In 2016, when he graduated from the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology’s Department of Engineering Technology, Alex Dawson received the Outstanding Student Award for Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering Technology. Since then, he’s worked at an impressive lineup of highly respected corporations: Hormel Foods, General Mills, Eli Lilly and, since the start of...
On January 10, 1990 the NIU Jazz Ensemble (now known as the NIU Jazz Orchestra) played a concert at the iconic Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet, Illinois. The band had by then established a reputation as one of the very best collegiate jazz bands in the nation, a distinction it still holds today. Under the...
“This isn’t about struggling. This is about succeeding.” Matt Mattox is the director of the Huskie Academic Success Center (HASC) at NIU. Mattox describes the center as a resource for students that encourages Huskies to aim for excellence in their academic pursuits. This aligns with the following, from NIU’s University Goals: “We will hold ourselves...
Maggie Kollker, ’08, executive director of marketing strategy for Community Development Banking at JPMorgan Chase, never thought she’d work in corporate America. During Kollker’s youth, the experiences she held close to her heart—and were representative of her values—were with nonprofit organizations. Growing up in Downers Grove, Illinois, she participated in various projects with the Girl Scouts...
Sherrill Morris is the new associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Health and Human Sciences. Morris, who has served many roles, brings more than 20 years of NIU experience to the college. “One of the things I love about the NIU leadership roles I have held is considering all stakeholders, solving problems,...
The Northern Illinois University Latinx Oral History Project is having a milestone year. From celebrating 10 years of documenting the Latinx experience in the Midwest through interviews to receiving a $348,000 award from the National Endowment for the Humanities to preserve and digitize the project. “There is no oral history depository that centers on Latinos...
Electric vehicles (EVs) are quiet, clean and generally pretty awesome. But any EV owner who has taken a long trip and waited 30 minutes or more to charge the battery knows there’s room for improvement. NIU Chemistry Professor Tao Li has been working to reduce that charging time and improve charge longevity by gaining a...
James Cohen James Cohen remembers well the closing moments of the first Social Justice Summer Camp for Educators in 2017. The plan for the future, as announced by Cohen and his fellow camp counselors from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was to host the event on a biannual basis. But the unexpected reaction from...
In 2006, when he received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from the Department of Engineering Technology (TECH) in NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET), Dan Carlock was “done” academically. Or so he thought. In 2020, aided by his employer’s reimbursement for pursuing a master’s degree in Industrial Management and Technology, he...
Marty Johnstone, ’09, M.B.A. ’21, is a compassionate leader in the NIU alumni community—he’s all heart and ALL Huskie. “My friends will tell you that I breathe and bleed NIU,” Johnstone said. The NIU community has always played a pivotal role in shaping Johnstone’s identity and contributing to his happiness, which makes serving as the...
Earning a Ph.D. is never easy, but life is good for McHenry native Alec Lancaster, an NIU physics student who for the past two years has been stationed at the world-renowned CERN laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. “It’s pretty normal for (NIU) physics Ph.D. students to be stationed elsewhere, mainly while we...
The NIU Alumni Association (NIUAA) has appointed seven new members to its board of directors. These individuals assumed their new roles on July 1, 2024. Additionally, Marty Johnstone, ’09, M.B.A. ’21, most recently vice president, has been named the new board president. “I am looking forward to leading this incredible group of passionate Huskie alumni,”...
