Herald-Times articles
May 6-8, 2006
IU launches quest for four more deans
by Steve Hinnefeld
May 6, 2006
Indiana University announced the formation Friday of search committees to identify candidates for four dean positions on the Bloomington campus.
The searches are being launched as another one is ending. Three finalists for the position of dean of the College of Arts and Sciences will be on campus for meetings in the next 10 days.
"This has got things on track to identify about half the next generation of leadership," said Michael McRobbie, IU Bloomington interim provost, who appointed the committees.
Two of the new searches, for deans of the University Graduate School and the School of Continuing Studies, will be internal, that is, limited to IU faculty and administrators. The other two, for deans of the School of Informatics and the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, will be nationwide.
Continuing studies has had an interim dean, Judith Wertheim, since December 2003. In the graduate school, former dean John Slattery left last summer, and professors Eugene Kintgen and Sherry Queener have shared interim leadership.
The other two deanships aren't yet vacant: J. Michael Dunn in Informatics and David Gallahue in HPER plan to retire in the next academic year.
McRobbie said he expects the internal searches to be finished this summer and candidates for informatics and HPER deans to be identified by the fall.
Finalists for the arts and sciences dean position are Bennett Bertenthal, a neuroscience professor at the University of Chicago; Edward Donnerstein, a dean at the University of Arizona; and Eric Friedlander, a mathematics professor at Northwestern University. McRobbie said he expects to recommend a dean in June.
The previous dean, Kumble Subbaswamy, is leaving to become provost of the University of Kentucky. David Zaret, a sociology professor, will become interim dean on Monday.
Committees roll call
Search committees for IU dean positions:
• School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation: Dan Smith, chair; Jim Sherman, Alyce Fly, Elizabeth Shea, Jackie Puterbaugh, Barbara Hawkins, Alan Ewert, Lloyd Kolbe, Betty Haven, Jody Vaught, Amy Lorek, Barnett Frank.
• School of Informatics: Brad Wheeler, chair; Dennis Gannon, Beth Plale, Erik Stolterman, Geoffrey Fox, Steven Wallace, Darrell Bailey, Polly Baker, Anna McDaniel, Joseph DeFazio, Mitch Rice, Jeremy Engle.
• School of Continuing Studies: Gerardo Gonzalez, chair; Kurt Zorn, Jeff Gould, Bryan McCormick, Henry Merrill, Garland Elmore, Robert Lovely, Paul Joray, Sheryl Lentz, Rebecca Nikoli.
• University Graduate School: Sarita Soni, chair; Patricia McDougall, Catherine Pilachowski, Claude Clegg, Martha McCarthy, Simon Rhodes, David Ford, Robin Fankhauser, Eric Zeemering, Omar El-Mounayri, James Brown, Jeff White.
The Class of '06; More than 7,000 Indiana University students bid farewell to college Saturday during IU's 177th commencement ceremony
By Lanetta J. Williams
Hoosier Times
May 7, 2006
THE CEREMONY: The 177th IU commencement was 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday at Assembly Hall. Ceremonies will be held on all eight IU campuses this week. They will take place Monday in New Albany, Tuesday in Kokomo and South Bend, Wednesday in Fort Wayne, Thursday in Gary, Friday in Richmond and May 14 in Indianapolis.
NUMBER OF GRADUATES: 7,222 in Bloomington — 16,327 in total from all IU campuses.
SPEAKER: Michael Uslan, alumnus and producer of "Batman" films and other movies, who developed the first accredited college course on comic books while at IU.
WHAT HE SAID: "If there is no other advice I can give you today, it's always to have a plan B and, if possible, a plan C," he said, referring to the nearly 400 resumes he sent out his senior year at IU, only to get two not-so-attractive replies. On his deciding to bring the popular comic book Batman to the silver screen after being warned it would be an indubitable failure, "Sometimes you have to take calculated risks and roll the dice or risk when you're old saying, 'I could have been.'"
WHAT STUDENTS WILL REMEMBER: Uslan's Tudor bonnet nearly fell off his head in the final moments of his speech. To which he said, "If only these had pointed ears. … But I do like the cape they gave us. Bats of luck!"
BEST SIGN: Pictures of family and friends collaged on top of a graduate's black mortarboard.
SILLY MOMENTS: Beach balls and balloons bounded through the air, smacking some unsuspecting graduates on the head and forcing their caps to fly. One large, red, inflatable lobster had to be confiscated.
OTHER SPEAKERS: IU Bloomington interim Provost Michael McRobbie quoting Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics," said, "Excellence is not an act but a habit." He also said, "Wasted potential is an irreconcilable loss."
IU President Adam Herbert said, about the graduates' IU education, "It does not belong to you alone." There are "7,222 new reasons to be more optimistic about the future."
SOMBER MOMENT: Remembrance of the five IU Jacobs School of Music graduate students killed just weeks ago in a plane crash outside Bloomington. Three of those killed would have graduated Saturday.
OVERHEARD: "Can you get a doctorate in nursing, then be called a doctor nurse?" one onlooker pondered.
LOUDEST CHEERING SECTION: Students from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs chanted "SPEA" when they stood to be honored. They cheered loudest for the program's sole doctoral candidate.
NOTABLE GRADUATE: Mark Siemers, who volunteered in the Gulf Coast region, helping families to rebuild after 2005's devastating hurricane season. "I will remember the best thing you can do for a person is to give them the opportunity to do something great, and I bet they will exceed your expectations," said Herbert, quoting Siemers.
WHAT A GRADUATE SAYS: It's an "emotional roller coaster," said Debra Yearwood, who received a bachelor's in recreation. "I'm very excited, but I don't want to leave."
WHAT A PARENT SAYS: "It's great. He worked hard. He earned it," said Bryan Cowden, father of Kyle Lee Cowden of Muncie, who received a degree with honors in business.
IU alumni honor three of their own; Fred Eichhorn, George Taliaferro and James Weigand receive group's highest honor
Herald-Times Report
May 6, 2006
Bloomington residents Fred Eichhorn, George Taliaferro and James Weigand are among the five recipients of the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Service Award, the highest award given by the IU Alumni Association.
They will receive the award at Indiana University's Cream and Crimson Alumni weekend June 16-18 in Bloomington.
Eichhorn received a bachelor's degree in 1952 and a law degree in 1957. He practiced law in Gary, moving to Bloomington when he retired. He was an IU trustee for 15 years.
Taliaferro led the 1945 IU football team to a Big Ten championship. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1951 and later served as dean of students at Morgan State University and special assistant to the IU president. He co-founded IU's Neal-Marshall Alumni Club.
Weigand earned a doctorate in education in 1964. He was dean of the IU School of Continuing Studies and has been special assistant to the president of the IU Foundation.
Other award winners are V. Sue Shields and Ronald Webb.
Shields, who received a law degree in 1961, was the first woman judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals and the first female U.S. magistrate in Indiana.
Webb received an education degree in 1960. He was a prisoner of war for almost six years in Vietnam. He later earned two Silver Stars in the Air Force, retired as a colonel and held positions with the Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department.
Time to say goodbye; Put on those caps and gowns:Today is IU's commencement
by Steve Hinnefeld
May 6, 2006
Today is the day that 7,222 Indiana University Bloomington students have been working toward and waiting for, the day they can crowd into Assembly Hall with families and friends to receive their IU diplomas.
Students like:
• Katie Claussen, who came to IU as a Wells Scholar from Bethlehem, Pa., and leaves as one of the nation's 12 Mitchell Scholars to study international relations and conflict resolution in Northern Ireland.
• Kenny Daily, a third-generation IU student who's receiving a master's degree in informatics two years after getting a bachelor's degree in the same field.
• Hillary Sullivan, a music student from Greenwood in organ performance and voice whose parents also graduated from IU.
The commencement speaker will be Michael Uslan, an alumnus who developed the first accredited college course on comic books while at IU and went on to produce blockbuster "Batman" films and other movies. IU President Adam Herbert and IU Bloomington interim Provost Michael McRobbie also will speak.
The commencements - at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. - mark the beginning of a week of graduation ceremonies for 16,327 students on all eight IU campuses. They will take place Monday in New Albany, Tuesday in Kokomo and South Bend, Wednesday in Fort Wayne, Thursday in Gary, Friday in Richmond and May 14 in Indianapolis.
In Bloomington, the morning ceremony will be for graduates in business, education, HPER, law, music, nursing, SPEA and social work. The afternoon ceremony is for degree candidates in arts and sciences, continuing studies, informatics, journalism, labor studies, library and information science, optometry and the university graduate school.
Graduation
Up to 7,222 IU Bloomington students will be awarded degrees today.
WHEN: 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
WHERE: Assembly Hall
SPEAKER: Michael Uslan, IU graduate, comic book expert and producer of "Batman," "Batman Forever," "Batman Begins" and other films.
ALSO SPEAKING: IU President Adam Herbert and IU Bloomington interim provost Michael McRobbie will offer remarks.
ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE: Degree candidates for May, June and August, graduate students who completed degree requirements in January through July, and December 2005 graduates.
Trustees: New hire to bring diverse students
By Steve Hinnefeld
May 6, 2006
Indiana University trustees welcomed Roger Thompson on Friday with enthusiasm and high expectations.
They want the new IU Bloomington vice provost for enrollment management to help the campus raise its student academic profile at the same time it enrolls more students from under-represented minorities.
"You'll find quickly that the board has a lot of opinions in that area," trustees President Steve Ferguson told Thompson when he was introduced at a board meeting.
Thompson will report to Michael McRobbie, IU Bloomington interim provost, and be in charge of the offices of admissions, student financial assistance, the registrar and campus orientation. He starts July 15; his salary will be $200,000.
He comes from the University of Alabama, where as associate vice president for enrollment management he was credited with increasing grade-point averages and test scores of new students.
The previous IU Bloomington vice chancellor for enrollment services, Don Hossler, stepped down last July to return full-time to his position as professor in the School of Education. Roland Cote, the IU registrar, has served as interim enrollment-services chief.
McRobbie said enrollment management, including recruiting students, making admissions decisions and providing services, is an increasingly competitive business.
"It becomes an essential component of the modern research university," McRobbie said.
Trustees went on record Friday as wanting more student diversity. They endorsed doubling the number of black, Hispanic and American Indian students on campus by 2013-14. They told McRobbie and President Adam Herbert to find money to meet the goal.
They also have called for improving student quality as measured by admissions-test scores and class rank. Last month, they approved Bloomington admissions standards tougher than Indiana's Core 40 college-prep high school curriculum.
At Alabama, Thompson put in place strategies credited with increasing the freshman class by 40 percent while raising ACT scores and grade-point averages. African-American students declined from 13.3 percent in 2002 to 11.6 percent in 2005, according to university figures, in a state where one-fourth of the population is black.
Thompson was associate vice president for three years and registrar from 1998 to 2003. Before that, he was associate registrar at the University of Southern California.
Alabama more than doubled the National Merit, Achievement and Hispanic scholars that it enrolled between 2002 and 2005. It ranked 13th last year among public universities for enrolling the scholars, selected by test scores.
"What we did was just aggressively go after those students," Thompson said. "We have a terrific team at the University of Alabama, and we will build the same kind of team here."
Trustees at a glance
IU trustees Friday approved:
• $2.32 billion university budget for 2006-07.
• Construction this summer of a 560-space parking garage at Atwater and Fess avenues.
• Construction of a $3 million Hutton Honors College building at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and Woodlawn Avenue. A gift from Edward L. Hutton will pay for the collegiate Gothic-style building with limestone exterior and slate roof. A former sorority house will be razed for the project.
• The design for a $2.3 million reference reading room at the Wells Library.
• The design for a new Beta Theta Pi fraternity house at 1100 N. Jordan Ave.
Graduation Day a tradition stretching back three generations for one family
by Steve Hinnefeld
Hoosier Times
May 7, 2006
Tom Sparrenberger grew up immersed in cream and crimson, hearing stories about his grandfather's days at Indiana University and going to IU football games with his dad and brothers.
But when it came time for college, his mother said IU was too big. Tom followed his older brother, Robert, to Western Kentucky University.
"I had a good experience there, but part of me was disappointed," he said.
Graduate school gave the Evansville native another chance at IU, and he made the most of it. Earning a master's degree in information science over two years, he threw himself into campus life, even coaching a fraternity team in the Little 500 bike race.
"I love everything IU stands for," he said.
Sparrenberger, 24, is one of 7,222 IU Bloomington students who graduated Saturday. His brother, two years older, is another; Robert picked up his doctor of optometry degree.
Tom starts a job in June with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Evansville. Robert will practice optometry near Washington, D.C., where his fiancee also has a job.
The brothers are the third-generation IU men. Their grandfather, Charles Sr., rode the train from Evansville to Bloomington in 1931 and earned undergraduate and law degrees. He died in 1992.
Their dad, Charlie, earned a business degree in 1974.
Classes, sports and Little 500
Tom Sparrenberger, a sports fanatic who played basketball at Evansville Harrison High School, had season football and men's basketball tickets at IU. He did an internship and volunteered with the IU Alumni Association, helping set up tailgate parties at football games on the road.
He said graduate school, with its long papers, projects and presentations, was a change from undergraduate work, but not a difficult one.
"Tom pretty much had our full experience," said Howard Rosenbaum, a professor in the School of Library and Information Science. "He came in not knowing much about our field. He leaves very well educated in the ways of information science."
He said Sparrenberger was an engaged student who did much more than pick up professional credentials in graduate school.
"For some students, it's just a transition stop," Rosenbaum said. "But for a person like Tom, he's become a true IU alum."
Sparrenberger went to the Little 500 with his father when he was a teenager. His first year in graduate school, he watched the race and was struck by the involvement of coaches and pit crews. He went to the IU Foundation, the sponsor of the race, and volunteered to help. To his surprise, he was asked to coach the Alpha Epsilon Pi team, even though had had no background in cycling.
"I told them, 'Guys, I know I don't have any experience, but I'm going to make up for it with my passion for the Little 500,'" he said.
He watched tape of previous races and talked with race veterans to learn about training and strategy. He bought a bike, put on Spandex and trained with the team. He said he became a sort of older brother to the 19- and 20-year-old riders.
"He's become one of our closest friends," said Michael Retter, an AEPi rider. "He got into cycling right at the beginning. He got a bike, and he was out there with us every day."
'Good days, good times'
The team qualified 18th in the 33-team field. It finished 15th, despite losing Retter to a concussion in a crash early in the race.
Coaching gave Sparrenberger an experience with fraternity life, something that was important to his father and to his grandfather, a member of Beta Theta Pi.
Charlie Sparrenberger said his favorite memories of IU revolve around the Phi Kappa Psi house at 1200 N. Jordan Ave.
"Those were good days, good times," he said.
He loves returning to IU for football games and other events. He said the campus still looks the same as when he graduated in 1974.
"My big joke is, the second I hit Bloomington, I'm 18 years old again," he said.
At least one thing about IU has changed, however - the cost of attending.
"My dad always used to tell me, when he went to IU, tuition was $32 a semester," Charlie said. "When I came along, it was $320. It had gone up 10 times. Think about what it is now - it's gone up 10 times again."
Tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates this fall will be $3,730 a semester, more than 100 times what it was in the late 1930s.
As Tom Sparrenberger spent his last few days on campus, he thought back on memories and lingered in one of his favorite spots, near the Well House and the Old Crescent of limestone buildings. He will miss IU, he said, but visiting will be that much sweeter.
"When I was younger, I thought, 'Dad, please stop with the stories,'" he said. "Now I understand it."
A sense of community
by Steve Hinnefeld
Hoosier Times
May 7, 2006
It was only natural that Elizabeth Roush would serve on the Student Athletic Board when she came to Indiana University.
Her mother, was on the board in the 1970s. Her brother, Matthew, followed a few years ago.
"I grew up involved with Indiana and I grew up a sports fan," Elizabeth Roush said. "When I got to campus, it was the best way for me to be involved in IU athletics."
Now she has joined her parents and brother as an IU graduate. She received a bachelor's degree in biology.
Roush is from Kendallville in northeastern Indiana. Her parents would bring her and her brother to Bloomington for IU football, basketball and soccer games.
"I always joke that I kind of grew up here even though I didn't," she said.
She said IU "was the only place I applied and the only place I wanted to go." The decision was influenced by her parents. They met when her mother, Jane, was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority where her father, R. Alan, was a waiter.
Roush has lived for three years at Delta Gamma sorority. ""It's a challenge at times to live with 100 girls, but it's worth it for the friends you make," she said.
She said students can find a sense of community at IU. "My No. 1 thing is to make sure that people get involved," she said. "That's one of the reasons I got involved in SAB, and it led me to so many things."
Her brother is now in law school in Bloomington, and Roush will start classes Monday at the IU School of Optometry, following in her father's footsteps. That means her parents will have more opportunities to visit.
"I'm from a very close family," she said. "It's a way for us to stay connected."
IU was the 'right decision' for business graduate
by Steve Hinnefeld
Hoosier Times
May 7, 2006
When Amanda Adler was admitted to Indiana University, her mother gave her red and white balloons to celebrate.
Both of Adler's parents graduated from IU, and she grew up hearing about the university - even though the family lived in Bryn Mawr, Pa., near Philadelphia.
"I learned the IU fight song probably when I was like 3 years old," Adler said.
Now she too has graduated. She picked up her finance degree from the Kelley School of Business on Saturday and is moving to Chicago to work for Bain & Co., a consulting firm.
She came to IU as a Kelley Scholar, winning a full-expense scholarship. In the past year, she directed the business school's ambassadors program, which recruits and mentors incoming students.
"It's a big school but there are tons of ways to make it feel like a smaller community," she said of IU. 'It's a fun, beautiful campus."
She said she appreciated the "really awesome" professors at the Kelley School and the opportunities she had to study abroad. She studied one summer in Prague, Czech Republic; spent a junior semester in Florence, Italy; and toured China with a class this year.
Her father, Jeff, an attorney, and her mother, Debbie, a kindergarten teacher, brought their daughter to visit IU when she was a high-school sophomore. They let her make her own decision but were pleased when she passed up offers from more selective colleges for IU.
"I think she made the right decision," Jeff Adler said. "She's enjoyed herself immensely."
