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Tony Wedick is wonderful to work with. He is an expert in creating innovative graphic designs. He listens to the client and is willing to make changes to his designs in accordance with the client’s request and university requirements. Tony also offers wonderful suggestions and always has the client and their unit’s best interest in mind in presenting the most creative designs possible for any given project. Thank you, Tony!

Date posted: September 12, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Tony Wedick – Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications

Categories: Applause

Efforts to create welcoming, supportive campus ongoing

NIU once again has ranked among the most LGBTQ+ friendly colleges and universities in the nation.

Setting the bar for LGBTQ-inclusive polices, programs and practices nationwide, Campus Pride recently named NIU to its 2023 Best of the Best LGBTQ-friendly Colleges and Universities List. One of only two Illinois universities to be recognized, NIU earned 5 out of 5 stars and the highest percentage scores on the Campus Pride Index.

The acknowledgement—the latest in a growing list of accolades—elevates efforts made throughout campus to ensure Huskies feel welcome, included and valued both inside and outside the classroom.

Those efforts involve everyone—from leadership to faculty, staff and students.

“In the current climate, in which LGBTQ+ identities have become political talking points and laws are being weaponized against LGBTQ+ people, the commitment to creating campuses that welcome and protect LGBTQ+ students cannot be taken for granted,” said Campus Pride Founder, CEO and Executive Director Shane Mendez Windmeyer. “The colleges and universities that made our list this year deserve this recognition for the efforts they have made and continue to make.”

A free online tool used by prospective students to search a database of LGBTQ+ friendly campuses, the Campus Pride Index is the premier LGBTQ national benchmarking tool for colleges and universities to create safer, more inclusive campus communities.

Campuses are scored on eight LGBTQ-friendly factors, including housing, campus safety, academics, student life and recruitment and retention efforts.

While NIU is proud of the recognition, university leaders emphasized that efforts to continually enhance the student experience so that all Huskies have the freedom to be their whole, authentic selves remain ongoing.

“There are so many people that work hard to make this happen,” said Molly Holmes, director of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) and advisor to the LGBTQA Residential Community.

“We are a very relational campus, a place that cultivates not just the basic necessities for students, but provides an institution of care,” Holmes said. “You don’t have to be in survival mode here. You can thrive.”

Both the GSRC and the popular residential community—where students receive support as they connect with each other, faculty and staff—were among the many valuable resources highlighted as part of the Campus Pride Index’s NIU profile.

However, NIU’s recognition serves as a testament to so much more. Along with programs and resources offered specifically for LGBTQ+ students, it recognizes the university’s campus-wide commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a whole.

That commitment is reflected in partnerships throughout campus to cultivate allyship, the robustness of NIU’s diversity and cultural resource centers and numerous other initiatives.

Most recently, faculty and instructors have been given more opportunities to transform pedagogy to be queer and trans-inclusive.

Working with the Center for innovate Teaching and Learning (CITL), Holmes and Katy Jaekel, Ph.D., director of NIU’s Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality (CSWGS) and an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Higher Education, have developed a CITL Supporting LGBTQ+ Students Toolkit.

An updated syllabus statement also has been created, which allows for instructors and faculty to support proper names and pronouns.

“We’ve tried to focus in on not just recruiting students, but also on keeping them here with pedagogical strategies to make sure they feel as comfortable as possible in all spaces,” said Jaekel, whose current research looks at how queer and transgender students navigate college experiences.

“These resources are meant to supplement what we already have and provide a more in-depth classroom context.”

NIU also continues to add to its list of gender inclusive restrooms, and enhance opportunities for staff and students to be intentional allies.

The university’s achievements would not be possible without growing collaborations and partnerships between offices, departments and centers throughout campus.

“We’re better together,” said Jaekel, a trans-identifying faculty member. “The fact that we are making progress in these increasingly contested times is amazing. It calms my fear that I’m not in this alone.

“I’m really proud of the leadership we have that continues to allow us to move forward and are in this with us.”

The Best of the Best ranking is the latest in a string of recognitions.

The university was named the most LGBTQ+ friendly college in Illinois in 2022 by BestColleges, which uses the Campus Pride Index and its own ranking methodology emphasizing college affordability and academic metrics, including admissions, enrollment, graduation and accreditation, to determine rankings.

After earning 5 out of 5 stars on the Campus Pride Index in 2022, NIU also was named to Campus Pride’s 2022 Best of the Best Colleges and Universities for LGBTQ+ students.

The full list of campuses featured in this year’s Best of the Best are listed in alphabetical order by state and organized according to region.

Mid-Atlantic Region

Adelphi University, Garden City, NY

Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick, New Brunswick, NJ

The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Midwest Region

Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN

Indiana University, Bloomington, Bloomington, IN

Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL

Oakland University, Rochester, MI

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI

University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, Green Bay, WI

University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI

Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

New England Region

Tufts University, Medford, MA

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, MA

University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

South Region

Elon University, Elon, NC

George Mason University,  Fairfax, VA

Guilford College, Greensboro, NC

Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY

University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

West Region

San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR

University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO

The full Campus Pride 2023 Best of the Best list is also available online at CampusPride.org/BestoftheBest.

Date posted: September 12, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU again among ‘Best of the Best’ for LGBTQ+ students

Categories: Faculty & Staff Homepage Students Uncategorized

NIU’s Edible Campus kicks off its second year with a new website, more ways to get involved and a fundraising dinner.

Bryan Flower

On Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, NIU’s Edible Campus is hosting a fundraising dinner created and prepared by Chef Bryan Flower, NIU assistant director of food systems innovation, along with Daniel Koenen, executive director for Campus Dining Services. The farm-to-table menu features roast pork, chicken and a vegetarian main course, along with a feast of produce harvested from NIU’s Edible Campus Market Garden as well as local farms. The proceeds will be shared equally between the Huskie Food Pantry and the Edible Campus program.

The fundraising dinner – similar to the Huskie Food Pantry and Edible Campus – is a collaboration among many partners, including the NIU Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development, Campus Dining Services and the Division of Student Affairs. The dinner is one of many events and volunteer opportunities that Edible Campus is offering this fall. More information about how students, faculty, staff and community members can get involved is available on the new Edible Campus website.

The fundraising dinner first grew out of a conversation between Chef Flower and Daniel Koenen, who had been seeking a chance to work together. In November of 2022, they organized a successful fundraising dinner for the Huskie Food Pantry, welcoming 53 diners and raising $3,500. The attendees included students, faculty, staff and senior NIU leaders – and it was such a success that the organizers decided to go even bigger this year, with the goal of selling 150 tickets and raising $10,000 to be split among Edible Campus and the Huskie Food Pantry.

Flower says, “That dinner was a lot of fun to do and I had some great help in the back of the kitchen. Luke Sebby, who’s now with the NIU Foundation, came and spent an afternoon and helped in the kitchen as the sous-chef, which was great. We had some staff from Campus Dining helping out as well. And this year we’re expecting both Luke and Vice President and Chief Engagement Officer Rena Cotsones to make an appearance in the kitchen. I appreciate the extra help because cooking and organizing a dinner for 150 people is a much bigger challenge than cooking for 50.”

Student workers harvest yellow squash in the NIU Edible Campus Market Garden.

The dinner will take place at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, and – weather permitting – it will happen on the outdoor patio in true farm-to-table fashion. Flower says that, while the menu has already been set, the team has left themselves the flexibility to add items based on what’s available from the Edible Campus Market Garden and local growers.

“On the menu this year, we’ve got a creamy yellow squash soup, created from yellow squash we harvested and processed from the Edible Campus gardens this summer,” says Flower. “We’ll make a nice herb oil using herbs such as lemon thyme, Thai basil, mint and tarragon from our Market Garden. It adds a little brightness to the soup.”

The garden salad will also feature fresh vegetables from the Market Garden, as will the Greek potato salad and the okra succotash. For meat eaters, the menu will also include a choice of barbecued pulled pork or barbecued chicken thighs, and for vegetarians, a main dish will be developed based on the fresh produce available that week. The dessert will be a collaboration with local Jonamac Orchard: a French apple cake with a lemon thyme crème fraîche to accompany it.

A farm-to-table dinner is a fitting fundraising for Edible Campus and the Huskie Food Pantry because they share the goal of bringing fresh, local foods to all people, regardless of income.

“The Huskie Food Pantry plays a vital role on campus,” says Flower. “We know that roughly half of college students struggle with food security issues at some point in their degree. That impacts concentration, grades, graduation rates, retention rates – it plays a huge role in student success, so we need to be very conscious of that. The Huskie Food Pantry is such an important program to help students access the healthy foods they need to make a difference in every area of their lives.”

Student volunteers in the Huskie Food Pantry help to provide food to hundreds of students each week.

The NIU Edible Campus program is a partnership designed to transform parts of campus into edible food gardens in an effort to educate students about food systems, bring more fresh local foods into their diets, and serve as living laboratories for food systems research. The program’s new website and fundraisers such as the Sept. 28 dinner are all part of the program’s growth towards sustainability.

“Edible Campus is in its infancy,” says Flower. “We’re currently funded by a three-year federal grant through congressional funding. We’ve gone through year one already, and we’re in year two right now, so we only have one more year to reach the goal of making the program sustainable into the future. This fundraiser is one step towards financial sustainability.”

Flower says the funds being raised will likely go towards labor – which is the largest expense in a garden once it’s been established. “Raising funds will help to provide more work opportunities for students on campus, and it creates a circular economy effect. We’re raising funds, putting it back in, giving the students jobs, and giving them access to healthy food. It’s a nice synergy.”

The dinner will take place on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center. The cash bar begins at 5 p.m. and the dinner at 6 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person, and all proceeds benefit NIU’s Edible Campus and Huskie Food Pantry.

Tickets are available online through the NIU calendar.

Date posted: September 12, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Edible Campus Fundraising Dinner celebrates the bounty of campus gardens and local producers

Categories: Faculty & Staff Homepage Students Uncategorized

Editor’s Note: This event has been postponed until November 2023.

Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian Greg Grandin will present “The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America” during the Department of History’s annual Lincoln Lecture, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Sept. 21 in Altgeld Auditorium. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian Greg Grandin.

This lecture draws on Grandin’s 2020 Pulitzer Prize award-winning bookThe End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, to explore the changing meanings of the frontier in American identity and U.S. history from the American Revolution to the 2016 electoral politics of the border wall.

Grandin serves as the Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History at Yale University. He is author of seven books on Latin America and the U.S., including Fordlandia (2009), a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics, Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and The Empire of Necessity (2014), winner of the Bancroft Prize and the Beveridge Award in American History.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Society of American Historians.  Grandin has published widely, in The Nation, where he is a member of the editorial board; the London Review of Books, the New Republic, NACLA’s Report on the Americas, and the New York Times, among other venues and is a regular guest on Democracy Now!

The W. Bruce Lincoln Endowed Lecture Series brings to campus distinguished scholars who address topics of interest to both the academic community and the general public. The lectures engage key issues and are often interdisciplinary, in the spirit of Professor Lincoln’s research, writing and teaching.

For more information about this year’s Lincoln Lecture, contact Professor Anne Hanley, Department of History, at ahanley@niu.edu.

Date posted: September 12, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on POSTPONED: NIU History Department presents the 2023 Lincoln Lecture

Categories: Community Faculty & Staff Homepage Students Uncategorized

Along with Huskie spirit, this year’s Homecoming celebration will showcase Bold Spirits.

As part of a new, unique event, Huskies are invited to kick off the 116th Homecoming at Jonomac Orchard in Malta. Scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, Huskie Hour with DeKalb County Spirits will include samples from DeKalb County’s local breweries, wineries and distilleries.

Tickets are $30 and include drink tickets, snacks, live music and a keepsake Bold Spirit glass. Those interested in attending can register here.

This is a great event to meet up with colleagues or gather the gang and to head out and toast the Huskies, said Jennifer Groce, an event co-chair and director of Community Promotion for the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development.

“Attendees can expect to enjoy a festive afternoon on the farm with fellow Huskies, sipping local cider, wine, ale and signature cocktails all featuring local DeKalb County makers,” Groce said.

“There will be delicious Octoberfest-inspired appetizers from Keg and Kernel, live music and delicious beverages unique to DeKalb County. It is the perfect way to enjoy a Fall Friday and celebrate NIU’s 116th Homecoming.”

During NIU’s 116th Homecoming celebration Huskies are invited out to Jonamac Orchard for “Huskie Hour with DeKalb County Bold Spirts” for a sampling of local breweries, wineries and distilleries.

Along with showcasing local makers and businesses, the event represents a blossoming collaboration between NIU and the community. Huskie Hour is hosted by DeKalb County Bold Spirits, the DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the NIU Alumni Association.

“Like Huskie Athletics and the university, DeKalb County’s Bold Spirits partners attract visitors from across the state, the Midwest and from across the country,” said Bradley Hoey, special projects manager for the DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“These local makers—among them NIU alumni—are proud of the products they produce. The Huskie Hour event is an opportunity for NIU alumni to experience and/or be re-introduced to local businesses, attractions and communities that make the home of Northern Illinois University a great place to live, learn, work and play.”

While Huskie Hour is a new event for this year’s Homecoming celebration, its origins can be traced back to the inaugural Bold Spirits Huskie Tailgate in 2021.

A collaboration between the DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau and NIU Athletics, that event encouraged Huskies to integrate homegrown DeKalb County productsparticularly food and beverages from DeKalb County Bold Spirits partners – into their traditional tailgate fare.

“The 2021 event was a big success with tailgaters showcasing the most ‘Huskie Spirit’ and best use of DeKalb County Bold Spirits products being awarded prizes from Bold Spirits partners,” Hoey said.

Based on that success, the event is back for 2023. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, before the NIU vs. Tulsa game at Huskie Stadium, Bold Spirits Huskie Tailgate once again encourages Huskies to enjoy DeKalb County products as they tailgate.

Prizes will be awarded to tailgates exuding the most “Huskie Spirit” and that best use DeKalb County Bold Spirits products within their tailgate. More information on how to register can be found here.

“The Huskie Hour with DeKalb County Bold Spirits takes the Bold Spirts Huskie Tailgate a step further,” Hoey said.

It’s an opportunity to bring together the DeKalb community together with current Huskies and proud alumni.

Among those proud alumni are the hosts at Jonomac Orchard, 19412 Shabbona Road, Malta.

The family has four generations of NIU alumni, said Jenna Spychal, who met her husband, Mike, at NIU while the two were earning their undergraduate degrees.

Spychal’s grandmother, Mary Lynn McArtor, one of the founders of Jonomac Orchard, earned her master’s degree at NIU, taught in the nursing program for seven years and was the first woman to serve on the NIU Athletics Board.

“This is the first year we are hosting the event, and we were thrilled for the opportunity to have alumni visit the farm and try all of the great products in DeKalb County, including our wine and hard ciders, made in our Cider House,” Spychal said.

Jonomoc Orchard currently has wines produced with Prairie State Winery, An Apple Ale made in collaboration with Byers Brewing Company and a Bourbon Barrel Aged Hard Cider that is aged in barrels at Whiskey Acres available to guests.

“We love being a part of the Bold Spirits group and working with the vast array of producers in our county,” Spychal said. “At the Cider House, we love the opportunity to collaborate with the other members through events and new products.”

While Huskie Hour with DeKalb County Spirits is for Huskies who are ages 21 and older, Jonamac Orchard also provides fun activities for people of all ages, including apple picking and a corn maze. Visit Jonamac Orchard’s website to learn more.

Date posted: September 11, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Homecoming event invites Huskies to enjoy DeKalb County’s Bold Spirits

Categories: Alumni Community Faculty & Staff Homepage Uncategorized

A big thank you to Katie. Thank you for always keeping up with our invoices and always on time. You always amaze me how efficient you are. CCWE could not function without you. We appreciate you.

Date posted: September 10, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Katie Mowers – Sponsored Programs Administration

Categories: Applause

Thank you for being a miracle worker with our FY24 budget. Here at CCWE we really appreciate your hard work, flexibility, and immediate response. We could not function without you!

Date posted: September 10, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Maria Nihei – Sponsored Programs Administration

Categories: Applause

Jess consistently goes above and beyond to serve the COMS100 students, instructors, and graduate assistants. During our recent transition, she was always patient, kind and willing to listen to all stakeholders. We are so lucky to have her!

Date posted: September 10, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Jessica Ebert – Department of Communication

Categories: Applause

Donna, always comes through on grant submisssion. Even when we are late or forgot something she is there to make sure we get these in and on time. Thank you Donna, you are appreciated.

Date posted: September 7, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Donna Martin – Sponsored Programs Administration

Categories: Applause

Roberta is truly passionate about helping students. She always goes the extra mile to make the student feel safe and cared for and alleviates their concerns. She will walk around from behind the office to sit next to them and show them how to navigate the NIU Safe app. She treats all the students like she would her own children, with compassion and kindness.

Date posted: September 7, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Roberta Schwarz – Police and Public Safety

Categories: Applause

Dede is absolutely wonderful! Whether it’s helping make something more efficient, fixing something in the system, or answering questions, she’s immensely helpful and kind.

Thank you for all you do, Dede! You’re a rockstar!

Date posted: September 7, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Deirdre Young – Registration and Records

Categories: Applause

Chris Lowe
Chris Lowe

The NIU College of Education’s Office for Student Success is officially under new management.

Chris Lowe, who served as assistant director from December through April, is now the director. Alex Owens, who joined NIU in November of 2021 as an academic advisor in the Department of Special and Early Education, has been named assistant director and will begin Sept. 1.

Launched in August 2021, the office provides a comprehensive hub of intentional assistance to promote retention and graduation by harnessing resources of the college while also connecting to, and collaborating with, university-level programs.

“Our focus is on decreasing barriers to success, whether that’s in recruitment – where we’re trying to help students understand who we are, what programs we have, how they might be a fit and then helping smooth that process of getting here and getting enrolled,” Lowe says.

“And, with existing students, it’s about navigating all of the issues that they face and helping them feel like they’re part of our larger College of Ed team, knowing that they have someone in their corner and that they can always come here to us for whatever support they need.”

He calls the operation “vital.”

“The reality is that our students need support beyond just what they get from their individual instructors and their individual courses,” says Lowe, who holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and M.A. in English from McNeese State University and a B.A. in English from Mississippi University for Women.

“For the College of Education, our office is really the hub all of the rest of the support that they get, whether it’s advising or finding avenues for connections across the university for other resources,” he adds. “Different things that might help our students often happen out of our space, and we can help students filter to the right space and then help guide them.”

Alex Owens
Alex Owens

Students also can find “that connection with the college” and build “that sense of community” through the Office for Student Success, says Owens, who earned her M.S. in Student Affairs in Higher Education and her B.S. in Professional Writing from Missouri State University.

“If you bring all of the College of Education licensure students together, you know that a lot of them have the same, shared passions,” she says.

“They have different grade levels they want to teach, but if they have the centralized hub where they can all come together to have activities where they can connect – where there might be organizations that we can advertise – they’re getting more of that sense of community and feeling like there’s this place where they can get that identity as a College of Education student.”

Professors and instructors should also consider the office as their partner, Lowe says.

“We’re also here to help them navigate student-related issues that they are encountering. They are not alone. It’s not just them and the student trying to figure out how to solve a problem. We are a resource for them, and we can help direct them toward different resources on campus,” he says.

“And, quite often, there has to be collaboration between faculty and advisors because faculty are rightfully very focused on their particular area .The course that they are teaching should be at the forefront of their thoughts,” he adds. “But part of the advising role is to have the bigger-picture view of student’s academic plan in mind, so we can help fill that gap for faculty as they’re working with students and if they need some of that bigger-picture understanding.”

Meanwhile, Owens says, faculty hoping to recruit more students to their classrooms can turn to Gabel 138 for assistance.

“Bring those requests to us,” she says. “That’s something we can look into – if we need to get those enrollments up; if we need to do some more recruitment and get out there to get more students interested in that particular program.”

Associate Dean David Walker and Chris Lowe.

Associate Dean David Walker and Chris Lowe at the Spring 2023 Pizza Party outside the Office for Student Success.

LOWE CAME TO NIU in the summer of 2021 as a program adviser in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

He had spent the bulk of his career as a faculty member and program coordinator in English and Creative Writing at his alma mater McNeese State in Lake Charles, La., where, in addition to teaching, he also took part in student success work such as recruitment, advising and retention.

But after two hurricanes soaked Lake Charles in the fall of 2020, Lowe and his family decided it was time to relocate somewhere not prone to tropical storms.

“I was ready to being a new phase of my careers, and so I was looking specifically at student-facing roles, and that’s what really brought me to NIU,” he says. “My focus has always been on helping students engage with their college experience – making sure they are prepared and successful; helping them get past barriers to success – and so this feels like a natural fit for where my career’s been pointing, even when I was in more teaching-based roles.”

Most of that teaching was in creative writing, something he practices himself as a widely published and prolific author of short fiction.

Among his works are three prose chapbooks, including “A Guest of the Program” (which won the Iron Horse Literary Chapbook Prize), “Those Like Us,” and the forthcoming “Make Some Wretched Fool to Pay.” He’s currently penning a new collection of thematically linked stories set in Louisiana and Illinois.

“I’m very interested in narrative theory – how we tell stories and why – and I see a lot of overlap between what I like to explore in my writing with my academic interests and the work that I do in student services,” Lowe says.

“So much of what, in my mind, makes for good fiction is an ability to engage with the human experience. Understanding people. Empathy. Engaging with how we live our lives,” he adds. “The work that we do in student success is very much in that same realm – engaging with each student on their own terms, making sure that we understand who they are, what their story is and what their background is.”

Owens also has spent her career in higher education.

Before coming to Illinois, she worked in various areas of academic support and student affairs in the Show Me State, including at Missouri Western State University, where she was an academic advisor, supervised student-tutors and even participated in admissions efforts.

“Everyone wore multiple hats there,” she says. “I did a lot with advising and with recruitment and retention; just a lot of things that would fall under the umbrella of enrollment management of getting students to the university and then making sure that they are successful while there.”

After five years, she moved on to the University of Missouri, where she worked in residential life.

Duties included overseeing one of the residence hall complexes, supervision of resident assistants and “just helping students feel comfortable and establishing a sense of belonging.”

“I did that for about a year-and-a-half, and then I was really looking for kind of a change of scenery overall,” says Owens, who is pursuing a second master’s degree in English at NIU. “I was very drawn to the northern Illinois region, so that’s what brought me here.”

PLANS FOR THIS YEAR naturally include nurturing a sense of belonging for students.

“We’re addressing that in a variety of ways, including different events and initiatives, and faculty and staff are always welcome to help with those,” Lowe says.

“If we’re having a student event, it’s a great opportunity for faculty to get to know these students outside of the classroom and to show they that they’re invested in them as individuals and not just as people in the seats when they’re lecturing,” he adds. “Come mingle with the students. Let them know you’re engaged, and that you care about them, because that really does foster that sense of belonging.”

Owens is keeping an open mind – and an open ear – to what students want.

She looks forward to chats with College of Education majors about what they would like from the office, “and that doesn’t mean it all has to be academic.” Included in that list are their interests, their aspirations and their expectations.

“We want to meet them where they’re at,” she says. “We can do fun things, too, like if they just want a pizza party where they can all talk and get to know each other and talk about the concert they’re going to next.”

Meanwhile, she’s ready to return to her roots in recruitment – especially now that operations can return to normal after COVID-19 forced those interactions online.

“I’m excited to meet the high school students who are interested in coming to NIU, and talking to transfer students,” Owens says, “so that they can have those conversations and really feel like they know everything they need to know so that they can feel confident when they begin the process of coming to NIU.”

Date posted: September 7, 2023 | Author: | Comments Off on Chris Lowe, Alex Owens begin new roles leading COE Office for Student Success work

Categories: Faculty & Staff Homepage Students Uncategorized