Fred Gruber was recently appointed acting assistant dean of international and special programs.

He will have the position through August.

Owen Jones, former assistant dean, retired from the position on Jan. 1. Jones held the position for 15 years. He died in Florida Feb. 10.

The assistant dean oversees NIU’s foreign study program which was the sixth largest in the nation in 1985-86. Presently, Gruber is learning about the programs and concentrating on the operation of the summer programs initiated by Jones.

The department’s programs encompass student teaching and internships and independent study opportunities in more than 25 countries in various fields.

Gruber has a diverse educational background which he feels brings a “different flavor” to how he views a lot of problems and gives him a “base for program development.” Gruber started in secondary education by teaching history, social studies and geography.

He did his graduate work in secondary education and curriculum with an emphasis in traffic and school safety. He was a safety education consultant for the DeKalb Program Services Team of the Illinois Office of Education.

This team was responsible for working with school districts and the Illinois State School Board in curriculum areas.

Gruber also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie for three years before coming to NIU. He has been an associate professor of industry and technology since 1978. He was acting chair for the department of technology (1985-1987) prior to the development of the College of Engineering.

Gruber sees a “real potential for the development of foreign study programs at Northern and beyond.” He hopes to integrate many more academic areas into foreign study opportunities.

This expansion could be applied to engineering and technology. He said he will look to his colleagues in the College of Engineering for contacts to establish new foreign study programs as well as consulting with the other colleges.

He feels a foreign study opportunity is “necessary for individuals going into technology as well as humanities to understand the cultural implications and the variations we have in our international climate.”