NIU Today

Shannon McCarragher is in a class of her own – literally. Last month, the NIU doctoral student successfully completed her degree requirements and became the first Ph.D. graduate of the Department of Geography. “It’s the culmination of an educational goal that I set for myself about 10 years ago as an undergraduate, so it feels...

Northern Illinois University announced the selection of Vernese Edghill-Walden, current City Colleges of Chicago provost and chief academic officer, as the senior associate vice president for academic diversity and chief diversity officer. Edghill-Walden is the first to hold this position, which reports to both the president and the executive vice president and provost and is...

Recently NPR ran a rather interesting competition of man versus machine. This 21st century version of the John Henry legend pit NPR reporter Scott Horsely against Automated Insights’ Wordsmith, an algorithm designed to assemble original news stories by accessing data residing in the cloud. What this little experiment demonstrated is not what you might expect....

Current and prospective Northern Illinois University students, alumni and fans converged on U.S. Cellular field Wednesday evening, June 17, for NIU Night with the White Sox, as the Sox played host to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The first 1,500 fans who purchased their tickets through the NIU web link received a co-branded White Sox and NIU baseball...

Fresh off of the May 29 crowning Rockford’s Auburn High School as champions of the inaugural Bergstrom Stateline Quiz Bowl, the program is being renewed for three more years. WTVO Channel 17 and WQRF FOX 39 along with Bergstrom, Inc. have committed to the popular half-hour television show through the 2018 school year. It also...

“From Theory to Action: ‘Good Enough’ Digital Preservation Solutions for Under-Resourced Cultural Heritage Institutions” is the recipient of the Preservation Publication Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The award will be presented at a ceremony during the SAA Annual Meeting in Cleveland, scheduled from Aug. 16 to 22. Established in 1993, this...

The Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) has announced the appointment of NIU alumnus Brian W. Caputo, chief financial officer and city treasurer of the City of Aurora, to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Caputo holds two NIU degrees: a master of public administration degree and a Ph.D. in political science...

The NIU community is mourning the loss of two prominent retired faculty members, each of whom left an indelible mark on the university. Rodney Angotti, former chair of computer science, died June 6, in DeKalb. Clyde Kimball, a distinguished research professor of physics, died June 3, in Corvallis, Ore. “Rod and Clyde were powerful forces,...

A Northern Illinois University instructor and four of his students played a unique role in helping the residents of tornado-devastated Fairdale begin restore their lives. Geomatics instructor Kory Allred and his students, along with other members of the Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association, re-surveyed parcels of land – a critical starting point in rebuilding homes....

NIU undergraduates Suzanne Serrano, Steven Smith and Ricardo Soto are beginning today a two-week summer research program on indigenous Mexican studies in Guadalajara, Mexico. Students will conduct their research at the Archivo de la Real Audiencia, the Spanish empire’s Royal Court Archive, now held in Jalisco’s public library. They will study criminal and civil court...

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...

Helping students pursue their dreams can prove difficult, especially with the interdisciplinary nature of environmental education. NIU’s Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and Energy (ESE Institute) is bringing together environmental educators, especially from two-year colleges, to build a northern Illinois environmental education network. The ESE Institute will host the Regional Summit on...