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(08/22/07 4:57am)
Eric Gordon is coming to campus, and he’s bringing some friends with him. And they’re all exceptionally good basketball players. \nFreshmen Eli Holman, Jordan Crawford, Brandon McGee and Gordon, a former highly ranked national recruit and Indianapolis native, are joined on campus and on the court by junior college transfers Jamarcus Ellis and DeAndre Thomas as fall classes begin next week. \nHowever, many of the new Hoosiers say they are not fazed at all. \n“Oh, I’m ready,” McGee, a Chicago native, said. “I already took some summer classes, so I got kind of an outlook at what’s going to happen in the fall. I know all my classes. It’s going to be pretty hard, but we’re going to work hard at it.” \nSeveral recruits, including Gordon and Ellis, came to campus to take classes and find their way around in the summer when the atmosphere in Bloomington was \nmore relaxed.\n“When you have a campus full of students, to get around’s going to be a little difficult,” McGee said. “But in the fall, I’ll be all right.”\nThomas said he will be glad to return to campus because he enjoys staying fresh and working out as much as possible in preparation for the \ncoming season. \n“I feel good about school fixing to start,” Thomas said. “I need to be working, so I need to stay moving and stay working out at all times, regardless of where I’m at. It’s going to be a good atmosphere at Bloomington when \nschool starts.” \nGordon said the time the team spent together on campus in the summer has benefits both in the classroom and on the court. \n“We’re just adjusting to classes and seeing what it’s like playing together in open gym,” Gordon said. “I mean, we’re just bonding together as a team, and it’s a good thing we all have the same classes, so we’re just able to see what each other are like.”\nAll the recruits spent time playing together, touring the state during an annual summer barnstorming tour that recruiting classes take part in prior to coming to campus. \nCrawford said traveling around the state and playing in front of the IU fan base helped accustom him to what to expect in the fall. He said he knows the season will be even more exciting, however. \n“(IU fans) really support you, they really want to win,” Crawford said. “But we want to win just as bad, and (IU) coach (Kelvin) Sampson really preaches that. It still doesn’t compare to how it’s going to happen (in the fall).”\nMcGee said he believes the barnstorming tour will help the recruits adapt to playing in front of larger crowds. \n“In a way, it (helps), because, you know, 17,000 every home game – that’s crazy,” McGee said. “So getting used to it right now will probably help us in the long run.”\nGordon said he thinks the class is coming together and getting to know each other well prior to the beginning of \nthe season. \n“I think we’re really getting it together as a team, and you see a lot of the talent that is out here on our team, and I mean, they’re just fun to play with,” Gordon said. \nSeveral recruits said that, to them, the best part of coming to campus is simply that the new semester means the season isn’t far away. \n“(I’m) just looking forward to the practices pretty soon, it’s not going be too far from now,” Gordon said. “Midnight Madness will not be that far from now either, so I’m just looking forward to that and looking forward to having a \ngood season.”
(08/06/07 12:26am)
The Monroe County Jail is suffering overcrowding and a shortage of jailers, according to a report released by the Indiana Department of Corrections. The report also found several other minor infractions, including a lack of adequate shower space and corrosion in the sprinkler system.\nHowever, Monroe County Sheriff Jim Kennedy said he was happy with the report and that most of the infractions found were minor.\n“I thought it was a thorough inspection, and I thought we came out of it very well,” Kennedy said. “The major problem that they’ve realized, of course, is the overcrowding situation.”\nThe report said 16 new jailers need to be hired to provide “sufficient jail personnel.” Kennedy said he would do what he could to fill those positions, while seeking extra money from the county to help facilitate such hires.\n“They’ve not added to this staff in years, so getting ... new jailers will be a tremendous help,” Kennedy said, adding that more correctional officers will make the facility safer.\nKennedy said he does his best to alleviate overcrowding but said the sheriff only has so much power. He said his only powers involve classifying prisoners based on how much time they must do to make up for time served after conviction and taking away “good time,” both of which actually cause more overcrowding.\n“The two things I can do make them stay in the jail longer,” Kennedy said.\nKennedy said he is doing everything he can to add extra beds to a facility that was built to house 124 people 21 years ago. The jail has averaged about 250 people on any given day this year, Kennedy said. He added that Monroe County’s incarceration rate is lower than that of other counties its size.\nKennedy said double-bunking the beds on the fourth and fifth floors of the Monroe County Justice Building, where the jail is housed, should create enough new spaces to house all the prisoners. Fourth-floor cells are already double-bunked, pushing the capacity to 194, and double-bunking beds on the fifth floor will add 59 new beds, Kennedy said.\nHe said people in the jail who do not have a cell are currently sleeping on mattresses in the jail’s recreational facility. He said that limits his ability to classify and contain inmates who might be more violent or dangerous, making the jail itself more dangerous.\nThe sheriff also said a locker storage area on the first floor will soon be renovated so that females in the jail can be moved there and separated from male inmates. Currently, they are only separated by cell block.\nKennedy pointed to small infractions he recognized as requiring immediate attention, including adding showers so the jail has the required one shower for every 12 inmates. The report states that the jail currently falls short of meeting the required one toilet and one shower per every 12 inmates.\nKennedy said IU students tend not to be part of the overcrowding problem. He said there are some instances where they can be in jail in high numbers, but they usually are bonded out quickly.\n“In general, the inmates that are of student origin – they’re not a problem for us,” Kennedy said. “The University’s not an impact problem on the jail.”\nKennedy also pointed to the cost of a new jail as a determining factor, considering the Monroe County Council would have to appropriate a significant amount of money for the project.\n“It’s going to cost millions and millions of dollars,” Kennedy said. “You’re going to have to convince an awful lot of elected officials, and the costs of jails is exceptionally high.”
(08/02/07 4:30pm)
It is 6:46 p.m. Shadows stretch across the field as the grounds crew wets down the field in preparation for the July 20 game between the Indianapolis Indians and the Durham Bulls. The grass-covered seats behind the outfield play host to picnicking families and fans prepared to take in the closest professional baseball team to Bloomington. \nThe Indians, the AAA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, play at Victory Field, a location that offers a picturesque view of downtown Indianapolis.\nIndians’ Vice President and General Manager Cal Burleson said the stadium’s proximity to downtown Indianapolis is a helpful plus for the team.\n“I think it’s a tremendous plus for us to be located in such a dynamic downtown,” Burleson said. “I think it’s a definite plus, and there’s a lot of activity in Indianapolis that brings people downtown, and I think we share in the attendance with other attractions.”\nBurleson said the Indians try to market themselves as a place for family entertainment.\n“We put our emphasis on providing Indians’ baseball as affordable and memorable family fun,” Burleson said. “We do a lot to try and present a wonderful entertainment experience to the fans that come to Victory Field.”\nBurleson pointed to low ticket prices and the success of the Indians – they have made the playoffs the past two years and currently stand second in the International League’s West Division – as reasons people come to see the team. \nHe said he believes one of the main attractions of Indians’ games is Victory Field itself. He said every seat in the stadium has a good view of the action and recent additions and renovations to amenities such as concessions have made it a great place to watch games.\n“We put a lot of money into the ballpark,” Burleson said. “Last year, we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Victory Field, and what we probably heard most often was that people couldn’t believe the ballpark was 10 years-old.”\nElkhorn, Wisc., native Jeff Beardsley said he tours minor league ballparks with friends during the summer. He said Victory Field is one of the better parks he’s seen. \n“(The stadium is) very nice,” Beardsley said. “It’s clean, and it’s wide open.”\nKeith Shockley of Lebanon, Ind., offered similar comments about the park and said he believed it to be one of the best among minor league stadiums.\n“I’ve been here several times before,” Shockley said. “I haven’t been to any (others), but I’ll bet you it’s one of the better ones.”\nBurleson also pointed out that fans are allowed to bring their own food and beverages to the game, excluding alcohol and anything in glass containers. \nHe said he believes the popularity of professional sports in Indianapolis helps raise awareness about the Indians as an attraction. \n“There is such an emphasis on professional sports as an attraction in the downtown area,” Burleson said. “I think it helps to elevate everyone in terms of their profile when a lot (of) attention is paid to sports.”\nHe also noted that, while the Indians might not offer the glamour of a major league franchise, fans often get to see future major leaguers at Victory Field.\n“It’s certainly part of the opportunity that AAA baseball provides,” Burleson said. “Virtually the entire Pittsburgh Pirates rotation pitched here. ... I think people do get the chance to see the major league players of the future performing at the AAA level.”\nShockley, who said his favorite player growing up was Ted Williams, said the only major difference between AAA and the majors is the talent level. He said that difference doesn’t bother him.\n“I don’t think there’s a whole lot (of difference); they just have better players up there,” Shockley said. “I just enjoy baseball.”\nBeardsley said he enjoys minor-league baseball because of the players’ attitudes. \n“It’s guys still playing because they love the game, because they want to make it,” Beardsley said. \nThe Indians offer giveaway promotions and special presentations and displays throughout the summer, such as setting off fireworks after every Friday night game. \nOn Saturday, Victory Field will host the Counting Crows, Live and Collective Soul as part of the Rock N Roll Triple Play Tour, which is hitting 23 minor league ballparks across the country this summer. \nBurleson said the Indians’ theme of “baseball up close” represents a focus on trying to get fans involved as more than mere one-time spectators. \n“That means close to the actions, close to friends and family and close to one of the most dynamic downtowns in the country,” Burleson said, “So I think you’ll always see us with that kind of a theme that really emphasizes how close we are in the downtown community.”\nAnd as it happened, the Indians won that July 20 game on a walk-off home run by Adam Boeve, much to the delight of more than 13,000 people who packed Victory Field on a Friday night to enjoy a game.\n–Sports editor John Wustrow contributed to this report.
(08/02/07 12:41am)
Six members of the IU women’s soccer team helped their club teams to championship games at the Under-19 United States Youth Soccer Association National Championship.\nFive sophomores – forward Kristin Arnold, midfielder Nikki Bonacorsi, defender Jessica Boots, midfielder Christie Kotynski and midfielder Natalie O’Bryan – were part of the national champion Carmel Cyclones, who defeated the previously unbeaten PWSI Cardinals of Virginia 2-0. Sophmore defender Taylor Fallon competed for Slammers FC Under-18 team, which was defeated on penalties 2-1 in its divisional championship game.\nCarmel allowed only four goals over four games en route to the title. The Cyclones scored six goals during the competition.\nBoots has played with Carmel throughout her club career, and said she was thrilled to win a championship with the Cyclones in her final year of club-level competition.\n“It was amazing,” Boots said. “We’ve been working toward this for several years and every year we get close ... to finally make it this year ... all the girls are incredible and we’re just so close.”\nKotynski, who joined Carmel this summer, said “it was just awesome to be a part of” the team’s championship.\nKotynski said the success these Hoosiers found this summer shows they can compete at the highest level of soccer, both at the club and collegiate levels.\n“It just shows that we can compete at the highest level,” Kotynski said. “compete and finish well and show what we can do.”\nSeveral of IU’s players joined Carmel because of their connection to Boots, who said the girls made great sacrifices driving long distances to practice and gave a lot to the team during their championship run.\nBoots said she thinks it will be important for returning players to come back to school in top form to get the season off to a good start. She said playing together at the club level benefits that goal.\n“I think it just helps that we were together and playing together more,” Boots said. “I think playing this late in the summer, playing this high intensity, playing with such good players ... we’re just that much fitter.”\nKotynski said all the work the players put in this summer has made them better individually and as a team.\n“We’ve been practicing and practicing, and it seems like we’ve all been playing together and playing a lot better than before,” Kotynski said.\nThey advanced to the finals as the Region 2 champions in June in Texas.\nSlammers FC lost to Bloomfield in their divisional championship game. They lost a 1-0 lead in the 90th minute, and finally had their run ended in a 6-5 penalty shootout loss.\nCarmel posted a 1-1-1 record in divisional play, and Slammers FC notched a 2-0-1 record in their division.\nBoots said she believes the team will build on their summer success and continue to improve as they progress through the 2007 collegiate season.\n“I think were going to keep building every year,” Boots said. “Each year, we’re going to keep improving, and I think this year will be a really good year for us.”\nThe USYSA Championships are held annually of the MLC club, FC Dallas, Pizza Hut Park.
(08/02/07 12:05am)
The genome of a water flea may be the key to understanding how organisms adapt to immediate and long-term environmental changes. \nThe Daphnia Genomics Consortium, a group of international researchers, mapped the genome of the Daphnia pulex, more commonly known as the water flea, making it the first crustacean to have its genome mapped. \nJohn Colbourne, Daphnia project director at the IU Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, said this sequencing, though time consuming and painstaking, may have far-reaching effects on the study of how organisms adapt to environmental changes. \n“The Daphnia Project has, since its conception, (aimed) to bring the same type of technology... to an organism... more in terms of telling us something about environmental concerns,” Colbourne said. \nColbourne said the Daphnia is a good case study in this kind of research because it is an organism common to several different types of freshwater ecosystems. It is also a “keystone species,” Colbourne said, meaning the water flea occupies a critical spot on the food chain of such ecosystems.\nStudying the DNA of water fleas and how they adapt to environmental stresses, both natural and man-made, can help scientists – biologists and ecologists – understand how such stresses will affect other organisms, including humans. Colbourne said one major purpose behind the research was to share results with several different fields of scientific study, so the months of work required to map the genome could be used across many disciplines. \nThe process of genome sequencing involves taking large pieces of DNA and breaking them into smaller, more manageable pieces, then isolating individual molecules. Then, those broken pieces are attached to artificial materials called “plasmids,” which complete the broken pieces. \nThose millions of completed, circular pieces are then put into a machine called a sequencer, which takes the DNA and attempts to find overlap in the artificial molecules – overlaps that are then used to determine chromosomes – and eventually, a genome map. Colbourne said the process took a long time, and lots of collaboration within the consortium to complete.\nColbourne said another advantage of mapping the Daphnia genome is that it can now be compared to other mapped genomes, such as that of the fruit fly, to see where similar organisms may have diverged from the Daphnia on the evolutionary tree.\n“Given that it’s the first crustacean (ever mapped), its closest kin is the insects,” Colbourne said. “That places Daphnia in an interesting situation. … Evolutionarily speaking … the Daphnia genome roots all the insect genomes.”\nColbourne emphasized that the focus of his research is in trying to find out how organisms adapt to “environmental stresses” at the DNA level, topics he said were fundamental issues of adaptation.\n“We can now ask the question: Given that this organism has to prosper in these natural environments, what are the genes doing in order for it to prosper? And more importantly,” Colbourne said, “how are the genes changing?”\nColbourne said one important aspect of analyzing such changes is examining how human-induced environmental stresses affect genomes. He said because only 7 percent of the 80,000 launched into the environment in America alone are tested before release, this new information can help scientists understand how untested chemicals can affect organisms in those environments, including humans. \nColbourne also said he was happy with the success of the consortium, which coordinated efforts across several states and countries to complete the mapping of the Daphnia genome.\nColbourne said the genome is available through two Web portals, one at IU and one at the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif. \nColbourne said study of the water flea is just beginning, and said this genome mapping is “tool-building” for future research projects that will use the map. He said researchers hope these kinds of projects can lead to a greater understanding of how organisms adapt, or go extinct, in the face of environmental changes.\n“It’s time,” Colbourne said, “to ask the question: How different are populations, really, from each other? Can we predict if a population will survive or go extinct?”
(07/30/07 12:16am)
Researchers at IU’s School of Medicine may have discovered a new treatment for testicular cancer in patients who do not respond to initial chemotherapy, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. \nThe report, authored by several researchers, including renowned IU oncologist Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, stated that 116 of the 184 patients involved in the study went into complete remission after being treated. \n“Testicular tumors are potentially curable by means of high-dose chemotherapy plus hematopoietic stem-cell rescue, even when this regimen is used as a third-line or later therapy or in patients with platinum-refractory disease,” the report concluded. \nStephen Williams, one of the co-authors of the report and the associate dean for cancer research at the School of Medicine, said this kind of research had been ongoing. However, he said the results in the report were obtained when several people brought their research together in one study. \n“People have been doing high-dose chemotherapy ... for quite some time, but it had been awhile since we had compiled our results,” Williams said. “I think the results even surprised us, how well they were doing. It’s fairly impressive.”\nWilliams said the treatment method involves removing and freezing a patient’s stem cells from their blood, then giving them high doses of chemotherapy, which must be stronger than normal to fight the more drug-resistant malignancies discussed in the report.\nThose drugs lower the patient’s blood cell count, and the frozen stem cells are replaced to counteract that lowering effect. The stem cell replacement allows patients to withstand higher doses of chemotherapy that might not have been safe otherwise. \nThe report concluded that this experimental method of treating patients with metastatic testicular cancer that had progressed even after receiving chemotherapy proved effective in defeating the disease.\nThe overall cure rate for testicular cancer is in the range of 90 percent, according to webmd.com. Even after the malignancy has spread, about 70 percent of patients still respond to treatment and are cured of the disease.\nWilliams said this particular treatment is pertinent to a small number of testicular cancer patients. He said only 5 to 10 percent of patients advance to the stage where this form of treatment would be necessary, and the high-dose chemotherapy is effective in “a little bit more than 60 percent” of those patients. \nWilliams called testicular cancer “the most curable adult-solid tumor.” \nWilliams said this method might not be effective for many forms of cancer, especially those historically resistant to chemotherapy, which testicular cancer is not. \nHe also said that the treatment, while effective, may be hard to offer because of the training required from medical personnel. \n“It’s still a pretty big deal. It takes a sophisticated team of people to take care of these patients,” Williams said. “Our ability to take care of the patients ... has improved a lot over the years. We’ve just gotten better at it, I think, in a variety of ways.”\nWilliams said researchers will always continue to look for new and innovative ways to battle all forms of cancer, and that the findings in the report will only spawn further work. \n“We will continue to seek better forms of chemotherapy that can be given in high dosages,” Williams said. \nEinhorn, a leader in testicular cancer research who helped cure seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong during his now-famous bout with the disease, developed a method of successfully treating testicular cancer in the 1970s by mixing chemotherapy with a drug considered experimental at the time. \nThe report appears in the July 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
(07/29/07 9:06pm)
The Bloomington Area Arts Council announced Thursday that the application deadline for the Greer Artist Fellowships has been extended through Aug. 31, according to a Bloomington Area Arts Council press release. Four $1,000 fellowships are available to artists working in the fields of creative writing and ceramics. \nThe fellowships were established by Charles Greer, recently retired IU professor of geography and East Asian studies, in honor of his son Jason and daughter-in-law Lucy, who were killed in a boating accident in Alaska. \nIt was their careers – Jason, a writer and the 1989 valedictorian at Bloomington High School North, and Lucy, a ceramicist – that inspired the fellowship. Both had histories with the John Waldron Arts Center, Jonna Risher, arts development director for the BAAC, said.\nGreer said the field was reopened to applicants because the number of interested artists has decreased slightly this year. He encouraged people to apply, saying the field is filled with qualified artists but is typically small.\n“We have some good (applicants), but we just want to make it more widely available,” Greer said. “It’s pretty competitive, but there are not a large number of applicants.”\nGreer said the fellowships, which were established through a family foundation, are one of the best ways his family and his daughter-in-law’s family can remember Jason and Lucy Greer. \n“It’s the best kind of public way that we have of remembering and kind of carrying on,” Greer said. \nGreer said the John Waldron Arts Center and the BAAC are crucial in the success of the fellowship program, now in its seventh year.\n“Without the Arts Center, we wouldn’t have been able to make the impact that we’ve been able to,” Greer said. \nRisher said Charles Greer was the driving force behind the establishment of the fellowships.\n“This exists because of his energy and his desire,” Risher said. \nGreer said the fellowships are to help defray certain costs associated with starting a career in the two particular forms of art in question, such as closing a first book deal or submitting slides for ceramics competitions and shows. \nRisher said the BAAC considers the fellowships valuable because they help the council fulfill its mission of supporting the arts in Region Eight, their field of focus with regard to supporting the arts. Region Eight, one of 12 regions statewide, consists of Monroe, Owen, Brown, Lawrence and Greene Counties. Only artists from those counties may apply for the fellowships. \n“(The fellowships) have tremendous benefit for the Arts Council because they support and promote artists in our region, which is why we exist,” Risher said. “As the region’s arts council, we are only too happy to assist in promotion of a fund like this.”\nRisher said the BAAC extended the application deadline simply because the council wanted to give more interested artists time to apply. \nStudents cannot apply for the fellowships. Risher said the fellowships are not meant to exclude students but they are instead simply meant to support “mid-career” artists.\nApplicants are required to be at least 21 years-old. Those applicants who win one of the fellowships must “provide documentation of funded activities” by the end of the grant period, according to the release. That submission deadline for applicants for this year’s fellowships falls on Sept. 20, 2008. \nGreer said he enjoys staying in touch with former fellowship recipients and hearing of their success and appreciation. \n“(Former recipients) all stayed with the career and are committed to it,” Greer said. “I hear from several of them ... and they remember with thanks.”
(07/23/07 12:53am)
IU announced July 18 that Edwin C. Marshall, a professor and associate dean for academic affairs and student administration at the IU School of Optometry, has been named the next vice president of diversity, equity and multicultural affairs.\nMarshall is replacing Charlie Nelms, who is leaving Aug. 1 to assume the position of chancellor at North Carolina Central University. \nIU President Michael McRobbie hailed Marshall as an excellent choice for the position. \n“Ed Marshall is an extremely accomplished member of the faculty and a person who has established a truly national and international reputation for academic excellence in his profession,” McRobbie said in an IU news release.\nMarshall will be the point-person in issues dealing with “diversity, equity and multicultural affairs on all IU campuses and (with) more specific \nresponsibilities at IU Blooming-ton,” according to the release.\nMcRobbie also noted in the release that Marshall’s work as an adjunct professor of public health in the IU School of Medicine will make him a valuable partner in many future life science initiatives the University pursues.\nMarshall’s work in optometry, which includes time as the first optometrist elected president of the Indiana Public Health Association, also led to his being named the 2007 Optometrist of the Year by the American Optometric Association, according to a July 13 IU news release. \nMarshall said in the most recent release that he recognizes the large void Nelms has left in the administration. He said he is “honored” to accept his new position and hopes to continue the work Nelms championed.\nMarshall said he looks forward to the many tasks ahead of him and spoke of his prior experience in expanding diversity. He traveled to historically black colleges and universities as a student to encourage others to pursue careers in optometry.\nHe also spoke of the emphasis he will place on collaborative efforts between different units of the University to achieve diversification goals throughout the IU community. \nMarshall, who also serves as a University marshal at official ceremonies, said his past experiences give him “a kind of platform to help advance IU’s agenda.”\nHe said he is committed to a current University plan to double minority enrollment \nby 2013.\nHe said, however, that he will look to diversify the University at all levels, especially within the faculty.\n“Students come to universities for many reasons,” Marshall said. “One of those reasons is faculty. They represent the mission of the university. If we have more diverse faculty within the academic units of the University, it is a good vehicle for helping to attract students from those diverse backgrounds.”\nUniversity Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said he believes Marshall’s current relationships with IU faculty and administration will be a great asset to the vice president as he attempts to facilitate the kind of collaboration Marshall said is so important.\n“In addition to energy and enthusiasm, Ed (Marshall) has very good relationships with a large number of faculty,” Gros Louis said. “That knowledge of a lot of faculty is going to make it easier to be collaborative.”\nGros Louis said one of Marshall’s most immediate responsibilities is ensuring the continued success of various programs previously overseen by Nelms that reach out to minority students in elementary, middle and high schools. These programs are meant not only to expose students to IU, but to show students college is a real possibility for them after high school.\nMarshall said he will need to first take stock of the resources at his disposal before deciding on any new initiatives as vice president. However, he plans to continue already-implemented programs and wants to develop “academic pipelines” to the University that can attract minority students to IU from various communities on a more regular basis.\nMarshall said he believes diversity is an important issue because students must be readied for the interconnected world they will enter upon graduation. He said he hopes to create this kind of learning environment as he takes office.\n“If ... society is becoming more and more diverse, closer knit individuals are going to have to be able to interact and relate to this very, very diverse and complex mixture,” Marshall said. “If IU is going to be an academic leader, then it is going to have to meet these demands.”
(07/18/07 6:59pm)
Karen Hanson, dean of the Hutton Honors College, will be IU’s first permanent provost once she is approved by the IU board of trustees. Hanson’s appointment ends a summer-long search for the first permanent provost, and Bloomington’s first such leader within the administration since Sharon Brehm stepped down from the chancellor position in 2003. \nHanson was personally appointed by IU President Michael McRobbie, who last held the position of provost on an interim basis. Hanson will also serve as the executive vice president for the Bloomington campus, according to an IU press release. \nHanson, who also previously served as chair of the philosophy department from 1997 until 2002, said she is honored by the appointment.\n“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the campus in this way,” Hanson said. “I was very pleased to hear it, and I’m appreciative of the confidence the president is showing me.”\nHanson will be the chief academic officer for the University. The provost oversees academic and budgetary concerns to ensure that the needs of students and faculty are receiving ample opportunity to succeed. Hanson will also be responsible for making sure such parties meet University standards for education. \nResearch, faculty promotion and tenure and student recruitment and retention all fall under Hanson’s purview, and each dean on campus reports to her. \nHanson said she hopes to leave her mark as IU’s first permanent chief academic officer.\n“This is the first permanent provost, and the position is a little bit undefined as we go forward,” Hanson said. “I expect to make my contribution to delineating the position.”\nBloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis gave Hanson a glowing endorsement.\n“I think she is just a terrific choice,” Gros Louis said. “(Hanson will do) a marvelous job. I think Michael (McRobbie) made a great choice.”\nIU law professor and chair of the provost search committee Fred Cate said he “could not be more delighted” at Hanson’s appointment. Cate said he believes Hanson was a somewhat unexpected selection, but the thorough and measured steps taken throughout the search process revealed her as the best candidate.\n“This is exactly the kind of candidate who I do not think people thought about, and so the search proved worthwhile,” Cate said.\nCate has called the provost’s job a “nearly impossible” one throughout the search because of the vast and varied requirements of the office, such as the appointment of deans, the handling of day-to-day academic affairs and the role of the second-most influential administrator on campus. He said Hanson’s “long track record” at IU will enable her to fulfill these duties with success from her first day on the job, something he thinks McRobbie will find useful. \n“She brings a breadth of experience inside the campus that I think will be valuable to (McRobbie),” Cate said.\nGros Louis said he has known Hanson for many years and believes she is a strong choice for the provost position because of her familiarity with academic units across the Bloomington campus stemming from her time as dean of the Honors College. In that position, she worked with deans across campus to set up programs for students to take classes in their particular fields of study through the Honors College.\nLisa Pratt, a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, a member of the provost search committee and the Bloomington Faculty Council president, said she is “very pleased” at Hanson’s appointment. She said the provost must strike a delicate balance between the needs of the Bloomington campus and those of other IU campuses, a task she believes Hanson can handle. \nHanson herself also recognizes this challenge.\n“I do want to be an advocate for the Bloomington campus,” Hanson said, “but I also want to work cooperatively with the other campuses in matters of common concern.”\nGros Louis said he believes Hanson will have to deal with general education requirements immediately after taking office. The already-approved change in curriculum, which would impose campus-wide general education requirements for all students to fulfill, is a project that carries over from former president Adam Herbert’s term. \nHanson recognized the need to enact those requirements. \n“I’m interested in the problems of implementing the general education guidelines that have been passed,” Hanson said.\nGros Louis also said Hanson will need to work with the Bloomington Faculty Council, McRobbie and the rest of the faculty and administration to replace several outgoing or already-departed administrators and deans.\nCate said Hanson already has a record of accomplishing goals within the University, making her an attractive candidate.\n“There are a lot of things we would expect any new provost to say,” Cate said, “but (Hanson’s) done a lot of those things.”\nGros Louis said he believes Hanson and McRobbie complement each other well, and he also believes their appointments signal a time of great potential for IU. \nHanson said she is looking forward to being provost, but emphasized that she was just one piece of the IU administration, and that she would not try to do her job without the input of the entire University community.\n“There are contributions I think students, staff and faculty can make,” Hanson said. “This isn’t going to be a one person operation. ... We are all in this together.”
(07/18/07 6:58pm)
Karen Hanson, dean of the Hutton Honors College, will be IU’s first permanent provost once she is approved by the IU board of trustees. Hanson’s appointment ends a summer-long search for the first permanent provost, and Bloomington’s first such leader since Sharon Brehm stepped down from her chancellery in 2003. \nShe was personally appointed by IU President Michael McRobbie, who last held the position of provost on an interim basis. Hanson will also serve as the executive vice president for the Bloomington campus, according to an IU press release. \nHanson, who also previously served as chair of the philosophy department from 1997 until 2002, said she is honored by the appointment.\n“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the campus in this way,” Hanson said. “I was very pleased to here it, and I’m appreciative of the confidence the president is showing me.”\nHanson will be the chief academic officer for the University. The provost oversees academic and budgetary concerns to ensure that the needs of students and faculty are receiving ample opportunity to succeed. Hanson will also be responsible for making sure such parties meet University standards for education. \nResearch, faculty promotion and tenure and student recruitment and retention all fall under Hanson’s purview, and each dean on campus reports to the her. \nHanson said she hopes to leave her mark as IU’s first permanent chief academic officer.\n“This is the first permanent provost, and the position is a little bit undefined as we go forward,” Hanson said. “I expect to make my contribution to delineating the position.”\nBloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis gave Hanson a glowing endorsement.\n“I think she is just a terrific choice,” Gros Louis said. “(Hanson will do) a marvelous job. I think Michael (McRobbie) made a great choice.”\nIU law professor and chair of the provost search committee Fred Cate said he “could not be more delighted” at Hanson’s appointment. Cate said he believes Hanson was a somewhat unexpected selection, but the thorough and measured steps taken throughout the search process revealed her as the best candidate.\n“This is exactly the kind of candidate who I do not think people thought about, and so the search proved worthwhile,” Cate said.\nCate has called the provost’s job a “nearly impossible” one throughout the search because of the vast and varied requirements of the office, such as the appointment of deans, the handling of day-to-day academic affairs and the role of the second most influential administrator on campus. He said Hanson’s “long track record” at IU will enable her to fulfill these duties with success from her first day on the job, something he thinks McRobbie will find useful. \n“She brings a breadth of experience inside the campus that I think be valuable to (McRobbie),” Cate said.\nGros Louis said he has known Hanson for many years and believes she is a strong choice for the provost position because of her familiarity with academic units across the Bloomington campus stemming from her time as dean of the Honors College. In that position, she worked with deans across campus to set up programs for students to take classes in their particular fields of study through the Honors College.\nGros Louis also said he believes Hanson will be accessible to students, a trait many think IU administration has been lacking recently. \n“Everything I’ve known of her ... She’s been very visible on campus in many ways,” Gros Louis said. “(Hanson is) someone who knows the campus and the faculty very well, and is very student oriented.”\nLisa Pratt, a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, a member of the provost search committee and the Bloomington Faculty Council president, said she is “very pleased” at Hanson’s appointment. She said the provost must strike a delicate balance between the needs of the Bloomington campus and those of other IU campuses, a task she believes Hanson can handle. \nHanson herself also recognizes this challenge.\n“I do want to be an advocate for the Bloomington campus,” Hanson said, “but I also want to work cooperatively with the other campuses in matters of common concern.”\nPratt said she believes students will be equally pleased with the selection.\n“I hope the student community will feel a real sense of empowerment and excitement,” Pratt said. “I think she will understand what students expect from their college experience.”\nHanson said she plans to make a point of being accessible to students, something she’s tried to do in her time as a faculty member and administrator at IU.\n“I’ve taught here and enjoyed teaching for a very long time,” Hanson said. “I expect to seek out the student perspective on all kinds of matters, so I assume I would continue (to be accessible).”\nGros Louis said he believes Hanson will have to deal with general education requirements immediately after taking office. The already-approved change in curriculum, which would impose campus-wide general education requirements for all students to fulfill, is a project that carries over from former president Adam Herbert’s term. \nHanson recognized the need to implement those requirements. \n“I’m interested in the problems of implementing the general education guidelines that have been passed,” Hanson said.\nGros Louis also said Hanson will need to work with the Bloomington Faculty Council, McRobbie and the rest of the faculty and administration to replace several outgoing or already-departed administrators and deans.\nCate said Hanson already has a record of accomplishing goals within the University, making her an attractive candidate.\n“There are a lot of things we would expect any new provost to say,” Cate said, “but (Hanson’s) done a lot of those things.”\nGros Louis said he believes Hanson and McRobbie complement each other well, and he also believes their appointments signal a time of great potential for IU. \nHanson said she is looking forward to being provost, but emphasized that she was just one piece of the IU administration, and that she would not try to do her job without the input of the entire University community.\n“There are contributions I think students, staff and faculty can make,” Hanson said. “This isn’t going to be a one person operation. ... We are all in this together.”
(07/09/07 12:36am)
IU President Michael McRobbie named Karen Hanson, dean of the Hutton Honors College, the next IU provost at a time when criticism of the administration’s lack of openness and visibility, especially to students, is spreading through various sectors of the University. \nHanson has a strong chance of being asked to be more accessible to students than previous administrators, given her role as the chief academic officer of IU and the second-most important administrator on campus. \nBloomington Chancellor Gros Louis said he believes Hanson will be accessible to students. \n“Everything I’ve known of her ... She’s been very visible on campus in many ways,” Gros Louis said. “(Hanson is) someone who knows the campus and the faculty very well, and is very student-oriented.”\nLisa Pratt, a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, a member of the provost search committee and the Bloomington Faculty Council president, said she believes students will be equally pleased with the selection.\n“I hope the student community will feel a real sense of empowerment and excitement,” Pratt said. “I think she will understand what students expect from their college experience.”\nHanson said she plans to make a point of being accessible to students, something she’s tried to do in her time as a faculty member and administrator at IU.\n“I’ve taught here and enjoyed teaching for a very long time,” Hanson said. “I expect to seek out the student perspective on all kinds of matters, so I assume I would continue (to be accessible).”\nFred Cate, IU law professor and chairman of the provost search committee, said Hanson is “insightful” about student issues.\n“She’s been involved with students in lots of ways,” Cate said. “ ... She lives and breaths student concerns.”
(07/08/07 11:59pm)
Karen Hanson, dean of the Hutton Honors College, will be IU’s first permanent provost once she is approved by the IU board of trustees. Hanson’s appointment ends a summer-long search for the first permanent provost, and Bloomington’s first such leader within the administration since Sharon Brehm stepped down from the chancellor position in 2003. \nHanson was personally appointed by IU President Michael McRobbie, who last held the position of provost on an interim basis. Hanson will also serve as the executive vice president for the Bloomington campus, according to an IU press release. \nHanson, who also previously served as chair of the psychology department from 1997 until 2002, said she is honored by the appointment.\n“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the campus in this way,” Hanson said. “I was very pleased to hear it, and I’m appreciative of the confidence the president is showing me.”\nHanson will be the chief academic officer for the University. The provost oversees academic and budgetary concerns to ensure that the needs of students and faculty are receiving ample opportunity to succeed. Hanson will also be responsible for making sure such parties meet University standards for education. \nResearch, faculty promotion and tenure and student recruitment and retention all fall under Hanson’s purview, and each dean on campus reports to her. \nHanson said she hopes to leave her mark as IU’s first permanent chief academic officer.\n“This is the first permanent provost, and the position is a little bit undefined as we go forward,” Hanson said. “I expect to make my contribution to delineating the position.”\nBloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis gave Hanson a glowing endorsement.\n“I think she is just a terrific choice,” Gros Louis said. “(Hanson will do) a marvelous job. I think Michael (McRobbie) made a great choice.”\nIU law professor and chair of the provost search committee Fred Cate said he “could not be more delighted” at Hanson’s appointment. Cate said he believes Hanson was a somewhat unexpected selection, but the thorough and measured steps taken throughout the search process revealed her as the best candidate.\n“This is exactly the kind of candidate who I do not think people thought about, and so the search proved worthwhile,” Cate said.\nCate has called the provost’s job a “nearly impossible” one throughout the search because of the vast and varied requirements of the office, such as the appointment of deans, the handling of day-to-day academic affairs and the role of the second-most influential administrator on campus. He said Hanson’s “long track record” at IU will enable her to fulfill these duties with success from her first day on the job, something he thinks McRobbie will find useful. \n“She brings a breadth of experience inside the campus that I think will be valuable to (McRobbie),” Cate said.\nGros Louis said he has known Hanson for many years and believes she is a strong choice for the provost position because of her familiarity with academic units across the Bloomington campus stemming from her time as dean of the Honors College. In that position, she worked with deans across campus to set up programs for students to take classes in their particular fields of study through the Honors College.\nLisa Pratt, a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, a member of the provost search committee and the Bloomington Faculty Council president, said she is “very pleased” at Hanson’s appointment. She said the provost must strike a delicate balance between the needs of the Bloomington campus and those of other IU campuses, a task she believes Hanson can handle. \nHanson herself also recognizes this challenge.\n“I do want to be an advocate for the Bloomington campus,” Hanson said, “but I also want to work cooperatively with the other campuses in matters of common concern.”\nGros Louis said he believes Hanson will have to deal with general education requirements immediately after taking office. The already-approved change in curriculum, which would impose campus-wide general education requirements for all students to fulfill, is a project that carries over from former president Adam Herbert’s term. \nHanson recognized the need to enact those requirements. \n“I’m interested in the problems of implementing the general education guidelines that have been passed,” Hanson said.\nGros Louis also said Hanson will need to work with the Bloomington Faculty Council, McRobbie and the rest of the faculty and administration to replace several outgoing or already-departed administrators and deans.\nCate said Hanson already has a record of accomplishing goals within the University, making her an attractive candidate.\n“There are a lot of things we would expect any new provost to say,” Cate said, “but (Hanson’s) done a lot of those things.”\nGros Louis said he believes Hanson and McRobbie complement each other well, and he also believes their appointments signal a time of great potential for IU. \nHanson said she is looking forward to being provost, but emphasized that she was just one piece of the IU administration, and that she would not try to do her job without the input of the entire University community.\n“There are contributions I think students, staff and faculty can make,” Hanson said. “This isn’t going to be a one person operation. ... We are all in this together.”
(06/22/07 4:00am)
IU head football coach Terry Hoeppner passed away early Tuesday morning due to complications from a brain tumor, team physician Dr. Larry Rink said. \nHe was 59.\n“Coach died due to complications from the brain tumor for which he had been treated surgically and therapeutically over the past 18 months, “ Rink said in a statement. “His family was at his side.”\nHoeppner had been on an extended medical leave of absence extending through the 2007 season, and had been receiving chemotherapy and radiation. The IU Athletics Department held a press conference reinforcing their full confidence in Coach Hoeppner and named assistant head coach Bill Lynch head coach for the 2007 season in Hoeppner’s stead Friday, June 15.\nGreenspan said he had been in contact with Hoeppner over the last several weeks, and he said, as Hoeppner was fond of saying, that he didn’t lose, he just ran out of timeouts.\n“I’ve seen him several times in the last few days,” Greenspan said, “and had a chance to say a few things to him on Father’s Day on Sunday, and that was good for me. He’s certainly struggled with his health here. ... I think from the medical folks (standpoint) he was doing much better than he had done in several weeks, and obviously he took a rapid turn and he (just) ran out of timeouts.”\nGreenspan said he believes Hoeppner will be remembered as much for his optimistic, “never lose” mentality as he will for what he accomplished professionally.\n“I think those that measure the quality of a man perhaps on a national championship and a Big Ten (championship) might see it in a lesser way, but the people that I think he has touched ... I think Terry’s spirit will live much longer than the games that he coached and perhaps people he touched today,” Greenspan said. “He’ll touch them for a long time.”\nLynch said Hoeppner’s passing marked a sad day for IU football.\n“A great loss, and one heck of a guy. We all lost a great friend, as well as what he’s brought to Indiana football and really, I think, the entire state,” Lynch said.\nLynch said Jane Hoeppner, Terry Hoeppner’s wife, spoke to the team last Friday morning. He said her message “had great impact on them” and that he believed they were prepared for something like this.\n“I think, over the course of the last two or three weeks, we were up front with them and kind of let them know what the situation was,” Lynch said. “It’s always a shock, and the reality sets in when you hear it. But, we’re hopeful that we prepared them in some way for it, as we went through the last two weeks.”\nSenior cornerback Tracy Porter said the team took Hoeppner’s death like they would the loss of a family member. He said that was how much Hoeppner meant to his players.\n“You can pretty much imagine what the scene was like,” Porter said. “It’s just like the death of a family member, Coach Hep was our father figure, being our head coach.”\nSophomore linebacker Will Patterson said the team started to notice Hoeppner’s condition changing during the winter. However, he said Hoeppner was still enthusiastic and excited through his illness.\n“We started to kind of notice that he was going through it during winter workouts,” Patterson said. “He would try to be there; we would just notice that he started to do some funny things ... It just wasn’t Coach Hep. But, at the same time, (Hoeppner) was still positive, still enthusiastic about what we were doing, and that’s all that really mattered to us.”\nSenior fullback Josiah Sears said he did not think anyone realized just how bad Hoeppner’s condition was.\n“No one knew,” Sears said. “I don’t even think the coaches knew, maybe until this weekend, how serious it actually was.”\nSears expressed confidence in Lynch’s ability to lead the team through this tragedy and help them realize the goals Hoeppner set for the program while he was at the helm.\n“Obviously, it’s going to be tough, because we just lost our head coach,” Sears said. “But, we have a great leader in Coach Lynch that’s going to give us continuity, because he’s been leading us since Coach Hep has been absent for spring ball. We’re 100 percent behind Coach Lynch, because he’s 100 percent behind the leadership of Coach Hoeppner, and he’s going to lead us in the direction that Coach Hep had for this program.”\nHoeppner, IU’s 26th head football coach, brought the team to the brink of respectability and energized a campus rarely known to care about anything that didn’t take place at Assembly Hall or Bill Armstrong Stadium. The mantra “Coach Hep Wants You” rallied thousands of Hoosiers to Memorial Stadium on Saturdays, hot, cold or otherwise, between August and November for two years. \nWins over rivals such as Kentucky and traditional Big Ten powers such as Iowa made Hoeppner one of campus’s most iconic and beloved figures. \nThe energy Hoeppner brought to the IU football program was evident in attendance, which increased 39 percent per game, with a 46 percent increase in overall ticket sales and a 110 percent increase in student season ticket sales during his first season in Bloomington, according to www.iuhoosiers.com.\nGreenspan said he believes Hoeppner was a man of great energy and inspiration. \n“I know that there were probably some that couldn’t distinguish his energy and his enthusiasm and his positive outlook for perhaps a ‘Polly Ann-ish’ perspective,” Greenspan said. “I loved it. I thought it was what we needed. I thought it was what we sought several years ago. ... Terry loved his work. ... His commitment to living a life to inspire people didn’t start when he got sick. I think he’s been that man for a long time.”\nPatterson said Hoeppner’s love for the game he coached was what the sophomore from Indianapolis would remember most about his first college football coach.\n“Just his passion for the game of football,” Patterson said. “He’s just a great person, a great guy. I learned a lot from him.”
(06/20/07 7:28pm)
Sometimes you just need a celebration. \nIn moments of tragedy and sadness, pressing on is all that can be done, all that should be done to deal with the pain. \nWith this in mind, hundreds gathered in a tent outside Memorial Stadium on Tuesday afternoon for the groundbreaking ceremony of several projects aimed at expanding and updating IU’s athletic facilities over the next two years. \nIU President Adam Herbert, men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan, among others, headlined the ceremony that began as a groundbreaking and became a tribute to head football coach Terry Hoeppner, who passed away Tuesday morning of complications from a brain tumor. Associate Director of Athletics M. Grace Calhoun and several trustees were also in attendance.\nFighting back tears, Greenspan called the ceremony “a celebration.” He said the Hoeppner family mandated that the event not be canceled due to Coach Hoeppner’s death.\n“They said, ‘Absolutely not. This was Terry’s dream,’” Greenspan said. \nHerbert echoed that sentiment, calling the new facilities “a major part of Hep’s dream.”\nHerbert, who opened the ceremony with remarks and closed it with direction of the groundbreaking, acknowledged the significance of IU’s loss and the sadness Hoeppner’s death brought to the University community.\n“(Hoeppner) inspired us with his enthusiasm and optimism,” Herbert said. “We are united in our grief over our coach’s death. I will personally miss his warmth and especially his friendship. Our hearts go out to his family.”\nInterim Provost and President-elect Michael McRobbie applauded Hoeppner’s contributions to IU football and the University community in general.\n“Coach Hep brought to Indiana University football a strength of spirit ... (and) persistence in the face of tremendous odds,” McRobbie said.\nGreenspan spoke of Hoeppner’s dedication to the project and his commitment to seeing it through, regardless of his health. He said IU student-athletes needed better facilities in which to train and learn and Hoeppner wanted to realize such projects for IU.\n“Our student-athletes and coaches must have the facilities to compete,” Greenspan said. “The physical landscape of IU athletics will radically change over the next two years.”\nThose changes include construction to close off the north end of Memorial Stadium, new baseball and softball stadiums, a 18,000-square-foot academic resource center and a basketball development center that will house practice courts, strength/training rooms, meeting rooms and locker rooms, among other things.. All of the additions will be made around Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall, and they will provide new offices, locker rooms, studying and training facilities for IU student-athletes and coaches to use on a regular basis. \nSampson said the new facilities would be a boon for IU athletics in terms of recruiting. He made special mention of the importance of the academic support center. \n“These new facilities are going to make a profound impact (on recruiting),” Sampson said. “Let’s not lose sight of how that academic support center is needed and is really gonna help us.” \nSampson also spoke through misty eyes when he talked about the times he discussed recruiting with Hoeppner. He said Hoeppner was one of the most optimistic and enthusiastic people he knew.\n“It never rained a day in his life,” Sampson said.\nSampson also thanked IU fans, saying their support meant a lot to recruiting efforts and the IU athletics in general. \n“If I was recruiting the fans at Indiana University, I wouldn’t need a thing. I’ve got you guys,” he said. \nHerbert said the new facilities are a step toward pushing IU athletics to a place among the elite universities in the country. He said, however, that the new facilities are just one initial step toward such a goal. \n“We cannot, we must not and we will not rest on our laurels,” Herbert said. “Our goal is to be the best in the country in all that we do.”\nSenior fullback Josiah Sears said he believes the groundbreaking and new facilities themselves will be part of Hoeppner’s legacy at IU.\n“We are ensuring that Coach Hep’s dreams are carrying on,” Sears said. “These new facilities also give Indiana University a competitive advantage. I would like to thank Coach Hep and his family. Because he said so, we will not quit.”
(06/14/07 12:57am)
Charlie Nelms will certainly miss spending Sunday mornings at First United Methodist Church in Bloomington. \nWhen asked what he would miss most about IU, the outgoing vice president for institutional development and student affairs, who will assume the position of chancellor at North Carolina Central University on Aug. 1, said he would also miss the campus’ beauty and the people he works with at the University where he has spent 22 years total over three different occasions.\nMost of all, however, Nelms said he will most miss working with IU students.\n“(I feel) a tinge of sadness with leaving a place that is really special to me,” Nelms said in his office Tuesday morning. “This is not just a job for me.”\nIU Director of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said he was not surprised that Nelms was appointed to lead North Carolina Central University. MacIntyre added, however, that IU will be sad to see Nelms leave in August.\n“It didn’t really surprise anybody,” MacIntyre said, “because we knew he was in high demand and we knew he was a very attractive candidate. Everybody here will be sorry to see him go.”
(06/07/07 2:45am)
IU has narrowed its provost search down to five candidates.\nThat list is set to be narrowed down to three and submitted to Interim Provost and President-elect Michael McRobbie soon.\nThe candidates are Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education, Lauren Robel, dean of the School of Law in Bloomington, Jeanne Sept, dean of the faculties, Karen Hanson, dean of the Hutton Honors College, and David Zaret, former interim dean and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said a source familiar with the provost search.\nIU law professor Fred Cate, who chairs the provost search committee, said he is pleased with the candidates still in contention for the position. He acknowledged that the Office of the Provost has so many responsibilities that no one candidate could ever hope to fulfill them all.\n“These five are a strong field,” he said. “The ideal candidate (for the position) doesn’t exist. It’s a huge campus and a very demanding job.”\nCate said that, in terms of qualifications, required experience for the position is “a deanship or something similar,” a claim that would seem to be corroborated by the fact that each candidate has either current or prior experience as a dean.\nMatt Jarson, IUSA chief of staff and the student representative on the search committee, called the process “an exercise in patience,” but said he is happy with the end result. \n“I’ve been very impressed with all the candidates,” Jarson said. “We’ll have somebody who’s familiar with the campus.”\nJarson said he was pleased with the entire process, which he called “remarkably productive.” \n“It’s been going very well,” he said. “This is probably one of the most open searches I’ve ever seen (at IU).”\nJarson said he was happy with the student involvement in the search, saying that several student organizations, including IU Student Association , the Union Board, the Board of Eons, Residence Halls Association and the Graduate and Professional Student Organization were all included in the interview process.\nJarson also complimented the members of the search committee for their openness with regards to student input, especially from him. He called the search the “best” experience he has had working with faculty and staff since coming to the University.\n“I think that the group we have on the committee has been very open,” Jarson said. “I’ve been very happy.”\nJarson said he believes the next provost will be more open and accessible to students, though he, like Cate, would not talk about any of the candidates specifically.\n“They’re all great candidates,” Jarson said. “No matter who gets selected, I think students will be much more of a focus.”\nCate said he believes that, regardless of which candidate McRobbie picks, the person assuming the office of provost will need to “hit the ground running” when they are installed. \nJarson agreed, and said he believes the next provost will have the opportunity to make a large impact on the University rather quickly.\n“I think there is a lot of potential all over this campus,” Jarson said. “I think there’s enormous potential for positive movement at this University.”\nJarson said the committee tried its best to work with McRobbie throughout the search process.\n“I think generally we’ve tried to work with Michael McRobbie quite a bit,” Jarson said. “Our primary concern has been finding someone that met his criteria.” \nCate acknowledged that whoever is selected for the position will leave a rather large hole in administration, wherever they come from. \n“Anyone who would fit the requirements for this job... they would leave a big hole where they are,” Cate said. \nCate said he and the committee have kept an open mind throughout the entire search process, and said it was hard to single out one candidate as better than any other.\n“I really don’t have a favorite (candidate),” Cate said. “We’re not even discussing them in between (interviews).”\nJarson said he was pleased with the overall product of the search committee’s work to help find the next IU provost, though he pointed out that the committee had not made any final decisions.\n“We’re still working on it,” Jarson said. “I feel like we’ve done a very good job this time around.”
(06/04/07 1:52am)
A dream come true. \nThat was how outgoing Ivy Tech President Gerald Lamkin described a memorandum of agreement signed between IU and Ivy Tech Community College at The Bloomington Country Club Thursday.\nThe agreement, which was also signed by outgoing IU President Adam Herbert, culminated a years-long process that saw IU and Ivy Tech reach several credit transferability agreements. The agreements, mandated by the state legislature, created more than 100 transferable courses and 12 major programs that can be taken from any Ivy Tech campus to any IU campus across the state. \nJohn Whikehart, chancellor of Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus, said he believes the steps taken by IU and Ivy Tech, the state’s two largest universities in terms of enrollment, can influence other public institutions around the state to reach similar accords. He called the agreements “pathways for Indiana students” to receive the best in-state higher education possible. \n“We are the two largest institutions in higher education (in Indiana),” Whikehart said. “If the two largest (universities) can make this happen ... we’re confident the other (institutions) will be willing.” \nBoth Ivy Tech leaders credited Herbert for his involvement in the entire process. Herbert said he has wanted to strengthen the IU-Ivy Tech relationship since he came to campus in 2003. \nHerbert said the major problem in establishing such a relationship earlier had been a lack of communication between the two institutions. Herbert said both sides had to “break down those barriers” before much could be accomplished. \nJ.T. Forbes, IU’s assistant vice president and director for state relations, credited Whikehart as a key factor in finalizing much of the work between the two universities and said he was proud of the way IU and Ivy Tech established communication and worked together. IU faculty members carefully reviewed each Ivy Tech course to make sure it met acceptable standards for transferability. \nHerbert spoke before the signing and said he was pleased with the way the two universities worked together for so long to complete all of the agreements. He said he was happy to sign the memorandum before stepping down as IU president. \n“This has been a labor of love for me,” Herbert said in his speech. “We have laid some important foundations... It’s just a wonderful way for me to end my career.” \nWhikehart joked before the signing that Herbert was actually signing a tuition waiver for his daughter’s education, signaling the laid back and celebratory atmosphere surrounding the event. \nHerbert penned his signature to the memorandum and responded, “You were serious about this tuition thing,” drawing laughter from the mixed IU-Ivy Tech crowd. \nHerbert said he was glad to see the process culminate in Bloomington, site of IU’s flagship campus. He called the signing “a wonderful opportunity for us to play a leadership role in Bloomington.” \nWhikehart emphasized that all IU campuses have been involved in different agreements with several Ivy Tech campuses but agreed with Herbert that Bloomington should continue to pilot new transferability programs. \n“I think Bloomington will continue to lead the way, and that’s as it should be,” Whikehart said. \nHe said that, although the signing was a symbolic culmination of the first major agreements between IU and Ivy Tech, new transferability programs will continue to be developed in the future.\n“This has never been a destination; it’s always been a journey,” Whikehart said.\nWhikehart added that he had personally spoken with IU president-elect Michael McRobbie, who indicated to the Ivy Tech-Bloomington chancellor a “commitment to furthering this (IU-Ivy Tech) relationship.” \nHerbert spoke of hope for the future in his speech, saying he believes the future is bright for similar work between IU and Ivy Tech.\n“We have laid some important foundations,” Herbert said in his speech. “I’m just very, very optimistic that the best years are ahead of us.” \nLamkin also said he hoped the future would hold only further cooperation and teamwork between IU and Ivy Tech.\n“I use that word, ‘hope,’ very seriously,” Lamkin said. “As we (Lamkin and Herbert) leave ... we hope we have left a legacy for the future. We cannot ever go backwards.\n“It’s been my dream. That dream has come true.”
(06/04/07 12:32am)
There are so many things one can say in times like these. There are so many things one should say in times like these. \nDave Adams was more than our publisher. Dave was our friend. Dave was my friend. \nWalking through the doors of the Indiana Daily Student for the first time is never an easy task for an easily intimidated freshman. But when I did, I entered a world I had neither expected nor could have comprehended. Yet the first and most memorable professional face upon my arrival was Dave’s, and there was nothing about the man that echoed anything but warmth, compassion and genuine love for the students with whom he worked. \nI came to know Dave better after joining the ranks of the IDS desk editors this past spring and after my appointment as editor-in-chief this summer. The position was nothing short of terrifying to me, because I had little idea what was expected of me from one day to the next.\nDave took it all in stride. He counseled me through my many concerns, problems, highs and lows. \nI was, at first, worried that Dave might be forced to shoulder all of these problems I seemed to be bringing to his doorstep. It wasn’t until I sat down with him that I realized he did not just tolerate those issues – he welcomed them.\nIt was then that I realized how much Dave Adams relished working with student journalists. It was more than his job or his passion – it was his life. \nHe committed himself to bettering those of us fortunate enough to work under his guidance during his time at IU. His generosity, patience and kindness knew no bounds. \nOne of the most popular newsroom stories about Dave revolves around the night, years ago, when a former editor-in-chief was arrested and taken to jail.\nDave came to the jail in the early morning hours, bailed the student out and accompanied him to his court date. \nWhile others would have abandoned such a student for his or her mistake, Dave became a best friend and father figure to the person at a time when his guidance was needed most.\nI remember sitting with Dave not long after the end of the spring semester, just chatting on general topics. He remarked to me how bittersweet our final “Slash” each semester is for him (Slash is a term we use for a weekly staff meeting where we review the week’s papers, what we did well, what needs work, etc.). \nFinal Slash is generally a moment for graduating seniors to say their goodbyes to the newsroom, talk about future plans and recall favorite memories from their years with the IDS.\nAt Final Slash meetings, Dave always talked about how much he loved every senior and how proud he was of each of them. But he found the moment bittersweet each semester because he cared so much about every staff member who ever walked through the newsroom doors. \nDave Adams was so many things to so many people. He was a fervent advocate of First Amendment rights. He was a trusted and gifted adviser to countless editors-in-chief during their time here at IU. He was a talented and unique individual.\nBut Dave Adams was, more than anything, a friend. He would walk with you through rough moments. He would bail you out of jail. He would counsel editors like myself through professional crises as he had done for years because it was his joy to do so. \nDave Adams was an educator, an inspiring leader and a champion of his profession. But personally, Dave was my friend, and I will miss him very much.
(05/31/07 5:41pm)
Roger Thompson may have a better recruiting class than Kelvin Sampson. \nThompson, IU’s vice provost for enrollment management, said he believes the incoming freshman class of 2007 is “the best academically prepared class in the history of IU.”\n“I think the greatest strengths of this class are going to be… the academic profile,” he said. “By any academic measure … this year’s freshman class is going to look better than last year’s freshman class. You know, that’s just really exciting for us.” \nThompson said he believes a variety of factors pushed more outstanding students to apply to IU. He said the University’s “academic foundation” is very strong, pointing to strong schools like the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Journalism, that might go unnoticed at times in favor of widely known academic compartments, like the Kelley School of Business. \nDean of Students Dick McKaig said he could not speak to exact figures regarding the academic performance of the incoming freshman class, since he would not see such data until after the class is enrolled. However, he said he has received calls from parents wanting to know why their children were not admitted to IU when the students’ academic profiles might have gotten them in past years.\nThompson also said he believes the University has a “synergy,” which is to say that more qualified students are spreading good things about attending IU to friends at home. He said this effect, coupled with a better approach to showing prospective students what IU has to offer has contributed greatly. \nThompson also pointed to increased contact and communication with high school students, administrators and guidance counselors as another key factors in the possible strength of this upcoming class. He said he believes all those elements together have contributed to an overall class that Thompson firmly believes can be the best in IU history. \nHowever, he said he doesn’t think the University has had to radically change itself or its approach to garner such results. \n“I don’t think the tune has changed,” Thompson said. “I think we’re still known for all the things IU’s been known for for a long time. You put all that together, and I think we have a lot of appeal to talented high school students.”\nMcKaig said University optimism regarding the potential of this class is strong. He said it is possible for institutions to “get hot” with regard to recruiting and admitting bright high school students, and that he believes there is a tendency for students to “jump on board” if they see a college or university on the rise in terms of education and popularity. \n“You’re likely to have a stronger class if your admittees are stronger,” he said. “Right now, I think, in fact, there is a lot of enthusiasm and optimism.” \nMcKaig said he also felt expanded scholarship opportunities could also contribute to getting stronger freshman classes. \n“That (scholarship opportunities) is indeed part of what can make IU attractive to a level of student that is being sought after,” McKaig said. “The fact that we have the money available... helps the institution look more attractive.”\nThompson also addressed two hot-button issues regarding enrollment: campus diversity and rising tuition. \nHe was quick to point out that, while tuition is rising, so is the University’s commitment to providing scholarships to students, pointing to $11 million that have recently been committed to such programs and awards. He also said IU-Bloomington is enrolling “several hundred more students” than the Indiana Commission for Higher Education recommends for the campus. \nThompson said IU officials are committed to stopping the “brain drain” and keeping qualified IU students in the state after graduation, despite rising tuition costs. He said he believes the University is doing a good job making education available to interested students. \n“I appreciate the tremendous commitment that’s required of students and families to finance higher education in the 21st Century,” he said. “We want to make sure that the best and brightest students in the state of Indiana (stay) in the state of Indiana.”\nThompson also pointed out that, with respect to campus diversity, minority admission is up. However, he said it remains to be seen what effect that will have on enrollment, with the number of enrollment deposits from minority students are close to the same level as last year. \n“Right now, we’ve admitted more (minority students), but the number of deposits is tracking are basically the same,” Thompson said. “I’m hoping that will pick up over time.”\nThompson said he believes IU has a history of admitting good freshman classes, but that this one has the potential to be special. He said he believes the entire University community will see an immediate change, something he said his office seeks to accomplish with every new class admitted to IU.\n“When the faculty of this campus begin to see an (improvement) in their courses, then I think we will have really done something,” Thompson said. “As we begin to talk about the things that I think makes us unique, I think there’s still plenty of room for improvement.”
(05/31/07 12:28am)
Outgoing IU President Adam Herbert and outgoing Ivy Tech Community College President Gerald Lamkin will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday at Ivy Tech in Bloomington, supporting a variety of credit transferability agreements made between various Ivy Tech and IU campuses around the state. \nThe signing will mark the symbolic culmination of all the agreements, with only minor details left to tie up, said J.T. Forbes, IU assistant vice president and director for state relations.\n“The announcement ... speaks to probably the better part of two years’ worth of work,” Forbes said. He said students now “have a clear path” from Ivy Tech to IU. \nForbes added that, with all the necessary paperwork completed, the next major undertaking will be to create a Web site that can educate faculty and prospective students and their parents on each transferability program available. \nThe agreements, which include more than 100 approved courses and programs for more than 12 majors, make it easier for Ivy Tech students to earn IU degrees, according to the memorandum the two presidents will sign. IU Director of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said the agreement, which he described as a “long process,” is nearing completion. \nThe entire undertaking is part of a state government mandate to create transferability programs between two- and four-year colleges in the state of Indiana. Forbes said IU and Ivy Tech were the first \npartners in the state to meet the required level of courses and majors offered. \nMacIntyre said both Herbert and Lamkin were committed to advancing these projects as far as they could before they left office. \n“This is basically ... a continuation and an expansion of work that’s been underway for quite awhile, but we’re finally getting very close to our goal,” MacIntyre said. “I think with both the Ivy Tech president and the IU president about to leave, they wanted to get as much of it done as possible before they left office, so we’re closing in on our goal.”\nMacIntyre said IU faculty “closely examined” Ivy Tech courses to see if the University found them acceptable for transfer. He said the courses were examined in terms of what they taught in comparison to what would be taught at comparable courses at IU. If the goals of each course matched well, they were approved. \nForbes credited “a lot of hard work” to faculty members who reviewed the courses as a driving force behind meeting state requirements. He also credited John Whikehart, chancellor of the Ivy Tech campus in Bloomington, for his work in completing these initiatives. \n“Ivy Tech and IU have worked diligently to do this,” Forbes said.\nMacIntyre said the many agreements represent IU’s commitment to providing inexpensive education in the state of Indiana. He said they will make it easier for students, especially in-state students, to complete four-year degrees. \n“One of our goals is to keep higher education affordable and accessible to Hoosier students,” MacIntyre said. “Clearly, this is a big step in that direction, because it now provides us a lot of new, inexpensive alternatives for completing what amounts to your first two years of your college education.”\nMacIntyre refuted the notion that these agreements in any way cheapen a degree obtained from IU, stressing that every transferable course was heavily evaluated before gaining approval.\n“We carefully reviewed every course that we have agreed will be transferable,” MacIntyre said. “We have looked closely at every single course that we will accept from Ivy Tech, and we are confident that what will be taught in those courses (compares).”\nMacIntyre said the University is proud of the agreements, and both outgoing presidents wanted to announce their success.\n“We’re now at a point where quite a bit of this work has been done, and the two presidents who are going out want to announce it and let the public know,” he said.