UIndy News

A new set of accelerated evening programs at the University of Indianapolis will prepare graduates for careers in emergency management and public safety.

UIndy’s School for Adult Learning this fall will launch a bachelor’s degree, an associate’s degree and a certificate program in Emergency and Disaster Management. This field of study and research focuses on planning, direction, preparedness training and crisis management in response to natural, wartime or technological disasters, as well as hostage situations.

Aimed at adults involved in the field of emergency management who do not yet hold undergraduate degrees, the programs will explore the “all-hazards” approach, including mitigation, recovery, consequence management, counterterrorism, and risk assessment, prevention and management. The curriculum was developed in collaboration with credentialed professionals from the field, who also will teach the courses.

Christenberry

“This program is very timely and much needed in light of the natural and manmade crises we frequently see on the news,” said UIndy Assistant Professor Tom Christenberry, a former FBI agent who now serves as director of strategic operations for the School for Adult Learning. “Our communities must have thoroughly prepared emergency managers to prevent or minimize the impact of these incidents and to help protect the public when they do occur.”

Classes will be offered in five-week sessions, some conducted online and others meeting one night per week from 6 to 9:45 pm on the UIndy campus at 1400 E. Hanna Ave.

Registration and more information are available at (317) 781-5762, wardcb@uindy.edu or sal.uindy.edu.

Associate Professor Ted Frantz, left, moderates a discussion on the Ukraine situation Tuesday at UIndy with faculty colleague Richard Lugar.

The value of being able to posing direct questions to a world-renowned foreign policy expert was not lost on UIndy graduate student Jeremy Jones.

“It’s not very often you get to see a senator, period,” said Jones, an Army officer pursuing master’s degrees in International Relations and History, “let alone talking about a current topic that holds relevance to everybody everywhere.”

Former Sen. Richard Lugar, now a distinguished professor of Political Science and International Relations at UIndy, had a busy day on campus Tuesday. It included joining in Associate Professor Jyotika Saksena‘s class in International Political Economy and Associate Professor Milind Thakar‘s introductory IR class. In the afternoon, Lugar discussed and fielded student questions on the situation in Ukraine, moderated by Associate Professor of History Ted Frantz.

Tensions in Ukraine continue to escalate, raising the specter of civil war, and the outcome could have global consequences, Lugar said. Although U.S. and European leaders are pondering various diplomatic, economic and political measures to discourage Russia from further interfering in Ukrainian affairs, no one is seriously considering a U.S. military presence, he said, even in a noncombat deterrent role.

“The majority of the American public doesn’t like that idea at all,” Lugar said. “We’re all counseling the Russians: ‘Don’t send troops in there.’”

Grad student Jeremy Jones (standing) poses a question during Lugar’s discussion on Ukraine and related issues in Schwitzer Student Center.

UIndy honored its best, brightest and busiest students Sunday evening during the seventh annual Recognition Banquet in Schwitzer Student Center’s UIndy Hall.

The recognition program celebrates graduating seniors as well as the university’s ongoing commitment to leadership and service. Among the awards presented is the Outstanding Senior Leadership Award, recognizing members of the Class of 2014 who have distinguished themselves with their leadership and service work both on and off campus. This year’s recipients, along with their hometowns and fields of study, are:

Lauren Cain of Crown Point, Occupational Therapy
Trevor Cox of Indianapolis, Communication
Austin Cripps of Greenwood, Mathematics
Kathlene Denhard of New Albany, Psychology
Qi Hua of Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, Finance
Terrence Johnson of Gary, Health and Physical Education
Jennifer Meadows of Greensburg, Communication
DyNishia Miller of Fort Wayne, Communication
Ross Percell of Rushville, Theatre/Pre-Med
Addelyn Ratcliff of Roann, Music
Will Schnabel of Indianapolis, Communication

Meadows also received the Outstanding Student Leader of the Year Award. Other award recipients included Indianapolis Student Government as Student Organization of the Year, Austin Cripps as Outstanding Student Volunteer-Undergraduate and Elizabeth Anderl as Outstanding Student Volunteer-Graduate.

This month’s edition of Faculty Forum at UIndy features Associate Professor of Music John Berners in a unique musical presentation.

Berners

Dr. Berners, a nationally known composer, will discuss and perform his new work, Study on Peter, a piece written for unaccompanied solo performance by a singer-actor. The presentation will be from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Schwitzer Student Center Room 012. As always, light refreshments will be available and brown-bag lunches are welcome.

Following a longstanding tradition of classical music inspired by the biblical story of Peter’s denial of Christ, the new 21-minute composition uses extended vocal techniques and writing structures to explore Peter’s internal conflicts.

UPDATE: Read review by veteran arts critic Jay Harvey

UIndy’s acclaimed Faculty Artist Concert Series will wrap up its 33rd year Monday night with a Season Finale featuring the classical and jazz talents of the Department of Music faculty, alumni and guests.

The program promises a whirlwind musical tour of the 18th through 20th centuries, opening with Haydn’s G-Major Trio (H.XV:32) and showcasing distinguished wind faculty in Paul Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2. Kathleen Hacker and Mitzi Westra will join pianist Elisabeth Hoegberg in vocal duets of Brahms; Austin Hartman and Richard Ratliff will perform music of Charles Ives. UIndy Director of Jazz Studies Harry Miedema will conclude the evening, teaming with UIndy alum Nick Tucker in “Solar” by Miles Davis. Miedema’s performance will be his last at UIndy before his retirement at the end of the academic year.

The free show begins at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the elegant Ruth Lilly Performance Hall of UIndy’s Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.

The full list of players is: Harry Miedema, tenor saxophone; Austin Hartman, violin; Dennis McCafferty, cello; Richard Ratliff, piano; Nick Tucker, double bass; Kathleen Hacker, soprano; Mitzi Westra, mezzo-soprano; Elisabeth Hoegberg, piano; Anne Reynolds, flute; Pamela French, oboe; Cathryn Gross, clarinet; Darin Sorley, horn; and Mark Ortwein, bassoon.

UPDATE: While on the air, Dr. Manuel raised UIndy’s challenge amount to $2,500, helping WFYI reach its campaign goal of $275,000 later that day.

Aside from having its own public radio station — the student-staffed WICR-FM/HD, central Indiana’s home for jazz and classical music — UIndy also is a partner and supporter of local NPR affiliate WFYI.

Manuel

President Robert Manuel will be one of WFYI’s guest hosts between 9 and 10 a.m. Friday, issuing a $500 challenge on behalf of the university to encourage listener support for the station’s spring membership campaign. You can listen at 90.1 FM or online here.

UIndy’s relationship with WFYI’s radio and TV operations goes way back. In fact, former university President I. Lynd Esch led the community group that first brought public television to Indianapolis. More recently, on Feb. 25, UIndy and WFYI joined forces to host and broadcast “Diplomacy in a Dangerous World: A Conversation with Senators Richard G. Lugar and Sam Nunn” moderated by NPR’s Steve Inskeep.

The sight of 1,100 backpacks strewn across Smith Mall on Wednesday was an eerie one — and rightfully so.

Each backpack represented one of the 1,100 U.S. college students who commit suicide each year, and each bore a photo and bio of one of those victims.

“Send Silence Packing” is a traveling exhibition assembled by Active Minds, a national organization dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues among college students. The local stop was coordinated by students from Active Minds’ UIndy Chapter, currently led by co-presidents Ashleigh Berman and Amanda McErlean, both Clinical Psychology doctoral candidates in the School of Psychological Sciences.

Learn more about UIndy’s Active Minds here, and learn more about the national “Send Silence Packing” campaign here.

The Indianapolis Star stopped by to take this photo.

Concurrent courses will advance careers faster, feed workforce demand

The schools of nursing at the University of Indianapolis and Ivy Tech Community College are collaborating on a new program – the only one of its kind in the state – that will make it faster, more convenient and less expensive for students to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

Set to launch this fall, the new ASN/BSN Concurrent Enrollment Program potentially enables a student to earn a bachelor’s degree in just three years of study.

Students will take three key nursing courses through UIndy while still in the second year of Ivy Tech’s two-year Associate of Science in Nursing program. The UIndy courses will be available online, or in a hybrid online/face-to-face format with class meetings at Ivy Tech’s Fairbanks Center for Health Professions on Indianapolis’ northeast side. Tuition is charged at low evening rates, and students are eligible to apply for tuition vouchers through the state’s WorkOne Centers.

Read more »

UIndy Athletics photo

Former UIndy men’s basketball coach Royce Waltman is being remembered as an Indiana legend in news coverage about his death Monday from cancer.

Waltman guided the Greyhounds from 1992 to 1997 and returned for the 2007-2008 season, compiling a 103-62 record overall as head coach. He also assisted Bobby Knight at Indiana University in the ’80s and coached at DePauw and Indiana State universities, more recently providing color commentary for IU. He was 72 and is survived by his wife and two children.

Current men’s basketball head coach Stan Gouard, who assisted Waltman at ISU, recalled him as “a dear friend, a mentor and a brilliant coach,” in a statement released by UIndy Athletics. “His encouragement and support, along with his stories of staying true to who he was, have had an enormous impact on me and my coaching career.”

Here’s a sample of today’s reports on Waltman’s passing:
The Indianapolis Star
WTHR
WISH
SBNation
New York Times

Read more about Coach Waltman’s legacy at the UIndy Athletics website.

On previous trips to Ghana led by Dr. Jodie Ferise, students have assisted in building and stocking libraries in rural villages.

A Zumba dance fitness session Friday at UIndy will support an effort to construct a middle school in the impoverished African nation of Ghana.

Assistant Professor Jodie Ferise of the School of Business will lead a group of students on a Spring Term trip to Ashaiman, Ghana, in May to tutor young students there and assist in the completion of a middle school to serve a slum area. The group is working to raise $10,000, primarily to cover materials and local labor to construct a roof on the school building.

Friday’s “Raise the Roof” event begins at 7 p.m. in Ruth Lilly Fitness Center. Admission is $10 at the door, which covers 90 minutes of workout time led by a local instructor. Other attractions will include refreshments and door prizes.

Ferise

Donations for the project also are accepted online at www.uindy.edu/giving. The online form allows contributors to specify that their amount is intended for “Precious Words Africa.” On previous trips to Ghana led by Dr. Ferise, students have assisted in building and stocking libraries in rural villages.

For further information, contact her at ferisej@uindy.edu.