Indiana University's 2009 Ethics Bowl team placed third last week in the Central States Ethics Bowl Regional competition, ensuring its place in upcoming national competition. The team is comprised of five undergraduate students and is sponsored by the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at Indiana University.

Indiana University today announced a new event for spring Commencement activities at the Bloomington campus, adding a separate ceremony for graduate students receiving master's and doctoral degrees. The new event will take place at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 7, at Assembly Hall. Commencement ceremonies recognizing undergraduate students will be conducted as previously announced on Saturday, May 8, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Will neglecting to brush your teeth damage more than just your smile? Can failing to attack dental plaque increase your risk of heart damage? The answer to both questions may be "yes" if you are male and black, an Indiana University School of Dentistry study published in the current issue of the Journal of Dental Research reports.

Graduate students from across the Big Ten and the University of Chicago who are involved in Asian American studies are gathering for an inaugural conference on the Indiana University Bloomington campus Sept. 25-26.

Starting graduate school can be an unsettling experience, combining long hours of often solitary work with the challenge of finding one's place on a new campus and in a new city. That's why the Indiana University Graduate School in Bloomington created the Emissaries for Graduate Student Diversity program, in which veteran graduate students provide advice, encouragement and mentoring to newcomers.

Indiana University's School of Informatics, founded in 2000 as the first school of its kind in the United States, has officially awarded its first PhD in informatics. The doctoral degree to James Costello was formally recorded by the university on August 31.

A $4.15 million, four-year National Institutes of Health grant will enable researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine to conduct the first health study of teenage boys using cellular telephones. The researchers, led by Dr. Dennis Fortenberry, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent Medicine, will use text messaging to follow 72 males, ages 14-17 years, for three years. The adolescent males will be provided with cell phones and unlimited, free text messaging as long as they remain enrolled in the study.

Fact or fiction? Chewing gum stays in your stomach for seven years. Cold weather makes you sick. You should never wake a sleepwalker. A dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's. Riley Hospital for Children physicians Dr. Aaron Carroll and Dr. Rachel Vreeman, both at the Indiana University School of Medicine, tackle these and other commonly held medical beliefs in a new book, Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health.

ANGEL Learning, an Indianapolis-based educational software provider created from technology developed almost a decade ago by Indiana University faculty members, is being acquired in the largest commercial transaction the university has experienced.

A total of 16,901 students are eligible to receive Indiana University degrees during May commencement ceremonies at eight campuses. Commencement week begins on May 9 (Saturday) at IU in Bloomington and concludes on May 15 at IU East in Richmond (Friday).

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie and First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie will welcome IU Bloomington's graduating seniors to a Senior Send-Off Reception scheduled for Friday, May 8, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The reception will take place in the inner lobby of IU Auditorium at 1211 E. Seventh St. Students are invited to bring family and friends to enjoy light refreshments and music. The Baccalaureate Ceremony will follow immediately at 5 p.m.

Eight Indiana University graduate schools and programs are ranked among the nation's top 25 by U.S. News and World Report magazine in its latest annual report, "America's Best Graduate Schools."

David H. Weaver, the Roy W. Howard Professor in journalism and mass communication research in the School of Journalism at Indiana University Bloomington, has been named the Distinguished Faculty Research Lecturer for 2009.

A nationwide study of adults with asthma reveals no benefit for treatment for silent acid reflux, which long has been thought to be the culprit for some severe asthma symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and breathlessness. The findings, which could save $10 million annually in unwarranted prescriptions, are reported in the April 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

More than 2,000 technology innovators from 40 countries are gathering in Boston this week, and Indiana University's School of Informatics has 14 faculty members and students there carrying a message that technology is the tool to use for a healthier planet.

Chemistry and math majors now have a more efficient path to earning both a master's degree in education and teacher licensure under a new agreement between the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education.

The William T. Patten Foundation, under the auspices of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs, announced the Patten Lecture Series for 2009-2010. Lecturers will be Henry Louis Gates Jr., Andrew H. Knoll, and W. J. T. Mitchell.

For 50 years the Leo R. Dowling International Center at Indiana University Bloomington has acted as a link for international students to student organizations and the IU Bloomington community, providing Friday coffee hours, language conversation groups, orientation activities, informational workshops and weekly concerts. This Friday (March 6), the IU and Bloomington community will celebrate at the center, which is located at 111 S. Jordan Ave., with a 4 p.m. event planned by IU students.

Indiana University President Michael McRobbie today (Feb. 11) announced the formation of a 12-member blue ribbon committee to identify ways to cut health care costs while continuing to deliver high-quality health care to employees and their families on all IU campuses.

Indiana University and its fundraising partner, the IU Foundation, today announced that they are raising the goal of their "Matching the Promise" fund-raising campaign for the Bloomington campus by $100 million, or 10 percent, to $1.1 billion.

Twenty-eight faculty from various Indiana University campuses have been awarded New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities grants. The grants have been funded by the Lilly Endowment with the intent of encouraging faculty to expand their work into new disciplinary or interdisciplinary areas.

Informatics professors Steven Myers and Alex Vespignani recent work on WiFi malware spreading has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific serials.

Two new teaching awards related to sustainability and environmental literacy -- the Sustainability Course Development Fellowships and the Sustainability and Environmental Literacy Leadership Award -- have been awarded to IU Bloomington faculty by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs.

Family and friends of a 75-year-old California grandmother beaten and kidnapped from her home in December 2008 might have known of the crime within moments if a device patented by an IU researcher had been in use. If Sandy Vinge had been using The Portal Monitor, developed by Indiana University professor L. Jean Camp, when kidnapped from her home, photographs taken at the victim's front door step would have been forwarded instantaneously to a pre-selected group of her closest friends and family members.