May 1999

 

            We begin this monthly update on recent events at IUPUI with a word of special thanks to the Governor and the Indiana General Assembly. 

            The Indiana General Assembly passed a new state budget appropriation that includes $50 million for the Governor’s 21st Century Research and Technology Fund.  These funds will strengthen Indiana’s ability to compete successfully for grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.  It represents one of the largest, if not the largest, single investment in the history of the state of Indiana in the type of learning, discovery, and creative activity typically conducted at research universities.  It should help to secure a stronger position in the future for Indiana’s health industries.

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            Randall L. Tobias, chairman emeritus of Eli Lilly and Company, was awarded the second IUPUI Urban University Medal at our Spirit of Philanthropy celebration last month.  The first recipient was U.S. Secretary Richard W. Riley at the dedication of our University College last fall.

            We created the Urban University Medal to honor those who share the urban university vision of making our nation’s cities among the world’s best, alive with educational, economic, social, and cultural opportunities.

            As CEO of one of the nation’s premiere pharmaceutical companies, Randy Tobias made it one of his goals to “rekindle and refocus the company’s core values.” Among those core values was the value of people in the achievement of an industry’s goals.   In an article for Chief Executive Digest in 1997, Randy argued that companies which support work-family priorities will be winners in corporate competition “not because they have the best strategy, but because their employees excel at implementation.”  This philosophy of investing in people because they are a company’s “ultimate competitive resource” is a first-rate example of how to combine leadership, management, and a value system and make the combination a linchpin of a company’s success.                          


            Randy is well known nationally not only for family-friendly business practices but also for establishing a climate of good corporate citizenship.  Further, he and his wife, Marianne, are among the city’s most dedicated philanthropists and volunteers.  Marianne, both a practitioner and patron of the arts, will be the honorary chair of a capital campaign for the Herron School of Art.

 

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             At IUPUI, April not only brought May flowers but it also brought three groundbreaking ceremonies for new campus buildings.

            A Ceramics and Sculpture Facility on Stadium Drive for the Herron School of Art will more than double the area available for students working within those media and expand the already impressive offerings of Indiana’s oldest art school.

            The new IUPUI Child Care Center on Lansing Street, with more than 240 preschoolers in 14 new classrooms, will be the state’s largest single-site, university-based child care center. 

            The new law school building, Lawrence W. Inlow Hall, at West and New York Streets nearly doubles the size of the law library and will enhance classrooms and student access to advanced information technology. 

            Once the new law building is done and renovations on the existing building are complete, the rest of our Herron School of Art, currently at 16th Street, will move to campus.

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            Although new facilities can be a source of campus pride, our greatest pride is in our people.  Recently, several faculty members were give university-wide recognition during Founders Day ceremonies in Bloomington.

             Joan K. Austin, nationally known for her pioneering research on the social and behavioral impact of epilepsy on children and their families was named Distinguished Professor of Nursing.

            Beverly C. Flynn, also a professor of nursing, earned the John W. Ryan Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Programs and Studies in part for her work as founding director of the Institute of Action Research for Community Health at IUPUI, which was designated by the World Health Organization as the first Global Collaborating Center in Health Cities.  It is also the first such center in the history of Indiana University.

             Robert M. Einterz, M.D., earned a President’s Award for distinguished teaching.  Bob established an exchange program between the IU School of Medicine and Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya, which I was privileged to visit while traveling in Africa last year. Established in 1990, the program has led to the formation of the American/Sub-Saharan Network for Training and Education in Medicine.


            David W. Moller, associate professor of sociology in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, also earned a President’s Award for teaching excellence.  He brings to the classroom the same enthusiasm and insight that has enabled him to produce notable scholarly contributions on the sociology of death and dying in the United States.

            Joyce J. Lucke, visiting lecturer in anthropology at IUPU Columbus, received the President’s Award for distinguished teaching by a part-time faculty member.

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Students too have been earning accolades.

            IUPUI’s student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), based at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, was recently named Region IV Chapter of the Year (Medium-Size) for the second year in a row.  Region IV includes Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, and Illinois. 

            Chapter president Eugene Murray, who helped the IUPUI chapter put together a series of fundraisers and events to help increase minority participation in the engineering sciences, was named the region’s Member of the Year.

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            Last month, students at the IU School of Medicine hosted their annual Evening of the Arts -- a showcase for the artistic talents of the medical school’s students, faculty and staff.  Since 1991, the event has raised thousands of dollars for a network of student-staffed clinics for homeless persons in Indianapolis.

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            Bloomington South High School and Valparaiso’s Thomas Jefferson Middle School won first place in their respective divisions during the Indiana Science Olympiad held on the IUPUI campus. Those teams, and the second place winners, Valparaiso High School and Ben Franklin Middle School, also of Valparaiso, will compete in the national Science Olympiad this month at the University of Chicago.  Our congratulations to the winning teams and to Clarian Health for rewarding several $1000 scholarships to outstanding Olympiad participants.

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Researchers at the IU School of Medicine have published findings that daily doses of risedronate, a new drug under development to prevent osteoporosis, significantly increased hip bone mass in post-menopausal women (by 5.4 percent), compared to study participants who did not take the drug.  About 28 million Americans, mostly women, suffer from osteoporosis.       


            Former U.S. Congresswoman Susan Molinari was the keynote speaker for Insights: A Colloquium for Women at IUPUI, sponsored in March by the IU Foundation.  IU and IUPUI friends and alumnae as well as university and community leaders in philanthropy and volunteerism were the invited guests.  Assistant Professor of Philosophy and of Women's Studies Peg Brand, wife of IU President Myles Brand, and my wife, Jean Bepko, were the hosts of the day-long event.  Other speakers included Angela Barron McBride, dean of the IU School of Nursing; Jean Robertson, assistant professor of art history at the Herron School of Art; Rose S. Fife, M.D., director of the IU National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health; and Obioma Nnaemeka, associate professor of French, Women’s Studies and African-American studies.

            Topics included a national research agenda for women’s health, women and philanthropy, gender perspectives on arts and culture, and leadership development.

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            IUPUI has submitted to an NCAA peer review team our required Division I Athletics Certification Self Study, a document that details our athletic program’s plan to achieve equity and fiscal and academic integrity.  Late last month, the peer review team visited IUPUI for a campus evaluation, an important part of the certification process. Nearly 50 IUPUI alumni, faculty, senior staff, and student athletes met with the team to help define short- and long-term goals for our athletics program, which include our tradition of encouraging community service among athletes.

                Trudy Banta, vice chancellor for planning and institutional improvement, and Mark S. Rosentraub, associate dean of the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs, coordinated the self-study, which is online at http://www.jaguars.iupui.edu/ncaa/leftncaa.html.

 

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            We will have an all-time record number of graduates this month, with 3,177 IUPUI students earning Indiana University degrees and 975 earning Purdue University degrees, for a total of 4,152.

            Congratulations one and all!

 

                                                                                                Sincerely,

 

           

                                                                                                Gerald L. Bepko

                                                                                                Chancellor