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(02/10/07 12:03am)
When students want to vent about their classes, they often turn to RateMyProfessors.com. The site was recently sold to mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college channel, and it features "ratings" of professors from universities in the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland and Wales, based on students' responses.\n"We have been hearing from our audience for a long time about how the Web site is a useful tool; it is a smart and organic approach to professor rating," said Jason Rzepka, mtvU's manager of communication. "When the purchase opportunity was provided, we jumped at it. It is a Web site for college students and by college students and it reflects our commitment to giving college students a voice."\nAccording to the Web site, RateMyProfessors.com will continue to offer everything students love about the site -- and the ratings students look to when picking their next professors. \nThe ratings cover criteria such as helpfulness, easiness, clarity and even hotness. It uses these to calculate the "overall quality" of the instructor and awards a smiley or frownie face.\nStudents frequently drop courses if classes by the "best-rated" professor are not available. Math classes taught by instructor Steve McKinley fill up earlier than others. McKinley has an overall quality rating of 4.3 out of 5 on the Web site. Ratings are totaled and averaged with each new entry.\n"The more the students who participate in it, the more accurate the site would be," Rzepka said. "It is one of the tools available for students and it should be used in concert with them. We are very careful about removing anything that is not in good taste."\nThough the Web site is a popular source for students, some have mixed feelings about it.\n"I like the idea of a Web site like that, but I don't really use it," sophomore Ben Barber said. "I usually get feedback from my peers who have taken the class before me because I don't think the Web site is a very reliable source."\nBarber said he doesn't think the acquisition by mtvU will add to the site's credibility.\n"It might make the Web site more popular, but I don't think it adds to its reliability." Barber said.\nFreshman Rewan Rai Parti agrees. \n"Lucrative as the sale may sound, it doesn't affect the credibility of the ratings on the Web site because they only take into account a very small percentage of students who take a particular course," Parti said. \nParti used the Web site extensively for choosing classes this semester but recently came across grade distribution patterns of different instructors at www.iub.edu. \n"I'd prefer using the section GPAs, average GPAs and the number of A's awarded that www.iub.edu gives from the (previous) semester(s). That seems to be a more reliable estimate," he said.\nSome of those under scrutiny say they don't think the site represents the average opinion of a class or its professor very well because it only takes into account a small percentage of students. Some professors with unfavorable ratings declined comment. \n"People have the right to say what they want to about their instructors," said Sue Vargo, director of business communication and a lecturer of business communication at the Kelley School of Business. "I don't think (RateMyProfessors.com) is a very reliable source because students who review a professor either love or absolutely dislike the instructor."\nVargo has a rating of 4.2 on a scale of 5 on the Web site.\nThe Web site has struck a chord with students across the country. According to the site, there are more than 6.75 million ratings for more than 1 million professors at more than 6,000 schools. But students were speaking their minds about school well before the Internet revolution.\n"At the end of each semester in our dorms kids would prepare a booklet to see what they thought of their professors, and we would share the information with each other," Vargo said.
(02/09/07 4:45am)
Located around campus, national and local newspapers including USA Today, the New York Times and the Indianapolis Star are available to IU students. However, it remains to be seen how many students take advantage of them.\nIU Student Association Vice President Andrew Lauck said 2,000 papers are distributed every day at locations including the residence halls, the Indiana Memorial Union and academic buildings.\n"The exact number of copies distributed varies every day," Lauck said. "For instance, the number of copies taken went up on the Monday following the Super Bowl."\nLauck said each student pays a dollar on their bursar bill each semester for newspaper readership. He said it is hard to tell if greater promotion would increase readership for certain places where pick-ups are low.\n"Usually, the locations that suffer are the residence halls," Lauck said. "Otherwise, most newspapers are picked up. The demand for the newspapers varies from place to place. The New York Times is more popular in Kelley (School of Business), the USA Today in Ballantine and the residence halls, while the Indianapolis Star is most preferred at the Union and at Woodburn."\nWhile 2,000 seems a substantial number, some students are still unaware of the student readership program.\n"I didn't even know there were free newspapers; I get the Chicago Tribune every day," said freshman Jordan Swofford. \nSwofford is not alone. Senior Phil Keefe, who will graduate in May with a degree in business, was also unaware of the availability. \n"Oh, you can get it? Well, I feel short-changed," Keefe said. "I guess sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you."\nOf those who are aware of the program, many said they don't use it.\n"I usually read the IDS, but I don't read the other newspapers," freshman Samantha Leone said. "I'd rather read about what is going on in college life; I can watch TV and go to the Internet to find out what's happening elsewhere."\nOthers said they pick up the newspapers but do little more than browse the headlines on the first page. Many students said TV news and Web sites of channels and newspapers are a more "convenient" alternative to reading, especially with video available on the Web.
(02/07/07 4:24am)
A survey brought out by Academic Analytics at the end of January ranks 14 programs at IU-Bloomington and two at the IU School of Medicine among the best in the country.\nThe survey, called the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, ranked IU 10th among all public universities in the U.S. and 23rd overall in terms of faculty productivity.\n"IU is a good institution with a good reputation," said Bill Savage, director of institutional sales for Academic Analytics. "And we are dealing with four measurable variables: federal grants, journal publications and journal citations, book publications and honors and awards."\nAccording to an IU news release, the index recognized six language and area studies programs, as well as the Jacobs School of Music, the department of speech and hearing sciences, the School of Medicine and the Kelley School of Business. The index also recognized the departments of clinical psychology and plant biology.\n"I feel great," said Julie Auger, associate professor in French and linguistics. "We have some of the best programs within the French department, and every faculty member is very productive. We train our students very well and as a result, we are the best program in the country."\nThe French, francophone literature and culture, and French linguistics programs made IU's French program number one. The programs in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, East Asia and Near Eastern languages followed close behind, ranked at fourth, sixth, seventh, seventh and 10th, respectively.\n"The FSP provides a nice validation of our own performance measures," said Daniel Smith, dean of the Kelley School of Business, in an e-mail. "We have long been recognized as one of the leading business schools in the nation in terms of both research and teaching."\nThe management program at the Kelley School of Business was ranked seventh. Faculty activities in clinical psychology and plant biology were ranked second, and in ecology and evolutionary biology, third. While the Educational Leadership Program at the IU School of Education was ranked eighth, the IU Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences was ranked seventh and cognitive science program was ranked 10th.\nOver 30 institutions use the FSP as one of the tools for strategic planning, Savage said. \n"We have our own research productivity tracking and as such, we will not likely rely heavily on the FSP per se," Smith said. "We track a host of internal metrics of performance."\nNevertheless, the FSP helps each department focus on its strengths for the future.\n"We would try to get even better," Auger said. "Hopefully this would attract better students and colleagues who can build our strengths."\nMunirpallam Venkataramanan, chair of the undergraduate program at Kelley, agreed.\n"The plan is always simple: we always recruit highly regarded fresh Ph.D. students and give them the resources they need," he said. "Their combination with a highly reputed faculty is very productive"
(01/31/07 4:43am)
Offering law students the opportunity to witness a hearing, the Indiana Supreme Court held an oral argument Tuesday in the Moot Court Room of the IU School of Law.\nFive Indiana Supreme Court justices heard the appeal in Richard Brown v. State of Indiana, a 2004 case from the Marion Superior Court.\nAccording to an Indiana courts news release, Brown was convicted on three counts of Class D felony criminal confinement and three counts of Class D felony identity deception. The charges stem from an incident in which Brown told victims they would win a prize if they would leave their clothing at his home.\nOn three different occasions, Brown called a restaurant and told the attendant he was calling from 93.1 Radio Now, according to an appeal filed in the Marion Superior Court. He introduced whoever answered the phone to an opportunity to win cash or a car if that person drove to Brown's residence and took off their clothes. All three individuals complied and Brown would see them take off their clothes in his backyard and send them back with a TV shirt to wrap around themselves. In previous hearings, Brown has insisted that his acts are not unlawful since the definition of terms such as "fraud" and "entice" are very broad, according to the appeal. \n"This is a rare case," said Joel M. Schumm, Brown's attorney. "The question here is not whether the person committed the crime or not. The question is if what the person did is even a crime or not."\nThe opposing argument from the state of Indiana centered around the use of fraudulent measures by Brown to get the individuals to his residence. \n"A reasonable person of ordinary intelligence would know that duping a person to come to your house and undress, at the behest of an automobile, is a crime," said Indiana Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher. "The Supreme Court makes sure that the law is upheld and a fair hearing is given. That is why they took this case."\nSchumm voiced his disagreement with Brown's intentions.\n"Mr. Brown's behavior is creepy, but not criminal," Schumm said. "That's what it really is."\nFisher said two theories have been offered to explain Brown's actions -- the defraud theory and the enticing theory.\nHe argued, however, the fraudulent theory gives a clear course toward conclusion.\n"I would like to urge the jury to focus on the fraud, rather than the enticing theory, as a better way to reach the verdict," Fisher said.\nFisher said he is "cautiously optimistic" the verdict will go his way.\nSchumm, on the other hand, clearly hopes for the opposite.\nThe hearing provided an opportunity for IU law students to observe and analyze arguments and proceedings. The audience was also given the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the hearing. \n"I would be surprised if they don't find the verdict going in the favor of the defendant," law student Joel Campeau said. "I don't think the prosecutor's case was strong enough. I really appreciated the interaction and demeanor of the justices; they were very helpful. At one point, Justice (Frank) Sullivan even asked the defendant's attorney to emphasize his strongest point"
(01/31/07 4:43am)
Green bottles with the tagline "I Give a Sh*t" have become a common sight on campus.\nThe bottle constitutes a measure to make IU an environmentally sustainable campus, but according to the Sustainable Endowments Institute, IU's list of such measures is not long enough.\nThe institute gave IU a D-plus on its College Sustainability Report Card 2007, released Jan. 24. \nOnly 20 of the 100 schools reviewed received D's.\nThe institute rated the campuses' levels of sustainability -- that is, the schools' policies of more efficiently using energy and conserving natural resources while preserving the environment.\nIU was given a D in the categories of administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling and shareholder engagement. The report card mentions the withdrawal of financial and administrative support to the Council for Environmental Stewardship by the University administration. \n"We never got an answer as to why the council was suspended," said Paul Schneller, adjunct professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. "IU as an institution never considered sustainability an important issue until recently. The council never really enjoyed top-level administrative support."\nDirector of IU Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said Vice President Terry Clapacs is in the middle of forming a sustainability task force. \n"It is essentially a replacement of the Council for Environmental Stewardship," MacIntyre said. "We are looking to have an oversight type of organization on sustainability. Then, the next research building we are planning on campus adopts the (Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design) design standards."\nThe futuristic measures may seem comprehensive, but two initiatives stand out -- the residence halls' recycling program and the "green bottle" project.\n"It is incredible how successful these programs have been," said Steve Akers, associate director for environmental operations at Residential Programs and Services. "We have over 600 containers that collect different materials. As for the Go Green Campaign, over 3,000 bottles have been sold in the last two years."\nAkers was associated with the Council for Environmental Stewardship for two years. He said the various sustainability initiatives on campus are not organized together, which is why not everybody knows what has been happening.\nOthers insist the campus hasn't done enough.\n"Sustainability efforts have not been supported enough at IU, but change should happen soon," Schneller said. \nAdam Newman, the 2006 SPEA student union board director on debates and issues, agreed.\n"I think IU could be doing a lot more to promote sustainability on campus," he said. "I hope the University will strongly consider green building options as it expands the campus, but this is only a small step."\nMacIntyre said it would not be fair to say that IU's sustainability initiatives are limited to dorm programs. \n"Everything we do in terms of construction and operation includes environmental consideration," he said. "We go to a great length to ensure we meet state regulations."\nAkers agreed, saying that had the report accounted for recent developments, IU would have been given a better grade.\n"Private schools received higher marks because their financial statements are open to the public, while ours aren't," Akers said. "I don't think the grading scale was fair for IU. Their research seems to be based on a Web project."\nAccording to the report, data collection for the report took place between July 2006 and January 2007. Sources included each school's Web site, newspaper articles and information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Green Building Council.\nWith student and faculty efforts and administration's support, the grading is sure to improve in the future. \n"The new task force is the next step of evolution, which began with the CFES," Akers said. "With IU receiving a D-plus, we can go nowhere but up"
(01/30/07 5:20am)
Because of a drop in enrollment and therefore in revenue, IU is having to review one of its regional campuses.\nIn response to budgetary problems at IU-East Richmond, a task force has been appointed by IU President Adam Herbert. Charlie Nelms, vice president for student development and diversity and professor of higher-education administration, is the chair.\n"In my view, the reasons for the decline in the enrollment at IU East are threefold," Nelms said in an e-mail interview. "One, the change in the mission of the campus; two, the discontinuation of some associate degrees and a significant reduction in the number of developmental education courses offered; and three, the designation of Ivy Tech as a comprehensive community college."\nDavid Fulton, chancellor of IU East, said a "combination of factors," particularly the "changing structure of higher education in the state of Indiana with the growth of community colleges," are behind the trend.\nFulton will retire from the positon of chancellor later this year. The search for the new chancellor has been suspended until the task force submits its recommendations. \n"The reason for the formation of the task force is not only reduction in enrollment," Fulton said. "It is important to define the University's role in east-central Indiana to provide direction and orientation for change in leadership."\nNelms listed "enrollment, academic programs, administrative structures and services, business practices and community support" as the five basic areas the task force will review.\n"President Herbert has asked that we offer recommendations pertaining to marketing, recruitment and outreach as soon as possible," he said in the e-mail. "Toward that end, we have retained the services of Noel-Levitz, a national enrollment management firm, to work with the campus. It is anticipated that many of the recommendations offered by Noel-Levitz will be implemented this spring. The committee will give the president a comprehensive report no later than the first week in May 2007."\nCraig Engel, senior vice-president for consulting services at Noel-Levitz, said they will be talking to focus groups on the campus to see why people feel IU East is "special."\n"We would then determine whether the university's strategic plans would help them accomplish their goals for the future," he said. \nEngel will visit the satellite campus in the coming week to analyze if there are opportunities to improve recruitment.\nWhile IU works to find a solution, the drop in enrollment did not come as a surprise to most of the IU East administration, Fulton said.\n"We were expecting and observed a decline in in-state enrollment for some time but we compensated for it through an agreement with Ohio State that increased the number of Ohio residents enrolled at IU East," Fulton said. "This year, however, a larger number of students chose Ivy Tech over (IU East)."\nIU East accomplished a reduction in the budget for 2006-07 by not filling some academic positions that were vacant and reducing costs of supplies and travel.\n"The challenge for this year is to build the 2007-08 budget on a new base," Fulton said. "That is something the task force and the administration would be concerned with"
(01/22/07 3:57am)
The economic balance of power is soon to tilt, at least if Manjeet Kripalani, the 2006 Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations is to be believed.\nKripalani, the India bureau chief for Business Week, came to IU for a lecture on "Economic and Political Impediments to India's Embrace of the Market" presented by the India Studies Program and the Kelley School of Business.\n"There are only two kinds of stories: 'aah' the wonder of it and 'oh' the pity of it," Kripalan said. "In 1996 when I went to India it was a 'pity story', but then things changed and India turned into a wonder story."\nKripalani focused her talk on India's impact on globalization and globalization's impact on India. While she was aware of the scope of India's socio-economic problems, she stressed that they could not outweigh the revolution that the trio of cellular, software and satellite had stirred.\n"India is a society in transition and it represents inside-out change. There is a silent revolution in India as India has chosen social equity over economic equity," she said. \nIndia attained independence on Aug. 15, 1947.\nKripalani articulated that India is a story of grassroots growth, which gives the country a "democratic model of development" as opposed to the "autocratic development" model of neighbor China. This to her was the foundation of India's growth.\n"India is the only country which upon independence was given universal adult franchise -- one person, one vote," she said. "And nobody in India would replace water and electricity for their vote."\nWhat brought this change in the destiny of India? According to Kripalani, India's tipping point came at the outset of the new millennium.\n"In the wake of the threat of the Y2K virus, Indian coders saved the world when all computers were supposed to shut down," she said. "With the technical boom, Indian tech workers were in great demand in California, giving the entire nation a sense of pride. This was the moment when India felt it had a place in the world and belonged to its future, not just the past."\nIndia has the cheapest cellular services in the world and the lowest banking transaction costs, Kripalani said. Indian elections are a "joy for a liberty lover to see -- completely free and fair, noisy and colorful," Kripalani said. \nEighty percent of foreign direct investment comes to India from its stock exchange. She said the non-governmental organizations, the banks and the private sector are addressing challenges, which the government fails to take up.\n"India has the largest young population in the world, which could be turned into a very strong asset if it is channeled correctly," she said. "But it has few young politicians. The mismatch between midnight's children (the politicians) and liberalization's children (the youth) is apparent."\nBut why is global India important?\n"Much of the world looks like India -- confident, pluralistic, multi-lingual and multi-religious. India serves as the bridge between the Islamic and the Christian world," she said.\nSumit Ganguly, director of the India Studies Program, said lectures such as these add to the element of diversity at IU, a view exemplified by the multi-lingual, multi-racial audience for the lecture.\n"Indian economy is undergoing a fundamental transition; it has grown, in the last quarter, at a rate of 10 percent as indicated by robust and reliable statistics," Ganguly said.
(01/19/07 8:28pm)
If Bloomington represents a melting pot for individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds, then Fourth Street, with its variety of restaurants and ethnic cuisines, epitomizes the city's spirit. \nHolding its distinct identity among an array of restaurants is Casablanca. Offering Moroccan and Mediterranean cuisine, the restaurant at 402 E. Fourth St., will celebrate 13 years of business in April.\nThe quality of food and the ambience make Casablanca a great dining destination. The personalized touch ensures that visitors come back to it, said IU graduate student David Mitchel. \n"The last time I came here, the owner personally spoke to me," he said. "So that personal touch and the good food brought me back."\nSanae Sentissi, the owner of Casablanca, prides herself on the close relationships she has built with members of the IU community over the years.\n"We are friends with IU. We see the students here grow," Sentissi said. "Parents meet us when they come to drop their children and see us again when they are visiting town. We feel good when children choose to celebrate their graduation parties here, but miss them when they leave. Students don't just eat here but also work here. We also cater for several departmental functions."\nBusiness brought Sentissi to the United States 15 years ago from Morocco. She said it was a perfect case of love at first sight with Bloomington, the place she now calls home.\nCasablanca started as the Tea Room and offered tea and sandwiches. Evolution led it to its present form. \n"Casablanca is like home to us; here we invite guests to have lunch and dinner," she said. "Bringing it up was easy because we thought of it as our home. We just brought to life images that were there in our mind. It came naturally and gradually."\nNamed after the Moroccan city, Casablanca's specialties include authentic Mediterranean cuisine, olive oil and saffron preparations, outdoor dining options and belly-dancing weekends. Chef Enrique Lopez excels in preparing entrees true to their native style. \n"I have fallen in love with Moroccan cuisine, so much that I could go and live in Morocco and thrive in cooking," Lopez said. \nPaella, lamb shank, gyros, pasta bella and seafood kebabs make up customer -- as well as chef -- favorites at the restaurant. \nEach piece seems to be chosen with care to offer an experience of the Mediterranean to Bloomington inhabitants. Particularly enticing are rich, velvet wall carpets that are actually Moroccan tents. The walls are adorned with Moroccan plates, the tables with Moroccan vases. \nSentissi said she hopes the restaurant's music and authenticity add to the overall dining experience. \nSo are there plans for expansion? \n"No," Sentissi said. "This is just the right size to feel like home. It allows me adequate time for my children as well as my customers. I am content and happy." \nAnd the customers don't seem to be complaining.\nShalena Antoine, a guest at the restaurant, sums up her experience: "I would surely recommend Casablanca to everyone"
(10/31/06 5:30am)
The Monroe County Public Library is honoring Hoosier heroes Ernie Pyle and John Bushemi while marking its Archives and Special Collection Month.\nPyle, a journalist, and Bushemi, a photographer, brought the front lines of World War II to the home front, earning critical acclaim and appreciation before both lost their lives covering the war. The library is reviving the memory of the journalists through reflections on their life and work. \nHailing from Gary, Bushemi captured the horrors of war, mainly on the Pacific front. He covered the invasion of Eniwetok, part of the Marshall Islands, before dying in 1944. A new exhibit of Bushemi's photographs is on display on the second floor of the library and will run through the end of November.\nRay Boomhower, managing editor of the Indiana Historical Society's quarterly magazine, Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, will shed light on Bushemi's life and work in a program at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the library.\n"To me, the most intriguing aspect of Bushemi's work is his ability to capture in his photographs the gritty existence of men on the front lines in the Pacific theater of operations during World War II," Boomhower said. "Even a hand injury suffered during the invasion of the Kwajalein Atoll that left his arm in a sling had not stopped Bushemi from documenting for (the magazine) Yank's readers the achievements gained and agonies endured by their fellow soldiers."\nBoomhower's continuous engagement with the works of Bushemi resulted in his book, "One Shot: The World War II Photography of John A. Bushemi." Several of Bushemi's photographs exhibited in the library are from "One Shot."\nPyle, from Dana, Ind., was a popular Scripps-Howard newspapers columnist during the war. The library is also using his articles and letters to convey the experience of war. \nIU journalism and history professor Owen V. Johnson held a program on Pyle's life and work at the library last week.\nJohnson has already collected more than 1,200 of Pyle's letters. \nPyle's newspaper columns from the front lines sought to convey war as the participant saw it and won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for distinguished war correspondence.\n"Pyle's name is known by thousands of journalists today, but they don't always understand who Pyle was and how he worked," Johnson said in an e-mail.\nJohnson's project is designed to help people understand Pyle's complex life through a wide range of ideas about the world of journalism and Pyle's experience as an IU student and a reporter at the Indiana Daily Student.\n"The public has shown a lot of interest in World War II, from war veterans to teenagers," reference librarian Luann Dillon said. "The availability of Ernie Pyle's original documents and Ray Boomhower's book on John Bushemi offered great scope to learn about the war and the two greats"