NIU Today

Every year, Judy Santacaterina and Matt Swan conduct “mock interviews” with the students enrolled in COMS 309 Performance in Speech Communication course. “The objective here is to demonstrate to students how the public speaking and performance skills cross contexts,” Santacaterina said. “We were surprised at how many students had never experienced a formal interview.” Before...

The Northern Illinois gymnastics team added another record to its 2013 list Thursday as four Huskies were named to the Mid-American Conference Academic All-MAC Gymnastics team. Senior Natalie Sutter (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton HS) and juniors Kim Gotlund (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township HS), Natasha Jufko (Spring Hill, Fla./Pasco-Hernando HS) and Megan Melendez (Stafford, Va./North Stafford HS) all earned...

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...

The NIU Forensics team extended its winning streak at the Pi Kappa Delta Nationals at Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., held from March 13 to 16. Eight members of NIU’s Forensics Team competed against 89 other schools to win the “Team of Excellence” award. Debate Team competitors were Chris Michels, Benjamin Donovan, Yanelly Villegas...

Cathy Doederlein, internship coordinator for the humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, spent a lot of time on campus growing up: “I definitely consider myself a kid of the university,” she says. Both of her parents, Sue and Arthur Doederlein, came to the area in 1969. Since then, the Doederlein name has...

The NIU Forensics team is enjoying a successful season thus far, including a first-place finish overall during a recent competition at the College of DuPage. Six team members took first place in individual categories. They included: Senior Jimmy Zucker of DeKalb (persuasion and first place overall for individual events) Senior Lauren Scott of C­­hicago (poetry)...

NIU’s David Henningsen remembers being intrigued in graduate school by a study that found men often overestimate the romantic interest of women. “That struck me as being really sad, because I really didn’t think women were all that interested in me to begin with,” Henningsen laughs. It also led him to the idea that there...

Jason Goode has joined the University Honors Program administrative team as assistant to Associate Vice Provost Chistopher Jones. A high-level management support professional, Goode will develop, recommend and implement appropriate goals, policies, procedures, assessment and long-term planning related to national scholarships, fellowships, academic awards and recognitions. He is also the University Honors Program’s liaison to...

A celebration of the life of Arthur Paul Doederlein will be held on campus this week. So what? That’s what Doederlein himself might have asked. Over the course of more than four decades at NIU, the professor of communication challenged thousands of his students to do the same. Along the way, he sparked their critical...

Laura Vazquez, Media Studies professor in the Department of Communication at NIU, will receive the prestigious Distinguished Service and Leadership Award for her years of filmwork from the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. Vazquez will be honored Monday, Oct. 29, at the association’s national conference in Albuquerque, N.M. Since 2006, Vazquez,...

The NIU community is mourning the death of Arthur Paul Doederlein, a dedicated and beloved professor in the Department of Communication who, over the course of more than four decades, made an impact on the lives of thousands of students. Doederlein, 70, died Friday, Aug. 24, at Kishwaukee Community Hospital, with his family by his...

On the topic of computers, artificial intelligence and robots, Northern Illinois University Professor David Gunkel says science fiction is fast becoming “science fact.” Fictional depictions of artificial intelligence have run the gamut from the loyal Robot in “Lost in Space” to the killer computer HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the endearing C-3PO and...