NIU Today

J.D. Bowers believes he has found the perfect position to capitalize on his diverse teaching, administrative and service experience: associate vice provost of University Honors. Bowers begins his new job Monday, July 1. “University Honors has some of the most engaged and rigorous academic offerings, exciting programming and sustained student, faculty, staff and alumni outreach...

Wayne Duerkes and Anastasia Kocher – NIU’s inaugural University Honors Scholars – delivered the findings of their Honors Capstone projects at a public presentation and reception hosted April 25 by the University Honors Program. In attendance? The 2013 University Honors Summer Scholars: Octavio Escalante-Aguirre, Elliott Ihm and Lauren Nale. Provost Ray Alden and about 50...

Tim Ryan, assistant professor of English, is the recipient of the 2013 University Honors Great Professor Award. Ryan is a specialist in twentieth century American literature and culture, modernism, African-American literature and Southern studies. This university-wide award, which was established in 2001, recognizes a faculty or staff member who has, over time, contributed significantly to...

Members of the University Honors Program had the opportunity to meet with and ask questions of Jaron Lanier, the father of virtual reality and the keynote speaker for NIU’s 2013 Celebrating Excellence event. Lanier, named one of Time Magazine’s great minds, has spent his life devoted to researching and developing new methods of computing and...

Four candidates for the position of associate vice provost for University Honors at NIU will hold open forums Monday, May 13, and Tuesday, May 14. The finalists are David Ballentine, J.D. Bowers, Jeffrey Chown and William Pitney. NIU’s Honors Program provides an engaging educational experience for academically talented and committed students in all undergraduate colleges....

Approximately 75 students representing different facets of Northern Illinois University gathered Tuesday morning at the New Residence Hall Complex Community Center to participate in the College Challenge, which aired live on the WGN Morning News. The “Minute To Win It”-inspired feature brought WGN morning host Frank Holland to NIU’s campus, where he interviewed students and...

Northern Illinois senior Jenelle McCalla (Whitby, Ontario, Canada/Father Leo J. Austin Secondary School) was awarded the inaugural Outstanding Student-Athlete Award from NIU’s University Honors Program in a program Sunday night. The award is given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average among all other student-athletes in the University Honors Program. “It means...

Community members, students, and faculty are invited to attend the latest Travel with a Professor Series event Saturday, April 27, co-sponsored by Liberal Arts & Sciences External Programming and the University Honors Program. Participants will travel to the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and the Cambodian American Heritage Museum with NIU professor J.D. Bowers,...

The NIU Study Abroad Office, in partnership with the NIU University Honors Program, will launch “Discovering Montreal, Canada,” a short-term Study Abroad program and a Vision 2020 initiative. Undergraduates from any major who currently hold freshman or sophomore status at NIU and are members of the University Honors Program are welcome to participate. Knowledge of...

Juniors enrolled in the NIU Honors Program are eligible to apply for a distinctive summer program that paves the way to outstanding University Honors Capstone projects. The University Honors Summer Scholars Program provides two recipients each summer with the time, financial support and faculty mentoring to pursue in-depth, meaningful research or artistry during the summer...

Before Noemi Rodriguez began classes at NIU, she interned at Children’s Memorial Hospital. “I fell in love with the nurses at Children’s Memorial. I admired their work,” says Rodriguez, a sophomore nursing major from Chicago. “There are some respectable nurses, and there are bad nurses, and I will become a respectable nurse. I love the...

During the fall of 2012, University Honors students Melissa Welsh, Erica Cogswell and Isabelle Bourgeois traveled to Mexico as a part of their Management 411 class. Their instructor, Dennis Barsema, helped students develop an understanding of the basics of microfinance through various interactive activities, engaging case studies and colorful discussions. These discussions helped prepare the...