Working as a counselor fulfilled Kassandra Kavanaugh. She became interested in the field during high school, when she started to explore career options, and then cemented that decision while taking a psychology course at the community college in her hometown of Brainerd,
Read moreCongratulations!
The College of Education ranks 183 in the 2024 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Education Schools, moving up 19 spots from last year. *** Several faculty, alumni and current students of the Department of Counseling and Higher Education were honored at
Read moreHESA Program Coordinator Welcome
Happy New Year! We hope you all had a relaxing winter break and a good start to the new semester. We are thrilled to share all the exciting things going on in our program. Spring is always a busy time for us.
Read moreHESA Alumni Spotlight
In February, NIU welcomed a new assistant vice president for Student Affairs, Dr. Rachel Boldman. While Dr. Boldman might be new to working at NIU, she is an experienced professional and a December 2022 graduate of our Ed.D. in Higher Education Executive
Read moreHESA Scholarly Activities
We would love to share what our faculty and graduate students have been up to over the past few months and celebrate their accomplishments. Faculty, student and alumni names are bolded. Faculty and Student Publications Hu, X. (2023). Using ordinary least squares
Read moreUpcoming Conference Presentations
ACPA Convention in Chicago Tuesday, March 19, at 8:30 a.m.: Scholarly Paper Presentation featuring How Can I Help: College Recovery Program Staff Experiences, presented by Quortne Hutchings, Nick Bloniarz, Yulissa Chavez Tena, Jessica Chatonda, Holly Hansen, Dakota Williams, Rabi Muslim Tuesday, March
Read moreHESA students scour campus archives for local histories of social movements
Yulissa Chavez and Madison Mathews were born long after the Vietnam War. But that time has come alive for them thanks to a research assignment in their HESA 500: Foundations of Higher Education course that sent them digging through the Founders Memorial
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Gudrun Nyunt, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Higher Education, was elected vice president of Membership for ACPA (American College Personnel Association)-College Student Educators International, the premier association for student affairs professionals. Her colleagues will celebrate her and other newly
Read morePowerful sounds: Peitao Zhu to perform free piano recital, share musical healing
Peitao Zhu was only 5 when he began piano lessons. Doing so made sense. His parents, now retired, both were professional musicians: father Xicai Zhu, a singer, and mother Xiaorong Zhu, who taught traditional Chinese instruments. “My mom was actually my first
Read moreCongratulations!
Congratulations to these members of the NIU College of Education family! David Walker, associate dean for Academic Affairs, received the 2023 Alumni Achievement Award from the Iowa State University College of Human Sciences where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees. The
Read moreCOE enrollment remains consistent
Enrollment in the College of Education is mostly steady this fall and, in some areas, beating averages. Rising numbers were recorded in 10 undergraduate programs and 18 graduate programs, including a 108% growth in the Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction (with a
Read moreGudrun Nyunt taps students to research, publish on motivations for Ed.D. pursuit
What inspires someone to pursue an Ed.D. in higher education? Why do they choose that degree over the Ph.D.? Gudrun Nyunt wanted to know. “As a faculty member, I’m always curious about what brings our students to our programs: What are they
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