Eddie R. Williams

Hanging prominently on the wall in Eddie R. Williams’ office is his framed, signed original offering letter from Northern Illinois University when he was extended his first full-time teaching position as an assistant professor of mathematics in 1970.

Forty-three years and a lifetime of personal and professional achievement and service later, Williams announced he will retire from NIU May 31, 2013.

A freshly minted Ph.D. from Columbia University (N.Y.), Williams applied to become a math professor at various colleges and universities in the Midwest. Receiving several offers, he accepted the NIU position in large part because of the opportunity to be employed at a university committed to its students, to teaching and providing access and opportunity, the fundamental cornerstone principles of successful public universities.

As an assistant professor, Williams developed a math course for disadvantaged students that was used in the CHANCE math program and he created a math lab for the course and co-authored a textbook with Don Ostberg. Over the years, he served on several doctoral committees and for 35 years as faculty adviser of the Northern Black Choir. People describe the soft-spoken, reserved Williams as mentor, adviser, friend and role model to countless African-American students.

Williams received tenure in the Department of Mathematics in 1976.

He was promoted to associate professor in 1978 and was also named acting associate budget officer in the university’s Office of Budget and Planning. In 1980, Williams transitioned to full-time university administration as associate director of the NIU Office of Budget and Planning, giving up his teaching assignments in the math department after two years of serving in a dual teaching/administrative capacity. Promotions followed as his role in university budgeting and planning efforts expanded, first to assistant VP for Administrative Affairs and director of Budget and Planning in 1983, followed by his appointment as vice president of Finance and Planning in 1986.

Raised the son of a preacher, Eddie followed in his father’s footsteps and was ordained as a Baptist minister and served as assistant pastor at South Park Baptist Church in Chicago under his father’s leadership. He is often described as the “busiest person I’ve ever known” or one of the “most productive people I’ve ever met.” Not a minute of each day is wasted; he is known to sleep only between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. When Eddie’s father, the Rev. E.R. Williams Sr., passed in 1997, Eddie was asked by his church congregation to assume the senior pastor role.

Consistent with his commitment to service, Dr. Williams was recruited and commissioned (1980) as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Dr. Williams was promoted several times eventually to the rank of captain. He recently retired from the Naval Reserves after 27 years of exceptional service to his country.

Appointed executive vice president and chief of operations in 2000, Williams oversees one of the two largest divisions of the university: the Division of Finance & Facilities. More than 1,600 full-time university staff perform tasks as diverse as plowing snow, cleaning buildings, accounting and financial services, to architectural and engineering services designing and building new facilities and renovations across the 800-acre campus.

“In all the years I’ve served in higher education, I’ve never worked with anyone who has such a deep, strategic understanding of the university’s budget. He had the foresight to plan ahead and to position the university to weather the economic ups and downs brought on by dwindling state funding and enrollment fluctuations,” said NIU President John Peters.

Williams’ service to NIU will be most remembered for his skills and ability to effectively manage the resources of the institution in the midst of difficult fiscal challenges caused by diminished state support for higher education in Illinois, increased financial pressures caused by rising costs and the state’s cash-flow shortfalls, all while balancing the demands and needs of a dynamic university and its students, faculty and staff.

Anne Kaplan, vice president of Outreach, Engagement & Information Technology, who along with Eddie Williams are NIU’s longest-serving senior administrators, said, “I’ve worked with Eddie for more than 35 years – through institutional crises and institutional triumphs. I have enormous respect for his effective fiscal management and his unshakable commitment to students who depend on public higher education. That combination has served NIU well,” Kaplan added.

Williams is most proud of a legacy of financial management and oversight that includes:

• Avoiding the elimination of any academic program or student services
• No faculty or staff layoffs, furloughs, or forced retirements
• No major impact on essential operations or the ability of the institution to address needs, priorities and emergencies
• Finding critical funding for academic support for classroom upgrades, strategic planning initiatives and scholarship support for students
• New operating and management software systems for university financial, human resources, and student services functions
• Funding for the Vision 2020 Initiative including a campus-wide Wi-Fi network, support for faculty research and campus infrastructure improvements

Over the past 25 years, Williams was responsible for the development of the university’s state budget request and provided support, justification, oral and written testimony on a variety of issues before state agencies including the Board of Higher Education, the Illinois General Assembly, the governor’s staff and the Office of Management & Budget.

“He has a deep love for people and has been willing to say ‘no’ when necessary to ensure the university is positioned to weather the financial ups and downs without having to furlough or lay-off workers,” said Jerry Blakemore, vice president and general counsel. “Although most people here on campus don’t really have an understanding of the impact the lengthy delays in receiving the university’s appropriated funding from Springfield is causing, Eddie quietly shoulders the burden and works diligently behind the scenes to ensure the university has enough cash to make its payroll each month.”

Williams’ retires from NIU with a lasting, visible legacy.

During his tenure, he oversaw the development of 21 new buildings and facilities, as well as seven major building redesign and renovations.

President John Peters, flanked by Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations Eddie R. Williams, cuts the ribbon for New Residence Hall.

The list of new campus facilities that represent some of the major facilities built under his leadership and oversight includes: John E. LaTourette Hall; the DeKalb campus parking structure; the development of all three NIU satellite educational centers (Rockford, Naperville and Hoffman Estates); Barsema Hall; Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center; the Campus Child Care Center; the Latino Resource Center; the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology building; the Campus Life Center; the East stands of Huskie Stadium; the Chilled Water Plant; the Yordon Academic/Athletic Center; the First-Year Residence Hall; Northern View Apartments; and the Center for the Study of Family Violence & Sexual Assault.

“He’s an unsung hero and a man who has devoted his entire professional career to help shape NIU into the great university it has become. His impact on NIU has been profound and can be seen in the many success stories of students who desired the opportunity an NIU education offered and soared to great personal and professional heights,” said Brian O. Hemphill, president of West Virginia State University and NIU’s former vice president of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management.

For over a dozen years, Williams has served as treasurer of the university’s Board of Trustees and university administrative liaison to the Board’s Finance, Facilities & Operations Committee.

“Dr. Williams and I worked closely together during my tenure on the Illinois Board of Regents and on NIU’s Board of Trustees,” said former NIU trustee Myron Siegel. “During those 18 years, Eddie was integral to the financial protection and integrity of NIU as we fought our way through the annual budgetary and legislative process in Springfield.” Siegel was NIU’s first chair of its Board of Trustees.

Williams was asked by Peters early during the NIU president’s tenure to assume the role of chair of the university’s crisis management/operations team. In this capacity, he coordinated the university’s response to incidents ranging from weather alerts, internal/external data, system and electrical failures, matters pertaining to student/faculty health and safety and other emergencies.

Williams speaks and prays Feb. 14, 2009, during the “Day of Reflection” ceremony in the NIU Convocation Center.

During the tragedy that occurred Feb. 14, 2008, and in the days after, Williams was a driving force of support and leadership at the university.

During this difficult time, Williams was on the site interacting with law enforcement, later managing the university’s administrative crisis response team, and developing effective responses, procedures and resources as necessary when needs became known. He also met with the families of the injured, visited and comforted those that were hospitalized, and attended most of the memorial and funeral services of the deceased.

In an effort to heal the campus, he provided leadership for the campus candlelight vigil at Holmes Student Center.

“I’ve worked with Eddie Williams for 18 years. He’s been a mentor, friend, pastor and adviser to me through my tenure at NIU,” said Kathy Buettner, vice president of University Relations. “He’s a very special person, and I consider it a privilege to call him my friend. His legacy will live on through the numerous campus facilities and lives of faculty, staff and students he has impacted over his 43 years at NIU.”

Connor Schomig

MAC West champions!

The Northern Illinois baseball team (22-32, 16-11 MAC) clinched its first ever Mid-American Conference West division championship Saturday afternoon in 10 innings at Ball Diamond as the Huskies defeated Ball State (28-23, 15-12 MAC) on Connor Schomig’s (Darien/Hinsdale South) three-run double, 6-4.

NIU now travels to the MAC Tournament in Avon, Ohio, which is scheduled from Wednesday, May 22, through Saturday, May 25, at All Pro Freight Stadium. It is the Huskies’ highest-ever seeding in the MAC Tournament.

“Coming back from the season we had last year, we kind of reset things and battled all year,” said head coach Ed Mathey. “Our seniors did a great job of leading this team, and I could not be happier with them, because this is something they’ll have for the rest of their lives.”

NIU set the tone in the first inning when Tommy Hook (Lockport/Lockport Township) earned a walk with one man down. A single by Alex Klonowski (Kearney, Mo./Kearney) and a walk by Jeff Zimmerman (Tinley Park/Andrew) would load the bases for Micah McCulloch (Rochelle/Rochelle Township), who singled to left field to put the Huskies on top in the frame.

The Huskies separated themselves from the Cardinals in the fourth as Connor Duckhorn (Darien/Cowley County CC) hit a leadoff single up the middle and Nate Ruzich (Joliet/South Suburban College) doubled to score the senior from first. Brian Sisler (DeKalb/DeKalb) followed up with a single to advance the runner and a groundout by Brandon Mallder (Bridgeview/St. Laurence) plated Ruzich to put NIU up, 3-0.

Brian Sisler

However, Ball State responded in the bottom half of the frame as Sean Godfrey secured an infield single to lead the inning. Cody Campbell would follow up in the next at-bat with a home run over the left field fence to put the Cardinals within one run, 3-2.

Danger continued to loom in the inning as BSU had only one out with runners on first and third but superior Huskie defense came through in the clutch to end the threat. Cardinal Sam Tidabeck attempted a sacrifice bunt down the first base line, but Zimmerman quickly scooped the ball into his glove and flipped the ball from his mitt to get Billy Wellman out at the plate. In poor judgment, Tidabeck did not finish running to first base and was thrown out by Klonowski as Zimmerman laid the tag on the runner to end the inning on a 3-2-1-3 double play.

Jamison Wells (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly) also prevented a run from scoring, as he threw out a runner going home from second on a single, throwing a rope to Ruzich, who blocked the plate and quickly made the tag to save another run.

Ball State tied it up in the bottom of the seventh inning as Elbert DeVarie led the stanza with a double, and after a series of great defensive plays by Northern Illinois to put it one out away from ending the threat, Godfrey doubled down the right field line to tie the game, 3-3.

NIU stranded one runner on base in the ninth inning and stellar defense carried it through the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings.

The Huskies did not hesitate in extra innings as Zimmerman started things off with a single through the middle for his third hit of the day. McCulloch followed with another single for NIU and Duckhorn pushed the runners forward with a sacrifice bunt. Ruzich was intentionally walked to load the bases and force a play at home with Sisler at the plate. Ball State took Sisler’s fielder’s choice to get the force out at home but leave the sacks juiced with two outs.

Anthony Andres

Schomig, in his first at-bat of the game after entering as a substitute in the bottom of the ninth, ripped a double down the left field to put Northern Illinois up by three at the middle of the 10th, 6-3. Though the Cardinals put together two hits, including an RBI single by Campbell, Ball State was unable to overcome the deficit and could not solve Anthony Andres (Western Springs/St. Rita), who pitched 2.2 innings to win earn his fourth win of the season for the division championship.

Relief pitcher Kevin Sweeney (Chicago/Fenwick) stepped onto the mound for Klonowski in the sixth inning, tossing 2.0 innings with three hits surrendered, one earned run with a strike out and no walks. Klonowski pitched 5.1 innings in the start, giving up six hits, two runs, two walks and one strikeout.

Zimmerman had a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two walks, while Schomig led all batters in the game in runs batted in at three.

NIU was picked to finish last in the division this year after finishing 2012 with a 15-40 overall record and a 7-20 clip in Mid-American Conference games.

The Huskies will begin the MAC Tournament Wednesday May 22 in Avon, Ohio when it plays No. 6 seed Bowling Green. Times are to be announced. NIU did not play the Falcons during the regular season.

For more information on NIU baseball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.

Representatives are needed for the:

• Campus Security and Environmental Quality Committee (one representative for a two-year term)
• Computing Facilities Advisory Committee (one representative for a three year term)
• Libraries Advisory Committee (one representative for a three year term)
• Parking Appeals Committee (one representative for a three-year term, one representative for a tow-year term)
• Student Conduct Board (one representative for a three-year term)
• University Council (one ex-officio member and one alternate for a one-year term)

More information on the openings and an “interest form” are available online on the OSC website. Detailed descriptions on University Committees are available online.

Council members expect to fill the vacancies during their Thursday, June 6, meeting.

In addition, the Office of the President invites nominations of faculty, staff and students for appointment to the four presidential commissions for terms to begin in the fall. Self-nominations are welcome.

• Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities
• Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities
• Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
• Presidential Commission on the Status of Women

Forward nominations, including name, classification (Operating Staff), address, email, telephone number and a brief statement summarizing qualifications and desire to serve to Pat Erickson, Office of the University Council, at pje@niu.edu.

For more information, call (815) 753-6865 or email hhofst@niu.edu.

Zach Badgley

Northern Illinois reliever Zach Badgley (McHenry/McHenry) worked 4-2/3 innings for Huskies, limiting Ball State to one run, two hits and two strikeouts.

NIU (21-32, 15-11 MAC) would fall to BSU (28-22, 15-11 MAC) in game two of the series, 14-3. Today’s game will now decide the Mid-American Conference West division champion.

Ball State jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning on four hits, including two doubles in the middle of the lineup. Starting pitcher Jordan Ruckman (Kankakee/Herscher) gave way to Badgley after two-thirds of an inning of work.

The senior pitcher worked flawlessly in the second, third and fourth innings as he retired the sides in order, grounding out five batters in that span and fanning two. He surrendered one run in the fifth on a homer to give Ball State an 8-0 advantage.

Badgley closed his day with two outs down in the fifth inning, finishing the day with 4-2/3 innings pitched, two hits, one earned run, one walk and two strikeouts. He was a third of an inning shy of his career-high five innings pitched.

Jon Savarise

Freshman Jon Savarise (Lincolnshire/Stevenson) closed the fifth inning and dealt through the sixth inning as well, ending with 1-2/3 innings pitched, surrendering zero hits, zero runs with a strikeout and a walk.

With its bats locked and loaded in the seventh, Northern Illinois began a string of four straight hits to score three runs and close its gap to the Cardinals, 8-3.

Jeff Zimmerman (Tinley Park/Andrew), Alex Klonowski (Kearney, Mo./Kearney) and Micah McCulloch (Rochelle/Rochelle Township) doubled to leadoff the inning to make it 8-2. Nate Ruzich (Joliet/South Suburban College) was the final chapter in the streak as he singled to left field to score McCulloch from second.

The Huskies would then blank the Cardinals in the sixth and seventh innings, but BSU surged back in the eighth to score six runs, including four on three-straight home runs.

“I thought our first couple guys out of the bullpen pitched well,” said head coach Ed Mathey. “They gave us a chance to come back in the game and posted zeroes on the scoreboard; we just couldn’t get anything going offensively to overcome the two big innings that they had.”

The Huskies and the Cardinals will close the regular season today for the MAC West Division Championship. First pitch is set for 12:15 p.m. Central Time.

For more information on NIU baseball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.

Mike Madigan

Presidents and chancellors at public universities and colleges across the state reached an agreement in principal with House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and House leaders Thursday for public universities to assume the employer share of employee pension costs beginning in FY2015.

The hope is that Thursday’s agreement might help break up the logjam in Springfield surrounding the overhaul of the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) and state pension systems.

The cost shift is one of the key provisions of the six-point plan for pension overhaul put forth by the Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. Higher education leaders across the state endorse the plan.

As currently outlined by Speaker Madigan, the cost shift will stand as separate legislation and is not part of either of the speaker’s pension plan that passed the House two weeks ago (Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 1) or Senate President Cullerton’s pension reform plan that enjoys the support of the unions and passed the Senate SB2404

“By doing this we are agreeing to take on a significant burden,” said NIU President John Peters. “However, it is a necessary step to strengthen and restore our pension system. For decades, the state has diverted to other uses the funds that should have ensured the fiscal health of that system. By taking on this responsibility we can better protect our faculty and staff moving forward.”

As proposed, colleges and universities will assume that burden gradually. Starting in 2015, they will begin absorbing the “normal cost” – the state’s contribution to the pension program – at a rate of 0.5 percent a year, until they have assumed full responsibility. Depending upon how pension rules are rewritten, that could take anywhere from 10 to 12 years.

The state will remain responsible for paying off the unfunded liability that has accrued over the years.

New pension rules under consideration in the General Assembly contemplate increased employee contributions toward pensions (most call for 2 percent); those changes are unrelated to Thursday’s agreement.

John Peters and Steve Cunningham

For NIU, the shift from the state to the university for the employer share of the pension contribution would cost about $1 million during the first year of the process, and increase about $1 million a year – compounding each year – until the full cost is assumed.

The money to pay those costs would come from a combination of tuition increases and savings resulting from streamlining processes and cutting costs, said Acting Executive Vice President of Finance & Chief of Operations Steve Cunningham.

There also has been recognition on the part of the state that to minimize the impact of this new burden it might need to provide colleges and universities with some regulatory relief, easing some of the more onerous aspects of procurement regulation, reducing some unfunded mandates and mitigating other sources of state-imposed expenses. Colleges and universities are also seeking assurances that, going forward, state appropriations will not be cut from FY 2013 levels.

Cunningham, who has been deeply involved in the Springfield proceedings, said that he and others are working hard to educate state leaders that higher education must be approached differently than other state agencies when it comes to pension issues.

“We compete in an entirely different arena, and some of the so-called pension reforms being put forth would be crippling to higher education,” Cunningham said. Of particular concern are proposals to limit pensionable income and no relief for Tier II employees.

“Any such restriction would make it all but impossible for Illinois public higher education to compete with other universities – public and private – across the country for top professors. The success of any university is directly tied to the quality of its faculty, and we are working hard to explain that to lawmakers. It is in their best interest to recognize that we are unique, because crippling higher education will ultimately make Illinois a far less desirable destination for businesses in need of an educated workforce.“

While the pension issue remains far from resolved, Thursday’s action is significant, Peters said.

“By agreeing to this proposal the higher education community is demonstrating its commitment to finding a better, surer way of funding pensions,” Peters said. “It shows that we are willing to do more than just pay lip service to issue. Hopefully, it will energize the process and yield a final agreement that protects the interests of all involved.”

Aquanette Simpson

Aquanette Simpson, director of Employee Services and Human Resource Development (ESHRD), has announced her retirement after 33 years at Northern Illinois University.

NIU’s Division of Finance and Facilities joins ESHRD in inviting the campus community to a retirement open house planned in her honor from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, May 31, in the Clara Sperling Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.

Presentation and remarks will begin at 3 p.m.

Those who are unable to attend but wish to send greetings to Simpson can email those to eshrd@niu.edu. For more information, call (815) 753-1690.

Ryan James

In today’s virtual world, it’s easy to downplay the significance of place. Yet when it comes to regional prosperity, geography matters.

Income and job growth is not random but rather spills over from one region to another, meaning that merely being next to a prosperous region will make your own economy more vibrant.

“It’s in a region’s best interest to have neighbors who are growing,” says Ryan James, an economic geographer and assistant professor at NIU. “For example, look at the Boston and New York areas. The vibrant growth of these economic areas spilled over and brought up the counties and communities in between. Simply by being next to two prosperous areas, these communities were able to reap the benefits.”

This  might sound like a no-brainer, but until recently it’s been hard to prove from a statistical perspective.

By using new models that factor in location and by blending microeconomic ideas with macro ones, James and researchers at the Edward Lowe Foundation’s Institute for Exceptional Growth Companies (IEGC) and University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-C) have advanced the longstanding theory of regional income convergence – and revealed new insights about the geographic dynamics of the U.S. economy.

Convergence theory maintains that capital and wealth shift over long periods of time, spreading from richer areas to lagging ones, which allows these poorer areas to catch up to national averages.

Although income convergence is a geographic process, most studies have ignored geographic relationships, says Harrison Campbell, an associate professor of geography and public policy at UNC-C and the study’s principal investigator. “Some have looked at industry composition, and a few have looked at how neighboring regions affect each other, but none have looked at how individual companies affect convergence.”

Leveraging data from IEGC, Campbell, James and fellow researcher Gary Kunkle studied 177 regions over a 20-year period (1990-2010). The team used both a traditional model and one with spatially explicit tools, which yielded two sets of results to compare. Key findings include:

• Convergence is happening, but at a slower rate than previous studies have indicated – about one-third slower (or 1.3 percent per year as opposed to 2 percent per year).
• The economic health of one region has a definite spillover effect on neighboring regions.
• Particular kinds of establishments, known as sustained growth companies, accelerate the convergence process through their ability to create jobs.
• The presence of these sustained growth companies has a bigger impact in rural areas than non-rural areas.

Change agents of convergence

The concept of sustained growth companies builds upon previous research done by Kunkle, IEGC’s research fellow. Although these companies represent different sizes and different industries and are located in different places, they share a common hallmark: the ability to generate repeated growth over long periods of time.

“Sustained growth companies are the hidden allocators of new jobs in the economy,” Kunkle says. “This paper shows that they also play a significant role in allocating income growth as well – and help determine which regions experience faster income growth than others. Thus, income growth is not limited just to owners and employees of sustained growth companies, but extends throughout their neighboring communities.”

The fact that sustained growth companies have a larger impact in rural areas was a surprise, Campbell says. “Previous literature suggests that these firms will perform better if they cluster in urban areas. Yet our results reveal the opposite – they had a negligible or slightly negative effect on income growth and convergence in metro areas.”

The dramatic impact of sustained growth companies in rural areas might be explained by the fact that they are big fish in small ponds. Too many “big fish” can actually have an adverse economic impact, James says.

“It’s good to have one or two big fish, but there’s definitely a scale effect – a region can have too much of a good thing,” he says.

“When a large city has more than its fair share of sustained growth companies, they can cannibalize the growth of other firms or each other,” he added. “So from a regional planning perspective, a region might be best off nurturing what it has or getting more growth from its existing sustained growth firms. It’s more important to keep those firms growing than to bring in new firms that will cannibalize existing resources.”

Innovative modeling and data

Critical to the study was developing an effective geographic model.

To achieve this, the researchers leveraged new types of spatially explicit tools and introduced new geographic units: 177 economic areas defined by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Smaller than a state and larger than an MSA, these multicounty areas approximate the extent of a labor market.

One of the benefits of the geographic model was that it produced far fewer outliers, which gave the researchers more confidence in their results. “The theory of income convergence is in itself geographical,” James says.  “It suggests that capital is going to flow from capital rich areas to capital poor ones. Yet traditional models don’t take into account the performance of neighboring regions, which is extremely important.”

Another hallmark of the study: factoring in the role of individual business establishments. Past studies have looked at location attributes and regional conditions, such as population density, access to interstate highways, land quality and water supply, instead of looking at the individual actors responsible for economic growth.

The National Establishment Times Series (NETS) data set, which IEGC made available, was essential to studying the sustained growth company connection.

“This research couldn’t have been done without it,” Campbell says. “NETS is an extraordinary data set that’s potential is still unknown to most people. Past studies have relied on industries, which are like cruise ships; their averages turn very slowly because they consist of many different firms. In contrast, NETS enabled us to track individual U.S. establishments, the DNA of what really makes our economy run.”

Moving forward

The researchers’ findings provide statistical evidence that spatial relationships are extremely significant to regional prosperity. “So there’s basis, at least for certain projects, for regions to start think beyond their own borders and work more cooperatively,” Campbell says.

Connecting the dots between sustained growth companies and regional prosperity is equally important.

“This study begs a whole new set of questions about how firms manage themselves,” Campbell says. “If we can understand what makes the sustained growth companies tick, we may be able to reorient our approach to economic development and introduce policies that positively impact these important firms.”

Other policy implications revolve around regional income convergence.

“Part of IEGC’s mission is to get unique establishment time-series data into the hands of capable researchers so they can shed new light on the U.S. economy and the role of exceptional growth companies,” says Gregg Cole, information technology research leader at the Edward Lowe Foundation, which launched IEGC in 2011. “This study is a wonderful example of how researchers are using the data not only to make new discoveries, but also reexamine traditional observations and improve on previous models.”

The Institute for Exceptional Growth Companies was created by the Edward Lowe Foundation through a three-year grant from the NASDAQ Educational Foundation. IEGC is creating new datasets and using existing data in innovative ways to track and better understand exceptional growth companies, their impact on community and economic development, and their relationship with equity funding sources.

Stevens Building

After years of deterioration and a dubious two-decade reign atop NIU’s capital budget request list, the Stevens Building is drawing nearer to its long-awaited transformation.

Construction will begin after Jan. 1, 2014, following an environmental survey planned for early in the fall and the letting of bids in October.

First, though, the two departments that call the building home must clear out.

Faculty and staff from the Department of Anthropology and the School of Theatre and Dance begin moving Monday, May 20, mostly to the vacant “A” tower of Grant.

“Everybody’s thrilled that this is going to happen. The trucks are showing up Monday,” said Alex Gelman, director of the School of Theatre and Dance. “Stevens is going to be fabulous – a tremendous building. We have terrific architects and campus people working with us.”

“We see the move as a temporary adjustment … a short-term pain for long-term gain. We’re looking forward to the new space,” added Kendall Thu, chair of the Department of Anthropology.

“We’ve endured the Stevens Building for years; I’ve been in there 14 years, many of my colleagues longer. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve had water problems, climate-control problems, students-complaining-about-the-space problems.”

Grant Towers

Pat Bell, planning associate in the Capital Budget, Architecture, Planning and Safety unit of the NIU Division of Finance and Facilities, said faculty and staff from Theatre and Dance will primarily occupy the third floor of Grant “A” while the Department of Anthropology will move to the fifth floor.

Graduate students from both areas will share the fourth floor, he said.

Visitors to the new digs will need to wait until the first week of June while crews haul everything from furniture and books to costumes and set up the new offices and other spaces, added David Booth, marketing director for Theatre and Dance.

When the fall semester begins, Bell said, the northeast door of Grant A will serve as the entrance.

August also will begin at least two years of theater and dance classes scattered across campus.

The school’s “Mainstage Series” productions, normally performed in the O’Connell Theatre or Players Theatre, will move to Huntley Middle School, 1515 S. Fourth St. in DeKalb. The “Studio Series,” normally performed in the Corner Theatre, will stay on campus in the Diversions Lounge of the Holmes Student Center.

Alex Gelman

Space is being rented on Route 38 for the scenery shop, Booth said.

While the long construction period will present inconveniences for the school, Gelman said that everyone is willing to sacrifice for what awaits them when the Stevens Building project is completed.

“The actual classrooms will be better than what we’ve had. They’ll be heated and air-conditioned, and it won’t rain inside,” Gelman said. “The construction period will be challenging, though, because we won’t be in the same building. The community of being in the same building means a lot.”

Much of the Department of Anthropology’s collection, which includes 20,000 bones, was moved during spring break to a storage space in Cole Hall. Everything else, include lab equipment, computers, standard office fixtures and “artifacts that archeologists have,” will move to Grant.

Although Thu and his colleagues worry about the temporary headquarters on the far west end of campus and the impact of that on students, they also are eager for when the blueprints become reality.

Kendall Thu

The cutting-edge teach labs “really continue the university’s focus on engaged learning. That’s what the building’s going to be set up for,” Thu said.

“We’re very much looking forward to the new building. They worked very closely with us on the design, and they’ve done a fantastic job in designing it,” he added. “We feel an ownership over the new building already.”

Gov. Pat Quinn released $10.3 million for the Stevens Building and Cole Hall projects in January of 2010; Cole Hall reopened last fall.

Rehabilitation plans for Stevens include a new, 6,000-square-foot lecture auditorium with tiered seating for up to 330 students, state-of-the-art teaching technology and the flexibility to be divided into three smaller rooms.

Other additions including adding about 10,500 square feet to the Black Box Theatre, which will feature a 30-foot ceiling, and 13,300 square feet to the scene shop. Workers also will put on a new roof, replace the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and modernize the plumbing and electrical wiring.

The Stevens Building opened in 1959.

Eli Anderson

In a pitchers’ duel featuring two of the Mid-American Conference’s top hurlers, Northern Illinois (21-31, 15-10 MAC) fell to Ball State (27-22, 14-11 MAC) in Game One of this week’s series, 3-2.

Eli Anderson (Glenview/New Trier) tossed his sixth complete game of the season in the loss. BSU pitcher Scott Baker also tossed a complete game.

“That was a good college baseball game with two, high-quality pitchers going at it,” said head coach Ed Mathey.

“There was a lot of stuff on the line, and it’s a lot of fun to be in situations and games like this. It simply came down to us not executing the short game the way that we needed to to get us the win. I thought we had plenty of runners in scoring position but we didn’t get the big hits we needed; but when you face a good pitcher on the mound, that’s going to happen.”

Northern Illinois struck first blood in the duel as the Huskies rattled off three-straight hits with one out in the top of the second inning, started by Micah McCulloch’s (Rochelle/Rochelle Township) single to right field. Connor Duckhorn (Darien/Cowley County CC) followed with a double down the left field line and Nate Ruzich (Joliet/South Suburban College) finished the deal with a line drive single through the left side to put NIU ahead, 1-0, with runners on first and third. The Huskies would strand Duckhorn on third as they grounded into a double play to end their half of the frame.

Ball State responded in the bottom of the fifth inning with one run to tie the game, 1-1, as Elbert DeVarie singled to right field with a runner on second. NIU retook the lead in the top of the sixth on a great series of plays by Jamison Wells (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly), Tommy Hook (Lockport/Lockport Township) and Alex Klonowski (Kearney, Mo./Kearney).

Brian Sisler (left) and Jamison Wells

Wells singled on the first pitch of his at-bat and put the pressure on Baker. With Baker checking him at first, Wells promptly stole second base for his 23rd of the season on the second pitch of Hook’s at bat. Baker checked Wells at second and threw the ball away to center field and put Wells on third base with no outs. Though Hook grounded out to first on the play, Klonowski sacrificed himself on a fly ball to center field to put NIU back on top after six, 2-1.

Both pitchers began to labor in the seventh inning as pitch counts ran high and runners reached base on balls.

Northern Illinois left two runners on in the top of the seventh as McCulloch led the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Duckhorn. Ruzich walked to put a second runner on but pinch-hitter Landon Tenhagen (Burlington, Wis./Madison Area TC) and shortstop Brian Sisler (DeKalb/DeKalb) were unable to push the runners forward and create separation for the Huskies.

BSU tied the game in the bottom of the seventh as two singles created a sacrifice situation for leadoff man Tyler Winkle, who executed a bunt down the first line to tie it up in the frame, 2-2. The Cardinals would take the lead in the next inning as they put three runners on base on two hits and a walk. Pinch hitter Kevin Schlotter drove in the game-winning run as he singled to right field to score pinch-runner Cole Griesinger.

Though the Huskies put up a valiant effort in the top of the ninth, with pinch runner Danny Seiton (Batavia/Batavia) stealing second base, Northern Illinois would end the game on a groundout back to Baker who threw the ball to first to end the game, 3-2.

Landon Tenhagen

“We’re still trying to win the series so tomorrow is very important, we have to come out and just execute the game. I was proud of our effort. We had the will to win. Everybody’s on board to win this series and win the division title and keep us in good stead heading into this tournament,” closed Mathey.

Ruzich finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and walk in the contest. McCulloch and Wells accounted for both of the Huskies runs.

Anderson completed the game with eight hits surrendered, three runs, three walks and three strikeouts in his first loss of the Mid-American Conference season. He closes the MAC season with a 1.17 earned run average and the regular season with a 2.01 clip. His sixth complete is the most by an NIU pitcher since Joe Piekarz in 2004.

Anderson also became only the third NIU pitcher in history to surpass 100 innings pitched in a season, putting him at 107.2 innings pitched this season, just 8.2 innings shy of the all-time mark of Piekarz (116.1).

For more information on NIU baseball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.

Dor Amir

Northern Illinois tennis players Dor Amir and Frederic Cadieux doubled their honors this spring as the duo was named to the Mid-American Conference’s All-Academic squad, following their All-MAC honors at season’s end.

It is the first such award for both players and Northern Illinois’ first honor since 2010, when three-time selection Javier Bernabe earned his last award.

Amir, a sophomore from Tel Aviv, Israel, carries a 3.431 cumulative grade point average in business. This spring, Amir finished with a 19-5 record and completed the 2012-13 school year with a 26-10 mark. He sported an 8-2 record at No. 1 while also finishing 6-1 and 5-2 at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. Amir is a two-time first team All-MAC and All-Academic honoree. He was also an all-tournament selection this season after finishing 4-0 in singles and doubles.

Frederic Cadieux

Cadieux, also a sophomore business major, has a 3.778 GPA and raised it with his 3.8 average last fall. On the court the Verdun, Quebec, Canada native sported a 26-6 record in 2012-13 with a 21-4 clip in the spring.

Impressively, he finished 10-1 at No. 2, losing his only match in the MAC Championship final, and was 11-3 at No. 3. Already Cadieux sports a 51-10 record in his two seasons with the Huskies. He earned his first career All-MAC honor this season, collecting second team honors this year.

Northern Illinois finished 16-9 in 2013 and advanced the Mid-American Conference Championship as it defeated No. 1 seed Ball State, 4-2, in the semifinal. The Huskies dropped a close final match to Western Michigan that would have secured an NCAA Tournament automatic berth, 4-3. NIU won the MAC regular season championship in 2012.

Nominees must have a minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average to be eligible for the team.

For more information on NIU men’s tennis and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.