March 24, 2025

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. 

The Presidential Commission on Race and Ethnicity (PCORE) announces its call for nominations for the 2025 Deacon Davis Awards. This award recognizes significant contributions made by students, faculty, staff, departments or organizations to the improvement in the climate and conditions for racial and ethnic groups on Northern Illinois University's campus. Learn more. 

Nominations are due Monday, March 31, 2025. Submit your nomination.

The Hotel at Holmes is excited to introduce a new, streamlined reservation system for NIU divisions and departments. Powered by Microsoft Forms, this system allows you to easily request reservations, receive a copy of your response in your inbox and specify any special accommodations your guests may need.

Please review our new departmental reservation system. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the hotel at hotel@niu.edu or call 815-753-1444.

WOW 2025 is set for Wednesday, Aug. 20 through Sunday, Aug. 24 and we’re excited to introduce theme-based schedule tracks to help new Huskies navigate their first week at NIU! These tracks will allow students to prioritize academic readiness, well-being, social connections or Huskie Pride while experiencing a well-rounded extended orientation.

WOW is a campus-wide effort, and we invite faculty, staff and other campus partners to get involved by submitting event proposals, volunteering or accepting the invitation to participate in a planning group. The WOW Event Proposal form is now open! To learn more or get involved, visit the WOW webpage or contact Orientation and First Year Programs. Let’s make WOW 2025 an unforgettable welcome for our newest Huskies!

The Office of the President invites nominations for individuals to serve on the Presidential Commissions. These commissions advise the President and foster innovation, inclusion, and problem-solving in support of NIU’s mission. Faculty, staff, and students with relevant interests or expertise are encouraged to apply to help advance an accessible and welcoming Huskie community.

To nominate someone or self-nominate, please complete the online application which seeks general information and a brief statement of interest by Friday, May 16, 2025. The Commission review panel will evaluate all nominations, and the nominees will receive an email notification of their acceptance by June 30, 2025. If you have any questions, please contact Tamara Boston at tboston1@niu.edu

NIU Presidential Commission Application

Explore the Presidential Advisory Groups website for more details and insights into the commissions.  

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.

As previously indicated, HRS is actively pursuing form automation.  Effective immediately, the following form is accessible on the HR website through a dedicated Kuali link. 

Request for Extra Employment for a Graduate Assistant (REEGA)

The Request of Extra Employment of Graduate Assistant (REEGA) requires specific approvals from various units.  The request will route through each approver automatically using a workflow.  The flow and approvals are as follows: 

HRS aims to enhance accessibility and streamline processes by making forms available through Kuali Build, an online workflow toolkit.

Please visit the Kuali Build information page for addition details about Kuali Build or its functionalities. Please email any questions to HumanResources@niu.edu.

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.

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.

In early May, Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) will distribute effort statements (aka time and effort reports or effort certifications) for the period July 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2024.

Effort statements are required for any NIU faculty, staff or student receiving pay from a sponsor-funded award. Hourly employees verify their time via time sheets and do not receive effort statements.

Colleges and divisions will receive all effort statements for distribution to their faculty, staff and students. Statements are due back to SPA by June 2, 2025. SPA will review any corrections to reports and will work with the principal investigator and their department to make any necessary adjustments.

See Sponsored Programs Administration Newsblog for more information.

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.

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. 

The month of March is closing for all financial reporting activity at noon Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Journals not posted at that time will go into April business. Submit March journals before end of business Tuesday, April 8. Final March reports are scheduled to be available Thursday April 10, 2025. In addition, April reports are scheduled to be available Friday, April 11, 2025. These and other important dates can be found on the Controller's Office website.