Expressions Fall 2006 Main Page

October 10 is the start of the open enrollment period for health care benefit coverage. With the help of Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting company based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, the University has developed a new long-term health care strategy that offers different choices from previous years. Benefits Director Tom Evans recommends that employees do their homework—go to the meetings, read the material, use the new online resources, and talk to the insurance company representatives. view full story >

The Staff Relations Committee Voices Concerns About New Health Benefits
On September 13 the Feinberg School Staff Relation's Committee, which publishes Expressions, sent a letter to the school and University administration on behalf of the 1,450 full-time, benefits-eligible staff members and 175 research associates voicing concern about the HMO offerings for 2007. view full story >

Events are free of charge and on the Chicago campus unless otherwise indicated.

Jennifer Langland from the Office of Student Programs and Professional Development was the winner of a free lunch from Jazzman's Cafe!

October 10–November 30
Health benefits open enrollment period. Enroll in, drop, or change benefit options during his time. Online registration only. Contact HR Benefits Division 847/491-7513, or visit www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits.

October 12
"Recruiting and Hiring Great Staff for Northwestern," 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Wieboldt Hall, room 347. Cost: free but $50 no-show/cancellation fee. Contact HR Training and Development, 847/467-5081.

October 13–31
Chicagoween—a variety of Halloween activities sponsored by the City of Chicago including the Halloween Happening parade down State Street, the Haunted Village in Daley Plaza, and the Haunted "L," train rides with costumed characters telling Chicago's scariest ghost stories. Call 312/744-3315 for more information, or visit www.cityofchicago.org.

Research Job Leads to Advanced Degree

NU's tuition break for employees helped Michael Johnson, research technologist, reach his educational goals.

A desire to launch a career as a scientist brought Michael Johnson to the Feinberg School.

"This place is a hotbed of intellectual activity, and the resources are just enormous," he says. "The school has an intense concentration of research in spinal cord injury and disorders of motor control, which is the kind of work I wanted to do."

In October 2000 Johnson took a job as a research technologist in the laboratory of Charles Heckman II, PhD, professor of physiology, conducting experiments to identify networks called central pattern generators (CPGs) in the spinal cord. "Some movements are triggered by the brain and actually encoded in the spinal cord," explains Johnson. "For example, a stereotyped movement such as walking may just need a series of "on" pulses from the motor cortex to begin and 'off' pulses to stop. The details of the muscle coordination are primarily encoded in the spinal cord without much input from the cortex." This has been characterized in animals as is presumed to be the case in humans. view full story>