While many question the future of established retailers, in light of disappointing sales reports at department stores such as Macy’s and Kohl’s and closures at Sears and Kmart, Talbott believes it is too soon to write obituaries for these traditional brands.

“It depends on what one means by the term ‘department store,'” Talbott said. “Despite reporting disappointing results, Macy’s will certainly survive and perhaps once again thrive once they complete the job of reducing store count and modifying their store experience.

“Sears, which has historically been known by many professional retailers as more of a mass market player, will leave a legacy of brands but will likely need the benefits of bankruptcy to rightsize their infrastructure,” he added. “The name Sears will certainly live on, but the financial entity will likely cease to exist in its present form.

“On a global basis, many department stores will thrive by providing a thrilling, unique store experience anchored by unique product and service offerings. The department store form has existed for more than 200 years. I predict it will evolve and eventually thrive for another 200.”

The Indiana Business Research Center is making its complete economic forecast for 2017 available through winter issue of the Indiana Business Review.

As we come to the end of another year, among our society’s many annual rituals is to make predictions for the coming year. Faculty in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business are no different.

IU Kelley professors traveled to 10 cities across Indiana last month, presenting their annual economic forecast for 2017 with a local economist.

The school’s Indiana Business Research Center makes its complete forecast available through winter issue of the Indiana Business Review, a publication that has been around since 1926. That special, year-end issue is now available online.

Included are articles about more than a dozen urban areas across the state as well as Louisville and outlooks on agriculture, financial markets, housing, and research and development.

Kelley has issued the annual forecast since 1972, providing people with sensible perspectives as they plan for the future.

In preparing the national forecast, it was challenging for IU economists to be optimistic, especially amid the recent uncertainty.

“An observer of the political scene recently said, ‘I try to be cynical, but I just can’t keep up,'” Bill Witte, associate professor emeritus of economics at IU, said in his introduction to his article about the U.S. economy. “As an economic prognosticator, I feel a little the same. I try to be pessimistic (or at least not optimistic), but I just can’t keep up.”

Witte hasn’t altered his forecast since presenting it publicly last month. He continues to believe that the economy will continue to “muddle through, matching the past year, or perhaps do a little better.”

As in 2015 and this year, the IU Kelley School economists expect national output growth next year to average only slightly above 2 percent.

While most of the articles look at various factors in local communities that could have an impact on conditions for working Hoosiers, one article in the special issue takes a long view with regard to innovation and entrepreneurship in Indiana.

Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis, and Thomas Walton, a research assistant, both in the Indiana Business Research Center, noted in an article that the Hoosier economy could be primed for entrepreneurial expansion due to the recently adopted Indiana Regional Cities Initiative and the innovation-entrepreneurship bill.

They point to the value of creating a Hoosier entrepreneurial ecosystem, which they describe as a complex system of infrastructure, resources and human capital that drives innovation. They go on to explain how the economic development legislation might lead to such success in Indiana.

“Many experts agree that state interventions can be indispensable for catalyzing entrepreneurship” they wrote. “It is encouraging that the state is taking action because there is much at stake. Thankfully, Indiana legislators have done well to address the many facets of encouraging startup formation and economic development.

“There remain areas for improvement, such as attracting more immigrant populations to the state, or providing additional social services and workforce development opportunities for at-risk and lower-income individuals,” Slaper and Walton added. “Hoosiers have a reason to be optimistic though about the future of Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, Indianapolis, South Bend and Evansville will join the ranks of the ‘best cities’ in America.”

In addition to the Indiana Business Review, consumers, policy-makers and business executives alike will find many other resources at the Indiana Business Research Center website.

Conrad T. Prebys

Indiana University alumnus Conrad Prebys passed away in July after a battle with cancer, but his presence was clearly felt Thursday at an official groundbreaking ceremony for a new career services center that will bear his name.

Kelley School of Business Dean Idalene “Idie” Kesner recounted Prebys’ visit to the Bloomington campus shortly after his $20 million gift was announced in October 2015.

“He toured Kelley’s newly expanded and renovated Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center and was greeted right here in this room by dozens of excited Kelley students holding giant posters and signs proclaiming his ‘awesomeness,'” said Kesner, also the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management.

“I think he was genuinely surprised by the reception and genuinely moved by the gratitude of the students. They were eager to shake his hand and let him know how his gift would make an impact on their futures and the futures of generations of Kelley students to come.

“He leaves a wonderful legacy in San Diego and elsewhere in California. And it’s gratifying to know his legacy will also live on at Indiana University, a campus he loved so much.”

Kesner was joined at the ceremony by IU President Michael A. McRobbie and IU Foundation President and CEO Dan Smith in expressing gratitude to Prebys and expressing condolences to his family.

Once completed in December 2017, the two-story, $14 million Conrad Prebys Career Services Center will meet an important need for an increasing number of students at Kelley as well as other undergraduates across the Bloomington campus.

IU Foundation President and CEO Daniel C. Smith, left, IU President Michael A. McRobbie, IU Kelley School of Business Dean Idalene Kesner and IU Associate Vice President, Capital Planning and Facilities John Lewis break ground for the Kelley School of Business Prebys Career Center.

The career center was among several needs addressed when Prebys, president of Progress Construction and Management in San Diego, committed $20 million to IU and the Kelley School.

His gift also will support an endowment fund for attracting and retaining top faculty and scholarships for high-performing undergraduates from underrepresented populations.

The IU Bloomington campus also will benefit from his support for a new outdoor amphitheater for musical and theatrical productions.

Raised in South Bend, Prebys was the first in his family to attend college. At IU, he was a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity, the Playbill theater group and the ROTC program. After graduating with distinction in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in business, he returned to his hometown and worked there several years before relocating to San Diego in 1966 and beginning a career in real estate.

He co-founded Progress Construction and Management, which has distinguished itself in Southern California by being a developer of affordable, middle-class homes. He later shifted his focus from construction to property ownership and owned more than 80 properties in the San Diego area.

Over the years, Prebys has given generously to medical research, educational and arts organizations in the San Diego area. Viewers of PBS’ “Masterpiece Theater” each Sunday will see his name among the supporters of the Masterpiece Trust.

Prebys’ gift to IU and Kelley counts toward the $2.5 billion campaign, For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign.

Over the past decade, the number of IU Bloomington students served by Kelley’s Undergraduate Career Services Office has almost doubled. With the expansion of Hodge Hall and an increase in the number of students admitted to Kelley, the facility can no longer keep up with the demand.

Once completed, the addition will nearly double the amount of space where recruiters will be able to meet privately with students. It will include more than 70 interview rooms as well as nearly 30 staff offices. The design for the first floor will allow for flexible use, including a multipurpose area where visiting companies can set up displays and make presentations.

An artist’s rendering of the Conrad Prebys Career Services Center

“The Prebys Career Services Addition will help to ensure that the Kelley School’s career services remain among the best in the country,” McRobbie said. “His extraordinarily generous gift is a testament to his belief in the value of a quality business education that gives students the skills they need to succeed and instills in them the values and principles that will guide them in their careers and in their lives.”

“I love Indiana University, the beautiful Bloomington campus, and it’s exciting to be able to make this gift to the university,” Prebys said in October. “I am very proud to help the Kelley School build on its strong foundation and further its profound promise to students and their futures.”

Kesner noted that for everyone who enters the Conrad Prebys Career Services Center, it will be a reminder of Prebys’ enthusiasm, integrity, tenacity and generosity.

“Few of us leave legacies in this world that touch the lives of so many young people at such a pivotal point,” she said. “At the moment of their success, at the moment they accept their job moving them from unemployed student to successful, newly hired business executive, they will think of Conrad Prebys, the Prebys Center and a true Hoosier success story.”

Jenny Ming

Each year, the Retail Studies Organization at Indiana University Bloomington brings top retail experts to campus for a forum centered around current retail challenges and hot topics. This year’s Retail and Design Forum features executives from Burberry, Finish Line and Charlotte Russe.

While the speakers are particularly relevant to students studying apparel merchandising and business, the event is free and open to the public. The event will be held from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 in the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union.

“We are so fortunate to have three amazing executives from the retail industry coming to campus,” said Janis Shaffer, a senior lecturer in the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design. “These executives have extensive backgrounds in the industry and they will be sharing their experiences and knowledge with students. It is a tremendous gift to IU students.”

In addition to the public talk, select Retail Studies Organization students will be having individual chats with the executives to network and learn more about how they, too, can have careers in the retail industry.

“I love the Forum because it makes retail come alive for me,” said Hannah Klipsch, Retail Studies Organization president and a senior studying apparel merchandising in the School of Art and Design. “These incredible professionals bring life into the field that we are studying and make what we are learning every day in the classroom feel real and exciting. It reminds me of how much I love what I do and I cannot wait to be in their shoes one day.”

Imran Jooma

Students like Klipsch aren’t the only ones looking forward to the event. The presenters can learn from the students, as well.

“Next week, students and I will engage in a discussion about overcoming today’s retail challenges and preparing for the obstacles of tomorrow in that environment. As I prepare for that presentation, I look forward to the energy, creativity and integrity they will bring to the table,” said Imran Jooma, divisional president of omnichannel strategy of Finish Line. “Students have fresh ideas and I will value hearing from them and evolving that input as we at Finish Line strive to deliver the epic finish to our customers.”

The Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, which supports the student-run organization, joined with the Department of Studio Art in August 2016 to create the new School of Art and Design in the College of Arts and Sciences. The new school creates a “culture of creative interaction and opportunity” for students interested in both art and design. In Fall 2017, the school will officially launch their new academic programs.

Retail + Design Forum schedule:

4 p.m. — Marianne Naberhaus Smith, senior vice president of wholesale and digital at Burberry Americas, “Connecting with the Customer in Today’s world”

5 p.m. — Imran Jooma, divisional president of omnichannel strategy of Finish Line, “Overcoming Today’s Retail Challenges and Preparing for the Obstacles of Tomorrow”

6 p.m. — Jenny Ming, CEO and president of Charlotte Russe, “Fireside chat with a CEO”

The case competition took place at the National Black MBA Association’s annual conference.

No other business school has won the contest, which this year involved teams from 15 business schools around the country.

The benefits for the Kelley students go far beyond the $15,000 cash prize, which they plan to use to fund upcoming study abroad trips to Costa Rica, Hong Kong and Germany.

“This experience has made me more confident in working with a team, creating a presentation and speaking in front of an audience,” said Siphiwe Muze, one of four members of Kelley’s winning team and a sophomore from Mishawaka, Ind. “These abilities will make me a competitive classmate and future employee.”

Kevin Brown, a teammate and a junior from Hermitage, Tenn., added, “As I am nearing the end of my college, this experience allowed me to realize that I am able to apply the concepts I have learned in my classes. This has given me confidence and eased my nerves regarding whether I am actually prepared to intern next summer and graduate soon thereafter.”

Brown and Muze were joined on the winning team by Jade Haynes, a sophomore from Naperville, Ill.; and Landon Davidson, a senior from South Bend, Ind.

The 38th annual National Black MBA Association conference, which took place in New Orleans last weekend, is the largest diversity career expo in the country and one of the largest professional development and job recruitment events overall. It attracted more than 7,000 people, including black business leaders from well-known companies including Bank of America Corp., Starbucks Coffee Co. and FedEx Corp.

The association created the case competition for undergraduate business students last year to help prepare them for career success by providing them with an experience that has helped many graduate business students of color.

The Kelley students came out on top over finalists from North Carolina A&T University and South Carolina State University, which placed second and third. More than 15 corporate recruiters judged the competition, providing real world feedback and career opportunities for the participants.

“The students also had the unique opportunity to network with hundreds of MBA professionals from around the country and peers who also compete in the competition,” said Taryn Thomas, assistant director of diversity initiatives and an academic advisor at Kelley. “So much of business is about networking and making connections. This was an opportunity to do exactly that.”

The case was based on a successful marketing campaign launched by sports apparel maker Under Armour in 2014, “I Will What I Want,” which targeted women. From the perspective of a team working on the project prior to its launch, students were asked to develop strategies with two goals in mind — to make the company the market leader and to reach $10 billion in sales by 2020.

“The case was presented in a way which required us to put ourselves back in this time, which meant that anything that Under Armour has developed since then or data released after 2014 would not be fair game,” Brown said. “We also had to do quite a bit of our own research and find data independently, which was time consuming and also meant we had to be very careful and very diligent. A general challenge customary of any case was finding a way to balance classes and other extracurricular activities with this case.”

The students said that they drew upon lessons learned in Kelley classes, including those in business communications and business presentations, and produced a powerful PowerPoint presentation and other research to back up their positions.

“My Kelley classes have prepared me well to work with a team,” Haynes said. “Many of my classes involve small case competitions in a sense, so I was definitely prepared to tackle this case.”

“Kelley has taught us how to think critically about a business problem, break it down to its component parts and address each issue separately,” Davidson said. “Kelley taught us to not only look at characteristics of a target market, but also deeper in terms of the morals and values of my customer.

“My main takeaway was the collaborative effort and leadership of the team,” he added. “Kelley stresses the importance of not only cooperation but collaboration; this experience was the most collaborative I’ve been with a team, and I see the effects of it. Moving forward I will share my experience in all the teams I am with for the rest of my time here and post-graduation.”

The students acknowledged that handling pressure is a key component of the competition and that continuing to come in first may add to the challenge for next year’s team.

“Kelley placing first for two consecutive years is a great accomplishment. The results speak volumes about the Kelley curriculum and the efforts put forth by the professors to provide as relevant experience as possible,” Davidson said. “My team used the pressure as a motivator, but we never let it get the best of us. We never spoke about it once, but I am sure individually we thought about it. Life is about challenging yourself and chasing your dreams towards happiness. If you keep that in mind, all else will fall into place.”

Donald F. Kuratko, right, accepts the Entrepreneurship Program Directors’ Legacy Award from Brad Burke, executive director of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.

For more than a half century, entrepreneurship education at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business has built a legacy of helping alumni spark business creation and innovation.

Recently, the Kelley School received international recognition at the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. At the consortium’s annual conference, the school was honored for its contributions to research as was Donald F. Kuratko, the Jack M. Gill Distinguished Chair of Entrepreneurship.

More than 450 professors and entrepreneurship program directors from 260 member universities in 16 countries attended the ceremony, held in the Eastman Theatre in downtown Rochester, N.Y. It was part of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers’ annual conference Sept. 30-Oct. 1, co-hosted by the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

IU and the Kelley School received the 2016 Award for Exceptional Contributions in Entrepreneurship Research. This award recognizes a business school at which the faculty are dedicated to advancing and supporting the creation and creators of new entrepreneurship knowledge.

Award criteria are based upon the faculty’s research agenda, published research, journal management, research grants, impact factors of the publications and the profile of each faculty member. The judges are a jury of peer entrepreneurship professors from around the globe.

Accepting on behalf of the Kelley School of Business was Kuratko, who also serves as the executive and academic director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in the Kelley School.

“IU’s Kelley School of Business stands as a world leader in entrepreneurship. Having been recognized as one of the most powerful nodes of entrepreneurship by the journal Scientometrics, our faculty list reads like a virtual ‘who’s who’ of entrepreneurial thought leadership,” Kuratko said.

“The research generated here is not only extensive but also transformative, as it will guide future researchers in the years to come,” he said.

Established in 1997, the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers brings together university-based entrepreneurship centers from around the world to collaborate, communicate, and jointly advance excellence in entrepreneurship through the unique role and position of the centers in the academic and business communities.

Kuratko, who has served on the organization’s executive committee for many years, also received a special honor, the Entrepreneurship Program Directors’ Legacy Award. He received a standing ovation as he accepted the award, which was presented in recognition of his pioneering efforts and impact on the entire field of entrepreneurship.

Idalene “Idie” Kesner

“These awards stand as a tribute to our outstanding faculty in the Kelley School’s Department of Management and Entrepreneurship. It is also a testament to the global leadership efforts of Professor Kuratko in the entrepreneurship realm,” said Idalene Kesner, dean of the IU Kelley School of Business and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management.

“The work of these extraordinary researchers helps to advance knowledge for students, scholars, and practicing entrepreneurs worldwide. And, because outstanding research goes hand in hand with outstanding teaching, it’s clear why the Kelley School has top-ranked entrepreneurship programs at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels,” she said.

The Kelley School established the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in 1998, thanks to a financial gift from Richard “Dick” and Ruth Johnson given in recognition of their family’s lifelong commitment to the school and their entrepreneurial achievements.

Today, the center is the focal point for all entrepreneurial activity on the IU Bloomington campus. Kelley first offered an entrepreneurship program in 1989. Entrepreneurship courses at IU date to 1959.

Ever since she saw pictures of her friend participating in a Habitat for Humanity build, Indiana University junior Shradda Madhav has been interested in joining the program.

She got her chance last week, joining the seventh annual build by the IU Kelley School of Business, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County and Whirlpool Corp.

“I cannot believe volunteers made this,” the IU Kelley School student said as she looked at the new house for the first time. “This is beautiful.”

Madhav was one of about 350 undergraduate and graduate students who took part in the 10-day build near the Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center on 17th Street.

Shradda Madhav

Jeff and Carly Wyatt and their two grandchildren accepted their new house keys on the football field at Memorial Stadium, before IU’s game against Michigan State. The house was moved to McDoel Gardens, just southwest of campus and within walking distance of downtown Bloomington.

Surrounded by hammers, nails and paint, Madhav admits she’s “terrible at building anything.” But with a little heart, and help from the group, Madhav was able to do her part in making a local family’s dreams come true.

“I could see the difference I was making,” she said.

Although new to Habitat for Humanity, Madhav is not new to giving back. She has worked with nonprofit organizations in the United States and India. Whether it is helping with a literacy program or the Middle Way House, Madhav finds a way to be involved, despite a busy college schedule.

While academics are important and there are plenty of opportunities to excel at Kelley, she said being a part of service projects like Habitat expands her overall IU experience.

“What is the point of getting a job if you cannot make an impact?” she said.

Madhav isn’t the only one who sees the benefits of a life filled with service.

Senior Caroline Wallace has been working on Habitat for Humanity builds for the past four years. In fact, they’ve become an annual tradition for the Kelley senior.

Caroline Wallace

This year, she feared she would miss the build after a foot injury. Although her injury kept her from her favorite part of the build – roof work – she was still able to contribute through painting.

“I really like that aspect of service, getting your hands dirty and feeling sore the next day,” she said.

Wallace said there is a certain community atmosphere inspired by that kind of physical work, especially on a Habitat build.

“When you’re literally sweating next to someone and learning how to use a hammer, it’s hard not to become friends,” she said.

In high school, Wallace said she was “the service girl,” going on multiple service trips to Kentucky and organizing some trips herself.

“I’ve done stuff like this for nine, 10 years,” she said. “This is what I do.”

It feels good to see so many students and IU community members involved in an event like a Habitat build, she said. There is so much to be found at a construction site, she said, that allows students to do more than just work on their degrees, letting their values, attitudes and gratitude shine through.

Wallace said values like empathy and humility are undervalued in society. On a build site, though, they are highly valuable qualities. Everybody comes out with a positive attitude ready to learn and work, no matter what their level of experience is.

“There is a correct way to swing a hammer, and I learned that on this build,” she said. “I still get really excited about it.”

Wallace said whether a person wants to work with Habitat for Humanity or any other nonprofit organization, there is always a way to share time and talents.

“There is time in your life to give back,” she said. “You just have to find it.”

The video below provides you with a full recap of this year’s build.

Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts spoke to students, faculty and members of the public on Friday at the IU Kelley School of Business.

A lecture hall at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business became more like the bleachers at Wrigley Field, minus the ivy, during a presentation to students and faculty by Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts.

Ricketts was the keynote speaker at Friday’s ninth annual IU Entrepreneurial Connection Day, presented by the school’s Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and attended by more than 250 people.

He is also the founder of Incapital LLC. Johnson Center Executive Director Donald F. Kuratko described the Chicago-based investment banking firm as innovative due its creative and individualistic approach to the bond market.

“The Chicago Cubs are a well-established organization, but almost like a 140-year start-up, because of the things that he’s had to do and innovate with that franchise,” said Kuratko, also the Kelley School’s Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship.

“Mr. Ricketts has a great perspective on the entrepreneurial nature of businesses, even those as old as the Cubs organization,” said Idalene “Idie” Kesner, dean of the IU Kelley School of Business and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management.

The Cubs owner was happy to talk about investment banking and underwriting securities, but he knew everyone wanted to hear more about what we dream about: going from trading baseball cards as fans to trading players and transforming one of baseball’s more storied franchises.

“I have this unique job where someone will come up to me and before telling me their name, they tell me their age,” Ricketts said. “It pretty much goes like (this): ‘Mr. Ricketts, I’m 71 years old, please win the World Series in my lifetime.’”

A lifelong fan of the Cubs, Ricketts led his family’s acquisition of the team from the Tribune Co. in 2009. He and his siblings Laura and Todd serve as the team’s board of directors.

Inherited challenges to building a winner

Ricketts explained how the team he has assembled is working to turn the Cubs into a perennial contender for a World Series title, which is the No. 1 goal. He also highlighted the team’s work to preserve and improve Wrigley Field for future generations and give back to the city and neighborhood.

“When we bought the team, we knew we had a tough history,” he said. “In 2011, we had a very old team, a very expensive team, and we didn’t have that many prospects that were coming through the system.”

The challenge was to develop a team that will be successful on a consistent basis. While the Cubs are on track to win 100 games this season, Ricketts said it’s more important to make the playoffs each year.

“What you want to do is get to the playoffs as much as possible, because your odds of winning the playoffs will not be predicted by how well your team played during the season,” he said. “Wild-card teams, until a couple of years ago, had a higher percentage or chance of winning the World Series than the division winners.”

He compared the Seattle Mariners, who won 116 games in the 2001 regular season but failed to make the Series, to the rival St. Louis Cardinals, who won only 86 games but won the title as a wild-card team.

Owners can no longer spend to win

The days of buying a winner through free agency are over, Ricketts said.

Tom Ricketts was the keynote speaker at the eighth annual IU Entrepreneurial Connection Day.

“Those correlations between how much you spend and how many games you win have been declining over time,” he said. “It’s very weak, much weaker than you would think.”

He explained basic baseball economics: Players earn the league minimum during their first three years, become eligible for arbitration during years four through six and then qualify for free agency.

Successful teams figure out the calculus of a relatively new statistical metric – Wins Above Replacement – which tracks how many games a team wins because a certain player is in the lineup versus another player.

Position players who get off to a good start in their careers tend to get signed to long-term contracts by their teams.

“Free-agent contracts have gotten larger,” he said. “They’ve gotten longer, which is also a problem, but the thing is the players have come out (of the contracts) older. So the days of George Steinbrenner waiting for a player to become a free agent when he was age 27 or 28 and hiring him are gone. The Yankees can’t buy championships anymore because the players that are available on the free-agent market are not at their peak.”

Building the core of this year’s contender

Ricketts said his “darkest days” as an owner were in August 2010, when the Cubs had the third highest payroll, third worst record and third worst minor league system. The team decided the best approach was to invest in young talent, including top minor league prospects such as Kyle Schwarber, who played for IU from 2012 to 2014.

Ricketts walked the audience through a series of key Cubs trades in 2012 and 2013, including those for first baseman Anthony Rizzo and pitchers Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop.

In July 2012, the Cubs traded fan favorite Ryan Dempster to the Texas Rangers for another pitcher, Kyle Hendricks, and for Christian Villanueva. Hendricks was young, with six years of league control, and since then has become a two-time All-Star.

“This one was a tough one for a lot of Cub fans, because Demp is just a great guy and now is actually with the organization (in the front office), and I see him all the time,” Ricketts said. “The other night, he was in Theo’s (Epstein) box and Kyle Hendricks was pitching. (I was saying) ‘Wow, Kyle’s having a great night,’ and Demp’s like, ‘Nobody ever thanks me for that.'”

Taking a long-term view

 The team also made investments at the ball park and training facilities and is looking to make improvements in the Wrigleyville neighborhood, including a new hotel and entertainment complex across the street from the park.

Responding to a question, Ricketts said he admires what a longtime Cubs rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, have accomplished. He hopes to emulate their success.

“The Cardinals are one of the best-run organizations – obviously one of the best-run organizations in baseball and in the country – and one of the most consistent,” Ricketts told a student who courageously identified himself as a Cards fan. “They have such a great fan base and such good ownership that they can make good, long-term decisions.

“That’s why the Cardinals are in the mix. They don’t panic when they lose Albert Pujols. They don’t have to freak out when a good player gets hurt. They just think long-term. They’re building from the bottom up,” he added. “They’re a great rivalry, and I’m glad that we’re finally holding up our half of the rivalry.”

After speaking, Ricketts stayed for a networking event with Kelley students. But chances for getting an internship with the Cubs are slim. The team has 30,000 applicants for eight internships.

In addition to being an honored guest speaker, Ricketts is a proud member of the IU Kelley family, as the parent of a current student.

“The Kelley School is considered one of the best in the country, and I can see why,” Ricketts said after the presentation. “I think my son Quinn is getting a great education. I’m very proud that he picked this place, and I’m very proud of what he’s doing here.”

For more than half a century, the independent and non-profit Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies has contributed to our knowledge of the diverse lands, languages and cultures of Eurasia.

Through the partnership, IU Press will help the Sinor Research Institute more effectively reach the research and educational community through its extensive and growing list of publications. It will oversee rights sales and distribution for those publications.

Edward Lazzerini

“The goal of the partnership is to enhance the institute’s ability to reach international audiences as it embarks on restructuring its business plan and expanding its product line,” said Edward J. Lazzerini, director of the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies.

The collaboration comes at a time of increased scholarship about Inner Asia – the interior of the Eurasian landmass – which is a primary mission of the Sinor Research Institute.

“From its inception, the institute’s publications, with content such as manuals and textbooks for less commonly taught languages, historical descriptions and analyses of regional cultural production and translations of significant historical texts, have served the needs of a dedicated international audience of scholars and students,” Lazzerini said. “Today it remains one of the few global enterprises that will publish what the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies does, making our commitment more important than ever.”

The mission of the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies is to encourage and support scholarly research in all aspects of Inner Asian studies. It was established in 1967 as the Asian Studies Research Institute and renamed the Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies 12 years later. In 2007, it was renamed in tribute to its original director, Denis Sinor, who was its director from 1967 to 1981.

In 1962, Sinor came to IU from Cambridge University to establish and chair the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies (now the Department of Central Eurasian Studies and part of the School of Global and International Studies). Sinor, who passed away in 2011, also founded and led the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center at IU and was editor of the Journal of Asian History and a prolific scholar. He succeeded in getting the nation of Hungary to fund a chair at IU in Hungarian studies during the Cold War.

Denis Sinor

At its very essence, Sinor created of the concept of Central Eurasia as an area of study, as attested by his scholarly activity over more than 60 years. Four people have succeeded Sinor as directors of the institute. Lazzerini has led it since 2007.

“Denis Sinor was a singular man of letters with an immense scholarly production who was deeply attuned to language, words, their etymologies and their reflections of culture; hence his love of books, libraries, and publishing,” said Lazzerini, a colleague and close friend. “He was also an extraordinary academic entrepreneur, bold, forthright, demanding, and unafraid of superiors, whom he doubted he had. Charming but not imposing, he was remarkably successful throughout his long life.”

One of the institute’s central tasks is to maintain and develop scholarly and technical resources necessary for research in Inner Asian studies. To this end, the organization has built an invaluable collection of reference works, monographs and microfilms of print and manuscript materials. It also reaches the research and educational community through its extensive and growing list of publications.

“Indiana University Press is excited to be a partner with the Sinor Research Institute in the distribution and marketing of their publications. The addition of their books and papers to the IU Press list of publications will provide our scholars and students a comprehensive catalog of material for research and development in international studies,” said Dave Hulsey, associate director of Indiana University Press.

Lazzerini said this collaboration comes at an extremely opportune time, not just because of critical changes occurring within the publishing industry, but also because of challenges to traditional ways that scholarly writing is presented and distributed.

A shift toward on-demand printing will eliminate large, upfront costs associated with new publications and storage in a warehouse, and should lead to more efficient distribution and higher revenues for the institute. As a result of the partnership, two new imprints – “The Papers on Central Eurasia” and “Ad Fontes: Texts on Central Eurasian Societies and Cultures” – have been published.

“For a small operation, working with the experience, capabilities, and strengths of a well-established publisher possessing international connections and contacts will raise significantly our own ability to reach a widely dispersed audience well beyond anything in decades past,” Lazzerini said.

The fair was attended by about 1,200 up-and-coming Chinese professionals, including about 120 IU students.

Since opening two years ago, Indiana University’s global gateway office in Beijing has actively supported Hoosier academic activities and partnerships across China and has met the needs of a rapidly expanding number of IU alumni there.

Indiana University is one of six universities that created a career fair for Chinese students and graduates seeking job opportunities with top firms in China. The China Gateway office was instrumental in organizing the event in downtown Shanghai on Saturday.

A similar event will take place this Saturday in Beijing at the China World Hotel.

About 65 companies participated in the Shanghai career fair at the China Financial Information Center, along with about 1,200 up-and-coming Chinese professionals. They included about 120 students who have been studying at IU across different majors and degree programs.

“It was also great to see that IU alumni staffed the desks of three companies there — Decathlon, JPMorgan and GE,” said Steven Yin, office manager for the IU China Gateway.

Before Saturday’s fair began, IU participated in a half-day conference on the topic of international career development for Chinese returning from overseas. It was attended by most of the companies and all the host universities. Yin said it was a great opportunity for IU to present to these leading Chinese employers, who included many familiar multinational companies, what its presence in the country can offer.

Jing Han and Steven Yin

“They provided us valuable feedback on hiring Chinese students with overseas degrees and how our students can better prepare for the job market in China,” said Yin, who previously served as the deputy director of the EducationUSA China program at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Participants included familiar brands such as Apple, AMD, Bloomberg, BP, Cargill, Citrix, eBay, GE, PayPal, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as a number of top Chinese companies, such as HILTI and WuXi AppTec.

Yin was joined by Jing Han, a career coach at IU’s Kelley School of Business who works closely with the international student population. Before the Shanghai career fair, 14 recent graduates and students also visited GE China’s huge industrial park campus in Shanghai.

“We were given a very detailed introduction to GE’s operation in China and what career development opportunities students shall expect working for GE,” Yin said, adding that 2013 Kelley alumnus Yaonan Pan played a pivotal role in setting up the visit.

One of the students met with the top human resources manager during the visit.

“Yaonan also set up meetings for us with human resources in GE’s finance department and with campus relations, to discuss GE China’s future recruitment at IU. He plays a tremendous role in connecting GE China and IU, which demonstrates again the importance of maintaining strong overseas alumni relationships,” Han said.

“We also want to give a big ‘thank you’ to the Indiana University Chinese Student and Scholar Association and the Kelley Chinese Business Association. We really appreciate their continued support in promoting and coordinating the events on campus and in China,” Han added.

Glory Geng, a Kelley School of Business student who attended both the Shanghai career fair and GE visit, said those activities exposed him to the vast job market and diverse job opportunities targeting overseas returnees in China. He was once lost about his post-graduation plan, but interactions with employers and alumni have helped him better understand the advantages of beginning a career in China and confirmed his plans to go back after getting his business degree.

About 65 companies participated in the Shanghai career fair, including several based in the United States.

Ryan Liu, vice president of career development and alumni at the IU Chinese Student and Scholar Association and also a Kelley School student, said the career fairs will strengthen relationships between current students and international alumni and hopes these events can become routine for IU.

Ally Batten, IU director of international gateway offices, which also include those in India and Germany, also offered appreciation for all the hard work being done on behalf of IU students.

“Steven and Jing deserve much credit for coordinating and generating interest in this event. Our global gateway offices are a resource for the entire IU community — students, faculty and alumni — and this initiative really shows the benefit of having a presence on the ground in China. Without the gateway office, events like this would not be possible,” he said.

To register for the this weekend’s career fair in Beijing, follow this link hellocareer.cn/2016careerfair.

Lee Feinstein, founding dean of the IU School of Global and International Studies, welcomed the Fulbright students.

As part of his welcoming remarks to 55 Fulbright students visiting Indiana University this week, Lee Feinstein, founding dean of the IU School of Global and International Studies, noted that they will be in the United States during an interesting time in history.

Not only will they be here to see a potentially historic presidential election, but like billions of people worldwide, they are seeing how political and economic uncertainty has become a global phenomenon.

Feinstein, who served as principal director of policy planning and U.S. ambassador to Poland at the Department of State, cited the recent Brexit vote in Great Britain and the failed coup in Turkey and its aftermath as current examples.

“There’s something in the air,” he told the students from 42 countries. “People are, in the broadest sense, coping with the pace of global change. It upsets the order that people are used to.

“We’re clearly in a period of global, tectonic change and the strange thing about it is that nobody really knows where things are going,” he added. “I don’t think we’re at a cataclysmic point in history. I’m optimistic about the future, but it is a period of great uncertainty and instability … and you’ll see from a front seat what that looks like from the U.S. perspective.”

The Center for the Study of Global Change, an SGIS unit that focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration, global scholarship, outreach and innovative approaches to international education, hosted the Fulbright Gateway Orientation Program. This is the second consecutive year it is being held at IU Bloomington.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international education exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation by the U.S. Congress to the Department of State. Participating governments, host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries and in United States also provide direct and indirect support.

Of the 55 Fulbright students attending the orientation, 38 are women.

The current group of Fulbright students includes students from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. They include a Sri Lankan woman who will study public affairs, a Lebanese woman who will earn a law degree and a Costa Rican woman who will study language education.

Of the 55 Fulbright students attending the orientation, 38 are women.

The intent of the Fulbright orientation is to prepare the Fulbright students for what is expected of them in the program and introduce them to U.S. academic and societal culture. The orientation is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and it is administered and designed by the Institute of International Education.

Sessions this week include topics such as leadership, the Fulbright experience and cross-cultural understanding. Marjorie Hershey, a professor of political science, discussed the differences between the U.S. political system and democracies around the world.

Their experience isn’t all serious and limited to the IU Bloomington campus and academic interests. They enjoyed a barbecue picnic in Bloomington’s Bryan Park, where several became familiar with a popular collegiate activity involving beanbags, Cornhole. They will visit the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University. They will hike at Spring Mill State Park and see the Virgil “Gus” Grissom Memorial in nearby Mitchell, Ind.

“We are delighted to provide an array of programming that introduces the graduate students to higher education in the U.S., the Fulbright program, and the diversity of U.S. culture and Bloomington,” said Hilary Kahn, director of the Center for the Study of Global Change and assistant dean of international education and global initiatives at the IU School of Global and International Studies.

“The vast number of countries represented, literally from all over the world, will contribute to the social networking, the interdisciplinary and transnational exchange, and the overall orientation experience,” Kahn added.

While most of the Fulbright participants are heading to postings elsewhere, a few of them will staying in Bloomington based at IU.

Feinstein told the students, who are “now in the launching phase of very illustrious careers,” that being Fulbright scholars is “a great achievement.

“You should not be bashful,” he continued. “That is a title and an association that will continue with you your entire life, and we’re very fortunate to have you.”

This is the second consecutive year the Fulbright Gateway Orientation Program is being held at IU Bloomington.

But in a report released on Monday, LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional network — announced that Bloomington is one of the top U.S. cities for launching the careers of LinkedIn’s American expatriates.

“We’ve looked at where they’re going, but what about where most American expats are from?” LinkedIn editors wrote. “We’ve uncovered which small, mid-size and large U.S. cities are their most prominent springboards. D.C. led the pack among the largest U.S. cities, while a dark horse emerged in the small city category: Bloomington, Ind.!”

Of course, Bloomington is home to Indiana University, which has been engaged with the world more than a century, dating back to its seventh president, David Starr Jordan. This engagement grew under Jordan’s successors, but under the university’s 11th president, Herman B Wells, IU became a truly international university.

In 2012, all of IU’s international academic programs were brought together into the new School of Global and International Studies. Last fall, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry helped the school inaugurate its new home on campus, giving a policy speech and spending time with faculty and students.

LinkedIn’s findings are based on an analysis of 25,000 members who have received a four-year degree in and had their first job in the United States and then went abroad for a long-term international experience after Jan. 1, 2010. Those going out of the country for an internship were not included in survey results.

For regional analyses, LinkedIn used total membership data to segment the places into small, mid-size and large cities.

Last fall, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry helped the school inaugurate the new Global and International Studies Building.

Among largest cities, Washington, D.C. was No. 1, followed by New York, Austin, Boston and San Francisco. Bloomington was No. 1 among small cities, followed by Champaign-Urbana, Ill. (home to fellow Big Ten institution, the University of Illinois); Santa Barbara, Calif.; Lawrence. Kan.; and Gainesville, Fla.

LinkedIn is has more than 433 million members in 200 countries and territories.

Lee Feinstein, founding dean of the IU School of Global and International Studies, is among many across the Bloomington campus who aren’t surprised.

“It’s great to see LinkedIn’s database support what we know instinctively; that that Bloomington is a great springboard to an international career,” he said.

IU’s recognition in the LinkedIn survey also reflects activity in other schools across campus, including the Kelley School of Business, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Maurer School of Law and the Jacobs School of Music.

According to the Institute of International Education, IU ranks among the top U.S. universities in students studying abroad, to more than 250 destinations.

IU offers more language programs than any other public university in the United States, Students can choose from more than 70 languages, including Hindi, Japanese, Pashto, Russian and Zulu. It is home to more Language Flagship programs than any other university in the nation, offering immersive experiences in Arabic, Chinese and Turkish.

IU Bloomington is home to seven U.S. Department of Education Title VI Centers, including two National Language Resource Centers. These unique centers and programs offer students the opportunity to achieve a superior level of fluency in less common languages and world areas.

The same LinkedIn report indicated where most Americans are going abroad to continue their careers. London was first, followed by Sydney, Toronto, Paris, Shanghai, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing, Melbourne and Amsterdam.

Teachers, translators and language instructors are the No. 1 occupation of Americans working oversees, LinkedIn editors said. Sales, marketing and public relations also ranked at the top of the list. (University professors also were listed, coming in at No. 10).

David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs, right foreground, presents his business card as part of a session about networking at IU’s Kelley School of Business.

On a wet Independence Day at Indiana University, two groups of students interested in the intersection of business, language and international cultures hung out.

A group of 33 mostly American high school students and a group of 100 college students from the Middle East and North Africa played cards, Jenga and other games. They enjoyed all-American food such as hot dogs, fried chicken, mac and cheese, coleslaw and various sweet treats. There was music and dancing. They got to know each other better.

I heard about it when I recently sat down with participants from both programs – the Global Business Institute for the international students and Business Is Global for the American high school students, most from Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

We met over lunch at IU’s Kelley School of Business during a session where students from both programs were learning how people exchange information and “network.”

The July 4 party and networking may seem somewhat basic, but they highlight a powerful goal of both programs: They demonstrate the importance of learning about and understanding other people and cultures and looking for ways to work together.

Dancing was part of the joint gathering of participants in Business Is Global and the Global Business Institute.

‘Creating relationships’ and ‘learning new things’

LaVonn Schlegel, executive director of the Kelley School’s Institute for International Business, had simple instructions for us at lunch: meet three people and get their contact information.

“As you are just interested in learning about how to work in a new culture, a new climate, a new city or a new country, it is all about the networking — the people you know in this world — that helps smooth the pathway for what you want to accomplish,” Schlegel said. “Almost everybody you meet is going to be interested to know a little bit about you and who you are.

“We’re are all excited about creating relationships and about learning new things, and it’s all yours for the asking,” she added. “If you don’t ask, if you don’t reach out your hand, if you don’t reach out and ask them their name … what they want to accomplish in life, then you are missing out on an opportunity to be a bigger, bolder, braver version of yourself.”

My five new connections include people from Algeria, Pakistan, Jordan and Valparaiso, Ind.

“I was looking for something that would expose me to options,” Lily O’Connor, a high school senior from Valparaiso, Ind., said in explaining her decision to participate in Business Is Global. “I feel like a lot of high school students have somewhat of an idea of what they want to do already. I know what I want to do, but I don’t know yet what major it falls under. … The global aspects seemed like an extra bonus, which just makes it a lot more fun.”

One of other my lunch mates, Hamzah Al Mahameed, 22, is an engineering student and one of 15 participants from Jordan. He acknowledged that people in his country have a narrower view of the world. “In our country, it’s not like this,” he said, gesturing toward the room full of diverse students, IU and Kelley faculty and staff, and other campus visitors.

Left to right, Lily O’Connor, Hamzah Al Mahameed and Berrichi Abdelmaunaim.

“Being here is such a great experience — getting to know all these people, these cultures, different cultures,” said pharmaceutical student Marsel Ammari, 20, another Jordanian. “It’s like getting out of your comfort zone. … Living with them can add to knowledge and experience.

“The people are so friendly here,” she said. “They are smiling all the time and so kind.”

The curriculum for Business Is Global includes introducing the pre-college students to less-commonly taught foreign languages spoken in emerging economies. Partners in the program include the Chinese and Turkish Flagship programs and the Swahili Language Division in IU’s School of Global and International Studies. The program is supported through a U.S. Department of Education grant to the IU Center for International Business, Education and Research.

Global Business Institute creates entrepreneurs

Participants in the Global Business Institute come from Algeria, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Created in partnership with the Coca-Cola Co. and the U.S. State Department, it provides a basic understanding of American business practices through an accelerated four-week curriculum based on core elements of Kelley’s undergraduate program.

The purpose of the program is to prepare students from a variety of racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds to develop and use entrepreneurial skills to address issues in their home countries.

On Thursday, they attended the eighth Innovation Showcase sponsored by the Indiana Venture Club and will visit several corporate settings. On Saturday, they participated in a Bloomington Habitat for Humanity build. On July 29, they will meet with Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent via teleconference.

An indoor July 4 celebration became a cultural exchange between students in both programs.

Participants in the Global Business Institute program will leave Bloomington on July 30 and travel to Washington, D.C., where they will pitch business ideas at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and visit Capitol Hill and the State Department. They also will visit Atlanta and Coca-Cola’s world headquarters.

Since the program was created in 2012, new businesses have been created by Global Business Institute alumni in every participating country. Nearly 75 participants have started their own businesses and created more than 270 jobs. Nearly 70 of GBI alumni are involved in entrepreneurship clubs, start-ups and start-up competitions.

Al Mahameed is interested in setting up food trucks that will provide Syrian refugees with employment. “They are always taking money from our government in Jordan. This is so they can make money for themselves, their families and feed other refugees in the camps,” he said. “I believe that food is always sharing love.”

Another Global Business Institute student I ate with is learning all he can about e-commerce. “In my country, I hope that we use the Internet more in our lives,” said Abdelmounaim Berrichi, 20, a computer scientist from Algeria. “There is only one school where you can study computers in Algeria, in all of Algeria and 40 million people.”

Mohammed Alshurafa from Gaza, Palestine, takes a selfie with Uncle Sam’s hat and his keffiyeh scarf.

For many of the Global Business Institute students, this is the first time they have been to the United States and spent much time around Americans. “It’s been quite a culture shock,” said Shahrukh Khan, 21, a business student and one of 14 participants from Pakistan. “It’s good to see a different kind of America than what we see in the media. … It’s a great country.”

Ammari, who hopes to develop new products that help the disabled, said she looks forward to returning home being “more open-minded, because you’ve widened your horizon and you’ve seen things you can’t back home.”

Through the Mandela Washington Fellowship at IU, 25 young African leaders from 18 nations became immersed in the life of the campus and the city of Bloomington. They participated in the Bloomington Farmers’ Market and marched in the city’s Fourth of July parade.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve introduced you to a group of enthusiastic young people from 18 African countries who are fellows of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

The benefits of this program to these 25 visitors, participating in a program that is part of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, should be obvious. But how does it benefit Indiana University and the surrounding community?

Teshome Alemneh, IU associate vice president for international development, said the answer is quite simple: IU’s participation in the U.S. State Department project demonstrates the university’s commitment to global engagement, including promoting people-to-people relationships.

It also aligns with other priorities outlined in the university’s Bicentennial Strategic Plan, including celebrating a vibrant and collaborative community of scholars and global engagement.

“It has been a helpful experience for them, but it also has been a helpful experience for us,” Alemneh said. “It’s become a two-way street where we have learned and they have learned.”

Raising awareness and boosting understanding

The program has helped many at IU and elsewhere in Monroe County to develop a greater awareness about Africa and its people, and to better understand the level of development there — not just the poverty that often gets portrayed.

“At all the places that we’ve visited, there has been really intensive engagement and interaction,” Alemneh said. “In terms of development challenges, I think many people were able to understand that the challenges that we face here and the challenges that they face in Africa are more or less similar. The degree, the intensity and the way that we address them might be different.”

Teshome Alemneh

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders project is being coordinated by the IU Office of International Development, a unit within the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs.

Downtown Bloomington Inc. and the Bloomington’s Main Street Program worked with IU to arrange for tours at businesses and organizations, interviews with local leaders and other activities to show how Hoosiers approach projects and issues.

“I was recently reminded of how special this area is while sharing our stories with people from around our region and across the globe. They come to Bloomington to learn, and we learn from them,” said Talisha Coppock, executive director of both organizations, in a column for the Herald-Times.

May lead to future partnerships

The interaction over the past four weeks may lead to future collaboration. Alemneh said several faculty members have exchanged contact information and interest areas where they can work together with the Mandela Fellows.

For example, the Kenyan students were eager to learn more about the IU Kelley School of Business student projects that provide consulting support in their country.

“It was a great opportunity to meet with professionals from a number of industries and sectors. We are already talking with a couple of folks from Kenya and South Africa about how the Institute for International Business might be able to assist with projects and opportunities around entrepreneurship, business skill training and capacity building,” said LaVonn Schlegel, executive director of the Kelley School-based institute.

“This was a lively and engaged group. They asked pointed questions and were looking for ways to apply the ideas that were being presented,” added Fred Schlegel, a senior lecturer of management and entrepreneurship in the Kelley School of Business. “As they continue to develop ideas and programs that benefit their communities, I hope we can find ways to continue engagement.”

The Mandela Washington Fellows also met with Jon Racek, a lecturer in the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, who is the founder and executive director of Play360, an organization that helps build playgrounds in underdeveloped countries. Engagement between Play360, which also teaches people how to make and maintain playgrounds using locally available materials, is expected to continue.

This weekend, the fellows will leave Bloomington for a gathering in Chicago with other Mandela Washington Fellows from Purdue University, Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame, and then spend two weeks at IUPUI.

On July 31, they will depart Indiana for Washington, D.C., and a leadership summit that President Obama is expected to attend.

After the Mandela Washington Fellows return to their respective countries, it is hoped that they will maintain ties with IU and help to bridge new kinds of relationships with governments and donor organizations that will encourage institution building, Alemneh said.

“IU is becoming really visible now in a way that it wasn’t in many (African) countries before,” he said. “I think they are going to become champions for IU.”

“I think they are going to go back and talk about the good things that they see here in Indiana, in Bloomington and in Indianapolis.… It’s an opportunity for us.”

After all, they are Hoosiers now.

Whenever we run into friends around the Indiana University campus, the range of greetings usually is pretty narrow. Most of us will say “hello” or “hi,” followed by an inquiry about their health or well-being.

But with an international enrollment of more than 6,100 students, it’s not uncommon to hear greetings in other languages.

Around some Chinese students – who represent the largest group of international students at IU Bloomington – you might hear someone say, “nǐ hǎo.”

Among Indian students, the traditional greeting is “namaste.” According to one reference, it began as a way to show deep respect, and it is now used as a common greeting in India between strangers and friends of all age and status.

However, it’s not quite as simple a gesture to offer an introductory greeting or an expression of appreciation across Africa, as we learned when we asked a group of 25 young leaders from 18 sub-Saharan African nations visiting IU to offer thanks in their own languages.

IU’s Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses are hosting these bright young people, between the ages of 25 and 35, who are participating in an academic and leadership development institute. They are here through the U.S. State Department’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

Unfortunately, many Americans see the African continent in a singular sense, not appreciating that it is one of the most diverse and multi-cultural places on the planet.

IU participants in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program, with their hosts at Grazie! Italiano restaurant.

But you’ll appreciate that fact if you watch a simple video that was produced at a gathering of Mandela Washington Fellows with members of the community at a downtown Bloomington restaurant.

For example, in Zimbabwe, where Mandela Fellow and women’s rights advocate Karen Mukwasi is from, 28 local languages are spoken. In Cote d’Ivoire, where Mandela Fellow and social activist Landry Guehi is from, people speak 64 local languages.

Seventeen languages are commonly spoken in Ethiopia, where Mandela Fellow and pan-Africanist Zemdena Abebe is from.

In Tanzania, where Mandela Fellow Janet Manoni is from, the primary language is Swahili, but there also are about 120 tribes which contribute to many dialects being spoken.

In Cameroon, where Mandela Fellow Lilian Banmi is from, about 230 languages are spoken.

French is the official language of Guinea-Conakry, where Mandala Fellow and ChildFund International finance manager Therese Sagno lives, but more than 24 indigenous languages also are spoken there.

Mandela Fellows told us that it’s not uncommon for their parents to understand and speak different dialects or languages. Several shared different expressions of thanks – one from their mother’s tongue and another from their father’s language.

As in other places, English is a common means of communications for speakers of different first languages, which I also found to be evident as I’ve gotten to know many of the Mandela Washington Fellows.

These young people also are diverse in their professions and occupations. They include a school teacher, medical doctors and public health professionals, a scientist, business people, lawyers, activists, broadcasters and even a hip-hop artist who promotes positive social behavioral change.

Other nations represented by the Mandela Fellows include Angola, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and Togo.

In case you’re interested in learning a new language, IU’s African Languages Program offers regularly scheduled courses in Akan/Twi, Bamana, Kiswahili, Wolof, Yoruba and Zulu during the academic year. Kiswahili is also taught as an intensive course during the summer sessions. Other languages may be available.

Arabic, which is commonly spoken in Sudan, the home of Shohdi Al Hag, another Mandela Fellow and the Sudanese Voices Association founder, is taught through the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department.

Please take a look at the video and meet some of our latest Indiana Hoosiers.

Three IU Ph.D candidates speak to a group of Mandela Washington Fellows at the IU School of Global and International Studies.

Post by IU Newsroom intern Amanda Marino

When Ph.D. candidate A’ame Joslin was growing up in rural Indiana, her family relied heavily on the government and members of their community to help them with financial troubles.

Despite their needs, Joslin said she and her sister were still actively involved in community service. She said her mother would bring them to nursing homes and ask which people didn’t have any visitors or family coming to see them.

Joslin and her sister would sing songs and play games with those people, serving in a way not limited by their financial situation. Spending time with the elderly cost the family nothing and was a great service to people otherwise left alone at the ends of their lives.

She was one of three Indiana University Ph.D. candidates who met with 25 Mandela Washington Fellows for Young African Leaders to discuss their personal experiences with civic engagement and community service in the United States.

This meeting was one of many stops the Mandela Washington Fellows have made so far during their six-week academic and leadership development institute at the IU Bloomington and IUPUI campuses.

The session on Tuesday focused on how people in the United States address community issues and what roles volunteers can play in serving the people around them.

Service experience

To begin, the three doctoral candidates described their personal community service and volunteering experiences. From these anecdotes, the group would go on to pose questions about both the people and the program aspects of volunteering.

Kirk Harris, a Ph.D. candidate in political science, said his service began at a young age through his church in Seattle. He said messages about the importance of service and volunteering are typical in the United States.

As Kirk Harris, right, looks on, A’ame Joslin discusses her experiences as a volunteer in her community and in the Peace Corps.

“The messages I heard as a child are sort of embedded in American culture,” he said.

Joslin, a Ph.D. candidate for comparative education, said that thanks to her experience as a young person, she realized it didn’t take a lot to make a difference.

During her time in the Peace Corps, Joslin said she observed community interactions worldwide, searching for ideas she could bring home and implement.

For her, it was never about trying to make a global change. Instead, she was inspired to do small things in communities around the world.

Unlike his counterparts, Justin Wild, a Ph.D. candidate in comparative education, said his youth did not involve civic engagement. Because he never asked why he wasn’t doing something service-oriented, he never really understood its importance to the community.

Wild later wondered how to get a student like himself, caring but not inquisitive, involved in community service. To him, it isn’t a matter of capability as much as engagement with children.

“Children are capable of much more than we give them credit for,” he said.

By directing programs toward children and getting them involved from a young age, Wild believes a passion for service can be instilled early and made to grow throughout a person’s life.

Practical applications

As soon as the presentations were finished, hands shot up in the air, ready to pose questions to the three Ph.D. students and the group at large.

It was evident from the presentations and the questions that the needs of communities through the United States and Africa are not all that different. Basic human needs like food, water and shelter need to be provided. Opportunities to engage socially with other people and to become educated are vital to a healthy community.

Several Mandela Washington Fellows asked repeatedly if and how volunteers were paid and how people were kept involved and motivated.

Sophie Ranaivoharisoa of Madagascar shared concerns that people value money over volunteering

Landry Guehi, a Mandela Washington Fellow who leads the Network of Associations for Voluntary Service in Cote d’Ivoire, said his civic engagement experience also began with his parish as a young person. His concerns revolved around whether young people were engaged in the community for a payment received and not because they were passionate about serving.

Harris said that might be the case, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Even if a person gets involved with a program for the sake of a stipend, both the volunteer and the community will still benefit.

Sophie Ranaivoharisoa, a Fellow from Madagascar, shared similar concerns that people value money over volunteering. While she thought it might be something that people could overcome, Wild suggested the two could go hand in hand.

“Volunteering is definitely a gateway into employment,” he said.

Common themes running through the discussion were the importance of encouraging people to learn and be culturally aware because they will naturally become involved when a sense of community or shared identity is present. Once they are there, seeing their work make a difference in any way will keep them coming back to serve.

Zukiswa Nzo, center, is one of 25 Mandela Washington Fellows visiting IU and an advocate for the disabled in South Africa.

It should have been a night remembered for other reasons than becoming disabled.

A trained development economist, Zukiswa Nzo was out with friends celebrating a new job on Feb. 16, 2007, when suddenly someone yelled, “Ngicela amafone (give me your phones),” followed by a gunshot.

Instead of advancing in her career, Nzo – known by her friends as Zuki – found herself recovering from injuries suffered during a carjacking and beginning a new life as a paraplegic. Paralyzed from her hips down, she spent the next eight months recovering in a Johannesburg hospital.

“When I got out of there, my eyes opened up, in terms of the discrimination that persons with disabilities face in our society,” she said. “I was facing all of the barriers first hand … That’s when I decided to become a change agent.”

She began a blog, “My Journey as a Paraplegic,” while working at the South African Broadcasting Co., and became a columnist to give people a forum where they could ask questions. She has served on the South African Disability Development Trust board, and received disability equality training to help others become more aware. She’s an ambassador for the Wings for Life World Run, aimed at finding a cure for spinal cord injury.

Today, she is an entrepreneur and an advocate for disability inclusion. She also is one of 25 people from 18 countries who are at Indiana University participating in the Mandela Washington Leadership for Young African Leaders program.

On Thursday, she and other Mandela Washington Fellows spent a morning with faculty in the IU Maurer School of Law, learning about how the American legal system offers protections for people with disabilities and domestic violence victims as well as those who face discrimination due to the race and gender.

They heard from Kevin Brown, the Richard S. Melvin Professor of Law and founder of the Maurer School’s Summer in Southern Africa Program; Leslie E. Davis, assistant dean for international programs; Catherine Matthews, assistant dean of students; and Aaron Bonar, a J.D./Ph.D. candidate and a graduate fellow at the Center for Constitutional Democracy.

Kevin Brown, the Richard S. Melvin Professor of Law in the IU Maurer School of Law.

In his presentation, Brown highlighted the importance of the U.S. Constitution in governing through the rule of law, as compared to how law functions in other lands. He highlighted the fundamental importance of the 14th Amendment, which requires equal protection for all, not only at the federal level but also in all 50 states.

“It’s important to note that the concept of equality, that America holds dear, is a concept of individual self-determination. This is what really makes the United States unique among human societies,” said Brown, who has traveled to Africa more than 10 times. “It is a society that at its very core believes in the ability of the individual to develop him or herself in the way that they want to develop and then to pursue their own plans and purposes, consistent with the rights of others to do the same.”

He went on to explain that the U.S. concept of equality is based on individual freedom and liberty and not on tradition. Thus, it suggests the law should ignore individual characteristics that people can’t choose for themselves, such as race, ethnicity and gender, so it “transcends those characteristics.”

Brown was followed by Matthews, who described the challenges and limitations of U.S. law when it comes to protecting victims of domestic violence. The last two speakers, Bonar and Davis, addressed legal issues for people with disabilities.

Being disabled and impoverished go hand-in-hand across Africa. Bonar has studied the issue on the ground in Liberia, where a protracted civil war left many people maimed at the hands of combatants.

He cited statistics from Handicap International, which found that 16 percent of Liberia’s total population are disabled in some way. Within this population, 61 percent have mobility issues, 24 percent are visually impaired, 7 percent are deaf and 8 percent suffer from psycho/social illnesses.

Of that same 16 percent who are disabled, 99 percent live in extreme poverty. Among the rest of the total population, 48 percent live in poverty.

While Liberia signed and ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012, it did not ratify an accompanying protocol on how to implement the legislation, Bonar pointed out. Efforts to promote equal protections there have been “lackluster,” as has access to services, he said.

Several Mandela Washington Fellows acknowledged similar problems in their home countries. They were keenly interested in what Davis had to say about the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, begun in 2014, is the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) that empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.

“The difference between the United States and South Africa is that we haven’t localized UN convention as much,” Nzo said. “We are still having a debate about whether it is necessary to have a separate disability act, or would we still be separating the disabled. Should we start making sure that disability is included in every single piece of legislation? Disabled people are everywhere … All these laws should be fully inclusive.

“But I’ve seen pluses in having legislation, based on what I’ve seen in Bloomington,” she added. “It’s what enabled (American) society to become more accessible.”

Ishiyaku Adamu, another Mandela Washington Fellow, who is national president of the Nigerian Association of the Blind, agreed.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act has provided immense opportunities for a person with disabilities here,” he said. “For the two weeks I have been here, there hasn’t been any building that I can’t enter. There is no public transportation that I haven’t found accessible. All the websites that I have been accessing, the materials have been accessible … This is something very great that ADA provides. We hope to see that in Nigeria.”

Adamu said his country does not have a single law that protects those with disabilities. On three different occasions – in 2003, 2010 and 2014 – laws to address the rights of the disabled were passed by Nigeria’s national assembly, but not signed into law by the president.

He said an effort is now underway among several organizations, including his group that represents 6.4 million Nigerians who are blind or partially sighted people, to resolve issues that prevent the bills from being signed.

Both Adamu and Nzo will be meeting with and hoping to learn from representatives of organizations that advocate for the rights of the disabled in Bloomington and Indianapolis.

“One thing that struck me so much when I came into the United States and Bloomington in particular was the accessibility of services to the disabled,” said Lillian Banmi, a medical doctor and gynecologist from Cameroon. “I felt like weeping. I was so touched and impressed that the disabled are recognized to be equal to those who are able … If there is one thing I will take back to my country, it’s (support for) the implementation of services that they put into the law (in my country) but have not been followed.”

“One of the things that really impresses me about this country is the accessibility of this country,” added Hombé Kafechina, programs manager at a nongovernmental organization in Togo that protects the rights of children. “The roads, the buildings and the buses are accessible for people who live with disabilities. This is not the same reality in our countries … There are some ideas here which are simple ideas that can be implemented in our countries.”

Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton, center, helped to welcome 25 young leaders from 18 Sub-Saharan countries who are visiting Indiana University through the U.S. State Department’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program.

As a Bloomington City Council member, Isabel Piedmont-Smith is accustomed to meeting with constituents. While the farmer’s market was abuzz with activity Saturday, she spent time discussing concerns and issues facing those who reside in her district.

At times, Piedmont-Smith’s presentation in City Hall chambers on Monday — to 25 participants in the U.S. State Department’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program — had the same vibe as the meeting she had just two days earlier.

They peppered her with questions about taxes and zoning and asked what the city was doing about the homeless and the environment.

Jose-Landry Guehi, a social activist who leads the Network of Associations for Voluntary Service in Cote d’Ivoire, wanted to know whether people are allowed to operate businesses out of their homes and learned about Bloomington zoning laws.

Zemdena Abebe, a writer and activist from Ethiopia, inquired whether real estate gentrification is much of an issue in Bloomington. In her response, Piedmont-Smith shared concerns about the impact that a new park being developed could have on affordable housing in that area.

Bloomington City Council member Isabel Piedmont-Smith, center, discussed how the community is managed.

The 14 women and 11 men from Sub-Saharan Africa are spending six weeks at IU Bloomington and IUPUI to study America’s model of civic leadership.

Half a world away, but similar issues

An ocean may divide the United States from the African continent and the 18 nations where the Mandela Washington Fellows are from, but people face common issues no matter where they live.

And Bloomington city officials readily acknowledged that they also encounter major challenges in finding solutions.

“I loved the questions,” said Bloomington City Clerk Nicole Bolden, who joined Piedmont-Smith at the presentation and gave the fellows a tour of city hall. “It’s hard, because we’re all trying to figure out the answers.”

Piedmont-Smith and Bolden gave an hour-and-a-half presentation about what it takes to manage and govern a city with a $72.3 million budget and 690 employees in 13 departments. She explained the role that the city’s 11 elected representatives play.

During their visit, the Mandela Washington Fellows toured the rest of City Hall, a renovated historic building that previously housed the world’s largest furniture factory. They met Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton, who was first elected to the post in the fall after a career working for Hoosiers in both the state and nation’s capitals.

They also are gaining perspectives from faculty in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, including former Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke, who serves as a professor of practice at IU. On Thursday, they will discuss American legal thought with faculty in the Maurer School of Law’s Center for Constitutional Democracy.

Last week, they visited the Bloomington campus of Ivy Tech Community College to learn about workforce development.

A different perspective

The Mandela Washington Fellows are seeing what works and also some of our society’s greatest challenges to finding solutions. The students are here to study the U.S. model, but they also are seeing that it is imperfect, including when it comes to social issues.

For example, several Mandela Washington Fellows inquired how city government tackles social service issues, including hunger and suitable housing. One student asked whether the city provided meals to those less fortunate.

Sandrine Mengue M’Efoue, a Mandela Washington Fellow from Gabon, listened intently to the response to her question.

As part of her response, Bolden acknowledged the limitations that Bloomington has in addressing social issues. “I’m afraid it is bigger than the city,” she said.

In many of the African countries, nongovernment organizations play a large role in addressing social issues, and most of the fellows are involved with them.

“We come from 18 countries, and we all have different ways that we deal with issues,” said Juliana Owolabi, a public school teacher from Nigeria. “We listen to them and we try to compare what we have with our countries with what they have here … They learn from us and we learn from them.

“Bloomington is a beautiful city with beautiful people, who are always eager to help. They’re just wonderful,” she added.

For her sake, Bolden said the questions she received from the Mandela Washington Fellows made her think about the city in a new way.

“The questions are informative,” she said. “One woman said, ‘We approach issues from a holistic approach. We don’t just look at a child falling asleep at school, we look and see if there’s a problem with somebody not working or if there’s a problem at home. We look at the whole child and the whole family.’

“We don’t do that here, but to think about it in those terms is wonderful. How can we do that here?”

Timothy Hellwig

Timothy Hellwig, director of the Institute for European Studies and an associate professor of political science at IU Bloomington, is in Brussels, Belgium, where the headquarters of the European Union and the European Commission are located.

“People are shocked here,” Hellwig said. “I was at a Brexit watch party last night. When we heard around 9 p.m. that Nigel Farage of the U.K. Independence Party was predicting a ‘Remain’ win, we were collectively relieved. This made it all the more surprising to wake up this morning to see what transpired.”

Nick Cullather, executive associate dean of the School of Global and International Studies, arrived in England with his family last week. In Manchester and the industrial north of the country, they witnessed strong support for Brexit. But they saw more support for remaining in the EU as they got closer to London.

“Polling had indicated a slight lead for ‘Remain’ until the end,” Cullather said. “People here are shocked, gathering in little crowds around the newsstands. Many are angry enough to buttonhole an American on the tube or the street to vent about how upset they are with the outcome.

Nick Cullather

“No one in the ‘Leave’ camp seems jubilant,” he added. “There isn’t a coherent vision for a post-EU Britain. In fact, Boris Johnson, the chief ‘Leave’ campaigner and the presumptive next prime minister, is out of step with the working-class voters who won the referendum.”

What happens next?

Ellie Mafi-Kreft, a clinical assistant professor of business economics in IU’s Kelley School of Business, has been in France during the Brexit campaign. She has been able to share insights observed more closely with MBA students enrolled in her class about the United States in the global economy.

“For the next few months, the world is going to be divided between those who benefit from the Brexit and those who won’t,” she said

Padraic Kenney, chair and professor of the Department of International Studies in IU’s School of Global and International Studies, is in Poland, an EU member country since 2004.

Padraic Kenney

“The pessimistic version is that now there will be a rush for the exits,” Kenney said. “But Britain was always a special, reluctant case in the EU, and the loud calls for further departures will probably not be as popular in other countries.”

More than 17.4 million people in Britain voted in support of the “Leave” campaign, as compared with about 16.1 million people who voted to remain in the European Union. Financial markets worldwide have responded sharply, and many have questioned which other nations might leave the 28-member bloc of countries.

“An optimistic version is that now the rest of the EU will be able to regroup and emerge stronger,” Kenney said. “But this will require some thinking about what it is that unites the countries of the EU. Until recently, EU leaders assumed that they knew what this was.”

Winners and losers

The “Eurosceptics” and the nationalists clearly have altered the picture, according to the IU experts.

Mafi-Kreft believes the Scottish independence movement emerged as a strong winner. “They want their independence from U.K., not from Europe, and given that the majority of the Scottish voted to stay in the EU, a new referendum on Scotland the victory of the pro-independence is more likely,” she said.

Ellie Mafi-Kreft

She agrees with many who believe that Johnson, the American-born former mayor of London and currently a member of parliament, likely will become England’s next prime minister. But the vote also could have a political impact in France, where the anti-immigration Front National party could see its image and political potential “reinforced”; as well in the United States, bolstering the campaign of presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“Those who defended the Union in the mist of the Euro crisis and did everything to avoid the Grexit (Greece’s departure from the EU) and then the Brexit are now very fragile,” she said. “Francois Holland in France and Angela Merkel in Germany will have a hard time to renew Europe and regain the people’s trust.”

Kenney said the vote and support for anti-EU parties in so many countries suggests that it might be time for the EU to look within and reconsider how it is viewed by citizens in its member countries.

“A pragmatic EU, without all the lofty ideas but able to actually get things done, should appeal to most people in every EU country,” he said. “If EU leaders try to play by the old rules, they may find their union weakening more and more.”

Observing from this side of the Atlantic, but with a unique perspective, is Lee Feinstein. The dean of the School of International Global and International Studies served as U.S. ambassador to Poland from 2009 to 2012 and advised secretaries of state and defense.

Lee Feinstein

“It has immediate and longer-term economic consequences. But looking at this from the broader perspective, what it means is a setback for the effort that started after World War II to build a Europe whole and free,” Feinstein said. “The worst-case scenario of this dis-union is the return of geopolitics to Europe.

“The fracturing of Europe, the withdrawal from the EU of one its most powerful countries economically and its most militarily capable country, as well as a country that has a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, is something that’s not good for the United States,” Feinstein added. “The U.S. is stronger when it works with its allies, and when its allies are united — and the United States has no stronger, more like-minded partners than its European friends.”

Economic consequences of Brexit

Financial markets worldwide took a tumble in response to the news, but Mafi-Kreft sees other economic consequences. U.K.-grown products will become more attractive to the British as tariffs and taxes likely will be reinstated for the European agricultural products. But “it will be a hard hit on French agricultural industry as Britain represents their fifth (largest) export market,” she said.

“London City will lose her status as the premier finance place of the union. The Frankfort stock market should profit from this,” she said. “The ‘financial earthquake’ will touch British banks first, as Barclays lost 30 percent of its stock value this morning and JP Morgan confirms it will relocate jobs out of England.”

U.K. automakers also will take a hit. “Most of the auto production in the U.K. is destined for export. Jaguar-Range Rover (recently bought by the Indian company Tata) estimates a loss of billions of euros on their profit, all due to higher border costs.”

One proverb, from Alemneh’s native land of Ethiopia, simply says, “He who learns, teaches.”

The other proverb, commonly shared across the Democratic Republic of Congo, says, “Wisdom is like fire. People take it from others.”

As Alemneh shared the proverbs, many in the audience nodded in agreement or audibly voiced their agreement.

“Through the program, we hope that you’ll build technical capacity in areas such as community building, entrepreneurship, grassroots activism, leadership and volunteerism,” said Alemneh, IU associate vice president for international research and development.

Enthusiasm is high, not only among IU officials, but particularly among this group of young African leaders, aged 25 to 35, who were selected to participate in the U.S. State Department’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program.

They went through orientation and were formally welcomed to the IU campus at a reception Monday evening at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures.

Over the next six weeks, they will learn how individual Americans shape U.S. society through community engagement, business development and governmental activity, and compare it with experiences and opportunities on the African continent.

David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs, Monday welcomed the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program to IU.

They will learn from IU faculty at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Maurer School of Law, the African Studies Center, Political and Civic Engagement, the Kelley School of Business and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Visits are planned at Cook Inc., the Bloomington Herald-Times, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Indiana Department of Correction. They will learn more about workforce development offered at Ivy Tech Community College. They will also engage with staff at BioCrossroads and the Sagamore Institute in Indianapolis.

On July 18, in celebration of Mandela Day, the fellows will engage in community service activities with Big Car Collaborative and other community organizations in Indianapolis.

Another part of IU’s far-reaching international legacy

Alemneh was joined by David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs, who said IU’s involvement in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program is yet another example of how IU is engaged globally and helping to make the world a better place.

Zaret recounted a history that goes back more than 100 years, to the early 1900s, when IU faculty helped the Philippines to develop its public education system. After World War II, IU helped to found the Free University of Berlin, and has been active across Europe, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa in helping to develop or improve higher education institutions.

In 1965, IU helped Thailand to found the National Institute of Development Administration, which trains the majority of the country’s civil servants. This spring, Zaret and IU President Michael A. McRobbie traveled there to help NIDA celebrate its 50th anniversary.

About 15 years ago, IU helped to found South East European University in Macedonia. After the fall of the former Yugoslavia, various ethnic groups were engaged in a civil war. After the end of the conflict, the university was established with support from the European Union and the Ford Foundation.

It was the first university in Macedonia to offer instruction in Albanian, Macedonian and English. “It now has several thousand students, no more shooting and students are integrated. It is an example of the kind of thing that we try to do,” Zaret said.

IU also has been engaged in working on leadership development projects that promote managerial skills, economic and democratic reform and professional development across Africa – including in South Africa, South Sudan, Angola and Liberia.

Mandela Washington Fellows come from 18 African countries

The 14 female and 11 male participants in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program come from 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nations represented include Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo and Zimbabwe.

They include physicians, social entrepreneurs, advocates for the disabled and for women’s health issues, a management consultant, scientists and a school teacher.

Launched in 2014, the Mandela Washington Fellowship empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking, professional opportunities and support for activities in their communities.

After spending four weeks at IU Bloomington and two weeks at IUPUI, the Mandala Washington Fellows will join their peers now studying at more than 35 other U.S. universities at a White House event in early August. President Barack Obama is expected to attend.

“As much as you will learn and enrich your experiences, the program also is designed in such a way that we also learn,” Alemneh said. “It’s going to be a two-way communication. We are also here to learn from you, as much as you are here to learn from us.

“You are the young leaders, the future of Africa.”

Bernard Madoff, U.S. Department of Justice photograph, 2009

Millions of people are expected to tune in to tonight’s ABC broadcast of a miniseries about Bernie Madoff, who is serving a 150-year sentence for running one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.

Among them will be Noah Stoffman, an associate professor of finance in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, who suspects that some of Madoff’s victims will be watching as well.

Like other successful Ponzi schemes, Madoff’s took advantage of what researchers call an “affinity relationship.” Madoff is Jewish, and nearly everyone who was “invited” to invest with his firm was Jewish. Many were active within the Jewish philanthropic community.

In a new paper, Stoffman and two co-authors set out to study where Madoff’s fraud case left its deepest impact and on whom — not just among his direct victims, but also on how others viewed the trustworthiness of financial markets.

“The cost of a fraud like this is much larger than just the money that was lost by the victims,” Stoffman said. “We showed that about $430 billion was moved out of risky assets and into bank accounts as a result of this fraud. That has a huge potential economic impact.”

In other words, because of what happened to Madoff’s victims, their neighbors, friends and others in the same “affinity group” may have left perfectly good investments, costing themselves higher financial returns, at a time when returns potentially were very high.

Stoffman and associates, Umit Gurun of the University of Texas at Dallas and Scott Yonker of Cornell University, used court documents to get a complete list of Madoff’s victims and then created a map of affected areas. That was then used to perform a statistical comparison of outcomes, in terms of who invested in riskier assets versus cash deposits in banks.

Noah Stoffman

In areas of the country where many of Madoff’s victims resided – such as the Northeast, South Florida and Southern California – they found a precipitous decline in the use of registered investment advisors, people who provide service to access financial markets.

At the same time, using data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Stoffman and his colleagues found higher levels of bank deposit activity in those same areas.

“We saw this shift in areas that were more affected by the Madoff shock,” said Stoffman, who studies the role of social interactions in investment decisions. “We saw a shift from risky investments to safe investments. Among those people who somehow are more exposed to the fraud, it affects their investment behavior.

“We can’t track person by person to see what they did with their money, but we have a sense in the aggregate that this money was shifted from risky assets to cash and probably ended up earning lower returns than it would have.”

The paper, “Trust Busting: The Effect of Fraud on Investor Behavior,” will be presented in March at the Conference on Financial Decisions and Asset Markets, hosted by the Wharton School’s Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research. It also was presented recently at a meeting of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Behavioral Finance working group.

They did find that the same people had more trust in investment advisors, who provide additional services – such as financial planning and tax services – face to face, and thus build a deeper relationship with clients.

In the past two decades, the Securities and Exchange Commission has investigated more than 360 Ponzi schemes, but the Madoff scheme dwarfed them all and provided the researchers with a good “testing ground” to study trust.

The Madoff case directly affected many geographically dispersed investors whose trust was shaken — as shown in the 113 victim impact statements, which mention “trust” 45 times. Because the fraud targeted a particular group of investors, Stoffman and his colleagues were able to study how trust shock was transmitted through social networks.

Stoffman suspects that the miniseries starring Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner may lead some to revisit the emotions they had in 2008, when Madoff’s actions came to light.

“It’s entirely possible that people who either had previously been affected, whose trust was diminished in the past, may be reminded now of this event, and it may well have another effect in that more people may want to shift their assets to something that’s less risky now,” he said.

This map from Stoffman’s paper shows the number of Madoff’s victims by county.

The Retail Studies Organization at Indiana University Bloomington has a special day in store Feb. 9. Its annual retail and design forum will feature a lineup of industry leaders from DSW Inc., Google, Kohl’s, Under Armour and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union.

Janis Shaffer, a faculty adviser for the organization, said the forum offers all IU students the chance to learn more about current industry challenges and opportunities.

Janis Shaffer

“The executives will be speaking about intriguing topics, and they represent some of the most successful companies in the retail industry. It is a tremendous gift to IU students that they volunteer their time, talents and financial resources to come to campus,” said Shaffer, a senior lecturer in the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Design.

In fall 2016, the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Design will join studio arts programs in the new School of Art and Design, which will remain in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Students leave this event with a newfound passion for retail every year,” said Alex Larson, president of the Retail Studies Organization.

Members of the organization also can sign up to attend small-group sessions with the visiting speakers. More information on these sessions appears on the group’s website.

Retail and design forum speakers

9:30 a.m. — Katherine Finder, vice president of product development at Kohl’s, “Brand Clarity and Connecting with the Customer”

10:45 a.m. — Julie Krueger, retail industry director at Google, “My Life Before and After the Internet”

noon — Panel discussion featuring all of the speakers

1:15 p.m. — Adam Peake, executive vice president of category management at Under Armour, “Marketing in a Global Retail Environment”

2:45 p.m. — Fred Bedore, senior director of business strategy and sustainability at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., “How Resource Scarcity and Technology Could Redefine Retail”

4 p.m. — Brian Seewald, vice president of transformation at DSW Inc., “Challenges in Operationalizing Innovation.”

Seewald, who assumed his present title in the DSW Office of Innovation in 2015, said retail customers now expect “omnichannel engagement.” In other words, customers want the ability to purchase goods both in stores and online.

“We realize now that ‘omnichannel’ is really just retail, that it isn’t something that differentiates your brand. The difference now is that we have to make that experience consistently excellent regardless of how the customer chooses to shop us,” he said.

“We have a few accomplishments under our belts, but there is a long way to go, and it is the most exciting work I have done in my career.  I can’t imagine a more exciting time to be in retail.”

Tarun Gangwani

With more than 600,000 alumni, it’s understandably difficult to come up with a fairly short list of successful Indiana University graduates.

Many publications and news organizations are fond of such “best of” lists, where, once again, IU alumni are making their mark.

Two IU alumni were included among Forbes’ new “30 Under 30” lists in enterprise technology and music: cloud computing innovator Tarun Gangwani and music business executive Jake Udell, respectively.

A “proud IU alumnus,” Gangwani earned a bachelor’s degree in cognitive science in the IU College of Arts and Sciences and a master’s degree in human-computer interaction design from the School of Informatics and Computing at IU Bloomington.

While at IU, Gangwani spent a lot of time at University Information Technology Services as a technical team lead and as a researcher in IU’s language and memory labs.

Udell graduated in 2011 with a degree in entrepreneurship from the IU Kelley School of Business. He got involved with music as a student and briefly pursued his own career as a performer before getting involved in management and promotion.

After graduation, he worked for a year as the chief marketing officer for Campus Candy before founding the music label Th3rd Brain.

As part of Forbes’ “30 Under 30,” Gangwani and Udell find themselves among interesting company.

A big part of IBM’s Bluemix

Others with Gangwani in the enterprise technology category include the founders of innovative tech companies such as Bench, Dragos Security, Enplug and Doctolib.

Since receiving his master’s degree in 2013, Gangwani’s been involved with cloud computing at IBM, leading its business strategy, design execution and product quality activities.

As offering manager, he leads multi-disciplinary product development teams within IBM’s $9 billion cloud business and was a pioneer in designing IBM’s cloud developer platform, Bluemix, which the company launched via a $1 billion investment.

Bluemix has since become the largest open-source deployment in the world. He joined IBM in 2013 as part of the company’s first wave of designers, which is now 1,000-strong. His work has been recognized in numerous outlets, including The New York Times.

Colin Allen, former director of undergraduate studies at IU Bloomington’s Cognitive Science Program, met Gangwani and his family in 2007 while the fledgling tech leader considered transferring to IU from another university.

“Tarun and his parents were a bit nervous about him studying something as eclectic as cognitive science, but he was determined, and it certainly seems to have paid off,” said Allen, today an IU Provost Professor of cognitive science and history and philosophy of science.

Allen added that Tarun himself credits his IU education for “giving him an advantage at IBM by providing a broader vision about what is desirable and possible from technology.”

Using what he learned at Kelley to “Play Hard”

Others with Udell in the music category of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 include Jon Batiste, bandleader for “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”; Leon Bridges, an old-school soul singer whose debut album “Coming Home” generated a lot of buzz; pop star Selena Gomez; DJ Snake; and Krewella, a duo Th3rd Brain manages.

Jake Udell

In early 2012, Udell co-founded Th3rd Brain, which he says is “dedicated to collaborating with artists to define their vision and develop a strategy to market it.”

His most successful clients are sisters Jahan Yousaf and Yasmine Yousaf, who today make up the duo Krewella, whose 2012 EP “Play Hard” rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Radio Airplay chart.

Last summer, they performed with Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and Fergie on “Love Song to the Earth,” an all-star collaboration to raise awareness about global warming.

Udell’s firm also manages other popular electronic dance music acts Zhu, Gallant and the Danish/Norwegian duo Pegboard Nerds. Since graduation, he’s been back on campus for Recess, a music and arts festival for college students just a few years removed from his days at Kelley, who are budding entrepreneurs participate in a pitching contest similar to “Shark Tank.”

“Our goal is to not be everyone else. Our goal is to be different. Our goal is to build our own lane and every artist deserves that customization,” Udell said at last year’s International Music Summit’s “Engage” conference in Los Angeles, where he was joined by music industry leaders Chuck D. of Public Enemy, Seth Troxler and Quincy Jones.

Tatiana Kolovou, a faculty member at the Kelley School, jokes that she was Udell’s first professor. He had her 8 a.m. business presentation class as a freshman in the fall of 2007. She became one of his mentors and they’ve remained in contact.

She noted that Udell is skilled at networking and that at age 26 he has contacts in the music industry that rival those twice his age.

“He’s had his own lane since he was a freshman in my class,” said Kolovou, a senior lecturer at Kelley. “There’s something special about him. He’s very creative, moves fast and he thinks out of the box. He’s also very intuitive, which is a huge asset in his industry.

“I have always said that he’s our next Mark Cuban.”

Students at University Elementary and six other schools saw a vivid slideshow of people and wildlife affected by rainforest deforestation.

Like many of his Indiana University faculty colleagues, David Stringer has had a lot of final papers to read lately, by the 66 students in his Language Hotspots and Biodiversity class.

However, unlike many of his peers, Stringer has had something else to read: letters from another group of people impacted by his course — 8- to 10-year-olds at local elementary schools.

Many of the children wrote to thank Stringer and his students for coming to their schools to talk about destruction of the world’s tropical rainforests and how it affects the people living there, their cultures and their languages.

“I really got affected when you showed us places that had a lot trees cut down and it made me think I want to stop people cutting down the rainforest,” wrote one fifth-grader. “Maybe we could fund a project for replanting so many trees and eventually grow a forest.”

Another student told them, “I never really thought about this, but humans are endangering humans.”

Stringer, an associate professor of second language studies in the IU College of Arts and Sciences, took his students to seven Bloomington elementary schools in November and December: Binford, Childs, Fairview, Templeton and University schools in the Monroe County Community School Corp., The Project School and St. Charles Boromeo School.

His students showed a vivid and colorful slideshow of people – particularly children – and some of the wildlife now being affected, such as birds of paradise, tree kangaroos, Pinocchio frogs and the newly discovered Yoda bat. Classroom discussions with the kids, mostly fifth-graders, followed.

Developing a sense of awareness of biocultural diversity

Stringer first became acutely aware of the issues involved when he spent a year studying in South America, including several months in the Peruvian Amazon.

Creating a project where IU students had to explain ideas of biocultural diversity to children helped them better understand the concepts.

“While I used to see the questions of endangered languages and endangered species as separate, I’ve become convinced that language revitalization in traditional cultures needs to be tied to ecosystem conservation,” he said. “If we are going to stem the current tide of mass extinction, we need to develop awareness of biocultural diversity as a unifying concept.”

He believes it’s important that people at a young age develop a sense of wonder about the beauty and diversity of life on Earth – both linguistic and biological. It’s also crucial that they are aware of the fragility of nature.

“I have kids of my own, and I wanted to leave them with a message of hope,” he said. “In a really fundamental way, the future of bicultural diversity is in the hands of people younger than you and me. … What really got me was how intelligent some of the responses were and how advanced they were in the grasp of these concepts.

Over the fall semester, Stringer’s students examined linguistic diversity and biodiversity in the context of the current global mass extinction of languages and cultures, and how language revitalization can be tied to ecosystem conservation.

“When the College of Arts and Sciences announced a call for proposals for more interdisciplinary courses for freshmen, I saw this as a great opportunity to develop what I believe may be the first course at a U.S. university to examine biocultural diversity from a linguistic perspective,” he said.

“I also wanted to raise awareness of cultural and biological sustainability among freshmen, before they choose a major, so that some of them might later consider taking advantage of more specialized courses in related area such as linguistics, anthropology, ethnobotany and environmental studies.”

Benefits of the course to IU and elementary students

One language disappears every two weeks, he said, comparing it to “a library of traditional knowledge going up in flames.” Over the next 50 years, nearly half of the 7,000 languages spoken today will vanish, and within 100 years, that figure is expected to grow to more than 90 percent.

Stringer, fourth from the left, and his students visit Fairview Elementary School.

“There are multiple pressures on indigenous cultures. Some of it is social, acculturation policies by governments, but our focus has been on one of the main offenders, which is rainforest destruction,” Stringer said.

Every minute, about 55 acres of rainforest around the world are cut down.

Many organizations in the past decade have tied together biodiversity conservation with the maintenance of language and culture. During the semester, Stringer’s students interviewed Luisa Maffi, co-founder and director of Terralingua; and Regina Harlig, a Bloomington native who is a senior manager at Conservation International.

This semester, Stringer’s students examined 45 grassroots projects in the Amazon, the Congo and New Guinea and discussed what made some of them successful and others less so.

Lucy Fischman, principal of Binford Elementary, said the student presentations enhanced her school’s efforts around science and social studies.

“I think elementary students respond very well to college-age students. They are young, friendly faces, and our students look up to them. We love taking advantage of having IU right down the street,” Fischman said. “This project has the potential to grow into a deeper collaboration, between our students and Dr. Stringer’s students, with extension activities after students view the presentation.”

Stringer, one of about 100 IU faculty members in IU’s Integrated Program in the Environment, said the benefits of the project for his IU students are obvious.

“If you can explain these ideas to a 10-year-old child, it means that you’ve understood them yourself,” Stringer said. “I think creating a project where students had to explain ideas of biocultural diversity to children really helped their own understanding of these concepts for their studies at IU. It worked both ways.”

When the course is taught again next fall, Stringer expects to partner with NGOs to create an essay and poster competition for the elementary school students. The IU Office of Sustainability awarded him a $5,000 grant to help create the course, and he hopes to continue to develop the outreach initiative for children in the local community.

As a child, she accompanied her parents from Kentucky to West Africa, where they served as Baptist missionaries. After a dozen years of growing up mostly in Nigeria, she returned to the United States, where many people thought that experience to be strange.

Carol Polsgrove

“I did my best to pass as American without ever quite succeeding,” Polsgrove, a retired Indiana University professor wrote in the introduction to her new memoir, “When We Were Young in Africa, 1948-1960” (Culicidae Press).

“When my mother asked me in her last days, ‘Do you appreciate your African childhood?’ I replied with cruel honesty, ‘Yes, but now I don’t belong in America.’”

In the weeks following her mother’s death, Polsgrove wrote she poured out her memories and explored “the childhood I had tried to put behind me.”

This is her fourth book. Her others as an IU scholar are “It Wasn’t Pretty Folks, But Didn’t We Have Fun Esquire in the Sixties” (1995), “Divided Minds: Intellectuals and Civil Rights Movement” (2001) and “Ending British Rule in Africa: Writers in a Common Cause” (2009). She is a former editor at The Progressive and Mother Jones.

It is her first book for a more general audience. “I’ve always hoped that one day I’d write a book that friends would actually want to read and not simply professional historians or journalism people,” she said with a laugh during an interview.

While very readable, “When We Were Young in Africa” is not a lightweight reflection. Over 160 pages, she presents a complex coming-of-age story amid a contrast in cultures that framed her views of race, social justice and religion.

“In this memoir, brimming with the sounds and smells, the voices and spirits of over 60 years ago, Polsgrove comes to see the unity that links the two continents of her life and, in doing so, to embrace her becoming as it shapes her ongoing,” said George Ella Lyon, Kentucky’s poet laureate, in a comment written for the book’s cover.

Polsgrove writes about growing up with parents who weren’t prosperous, but in their 30s took a “big leap” and in 1948 went to Africa for the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. Taking a ship across the Atlantic to Ghana, and then known as the Gold Coast, was “an adventurous thing to do,” she said in the interview.

In subsequent years, her family lived on mission compounds in Nigeria, where she was not as involved in local life as she had been in Ghana. She and her brother also struggled with health issues. As a teen, she attended a boarding school for missionary children.

She returned to the states and attended college in North Carolina and earned a doctorate at the University of Louisville. She taught journalism at universities in Kentucky and California and retired in 2008 after 19 years at IU.

A story many years in the telling

Polsgrove said this is a book she’s been trying to write for decades. “I would write memories down and I would keep them in a file. It wasn’t until after my mother died that I felt really free to write the story.

“Probably I’m not alone in this, among missionary children, that I carried some resentment that we grew up in such different circumstances from the people that we would ultimately live among; that is, other Americans,” she said. “Going through this process of writing the book and getting to know my parents in a different way, really as a historian, was healing.

“I understand what the church meant to my parents, as well as I can, and I respect what it meant to them, so I don’t feel resentful or hostile toward my growing up in a religious family,” she added. “I think it has a lot to do with the sense of social responsibility that I feel and the ways that I have been political in my life … My parents were really motivated by desire to do some good for the world.”

She found resources at IU’s Lilly Library to be invaluable. Her parents, Emma and Neville Claxon, regularly wrote “voluminous accounts” in detailed letters to family members in Kentucky, who held onto them.

Her mother put 685 of those letters into chronological order and donated them to the Lilly Library. After her mother’s death, Polsgrove and her brother donated another 5,000 items from their parents’ days as missionaries in Ghana, Nigeria and Benin.

“I was able to draw from my memories, but also put those together with the daily accounts of what Mother wrote home,” Polsgrove said. “They were almost like journals as a way to connect with the folks back home and the life they left behind in Kentucky.

“She was very frank and forthcoming and I knew her well and I would say she told what was happening as she saw it,” she added. “It was very helpful to have the letters.”

As a result, Polsgrove decided what her story would be as she went along and found new insights and understandings of what had happened to her. Her memories weren’t like “pebbles or marbles that you pull out of your pocket,” she said.

“I had to understand the story and what it meant and the relationship of this child to the life that I later lived,” she said.

It has been decades since she has been in Africa, but Polsgrove said she feels a kinship when she encounters Nigerians. “I haven’t been back in a very long time, but I know that there’s a part of me that was shaped in those surroundings.”

Paul Palmer Jr. II was a senior brand manager for Hasbro Inc. and its product line for episodes I and II of “Star Wars.”

Paul Palmer Jr. II admits that as a 10-year-old growing up on the west side of Indianapolis in 1977, he used to evade theater ushers so he could stay for multiple screenings of “Star Wars.”

Like so many people, including me, he would go back to see the movie anytime someone would take him.

“In the first month, I literally saw ‘Star Wars’ 30 times, at least,” said Palmer, a lecturer in marketing and an MBA diversity coach in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “Every time you saw it, something different blew your mind.”

Today, Palmer has a unique perspective on the Dec. 17 release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens“: He was a senior brand manager for Hasbro Inc. and its product line for episodes I and II of the classic science fiction franchise in from 1999 to 2003.

“It was crazy,” he said. “We had an opportunity to be a part of the rebirth, for the next chapter in truly an evergreen saga that resonates with fans and moviegoers across a broad spectrum around the world. It was exciting that I could be part of something that I was passionate about 20 years earlier.”

After earning an MBA in 1996 from the Kelley School, Palmer went to work for consumer products giant Procter & Gamble as a brand manager. The “big kid at heart” left for Hasbro two years later.

He initially worked on several special feature girls’ items — “anything that poops, pees and eats food” — including the McDonald’s Happy Meal Doll. He also worked on dolls and action figures for the movie “Titanic,” the Spice Girls, My Little Pony and Pokémon.

From My Little Pony to “Star Wars”

In spring 1999, a few weeks before “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” opened, Palmer was invited to join the team working on the franchise’s toys. He worked with “Star Wars” products until he left to explore other opportunities in another Hasbro division in 2003.

Palmer led the marketing and product plans while managing key licensor relationships with Lucasfilm, Walt Disney and Cartoon Network. As such, he had early access to storylines and initial film footage of “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,” to help decide what characters and items would be among the toys for young fans, those young at heart and collectors.

Palmer’s team created more than 60 action figures, including this one of Boba Fett, signed by the actor who played him.

While working on products for “Episode II,” met with members of creator George Lucas’ team, particularly Howard Roffman, head of licensing for all Lucasfilm properties. Members of the team were on the set during filming to “make sure that we get good ideas from the movie that would turn into toys.”

His team created more than 60 action figures, lightsabers and vehicles. But its biggest success was an interactive toy version of the R2-D2 droid, which was named toy of the year in 2002.

“We looked at doing a C-3PO, but because of the way he’s physically structured and because of the gait by which a droid would have to walk, it was going to be difficult to execute that toy in the manner he needed to be,” Palmer said. “The technology didn’t exist and would be too costly, so we went with the R2-D2.”

They worked with a design team in England to develop the technology to bring the 18-inch R2-D2 replica to life.

In 2002, he returned to his hometown to participate in Celebration II, an official “Star Wars” convention at the Indiana Convention Center. There, he was joined by Carrie Fisher, who reprises her role as Princess Leia in the new movie; Peter Mayhew, better known as Chewbacca; Anthony Daniels, who is C-3PO; and Jeremy Bulloch, who played Boba Fett in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”

Lessons for current Kelley students

In 2010, he returned to the Kelley School as a faculty member and serves as a mentor for students in the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Students in his marketing classes appreciate his career anecdotes, but he doesn’t dwell too much on his experience with “Star Wars.”

Among the lessons Palmer shares is an appreciation that “Star Wars” is one of the few franchises that resonates today as much as it did 38 years ago. He noted that its popularity has “transcended” at least three generations: adults and their children who saw the original three movies, millennials who grew up with the second trilogy and young people who will travel to a “galaxy far, far away” next week. They include Palmer’s two children aged nine and 11, “who are excited.”

In 2012, Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion, a marriage of two marketers who appreciate the significance of fan experiences. “I tell students watch out, this has the opportunity to rewrite any of the records that exist — not only just first-week box office but total movie box office,” he said.

But the bar for satisfaction can be set so high that anything less than a blockbuster smash will seem like a failure. As compared to when he saw the initial “Star Wars” movie repeatedly as a child, because it was “so new and so fresh,” today’s audiences have been seeing previews and leaked photos for nearly a year.

“The expectation now is that this movie better be mind-blowing and take me to places where I’ve never gone before, or people will feel dissatisfied. It cannot be good; it has to be great,” Palmer said.

Palmer is concerned that the price points for many of the current “Star Wars” toys are higher than they should be, remembering the royalties and profit projections from Hasbro days. The fact that the new “Star Wars” video game, “Battlefront,” is available only on new Xbox One and Playstation 4 consoles limits “the opportunity for people to engage in the saga and the fantasy” (There is a PC version, too.)

“We forget that times are still tough for many people in this country, so asking Mom and Dad to buy a new videogame platform and invest that deep in the franchise could be a stretch,” he said.

In between his time at Hasbro and when he returned to Kelley, Palmer led the alternative card business at American Greetings, where he was instrumental in developing a successful partnership with comedienne Ellen DeGeneres. That project was the grand winner of the 2007 American Greetings Chairman’s Awards for Innovation.

“I’m amazed at the direct impact that a faculty member can have on a student,” he said of his current role at Kelley. “To just see students learn and thrive and grow and come out of their shell and start understanding the potential that’s there never gets old.”

As a result, it’s almost as if the retired Indiana University journalism professor knew Pyle personally. In fact, Johnson said he’s even had some people tell him that he “spends far too much time with ‘him.’”

Johnson’s new book, “At Home with Ernie Pyle” (IU Press), draws upon some of those letters and brings together Pyle’s writings about Indiana and its people during the first half of the 20th century.

Growing up in the state of Washington, Johnson had read several books about and by Pyle and like many people was an admirer of his work for many years. But it wasn’t until 1998 that an assignment for students in an IU intensive freshman seminar helped him realize the value of re-examining Pyle through his personal letters.

“I had heard that there were some Pyle letters in the Lilly Library, so I created an assignment where the students had to read a couple of letters – one during peacetime and one during wartime – a couple of columns – one peacetime and one wartime – and an article in some kind of popular publication like Life or Look magazine,” he recalled.

“They came back and they were really excited,” Johnson added. “These letters also showed another side of Pyle that they hadn’t imagined. Some of them were very raunchy, very honest and very direct.”

As a result, Johnson began working on a book about Pyle’s personal correspondence. But after collecting copies of more than 1,300 letters in more than 3,000 pages of manuscript, he realized the project was too immense.

Pyle remains the best-known journalist produced by the Hoosier state. Many remaining members of the “Greatest Generation” – veterans who fought during World War II – still fondly recall how Pyle told their stories. His death by a Japanese machine-gunner in the waning years of the war in 1945 on Ie Island, just west of Okinawa, sealed that legacy.

“We had these myths about Pyle,” Johnson said. “Supposedly he was praising the heroism and how we were fighting for such a good cause, but he didn’t really write that at all. He was just presenting the experience from the perspective of ordinary soldiers and sometimes from people like Generals Omar Bradley and Dwight Eisenhower.”

Owen V. Johnson/Photo credit: Steven L. Raymer

On this, his first book about the person who many deeply associate with journalism studies at IU, Johnson worked with staff at IU Archives and the IU Lilly Library and students in The Media School. It reveals Pyle as much more than a Pulitzer Prize winning war correspondent.

The book contains all the columns he wrote when he was in Indiana and others about the Hoosier state and its people he encountered elsewhere. Some are well-known and others hadn’t been reprinted since their original publication.

“Together, they tell us about his family and about the lives of people in and from the state. More than one might have expected, Pyle found Hoosiers in other places, so much that he noticed it,” Johnson wrote in the book’s introduction. “These columns and Pyle’s life mirror Indiana’s change from a primarily rural, agrarian society to a modern, industrial one.

“They are important because Pyle grew up in Indiana, found his standard there and respected it all his life.”

Pyle studied at IU from 1919 to 1923 and left a semester early to accept his first job as a journalist. He returned in 1944 to receive the first honorary degree of humane letters ever presented by IU.

“At Home with Ernie Pyle” contains chapters about Indiana cities Indianapolis and Evansville, as well as about the artists’ colony of Brown County. He writes about politics and politicians, writers and artists and frequently his family and people in his hometown of Dana.

Today, Pyle is memorialized with a museum in the small Vermillion County community, and at IU with a lifelike sculpture in front of Franklin Hall, the future home of The Media School. Pyle’s name also is on the building where journalism has been taught at IU for six decades.

This new collection of Pyle’s Indiana writings includes a chapter about people with IU ties; it contains just one article about his visit to the Bloomington campus after leaving to begin his career.

“Pyle wanted to remember IU the way it was. He wanted to freeze it in time because what he learned here and what he did here was so important to his formation,” Johnson said.

Johnson hopes that “At Home with Ernie Pyle” will be followed by other books, including a thorough look at the writer’s early formative years, a topic not emphasized in previous biographies.

The 408-page book is now available from retailers as well as from IU Press.

Retailers have decided that it’s fine for shoppers to spend Thanksgiving feasting on turkey and dressing, watching football and spending time with their families.

None of this is a surprise to John Talbott, associate director of the Kelley School’s Center for Education and Research in Retailing.

The nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, which for years set the bar for everyone by opting to offer the deals on Thanksgiving Day, offered “pre-Black Friday” deals and competitors followed suit.

“It’s interesting that we’ve found equilibrium as opposed to that march backwards into Thanksgiving,” Talbott said, describing how retailers responded to customer sentiment about the holiday.

Rather than feel pressured to begin the holiday shopping season earlier in their stores, retailers have been taking advantage of the digital domain to generate sales though the month of November and even in late October.

John Talbott, associate director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing in IU’s Kelley School of Business

“They’ve realized that the way to handle early shopping is not so much with physical locations but to utilize the Web,” he said, adding that operationally it’s more profitable.

Outdoor outfitter REI generated some buzz when it announced that it would be closed on Black Friday as well as Thanksgiving. The company suggested through its “#OptOutside” campaign that its customers spend time with friends and family.

But REI is not Wal-Mart, Target or Sears. Unlike those companies, it is a co-op not owned by shareholders.

“They can get away with it because the people they are answering to is not Wall Street,” Talbott said. “It’s their customers and their employees. If a traditional corporation walked away from Black Friday sales, they would probably see a 1 to 2 percent drop in their November numbers and they would be crushed by Wall Street.”

While “Black Thanksgiving” may be as unappealing as leftover turkey to many, Talbott isn’t sure whether customers will reward stores that remained closed on Thursday. That’s a tough question to answer.

In previous years, much has been written about the “battle” between traditional brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers. Talbott said it’s time to declare that war over — customers today like shopping in both settings, especially when traditional retailers effectively use the Internet.

“We shouldn’t even be talking about ‘e-commerce’ anymore; it’s just ‘commerce,’” he said. “Today, the single largest location for most traditional brick-and-mortar retailers’ is their website. They are just as interested in online sales as the traditional pure-play guys like Amazon.

“And Amazon’s opening stores, so it’s just retail again.”

Companies have realized that there is value in having a tangible element of their brands, said Talbott, a former top executive at two apparel merchandisers.

“In some cases, it’s probably cheaper to acquire customers by building an appropriately sized physical space – in many cases just a showroom – than keyword and SEO marketing on the Web today, because the Internet is a very, very crowded place right now,” he said. “There have been studies suggesting that strategically placed physical locations can create a groundswell.”

Earlier this month, Talbott and the center released the latest survey findings in the FINdex, a fashion innovation index based on what college-age female shoppers are saying. The survey found that brick-and-mortar stores remain the most important places for these women to shop.

“Clearly these women embrace the evolving nature of retail today and are channel agnostic in terms of their choice of shopping destinations,” Talbott said. “The type of product or the particular purpose of the shopping trip likely drives the selection of store versus Web.

Vado Diomande, left, and IU Professor Daniel Reed.

In the West African language of Mauka, the word “kekene” simply means “oneness.”

Appropriately, it’s also the title of an annual performance series showcasing Ivorian immigrant Vado Diomande, director of the New York-based Kotchegna Dance Company. This year, it took place at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, where he teaches.

“It’s an expression of unity through music and dance,” explains Daniel Reed, an Indiana University associate professor of folklore and ethnomusicology who for nine years studied has studied Diomande and three other immigrant performers from Côte d’Ivoire for an upcoming book.

What intrigues Reed are the efforts by Diomande to promote unity by interweaving diversity on the stage.

While framed as a traditional performance of Côte d’Ivoire dance, dancers in the Kotchegna Dance Company come from diverse backgrounds. They include Americans and others from the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.

“He’s very deliberately formed a multicultural music and dance company to perform traditional Ivory Coast dance, because he believes that music and dance can bring people together,” Reed said.

Reed’s research of Diomande and three of his contemporaries was the reason why the IU associate professor of folklore and ethnomusicology happened to be in Paris on Nov. 13, the day of the terrorist attacks carried out across the city by members of ISIS, killing 130 people.

Daniel Reed

But it also was a source of comfort for Reed. Like those who launched the attacks, Diomande is a professed Muslim. Unlike them, he wants to bring people together, a message the IU professor was happy to share in Paris.

“I started reflecting on the purpose of my visit there,” Reed said, reflecting on his feelings on the night of the attacks. “I started thinking about how ironic it was that I was there.

“He’s been Muslim his whole life and that’s a very important part of his identity, but it’s very much integrated into the rest of his life,” Reed said. “And he’s very intent on spreading his ideological message of unity and oneness through his performances.”

Reed was a presenter at the academic conference, “Orchestrating the Nation: Music and Dance and (Trans-) Nationalisms,” which brought together about 50-70 scholars in ethnomusicology and dance studies from around the world.

He gave one of the final conference presentations, and left the Maison des Cultures du Monde at about 8:30 p.m., just a few minutes before the attacks began.

After briefly returning to his hotel, Reed decided to stop for dinner at a French bistro about a mile away from where terrorists opened fire on diners across the Seine River.

Unknowingly, Reed returned to his hotel to researching music venues where he might be able to hear African music that evening.

“Many of those clubs, of course, are in the area where the attacks occurred,” he said. “I turned on the TV as background, looked at the soccer game for a moment and ended up on news … Suddenly news of the attacks started coming out.”

Diomande in performance at a Kekene performance.

Like so many others, Reed sheltered in place in his fourth-floor hotel room, texted family, posted a Facebook update and stayed up all night “watching things unfold” on television.

“But a light bulb went off in my head, in the middle of the night, when I realized that at this very important moment, when the tendency so often is to have a backlash, is to see the world in very simple, binary terms – Islam vs. the West – … the fact that we have this person who is Muslim and who is spreading this discourse of unity is really important,” Reed said.

The name of Diomande’s dance company comes from the Mauka word for “messenger.”

At the age of 17, Diomande became one of the founding members of Côte d’Ivoire’s national ballet in 1974. During his tenure with that company, they mastered the art of taking the music and dance traditions from the more than 60 ethnic groups in a nation the size of New Mexico and merged them into a unified, nationalized art form.

Eventually, Diomande became one of the ballet company’s lead choreographers before leaving to form his own ensemble. In 1994, he immigrated to the United States and today lives in New York City. He performed at IU this summer as part of an opening for an exhibit at the art museum.

Since returning from his first trip to Paris a week ago, Reed has reached out by phone to the person who he today counts as a friend.

“He was in the middle of a rehearsal but he took the time out to hear me out and listened to me and respond and he just said, ‘Thank you, thank you. This is great. I’m so glad that my message was heard.”

Deepender S. Hooda

For the last 20 years, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business has welcomed nearly a dozen highly successful leaders to campus as a Poling Chair of Business and Government.

Like the late Harold “Red” Poling, who as chief executive of Ford Motor Co. established the leader-in-resident program in 1993, many of them have been proud IU and Kelley alumni.

This past week, Deepender S. Hooda, a 2003 Kelley graduate and a member of India’s parliament since 2005, joined that select group.

During his visit, he lectured to classes at Kelley and the IU Maurer School of Law. He dined with undergraduate and graduate students from across the university, including many from India.

IU President Michael McRobbie, IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel and deans and administrators this week have sought his input about IU’s growing efforts in the world’s fastest growing society.

Hooda also did things most IU alumni do. He attended an exciting IU-Michigan football game and introduced his wife Sweta to the beauty and vibrancy of the IU Bloomington campus and nearby Brown County.

During his visit, Hooda gave several presentations, including this one to Kelley’s Dean’s Council.

“I just love being here,” said Hooda, who represents Rohtak, a city in the state of Haryana, and serves as party whip of the Indian National Congress in the lower house of India’s parliament. “I’m really happy to see how the campus has changed over the last 13 years.

“I really like the direction in which the university leadership is taking the university,” he said, citing the new School of Global and International Studies and several infrastructure projects on campus, including Hodge Hall. “That is going to provide a great competitive advantage for IU in days to come.”

Among the “marvelous initiatives” that Hooda said IU has undertaken in India is its Gateway Office in Gurgaon, a suburb about 20 miles southwest of New Delhi and in the legislative district that Hooda represents.

“The IU Gateway is the facility that all the programs and all the schools within the university are using to establish their relationships with their counterparts in India,” he said. “IU is ahead of the curve as far as its India strategy is concerned and compared to most universities in the U.S.”

He cited the Kelley School’s partnerships with the Indian Institute of Management campuses at Lucknow and Rohtak and O.P. Jindal Global University’s collaborations with Kelley, Maurer and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

“From a business school point of view, my estimate is there are just five top business schools in the U.S. that have laid out their own India strategy. These five include the Harvard Business School, MIT, Stanford, Duke and Kelley,” he said.

Dr. Devi Singh, right, director of IIM-Lucknow, watched in May 2012 as Dan Smith, then dean of the IU Kelley School of Business, signed a partnership agreement between IU, Kelley and IIM-Lucknow.

IU has also formed strong and productive partnerships with several other top Indian universities, including the University of Hyderabad, Symbiosis International University, Elite School of Optometry and SHODH: Institute for Research and Development.

Hooda was among those on the crest of a wave of international students who are studying at U.S. colleges and universities. According to a recent report from the Institute of International Education, about 975,000 people today come from other nations to study at American institutions and Indiana University is one of the top 20 places they attend.

Indian students are big reason for this trend and today more than 1,100 are enrolled at IU. There also are about 4,300 IU alumni affiliated with India, who, along with the hundreds of scholars, dignitaries and students who have visited IU campuses, comprise IU’s ever-growing global community.

Hooda also is an example of the many international students who return home and provide important contributions in their countries after earning an IU degree, and then loyally work with the university to provide similar opportunities to others.

In addition to IU’s educational quality, Hooda acknowledges other benefits for Indian and American students alike, namely increased awareness and understanding.

“One of the profound experiences that I had on campus, when I was a student, was 9/11,” he said. “I was about one month into my stay in the U.S., one month into my student life, when 9/11 shocked all of us.

“The reactions that event invoked in all of us helped me understand the diverse perspectives that each person can have … based on where that person is coming from,” he added.

This is profoundly clear, in light of recent world events in Paris, Beirut, Egypt and elsewhere.

“The global events we’ve seen recently also tell us that the world is becoming increasingly integrated,” Hooda said. “On many levels, that’s a good thing, but at the same time the problems of the world will also be shared. The world has to come together to address these problems … in ways that we have not been able to do in this century.

“An experience in Bloomington prepares you for something like that.”

In 2007, IU students met with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.

Over the years, Hooda has worked to facilitate many opportunities for IU and Kelley students, arranging for them to meet top government officials and business executives in Delhi and elsewhere in the country.

In 2007, students met with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, who at the time was the country’s minister for external affairs and a member of the cabinet.

“Those were wonderful visits,” he said. “There is no replacement for that. You cannot learn about a culture or a country by television or by reading books … That’s what I’ve noticed with all of the groups that I’ve hosted over the years in Delhi.

“I can see, from the kinds of questions that these students begin asking, while they are there, that their level of understanding expands in the matter of a week or 10 days,” he added. “

Previous Poling Chairs have included alumni such as Randall Tobias, a former top executive at Eli Lilly and AT&T and the current chair of the IU Board of Trustees; Elizabeth Acton, retired chief financial officer of Comerica and a former vice president and treasurer of Ford Motor Co.; Frank Popoff, former CEO and chairman of Dow Chemical Co.; and Dale Pollak, chairman and founder of vAuto, Inc.

Hooda will return in the spring, when again he’ll be given the charge to stimulate discussion in critical areas of leadership, policy, competitiveness and economic growth.

The main event of International Education Week continues to be the IU World’s Fare.

Each November, Indiana University Bloomington participates in International Education Week, a worldwide celebration of people who seek to improve global understanding.

For the past nine years, the IU World’s Fare, an event that allows international student groups to showcase their countries, has been the primary event for the week.

However, this year the IU Office of International Services, working with students involved with more than 20 organizations and Union Board, has greatly expanded the annual celebration’s scope.

This year, International Education Week will be celebrated a week early at IU Bloomington, on Nov. 9-13. There are more activities making up IU’s weeklong celebration honoring the thousands of international students, scholars and workers and the richness and diversity of the campus.

Activities will include live dance and musical events, lectures and art exhibits. Several events are highlighted below, but a full schedule can be found on the IU Office of International Services’ web site. Admission to all events is free and are open to the public.

“Indiana University is host to one of the most diverse populations of international students in the country. As active members of the campus and community, international students enrich the educational experience for all of us by helping to develop our knowledge, skills, and competencies as global citizens,” said Christopher Viers, IU associate vice president for international services.

“The programs and events planned in celebration of International Education Week 2015 will provide ample opportunity for members of the campus and Bloomington community to celebrate the international diversity at IU and learn about the countries and cultures represented among our students who come to IU from every major world region.”

The main event of International Education Week continues to be the IU World’s Fare, from 5 to 8 p.m. in Alumni Hall at the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St.

Samples of food based on recipes shared by international student groups will be available. IU students get one free ticket with a valid Campus Access Card. Additional food tickets cost $5 and are good for eight samples.

Seventeen international student groups showcase their creativity through elaborate cultural displays, along with live dance and music performances. World-renowned guitarists and international faculty at IU, Daniel Duarte and Petar Jankovic, will welcome the crowd. Union Board is cohosting the event.

Seventeen international student groups will showcase their creativity through elaborate cultural displays.

IU’s celebration of International Education Week begins Monday with three events: “Henna 101,” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the IU Asian Culture Center, 807 E. 10th St.; “A Taste of Cultural Exchange,” from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave.; and the opening of an exhibit of photographs taken by international scholars and students in the IMU Gallery, on the first floor near Starbucks.

You can bring your dancing shoes to Sample Gates from 4 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, where there will be a Latin dance party. Featuring music by IU’s Latin jazz ensemble, dancers from Paso a Paso and Arthur Murray will offer instruction on basic salsa dance steps and the culture behind them.

Also on Tuesday will be a screening of the Israeli film “Brave Miss World” at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium. The movie tells the story of Linor Abargil, who was named Miss Israel and who was raped shortly before becoming Miss World. She bravely uses her own rape as a case study through which to look at the stigma surrounding rape, and to share her own journey of healing and hope. Screening will be followed by a discussion with director Cecilia Peck.

The following night there will be three movies being shown across campus – the Bollywood picture “Queen” at 6:30 p.m. in Swain Hall, 727 E. Third St.; the Brazilian documentary “Madame Sat ã” at 7 p.m. at La Casa, the Indiana University Latino Cultural Center, 715 E. 7th St.; and the Polish movie “Suicide Room” at 7 p.m. in room 0009 of the Global and International Studies Building.

If you’d like to be more active, head over to the Student Recreational Sports Center for a “friendly” match of futsal, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Futsal is a modified form of soccer played with five players per side on a smaller, typically indoor, field.

Activities on Thursday also will include a show about traditional African clothing from 3 to 5 p.m. in the ground floor conference room of the Global and International Studies Building, an international quiz bowl at 7 p.m. in the Hoosier Den at Read Residence Hall and a martial arts fest from 6 to 8 p.m. in the IU School of Public Health’s gym 163.

A flurry of activities is planned for Friday. They will include a lunchtime concert by Ria Xu Wang on the pipa, a traditional Chinese instrument, from noon to 1 p.m. at the IU Art Museum; a Thai cooking demonstration at 5 p.m. at the Asian Culture Center; and a Shabbat service and dinner, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Hillel House, 730 E. Third St.

Everyone is encouraged to share their experiences via social media using the hashtag #HoosiersIEW. In addition to information on the Office of International Services web site, you can follow the action on Twitter and Facebook.

Seated next to the sculpture of Herman B Wells, is Dató Seri Idris Jusoh, left, and Asma Ismail, right. They are joined by the rest of the Malaysian delegation, IU students from Malaysia and their hosts.

Indiana University President Michael McRobbie on Thursday welcomed a delegation of education leaders from Malaysia, including its minister of higher education, to IU Bloomington.

For many in the delegation, including Dató Seri Idris Jusoh, Malaysia’s top higher education official, it was their first visit to beautiful IU Bloomington.

But for one visitor, Dr. Asma Ismail, it was a return to a familiar place, the campus where she earned a master’s degree in microbiology in 1981-83.

When asked how the campus looks after 32 years, she replied, “Some parts of it are still the same; some parts have changed so much … But the beauty and the serenity and everything about IU is there, the spirit of being a Hoosier is still there.

“It’s nice to be back,” she added with a beaming smile.

This summer, Ismail – Malaysia’s director general of higher education — was one of two IU alumni who received the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion at the 2015 IU Asian-Pacific Alumni Conference in Bali.

Today, nearly 120 students from Malaysia are studying at IU Bloomington and at IUPUI. Many from her country also have been enrolled at IU South Bend. Nearly a dozen visiting scholars from Malaysia are now conducting research at the university.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie greets Malaysia’s Minister of Higher Education Dató Seri Idris Jusoh, center, and Asma Ismail, an IU alumna who serves as Malaysia’s director general of higher education, right of McRobbie.

Three years ago, McRobbie visited Malaysia as part of a broader trip to Southeast Asia. The alumni association there is among IU’s largest and most active alumni chapters worldwide. Today, nearly 2,700 Malaysians are IU alumni.

One major reason why so many Malaysians are IU alumni is because the university was the lead institution for the Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities in the 1980s and 1990s. The Malaysian government underwrote the program, in coordination with its Institute Teknologi MARA (today the Universiti Institute Teknologi MARA).

From 1985 to 1995, nearly 5,000 students completed the two-year ITM/MUCIA program. Most of them earned an IU associate degree and then continued their studies at more than 160 universities and colleges across the United States. They included about 800 people who earned bachelor’s degrees at IU Bloomington and IUPUI.

Over the life of the 10-year program, 350 faculty and their families, mainly from IU and other Big Ten universities and their regional campuses, lived and taught in the program in Shah Alam, the capital of the Malaysian state of Selangor.

In addition to Malaysia’s minister of higher education, seven other education officials also joined Ismail. The delegation met with McRobbie, IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret and several members of his team.

Asma Ismail enjoyed her first visit back to campus since 1983.

They toured areas of the campus, including the Old Crescent area and Jordan Hall, where she spent most of her time as a student (she also fondly recalled watching IU basketball). She visited with her faculty advisor, Eugene Weinberg, professor emeritus of biology.

They wrapped up their visit with a lunch with members of the Malaysian Student Association.

The purpose of the meetings was to discuss more ways to collaborate on academic initiatives, including how more Malaysian professors might become visiting scholars. Also, as IU has becoming a magnet for international students from more than 35 countries, it is envisioned that even more young people will elect to come to Bloomington to study.

Ismail noted that many Malaysians are studying in the acclaimed Kelley School of Business, but she would like to see more people from the Southeast Asian country come and, and like her, study the fundamental sciences.

The winning Kelley team, left to right, Mica Caine, Keiondre Goodwin, Calvin Sanders and Maya Caine.

Four students from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business this weekend returned from Orlando, where they won the inaugural National Black MBA Association’s undergraduate case competition.

The winning students were Maya Caine, an information systems and business analytics major; Mica Caine, an information systems and security informatics major; Keiondre Goodwin,a marketing, international business and Chinese major; and Calvin Sanders, an accounting and finance major.

Their victory follows a similar accomplishment by three of the four Kelley School students at the National Diversity Case Competition in January. The Caines and Goodwin also were on that winning team.

The Kelley students came out on top over finalists from Purdue University, which took second place; Carnegie-Mellon University, third place; and Florida A&M University. Undergraduate students from 13 business schools participated in the competition.

Along with trophies, the students brought home to IU Bloomington a $15,000 prize to use toward their education.

“I believe the experience from this competition will serve to benefit me in a variety of ways — in not only my Kelley classes, but also my professional life,” Goodwin said. “It has given me a dose of what it’s like to consider a business problem from a variety of lenses, encompassing marketing, finance, operations, public policy and more.”

The 37^th annual National Black MBA Association conference, which took place Sept. 22-26, is the largest diversity career expo in the country and one of the largest professional development and job recruitment events overall.

It attracted more than 7,000 people, including black business leaders from well-known companies including Bank of America Corp., Starbucks Coffee Co. and FedEx Corp.

Competition features an Uber challenge

Goodwin said the experience of tackling, as a team, a complex business challenge – six questions now facing Uber Technologies Inc. – will help him when he is enrolled in Kelley’s rigorous integrated core (I-Core) classes next year.

In advance of the conference, the four students researched Uber and kept track of its business developments and announcements.

“More than once, we had already begun to flesh out a proposal and the next day we discovered that Uber was beginning to launch initiatives seemingly identical to the ones we had conceived of just days before,” Goodwin said. “This experience just served as an example of what business professionals deal with in the real world, always having to be responsive to any and all unexpected developments with their company or the overall industry.”

“During a feedback session, it was great to hear straight from an Uber corporate employee who had been with the company throughout their rapid growth that my analysis of the Chinese market for Uber was excellent and spot-on. She even mentioned how she would take some of my proposals back to headquarters,” he added.

Ramesh Venkataraman, chair of the Undergraduate Program and the Lawrence D. Glaubinger Professor of Business Administration, said case competitions such as this one provide Kelley with a useful mechanism to benchmark “the education and preparation of our students against our peers.”

“This victory is a testament to the power of a team working together,” Venkataraman said. “Faced with picking a team for National Black MBA Association, they chose to keep the core group together even if it meant that they would have to somehow compensate for the lack of knowledge that upperclassmen could have brought to the team.

“Their confidence and trust in each other’s abilities paid off with another stellar victory.”

“Building Blocks of Leadership”

The four Kelley undergraduate students were among those who networked with corporate recruiters from more than 300 companies. The conference primarily is for MBA students, and about 50 MBAs from Kelley were among those in attendance.

“This was the first year for the undergrad case competition so recruiting was not a primary focus,” said Allyn Curry, director of diversity initiatives in Kelley’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations. “However, it provides a great opportunity for the undergrad participants to network with companies and learn more about future MBA careers. Companies attending the case presentations will definitely have our students on their radars for future employment.”

While many sessions focused on careers, others addressed entrepreneurship, lifestyle issues and leadership challenges. The theme for the conference was “Building Blocks of Leadership.”

Speakers included Will Packer, a successful film producer who Black Enterprise included among its “Most Powerful Players under 40”; Hill Harper, a social activist and actor (now starring in “Limitless”); and Stephen M. R. Covey, bestselling author of “The Speed of Trust” and former chief executive of the Covey Leadership Center (founded by his famous father).

Brittani Wilson, director of diversity initiatives in Kelley’s undergraduate program, called the National Black MBA Association’s undergraduate case competition “an amazing experience.”

She noted that the event gives all Kelley participants – both the MBAs and undergraduates — an opportunity to network and connect with prominent African American executives, including many heading their own companies. It helps students to “dream big” by seeing these seasoned professionals.

“All participating schools worked extremely hard researching the topic and presenting to the executive judges,” Wilson said of her students on the winning team. “The camaraderie between the students was apparent. Participation in events such as these shows Kelley’s commitment to the professional and personal growth of underrepresented students outside the classroom.”

It wasn’t all business at the conference. After the interviews and sessions, students visited Universal Studios, where they attended a mixer for all conference participants and met many IU alumni who joined in their Hoosier pride of their big win.

Joseph M. Belth

As Joseph Belth writes in the introduction of his new memoir, “the road to the Forum began with a chance encounter” with Ralph Nader.

Like Nader, Belth, a professor emeritus at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, hasn’t tried to engender a warm relationship with industry – namely the insurance industry – over a career spanning more than 50 years.

In December 2013, Belth discontinued publishing The Insurance Forum, an independent newsletter that for 40 years exposed negligent, inappropriate and illegal practices by representatives of companies that insure millions of Americans. His new memoir just came out.

Belth and Nader met during the annual meeting of the American Risk and Insurance Association in August 1966, a year after Nader became a household name because of his book, “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile.”

During their conversation Nader pointed out that Belth’s 1966 book did not identify companies and individuals.

“Nader said that failing to name names results in books, articles and reports being relegated to dusty shelves, while naming names makes the material more interesting, more widely read and more effective in addressing important social issues,” Belth wrote. “Nader is persuasive, as anyone who has met him knows.”

An “unusual experience” in journalism

Since that encounter, and at the age of 85, Belth’s zeal as a consumer advocate hasn’t slowed down much. He may have ceased publication of his newsletter, but he continues to do journalism through a blog. Google his name and you’ll find the media still seeks his expertise.

Cartoons by Pulitzer Prize-nominated Harry Privette were a frequent feature in The Insurance Forum.

“It was a rather unusual experience that I had in journalism,” Belth told me in an interview.

Belth tells his story in “The Insurance Forum: A Memoir.” It recounts a life’s work based on his belief that “any business built on the nondisclosure of information vital to its customer will not survive – and will not deserve to survive – over the long term.”

He recounts many instances when he enraged industry executives who often sought to shelve the work of task forces and commissions on which he served, and even to ban his publication.

There’s an entire chapter about the A.L. Williams Organization, a large national insurance agency that indiscriminately replaced existing cash-value life policies. Belth’s use of the term “churning” to describe A.L. Williams’ unethical practices led the company to seek a governmental ban on dissemination of The Insurance Forum in 1981. Belth won in court and the case gave his work wider exposure.

Belth was one of the first people to recognize that Executive Life Insurance Co, a large California-based insurer, was insolvent in 1986. Also, be went to court against ratings agency A.M. Best for the right to publish Best’s financial ratings of insurance companies.

In 1991, Belth received the George Polk Award, one of the top awards in American journalism, for his work with The Insurance Forum.

In his memoir, Belth goes into more details about many of his victories and defeats on behalf of insurance policyholders.

“My biggest regret probably is that I haven’t been able to break down the resistance of the industry to disclose information to consumers the way they should,” Belth told me, adding, “I’d like to believe that I’ve done something worthwhile.”

Support for his work found at IU

Belth joined the IU faculty in 1962, coming from what was then the nation’s top education program in insurance, at the University of Pennsylvania. After more than 30 instances of facing censorship at industry publications and journals, he commenced publication of The Insurance Forum in January of 1974. He retired from teaching at Kelley about 20 years ago.
He said it is noteworthy that throughout his career IU — the same university that supported Alfred Kinsey — never impeded his life’s work. It’s not to say that there weren’t those outside the university who tried to apply pressure.

“The Insurance Forum – A Memoir”

In the book and our interview, Belth related a story about the one time he nearly left IU for an appointment elsewhere. He had been invited by another university to present a guest lecture, with the expectation that it might offer him a faculty position.

But shortly after returning to Bloomington, he received a call from the colleague who had invited him.

“He said he was embarrassed to inform me that there would be no offer of a position. He explained that the chief executive officer of a major insurance company in his school’s state had learned of my visit and had told school officials there would be no further contributions by the company to the school if I was appointed to the faculty,” Belth said. “My friend said his school decided it could not afford to antagonize a major donor.

“My immediate thought was that a financial threat by a donor to influence a faculty hiring decision is not tolerated by a great university, and I was grateful to have avoided a disastrous career move,” he continued. “That was the first and last time I considered leaving Indiana University.”

He acknowledges that no one has succeeded him in covering the insurance industry with the same degree of passion. “It would really require a particular character,” he said.

Not to be overlooked is Belth’s influence on academia, through his former students at IU.

Two of them — S. Travis Pritchett, distinguished professor emeritus of finance and insurance at the University of South Carolina; and Joan T. Schmit, the American Family Distinguished Chair in Risk Management and Insurance at the University of Wisconsin — co-authored the book’s foreward.

A third co-author of the foreward, Harold D. Skipper, professor emeritus of risk management and insurance at Georgia State University, began examining Belth’s work as Skipper followed in his footsteps as a student at Penn.

“Belth’s personal integrity and demanding standards of excellence as reflected in this memoir serve as an inspiration to us and the reader, showing what one dedicated individual can accomplish,” they wrote.

Belth’s memoir costs $50, including shipping and handling, and is available from The Insurance Forum, P.O. Box 245, Ellettsville, Ind.,  47429. It is available on Amazon.com.

Jon Huntman presented the Patrick O’Meara International Lecture.

China has been a frequent target of political rhetoric during the current presidential campaign, particularly among Republican candidates.

But Jon Huntsman, a Republican who in 2012 unsuccessfully ran for the nation’s top office, said it is a mistake for candidates to simply criticize China. Instead, they need to highlight the challenges and possible solutions.

“I found out on the debate stage four years ago, talking about China, that the easiest sound bite in the world is to say what you’re going to do to China,” Huntsman said during a news conference Wednesday at Indiana University Bloomington.

“One of the hardest discussions is to say what you’re going to do about it, because that doesn’t always produce an applause line.”

Huntsman, who has served three U.S. presidents and was President Barack Obama’s U.S. ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011, presented IU’s fifth annual Patrick O’Meara International Lecture. He also met with students.

He noted that this week’s first U.S. state visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping provides presidential candidates with a unique opportunity to present their views on the state of the bilateral relationship between two of the world’s superpowers.

“It’s an important opportunity to have, but my ears are still open for solutions,” said Huntsman, who today serves as chair of the nonpartisan Atlantic Council and as co-founder and co-chair of No Labels, another nonpartisan organization that has invited all of the candidates to its convention on Oct. 12 in New Hampshire.

“My guess is that if he (Xi) knew the challenges associated with the domestic fervor around the visit, that maybe he would have postponed it,” Huntsman said. “I think it is going to be a challenging summit; I really do … The narrative coming out of the meetings are probably not going to be altogether positive.”

Trump’s rhetoric on China is dated

Donald Trump, the current frontrunner, has said repeatedly that many Americans are losing jobs due to China’s economic policies. Huntsman said that rhetoric is rather dated.

Huntsman met with students and the media during his visit to IU Bloomington.

“Most businesses operating in China – and I’m close to a few ones – are manufacturing and even exporting from the United States in order to service the large and growing consumer market in China,” he said. “Over the next several years, it will become the largest consumer class that the world has ever known, with maybe more than 400 million people.”

Gone are the days when America and Europe imported cheap goods from China, because of cheap labor and raw materials there.

“If we were smart in this country, we’d be developing an aggressive export strategy that would involve every state and every town; every corner of the country would make something different, and we would take advantage of the growing export markets,” Huntsman said.

In particular, he cited opportunities in the energy market, including new technologies in solar and sustainable sources, because of China’s growing pollution challenges.

Huntsman is not suggesting that U.S. shouldn’t be firm in expecting China to “play by the rules” of international trade, including what it has committed under the World Trade Organization.

Predictions about this week’s state visit

Expected topics for discussion between Obama and Xi include cybersecurity, the state of the South China Sea and the environment.

Patrick O’Meara, left, with Huntsman.

Huntsman believes media reports that the two countries will reach some accord on cybersecurity issues are accurate. Media reports indicate that the two sides are trying to address cyber attacks on power stations, cellphone networks and healthcare.

He also believes that there may be “new understanding” regarding the South China Sea and its islands, “perhaps moving toward a code of conduct.”

China also is expected to provide an update on its plans to address climate change, looking ahead to 2030, when it is expected to reach peak emissions.

Looking at the current state of affairs in a crowded Republican field, Huntsman remains optimistic that the campaign eventually will become more substantive.

“With that many candidates, it’s either a race to the bottom or a race to the top and I can’t figure out where we’re going right now, but it seems like we’ve had one big race to the bottom,” he said.

“To some extent, that’s not totally a surprise, because you’re playing to the earlier organizers and activists, who make up maybe a third of the Republican Party,” he added. “My hope is that eventually, with this many people in the race, you begin to have a naturally winnowing out and then a race to the top around real ideas.”

Huntsman had much more to say during his lecture, “U.S. and China: Challenges and Opportunities,” which you can watch in its entirety online at broadcast.iu.edu.

The Office of the Vice President for International Affairs hosted Huntsman and presented the O’Meara Lecture.

Later this year, the United Nations will assemble the Climate Change Conference, with a goal of reaching a comprehensive and binding agreement on climate change policy. Stephen Macekura, assistant professor of international studies at the Indiana University School of Global and International Studies, warns that the problems that have halted agreement in the past are likely to crop up again when the U.N. meets in Paris in late November.

Macekura has analyzed the history of the global sustainable development movement and has just published a new book, “Of Limits and Growth: The Rise of Global Sustainable Development in the Twentieth Century” (Cambridge University Press).

It documents the rise of the environmental movement and the coining of the term “sustainable development.” Macekura found that the term grew out of environmental activist interactions with the countries of the “Global South,” the developing countries of the world, who were not as concerned with environmental protection, given their need to address issues of poverty and other needs.

“There was a widespread sense among these countries in the 1960s and 1970s that environmental protection was imperialism by another name,” Macekura said. “And what you heard again and again — and this came up at the first-ever U.N. conference on environmental issues in 1972 — was that environmental protection was a rich man’s game, something countries did once they had reached a level of wealth and development. So setting aside national parks or worrying about air and water pollution was something you did only if you had the money necessary to do those sorts of things and had all the amenities of modern life.”

Sustainable development was a term, Macekura found, that environmentalists used as a recognition that for protection to happen, the “Global North” or developed countries would have to contribute.

“That’s something that I think has been lost in the sustainability discourse and talk that we hear today,” Macekura said. “Sustainability can seem to mean everything and thus nothing. Remembering those long battles between north and south is really necessary to understand the difficulties we’re having in trying to get a climate change agreement.”

In the book, Macekura chronicles the past struggles of western environmental activists, particularly in Africa, from the 1950s to the 1970s. He said the non-governmental agencies learned from their mistakes to determine a way to re-think the relationship between developed and developing countries, shaping policies of the U.S. government, World Bank and the United Nations.

Stephen Macekura

“These activists came to think that the Global South did have a right to development, that the right to development needed to be placed in an ecological context,” Macekura said. “But in order to do so, the costs of promoting environmentally-safe development needed to be borne by the wealthy countries. And in order to fund environmental protection in the Global South, the Global North had to up the ante. I argue that these tensions between environmental protection and economic development very much came to frame the way in which environmental politics writ large played out on the international scene.”

Macekura is a historian, with a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. He joined the IU School of Global and International Studies faculty this fall after serving as a post-doctoral fellow in international security and U.S. foreign policy at the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College. He was previously a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at Virginia and continues to serve as its associate director.

He said his research interests range from traditional international political matters to the more non-traditional aspects surrounding security and politics such as environmental and economic issues. He said the book on sustainable development helped germinate another idea.

“I was very struck in researching this first book just how powerful countries all around the world clung to a single idea throughout the 20^th century,” Macekura said. “That idea is economic growth. Like sustainable development, it’s something we hear all the time, but what few people realize is that the phrase is very new. You’ll find no real references to the phrase ‘economic growth’ before the 1930s.”

He plans to focus his next book on an in-depth dive into the ramifications of pursuing economic growth as measured in gross domestic product throughout the world over the last 70 years.

And the ever-popular “Shark Week” will be back on the Discovery Channel, beginning Sunday.

Last fall, Indiana University Media School researcher Jessica Gall Myrick – recently better known for her study on how cat videos affect our emotions and moods – published research on how clips from “Shark Week” influence our fear of Great Whites and other sharks.

With apologies to the recent shark bite victims, their actual risk to humans is very low. Sharks kill fewer than a half dozen of the countless millions of people who hit the surf each year worldwide.

On the other hand, an estimated 70 million sharks are killed by the fishing industry annually as an accidental bycatch and for shark fin soup.

As a result, many shark species face extinction.

Myrick, an assistant professor in the IU Media School, and her colleague Suzannah D. Evans of the University of North Carolina wanted to find out how messages about sharks influence our feelings about them. Their paper, “Do PSAs Take a Bite Out of ‘Shark Week?’ The Effects of Juxtaposing Environmental Messages with Violent Images of Shark Attacks,” was published in the journal Science Communication in October.

“Shark Week presents a conundrum for environmentalists who aim to protect shark species from extinction,” they wrote. “Shark Week provides access to audiences who are interested in sharks, yet the image of sharks presented by the Discovery Channel emphasizes their potential violence over their declining numbers.”

A content analysis of Shark Week episodes from 2001 to 2012 found that the Discovery Channel relies heavily on presenting images of sharks as violent killers, even after partnering with conservation groups in 2010.

Jessica Gall Myrick

“We found that any type of shark-on-human violence resulted in increased fear and perceived personal threat of a shark attack, even after seeing a PSA stating that shark attacks are rare and humans are the ones killing sharks at a dangerously high rate, forcing many shark species to the brink of extinction,” Myrick said.

“Our brains may know the statistics, but our hearts react strongly to graphic images of shark teeth and blood in the water,” she added.

Myrick and Evans, an IU alumnus, showed 531 people three-minute Shark Week clips of varying levels of shark-on-human violence, followed by one of three commercials. People were asked about the perceived threats of sharks, their intentions to get more information about them and about shark conservation efforts.

They found that viewing a shark conservation PSA did result in higher intentions to seek shark information and to support conservation compared to those who did not see a PSA.

“So, these messages were not entirely ineffective for the conservation groups who run them alongside the ever-popular Shark Week,” Myrick said. “Additionally, we found that feelings of compassion and interest generated by viewing the PSAs were strong predictors of intentions to support shark conservation.”

Their study also found there was no significant impact from using celebrities as spokespersons in conservation organizations’ public service announcements .

“This experiment wasn’t just an academic exercise. The Discovery Channel really does air shark conservation PSAs during Shark Week programming. Our study showed that this practice, while bringing attention to shark conservation, doesn’t necessarily correct or alleviate the public’s fear of sharks and overstated perceptions of their own chances of being attacked,” Myrick said. “More work remains to be done in this area to see how messages can influence public support for conservation.”

Patricia McDougall-Covin, left, director of the Institute for International Business, presents a text to Moe Moe Khaing, head of the management studies department at Yangon University of Economics.

Back in December, we told you about the more than 1,900 books that would soon be on their way to Myanmar (also known as Burma).

Last month, 79 boxes and three tons of textbooks arrived on the library shelves of one of the top universities in that Southeast Asian nation.

These more than 1,900 academic books were collected from faculty in the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, as they were moving from their offices for the Hodge Hall renovation project.

Jonathan Crum, a program manager at the Institute for International Business, said the books left Bloomington for the Yangon University of Economics in mid-April and cleared customs in Myanmar about a month later.

Only recent textbooks were sent, consisting of hand-selected, best-in-class titles for business and economics used in Kelley’s top-ranked classes. The books arrived in time to be available to students for a 20th anniversary celebration of the MBA program at Yangon University of Economics on May 23, and the opening of the new academic year on June 1.

Books arrived in time for a 20th anniversary celebration of the MBA program at Yangon University of Economics.

The books have an estimated value of more than $200,000, but more important is their higher, intangible value to the faculty and students studying Western-style business practices. The education institutions of Myanmar were once the light of Southeast Asia, but fell gravely behind during 50 years of restricted outside access.

This is just one of several initiatives of the Kelley School institute. Since early last year, it has been administering a $1 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development for a project supporting Myanmar’s economic transition and helping micro- to medium-sized business enterprises be more successful.

Administrators from the Yangon University of Economics visited IU Bloomington in January to study how Kelley delivers a quality business education.

The Institute for International Business, the Burmese American Community Institute and IU Bloomington’s Center for Constitutional Democracy recently organized a conference involving business, civil society and academics from the United States and Myanmar.  It took place on May 29 at IUPUI in Indianapolis, home to more than 17,000 people of Myanmar descent.

Indiana University’s School of Global and International Studies hosted its first Distinguished Diplomat in Residence, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, in Bloomington for two weeks in May.

Gareth Evans

I got to know Gareth while serving in government and later serving together on panels on the scope of the “Responsibility to Protect,” the phrase that Minister Evans’ International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty coined in its seminal 2001 report written as a response to the world’s failure to respond to mass atrocities in Rwanda and Srebrenica.

Gareth’s contributions to the development of international law began in earnest in the pivotal role he played in bringing the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention to conclusion.

The Chemical Weapons Convention was a landmark agreement because it extended the reach of international arms control agreements not just to actions between states, but to regulating how states treat people within their own borders.

Gareth continued to build on that work with the development of the Responsibility to Protect, which is based on the idea that sovereignty entails not just rights but also responsibilities.

On campus, we re-engaged in the debate on the Responsibility to Protect, joined by Rep. Lee Hamilton, SGIS distinguished professor of practice, who was also a member of that historic committee, to talk about the current state of efforts to stop and prevent mass atrocities.

These activities included a conference sponsored by the Center on American and Global Security and co-organized by Sumit Ganguly, the center’s director and a professor of political science, and Timothy Waters, a professor in the IU Maurer School of Law. Scholars joined us from as far away as Brazil and Ukraine, and from universities across the United States, to give global perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect.

We kept Gareth busy during his time on campus. He taught an intensive seminar on International Security Policymaking in Practice for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students.

Gareth saw the best of IU and Bloomington.

At the invitation of Director Heidi Ross, Gareth attended an event hosted by the Pan Asia Institute, which is a joint collaboration between IU and the Australian National University, where Gareth has served as chancellor since 2010.

Left to right, Cody Zeller, Gareth Evans, Lee Feinstein and his son, Jack.

He addressed the Institute for Curriculum and Campus Internationalization, organized by Hilary Kahn, SGIS assistant dean and director of the Center on Global Change, and outlined essential elements of international education. He also spoke personally about how overseas travel affected his career trajectory. Last week, he wrote about it for Project Syndicate on his way back from Bloomington.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie hosted a dinner for Gareth at Wells House, as did IU Maurer School of Law Dean Austen Parrish and SGIS Associate Dean Nick Cullather.

Gareth became part of this city’s cycling community and visited campus landmarks such as the Benton murals and the IU Art Museum designed by his longtime friend and renowned architect, I.M. Pei.

He watched as the IU Hoosiers baseball team beat Ohio State during their final home stand (on their way to the NCAA tourney), sitting with Hoosier and NBA basketball star Cody Zeller and my son Jack, and hosted by Bloomington stalwart and friend Ron Remak.

“I’ve enjoyed enormously my time on the Bloomington campus. IU’s got a great international reputation, but I hadn’t quite been prepared for just how delightful a physical environment this place is,” Gareth told us. “Students are great; faculty are great. If I get half a chance, I’ll certainly be back.”

Gareth will be a tough act to follow, but his residency here sets the standard for the kind of scholar-practitioner we hope to bring to campus each year.

Special thanks to those who made Gareth’s trip successful, including Jen Goins, Danielle Magid, Amanda McKinney, Rebecca Kemp and Diane Jung from the president’s events team.

More than 175 alumni and friends attended the IU Asian-Pacific Alumni Conference.

According to Google, the distance between Bloomington, Ind., and Jakarta, Indonesia is about 10,000 miles. But should Hoosiers find themselves in the world’s fourth most populous country, Indiana University is well represented through its alumni and an official alumni chapter.

A series of major activities there recently, including a historic reunion in Bali, furthered IU’s already strong connections across Southeast Asia.

Shortly after becoming IU’s 18th president, Michael McRobbie directed that an international strategic plan be prepared and has since taken many steps to ensure that IU continues to be a leader in international education.

2015 IU Asian-Pacific Alumni Conference

McRobbie returned to Indonesia for the 2015 IU Asian-Pacific Alumni Conference May 22-24 in Bali, joining more than 200 university alumni and friends who traveled there from China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Singapore, the Philippines and other nations.

IU President Michael McRobbie, left, applauds Asma Ismail.

He led an IU delegation that included deans from IU’s Kelley School of Business, School of Global and International Studies, the School of Education, the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the College of Arts and Sciences.

McRobbie last visited Indonesia in 2012 as part of a trip to Southeast Asia. IU has 975 active alumni associated with Indonesia and an alumni chapter in the nation’s capital, Jakarta.

Deans led six panels discussions on a variety of topics, featuring successful IU alumni.

IU’s first lady, Laurie Burns McRobbie, moderated a panel discussion on global leadership through women’s empowerment. Panelists included women who today are the deputy governor of Bangkok, Thailand; someone who oversees financial services policy and regulation in Indonesia; and one of the founding members of the Global Compact of the United Nations.

“The spirit of IU may seem like it is thousands of miles away, but it also right here in this room today, with you, some of our most dedicated alumni from the Asia-Pacific region,” McRobbie told conference attendees on May 23. “You are part of the spirit of Indiana University and your successes are the university’s successes.”

Ibu Nurhaida receiving the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion.

Among those successful alumni are two women who received Thomas Hart Benton Medallions in Bali for their records of public service and advancements for other women in traditional male-oriented societies.

Asma Ismail earned a master’s degree in microbiology from IU and today serves a Malaysia’s director general of higher education — the first woman to hold the position. Ibu Nurhaida earned an MBA from the Kelley School of Business and since 2011 has chaired the agency in the Indonesian Ministry of Finance overseeing capital markets and financial institutions — also the first woman to hold the post.

The medal is given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of IU.

McRobbie speaks to leaders of Indonesia’s universities

On Thursday, President McRobbie delivered the keynote address at the Symposium on Establishment of the Field of Higher Education Leadership and Management in Bogor, Indonesia. The symposium was held concurrently with a meeting of the Indonesian Council of State Rectors.

The topic of McRobbie’s speech was “Higher Education Leadership and Management: Leading for Change — Innovation and Research.”

IU leads the Indiana Alliance, a collaboration among three U.S. Midwest universities, including Ohio State University and the University of Illinois, with strong graduate programs in higher education leadership and management.

The alliance works with the Higher Education Leadership and Management, a U.S. Agency for International Development project. HELM works with the Indonesian government to support the implementation of higher education reforms and strengthen leadership and management across 50 higher education institutions in Indonesia.

IU has partnership agreements with Indonesia’s four top-ranked universities and will work with each of them to develop programs over the next five years.

Visiting Jakarta and the Indonesian Stock Exchange

McRobbie closed his week in Indonesia with visits to the Indonesian Stock Exchange, where he opened Friday’s trading, and meetings with officials in the Ministry of Education and with U.S. ambassador to Indonesia Robert Blake.

The IU delegation opened the Indonesian Stock Exchange.

IU has a decades-long history of working with universities in Indonesia. The university’s ties to Indonesia go back to the late 1950s, when IU’s 11th president, Herman B Wells, made a formal visit.

In 2014, IU had 8,684 international students and 110 Indonesian students. In fall 2015, IU will welcome the first Indonesian Ph.D. student in the field of higher education leadership and management. Two more Ph.D. students have been admitted for next year.

IU is one of the nation’s premier centers for foreign language instruction, with more than 70 languages taught on a regular basis. This year IU has begun offering Bahasa Indonesian. In April, eight leaders in higher education leadership and management programs from Indonesia visited IU for training focusing on distance and e-learning.

Efforts to bring IU to the world and the world to IU enhance the global fluency of students and diversify its campuses. The IU flag flies everywhere because of an ever-growing number of international alumni.

As history and even recent events would suggest, both are complex issues for the Southeast Asian country, which since becoming an independent country in 1948 has experienced ethnic strife and civil conflict.

For more than 50 years, Burma — renamed Myanmar in 1989 — was closed off from the West due to rule by a military regime that was responsible for alleged human rights violations.

Aung San Suu Kyi, center

Among the presenters at the U.S.-Myanmar Engagement Conference, held at the IUPUI Campus Center, was Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent many years under house arrest for defying Myanmar’s military junta.

Today, Suu Kyi serves in the lower house of the nation’s parliament and is preparing for national elections this fall. As leader of the National League for Democracy, she hopes to run for the presidency at that time.

The Oxford-trained democracy fighter spoke for about nine minutes via a video message she sent to the organizers of the conference.

Among those attending the conference was U Kyaw Tin, permanent United Nations representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, who also spoke.

The Center for International Business Education and Research, part of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and the Center for Constitutional Democracy in the IU Maurer School of Law co-hosted the conference with the Burmese American Community Institute. Also participating was IU’s Pan Asia Institute.

Calls for further democratic reforms ahead of 2015 elections

“It is always a pleasure for me to address fellow Burmese overseas, because although they are no longer living in our country, I feel very much they’re still a part of us and that they would like to do everything they can — not just to maintain their ties with our country but to help us to develop in the best possible way,” Suu Kyi said during her introduction.

“We are now at an important point in the history of our country. The next few months will decide whether we’re going forward to democratic governance and genuine economic development, or whether we’re going to stagnate in a façade of democratic rule that is in fact not much better than an authoritarian administration.”

Suu Kyi addressed a number of critically important issues, particularly the need for constitutional reform as part of fundamental and shared policy.

“We have always put a lot of emphasis on political development because that has been lacking sadly in our country for the last few decades. And because of the lack of political development, we have not been able to develop economically either,” she said. “I think that good, sound, honest politics lies at the foundation of good, sound economy.”

If Myanmar does not have rule of law or a government that is transparent and accountable, which “manages to gain the confidence of the people,” it will never fully benefit its citizens, she said.

Suu Kyi disagreed with those who like to measure progress by overall economic growth and questioned the benefits of reforms offered by the present government. Development has to mean a better life for the great majority of the Burmese people and “not just for a small, privileged elite.”

“I fear that this is where we seem to be headed at the moment,” she said. “All the economic reforms that some people have tried to focus on have done more to help the already privileged, rather than to help those who are suffering from poverty, who are suffering from the ill effects of an authoritarian regime that was in place in our country for half a century.”

From 1962 to 2011, the country was ruled by the military, and in 2008 a new constitution was put in place. Although it allowed for more public participation, a quarter of seats in all parliaments — including state and regional legislatures — were reserved for the military. Serving generals hold three key national ministry posts.

The conference took place at IUPUI.

Suu Kyi called for further, more democratic constitutional reforms before this fall’s national elections.

“If we have to start with reform anywhere, it should be with constitutional reform,” she said. “The 2008 constitution, under which the elections of 2010 were held and under which the elections of this year are going to be held too, was not drawn up with a practicing democracy in mind.

“It was drawn up with the intention of preserving the status quo as far as possible, while making the minimum concession to the democratic demands. Because of that, our people under this constitution are not in a position to exercise full authority over the government.”

She expressed doubts for meaningful reform as long as the military maintains its control over the process.

“They have the right of veto over amendments to essential parts of the constitution. If the elections this year are to be free and fair, the constitution has to be amended in a way that will give the people full right to choose the kind of government they wish to see in their country,” Suu Kyi said.

Economic reforms can happen only with free and fair elections

“Economic reforms can be fair, only if the elections this year are free and fair. ‘Free’ and ‘fair’ are two very short and very simple words, but they cover adequately all that we need for our elections; not just free elections but fair elections, which means a level playing ground, which means a constitution that will allow our people to choose the kind of representatives they want — freely and without intervention from any privileged group.”

She also noted that the results of the 2015 elections and the will of the people “must be respected” and “implemented.” If these conditions are met, she said, economic development that will benefit everyone — including Burmese Americans who invest in their native country — should follow.

“Investments can be safe only if there is stability and peace within a country,” she reminded the audience.

Some in the audience had hoped that Suu Kyi would say more about the National League for Democracy’s forthcoming economic policy paper in advance of the fall election. But she did offer assurances about contracts signed by U.S. investors with the current government.

“Concerns have been expressed that an NLD government would not honor contracts signed with this present government. I would like to make it quite clear that the NLD believes in the rule of law and all contracts that have been signed in the right way and in accordance with best practices will be honored,” she said.

“We do not want people to feel insecure in Burma. Our people must first feel secure and all those who are participating in the development process of our country — whether they be businessmen, whether they simply be friends of Burma — I want all of them also to feel secure.”

Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador also speaks

Following Suu Kyi’s remarks, U Kyaw Tin, permanent United Nations representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the morning’s keynote speaker, reviewed his country’s recent history of engagement with the United States.

U Kyaw Tin

Tin said that since 2011 his country has “peacefully shifted” from a military government and embraced a multiparty system.

“It would be wrong to argue that nothing has changed in Myanmar or that there are signs of backsliding. Myanmar has reached to the point of no return. There will be no turning back,” he said. “The truth is Myanmar is traveling on the path to democratic transition, confronting inevitable challenges.

“There are some remaining human rights challenges,” he said. “As a government, Myanmar is fully committed to move on with the democratization process. We feel that U.S. policy should continue to focus on fully supporting Myanmar’s effort for transition to ensure sustainability in the run-up to the fall election and beyond.

After saying that his country has successfully made “many successful benchmarks in a very short time,” Tin acknowledged that reforms for greater freedoms of the press, assembly and association remain.

“Some observers still question us, ‘are the reforms real?’ … The scope and pace of Myanmar’s transformation was viewed very differently by different observers, who have different interests. Some say too slow; some say too fast,” he said. “If you compare with our own recent past, the changes that you see are amazingly fast.

“Myanmar needs time to adjust to new policies, new freedoms,” he added.

Elaisa Vahnie, executive director of the Burmese American Community Institute, who left Myanmar when he was 20, said he sees an opportunity to move forward as a result of initiatives by President Thein Sein.

“We must move forward to a solution of national reconciliation and sustained peace,” said Vahnie, an IU alumnus. “To be able to do so, it is important for us to engage, contribute and effect positively to the ongoing ceasefire negotiations as part of the peace process — the proposed political dialogue and particularly the need for constitutional reform and the 2015 elections as they are critically important to the future of the people of Burma.”

Over the last two decades, many people have stepped forward, identifying themselves as “social entrepreneurs,” and passionately sought to change the world through businesses which address a social problem.

Charles Leadbeater, an advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, coined the term back in the late 1990s. While not an entirely new concept, it has become popular — and profitable — to mix business with social movements.

It’s also a notion that has caught on with many young people, including students at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. The school’s Initiatives for Social Impact program has offered many opportunities for students to learn about micro-finance, fair trade and use of business knowledge by aid organizations.

As a result, many Kelley School students have applied what they are learning in the classroom in places such as the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Kenya, India and soon in Vietnam.

However, a recent project focuses on economic needs here in Indiana.

Fund emerges from course

The Hoosier Social Impact Fund emerged from an experimental course first taught last spring by two professors in the Kelley School. Tim Lemper, a clinical professor of business law, and Keith Dayton, a senior lecturer in management and MBA Core coordinator, worked with 27 students to develop the community development financial institution.

Students enrolled in the spring 2014 class

“What we wanted to do was more of a clinical task-driven model,” Lemper said. “Before starting any organization, there are basic legal and organizational steps that you have to take. We had that as our checklist of things to begin with. But beyond that, we actually let the students discuss and come up with an organizational structure and we had discussions to identify what individual steps and tasks had to be accomplished and in what order.

“The students prioritized,” he added. “As they identified each next task that had to be completed, part of completing that task was going out and finding the resources. They had to do their own research … They learned as they went.”

For example, students did the research about to form a not-for-profit organization in Indiana and how to get tax-exempt status from the IRS. Lemper and Dayton provided guidance, but the effort was student-driven.

Much more than small loans

Unlike a micro-finance initiative, the Hoosier Social Impact Fund goes further than simply making small loans.

Essentially, it is a community loan fund that provides capital to local small businesses that are under-served by existing financial institutions. Loans are coupled with business consulting to help the loan recipients maximize their potential as business owners. It also provides a bridge for clients to acquire additional capital and information about how to build up their credit scores.

Last year, students created the organization, including choosing its name, determining a target market, building its web site and developing loan policies. This year, students continued to work with people from Monroe and surrounding counties who have good business ideas but few options other than borrowing from family members or friends.

Unlike micro-finance programs abroad, through the Hoosier Social Impact Fund students get an opportunity to work with clients throughout the entire process, applying the theoretical knowledge they receive in the classroom.

Henry Andrew left, accepts HSIF’s first loan, from Hillary Nolting.

“We have the ability to fit into a niche that isn’t being fulfilled,” Dayton said. “These (local) bankers turn away individuals who they want to help … If we can do something with the great talent of Indiana University students and help these budding businesses get bank-ready and contribute back to the economy, it’s a real positive thing.”

Last May, the IU Credit Union became the fund’s first donor and, a month later, the first loan was made to Henry Holsters LLC, a local manufacturer of safety equipment for police and military personnel. A couple of IU alumni own the business, located in Solsberry, Ind.

In October, the Hoosier Social Impact Fund was approved by the federal government as a 501 (c) 3 organization and is accepting donations in order to make other loans and to operate. The program also is working towards being an affiliate of Lend for America, a national organization that helps college students involved with campus micro-finance institutions.

Student interest continues to grow

More than $20,000 has been raised so far and 33 students were enrolled in Lemper and Dayton’s class this spring. Alumni from last year’s class — including those who today work for Bain Consulting, PWC and public sector consulting firms — remained involved, providing supervision and project management.

This week, the Hoosier Social Impact Fund became one of several organizations at IU to receive support from the 2015-16 Women’s Philanthropy Leadership Council. The council awarded $10,000 to the Kelley School of Business partnership with the Hoosier Social Impact Fund.

Students this year helped Henry Holsters with a potential patent issue and business insurance questions. They also provided consulting, or as Lemper puts it, “problem-solving,” advice to other area businesses, including popular food truck vendor Big Cheeze.

Thomas Weber, now a Teach for America fellow in Hawaii and soon a student at Harvard Law School, leads a class presentation.

The class is expected to continue next spring as part of Kelley’s management and consulting experiential learning offerings, including an internship program.

Importance of being local

While working in developing areas of the world can be exciting, Dayton said it also is important that students recognize that they can have a positive impact on the communities where they will live and work after graduation.

“We’ve actually had a lot of individuals say to us, ‘stay domestic,'” he said. “The economic framework in this community, in this region, needs assistance as well. That’s not to displace the passion that you would have for going to Ghana or somewhere — that’s not it. But there a lot of things that we can do here that can support an economy and make it a culture that gets support from Indiana University students.”

The story isn’t just a feel-good tale. In addition to going to work for Procter & Gamble, Deloitte, General Motors and Target, students are interested in becoming the next CEOs of the United Way, Global Mamas and similar organizations. Kelley students have interned for Charlie Hammerman, president and CEO of the Disability Opportunity Fund; another student has been a Lend for America fellow.

Where will this “business with a purpose” project go? I will be sure to keep you posted.

Yong-Yeol (Y.Y.) Ahn, an assistant professor in Indiana University’s School of Informatics and Computing, has made a name for himself developing mathematical and computational methods to understand complex systems such as cells, the brain, society and culture.

Some of his most well-known projects include tracking the national mood with Twitter and creating a method to forecast information’s potential to “go viral,” a phenomenon often regarded as impossible to predict despite its tremendous value to companies and nonprofits trying to raise awareness about their products and causes. His work has been featured in Scientific American, MIT Technology Review and The New York Times.

Azadeh Nematzadeh, Michael Conover, Jaehyuk Park, Yong-Yeol (Y.Y.) Ahn, Yizhi Jing and Ian Wood at the LinkedIn Headquarters.

Now, Ahn’s expertise has taken him to the heart of Silicon Valley as a winner of the LinkedIn’s Economic Graph Challenge, a contest from the business networking giant launched last year to uncover new uses for the company’s vast trove of information on professional and business connections across the globe. The award includes $25,000 as well as access to some of this data.

As one of 11 teams selected for the prize, Ahn and four IU Ph.D. students – Yizhi Jing, Azadeh Nematzadeh, Jaehyuk Park and Ian Wood – traveled to LinkedIn’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., on May 11 for a two-day orientation session, during which they received a tour of the headquarters and met with their mentor, Michael Conover, an IU Bloomington alum and LinkedIn engineer who will devote his professional time to collaborating with the IU team on their project.

As befits an event at a business networking company, the IU team also got the chance to meet with LinkedIn employees and members of other winning teams, who were selected from a pool of over 200 applicants across the world.

The IU team’s project aims to understand the “macro-evolution” of industries, helping professionals adapt to an ever-changing economic landscape. “Our goal is to predict large-scale evolutions of industries and emerging skills, allowing us to forecast economic trends and guide professionals towards promising future career paths,” said Ahn in a synopsis of the project. “We will analyze the flow of professionals between companies to identify emerging industries and associated skills.”

Anticipation over the contest’s potential is clear from LinkedIn’s contribution of company resources to the project as well as coverage in media outlets such as re/code, an influential technology news site. According to LinkedIn’s vice president of engineering, Igor Perisic, the company expanded the number of funded projects from three to 11 due to their excitement over the ideas proposed.

“We were blown away by the quality and quantity of submissions, and were excited by the strong desire of the community to address some of the most pressing economic issues of our times,” he said in the company’s blog. “Each team submitted a compelling proposal to utilize LinkedIn data to create economic opportunity… Their results could potentially positively impact millions of people.”

LinkedIn hopes the project will also generate new peer-reviewed academic research or even go on for potential development as new online services from the company, according to a spokesperson.

After their departure from Mountain View, the IU researchers’ real work will begin. Everyone’s eager to see what they come up with next.

In addition to the LinkedIn challenge, Ahn is also the recipient of a Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship, which recognizes emerging leaders in computer science with exceptional talent for research and innovation.

Among them was Anton Vincent, a 1993 MBA graduate of the IU Kelley School of Business, who today is president of the snacks division of General Mills. He spoke Friday morning to graduates of Kelley’s residential full-time MBA program and their families.

You’ll appreciate Vincent from his work with popular snack brands such as Nature Valley granola bars, Betty Crocker fruit-flavored snacks and something you’ll find at most parties, Chex Mix.

Before sharing what Vincent said in his remarks at the IU Auditorium, here’s his inspirational personal story. A native of Jackson, Miss., Vincent played basketball at Sam Houston State University, which won the 1986 Gulf Star Conference championship and finished the year ranked No. 2 among NCAA Division II programs.

But as Vincent acknowledged in his remarks Friday, being a college basketball star was a liability when he began applying to MBA programs a few years after earning his undergraduate degree from SHSU in 1987.

One of three people Vincent remains thankful to today is someone “near and dear” to his heart, Patricia W. Mulholland, retired admissions director of Kelley’s MBA Program.

“Pat gave people like me a chance,” Vincent said. “I was a student-athlete in college. Between travel and training and the rigors of trying to play sports and to do well with academics, I did not live up to my full academic potential.

Anton Vincent

“I knew this and when I made a decision to attempt to enroll in business schools, I encountered some difficulty. When I came to IU, I told Pat that if she gave me a chance I would never let her down. That has been my single focus in my professional career. So wherever Pat is, thank you Pat. Anton’s doing OK.”

Vincent was a student leader at Kelley, serving as president of the Black MBA Association and a member of the MBAA President’s Council.

A success both inside and outside the executive suite

Since graduating from Kelley, Vincent has received many awards and accolades, including Diversity MBA Magazine’s “Top 50 Under 50” in 2006, Black Enterprise‘s Top 100 in Marketing & Advertising in 2011 and Savoy Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential African Americans in Corporate America in 2014. He was inducted into the IU Kelley School’s Academy of Alumni Fellows in 2012 and serves on the school’s Dean’s Council.

Vincent also is one of more than 80 Kelley graduates now in the professional ranks at General Mills, including three who serve on the company’s operating committee.

In her remarks introducing Vincent, Dean Idalene Kesner noted his extensive professional career. “But just as important as his career, is his passion for positive change,” she said.

Vincent is a founding member of the Black Champions Network at General Mills. He has served on numerous boards and philanthropic campaigns. Recently, he founded The Moxie Project, an endeavor built around the same concepts of athletic development for African American teen boys – except that this training is to build strong business leadership.

Advice for the Class of 2015

In his speech, Vincent engagingly encouraged graduates to be provide “differential leadership” in a world that is “volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous and, in some cases, dangerous.” He asked, “Who will you be as a 21st century leader?”

Vincent spoke to graduates Friday at the IU Auditorium.

“Where is America today? Is America in the process of reinventing itself; of reimagining how we live, how we organize and how we co-exist peacefully around the world? If you believe we are, then your role will be to help rehabilitate, to restore, to reorganize, to repair. For all intents and purposes, this graduation finds you at the precipice of America’s third reconstruction,” he said.

“This reconstruction will find America testing its original premise, repositioning its global leadership and defining the new ideal for the great American melting pot and the concept of capitalism,” he said. “This reconstruction will not be characterized by rights or by more fully codifying laws that force society to live up to the principles of its founding fathers. This will be a reconstruction like no other.”

He offered “five tenets of leadership reconstruction:”

• Reorient your leadership philosophy (“Scale your innovation. Blend your creativity with discipline and out-execute in your marketplace.”
• Fail, refail and engage your imperfection (“I implore you not to judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you sow. Never be afraid to be right.”);
• Reach out with respect and humility;
• Recommit to getting to yes (“It takes commitment to appreciate your partner or opponent’s needs. In the intimate dance of influence, you have to be singularly focused on joint outcomes. They are stronger. They are more long lasting and they are more fulfilling.”)
• Relearn (“Differential leaders keep an abiding thirst for discovery, are open to change and often are the first to unearth new insight that leads to new ideas that generate new and different action.”)

“You are re-entering an incredible global economy at a fantastically critical time. Our world, our institutions, our way of life is changing in profound and dramatic and exciting ways. Many significant rules … are being rewritten right before our eyes,” he said.

In closing, he hopes he has been an example for others. “My name is Anton Vincent and I am a Kelley.”

The MBA Graduate Recognition Ceremony is just one of several ceremonies celebrating the accomplishments of the IU Class of 2015. IU Commencement, featuring remarks by IU alumna and ESPN sportscaster Sage Steele, and other recognition ceremonies for Kelley and other schools can be watched in their entirety online at broadcast.iu.edu.

Burger King looms over this market scene in Istanbul, demonstrating the linguistic intersections between the English and Turkish languages.

While English may be the common language between speakers whose native languages are different, a lot can be lost in translation, which can lead to misunderstanding and mistrust.

That’s why the extensive programs at Indiana University to educate students about critical languages are so vital. For decades, the university has been an international leader in regional and area studies and more than 70 languages are taught regularly at the Bloomington campus.

More than 4,800 students at IU Bloomington are enrolled in language courses (as are  another 1,600 students at IUPUI).

This week, the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Languages Program recognized IU by awarding 14 scholarships to students, who will spend seven to 10 weeks in intensive language institutes this summer.

The institutes are located in 13 countries, where students will immerse themselves in studying Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish or Urdu.

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to dramatically expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. It provides fully-funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences.

Lee Feinstein

Lee Feinstein, dean of the School of Global and International Studies at IU Bloomington, has a special perspective of the program. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Poland from 2009 to 2012 and was principal deputy director of policy planning to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and national security director to former former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign.

“My own experience in and out of government service has made clear how important general language competence is to a successful career in international affairs,” Feinstein said. “This is why we are especially proud to receive this recognition from the State Department.”

Program participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers. The CLS Program is administered by American Councils for International Education.

This year, students receiving the CLS Program scholarships and their languages and destinations are:

• John McHugh, Chinese, Suzhou, China
• Haily Merritt, Turkish, Ankara, Turkey
• Kaitlyn Hockerman, Turkish, Bursa, Turkey
• Amanda Stephens, Hindi, Jaipur, India
• Brandon Miliate, Bangla, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Marissa Smit, Persian, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
• Casey Vaughn, Turkish, Ankara, Turkey
• Melisa Frost, Persian, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
• Kristen Cherry, Arabic, Ibri, Oman
• Alyssa Meyer, Azerbaijani, Baku, Azerbaijan
• Keely Bakken, Russian, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
• Anthony Ross, Korean, Gwangju, South Korea
• Jade Powers, Bangla, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Since 2006, 80 students in IU’s College of Arts and Sciences, Jacobs School of Music, Kelley School of Business and School of Public Health-Bloomington have been selected for the CLS Program.

This week, IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel announced that her office also is awarding critical language scholarships to Margarethe Louise Kessler McDonald, who is majoring in linguistics, and to Caroline Elise Stokes, who is studying Central Eurasian Studies and international studies.

This summer, construction will be completed on a new state-of-the-art $56 million building for IU’s School of Global and International Studies, which will bring the university’s language programs under one roof. They will include federally funded Language Flagship programs in Chinese, Turkish and Swahili, and National Language Resource Centers in African and Central Asian languages.

At the heart of a top business school are entrepreneurship programs, which prepare students to look ahead and learn how they can venture out on their own, and also how to create forward-thinking, innovative opportunities within large established companies.

Scott Dorsey

For many years, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business has had one of the top entrepreneurship programs, as evidenced by the accolades it has received from venture capitalists, fellow academics and business publications.

For example, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune magazines consistently have ranked Kelley’s entrepreneurship program No. 1 among public universities.

One the Kelley School’s many successful disciples, Scott Dorsey, co-founder and former chief executive officer of ExactTarget, is returning this Friday and will be the featured speaker during this year’s IU Entrepreneurial Connection Day activities.

Dorsey will speak at 1 p.m. in room 1006 of Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center, 1309 E. 10th St. The program is sponsored by the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required.

An alumni and student networking session will immediately follow the keynote address.

Past speakers have included an airline CEO, serial entrepreneurs

Previous speakers at the event have included Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, Vera Bradley co-founder Patricia Miller, serial entrepreneurs Scott Jones and Mark Albion, SRC Holdings CEO Jack Stack and IBJ Corp. Chairman Mickey Maurer.

Dorsey, a 1989 graduate, co-founded ExactTarget and led the marketing technology leader from start-up to initial public offering to its $2.7 billion acquisition by Salesforce.com in 2013.

Under Dorsey’s leadership as chairman and CEO, ExactTarget expanded to five continents, evolved from a single product to a multi-product platform and successfully completed one of the largest software-as-a-service initial public offerings on the New York Stock Exchange.

After the acquisition, Dorsey led the newly created Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud – a global team of nearly 3,000 employees and products that included ExactTarget, Buddy Media, Radian6 and Social.com.

Earlier this year, Dorsey was appointed chairman of the board of directors of TinderBox, a leader in sales productivity technologies.

On Tuesday, Dorsey launched Nextech, a nonprofit focused on developing the next generation of high-tech talent through education programs, workforce development and corporate partnerships.

He is a recipient of numerous accolades for leadership and was Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, American Business Awards Executive of the Year, Indiana Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year and a TechPoint Trailblazer in Technology. Other honors include being named to BtoB Magazine’s Who’s Who List and the Central Indiana Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame.

He also serves on a number of non-profit boards, including as chairman of both the Indiana Sports Corp. and the ExactTarget Foundation and as a board and executive committee member of Techpoint. At IU, he is on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the IU School of Informatics and Computing.

BEST competition identifies new business start-ups

Working with faculty at the School of Informatics and Computing and the Kelley School, Dorsey is helping guide the next generation of entrepreneurs. Four years ago, he helped create the Building Entrepreneurs in Software and Technology competition at IU, better known as BEST.

IU grad, BEST co-creator and judge Scott Dorsey, left, looks over a prototype fan offered by team Airzz CEO Boaz Melnik during BEST competition presentations.

The competition provides a platform for potential entrepreneurs to meet with a group of investors with a total of $250,000 on the line, including $100,000 to the entrepreneur with the best idea.

“Hopefully it’s a turbo-booster to give them more passion around the idea they want to pursue,” Dorsey said earlier this year. “These are young people who have big dreams and want help and guidance to avoid mistakes and get some velocity.”

Winners of this year’s BEST competition are expected to be announced soon.

Donald F. Kuratko, executive and academic director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship, said it is appropriate to have someone such as Dorsey return and speak to students.

“Scott Dorsey’s entrepreneurial journey is a classic story of creative insight, persistence, and hard work. The very attributes we want our young, aspiring entrepreneurs to emulate,” Kuratko said. “I am extremely excited to have Scott speak to our students because he exemplifies the slogan of the Kelley School, ‘from moment to momentum.’”

Following the “godfather” of entrepreneurial education

Dorsey will also be the recipient of the William L. Haeberle Entrepreneurial Legacy Award, which is named for the “godfather” of entrepreneurship education at the Kelley School.

Haeberle began teaching at Kelley in 1946 and has been influential in many students’ careers as well as directly involved in more than 50 business start-ups, acquisitions, consulting projects, 21 limited partnerships, 30 trusts and numerous advisory and executive boards.

The award is given only to those who have had an indelible impact on the Indiana entrepreneurship culture.

Someone like Scott Dorsey.

By 2020, 25 billion “connected things” will be in use. Graphic courtesy of Bosch.

It seems like every new device today is connected to the Internet. A report issued last November by Gartner Inc., the leading IT research and advisory company, said 4.9 billion “connected things” will be in use this year.

The same report said that number would rise to 25 billion by 2020.

For years, we have grown familiar with automated teller machines and airline check-in machines, but new and novel ways for incorporating computing and communications technology have emerged.

There’s the refrigerator that soon will be able to tell you when it’s time to replace the milk and other groceries, and the light bulb you can turn on or off from your mobile phone.

In other words, we’ve come a long way from how we used mundane things that did not have a digital presence.

Several players in this trend will be at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business this week to discuss how their companies are using business analytics to better service consumers and reduce costs.

Business analytics is a key strategic initiative for the Kelley School and it shouldn’t be a surprise that several innovators in the field will be participating in the annual forum, which begins Thursday with a software showcase.

Participants reflect the many ways that analytics are being employed

One of the presenters at Business Analytics Forum 2015, Brent Meyers, a Kelley alumnus who is vice president for customer solutions at FedEx, is expected to discuss how his company uses web-connected devices to track the condition of packages all the way through the process until they arrive at their destinations.

David Miller, seated, center, addresses a question related to his talk last year. To his left is Brent Meyers, Brent Meyers, a Kelley alumnus who is vice president for customer solutions at FedEx and one of this year’s presenters.

The theme for the program is “Today’s applications and tomorrow’s vision.”

Another speaker, Michael King, director of enterprise business intelligence at Cummins Inc. is expected to touch on how the global leader in diesel engine makers is looking at how web-connected devices might improve safety.

Terry McFadden, principal enterprise information architect at Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest multinational consumer goods company (and home to many Kelley graduates), will talk about the Internet of Things and Big Data, and the necessary relationship between the two.

Gail Bamford, senior industry marketing manager at SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, will offer perspectives from her more than 25 years of experience in helping leading IT companies develop marketing and sales strategies to address complex problems in government, with a focus on defense and national security agencies.

Other presenters — from companies such as Deloitte Consulting, IBM, 3M, Infosys, Humana and Eli Lilly and Co. — will share expertise in advanced techniques being applied in finance, accounting and marketing, by health care providers, and in government and the military.

More than 100 executives, business researchers, students and others who are on the forefront of applying business analytics in organizations are expected to attend.

The Kelley School’s Institute for Business Analytics presents the event, which in less than three years has a 33-member industry advisory board, including founding partner Deloitte and other supporting partners 3M, SAS, P&G, Allegient, Informatica, IU University Information Technology Services and Protiviti.

Mark Zozulia, a consulting principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP and another IU alumnus

The keynote speaker will be Mark Zozulia, a consulting principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP and an IU alumnus with more than a quarter century of experience in the analytics and data management fields.

Zozulia has successfully structured and delivered complex business analytics and enterprise information management programs for numerous companies across multiple industries.

Not just about generating revenue

Frank Acito, co-director of the Institute for Business Analytics, said it’s a mistake to only believe that this embrace of business analytics is only meant to enhance company revenues.

“The essence of data is that it can reflect a company’s relationship with its customers, which in turn can be used to generate revenue, as well as help better understand costs and manage risk,” said Acito, also professor of marketing and Max Barney Distinguished Teaching Fellow.

Van Noah, the moderator of a panel, “Integrating Cost and Risk Management: The Role of Analytics,” said that in many non-profit, governmental and military contexts quantifying the relationship between risk and costs is often challenging.

“Risk reduction strategies such as adding capacity, increasing inventory and increasing surveillance all add to costs,” said Noah, who is program director at the Institute for Defense and Business. “Analytics can help assess different dimensions of risk to help make decisions that control or reduce those otherwise rising costs.”

This is the third year for the forum, which will open at 5:30 p.m. Thursday with a presentation featuring six leaders in software development — IBM’s Watson Analytics, Tableau 9, Qlik, SAS JMP, SAS Visual Analytics and Informatica. The conference portion will take place from 8:15 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. on Friday in the Godfrey Executive Education Center, 1275 E. 10th St.

Patricia McDougall-Covin

In June, Patricia McDougall-Covin formally will become the second professor at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business to be named a current fellow of the top association of scholars and specialists in international business.

McDougall-Covin, director of the Institute for International Business, a professor of strategic management and the William L. Haeberle Professor of Entrepreneurship, will become a fellow of the Academy of International Business at its meeting in Bangalore, India.

AIB Fellows are recognized for their contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. They choose the organization’s International Executive of Year and its Educator of the Year and organize sessions at its annual meeting each year — often the first plenary panel.

She and her frequent co-author, Benjamin Oviatt, are widely credited with pioneering the growing field of international entrepreneurship, and their research has been honored as having the most significant impact on other scholars.

Their research on rapidly internationalizing young ventures is regarded as having changed the scholarly conversation in international business from a focus on large, established multinational firms to a conversation that includes entrepreneurial firms that are competing internationally.

Since 2011, McDougall-Covin has directed the school’s Institute for International Business, which supports internationalization of Kelley’s academic programs and is engaged in projects in Myanmar, Malaysia and Palestine.

She served as associate dean of the Kelley School from 2004 to 2009 and as chair of its management department from 2000 to 2003.

Kelley colleague Marjorie Lyles became AIB Fellow in 2005

McDougall-Covin joins Marjorie Lyles, professor of international strategic management, the One America Chair in Business Administration and a Chancellor’s Professor at IUPUI, who was inducted in 2005.

Marjorie Lyles

It is a select and prestigious honor. Of the more than 3,200 academy members in 87 countries, only about 80 scholars from around the world today are active AIB Fellows.

“I am honored to be elected as an AIB Fellow,” McDougall-Covin told me. “It is humbling to be recognized as part of the Kelley School’s long-held tradition of thought leadership within the international business scholarly community.”

“This is a group of prominent scholars who are the thought leaders of the future of international business. AIB is an international organization and it is a great honor to be invited to be one of their fellows,” said Lyles, who added, “Congratulations to Trish.”

Both Lyles and McDougall-Covin have served the organization well. In 2012-14, McDougall-Covin served as an AIB vice president and was in charge of the program for its international 2013 conference in Istanbul.

Lyles helped organize the international conference when the Kelley School hosted it in Indianapolis in 2007.

This spring, Lyles will become an eminent international management scholar at this year’s Academy of Management annual meeting. She also is a fellow of the Strategic Management Society and was the first woman to lead that organization since its founding in 1981.

Several other Kelley faculty and alumni also have been so honored

Lyles and McDougall-Covin are the most recent Kelley School faculty to be so recognized by Academy of International Business since its establishment in 1959. Several AIB Fellows who are now deceased were professors or earned their degrees at Kelley.

They include Richard N. Farmer, who died in 1987 and was one of the academy’s earliest and most active members. The former chair of the Kelley School’s international business department served as AIB’s president and one of its major dissertation awards is named in his honor.

Farmer’s creative introductory text, “Business: A Novel Approach (Ten Speed Press, 1984),” rested on my office bookshelf for many years as a useful reference.

Another distinguished AIB Fellow with ties to Kelley was Jeffrey S. Arpan, who was the youngest person to receive a doctoral degree in international business at IU at the age of 24. His dissertation was selected by the Academy of International Business as the best dissertation completed in 1971.

Arpan, who also earned a bachelor’s degree at Kelley, went on to teach at the business school before going on to a distinguished career at the University of South Carolina. He passed away in 2005.

Alan Rugman

Alan M. Rugman, the L. Leslie Waters Chair of International Business from 2001-09, served as AIB’s president in 2004-06. A prolific author of more than 300 articles and books on the economic, managerial and strategic aspects of multinational enterprises, he taught at Oxford, Columbia University, the University of Toronto, Harvard and the Sorbonne before coming to Kelley.

Rugman, who served as an advisor to two Canadian prime ministers, was teaching at the Henley Business School at the University of Reading at the time of his death last year.

Hans Thorelli, whose affiliation with IU began in 1964 at the Harvard-operated IMEDE Institute in Switzerland, chaired Kelley’s marketing department in 1966-69 and became the E.W. Kelley Professor of Business Administration in 1972.

I fondly remember working with Professor Thorelli on releases about his research when I first came to IU in 1990. He remained active for many years and died in 2009 at the age of 88.

Lee C. Nehrt taught at Kelley from 1962 to 1974 and later went on to serve as director of the World Trade Institute in the World Trade Center and as a frequent consultant to the United Nations and World Bank. While at IU, he was a key advisor to Ford Foundation projects in Tunisia and Pakistan. He returned to Bloomington, where he passed away in 2013.

As set out in its constitution, the objectives of the Academy of International Business are to foster education and advance professional standards in the field of international business. It is clear that faculty in the Kelley School have supported that mission and will continue to be the leaders.

From 2007 to 2013, while on leave from IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Man was founding director of the Peking University Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.

Joyce Yanyun Man

An expert in public finance and policy analysis, Man frequently consulted with Chinese high-level officials, including one who wanted to know more about the center’s research about local debt.

Man returned to IU in January 2014 for family reasons, but she hopes to soon replicate her experience with Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center here in Bloomington.

At the beginning of the year, Man, who originally is from Nanjing, China, succeeded Scott Kennedy as director of IU’s Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business, based in IU’s School of Global and International Studies.

Kennedy, who directed the center for eight years, is on a leave of absence from IU and serves as deputy director of the Freeman Chair in China Studies and director of the Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy, both at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Need for a non-partisan research perspectives on China

In looking at the future of the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business, Man is looking to reestablish it as a “university-based” think tank on China.

While many China experts are based in Washington, at places such as the World Bank and the Brookings Institution, she said many Chinese view these organizations as “having a hidden agenda” or “too political.”

“Based on my experience, if a group of scholars gets together and does the research and talks about policy issues, it’s more objective. It’s easier for them to engage with them in conversation … There is no hidden agenda in university-based research,” said Man, who continues to be a professor of economics in Peking University’s College of Urban and Environmental Sciences.

“There’s a space in China for the non-partisan, non-identified academic to have a say on policy issues as long as they can establish themselves as objective,” added Roy Hooper, assistant director of the center.

That was the pattern for Man’s previous project center at Peking University. It focused on apolitical, data-driven, evidence-based faculty research about land and fiscal policy that was seen as being “more objective.” It also provided training for junior faculty members, arranged for visiting international scholars, and provided funding for faculty research and student fellowships.

A broader scope

Political science research will continue to be a part of what the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business offers. But Man intends to broaden its scope and involve more faculty from SGIS, SPEA, the Kelley School of Business, the Media School, the IU Maurer School of Law and the IU School of Education.

Shanghai skyline

Additionally, Faculty from IUPUI will be invited to participate, along with researchers at partner schools in China and scholars at other American universities.

“My vision is for the center to be based upon faculty members’ interests within the IU community,” she said. “But I also think we should go beyond IU, and we’re thinking about inviting some nonresident visiting faculty members to be associated with us.”

IU faculty members already affiliated with the center have indicated that they’d like to focus more on contemporary social issues and policies.

For example, Emily Metzgar, an associate professor in the Media School, studies the pivot between social media and public diplomacy. Ethan Michelson, an associate professor of sociology, East Asian languages and law, researches the legal profession in China.

The center continues to carry out an array of activities and initiatives, including projects on philanthropy in China. It hosts events the new IU China Gateway Office in Beijing, where Man serves as academic director (Take a look at the video below from the dedication ceremony). Fifteen IU faculty members serve as senior associates for the center, along with a 12-member outside advisory board.

This school year and in partnership with the Kelley School’s Institute for International Business, Zhang Xingxiang has been the practitioner-in-residence. Zhang worked for General Electric (China) for the past decade and, before that, with the State Council’s Legislative Affairs Office. An attorney, he was responsible for government affairs and legal issues at GE (China), and most recently led the legal team for the company’s joint venture with the State Power Grid, Yingda International Leasing Co.

The center will wrap up its activities this school year with a series of lectures in April about environmental issues, urban housing and anti-trust law in China and a forum looking at Sino-Russian relations.

The center is organizing a couple of conferences in China this summer, but more about that later.

Barbara Cherry

After months of public and political debate, the Federal Communications Commission voted on Feb. 26 to regulate the Internet in the same way as it does “telecommunications services” under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act.

Many consumers and companies joined President Barack Obama in lauding the decision, saying it will continue to provide equality.

As a result, the FCC is expected to enact new rules that will prevent Internet service providers from manipulating how quickly sites are transmitted along their networks.

Among those proponents was Barbara A. Cherry, professor of telecommunications in The Media School at Indiana University.

“This ruling is critical to the FCC’s legal authority to adopt and enforce the Open Internet Rules established in this order,” she said.

But on March 12, when the FCC released the full text of the 400-page order, Cherry was excited to see how much of an impact her faculty research had on the FCC’s decision.

The FCC’s declaratory ruling frequently cites and relies on the analysis of Cherry and Jon Peha, a professor in the departments of engineering and public policy and of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

This is significant when you consider that more than 4 million comments were filed in this proceeding — the most in the history of the FCC.

Cherry and Peha co-authored an influential paper, “The Telecom Act of 1996 Requires the FCC to Classify Commercial Internet Access as a Telecommunications Service,” which was filed with the FCC in late December. The paper was cited and directly quoted 10 times in the ruling.

Importantly, Cherry and Peha’s analysis integrates technical and legal perspectives to explain how providers offer broadband Internet access services with the commercial and technical functionalities of telecommunications services.

Cherry formerly worked for the FCC as senior counsel in the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. Peha is a former chief technologist for the FCC. Also actively researching the issue have been Julien Mailland, an assistant professor of telecommunications, and Matt Pierce, a lecturer in The Media School who also serves as state representative.

“I think the FCC is doing the right thing,” Cherry told CBS News on the day of the vote. “It’s long overdue, and it needs to be done.”

Like others in favor of net neutrality, Cherry knows that the next step for the issue will be the courts. A crucial moment came when Obama came out with his opinion days after the midterm elections. Republicans in Congress have discussed enacting legislation to reverse the FCC decision but lack the votes that would be needed to overturn a presidential veto.

“I believe that the FCC declaratory ruling will withstand judicial scrutiny. It will be upheld,” she said today.

Today, as the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures in Indiana University’s School of Global and International Studies celebrates its 50th anniversary, there were moments when that milestone seemed less certain.

In 1979, at a time of financial uncertainty, budget cuts and concerns over declining enrollments, Bloomington campus administrators took a long and controversial look at reallocating portions of Near Eastern Languages and Literature into other academic units within the College of Arts and Sciences.

Victor Danner

Kenneth Gros Louis, then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and today university chancellor emeritus, acknowledged the concerns and by the following spring offered a proposal to retain the department, but with a new name and reinvigorated mission.

A new beginning

Through a new Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, would come a broader base of course offerings in history, political science, folklore, comparative literatures and Uralic and Altaic studies. A faculty committee also recommended adding the study of Persian and Turkish.

“The new department is basically a consolidation of resources in the College that deal with the Middle East,” Gros Louis told the Indiana Daily Student in April of 1980. “The proposal does everything I hoped it would. It proposes a method by which this area of study can be strengthened within our existing means.”

At their meeting on Nov. 8, 1980, IU trustees approved the name change. Victor Danner, an associate professor of Near Eastern languages and literatures and of religious studies, five months earlier became the person to chart its future as its new chair.

“We think the move (changes in the department) is very positive and the university, specifically Gros Louis, has been very supportive and optimistic,” Danner said in a May 1980 IDS story announcing his expected appointment.

Another pillar of the department

Today and alongside Wadie Elias Jwaideh, Danner is remembered as another champion for instruction of languages, literatures, religions, history, and cultures of the Arab world and the Middle East at IU.

Born in Mexico, Danner attended Georgetown University after World War II and traveled to Morocco after graduating magna cum laude in 1957. While there, he became director of the American Language Center and became more acquainted with classical Arabic texts.

He returned to the United States in 1964 and graduated with a doctorate from Harvard University six years later. He came to IU in 1967 as a professor of Arabic and religious studies, a position he held until his death in 1990.

Last year, the department launched a new master’s degree track in Egyptology.

An internationally renowned scholar in the fields of Islamic mysticism, comparative religion and classical Arabic literature, Danner led the department for the next five years and — as others recall — was an enthusiastic supporter of the Middle Eastern studies program.

“His dignified bearing, elegant gestures, and verbal eloquence transformed his lectures into performances which had the power to captivate and inspire his students, whether he was discussing Arabic grammar or Islamic theology,” said one of his former students, Lauri King Irani.

“His concern for and encouragement of his students, coupled with his understated sense of humor, earned him a well-deserved reputation as a caring and committed educator who taught not only when behind the classroom lectern, but also by example,” she added.

The public is welcome to attend the 13th annual Victor Danner Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, April 15. Yahya Michot, professor of Islamic Thought and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary and co-editor of The Muslim World journal, will present the lecture. It will begin at 7:15 p.m. in the University Club of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St.

Departmental awards also will be presented at the Danner Lecture.

A vibrant department today

“It’s an exciting time,” said Asma Afsaruddin, current chair and professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures at IU Bloomington. “At a time when some Middle Eastern studies and programs are cutting back, we’ve actually grown.”

Today, the scholarly expertise of the department’s faculty members remains in great demand. Many are also public intellectuals who are often called upon to serve as consultants to governmental and non-governmental agencies, both at home and abroad.

Asma Afsaruddin

Graduates enter careers in academia, foreign service, public and business administration. More than 200 students are enrolled in all levels of Arabic instruction and there are nearly 100 students enrolled in masters and doctoral programs.

It offers a joint MPA/MA degree with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, a dual major PhD degree with the Center for Constitutional Democracy at the IU Maurer School of Law, and last year launched a new master’s degree track in Egyptology.

The size of its faculty also is growing. In the last five years, new full-time professors have been hired in Islamic studies and Egyptology, along with three new tenure-track faculty members in Arabic pedagogy, Israeli Studies and medieval Jewish history.

“The study of the Middle East and of Islam has never been more important and what we do together as a team of specialists on the Middle East has never been more relevant,” Afsaruddin said.

“Now being housed in the School of Global and International Studies also opens up other avenues and opportunities for growth, in ways that maybe we were not able to imagine before,” she added.

“The vision that Dr. Jwaidah had is increasingly being realized. I think he would have been very proud of us today.”

Tech firms, including semiconductor makers, have been involved in a record level of mergers and acquisitions.

According to a report issued last week, 2014 was a record year for mergers and acquisitions activity worldwide in the tech sector. UK-based Mooreland Partners said such M&A deal flows grew by 14 percent and totaled more than $1 trillion.

While “deals of the day” aren’t a new phenomenon, it obviously is more important than ever for business students to understand the decision-making process and strategies behind corporate bids, mergers and acquisitions.

This Friday is Mergers and Acquisitions Day at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. The event gives first-year students in Kelley’s Strategic Finance Academy an opportunity to evaluate an actual proposed merger and present their analysis to executives who were the decision makers.

Coming to Bloomington from Carlsbad, Calif., is Adam Spice, chief financial officer at MaxLinear. Joining him via video conferencing will be Steven Ananias, formerly the senior vice president and CFO of Newport, Calif.-based Mindspeed Technologies.

Little more than a year ago, Mindspeed became the focus of a flurry of takeover rumors, with MaxLinear among the possible bidders. Ultimately, Mindspeed was acquired by Massachusetts-based MACOM, which has several operations in Silicon Valley. Ananias today is chief operating officer of BookingPal.

Adam Spice

Students on Friday will revisit the deal from Spice and Ananias’ perspectives and then explain — and even defend — how they reached their decisions on whether to merge two firms.

“What I’m having students do is look at that deal, not through the lens of hindsight, but in the context of what was known at the time,” said Scott Smart, associate chair of Kelley’s Full-Time MBA Program and the Whirlpool Finance Faculty Fellow. “The purpose of the exercise is to let students wrestle with this fairly complex decision in a business that itself is extremely complex and hard to understand.”

Afterward, the two executives will debrief students on the situation — what factors did they consider and why didn’t the deal work out?

Also involved in the discussion will be Jeff Thermond, a venture partner at Portola Valley, Calif.-based XSeed Capital and a Kelley alumnus. He has extensive experience in high-tech M&A deals.

Jeff Thermond

Before the case presentations, Thermond and Spice will participate in a discussion about ethical dilemmas, discussing real situations they have faced and asking students how they would have reacted.

Company scale and innovation often drive deals

Smart, who directs the academy and who has experience as an M&A consultant, noted that such deals often are driven by two factors, scale and innovation.

For example, semiconductors are costly to produce and involve large fixed costs. It makes sense for firms to merge and improve the costs structure involved in production. In many cases, a larger firm wants to acquire new innovation through acquiring another company.

In the case that Kelley students are examining, both factors come into play.

At many business schools around the country, students work on cases that are older or are found within a textbook. M&A Day is unique in that it takes the case off the printed page and it involves the actual players who were involved.

“Technology is a growing percentage of GDP and yet it’s geographically concentrated in certain pockets of the country,” Smart said. “We’re making sure that we’re connected to what’s going on … This event adds value in the sense of strengthening the connection between the school and the players in this important industry.”

Kelley students learn about M&A activity year-round

While Friday is a big day around the Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center, students in the Strategic Finance Academy are engaged in activities year round.

Scott Smart

They meet with speakers from a wide range of industries and travel to Silicon Valley and other locales for a closer look at the role financial professionals play at Fortune 500 firms. For the rest of the semester, students will be involved in consulting projects on actual problems for multinational and startup companies as well as non-profit organizations.

The Strategic Finance Academy is one of six career-focused academies within Kelley, which offer experiential learning and networking opportunities that are designed to give Kelley students an edge. Others specialize in business marketing, consumer marketing and consulting, for example.

“A lot of students particularly think that M&A is a real sexy area to work in finance,” said Smart, also a national expert on initial public offerings. “This is a way to get them to understand in a deeper way what it really means and what’s really involved in doing mergers and acquisitions.

“It’s exciting, but it’s also grueling,” he added. “Students get excited about the prospect of making decisions that involve hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, that drive the strategic direction of a firm, until they are the ones that actually have to make those decisions. They feel the pressure of having to be right about those decisions.”

M&A Day provides that “tougher and more realistic” experience.

About 2,500 Kelley direct admit students and their family members visited IU this weekend.

Last fall, American College Testing, a nonprofit organization that assesses college readiness, released data from a questionnaire of exam takers’ interest areas and released a top 10 list of most popular majors at U.S. colleges and universities.

Four of the majors on the ACT’s list — business management (No. 1), general business (No. 2), accounting (No. 3) and marketing (7th) — demonstrate why there’s such a demand to study business across the country.

But an increasing number of the nation’s top students are electing to earn their degree from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

This weekend, a record gathering of more than 900 direct admit students traveled to IU Bloomington with the family members for an inside look at the Kelley student experience.

About 2,500 people attended one of two receptions at the newly renovated Alumni Hall on Friday night and Direct Admit Day on Saturday at the IU Auditorium. Last year, about 1,500 people attended the receptions.

Those gathered included young people and their families from 32 states and 19 countries (students from another 11 states and 24 nations are expected to be among this year’s fall class). This was the first time that Friday night’s activities had to be divided into two events.

Kelley School Dean Idalene Kesner offered a warm welcome.

Perhaps helping to explain the rise in interest in Kelley among these high achieving students is the school’s rising profile internationally, as demonstrated through recent Bloomberg Businessweek rankings.

Kelley is ranked No. 1 in student quality by recruiters and eighth overall. U.S. News and World Report also ranked Kelley’s undergraduate program eighth overall and eight majors in the top 10.

Dean Idalene “Idie” Kesner, faculty members and successful alumni spoke Saturday to the direct admits — who have an average grade point average of 3.9 or higher — about Kelley’s top ranked programs and learning experiences.

“We demand the best of our students and in return we give you our best. We will be your coaches, your mentors, your collaborators and your connections. We will come together to accomplish things we can all be proud of,” Kesner said.

“We believe succeeding together is better than going it alone. Kelleys see risk as a challenge, not a barrier, and they know what it takes to make tough decisions for the right reasons. We create leaders that others want to follow.”

Alumni and current students share their stories

Among them is alumna Kim Simios, Chicago managing partner of EY, who today, after 25 years with the firm, supports more than 2,600 professionals. She spoke and is part of Kelley’s “How We Succeed” video series.

Perhaps the most poignant moments Saturday came when three Kelley students — Susie Bittker, a freshman from West Bloomfield, Mich.; Stephen Anderson, a junior from Louisville; and Matt Renie, a senior from Indianapolis — got up to speak.

Stephen Anderson, a junior from Louisville, was one of three Kelley students to share their stories.

Bittker related how she changed her major from physics to business after being admitted to IU. “Like you, I was blessed with options and sought a campus where I felt comfortable. I wanted a place I was proud to call home,” she told the audience.

“During my IU campus and Kelley tours, I immediately sensed something very different,” she continued. “Everyone I met appeared happy, kind and truly cared about my well-being. People were interested in my success instead of transforming me into a number.”

She subsequently joined the Kelley Living Learning Center and is looking forward to traveling to Costa Rica and India as a result of study abroad programs — all within her first year in the school.

Anderson spoke about how he has been able to work toward his goal of managing a professional sports franchise and also overcame personal challenges.

“The Kelley School of Business has a way of turning your weaknesses, or ways you can improve, into your strengths. For me, public speaking was that weakness, which may sound funny now, seeing that I am speaking in front of you today,” Anderson said.

“It just goes to show that at Kelley you will sometimes be pushed outside of your comfort zone, but with supportive faculty and peers around you, you can achieve anything and overcome any obstacles.”

Renie, who is 70 days away from receiving his degree, spoke about his “Kelley family.”

“If you chose to come here, you will find some of the best mentors you could ever imagine,” he said. “They come in the form of world class professors, who are at the top of their academic fields, and take an interest in you not only as a student and future professional, but as a person as well.

“And they sometime even take selfies with you if you do well enough in their classes,” Renie said, then adding that the “most important” members of the Kelley family are his classmates.

Direct admit students only part of the success story

Bipin Prabhakar, clinical associate professor of information systems, center, visits with a prospective student’s family.

The Kelley School won’t know how many direct admit students will enroll until after a May 1 deadline, but projections for the class of 2019 suggest close to a record number of direct admit students — in addition to those who enroll at IU and apply for admission to Kelley after their freshman year.

With an enrollment of approximately 5,500, the Kelley School has the largest undergraduate enrollment in any business school in Bloomberg Businessweek’s Top 10.

In order to be a direct admit student at Kelley, students need to have a 30 score on the ACT exam or a 1,270 on the SAT’s critical reading and math components. The eligibility requirements were made more stringent two years ago but the number of applications has continued to increase.

Before everyone left to tour the newly dedicated Hodge Hall, the Kelley Living Learning Center and the rest of the campus, Kesner said students are taught how to make the most of important moments in their lives, build on those moments and create momentum for their future.

And as you’ll see in the video below, everyone at Kelley was really glad they came.

Activities will include special lectures, an Arabic talent show and a film series, with more planned for the fall.

At a time when some universities are scaling back their Middle Eastern studies programs, IU continues to be home to one of the oldest and most venerable departments about the Near East in the nation. In 2010, a successful application for a Title VI grant also led to the establishment of the Center for the Study of the Middle East.

Here is the story of the department and those who shaped it.

Fifty years of “illumination” begins

On Feb. 20, 1965, IU trustees approved the establishment of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures. Support in part for the new entity came from a Ford Foundation grant.

Wadie Elias Jwaideh

The department came into being on March 1 of that year, under the leadership of its first faculty chair, Wadie Elias Jwaideh, who came from Johns Hopkins University five years earlier to become a professor of Asian studies and of history.

Minutes from that IU trustees’ meeting were brief but indicated that the new department was the result of a “greatly increased interest in areas of the Near East.”

Jwaideh was joined in the new department by assistant professor Trevor J. LeGassick and associate professors Henry A. Fischel, Salih J. Al-Toma and Caesar E. Farrah. Vincente Cantarino came in the fall from the University of North Carolina.

Jwaideh, an Iraqi native, went on to lead the department until 1980, enjoying a distinguished career both inside and outside the university. He retired from IU in 1985 and then accepted an appointment as adjunct professor of history at the University of California at San Diego, where he taught until 1990.

In 1971, Jwaideh received the Lieber Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching.

In 1988, many of his former students came together to publish a “festschrift,” a volume of writings by different authors done as a tribute or memorial to a scholar. The book, “Islamic and Middle Eastern Societies,” and its 11 essays honored Jwaideh for a quarter century of teaching at IU.

Jwaideh today is honored each fall through a named lecture featuring top visiting scholars.

“The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development” remains a crucial reference.

His dissertation, “A History of the Kurdish Nationalist Movement,” remains the most comprehensive study ever made into the Kurdish question. After his death in 2001, it was published posthumously by Syracuse University (his alma mater) as “The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development.”

Advising a president

At the height of the Iranian hostage crisis, Jwaideh was summoned to the White House along with 15 other Islamic and Arabic scholars, businessmen and religious leaders. Initially, on Dec. 5, 1979, they met with National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.

President Jimmy Carter then joined the group and spoke with them for another 25 minutes about the 50 Americans being held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

“The president appeared to be very much on top of the crisis, very knowledgeable,” Jwaideh told the Indiana Daily Student four days later. “He has acted with restraint, like a true statesman.”

The meeting took place about a month into the crisis and too early for anyone to conclude that the crisis would last as long as 444 days.

Jwaideh also had just returned from a conference of Near Eastern scholars in Libya at Gar Younis University, then located about 20 miles from the capital of Benghazi. On Dec. 2, religious radicals set fire to the U.S. embassy, rendering it a total loss — nearly 23 years before the second such incident in the country.

“Once I sat beside an Iranian scholar on a bus,” recalling his trip to Libya prior to the incident, he told the H-T. “We talked briefly about the hostages and he said, ‘We hope the Almighty will resolve this question peaceably.”

In 1980, new direction would come to the department, along with a new name. More about that in an upcoming article.

Next time you see your doctor, he may be using a Bluetooth-enabled stethoscope.

A rural Georgia elementary school is using telemedicine to connect students with doctors. A Bluetooth-enabled stethoscope allows physicians to monitor vital signs remotely from their office miles away.

Millions of Americans are sporting “wearable technology” that monitors their exercise regimen and even blood glucose levels of diabetics. These new devices soon could suggest actions we should take — from eating something to raise our blood sugar to seeing a doctor.

Older people talk about when doctors made “house calls.” With the advent of “mobile health care,” using smart phones and other devices, there is the potential that the old virtually could be new again.

A conference being presented next Friday in Indianapolis by the Indiana University Kelley School of Business will look at the implications and economic opportunities of mobile health care.

It will take place from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at Hine Hall at IUPUI. Kelley’s Business of Medicine MBA Program also is involved and many of its physician-students are expected to attend.

More companies getting involved

George Telthorst, director of the Center for the Business of Life Sciences

“Certainly there is exciting potential associated with the Internet and mobile health,” said George Telthorst, director of Kelley’s Center for the Business of Life Sciences and one of the conference organizers. “There’s also some trade-offs and I think there’s a lot of work trying to figure this out right now. Big companies and small companies both are poking around in this.

“The Food and Drug Administration was slow to respond to this — they weren’t sure what to do with this — but within the last months guidance has come out that suggests the FDA will be treating this with a lighter hand than a heavier one,” added Telthorst, who believes this is a positive development.

For example, he believes that devices that monitor vital signs but do not prescribe specific treatments or medications will not come under much regulatory scrutiny.

“I think it’s going to drive innovation. I also think it’s going to lead to more players from outside the industry getting involved,” such as Microsoft and Apple, he said.

Interestingly, the origin of many mobile health applications came from patients’ groups. A Silicon Valley parent developed one leading app that monitors diabetic children while they are sleeping and then shared it via online user groups.

This innovation is not coming from the big medical device or pharmaceutical companies, but many may soon become more involved.

Kelley School alumni among the innovators

Kelley School alumnus Chris Bergstrom has played a role in this emerging field.

Chris Bergstrom

As chief strategy officer of WellDoc — a pioneering leader in digital health — Bergstrom created a new category of treatment for diabetes by launching the world’s first mobile prescription therapy.

Prior to WellDoc, Chris worked for P&G, launched two blood glucose systems at Roche Diagnostics, and served as the adviser to the CEO of Alere Home Monitoring (previously Tapestry Medical) as it pioneered a remote home patient monitoring service.

Bergstrom will be the morning keynote speaker at the Feb. 20 conference and is expected to lay out the potential for mobile health. What should be done with the data? Are software analytics as powerful as molecules? What’s a mobile prescription therapy? How can it generate profits?

Also participating will be CEOs and executives of several start-up companies, including a couple from the Midwest.

Among them is David Wortman, co-founder and CEO of  Indianapolis-based Diagnotes Inc., which won the 2012 Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge. The Purdue University graduate will speak during a morning panel of executives from “cutting edge” firms.

Diagnotes has developed a system that allows physicians to access important patient information over secure communication channels no matter where they are.

Another Kelley alumnus Jeff Lautenbach leads another up-and-coming company, cloud software developer HC1.

Recent cybersecurity breaches have highlighted concerns over privacy. The wearable healthcare devices employ ultra-low frequencies and questions persist over whether they are vulnerable to hackers.

One of the conference presenters, Surendar Magar, president and CEO of California-based HMicro, which is developing embedded wireless applications, likely will address this topic.

While most of the development of new mobile health care apps is happening in Silicon Valley, there is growing potential for it in Indiana, Telthorst said. Hoosier companies Roche Diagnostics, Zimmer, Cook and Hill-Rom are involved and Eli Lilly is expected to join them soon.

The lunch speaker will be Horst Merkle, president and chairman of Continua, a consortium tasked with develop industry standards so that these new technologies work on all devices and platforms. He also serves as its liaison to the FDA.

In addition to the information and experiences shared through the program, Telthorst said the Indiana Life Sciences Collaboration Series conferences provide ample opportunities to “make connections, help build the Indiana health care ecosystem and spark new ideas.”

More than 150 people are expected to attend and registrations will be accepted through the morning of the conference. The registration fee for each conference is $150 and discounts are available for students at any accredited Indiana college or university.

Panelists at “Covering Islam 2015: Muslims, Politics and the Media.”

Panelists at the “Covering Islam 2015: Muslims, Politics and the Media” symposium were not hopeful that the media will portray Islam less judgmentally anytime soon.

Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights attorney, media commentator and author led the panel discussion of how American media “otherizes” Muslims in a way that society allows for, even though “otherization” perpetuates negative stereotypes and causes harmful divisions in society.

The panelists agreed that “otherizing” Islam, the monolithic racist and anti-Muslim attitudes that define Muslims as a lesser group of people, is being propagated and increasingly worsened by many American media outlets.

“It has become a slur in America to refer to someone as Muslim,” Iftikhar said. “The future of how Muslims and Islam are going to be framed is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.”

The other panelists were Nazif Shahrani, professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures, Central Eurasian studies and anthropology; Rosemary Pennington, managing editor of the Muslim Voices project; and Matt Tully, Indianapolis Star reporter and columnist. They spoke to a full house inside Indiana University Bloomington’s Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Monday.

Iftikhar addressed the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris and acknowledged that it was a game changer for how Islam is framed in the media. He explained that even though there have been peaks and valleys in the Islamic narrative since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, large numbers of people are defining their worldview as Islam versus free speech in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack.

“Part of my job is to highlight in the marketplace of ideas how un-Islamic these acts are,” Iftikhar said. “But anytime anyone commits an act and even mentions Islam, that moniker sticks.”

Amid the tough discussion of racism and anti-Islam sentiments in America, Iftikhar got a laugh from the audience when he asked, “People saying that sharia law is taking over, what gave us away? Was it our two congressmen, our zero senators, zero governors, or zero Supreme Court justices?”

Iftikhar and Shahrani both said they expect little positive change in the future, especially in the new media climate following the Charlie Hebdo attack. However, Tully suggested that these recent violent attacks have caused some members of the media to think more critically about Islam and ask tougher questions. He heralded this as a sign of a changing media landscape.

The panelists did all agree that no other group in the world is framed in as monolithic terms as Islam and acknowledged that journalism and the media often perpetuate this by covering Islam only in a violent context.

The lack of the narrative of the individual stories of Muslims is one way that the media “otherizes” Islam, they said.

Pennington said that across the board in the U.S., regardless of political affiliation, there is a pervasive feeling of coldness toward Muslims and that this attitude is a direct result of how the media covers Muslims.

Pennington and Iftikhar both said one way to improve the dialogue around Islam in the media is to stop referring to Muslims as one cohesive group.

“Coverage lumps all Muslims together,” Pennington said. “There is no narrative of the individual story.”

“We as Muslims just want to tell our own stories,” Iftikhar added. “We don’t want someone else to define our narrative.”

Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights attorney, author and media commentator, will be one of the speakers.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has created havoc in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, through a series of bombings, assassinations and abductions.

Hilary Kahn, director of the Center for the Study of Global Change and assistant dean of the School of Global and International Studies, and Rosemary Pennington, managing editor of the award-winning Muslim Voices project, see these stories and worry that coverage of extremists’ terrorist activities misrepresents Islam in general and stirs misunderstanding.

“Historically, media narratives have tied Islam to violence,” Pennington said. “That misses the diversity of experience and creates a monolithic understanding of all Muslims as bad guys.”

Kahn is one of several organizers of a timely symposium on Monday, Feb. 9 at Indiana University Bloomington, “Covering Islam 2015: Muslims, Politics and the Media.”

The event, which will be from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave., is free and open to the public.

“The Center for the Study of Global Change has been involved in helping media practitioners and the public understand the diversity of Islam through its Muslim Voices Project since 2008,” Kahn said.

Covering Islam will “not only highlight the troubling framing of Islam, but also will provide a venue for an honest conversation about the issues inherent in covering Muslims and Islam,” Pennington said. “Too often, news coverage of Muslims treats them as a singular mass, we hope our forum will help humanize Muslim experience.”

Kahn and Pennington point to a research study released last summer by the Pew Research Center, which said that many Americans view Muslims very coldly when asked to rate them on a “feeling thermometer.” Forty percent of those surveyed rated Muslims on the coldest part of the thermometer with an average rating of 40 (compared to the 60s for Jews, Catholics and Evangelical Christians).

“There clearly needs to be a continued public conversation about this complicated issue,” Kahn said.

Indianapolis Star columnist Matt Tully

Among the presenters at “Covering Islam 2015” will be Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights attorney, global media commentator and author. You may have seen him on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and Al-Jazeera America.

You may have heard him on National Public Radio and the BBC or read his perspectives in The Economist and the Washington Post.

On Twitter, Iftikhar is simply known as @TheMuslimGuy.

He is a senior editor of The Islamic Monthly. His most recent book, “Islamic Pacifism: Global Muslims in the Post-Osama Era,” which Pulizer Prize winning columnist Eugene Robinson said “should be required reading for anyone tempted to equate the real Islam with the atrocities committed by unholy zealots in the name of one of the world’s great religions.”

Other participating journalists and scholars will include Indianapolis Star reporter and columnist Matt Tully, who has been covering the controversy over congressman Andre Carson’s becoming the first Muslim named to the House Intelligence Committee.

Pennington and Nazif Shahrani, professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures, Central Eurasian studies and anthropology, will round out the panel. School of Global and International Studies Dean Lee Feinstein is expected to offer remarks as well.

The Center for the Study of Global Change is hosting the event and has housed the Muslim Voices project, along with partner WFIU. Muslim Voices’ Twitter account has nearly 77,000 followers from around the world and also has won awards.

“We are very proud of this social media site, as it allows us to dissect stereotypes and explore Islam in all of its social, political, representational, spiritual, and regional complexity,” Kahn said.

The School of Global and International Studies, the Media School, the Islamic Studies Program and the Center for the Study of the Middle East also are sponsoring the event, which has support from several other units at IU Bloomington.

Margaret Warner

Guest post courtesy of IU Communications colleague Emily Davis

Nothing can ever be predicted. After 25 years of covering some of the world’s most important stories, this is one thing that Margaret Warner, chief foreign affairs correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, can say with certainty.

Warner kicked off the Media School spring speaker series at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Monday night. She recalled stories that began in her early days of reporting, such as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, all the way up to her recent ventures on the front lines of ISIS territory in Syria.

She said that the traditional ideas of stability and power have changed drastically in that time, moving away from an era when politics were conducted behind closed doors to a time when everyone with a computer is commenting.

When she entered the international arena of journalism at the end of the Cold War, there was a universal sense that journalists had a real mission to open the workings of the people being governed — ideals she believes the industry has steadily lost.

Her vast compilation of experience and knowledge of foreign policy undoubtedly conveyed different messages to different members of the audience. The 280 people in attendance included students from a post 9/11 generation who have seen war and terror carried out in more unconventional ways than ever before, as well as people who, like her, have a nostalgic appreciation for the way politics once were.

Throughout her career, Warner has interviewed the world’s leaders through an objective, informative lens. However it’s not just the leaders who have influenced her perception of diplomacy.

Former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton moderated the Q&A. He is director of the IU Center on Congress, which co-sponsored the talk. (Grayson Harbour, The Media School)

She spoke of her time in Tripoli, Lebanon in 2013; Two towns, one on the top of the hill and one on the bottom, one Sunni and one Shia, destroyed one another in the Syrian conflict. With their whole city burned to the ground around them, she described little 9-year-old boys playing with sandbags and laughing as if the world was still such a beautiful place.

“It is not just about the world leaders, who I get to interview often. It’s the ordinary people who are caught in the struggles,” she said of what she looks for as she tells stories.

Making sense of the world

Before the public lecture, Warner held an undergraduate program, “Making Sense of the World: Undergraduate Tea,” at the Hutton Honors College. It was an intimate gathering of 24 students who represented a wide variety of majors and backgrounds. In opening comments, Warner described her early days as a journalist and gave candid tips for students pursuing careers in journalism and international affairs. Most of the program was devoted to discussion and questions.

Warner acknowledged how the Media School is merging “all of these different ways to tell a story” and how bringing these together will prepare students “not only for the world we’re in now but for a world we don’t even know what it will be.”

She also conceded the fact that while things are changing rapidly, the necessity for quality storytelling remains the same. “The world is changing very fast and a lot of trends are changing but it’s important to know where we came from,” she said.

Warner’s insight and traditional journalistic values of accuracy, truthfulness and fairness have served millions of people throughout her career. It is an important reminder to learn to adapt to whatever changes that are thrown in front of us, whether they be political or technological, without losing sight of the history that has brought us here in the first place.

Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s new finance minister

As Greek voters gave the anti-austerity party Syriza a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections Sunday, two Indiana University professors reflected on the recent visit to Bloomington by someone who is expected to play a pivotal role in the Mediterranean nation’s future, Yanis Varoufakis.

Alexis Tsipras was sworn as Greece’s new prime minster on Monday. One of his first actions was today naming Varoufakis to be his finance minister.

In November 2013, Varoufakis, one of Greece’s most prominent economists and public intellectuals, was a keynote speaker at the 23rd Biennial Symposium of the Modern Greek Studies Association, The event at IU Bloomington attracted more than 150 scholars from around the world.

One of the event’s primary organizers was Franklin Hess, coordinator of the Modern Greek Program in IU’s School of Global and International Studies.

Hess has many memories from hosting the largest conference of Greek scholars in North America. Among them is Varoufakis’ “stunning” keynote presentation: “Being Greek and an Economist While Greece Burns: An Intimate Account of Peculiar Tragedy.”

“We were thrilled when he agreed to attend,” said Hess. “He’s a major figure in Greece and one of the foremost commentators, both in Greece and internationally, on the Eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis.

“The speech was supposed to be 40 minutes followed by 20 minutes of questions,” Hess said of the talk. “He spoke for over an hour and took questions for 30 minutes and held the entire audience rapt for the duration of his presentation. The talk ranged from political theory to economics to introspection. To be quite honest, it was one of the more engaging academic talks I’ve attended.”

Aurelian Craiutu

Aurelian Craiutu, IU professor of political science at IU, concurred. Working with Hess, Craiutu organized a second lecture as part of the series “Capitalism, Its Defenders and Its Critics,” which was sponsored the Tocqueville Program, the Department of Political Science, the Ostrom Workshop and the College Arts and Humanities Institute.  The theme of the talk was “Democracy: Its Future in the Midst of Rapid Technological Progress and Chronic Economic Crisis.”

Varoufakis’ talk for the Tocqueville Program was “a gripping meditation on the current state of democracy in an age of economic complexity and crisis,” Craiutu said. “I have seen many speakers over the years but with the possible exceptions of Quentin Skinner and the late Tony Judt, no one was as persuasive as Varoufakis.

“He has the capacity of presenting complex economic issues in ordinary parlance and has a magnetic presence that leaves no one unsettled,” Craiutu added. “His lectures were a tour de force that I will always remember with great satisfaction.”

From “Accidental Economist” to Accidental Politician?”

Dubbed by some the “Accidental Economist,” Varoufakis is the author of several books, including “The Global Minotaur: America, the True Origins of the Financial Crisis and the Future of the World Economy.”

Now he is now poised to become the “Accidental Politician” with an opportunity to study history and policy from the inside.

Using literary references one would expect by an academic after Sunday’s win, he paraphrased on his blog the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, “Greek democracy today chose to stop going gently into the night. Greek democracy resolved to rage against the dying of the light.

“Fresh from receiving our democratic mandate, we call upon the people of Europe and, indeed, the world over, to join us in a realm of shared, sustainable prosperity,” he added.

Hess is not surprised about Varoufakis’s move into the realm of politics.

Franklin Hess

“This isn’t his first foray into politics, and it was totally apparent to me that he was angling for a future position in a potential Syriza government when he was here,” Hess said. “He’s a very capable politician. One of the things that impressed me about him was his willingness to engage the people around him in dialogue.

“We hosted a reception for him after the keynote speech at Topo’s 403, and he took time to talk to everyone who wanted to talk to him from the esteemed full professor to the local business person down to the undergraduate student.”

The task ahead of him is daunting, according to Craiutu.

“Yanis Varoufakis is now going to try something that all of his predecessors have found impossible: restoring economic sanity in Greece,” he said. “We should wish him good luck as the task ahead is daunting. Greece should consider itself lucky to be able to enlist the support of such an eminent scholar in such dark times.”

Hess agrees with Craiutu’s assessment of Varoufakis as a finance minister.

“The Eurozone sovereign debt crisis is a lot more complex than the simplistic narratives of German industriousness and Greek profligacy that politicians and the mass media have been selling,” Hess said. “There are a host of factors involved, including military spending, investment patterns and cultural bias.

“I consider Varoufakis to be one of a small handful of individuals with the charisma, knowledge and intellect to deal with the complexity of the crisis and make a sustained and persuasive case for some form of Greek debt modification,” he added. “It will require a sea change in the way Europeans think about economics and their body politic, but this is something that desperately needs to happen for both Greece and the Eurozone as a whole.

“Greece’s debt is as unsustainable today as it was at the beginning of the crisis.  Members of the Eurozone are still vulnerable to the next economic crisis.”

Back in Bloomington, Hess and Craiutu and their colleagues can reflect on Varoufakis’ visit, one of many made here by newsmakers — past, present and future — to the benefit of faculty, students and others pursuing knowledge.

The two IU professors are greatly satisfied knowing they gave their peers an opportunity to interact with a difference maker in the realms of economics and politics.

Students from 35 colleges and universities participated in this year’s National Diversity Case Competition at the Kelley School.

Students came from as far away as California, Washington and New York to compete at last weekend’s National Diversity Case Competition in Bloomington.

This was the fourth year for the event — hosted by Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business — which attracted 140 students from 35 higher education institutions. Participants had an average grade-point average of 3.5 out of 4.0.

They included student teams from more than a half dozen historically black colleges and universities, such as Morehouse College, Florida A&M University and Southern University and A&M College.

Many of the nation’s top business schools sent teams, including Yale, the Wharton School of Business, Babson College and the University of Michigan, just to mention a few. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia were represented.

The IU Kelley School of Business also fielded a team, but more about that later.

“It was a fantastic experience and I really enjoyed it,” said William DeMarzo-Sanchez, a student at Emory University in Atlanta. “For me, it was one of the greatest learning experiences of my college career.”

Kelley School Dean Idie Kesner, who identified diversity as one of her top three priorities as dean, said companies and communities are stronger when they have diverse ideas and experiences.

“It’s really about connections and getting to know each other better,” Kesner said. “The business world is getting smaller. It’s not unusual to do business in multiple countries, multiple cultures, and we need to teach students that. The best way to start is by having a diverse educational experience that challenges and enriches students and broadens their thinking across the board.”

Appropriately held during the weekend of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, students on Friday and Saturday were provided the details of a real-life case and required to prepare a 15-minute presentation in response. During each round of the competition, they also were expected to fully participate in a 10-minute Q&A afterward.

The competitors were asked to offer ideas about how to increase connections between Target Corp. and the Hispanic population in the United States. More than half of participants — 52 percent — had never participated in a case competition before.

While there could be only one winner, everyone benefited from a several opportunities to network with each other and with representatives from 21 partner companies, including Target Corp., which was the platinum sponsor.

They also participated in a series of company workshops and got to see the best IU has to offer, including Kelley’s new home for its undergraduate program, Hodge Hall.

“We learned a lot and the students enjoyed meeting the other teams,” said Barbara A. Lofton, director of diversity and inclusion at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. “We are looking forward to next year and the case study that Target will select and use a totally different approach. Thank you for the learning and exposure for our students.”

After preliminary rounds Saturday morning, finalists competed in the afternoon and with winning teams announced at the end of a busy program that evening.

Ironically, the winning team traveled the shortest distance and was among the youngest to participate. Four freshmen from Kelley won the competition.

Or as Mikel Tiller, faculty liaison for alumni and corporate relations at Kelley, put it, “Four freshman winners absolutely rocked the house!”

Victory was sweet for Kelley’s winning team, celebrating with fellow students.

The winning students were Maya Caine, an information systems and business analytics major; Mica Caine, an information systems and security informatics major; Thomas Dougherty, an economic consulting and international business major; and Keiondre Goodwin, also an economic consulting and international business major.

“We offered an idea about how to connect to Hispanics in America and focused on Hispanic women due to their dominating control of Hispanic spending,” Dougherty said. “Target really wanted to find a partnership or method to connect to these women as they are a growing demographic, and we proposed the partnership of Target with the design brand Julia y Renata. The brand was already popular across the world, and we felt with the right spectrum of marketing, they could capture the customer loyalty of all types of Hispanic women in America.”

Up against older competition

The Kelley team emerged from strong competition last year against other talented teams in the IU Diversity Case Competition to qualify. In that competition, students were asked how they would attract and retain more women in business. The student teams came up with solutions including high school student outreach and advocating for more reasonable maternity and paternity leaves.

“Heck yeah, we were nervous,” Dougherty, said when asked about the tough competition from Berkeley, Yale and other top-ranked schools. “Instead of letting this dominate us though, we recalled our team chemistry and focused on the goal. Our team chemistry was really strong, and this enabled us to turn this nervousness into motivation, which carried us through the competition.”

Check out more comments from the rest of the winning team in an article later this week on the Kelley School’s blog.

The National Diversity Case Competition offered many students at HBCU institutions with greater access to corporate recruiters who regularly visit the Kelley School, but Tiller said it’s just one dimension of an event with greater value.

“It is true that some of the students were here so that they could have a chance to get to know the companies that recruit students at Kelley, and that our corporate sponsors were here to make connections with students they might otherwise not have the chance to recruit,” said Tiller, also an associate professor of accounting and former chair of graduate accounting programs.

“Even so, I believe that the greatest value to all of us is having the opportunity to engage in dialogue about how we differ and how we are alike,” he added. “Events at home and abroad in recent months show that we have not yet figured out some important things about how to live together. This event provides a forum for us to deepen our understanding of how we all stand to gain so much from each other.

“These bright, energetic young minds, bringing their own unique perspectives to bear, are a huge source of energy and direction for us. How can anyone ever learn anything by embracing sameness?”

IU students in Books & Beyond have delivered They have delivered about 12,000 books overall to students at Kabwende Primary School in Kinigi, Rwanda

An old adage says, ” Books are the doors that lead to imagination.” For a group of Indiana University students, books are also a bridge bringing together school children from two vastly different places, Rwanda and Newark, N.J.

Twenty-one IU students involved with Books & Beyond, a creative writing project of the Global Village Living-Learning Center, left today for Newark, N.J., where they will work with middle school students on a joint book project with peers in Rwanda.

The IU students will return Monday, when the university community joins millions around the country in observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Over the summer, IU students traveled to Rwanda and delivered 2,000 copies of the latest in the Books & Beyond series, “The World Is Our Home,” an anthology of the “most favorite” stories from the previous five volumes.

The project is a cross-cultural literacy exchange between Kabwende Primary School in Kinigi, Rwanda, and the TEAM charter schools in Newark. Since 2009, six books co-authored by students in the two schools have been produced.

This week, 15 students from the TEAM schools will see their books for the first time. They also will start on the next edition, working with new stories and pictures produced by the Rwandan students.

They also will learn more about life and history in Rwanda, a nation still recovering from a period of civil war in the early 1990s and ethnically driven genocide in 1994. Students will see the documentary film, “Rising From Ashes,” about the national cycling team.

Since 2009, students from IU have dedicated more than 6,000 volunteer hours and raised more than $80,000 for the service-learning project. They have delivered about 12,000 books overall. The Global Village Living-Learning Center, home to more than 150 students with diverse international interests and experiences, is based in the College of Arts and Sciences and affiliated with its School of Global and International Studies.

The program was the subject of a recent feature story on the Big Ten Network’s LiveBig site. Several IU students have shared their insights and experiences on Books & Beyond’s blog site. In addition to improving literacy, Books & Beyond teaches students from Rwanda about the culture and experiences of their peers in Newark and vice versa, said Vera Marinova, assistant director of the Global Village Living-Learning Center.

This week, IU students will travel to Newark. N.J., to start work on the next edition with children at the TEAM charter schools.

The goal of TEAM schools is for every one of its middle and high school students to go on to college, coming out of a community where only one-fifth of the population has some higher education. More than 95 percent of TEAM students are from underrepresented populations, primarily African American. Kabwende Primary School serves more than 2,000 students in Grades 1 through 6.

Founded by IU alumna Nancy Uslan, Books & Beyond began soon after a Rwandan government mandate that all schooling was to be done in English. For most of the students at Kabwende Primary School, the project provided their first classroom book in English.

“Our book, that our students here in the United States write and create … is their English literacy book. It is everything for them,” Uslan said in a 2011 interview with television journalist Steve Adubato.

“I’ve learned that it doesn’t really matter where you’re from,” Uslan said. “You could be from any walk of life. But if you have a common goal, then you could work together. The kids from Newark are very different from the Indiana University students, who are very different from the students at the Kabwende School. We’re all working together and we’re learning.”

Marinova, who as program coordinator for Books & Beyond has traveled to both places with IU students, said the learning process is stronger than ever. One of those students, Abigail Hamilton of Fishers, Ind., said she has learned a great deal about teaching and organizing events over the past three years.

“Books & Beyond really connects students from three different parts of the world,” Hamilton said. “I’ve really enjoyed connecting with the Newark and Kabwende students and teachers. I think students in Books & Beyond gain a deeper appreciation of diverse cultures — whether it is through travel or by reading the Books & Beyond anthology.”

Another IU student Pratibha Joshi from New Delhi, India, added, “More than anything else, I feel honored to have met them. They are extremely passionate young individuals and writers who empower themselves and their communities through their love for education.”

IU student Abigail Hamilton said of her experience, “It’s very exciting when you realize just how much of a difference Books & Beyond is making at Kabwende schools … Some of the students have all five volumes of our anthology in their home.”

In Rwanda, it is not uncommon for newspapers and other printed materials to be used to fill up the mud walls of peoples’ homes. The students’ teacher, Simon Pierre, was the son of two schoolteachers. Growing up, he said, they owned only four books.

“We often thought that the book would be torn into pieces and plastered as wallpaper,” Marinova said. “We were surprised to learn how many of the children who had attended the camp for many years and at home had all the volumes … It is nice to know that for many of these students, this is the only book that they own and they cherish it enough to keep it in their home.

“It makes my voice shake, because it is such a stunning fact.”

The theme for the next book will be “A Day in My Shoes.” Those wanting to provide financial support for the program can do so through the IU Foundation.

Khala Granville, associate director of community relations and outreach in the IU Office of Admissions

As Indiana University enters Big Ten play in earnest, two dates will loom large in the next two months — Jan. 28 and Feb. 19 — when IU will meet its in-state rival Purdue University on the hard court in men’s basketball. The women’s basketball team also looks ahead to its game with the Boilermakers on Feb. 2.

For all the talk about in-state bragging rights, IU and Purdue have teamed up for a very important cause — helping more students from underrepresented populations to see themselves attending a major research university.

Both schools have devoted resources toward new grass-root activities in the state’s largest urban community, Indianapolis.

Rather than competing with each other, IU and Purdue are collaborating on college prep programs for high school freshmen and sophomores, as well as juniors and seniors. Activities — which also involve their parents — are taking place in churches and other community centers around the Circle City.

Another date — Feb. 1 — has been circled on the calendars of Khala Granville, associate director of community relations and outreach in the IU Office of Admissions, and Tara Evans, associate director in Purdue’s Office of Admissions.

That is the next “priority deadline” for applications from prospective students to IU. Prospective students can still apply after that date, but their application will be only be considered on a space available basis. They also may miss out on deadlines for scholarships and other benefits. At Purdue, acceptance to certain programs will be closed after Feb. 1.

“We tag-team on so much, because we have the same personal goals of just trying to get out into the community and help students understand the deadlines and the importance of trying to get things turned in on time,” Granville said.

“It’s so gratifying to help minority students prepare for success in college because the idea can be intimidating in a lot of ways. Can I get in? Can I pay for it? Will I fit in? Our role is to help students and their families recognize that the answer to all of these questions is yes,” Evans said. “By meeting one-on-one or with small groups I can talk to them about Purdue opportunities and resources. And by starting that outreach early in their education, they will know how important it is to begin preparing for college success as early as possible.

Tara Evans, associate director in Purdue’s Office of Admissions

“As the two largest universities in the state, it’s important for us to work together to prepare this next generation of leaders in our community, and we love it,” Evans added.

Both Granville and Evans live and work in Indianapolis. They have become fixtures in many city schools and are working to encourage many young people to see that there are pathways to success leading them to IU and Purdue, as well as other universities around the state.

Students who meet the Feb. 1 deadline can apply to be part of IU’s Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, the largest scholarship and support program at the university. 21st Century Scholars who apply by then will be automatically considered for IU’s 21st Century Covenant Award, which can meet expenses such as books and room and board.

For decades, IU, Purdue and their regional campuses have joined other colleges and universities around the state in addressing the issue of increasing enrollment of those from underrepresented populations. But many high-ability students from low-income families simply don’t apply.

“There are excellent students who don’t envision themselves at a major research university like IU Bloomington, but could succeed very well here,” said David B. Johnson, IU Bloomington vice provost for enrollment management. “We know from research this is because of a lack of information about the application process. I am pleased with the admissions outreach efforts that Khala has begun to do in Indianapolis.”

“It’s a perception issue,” Granville added. “A lot of times when I’m going into high schools, I’m promoting the fact that there are a lot of things happening, regardless of whether you see them on the news or hear about them from your peers. There are positive things that are happening at IU and they can be a part of creating change and the momentum that is taking place. For some students, that is good to hear and it gets them excited.”

Originally from Winchester, Ky., Granville previously served as executive director of Brightwood Community Center in Indianapolis and was undergraduate student admissions coordinator at the University of Louisville, her alma mater. She also has a Master of Divinity degree from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis and has interned and volunteered with several community organizations in the city.

She is part of a newly restructured IU Bloomington admissions team led by senior associate director of admissions Larry Gonzalez that focuses on expanding and refocusing the campus’s diversity recruiting.

“Obviously, there is a wealth of talented and determined underrepresented minority students located within Indianapolis,” said Martin McCrory, IU associate vice president for diversity, equity and multicultural affairs and IU Bloomington vice provost for educational inclusion and diversity.

Since 1968, IU’s Groups program has helped students from underrepresented populations and many who were the first in their family to attend college. Martin McCrory, IU associate vice president for diversity, equity and multicultural affairs and IU Bloomington vice provost for educational inclusion and diversity, welcomed its latest class.

In August, IU held an event at Old National Centre for more than 250 students from more than 45 schools and their parents. IU Soar, a free college-prep program, was piloted over the summer with the Edna Martin Christian Center. In October, a similar program for ninth and 10th grade students took place at the center and another event is planned.

The information and reminders Granville provides are the same as what is shared with all prospective IU students. Everyone can go online to go.iu.edu/plan4iu, where they’ll find all the steps for college prep laid out, year-by-year.

Affordability also is a concern for many of these students. During their frequent visits to schools across central Indiana, Granville and Evans work with them to understand costs and sources of financial assistance. They also are working to rally alumni from the African American and Latino communities to be more involved in offering encouragement.

“For Tara and I, we’ve been trying to get out there earlier and ahead of the senior class. That’s why we’ve pushed back to freshmen and sophomores so they better understand — going into their junior and senior years — what is required of them, so they can be focused, and stay on top of not only their grades and the testing, and also … understand how the admissions process works and how it can work for them,” Granville said.

“When I meet with my students, my approach is I become their mothers, their mentors, whatever they need me to be. For some students, I may even be their chaplain. It is a personal approach and I am really trying to help them work toward whatever path that they want,” she added. “I am just trying to be in the community.”

In Indianapolis, continued improvement in overall applications from students of color is needed, but already the universities are seeing increases in applications from schools where there is a greater amount of diversity — in some cases as much as 200 percent.

“What that has shown me is the message that I am creating within these particular schools, where we do have more underrepresented students, is working,” Granville said. “They’re getting it and hopefully they’ll continue to get it and pass it along to the classes that are behind them.”

But as we look ahead to a new year, most economists are saying that 2015 could be the best yet, marked by a stronger economic recovery. Among the first to say that were faculty in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Growth in output has averaged an anemic 2 percent from mid-2009 through much of 2013, before starting to rise in the past few months. The IU Kelley forecast expects growth at about 3 percent next year, due especially to a stronger housing sector and more government spending.

The IU Kelley forecast is in line with what the National Association for Business Economics announced last week, saying the overall economy should expand by 3.1 percent in 2015. That would be the strongest rate of growth since 2005.

In November, members of the Kelley School’s Business Outlook Panel traversed the Hoosier state and shared their forecast for Indiana and the United States.

This week, the Indiana Business Research Center is making the complete forecast available online as an issue of its Indiana Business Review.

Included are articles about more than a dozen urban areas across the state as well as Louisville and outlooks on agriculture, financial markets, housing, and research and development.

An abbreviated printed version of the Indiana Business Review is available, but you’ll find everything, and more accessibly, via your computer or mobile device. Here are some examples of what else IU economists said:

In Indiana, the forecast for 2015 is similar, although the rate of growth will be slightly lower, said Timothy Slaper, research director of the Indiana Business Research Center.

“Indiana’s GDP grew more quickly than the U.S. in 2010, about twice as fast as the nation. In the three following years, Indiana’s economic output growth rate was a tad behind the U.S., and 2014 is expected to close the year at just a fraction off the national rate,” Slaper wrote with Tamara van der Does, an economic research associate.

“This trend — being just a half step behind the national average growth rate — is forecasted to continue through 2017.”

Unemployment in Indiana should drop from 5.7 percent at the end of 2014 to 5.3 percent a year later. They forecast that Indiana will add 55,000 jobs in 2015.

In his U.S. forecast, Bill Witte, professor emeritus of economics, asks whether there could be a downside to the huge drop in energy prices, which the NABE suggests will spur consumer spending.

“The decline to date is quite positive for household budgets, implying some potential upside to our estimate for consumption,” he said. “On the other hand, declines in crude prices much below $80 per barrel would begin to adversely affect domestic investment in the industry, which has been a bright spot in the recovery.”

Witte wrote his forecast before the price of crude oil dropped below $60 a barrel last week.

Kelley has issued the annual forecast since 1972, providing people with sensible perspectives as they plan for the future. Hope you find this helpful.

When he was the CEO of an apparel store chain, he used to spend hundreds of hours getting his employees ready for the crush of holiday shoppers the day after Thanksgiving. Today, as a faculty member in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, he studies retail strategies and consumer behavior.

But like many this year, Talbott did not hit the mall or big box stores on Black Friday. The closest he came to shopping that weekend was driving past a Best Buy, where he saw a handful of young people waiting for the store to open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

According to a survey by the National Retail Federation released Thursday, retail activity during the Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend is projected to fall by 11 percent. The number of people shopping in stores and online fell by 5.2 percent.

That said, 133.7 million people hit the mall or went online and made purchases that weekend. Commerce Department figures also released Thursday said retail sales grew by a seasonally-adjusted 0.7 percent in November. Sales are up 5.1 percent over the past 12 months.

So it’s not because people don’t have disposable income. Perhaps overall shopping patterns have shifted for good and retailers are scrambling to adjust to new realities, said Talbott, director of research in the Kelley School’s Center for Education and Research in Retailing.

“Talking to some of the folks around the country, I got anecdotal evidence that it was almost a non-event” he said. “Maybe it’s the end of Black Friday as we know it, to quote the great REM song.”

In reality, Talbott said that Black Friday and Cyber Monday — a big push for online sales — wrap up the initial phase of the holiday shopping season. The second half takes place in December, with an expected surge next weekend.

“All of the business that used to be dropped right on the Friday after Thanksgiving is now really spread from the middle of October until that following Sunday (after Thanksgiving), from a physical store standpoint, and to that Monday in online business,” he said. “You just don’t see the frenetic activity that we’ve seen previously.

“Being able to disperse sales throughout the season is a great thing for retailers and I think they would love to get rid of Black Friday.”

Customer tastes are changing. More people are avoiding the crowds by shopping online. It’s the “shopping enthusiasts” who are hunting the Black Friday deals. For those who shopped over the weekend, it was mainly social enjoyment and a pastime, he said.

John Talbott, associate director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing in IU’s Kelley School of Business

“You can get Black Friday deals online before the day so why should you go to the inconvenience of sitting outside a store at 4 a.m.,” Talbott said. “For most, waiting outside a store in a line in the cold is not viewed as an enjoyable activity.”

He agrees with other analysts who think that consumers have become fatigued by Black Friday mania.

Also, peoples’ views toward religion and its traditions are changing, which might impact how much they are willing to spend on gifts for Christmas, Hanukkah and other year-end celebrations.

“I was on a radio show and we had a couple of callers who questioned the whole concept of consumption as a means to happiness.  The callers indicated that they no longer buy gifts for each other but instead make charitable donations,” Talbott recalled. “Those who can, are providing gifts for themselves and their children throughout the year, so it’s not something where they have to load up on gifts during this one particular time of the year.”

Gifts are dispersed at birthdays, graduations and other holidays throughout the year, which historically weren’t about spending. Halloween has become one the biggest retail events of the year, and today there seem to be sales for every observance, including Veteran’s Day.

“There are a lot of events in our lives, particularly children’s lives today. Whether it’s celebrating a sixth grade graduation with a large gift, or a reward for a good grade, that’s something that never would have happened when I was a kid growing up,” he said. “We live in a culture of constant gifting for all sorts of reasons.

“Maybe it takes some of the pressure off during this, the traditional gift-giving season.”

Because of the way that retail sales are recorded and reported, Black Friday may never truly go away. To retailers, it’s a top-line revenue day and not a bottom-line day. It happens to be the final day of the November fiscal month and one of the last days to achieve sales goals for the month of November.

“It’s one of the last two days to get that sales number where it needs to be and then they’re out reporting comparable store sales fairly soon after that. If they don’t hit their comps, their share price gets crushed,” Talbott explained. “Even though Black Friday may not have a huge bottom line impact because historically retailers were giving product away, a sales decline would still be perceived poorly by Wall Street.”

Getting rid of Black Friday may be good for all of us, Talbott said. No more getting up early. No more leaving families on Thanksgiving.

“No more fighting each other for that last ‘Tickle-Me Elmo,'” he added. “Maybe the world’s a better place.”

If you’d like to read more about Talbott’s research and views, the Center for Education and Research in Retailing recently released the findings of its Findex, a survey of CollegeFashionista “style gurus” on fashionable purchase patterns. IU issued a news release about his other views about online shopping and “early Black Friday.”

In his comments, Talbott gave a nod to the REM classic, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” In case you aren’t familiar with the song, here is a link to one of their performances:

Yangon University of Economics

Earlier this fall, Hodge Hall, the hub for undergraduate activities at the Kelley School of Business, was dedicated. But work continues on some interior spaces, including the familiar seven-story tower where faculty offices have been located.

While much has been said about the importance of the Hodge Hall project on Kelley students and the Bloomington campus, one aspect of the effort soon will have an important impact half way around the world.

When Kelley professors were cleaning out their offices in late April and early May, in advance of the renovation, they were asked to not throw out any books that might still be useful, particularly to their peers and students in Myanmar.

“Kelley’s response was enormous and heartening,” recalled Jonathan Crum, a program manager at the Institute for International Business. “Over the next two months, we collected bins of books amounting to nearly 4,000 volumes or roughly four metric tons of books.”

In February, it was announced that the Kelley School was awarded $1 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development for a project supporting Myanmar’s economic transition. This Global Development Alliance project already is extending the teaching and outreach capabilities of the Yangon University of Economics, under a memorandum of understanding with IU. It also is helping micro- to medium-sized business enterprises be more successful.

The program resulted from the first bilateral agreement between the United States and Myanmar (also known as Burma) since 1957.

Today and back in Bloomington, nestled among workstations in a first-floor classroom at the Institute for International Business are more than six dozen boxes containing books donated by Kelley faculty for the Yangon University of Economics.

Kelley School faculty donated nearly 4,000 books to the project.

The Kelley School is waiting for import documents from Myanmar and for a corporate partner to contribute the roughly $5,000 shipping cost for sending the 79 boxes and two tons of books across to the Southeast Asian country.

Kelley faculty members were most generous in responding to the call for books. Only recent textbooks will be sent to the Yangon University of Economics, consisting of hand-selected, best-in-class titles for business and economics used in Kelley’s top-ranked classes.

Most books not selected for shipment were given to the Monroe County chapter of the American Red Cross for its annual book sale. Four boxes of law books were given to Martin University in Indianapolis.

These 1,912 books going to Yangon, have an estimated value of more than $204,000, but more important is their higher, intangible value to the faculty and students studying Western-style business practices. The education institutions of Myanmar were once the light of Southeast Asia, but fell gravely behind during the more than 50 years of restricted outside access.

“I find it to be a great example of recycling versus filling the landfill,” said LaVonn Schlegel, managing director of the Institute for International Business. “The education system in Myanmar is working hard to update itself.  When the country closed its borders in 1957 its higher education system closed to innovation and advancement as well. These books will go a long way in helping their faculty and students update their knowledge of the research, theory and understanding that has occurred in the ensuing decades.”

The Kelley School book donation isn’t the first time something like this has happened at IU. Back in 2011, IU donated a 12,000-volume political science library to India’s O.P. Jindal Global University.

Idalene Kesner, dean of the IU Kelley School of Business, traveled to Myanmar to teach in the program.

The USAID project in Myanmar just completed its first year. With support from Hewlett-Packard, Kelley is establishing a dozen HP Learning Initiative For Entrepreneurs centers throughout Burma.

These centers will be equipped with the latest HP technology and classroom solutions providing information technology and business skills training, using the HP LIFE e-Learning program. The free, interactive e-learning solution helps students, entrepreneurs and small business owners use technology effectively to start or grow their businesses in their own time and at their own pace or as part of a classroom setting.

During the partnership, Kelley will assist HP to translate content into Burmese and develop new content modules and materials to support small- to medium-sized enterprises in Myanmar.

Two of these HP LIFE centers are up and running. Another seven will be operating soon and the project is working hard to identify the last three locations. The school hopes to announce a new partner and funding soon.

Kelley will host the school rector and the chair of the MBA program at Yangon University of Economics at IU Bloomington in mid-January.

Construction of the Global and International Studies Building is well under way.

If you gaze to the east from across the arboretum and older areas of Indiana University Bloomington, progress on the new International and Global Studies Building is evident. It already is raising the profile of the campus.

Construction of the $53 million, four-story, 165,000-square-foot structure will be completed this summer and it will be ready for the 2015-16 academic school year. It will provide offices and other resources for about 320 faculty members.

At the same time, faculty-building efforts at the School of Global and International Studies also are underway and gaining momentum. They will enhance IU’s traditional strengths and add new dimensions by recruiting a significant number of new tenure-track faculty members over the next three years.

This year alone, the new school is hiring 10 new tenure track faculty members — an ambitious recruiting effort for any school or department at anytime.

For decades, IU has been a leader in international studies. For example, it teaches more foreign languages than almost any other American institution of higher education.

But, with these new faculty hires, the interdisciplinary school will provide students with an even stronger commitment to interpreting and shaping world events through scholarship and public engagement, said Lee A. Feinstein, its founding dean.

Lee Feinstein

“It is this university’s foundation in regional and international studies and languages which will set the new School of Global and International Studies apart from other institutions and which will be its signature strength,” he said.

Among those the School of Global and International Studies are seeking are scholars who possess a deep knowledge of national and international security issues, including those who understand the broad range of such concerns involving food, water and cyber security.

The school also is searching for someone who will be the recipient of its first endowed chair, focused on modern Korean studies. Following trips to South Korea by IU President Michael McRobbie, the Korea Foundation and several IU Korean alumni established the new faculty chair. Given current tensions on the peninsula, it is particularly timely.

In mid-November, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held its 25th summit, which brought worldwide attention to that region’s growing importance. Appropriately, the School of Global and International Studies is recruiting a specialist on the political economy of Southeast Asia.

Just before the ASEAN summit, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi warned that democratic reforms are stalling in the host country, Myanmar. To address the growing worldwide importance of social movements, NGOs and the private sector in upholding human rights, SGIS is looking for someone who can be scholarly voice on the issues.

An artist’s rendering of the new building after it is completed.

IU was among the first universities to support an academic emphasis on Central Asia, and the school soon will add someone who specializes in the region’s contemporary issues.

Historically, IU always has offered students and scholars a keen focus on Europe. Eastern areas of the continent during the Cold War were not hidden despite the presence of an “Iron Curtain.” Central Europe is undergoing a remarkable transformation today and will be the focus of the school’s second endowed chair.

The School of Global and International Studies also is recruiting new faculty members who specialize in international history, global health issues and international economics.

“If ever there were a time for what this university has to offer, it’s now,” Feinstein said.

A Black Friday crowd rushes for good deals at a store opening in 2012

For weeks, anyone near a television or radio has heard relentlessly about Black Friday and, new this year, “early Black Friday sales.” What many years ago was dubbed the “official start” of the holiday shopping season has itself become something of a phenomenon.

Among those watching how we respond are several faculty members in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, including Raymond Burke, the E.W. Kelley Professor of business administration and founding director of the Kelley School’s Customer Interface Laboratory.

Also a respected marketing professor, Burke and his state-of-the-art facility investigate how customers interact with new retail environments and technologies. More simply, he studies the “science of shopping” and coined the term “shoppability” to describe the capacity of the retail environment to convert consumer demand into purchases.

Research firms around the world have used his retail simulations. Stores where you’ve likely shopped have applied his findings to make your experience more pleasant.

Raymond Burke

Burke’s research focuses on understanding the influence of point-of-purchase factors — including new products, product packaging, pricing, promotions, assortments and displays — on consumer shopping behavior.

Earlier this year, Burke gave a presentation at TEDx Indianapolis, and the video appropriately was just posted online in the past few days. In his talk, Burke goes back to his experience as a teenage camera salesman to explain the value of watching shoppers.

In little more than 16 minutes, Burke discusses why companies are so intent on using technology to track our shopping behavior.

“Occasionally, you’ll read stories about this kind of tracking in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and they tend to have headlines like ‘Big Brother is watching us’ or ‘Spying the aisles.’ So they have a very negative tone,” he told his audience. “You might ask, ‘Ray, why do you spend so much time and energy watching shoppers, especially when there are these legitimate concerns about consumer privacy?

“The reason is because I believe that through these insights you can improve the customer experience. You can increase customer satisfaction and increase business performance,” Burke said. “If we watch what people buy, we can infer what their needs and desires are and even anticipate what those needs will be in the future.”

Before coming to Kelley, he served on the faculties of the Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. His articles have appeared in several major journals, including the Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing and Marketing Science. He is founding editor of the Journal of Shopper Research. It probably should be no surprise that Burke also holds four patents on new retail technologies.

Ray’s been watching you. Now it’s your turn to watch him.

Idalene “Idie” Kesner

Here’s another reason why many around the Indiana University Kelley School of Business are thankful this time of year.

The IU Kelley School’s Center for International Business Education and Research emerged as the best funded of the 17 U.S. Department of Education-funded centers that survived after the national list was pared down from 33 to 17.

Idalene “Idie” Kesner, dean of the Kelley School and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management, proudly accepts that distinction as recognition for what her program has accomplished.

“It was very competitive,” Kesner said of the application process this round (It happens every four years). “These 17 schools are all the top-tier research universities in the country.

“We are very confident in the direction that we had taken Kelley’s CIBER programming and activities the past seven years, and we are confident that we are advancing our international educational mission,” she added.

This year’s grant of $289,200 — an amount that is expected to be awarded annually over the next four years — also represents a return to the former funding levels of the 2010 cycle. In 2011, all Title VI programs, including the CIBERs, saw their annual funding slashed by up to 55 percent.

Congress, under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, created Centers for International Business Education and Research. Administered by the U.S. Department of Education under Title VI, Part B of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the CIBER network links the manpower and technological needs of the United States business community with the international education, language training, and research capacities of universities across the country.

Kelley has been home to a Center for International Business Education and Research since 1992. The program was designed to help business schools foster international competitiveness. Today’s CIBERs are expected to be more engaged and involved in supporting outreach activities with external partners.

P. Roberto Garcia

“These 17 schools are really leaders in the country to help minority serving institutions, community colleges and other higher education organizations internationalize,” said LaVonn Schlegel, managing director of the Institute for International Business, which houses the IU CIBER.

Of course, being a business school with a Center for International Business Education and Research adds to Kelley’s overall prestige. But had it missed out during this latest round — which was true of a number of top schools — students and faculty at other places would have been hurt the hardest.

“The impact would have been great as more and more of our funds go to supporting capacity building activities with our partner schools,” she said.

The Kelley CIBER works with five minority serving institutions and community colleges:

• Martin University in Indianapolis.
• Ivy Tech Community College (across 31 campuses)
• Governors State University in University Park, Ill. (suburban Chicago)
• Harris-Stowe State University, a historically black university in St. Louis.
• Palo Alto College, a Hispanic-serving institution in San Antonio.

Through support from the federal grant, Kelley provides faculty development, encourages study abroad and other pedagogical opportunities.

Through a partnership with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, CIBER will provide an internship program that will provide summer interns to small firms across Indiana and help them identify new export and international opportunities.

The federal grant also partially supports the school’s Business is Global summer program, which brings high school students to campus to learn about the intersection of business, language and culture.

This year, as a result of the new funding, Governors State University will take more of a leadership role, as Kelley does, in assisting community colleges in the Chicago area to improve their curriculums and bolster faculty and student international engagement.

“We’ve really created something to where our impact is much broader. We are supporting people who are now building capacity toward internationalization, leveraging what we started doing for them four years ago,” noted Roberto Garcia, clinical professor of international business and the new faculty director of the CIBER. ”It’s really exciting.”

“Even though the CIBER program has contracted in terms of the number of schools, that just puts more pressure on those of us who are now funded, to keep focusing on that outreach and to keep focusing on how we help grow a knowledge base around improving international competitive of U.S. businesses.”

Launched by President Barack Obama in 2009 as a global platform “to empower entrepreneurs with the skills and resources necessary to compete and thrive in the 21st century,” the summit also enables participants to network one-on-one with each other and to learn from dozens of speakers.

Among them are nine alumni of an Indiana University Kelley School of Business program that over the past three summers has welcomed about 300 young people from eight countries across North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Many of them are women.

While at IU Bloomington, the students spent a month learning the principles of entrepreneurship through the school’s Global Business Institute program, administered by its Institute for International Business.

The Global Business Institute is a collaboration among the Kelley School, the U.S. Department of State and the Coca-Cola Co. The multifaceted, immersive program gives select students from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinian territories and Afghanistan an opportunity to learn about business in the context of American culture.

“It was a very exciting piece of good news that students from our program were called out,” said LaVonn Schlegel, Institute for International Business’s managing director. “This will provide them with an excellent opportunity for further networking and education. There will be venture capitalists there and all kinds of business support there. They will have an opportunity to continue to talk about their businesses and what their future plans are.”

They were invited by the U.S. State Department to attend the summit, being hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco today through Friday.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is among world leaders attending the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

Among the Global Business Institute alumni in attendance is Egyptian Mohamed Elwan, who at the age of 24 already has accomplished quite a lot. He is founder, CEO and managing director of Camponita for Project Management, a joint stock company worth $150,000 with 78 percent of its stocks sold to different investors. It has achieved a good market position in its first three months.

He also is a co-founder and former general manager of Funlozia, which provides tourism services. He put Dune Raider Sandboarding in position to be the biggest and most professional sandboarding team. Dune Raider will host the Sandboarding World Championship in April in Egypt.

Elwan started his journey after returning from the Global Business Institute program in 2012. He quickly became one of the most well-known young entrepreneurs in Egypt and engaged in business activities with corporations and banks such Commercial International Bank, the leading financial institution in Egypt; Aramex, a top logistics and transportation company in Egypt; and Procter & Gamble, the U.S.-based multinational consumer goods company.

Joining him is fellow Egyptian Nihal El Tawal, a 26-year-old woman who also was part of the Global Business Institute program in 2012.

In June of 2013, the law student opened a restaurant in Alexandria called Mazmata. Based on its success, she has opened a second location and has plans to open a third one soon. She also is working with three other program alumni on other ventures.

Her dream is for people to one day point at her and say, “Because of you, I didn’t give up.”

Nihal El Tawil, of Alexandria, Egypt, gestured to make a point during a GBI presentation in 2012.

Another person in the Global Business Institute Class of 2012, Jordanian Ahmad Alnoubani, has established and is looking for investors in a company, EcoBani, which provides social marketing for environmental solutions and facilitates the trading and selling of water and energy-saving devices and water treatment systems.

He came to IU after earning a degree in water and environmental management and after his return to Jordan worked at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.

Jordan suffers from a scarcity of and poor quality drinking water. Working with a colleague, Alnoubani developed and patented a new water treatment system using reverse osmosis that doesn’t waste a single drop of water. They received funding to start two complementary businesses and EcoBani soon will register a new patent in the field of energy.

Moroccans Karim El-Mastouri and Sarah Zineb Boumouja, who participated in the Global Business Institute program last year, also are in attendance.

El-Mastouri is studying at Tangiers’ Higher International Institute of Tourism and soon will receive a masters degree. He plans further develop a business idea that he hopes will make more of his nation’s tourist and heritage sites more accessible to the disabled.

Boumouja runs her own events marketing and communications firm.

Two 2012 Global Business Institute alumni from the Palestinian territories were also invited. In attendance is Ameer Althayabeh, who established a successful café in the West Bank after trying several other business ideas. He is a trainer of innovation in a project implemented by the Al Nayzak organization and completing his studies at Palestine Polytechnic University, so he has larger plans for the future.

Unable to attend was fellow Palestinian Iyad Altahrawi, because he could not get an exit visa from Gaza. As a facilities manager at a bank, Altahrawi is responsible for studying companies’ funding proposals and makes some individual loan decisions.

During his free time, Altahrawi works with Gaza Sky Geeks, a business acceleration program working to support high-potential entrepreneurs in Gaza. He has also served as co-organizer of the Gaza Startup Weekend, which is the biggest event working to support entrepreneurs in the Gaza Strip.

Also in attendance are two Tunisians. Hamza Kramti received important guidance on starting a pearl farming business this summer at Kelley. Nadia Soussi, a 2013 Global Business Institute alumna and a senior at the Mediterranean School of Business in Tunis, started Passengers Design Store, which promotes Tunisian artists and crafts people. She also is a Google student ambassador, creating several Google student clubs across her country.

Forty percent of all the students involved with the Kelley School program have remained engaged in entrepreneurship at some level and more than 30 businesses have been established.

When President Obama launched the the Global Entrepreneurship Summit,  he had lofty goals. Schlegel says the Global Business Institute always has had similar ambitions and she looks forward to welcoming the fourth class of students next summer, hopefully including students from Iraq and Yemen.

A friend of Emily Potts captured this moment of the IUPUI student walking in the Amazon region of Ecuador, where she and her classmates were studying its animals and bio-diversity of the rainforest.

This is the 15th year that International Education Week has been celebrated at universities, schools and libraries across the country. The annual celebration highlights the benefits of American students going abroad, the value of international students and other exchanges.

Over the last 15 years, the overall number of Americans studying abroad for college credit has more than doubled, according to the Institute of International Education.

But as this joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education is halfway through its second decade, study abroad at Indiana University is into its fifth decade.

Earlier this year, the IU Office of Overseas Study published a remembrance, “The 40th Anniversary Retrospective: Overseas Study at Indiana University.”

Co-edited by Kathleen Sideli, associate vice president for overseas study, and Walter Nugent, the office’s founding director and professor emeritus of history at the University of Notre Dame, the book tells the story from the beginning. It reveals how the first international locations and partners were chosen and how the university worked to facilitate student access and participation.

While study abroad today is considered a high impact educational activity that students expect from a college experience, the book’s eight authors show how unique such opportunities were just a few decades ago. Participation went from 100 students a year to more than 3,000 students today.

The contributors “have portrayed how a university in the Midwest of the United States has opened the world for its students and they point to a future in which increasing numbers of undergraduates will want to be part of an interdependent world,” said Patrick O’Meara, vice president emeritus of international affairs and currently special advisor to IU President Michael McRobbie.

Students observe Korean Tea ceremony, traditional culture and manners. (Photo by Cassandra Harner)

More than 40,000 IU students have been sent abroad by the IU Office of Overseas Study since the office was established in 1972. Today, IU Bloomington remains a national leader in international education and again has been ranked by IIE among the top 10 in terms of students studying abroad.

“It is exciting to see students from a wider variety of majors than ever participate in study abroad programs, ” Sideli observed. “They represent disciplines as diverse as electronic music composition, athletics healthcare, arts management, sustainability, microfinance and informatics.”

On the IU Bloomington campus, 25 percent of students who earn a bachelor’s degree have had at least on international credit-bearing experience, she said.

While Western Europe remains the most sought study-abroad destination, more IU students are going to China, Japan, India, Indonesia and South Korea, and reflect a broader trend.

At each campus, the university encourages study abroad through revised degree requirements that provide students with more ways to use their overseas experiences to maintain progress toward graduation. Alumni and university endowments have been earmarked to specifically defray expenses for those studying abroad.

The School of Public Health sends students to Asia to study comparative health care. Students in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs go to Paris and learn about arts management. The Kelley School of Business’ global immersion courses involve travel to eight countries.

IU Media School students traveled to Uganda, to study the effect of AIDS on Africa.

Students in the Media School literally follow in the footsteps of IU alumnus and famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Others in the Media School traveled to Uganda for an in-depth reporting project.

Composition students in electronic music from the IU Jacobs School of Music travel to Paris and the ManiFESTE Music Festival.

At IUPUI, students are engaged in a service-learning project in Swaziland. IU Kokomo nursing students have gone to South Korea. IU Southeast students apply their geography studies in Costa Rica.

Sideli noted that IU is strongly ranked across all three duration periods — eighth for semester students, 11th for academic year students and 15th for summer/short-term programs which indicates a balanced distribution of students across programs of different lengths.

IU’s rich history of bringing the world to Indiana and bringing the world to its students is a story worth reading. All royalties from the sale of “The 40th Anniversary Retrospective: Overseas Study at Indiana University” — available at Amazon.com — will go to a scholarship fund for IU students who want to study abroad.

Fans of the popular sport of cricket here in India would call it a “six.”

Hoosiers would call it a “homerun.”

The new plaque for the IU India Office.

To anyone keeping score — including those here in Delhi, India, and folks back home in Indiana — Indiana University’s dedication Thursday evening of its new IU India Office, the first of the university’s two global gateway facilities (the other is in Beijing), would be deemed a game-changer and an important victory for a university on a continued quest to be one of the nation’s most internationally focused institutions of higher education.

The IU-India connection

While its new India center might’ve been officially introduced Thursday, IU is far from being a rookie player when it comes to India. Its connection with the country, in fact, goes back to the birth of modern India and even before then.

The first Indian student to graduate from IU was Konigapogu Joseph Devadanam, who earned an undergraduate degree in psychology in 1930.

In 1948, IU’s legendary 11th president Herman B Wells joined about 200 people from IU and the surrounding Bloomington community, as well as IU’s Indian students, to celebrate the first year of Indian independence.

Over the next six-plus decades, IU has built a powerhouse program for the study of India, including its history, languages and culture. The Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program at IU Bloomington is one of only a handful of such programs in the U.S. Faculty members in the program, located within the School of Global and International Studies, are engaged in research and teaching about India’s history and culture, including contemporary politics, law, literature and business. It is directed by Michael Dodson, who serves as academic director of the new IU India Office.

IU has also formed strong and productive partnerships with several of India’s top universities, including O.P. Jindal Global University, the University of Hyderabad, Symbiosis International University, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Elite School of Optometry and SHODH: Institute for Research and Development. And the university is continually exploring the possibility of new and meaningful partnerships. IU President Michael A. McRobbie even worked a meeting in around the office dedication at Ambedkar University Delhi. Established in 2007, the fast-developing city-funded university is grounded in the humanities and social sciences and features a strong emphasis on teaching social responsibility.

More than 1,100 Indian students are enrolled at IU campuses across Indiana. This figure represents a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of Indian students enrolled at IU over the past five years.

Additionally, India is a leading destination for IU students pursuing an overseas study opportunity, with more than 100 students currently studying abroad in the country.

Finally, there are about 4,300 IU alumni affiliated with India, who, along with the hundreds of scholars, dignitaries and students who have visited IU campuses, comprise IU’s ever-growing global community.

A new era of collaboration

The formal establishment of the IU India Office on Thursday evening in Gurgaon, a suburb of New Delhi and leading financial and industrial center, ushers in a new era in IU’s longstanding engagement with India. It also signals IU’s desire to work even more closely with leading Indian universities, businesses and other institutions, as well as the country’s social and cultural leaders.

Outside of the IU India Office in Gurgaon.

“IU’s presence in India is indicative of our desire to learn about India on its own terms and to begin an exchange that will benefit both India and Indiana and strengthen the connections between India and the United States,” McRobbie said just before officially dedicating the new office, which will serve as a hub for university activities in the country.

Those activities will include scholarly research and teaching, conferences and workshops, study abroad programs, distance learning initiatives, executive and corporate training, alumni events and more. Indeed, many such events have already taken place since the 3,700-square-foot office, within the headquarters of the American Institute of Indian Studies, first opened its doors early last year.

Fittingly, on the morning of its formal dedication, as workers scrambled to put the finishing touches on the evening ceremonial event, the newly refurbished office hosted a workshop on “The Safeguarding of India’s Documentary and Cultural Heritage,” led by IU Bloomington professor of Central Eurasian studies Ron Sela. The workshop, which brought together IU faculty and several acclaimed artists, historians and cultural directors from around India, was a shining example of how the university expects to dramatically enhance its engagement here, for the mutual benefit of its faculty and staff and their Indian colleagues.

Soaring IU spirit

IU spirit was already soaring high as the evening sun set over Gurgaon and office director Michael Dodson welcomed (in English and Hindi) the 70 to 80 guests in attendance to what would be a special ceremony and momentous occasion in IU’s history of internationalism.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie formally dedicates the IU India Office.

Indeed, it was truly a night to remember, as speaker after speaker — including Dodson; IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret; Michael Pelletier, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi; Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University Raj Kumar; the Honorable Deepender Hooda, a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament, and an alumnus of the IU Kelley School of Business; and, finally, McRobbie — shared his excitement and enthusiasm for the new office and the impact it would have on faculty, students and alumni in Indiana and in India now and in the future.

“Ours is a shrinking world that demands we all work together, which makes me very proud that my university had the vision and took the initiative to launch this important new facility,” Hooda said.

Hoosier pride was palpable as McRobbie unveiled a shiny new plaque commemorating the establishment of the IU India Office and then offered a toast to “the many future pathways of partnership that the IU India Office will help make possible.”

“Dhanyavad and Shukriya,” McRobbie added, sharing a warm Indian “thank you” to all those who helped make the new office possible and those who celebrated in the special occasion.

The president’s words alone would’ve been enough to send everyone home inspired and happy, but, the evening had one more memorable moment in store: a stirring and passionately delivered performance by acclaimed Indian classical musician and sarod virtuoso Ayaan Ali Khan, which put a marvelous coda on a milestone day for IU and its many alumni and friends here in the heart of India.

Most people would not likely describe desert-dominated Saudi Arabia as fertile—unless, that is, he or she is a proud Hoosier discussing how the Kingdom is awash in successful and highly driven Indiana University alumni living, working and making major contributions to the growth and development of this dynamic and strategically important country.

A view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from King Saud University.

A few fast facts:

• There are also more than 600 IU alumni affiliated with Saudi Arabia, and given the growing numbers of Saudi students at IU, the number of alumni will soon increase.
• There are more than 8,500 international students at IU this fall. Nearly 600 of those students are from Saudi Arabia, and the number of Saudi students at IU is growing rapidly. Saudi Arabia has rapidly become one of the leading countries of origin for international students at IU; Saudi students are currently the 4th largest international student body at IU.

Hoosier Nation, Meet the Hoosier Kingdom.

This might be a slight exaggeration, but surprisingly not by much—at least not when you consider just how much IU graduates are impacting many of the leading Saudi businesses, governmental agencies and higher education institutions here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where, just today, IU signed a new partnership agreement with the premier university in the entire Arab world, King Saud University, and also strengthened ties with a number of its most prominent Middle Eastern alumni at a special gathering in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

‘The air of the Hoosiers’

IU President Michael A. McRobbie is the first IU president to visit Saudi Arabia in more than 30 years; the last was John Ryan in 1983. In the lead-up to today’s agreement-signing and alumni event, President McRobbie met with a number of graduates whose remarkable successes in their respective areas might only be matched by the enthusiasm they exude as proud members of the Hoosier family.

Many of IU’s Saudi alumni are also supporters of and catalysts for change, and they include a number of female graduates. IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie, who had a separate itinerary from President McRobbie, met with several of those alumnae in Riyadh. They included Lubna Olayan, who received her master’s degree from the IU Kelley School of Business in 1979 and now serves as CEO of the Olayan Financing Group, one of the Middle East’s leading commercial and investment operations. Additionally, the First Lady and former IU presidential intern Rahaf Safi also paid an official visit to Princess Nora University, a public women’s university located in the Saudi capital and the largest university for women in the world. (More about the First Lady’s visit and perspective on Saudi Arabia will be featured in an upcoming blog post.)

Among those with whom President McRobbie met were Bandar Al-Hajjar, the Minister of Hajj, responsible for the provision of facilities for the annual visit of 2.5 million pilgrims to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, the largest mass gathering in the world. Al-Hajjar, who earned a master’s degree from IU in economics in 1981, was appointed Minister of Hajj in 2011, becoming the first IU graduate to hold such a high position in the king of Saudi Arabia’s cabinet.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie with alumnus Bandar Al-Hajjar, the Minister of Hajj.

He is currently championing ideas that would better enable Saudi Arabia’s system of higher education to meet the most pressing challenges facing the nation, including, among others, its heavy dependence on oil (nearly 95 percent of the Saudi economy is financed by oil); dearth of renewable energy sources; high unemployment (around 13 percent, with female unemployment hovering around 30 percent); and rapidly growing demand for nurses and quality health care.

McRobbie also met two IU alums, Mohammed H. Alsaigh and Saeed Al Ghilani, who are now consultants for the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education, which oversees the nation’s 28 public universities (a few years ago there were only seven) and dealing with issues of affordability, accessibility and quality concerning the country’s higher education system.

Abdulaziz Aldukheil received both his master’s and doctoral degree in economics from IU Bloomington in 1968 and 1974, respectively. Today, the outspoken alumnus is the head of Aldukheil Financial Group, one of Saudi Arabia’s oldest and most prestigious financial management and consulting firms, which he founded 35 years ago. In his position, Aldukheil offers knowledge, research and advice to numerous ministries and government agencies in the kingdom, and he has also served as a visiting professor at Oxford and Georgetown universities.

“It is my pleasure to have the air of the Hoosiers here,” Aldukheil said, before delivering an impassioned talk about his strong belief in governmental transparency and the need for more highly trained human capital in his country to drive major political, economic and cultural change.

Then there was Sami Baroum, a 1992 Ph.D. graduate of the Kelley School of Business and chairman of the Madinah Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (MILE), a group firmly positioned at the forefront of executive education in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Formerly a top executive with the Savola Group, one of the largest business conglomerates in the region with operations in 11 countries, he is considered one of the leading entrepreneurs in the Middle East and a forceful advocate for education, economic development and the establishment of a world-class IT infrastructure.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie presents the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion to alumnus Sami Baroum.

In Riyadh, Baroum brought his two daughters, one of whom lived in Bloomington and went to elementary school there, to meet President McRobbie, who, in turn, presented the hugely successful, but extremely humble, Hoosier graduate with the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion, given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of IU.

Echoing those values, Baroum said, “My vision for my daughters is how to effect change through education. It was the impetus behind my starting the MILE institute. I have seen how education can shape our lives and help bring about real change.”

IU: Fit for a King

Of course, one has to look no further than King Saud University and, more specifically, its College of Dentistry, to see just how influential IU has been—and continues to be—in supporting the educational foundation in Saudi Arabia.

Today at KSU, several dozen top administrators and faculty welcomed President McRobbie to their campus, about half of whom received some form of educational training at IU. Of the Hoosier alumni contingent at KSU, many are graduates of the IU School of Dentistry, which, over many years, has built an impressive and productive partnership with its KSU counterpart.

Indeed, the IU School of Dentistry boasts a fairly astounding record of success in terms of the number and quality of its Saudi graduates. The school now boasts almost 40 Saudi master’s graduates, and more than half of those graduates come from KSU. Currently, 13 of its 90 master’s track students are from Saudi Arabia and nine are from KSU.

IU President McRobbie and King Saud University President Badran Al Omar sign a partnership agreement between their respective universities.

Just over a year ago, IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret signed a formalized agreement between the dental schools that called for building upon the two schools’ longstanding collaboration in producing Saudi master’s and Ph.D. students toward opening IU’s doors to additional students attending programs and visiting scholars.

The partnership in dentistry between IU and KSU has also paved the way for an even deeper relationship between the two institutions, a goal reflected in the university-wide partnership agreement signed today by President McRobbie and KSU President Badran Al Omar. More specifically, the agreement signaled a sizeable first step toward new joint activities in areas in which the two schools have major common strengths, such as language instruction and education.

‘The four corners of Bloomington’

About 70 IU alums from KSU and other universities in the region, as well as from business, government and other areas, all came together this evening in downtown Riyadh in an exciting and impressive show of Hoosier pride and support for their alma mater.

Among the attendees at the IU Saudi alumni reception was Ahmad Turkestani, a professor at Imam University in Riyadh and TV personality, who gave an emotional, heartfelt and inspiring speech recounting his time in the 1980s as a student and parent of young children in Bloomington.

As Turkestani fondly reminisced about IU people and places that had captivated him and many of his fellow Saudi alums while they were here as students (Tulip Tree Apartments, Eigenmann Hall, Bob Knight, the Wells Library, Assembly Hall, Fourth Street, College Mall), rattling them off as if he had just graduated last spring, there was simply no denying the deep meaning, power and impact of the IU-Saudi connection.

“Please give my best to the four corners of Bloomington,” Turkestani said, concluding his remarks and offering proof, on a day when there was lots of it, that Hoosier spirit would continue to rule this kingdom in the months and years to come.

IU Saudi alumni pose for a group picture with President McRobbie in Riyadh.

Ilham Tohti and IU professor Elliot Sperling in 2012.

This morning, the Indiana University community joined the rest of the world in expressing deep concern over the conviction of prominent Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti and the life sentence handed down by the Chinese government.

In February 2013, Tohti was in the process of traveling to IU as a visiting scholar when authorities detained him before boarding the flight with his daughter. With his encouragement, she boarded the flight and today is a student at IU and an exponent for her father.

In January, Tohti was arrested and charged with advocating separatism and inciting ethnic hatred, criticizing the Chinese government and voicing support for terrorism.

In July, Elliot Sperling, an associate professor of Central Eurasian studies at IU Bloomington and leading scholar on Tibet, was denied entry into China after traveling there with a valid entry visa. He suspected it had to do with his support for Tohti.

“This is so thorough and transparent a miscarriage of justice as to take one’s breath away,” Sperling told The Washington Post. “By no stretch of the imagination — even the authoritarian imagination — could this be considered a fair trial. The severity of the sentence stands in inverse proportion to the substance of the charges.”

Formerly a professor at Minzu University of China in Beijing, Tohti is one of the best-known scholars on Uighur issues and a moderate voice in the conflicts between the Turkic Muslims and Han Chinese in western Xinjiang Province. His website, Uyghur Online, which was designed to promote understanding, reportedly was used against him in court.

Three months after his arrest, in April, Tohti was named winner of the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, which is given to writers anywhere who fight for freedom of expression.

Gardner Bovingdon

Another IU Uighur analyst, Gardner Bovingdon, associate professor of Central Eurasian studies, told Voice of America today that the life sentence was the second-worst outcome, second only to the death penalty.

“I absolutely agree with Secretary (John) Kerry it (the sentence) sends precisely the wrong signal to Uighurs, the people throughout China and the world about its attitude toward human rights, toward peaceful dissent and toward the promotion of dialogue to resolve longstanding problems,” Bovingdon told VOA.

Sperling and Bovingdon also are faculty in IU’s School of Global and International Studies.

While the world’s news media has turned to IU experts to offer perspectives on Tohti’s conviction and sentencing, IU also has used its official voice about these issues. IU issued a statement today about Tohti and about concerns that some IU faculty members are finding it difficult to travel to China for “the purposes of research exchange.”

It reads in part:

“Indiana University joins the United States government, as well as those of several European Union countries, and human rights organizations worldwide in expressing its deep concern over the conviction and life sentence handed down to prominent Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti by the Chinese government this week. Likewise, the university echoes those countries and organizations in urging the Chinese government to reconsider Tohti’s conviction.”

Students from Asia are among those embracing Herman B Wells and the international legacy he left behind.

After a quiet and relatively cool summer, Bloomington again is buzzing with the return of students at Indiana University, as evidenced by increased traffic across campus, on Kirkwood Avenue and at local malls.

This fall, IU Bloomington is welcoming its largest and most diverse freshman class. Among them are a significant number of first-year international students. They are projected to include 711 international students from 41 countries on six continents.

Overall, international student enrollment — including masters and doctoral students — is expected to exceed 6,000.

International student orientation took place earlier this month and continues through Welcome Week when all students come together as they transition to college life. Activities included an informational session and reception for parents, social events, a wide variety of presentations on university services, academic life and expectations and adjusting to life and culture in southern Indiana.

There’s even a program about using the IU bus system.

While the summer typically is a time for families of prospective students to take college road trips to check out schools, most of their international peers never step onto campus until they officially enroll.

The largest number of new international students comes from a country that is nearly 7,000 miles away — the People’s Republic of China. About 680 Chinese graduate and undergraduate students will enroll for the first time at IU Bloomington this fall. More than 3,000 students will come from China this year.

International student orientation took place earlier this month and continues through Welcome Week when all students come together as they transition to college life.

In mid-July, a group of IU students, staff, faculty and administrators traveled to Beijing to help students feel more acclimated to the Bloomington campus and community. The program — called IU2U — was highlighted by two days of workshops for students and parents. More details are available in a news release.

Travel itineraries for many other IU international students involve a double-digit airplane flight. More than 230 students are expected to come from India and 158 from South Korea. Other home countries sending many students here include Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong and Brazil.

A new website for students and their parents

Another step that IU and its Office of International Services is taking to help international students and their families feel more comfortable with their decision to attend IU is to provide important information in their own tongue.

A new website encourages and informs parents how IU will help their children succeed in eight languages — Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and French. It provides useful information about the university and its programs, admissions standards, the application process and the welcoming climate for international students.

“Word of mouth is important,” said Matt Beatty, IU director of international admissions. “But being able to see pictures and to read about the campus in their own mother tongue really helps to fill in the color and helps them to get to know IU.

“As we went through this process, we discovered that very few of our peer institutions have taken this step or gone this far, and I really do think that this another reflection of IU’s global awareness,” he added.

The new site — designed by my colleagues in IU Communications — also features a lot of important information for families of students who have been accepted, including about tuition, fees and expected expenses. There are links to resources, such as the Office of First Year Experiences, the Academic Support Center, career services and Bloomington Worldwide Friendship.

Future plans include adding more culture-specific videos and presentations in the various languages. IU eventually hopes to present the same information in other languages commonly used by students from other parts of the world.

It’s understandable that parents may be concerned about the health and welfare of their children, like their American counterparts, and the site also provides reassurance about IU’s efforts to keep the campus a safe place as well as about health and medical care and insurance.

“Parents overseas, like those here in the U.S., play a critical role in the decision-making process,” Beatty said. “We want them to make an informed decision. We want them to know that this is a real inclusive community that students will be joining here.”

Students and their friends at No. 14 high school in Hangzhou

Guest post courtesy of Alicia Swihart of the IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages:

Bright and early on Saturday, June 7, nine Indiana high school students departed for Hangzhou, China, with Stephanie Goetz, managing director of the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages.

Coming from several of the top schools in Indiana, including Carmel High School, North Central High School in Indianapolis, Culver Academy, Southport High School and Zionsville Community High School, the students made up the inaugural group for the program’s first site in Asia.

The students returned to Indianapolis after about five weeks with a greater understanding of the Chinese language and culture, as well as a stronger sense of self.

“Establishing a program in China has been the culmination of a project years in the making. We are proud of our first-ever Hangzhou cohort and all they managed to achieve during their five week stay in China,” said Goetz. “We cannot imagine sending a more qualified group of students to inaugurate the Program in Asia.”

A morning Tai-Chi class

Students spent five weeks studying the Chinese language in the classroom with two graduate instructors from IU’s Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at No. 14 high school in Hangzhou.

When students weren’t in class learning about communication, language usage and integrated Chinese from their certified Chinese as a second language teachers, they engaged in activities taught by the high school’s staff members, such as Tai Chi morning exercises, writing Chinese characters in calligraphy and learning how to play a Chinese instrument, hulusi.

Students in the IU program lived with host families in Hangzhou during their five-week stay. They explored Hangzhou with host families and became assimilated to the culture through shopping for groceries, visiting extended host family members and spending time with their new friends.

Throughout the program, students — accompanied by their instructors — went on excursions to explore various other sites and territories in China, including trips to neighboring Suzhou, as well as Shanghai and the country’s capital, Beijing.

Throughout the course of the program, students prepared a farewell show for their host families and administrators at No. 14 high school to thank them for being so welcoming.

They visited the Great Wall

Officials from the Foreign Affairs Department of Zhejiang Province also attended the farewell show, as they played a pivotal role in the development of the IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages in Hangzhou.

Goetz first met with Foreign Affairs officials on her site visit to Hangzhou in November 2012 and introduced her to No. 14 high school. Goetz said the collaboration with the school came naturally.

“We’re grateful for our colleagues at FAD for introducing our program to No. 14,” she said. “Given No. 14 is a key school at the provincial level, we knew that their standards and ours would align.”

With the successful completion of its first program in Hangzhou under its belt, the IU program looks forward to sending larger cohorts to China in coming years.

“I learned a lot about Chinese culture and got a lot out of the experience. Also, as this was the first year in Hangzhou, I think we demonstrated admirably that the program can be successful in China,” said Rachel Krieger, a student at Carmel High School and a participant in the program in Hangzhou.

Fourth edition of “Africa.” The first edition appeared in 1977.

To say that the IU Press book, “Africa,” now in its fourth edition, has left a meaningful legacy would be an understatement.

Since the publication of the first edition in 1977, “Africa” has served students at Indiana University and far beyond as one of the most popular introductory textbook for African studies courses in North America.

The original edition of “Africa” emerged in part from an undergraduate course at IU and was divided into four sections that provided an introduction to the continent, its history, traditions within then contemporary Africa and the “forces of modernization.” Similarly structured, subsequent editions have come out in 1978 and 1995.

“’Africa’ has long been the best introduction to the dynamism of the African continent and to the struggles and aspirations of its peoples,” noted Leonardo A. Villalon, a professor of political science and former director of the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida.

Editors leave a legacy, present a vision

Still involved with the interdisciplinary book project after all these years is Patrick O’Meara, today a special advisor to IU President Michael A. McRobbie and the university’s first vice president for international affairs.

An internationally renowned scholar of international development and African politics, O’Meara edited each of the previous editions with Phyllis Martin, a professor emeritus of history at IU. A native of South Africa, O’Meara worked closely with Gwendolen Carter, one of the most widely respected scholars of African affairs in the 20th century, on another important book, “Southern Africa in Crisis.” Carter taught at IU from 1974 to 1984.

The Kumasi yam wholesale yard is big business in Ghana. Photo by Professor Gracia Clark

Co-editors of the completely revised fourth edition are Maria Grosz-Ngate, an anthropologist and associate director of IU’s African Studies Program, and John H. Hanson, IU associate professor of history and an editor of “History in Africa.” The fourth edition has been completely revised and focuses on the Africa of today and emphasizes contemporary culture, including civil and social issues, art, religion and politics.

“More than 15 years have passed since the third edition of Africa was published. Much has changed in Africa, in the continent’s relations with the world and in scholarship during the intervening years,” Grosz-Ngate, Hanson and O’Meara write in the preface to the new edition.

“Our vision for this edition is to focus on contemporary Africa in all its dynamism and diversity, to emphasize African agency and resourcefulness, and to stress social processes as well as institutions in revealing the ways that African men and women have constructed meaningful individual lives and engaged in collective activities at the local, national and global levels.”

Grosz-Ngate also contributes a chapter, “Social Relations: Family, Kinship and Community.” Hanson, whose research focuses on the history and social initiatives of Muslims in West Africa, penned a chapter on the continent’s religions and co-wrote another chapter about themes in African history with John Akare Aden.

Book showcases IU’s extensive scholarship on Africa

Most of the chapters are written by IU faculty, IU Ph.D. graduates or current IU doctoral candidates, including:

— John Akare Aden, an IU history Ph.D. and executive director of the Fort Wayne African/African American History Museum and Society;

— Akin Adesokan, an associate professor of comparative literature who studies 20th and 21st century African, African American and African diaspora literatures and cultures, cinema and global post-coloniality;

— Gracia Clark, a professor of anthropology who has worked with traders in Kumasi Central Market to produce research since 1978;

— Marion Frank-Wilson, the librarian for African studies at the Wells Library;

— Carolyn Holmes, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science;

— Eileen Julien, a professor of comparative literature and French and Italian, who studies the connections between Africa, Europe and the Americas;

— Lauren MacLean, an associate professor of political science who has studied the politics of state formation, social welfare and citizenship in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Kenya;

— Takyiwaa Manuh, an IU anthropology Ph.D. and former director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana at Legon, whose research focuses on law and human rights;

— Patrick McNaughton, a chancellor’s professor of art history with a special interest in the arts of West Africa;

— Diane Pelrine, the Raymond and Laura Wielgus Curator of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the IU Art Museum;

— Daniel B. Reed, associate professor of folklore and ethnomusicology, whose research has focused on West Africa, especially Cote d’Ivoire.

— Ruth M. Stone, the Laura Boulton Professor and recently IU associate vice president for research, who has researched the study of musical performance among the Kpelle in Liberia;

Other authors include Liberia’s former president and World Bank officials

Amos Sawyer, president of the interim government in Liberia from 1990 to 1994, current chair of the Governance Commission of Liberia and former chair of the African Union’s Panel of Eminent Persons, co-wrote the chapter on African politics and the future of democracy in Africa. The 2011 Gusi Prize winner also is a research scholar in the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at IU.

REVZ, a painted bus (matatu) designed by Hasan Rasta and in use in Nairobi, Kenya, 2004-05. Photo by Kitty Johnson

Raymond Muhula and Stephen N. Ndegwa, an IU Political Science Ph.D., both of the World Bank, wrote about development in Africa.

“Africa” demonstrates the relevance of the past for the present in its first two chapters on geography and history as well as in other chapters that develop the ways the past shapes the present in art, politics and social affairs.

However, all of its authors stress contemporary developments and future possibilities: Africa has more mobile phone users than the United States, for example, and while it has some of the poorest nations on the planet, it also has six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies.

As we attempt to make sense of current news events in Africa, IU’s experts, including those who contributed to this project, help to provide an understanding of the continent not only for students but also for policy makers, business people and the general public.

Those words, originally written as part of an Indiana University announcement in 2010, today ring true more than ever before.

Framing the Global, an interdisciplinary initiative funded by a $775,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has since supported 15 research fellowships and an international conference last year.

This summer, there is a book, “Framing the Global: Entry Points for Research (IU Press),” which its authors hope will offer a “conceptual toolkit for global research in the 21st century.”

“We have always lived in a complex world, but few deny that today we live in a noticeably more interrelated world than we did even a decade ago,” observes Hilary E. Kahn, director of the Center for the Study of Global Change, based in the IU School of Global and International Studies.

“Multitudes of global linkages meet to form collections of meaning and materiality that affect our lives: in the things we make and use, the ways we think and feel, how and why we do what we do,” Kahn continues in the book’s introduction. “They appear in our sociopolitical structures, economic systems, forms of governance and foreign policies.

“We are conscious of many of these connections, oblivious to others.”

Global studies emerged in the 1980s as scholars, policymakers and the public began to take note of the increasingly transnational flow of people, ideas and goods.

As Kahn explains, the Framing the Global project and its resulting 14-chapter book offer an approach that allows scholars from various academic disciplines and perspectives to investigate how our lives are defined by and give meaning to global processes.

Framing the Global research fellows and team

Janet Rabinowitch, director emerita of IU Press; Rebecca Tolen, sponsoring editor; and Deborah Piston-Hatlen, program director, joined Kahn on the project. Robert Sloan succeeded Rabinowitch and today is editor-in-chief of IU Press.

An advisory committee consisting of faculty from the Maurer School of Law, the Kelley School of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Media School and SGIS also is guiding the project.

“The global — whether an institution, process, a discursive practice, or an imaginary — simultaneously transcends the exclusive framing of the nation-state and partly inhabits national territories and institutions,” Saskia Sassen writes in the book’s forward. “Seen this way, globalization is more than its common representation as growing interdependence and the formation of self-evidently global institutions.

“It also comprises processes situated deep inside the national, which means that one instantiation of globalization actually is the outcome of a partial denationalization of the national as historically constructed,” added Sassen, the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University.

Her words explain in part why our society appears so fragmented, particularly to those who define society based on geographic borders.

We see it within the current debate over how to react to the recent crisis on the U.S.-Mexican border and the conflicts in the Middle East. If you are reading this article on an iPad, remember the tablet likely was produced in China.

“Nothing is done in isolation anymore,” Kahn told me in an earlier interview. “I don’t think anybody is denying the fact that there are still entities that have some integrity within local or geographic spaces, within territories or nations.

“But yet at the same time, I don’t think anybody would disagree that all of those are given meaning and are defined in some ways by broader global connections,” she said.

Kahn is correct. Knowledge in the 21st century no longer emerges from one space; it comes from collaboration, dialogue and engagement between people from various disciplines and from beyond borders. She believes it also is about bridging different perspectives, including within academia.

If you’re looking for more context and conversations about global studies, you might want to visit the project’s web site — framing.indiana.edu — which provides more information about the scholars and their books which are yet to come as part of the Global Research Series.

According to a 2013 report, more than 6.7 million students — or nearly a third of all higher education enrollment nationwide — took at least one course online through a university in the fall of 2011. The same report found an increase from 6.1 million students the year before.

According to a new report from Learning House and Aslanian Market Research, many are looking to improve their career prospects and find online education as a way to focus on long-term goals while continuing in their present jobs.

“A large majority of students pursuing online degrees and certificates are doing so for employment-related reasons,” the report said. “They want full-time jobs, new jobs, better jobs, or need more training for their current jobs. Within a year of graduation, about 40 percent report improvement in their employment status, typically a raise or promotion.”

As you might expect, Indiana University has been a leader in online education. Its Kelley School of Business and School of Education ranked first and second in U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of the Best Online Education Programs.

The online bachelor’s degree program at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne also was ranked by U.S. News, at ninth. Graduate programs at the IU School of Nursing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis moved from 37th in 2013 to 32nd this year.

John Applegate, IU executive vice president for university academic affairs, told me earlier this year that the improvement in rankings and IU’s growing number of online degree programs reflect its status as a leader. 2013 was a pivotal year for the IU Online educational initiative.

Whether you are a student at IU or one of the many other schools and universities offering an online degree, it can be a challenge to balance your educational pursuits with work and family issues.

You may find it helpful to be part of a Twitter chat tomorrow being hosted by U.S. News. IU’s Kelley School is among those participating in the session, which will focus on how students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree online can ​develop good habits for success.

Topics will include advice on how to best use online discussion forums and tips on ways to effectively balance school and work.

To participate, go to http://tweetchat.com/room/onlinetips this Thursday at 2 p.m. EDT. You can join the conversation by using the hashtag #OnlineEdTips.

IU Online is a good place to start if you want to learn more about the more than 100 academic programs that the university offers via the internet.

Lee Feinstein

This Thursday evening, Ambassador Lee A. Feinstein, founding dean of the School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University, will join former Sen. Richard Lugar and Rep. Lee Hamilton in Washington, D.C. for discussion on current global issues facing U.S. foreign policymakers.

Marie Harf, a 2003 IU alumna who today is deputy spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, will moderate the conversation.

Do you wish you could be there to hear what Lugar, the longest-serving senator in Indiana’s history and the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, might have to say about Ukraine?

Given all the noise from the television pundits, it might be good to hear what Hamilton, who directs IU’s Center on Congress, a co-chair of the 9-11 Commission, who served 34 years in the U.S. House and chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee, thinks about current events in Iraq.

Lugar is a professor of practice in SGIS, Hamilton is a distinguished scholar in the school.

Then there’s Feinstein, former U.S. ambassador to Poland, who has served two secretaries of state and a secretary of defense and as a senior foreign policy advisor to President Barack Obama during the general election.

Space is limited at the forum featuring Hamilton, Lugar and Feinstein, taking place at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but you can attend via a free live video stream online — from 6 to 9 p.m. — or watch an archived video from the program soon afterwards.

The event is co-sponsored by the IU College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Board, the IU School of Global and International Studies, the IU Alumni Association and its chapter in Washington.

You can participate in the discussion by following @IUCollege on Twitter and by using the hashtag #iuglobal.

Richard Lugar and Lee Hamilton

In addition to offering perspectives from more than two decades of international experience, Feinstein will share more about his plans for the new school. For decades, IU has been a leader in international studies and teaches more foreign languages than nearly any other American university.

The new interdisciplinary School of Global and International Studies brings together these strengths and will draw upon internationally focused resources in other schools and departments at IU to expand international education opportunities for all students.

If you have questions about the event, contact Jacquelyn Beane at the IU Alumni Association at jibeane@indiana.edu or 800-824-8044.

Rickey Simpson, right, with two friends from last year’s Business is Global program.

Lawrenceburg, the county seat for Dearborn County, Ind., has a population of little more than 5,000 people. Many people work at one the two coal-fired power stations or the casino located on the Ohio River, or at the liquor distillery.

Several months ago, this community in southeast Indiana was abuzz over a young man who traveled half way around the world to taste success — Olympian Nick Goepper, a ski boarder who won the bronze in Sochi, Russia.

Rickey Simpson can’t ski as well as Goepper, but like him wants to make an impact far beyond Lawrenceburg. He has been studying two languages in high school, Spanish and French, and this summer he will continue studying another language he began learning at Indiana University a year ago, Swahili.

“It’s such a small town,” Simpson acknowledged. “I can count on my fingers the number of people of different nationalities that I see in a day. You don’t hear other languages here … maybe Spanish.”

I asked the Lawrenceburg High School junior, who is active with local philanthropic organizations and a member of the football team, where in the world he wants to go.

“I want to go where there are problems in the world, which right now seems to be the Middle East, but things are always changing. That would be a better question for five years from now,” he told me.

Last summer, Simpson was one of nearly 20 academically gifted high school students who participated in the Business is Global program in IU’s Kelley School of Business. He said the program wasn’t just about international business and language, but it taught him about culture and “relating to people on their own level.”

He also learned last year about the federal STARTALK initiative, an acclaimed language-learning program hosted at universities around the country (including IU). It is part of the National Security Language Initiative to expand national capacity in critical languages. Swahili is one of the languages offered through the program.

“I was interested in Swahili, but at first it didn’t seem like the most pressing language to learn,” said Simpson, who aspires to a career in international relations. “I was more interested in Arabic personally, but, just by chance, this year I got to study a lot about Africa in my world history class and it became more interesting.”

Simpson reflected back on his experience in the Business is Global program and decided he wanted to continue studying Swahili, which he will begin doing this Sunday at a STARTALK program offered at the University of Oregon.

But it wouldn’t have happened if Simpson hadn’t come to the IU campus for the two-week program that offers basic instruction in Arabic, Swahili and Portuguese and instruction about the cultures and communication styles where those languages are spoken.

The Business is Global program is presented by the Indiana University Center for International Business Education and Research. Part of IU’s Kelley School of Business, IU CIBER is one of only 33 such resource centers funded by a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

This weekend, another 22 young people are coming to campus for the BIG program — 18 of them under scholarship. About $14,000 in financial aid has been awarded, including for 10 merit-based scholarships. Sixteen are from the state of Indiana, 13 are women and nine are from underrepresented communities.

Like Simpson, they will take learn how understanding another language can help them with their career goals and even widen their view of the world. For example, Portuguese would come in handy this week at the site of the 2014 World Cup, Brazil.

In addition to learning more about the languages spoken in the Middle East, North Africa, South America and East Africa, the students’ living experience will feature the food, décor and pop culture from those parts of the world as well.

One of the more enjoyable features of the program will take place this Friday, a culture night where a photo booth will be set up that will allow them to have their pictures taken in clothing from the various places they are studying. You may want to look for some of the pictures and student comments on Twitter under the hashtag “#kelleybig.”

Language instruction at many high schools often is limited to Spanish and French. It is hoped that exposing students to less-spoken tongues will increase interest in learning them once they arrive in college.

IU offers courses in more than 70 foreign languages, including some that aren’t taught at any other American university. It is home to the federally supported Flagship Programs in Swahili, Turkish and Chinese.

The program was a success last year, as measured by the increased interest from applicants this summer, and indicated by the success of last year’s participants, including Simpson. He comes from a family of Ohio State fans, but now is interested in returning to IU as a freshman a couple of years from now.

“It was a great program. I am so glad that I did it,” he said. “It gave me the opportunity to study another language, which is what I’ve been wanting and its very hard to do in this community. It gave me the chance to meet new people, which I liked.”

Maybe we’ll hear more about Simpson a year few years from now, making a difference in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi or Mozambique. I’m also wondering about this year’s class of BIG students and what big things they’ll be doing.

It only seems natural to have a good page-turner for when you’re sitting under the umbrella as the tide rolls in or when you’re swinging in the hammock — in between the naps.

We recently received a request from a national news publication about recommendations from Indiana University Kelley School of Business professors for fiction books that incoming freshman should read over the summer.

U.S. News and World Report featured this tip from Jamie Prenkert, professor of business law. He suggests that incoming freshmen read the Herman Melville novella “Billy Budd,” which he first read in college as part of a seminar on the death penalty in law and literature.

“If students think of the ship as an organization and Captain Vere as its chief executive, the novella’s themes of leadership, duty and principle, and the individual versus society raise important questions for future business leaders,” Prenkert said. “Though the story offers little in the way of answers, it is excellent food for thought.”

Melville began writing Billy Budd in 1888 and left it unpublished at his death in 1891. The novella was published in 1924 and is considered a masterpiece of American writing today.

While the magazine could only feature one recommendation from one IU professor, I thought you would like to hear about other faculty members’ suggestions.

Scott Shackelford, an assistant professor of business law and ethics, recommended a science fiction classic, “Ender’s Game (Tor Science Fiction, 1994)” by Orson Scott Card.

“At its basic level, this novel tells the story of a boy and his friends who save the world, but at a deeper level it uncovers an impressive array of leadership and managerial best practices that have been appreciated in institutions as diverse as the Defense Department to boardrooms to Hollywood,” Shackelford said.

“From how to stay innovative in a competitive marketplace to seminal lessons in dispute resolution, gaining the respect of senior colleagues, and leveraging the power of small groups to take on big issues, this entertaining read is chalk full of lessons for the 21st century junior executive. And of course, it’s also good preparation in the event of an alien invasion,” Shackelford added.

If the book sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because you took your child to see the film version of the story, which came out last year, starring Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley.

Joshua Perry, assistant professor of business law and ethics, suggests “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement (Random House, 2013) by David Brooks, senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributing editor at Newsweek and National Public Radio commentator.

“It is a fictional boy meets girl story that is reasonably entertaining, but it’s the infusion of social science insights about why we humans act the way that we do that makes it extremely thought-provoking and practically useful,” Perry said. “Students in all disciplines — but particularly business — need to appreciate the importance of social and emotional intelligence, behavioral economics, positive psychology and other empirical explanations for the conscious and unconscious ways in which humans make decisions and create their lives.”

H. Shanker Krishnan, chairperson and professor of marketing, suggests a book that may be more familiar to many people as an Academy Award winning film, “Life of Pi.” The screenplay for the 2012 film directed by Ang Lee was adapted from a 2002 novel by Canadian author Yann Martel (Mariner Books).

“It shows how Pi faces uncertainty and difficult environmental circumstances — including a tiger on the boat — to creatively solve problems,” Krishnan said, adding, “Very applicable to the business world.”

While these books were suggested for incoming freshman, I hope you’ll find them worth considering as you pack for the beach, the back woods or wherever you like to do your summer reading.

Students are coming to IU Bloomington from as far away as Puerto Rico, as well as from California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Texas and neighboring Illinois and Ohio and, of course, Indiana.

Beginning this weekend, the first of two groups of high school students from underrepresented groups will arrive at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business for a week of instruction, campus activities and a case competition.

The 60 high school seniors will be participating in a new program, MEET Kelley, which is an acronym for “Meet – Educate – Experience – Transition to Kelley.” It replaces another program, the Junior Executive Institute, which also had a goal of increasing diversity among the undergraduate student body at the top ranked business school.

The students are coming to Bloomington from as far away as Puerto Rico, as well as from California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Texas and neighboring Illinois and Ohio and, of course, Indiana.

The new program has been designed for high-performing high school seniors who are African American, Latino or Hispanic, Native American or Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A group of female students will arrive on Sunday and another group of men will come the following week.

Brittani Wilson, associate director of admissions at Kelley, is the program’s director. She knows from first-hand experience the challenges these young people already are facing. As an African American woman growing up in Lexington, Ky., Wilson said she knows what it is like to be a person of color attending school in a predominantly white institution — even going back to grade school.

Brittani Wilson

“I was always the minority,” said Wilson, who worked as a corporate recruiter and in non-profit management before coming to Kelley in 2011. “Being a first-generation college student and going through that process, I understand some of the thoughts that these students have and some of the barriers that they will have.

“I feel extremely blessed to have the opportunity to pour knowledge into these students,” she added.

As at IU, increasing diversity is a top priority for Kelley Dean Idie Kesner. At the graduate level, the Kelley School was a founding member of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, the nation’s largest diversity network.

But like at other top schools, increasing enrollment of underrepresented students remains a challenge. Only about 5 percent of the incoming freshman class comes from one of those populations.

“People who know us, know that we have excellent programs and an inclusive, supportive culture. They know we’re a world-class business school that is globally minded and whose students are recruited by more than 300 companies,” Kesner recently told graduating Kelley MBAs who are Consortium members. “But a lot of prospective students don’t know us at all.”

For example, many may not know that Kelley hosts the largest undergraduate diversity case competition in the nation, which is supported by more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies. This year, teams from 32 schools and more than 100 students participated.

Kelley has a dedicated office to focus on diversity students, which offers a mentoring program that includes presentations delivered by corporate guests.

Idalene “Idie” Kesner

Kesner is excited about MEET Kelley and its potential for introducing her school, as well as other efforts to create more connections and a stronger climate for more diversity and inclusiveness here.

Entrance requirements for the new program are more stringent than for its predecessor. Students are required to have a minimum of a 3.4 grade point average (out of 4.0). Unlike the JEI, it only is for rising high school seniors and not for sophomores and juniors.

MEET Kelley also is not a co-ed program. Wilson said MEET Kelley hopes to replicate the success of another pre-college program, the Young Women’s Institute, which also will be meeting next week. That program fosters a greater degree of openness among the women in a single-gender environment.

Students are responsible for their own travel to IU Bloomington, but support from active Kelley corporate partners such as John Deere, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers enables Kelley to defray all on-campus costs.

Students will live at the new Rose Avenue Residence Hall and eat most of their meals at the Restaurants at Woodland.

This Monday and the next, the students will be organized into teams of five, who will work on a business case about planning a benefit music concert. They will make presentations to a panel of corporate recruiters and faculty on Friday.

Throughout the week, they will attend classes on accounting, finance, entrepreneurship and marketing, which will help them prepare their case presentation. They also will participate in an Amazing Race Scavenger Hunt, a service-learning project and meet with campus partners such as La Casa/the Latino Cultural Center, IU Admissions and the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program and tour the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

It won’t be all work — they also will get to see a play, hit the IU swimming pool and do other fun things.

It is hoped that after these next two weeks many of these high-ability students will transition to IU and Kelley and qualify to become direct admit students and Fry Scholars, a prestigious scholarship program that covers tuition, fees and rooming and provides a support system.

“The MEET Kelley participants are going to be seniors and on Aug. 1 the IU application process opens up. We have a whole communication plan in place to make sure that these students stay connected and apply to IU,” Wilson said.

MEET Kelley is just one way for prospective students to learn about the school. Wilson and other members of its admissions team are always glad to talk about what makes IU and Kelley a great place to learn.

The primary purpose of the partnership will be to better prepare students for an estimated 4.4 million new jobs that will be created worldwide to support big data by 2015.

The term “big data” was coined to describe a collection of data sets so large and complex that they can’t be processed using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications.

Given the explosion of new information being made available for analysis using high-power computing, opportunities abound using analytics in medicine, business and other fields. Over the next eight years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a faster-than-average increase in employment opportunities for computer and information research scientists.

In their release, IBM cited a company survey of chief financial officers. While 82 percent of those surveyed saw the value of integrating enterprise-wide data, only 24 percent thought their team could successfully do the job.

Two years ago, the Kelley School established the Institute for Business Analytics, which produces insightful research and trains professionals who can excel in this exciting new field. It also annually hosts a forum for experienced executives, students, business faculty and others who are on the forefront of applying business analytics in organizations.

The Kelley School offers both a major and minor in business analytics at the MBA level with an emphasis on statistics, modeling and data management. Its Master of Science in Information Systems program offers a strong core business and technology foundation along with a concentration in business intelligence and business analytics.

With support from IBM, the Kelley School will further enhance its curriculum combining business knowledge and information technology skills so its graduates can better harness big data into knowledge that will help companies better serve consumers and their own interests.

One example of this appeared today in a blog post written by Jonathan E. Helm, assistant professor of operations and decision technologies at Kelley. Helm is leading a research project focused on how big data is helping hospitals better manage care of patients in hospitals.

“The opportunity around big data is seemingly endless. Big data seems to be everywhere and is a part of everything – embedded in e-commerce, social media and electronic health records,” Helm said in his article, written for IBM’s Building a Smarter Planet blog. “Organizations large and small are presented with an opportunity to leverage the vast amount of data to transform operations. It’s exciting to work on these projects leveraging big data and I’ve seen firsthand how important it is to have the needed skills in this area.”

Messod Daniel Beneish

Fraudulent financial practices have long been an issue in business, affecting the stability and credibility of financial markets.  Recognizing this, last summer the Securities and Exchange Commission created the Financial Reporting and Auditing Task Force.

More easily identified as “FRAud,” the SEC task force has turned to people such as Messod Daniel Beneish, the Sam Frumer Professor of Accounting in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Since the late 1990s, Beneish has been at the forefront in developing forensic accounting and other financial analysis techniques to detect the probability of earnings manipulation.

The model Beneish developed in the late 1990s applies financial ratios to data from a company’s financial statements in order to determine its M-score — the likelihood that it has manipulated its disclosed earnings to appear more favorable than they really are.

“Using business analytic tools, we are taking the M-score a step further, using it to predict stock returns,” Beneish explained. “We believe that companies with traits similar to proven earnings manipulators are potentially dangerous investments. We applied M-score analysis to company earnings and related the likelihood of earnings manipulation we estimated to their actual performance in the stock market.”

A company that is likely to manipulate its earnings fits into a typical profile: its sales are increasing quickly; it shows deterioration in the quality of its assets and in its gross margins; and it uses aggressive accounting practices. Companies with these traits also tend to look like high performers in the stock market – but, time after time, they are unable to sustain those results.

Cornell University students used the M-score to flag Enron as an earnings manipulator several years before its downfall.

The M-score is not the sole tool available to distinguish between a true high performer and one that uses tricks to disguise its true earnings. It is, however, a good diagnostic tool when combined with critical thinking and with other proven predictors of future performance.

“In our research, it was clear that M-score played an important role in predicting future returns above and beyond the information provided by other commonly used predictive measures such as accruals,” Beneish said.

“Large accruals are widely documented to indicate poor future performance, while small accruals indicate good future performance,” he added. “By splitting small-accrual companies into those with high and low M-scores, we were able to find poorly performing firms even among those with small accruals.”

Applying his model to the full sample resulted in flagging 17.4 percent of the sample observations as potentially fraudulent. Although this number is high relative to the number of firms that are caught or that admit manipulating earnings, the return results indicate that looking like a manipulator means poorer future return performance.

Fraudulent reporting costs shareholders billions of dollars when transgressions are uncovered. Not only are shareholders affected; misreporting also requires regulative and legislative bodies to waste resources dealing with the issues that arise, and negatively affects investor confidence. Reducing these incidences of fraud will in turn positively affect financial markets.

“Legislation and enforcement are important, but perhaps the most effective action comes from sophisticated investors who are able to identify and hold accountable in the market those companies that are likely to manipulate their earnings,” Beneish said. “The M-score is only one component in uncovering the potential for fraud and applying that knowledge to making savvy investments.”

Thousands of visitors to New York’s Times Square were able to see the IU logo on the exchange’s seven-story video monitor for a couple of hours and became more familiar with the Kelley brand.

But the Nasdaq visit also enabled a unique group of IU alumni and supporters who create startups and are “angel investors” to get together for the first time. The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has three advisory boards.

There is an executive board consisting primarily of successful business people from Indiana and the Midwest. Its members include Dane Miller, founder of Biomet; John R. Gibbs, co-founder of Interactive Intelligence; and Jack M. Gill, founder of Vanguard Ventures.

About 10 years ago, a West Coast board was created in order to provide a doorway to Silicon Valley for Kelley students. The Johnson Center established a partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, Calif., the largest business incubator in the world.

More recently, an East Coast board was formed so IU students could get involved in the emerging Baltimore-Washington Corridor, one of the fastest growing areas in the country for startup activity.

“We felt that we had enough alumni in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor area to draw from to build a good East Coast board that would help us as a program and help our students with internships and job opportunities in that area,” explained Donald F. Kuratko, the executive and academic director of the Johnson Center and the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship.

This fall, an East Coast board member has arranged for Kuratko to tour a major business incubator, 1776, which is located on top of a historic building in D.C. Likewise, a member of the West Coast board many years ago got the IU faculty member — known to many as “Dr. K” — in the door at Plug and Play.

And it is a good story.

Donald F. Kuratko

“We tried very hard, about seven years ago, after I got the tour of the place and got to meet the owner,” Kuratko began, telling me about his first visit to the privately owned incubator and his meeting with its founding general partner, Saeed Amidi.

Plug and Play is a business accelerator that today houses more than 300 tech startups and is home to more than 180 investors and community of leading universities and corporate partners. Among the partners are area-based Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

“I asked him if I could form a partnership with Indiana and he said no. He said he had no reason to partner with a Midwest university,” Kuratko continued. “While he was impressed with what we were doing with entrepreneurship, he said, “I’m still not sure that provides me with anything at the incubator, because when I look at a partnership, I look for a quid pro quo.”

Amidi told Kuratko that he saw value in what Stanford and Berkeley brought to the table, in terms of their engineering talent, but he wasn’t sure what he would gain from a partnership with Kelley.

“I tried to convince him that we were talented in different ways,” Kuratko said.

But Amidi did agree to allow Kuratko to come back with a couple Kelley MBAs for a tour. Afterward, one of them, Ben Flor, asked about the possibility of an internship and Kuratko was advised that the student could apply. After completing and submitting the lengthy application, Flor had heard nothing.

“Of his own volition, he decided to drive there on his own, right after school was out … He told me he was going to go out there. I said, ‘What for?’ and he said, ‘I’m going to offer my services for free and they can’t turn me down.'”

It was an offer Plug and Play could not refuse and Flor was tasked with writing an operations manual for the incubator. Even though he had never written such a manual before, Flor accepted the assignment and within two weeks completed the project successfully.

“You always told us, ‘No matter what the challenge, say yes and figure it out later,” Flor later told Kuratko.

Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, Calif. is the largest business incubator in the world.

Amidi was so impressed with the operations manual that he offered to place Flor in an apartment in Los Angeles, along with a stipend, so he could open another incubator facility there. The student said yes and worked the rest of the summer on the project.

“He called the owner, about the third week in August, and said, ‘I think you need to be down in Los Angeles on Friday night, for the grand opening of your incubator,” Kuratko recalled.

“When the owner got down there on Friday, there were limousines everywhere. There was red carpet coming out of this building. There were Klieg lights going. Everybody was in tuxedos, and Ben had put on this huge gala grand opening with all the Hollywood types there.”

MSNBC was there too. Of the nearly four dozen spaces for new businesses in the facility, Flor provided Amidi with signed contracts for 36 of them.

When Flor returned to Silicon Valley, Amidi gave him an envelope with a check for double the amount ever paid an intern. Then he picked up the phone and called Kuratko.

“He told me the story I just told you and then he said, “I have a question for you — Is Ben an exemplification of the work ethic of Indiana University?’ And I said, ‘Yes, he is.’ He said, “Then you have your partnership, because I’ve just discovered that no one from Stanford or Berkeley has worked as hard as that guy did.”

Today, two Kelley MBA students have similar internships at Plug and Play each year.

“It had nothing to do with me. It had to do with the work ethic of our students,” Kuratko admits.

Indiana University’s official news release about President Michael McRobbie’s trip to Japan, China, Vietnam and Singapore includes many more interesting details about the university’s connections with this important region of the world.

I encourage you to check in regularly at another blog, IU Goes to Asia, written by my colleague Ryan Piurek.

The study of East Asia spans more than 20 departments and professional schools on the Bloomington campus, many of them in the School of Global and International Studies.

They include the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, which offers courses in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, and which recently marked its 50th anniversary.

The East Asian Studies Center is one of 11 federally funded Title VI area studies centers at IU. Established in 1979, the center links the expertise of IU’s East Asian area specialists to the needs of business, education and government.

The Research Center on Chinese Politics and Business, which has many connections across China, soon will be part of the new IU gateway office that McRobbie will dedicate during his visit. It also has promoted better understanding of China and its role in today’s world. I had the pleasure of traveling there with the center three years ago.

The Chinese Language Flagship program is one of three such programs at IU Bloomington (the others teach Swahili and Turkish). At IUPUI, the Confucius Institute promotes the teaching of Chinese language and culture.

China today arguably is one of the world’s fastest-growing societies in history. IU has university-wide partnerships with several leading Chinese institutions, including Peking University, Sun Yat-sen University, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University.

Since 2011, IU has been leading a National Science Foundation initiative to link the China Education and Research Network with Internet2 and other U.S. research and education networks. This has allowed researchers in both the United States and China to more easily collaborate and share research data.

Much also can be said about IU’s ties to Japan. In addition to the already mentioned activities at IU Bloomington, IU Southeast is home to the Japan Center, which provides a valued resource in the Louisville area and offers programs for Japanese children who want to continue their education in their language.

The School of Public and Environmental Affairs has strong connections to Vietnam. IU is a partner with the National University of Singapore, one of the most prestigious universities in Asia.

IU has nearly 10,000 alumni in the countries where McRobbie is visiting and has highly active alumni chapters in Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

In Asia, IU is truly linked in.

Ireland’s president and IU alumnus Michael D. Higgins will speak at this year’s commencement.

We knew that this spring’s commencement at Indiana University Bloomington already had an international flair with the participation of Ireland’s president, Michael D. Higgins, as one of the speakers.

Higgins, who received a Master of Arts degree in 1967, will address students at both undergraduate ceremonies Saturday and will receive an honorary doctorate.

The 8,241 new IU Bloomington graduates represent 89 of Indiana’s 92 counties. But they also will include students from 75 countries.

The Bloomington campus ranks fifth nationally in the number of students studying abroad. Many of them want to put their IU degrees to work at American organizations and firms with an increasing worldview.

But this year, a new group of students will join the thousands of newly minted IU graduates: the first class of degree recipients from the IU School of Global and International Studies.

For many years, IU has prepared thousands of people for global careers in public service, diplomacy, commerce, the arts and humanities. But this year, nearly 175 SGIS graduates will walk in the commencement procession at Assembly Hall with peers in the College of Arts and Sciences.

They will include about 120 who have earned the school’s first Bachelor of Arts degrees, including more than 25 who were double majors. Many others took advantage of certificate programs or loaded up on minors.

On Friday, about 45 Master of Arts recipients and seven doctorates from SGIS will participate in the graduate ceremony, where former U.S. Treasury Secretary and IU alumnus Paul O’Neill will speak.

The class includes the first graduates of the Swahili Language Flagship Program, following a capstone year studying in Zanzibar, Tanzania, the birthplace of Swahili language and culture. Some SGIS graduates will again go abroad, including as part of the Peace Corps.

Graduating students in IU’s Swahili Language Flagship Program recently returned from Tanzania.

“Taking part in the ceremony that celebrates the 2014 inaugural class of SGIS graduates is one of the proudest moments of my 18 years of service at Indiana University,” said Maria Bucur-Deckard, associate dean for international programs at the school and the John W. Hill Professor of European history. “It has been an exciting two years of growth, and I can’t wait to see what our alumni will achieve in the years to come.”

It only seems like yesterday, in August of 2012, when IU trustees approved the new school. A year ago, Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Dan Coats helped to helped to inaugurate SGIS.

This fall, ambassador Lee A. Feinstein — whose experience includes more than two decades serving in high-level positions in diplomacy and foreign affairs — as dean will begin to build on the foundation laid by these initial graduates.

The record books and news outlets will say that the independent team Black Key Bulls won their first men’s Little 500 and that Kappa Alpha Theta captured its fifth victory in the women’s race.

But less obvious to the thousands of spectators at Bill Armstrong Stadium at the 2014 Little 500 were the dozens of Indiana University student volunteers who planned, set and ran the successful event, now in its 64th year.

Many were up late all race week, painting the field logo, building the stage where the winners received their trophies, putting up signage and scoring “lollipops.”

They burned the midnight oil turning the home of a national champion soccer team into the site of the “most captivating spectacle ever,” according to a news article at Grantland.com.

On race day, many student volunteers also provide other logistical support to the many IU faculty and staff who also work to make the event a success.

A new video by our multimedia intern Lena Morris introduces you to some of the student volunteers who worked behind the scenes as well as alumni and others who continue to support one of IU Bloomington’s fondest campus traditions.

Lena introduces us to “gunners,” juniors at IU who work hard in hopes of being named as seniors to the steering committee of the IU Student Foundation, the student arm of the IU Foundation, which raises money to fund working student scholarships.

“We all kind of come together to make this happen — it’s a whole-school event,” said “gunner” A.J. Delprince, a junior from Fishers, Ind., studying entrepreneurship and finance in the Kelley School of Business. “It’s one of the most unique events out there — that’s what motivated me.”

Each year, IU Student Foundation awards more than $175,000 in scholarships and grants. To date, more than $1.5 million has been awarded to IU students as a result of Little 500. More than 20,000 people attend one or both of the races every year.

“The sole purpose of this is for students to help other students, their peers,” said Zach Turi, a senior from Indianapolis also studying business at Kelley, who was IUSF president in 2013-14. “I think that spirit of philanthropy is something that is unique to IU … It’s something you have to see to believe.”

Lena also spoke with past IU Student Foundation committee members and directors, including Randy Rogers, who served in both capacities, and Dana Cummings, who directed the organization from 2009 to 2013. She also interviewed Curt Simic, president emeritus of the IU Foundation, who rode for Dodds House in the race.

“There are a lot of ways that students benefit from the Little 500,” Simic told her. “We talk about the scholarships all the time, but the truth is it’s a delayed support that comes out of all of this. When we look at the alumni of the Student Foundation, they are five times more likely to be donors to the university than the regular student body. To measure what the race means, what the activities of the Student Foundation mean, we need to look deeper than what’s happening in a given year.”

Of course, what most people come for is the action on the track, but Simic adds, “Enjoy the commitment of the students. The students are by far what it’s all about … Come if you just want to see the spectacle of students doing something so constructive.”

Thanks to Lena’s video, you can all see this for yourself, even if you weren’t able make it to Bloomington for the race.

And congratulations to gunner A.J., who learned that he was chosen along with 26 others to the steering committee for the 2014-15 academic year.

Wai Keung Cheng

It’s a long way from Singapore to Bloomington, Indiana, and it must have seemed an even further divide 47 years ago, when Wai Keung Cheng first stepped on to the Indiana University Bloomington campus.

“Going away to college in 1967 was my first ever trip overseas. I was a young man of 17 years, making my journey into Midwest America, the heart of the USA,” recalled the successful Singapore-based real estate developer.

Cheng’s older brothers and his sister also came to Indiana to attend college but instead studied at the University of Notre Dame and at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend. But it’s not hard for IU alumni to agree with him that he attended “a better school.”

“I had a great time growing up here,” said Cheng, who recently visited Bloomington and Indianapolis and accepted an honor from IU’s Kelley School of Business.

He noticed that the campus has gotten bigger and busier. There are many more buildings and cars today. The surrounding city of Bloomington also has grown and become more urban.

“I find that the people here are very nice and it’s the typical American family culture,” said Cheng, who was inducted into the Kelley School of Business’ Academy of Alumni Fellows. “I appreciate that more as time goes on.”

Today, IU Bloomington’s international students account for nearly 20 percent of its overall enrollment. When Cheng, chairman and managing director of Wing Tai Holdings Ltd., arrived, he saw fewer peers from places such as his native Hong Kong, as well as Singapore and nearby Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Wai Keung Cheng, center, and fellow Kelley alumnus David Yeung, right, retired president and CEO of AIG Capital Partners, listen to question posed by a student in Fred Schlegel’s class.

Cheng lived for two years in Moffatt Hall and then lived in Scott Hall — both part of Ashton Center. While his initial memories of the campus have faded, he said he never would forget the first snowfall he ever saw,

“I was walking to school and was crossing Dunn Meadow when I saw my first snow,” he said. “I was so thrilled I rushed back to the dorm and called a few of my friends, saying, ‘Come back, come back, it’s snowing.’ I don’t know if I missed the class but I remembered that it was snowing.”

In addition to the classes he took, Cheng said his experiences of living in the residence halls have shaped his life after IU in many ways.

“It was the first time that I had lived by myself and I learned how to interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds,” he said. “Most people will say that during the time that you are at the university, in your early 20s, that is the time when you shape your character, when you form the foundation for the way you do things in the future.”

The key to success in business, Cheng said, “other than your technical expertise, is how you deal with people and what you believe and how you judge other people’s character.

“The three years that I was at IU helped to form the foundation of how I see other people and how I form interpersonal relationships today. That’s the most critical,” he added.

It also was the time of the Vietnam War and heightened racial tensions and he recalls the protests. “The late Sixties and early Seventies were turbulent times in America,” Cheng recalled.

Kelley School of Business Dean Idie Kesner, center, showed Yeung and Cheng how much has changed since the early 1970s.

“Immersed in American life during that time, being so young then, I couldn’t easily see, or know, how America would turn out,” he added. “But through the years, I grew to understand and appreciate the depth and strength of American culture. I’ve come to know how it is that America is always able to bounce back, to reinvent itself.

“It is possible because America is a melting pot for global talent, led by an innovative, inventive people and a private sector backed by it ability to embrace technology and create opportunities,” he said. “Through open debate, it is not afraid to identify its weaknesses, correct them and from there derive new strengths.”

Now that Cheng is older, he said he appreciates America even more and the education that he received during his “formative years” which shaped him “immeasurably.”

After graduating from IU in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business, Cheng went on to earn a MBA at the University of Chicago and joined the family business, Wing Tai Holdings, in 1974. He became the company’s chairman of the board in 1994.

Today, Wing Tai is Singapore’s leading property and retail group reputed for quality and design. Listed on the Singapore Exchange since 1989, Wing Tai is an investment holding company with a pan-Asia focus, particularly on key markets in Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China.

Cheng also is deputy chairman of Temasek Holdings Ltd., a global investment company that is wholly owned by the Singapore government, with a net portfolio asset value of $173 billion. It has investments in financial services, telecommunications, media and technology, transportation and industrials, life sciences, real estate, and energy and resources.

Today’s college graduates need to have a worldview to succeed, said Cheng, who remembered that when he first came to campus, few people knew where Hong Kong was. One even asked him if he had ever eaten ice cream.

He is pleased with IU’s efforts to raise international fluency. The world came to Bloomington when he was a student, but today more IU students are embracing globalization.

“Despite the fact that a lot of people don’t want globalization, we cannot deny that it has helped uplift many societies to the next level,” he said, citing the rise of a middle class in China and in Southeast Asia as one example. “In an Internet world, you can’t shut yourself off and become isolated … All education has to be global.”

“I am pleasantly surprised to see the Kelley School, IU and President McRobbie are such champions of Southeast Asian studies,” he said.

He is impressed by Kelley’s international efforts in Mongolia, India and elsewhere, as well as IU’s decision to establish the School of Global and International Studies.

“It’s amazing for a Midwest university.”

Caucasus

Because of its geographic importance, at the border between Europe and Asia, the Caucasus has had great historical importance throughout the centuries. In recent decades, the region was controlled by the Soviet Union.

With recent events by the Russian Federation in nearby Ukraine and in Crimea, there is new focus on what the future portends for the Caucasian nations between the Black and Caspian seas. These nations include Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

“Caucasus Connections,” a conference this Friday and Saturday at Indiana University Bloomington, will explore the region. Scholars from around the world will make presentations about its history and its artistic, cultural and religious traditions.

“The organizing body for this conference is the American Research Institute for the South Caucasus, a non-profit incorporated in 2006 to support research in and about the three nations of the region,” explained Edward Lazzerini, an academic specialist in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies and an adjunct professor of history.

“Working to foster intellectual inquiry across boundaries within the South Caucasus as well as between the South Caucasus and its neighbors, the American Research Institute for the South Caucasus encourages the exchange of scholars and scholarly information by supporting conferences, fellowships, publications, teaching resources, and in-region representation.”

Edward Lazzerini

The conference also is being sponsored by the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, which is part of the IU School of Global and International Studies. Lazzerini directs the Sinor Research Institute and the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center.

“As a follow-up to the very successful visit to IU last November by the Azerbaijani ambassador to the United States, the Honorable Elin Suleymanov, the conference represents a significant opportunity for IU to advance its role as one of the very few American universities with a South Caucasus academic focus, and to build upon its long-standing support of instruction in both the Azerbaijani and Georgian languages as part of its intensive summer-language program,” Lazzerini said.

The conference is free and open to the public. All activities, except a reception, will take place in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. Those unable to come to IU Bloomington will be able to view the conference live online on the American Research Institute for the South Caucasus’ web site.

It will open at 8 a.m. with remarks by David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs, and continue until 6 p.m. Friday. A reception in the Tudor Room at 6:15 p.m. will follow the day’s. The conference will continue on Saturday at 9 a.m. and conclude at noon.

The inflatable globe, which allows students and others to enter within for a unique perspective on our world, is just one feature of Legacy Week 2014 at the Kelley School of Business.

“Global Day — Kelley Around the World” the theme for the second day of the annual celebration. In addition to the inflatable version of Earth, there also is an enormous world map, where students are being encouraged to add pins indicating where they have been.

More than half of all Kelley students will travel abroad as part of their academic experience before graduation.

Students today also will be able to play a game matching national flags to their countries.

On Monday, Kelley Dean Idie Kesner presented a “State of the School” address. Wednesday will be Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day and awards will be presented to top teachers.

Thursday is Diversity Day, which will include a celebration of the food and culture from Russia, Honduras and India, followed by the school’s annual “Kelley’s Got Talent” event at Willkie Auditorium.

Friday will feature a luncheon in honor of the school’s namesake, E.W. “Ed” Kelley, BS’39 (1917-2003), a marketing genius who reinvented Steak ‘n Shake, a chain of sit-down, old-fashioned style restaurants known for their steakburgers and hand-dipped milkshakes.

E.W. “Ed” Kelley

Kelley ran Bird’s Eye, a division of General Foods, and thought up adding pearl onions to frozen peas. He later headed Fairmont Foods, where he helped develop the Klondike Bar, directed the roll-outs of Tang and Cool Whip, created parts of the Lean Cuisine line, brought Grey Poupon to the United States and was credited with the creation of A1 Steak Sauce.

In 1997, the school was named for Kelley and his family, in recognition of their generous support.

In the spirit of TED Talks, there also will be “KED Talks” on Friday featuring successful alumni Beth Acton and Derek Pacque, faculty members Ash Soni and Cindy Stone and students.

After a lunch of steakburgers and milk shakes, there will be a business plan competition that perhaps will identify a student and their idea that will continue Kelley’s legacy.

While the events primarily are for students, faculty and staff,  Kelley alumni, of course, are also welcome. We know you’ll come for more than the steak burgers.

Patrick O’Meara, left, showed Liberian President Ellen John Sirleaf part of the Lilly Library collection during her visit to IU in 2008.

For nearly half a century, Patrick O’Meara has traveled around the world as an ambassador for Indiana University and the values of higher education in general.

O’Meara has met presidents, including Nelson Mandela, in his native country of South Africa, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected as president of Liberia or of any African country. He’s spent time with kings and queens, such as the Spanish royal family.

As IU’s dean for international programs, O’Meara oversaw many externally funded exchange and technical assistance programs for the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development and a variety of foreign governments, international businesses and foundations.

These programs have provided training and institution building assistance to Angola, Burmese refugees, Indonesia, Macedonia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and South Africa.

For about two decades, O’Meara guided the university’s activities around the world and helped raise its international profile. In recognition of his many efforts, IU President Michael A. McRobbie in 2011 bestowed on O’Meara the President’s Medal for Excellence.

On Monday, O’Meara again was at a seat of power — the Indiana Statehouse — where he was honored with a resolution by legislators. During the ceremony, he said his thoughts that day went back to another IU internationalist, the late Herman B Wells.

“It goes back to Wells’ idea of bringing the world to Indiana and bringing the world to our students, and in some way I hope that this accomplished some of that,” O’Meara said. “He wanted to bring the world, through art, through music, through languages, to the students from the small towns of Indiana. I felt at the Statehouse that it was an affirmation of that in many ways.”

The Senate resolution, introduced by IU alumnus and State Sen. Mike Delph of Westfield, also recognizes O’Meara’s “profound, worldwide impact” as an educator and scholar.

Patrick O’Meara, center, listens as Sen. Mike Delph reads the resolution.

“Throughout his tenure at Indiana University, Dr. O’Meara led the effort to create the university’s first international strategic plan, one of the first such plans in the nation,” the resolution noted. “For his dedication to international partnerships and higher education, Dr. O’Meara has been recognized across the globe.”

Interestingly, another state ambassador, Indiana’s lone Sochi Olympic medalist Nick Goepper, was honored in a similar ceremony immediately after O’Meara was recognized.

O’Meara was pleased to see many old friends and colleagues at the ceremony, including former House speaker Patrick Bauer, who has traveled to Asia with O’Meara, and Delph, who was one of his former students.

O’Meara came to IU in the 1960s, earned his doctorate at IU and was a political science professor and a dean and vice president. As IU’s first vice president for international affairs, he led the creation in 2008 of the International Strategic Plan, which focuses on increasing IU’s presence throughout the world, strengthening its strategic international partnerships, attracting new international students and ensuring that IU students are prepared for the global economy

A renowned scholar of international development, comparative politics and African politics, in particular, and former director of the African Studies Program at IU Bloomington, O’Meara has published a number of books, including the classic textbook Africa, a standard text used by nearly 100 colleges and universities around the world.

Timothy J. Roemer, former congressman, U.S. ambassador to India and 9/11 Commission member, and former Sen. Richard Lugar have presented the Patrick O’Meara International Lecture at IU Bloomington.

Later this spring, Lee Feinstein, former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Poland and the founding dean of IU’s School of Global and International Studies, will present the O’Meara lecture. Look for more information about that soon.

Nisha Pahula

In her award-winning documentary filmmaker Nisha Pahuja set out to show a dichotomy still evident across India.

Her film, “The World Before Her,” depicts two young women who live miles apart but also worlds away. We see contestants in the Miss India pageant in Mumbai, with the ultimate prize being celebrity and a Bollywood film career. We also meet young women at a fundamentalist Hindu camp in nearby Aurangabad, being taught to marry young and shun modern influences.

Access to both settings was extraordinary — it was the first time a camera crew had ever been allowed to film a Durga Vahini camp.

Pahuja will be at IU Bloomington tonight to show her film, which was the best documentary feature at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. It will be screened at IU Cinema at 7 p.m. and followed by a Q&A session moderated by IU journalism professor Radhika Parameswaran.  The event is free but ticketed.

On Friday at 3 p.m., she will present the 2014 Bhattacharya Memorial Lecture, also at IU Cinema and free and open to the public.

Her visit to the Bloomington campus is co-sponsored by the Dhar India Studies Program and IU Cinema. Together, they recently also presented a series of South Asian gangster films, including the monumental spaghetti western, “Gangs of Wasseypur.” Rutgers scholar Meheli Sen, an important voice on Bollywood cinema, also spoke recently.

Michael Dodson, director of the Dhar India Studies Program and academic director of the IU Gateway Office in Gurgaon, India, said that it has been a lively spring semester, which is expected to culminate with a music concert in April. He said Pahuja’s film provides an important window into contemporary India.

“The film is a meditation on India’s divided and contradictory modernity, as it follows two young women in contemporary India with very different relationships to Western culture,” Dodson said. “On the one hand, she follows several Miss India hopefuls who undergo a month-long regime of ‘beautification,’ while juxtaposing, on the other, young women attending the training camp of a prominent Hindu nationalist.

“Pahuja’s film has interesting things to say about these two worlds, but also about the nature of women’s empowerment in an India still dominantly patriarchal.”

Pahuja was born in India, but raised in Canada, and now divides her time between Toronto and Mumbai.  She has made two other acclaimed documentaries — “Bollywood Bound (2003),” “Diamond Road (2007).”

The film’s trailer can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/j21b1r13hbE.

IU Maurer School of Law alumnus Wang Yu-chi, head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, left, shakes hands with Zhang Zhijun, head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (APF)

On Feb. 11, an Indiana University alumnus walked across a stage in Nanjing, China, and made history.

Photographers captured the moment when Wang Yu-Chi, head of Taiwan’s (R.O.C.) Mainland Affairs Council, met Zhang Zhijun, an official representative of the People’s Republic of China.

Wang, known to friends at IU Bloomington and the Maurer School of Law as “Tony,” clearly extended his hand with an enthused openness, much like when you see two friends meeting each other in the Hoosier state.

The occasion, at the Purple Palace hotel in the former capital of Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China, marked the first official talks between China and Taiwan since the end of China’s civil war in 1949. China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory that must be reunited.

“Before today’s meeting, it was hard to imagine that cross-strait relations could get to this point,” Wang told reporters.

As reported by The New York Times, the meeting wasn’t expected to produce many significant results, but it was a symbolic development in the easing of the two sides’ longtime rivalry. Wang continued his visit in China with visits to Nanjing University, Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum and Shanghai.

Wang was the first person to complete the Maurer School’s Doctor of Juridical Science program, which is designed for international law graduates who already hold a master’s degree in law and have demonstrated exceptional analytical and research abilities.

Wang Yu-chi

Fred Aman, the Roscoe C. O’Byrne Professor of Law and dean of the school from 1991 to 2002, remembers Wang as someone who was interested in many things beyond the law, including learning how to fly. Wang took lessons and even flew a plane to Chicago. “He wrote a great thesis and did very well in all of his classes,” Aman recalled about his student.

Lesley Davis, assistant dean for international programs at the Maurer School, noted that Wang’s “pioneering spirit” has served him well in many aspects of life since completing his degree in 1997. Wang also earned a master’s degree at Maurer in 1993.

Wang returned to Taiwan to accept a position as an assistant professor in the College of Informatics at Yuan Ze University. He moved on to Shih Hsin University, where he taught law for about 10 years. He directed the country’s Science and Technology Law Institute and Institute for Information Technology and served as a spokesman in the Office of the President of the Republic of China.

Since 2012, Wang has been minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council. He also is a senior adviser on its National Security Council.

“Upon graduating from IU, Tony worked as a beloved professor in Taiwan, all the while answering the seemingly constant call to play a major role in many government advisory committees,” Davis said. “The fact that Tony was chosen as the minister for mainland affairs came as no surprise to those of us who know him as an extremely sharp, open-minded, pragmatic, collaborative, and yet humble academic and public servant.

“Looking at the picture in The New York Times and seeing the sheer glee on Tony’s face as he reaches for his Chinese counterpart’s hand is to see quintessential Tony: If anyone can ease cross-strait tensions, Tony Wang can.”

The sculpture of Ernie Pyle now in production is inspired by several photos, such as this one of him reporting during World War II.

Nearly 30 years ago, I was happy to graduate with a degree in journalism from Indiana University. Like so many of my classmates, I looked up to fellow Hoosier Ernie Pyle, someone who was a master storyteller, and sought to emulate his work.

Ernie Pyle Hall became something of a second home for me as a student. It was where I learned from phenomenal professors such as photojournalist Will Counts, Dean Richard Gray and innovative communications researcher David Weaver.

Over the last three decades, I have continued to draw upon the knowledge and wisdom gleaned from faculty in the IU School of Journalism.

Last fall, IU trustees approved a plan to combine journalism, telecommunications and some programs from the Department of Communication and Culture into a new Media School, which launches July 1. It also was announced that the school will move into a renovated Franklin Hall in early 2016.

Like so many IU alumni, I was thrilled to learn that Pyle’s legacy will continue to be celebrated through a bronze sculpture outside the new Media School.

Just as when IU dedicated lifelike sculptures of fellow IU alumni Herman B Wells and Hoagy Carmichael, I look forward celebrating the unveiling of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s statute. The same artist who brought the late campus chancellor back to campus is creating Pyle’s statue — retired IU South Bend Professor Harold “Tuck” Langland. Bloomington native Michael McAuley created the sculpture of Carmichael.

I encourage you to read the official announcement from Ernie Pyle Hall and follow the news coverage.

After Pyle’s death on a tiny island west of Okinawa on April 18, 1945, solders put up a now iconic sign which read, “At this spot, the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy Ernie Pyle.”

Soon, a new memorial will be the place that inspires the next generation of journalists and mass communicators.

For online retailers, the deadline is even tighter because there are fewer days for gifts purchased electronically to arrive on doorsteps via FedEx, UPS or the U.S. Postal Service.

John Talbott, associate director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, also has been busy this holiday shopping season, observing and commenting on all the activity.

Talbott is one of the experts quoted in an article today on U.S. News and World Report’s web site, “A Survival Guide for Last-Minute Shoppers.”

He believes that traditional retailers have been closing the gap with online retailers this Christmas.

“An interesting phenomenon is that brick-and-mortar retailers have learned how to play the game,” he says. “Traditional retailers like Kohl’s, Macy’s, Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods are now playing the e-commerce game very well.

“The reality is the Internet is now as much a part of how these retailers interface with their consumers as their stores. In all the cases listed above, e-commerce is by far the biggest ‘location,’ if you will, for all of these players,” he adds. “These stores are essentially now using ‘showrooming’ techniques to display goods to consumers and are indifferent about whether the consumers buy in their stores or on their website.”

Talbott says traditional retailers have learned that their stores also can be used as warehouses in order to build capacity for online sales. Inventories are being shared between stores and e-commerce divisions, resulting in better asset efficiency and higher levels of customer service.

Many shoppers — perhaps some of you in the next few days — will shop online at web sites for top brick-and-mortar retailers such as Walmart and Target and then arrange to pick up their purchases at the stores.

Fred Cate

Here is a guest blog post from my colleague James Boyd at Indiana University’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research:

Some 40 million credit and debit card accounts may have been compromised in one of the largest consumer data breaches in recent memory, and Indiana University cybersecurity expert Fred H. Cate is warning consumers to be extra vigilant as holiday shopping ramps up in the final weekend before Christmas.

Target reported on Thursday (Dec. 19) that customers using gift, debit or credit cards between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 may have had their account information stolen.

“While we are still learning details about the breach,” Cate said, “it provides an important and timely reminder about the practical steps that individuals can and should take to protect themselves.”

Cate said the good news is that Congress long ago limited what consumers could be charged when their accounts are used fraudulently to $50, and banks universally waive even that charge. But the protection applies only if consumers spot fraudulent charges and report them promptly.

“In addition, we know that early detection of fraud reduces the amounts stolen and makes it much easier for consumers to recover and move on, so anyone who has used a credit or debit card at Target since Thanksgiving should check their accounts for suspicious activity,” said Cate, a Distinguished Professor at the Maurer School of Law and the director of the university’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research.

“This is the busiest shopping time of the year,” he added. “Sneaking in smaller purchases here and there on a stolen credit card becomes easier to do when they’re surrounded by other charges.”

Cate urged consumers to notify their credit card companies if they see any suspicious transactions show up on their statements. “If you used a debit card,” he said, “you should change your PIN immediately.”

From a broader perspective, the massive breach of information could trigger shopper anxiety and points to a need for businesses to take cybersecurity seriously.

“We all depend on an infrastructure that is not nearly as secure as consumers believe it is, or as it should be,” Cate said.

Target has urged consumers who may be affected to report suspicious activity to a corporate hotline at 866-852-8680. Additional information on practical steps that consumers can take to protect themselves and their data is available at www.securitymatters.iu.edu.

The delegation is being led by Devi Singh, director of the Institute of Management-Lucknow, and supported by the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The focus for the week is leadership and institution building. The program was built on a successful relationship between the Kelley School of Business and IIM-Lucknow.

It also is a follow up to discussions between IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel and Indian educational leaders this past spring. In March, Robel delivered a keynote address at a three-day international conference in India focusing on the future of higher education there.

Last March, IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel, left, was keynote presenter at “The Future of Indian Universities,” joining India President Shri Pranab Mukherjee, far right, on the program.

The March conference received extensive news coverage across India and had the support of the nation’s president, Pranab Mukherjee. Presidents and deans of all of India’s leading universities also participated.

IU has long been committed to India. It recently opened its first international gateway office. Located in Gurgaon, it serves as a home base for IU student and faculty activities in the country. IU is a partner with several of India’s leading universities, including O.P. Jindal and two campuses of the Indian Institute of Management (at Lucknow and Rohtak).

Higher education in India is experiencing a period of unprecedented expansion, including increased numbers of students and institutions, as well as substantial increases in government funding, Robel noted. This rapid expansion also comes with high expectations for improved efficiency, enhanced quality and greater access to education.

“Indiana University Bloomington has enjoyed several decades of mutually enriching partnerships with Indian institutions, organizations and faculty,” Robel said. “These partnerships have been further strengthened by the recent opening of our new IU Gateway office in Gurgaon.

“Close to 1,000 students from India matriculate at IU Bloomington each year, and our Indian alumni are wonderfully successful and deeply involved. We are delighted and honored to host this esteemed delegation from India, and pleased to have the opportunity to deepen these important relationships.”

This week, the delegation is learning from IU experts in higher education administration and leadership, strategic management, innovation and best practices in pedagogy and institutional development.

Included in the itinerary are meetings with IU President Michael McRobbie, who led an IU delegration to India in 2011;, David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs; and M.A. Venkataramanan, IU vice provost for strategic initiatives and a native of Chennai, India.

On Monday, Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for information technology and chief information officer, took the delegation on a tour of the Cyber Infrastructure Building and Data Center.

On Tuesday, Dan Smith, IU Foundation president and chief executive officer and a frequent visitor to India as dean of the Kelley School, led a discussion about the role of institutional vision and the process of enlisting others in that process.

On Wednesday, Tom Gieryn, IU vice provost for academic affairs, and Sarita Soni, IU vice provost for research, will lead a session on developing a research orientation and performance-linked assessment for academics.

Dr. Devi Singh, right, director of IIM-Lucknow, watched in May 2012 as Dan Smith, then dean of the IU Kelley School of Business, signed a partnership agreement between IU, Kelley and IIM-Lucknow.

On Thursday, Kelley School Dean Idalene Kesner and several of her business school colleagues will discuss strategies for increasing outreach into the financial community.

The delegation will wrap up the week with a visit to nearby Terre Haute and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, one of the nation’s top engineering schools. Leading the group will be Bill Stephan, IU vice president for engagement; Tony Armstrong, president and CEO of the IU Research and Technology Corp.; and David Gard, IU assistant vice president for economic development.

They also will see an IU men’s basketball game, visit Cook Medical‘s world headquarters, attend screenings at the IU Cinema and discover Bloomington’s culinary scene.

The delegation’s visit to IU is part of an intensive two-week workshop sponsored by the Indian government. The first week took place in India.

Needless to say, this will be an informative week for the educational leaders, who came from Delhi, Aligarh, Allahabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Moradabad, Nagpur and Pauri Garhwal.

They also are seeing why IU is one of the top public research universities in the United States.

The five-day forecast this week calls for temperatures in the upper 70s and lower 80s in Lucknow, India, where it rarely gets below 40 degrees. Much of the year, the mercury is above 90 degrees in that arid part of the world.

Chances are that this delegation of Indian educational leaders also will never forget the heavy snow and frigid temperatures in Bloomington. But that already was a given, despite the weather conditions.

Building permits in Indiana are up by about 12 percent.

Over the last several weeks, there have been growing concerns by some economists about another bubble in housing, as home prices continue to rise around the country.

For the first time since 2005, each of the country’s 50 most populous cities is seeing higher home prices, which pessimists say is unsustainable.

A new report by the Indiana Business Research Center, in IU’s Kelley School of Business, says the Indiana housing market is doing just fine.

“It took a long while, but Indiana’s housing market now appears to be squarely on the road to recovery,” writes Matt Kinghorn, an IBRC economic analyst and co-author of a new report done for the Indiana Association of Realtors.

Over a 12-month period ending in June 2013, for instance, the number of houses sold in Indiana increased by nearly 17 percent over the previous year and the median price of existing home sales climbed more than 4 percent.

“With building permits up roughly 12 percent over the same period, this boost in demand is beginning to spill over to the new construction market too. The state’s foreclosure rate is still too high, but it has fallen precipitously since the end of 2011,” Kinghorn said.

“Given the depth of the housing slump, there are still a few more miles left on the road to a healthy market,” he noted. “Existing home sales in Indiana are still more than 10 percent off the 2007 mark, and the share of mortgages that are seriously delinquent is only about two-thirds of the way back to the state’s pre-crash level.”

Matt Kinghorn

Meanwhile, despite the recent uptick, residential construction activity in the first half of 2013 is still at low levels last seen in the early 1980s.

This is one just one factor that should dampen concerns about a housing bubble in the Hoosier state.

Kinghorn noted that the resurgence in the housing market has occurred even though the drivers of housing demand, such as a strong labor market, population migration and favorable lending conditions, are “still not firing on all cylinders.”

Indiana’s unemployment rate fell below 8 percent for the first time since 2008 in October, to 7.5 percent, but was still above the national rate of 7.3 percent.

Data on migration trends are not as current, but Indiana had a net outflow of residents each year between 2010 and 2012.

Historically low mortgage interest rates have helped the housing market, but tighter lending standards may have kept some creditworthy borrowers from accessing home loans.

“So while there is plenty of cause for optimism, the state’s housing market won’t truly return to form until Indiana’s labor market improves and the state begins to attract new residents again,” Kinghorn said. “This will bolster demand and begin to revive still-lagging residential construction.

“Once the foundation of the housing market is shored-up, we’ll know that this recovery is built to last.”

Black Friday crowd await a store opening last year

Like it or not, more major retailers have decided this year to begin the holiday shopping season earlier, on Thanksgiving Day. They also are testing consumer interest with “pre-Black Friday” offers.

While most retailers, such as Walmart, Toys R Us, Target and Best Buy, will open in the evening after many families have gathered for Thanksgiving dinner, Kmart has announced plans to open at 6 a.m. that day.

Among the reasons that companies are citing for their decision is that there are six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. John Talbott, associate director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, isn’t sure whether being open on Thanksgiving will move the needle upwards when it comes holiday sales figures.

“The Black Friday season is truly a retail arms race. Many studies indicate that the consumer has a relatively fixed level of spend for the holiday season,” Talbott noted. “Consumers spend the budget they have in the time that is available for them to do it.”

Talbott said it has been proven that holiday sales aren’t affected when the shopping season is condensed and includes fewer weekends. Even weather has little effect, although retailers will always point to this issue when they don’t make sales objectives.

“Over the last few years many stores have begun opening earlier and earlier in an effort to improve their performance during the holiday season. Despite objections from some, the reality is these efforts are reinforced by consumers attending these events and spending their money,” he said.

John Talbott, associate director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing in IU’s Kelley School of Business

“If society at large wants to change this sort of behavior, the problem can easily be solved by simply not shopping on Thanksgiving Day. This will end the experiment and chances are other retailers will not attempt it in the future.”

Talbott suspects that people who come out to shop on Thanksgiving simply are shifting their retail strategy from Black Friday. They won’t expand their shopping plans simply because of the expanded holiday weekend store hours.

But he also thinks that holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day could be here to stay.

“If shoppers vote for Kmart to be open by spending big dollars there on Thanksgiving, it is essentially a spend that is being reallocated from other retailers to Kmart,” he said. “This is likely to force a competitive response in the future so that the fixed spend of consumer dollars available are not sent in the direction of a specific retailer simply because they offer their deals to consumers earlier than others.”

“My guess is Kmart will open at 6 a.m. and stay open 41 straight hours, shoppers will buy, and next year we’ll see other retailers follow to rebalance the competitive playing field.”

This also is a busy season for Talbott, this week he and his colleagues at the Center for Education and Research released the FIndex survey, a quarterly index that measures consumer sentiment toward fashion trends in the apparel, footwear and accessory industry. It found that apparel continues to be the largest spending category for the millennial generation, particularly during the holiday shopping season.

The survey, released in partnership with  Kalypso and CollegeFashionista, also suggests that these young, fashion-conscious consumers will delay their holiday shopping to wait for discounts and sales on the part of retailers.

Consider it a public service for those who are looking for presents this holiday season for the fashionable people in their life.

Rob Neal

He opened by noting that returns on stock market investments have been averaging about 7 percent annually, a little less than the historical average but decent given the anemic returns on other types of investments, particularly interest-bearing ones.

Neal, an associate professor of finance at Kelley-Indianapolis, has served on the school’s Business Outlook Panel for many years. He was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank and a senior research scholar at the Securities and Exchange Commission before coming to Kelley.

Investors can do things to protect themselves amid a “tepid” economic recovery expected next year. The forecast said the overall economy will expand at about a 2.5 percent rate — with growth struggling to hit 2 percent in the first half of the year before improving to 3 percent rate after June.

“Here’s a lesson from the financial crisis: Even when the world seems to be collapsing around us, if you’ve got a sensible investment plan, if you stay the course, if you don’t panic, things are going to work out ok,” Neal said.

Two factors impact long-run performance in the market — interest rates and corporate earnings. Neal said corporate earnings will be a “cause for optimism” in 2014.

During the 2013 calendar year, earnings are expected to rise by about 6 percent, “which is not great, but we expect them to jump up to 11 percent for calendar year 2014,” he forecasted.

“Profit margins are at historically high levels and have been increasing over time,” he continued. “So even with this relatively modest GDP growth that we’re talking about, it’s still possible to earn an attractive earnings stream, and this, by and large, is a positive for stocks moving forward.

One thing that has changed recently is the composition of earnings, Neal said. Overseas markets are increasingly driving corporate earnings. Between 30 to 50 percent of activity with S&P 500 stocks is coming from interests outside the United States.

“What this does mean now is that U.S. corporate earnings are going to be less sensitive to what the U.S. economy does and more sensitive to the global market,” Neal observed.

The Federal Reserve has held short-term interest rates at virtually zero for nearly five years and has said it will maintain this policy through mid-2015. It has been purchasing securities at a monthly rate of $85 billion or at annual rate of nearly a trillion dollars.

Earlier this year, the Fed announced that it would begin “tapering ” those purchases, which led briefly to jumps in the bond market and interest rates and declines in equity markets, until the Fed stepped back from its announcement.

What this means is that short-term interest rates should remain low in 2014 and that money market funds will offer little in the way of yields.

But the outlook for longer-term rates is more uncertain and may be another source of optimism for investors, Neal said.

“I do think that long-term rates are on an upward trajectory, so if you’ve got medium-term bonds, long-term bonds, even TIPS (treasury inflation protected securities), I think those are going to continue to get hit, but in terms of the equity market, I think this is a fairly favorable environment,” he told the audience on Nov. 6.

Given the concerns about gridlock in Washington, it may surprising that Neal finds a basis for optimism there.

Surprisingly, a third source of optimism comes from Washington, Neal said.

“What if I told you that our politicians had gotten together and agreed on the following strategy — we’re going to cut federal spending, we’re going to cut the deficit, we’re not going to have any income tax increases, we’re not going announce any new spending programs. Would you say that’s a good policy?

“That’s exactly what we’ve got now,” Neal continued. “If you look at the setup of the Congress, Republicans aren’t going to create any new taxes, they’re not going to agree to any new spending programs … The sequester has effectively acted as a ceiling on federal spending.”

In 2012, the federal budget deficit was $1.1 trillion and is expected to drop to $680 billion this year. Neal said it will drop again next year as will the percentage of federal spending as part of U.S. GDP.

“When we combine this sort of framework in Washington … with real GDP growth of 2 to 3 percent, inflation rates of 1 to 2 percent, this is actually pretty favorable for equities,” he said.

Risks to Neal’s financial outlook include unknowns about quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. The process, which also has been a global phenomenon, may have inflated bond and equity prices. Other risks include currency wars among nations and volatile price-earnings ratios.

Here are four practical suggestions that Neal offered:

• Over long terms, you are better off making investments in equities and equity-based mutual funds. Stocks are going to do better than bonds 70 percent of the time.
• Don’t worry too much about volatility in the market. Roughly one of every three years return from the market is going to be negative. “It’s going to happen whether you like it or not.”
• Be careful about market timing — when you decide to get into and out of the market.
• Pay close attention to your expenses, such as certain fees charged by fund managers. Now may be a good time to review such costs and shop around.

The Business Outlook tour began with presentations in Indianapolis and Bloomington on Nov. 6. The faculty panel will travel to seven other cities across the state this month. A complete schedule of the Business Outlook Panel tour is available online.

In the biennial Forbes ranking released Wednesday, Kelley’s MBA program moved into the Top 20. It ranks 19th overall, third in the Big Ten and sixth among public institutions. Two years ago, the magazine ranked the program 27th overall.

Bloomberg Businessweek, which also ranks MBA programs every two years, last year ranked Kelley’s MBA program 15th overall and first overall in student surveys on student satisfaction, career services and teaching. The school also performs well in the other major MBA rankings, ranked 22nd by U.S. News and World Report and 46th worldwide by the Financial Times.

But another ranking released this week isn’t being overlooked. The Princeton Review, which sometimes is controversial and arguably is less scientific in its approach, announced on Tuesday that Kelley was ranked third by students surveyed for its “Most Family Friendly” experience.

The Princeton Review bases the ranking on its 80-question survey of 20,300 students attending 295 business schools, large and small. It does not do overall rankings of MBA programs.

The Kelley School tracks a wide range of internal metrics related to its core mission of research, teaching and outreach. Media rankings are just one measure that parents and prospective students should consider.

Besides rankings, there are many other important measures of a graduate business education, such as its return-on-investment, its extensive alumni network is, how employers value it and the global opportunities it offers.

Jonlee Andrews, chair of Kelley’s Full-Time MBA Program

Jonlee Andrews, chair of the Full-Time MBA Program, a clinical professor of marketing and Nestlé Faculty Fellow, appreciated how often the Princeton Review mentioned in its profile of Kelley how well the school’s students, faculty and administrators worked together.

“We’ve recently stepped-up our efforts to train students to excel in a team setting. So we were delighted to receive recognition in the Princeton Review of the positive effects of these efforts,” Andrews said. “In addition, we were very happy to see so many respondents mention how well students and administration work together to create a high-value, high impact experience.”

The Princeton Review rankings highlight an important aspect of IU that many outside of the Kelley School also are well aware of — Bloomington is a terrific community in which to learn and study, even if you’re only going to be here for a few years.

“Bloomington offers a lot for a smaller town — great restaurants, museums and shows,” said the accompanying book, “The Best 295 Business Schools: 2014 Edition.” “You’ll be on your feet most of your time, as students often walk to school, walk to the gym and walk to go out, but that only serves to enhance the ‘one big family’ atmosphere at Kelley.”

Foodies have been atwitter about many of Bloomington’s 350 restaurants — including one led by a James Beard Award contender. To burn off the calories, there are two top-notch exercise facilities on campus and several more off-campus, as well as other outdoor options.

Entertainment and cultural opportunities are many, including the more than 1,100 musical performances across campus as the renowned Jacobs School of Music.

Bloomington’s cost of living is the lowest of any city that is home to a Bloomberg Businessweek Top 20 MBA program.

If it sounds like I’m bragging, I’ve lived here nearly a quarter century, having returned a few years after getting my IU journalism degree, and think both were smart decisions.

Lillian Casillas-Origel today

When Lillian Casillas-Origel took her first steps on the Indiana University Bloomington campus in 1985, her footwear of choice then was combat boots. Today, 28 years later, she usually sports orthopedic shoes.

“I was just an 18-year-old kid who got involved right away with the issue of anti-Apartheid, wearing skirts and combat boots. This whole world had kind of just opened up to me,” she recalled.

Casillas-Origel earned a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from IU in 1989 and a Master of Science degree in education in 1998. Nineteen years ago, she became director of La Casa/the Indiana University Latino Cultural Center. The center, part of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, is a home base for Latino students, faculty and staff on the Bloomington campus.

This weekend, she is being honored at La Casa’s 40th Anniversary with the IU Latino Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award. She said she was surprised and humbled by the honor, which gave her an opportunity to reflect on a nearly three-decade association with the university.

Casillas-Origel immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was 10 years old and settled with her parents and her four siblings in northwest Indiana. She is the oldest of five. Her younger sister also is an IU alumna and one of her brothers studied accounting at Purdue-Calumet.

Even after eight formative years in Gary and Hammond, Ind., Casillas-Origel said she didn’t feel comfortable fitting into American culture and society. But, also, after a few visits back to Mexico, she didn’t feel like she fit in there either.

“When I came to IU, I fit, because everyone here was from somewhere else,” she said. “Everybody had a story. I felt like there was an equalizer in the sense that I found a community where there was such diversity, maybe not necessary in the sense of race or other issues, but a diversity of stories and backgrounds and being from somewhere else.

Lillian Casillas-Origel as a student in 1987.

“I finally felt like I belonged somewhere and I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been here so long,” she added. “There are so many people here from so many other places and it has never stopped being that.”

Casillas-Origel said each day presents a new opportunity to meet someone new, which also helps her feel connected to Bloomington too.

Her experiences have been instrumental to her role as an advisor to IU students, particularly those who are Latino or Latina.

In addition to directing La Casa, she has served on the advisory board of the IU Latino Studies Program and Indiana Latino Higher Education Council. She is a board member of El Centro Comunal Latino, a grass roots not-for profit organization that focus on the provision of services to and integration of Latinos to Bloomington.

Alice Jordan-Miles, president of the IU Latino Alumni Association and an academic advisor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, notes that Casillas-Origel constantly supports and is determined to help others, just as she once was helped.

“Especially for young Latinas, who, as her culture indicates, should be barefoot and pregnant by the time we’re 25 and standing 10 feet behind our man, she has gone beyond her scope of responsibilities, by establishing relationships and rapport with our students’ families,” said Jordan-Miles, a graduate of IU Bloomington and IPFW. “It has enabled her to gain the trust of these families that will allow the encouragement and support to come from the home, just as it comes from La Casa.

“Lilly is a catalyst to change and a catalyst to improving the lives of students,” she added. “In many cases, she was the key reason why a person stayed at IU, stayed on to graduate and went onto post-graduate work as well.”

When Casillas-Origel was an undergraduate, Latino musical hit makers included Gloria Estefan, Julio Iglesias, Luis Miguel and Los Lobos. Today, Julio Iglesias’ youngest son, Enrique, is a major star (Los Lobos remains a critics’ favorite).

Personal computers were in their infancy in 1985. Today, students use mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets to communicate with each other via email, texting and social media. Fashions also have changed.

La Casa remains a welcoming place 40 years running

Yet, while times have changed since then, many things remain the same. Immigration remains a hot-button issue.

And students — whether they be Latino or from another heritage — continue to make cultural adjustments while keeping their feet rooted in “two different worlds” — the “world of the culture of the family you grew up with and the culture that is here at Indiana University.”

“The basics are not different,” she said. “I might be becoming extinct in other ways, but I am not in where it matters — that is understanding the experiences of students and of what needs to happen for us to be a really inclusive and supportive community.”

Recently, she spoke to a group of social work students who questioned how Casillas-Origel could be so positive about diversity at IU Bloomington, when the majority of people remain Caucasian. She asked them to think of the campus as a city with a population of 50,000 people.

She asked them to think about how many cities of 50,000 have centers for the GLBT, Asian, Native American and Latino communities, a Hillel House and an active Commission for Multicultural Understanding. She asked them to reflect on the number of entities and people who are committed to supporting each other.

“Another reason I stayed here so long was that I have allies here, who are just as committed,” she said. “This is a setting in which to learn — not only for the students but also for professionals — how to connect in really meaningful ways, with people across the board who are … interested in creating a welcoming environment.”

After her family arrived in the United States, part of her personal and cultural identity slowly eroded as government officials excluded her mother’s surname from official documents. For nearly three decades, she was only officially known as “Lillian Casillas.”

When she became a U.S. citizen in 2011, she was allowed to go back to her original name, which included her mother’s surname, “Origel.”

“First thing that happened, I came to IU, submitted my citizenship papers, because you have to notify your employer, and the next thing they’re using my whole name … I came full circle. I became the person that I was when I got here many years ago.”

There are about 1,500 Latinos on campus, but last year, La Casa served more than 10,000 people, including many non-Latinos who participate in its programs. Many students come by several times a week. Others, who aren’t included in the above statistics, have reached out for assistance through email.

Over the years, Casillas-Origel has gone to students’ weddings and been with them at hearings during divorce proceedings. She has been in the delivery room when students’ babies have been born and later at their baptisms. She has been invited to accompany to award presentations. On rare occasions, she has helped parents needing to check in on students. Sadly, she had to identify a student who died.

“It’s more than just teaching about Latino-ness and creating support systems, but where you really become a part of people’s lives,” she said.

Throughout the years, Casillas-Origel has never married or had children. Early in her career, students were like brothers and sisters to her. Today, they are like her children.

“Some people say, ‘You’re married to your job.’ Yeah, I have a relationship with La Casa, but I don’t think it’s a marriage,” she said. “I’ve kind of grown up with La Casa … Through La Casa, I have grown as an individual. I have been able to accomplish so much — again not only on a personal level but also in what I’ve wanted to do, in advocating for the Latino community. La Casa has been that venue for me.”

Many turned out for the recent discussion event, “Who are Asian Pacific Americans?”

In October 1998, the IU Asian Culture Center — the first of its kind in the Midwest — was established. Today, it is part of a broad mosaic of cultural centers on the campus, overseen by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs.

On Thursday, the Asian Culture Center, located at 807 E. 10th St., marked its crystal anniversary by sharing a vision of Asian life in the United States. Its open house featured a poster exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution, “I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian American Story.”

The posters are part of the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibition and reflect the rich and diverse stories of people of Asian heritage in the United States.

“The Asian Pacific American journey has many points of origin, but one shared destination — the United States — a nation founded and built by immigrants and enriched by the vibrant diversity of their heritages and traditions,” say the exhibit curators.

The Smithsonian exhibit will be on display under the end of the fall semester.

Through its many offering throughout the year, the ACC similarly reflects a vivid array of national cultures that include China, Japan, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines, Turkey, Burma/Myanmar and Vietnam.

More than two dozen student organizations are affiliated with the ACC, helping to serve the more than 2,500 Asian and Asian Pacific American students enrolled at IU Bloomington.

IU Asian Culture Center

Like other students, Asian and Asian Pacific American students face common challenges in adjusting to university life and finding friends with shared values and outlets for their energy and convictions, explained ACC Director Melanie Castillo-Cullather.

“The Asian Culture Center supports coalition building and unity among Asian and Asian American students, helping them to recognize their common interests and heritage and acting as a voice for their concerns,” said Castillo-Cullather, who originally is from the Philippines. “The center is committed to listening to the needs of students; building an inclusive, supportive community that celebrates diversity; and advocating for students’ needs and concerns.”

Every April, the center coordinates Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month. But nearly everyday it provides events that make IU Bloomington feel more like a home for all students interested in Asian cultures.

Each week, there are opportunities to learn calligraphy and how to prepare food as well as play the immensely popular games Mah-Jong and Go.

And ACC administrative assistant HaeSook Park makes sure that everyone feels welcome … and often well fed.

Kelley Direct students tour the Diamond Trading Company Botswana facilities in Gaborone.

Many professionals looking for a way to earn a graduate business degree while remaining at their companies have turned to online MBA programs such as Kelley Direct, offered by IU’s Kelley School of Business.

The long-term economic and professional benefits of earning an MBA degree are well documented, but students in most online MBA programs rarely leave the chair of their home, office or even a coffee shop where they sit in front of a computer screen and learn.

At Kelley, online education includes time on the IU Bloomington campus to connect with faculty and fellow students, as well as travel courses that provide global experience, including in emerging economies.

This summer, 20 students in Kelley’s online MBA and Master of Science degree programs traveled to Botswana, a sparsely populated nation in southern Africa, where many said they had a life-changing experience.

Phil Powell, faculty chair of Kelley Direct and a clinical associate professor of business economics and public policy, said the experiences in Kelley Direct are designed to develop executive skills in leadership agility, operational discipline, and emotional and cultural intelligence.

“Leadership is difficult to teach online, so our on-the-ground experience disproportionately focuses on faculty coaching students in these competencies,” Powell said. “Students must organize themselves to deliver a high stakes solution in a foreign environment with which they are not familiar. This forces students to overcome weaknesses they have in working with and inspiring peers.

“Solving difficult problems in Sub-Saharan Africa equips students to come back to their employer and be more effective managers and team players,” he added.

The course launched Kelley Direct’s Accelerating Global Immersion Leadership Education (AGILE) executive leadership curriculum.  Students in the new course were divided into five teams who were each teamed with a small business owner in Gaborone, Botswana. They learned firsthand about the joys and challenges of consulting with clients in a developing economy.

Students assess the Marine Garments manufacturing facilities in Gaborone, Botswana

The clients included a veterinary clinic and pet store, a clothing manufacturer, a sorghum mill, an auto repair and body shop and a mining equipment manufacturer. Three faculty coaches, Brenda Bailey-Hughes, senior lecturer in business communications; Terrill Cosgray, executive director of Kelley Direct, and Powell guided students through the learning process.

The consulting course began with a trip to Washington, D.C., where the small business owners were brought from Botswana to meet with students. Together, the teams and business owners spent a weekend working to identify and agree on key challenges and brainstorm on how to satisfy them.

While there, Kelley Direct students also worked to help business owners better understand how similar kinds of operations functioned in the United States.

One team took Dr. Mmueledi Busang, owner of Integrated Veterinary Services, on a field trip to a local PetSmart store, which included a behind the scenes tour of the store’s Banfield Pet Hospital. Cosgray said the field trip spurred some immediate changes at Busang’s operations, such as pre-surgery packaging of the essential sterile tools needed for common surgical procedures.

After the kick-off weekend, each team spent the next 11 weeks “virtually” consulting with their client. Detailed financial and other business records were exchanged through multiple weekly emails. Teams held weekly phone, Google Hangouts or Skype calls with their clients.

After three weeks, each team felt confident that it had enough information to begin putting together a consultation project plan, which required agreement by each client on three to five specific and actionable deliverable goals provided at the conclusion of the course. Naturally, plans continued to be refined throughout the summer.

The course culminated with a week in Gaborone Aug. 11- to 16. Teams spent four full days at their business sites as well as meeting with some of their clients’ customers, suppliers and competitors. Local media covered their visit.

“Students quickly discovered they needed to recalibrate their recommendations when coming face to face with the daily realities of their business owners,” Cosgray recalled.

For example, the team working with Amogelang Sorghum Milling discovered that the owner was unnecessarily leasing a building for his operations when he owned another structure. They recommended that he end the lease and move operations to another building to cut costs and increase profits. With their pre-trip plans to expand his customer base and this new discovery, the team predicted a 50 percent increase in profits within a year for Amogelang.

Botswana

“I think that the opportunity to function out of my comfort zone is always a good learning experience. My ability to communicate more effectively was enhanced because I had to slow down and think more carefully about what I wrote and said,” said Kelley Direct student Kenneth Buckwalter, a physician practice manager for radiology at IU Health in Indianapolis.

“Lessons learned abroad come home with you and enhance your ability to communicate in a work environment. Furthermore, the consulting process from soup to nuts was illustrated in this course, which gave me an opportunity to think about consulting as a future career path.”

Buckwalter also said the experience is valuable as he practices as a radiologist now and later in business.

“It is good to see business from a different perspective and to be appreciative of everything we have here in the U.S. We have many first and second generations in the U.S. in our work environment,” he said. “Even if I never work overseas, the enhanced cultural sensitivity we learned from the Botswana experience makes it easier to interact with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.”

But it wasn’t all work for the students. They spent a morning at Diamond Trading Company Botswana. Holding an eight-kcarat uncut diamond in their hands was an unexpected highlight. Students also went on an early evening game drive and dined by the light of a campfire in the bush at Mokolodi Nature Reserve.

The week concluded with each team making final presentations to their clients followed by a celebratory dinner with students and clients. Powell congratulated students on their work, telling them they had made a significant impact on the Botswana government’s goals to diversify their economy beyond the diamond and beef industries.

Botswana’s Local Enterprise Authority is funded to help small Botswana businesses executive a strategic plan for profitability. They employ over 90 coaches that work nationwide with business owners who are new to entrepreneurship.

“Imbedded with each of our MBA teams were the LEA coaches that work with each team’s clients. Not only did students help their clients, but they also taught their LEA partners how to be better coaches,” Powell said. “The Local Enterprise Authority was so impressed with the Kelley School consulting framework that it wants to internalize it as a process in the way the agency works with all Botswana businesses.

“Next year’s iteration of the course will not only focus on helping another group of clients, but also on helping LEA develop its capacity to spur small business growth nationwide.”

No embassies are being built in Bloomington, but work is underway on a home for the IU School of Global and International Studies.

Bloomington may not yet be in the same league as New York and Geneva, but judging from the number of diplomatic visitors to Indiana University this fall, it might seem time to build a few embassies.

Seriously, visits by ambassadors, consul generals and other high-level officials is a regular occurrence, as one would expect at a university with so many national resource centers and language programs and now, the IU School of Global and International Studies.

Last week, Fatih Yildiz, consul general of Turkey, came to Bloomington and inspected IU’s Turkish Language Flagship Center and gave a public talk on his country’s role in regional and international affairs. Turkey neighbors Syria and has sheltered about a half million refugees from the war-torn country.

“Turkey, one of the most powerful and proud countries in the world, is located in a rough neighborhood, to say the least,” Kemal Silay, director of the Turkish Studies Program and chairman of Ottoman and modern Turkish studies in the IU College of Arts and Sciences, said when introducing Yildiz. “Anything and everything is possible in the Middle East at a much faster speed than imaginable.”

On Thursday, Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, will be on campus as a guest of the Center on American and Global Security and the Australian National University-Indiana University Pan Asia Institute.

He will address the economic, political and security challenges facing Afghanistan at this critical time in its modern history as the combat mission ends and U.S. and NATO forces withdraw from the country in 2014. His address is open to the public and begins at 7:30 p.m. in room 213 of the IU Maurer School of Law.

At 5 p.m. on Oct. 3, Rajendra Madhukar Abhyankar, India’s former ambassador to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg, will speak at the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program. Today a diplomat-in-residence at the IU Center for American and Global Security and a visiting professor both in SGIS and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, he will share insights from a 36-year diplomatic career.

Look for future announcements about visiting ambassadors from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

And next week, more than 30 musical ambassadors will be in Bloomington to perform at the 20th Lotus World Music and Art Festival. The School of Global and International Studies is presenting a free world music party featuring Chicago-based Funkadesi, Montreal’s Nomadic Massive and Bloomington’s own Pan-Basso.

The Lotus Campus Kickoff concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Alumni Hall, in the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. Wristbands will serve as tickets to the event and will be provided to the first 800 people in attendance.

President Michael McRobbie and Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret recently returned from a trip to Africa, where they strengthened IU’s connections with leading universities, met with political leaders and renewed ties with IU alumni. A blog, “IU Goes to Africa: Presidential Visit 2013” provides a thorough review of the delegation’s activities.

None of this information should be a “state secret.” For decades, the world has come to IU and the university has provided invaluable training to diplomats and others engaged in important parts of the world. An IU education is a passport to a world of knowledge.

Kelley students serving the role of journalists and environmentalists question decisions announced by a CEO in the “Blue Frog” case study

A few days ago, the management team of a growing international water utility company visited Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. While here, the CEO and other top executives met with students, faced inquisitive journalists from around the world and were confronted by loud and angry protests from environmentalists.

Not really. Please allow me to explain.

Mike Tiller, chair of graduate accounting programs and associate professor of accounting in the Kelley School, tries to create as meaningful a scenario during a program within new student orientation for the 3/2 MBA Graduate Accounting Program.

Called the Blue Frog Case, the 46 students were assigned one of four roles – managers and the CEO, journalists, environmentalists or board directors – to play on the morning of Thursday, Aug. 22.  Given my experience as a journalist, I have coached students on how to be assertive and unrelenting in asking questions.

Kelley alumni now at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte coached the executives and board directors. Steve Kreft, clinical associate professor of business economics and public policy, coached the environmentalists.

Students received the basic facts of the case the night before and are then surprised the following morning with new, sensational revelations that raised questions about what they thought they knew. And they had very little time to absorb it all before the action in class started.

The new details included religious fanatics, a corrupt royal family, a demon who lives in a volcano and black market gold. There was word of a golden toilet and a swimming pool surrounded by golden Nintendo characters. Even Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh had become interested in the story.

And there also was the sacred Blue Frog.

If you can imagine being sympathetic about a CEO leading a new business venture in a third-world country, this is the time. The fun begins when top management are derailed while holding a news conference about a major, new project in a developing country not found on any map.

Professors Leslie Hodder, Sonja Rego and Tom Bowers served as judges and led a discussion session that followed.

Because the case is used every year with revisions, I don’t want to give away too many spoilers. It’s good theater, but it’s also a meaningful educational experience.

Professors Leslie Hodder, center, Tom Bowers and Sonja Rego served as judges and led a discussion of lessons learned.

“It’s always fun and unpredictable to see how the students choose to play their parts and bring the Blue Frog issues to life … The roles that they play are roles that they might encounter in the real world, once they’re out of school and probably further along in their careers,” Tiller said.

“Granted, many of them are far away from becoming CEOs and running press conferences. Even so, they will be part of teams, very soon in their careers, that must deal with learning quickly, having a mission to achieve, wanting to sell their projects. At the very least, they’ll be part of the process of putting the information together and making sense of it for those who must meet the press.”

The unpredictable nature of the exercise, which the CEOs could call a lesson in crisis management, prepares the students well for what they will encounter in their future jobs. The exercise also teaches students how to question the facts and what Tiller calls “the diversity of perspective.”

“It’s amazing the number of times that I’m called into meetings with less than a half hour’s time to prepare and no time to consult other experts,” he said, comparing that with the situation that students faced. “That happens all the time in the business world. As far as being prepared for what you’re going to do the rest of your life, this is life.”

This was the seventh time that Tiller has used the Blue Frog case study with Kelley students and it was the fourth time I had been a coach.  A number of memorable moments stand out, such as when one team of environmental activists laid on the floor of the classroom and used “performance art” to get everyone’s attention.

Tiller fondly remembers one student who played the company’s CEO. He was a terrific student with top grades throughout his IU experience, been “the leader of everything” and striking good looks, presence and demeanor.

“As CEO, when he came in to present to the press, the press was reasonably aggressive and he was managing that OK. But when the interested third-parties interrupted the meeting, none of the things that he had learned to do in quote, ‘polite society,’ worked,” Tiller recalled. “He literally just shut down … Part of this is putting people in a situation where they can fail and learn from it.”

On the surface, there may seem to be few similarities between journalists and accountants. However, professionals in both fields are engaged in gathering information for reports that shed light on current conditions.

I am proud to say that the Kelley accounting students I prepped as journalists asked great questions and didn’t back down when executives and environmentalists tried to redirect the meeting for their interests.

Particularly effective Thursday was Anthony Wroten, a student from St. Louis, Mo., who began the news conference with a question in Spanish. His mother is from Colombia and he decided to play the role of a reporter at the local newspaper in Spanish-speaking “Vasteria.”

When the CEO, who had just delivered an eloquent introduction about the benefits of the project, indicated that he did not understand Spanish, Wroten responded, “You guys did not have a translator to address the local newspaper?”

In a simple and effective manner, a good lesson about cultural sensitively was taught, by one student to another.

Another student, Aaron Lewis, a student from Monterey, Calif., followed Wroten’s question with one about the “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” When the CEO said he wasn’t well versed on the statute, Lewis replied, “So you’re running an international company and you don’t know the laws on how to operate internationally?”

I’ve attended many news conferences over my 28 years as a journalist and media relations professional, but I’ve never seen a tougher crowd. They even asked the executives whether they had an “exit strategy.”

It’s unlikely that any of these students will ever win an Oscar, but I’m confident they will remember the lessons learned here if they are ever pressured to cook the books.

Traditionally, when people think of languages in which business is conducted, rarely do they think of Swahili and Portuguese.

However, as markets such as Brazil emerge along with African economies such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Mozambique, the language of commerce no longer is simply English or “lingua franca.”

Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Lebanon today also are growing in economic influence as well as in Geo-political importance.

A new two-week program starting next week for about 20 academically-gifted high school sophomores, juniors and seniors – mostly from Indiana – offers basic instruction in those less-commonly taught languages as well as other countries’ cultures and communication styles.

Business is Global is an intensive experience presented by the Indiana University Center for International Business Education and Research. Part of IU’s Kelley School of Business, IU CIBER is one of only 33 national resource centers funded by a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The students who arrive this weekend won’t need a passport.

LaVonn Schlegel, managing director of the Institute for International Business (which houses the IU CIBER), said she hopes the new program helps students better appreciate how learning other languages will help them with their career goals.

“It’s about helping them to understand the impact of language and culture on doing business,” she said, adding that this remains a big challenge for American firms in general.

“The intersection of language and culture studies in college hasn’t been as high of a priority. As the world has opened up, the importance of a businessperson understanding that intersection is much more critical,” Schlegel added. “The point of the program is to understand the differences in the ways of doing business in the cultures we are highlighting.”

Language programs at many high schools limit their offerings to Spanish and French. Schlegel hopes that exposing students to less-spoken tongues will increase interest in learning them once they arrive in college.

IU offers courses in more than 70 foreign languages, including some that aren’t taught at any other American university, such as Tajik, Kazakh and Dari. It is home to the federally supported Swahili Flagship Program.

Classes will provide students with a basic understanding of business vocabulary and how commerce is conducted in the United States as well.

In addition to learning more about the languages spoken in the Middle East, North Africa, South America and East Africa, the students’ living experience will feature the food, décor and pop culture from those parts of the world as well.

Other IU partners in the program are the African Studies Program, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Center for the Study of the Middle East.

However, IU’s other campuses also are engaged with the world, including the Kokomo campus. As at Bloomington and IUPUI, students are enrolled in courses at IU Kokomo that involve travel abroad.

Two courses in particular have provided students with opportunities to witness history in Turkey and meet people involved with social entrepreneurship and the environment in Great Britain.

Nine students nominated by faculty were selected after a rigorous application and interview process to the Innovation Symposium, a class intended to make students think about global issues, and what they can do to solve the world’s problems.

“As they study historical and current innovators and innovations, they practice thinking outside the box, and examine new ways to solve problems,” said Karla Stouse, senior lecturer in English, who leads the trip.

Student projects included plans to create a microbial fuel cell, encourage a sense of community among Frankfort, Ind.’s diverse populations, develop a workshop to help caregivers promote active learning in dementia patients, build a travel table from recycled plastics and develop a program to bring Afghan refugees to IU Kokomo.

In England, they discussed social entrepreneurship at celebrity chef Jamie Oliver‘s foundation, and toured Covent Garden, with homeless people as their tour guides. They also visited the London Science Museum, Isaac Newton’s home, the British Museum, Westminster Abbey and other sites.

Another 18 IU Kokomo students and two faculty members have just returned from Turkey, where they watched from a safe location anti-government protests that broke out during their final days in nation’s capital, Istanbul.

“It became a protest about protecting the separation between church and state,” said student Steve Vas. “They are defending their democracy. It was kind of exciting to witness it in person.”

Linda Ficht, associate professor of business law, planned the trip, and was worried the unrest would ruin it. She canceled their free time in the city, keeping everyone at their hotel, as a precaution.

“We were catty corner to the park, and could watch the protests from a safe vantage point,” she said. “We were able to see a revolution in the making, civil rights in the making. The students were excited about it.”

Before the protests, students spent seven days visiting American and Turkish-owned businesses, meeting IU alumni, and touring cultural sites in Turkey. Ficht’s goal in planning the trip was for students to get out of the classroom and meet real people in another country.

“The lens you view business with changes once you go abroad,” she said. “It is important to see first-hand what is happening in other countries. When you immerse yourself, you see it up close. You talk to the people, you deal with the currency exchange rate, and you live it. It takes what you are learning from theory to real experience. You can’t read that personal experience in a textbook.”

You can read the complete stories by linking on the hyperlinks above, which also provide access to more of the students’ photos from the trips.

Egyptians Ammar Mokhtar and Mostafa Esmaiel express appreciation felt by many

A couple of weeks before 11 students from Palestine were due to arrive at IU Bloomington for the Global Business Institute, many of them were still struggling with the process of obtaining visas to enter the United States.

LaVonn Schlegel, managing director of the Institute for International Business in the Kelley School of Business, who was visiting Ramallah, met with them and gave them this advice:

“Face the challenge as if it were a journey. Try to figure out what the milestones and the learning points will be through this journey.”

When the students arrived in Bloomington, they told her about the lessons learned.

“It was a bit of a challenge for them to look at it as a learning opportunity, but they did and they learned a lot more about how to face the world,” said Schlegel, whose institute also is involved with programs that teach entrepreneurs in developing countries how to start and sustain their own micro-ventures.

As she pointed out, the following four weeks and the next 40 years will be a journey.

“There are challenges, there are bumps, problems and frustrations, but it’s all about learning … and becoming bigger and better for it,” she added. “How do you see the journey when you’re in the moment. How do you remember that it’s just a piece of something bigger?”

As this column is being written, 14 students are returning to Egypt after completing visits to Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. Since leaving their home country a month ago, an opposition campaign led the military to oust the nation’s first democratically elected head of state and replaced him with an interim president. Worldwide attention is now again focused on Egypt.

Feisel Istrabadi, former Iraqi ambassador and today director of the IU Center for the Study of the Middle East, was one of the program’s instructors.

A year ago, Egyptian GBI students were optimistic about the results of the so-called “Arab Spring.”

“I think about these kids especially, with the challenges that they face in their home countries – the political and sometimes even conflict-based challenges,” Schlegel said. “It would be really easy for them to get frustrated in the moment and not see the bigger picture.”

If the past is an indication of how this year’s class of GBI will do, there are reasons for optimism.

Many participants in last year’s program have described it as life changing and are using it as a stepping stone to develop new technology concepts, start businesses, continue their education, begin careers in international business and find new ways to contribute to society in their home countries.

For example, a team led by Sudkey Dwikat will represent the Palestinian territories at the Microsoft-sponsored worldwide Imagine Cup Competition in Russia later this month.

Abdel Rahman Alzorgan, a graduate of Tafila Technical University in Jordan, is an ambassador for One Young World, a London-based organization that works to create positive change. Ragheb Ayman, another student from Palestine, interned at the European Investment Bank.

“My participation in the Global Business Initiative has changed totally my life,” said Youcef Bentaleb, a computer science major at M’sila University in Algeria, who won his country’s Creative Business Cup.

Schlegel added that many of the student businesses are based on concepts they created while on campus.

“These kids are being movers and shakers,” she said. “Many of them are just now finishing their degrees, but we’ve had a number of anecdotal stories that come back that they’ve gotten a job right out of school because of our experience, because they were able to talk about problem solving and a world perspective.

“In our travels during the last year, we’ve met with students in Jordan, in Palestine and in Egypt and they are all just still so enthusiastic about the experience.”

The GBI program is supported by The Coca-Cola Company, the U.S. State Department and Partners for a New Beginning.

Left to right, Shamsa Kanwal, Sara Jamail, Warda Zahid and Madiha Khan

Much has been chronicled about the “glass ceiling” in the United States. Barriers to advancement for women in business careers aren’t always initially apparent.

However, for women in a developing economy such as Pakistan, that usually isn’t the problem. The problem is that the barriers are obvious, not opaque.

“In Pakistan, for women, particularly the business side is not considered a very appropriate job in the first place,” said Sara Jamil, an accounting and finance student at Lahore University of Management Sciences. “When it comes to females, parents always want their daughters to become doctors or at most engineers.

“My parents wanted me to be a doctor, but I was more interested in the business side, and it took like three to four months to get them somehow convinced,” she added. “Now, seeing me here at the Kelley School of Business, they are really happy and respect my choice.”

Jamil and five other women from Pakistan participating in the IU Kelley School’s Global Business Institute are thankful that universities in their home country are admitting women, and they are using that opportunity to its fullest. They made up more than half of the Pakistani delegation participating in the program, which is supported by The Coca-Cola Company, the U.S. State Department and Partners for a New Beginning.

They joined 30 other women from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Morocco and Tunisia who participated in the monthlong program. There were 94 students in all; no women from Afghanistan participated.

Even if they earn a business degree, only about half of female graduates of Pakistan programs are successful in finding jobs after graduation, which is why Jamil and other women value the international study experience that GBI offers. It will shine on their resumes.

“I’ve studied books at school. I know the theory. I got to apply the theory when I was interning,” said Danya Qureshi, of Karachi, Pakistan, a recent marketing and human resources graduate of the Institute of Business Administration. “What I liked (at Kelley) was the practical exposure of meeting people from different cultures and interacting with them.

“As the world is becoming a smaller place, you need to connect with everyone. Networking is the basic requirement for the growth of every individual,” she added. “I want to connect globally with everyone because I want my options to be open, not just in Pakistan, but in every part of the world. … This was one experience I needed at the head start of my career.”

Also creating opportunities for women in Pakistan has been the entry into the market of multinational companies that place a high value on employing them. Women in the GBI program have had internships at recognized Western firms such as KPMG, Ernst & Young and TRG.

Anisa Rasheed of Islamabad, an economics student at NUST Business School, acknowledges that progress still will require the support of men in her society.

“We are still dependent (on men). There is a huge percentage of females who are still dependent on their parents or on their husbands,” Rasheed said. “Even if they want to do a job or they want to do their own business, it’s very difficult for them because they don’t have enough support from their family. … There are so many talented women, but they get married.

“My parents are very supportive,” Rasheed said. “Obviously, all moms are alike. She wants me to get married, but my brother and my father are (telling her), ‘she will do what she wants to do.’”

But Qureshi and Warda Zahid, also an accounting and finance student at Lahore University of Management Sciences, exuded confidence.

“Things are really changing in Pakistan. We’re moving on from the conservative society that we were living in,” Zahid said, although she said greater opportunities remain limited for those women in lower levels of society. “We are the youth sitting here; we are the future.”

Students from Pakistan and Afghanistan

For the past month, 94 young people from eight countries across North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia have been learning the principles of entrepreneurship at IU’s Kelley School of Business and its Institute for International Business.

This week, they are traveling to Washington, D.C., and Atlanta before returning home.

The Global Business Institute program this summer was expanded to include 20 students in their early 20s from Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. media outlets usually report only on strife and armed conflict in those countries, coloring the perceptions and perspectives of everyday people on each side of the world.

I sat down for lunch with the Pakistani and Afghan students last week in the Wright Place Cafeteria, where a menu of pizza, cheese omelets and fried chicken enable them to maneuver the dietary challenges Muslims face with American dorm food. I listened as they waited patiently to talk about what they learned and liked about Bloomington and the United States. We discussed their projects, the economic challenges their nations face and the special challenges that women have in their societies (which I will address in another article).

They also poignantly told me about the simple things that mean a great deal and what they learned about themselves.

For example, many were awed by something most Hoosiers take for granted: the wonder of a southern Indiana thunderstorm. A year ago, when the first class of GBI students was at IU Bloomington, the region was in the midst of a drought and the unusually arid conditions in Indiana were familiar to many of them.

This year, rain has been a regular feature. While many Hoosiers have longed for more sun, many of the students in this year’s program cheered the heavy downpours and even took photos of themselves while getting drenched – because such rain storms are far less common back home.

Students welcomed the summer rains during a visit to Brown County

“We have huge snowfalls in Afghanistan,” said Farhat Amin, a business administration student at Bakhtar University in Kabul. A thunderstorm “was something very amazing to me. I even posted on Facebook that I am witnessing a very huge thunderstorm in Indiana.”

Several students told me they appreciated being able to walk alone on campus and the streets of Bloomington.

“You can really roam around the streets; it’s so secure,” said Sara Jamil, an accounting and finance student at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. “And the wonderful people, always smiling.”

The group toured facilities at Eli Lilly and Co. and a Coke bottling plant, as well as Cook Hall and Assembly Hall, hallowed home to IU basketball. They spent a day in Brown County, where one of the Afghan students took pictures with a southern Indiana biker and others in western gear.

They saw fireflies for the first time in their lives and marveled at the squirrels that sometimes seem to take over the campus.

While many students in the program have been studying business, most of them are majoring in other disciplines and hope to use what they learn at Kelley in developing businesses after they return home.

For example, Abdul Moiz Sohail and Muzammil Khalil, both engineering students at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan, are working on a project to convert biogas into usable energy and waste byproducts into fertilizer.

Amin, who will use what he has learned at Kelley for a project at Bakhtar University on corporate structure development, said the planned departure of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2014 already is having an impact on both foreign and domestic investment in his country.

He noted a lack of governmental support of the private sector and said a common economic development approach in the U.S. – industrial parks – could be seen as a solution. But concerns about security remain a deterrent.

Students toured Cook Hall, home to IU basketball, as well as Memorial Stadium.

Mustafa Waizy Ghulam, a computer science student at Herat University in Afghanistan, added that his country is lacking in professionals in many applied fields. Studying at Kelley, he said, has led to a new desire within him to pursue a MBA to address that need.

Some students, such as Javid Rasooly of Herat, Afghanistan, and Haseeb Ur Rehman of Kabul, have family businesses that are looking forward to the knowledge they’ll bring back.

“My father’s waiting for me,” said Ur Rehman, an economics student at Rabia Balkhi Institute of Higher Education. “He keeps asking me, ‘When are you coming back? You have to share your ideas with me.'”

Last summer, Shamsa Kanwal of Jhelum, Pakistan, a geographic information systems student at the National University of Science and Technology, joined classmates at an entrepreneurship competition. She said that highlighted for her what it took to “turn an idea into reality.”

While Kanwal said she has learned a great deal about business concepts, the most important lesson for her has been the value of a smile.

“They have helped me to make me a better person,” she said of her Kelley School instructors. “I’ve learned so many good things here. … The best thing I learned here is how to interact with people and how to make them realize that they are important to you – not only in terms of business but in terms of humanity.

“I have not been a smiling person in my life, and I have learned that when you see a person, make them realize that you notice their presence, that they are valuable and important, that when you look at them, you have a smile.”

Wiping away a tear, she said that lesson makes her very happy.

It also is something we all can continue to learn.

The GBI program is supported by The Coca-Cola Company, the U.S. State Department and Partners for a New Beginning. In all, the program also includes students from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Morocco and Tunisia.

Patrick O’Meara, right, with Nelson Mandela

This week, while many people around the world turned their thoughts to Nelson Mandela, the famed civil rights leader and former president of South Africa, I called someone at IU with a unique perspective: Patrick O’Meara.

A native of South Africa who came to IU in the 1960s, O’Meara earned his doctorate at IU and has been a political science professor as well as a dean and vice president. He also is a former director of IU’s renowned African Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2011.

Today, he chairs the Center for International Education and Development Assistance, which he helped establish at IU, and serves as a special adviser to the president.

O’Meara told me about his one and only meeting with Mandela, about three months after the then-deputy president of the African National Congress had been released from prison in February 1990. They met each other at lunch at a hotel in Kimberley, South Africa, following a rally attended by 25,000 followers.

“We chatted about various things, including Gwendolen Carter,” a former IU faculty member who authored the definitive history of the fight against apartheid, O’Meara said. “She was close to the Mandela family and actually I think helped to support the schooling of two of his daughters.”

Carter, who died a year later in 1991, co-authored several volumes of “From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa,” which drew upon ANC documents that she smuggled out of the country. She taught at IU from 1974 to 1984 and today remains known for helping to found African studies in the United States.

She and O’Meara also collaborated on several books published by IU Press about South Africa. O’Meara’s book with Phyllis M. Martin, “Africa,” remains an important introductory text for African studies courses.

Much of the discussion between the two men centered on Mandela’s trip to the U.S. planned for June 1990 and on O’Meara’s impressions of South Africa gathered from several weeks touring the country.

“We talked about academics, and I was pleased to see him, and he was quite humorous on various things,” O’Meara, then director of IU’s African Studies Program, said of his brief meeting with Mandela.

“It was very moving to meet him as a person,” O’Meara told the Herald-Times in 1990. “He struck me as a lively, interesting, strong personality. And it dawned on me the burdens on his shoulders.”

Since that May afternoon, O’Meara has attended other events with Mandela, particularly at the parliament, but they haven’t spoken to each other again. It would be another three years before Mandela would be elected his nation’s first black president.

IU’s South African activities have been integral to its broader African Studies Program, which gained recognition as a Title VI National Resource Center in 1965, a designation it continues to maintain today. The international journal Africa Today is edited by members of the department and published by IU Press.

The university has had several major commitments with South African institutions over the years. When many black South Africans were having difficulty getting accepted at leading universities, IU partnered with Khanya College, an NGO based in Johannesburg.

“For several years, Khanya was an important organization; it was part of trust, and it meant ‘education for liberation,'” O’Meara said. “The purpose was to help young black students who were very talented, but who had inferior sorts of high school education and were not able to get into the major universities.”

Under the program, students spent a year at various sites around South Africa taking six core educational courses designed at IU. IU faculty members, including those who traveled there to teach the courses, conducted all grading and reviews. The program largely took place during the 1990s.

“Once the transition took place, the universities were opened,” he said. “But the value of this was that the students, on completion of our courses, received an IU transcript and with that transcript were able to get admission to these major universities.”

Many alumni of the program today have been successful in life, including those who have become university professors, artists and government officials.

Today, IU professors continue to study South Africa’s history and culture, and engagement remains between Bloomington and South Africa. And hopefully in the near future, there will be even more.

Sir Peter Westmacott

Leaders of eight of the world’s wealthiest countries — more commonly known as G8 nations — began their meetings today in Northern Ireland with a trade announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The first round of negotiations for a trans-Atlantic trade agreement between the United States and the European Union will take place next month in Washington, Obama announced.

The agreement potentially could create millions of jobs and would be “the biggest bilateral trade deal in history,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Hoosiers will have an opportunity to hear more about the proposed deal Friday, when British Ambassador Sir Peter Westmacott will deliver a speech at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Westmacott also is expected to discuss other implications of the G8 summit and trade opportunities for Hoosier firms.

This will be his first visit to the Hoosier state and is part of a larger effort to forge further state ties with the United Kingdom. Support for his visit has come from IUPUI and Develop Indy.

You are welcome to attend Westmacott’s free presentation, “Brits and Hoosiers: Partners in Prosperity,” at 10 a.m. at IUPUI Hine Hall (formerly University Place Conference Center), 850 W. Michigan St.

Those unable to attend can follow live tweets about Westmacott’s speech; follow @IUPUI and the #globalIndy hashtag. The ambassador will be taking questions sent via Twitter.

Before becoming Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., Westmacott was ambassador to France and twice has held diplomatic posts in Turkey. From 1990 to 1993, he was deputy private secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales — Prince Charles. He also has been posted to Tehran, Iran, and the European Commission.

And as evidenced by his article in The Huffington Post, we have something in common: He’s a big fan of Downton Abbey.

Initially, students and faculty worked on projects for small companies and a not-for-profit enterprise in Peru. In 2011, the Kelley School expanded the program to include India and Ghana.

Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development

In a colorful new video, second-year MBA student Meghan Curran and other members of her student team tell their story from March of how they overcame challenges they encountered shortly after arriving at the base of the Himalayas in northern India near Dharamsala.

They were ready to execute their project for Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development, a career-counseling program that helps area youths identify job opportunities in their communities.

“Because young people in rural areas see no promising opportunities in their own communities, they migrate in droves to urban areas, in hopes of finding a more lucrative and sophisticated life, often finding themselves worse off than they were before,” Curran explained.

“Youths didn’t understand how to translate their interests into a meaningful career for their future, so our program included a self-discovery process to show teenagers how to look within themselves and to find a career that they’re really passionate about,” added Erin Faulk, a first-year MBA.

As the students narrate in the video, unfortunately they encountered something they did not expect — most of the young women they sought to reach were much younger than expected. As a result, changes to the plan became necessary, not only for the young girls but also for CORD’s workers who would carry the program forward.

“Overcoming obstacles like this are things you can’t teach in a classroom,” Curran noted.

Watch the team in action as they work to improve life for the people of rural northern India, while also building leadership skills for themselves.

AMPATH Agribusiness Manager Naman Nabyinda asks about the major obstacles to growth during last year’s farming season and teaches how to overcome them. (Photo by Deanna Allbrittin)

A dozen students from Indiana University’s School of Journalism are again in Kenya, reporting with guidance from their professor about the African continent’s continuing HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Since 2000, Jim Kelly, an associate professor of journalism, has organized reporting workshops in South Asia and Africa for working journalists covering social issues such as HIV/AIDS.

For the third time, Kelly took a class of IU students to Eldoret, Kenya, home to the IU-Kenya Partnership with Moi University. Students have begun publishing their reporting online at a website devoted to the project.

Students in the advanced reporting class arrived in Eldoret on May 21, after touring Nairobi the day before, including the National Museum and the Karen Blixon Estate (remember “Out of Africa?”).

Shortly after arriving in Eldoret, the IU students were paired with communications students from Moi University. The two-person reporting teams are spending two weeks collecting interviews, recording audio and video and taking photographs.

They are interviewing residents, medical professionals and agency leaders, including many involved with Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare, or AMPATH, a health care partnership between the medical schools at IU and Moi University.

AMPATH has treated 115,000 HIV-positive patients at 23 sites in urban and rural Kenya.

Irene Chebet, left, and Jackie Veling spent the day reporting in Turbo, where Veling says Chebet provided not only translation but also good journalistic advice. (Photo by Jackie Veling)

“Reporting about an epidemic of this scope was certainly new to the IU students,” Kelly told me in 2011, the last time IU students went to Kenya for the reporting project. “But much of what the students were seeing and learning was also quite surprising to the Kenyans. They are middle-class college students too. Few had much knowledge of AMPATH and few had any first-hand experience with the problems that afflict the poor here.

“Going into the slums was as eye-opening for them as for our students — and perhaps more stressful — since it is their country they are seeing, rather than some foreign land that they will soon depart.”

Eldoret, a city of 200,000 in western Kenya in the Rift Valley Province, is the fastest-growing city in Kenya and currently is the fifth largest in Kenya.

It was the scene of considerable violence after the 2007 national elections. In January 2008, a mob attacked and set fire to a church where hundreds of people had taken refuge from mob violence in the streets. As many as 40 people were burned to death.

Reporting on many stories is happening this week and students teams soon will translate, write and complete editing of their reports. On June 12, the IU students will say goodbye to their Moi University counterparts and then travel to Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha, where they’ll see the wildlife and take in what also is a breathtakingly beautiful country.

Stories already online include Deanna Allbrittin’s post about asking for directions, Jordan Dunmead’s column about the challenges of explaining what she is experiencing and Jessica Campbell’s article about the reliance on animals for food, wealth and work.

While in Kenya, the students also meet with media professionals at organizations such as Reuters and Associated Press, and with local Kenyan news media leaders.

For the first nine days of the course, students met daily in Bloomington to learn about the basic pathology of the human immunodeficiency virus; the history of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, with particular attention to sub-Saharan Africa; and the current programs and other efforts aimed at addressing the worldwide epidemic. They also learned about the culture of east Africa and about the media laws of Kenya.

While accuracy in reporting is something emphasized throughout an IU journalism student’s four-year collegiate career, Kelly told me his students had the extra pressure of knowing that they had to be absolutely accurate because “quite literally, lives hang in the balance.”

“Many HIV positive people have bravely spoken on the record about how they have struggled and been helped,” he said. “Many more want to tell their story but justifiably fear the stigma that is attached to anyone who is known to be HIV positive. Unlike a story about a baseball game or a feature about a community event in Bloomington, an error in reporting here on this topic can have serious, life-altering effects on the source.”

You can start reading their reports online and later in June all of their reporting will be available on the class’s home page.

President Michael McRobbie

Today, Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie kicked off a 15-day visit to East Asia with meetings Monday with South Korean higher education leaders and a reception for new students in Seoul, South Korea.

McRobbie signed a renewal agreement between IU and Ewha Womans University, one of Korea’s top research universities as recognized by Leiden University’s prestigious evaluation index.

The agreement extends the relationship between the IU Maurer School of Law and Ewha Womans University, a collaboration that allows up to five Ewha law students each year to matriculate in the Maurer School’s two-semester LL.M. program.

IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret and IU first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie are joining McRobbie on the trip and also will be presenters at a special gathering for incoming IU students from Korea as well as alumni.

Students from South Korea accounted for more than a 10th of IU’s international enrollment this past year.

The IU delegation also is visiting China – including Hong Kong – and Taiwan. Reports as the trip progresses will be available at a new website, Global Engagement and Partnerships, as well as its blog.

I suggest that you bookmark the site and go back to it often over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here is a video from President McRobbie, explaining the big picture.

A recent view of Hodge Hall from 10th Street

It hardly seems like it has been a year since work began on Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center, a $60 million expansion and renovation of the original building that housed Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

The new and renovated facilities will enable program innovations that will elevate the role the Kelley School plays in the economic vitality of the state and will further advance its presence among the world’s elite business schools.

Back in March of 2012, the building at the corner of Fee Lane and 10th Street was renamed in honor of alumnus James R. Hodge, president of Permal Asset Management in New York and a native of Marion, Ind. A year ago this week, construction formally began.

Jeni Donlon, communications manager at the Kelley School, began then to chronicle the construction progress at the school’s blog. She’s had a bird’s eye view from her desk on the second floor of the Godfrey Executive Education Center. Nathan Morrison, the construction overseer, has filled in some of the details.

“This week we’ve been working to the machine-gun sounds of jack hammers and the ‘beep, beep, beep’ of large construction equipment backing up. What happens out there reverberates in here. We’ve gotten so used to it that we only notice when it stops,” she wrote last May 18, during the first week of construction.

Over the last 12 months, Donlon has written about every aspect of the project, including how many of the trees that surrounded the building will be reused, the movement of water lines, the installation of new fiber-optics and a lot of dirt going elsewhere.

She’s introduced her followers to Bloomington excavation contractor Buck Reed, an avid fisherman who survived last summer’s 100-degree heat at the controls of a jackhammer.

An architectural rendering of the building once it is completed

“He says it’s like any other job with some kind of strain — you get used to it,” she wrote on July 20. “He can’t imagine that sitting at a computer for eight hours every day wouldn’t hurt a person’s eyes or give them a headache, something he’s thankful he doesn’t get on the job.

“But he says he’ll never quite get used to the 100-degree heat. After work, he likes to be inside in the air conditioning, doing nothing.”

The first footings for the new section of the building went up in early October and new steel framework followed in November.

In December, there was another milestone. “The first load of ductwork arrived for the south side of the building. This is beginning to get real,” Donlon wrote, before taking a much-deserved holiday break.

After Christmas, the new section of the building began really taking shape. Masonry went up on parts of the exterior in April. In her blog this week, Donlon takes us for a tour inside.

It’s not the only thing that Donlon writes about in her blog – she reports on many other stories coming out of the Kelley School, including faculty honors and student successes in competitions.

But I like the interesting details she shares about the project, such as how many tons of steel are being used – the same amount as what seven adult blue whales or 680 Volkswagen Beetles would weigh (see her post on Jan. 11). 880,000 pounds of limestone were removed from the building’s original exterior and will be recycled as crushed stone (see Feb. 1).

No tax dollars or tuition funds are being used for the Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center expansion. The project is being funded through generous gifts from alumni, including Hodge, who provided $15 million, as well as a $33 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.

Kelley has the largest number of living alumni in the world of any business school at nearly 100,000. Of those, more than 25,000 live in Indiana.

By the fall of 2014, the project should be complete and students – including those patient underclassmen today – will benefit from an outstanding new learning environment.

Idalene “Idie” Kesner

In 1984, the term “glass ceiling” was first used to define how women seemingly with a clear path to promotion seemed to hit a point where they were unable to progress to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder.

Of course, gender discrimination had existed for centuries, but the term resonated when discussing the problem in the business world. The issue recently has taken on new interest with the publication of “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead,” by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Sandberg’s book and web site examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled and offers her solutions for empowering women to achieve their potential.

There has been progress. For example, within the last several years, many women have become deans at business schools across the country. On Thursday, Indiana University announced that Idalene “Idie” Kesner will become the first women to lead its Kelley School of Business in its nearly 100-year history.

She joins just two other women as deans at the top 15 MBA programs in the country, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine. Interestingly, they also are deans at other Big Ten universities.

Eight of the business schools at the Big Ten conference’s 14 universities – let’s not talk about the math, please – are led by women, which arguably makes it the most progressive conference as well.

“I hope that it serves women who might be looking at our program to know that the leadership of the school is in the hands of a businesswoman,” she told the Bloomington Herald-Times Thursday. “I think the great news is, if you look across recent appointments of business school deans, you’ll find a fair number of women.”

Nationally, about 18 percent of schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business have women as deans.

And Kesner’s appointment was made after a national search by another woman, IU Provost Lauren Robel, who in 2012 succeeded another woman, Karen Hanson, now the provost at her alma mater, the University of Minnesota.

Kesner, who was Kelley’s interim dean since last October, also is an example of how IU often promotes excellence from within. She earned both her MBA and Ph.D. in business administration from IU.

After returning to IU and Kelley School in 1995, she directed the school’s Consulting Academy from 1996 to 2003; chaired the Full-Time MBA Program from 2003 to 2006; chaired the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship from 2006 to 2009; and served as associate dean of faculty and research since then.

Recent research from the AACSB points to a challenge for Kesner and her peers across the country. While the association found that female enrollment in MBA programs at schools led by female deans was higher than those run by men, progress is need nationally at undergraduate business programs.

“Encouraging females to pursue business education and leadership positions has been an important agenda item for many schools, as well as other various educational institutions and associations,” said the AACSB’s Hanna Drozdowski. “More work needs to be done in this space, but I do predict that in the next five years our data will show more equal representations among females and males.”

At Kelley, female enrollment in the MBA program grew under previous dean Dan Smith from 26 percent for the class of 2010 to 32 percent for this year’s graduating class. More than a third – 35 percent — of the 1,418 undergraduates in Kelley’s class of 2013 were women, up from 31 percent five years ago.

Back in March, the Financial Times interviewed Kesner for a profile and asked her how she deals with male-dominated environments.

“My advice in dealing with male-dominated environments is the same as the advice I would give to women in business: be yourself. Rather than copying how others around you manage, use the style and approach that is right for you. Having said this, I believe there are still differences in the way men and women lead and manage,” Kesner told the newspaper. “In general, I think women are better at sensing things, whether this is through body language, tone or message content. Nevertheless, I am convinced that some of the more commonly cited male-female differences of the past, in areas such as negotiation, communication and even creative thinking, have dissipated.”

“With more women in senior leadership positions, the observations that at one time were attributed to gender differences are recognized more often as personality and stylistic differences and business training in today’s schools is doing a better job of helping both male and female students fill gaps and build well-rounded leadership styles.”

Appropriately, Kelley’s tagline is “One School: Endless Possibilities.” Congratulations again, Idie.

Indiana’s life sciences industry has a $50 billion total impact on the state’s economy.

Nearly a decade ago, Indiana’s business leaders identified the state’s health care and life science industries as a foundation for further economic growth.

An organization, BioCrossroads, was established to serve as a catalyst and today provides funding and other support for this purpose, along with that from state government.

Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business likewise stepped up by creating resources that included workshops, online tools, a certificate program and classes, and research support.

The Indiana LifeSC Initiative, formed in 2005, eventually led to the formation of the Center for the Business of the Life Sciences three years later.

One of the center’s most visible activities today is its Indiana Life Sciences Collaboration Series, which will conclude for the 2012-13 academic year with a conference this Friday in Indianapolis featuring Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann as the keynote speaker.

This conference, which will begin at 10 a.m. at the J.W. Marriott, 10 S. West St., will focus on turning research being done at IU, Purdue and other state universities into business ventures. It is being held in conjunction with the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Power Breakfast Series, which begins at 8 a.m. Registration for both events is still available.

Earlier this year, the Kelley School in Indianapolis launched the Business of Medicine MBA to prepare practicing physicians nationwide to assume unprecedented management roles.

A new report from the Kelley School’s Indiana Business Research Center suggests that all of these strategies remain vitally important.

“The life sciences are significantly pulling up Indiana’s personal income and Hoosiers should be grateful that this state is blessed with such a presence,” Timothy Slaper, IBRC director of economic analysis, writes frankly in the publication InContext.

Timothy Slaper

Indiana’s per capita personal income ranked 40th in the country (not including the District of Columbia) in 2011, and the degree to which it lags the national average continues to widen.

But it could have been worse. Without the life sciences, Indiana would have dropped further to 42nd in the country.

“That’s a profound shift considering that the two life science proxy industries make up only 1.1 percent of the nation’s compensation,” Slaper noted.

“If we look at just the wages and salaries portion of personal income, Indiana’s drop in the rankings is even more profound. Indiana’s per capita wages and salaries ranks 35th — showing that the state is highly dependent on labor income rather than transfer payments, returns to capital or intellectual property compared to other states,” he added. “Pull out the life science proxy industries and Indiana’s rank falls to 41st.”

The most telling statistic, Slaper said, is the difference in per capita personal income if life sciences employers are removed. Personal income per person would drop by $1,124 and would be the second largest absolute descent nationally behind New Jersey.

Now we aren’t trying to “dis” New Jersey, but in terms of percentage, Indiana’s drop would be greater at 3.1 percent compared to just 2.5 percent for the Garden State, which is home to Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Wyeth and Schering-Plough.

“It should be noted that New Jersey also has a massive chemical industry presence that contributes mightily to their PCPI. New Jersey has almost twice the number of production workers in the chemical industry than Indiana and 2.6 times the number of non-production workers,” he wrote. “Those non-production workers earn, on average, the highest salary for that industry in the nation, almost $117,000 per annum compared to Indiana’s $85,400.”

Indiana’s average production worker annual wage exceeds New Jersey by more than $3,000 a year.

Another report earlier this year, produced by the IBRC for BioCrossroads, found that Indiana’s life sciences industry has a $50 billion total impact on the state’s economy.

The latest issue of InContext also has reports about the Great Recession’s impact on frictional unemployment — the time period between jobs when a worker is moving from one job to another — and the labor market, and about Indiana’s changing black population.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie, left, and IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel, right, listen and reflect on comments given by Sen. Dan Coats

On Monday, they brought out the shiny shovels that are only used at symbolic groundbreaking ceremonies. In a couple of weeks, the more worn construction equipment will be used in earnest to begin work on the new home of the School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington.

Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Dan Coats both offered congratulatory remarks both about the new school and about IU’s attracting two renowned former congressmen – Sen. Richard Lugar and Rep. Lee Hamilton – to its faculty.

Coats gave the keynote address in person and Biden was here in spirit via video. There were other speakers and Middle Eastern ensemble Salaam provided a soulful musical interlude, playing an Iraqi classical maqam.

IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel used whimsical images of the Sample Gates placed in front of iconic locales such as the Taj Mahal, the Kremlin, the Eiffel Tower and the United Nations to provide a metaphor for how the new school will serve as a global gateway to the campus.

“The metaphor behind these images is a simple but powerful one – that students who walk through Sample Gates have before them opportunities that extend to the entire world,” Robel said.

“This school, drawing as it does, on the high impact and deep expertise and resources from across our entire campus, is a portal to the world and it’s also an important portal for the world, to access the critical area studies, languages and policy expertise that the core and affiliated faculty in this school represent,” she continued.

While much of what was said focused on IU’s existing resources – including 11 federally funded area studies centers and more language programs than any other American university – speakers also spoke about challenges worldwide, now and in the future.

“At a point where our country is at a critical need of a global perspective, where in an instant we may need to be able to provide depth and nuance and knowledge about a region like Dagestan, or an emerging security threat in a remote part of the world, Indiana University has marshaled its resources to be that voice,” Robel said.

While IU has always been actively engaged in international affairs, foreign cultures and language education, Coats said the new school, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, “will cement its place atop the pinnacle of international studies institutions in America.”

“Globalization has been around since the ancient trade routes in the pre-Christian world and has grown steadily for centuries. But the enormous growth in global connectivity in our era is a result of modern transportation and communications,” Coats said.

“Among the results is the incredible rise of China as an economic powerhouse. Since China opened its doors to global trade, it has nearly doubled the available global labor supply, with all the results we see for labor costs, wages, unemployment and social consequences around the world. How appropriate — even essential — it is, that IU has a flagship National Language Resource Center in Chinese.”

Like Coats and Robel, Biden said world events highlight why international studies is becoming “more and more consequential every single day.”

“As you all know, right now we live in a fundamentally different world than we did even 20 years ago. Today there are stateless actors wielding incredible power, even with very few resources. Technology is transforming security and international relations. And new challenges emerge every single day, from the Middle East to Africa, from South America to Asia,” Biden said.

“There’s a line from one of my favorite poets, William Butler Yeats, in a poem titled ‘Easter, 1916.’ In the line, he’s describing his Ireland in 1916, but quite frankly, it better describes the state of the world today in my view. The line goes like this, he says, ‘All’s changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty has been born.’

“All has changed, and it’s still changing,” Biden said.

“Schools like the one you’re inaugurating today are going to be needed in order for us to be able to keep up,” Biden said.

A complete video of the groundbreaking ceremony is available at www.broadcast.iu.edu. There, you also will find links to videos of speakers who came to campus for the Global Perspectives Series – an initiative of the new school.

Curtis L. Wesley II

When a dishonest executive fraudulently reports his or her company’s earnings, the deception is often hidden behind competitive compensation practices and complex systems — either the finances or the product itself is difficult to understand and thereby difficult to monitor.

In an upcoming paper, Curtis L. Wesley II, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Kelley School of Business, examines how complex information controls affect financial reporting fraud.

“There’s a link between diversifying your company to increase profits and having a company that is so complex that there is less oversight,” said Wesley. “When there is information asymmetry — one manager knows more than anyone else — stakeholders are reliant upon that manager to be honest. The more complex the organization, the more likely bad information can be fraudulently reported.”

This concept is explored in a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Management titled “Providing CEOs with Cheating Opportunities: The Effects of Complexity-Based Information Asymmetries on Financial Reporting Fraud,” written by Wesley and co-authors Hermann A. Ndofor of Texas A&M University and Richard L. Priem of Texas Christian University. Studying reports from the Government Accountability Office, researchers compared companies suspected of fraudulent activity against others who had no such claims to see if complexity of the business or executive compensation were common factors.

“These executives are motivated by compensation practices to manage their numbers, and they’re able to manage their numbers because nobody knows what’s in the black box, except for the people reporting those numbers,” explained Wesley. “The other problem is that these firms are operating in complex industries with more risk and that risk is attractive because investors think the reward is going to be greater, even if they don’t know how that company is operating behind c