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(05/04/09 3:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A study from an Ohio State graduate student revealed that Facebook use correlates with lower GPAs for college students. But Aryn Karpinski, the author of the study, did not claim that Facebook was a direct source for the lower grades.“I am not saying that Facebook causes poor academic performance,” Karpinski said in an e-mail. “I am saying that the research shows that there is a relationship between Facebook use and academic performance.”What exactly this relationship is remains unclear.“There are many other factors involved, and if Facebook weren’t around, something else would be the distraction,” Ph.D. student Kevin Makice said.Karpinski recognizes that more research needs to be done in the area.“My study is easy to criticize statistically and methodologically, obviously, but know that I am fully aware of what the problems are,” Karpinski said, adding this was merely a pilot study.Eszter Hargittai, Northwestern University associate professor, posted on crookedtimber.org that she hasn’t found any relationship between Facebook and lower GPAs. Hargittai also stated that Karpinski’s research did not provide information on how the findings were administrated or how Facebook usage and grades were measured.Graduate student in informatics Christian Briggs said students have countless reasons for not studying.“Some students are just prone to blowing off work,” Briggs said.Karpinski defended her research by saying that there was a correlation between lower grades and Facebook use.“There’s a disconnect between students’ claim that Facebook use doesn’t impact their studies, and our finding showing they had lower grades and spent less time studying,” she said.Briggs said that when the computer and mobile phone were the new frontiers of technology, people feared them.“It’s interesting – whenever a new technology comes out, people tend to freak out,” Briggs said. “Students have always been wasting time.”
(05/01/09 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>U.S. News and World Report released its list of 2010’s best graduate schools. Eight IU schools made it into the top 25. Each year the schools on the lists fluctuate. This year editors didn’t rank the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs, which ranked high last year, said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre. Maurer School of Law- 23rdAmong public universities- 7thIU School of Library and Information Science- 7thDigital librarianship- 7thInformation systems- 8thSchool library media- 10thKelley School of Business- 22ndEntrepreneurship- 8thAccounting- 10thIU School of Education- 19thCounseling and personnel services- 6thSecondary education- 8thHigher education administration- 9thElementary education- 9thIU Department of Sociology- 11thIU Department of English- 22ndGender and literature- 5thIU Department of History- 22ndAfrican history- 7th18th through 20th century British literature- 10thIU Psychological and Brain Sciences Department- 23rdSocial psychology- 2nd The full list of graduate school rankings can be found on the U.S. News and World Report Web site.
(04/30/09 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>State Radio will play a free show in Dunn Meadow from 7 to 10 p.m on Friday.Before the 5 p.m. show in the IU Arboretum there will be an acoustic jam session where the public is welcome to participate. Following the jam session there will be autograph opportunities. Local band The Main Squeeze will be opening for State Radio.The student organization Business Careers in Entertainment Club organized the event in support of Addicted to music, which is a non-for profit organization that helps people with drug addiction problems. Donations will be accepted and proceeds will go to an IU Foundation account that helps IU students go through rehabilitation treatment. To learn more about the cause there is a featured documentary on areyouaddicted.org.Front man of State Radio, Chad Urmston, was formerly a member of the popular independent band Dispatch, which broke up in 2002. The rock/reggae trio State Radio is known for its focus on community service projects and voice for human rights.The public should expect a full stage production accompanied by a big turnout of die-hard State Radio and Dispatch fans, be it rain or shine.
(04/27/09 1:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>An elaborate spectacle complete with audio and visual, took place Thursday night in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts. A/V Happy Hour was put on by students from the School of Fine Arts and telecommunications department. It featured a varied array of projects as well as a main stage where DJs and musicians performed.“Everyone is doing their own projects,” said senior Benjamin Gibson. “It’s a way of interacting with the environment.” Gibson is a senior majoring in math and telecommunications and featured his project “Soup cans, Stairs, Sound, Light.”The acts featured on the main stage were heavily delayed due to technical difficulties.The public came and went as they checked out the various projects that were on display inside and outside of the auditorium, which could occupy 300 people. About one-third of the room was full at any given time.Around 8:40 p.m., the first act took the main stage. Robert Lyon and Evan Bogunia put on a show of improvised visuals and music. Both of them had laptops set up, as well as iPod touches that were modified to adjust electronic frequencies of sound. “The concept is similar to how a Wii remote works,” Lyon said.Lyon also had his own audio project on display, hidden away in a corner of the auditorium.He and another student in the psychology department put together a project that measures the beat or pattern of the firing of neurons and scales them to measurements in sound. The firing of neurons, which is too fast for the human ear to pick up, was represented at a slower scale for the sake of the project.26-year-old Jordan Munson, who is a lecturer in music and arts technology at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, came down from Indianapolis to perform his piece “Segments of Time.”“It’s good to see a lot of students interested in music,” Munson said. “There is actually a usage of a lot of new technology.”
(04/23/09 2:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Silversun Pickups’s sophomore album, “Swoon,” is a product of powerful distorted guitar riffs, some funky bass lines and lackluster lyrics. And in case you were wondering, this indie alt-rock band from Los Angeles got its kick ass name from a liquor and convenience store near their house.The band received a fair amount of well-deserved praise after its 2005 EP “Pikul” and the full-fledged 2006 album “Carnavas.” This year’s “Swoon” carried the band in a slightly new direction without jeopardizing its original sound. The rage present in lead singer Brian Aubert’s vocals feels like it is now channeled into powerful guitar riffs. It’s a great thing when bands merely reorganize the elements already present in their sound to produce a new album. This way, something is present with which the listener can still connect.Overall, “Swoon” seems to have a higher production value than the band’s previous work, somewhat surprising given its release on the small label Dangerbird Records.“Panic Switch” is the standout single on “Swoon” – crisp and spacey guitar riffs trailing a wall of distortion along with a sick repetitive bass line being laid down by Nikki Monninger. The rest of the album has its moments, but nothing too memorable to mention.There is only one underlying problem with “Swoon,” or maybe the band in general – Brian Aubert’s voice.“To vomit just a little in your mouth, then re-swallow” is one definition of “swoon” posted on Urban Dictionary. I’m reminded of such an experience when considering Aubert’s voice. It’s somewhat comparable to those of Billy Corgan. However, Aubert sounds feminine – and annoying. Interestingly enough, both bands also have a cute female bassist.To grossly generalize, Silversun Pickups shed the part of them that sounds like The Pixies and picked up something that sounds like Smashing Pumpkins – if Billy Corgan was an emo girl.
(04/22/09 2:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In what were primarily landslide votes, the Bloomington Faculty Council voted Tuesday on issues of student rights procedures, drop/add fees for graduate students and changes to religious policies. The council voted to levy fees for graduate students who switch courses up until the second week of the semester. After that, students will face regular charges, members of the council said. This decision came about because the council felt that doing so would have a positive affect on the stabilization of the course schedule. In regard to religious policies, the council provided a better outline for the procedure for students whose academics interfere with their religious commitments. The decisions provide for a clearer explanations of what students need to do to notify professors and proper academic authorities. A progress report of the general education initiative was also given by the co-chairs of the general education program, Russell Hanson and Barbara Bichelmeyer. Out of 1,313 courses, 719 have been approved thus far.Policies for promotion and tenure procedure are also set for adoption in the University. However, IU-Bloomington already practices these procedures for the most part, and they will be proposed for IU regional campuses, officials said.Issues of students’ rights have moved from under the responsibilities of the dean of faculty – a position that no longer exists – to Thomas Gieryn, vice provost of academic and faculty.“This is important for students because it settles the appeal process of students who are convicted of academic misconduct,” Gieryn said.Many of the issues that were settled have been in discussion for some time because of the heavy attention paid on proposed issues.“It doesn’t sound very exciting until you are a student who has been accused by faculty member of plagiarism, and you know you didn’t do it,” Gieryn said. “Those policies protect you as a student.”
(04/22/09 2:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Sonya Stephens and Vice Provost of Faculty and Academic Affairs Thomas Gieryn face many challenges, as well as great opportunities. It has been four months since the dean of faculty position was eliminated, and its responsibilities have been split between the two new positions occupied by Stephens and Gieryn. The Office of the Provost sees this as the first time so much attention can be devoted to undergraduate education.Although Stephens said she could not yet share details because things are subject to change, the office is working on what she called “really exciting projects that will change the undergraduate experience.”“We have a large office to manage,” she said. “All these things support undergraduate education in ways which are very important but in many ways invisible.”Stephens said that as of 2011, the IU-Bloomington campus will have a general education requirement, regardless of to which school students belong. This requirement will consist of 31 credit hours. The committee that is forming the agenda for this requirement consists of hundreds of faculty who are submitting and reviewing possible courses.“Part of the intention of creating this office was to provide a home for general education,” Stephens said, as she and Munirpallam Venkataramanan, chairman of the Kelley School of Business undergraduate program, will serve as co-chairs of the general education program. This initiative will come at a time when Indiana’s Core 40, which outlines a more rigorous curriculum for high school students, gets underway. The Office of the Provost is looking toward incorporating more technology into learning and administrative practices as a means to “enhance the undergraduate experience.”At the end of every school year, each faculty member must submit a report of what he or she accomplished that year, including courses, publications, performances and service activities. This procedure has always been done on a Word document or on paper, Gieryn said.Gieryn said they will be digitizing this procedure for online use so a dean or department chair can retrieve data and perform an analysis.“We run competitive course development opportunities for faculty and AIs so they can apply and get money to develop undergraduate classes,” Gieryn said. Gieryn said that this is a faculty development issue but also deals with undergraduate education. Therefore, both Stephens and Gieryn work together to help run the program.“This is typically how we handle the grey areas,” Gieryn said. “We both see that the campus benefits to the extent that we can cooperate, and we’ve been doing that.”With IU experiencing a spending cut and freezes in salaries and construction, it is hazy how much can be accomplished, but the Office of the Provost sees no reason why its planned projects should not come through. Stephens said the office will not be getting more money and will have to do more with less.One of the ways to overcome this “is to collaborate efficiently (and) to think about ways of using existing resources in efficient ways,” Stephens said. “I think that’s what we are engaged in right now,” she said.Stephens has been doing that. Her office has “reorganized internally to create savings to make this office possible,” she said. The budget office, IT and special projects have all been centralized.“We’ve kind of reduced the staffing, but I think because of the way the office is now organized, there’s more attention being paid,” Stephens said.A system that seems highly administrative is now trying to give students a more prominent voice.The Office of the Provost is trying to create a student advisory board to educate students, propose changes and review some administrative activities, Stephens said. She said the office is out to serve the students.
(04/16/09 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Political science professor Abdulkader Sinno is one of the 21 selected Carnegie Scholars of 2009 and will receive about $100,000.The 2009 scholars were selected for their research on topics of Islam and Muslims, according to the Carnegie Web page. On his Web site, Sinno said he will not be teaching during the 2009-10 school year, as he will be on research leave.IU spokesman Steve Hinnefeld said that Sinno is pleased and enthusiastic about the announcement.“This is an important and urgent topic because the relationship between Muslim minorities and their governments in the West is problematic on many levels,” Sinno said in an e-mail.Sinno will be focusing on Muslim submersion into other cultures and representation into Western and European Parliament. “How do you address such fears on both sides?” Sinno said. “How do you avoid future problems? One of the best solutions is to have the disagreements discussed in the parliaments of Western countries instead of having them translate into conflict in the streets. For that you need effective Muslim parliamentarians.”Sinno was born into his own civil conflict.“I grew up in Lebanon’s bloody civil war, which made me very interested in studying conflicts and how to solve them before they cause devastation,” Sinno said. Sinno emigrated to the United States when he was 18, a year before the war ended in 1991, which left more than 100,000 permanently disabled and about 900,000 displaced from a nation the size of Connecticut.The money awarded to Sinno through Carnegie Corporation will be used to fund travel and research surveys and experiments as well as cover travel expenses to and from interviews.Author of “Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond” and editor of “Muslims in Western Politics,” Sinno will be forging a new book tentatively titled “Muslims in Western Parliaments.”Sinno said he attributes timeliness of the situation with great import.“This is the time to deal with the roots of tension, before it festers,” Sinno said. “If we don’t, countries like France and Belgium that have large numbers of disadvantaged Muslims who are kept on the edge of society could have their own civil wars in a generation or two.” Sinno added he is “hoping for a better outcome.”
(04/14/09 4:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Life is change” is public speaker and YouTube sensation Judson Laipply’s mantra.It’s a theme he used to reach a small crowd Monday in the IU Auditorium in a speech organizers said remained a success despite the sparse audience.Inclement weather and a lack of advertising hurt attendance at the event, sponsored by the Residence Hall Association. However, event organizers said the speech remained successful because of Laipply’s diverse appeal. “I think the program was still successful, regardless of the lack of students,” said event organizer and RHA Vice President of Program Management Katie Lambert.During his speech, Laipply said he hopes students will walk away with a better, more realistic approach to daily situations.Laipply has been speaking in public venues since 2002, and has given around 750 speeches. He has gained fame through YouTube, where his video titled “The Evolution of Dance” has received more than 100 million views.“You’re here to do two things,” Laipply said. Those things were to laugh and to think.Laipply said he wants people to understand their “power of choice” and to be able to “let go” in situations in which they have no control.“Life isn’t always the party you hoped for, but while we’re here, we might as well dance,” Laipply said as a transition into his dance routine.Laipply’s dance featured the evolution of popular dance moves from 50 years ago to the present, all in a six-and-a-half-minute routine. Some recognizable dances moves included Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” N’Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” and Soulja Boy Tell’Em’s “Superman Dat Ho.”“I never wanted to do a canned speech,” Laipply said before his performance.Laipply said he tries to mix up the material each time he goes on stage while keeping the material that gets the most laughs.Freshman Nick Mackall’s deep laughter could be heard over the crowd.“It’s certainly interesting the way the dance was collaborated,” Mackall said. “He did, in my opinion, present some viable insights that could help me as a young adult.”Bobbi Gaertner and her husband drove from Indianapolis to attend the event.“It was very entertaining, very informative, and was a great motivational speech,” she said. “I’ve never seen him before, but I’m a dancer. It’s very informative if you grew up in that period.”
(04/09/09 4:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Dennis Groth will try to enhance undergraduate education through his background in informatics.Groth began his tenure as associate vice provost for undergraduate education on March 30. His responsibilities include outreach in education, learning services and lifelong learning and leadership aspects.“I genuinely went to look for somebody that could bring to the undergraduate experience at IU excellence in teaching and a view of what the best undergraduate experience could be,” said Sonya Stephens, vice provost for undergraduate education. The two new vice provost positions used to be the responsibility of the dean of faculties, Stephens said. The vice provost positions were embedded into the administration as of second semester.Groth was awarded the Trustees Award for Teaching Excellence in 2005 and has been nominated for the IU Student Alumni Association Student Choice Award three years in a row, according to an IU press release. Groth earned his doctorate degree in computer science in the IU School of Informatics.“This is a great opportunity to take what is already a tremendous undergraduate program and make it unbelievable,” Groth said.Groth’s expertise rests primarily in human and computer interaction and visual analytics. Stephens said these areas will be utilized in thinking as they move forward. The Office of Academic Affairs is thinking about the future of the undergraduate experience.Electronic course services and information is one of the areas where improvement is needed and where Groth’s expertise will come into play.Under Groth’s new position, he strongly affirmed that “not teaching is not an option.” He will continue to teach as a professor of informatics.“What we are trying to do is spread the expertise,” Stephens said. “What all this is about is what we can do to further enhance the undergraduate experience.”
(04/02/09 3:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Curiodrome and Dope Couture are two new shops that recently opened in Bloomington. Their differences are vast, yet the two shops are very similar in theory.The quality both of these stores share is that they offer specific merchandise nearly impossible to find anywhere else. Whether or not customers care or are happy about this fact will probably vary, as these stores target different kinds of consumers. Curiodrome is a novelty shop with rare finds, while Dope Couture caters to men seeking “urban” attire. Curiodrome, located at 120 E. Sixth Street, held its grand opening March 13 and featured performances by Early Day Miners, Smedley Jergins and Eric Ayotte. The store features vintage clothing, local art and a variety of memorabilia, such as Japanese candy and collectible action figures. A door in the back of the shop leads to a room with old movie theater seats and an an amplifier. One day the store hopes to utilize this space for film screenings and dance parties, said IU alumna and Curiodrome volunteer Kristin Londergan. The store recently began weekly film screenings at 8 p.m. every Sunday.Dope Couture, which opened three weeks ago, is located in the former Wandering Turtle Art Gallery on the corner of College Avenue and Sixth Street. Originally, Dope Couture wanted to use the space Curiodrome utilizes due to its proximity to Rise Skateboard Shop, said Matt Fields, Dope Couture owner and IU fifth-year senior majoring in entrepreneurship.The store has a Los Angeles kind of vibe, akin to the “Entourage” wardrobe. It sells its own line of clothing, that includes graphic T-shirts, as well as skateboard decks and some name-brand sunglasses and shoes. Many of Dope Couture’s designs are heavily influenced by high-end fashion, Fields said. The most notable products are their skateboard decks with a Goyard graphic on the bottom and Jetsons graphics printed on several T-shirts. Although the store is currently somewhat empty, there are plans for growth.“What you see is the seed of the store that will be here,” Fields said.
(03/31/09 4:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In central Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo, ongoing violence perpetuates rape as a weapon of war and one in five children will die before their fifth birthday.At IU, however, and seemingly a world away, junior Dani Walker is attempting to create change for these people.Walker single-handedly created the Giving Back to Africa student association, and is president of the organization. She also balances a 30-hour work week between waiting tables at Bloomington’s Village Deli and babysitting. As a junior in high school, Walker caught a glimpse of what was happening in the DRC through The Oprah Winfrey Show. “One, I couldn’t believe this was going on and that I have never even heard about it, and two, it was going on and nobody was doing anything about it,” Walker said. A history of conflict has torn the nation apart. Multiple wars in a decade’s span have caused more than 5.4 million deaths, worse than any conflict since World War II, according to the group’s Web site. Walker grew up on a grain farm in Waterloo, Ind. Living on the farm instilled the sense that “you have to work for what you get,” she said. She said she was overwhelmed when she saw the women of the DRC who have worked so hard for their lives, yet are “brutally raped” and face acts of violence.“There’s absolutely no reason for that,” Walker said. Ann Marie Thomson, along with her husband Jim Cali, founded the parent organization Giving Back to Africa in 2003. After years of planning, Giving Back to Africa sponsored its first two students in 2007. Thomson, a professor in the School of Public Affairs, grew up in northwest Congo, away from the intense violence. “For me, it was the best childhood I could ever have,” Thomson said. Thomson returned in February after a trip to the DRC to visit the people they sponsor in eastern Congo. “It’s the tiny things that are making the difference, by focusing on four people and really investing in them – they are going to make such an impact on the people around them,” Walker said. Giving Back to Africa’s primary focus is on four scholars who are from and study in the DRC. The scholars are expected to create a “giving back” project they designed for an underserved area of the DRC, according to the Giving Back to Africa Web site. Giving Back to Africa also supports an orphanage in a destitute area of the country, Thomson said. Walker plans to study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, this summer as part of her major in International Studies. From there, she hopes to travel north to the DRC.Although Walker encourages people’s involvement with the DRC and Africa, she said people sometimes address the situation the wrong way – that is, without humility, she said. “As opposed to sitting down with somebody and understanding their life and understanding why this phenomenon is happening and listening to them and actually learning from them, rather than going over there and saying ‘I’m here to save you,’ it’s just kind of degrading,” Walker said. “I almost feel guilty for the blessings that I have.”
(03/31/09 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis has served many roles on campus. However, Monday he was most notable for his in-depth knowledge of the University’s past and present.As students sat in a circle, upright and eager, they listened to some nuggets of IU’s past. The fireside discussion took place in the Hutton Honors College and correlated with Founder’s Day. The chat varied with topics from Herman B Wells’ fondness of vodka to a tradition of IU students smoking “peace pipes.” Gros Louis also reminisced about a tradition at football games between medical students in white lab coats and law students in black judges’ robes.Gros Louis also talked about IU’s increase in philanthropic work in the 1990s as well as his disapproval of campus outsourcing to companies like Barnes & Noble. During the discussion, many students were surprised to hear that Gros Louis is, in fact, one-quarter Huron Indian.He used to joke to the faculty, “If things go wrong, I could always go back to the reservation,” Gros Louis said.Much of the discussion included aspects of Herman B Wells’ life. “You can’t talk about IU’s history without really talking about Herman B Wells,” Gros Louis said.Students initially took a brief quiz on IU trivia. After the event ended, Gros Louis issued a tie-breaker question. The question, “When were the Sample Gates constructed?” was answered correctly by freshman John Brown.“I love the oral history of IU,” Brown said, “especially the people who knew Herman B Wells.”And Gros Louis does. In fact, his office is the same office Wells used years ago. Gros Louis has kept the room similar to when Wells used it.The small group of students each talked about their favorite places on campus and questioned Gros Louis on various things they saw as IU trademarks.Gros Louis also shed some light on the death of Wells.“He asked former IU President Myles Brand if there was anything else he could do for the University. Brand replied, ‘No, you have done enough.’ That night Wells died,” Gros Louis said. “That just shows what kind of a man he was.”
(03/31/09 2:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis has served many roles on campus. However, Wednesday he was most notable for his in-depth knowledge of the University past and present.As students sat in a circle, upright and eager, they listened to some nuggets of IU’s past. The fireside discussion took place in the Hutton Honors College and correlated with Founder’s Day. The chat varied with topics from Herman B Wells’ fondness of vodka to a tradition of IU students smoking “peace pipes.” Gros Louis also reminisced about a tradition at football games between medical students in white lab coats and law students in black judges’ robes.Gros Louis also talked about IU’s increase in philanthropic work in the 1990s as well as his disapproval of campus outsourcing to companies like Barnes & Noble.During the discussion, many students were surprised to hear that Gros Louis is in fact one-quarter Huron Indian.He used to joke to the faculty, “If things go wrong, I could always go back to the reservation,” Gros Louis said.Much of the discussion included aspects of Herman B Wells’ life.“You can’t talk about IU’s history without really talking about Herman B Wells,” Gros Louis said.Students initially took a brief quiz on IU trivia. After the event ended, Gros Louis issued a tie-breaker question. The question, “When were the Sample Gates constructed?” was answered correctly by freshman John Brown.“I love the oral history of IU,” Brown said, “especially the people who knew Herman B Wells.”And Gros Louis does. In fact, his office is the same office Wells used years ago. Gros Louis has kept the room similar to when Wells used it.The small group of students each talked about their favorite places on campus and questioned Gros Louis on various things they saw as IU trademarks.Gros Louis also shed some light on the death of Wells.“He asked former IU President Myles Brand if there was anything else he could do for the University. Brand replied, ‘No, you have done enough.’ That night Wells died,” Gros Louis said. “That just shows what kind of a man he was.”
(03/26/09 9:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Non-profit organization Giving Back to Africa will receive $300 from a fundraiser that took place at Mother Bear’s Pizza on Wednesday.For every large pizza ordered along with a coupon, Mother Bear’s Pizza donated $2 to the organization. Giving Back to Africa provides scholarships for students in the Democratic Republic of Congo and also help fund an orphanage in eastern Congo, according to the Giving Back to Africa Web page.The public had between 5 p.m. and midnight to order and present their coupons, between that time Mother Bear’s collected 108 coupons. Although that amount of $2 coupons only equates to $216, Mother Bear’s will be providing Giving Back to Africa with $300, said Ray McCon, owner of Mother Bear’s. “It was an excellent night for us, and a very good night for Giving Back to Africa,” McCon said.Check Friday’s IDS for the complete story.
(03/25/09 3:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Mother Bear’s Pizza will be indirectly supporting people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today. Mother Bear’s will donate $2 to Giving Back to Africa for every large pizza a customer orders with a coupon through dine-in or delivery. The deal takes place from 5 p.m. to midnight today. Customers can obtain the coupon either through the Students Taking Active Roles Today Facebook group, by printing off the flyer from givingbacktoafrica.org or by flyer handouts. Giving Back to Africa is a nonprofit organization that educates young people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Graduate student Jodi Benenson, president of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs Nonprofit Management Association, helped coordinate today’s event. “We strive to provide supplemental opportunities to nonprofit organizations,” Benenson said. Today’s fundraiser is part of a week-long community service movement known as the School of Public and Environmental Affairs’ Rally for Service. Students Taking Active Roles Today will be sponsoring community service projects all week throughout the Bloomington community, Benenson said. The Giving Back to Africa student organization has recently targeted local businesses to help support its cause, said Dani Walker, the organization’s president. “The student group approached me and were earnest about it and wanted to do a good job,” said Ray McConn, owner of Mother Bear’s. “It’s a nice thing to help people who want to help other people.”
(03/12/09 4:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Come out, come out, wherever you are” is the slogan for the new Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender organization Out at Kelley, which is trying to spread support for GLBT students. The organization is “geared” toward Kelley School of Business students who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, but is open to anyone.Out at Kelley, or O@K, will provide its members with networking opportunities, professional experiences, social events and support services. GLBT students at Kelley are notorious for not coming out due to fear of scrutiny from employers, said Out at Kelley President Wayne Levinson.“We want to inform them that’s not the case,” Levinson said.Many employers are looking for GLBT students, including Fortune 500 companies like Ernst & Young, Levinson said.FARMbloomington, Out at Kelley’s main sponsor, was also present and provided food for the meeting.“Bloomington is such a diverse community,” said Farm’s event manager, Tracey Walker. “We are big supporters of the gay community.”FARMbloomington will also provide space at their restaurant locations for future Out at Kelley events.The organization expects the number of sponsors to increase as the club grows. “Bloomington is very progressive,” said sophomore Chris Foster. “It is light-years ahead of other towns.”Discussions of creating Out at Kelley were triggered by Gen. Peter Pace’s controversial comments on homosexuality and him receiving Kelley’s Poling Chair award.Statistics instructor Deane Lahre is transgender and is not offended by what Pace had to say.“Well, I’m a big proponent of free speech, and if we get rid of people who offend us in any way, we would have nobody around us,” Lahre said.Lahre, who grew up in the Vietnam-War generation, appreciates Pace’s servitude in Vietnam as well as his management of millions of U.S. soldiers. “Very few people can do it,” Lahre said. “He could walk into this room, and lives would be changed both ways.”
(03/05/09 4:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>BusinessWeek magazine ranked the Kelley School of Business’ undergraduate business program 20th in the nation and second among Big Ten universities.The magazine’s fourth annual ranking of business schools surveyed 3,000 schools nationwide.Although these rankings are good for the school, Eveleigh Professor of Business Leadership Timothy Baldwin said in an e-mail the Kelley school does not want to be primarily driven by these numbers.“It’s more of an image,” Sandra Owen, senior lecturer of business communication, said. “It helps as far as people understanding and appreciating who we are, but we know who we are.”Munirpallam Venkataramanan, chairman of IU Kelley School of Business undergraduate program, attributes Kelley’s ranking to maintaining high standards.“Predominantly, the school really spends a tremendous amount of energy and time in making sure that we have very highly qualified, good students and great faculty,” Venkataramanan said.Venkataramanan said “the rankings are not an exact science” and looks to advance Kelley’s facilities and its I-Core program and pushes for students to study abroad. Sophomore Andrew Campbell would also like to see improvements to facilities such as lecture rooms.“It’s the most uncomfortable room in the nation,” Campbell said.The business school has already set in motion major construction plans to develop within the next five years in the undergraduate building. The proposed construction so far is a $60 million campaign.Kelley plans to revise its I-Core program by establishing a task force to determine where the program is not doing well, Venkataramanan said. Plans for students to gain a worldly perspective include sending students to countries such as China, Korea, Croatia and Ghana, Venkataramanan said. “We want to spend our time creating world-class business education, and not just ‘chasing’ ratings,” Baldwin said in an e-mail. “If we do that, the ratings will take care of themselves.”
(03/04/09 5:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP donated $500,000 to the Kelley School of Business on Tuesday in an effort to bolster diversity initiatives. The donation will help support and increase numbers of minority students within the school, officials said.“There will be two overall shifts in the business world,” said Jay Preston, IU alumnus and senior manager at Ernst & Young, “one being a demographic change in the next 15 to 20 years, and a change in capital flow from emerging markets of other countries.”The event featured James Turley, chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, handing a giant check to Kelley School of Business Dean Dan Smith. After exchanging appraisals, the two sat down to answer questions from local media.The Kelley School recently received $15 million for upcoming construction projects from a $60 million fundraising campaign. Although this gift is substantially smaller, the donation will be tailored to making business students more worldly. Kelley, a top-rated business school, has received criticism recently for its inability to attract and retain a diverse student body. It’s estimated that Kelley’s black and hispanic population totals less than 3 percent, or about 180 students.“All students need to be more attuned to the world around them, to understand differences of opinion, to respect differences among people and also to realize that nothing is (being) done more to lift economies to globalization,” Turley said.Kelley and Ernst & Young representatives said they believe that by broadening the cultures exposed to Kelley students in an “inclusive” setting, the students will be better prepared to handle a global business environment. Kelley’s partner companies are observing their markets changing dramatically, Smith said. Michael Sampson-Akpuru, president of the Kelley School Diversity Council, said he believes the best way for students to connect with one another is for them to live together. Although there are no official plans set in place to acquire this “inclusiveness,” Sampson-Akpuru recognizes the issues need immediate attention.Among other things, the donation will aim to help finance college recruiters’ visits to high schools and will support minority students once they are at IU, officials said. Through its donation, Ernst & Young hopes to further the initiative of IU’s commitment to diversity inclusiveness, Turley said.“The goal is to bring diversity in and make it work,” said Gregory Bednar, an Ernst & Young coordinating partner for the project. Multiple universities have applied for similar kinds of support, Turley said, but Kelley was a “very compelling story, one that was assured of having strong return and benefiting both the school, the students we recruit from the school and the broader society at large.”
(03/02/09 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With student loans and a suffering economy, students are turning to posting their class notes online to make quick cash.The Web site GradeGuru.com has 322 U.S. colleges enrolled and also receives contributions from colleges in the United Kingdom.The site, which was launched within the past couple of years, allows students to submit their notes, which they can receive money for through a PayPal account. IU is one of the universities to which GradeGuru wants to expand its users.“It’s not so much a substitute for going to class, as there is not really any substitute,” junior Erica DeVasier said. “It’s more of a way to share the notes you took from discussion if you were not clear on the material.”DeVasier, a frequent user of GradeGuru, has been working for the site for three and a half months as a brand manager. Her job entails giving presentations in dorms as well as going through notes users upload online and checking for plagiarism, DeVasier said.Registration to GradeGuru is free. Based on the rating given to a user’s notes, he or she can earn up to 5,000 points for a semester of notes. The points can be redeemed for $50 or for other programs such as STA Travel and Campus Food, according to the Web site.Users can search for notes by class number or area of interest.“GradeGuru really took shape out of extensive ethnographic research we did with hundreds of college students in the U.S. and U.K.,” GradeGuru founder Emily Sawtell said in an e-mail. “We observed that students commonly turn to their peers for help and that peer collaboration was already a constructive practice amongst students.”The research was conducted by McGraw-Hill, which also provides the money students earn through the Web site, DeVasier said.“Part of the value of education comes from social interactions on campus with professors and students,” Robert Arnove, the chancellor’s professor emeritus in the School of Education, said.Although Arnove has been a retired professor for seven years, he said he understands that online note-sharing cannot substitute for the classroom experience.Sophomore Travis Vaughn, also a GradeGuru brand manager, brings his job into the classroom by working on co-op marketing techniques with professors.“Some (professors) see it as a collaborative learning opportunity, and some see it as a substitute for class,” Vaughn said. “But a lot are opening up to it.”GradeGuru is the second business Sawtell has started. A native of Australia, she started school at Purdue University and finished up with an MBA in business from Harvard.“Education is my passion,” Sawtell said. “I am one of those people who believe education is ‘the answer’ – mostly just for creating sustainable economic growth, but the answer to how to build a more just society, a more socially mobile and cohesive society.”