3 NIU shooting victims to get posthumous degrees

The two victims who will receive posthumous degrees later are Ryanne Mace, who was a 19-year-old sophomore from Carpentersville studying psychology, and Dan Parmenter, a 20-year-old sophomore from Westchester studying finance.

Mace's family plans to accept her degree in December.

Linda Greer and Gary Parmenter told the Chicago Tribune that they would wait until 2010, when their son Dan would have graduated, to accept his diploma.

"His friends and the boys in his fraternity would be graduating at that time, and we felt it would be more significant not only to us but to them," Greer said.

The sharp pain of loss seems to have eased for many at NIU.

Only a few bouquets of flowers, some fading brown, lay in front of Cole Hall. Gone are the large makeshift memorials set up after the killings, including several giant message boards where students could leave condolences.

But many victims' relatives are still haunted.

Outside Cole Hall just hours after receiving the diploma, Laurel Dubowski spoke in a hushed voice to friends and family about the deadly events that took her daughter's life on Valentine's Day, pointing through the lecture hall windows as she spoke.

The gunman was Steven Kazmierczak, who stepped from behind a screen on stage in the room and opened fire on a geology class. The 27-year-old, who had attended NIU himself, fatally shot five students and wounded 18 others before committing suicide.

Dubowski's mother, wearing a blue and black NIU ribbon pinned to her brown dress, said she took some solace from the posthumous degree.