Students who may be called into military action should start planning to leave the university prior to completing the academic term.

The only exception for not withdrawing is if the call to active duty is near the end of the term, since most of the course requirements are completed. In this case, students should see their specific teachers for instructions on what they can do.

All students who are members of military reserve units called into duty are eligible to receive a refund of payments made for tuition and student fees, excluding health insurance fees, materials fees and delivery fees.

Linda Dersch, assistant director for Student Financial Aid, said that students called to military action need to go through a complete withdrawal process, but the amount of reimbursed money they will receive depends on what time during the term they are called to service.

"Aid is based on need, so students called to service won't be affected in applying for financial aid," Dersch said. "Students shouldn't wait until they return to apply for aid though. They should apply early like everyone else if they know they will be back for the next semester so state funds don't run out."

Would you like to improve your test-taking skills in one hour?

You may be able to do just that Wednesday night.

From 7 to 8 p.m., NIU's Career Counseling Center and the University Resources for Latinos will offer a workshop, "Ace-ing It: Test-Taking Strategies that Won't Chew Up Your Pencil," on ways for students to become better test takers.

The workshop will be held at the Latino Center, 515 Garden Road.

"My main goal for the workshop is for students to come out of it with a better ability to take tests," said Brian Pillsbury, coordinator for the Career Counseling Center and presenter at the workshop.

"I'm going to be improving students' knowledge of knowing what types of tests their about to take, such as multiple choice and true/false tests," Pillsbury said. "Students need to be familiar with what material they need to know and how to lower their anxiety levels while taking their tests."

The Career Counseling Center has had a lot of other outreach workshops like this, working together with several on-campus groups, such as the University Resources for Latinos on similar topics.

"The counseling center's main objective comes from a variety of different groups," Pillsbury said. "The real objective for us is to connect with the university."

Pillsbury said he is hoping to attract more than 20 students, which is more than past seminars.

"Since the workshop will be held at the Latino Center," Pillsbury said, "I'm hoping that other students come as well. I certainly hope anyone who takes a test will come and take advantage of this."

Refreshments will be served afterward. The workshop is free for all students.

After finishing the MAC regular season in a three-way tie for first place, the NIU wrestling team took second place in the MAC Championships on March 9.

NIU finished the MAC Championships with 70.5 points. Central Michigan took the crown as it tallied 93 points in the two-day tourney.

Both the Huskies and the Chippewas had the same amount of conference champions, with three apiece.

"This is a tough tournament," coach Dave Grant said. "The thing that we have to key on is the fact that we have three champions. We won a third of the titles and that's impressive."

NIU's 157-pound Scott Owen, 184-pound Ben Heizer and 133-pound Sam Hiatt all won their weight-classes. Josh Wooton, a 141-pounder, took second to earn a wild-card spot. Marlon Felton, a 125-pounder, was selected as an alternate.

Owen faced Eastern Michigan's Chad Roush in his first-round match-up. After a quick takedown, it took Owen only 26 seconds to pin him.

After the quick disposal of Roush, the second-ranked Owen took on CMU's David Bolyard and won with a final of 14-3.

In the championship match, Owen beat Buffalo's Labe Black 22-8. With his dominating performances, the sixth-year senior won his second-straight Most Outstanding Wrestler at the MAC Championships.

"I had the same philosophy as I always have," Owen said. "It's always attack, attack, attack. I also like to be on the move and score a lot of points. That's good for me. I just tried to keep scoring and it worked out."

Heizer had a first-round bye and faced Buffalo's Garrett Bontempo in the second round.

Heizer said that match was a "control match" and won easily with a final of 8-0.

From there he went on to to grapple with CMU's Russ Vanderheyden in the championship.

Heizer said he was a little flustered after Vanderheyden took a 3-0 lead and had to refocus in that match. Heizer went on to take a 6-5 victory for the title.

"I was still a little rusty," Heizer said. "But, I still have a couple of weeks before Nationals. I don't feel it was a good performance on my part, but I still got the win."

Hiatt beat Kent State's Drew Opfer 10-4 in his first match, won a tight match against UB's Mike Trotta 4-2 before heading to the title match.

In the title match, he met Anthony Carrizales from Ohio, who beat Hiatt last year in the MAC Championships. The match went back-and-forth with Hiatt eventually winning 6-5. Being crowned champion was special for Hiatt, especially since it was on his birthday.

"Sam beat him in the dual meet after losing to him in the semis of last year's tournament and that probably kept Sam from going to Nationals," Grant said. "I think that stuck with Sam all year long and he worked hard. He gave himself a great birthday present."

Wooton, a freshman, won his first two matches setting up a rematch against CMU's Jason Mester, who Wooton beat earlier this year, and lost 11-6, setting up a second-place match for Wooton. There, he didn't waste any time as he pinned OU's Paul Hodermarsky in the first period, setting up his wild-card invitation.

With the team taking second, Owen was pleased with how well he and the team performed.

"When we came into this, we said we wouldn't be happy unless we came out as champs," Owen said. "Our guys wrestled hard and came out a little short. We should be proud because everyone wrestled hard."

There is good news for students who want to graduate with honors but are not members of the University Honors Program. Students can participate in their major department's individual honors program.

Sometimes, the individual program of the department will qualify a student for the university program as well, so it would be possible for a student to receive both departmental and university honors, said University Honors Program Director Michael Martin.

Martin said that, contrary to myth, students do not have to be freshmen or sophomores to begin the University Honors Program. Many transfer students, including juniors, have gone through the University Honors Program and still graduated on time, he said.

In order to graduate with university honors, a student must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2, at least 27 credit hours of honors coursework (12 of which must be outside the major), completion of a seminar and a capstone project.

It is not necessarily easier to graduate with departmental honors than to earn university honors, said William Blair, department chair of mathematical sciences. However, he said that it is easier to start out in the honors program as a freshman and later receive departmental honors than it is to begin a departmental program and then try to also fulfill the requirements for university honors later on as a junior.

This is because the University Honors Program requires honors coursework in general education classes, which are usually completed by the time a student reaches his or her junior year. However, Blair said that it is very common for students to graduate with both university and departmental honors.

The required cumulative GPA in departmental classes is higher for departmental honors than the required 3.2 for university honors. Students who wish to receive departmental honors in mathematical sciences, for example, must have a 3.5 or higher overall GPA in their math classes. The same is true for the departments of history, geography and foreign languages. Other departments, such as geology, require a 3.4.

Nicole Fulton, a junior corporate communication major and peer adviser for the University Honors Program, began the program at the beginning of her sophomore year.

Fulton said students can begin at any point in their college year because there are two divisions - upper and lower - to choose from, depending on where the student is at in his or her academic career. For students who wish to complete both divisions of the honors program, however, Fulton recommended beginning as soon as possible.

Central Michigan not only won the MAC Tournament, but also won nearly every postseason award the conference had to offer.

CMU center Chris Kaman took home the conference Player of the Year award as well as Defensive Player of the Year award. He finished second in the MAC in scoring at 22.5 points a game, and rebounding at 12.2 average. He led the conference in field goal percentage with a 63.4 percent and blocks at 3.23 a game.

"Chris does a lot for us offensively and defensively," CMU guard J.R. Wallace said. "As far as defensively, he's huge. Our defense tries to push guys towards the lane so he can alter shots."

Coach of the Year was a close vote, but Chippewa coach Jay Smith beat out NIU's Rob Judson 26-23.

CMU's Whitney Robinson rounded out the Chippewas' awards by winning the first-ever Sixth Man of the Year award.

Kaman also was a part of the All-MAC First Team, joined by Ball State guard Chris Williams, Kent State forward Antonio Gates, Ohio forward Brandon Hunter and NIU forward Marcus Smallwood.

"Just set your watch by him for another double-double," NIU coach Rob Judson said of Smallwood.

NIU's Perry Smith was named All-MAC Honorable Mention.

The Huskies also had freshman guard Todd Peterson named to the MAC All-Freshman Team. The 6-foot-6 swingman set the Huskie 3-point record by a freshman with 55.

The remainder of the All-Freshman Team was Ron Lewis of Bowling Green, DeAndre Haynes of Kent State, Josh Hausfeld of Miami (Ohio) and Toledo's Sammy Villegas.

Villegas averaged 10.9 points a game and led the Rockets in assists to become MAC Freshman of the Year.

Under pressure to come up with nearly $8 million in budget cuts for the current budget year, key players who have been lobbying in Springfield on NIU's behalf met last Tuesday to discuss relating to the budget crisis.

Members of NIU's Board of Trustees Legislation, Audit and External Affairs committee met at NIU's Hoffman Estates campus to briefly mention the current budget situation, as well as address new state legislation that could affect NIU.

Kathy Buettner, executive director of state and federal relations, said NIU is taking the budget issue day by day.

"As you know, the governor has not issued a budget message at this point," Buettner said. "We are not going to be able to know what the governor recommends until April 9."

Buettner also shared with the board the fiscal '04 priority list for capital improvements at different state institutions.

"If we follow logic from previous years, the estimated cutoff for prioritizing will be somewhere between projects 11 and 12," Buettner said.

NIU requested state funding for the renovation and addition of the Stevens Building. This year, planning funds for the project ranked 15 on the IBHE's capital improvements list, a progression from last year's ranking of 21. Funds for construction are ranked 25, an improvement from last year's ranking of 32.

"Obviously ranked 15, it appears doubtful that there will be any funding for any capital project at NIU in '04," Buettner said. "We are working very, very hard in an attempt to draw the needs of the university to the forefront."

The BOT will meet Wednesday.