Featured in this batch of facts: Harlem Globetrotter McKinley “Deacon” Davis helped to create NIU’s CHANCE program which aimed to level the playing field for underprepared and disadvantaged students, NIU’s International Programs is consistently listed in national surveys as hosting one of the nation’s largest study abroad programs, and NIU observes ‘Red and Black Fridays’ encouraging Huskies around the world to show their spirit on social media with #HuskiePride.
NIU PROGRAMS
In 1968, Harlem Globetrotter McKinley “Deacon” Davis helped to create NIU’s CHANCE program which aimed to level the playing field for underprepared and disadvantaged students, getting them past obstacles to graduation day.
NIU’s CHANCE program stands for: Counseling, Help and Assistance Necessary for a College Education. The first CHANCE class numbered just 50 inner-city students; today there are 1,500 – 2,000 in any given year. More than half a century later, over 15,000 Huskie alumni succeeded in college because NIU gave them a CHANCE.
The Huskie Battalion was established in 1968, with NIU granting the ROTC program its current academic status as the Department of Military Science in 1969. When classes began, the department offered 10 credit hours in Military Science, and 83 cadets enrolled. This group of Huskie ROTC cadets resulted in the battalion commissioning its first 16 lieutenants in the spring of 1971.
In 2004, the Department of Military Science moved to its current location in the Chick Evans Fieldhouse where a “Huskie Project” memorial now stands in honor of the 50th anniversary.
NIU’s Honors Program was established in 1969. In its first year, the Honors Program enrolled 98 students and offered 15 courses. Today, approximately 800 students participate in the Honors program each year, and over 100 courses qualify as Honors Program work. The program also includes co-curricular work to help students prepare for graduate school, career success, and to encourage lifelong engagement and service in their communities.
NIU’s International Programs were established in 1969 with an initial focus on providing opportunities for students to study in other countries. Professor Daniel Wit was the first director of International Programs. He was also the founding chair of the Department of Political Science, and helped create the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
Beginning in the 1980s, NIU was consistently listed in national surveys as hosting one of the nation’s largest study abroad programs.
NIU CAMPUS
The NIU Lorado Taft Field Campus is a 141-acre campus that was once part of the Wallace Heckman estate. In 1951, NIU acquired a portion of the Heckman estate and named the campus after Lorado Taft. The campus consists of wooded areas, open fields and ravines. It also includes three of the original art colony buildings that were established by the Eagle’s Nest Art Colony.
The NIU Latino Center is the home for the interdisciplinary study of the Latinx experience in the United States as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. The center was founded in 1978 in response to students advocating for recruiting more Latin American students, creating more scholarships for Latin American students, and hiring more bilingual teachers and counselors. In the 1970s, the center first found quarters in one of the many houses purchased on Garden Road across Anderson Hall. Because the Latino student population had later grown in the 1990s, the university demolished the house and built a two-story building that is known today as the Latino Center.
Red and Black Fridays are observed on campus and by NIU Huskies around the world. Participants are asked to wear NIU clothing and gear, and to share their pride on social media with #HuskiePride for a chance to be featured on NIU’s official social media accounts.