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News from Around IU

Jul 19, 2017

IUPD officers to sport new look this month

Indiana University Police Department patch
Indiana University Police Department officer Ryan D. Skaggs sports a new patch on his uniform.Photo by James Brosher, IU Communications

To unify all divisions, Indiana University police officers across the state will be donning a new patch on their uniforms starting this month. 

The new red, black and white patch represents the IU brand and will replace the former gold star. Because the gold star typically represents auxiliary sheriff’s deputies, it wasn’t inclusive of all the units within the IU Police Department. 

“One of my main goals has been to rebrand the IUPD to be more on-brand with the overall institution,” said Benjamin Hunter, IU’s superintendent of public safety. “This new patch was one of many versions, and it was chosen unanimously by the officers.”

Logan Doyle, an IU student and intern in the Office of Public Safety and Institutional Assurance, designed the new patch after receiving ideas and suggestions from IU police officers systemwide.

Doyle, who is double majoring in informatics and graphic design, said it was both a privilege and a challenge to design what he sees as the “face” of IU’s law enforcement team.

“The feedback from officers was mainly concerned with creating a patch that conveyed a professional, respectable but also approachable presence,” he said. “It was a process of the officers and myself determining not only what they wanted out of the patch but, more importantly, what would be communicated to the students.”

In addition to the new patch, officers will have the choice to wear a summer uniform of shorts and a polo. This option will not only be more comfortable for the officers working in the heat of the summer, but Hunter is hoping it will make them more approachable, as well.

“That’s important for us, as we serve our students, faculty and IU community,” Hunter said 

By the end of July, all officers will be wearing uniforms with the new patch and have the option to wear the cooler attire.

IURTC reorganization expands technology transfer and licensing, strengthens entrepreneurial culture

IU has announced an expansion and reorganization of the university resources devoted to delivering IU innovations to Indiana and the nation. Technology transfer activities have been moved from the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. into the Office of the Vice President for Research.

These activities include receiving and vetting invention disclosures, applying for intellectual property protection, marketing technologies and licensing them to established companies and startups.

“Indiana University has long been a leader in technology transfer activities, recently achieving year-over-year record numbers in patents issued, licensing agreements and generated revenue,” IU President Michael A. McRobbie said.

He added that transferring responsibility for this area to the Office of the Vice President for Research would bring technology transfer staff closer to faculty who are making discoveries and inventions that have great commercial potential and need the kinds of services this office will now provide.

With the move of technology transfer into IU’s Office of the Vice President for Research, IURTC will take on a greater role in supporting start-up ventures, including finding talent to lead and staff IU innovation-based companies, securing capital to be made available at all development stages, offering mentors and networking opportunities, and developing appropriate startup space and programming.

McRobbie directed these new responsibilities onto IURTC to help the organization accomplish goals set out in the Bicentennial Strategic Plan for Indiana University and the Indiana University Grand Challenges Program. ​

IUPUI joins Horizon League

A basketball with IUPUI and The Horizon League's logos printed on it.
The addition of IUPUI returns the Horizon League to 10 full members.Photo by Liz Kaye, IU Communications

The Horizon League Board of Directors unanimously approved the application for membership from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis to join the Horizon League. IUPUI officially joined the league July 1 and will begin competition during the 2017-18 academic year.

The addition of IUPUI returns the Horizon League to 10 full members. The Jaguars compete in 18 of 19 Horizon League sports: men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field (indoor and outdoor), softball, and volleyball.

Two IU campuses, School of Medicine welcome new deans

Two IU campuses and the IU School of Medicine have welcomed new deans:

  • Audra Dowling has joined IU Kokomo as dean of students. The position oversees student life programming and support services including career services and campus diversity; it also administers the Student Code of Conduct. Dowling previously was assistant director of residence life at IU Southeast.
  • Hope Davis has been named interim dean of the School of Education at IU South Bend. An associate professor of secondary education, she has served as chair of the Teacher Education Department and has been instrumental in preparing the School of Education for its upcoming accreditation visit.
  • Naga Chalasani has been named associate dean for clinical research with the IU School of Medicine. An international leader in gastroenterology and hepatology research, Chalasani will help the school increase the number of researchers engaged in clinical trials; encourage faculty participation and leadership in industry-sponsored clinical trials; promote the resources of the IU Clinical Trials Office and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute; liaise with hospital partners and pharmaceutical companies; and implement best practices to improve clinical research across the school.
  • Mary Bourke will lead the IU Kokomo School of Nursing as interim dean. She will oversee undergraduate and graduate-level classes in the School of Nursing, the campus’s largest school. Former dean Linda Wallace retired July 1.
  • Leah Nellis has been named dean of the School of Education at IU Kokomo. She will lead programs in elementary, secondary, education and special education.

Jerome Adams nominated for U.S. surgeon general

Jerome Adams
Jerome AdamsPhoto courtesy of IU School of Medicine

President Donald Trump recently nominated IU School of Medicine faculty member and alumnus Dr. Jerome Adams for U.S. surgeon general. Adams, assistant professor of clinical anesthesia, currently serves as Indiana state health commissioner. During his time as commissioner, he has strongly supported the fight against opioid addiction and has worked to address the HIV outbreak in Indiana.

For more, read this Q&A with Adams, which appeared in a 2016 issue of IU Medicine.

Professional staff: Apply now for professional, leadership program in China

IU’s engagement with China dates back to 1950. Since 2014, the IU China Gateway in Beijing provides resources and services to IU faculty, staff, students, alumni and partners to advance their academic and professional interests in China.

The Office of the Vice President for International Affairs is promoting an opportunity for professional staff employees to travel to China on a fully funded, four-week professional and leadership development program through the Zhi-Xing China Eisenhower Fellowship Program. The program will accept 10 mid-career U.S. leaders for travel in China from about June 2 to 30, 2018. The application deadline is Sept. 1, 2017.

Additional information and the application are available at the Eisenhower Fellowships website.

IU, Memnon launch film phase of digitization, preservation project

Film scanner
Film digitization scanners will be used by Memnon to preserve Indiana University’s collection. The scanner technology doesn’t rely on the film sprockets to drive it, so the original film is protected from possible wear and tear.Photo courtesy of Memnon

IU holds one of the largest and most diverse collections of motion picture film at any university in the United States. Now, thanks to its continuing partnership with Memnon Archiving Services, a Sony Group Company, many of those films will be preserved for future study and viewing.

Officials with IU’s Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative have announced the initiation of Phase II: the digitization of approximately 25,000 film reels to be completed by 2020, the university’s bicentennial.

Phase II will inventory, catalog, digitize, store and provide access to IU’s most important and valuable film holdings. These items comprise 12,500 hours of film. Overall, IU’s film collection numbers over 100,000 items covering a wide range of genres, purposes for which they are used and scholarly disciplines that use them. The collection includes:

  • Personal collections of filmmakers and collectors.
  • A large number of educational films that were rented to schools, libraries and colleges across the country from before World War II.
  • Home movies, amateur films, local Indiana advertisements, and commercial films and pre-production elements.

Don’t forget: Aug. 31 is last day to access Oncourse

After Aug. 31, Oncourse content and data will no longer be available. The university’s previous learning management system is retired and in read-only mode.

In keeping with IU data retention policies, however, Oncourse gradebook data will be preserved for purposes of grade disputes through August 2021.

Additional information about the retirement and migration is available through the Knowledge Base.

Alumni re-elect Shoulders to IU Board of Trustees

IU alumni re-elected Patrick A. Shoulders of Evansville to a sixth term on the IU Board of Trustees.

Shoulders, a partner with the Evansville law firm of Ziemer, Stayman, Weitzel and Shoulders, was initially appointed an IU trustee in 2002 by Gov. Frank O’Bannon. He then was elected to the board by alumni in 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and again this year.

IU has nine trustees, three of whom are elected by alumni. The other alumni trustees are Philip N. Eskew Jr. of North Webster and MaryEllen Kiley Bishop of Carmel.

The other six trustees are appointed by the governor of Indiana. Gov. Eric Holcomb this month appointed Indianapolis attorney Harry L. Gonso and re-appointed Fort Wayne physician Michael J. Mirro. Holcomb also appointed Zachary Arnold, a medical student at the IU School of Medicine center in Muncie, to a two-year term as student trustee. Other trustees are W. Quinn Buckner and James T. Morris of Indianapolis and Melanie S. Walker of Bloomington.

Staff, faculty honored, promoted, hired

Read about recent IU staff and faculty honors, promotions, hires and grants, including:

  • Two health sciences professionals will lead the development of IU’s new health sciences campus in Fort Wayne. Dr. Fen-Lei Chang, who is director of the IU School of Medicine-Fort Wayne, will chair the newly formed IU Fort Wayne Executive Committee. Ann M. Obergfell, a professor and dean at the IPFW College of Health and Human Services, will assume the additional title of associate vice chancellor of academic affairs and operations at IU Fort Wayne.
  • IU Northwest has hired Dawn Barnes as its next head women’s volleyball coach. She comes from Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Illinois, where she held the same position for the 2016 season.
  • John Whelan, associate vice president and chief human resources officer at IU, has been selected to serve as chair-elect on the board of directors of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources for the 2017-18 fiscal year. He began his term July 1.
  • Patrick J. Loehrer Sr. received the inaugural Allen S. Lichter Visionary Leader Award during the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago. Loehrer is director of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, the HH Gregg Professor of Oncology and associate dean for cancer research at the IU School of Medicine.
  • Etta Ward has been appointed assistant vice chancellor for research development at IUPUI. Ward had served as executive director of research development in IUPUI’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research since 2014, and she was director of research development from 2003 to 2014. Her new appointment was effective May 11.
  • Brieanna Quinn became chair of the IU Alumni Association Board of Managers on July 1. The 14-member group provides general management and supervision of the affairs of the IUAA.
  • Michele J. Hansen has been appointed assistant vice chancellor for institutional research and decision support at IUPUI. Her portfolio includes leadership for the IUPUI Testing Center, effective July 1.
  • Yunlong Liu has been named interim director of the IU School of Medicine’s Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. The position is an addition to Liu’s current roles as professor of medical and molecular genetics, adjunct professor of biostatistics and director of the Center for Medical Genomics at IU School of Medicine, as well as adjunct professor of biohealth informatics in the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI.
  • Emily Walvoord, professor of clinical pediatrics, has been appointed associate dean for student affairs with the IU School of Medicine. In this new position, Walvoord will oversee the enhanced statewide delivery and continuous improvement in the areas of academic advising and career mentoring, wellness and development of a new student success program, among other services, at all nine School of Medicine campuses.

IU School of Medicine awarded $25 million Lilly Endowment grant

Three people in white lab coats walk down a hall of a hospital.
A $25 million Lily Endowment Grant will fund the Indiana Collaborative Initiative for Talent Enrichment.Photo by Eric Rudd, IU Communications

A $25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. will fund the Indiana Collaborative Initiative for Talent Enrichment, a collaboration between the IU School of Medicine and several nonacademic partners.

As part of INCITE, the School of Medicine will hire biomedical scientists whose work will not only enhance research and education at the school but also strengthen the economic health of Indiana’s broader life sciences community. Members of the life sciences sector will serve on a scientific advisory board to counsel the school on areas of unmet need in the community and help attract biomedical scientists whose expertise and interests are relevant to both IU and INCITE partners.

The grant also will support the creation of a high-end biomedical research center with cryo-electron microscopy technology to study the structure of molecules at the atomic level, which will be available to IU researchers and other organizations in Indiana’s life sciences sector. It also will fund the establishment of a PhD program in bioinformatics to help the school train the next generation of scientists in genomic medicine.

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