NIU’s Jui-Ching Wang, ’97, and the value of children’s singing games. A series of coincidences led NIU Associate Professor of Music Jui-Ching Wang to Indonesia to witness firsthand the value of traditional children’s singing games. At the beginning of her tenure in NIU’s School of Music, Wang found herself directing the school’s Indonesian Gamelan Ensemble....

If Mike Chihoski, ‘96, M.S. ‘08, could go back in time and tell his student-self what the future had in store, past-Mike would never believe him. Chihoski, a double graduate of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, has traveled a long way since graduation day — as in all over the world. He has had speaking...

Five Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education students will spend their Spring Break in Belize this March as part of a new Engage Global initiative called Alternative Spring BAE. Two master’s students and three undergraduates will train about 50 Belizean coaches, teachers and sport administrators in topics including teaching new sports in schools, first aid, facilities and equipment management, and...

Contingent on approval from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), the University of Tetovo(UT) anticipates welcoming NIU Business faculty in spring 2019 when they travel to the Balkan Peninsula to provide MBA instruction to students from Macedonia. This academic proposal – created through a strong partnership that the NIU College of Business established with UT, and with...

Abby Spankroy Educate Global 2.0 is history. China looms in the rearview mirror. A new semester of learning is underway in DeKalb. But the broadened perspectives Educate Globalprovided to NIU’s future teachers seem destined to persist in countless and unpredictable ways. Just ask Bethany Johnson, a senior Early Childhood Education major. “It’s just being more conscious about what it’s like to...

Cliff Alexis, recently retired from the NIU School of Music, has been selected to receive the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago’s highest honor. The Hummingbird Medal Of The Order Of The Trinity is “awarded for loyal and devoted service beneficial to the state in any field, or acts of conspicuous gallantry or other outstanding humane...

How it began is worth a smile. “They arrived in Sri Lanka on 13th August,” writes Sri Lanka’s YMCA of Pamunugama, telling of its visitors from NIU and elsewhere in the United States, “and in the evening … went on a boat trip in the lagoon, enjoying nature and encountering wild monkeys and birds.” But as...

Thanks to NIU’s Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies, hundreds of humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may be able to deliver help to the impoverished people of Haiti that is more in tune with what Haitian people say they need. It has been estimated that NGOs and charitable groups deliver 80 percent of the basic services...

A new exciting pathway to earn an MBA degree with an international twist will launch at NIU – and span the globe – beginning with the Spring 2018 semester. The pathway touted as the International MBA involves a partnership between the university and top-ranked educational institutions in China, Italy and Germany. Beyond DeKalb, students will...

For the past two years, NIU alum Sam Watt (BS Physics, 2014) has been teaching science in Beijing, introducing the seventh- and eighth-graders at Beijing Academy   (北京中学)—as well as their teachers, parents and administrators—to an exciting hands-on approach to STEM education. As a STEM educator for NIU’s Center for P-20 Engagement and member of the...

On Sunday, April 2nd, Autism Awareness Month begins with World Autism Awareness Day.  The Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities will host an informational table at the Holmes Student Center on Monday, April 3rd from 11-1.  They are also asking individuals in our community to wear blue on Monday, April 3rd to help shine a light on...

NIU’s 2017 World Music Festival “Roots & Blossoms” is approaching. The NIU Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, directed by Omar al Musfi will kick off this year’s festival at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, in the NIU School of Music Recital Hall. Guest soloist Rabie Azar (violin) will join the musicians as they perform a wide...