Engage Newsletter Winter 2010

engage Division of Extended Services

University of Southern Indiana

Winter 2010 • Issue One Volume One

USI Extended Services receives awards from UCEA

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aclyn Dumond, program coordinator, Center for Education Services and Partnerships, Extended Services, has received the 2009 Mid-America Region Professional Continuing Educator Award from the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA). The award recognizes the scholarship, leadership, and contributions of a person who has entered the profession in the last five to 10 years.

Dumond was nominated by Ginger Ramsden, director, Center for Education Services and Partnerships, Extended Services. “In the five and one-half years Jaclyn has worked with me, I have seen her grow and mature into a wise young leader,” Ramsden said. “Our programs have improved and expanded because of her

Dumond

Ramsden

dedication and perseverance.”

In addition, the UCEA also awarded USI’s Super Summer/Science Performance Improving

Through Reading and Learning (SPIRAL) program for children with the Mature Program Award.

This award is given to either a credit or noncredit program that has been established for five years or more that demonstrates sustained innovation.

The SPIRAL program is funded by an Indiana Department of Education grant that was awarded to the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC).

“Our partnership with the EVSC for the SPIRAL grant allows us to link Super Summer with science classes for children and professional development for elementary and middle school teachers,” said Ramsden. “This award validates the success of community partnerships.”

BGS student proves that persistence pays off Charlene Kaufman ended 2009 on a high note. In December, she participated in the University of Southern Indiana’s fall Commencement, graduating cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in General Studies (BGS).

The BGS program is a customized degree Kaufman program for working adults. It is designed for students who have prior college experience, career limitations due to the absence of a bachelor’s degree, and a desire to complete courses that will meet degree requirements while impacting their career goals.

In 1976, Kaufman received a certificate in dental assisting from Indiana State University Evansville, known today as USI. She moved to Boulder, Colorado, for a part-time dental assisting position and attended Colorado University to work on a bachelor’s degree. Before completing the degree, she moved back to Evansville to manage a small grocery store her parents owned. Two years later, Kaufman returned to the dental assisting field only to discover that it was no longer for her.

After ending her dental assisting career, Kaufman landed a job at Comair Airlines, an airline headquartered at the Cincinnati Airport in Northern Kentucky. She started out as a van driv-

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to change her plans again. She attended a community college during the day while working a temporary position at night. Eventually she moved back to Evansville to be near her family.

Continued on page 3

Students graduating from the Bachelor of General Studies program pose with Lee Ann Wambach, academic program manager in Extended Services, at the 2009 fall Commencement ceremony held in December. Left to right: Charlene Kaufman, Amy Bowler, Lee Ann Wambach, and Christopher Todd. er and over a 15-year span worked her way up to performance and analysis manager. In 2003, Kaufman’s position was eliminated. “At 48 years old I was too young to retire,” said Kaufman.

“I tried to find a comparable position and found I couldn’t get an interview because I didn’t have a degree.”

While working as an assistant manager at KB Toys, Kaufman decided to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in organizational leadership at Northern Kentucky University. Six months later, KB Toys went out of business and Kaufman had

Southern Indiana Japanese School wins School Award in Writing For the fourth consecutive year, the Southern Indiana Japanese School (SIJS) has been awarded the School Award in Writing by the Japan Overseas Educational Services, a subsidiary of the Japanese government’s Ministry of Education and Science.

More than 300 Japanese schools worldwide were eligible for the School Award in Writing; only 15 were selected to receive it.

In addition to the School Award in Writing, 10 students from SIJS were awarded prizes for their writings and poems in the 30th Literature Contest.

SIJS opened in 1997 at the request of and with the financial support of Tri-State regional companies. The school prepares students for a smooth transition into Japanese school life when they return home.

engage

Division of Extended Services

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University of Southern Indiana

Letter from the Dean

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elcome to the inaugural issue of engage, the newsletter of Outreach and Extended Services at the University of Southern Indiana.

This newsletter is intended to help you know our people, programs, and services and how we extend the University’s resources throughout the region.

We want you to know more about the wide-ranging outreach services and programs provided by the University through Extended Services, the five academic colleges, and our other partners—both on campus and throughout southwest Indiana.

In 2008, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching designated USI an “Engaged University,” one of only 119 nationwide. The designation was awarded in both possible categories: “curricular engagement” and “outreach and partnerships.” This national recognition confirms our commitment to outreach and honors USI for it’s multifaceted approach to promoting the economic well-being of southern Indiana and the state. For more than three decades, Extended Services has provided leadership for ever-expanding engagement opportunities and we are proud of our role in earning this important designation.

Extended Services’ primary functions are to expand outreach opportunities by providing leadership for regional partnerships; facilitating faculty, student, and staff engagement; developing and delivering programs and services throughout the region; and targeting innovative approaches to regional connectivity.

A Carnegie Foundation Engaged University

Division of Extended Services Office Fax

Dr. Edward Jones

University outreach was a focal point of President Linda L. M. Bennett’s inaugural remarks. She highlighted several Extended Services programs, including Connect with Southern Indiana, USI at Innovation Pointe, our dual credit programs with K-12 partners, the Centers for Applied Research, Continuing Education, and Human Resource Development, and Service Learning as examples of USI’s commitment to service beyond the classroom.

Over the next year, we will focus on further developing two projects of importance to the University and the region: continuing to build and expand our partnerships with NSWC Crane for technology transfer and STEM-related education; and refining USI’s leadership role at Innovation Pointe with entrepreneurship, innovation, and the technology-based incubator.

At Extended Services, “Our mission is outreach.” We hope this and subsequent issues of engage will help you learn more about how we carry out that mission. Let me know if you have questions or if we can be of assistance to you or your organization.

812/464-1989 812/465-7061

Vice Provost for Outreach and Dean of Extended Services Dr. Edward Jones 812/464-1863 Associate Dean of Extended Services and Director of Continuing Education and Linda Cleek 812/464-1863 Extended Services Grant Writer/Coordinator Jane Friona 812/455-7946

Departments Center for Applied Research Dr. Susan Ellspermann 812/461-5407 Center for Education Services and Partnerships Ginger Ramsden 812/464-1989 Center for Human Resource Development Charmaine McDowell 812/464-1816 Center for Continuing Education Linda Cleek 812/464-1863 Historic Southern Indiana Leslie Townsend

812/465-7013

Historic New Harmony Connie Weinzapfel

812/682-4488

USI @ Innovation Pointe Gene Recker

812/492-4394

Instructional Technology Services Dana Willett 812/465-7182 Service Learning Dr. Anne Statham

812/465-1203

Southern Indiana Japanese School Keietsu Nishimura 812/471-1210 US Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Major Nathaniel Skelly 812/461-5303 engage editor Brandi Schwartz

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Winter 2010

Winning ARC Ideation Contest ideas will help local business Evansville ARC could start manufacturing Neil Kassinger’s concept tomorrow, and that’s part of the reason the USI freshman won first place in the ARC Ideation Contest sponsored by the USI College of Business and the Center for Applied Research.

Kassinger, a business administration major with minors in management and entrepreneurship, submitted the winning entry, a communication tool for young adults and children. Because the concept is copyrighted, details are not available for publication at this time, but Bryan Bourdeau, instructor in business in the management department, said, “It would be a user-friendly product in the medical industry for children that have hearing or speaking disabilities, or some comfort issues with providing answers to physicians, dentists and the like.”

Kassinger will receive a $500 cash prize, the chance to see his concept manufactured, and the

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Issue One Volume One

Second-place winner Matt Herman, a freshman business administration major, submitted a new product idea for animal transportation and won a $300 prize. Marquis Dennis, a sophomore engineering major, won third place and $200 with a hightech clothing idea.

Deidra Conner, president of Evansville ARC, Kassinger Herman Dennis said, “The University was looking for an opportunity for students to exercise their opportunity to help ARC Industries, a division of entrepreneurial and problem-solving skills to benEvansville ARC, a local not-for-profit organization that efit a local organization, and ARC Industries was looking for a product we could own and manage. serves individuals with developmental disabilities.

ARC also is enthusiastic about the second- and We now have several great ideas from the USI third-place ideas, and may look into their feasibil- students we believe could be viable products for ity as well. “The judging was very close,” said the marketplace and viable products to be manuBourdeau. “It was just a matter of a couple of factured in our local facility—creating more jobs points, but it came down to rapid accessibility to and income for individuals with disabilities.” market and what Evansville ARC could start producing immediately.”

Aurora resident receives Historic Southern Indiana’s O’Bannon Award James Waldon, a teacher at Saint Mary’s School in Aurora, Indiana, is the recipient of the 2009 Frank and Judy O’Bannon Heritage Enrichment Award presented by Historic Southern Indiana. The award is given to an individual who is an exemplary model of community education, especially in programs benefiting youth.

Nominated by Karla Fry Schmeltzer, executive director of Main Street Aurora, Waldon serves as an active member of the organization’s design committee. “It’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to talking about everything Jim does for heritage in our community,” Schmeltzer said. “Jim is a teacher, but his teaching does not begin and end in the classroom.”

Getting students involved with community projects is important to Waldon. He encourages his students to participate in a variety of area projects, including the development of a downtown walking tour brochure. For this project, Waldon asked his students to research the history of buildings in the downtown area. Students presented their findings in the classroom and discussed the architecture and historical significance of each building. This project created an opportunity for students to learn about the history of their community.

Waldon also encouraged a student artist to participate in the Windows of Aurora project, which involved several artists in painting turn of the century scenes on 21 boarded brick windows in the downtown area. “The student did the

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“Kaufman persistence” continued from page 1

Leslie Townsend, director of Historic Southern Indiana, presents James Waldon with the O’Bannon Award. research for the window and selected an appropriate scene that had to be approved through the same process as all the windows painted by the adult artists,” said Schmeltzer. “To get more students involved in the beautification of the downtown area, Jim invited student artists to paint panels for vacant storefront windows.”

Waldon also has researched and written brochures about the churches of historic Aurora and the history and architecture on the Aurora alleys.

He is the recipient of the Aurora Historic Preservation Award for the restoration of his home, the Herman Leive House. He also serves as a guide for the Hillforest Historic Victorian House Museum.

“Aurora is very fortunate to have someone like Jim who is dedicated to the preservation of the history of our community and to teaching this awareness to our young people,” said Schmeltzer.

Kaufman began taking classes at USI in 2005 and was hired as a student worker by Lee Ann Wambach, academic program manager in Extended Services. The following year, Kaufman joined the USI family full-time as senior administrative assistant in Extended Services. Seeing how the BGS program would be a good fit for her, she began taking courses toward the degree.

“The BGS program allows a student to start their degree from scratch or to add to what they have started and select courses based on their career goals or interests,” said Kaufman.

As a BGS student, Kaufman has become involved with STELLAR (Students and Elderly Linking Around Relationships), a student group that focuses on developing positive relationships between students and elders through community-based activities. She also has traveled to Jamaica to work with orphanages in Mandeville and to France to do volunteer work with Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers, a faith-based organization that serves the sick and suffering.

Kaufman has a long-term career goal of becoming an advocate for the elderly and their caregivers. One day, she would like to open a retreat center for caregivers, giving them a place to replenish their mind, body, and spirit through prayer, reflection, and meditation. She plans to spend the spring semester preparing for the GRE and selecting a master’s program that will help achieve these goals.

When asked for advice she would give other adults who are thinking about returning to college, Kaufman said, “Don’t delay, the sooner you start the sooner you will have your degree.

Your life experiences will be your greatest asset to help you achieve your goals.”

en•gage (en’gaj) verb 1. to establish a meaningful contact or connection 2. to occupy, attract, or involve 3. to actively commit

engage

Division of Extended Services

Federal Highway Administration awards grants for HSI scenic byway projects The Federal Highway Administration has awarded communities in 43 states with $40.7 million for 160 projects to improve and promote highways designated as scenic byways. A total of $70,000 will be used to fund two projects in Indiana, including the development of kiosks on the Ohio River Scenic Byway and road signs on Indiana’s Historic Pathways.

The Ohio River Scenic Byway, a scenic byway project of Historic Southern Indiana, an outreach program of the University of Southern Indiana, covers 302 miles in Indiana from the Ohio state line to the Illinois border. Funds totaling $50,000 for an Ohio River Scenic Byway Interpretive Kiosks program will be used to build welcome stations along the stretch in Indiana and provide information to visitors about the byway. The Ohio River Scenic Byway in the adjoining states

CAR receives award for Innovation Discovery Process The Center for Applied Research (CAR) was presented with the Federal Laboratories Consortium Midwest Regional Partnership Award for the development of a process to help Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division capture innovations by its scientists and engineers in order to identify potential intellectual property.

The Innovation Discovery Process designed

by Dr. Susan J. Ellspermann, director of CAR, and Gene Recker, manager of education and entrepreneurship for USI at Innovation Pointe, is a model for federal research laboratories across the country. The award was presented during the FLC Midwest Regional Conference in August 2009 in Bloomington.

In 2008, Ellspermann and Recker facilitated two Innovation Mining events at Crane at which inventors discussed their projects and a panel of experts identified potential disclosures -- documented concepts which can be used toward applying for a patent - to be pursued. Thirty-five potential disclosures and 89 commercialization ideas were identified. Four Department of Defense labs have requested to observe the next Innovation Mining event.

A Carnegie Foundation Engaged University

Gloria M. Shepherd, associate administrator for Planning, Environment, and Realty with the Federal Highway Administration, left, and Victor M. Mendez, administrator with the Federal Highway Administration, right, present Leslie Townsend, director of Historic Southern Indiana, center, with a plaque designating Indiana’s Historic Pathways to the America’s Byways® collection. of Ohio and Illinois will produce similar projects.

Indiana’s Historic Pathways will receive $20,000 for the placement of official road signs along the pathway. The Y-shaped route stretches 250 miles across the southern half of Indiana, along U.S.50/ U.S. 150 from Vincennes to the town of Shoals. At that point, it forks and continues along U.S. 50 to Lawrenceburg and along

CAR was nominated for the award by John Dement, NSWC Crane’s technology engagement officer. “We have felt for some time that we were capturing a fraction of the intellectual property developed in our many successful projects,” he said. “Through the Innovation Discovery Process events, inventors have suggested that having the panel brainstorm disclosures on their work has been eye-opening to them and very positive. Most said they now understand intellectual property better, will be more likely to file a disclosure in the future, and will encourage their colleagues to do the same.”

Dement also cited CAR’s help in partnering NSWC Crane with the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville (GAGE) initiating a Physics STEM Camp bringing together USI faculty and area high school teachers with Crane’s Technology Engagement office and designing and coaching an Electronic Warfare Technology Summit at Crane.

“NSWC Crane is a key source of technological innovation and economic development in southern Indiana,” Ellspermann said. “USI is pleased to support Crane in identifying patentable innovations which will then become available to companies and entrepreneurs in our region resulting in new products and industries and increased employment and economic growth.”

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University of Southern Indiana

U.S. 150 to the Falls of the Ohio. It was recently designated to the America’s Byways® collection by the United States Department of Transportation.

“Both scenic byways are fortunate to receive these grants,” said Leslie Townsend, director of Historic Southern Indiana, which provides administrative support for these two byways. “Scenic byways are a source of economic development because they attract visitors to the area. The Ohio River Scenic Byway project has been a great partnership with the Hoosier National Forest and will be another way visitors can learn about things to do along the byway. The road sign project will help direct visitors along Indiana’s Historic Pathways and will help residents become aware of this new National Scenic Byway.”

Both grants are part of the Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways Program, which recognizes and provides funding for roads designated either locally or nationally as having outstanding scenic, historic, cultural, natural, recreational, and archaeological qualities.

Since 1992, the National Scenic Byways Program has awarded almost $388 million in funding for more than 2,832 state, tribal, and nationally designated byway projects in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

The strength of this program is the voluntary, grassroots support of local advocates in communities throughout the country who nominate and promote outstanding roads for this recognition.

ROTC Flag Dedication at USI

USI ROTC presents President Linda L. M. Bennett and Dr. Edward Jones, vice provost for Outreach and dean of Extended Services, with an American flag acknowledging USI as a military-friendly campus.

The flag was flown over Mosul, Iraq, where over 17 current and former USI veterans have been based.

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Historic New Harmony presents “Art of Science: Exploring and Documenting the Natural World” The collaborative work of three pioneering scientists, who joined the Owen/Maclure community in 1826, will be the subject of Historic New Harmony’s Art of Science: Exploring and Documenting the Natural World exhibition set to open on April 10 and continue through December 30 in New Harmony, Indiana.

Artist Charles-Alexandre Lesueur and disciplined scientist Thomas Say made New Harmony their working laboratory. These Renaissance men found a patron in William Maclure, who financially supported their scientific endeavors. These three men were instrumental in the professionalization of the sciences through their collection and documentation of the natural world and through the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

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Issue One Volume One

The exhibition will feature original art, insect specimens, 19th century scientific equipment, and rare books borrowed from the collections of Historic New Harmony, the Working Men’s Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Museum d’Histoire Naturelle du Havre, and other institutions.

Additional programming will be offered during the nine-month show, including a lecture by Leonard Warren, author of the newly-published Maclure of New Harmony and the children’s workshop, Bug Camp.

The exhibition, which will be installed in the schoolhouse at the corner of Tavern and Brewery streets, will be a new addition to the Historic New Harmony walking tour. The show will be open to visitors prior to all accompanying lectures.

The exhibition and programs are a production of Historic New Harmony, which is a unified program of the University of Southern Indiana and the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.

Conservation counts: USI students build a rain garden at Mesker Zoo Last summer, 25 USI students and faculty shoveled, picked, and pierced the soil at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden to build a new rain garden. One by one, grasses and trees were strategically placed in the half-moon shaped garden, around knobs of driftwood and a larger-than-life sculpture of a Great Blue Heron.

Rain gardens are conservation tools used to soak up the rainwater from surfaces like driveways, roofs, compact lawns, and parking lots.

To be effective, a rain garden should be planted with native plants so it will adjust to the climate and soil conditions of the area this also will lessen maintenance for the first year. The plants create an obstruction by using their roots to prevent an overflow of water into sewer systems.

Dr. Brandon Field, assistant professor of engineering in the Pott College, provided a handson model of a working rain garden for the zoo.

Field built the model to help students understand the concept of rain gardens and the differentiations between the surfaces affected by the rain water.

“Rain gardens reduce the runoff that goes into the storm drain, but they also return nutrients from the rain back to the soil instead of the sewage treatment plant, and serve as a filter to cleanse the rain of pollutants,” he said. Field is in the process of working with zoo educational staff to develop signage that will be on display with the rain garden.

The USI student volunteers who planted the garden are the first class of the Pott College of Science and Engineering’s SwISTEM Early Undergraduate Research Program. Prior to the planting, they listened as Misty Minar, grounds maintenance for the zoo, and Mary Ann Cisneros, zoo keeper, spoke about the paths that led them to careers at the zoo.

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STEM research in progress at Mesker Park Zoo Dr. Shelly Blunt, associate dean of Pott College, said, “The Early Undergraduate Research Program is designed to engage students majoring in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) in hands-on research early in their college careers. The planting of the rain garden gives students an opportunity to have a hands-on experience while using the lessons they have learned in the classroom.”

The rain garden was funded through a Backyard Conservation Grant from the Vanderburgh County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Paul Bouseman, botanical curator at the zoo and a 1999 USI graduate, designed the rain garden and selected the plants and plant materials that were used in the garden. He oversaw the growth of the plants in the Alcoa greenhouses as well as choosing the strategic placement of each plant in the rain garden prior to the planting. Bouseman said, “I would like to extend a special thanks to the USI students, faculty, and staff who came out in the heat to help us make the plan a reality.”

USI’s Center for Applied Research (CAR) helped to bring together the lead organizations: USI, Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden, the Evansville Zoological Society, and the Vanderburgh County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Photo by Alison Erazmus

Winter 2010

New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

Women’s Art Symposium to be held in New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art will host a Women’s Art Symposium, entitled Feminist Art: Then and Now, February 26–28. The symposium will include lectures and discussions on feminist topics such as researching and lecturing about feminist art, censorship, decoration, and craft.

Lecturers include Hilary Braysmith, associate professor of art history at the University of Southern Indiana, Jean Robertson, professor of art history at IUPUI Herron School of Art, Peg Zeglin Brand, associate professor of philosophy at IUPUI, and others. The symposium will include several artist lectures by a diverse group of international feminist artists.

The Women’s Art Symposium will coincide with the opening reception of the Feminist Art of Indiana exhibition from 4–7 p.m. on Saturday, February 27. The exhibition will highlight exemplary feminist art in Indiana and will be juried by Esther Adler, curatorial assistant at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The exhibition is supported by the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana and the Indiana Arts Commission with funding provided by the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, visit the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art web site at www.nhgallery.com.

The Women’s Art Symposium is sponsored by the University of Southern Indiana Community of Scholars.

en•gage (en’gaj) verb 1. to establish a meaningful contact or connection 2. to occupy, attract, or involve 3. to actively commit

engage

Division of Extended Services

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University of Southern Indiana

Spring RopeWalk Visiting Writers Reading Series announced The spring 2010 RopeWalk Visiting Writers Reading Series includes readings by Doug Goetsch, Eric Puchner, Crystal Wilkinson, and Alan Cheuse.

A reception and book signing will follow each reading. All readings are free and open to the public.

Douglas Goetsch’s books of poetry include Nobody’s Hell, The Job of Being Everybody, and four chapbooks. He is a recipient of numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. His work has appeared in several publications including Poetry, The Iowa Review, and Best American Poetry. Goetsch will read at 6 p.m. on Thursday, February 11, in Kleymeyer Hall in USI’s Liberal Arts Center.

Eric Puchner will read at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 25, in Kleymeyer Hall in USI’s Liberal Arts Center. Puchner is the author of the story collection Music Through the Floor. His short stories have appeared in Zoetrope: All Story, Chicago Tribune, and Best New American Voices. He is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

Crystal Wilkinson is the author of Blackberries, Blackberries, winner of the 2002 Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature and Water Street, a finalist for both the UK’s Orange Prize for Fiction and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. In 2008, Wilkinson won the Denny Plattner Award in poetry from Appalachian Heritage magazine. Wilkinson will read at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, in Kleymeyer Hall in USI’s Liberal Arts Center.

For over 25 years, Alan Cheuse has been “reading for America” every week on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” He has written a number of books and has taught the art of narrative and lit-

8th Annual Norwegian Road March hits record high participation Over 220 people, including cadets from the Wabash Battalion, Eagle Detachment Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) program and the surrounding area, packed their rucksacks and participated in the 8th Annual Norwegian Road March. The 18.6-mile road march was held in November at the University of Southern Indiana and is the largest road march to date.

Cadets who completed the road march in an allotted amount of time were awarded a bronze, silver, or gold Norwegian Road March Badge and certificate. The journey required participants to march on a trail that covered a variety of terrain while dressed in military attire and carrying a 25-pound rucksack and frame.

A Carnegie Foundation Engaged University

Goetsch

Puchner

Wilkinson

erature for over 20 years at George Mason University. His latest novel, To Catch the Lightning, won the Grub Street National Prize for fiction in 2009. Cheuse will read at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 23 in Mitchell Auditorium in the USI Health Professions Center.

RopeWalk Writers Retreat

Free readings by faculty and a special guest reader will take place during the RopeWalk Writers Retreat, June 13–19, at The Atheneum in New Harmony, Indiana.

Poetry author Kim Addonizio will read at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 13. Addonizio is the author of five poetry collections including Tell Me, a National Book Award finalist. She is the recipient of several awards, including two fellowship awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award.

Joe Meno will read at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 14. Meno is a novelist, writer of short fiction, playwright, and music journalist. At the age of 24, his first novel, Tender as Hellfire, was published and received strong reviews. He is a frequent contributor to Punk Planet magazine where his comic strip, Iceberg Town, is featured.

Creative nonfiction writer Kim Barnes is the

The Norwegian Road March was initiated by Dr. Nils Johansen, retired Norwegian Artillery Officer and University Division advisor. “When the USI ROTC program began eight years ago, I wanted to help bring something unique to the program,” Johansen said. “The Norwegian Road March is a boot camp tradition for Norwegian soldiers. It’s a great challenge for cadets.” Johansen holds a Norwegian Road March gold metal.

Sergeant 1st Class Ronald Enlow, a career counselor for the Indiana Army National Guard in Jasper, Indiana, participated in the road march for the eighth time and was the only participant eligible to receive the gold Norwegian Road March Badge.

“It is a privilege to be part of this opportunity,” said Enlow. “This event allows us to show our physical and mental endurance. Earning the gold Norwegian Road March Badge is a huge achievement and I am thankful for the opportunity to participate.”

author of two memoirs and two novels, including A Country Called Home that was named a best book of 2008 by The Washington Post, The Kansas City Star, and the Oregonian. She is Cheuse the recipient of the PEN/Jerard Award for an emerging woman writer of nonfiction.

Barnes will read at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15.

Special guest, Holly Goddard Jones, will read at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 16. Jones was born and raised in western Kentucky, which provides the setting for her fiction. Her short stories have appeared in several publications, including The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, and The Gettysburg Review. She was honored with a Peter Taylor Scholarship at the Sewanee Writers Conference in 2006 and was a 2007 winner of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award.

Robert Wrigley has published seven books of poetry, including Reign of Snakes, Lives of Animals, and Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems. He is the winner of several awards, including the J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize, the Frederick Bock Awards from Poetry magazine, and four Pushcart Prizes.

Wrigley will read at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 18.

Presented by USI’s College of Liberal Arts, the RopeWalk Visiting Writers Reading Series is made possible through the support of RopeWalk Writers Retreat, Southern Indiana Review, USI Society for Arts & Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, Indiana Arts Commission, and USI Student Writers Union.

Cadets participate in the 18.6 mile Norwegian Road March while carrying a 25-pound rucksack and frame.

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Winter 2010

Road Trip!

USI faculty and staff attend national outreach scholarship conference Eight members of the USI faculty and administrative staff hit the road to Athens, Georgia this past September to attend the 10th Annual National Outreach Scholarship Conference (NOSC). NOSC has become the premier gathering for those involved in university outreach and engagement and those who study it as an academic discipline. The goal of the conference is to advance the national dialogue about the civic connections made by colleges and universities with their local communities and communities across the country and around the world.

Attending from USI were Stephanie Bennett, assistant professor of physical education; Linda Cleek, associate dean of Extended Services;

NSWC Crane hosts workshop for area teachers USI professors facilitated a two-day physics workshop that gave high school teachers handson experience with advanced technology. The workshop was held last summer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC).

Workshop participants included 12 high school teachers and four USI professors, including Dr. Ronald Diersing, assistant professor of engineering and faculty advisor-IEEE student section Dr. Brandon Field, assistant professor of engineering Dr. Kent Scheller, associate professor of physics and Dr. Jeff Thomas, interim department chair and associate professor of teacher education.

Teachers from Martin, Vanderburgh, Knox, Posey, Spencer, and Warrick counties were invited to the workshop through their connection with USI’s STEM program. Thomas said, “It is envisioned that the teachers will be able to demonstrate the applications of the physics they are teaching in the high school classroom using examples they experienced at Crane.”

Kara Becker, director of USI’s SwISTEM Resource Center, said, “Over 500 teachers in this area have been involved with STEM programs, impacting tens of thousands of students—from professional development activities for teachers to science fairs and USI faculty-led demonstrations for students.”

Center for Continuing Education enrollments stay strong In 2008–2009, noncredit enrollment at USI topped 15,000 for the fifth consecutive year. Courses cover a wide range of subject matter, from swimming lessons for children through professional development certificate programs. A sample of spring courses can be found on the back page of this newsletter. New programs for 2010 include: 7

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Issue One Volume One

Katherine Draughon, director of the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment; Wes Durham, assistant professor of communication studies; Sue Ellspermann, director of the Center for Applied Research; Ed Jones, vice provost for outreach and dean of Extended Services; Mohammed Khayum, dean of the College of Business; and Charmaine McDowell, director of the Center for Human Resource Development. Bennett, Ellspermann, and Jones presented a poster session on the Center for Applied Research’s project to assist Evansville Habitat for Humanity.

Any USI faculty member with an interest in the scholarship of outreach and engagement is encouraged to visit www.ncsu.edu/project/ OPDWebSpace/2010OSC/ to learn about the 2010 conference hosted by North Carolina State University. Extended Services will continue its tradition of sponsoring attendance by several faculty who would like to increase their involvement in university outreach and engagement.

Dave Acton, technology lead, NSWC Crane Technology Engagement Office, said, “We took the teachers into labs and testing areas to view technology demonstrations that they wouldn’t be able to experience anywhere in Indiana but here at NSWC Crane through our work in Special Missions, Electronic Warfare/Information Operations, and Strategic Missions.”

“As a teacher in the area, it’s exciting to have interactions with USI with them making an effort to reach out; it’s nice that this is happening as the departments grow,” said Thomas Dahlquist, a physics teacher at Castle High School.

The event was hosted by the Department of Defense Physics and Engineering STEM Workshop. STEM-related workshops are currently being planned for this summer and will be announced at a later date.

NSWC Crane and USI signed an Educational Partnership in November 2007. This partnership has permitted collaborations such as this physics workshop to take place between NSWC Crane and USI. USI and NSWC Crane recently created a partnership agreement that will allow NSWC Crane to collaborate and improve the economic and workforce development of southern Indiana.

The partnership agreement addresses three areas of collaboration including STEM, innovation process research, and technology transfer.

• Walk-about USI — a series of explorations of the wooded campus, designed for families • Making business connections with social networking sites • Traditional Turkish paper marbling • Windows 2007 — introductory and more in-depth courses • Stock market basics Descriptions and registration information for all noncredit courses can be found at www.usi.edu/ extserv or by calling 812/464-1989 or 800/4678600.

Notes CAP enrollment up over 40 percent Enrollment for the College Achievement Program (CAP), a cooperative program between USI and 26 participating high schools, increased by more than 40 percent for the fall 2009 semester with 1,181 enrolled students.

The CAP program allows motivated high school junior and senior students the opportunity to take college level courses through their high school for college credit. The courses follow the same curriculum and academic standards as USI courses and are taught by high school faculty who are trained in special workshops by USI faculty members.

ITS produces inauguration video Instructional Technology Services (ITS) has produced a video of the inauguration of University of Southern Indiana’s third president, Dr. Linda L. M. Bennett. The video was broadcast on WNIN-PBS9.

15th Annual Sloan Consortium Conference USI faculty and staff from Instructional Technology Services (ITS), attended the 15th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning held in Orlando, FL in October. Conference attendees included Dr. Gina Berridge, assistant professor of education; Dr. Julie Edmister, dean of the Bower-Suhrheinrich College of Education and Human Services; Dr. Jason Fertig, assistant professor of management; Dr. Tamara Hunt, professor oh history; Jeanne Melon, instructor in health services; and Samantha Penney, program manager in ITS.

Indiana’s Historic Pathways designated to America’s Byways® collection The United States Department of Transportation has designated Indiana’s Historic Pathways to America’s Byways® collection. Created in 1991, the National Scenic Byways program is a collaborative effort to help recognize, preserve, and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. It has funded 2,672 projects for state and nationally designated byway routes in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recognizes certain roads as All-American Roads or National Scenic Byways based on one or more archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic qualities.

Service Learning plans co-curricular activities Service Learning activities for the spring semester will include an intergenerational workshop at Carver Community Center that will address issues in various career fields and technology and a trail project that will help maintain and rebuild trails around USI. Additional information will be available at a later date.

en•gage (en’gaj) verb 1. to establish a meaningful contact or connection 2. to occupy, attract, or involve 3. to actively commit

10001-01030

engage Division of Extended Services

University of Southern Indiana

Winter 2010 • Issue One Volume One

www.usi.edu/extserv

P09-5129

8600 University Boulevard Evansville, IN 47712-3596

Read engage online at www.usi.edu/extserv/.

Noncredit Course Sampler

Spring Semester 2010

Arts and Leisure March 20 April 6–May 11 April 12

Traditional Turkish Paper Marbling, introduction to the Turkish style of paper marbling.

America’s Boating Course, learn the basics of recreational boating. Meets six Tuesdays.

Heirloom Vegetables, pot several varieties of plants that will be ready for spring planting.

Personal Finance February 4–18 March 23

Stock Market Basics, in simple terms, learn how the stock market works.

Living Debt-Free in the 21st Century, learn a three-step system for managing your debts and expenses.

Professional Development February 11 Making Business Connections with Social Networking Sites, learn how to use social networking sites to their full potential.

Computers & Information Management March 2–23 April 27 & May 4

Using Excel 2007, hands-on course emphasizing financial planning and analysis. Meets four Tuesdays.

Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation 2007, tips on how to use advanced PowerPoint functions.

Languages February 23–March 30 Beginning Conversational Russian, learn basic conversational Russian and Russian culture and customs. Meets six Tuesdays.

February 25–April 1 Beginning Conversational Japanese, learn basic conversational Japanese and Japanese customs, traditions, and protocols.

Meets six Thursdays.

Kids, Parents, & Teachers February 9, 16, and 23 Cooking Together, parents and their children six to 10 years old are invited to learn how to prepare simple, delicious, and balanced meals on a budget.

April 10 & 17 Saturday Art Workshop, children ages six through 14 will join USI art students and faculty to create two- and threedimensional artwork.

Fitness/Aquatics/Recreation February 21 March 18–May 6 March 20–May 1

Winter: Bluebird Trail and Bent Twig Area, learn what local birds and animals do during the winter.

Water Aerobics, high-intensity and low-impact water exercises. Meets three Saturdays and three Sundays.

Learn to Scuba Dive, gain entry-level scuba diving knowledge and skills. Meets seven Saturdays.

Visit usi.edu/extserv for more information and additional courses.

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Registration information: 812/464-1989 or 800/467-8600