Congratulations to these members of the NIU College of Education family!
James Cohen, associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, received the Outstanding International Educator award Tuesday from the NIU Division of International Affairs.
The award recognizes sustained contributions over time to the enhancement of international education at NIU through teaching, research, artistry, public service and/or student service efforts.
Recipients have made a lasting contribution through a combination of efforts that include influencing the internationalization of the curriculum, offering active and sustained involvement with international students and scholars at NIU and demonstrating significant involvement with international exchange or training programs, including hosting international visitors and scholars.
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Joseph Flynn, associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and associate director of the NIU Center for Black Studies, is among four faculty members and two students who received the 2021 Richard A. Flournory Award in recognition of their efforts to promote inclusivity at NIU.
Sponsored by the Office of Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Presidential Commission on the Race and Ethnicity, the award was created in 2020 to honor Flournory, who founded the NIU Inclusion Reception in 1990.
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Jenn Jacobs, associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, received the 2021 College of Applied Health Sciences Young Alumni Award from her alma mater University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jacobs, a 2009 graduate of the UIUC Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, is the inaugural recipient of the award, which recognizes early professional success, leadership and community engagement.
She was honored Oct. 8.
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Laura Ruth Johnson, associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, was awarded a Spencer Foundation Conference Grant as co-PI with Jonathan Rosa (PI) of Stanford University to design, organize and implement “Community as a Campus: Decolonial Praxis and Chicago’s Paseo Boricua.”
The conference will bring together educators, organizers, youth, community residents and researchers to share, critically reflect on and synthesize efforts toward building alternative institutions, enacting educational justice and transforming communities.
Johnson also published a book chapter: Dharmashi, P., Johnson, L.R., & J. Sharkey (2021). Critical community literacies in teacher education. In J. Zacher Pandya, R.A. Mora, J. Alford, N.A. Golden, & R. Santiago De Roock (Eds). The Handbook of critical literacies.
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NIU and the Department of Counseling and Higher Education were well-represented Nov. 4 through Nov. 6 at the 46th annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, titled “Spanning and Unsettling the Borders of Higher Education.”
CAHE faculty members presenting were Xiaodan Hu, Quortne R. Hutchings, Carrie Kortegast, Jacqueline Mac and Gudrun Nyunt, who also presented with NIU Study Abroad advisor Rita Veron and Konya Sledge, a doctoral candidate in Higher Education.
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Josh Bolander is the 2021 recipient of the Graduate Student Scholar award from the Midwest American College of Sports Medicine.
Bolander, a native of Sycamore, earned his B.S. in Kinesiology from the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education in August 2020 and is pursuing an M.S.Ed. in Kinesiology and Physical Education with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology.
“I would also like to thank Dr. Peter Chomentowski, Dr. Shaine Henert, Dr. Clayton Camic and Rachel Kowal, the laboratory technician of our Exercise Physiology Lab and instructor,” says Bolander, a native of Sycamore. “I would not have received this award without their mentorship and support.”
