NIU Today

In the modern world, it becomes more critical for NIU’s graduates to be prepared to work in a dynamic, global environment.

Two current NIU students and one alumna have been nominated for awards from the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the organization that sponsors the Emmy® Awards in television production and performance excellence. Candice Beasley and Jorge Rodas, NIU students in the Department of Communication, and Lauren Scott, a 2013...

Diversity education ambassadors are entering classrooms this semester to promote academic diversity programs and the value of being culturally competent. “What better way to promote the importance of diversity in education than to allow students who believe in its importance to communicate this to other students?” asks Janice Hamlet, coordinator of Academic Diversity Programs at...

Johanna Hartelius and Jimmie Manning, faculty in the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, were honored April 13 at the Southern States Communication Association’s (SSCA) 83rd Annual Convention and Awards Banquet in Louisville, Ky. Hartelius, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, received the Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award. The award...

by David J. Gunkel,  NIU Professor of Communication Perhaps it is just coincidence, but there is an interesting convergence of apocalyptic thinking taking place in the final month of 2012. On the one hand, we are quickly approaching the “end of the world” as predicted by the Mayan calendar – December 21, 2012 to be...

NIU students are brightening the holidays for a group of adolescents who often go forgotten during the season of giving. As part of an engaged-learning project in two group-communication classes taught by Department of Communication professor David Henningsen, the NIU students collected about 400 gifts for teens in the foster care system. Young people ages...

On a Friday evening a couple weeks ago, my wife and I were out for a leisurely dinner at a popular Italian restaurant near where we live. We were sitting at the back of the restaurant by a window at a table for two; love those two-person tables. The restaurant was crowded but the ambiance...

Information Technology Services and Verizon Wireless worked together over the summer to meet the growing demand for cellular voice and data communications by faculty and students. As wireless devices are being used for Internet browsing, social networking, email, text and photo/video messaging, plus downloading a host of available apps, adequate and available network capacity and...

It’s difficult to determine who gets more out of NIU’s annual summer speech camp — the high school students who enroll or the counselors who coach them. About 50 students from Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin participated in last week’s camp, where they developed speech-giving, debating or theatrical skills. For the 16 counselors, the camp was an...