In April 1977, as a junior meteorology major at Northern Illinois University, Tim Marshall, ’78, conducted a 24-hour microclimate study some 35 miles west of DeKalb off an 80-foot cliff overlooking the Rock River.

The ambitious effort included hourly rappelling and recording temperatures every ten feet. The ensuing term paper received a rare “A” from Professor Jack Villmow. Even more importantly, the experience solidified a principle that Marshall has embraced for the last half-century: “Get out there and do the observing.”

An emeritus engineer and meteorologist with Texas-based Haag Engineering Company, Marshall has had an illustrious, pioneering career specializing in surveying and assessing building damage in the wake of natural disasters. An avid storm chaser, he’s also tracked more than 300 tornadoes and two dozen hurricanes and is renowned for his role as a principal developer of the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

“My professors taught me that the atmosphere is our laboratory and the best way to explore it is getting out there,” Marshall said. “Even in today’s world with all the technology, you still need to get out.”

In 2024, when NIU Atmospheric Science Professor Victor Gensini, ’08, M.S. ’10, asked him if he could support the ICECHIP project, Marshall backed those words with an extraordinarily generous action — a $100,000 donation to purchase and transform a 2022 Ford F-150 pickup truck into the Huskie Hail Hunter.

“The ‘yes’ was immediate,” Marshall recalled. “I’m all in.”

Six College of Engineering and Engineering Technology mechanical engineering majors outfitted the truck with protective shields to make it hail resistant, and Marshall’s “generous donation allowed our creativity to not be held back by cost,” noted Ryan Ramos, ’25. “We were able to choose the right vehicle, materials and equipment we saw would be up to the capabilities needed for the research effort.”

The Huskie Hail Hunter stood out among the 30 vehicles that were part of the ICECHIP convoy. “We showed up in Boulder with this beautiful, outfitted truck and everyone’s like, ‘Where did you get that? How’d you do that?’” Gensini said.

Marshall joined the ICECHIP team on the six-week scientific adventure but wanted to make sure he didn’t take anyone’s spot, so he provided another $8,000 in funding for a graduate student’s expenses.

“Everyone wanted to make this project a success — the students have the same passion, and we enjoyed so much camaraderie,” he said. “It was wonderful to get back and work with students again.”

“In the face of a worsening climate crisis, the Red Cross will need to invest at least $1 billion in disaster response measures over the next several years,” said American Red Cross of Illinois CEO Kellie O’Connell, ’98.

Disaster response is central to the Red Cross’ mission to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. O’Connell oversees its efforts across 88 counties combined in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, serving nearly 12 million people.

“A lot of my job is making sure we have the dollars to fuel the mission,” she said. “We quite literally could not do it without our donors and volunteers.”

As extreme weather events grow more frequent and intense — from tornadoes to floods — O’Connell is committed to equitably meeting the growing and unique needs of disaster-affected families and communities. However, scaling up to meet these challenges requires additional support.

“The Red Cross is enhancing our large-scale disaster response and recovery services, expanding financial assistance, strengthening local partner networks and growing our disaster workforce,” she said. “We are responding to nearly twice as many large disasters as we did a decade ago, but it requires a collective effort.”

O’Connell encourages everyone to find ways to take action.

“Think about ways to get involved in your community to make it a safer place to live,” she said. “At the Red Cross, we strive to be the best part of someone’s worst day.”

Huskies step up when help is needed. Discover how you can lend a hand at NIUForward.com or RedCross.org.

We’ve all felt that moment when a single song unlocks a vivid memory, lifts us from frustration to elation, or unites a group of strangers with a familiar chorus.

Music holds power — and at NIU, faculty and students are harnessing that power to redefine care for adults living with, or at risk for, dementia.

“Music is a powerful way to elicit engagement and emotion,” NIU Professor Jamie Mayer, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, said. “For people living with dementia, the power of music is even more intense, because music stimulates the parts of the brain that tend to be spared — deep areas involved with emotion, emotional memories, and motor function — even very late in the disease process.”

Thanks to funding from Northwestern Medicine’s community grant program, Mayer and NIU students bring music, art, and other engaging activities to residents of DeKalb-area retirement communities and memory care centers through NIU’s Music & Memory program.

What may appear to be simple activities are, in fact, hands-on research and learning. Through these experiences, students explore how social connection and nonpharmacological approaches can improve cognitive function in individuals living with dementia — a range of neurodegenerative conditions that impair memory, language and learning.

Mayer, who teaches in the School of Allied Health & Communicative Disorders, founded Music & Memory in 2018, now a recognized student association, and serves as its faculty supervisor. Originally based on the national Music & Memory non-profit model, NIU’s program began with a focus on music. But thanks to Mayer’s habit of saying “yes” to unexpected opportunities, it has since expanded to include personalized memory books, an error-free art group, and an interactive BrainFit Academy for healthy older adults.

“Dr. Mayer is a trailblazer in creating research opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with individuals with dementia and with the aging community,” said Tertia “Abby” Jeppson, ’15, M.A., ’17, Mayer’s former student and now a research speech-language pathologist.

Jeppson has recently returned to NIU to pursue a Ph.D. in health sciences while continuing to work at the Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.

“Our research has shown that intergenerational, strengths-based programming is beneficial for adults at risk for or living with dementia, as well as for students,” Mayer said.

Students who join Music & Memory receive training in dementia fundamentals and coaching to enhance their confidence and comfort when engaging with adults affected by dementia.

Liza Buhr, ’22, CF-SLP, was on the Music & Memory board as an undergraduate student. She said the program taught her to show compassion and built her confidence to work with patients’ families and other clinicians.

“Dr. Mayer’s research challenges the misconception that individuals with dementia can no longer participate in anything meaningful,” Buhr said. “I interacted with several patients’ family members, and being able to offer them a tangible, low-stress way to connect with their loved ones through music was truly invaluable.”

Mayer leads her research through the Brain Resilience through Active Communication and Engagement Lab, where students assist with data collection and analysis. Early insights from the lab laid the groundwork for Music & Memory and continue to guide its evolution.

“We use a combination of behavioral methods including observation, cognitive-linguistic testing and self-report to measure functional communication, cognition and quality of life prior to, during and following program participation,” Mayer said.

Speech-language pathology graduate student Jamie Ward, ’24, said her undergraduate research experience with the BRACE Lab equipped her with essential skills —collaboration, leadership, communication, and the ability to build meaningful connections.

“It also deepened my commitment to a career centered on helping others, directly shaping my path and preparing me in ways I’m truly grateful for,” she said.

Students may participate in either the BRACE Lab or Music & Memory, or both. For students like NIU graduate student Viviana Cortes, their experience is often transformative.

“One of my favorite moments was during the holiday choir, when even residents who rarely spoke were able to sing along and share family traditions, creating a sense of joy and connection,” she said. “I was set on working in pediatrics, but after working with Music & Memory, I developed an interest in aging care. I want to support the older population and contribute to their quality of life.”

Mayer has watched students translate their experiences into graduate research, clinical practice and everyday life, bringing deeper empathy and innovative thinking. With continued support from grants and donors, this research not only advances dementia care but also fosters compassion and engagement among students towards aging adults, their loved ones and the broader community.

For Cortes, Music & Memory has been one of her favorite programs on campus.

“It is intrinsically motivating to see the direct impact that students can have on the lives of these residents and their families; and it’s changed how I think about care and how I show up for others,” she said, reflecting on how the program shapes hearts, opens minds and strengthens communities.

Help fuel research and innovation at NIU. Visit NIUForward.com.

Children who are blind can see neither words in print nor the objects that the words refer to, such as a tree, car or a cloud.

How does this impact their vocabulary development, which begins as auditory only?

Finding that answer — something NIU professors Lindsay Harris and Allison Gladfelter are pursuing with funding from the National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute — could yield better services and futures for students with visual disabilities.

“A lot of reading skill depends on language ability and basic semantic knowledge, and we have very little understanding of what sort of semantic representations people who don’t have visual experiences have of the world,” said Harris, associate professor of educational psychology.

“This is going to lead to greater representation of people with disabilities in the literature on reading and language development,” she added. “There are currently limited resources for this population, and the teachers, parents and other stakeholders who want to help have very few places to turn.”

Gladfelter, associate professor of speech-language pathology, shares that sentiment.

“I have been shocked by just how little research attention has been given to children with low vision,” she said, “and how our theoretical understanding of vision’s role in language learning and reading stands to gain by including more of these children.”

Harris and Gladfelter are collecting data from 100 children ages 5 to 14 within that special population and from 100 of their typically sighted peers.

“Ultimately,” Harris said, “we want to know if the number of words a typical 7-year-old kid who is blind can identify or define is more or less the same as typically sighted kids, and there are theoretical reasons to expect either of those possibilities.”

“Why? If you don’t have vision, then you’ve spent your whole life relying on and closely attending to linguistic information to make sense of the world. They may have an advantage in developing a vocabulary.”

The nationwide, first-of-its-kind study will assess if language knowledge and use differ between blind and sighted children.

Researchers are also quizzing participants with age-appropriate words and multiple-choice definitions.

Those who answer correctly are asked to explain how they acquired that knowledge — whether from linguistic context or direct experience, and whether from speech or reading because of their reduced access to print — and their confidence that they are right.

“In the past, all studies of age of vocabulary acquisition presented visual options to kids,” Harris said, “and, even for a sighted kid who has a reading disability, you’re not going to get an accurate picture of their vocabulary knowledge because you’re asking them to read, which is hard for them.”

Researchers also hope to better understand the source of reading delays in children who are blind.

Poor vocabulary? Underdeveloped semantic representations? The difficulty of Braille? Quality of literacy instruction? If preterm birth caused blindness, is it also responsible for the delays? A combination?

“There is very little research into why that may be, and I can think of a lot of possible explanations, but not many have been tested,” Harris said.

“One possibility is that the children just don’t have the vocabulary or the word knowledge to comprehend what they’re reading,” she added. “This research will help clarify that and, ultimately, improve reading development in kids with visual impairments so, if we recognize they have a vocabulary deficit, it can be targeted in interventions or classroom instruction to help.”

Following the study’s conclusion in 2028, teachers, speech pathologists and school psychologists will have improved data to guide them.

“Assessments are going to be informed by science,” Harris said. “Teachers will know what they need to create vocabu-lary lessons or reading instructions instead of just guessing.”

Diverse expertise from various disciplines is already proving beneficial.

“Our research team includes speech-language pathology, educational psychology and special education with an emphasis on teaching students with visual impairments,” Gladfelter said. “Our external advisory board includes teachers for students with low vision, blindness, publishers of Braille texts, advocates, parents and other reading scientists. Learning how these unique perspectives contribute to the project has been fascinating.”

Gladfelter is grateful to partner with Harris, crediting NIU’s Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy for fostering the opportunity.

“One of CISLL’s goals is to support interdisciplinary collaborations to study language and literacy, and I otherwise would not have come across Lindsay’s research or met her as a researcher,” Gladfelter said. “We discovered that we have really complementary research interests, and now we get to put those interests into a much larger project than either of us would have taken on independently.”

Meet the Research Team

Molly Pasley, M.S. ’09, assistant professor in the Visual Disabilities program of the NIU Department of Special and Early Education.

Brad Blair, NIU graduate research assistant and assistive technology instructor and Orientation and Mobility specialist at the Star Center in Tennessee.

Tremaine Love, NIU graduate research assistant and music teacher at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.

Rebecca Treiman, professor emeritus of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, who is serving as an external consultant.

Over the summer, nearly 30% of classroom spaces in Barsema Hall, home to the NIU College of Business, were updated with innovative resources and technology. This renovation is the first in a three-phase, 18-month remodeling project, which aims to update all classrooms throughout the building — impacting all business students regardless of major.

College of Business Dean Joan Phillips-Hernandez collaborated closely with donors, the Division of Information Technology, the Provost’s Office, and Facilities and Campus Services to ensure this priority project could be started this past summer.

“We want the students to have a seamless experience in our building, and when this project is completed, we know that every business student will have the same, top-notch experience because technology will be improved across the board, regardless of classroom or major,” Phillips-Hernandez said.

Funding for the project was primarily provided by key donors, including KPMG and those contributing to the dean’s strategic fund and dean’s technology fund.

Thanks to the generosity of Dennis, ’77 and Stacey Barsema, NIU’s College of Business moved into Barsema Hall in the fall of 2002. This state-of-the-art, 144,000-square-foot facility is a gleaming example of donor impact on the NIU campus.

“While many new, named spaces have been added to the building in the last two decades, this project is the first infrastructure implementation to classroom technology in 23 years,” said Associate Dean Sarah Marsh, who is a long-time management professor. “It’s great to see our classroom spaces being renewed to enable faculty to implement best practices in teaching to all of our students.”

Much of the classroom technology in the building was original equipment, including legacy VGA cabling, obsolete non-digital switching and mixing devices, and peripherals that required workarounds and constant attention to remain functional.

A key decision the team had to make early was whether and how to replace legacy projectors and they decided to switch to Interactive Flat Panel displays — large, touch-sensitive screens that are mounted like a monitor on the wall and function like a giant tablet or smart display. They combine tools like whiteboarding, screen sharing, and collaboration software, with connectivity to computers, cameras and the internet.

“These screens are comparable in cost to a traditional projector and screen and also bring more value to our classrooms, providing new teaching and learning options to students and faculty,” said Jason Underwood, executive director of accounting, strategy and learning, who oversaw the project for the College of Business.

Other classroom technology features included in the new designs are the ability to share content wirelessly from faculty and student devices, selecting and customizing which content is displayed where in the classroom, and the flexibility to use specialized devices like document cameras, classroom cameras and remote teaching technologies.

In addition to the technological upgrades, classroom furnishings were also updated in seven classrooms, with mobile, flexible and configurable furniture taking the place of old tables and chairs.

“We want to support modern active-learning pedagogies for smaller and larger groups of students,” said Phillips-Hernandez. “These pieces do configure to a lecture format, but they are ideal for more collaborative work. The default setup for these classrooms is a collaborative model, which is an important step toward preparing our students to lead in the AI-ready workforce.”

Underwood noted that getting the project through the first phase has been possible only because of the support of donors and the strong partnerships the college has built across campus. The construction and electrical work were completed by local firms, Weaver Construction and Swedberg Electric.

“All of the teams we worked with did a phenomenal job. In particular, our talented DoIT Classroom team took on this large-scale project, designing and implementing the classroom technology infrastructure and architecture with the latest in audio-visual automation and controls,” Underwood said.

Matthew Parks, chief information officer for the NIU Department of IT, said his team hopes this renovation will serve as a model for other classroom technology updates across campus. “DoIT is always interested in partnering with all stakeholders at NIU to drive technology innovation in and out of the classroom,” Parks said. “The classroom at NIU is paramount to the student experience — delivering modern technology solutions to help promote optimal teaching and learning outcomes within the College of Business.”

To learn how you can give to the next phase of the College of Business’ classroom renovation, contact Rachel Gresk, senior director of advancement for the College of Business, at rgresk@niu.edu.

A new era begins this season for NIU women’s basketball as Jaycee Brooks takes over as head coach of the Huskies. Brooks, who becomes the 11th head coach in program history, comes to DeKalb following two seasons as the associate head coach at Buffalo, where she helped the Bulls to a 30-win season in 2024-25, which included a Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship.

“I am incredibly excited and honored to become the next head women’s basketball coach at Northern Illinois University,” Brooks said upon her hiring. “I would like to thank President Dr. Lisa Freeman, Vice President and Director of Athletics Sean Frazier, and Senior Associate Athletic Director Chris Barker for entrusting me with the privilege of bringing this program back to prominence.

“I’m committed to developing these young women holistically and making a positive impact in the classroom, on the court, and in the community,” Brooks continued. “We’re going to build a team that’s tough, resilient and plays with heart. This is a dream come true, and I can’t wait to get to work.”

Prior to her time at Buffalo, Brooks was a highly decorated head coach at Division III SUNY Cortland, where she posted a 79-32 record as the head coach from 2018-23. Brooks led the Red Dragons to a trio of 20-win seasons along with three trips to the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Brooks began her coaching career as the director of basketball operations at St. Bonaventure in 2007, before being elevated to an assistant coaching position in 2009. She then spent three years as an assistant coach at Canisius College before taking her first job in the Mid-American Conference as an assistant at Bowling Green.

As both a head coach and an assistant, Brooks knows one thing that is an absolute necessity for success, and that is playing hard.

“I know I am walking into a solid foundation, which I am excited about, but I need to continue to build that,” Brooks said at her introductory press conference. “From an X’s and O’s standpoint, from a basketball philosophy, you have to play hard to play for me. Then developing what I want to do offensively and defensively, to mold the current players into what I’m looking for and also bring in players that already have those things so that we can really develop in the first year.”

The momentum is undeniable. Over the past two fiscal years, the NIU Foundation has achieved consecutive fundraising milestones, securing more than $90 million in philanthropic support from the Huskie community — including an unprecedented $61.8 million in Fiscal Year 2025 alone. This surge of generosity marks a pivotal moment for Northern Illinois University, as alumni, donors and friends celebrate NIU’s strength and impact by uniting behind a bold vision for what NIU can achieve next. Their commitment is fueling the successful launch of FORWARD: The Campaign for NIU, a $300 million fundraising effort designed to elevate every corner of the university and expand NIU’s impact on communities across our region and around the world.

A cornerstone of this success came in October 2024, when the JTB Family Foundation committed a transformational $40 million gift to establish the Baustert Bahwell Health Technology Center. This historic investment, the largest single gift in NIU’s history, will create state-of-the-art facilities and opportunities for students and faculty, advancing health technology innovation and preparing future leaders to meet critical workforce needs.

Already, the campaign’s impact is visible across campus. Donor support is expanding access through new scholarships, accelerating research in areas like health, education and the environment, and strengthening programs in the arts and business. Investments are modernizing classrooms and creating dynamic spaces where students and faculty can collaborate, innovate and thrive. These early transformations reflect a growing belief in NIU’s mission and its power to shape lives, communities, and the future — not in some distant future, but today.

“As we celebrate the launch for FORWARD, we honor the collective strength of our university community,” said NIU President Lisa C. Freeman. “These recent fundraising milestones reflect the confidence our supporters have in NIU’s mission and vision. But our future isn’t shaped by their generosity alone — it’s realized through the students, faculty and communities who turn that support into action. It’s through this shared commitment that we are building a future where Huskies don’t just succeed, they lead.”

With this historic success comes renewed leadership to guide the path ahead. Both Michael Daigler, president and CEO of the NIU Foundation, and Ray Earl-Jackson, vice president of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, bring a long and successful record of leadership and fundraising within the Foundation. Over their years of service, they have built strong donor relationships, championed collaboration across the university, and helped secure transformative gifts that are already changing lives. Their shared experience and deep commitment to NIU uniquely position them to carry the Foundation’s momentum into the next chapter.

“Having two accomplished leaders at the helm gives us great confidence as we move into the public phase of FORWARD,” said NIU Foundation Board Chair Jack Tierney. “Michael and Ray, together with our passionate donors, will ensure this campaign transforms what is possible for NIU today and for the generations of students who will follow.”

These historic results signal more than fundraising milestones, they signal a movement. Huskie pride is strong, donor belief is steadfast and NIU’s future is brighter than ever.

Bruce Niemi arrived at Northern Illinois University with the dream of becoming an Olympic wrestler. By the time he graduated with a B.A. in fine arts from the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Niemi had embraced a new dream steeped in artistry and expression — one that spanned decades, transformed public spaces, and left a lasting imprint on NIU’s campus and community.

Raised in Gurnee, Illinois, Niemi began his artistic journey under the guidance of his father, Frank J. Niemi, an ornamental iron artist and self-taught sculptor. He began welding in his father’s garage at 12 years old, and it was there that Niemi first learned to forge metal into art. That foundational skill would carry him through life.

While honing his artistic abilities, Niemi worked to achieve his dream of winning Olympic gold, eventually earning a wrestling scholarship to NIU in 1974. Equal parts athlete and artist, Niemi pursued his dual passions until injuries forced him off the mat, changing the trajectory of his life and cementing a lifelong devotion to art.

Though he followed a wrestling career into college, it was artists like Professor Emeritus Bruce White who helped him find the confidence to pursue sculpture full-time. That pursuit would become a calling. Niemi’s works — flowing yet strong, abstract but grounded in meaning — now grace universities, libraries and gardens across the country.

But perhaps none are more poignant than the sculpture titled Remembered, which stands as a memorial to the victims of the February 14, 2008, tragedy. The sculpture is located east of Cole Hall in the Forward, Together Forward Memorial Garden.

The idea for Remembered came to Niemi in a flash of inspiration from the cover of Northern Now, which showed a candlelight vigil. Suzi Niemi, his wife and partner of 41 years recounts, “He came into the studio and said, ‘Look at this.’ He’d built a small model and said, ‘This is for them, five flames, five spirits rising.’”

Mallory M. Simpson, then president and CEO of the NIU Foundation, led the artist selection process and helped secure donor support for the project. She remembers how Niemi’s sculptures brought a sense of healing, unity and identity to the campus.

“He was the perfect person to create that memorial,” she said. “He just understood how to express something profound without needing to say a word.”

In addition to commissioned pieces like Remembered and Living the Dream (located outside the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center), Bruce and Suzi helped establish a temporary sculpture garden by reaching out to other artists and personally delivering installations to campus.

Niemi, who passed away in 2025, leaves behind striking works of art and powerful reminders of how one artist’s vision can shape the soul of a campus. His commitment to making sculpture part of the NIU landscape continues to guide the university’s evolving relationship with its own creative spaces.

Paul Kassel, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, is among those working to reimagine the role of public art on campus.

“How do we provide our students with enriched experiences?” Kassel asked. “And how do we imagine the entire campus as canvas?”

Niemi’s passing, Kassel believes, offers a moment to recommit to these ideals.

“His work captures the essence of being a Huskie — the resilience, the never-quit attitude,” Kassel said. “There’s no better way to express the Huskie ethos than through the Remembered sculpture. We have a responsibility now to curate, to elevate and to center art as part of campus culture.”

This renewed effort is visible through the university’s task force focused on highlighting NIU’s “hidden gems” of art. Their goal is to make existing pieces more prominent and invite new works — especially from alumni — to join the campus landscape. Niemi’s legacy stands as both foundation and inspiration for that movement.

Suzi recalled their last visit to campus in 2023, “He wanted to see his sculptures. We took pictures. It meant everything to him. He loved his art professors and the camaraderie of the wrestlers. Bruce was passionate about his art, about life, about people…and he really loved NIU.”

Six recent NIU graduates have been selected for an innovative fellowship program that recognizes promising new alumni in the arts and provides financial support as they launch their careers.

The Simpson Schatzle Fellowship supports two graduates from each of the three schools that make up the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Applicants were selected based on their academic achievement and their artistic promise. Each applicant was asked to provide five artistic goals and to explain how receiving the fellowship will enable them to meet those goals.

The fellowship is made possible by the generosity of donors who have dedicated their lives to philanthropy and the arts, inspired by their deep appreciation for music, theater, dance and visual creativity. Their passion for the performing and visual arts inspired them to establish the award to ensure that future artists have the resources to pursue their creative aspirations.

The first six recipients of the Simpson Schatzle Fellowship are:

NIU School of Art and Design

Edwin Perez-Hernandez, Master of Arts, Photography
Perez-Hernandez will spend his first year after graduation developing his portfolio, and choosing a Master of Fine Arts program to continue his studies. His photography revolves around the topic of immigration and the effect it has on families on both sides of the border.

Jimmy Panagopoulos, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illustration
Panagopoulos will focus on continuing to create his comic series The Sleeping Debt, the story of two protagonists who stay up far too late and find themselves trapped in a dream realm to pay off the sleep debt they have accumulated. He will also continue his charity campaign, Comic Fight!, which is a 24-hour event streamed on Twitch.TV where participants create a 24-page comic in 24 hours to help raise money to benefit creatives in need.

NIU School of Music

Segun Owele, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Music Performance, Flute
Owele is working to establish an organization that provides mentorship, performance opportunities, development programs and industry advocacy to support the needs of Nigerian classical musicians, who remain underrepresented and under-supported.

Mikayla Chin, Bachelor of Music, Music Performance, Saxophone
Chin says she experienced firsthand the challenges of being an Asian American female jazz musician and plans to share her successes by mentoring and serving as a role model for young Chicago-area jazz musicians from diverse backgrounds, like her own, through a program that provides them with support.

School of Theatre and Dance

Jahan Pierre, Bachelor of Arts, Theatre Studies
Pierre plans to work as a multi-dimensional artist, storyteller and creative force, building original projects through a production brand of their own creation. Pierre strives to develop works that go beyond entertainment by moving people.

Chance Lira, Bachelor of Arts, Theatre Studies
Lira is working to earn an internship with Tyler Perry’s Dreamers project. Lira created short films at NIU through the School of Theatre and Dance’s annual 72-Hour Film Festivals. Lira also plans to use his fellowship to enable him to create short films and enter them in film festivals.