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Okaka Dokotum

Okaka Dokotum

NIU alumnus Okaka Dokotum is returning to DeKalb in impressive fashion this semester – on a prestigious Fulbright faculty award.

Dokotum, a native of Uganda, is in residence in NIU’s Department of English while researching African film adaptations of African literary works. As part of the department’s brown bag lecture series, he will deliver a presentation on the topic, “Re-Imagining African Literary Scholarship through Film Adaptation Studies,” at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, in Reavis 211.

After completing his doctoral degree in English at NIU in 2008, Dokotum conducted field research in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa, focusing on contemporary Hollywood representations of Africa.

In recent years he presented his research findings across three continents – Asia, Africa and North America. He is currently senior lecturer and associate professor of literature and film at Kyambogo University in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. In addition to his scholarly work, Dokotum is an accomplished poet, fiction author, dramatist, filmmaker and public speaker.

Dokotum looks back on his experiences with NIU as the catalyst for his interest in film and adaptation studies.

“Sitting in Dr. Robert Self‘s literary adaptation classes and related courses in the English, communication and theater departments opened my eyes,” he says. “The NIU English Department has remained my source of scholarly inspiration, and the faculty and staff have been very supportive in continuing to share scholarly materials and opportunities, while following my achievements with great interest.”

During his Fulbright year, Dokotum hopes to share his findings in forums and academic institutions across the United States. His research is likely to have a broader impact.

“The research I am doing is critical to remapping African literature at large,” he says. “I hope to inspire literary adaptations on the continent which will in turn energize the film industry and related academic disciplines and expose African creative works to the world.”

For additional information on Dokotum’s lecture or the brown bag series, call (815) 753-0612 or email askenglish@niu.edu.

Date posted: September 22, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Ugandan film expert, NIU alumnus returns to campus on Fulbright award

Categories: Arts Campus Highlights Digital Signage Events Faculty & Staff Global Humanities Liberal Arts and Sciences On Campus Research

Senior anthropology major Kylie Robey constructs a complicated mount for Peruvian spindle whorls.

Senior anthropology major Kylie Robey constructs
a complicated mount for Peruvian spindle whorls.

Northern Illinois University’s Anthropology Museum is having a golden year, picking up its second federal grant in nine months.

The museum, currently marking its 50th anniversary, recently received a $150,000 federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to purchase additional compact storage as part of its Collections Rehousing Project. Earlier this year, the museum was awarded a Preservation Assistance Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“The Institute of Museum and Library Services enlists hundreds of library and museum professionals throughout the United States to review grant applications and make recommendations on projects most worthy of funding,” IMLS Director Susan H. Hildreth said. “Receiving a grant from IMLS is significant achievement.”

IMLS museum grants support a wide variety of projects that create learning experiences, strengthen communities, care for collections and provide broad public access. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums.

The Rehousing Project ensures the preservation of more than 3,200 objects in the NIU museum’s cultural collections, increases the accessibility of the museum’s collection for faculty and students and provides valuable hands-on learning experiences to students interested in working in museums, said Jennifer Kirker-Priest, museum director.

Jennifer Kirker Priest

Jennifer Kirker-Priest

“We teach museum studies, and we want to train tomorrow’s museum leaders in best practices,” she added. “We are also very committed to student engagement.”

Compact storage – a series of vertical, movable carriages that move over a specially treated floor – helps solve issues related to growing collections, over-sized items and limited space. It also allows for better organization of collections and safer storage of objects to ensure long-term preservation. The museum’s first phase of compact-storage installation was in 2012.

The new storage system will have an impact on academics, Kirker-Priest said. Collections will be more accessible to students and faculty so they can utilize objects in the classroom.

“We’re making a great museum,” Kirker-Priest said. “I’m grateful to the previous museum administrators for putting us in a position to grow and expand our programming.”

During the spring semester, student workers will take objects out of the metal cabinets, catalog and assess their condition and then transport them to the main exhibition gallery, which will become a living exhibition. During the fall 2015 semester, students will construct new custom mounts for the items and move them into the new compact-storage spaces.

Senior history major Karissa Kessen creates reports on the condition of archaeological material.

Senior history major Karissa Kessen creates reports
on the condition of archaeological material.

The collection move will be closely supervised by Kirker-Priest and museum curator Laura McDowell Hopper, who both have previous experience with moving large collections. Ruth Norton of Chicago’s famed Field Museum will serve as the project’s conservation consultant.

Kirker-Priest and McDowell firmly believe in the educational value of project.

While some of the students will participate in the collections move as part of an academic course, the opportunity to assist with this project is open to students from all majors. NIU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences contributed matching funds to support the student engagement portion of the project.

“These hands on opportunities can be transformative for students,” Kirker-Priest added. “The experience can send a student down a career path they hadn’t even considered.”

Moving collections is also an educational opportunity for the general public.

“It’s a great chance to see what goes on behind the scenes at a museum,” she said, adding that aspects of the project will be on view in the museum exhibition space for visitors to see.

“As a campus museum, we are all about teaching and sharing our work with students and the public,” Kirker-Priest said. Photos and video from the project will be posted on the museum website and on Facebook.

Once the project is completed Kirker-Priest and her staff will conduct workshops for regional museums to train others in collection moves and best practices related to artifact storage.

Date posted: September 19, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU Anthropology Museum receives federal grant for storage, collections move

Categories: Arts Campus Highlights Communiversity Faculty & Staff Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences On Campus Visual

Richard Alley

Richard Alley

Richard Alley, a riveting speaker and one of the most famous climate scientists of our time, will visit NIU this month to give a public talk on the impact that fossil fuels have had on climate and the potential for a bright future of sustainable energy usage on the planet.

Alley, who hosted the PBS miniseries, “Earth: The Operators’ Manual,” and penned a book by the same name, will deliver his talk at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, in the Cole Hall lecture theater (Room 100). His presentation is titled, “The Optimistic View of Energy and Environment.”

“We get great benefits from the energy we use, which is primarily from fossil fuels, but we are burning them about a million times faster than nature saved them for us,” Alley said, “so we must change.”

Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide that affects the climate through very well understood physical processes, Alley said, adding that the processes were worked out in part by the U.S. Air Force during the design of sensors for heat-seeking missiles.

There is reason for hope that humankind can find better energy alternatives, Alley said.

Looking to the future could mean following advice from great minds of the past, including Abraham Lincoln, a great proponent of science who once predicted one of the greatest discoveries would be harnessing the power of the wind.

antarctic penguins-feature size“We are surrounded by vast renewable energy sources,” Alley said. “Science never tells us what to do, but it does tell us what we can do. If we start from there, and follow advice from Abraham Lincoln among many others, we can generate a sustainable energy system that gives us a bigger economy with more jobs, greater national security and a cleaner environment more consistent with the Golden Rule.”

Alley is an Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Penn State and a key member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. His research interests focus on glaciology, sea level change and abrupt climate change, and he frequently discusses earth sciences on major media outlets, including NPR, BBC and PBS.

He has published about 250 refereed papers, including numerous seminal works. Among his many important scientific contributions was a study of ice cores that showed the earth has experienced abrupt climate changes in the past – and likely will again.

“I think his talk will be fascinating to just about anyone over 9 years old,” said Reed Scherer, an NIU Board of Trustees Professor of geology who invited his friend, Alley, to campus.

Scherer is among the NIU scientists who will lead a National Science Foundation-funded expedition in December and January to the Antarctic wilderness. They will drill nearly a half-mile through the ice to investigate melting at the grounding zone between the ice sheet on land and the sub-glacial ocean cavity beneath the floating ice shelf. In doing so, they will be testing some of Alley’s foundational hypotheses on grounding-zone dynamics and helping to determine future effects of climate change on already rising ocean levels.

Reed Scherer

Reed Scherer

“In our age, one of humanity’s fundamental challenges is our use of energy and its effect on the environment,” Scherer said.

“Energy and technology policy for the last 100 years has been based on fossil fuels, and we know they are leading to fundamental changes to global climate, something we need to address. Richard will give us a perspective that perhaps we haven’t thought about, and he’ll do it in entertaining way. From the perspective of science communication, few in the world are as qualified on this topic.”

Alley’s talk is part of the Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences’ colloquium series, and is being held in cooperation with the Graduate School and NIU Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy. In addition to the public lecture, Alley will be giving a research lecture to the geology department earlier in the day.

“Richard Alley is an important scientist, a spectacularly entertaining speaker and inspiring lecturer in STEM education, so he will serve as the perfect segue into the next day’s NIU STEMfest,” Scherer said.

NIU’s STEMfest, which annually attracts thousands of visitors to campus, provides free fun-filled activities that expose students to science, technology, engineering and math careers. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at the NIU Convocation Center.

Date posted: September 19, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on World-renowned scientist Richard Alley to speak Oct. 17 at NIU

Categories: Centerpiece Communiversity Engineering and Engineering Technology Events Faculty & Staff Global Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Science and Technology

Concept of Hand with Electronic FingerprintsThe new Apple Watch might be an exciting accessory for techies, but it’s only the tip of the technological iceberg compared to what the future has in store for consumers wanting wearable computers.

So says award-winning NIU professor David Gunkel, who specializes in the study of information and communication technology and is author of the book, “The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots and Ethics” (MIT 2012).

“In the not too distant future, the object that we once knew as the computer will be distributed across a network of devices worn on our bodies – eyeglasses that provide visual data, clothing that monitors biometric data, shoes that create electrical power with every step and gloves and jewelry that provide gestural control at our fingertips,” Gunkel says.

David Gunkel

David Gunkel

Gunkel is an NIU Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Communication. His research examines the philosophical assumptions and ethical consequences of communication technology (ICT), and he teaches courses in ICT, cyberculture and web design and programming.

Gunkel says the notion of a stationary desk-bound computer is fast becoming obsolete with the onset of Wi-Fi networks, smartphones, tablets and now smart watches. And Apple is not the only innovator. Other contenders in the smart watch market include Samsung’s Gear 2, the Fitbit fitness watch and Motorola’s Moto 360.

Wearable tech, however, is not limited by any means to timepieces.

“It also includes things like Google glass, a wearable visual display that, in effect, moves the screen of your smartphone into a stylish pair of eyeglasses; smart clothes like Ralph Lauren’s Polo Tech shirts, which monitor vital signs and fitness performance; and SixthSense, an augmented reality system, developed by MIT researcher Pranav Mistry. It projects data on real-world objects and provides users with a direct gestural interface that replaces the smartphone’s touch screen.”

Book cover of David Gunkel’s “The Machine Question”So what comes after wearable tech?

Gunkel predicts the technological leap will be devices or computer interface elements that are not worn – but rather integrated into the very fabric of the body itself.

“This includes things like imaging visual data on the retina or optic nerve, feeding audio information directly into the brain and bypassing the need for headphones, or controlling applications not with hand gestures but immediately through the power of thought itself.

“Although this sounds like science fiction, there are a number of researchers and laboratories across the globe developing working prototypes of all these systems and devices. But commercialization of this next generation of wearables is still off on the horizon. So it may be some time before Apple rolls out something like Apple Eye or the I-eye.”

Date posted: September 17, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Interfacing eyewear? Smart sneakers? Robo-gloves? Brain 2.0?

Categories: Engineering and Engineering Technology Faculty & Staff Global Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Science and Technology

Christine Malecki

Christine Malecki

In a new Psychology Today blog, NIU professor Christine Malecki discusses the pressures faced by parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

“It breaks my heart thinking of parents of children severely affected by ASD who are doing as much as they can, yet see only small steps of progress,” the NIU psychology professor writes. “They have the added guilt-inducing pressure of hearing celebrities and news anchors talking about the ‘cure of the day’ for autism, with more doubts creeping in that, ‘Maybe we aren’t doing enough.’

“Parents of children with ASD must remember,” she adds, “that each individual’s journey is unique.”

Malecki speaks from experience. In addition to being director of the NIU’s School Psychology Program, she studies social support and peer relationships in children and adolescents and helps schools make changes to help students be more successful. She and her husband have three children, one of whom has an autism spectrum disorder.

NIU psychology professors are regular Psychology Today contributors. They’ve been blogging monthly on the site for more than a year.

Other blog entries have included:

Date posted: September 10, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Parenting a child with autism: resisting pressure, finding success

Categories: Campus Highlights Faculty & Staff Humanities Liberal Arts and Sciences Research

Deborah Cohen

Deborah Cohen

Award-winning historian Deborah Cohen, whose latest book offers a sweeping and often surprising account of how shame has changed over the last two centuries in Britain, will visit campus this month to deliver the 11th annual installment of the W. Bruce Lincoln Endowed Lecture Series.

Cohen, who serves as the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Humanities at Northwestern University, will begin her talk at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium. Her presentation is titled, “Family Secrets: Shame and Privacy in Britain” and will draw from her widely acclaimed book, “Family Secrets: The Things We Tried to Hide.

“Deborah Cohen’s talk on the history of shame peers into a fundamental human emotion,” says James Schmidt, chair of NIU’s Department of History. “Her research, grounded in Victorian Britain, delves into how British society defined and dealt with the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior. We live in a time where people still struggle with this issue, and her lecture will give us a powerful historical perspective.”

Published in 2013, “Family Secrets” was named a “Book of the Year” by several publications, including “The Sunday Times” in London, which hailed Cohen for prying open “the most astounding archives to uncover what our recent ancestors tried to hide.”

“Drawing on years of research in previously sealed records – volumes of diaries that gay men hid in bank vaults or in trunks under their beds, records of homes for unwed mothers and of institutions where children with learning  disabilities were put away for a lifetime – I tell an intimate history of why social mores changed,” Cohen says.

The lecture will make a surprising argument, she says: Secrets laid the cornerstone for legitimate claims to privacy. “No one today wants to believe that their right to privacy depends on keeping secrets,” she says.

Book cover of “Family Secrets” by Deborah Cohen“Privacy is exalted, while secrecy is scorned,” Cohen says. “And yet, for the Victorians, secrecy and privacy were fundamentally intertwined. Between prying neighbors and a legal system that insisted upon transparency, privacy necessarily hinged on secret-keeping. Well into the 20th century, secrets forged the bonds of familial trust. How secrets have served as the unlikely bulwark of privacy – and how secrecy and privacy eventually came apart – is the history that I’ll recount.”

Educated at Harvard (B.A.) and Berkeley (Ph.D.), Cohen specializes in modern European history, with a focus on Britain.

Her two previous books – “The War Come Home: Disabled Veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914-1939” and “Household Gods: The British and their Possessions” – also received critical praise, as well as multiple book awards. She has held fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Sponsored by the NIU history department and the W. Bruce Lincoln Endowment, the Lincoln Lecture Series is free and open to the public. For more than a decade, it has brought distinguished scholars to campus to speak on topics of interest to the academic community and general public. The lectures engage key issues and are often interdisciplinary, in the spirit of Professor Lincoln’s research, writing and teaching.

Lincoln taught Russian history at NIU from 1967 to 1999, while earning recognition as one of America’s leading experts on Russia. The recipient of many national grants and awards, he published 12 widely acclaimed books on Russia, several of them skillfully crafted for general readers.

For more information, call (815) 753-0131 or email history@niu.edu.

Date posted: September 10, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Historian to probe ‘family secrets’ at annual W. Bruce Lincoln lecture

Categories: Events Faculty & Staff Humanities Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences Research What's Going On

Parade of Flags 2013

Parade of Flags 2013

More than 500 local fifth-graders will carry the international flags of more than 100 nations during the 15th annual Parade of Flags, set to step off at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 12, inside the Convocation Center.

Participants will march through the Convo and hear from Deborah Pierce, associate vice president for international affairs, who will lead the ceremony.

“We’re so happy to have the chance to welcome so many potential future Huskies to our campus for this globally focused event,” Pierce said. “Hosting the DeKalb schoolchildren on campus emphasizes the strong partnership between NIU and our local community.”

The students, their teachers, chaperones and other parade participants will enjoy a pre-parade luncheon on the grass near the stadium (rain location is the Convocation Center).

Also prior to the parade, NIU international students and returned Study Abroad participants will talk with participating elementary school students about other countries where they have lived.

“Both the NIU students and the fifth-graders really seem to enjoy this part of the parade because they’re learning from each other as they talk about other cultures and other peoples,” said Pamela Rosenberg, co-chair with Dawn Galbreath of the Parade of Flags Committee. Rosenberg serves NIU as the director for administration and finance in the Division of International Affairs.

DeKalb Mayor John Rey will serve as grand marshal of the parade this year, while NIU benefactor Sally Stevens has been named permanent ambassador for the parade.

For fall semester 2014, NIU has enrolled students from nearly 80 nations, with India, China and Saudi Arabia sending the largest numbers. Other nations sending large numbers of students include Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Nepal.

For more information, call (815) 753-9526 or email slindell@niu.edu.

Date posted: September 9, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU to host 15th annual Parade of Flags Sept. 12

Categories: Communiversity Events Global

Image of Kachin couple, anonymous, nd, watercolor on paper, from an ethnographic album, “Tribes of Burma”, circa 1900, h. 11 in. x w. 13 in, 2005 Purchase, Founders Memorial Library at NIU.The NIU Art Museum and Center for Burma Studies, with support from the Allen Series Fund of the Division of Art History in the NIU School of Art and Design, extends an open invitation to a free public symposium, Imaging the Others: The Art of Ethnography in Modern Burma,” scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 18, and Friday, Sept. 19.

The program is offered in conjunction with the exhibition, Dressing Difference: Exploring Ethnicities in Modern Burma,” on display at the NIU Art Museum through Nov. 15.

International scholars engaged with visual materials were invited to address the topic of depiction of minority communities in historic Burma/Myanmar (and environs) during this symposium. Several chose to explore the idea of imaging from within and from outside a culture through the ethnic representations presented in 19th century watercolors found in bound books, as well as through photographs from the early 20th century.

The symposium will begin with an informal curators’ talk in the museum gallery and a mini-reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18.

Catherine Raymond, director for the NIU Center for Burma Studies and curator for the Burma Art Collection, will be joined by co-curator Sherry Harlacher, director for the Denison Museum at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, to welcome guests and discuss the curation of “Dressing Difference: Exploring Ethnicities in Modern Burma.”

The full-day symposium on Friday, Sept. 19, will begin with a light breakfast from 9 to 9:45 a.m. in Altgeld 315 to be followed by welcoming remarks before a keynote presentation by Laura Hostetler, chair of the history department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Catherine Raymond and Richard Cooler

Catherine Raymond and Richard Cooler

Morning sessions will include presentations by professors Raymond and Harlacher, as well as by Richard M. Cooler, NIU professor emeritus and former director and curator of the Center for Burma Studies. Topics will include “Illustrating Ethnicity in Modern Burma” (Raymond); “ ‘Short Pleated Skirts’ and ‘Coloured Cloth Gaiters’: Fred W. Carey and His Trek through the Chinese Shan States” (Harlacher); and “Collecting Hill Tribe Jewelry in the 1970s” (Cooler).

Following a lunch break, sessions will reconvene at 1:30 p.m. with presentations by Sandra H. Dudley of the University of Leicester in England; Bernard Formoso of the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique in France; and Susan Conway of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Their topics will include: “Where are the Karen? Visualizing and Losing the Subject in Local and Outsider Representations” (Dudley); “Costumes and Symbolism on the Sino Burmese Border: The Cases of Lahu and Kachin” (Formoso); and “Dress and Ethnicity: Portrayal of the Tai in the Albums of Northern Illinois University” (Conway).

The symposium will conclude with commentary presented by Professor Emeritus F.K. Lehman (aka Chit Hlaing) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A complete schedule of symposium events is available online. Parking for the symposium is available in the Visitor Lot off Carroll Street ($5) or in Lot 3 at the northeast corner of Gilbert Drive and College Avenue.

For more information, contact Jo Burke at the NIU Art Museum at (815) 753-1936 or jburke2@niu.edu; or Beth Bjorneby at the Center for Burma Studies at (815) 753-0512 or bbjorn@niu.edu.

Date posted: September 8, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU Art Museum, Center for Burma Studies to host Sept. 18-19 symposium

Categories: Arts Communiversity Events Faculty & Staff Global Visual Visual and Performing Arts What's Going On

 Lisa Callahan and Patty Kirk from Moxie display a traditional Akah woman’s jacket from Laos.

Lisa Callahan and Patty Kirk from the downtown DeKalb business Moxie display
a traditional Akah woman’s jacket from Laos.

If a picture can tell a thousand words, than an object can tell a million.

And the Anthropology Museum at Northern Illinois University has more than 20,000 objects to choose from.

Which objects would you choose and which stories would you tell?

The museum decided to ask students, faculty and staff, community members, civic leaders and even the NIU mascot, Victor E. Huskie, to choose which objects should be part of a 50th anniversary exhibition and which stories should be told.

Titled “Curated by DeKalb: 50 Years of the Anthropology Museum,” the exhibition highlights the depth, richness and contemporary importance of the museum and NIU. It invites visitors to explore the breadth of human achievement and innovation that have been represented within the museum walls over the years.

The exhibition is now open and will run through May 2015. A special opening reception featuring refreshments and live music will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the museum, located in Cole Hall on the NIU campus. The event is free and open to the public.

“The exhibit is about the people in the community, the cultural objects that inspire them and the connections that the Anthropology Museum can inspire,” says Jennifer Kirker-Priest, director of the Anthropology Museum.

A Khon mask presented as gift to NIU from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand.

A Khon mask presented
as a gift to NIU
from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand.

Highlights include:

  • The museum’s most recent acquisitions, two breathtaking Khon masks, presented as gifts from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand in commemoration of her visit to NIU in September 2014. The masks were selected for the exhibition by Chris McCord, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “They tell us about the ancient tradition of the khon dance, a centuries-old part of the Thai royal court,” he says. “They symbolize the 50 years of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and its engagement with Thailand. Most compelling to me, they are of part of a unique moment in NIU’s history.”
  • A kolintang ensemble of suspended gongs, drums and other percussion instruments from the Philippines, selected by the NIU Orientation leaders. Orientation staff members must work together to make everything run smoothly during orientation, and they picked the kolintang because the instrument is made up of lots of pieces that work together to make beautiful music and sounds. A team of musicians is required to play the kolintang.
  • A traditional Akah woman’s jacket from Laos, which is plain on the front and highly decorated on the back. The staff at DeKalb business Moxie fell in love with it and selected the item for the exhibition. They said they were drawn to this jacket because it looks modern, yet is handcrafted and beautiful, like something vintage they would have in their store. Akha is one of dozens of Hill Tribes located in the mountains of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. The style of embroidery helps people know which Hill Tribe the wearer comes from.
  • A ceramic dog figurine from Latin American, where the animals are indigenous. The figurine was selected by – you guessed it – Victor E. Huskie.

“When you think about history, some of it is people and places, but a lot of it is things,” says Marc Strauss, one of the exhibition’s co-curators and a member of the NIU Board of Trustees. “The Anthropology Museum at NIU lets people see and touch history.”

Victor E. Huskie proved a little biased in his selection for the new exhibition: a ceramic dog from Latin America.

Victor E. Huskie proved a little biased in his selection for the new exhibition: a ceramic dog from Latin America.

In 2012, the museum was relocated from the Stevens Building to nearby Cole Hall, where a new state-of-the-art facility delivers invaluable engaged-learning experiences for students and community members alike. Now home to more than 20,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects, the museum planned its golden anniversary celebration to remember its history, strengthen the NIU campus and community relationships and spotlight the contemporary relevance of anthropology.

The museum specializes in cultures of Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Southwest and Plains Native Americans, but also holds smaller collections from Africa, modern Greece, Mesoamerica and South America. Strengths include textiles, baskets and ceramics from throughout the world. With a dynamic schedule of exhibitions and programs, the Anthropology Museum is a cultural destination for residents and visitors to DeKalb.

“I think it’s important to understand that DeKalb County is a small part of the whole picture, and that there are other cultures, other ways of doing things, and how blessed we are to be here,” says Sue Breese, one of the exhibition’s community co-curators and director of the Douglas C. & Lynn M. Roberts Family Foundation.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free and all are welcome. For more information, call (815) 753-2520 or email AnthroMuseum@niu.edu.

Student-Orientation-Leaders

Orientation staff members picked the kolintang, made up of lots of pieces that work together to make beautiful music and sounds.

Date posted: September 4, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on Celebrating diversity, creating community

Categories: Arts Events Faculty & Staff Global Humanities Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences On Campus Research Visual

Octavio Escalante-Aguirre

Octavio Escalante-Aguirre looks out upon Naples from atop the Castel Sant’Elmo,

For NIU senior Octavio Escalante-Aguirre, life is beautiful, as the Italians like to say.

His life has been a series of journeys, beginning at age 3 when his family moved from his birth home of Monterrey, Mexico, to Aurora, Ill.

During high school, he made the trek on Saturday mornings to nearby Fermilab for lectures geared toward young students. His experiences there ignited a passion in him for physics, set his career course and eventually led him to NIU where, in short order, he found himself working alongside world-class physicists.

But it was a series of academic successes at NIU and a supportive professor that led to his latest adventure – working for two months this summer at a research laboratory in Naples, Italy. It was a dream experience for the brilliant 20-year-old, who traveled to “the boot” as part of a prestigious international scientific exchange program – all expenses paid.

Working on an international physics experiment. Rubbing shoulders and learning from top Italian scientists.

Making friends with students from around the world. Feasting on Naples’ famous pizza. Touring the city’s landmark 14th century Castel Sant’Elmo.

Octavio Escalante-Aguirre

Octavio Escalante-Aguirre at the Roman Colosseum.

A jaunt to Rome to take in the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Who knew particle physics could open so many doors?

“It just goes to show what’s possible here at NIU,” says physics professor Michael Eads, who urged Escalante-Aguirre to apply for the exchange program. “College is what you make of it.”

Escalante-Aguirre’s interest in science began when he was a youngster. Early on, he wanted to be an entomologist, or bug scientist.

Then during his junior year at West Aurora High School, physics exerted its pull on the teenager. That’s when his teacher suggested that class members attend the Saturday Morning Physics program at Fermilab.

The free series of lectures and tours given by Fermilab scientists aims to spark high school students’ understanding and appreciation of modern physics. It had a profound effect on Escalante-Aguirre.

“For a lot of people who live near Fermilab, there’s just this big mystery about what goes on there,” he says. “After attending Saturday Morning Physics, I was quickly hooked on the topic.

“Aside from the subject matter – studying the building blocks of the universe is pretty cool if you ask me – what really drew me into particle physics was the unique way of problem solving and high level of persistence that was displayed by the scientists to study the unsolved mysteries of the world around us.”

A giant magnet for the Muon g-2 experiment arrives at Fermilab in the summer 2013. Photo credit: Fermilab

A giant magnet for the Muon g-2 Experiment arrives at Fermilab in the summer 2013.
Photo credit: Fermilab

NIU had a certain pull as well on the young man, who spent a year after high school at Waubonsee Community College on a full-ride scholarship.

“Both my sister and high school physics teacher were former NIU Huskies, so I applied fully knowing that NIU could be the right place to pursue my academic goals,” Escalante-Aguirre says. “I was pleasantly surprised to find that the physics department had a set of highly distinguished research professors who were more than willing to help students become involved in the field of particle physics.”

Escalante-Aguirre quickly became immersed in the NIU culture of giving back. He joined the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and helped the group promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) interests among young Latinos.

He also took advantage of every opportunity that came his way. He was accepted into the University Honors Program and later tapped as an elite University Honors Scholar. That program provides academically distinguished students with time, financial support and faculty mentoring to pursue in-depth, meaningful research.

With Professor Eads serving as his mentor, Escalante-Aguirre became involved in the Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab.

The new experiment aims to study the properties of the mysterious muon, with hopes that a better understanding of the subatomic particle will lead to discovery of new physics and unknown particles that form the most basic building blocks of nature. Nearly 20 physics and engineering students from NIU are involved in the project, along with scientists and engineers from 26 institutions across the world.

Mike Eads

Professor Michael Eads

Eads successfully encouraged Escalante-Aguirre to seek further support through NIU’s Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program, as well as a paid Undergraduate Research Assistantship, allowing him to continue his research into his senior year.

Escalante-Aguirre and other NIU students have worked on quality-control testing for a complex straw tube tracker – a type of particle detector for g-2 being built in Liverpool, England. The device detects particles known as positrons, which result from the decay of muons.

“Octavio has been a great student,” Eads says. “He is just very diligent when it comes to research. He is always engaged and is very good about knowing what questions to ask. On the other hand, he’s not afraid to tear into something on his own and figure it out.”

While Escalante-Aguirre was searching for internships during his junior year, Eads encouraged him to apply for the scientific exchange program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Italy.

While in Italy, Escalante-Aguirre was stationed at the University of Naples Federico II, where he worked on the laser calibration of the Muon g-2 Experiment’s calorimeters,” which measure the energy of particles.

“I was a bit overwhelmed at first since I felt that my knowledge of digital electronics was not at the level that was required of my work, but under the guidance of the Italian g-2 team I surpassed my goals,” says Escalante-Aguirre, adding that the most impressive aspect of Italy was its people.

Octavio Escalante-Aguirre

Octavio Escalante-Aguirre in a laboratory at the University of Naples Federico II.

“I genuinely feel that the high standards of Italian hospitality contributed to my success,” he says.

Escalante-Aguirre will graduate in December with his bachelor’s degree in physics, plans to pursue a Ph.D. and intends to become a research scientist. Italian scientists already have invited him back to continue his research, he says.

“I’ve already started looking into the possibility of returning in the spring,” he says. “Conducting research in Italy has truly been one of the greatest learning experiences of my lifetime.”

Date posted: September 4, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on La vita è bella: NIU senior conducts physics research in Italy

Categories: Faculty & Staff Global Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Science and Technology Students

CLCE major Carson Cross served as assistant director of Camp Shaw-waw-nas-see, a children’s summer camp, this summer.

CLCE major Carson Cross served this summer as assistant director of Camp Shaw-waw-nas-see in Manteno.

Students and alumni of NIU’s Community Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE) program spent the summer making a difference, doing the type of behind-the-scenes and in-the-trenches work that helps nonprofit organizations thrive.

NIU’s Center for Non-Governmental Organization Leadership and Development (NGOLD) oversees the CLCE degree. It is one of the few programs nationally that teaches practical nonprofit management skills while providing a framework for grassroots organizing and social movements that can change a community, or the world, for the better.

The CLCE program has been a resounding success since it was launched at NIU in 2012.

Originally designed as just a major, NGOLD added a minor and certificate to allow greater reach among students in a wide range of disciplines. After only two years, the program already enrolls more than 170 students.

This summer, the work of NIU CLCE alums and current students included efforts to advance immigrant rights, anti-poverty campaigns and the objectives of local nonprofits, ranging from a symphony and museum to a chamber of commerce and summer camps for children.

Katie Birkey of West Chicago, a May graduate of the CLCE program, is now involved with a statewide organization focused on immigrant and refugee rights. Birkey was tasked with registering 1,000 new voters by September, with a special emphasis on Latino communities.

Katie Birkey registers voters.

Katie Birkey has been busy registering voters.

“I have been told that my fellowship with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is probably going to be one of the toughest things I’ll ever do,” Birkey said. “So far, I believe it.

“Running voter registration drives has really opened my eyes to the amount of apathy there is toward politics, especially among millennials. But my education in CLCE, my undergrad research in political representation and my training in community organizing has definitely played a key role in preparing me for this position.”

Dave Anians (May 2013) of Burbank continued his tenure with the anti-poverty program AmeriCorps VISTA, doing outreach work with Instituto Del Progreso Latino.

“I work as an ESL teacher in the Adult Education Department,” Anians said. “My degree with CLCE has helped me to not only understand the part I play in such a large organization, but also the social realities that make my work and the organization’s work so important.”

Meanwhile, alumna Amanda Insalaco (May 2014) of Elgin was named the Selenia Rolfe Towle Teague intern at the Ellwood House Museum and spent her time researching museum best practices and drafting organizational policies.

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity to be more involved in the community and reassuring to have been able to draw directly from things I learned in the classroom,” Insalaco said.

Amanda Insalaco at the Ellwood House

Amanda Insalaco at the Ellwood House.

Insalaco and fellow CLCE alum, Jacob Buckrop (May 2014) of Rock Island, are teaching English in South Korea during the 2014-15 academic year.

Current CLCE major Sarah Trygstad of Sterling continued her work as a student board member with the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She began in this role last spring after enrolling in a CLCE special topics course on boards and governance. Participants in the course become student board members with nonprofits, attend meetings and work in subcommittees while learning about effective practices for boards of directors.

Trygstad also participated in the NIU Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning’s Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), where she spent the summer researching philanthropy to public libraries with research mentor Ben Bingle and professor Alicia Schatteman.

“It’s been great having Sarah on board with us this summer,” said Bingle, NGOLD outreach coordinator. “She’s done an incredible job both researching and presenting her findings. At the same time, she’s really helping set herself up for graduate school pursuits.”

Other CLCE students had similarly impressive experiences this summer.

CLCE minor Jaclyn Cox of Sycamore interned with the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce, where she focused on marketing, promotion and event planning. CLCE majors Brooke Russell of South Elgin, Carson Cross of Piper City and Sabrina Hull of Bloomington worked with organizations that provide summer camp programming – Girls in the Game and Camp Shaw-Waw-Nas-See, respectively.

Jaclyn Cox (right) with her internship supervisor Katelyn Fogle outside the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce

Jaclyn Cox (right) with her internship supervisor Katelyn Fogle outside the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce.

CLCE students will benefit from practical experiences in a variety of courses this fall as well. Organizations offering service-learning or internship opportunities include Family Service Agency, Safe Passage, DeKalb Area Agricultural Heritage Association, Econ Illinois, Ellwood House Museum and the Kishwaukee College Foundation.

“CLCE strives to combine academic theory with practical experiences,” said professor Nancy Castle, director of NGOLD. “I’m so pleased to see our students putting to use the lessons they have learned in NIU classrooms.”

Established in 2010, NGOLD’s purpose is to enhance civil society through academics, research and programming related to non-governmental organizations, nonprofits and other avenues of public service.

NGOLD offers the interdisciplinary CLCE undergraduate major, minor and certificate and provides comprehensive programs and services to students, faculty, researchers and organizations.

For more information, call (815) 753-4410 or email ngoldcenter@niu.edu.

Date posted: September 2, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on From classroom lecture to community impact

Categories: Business Centerpiece Communiversity Engagement Faculty & Staff Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences Students

Dan Libman

Dan Libman

by Dan Libman
NIU Department of English

Dan Klefsted of WNIJ radio invited me to have a beer with him one afternoon. We met at Twin Taps in DeKalb, and he had a proposal.

He wanted me to go to bars, have a beer and talk to people who were also drinking beer. Did I think this was something I could do – go into bars, drink beer and talk to people?

I took another swallow of my beer.

Yeah, I said. I think I could do that.

Here’s why Klefsted tapped me for this assignment: “This election cycle, I wanted to go beyond our usual in-depth coverage of the issues and candidates to hear real people airing their concerns in the most relaxing place they know: their neighborhood bar,” Klefsted says.

“But sending a reporter with a recording kit and microphone could be a buzz kill. So I thought, what about a normal-looking guy with an iPhone? What stories would he bring back?” he adds. “We were pleased and even surprised when Dan Libman returned with all these unvarnished, heartfelt opinions by folks who are trying to make sense of their changing world. It’s citizen journalism that works because Dan is also a keen observer and trained storyteller.”

While I take issue with the phrase “normal-looking” to describe my movie-star good looks, I was excited about the proposal. Which is how I got to have perhaps the most enviable job in public radio.

Jakes Pour House logoI’ve been to a lot of really great bars: Kelly’s in Sterling, an Irish bar with world-class Mexican food; Jakes Pour House in LaSalle-Peru; Breakers in Oregon. I’ve had great food at Cowboy & Tony’s Butt Shack BBQ in Mendota and at the brand new Prairie Street Brewhouse in Rockford, which serves a great IPA and killer poutine.

But even better, I’ve met amazing people: a school teacher concerned about Gov. Quinn; a retired union guy still angry about trickle-down economics; a woman so frustrated she was considering not voting again; a self-made millionaire who wants Americans to adopt a more European outlook; and a young man diagnosed with cardiomyopathy hoping for a heart transplant.

This experience has made me much more confident in both the electoral process and in the voters themselves. They may not always pick up the next round, but they know what they like in a politician.

The first two installments of the Libman’s series aired July 7 and Aug. 4 on Morning Edition. The next installment will air at 6:35 a.m. and 8:35 am Monday, Sept. 8; future episodes will continue to air the first Monday of each month at the same time. With each episode, Libman is producing an essay to be posted online.

This isn’t Libman’s first stint with Northern Public Radio. Listeners might remember him from last year’s Pedaling Lincoln Highway series.

Date posted: August 26, 2014 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU English instructor Dan Libman: drinking beer, talking politics

Categories: Centerpiece Communiversity Humanities Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Voices