NIU’s Center for Nongovernmental Organizations Leadership and Development (NGOLD) will host an open house from noon to 3 p.m. Monday in Zulauf Hall 114.

To coincide with the open house, NGOLD will host an information session on the new Community Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE) major from 2 to 2:45 p.m. in Reavis Hall Room 103.

The open house will provide students with an opportunity to learn more about the NGOLD center and about the CLCE major. The open house will also include free food and giveaways. NGOLD Director Judith Hermanson said the main goal of the open house is for students to chat with NGOLD staff members to connect their passions with their futures.

“NGOLD provides a place where theory and practice come together around non-profits and civic engagement,” Hermanson said. “This deepens their learning, gives them a chance to contribute and develops skills that employers are looking for. We’re leading students to be the problem-solvers of tomorrow.”

Hermanson said she chose to hold the open house now that the Illinois Board of Higher Education approved the CLCE major. NGOLD Center was created last year to oversee the CLCE program. While the CLCE major was approved in August, Hermanson said students were signed up under a contract major option until the CLCE major was approved.

“Since announcing our approved major at the beginning of the semester, we’ve had a multitude of students express interest and sign up for the major,” Hermanson said. “We are confident that this interdisciplinary major is what many students are looking for.”

The CLCE is an interdisciplinary major that provides students with training to lead, work for or collaborate with nonprofit organizations. Many of the courses are taught by faculty from the NGOLD center. The major offers a variety of different focus areas including advocacy, enterprise, the environment, global engagement and the arts and humanities.

“The CLCE major [at NIU] is one of two or three programs in the U.S. that offers an undergraduate degree in this field,” said Nancy Castle, health and human science professor. “That makes NIU unique in recognizing the need for people to be trained to work in this area. When I worked in direct services, I had to learn about how to do things by the seat of my pants. The CLCE major provides the additional background I wish I had back then.”