NIU Today

Yenitza Guzman was a speaker at Glenbard Township High School District 87’s Latinx Student Leadership Summit this week. She shared her story with 50+ students and encouraged unapologetic pride in their Latinx heritage. We are so grateful for her participation in this summit.

Big applause to Natalia for organizing the most amazing STEMFest. She has done a great service to her colleagues, community, and the university

Kevin works well with our RTS customer relations manager, project manager, and iFiber customers to implement broadband projects. Kevin is always a pleasure to work with and on top of his projects. For the ICN deadline, Kevin worked diligently to help complete multiple projects by the deadline. Kevin is the kind of employee who goes the extra mile and a real pleasure to work with.

Congratulations to Jason Rhode, associate vice provost for Teaching, Learning, and Digital Education at NIU on being named to the 2023 Class of Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Fellows! This honor recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of digital leadership, digital education and online learning.

Jason Rhode, associate vice provost for Teaching, Learning and Digital Education.

Recognition as an OLC Fellow is one of high professional distinction and is conferred upon individual members of the OLC by its Board of Directors for outstanding work within online learning, extraordinary contributions to the field, distinguished service to OLC and extraordinary leadership. “These exemplary individuals and institutions have demonstrated unwavering dedication, innovation and leadership in advancing online, blended and digital learning,” said Jennifer Mathes, CEO of the OLC.

Rhode is being honored for “Visionary Leadership and Dedication to Mentoring Future Leaders in the Field.” He joins four others in this year’s prestigious class of leaders, and will accept the award later this month at the OLC Accelerate annual conference in Washington D.C.

“I’ve gained so much from the OLC community over my two decades in the field of online learning and taken advantage of every opportunity to give back and help raise up the next generation of leaders who will continue to shape our future,” said Rhode. “We do all we can at NIU to provide a supportive environment where our faculty can create outstanding teaching and learning experiences for our students, and we are glad to have the collaborations with OLC in this process.”

This is the 14^th year the OLC has recognized outstanding contributions in this manner. Fellows are nominated by others in their field; these nominees then go through an evaluation process with a substantial set of criteria:

• Outstanding qualifications in the field of online learning.
• Significant experience in online learning or an allied field.
• Extraordinary contributions and leadership in the field of online learning.
• Distinguished service to OLC or the field.

“Jason is an amazing leader and colleague who is dedicated to supporting high quality teaching and learning at NIU,” said Dr. Laurie-Elish Piper, NIU interim executive vice president and provost. “Our faculty and students have greatly benefited from Jason’s innovative work during his time at NIU, and it is great to see him receive this well-deserved recognition.”

Rhode provides leadership and oversight for university initiatives to support all members of the NIU community who have a teaching role, including faculty and graduate assistants who assist in NIU’s teaching mission. Rhode leads the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) and oversees digital learning. He serves as the chief digital learning officer and defines and implements processes to deliver high quality digital learning.

The Online Learning Consortium is the leading professional online learning society devoted to advancing quality e-Education into the mainstream through creating community and knowledge around quality online, blended and digital learning while driving innovation. The growing worldwide OLC community includes faculty members, administrators, trainers, instructional designers, and other learning professionals, as well as educational institutions, professional societies and corporate enterprises.

View the full list of 2023 OLC Accelerate Award Winners and Fellows.

NIU’s research, service and engagement enterprises are on a serious roll, as external funding in Fiscal Year 2023 surged.

During that fiscal year, faculty and staff secured about 400 awards totaling $57 million in funding from outside sources, an increase of 34% over the previous year and a 60% increase since FY 2019. That FY23 figure does not include another $4 million in awards for COVID-19 relief funding.

“This is an outstanding record of achievement that speaks to a lot of hard work and the high level of expertise among our faculty and staff,” said Yvonne Harris, NIU vice president of the Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships.

NIU is recognized nationally as a leading Emerging Research Institution and among Carnegie-classified R2 universities for “high research activity.” More than 50% of the external funding in FY23 came from federal agencies, while another 40% came from the State of Illinois.

“External funding is at a 10-year high or better,” said Dara Little, associate vice president for research and executive director of NIU Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA). Little’s office provides FY23 details in its Annual Report.

“Included in this year’s funding are federal investments in university infrastructure to enable cutting-edge research and education, public programming to deliver social and educational services across the region, and a highly competitive research CAREER award,” Little said.

The National Science Foundation CAREER award went to Biology Professor Jennifer Koop. Koop is receiving $1.2 million over five years to advance her studies into why some species, particularly parasites, are successful at invading new habitats. NSF’s CAREER program provides support to early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

“NIU faculty members have a strong tradition of competing for and winning these prestigious awards,” Little said.

Funding specifically for NIU research reached $16.2 million, also a 10-year-high or better. Among the other NIU research projects funded in FY23:

• Development of new energy technologies.
• Modernization of the Microelectronic Research and Development Lab.
• Establishment of NIU’s Edible Campus.
• Using hemp to make greener plastics.
• Development of the first biomass pipeline.
• Helping farmers adapt to extreme weather events.
• Illinois Innovation Network-supported initiatives of the Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability.

Additionally, NIU received $7 million in outside funding for instructional programs, including a $5.1 million award over five years to train school psychologists and funding for NIU’s Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity Program. University faculty and staff also attracted $37 million in funding for public service projects. “We’ve seen growth in this area, mostly from partnerships with the State of Illinois,” Little said. Among the public service projects:

• Funding of an Integrated Assessment Program for the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services.
• An effort that employed NIU students to serve as grant reviewers for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
• Funding for the DCFS Child Protection Training Academy at NIU.
• Illinois State Board of Education funding for the Pre-school For All Expansion program.

“All of these programs and more advance the academic and research mission of the university,” Harris said. “They provide opportunities for our students to work alongside faculty in the lab, field and classroom as we train the next generation of leaders.”

Chris performs schedules and performs broadband equipment installation for iFiber and is always extremely helpful and thorough. During the yearly ICN projects, Chris juggled multiple installations to meet a hard deadline by coordinating with the Network Engineer, RTS Project Manager, and customer. Chris is a reliable and professional employee who represents NIU well.

Kate has been working hard to cover both graduate and undergraduate advising for the last three months while we hired a new advisor. She is amazing, and always has a smile for students and demonstrates care!

Jayne does so much for our alumni & the staff team.

I appreciate how she always finds time to develop others, find a space and place for anyone on her team to ensure all are included, and her willingness to jump in and lead. She is an expert trainer. She is also always putting in the extra hours to make sure things are done right.

Jayne is a kind professional who has accomplished much in her career. Excited to continue working alongside her. She leads through her actions & words.

Thank you for all that you do!

Austyn has been trumpeting NIU and the School of Music over long weekends of college fairs in addition to his full schedule of prospective contact management and on-campus activities. Though new to the job, his excitement about what we offer to future Huskies is overflowing into the larger community!