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(01/08/08 5:45am)
IU psychology research associate Sherry Shu-Jung Hu was just beginning her graduate work in psychology at Brown University in 2000 when she became frustrated by of an unfruitful laboratory and the stresses of marriage and school.\nReady to quit her graduate work and move back to Taiwan, she went to the office of then-chairman of the psychology department J. Michael Walker. There, she met a man who would change the rest of her life.\nNow, seven years later, she and the rest of the team at the IU’s Walker Lab are coping with the recent death of Walker, a man they affectionately nicknamed “Michael the Don,” a reference to one of his favorite movies, “The Godfather.”\nWalker, an IU psychology professor, died Saturday night of natural causes. \nAfter her meeting with Walker, Hu became a regular in Walker’s lab, where she continued her work under his guidance.\n“He’s like my father in my heart,” Hu said.\nWhile she was still at Brown, Hu had a baby girl, to whom she gave the middle name “Michelle” in honor of Walker.\nHe inspired Hu so much that in 2004, when he was moving his laboratory to IU, she was one of five students that made the trip with him, she said.The Walker Lab is now used by 16 researchers who all found guidance under Walker, who was involved in many different areas in the psychology department as the Gill Chair and Director of the Neuroscience Program.\nRobert de Ruyter, Walker’s colleague on the Gill Board, will remember how Walker approached life each day.\n“He was irreverent,” Ruyter said. “He didn’t take all things too seriously. He had a nice, quirky way of looking at things, especially other people’s self-importance.”\nAssistant Psychology Professor Heather Bradshaw also met Walker at Brown and decided to make the move to IU with him.\nBradshaw said that, scientifically, Walker will be remembered for his innovation and willingness to experiment.\n“(Walker) tried not to do what everyone else was doing and be daring,” she said.\nBradshaw said researchers at IU will make sure Walker’s work is continued.\n“Many of us are committed to finishing things he started with us,” she said. “People want to not let die the research he spent his life doing.”\nHu said Walker was also one of the most generous people she had ever met. It is common for students to attend a scientific conference each year, she said, but Walker would encourage students to attend as many as they wanted, sometimes paying for them out of his own pocket.\nLast January, Hu was working on her dissertation for her doctorate at Brown University. Walker helped her along the way by making sure she was prepared for her presentation.\nHe accompanied her on the plane back to Brown where it all began. To Hu’s surprise, Walker held a banquet in her honor at a luxurious Italian restaurant that night, inviting her friends and colleagues.\n“He sees his students as people,” Hu said. “He sees our value as a person and cares about our lives.”\nBradshaw said she is still in disbelief about Walker’s sudden death.\n“I still haven’t even had a chance to breathe,” Bradshaw said. “I just assumed I was going to have a mentor for my scientific career. Now I don’t. It’s shattering.”
(01/07/08 5:21am)
An IU psychology professor was found dead in his apartment Saturday night around the 200 block of North Walnut Street, Sgt. Daniel Carnes said, reading from a Bloomington police report.\n J. Michael Walker, 57, was pronounced dead in his residence at 11:10 p.m. after he failed to respond to Bloomington Police Department officers, Chief Deputy Coroner Nicole Meyer said. Meyer said Walker appeared to have died of natural causes and no foul play is suspected. \nPolice were initially called to Walker’s apartment after they received a call from a colleague of Walker’s, who was concerned about Walker’s health after he canceled an appointment, Carnes said.\nWalker was the Linda and Jack Gill Chair of Neuroscience and Director of the Gill Center for Biomolecular Science and Program in Neuroscience.\nHe graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from IU in 1973 and received his doctorate from Ohio State University in 1979.\nAccording to his lab’s Web site, Walker was currently doing research on molecular mechanisms of pain.
(01/07/08 4:18am)
While students flocked away from Bloomington for the holidays, they left behind a pretty calm and peaceful area, said Indiana State Police Cpl. James Valentine.\nBloomington District 33, which includes Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe and Owen counties, reported four property damage crashes and four DUI citations between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.\nValentine said the fact that New Year’s Eve fell on a Monday night benefited the police officers because people get less time off of work to party than if it fell on a Friday night, Valentine said.\nAlthough District 33 uses federal grant money to add patrols during the weekends of Christmas, the department reported no major criminal activity over the winter break.\n“You never really can fully predict what the holidays will bring,” Valentine said. “This time we were pretty fortunate.”
(11/29/07 4:35am)
The IU Ethics Bowl team will compete at the national competition in February after winning the regional contest in Indianapolis two weeks ago.\nIU will be one of 32 teams vying for the national title, attempting to win it for the first time in four years.\nSponsored by the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at IU, the team receives 15 real-world scenarios about a variety of public policies six weeks before the competition and formulates a stance on each different issue, said team coach Robert Crouch, a research assistant for the Poynter Center.\nSome of the issues students tackled in the regional competition included Iraqi translators, churches serving as polling places and undergraduate tuition rates.\nSenior Megan Robb has been on the team for three years and said they discuss “the most salient ethical issues” in their meetings.\n“Part of our job is figuring out what the crucial ethical tensions are and how we stand on those,” she said.\nRobb is one of three returning members from last year’s team. Crouch said experience is valuable and allows members to bring a broader range of studies and experiences to the table.\n“The people with more experience know what is and what is not a good strategy to take,” he said.\nThe team meets several times a week to discuss the cases. Each of the five members has primary responsibility for summarizing the major stakeholders and tensions for three different cases. The team takes turns debating each case and finalizing a stance, senior Neil Shah said.\nCrouch said the members put in a lot of practice time outside official meetings and establish a bond.\n“It’s intense. We have six weeks and we meet 10 hours a week,” he said. “There’s a certain camaraderie that develops.”\nShah said the ethics bowl allows him an opportunity to practice much needed skills. \n“It’s a great way for me to keep up with my speaking skills and my argumentative skills,” Shah said. “But more importantly, it improves our ability to think critically and develop nuanced and complex arguments.\nCrouch said the best members bring a wide variety of knowledge and a strong ability for public speaking.\n“The ability to think broadly and see multiple perspectives is key, as well as being able to confidently and clearly articulate a position,” he said.\nThe national competition will consist of the top four teams from each regional contest. \nCrouch said the team will prepare the same for nationals as it did for the previous competitions.\n“Maybe we’ll put in more hours, but in terms of a strategy, nothing will change,” he said.
(11/07/07 4:59am)
Shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, David Sabbagh announced that he conceded the mayoral election to incumbent Mayor Mark Kruzan in a room full of Monroe County Republicans at their headquarters in the Fountain Square \nMall ballroom.\n“We did everything we could,” he said. “I don’t know what we could do differently.”\nSabbagh told the crowd of Republicans they must continue to run strong campaigns against the Democrats. He thanked those who helped him throughout his campaign, including his supporters and his wife, Linda.\n“We have to have a viable opposition. We absolutely cannot be a one-party town,” Sabbagh said, triggering applause from the crowd. “Then we’ve given up on Bloomington, and we can’t do that.”\nVolunteer coordinator for Sabbagh’s campaign Ana Ivey said when she went to the polls she saw low voter turnout, which she said is a bad sign for Bloomington politics.\n“Politics in Monroe County have been taken for granted,” Ivey said. “A lot of Republicans have given up on \nthe city.”\nShe said the Republicans in Monroe County are going to have to keep trying to correct the misperception of what a Republican is.\n“They think the city is a Democratic bastion, no matter what we do,” she said.\nRepublican Mike Trotzke said he knows some Democrats that are weary of a dominating party in Bloomington politics.\n“Even if you are a staunch Democrat, there’s a logical concern to one party having complete autonomy,” \nTrotzke said.\nSabbagh said that although he isn’t going to Disney World, he’s going to take some \ntime off.\n“My last political ambition was to be mayor of Bloomington, and obviously that’s not going to happen,” \nhe said.\nSabbagh said the campaign was intense and took a lot out of him.\n“It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done,” he said. “It takes all your life.”
(11/06/07 4:29am)
Indiana’s exports increased by more than 5 percent in 2006 and are on track to increase by another 10 percent this year, according to a report released by the Kelley School of Business’ Indiana Business Research Center two weeks ago.\nLast year Indiana exported a record $22.6 billion worth of goods and products to countries around the world, and could increase that figure by another $3 billion this year, according to the report, which was created for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Author of the report Timothy Slaper said exports boost the economy, but the report also showed the Indiana economy’s vulnerabilities.\nAn increase in exports has a direct effect on Indiana’s Gross Domestic Product and economic growth, Slaper said. He compared exported products to tourism because they provide money from outside the state that gets into the Indiana economy.\n“An increase in exports boosts states’ econom(ies) and is a great thing,” he said. “That seems somewhat self-evident to me.”\nThese numbers point to the power of globalization on Indiana’s economy, \nSlaper said.\n“You get a sense that a lot of labor (unions are) anti-globalization,” he said, pointing to the fear that globalization may take jobs away from some industries. \nHowever, Slaper said those jobs shift to different industries such \nas exportation. \n“That’s just the nature of the economy,” \nhe added.\nAccording to the report, one in every six manufacturing jobs in Indiana is devoted to exports. About 45 percent of Indiana’s exports are vehicles, parts and machinery.\nWhen a state gets too concentrated in one sector it should decrease its dependency on it, just in case that industry declines, Slaper said.\n“The degree to which we as Hoosiers are dependent on certain parts of the economy gives us a sense of our vulnerabilities,” he said.
(11/05/07 5:01am)
As students filed into the State Room East at the Indiana Memorial Union for last week’s IU College Republicans meeting, the first person stood up to speak: mayoral candidate David Sabbagh.\nSabbagh attended the Oct. 29 meeting to ask the students for their support and energy as his campaign entered its final days.\nDavid White, chairman of the College Republicans, said Sabbagh has been extremely supportive of the group, attending a handful of meetings since last semester.\n“He’s actually done more for us than we’ve done for him in some ways,” White said.\nWhite and other members went door-to-door over the weekend \ntrying to rally support for Sabbagh in Tuesday’s mayoral election, saying that current mayor Mark Kruzan needs to be ousted.\n“(Kruzan) is not the dictator of Bloomington,” White said. “David Sabbagh can win if enough people want different leadership.”\nSabbagh has worked as one of few Republicans on the Bloomington City Council. White pointed to this as proof of his determination.\nBut White said he’s skeptical of straight ticket voters.\n“(If) it comes down to voting by party lines, he will lose every time,” White said. “He does what he believes in even though he knows he’s not going to win in a room full of Democrats.”\nWhite said he respects Sabbagh’s won’t-back-down stance.\nSophomore and events coordinator J.T. Mackey said he believes Sabbagh will provide growth for Bloomington’s economy.\n“The job growth in Bloomington is poor and student graduates can’t find jobs in Bloomington,” Mackey said. “Bloomington needs to work to offer incentives to larger sized businesses to employ the population. If the leadership for the past three years hasn’t done it, we need to look to the other side of the aisle.”\nSophomore and press secretary Chelsea Kane agreed that Sabbagh would help increase the number of available jobs for graduates.\n“There needs to be an impetus for staying here, but the job opportunities are pretty limited for those with a degree,” Kane said.\nWhoever the next mayor is, White said, will need to work on making IU more accessible and attractive to outsiders, in part, by utilizing the future expansion of Interstate-69.\nThe College Republicans identified other key issues not being talked about in the elections.\nWhite, a second year law student, said he would like to see the city take students into concern with its policies, specifically taxes on alcohol.\n“We are not an economic resource for the city – we are partners,” White said. “We need to see that the taxes we pay benefit us too.”\nSophomore and group secretary Cassie Alderson said she would like to see the lighting in the city improved to increase safety for female students.\n“What has Mark Kruzan done for us?” Alderson said. “I’ve been here for over three years and the city hasn’t done anything to help students.”
(10/26/07 3:23am)
One of only three known books documenting the beginning of the Bavarian tradition of Oktoberfest now belongs to IU’s Lilly Library.\nThe first-edition book by Andreas Michael von Dall ‘Armi arrived at the Lilly Library last week. It was purchased from New York book dealer Martayan Lan, who said in an e-mail that the only two other known copies are in Germany.\nCurator of Books for the Lilly Library Joel Silver said that while the library receives many offers for rare books, it only buys those that fit in well with the collections and are in good condition.\n“This one was one that interested us,” Silver said. “There are other books we get offered, but don’t fit in as well.”\nSilver said the library currently has a strong collection of food, drink and European history books, which will complement the new addition.\nMartayan Lan said the book details the first Bavarian harvest festival in 1810, which centered around a 30-horse race that was followed by a feast.\nThe tradition is still celebrated in Munich, Germany, where every fall people from around the world meet for the Bavarian celebration.\nLast year graduate student Sonja Rother went to Oktoberfest, which she says is known for its excessive amounts of beer and partying.\n“It was awesome,” Rother said. “I would love to go again this year. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere. You just meet so many new people.”\nRother added that it is the most popular celebration in Germany. The 16-day event is the largest public festival in the world. \n“It’s not just regional, but everyone knows about it,” she said. “And you don’t have that in other cities – where people come from all over the world.”\nSilver said the Lilly Library acquires about 1,000 books per year. Despite the rarity of the Oktoberfest book, it was one of the library’s medium-priced acquisitions.\nTroy Byler, a Department of Germanic Studies professor, said having the original text is advantageous to researchers.\n“It’s always a prize to have the original text,” Byler said. “You can tell things from the typeset or the margins that are subtleties in the original printing that get lost in the subsequent printings.”\nThe book is currently being catalogued before being housed in the closed stacks at Lilly Library. Silver said anyone can come into the “reading room” and request to see it.
(10/24/07 4:01am)
Each day numerous classes are held at Swain Hall West and hundreds of students walk through its halls, yet there is a room few know about that opens the door to galaxies and stars billions of light years away.\nWhile sitting in the Remote Observing Center, IU professors can access the WIYN Telescope in Tucson, Ariz., a part of the Kitt Peak National Observatory.\nBecause IU owns a 17 percent share of the WIYN Observatory, professors and students can use the telescope to research stars and galaxies, providing them new research opportunities.\n“Individual universities rarely have the resources to build something themselves,” said Catherine Pilachowski, chair of the astronomy department. “It means we can do research in ways we couldn’t do before.”\nIU has partial ownership of two telescopes operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, IU, Yale University and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. They all share ownership and research time at the facility.\nThe universities financed the construction of WIYN in 1994 and now the National Optical Astronomy Observatory pays for most of its operating costs.\nThis partnership of public and private universities and national organizations was the first of its kind, said WIYN Director George Jacoby.\n“If you have access to your own private facility then your faculty have a leg up and your students have a tremendous advantage,” Jacoby said.\nAssistant astronomy professor Katherine Rhode said WIYN serves as a good example for this type of partnership.\n“It’s been more commonplace, but the WIYN Consortium is often put forth as a really good example of how that can work,” she said. “The WIYN projects show how coming together can benefit everyone involved.”\nAlthough IU has its own telescope at the Kirkwood Observatory, those in Arizona offer better observations.\nPilachowski said the atmosphere allows for better observations in Tucson, which is 7,000 feet above sea level and experiences less cloudy weather than other parts of the country.\nThe WIYN telescope is also about 10 times larger than the telescopes in Bloomington, offering researchers a chance for much larger and more detailed observations, Pilachowski said.\nBecause of the technology, researchers can also access the WIYN Telescope without the hassle of traveling across the country.\nJacoby said it has been his experience that universities actually go to Tucson about half the time. \nWhile anyone can apply for research time on telescopes like WIYN, IU is guaranteed time each semester because of its partial ownership. \n“The fact that IU has access to WIYN is fantastic for astronomy and astrophysics,” Rhode said. “It helps us produce more thesis students who are guaranteed to have a better product.”
(10/19/07 3:27am)
The cheers for Hip Hop ConnXion: the Sequel began before they even took the stage last night as part of the Student Alumni Association’s annual “Yell Like Hell” student performance contest.\nAbout 350 people watched seven different student organizations showcase their dancing, singing and acting abilities starting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Alumni Hall. Four faculty members judged the performances in three areas: use of the theme “Rock the House,” appearance and costumes, props and crowd response. The top three groups earn points for the Homecoming Grand Champion contest sponsored by the IU Alumni Association.\nHip Hop ConnXion didn’t disappoint, taking first after not placing last year.\n“This year we came out stronger,” said IU alumnus Mark Clarke, a dancer in the group. “It feels wonderful. It wasn’t even about the competition, but it was a great way to end the night. And it was a great first performance of the season.”\nJudge Eric Love, director of diversity education, said the Hip Hop ConnXion’s wide range of dance impressed him.\n“They did a lot of different dance styles,” he said. “It was sort of nontraditional and it was great. The shear number – they had so many people on stage dancing in unison. It was impressive.”\nClarke said Hip Hop ConnXion has danced in Chicago and even for the Indiana Pacers three times. To him, the most important thing is enjoying the performance.\n“It’s a good time,” he said. “It’s something we all love to do. As long as we entertain the crowd, we’ve done our job.”\nAnother dance group, IU Essence, took second place. Sophomore Yannicka Ghoston danced last year when the group placed third.\n“We were hoping we were going to take it home, but we still really killed it. We are going to win next year. We’re moving our way up.”\nThird place went to IU Student Foundation, whose skit featured someone playing “Guitar Hero” to Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town” and Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” Their skit finished with someone chasing a Penn State lion off stage with a chair.\nTwo a capella groups, Ladies First and Straight No Chaser, were asked to perform during the contest.\nSome of the loudest cheers of the night were for Straight No Chaser’s song about “Facebook stalking,” which was a crowd favorite that depicted college students online social obsession.\nStraight No Chaser’s Andrew Landau said the song was written and recorded in one night.\n‘It’s our traditional closing piece now,” Landau said of the Facebook song. “I just want to make it clear how honored we are to be asked to be here.”\nAn impersonated Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber made a surprise appearance during IU Student Athletic Board’s performance which was a take off of MTV’s “Next” and featured various colleges being turned down by the host. Weber’s pleas for a certain basketball player were met with a “Next” from the host, who added, “Eric is with us now.”\nLove said he enjoyed the performances but found it hard judge them.\n“All the acts were great,” he said. “It’s hard to judge something like this, but someone has to be the winner.”
(10/19/07 3:24am)
A Purdue University research organization has received $8.9 million to reach out to struggling military families in Indiana.\nLilly Endowment Inc. announced last week that it gave Purdue’s Military Family Research Institute a grant to study how to best meet the needs of military families in Indiana on key issues such as dealing with deployment and adjusting to life after service.\nThe grant comes just six weeks before Indiana’s 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will be mobilized before being deployed to Iraq in early 2008.\nPurdue Military Family Research Institute Director Shelly MacDermid said almost one-fourth of Indiana’s 14,000 National Guard members will be deployed.\n“Obviously there is a lot of work to be done,” she said. “But it also means that this grant comes at a very good time, and we are going to try to make ourselves useful.”\nThe grant will focus on the needs of military families before, during and after deployment, identifying and providing personal assistance to veterans and educating professionals on the special needs of combat veterans and their families.\nMacDermid said soldiers need help in areas such as physical and mental health, finding regular jobs and readjusting to everyday life.\n“They face a list of issues that they may not be getting help with,” said Gretchen Wolfram, communications director for Lilly Endowment Inc. She added that one of the institute’s main focuses is giving professionals and volunteers close to the families information on how to deal those specific problems.\n“A lot of people who want to help might not know how to do it,” Wolfram said.\nThe research institute at Purdue was opened in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Defense and is the only one of its kind, MacDermid said.\n“Up to now we’ve had a global mission,” she said. “We haven’t had a lot of funding which allows us to focus on our own state.”\nThe grant is part of a larger, four-part effort by the Lilly Endowment Inc., which will donate almost $20 million to help address special needs of veterans and their families, Wolfram said. Other grant recipients include the Indiana National Guard Relief Fund. \nWolfram said the Lilly Endowment has given to the relief fund for three years but has been looking for other ways to help veterans. \nShe said the main goal is to help stop veterans from disappearing into normal lives when they come back without receiving the proper care.\n“These families are out of sight, out of mind, but their needs are there,” she said.
(10/10/07 3:22am)
For the fourth year in a row, the Princeton Review ranked the Kelley School of Business MBA program among the top in the country.\nThe report, released Sunday, ranked the program first for “Best Classroom Experience,” second for “Best Professors” and “Best Campus Facilities” and fourth for “Most Family Friendly.” \nThe Princeton Review report consists of 11 categories, 10 of which were at least partially based on surveys filled out by 19,000 students from 290 business schools across the country.\nThe Kelley School of Business is accustomed to high national rankings, but James Wahlen, chairman of the MBA program, said that’s not what the school is about.\n“(Rankings) don’t define who we are or what we do,” Wahlen said. “We appreciate the rankings, but we don’t try to fine-tune our program to improve them – we can’t control them.”\nPeter Kuo, director of the MBA student government association and second-year graduate student, said a collaborative learning environment is the reason why the Kelley School got first in the “Best Classroom Experience” category.\nWhile Kuo described professors at other universities as being in “ivory towers,” unavailable to students, he said professors at the Kelley School are very open to students both academically and socially.\n“In the free flow of ideas you get such a diverse and broad range of ideas and experiences,” Kuo said. “And that makes it so special.”\nThis year, the MBA program saw enrollment increase 16 percent from last year, Wahlen said.\n“That says a lot more about our program than any particular ranking,” he added.\nA few weeks ago, a Wall Street Journal report ranked Kelley fifth in regional business schools, 10 spots higher than its 2006 ranking. BusinessWeek magazine ranked the school 18th nationwide and sixth-best among public schools. \nRankings are simply the outcome of hard work said Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School \nof Business.\n“We are always raising the bar in terms of our expectations of ourselves,” Smith said. “We are never content with how we are doing. We don’t do things for the rankings. Rather, our focus is on constant innovation and improvement, and if we do that, the rankings should \ncarry themselves.”
(09/26/07 4:12am)
IU President Michael McRobbie might not be a professor in the traditional sense, but that didn’t stop him from assigning homework to his newly formed Vision of the Ideal College Environment committee at the IU-Bloomington and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campuses last Wednesday.\nMcRobbie announced the formation of a student steering committee that will submit reports in the spring on various aspects of student life. The steering committee will lead five subcommittees focused on specific areas, including the intellectual and social environments, on- and off-campus housing and student support services.\nChairman of the steering committee Alex Shortle said he has been given the task of “(defining) the ideal student experience today and identify areas of weakness.”\nIU Director of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said VOICE is the president’s attempt to hear student opinions on the present and future issues of IU, “because (students) have a different perspective than the president’s generation.”\nShortle sees this as a chance to encourage student involvement and positive relations with the new president.\n“(McRobbie) wants to utilize the student voice,” Shortle said. “Is this an example of him going forward? Hopefully. I think if we produce something substantial, he will continue to use students in the planning of the University.”\nShortle said the steering committee’s report will come from the work and suggestions of the specialized subcommittees.\nIU Dean of Students Dick McKaig made recommendations to McRobbie, who chose the steering committee comprised of nine Bloomington undergraduates, Shortle said. Thirty students have been selected for the subcommittees, although Shortle added that they want to involve as many students as possible. Students wishing to get involved should contact McKaig. \nVOICE will go into effect at both IUB and IUPUI because the two are the largest of IU’s eight campuses, MacIntyre said.\nShortle said the VOICE committee’s purpose has not been specifically defined, giving the members freedom to act as they see necessary.\n“It’s not very explicit,” Shortle said. “It’s open and that’s how they want it.”
(09/26/07 1:41am)
The video-sharing Web site YouTube has been everywhere lately, from presidential debates, to Saturday Night Live and even the cover of TIME magazine. Its next stop will be IU.\nThe Office of Creative Services announced last week that it will be sponsoring a video contest, through the popular video Web site, in conjunction with its inaugural “Celebrate IU Week.” \nThe contest is simple: Create a one-minute video essay about why students love IU, said Dave Harper, interactive art director for the Office of Creative Services.\n“It’s pretty wide open,” Harper said of the content of the videos, adding that students just need to show “what they are passionate about – why they are going to this school.”\nThe Union Board is also sponsoring the contest, which will be judged by representatives from the two departments that will select a winner and runner-up.\nPrizes will include Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello tickets and a tailgating catering package for 10, according to a press release.\nStudents from any of IU’s eight campuses are eligible for the contest, which ends Oct. 12.\nSubmissions must be made through the University’s YouTube group “Celebrate IU.”\nHarper said the contest is an attempt to use the Internet to get students aware and involved with the first annual “Celebrate IU Week,” a festival that starts Oct. 13.\n“We thought we would try to capitalize on that momentum and get more buzz,” Harper said. \nThe Office of Creative Services recently used YouTube to promote another of its programs – five videos centered on the theme of “Hello, my name is Indiana University,” which showcased different aspects of the University through specific students.\nHarper said universities are taking advantage of the Internet to reach viewers because it is becoming the easiest way to get the attention of young people.\n“We’re trying to go where users and the audiences are going,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to reach as many people as we can.”
(09/14/07 5:00am)
This scene unfolds before each of IU’s home football games and has come to overshadow the game itself, as many don’t attend afterward. \n“I just came to party,” said junior Brian Kesselman before the Sept. 1 game against Indiana State. He said his motivation is common among tailgaters.\nBut this mind-set angers some loyal fans who want the focus to be football and not pregame parties.\n“I think it’s crappy,” said freshman Samantha Budnik. “If you’re willing to come out here you should go to the game.”\nIU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger said alcohol is a problem at every event where there is a high concentration of people.\nMinger added that every football game has some type of alcoholic incident, including the opening-day game on Sept. 1 when officers were making arrests as early as four hours before kickoff.\n“The responsibility we have at a football game is the same as any other event,” Minger said. “We look for incidents involving illegal activity or something that comes to bear on the safety and security of the people or property.”\nWith the passing of IU football coach Terry Hoeppner this summer, fan support means more than just crowd attendance to some loyal IU fans.\n“What makes me disappointed is that coach Hep always wanted the stadium full and we never did,” said senior Nick Brewer. “I want to fill the stadium for him as a memorial.”\nBrewer is not alone in his tribute to the former coach. The dismantling of Indiana State attracted 1,500 more people than last year’s average attendance.\nSenior Brian Monarch has been a season ticket holder for four years and has seen student attendance rise under Hoeppner.\n“It’s been getting better – more people are coming, but since Hep died I don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” Monarch said, adding bluntly, “People would rather be drunk.”\nLow fan turnout has been common for IU, which ranks 10th in the Big Ten and 69th of the 119 Division I schools for average attendance in 2006, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association.\nThis might be partially due to the high number of students who support the team without ever entering the stadium.\nSenior Sarah Stonehouse said she requests off work on Saturdays so she won’t miss the tailgate.\n“It’s really important to tailgate and support IU’s football team,” Stonehouse said. “We’re here for a reason. The football players all know even if we’re not in the stadium there are like a thousand people outside supporting them.”\nMany students who don’t attend the game say they still root the team to victory regardless of where they are.\n“We’re all here to support Indiana, if you go to the game or not,” said freshman Logan Engels.\nIU football has not gone to a bowl game for 13 years and has not had a winning season since 1993, and to many students this is a part of the problem, but to others, such as sophomore Sean Barth, this is added incentive to help the team succeed.\n“Everyone comes here to tailgate,” Barth said. “People see it as going to a losing cause. But if they went to the games like they did for basketball then we would win for the same reason.”\nDespite any repercussions, tailgating does not appear to be going anywhere soon. In fact, it seems to have cemented its place among the students’ most popular traditions, which senior Samantha Tinsley said is a large reason students continue to attend.\n“It’s why you go to IU,” she said. “It’s fun to go to IU because everyone loves it. It’s a big part of the school. It’s a sense of unity. You go to college to find yourself, but you also go to find who you are going to hang out with.”
(09/10/07 4:38am)
IU professor and physicist Hans-Otto Meyer remembers a year ago when his colleagues in Germany said they were nominating him for an award, but admits he largely forgot about it.\nNeedless to say, Meyer was caught off guard when he learned that he had received the prestigious Humboldt Research Award for his lifetime achievements in nuclear physics.\n“I am proud that something I did in my research was recognized by someone; work that actually had some practical implications,” Meyer said.\nThe Alexander von Humboldt Foundation annually honors up to 100 scientists and scholars, giving them $80,000 in prize money as well as an invitation to travel to Germany and work with colleagues on any research project they choose.\nIn November, Meyer will put the money to use when he travels to a research center in Julich, Germany. \nMeyer said thorough research holds the key to unanswered questions in physics.\n“What is going to happen?” Meyer asked. “We don’t know. It is possible that someone will stumble upon something that is really breathtaking like we have in the past. But you will not stumble upon these things if you do not do the research in the first place.”\nMeyer, who was born in Switzerland, first studied mathematics at the University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland, but changed his course of study to physics after taking a few physics courses for his minor.\nHe said the University of Basel had a strong nuclear physics program while he was there. His studies led him to the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the University of Washington at Seattle before he finally came to IU in 1978.\nThe physics department had an experimental piece of equipment called the IU Cyclotron Facility, which Meyer would become well-known for using.\n“It was called a Cooler,” Meyer said. “It was unique and it produced experiments that were pioneering.”\nMeyer describes the IU Cyclotron Facility as a storage ring for protons where electron beams improve the quality of photon beams, which can then be used to measure observations important to nuclear physics.\n“Meyer attracted other physicists to the laboratory and generated more ideas for new experiments than could be exploited,” IU Cyclotron Facility Associate Director Edward Stephenson said in a news release. “He traveled the world describing the new results, bringing them to the attention of physicists everywhere.”
(08/31/07 4:01am)
It is a dimly lit room coated with lime green walls and lined with antiques and vases. Sixties-style furniture finished with green and orange paint fills the room while a typewriter, fondue set and rotary dial phone are scattered throughout.\nNo, this is not the worst designed dorm room on campus, but rather one of the many exhibits on display at the William Hammond Mathers Museum of World Cultures.\nThe museum has been helping Bloomington residents understand more about different cultures since it was started in 1983.\n“We are all a part of one larger community,” said the museum’s assistant director, Judy Kirk. “All humans share one thing: we are creatures of culture, who we are depends on our cultural traditions.”\nKirk and the museum staff want visitors to get a sense of the common threads that bind people together, regardless of culture or background.\n“When they come to the museum, they have to meet other people and other places of the world but also make some sort of connection to another group,” Kirk said. “They are similar as well as different. That’s an underlying motive we have here: we all have the same kind of problems to contend with – the range of the human experience.”\nFacilities coordinator Kelly Wherley said the museum serves to broaden people’s perspective on community.\n“We try to enhance appreciation for different culture across the globe and also an appreciation for culture and human phenomenon. We’re all different, but we’re all the same,” Wherley said. \nThe museum has two main exhibits and several smaller ones. The largest is entitled “Thoughts, Things, and Theories” and gives information and background on how culture affects individuals. The Wanamaker Collection documents Native American life at the beginning of the 20th century and is one of the largest collections on Native Americans.\nThe museum houses about 25,000 artifacts and 40,000 photographs. The exhibits are rotated every three to six months and can be organized by anyone, including IU students. Currently there is an exhibit about Turkish shadow theatre by undergraduate Yasemin Gencer.\nMathers is a university facility and works to keep close ties with both the students and faculty. The museum has helped students in the fields of anthropology, ethnomusicology, museum studies and informatics.\nThey are open to research of all types and have opened their databases to everyone from 13-year-olds to the Pentagon.\nIn three weeks they will be unveiling a new exhibit called “Afghanistan: A Doctor Returns from Exile,” which will be told through black and white photographs.\nKirk believes the artifacts give people a powerful opportunity to learn about themselves.\n“These things are imbued with knowledge that allow us to learn about not just others but ourselves as well,” he said.\nThe museum will be holding special events this fall, including Sounds of Brazil, family craft days and a traditional Indonesian dance called Sanan.\nAll of the museum’s free programming as well as its exhibits hope to leave visitors with more than just a sense of entertainment.\n“We want people to enjoy themselves and have a good time, and hopefully when they walk away they will take some knowledge with them,” Kirk said.
(08/31/07 3:57am)
The IU School of Education is about to get a major overhaul in the form of a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. \nThe grant will go to fund an innovational program which will focus on preparing elementary teachers to succeed, and will monitor and evaluate their progress.\nThe five year program, called “Iterative Model Building: A Program for Training Quality Teachers and Measuring Teacher Quality,” shows that IU is a top school for teaching training and research, said Enrique Galindo, co-sponsor of the program and associate professor of mathematics education.\n“Getting this funding is recognition that we have a quality education program and recognition of the level of resources we can engage,” Galindo said. “It’s proof we can engage our faculty to improve our programs and their effectiveness.”\nThe program is unique because it will center on teachers who are still in school, hoping to arm them with the tools to better understand their students, said IU School of Education spokesman Chuck Carney.\n“You’d be hard-pressed to find a program that does more at the beginning level for a math or science teacher than this one is planning to do,” Carney said.\nThe project will follow elementary teachers through their pre-service, student-teaching and even into their first full-time job.\nThe program will use two new innovations as ways to prepare future teachers before they get into the classroom.\nThe first is a teaching experiment designed as one-on-one instructional time where teachers will be able to gauge the ability level of individual students.\nThe second will divide the future teachers into groups to give them experience in planning and receiving feedback on lesson plans.\nIdeally the two will work hand-in-hand to help the teachers determine students’ ability levels and plan their lessons accordingly. Students will also take methods courses to better understand how kids learn and develop their understanding.\n“Ultimately it’s helping teachers learn science and math skills better than teachers who have been through more traditional programs,” said Valarie Akerson, associate professor of science education and co-sponsor of the program, who said she realized how intimidating classes can be for some teachers.\n“If you’re new it can be pretty daunting, so elementary teachers tend to avoid math and science,” she said. \nOrganizers hope the new experience will give students confidence in the field and encourage them to stay in a profession with high turnover rates.\n“The teachers are going to know that what they’re doing is going to work because they used it in the classroom. So it’s a really exceptional program from that respect,” Carney said.\nGalindo, Akerson and Anderson Norton, mathematics education assistant professor, submitted the proposal earlier this year. In it they stated that their end goal was to improve elementary student learning.\nBecause the teachers will be followed into their careers, researchers will be able to determine the success of the program by looking for a difference in lesson plans, student development and classroom atmosphere.\n“As we introduce innovations, many times they are introduced with the feeling that ‘Oh, this is a good idea,’” Galindo said. “We’re trying to go beyond that and gather evidence that this in fact works, (since) we have these indicators that tell us that this works.”\nIf researchers see the type of results they expect, Galindo said he believes his module could be used in other schools to achieve the same purpose.\n“We’re hoping this module we produce can be used elsewhere because we will have evidence to attest to the effectiveness of our program,” he said.
(08/29/07 3:59am)
While most students will be celebrating their first week of the 2008 summer vacation, 20 select students will welcome the summer in an entirely different fashion.\nAs a part of the Scholars in Global Citizenship Program, students will spend 10 days in Seoul, South Korea, studying everything its society and culture have to offer.\nThe trip is a part of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs’ newest class, which is offered the second eight weeks of the spring semester and will then be followed with a trip to Yonsei University, one of the most elite colleges in Asia. \nIt’s off the beaten track,” said professor Matt Auer. “It’s an unusual class because it’s coupled with this 10-day study abroad opportunity.”\nSPEA, in conjunction with Yonsei, will arrange the students’ travel and housing needs for the trip, which is tentatively planned for May 14-28.\nOnce in South Korea, students will get a chance to put what they learned in the classroom to practical use, said Auer, who will be instructing the class and leading the trip.\n“I want to get students really interested in international affairs; whether they go out to do additional coursework or not doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I just hope people get a strong appreciation for the world outside of IU and the U.S. and that they are always thinking of the world outside their classes or jobs. The world is getting smaller and what happens in South Korea affects Indiana.”\nThe class will focus on globalization and its effects on every part of human life, specifically political and economic reforms. Auer said South Korea is an excellent test site for the theories in the class, because of its willingness to open up politically and economically to the rest of the world.\n“In a way, the trip to South Korea is about getting a sense of how globalization is shaping politics and economics, especially in countries that are emerging as leaders and political systems that are rapidly changing,” Auer said.\nAuer wants his students to get a feel for globalization’s effects “not just in the classroom, but in a very palpable way.” \nThe trip will be Auer’s second visit to South Korea and Yonsei. Eighteen years ago he spent ten weeks in Seoul, and he hopes this trip will have the same effect on his students as it did on him almost two decades ago.\n“For me it was a life-changing event,” he said. “It cemented my interest, my passion for international affairs. That experience is really indelible for me. It has stayed with me a lot, and I think it will be the same for the IU students.”\nAuer also sees the class as a good fit for IU to help balance the large number of Korean students.\n“There are over 1,000 Koreans at IU, making them the largest foreign nationals, and it would help even us out,” he said. “It is very unbalanced and it’s high time we spent time in South Korea learning their culture, because they are sending us such fine students.”\nParticipants in the Scholars in Global Citizenship Program will be determined via application, which are available after Sept. 1 through the SGCP’s Web site. According to the Web site, applicants must be at least an undergraduate sophomore with a 3.0 GPA or better. Applications are due Oct. 5 and then a committee of faculty and professionals will select up to 20 participants. Scholarships are available through the Hutton Honors College and the Office of International Studies. An informational meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Hutton Honors College, 324 N. Jordan Avenue
(08/28/07 2:50am)
He pulled up in a silver car, screeched to a halt and flagged down the two red-T-shirt-clad IU Guides standing by to ask for a campus map. They responded with directions as students en route to class shuffle by. This scenario was a common one for IU faculty member Kelly Kish, an IU Guide, as she helped students find their first classes of the semester. This is the third year IU Guides have been \non campus.\n“A few years ago when we first did it a lot of seniors would come up to us and say, ‘I wish you did this when I was a freshman.’ But now that those people are upperclassmen it’s kind of expected,” Kish said.\nKish is one of the 174 volunteers strategically placed on campus to help students find their way around campus during the first two days of class. The guides will be stationed at eight different sites, ranging from 10th Street to Third Street. \n Junior Jamal Miller, an IU Guide, was a freshman the first year the program was put \nin place.\n “Without a person in the (IU Guide) shirt I probably would have missed a class completely,” he said. \n Miller believes this freshman class has adapted well to the campus and sees practice as one reason why. \n“I did see a surprising amount of students walking around in groups looking for their classes a few days before, but there are still a lot of people that don’t know where they are going,” \nhe said. \nKish said that while many students do walk their class route in advance, things are different when it comes time for classes. \n“I think it’s really hard to walk around with your friends and nail down where things are,” she said. “Then the next day you wake up, leave your residence hall and try to get to class.” \nFreshman Sam Leffers did not find it difficult to navigate campus for the first time. \n“It seemed like everyone I talked to found their classes the day before,” he said. “I was the only one that didn’t, but it still wasn’t that hard.” \nCommon questions the guides receive range from street names, building locations, fastest routes and what building abbreviations stand for.\nIU Guides began as a joint venture between the Office of Orientation Programs and the IU Dean of Students Office. Today the program is run with almost 200 volunteers who alternate six different 90-minute shifts. \nThe sites remain similar to the first year, but volunteers fill out evaluations to determine if changes are necessary. Initially only staff, faculty and students were allowed to volunteer, but last year the door was opened to the local Monroe County Chapter of the IU \nAlumni Association. \nMiller believes students will get accustomed to the campus and bus routes and learn how to get around more efficiently as the year goes on.\n“Over time they will learn the bus system. As the heat dies down and they learn how long it takes to get there they’ll start using it more. It’s something they will catch on to,” Miller said.\nEach year volunteer numbers have increased, and that gives IU Guides coordinator Emily McCallister reason to believe the program will continue to serve the students better. \n“If we continue to keep increasing volunteers we’d like to add locations each year and cover more of the campus,” she said.\nMcCallister said she wants the program to be about more than just giving directions. The guides have maps, highlighter markers and pens, but they also have mints and candy to give to students. She said a warm welcome is a good way to usher in a new class of freshmen. \n“There is just that energy in the air on the first day of classes,” McCallister said. “So hopefully our guides will serve their duty and give directions but also do more than that. We want to welcome the newest members of our Hoosier family.”