NIU Today

Broadway star and NIU alumna Melissa Dye is the guest artist Sunday, April 28, when the NIU School of Music presents “Broadway Dreams.” The spring concert, which features the Concert Choir and the University Chorus, begins at 3 p.m. in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall of the Music Building. On the program: a variety of...

What is an “educated” person? For those who teach, such as the NIU Department of History’s E. Taylor Atkins, it’s an important question without consensus. “Is it someone whose mind is a storehouse of data that can be recalled instantly? Or is an educated person a critical, free thinker and problem solver?” asks Atkins, who...

Sometimes, E. Taylor Atkins becomes frustrated and cynical when confronted with students who aren’t academically well prepared or who have little interest in what he has to offer. Yet whether they fail to bring intellectual curiosity, the willingness to tackle challenging material or goals beyond good jobs after graduation, Atkins is not deterred. “I inform...

Christopher Jones wants his political science students to interrupt him with thoughtful questions and comments. He wants them to steer classroom discussion. He wants them to feel comfortable. He also wants to give them some gain without the pain. “My students have been especially receptive to the use of published case studies based on controversial...

Count Pam Smith among NIU’s legion of lifelong learners, especially when it concerns effective teaching. Her goal is to “create a learning environment based on respect, individual accountability, ethics and personal integrity.” “When I started teaching, I thought if I provided sound technical content and motivated students, they would learn the material. Therefore, much of...

During Northern Illinois University’s Celebrating Excellence event, NIU Today will highlight the accomplishments and contributions of NIU students, faculty, staff and alumni to the university’s mission of promoting excellence and engagement in teaching and learning, research and scholarship, creativity and artistry, and outreach and service during the academic year. Senior Brogan Bennett is a kinesiology...

Northern Illinois University students are accustomed to the annual Move-in Day, kicking off the start of the fall semester. Now there’s a new end-of-the-school-year wrinkle: Move-out Week. NIU has been selected as one of five colleges and universities nationwide to partner up with Goodwill Industries and Keep America Beautiful on a pilot “move-out week” program....

NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities has announced the recipients of the 2013 Deacon Davis Diversity Awards: student Latasha Bennett, staff member Sandy Lopez, faculty members James Cohen and Nancy Russo and the Society of Women Engineers. Named in honor of Deacon Davis, founder and former Director of the CHANCE (Counseling Help &...

Over the next two decades, the number of Americans with macular degeneration is expected to double, to more than 24 million. NIU’s Elizabeth Gaillard is working to slow, or stop, that process. During her 16 years as a professor the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biological Sciences at NIU, Gaillard has established herself as...

Mention geography and most people think of things like states, capitals, mountains and rivers. NIU geographer Wei Luo gets even more fundamental, spending a great deal of time also pondering time and space. Using geographic information systems, remote sensing, computer modeling, statistics and machine learning to ponder those factors, Luo has built a career that traverses...

Philippe Piot is working toward a day when the mammoth charged particle accelerators that allow scientists to peer into subatomic depths, can be reduced to cheap table-top devices for use in science, homeland security, medicine and industry. Piot, who holds a joint appointment between NIU and Fermilab, is an expert in advanced techniques to produce,...

As many as four Black Hawk helicopters from the Illinois Army National Guard base in Peoria will make several trips to the NIU campus Friday, April 19, and Sunday, April 21. Depending on the weather, the helicopters are coming to an open field just west of the Convocation Center to transport 90 NIU ROTC cadets...