94 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(01/10/12 3:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WFHB-FM Community Radio created the radio show Hola Bloomington, a volunteer-powered program broadcast completely in Spanish, 10 years ago in an effort to tune the city’s Latino population into local happenings. “We wanted to look into developing forums that are under-represented or misrepresented by the mainstream media,” WFHB General Manager Chad Carrothers said. “We wanted to develop what we call diversity-based programming.”Hola Bloomington is a news and public affairs show that features a weekly wrap-up of local news, a guest interview, information about local events and volunteer opportunities and short segments that vary by week. The show broadcasts live from 6 to 7 p.m. every Friday on FM channels 91.3 and 98.1 in Bloomington, 100.7 in Nashville, Ind., and 106.3 in Ellettsville, Ind.Carrothers campaigned for the creation of the show in 2002 as the station’s news director and helped establish the collaboration between the City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department and WFHB Community Radio. Hola Bloomington, like the other shows on WFHB, is volunteer-driven. It’s recorded by a committed rotation of 10 to 15 volunteers, including IU and Ivy Tech Community College students, retirees in the community and working professionals. Melissa Britton, the Latino outreach coordinator in the Community and Family Resources Department, is the show producer who writes and translates the script for each broadcast. Hola Bloomington “serves as a bond of communication and cooperation within the service agencies and Spanish speakers, with the goal to promote participation and integration throughout the Bloomington community,” according to its mission statement. However, Britton said their main goal is to produce an entertaining and informative show that is relevant to their audience. As the producer, Britton said she strives to meet this goal by incorporating the thoughts and suggestions of the volunteer hosts. In July 2011, the group paused the show for a month to revamp its structure, adding additional short segments. “We cater to the short attention span these days,” Britton said with a laugh. The segment topics include Latino pop culture, health, an EcoReport and a sports report called “Luis v. Luis.” The weekly hosts also have a call-in segment in which four attorneys from Indianapolis answer listeners’ legal questions about immigration, power of attorney, family law and visas. In addition, they conduct interviews with special guests during the program. A recent guest was Martha Montoya of Los Kitos Produce, who travels all over the country advocating for a range of people and organizations, from small farmers to large grocery chains such as Wal-Mart Inc. In the future, Britton said she hopes to gain more listeners, call-ins and high-school student contributors, as well as to work with the IU Spanish Department to use Hola Bloomington as part of the cultural learning curriculum. Those who miss the live show can listen at wfhb.org/news/holabloomington. On average, the show gets around 400 podcast downloads, and Britton said she would like to see the show syndicated statewide.“I would love for other Indiana radio stations who don’t have a Spanish speaking show to pick up a half hour of our show,” she said. “It’s really informative, and only a part of it is geared toward our local audience only.”Since she became the show’s producer five years ago, Britton said she has already seen a shift in the way Hola Bloomington caters to the community, a sign she said she thinks is indicative of a new mix of Latinos in Bloomington. “We aren’t telling our listeners where to go to get clothes or food anymore, but what businesses to invest in,” she said. “It’s not just migrant workers anymore, but students and families and working adults. It’s a new mix now.”The most recent census reported that there were 4,000 Latinos living in Bloomington, and there was an 80 percent increase in Latinos living in Monroe County in comparison to the previous census. “We are seeing people of Hispanic heritage are becoming less of a minority and are coming from all different walks of life,” Carrothers said. Britton said the show wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of the volunteers and the support from the City of Bloomington and Mayor Mark Kruzan. “Mayor Kruzan’s administration is really about diversity and inclusion,” she said.
(01/06/12 5:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU and universities across the country have started buying .xxx web addresses associated with their names, logos and mascots. The .xxx domain typically signifies that a site contains pornographic material and was approved in early 2011 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. “The last thing we want is people to go to what they think is an IU site and get an adult site instead,” said Mark Land, associate vice president for IU Communications.The new domain name creates an opportunity for “cyber squatters” to purchase the rights to web addresses containing words such as “Indiana University” or “Hoosiers” for a low fee and then keep them ransom in hopes of extorting the University for more money. During a two-month grace period in fall 2011, the ICM Registry offered trademark holders the first opportunity to purchase websites containing their trademark, charging $200 per address for a one-time blocking fee that prevents individuals in the pornography industry from buying the site to host adult content.Both IU and Purdue took advantage of the opportunity, as did Michigan, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas, as reported by USA Today. Land said IU purchased 11 sites during the grace period, spending a total of $2,200. "It’s a reasonable expense to pay to protect the dignity and value of our trademark and name,” he said. “We obviously aren’t going to use them, but we don’t want anyone else to use them either.”IU bought the rights to the sites for all seven of their campuses, such as iub.xxx and iupui.xxx, as well as hoosiers.xxx, iuhoosiers.xxx, indianahoosiers.xxx and indianauniversity.xxx.Land said this isn’t necessarily a new concept, and IU has an interest in obtaining as many website domains as possible that are associated with its trademark. However, he said purchasing the .xxx domains is even more important because the school doesn’t want the IU brand associated with adult content. “We have been pretty proactive in staying ahead of that,” he said. “The IU name has a lot of value, and we want to protect that name.”
(01/06/12 3:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The City of Bloomington Volunteer Network is accepting nominations through Feb. 1 for its annual Be More Awards.Awarding volunteers has been an integral part of the network since its inception in 1980. The awards grant Bloomington community members and IU students 10 $500 awards in a variety of categories: arts and culture, college student, youth and lifetime of service, plus two awards in the general category.“I encourage residents to nominate their friends, family and colleagues who are engaged in the community,” Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan said in a press release. “They are an integral part of making Bloomington the great place that it is to live, work and play.”The award money comes from the Community Foundation of Monroe County, and the recognitions are cosponsored by the IU Credit Union, United Way of Monroe County and WTIU Public Television. Representatives from these organizations sit on the panel that selects the volunteer award winners. The cash awards do not go to the volunteer recipient, but rather benefit the organization for which they volunteer. “People are shy about receiving the award, but it’s neat to them because they are basically earning a grant for the organizations where they volunteer,” Volunteer Network Director Bet Savich said.Savich said nomination forms are available at the Be More website, bloomington.in.gov/bemore, and she can answer questions at 812-349-3472 or volunteer@bloomington.in.gov.Last year, Pi Kappa Phi won the volunteer award for the college student category for its work with Stone Belt, which assists individuals with disabilities. “Students really carry the ball in the community in terms of contributing their time to local nonprofits, and it’s important for them to be recognized, too,” Savich said. “They put in a lot of time and effort, and we never want to forget how important IU students are to our community.”The Be More Awards ceremony will be from 7 to 8 p.m. April 3 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The event is free and open to the public.
(12/08/11 3:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A recent study by the Indiana Business Research Center in IU’s Kelley School of Business wielded telling results about the work outcomes for the state of Indiana’s public college graduates. Using data collected from 2000 to 2005, the study, “How Education Pays: The Work Outcomes of Indiana’s Postsecondary Graduates,” found that Indiana’s public colleges produced 220,974 graduates. The majority, 55.3 percent, received bachelor’s degrees. Among those with bachelor’s degrees, 59.1 percent remained in the state for work one year after graduation. Five years post-graduation, 43 percent were still working in Indiana. “Further analysis of remain-rates by degree for the 2000 to 2005 time frame presents a telling pattern,” author Tanya Hall wrote in the report. “Certificate and associate degree recipients are more likely to still be in the Indiana work force one year ... after graduation than any other degree — 81 percent and 81.7 percent, respectively.” Although the results “do not correlate 100 percent with the context of what’s happening in the current economy,” because it has been six years since the second round of data for the study was collected, Hall said her findings “solidified what we had assumed has been occurring.” Hall said this assumption was that students are leaving Indiana for jobs elsewhere, and the study represents the first official data set analyzing graduate retention and work outcomes. The study also found that the manufacturing industry had a dominant presence among the top five industries to award the most jobs to college graduates of all degrees. In addition, the education and health care industries hired the most college graduates during the time period studied. “I think that this is to look at the wages that a person can expect to earn in a particular industry and keep that in perspective to what they want to do,” Hall said. “The study, more than anything, shows where our students are going to.”
(12/08/11 3:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Professor Brad Heim has defined the 1 percent, the target of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread across the United States. Occupy protests by the 99 percent are springing up locally, and the backlash from last week’s sit-in at the Kelley School of Business has inspired even more discussion concerning what the Occupy movement is about. Heim, an economics associate professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, said one talking point should be defining who exactly falls into the 1 percent category. “The top 1 percent is more varied than people might think,” he said. “I think it’s important to realize and understand who is in the top 1 percent and what it takes to make it to the 1 percent.” Heim, with co-authors Adam Cole from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Jon Bakija from Williams College, released a study in November 2010 called “Jobs and Income Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Tax Return Data.”Heim formerly worked as a financial economist in the Office of Tax Analysis for the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2006 to 2010. During his time there he collected data from tax returns to map out what defined these presumed “1 percenters.”By analyzing tax returns from the highest earners in the country, Heim and his co-authors discovered the occupations of the 1 percent based off an occupation check box on the forms. New York Times columnist David Brooks mentioned their work in an article he wrote last week, calling it “the most authoritative research on who these top 1 percenters are.”The study determined that roughly 31 percent started or manage non-financial businesses. Approximately 16 percent are doctors, and 14 percent are in finance. Eight percent are lawyers, 5 percent are engineers and 2 percent are in media, sports or entertainment. Heim said that, judging from the protests, the occupiers are opposed to people who work at investment banks and make a lot of money. But he was quick to point out that only 14 percent of the 1 percent works in finance. The other 86 percent are employed elsewhere. “It really applies to one hundredth of one percent,” he said. “To be in the top one percent you don’t have to be a hedge fund manager.”Heim said that to qualify for the 1 percent, you have to make $300,000-400,000 per tax unit. This means that if each member of a married couple makes $150,000 a year, they would be considered 1 percenters. “That’s still a lot of money, but that could include doctors, lawyers and even professors on this campus,” he said. Heim said there is a growing gap between not just the first percentile and the 99th percentile, but also between the 10th percentile and the 90th percentile. And to go one step further, as Brooks wrote in his Times article, there is also an equality gap within the 99th percentile between those who have a college degree and those who do not. The data that used to define the 1 percent was from 2005, so Heim and his colleagues plan to update the report in January 2012.
(12/06/11 2:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Internships pay off, but college students are discovering that a willingness to pay tuition to work without pay could be necessary to reap the benefits.Sixty percent of college students said their school requires an internship experience to graduate, according to research firm Intern Bridge’s website.That educational currency is represented by space on a resume rather than dollar bills in a bank account.“No one is really debating the merit and value of internships, just the cost of unpaid internships,” said Patrick Donahue, director of the IU Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services. “It is an absolutely vital thing to get done. This is one of the most pressing topics in career services.”At IU, the chance of securing a paid internship correlates directly with the student’s major or area of interest, Donahue said.Of the 653 students who received internship credit through the School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 2010, 415 of them, or 64 percent, were unpaid, according to SPEA’s 2010 Undergraduate Internship Report. Business and science students are more likely to land paid internships, Donahue said.David Dyer, associate director of student services at the Kelley School of Business, said on average about 80 percent of their students earn paid internships and 20 percent of students work at unpaid internships.The U.S. Department of Labor has established six criteria that determine whether an internship is considered legal according to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The list states internship experiences must be “for the benefit of the student” and the intern “does not displace regular employees.”Donahue said the Department of Labor’s list has been criticized for being too broad. The National Association of Colleges and Employers has defined an internship as “a form of experiential learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional setting.”NACE released an additional list of criteria for an experience to be defined as an internship. The list includes routine feedback by a professional supervisor, clearly defined learning objectives and a goal that is not to simply advance the operations of an employer.For-profit companies and organizations that claim they cannot afford to pay interns require students to receive college credit to remain in compliance with labor laws.In response, IU and other higher education institutions have created academic opportunities for students to earn credits that count toward academic degrees. But there is a catch.Students pay tuition fees for their credits — $263.45 per credit hour for Indiana residents and $889.03 per credit hour for out-of-state students — and many departments place a cap on the number of credits that can count toward a degree.Donahue said the new summer 2012 tuition rates were partly in response to the University’s recognition of the problem. In-state students will pay $197.59 per internship credit hour, and out-of-state students will pay $823.17. Essentially, students who work multiple unpaid internships in their college career could pay for credits that cannot count toward their degree.Students have to weigh the benefits of the internship against the sacrifices they have to make to work it, such as not working a paying summer job or trying to intern and work a paid job at the same time.“Students have to consider the benefit and try to make it work by getting more creative with finances,” said Mark Case, director of career services at SPEA. “They are just going to have to find a way to make it work.”Students might try to draw a connection between the struggling economy and scarce opportunities for paid internships, but Donahue said it is unlikely the trend will be reversed any time soon.But he said there are several steps students can take to gain that real-world experience in an affordable manner.Donahue said there is no IU policy he knows of that requires students to receive more than one credit for their internships. Essentially, students could only pay for one credit to avoid breaking the bank.In addition, if a student’s individual major or program does not offer an internship for credit course, students can enroll in Q398 through the Career Development Center.Students can also enroll in W498 or W499 through the Career Development Center. These courses are for zero credit, but reassure employers their interns are students without students having to pay for the credits. But Donahue said internship sites still have the right to deny a student’s request, to avoid the possibility of any legal repercussions.Donahue also wrote a grant for $50,000 that the IU Parents Fund approved last year, allowing him to establish the Parents Fund Internship Housing Grant that provides a $1,500 housing stipend for economically disadvantaged students. Dyer said he has had several students during the past several years explore receiving internship credit through a community college, such as Ivy Tech. Exploring this route, he said, could save students a substantial amount of money. However, he said it required a lot of time and extra work the students found overwhelming. Dyer said students can apply for an abundance of scholarships and grants through the IU Foundation and the Hutton Honors College.“What you’ll find at IU and Kelley is that there are innumerable scholarships. We just don’t do a great job at making that information transparent to students,” Dyer said.All three career advisers agreed the students who have the most success sifting through the complexities of the internship arena are those who work closely with their advisers.“Students that navigate the challenge are the ones who are coming to their career counselors and really have meaningful conversations with them,” Dyer said.
(11/21/11 1:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More than 60 faculty and students crammed into a small classroom in Ballantine Hall on Friday to hear renowned linguist Lindsay Whaley speak about endangered languages. Whaley, a professor of linguistics and classics at Dartmouth College, presented the lecture, “What We (Still) Don’t Know About Endangered Languages.” He spoke about studies and research that examine the shrinking number of languages used across the globe. He then analyzed several topics he thinks linguists and anthropologists need to address to make the conversation surrounding the topic more effective and accurate. “Right now, we sit at one of the most pronounced demographic shifts in history,” Whaley said. “We’ve really reached a place where we can bring a much greater degree of rigor to the debate.”Whaley addressed three key issues in his lecture. He said predictions about the number of endangered and disappearing languages need to be reevaluated and attributed to a source because numbers commonly are declared without proper attribution. He said many academics and researchers base their work on the findings of linguist Michael Krauss in 1992, but the language demographics have changed since then. “We need to be a little bit more careful about using these statistics if we want to make progress,” Whaley said. “We need more taxonomy (classification) and more fine-tuned studies. Globalization, colonization and industrialization do not have the same impact everywhere.”Krauss’s numbers reveal that 600, or 10 percent, of the world’s languages are safe, and 2,400, or 40 percent, are endangered. But 3,000, or 50 percent, of the world’s languages are moribund, meaning they are no longer being taught to children and therefore will not survive the next generation. Whaley also questioned what actually is lost when a language disappears. He said it isn’t just the language but also a list of cultural and historical aspects tied to the language that can only be communicated through the native tongue. “We are trying to make the case that endangered linguistics is not just a phenomenon, but a bad phenomenon,” he said.The last issue he addressed was whether endangered languages are like endangered species. He said although the analogy gives the general public a way to understand the issue, it really doesn’t accurately portray the problems at hand. The loss of one language does not put others at risk for extinction, and the survival of a language does not depend on its suitability in a particular region. Whaley said bringing change to the field of endangered languages is hard to do from afar.“It is hard to affect change from a distance because these are cultural, social, political and ethnic issues, not just linguistic issues,” he said.Nate Sims, a sophomore linguistics major raised in the Sichuan Province in South China, attended the lecture. He said while growing up, he noticed minority groups in China did not value their languages and pushed their children to learn Mandarin.“The challenge is trying to convince native speakers that language diversity is valuable,” he said.Kevin Rottet, associate professor in the Department of French and Italian and adjunct professor in linguistics, said the purpose of the lecture was to bring together students and scholars who share a passion for the endangered languages but haven’t heard of each other’s work.The lecture was sponsored by West European Studies, the Department of French and Italian, Department of Second Language Studies, Department of Germanic Studies, Department of Linguistics and Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
(11/18/11 3:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 10, IU unveiled the Center for Research in Extreme Scale Technologies, a scientific facility created to address the developing challenges of the supercomputing world. CREST is a unit of IU’s Pervasive Technology Institute established in 2008 through a $15 million grant from the Lilly Endowment. It is affiliated with the School of Informatics and Computing, University Information Technology Services and the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology. Andrew Lumsdaine and Thomas Sterling will serve as director and co-director of the center, respectively. Both are professors in the School of Informatics and Computing.CREST began when Lumsdaine and Sterling presented individual projects at a National Security Agency meeting and realized they were attacking the same set of problems from two different directions. Two and a half years ago, PTI Executive Director Craig Stewart worked to recruit Sterling to come to IU from Louisiana State University. In August 2011, Sterling arrived on campus. “Andrew is one of IU’s leading scientific computing researchers, and Thomas is known the world over,” Stewart said. “I am personally thrilled to have Thomas at IU. It has certainly been a banner year when IU has demonstrated and redoubled its commitment to solving these problems.”Sterling said there is a “critical challenge facing the world of supercomputing,” and CREST will explore possible solutions to the problems. A supercomputer is a computer that processes mass amounts of data for a particular purpose.“CREST represents a very bold initiative into the frontiers of large-scale computing. Dr. Lumsdaine and Dr. Sterling are at the forefront of thinking about what’s possible as science goes into a new scale in terms of the size of data previously unimagined,” said Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for information technology and CIO. “IU is well positioned to lead in this effort, and we are lucky to have the backing of the Lilly Endowment in creating the pervasive technology institute.” Sterling said as technology continued to improve throughout the years, their individual processors were able to keep up, but that is no longer the case. Due to power constraints, technology improves, but the performance of an individual processor does not. He said the only way to fix the shortage is to use more and more processors, which would lead supercomputers to use 1,000 more processors by the end of the decade. The center will also develop a new run-time system to increase energy efficiency for regular technology applications, which currently use 10 percent efficiency. Sterling said the energy cost of the machine would eventually exceed its original cost.“This is not a small research activity,” he said. “This is a challenge at the national and international level that CREST is undertaking.”CREST is housed in the new Cyberinfrastructure Building.“The center is anticipated to exist indefinitely. We are tackling problems that cannot be done today, but we are going to create the means to do it,” Sterling said. “This is revolutionary, and this revolution is going to occur in the next three to seven years. Indiana University is at the forefront, and that is not an exaggeration.”
(11/15/11 3:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy raised concerns about Indiana’s new teacher evaluation policy in its report released last week. The brief, “Revamping the Teacher Evaluation Process,” examines the implications of Senate Enrolled Act 001, or SEA 1, legislation passed by the Indiana General Assembly that requires school corporations to establish a teacher performance evaluation model or adopt one recommended by the state. “What this law hopes to do is make teacher evaluation more rigorous and make it apply to all teachers,” said Rodney Whiteman, a graduate research assistant at CEEP and a Ph.D. student in education policy studies at the IU School of Education. “If it’s implemented as intended, it would be what we call a system-changing policy instrument.”What is SEA 1?The SEA 1 was signed into law April 30 and took effect July 1. It was conceived during the 2011 legislative session as part of a public education overhaul in Indiana. All school corporations, charter schools, schools governed by multiple localities under interlocal agreement, special education cooperatives and joint career and technical education programs are required to establish a more stringent teacher evaluation process beginning with the 2012-13 academic year. They have several choices for adopting an evaluation process. Schools can implement one of several models prescribed by the state or contract with outside vendors or create their own model that meets the law’s following requirements: annual (or more frequent) evaluation for all certificated employees, objective measures of student achievement and growth, rigorous measures of effectiveness, annual designation of each certificated employee in four rating categories (highly effective, effective, improvement necessary and ineffective), explanation of the evaluator’s recommendation for improvement and the time in which improvement is expected or a provision that a teacher who negatively affects student achievement and growth cannot receive a rating of “effective” or “highly effective.”By Jan. 31, 2012, the Indiana State Board of Education must establish: criteria defining each of the teacher ratings (highly effective, effective, improvement needed, ineffective), measures used to determine academic growth, standards defining a teacher’s negative impact on student achievement and a training program for evaluators.What does the report recommend? In the report, Whiteman and his co-authors Dingjing Shi, graduate assistant at CEEP, and Jonathan Plucker, CEEP director, outline a list of concerns they have with the broad and unintended implications of the teacher evaluation policy. “Rethinking teacher evaluations is necessary,” Whiteman said. “The question is how and in what time frame.”Whiteman said he is worried that the stringent requirements and short time frame force teachers and administrators to put together an insufficient plan and sacrifice instruction time in the process. “This represents a checklist of requirements that require teachers to teach specifically to standards, which will change the teaching dynamic, and I think that is problematic,” Whiteman said. “But we do need to figure out ways to revise the system. This law gets that conversation started, but it does so in a very quick and prescriptive way.”As a former teacher, Whiteman said one of his main concerns is that the burden to implement these new policies will fall upon administrators and teachers who already have a full docket. Although schools do have the option of hiring outside help, Whiteman said many don’t have the extra money to do so, and if they decide that is their best option, they will then have to deal with deciding what to cut from their existing budget. “Something will have to give,” he said. “Schools will have to be forced to choose how they allocate their time, and some of it will inevitably be directed away from student instruction and classroom time. I just don’t think personally that schools are going to have enough time to implement this correctly.”CEEP continues to be a source for policy makers and educators across the state, CEEP Associate Director for Education Policy Terry Spradlin said. “We are just one source, but I believe we are an influential voice in public education policy in Indiana,” he said. School of Education Dean Gerardo Gonzalez said there are short-term and long-term consequences for the students pursuing an education degree, as well. During the implementation process, schools have been reluctant to take student teachers while they figure out the implications of the new evaluation process. However, in the long-term, schools have a strong interest in the development of future educators. But he is concerned that an inconsistency in statewide evaluation processes will pose multiple issues. “A policy that mandates implementation of untested evaluation systems for high-stake decisions about teachers and schools can have very serious, unintended consequences,” Gonzalez said. “I would recommend that the policy be amended to provide for an evaluation of the evaluation systems mandated. Teacher performance evaluation is a complex matter and should not be done in the absence of solid research.”
(11/15/11 3:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jacobs School of Music faculty and student percussionists and the IU Drumline were showcased last weekend at the Percussive Arts Society’s 50th annual International Convention.The convention took place in Indianapolis, providing IU students and faculty a special opportunity to participate and perform throughout the weekend.“There was a significant IU faculty and student presence there,” said John Tafoya, chair of the Jacobs percussion department. “We are very proud because we feel like IU was really well-represented.”Tafoya and his fellow Jacobs faculty members Kevin Bobo and Michael Spiro were featured in performances and clinics throughout the weekend. Under the direction of Spiro, the IU Afro-Cuban Folkloric Ensemble performed Saturday during a special, full-length concert at the convention. The Percussive Arts Society selected the ensemble of about 30 students, who competed internationally for the opportunity to play at the convention.“We got to perform in front of a bunch of percussionists and percussion enthusiasts that understood the language we were speaking and understood where the music was coming from,” said Rod Costman, an ensemble member and second-year masters percussion performance student in Jacobs. “It was probably the most remarkable performance I have been a part of.”The drumline of IU’s Marching Hundred, directed by Jacobs Alumnus Joel Brainard, performed Friday at the convention.Tafoya said convention attendance usually reaches 6,000 to 7,000 people each year, and attendees range from middle school, high school and college students to current and retired professional percussionists.IU’s presence at the convention served as a recruitment and publicity tool, he said.“PAS is there to encourage the art of percussive arts and teaching,” Tafoya said. “It was an honor to have a significant IU presence during a significant milestone in PAS history. We are fostering the next generation of young performers.”
(11/09/11 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students and staff will have to wait longer than originally planned for the completion of renovations in the Wildermuth Intramural Center since the center caught fire in July.The basketball courts and indoor track at the center in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation will not be available for public use until summer 2012 at the earliest, said Jackie Puterbaugh, associate director of Campus Recreational Sports.“Right now we are saying summer, but we are committed to re-opening for the fall,” she said. In late July, Mark Land, associate vice president for university communications, told the IDS the repairs would be complete by mid-September. But after the University called on experts, they revealed the damage was more extensive.According to a report by Bloomington Fire Department Prevention Officer Scott Smith, three construction workers were using a 4-inch wheel grinder to remove steel gutter brackets from the building. The heat from their work sparked materials in the structure, and the fire broke out then quickly spread while construction workers repairing the roof were taking a break.It was a three-alarm fire that took three hours and 50 firefighters to extinguish and caused heat, soot and water damage to the roof and inside of the structure. Puterbaugh said the repairs have to be sequenced; in other words, most of the repairs cannot be completed at the same time. They have to replace a section of the roof, clean the entire facility, repaint the walls and ceiling, tear out five of the 10 basketball courts and re-sand and re-finish the remaining five. They are still evaluating whether or not they need to replace the indoor track. But Lexi Chaput, assistant director for informal sports and student personnel, said the CRS staff is trying to combat the misconception that the entire facility is unavailable. “The basketball courts and the track are the only features of the WIC that are unavailable for use,” she said. The martial arts studio, gyms 293, 171 and 163, pool 194, the racquetball courts and the Royer pool were undamaged and remain open to the public. Although some space for basketball will be allotted in Wildermuth, most students have to migrate to the Student Recreational Sports Center.“We are finding that students are starting earlier and finishing later and really adjusting,” Chaput said. “As long as we share what’s going on, students are extremely reasonable.”Staffers are still trying to determine how they will tackle the challenge of relocating the winter intramural basketball, which usually takes place in the center’s gyms. With winter looming, the staff at the SRSC is also preparing for the influx of indoor exercisers. Chaput said they have added to their staff despite the locale downsizing, specifically for the position of informal sport supervisors, which are the students who scan IDs at the entrance to the SRSC and intramural center facilities. They have added scanning stations throughout both facilities to ensure security and make it easier for people to come and participate. Beth Lampert, a junior in kinesiology and CRS staff team leader, said the key to smoothly running facilities is the constant communication among the professional and student staff.“They are always communicating with us through email and meetings,” she said. “So, we are able to explain what is going on to the participants, and so once they understand why we do what we do, it helps diffuse any problems.”She said people who want to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions or sculpt their “spring break bods” but avoid the crowd should consider group exercise classes, which usually aren’t as busy, or exercise in the available spaces at the Wildermuth center. Every year, 38,000 students use the recreational sports facilities, and 62 percent use them at least weekly. “We have an extremely active campus, so having a space out of use that students consistently use makes it a top priority for us to finish this process as soon as possible,” Puterbaugh said.
(11/08/11 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two Jacobs School of Music students performed in the second round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions this past weekend.Baritone Joshua Conyers and bass-baritone Jason Eck traveled to the Central Regional Auditions on Sunday at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston, Ill., They advanced after winning the Indiana District competition, which was Oct. 30 at IU.Maria Levy, executive administrator for strategic planning with the IU Opera & Ballet Theater for the Jacobs School, said it is a great honor for a student to advance in the auditions. “IU is quite often represented among the people who are selected to advance,” she said. “They hold these auditions because they want to discover excellent young talent for the Metropolitan Opera.”The auditions exist in four rounds: district, regional, semi-finals and grand finals. Although Conyers and Eck did not advance past the regional auditions in Evanston this year, Levy said their accomplishments are still great. “It feels awesome to be recognized by such a great organization as the Metropolitan Opera,” Conyers said. “Even if it’s just the first stage, it feels good, and I feel like I’m moving up.”Conyers is pursuing a masters in voice at Jacobs.Eck received an Encouragement Award, an honor given to students with promising talent who do not advance to the next round of auditions.“Every time we go up to sing it’s a learning experience,” Conyers said. “My dream is just to be an active opera singer and sing all over the world. And I’ll take it any way it comes.”
(11/04/11 6:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Music blared through the speakers.“Everybody dance now!” C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat,” enticed 200 IU students to join the choreographed line dance that would kick off the 36 hours that lay ahead of them at the first IU Dance Marathon.After a day and a half of non-stop dancing, IUDM had raised $10,900.That was in 1991. Nearly 21 years and more than $10 million later, the structure of IUDM has evolved, but the mission has remained consistent: It’s all “For The Kids.” Back to the Beginning It started with a kid from Kokomo, Ind., named Ryan White.At 13, White was diagnosed with AIDS after receiving a contaminated blood transfusion. “It was kind of when AIDS first started coming about and no one really knew about it, so there was a lot of turmoil in the community,” said Gretchen Ahlers, IUDM alumni relations director. “He actually ended up getting banned from his school, and his family just didn’t know what to do, so they went to Riley (Hospital for Children).”White lost his battle in April 1990 and passed away the spring before he was to attend IU. His friends from high school transitioned to college. But one friend, Jill Stewart, wanted some way to “carry on Ryan White’s name and his passion for Riley”, Ahlers said. Stewart went to her student advisor to brainstorm ideas, and he proposed a dance marathon based on the annual 48-hour event at Pennsylvania State University to benefit Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital.Stewart asked Bryan Neale, then-president of the Interfraternity Council, to help her. He agreed and solicited the help of Kristi Engle, then-president of IU Panhellenic Association.Stewart, Neale and Engle flew to Pennsylvania to observe Penn State’s Dance Marathon and spent the weekend taking notes and interviewing participants. The three made a list of about a dozen student leaders on campus on a yellow legal pad. “We knew if we wanted this to succeed, we had to get the best core group of student leaders,” Neale said. “Our number one goal was to donate at least one dollar to Riley Hospital for Children and have a whole lot of fun.” Establishing an Evolving Tradition The first IUDM raised $10,900 — $900 from the dancers and $10,000 from the sales of White’s autobiography, “Ryan White: My Own Story.”“You actually had to sign up with someone, and it had to be someone of the opposite sex,” Ahlers said. “It was like a date-a-thon almost.”It was the beginning of a new tradition that would become the second largest college philanthropy in the U.S.That year, IUDM also made a promise to Riley, Ahlers said.“We told Riley that we would raise $10 million for the Ryan White Center for Infectious Disease at Riley,” she said.Riley opened the center in 2000. In 2010, IUDM’s 20-year funding total surpassed its $10 million goal. The 2011 dance marathon structure won’t be the same as the first year, but the 20 years that have passed are a timeline of evolving traditions that define IUDM today.With increasing participation and a drive to raise more money each year, dancer qualifications and fundraising methods vary annually. This year, dancers can sign up for a shift rather than the full 36 hours. This came from concerns about dancer welfare and venue accommodation, said IUDM President Michael Essling. This year’s marathon will be at IU Tennis Center due to construction at the HPER.“It does not change the purpose or the mission,” Essling said. Maintaining the MissionUntil 2005, the letters “FTK”, which stood for “For The Kids”, and White’s initials were on all IUDM apparel.The IUDM community added a third set of initials to its slogan in April 2005, after Ashley Louise Crouse, IUDM vice president of communications, died in a car accident. Their apparel now reads, “FTK-ALC-RW,” and Crouse’s memory is preserved by the dance marathon.“It started in memory of Ryan White,” Essling said. “But whether we are motivated by Ryan, who died 21 years ago or Ashley, who passed away six years ago, we have really tried to keep core principles.”Maintaining IUDM’s longevity has been a core tradition since 1991, and Neale said IUDM founders returned in 2010 to see how it had changed since its inception.“You still have a special place in your heart for it,” he said. “The thing that stood out to me the most was the ability of young people and students to achieve ridiculously outstanding results year after year after year. The dance marathon has never changed. It’s all about giving good and creating good, and having a good time doing it.”
(11/02/11 3:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The last time David Brooks was on IU’s campus, he went to a football game with his son Joshua, a sophomore studying history.But on Tuesday, the New York Times op-ed columnist and PBS NewsHour commentator returned to campus to address the politics and culture surrounding the 2012 election as a guest of the Center on Congress at IU and School of Journalism for their Speaker Series. He spoke at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, and his audience represented the people living between the juxtaposed worlds of journalism and politics.“Since the tensions between politicians and journalists are well known, our speaker tonight is taking a real gamble,” said Lee Hamilton, former Indiana congressman and director of the Center on Congress, as he introduced Brooks. “But good journalism is at the heart of making our democracy work. We cannot have a free society without a free press.”Brooks took to the lectern and jumped into a humorous story about overly aggressive politicians and the lack of modesty in American society. But he said Hamilton was the exception.“What I do is cover politicians, and Lee Hamilton is not normal,” he jokingly said. Brooks addressed several aspects of society he said have lead to the problems America faces today, including the way Americans spend, executive compensation and the growing polarization in politics. He said the country is trying to correct its flaws, though.“What I am trying to describe is a country reacting to economic crisis by returning back to values, but they are not sure they see the political leadership to get them there,” he said. His conclusion was a more positive reflection, admitting he has great faith in the American population younger than 30. “I put more stock in what people are doing, the way they are cutting down their debt and the way they are shifting their behavior, than deliverance in politics,” he said.Brooks left journalism students with a note of encouragement.“I used to think journalism was waning,” he said. “People are willing to pay for it, even though they can get around the pay wall, because they value it.”Freshman journalism major Jennifer Gehrke attended the lecture and said she appreciated what Brooks had to say about the future of journalism.“That was one of the first encouraging things I’ve heard about journalism in a long time,” she said.Media Scholar John Sullivan, a freshman double majoring in journalism and English, said he has been reading Brooks’ column since middle school and dropped everything to attend the lecture Tuesday. “He basically summarized the problems with politics, society and the media,” Sullivan said.
(11/01/11 4:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The atmosphere at Cook Hall tingled with composed anticipation as 28 of the 30 Army ROTC senior cadets gathered for their branch ceremony, on Monday.The cadets anxiously awaited their specific branch assignment, signifying where they would serve as officers in the U.S. Army after graduation.“We have chosen a place where many Hoosiers have allowed their dreams to come true,” Lt. Col. Michael Ogden, director of military science and commander of IU Army ROTC, said as he addressed the crowd of family, friends and veterans.Surrounding the perimeter of the upper deck, each cadet was positioned behind the banner of a distinguished IU alumnus athlete.“They have said ‘no job too difficult, no place too far, I am a warrior Hoosier,’” Ogden said. “Ten years of war have not deterred them from taking on this task. I’ve tested them, and I’m here to tell you that you can trust them.”Each man descended the stairs, purpose in each step they took. The salute.“Hoosiers, sir!”The handshake, the envelope, the congratulatory pat on the back. The about-face.“Infantry.”“Med Services.”“Artillery.”Each cadet called out the branch of service their enveloped revealed, holding back the urge to smile. A resounding “Hooah!” followed. But for two senior cadets, Alex Clem and John Brogan, the honor extended even further. In August, the two made IU ROTC history, ranking in the top 1 percent of senior cadets in the nation on the National Order of Merit list, an honor no other IU Army ROTC cadet had received. Cadets across the nation were evaluated on their academic grade point average, their performance both at the summer Leadership Development and Assessment Course and in Army ROTC. Clem and Brogan finished 15th and 17th, respectively, out of 5,650 cadets across the country.As the proximity of their individual rankings reflect, the two cadets have much in common. They both are majoring in the sciences, carry above a 3.8 GPA and plan to attend medical school and pursue the Army Medical Corps. They encompass what the army defines as "scholar athlete leader," Ogden said.“Another hallmark of just how special these two young men are,” Ogden said. “To maintain the degree of academic performance required to succeed in the pre-medicine curriculum and focus and learn to the degree necessary to learn the art of military science and leadership combined is a tremendously difficult endeavor to undertake. And those two mastered both of them.”Although both cadets are humble with their recognition, the paths that led them to IU ROTC and the roads they plan to travel as officers in the Army define their individuality. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had not done ROTC,” Clem said. “Having the camaraderie and all that, I love it. I wouldn’t change it.”But ROTC was not in his original plan. Clem contemplated enlisting directly out of high school and delaying college, but ultimately decided to enroll at IU and study biology.“During freshman orientation, I saw the Army ROTC booth and realized I can do both,” he said. “It seemed like a great thing to be a part of and I really like.”He joined Army ROTC and enjoyed the structure so much, he also enlisted in the National Guard. He spent the summer after his freshman year at basic training, qualifying him to be part of the simultaneous membership program. At the branch ceremony, Clem’s envelope read Medical Services. He has been accepted to the IU School of Medicine and will attend in the fall 2012. Because of the extra time he committed during his summers, Clem is only required to serve three years of active duty once he completes medical school and his residency. But he is applying for the Health Professions Scholarships, which would pay for medical school and require him to serve an additional four years of active duty. Clem would serve as an army doctor. Senior Cadet Brogan said he plans to attend medical school and later serve as a doctor in the Army as well, but he chose to serve his four years active duty first. His envelope read “infantry.” After those four years, he will spend his four inactive years going to medical school and then will return to the Army as a doctor. He didn’t always want to be a doctor. Brogan went to Iowa State University his freshman year. He was an engineering major and was involved with ROTC. After a summer internship in engineering, he knew it wasn’t what he was passionate about. And an untimely canoeing adventure that left him in the hospital for a couple days helped him discover that passion. The fact that a microscopic bacteria could bring him down fascinated him, so he transferred to IU to study microbiology and continued in ROTC.“It was something I always wanted to do, plus I felt like I kind of owed it to my country,” Brogan said. “I wanted to feel like I did something. Some people climb mountains. This is my mountain.”Clem and Brogan agreed on something that concerns them both. They said they think their top 1 percent ranking is a great honor, but it doesn’t prove anything yet.“It’s kind of hard because it’s almost like it’s not real. I feel like I worked hard, but now that it’s happened, it’s like I did that, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to be a good officer,” Clem said. “It’s almost like not feeling worthy. It’s really cool, and it’s a great honor, but it’s not like I have really done anything in the real army yet.”Brogan agreed there are still tests he hasn’t faced yet.“I feel like I don’t deserve it,” Brogan said. “I feel there are people who are much better than me, but I guess I can’t really argue with it.”But Ogden, who also ranked in the top 1 percent when he was a senior cadet in Army ROTC at Ball State University, said the two are as worthy as any.“The two of them exemplify that scholar athlete leader combination that it takes to be an army officer, to lead our nation’s sons and daughters into some of the most difficult and challenging circumstances our country can face and send them to solve the world’s problems at a moment’s notice,” Ogden said. “And it certainly takes mental toughness and the mental agility to lead our soldiers and to find the best solutions to those problems, whatever that may be.”Although having cadets in the top 1 percent is a first for IU Army ROTC, the program has always had a presence nationwide, Ogden said.“In that top 10 percent category we finished second in the nation only to University of Hawaii,” Ogden said. “We had more cadets in the top 10 percent than 276 other schools in the country, which is probably the record I am most proud of because that is the one everybody is aiming for.”
(11/01/11 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nancy and Michael Uslan can sum up their IU experience in eight words: “Fell in love with IU and each other.”They are challenging the “Spirit of IU” community to do the same as part of the site’s recent contest.The IU Alumni Association has teamed up with the IU Creative Services Office and launched a new facet of its website, hoping to increase online interaction among Indiana Hoosiers past and present.The site’s title reflects its mission: to provide a social networking community where Hoosier alumni can share their IU pride. “We came up with this idea because we realized people really wanted a way to engage and for the Alumni Association to be relevant in their lives,” said Rebecca Salerno, director of the IU Office of Creative Services.It functions as an interactive game where “Spirit of IU” community members can earn points by engaging within the site. They can redeem their participation points for merchandise or membership fee payments for the IU Alumni Association. There is a community for IU alumni to find fellow tailgaters in Hoosier Village on game days. Salerno said one main goal was to target the younger generation of alumni, those students who graduated within the last 10 years. They plan to achieve this by partnering with notable IU alumni to sponsor interactive online contests, attracting more than 640 Hoosiers to the site since the July launch.The first was a fashion contest where IU alumni and blogosphere fashionista Jessica Quirk of “What I Wore” sought to find the 10 contributors with the best IU style. “It’s a great way to showcase some of the amazing alumni talent we have and tell their IU story in their own words,” said JT Forbes, executive director of the IU Alumni Association. The current contest collaboration was inspired by IU alumna Nancy Uslan, founder of Books and Beyond, a global literacy program that provides reading material for Rwandan children in the wake of genocide. Students living in the Global Village work through Books and Beyond to create an anthology of short stories with students in Newark, N.J., and Rwanda, said Lauren Caldarera, assistant director for the Global Village.Nancy and her husband, Michael, executive producer of the Batman movies, have brought a “Spirit of IU” twist to the Books and Beyond mission; contest participants have to tell their “IU story” in eight words or fewer.“It is an exercise that I hope anyone who attempts to accomplish will enjoy and take time to reflect on their greater experience as a whole,” Nancy Uslan said.This contest will affect both the IU community and the benefactors of the Books and Beyond project.“We are hoping that people will submit stories through IU and they will get to learn more about Books and Beyond,” Caldarera said. The deadline for this contest is Dec. 1.“It’s a quick and easy way to touch base with the IU community,” Forbes said. “It’s the first rung on the ladder of engagement once you graduate from the University.”
(10/27/11 2:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Education pays.A recent IU study found that people 25 years and older who continue their education past high school can expect a substantial increase in wages, whether or not they complete or obtain degrees.The study, “The Importance of Being Educated: Wage Benefits for Indiana’s Adult Students,” was conducted by researchers at the Indiana Business Research Center at IU’s Kelley School of Business.“If you look at the population of so-called nontraditional students, relatively little is known of them and their experiences, as compared to the traditional college student,” said Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis at the IBRC. “There is a bump in wages as a result of pursuing an education, and those are statistically substantial and could be substantiated based on the wage records of the students in our cohort.”IBRC collected data during three years by studying a group of 20,263 college students attending two of Indiana’s public, two-year institutions: Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana and Vincennes University. These students were enrolled between fall 1999 and spring 2002. The researchers then tracked the students’ progress in the work force one and five years later.The IBRC study found students 25 years or older who enroll earned $1,000 more in annual wages after attempting 25 to 36 college credit hours compared to those who attempted fewer than 12 college credit hours. Those who enrolled in 49 to 60 credit hours achieved $2,300 more on average than those enrolled in 12 hours or less.Slaper said the study also found that the benefits of post-secondary education increased for students in certain programs of study.“The field of study is also important,” he said. “Big boosts in wages come from health care-related occupations, industrial arts, business and consumer services.”Students who pursued 25 to 36 credit hours in industrial arts and consumer services majors earned an average of about $5,100 more per year than those who attempted fewer than 12 credit hours.Nontraditional students completing their associate degrees gained an average of $4,100 per year more in wages than those who attempted fewer than 12 credits. Health majors gained an average of $9,900 more per year in wages than those who attempted 12 credits. Industrial arts and consumer services majors gained $7,000 more annually than those who attempted fewer than 12 credits.According to the United States Census Bureau, 55.3 percent of adults in Indiana do not continue their education past high school.Sue Smith, corporate executive for Advanced Manufacturing and Technology with Ivy Tech Corporate College, said research studies like the one conducted by IBRC help her communicate the importance of education to employers and employees.“A study like this is really an eye-opener for employees and employers,” she said. “I hope this a wake-up call. Here is the data, demonstrated proof that there is a return on that investment in the education field.”Slaper said the most important aspect of the study is its conclusion that a little bit of education is better than none at all.“While it’s important to complete or finish your degree, even if you don’t, getting some education will give you an economic benefit,” he said.
(10/20/11 2:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Oct. 13, the eve of former United States Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s 95th birthday, the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention at IU announced plans to honor the doctor’s legacy with the creation of an endowed research grant.The grant will support doctoral student research related to AIDS/HIV prevention, mirroring the work for which Koop is universally recognized. “This is something that will last forever,” said William Yarber, the center’s senior director and a professor in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. “It means that doctoral students from across the country will receive financial assistance for their work and will have a sense of pride that it is named in Koop’s honor.” The center decided to create the endowment in Koop’s name for his “courageous” and “heroic” contributions to raising awareness of AIDS and HIV in the 1980s. Doctoral students from across the nation can apply for these $600 grants, which are awarded each spring. Yarber said the center will most likely award three grants in spring 2012, but he hopes the endowment will increase in coming years. Koop was presented the 2010 Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award by the center and Jeanne White Ginder, mother of the young AIDS activist from Indiana.Yarber said Koop is one of the most heroic and famous surgeon generals in history. “Not everyone was pleased, but all the people of the public health praised him and realized he did a very courageous and heroic thing by providing education about AIDS when people were hesitant to do that and political leaders didn’t want to get involved,” Yarber said. “Dr. Koop put the needs of the nation before any political aspects.”
(10/20/11 2:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kenyan photojournalist Jacob Otieno said it’s bringing people together. Otieno, along with other scholars of African studies, will spend his weekend at IU as a guest of the African Studies Program to celebrate the program’s 50th anniversary.“I’m humbled and feel greatly honored to be on this beautiful campus,” Otieno said. “I have never been to this part of the (United States), but I feel more like a scholar this time. I am learning from students, and they are learning from me.”The program will reflect upon its own history, as well as Africa’s past, as it celebrates its anniversary today through Saturday. “The most important thing is that we know what our mission is and we are fulfilling it: educating Americans about the continent of Africa,” African Studies Program Director Samuel Obeng said. “It’s like a coming of age, if you like.” Obeng said the 50-year celebration this weekend marks a time of reflection on the program’s past accomplishments and future progress.“You ask yourself, ‘What have I done?’ It’s a period of reflection. What is my mission, have I been able to fulfill it, what am I going to do in the next year, 10 or 20 years?’” Obeng said. “The past, as we know, informs the future.”To commemorate its anniversary, the African Studies Program has summoned the work of African photographers and invited distinguished IU alumni to sit on panels and incite public discussion on topics of African history and culture, as well as the struggles the continent faces. Otieno’s contribution to the celebration will be on display at the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center, where his photos tell the story of the Kenyan revolution that brought freedom of expression to the country. Otieno said coverage of the revolution raised awareness among the Kenyan people, pushing the government to revise Section 2A of their constitution to allow freedom of expression.“You’ve got to fight for it if you want change,” Otieno said. “Everyday we reported it, it was turning, it was turning into a revolution.”Obeng used the saying “a traveler educates his kith and kin” to describe the purpose of this weekend’s events, not just for African Studies students and faculty, but for the entire IU campus. “If people go to these lectures and these panels, they will educate themselves and their friends, and I encourage them to ask questions and become involved in the discussion,” he said. “Any program that does not grow or offer room for growth is as good as dead.” Depth and breadth are two goals for the program in the next 25 years as Obeng said he hopes to expand the core of the program and bring African studies to occupations and subjects it hasn’t reached yet, like communication, business and human rights, he said. “Our program is meant to promote culture through all aspects, including musical, scientific, political and other activities that are related to Africa, for the benefit of the community, of the students and of the country,” Obeng said. “We want to contribute toward the enrichment of all people.”
(10/12/11 4:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For about a month, medical information pertaining to the eye health of 757 IU School of Optometry patients was visible on the Internet. The information, which was stored on a teaching server by former faculty member Kevin E. Houston, O.D., was originally secure and available to optometry students for educational purposes, said April Haag, IU School of Optometry compliance and privacy officer. However, when the server was reconfigured Aug. 12, an error exposed the information to the Internet. Because Houston left the school in June and the server was not re-configured until mid-August, no one realized it contained protected medical records.“When Dr. Houston put the information on the teaching server, it wasn’t designed to hold protected health information,” Haag said.The school was notified of the information breach Sept. 9. It shut down the server, and within 24 hours, cached copies indexed by a major computer search engine were removed. Letters were sent to the 757 affected patients Sept. 30.“We don’t know that their information was seen by anyone, just that it could have been seen,” said Mark Land, associate vice president of University Communications. Those affected by the breach came from a specific subset of patients at the school’s low-vision clinics in Carmel, Ind., and Indianapolis who were seen between January 2007 and June 2011. Certain hospital inpatients seen by Houston from August 2007 to August 2008 were also included. The leaked medical history contained only information on the patients’ eye health and did not contain any information that could make a patient susceptible to identity theft, such as addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers, credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers or other financial information. Haag said there is a regulatory agency that manages Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violations, commonly referred to as HIPAA, and the school has fulfilled its legal obligation to file the breach with the Office of Civil Rights with the Department of Health and Human Services.The school is revisiting its policies and procedures about where secure information should and should not be stored, as well as launching an education campaign with all of its faculty, Haag said.“It’s a cascade failure,” she said. “I wouldn’t put it on one person. At the end of the day, it’s the School of Optometry’s responsibility to secure our patients’ information, and we are treating it that way.”