NIU Today

NIU’s second annual Venture Grant competition will provide four faculty members with the opportunity to vie for $20,000 in cash to help move their ideas from concept to finished product. NIU students, faculty, staff and friends of the university can get involved by lending their talents to help develop and market the competing projects. The...

Since the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2009-2010, the dean’s office has annually invited nominations for Distinguished Alumni, Faculty and Staff Awards. These awards recognize individuals who have made major contributions to the college and its reputation. Recipients are selected by a committee comprised of alumni,...

An accomplished scientist and able administrator with a strong record of publications and grants will step into the role of interim vice president for Research and Graduate Studies at NIU. Lesley Rigg, associate dean for research and graduate affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, steps in the role permanently held by Lisa...

It’s Sociology Week at NIU, and what an interesting week it has been.

Ashley, a junior majoring in public health at NIU, is looking for a particular type of experience. “I have the people skills, but I need more experience in the health field,” she says. “I want to be a physician’s assistant, so I’m looking for something that will provide patient contact hours.” Ashley can find exactly...

Retired NIU English instructor Ildikó Carrington wasn’t a bit surprised when Alice Munro was named recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature earlier this month. “I am delighted that she won it,” Carrington says. Back in 1989, Carrington wrote the first American book-length critical study of the Canadian writer’s works. Titled “Controlling the Uncontrollable:...

An NIU study abroad trip to Tanzania brought together 10 students from various programs to unite for one cause while also enriching their own individual interests. For four weeks this past summer, the study abroad group explored the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in developing countries, specifically in Nyegina, Tanzania. The program is part of...

The national statistics are frightening: 1 in 5 women are victims of completed or attempted sexual assault while in college. Ninety percent of women know the person who sexually assaulted or raped them. Ninety-five percent of college campus sexual assaults are unreported. At least 50 percent of sexual assaults on college campuses are alcohol-related. Eighty...

New to NIU’s list of graduate certificates this fall is the Certificate of Graduate Studies in the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy. Incorporating courses from the colleges of Education, Health and Human Sciences and Liberal Arts and Sciences, the certificate offers a broad range of perspectives on language and literacy. Graduate students completing this...

The Department of Anthropology and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences External Programming at NIU have announced two summer camps for students in grades six through eight. NIU will be hosting the third-annual Creative Writing Day Camp from July 29 through Aug. 2. New this year to the campus is the Archeology Day Camp,...

Joanna Lambert always loved science and animals, but she hadn’t considered working in the sciences until she took her first anthropology course, Anthropology 101: Human Origins, at NIU. “I was hooked,” Lambert said. “Anthropology provided me with the ability to study all aspects of our world and allowed me to integrate my passion for the...

After years of deterioration and a dubious two-decade reign atop NIU’s capital budget request list, the Stevens Building is drawing nearer to its long-awaited transformation. Construction will begin after Jan. 1, 2014, following an environmental survey planned for early in the fall and the letting of bids in October. First, though, the two departments that...