NIU Today

April is Financial Literacy Month, which culminates in Money Smart Week, April 21 to 28. Throughout the month, free programs in DeKalb, LaSalle and Lee counties will cover many facets of economics and personal finance, from establishing a budget to estate planning, taxes and saving for college. Dozens of individuals, businesses and other organizations are...

Econ Illinois, a not-for-profit unit within the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development at NIU and an affiliate of the Council for Economic Education, is excited to announce that Howard A. Tullman is the keynote guest speaker at the 11th annual American Dream Dinner on Thursday, May 17, in Chicago. Tullman is the former...

Nancy Hanlon Harrison, president and executive director of Econ Illinois, is this year’s recipient of the Terry Savage Financial Literacy Award. Harrison was honored for her contributions to the advancement of financial literacy by Illinois Jump$tart Coalition (ILJ$), an affiliate of the national Jump$tart Coalition, the country’s leading advocate for youth financial education. The award...

Education-based nonprofit Econ Illinois, the state’s leading provider of economic education and financial literacy programs for K-12 schools, held the eighth annual American Dream Dinner April 30 at the Union League Club of Chicago. The event welcomed nearly 250 guests and was one of the most successful in the history of the organization. All proceeds...

Five students of NIU’s Community Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE) program spent the fall semester interning with nonprofit agencies in DeKalb and Sycamore. This is the first semester of an innovative communiversity partnership designed to provide students with experiences that will lead to career success while benefiting the local nonprofit sector. Students earn course credit...

Northern Illinois University will host or participate in 16 financial literacy events in DeKalb, Geneva, Naperville, Rockford and Sycamore during the Federal Reserve Bank’s Money Smart Week, scheduled from Saturday, April 20, through Saturday, April 27. “This year’s Money Smart Week is an exciting chance for students to gain knowledge about financial literacy topics that...

Anne Kaplan, vice president of Outreach, Engagement, and Information Technologies at NIU, was presented with the Richard Peterson Award during a honors luncheon hosted by Econ Illinois. The Peterson Award was established in 2000 by the Econ Illinois Executive Committee in memory of Richard S. Peterson, former chair of of the Econ Illinois Board of...

What do Rockford-area math teachers have in common with members of the Carpenters Local 792 and employees of scientific equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific and aerospace company Woodward Inc.?

Lori Berkes-Nelson has been named executive director of the NIU-based Illinois Council on Economic Education, doing business as Econ Illinois. She replaces outgoing director Joanne Dempsey, who is retiring after leading the not-for-profit group for 17 years. “I’ll work to build on the successes Joanne has brought to the organization,” Berkes-Nelson said. “She should be...

Whether the stock market goes up or down, NIU financial literacy programs have been teaching people how to make good economic decisions for more than 60 years. University and community organizations now are coming together to bring more attention and resources to those efforts. The Financial Literacy Collaborative combines the work of seven organizations that...

The Great Recession of 2008 lingers on, with daily reminders that our economy is a fragile entity which we ignore at our own peril. Yet the study of economics and the basic principles of financial literacy remain on the periphery of public education at all levels. For 60 years, NIU-housed organization Econ Illinois has worked...

NIU’s Center for Economic Education and Econ Illinois recently held an awards presentation at NIU-Naperville to honor the state and regional winners and honorable mentions in the 2011 Economic Concepts Poster Contest. More than 2,500 students from 51 K-12 schools participated. Students were encouraged to use their imaginations in producing posters to communicate the concepts of...