Academics

Business school rides crest of popularity

Despite enacting stricter admissions policies for the second time in five years, the School of Business remained popular and continued growing in 1986.

In fall 1984, 46 percent of sophomores said they intended to major in business. Why are so many students clamoring to get in? Certainly it's not because they want to take the infamous A-core track, change into suits in a bathroom stall, or spend most of their college days on 10th Street. "I expect the trend is cyclical," said Michael Metzger, associate dean of academics for the business school. "It used to be education degrees that were popular. Today, the general trend in American higher education is toward professional-type programs. The increased interest in the business school is one manifestation of that trend."

To maintain its quality, the School has increased the minimum grade point average for 11 prerequisite courses from 2.3 for the 1985-86 school year to 2.65. Since this has not stopped the growth, the School will take a fixed number of students — 1,200, with entry determined largely on grades — per year beginning in 1987.

Metzger said there is a greater emphasis on the employment link to education today. Students want an immediate return on investment.

This increasing pragmatic orientation of students is reflected in a 1985 study by UCLA and the American Council on Education. Seventy-four percent of incoming IU freshman said that an important reason for attending college was to "be well off financially," while 43 percent said an important reason was to "develop a meaningful philosophy of life."

As a result of these "learn-to-earn" attitudes towards education, professional programs have been booming. "I talk to a lot of students who say I might like to major in X, but what type of job could I get with X?"' Metzger said. "Part of it is the oversimplified idea that business training means good jobs," said Gordon Smith of the Business Placement Office. Although the 2,460 seniors and MBA students who used the BPO had a total of 21,500 one-on-one interviews with company representatives in 1985-86, these recruiters represent only about 1 or 2 percent of all businesses in the country.

Nevertheless, many students believe getting a business degree will lead to a successful career. "Business is a good field, especially at IU," said sophomore Lynette Nannenga. "It's a sure way to get a job."

Presumably, students' choices of majors reflects their values. "Obviously, a philosophy major isn't interested in immediate payoffs," Metzger said. "Business students may well be more pragmatic, more goal-oriented, more in-directed and more conscious of the role that

photo/Nadia Borowski

education plays in employment. There may be a specific end that they want — a good-paying job in business."

Of course, there are many other reasons to major in business. Senior Mark Willingham wants to start his own business someday — something his father was very successful at. "The whole world revolves around business," he said. "No matter what you get into after graduation, a business degree is flexible enough to adapt to all types of jobs."

Willingham said he is studying management because he loves working

with people. "My personal idea of success is a feeling of achievement," he said. "To me, that's being able to do what I want to do. "Many people have the wrong idea of business majors... But if it's a matter of getting a job and starting a successful career, conformity isn't a bad thing."

Willingham believes the conformist and materialistic labels can be applied to any group. "The whole world is materialistic," he said. "There's nothing wrong with wanting what you can get. Material things make me happy. I set goals for what I want — a Porsche for example. It's something to work for."

Metzger said improving one's lot materially often is considered bad and greedy, but it's what made the world what it is today. "People get satisfaction out of many different things," he said. "Some may derive their enjoyment from seeing how many material goods they can acquire."

But even a business degree is not a sure thing. "Companies are becoming more and more selective about hiring," Smith said. "They're hiring sharper, brighter, more enthusiastic employees, and fewer of them. A business degree is not an automatic passport to a job."

Guaranteed job or not, business remains the most popular major on campus. "Our program is kind of unusual," Metzger said. "We're one of the few top-ranked schools that has an undergraduate program of any significant size."

— By Melissa Milkie

Lombardi plugs COAS into the 21th century

"I love tools. The things that shape Our world and broaden our horizons. It's essential that students have access to the tools that are changing the wa y society looks at and interacts with the world." John V. Lombardi Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Lombardi is bringing this love for educational tools to his new position as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Among his first projects, Lombardi will be honing the COAS image and adding the finishing touches to the Universit y's liberal arts heritage. "We want the College to raise its profile within the University," he said.

Originally, the Universit y was the College of Arts and Sciences. When IU was founded in 1820, education centered on the liberal arts. Twelve men studied Latin and Greek with one professor when classes were first held in 1824. Five years later, Andrew Wylie became president and instituted a program of study that included Latin, (;reek, English, math, astronomy, geography, and philosophy.

Through the years, other programs developed and attached on like satellites to the liberal arts curriculum. In 1903, the School of Medicine was established; in 1904, music became a department at IU; The School of Commerce and Finance, now known as the School of Business, was established in 1920.

Today, the COAS continues to be the heart of IU. The College offers over 50 majors, teaches two-thirds of all credit hours, and provides the general education for all undergraduates.

In a time when highly specialized degrees seem to be in demand, Lombardi continues to stress the value of a diverse, broadly based degree. "1 hear a unanimous chorus from professionals wishing they had taken more writing or history or art," he said. "The business world wants people who can think and do." For Lombardi, thinking and doing means analytical problem solving and applying a diverse storehouse of knowledge and ability to each challenge.

Lombardi notes adaptability as another asset afforded the liberal arts student. "You may begin your professional life as an accountant and end up executive administrator of a retirement community. Ymt have to know something about people in that situation," he asserted.

When it comes to applying the liberal arts degree to a job search, Lombardi said the "opportunities exist but they are not as clearcut and obvious." Although seniors graduating with bachelor's of arts degrees ma y envy the business students for their seemingl y immediate placement, Lombardi notes the actual hiring statistics show a parity within a year of graduation. Lombardi admits that, to some extent, the degree will have little bearing on the graduate's first job but from that point on, the degree's utility becomes more and more obvious. "The University is designed to teach the universal characteristics of life," he noted, not simply a trade.

There is more behind his advocacy than simply words. Lombardi has filled his eclectic "tool" collection with a diversity of intellectual implements. Well versed in the concerns of Venezuela, he has studied there and published works about its history, people, and social progress.

And there is his interest in computers, a topic he also writes about. His insights as a software reviewer are regularly sought by InloWorld magazine. "Computers were my latest tool fascination," he said with a grin. "Now I'm ready for the next revolutionary invention." Surely this next breakthrough will be quickly mastered by this skilled craftsman. As any good craftsman has patience, skill, and foresight, so too does Dean Lombardi. And as any good craftsman preserves his arts (and science) for the next generation and beyond, so too does Dean Lombardi.

— By Brent Ohlmann

New journalism dean looks into past to guide future

Dean Trevor Brown is a lot like Ernie Pyle Hall — a source of current technology in the field of journalism built on a foundation of tradition and time-honored values.

In his first year as dean of IU's School of Journalism, Brown demonstrated his desire to equip journalism students with applicable skills through curriculum and programs that have been in existence since he came to IU.

Appropriately, Brown joined the journalism faculty in 1972, when Ernie Pyle Hall was undergoing its renovation. Just as the School's renovation committee wanted to retain the original exterior of the building, Brown plans to continue to run the journalism school according to the program implemented 18 years ago.

Central to IU's journalism program is its core curriculum — 21 hours of journalism course including history, reporting, editing, law, and ethics classes. "We didn't want separate tracks," Brown said. "Our philosophy is that a journalism major must have a strong liberal arts background . . . The demands of a contemporary journalist are such that to understand and report accurately and sensitively, you must have as broad a perspective of your world as possible."

According to Brown, the school was ahead of its time in emphasizing liberal arts in a journalism major. As part of the core curriculum, "we required an ethics course," Brown said. "Now it's the battle cry of the field . . . It took the field 15 to 20 years to share our view" of a core curriculum.

In addition to curriculum Brown considers the separation of campus media from classroom work another strong point of the School. When the core curriculum was instituted, the Indiana Daily Student became independent of the classroom, and staff members began receiving pay rather than credit for their work. Brown said the separation was necessary because students' "academic studies were being neglected" and work on campus media was "detracting from the most important reason for being here -- classroom instruction." The greatest value of having campus media separate from classroom work, Brown said, is that "students have the independent opportunity to practice what they learn in the classroom."

Although Brown wants to retain the core curriculum, campus media, and the values developed over the past twenty years, he said plans to keep the School current with technology. Having come to IU when most people "considered electric typewriters as sophisticated as you could get," Brown said the typewriters used in the classrooms now will be replaced with IBM personal computers next year.

Another advancement will be in relation to the telecommunications department. Plans for a new building that will benefit both the telecommunications department and the journalism school are being discussed, Brown said. The new building will house a communications library, offices, classrooms, and the television studio, which Brown said can be "managed more effectively between the two departments." Although Brown said he has "no intention of linking" the two programs in the future, a joint building will enable them to "share our academic lives and resources."

Brown said a proposal has been in the works for quite awhile that involves a dual-campus master's program. In offering a program where graduate students spend one semester in Bloomington and one semester at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Brown said he wants to take advantage of Indianapolis' role as the state capital to allow students to cover politics.

On the undergraduate level, Brown said there will be a move toward color in photojournalism classes and a push for developing the school's research capacity. In response to students' growing interest in advertising and public relations, Brown said the school will consider adding more classes, although he does not plan to make them areas of specialization.

Faculty families

Faculty children don't always opt for other schools

A

lthough the anonymity of a large lecture class is familiar to most IU undergraduates, junior Lori Thoren's study of the ancient astronomer Tycho Brahe fall semester in A 110-Introduction to Astronomy hit close to home.

While lecturing on material researched by a member of IU's history and philosophy of science department, the professor of the course remarked to the 150 students, "The research of Professor Victor Thoren, whose daughter, by the way, may be in class, indicates . . . " "He must have recognized my name from the roster," the biology and math major said about the professor of the only class she intends to take in her father's department.

This year, 852 children of IU faculty and staff were enrolled in classes here. Although it's natural to expect these students to meet up with their parents in class and on campus quite often, or at least at home once a week, this isn't necessarily the case. "I don't think we saw her more often than a parent sees a child when they're away," remarked Allen Winold, professor of music, about his daugher Bettina.

Rather than live at home, Lori and Bettina chose to share a house in Bloomington with two other juniors, Catherine Burke and Alexandra Smith. All four women attended Bloomington South High School and have at least one parent on the IU faculty. In addition to this unique situation, each woman studies in a different department from the one in which her parent teaches.

Since their names aren't "Gordon" or "Ryan," these four women can blend in with the rest of the student body yet still enjoy the advantages of professor parents, such as the faculty/staff courtesy fee which offers tuition at half the normal rate.

Having the influence of a parent on the faculty may help students in other subtle ways. Thoren referred to a time when Lori needed 30 hours on her records before she could take a certain class. Because Lori had taken summer sessions, the information wasn't processed in time. Thoren sent a note to the adminstrative office explaining what had happened. "I think the memo was read sooner because it was internal," he said.

Bettina cited other obvious advantages of having her family so close, such as easy access to the car and no long distance phone bills.

Because of the diversity of the women's majors and their parents' departments, it's unlikely they would ever run across each other in class. The women's parents all agreed, however, that if the situation ever occurred, it wouldn't make a difference in their grading. "I've failed Children of my faculty friends, and it's never been a problem," said Winold.

Hearing her daughter Catherine's impressions of professors has prompted Anne Burke, an English instructor for foreign students, to remember what it's like to be a student — an advantage that can carry over to all students. "I think I understand a bit more what goes on in the classroom. As a student I was awed terribly by professors. They were some sort of gods to me. I think back to that time and bring a feeling of comfort to the classroom," she said.

David Smith of religious studies feels he has had some advantages over other parents. He said he is grateful for the ease of sending his oldest daughter off to college. And, by being involved in his daughter's college experiences, "I've become a fan of the place not just as a faculty member, but as a parent as well."

photo/Jon Elswick

"On recommending faculty, I'm batting .500."

David H. Smith Professor of religious studies and director of the Poynter Center

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"I wanted to live in the dorm. I decided since I was staying in Bloomington that I really shouldn't stay in my house."

Alexandra Smith Elementary education major

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want to go to some school far away or pay a lot."

Catherine Burke Spanish major

"Sitting out there are 200 Catherine's and I know pretty much what their sense of humor is. I know how much they can absorb and I know when they start to get tired and I know what bores them."

Richard Burke Professor of telecommunications

"I interview foreign students who want to be associate instructors. I think very carefully about their performance, how well they are able to speak in class, in terms of Catherine. I think 'Could Catherine understand what this person is saying?"

Anne Burke English instructor for foreign students

"I think one effect of having him here is I've pretty much ignored going to any other counselor."

Lori Thoren Biology and math major

"If Lori needs some esoteric piece of hair drying equipment, she can give me a call and say 'bring it to the office.—

Victor Thoren Professor of history and philosophy of science

"I guess my feeling is that if every professor had somebody in class whose name he recognized, maybe he'd look his notes over in the office five minutes before he got to class."

Professor Thoren

"I was never scared to go in and talk to a professor."

Bettina Winold Marketing major

"I think the fears we had t hat Bettina wouldn't be able to be independent never really materialized."

Allen Winold Professor of music

"I'm pretty much stuck in the music school, and I think I give more advice to my own students here at school t ban I do to my kids at home."

Helga Winold Associate professor of music

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School of Hard Rocks

Droste delivers solid lessons

Few of the 400 students smile as they enter Woodburn Hall at 8 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. But when the man waiting outside Room 100 says "good morning," it's tough for even the worst sourpuss not to crack a smile.

Geology professor John Droste goes through this revving-up routine prior to every one of his dynamic performances on the origin and classification of minerals and rocks. Welcome to G103, known to the laymen as "Rocks for Jocks." "I stand out and say 'good morning' to each of them as they come in. Most couldn't care less," he laughed, "but it helps me. If you say 'good morning' to someone, they have to smile. It sets a frame of mind for me and the students."

Although he claims there is no "magic prescription" for engrossing students in large lectures, Droste tries to find his own way to fill it. "You get to kids in different ways," he said. "You have to psych yourself up more for a large class. Sometimes I have to go through antics," he admitted.

For 50 minutes, Droste throws himself into his lecture routine, waving his arms and smashing his fists together above his head, voice resonating as he demonstrates the S P READINGapartand SQUEEEZING together of rocks when forming a fault. Even Droste, who has a doctorate in geology, seems fascinated with the effects of compression as he drags out each word, emphasizing every syllable.

Droste puts on the same caliber performance every time he teaches. "He has incredible speaking talent," said Rob Duncan, an associate instructor and coordinator for G103. "He can take a subject most wouldn't pay attention to for five minutes and keep the whole group interested for 45 minutes. When he lectures three times, he's worn out by the end of the day."

Droste has been teaching an introductory geology class since he came to IU in 1957. Previously, he taught for two years at the University of Illinois where he received his undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degrees. He was drawn to IU because he was offered the opportunity to teach an introductory geology course, which he said appealed to him because, "Educated young men and women do a lot of looking, but they don't see what there is." His main objective is to train students to develop analytical skills through descriptive means. He thinks today's students are more willing to learn about their environment, making his job a little easier. "I don't have to convince these kids to be aware of their environment," Droste said. "They've already been programmed to give some thought to their economic, physical, and biological environments all together."

But he isn't fooled into thinking that the main reason students enroll in G103 is because they're interested in geology. "I know why they take it," he said. "Ninety-nine percent of them are required to take some physical science. They don't know what geology is, but from what they've heard, it's bound to be better than the other sciences. I know that, and they got into the course for the wrong reason. But some are glad they did when they finish." Droste said it's those students that make teaching G103 worth it. He said that several times a year former students send him postcards with "some river valley scene or a geyser at Yellowstone (National Park), and they say, 'You won't remember my name, but I took G103, and I'm looking at this scene, and I understand it.' It sounds corny as the dickens, but that's really why I enjoy it. It makes a person feel good."

Droste acknowledges that the large enrollment in G103, about 1000 every semester, prevents him from meeting all his students. But according to Droste, courses like G103 makes it financially possible for him to teach smaller classes with only five or six students like the two graduate level courses he teaches.

If Droste had stuck to his intended field of study, G103 might be quite different today. Originally, Droste planned to work in physical chemistry. "There were always weird smells. I couldn't see myself working with an organic lab next door and all my life smelling like the dumb thing." So he transferred from chemistry to geology where he could apply the physical aspects of chemistry he had learned. "It was a good decision," Droste said. "1 loved it." And he still does. "I couldn't face that bunch on Tuesday and Thursday at 8 a.m. if I didn't."

— By Courtney Leatherman

English professor sees classics in new light

The editors at Ms. magazine told English Professor Susan Gubar that the reception honoring her and 10 other "Women of the Year" would be an 8 a.m. breakfast in New York City.

Gubar assumed it would be "kind of small."

She was wrong. Six hundred people, drinking oodles of champagne at New York's ritzy Studio 54, watched as Gubar and collaborator Sandra Gilbert were honored for editing the first Norton Anthology of Women's Literature.

Rather ironic, because Gubar and Gilbert's anthology contains the works of authors like Emily Dickinson — a woman who never left her father's Amherst, Mass., home, let alone sip champagne at 8 a.m.

Much of the idea behind Gubar's work is that female writers prior to the 20th century remained somewhat isolated from their contemporaries and their work frequently went unnoticed. "The Bronte sisters lived in northern England they didn't go to parties in London with Dickens and Thackeray," she said.

The anthology was released last summer and the first edition already is sold out. But the work has not been received without criticism. Gubar and Gilbert, a professor of English at Princeton University, have received mixed reviews from the critics.

In a Washington Post book review, the anthology was heralded as bearing "witness to the coming of age of feminism literary scholarship."

A New York Times critic claimed that the collaborators were piecing together the "feminist" tradition rather than a female tradition. "But many women who didn't define themselves as feminists were included in the book," Gubar said. "The traditional one (argument) is that art transcends gender and that it has nothing to do with maleness or femaleness. I don't agree with that. You no more can discount gender that you can discount nationality."

Gubar first became interested in the concept of a female genre in the 1970s when she was pregnant with her first child and teaching a course at IU on the works of Swift and Pope. "I got pregnant and became very sensitive to the images in the literature of very grotesque pregnant and nursing women. I became a resistant reader." Gubar put her ideas together with another newly hired assistant professor, Gilbert, and the two began team teaching a seminar on women's literature. Their work eventually led to a collaboration on one of the first critical works published on the subject, "The Madwomen in the Attic". "We felt like pioneers. No one had talked about some of these writers before. We were caught between hilarity and hysteria not knowing where we were going."

But Gubar waded through and along the way she became one of the most popular English professors on campus. "I've never seen such rave reviews," notes English chairwoman Mary Burgan. Burgan, who's known Gubar since she was hired in 1973, nominated her for a University teaching award she received during the Founder's Day ceremonies in the spring. "She is wonderful in the classroom ... She changes their (students) whole way of thinking," Burgan said.

Burgan said Gubar is the kind of teacher that is at home with graduate classes and introductory freshman lectures. If Gubar feels students in large introductory lectures need the extra attention only a professor's grading can give, she'll grade 150 written midterms herself. "They (Ms. Magazine editors) weren't telling us anything we didn't already know about Gubar," Burgan said.

photo/Jon Elswick

I Holland's talents lauded by students

What makes a professor win the respect and admiration of so many students? In the case of Dr. James Holland, the answer appears to be consideration, dedication, and receptivity. "I enjoy teaching," Holland said. "I work hard at it."

Holland has an award-winning personality. And he's proven that several times, most recently when he won the Brown Derby award in April 1985.

Since joining the IU faculty as a biology professor in 1967, Holland has won five teaching awards. Four of those, including the Brown Derby, have either been student-nominated or decided by student vote. "I've been fortunate," says Holland modestly.

He tells his students early in the semester that he expects them to come in and see him, whether or not they are having problems. He conducts review sessions before exams and "how-to-study" sessions following the first exam. But there is more to excellence in education than good teaching techniques.

The special quality lies in the ideals and attitude of the educator. Holland said he wants his students to "get a feel for the excitement of biology." He said, "I certainly want them to see that biology is not just an academic subject area — it's about themselves and broad sectors of society."

In order to accomplish his goals, Holland said he first treats his students as adults who have a responsibility to get the information. "Students respond when you treat them as adults," he observes. His next step is to get his students to "think about biology." Holland explained, "I like to bring in interesting information." This means presenting challenges and "issues plaguing biologists." It also means relating issues to human health, and demonstrating that biology is an "ongoing process," Holland said.

Holland seems to have the right idea. Students see him during his office hours. His lecture hall is full and he notes that his students seldom miss a class. Not to mention the fact that his students give him awards.

Kos Kayes, a senior undergraduate associate instructor for Holland's L112-Introduction to Biology class, has been impressed with Holland's dedication. "I've never seen a professor who devotes as much time and goes out of his way for his students as Dr. Holland," she said.

Becky Schurr, a graduate AI for the same class agreed, "He's extremely considerate." In addition to instructing students in the ways of living organisms, Holland has worked with many IU groups and committees. He is co-adviser to Omega Psi Phi and chairman of the biology department's animal care facilities. He is a member of the National Science Foundation and the IU Athletics Committee, and he works on a committee that awards fellowships to graduate students.

One of Holland's most notable involvements is his work with the Groups Program — a program that brings disadvantaged students to IU. Holland was active in recruiting the first group in 1968. "I am pleased to have been involved in getting that started," he said.

Holland is a man dedicated to the quality of education and the field of biology. He tends to draw similarities between the two. Both he calls "ongoing processes." He also points out the complex involvement of man in both biology and education. Just as man plays many different roles in physical biology, Holland said, so he does in the process of education. "All of us are involved in each aspect of education at some time or another," he said, stressing that man is both the recipient and disseminator of knowledge.

Such intense involvement in the spheres of biology and education makes a powerful combination. In Holland that combination is influential and reaps many awards.

— By Tracy D. Schellenberger

Stargazing 101: Burkhead's subject

Students of A110-Introduction to Astronomy never know what to expect when they enter Swain West Room 119 because astronomy professor Martin Burkhead doesn't conduct typical lectures.

He uses slide presentations, plastic models of the solar system, charts, an overhead projector, and recorded songs with the original phrases replaced with astronomy terms and phrases, sometimes all in the same lecture. "I just do what works," Burkhead said. "And all classes react differently, therefore all classes are taught differently."

In a recent IU Student Association faculty evaluation students grumbled that Burkhead teaches as though the course were at the graduate level instead of the introductory level. However, the evaluations also mentioned that he was an interesting professor with a great sense of humor.

Burkhead said the material of the class is difficult, but he tries to make it interesting and enjoyable to his students. "I enjoy astronomy, and I'd like for other people to enjoy it," he said.

Although Burkhead has been a professor at IU since 1964, after receiving his bachelor's degree from Texas A & M, his masters in physics from UCLA, and a doctorate in physics and astronomy from the University of Wisconsin. He said he has no particular teaching techniques. "I consider myself an astronomer," he said. "Teaching just happens."

Burkhead said he enjoys teaching at the college level because it gives him the opportunity to do research in astronomy and allows him to interact with young people interested in astronomy. He said he wishes he could get to know his students better but recognizes that because there are so many students who want to learn about astronomy, the large classroom seems unavoidable.

This year, in response to national excitement over Halley's comet which appears every 76 years, Burkhead said he incorporated more discussion of comets into his lectures. He added that although some people have been disappointed with Halley's performance, "The comet is doing exactly what it should be doing."

Having lived near the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas, Burkhead grew up acquiring knowledge in astronomy, but his years of schooling and teaching haven't lessened his original interest. "Knowing more about astronomy doesn't mean the magnificence and the awe of the starry sky are decreased," Burkhead said. He added, "the more you know, the more beautiful the sky can be."

photo/Chris Usher