A dedication ceremony for the new office of NIU’s Business and Industry Services (BIS) program will take place at 8 a.m. today in Oak Brook.

More than 60 chief executive officers and presidents of Illinois businesses will attend the dedication ceremony. The day will begin at 7:30 a.m. with a buffet breakfast for the early arrivers.

NIU President John La Tourette then will present an introductory speech followed by a dedication speech from U.S. Senator Paul Simon, who is chair of the subcommittee on employment and productivity.

The reason for the move is the rapid growth of the BIS program at NIU.

“We’ve been so successful that we had to relocate,” said Dr. Charles Trott, director of the Center for Governmental Studies. “We have expanded.”

The new offices will include a new training program called “Total Quality Management”. The program was first introduced through the NIU Center for Governmental Studies in September of 1991. Since then, over 600 corporations have received training.

The idea of the program is to combine the focuses on economic development and human resource policy.

The BIS program will include a feature called a one-stop shop, which will address employee culture surveys, training grants, complete assessments with customer surveys, basic skills assessments of the shop floor and company-wide customized training from the president.

Another feature of the program is the connection it has with industries such as the Illinois Manufactures’ Association, the Illinois AFL-CIO and the Home Builder’s Association of Greater Chicago.

The program will benefit the university by making connections with national as well as international businesses.

“The long-term impact on the university will produce friends because it helps other companies,” Trott said.

The ceremony also celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Center of Governmental Studies.

“We have been dedicated for nearly a quarter of a century to excellence in applied study at the center,” Trott said.