NIU Today

NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) and the Center for Non-Governmental Organization Leadership and Development (NGOLD) bid farewell Wednesday, Nov. 4, to 21 young Southeast Asian leaders participating in the Leading and Organizing for Change in Southeast Asia (LOCSEA) institute. Beginning Sept. 30, the trip concluded with a five-day study tour of the South...

With more than $523 million in total revenue and nearly $848 million in assets, the nonprofit sector in DeKalb County is an important contributor to the regional economy. A new study explores nonprofit organizations based in DeKalb County and provides a glimpse at their funding, programs, outreach efforts and other characteristics. NIU’s Center for NGO...

The University Honors Program focuses not only on the academic involvement of its students, but also on their engagement beyond the classroom. With the help of the Study Abroad Office, the University Honors Program has worked to offer students several unique study abroad opportunities for the summer of 2014. The study abroad experience in Montreal,...

NIU has been awarded the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll award for the sixth time. This honor is awarded to universities and colleges around the country that set the example in civic engagement by creating meaningful and innovative community service opportunities for their students. Eligibility for this award is based on an institution’s...

After Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010, more than half of U.S. households donated to thousands of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in that country. Yet we continue to hear stories of misery. Why have NGOs failed at their mission? NIU professor Mark Schuller examines that very question in his new book, “Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid,...

The Northern Illinois University Center for Non-Governmental Organization Leadership and Development (NGOLD) is offering a research-related brown bag series that will kick off this month. Presenters are NGOLD faculty associates from departments across campus. “As an interdisciplinary center, one of NGOLD’s focal points is to foster a research environment that is conducive to those interested...

Moving to suburban Carpentersville from Mexico when she was 15, Maria Torres became involved in fighting for the rights of people like herself: undocumented immigrants in the United States. Growing up as the son of executive directors in the Salvation Army, Tom Babbitt knew he also wanted a career path where he could assist others...

Members of the NIU teaching community who are interested in developing relationships with community partners for student learning experiences are invited to learn more at a brown-bag lunch. The event takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, April 2, in the Blackhawk West. Nancy Castle, interim director of the Center for NGO Leadership...

Armed with a business plan that could provide inexpensive electrical power to families across the developing world, Team Light Up Africa took top honors in the first ever Social Venture Business Plan Competition at Northern Illinois University. Their ambitious plan to build and sell small generator/battery storage units – which can be powered by the...

Tuesday’s “teach-in” on the crisis in Japan drew an audience of about 100 students, faculty and staff members who heard a panel of experts talk on a range of subjects, from how worldwide non-governmental organizations (NGO) respond to massive disasters to an account of how the nuclear crisis unfolded. “It was very informational,” said Erika...

Northern Illinois University will hold a “teach-in” on the crisis in Japan, with a panel of experts speaking on topics ranging from tracking earthquakes and tsunamis to the hazards of radioactive emissions. The event, titled “Responding to the Human Tragedy in Japan: Challenges and Complexities,” is free and open to the public. It will be...