NIU President Doug Baker sent this message today to members of the university community. In the closing hours of the fiscal year, we received some very positive news to report. The governor signed into law a bill that provides higher education with badly needed financial support. For NIU it includes: $48.3 million in operating funds...

NIU President Doug Baker sent this message today to members of the university community. Mike Mann, NIU’s director of State Relations, and I were in Springfield earlier this week working with legislative leaders and the governor’s office. It’s clear that both the legislative and executive branch members understand the extreme budget challenges facing higher education...

After 10 months without a budget, legislators in Springfield today approved a stopgap funding measure for higher education that Gov. Bruce Rauner is expected to sign. Under terms of the legislation: Most universities in the state, including NIU, will receive approximately 30 percent of last year’s appropriation. For NIU, that amounts to $26.4 million. MAP...

NIU’s Student Association will sponsor a trip to Springfield Wednesday, April 13, for a full day of student activism regarding MAP grants and the state budget. The bus will depart the east side of the Holmes Student Center at 6:30 a.m. Events begin at 10 a.m. with a pump-up rally at the University of Illinois...

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...

How is the state budget impasse, now in its eighth month, hurting DeKalb County? Bianka Rios has an answer. Rios, who’s pursuing a degree in human resources from Kishwaukee College with a minor in accounting, plans to transfer to NIU. A wife, and the mother of a 3-year-old son, Rios already juggles two jobs, one...

Leaders from education, social services, business and others will join together Thursday to call upon state legislators to resolve the ongoing budget stalemate. The event, a Unity Rally for a State Budget, will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, 231 N. Annie Glidden Road in DeKalb....

Members of the the Higher Education Commission on the Future of the Workforce, including NIU President Doug Baker, will hold their inaugural meeting this afternoon in Springfield. Created by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the commission is comprised of legislators, presidents of institutions and representatives of business and industry. The group’s purpose is to:...

The NIU Board of Trustees plans to vote on a resolution at its meeting Thursday, calling upon the state’s leaders to resolve the ongoing budget crisis. The resolution points out that the lack of a state budget creates an “unsustainable financial environment which makes it nearly impossible for the university to plan for the future.”...

Leaders of the Illinois State Board of Education are celebrating NIU for awarding credit retroactively to AP students before the new law takes effect in 2016-17. As a result of House Bill 3428, signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner earlier this year, all public universities and public community colleges in Illinois must award college...

Drew VandeCreek has proven that when history meets high-tech, it’s a winning combination for visitors to DeKalb and around the world. “We recently completed a collaboration with the Ellwood House and Glidden Homestead historic sites that furnishes them with web-based video materials discussing their historical significance,” said VandeCreek, director of Digital Initiatives for the NIU...

NIU President Doug Baker emailed the campus today on the budget impasse in Springfield. Dear NIU faculty and staff, I’m sure you have seen the media coverage of a judge’s ruling against Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger’s plan to continue to pay state employees while the governor and the legislature attempt to break the budget...