MARCH 2000: Black Heritage Gospel Choir celebrates 25th anniversary
FEBRUARY 27, 2001: The BOT signs off on a proposal to grant a bachelor’s degree to students majoring in women’s studies.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2003: The BOT votes to approve the construction of a $17 million multi-level parking garage at the south end of the campus to resolve the decades-old parking shortage. The southern exposure of the garage opens in October 2004, and the remainder of the building two months later.
2004: The McNair Scholars Program comes to NEIU.
NOVEMBER 2004: The University renames the South Side CICS branch the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies, honoring the memory of the esteemed professor of history and education at CICS who had passed away in January 2004.
NOVEMBER 19, 2004: Faculty members, represented in collective bargaining negotiations by the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI), commence Northeastern’s first job action since the 1968 walkout over compensation, workload, and tenure issues.
DECEMBER 7, 2004: The eighteen-day strike ends when Board Chairman Daniel L. Goodwin donates $400,000 ($100,000 per year) to be dispersed over the life of the new four-year contract. The agreement included a 3.5 percent across-the-board increase. The contract is ratified two days later.
FALL 2005: Northeastern enrollment hits 12,227—a high watermark in the history of the University.
SEPTEMBER 2005: President Steinberg announces planning grants received from the State of Illinois and the federal government and from Congressman Rahm Emanuel for a new College of Education Building.
DECEMBER 2005: Daniel L. Goodwin steps down as chairman of the BOT after a decade of service.
FEBRUARY 9, 2006: President Steinberg announces her intention to retire to the University community after what will be regarded as a successful twelve-year term in office. The trustees name her president emerita in appreciation.
FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 6, 2006: Northeastern hosts the European Union International Business Conference in Alumni Hall.
OCTOBER 26, 2006: President Steinberg receives the prestigious Amicus Poloniae Award from the ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the United States for her leadership in international education partnerships.
NOVEMBER 16, 2006: The BOT elects Dr. Sharon K. Hahs, former provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, president of Northeastern. She begins her duties in February 2007.
SUMMER 2007: Professor Emeritus Bernard Brommel and President Emerita Salme Steinberg establish the Northeastern Founders Society to increase the future endowment of the University and to honor those individuals who provide gifts through estate planning during their lifetimes.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2007: Dr. Hahs is formally invested as Northeastern’s sixth president in the Auditorium.
OCTOBER 2007: The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities presents Northeastern with the 2007 “Outstanding Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Member Institution Award.”
JANUARY 2008: The Student Government Association approves an application to charter a Northeastern chapter of Operation Rainbow Push.
APRIL 17, 2008: Acting upon the suggestion of Dr. Elyse Mach of the Music Department, Northeastern renames the Fine Arts Center the Salme Harju Steinberg Fine Arts Center.
MAY 29, 2009: The Classroom Building is renamed and dedicated as Lech Walesa Hall, honoring the Nobel Laureate and president of Poland who helped bring about the downfall of communism in his native land. Walesa returns to Northeastern for a visit on January 29, 2010.
AUGUST 19, 2009: The Northeastern Illinois University Alumni Association and the Chicago Teachers College Association jointly sponsor and host a daylong “Welcome Home” reunion for all CTC and Northeastern alumni and faculty emeriti inside the Student Union Alumni Hall.
OCTOBER 27, 2009: The conversion of the old A Wing begun in 2007 and completed in August 2009 is celebrated with a formal campus ribbon-cutting ceremony. The space provides a permanent home for the College of Business and Management.
FEBRUARY 25, 2010: Northeastern hosts the African International Business Conference.
MAY 2010: The “new” Northeastern Illinois University Alumni Association is launched.
SEPTEMBER 30, 2010: The University honors professor emeritus and major benefactor Dr. Bernard J. Brommel by renaming the Science Building to Bernard J. Brommel Hall.
JUNE 8, 2011: In recognition of her 44 years of service to Northeastern, work begins on the Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs with a mission to promote and advance social justice, inclusivity, and diversity through educational and extra-curricular programs. The Pedroso Center opens in October.
NOVEMBER 1, 2011: Northeastern and UPI, the faculty union, avoid a second walkout and ratify a new four-year contract.
OCTOBER 2012: The Alumni Association relocates out of the Beehive and into its new Alumni Center at the west end of the campus west of Lech Walesa Hall.
NOVEMBER 8, 2012: Groundbreaking ceremonies are held for the new $28.5 million LEED-certified El Centro building at 3390 North Avondale Avenue adjacent to the Kennedy Expressway.
2013: Northeastern and President Hahs inaugurate “Decade of Dreams,” a new facilities master plan for the entire campus.
OCTOBER 21, 2013: NEIU's Genocide and Human Rights in Africa and the Diaspora (GHRAD) Center hosts first annual Genocide and Human Rights in Africa and the Diaspora Conference
OCTOBER 2013: Northeastern names a student area in the College of Business and Management in honor of the late Iranian prime minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh. The hall is designated Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh Servant Leaders Hall. At the same time, the Northeastern Foundation establishes an endowed student scholarship and lecture fund under his name.
OCTOBER 17–18, 2013: The University welcomes back alumni and emeritus faculty in Northeastern’s first annual all-school reunion under the direction of the new Alumni Association, now serving more than 76,000 members.
2014: El Centro added new undergraduate classes leading to bachelor’s degrees in Justice Studies, Special Education, Social Work and Computer Science—all attainable completely at El Centro.
FEBRUARY 11, 2014: The Chicago Teachers’ Center is restructured and renamed as the Center for College Access and Success.
AUGUST 2014: Funding for a new 360,000-square-foot Education Building once again receives final approval.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2014: The new state-of-the-art El Centro building opens its doors to students.
OCTOBER 1, 2014: Ribbon-cutting ceremonies are held for El Centro with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in attendance.
NOVEMBER 24, 2014: The former B Wing is renovated to include the six resource centers in the Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs.
MAY 14, 2015: President Sharon Hahs and University officials break ground for Northeastern’s first residence hall, called “The Nest.” Student housing is a critical component of Northeastern’s “Decade of Dreams” master plan.
SEPTEMBER 2015: For the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report ranks Northeastern number one among Midwestern colleges in graduating its students with the least amount of debt in its “Best Colleges” issue. The publication again ranks Northeastern as the most ethnically diverse among public institutions.
NOVEMBER 6, 2015: Northeastern joins the Chicago Star Partnership to provide scholarships to high-achieving City Colleges of Chicago graduates.
NOVEMBER 30, 2015: The Pedroso Center expansion is completed.
JANUARY 1, 2016: Northeastern thanks Daniel L. Goodwin for his philanthropy and honors him by renaming the College of Education the Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education for his generosity to the University as a major benefactor. Northeastern kicks off its “Goodwin Gift Challenge,” a $2.5 million challenge grant initiated by Mr. Goodwin on January 26 in Alumni Hall. By January 2017, the University donors met and exceeded the Goodwin Gift Challenge.
APRIL–MAY 2016: The University mobilizes its resources in a lobbying effort to break a ten-month stalemate in Springfield that had dragged on since June 2015 when Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed the 2015–2016 state budget. The inability of the legislature and the governor to affect a compromise drained financial resources and raised the ominous possibility of staff reduction, furloughs, and the threat of closure.
JULY 6, 2016: President Sharon Hahs announces her intention to retire effective September 30, 2016.
JULY 26, 2016: Provost Richard Helldobler is named interim president. Dr. Helldobler joined Northeastern in 2013 as provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. The BOT awards Helldobler an eighteen-month contract through March 2018.
AUGUST 2016: The College of Business and Management receives accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools offering undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees in business and accounting.
AUGUST 19, 2016: A ribbon cutting opened Northeastern’s first resident’s hall “The Nest.” First-year students move in immediately after the inaugural ceremony with the assistance of members of the administration.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2016: CCICS marked its 50th anniversary of service to Chicago communities and students with a lecture given by Greg Kimathi Carr, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University.
FALL 2016: Northeastern inaugurates a master’s degree program in social work under the direction of Troy Harden.
2017: The Northeastern community celebrates its sesquicentennial founding as the Cook County Normal School in a yearlong commemoration.
2017: After a gap of 25 years, the University Without Walls (UWW) Program was brought back to Stateville Correctional Center. NEIU’s Nontraditional Degree Programs office partnered with Chicago’s Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project (PNAP) early in 2017, which resulted in eight men from Stateville enrolling in the fall semester.
JANUARY 2017: Dr. Sandra Beyda-Lorie appointed Dean of the Goodwin College of Education
MARCH 2017: NEIU imposes furlough days due to the 19-month budget standoff in Springfield under Governor Rauner.
MARCH 15, 2018: Gloria J. Gibson announced as the next NEIU President
FALL 2018: New Master of Arts in Teaching in Secondary Education through the Department of Educational Inquiry and Curriculum Studies begins.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2018: Dr. Gibson is formally inaugurated as President
SEPTEMBER 2018: Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS) hosts 1st Annual Fun Fair.
FEBRUARY 2, 2019: Dame Libby Komaiko, founder of the Ensemble Española Spanish Dance Theater in residence at Northeastern Illinois University, passed away.
MARCH 11, 2019: The Council on Accreditation and the Council on Social Work Education NEIU’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program, which started in fall of 2016.
FALL 2019: New Master of Public Health in the Goodwin College of Education begins at the El Centro campus.
FALL 2019: Goodwin College of Education will offer 4 new non-degree certificates: Public Health Graduate Certificate, Certificate in Couple and Family Counseling, School Counselor Endorsement, and Addiction Counseling Certificate.
DECEMBER 2019: NEIU Alum and member of the U.S. House of Representatives Luis Gutiérrez donates his Congressional papers to the University Archives at the Ronald Williams Library
JANUARY 13, 2020: Coronavirus is first detected in Chicago.
MARCH 20, 2020: NEIU extends spring break by a week, suspends face-to-face instruction, cancels events and implements work from home procedures as countermeasures to the spread of COVID-19. A COVID-19 Task Force was formed and is providing information.
MARCH 30, 2020: NEIU moves to remote-only instruction and faculty and staff working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
APRIL 13, 2020: NEIU removes the requirement for a standardized test score from its Fall 2020 application for enrollment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MAY 8, 2020: Commencement is postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
JUNE 2, 2020: The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has granted Northeastern Illinois University’s Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education accreditation at the initial-licensure level and advanced-level. Both accreditations are effective from Spring 2020 through Spring 2026.
JUNE 15, 2020: NEIU starts a pilot program to allow students enrolled for the summer session to return to campus by reserving time slots for space use.
JUNE 15, 2020: President Gibson announces the creation of the George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship.
JULY 2020: College of Arts and Sciences has changed the name of its Art department to Art + Design and the department, major and minor of Women’s and Gender Studies to Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies beginning in the Fall 2020 semester.
JULY 23, 2020: Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education has changed several of its programs’ names and has made some additions beginning in the Fall 2020 term:
FALL 2020: Classes for the Fall 2020 semester will be held online and limited access to campus will continue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SEPTEMBER 2020: U.S. Department of Education awarded Northeastern Illinois University a five-year, $3 million Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program grant that will help the University increase the number of students who complete STEM majors. The grant establishes CASA: Creating Access to STEM for All.
OCTOBER 7, 2020: Angelina Pedroso, for whom Northeastern Illinois University named its multicultural center after her 44-year career as a respected Spanish language and Hispanic literature educator, died on Oct. 7 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 90 years old.
DECEMBER 13, 2020: NEIU honors the May, August and December 2020 graduates with a series of six virtual Commencement ceremonies.
SPRING 2021: Classes for the Spring 2021 semester will be held online and limited access to campus will continue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FEBRUARY 2021: Goldie, the NEIU Golden Eagle mascot, is reintroduced.
MARCH 19, 2021: Northeastern Illinois University and all 12 of the state’s public universities will become part of the Common Application (Common App) for college applications starting August 2021.
APRIL 2021: Northeastern Illinois University is allowing Heartland Health Centers to utilize part of its Physical Education Complex to provide COVID-19 vaccinations for its current 27,000 patients, many of whom live on the North and Northwest sides of Chicago.
MAY 9, 2021: Commencement for the Spring 2021 graduates were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MAY 28, 2021: NEIU announces NEIU For You, a brand-new, one-time scholarship that covers tuition and mandatory fees for a full year for incoming first-year, full-time undergraduates.
JUNE 2021: NEIU’s Master of Public Health (MPH) program offers two concentrations—Public Health Promotion and School Health—beginning Fall 2021. The Department of Health Science and Physical Education will also offer a School Health Graduate Certificate, which can be fully completed online. Northeastern’s Master of Social Work program added a specialization in School Social Work. The Master of Business Administration program also added seven concentrations: General Business, Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Global/International Business, Information Technology and Public Health.
JULY 2021: Dr. Shireen Roshanravan was named Northeastern Illinois University’s first Executive Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
AUGUST 20, 2021: U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, who earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Northeastern in 1976, donated his Congressional archives to Northeastern Illinois University. The Luis V. Gutiérrez Congressional Archives, contains 41 linear feet of documents, awards, letters and other paraphernalia.
FALL 2021: In-person classes will resume for the Fall 2021 semester. Northeastern employees and students who will be on campus in the fall are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 2021-2022 academic year. Those who are unable to get vaccinated will be required to participate in weekly COVID-19 testing on campus. The University will also continue to require face masks to be worn indoors and in outdoor spaces if social distancing cannot be maintained.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021: Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education named Kamau Rashid as the Founding Director of the new Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) in Urban Education Program.
SEPTEMBER 22-23, 2021: Northeastern Illinois University, in collaboration with numerous local and national supporting organizations, hosts the Japanese American Redress Conference on Sept. 22-23, 2021, exactly 40 years after the Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) hearings were held on Northeastern's Main Campus. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the conference was held via Zoom.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2021: For the eighth year in a row, Northeastern Illinois University topped U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges” publication for graduating students with the least amount of student debt among Midwest regional universities.
OCTOBER 1, 2021: NEIU offers up to 15 tuition and fee waivers for qualified Afghan refugees who settle in Chicago or nearby areas. These waivers will cover the cost of tuition and fees for 12 credit hours in the current academic year and housing will also be available for these students.
NOVEMBER 2021: President Gloria J. Gibson and U.S. veteran Gabriel Can (student, Psychology) unveiled a plaque dedicated to veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Peace Garden on the Main Campus.
NOVEMBER 2021: Beginning in Fall 2022, NEIU will cover the cost of four years of tuition for eligible students through the NEIU For You scholarship. It will cover the cost of 12 credit hours of tuition for four years after all federal, state, institutional, internal/external scholarships and grants have been applied.
NOVEMBER 2021: The U.S. Department of Education awarded NEIU a five-year, $5 million Hispanic-Serving Institutions - Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (HSI - STEM) and Articulation Program grant to increase the number of students who complete STEM majors and contribute to diversifying the STEM workforce.
2022: Que Ondee Sola, the oldest Puerto Rican and Latinx student publication in the U.S, turns 50.
APRIL 27, 2022: NEIU held its inaugural President’s Inclusive Excellence and Diversity Awards.
JUNE 2022: NEIU entered into a formal partnership with Hope Chicago, a nonprofit organization seeking to reduce economic and social inequity by funding postsecondary scholarships and non-tuition costs for Chicago Public Schools graduates and their adult family members eager to return to school and update their skills.
JULY 2022: 50th anniversary of the Chuck Kane Scholarship Golf Outing.
JULY 2022: Dr. Thomas Philion appointed Dean of Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education.
AUGUST 23, 2022: President Gloria J. Gibson announced the official development of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, under the Executive Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Dr. Shireen Roshanravan.
FEBRUARY 2023: The Peace Corps and NEIU will launch the Peace Corp Prep (PC Prep) program, an undergraduate certificate program that combines targeted coursework with hands-on experience, building the competencies needed to be strong Peace Corps volunteers or other intercultural fieldworkers.
FEBRUARY 2023: Northeastern Illinois University Foundation—the 12-member board is the philanthropic arm of Northeastern Illinois University— elected Olga Camargo its president, the first Latina elected as Board President.
MAY 2023: The first physical location of the Business Innovation & Growth (BIG) Center at the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS) opened.
JUNE 30, 2023: President Gloria Gibson resigns as NEIU President after a vote of no confidence by the Faculty Senate in November 2022.
JULY 1, 2023: Dr. Katrina Bell-Jordan, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, appointed interim President.
JANUARY 19, 2024: Daniel Lee Goodwin, whose historic contributions to Northeastern Illinois University transformed the institution and for whom the College of Education is named for, passed away at the age 80.
NOVEMBER 2024: NEIU announced a new Master of Arts in Human Developmental Science degree program, housed in the Department of Psychology.
JULY 8, 2024: 50th anniversary of WZRD, NEIU's student radio station.
AUGUST 1, 2024: Dr. Katrina Bell-Jordan selected to be NEIU's eighth president.
September 27, 2024: Northeastern has been recognized as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
OCTOBER 3-5, 2024: Inauguration of Dr. Katrina Bell-Jordan as NEIU's 8th President.