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Vincent Cornelius (’89) received the 2010 Outstanding Alumni Award for the College of Law from the Northern Illinois University Alumni Association, in recognition of his significant professional accomplishments and civic involvement.

Vincent Cornelius

Vincent Cornelius is presented with his award by NIU President John Peters (left) and NIU Alumni Association President Jack Tierney.

Cornelius opened his own general practice firm in 1994 and now has offices in Wheaton and Joliet, Illinois.  He began his legal career in 1989 as a DuPage County Assistant State’s Attorney and then served as an associate attorney with the law firm of James D. Montgomery and Associates in Chicago (now known as Cochran and Montgomery).

 Adding to an impressive legal career, Cornelius has devoted a great deal of time to serving his community in leadership roles for numerous organizations. In 2008, Vincent became the first African-American president of the Illinois Bar Foundation, where he has been an active member for his entire career and a board member since 2000.  Other organizations include the University of St. Francis Board of Trustees; Illinois State Bar Association; Chancellor, Illinois Academy of Lawyers; Illinois Bar Foundation Golf Fellow; Chicago Bar Association Special Committee on Minority Federal Jury Service; DuPage & Will County Bar Associations; and the Governor’s Commission on Criminal Law Reform.  In 2010, Corneilus was honored with Medgar Evers Award, presented by the DuPage County Branch of the NAACP.  The Award is the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP.

 An active NIU Law alumnus, Vincent has served on the College of Law Alumni Council since 1998, serves as a mentor to law student, and is a frequent speaker on alumni panels.  He is often called on to serve on special university committees and consults on special projects. Most notably to the alumni community, Vincent hosted the first NIU Law Minority Reception in Chicago in 2004.  The Minority Reception, now a tradition, continues to remain a favorite event among alumni. In 2005, he received the NIU Law Alumni Council’s Outstanding Service Award.

by Melody Mitchell

Date posted: June 2, 2010 | Author: | Comments Off on Alumnus Vincent Cornelius receives the 2010 alumni award for the College of Law

Categories: Alumni Law

Paul Carpenter remembers well the desolation of the New Mexico desert at night, how his sore and swollen feet somehow managed to keep turning the pedals on his bicycle while the road’s shadows and his own tired mind played their own tricks.

Enveloped by cold and darkness, and deprived of sleep, the chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at Northern Illinois University spent three full days and half of a fourth in pursuit of a 1,044-mile goal.

Winning the 2008 Race Across the West wasn’t as important as finishing the trek from Oceanside, Calif., to Taos, N.M. Carpenter managed both and soon crawled into a bed.

But that was then. And that was nothing.

Come Wednesday, June 9, he will find himself back in Oceanside. This time, however, the course doesn’t stop two states away. This time, the trip isn’t a mere 1,044 miles.

This time, Carpenter will Race Across America.

“Some people think I’m absolutely insane, but there are others who find it very motivational and an amazing adventure, something extraordinary to undertake,” he says.

“My primary goal is to be an official finisher – to complete it just inside 12 days. I’m not going to try and focus too much on where I place or where my position is. The goal is to finish,” he adds. “To some degree, just making it to the starting line has been a long and arduous road, and from that standpoint, just being in the race is a big plus.”

The Race Across America covers 3,014 miles from its starting line to its finish in Annapolis, Md. Even though 12 days are allowed for the 30 solo riders, the winner typically arrives on Day 8.

Carpenter earned a three-year window of eligibility for RAAM in 2007 when he won the Tejas 500. He had dreamt of the race for 20 years, but rarely imagined that he would gain such access.

Nine months later, he signed up for the Race Across the West simply to determine whether he was ready for the ultimate challenge.

“As someone whose professional life is focused on physical activity,” Carpenter says, “RAAM offers the ultimate physical and mental challenge. Part of the appeal and the excitement is testing one’s physical and emotional limits. This also comes through with a large measure of anxiety as RAAM takes you into the unknown.”

Carpenter’s commute to NIU from suburban Batavia on his bike, through all sorts of conditions, has laid the foundation for RAAM. However, RAAM is three times longer than he ever has ridden, “and I have no idea of exactly what’s going to happen,” he says. “Part of the excitement, and the fear, is not knowing how I will handle the physical and emotional stresses that area a part of RAAM.”

What also concerns Carpenter are the logistics.

Participation in RAAM costs about $20,000 – the entry fee is only a tenth of that figure – and he’s held some fundraisers to make the money.

He’s taking three bikes. His main warhorse is a Cervelo RS, “a comfort performance bike designed to be ridden and to be ridden fast.” Another in the fleet provides slightly heavier tires to provide some relief on rough roads and fenders in case of rain.

His crew of 12 will rotate navigational, driving and nutritional duties through three vehicles: Carpenter’s, his friend’s and a rental. Race rules require Carpenter to equip the cars with several special safety features, including exterior lights.

The vehicles haul not only the crew, which includes his wife, Melissa Hyams, and his son, Sam, but also the supplies.

“The primary follow vehicle has a built-in bed where I will take most of my sleep breaks. The plan right now is to take a sleep break from 2 to 5 a.m. each day, and that’s about it,” Carpenter says. “I’ll take some shorter breaks during the day, 10 or 15 minutes here and there. That’s Plan A. In RAAM, plans sometimes go out the window, so we may have to go to Plan B, or Plan C or Plan D, or whatever other plans are needed to finish.”

Several KNPE colleagues are going along.

Athletic trainers Roger Kalisiak and Susie Stevenson will serve cover medial concerns and also run the protocols for KNPE professors Matthew Stults-Kolehmainen and Amanda Salacinski. “A lot of data with me as the subject will be collected,” Carpenter says, “and that will also help provide me with real-time information on my nutritional and physiological status – keys to a successful race.”

Craig Broeder, owner of Exercising Nutritionally Clinical Research Partners and former director of the clinical exercise physiology program at Benedictine University, also is part of the research team along with KNPE laboratory coordinator Amy Flewelling. Broeder pedaled 9,000 miles over 100 days last summer to help the fight against ovarian cancer, which has afflicted his wife, Kay.

“Everything has just come together this year, and now is as good a time as any, I guess,” Carpenter says. “There has been a whole raft of things to do, and the physical training has probably been the easiest part of it.”

Friends and colleagues can track Carpenter’s progress during the race via the Internet.

The official www.raceacrossamerica.org site will include written blogs and video logs as well as the times of Carpenter’s check points and the others in the race.

Carpenter also has his own site – www.ultraracer.net/raam – and will maintain a Facebook page (it’s open to Facebook users who search for “Team Carpenter – RAAM2010”) and a Twitter feed under “pjcuk.”

Date posted: June 1, 2010 | Author: | No Comments »

Categories: Community Education

Faculty from NIU’s School of Nursing and Health Studies will travel to the Illinois Valley to teach the introductory course and the capstone course while the rest of the classes will take place online.

Students will complete a total of nine courses (24 credit hours) with NIU and can fulfill other degree requirements at IVCC or any other community college, said Brigid Lusk, chair of the school housed inside NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.

NIU courses can enroll as many as 30 to 40 nurses interested in helping their careers – and their patients.

“Nurses will find this highly convenient because it’s mainly online,” Lusk said. “We are very accustomed to working with working adults. We designed our degree completion programs specifically for this audience. We’re cognizant of the stress they’re going through and of their learning needs, which are quite different than those of the younger adults on campus.”

Rick Pearce, vice president for learning and student development at IVCC, said the college is pleased to provide “a whole new world of opportunities for advancement” to its nursing students and nurses in its region.

“Health professions are our flagship. It’s one of the biggest things we do,” Pearce said of IVCC, the only institution of higher education in a 50-mile radius that encompasses eight counties and nearly 150,000 residents.

“But a lot of the people in the Illinois Valley are time- and place-bound. When we have working nurses who want to further their education, there are not a lot of places to go and limited opportunities,” he added.

“Someone who’s really capable to going to the next level – who has a family, who has a home – just can’t pick up and move to DeKalb and go for their BSN. We see this as an outstanding way of bringing that education to them, both here in the district and through the use of technology. We’re very excited. We reached out to Northern, and President John Peters has always been supportive of anything we can do to cooperate.”

The partnership comes at a critical time.

Some in Illinois are pushing for a state mandate that would require all nurses to earn bachelor’s degrees within 10 years of completing their associate’s degrees, Lusk said, and the movement is growing.

“To that end, many nurses want to be more prepared,” she said. “An important part of NIU’s mission is providing bachelor’s degrees where needed at the reasonable prices of a state school, and NIU is a very good nursing school. We are just thrilled that Illinois Valley wants us in its district, and we are pleased to be able to serve that area.”

Nursing graduates of the School of Nursing and Health Studies who took the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensure Examination during 2009 posted a 97 percent passing rate. Comparatively, the pass rate was 91 percent percent for all nursing programs in Illinois and 88 percent for all U.S. programs.

For more information, visit http://www.niu.edu/offcampusacademics/nursing/ or call (815) 753-6556.

For more information on IVCC, contact Pam Mammano, interim director of Nursing, at (815) 224-0322 or via e-mail at pam_mammano@ivcc.edu.

Kathi Bennett NIU

Kathi Bennett

Kathi Bennett, a veteran collegiate head coach who has guided three programs to eight NCAA Tournaments and five conference championships while posting a career winning percentage of .628, has been named head women’s basketball coach at Northern Illinois University.

Bennett becomes the ninth head coach in program history.

“I am thrilled to welcome Kathi Bennett to the Huskie Family,” said Jeff Compher, NIU associate vice president and director of Athletics. “Kathi brings experience, she brings knowledge of the game, excellent communication skills and above all, she cares about the student-athletes. They will work hard, play hard and have a great experience. I am confident this program will make significant competitive strides and, under Kathi’s direction, will achieve our goal to compete for conference championships in the near future.”

Bennett comes to NIU after two seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin, where she coached the Badgers’ defense and was instrumental in UW making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in eight years in 2010. Wisconsin finished tied for third in the league and led the Big Ten in scoring defense in 2010 after ranking 10th in the league in that category prior to her arrival.

A native of Stevens Point, Wisc. Bennett is the sister of University of Virginia head men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett; her father, Dick, won 316 games as a collegiate coach at Washington State, Wisconsin, UW-Green Bay and UW-Stevens Point. Kathi Bennett played collegiately at both Stevens Point and Green Bay and earned her bachelor’s degree from UW-Green Bay in 1986.

“I feel like this is the opportunity of a lifetime for me,” Kathi Bennett said. “It is rare to encounter an opportunity where everything is perfect – the timing, the situation, the people. I feel like that with this head coaching job at Northern Illinois.”

Bennett brings 17 years of experience as a collegiate head coach at Marycrest College (1988-89), Wisconsin-Oshkosh (1989-96), Evansville (1996-2000) and Indiana (2000-05). Her career record of 296-177 includes 12 winning campaigns and nine postseason appearances.

Under Bennett’s direction, UW-Oshkosh won the 1996 NCAA Division III National Championship with a perfect 31-0 record after playing in the national title game the previous season. She was named Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year five times and was the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association Division III Coach of the Year in 1996.

At Evansville, Bennett took over a program that had an all-time record of 18-113, engineered a 13-game turnaround and led the Purple Aces to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1999. She was named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year that season; in 1999-2000, she led Evansville to a school-record 23 wins and a WNIT berth.

Bennett’s 2002 Indiana team won the Big Ten Conference Tournament title as the No. 5 seed, defeating No. 1 seed Purdue and regular season champion Penn State. Her Hoosier teams defeated six Top 25 opponents and claimed a pair of victories over Top 10 foes.

Compher said that in an outstanding pool of candidates, Bennett stood out.

“We had an unbelievable amount of interest nationally in our head coaching position and an outstanding pool of candidates,” Compher said. “Coaches across the nation recognize the advantages that Northern Illinois offers in terms of our proximity to Chicago and the wealth of talent in the Midwest, along with the tradition of our program.

“Kathi brings many of the qualities we identified during the search process, including strong ties to the Midwest and proven ability to revive a program. Kathy doesn’t just have ties to the Midwest, she is defined by the Midwest. Finally, Kathi showed a lot of passion for the job. Her desire to be here at Northern Illinois University was definitely a factor.”

For her part, Bennett is confident that NIU’s women’s basketball team can and will be successful.

“This is a place where we can contend for the MAC title, and become a player on the national scene,” she said. “The university is diverse, it’s strong academically and it is big enough with 25,000 students to offer a great atmosphere, but small enough to give its students’ personal attention. The location and the facilities are excellent. I’m excited to work with Dr. Peters, Jeff Compher and the rest of the staff to reach our goals.”

Bennett replaces Carol Owens, who resigned April 29.

Date posted: May 24, 2010 | Author: | Comments Off on Kathi Bennett to lead NIU women’s basketball

Categories: Community On Campus Sports

Four members of NIU’s Operating Staff have been chosen to receive the Outstanding Service Award for 2010.

The recipients are Marcia Dick, a senior library specialist in the Reference Department of the University Libraries; Jennifer Gregory, office support specialist in the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders; Lee Ann Henry, administrative assistant in University Advancement; and Lenita Hepker, administrative assistant in the Office of the Dean of the College of Business.

More than 1,700 employees make up the Civil Service staff. Each year, four are selected by a committee of their peers to receive the award of plaques and $1,500. They will be honored at a Thursday, May 6, banquet.

Here is a closer look at the recipients.

Marcia Dick
Senior Library Specialist, University Libraries

Marcia Dick

Students with disabilities have a true friend in Marcia Dick.

Dick is the coordinator of services for students with disabilities at Founders Memorial Library; it was her innovation to hire undergraduates with hearing, visual and other impairments to staff the Information Desk.

She manages Room 102, home to many kinds of assistive technology, where she helps students with disabilities to conduct online searches. Her work on a Center for Access-Ability Resources grant resulted in nearly $10,000 worth of computers and software for the library’s new assistive technology room.

When Dick spoke about academic success to CAAR students, she put a name and face to the library’s special services and decreased the group’s hesitancy to use those programs.

In 2000, she won the Clogston Spirit Award for advocacy for persons with disabilities.

Meanwhile, her creative scheduling and willingness to expand her many duties helped the library to weather the economic storm. She serves on library committees, the Operating Staff Council, the Athletic Board and the Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities.

“Generally, a senior library specialist has a task-oriented position, and Marcia’s is no exception,” library colleague Sharon Campbell says. “It is Marcia who has taken it from being a task-oriented position to one of commitment to library excellence, passion for mentoring the students she supervises and concern for library patrons of all ages.”

Dick, who joined NIU in 1986, is a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, a volunteer with the Barb City Manor garden walk and a participant in the local cancer walk.

Jennifer Gregory
Office Support Specialist, School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders

Jennifer Gregory

In a school where students train for careers in health care, Jennifer Gregory prescribes the course schedule, runs triage for students and faculty in need and performs wizard-like first aid on office machines.

Her service with a smile – always current, always accurate – makes her the first person anyone contacts for help. The phrase “I don’t know” is not in her vocabulary.

Gregory makes time to support every student who visits the school’s main office, showing genuine compassion and concern when they are anxious and upset about admissions, scheduling conflicts and grades.

“She takes time that she doesn’t really have to offer comfort, support and the type of assistance these students need to calm down and resolve the issues,” says Sherrill Morris, an associate professor in the school. “She never tells anyone she doesn’t have time, even when she should.”

When faculty bring complaints, such as classrooms lacking computers or environments conducive to effective teaching and learning, the nine-year NIU employee goes beyond her job description to fix those problems.

Her commitment to the school extends to the Communicative Disorders Student Association, for which she helps students reserve rooms.

She also handles a multitude of logistics for the school’s annual certificate training programs on deafness and deaf-blindness. During those events, her extra-mile attitude has taken eyeglasses for repair, picked up medication for a guide dog with a skin allergy and obtained kosher food.

In her hometown of Rochelle, she is involved with Special Olympics and a supporter of the Girl Scouts.

Lee Ann Henry
Administrative Assistant, University Advancement

Lee Ann Henry

Lee Ann Henry’s colleagues have a nickname for her: Oz. As in “The Wizard of …”

Also known as the division’s glue and the first and best source of information, Henry handles numerous responsibilities as administrative assistant to Vice President Michael P. Malone with ease and professionalism.

Her key role in the complex preparations for transporting hundreds of top donors to recent bowl games made her victorious with those constituents.

She also is happy to make the needs, problems and questions of others her priority, no matter if the task is stuffing holiday cards or wrapping presents.

“Lee Ann is the type of person who doesn’t just tell people who they need to call for the answer; she tracks down the answer for them,” advancement colleague Diane Johnson says. “If asked for directions somewhere, Lee Ann won’t simply tell you how to get there. She will be walking beside you, making sure you reach your destination.”

As the university’s liaison to the NIU Annuitants Association, Henry maintains membership records for 1,250 retirees, 405 current employees and 152 spouses/partners. She recruits new members, processes their applications and interacts on the group’s behalf with NIU’s payroll department and the State Universities Annuitants Association.

The 14-year employee also served on the Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities and was a member of the Feb. 14 memorial committee.

In her hometown of Rochelle, she’s active with the Ogle County Hospice Society and the local MS society, organizing a team of walkers called “Henry’s Heroes.”

Lenita Hepker
Administrative Assistant, College of Business

Lenita Hepker

Among 139 employees and nearly 4,000 students in NIU’s College of Business, Lenita Hepker wears many crowns.

The go-to person. The most-trusted person. The person who is caring, organized, creative and tireless. The mentor. The true leader. The center of the college’s community and culture.

“As dean of a large college, I must be very careful who I confide in, yet I often need someone to share with and get advice from,” Dean Denise Schoenbachler says. “Lenita has become one of very few people I can trust 100 percent. I trust her above most anyone else. I also have learned that she has amazing insight into people and problems.”

Hepker has created a culture of professionalism in the dean’s office, building and maintaining good relationships across campus.

An NIU employee since 1997, she’s always happy to take on extra administrative duties. She cheerfully joined the college’s Strategic Action Group to “break down silos” between departments, organizing research breakfasts for faculty and creating (and continuing to produce) a “face of the week” e-mail newsletter.

Hepker manages meetings of the College of Business Board of Executive Advisors and the dean’s Student Advisory Board and supports students in the Business Careers House.

She also is proud to provide a voice for staff through membership on NIU’s Administrative Professionals Advisory Council.

In her hometown of Sycamore, Hepker is active with Sycamore United Methodist Church and Kiwanis. She also served many years with DeKalb County 4-H, the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival and as a “Big Sister.”

Date posted: May 13, 2010 | Author: | Comments Off on Operating Staff announces award recipients

Categories: Awards Campus Highlights Community

Ally Award Winners 2010

NIU College of Law Dean Jennifer Rosato and members of the Gay-Straight Alliance accept Ally Awards for their contributions to the LGBT community

Northern Illinois University College of Law and the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) were recipients of the 2010 Ally Awards hosted by the Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center and the LGBT Studies Program. The Center kicked off LGBT Awareness Month with the annual Ally Awards ceremony on April 1, recognizing individuals, departments, and groups who have done something positive for or on behalf of the LGBT community.

NIU Law and the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), a law student organization, were among this year’s recipients who were recognized for their work with the Center. Specifically highlighted was the College of Law and GSA’s efforts for working with the LGBT Resource Center to bring noted transgender activist Diane Schroer to campus. Schroer spoke at the 2nd Annual LGBT Alumni Presentation, which was held at the College of Law. GSA has also sponsored numerous roundtables held to discuss LGBT issues and hosted social events to increase networking opportunities for GSA members.

An academic and social organization, the Gay-Straight Alliance is dedicated to furthering a continuing dialogue on issues surrounding the LGBT community. The group was begun by six first-year students during the fall 2009 semester and is the first of its kind to exist for several years at the Law School. The founders wrote a new constitution, petitioned for and received official recognition by the Student Bar Association and set up operations. With over 50 student members, it is one of the largest student organizations at the College of Law.

For further information contact Melody Mitchell, Director of Alumni Events and Public Relations, NIU College of Law at 815-753-9655 or mmitchell@niu.edu.

Date posted: April 2, 2010 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU Law, Gay-Straight Alliance Presented with 2010 Ally Awards

Categories: Awards Law

seismogram

The most popular people on campus last week had to be the geologists.

After the Feb. 10 earthquake that startled thousands of people awake across the region, just about everyone – including the media – wanted the expert opinions of the NIU professors who study quakes and man the seismic center in Davis Hall.

Geology professors Paul Stoddard and Philip Carpenter fielded calls from such media as the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald, the Christian Science Monitor and Chicago Public Radio.

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 3.8 on the Richter Scale, was centered about 8 miles east of Sycamore, near Lily Lake. Because the epicenter was so close to NIU, many faculty, staff and students not only felt the quake but also heard an accompanying boom.

“An earthquake generates sound waves in rock that are released when they reach the surface,” Stoddard explains.

He also says we can probably blame the glaciers that once covered northern Illinois for our recent earth-moving experience.

Paul Stoddard
“In this area, earthquakes are most likely due to glacial rebound,” Stoddard says. “The surface of earth was depressed by the presence of glaciers. When they retreated, the surface began to rebound to its original position. That’s still occurring today. As this happens, there are occasional adjustments in the rock.”

Both Stoddard and his colleague Carpenter used the quake as teaching moments in their classrooms during the days that followed.

The night before the earthquake struck, Carpenter had actually been writing an Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program proposal to study natural ground vibrations to identify the locations of active northern Illinois geologic faults, which are largely a mystery.

Of course, he received a jolt of inspiration the following morning.

“I heard a booming sound followed by shaking, like you’d feel from an explosion, that lasted 10 seconds or so,” Carpenter says.

Scientists now know there must be a fault at the epicenter site near Lily Lake. NIU is submitting its data to the U.S. Geological Survey to help constrain the epicenter location.
Phil Carpenter

“No one knew there was a fault there,” Carpenter says, adding that he’s revising his URAP proposal to study the Feb. 10 event.

Carpenter says there have been two other mild quakes centered in northern Illinois in the last two decades, but they were in other locations. One was centered near Amboy and the other in LaSalle County.

“No faults have been mapped for the three earthquakes in the last 20 years,” he says. “We want to pinpoint the locations.”

In addition to studying natural ground vibrations, scientists also could use portable seismometers that can detect tremors that can’t be felt by people, Carpenter says.

He adds that there are two major identified faults in northern Illinois – the Sandwich fault and the Plum River fault – but both have been inactive for the last 150 years.

The Sandwich fault runs through Sandwich and extends to Oregon, and the Plum River fault runs from the Savanna area toward Byron. Scientists have visibly identified fracture zones for those faults in outcrops, quarries and wells, Carpenter says.

by Tom Parisi

Date posted: February 15, 2010 | Author: | Comments Off on Geology professors in high demand after earthquake

Categories: Community Liberal Arts and Sciences