Alum credits NIU with hotel management success, gives back   Jeff Wolff started at Marriott as a bus boy about 45 years ago while still in high school and now travels throughout the world, working with more than 5,000 hotels. A vice president for Market Operations and Guest Experience at Marriott International, Inc., Wolff has never...

Oriana Flores isn’t quite sure how to spend her downtime these days after spending hours upon hours sorting through old photos and article clippings to capture how NIU is “Creating Environments that Matter.” Praised by all who’ve seen it, Flores’ eye-catching exhibit offers a historical look at how students have been engaged at NIU from the...

Knowing what it’s like to navigate college on her own, Wesener Michael encourages students to self-advocate Talking college options, Kelly Wesener Michael told her high school counselor she’d like to be Julie on the classic ’80s television show, “The Love Boat.” Her mother had encouraged the career aspiration, telling her daughter she’d be a good...

Joanne Chamberlain Krakora graduated high school in a class with 27 classmates she’d known since kindergarten in the small town of Toulon, Ill. Neither of her parents had attended college. When she arrived on NIU’s campus, she wasn’t quite sure which way to turn. “It was a bit overwhelming,” she remembered. “I’ve never been someone...

‘Uncool’ alumnus Peifer discovers life lessons, a 20-foot inflated mouse at NIU What Steve Peifer remembers most from his time at Northern Illinois University is the grace he was given. That, and quite a few stories involving practical jokes, his failed attempts at being “cool,” betting on how soon classmates would nod off in class,...

If you’re a first-generation student at NIU, we’ve got your back. Efforts are underway to create a culture of first-generation awareness at NIU. More than half of NIU’s undergraduate students are among the first generation in their family to attend a four-year college. But national statistics show at least 75 percent of first-generation college students...

“I’m a First-Gen College Student” will bring together first-generation students, faculty, staff and recent alumni with Welcome Events from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 4 and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 5 at Founders Memorial Library. To help launch the program, we’re telling just some of the many first-generation stories here at NIU....

“I’m a First-Gen College Student” will bring together first-generation students, faculty, staff and recent alumni with Welcome Events from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 4 and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 5 at Founders Memorial Library. To help launch the program, we’re telling just some of the many first-generation stories here at NIU....