69 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(09/24/10 5:00pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jun. 21, 2009 – When Amanda Shettlesworth sent the School of Public and Environment Affairs’ students a mass e-mail two years ago describing a competitive internship opportunity, she got an unlikely reply – from a student’s mother.“She called me up and asked that her son be given a leg up in the process,” Shettlesworth said.Confused by the mother’s involvement, Shettlesworth, an assistant director in SPEA’s career services office, said she couldn’t do anything to help.“This is your son’s responsibility,” she told the mother, “and hopefully he will write the essay well and apply.”But the mother fought back, arguing that the school should help him get ahead.“It’s almost like she didn’t hear me at all,” Shettlesworth said.Some said her situation underscores a growing trend across the country.An upward trendIn what’s been called the age of the “helicopter parents” – those who hover over their children’s lives – school officials say parents are becoming increasingly involved in their children’s career searches, doing everything from writing students’ resumes to accompanying them at career fairs.“There definitely is more involvement of parents than there was 20 years ago,” said Amy Hume, former associate director of IU’s Career Development Center.“They’re not physically here, they’re not contacting us, but the student brings them into the counseling session,” Hume said. “And that happens a lot.”She said parents tell students which jobs are acceptable or relate their own expectations to their child, creating a sense of pressure that could undermine a student’s confidence.Julian Parrott, an administrator at the University of Illinois who studies the issue, said he has even heard of parents accompanying their children to job interviews, scheduling their appointments with employers and attempting to negotiate salaries with the hiring companies.“It’s happening everywhere,” he said. “It really is sort of pushing this state of dependency deep into somebody’s 20s.”Not that it should be any surprise, career advisers say, because the current generation of students has relied on parents from the youngest ages.Many students had structured childhoods, Hume said, with parents who signed them up for camps or classes, instead of letting them play on their own. Parrott said today’s generation expects parents to be involved.‘It’s a catch-22’Melanie Graves, mother of recent IU graduate Marli Haddan, said she called the IU Health Center for her daughter and even tried to join her during class scheduling. But Graves doesn’t think she was too involved.“She wants me, but she doesn’t,” she said. “It’s a catch-22.”With such a high level of attachment, Parrott said it’s unrealistic to expect parents to suddenly cut the cord once students enter college.But Ray Clere, who oversees SPEA’s career office, said that kind of dependence is problematic, especially as students enter the job market.“I think they (parents) have the (students’) best interest at heart, but I have a real concern about students being self-sufficient,” he said. “At what point do you cut the string?”At IU, career counselors contend the trend of such helicopter parents is far from the norm. Still, some departments are taking precautions to keep parents at bay.In the Kelley School of Business, the Undergraduate Career Services Office has added a parents’ page to the website that lists frequently asked questions and gives a timetable that shows a student’s career path. It’s much the same at the Career Development Center, which also added a page for parents with tips on how they can help their children from a safe distance.Officials at both centers said the sites are working, resulting in fewer parent calls to the office and a better understanding of the process.“Other schools are seeing the hovering of parents even more,” said Mark J. Brostoff, associate director of the business school’s Undergraduate Career Services Office. “We’ve been proactive and it makes a difference.”Businesses cater to parentsSome employers are addressing the issue, too, recognizing that parents are intrinsically part of the process.At car rental chain Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which recruits at IU annually, new hires are given the option of having an orientation packet sent to parents, said Marie Artim, assistant vice president for recruiting.It includes an overview of the company, statistics on its operations, a letter from the company’s vice president and a job description.“We find most of the time that new grads are asking that we send it to their parents,” Artim said. “College students today seem to really want their parents’ involvement and interaction.”Jan Nickless, senior associate director at the Career Development Center, agreed that parents are more involved today but said she views parent involvement as a positive aspect for students.“If parents can just provide the support while the student is getting a degree and provide information and help build the student up and help them gain their own confidence and their own independence,” she said, “in the end that’s the role of the parent.”
(06/17/10 3:55pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jun. 21, 2009 – When Amanda Shettlesworth sent the School of Public and Environment Affairs’ students a mass e-mail two years ago describing a competitive internship opportunity, she got an unlikely reply – from a student’s mother.“She called me up and asked that her son be given a leg up in the process,” Shettlesworth said.Confused by the mother’s involvement, Shettlesworth, an assistant director in SPEA’s career services office, said she couldn’t do anything to help.“This is your son’s responsibility,” she told the mother, “and hopefully he will write the essay well and apply.”But the mother fought back, arguing that the school should help him get ahead.“It’s almost like she didn’t hear me at all,” Shettlesworth said.Some said her situation underscores a growing trend across the country.An upward trendIn what’s been called the age of the “helicopter parents” – those who hover over their children’s lives – school officials say parents are becoming increasingly involved in their children’s career searches, doing everything from writing students’ resumes to accompanying them at career fairs.“There definitely is more involvement of parents than there was 20 years ago,” said Amy Hume, former associate director of IU’s Career Development Center.“They’re not physically here, they’re not contacting us, but the student brings them into the counseling session,” Hume said. “And that happens a lot.”She said parents tell students which jobs are acceptable or relate their own expectations to their child, creating a sense of pressure that could undermine a student’s confidence.Julian Parrott, an administrator at the University of Illinois who studies the issue, said he has even heard of parents accompanying their children to job interviews, scheduling their appointments with employers and attempting to negotiate salaries with the hiring companies.“It’s happening everywhere,” he said. “It really is sort of pushing this state of dependency deep into somebody’s 20s.”Not that it should be any surprise, career advisers say, because the current generation of students has relied on parents from the youngest ages.Many students had structured childhoods, Hume said, with parents who signed them up for camps or classes, instead of letting them play on their own. Parrott said today’s generation expects parents to be involved.‘It’s a catch-22’Melanie Graves, mother of recent IU graduate Marli Haddan, said she called the IU Health Center for her daughter and even tried to join her during class scheduling. But Graves doesn’t think she was too involved.“She wants me, but she doesn’t,” she said. “It’s a catch-22.”With such a high level of attachment, Parrott said it’s unrealistic to expect parents to suddenly cut the cord once students enter college.But Ray Clere, who oversees SPEA’s career office, said that kind of dependence is problematic, especially as students enter the job market.“I think they (parents) have the (students’) best interest at heart, but I have a real concern about students being self-sufficient,” he said. “At what point do you cut the string?”At IU, career counselors contend the trend of such helicopter parents is far from the norm. Still, some departments are taking precautions to keep parents at bay.In the Kelley School of Business, the Undergraduate Career Services Office has added a parents’ page to the website that lists frequently asked questions and gives a timetable that shows a student’s career path. It’s much the same at the Career Development Center, which also added a page for parents with tips on how they can help their children from a safe distance.Officials at both centers said the sites are working, resulting in fewer parent calls to the office and a better understanding of the process.“Other schools are seeing the hovering of parents even more,” said Mark J. Brostoff, associate director of the business school’s Undergraduate Career Services Office. “We’ve been proactive and it makes a difference.”Businesses cater to parentsSome employers are addressing the issue, too, recognizing that parents are intrinsically part of the process.At car rental chain Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which recruits at IU annually, new hires are given the option of having an orientation packet sent to parents, said Marie Artim, assistant vice president for recruiting.It includes an overview of the company, statistics on its operations, a letter from the company’s vice president and a job description.“We find most of the time that new grads are asking that we send it to their parents,” Artim said. “College students today seem to really want their parents’ involvement and interaction.”Jan Nickless, senior associate director at the Career Development Center, agreed that parents are more involved today but said she views parent involvement as a positive aspect for students.“If parents can just provide the support while the student is getting a degree and provide information and help build the student up and help them gain their own confidence and their own independence,” she said, “in the end that’s the role of the parent.”
(06/10/10 5:40pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jun. 15, 2009 – Jordan Goldklang spent much of his childhood mesmerizing friends and family with tricks and optical illusions. In middle school, he’d grab a deck of cards or a fistful of coins and spellbind his classmates whenever he got the chance.Teachers begged him to stop, saying the magic was disruptive. They confiscated his cards, told him to put the coins away and even called his parents pleading for help, but nothing worked. School was the ultimate testing ground for his tricks, he said, a place where he could both perfect his art and connect with his peers. When he arrived at IU four years ago, he thought he’d have to give up his beloved hobby to study “something serious.” But in an ironic twist, the 22-year-old just graduated with a degree in magic, after taking a range of classes to both hone his performance skills and develop an understanding of the psychology behind the age-old craft.“It’s been kind of a dream come true,” he says. “For so long, I was told not to do magic in school, and now I’m going to school for magic.” He’s one of a growing number of students breaking away from prescriptive majors and choosing to design their own degrees through IU’s Individualized Major Program. The program, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, allows students to create a customized mix of classes — usually spread throughout different schools and departments across campus — that match their interests.Some degrees defy convention. One student majors in comedy writing, while others pursue offbeat topics such as violin making or concert and festival production. A few years ago, a student created a major in beer. He studied entrepreneurial brewing in hopes of eventually opening his own microbrewery.Those zany degrees attract attention, but they’re just as tough as any other on campus, Ray Hedin, former IMP Director said. Students need to meet all of the requirements of COAS’ bachelor of arts degree plus complete at least a 25-page final paper or a creative project prior to graduation.In Goldklang’s major, he wasn’t learning how to shuffle cards or make a rabbit disappear into a hat. Instead, he enrolled in anthropology, theater, business and psychology courses designed to deepen his understanding of magic. In anthropology, he’s studied witchcraft and alternative beliefs. In theater, he learned how to refine his stage presence and perform in a front of a live audience. At the Kelley School of Business, classes such as “L201: The Legal Environment of Business” will teach him how to ink contracts with comedy clubs, while psychology allowed him to get inside the minds of his audience.IU’s Individualized Major Program developed in the late 1960s as students questioned authority and fought to take charge of their own education. For years, it maintained a low profile, enrolling about 30 students at any given time. Over time, though, the program increased its stature and pumped out notable alums, including New York Times crossword master Will Shortz, who graduated with a degree in enigmatology, or puzzle-making, in 1974.Still, so-called designer-degree programs are hardly the norm. On a campus of more than 40,000 students, only about 150 are enrolled in the IMP at one time. Most enter the program as sophomores or juniors after trying out a conventional major and realizing it wasn’t actually what they wanted.Senior Nikki Ashkin started as a business major but decided she wanted to pursue an environmental science major with a certificate from the Liberal Arts and Management Program. When that wasn’t possible, she designed her own major — “sustainable management” — that incorporates both management and the environment. Her goal is to someday work for her father’s “green” cleaning consultancy or become a university professor. The Individualized Major Program, she said, lets her sample all kinds of relevant courses.“It’s really neat, because each semester, it’s not like I’m only taking business classes or I’m only taking science classes,” she said. “With my program, I can kind of take a whole range of classes, and as long as I can prove that it relates back to my focus and as long as I fulfill all of the requirements for COAS, it’s acceptable.”The program doesn’t only help students: It also acts as an incubator for degrees that later become full-fledged majors within the University. Women’s studies — later renamed gender studies — started in the IMP, as did cognitive science and musical theater. In that sense, the IMP serves as a “cultural register” or an early trend spotter, Hedin said. “We send signals to the University as to where interest is developing, which is very useful to the institution,” he said.The current growth area is “problem-based majors” that address issues of sustainability, alternative energy, globalization and the environment.Senior Julia Greenwald came up with a major that combines her interests in politics and fair trade. The major, Nonprofit Retail Management with Concentration in Fair Trade, focuses on the principles of fair trade, poverty and inequality. She’s taking economics classes to learn how financial systems operate in other countries, and she’s dabbling in merchandising courses in case she one day works for a fair trade retailer or importer. She says the payoff will come with her first job.“I just find that my generation overwhelmingly wants to do something,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because we’re in college right now and we’re naive and we want to do something that changes the world, but I feel like we want to do something that helps the environment and doesn’t hurt the environment.”Goldklang, the magician, sees another appeal. The program, he said, lets people pursue their interests even if they don’t have a place within most University degree programs.“I came here to study music, but it turned out to be the perfect school to major in magic,” Goldklang said. “Here’s this passion that I have that I can’t study anywhere else.”
(06/21/09 2:03pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Amanda Shettlesworth sent the School of Public and Environment Affairs’ students a mass e-mail two years ago describing a competitive internship opportunity, she got an unlikely reply – from a student’s mother.“She called me up and asked that her son be given a leg up in the process,” Shettlesworth said. Confused by the mother’s involvement, Shettlesworth, an assistant director in SPEA’s career services office, said she couldn’t do anything to help.“This is your son’s responsibility,” she told the mother, “and hopefully he will write the essay well and apply.”But the mother fought back, arguing that the school should help him get ahead. “It’s almost like she didn’t hear me at all,” Shettlesworth said.Some said her situation underscores a growing trend across the country.An upward trendIn what’s been called the age of the “helicopter parents” – those who hover over their children’s lives – school officials say parents are becoming increasingly involved in their children’s career searches, doing everything from writing students’ resumes to accompanying them at career fairs.“There definitely is more involvement of parents than there was 20 years ago,” said Amy Hume, former associate director of IU’s Career Development Center.“They’re not physically here, they’re not contacting us, but the student brings them into the counseling session,” Hume said. “And that happens a lot.”She said parents tell students which jobs are acceptable or relate their own expectations to their child, creating a sense of pressure that could undermine a student’s confidence.Julian Parrott, an administrator at the University of Illinois who studies the issue, said he has even heard of parents accompanying their children to job interviews, scheduling their appointments with employers and attempting to negotiate salaries with the hiring companies.“It’s happening everywhere,” he said. “It really is sort of pushing this state of dependency deep into somebody’s 20s.”Not that it should be any surprise, career advisers say, because the current generation of students has relied on parents from the youngest ages.Many students had structured childhoods, Hume said, with parents who signed them up for camps or classes, instead of letting them play on their own. Parrott said today’s generation expects parents to be involved.‘It’s a Catch-22’Melanie Graves, mother of recent IU graduate Marli Haddan, said she called the IU Health Center for her daughter and even tried to join her during class scheduling. But Graves doesn’t think she was too involved.“She wants me, but she doesn’t,” she said. “It’s a catch-22.”With such a high level of attachment, Parrott said it’s unrealistic to expect parents to suddenly cut the cord once students enter college.But Ray Clere, who oversees SPEA’s career office, said that kind of dependence is problematic, especially as students enter the job market.“I think they (parents) have the (students’) best interest at heart, but I have a real concern about students being self-sufficient,” he said. “At what point do you cut the string?”At IU, career counselors contend the trend of such helicopter parents is far from the norm. Still, some departments are taking precautions to keep parents at bay.In the Kelley School of Business, the Undergraduate Career Services Office has added a parents’ page to the Web site that lists frequently asked questions and gives a timetable that shows a student’s career path. It’s much the same at the Career Development Center, which also added a page for parents with tips on how they can help their children from a safe distance.Officials at both centers said the sites are working, resulting in fewer parent calls to the office and a better understanding of the career process.“Other schools are seeing the hovering of parents even more,” said Mark J. Brostoff, associate director of the business school’s Undergraduate Career Services Office. “We’ve been proactive and it makes a difference.”Businesses cater to parentsSome employers are addressing the issue, too, recognizing that parents are intrinsically part of the process.At car rental chain Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which recruits at IU annually, new hires are given the option of having an orientation packet sent to parents, said Marie Artim, assistant vice president for recruiting.It includes an overview of the company, statistics on its operations, a letter from the company’s vice president and a job description.“We find most of the time that new grads are asking that we send it to their parents,” Artim said. “College students today seem to really want their parents’ involvement and interaction.”Jan Nickless, senior associate director at the Career Development Center, agreed that parents are more involved today but said she views parent involvement as a positive aspect for students.“If parents can just provide the support while the student is getting a degree and provide information and help build the student up and help them gain their own confidence and their own independence,” she said, “in the end that’s the role of the parent.”
(06/16/09 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jordan Goldklang spent much of his childhood mesmerizing friends and family with tricks and optical illusions. In middle school, he’d grab a deck of cards or a fistful of coins and spellbind his classmates whenever he got the chance. Teachers begged him to stop, saying the magic was disruptive. They confiscated his cards, told him to put the coins away and even called his parents pleading for help, but nothing worked. School was the ultimate testing ground for his tricks, he said, a place where he could both perfect his art and connect with his peers. When he arrived at IU four years ago, he thought he’d have to give up his beloved hobby to study “something serious.” But in an ironic twist, the 22-year-old just graduated with a degree in magic, after taking a range of classes to both hone his performance skills and develop an understanding of the psychology behind the age-old craft. “It’s been kind of a dream come true,” he says. “For so long, I was told not to do magic in school, and now I’m going to school for magic.” He’s one of a growing number of students breaking away from prescriptive majors and choosing to design their own degrees through IU’s Individualized Major Program. The program, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, allows students to create a customized mix of classes – usually spread throughout different schools and departments across campus – that match their interests.Some degrees defy convention. One student majors in comedy writing, while others pursue offbeat topics such as violin making or concert and festival production. A few years ago, a student created a major in beer. He studied entrepreneurial brewing in hopes of eventually opening his own microbrewery. Those zany degrees attract attention, but they’re just as tough as any other on campus, Ray Hedin, the director of the IMP said. Students need to meet all of the requirements of COAS’ bachelor of arts degree, plus complete at least a 25-page final paper or a creative project prior to graduation. In Goldklang’s major, he wasn’t learning how to shuffle cards or make a rabbit disappear into a hat. Instead, he enrolled in anthropology, theater, business and psychology courses designed to deepen his understanding of magic. In anthropology, he’s studied witchcraft and alternative beliefs. In theater, he learned how to refine his stage presence and perform in a front of a live audience. At the Kelley School of Business, classes such as “L201: The Legal Environment of Business” will teach him how to ink contracts with comedy clubs, while psychology allowed him to get inside the minds of his audience.Rob Goldstone, a cognitive psychology professor and one of Goldklang’s advisers, said all those courses make sense. Take psychology, for example. In a common trick, a magician will place a penny on a table and cover it with a cup. He’ll then lift up the cup to show that it’s been replaced by a pen cap. Simple enough. But in another version, the magician might raise the cup and show that the penny had been replaced with a bent coin. “In both cases, you’re doing trivial substitution illusions,” Goldstone said. “But if you’re substituting a coin for a bent coin, people are thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he magically bent that coin, that’s amazing.’ It’s relevant for the magician to know what’s going to impress the audience more.” IU’s Individualized Major Program developed in the late 1960s as students questioned authority and fought to take charge of their own education. For years, it maintained a low profile, enrolling about 30 students at any given time. Over time, though, the program increased its stature and pumped out notable alums, including New York Times crossword master Will Shortz, who graduated with a degree in enigmatology, or puzzle-making, in 1974.Though no organization tracks the number of individualized major programs in existence today, studies show that more and more students are choosing degrees that combine courses from multiple subject areas – something called interdisciplinary studies. In 1991, 17,000 students graduated with interdisciplinary degrees nationwide, according to figures from the National Center for Educational Statistics. By 2006, that figure spiked nearly 80 percent, when more than 32,000 people received such degrees. William H. Newell, executive director of the Association for Integrative Studies at Miami University in Ohio, said it’s understandable that students would want to choose or design a major that covers more than one subject area. “It’s really blossoming,” Newell said. “The nature of the world that we’re living in these days is so complex that you really need training in how to deal with complex issues.”Even so, some suggest that our culture could be behind the push to develop one-of-a-kind majors. In today’s society, where students are used to customizing everything from their drink order at Starbucks to their TV shows with TiVo, a one-size-fits-all approach to education seems outdated. “It’s the idea of putting your own structure on the world,” Goldstone said. “I think that’s a great part of the attraction, of being able to impose your own world view on intellectual disciplines.”But when students tell professors what they want to study, instead of the other way around, does that disrupt a fundamental balance of power? Not necessarily, Goldstone said. “From a professor’s perspective, if you get students who care enough about their education to take control of it themselves, usually the reaction is, ‘more power to you, go for it,’” he says. “The professors think, ‘Great this is just what we want.’” Still, so-called designer-degree programs are hardly the norm. On a campus of more than 40,000 students, only about 150 are enrolled in the IMP at one time. Most enter the program as sophomores or juniors after trying out a conventional major and realizing it wasn’t actually what they wanted.Senior Nikki Ashkin started as a business major but decided she wanted to pursue an environmental science major with a certificate from the Liberal Arts and Management Program. When that wasn’t possible, she designed her own major – “sustainable management” – that incorporates both management and the environment. Her goal is to someday work for her father’s “green” cleaning consultancy or become a university professor. The Individualized Major Program, she said, lets her sample all kinds of relevant courses. “It’s really neat, because each semester, it’s not like I’m only taking business classes or I’m only taking science classes,” she said. “With my program, I can kind of take a whole range of classes and as long as I can prove that it relates back to my focus and as long as I fulfill all of the requirements for COAS, it’s acceptable.”The program doesn’t only help students: It also acts as an incubator for degrees that later become full-fledged majors within the University. Women’s studies – later renamed gender studies – started in the IMP, as did cognitive science and musical theater. In that sense, the IMP serves as a “cultural register” or an early trend spotter, Hedin said. “We send signals to the University as to where interest is developing, which is very useful to the institution,” he said.The current growth area is “problem-based majors” that address issues of sustainability, alternative energy, globalization and the environment.Senior Julia Greenwald came up with a major that combines her interests in politics and fair trade. The major, “Nonprofit Retail Management with Concentration in Fair Trade,” focuses on the principles of fair trade, poverty and inequality. She’s taking economics classes to learn how financial systems operate in other countries, and she’s dabbling in merchandising courses, in case she one day works for a fair trade retailer or importer. She says the pay off will come with her first job.“I just find that my generation overwhelmingly wants to do something,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because we’re in college right now and we’re naive and we want to do something that changes the world, but I feel like we want to do something that helps the environment and doesn’t hurt the environment.”Goldklang, the magician, sees another appeal. The program, he said, lets people pursue their interests even if they don’t have a place within most University degree programs.“I came here to study music, but it turned out to be the perfect school to major in magic,” Goldklang said. “Here’s this passion that I have that I can’t study anywhere else.”
(04/07/09 4:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For months, senior Rachel Morrissey polished her resume, networked with family and friends and diligently applied for dozens of jobs, hoping to snag a full-time graphic design position. When nothing worked, the studio art major shifted her search and eventually landed a six-month unpaid internship at a Connecticut stationery company. “An internship seemed like the better route,” she said. “A lot of the firms that I want to work for just don’t have the money to hire and train new people.” She’s not alone. As companies slash full-time jobs nationwide and clamp down on campus recruiting, experts say a growing number of seniors are turning to internships to fill the gap between graduation and permanent employment.Such an arrangement might have been unthinkable years ago, when students had ready access to a slew of job openings, but it’s becoming more common, especially in fields such as journalism, public relations, communications and non-profit management. “Things have tightened, retracted, so much,” said Ray Clere, director of the Office of Career Services at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “I think students are aware that certainly the opportunities are a bit fewer than they would have been.” While post-graduate internships remain far from the norm, career services officials say such positions are taking on new importance among employers. For the first time in three years, for instance, postings for internships surpass those for full-time jobs at the campus-wide Career Development Center, said Justin Grossman, an associate director at the center. “We’re seeing a lot more internship postings over job postings,” he said. “That’s a huge shift.” In 2006, full-time job openings outweighed internships three to one in the Career Development Center, Grossman said. Now, that gap has disappeared.Such a change makes sense as companies look to fill positions in an uncertain economy without committing to a full-time hire, said Steven Rothberg, the president and founder of CollegeRecruiter.com. With internships, both the student and the company can test each other out, he said. “Both sides have an easy out where they can hold their heads high,” he said. “So, it’s a very low-risk way of getting through the next few months and hoping that conditions improve.” But for some seniors, taking a post-graduation internship can be downright demoralizing, especially if they’ve already interned elsewhere in the past. Morrissey, the studio art major, completed three prior internships during college and thought she’d finally accept a full-time position this summer. Instead, she’s moving back to her home in Connecticut while she completes her graphic design internship. “I find it very disappointing,” she said. “I thought going to college I’d be able to get something after graduation, but I’m doing the same thing I was doing during college and in between high school. It’s a bit of a letdown to work this hard and have to move back with my parents.”Yet career counselors caution against thinking of internships as dead-end, temporary gigs. In most cases, they can be a way into a company, even if the organization isn’t hiring at the time. Internships also provide crucial opportunities for networking and learning new skills, Rothberg said. “The vast majority of employers that hire interns want those interns to become permanent employees,” he said. “It’s costly to hire an intern ... to bring somebody on for three months and say goodbye to them is really not very productive.” Corporate recruiters agree.Enterprise Rent-A-Car typically hires about 2,000 interns annually, five of which come from IU, but considered dropping its internship program as the economy soured. “We did have a discussion, from an economy standpoint, ‘Are we going to have an internship this summer and is this something we want to do?’” said Jamie Meyer, an Indiana recruiter for the firm. “And the answer is ‘absolutely.’”Internships provide a pool of fresh talent for the St. Louis-based company, she said, and let students get a feel for the firm. “Fortunately, we haven’t slowed down,” she said. “We’re still hiring for full-time opportunities as well as our internship program over the summer.”But, in some cases, internships might be the only path into a career field. Susan Simmons, coordinator for the Department of Kinesiology’s Career Center, said it has been common for students to take on multiple internships, including some post-graduation, before accepting jobs in sports communication, sports marketing or exercise and physical science. The same goes for positions in advertising, public relations, broadcasting and journalism, said Marcia Debnam, career services director for the School of Journalism. Before seniors can land a full-time offer in those fields, they usually have to intern somewhere, she said. “It’s always been rare that a majority of journalism students would have full-time jobs secured before graduation because the nature of media and media-related industries,” she said. But this year, she said she’s seen a strong spike in organizations looking to hire interns post-graduation, often without pay. “What I am seeing, to my horror, is that a larger number of students are taking not only internships, but unpaid internships,” she said. While discouraging, some seniors are looking at the positive side of unpaid positions. Senior Amanda Leavitt, a business major, will head to the environmental firm Earthwatch in Boston for a long-term internship. Even though she won’t make money, she said she knows the position will jump-start her career.“I think it’s a really good stepping stone,” she said. “You’re going to get a huge network from this. Instead of getting paid, that was kind of my big benefit.”
(02/10/09 4:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sarah Fater remembers the Kirkwood Avenue of years past.It was a place where visitors could pop into the local Jiffy Treet for a cone, catch a film at the Von Lee Theater or slide into a booth at the independent diner, Ladyman’s Cafe. Now the co-owner of Greetings gift shop at 429 E. Kirkwood Ave. said she sees a change taking place on the street, and she doesn’t necessarily like it. Chain retailers and restaurants such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Panda Express are moving in, and as a result, she said Bloomington’s local character is losing out. “Do we really want to have an outdoor strip mall on Kirkwood? I don’t think so,” she said. “That’s basically what it’s turning into.” Others agree, questioning the street’s future.“The chain outfit kind of takes away from the uniqueness of Kirkwood.” said Larry Perry, longtime owner of the Ritz Barber Salon at the corner of Dunn Street and Kirkwood. In the past 10 years, the city’s most visible street has undergone dramatic change as big-name chain restaurants and retailers have set up shop and some smaller, local ones – including Jiffy Treet, Ladyman’s and others – closed. In 2007, the Tartan Realty Group, a Chicago-based developer, reopened the historic Von Lee Theater with a combination of ground-level retail space occupied by Noodles & Co. and Dunkin’ Donuts and offices on the upper levels. That same year, the company also opened the upscale Flats on Kirkwood apartments, ranging in price from $800 for a studio to $2,700 for a three-bedroom unit per month. A Panda Express restaurant sits on the first floor of the property. Wilhelm Kreuzer, a principal at Tartan Realty Group, said his company’s properties are popular with students and don’t detract from the fabric of Bloomington. “You can’t say what’s lost its local flavor,” said Kreuzer, an IU almunus who graduated in 1996 with a degree in real estate and finance. “Our goal is to put certain restaurants and do certain things that betters the community, and you can’t make everyone happy.”It would be alarmist to say Bloomington is suddenly being overrun by large corporations, said Talisha Coppock, executive director of Downtown Bloomington Inc. Last year, four chain businesses opened in the downtown area while 43 independent shops opened, she said, including the local restaurants FARMBloomington and Finch’s Brasserie on Kirkwood. Coppock said that number includes a large range of different types of businesses in the entire downtown area. The idea that Bloomington is losing local businesses may simply be a perception problem, said Danise Alano, the city’s director of economic development. “I think people notice when a new chain opens, but do they notice when a new independent shop opens?” she asked. “I don’t know.” She said it’s the city’s intent to maintain the “quirky, entertaining Kirkwood Avenue personality” that helps to define the area. In 2006, the city designated Kirkwood as a part of the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District, meaning officials pay special attention to the street’s distinctive culture through grants and special signage or branding. But some change is inevitable, given the constant turnover in students, she said. “Student spending swings,” Alano said. “Are (students) used to Indiana brands, or are they coming from other states and they want to see what they have at home?” Blake Gumprecht, associate professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire and author of “The American College Town,” said the changes in Bloomington could represent a growing trend in college towns around the country. “I agree on the one hand that college towns, even in their downtown sections, are seeing an infiltration of chain stores,” Gumprecht said. “It almost happens inconspicuously, because often these stores aren’t recognized as chains.” At the University of Notre Dame, for instance, Indianapolis-based Kite Realty Group is working on a $200 million project spread across 25 acres adjacent to campus. Once completed, the project will include retail space, offices and five different types of housing options, said Ashley Bidell, a Kite project manager. The first portion of the project will open in the fall. Restaurant tenants include Philadelphia-based Kildare’s Irish Pub and Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House, a high-end seafood restaurant and raw seafood bar, and Hot Box Pizza. Local businesses will also be a part of the mix, Bidell said. But one Notre Dame graduate student, Thomas Klepach, criticized the plan, saying it doesn’t represent the culture of South Bend.“It is another example of ugly American suburbanism,” Klepach said in an e-mail. “It is also an attempt for Notre Dame to further sequester its students on campus and prevent them from actually experiencing the city of South Bend.” At the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill., Green Street is dramatically changing as housing developers build urban high-rise apartment buildings in the middle of an area with a traditional small-town feel, said Michael Andrejasich, associate dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts. The Kirkwood-like street has local restaurants that have become more commercialized in recent years.“Students today have certain expectations about lifestyle and the kinds of amenities that exist in the environment ... whether it’s eating choice or entertainment choices, whatever,” Andrejasich said.Back in Bloomington, Fater of Greetings said she’s thinking about making T-shirts telling residents to “Keep Bloomington Weird.”She’s also encouraging locals and students to support independent businesses. But with rent rising on Kirkwood, she’s nervous about the street’s future, fearing more chain stores will move in. “My guess is that the Kirkwood that we’ve known since the ’70s and the ’60s is probably a thing of the past,” she said, “and I don’t necessarily think there’s anything anybody can do about it.”
(12/02/08 4:00pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jordan Goldklang spent much of his childhood mesmerizing friends and family with tricks and optical illusions. In middle school, he’d grab a deck of cards or a fistful of coins and spellbind his classmates whenever he got the chance. Teachers begged him to stop, saying the magic was disruptive. They confiscated his cards, told him to put the coins away, and even called his parents, pleading for help, but nothing worked. School was the ultimate testing ground for his tricks, he says, a place where he could both perfect his art and connect with his peers. When he arrived at IU four years ago, he thought he’d have to give up his beloved hobby to study “something serious.” But in an ironic twist, the 21-year-old senior is now majoring in magic, taking a range of classes to both hone his performance skills and develop an understanding of the psychology behind the age-old craft. “It’s been kind of a dream come true,” he says. “For so long, I was told not to do magic in school, and now I’m going to school for magic.” He’s one of a growing number of students breaking away from prescriptive majors and choosing to design their own degrees through IU’s Individualized Major Program. The program, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, lets students put together a customized mix of classes – usually spread throughout different schools and departments across campus – that match their interests. Some degrees defy convention. One student majors in comedy writing, while others pursue offbeat topics such as violin making or concert-and-festival production. A few years ago, a student created a major in beer. He studied entrepreneurial brewing in hopes of eventually opening his own microbrewery. Those zany degrees attract attention, but they’re just as tough as any other on campus, Ray Hedin, the director of the IMP says. Students need to meet all of the requirements of COAS’ bachelor of arts degree, plus complete at least a 25-page final paper or a creative project prior to graduation. In Goldklang’s major, he’s not learning how to shuffle cards or make a rabbit disappear into a hat. Instead, he’s enrolled in anthropology, theater, business, and psychology courses designed to deepen his understanding of magic. In anthropology, he’s studying witchcraft and alternative beliefs. In theater, he’s learning how to refine his stage presence and perform in a front of a live audience. At the Kelley School of Business, classes such as “L201: The Legal Environment of Business” will teach him how to ink contracts with comedy clubs, while psychology allows him to get inside the minds of his audience. Rob Goldstone, a cognitive psychology professor and one of Goldklang’s advisers, says all those courses make sense. Take psychology, for example. In a common trick, a magician will place a penny on a table and cover it with a cup. He’ll then lift up the cup to show that it’s been replaced by a pen cap. Simple enough. But in another version, the magician might raise the cup and show that the penny had been replaced with a bent coin. “In both cases, you’re doing trivial substitution illusions,” Goldstone says. “But if you’re substituting a coin for a bent coin, people are thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he magically bent that coin, that’s amazing.’ It’s relevant for the magician to know what’s going to impress the audience more.” IU’s Individualized Major Program developed in the late 1960s as students questioned authority and fought to take charge of their own education. For years, it maintained a low profile, enrolling about 30 students at any given time. Over time, though, the program increased its stature and pumped out notable alums, including New York Times crossword master Will Shortz, who graduated with a degree in enigmatology, or puzzle-making, in 1974.Though no organization tracks the number of individualized major programs in existence today, studies show that more and more students are choosing degrees that combine courses from multiple subject areas – something called interdisciplinary studies. In 1991, 17,000 students graduated with interdisciplinary degrees nationwide, according to figures from the National Center for Educational Statistics. By 2006, that figure spiked nearly 80 percent, when more than 32,000 people received such degrees. William H. Newell, executive director of the Association for Integrative Studies at Miami University in Ohio, says it’s understandable that students would want to choose or design a major that covers more than one subject area. “It’s really blossoming,” Newell says. “The nature of the world that we’re living in these days is so complex that you really need training in how to deal with complex issues.”Even so, some suggest that our culture could be behind the push to develop one-of-a-kind47 majors. In today’s society, where students are used to customizing everything from their drink order at Starbucks to their TV shows with TiVo, a one-size-fits-all approach to education seems outdated. “It’s the idea of putting your own structure on the world,” Goldstone says. “I think that’s a great part of the attraction, of being able to impose your own world view on intellectual disciplines.”But when students tell professors what they want to study, instead of the other way around, does that disrupt a fundamental balance of power? Not necessarily, Goldstone says. “From a professor’s perspective, if you get students who care enough about their education to take control of it themselves, usually the reaction is, ‘more power to you, go for it,’” he says. “The professors think, ‘Great this is just what we want.’” Still, so-called designer-degree programs are hardly the norm. On a campus of more than 40,000 students, only about 150 are enrolled in the IMP at one time. Most enter the program as sophomores or juniors after trying out a conventional major and realizing it wasn’t actually what they wanted.Junior Nikki Ashkin started as a business major but decided she wanted to pursue an environmental science major with a certificate from the Liberal Arts and Management Program. When that wasn’t possible, she designed her own major – “sustainable management” – that incorporates both management and the environment. Her goal is to someday work for her father’s “green” cleaning consultancy or become a university professor. The Individualized Major Program, she says, let’s her sample all kinds of relevant courses. “It’s really neat, because each semester, it’s not like I’m only taking business classes or I’m only taking science classes,” she says. “With my program, I can kind of take a whole range of classes and as long as I can prove that it relates back to my focus and as long as I fulfill all of the requirements for COAS, it’s acceptable.”The program doesn’t only help students: It also acts as an incubator for degrees that later become full-fledged majors within the University. Women’s studies – later renamed gender studies – started in the IMP, as did cognitive science and musical theater. In that sense, the IMP serves as a “cultural register” or an early trend spotter, Hedin says. “We send signals to the University as to where interest is developing, which is very useful to the institution,” he says.The current growth area is “problem-based majors” that address issues of sustainability, alternative energy, globalization, and the environment.Junior Julia Greenwald came up with a major that combines her interests in politics and fair trade. The major, “Nonprofit Retail Management with Concentration in Fair Trade,” focuses on the principles of fair trade, poverty, and inequality. She’s taking economics classes to learn how financial systems operate in other countries, and she’s dabbling in merchandising courses, in case she one day works for a fair trade retailer or importer. She says the pay off will come with her first job.“I just find that my generation overwhelmingly wants to do something,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s because we’re in college right now and we’re naive and we want to do something that changes the world, but I feel like we want to do something that helps the environment and doesn’t hurt the environment.”Goldklang, the magician, sees another appeal. The program, he says, lets people pursue their interests even if they don’t have a place within most University degree programs.“I came here to study music, but it turned out to be the perfect school to major in magic,” Goldklang says. “Here’s this passion that I have that I can’t study anywhere else.”
(05/24/08 3:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Amanda Shettlesworth sent the School of Public and Environment Affairs’ students a mass e-mail last year describing a competitive internship opportunity, she got an unlikely reply – from a student’s mother. “She called me up and asked that her son be given a leg up in the process,” Shettlesworth said. Confused by the mother’s involvement, Shettlesworth, an assistant director in SPEA’s career services office, said she couldn’t do anything to help.“This is your son’s responsibility,” she told the mother, “and hopefully he will write the essay well and apply.”But the mother fought back, arguing that the school should help him get ahead.“It’s almost like she didn’t hear me at all,” Shettlesworth said. Some say her situation underscores a growing trend across the country. An upward trend In what’s been called the age of the “helicopter parents” – those who hover over their children’s lives – school officials say parents are becoming increasingly involved in their children’s career searches, doing everything from writing students’ resumes to accompanying them at career fairs.“There definitely is more involvement of parents than there was 20 years ago,” said Amy Hume, former associate director of IU’s Career Development Center. “They’re not physically here, they’re not contacting us, but the student brings them into the counseling session,” Hume said. “And that happens a lot.”She said parents tell students which jobs are acceptable or relate their own expectations to their child, creating a sense of pressure that could undermine a student’s confidence. Julian Parrott, an administrator at the University of Illinois who studies the issue, said he has even heard of parents accompanying their children to job interviews, scheduling their appointments with employers and attempting to negotiate salaries with the hiring companies. “It’s happening everywhere,” he said. “It really is sort of pushing this state of dependency deep into somebody’s 20s.”Not that it should be any surprise, career advisers say, because the current generation of students has relied on parents from the youngest ages. Many students had structured childhoods, Hume said, with parents who signed them up for camps or classes, instead of letting them play on their own. Parrott said today’s generation expects parents to be involved. ‘It’s a Catch-22’ Melanie Graves, mother of junior Marli Haddan, said she’s called the IU Health Center for her daughter and even tried to join her during class scheduling. But Graves doesn’t think she is too involved. “She wants me, but she doesn’t,” she said. “It’s a Catch-22.”With such a high level of attachment, Parrott said it’s unrealistic to expect parents to suddenly cut the cord once students enter college. But Ray Clere, who oversees SPEA’s career office, said that kind of dependence is problematic, especially as students enter the job market. “I think they (parents) have the (students’) best interest at heart, but I have a real concern about students being self-sufficient,” he said. “At what point do you cut the string?” At IU, career counselors contend the trend of such helicopter parents is far from the norm. Still, some departments are taking precautions to keep parents at bay. In the Kelley School of Business, the Undergraduate Career Services Office has added a parents’ page to the Web site that lists frequently asked questions and gives a timetable that shows a student’s career path. It’s much the same at the Career Development Center, which also added a page for parents with tips on how they can help their children from a safe distance. Officials at both centers said the sites are working, resulting in fewer parent calls to the office and a better understanding of the career process. “Other schools are seeing the hovering of parents even more,” said Mark J. Brostoff, associate director of the Kelley school’s Undergraduate Career Services Office. “We’ve been proactive and it makes a difference.” Businesses cater to parents Some employers are addressing the issue, too, recognizing that parents are intrinsically part of the process. At car rental chain Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which recruits at IU annually, new hires are given the option of having an orientation packet sent to parents, said Marie Artim, assistant vice president for recruiting. It includes an overview of the company, statistics on its operations, a letter from the company’s vice president and a job description.“We find most of the time that new grads are asking that we send it to their parents,” Artim said. “College students today seem to really want their parents’ involvement and interaction.”Jan Nickless, senior associate director at the Career Development Center, agreed that parents are more involved today, but said she views parent involvement as a positive aspect for students.“If parents can just provide the support while the student is getting a degree and provide information and help build the student up and help them gain their own confidence and their own independence,” she said. “In the end that’s the role of the parent.”
(04/08/08 3:00pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Once a hangover sets in, alcohol has already been absorbed into the bloodstream, and food won’t make much of a difference, says Mary Jo McClintic, a registered dietitian at Bloomington Hospital. The same goes for cold showers, hot coffee, raw eggs, or other hangover remedies – most of them simply don’t work.The best way to beat a hangover, then, is to just let it run its course. McClintic advises getting rest and drinking plenty of fluids to stay hydrated.Even though food won’t help the hangover, it can make a big difference before a night of partying. “Definitely one of the worst things you can do would be to drink on an empty stomach,” she says. “It’s a good thing to be well-nourished and well-hydrated before you drink.”Her tip? Eat a balanced meal with carbohydrates (breads and pastas), proteins (tofu, fish, or lean meats) and healthy fats at least 15 minutes before you start drinking. You’ll feel full, causing you to drink less. The food will also soak up some of the alcohol, she says, so it won’t enter your bloodstream as quickly.For pre-party meals, she says a simple turkey sandwich is a satisfying, healthy option. A pizza is fine, too, as long as you stick to a piece or two and skip the fattening toppings.But healthy eating also requires some planning. Once you start downing drinks, McClintic says it’s common for students to relax and lose their inhibitions. “If you’ve been drinking alcohol, you might make poor nutrition decisions,” she says.Counteract that by getting plenty of healthy foods in advance, McClintic says. That way, when it comes time to eat, you’ll have a variety of nutritious choices ready and waiting.Can your diet affect your mood?Heidi Boruff, a registered dietitian for IU’s Residential Programs and Services, says these foods can help you feel...AwakeComplex carbs, protein, and fat can help jumpstart your morning. Boruff’s breakfast favorite? Pancakes (carbs) rolled around peanut butter (protein and fat) and bananas.EnergeticFruits, vegetables, and leafy greens. All of these contain B vitamins, which help you utilize the energy in your body.RelaxedTurkey sandwich with cheese on whole grain bread. This healthy option releases tryptophan, which can trigger the brain’s feel-good chemical, serotonin.WiredPeanut butter – it has carbs, protein and fat, and it slowly absorbs into the body, giving you energy all night. “I put it in everything when I was in college,” Boruff said.SexyFeeling frisky? Strawberries, oysters, avocado, bananas, and honey could put you in the mood.SleepyWarm milk, turkey, or anything else with the amino acid tryptophan (which might be why Uncle Harry passes out on the couch after every Thanksgiving).
(02/13/08 5:56am)
A decision by IU Athletics officials to begin charging club sports teams to use athletic facilities ignited controversy last month. But the real problem, club members now say, is a continued lack of field space that forces them to use varsity facilities.\nRecreational Sports officials said some fields are so worn that they are hardly usable. One field was described as a “dust bowl,” while others need millions of dollars in repairs. But a proposed plan to fix the problem could be pushed to the back burner to give way to other University construction projects. \n“The bigger issue is that Club Sports and Recreational Sports have to go to Athletics for facilities in the first place,” said April Scheuerell, president of the Club Sports Federation, the governing body of IU’s 46 club teams. “The problem that Club Sports is having really extends to the entire campus because of the overall inadequacy of our facilities at this point in time.”\nField sports, including the club men’s and women’s lacrosse, rugby, ultimate frisbee and co-ed baseball and field hockey teams have few options when it comes to practice space. \nDuring the spring and fall seasons, those teams have access to three outdoor facilities: Woodlawn Field, Evan Williams Club Sport Field and North Fee Lane Fields. In the winter months, though, no large, indoor recreational space can accommodate them. \nWith no other large, multi-purpose indoor space, teams have little choice but to use the varsity facilities at John Mellencamp Pavilion during the winter months.\nThat’s now an issue, because IU Athletics announced Jan. 9 that, for the first time, club programs would have to pay $500 per week to use the space between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Monday-Thursday.\n“There’s no problem with varsity being separate and athletics being separate,” Scheuerell said, “but we should have our own (space) to make it separate. It shouldn’t be that they have (space) and we don’t have anything.”
(01/16/08 5:52am)
Redstorm, the IU women’s club rugby team, had a season of firsts. \nIt moved to Division I this year, defeating every opponent in an attention-grabbing 11-0 season. They’re headed to New Mexico in April for the national women’s rugby playoffs – the first time the club has made it that far. \nAnd last week, the IU Athletics department delivered another first. The department said Redstorm, along with the rest of IU’s club sports teams, will now have to pay to use varsity practice facilities, including John Mellencamp Pavilion. Previously, athletics offered Club Sports this space free of charge.\nBut now, Club Sports will likely have to pay $500 per week so eight teams can practice at the Mellencamp Pavilion between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, said Stacey L. Hall, \nprogram director for intramural sports, club sports and student development.\n“There’s so little time for us to digest this,” said April Scheuerell, president of the Club Sports Federation and a Redstorm rugby player. “We’d just like to have our questions answered to find out why this happening and where this is going to go.”\nJ.D. Campbell, IU Athletics director of media relations, said athletics officials were not available for interviews Tuesday. He said the department is discussing the issue internally and did not have any additional comment at this time. \nThe Club Sports Federation, the governing body of the 46 club sports teams, said it will use an emergency fund to pay for the fees this year. But clubs are now scratching their heads, wondering how they will afford the fees on their own next year, without the emergency funds. \n“I could easily see us spending more time per week raising money than practicing,” said Scheuerell. \nClubs receive some money from IU, but get most of their funding from member dues and fundraisers. \nAndrea Gitelson, the women’s lacrosse club coach and adviser, said teams already raise money to pay for everything from jerseys to tournament fees, busses, hotels rooms and equipment. \nThe cost of practice space would add yet another financial burden to the team, she said, stressing club athletes who join the club largely to escape the demands of college life. \n “A lot of these players, they basically use this as an outlet for them,” she said. “It’s a social outlet, it’s a stress-relieving outlet. They’re doing something they love, they’re choosing to participate, they’re paying to participate.” \nLaura Jones, the president and captain of the women’s ultimate club frisbee team, said her team has started talking with club members about new fundraisers for next year. \nBut she said she’s upset by athletics’ decision because her team already has a working relationship with them. \nUltimate frisbee team members sell parking tickets before IU men’s basketball games, and athletics pays them about $150 to $200 per game.\n“We’re the people standing outside in the cold selling tickets,” Jones said. “We help them out, we help their sports, we go to their games. For them to charge us, we feel it’s just turning their back on us.”
(01/15/08 5:55am)
Club sports athletes and officials got a surprise when the IU Athletics Department announced Wednesday it will immediately begin charging club teams to use varsity facilities. \nThe decision has infuriated many club sports athletes who said they should have been given more notice about the decision. Club leaders have suspected for months the athletics department would implement a fee, so the Club Sports Federation quickly decided to tap into its emergency fund to help offset these unexpected fees. \n“Having to pay for practice space would wipe out these clubs,” said April Scheuerell, president of the Club Sports Federation, the governing body of the 46 IU club teams. “As student groups, we should be able to use University facilities.”\nAthletics department officials did not respond to repeated interview requests on Friday and Monday.\nExact details of the decision remain unclear, but club sports will now likely have to pay $500 a week so eight teams can practice at the John Mellencamp Pavilion between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, said Stacey L. Hall, program director for intramural sports, club sports and student development. The teams include men’s and women’s lacrosse, rugby, ultimate frisbee and co-ed baseball and field hockey, she said. Traditionally, IU Athletics offered this space free of charge for club sports. \nOfficials first learned of the decision Wednesday evening when they received a phone call from the athletics office, Hall said. She said club sports officials have not seen any written documents outlining the fee, but confirmed in an e-mail Monday afternoon that she is “almost positive” a $500 per week fee will be implemented. Many questions regarding the new fees remain, club sports officials said, and it is not yet clear when the questions will be answered. \nKathy Bayless, director of campus recreational sports, said club sports first learned of a possible athletics facility fee in October. At that point, though, she said she did not think the fees would be implemented anytime soon. \n“It was our understanding that fees, if they were enforced at all, wouldn’t take effect until next year,” she said. “The surprise in this is that the conversation moved from concept to execution unexpectedly and without written information, without time to equip\nthe clubs.”\nIndeed, the timing of the decision – giving the clubs less than a week to respond – has been the source of the greatest frustration, Scheuerell said. \nClubs operate on razor-thin budgets, Hall said, and don’t have enough money to pay a portion of the $500 fee. \nThe clubs receive some of their money from the University, but raise most of it through fund raising or members’ dues. \n“It’s such an unforeseen thing,” Hall said. “To incur a brand new expense at this level is really hard to do this year.”\nYet clubs have few other \noptions. \nThey can’t practice outside because outdoor fields don’t reopen until after mid-March. And they can’t move to other indoor facilities, such as the Student Recreational Sports Center or gyms at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, because those spaces are constantly occupied. Heavy lacrosse balls and ultimate frisbee discs could also damage the gyms because they weren’t designed for those sports, Hall said.\n“It’s not like you can go rent space from a high school or anywhere else,” she said. \nThe Club Sports Federation decided to use its emergency fund to pay the $500 a week fee, or about $4,000 total, to keep the teams at Mellencamp Pavilion through March 6. \nScheuerell, who is a member of the women’s rugby team, said the cost also stings because club teams will be using the Mellencamp Pavilion when it would normally sit empty. \nOther club athletes agree.\nOwen Dickey, president of the men’s rugby club, said he’s upset by the decision because club sports practices don’t disrupt the athletics department. \n“I think it’s outrageous,” he said. “We’re not getting in their way.” \nClub teams first started using the Mellencamp Pavilion in the spring of 2006, Hall said. Prior to that time, a variety of clubs practiced in Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse, where they often had longer practice hours. But when the fieldhouse got a new track in 2006, athletics moved club sports to the Mellencamp facility, which could accommodate team sports like lacrosse and rugby. \nBayless said she knows space on campus is an issue, and she understands it costs money to operate facilities, even late at night. \n“This is about timing,” she said, “and hoping that the fees, if executed, are truly done in the most reasonable fashion so that we can make it as economical as we can and yet the athletic department addresses the real cost that they face.”
(01/11/08 5:34am)
Daniel Orr made a name for himself serving haute cuisine at one of New York City’s top restaurants. But, in his latest venture, he’s heading back to the farm.\nThe Columbus, Ind., native will officially open FARMbloomington on Saturday in the historic Oddfellows Building at 108 E. Kirkwood Ave. \nThe highly-anticipated new restaurant will serve what Orr calls “real food” – food that is local, seasonal and simple, while still original. \n“Being a great chef is 90 percent being a good shopper and 10 percent not screwing up what you bought,” Orr said. “I think that’s kind of what ‘real food’ is. Going out and meeting the farmers ... seeing how the whole thing comes together and having enough respect for the ingredients to not overdo it.” \nIn the main restaurant, Orr will serve lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday, offering specialties such as sorghum-glazed pork chops, local Indiana elk loin and roasted tandoori salmon. Prices range from $4 for appetizers to around $30 for the most expensive entrée. \nThe restaurant also includes a café and retail store, called FARMmarket, a bar called FARMbar and a basement music venue called the Root Cellar. \nThe goal, Orr said, is to create a restaurant that will appeal to all types of people, with a variety of tastes and budgets. \nAt the café-style FARMmarket in the front of the restaurant, diners can grab baked goods, coffee and specialty drinks throughout the day, in addition to sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch. A retail store will offer wreathes, potpourri, crafts and Orr’s own sauces and spice blends. \n“It’s kind of like Cracker Barrel by Martha Stewart,” Orr said. \nFARMbar, open seven days a week, serves wood-oven, whole-grain pizzas and tapas, or small appetizers. \nThe Root Cellar, still under construction, should open in mid-February, Orr said. It will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights with blues and bluegrass music from local and national musicians. \nOrr said he’s going to decorate the walls of the Root Cellar with 50-year-old license plates, an antique beer can collection, funky couches and other items to give it a lived-in look.\n“It’s going to look like a funky old blues bar,” he said. “I want it to look like it’s been here forever.” \nThat sentiment applies to the main restaurant space, too.\nOrr started renovating the building in June, and outfitted it with worn wooden floors, quilts with pictures of his family and plenty of old farm products, including rusted saws and plows from his family farm. \nA silo-shaped chefs table overlooking the kitchen even features a chandelier crafted out of a wooden chicken carrier. \n“I’m the grandchild of the original owner and I’ve come back to the family to turn the general store into a restaurant,” he said. “That’s kind of the picture I had in my mind.” \nScott Hutcheson, the author of the forthcoming book “Home Grown Indiana: A Food Lover’s Guide to Good Eating in the Hoosier State,” said the restaurant is generating plenty of buzz, largely due to Orr’s reputation.\n“I’m hearing lots of great things about the place,” he said. “I think he’s definitely there on the forefront of trying to incorporate the best of what we grow and produce in Indiana into his menu.” \nOrr graduated from culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., and later trained for two years at some of the top restaurants in France and Belgium. \nIn 1992, he took a job at New York City’s La Grenouille, a famous French restaurant that recently celebrated its 45-year anniversary. He later became executive chef of the restaurant and in 1997, he earned a coveted three-star review from Ruth Reichl, the New York Times’ dining critic at the time. \nHe moved back to Indiana in January 2007, and said he hopes FARMbloomington becomes a flagship restaurant that satisfies diners.
(12/13/07 8:48pm)
Steve Furr has a holiday shopping strategy – buy less, and go green.\nThis year, the 21-year-old IU senior is giving friends natural, soy-based candles. He’s wrapping his gifts in recycled newspapers, instead of traditional paper. And he’s focusing on buying “experience” gifts – like tickets to IU Auditorium events – instead of consumer products.\nHe’s not alone. Around the state and across the country, a growing number of consumers are shopping for “green,” eco-friendly gifts and decorations this holiday season. Retailers are responding, offering new products, more selection and even customized catalogs to show off their green goods. \n“We’re seeing more retailers and more companies working to be more ‘green’ and telling people that they are ‘green,’” said Mike Becher, managing partner of accounting firm Deloitte & Touche’s Indianapolis office. “I think we’re starting to see people pay attention to that ‘green’ label and factoring that into their purchase decisions.”\nIn Deloitte’s annual holiday survey of retail trends, 15 percent of Indiana shoppers said they would purchase more eco-friendly products this year. Another 19 percent said they would consider not wrapping gifts to save paper.\nSimilarly, the Conscious Consumer Report, commissioned by marketing firm BBMG, recently found that nine in 10 Americans see themselves as “conscious consumers.” That means they are more likely to buy from companies that manufacture energy efficient products and commit to environmentally friendly practices.\nSensing the trend, local and national retailers are jumping into the “green” movement in force. Some are marketing “green” products in a new way, while others are increasing their product selection or reaching out to new customers.\nAt Natural Elements in downtown Bloomington, owner Robyn Thompson says she’s adding new products and attracting a new breed of shoppers to her store, which sells items such as fairly traded bamboo, hemp and organic cotton clothing, handmade paper journals and natural candles.\n“I’m starting to get people who have never been in here before,” she said, such as shoppers who might normally gravitate to retailers like Chico’s down the street. “They don’t look at my store anymore as the ‘hippie’ store over there.”\nA block away, at Wandering Turtle Art Gallery and Gifts, manager Mari Dagaz said sales are on the rise – a sign that consumers are becoming more aware of environmental issues, she said. Her store stocks an eclectic mix of reused and recycled products – think vintage 45 records converted into bowls and notebooks – plus fairly traded crafts and pottery, natural soaps and recycled metal works. \n“People really do like to offer gifts to their friends and family that are more unique,” she said. “When people shop here, they can give something that speaks about themselves.” \nNationally, luxury retailer Barney’s New York published a holiday catalog this season titled “Have a Green Holiday,” that’s filled with products such as organic cotton dresses, tote bags tanned without chemicals and, for variety, an environmentally friendly bamboo skateboard. \nEven traditional holiday decorations are going “green.” Local Wal-Mart store manager Scott Guffey said his store stocked its shelves with energy-efficient LED, or light-emitting diode, Christmas lights this season. Sales are so strong that he expects to sell out soon, even though his store’s inventory was “quite substantial,” he said.\nJenny Powers, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the country’s largest environmental groups, said all that variety is starting to hit home for consumers. \n“People are realizing that no matter what kind of person you are, whoever you’re shopping for, there’s gifts that fit into the ‘green’ gift realm,” she said. \nThe growing demand for eco-friendly products stems from increased awareness and concern for environmental issues and global warming, she said. Al Gore’s documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” helped to spur interest in the subject, as did natural events like Hurricane Katrina and rising temperatures, she said.\nThe environmental movement itself kicked off with the first Earth Day in 1970, said Lucille Bertuccio, the president of Bloomington’s Center for Sustainable Living. Over time, the movement received support from some presidents and politicians, she said, but opposition from others. It wasn’t until recently, when Bertuccio said Americans can see tangible effects of global warming, that the larger public began to take an interest in the subject.\nNow, that awareness is creating a new kind of “green,” eco-friendly shopper, Powers said. \n “It’s not just your granola-eating, Birkenstock-wearing person that’s looking for some organic product,” she said. “It’s the realization that being green is much broader than that, it includes all types of products.”\n“Green” products may be more expensive than others, Powers said, and there is no clear definition or certification for labeling “green” items. But she said even products that might not typically be seen as “green” – such as Energy Star products rated for high efficiency – make good holiday gifts. \n“It’s not sold or couched as a ‘green’ product,” she said, “but it is one the greenest things you can get because it’s reducing the energy use for the product.”\nYet some people say there’s an inherent conflict in buying products to help save the environment, when conservation should be the real goal.\nDebra Amador, one of the founders of the Web site BuyLessCrap.org, says consumers should be more mindful of what they purchase. She said that endless holiday gift-giving can lead to overkill, when consumers simply don’t know what to do with all their new products.\n “’Green’ is the new sexy tagline to many companies and green is a Christmas color. You can say, ‘have a green Christmas,’ but does that mean you’re shopping socially, you’re shopping consciously?” she said. “I think we could all consume a little less and it could make a big difference.” \nVickie Temple Davison, the owner of the Bloomington Hardware, considers herself a “green” shopper and applies Amador’s advice to her own life.\nInstead of doling out expensive gifts to all her friends and relatives, Temple Davison gives her time. In the past, she threw her parents a 60th wedding anniversary party instead of buying them traditional gifts. She also organizes holiday social gatherings and cooks with friends. When she does give a gift, she often gets old photos restored so her loved ones can savor past memories.\n“You have to learn how to think differently, and thinking differently isn’t always maxing out the credit card,” she said. “I do think people end up getting into this whole thing that you have to buy, you have to buy. But you don’t always have to go out and buy the new TV or the new video game. Instead why don’t you get the board game out or help grandma take care of grandma?”\nBertuccio, of the Center for Sustainable Living, said she stays “green” during the holidays by buying as little as possible. Instead of traditional gifts, she often shops for local crafts and food products and holds potluck dinners to give her friends and family a chance to come together.\n“I think for both our kids and our friends we have to give time,” she said.\nStill, for those who want to give a gift, experts say buying a “green” product can make an impact. \nTrish Riley, the author of the “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Living,” said buying “green” items could stimulate businesses to change their practices and offer more eco-friendly products. \n“If we could make decisions that are more environmentally friendly, we’re sending a message to the manufacturing community that that’s what we want,” she said.\nPowers, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that by buying “green,” consumers are also reducing energy consumption and helping to do their part to protect the environment. \n“Every little bit does count,” she said. “There’s big difference that can be made on a small scale.”
(11/27/07 2:45am)
When Andrew Appel and his wife first bought the cooking supply store Goods for Cooks two years ago, its Web site featured little more than a name, a couple of photos and a phone number.\nToday, Appel says a basic site like that won’t cut it. \n“I can’t afford to be losing good customers to a bad Web experience,” he said. \nAround the city, small local retailers like Appel are giving their sites a face-lift. In an effort to better market themselves, retailers are adding new features, streamlining their site designs and providing unique content to grab consumers’ attention. \nAt Goods for Cooks, Appel has spent more than nine months and $2,000 to create an easier-to-use Web site for his downtown store. \nThe site now lists more than 550 of the store’s products and includes photos and descriptions, a recipes page and feature articles on such topics as Mediterranean olive oils and tailgating. \n“I hope it gets the word out that we have a lot of stuff and we have a lot of legit stuff to take us seriously,” Appel said. \nBy February, customers should able to purchase products directly off the site through an online shopping cart, he said. \nAcross town at sporting goods store Smith’s Sport’n Shoe in the College Mall, owner Steve Smith is adding new graphics and more product information to create a “wow” factor on his site, which he plans to re-launch soon. The old Web site had a basic, no-frills template, Smith said. The new site will also eventually include an online shopping feature. \nAt Twisted Limb Paperworks, a local company that creates recycled paper products, founder and president Sheryl Woodhouse-Keese said she saw a need to make over her 9-year-old site, which she created herself, to help her customers. \n“They could get a lot of information, but it didn’t mean it was easy and fast to use,” she said. “It was an advanced word processing document.” \nSo last spring she hired a local Internet marketing firm, which added a new online ordering system, drop-down menus for easier navigation and a “wish list” feature, which allows customers to pick items and buy them later. \nSuch changes come at a time when a growing number of retailers across the country are sprucing up their sites to better serve consumers. \nA September 2007 study published by Shop.org, part of the National Retail Federation, found that fixing online design and performance issues remains one of the top priorities for retailers. \n“Consumers expect a lot of features built into Web sites,” said Jared Beard, the owner of local Web site design firm White Iron Data, which works with local retailers. “It’s so easy to just move on to the next Web site if you can’t find what you’re looking for.” \nWhile local retailers see the need to improve their sites, they say the process can be daunting. \nAppel, the co-owner of Goods for Cooks, said small businesses, unlike large national competitors, don’t have the luxury of a full-time technology department to constantly keep their sites updated. \nFurthermore, online ordering can be hard to manage, he said. \n“You look at some of the big players on the Internet ... their infrastructure, their customer service, that’s a huge, huge investment,” Smith said. \nStill, even with the challenges, retailers say new sites bring plenty \nof benefits. \nAn effective Web site can attract people to the retail store, better promote the retailer’s products and increase store revenues, Appel said. \nHe said he hopes his site will eventually account for 25 percent, or about $100,000, of the store’s overall revenues. \nBut some local consumers say they aren’t ready to abandon in-store shopping, even if local retailers do offer new features or products online. \n“Most of the time, I’d like to go in and see (a product),” said M.A. Venkataramanan, the chairperson of undergraduate programs at IU’s Kelley School of Business and a regular online shopper. “It’s kind of fun.”
(07/05/07 4:00am)
For three years, I have been enamored with Minus Story. I was hooked by their stunning album, The Captain is Dead, Let the Drum Corpse Dance. It pulled me in with its lo-fi charm, gentleness, and a dose of the kind of happiness that you can only muster once you've been into the deepest depths of melancholy. The band followed this release with No Rest for Ghosts, an album that expanded on the themes of love, hope, and ghostly apparitions, while also allowing the band to develop a more focused and cohesive sound. Now, My Ion Truss shows the band as they take another leap into strange, yet comforting territory.\nThe album begins with the dreamy, "In Line" as the lead singer, Jordan Geiger, mournfully emits a nasally passage containing cryptic prose. Then Minus Story sonically sucker punches your fragile ears and unleashes one of their most passionate and powerful songs to date, "Aaron". Rumbling drum fills, saxophone wails, guitar feedback, and haunting echoes create a chaotic and beautiful mess that is reminiscent of the forcefulness of this unassuming band's live performances. The band then gives listeners breathing room by offering up the energetic, yet airy, "Stitch me Up". The album shows Minus Story shedding their lo-fi psychedelic skin in favor of a more polished, but no less endearing, sound which demonstrates the evolution and maturity of the band. \nOne element that remains for the band, is their ability to pour the most gut-wrenching and heartbreaking feelings into their work. The drumming is urgent and punctual, the guitars are thick and distorted, the keyboards are delicate and composed, and Geiger's voice is assured, yet sometimes mournful and haunting. The result is an album that is entirely unique from the band's previous work, but still undeniably Minus Story.
(04/26/07 4:00am)
Every week, hundreds of students gather together in a large lecture hall for group worship with Campus Crusade for Christ, or “Cru,” as it's affectionately known by members. The group, among others, has grown immensely in size and popularity over the last few years.
(04/25/07 4:00am)
It’s 8 on a Thursday night, and the lights inside a stadium-style lecture hall in the Chemistry Building are dim. \nStudents pump their hands in the air, scream out to their friends and randomly exchange hugs. A six-person band, complete with a cymbal-banging drummer, rocks on.\nNo, this isn’t your typical worship service. This is Campus Crusade for Christ, an interdenominational Christian ministry that’s one of a growing number of organizations targeting college students who want personal religious experiences.\nAt Cru, as it’s called, organizers put special emphasis on making the worship events relevant, using contemporary music and real-world topics like drinking and sex to engage students. \n“We believe there are timeless truths that it’s up to us to effectively communicate and capture in the language and the concepts that students use today,” said Tony Arnold, the organization’s national spokesman. \nThe strategy seems to be working at IU, where staff members say attendance is up and students are interested. \nEvery week, more than 300 people pack into the group’s Thursday evening meetings while, throughout the week, about 50 smaller groups – averaging 10 students each – converge in places like dormitory basements and floor lounges to study the Bible. \nIn the past 10 years alone, the international organization has seen dramatic growth, increasing its number of campus locations from 500 in 1996 to 1,163 today.
(04/10/07 4:00am)
After months of researching companies, mailing cover letters and resumes, and honing interviewing skills, the good news arrives: You’ve landed a summer internship. \nLocal career services experts say that’s a crucial first step in developing a relationship with a company. But they remind that the burden of turning the summer job into a great experience is still the student’s.\n“Getting the internship is not the end-all,” says Mark Brostoff, associate director of the Undergraduate Career Services Office at the Kelley School of Business. “You have the internship. Now you should be thinking: What does this company do, and how can I take an advantage of that?” \nCareer officials say setting mutual expectations early – and continuing to talk about them – is often the key to a successful summer. \nJustin Grossman, an assistant director of IU’s Career Development Center, recommends that students set goals with supervisors within the first week of an internship, letting them know what they hope to get out of the experience.“Disclose all intentions” to employers, he said. Let them know if you expect to take summer courses during the internship, want to tour the company’s factories and operations, or plan to take a week off midsummer (a big no-no, Grossman said).\nThe first week is also a good time to learn the power dynamics of the company, something Grossman said shouldn’t be taken lightly. The intern’s supervisor, for instance, might officially be the “boss” in the office, but the real decisions might be made by an assistant down the hall. \nUnderstanding who holds the power can help determine how interns should navigate corporate culture and form relationships, he said. \n“(Interns) need to sit back and observe for a while,” he said. “Sometimes the political structure is not the same as the actual hierarchy.” \nBrostoff said forming meaningful relationships with a variety of people and networking within the companies can help interns who want to turn their summer positions into full-time jobs after they graduate.\nHe recommends that students find a mentor or two beyond the immediate supervisor and says students should try to eat lunch with other employees in the company’s cafeteria or join a company sports team to meet people beyond their own departments. \nJohn McCoy, an IU alumnus and the finance director and treasurer of Eli Lilly and Co.’s Lilly Del Caribe division in Puerto Rico, says interns need to be aggressive in meeting people and should set up informational interviews to learn about the industry.\n“They should treat their internship like it’s a blank check,” said McCoy, who has recruited at IU and supervised about 15 interns over the past 10 to 12 years. “Not enough people, in my opinion, take advantage of the full opportunity.” \nMcCoy said that students shouldn’t expect that supervisors will set up such interviews and that interns often must take initiative. And interns should realize their supervisors are often preoccupied with their own work.\n“Sometimes projects and tasks are ill-defined,” McCoy said, recommending that interns improve the project beyond the initial assignment. “If (interns) just try to stick to that piece of paper they wont maximize their output.” \nStill, internships don’t always pan out as students expect. Grossman, from the Career Development Center, said it’s still crucial for students to try to salvage the experience to show that they can overcome difficult situations. \nBut senior Jessica Haemmerle said sometimes the internship just doesn’t work, no matter how hard you try to correct it. \nHaemmerle, a tourism-convention and event-management major, started a promotions internship with an Indianapolis radio station in January. Haemmerle thought she would learn valuable skills about how to organize large events.\nIt didn’t work out that way.\n“I wasn’t learning anything,” she said. “I would put together CD prize packs, rubber-band a T-shirt and CD together, clean out the prize closet.” \nShe talked with her supervisor but found there was little other work to be done.\n“There’s a point when you have to realize you’re just wasting your time,” she said.