The transition could take up to a week. During that time, students will receive email in Gmail until the switch takes place.
No email or Google Drive data will be lost, but it will not be migrated automatically. DoIT will provide instructions on how to migrate email and data.
Lisa Freeman, NIU executive vice president and provost, talks about Program Prioritization during the April 27 town hall meeting.
Program Prioritization Task Force reports are open for review, and now is the time for students, faculty, staff and other stakeholders to provide feedback on those recommendations.
Feedback is due Monday, May 23, and can be shared directly with program owners and/or online.
“The task force reports are thoughtful and nuanced, and reflect the dedicated effort of committed faculty and staff members. I am very impressed with their reports, particularly the overarching themes that they have provided to guide our work,” said Lisa Freeman, executive vice president and provost.
Monday’s release of Program Prioritization information – including the narratives provided to the task forces – also included explanatory statements from the task force members about their recommendations.
The Academic Task Force (AcTF) concentrated its efforts on identifying high-performing, high-potential programs and suggesting ways to strengthen these important offerings. The Administrative Task Force recommendations center on broad themes across the university and offer strategic direction and high-level program feedback.
On the academic side, a recurring theme was “the need to enhance the foundation of tenure-track faculty.”
“While respectful of the important contribution of instructors, visiting professors, clinical and adjunct faculty members,” the statement read, “the AcTF report emphasizes the need to strengthen the underpinnings of academic reputation, research accomplishment and contributions to disciplines by continuing our historic commitment to investing in the recruitment and retention of tenure-track faculty.”
NIU also should “develop an institutional plan for enhancing graduate student stipends, recognizing that graduate students make essential contributions to the university’s research mission and to undergraduate programs across colleges.”
Members of the Administrative Task Force identified “opportunities for many programs to transform themselves in order to create greater impact, improve outcomes and contribute more profoundly to realizing the university’s mission.”
Several programs were identified for their work to boost enrollment, provide vital administrative services and drive the creation of “a more inclusive, diverse and welcoming environment” for students, faculty and staff.
Enhancement recommendations focused on programs that grow enrollment through recruitment and retention.
Both task forces also cited areas, such as a number of certificate programs, where submitted program narratives needed to provide more detail and data for them to have been evaluated more fully. “This next phase of providing feedback and developing action plans provides time to add clarity and address any questions raised in the reports,” Freeman said.
Freeman commended the task forces for the outstanding contributions.
“I appreciate the commitment of both task forces to all aspects of the academic mission,” Freeman said. “I share their desire for NIU to be recognized for being a forward-thinking, thriving institution that provides students with a well-rounded education through access to excellent faculty and facilities.“
NIU President Doug Baker, who with members of his senior cabinet will receive action plans for review July 15, will issue a Program Prioritization President’s Report late this fall.
Date posted: May 4, 2016 | Author: Mark McGowan | Comments Off on Opinions, please
“I tailor what I tell each student. I try to find the most efficient way for them to play their instrument. I try to help them find their voices,” Lee said.
An accomplished cellist and chamber musician who has performed and taught master classes all over the globe, Lee understands what it takes to be world-class musician. That includes helping his students understand their own motives.
“I have discussions with them about what music means to us. I help them understand the challenges involved in music and that their passion and commitment are keys to success.”
Lee knows about success and hard work. A native of Taiwan, he began playing cello at age 4. (“I always want to have a good story to tell people about how I started playing music but I can’t remember: I was so small,” he said.)
The son of an accomplished musician father, he left home for Long Island, N.Y., to study at a performing arts high school when he was 14. After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Julliard, and an additional master’s degree in chamber music at Rice University, he received his Doctoral of Musical Art at the New England Conservatory.
He has taught master classes and appeared in hundreds of solo and chamber music performances throughout the United States, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He has performed with world- renowned artists including Yo-Yo Ma, and is the recipient of a career grant from the Quanta Education Foundation.
He was appointed a faculty member in the NIU School of Music with the Avalon String Quartet in 2007.
“We enjoy his presence as an artist and collaborator of the highest caliber,” said Paul D. Bauer, interim dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts and former director of the School of Music. “He is respected internationally as a solo cellist and chamber musician, and his experience as a student of, and performer with, musical luminaries such as Yo-Yo Ma, Janos Starker and Mstislav Rostropovich, means our students and community engage, through Cheng-Hou, in a remarkable musical legacy.”
Students who receive private cello instruction from him at NIU benefit from his rigorous experience and keen understanding of musical performance challenges.
“I try to engage students and discuss what the music is about, what the composer’s intentions were. It feels like the most natural thing … the impression you get from music. This is lively, this feels happy, this feels sad,” Lee said. “But musicians are so technical. Sometimes you forget what the most important thing is. You are thinking about where I’m supposed to place my arms, how long to hold a note … you forget this is a mysterious piece, or about angels singing.”
Lee said his students find him tough.
“I don’t let anything go, but I’m supposed to tell them what to do. I don’t lose my temper, which is very different from the culture I grew up in. I used to get very, very nervous going to lessons and calling (instructors) on the phone,” he said.
Ya-Chen (Jessy) Lee, a graduate student of Lee’s, said that studying with him is one of her favorite things at NIU. He helps her understand the music, which allows her to learn faster.
“Cheng-Hou is very patient during lessons, and he discusses music with me when we have different opinions, instead of forcing me to play the way he likes me to play. He teaches me how to practice in a way that makes it more efficient, and makes my music more delicate and beautiful,” Jessy Lee said.
Cheng-Hou Lee, who gives private instruction to 10 students, said his favorite part about working with students is finding individual solutions to help them achieve their goals.
“It’s like a puzzle,” he said. “I have to figure out different things to say to different people even though they have the same exact problem. It helps me grow as a teacher, and also helps me as a player.”
Does the U.S. education system function to reproduce inequalities of social class and race while claiming to improve access for minorities and financially disadvantaged students?
“We have decades of research on academic tracking at the secondary level that suggest that this sorting process obstructs and limits educational opportunities for some while preserving the privilege of others,” Stich says.
Unfortunately, she adds, “very little attention has been paid to similar levels of stratification within colleges and universities wherein academic tracking and its consequences have also become manifest.”
Leaders of the National Academy of Education and the Spencer Foundation believe the fellowships enhance the future of education research by developing new talent in the many disciplines and fields represented by the scholars selected.
These fellowships are the oldest source of support for education research – nationally and internationally – for recent recipients of the doctorate. The 30-year-old program counts nearly 800 alumni, many of whom are the strongest education researchers in the field today.
Stich, who came to NIU as a visiting assistant professor in 2014 and joined the tenure-track faculty in 2015, feels “incredibly honored and privileged” to join those ranks. Her application was one of 176 submitted this year.
“I applied for the fellowship in the interest of advancing my scholarship, which I hope will ultimately have a broader impact on issues of inequality in higher education,” she says.
“The fellowship provides enough funding to reduce one’s teaching load, and covers the cost of expenses associated with conducting research, which allows recipients sufficient time and resources to conduct ambitious, independent research projects.”
And, for Stich, it’s personal.
“As a first-generation undergraduate student from a working-class background, I not only found myself academically ill-prepared for college, but I struggled to find the resources necessary to stay,” she says. “At my undergraduate institution, one that continues to serve a largely first-generation, working-class population, I watched many of my peers fall behind or drop out.”
Fortunately, Stich persevered – and soon began “to acquire a language and an understanding of my own social position within a system of education that often works to reproduce social inequalities rather than ameliorate them.”
“Once harnessed with this language, and encouraged by faculty mentors to think deeply, question the status quo bravely and reflect often, I also become aware of the transformative potential of education,” she says.
During her two-year fellowship, she will conduct a multi-case study of the structure and social consequence of postsecondary tracking within two public universities.
The data collected should provide the basis for several academic publications and conference presentations, she says.
“I am hoping this research will contribute to our understanding of deepening levels of inequality in the postsecondary system,” Stich says, “and inform conversations surrounding educational policies and practices that seek to improve access, opportunities and outcomes for historically underrepresented and underserved students in higher education.”
Stich also is eager for the fellowship’s fringe benefits.
Fellows are required to attend three National Academy of Education meetings in Washington, D.C. with other fellows and academy members, she says.
“National Academy members are among some of the most distinguished educational researchers in the world,” she says. “Having the opportunity to engage with, and learn from, such influential scholars is very exciting.”
Date posted: May 4, 2016 | Author: Mark McGowan | Comments Off on ‘Access, opportunities and outcomes’
Sharon Moskowitz, graduate assistant for fitness and wellness at NIU Campus Recreation, was the driving force behind this April 16 community event.
“We formed the idea of an Adaptive Sport Day to not only showcase the wide variety of available sports for adaptive athletes and community members, but to create a day of ability awareness,” Moskowitz said.
The day included demonstrations of sports such as goalball, beep baseball and wheelchair basketball. Participants also were able to actually test their abilities at the adaptive sports and equipment used.
Adaptive Sport Day was geared toward educating, building new relationships and having a good time. Organizers hoped to have something for everyone, Moskowitz said; coaches, athletes and staff were on hand to share their expertise.
NIU students also received class credit for attending and participating in the event. Thirty-four undergraduate students from six different classes took advantage of the experience, which was extended through faculty members and instructors.
Nearly a dozen organizations from across Chicagoland (including AllenForce, a non-profit organization for veterans) collaborated as well. Some notable attendees of the 100 participants included junior national champions, a USA Paralympic track runner, a runner from the Boston Marathon and NIU mascot Victor E. Huskie.
Moskowitz and Campus Recreation look forward to cultivating a further expanded event in the future to further raise awareness and educate the community.
Date posted: May 3, 2016 | Author: Mark McGowan | Comments Off on NIU Campus Recreation hosts athletes of all abilities
This commemorative celebration consists of prizes and raffles, including the chance to receive and all-expense paid trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico. The night also features a live performance by cover band Mike and Joe, a bags tournament and raffles including items donated by local businesses.
“With a record amount of donors, great raffle items and Mike and Joe on stage, this will be a great event where the community can gather to celebrate the lives lost during the (Feb. 14, 2008) shooting,” said Wes Richter, former president of PRSSA.
Tickets, T-shirts and drink special cups can be purchased at the door during the night of the event. Anyone younger than 21 is allowed in Fatty’s until 10 p.m.
NIU PRSSA is an organization for students interested the public relations field. Member of the NIU chapter focus on expanding education, broadening their networks and launching their careers in public relations.
NIU’s seventh annual Lavender Graduation will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, May 12, in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Honoring students with diverse sexual and gender identities, this ceremony celebrates the achievements and persistence of individuals graduating in December 2015, May 2016 and August 2016.
The cooperation of all departments is needed to keep to this schedule. Key dates to report year-end data and information:
All FY2016 approved invoices to Accounts Payable Services: May 31
Year-end cutoff date for posting any activity prior to June: June 17
Year-end cutoff date for posting any June activity: July 15
Reminder emails will be sent throughout the period ending June 1.
Accounts Payable Services and Procurement Services team members will contact those who need assistance with invoice approvals and/or rollovers. Both departments also will send notices to vendors in early May to send their invoices in time to meet the May 31 date.
Miscellaneous Reminders from Procurement Services
Equipment costing $100 or more cannot be purchased using an open order.
When submitting purchase requisitions for services, please indicate the dates when services are required (start and end dates).
For more information, call (815) 753-1671 or email gayler@niu.edu.
Date posted: May 2, 2016 | Author: Mark McGowan | Comments Off on Fiscal Year 2016 financial close dates set
Coloring has been shown to relieve stress and calm anxiety for people of all ages.
Students are welcome to break from studying to color in the first floor lobby of Founders Library during library hours from 7:30 a.m. to midnight Monday, May 9, through Friday, May 13.
Coloring supplies will be provided.
Newfoundland dogs Gladus and Shurlee to visit
Resident stress relievers Gladus and Shurlee will hang out in the Founders Library lobby from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 11.
For more information on either event, call (815) 753-5290 or email kladell@niu.edu.
Date posted: May 2, 2016 | Author: Mark McGowan | Comments Off on Founders Memorial Library plans final exams stress-relievers
The Program Prioritization process was designed to help us best align our resources with our mission so that we can become a stronger, more innovative and sustainable university. The Academic and Administrative Task Forces have completed their work, and their recommendations can now be accessed online.
After it was announced at the Town Hall that the reports would be posted in their entirety, concerns were raised by the Faculty Senate and others that making the recommendations widely available on the web posed the risk of creating public misunderstanding or misinterpretation – especially without the context of the narratives or any feedback. After careful consideration, I’ve given approval for the full reports to be password-protected, along with the narratives, and to make the executive summaries available today to the general public.
This by no means reflects a change in our commitment to transparency as all faculty, staff and students will have full access to both the reports and the narratives while they contemplate their responses during this feedback phase. Rather, this action will allow us the time and process necessary to add clarity where needed and develop the university’s full strategic plan for action. I will issue a Program Prioritization President’s Report late this fall and will make available the full Task Force reports and action plans at that time.
During the coming weeks we will happily work with alumni and the community to meet their requests and information needs so that they also can be a part of the feedback process.
The next steps are for each of us to objectively review the recommendations, and to work collaboratively across the university to identify synergies, efficiencies and ways to advance our mission of excellence in teaching and learning, research and artistry, and outreach and engagement, and to support our cornerstone goal of Student Career Success. The results of these efforts will be used to inform action plans and invest in excellence.
The process has been thorough, inclusive, comprehensive, data-driven and transparent, and will continue to be as we move into this new phase. Providing feedback is critical in the coming weeks, and is encouraged to be shared directly with program owners and/or via the web.
Thank you again to the Task Force chairs and members for their time, talent and commitment, and thank you to all of you who work each day to deliver a high-quality academic environment.
Together Forward,
President Baker
Date posted: May 2, 2016 | Author: Mark McGowan | Comments Off on President Baker emails university community on Program Prioritization
NIU Campus Parking Services is encouraging all students, faculty and staff who need parking permits for the fall to shop online – and avoid standing in long lines.
Darren Mitchell, director of Campus Parking Services, said he and his colleagues are hoping to avoid a repeat of the scene inside and outside their office last August.
“We had lines out the door, going all around the building and down the block, and this went on for several days.” Mitchell said.
Thanks to new software purchased last March – AIMS (Automated Issuance Management System) – faculty and staff will be able to purchase permits online for the first time once AIMS goes live in June. The familiar permit renewal forms sent through campus mail are being discontinued to save money and trees.
Faculty and staff will have to purchase parking permits starting Wednesday, June 1, at the Campus Parking Services office until AIMS goes live online. Once Campus Parking confirms the exact date when AIMS will go live online, an email will be sent to all faculty and staff.
Faculty, staff and students will be able to login to their AIMS accounts and view all of the parking related information on those accounts. They also can purchase permits, pay tickets and update contact and vehicle information. Visitors who want to pay parking tickets will be able to look them up in AIMS using a license plate number or ticket number.
Online permit sales for students begin June 13.
“That’s the first Summer Freshman Orientation date,” Mitchell said. “Students will be here with their parents, and parking staff will be available to discuss parking regulations and how to purchase parking permits. If a student makes an online purchase before school starts the permit can be mailed to their home address, or they can choose to pick it up at the Campus Parking Services office.”
Mailing of permits will begin July 5, he said, adding that he expects most students will choose the online option. Payments are taken via credit card and, for the first time, students will be able to charge the permit price to their bursar’s account.
“This generation is all about technology. Today’s college students prefer the convenience of shopping online. They want quick access to information and payment options like this,” he said. “We’re trying to make the purchase process as efficient and convenient as possible, for all of our customers. They can log on to a computer, or use their mobile phone, and save time by not having to make a trip to Campus Parking Services.”
For those who need a less expensive parking option, Campus Parking will offer a free remote parking option. Free green permits will be available in June for Lot C-3, near the Convocation Center.
“This is a free permit for anyone who wants it – students, faculty, staff and visitors. The goal is to help alleviate some of the parking congestion in central campus. It’s also an additional economic option for students and staff,” Mitchell said. “Although Lot C-3 is on the western edge of campus, it is on six bus routes. The Huskie Bus picks you up right there.”
NIU’s Division of Information Technology will begin moving student email Tuesday, May 31, from Gmail to Office 365.
