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(10/18/12 3:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kelley School of Business students are performing analyses and investing real moneyfor the Knall-Cohen Investment Fund as part of the Kelley School’s Investment Management Workshop.“Knowing that they are responsible for making investment recommendations for an actual fund makes a tremendous difference in how students approach this class,” finance professor and workshop instructor Robert Jennings said. “We’re offering these students real-world experience, which prepares them for internships and eventually careers in investment management.”Workshop participants, who are mostly third-year students, are responsible for researching and identifying potential companies in which they can invest. They then give a presentation to a board of directors, which includes Jeff Cohen and David Knall, managing directors of the Indianapolis office of investment advisory, banking and brokerage firm Stifel Nicolaus.Cohen and Knall created the fund to give Kelley School students experience in advising potential investors.“I’ve been incredibly impressed with the presentations I’ve seen from the workshop participants over the past two years,” Knall said. “We started the fund because we recognized a need for more financial education among students, not only to help them prepare for potential careers in investment management but also to help them compete in a global economy.”— Kirsten Clark
(10/16/12 4:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel remembers driving distinguished IU professor of political science Elinor Ostrom home from Martinsville, Ind., after a speaking engagement at a charity camp. It was late at night, she said, and Elinor Ostrom had to fly out of Indianapolis early the next morning.“So I drove her to that beautiful little house on Lampkins Ridge and it was easily 11:30 (p.m.) when I got there,” Robel said. “And I remember Vincent peeking out the window, waiting up for her.”Nine professors and administrators from around the world contributed vignettes and remarks during a celebration of the lives of Elinor Ostrom and her husband, distinguished IU scholar Vincent Ostrom, who both died in June.Hundreds of students, faculty and friends of the Ostroms attended the event, which took place Monday at the IU Auditorium.Political science professor Michael McGinnis remembers joining the Ostroms during holidays and later helping the couple with medical appointments. Elinor Ostrom’s death came earlier than expected, McGinnis said, but in ways it was comforting both husband and wife died within weeks of one another. “They had always been a team,” McGinnis said. “In their research and their affection for one another.”University of Colorado Boulder associate professor Krister Andersson said Elinor and Vincent Ostrom were an example of the power of working together.Although many knew Elinor Ostrom for her work in academia and the recognition she received as a result — she is the only woman to have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences — IU professor of political science Marjorie Hershey said she had the privilege of knowing Elinor Ostrom personally.Like most of the speakers at the event, Hershey knew Elinor Ostrom as simply, “Lin.”“Lin’s contribution to daily lives should have won her a second Nobel prize,” she said.The Nobel Prize winner was also a longtime competitive swimmer who loved Inuit art.“Lin” hated shopping so much that when she found a pair of comfortable shoes, Hershey said, she would buy as many pairs as she could so it would be years before she had to shop again.She and her husband also built a cabin on Manitoulin Island in Canada. The cabin had no electricity or running water. In a video presentation created by Carleton College professor of social sciences Barbara Allen, the couple talked about furniture they built. The Ostroms’ house and everything in it has been given to the University, IU President Michael McRobbie said.The School of International and Global Studies, scheduled to begin construction in spring 2013, will include a room dedicated to the couple and will house some of their handmade furniture.Other speakers included Washington University in St. Louis professor and 1993 Nobel laureate Douglass North, School of Public and Environmental Affairs Dean John Graham, Delft University of Technology professor and Dean Theo Toonen and University of Cincinnati assistant professor Gwen Arnold.At the conclusion of the event, McRobbie and Robel unveiled a portrait of Elinor Ostrom to be displayed in the Indiana Memorial Union.In it, she holds her Nobel medal, which is now housed in Bryan Hall. Behind her sits an open laptop, which McRobbie said signifies her steadfast work ethic, and right beside her sits a picture of her husband.
(10/15/12 4:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Although still “miles away” from submitting a request for proposals in the possible privatization of University parking operations, trustees raised concerns about the flow of information between officials and stakeholders during Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting.Since Trustee William Strong proposed the idea in February, IU faculty, staff and students have expressed opposition to the proposal, citing possible price increases as a key reason.At the meeting, Bloomington Faculty Council President Carolyn Calloway-Thomas reiterated the council’s position, which was presented earlier in the week in a written statement submitted to board members.“Members of the Bloomington Faculty Council are opposed to the idea of privatizing parking,” Calloway-Thomas said.She delivered a summarized report of the council’s reasons, citing three main concerns: parking operations at IU are currently well-run, leasing parking would be a tradeoff between short-term benefits and long terms costs and privatizing parking could abolish the sense of community IU faculty and staff share with the University.“The University should take the lead in trying to preserve what’s left of public life in this country,” Thomas said. “Business values have permeated the most every aspect of our lives. Let’s not let this happen at IU.”Trustees acknowledged that a gap in communication between administrators and faculty exists and is a sizable concern. There are many unknowns surrounding the proposal, Trustee Thomas Reilly said, including the amount of money IU would receive from a concessionaire for the long-term lease. Without knowing the potential gain, trustees said, it is difficult to determine whether the benefits outweigh the costs.The only decision made at last week’s meeting was to hire a financial adviser to obtain more specific information about the proposal to fill in those unknowns. When the trustees inquired about the cost of hiring a financial adviser, Treasurer MaryFrances McCourt said it would depend on whether the plan is successful, which raised additional concerns. She then said the committee would hire a second adviser for a second opinion.Terms of the contract have yet to be discussed.IU Parking Operations Assistant Director Amanda Turnipseed said the possibility has been fairly well discussed within the office since June, and Director Doug Porter has been involved with a committee of stakeholders who meet periodically to discuss the proposal.“Being within the transportation industry, we’re pretty collaborative with a lot of the other universities, cities and municipalities,” Turnipseed said. “It was not a complete unknown situation to us. We’ve kind of been following Ohio State since we first heard about their looking into it last fall.”Ohio State University became the first public university to privatize its parking operations when trustees approved a 50-year lease to QIC Global Infrastructure in June in exchange for a lump sum of $483 million.If the University follows through with its parking proposal, IU will be the second public university to do so.Ohio State officially transitioned its parking operations in September. While it is too early to observe long-term effects, including changes in the availability and price of parking, Ohio State signed into its contract caps for rate increases to protect those who use it, said Lindsay Komlanc, Ohio State director of marketing and communications for administration and planning. “There is language in the contract that limits parking increases 5.5 percent for the 10 years and then a maximum of 4 percent, or in line with the consumer price index, whichever is higher, for the remainder of the contract,” Komlanc said.Ohio State also worked with parking employees during the transition to keep job loss to a minimum.Former Director of Transportation and Parking Sarah Blouch said before the transition that Ohio State made a commitment to parking employees to place them in other areas of the university if they chose not to transition into the local branch of the concessionaire’s company.Blouch, now president of parking lease-holder CampusParc, said the privatization affected 75 Ohio State parking employees, 12 of whom decided to transition into the new company.If IU pursues the privatization, about 40 individuals employed by parking operations would be affected.In addition to those measures, Komlanc said Ohio State officials provided updates to the campus community throughout the process using a website.The IU Student Association appointed a committee to independently research the proposal, focusing mainly on how the transition would affect students.Senior Jarad Winget, a senior adviser to IUSA President Kyle Straub, said all communication surrounding the issue has been through the IUSA seat on the stakeholder committee on parking privatization.“They have been more than accommodating for student opinions and everything by coming to us,” Winget said. “We’ve found it’s been a very friendly process thus far.”Although the IUSA committee has several concerns in the preliminary stages of the proposal, it has not yet taken an official stance on the matter, Winget said.Freshman IUSA intern Andy Braden, who sits on the research committee, said some of the concerns stem from the possibility that an adverse action clause, which would protect the concessionaire from anything negatively affecting the company, could interfere with University sustainability initiatives, such as an initiative to decrease the number of students who drive to campus.Other concerns surround the possibility of increased parking rates, which would increase the overall cost of attendance for students, and complications in the parking appeals process.The committee meets periodically to research and create recommendations to bring to administrators. During the next meeting of the administrative parking proposal committee, IUSA representatives will present findings and suggestions.“If the University needs this money, then odds are they’re going to have to go and get it,” Winget said. “It’s our job first and foremost to be concerned with students.”
(10/15/12 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>HENRYVILLE, Ind. — Two of the last trees in Twin Oaks, a small subdivision in Henryville, Ind., stand tall in Michelle Friedly’s backyard.Few were left after a tornado swept through Henryville at 175 miles per hour, mercilessly consuming everything in its path. The mangled trees were plowed in preparation for homes that would be built for the people who lost everything. People like Michelle.Although the house’s interior is still about two months from completion, it will be a new home for her and her daughter, and Michelle will be able to see those trees every day from her bedroom.
(10/09/12 4:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In about six Kelley School of Business classrooms, students can now be remotely monitored during midterms, finals and other examinations.Although the Kelley School is not the first to utilize video proctoring, the use of the cameras was tested in the school during the spring 2012 semester and was officially offered to faculty this fall, Kelley School’s Manager of Emergency, Safety and Security Planning Ryan Bassett said. More cameras are scheduled to be installed as construction at the Kelley School is completed.Interim Dean Idalene Kesner said the cameras are used only for test-taking purposes and serve as an extra precaution to curb academic misconduct. “They’re not used to record any regular class sessions, professors or the students, even if the students are giving a presentation,” she said.Students are notified either in the syllabus, on OnCourse or in class about potential use of the cameras, she said.Kelley School officials have taken the extra precaution of placing signs at the main entrances of each classroom to notify students of the potential use of the cameras.Legally, the school is not required to notify students, Student Legal Services Director Randall Frykberg said.To the best of his knowledge, Frykberg said, the use of video proctoring does not infringe on students’ right to privacy because a classroom setting isn’t one in which a student has a “reasonable expectation of privacy.”The cameras were installed in response to a shortage of test proctors, Kesner said.“We searched many places to find an adequate number of proctors,” she said. “We’ve come up short every time.”At the opposite end of the camera, Kesner said, a proctor trained to operate the camera sits in a different room, watching students taking an exam.The training consists not only of camera operation but also guidelines for treating the students fairly, she said.If the remote proctor suspects a student may have engaged in academic misconduct during a test, Kesner said, the points of concern are brought to faculty members. Despite the use of video proctoring, an instructor is required to be present during the exam.“The faculty member has complete discretion whether to pursue any issues raised from the video tape,” Kesner said. “The faculty member makes the decision solely.”Bassett said he has received positive feedback from Kelley students since the installation of the cameras.All Kelley students pay the same amount of money to attend classes and work toward a Kelley School degree, he said, and students like to know they are not being shortchanged by classmates engaging in academic misconduct.“They’re happy that Kelley ... is taking an extra step to prosecute students engaging in academic misconduct,” he said.
(10/04/12 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the first time in 54 years, the Friday of Homecoming week will not be celebrated with Marching Hundred members performing on Kirkwood Avenue.“We’re taking a step back this year to re-evaluate what Homecoming looks like,” said Emili Sperling, IU Alumni Association alumni programs officer for recent graduate and student enrichment.The IUAA and IU Student Alumni Association decided to take a break from parade planning this year.Sperling said other schools have extravagant homecoming parades, and IU’s parades in the past few years have been “light” in comparison.“Because we’re expected to create such a spectacular experience, we wanted to step back and look at how to make the parade the best possible experience,” she said.In its place, the Oct. 5 festivities will include a free concert in Dunn Meadow. This event was organized by the IUAA and IUSAA in conjunction with Union Board.“This new approach to Friday night gives returning and Bloomington-based alumni, and their families, the perfect way to be a part of Homecoming as they soak in the campus atmosphere,” J. T. Forbes, executive director and CEO of the IUAA, said in a press release. “We’re looking forward to a great crowd.”Pop-rock band South Jordan, which has Bloomington roots, “This is Indiana” duo Brice Fox and Daniel Weber and local singer and songwriter Zach Majors will perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 5.Concert-goers can purchase food and drink from food trucks and local vendors.IUAA hopes to bring back the homecoming parade in the future with a little revamping, Sperling said.“We want to create something wonderful and memorable for everyone,” she said.
(10/04/12 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the first time in 54 years, the Friday of Homecoming week will not be celebrated with Marching Hundred members performing on Kirkwood Avenue.“We’re taking a step back this year to re-evaluate what Homecoming looks like,” said Emili Sperling, IU Alumni Association alumni programs officer for recent graduate and student enrichment.The IUAA and IU Student Alumni Association decided to take a break from parade planning this year.Sperling said other schools have extravagant homecoming parades, and IU’s parades in the past few years have been “light” in comparison.“Because we’re expected to create such a spectacular experience, we wanted to step back and look at how to make the parade the best possible experience,” she said.In its place, the Oct. 5 festivities will include a free concert in Dunn Meadow. This event was organized by the IUAA and IUSAA in conjunction with Union Board.“This new approach to Friday night gives returning and Bloomington-based alumni, and their families, the perfect way to be a part of Homecoming as they soak in the campus atmosphere,” J. T. Forbes, executive director and CEO of the IUAA, said in a press release. “We’re looking forward to a great crowd.”Pop-rock band South Jordan, which has Bloomington roots, “This is Indiana” duo Brice Fox and Daniel Weber and local singer and songwriter Zach Majors will perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 5.Concert-goers can purchase food and drink from food trucks and local vendors.IUAA hopes to bring back the homecoming parade in the future with a little revamping, Sperling said.“We want to create something wonderful and memorable for everyone,” she said.
(10/04/12 3:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students packed into the Asian Culture Center on Wednesday to celebrate the center’s 14th anniversary with games, henna tattoos and Chinese calligraphy.“This is to honor the students and to celebrate the students for their contributions to the center,” ACC Director Melanie Castillo-Cullather said. “It’s their day.”Second-year graduate student Chung-yu Fang sat at a table with calligraphy brushes, jars of black ink and students hungry to learn the basics of calligraphy.Fang, originally from Taiwan, said she spent about 10 years perfecting her calligraphy. She formally practiced the art as part of her undergraduate studies and volunteered to help others at the open house event learn. “I think people who visit the Asian Cultural Center are very interested in Asian culture ... so it’s easy to teach them,” she said.Some of the students in attendance already spoke a bit of Chinese or knew some Chinese characters, which she said was helpful when teaching them. Some struggled to properly grip the brush, which had to be held at a 90-degree angle to the paper.Sophomore Kristina Luu had never tried her hand at Chinese calligraphy, so Fang taught her several basic strokes — horizontal lines, vertical lines and dots.“You’re like, ‘That’s really simple. I’ll be able to catch on,’ right?” Luu said. “But then you do it, and you don’t realize all that goes into calligraphy.”Senior Lauren Kastner also volunteered to provide henna tattoos to open house participants. Kastner took classes about the process of henna while studying abroad last year in Hyderabad, India.The first couple weeks of her class consisted of pen-and-pencil work, Kastner said, creating and connecting intricate henna designs on paper.“We didn’t even get to touch henna for a couple weeks,” she said.It was a way for her to connect with Indian culture, she said, and ultimately bring it back home with her.Castillo-Cullather said in the past 14 years she has been with the center, the physical space hasn’t really changed.“But the number of students who have used the center — and faculty and staff and community members — has grown,” she said.The number of events has expanded since the center opened in 1998, Castillo-Cullather said. Some events, such as the “Over a Cup of Tea” series, have been successful and adopted as “signature events.”Castillo-Cullather said that in the past 14 years, the center has also worked to convince students it is not just a place for individuals of Asian descent.“We try to convey that and let everyone know in so many different ways, and I think we’ve been very successful,” she said. “We’re seeing a very diverse audience coming to use the center.”The center has not only grown on campus but off campus as well, Castillo-Cullather said.“We’ve also grown in a way that we’re no longer seen as a student center but also a community center,” she said. “It really is a testament that we have reached a population outside the Sample Gates.”
(10/02/12 3:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This year’s Sexploration Week kicked off Monday evening with a slightly different take on the traditional speed dating event.“The speed dating is orientation-inclusive, which means GLBT, heterosexual — everyone’s welcome,” said health educator Patrick Nagel, who organized the event.After a brief ice-breaker activity, about 60 students were allotted three-minute conversations with other event-goers, during which they would briefly get to know one another and indicate on a piece of paper their interest in pursuing either a friendship or romance.Nagel collected students’ email addresses to connect participants who expressed mutual interest in a romantic relationship.“You’re going to meet people you’re not romantically interested in,” Nagel said at the start of the event. “This is orientation-inclusive. Just try to be respectful.”Last year’s Sexploration Week marked the first time IU educators organized the speed dating event. It resulted in multiple match-ups, Nagel said before Monday’s event, and he hoped this year’s event would yield similar outcomes.Senior pre-med student Jeff Tippin said he attended a speed dating event at IU before and had fun meeting new people.“I’m here to see if there’s someone here of interest,” he said. “But it’s a good study break.”If nothing else, he said, it would be good for a laugh.Nagel provided a list of questions — Where are you from? What’s your sign? — for participants who experienced difficulty getting a conversation off the ground.The room resonated with chatter in three-minute intervals, each separated by the ring of a bell that signified when it was time for participants to switch partners.Altogether, Tippin spoke with about 14 participants. He met one person he was interested in, he said, but was unsure whether it would turn into anything.“It was fun,” he said after the event. “I met a lot of really cool people, a lot who were pre-med.” He said he thought it was important for the event to be orientation-inclusive to cater to people with different preferences. It would be discriminatory, he said, to not include everyone. At the end of the night, Nagel said it was too early to tell how many romantic matches had been made. He said he would notify participants who expressed mutual interest in a romantic relationship via email within a week or so.Nagel said the event’s orientation inclusion was important and coincided with the goals of Sexploration Week: to encourage positive behaviors about things like sex, gender and sexual orientation.“I think it’s important because a lot of people have these heteronormal ideas ... a lot of traditional speed dating events are heterosexual,” he said, adding that many heterosexual individuals tend to think of relationships in terms of heterosexuality and not in terms of homosexuality or bisexuality. He said the event went well, and participants were respectful of differences in sexual preference.“There was a good mix of orientations,” he said. Last year, he said, the turnout was largely heterosexual, and participants of differentorientations felt left out.“I think it worked out well, and no one felt singled out or isolated by who they might be attracted to,” he said.
(09/27/12 2:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Many of IU’s buildings are missing from Apple’s new map application, which debuted with last week’s release of the iPhone 5.The new app, which severed Apple’s ties with the previously used Google maps application, has been subject to scrutiny across the Internet and was recently the focus of a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal. This article featured side-by-side images of a Google map of Collins LLC and an Apple map of the same location, which included no trace of the residence center.Owners of the iPhone 5 complained, among other things, that many businesses and landmarks are misplaced or completely missing on the Apple maps, the Journal reported.Carl Ipsen, director of Collins LLC, said although he wasn’t sincerely angered, he did find the article amusing.“I’m outraged at Apple’s attempt to eliminate Collins from the map of Bloomington,” he said. “It’s surely a corporate plot of some kind.”An alumnus brought the article to his attention.“Of all the maps they could put on the picture, it was ours,” he said.According to the Journal, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the application was designed to improve the more people use it. She also acknowledged that features previously available with the Google app are missing, and developers would work to remedy the new app’s shortcomings.“We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better,” she said in the article.Verizon Wireless stores across the state opened earlier than usual on Sept. 21 for the release of the new iPhone.“The Bloomington store had more than 30 people in line for the iPhone 5 — three camped out overnight,” a Verizon Wireless spokesperson said in an email. “More than half of those in line were students.”Senior Mimi Nguyen purchased her iPhone 5 at 8 a.m. Friday.Although she hadn’t used the Apple map app extensively, she said there are some differences between it and the Google version. Among them, she said, is an automatic 3-D map feature and a feature to aid navigation. All in all, though, she said she loves her new phone.“It has a lot of cool stuff,” she said. “There are significant differences between the 4S and the 5.”
(09/26/12 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Purdue University students by and large will experience a greater return on investment when it comes to undergraduate degrees than IU students.According to a May 2011 study by the Center on Education and the Workforce, eight of the top 10 majors with the highest median earnings fall within the sphere of engineering. 21 percent of all Purdue students pursue degrees within that field.Return on investment is essentially a way to quantify the phrase, “bang for your buck.”The College Board’s latest figures approximate the average in-state IU student, without any financial assistance or scholarship, will spend about $80,264 on tuition and fees to complete a four-year undergraduate degree.Return on investment will take that amount into consideration and compare it to what a student can potentially earn at a job that degree can get him.In general, the higher a degree-holder’s earnings, the greater his return on investment.This can be affected by the trade-off between cost and value of a degree. A degree from Harvard Business School will appeal to employers, but tuition to Harvard University typically costs significantly more than tuition to IU.“Not all Bachelor’s degrees are the same,” according to the CEW report. “Earnings are a function not only of which degree you have, but also what you have majored in.”According to U.S. News and World Report, 20 percent of IU students choose to pursue degrees in business, management, marketing and related fields.In general, the median annual salary of all business degree-holders is roughly $60,000, according to the Center on Education and the Workforce.According to data from the 2012 Undergraduate Career Services Annual Report, Kelley degree-holders tend to make just short of that when first starting out, enjoying a median starting salary of about $55,000.It would take an in-state Kelley School of Business graduate making $60,000, the national median, about 1.34 years – without taking other expenses into consideration – to pay off his undergraduate education.Despite the high earning potential in the business field, U.S. News and World Report reports a degree in economics can be just as good if not better.“A lot of people talk about majoring in business ... actually, economics is even better, because you learn a lot more quantitative analysis, a lot more statistics, and things that are applicable in kind of this big data world,” Katie Bardaro, an economist for online salary database PayScale, said in an interview with U.S. News and World Report. “Similar to physics, it’s really good for salary growth overall.”Aside from degrees in engineering, degrees in computer science top the Center on Education and the Workforce’s list of highest earning majors with a median annual salary of $98,000.Degrees that develop analytical skills tend to lead to jobs with a “strong earning potential and low unemployment rate,” Bardaro said. “Not everyone is cut out for the analytical stuff,” she said. “If you are one of those people, you’re lucky, because people want to hire you.”The average starting salary for 2012 graduates of the School of Informatics and Computing was $54,000.Representatives from Kelley and the School of Informatics and Computing could not be reached for comment.U.S. News and World Report reported that not all is lost for students obtaining degrees in the humanities and social sciences, and the ability to work across different industries boost return on investment.Other popular majors at IU, according to U.S. News and World Report, include degrees in communication, journalism, parks, leisure and fitness and education.Based on a PayScale report published September 2012, the majority of IU-Bloomington alumni with an undergraduate degree in journalism earned between $28,992 and $108,194 annually. The report listed the 10th and 90th percentile for select IU degrees.The majority of IU alumni with a degree in telecommunications earned between $31,270 and $80,000. Those with degrees in communication earned between $28,590 and $123,376.Data was not available for degrees in parks, education and leisure and fitness.Second concentrations, minors and certificates also add value to a degree, according to U.S. News and World Report.“Research what skills are most valuable in the labor market … and depending on those ‘hot skills’ you can also obtain a certificate that will provide you skills that will set you apart,” Center on Education and the Workforce Communications Director Andrea Porter said.
(09/21/12 4:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Monroe County Council candidate Sophia Travis, 46, died Wednesday night in her Bloomington home.Travis’ death was unexpected, Indiana Public Media reported, and associated with a heart-related condition.“Sophia had suffered since early in the year from an undiagnosed heart-related condition and had just returned from the Cleveland Clinic where she, (her husband) Greg and young Finnigan had traveled for care,” Monroe County Democrats Chairman Rick Dietz said in an email.IU Alumni Association Director of Diversity Programs Clarence Boone said Travis was a volunteer leader with the Alumni Association and served as Asian Alumni Association president in addition to her off-campus work.“She was a delight to work with — a visionary — and always gave diligent thought to small details in programming and was able to engage alumni,” he said.Boone said he and Travis did volunteer broadcasting work, reading the news for community radio station WFHB Fire House Broadcasting.Travis served on the Monroe County Council from 2005 to 2009 and sought election once again as an at-large candidate this fall.“Sophia personified kindness — a dense gravitational kindness — and wielded a gentle strength that could move mountains. And move all those around her. And did many times over,” Dietz said.On Thursday morning, Senate Democrat Leader and Lt. Gubernatorial candidate Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsvile, also released a statement about Travis’ passing.“A public servant, she gave her time and leadership to improve the lives of the people of Monroe County,” Simpson said in the release. “As a friend, she enlightened our lives with her artistic spirit and thoughtful actions. Sophia will be missed.”Melanie Castillo-Cullather, director of the Asian Culture Center, remembers Travis’ artistic spirit. Castillo-Cullather first met Travis in 1999 when Travis came to the ACC for a Korean language class. Travis was already familiar with the language, which she learned from her mother, but sought formal instruction to polish her abilities.“Sophia’s visit to the center turned into a lasting relationship,” Castillo-Cullather said in an email.She also remembers Travis volunteering to organize concerts in the ACC as a way of attracting visitors. Travis played the accordion, Castillo-Cullather said. Despite fears the center’s limited space would cause students to not enjoy themselves, she said, they had a great time.“Sophia and her music showed us that there are no boundaries and, regardless of how small or big, we can make things happen at the center,” Castillo-Cullather said. “That experience was very telling of Sophia. She was always optimistic.”Castillo-Cullather said Travis’ optimism continued even after she shared the news of her health condition with the Asian Alumni Association.“We are heartbroken and very sad upon learning that she passed away last night,” she said. “She will be greatly missed.”
(09/21/12 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Outdoor Adventures will offer workshops this October to help aspiring slackliners get their feet off the ground.Slacklining is a derivative of tightrope walking, said Tyler Kivland, Outdoor Adventures assistant programs coordinator. Rock-climbers used it as a way to build core strength. Unlike tightrope walking, slacklining is performed without the use of heavy cables, and the line upon which a slackliner walks is less taut than a tightrope.Outdoor Adventures leaders-in-training sophomore Chris Sajdak and senior Devan Anhut are scheduled to lead workshops next month. The activity’s popularity is growing, Anhut said.Before slackliners attempt high-altitude feats, they have to start a bit closer to the ground on a line about two or three feet high. Even so, it’s difficult in the beginning, Sajdak said.“Your knees shake, the line shakes, and you feel like there’s no way you’re going to keep your balance,” Anhut said.Kivland said workshop instructors will “have a ‘curriculum’ of sorts dealing with balance, flexibility and techniques that will set them apart from just the average slackliner in the park.”The workshop leaders will install a “handline” above each slackline to give beginners something to hold onto. Anhut said the instructors will also help participants walk along the lines.Kivland said Outdoor Adventures might eventually offer slacklining trips in which participants could take part in challenges involving inclined or criss-crossed lines.“It’s a bit of a new horizon line for us considering the recent increase in popularity and the options it may hold for us,” he said.
(09/19/12 3:05am)
Landyachtz Longboards sit on a display rack in Dunn Meadow. Representatives from the Vancouver-based company visited Bloomington on Tuesday to inform students about their business during a promotional tour.
(09/19/12 3:04am)
Freshman Adam Ketzenberger, left, reacts after winning a longboard deck, during a promotion for Landyachtz Longboards on Tuesday in Dunn Meadow. Bloomington was one of the company's stops during its promotional tour.
(09/18/12 4:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Members of Young Americans for Liberty celebrated Constitution Day on Monday by exercising their First Amendment freedom of speech and encouraging others to do the same.Students involved with Young Americans for Liberty handed their peers colored chalk so they could answer the question that topped a large blackboard: “What issue is most important?”Passersby scrawled their concerns — among them the redistribution of wealth, the Ninth Amendment and both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.“We’re offering students the chance to express themselves and exercise their First Amendment rights,” said Nate O’Connor, senior and Indiana state chair of Young Americans for Liberty. “Here at IU, free speech doesn’t entirely exist.”University policy, O’Connor said, limits free speech to areas like Dunn Meadow and the Sample Gates and encourages students reserve those areas before using them.Other Constitution Day events included a panel discussion about voter identification laws at the Maurer School of Law, a forum sponsored by the School of Public and Environmental Affairs about voting policy and a forum about non-citizen access to education at the School of Education.Free copies of the Constitution were made available to students at the Herman B Wells Library.About 100 IU students, staff and faculty attended a watch party for the live stream of a National Endowment for the Humanities forum with Civil War historians in Washington, D.C.The panel included Duke University Professor Thavolia Glymph, Columbia University Professor Eric Foner, University of Richmond President Edward Ayers and President and CEO of the American Civil War Center Christy Coleman. The panelists’ discussion focused heavily on the Emancipation Proclamation, which Associate Professor of History Alex Lichtenstein said is due to the document’s upcoming 150th anniversary.Lichtenstein said the Emancipation Proclamation shaped the rewriting of the Constitution in the years following the Civil War.Coleman’s comments highlighted the same connection.“For me, (the Emancipation Proclamation) is an important document because...this is the beginning of us confirming that we will be a forever-free nation,” Coleman said. “This document led to the 13th Amendment, which will lead to the 14th Amendment, which will lead to the 15th Amendment, and that’s why talking about the Emancipation Proclamation is so important.”Lichtenstein, who offered his H106: American History II students extra credit for attending, said he would have liked to see more students attend the watch party .“I don’t think they have a clue about Constitution Day,” he said. “I think they’re interested in the Constitution, though.”O’Connor, who stood with Young Americans for Liberty from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., said he felt as if students didn’t care about First Amendment issues.“The apathy is astounding, but there have been those who have made it worthwhile for sure,” he said. “Free speech is important for those who want to exercise it.”Lichtenstein said in his classes, he tries to make the Constitution relevant to his students’ lives.“When I talk about the 15th Amendment, which is about voting rights, it’s directly connected to what’s going on now, with the efforts to decide whether these voter ID laws are constitutional or not,” Lichtenstein said. “It goes right back to what was going on in the 1860s and 1870s. I think when student hear that, they’re interested.”
(09/13/12 4:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Josh Hinger’s body hovered above a white-belt student, the balls of his feet straining against a gray mat.Members of IU’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club sat in a circle during practice, watching as Hinger, the club’s president and head instructor, demonstrated techniques for forcing an opponent to tap out.“My hips are down,” Hinger explained. “Sometimes, if he’s being a pain in the ass, you can just drop your hip on his head a bit.”The club members chuckled. “No, I’m serious,” Hinger said, explaining that an opponent once used the move against him.After a few minutes of lessons, the white-belt tapped the mat to signify the end of the demonstration.“OK. Questions?” Hinger asked. “OK. Let’s go.”
(09/11/12 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Members of Volunteers in Sustainability hope their fall campaign, which aims to establish the campus’ third compost program, will allow campus food waste to be used to grow new produce for students.“We have a different campaign every semester, and this semester, we looked around IU and thought, ‘How could we improve things?’” said sophomore Vianna Newman, co-coordinator of the Volunteers in Sustainability fall campaign. “IU doesn’t do much composting right now, and we wanted to educate people about that.”Previous University compost programs have been successful since they began last school year at the Union Street Market and Collins Center’s Edmondson Dining Room, said Associate Director of RPS Environmental Operations Steve Akers.Between 30 and 50 gallons of food waste, everything except meat and dairy, are transported from Union Street to Hilltop Garden and Nature Center each week, Akers said. The waste from Collins is taken to the Students Producing Organics Under the Sun garden, located near Eighth Street and Fess Lane, where it sits in compost bins to decompose.Volunteers in Sustainability is still in the process of planning the initiative with Akers’ help. A location for the new composting program has yet to be solidified.“We think the next place is the Landes Dining Room at Read,” Newman said. She said it would follow a model similar to the program at Collins, where the staff separates the food wastes.Akers said waste is collected in 5-gallon buckets in the Union Street Market kitchen and the dish room adjacent to Edmondson Dining Room. Union Street practices pre-consumer composting, collecting the clippings from produce and bread that result from the preparation of things like salads and sandwiches.Collins, on the other hand, participates in both pre- and post-consumer collection, where leftover food from students’ plates is collected in addition to the scraps resulting from meal preparation.The process of composting, Hilltop Coordinator Lea Woodard said, allows food waste from campus dining halls to become the nutrients needed to grow produce that will be sent to RPS and food supplier Sodexo, Inc. for students to consume.“We’re trying to have a complete cycle here,” she said.Composting yields a natural and organic source of nutrients while simultaneously preventing waste from going into a landfill, she said.Akers said implementing compost practices on campus has been challenging at times, between having to find volunteers, transporting the wastes and taking proper collection procedures to keep away unwelcome pests.“You have to have an infrastructure,” he said. “It’s not always an easy thing to do.”Eventually, Akers said, the hope is to educate students and get to the point in which all students can actively partake in the composting procedure.“Right now, the mindset is not geared toward composting on campus,” Akers said. Ideally, he said, students will be able to separate food wastes themselves after each meal. Newman said in addition to trash and recycling receptacles in the dining halls, there could eventually be a container specifically for food scraps.To move closer to the goal, Newman said Volunteers in Sustainability will begin their fall campaign with programs to educate students, including a guest speaker and other conservation-focused events.“We have hope in the future to make it happen when we know the system will be successful,” Akers said.
(09/11/12 3:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The former Acacia house will sit vacant along Third Street, but only for this school year.Phi Sigma Kappa’s Alumni Housing Board members signed a lease in August, allowing the fraternity to lease Acacia’s house for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, Phi Sig President Matt Cotton said.The chapter will have the option of renewing the lease for a third year.Acacia’s charter was revoked in May after instances of drug dealing, drug use and hazing, according to a report issued by the University.“Acacia was not notified of their removal from campus until the school year was already over,” Cotton said. “So we didn’t know either.”Phi Sig has been an off-campus fraternity for the past two years.“What we’ve done the last two years, most of the members have lived at Tenth and College in the apartments there,” sophomore member Jimmy Blodgett said.The fraternity was established as an on-campus fraternity in 1949 and stayed on campus until its chapter was removed from IU in the 1970s, Cotton said.In 2001, Phi Sig was rechartered and stayed on campus until 2011.Until 2010, the fraternity had a four-year lease for the Alpha Epsilon Pi house. When the lease ended, AEPi wanted to reclaim the house, Cotton said.“We don’t own property on campus,” he said. “When other frats are kicked off, we often become tenants in the house.”Cotton said about 60 of the fraternity’s 111 members currently live at Tenth and College. About 75 members will be able to live in the house next year.“Our alumni board is working very hard to secure a permanent location somewhere on campus in the next few years,” Cotton said.Other off-campus fraternities were interested in the former Acacia house as well. Both Blodgett and Cotton said they are excited to be moving back on campus next year.“We have a lot of respect for the Acacia guys for letting us live there,” Blodgett said.
(09/07/12 3:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>An application created to broaden the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction research base by allowing sexual behaviors to be reported from a user’s smartphone was pulled from the market Wednesday, the same day it launched.Kinsey Reporter, a collaborative effort between the Kinsey Institute and the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research in the School of Informatics and Computing, was removed from the market at the request of Jackie Simmons, university vice president and general counsel.The app became available for free Wednesday morning on the Mac App Store and Google Play. It had not received prior review by the Office of the General Counsel, which serves the legal needs of the University.Not every product associated with the University requires approval from the General Counsel, said Mark Land, associate vice president for public affairs and government relations.Due to the app’s sensitive nature, he said, the General Counsel requested the app be removed from the market until it could be reviewed.“We don’t have any indication there’s anything wrong with it,” Land said. He also said the legal counsel asked to review the app to ensure everything is “on solid ground” as far as privacy issues are concerned.Filippo Menczer, director of the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research and the project’s technical lead, said the team is confident there won’t be many complications.“We feel pretty comfortable with anonymity protocols,” he said.Among other things, the app will allow users to submit information without fear of the report being traced back to them, Menczer said.University researchers on the receiving end of the data will not know the exact location of the report, Menczer said, nor will the exact time of submission be disclosed.“We do not store any type of identifiers (for) the person,” Menczer said. This includes the phone number of the device from which the report was sent.“By doing that, we cannot even tell that two reports are by the same person,” he said. “It’s impossible to know who’s submitting a certain report.”Once Kinsey Reporter is reviewed by the counsel and re-released for consumer use, Menczer said the app will allow the Kinsey Institute to fill previously existing holes in research.“We completely lack data from many, many, many countries,” he said.The app will help the institute learn about issues like rape in different parts of the world.The app could also provide insight into attitudes about birth control in areas affected by AIDS, he said.In the meantime, the review process is just getting started, Land said, and a re-release date has not been determined.“We’re doing everything that we can to work as quickly as possible,” Menczer said.