Faculty and staff gathered Aug. 20 for the fall All-College Meeting, which culminated in the annual group photo in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commons and an invitation to Sunday’s picnic.
Acting Dean Bill Pitney and associate deans David Walker and Todd Gilson previewed fall enrollment numbers and shared potential strategies related to advancing our value of meaningful change and priority of Innovative Action.
Pitney shared a fall timeline which included attending department meetings, holding office hours and offering open sessions as we continue conversations related to these strategies.
Executive Vice President and Provost Laurie Elish-Piper and her team also attended to speak about current priorities of the Division of Academic Affairs, touching on graduate education and models for student and faculty success.
New faculty in the College of Education include Diana Bonilla (Curriculum and Instruction), Amanda Borosch (Special Education) and Neal Ternes (Sport Management). Jeremy Butler was welcomed as the associate director of Project FLEX.
Congratulations on faculty promotions went to James Cohen, Joseph Flynn, Lynn Gibson, Yenitza Guzman, Kimberly Hart and Gudrun Nyunt. Shaine Henert was congratulated on receiving tenure in his associate professor role.
Laura Ruth Johnson was saluted for her appointment as acting director of NIU’s Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies while Dan Oest was acknowledged for his retirement as a clinical assistant professor of Educational Administration.
Operations support updates included an overview of processes returning to the departments, managed by Paula Colishaw (Department of Special and Early Education), Heather Gerken (Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education), Tim Keller (Department of Counseling and Higher Education) and Ana Moreno (Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment).
Members of the college support team were acknowledged for assuming additional responsibilities and for new titles and/or roles: Jonathan Cook (director of Finance and Resource Planning), Cheryl Gardner (director of Personnel), Jamie Brown (associate director of Business Operations) and Gary Heller (administrative aide). Kate Swope, assistant director, Learning Partnerships, was also celebrated for her new role in the college.
Additional new staff team members welcomed to the college included:
- Jenna (Blayney) Beverely, program advisor, Early Childhood Education.
- Phil Corvino, program advisor, Elementary Education and Middle Level Teaching and Learning.
- Sarah George, office manager, Office for Student Success.
- Jason Michalowski, IT support associate, COE Technical Services
The meeting also paused to remember C. Sheldon Woods, a longtime member of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction faculty who died in May.
The college team is enthusiastic and anticipates a strong start to the semester, which began Monday.
Official enrollment numbers will be shared after the university’s 10-day count is released in early September.
