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Patrick Roberts

All-college: Dean Mary Earick outlines vision, map to thriving communities

August 21, 2025 Mark McGowan enewsletter

Mary Earick is visibly excited and honored to become the new dean of the NIU College of Education. During the Aug. 19 all-college meeting, Earick told stories of many “critical incidents” in her life that led to DeKalb while also presenting her

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Torch lit, stoked, passed: Surbers retire from leadership of principal preparation

July 30, 2025 Mark McGowan enewsletter, LEPF

Wedding invitations. Birth announcements. Helpful conversations on choosing the perfect mother-of-the-groom dress. For Jim and Becky Surber, the longtime and now-retired coordinators of the NIU College of Education’s M.S.Ed. in Educational Administration – known colloquially as “principal preparation” – these little slices

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Blackwell filling Graham storage room to improve collections management

February 7, 2023 Mark McGowan enewsletter, LEPF

Pieces of the Blackwell History of Education Museum’s collection always have been scattered. Graham Hall. Gabel Hall. The Milan Township District #83 One-Room Schoolhouse. Basically, says Patrick Roberts, associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations (LEPF) and faculty

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Photos: All-College Meeting, Social

January 19, 2023 Mark McGowan enewsletter

The Spring 2023 edition of the All-College Meeting took place in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center, which provided a short walk to the social event in the Huskie Den. Colleagues were able to bowl or shoot pool. On the

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Uruguayan teachers visit NIU, nearby schools to gather ideas for improvement

October 5, 2022 Mark McGowan CI, enewsletter, KNPE, LEPF

After two weeks of visiting schools in DeKalb, Rochelle and the Chicago suburbs, 20 teachers from Uruguay made their way to Rockford. Their destination – Lincoln Middle School, opened in 1927 and located adjacent to the city’s historic Midtown District – provided

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COE retirees reflect on ‘worthy calling’ of careers in teacher preparation at NIU

October 19, 2021 Mark McGowan enewsletter, LEPF

Born in 1932, Jim Johnson grew up in the tiny village of Ellsworth, Wis., about an hour southeast of Minneapolis. His education – like that of his wife, Colleen, who grew up in nearby River Falls – began in a one-room schoolhouse.

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Exhibit tracing 125 years of teacher prep to debut Oct. 2 during NIU Homecoming

September 21, 2021 Mark McGowan enewsletter, LEPF

A new museum exhibit tracing the last 125 years of teacher preparation in the United States and in the NIU College of Education will make its debut during Homecoming. The exhibit, “A Worthy Calling: 125+ Years of Preparing Teachers,” was among eight

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Roberts co-authors ‘Bitten by the Blues,’ story of Chicago-born Alligator Records

October 30, 2018 Mark McGowan enewsletter, LEPF

Patrick Roberts, associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations, is celebrating the Oct. 30 publication of “Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story.” Roberts is the co-author of the book with Bruce Iglauer, who in 1971 launched

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Global problems, community praxis: April 19 conference set to explore world conflict, peace

March 29, 2018 Mark McGowan CAHE, enewsletter, ETRA, KNPE, LEPF

Scholars from NIU and Macedonia will convene Thursday, April 19, in DeKalb to discuss local, national and international approaches to peace and transcultural communication. “Global Problems and Community Praxis” is the second annual conference – but the first in the United States

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Camera’s eye: Blackwell photo exhibition to tell tale of Tetova

December 12, 2017 Mark McGowan enewsletter, LEPF

As Fadil Sulejmani greeted students and faculty of the new University of Tetova, he uttered words likely never spoken before – or since – to mark the inauguration of a school. “We want pens and notebooks,” Sulejmani told the crowd, “not violence.”

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NIU to give honorary doctorate to Tetovo’s ‘rector of the people’

November 22, 2017 Mark McGowan enewsletter, LEPF

NIU will confer an honorary doctorate degree this fall to Vullnet Ameti, a man who demonstrated his belief in education as a human right by helping to establish the only Albanian university in Macedonia. The rector of the University of Tetovo will

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Bridging oceans

September 20, 2016 Mark McGowan Alumni eNewsletter, enewsletter

NIU joins Macedonian university in promoting peace Deep and influential thinkers from around the world will convene this December in Macedonia at the State University of Tetovo’s Center for Peace and Transcultural Communication. As they share their ideas on the impact of

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