Professors sometimes might seem like they’re from other planets, but NIU’s Division of Public Administration has found a way to bring them down to earth.

The division’s Web site, www.niu.edu/pub_ad/paweb.html, features pictures of the department’s faculty members participating in activities they

enjoy.

Public administration professor Irene Rubin, shown bird-watching on the site, said the pictures help “humanize” professors.

“We’re a very successful group academically, and students read what we’ve written in textbooks and journals … that’s a little intimidating for a student starting out,” she said. “When they see us doing things they would do, those are some of the hobbies they might have, too.”

Rubin said the photos turn the faculty into more of a family, making students feel more at home.

“Students love the informal pictures,” she said. “Our alums call us regularly and tell us how much they enjoy them.”

Public administration professor Gerald Gabris’ photo sparked the original interest in using more personal snapshots on the site. He is pictured with a Chinook salmon he caught during a fishing trip on the Pere Marquette River in Michigan.

“This is a beautiful river that flows into Lake Michigan, and thousands of salmon ascend it each fall to spawn,” he explained. “Fisherpersons soon follow. I guess I like to fish and use fishing stories in my teaching at times, like the one that did not get away.”

Public administration professor Bruce Rocheleau helped organize the Web site.

“The Web site pictures are intended to show another side of the faculty to students & one that students would probably not otherwise see,” Rocheleau said. “My own picture serves to illustrate my interest in running, biking and other sports, so that is a major aspect of my life when I am not doing research or teaching.”

Rubin said professors try other ways to make students feel more comfortable, such as meeting with them outside class in informal settings.

She personally tries to keep a sense of equality with her students. If she asks them about themselves, they have the right to ask her about herself, she said.

Rubin also occasionally visits the classes of her husband, sociology professor Herb Rubin, so his students can see the two of them interact and hear her responses to arguments he may have mentioned previously.