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Northern Illinois University has let go of Gilbert Sebenste


SchaumburgStormer

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Devastating news.  I have read and appreciated his insights for not only NIU faculty and students but Midwesterners for years as I've lived in various places in Indiana.  This news along with Trump planning to cut NOAA/NWS funding does not set well with me.  I also remember when WILL of Champaign/Urbana let met Ed Keiser go after many years of fine met discussions on radio because of funding issues.

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  • 9 months later...

I'm wondering since the initial announcement was made in April 2017 if he has until April 2018 until dismissal.   Going to miss him, both for winter wx and svr concerns. The official announcement in the link posted above said he had a full year from the termination announcement until the time he must leave.

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  • 1 month later...
Notes: It is time. After 20 years, NIU Weather
will be signing off on March 31, 2018. It has been
a sincere pleasure to serve you all. At that time,
our social media pages, website, weather alerts
via text and email will all be shut down. Please
use http://weather.gov/chicago for the latest forecast,
watches and warnings for DeKalb, as well as NOAA Weather
Radio. Thank you so much for letting me serve you
all of these years!  

I will certainly miss him and the website, especially as we are just now entering svr season.

Thank you Gil for your many years of service.  

 

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1 hour ago, Indystorm said:

Notes: It is time. After 20 years, NIU Weather
will be signing off on March 31, 2018. It has been
a sincere pleasure to serve you all. At that time,
our social media pages, website, weather alerts
via text and email will all be shut down. Please
use http://weather.gov/chicago for the latest forecast,
watches and warnings for DeKalb, as well as NOAA Weather
Radio. Thank you so much for letting me serve you
all of these years!  

I will certainly miss him and the website, especially as we are just now entering svr season.

Thank you Gil for your many years of service.  

 

Thank you for keeping us updated. I echo your sentiment. I knew Gil when I was a student at NIU in the 1990s, and have participated in a few school-related events with him over the years. A person with a ton of passion, class, and dedication. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Parts of his last column...

Notes: After 20 years, NIU Weather will be signing off today.
It has been a sincere pleasure to serve you all. At 4:30 PM,
our social media pages, website, weather alerts
via text and email, and our channel 35 broadcast on campus cable
will all be shut down. Please use:

https://www.weather.gov/lot/

for the latest forecast, watches and warnings for DeKalb,
as well as NOAA Weather Radio. Thank you so much for
letting me serve you all of these years!

THIS IS THE LAST FORECAST FROM NIU WEATHER.
So, it has come to this. I was wondering what, if anything, I was going to 
say here. First and foremost: THANK YOU. Thank you for reading my 
forecasts, understanding the implications, and working around the weather 
hazards we face every week here. Although many of you have written in with 
kind comments and thoughts, I ask you to remember this: if you want to 
remember me, remember to take weather safety seriously. Find out what's 
happening. If you are afraid of the forecast or don't understand it, get 
an answer from the National Weather Service. Click on their forecast page,
and find out what is happening. Make sure your cellular carrier/provider 
alerts are turned on. Make sure you have redundant ways to get alerted
and to get the latest forecast, including NOAA Weather Radio,
the National Weather Service web site, Weatherbug (although our station 
will shut down, you'll be sent to a nearby site), and others.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mike Saari and Rob Vest,
for taking a chance on a young whippersnapper to trust I could save
the University money on energy costs, and make our campus much more
weather resilient. From then, Michele Crase, David Scharenberg, Scott
Mooberry and others in my department who have let me be my own boss and
be a leader in our profession. For that, I am very grateful. And, to Phil
Voorhis in Athletics and Bill Finucane and Chris Gilbert in
transportation...and my colleagues in DoIT who made my operation
successful by allowing me to have a world-class alerting and data
system right here on campus...the NIU Department of Public Safety and the
DeKalb Police and Fire departments...thank you. Along with many others,
too numerous to mention...I couldn't have done it without you, providing
safety to our Transportation and Athletics divisions.

Finally, thank YOU. Without YOU taking weather seriously, 
I would have been wasting my time. Don't stop now! Keep learning,
keep being weather aware! The DeKalb Police and Fire departments,
the NIU Department of Public Safety and the NIU Environmental Health and
Safety department will take it from here.

People have asked me what I am going to do next. I will say this: I missed 
a lot of sunsets over the years at this job and at past jobs. I'm
not going to miss this one tonight. I love to work hard, but over the 
years, I've learned tat life balance is critical. And tonight, I will 
watch the sunset. I hope you can, too. You don't get many chances in life 
to do so. Make the most of them.

And until we meet again, I am:

Gilbert Sebenste
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NIU lets go of someone like this, and on the other hand is then is forced to pay $50,000+ in court costs for a lawsuit stemming from the $600,000 golden parachute given to a corrupt administrator. 

Sorry to delve into politics, I am just bitter that I am reading an emotional final piece from a passionate forecaster while also reading news of the waste and corruption which plagues the university. 

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4 hours ago, SchaumburgStormer said:

NIU lets go of someone like this, and on the other hand is then is forced to pay $50,000+ in court costs for a lawsuit stemming from the $600,000 golden parachute given to a corrupt administrator. 

Sorry to delve into politics, I am just bitter that I am reading an emotional final piece from a passionate forecaster while also reading news of the waste and corruption which plagues the university. 

Sounds like there was a bunch of cuts across the board, including campus maintenance.

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9 hours ago, Chicago Storm said:

Sounds like there was a bunch of cuts across the board, including campus maintenance.

That is the way I understand it as well. Tough to swallow when they cut from the bottom and waste at the top. Budget is a big problem, but declining enrollment and increasing crime in the area of the university are also big concerns.

Regardless, not a good look for the university. 

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