NIU Today

NIU’s Ally Lehman has had an eventful week. On Friday she met U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth after being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry; on Saturday she was recognized by President Doug Baker during graduation; and today she was featured in a Chicago Sun-Times column written by NIU alumnus Mark Brown....

It’s a big year for the Huskie Battalion. For the first time in NIU’s Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC), all 11 senior cadets have received their component of choice – how they will serve our country as commissioned officers after graduation. Nine will serve active duty in the U.S. Army, and two cadets opted for...

Scholars from NIU, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Southwestern University collaborate on ground-breaking research study The power of three plus three in a research study has come to fruition as scholars from three different universities in the United States and three different colleges at NIU co-authored a study titled “Borders, Bras, and Battles:...

As Veterans Day approaches, Northern Illinois University alumna and Illinois State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit is reflecting on fellow veterans who sacrificed their lives for freedom and on her service in the Marine Corps. After graduating high school, Kifowit joined the Marines on an impulse and didn’t tell her family until after she had signed up....

Since Mission was introduced on national television last week, the popularity of the new NIU Huskie mascot has exploded. So far, his introduction video, produced by the NIU Alumni Association, has received more than 35,000 views on vimeo.com. USA Today, Sports Illustrated and other news services have shared the video, making Mission a celebrity before he...

As a new school year begins, the NIU Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Huskie Battalion welcomed back one of its own. Col. (Promotable) Brian E. Alvin, a graduate of the NIU Class of 1984, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve. The ceremony took place Saturday, Sept. 7, at...

NIU’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) will conduct a commissioning ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday, May 10, for its graduating seniors. The ceremony will take place at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center. As part of this ceremony, the ROTC will unveil the “Huskie Alumni Project,” designed to commemorate all of the NIU ROTC graduates...

As many as four Black Hawk helicopters from the Illinois Army National Guard base in Peoria will make several trips to the NIU campus Friday, April 19, and Sunday, April 21. Depending on the weather, the helicopters are coming to an open field just west of the Convocation Center to transport 90 NIU ROTC cadets...

Military service is in Scott Johnsen’s blood. His father served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam era. Both of his grandfathers served. One of his grandmothers served in the WAVES – Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service – for the U.S. Navy during World War II. His younger brother also joined the Navy....

When it comes to ranking colleges, academic excellence is important, but is hardly the only measure that matters. So say the publishers of Washington Monthly’s College Guide and Rankings. They choose to rank colleges not solely upon how well they educate students, but rather upon how well they serve society. NIU ranked 143rd – with...

U.S. Army Chinook helicopters will be taking off and landing at the intramural athletic fields just north of the Convocation Center between noon and 2 p.m. Friday, April 27. The helicopters are part of practice maneuvers being conducted by the NIU ROTC program. Cadets from the program will practice boarding and exiting the aircraft and...

Randa Hamadeh was recently selected as the 2012 George C. Marshall Award winner for NIU’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program. As the award winner, she will be NIU’s representative at the George C. Marshall Leadership Seminar held Sunday, April 15, through Wednesday, April 18, at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. Each year,...