UIndy News

Top Dog Communication, UIndy’s student-run PR agency, is among three finalists in the state’s “Promoting the Good Works of Indiana Agriculture” competition.

Top Dog was among 38 teams representing more than 200 students and 19 institutions that responded to a proposal from the office of Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann to develop a creative, innovative communications campaign promoting Indiana agriculture.

National Institute for Excellence in Teaching

NIET Chairman and TAP Founder Lowell Milken (left) presents a TAP Award of Distinction to CELL Executive Director David Dresslar (far right) and Indiana TAP Director Jennifer Oliver on Friday in Los Angeles.

The Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning at the University of Indianapolis is among just three recipients nationwide of this year’s TAP Award of Distinction, which honors organizations for their dedication and commitment to advancing the effectiveness of educators.

CELL Executive Director David Dresslar and TAP Director Jennifer Oliver accepted the award Friday before more than 1,200 educators and policy leaders at the 14th National TAP Conference in Los Angeles.

TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement is America’s leading comprehensive educator effectiveness model that aligns career advancement, professional development, educator evaluation and performance-based compensation. For more than a decade, TAP has worked to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement in high-need urban, rural and suburban schools and districts across the country. It is managed and supported by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET).

TAP in Indiana is administered by CELL as a partnership among NIET, CELL and the Indiana Department of Education. Launched in the 2011-2012 school year, it now impacts 1,500 teachers and 25,000 students.

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A grant from the National Institutes of Health is helping a UIndy physical therapy professor use the latest wireless technology to study how stroke patients walk, in an effort to develop more effective rehabilitation techniques.

Combs-Miller

Dr. Stephanie Combs-Miller, associate professor in the Krannert School of Physical Therapy, is collaborating with Dr. Eric Dugan, a kinesiology professor and director at Boise State University’s Center for Orthopaedic and Biomechanics Research. The two have worked together for several years, examining similar issues from their distinct academic perspectives.

“We come from two different worlds,” says Combs-Miller, who recently traveled to Idaho to train Dugan’s biomechanics graduate students on testing procedures for the study. “This is an ongoing piece of our work.”

An IMU can track body motion.

The research hinges on small electronic sensors called inertial measurement units, or IMUs, which are placed at various points on a patient’s body to measure movement in time and space, including joint angles and speed of motion. Bluetooth-enabled IMUs can transmit data directly into software for analysis and are convenient enough to be used in a clinical setting, eliminating the need for patients to be evaluated in a dedicated motion analysis laboratory with specialized video and computer equipment.

“The best thing about these IMUs is that you don’t need a traditional lab,” Combs-Miller said. “The patients can walk all around the lab, and the technology will show us how they are moving.”

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University President Robert Manuel greets neighbors Thursday at a meeting to establish Indianapolis’ first Neighborhood Services Area, a new initiative in which residents and city agencies will work together to address quality-of-life issues.

Department of Public Safety hopes to replicate model throughout Indianapolis

The University of Indianapolis and its neighbors are collaborating with the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety to pilot a new approach to government services and community involvement that could become a model for the city and the nation.

In a public meeting Thursday night, Indianapolis and UIndy officials announced the establishment of the city’s first Neighborhood Service Area, in which a Community Action Team of local volunteers will channel residents’ concerns and help the city coordinate its efforts on a range of quality-of-life issues, from abandoned properties and street repair to animal complaints and law enforcement. Director of Public Safety Troy Riggs said the city is investing $15 million in a data system that will help officials and residents alike to monitor and exchange information on complaints and responses.

“It’s really going to evolve into a new philosophy about how we do government, day in and day out,” Riggs said during the meeting at University Heights Methodist Church. “I’m already getting calls nationally about what we’re doing here.”

UIndy will serve as the designated “anchor institution” for the initial NSA, which is bounded by Keystone Avenue on the east, I-465 on the south, East Street on the west and Sumner Avenue on the north. A statement from the Department of Public Safety cited the university as “the natural choice” to support the local effort, in light of its ongoing investments to enhance the neighborhood.

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He was Donald Trump’s first apprentice, and now he’s coming to UIndy.

Bill Rancic

Businessman, reality TV star and motivational speaker Bill Rancic will offer tips on personal branding and career development March 18 in an exclusive appearance for the campus community, presented by the UIndy chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Seating is limited to 300 for the free event, which begins at 7 p.m. in Schwitzer Student Center’s UIndy Hall B and C. L/P credit is available.

Rancic first rose to national fame in 2004 as the winner of the first season of NBC’s The Apprentice, and he and his wife confront career and family issues in the E! Entertainment reality series Giuliana and Bill, now entering its sixth season. He speaks to organizations around the world and appears frequently on TV talk and news shows to discuss business and entrepreneurship.

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Some fresh names have been added to the lineup of this year’s Kellogg Writers Series at UIndy, starting Thursday with poet R. Flowers Rivera.

Rivera

The Mississippi native’s work has been published widely in leading journals, and she has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, among other honors. She published her debut collection of poems, Troubling Accents (Xavier Review Press), in July 2013, and she has completed a second manuscript of revisionist mythology poems titled Heathen.

Rivera will read and discuss her work at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Schwitzer Student Center’s UIndy Hall C.

This month also will bring a visit from poet Jason McCall and author Sandy Florian, winners of the inaugural Whirling Prize from UIndy’s student-run Etchings Press. They will speak at 7:30 p.m. March 26 in UIndy Hall C.

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UIndy Athletics photo

The UIndy wrestling team brought home an NCAA Division II Regional Championship this weekend, the first in the program’s history.

Justin Kieffer, Cameryn Brady and Jeff Weiss claimed individual regional titles, and Head Coach Jason Warthan was named Super Region #2 Coach of the Year.

Those three regional winners — along with teammates Alex Johns, Josh Kieffer, Shelden Struble and Evan Wooding — will represent the Greyhounds at the D-II National Championships, scheduled March 14-15 in Cleveland.

Learn more about the squad here.

Martin

The Faculty Forum lunchtime presentation series continues Wednesday with Professor Kathy Martin of the Krannert School of Physical Therapy.

Dr. Martin, director of UIndy’s Professional Doctor of Physical Therapy program, will discuss “Using a Web Portal to Present an Evidence-Based Clinical Summary for Down Syndrome.”The program begins at noon Wednesday in the Trustees Dining Room of Schwitzer Student Center. Refreshments will be available, and brown-bag lunches are welcome.

Coincidentally, Dr. Martin was quoted recently in Lower Extremity Review magazine about treatments to improve walking in children with Down syndrome. Read that story here.

UIndy President Robert Manuel, right, welcomes Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard to the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall stage Thursday for his 2014 State of the City Address. The mayor announced a $1 million grant that will support elements of the university’s five-year, $50 million development plan.

A $1 million grant from the City of Indianapolis will help the University of Indianapolis develop its planned health sciences center and install key features at a neighborhood park, elements of a broader effort to enhance university programs and revitalize the city’s Southside.

Mayor Greg Ballard used his State of the City Address on Thursday at UIndy to announce the funding, which comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant program. The city’s interest in reinvigorating neighborhoods intersects with UIndy’s own commitment to serve as a catalyst for bringing new business and jobs to its Southside community.

“We are making significant investments on campus and in our surrounding neighborhood,” UIndy President Robert Manuel said. “With nearly 1,000 employees and more than $23 million in annual spending in Marion County, UIndy serves as a major anchor for an area of the city that is in need of investment. As we expand programs and enhance facilities, we want to do so in ways that bring benefits to our neighborhood.”

UIndy recently announced a five-year, $50 million development plan that includes the construction of a four-story, 134,000-square-foot health sciences center as the new home for its programs in nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, kinesiology and athletic training. The classrooms, laboratories and offices will enable the university to develop new academic programs, including a Master of Public Health degree that debuts this fall.

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Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard speaks to a packed house in UIndy’s Ruth Lilly Performance Hall on Thursday during his 2014 State of the City Address.

Mayor Greg Ballard had kind words for his hosts during his seventh annual State of the City Address, delivered Thursday evening from Ruth Lilly Performance Hall of UIndy’s Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.

The mayor touted the university as a key partner in his efforts to spark new development and improve quality of life throughout the city.

“Great neighborhoods are comprised of great people and great institutions. Here on the near-Southside, that institution is UIndy,” Ballard said. ”In the last few years the city has been working with the university to invest nearly $10 million in streets, sidewalks and bike lanes, and the change is remarkable. Tonight, I’m pleased to say that the city will also contribute an additional $1 million in community development funds for UIndy’s plan for a new health center and University Heights Park. These projects are part of a five-year, $50 million investment the university is making to enhance its growth and make this area more attractive for people to live.”

See more photos below.