Daily IU News Round-up
November 20, 2009
IU researcher studies atmospheric contamination of Great Lakes system
The Bloomington Herald-Times, Nov. 20 -- Despite decades of efforts to clean up the Great Lakes, pollutants are entering them every day from what might seem like an unexpected source: the air. A researcher and his assistants at Indiana University are monitoring that air and its contaminants -- and have been for more than a decade. Ron Hites, a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the project he leads with research scientist Ilora Basu, recently received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to continue work that both influences environmental policy and documents the effects of changes to it. Full story.
Bored by numbers? Try IU prof's 'Mathletics'
New book explores the math behind sporting events
The Bloomington Herald-Times, Nov. 20 -- Wayne Winston, IU Kelley School of Business professor and Jeff Sagarin worked as advisers to the NBA's Dallas Mavericks (owned by IU graduate Mark Cuban) for most of the past decade, when the Mavericks went from one of the worst to one of the best teams in professional basketball. "Math gives you surprising answers," Winston said. "In my book, I give you the math, but I also give you the thinking behind the math. You can read around the math and if you're a sports fan, I think it's still going to be interesting. Full story.
Director Named For New IU Engagement Office
insideindianabusiness.com, Nov. 20 -- Indiana University has named a director of engagement for Evansville and southwest Indiana. David Sobotka currently directs Purdue University's Technical Assistance Program (TAP) offices in Jasper and Evansville. He will now serve as the face of both IU and Purdue for economic development in Evansville and southwest Indiana. Full story.
Córdova says $30 million in cuts coming for Purdue
Jconline.com, The Exponent, Nov. 20
-- Purdue University officials announced this morning they want to cut the university's operating budget by $30 million in advance of the next two-year budget cycle. A review of programs, compensation and an organizational assessment will be conducted over the next five months, said Al Diaz, treasurer and executive vice president for business and finance.The announcement is the start of a day that will take Purdue President France Córdova and Keith Krach, president of Purdue Board of Trustees, to meet with state legislators and higher education officials in Indianapolis to explain the plan.The reductions are in reaction to large declines in state revenues. Full story. Full story 2.
Special Report: Rising local suicide rates linked to economic downturn
Wsbt.com, Nov. 17 -- According to statistics compiled by Indiana University-South Bend Psychology Professor Dr. John McIntosh, it's very likely suicide rates are on the rise across the nation. The latest current federal data on suicides is only updated through 2006, but anecdotal evidence suggests the economy is playing a role, said McIntosh, a consultant for and member of the American Association of Suicidology, whose doctoral dissertation focused on the study of suicide. Full story.
IU voices in the news
Indiana will release October unemployment figures today
Indiana jobless rate rises to 9.8 percent
The Indianapolis Star, Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 20 --
Matt Kinghorn, economic research analyst with Indiana University's Indiana Business Research Center is quoted in this article. Full story. Full story 2.
Weekly wrap: Forecasting revenue is a lot like predicting the weather these days
Stateline.org, Nov. 20 -- In normal times, missing a month's revenue prediction is not a big deal. But during a time of record revenue losses for states, the monthly estimates are crucial to sizing up a budget gap, as Virginia found out Tuesday (Nov. 17) in p>announcing it may have to cut nearly $3 billion by 2012 and California discovered a day later when it estimated a $21 billion hole over the next 19 months. Shortfalls have opened up in more than half the states for the current budget year. State leaders have expressed frustration that they cannot better predict monthly revenue. "Have we been this wrong before? No," John Mikesell, an Indiana University professor who has helped with the state's tax estimates for 30 years, said Tuesday (Nov. 17), according to the Indianapolis Star. Indiana's monthly tax revenue estimates have been off for 13 months, not unlike most states. Full story.
Colloquium continues with saris, gods
Media.www.ramcigar.com, Nov. 20 -- At the University of Rhode Island's Honors Colloquium last night, Indiana University professors Pravina Shukla and Henry Glassie discussed the daily dress and the sacred image in modern India. Pravina Shukla, a folklore professor and author of multiple novels about Indian dress wear, spoke to students about the creation of the culture's daily dress among various groups. Shukla said India is a material culture where, "collected pattern and thought [are] manifested in the physical world through objects." These objects, which include Indian saris or women clothing and jewelry, are put through a three-step process. Full story.
Trends
Flu cases continue decline, state officials say
The Bloomington Herald-Times, Nov. 19 -- Like a balloon with a slow leak, the H1N1 flu continues to lose steam across the state. The percentage of people reporting to hospital emergency departments with flu-like illness fell to 6 percent last week, compared to 7.9 percent the week before and 10.6 percent the week before that. That 6 percent figure is less than half that of the historic high -- 12.7 percent -- recorded the week of Oct. 26. Of Hoosiers who visited doctors' offices last week, the percentage reporting flu-like symptoms was 10.2 percent, compared to 11.3 and 13.1 percent the previous two weeks. Full story.
UC Regents Panel Recommends 32 Percent Fee Hike
San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 19 -- As raucous demonstrators protested, a University of California regents panel today approved a 32-percent fee hike, including a midyear increase that will hit students' pocketbooks in January. Students disrupted the meeting at UCLA several times, as has become a routine at UC Board of Regents meetings this year. Police cleared the room three times before the regents' finance committee voted on the fee hikes, finally emptying the room permanently so the meeting could proceed. Full story.
Ohio College Presidents Discuss Collaboration
The Daily Independent, Nov. 19 -- Three years after area college presidents gathered on a barge in the middle of the Ohio River and agreed to collaborate in boosting enrollment, all remain enthusiastic about their agreement. On Tuesday, most of them convened again at Ohio University Southern to report progress and update the agreement, called "Educate the Tri-State." The pact is a regional approach to higher education designed to encourage more people to go to college by enhancing access and removing barriers. Full story.
Make Universities Public Corporations
The Oregonian' Nov. 19 -- Oregon should convert its three largest universities into public corporations so they have more authority and freedom to raise money and revitalize the state's stifled higher education system, Dave Frohnmayer, the recently retired president of the University of Oregon, said today. Full story.
On College Football Game Days, Efforts to Deter Binge Drinking
The New York Times, Nov. 20 -- Shortly before the kickoff of the Minnesota-Illinois college football game at the new TCF Bank Stadium this month, two Minnesota students -- one male, one female -- slipped into an unmarked entrance about five minutes apart. They dressed appropriately for the unseasonably warm and sunny day, in short-sleeve maroon-and-gold Gophers attire. And they greeted Amy Barsness, a university official, like an old friend. Full story.
Tobacco State's Biggest University Bans Smoking
USA TODAY, Nov. 20 -- The largest university in the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky and home to a tobacco research center is banning all smoking on campus. The University of Kentucky imposed a strict tobacco-free policy Thursday that applies everywhere on the sprawling campus in Lexington. It includes chewing tobacco, pipes, cigars and snuff as well as cigarettes and expands a 2006 ban on smoking in buildings and within 20 feet of buildings. Full story.
Women Love Lube, Study Says
Empowher.com, Nov. 18 -- Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University, and colleagues studied over 2,000 heterosexual women and found what many will find obvious: women love lube. Full story.
From the Chronicle
I've Read the News Today, Oh Boy
Optimism isn't needed to forecast the survival of what-the-people-want stuff. In the Inquirer, that consists of opinion and commentary pieces, local obituaries, and dispatches about subjects significant numbers of readers are passionate about, or at least interested in: dining in, dining out, sports, entertainment, celebrity gossip, real estate, travel, health, technology, gardening and other "lifestyle" pursuits, and personal finance. The big and steady demand for this suggests to me that it doesn't require much classroom instruction. Just look at the Internet, which is overflowing with it. Compared with print, the online stuff is generally snarkier, shorter, less factually reliable, less accessible to the noncognoscenti, and less carefully conceived and processed. But the best of it also bears a more authoritative voice and smarter prose. Let's hope (we're back in optimism mode) that in coming years, the state of the art will gravitate toward the best and away from the worst of the two worlds. Full story.
Rape-Prevention Programs Proliferate, but 'It's Hard to Know' Whether They Work
Imagine that you are a male police officer walking down a dark alley. Two drunken men surprise you, take your gun, and then sexually assault you. This is the scenario groups of young men are asked to visualize during a presentation at Binghamton University. Part of a sexual-assault-prevention program designed for college fraternities, the exercise is meant to sensitize men to the way a female rape victim might feel. The program, a combination of popular prevention strategies, attempts to help men understand sexual consent and explains bystander behavior -- how third parties can intervene to stop potential assaults. Full story.
Considering a Job in Fund Raising?
Now is a good time to look for that new or first position in the field
I know what you're thinking after reading that headline: "Search for a new job? I'm just thankful to have any job in this economy." With layoffs at companies in what appears to be nearly every industry, and economic news good one day and bad the next, everyone currently employed should be pleased. But you don't have to delay your job search just because of the uncertain news all around us. For those already in the fund-raising business who are ready to make a change, or those interested in entering the field, now is the moment to be actively searching. Plenty of development positions are available today in higher education and in other nonprofit sectors. Full story.
IU News Round-up is distributed to faculty and staff at IU, and it contains a short review of media coverage relating to IU administrative and student news, federal and state legislative policy, and trends and issues in higher education. Prepared by the IU Office of University Communications, the Daily IU News Round-up is not an all-inclusive gathering of news featuring IU faculty and staff. To subscribe to the Daily IU News Round-up list or to have your name removed, please contact Susan Williams, Office of University Communications, sulwilli@indiana.edu.
