NIU Today

For years, NIU freshmen embraced their families with goodbye hugs Thursday night and launched their new lives as college students Friday morning. Now both of those transformational moments will occur together during the evening of Friday, Aug. 22, with the introduction of the Huskie Family Welcome. Many people across campus have been involved in re-visioning...

College can be a confusing time for some, and having a helping hand along the way can impact students’ overall success. Mentoring can have an important influence on students’ academic experiences as they explore different paths throughout their college journey. Students who might have felt lost a time or two can play an important role...

NIU President Doug Baker’s ambitious effort to offer peer or alumni mentors to all students is gaining big-time momentum. At least three new mentoring initiatives have sprouted up this semester. Inventories are being conducted of the many existing programs. And Baker is expected to talk about NIU’s efforts to expand mentoring and internship opportunities Thursday,...

Huskie Family Connections has scheduled its second annual series of regional meetings. The meetings, hosted by HFC and the Division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management, provide evenings of conversation between NIU families and division administrators. Staff are interested in hearing both the compliments and concerns of NIU families regarding their students’ NIU experiences. Those...

Greetings from Chicago! This morning I was in the city giving a radio interview to Craig Dellimore for his Sunday public affairs program, “At Issue,” on WBBM-AM 780. On Thursday, I appeared live on WGN-AM 720 as part of Steve Cochran’s mini-series about higher education. Among the many topics I discussed with both was the...

As NIU celebrates Homecoming week, student safety is a top priority for the campus and DeKalb communities. One of the ways the Division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management promotes student safety is by recruiting volunteers to patrol areas of Greek Row, various areas on campus (including residence halls and Lincoln Highway) and Rec parties...

Jarvis Purnell, director of Off-Campus & Non-Traditional Student Services since the spring of 2012, has been named director of Military Student Services. Purnell will oversee both departments, as he has done since last fall, when he became the acting director of Military Student Services. Over the course of the current academic year, Purnell will have an...

Now it’s official. Newly renovated Gilbert Hall was “properly opened” with a ribbon-cutting ceremony following the Sept. 19 business meeting of the NIU Board of Trustees. “As a student at NIU, I was fortunate to experience all that on-campus living had to offer,” said board chair John Butler, recalling the many interactions he had and...

Melanie Tucker Thompson has been named assistant vice president for Student Services in the Division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management. Tucker Thompson had been serving in the acting role since July 2012. Prior to that appointment, she was director of the Disability Resource Center (formerly known as the Center for Access-Ability Resources). She holds...

Molly Holmes is assuming the role of the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center and Women’s Resource Center (WRC). Over the next nine months, Holmes will lead the staffs of both centers in a strategic planning process that will include opportunities for key stakeholders to contribute to shaping this new department. The...

When Eric Weldy accepted the job as Northern Illinois University’s vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, he knew that: a) NIU had a good football team, as his former employer, Florida State University, faced the Huskies in the Orange Bowl, and b) he would be managing a transition that would push the university...

Barely two weeks on the job, and just more than three days after moving trucks dropped off their worldly belongings, NIU President Doug Baker, and his wife Dana, played host to this summer’s team of NIU Orientation Leaders. Despite the less than ideal circumstances for entertaining, they weren’t about to allow a few unpacked boxes...