Congratulations to these members of the NIU College of Education family!
Andrea Trudeau, Ph.D. Instructional Technology, ’24, received the NIU Graduate Council’s most outstanding dissertation of 2024-2025 in the Art, Humanities, Social Science and Education.
Trudeau titled her doctoral dissertation “Modern-Day Storytelling in Immersive Learning Environments: The Impact of Cinematic Virtual Reality on Adolescents’ Empathy and Sympathy.”
Members of the Graduate Council Student Awards Committee “were impressed with the literature review, quality of research, contribution to the field and written expression and presentation of the dissertation.”
Named among the 2025 “Movers & Shakers” by Library Journal, Trudeau will be recognized Tuesday, April 14, at the Spring 2026 Outstanding Graduate Student Awards Ceremony and will also receive a monetary prize.
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Last month’s Southeast Asian Martial Arts Gathering in Anderson Hall “was a big success,” says Paul Wright, executive director of the Physical Activity and Life Skills Group.
The Oct. 25 event was the result of teamwork between the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education; the Center for Southeast Asian Studies; the Asian American Certificate Program; the School of Music; and the Honors Engaged and Business Passport programs.
Nearly 120 people registered on site, and the majority of those participated in martial arts training, including the more than 20 musicians and dancers who performed in the middle of the day.
“We had six expert martial arts teachers lead sessions representing several Chicagoland area schools. Most of them brought students, so we had many NIU and non-NIU community members of all ages coming together in Anderson Hall for this opportunity to learn, socialize and play,” Wright says.
“I am hoping we can continue this high-profile, high-quality, annual event that represents great collaboration within NIU and connection with the broader community,” he adds. ”I received a lot of good feedback from NIU students, parents and community members about the positive impression it gave them of NIU!”
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Shaine Henert, associate professor and director of the Kinesiology program, and Rachel Kowal, instructor and lab coordinator, reports an amazing start to NIU’s inaugural Walking Challenge.
The Oct. 29 event is part of the university’s new and official Exercise is Medicine® On Campus designation from the American College of Sport Medicine.
“We had 148 participants – 116 in-person and 32 virtually,” says Henert, who says that NIU’s Exercise is Medicine® On Campus leadership team now is looking forward to hosting the event every October. “Collectively, we covered a total of 328.31 miles, the equivalent of two round trips from NIU Rockford to NIU Naperville. Our goal was 80 miles: one, one-way trip from Rockford to Naperville.”
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