March 17, 2025

The Budget and Planning at NIU website has been updated tand now includes a FY26 budget model and a timeline and process for FY26 budget development and approvals.

All faculty and staff are encouraged to complete The Great Colleges to Work for Survey. The invitation to complete the survey will be sent to your NIU email account from surveys@modernthink.net on Monday, March 17. The survey takes 10-15 minutes to complete and your responses are anonymous and confidential. The deadline to complete the survey is midnight on Monday, March 31, 2025. 

RIPS continues to monitor federal actions related to research and external funding and posts updates to its Federal Administration Transition and Resources webpage as they become available. Faculty and staff pursuing or holding federal awards are encouraged to check this site frequently for information and to reach out to RIPS with questions. 

Human Resource Services is holding the first “Tips and Tools” sessions for supervisors and leaders across campus from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 19 over Teams. This month’s discussion will be led by Cathy Doederlein, director of Employee Experience and Brian Smith, director of Employee Well-being, with a focus on “Onboarding and Establishing a Strong Workplace Culture.” We will engage with you on the elements, processes and actions that contribute toward building a strong workplace culture. If you are interested in joining this discussion, please register by 10 a.m., March 19. 

We will also host the first “Leadership Development” series session from noon to 1 p.m. Friday,
March 21 over Teams. Mahesh Subramony, Ph.D., professor of management at NIU, will join Brian Smith, director of Employee Well-being, in a conversation about “Change Management.” Our discussion will include models for change and the roles and responses by organizations, leaders and employees during the change process. Register for this event by Friday, March 21.

Is IRB review needed for my research project? A lot of people ask this question, and we know it’s complicated. The Office of Research Compliance, Integrity, and Safety is releasing an updated version of an existing tool designed to help remove the guess work. The IRB Screening Form has been updated and switched to a Microsoft Form for direct notification to our staff. This document is especially useful for anyone who isn’t quite sure if their project needs an IRB submission or for those who know IRB review is not required but are seeking a letter of confirmation. A link to the form will also appear on our main Human Subjects Research page this month.

Please consider nominating a student or colleague for our 2025 PCSW Awards. The deadline for nominations is April 7, 2025.

The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) offers four awards in recognition of individuals who provide outstanding service, leadership and mentorship to NIU women students, staff and/or faculty. View the PCSW award descriptions and nomination forms for more information.

Please take time to recognize those who have made an impact on your life or the NIU campus.

Children between 3 and 12 years of age, with or without a diagnosis of autism, are needed to participate in a research study exploring how autistic and non-autistic children produce words, walk, and use their hands. Eligible participants will complete a one-hour session and will receive a small toy for their participation. 

Interested in having your child participate in the study? Please contact our NIU Research team at GaitStudy@niu.edu or complete an interest form. 

Our research lab is located in the NIU Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic in DeKalb. For more information, you may also visit our website at niu.edu/huskieslab/participate/index.shtml.

The Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability will host weekly “NICCS on Tuesdays” events at the 71 North Partnership Studio through April. NICCS on Tuesdays aims to facilitate partnerships on sustainability-related research and creation by providing a forum for faculty and members of the community to collaborate and discuss ideas in an informal setting. In February, workshop topics included mechanisms to communicate sustainability themes, electronic sensors, bioplastics, and pathways for developing relationships with private foundations and corporations.

NICCS will also be at DeKalb County Earth Fest, which will occur at the Founders Memorial Library on Saturday, April 5, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The goal of Earth Fest is to provide a forum for residents in DeKalb County to learn about energy efficiency and ways we can encourage sustainability in our communities. It is sponsored by DeCarbon DeKalb and Northern Illinois University, and is open to the public.

As part of our new travel guidelines communicated to campus in the Jan. 23, 2025 email announcements, all essential or mission-critical travel must be approved by the appropriate vice president or dean before the travel occurs. Documentation illustrating this approval must now be uploaded to an electronic travel voucher for the travel voucher to be submitted. Authorized cost center signers must review the traveler’s pretravel authorization documentation for the appropriate vice president or dean approval before approving the travel voucher in OnBase.

For employees travelling as part of their normal duties (e.g., student teaching observations, recruiting), only one authorization form is needed per fiscal year. However, each department may set shorter blanket approval periods for their areas. Please be sure to list the date range of travel and the business purpose for travel. The same authorization form can then be resubmitted with each respective travel voucher submitted during the covered period. 

For questions about the electronic travel voucher, please send an email to AccountsPayableSrvs@niu.edu. 

Proposals are now being accepted for our 118th Homecoming Grant Competition.

Do you have an idea for a homecoming event that you would like to see on campus, or want to enhance an existing homecoming event? The Homecoming Executive Committee invites all students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to submit formal proposals for review! Our 118th Homecoming celebration will take place the week of Sept. 28 through Oct. 5, 2025. The deadline to submit a grant proposal is Friday, April 4, 2025.

NIU faculty, staff and students are invited to attend open forums with the finalists for dean of the Graduate School.

Open forum sessions with the candidates will be in person with a virtual attendance option, and are as follows:

Information on the search committee is available on the NIU website. CV information for the candidates will be available within 48 hours of their interviews.

The Graduate School partners with graduate faculty to provide leadership in the advancement of graduate education through strategic graduate enrollment management and student success initiatives.

Join Sponsored Programs Administration Monday, March 31, 2025, for the fourth session of virtual open houses to focus on various aspects of grant management. This session will cover indirects. Each session includes a Q&A segment. Upcoming sessions include topics such as nonfinancial award actions, time and effort, compliance and more. If interested, please register and join. For more information and to register for all sessions, please visit our Sponsored Programs Newsblog.

Sponsored Programs Administration continues with our six-week intensive, covering the fundamentals of research administration across the grant lifecycle. The third session will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 19, 2025, and will cover SPA Award Acceptance. The remaining sessions will follow every Wednesday through April 2, 2025. For more information and registration for all sessions, please visit our Sponsored Programs Newsblog. We look forward to working with you.

It’s time to gear up for closing out Fiscal Year 2025 purchase orders and start planning for FY 2026. As the fiscal year wraps up, things get busy for business offices throughout the university, but Procurement Services and Contract Management is here to help with guidelines, instructions and reminders. The P2PO System is now open for FY 2026 requisitions. Check the Procurement Procedures for thresholds and processing times.  Here are the key procurement deadlines.

Important Deadlines: 

FY 2025   

FY 2026  

Reminders: 

Think you have what it takes to send something to the edge of space? Proxima Centauri Alpha, NIU’s exclusive, honorary STEM society, is hosting the $100 Space For All Challenge — and participation is open to everyone at NIU.

The challenge is simple: Submit an idea for a lightweight item to be attached to our weather balloon, launching into the stratosphere in May 2025. The winning idea will receive $100 in cash from our organization. Submitting takes less than five minutes via the attached Google Form.

Deadline: Midnight, March 27, 2025.
Winner Selection: Our executive board will vote at our private meeting on March 28, 2025.

For those unfamiliar, Proxima Centauri Alpha is an elite STEM society officially recognized by NIU. It is open only to STEM majors with a minimum 3.50 GPA and subject to approval by our officers.

Submit your idea today and leave your mark — only one will reach space.

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:

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

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. All tenured/tenure-track faculty are eligible.

Submit your nomination by Friday, March 21. Contact fishaq@niu.edu with questions.