request for proposals containing full details and application instructions, is available on the Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships Research and Artistry website. Applications are due by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, via our NIU InfoReady application portal.
Financial Month End Close
The month of November is closing for all financial reporting activity at noon on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. Journals not posted at that time will go into December business. Submit November journals before end of business on Friday, Dec. 8. Final November reports are scheduled to be available Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. In addition, December reports are scheduled to be available Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. These and other important dates can be found on the Controller's Office website.
Friday, Dec. 15: EUTA and EUIA award nomination deadline
Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024: Nomination Deadline for the Excellence in Online Teaching Award
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Dara Little receives international research administrators’ award, will become group’s next president
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Growing up in Janesville, Minnesota, Dara Little showed early signs of being organized, detail-oriented and endlessly curious—cornerstone traits for anyone looking to carve out a successful career as a research administrator. Read more.
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Generations of gratefulness
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Thanksgiving can be a special time of coming together and making memories. This year, two NIU students took this to a new level, organizing a Thanksgiving meal for more than 100 people at Ellington’s Restaurant in the Holmes Student Center – a gathering that included their families and multiple generations of Huskies. Read more.
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Have information to share?
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Complete the NIU Clearinghouse form to have your notice, deadline or event included in the Monday Morning Employee Announcements or The Weekly Scroll. Submissions are due the Thursday before the week you would like your announcement to appear.
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This message has been approved for distribution by the appropriate NIU party and is distributed by the Division of Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications. NIU Mass Email Policy.
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Northern Illinois University's vision is to be an engine for innovation to advance social mobility; promote personal, professional and intellectual growth; and transform the world through research, artistry, teaching and outreach. Learn more about NIU’s vision, mission and values.
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