Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
DeKalb, Illinois
DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian-French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died ...
. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor
John P. Altgeld
John Peter Altgeld (December 30, 1847 – March 12, 1902) was an American politician and the 20th Governor of Illinois, serving from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democrat to govern that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Progr ...
as part of an expansion of the state's system for producing college-educated teachers. In addition to the main campus in DeKalb, it has satellite centers in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
,
Naperville,
Rockford, and
Oregon, Illinois.
The university is composed of seven
degree-granting colleges
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a University system, constituent part of one. A college may be a academic degree, degree-awarding Tertiary education, tertiary educational institution, a part of a coll ...
and has a student body of approximately 16,000 with over 240,000 alumni. NIU is one of only two public universities in Illinois that compete in the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athlete, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic sports, ...
at the highest levels of all sports,
Division I. The university's athletic teams are known as the
Huskies and compete in the
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twe ...
(MAC).
History
Northern Illinois University was founded as part of the expansion of the
normal school
A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...
program established in 1857 in
Normal, Illinois
Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh mos ...
. In 1895, the state legislature created a board of trustees for the governance of the Northern Illinois State Normal School, which would grow into what is today known as NIU.
In July 1917, the Illinois Senate consolidated the boards of trustees for the five state normal schools (
Eastern Illinois State Normal School
Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...
,
Illinois State Normal School
Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...
, Northern Illinois State Normal School,
Southern Illinois State Normal University, and
Western Illinois State Normal School
Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College.
History
Western Illin ...
) into one state Normal School Board.
Over the next fifty-eight years, the school and the governing board changed their names several times. In 1921, the legislature gave the institution the name Northern Illinois State Teachers College and empowered it to award the four-year Bachelor of Education degree. In 1941, the Normal School Board changed its name to the Teachers College Board. In 1951 the Teachers College Board authorized the college to grant the degree Master of Science in Education, and the institution's Graduate School was established. On July 1, 1955, the state legislature renamed the college Northern Illinois State College and authorized the college to broaden its educational services by offering academic work in areas other than teacher education. The Teachers College Board granted permission for the college to add curricula leading to the degrees Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. On July 1, 1957, the Seventieth
General Assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of pres ...
renamed Northern Illinois State College as Northern Illinois University in recognition of its expanded status as a
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...
university.
In 1965, the Illinois State Teachers College Board became the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities and was reorganized to include Northeastern University, Governor's State, and Chicago State Universities. In 1967 authority for Northern Illinois University, Illinois State University, and Sangamon State University were passed on to a newly formed board of regents. In 1984, the board created the position of chancellor for the three regent universities to act as a chief executive for all three schools; the first person appointed chancellor was then-NIU President
William R. Monat
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...
. The board of regents and the chancellor governed the three regency universities until the end of 1995. On January 1, 1996, authority for each of the three regency universities was transferred to three independent boards of trustees, each concerned solely with one university.
On February 14, 2008, the university drew international attention when a
gunman opened fire in a crowd of students on campus, killing five students and injuring 17 more people, before fatally shooting himself.
University presidents
13 presidents have served at the university.
* John Williston Cook (1899–1919)
* J. Stanley Brown (1919–1927)
* Joseph Clifton Brown (1927–1929)
* Karl L. Adams (1929–1948)
* Leslie A. Holmes (1949–1967)
* Rhoten A. Smith (1967–1971)
* Richard J. Nelson (1971–1978)
* William R. Monat (1978–1984)
* Clyde Wingfield (1985–1986)
* John E. La Tourette (1986–2000)
* John G. Peters (2000–2013)
* Douglas D. Baker (2013–2017)
* Lisa C. Freeman (2017–present)
Academics
NIU has seven degree-granting colleges that together offer more than 60
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...
majors, 70 minors, nine pre-professional programs, and 79
graduate programs, including
a College of Law, and 24 areas of study leading to
doctoral
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...
degrees. Many of NIU's academic programs are nationally accredited for meeting the highest standards of academic quality and rigor, including business, engineering, nursing, visual and performing arts, and all teacher certification programs. New interdisciplinary academic programs in Environmental Studies and Community Leadership and Civic Engagement were established in FY 2012.
Rankings
In 2021, Northern Illinois University was ranked the 97th top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index college rankings. NIU is classified as a "National University" by ''
U.S. News & World Report'' and ranked number 177 out of 206 ranked National Universities (75 National Universities were left unranked). The same publication also ranked NIU as 41st best in the country for Public Affairs programs,
and within that field, NIU's program in City Management & Urban Policy was ranked 3rd in the nation and the Public Finance & Budgeting program at 12th.
''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' magazine placed NIU as number 386 on its list of 600 universities in 2021.
Science and research
NIU is
classified
Classified may refer to:
General
*Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive
*Classified advertising or "classifieds"
Music
*Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper
*The Classified, a 1980s American roc ...
among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university is also a member of the
Universities Research Association
The Universities Research Association is a non-profit association of more than 90 research universities, primarily but not exclusively in the United States. It has members also in Japan, Italy, and in the United Kingdon. It was founded in 1965 ...
that manages several federal physics laboratories including
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been operat ...
in
Batavia, Illinois
Batavia () is a city mainly in Kane County and partly in DuPage County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in the Chicago metropolitan area, it was founded in 1833 and is the oldest city in Kane County. Per the 2020 census, the population ...
. The university is expanding its program in accelerator technology.
Established in 1963, Northern Illinois University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies
(CSEAS) is currently one of seven federally recognized National Resource Centers (NRC) for Southeast Asian foreign language and area studies. NIU has been awarded the Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships since 1974 and Undergraduate NRC grants since 1997. NIU's CSEAS operates within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and offers an undergraduate minor and a graduate concentration in Southeast Asian studies, enrolling more than 1,500 students each year.
Campus
The main campus sits on 756 acres in
DeKalb and includes 64 major buildings. Additional campus sites include, the Lorado Taft Field Campus (144 acres), Rockford Campus (10 acres), and the Naperville Campus (11.2 acres).
One of the most prominent buildings on campus is the castle-like Altgeld Hall. It is one of the five castle-themed buildings built according to the suggestion of Governor
John Peter Altgeld
John Peter Altgeld (December 30, 1847 – March 12, 1902) was an American politician and the 20th Governor of Illinois, serving from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democrat to govern that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Pro ...
. The auditorium in Altgeld Hall, which was designed to also function as a ballroom, was restored and can seat up to 500. On the level below the auditorium, the original gym was transformed into a computer classroom. Also on the same level is the NIU Art Museum which occupies two large spaces.
The East Lagoon near Altgeld is a spot on campus.
Barsema Hall, which houses the College of Business, opened its doors in 2002. This 144,000 square-foot facility houses modern classrooms, faculty offices, several computer labs, a large atrium at the center of the building as well as a 375-seat auditorium.
The Holmes Student Center houses several lounges, computer labs, restaurants, and the University Bookstore. It is home to the Huskies Den, which features bowling, billiards, a video arcade and
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
gaming. The Holmes Student Center also houses a 78-room hotel. The lower level of the Holmes Student Center reopened after renovations were completed in January 2020. The renovations include a convenience store, the University Bookstore, a Starbucks, the Huskie Den Grill, bowling & billiards, and a wealth of seating.
Residence halls
NIU's residence halls (including two complexes with four 12-story towers each) provide several living options to on-campus students. Living-learning floors include the Health Professions House; Business Careers House; Teacher Education and Certification House (TEACH); Honors House; International House; Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) House; and Fine Arts House. Other floor options include all-men, all-women, transfers, quiet lifestyle and alcohol-free.
Northern View Community, which opened in 2008, offers apartments to undergraduate students who are at least two years post-high school, graduate students, law students, or any student who has a dependent and/or a partner or spouse.
The New Residence Hall, a 1,000-bed complex just north of Lincoln Hall, opened to all students in the fall of 2012. It features two residential buildings where students can live in clusters of 12.
After an extensive renovation, Grant C Tower reopened in the fall of 2011 with completely new accommodations and furnishings for NIU students. Gilbert Hall, which had not been used as a residence hall since 1995, underwent a complete renovation and re-opened in the fall of 2013. Grant D Tower was renovated and re-opened in the fall of 2013.
Douglas Hall, a part of the pair of residence halls Lincoln-Douglas, was demolished by the spring of 2016. Lucinda Avenue has been extended and used since the spring of 2016. This is a part of the master plan to create a new campus.
Residence halls in use:
* Gilbert Hall
* Grant Towers
* Neptune Hall
* New Residence Hall
* Northern View
* Stevenson Towers
Athletic facilities
On the west side of campus is
Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium
Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium is a college football stadium in the central United States, located on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Opened in 1965, it is the home field of the NIU Huskies of the Mid-Ameri ...
, the home of NIU football games, which also often hosts other outdoor events. Huskie Stadium, which has a seating capacity over 30,000, is surrounded by large open grassy areas which provide recreation, and also serve as the
tailgating lots for football games. There is also a baseball field,
Ralph McKinzie Field; a softball field, Mary M. Bell Field; a soccer field, Huskie Soccer Complex; and tennis courts, Gullikson Tennis Courts, which flank Huskie Stadium.
At the stadium's north end zone are two athletic buildings. The first is the $14-million Jeffrey and Kimberly Yordon Academic and Athletic Performance Center, whose namesakes donated $2.5 million in the fall of 2006 to help with the construction. The facility opened in August 2007. The second is the Kenneth and Ellen Chessick Indoor Practice Center, an 80,600-square-foot practice facility that houses the football, baseball, and softball teams. Ground was broken for the building in November 2012 and it was completed in October 2013.
The Student Recreation Center is the main facility for Recreation Services. The building, serving approximately 2,000 patrons daily, features services to meet students' recreation, fitness and wellness needs.
The residence halls, located in the same area as the athletic facilities, are also flanked by numerous sand volleyball areas, a large quad between the dorms, basketball courts, skating courts, Eco Lake, and open fields for recreation.
On the far west side of campus is the
Convocation Center
A convocation (from the Latin '' convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Greek ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a special purpose, mostly ecclesiastical or academic. The Bri ...
, a 10,000 seat arena opened in 2002. The Convocation Center hosts NIU men's and women's basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, and volleyball, Victor E. Court, games, the opening convocation ceremony for incoming freshmen, music concerts, and a variety of events throughout the year including job fairs, internship fairs, and other expositions.
At the corner of Annie Glidden Road and Lucinda Avenue is the
Chick Evans Field House
The Chick Evans Field House is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in DeKalb, Illinois, USA. The arena opened in 1956 and was home to the Northern Illinois University Huskies basketball team prior to the 2002 opening of the Convocation Center. It w ...
, home to two large activity rooms with mirrors often used by dance clubs; a three-lane, 1/7-mile jogging and walking track; four multipurpose courts for basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer and floor hockey; and a cardio- and strength-training room, which has been under-used since the basketball team moved to the Convocation Center. The field house continues to host expositions and sporting events of a smaller scale, and is the headquarters for the campus
ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
program.
Two swimming pools are located in Anderson and Gabel Halls.
Student life
Programs
NIU's Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management hosts numerous programs to enhance students' learning and living experience on campus.
The Orientation and First Year Programs office (OFP) hosts UNIV 101 (University Experience) and UNIV 201 (The Transfer Experience), which provide an introduction to college. These elective 1-credit, 12-week courses are designed to help new students adjust to NIU and develop the skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond. During the fall of 2009, more than 62 percent of the freshman class enrolled in a UNIV 101 course.
A new Academic Advising Center works with "undecided" students from the time they arrive on campus during orientation until they select a major. The student-centered staff advises students as they develop specialized academic plans compatible with student educational and life goals.
Resource centers serve African-American, Asian-American and Latino students as well as off-campus and non-traditional students, military veterans, lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender students.
Among the many services of the office of Student Involvement & Leadership Development are opportunities for local and far-reaching volunteerism, including NIU Cares Day, Rake Across DeKalb and alternative spring break programs.
The Counseling & Student Development Center supports the academic, emotional, social and cultural development of students through counseling, assessment, crisis response, outreach, consultation, training and educational services.
Health Enhancement provides health promotion information, materials and interventions. The staff includes four health educators and a health consultant.
The Huskie Bus Line, the largest student-run university bus system in Illinois, operates seven days a week while school is in session during the fall and spring semesters. On the weekends it runs a different route. There is a system that allows one to track the location of Huskie Buses online in real-time.
Facilities
NIU's Campus Child Care Center offers care to children aged two months to five years, along with a summer school program for children ages 6 to 8. Enrollment is secured on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given first to currently enrolled families, followed by NIU students, NIU faculty and staff, and the community. The center is licensed through the State of Illinois and accredited through the Academy of Early Childhood Program Accreditation.
The Campus Life Building is home to the Campus Activities Board, Career Services, the Counseling and Student Development Center, the Honors Program, the ''Northern Star'' student newspaper, the Student Association, and Student Involvement and Leadership Development.
Organizations
NIU has more than 400 student organizations, including recreational sports clubs such as lacrosse, volleyball, rugby, swimming, and ice hockey. Groups embrace interests from academics, advocacy, athletics and the arts to community service, ethnicity, politics, language studies, and religion.
Panhellenic Council sororities include
Alpha Delta Pi,
Alpha Phi,
Alpha Sigma Alpha Alpha Sigma Alpha () is a United States National Panhellenic Fraternities and sororities in North America, sorority founded on November 15, 1901, at the Virginia State Female Normal School (later known as Longwood College and now known as Longwood U ...
,
Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma (), commonly known as DG, is a women's fraternity in the United States and Canada with over 250,000 initiated members. It has 150 collegiate chapters and more than 200 alumnae groups. The organization's executive office is in Columbus ...
,
Delta Zeta
Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college Fraternities and sororities in North America, sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Delta Zeta has 170 collegiate chapters in the United States and ...
,
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Kappa (, also known as SK or Sig Kap) is a sorority founded on November 9, 1874 at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
In 1874, Sigma Kappa was founded by five women: Mary Caffrey Low Carver, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Mabel Fuller Pier ...
,
Sigma Lambda Sigma,
Lambda Theta Alpha,
Sigma Lambda Gamma
Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Incorporated () (also known as Gammas or SLG) is a national sorority. It was founded on April 9, 1990, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, by five collegiate women who wanted an organization to em ...
, and
Sigma Sigma Sigma
Sigma Sigma Sigma (), also known as Tri Sigma, is a national American women's sorority.
Sigma Sigma Sigma is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), an umbrella organization encompassing 26 national sororities or women's fratern ...
.
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...
fraternities and sororities include
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen st ...
,
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...
,
Delta Sigma Theta,
Iota Phi Theta,
Kappa Alpha Psi,
Omega Psi Phi
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty ad ...
,
Phi Beta Sigma
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students with nine other Howard students as char ...
,
Sigma Gamma Rho
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority, international collegiate, and non-profit community service organization that was founded on November 12, 1922, by seven educators on the Irvington campus (1875– ...
, and
Zeta Phi Beta
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achi ...
.
Interfraternity Council fraternities include
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi (), commonly known as AEPi, is a college fraternity founded at New York University in 1913 by Charles C. Moskowitz and ten other men. The fraternity has more than 150 active chapters across the United States, Canada, United Kingdo ...
,
Alpha Kappa Lambda
Alpha Kappa Lambda (), commonly known as AKL or Alpha Kapp, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1914. Today, it operates approximately 30 active chapters and has approximately 28,000 li ...
,
Alpha Sigma Phi,
Delta Chi
Delta Chi () is an international Fraternities and sororities, Greek letter collegiate social fraternity formed on October 13, 1890, at Cornell University, initially as a professional fraternity for law students. On April 30, 1922, Delta Chi be ...
,
Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek-letter organization founded in North Americ ...
,
Phi Kappa Psi,
Phi Kappa Sigma
Phi Kappa Sigma () is an international all-male college secret society and social fraternity. While nicknames differ from institution to institution, the most common nicknames for the fraternity are Skulls, Skullhouse, Phi Kap, and PKS (the firs ...
,
Phi Kappa Theta,
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...
, Omega Delta,
Pi Kappa Phi,
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national socia ...
,
Sigma Alpha Mu,
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlvaine Riley shortly after Hopkins witnessed wh ...
, and
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an internat ...
.
United Greek Council fraternities and sororities include
alpha Kappa Delta Phi,
Alpha Phi Gamma,
Alpha Psi Lambda, Alpha Sigma Omega, Chi Sigma Tau, Gamma Phi Omega,
Kappa Delta Chi, Kappa Pi Beta,
Kappa Phi Lambda,
Lambda Upsilon Lambda,
Lambda Theta Phi,
Phi Rho Eta
Phi Rho Eta () is a nationally incorporated fraternity that was founded on August 22, 1994, at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. The founders are LaMont Taylor and Marvin Randolph.
Phi Rho Eta is based on three principles ...
,
Sigma Lambda Beta, and
Tau Phi Sigma.
Each year, several of the Greek organizations at NIU host IFC Tugs, a bracket-style athletic tournament competition similar to
tug-of-war
Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a cert ...
with a long history at Northern Illinois University. NIU Tugs was captured on film in a 1996 documentary, ''Tugs Untied'', about NIU's unique version of the sport; the 37-minute documentary won the "Best of Arizona" award at the 2000 Arizona International Film Festival.
Arts and culture
Students and faculty in NIU's College of Visual and Performing Arts host art exhibitions, musical concerts' and theatrical and dance productions throughout the year. Many are free.
The NIU Anthropology Museum was opened to the public on February 12, 2012 in Cole Hall. The Anthropology collections are extensive, with foci on North American native collections and cultural artifacts from throughout Southeast Asia.
NIU's School of Music is home to the NIU Jazz Ensemble, the NIU Steelband, and the Avalon String Quartet.
The NIU Art Museum, which has several galleries in Altgeld Hall, hosts several shows of professional works. The campus also houses the Blackwell History of Education Museum, the Burma Art Collection and the theater-based Historic Scenic Collection.
The Department of Communication sponsors the annual Reality Bytes Film Festival, created in 2002 by media studies professor Laura Vazquez to give NIU students the ability to competitively screen their work. The 2011 festival received more than 40 entries from across the country and as far away as Cuba, South Africa and Australia.
Since 2000 the Visual Communication program in the School of Art and Design has hosted the annual SEEK Design Conference, led by professor Steve Quinn. Students assist in coordinating this conference of about 200 attendees. SEEK has featured designers such as
Stefan Sagmeister
Stefan Sagmeister (born August 6, 1962) is an Austrian graphic designer, storyteller, and typographer based in New York City. In 1993, Sagmeister founded his company, Sagmeister Inc., to create designs for the music industry. He has designed al ...
,
Paula Scher,
Massimo Vignelli,
Chip Kidd,
Rick Valicenti
Rick Valicenti (born November 20, 1951) is an American graphic designer based in Chicago.
Early life and education
Rick Valicenti was born in 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1973, and later ...
,
Kyle Cooper,
Debbie Millman, Eddie Opara, and
Aaron Draplin.
Athletics
Affiliation
NIU was a member of the
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1920 to 1967. Currently, the NIU Huskies compete in NCAA Division I, FBS (I-A) for Football, in the
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twe ...
.
NIU's athletic department experienced large growth in reputation in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Almost completely unknown to observers from outside of Illinois before the mid-1990s, the Huskies were ranked as high as 10th in the 2003 AP College Football poll after victories against BCS opponents number 14 Maryland (who finished that season at number 17), number 21 Alabama and Iowa State. In 2010, NIU football had its first undefeated MAC regular season (8-0), and cracked the top 25 in Associated Press and coaches' polls. In 2012, NIU football, after winning another MAC Football Championship earned a place in the Orange Bowl and was the first team to participate in a BCS Bowl from the Mid-American Conference.
Notable alumni
See also
*
Northern Illinois University Press
*
Northern Illinois University shooting
The Northern Illinois University shooting was a school shooting that took place on Thursday, February 14, 2008, at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Steven Kazmierczak opened fire with a shotgun and three pistols in a crowd of s ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Northern Illinois Athletics website
{{authority control
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