The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) and Ellen B. Rudolph, Surdna Foundation program director for Thriving Cultures, recently received the Institutional Research Initiative Award from the Arts Schools Network at its annual conference in Washington, D.C. Based at the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, SNAAP is an annual online survey, data management and institutional improvement system designed to enhance the impact of arts-school education.

WTIU, the public television station based at Indiana University Bloomington, has received a 2009 PBS Development Award for its efforts.

The College of Arts and Sciences will honor faculty, donors and alumni at its annual recognition banquet Friday, Nov. 6.

A virologist and an evolutionary biologist are the latest honorees of Indiana University Bloomington's Joan Wood and James P. Holland lecture series. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Florida School of Medicine, will give a talk, "Structural studies of Adeno-associated viruses towards improved gene delivery applications," at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Myers Hall room 130. Harmit Singh Malik, an associate member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and an affiliate assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, will also lecture. "The high-stakes evolutionary game of 'rock, paper, scissors' between primates and viruses" will begin at 4 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, in Whittenberger Auditorium (Indiana Memorial Union).

Eleven individuals were recognized by the Indiana University School of Continuing Studies (SCS) at a luncheon held recently at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Brenda L. Bickel, a graduate of IU South Bend, received the IU School of Continuing Studies Distinguished Alumni Award.

Indiana University professor Elinor Ostrom has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced today (Oct. 12). Ostrom is the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. She is co-founder and senior research director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at IU.

David E. Clemmer, the Robert and Marjorie Mann Chair of Chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington and the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Tracy M. Sonneborn Award at IU, and Lisa Pratt, IU professor of geological sciences and the inaugural IU Provost's Professor, will be recognized at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 8 (Thursday), in the Indiana Memorial Union's Frangipani Room. Clemmer will present the Sonneborn Lecture, "Measurements for the Masses," shortly after 5 p.m. The lecture and a reception afterward are free and open to the public.

Twenty-one Indiana University undergraduates have been honored with selection as Cox Scholars for the 2009-10 academic year.

A record number of 43 freshmen Cox Research Scholars will begin their college careers at Indiana University Bloomington this fall. The 2009 freshman class joins 49 Cox Research Scholars already on campus who are in their sophomore, junior and senior years. The entering class includes 14 National Merit scholars.

The global reach and innovative spirit of the Indiana University School of Education is reflected in the 2009 honorees for the school's Annual Recognition Dinner on Friday (Sept. 11). The three recipients of the IU School of Education Distinguished Alumni award include education leaders in Korea and Indonesia as well as the former dean who helped build national recognition for what was then known as the IU Department of Afro-American Affairs. IU Foundation president Gene Tempel will receive the distinguished alumni award from the Higher Education and Student Affairs program in the School of Education.

John W. Ryan, whose 16-year presidency of Indiana University was distinguished by growth and stability, the expansion of international programs and the development of campuses across the state, has been awarded the University Medal, IU's highest nonacademic award.

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has awarded world-renowned operatic soprano and former IU voice professor Camilla Williams and Clement J. McDonald, distinguished professor emeritus and a pioneer in electronic medical record systems, with the President's Medal for Excellence. The awards are among the highest honors an IU president can bestow.

Indiana University's efforts in social studies teaching have been recognized by a $165,422 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to two Bloomington campus centers.

Four entrepreneurship professors from Indiana University are listed as top researchers in their field in a research study authored by three Howard University scholars.

Paul M. Pedersen, associate professor of sport management in Indiana University Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, has been named a 2009 Research Fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is being seen even more by U.S. News and World Report as a place to "keep an eye on." The national news magazine also continues to praise programs at IU's Bloomington campus with special recognition of its Kelley School of Business.

A new exhibit exploring humanity's cosmic, terrestrial, biological and cultural origins will be opening in Bloomington in fall 2010, thanks in part to a $149,000 grant recently awarded to Indiana University's Mathers Museum of World Cultures.The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the grant in support of "From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything."

Indiana University announced that 18 entering freshmen and two current IU students will join more than 420 others who have been named Wells Scholars since the first class enrolled in 1990. The scholarship, created in honor of the late IU Chancellor Herman B Wells, ranks among the most competitive and prestigious awards offered by any American university.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded more than $140,000 through the prestigious Sawyer Seminars to Indiana University faculty members. The award supports a year-long seminar series titled "Rupture and Flow: The Circulation of Technoscientific Facts and Objects."

Two Indiana University School of Informatics graduate students -- Feixing Tuang and Yujia Zhao -- are bound for Cairo, Egypt, to solve some "wicked problems" at Microsoft's Imagine Cup, a global challenge focused on finding solutions to real-world issues that this year drew over 300,000 student competitors.

Indiana University Bloomington faculty and faculty teams seeking large grants from external funding agencies are being assisted by more than $1 million in seed funding provided by IU's Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR).

The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) has named Indiana University School of Education Executive Associate Dean Don Hossler the Sidney Suslow Award recipient for his distinguished scholarly contributions to institutional research. The award committee selects honorees "for their cumulative and on-going scholarly efforts to keep institutional research on the cutting edge of research, practice, policies and procedures in higher education."

Dionne Cross, an assistant professor of education at Indiana University Bloomington, has received a 2009 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities organization. This prestigious award is intended to foster research and professional growth and lead to new funding opportunities during the early stages of the recipients' careers.

The National Academy of Education has selected an Indiana University School of Education assistant professor as a 2009-2010 Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Melissa Gresalfi, a counseling and educational psychology assistant professor, is among the 20 researchers selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants.

Indiana University has received national recognition for excellence in fundraising from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The organization presented IU its CASE -- WealthEngine Award for Educational Fundraising, Overall Performance for the fourth time since 1999.