NIU Today

NIU President Doug Baker invites the entire university community to join him in congratulating the newly named Board of Trustees Professor, Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professors, Presidential Teaching Professor, Presidential Engagement Professor and the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and Instruction Award winners. A reception in their honor begins at 3 p.m. today in the...

Reed Scherer’s doctoral research set out to test a radical hypothesis put forth in the 1970s that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet “collapsed” during the interglacial period that immediately predated the most recent Ice Age, and could again. Confirming past instability of this ice sheet would contribute to growing concerns regarding future collapse and consequent...

On social media and in our newsfeeds and mailboxes, fundraising campaigns featuring needy or suffering children confront us on a daily basis. They seek to grab our attention, stimulate empathy, prick our moral conscience and open our wallets for a good cause. Modern humanitarianism and photographic technologies emerged in the 19th century and came of...

Faculty excellence in teaching, research, scholarship, artistry and engagement will be recognized in a bigger way beginning this year, as revisions to the Presidential Professorships are enacted. Base salary increments for the awards have been increased from $2,000 to $5,000, and colleges will receive $4,000 to help cover the costs associated with a semester’s release...

NIU faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members are invited to nominate NIU professors for any of four different awards designed to honor excellence. The 2016 Presidential Engagement Professorships, Presidential Teaching Professorships, Presidential Research, Scholarship, and Artistry Professorships and the Board of Trustees Professorships will follow the same nomination and application deadlines this year: Call...

Memory, impressions and social perceptions are among the research specialties of psychology professor John Skowronski, Northern Illinois University’s newly named 2015 Board of Trustees Professor. And NIU students who have taken his courses will tell you the professor certainly is unforgettable. Alumnus Randy McCarthy remembers Skowronski’s “smooth lectures,” the precise way he communicated complex topics...

Executive Vice President and Provost Lisa Freeman has issued the 2014-2015 call for nominations for the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees Professorships. The professorships were established in 2007 to recognize those tenured professors who: have achieved a consistent record of excellence in teaching, scholarship or artistry, service and outreach, and academic leadership; have earned...

There is no questioning the tremendous influence that the Federal Reserve (Fed) has on the financial markets. Even announcements from the Fed that might seem to be innocuous by many market participants can create or destroy billions of dollars in global wealth. The Fed chairman has been described as the second most powerful person in...

An award-winning documentary filmmaker, the work of Communication Professor Laura Vazquez brings into clear focus some of society’s most pressing issues, including the plight of homeless families, the often cloaked issue of college sexual assault and the challenges facing people with disabilities. Yet the lines between her passions for filmmaking, student engagement and classroom teaching...

For David Hedin – a man accustomed to working with elementary particles traveling at nearly the speed of light – there’s just no slowing down. And that’s saying something, considering that Hedin’s long record of achievements first earned him an NIU Board of Trustees Professorship in 2009. Since then, his research and student engagement efforts...

Why should we care about global warming? Ninety-seven percent of all scientists conducting research on climate change have data to convince them that global warming is real and one of the foremost issues societies will need to cope with in the future. Yet debate rages about this issue in the public and political arenas while...