February 2, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — DePauw University will reopen Thursday after being forced to cancel classes for two days because of the winter storm that ravaged Indiana and much of the Midwest.  The University will open at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, February 3, with classes resuming at 10 a.m. (Classes that begin and end before 10 a.m. are cancelled; labs that begin at 9:40 will begin at 10 o'clock, unless cancelled by the instructor).

The delayed opening will allow crews ample time to ensure that sidewalks and parking lots and clear of ice and snow.  Faculty and staff should refrain from parking in University lots prior to 9 a.m. 

"Lots are still very ice covered and everyone should use extreme caution while walking in these areas," says emergency management director Doug Cox. "Facilities oersonnel have begun working on lots and will resume early tomorrow morning.  We strongly urge students not to use their vehicles to travel on campus.  Many walkways are still ice covered, and everyone should wear shoes with good traction."

Power has been restored to all campus living units that have reported outages.

February 3, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "Historian John Dittmer, whose 1994 book Local People chronicles Mississippi's civil rights struggles, told the AP that the Citizens Council was 'really a vicious organization' that helped enforce segregation by publishing lists of black people who sought to integrate schools and by pressuring whites to maintain the status quo."  Dittmer, professor emeritus of history at DePauw University, is quoted in an Associated Press article that examines the record of Mississippi governor and possible presidential contender Haley Barbour, who called the Citizens Council "an organization of town leaders" in a recent interview.

"Mississippi at that time was a police state, and the Citizens Council was the major cop," Dr. Dittmer tells AP.

The piece begins by noting that "Barbour's folksy style, savvy leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and success as a GOP strategist have made the two-term Mississippi governor a serious contender early in the wide-open contest for the Republican presidential nomination. Yet the 63-year-old has shown a penchant for airbrushing his state's segregationist past, a period he's inclined to describe as more like Mayberry than Mississippi Burning."

Read the complete article here.

John Dittmer received the Bancroft Prize, generally considered the most prestigious award in the field of American history writing, for Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi. He also authored The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care.

The professor delivered the principal address to DePauw's Class of 2009 at the University's 170th commencement and received an honorary doctoral degree. A summary of his remarks and an MP3 file of the complete speech can be accessed in this report.

February 3, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Thomas Cooley, a tenor and 1991 graduate of DePauw University, will perform Berlioz's Requiem (Grande Messe des Morts), Sunday, February 13, at New York City's Carnegie Hall.  The 3 p.m program in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage will feature Cooley, the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus, the National High School Festival Chorus and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the direction of conductor Robert Spano.

The program, presented by the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, is part of a six-day-long commemoration of twenty years of the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop.

Read more here.

On February 18 & 19, Cooley will perform Joseph Haydn's The Creation with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Douglas Boyd.  You'll find additional details at the ISO's website.

Praised as a "superb tenor" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Cooley has performed recently with the Atlanta Symphony, National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Baltimore Symphony.  Last spring, he appeared in a new production of Handel's opera, Tamerlano, at the Göttingen Handel Festival in Germany.   The tenor's performances on compact disc releases include the title role in Handel's Samson with conductor Nicholas McGegan; Mozart's Mass in C minor with Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston; and Schubert's Mass in A flat with the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Windsbacher Knabenchor. He performed a recital at his alma mater in 2006. (above: Cooley with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg)

February 3, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Brian W. Casey, DePauw University's nineteenth president, will present the commencement address at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis this spring.  The event will take place on Friday, June 3, at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.

"Dr. Casey was named DePauw's 19th president in 2008," today's announcement from Park Tudor notes. "Previously, he served as associate dean for academic affairs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and as assistant provost at Brown University, where he was charged with academic planning across the arts and sciences. As an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, he earned a B.A. in philosophy and economics, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated summa cum laude, receiving the Economics Award for his class. Casey was also captain of Notre Dame's varsity swim team and was the University's "Scholar-Athlete of the Year" in 1985. He went on to earn his J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1988, graduating with honors. He was a member and article editor of the Stanford Law Review. After pursuing a career in law, he earned his Ph.D. in the history of American civilization from Harvard University. His field of specialization was the history of American higher education and American intellectual history."
 
According to Doug Jennings, head of school, "Park Tudor has enjoyed a strong relationship with DePauw for a very long time. Our students who matriculate at DePauw find excellent teaching, a closely knit community and an emphasis on service. We look forward to hearing Dr. Casey address the PT Class of 2011."

President Casey is scheduled to visit Park Tudor tomorrow to meet with Upper School students and their parents.

Park Tudor is an independent school for children age 3 through grade 12 with a 100% college placement rate.  Learn more here.

In October 2010, Brian Casey received the University of Notre Dame's Harvey G. Foster Award for his distinguished involvement in civic and university initiatives.

February 3, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — In the preseason Division III poll by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, "Linfield College collected seven of eight possible first-place votes, had 199 points in the poll and will begin the year as the No. 1 team in the nation," notes a story by WBOC in Salisbury, Maryland. "Eastern Connecticut State University (172 points), Louisiana (171), DePauw University (158) and Luther College (146) round out the top five."

Access the item at the television station's website.

The Tiger softball team, coached by Bonnie Skrenta, opens its season March 5 in Maryville, Tennessee versus LaGrange.  Learn more at the team's official online page.

February 4, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Chris Stedman, Interfaith and Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University, will come to DePauw University next Thursday, February 10, to deliver a lecture of the Center for Spiritual Life.  Stedman will discuss "Faitheist: How One Atheist Learned to Stop Hating Religion, and Why Atheists and the Religious Must Work Together." The program will take place in the Center for Contemporary Media, Watson Forum, at 7:30 p.m., and is free and open to the public.

In addition to his role at Harvard, Stedman is managing director of State of Formation, a new initiative at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. He is also the founder of the blog NonProphet Status, a columnist for the Huffington Post, and the youngest member of the panel of contributors to the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog.

Previously a content developer and adjunct trainer for the Interfaith Youth Core, Stedman is a secular humanist working to foster positive and productive dialogue between faith communities and the nonreligious.

He received an M.A. in religion from Meadville Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago, where he was awarded the Billings Prize for Most Outstanding Scholastic Achievement. Stedman received his B.A. in religion from Augsburg College.

February 5, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "The state is planning a ceremony next week to mark the 100th anniversary of late President Ronald Reagan's birth," notes an Associated Press report. "The Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration is scheduled for Feb. 10 at the Indiana Statehouse. Gov. Mitch Daniels and former Congressman Lee Hamilton will talk about their personal memories of President Reagan, who was born Feb. 6, 1911."

Read more at the website of the Columbus Republic.

Lee H. Hamilton, a 1952 graduate of DePauw University, is a Democrat who served 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and later co-chaired the 9/11 Commission and Iraq Study Group.  He is now director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University.

Access a recent op-ed column by Hamilton via this article. (at right: retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Lee Hamilton on the set of a public service announcement last year)

In a 2007 interview, Hamilton stated, "I had an undergraduate experience at DePauw University that certainly opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities." Learn more in this story.

February 6, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — David Wann, a 1971 graduate of DePauw University, will discuss and sign his new book, The New Normal: An Agenda for Responsible Living, at an event in Denver, Colorado this week.  Wann will appear Thursday, February 10, at Tattered Cover Book Store, 1628 16th St., as part of the Rocky Mountain Land Series.

In The New Normal, which was published last month by St. Martin's Griffin, Wann "challenges us to do some heavy lifting and transform our non-sustainable culture by transforming ourselves," notes an announcement. 

Read more by clicking here.

Dave Wann's Wann's other books include Simple Prosperity; Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic and Reinventing Community.  You're invited to visit the author's Web page.

February 6, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma will be special guest at 'DePauw Discourse 2011: Empowering Society Through the Arts' on Sept. 29 and 30," notes today's Indianapolis Star.  Jay Harvey writes, "Ma, the Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is a multiple Grammy Award winner and creator of the Silk Road Project, which since 1998 has promoted the study of cultural traditions along the historical Silk Road trade route from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. At DePauw, he will perform, lead a discussion and conduct a master class with DePauw School of Music students."

Read more at IndyStar.com.

Yo-Yo Ma's upcoming visit to DePauw University was first reported here on January 28.  It's also the subject of a recent article in Greencastle's Banner Graphic.

February 6, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — A New York Times story previewing an upcoming performance of Hector Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts ("High Mass for the Dead") as part of the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop at Carnegie Hall states, "Robert Spano, a successor once removed of Shaw as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, will conduct, and Norman Mackenzie, Shaw’s immediate successor as director of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, will oversee the workshop, aided by members of the orchestra’s chamber chorus. The festival chorus will be joined by the National High School Festival Chorus and Thomas Cooley, as tenor soloist."

Cooley is a 1991 graduate of DePauw University. The performance of the Requiem on Sunday, February 13, will also feature the Orchestra of St. Luke's.

James R. Oestreich writes, "This is the second time the work has been presented in Carnegie’s annual choral festival, founded in 1991 by the choral wizard Robert Shaw; Mr. Shaw conducted the first performance, in 1993."

Read the full piece -- headlined "A Requiem So Big That Performing It Takes a Multitude" -- at the Times' website.

Learn more about the upcoming program and Thomas Cooley in this article.

February 7, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — In an item published in yesterday's Indianapolis Star, Duane S. Nickell, a physics teacher at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis and 1980 graduate of DePauw University, notes that two recent surveys have gauged attitudes toward public education in Indiana.  One of the polls was commissioned by the Foundation for Educational Choice, which advocates for school vouchers, and found that people are dissatisfied with the state of education and favor charter schools.  The other poll, by the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University, determined that 79% of Indiana residents are either very or somewhat satisfied with public schools.

"Ultimately, the debate about school reform comes down to the question: Whom do you believe?," Nickell writes. "Do you believe a poll commissioned by an advocacy group or a poll done by a state university? Do you believe a movie (Waiting for Superman) or a book written by a highly respected education scholar (Diane Ravitch’s The Death and Life of the Great American School System)? Do you believe [Indiana Governor] Mitch Daniels and [State School Superintendent] Tony Bennett or the many letters from classroom teachers that have appeared on the Star’s editorial pages?"

Read more at IndyStar.com.

Dr. Nickell authored the book, Guidebook for the Scientific Traveler: Visiting Astronomy and Space Exploration Sites Across America. Learn more about him in this previous story.

February 7, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Cheryl A. Gonzalez, a 1999 graduate of DePauw University, has joined Baker & Daniels LLP. With a specialty in environmental law, she will practice as an associate attorney in the law firm's downtown Indianapolis office.

Gonzalez previously served as legal counsel for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. She provided legal guidance to the Office of Air Quality's permitting, compliance and monitoring branches. Gonzalez also assisted in representing IDEM before Indiana's Office of Environmental Adjudication, including appearing before OEA and in settlement meetings, drafting and reviewing briefs.

Prior to working at IDEM, Gonzalez spent almost four years as a law firm associate attorney in the environmental industry, counseling clients in enforcement actions, appeals and permitting matters involving air and water law. She worked with several Fortune 500 companies in an advisory role and on litigation matters.

As an undergraduate at DePauw, where she majored in psychology, Gonzalez interned with the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. through the Global/Regional Atmospheric Program. She graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2004.

To learn more, visit Baker & Daniels online.

February 8, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Two DePauw University graduates -- Jenny Vance '00 and Nichole Wilson '99 -- are among the Indianapolis Business Journal's "Forty Under 40" for 2011. "From hundreds of candidates, IBJ has chosen 40 budding superstars who log more than the typical share of e-mails, blog posts, Facebook 'Likes' and late-night business calls," according to the paper. "We asked each of these high-achievers to sit for video interviews and reveal their goals, challenges and how the prospect of 24-hour availability has affected their lives, for better or worse." (at left: Jenny Vance; below left: Nichole Wilson)

"Jenny Vance started LeadJen in 2004 to provide sales leads and prospecting support to business-to-business sales and marketing executives," write Marc and Martha Allan. "Today, it's a multimillion-dollar lead-generation services company serving more than 200 clients in the United States, Europe and Australia," notes the IBJ summary, which states that Vance "honed her entrepreneurial instincts at DePauw University."

"Our real focus as a business is helping our clients get value out of every single prospecting call," says Vance, who was a Management Fellow at DePauw. "In many cases, we hope that’s an appointment for our clients to go in and sell their solutions, but even if it's not, our mind-set is, ‘What can we learn and share back with our clients’ that will help them understand their market, their strategy in those markets, and optimize our efforts with those clients?"

The publication adds, "LeadJen's service is catching on with the high-technology industry it serves; in 2010, LeadJen tripled its growth, expanding from 20 employees to 60."

The profile of Nichole (Nicholson) Wilson, director of rehabilitation and sports medicine  for Community Health Network in Indianapolis, points out that "she is responsible for business development, growth and operation of 11 outpatient clinics for physical-, occupational-, speech- and massage therapy-services in the Indianapolis metro area.
Her work involves frequent travel to the north, east and south sides of town to visit the Rehab & Sports Medicine Centers, four or five of which have opened under her watch ... Wilson came to work at Community Health Network in 2005 as a physical therapist while working on her clinical doctorate from the University of Indianapolis. She did her undergraduate work at DePauw University, majoring in sports medicine."

Wilson tells the Journal, "One of the reasons I got into physical therapy is I like the ability to help people return to what makes them happy. Even though I [no longer] work directly with patients, I feel a lot of what I do is still for patients."

Read more here.

Also available are this October 2010 Indianapolis Star feature on Wilson and a 2007 article on Vance.

February 8, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "'I’d heard that most of the people working for Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center had survived, and that there was this one man who had led people out,' James B. Stewart said at a press briefing for Heart of a Soldier, an opera that has its world premiere on Sept. 10, 2011, at the San Francisco Opera," reports Bloomberg News. "The Pulitzer Prize winner, who wrote Den of Thieves about the downfall of Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken, joined the opera's creative team yesterday at the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park in New York," writes Amanda Gordon.

The piece adds, "Thomas Hampson is cast as Rick Rescorla, the head of security at the investment bank, who died as he evacuated employees on the morning of Sept. 11. The story focuses on his friendship with Daniel J. Hill, whom he met in Rhodesia and fought with in Vietnam, and on his marriage to Susan, for whom he loved to write poetry."

The opera is based on Stewart's best-selling 2002 book, Heart of a Soldier: A Story of Love, Heroism, and September 11th.

Read the complete article by clicking here.

A member of DePauw's Board of Trustees and former chair of the group, James B. Stewart received a Pulitzer Prize for Wall Street Journal articles on the 1987 stock market crash and the insider-trading scandal. His other books include DisneyWar: The Battle for the Magic Kingdom and Blind Eye. In 2006, he won the Loeb Award, the highest honor in business journalism.

Learn more about Heart of a Soldier in this recent story.

February 9, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — The lineup for the Tri-C JazzFest in Cleveland includes Pharez Whitted, a 1982 graduate of DePauw University. The Chicago-based trumpeter will perform with four other musicians in a "Thunder from the Heartland" concert. It will take place on Tuesday, May 3, at PlayhouseSquare's Hermit Club.

Learn more at the website of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Whitted, an assistant professor of music at Chicago State University, has collaborated with Bradford Marsalis, George Duke, John Mellencamp, Lou Rawls, The O'Jays, The Dells, and the Temptations. He's also performed on TV's Arsenio Hall Show, and has been featured on the Billboard Music Awards, MTV and BET. As a solo artist he has released three compact discs, including 2010's Transient Journey.

You'll find additional information in this previous story.

February 9, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Andrew B. Sandler, a 1977 graduate of DePauw University, has been appointed executive director and chief executive officer of Abe's Garden. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Abe's Garden is a non-profit organization that seeks to establish a national model of residential living and daycare programs for those suffering with Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Sandler comes to his new post from Weinberg Community for Senior Living in Deerfield, Illinois, where he was assisted living director.  He also served for eight years as administrator of Maison Hospitaliere, a skilled nursing facility in New Orleans.  Sandler has also served as a medical reviewer for Paradym Professional Systems and Columbia Lakeview Hospital in Covington, Louisiana, and managed The Westonian, an assisted living facility in Weston, Massachusetts, and Glen Ridge Nursing Care Center in Malden, Mass.

"From experience as director of an Alzheimer's program to an understanding of fiscal management and his practice as a therapist, Andrew embodies the skills needed to make Abe's Garden a national model of care for those affected by Alzheimer's and dementia throughout the country," states chairman of the board Michael D. Shmerling.

A psychology major at DePauw, Sandler went on to earn a Master of Health Administration from Tulane University, a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of New Orleans, and a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Farleigh Dickinson University. He has written numerous journal articles for publications including Advances in Special Education, the Journal of Behavioral Education and the American Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Read more here.

February 10, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Linda Heuring, a 1976 graduate of DePauw University, has won second place in the Writers' Workshop of Asheville, North Carolina's 2010 Fiction Contest.  Heuring was honored for "Tears of Strangers," an excerpt from her unpublished novel Shape of a Heart.

The Writers' Workshop was established in 1985 to promote writers and writing through a diverse program of literary events. As the only non-profit literary center in Western North Carolina, the workshop serves readers and writers of all backgrounds, serving more than 21,000 adults, teens and children in workshops, seminars, readings, contests and retreats over the years.

Members of the Workshop advisory board are E.L. Doctorow, John Ehle, Helen Henslee, John le Carre, and Peter Matthiessen. Past board members include Kurt Vonnegut, Alex Haley, Eudora Welty and Reynolds Price.

Learn more about Linda Heuring in this previous story.

February 10, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "Nic Pizzolatto's debut novel, Galveston, is a gritty, noirish literary thriller that beats a dark path from New Orleans to the beaches of South Texas, following a hardened criminal who walks away from a shakedown with an unwanted souvenir in the form of a young prostitute who witnessed the event," notes an announcement that the book is one of three fiction titles named finalists in the 2010 Discover Great New Writers Awards.  The program, presented by Barnes & Noble, gives first-place winners a $10,000 prize and a full year of additional promotion from the book chain. Second-place finalists receive $5,000, and third-place finalists receive $2,500.

Winners will be announced March 2. Established in 1990, the awards honor the best works featured the previous calendar year in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program.

Pizzolatto is an assistant professor of English at DePauw.  He has taken a leave from his teaching position to develop a screenplay based on his novel and is also working on projects for AMC and HBO.

Learn more about Professor Pizzolatto in this previous article.

Rebecca Skloot, who came to DePauw in September 2010 to present a Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture, is one of three finalists in the non-fiction category for her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (at right: DePauw President Brian W. Casey talks with Skloot at the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics)

"A science writer, Rebecca Skloot is always on the hunt for a good story," states Barnes & Noble's announcement. "She found it in the person of Henrietta Lacks, the woman from whom the first HeLa cells were harvested (without her knowledge); and in her pursuit of the full story behind this astonishing fact, Skloot spent a decade to fashion, with considerable skill, her debut, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks."

Learn more by clicking here.

February 11, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — An upcoming book by Harlan Steinbaum, Tough Calls From the Corner Office, includes interviews with 39 business leaders who describe "a memorable, career-defining decision," notes a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Among the contributors is Bill Rasmussen, a 1954 graduate of DePauw University. The book points out that Rasmussen "helped start ESPN by putting a $9,000 cash advance on his credit card."

Access the article at the newspaper's website.

Rasmussen co-founded ESPN in 1979 with his son, Scott, a 1986 DePauw graduate.  Bill Rasmussen has been called "the father of cable sports" by USA Today and "the George Washington of ESPN" by anchor Chris Berman. He was recognized in 1994 by Sports Illustrated as one of 40 individuals who had the greatest impact on the world of sports over the previous 40 years.

He is among the 2011 class of "The Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business."  The award, presented by SportsBusiness Journal/Sports Business Daily, recognizes "the architects and builders of sports." Details can be found in this recent story.

February 11, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. —"There are a number of epidemics floating around Officeville right now: seasonal affectation disorder, snow fatigue and holiday deprivation (the lack of holidays this time of year)," begins a CNBC.com article. "It’s a perfect storm for another workplace epidemic: abuse of the company’s sick-day policy."  The piece quotes Steve Langerud, director of professional opportunities at DePauw University and veteran workplace consultant.

One problem, according to the article, is office martyrs -- people who don't call in sick even when they should. "They try and gut it out when they don’t feel well and by the time they feel better, they are too tired and grumpy to come to work," Langerud says. "So they both spend more time away and are less productive when they are at work and sick." He adds, "We do take a perverse pride in being miserable, working through illness and, in the end, being less productive than if we’d just stayed home."

The complete text by Cindy Perman, "Are You Calling In Sick Too Much?", can be accessed here.

Steve Langerud has helped more than 15,000 people with workplace issues and is regularly quoted in articles on the job market and career development. Recent pieces have included a Christian Science Monitor look at a new jobs website and an article in the Philadelphia Daily News .

Visit DePauw's Office of Civic, Global and Professional Opportunities here.