An Indiana University Bloomington task force on traffic safety has recommended an extensive education campaign and the phased installation of a more effective type of pedestrian crosswalk as key steps to improving vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle safety on campus.

Brenda Johnson, who currently serves as University Librarian at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been named Ruth Lilly Dean of the Indiana University Libraries, Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson announced today (Nov. 18).

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.

Four candidates for the position of director of the IU Cinema will visit the Indiana University Bloomington campus and speak at public forums this week and next starting Thursday, Nov. 12.

The Haitian Studies Association's 21st annual conference will take place Nov. 12-14 at Indiana University Bloomington. The theme of the conference is "New Ecologies: Actualizing Global Contributions and Development in Haiti."

The Indiana University Advocates for Community Engagement (ACE) Program today announced the selection of 25 students charged with serving as liaisons between local nonprofit agencies and the more than 80 IU Bloomington service-learning courses during the 2009-10 academic year.

Indiana University Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson will host a campus open house next week to enable students to meet new Dean of Students Harold "Pete" Goldsmith. The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. All IU Bloomington students are invited.

Indiana University dignitaries dedicated Multidisciplinary Science Building Phase II, the Bloomington campus's newest science building, in a special ceremony on Thursday. The dedication was part of October's month-long Celebrate IU initiative. IU President Michael A. McRobbie led a platform party that included members of the IU Board of Trustees, Provost Karen Hanson, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Bennett Bertenthal, School of Public and Environmental Affairs Dean John Graham, and Provost's Professor of Geological Sciences Lisa Pratt, who has also been chair of the MSB II Design and Oversight Committees. David Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads, was the event's keynote speaker.

Six hundred college and university educators from 15 countries will converge on Indiana University Bloomington this week to share research and insights on what makes for effective teaching and learning. The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) will have its annual conference October 22-25 (Thursday-Sunday) on the IU Bloomington campus -- the same campus where the society had its launch five years ago.

Indiana University officials will conduct a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday, Oct. 17, for a project that will renovate the University Theater and convert it to a state-of-the-art cinema facility. The improvements also include added classroom, rehearsal and performance space for the Department of Theatre and Drama.

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie announced Oct. 13 that the "Matching the Promise" fundraising campaign for the IU Bloomington campus has surpassed the $1 billion threshold on the way to its $1.1 billion goal.

Watch the Oct. 12 news conference with Elinor Ostrom, Arthur F. Bentley professor of political science, and IU President Michael A. McRobbie, via streaming video. Ostrom is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences.

Students at Indiana University Bloomington who want a holistic personal development experience with the chance to explore all academic possibilities before settling into a major have a great new option for campus housing. The Choose Your Major (CYM) Learning Community opened its doors this fall semester to 60 freshmen.

The time has changed for an Indiana University Bloomington program recognizing the winner of the Tracy M. Sonneborn Award and the inaugural IU Provost's Professor. The program will start at 5:30 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 8) in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. David E. Clemmer, the Robert and Marjorie Mann Chair of Chemistry, is 2009 recipient of the Sonneborn Award. Lisa Pratt, IU professor of geological sciences, is the first IU Provost's Professor.

Indiana University Bloomington holds more than 560,000 audio and video recordings and film reels, many of which are historically significant, all of which are actively deteriorating. And the window of time to save these materials is closing fast.

An Indiana University Bloomington campus Task Force on Undergraduate Education has completed its work, and its report has been released by Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson. The task force, appointed by Hanson in December 2008 and chaired by Professor of History Michael McGerr, made recommendations in 13 areas.

Two candidates for the position of dean of university libraries at Indiana University will visit IU Bloomington next week for campus interviews and meetings with librarians, faculty, staff and students. The two are Brenda L. Johnson, dean of university libraries at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Diane Parr Walker, deputy university librarian at the University of Virginia.

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.

The new North End Zone Facility at Indiana University Bloomington's Memorial Stadium will be formally dedicated in a ceremony at the stadium on Friday (Oct. 2) at 2:30 p.m., with IU President Michael A. McRobbie presiding. The ceremony also will rename the new structure the North End Zone Student-Athlete Development Center.

Hundreds of university leaders, students, and alumni are expected to be on hand Friday (Sept. 25) for the official naming of the Indiana University Michael Maurer School of Law. The ceremony will coincide with the Law School's second annual Alumni Summit and celebrate a $35 million gift from Michael and Janie Maurer the Law School received last December.

Dozens of experts will join Indiana University students, faculty and staff this fall for an intensive planning exercise to improve sustainability practices at one of IU Bloomington's best-known buildings: the Indiana Memorial Union. The initiative, called the Greening of the Indiana Memorial Union, will be led by the Office of Sustainability at IU Bloomington and funded with a $50,000 gift from the Duke Energy Foundation.

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.

Indiana University Bloomington's 2009 freshman class includes 82 National Merit Scholars, a 37 percent jump from last year. The scholars -- who as a group were in the top 3 percent of their high school classes with an average high school GPA of 3.93 -- come from 16 states and have with an average SAT score of 1,473 and an average ACT score of 33.

First-year students at Indiana University Bloomington cracked the 1,200 mark for SAT scores this year, continuing a trend of dramatic improvement in academic preparedness. The average combined math and critical reading SAT score for freshmen jumped 29 points to a record 1,203.