NIU President John LaTourette said his recently-established advisory council of area corporate executives will help NIU become what he called a “modern land grant university.”

LaTourette said he put together his 15-member presidential advisory council last semester to enable “the development of future plans for the university and as a conduit to realize the needs of our community.”

LaTourette said, “Historically, land grant universities began in the 1860s with the original intentions of stimulating and maintaining the agricultural revolution of the time with applied research. Economic development was also furthered by such institutions.”

Land grant schools were effective through public service and community research, he said.

The council will assume an interactive role which will benefit both NIU and its surrounding community, LaTourette said.

Tom Montiegel, vice president of development and university relations, said he thinks the council will help NIU “be more responsive to the northern Illinois region.

“For example, (the council) can identify programs off campus of high need and assess our off-campus course offerings for their effectiveness,” he said.

Montiegel said he helped LaTourette identify business leaders throughout northern Illinois to serve on the council. He said many of the executives chosen come from Chicago, Rockford and Sycamore as well as DeKalb.

LaTourette said, “We wanted to pick some of the key community leaders from Rockford east to Chicago because most of our undergraduate students come from this area. Our faculty also has strong ties to the area.”

Six of the 15 council members are NIU alumni. Montiegel said the alumni representatives are particularly important to the council for their knowledge of NIU.

LaTourette said another criterion for choosing council members was “appreciation for education and its contribution to the business community.

“I’m pleased with the group we chose because of its interest in and support of NIU. Every council member has come to campus for at least one of our various cultural and athletic events,” he said.

Some of the council’s most notable members include J. Peter Jeffrey, president and chief executive officer of AMCORE Bank in Rockford, and William Downey, operating manager of Commonwealth Edison in Chicago, he said.

Formation of the council took about six months, LaTourette said. “The time period involved in planning reflected our search for a solid group of representatives,” he said.

Montiegel said the council held its first meeting at NIU in December and met again last month. He said the council’s “considerable interest in the funding of NIU” has led to the tentative scheduling of a meeting next month in Springfield.

LaTourette said council members will contact legislators in Springfield to urge them to look at the “long-perspective importance of a tax increase” in higher education funding. “Many council members already have been legislatively active in pushing for increased funding,” he said.

He said Richard Henderson, vice president for national accounts at U.S. Sprint in Rosemont and a 1968 NIU graduate, has written several letters on the needs of education in Illinois to state legislators.

The council also will serve NIU in a “public relations capacity of sorts,” Montiegel said. “Council members can assist in spreading the good word about NIU throughout the region,” he said.