Located about an hour west of Chicago is the agricultural town of DeKalb, Illinois, home of Northern Illinois University. One of our Texas Tech doctoral students, Katie Gerst, received her Master's degree at NIU and had some photos of the school that she was willing to share. Shown first is the castle-like Altgeld Hall, the first building on the NIU campus, named in honor of the governor who helped with the founding of the university. Katie photographed Altgeld Hall from two perspectives.
Next is the Holmes Student Center. I think it's somewhat unusual for a student-union building to have a high-rise design (which is even more noticeable on the Center's website), which suggests a lot of office space and meeting rooms, but potentially a shortage of expansive commons areas. There is something called the Sky Room on the 16th floor that looks interesting, however.
The third building, Adams Hall, was a women's dormitory from 1949-1967, until being converting to an administration building.
Gilbert Hall, a residence hall in the past and perhaps on the verge of being restored to that role in the future, is the topic of current construction planning.
Still Hall, at one point a gym, appears to host facilities in media, technology, and engineering.
The Law School's Swen Parson Hall sports a traditional academic look.
Shown last among the campus buildings is Williston Hall; like other buildings seen thus far, Williston was once a dorm and now holds offices.
Finally, every college town should have at least one quirky, colorfully decorated business establishment in the area. Maybe I'm reading too much into the picture, but perhaps the corn stalk symbolizes the human spine, which Dr. Van helps straighten out for his patients.
