The NIU College of Business is considered one of the leading institutions in the country when it comes to incorporating ethics into coursework. The college’s BELIEF Initiative, which incorporates ethics into nearly every class, is being studied and adapted by universities across the country.
Author Archives: Joseph King
The College’s Experiential Learning Center allows students to gain real-world experience working as “consultants” on projects for corporations like John Deere, Caterpillar, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart and many others. The center is consider a national model for providing students opportunities to apply classroom lessons to real world business problems.
NIU’s Department of Accountancy is one of the most highly regarded in the country:
- Graduates of the accountancy program ranked among the top 1 percent in the nation for pass rate on the 2007 and 2008 certified public accountant licensing exam.
- Professors around the country have ranked the NIU Department of Accountancy among the top 20 for more than two decades, often in the top 10.
- Last year U.S. News and World Report placed NIU Accountancy among the top 25 accounting programs in the country
NIU’s College of Business has been ranked among the best by BusinessWeek since the inception of the publication’s undergraduate ranking in 2006. Corporate recruiters surveyed ranked theschool in the nation’s top 50, while NIU students gave the college a grade of A for facilities and career services.
Image courtesy HKM Architects + Planners Inc.
The Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees today approved a long-term ground lease with the Collegiate Housing Foundation (CHF). The vote moves the university one step closer to the development of its first new undergraduate residence hall in more than four decades.
“The wants and needs of students have changed dramatically since we opened our last new undergraduate residence hall more than 40 years ago,” said NIU President John Peters.
While no final designs have been selected, the university instructed companies submitting proposals for the project that it is seeking new and innovative housing options. The goal is to create a 21st century “living learning community,” preferably one that incorporates the use of clusters that create a series of smaller communities within the residence hall. The university indicated that innovative thinking also should extend to the dining room (incorporating food court-style dining options) and all communal living spaces.
Those requirements were based on extensive surveying of current NIU students and research from around the country, all of which indicate that students today have competing desires for greater privacy along with ample opportunities to interact with their neighbors.
The ground-lease agreement approved Wednesday is the first step in a series of agreements and contracts that will result in construction of new campus housing for up to 1,000 students. Those units would replace other housing to be taken offline or remodeled in the coming years. There are currently no plans to exceed the historic campus housing capacity of 6,000 units, Peters said.
If all goes according to plan, up to 1,000 new beds could be ready for students in the fall of 2012. The university is evaluating two locations for the new facilities, both on the west side of campus.
Under the terms approved Wednesday, the university will not incur any of the cost of building the new facilities. Instead, CHF will contract with a private developer for the construction and financing of the project. When the buildings are complete, they will be leased to, and managed by, NIU. After a period not to exceed 40 years, ownership will revert to the university.
“This agreement allows us to address a pressing need in a timely manner without cost to the university,” said Board Chair Marc Strauss. “Using this model, we can provide attractive, affordable housing that meets the demands of today’s students, despite the current financial crisis facing the state. It is truly a valuable tool.”
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Media Contact: Joe King, Media Relations & Internal Communications
Phone: 815/753-4299
Email: joking@niu.edu
Denise Schoenbachler
The program will be the first double degree MBA offering in the Chicago area, and NIU is the first university in the U.S. to partner with this institution.
“This is much richer than an exchange program, or study abroad opportunity,” said Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the NIU College of Business, explaining that the dual-degree program was developed cooperatively by faculty at the two schools to create a single, unified program that shares not just students, but faculty and administrators.
“It is a seamless collaboration with the University of Bordeaux, incorporating the strengths of both schools and providing students with a unique experience. The two degrees earned by graduates will provide them with the skills needed to excel in the multi-national corporations of today’s global marketplace,” Schoenbachler explained.
Enrollment in the program is expected to be around 25, with 20 percent of the students coming from France.
While the program is aimed at younger students (an average age of about 25 is anticipated) it will be modeled after NIU’s successful Executive MBA program, which is aimed at individuals who typically have a decade or more of business experience.
Employing that model, students will be divided into teams and will work closely throughout the semester, taking classes together and collaborating on projects and presentations. Students will also spend part of each week traveling to corporations throughout Chicago to shadow executives and to learn first-hand about international business. The class also includes a four-month capstone project that will require each team to study a problem presented by a corporation and suggest solutions.
For three weeks in November, and again in March, the class will travel to Bordeaux to study under French professors and meet with executives in that country.
Unlike NIU’s other MBA programs, the class will meet five days a week, with classes during the day. It is also unique in that the program will be based at the university’s flagship campus in DeKalb.
“Because of the full-time, day-time nature of this program we felt that these students needed a campus experience,” explained Schoenbachler. “It will provide them more opportunities to interact with faculty and become part of the culture at NIU and in the College of Business.”
While Wednesday’s action officially launched the program, it has already drawn substantial interest. More than 20 qualified applicants have already contacted the university seeking admission into the program. Inquiries have come not just from Illinois, but also Alabama, South Carolina, Massachusetts and Indiana. More than a dozen students in France have sought applications for the program.
“That level of interest is amazing because we haven’t even begun to market this program. We have made mention of it at some open house events, and the rest has been all word of mouth,” said Paul Prabhaker, the associate dean in the NIU College of Business who oversees graduate programs. “Students are very excited about the innovative nature of this program – both the international component and the extensive opportunities to interact with business professionals.”
The board gave its unanimous approval to the fee request required to finalize the program, setting hourly fees at the same level as tuition. The cost of the program, including travel to and from France, and lodging while in Bordeaux, is expected to be less than other AACSB accredited Chicago area MBA programs, which offer only a single degree and no international travel.
NIU President John Peters said that he is excited to watch the program unfold and believes it may open up new opportunities across campus.
“This is an exciting new model for globalizing education,” Peters said. “The level of collaboration between NIU and the University of Bordeaux on this program truly sets it apart. It provides a blueprint for creating rich, new international experiences for our students.”
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Media Contact: Joe King, NIU Media Relations and Internal Communications
Phone: 815-753-4299
Email: joking@niu.edu
A team of four Northern Illinois University engineering students designed and built a vehicle that took third place overall at the Society of Automotive Engineers International Supermileage Competition, squeezing 1,265 miles from a single gallon of gasoline.
The competition, held June 10-11 in Marshall, Mich., featured more than 30 teams from across North America and from as far away as India and the United Arab Emirates. The NIU car was the top placing vehicle among U.S. universities.
The vehicle was designed and built by Joe Monteleone, of St. Charles; Austin Ray, of Gurnee; and Charlie Ruetsche and Patrick Galloway, both of Palatine. All four graduated this May with degrees in engineering technology from the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. The vehicle, which served as the required senior design project for the students, was piloted by Sachi Moy, an NIU accountancy major, from Inverness.
“This was a very bright, dedicated group of guys, all of whom have some experience working with cars – but all of it on the other end of the spectrum – high performance, low mileage,” said Professor David Schroeder, who advised the group. “They put in an extraordinary amount of work and it paid off.”
The team overcame significant odds to place so highly in the competition.
For starters, this was the team’s first attempt at creating an ultra-high-mileage vehicle and they were competing against teams that have been tinkering with successful cars for years. Other teams had 20 or more members, and rumor had it that at least one had sunk $30,000 this year into improving its electrical system alone. By comparison, the NIU team was comprised of only five individuals (including the driver) and built its car for slightly less than $7,000.
The bare-bones budget forced the team to evaluate every choice carefully, and dictated a dedication to simplicity that ultimately served the team well, said Schroeder. It also compelled them to do nearly all of the work themselves.
The NIU students crafted the entire car by hand, except for the standard-issue engine given to all teams, and even that was heavily modified. The process tested all of the skills that they learned while earning their degrees – from computer-aided design and welding, to fabrication of everything, including the frame, drive train, steering mechanism, wheels and brakes.
“We built the vehicle from the ground up,” said Galloway. “We had to use all of the tools, the formulas and the software that we learned over the last four years. We ran into a lot of problems, but we took what we learned and worked through them.”
Their greatest and most time-intensive challenge, however, was something they never covered in any class: creating the carbon-fiber shell of the vehicle. In the end, the shell was not ready to be attached to the frame of the car until the wee hours of the night before the competition. The enhanced aerodynamics proved worth the effort as the reduced drag helped to nearly double the vehicle’s previous best mileage.
The shell did have one unforeseen drawback: The carbon-fiber composition of the body blocked cell phone signals. So, while other teams were in constant radio contact with their drivers, the NIU team relied upon rudimentary hand signals to help the driver stay as close as possible to the required minimum speed of 15 mph. On their best run of the day, the team came within 9 seconds of an optimal time.
For a while, it appeared that the NIU team’s 1,265 miles per gallon might hold up as the winner, but defending champ Universite’ Laval, from Quebec, made a late run and posted mileage of 2,340 – nearly double its previous best run of the day. A second Canadian team bested them a short time later, but those setbacks did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the team.
“The odds were completely against us because we were going up against teams that have been around for a while, and we got third place. We couldn’t be happier. It was definitely a great experience,” said Galloway
“Seeing our students excel in a competition like this is exciting, because it is an affirmation of the value of the type of hands-on learning that we emphasize,” said Promod Vohra, dean of CEET. “The college tries to be responsive to the demands of the nation and world, and energy efficiency is one of our greatest needs. The performance of our Supermileage team gives me great confidence that our students will be among the leaders in addressing this and other critical issues. Engineers are catalysts for Innovation and our students fit that role well.”
Accountancy students at NIU started their class work Friday, March 26, by learning how to properly apply handcuffs to a suspected drug dealer.
That is not a typical part of the curriculum, but this was not your typical accounting class. The demonstration was part of Project Adrian, a day-long event that allowed 80 students to work side by side with 40 special agents from the Internal Revenue Service in a series of simulations designed to give them a taste of a career in accounting that many had never contemplated.
Most of the students participating were enrolled in a forensics accounting course at NIU.
“Forensic accounting is using accounting skills to gather evidence to be used in a court of law or to solve disputes. It’s just like what you see on the crime scene investigation shows, but we focus on the financial records. We follow the money,” said professor Chih-Chen Lee, who teaches the course.
The Project Adrian visit was an opportunity for students to see that what they learn in the classroom is actually applied in the real world.
“Most people, when they think about the IRS, think of audits or walking into an office for help with a form. They don’t think about investigations,” said Jim Hite, a supervisory agent for the IRS who directs investigations from an office in Downers Grove. “Most students have no idea that an accounting degree can open the door to a career like this.”
Even though the Criminal Investigations Unit is only involved in one in every 60,000 IRS cases, they play an important role for the IRS. They also often assist other agencies (local, state and federal) in pursuing and prosecuting an array of criminals.
On any given day, as the students learned from the simulations they carried out, an agent might:
•track down individuals fraudulently claiming multiple tax refunds;
•corner business owners trying to hide profits on a second set of books;
•pursue gamblers concealing winnings; or
•bust drug dealers hiding their ill-gotten gains.
“That’s what we do. We perform the detailed financial investigations that follow money from Point A to Point B, and we put bad guys in jail,” said Lucy Cruz, assistant special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation region that covers northern Illinois.
NIU was selected as a host for the exercise (which takes place at a handful of universities each year) because of it is accounting program, ranked among the top 25 in the nation.
The agents told students that the skills they learn in the classroom would be an important part of life as a special agent. Reviewing bank records, tax documents and other forms of financial paper makes up about 60 percent of the job, Hite said.
The other 40 percent has just about nothing to do with anything covered in a standard accounting course.
It’s not unusual for an IRS special agent to devote time to conducting surveillance, going undercover to gather information, assisting in drug busts, conducting raids and making arrests. As part of Project Adrian, NIU students got to experience all of those things under simulated conditions.
While the day included some number-crunching, it was the police activities that intrigued students the most.
Students participated in surveillance activities (some even wore wires), conducted arrests and questioned suspects. They even experienced simulated fire-arms training.
“It’s exciting. You’re always doing something different,” said Lindsey Wedow, a senior from Warrenville, who is enrolled in a forensic account course at NIU. Her case involved a gambler hiding winnings from the IRS. “You’re out in the field, you get to seize assets – you’re not stuck behind a desk.”
Brad Saxon, a junior accounting major from Schaumburg, isn’t enrolled in the forensic accounting course, but jumped at the opportunity to participate. He has had an interest in combining accounting and law enforcement since high school.
“I was thinking about pursuing a career in fighting white-collar crime with the FBI, but this is just as exciting,” said Saxon, who was impressed by the meticulousness that agents applied to make their cases. “I am looking for an environment that is always changing and interesting, and this meets those qualifications.”
Lee had several students approach her after the Project Adrian event saying that they thought working as an IRS special investigator might be the career for them. “I had one student who said that he had been feeling like accounting was not the career for him, but that this experience had changed his mind,” she said.
While the day was most definitely “non-traditional,” NIU College of Business Dean Denise Schoenbachler was excited to host Project Adrian.
“We love to talk about the college being the place where the classroom meets the real world, and this is a perfect example of that,” Schoenbachler said. “Our students are always exposed to careers in public accounting and corporate accounting, and this opened their eyes to a whole new aspect of accounting.”
