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News Release

Last modified: Friday, January 4, 2013

Indiana University stories to kick off series debut from Big Ten Network

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 4, 2013

BLOOMINGTON and INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Indiana University research breakthroughs, innovative programs and community outreach efforts will serve as the launching point for a new series from the Big Ten Network.

The 12-episode series, "BTN LiveB1G," which premieres Monday, Jan. 7, explores how Big Ten universities are improving lives and giving back through advancements in research, education and community service.

"BTN LiveB1G -- Indiana" will air at 9 p.m. EST following IU's men's basketball game at Penn State University. The episode will focus on several stories that showcase the impact of people and programs at IU, including:

• A partnership between the IU School of Medicine and the Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis to care for the needs of veterans. Professor of medicine Kurt Kroenke and his team work with veterans to explore innovative approaches to combat chronic pain, with the goal of creating a model that can help public and private hospital systems around the country.
• A competition to create a business plan focused on Internet and software technologies through the BEST program -- Building Entrepreneurs in Software and Technology -- which is one of the largest student-based entrepreneurial competitions in the country. Students work together to submit business plans focused on Internet and software technologies, and the first-place winner could earn at least $100,000.
• The impact IU researchers are having on HIV patients in Kenya. More than 140,000 patients have been treated through the AMPATH program, which grew from a partnership between the IU School of Medicine and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya. The program has expanded to 60 sites throughout the country.
• The work that television icon and IU alumna Jane Pauley has done through The Children's Health Fund of Harlem, N.Y., to help the nation's most underprivileged children.
• An effort to end hunger in Bloomington by IU alumnus Julio Alonso and the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

"We are extremely pleased and honored to be the first Big Ten university featured in what promises to be an educational, enlightening and inspiring new series," said Cindy Miller, IU director of public relations and campus initiatives. "The IU efforts captured in this inaugural episode reflect the significant impact IU and its sister Big Ten universities are making every day in their local communities, across the nation and around the world."

"BTN LiveB1G" is the second BTN collaborative campus program series produced in conjunction with the Big Ten Conference and its 12 universities. The first was 2012's "Impact the World."

Since the network launched in 2007, BTN has aired programs produced from each Big Ten university to showcase the impact of member institutions beyond athletics. BTN is co-producing the series with Chicago-based TeamWorks Media.

IU Communications staff worked with the network to identify and film segments on the university's Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses for "LiveB1G."

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