NIU Today

One of the hallmarks of higher education is the incredible immersion it provides students from different backgrounds and walks of life into a sea of rich and diverse perspectives. Young and old scholars from small towns, suburban villages and urban cities from across our nation, and from countries far beyond our borders, all come here...

Leaders in Ethics and Academic Discipline (LEAD), an NIU College of Business student organization, will host NIU President Doug Baker for a Huskie Ethical Awareness Talk. Baker will speak on “Ethically Inspired Leadership: The Student Perspective” from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, in Barsema Hall 200. LEAD is a component of the BELIEF...

Politics basked in the spotlight Tuesday – Super Tuesday – as the seven candidates vying to occupy the Oval Office for the next four years gained some clarity of where their efforts stand. Amid the stump speeches and the victory speeches, however, one message communicated Tuesday voiced not only genuine optimism for tomorrow but also...

Two pieces of information released this week – a letter to the state Higher Learning Commission and a bond rating update from Moody’s – offer a glimpse into the relative financial strength of Northern Illinois University as it continues to cope with the ongoing budget stalemate in Springfield. In the letter to the HLC, NIU...

Following nearly nine months without a state budget, it’s understandable that the political standstill in Springfield continues to weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of our university community. We’ve seen that on the faces of our students, including Briana Smith, who joined me on the stage last week during our Unity Rally for a...

NIU can survive through the fall semester without a resolution of the Springfield gridlock that has caused an eight-month state budget impasse, NIU President Doug Baker told a town hall meeting audience Tuesday. But Baker doubts the “epic battle” between the governor and the legislature will last that long. “They’re locked in this, and we’re...

NIU President Doug Baker will host a town hall meeting from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center. The meeting offers an opportunity for university faculty, staff and students to engage in a conversation with university leadership about important initiatives and issues. A live stream is...

Almost immediately upon my arrival at NIU, I set forth Ethically Inspired Leadership as one of the pillars that would support all of my administration’s efforts on behalf of the university. Key to delivering on this commitment is to be clear and transparent in our response to issues raised about our stewardship of university resources....

When Illinois Gov. John Peter Altgeld approved funding in the spring of 1895 to open two new “normal schools” to prepare teachers in northern and eastern Illinois, many cities in our region engaged in a spirited competition to win those prizes. Loyal residents of DeKalb, like their counterparts in Dixon, Freeport, Fulton, Oregon, Polo and...

As we return to our critical work of teaching and learning this week, national media attention is focused on our state’s budget crisis and its possible impact on Illinois higher education. In spite of the severe challenges for some schools, let me reassure you that NIU will fully operate through the fiscal year. When I...

The city of DeKalb is one of 15 communities from across the nation to advance to the next round of the $10 million America’s Best Communities competition. Officials from Frontier Communications announced Wednesday that DeKalb has advanced to the competition’s semifinals in pursuit of the grand prize of up to $3 million. The competition is...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of vision, courage and cautious optimism. “We have come a long, long way,” he told an audience Feb. 10, 1966, inside Illinois Wesleyan University’s Fred Young Fieldhouse, “but we have a long, long way to go.” Visiting Chicago that August to encourage desegregation of its neighborhoods, he...