Thank you NIU Wrestling for your assistance in the Huskie Athletic Fund Hospitality Tent on football game days. The friendly and professional assistance of the student athletes is always appreciated. They are positive representatives of the athletic department. Go Huskies!
Date posted: November 14, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on NIU Wrestling Team – Intercollegiate Athletics
As the Director of the Center for P-20 Engagement, Amy Jo is leader, strategist, resource developer, mentor, and champion for multiple Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development (OERD) projects including NIU STEAM. She will always give credit to her team for all of their successes and loves nothing more than celebrating everyone’s contributions. Thanks to Amy Jo for all of her excellent work on behalf of OERD and NIU!
Date posted: November 14, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Amy Jo Clemens – Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development
Sophia is the absolute best! I work with her on a variety of projects and not only does she create amazing work, but she also is just a fantastic person. She goes above and beyond to help me get things done even when we’re working with a shorter timeline than expected. Her guidance and friendship are so appreciated and valued. I’d be lost without her!
Date posted: November 14, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Sophia Varcados – Creative Services
Jerian Dixon-Evans, a Health Sciences doctoral student in NIU College of Health and Human Sciences (CHHS), was recently awarded a $138,000 R36 Dissertation Grant from the National Institute on Aging for her project, “The Impact of Race on Quality of Life of the Aged after Heart Transplant or Destination Therapy Mechanical Support.” Dixon-Evans’ research is a secondary data analysis that she will be pursuing as a student principal investigator under the mentorship of principal investigator, Professor Kathleen Grady of Northwestern University.
“Being funded as a pre-doctoral grantee proves that although National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding is very competitive, it is attainable,” Dixon-Evans said. “I want to inspire other students at NIU who are interested in any aspect of research to consider NIH grant funding as they provide an abundance of training opportunities from high school throughout the post-doctoral level.”
“This is an amazing accomplishment,” Mazurek said. “Funding of this kind is exceedingly competitive, and an award like this speaks to Jerian’s early career skills and grant writing ability.”
Dixon-Evans said that grant writing support was critical, and she credits both Professor Grady and Professor Adin-Cristian Andrei from Northwestern for helping her achieve the grant for the project.
The purpose of Dixon-Evans’ study is to determine whether older advanced heart failure patients who undergo destination therapy mechanical circulatory support (DT MCS), experience non-inferior change in overall health-related quality of life by race as compared to patients who undergo heart transplantation.
Dixon-Evans said the results of the research may guide health-related quality of life focused therapies – specifically for minorities – and provide important information for minority heart failure patients as they consider treatment options.
“By targeting minorities, researchers and clinicians will have more insight into understanding disparities in outcomes and will be better equipped to identify and implement treatment plans,” Dixon-Evans said. It is my hope that the health disparity gap in elderly minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by cardiovascular disease will be decreased and outcomes will be improved.”
Dixon-Evans said she is grateful for the support and guidance she’s received from her NIU mentors.
“Dr. Kathryn Mazurek and Dr. Shondra Clay have provided me with encouragement, a listening ear and grant knowledge that I will carry beyond my time at NIU,” Dixon-Evans said. “The knowledge and training that will be gained from conducting the study will help shape my future research endeavors.”
Katy Saalfeld, senior associate director of NIU Admissions Recruitment and Outreach, was named president-elect of the Illinois Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (IACRAO) during the organization’s annual conference held in October.
Katy Saalfeld, senior associate director of NIU Admissions Recruitment and Outreach
“It’s where the future generations have a space to be heard, get involved and keep our industry moving forward,” Saalfeld said. “Being elected in this role means that the privilege of paying all those things forward is even more of my responsibility, and while I still get to take so much from IACRAO, I really get to pay it back in this role.”
IACRAO is the state chapter of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), which includes admissions, registrars, record and registrations, and enrollment management professionals from higher education institutions across Illinois.
“The work that these professionals do impacts a student before they get to an institution, while they are at the institution, and after they leave,” Saalfeld said. “The individuals who make up these departments have a great responsibility to serve students directly, such as picking up a transcript, and indirectly by informing policy, leveraging systems, and transforming practices.”
Saalfeld first joined the organization in 2008, and has enjoyed seeing new ideas evolve into best practices through IACRAO.
“In many ways, I feel like I have professionally grown up in IACRAO,” Saalfeld said. “I’ve been supported and encouraged, and have learned so much from the people that make up this organization.”
Part of Saalfeld’s role is planning the organization’s 100th Annual Conference set for October 2022, their first in-person conference since the start of the pandemic.
“This upcoming year is particularly exciting to be president-elect,” Saalfeld said. “I am really looking forward to the opportunities ahead.”
Date posted: November 10, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Katy Saalfeld named president-elect of state organization
NIU has launched Student Financial Advising Services to help prospective and current Huskies understand and manage the costs of higher education.
Anne Hardy, director of Scholarships and Student Financial Advising Services
Led by Anne Hardy, the office employs three full-time financial advisers (including a bilingual representative for Spanish speakers) who currently offer virtual appointments and are available during some evening and weekend hours.
Born of NIU’s commitment to student success, the new operation will open for walk-up traffic in Campus Life Building 260 in spring 2022.
All are welcome, including graduate, law and international students.
“Provost Ingram and Vice Provost Ghrayeb were very interested in expanding our service levels, especially considering NIU’s great number of first-generation students,” Hardy says. “It’s so important to get in front of students and their families to guide them through the financial process, because it is complex and can be overwhelming.”
Hardy, who reports to the vice president for Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications as well as to the associate vice provost for Student Success, is energized to build the still-evolving unit from the ground up.
“With the creation of this new unit, however, we now have a dedicated customer service team who can do proactive outreach, and we can spend all of our time educating and advising students and families on all things related to financial aid, general student accounts and financial literacy throughout their journey here,” she adds, “including helping them to prepare for some of the real-world things that they’ll run into once they’ve graduated.”
Much of the work is “a lot of walking through, ‘This is what your financial aid is. This is what your student account is. These are your next steps financially.’ ”
“One of the things that I’m really excited about is that we’ve created a checklist of all the things undergraduates have to do related to financial tasks – and there are a lot of them. It really helps to keep students on track” says Hardy, whose new title is director of Scholarships and Student Financial Advising Services.
Advisers Angie Gutierrez-Vargas, Jon Miller and Jorie O’Brien also can explain to students how financial aid packages can change over time and how that actuality, along with other decisions the students make about their education, then impacts costs of attendance. This team brings many years of experience working with students and families, and each is committed to supporting student success.
Consequently, their expertise can answer the inevitable next question: “My financial aid changed. Now what happens?” They also can help students create multi-year financial plans, stay on track with those plans and adjust as needed.
Students still can engage with NIU financial aid counselors or the bursar’s staff for help in such situations, but Hardy’s team is dedicated to that type of assistance.
“What set us apart is that our staff does not do any processing, so we don’t make decisions about financial aid eligibility. We don’t enter information. We don’t process FAFSAs. We don’t serve on any committees that make determinations about dollar amounts,” she adds. “We’re really kind of that neutral party that’s advising and educating students about their options.”
Gutierrez-Vargas, Miller and O’Brien also are available on request to give presentations to classes or student organizations, and Hardy has scheduled pop-up workshops later this semester on Satisfactory Academic Progress appeals and how to apply for scholarships. Additional presentations will be offered throughout the spring semester on various timely financial topics.
Meanwhile, with a suite of financial services that goes far beyond cost of attendance, including guidance on budgeting, credit, debt and even auto loan payment plans, the trio of advisers also can help students troubleshoot.
“If, in the course of our conversations, we realize that they mentioned living off campus and that they don’t have money for groceries, we can connect them to our Center for Student Assistance and the Huskie Food Pantry. We really are trying to look at the whole situation, which allows us to create and cultivate a culture of care,” Hardy says.
“There is some level of intervention that we can do but, mostly, we try to teach the students how to be their own advocates. We can explain in detail, ‘This is what you need to do. This is what you need to say. This is who you need to ask,’ ” she adds. “We’re not trying to pass the student around, of course, but working to empower and educate them.”
Hardy hopes she can add more full-time staff and student-workers in the future as the office commits to follow-up communications that maintain relationships and services.
“We really hope to have an impact on student retention and graduation,” she says. “Understanding the financial commitment related to being a college student is important to maximize your options and to take advantage of every opportunity that might be available.”
On more than one occasion over the past two years, Janice Hamlet pulled into a parking spot near Reavis Hall, only to realize she needed to be across campus.
It was understandable. Since 2019, the veteran NIU professor of communication split time between teaching classes at Reavis and developing a university-wide faculty mentorship program, a post that had her spending much of her time at Altgeld Hall.
Now Hamlet knows where to park.
Janice Hamlet began her role as Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Mentoring on Nov. 1, 2021.
On Nov. 1, she started in a newly created role as the full-time Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Mentoring and Diversity, a job that makes her a key member of the provost’s leadership team and has her coordinating mentoring efforts of all junior faculty.
“I am delighted that we were able to attract Dr. Hamlet into this full-time role. Her vast experience and expertise, and her own success as a faculty member and mentor, made her the perfect person for such a critical program,” Provost Beth Ingram says. “Dr. Hamlet brings a vital voice to our conversations as we pursue goals for diversifying the faculty, assessing academic policies and procedures through an equity lens, and supporting the success of our faculty. When our faculty succeed, NIU succeeds.”
Hamlet will continue to serve as liaison to department chairs and mentoring facilitators, while also providing leadership and vision for the recruitment and retention of faculty of color and strategies for diversifying the pipeline of graduate students seeking to become university professors.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and faculty mentoring are two of our highest priorities within our academic units and Provost’s Office,” Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Chad McEvoy says.
“Over the past two years, Dr. Hamlet has done exceptional work in launching a university-wide faculty mentoring program and taking on DEI initiatives in her role as senior faculty mentor. Creating this full-time role of associate vice provost provides the opportunity for Janice to devote greater focus to these diversity and mentoring efforts. We’re really excited about the ability to further this work in our office.”
For her part, Hamlet says she is excited and honored.
“Having the opportunity to do this full-time allows me to put my heart and soul in it,” she says. “It also communicates a sense that we care about our faculty, we are invested in their future and want them to succeed.”
She brings an abundance of experience to the job, having served as a faculty member in higher education for 30 years, with the past two decades at NIU. She previously served as DEI director for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and coordinator of academic diversity programs for the vice provost for undergraduate studies.
“I could not think of a more passionate advocate for faculty mentoring than Dr. Hamlet,” says Vernese Edghill-Walden, chief diversity officer and vice president for Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “She is a great colleague, and I look forward to partnering with her to support faculty success.”
Hamlet is a familiar face to many across campus, in part because she has an extensive listing of university-wide service efforts. They include previously acting as a college representative to University Council, current membership on the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and past membership on the Academic Task Force for Program Prioritization and the Committee for Academic Excellence and Inclusion.
“In this new position, my main responsibility is to make sure that all incoming faculty, particularly those who are coming in as assistant professors, are matched with a mentor in their own department, and I’m amazed at the positive attitude I’ve already seen among both junior and senior faculty,” Hamlet says.
“I’m also responsible for communicating with faculty of color concerning retention and helping to facilitate their success,” she adds. “I meet with faculty of color as separate groups to determine their concerns. Once faculty of color are here, I want to make sure they have a sense of belonging, can be successful and stay here.”
Hamlet, who has spent considerable time researching faculty mentoring programs at other universities, currently coordinates about 75 NIU faculty mentor-mentee pairs. She created an onboarding checklist for chairs to provide to new faculty hires and has developed a number of initiatives. They include:
Training sessions for faculty who are interested in or have volunteered to be mentors.
Coordination of opportunities for group mentor and mentee gatherings.
Coordination of faculty table talks where mentors can share with each other what’s working and get ideas from each other.
Hamlet also is in the process of developing a number of new initiatives that include:
Establishment of a mentoring website.
Implementation of an annual Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award.
Creation of a literature library where mentors can find strategies and tips.
As the mentoring program strengthens, Hamlet believes the university will reap a wide variety of benefits in the form of professional satisfaction (for mentors and mentees alike), a greater sense of belonging among all faculty, new research collaborations, improved retention of employees and greater Huskie pride. She also hopes to encourage associate professors to continue to work toward full professorship, while nurturing graduate students of color from NIU and other Illinois institutions to pursue the professoriate as a career path.
Toward that end, she founded the annual Diversifying Faculty in Illinois conference in 2015 to encourage graduate students of color who were recipients of the Diversifying Faculty in Higher Education in Illinois (DFI) fellowship to pursue faculty careers in higher education. The conference grew from 18 attendees in its first year to a pre-pandemic attendance of nearly 100.
Because of the interest of graduate students of color who are not DFI fellows and in trying to cast the widest net, the conference is now called the Preparing Future Faculty of Color Conference.
“When I was offered this position, I indicated that this program has to come with me,” Hamlet says. “The program has gained the support of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The success of this conference has the potential to be transformed into an entity in and of itself, joining many other institutions of higher learning as part of the Preparing Future Faculty National Movement.”
Date posted: November 10, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Janice Hamlet brings experience and passion to expanded faculty mentoring role
The proportion of Northern Illinois University students who cast ballots in the presidential election increased to 63.8% in 2020 — a 12.7% difference from 51.1% in 2016.
Huskies were given several opportunities to register to vote on campus, including at a voting registration table hosted by the League of Women Voters during NIU’s annual Campus Meets Community event.
“A healthy democracy depends on robust, and habitual, political participation,” said Chief of Staff to the President and Professor of Political Science Matthew Streb. “We are proud of those Huskies who participated in the political process in 2020, and hope to build on this momentum for next fall’s midterm elections. Political engagement cannot just be a focus every four years.”
Streb helped guide a steering committee that galvanized institutional efforts through the Huskies Vote initiative — working with individuals and partners across the campus and community to promote voter education and encourage students to go the polls.
“One of the main ways to be civically engaged is to vote,” said Julie Ann O’Connell, assistant director of NIU’s Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies. “But students don’t always know how to register, or even why they should vote. Collaborating with the team to help students plan their participation was exciting, especially since we know that engaged Huskies will stay engaged citizens when they leave NIU.”
NIU’s efforts earned the university a Silver Seal from the nonpartisan ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a national nonprofit dedicated to engaging students civically and democratically. Of students eligible to vote, 80.7% were registered before the 2020 election.
“Huskies were supported by an entire network of deputy registrars and numerous students, employees and community members in the months leading up to the election,” said Laura Vazquez, professor and undergraduate director of the Department of Communication. “Election Day, this volunteer team was available across campus or via video chat to answer questions. And it worked — students responded in an amazing way. This was truly a cross-campus educational effort.”
NIU’s voter turnout mirrored a national trend of students casting ballots at record rates, equivalent to that of the general public.
“What’s perhaps most remarkable about this increase is that it took place in the midst of a pandemic,” said Meg Junk, chief of staff for the Division of Student Affairs. “Thank you to every person who played a part in providing accessibility to the polls, down to standing out in the cold to give directions.”
Date posted: November 10, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Huskie voter rate leaps double-digits between presidential election cycles
This team from the Holmes Center and Transportation went above and beyond in opening our campus to the first long-term international group of guests since the pandemic began. While observing all COVID protocols, and working with limited staffing, they were able to provide 23 Uruguayans an outstanding near-normal, Huskie experience. Working extended hours and always being available, each team member went above and beyond in addressing our guests requests. The feedback from Uruguay Fulbright (sponsors/funders) and the participants has been outstanding thanks to this loyal Huskie team. Because of our quality hosting, Uruguay Fulbright voiced their resolve to return with this program and more. Thank you Holmes and Transportation team. Without you this would not have been possible. You have built back better NIU for the world.
Date posted: November 10, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on Abby VanWieren, Chris Gilbert, Cindy Meeks, Jack Stiles, Mike Storandt – Holmes Student Center and Transportation
Top: Natalie Andzik, Ximena Burgin. Second row: Rachel Donegan, Lindsay Harris. Third row: Chris Hill, Xiaodan Hu. Bottom: David Paige, Emerson Sebastião.
Eight NIU College of Education faculty are participating in the Hanover Grant Academy to advance their skills in securing external funding for their scholarship.
The academy is a service of Arlington, Va.-based Hanover Research, a global research and analytics firm that delivers market intelligence to more than 1,000 corporate and education sectors.
Bill Pitney, associate dean for Research, Resources and Innovation, says the program is helping “to identify emerging grant writers in our college to receive training and individualized support to enhance their grantsmanship and develop research proposals that are impactful.”
“Research advancement is a strategic priority for our college,” Pitney says.
“We saw positive outcomes at another college after they worked with Hanover; we recognized the value of Hanover’s Grant Academy program and believed it would be a good step to take to advance our research efforts,” he adds. “I’ve found the personnel at Hanover very competent and collaborative, and very willing to work with us in a positive manner.”
Erin Bangsboll, grants content director at Hanover Research, says the goal is to support research funding at NIU while helping to “kick-start faculty’s research funding careers by instilling knowledge and expertise that they can then pass on and cultivate for years to come.”
Faculty in the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology comprised a Hanover Grant Academy cohort in 2020, Bangsboll adds: One participant received a National Institutes of Health Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award worth $430,000 with Hanover’s support.
She expects great results from Gabel, Graham and Anderson halls.
“Some of the College of Education faculty cohort members do not yet have much experience with grant-writing. This means more potential!” Bangsboll says. “Still others are interested in expanding beyond internal grants and small grants to build competitive portfolios, and we appreciate the opportunity to help strategically develop grant-seeking plans that stretch beyond 2022.”
Hanover tailors each Grant Academy to the cohort, which allows for targeted investment in high-potential faculty and creates an accountability framework oriented toward meaningful outcomes for faculty participation.
Erin Bangsboll
The program includes grantsmanship trainings, consultations with grants experts to create individual development plans, research-prospecting for right-fit opportunities and support in proposal-writing.
After consulting with the Hanover team regarding interests and experience, each faculty members receives an individual development plan.
Faculty participate in grantsmanship trainings designed to develop their grant-seeking skills, in alignment with targeted needs and interest areas.
Faculty receive guidance on best-fit grant opportunities for their projects and advice on achieving strong alignment with funders.
Hanover provides proposal critique and revision support to faculty proposals to improve their quality and competitiveness
“When I received the email about the Hanover-COE initiative, I immediately realized that this was my chance to improve my writing skills and to gain knowledge on how to write grants for federal agencies such as the highly competitive National Institutes of Health,” Sebastião says. “Participating in this year-long program will refine my skills but it will also teach me a lot of the ins and outs of grant-writing.”
Learning how to write competitive grants is “a must-have skill in academia,” he adds.
“Research is a strong component within academia, and the possibility of continuing doing it on a regular basis is what drives my work at the university,” Sebastião says.
“Although I have some experience with grant-writing, my experiences did not involve writing grants targeting federal agencies, which is a different ball game. Thus, beyond having a great idea, it is important to know how to put that great idea on the paper in a way to convince the agency that your project has value and will help them achieve their mission through your work.”
KNPE colleague Hill has enjoyed the beginning of the process and its “ways of thinking that have already impacted my approach to grant-writing.”
“Importantly, they have really pushed us to actually write and develop proposal, not just talk about them,” says Hill, an assistant professor of biomechanics “They have really made us as faculty put our words into action.”
Burgin hopes the Grant Academy will help her secure funding for her project that will support classroom teachers in analyzing the academic and emotional needs of their students and also will identify pedagogical strategies through collaborative action research involving teacher-candidates and practicing teachers.
“Through the process I will gain valuable knowledge and skills related to grant-writing; practical strategies, tools and resources about the grant-writing process; and be able to prepare a grant application for submission,” she adds. “The work to be produced during the academy will have a great impact on my career and the new knowledge and skills will be transferable to the classroom.”
Hu wants the academy to raise her to the next level of grant-writing and then above.
“I’ve tried to apply for big and small grants as the PI, co-PI or lead researcher – and accumulated a good amount of experiences. It’s been a process of learning agency-project fit, communicating with program officers, etc.,” says Hu, an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Higher Education.
“While I appreciate the self-exploratory experience, I look forward to the structured training and one-on-one consultation with the Hanover team to develop more targeted goals in grant-writing,” she adds. “By participating, I hope to secure an external grant that is conceptualized, designed, developed and led by myself. Having ownership of a funded research project is my next career goal.”
Bill Pitney
Paige, meanwhile, is looking for a launching pad “to receive the funding that can move my ideas forward.”
“For many faculty members in higher education research, the uncovering of new knowledge is fundamental to their work as a professor. Oftentimes research takes money – and finding money is difficult and highly competitive,” says Paige, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and director of the Jerry L. Johns Literacy Clinic.
“To this point in my career, obtaining research funding has not been a driving goal. However, funding can help me develop ideas that I have in my field of literacy. For example, teachers and schools are in need of fast and efficient diagnostic reading assessments to better understand the instruction that will best fit their individual students,” he adds. “Research funding can assist me in developing the tech tools that can address these needs.”
Harris is interested in the academy “because of the accountability it provides.”
“I have people expecting things from me and deadlines to meet, other than self-imposed ones. I respond well to that kind of pressure,” says Harris, an associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations. “It’s also great to get substantive feedback on drafts from people who aren’t as immersed in the research as I am, who can let me know if what I’m saying is intelligible to a non-expert in a very specific area.”
Citing minimal familiarity with the skills of securing research funding, Andzik says she is “very grateful that the college has entrusted me with this task and has offered me this opportunity.”
“As junior faculty, we rely on experiences from graduate school to guide us through our first years at a university. My grad program did not offer courses on grant development and I myself was not part of a grant-funded project. So, my experience with grant writing was literally nothing before coming to NIU,” says Andzik, an assistant professor in the Department of Special and Early Education (SEED).
“Given the unprecedented times following COVID, and working within an unstable and uncertain budget, it is imperative that we as early researchers seek out and secure our own funding,” she adds. “I am thrilled that finally I will be taught step by step how to find, apply for and, hopefully, manage an external grant.”
SEED colleague Donegan also is “excited for this opportunity and the potential it has to strengthen my work.”
“Expanding my research is an area I’m particularly focused on as an early career faculty,” Donegan says. “My previous research has focused on reading interventions for students with reading disabilities. I’m interested in expanding my research to examine the development of teacher knowledge and supports teachers need to serve students with reading disabilities effectively.”
Date posted: November 9, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on The ‘Write’ Stuff: College of Ed enrolls eight faculty in Hanover Grant Academy
If you’ve enjoyed the beauty this fall of NIU’s East Lagoon and Montgomery Woods, the latter of which is home to a pair of great horned owls, you can thank our community of environmentally minded students, faculty, staff and alumni.
A portion of the western shoreline of NIU’s iconic East Lagoon, the creek that feeds into it, the gardens at Montgomery Hall and its adjacent forested areas have all had a facelift this past year.
Shoreline stabilization, native plantings, removal of invasive species such as buckthorn. It’s get-your-hands-dirty-and-your-feet-wet work that will pay dividends for generations of Huskies—and you’re likely to see more to come in the near future.
The latest largescale effort kicked off this semester with a class of students taught by Professor Holly Jones, who holds a joint appointment in environmental studies and biological sciences.
Professor Holly Jones prepares to drill holes for plant plugs.
Jones launched a new course called Restoration Ecology (BIOS 407 and 507) for both undergraduates and graduate students, whereby they apply what they learn in her class to campus environmental improvements. She hoped to enroll about 30 students, but interest was so high she topped out at 54.
The students this semester spent one day a week working in the field. They cleaned up the forested areas surrounding Montgomery Hall, weeded and replanted gardens surrounding the auditorium, and installed prairie and wetland plants along a 150-foot stretch of NIU’s East Lagoon. They’re also continually taking measurements, monitoring restoration progress, and writing about their experiences.
It’s hands on learning at its best.
“For me, as someone who is interested in working in the field of restoration, it’s really important to get formal education while working in the field,” said Antonio Del Valle, a third-year biology master’s student from Wisconsin. Del Valle came to NIU to study with Jones and hopes to work in restoration or wildlife management after he earns his master’s degree next summer. “This class gives us a background in restoration and shows us how it works in the real world.”
Rebecca Brnot, a junior from Antioch double majoring in biology and environmental studies, said the work will benefit wildlife and people, too, by reducing the potential for flooding and improving campus aesthetics.
“It’s good to promote restoration ideas around the campus for other students and the community to see,” Brnot said. “I also liked getting an introduction to the kinds of work you’d be doing if you go into restoration as a career path.”
Jones said a large contingent of students in the course are studying biology and/or environmental studies, which offers a biodiversity and environmental restoration emphasis.
“These are students who want to go on and be restoration ecologists or managers, and I don’t want them to get their degree without getting in the field and seeing what it entails,” Jones said. “The theoretical portion of the class is really important, but it’s also important to understand what restoration looks like on the ground.”
The project along the west side of the East Lagoon included plantings of prairie and wetland grasses and wildflowers that brought out volunteer students, faculty and alumni during Homecoming Week. Bob Brinkmann, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and himself an expert on sustainability, was among those who got their hands dirty, along with members of the Homecoming Committee, which contributed funds to the project.
“Sustainability is a key part of NIU’s vision moving forward, and I was so happy to join students, faculty, staff and alumni in helping to restore a piece of our campus,” Brinkmann said. “It is clear from President Lisa Freeman’s vision around the Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability that this type of project is just the beginning of a long-term commitment to making our campus more sustainable for generations to come.”
Jones’ students continue to gather data and monitor their projects. The professor plans to offer the class every other fall, so future students can measure the success of past projects or pick up where other students left off to start new restorations.
Creek Work: Samantha DeDina (bright green hat), Courtney Gallaher and Melissa Burlingame work along the creek in May.
Gallaher’s Environmental Management class (Geog 453) regularly provides students with hands-on training on campus. And Burlingame suggested a shoreline stabilization project along the creek that intersects Castle Drive and feeds into the East Lagoon.
While students planned the project back in 2019, the actual fieldwork was postponed due to the pandemic. It was picked up with help from the Student Association and biology and environmental studies alumna Samantha DeDina, ecological restoration superintendent for ENCAP, Inc., a DeKalb-based environmental consulting and planning firm.
Along with Gallaher, Burlingame and several volunteers, DeDina provided her time and energy, while ENCAP supplied a mini-excavator for the work. The creek shoreline was graded, stabilized and replanted with native species in May.
“Projects like this really allow the campus to become a living classroom for the types of applications the students are studying,” DeDina said. The 2012 NIU graduate also contributed her time and expertise to this fall’s lagoon work and is a guest speaker in Jones’ class this semester.
“Although classwork lays a valuable foundation regarding restoration ecology and similar ventures, field experience is critical to gather what post-graduation opportunities may look like,” DeDina said.
Meanwhile, in addition to her teaching, Gallaher has stepped into a new role this semester as NIU sustainability coordinator. In that role, she will be involved in collaboratively outlining NIU sustainability goals across campus. The picturesque East Lagoon has room for more shoreline improvement, so it’s likely to figure into those plans.
“Working together on restoring the shoreline gets people invested in our campus, and makes it feel like the lagoon belongs to everyone,” Gallaher said.
Date posted: November 8, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on NIU green community putting skills to work on campus
The IIRC, which has designed and managed the Illinois Report Card (illinoisreportcard.com) for more than two decades, has a contract with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to disseminate these data through the website. Data presented by the report card site come from ISBE, the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, as well as individual schools and districts. The IIRC’s team of computer scientists, data analysts, web designers and database managers play a critical role in telling an honest, clear and compelling story about the current state of education in Illinois – and opportunities for improvement.
Alan Clemens
“Illinois has long been considered a leader in educational data reporting at the K-12 level because the Illinois Report Card was one of the first public data reporting systems of its kind,” says Alan Clemens, director of the NIU Interactive Report Cards Office. “We continue to do everything we can to push the envelope. For example, several years ago, ISBE started making a concerted effort to better highlight equity in its data tracking. The data are part of a larger conversation between the public, the Illinois General Assembly and the state board of education. Starting from accurate data helps us find common ground to achieve what we all desire: a more equitable and effective education system that serves all youth in Illinois.”
One of the elements that sets Illinois’ approach apart is the depth and specificity it allows. Like other states, illinoisreportcard.com provides an overall snapshot of state data, including ninth-grade on-track rate, graduation rate and achievement gaps based on race, gender, income and other factors. But the Illinois Report Card also provides local data that goes beyond that presented by other states. For example, users can search by district or school to zero in on specific data, such as the spending per student, average class size, teacher retention and student achievement in a single school building compared to district and state averages.
“The unique formula takes into account factors that affect the cost of educating a student within that student’s local context,” says Clemens. “If you examine the funding analyses for school districts and even individual schools, you’ll see factors included like the distribution and density of students receiving special education services, the density and distribution of students who are second-language learners and other factors that we know from research impact the real dollar cost of conducting education around the state. So the score reflects the equity and inclusion values that are part of the key mission of the state board of education.”
Clemens – a longtime educator as well as data specialist – compares this approach to school data to the current push within education circles to tailor learning to each unique student.
“In education circles, we talk about each student being unique. We know that outstanding, effective teachers meet students where they are,” Clemens says. “In the same way, with the IIRC, we recognize that schools are unique, are collections of many different students and local circumstances. So we have to do the same thing with schools that we expect teachers to do when working with students: to recognize that they have unique circumstances, needs and challenges, as well as individual accomplishments and successes.”
illinoisreportcard.com allows users to search by school, district or location to zoom in on specific school data.
The site-based expenditure data – new data fields laying out the spending of each school in the state – are a recent addition to illinoisreportcard.com. Here and in other locations on the report card site, new fields are being included as part of a broader push to make the site more useful to local superintendents and school boards who want to better understand and tell the story of their district.
“We recognize that this isn’t just the state of Illinois’ story. Behind this data is the story of each school and district across the state,” Clemens says. “Our goal is to provide a space where local practitioners can shape the presentation and reception of the data to really make it their own, so it’s about more than just the numbers. People can talk about plans, movement and progress. It allows a local voice to tell the story and contextualize the data in a way that might be difficult to get from just the numbers alone.”
What does it mean for Illinois to earn a 100% rating for their school funding data? For Clemens and his team, it is a bittersweet moment.
“We’re proud of the work that ISBE and our office have done to transparently, comprehensively report school data in Illinois,” Clemens says. “It’s wonderful to get this recognition for all the effort that has gone into this partnership. At the same time, the actual data for Illinois and the rest of the country point to the continued work that’s necessary to make education spending more equitable. We hope that public attention to this report will motivate and enhance the continued improvement of learning conditions and outcomes for all students in Illinois and across the country.”
The need for continued work and improvement is good news for NIU faculty and student researchers, who may conduct research using the Illinois state educational data.
Clemens and the IIRC team recently partnered with units across NIU – including the Center for P-20 Education, College of Education, Center for Governmental Studies, Education Systems Center and Illinois P-20 Network – to create the P-20 Research and Data Collaborative. The collaborative welcomes research proposals and inquiries from across the university and works to facilitate research projects and partnerships, providing expert support from its team of data analysts.
“Anyone who’s interested in working with these data and engaging in research about education in the state – we’re here to help you and work with you,” says Clemens. “Part of our mission is to facilitate student development and student employment, faculty research and engagement with other projects across campus. We’re already working on projects with faculty from the College of Education and the College of Business, and we’re really looking forward to building more relationships. We’re trying every day to find new opportunities to expand our collaborations and support research with the power to improve education in the state.”
The Illinois Interactive Report Cards Office is part of the NIU Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development. Learn more on the IIRC website, or explore Illinois educational data at illinoisreportcard.com. To learn more about collaborating on your research project, contact Alan Clemens at aclemens@niu.edu.
Date posted: November 8, 2021 | Author: Andrew Pemberton | Comments Off on NIU-led Illinois Interactive Report Card earns top honors for educational data reporting
