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IU News Round-up

April 27, 2010

Bookstore announces textbook rental deal
The Indianapolis Star, The Republic, Indiana Daily Student, The Bloomington Herald-Times, Fox59.com, April 27, 26 -- The IU Bookstore announced Monday it will lower all new textbook prices and offer a textbook rental option to students on all IU campuses beginning next fall. An updated agreement with Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, which manages the 10 campus bookstores operated by IU, will allow students to rent the most popular text book titles at 53 percent below the new textbook price, IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said. Full story. Full story 2. Full story 3. Full story 4. Full story 5.

IU Kelley School of Business Receives $4.8 Million Gift to Create Global Business Institute; Latin America to be a Primary Focus
Newsblaze.com, April 26 -- A new institute created through a $4.8 million gift will greatly increase activities by Indiana University's Kelley School of Business within Central and South America, while also energizing the school's overall diversity and globalization initiatives. The Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness is being established through a private gift coordinated by The GEO Global Foundation. Full story.

What Obama Can Learn From Bush
U.S. News, April 27 -- Washington Whispers turned to John Graham, a former Bush budget office aide and a dean at Indiana University to get the lowdown on the rush to judgment. His new book, Bush On The Home Front, charts 43's string of domestic successes with Democrats and also suggests some paths for President Obama to follow as he struggles with partisanship. Full story.

Our Universe Was Born in a Black Hole, Theory Says
Space.com, April 27 -- Our universe might have originated from a black hole that lies within another universe. The idea centers on how matter and energy falling into a black hole could in theory come out a "white hole" in another universe. In such a situation, both the black hole and the white hole are mouths of an Einstein-Rosen bridge, popularly known as a wormhole. With that in mind, theoretical physicist Nikodem Poplawski at Indiana University conjectured that when a black hole forms upon the collapse of a dying star, a universe is born at the same time from the white hole on the other side of the wormhole. Full story.

Fashion design to launch new major program
Indiana Daily Student, April 26 -- For the past 20 years IU students have been using the Individualized Major Program to obtain a bachelor's degree in fashion design, but that process could become a lot easier. Fashion design could be an official major within the next few years. Full story.

Artists address sexuality at two IU campus galleries
The Bloomington Herald-Times, April 27 -- This spring and summer Bloomington residents and visitors have an opportunity to view two very different exhibits from The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. The first, A Collector's Vision, is currently on display at the Kinsey Institute Gallery and will remain on view through Sept. 3. The second, the Kinsey Institute 2010 Juried Art Show, will be on view May 28-July 30 at Indiana University's School of Fine Arts Gallery. Full story.

IU voices in the news

Howrey law firm shifts pay, development of entry-level attorneys
The Washington Post, April 26 -- When the Howrey law firm called its incoming associates into a conference room last June to announce it was breaking from industry custom and changing the role of its entry-level attorneys, there was a fair amount of apprehension. But the law firm's move now seems prescient. "Howrey was a first-mover, not a fast follower, here. And now we're going to see some other firms" doing the same, said William D. Henderson, an Indiana University law professor who studies law firm economics. Full story.

Encouraging Economy Report May Signal Hoosier Jobs
Sharp rise in optimism in survey of leading corporate economists
WIBC.com, April 26 -- Indiana University Business Research Center director Jerry Conover says three straight quarters of corporate profit growth are giving companies confidence they can afford to invest in their workforces again. He says factories are especially likely to need more workers to step up production. If so, he says, Indiana's manufacturing-heavy economy is likely to benefit more than other states from any gain. Full story.

Utility deal trades tax break for rate hike
The Indianapolis Star, April 27 -- Because of the way government accounting works, it would be possible to move money dedicated to a purpose such as sidewalks toward something else, said John Mikesell, a professor at Indiana University's School of Environmental and Public Affairs who specializes in government finance. Full story.

Mastering multicore
Mit.edu, April 26 -- Geoffrey Fox, professor of informatics at Indiana University, says that the MIT researchers' system is "clever and elegant," but he has doubts about its broad usefulness. The problems of greatest interest to many scientists and engineers, he says, are so large that they will still require clusters of computers, where the MIT researchers' system offers scant advantages. "State-of-the-art problems will not run on single machines," Fox says. Full story.

China creates innovation riddle
Atimes.com, April 28 -- Scott Kennedy, director of the Research Center on Chinese Politics and Business at Indiana University, says the policy is an acknowledgement that China must "shift from being an assembler to higher value products because the pressure on Chinese wages are growing, and the benefits of being in the low-cost manufacturing space will take a toll on the Chinese economy, if not now, in the long term". Full story.

From the Chronicle

Rating Your Professors: Scholars Test Improved Course Evaluations
During the next few weeks, hundreds of thousands of college students will fill out course-evaluation forms. On a scale of one to five, they might be asked to rate the instructor's command of the subject material; whether he or she used class time effectively; or whether the exams covered the most important concepts in the course. Many find the concept of evaluations toxic. "They should be outlawed," says D. Larry Crumbley, a professor of accounting at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge who recently co-edited a book about the topic. "They have destroyed higher education." Mr. Crumbley believes the forms lead inexorably to grade inflation and the dumbing down of the curriculum. Full story.

Prosecutors Step In to Squelch Drug Use at Reed College
After a heroin overdose killed a student at Reed College, in Portland, Ore., in March, county and federal prosecutors told the president of the small liberal-arts college that it needed to bolster its drug-enforcement policy. That kind of intervention from law enforcement is becoming more common, said Gary Pavela, a lawyer who frequently consults with colleges on student-conduct policies. Although cooperation between the campus and the police is generally a positive thing, institutions also need to be wary of preserving their autonomy in such arrangements, said Mr. Pavela, who is also director of academic integrity at Syracuse University. Full story.

Professors Who Focus on Honing Their Teaching Are a Distinct Breed
Professors who are heavily focused on learning how to improve their teaching stand apart as a very distinct subset of college faculties, according to a new study examining how members of the professoriate spend their time. Full story.

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.