DeKALB – The first Faculty Senate meeting of the 2024-2025 academic year occurred at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium.
In March 2024, the Higher Learning Commission visited NIU for their 10-year evaluation. NIU received accreditation, and the next comprehensive review will be in 2034.
Laurie Elish-Piper, executive vice president and provost, said NIU met most of the accreditation criteria fully.
“There are five criteria on which we were evaluated, and under them, there were 18 specific competencies or specific core areas, and 17 of the 18 we met fully,” Elish-Piper said. “One we met with concerns, which was probably not a surprise to anyone.”
The specific competency that was met with concern was about NIU’s finances.
“We have to submit interim reporting on our finances to show that we’re implementing the plan that was approved by the Board of Trustees, and we’re making progress in terms of closing our budget deficit, and that needs to be submitted in October of 2026,” Elish-Piper said.
HUSKIES VOTE INITIATIVE
Michaela Holtz, the executive director of strategy, impact and academic partnerships, gave a presentation about the Huskie Vote Initiative.
The Huskie Vote initiative encourages students to vote. The initiative was enacted at NIU in 2018 and is part of the ALL IN Democracy Challenge.
“The ALL IN Democracy Challenge is a national non-partisan organization that is providing institutions with benchmarking and the opportunity to be recognized as a campus who is doing this work,” Holtz said.
The Huskie Vote Initiative will host upcoming events such as a presidential debate watch party from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 10 in the Huskie Den at the Holmes Student Center. Huskies Vote will also be doing tabling from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 17 at MLK Commons, Holmes Student Center, dining halls and the Peters Campus Life Building in order to encourage students to register to vote.
For more information about the Huskie Vote Initiative, students can visit go.niu.edu/huskies-vote for more information.
REAL TALK CONFERENCE
The Real Talk Conference will occur from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Holmes Student Center. The conference is being led by the Division of Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Division of Student Affairs.
“The theme for the 2024 conference is ‘Opening Pathways to Embrace Our Humanity’ which represents the ability to enact transformative change through access to opportunities for learning, truth-telling, trust and relationship building,” according to the NIU website.
The event will be free for NIU faculty, students and staff. The cost for non-NIU affiliated students, staff and community members is $99.
Once registration opens, people will be able to register on the NIU website.
The next Faculty Senate meeting will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 2 at Altgeld Hall Auditorium. The agenda is posted prior to each meeting and minutes are posted following each meeting on NIU’s website.
