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(01/31/07 10:20pm)
Perfectly poised and positioned on stage, Miss Indiana Betsy Uschkrat, an IU graduate student, stood in a sea of 52 of the country's most accomplished young women during the 76th Miss America Pageant Monday night. \nHer attempt for the crown ended, however, when she was not made part of the pageant's top 10 contenders at the start of Monday night's broadcast. Miss Oklahoma Lauren Nelson was crowned Miss America 2007.\nUschkrat, who won the title of Miss Indiana University last February, took home the Miss Indiana title in June -- an experience she described to a crowd of well wishers at her send-off as "a dream come true."\nAfter months of rigorous training and preparation, the native Texan left Bloomington for the bright lights of Las Vegas to compete against other state title holders for the Miss America crown. \nFalling out of the running as the top 10 was announced, Uschkrat held her smile the whole way through. \nAnd her fans held their support.\n"She is incredibly kind and a beautiful person inside and out," said Stephanie Sadownik, a 2006 IU graduate, who participated in an opera chorus with Uschkrat. "I don't know anyone who doesn't like Betsy. I was certainly disappointed she didn't get further, and, of course, I was hoping she'd do well. She's got enormous talent, and she's gorgeous. God, I should hate her, but, of course, I don't."\nSophomore Korey Gonzalez was watching the pageant with friends to cheer Uschkrat on, and said that she was definitely upset she didn't advance further.\n"I was in (the opera) Manon with her, and I just love her," Gonzales said. "So does everyone. She's the most talented vocalist I've ever known." \nUschkrat has held numerous parts in IU Opera Theater productions, her most recent being in 2007's production of Manon. \nShe carried her love of opera to the pageant for the talent portion. \n"I think she's a wonderful girl. I wish she could have gone further," said IU alumnus Andrew Darling. "I think she's made IU and the Jacobs School of Music very proud." \nLindsay Shipps Etienne, the executive director of the Miss Indiana University Pageant, accompanied Uschkrat to Las Vegas and spoke briefly with her after the pageant ended. \n"She was in very good spirits and just honored to be there," she said. "There is no way she could have performed better. The competition was very, very strong and she was very pleased with the outcome."\nUschkrat will return to Indiana today and will continue her duties as Miss Indiana. \nBut to some, she is still more.\n"She's my Miss America," Gonzalez said.
(01/30/07 5:02pm)
You can call them freaks or geeks, but they'll correct you with "friends." \nThe Hoosier Alliance, a local Bloomington Star Wars club, is taking "the force" and adding a bit of Indiana charm. \n"People can see us as freaks," said Eric Stuckey, Alliance president. "But I'm 35 and I've never had as good of friends as I've found in this club."\nAn official chapter of theforce.net, the club welcomes people from all walks of life and all ages, a good number of them IU students.\nJunior Cole Horton and senior Amelia Hilliker, make up two of the group's 15 regular members, and despite some significant age differences with some of the others, they say the atmosphere alone is enough to make you feel right at home. \nAnd you don't need to be obsessed to join.\n"Star Wars is an interest, a hobby," Horton said. "It's not my entire life." \nBut it is five months' rent.\nIf you ever see a stormtrooper watching IU basketball like a true Hoosier, it could be Horton. The avid fan dropped a sum so large on his stormtrooper ensemble that he could only describe it in months of spent rent. \n"They asked me to run with the flags once," he said with a smile. "But it would have been pretty embarrassing to fall in front of an entire crowd. I can't see a thing in that suit." \n"He's the pimp of the club," Hilliker jokes. "It's got to be that uniform."\nBut his costume isn't his biggest toy. Horton's latest side project has been pulled straight from the mind of George Lucas himself, and modified with an IU twist. \nThe law school hopeful has been creating his own working R2-D2, an android displayed throughout the Star Wars films, but Horton's version will display colors of crimson and cream instead of blue and white as in the movie. \nAnd the name is IU-D2. \n"It's a work in progress," Horton admits. "I've got to find people who make different pieces, and then, of course, add my own variations." \nHilliker, however, was turned on to the Jedi mind because of every little girl's favorite heroine of film, Princess Leia. \n"Here's a girl who usually should be just a damsel in distress," she said. "But she has a fight and a strength about her that I love." \nAnd it could be all of the butt-kicking action that drew self-appointed Web nerd extraordinaire, local resident Tim Johnson, to the Hoosier Alliance. \nHe may look up to Lucas for creating an entire universe, but don't let it fool you. He could kick you up and down this universe. \nJohnson holds a first-degree black belt in tae kwon do and a second-degree black belt in hapkido, another Korean martial art form. \nBut the martial arts instructor has an undeniable soft spot for Obi-Wan Kenobi, a character who rises to become, in Johnson's opinion, the greatest Jedi of all. \nWould they call it an obsession? Only on a small scale. \n"You get the people who are obsessed," Johnson said. "Then you get the people who are the other kind of obsessed." \nThe type of person who can "make the nerds feel weird," Horton said. \n"It's usually an isolated thing," he said. "But, unfortunately, one is enough." \nEmbracing their stereotype just seems to give the group more to \ntalk about. \n"Most people do have the typical Star Wars fan in their heads -- a guy who lives with his mom," Hilliker said. \nBut, as for the group, they find themselves completely normal.\n"Well, relatively," Stuckey jokes. \nNormal, and a bit on the adventurous side. \nThe group once camped outside of Target all night, without tents in the freezing rain, waiting for the release of the new collectors' edition Star Wars memorabilia. \nWas it worth it? The group replies with a unanimous "yes."\n"We're Star Wars fans, we know how to wait in line," Hilliker said. \nFortunately for other local Star Wars enthusiasts, there are no lines to the group's monthly meeting held at Avalon, 223 S. Pete Ellis Drive, a local venue devoted to fantasy and science-fiction video gaming.\n"We're not weird and creepy," Horton said. "People don't need to be in the spotlight in our meetings. Just come and sit in the back if you'd like."\nEmphasis on the "just come."\n"We would love to have more people," Hilliker said. "You never know, you might see a few things you'll like."\nAnd did they mention they are friendly? \n"If nothing else, you might gain a new friend from the experience," Stuckey said. "What else have you got to lose?"\nFor more information on The Hoosier Alliance visit http://boards.theforce.net/Bloomington,_IN/b10417.
(01/23/07 4:58pm)
IU professor Karl MacDorman can't replicate a da Vinci, but that doesn't mean he isn't interested in creating a masterpiece.\nIt's just that in his "Mona Lisa," the enigmatic smile would come and go as you did.\nThe psychology of human-computer interaction instructor is part of a team diving into the up-and-coming field of android science, a high-tech robotic-oriented answer to the study of human interaction.\nThe androids developed by MacDorman and his team are essentially upscale robots with humanistic physical features and personality traits. But MacDorman said he did not spend his childhood wishing to live in the world of "The Jetsons."\n"I was never really interested in robots," he said. "Computers just always seemed like much more of a living art form."\nSomewhere between a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge, MacDorman changed, and he has been doing the "robot" ever since.\nHe said it was the cognitive science behind it all that initially piqued his interest.\nHe recently spent five years researching in Japan, what he calls the frontier of android development.\n"Japan is ahead. The U.S. doesn't have a strong industry in consumer electronics right now," he said. "We'll be behind, but hopefully we'll learn from their mistakes."\nIt was not a mistake that brought MacDorman and partner Hiroshi Ishiguro together. MacDorman and Ishiguro, the director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University in Japan, have developed a team of androids that have been key in the studies of diseases such as autism and other psychological disorders.\nThe duo has even created human prosthetics that help those who are disfigured due to birth defect or injury.\n"These androids can be used to see how it would be possible to implant small motors in areas of the face and even other parts of the body to make it appear that there is muscle movement," MacDorman said. "It is a new take on facial reconstruction."\nOr facial replication. The team is now so advanced in the skill of developing humanistic androids that a nearly exact double of a person can be created. It was Ishiguro who was robotically cloned.\n"Some say it's narcissistic," MacDorman said. "I think they're wrong. If you look at the great artists, all of them have a self portrait." \nMacDorman's own android double hasn't been painted into the picture, yet. He admits the thought would be an eerie experience. \n"I'd imagine it would be slightly more strange than meeting an identical twin," he said. \nMacDorman said the replication of a celebrity is a possibility, but he sees serious legal complications accompanying such an undertaking, not to mention challenges presented by cultural differences.\n"Japan actually has a very extensive sex-doll industry," he said. "And sometimes the public does get confused with our androids and their purpose."\nThe researcher explained that this, among other cultural differences, took some getting used to, but he said that nothing was so daunting a task as learning the language. \nDespite the challenges, MacDorman is no stranger to international lifestyles. In addition to Japan, he has also lived in Mexico, Switzerland, England, South Korea and Canada. He attributes his adventurous spirit to the fact that he lacks the fear of being outside his comfort zone.\nIn the future, aside from bringing an android lab to the IU campus, the globetrotter hopes to continue his world travels.\n"The only continents I haven't been to are South America and Antarctica," he said. "I can hope for a conference to be held in one of those places, but I can't say I would apply for Antarctica"
(01/11/07 5:32am)
Betsy Uschkrat might want to put on an evening gown and a tiara, then hear her name called as the next Miss America, but she's not looking for the royal treatment. She's in it to make an impact. \nThis 24 year-old IU graduate student, who claimed the Miss Indiana title just months after being named Miss IU last February, can tell you exactly who Miss America is: an outstanding positive role model for young women. \n"I have the chance to live my dream of making a difference and become a national role model," she said. "And I'm in the best shape of my life."\nUschkrat lit up the room as well as the stage Sunday, Jan. 7 during a send-off party held in her honor.\n"Betsy represents each of you young women," Co-Executive Director of the Miss Indiana pageant Frank Ricketts told the crowd. "She's kind, grateful, sincere - just a solid young woman." \nAnd that is just in her day-to-day life. \nShowing off her pageant attire as well as an accomplished singing voice, the young opera enthusiast welled up with tears as she thanked a room full of supporters. \nBut she could have much more to tear up about if she becomes the 2007 Miss America.\nThe tiara-toting Texas native might well be the answer to a Hoosier-sized losing streak. Winning the Miss America crown would be the first Indiana victory in pageant history. \nShe says Indiana's winless past doesn't discourage her.\n"I know that I'm qualified to be Miss America, and I definitely plan on winning." \nThe countdown has begun. With the pageant airing live from Las Vegas in less than a month, Uschkrat is spending her final days in Bloomington as a student who continuously remembers those who are a little farther away from their own dreams than she is. \nShe has spent the past eight years helping to fight hunger, and has raised more than $13,000 for charity in the last year alone as Miss Indiana. She recalls being approached on the streets of Houston, Texas by a mother and her young son who hadn't eaten that day.\n"All I had to give him was a bottle of water and a box of raisins, but he ate them so fast," Uschkrat said. "It broke my heart. He's just a kid. It's not his fault that he was fighting poverty."\nThe idea of using the title of Miss America to fight poverty on a national scale would be "simply amazing," she said. \nAlthough Uschkrat was drawn to the issue for a number of reasons, she claims it was her parents who gave her a caring heart. \nAnd her mother, Karen Uschkrat, who will accompany her daughter to Las Vegas, says she just couldn't be prouder.\n"This is her dream, all of her hard work, and I just couldn't be more excited for her," she said.\nThe young beauty queen will leave for the pageant Friday, Jan. 19, but she says she won't be going as the stereotypical super-thin contestant. \n"I'll be there in my normal size, with my normal frame," she said. "Not a size two." \nWith the sudden celebrity dieting craze, Uschkrat says Miss America is a breath of fresh air in the public spotlight.\n"Miss America is the right kind of role model," she said. "And I'm actually eating more than I have in the past. Nutrition is important."\n"I've spent the past year preparing for this job, not becoming super skinny. That's what Miss America is -- an amazing year long job. It's hard work, and you've got to be ready."\nBut the avid shopper and karaoke singer said she will not be ashamed if she returns without a crown. \n"I'll still be Miss Indiana," she said. "And there is so much I could do right here"
(04/24/06 4:07am)
Student drivers who habitually use 10th Street to drive to classes might need to rethink their routes in the future. University officials said Tuesday they plan to turn 10th Street into a one-way road with traffic moving east. \nThis redirection would alleviate traffic congestion through campus, said University Architect Bob Meadows.\nA sister project to the 10th Street change could be the construction of a new road moving west through campus, eventually uniting with 14th Street. Included in Meadows' road plan is the desire to bring the newly dubbed science precinct into the center of campus. This plan would allow Woodlawn Avenue and Seventh Street to become the main roads through center campus, Meadows said.\nIU's first multidisciplinary science building -- Simon Hall -- is nearly complete, which will trigger building of the second such building. Set to begin in January 2007, it will be located just north of 10th Street behind the Psychology Building. The structure will replace the current service building.\n"We plan to remove that bit of street and bring more landscaping like in center-campus to the north precinct," Meadows said. \nStarting this summer is the construction of a new parking garage to be located on the corner of Atwater and Indiana avenues. This new facility is planned to be finished by the time the new building opens, and will help lift the parking pressure the new Simon building will bring to that side of campus, said Meadows. \nWork will also be done on Ashton Hall this summer, as the University plans to demolish it. In its place will be a new student housing unit, but the project to build has currently been placed on hold, said Meadows.\nTo be completed in August of 2007 are two projects that may get a little greek. A new classroom and office building will be built between Pi Beta Phi and Alpha Phi across from Myers Hall on 3rd Street, and the former Beta Theta Pi house located on 10th Street will be renovated and used as a School of Informatics office space.\n"Initially we thought we would tear it down," Meadows said about the Beta Theta Pi house. "But we needed office space for the informatics school." The University purchased the house after the chapter was expelled from campus in 2001. \nFaculty members heard details on many campus expansion projects that could mean big changes for the campus over the next several years during the last Bloomington Faculty Council meeting of the year Tuesday. The meeting finished off what BFC President Ted Miller said was "an interesting year to be affiliated with the BFC."\nMiller's "interesting" year included the reconstruction of the IU-Bloomington administration. If Meadows' master plan for the campus is set into motion, the next several years at IU-Bloomington could be full of construction as well. Plans include major road changes, new offices, academic buildings, and residences halls. \nIncluded in long-range plans are the construction of a new Hutton Honors College, the two or three-building expansion of the Jacobs' School of Music and a Law School addition. \nAlthough the plan looks to better the University in size and physical beauty, some faculty noticed missing links in the future plans.\n"The project I hear most asking about is the humanities building," Miller said. "I always hear it suggested as a high priority ... but if a humanities building really is a priority project then we clearly need to get into gear."\nMembers also addressed the long running issue of the 7th Street construction site, which has been next to the IU Auditorium since the fall of 1997. \nIn September of 2005, Meadows told the IDS that the fenced in area was still being used as a storage unit for the construction of the multidisciplinary science building one, now named the Simon Building. With the completion of that building estimated for the 4th quarter of 2006, some wonder if the site will finally be removed.
(04/19/06 4:06am)
The formation of uniform degree requirements has stalled amid disputes between officials at IU-Bloomington's separate degree-granting schools. Disagreements have arisen because each school believes its requirements are the most appropriate for their degree.\nBloomington Faculty Council President Ted Miller told members of the council that an approval on a general education draft would be delayed because of disagreements on which requirements would fit each school's agenda. The announcement came Tuesday at the last BFC meeting of the academic year.\n"We didn't want the last meeting to be a big fight," Miller said. \nInstead, the deans of each school at IU-Bloomington reviewed proposed general education requirements.\n"The problem is not general education itself. Everyone agrees on that," said BFC member Bill Wheeler. "But the curriculum is given to the individual schools. The faculty has worked diligently to make their degrees the best they can be ... but when you try to back up and make things uniform, something has got to give."\nFor example, the College of Arts and Sciences requires the most general education classes before granting a degree. The Jacobs School of Music requires roughly half of the degree prerequisites compared with COAS. This gap could cause some serious problems within programs, Wheeler said.\nAfter deciding on an acceptable University-wide number, choosing courses for the requirements could also be another potential problem.\nInformatics professor Larry Yaeger complained that his school's academic focus was ignored entirely by the most recent proposal. But he said the School of Informatics faculty is in favor of a campus-wide curriculum.\n"Each student we graduate without technical competency diminishes the value of our degree," he said.\nThe council did make some progress Tuesday with the formation of the campus General Education Committee. The committee is proportionally represented, giving bigger schools more members, and therefore more votes. To avoid a monopolization among the bigger schools in the voting process, a motion must pass with a majority of the voting members, and at least four schools with members voting in favor of the proposal.\n"That's what gives us hope we haven't had before in past years," Wheeler said.\nOut-bound COAS Dean Kumble Subbaswamy complimented the council on its progress with the process so far, but said IU's adoption of a base education will proceed over even the loudest faculty objections. He said he hoped subsequent proposals would help settle the process of creating general education requirements.\nUnable to make an official approval, BFC member Herb Terry said he worries that this could be seen as potential failure.\n"I worry that the trustees will see our failure to adopt anything and that will give them the inclination to adopt something on their own," he said.\nMiller told the council that he doesn't foresee interference by the trustees because of the setback.\n"The trustees want something approved by the fall of 2008," the BFC president said. "And I see no reason why this will push us off track"
(04/05/06 5:25am)
After changing his degree, IU Student Association President Alex Shortle wished there would have been a general education requirement in place at IU before he came. \nInstead, Shortle will spend an extra semester completing his degree as a result of the classes he chose to take outside of the Kelley School of Business. \nAfter 10 years of trying to implement general education requirements, and facing three or four failed attempts, general education is being brought back to the educational drawing board at IU-Bloomington.\nA proposal addressing the issue was brought before the Bloomington Faculty Council Tuesday during a meeting. The proposal is the first draft of many to come before the BFC, the Campus Curriculum Committee and IUB's schools. The plan suggests that these three entities should combine forces during the 2006-2007 school year to finalize the requirements.\n"This proposal doesn't say much," said Shortle, who says he largely supports the plan, even outside of his own circumstances. "But it gets discussion going. And (the faculty) need to talk about handling the issue or someone else will -- (for example) the president."\nThe BFC's Educational Policies Committee drafted the proposal, which contains a series of criteria that would pertain to all undergraduate programs beginning with the graduating class of 2011. \nBill Wheeler and John Carini, co-chairs of the subcommittee, were in charge of the task of finding common ground for general education requirements that would work for all IUB programs. \n"It's difficult to find general education requirements because W131 (Elementary Composition) is the only course that is required in most baccalaureate programs here on campus," Wheeler said.\nStarting from scratch, Wheeler and Carini turned to other Big Ten schools. Four of the 10 public Big Ten institutions have no uniform campus requirements, while five currently have general education requirements in place.\nThe Educational Policies Committee's proposal includes the possibility of 23 to 34 total credit hours of general education courses, similar to the Wisconsin's current requirement of 22 to 30 hours. Most others in the group require near 40 or more credit hours of general education for their undergraduates.\nIncluded in the proposed requirements are: three hours of English/writing, three to four hours of mathematics, six hours of arts and humanities, six hours of social and historical courses, five to six hours of natural sciences, six hours of world languages and cultures and zero to three hours of professional engagement. \nIf approved, IU's general education requirements would be the third in the Big Ten to require world languages and cultures courses as well as the first to require professional engagement studies.\nAlthough a general education plan at IU will not be finalized for approval until next year, the goal of introducing it as early as possible is to collect the opinions of faculty on any pursuit of the project, said BFC President Ted Miller.\n"We are trying to get a sense if the Bloomington campus is ready for this," he said.\nIf approved, the incoming class of 2007 will enter IU programs with uniform general course requirements, something Shortle said will benefit students across campus.\n"Students will receive direction by way of the faculty to get a more substantial college education experience," he said.
(03/22/06 5:36am)
Some professors think a lack of parking spots is adversely affecting their job performances. So a faculty plan, were it ever enacted, would discontinue the sale of A and C parking permits to most students.\nFrustrations among the faculty mounted as the parking problem took the floor at a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Tuesday. \nThe BFC approved the parking recommendation designed to amend the space problems among the A and C parking spaces that faculty and staff largely use. The vote was not unanimous.\nCurrently, the ratio of parking permits issued to spaces was 2.6:1 for A permits, and 1.7:1 for C permits, according to a report. That ratio compares unfavorably with other major universities that only sell 10 or 20 percent more permits than spaces allotted. \n"Parking here is worse than on many other large campuses," BFC Agenda Committee member Craig Bradley said.\nThe proposal itself is based on recommendations a Parking Study Committee appointed in 2003 by then-Chancellor Sharon Brehm made. The committee \npresented five suggestions to amend the parking problems to the BFC last year. Since then, only two of the five recommendations have been put into action. \nThe Universal Transportation Fee, making all on-site bus rides free to students, came from the recommendations, as well as the construction of a new parking garage to be built on Fess Street.\nConstruction for this new garage is speculated to begin in May, Bradley said. \nAmong the newly approved recommendations is the restriction of the sale of A and C parking permits to faculty and staff only, including graduate students who teach regularly scheduled classes of undergraduates. The Parking Study Committee found that last year 734 and 1,041 non-teaching students were allowed to purchase A and C permits, respectively.\nBradley said selling permits to students who are not associate instructors was a mistake.\n"What the University does to make parking worse is sell spaces to private individuals for their own personal use," he said. "Some of whom aren't even associated with the University so (the spaces) are empty half the time."\nAlso proposed was the restriction of the Atwater, Jordan and Poplars parking garages to house A permit spaces only, something not all parties present agreed with. \nBFC member Bill Wheeler said he worries what will happen to many of the students who currently have parking spaces in the Atwater parking garage.\n"I personally feel a great deal of empathy for the students who have spaces in the Atwater garage," he said. \nCurrently students are eligible to enter a lottery drawing for some spaces in the Atwater garage. \nWheeler was the first faculty member to share concerns for students' needs during the meeting, some 15 minutes into the discussion.\nIU Student Association President Alex Shortle also questioned where students with Atwater permits would park if the spaces were eliminated, especially those students living in the greek houses in the Atwater area. \n"They would park at the football stadium and ride the buses or ride their bikes ... Whatever," Bradley said. \nClint Oster, chairman of the Parking Study Committee, did not provide even a glimmer of hope for students looking to continue to park in A or C lots or garages.\n"People are being terribly inconvenienced," he said. "Students will be inconvenienced more, faculty and staff, a little less." \nThe third approval is to restrict R spaces for service and delivery vehicles only, creating a need for fewer of them and opening up more spaces to become faculty and staff parking. Exempt from this recommendation is the reserved lot next to Bryan Hall. The motion recommends all other reserved lots to be turned into A spaces. \nThe BFC Agenda Committee hopes to have the new parking recommendations in full consideration for the fall semester, fearing that the closing of the Fess parking lot will constrict faculty and staff parking even further. But BFC President Ted Miller said the proposal is only a recommendation.\n"Clearly, the BFC has no authority over parking services," he said.
(03/08/06 5:34am)
Bloomington Faculty Council members voiced concern about new search committee guidelines for administrative positions after an unofficial draft was presented at the committee's meeting Tuesday.\nCurrently three separate search and screen procedures for administrative appointments exist: those for the University-wide, Bloomington campus and the Indianapolis campus. The University Faculty Council has taken the task of combining the three procedures to merge into one University-wide policy. A UFC subcommittee, on which BFC President Ted Miller will serve, was created specifically for the task. \n"This is something the trustees are very interested in," he said. "They want to move quickly on the issue, but have not given us a specific deadline."\nThe draft included sections dealing with the appointment of senior administrators without a search process, including emergency, exceptional and interim hires -- something many members felt needed refinement.\nMembers said they felt as though the sections pertaining to exceptional or emergency hires should be taken out completely or be moved to subcategories under the title of interim appointments.\nMany said they saw no need for an emergency appointment to become permanent, and said the language used did not distinguish between emergency and interim.\n"Emergency hires should also be considered interim," BFC member Robert Kravchuk said. "How permanent can an emergency be?" \nSome said they worried about "exceptional appointments" at the administrative level, feeling that ignoring a search process could damage leadership bonds between administrators and faculty members. Under appointment policies concerning faculty members, exceptional hires are allowed, but some said they felt there was an absolute distinction between the two policies.\n"The difference between exceptional faculty hires and those on the administrative level is that the administrator is appointed to lead the rest of us," BFC member Lisa Bingham said. "Administrators are the voice of the faculty." \nOthers said they saw the term "exceptional" to hold little meaning if that individual's appointment lacked a committee to back up that claim.\n"What's the meaning of exceptional? And who gets to make that decision?" BFC Member Maxine Watson said. "That's what disturbs me." \nAlthough no official changes were made to the proposed draft, Miller said that he would take the BFC's advice to the subcommittee in charge of the project and agreed that the current draft could look nothing like the final submission. \n"This is just something put together to start the process of consolidating the three separate policies," he said. "Obviously emergency hires are of great interest and controversy, and that will be taken into consideration"
(02/08/06 5:26am)
A new diversity center at IU will monitor everything from the makeup of the campus student population to the variety of material taught in professors' classes. \nAlthough it's still in the planning phases, IU President Adam Herbert announced his goal to construct a diversity center during the board of trustees meeting Feb. 3. The project is part of Herbert's wider plan of diversifying IU's student body, faculty and classroom curriculum.\n"IU has made progress over the past couple of weeks, but we need to intensify diversity activities on all campuses," Herbert said during the meeting. "This is a University-wide project. There is a need for diversity in every school and \nprogram."\nCharlie Nelms, vice president for student development and diversity, who will serve as the center's director, said a new diversity center would allow the University's achievements to be monitored, although the center will not be in charge of minority recruiting. \n"The admissions office will continue to (review all applicants)," he said. "What we want to do is monitor how well the University is achieving diversity. The center will enhance the University's ability to achieve."\nThe center will work to reflect diversity in classroom curricula by first spending time with students, staff and faculty this spring, Nelms said.\nBy holding diversity workshops and awareness seminars and appointing specialized advisory sub-groups, Herbert said he hopes to enhance cultural confidence for the entire IU community.\n"At their last meeting, the board of trustees gave us a very clear mandate of the diversity achievements they want followed through," Herbert said in a meeting. "This is not just a job for the president; it is a job for all of Indiana University." \nThe problem might go beyond the classroom. Some favor raising admission standards to enhance the University's status, while others are concerned that might have a negative impact on IUB's diversity. \n"I have no problem with ranking us among Wisconsin or Michigan, but we need to look at the student," IU trustee Cora Smith Breckenridge said. "There are many factors to be weighed in during admission."\nIU Student Association President Alex Shortle said those factors need to be looked at more seriously.\n"One of the fundamental jobs of a state school is to accurately represent the population of its state," he said. "We don't do that, and that's sad." \nAlthough administrators have acknowledged that IU has diversity issues, Nelms said it will not be the prerogative of the diversity center to attack the University.\n"We have to be collaborative with deans and all faculty units," he said. "We don't want to make assumptions about what's not happening."\nPlans for the diversity center are slated to be unveiled early this summer, Nelms said.
(02/02/06 6:15am)
Finalist candidates for the position as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences could be submitted as early as this coming spring. \nMonday's meeting of the COAS dean search committee led to an agreement between the members to set the goal for submissions to IU-Bloomington Interim Provost Michael McRobbie by May 15, a timeline committee chairperson and Dean of IU Law Lauren Robel said is purely aspirational. \n"We hope to be able to keep the search on time while providing opportunities for consultation with the relevant constituencies," she said.\nThis goal coincides with President Adam Herbert's wish to appoint a new dean by the next fall semester. The job will be officially vacant July 1, when current dean Kumble \nSubbaswamy leaves to become provost at the University of Kentucky.\nThe committee, which is already receiving nominations for the position, will be searching for candidates in and outside of IU. Memos were sent Wednesday to COAS faculty listing the committee members and asking for nominations. \nAll Bloomington faculty and staff will receive similar memos seeking nominations. Plans for a Web site to list the job announcement are also underway, Robel said. \nAmong the committee's plans are numerous \nmeetings with campus faculty organizations such as the Professional Staff Organization, the College Policy Committee, the College Alumni Board and the Dean's Advisory Board.\nRobel said the committee will do its best to stay on the agreed timeline as long as the committee is receiving nominations.\n"We agreed on this timeline, and we are going to do the best we can to keep on track," she said. "We think this is a fantastic position, and we are all dedicated to finding the right candidates for the job."\nThe first screening interviews are set to begin in March followed by the first session of on-campus interviews in April.
(01/27/06 5:26am)
Administration leaders shared valuable experience about dean selection processes Thursday during a meeting with the committee chosen to review candidates for the position of dean at the College of Arts and Sciences.\nThe group met with President Adam Herbert, IU Chancellor Ken Gros Louis and Interim Provost Michael McRobbie and was given its instructions by the trio.\n"The president spoke at the beginning of the meeting along with (Gros Louis) and (McRobbie) to give us advice based on their past experiences with searches such as these," said junior Elizabeth Henke, student representative to the committee.\nPresident Adam Herbert also spoke of the goals of the committee. It will be responsible for reviewing potential candidates and submitting a panel of finalists before administrators and the board of trustees. \n"The goal is to do an effective search for new dean," said committee member and Psychology professor Linda Smith. "We will consider both internal and external candidates and will ask for nominations of individuals to be considered for the position both from folks within the University and also nationally. \n"The president would like to hire someone to be here by fall 2006."\nThe finalists will be kept confidential, but Henke said she assumes finalists' names might be released once a final list is submitted. \nAlso submitted to the committee was a description of characteristics the group should be searching for in potential candidates, drafted by the current College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kumble Subbaswamy at the request of Gros Louis. Subbaswamy, who was not present at Thursday's meeting, will be leaving July 1 to take the provost position at the University of Kentucky. \nAlthough it was not confirmed if applications have already been received, Henke said that Gros Louis "spoke as if he had already received some," though no list was provided. As the only student representative on the committee, Henke said that among faculty members with an enormous amount of background and talent in the subject, her focus will be on candidates' potential contribution to students. \n"Obviously it is important to get a student's perspective on this issue since it affects them the most in the immediate future," she said. "Not only does the dean impact education and COAS's structure right now, they also have an integral role in planning where the University goes." \nThe committee will meet again Jan. 30 to discuss further plans to begin the applicant review process.
(01/26/06 6:02am)
Exactly nine years ago today, an Australian researcher boarded a plane and left his home on a national holiday. Now, that researcher, IU-Bloomington Interim Provost Michael McRobbie celebrates Australia Day 10,000 miles across the globe in Indiana. But the former Australian National University professor claims he has no qualms with the States so far.\n"I love it here," he said. "It's a great country and a great university." \nAfter overseeing the success of the information technology department by leading the development of the connective IU infrastructure, founding the pervasive technology labs and providing ample research and computing centers for students, McRobbie's leadership skills speak for themselves, said IU School of Informatics Dean Michael Dunn.\n"He put IU on the map as far as information technology is concerned," Dunn said. "I would expect to see someone like that in the new provost position."\nHaving held the position of vice president of information technology and research since 1997, McRobbie will be leaving the IT office to become the University's first interim provost.\nDunn met McRobbie during a sabbatical Dunn took in Australia in 1975, and the pair have known one another for over 30 years. When McRobbie informed his friend that he was considering a move to IU, Dunn said he strongly encouraged McRobbie to apply for the position as vice president of information technology. \nNow, almost 10 years later, Dunn still encourages McRobbie as an administrative leader. In addition to his most recent appointment to the interim provost position, some think McRobbie may continue to move up at IU.\n"I have heard the rumors too," said Dunn. "I have definitely seen presidential potential in him for sometime. I've always thought he would end up being a university president somewhere at some point. But of course he has his new job to focus on."\nNot disputing a possible presidency in the future, McRobbie says for now all he wants to do is carry out the plans of IU President Adam Herbert and the board of \ntrustees.\n"I've been given a huge job," he said. "I'm totally focused."\nAnd as of Feb. 1, McRobbie says some of that focus will be turned toward finding IU a recipe for global competitiveness. \n"We should be thinking about how we can compete for the best students and best faculty here at IU," he said. "If we raise the caliber of our students, we can raise the caliber of our degrees." \nMcRobbie said his former teaching experiences drove him to improve the quality of life and learning for students on campus. \n"I do miss the satisfaction of training students, but now I am involved in a different way," he said. "I was pulled into administration early on -- that's what I have a talent for. When I was working for the vice president for IT I wanted to improve the life of student researchers. Yes, the idea of super computing networks and pervasive technology labs is all very glamorous, but for the average student, they just want things to work."\nAlthough the provost position may seem far removed from student life, McRobbie said he plans to use a family experience as impetus for helping the student body. He said he was appalled when his daughter Josephine, now a IU senior, entered a Collins-Brown dorm room as a freshman that was in worse condition than his own first college dorm, and will use his position to examine the quality of student life at IU.\n"I will become heavily involved in issues concerning space," he said. "Over the next ten years the University is looking to make major expansions of space for education, research, and the overall facilities available to students." \nAs for future leadership available to the campus, Dunn says that he has heard numerous voices of support regarding McRobbie's new post. \n"I have talked to the (chief information officers) at other major universities," he said. "And they have told me that in their view he is the best there is"
(01/25/06 5:47am)
While some faculty members are pleased with the new provost position, others are frustrated after being left out of the discussion to shift some of the University's major administrative roles.\nFaculty members voiced their concerns Tuesday during the first Bloomington Faculty Council meeting held since the IU board of trustees voted to approve President Adam Herbert's restructuring plans. \n"This is a rather unusual meeting following a rather unusual period," BFC President Ted Miller said. "I have been a faculty member here for 30 years and there is no doubt in my mind that what happened was the most dramatic change I've seen."\nWith newly appointed Interim Provost Michael McRobbie present to engage in the group's discussion, the members of the BFC had questions concerning tenure, academic and research space, and budgeting decisions. But a majority of the questions involved the newly created positions and shifts in the chain of command.\n"What I see is a basic contradiction: We have a vice president for finance, but now we also have a provost in charge of budgeting," BFC member Robert Kravchuk said. "Either the roles are complimentary or one has to go.\n"Are they going to walk around with a three-foot string tied to one another?" \nFinding it difficult to give opinions on a subject that still provided so much confusion for them, some members said they found it frustrating that they were not consulted prior to the approval of Herbert's plans.\n"Changes should be made with due sensitivity to the impact they will have on academics," Kravchuk said. "These decisions were made entirely without consultation." \nMiller attempted to address faculty concerns during the meeting.\n"It's clear that there are lots of questions but there just aren't a lot of answers right now," he said. "So we need faculty point of view." \nProfessor Herbert Terry told fellow council members that a successful University-wide change would not be possible without proper input from faculty.\n"While we debate these issues, the board of trustees and president will be moving forward," he said. "Remember that we shook the president and trustees into leverage, but these things won't come out well if (the administration) doesn't have faculty input."\nThough faculty gave a mixed analysis of restructuring plans, one opinion appeared almost unanimous -- the position of provost as an officer completely focused on the Bloomington campus is an excellent investment to the University.\n"Because the other regional campuses have a say in who the IU president is, it's so hard to find someone totally focused on the Bloomington campus," BFC member Craig Bradley said. "At least now we have a say in who our provost will be; the other campuses don't."\nFinding optimism in the rapid changes, Miller said that in spite of unknowns, he believes the trustees are working to create a clear administrative operating system.\n"I think that these are very positive changes, but there are still questions that need to be asked," Miller said. "We hope to be very active in discussion with the administration regarding these changes"
(01/23/06 5:49am)
IU President Adam Herbert announced Friday that an academic search committee consisting of 10 faculty members will review potential candidates for the position of dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. \nThe committee, headed by IU School of Law Dean Lauren Robel, will review all applicants for the job and submit a list of recommended finalists to the president and newly appointed provost Michael McRobbie. \nThe announcement of the committee came just less than a week after the board of trustees accepted Herbert's proposal to reconstruct the University, a plan that implements rapid change.\nThe committee's first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, where President Herbert will announce his instructions for the search process, Robel said.\n"The board of trustees in their January meeting made it very clear that they wanted to move quickly in the reconstruction plans, and one of the key people to make this happen will be the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences," IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said. "The president is moving quickly to fill this position because it is what he and the board of trustees feel is necessary to do." \nThe position was left open after the current dean, Kumble Subbaswamy, announced he would be leaving IU in July for the position as provost at the University of Kentucky.\n"I think Dean Subbaswamy's excellent leadership has set the bar for his successor very high, but that is a good thing," Robel said. "We want someone who will continue to lead the College towards the highest level of excellence it can reach."\nIn addition to Robel, the committee's first scheduled meeting will include eight COAS faculty members and a student appointed by the IU Student Association. Student representative Elizabeth Henke is "highly qualified for the position," said IUSA President Alex Shortle. \n"She's a very focused and dedicated person -- something that is needed because this will take some long hours," he said. \nShortle said the fact that IU students will play a role in choosing the COAS dean was important to him. \n"Student involvement in roles such as these can bring a new focus to the search," he said. "(Students) can use their experience to really examine potential candidates on a different level than faculty can"
(01/17/06 6:50am)
The board of trustees approved proposals made by President Adam Herbert for a "reconstruction" of IU leadership and structure Saturday during an emergency meeting called by the IU-Bloomington faculty in response to growing criticism of Herbert's performance. \nSet to occur Feb. 1, the changes of executive leadership include the creation of the new position of provost and vice president for academic affairs on the Bloomington campus. IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis chancellor Charles Bantz was also named executive vice president of IU, and will report directly to the president and assist him with administrative issues as well monitoring all undergraduate academic programs and reviews. \nCalling for changes in the job descriptions of several executive positions, reporting relationships and academic standards, Herbert said in a recent letter to trustees that several issues must be addressed to enhance IU's operations. \nHowever, IU executives and faculty members will not be solely affected by the president's new proposal. New admission standards, as well as general education requirements, will be in place for the fall semester of 2008, changes IU Student Association President Alex Shortle said will better the articulation between schools and campuses.\n"When you're switching your major, you're not going to be retaking a lot of classes. You're not going to be taking a lot of different classes," he said. "All of them will be requiring the same basic classes and the same prerequisites so that up until maybe junior year you will be able to change majors without any real problem to help students graduate in four years." \nHerbert said he believes that "schools think they own their majors," causing him to call for the board of trustees to set general education requirements to disperse throughout all schools on campus.\nNew requirements and raised standards will allow IU the opportunity to seek out top Indiana students, said IU board of trustees President Stephen Ferguson in the board's official response to Herbert's proposal at the meeting.\n"We consider all of these actions absolutely necessary to address pressing issues. We also view them as the first steps in an ongoing process of analysis and transformation which we, as a board, believe is critical to IU's future," he said in the statement. \nThe trustees discussed Herbert's plans in a private morning meeting and Herbert presented them during the public meeting. \n"We must be prepared to run the University and through the support of the board we will collaborate to achieve these aspirations," Herbert said. "My hope is that you share my beliefs."\nExpressing his concerns about the role of chancellor on the Bloomington campus, Herbert said he believed eliminating the position and defining the president as the "clear leader of the campus" would satisfy the expectations of the trustees and IU faculty.\n"One of the fundamental realities is for the president to exercise those responsibilities that are requested would require a necessity that the role of the chancellor be diminished," Herbert said. "You cannot have two executive officers running one campus."\nIn another resolution the trustees passed, the dean of the Kelley School of Business will now report directly to the newly created position of provost on the Bloomington campus instead of the previous reporting relationship held with the chancellor of IUPUI. There is also a possible move of the School of Optometry from the Bloomington to the Indianapolis campus to join it with other health science schools. \nPreviously, the leadership modifications would have taken months to approve. But the board of trustees made a bold statement to move quickly in light of mounting irritations, said IU student trustee Casey Cox.\n"There was a lot of pent up frustration about things that should have been changed years ago. Now they have just manifested. We have been able to identify that we have to act now," he said. "That's why we have a board of trustees. This was the opportunity to change. That's what we all realized over the last few months."\nIn light of the board's decision not to review the president's job performance, Bloomington Faculty Council member Herbert Terry said time will tell if the proposed changes will ease faculty frustrations and concern.\n"Coming weeks will tell if tension is reduced or not," he said. "I believe a reduction is possible if everybody approaches the next few weeks with an open mind and if discussion and decisions proceed openly and transparently."\nAccenting the reality that time is of the essence, Ferguson said the board cannot allow its usual processes to stand in the way of acting rapidly.\n"If it isn't already obvious, I would close by noting that 'business as usual' is out the window at IU," he said. "We ask all of you to join us as we build a new future for Indiana University"
(12/06/05 5:20am)
IU researchers at the School of Informatics and the IU Community Grids Lab have received a $49,000 grant from Microsoft Smart Clients for eScience for a project that could potentially give the pharmaceutical world the boost it needs to propel toward advancements in medical treatments via drugs. \nThe project will entail the creation of a new Web service and intelligent agent-based system enabling chemists to make quicker and more informed decisions while developing new prospective drugs. \n"One of the big problems in the pharmaceutical industry at the moment is that technological developments such as High Throughput Screening (the biological screening of hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds in a short time for biological activity) have resulted in a huge increase in the amount of information generated," said David Wild, assistant professor of informatics and IU researcher. "And the existing mechanisms for processing that information haven't really scaled up."\nAccording to Wild's written proposal for the project, many scientists have to deal with large volumes of many kinds of information coming from diverse sources, with limited experience of how this information can most effectively be interpreted and applied when in the developing stages of new drugs. \nIU's project will allow drug discovery information to be automatically and intelligently organized on a computer and relevant information "pushed" to scientists, Wild said. \nMicrosoft's donated funds will also add to the already present grant of $500,000 given to IU by the National Institutes of Health to launch the Chemical Informatics and Cyberinfrastructure Collaboratory, a new field of informatics to merge computer applications with chemistry. The project for the new Web-based system is already underway and is a section of the CICC research. \nWith a prototype expected within one year, Wild said this project is only one in an array of medical related research studies. \n"In particular, the School of Informatics is heavily researching chemical bioinformatics, bioinformatics, health informatics and laboratory informatics. Our biggest strength is the multidisciplinary approach to these problems," he said. \nThe first serious study conducted on the subject, Wild said the researchers hope to be able to make the process of gathering the information necessary for early stage drug discovery much easier. By doing this, the process of procuring new drugs eligible to treat some of modern medicine's greatest diseases, such as cancer, could be greatly accelerated.
(12/01/05 12:55am)
A team of IU researchers from the School of Informatics came to an unexpected defense of major World Wide Web search engines with a recent study.\nThe findings contradict a popular view of the presence of a hierarchy among the engines, which suggests they cater to more predominant sites, known as the "Googlearchy" hypothesis. \n"The idea of the search engine bias has been around for a long time," IU School of Informatics researcher Filippo Menczer said. "Especially the views that the Googlearchy just makes popular pages more popular, particularly those with a lot of links."\nThe study, "The Egalitarian Effect of Search Engines," began after Menczer and team attended the annual World Wide Web conference. It was there that a paper done by researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles on the impact of Web search engines on page popularity first sparked Menczer's interest in the subject.\nUCLA's paper was the first to seriously study the possible existence of a Googlearchy among search engines and was particularly inspiring, Menczer said. \nExpecting to find evidence to further UCLA's claim of the reality of such a hierarchy, Menczer teamed with researchers and Informatics faculty members Santo Fortunato, Alessandro Flammini and Alessandro Vespignani. \n"When we set out to further the information of the UCLA study," Menczer said, "we didn't set out to contradict it. We just wanted to quantify it." \nBut after a six-month extension research period -- finally concluded this fall -- the data determined that the idea of a hierarchy among the engines is false, much to the surprise of the researchers. \n"We spent weeks on the data," Menczer said. "The more we looked the more we started to see something different." \nUsing famed search engines Google and Yahoo among others to secure data, the researchers found that highly trafficked sites were no more likely to appear continuously for entered queries than newer sites.\nAfter completion, the study stirred debates about the topic, something that didn't surprise Menczer.\n"If I would have read this data I would not have believed it at first," he said.\nAwaiting the acceptance of their study's appearance at this year's World Wide Web conference, Menczer said they are ready for a follow-up study.\n"We are also seeking some key funding from IU to help us develop this into a main research project, which would allow us to connect more data," he said.\nAnd it is IU's environment that will contribute to the project, Menczer said.\n"We have a very unique combination of expertise at IU," he said. "We can go beyond just the technical studies to see how this will affect people's lives and the effect it will have on the social implications of the Web"
(11/18/05 3:45pm)
IU's fifth annual GIS Day mapped its way to the Indiana Memorial Union's Frangipani Room Thursday, celebrating and informing the IU community about one of the country's fastest-growing information technology fields. \nRepresentatives from the Indiana Geological Survey, an applied research institution of IU, the IU Geology Library and the City of Bloomington's Information Technology department gathered at the conference to share the numerous uses of the geographic information and imaging systems and global positioning system. \nRuss Goodman, representative of the City of Bloomington Information Technology department, said Mapping is the biggest usage of the technology today, as well as tracking devices in cell phones and navigation systems in vehicles.\n"People don't always realize how much they use the GIS or GPS technology on a daily basis," he said. "Cell phones, Map Quest and Google Earth all use the GIS and GPS systems."\nBloomington Information Technology has developed a Web site using the GIS system to create different visuals of the city itself and divided them into bike routes, and city, neighborhood and parking planning maps. \nAlso present at this year's GIS Day were representatives from IU's Indiana Geological Survey, creators of a popular Web site offering different visuals of the state of Indiana categorizing population, geography, spatial data and even environmental conditions. \nImplemented in the late 1990s, the Web site's hits reached 1 million this October, said Paul Irwin, GIS and database systems analyst. \n"We have almost 200 layers of interactive Web sites," Irwin said. "We put our data out there and we aren't always sure how people use it." \nAlthough the usage possibilities are almost endless, Irwin said, putting information about different areas and characteristics of Indiana is a security risk -- one they must think about when introducing a new layer to the Web base. \n"We have had to pull a couple of layers in the past about the geology of Indiana," Irwin said. \nAs a fast-growing information technology field, GIS systems are now making an appearance in higher education institutions across the nation. In fact, IU now offers several courses which implement or are directed to GIS systems. \nThere is a large value for those in the fields of business as well as public affairs and environmental sciences for those who can manage people who specialize in GIS, IU associate professor of Geography Tom Evans said. \nAlthough some institutions around the country offer a certificate in GIS, Evans doesn't expect a similar program at IU for another three to five years. \n"IU has a lot of researchers using GIS," he said. "It has much less recognition in the undergraduate programs than in the graduate programs, but it is being made much easier to use"
(11/16/05 10:54pm)
IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis and committee will soon evaluate the School of Informatics and its effects on the IU-Bloomington campus, as ordered by President Adam Herbert as part of the effort to maintain the momentum of the position of IUB chancellor.\nNearly five years old, the School of Informatics was the first new school to be added to the Bloomington campus since the founding of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs 30 years ago, said Neil Theobald, vice chancellor for budgetary administration and planning. The assessment will look at how the school has met its initial goals, whether these goals are still the right ones five years later and what impact of the school has had on campus. \n"This is a committee that the president and I discussed some time ago and that I have also discussed with the (Bloomington Faculty Council's) agenda committee," Gros Louis said.\nThe evaluation committee appointed by Gros Louis consists of administration members and representatives from several IU schools. Pat Baude of the IU School of Law has agreed to serve as committee chair. Representatives from the School of Informatics will be chosen by Dean Michael Dunn. \nThe evaluation also comes to help lay the groundwork for the school's search for a new dean of informatics, as Dunn plans to retire in the summer of 2007, Theobald said. \n"Before the campus begins its search for his successor, it seems appropriate to assess the school's needs, as well as its successes, in order to determine the attributes we will seek in the next dean," he said.\nThe evaluation should be completed in the spring so it is available to the committee conducting the search for the new informatics dean, Theobald said. The evaluation will help shape the job description for the next dean. The search will begin in the fall of 2006. \nAwaiting the beginning of the evaluation, Joe Stuteville, media relations coordinator for the School of Informatics, said the school is looking forward to showing its contributions to the IU community. \n"We believe (the impact) has been pretty significant. We were the first informatics school in the United States," he said. "We have watched our \nenrollment grow from zero to 1,500 and have graduated 600 students to date."\nStuteville also believes the school's other "milestones" will bring positive feedback from the evaluation committee.\n"During our five years here at IU, we have successfully merged the computer science department into the school (completed last July)," he said. "We are also the first school in the nation to have a doctorate degree in informatics." \nWith a list of accomplishments, Stuteville feels confident that an evaluation will only reinforce the good work the school has done in the past five years.\n"The school's goal is be a leader in the information technology education field. I think we've done that," Stuteville said. "This only benefits research technology in a university environment. That's what IU has strived for -- to be a leader in research"