NIU Today

In 1875, Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving son of Abraham Lincoln, petitioned to have his mother institutionalized for insanity. Mary Lincoln had no knowledge of her son’s intentions until Chicago police officers showed up outside of her hotel to escort her to the courthouse. For three hours, 17 witnesses testified to Mary Lincoln’s erratic behavior...

Northern Illinois University women’s golfers Kelsie Passolt and Allie Parthie were selected to the Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team, the league office announced Wednesday. “Kelsie and Allie both did a great job of balancing high-level performance on the course with academic success,” said NIU head coach Pam Tyska. “Sheer desire doesn’t work alone as they put...

Students taking an advertising course taught by NIU professor David Henningsen are hoping their class projects will give a major boost to a local nonprofit organization. Students in two sections of the upper-level course (COMS 370) were divided into small teams, or mini-advertising agencies, and competed to land a promotional campaign for DeKalb County RAMP....

Gerould W. Kern, senior vice president and editor of the Chicago Tribune, was named Illinois Journalist of the Year at the NIU Journalism Banquet, held April 27. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ journalism program in the Department of Communication also named Eileen Norris as the recipient of the 2012 Donald R. Grubb Distinguished...

F.O.C.U.S. (Future Opportunities Creating Ultimate Successes) is sponsored every spring by the Communication Student Advisory Council of the Department of Communication. This year’s event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, April 27, in the Illinois Room of Holmes Student Center. Alumni from the department (spanning the various communication emphases and journalism) will...

When NIU communication instructor Matthew J. Swan assigns a writing project to his students, he gives then two pieces of advice: “Do your best, and don’t over-think the assignment.” If students are not comfortable or accustomed to writing stories, essays and academic papers, he said, they will worry about it and let their fears dictate...

Every professor, every teacher, practices their profession according to a well-honed, learned-on-the-job personal code. This year’s Presidential Teaching Professors – Anne Britt from the Department of Psychology, James Johnson from the Department of Finance and Joseph Scudder from the Department of Communication – are no exception, of course. “I am dedicated to teaching … in a...

Call Joseph Scudder conflicted. All Posts He longs to embrace the Renaissance idea of higher education – that it affords the life fulfilled with curiosity, critical thinking skills and never-ending learning – but is cognizant of the money spent on tuition and the desperate need of students to find jobs after graduation. He knows that...

The NIU Department of Communication is preparing to raise the curtain on its popular Reality Bytes Independent Student Film Festival at the Jameson Auditorium, located inside the university’s newly renovated Cole Hall. Free and open to the public, the 11th annual festival will feature student-film screenings from 9 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, and...

Can one be a fan without a text to be a fan of? What happens when fandom creates a text, and then poaches that same text? Paul Booth, an assistant professor of new media and technology in the College of Communication at DePaul University, will visit the NIU campus at 1 p.m. Friday, April 20,...

When one door closes, another one opens. Laura Vazquez, an associate professor in the Department of Communication in the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was reminded of this adage when she received an email in February from a colleague. Ned Eckhardt, professor of radio, television and film at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J.,...

GradComm and the Northern Star will present “Shooting From the Hip: How Photojournalism is Reaching its Golden Age,” featuring Chicago Tribune staff photographer Scott Strazzante. The event takes place at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at the Cavan Auditorium (Gabel Hall 126). Strazzante will speak  on his 25-year career at Chicago-area newspapers and the changes...