Brett Frantini

Northern Illinois closed its road season Tuesday night with a 10-run, 12-hit outing against UW-Milwaukee at Henry Aaron Field. Despite a 94-minute rain delay, the Huskies were able to keep their foot on the throttle and defeated the Panthers, 10-4.

Brett Frantini (Minooka, Ill.) finished 2-for-4 at the plate with a homerun and four RBI.

Northern Illinois struck first blood, started by a Michael Kane (Chicago/Notre Dame Prep) walk with one out and continued by the UWM third baseman who allowed Chris Divarco (Long Grove, Ill./Carmel Catholic) to reach base on an error. Frantini hit his third homerun of the season over the left centerfield wall to give NIU its 3-0 lead.

The Panthers scored one in the bottom of the half inning and tied the game up with two more runs in the bottom of the third on a ground-rule double by Sam Koenig and a sacrifice fly by Will Fadness. In the following inning, the Huskies took back the lead with a single by Frantini to make it a 4-3 game.

Pitcher Eli Anderson (Glenview, Ill./New Trier), who entered in the third inning, shutdown the Panthers in the fourth inning including a strikeout to end the fourth. Jacob Goldenberg (Syracuse, Ind./Wawasee) took the mound in the fifth and pitched through the sixth, striking out three batters and blanking Milwaukee in both innings.

Troy White

When the seventh inning approached the Huskies began to string together hits, accounting for three runs in the inning on four hits. Jamison Wells (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly), Alex Beckmann (Batavia, Ill.), Alex Jones (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) and Troy White (Chicago/Whitney Young) tallied the four with Jones and White accounting for a RBI.

Alex Klonowski (Kearney, Mo.) stepped up to the plate in the seventh and the game was delayed by rain for 94 minutes. When play resumed, the sophomore doubled to score White and give NIU an 8-3 lead. UW-Milwaukee’s Paul Hoenecke doubled in the bottom of the eighth inning and cut the lead in half to make it an 8-4 game after eight.

In the ninth the Huskies continued to assault UWM, started by a Beckmann double and followed by a Jones walk. White singled to centerfield to drive in Beckmann from second and NIU continued to score when Klonowski singled through the left side to score White and increase the score, 10-4, where it ended as UWM was unable to generate any hits in the bottom of the ninth.

Anderson earned his second win of the season and evened his season record to 2-2 with his two inning, two strikeout and zero walk performance.

The Huskies improved to 15-37 in 2012 and will close the regular season at Ralph McKinzie Field this weekend with their final Mid-American Conference series against Ball State, beginning at 3:05 p.m. Thursday, May 17.

For more information on NIU baseball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.

Cliff Alexis

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has nominated “Hammer on Steel,” a two-program documentary created by The University of Akron, for eight Emmy awards for the 2011 broadcast year.

NIU’s Cliff Alexis, steel drum builder and tuner and co-director of the world-renowned NIU Steel Band, was nominated for Emmy Awards in two categories – Special Event Coverage and Best Music Composition – for his work on the film.

Documenting the compelling and conflict-torn history of steel drum music in the Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago, “Hammer on Steel: Bad Boys and Genius” premiered in February 2011 on Western Reserve Public Media in Northeast Ohio. The second program, “Hammer on Steel: The Concert,” documents the University of Akron Steel Drum Band’s 30th anniversary concert.

“Hammer on Steel” earned the Emmy nominations in the Lower Great Lakes chapter of NATAS’ competition. The nominations are in categories ranging from Live Event Coverage to Best Original Score.

The awards ceremony will be held Saturday, June 2, in Indianapolis.

“We made ‘Hammer on Steel’ to tell the world about this wonderful music and the self-taught musicians who created it – many of whom are now elderly and won’t be with us much longer,” says Larry Snider, the University of Akron music professor who founded the UA Steel Drum Band in 1980. “We also wanted to tell the unlikely story of how the Caribbean sounds of the steel drums have found a home in less-than-tropical Northeast Ohio.”

“I am proud of the team that worked on ‘Hammer on Steel’,” adds Phill Hoffman, producer and director of the UA School of Communication. “From Trinidad to Akron, exceptional artists and educators came together to create the documentary. We hope this attention shines a light on the heritage, people and artistry of steel drum music.”

Earl Hansen

Safety industry professional and blogger Joanell Powers recently wrote about her encounter with the NIU chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

In the blog post titled “Carrying the Torch for the Safety Profession,” Powers mentions how most young professionals feel as though the “over-forty” work force is outdated and stands in the way of their success.

Powers’ experience with the NIU group was the opposite.

She expressed not only how respectful the NIU students were, but also what a high quality the Department of Technology program has. Powers also mentioned how relieved she was for the future of the safety profession after watching NIU students present their work study papers.

“The NIU Environmental Health and Safety program is widely known in the state and region for producing well rounded safety professionals,” said Cliff Mirman, professor and chair of the department. “Students graduate from the program with both the industrial experience and the background knowledge needed to tackle problems.”

Part of the reason for NIU’s safety success is thanks to Earl Hansen, associate professor of technology. Hansen, who joined NIU in August of 1980, is retiring after 32 years with the university.

Safety is an important aspect of technology, Hansen said. “Students of technology need to understand how human factors, manufacturing concepts, industrial hygiene issues and ergonomics affect the everyday worker.”

A veteran of the safety industry, Hansen has watched it change over the years.

“I think it’s better organized from a professional perspective through the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the National Safety Council (NSC),” he said. The ASSE and the NSC help to regulate the safety industry and train safety professionals according to a national standard.

“Dr. Hansen has brought the Department of Technology’s Environmental Health and Safety program to the level which it is at currently,” Mirman said. “One way to gauge the success of Dr. Hansen is to look at the success of the program graduates.  They typically have multiple employment offers prior to graduation.”

“The strength of our program lies in the successes of our alumni,” Hansen said. “They are hard-working, professional and interested in furthering the safety program at NIU.  The individual student is the most important aspect of this academic program.”

In addition to a top-notch safety program, NIU also houses one of 24 Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training centers in the country. The National Safety Education Center (NSEC) offers approved OSHA training courses. This is another way that NIU sets its safety program apart from other universities.

“Our classes are taught by industry leaders, many who are prior OSHA Compliance Officers, which means that our students learn directly from the very people who influence OSHA,” said Missy Gillis, new director of external programming for the NSEC. “We offer ‘Train the Trainer’ courses, and can also customize courses to meet industry needs, and teach those courses on site.”

For Hansen, the future of the safety industry is bright.

“I believe all the changes are positive,” he said. “Based on the fact that I send out roughly 400 job announcements to alumni and students, and that the constant request for interns continues to grow, I think the future will be good.”

Northern Illinois University’s Team Light Up Africa has been named a finalist for the Tomberg Prize in Environmental Sustainability in the Dell Social Innovation Challenge.

DSIC connects university students to the people, tools and opportunities they need to change the world. The challenge is part competition and part community. Students compete for cash prizes to put their social innovation projects into action and connect with a worldwide community of supportive, like-minded educators and professionals.

Team Light Up Africa will compete against a team from Dartmouth and a team from the University of Dhaka, in Bangladesh. The winner will receive $15,000 in prize money to help move their project from prototype to life-changing product.

Members of the NIU team are promoting a product called Zoom Box, a portable device that can be attached to a bicycle, boat, oxen or any other moving object, which generates and stores electricity in a battery for later use. It will allow families to replace dangerous, expensive kerosene as their primary source of light and to charge cell phones and operate small appliances.

The business plan, put together by the team in the fall of 2011, was the winner of the first-ever Social Venture Business Plan Competition at the NIU College of Business last December. That victory earned them $10,000 in seed money toward the advancement of their project.

After entering the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, and despite getting a late start, Light Up Africa quickly rocketed past the competition in online voting. The project was No. 1 of 129 projects in the energy category; second among 387 projects aimed at improving life in Africa; third out of 401 for-profit proposals; and fifth out of 555 in the design category.

Internet voting also garnered a $1,000 People’s Choice Award for the team in the Dell competition.

Dennis Barsema, who taught the social entrepreneurship class, in which the students wrote their business plan, said that he is extremely proud of their performance. “This is a huge honor for the student team when you consider that over 1,700 applicants entered the competition! It is also great testimony and validation of their idea and business plan,” he said.

Light Up Africa is comprised of Alan Hurt, who double majored in mechanical engineering and industrial and systems engineering; and accountancy majors John Harkness, Mike Sutarik and Jason Schwebke.

While the team members are pursuing careers and wrapping up school, they remain committed to bringing the product to market. Hurt is currently in India researching manufacturing options and later this year will take a job with the World Food Programme in Africa, where he will work at setting up distribution channels in his spare time.

The team also retooled and streamlined their business plan and submitted it in another social business plan contest, this one through Oxford University. They also participated in the Global Engagement Summit at Northwestern University, where their project drew high praise and much interest.

Judges from the Tomberg Family Philanthropies, a sponsor of the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, will evaluate the three finalists for the award and announce a winner some time later this month.

The winning team also will get to attend the Finalist Weekend in Austin, where the winner of the $50,000 grand prize will be announced. There they will have the opportunity to participate in workshops and mentoring sessions that will help them bring their product to market.

Joyce Ester

Bitten “by the Student Affairs bug,” Joyce Ester says that her time at NIU as a graduate assistant in housing “led me to where I am today.”

And where she is today is no small feat.

After a nationwide search, Ester was selected in November to be president of Kennedy-King College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago.

A native Chicagoan, Ester received her undergraduate degree in sociology from NIU in 1987. Sociology was a compromise for Ester (she wanted to major in theater; her mother wanted her to pursue accountancy), but it turned out to be one of the best decisions she ever made.

“I always had an affinity for the elderly and aging, and so focusing on the sociology of health and aging was perfect for me. I just knew that working with elderly and aging populations was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Turns out she was wrong.

Accepting a position as area coordinator in housing at Whittier College drew her further into working with students and housing. When the position of resident director at UC-Santa Barbara opened up, Ester applied and got the job. She stayed 16 years, serving as the assistant dean of students for Student Conduct. While holding this position, she returned to school, earning her Ph.D. in education.

“I had a fabulous mentor at UC-Santa Barbara,” Ester says. “He encouraged me to get my degree and keep my mind open to a variety of positions. He really helped me think more broadly about what I could do in the field of education.”

Ester’s next roles took her further up the ladder in administration.

As assistant vice president for judicial affairs at Cal State-Fresno, she managed a $10 million budget before landing a position as associate vice president for student services with Bakersfield College, where all of the student services functions, including financial aid, administration and disability services, were under her direction. While at Bakersfield, Ester founded the Veterans Resource Center, which provides information about benefits, makes referrals to services and organizations in the community and helps ease the transition to college for veterans.

When she was ready to move forward in her career path, a mentor again played a key role in her decision. Ester says she was looking for her “next challenge,” but a college presidency seemed like a big step.

“My mentor said I should apply, but I was reluctant. ‘What can it hurt?’ she said. So, when the position was posted a second time, I applied.”

Ester’s hire in November 2011 was part of an historic reinvention of the City Colleges’ seven-college system.

Located on Chicago’s south side, Kennedy-King is one of the system’s smaller campuses and is located in an economically challenging area.

While focusing on improving graduation rates and increasing the number of students who transfer to baccalaureate programs, Ester will also work on building relationships with the surrounding neighborhoods and accentuating the positives at Kennedy-King.

“For many, the college is a beacon of hope, to help them move out and move up,” Ester says. “Kennedy-King has a rich legacy. It’s named after Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, two people who epitomize exactly what we’re trying to do: encourage academic excellence and civic responsibility.”

Distinctive features of the college include:

• The Washburne Culinary Institute and French Pastry School, which will be featured in a Food Channel documentary for creating a 10-foot-by-7-foot chocolate replica of Chicago’s “Cloud Gate” sculpture commonly known as “the bean” in Millennium Park.
• The Dawson Technical Institute, which provides job training for construction trades and management careers.
• The WYCC public television station and WKKC radio station, owned by the CCC system and operated by Kennedy-King College

“All presidents have particular strengths,” she says. “Mine is student affairs, which is certainly not the traditional track to the presidency.”

Each position on her journey to the college presidency provided her with valuable skills and experiences that she is drawing on today, Ester says.

“Cal State had a tremendous number of students who were children of migrant farm workers and first generation college students. It was exciting to see how much more of an impact the opportunity for higher education has on the first generation college student and their families. Kennedy-King is similar in that the academic experience is changing so many lives.”

Ester remembers her days at NIU fondly.

“NIU was my first choice and the only school that I applied to. Some of my friends went to U of I, others to ISU. I was so excited when I found out I was accepted [at NIU].”

She was Miss Black NIU, became fluent in American Sign Language – “I took every sign language course on campus,” she says – and was on the College Forensics Team, which was “a big part” of her life. “Forensics helped me make the transition to college. Judy Santacatarina was a very good mentor to me, and the whole experience was good fun.”

Ester has clear advice for students who might want to follow in her footsteps.

“Figure out what your pathway will be: faculty or administration or research. Find your passion among these things, but be sure to get teaching experience. When you’re looking at careers, look at all the areas; don’t be too narrowly focused. Branch out, get a breadth of knowledge and experience.”

Mentors are also critical to success, she says, because they help you see in yourself what they can see in you. “I know that I would not be where I am today without my mentors.”

Most importantly, she says, “You must find what you love. Just because something will pay well or just because you are good in a particular field doesn’t mean that you should choose it as a career. You certainly could do it, but your quality of life will suffer. Where possible, make sure there is a balance in your life. There is no way I would have been happy doing anything other than what I am doing today. The challenges of life are much easier to navigate when you are doing something you love.”

Lori Clark

In Springfield …

With only three weeks left before the scheduled May 31 adjournment of the Illinois General Assembly, there are three major issues still unresolved: the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, pension stabilization and Medicaid reform.

FY2013 Budget

The House Higher Education Appropriations Committee has been meeting frequently over the past several weeks to determine how to reduce the FY13 higher education appropriations by approximately $113 million, or 6.14 percent over FY12 base funding. This is the appropriation level that was allocated for higher education in both the House and the Senate.

Members of the committee are likely to pass an appropriations bill out of committee this week and send it to the full House. It is anticipated that the Senate will concur with most of the House appropriations, so we should have a good indication of the severity of the reductions in the near future.

Retiree Health Care Benefits

Senate Bill 1313 was passed out of the House with 74 votes (60 were needed for passage) Wednesday, May 9, and out of the Senate with 31 votes (30 were needed for passage) Thursday, May 10. The bill now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn, who has indicated that he will sign it into law.

This bill eliminates the current system of health benefits for retired state employees, including university retirees. The current system provides retirees with “free” health care after 20 years of service.

While state insurance for retirees will still be available, existing and future retirees will now have to pay a monthly premium for this insurance. The director of the Department of Central Management Services has been charged with the responsibility of establishing the level of these annual premiums. It is anticipated that there will be a formula that takes into account age (and Medicare eligibility), length of service and ability to pay.

This change will take effect July 1, 2012.

State-Supported Pension Systems

There is an increasing likelihood that some type of pension stabilization efforts will be voted on during the next three weeks.

Numerous business groups, as well as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other suburban mayors, are publicly calling for changes to the existing state-supported pension systems. Gov. Quinn’s Pension Working Group continues to meet, and there are new amendments being added to existing bills that would significantly alter the systems.

Legislative leaders and the governor also are meeting with key stakeholders.

On Friday, May 11, House Speaker Michael Madigan introduced three amendments to House Bill 3637 that will transfer the responsibility of annual contributions to the pension costs for teachers in the Teachers’ Retirement System away from the state to the Personal Property Replacement Tax. These amendments will be heard Wednesday in the House Executive Committee meeting.

College Illinois! Audit

The auditor general released a scathing audit of the College Illinois! program administered by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC). The audit cited conflicts of interest where ISAC employees benefited financially from investing in companies doing business with the state, as well as questionable investments.

Auditor General William G. Holland has referred this audit to the Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General for consideration and possible follow-up.

It is important to note that there have been significant personnel and leadership changes at ISAC over the last year. Eric Zarnikow, the new ISAC executive director, has issued a statement on the future of the College Illinois! program following the audit.

Monetary Assistance Program Task Force

Senate Joint Resolution 69, sponsored by Sen. Edward Maloney and Rep. Daniel Biss, was unanimously adopted by the Senate last week.

Currently assigned to the House Higher Education Committee, it requires ISAC to convene a task force to deliberate options for the adoption of new rules for the Monetary Award Program, with the goal of improving the outcome for students who receive these awards.

The task force is to include one representative of each of the following: Illinois public universities; public community colleges; non-profit, private colleges and universities; proprietary institution; association of financial aid administrators; student currently receiving a MAP grant; Illinois Community College Board; Illinois Board of Higher Education; the lieutenant governor; and the executive director of ISAC.

There has been a lot of discussion this year about adopting some type of a merit system (e.g., SAT/ACT scores, GPA) for recipients, requiring non-completers to pay back MAP grants, etc. There is pretty widespread concern that the current system is unsustainable, and that changes must be made.

In Washington, D.C. …

Fiscal Year 2013 Appropriations

The House passed the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriation bill, H.R. 5326, after considering about 65 amendments.

Rep. Jeff Flake’s amendment (H.AMDT.1094) to prohibit the use of funds to be used to carry out the functions of the Political Science Program in the Division of Social and Economic Sciences in the National Science Foundation was agreed to by a vote of 218-208.

Before officially passing the CJS legislation, the House took up and adopted H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act. The legislation will serve as the budget for the House for FY2013.

The overall discretionary spending level contained in legislation is $19 billion below the level contained in the Budget Control Act of last year. It seeks to prevent the impending sequestration of the defense budget with cuts from mandatory domestic programs.

Federally Subsidized Student Loans

So far, the Senate has failed to advance a bill to keep federally subsidized college student loan rates lower for another year, prolonging the debate on an issue that has emerged as an election year flashpoint. It failed on a party-line vote of 52-45, with 60 votes needed for passage.

There is no clear path forward for lawmakers who have until July 1 to reauthorize lower rates for approximately 7 million borrowers who would otherwise see rates on subsidized student loans jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

National Research Council Study Released

The National Research Council (NRC) will release its study, Research Universities and the Future of America: Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Prosperity and Security, on Thursday, June 14.

This is the report, requested by Congress in June 2009, aimed at examining “the health and competitiveness of our nation’s research universities and their strong partnership with government and industry that is critical to the nation’s prosperity and national goals.”

The request asked for “the top 10 actions that Congress, the federal government, state governments, research universities, and others could take to assure the ability of the American research university to maintain the excellence in research and doctoral education needed to help the United States compete, prosper, and achieve national goals for health, energy, the environment, and security in the global community of the 21st century.”

DHS Expands List of Disciplines Covered by Extended OPT

The Department of Homeland Security announced last week that it has expanded the list of academic fields and disciplines that would be eligible for the longer 29-month optional practical training (OPT) program.

The 29-month period that applies to many of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines is intended to acknowledge, among other things, the importance of these fields to the economy. Graduates from these academic disciplines would be eligible to remain in the country under the OPT program for 29 months.

Since the original list was created several years, many interested parties have been advocating for the expansion of the list to include a number of areas of study which were not originally included, such as animal and veterinary sciences. The regular OPT period covers 12 months.

The Voices section of NIU Today features opinions and perspectives from across campus. Lori Clark is director of State and Federal Relations for NIU.

Tiffany D. Miller

Tiffany D. Miller has joined the NIU Office of General Counsel as associate general counsel.

Miller, who began Monday, May 14, replaces Laura Sala, who was promoted to senior associate counsel. Sala replaces Norden Gilbert, who retired in January.

Miller brings more than 14 years of experience as a transactional and compliance attorney, having recently served as vice president and senior counsel at Sears Holding Corp. in Hoffman Estates. She will focus on transactional matters, with particular responsibilities for matters related to construction, affiliation and research, intellectual property and compliance.

She also will join the Institutional Review Board.

Miller is a double graduate of Northwestern University, earning her juris doctorate there in 1997 and her bachelor’s degree in education and social policy in 1994. She also spent a year at Universite de Paris VII in Paris, France.

Reporting directly to the president and the Board of Trustees, the Office of General Counsel provides guidance and representation to NIU trustees, administrative officers, faculty, staff and employees regarding official university business and operations.

The Office of General Counsel assists the university in the areas of policy development and compliance, preparing and reviewing university contracts and direct representation or case management involving outside counsel from both the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and prestigious private firms.

Kristin Hoffman

Northern Illinois will see 66 current and former student-athletes leave school with their NIU degrees in 2011-12 as 40 current and former Huskie student-athletes from 11 different sports programs earned their degrees Saturday.

They join the 19 December graduates and seven others scheduled to complete their studies this summer. In all, student-athletes from 16 different sports programs will leave NIU with degrees in hand this year.

Jeff Compher, NIU associate vice president and director of Athletics, said graduation is the No. 1 goal for every student-athlete who puts on the Huskie uniform.

“The very first part of our mission statement talks about developing champions in the classroom, and there is no greater measure of that than graduation,” Compher said.

“Congratulations to our student-athletes for achieving this milestone which will pay dividends for the rest of their lives. Congratulations also to our coaching staff, to the faculty members and advisers on campus, and especially to the staff in the Student-Athlete Academic Support Services (S.A.A.S.S.) Office, led by Liz Tovar, for their guidance and support of our student-athletes.”

The group is led by 16 members of the Huskie football team, including four – offensive lineman Matt Krempel, punter Ryan Neir and defensive linemen Daniel Green and Sean Progar – who will return to the squad in 2012 for their senior seasons. Tight end Adam Kiel, one of 11 members of the 2011 senior class on the list, will depart Northern Illinois with two degrees in hand as he earned a second bachelor’s degree in operations management and information systems this spring.

The women’s track and field/cross country, and women’s gymnastics programs contributed 10 and seven graduates, respectively, to the list, while men’s and women’s soccer and baseball each saw five of their former student-athletes graduate. Every Huskie program except men’s golf, which did not have a senior on the roster in 2011-12, had at least one graduate this year.

Northern Illinois 2011-12 student-athlete graduates represent 26 different majors from nearly every college on campus, from art, nursing and elementary education to economics, history, meteorology and biology, to mechanical engineering, marketing, accountancy and finance.

There were no more than six student-athletes in any major with organizational & corporate communications leading the way with six and marketing, sociology/criminology, and health sciences (pre-physical therapy) each the choice of five 2011-12 student-athlete grads.

NIU held commencement ceremonies on campus this past weekend.

Below is a complete list of NIU’s 2011-12 student-athlete graduates by sport with their majors. Returning student-athletes are indicated by a *.

BASEBALL (5)
Kyle Glancy, Marketing
Cory Krupp, Marketing
Tony Manville, History
Marvin Sanchez, Sociology
Troy White, Marketing

MEN’S BASKETBALL (2)
Cameron Madlock, General Studies
Tyler Storm, General Studies

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (2)
Kim Davis, General Studies
Courtney Shelton, Organizational/Corporate Communications

WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD/CROSS COUNTRY (10)
Breanna Brevitt, Health Education
Mary Bull, Accountancy
Kathryn Downin, Journalism
Roneisha Frye, Organizational/Corporate Communications
Megan Gregory, Art
Chanel Kellyman, General Public Health
Kelly Moser, Nutrition & Dietetics
Sunsea Shaw, Sociology/Criminology
Jenner Sio, Nursing
Jessica Troike, Meteorology

FOOTBALL (16)
Willie Clark, Organizational Communications
Adam Coleman, Health Sciences (Pre-Physical Therapy)
Jordan Delegal, General Studies
Ryan Fillingim, General Studies
* Daniel Green, Marketing
Jasmin Hopkins, General Studies
Kyle Jenkins, Physical Education
Adam Kiel, Operations Management and Information Systems
* Matt Krempel, Health Sciences (Pre-Physical Therapy)
* Ryan Neir, Finance
Ron Newcomb, General Studies
Nathan Palmer, General Studies
Joe Pawlak, Sociology
D.J. Pirkle, Physical Education
* Sean Progar, Sociology/Criminology
Scott Wedige, Marketing

WOMEN’S GOLF (4)
Carissa Burdi, Organizational/Corporate Communications
Michelle Caporusso, Sociology
Katie Kuhn, Political Science/Public Law
Kelsie Passolt, Journalism

GYMNASTICS (7)
Shonda Clore, Elementary Education
Ashley Guerra, Health Sciences (Pre-Physical Therapy)
Sarah Hurley, Nursing
Ashley Major, Health Sciences (Pre-Physical Therapy)
Tamara Murskyj, Health Sciences (Pre-Physical Therapy)
Tanya Rachan, Biological Sciences
Holly Reichard, Mechanical Engineering

MEN’S SOCCER (5)
Per Faerden, Finance
Juan Hoyos, Sociology/Criminology
Kenneth Kranz, Business Administration
Luis Mojica, Sociology/Criminology
Pat Sloan, Finance

WOMEN’S SOCCER (5)
Meaghan Bennett, Health Education
Becca Ford, Physical Education
Megan Harry, Operations Management & Information Systems
Kelsey Passaglia, Health Education
Christen Schuler, Management

SOFTBALL (1)
Andrea Colosimo, Mechanical Engineering

MEN’S TENNIS (1)
Roman Turtygin, Organizational & Corporate Communications

WOMEN’S TENNIS (2)
Sara McLaughlin, Organizational & Corporate Communications
Martina Schnapp, Economics

VOLLEYBALL (2)
Kristin Hoffman, History
Maddie Hughes, Nursing

WRESTLING (4)
Mike Lukowski, Communications/Media Studies
Izzy Montemayor, Finance
John Odeen, Rhetoric and Public Communications
Zach Taylor, Education

Tom Barry

Northern Illinois baseball will play its final road game of the season Tuesday afternoon, May 15, when it heads to UW-Milwaukee for a midweek clash. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. at Henry Aaron Field.

It will be NIU and UWM’s third meeting of the season with the series split 1-1 in 2012.

Northern Illinois played its final Mid-American Conference road series of the year last weekend when it took on Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Mich.

The Huskies were locked up in a slugfest Friday, outhitting the Broncos 16-14 in the game, including 4-for-5 performances from Alex Klonowski, Troy White and Jeff Zimmerman, but dropped the contest 13-9.

Saturday’s contest came down to the wire as the Huskies rallied back from 5-1 in the top of the ninth to a 5-4 score and nearly tied the game but WMU right fielder Jack Scanlan threw Huskie Connor Schomig out at home plate to seal the Broncos victory. Western Michigan completed the sweep Sunday with a 6-1 victory.

Klonowski finished the weekend in Kalamazoo 6-for-11 with five RBI and two runs scored. In his last two weekends against MAC opponents, the sophomore from Kearney, Mo. has been the Huskies most-consistent batter, going 14-for-31 (.451) at the plate.

Northern Illinois will call on senior Tom Barry against the Panthers for his ninth start of the season on the mound. Barry appeared in relief Sunday at Western Michigan, hurling 11 pitches in 0.2 innings of work against the Broncos. He did not surrender a hit in his appearances but had an intentional walk to his credit. The Orland Park, Ill. native sports a 6.61 ERA this season.

UWM is one game under .500 currently with a 23-24 register and are sitting in third place in the Horizon League at 15-11, highlighted by a sweep over Butler last weekend.

Since defeating NIU April 24 in DeKalb, 13-2, the Panthers are 6-4, including six-consecutive wins and five on the road. The lone home triumph was a 6-4 win at Miller Park May 9 against Northwestern. Freshman Joshua Uhen will make the fourth start of his career for the Panthers tomorrow and has not earned a decision this season in his five appearances on the bump.

Following the midweek tilt, the Huskies will host its final series of 2012 when it hosts Ball State from Thursday, May 17, through Saturday, May 19. On Saturday, the Huskies will hold Senior Day and honor the eight seniors for the services and contributions to the program.

For more information on NIU baseball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.

Rangaswamy “Nathan” Meganathan

A team of researchers that included two Northern Illinois University scientists has used vitamin K₂ to successfully undo the effect of one of the genetic defects that leads to Parkinson’s disease.

The research study, conducted on fruit flies, is published in the latest edition of the prestigious journal Science on its Science Express website (see abstract).

The team included NIU Department of Biological Sciences professor and noted vitamin K expert Rangaswamy “Nathan” Meganathan, as well as his former student, Janaka N. Edirisinghe, who completed his Ph.D. in December. The two collaborated with 10 other scientists from two Belgian institutions, the VIB Center for Biology of Disease and the Center for Human Genetics and Leuven Research Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Leuven.

Study leader Patrik Verstreken, a neuroscientist associated with the Belgian centers, said the discovery gives hope to Parkinson’s patients.

“It appears from our research that administering vitamin K₂ could possibly help patients with Parkinson’s. However, more work needs to be done to understand this better,” Verstreken said.

Janaka N. Edirisinghe

Vitamin K₂plays a role in the energy production of defective mitochondria, the researchers said. If cells were likened to small factories, then mitochondria would be the power plants responsible for supplying the energy for their operations. They generate this energy by transporting electrons.

In Parkinson’s patients, the activity of mitochondria and the transport of electrons have been disrupted, resulting in the mitochondria no longer producing sufficient energy for the cell. This has major consequences as the cells in certain parts of the brain will start dying off, disrupting communication between neurons. The results are the typical symptoms of Parkinson’s: lack of movement (akinesia), tremors and muscle stiffness.

The exact cause of this neurodegenerative disease is not known. In recent years, however, scientists have been able to describe several genetic defects (mutations) found in Parkinson’s patients, including the so-called PINK1 and Parkin mutations, which both lead to reduced mitochondrial activity. By studying these mutations, scientists hope to unravel the mechanisms underlying the disease process.

Fruit flies (Drosophila) are frequently used in lab experiments because of their short life spans and breeding cycles, among other things. Within two weeks of her emergence, each female is able to produce hundreds of offspring. By genetically modifying fruitflies, scientists can study the function of certain genes and proteins.

Verstreken and his team used fruit flies with a genetic defect in PINK1 or Parkin that is similar to the one associated with Parkinson’s. They found that the flies with a PINK1 or Parkin mutation lost their ability to fly.

Upon closer examination, they discovered that the mitochondria in these flies were defective, just as in Parkinson’s patients. It was also discovered that a gene known as  UBIAD1/Heix, when mutated, enhanced the lethality of PINK1. Because of the defects in the mitochondria, the flies generated less intracellular energy – energy the insects needed to fly.

When the mutant flies were fed vitamin K2, or when UBIAD1/Heix gene was reintroduced, the energy production in their mitochondria was restored and the insects’ ability to fly improved. The researchers were also able to determine that the energy production was restored because the vitamin K₂ had improved electron transport in the mitochondria. This in turn led to improved energy production.

The NIU scientists contributed to the project by analyzing samples and providing bacterial mutants that were utilized in these experiments.

“This study provides us with a better understanding of Parkinson’s, and our hope it that our findings will ultimately be helpful to those suffering from the disease,” Meganathan said.

Meganathan, a Distinguished Research Professor at NIU and world expert on vitamin K, has been shedding new light on scientists’ understanding of the vitamin’s biosynthesis for much of his long career.

“We have learned, especially in recent years, that vitamin K deficiencies appear to be linked to a number of inherited diseases in humans, such as certain types of bladder cancer and eye diseases,” Meganathan said.