NIU Today

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....

NIU will host the 41st annual Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory this weekend. The meeting will take place Saturday, Feb. 23, and Sunday, Feb. 24, in Cole Hall, recently remodeled to include the NIU Anthropology Museum. In conjunction with the meeting, there will be an exhibit on Andean traditions; weekend hours...

Sarah Stuebing spent five weeks last summer peering into the faces of monkeys from the Amazon, but it was all for science. “Understanding the use of facial expressions in our evolutionary ancestors can help further our knowledge of human facial expressions,” said Stuebing, 20, a junior biology major at NIU who hopes one day to...

The Northern Illinois University Center for Non-Governmental Organization Leadership and Development (NGOLD) and the Department of Anthropology announced that Mark Schuller has accepted a joint appointment as an assistant professor. Schuller grew up in the Chicago area, graduating from Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of...

Leila Porter, an NIU professor of anthropology, is up to some serious monkey business. She spent last summer in a Bolivian rain forest, tracking and catching some very peculiar primates known as saddle-back tamarins, before releasing them back into the wild. The squirrel-sized monkeys, from the family Callitrichidae, are closely related to the more well-known...

Anthropology graduate student Anthonie Tumpag grew up  in the rural South, but at a young age he became interested in cultural objects from Southeast Asia, Madagascar, Taiwan and the Pacific. “I have been collecting objects from this region since I was young as a means to find and connect with my identity as a Filipino...

“Rarely Seen Southeast Asia: Art, Artifact, Ephemera,” an exhibition of more than 150 pieces curated by NIU professor emeritus Richard Cooler, will open today at The Anthropology Museum, with a public reception from 4 to 6 p.m. in Fay-Cooper Cole Hall. Drawn from the museum’s collection and private sources, the exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary...

As a part of the NIU Art Museum’s upcoming Southeast Asian Exhibition Suite, “Music for the Divine” showcases Burmese traditions and musical instruments ranging from those used in Buddhist rituals, traditional royal court ceremonies and contemporary multi-ethnic expressions. This exhibition will run in the South Galleries, and will feature the Burma Art Collection at NIU...

Christopher McCord, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is announcing leadership changes at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), as well as in Women’s Studies, the Department of English and LGBT Studies. McCord said anthropology professor Judy Ledgerwood has been selected to serve as CSEAS director. One of only nine federally...

A group of NIU faculty and students are hoping their newly developed water sampling techniques might soon be employed to detect sources of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, one of America’s most scenic and important bodies of water. Geology professor Melissa Lenczewski, anthropology professor Kendall Thu and four NIU students will travel this week to...

Northern Illinois University invites the public to an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, at the newly renovated and high-tech Fay-Cooper Cole Hall. Located in the heart of the NIU campus, the 1960s-era building has been transformed into a modern educational setting that university officials believe will be looked to as...

With the spring semester beginning today, NIU unveiled a new crown jewel on campus — the renovated and super-high-tech Fay-Cooper Cole Hall. What had been one of the university’s most outdated facilities is now among the most forward-thinking. The 1960s-era building, located at the heart of campus, has been transformed into a collaborative-learning setting that...