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Northern Star

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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Poetry as a teaching tool

By Michael Klaas | November 13, 2002

A new anthology of World War I poetry edited by Mark Van Wienen, an associate English professor at NIU, may be a useful tool for teaching students about war in the early 1900s. The book, "Rendezvous with Death: American Poems of the Great War," includes...

D.I.V.I.N.E. to host women’s health seminar

By Paul L. Mikolajczyk | November 12, 2002

A Women’s Wellness Review begins at 5 p.m. today at the Holmes Student Center, Room 506. The D.I.V.I.N.E. Women of Culture organization is sponsoring the free seminar and encourages all to attend. "The event is intended to provide people with the opportunity...

Bone marrow may save lives

By Marisa Knudsen | November 12, 2002

Jacob Davis, a 10-month-old boy from the Chicago area, is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. His doctors said that finding a suitable donor would be the best chance at curing the rare disease that Jacob was born with - adenosine deaminase...

Filming rock ‘n’ roll lifestyles

By Jeff Goluszka | November 12, 2002

A long weekend down south usually means fun, friends and sun. But for three NIU students, a trip to Birmingham, Ala., meant working three 16-hour days with a monstrous furnace to create the craft of their business. They were filming the 96-band music...

Strange signs draw students’ attention

By Cara Donfrio | November 12, 2002

The Huskie Line buses have a busy life - starting early and finally coming to rest in the wee hours of the morning. Every day, students pack these buses to get to their classes, apartments and favorite places to hang out. Through the years, some students...

Philanthropist honored

By Matt Knutson | November 12, 2002

Upon hearing the news, 1976 NIU alumnus Dan Loescher couldn’t believe he was this year’s recipient of the NIU College of Business Rockford Area Alumnus Award. "I am really humbled and surprised, because there were a large number of NIU alums in the...

Support for the soldiers

By Jenan Diab | November 12, 2002

n honor of Veterans Day on Monday, several organizations were at Founders Memorial Library paying tribute to America’s servicemen and women. About six members of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity stood at the main level of the library asking people...

He is a radio role model

By Nick Swedberg | November 11, 2002

Alpha Phi Omega will honor Joseph Gentile at its first-annual "Person of the Year" banquet. Nicholas Utech, the fundraising coordinator at Alpha Phi Omega, said the fraternity has been organizing the banquet for about five months. The banquet is being...

Students take indecisive route

By Courtney Cavanaugh | November 11, 2002

It seems NIU’s reputation of being a "teacher’s school" is threatened by the ever-growing popularity of majors in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

According to the findings of Institutional Research, an undecided major in LA&S is the most-popular choice for undergraduates this school year.

Frederick Kitterle, dean at the College of LA&S, said the popularity may be because of the flexibility of the major.

"We’re getting a lot more students, in part because there are a lot of opportunities, and a lot more directions students can go," he said.

The numbers, however, may be misleading.

NIU Vice Provost Robert Wheeler said LA&S is the largest department at the university, and when a student is undecided, he or she is signed into the "undecided LA&S" category for advising purposes.

"We have huge numbers of students who are undecided when they walk through the door," he said. "When you take gen-eds, you get exposed to fields of study you’ve never explored before."

In the past, undecided LA&S, art, teacher’s education and accountancy all have ranked as top major choices. The numbers have shifted over the past five years, but these majors have remained at the top, and still are popular at NIU.

There are 18,115 undergraduates at NIU this year - with 1,312 of those as undecided majors. Wheeler said undecided students will have to choose a major, and once they do, it tends to be within LA&S.

Overall, the College of LA&S contains the most students, followed by the College of Business and the College of Education.

Freshman undecided major Adam Cox said he chose the department because he’s not interested in math.

"I didn’t know what I wanted my major to be when I entered college," he said.

Wheeler said he thinks students may want to consider a major in chemistry or physics.

"These programs have magnificent facilities in Faraday Hall," he said. "There are certainly good, rewarding jobs out there in the scientific sector."

Kitterle added that the LA&S program has an excellent job-placement rate.

"A number [of alumni] have told us they believe the preparation for entering the world of work has been very good, regardless of what the major is," he said.

‘Real World’ cast member to visit NIU

By Stephanie Barnes | November 11, 2002

NIU students will have a chance to see Aneesa from MTV’s "The Real World: Chicago," which was the show’s 11th season. The event will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Holmes Student Center’s Carl Sandburg Auditorium. Aneesa will speak to students about...

‘Laramie’ stirs emotions

By Kasmirah Joyner | November 11, 2002

"Live and let live" was a line from the play "The Laramie Project" that mirrored the emotions of everyone sitting in the audience. A cast of NIU students participated in the production Sunday night at the Stevens Building’s Corner Theatre. It left the...

Democratic candidate calls for recount

By Libby John | November 11, 2002

Mario Kemp, a Democratic candidate who ran to represent County District 6, is calling for a recount of Tuesday’s ballots. According to the results, Kemp received 311 votes, while Republican Eric Johnson, who also is the Student Association director...