The Senior Sentinel

March, 2005

Newsletter of the IUPUI Senior Academy

Academy Involved in Major Campus Initiative

Ten members of the Senior Academy, under the leadership of Barbara Zimmer, Chair of the Service Committee, are playing a key role in the new IUPUI electronic student portfolio (ePort) project. While many retired colleagues are basking on the sun-bleached sands of Florida or struggling to break par on a golf course, these members of the Academy are reading student papers and student reflections on the IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning, and communicating their responses to students.
They first spent two full days at the Glendale IUPUI Center. One day was spent learning about ePort, and the second responding to student work.
Golam Mannan exemplified the enthusiasm of the group: “Most of the time, we just expect students to read the information and remember it so that they can answer questions on a test. The ePort is asking students to take their learning to the next level, to connect learning across many disciplines, and to connect it to larger abstractions about learning, the Principles of Undergraduate Learning. This is great!”
Now most of these retired faculty are busy writing reviews, and sending them back to the students. They have a busy time ahead of them. There are over 200 completed reflections in the queue, waiting to be checked out and reviewed, with more to come in the spring semester.
Any Senior Academy members who are interested in this project should contact Barbara at KarbaraZ@AOL.com or 253-7867. Many more volunteers are needed as the project reaches a wider group of students.
The ePort is a major initiative to both document and enhance student learning. A large part of the enhancement will come from the applied wisdom and expertise of these members of the Senior Academy: Jim East, Molly Hicks, Irv Levy, Golam Mannan, Ed Robbins and Barbara Zimmer, with future support coming from Miriam Langsam.

President Roberts Lauds Our United Way Record

The Senior Academy is succeeding beautifully in its role as a service organization. More of our members have contributed more per capita ($373.64) to the United Way than any other unit on campus--and has done so for several years running!
Furthermore, Dottie Swinney tells us, both the numbers of people contributing and the amount given have increased each year.
This year we have begun our work on a major campus project--e-portfolio review. The experience and maturity of judgement of retirees are unique qualifications for this ground-breaking effort.
The campus as a whole gave about $315,170 to the United Way, from 140 contribution units. The campus’ 1,099 contributors gave an estimated $287 per capita. We had 67 contributors giving approximately $26,000 for more than $370 per capita.
Now it is my hope that our members will continue their generous support of our Senior Academy scholarships. Account numbers are given in the Campus Campaign letter or may be obtained from our office at 278-2444.

Student Satisfactions: Academics Great
Student Concerns: Parking; Diversions

Recent surveys of students show that they are pleased with their academic experiences, along with quality of programs and faculty. Safety on campus was the third highest satisfaction, the first time it has made the list in five years.
But parking again leads the list of dissatisfactions, followed by the opportunities to meet other student
The surveys, made by the Office of Institutional Research are coupled with an alumni survey of 2003 undergraduates.
Some 89% of alumni are employed, 87% full-time. Five percent are not working or seeking employment and 6% are unemployed; about 1% are in the military
Eight in 10 are employed in jobs related to their majors and 94% say that their IUPUI education enhanced their future prospects.
“Alumni continue to indicate that they are most satisfied with two aspects of their IUPUI experience that they consider most important: quality of education… and quality of teaching by faculty in their major,” the survey said.
The survey results were on the IUPUI website.

Only Accidents and Disease
Can Keep Us from Aging Happily

There is no chronological reason why we can’t live comfortably into the 90s, if we can avoid accidents and disease. So said Sara Blackburn, associate professor from IU’s Nutrition and Dietetics Department, at the first program of the year for the Senior Academy.
Nutrition therapy is a to key minimizing or eliminating osteoporosis, diabetes, hypertension among other problems of aging Americans.
“Under-nutrition is a large problem in seniors, who think that if they eat more they’ll get fat, but they lose muscle if they do not eat enough or well,” she said.
She offered a new look at the generally accepted food pyramid, and everything you like is on it. Restaurants today offer too generous portions and our “eyes are trained to larger portions.”
She offered signals for when you don’t feel well: get more exercise, eat better balanced foods, and socialize more.. The Senior Academy is offering monthly opportunities for socialization with the new lunch gatherings led by Bob Kirk.
She claims that better nutrition can help overcome these problems “that are not inherent in aging:” appetite, loss of mental functions, incontinence, falls, dizziness and pain.
While older folks are at risk, Dr. Blackburn thinks that today’s youth are at much greater risk. Many don’t know how to cook, many rely on fast-foot on the fly, and they are missing two ingredients of healthful living: the socialization that most of us have known from our youth and regimentation of eating schedules.

Our Magnificant Calendar of Events

Feb. 28--Mix and Mingle, 11:15 a.m., MCL Cafeteria, 5520 Castleton Corner Ln
March 8--Long term Care Insurance, 10 a.m., IUPUI Glendale
March 9--Hellas Cafe, 11:30 a.m., Greek Fare and Lecture on Greek Culture
March 15--The Galapagos Islands, Carlyn Johnson, 10 a.m., IUPUI Glendale
March 22--Peru and Ecuagor, Vic Childers, 10 a.m., IUPUI Glendale
March 28--Mix and Mingle, 11:15 a.m., MCL Cafeteria, Carmel
March 29--Sea Trek 2001, Noel Duerden, 10 a.m., IUPUI Glendale
April 1--Informatics Building Tour, 1:30-3 p.m.
April 13-14-- Clifty Falls Overnight, Madison IN
April 21--Mystery of Indy's Best Architectural Secret, Jim East, 10 a.m., IUPUI Glendale
April 25--Federal Deficits and the National Debt, Bob Kirk, 10 a.m., IUPUI Glendale
May 11--Tour of Crown Hill Cemetery and lunch nearby

Indy’s Best Mystery
to be Revealed at April 21 Program

Indianapolis’ best-kept secret: We are home to a replica of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
This replica is considered the best architectural structure in Indiana. Jim East knows about it and will reveal all about this state and national treasure, the only one of its kind in the world.
That’s Thursday, April 21, 10 a.m. at the IUPUI Center at Glendale.

A Vision of the IUPUI
of Tomorrow

The IUPUI of the future, if it develops as Chancellor Charles Bantz envisions, will be the place most Senior Academy folks would like to come back to.
It will be a place of innovation, of risk-taking, of taking quick advantage of “things we don’t even see coming now,” the Chancellor told the Sentinel last week.
He believes the culture of IUPUI has grown from its unusual formation to a place where new ideas can develop faster than on traditional campuses, even those nearby. But the future, he believes, will develop even faster than the base which most Senior Academy members helped build.
The bright future will be built on health and life sciences with contributions combining many of the other strengths. Bioengineering, bioinformatics and information technologies are other examples. The already strong health and life science areas will be especially centered on cancer, neurosciences, and metabolic sciences that includes diabetes and obesity, he thinks.
A new cancer center, to be built in front of University Hospital, will include a pre-eminent center for breast cancer research and cures. He believes the Vera Bradley chair in oncology is an example. The program already has shown promise of developing antigens to identify cancer and non-cancer cells, and then possibly an antidote to this type of cancer.
Dr. Linda Malkas, who holds that chair, says “I believe we are going to have a real blood test, in physician’s offices, in five years” to detect breast cancer. Her addition to the campus, and the resulting rapid growth in oncology, is an example of bold risk-taking that he sees happening throughout the campus.
But other fields will not suffer with the health emphasis. He notes new degrees this year in biotechnology, forensic and investigative science, interior design technology, museum studies, and doctoral programs in philanthropic studies, and computer, electrical and mechanical engineering. In the Liberal Arts, additional important editing and publishing of the works of Frederick Douglass and the philosopher George Santayna, added to the landmark Peirce Project, are examples of the broad reach of programs.
The new Herron School of Art will “bring a new dynamic to the campus” as it moves after 36 years to the main campus. More students will be able to take art courses, and the new Herron will have galleries and “a place to go for everyone.”
How will the physical campus look in the future? Although landlocked, there is a prospect of going up not out. And the neglected west end can be important in the future. IUPUI already owns the closed Board of Health and LaRue Carter Hospitals, and they would “come down in a minute if we had $11 million to remove asbestos and demolish them for future development.” Uses are also being discussed about the Indiana Street corridor where IUPUI owns much property.
Complaints about parking will always persist, but he believes IUPUI is in a superior position compared with other central city universities like Minnesota and Ohio State. He noted that some parking at the U. of Minnesota costs $110 a month.
The student population in the near future could increase slowly, but he sees a doubling of baccalaureate degrees, about 10% increase in graduate and professional degrees, and a doubling in research to at least $400 million annually.
If this sounds like a public relations puff piece, Bantz, in his second year and with academic experiences at four other institutions, believes it is possible. And despite an expected zero increase in state funding this year, IUPUI is well placed to weather the interlude and jump out in the foreseeable future

Campus Center: A Vision Finally Realized

The Senior Academy Board got a view of the new $56-million Campus Center at its February meeting and members with long memories agreed that the vision of 35 years ago now will be fulfilled.
A snazzy computerized tour is available at www.life.iupui.edu/sac/campuscenter.asp
Karen Whitney, vice chancellor for student life and diversity, said that the center, to open in July 2007, will truly be a student center. A top floor partitionable auditorium will handle up to 1000 people, numerous small meeting rooms, and a 250-seat little theater in the basement will be features of this landmark building. The old Bowers Building will be gone this summer.
And while the new campus housing on the river is only about 65% occupied, she envisions it almost full in a few years.
The fates of the Union Building, the Board of Health and LaRue Carter Hospital buildings offer the last great opportunities for development on the land-locked campus.

Genealogy is a Unifying Passion

Genealogy can be unifying and satisfying, a dozen Academy members heard at the second Compare and Share program of the year.
Jim East said he began searching for his forebears after a high school son had a project to trace his family. In 2003 he got a keener interest. He got acquainted with relatives across the country and found some in Texas and Tennessee he didn’t know. He accumulated records and scraps of paper, and has produced a large framed pedigree chart, with photos, and a family crest was developed.
The project has led to researching maternal and paternal lines, with documentation, and he has become a repository for artifacts and photos of the family.
A major result has been better communications with family. All children and grandchildren have copies of his work.
Noel Duerden, who was a service missionary at the LDS Church’s Family History Library in Salt Lake City for two years, outlined the vast resources of the church’s system. It rests on more than 2.4 million microfilms from around the world, on local Family History Centers (four of which are in Indianapolis), and the FamilySearch.org internet site. He cited some reasons why genealogy is such a worldwide passion and said that the church is bringing most of the large collection of research material into home computers.
Kent Sharp demonstrated his work in tracing his ancestral lines from old England to Wayne Co., Indiana and to the Indianapolis area. He grew up not far from his grandfather’s grave.
Kent also showed the numerous capabilities of Family Tree Maker, one of the leading computer software programs for genealogy.

Learn ‘Gee Whiz’ Things
on the Informatics Tour

Are you curious about the new Informatics and Communication Technology Complex?
What are Pervasive Technology Laboratories you may have read about?
Do you know what a digital camera looks like; do you know what a digital piano looks like?
Get the "inside scoop" on this new campus building from our tour guide, Dean Darrell Bailey, Executive Associate Dean, IU School of Informatics, and Director of the IUPUI New Media program.
The tour will be Friday, April 1, 1:30 to 3 p.m. Meet in the lobby of Informatics Building, 535 W. Michigan (Michigan and West) Park in the lot immediately west (lot 83) Parking Services will NOT ticket cars without an IUPUI tag in this lot during our tour.

Gleanings

Sometimes perfessers seem to be masquerading as comedians who display their witticisms on their doors. A casual tour of IUPUI hallways produce some notable examples that shall be presented from time-to-time to Senior Sentinel readers. You are invited to contribute items you think should be shared.
10 Laws of Computing 1
1. When computing, whatever happens, behave as though you meant it to happen.
2. When you get to the point where you really understand your computer, it’s probably obsolete.
3. The first place to look for information is in the section of the manual where you’d least expect to find it.
4. When the going gets tough, upgrade.
5. For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction.
6. To err is human...to blame your computer for your mistakes is even more human, it’s downright natural.
7. He who laughs last, probably has a back-up.
8. The number one cause of computer problems is computer solutions.
9. A complex system that doesn’t work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine. (Sounds like a Mac started this!!)
10. A computer program will always do what you tell it to do, but rarely what you want it to do.

From IU Annuitants Newswatch

The IU Annuitants Association now has a web page as part of the Emeriti Website maintained by the Dean of Faculties Office. At present the site contains basic information about the organization and copies of Newswatch. If you misplace your paper copy and want to check any issues it can be found at http://www.indiana.edu/~emeriti/annuitants.htm
CALL FOR DUES
The deadline for listings in the directory is November each year. To include your name in the directory, send dues ($5 single and $9 couple) to Harriet Pfister, Treasurer, IU Annuitants Association, P.O. Box 8393, Bloomington, IN 47407.
All who have recently retired from IU are eligible. We hope you will agree that the benefits are worth the modest cost. Members, please invite eligible non-member friends to join us.

Ushering at Symphony Offers Another Way to Serve

If you want some cultural experiences and get paid for it, get a discount on others programs, and fill a rewarding civic calling, do as Milton D. Miller and his wife Margaret: usher at the Indianapolis Symphony.
Having been subscribers at the Symphony for 15 years, the Millers found upon retirement from the School of Allied Health Sciences that they could still attend and get a small stipend. Now they commit to several concerts a month and get half off for tickets to other cultural events in the city.
Miller will excite you about joining them, and give you details, by calling him at 253-0067 or email mdmiller@iupui.edu. If you want to contact the Symnphony, call Andres Lannerd at 262-4906 or email lannerd@IndianapolisSymphony.org .

Questions About Long-Term Care to be Answered

Is long term care insurance for you? What are criteria for a "good" policy? Can insurance premiums reduce your federal individual income tax liability?
The speaker for our Compare and Share meeting on Long Term Care is Twyla Stech, SHIIP Central Indiana Area Manager. It is March 8 at 10 a.m., at IUPUI Glendale.