NIU Today

A group of NIU students enjoyed more than a victory when the Chicago Bulls took on the Washington Wizards last Wednesday, March 20, at the United Center.  About a hundred students and faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education in the College of Education and the University Honors program traveled to the Windy...

Steven Howell (associate professor of Kinesiology and Physical Education), Vijaykumar Krishnan Palghat (associate professor and chair of Marketing) and Alicia Schatteman (associate professor of Public and Global Affairs) have been selected as Program Fellows to participate in the second year of the Mid-American Conference’s (MAC) Academic Leadership Development Program. The goal of the MAC Academic...

The list, as always, is impressive. A visual artist who combines traditional and digital techniques. A chemist from Moscow with interest in the promise of functional organic materials to replace traditionally used materials with cheaper and better-performing new ones. A veteran teacher-educator who plans to make NIU into the best teacher-training program in the country....

Days after the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education’s Sri Lankan visitors left the NIU campus in late April, their hosts already were planning to book flights to Asia for August. That trip began Sunday – and now includes four students who are the inaugural participants in the NIU College of Education’s Engage Global program,...

More than 80 years after NIU first opened as the Northern Illinois State Normal School in 1899, faculty in Physical Education began to embrace a new way of thinking. “Our Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KNPE), and our peers across the country have their origins as Physical Education (PE) departments. All students would have...

“Being in the presence of Olympic coaches and athletes was incredible. I even got to the see one of my favorite male gymnasts who has been to the past two Olympic Games! That was definitely a highlight for me. Training in the weight rooms many Olympians have trained in, eating in their dining hall and...

First-year graduate students in sport management magnified their credentials this month with a behind-the-scenes look at operations of the NCAA, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Purdue University’s athletic and recreational sport facilities. Part of the NIU College of Education’s Engage U.S. program, the overnight trip to the Hoosier State came together through professional associates of...

Rockford-area students with plans to major in kinesiology now have another option toward NIU Student Career Success. NIU’s Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KNPE) has signed a “2+2” agreement with Rock Valley College (RVC) to provide a smooth transition between its associate degree and our bachelor’s degree. The agreement helps students to identify relevant and recommended...

Honors students at NIU now can gain direct and guaranteed admission into most of the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education’s graduate programs. Reserved seats are available in the department’s M.S.Ed. in Kinesiology and Physical Education and M.S. in Sport Management degrees. The upcoming master’s program in Athletic Training, which involves a strict vetting process...

Excessive sitting, some say, is the new smoking – in other words, something that insidiously contributes to shortening a lifespan. Indeed, says Emerson Sebastião, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, at least one decade of research into physical activity behavior shows that “sitting too much is going to be...

Jeff Maveus had spent his professional years at DeKalb Genetics, feeling secure and content in his position with the Corporate Services Department. That changed when Monsanto purchased the company in 1998. “I knew it was just a matter of time before I wasn’t going to have a job,” says Maveus, who lives in Cortland. Pondering...

  Paul Wright has no problem stirring a lively conversation. Not only is NIU’s EC Lane and MN Zimmerman Endowed Professor in Kinesiology and Physical Education a deft moderator, but the students in his KNPE 399: Sport and Diplomacy course are Honors Program students. They’re opinionated, they’re smart and they want to talk. Beyond that,...