Judy Santacaterina, an adviser for Liberal Arts and Sciences, has touched the lives of many NIU students, staff and faculty members during the course of her nearly three decades with NIU.

She was recently recognized by her colleagues, who nominated and elected her as a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence.

“Judy is the best embodiment of what NIU really is,” said Sue Doederlein, associate dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who has known Santacaterina since Santacaterina was a 19-year-old undergraduate at NIU. Doederlein considers her one of her “daughters.”

Santacaterina attended NIU as an undergraduate in the 1970s. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she briefly taught middle school in Rochelle and Elgin. After completing her master’s degree, she started teaching at NIU in the early 1980s. As she put it, she’s been “part of the team for 30 years.”

Besides teaching in the communication department, Santacaterina is the coach of the forensics team and an adviser in the bachelor of general studies degree program. She also speaks at orientations and helps with the Honors Program retreat.

“I’m grateful to NIU for allowing me to wear all of these different hats,” she said. “Northern has just allowed me to explore all these different facets of my career.”

Doederlein nominated Santacaterina for the award.

“Other people said, ‘I didn’t know she’s been nominated. We thought she’d already won the award,'” Doerderlein said. “When you’re talking about excellence on a presidential level, you think of Judy.”

Nancy Castle, professor of communicative disorders, has known Santacaterina since they were both undergraduates living in Lincoln Hall.

“She is a Huskie,” Castle said. “She is sort of a one-woman PR machine for NIU.”

Santacaterina represented the entire faculty of NIU when she spoke at the Feb. 24 Memorial Service at the Convocation Center. Santacaterina, whose whole career revolves around words, couldn’t find the words to describe the experience. She became emotional thinking about it.

During the preparation for her speech, Santacaterina wanted to make sure she knew the phrase “Forward, Together Forward” in sign language so deaf audience members would be able to understand, Castle said.

“In a time when emotions are high, she was thinking about other people,” Castle said. “That just stands out for me as being one of the most unselfish things someone could do.”

According to those who know her, Santacaterina represents NIU on a daily basis.

“NIU is my second family,” Santacaterina said. “It is a place where I grew up; I established long-lasting relationships; where I have a family history. It’s my home. I mean this.”

Santacaterina said she has “been blessed to work with so many different types of people in so many different types of contexts.”

She was one of four NIU staff members to receive the award.

The Northern Star will feature an NIU staff member each Tuesday, with the first four being the recipients of the Presidential Award of Excellence. To submit a teacher or staff member feature request, e-mail [email protected].