Celebrating Black Heritage Month.
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The Center for Black Studies in collaboration with partners across Northern Illinois University, organizes events every February to celebrate Black Heritage Month. All NIU students, staff and faculty are encouraged to attend Black Heritage Month programs to recognize, learn and celebrate the central role of Black diasporic experiences in U.S. History and globally – past, present, and future.
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State of the University rescheduled for Thursday, Feb. 8.
Join President Freeman and Faculty Senate President Ben Creed for an engaging conversation about the state of the university and 2024 goals on Feb. 8, 2024 at 2 p.m. in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium or via Zoom. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions in person or online. Refreshments will be provided including samples of Jada Juice. Employees will receive release time to join the event.
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Presidential Commissions seeking award nominations.
Each year the Presidential Commissions recognize faculty, staff, students and community members who have helped make our campus a welcoming, diverse and inclusive place to live, learn and work. It's time to recognize someone who has done so much for others. Nominations for these awards are now open and are due by March 1, 2024.
Learn more about each of the commission’s awards and complete the nomination forms by visiting the Presidential Commissions' Awards webpage.
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University to upgrade printers on campus.
The University will be upgrading printers across campus in the coming weeks. The current Canon devices will be replaced by Ricoh devices. Currently there are many different models of Canons, and the project will reduce the number of model variances while refreshing our printer fleet. The Department of IT has been working with Distributed IT to test the new devices as well as the new user interface during a pilot project. And after this successful pilot program, the project will begin rolling out replacement devices starting February 13th.
Look for more information, including links to FAQs and deployment schedule in next week’s announcement.
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Changes to support for forms on NIU websites
Effective July 1, 2024, the web team will no longer create, manage or host online forms in Formsite. It’s no longer efficient for us to support Formsite because several other free, user-friendly form-creation tools are now available to all users across campus. These include:
Read more about this change to support for online forms.
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Support for PDFs on NIU websites to change July 1
Effective July 1, 2024, the web team will no longer remediate and/or upload inaccessible PDFs to NIU websites. Compared to other options, PDF is the least accessible and usable online format. The process to remediate a PDF, or make it accessible to people with disabilities, is time-consuming.
There are two alternatives to uploading PDFs:
- Uploading an accessible Microsoft Office 365 document.
- Converting a PDF to HTML web content.
A document already on the NIU website in PDF format may remain online after July 1. When changes are needed to the PDF, an alternate option must be chosen at that time.
Learn more about ending support for PDFs.
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SPS Scholarship Fund offering two student scholarships.
The Supportive Professional Staff Scholarship Fund offers two scholarships annually. Students can apply for the scholarship if they meet the following qualifications:
- The student has been impacted by a SPS employee or is a child or grandchild of an SPS employee.
- The student is attending NIU full time with a minimum 2.5 GPA (3.0 minimum GPA for transfer students).
- The student must be pursuing an undergraduate, graduate or professional degree.
Interested students must complete the SPS Dependent Scholarship Application by Feb. 28, 2024. The application asks about the student’s relationship to a SPS employee, the impact the SPS employee has had on the applicant’s life, and what it means to be a Huskie. There are two scholarships currently available at $1,250 for a child or grandchild of an SPS employee and $750 for a student that has been impacted by an SPS employee. The two scholarships, which can be used during the 2024-2025 academic year, will be awarded later this spring.
For more information concerning the SPS Scholarship contact Committee Chairs Ronald Smith rsmith11@niu.edu or Heath Duncan hduncan@niu.edu.
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Faculty encouraged to add their voice through committees of the university.
University-level committee service provides an important opportunity for NIU faculty to take an active role in shared governance. It is through shared governance that faculty can impact campuswide academic decisions, help set the direction of NIU for the future, and promote academic freedom and productivity.
Soon, the administration of NIU’s colleges and University Libraries will reach out to offer opportunities to serve on a wide variety of committees, councils and boards for terms beginning fall 2024. Faculty are encouraged to engage in this process and consider representing your college or University Libraries in this way.
Shared governance rests on the idea that the healthy functioning of our university is the shared responsibility of faculty, administration, staff, students and the board of trustees. Serving on these committees is one way for faculty to directly contribute to the health of our university.
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Policy Library update
The university community has provided feedback regarding APPM Section IV Item 1 of the NIU Policy Library pertaining to graduate assistantships. No changes will be implemented during the 2024-25 academic year regarding graduate assistant tuition waivers and the correlation to hours worked. This policy is under review.
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Employee Well-being offers Learning Opportunities series for spring.
The Office of Employee Well-being is pleased to announce our Spring 2024 Learning Opportunities series is now posted and open to registration. In addition to offering virtual Teams training sessions, we will provide some in-person and virtual “Expression Art” events again with Vicki Caserno (EWB counselor). Lise Schlosser (EWB intern) will offer an eight-week “Busy Brains” virtual group for employees. Please view the university calendar for more details. We will continue to add trainings and events over the course of the semester, so if you are not on our department mailing list and want to receive the copy of the training flyer or information about our other events, please contact our office and ask to be added to our email list. Learn more about the Office of Employee Well-being by visiting NIU Today.
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Support our students by donating items to Founders Snack Pantry
The provost’s office invites you to donate snacks and supplies to Founders Snack Pantry. This resource was established in Founders Learning Commons during the spring 2023 semester and helps ensure convenient access for all students in need of food to sustain them between meals as they study, collaborate and create.
Drop-off boxes are set up outside the provost’s office (Altgeld Hall 215) and in the lobby of Founders Memorial Library.
Food items needed: Individually wrapped snacks such as peanut butter crackers, pretzels and trail mix.
Supply items needed: Whiteboard markers, highlighters, pens, pencils, folders and three-ring binders.
Students regularly use this resource – approximately 1,000 individual snacks are distributed every month. Thank you for donating and supporting our students!
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Nominations are now being accepted for NIU's staff awards.
Supportive Professional Staff (SPS) and Operating Staff (OS) have a critical role in NIU’s success. NIU annually recognizes current staff members and staff teams who have demonstrated exemplary performance and service in promoting the goals of the university while demonstrating the core values of excellence, equity and inclusion, integrity, collaboration and service.
The staff awards provide an opportunity to acknowledge staff members’ extraordinary effort and exemplary service.
The nomination deadline is Feb. 12, 2024. The nomination process includes providing references. Please submit nominations early, so references have enough time to provide information by the deadline.
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Apply for the David W. Raymond Award for the Use of Technology in Teaching.
Calling all classroom innovators! Faculty in all content areas using technology in their classes may apply for the David W. Raymond Award for the Use of Technology in Teaching.
Sponsored by the Committee for the Improvement of the Undergraduate Academic Experience, this grant awards $1,000 annually and all tenured/tenure-track faculty are eligible.
Faculty may be nominated by students, colleagues or themselves. Apply today! The deadline is Monday, March 18, 2024
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Couple and Family Therapy clinic is now accepting new clients.
Located in Wirtz Hall, our clinic provides affordable mental health services to NIU and our community.
Human beings and being human are at the core of our mission. Our clinic is dedicated to helping individuals and families develop insight on their feelings, thoughts and behavior to achieve self-enhancement, balance and relationship satisfaction.
Our therapists are trained to provide culturally sensitive therapy that both considers and values your background, spiritual beliefs, gender, sexual identity, age and socioeconomic status.
Access to mental health care is a right and not a privilege. Call 815-753-1684 to schedule your first session.
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Schedule your hearing test today.
Are you exposed to loud sounds or music? Do you often ask others to repeat what they said? NIU students, faculty and staff are invited to take part in a free 30-minute hearing test at The Hearing Conservation Center, sponsored by the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders.
Services include: hearing health screener, noise exposure assessment, outer/middle ear screening,and hearing protection consultation.
Email hcc@niu.edu or call 815-753-6246 to set up your screening. Hearing tests take place at Wirtz Hall, room 314 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays. Learn more at go.niu.edu/hcc.
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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:
- Jeff Anderson
- Grounds Services staff
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- Through Feb. 29: Black Heritage Month
- Tuesday, Feb. 6: **ONLINE** Using Blackboard Ally to Support Accessibility in Your Course
- Tuesday, Feb. 6: Women in STEM Lecture Series
- Tuesday, Feb. 6: Intersectionality Talks: Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown of Curls
- Tuesday, Feb. 6: **VIRTUAL** NIU Navigate Staff New-Users Learning Session
- Tuesday, Feb. 6: Career Fair Prep Workshop
- Tuesday, Feb. 6: Celebrating Lunar New Year: Year of the Dragon
- Wednesday, Feb. 7: Center for Burma Studies Open House
- Wednesday, Feb. 7: Women's Basketball vs Ball State
- Wednesday, Feb. 7: STEM Café: Good Food: Gardening, Preserving and Sustainable Food Systems
- Thursday, Feb. 8: Supportive Professional Staff Council
- Thursday, Feb. 8: Lunar New Year Celebration Luncheon
- Thursday, Feb. 8: Open Lab @ De La Vega Innovation Lab
- Thursday, Feb. 8: State of the University
- Thursday, Feb. 8: "Reflections and Observations in Developing the Field"
- Thursday, Feb. 8: The Staff & Faculty - Diesel Bowling League
- Friday, Feb. 9: **NEW - ONLINE** Supporting Underprepared Students in Your Courses
- Friday, Feb. 9: Philosophy Graduate Colloquium - Dr. Rachel Goodman of the University of Illinois at Chicago
- Saturday, Feb. 10: Winter Photography Hike
- Wednesday, April 3: "Resisting Death: Undocumented Immigrants and the Politics of Kidney Failure in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands" Professor Milena Melo Tijerina, Ph.D.
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Financial Month End Close
The month of January is closing for all financial reporting activity at noon Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. Journals not posted at that time will go into February business. Submit January journals before end of business Thursday, Feb 8. Final January reports will be available Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. In addition, February reports will be available Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. These and other important dates can be found on the Controller's Office website.
Monday, Feb. 12: 2024 Staff Award Nomination Deadline
Monday, March 18: Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award Nomination Deadline
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Togetherall offers Huskies assistance during tough times
A new online service provides added support to NIU students facing challenges that often come with being in college. Read more.
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Giving students a voice
Communicating may be something we do every day, but the ability to do this effectively is a significant asset to both our professional and personal lives. Northern Illinois University students are learning how to effectively communicate in a way that empowers them, as part of the COMS 100 course required for all undergraduates. Read more.
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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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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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