Operating staff needed for university committees.
The Operating Staff Council (OSC) is seeking employees to fill operating staff positions on a number of university committees. These can be representatives from across all operating staff, not just current members of OSC. Committee service is a great opportunity for individuals to become involved in campuswide decision-making bodies and to work with other employees and students from across the campus. In addition to the university committees, we are also seeking alternate members for OSC. Please complete the brief survey to express your interest in a university committee and/or in serving as an alternate to OSC.
Survey responses are being accepted through Aug. 29. In addition to completing the survey, you will also need to confirm supervisor approval of your participation. Please consider nominating yourself even if you know you are anticipating retirement before the end of the listed term. We can work with individuals interested in serving even if only available for a partial term.
Nominations will be voted on by the OSC at its Sept. 1 meeting. For more information, please contact Cathy Doederlein (cdoederlein1@niu.edu).
NIU Athletics to celebrate Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night
NIU Athletics is celebrating Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night during football's home opener on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. All NIU faculty and staff are eligible for a buy one, get one free ticket. You can claim your tickets by:
- Visiting NIU Athletics ticket website and entering promo code NIUSTAFF on the left side of the page, then select the Eastern Illinois game and select their seats and checkout, or
- Walk up on the day of the game to get the discount; they just need to show their NIU Staff ID when purchasing their tickets.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Training announces the fall 2022 Learning Opportunities (Training and Brown Bag) Series.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Training is pleased to announce our fall 2022 Learning Opportunities Series. Our Learning Opportunities Series is the merger of our trainings, Brown Bags and other wellness events. The EAP and Training Center will continue to offer virtually live learning opportunities for university employees. Presenters from our department as well as program specialist partners across campus and the community will be providing these events for university employees seeking professional or personal skills development, supervisory skills, leadership development and wellness events, or ideas to think outside of the box for wellness. To learn more about the Learning Opportunities offered in the upcoming months, please visit our website.
New this fall, EAP is launching our Wednesday Wellness Networking events. Instead of hosting one major wellness event in the spring, our office is now offering monthly wellness activities for our university employees. Each of these events will highlight an aspect of wellness and will provide university employees the opportunity to network and connect across the campus with fellow employees.
All EAP events this semester will be offered via Microsoft Teams. Employees can also register for these events by emailing us at EmployeeAssistance@niu.edu. Please visit the EAP webpage regularly as new events will continue to be added over the course of the semester, and be sure to review the training links from our campus training partners to examine the wealth of training opportunities available.
We request employees interested in any of the sessions to please contact our office in advance of the training date to allow our office time to add you to the Teams group. For questions about any of the Learning Opportunity sessions or the Wednesday Wellness Networking events, please contact the EAP and Training office at 753-9191 or at EmployeeAssistance@niu.edu.
Recognize alumni volunteers with assistance from the NIU Alumni Association.
Do you invite NIU graduates to speak to your classroom or organization, mentor current students or share their talents with the university in any other way? Let the NIU Alumni Association help you recognize their efforts by completing this alumni volunteer gift request form! Volunteers will also receive invitations to special activities and opportunities just for alumni volunteers. Questions? Contact Liz McKee, M.S.Ed. '14, senior director for alumni engagement, at lmckee1@niu.edu or 815-753-7400.
Policy Library Update – Remote Work Policy available to review.
A new policy is posted on the Policy Library website and is open to review and comment for a 30-day period. This provides the NIU community the opportunity to consider and respond to the new policy before it takes effect. The policy is:
To submit a comment, go to the Policy Library website. The revised policy will appear on the right side of the screen. Click on the policy listed above. You will be asked to sign in to SharePoint. All comments are due Tuesday, Sept. 6. If you have any questions, please contact Rebecca Hunt, university policy librarian, at rhunt@niu.edu
Seeking nominations for Lincoln Laureate.
Each of the four-year, degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois chooses one senior student to receive the prestigious Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award. The nomination deadline is Sept. 9.
Students must be nominated by a department chair. Multiple units can collaborate to nominate a specific student (appropriate when a student has more than one departmental home). Each nominating department must submit:
- Departmental nomination letter.
- Additional letter of support from a faculty or staff member.
- Student’s CV.
Nominees must be seniors graduating from NIU during the 2022-2023 school year (August 2022, December 2022, or May 2023). Student laureates are selected based on their overall excellence in curricular, cocurricular and extracurricular activities. Nominees should have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and should have demonstrated significant leadership and accomplishments. For more information about the award and process, please visit the NIU Lincoln Laureate webpage.
To nominate a student, please have the department chair complete the electronic intent to nominate form as soon as you are able. Upon submitting this form, nominators will receive a link to a OneDrive folder to upload candidate materials. Using OneDrive allows nominators the ability to edit or add materials from now until noon, Sept. 9. For more information, please email Jason Goode at jason@niu.edu.
New programs to recognize and support faculty who cut costs for course materials.
The Course Materials Affordability Task Force (CMAT) is pleased to announce two new programs, sponsored by NIU Libraries, to encourage academic departments and faculty to transition to low-cost (total materials cost of under $40) or zero-cost materials in their courses. The ACM Awards recognize departments offering the highest percentage of course sections using low- or zero-cost course materials in the academic year with acknowledgment on NIU’s Open Education website and a financial award. Additionally, individual faculty who consistently offer courses designated in MyNIU as requiring low- or zero-cost materials will also be recognized.
The ACM Integration Cohort will focus on converting existing courses to low-cost or zero-cost course materials courses. Participants will learn how to locate, evaluate and integrate affordable course materials with support from CITL staff and subject specialist librarians, and will receive a $500 stipend upon completion of program requirements. All full-time and adjunct teaching faculty are eligible to apply, but the number of participants will be limited based on funding.
Visit the NIU Open Education website for more information. Cohort applications are due Sept. 30, 2022.
