The contest is open to all currently enrolled NIU students. Entries consisting of original artwork or photography can be submitted up until 5 p.m. on November 18, 2024. Students may submit multiple entries. We encourage submissions to review past years' winners and think creatively about how to avoid repetition or duplication.

A committee of faculty and staff will select the top three submissions based on quality, originality and holiday/Huskie spirit. The students with the top three selections will receive a one-time scholarship (first place $500, second place $300 and third place $100) and be featured in the president's electronic holiday card.

Now is the time to start preparing to register for spring 2025 classes. Read the tips below and learn when to register and how to register for classes. 

1. If you have not met with your advisor, do so. They are here to help you.

2. Log in to MyNIU and Navigate Student.

Registration for spring 2025 classes is right around the corner. Do you know that you can search for and select classes that use low- ($40 or less) or zero-cost course materials in MyNIU?

To find courses with affordable course materials in MyNIU, apply the Textbooks/Low Cost or Textbooks/Zero Costfilter to class searches. Or you can search by the keyword low cost.

Note: Course materials are defined as required books, textbooks, ebooks, streaming video, CDs or DVDs. Because students using the book charge program must purchase texts through the bookstore, the cost of materials is determined by the bookstore price. 

Want to know more? Check out our Affordable Materials Search and Filter for Students page.

Monsters and goblins aside, if your biggest fear this Halloween is not knowing how to approach an interview, plan out your career, or find job and internship opportunities, let Career Services help. 

Career Services’ career counselors are experts on career building in your field of study. You can schedule an appointment with your career counselor to discuss how to choose a career, build workplace skills, conduct mock interviews and more. 

Appointments fill up fast, so book a meeting online as soon as you’re interested. 

And don’t worry, there’s no need to be afraid of confusing online platforms either. Just follow the steps below: 

You can also join the NIU Career Services LinkedIn Group to stay up to date on the latest career tips, tricks and treats, or drop by the Career Services office at PCLB 220. 🍬💡

Improving Password Security

To improve our university’s security, the Department of Information Security and Operations has made changes to the university’s password/passphrase blocking list. This change strengthens our passwords and brings us into alignment with recommendations from external security professionals. We are now blocking additional words associated with NIU, Chicago and the university in general that could be guessed, and thereby make a hacker’s job easier (i.e., we’ve added over 100 common words to our list that cannot be used in part of a password/passphrase). Some variants using different capitalization, or some special characters, will also be blocked. Users will see these changes upon their next password change.

Any questions can be directed to the Division of Information Technology.

Policy Library Update - New Policy

A new policy is open to review and comment for a 30-day period. This provides our NIU community the opportunity to consider and respond to the new policy before it takes effect. The new policy is:

University Vehicle Use Policy by Nov. 21.

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.

Orientation leader applications are now open! Apply before Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Orientation leaders are undergraduate students who help incoming first-year and transfer students transition to NIU. Their primary role is to build connections between new students and help form a sense of belonging on campus. This is a paid student leadership position.

This is a great opportunity to develop your leadership skills, communication skills and build your résumé while making a positive impact on new Huskies.

2025 Orientation Leader Application.

Contact Scott Johansen, program assistant for student training and development for the Office of Orientation and First Year Programs, at sjohansen@niu.edu with any questions and to learn more about the orientation leader position.