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Recipients of scholarships provided by the support of Crane Composites

Officials with Crane Composites, the world’s leading provider of reinforced composite materials for the building and transportation markets, visited NIU on Thursday, April 5, to meet some of the students who have benefited from Crane scholarships.

Crane Composites has offered 60 scholarships to students since 2010 in the College of Business and the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. Company representatives visited with business students Iva Pouhaleva, Calen Lambert, Jenee Carlson and Zoya Khan and with engineering students Haley Tribo and Brandon Palfalvi.

“Without this scholarship, I wouldn’t be here,” Carlson said. “My goal is to get through school debt-free, which I’ve been able to do so far, but last year I worked three jobs. So this scholarship is really appreciated.”

Palfalvi said donors should realize their gifts provide more than financial assistance. He said he didn’t think he could have landed his internship or taken advantage of other opportunities without the boost of confidence his scholarship gave him.

“No one talks about the emotional support, which has such a big impact,” he said. “It means so much that someone believes I can do that. Someone believes I can be better and my education is worth investing in.”

Crane Composites President John O’Sullivan speaking with scholarship recipients.

Crane Composite President John O’Sullivan, a 1987 graduate of NIU’s accountancy program, said NIU paved the way for his success.

“NIU was very beneficial to me,” he said. “I had an internship experience and wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have without it.”

O’Sullivan said Crane Composites wants to provide students with professional experiences like internships as well as with scholarships. He said both students and businesses benefit from those relationships.

“We have students very well supported, thanks to your generosity, but that is only a start. I’m excited about how we can take that start and build on it,” said College of Business Dean Balaji Rajagopalan.

“It’s a great opportunity for our students,” agreed College of Engineering and Engineering Technology Dean Donald Peterson. ”Working with companies is so important to us because it keeps our curriculum real as we train the workforce of the future.”

O’Sullivan was joined by Vice President of Supply Chain Bart Kittleson, Vice President of Human Resources Paul Storc and Recruiting Specialist Joan Carrigan. After lunching with students, the group toured Barsema Hall and the Engineering Building.

Date posted: April 11, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on Crane Composites executives meet scholarship recipients

Categories: Business Engineering and Engineering Technology Faculty & Staff Homepage Students

Scholars from NIU and Macedonia will convene Thursday, April 19, in DeKalb to discuss local, national and international approaches to peace and transcultural communication.

“Global Problems and Community Praxis” is the second annual conference – but the first in the United States – organized on that topic by the Center for Peace and Transcultural Communication, a collaboration between NIU and the University of Tetovo.

Patrick Roberts

“We’re really excited. These are particularly timely issues these days,” said Patrick Roberts, a professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations.

“Our key goal is to facilitate scholarly exchanges, to foster public awareness of global conflicts and to examine, ‘How can I make a difference in my local community? How does local action have global impacts?’ We want to broaden awareness of what the issues are.”

The conference, which will include four professors from Tetovo among the presenters, begins at 9 a.m. in the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, 231 N. Annie Glidden Road.

James Pardew

Keynote speaker James W. Pardew, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria from 2002 to 2005 and the author of the 2017 book “Peacemakers: American Leadership and the End of Genocide in the Balkans,” will talk at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of Barsema Hall, 740 Garden Road. A reception begins at 5 p.m.

Both events are free and open to the public. Call 815-753-9359 or email proberts1@niu.edu for more information.

Roberts believes that people who attend, whether as participants or observers, will walk away with a clearer understanding of modern conflict and ways to resolve it from a “think globally and act locally” perspective.

Among the daytime presentation topics: “Does Torture Work: An Empirical Test Using Archival Data,” “The Balkans – A Matching Point of Two Controversy Theories,” “Migration as a Social Phenomenon and Refugees as a Contemporary Reality” and “The Politics of Food Diplomacy.”

Presenters also will discuss “Fleeing from Danger: Refugees’ Stories in Elementary School Classrooms,” “Religious Violence and Peacemaking: Rethinking Contemporary Conflicts,” “Between Mao and Gandhi: Social Structure and the Choice of Violent and Nonviolent Resistance,” “How Do We See Our Neighbors? Youth Inclusion, Participation and Collaboration in Moldova” and “Sport for Development and Peace.”

NIU College of Education presenters will include Teresa Fisher, Carolyn Pluim, Teresa Wasonga and Paul Wright.

Laura Ruth Johnson

Laura Ruth Johnson, a professor in the college’s Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, believes the interdisciplinary nature of the presenters and topics will illuminate connections “between these different struggles, both globally and locally.

“Many times, when we have these types of conferences, they just focus on one distinct area,” she said. “This conference represents areas from all over the university. The topic is very broad – it covers a lot of ground – and allows us to explore common and divergent interests.”

Johnson’s own work in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood provides a good example.

Her research studies civic engagement, community involvement and advocacy among Latino and African-American youth, with a focus on young mothers, and sees a bridge to the University of Tetovo’s battle for justice in higher education.

Use of social media and other media, she added, is making the planet a smaller place.

“What happens in one place often resonates in other locales in terms of climate change, economic and food insecurity or fights for human rights and gender equity,” Johnson said. “The ‘Me Too’ movement has resonated internationally.”

Emily McKee

Emily McKee, a professor in the Department of Anthropology of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who holds a joint appointment with the Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy, studies resource conflicts and environmental peacebuilding.

Her students, who are learning about access to clean water, climate change, fracking, mining and more, will participate with students of Department of Sociology Professor Laura Heideman in a roundtable discussion on conflict and peacebuilding.

McKee’s students learn about “conflicts that involve access to resources around the world. Resource conflicts and environmental peacebuilding are buzzwords that get thrown around, such as wars between two countries,” she said. “We explore some of these tropes that are not so easily pigeonholed as resource conflicts but built into other conflicts, such as social, religious and economic.”

The roundtable “is looking at our pedagogy and how we teach these courses,” she added.

During the roundtable, students will speak about their semester-long research projects on cases of resource conflict around the world and reflect on the impact that this engaged learning has had on them. “That’s relevant to them as they go on in their lives as citizens and in their careers,” McKee said. “I’m particularly excited about that.”

For his part, Roberts is excited by the potential for motivation, whether in DeKalb, Chicago or Macedonia.

“We don’t want to be a conference where people just get up and read papers,” he said. “I’m hoping to learn how understanding becomes action and the strategies people employ. None of that can succeed if there aren’t people – communities – willing to put these principles and policies into action.”

NIU and the University of Tetovo were introduced in 2014 through the work of Anthony Preston, director of Global Programs in the NIU College of Business.

The Center for Peace and Transcultural Communication was dedicated in 2015 when Acting NIU President Lisa Freeman visited the University of Tetovo. The center aims to foster better social platforms for younger generations and a better society.

A current exhibition in the College of Education’s Blackwell History of Education Museum tells the story of Tetovo through nearly 70 reproductions of photographs that depict the university’s tumultuous existence.

Date posted: April 11, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on Global problems, community praxis: April 19 conference set to explore world conflict, peace

Categories: Community Faculty & Staff Homepage Students

A delegation of students representing NIU’s residence halls recently made an impressive mark during a state conference. Members of NIU’s Residence Hall Association (RHA) not only presented the most programs during the conference but also won numerous other awards.

The Illinois RHA 2018 conference took place in February at the University of St. Francis. In addition to being recognized as Most Spirited Delegation, members of the NIU delegation received the following awards at the conference:

  • Charles Cherry, Advisor of the Year
  • Jordan Arcilla, Student of the Year
  • Marianna Carr, First-year Student Experience of the Year
  • I Younan An, NRHH Communications Coordinator of the Year
  • Maggie Hitchcock, NRHH Member of the Year

Joshua Hutchinson, graduate assistant for Leadership Development, Housing and Residential Services, said conference preparation is taken on by students within the RHA and National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH). Students are selected through an application process. Any student living within the residence halls is able to apply and be selected.

For the school spirit aspect of the conference competitions, participating delegations are allowed to create spirit items, and are also awarded points for various forms of participation and engagement. The conference programming is primarily comprised of presentations submitted by students and staff attending, covering topics such as leadership development, team building, diversity, academic support, social events, professional development and more.

Nicole Pacewic was among the NIU delegates in attendance and served as one of the university’s communications coordinators during the conference. She said preparations began two months in advance, and that NIU’s recognitions reflect the dedication, ability and promise of student leaders at the university.

“We have won most spirited delegation now at three conferences in a row, NACURH (National/ International), GLACURH (Regional) and now IRHA (State),” Pacewic said. “Winning at any of these conferences is a huge accomplishment and the fact that we did these three in a row is amazing.”

This year, 10 students represented NIU at the conference, and Hutchinson said the 11 programs they presented made up a majority of the programming sessions available.

“And four of these programs were voted as top 10 programs out of the entire event, which is quite the accomplishment as well,” he noted. “Traditionally, having that many presentations presented by one institution is not common. However, this has been the trend within NIU’s student delegations at our conferences throughout this academic year.”

Hutchinson said the conference serves as an opportunity for student leaders to network and connect with others from across the state.

“Our attendance at this specific IRHA conference has showcased the caliber of student leader that NIU develops within our residential programs,” he said. “It also provides our students the chance to showcase the skills and knowledge that they have by developing other leaders from different institutions, as well as having the valuable experience of receiving development from others.”

Date posted: April 11, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU recognized at Illinois RHA 2018 conference

Categories: Awards Faculty & Staff Homepage Students

U.S. News & World Report has named NIU’s Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) program among the top five in the nation in the specialty field of local government management.

Fall class of M.P.A. students

NIU’s perennially ranked program—which produces about one-third of city managers in Illinois—jumped up two notches to No. 4 in the rankings, tied with the University of Southern California and ahead of programs at such schools as Indiana University (No. 10), Cleveland State (No. 13), the University of Illinois at Chicago (No. 14), the University of Nebraska (No. 15) and the University of Michigan (No. 19).

Additionally, NIU’s M.P.A. program was ranked No. 15 nationally in the specialty of public finance and budgeting and 37th in public management and leadership. All three of the NIU rankings were tops among public and private university programs in Illinois.

“Our No. 4 ranking reflects the prestige of our exceptional local government internship program, the effectiveness of our outstanding alumni who are managing local governments around the country and the research productivity of our extraordinary faculty,” says Presidential Engagement Professor Kurt Thurmaier, public administration chair.

“We work very hard to provide a relevant and practical curriculum for our students and excellent research support for our faculty,” he adds. “We’re very proud to be recognized for our excellence among almost 300 public administration and public policy programs in the country.”

Many program alumni go on to become city or county managers, finance directors or even police and fire chiefs. Both NIU M.P.A. faculty and alumni have played a major role in efforts to professionalize municipal staffs statewide and advance the national good government movement.

Alumni can be found throughout the Chicago area at the administrative helms of such cities as: Addison, Algonquin, Bartlett, Carol Stream, Clarendon Hills, Deerfield, Elk Grove Village, Elmhurst, Flossmoor, Glen Ellyn, Glencoe, Hanover Park, Highland Park, Hoffman Estates, Lombard, Schaumburg, Sycamore, Tinley Park, Warrenville, Western Springs, Winfield, Winnetka and Woodridge. They also hold key public-service posts across the country in such states as Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The M.P.A. program has 95 percent job-placement record within six months of graduation. Thurmaier credits high-quality faculty and an internship program that ensures students are well-prepared for the job market.

“We have the best M.P.A. internship program in the world,” Thurmaier says.

“Every one of our students who does not have a least two years of professional experience in public service has a 20-hour per week internship in a local government or nonprofit agency, and they are paid an average more than $16 per hour. Because the internships are paid and last for two years, students are tasked with challenging projects and treated as members of the management team. They add real value to their communities.”

Brandon Kowalke

Brandon Kowalke, 27, of Beach Park, IL, will graduate from NIU with his M.P.A. degree in May. He has interned for nearly two years with the City of Wheaton.

“The internship is an incredibly important piece of the program because it gives you a chance to apply what you’ve learned,” said Kowalke, who recently won a prestigious Cookingham-Noll Management Fellowship with the City of Kansas City.

“Things like performance measurement and budgeting take on a whole new light in the classroom when you can relate them back to what’s going on at work,” he said. “I’ve been able to work on a number of projects spanning multiple city departments. My internship has left me with a firm understanding of how to navigate these relationships within the organization. In a broad sense, this has helped me to understand how most local governments function and operate.”

NIU’s M.P.A. program will start a new chapter in its 55-year history this coming fall, with the addition of a fully online program. It is exclusively designed for employees working at least two years in local governments of all types. Students can also opt to take just five courses and earn a Graduate Certificate in Public Management that is focused only on local government management.

Date posted: April 11, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on U.S. News: NIU MPA program is 4th in the nation for local government

Categories: Centerpiece Community Faculty & Staff Students

Leslie A. Sassone (left); her father, Nick Sassone; and NIU alumna Gail Gattis, a National Board Certified Teacher in River Forest, who uses Professor Sassone’s juggling curriculum.

Among the many decorations adorning Leslie A. Sassone’s office in Graham Hall is a small photograph she snapped years ago at a Grateful Dead Furthur Festival concert.

The picture shows a woman reading a book, paying little or no attention to the music being performed in front of her by living legends of rock ’n’ roll.

Sassone laughs when she thinks about that moment. Maybe it amuses her simply because she loves music so much – she self-describes as “a peace-love-justice child of the ’60s” – or, maybe, it’s because music is how she got here.

Raised in New York, Sassone was in her early 20s and spinning the hits at a radio station on the east coast when she decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in media systems and management. Doubting that she possessed the voice for a larger market, she figured a college diploma would at least provide some security for her future in broadcasting.

But something unexpected happened at Westfield State University.

“I was introduced to philosophy,” says Sassone, a professor in the NIU College of Education since 1997.

Her new passion – her intense love of “the honest interactions and connections between text and the world” – eventually led her to Purdue University, where in 1988 she earned an M.S.Ed. degree in communication and speech education and, in 1994, a Ph.D. degree in educational studies.

Nearly 25 years after that doctorate, the powers of philosophy continue to drive her.

“Philosophy keeps me honest. Philosophy invites me to think through the thoughts of other people on their own terms,” she says. “Philosophy of education is why I love working with students. It’s a reminder to me that we might stop hurting each other if we could just understand that we come from different paradigms.”

Or maybe her motivation stems from a deeply personal mission to shape current and future generations: “I was a high school dropout from the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City, and those teachers I had – not one of them ever saw me,” she says. “Teachers need to see past themselves.”

Either way, her love of subject and love of teaching clearly resonates with students.

Chosen to receive the University Honors Program’s Great Professor Award for 2018, Sassone is being recognized for “contributing significantly to honors education at NIU” and “manifesting leadership, dedication and service” to the program and its students.

Despite those glowing terms, and her gratitude for the recognition, she takes it all in stride. She’s here to empower students “to know what they believe and how to communicate that.”

“What could be more valuable than helping people become literate?” she asks. “Teaching keeps me young. It keeps me up with the times. It lets me extend and visit my beliefs regularly. I’m someone who makes her job fun for herself.”

A professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations, Sassone teaches courses in the area of foundations, which offers neither a major nor a minor. None of her classes are “prerequisites to anything,” she adds. “It frees me.”

She also loves to teach EPFE 201: Education as an Agent of Change, a general education course. “I love Gen Eds,” she says. “I believe that every NIU student is a College of Education student.”

Honors classes are especially dear to her, and she is grateful for the college’s generosity in allowing her to teach those.

Like her subject matter, her classrooms are unique.

Classes begin with a contemplative focus activity. “If it’s good enough for the K-12 public schools in Illinois to have a moment of peace to gather themselves,” Sassone says, “then it’s good enough for us.”

By the end of each class, however, the professor has exhausted herself as not a teacher but an active participant – a co-facilitator. She’s intertwined in the discussion, throwing herself in as fully as Parker Palmer advocated in “The Courage to Teach,” pushing students to share their viewpoints freely.

And although she does dutifully craft syllabi and tries to order books in advance, those tasks pain her. She’d rather get to know her students first, and for them to know each other before she locks in a semester’s worth of “really difficult” readings and tests.

Then there’s the juggling.

Juggling is a hallmark of Sassone’s work over the last seven years. She uses juggling ostensibly to build classroom community through a fun activity and to model for future teachers something inexpensive they can do in their own classrooms, but its benefits run far deeper.

Mastering the skill requires patience, practice, perseverance and persistence – all necessary skills for literacy and success in life. Juggling also addresses the K-12 Social Emotional Learning Standards, something she first realized after watching NIU students working to keep all the balls in the air.

Educators who adopt juggling to their classrooms are also engaging in the tenets of John Dewey’s “Experience and Education,” she adds, including contemplative practice, freedom of intelligence and understanding purpose. “Juggling brings all that to the forefront,” she says.

She visits a fourth-grade classroom in River Forest, several times a year to work with the children on juggling, something she’s previously done in other suburban Illinois school districts, including Elgin’s U-46.

But it’s the figurative balls she juggles – the nagging questions and quotes about existence, such as “To know the good is to do the good” and, “Can we learn to understand?” – that truly keep her engaged in teaching. And it’s why she believes her students value her.

“I see people – and that seems to both scare and endear the students to me,” she says. “I hope students know they’ll learn something from my experiences, and that they will appreciate and recognize that philosophy of education matters.”

Date posted: April 9, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on Keeping all the balls in the air: Honors lauds Leslie A. Sassone with Great Professor Award

Categories: Awards Faculty & Staff Homepage Students

On Wednesday, April 18, the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning (OSEEL) will be hosting the ninth annual Undergraduate Research and Artistry Day (URAD), along with the fifth annual Community Engagement Showcase (CES).

Adam Rivas and mentor Ally Zimmerman

One of the students presenting this year is Adam Rivas, a freshman from the College of Business and a Research Rookies participant. Rivas is conducting research with the help of his mentor, Dr. Ally Zimmerman. Rivas’ research examines characteristics that factor into the selection and assignment process of audit partners in the U.S., along with whether audit partner gender is associated with audit committee members and audit chairs.

In preparation for his presentation, Rivas is using the Data Collection Method and Data Analysis Method, two methods of research he used over the course of the year, in preparation for his presentation. He believes it is important to utilize these methods because it has helped him understand his research topic. This new-found knowledge will help Rivas answer any questions that may arise and help him have fluid and fact-based discussions about his project with both students and faculty.

With the opportunity to work with a faculty mentor on this project, Rivas has acquired some guidance on his research, allowing him to also improve his skills in research. Rivas expressed his enjoyment working with his mentor stating he has “learned a great deal from Dr. Zimmerman and has gained experience in research and research methods that many college students are not privileged to have.” Conducting research has also helped Rivas develop his academic skills further than he could have in primarily a classroom setting.

Prepare to be impressed! If you want to learn more about Rivas’ research, stop by his poster at the URAD and CES showcase in the Holmes Student Center, Duke Ellington Ballroom. The showcase goes from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Date posted: April 9, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on URAD Spotlight: Adam Rivas

Categories: Community Faculty & Staff Homepage Research Students

On Friday, April 20, NIU students and staff members will join approximately 400 Latinx leaders from throughout the state for the 26th Professional and Student Development Conference of the Illinois Latino Council on Higher Education (ILACHE) at Illinois State University.

The theme of the conference is “Latino Resistance in Higher Education: A Legacy of Struggle,” and it will feature keynote speaker Estela Mara Bensimón, a professor of higher education at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education and director of the USC Center for Urban Education.

Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden, NIU chief diversity officer, says, “The ILACHE conference is a great way for our students to network with other students, faculty and staff in the state. ILACHE is a wonderful organization committed to access and equity for Latinx students in the state of Illinois. The Office of Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is happy to help sponsor NIU students to attend this important conference.”

Susana Das Neves, an NIU doctoral student and long-time NIU employee, is the conference chair and serves on the executive board as ILACHE vice president of academic and professional development. She is excited to introduce a number of new elements to this year’s conference to expand community involvement and professional development.

“This year, for the first time, we will have an ILACHE Academia para Padres offering workshops in Spanish for the parents of high school and college students who attend to support their children,” she says. These workshops are jointly sponsored by the UIC School of Medicine Academia de Padres and Universidad para Padres, a community outreach program in DeKalb county coordinated by Das Neves and sponsored by the NIU Center for P-20 Engagement.

Das Neves is looking forward to bringing Universidad para Padres participants and their children who are juniors and seniors in high school to the conference. Together, the families will be able to learn about the college preparation process and pursue self-development and growth. “This honors one of ILACHE’s core values,” she says, “which is comunidad – community.”

Das Neves is also looking forward to the conference’s first professional and graduate school fair, as well as a special presentation of the film Dolores Huerta that is open to the public. She sees ILACHE as an important voice for the Latinx community.

“As a Latina who works with Latinos/Latinas in the community and in higher education, I can bring to the table issues and concerns that we see happening in K-12 education, which affect Latinos/Latinas in the pursuit of post-secondary education and beyond,” Das Neves says. “While ILACHE advocates for equality and equal representation of Latinos/Latinas in higher education, we also advocate for other issues that affect the K-12 pipeline to postsecondary education, whether that’s undocumented students, immigration laws that impact access to higher education or changes in legislation that affect students and families, as well as higher education faculty and staff.”

Sandy López, assistant to the director of the NIU Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, is another NIU Huskie who is actively involved in the conference. López, an ILACHE executive board member and the organization’s webmaster, says, “I am honored to be a part of an organization that works collaboratively with colleges, universities and other stakeholders to increase the access, retention and advancement of Latinx students, faculty and staff in Illinois higher education institutions.”

Dr. Christina Abreu, director of the NIU Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, says, “The Center for Latino and Latin American Studies is especially excited about this year’s ILACHE conference because organizers have recognized one of our undergraduate students, Laura Vivaldo Cholula (political science major and Latin American studies minor, NIU class of ’18), as the recipient of the Emerging Leader Award. Laura works tirelessly on behalf of undocumented students on campus, and she also serves on the center’s Student Advisory Council. We are very proud of her!”

The annual ILACHE conference has a special place in Cholula’s heart. “The first time I attended an ILACHE conference,” she remembers, “the workshop was facilitated by NIU Latinx students. That workshop made an impact on me because it helped me choose to enroll at NIU, and it connected me to students who would help my transition from a community college to a university.”

NIU students who are interested in attending the ILACHE conference at Illinois State University this year should contact Sandy López at slopez1@niu.edu. More information about the conference is available at ilache.org.

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Date posted: April 9, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU develops leadership and community at 2018 ILACHE conference

Categories: Awards Faculty & Staff Homepage Students

On Friday, April 20, Northern Illinois University senior Laura Vivaldo Cholula will receive the 2018 Emerging Leader Award from the Illinois Latino Council on Higher Education (ILACHE).

Laura Vivaldo Cholula

The Emerging Leader award recognizes a student in Illinois who has made significant contributions to the Latinx higher education community through service and leadership. The award will be presented at this year’s ILACHE Professional and Student Development Conference, which will be held at Illinois State University.

In the words of Susana Das Neves, ILACHE conference chair and vice president of Academic and Professional Development, as well as a doctoral student at NIU, “ILACHE’s vision is to be the preeminent advocate, change agent and voice for Latinos/Latinas in Illinois higher education and collectively to increase the access, retention and advancement of Latinx students, faculty and staff in Illinois higher education institutions. It is with this in mind that every year we recognize not only the work of professionals, but also the impact Latinx students are making in higher education.”

Das Neves continues, “It’s refreshing to know that younger generations will have a brighter future because of leaders like Laura. I am extremely proud of her recognition as an emerging leader because it represents Laura’s personality, dedication and character.”

Cholula, a political science major and Latin American studies minor, is an aspiring lawyer with an interest in immigration and family law. She is currently the co-president of DREAM Action NIU, a student-run organization that advocates for undocumented students. She has also been a Huskie Service Scholar who served as a peer mentor and has been invited to speak to middle school and college students on the importance of higher education.

As part of the competitive Summer Research Opportunity Program at NIU, Cholula has conducted research for the NIU Latino Oral History Project, helping to document the experiences of Chicago-area immigrants. She also won the NIU Deacon Davis Diversity Award in 2017.

For Cholula, the ILACHE Emerging Leader Award is meaningful for many reasons. “Leadership has often been presented to me in the form of male leadership in academic institutions and within the workplace,” she says. “This award reaffirms that women of color are not just participating in student organizations but are the leaders.”

She continues, “To have this award recognize me as an emerging leader is an affirmation that my style of leadership is making an impact. My leadership model aims to uplift students, so they can find within themselves the skills they need to be the next leaders on our campus and in the community.”

In the words of Dr. Christina Abreu, director of the NIU Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, “Laura works tirelessly on behalf of undocumented students on campus, and she also serves on the center’s Student Advisory Council. We are very proud of her!”

“Without a doubt, Laura Vivaldo Cholula is a change agent,” says Das Neves. “She has paved the way for future NIU students to continue her quest for social justice and equality for all students.”

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Date posted: April 9, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU undergraduate recognized as Latina emerging leader

Categories: Awards Faculty & Staff Homepage Students

Change is in the air at the Holmes Student Center (HSC) as the building’s lower levels are being prepared for a major overhaul.

When completed in the fall of 2019, the area will include a new glass entryway with a tiered plaza opening to the Martin Luther King Memorial Commons, inviting lounge spaces, new dining options, new office space for student organizations and more.

Before all of that can happen, however, crews will be busy relocating the current tenants of the spaces scheduled for renovation.

The Office of Orientation and Family Connections has already moved from the basement of the HSC into offices on the sixth floor while Military and Post-Traditional Student Services has taken up new quarters in room 170 of the Campus Life Building. The NIU Police substation will be relocated to room 141 on the main floor of the HSC later this month, while the One Card office will move across the commons to Founders Memorial Library soon.

As for restaurants, the Coffee Corner is expected to pour its last cup of Joe sometime in mid-April, while Subway will serve its last sandwich on Tuesday, May 8. The Blackhawk cafeteria line will shut down on Friday, May 11 – as will the Center Market. Many of the options provided by those venues will now be offered in the Coffee and Bagels Café on the lower level of the Founders Memorial Library.

The University Bookstore will close shortly after graduation (Sunday, May 13). A temporary spirit gear shop will open in the Gallery Lounge on the west end of the main floor of the HSC and remain there through the construction.

The university is currently in talks with a national college bookstore chain to coordinate book sales during and after the construction. Details will be released shortly, but systems will be in place before any summer classes begin.

By mid-May, most of the lower level will be off-limits to the public. An official groundbreaking is likely to take place this fall.

For more information, consult the HSC renovation website.

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Date posted: April 9, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on HSC making way for renovation work

Categories: Centerpiece Faculty & Staff Students

NIU’s Campus Child Care and the Child Development Lab are merging to become the Child Development and Family Center. The merger means more child care options for NIU students, faculty and staff beginning this summer.

Expanded infant care options will be available all year long. Previously, infant care was only available at Campus Child Care during the academic year, with some limited year-long availability at the Child Development Lab.

The application deadline for summer infant care is Monday, April 16. Additional infant care spaces will open in the fall, and that application deadline is Monday, June 18.

Though there’s increased capacity, families can expect the same high-quality care, said Kristin Schulz, director of Campus Child Care. Additionally, students, faculty and staff will continue to receive priority in enrolling their children. Students will still receive a 10 percent discount for child care.

“Since 1978, CCC has provided high-quality child care to the campus community. We are so excited to be able to expand options for students and families and look forward to serving a whole new generation of families,” said Schulz.

Thomas Pavkov, chair of the NIU School of Family and Consumer Sciences, agrees.

“This is exciting because, with expanded infant and toddler care available, some students will be able to remain in school whereas, without this option, they might need to delay achieving their academic goals,” said Pavkov.

The new Child Development and Family Center will benefit students in the Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS) program. There will be increased opportunities for them to gain child care experience in specific age groups.

“The merger also will provide the HDFS students new opportunities to work with both children and families in a modern facility as part of both internship and practicum experiences,” said Pavkov.

Date posted: April 4, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on Infant day care available on campus this summer

Categories: Faculty & Staff Homepage Students

During the first 21 years of their lives, individuals with autism are offered critical support services through their local public schools.

By law, those services must include “transition” planning that begins when the students turn 14½, providing nearly seven years of preparation for the next stage of their lives.

Yet when that assistance ends, many of those young adults and their parents are left with the same question.

Now what?

Sarah Johnston-Rodriguez

“It’s a very important topic right now because there have been some changes in the legislation,” says Sarah Johnston-Rodriguez, associate professor of Special and Early Education. “One change goes back to 2004, the IDEA law on special education, which changed the language to really focus on transition and on meaningful outcomes in the three areas schools are accountable for: community living, careers and employment, and postsecondary education.”

Modifications to the Higher Education Act, meanwhile, require that access to postsecondary education is available to students with intellectual disabilities.

And, in 2017, Illinois become an “employment-first” state to promote “community-based, integrated employment as the first option for employment-related services for individuals with disabilities, physical, intellectual or behavioral.”

The NIU College of Education’s upcoming Community Learning Series – “Transitioning to the Adult World: Connecting the Dots for Young Adults with Autism” – will help parents, students, teachers, employers and future educators make sense of it all.

Scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, the event takes place at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, 231 N. Annie Glidden Road. A reception begins at 5:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the event will feature six forward-thinking panelists who will share their innovative and exemplary approaches, supports and successes that have empowered their students to achieve productive lives. They are:

  • Khushbu Davi, program coordinator, Parents Alliance Employment Project
  • Kori Jung, teacher/case manager, District 214 Transition Program, Arlington Heights
  • Christine Putlak, assistant director, A.E.R.O. Special Education Cooperative
  • Benji Rubin, attorney, Special Needs Legal and Future Planning, Rubin Law Offices
  • Toni Van Laarhoven, professor, NIU Department of Special and Early Education
  • Traci Van Laarhoven, vocational coordinator, Waubonsie Valley High School

Toni Van Laarhoven

“There are so many resources that teachers and parents need to plan ahead,” Toni Van Laarhoven says, “so we’re looking at what’s out there: What are some of the benefits available? What are some of the legal things people need to think about, such as guardianship? How do we prepare individuals if they choose to go the college route? These are things people really have to start thinking about.”

“We’re really focusing on services that are innovative and community-based,” adds Johnston-Rodriguez, who considers transition a matter of civil rights and social justice.

“Some states have done away with all of their ‘sheltered workshops,’ and the emphasis now for schools is to prepare these students for some kind of education, career or employment in the community.”

Van Laarhoven, a Presidential Teaching Professor at NIU, and her identical twin sister Trac, will talk about their Project MY VOICE – a person-centered planning tool that equips high school students with autism, and/or intellectual disabilities, to participate and have a voice in their own Individualized Education Programs via multimedia.

Johnston-Rodriguez, meanwhile, is also piloting a program that challenges students with disabilities to create their own PowerPoint presentations based on career exploration and creating a plan for where they want to go with their lives and how they plan to get there.

Lisle-based Parents Alliance Employment Project is partnering with Cadence Health in Project SEARCH, to offer internships at Central DuPage Hospital to young adults with developmental disabilities.

Many corporations “have gotten on board with employing people with special needs in meaningful kinds of jobs,” Johnston-Rodriguez says. “There’s also been a lot happening at the federal level with research and programs on customized employment. We’re seeing all of this come to fruition.”

Both professors say the evening will enlighten everyone, from those adolescents, parents, families, teachers, service providers and employers already engaged in the transition to future teachers of individuals with special needs.

“Preparing for adulthood is extremely important, and has its challenges for people with autism as it does for any young adult, but it really does take a lot of planning, support and resources,” Johnston-Rodriguez says.

“As for any adolescent, these years are very formative. But for students with disabilities, they are even more so, because this is their last chance to get really intensive academic preparation and independent living skills and really focus on career and employment skills,” she adds. “In school, everyone gets a free education, but when you get into the adult world after 21, that all changes.”

Van Laarhoven especially wants teachers and future teachers to attend the Community Learning Series.

“Even though teachers of special education are aware of transition and what goes into it, that’s an area where they need much more support. There’s so much to think about, and there are so many moving parts,” she says. “I would like them to be able to think outside the box.”

For more information, call 815-753-1619 or email seed@niu.edu.

Date posted: April 4, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on Community Learning Series will explore ‘transitions’ to adulthood for students on the autism spectrum

Categories: Community Faculty & Staff Homepage Parents Students

On Wednesday, April 18, the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning (OSEEL) will be hosting the ninth annual Undergraduate Research and Artistry Day (URAD), along with the fifth annual Community Engagement Showcase (CES), from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Holmes Student Center, Duke Ellington Ballroom.

These two unique showcases offer students with the opportunity to display the outstanding work done through research programs, artistry projects and community-based engagements. These students participate in a variety of programs that OSEEL offers, such as Research Rookies and Huskie Service Scholars.

Emily Mikolajczyk

Emili Mikolajczyk, a sophomore majoring in rehabilitation services, is one of the talented and driven students participating in Research Rookies, who will be presenting at URAD for her second year. Mikolajczyk and her faculty mentor, Dr. Matthew Sprong, are two great representations of the College of Health and Human Sciences. Her research focuses on disability discrimination in the workplace, specifically the hiring process, and is examining knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Mikolajczyk is passionate about her research; in the future, she wants to help people and her research provides her the knowledge to better understand what people with disabilities are going through.

Mikolajczyk says that working with Dr. Sprong was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. She states that “it has given me many wonderful learning and growing opportunities and has taught me a lot about my future career field. It has also affected my college experience in a positive way and introduced me to many amazing people from the NIU community.”

This will be the second year that Mikolajczyk is showcasing her work at URAD. She prepared for it by attending poster-making workshops, which helped her to learn to format and what kind of content is important to include. Her mentor has also helped her prepare by teaching her how to properly conduct her research and to present the research she collected. Having presented at last year’s URAD, she feels far more confident in the basics and is now improving her skills as an effective presenter. This year, Mikolajczyk says she’s polishing up her elevator pitches so she doesn’t sound repetitive or staged, and can engage the audience more.

Prepare to be impressed! To learn more aboutMikolajczyk’s project, stop by her poster at the URAD and CES Showcase.

Date posted: April 4, 2018 | Author: | Comments Off on URAD and CES to highlight undergraduate accomplishments

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