Last modified: Wednesday, June 8, 2005
IU's Cream and Crimson Weekend coming up June 17-19
Events include naming ceremony for Wells Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 8, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University alumni from around the world will be on the IU Bloomington campus June 17-19 for the annual Cream and Crimson Alumni Weekend, which this year will include the naming ceremony for the Herman B Wells Library.
IU trustees in April approved the naming of the main library on IU's Bloomington campus for Herman B Wells, the university's visionary chancellor who died five years ago. The university will celebrate the naming of the Wells Library with a ceremony on June 17 at 4 p.m. on the library's south lawn. The public is invited.
Speakers will include Adam W. Herbert, president of IU; Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, IU Bloomington chancellor and interim senior vice president for academic affairs; Suzanne E. Thorin, Ruth Lilly University Dean of university libraries; and Curtis R. Simic, president and CEO of the IU Foundation.
Wells was president of IU from 1938 to 1962 and was university chancellor from 1962 to 2000. He led the university through its post-World War II expansion and is credited with transforming IU into an internationally recognized center of research and scholarship and one of America's great public universities. As university chancellor, he was active until his death at age 97 on the Bloomington campus where he resided and was much beloved.
Other highlights of the weekend will include a barbecue, reunions for the Class of 1955 and the Emeritus Club, breakfasts hosted by IU schools, and an awards banquet honoring alumni chapters for their work for IU and their communities. During the barbecue lunch on Saturday, the IU Alumni Association will award the Gertrude Rich Award and the Bill Orwig Medal.
Molly A. Johnson of Clarksville, Ind., will receive the Gertrude Rich Award, which is presented each year to a woman who has exemplified the spirit of Gertrude Rich in making outstanding contributions to the IU Alumni Association. Scott C. Schurz of Bloomington, Ind., will receive the Bill Orwig Medal, which recognizes outstanding contributions made by a non-alumnus or non-alumna to the IU athletics program. The award is named for Bill Orwig, IU's director of athletics from 1961 to 1975.
During a banquet Saturday evening, IU will present the Distinguished Alumni Service Awards, the highest award given solely to an alumnus or alumna. The recipients this year will be Mildred Morgan Ball, Clarence H. Doninger and Judith Asmus O'Bannon, all of Indianapolis; Jeri Taylor of The Sea Ranch, Calif.; and Charles H. Webb of Bloomington, Ind.
The IU Alumni Association's Executive Council, alumni chapter leaders and regional campus leaders will meet on Friday and Saturday. The Executive Council will hear the recommendations from the 2005 Strategic Directions Task Force. After a year-long study, the task force will be recommending new initiatives for the next five years.
"The Indiana University Alumni Association is 151 years old and still going strong," said IUAA President and CEO Ken Beckley. "After an amazing look back during our sesquicentennial celebration in 2004, it's time to look to our future as an organization."
As one of the nation's largest alumni organizations, serving more than 466,000 graduates worldwide, the IUAA also is a connection between alumni and the university. The association is a dues membership organization but provides many programs and services to the general university community. For more information about the weekend's events, visit https://www.alumni.indiana.edu or call 800-824-3044.
