NIU Today

Clara Louis, a doctoral candidate in the NIU College of Education’s Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education (CAHE), has been awarded the 2013 David Merchant International Student Award of Achievement by Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars. The award honors one international student who demonstrates exceptional accomplishments in the areas of scholarship...

April’s Asian American Heritage Month activities begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4, with the Taste of Asia at Campus Recreation. Doors open at 6 p.m. Keynote speaker Tereza Lee will share her story of being a former undocumented immigrant student, including her challenges, barriers and successes. Lee’s powerful story inspired Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin to author...

The Third Onion – the student-run production scheme of the Northern Illinois University School of Theatre and Dance – has announced an ambitious schedule of plays to be performed over a four-week period beginning the first week of April. Students will present four original plays and another by playwright James McLure in NIU’s Stevens Building Corner...

The NIU Department of Communication is preparing to raise the curtain on its popular Reality Bytes Independent Student Film Festival at the Jameson Auditorium, located inside Cole Hall. Free and open to the public, the 12th annual festival will feature student-film screenings from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday, April 8, and Wednesday, April 10. NIU...

Professors in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology constantly look to engage students in real-world projects, giving them the experience they need to be successful after graduation. Gary Chen, associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and his graduate student, Tricia Fremouw, partnered with a Rockford company to improve their efficiency....

“I said it. I couldn’t say it.” is an interactive installation about facing our own truths and learning the truths of others. NIU’s MFA student Maria Dimanshtein will present her artwork from Tuesday, March 26, through Friday, March 29, at Gallery 214. Visitors are invited to engage with the environment and contribute their own content,...

Students in NIU’s Engineers Without Borders organization are dedicated to making the world a better place by bringing sustainable First World technologies to Third World countries. “To make a technology sustainable, it has to be simple and easily maintained. For example, when you want to help a Third World country with farming, you can’t give...

Educators are invited to attend edcamp Northern Illinois, a day of free professional development that offers opportunities to share new classroom techniques, discuss teaching innovations, and make connections with like-minded professionals. This innovation in professional development will be held Saturday, April 20, at Kaneland Harter Middle School in Sugar Grove. The event is open to...

NIU has named Dan Gebo in anthropology, Paul Kelter in literacy education and Zhili Xiao in physics as its 2013 Board of Trustees Professors – a top university honor that recognizes faculty members for international renown in their research and excellence in all facets of teaching. Gebo’s paleontological research is elucidating the origins of primates....

In the laboratory of Dan Gebo, you’ll find the tools of his trade on display, including the skeletons of lemurs, chimpanzees, gorillas and humans that help him explain the process of evolution to students. But it’s the smallest treasures in his collection that most intrigue the NIU anthropology professor. Stored away like precious gems are...

Paul Kelter has penned two major chemistry and chemistry-education books, authored more than 60 journal articles and delivered more than 200 conference presentations. His expertise has attracted in excess of $17 million in grants, and he has received 20 major university, state and national teaching awards. But it’s not accomplishments, grants or awards that define...

Throughout his career, professor Zhili Xiao has been a force in physics, pioneering uncharted territory in the research fields of superconductivity and nanoscience. And, since he arrived at NIU in 2004, the force has been with more than a few bright NIU physics students, who have come along for the ride and are now forging...