NIU Today

NIU President Doug Baker and Executive Vice President and Provost Lisa Freeman will host two town hall meetings Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Holmes Student Center’s Carl Sandburg Auditorium. The meetings are intended to engage campus students and employees about program prioritization and other strategic imperatives for the university. All employees are encouraged to attend...

NIU will bestow an honorary doctoral degree this winter to Frances Whitehead, a civic practice artist and professor of sculpture and architecture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Whitehead will earn her honorary doctorate during the Graduate School commencement ceremony, scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at the NIU Convocation Center....

Before her real-life experiences captivated audiences in Fox’s hit television show “Bones,” Kathy Reichs shared her knowledge of anthropology as a visiting professor at NIU in 1974. An esteemed anthropologist and a distinguished author, Reichs will return to campus at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, as a guest speaker during the 50th anniversary celebration of...

Northern Illinois University has received reaccreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) for 10 years, the maximum period possible. The HLC is a regional agency that accredits degree granting institutions located in the 19-state north-central region of the United States. Its role is to validate the quality of an institution across multiple criteria related to...

The divisions of Academic Affairs, and Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development are combining resources to coordinate the university’s online course and program development, as well as to support student success in online-delivered programming. Meryl Sussman, recently appointed Assistant Vice President for Outreach Adult and Non-Credit Programming, will establish a new office which will draw on...

About 10 years ago, Nay Yan Oo was working toward a degree in computer science at the Government Computer College in Pathein, Myanmar. But he kept running into a major snafu – access to a computer. “I got a degree in computer science but didn’t get many chances to use the computer lab,” says the...

“This isn’t goodbye,” student trustee Elliot Echols told those in attendance after the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University recognized him for his leadership and service to NIU. “I’m a legacy here at NIU. This is where I call home.” The board’s appreciation was spelled out in the resolution presented near the end its...

by Randiss Hopkins The Save Chicago Campaign got a big boost in May, when NIU President Doug Baker called me to his office to tell me that he had spoken with the Kristin Barrett, vice-president of the 1871,a Chicago-based incubator for entrepreneurs, and that she wanted to learn more about our campaign. Just a few days later, I toured...

NIU junior Linnea Scherer hopes to change the way women are portrayed in video games, and she already has developed an impressive game concept thanks to the McKearn Summer Fellows program she participated in last year. “The McKearn Fellows Program was amazing. It was what got me to this point,” says Scherer of Elburn, a...

Warning: Brainiac alert! The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), among the largest yearly gatherings of scientists in the world, will be held this week in Chicago, and NIU expects to be well-represented. NIU students, faculty and outreach staff will be attending various events at the meeting, held Thursday,...

Just weeks after receiving formal designation as an “Innovation and Economic Prosperity University,” NIU has received one of the nation’s top awards for regional economic development. The Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) on Tuesday announced NIU as the winner of APLU’s inaugural “Place” award for “excelling in community, social, and cultural development work.”...

An accomplished scientist and able administrator with a strong record of publications and grants will step into the role of interim vice president for Research and Graduate Studies at NIU. Lesley Rigg, associate dean for research and graduate affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, steps in the role permanently held by Lisa...