IU’s Nobel Prize winners

Who was Herman B Wells?

By Sean Gilley

spgilley@iu.edu | @spgilley729

Herman B Wells was the 11th president and rst chancellor of Indiana University, but he was more than that. Wells served the university, its faculty and its students in many di erent capacities to transform a once small and locally focused college into a nationally ranked and accredited institution. Born on June 7, 1902, Wells was very active in his high school, where he was voted “Funniest” and

“Best All-Around Boy”. He served as the treasurer for his high school’s yearbook, wrote for the school newspaper and took part in theater productions and various fundraisers. Wells initially attended the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign before transferring to Indiana University Bloomington after his freshman year. He then went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in commerce in 1924 and, later, a master’s degree in economics, also from IU.

He began teaching economics at IU in 1930 until then-IU president William Lowe Bryan appointed Wells as dean of what would become the Kelley School of Business. Wells was Bryan’s protégé and would later succeed him as the university’s president in 1937 following Bryan’s unexpected departure.

It was under Wells’ presidency that the university expanded and prospered. rough his lobbying e orts in Congress and Indiana’s State Legislature, as well as his fundraising campaigns among alumni and local business, he was able to undertake what he considered the “greatest single period

of expansion” in the history of the university, according to his autobiography. Wells led the development of president and 15 new buildings, attracted a large rst chancel- cohort of new faculty and budlor of Indiana ding scholars, broadened univerUniversity, but sity arts and science programs he was more and developed the university’s than that. Wells international study programs. served the uni- Following the end of World War II, Wells also fought to end institutional segregation, to advance academic and intellectual freedom, and to protect the local environment on and around campus. After his retirement as president in 1962, Wells was appointed to the specially created position of chancellor. He held this position — overseeing special projects, fundraising and advising the university — until his death in 2000. Although no longer with us, the fruit of his labor will continue to bloom long into the future.

transform a once small and locally focused college into a nationally ranked and accredited institution. Born on June 7, 1902, Wells was very active in his high school, where he was voted “Funniest” and

“Best All-Around Boy”. He served as the treasurer for his high school’s yearbook, wrote for the school newspaper and took part in theater productions and vari-

IU ARCHIVES Then-IU President Herman B Wells wears his graduation gown June 10, 1957.

The history of Indiana women’s basketball

Then-senior guard Ali Patberg celebrates after a basket Nov. 14, 2021, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

By Emma Pawliz

epawlitz@iu.edu | @emmapawlitz

e Indiana women’s basketball team has been one of the school’s most successful programs in recent years. e Hoosiers are coming o of back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances and their seventh consecutive 20-win season. Still, it took more than 100 years for the program to catch up to the prominence of men’s sports at the university and gain the level of recognition that it has today.

Women’s basketball rst o cially came to IU in 1890 through the Department of Physical Training for Women curriculum. During its earliest years, the team practiced in the basement of Wylie Hall, formerly a chemistry building. e sole gymnasium for women provided rough conditions, including low ceilings, support beams on the court and chemical fumes from the labs upstairs.

Miss Juliette Maxwell, the rst director of the Department of Physical Training for Women, played an instrumental role in the advancement of the women’s athletics program. Maxwell worked tirelessly to improve the conditions of the women’s basketball team and helped in moving the gymnasium to Mitchell Hall and later the Student Building. e women began to develop an interclass competition system, where an honorary varsity team was named at the conclusion of a tournament at the end of the year. Interest in women’s athletics grew over the years, and the university joined a formal athletic association to organize and promote women’s sports: the Women’s Athletic Association.

Despite the boom of the WAA, participation in basketball was looked down upon because of the public sentiment that women should only play feminine sports. By the end of the 1920s, masculinization and over-competition was a fear of many, including First Lady Mrs. Herbert Hoover. Her e orts to reduce the competitive nature of women’s sports led to the installation of “Play Days,” an emphasis on friendly fellowship in athletics.

Still, basketball culture thrived at IU. e university hosted Play Days for both undergraduates and high school athletes across the state — the

IDS FILE PHOTO BY KAMARON FARVER

SEE BASKETBALL, PAGE 15

Some of IU’s Nobel Prize winners

By Ethan Moore

ethmoore@iu.edu | @ethcmoore

A well-known name for most people, the Nobel Prize recognizes some of the most important and impactful academics and creatives around the world. Founded in 1901, the Nobel Foundation awards prizes in physics, chemistry, literature, physiology or medicine, peace, and economic sciences.

IU cites nine Nobel Prize winners that have been a liated with the university, whether as faculty members or as alumni. Here are a few of the more recent Hoosier winners.

Elinor Ostrom - Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2009)

Ostrom was a long-time faculty member of IU’s Department of Political Sciences, rst coming to IU as a visiting assistant professor in 1965, the same year she received her Ph.D. in political science from UCLA. She went on to become a professor in 1974 and served as co-director and co-founder of the Workshop in Political eory and Policy Analysis from 1973-2009.

In 2009, Ostrom won the Nobel Prize for her research which “demonstrated how common property can be successfully managed by user associations and that economic analysis can shed light on most forms of social organization,” according to the Nobel Prize’s website. She was the rst woman to win the prize in Economic Sciences and she shared the prize with Oliver Williamson. She died in 2012.

Riccardo Giacconi - Nobel Prize in Physics (2002)

Giaconni was an Italian physicist who pioneered X-ray astronomy. In 1956, he traveled to the United States to work with physics professor R. W. ompson at IU, made possible by a Fullbright scholarship. He left for Princeton University in 1958.

Gicconni won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for her career contributions to astrophysics, as his work with X-ray astronomy led him to discover that outer space holds a vast array of X-ray sources, from black holes to neutron stars.

Ferid Murad - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1998)

Murad, a native of Whiting, Indiana, attended DePauw University and took summer courses at one of IU’s regional campuses while working to earn money for his tuition. After graduation, he earned a doctorate in pharmacology from Case Western Reserve University in addition to his medical degree.

Murad won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for discovering that nitric oxide makes blood vessels relax, which laid the groundwork for modern applications in medicine like regulating blood pressure and ghting infections and cancer.

»BASKETBALL

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women of Indiana took every chance they could get to play the game they loved. Sororities, dorms and other uno cial women’s organizations competed in games across campus on the daily.

In 1949, the Women’s Recreational Organization took over the management of women’s athletics on campus. It expanded the basketball program into tiers — a Play Day level, intramural level and advanced competitive level — that women could join based on skill, experience and interest.

At rst, the Indiana women’s basketball extramural team, the most competitive of the three levels, was unable to join the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women due to budget restraints. e approaching approval of Title IX in the early 1970s made it clear that the university needed to nd the money to allow the women’s team to compete. IU eventually created su cient room in the budget, and the women’s varsity basketball team began their rst o cial season in 1971. e Hoosiers joined the Big Ten in 1982, when they notched a 15-3 conference record and claimed their rst Big Ten title. ey appeared in ve NCAA Tournaments before head coach Teri Moren, then in her fourth year in Bloomington, led Indiana to a WNIT Tournament Championship in 2018. e Hoosiers have quali ed for the three NCAA Tournaments since, with an Elite Eight appearance in 2021 and Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2022. Indiana women’s basketball has made signi cant strides over the past decade alone and is on pace to become one of the most successful and well-known programs in all of women’s basketball history.

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