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(03/22/04 5:18am)
A consulting group led by IU faculty and students is undertaking the largest state agency account in its history.\nProfessor John Bates of the Kelley School of Business is leading a group of four graduate students in an assessment of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration's accounting principles.\n"This is a risk assessment analysis," Bates said. "What we're doing is trying to determine the risks of certain paths the agency takes."\nThe group will be evaluating the past performances of five agency programs, including the Medicaid and Medicare programs, which account for over two-thirds of the agency's $6 billion budget, according to its Web site.\nBates said the group will examine the contacts under which these agencies operate and the effectiveness of the claims process. It will also evaluate how the doctors and providers, who are reimbursed, are selected and monitored to make sure (the FSSA) is "getting what it's paying for."\nWhile the group is doing a service to the state, the four Kelley graduate students involved in the project are also gaining experience. Mary Pat Keogh, Blake Hooper, Alicia Poluga and Dwi Damia are the participants.\n"I hope that our team is able to provide a service to FSSA and to the state," Keogh said. "They need man-hours and we gain experience in the field."\nAnd the man-hours have been coming fast.\n"Each team devotes 270 hours and 30 hours per faculty member," Bates said. "This is a semester-long project that began in January. We will make our final report in April."\nThe FSSA has come under fire recently for misappropriated funds amounting to $10 million, according to The Indianapolis Star. Although the FSSA has the largest budget of any agency assessed by an IU consulting group, Bates said they consult for a number of other groups. \n"We consult everyone from Eli Lilly to Mattingly Bat Company, owned by Don Mattingly. But this is by far the biggest project as far as dollar budget for a state agency," Bates said.\nOne advantage for state agencies to use the IU consulting group is the cost -- the project is free to the state.\n"Nobody pays for it," Bates said. "The students get credit for this, but we offer this as a free service to our clients. All we ask for is travel expenses."\nAlthough the heat is dropping on the FSSA, Bates said he will remain objective.\n"I don't really have any expectations," he said. "Generally, you try to go in with a clean slate. This is an agency that has come under a lot of heat lately. But we don't come in expecting to find problems."\nThe most valuable aspect of this project, Bates said, is the job experience.\n"The FSSA is understaffed and can't give attention to everything, so they give our students experience in a public service job. I think it's a win/win situation for both parties involved."\n-- Contact staff writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(03/09/04 6:05am)
The Hillel Center was filled with sand, leis and hamentaschen Monday as Jewish students observed Purim with the first annual "Jews Gone Wild" celebration.\nAlthough Purim is an age-old tradition, "Jews Gone Wild" is the brainchild of Hillel Assistant Director Jessie Mallor and social chairs, Elizabeth Rosenberg and Peri Berntsen. The group developed the idea to give Jewish students a way to celebrate their traditions while preparing for spring break.\n"This is a really stressful time for students," Mallor said. "We just wanted to give them a silly, fun interlude before the break."\nThe runaway hit of the party was the hamentaschen, a triangular pastry shaped to match the hat of Hamen, the holiday's prime villain. The treats were filled with apple, blueberry and cherry jelly and delighted everyone's palettes.\n"The food is definitely the best part," freshman Robbie Cantor said. "The hamentaschen is delicious."\nThe center decorum was festive, resembling an indoor Hawaiian luau. Streamers covered the entranceways and celebraters donned orange, yellow and green leis. Hula hoops lorded over one corner, with a sign reading "Hula Hoop Heaven. You know you can rock it." \nIn another room, a piece of purple string was fashioned into a makeshift net, with a sign overhead reading "Fake volleyball. Almost the real thing." Participants stood on either side of the net and bumped, set and spiked a white balloon. \n"You can't hit it twice!" Mallor jokingly yelled as another participant bent the rules. The athletes bounced around the room with only the minor interruption of replacing the volleyballs that popped on the ceiling.\nOutside, students played in the advertised "sandcastle pit" -- an inflatable pool filled with sand, a metal pitcher filled with water and some sand play-tools. \nWhile the attendees had fun at the event, they also reminisced of previous Purim celebrations.\n"We had an old emerald-green prom dress," Mallor said. "My sister and I used to fight over who would get to dress up as Queen Esther. My mom would make an aluminum crown. That was a lot of fun."\nCantor shared similar stories, and said he "would dress up for Sunday school as King Ahashuarus."\nAlthough most participants were not brave enough to dress up as ancient religious figures, all were participating in one event or another. Some were found playing fake volleyball or hula hooping, while others pulled up a pant leg to compete in the "Who's the Palest?" contest. The signage over this event read "If your legs haven't seen sun in six months, you could win."\nAnother table, coined "the Jews bar," was rife with pitchers of orange juice and pink lemonade punch, otherwise known as "exotic kosher juices."\nCantor said the festivities were an inviting way to relax while observing Jewish traditions. \n"Purim serves as a focal point by which all Jews can be united," he said. "It's also a lot of fun."\nRabbi Sue Shifron, director of the IU Hillel Center, said she was delighted people were enjoying the event. Shifron said "Jews Gone Wild" was an entertaining and creative way to celebrate Purim. \n"Purim is great because people of all ages can rejoice," she said. "Plus, I love making hamentaschen."\n-- Contact staff writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(03/09/04 4:55am)
A Web site aimed at the desires of college students was recently launched by an IU alumnus. \nAndrew Clark, who graduated in 2001, is the co-founder and vice president of ULife.com, a Web site catering to the wants and needs of college students. Clark will be spending the next month in an RV promoting the site.\n"B-Town is heaven," Clark said, referring to Bloomington. "But we've been touring the hottest spring break spots to promote the site."\nThe road to RV life began for Clark in 2002, when he met ULife.com's co-founder and CEO, Barrett Masso. \n"I graduated from the world-famous Kelley School of Business," Clark said, "and then I met B.J. (Masso) through a mutual friend. We just starting working on things and now I get paid to travel the country and visit college campuses. Tonight we're promoting at a wet T-shirt contest at the Club La Vela."\nMasso, a junior at Arizona State University, had gotten the idea for the site during his freshman year after his laundry delivery service proved unprofitable.\n"The delivery service was running well until it was time to expand," Masso said. "Then I realized that with all the success of the dot-coms, there was a huge untapped market with the college community."\nULife, short for University Lifestyle, combines chat, e-mail, news, dating, book trading and talent exposure with an assortment of college-oriented user tools, such as "Resume Builder" and "Professor Selector." The site is aimed at a large pool of college students.\n"Our goal is to create the largest student community in the world," Clark said. "If you take all the students in the country with all their creativity, you can create anything."\nAlong with student users, Masso envisions a Web site maintained exclusively by collegiate staffers. \n"The goal behind the company was to be not just for college students, but also run by college students," Masso said. "Whether it's sales or advertising or building the site, I want every employee there to be a college student."\nTo that end, the pair is offering jobs for sales representatives during the summer for any interested students. \nThe talent search portion of the Web site has Masso enthused about its possibilities. \n"I'm really excited about the talent exposure," he said. "If you're a musician, model, actor, writer or anything, we're trying to expose your talent instead of hiding you in the shadows."\nAnother promising section of the site is the "UTrade" page -- a buying and selling forum for textbooks, among other things. \n"The buying and selling tool is great," Masso said. "I remember how many kids there were at ASU who would complain about how difficult it was to buy books on a limited budget. This makes it easy to buy and sell books from other students on your own campus."\nThe two entrepreneurs have run the gamut while creating this business, from initial brainstorming to presentations for investors. Masso said his decision to drop the laundry business and enter the world of Web hosting was a wise one.\n"I couldn't have made a better decision," Masso said. "We've had our frustrations, the hidden potholes. But this has been a great experience." \n-- Contact staff writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(03/03/04 4:23am)
A bill recently proposed in Indiana State Congress rekindles debate over the importance and significance of official state insects.\nSenate Bill 67, authored by Sen. Rose Ann Antich-Carr, D-Merriville, proposes to name the Karner blue butterfly the official state insect of Indiana. The Karner blue is an extremely rare butterfly found only in a small area of Lake County. The idea is to crown the Karner blue and raise awareness of its status as an endangered species. Entomologists, though, are not convinced this is the best use of the "state insect" label. \n"This is not the right insect," said Tom Turpin, Purdue University entomology professor. "If you're going to have a state insect, why have an endangered one?"\nTurpin said to be effective, a state insect must be visible to the people of the state. \n"This insect is not visible," Turpin said. "It only lives in one county in the state, and even there the people don't see it because it's in such a state of flux. I just don't see many advantages of it."\nTurpin is not a newcomer to the state insect scene. In the mid-90s, Turpin, along with fellow Purdue entomologists, co-authored a bill assigning the state insect title to the Say's firefly, a popular and more abundant insect in Indiana. He points to the firefly's visibility as a great asset. \n"The Say's firefly is the best choice because people have a long history with it. There's nothing that brings the generations together like fireflies," Turpin said. "We've all collected them at one time or another. Grandpa did it. Dad did it. We did it when we were kids. It just makes sense."\nDr. Robert Waltz, Indiana's state entomologist, said either insect would make sense. \n"The firefly is a much more common insect, while the Karner blue -- although isolated in northwest Indiana -- is endangered," Waltz said. "There is a great controversy over whether the official state species should be the rarest one, seen by relatively no one, or a more common species that everyone can see."\nBut the controversy isn't new to Indiana, as the debate for a state insect has been battled for more than 10 years. After Turpin's bill was blocked in the Indiana State Senate, a group from Lake County proposed an initial Karner blue bill, which was eventually shot down. Although Indiana has never had a state insect, Antich-Carr's bill is the third one proposing it. \n"When the first Karner blue bill was submitted, the media tried to portray it as a 'dueling insects' thing, but there wasn't any of that," he said. "But still, the argument holds, if you're going to have an insect, why have an endangered one?"\nPurdue entomologist Larry L. Murdock said he would support the firefly as the state insect. "Fireflies are beautiful," Murdock said. "There's nothing more beautiful than a soybean field flashing with fireflies."\nThe debate is not exclusive to Indiana. In 1977, a fifth grade class from the Broken Ground School in Concord, N.H., authored a bill to make the ladybug the state's official insect. After heated debates, the bill was endorsed and passed unanimously. \nBut now, Indiana faces a more homespun debate between the Karner blue butterfly and the Say's firefly for the state insect. Waltz said the decision rests in the public's hands.\n"I think, ultimately, the choice for state insect will say something about who we are and what we value as a people, and that's the greatest aspect of this debate," Waltz said.\n-- Contact staff writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.