Donnie was exemplary with his responsiveness and expedient work on a project he did for my office. It is really a treat when someone is able to keep to a timeline and deliver a product that not only meets, but exceeds your expectations. Furthermore, to be able to always respond and assist with coming up with alternative solutions is a mark of a colleague that truly embodies quality customer service. Well done, Donnie!
Date posted: March 6, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Donnie Forti – Web and Internal Communications
My mind is blown by how quickly Jerry responds to requests for help with research-related roadblocks, considering how much he has going on in a given day. If it’s possible to do, Jerry gets it done! It makes a huge difference to faculty members.
Date posted: March 6, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Jerry Blazey – Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships
Cara responds so quickly and competently to requests for help with anything research-related, and is a pleasure to deal with. Knowing that, whenever a roadblock comes up, I can reach out to Cara for help is so appreciated.
Date posted: March 6, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Cara Carlson – Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships
All faculty and staff will soon see their old desk phones replaced by a state-of-the-art communications platform that makes it easier to stay in touch and share information in ways a desk phone never could.
The new system, Teams Voice, which is part of the existing Microsoft Teams platform, allows users to keep the phone number from their old desk line, but provides much more functionality. It allows users to make and receive external calls on a computer or mobile device while providing modern calling enhancements, such as voicemail-to-email, call history, call blocking, call transferring, conference calls, the ability to record calls and more.
Teams Voice replaces a 35-year-old phone system that has become badly outdated and expensive to maintain.
About 750 employees, 10 divisions and two colleges, have already made the switch to Teams Voice. Six more divisions – Athletics, the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, the College of Health and Human Sciences, the College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (about 900 phones in all) — are expected to make the shift in March.
The goal is to have all phones with a 752 or 753 extension transferred to Teams by July, says John Kearsing, the project manager overseeing the process for DoIT.
“We have intentionally taken a conservative approach to create as little disruption as possible,” Kearsing said, explaining that the focus has been on transferring the desk lines of individuals, which has slowed the process a bit because it requires great care in verifying numbers. He believes it will be well worth the wait.
“The switch provides the entire university – students, faculty and staff – with a 21st century communications platform that provides a far richer and more flexible communication than any landline on a desk ever could,” Kearsing said, adding that the new system is expected to save the university $400,000 a year.
Students also have the ability to connect with anybody through Teams, through their O365 account, including faculty, allowing for enriched conversations with instructors that involve sharing links, whiteboards, images and more.
More information on the Teams Voice project can be found on the project website.
Date posted: March 6, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Teams Voice transition on track for summer completion
Northern Illinois University College of Business is pleased to announce the launch of the HAVI Center for Analytics and Technology (HCAT). This new lab represents the College’s commitment to experiential learning. HCAT will have cutting-edge technologies and, through real-world projects in partnership with HAVI, will prepare students for occupations of the future. Located on the third floor in the beautiful Barsema Hall, the lab will focus on industry-relevant, hands-on learning experiences in five key areas: machine learning, blockchain, big data, internet of things, and artificial intelligence.
“We are excited to partner with the NIU College of Business to launch the HAVI Center for Analytics and Technology,” said Rodney Brown, Senior VP & Chief Supply Chain Officer at HAVI. “This initiative will be a game changer for HAVI and our partners, not to mention NIU students and data analytics leaders of the future. Our success as an organization depends on attracting and retaining top talent, and HCAT will be an important part of our strategy to attract top huskie talent to HAVI. Access to outstanding faculty researchers will also enable HAVI to stay at the forefront of solving difficult challenges in the areas of analytics and supply chain and provides access to the latest technology in this space.” He added, “NIU’s commitment to innovation in the space of data analytics made them the ideal partner in this initiative.”
HAVI, a global leader in supply chain analytics solutions, has made a significant financial and engagement commitment to this project, recognizing the need for intellectual talent in the field of AI and analytics. HAVI’s values align with NIU College of Business mission to nurture young minds to be leaders who transform the world. To honor this partnership and commitment, the data analytics lab will be named the HAVI Center for Analytics and Technology.
“We are thrilled to partner with HAVI to establish this new Center for Analytics and Technology. HAVI’s generous donation will support acquisition of cutting-edge hardware and software for student learning and faculty research. Investments will also be made in student experiences and other aspects of faculty research. The lab will not only be a resource for all College of Business students but for all students at NIU. We expect the lab to be a hub for collaborating with Computer Science and other disciplines across campus” said Dean Balaji Rajagopalan.
The Operations and Management Information Systems (OMIS) department in the College of Business will play a key role in bringing together talent across the College and campus to bring the vision of the lab to life. Noting the excitement, the Chair of OMIS, Dr. Chang Liu says, “With nationally recognized programs in Management Information Systems and Data Analytics, this lab will help us remain at the cutting edge of developments and further elevate the reputation of our programs. Our students will benefit from the collaboration with HAVI by learning through challenging real-world projects. And faculty scholars who are outstanding researchers will benefit from connecting their research to practice that makes an impact.”
The College of Business is committed to providing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in the rapidly evolving field of data analytics. The establishment of the HAVI Center for Analytics and Technology is a testament to this commitment and a significant step forward for the College.
Reflecting on the pivotal moment of the launch of the HCAT, Executive Vice President and Provost Beth Ingram noted, “NIU’s strategic priorities include a significant focus on data analytics and artificial intelligence. With the launch of HCAT, we will have made an important investment in these areas. I look forward to hearing the stories of student success and excellent faculty research emerging from the NIU College of Business – HAVI partnership. I am particularly pleased to see that HCAT will bring students and researchers from across all areas of campus.”
Date posted: March 6, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on NIU College of Business and HAVI partner to launch the HAVI Center for Analytics and Technology
James McCue, ’22, credits his Pell Grants with allowing him to focus on his studies and become more financially secure in order to earn his finance degree.
James McCue, ’22, initially enrolled at NIU in 2016 after receiving a full scholarship based on his excellent ACT score. He and was extremely active on campus, participating in pep band and as social chairman for Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. His four-year scholarship allowed him to focus on his classes and his social connection.
But when a medical emergency forced him to leave school for a time, he was forced to forfeit his initial scholarship and faced a new kind of college life with major financial challenges.
“At first, my return to NIU as a finance student was contingent on maintaining two jobs throughout my schooling,” he said. “Nonetheless, I still became involved in NIU’s Student Government Association (SGA), indulging my love of literature by serving as the organization’s Senate Historian. I also had the incredible opportunity to represent the Financial Management Association as its treasurer and was sent to the national conference on a scholarship from the College of Business in March 2022.”
Eventually, though, McCue’s luck changed when he was awarded a Federal Pell Grant for his exceptional financial need.
“After my medical incident, I spent several years in debt. I eventually recovered and worked my way back to school by age 24, and I qualified for the Pell Grant based on my income,” McCue said. “If I hadn’t received the Pell Grant when I did, I would have had to stop taking classes and begin working full-time, due to cost-of-living increases over the years. I owe my education to the Pell Grant, and now I can earn enough to stay on top of my loans and move forward in life.” McCue noted that the opportunity to go to school during the pandemic was actually a blessing for those who took advantage of it.
“I got to spend a semester remote, and that freed me up to get hands-on experience in roles I’d never be exposed to elsewhereI use the information I learned at NIU every day,” he said.
Last year, McCue finally earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and found his job at an NIU Career Fair before he graduated. Today, he works for the state of Florida as a tax auditor, ensuring that large multi-state corporations are paying their proper sales tax.
“For the first time in my life, I have stable income. I have affordable health care. I have time to read, and I’m making consistent progress. I feel good about the future,” McCue said. “I couldn’t take out enough loans to cover all of the direct costs across the years, so it would have been a bad idea without financial aid. Again, without scholarship funds, I wouldn’t have been able to get my degree.”
Tina Figarelli, ’22, received an Impact Scholarship while an art student at NIU.
Tina Figarelli, ’22, currently an artist-in-residence at East Oaks Studio in Raleigh, North Carolina, was a first-generation college student when she attended NIU, working her way through school and selling her artwork.
Figarelli credits her time at NIU and the scholarship she received with impacting her life in a meaningful way. She grew up in suburban Elk Grove Village, and was the first in her family to attend college.
“I was a first-generation college student, so navigating college was a whole new experience for me and my family,” she said. “It was difficult, especially when it came to the application process and payments, as we all knew very little about those processes. It was something I had to learn and navigate myself with lots of help from advisors and teachers.”
During her senior year, Figarelli received the Impact Scholarship, which covered her tuition that year. This helped immensely as she was paying for school without loans, while commuting from home, working part-time and selling her art.
“I was also commuting an hour a day from home to campus to save money on room and board,” she said. “I was using the money I had saved from working part-time as a bank teller, as well as selling my artwork. It could get stressful, for sure, so when I received word I got the scholarship, it was like a big weight was lifted off my shoulders.”
While she didn’t live on campus, she loved spending time studying art and finding inspiration there.
“I lived off campus at home to save money, but loved my time in my art classes,” she said. “My favorite study spot between classes was the library, especially because NIU has such a wonderful art book collection. Sorting through dozens of art books in between classes was a great way to relax and find inspiration for new work.”
She described her professors in the School of Art and Design as personable and caring, and she credits professor Frank Trankina as one of her bigger influences on campus.
“It was great to get his input on art world advice, painting critiques, and helping us with our BFA show,” she said.
Figarelli encourages her fellow alumni and other supporters of NIU to support scholarships that help students realize their dreams and career aspirations.
A group of 15 NIU students had a tall order ahead of them this academic year—with nearly $60 million at stake—and many of them celebrated their accomplishments in style this week in Springfield.
Credit: Photo by Myles Tan on Unsplash.
The students served as supervised grant reviewers for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). As such, the upperclassmen and graduate students selected the best of hundreds of proposals from park, forest preserve and conservation districts seeking a share of $59 million in funding through this year’s Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) Program.
Six of the students traveled with Professor Thomas Skuzinski to the state capital Monday and Tuesday, where they rubbed shoulders with federal and state park leaders, toured the IDNR and the state Capitol building, and were formally acknowledged on the State House floor by Rep. Jeff Keicher.
“Not only did we get great professional assistance from the students at NIU, but the students got an inside look at how IDNR serves its constituents,” IDNR Director Natalie Phelps Finnie said. “I look forward to building on this partnership.”
Professor Thomas Skuzinski (center) and NIU students visited earlier this week with leaders from the National Parks Service at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
The funding supported program costs, including stipends for 10 upper-level Huskie undergraduates and two semesters of full-time funding plus tuition for five graduate students. Students selected for the program reflected both the rich diversity and academic excellence of NIU.
“This was the first time any state agency in Illinois has allowed students the opportunity to serve as supervised grant reviewers,” Skuzinski said. “It’s truly a first-of-its-kind program.”
The state-financed OSLAD Program provides funding assistance to local government agencies for acquisition and/or development of land for public parks and open space. Project sites vary from small neighborhood parks or tot lots to large community and county parks and nature areas. Financed by a percentage of the state’s Real Estate Transfer Tax, the program provides funding assistance up to 50% (100% for distressed communities) of approved project costs.
Fulfilling community-engagement mission
“NIU has a mission-driven commitment to community engagement, and this effort will have a sizeable impact on communities throughout Illinois,” said Skuzinski, who holds a law degree as well a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning.
Credit: Photo by Honey Yanibel Minaya Cruz on Unsplash
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The ESE institute he oversees fosters research, education and community engagement about the environment and sustainability, and also offers two undergraduate degrees in environmental studies, as well as a minor and two certificate programs.
All of the undergraduates who participated in the grant program are environmental studies majors, so the experience related closely to their academic expertise. The contract with IDNR also supports the ability of the institute to grow new programs for faculty and student success in transdisciplinary research, experiential learning and community engagement.
“Our students are really excited about the impact this program will have on neighborhoods, communities and counties,” Skuzinski said.
“They remember the impact that parks and open spaces had on the communities where they grew up, and they want others to be able to share in those experiences. The students not only put their expertise in environmental studies to good use but also learned to work at a high level of professionalism with a state agency.”
Educational experience for students
Senior environmental studies major Jennifer Schaumberg, whose focus area is water sciences, said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work on the project. The experience helped her more clearly understand the importance of community access to bodies of water and provided her with other valuable lessons.
“Working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has been educational and insightful, and I am very grateful for this opportunity,” said Schaumberg, a native of Streator. “This project has not only taught me how to better manage my time, but to be more communicative about questions and concerns, become familiar with official documents, work collaboratively, and much more. Through this project, I gained insights on the behind-the-scenes processes of what IDNR does for communities.”
Graduate student reviewer Virginia Sotelo is pursuing her master’s degree in philosophy, and she also has benefitted from the experience.
“This project is only loosely related to my area of study through ethics,” said the 27-year-old from Laredo, Texas. “However, because of the impact that it seems to have on local communities, especially those with higher needs, I consider it to be a pretty positive addition to my experience as a graduate student.
“Working on this project has really shown me the crucial role that each individual’s involvement in local affairs plays on the improvement of their community,” Sotelo added.
How the process worked
The NIU students weren’t without support as they reviewed grants for potential funding.
Professor Skuzinski (right) on campus with NIU student grant reviewers.
Skuzinski said the undergraduates were grouped into teams. Graduate-level students oversaw a pair of student reviewers and in turn were supervised by one of five retired park district administrators who participated in the program. Skuzinski and ESE Assistant Director Melissa Burlingame reviewed all recommendations as well, while office manager Rave Meyer provided project support.
“It makes for an objective process,” Skuzinski said. “Every grant was assessed by five people.”
Margaret Resnick previously served as executive director for the Mundelein Park & Recreation District and spent more than three decades in parks and recreation. She was happy to lend her expertise to the project, reviewing and scoring grant applications.
“I believe (NIU students) will get an insight into how a large state agency determines how to distribute funds, as well as the recreational needs of large and small communities throughout the state,” Resnick said. “The OSLAD program is a vital funding source for agencies throughout the State of Illinois, and I was thrilled to be able to help in any way I could.”
In addition to Schaumberg and Sotelo, students involved in the project included graduate students Jonathan Adsit (history), Ali Oku (biological sciences), Orlando Reyes (philosophy) and Kristin Vrona (economics); and undergraduates Ashley Barry, Gabriel Cabrera Ruiz, Eric Faulkner, Julia Graczyk (graduated December 2022), Christiana Guthrie, Samuel Lepien, Allyson Thompson, Marty Trujillo and Kate Vos.
Date posted: March 1, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on State taps expertise of NIU students to help shape tomorrow’s parks
George Middlemist, chief financial officer for NIU.
After arriving at Northern Illinois University a month ago to serve as the new chief financial officer, George Middlemist is still finding his way around.
But he knows where he wants to go.
Middlemist, who spent the last 26 years helping to manage the finances of Metropolitan State University of Denver, is eager to start the process of retooling NIU’s annual budgeting process into a multiyear budgeting plan.
Achieving that goal, which has been in discussion on campus for some time, will require a lot of effort and a bit of pain, he admits. However, he says, the ultimate payoff will be worth it. “Once we get there, which will take about two years, it will allow us to be much more strategic and flexible. But to get there, we are going to have to look at and retool the entirety of our budget, and that is a big job.”
It will also take input from all across campus, says Middlemist, who believes in getting input from as many stakeholders as possible during the budgeting process. He envisions working closely with not just the President’s Budgeting Roundtable, but also with UAC and other groups on campus to get a comprehensive understanding of their needs. At his previous job, he held budgeting meetings on Microsoft Teams and allowed anyone on campus to observe and sometimes ask questions.
While no such plans are in place yet, he has begun to take steps to make university finances more transparent. For instance, he has instructed that the settings within PeopleSoft be changed so that budgets across campus are visible to anyone within the system. “If we are going to have conversations about the university budget overall, people need to be able to see what is out there,” he says.
Middlemist will also work with Institutional Research to create new financial reports. “We will work toward creating something that is more visual; something that communicates more meaningful information than just numbers on a page,” he says, explaining that the new reports are just one facet of an effort to communicate with campus about the budget more frequently and more transparently.
Middlemist says he is willing to speak with anyone on campus about budgets. However, he concedes that he still has some learning to do about current budget practices and terminology before he can do that. Associate Vice President Shyree Sanan, Assistant Vice President Andrew Rodgers and the rest of the staff in the Division of Administration and Finance have been a great help, and he has enjoyed his first month on campus.
“The people here at NIU are amazing, very welcoming and full of compassion and care,” he says. “But what really stands out to me is that no matter what meeting I am in, the central focus is on how to serve our students. The mission-driven nature of people here – the passion they have to serve students – is unparalleled.”
Date posted: March 1, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on New CFO setting course for multiyear budget
Zack Michelin, ’22, poses with his family on vacation at Universal Studios in Florida. Pursuing a second career at NIU when he had a young family was a huge decision for Michelin, but scholarships played a huge role in his success.
In 2018, Zack Michelin, ’22, took a leap, leaving his job in the culinary field and reimagining a successful second career in accounting.
Managing all of this while maintaining an established life with his wife, young children, and mortgage, was sometimes a challenge, but fellow Huskies stepped up to the challenge, providing him support through scholarships.
“The decision to go back to college at the stage of my life, having a family and being a home owner, meant any financial assistance reassured me that my family wouldn’t suffer as I tried to better both myself and my family’s futures,” Michelin said.
While enrolled at NIU, accountancy schlolarships made an incredible difference in his being able to complete his degree.
“I received $3,000 from the College of Business for my family background and financial situation, and $1,000 for my academic achievements entering into college,” he said. “Being rewarded for my educational success made me feel appreciated, as well as inspired. Knowing the hard work I had put in to get to that point only made me feel more validated that I was on the right path for both myself and my family. The $3,000 scholarship helped validate that the school and institution itself felt I had both chosen the right path but was also showing to be striving to achieve that expected success. It also was a reassurance that the extra work of the minor in data analytics wouldn’t weigh on me as much and helped me stay focused on learning instead of worrying.”
The risk Michelin took paid off.
After earning his accountancy degree from NIU in 2022, Zack Michelin was immediately rewarded with an offer from international professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). While his success can be attributed to Michelin’s hard work and natural talent for accounting, he credits NIU for this dream opportunity.
“This role was a direct result of my education, NIU’s administration, and the internship I had while studying there,” Michelin said. “I interviewed for internships my junior year and was offered an internship at PwC on the consulting side of tax services. Within the first week of my internship I was already utilizing skills and technology taught at NIU. As I entered into the full-time role, those same techniques and knowledge only compounded as I began to implement my education in real-world scenarios.”
Being on the consulting side of tax services, Michelin has also been able to leverage his minor in data analytics to refine the products he works with.
“Being able to relate to positions above my entry level position has made me a candidate for early promotion, as well as allowed me to take on leadership roles inside my organization,” he said. “The work for me is exactly the next step I was hoping to find in my accounting career. It is important to me that, during each step of my career, I see the next step on my path but also how to achieve that level of success. Both NIU and PwC, who are partnered together, have done wonders in showing and guiding my path to early success and is only helping me as I continue to grow and find new ways of applying the ‘Huskie Pack’ mentality and inclusivity-centered solutions.
Growing up in Naperville, Illinois, Michelin played football and baseball, and he liked drawing, being creative, and exploring the world around him.
“I was known, and still am, for talking a lot and asking a million questions,” he said. “I grew up loving architecture and culinary while having success in mathematics. I had initially chosen to pursue architecture, and eventually graduated from culinary school, but never found my footing in the industry. My father, being a CPA, always kept me interested in accounting and business and, as I entered college, I was working with him to pay the bills but soon found I was more interested in furthering my accounting career than my culinary career.”
When choosing an accountancy program, Michelin landed on NIU because it was close to home and because he knew of NIU’s accountancy program’s reputation.
“I was constantly told, as I continued through my initial career, how well thought of NIU’s accounting degree was, and this stood out when deciding where to pursue mine,” he said. “My experience at NIU was absolutely amazing. From the beginning, I felt supported and prepared and, even as the virtual experience became the norm, I still felt that same level of support and commitment to my career and education desires from the institution. I was offered a plethora of course options, as well as minor degrees I could pursue in tangent with my major that were not too excessive or burdensome. Both my minor in data analytics and my major in accounting helped me be technologically proficient and articulate professionally.”
Looking back, Michelin credits NIU with tailoring his experience to his goals and needs.
“NIU has always been supportive and inclusive, and these perspectives are reflected in the recent success I’ve had in my career, as well as in my family,” he said. “Seeing how NIU adapted to meet our needs, as well as the faculty’s needs, showed me how to do things right, even in times of crisis. This shined through in the educational materials as professors and administrative staff exemplified these same principles in their actions and recommendations. Knowing NIU listened to me and consistently showed me how to achieve that success has only made me a better person and father. The scholarships themselves represented a tangible example of the institution’s commitment to me as well as both my personal and educational sucess.”
After his diligence and vision, coupled with the support he received while earning his degree, Michelin is left with an overwhelming feeling of pride.
“I am so proud of NIU degree because I know the work I put into it is not only already paying off, but will continue to pay dividends as I grow professionally and personally,” he said. “I am proud that I can show my family and friends that chances to better yourself and your family are out there. I am proud to call myself a Huskie as the lessons of inclusivity, understanding and goal-orientation have set me and my family on a path of socio-economic success.”
At Rockford’s Prairie Street Brewing Co. on March 4, Horsley will talk about the economy, the Whitehouse, and … pie?
Picture the scene. It’s a hot and humid summer day in Iowa. Hordes of cyclists in spandex fill the roads between corn fields. Northern Illinois University Instructor of English Dan Libman is among the crowd – cycling, drinking beer, cycling – oh yes, and also interviewing participants for WNIJ 89.5, the broadcast arm of NIU and our local NPR affiliate, housed in the NIU Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development.
Little did Libman know that he’d encounter a rare opportunity on that summer day – the chance to look cool in the eyes of his teenage son.
“I was doing RAGBRAI, which is the annual week-long bike ride across Iowa,” Libman says. “I had put a sign on my bike saying who I was, and if anyone lived in the northern Illinois area and wanted to talk about their experiences for the radio, they should say hey. Lots did.”
Scott Horsley
Only later would Libman find in his bike bags the business card of Scott Horsley – then an NPR Whitehouse correspondent and now NPR’s Chief Economics Correspondent. Horsley had decided to return to the Hawkeye State with fellow NPR reporters to experience Iowa when it wasn’t in the throes of presidential primary season – and thus was born a scrappy team of cyclists known as “No Pies Refused” (NPR).
“My son for years listened to Scott Horsley on an NPR podcast and when I told him – my son – that Scott had pinned his business card to my bike, that was a rare moment for me to look cool in his eyes,” says Libman. (“My son’s eyes, not Scott’s,” he clarifies.)
“I did later see Scott on the ride in his NPR bike jersey but couldn’t say hey because he was mobbed by fans, and he was talking to everyone,” Libman continues.
Well, now Libman will have his chance to finally meet Scott Horsley in person and maybe, just maybe, look cool in his eyes, too.
The event begins at 6 p.m. and includes heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and a lively presentation co-hosted by Libman and WNIJ reporter Susan Stephens. In addition to bicycling and pies, the discussion is sure to include questions about the economy and Horsley’s time as a Whitehouse correspondent during the Obama and Trump administrations.
“The economy is on everybody’s mind right now,” says WNIJ General Manager Staci Hoste. “So when we were thinking about who’d make a great guest, Scott Horsley was at the top of the list. This event is a chance to get answers to your questions about the state of the economy, inflation, housing prices, wages and more. We’ll also hear some fascinating stories about Scott’s time as a Whitehouse correspondent under the Obama and Trump administrations.”
Hoste says the goal of the event is to have a casual and fun conversation with Horsley – which is why WNIJ tapped Sue Stephens and Dan Libman (who are part of the station’s “Under Rocks” podcast team) to host the discussion. They’ll ask some of their own burning questions – as well as questions submitted by WNIJ listeners. In fact, it’s not too late to submit a question of your own online.
“We’ve got a space for listeners to submit questions for Scott, and we’ve gotten some interesting ones,” says Libman. “But you’ll have to come to the event to hear them! Tickets are still available but going fast.”
Date posted: February 28, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on WNIJ welcomes NPR Chief Economics Correspondent Scott Horsley for live event
NIU History Professor Aaron Fogleman and Associate Professor Robert Hanserd of Columbia College in Chicago have a new book out that features the life stories of nearly 500 African men and women trapped in the Atlantic slave trade.
Scholars have long understood the importance of published accounts by African slave ship survivors. Fogleman and Hanserd bring together an unprecedented number of these life stories, cataloging nearly 500 discrete accounts and more than 2,500 others published over four centuries in numerous Atlantic languages.
Short biographies, print histories of the complete or partial life stories, digital links to the full text, maps, images, and more make “Five Hundred African Voices” an invaluable resource for scholars, teachers, students and others wishing to study transatlantic slavery using African voices.
Aaron Fogleman
NIU Today caught up with Fogleman, an NIU Distinguished Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor, in advance of the event to learn more.
Why did you write this book? I began discovering these voices while researching another project and was shocked at the large number. Almost all scholars, teachers and students believed there were perhaps 20 published African voices available, if that, and even specialists who knew there were more did not know how many, nor did they have easy access to them. This project allows everyone to work with a large number of African voices like never before—to study the texts in all languages, to analyze the print histories of each text, and to use the indexes, maps and more to assess African perspectives in transatlantic slavery from hundreds of people who survived the slave ships.
What will you specifically talk about during the March 3 event? At the new book reception Robert Hanserd and I will talk about the contents of the book, how to use it, and whatever lies in our hearts, minds and souls about its meaning to us and perhaps others.
How did you come to work on this project with Professor Hanserd? Robert, who now teaches history at Columbia College, completed his dissertation under my direction at NIU in 2011. Routledge later published his book on the transfer of West African anti-slavery political culture to Jamaica and New York in the 18th century via the slave trade. We needed someone with expertise on the physical and cultural geography of Atlantic Africa to finish the project, and fortunately Robert agreed. He has spent a great deal of time in West Africa, where he led a student overseas program, and also contributed the photographic essay to “Five Hundred Voices.” Additionally, Robert has his Columbia College students completing creative audio-visual projects (using materials in our new book) that we will include in our website, once it is launched.
Robert Hansard
How did you find so many first-person accounts? The short answer is that we looked. These are published accounts that began becoming available in the 18th century, and old written accounts continue to be published today. After an NIU History major working with me as a research assistant found over 50 accounts by people born in Africa in a large, well-known collection of “slave narratives,” I found more in other well-known collections. Then I began looking in obscure printed sources and in modern publications. With other NIU students helping, and with transatlantic slavery scholars making suggestions and sharing their work, the number kept growing. Once we launch our website, we will begin looking for more published African voices and expect to find them.
Why was it important to you to tell these life stories? As students of the history of the Atlantic World, we believe it is important to take Africa, African homelands and the many diverse peoples there seriously to understand historical developments in this large region of the globe. For this, African perspectives and African voices are critical. It is important to go to the origins in Africa to understand the perspectives and influences there, as they were critical to shaping the lives and perspectives of these forced migrants after they departed or rather were taken to what became for them new worlds.
Have these stories been told before? Yes, because an individual African told each one to someone who recorded it for later publication, and at least a few people in the past have read them. But they have never been collected and edited in this manner, and scholars have only used a small portion of them.
What new ground does the book break? This collection allows us to understand and explain the tremendous diversity in the experiences of men, women and children who survived the slave ships. There is no one slave ship story or one story of life in Africa interrupted by the slave ship. These 500 African voices tell us that many people appropriated revolutionary and other ideologies to attack slavery. They tell us that their African homelands and culture mattered to them. They tell us that class distinctions within their African homelands continued to play a role even in slavery in the Americas. They tell us that the published “slave narrative” was never merely an Anglo-American literary genre. They tell us that resistance on the slave ships was more common and varied than scholars have realized. They tell us how books with African voices circulated in the Atlantic World. Our new book provides a vast amount of material with which to study the large (not small) number of African voices in ways that will contribute to how future scholars break new ground in their own ways.
Date posted: February 28, 2023 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on History professors publish book on 500 African slave ship survivors
