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March 29, 2000
EDITORS: We encourage you to continue your coverage about Herman B Wells. Arrangements have been made to help you cover this program, including for those in the electronic news media. Please call the IU Office of Communications and Marketing for more information at 812-855-3911.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University will begin distribution of free tickets to the Wednesday, April 5 "Celebration of Life" program honoring Herman B Wells, its late beloved chancellor and former president. The program, which is open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. at the IU Auditorium in Bloomington.
Wells, an educational visionary who helped transform IU into an internationally recognized center of research and scholarship and the only person in its 179-year history to lead it three times, died quietly at his home in Bloomington on March 18. He was 97.
The current and past living IU presidents, public officials, distinguished faculty, student leaders and alumni are expected to participate in "A Celebration of Life: Remembering the Life of Herman B Wells." The university is using a ticketing system in order to accommodate the expected demand for seats in the 3,700-seat facility.
Free tickets will be available at the IU Auditorium Box Office; the Indiana Memorial Union Activities Desk, located on the first floor adjacent to Alumni Hall; and the IU Visitor Information Center, which is located in the Carmichael Building, Suite 104, at the corner of Indiana and Kirkwood Avenues. Tickets may be available at the door, subject to availability.
Tickets will ensure that everyone has a seat and that adequate provision is made for an overflow crowd. No telephone orders will be accepted and tickets must be picked up in person.
Should it be necessary, additional seating will be available in the Fine Arts Auditorium and in Woodburn Hall, where people will be able to watch the program live on television
Free parking will be available on both levels of the parking garage on Jordan Avenue, north of Reed Quadrangle, and limited pay parking will be available in both lots adjacent to the Indiana Memorial Union. Those already on campus are encouraged to walk to the Auditorium.
WTIU-Channel 30 will broadcast the event live and rebroadcast its 1993 biographical documentary, "The Vision of Herman B Wells," immediately afterward. An edited version of the broadcast also will be made available for viewing on the Web.
The celebration to remember Wells will feature a newly prepared video on the chancellor's life and musical tributes by students in the IU School of Music and one of its recent successful alumni, soprano Angela Brown. Brown, who performs with opera companies around the world, was the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner in 1997 and the Sullivan Foundation Grant Winner in 1998.
Among those expected to participate are IU President Myles Brand and his predecessors, Thomas Ehrlich and John W. Ryan, and Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez.
Funeral services for Wells took place on March 22 at his church, the First United Methodist Church of Bloomington. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Jamestown, Ind.
More information about the celebration and Wells' life can be found on the Web at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/OCM/releases/wellsrem.htm.
(George Vlahakis, gvlahaki@indiana.edu, 812-855-0846 )