Front Page News at Indiana University

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indiana University enrollment reaches record 107,160
Disordered proteins sensitive to environment, sequence changes, IU research suggests
Web site details $16.98 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for IU researchers
Number of National Merit Scholars increases by 37 percent at IU Bloomington
IU Northwest to host free 50th Anniversary Celebration event on campus Friday, Sept. 18
IU's SoFA Gallery, Art Museum to open complementary Itter exhibitions
With only 50 speakers left, tribe's language to be preserved by team of IU anthropologists
Emissaries for Graduate Student Diversity help new IU graduate students find their way
National Sports Journalism Center launches America's most comprehensive Web site about sports media
IU to present Mendhekar with its Distinguished Asian Pacific American Alumni Award
IU Bloomington celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month
IU Bloomington Scoreboard

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indiana University enrollment reaches record 107,160 -- Indiana University set enrollment records this fall for the university as a whole and for several campuses, according to official fall 2009 census figures released today. A record 107,160 students were enrolled in Indiana University -- a 5.3 percent increase from the previous record set a year ago, when enrollment topped 100,000 for the first time. Record numbers of students are enrolled at IU Bloomington, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, IU East, IU South Bend and IU Southeast, and a record number of IU students are enrolled at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Read the complete story.

Disordered proteins sensitive to environment, sequence changes, IU research suggests -- Research published by a team of Indiana University bioinformaticists has shown quantitatively the influence of small sequence changes and environmental conditions on the disordered regions of a protein. The findings have led the team -- lead author and IU Bloomington School of Informatics and Computing assistant professor Predrag Radivojac, IU School of Medicine senior research professor Vladimir Uversky, and informatics Ph.D. candidate Amrita Mohan -- to suggest that function evolution in proteins, though with little actual protein structure change, could be facilitated by the sensitivity of disordered regions to sequence changes. Read the complete story.

Web site details $16.98 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for IU researchers -- Indiana University today (Sept. 15) announced the creation of a Web site -- www.stimulus.iu.edu -- to provide information about federal grants the university has received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Through Aug. 31, IU has received $16,980,925 through 57 projects funded by the federal economic stimulus act. Awards will continue to be announced over the next several months. Also today, the IU School of Medicine announced that more than 42 of its researchers have received more than $12 million in ARRA funds. Read the complete story.

Number of National Merit Scholars increases by 37 percent at IU Bloomington -- Indiana University Bloomington's 2009 freshman class includes 82 National Merit Scholars, a 37 percent jump from last year. The scholars -- who as a group were in the top 3 percent of their high school classes with an average high school GPA of 3.93 -- come from 16 states and have with an average SAT score of 1,473 and an average ACT score of 33. Indiana University offers a $4,000 scholarship ($1,000 per year, renewable for up to four years) to all students who are National Merit Finalists and list IU as their No. 1 college choice through the National Merit Scholarship Corp. by the NMSC specified deadline. This sum is in addition to any other scholarships the students are receiving. Read the complete story.

IU Northwest to host free 50th Anniversary Celebration event on campus Friday, Sept. 18 -- Indiana University Northwest will mark the 50th Anniversary on its Broadway campus with a free, family-oriented event on Friday, Sept. 18, from 12 p.m. until 6 p.m. There will be free food, games, prizes, and live entertainment throughout the day. This event is open to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the community, and families are encouraged to bring their children. With all of the colors, tastes and fun of a classic circus carnival, the IU Northwest 50th Anniversary Celebration is sure to bring smiles to children and adults of all ages. Complimentary foods include hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy. There will be games for all ages, including bingo for adults. Planned entertainment includes dancers, musicians and clowns, and a performance by the O'Day Music Studios Blues Brothers Band. Read the complete story.

IU's SoFA Gallery, Art Museum to open complementary Itter exhibitions -- Indiana University's School of Fine Arts (SoFA) Gallery will present "William Itter: A Retrospective Paintings and Drawings 1969-2009," an exhibition of works by Itter, an IU professor emeritus who joined the faculty in 1969. The exhibition will open Oct. 16 and will continue through Nov. 20. On Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m., Itter will give a lecture in Radio/TV 251 titled "Cubes Curves Facts Fantasy: A Paradigm" as an introduction to his retrospective, followed by an opening reception from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the SoFA Gallery and the IU Art Museum's Solley Atrium. Read the complete story.

With only 50 speakers left, tribe's language to be preserved by team of IU anthropologists -- The National Endowment for the Humanities' "We the People" project has awarded a group of Indiana University anthropologists $250,000 to transcribe, translate and publish the oral literature of the Assiniboine, a northern Plains Indian tribe with only about 50 living members still fluent in the tribal language of Nakota. Raymond DeMallie and Douglas Parks, anthropology professors in the IU College of Arts and Sciences and co-directors of the American Indian Studies Research Institute (AISRI), along with former IU anthropology doctoral student and AISRI research associate Linda Cumberland, will publish two volumes of oral histories collected from Assiniboine tribal members, some of which DeMallie recorded during interviews conducted nearly 25 years ago. Also assisting will be native Assiniboine scholar Tom Shawl of Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana. The team also will publish a dictionary of the language. Read the complete story.

IU professor's new book reveals a lost first chapter in the history of television news -- Contrary to popular belief, Edward R. Murrow and the "Murrow Boys" did not invent television news. Neither did Walter Cronkite, Fred Friendly or Don Hewitt for that matter. While he doesn't want to diminish the accomplishments of these pioneer journalists, an Indiana University professor has discovered and reconstructed a lost first chapter in the history of television. In his new book, The Origins of Television News in America: The Visualizers of CBS in the 1940s (Peter Lang, 2009), Mike Conway tells the stories of a mostly unknown group of CBS employees who worked in obscurity above New York's Grand Central Terminal to develop a new way to deliver the news. Read the complete story.

Emissaries for Graduate Student Diversity help new IU graduate students find their way -- Starting graduate school can be an unsettling experience, combining long hours of often solitary work with the challenge of finding one's place on a new campus and in a new city. That's why the Indiana University Graduate School in Bloomington created the Emissaries for Graduate Student Diversity program, in which veteran graduate students provide advice, encouragement and mentoring to newcomers. Started as a pilot project in 2007, the Emissaries program expanded last year to science, mathematics and technology programs and has now grown to include all graduate-level disciplines, with a focus on doctoral students. Emissaries answer questions from prospective students by e-mail, serve on discussion panels and offer tips and information. Read the complete story.

National Sports Journalism Center launches America's most comprehensive Web site about sports media -- The Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center today (Sept. 15) launched a new Web site that aims to be the most definitive source of news, information and commentary about sports media in America. The site, which has the Web address sportsjournalism.org, includes the latest breaking news inside the sports media business, original columns about the industry from three of the nation's top journalists, links to sports media blogs across the country and detailed information about the National Sports Journalism Center. Read the complete story.

IU to present Mendhekar with its Distinguished Asian Pacific American Alumni Award -- Entrepreneur Anurag Mendhekar of Los Altos, Calif., founder of Blue Vector Systems and twice an alumnus of Indiana University, will be the 2009 recipient of the IU Asian Alumni Association's Distinguished Asian Pacific American Alumni Award. This award recognizes outstanding professional achievements and community service of Asian/Pacific American Alumni of IU. Mendhekar, a native of Tarapur, Maharashtra, India, will receive the honor on Sept. 26 at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave., during a dinner being held in conjunction with the inaugural Graduate Student Conference in Asian American Studies. Robert B. Schnabel, dean of the IU School of Informatics, will introduce Mendhekar. Read the complete story.

IU Bloomington celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month -- Indiana University Bloomington kicks off National Hispanic Heritage Month with a musical celebration featuring Alfredo Minetti, a musician and lecturer in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Minetti, along with Yuriria Rodríguez, Guido Sánchez, Leo Mesquita and Rodrigo Pedrosa, will be playing popular songs from Latin America, including "Bésame Mucho," "Guantanamera," "Lamento Borincano," "Caballo Viejo" and many others. The free, open-to-the-public event will take place today, Sept. 15, from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. in the Federal Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. Read the complete story.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indiana University Bloomington Scoreboard

Results from Friday, Sept. 11:
Women's Volleyball: The Hoosiers defeated both Delaware and Ohio at the Hampton Inn Invitational on Friday. Read the Delaware match notes. Read the Ohio match notes.
Men's Soccer: Indiana earned its first win of the season with a 3-2 victory over New Mexico at the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament at Alumni Stadium in South Bend, Ind. Read the match notes.
Women's Soccer: The 25th ranked Indiana women's soccer team needed some late-game heroics from a pair of seniors to come away with a 3-2 win in the second overtime period against the Hofstra Pride. Read the match notes.

Results from Saturday, Sept. 12:
Men's and Women's Cross Country: The Hoosiers opened the 2009 season with the Indiana Open. The small meet consisted primarily of Indiana University runners, and it provided an opportunity for IU to get a competitive run in to start the season. Read the tournament notes.
Women's Volleyball: The Hoosiers continued their winning streak against Eastern Kentucky and Missouri State on the second day of the Hampton Inn Invitational. Read the Eastern Kentucky match notes. Read the Missouri State match notes.
Football: Indiana's defense forced a late turnover to preserve a 23-19 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday. Read the game notes.
Field Hockey: The Indiana field hockey team picked up their fourth road-win with a 6-1 victory at Davidson. Read the game notes.

Results from Sunday, Sept. 13:
Men's Soccer: The Hoosiers gained a 2-0 victory over Seattle Sunday afternoon on the final day of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament. Read the match notes.
Women's Soccer: The St. John's Red Storm scored a pair of goals in just over three minutes in the second half on their way to a 2-1 win over the Hoosiers on Sunday. The loss ends Indiana's (6-1-0) school record start to the season and its nine-game winning streak overall dating back to the end of the 2008 season. Read the match notes.
Field Hockey: The No. 18 Indiana field hockey team fell on the road, 5-2, at No. 3 Wake Forest. Read the game notes.
Men's Golf: The Indiana University men's golf team continued to improve throughout the season opening Wolf Run Intercollegiate in Zionsville, Ind., posting a final round 285 to climb to third place after entering the day in a tie for seventh. Read the tournament notes.
Women's Golf: The Indiana women's golf team opened the 2009-10 season with a third-place finish at the Mary Fossum Invitational at the Forest Akers West Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich. Read the tournament notes.

Schedule for Wednesday, Sept. 16:
Women's Soccer: Butler, 7:30 p.m., Bloomington, Ind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IU in the news

How 'The Big Lebowski' became a cultural touchstone and the impetus for festivals across the country
Boston Globe, Sept. 15 -- This weekend an annual convocation called Lebowski Fest rolls into Boston for the first time, to rally the faithful with a film screening at the House of Blues and a bowling party at Kings Lanes. Edward Comentale, an English professor at Indiana University and co-editor of a forthcoming collection of essays titled "The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies,'' led a two-day symposium at the 2006 Lebowski Fest in Louisville. Many of the papers delivered there also made it into the book, among them "The Really Big Sleep: Jeffrey Lebowski as the Second Coming of Rip Van Winkle,'' "Logjammin' and Gutterballs: Masculinities in The Big Lebowski,'' and "A Once and Future Dude: The Big Lebowski as Medieval Grail-Quest.'' Comentale says that aside from the being the cheapest academic conference ever held ($125 for the function room at a local bowling alley) the gathering was a heart-warming collision of highbrow inquiry and bad pizza. "We found a real connection with the fan culture, because they approach the film much like professors approach text. They love to quote it. It revolves around citation, debating the characters and gestures and motives, tracking down references. The fans are hungry for interpretation,'' Comentale says. "They don't watch this film in a passive way.'' Full story.

Stimulus Grant to Fund DNA Cancer Research at IUSM
Inside INdiana Business, Sept. 14 -- Mark R. Kelley, PhD, Betty and Earl Herr Professor of Pediatric Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, IUSM, was awarded a $358,757 grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services. The two-year grant will cover research on how DNA repair mechanisms are involved in neurotoxicity during cancer treatments commonly referred to as "chemobrain." Kelley is Associate Director at the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research and Associate Director for Basic Science Research at the IU Simon Cancer Center. His pediatric hematology/oncology research group and lab focus on the role a pivotal DNA repair enzyme plays as a therapeutic target for a variety of cancers such as pediatric and adult brain tumors, pancreatic, ovarian and other cancers. Full story.

Some question benefit of costly treatments
Indianapolis Star, Sept. 13 -- When a cancer patient is facing a steep, painful decline, the high cost of drugs may seem worth every penny. But some cancer specialists are starting to wonder about the cost-effectiveness of some treatments and are raising pointed questions about Eli Lilly and Co.'s newest cancer drug, Erbitux. "Erbitux, which costs $10,000 a month for treatment, can lead to what might be described as a marginal benefit," said Dr. Paul Helft, an oncologist at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center. Some oncologists use various lengths of treatment depending on the patient and the nature of the disease. The issue becomes complicated, Helft said, because some patients respond well with high-priced treatments, while others do not. The study looked at median outcomes. "Some people will get absolutely no benefits, and some people will buy substantially more time from them," he said. "It can be a very tough call." Full story.

Genes may explain why children who live without dads have earlier sex
Insciences Organisation, Sept. 15 -- Previous research has found that children raised in homes without a biological father have sex earlier than children raised in traditional nuclear families. Now a new study that used a novel and complex design to investigate why this is so challenges a popular explanation of the reasons. Among prior explanations of why children who live in homes without fathers have sex earlier are that early childhood stress accelerates children's physical development, that children who see their parents dating may start dating earlier, and that it's harder for a single parent to monitor and supervise children's activities and peers. All of these are environmental explanations. "Our study found that the association between fathers' absence and children's sexuality is best explained by genetic influences, rather than by environmental theories alone," according to Jane Mendle, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, who led the study. Conducted by researchers at the University of Oregon, University of Virginia, University of Chicago, University of Oklahoma, Indiana University and Columbia University, the study appears in the September/October 2009 issue of the journal Child Development. Full story.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Traveling to Bloomington? Check the weather in the vicinity by calling Weatherline at 812-334-1515. Or, go to the Bloomington Herald-Times' weather page at: https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/weather/.

For more information on Bloomington, Indiana, where to stay, where to eat and what to do, go to: https://www.visitbloomington.com/.

For more information on Indiana University, to arrange a tour or get a map, go to: https://www.indiana.edu/~iuvis/.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get more news from IU at the following frequently-visited university Web sites:

-- For all news releases from University Communications, go to: https://newsinfo.iu.edu/.

-- Find the Indiana University Gateway page with links to all IU campuses at: https://www.indiana.edu/.

-- To subscribe or unsubscribe to e-newsletters from IU, go to: https://newsinfo.iu.edu/subscribe/.

-- To subscribe to University Communications RSS news feeds, go to: https://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/2106.html.

-- For IU Bloomington athletics news, go to: https://iuhoosiers.collegesports.com/.

-- For IUPUI athletics news, go to: https://www.iupuijags.com/.

-- For audio and video clips of IU events, go to: https://broadcast.iu.edu/.

-- For an IU Calendar of Events, go to: https://events.iu.edu/.

-- For faculty and staff news at IU, go to: https://www.homepages.indiana.edu.

-- Find people and e-mail addresses at any IU campus at: https://www.iub.edu/people/address.shtml