February 11, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "A private Northside high school is hosting a group of exchange students for two weeks," reports today's Indianapolis Star. "The 25 students arrived Monday at the International School of Indiana from Strasbourg, France, said Stacy Gruen, ISI spokeswoman. The students will be immersed in classes with Indianapolis-area students and also visit landmarks in including the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana State Museum, Eiteljorg Museum, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Conseco Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, Roncalli High School, DePauw University and take an overnight trip to Chicago."

"These trips help facilitate mastery of a second language, but the real value goes far beyond that -- it translates into confident, well-rounded and open-minded citizens of the world," says ISI head of school David Garner.

Access the item at IndyStar.com.

DePauw's student body of 2,396 comes from 42 states and 41 countries.  Almost 8 percent (7.8%) of current students come from countries besides the United States. 

February 11, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — The resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak represents "the first step of many steps," according to Barbara Ibrahim, founding director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo and 1971 graduate of DePauw University. Ibrahim spoke with the Washington Examiner yesterday from Cairo after Mubarak announced he would continue as president until September.  Today, Mubarak resigned and turned over all power to the military.

According to Ibrahim, "What Egypt needs is a regime change and not just the removal of Mubarak." 

Sara A. Carter writes that Barbara Lethem Ibrahim "is the wife of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent Egyptian human rights activist and scholar who was imprisoned in 2000 after speaking out against Mubarak." Saad Ibrahim taught sociology at DePauw from 1967 to 1974.

Access the article at the Examiner's website.

Also available is this recent story.

February 11, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "My all-time hero is Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia [an environmentally-minded clothing company]," says Kyle Smitley, a 2007 graduate of DePauw University.  The founder and owner of barley & birch, a line of organic children's clothing, Smitley is featured today as the Huffington Post's "Greatest Person of the Day". She points out that Chouinard "got into business the same way I did -- he saw the ability to make a good quality product and then subsequently had to learn how to follow his intuition running a business. I did an okay job just following my gut."

Amy Lee writes, "A former environmental science major, Kyle saw an opportunity to simply make clothes that didn't hurt people -- not the people wearing them and not the people making them ... Not only does the company donate 15 percent of their profits to charitable organizations, but every part of the line is carbon neutral -- barley & birch offsets emissions created in production and shipping, as well as working with manufacturers and suppliers who depend mainly on solar energy."

"I saw a really big niche in the market for a brand that had really, really high standards," states Smitley, who started her company shortly after graduating from DePauw. "We could be a good brand that shows you can do things the right way and make a high quality product and use the profits for good."

The text adds, "Much of Kyle's global human rights focus grew out of her experiences spending time in Haiti in high school and El Salvador in college. 'I slept on a hammock and woke with scorpions crawling on me -- you served the community for whatever community projects they needed you to do,' she said of her time in El Salvador. 'We were living with them, we got to see from their perspective what their life was like.'"

You'll find the complete profile at the Post's website.

Learn more about Kyle Smitley in this recent story.

February 12, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "From the day he was sworn in as California's new insurance commissioner, Dave Jones has come out swinging," begins an item in the Pasadena Star-News. "His primary target? Health insurers. Jones, a former Sacramento councilman and assemblyman, now runs the Department of Insurance, which regulates most PPO plans."

E,ily Bazar writes, "On inauguration day last month, Jones immediately called for an emergency regulation giving him the authority to enforce a provision of the federal health care overhaul requiring health insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical services. The regulation now is in effect. Since then, he has asked four major health insurers to delay planned rate hikes by 60 days to give him more time to review their proposals."

A 1984 graduate of DePauw University, Jones tells the newspaper, "Implementation of health care reform is one of my top priorities. In addition, we need to build on that reform to address certain omissions, for example, the absence of authority in the federal Affordable Care Act to reject excessive premium hikes. I'm going to continue to work on giving the insurance commissioner the authority to reject excessive health insurance premium increases much as we have for car insurance, home insurance and property and casualty insurance."

Read more at the newspaper's website.

Also available is this recent story.

February 13, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Sally Byrn, co-founder of several not-for-profit agencies and 1969 graduate of DePauw University, will be among the honorees at the YWCA of Greater Lafayette, Indiana's "Salute to Women Banquet."  Byrn will be recognized as a "Woman of Distinction." The event will take place on Tuesday, March 1, at University Plaza Hotel, 3001 Northwestern Avenue in West Lafayette.

Award recipients were selected based on outstanding and inspirational achievement in volunteer and/or professional roles, community involvement, and leadership/role modeling qualities.

A graduate of the DePauw School of Nursing, Byrn began working to improve her community in 1972 by working with Ida Casey of the Purdue School of Nursing to create the Health Referral Center. Byrn also helped found what became the St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry and, with the American Lung Association, helped start the Family Asthma Program in Tippecanoe County. Along with her husband, 1966 DePauw graduate Stephen R. Byrn, she founded SSCI Inc., an award-winning research and information company serving the pharmaceutical industry. The company grew to 100 employees and was sold to Aptuit Inc. in 2006. Byrn continued to serve in a leadership role there until retiring in 2009.

Sally (Rushmore) Byrn remains involved in her community as chief executive officer of Family Services Inc., and as a member of the boards of Wabash Center, Indiana Economic Development Corporation and Greater Lafayette Commerce. She is chair of Lafayette Urban Ministry’s Campaign for the Future and serves on the Altar Guild, Vestry and Endowment committees at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

To learn more about , click here.

February 13, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "At a time of strained budgets and severe economic struggle, communities throughout the country are exploring ways to achieve economic recovery and generate more higher-paying jobs," writes Dennis E. Bland in today's Indianapolis Star. According to Bland, president of the Center for Leadership Development and 1987 graduate of DePauw University, the key to improving economic vitality is education.

"The Central Indiana Talent Alliance and its 'cradle to career' initiative will serve as a catalyst for establishing a strong cross-sector network that builds a vibrant and fertile education pipeline," Bland opines. "The P-20 initiative will serve as the engine to make educational attainment and economic vitality a reality for our citizens. If Central Indiana is going to significantly increase the number of adults who are highly skilled and hold meaningful post-secondary education credentials, we must first develop a new strategy for educating our children. Young adults won't be prepared for the challenges of college if they have not first been skillfully taught and nurtured as children and teens. Ultimately, the strength of our educational pipeline will be determined by how effective our community is in protecting and educating children. As our children go, so goes our pipeline."

Bland is on the executive committee of the Talent Alliance, which aims to to improve educational success in Central Indiana.  His Center for Leadership Development has worked for more than three decades to equip minority high school students with personal and leadership skills that translates to success in college and careers.

February 15, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Shortly after graduating from DePauw University, "In 1995, (Angie) Hicks was new to Columbus, Ohio, and frustrated by how difficult it was to find the best local contractors and doctors," notes a story by Phoenix, Arizona ABC affiliate KNXV. "Knowing there had to be a better way, Angie literally set out door-to-door recruiting members and collecting consumer reviews from friends and neighbors," writes Susan Casper of Hicks, a 1995 DePauw graduate.

"Taking this 'ask-your-neighbor' approach to a higher level, Angie used the detailed feedback to provide reliable, unbiased ratings and reviews on local services, which is now known as Angie’s List. Today, more than 1,000,000 consumers use Angie's List to find high quality contractors, service companies and doctors."

Hicks, founder and chief marketing officer of Angie's List, is the subject of the station's "10 Questions" feature. It cites her bachelor's degree from DePauw (where she was an economics major and Management Fellow) and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and is accessible at ABC15.com.

Recently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Hicks was honored in 2009 with DePauw's Robert C. McDermond Medal for Excellence in Entrepreneurship.

February 15, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "Nike's tie to the GameDay announcers creates potential conflicts of interest, said Bob Steele, the director of the Prindle Institute for Ethics and a journalism professor at DePauw University," reports today's New York Times. Dr. Steele, a 1969 graduate of DePauw, is quoted in a story which points out that several ESPN on-air personalities -- includingChris Fowler, Erin Andrews and Lee Corso -- have had contracts with major show companies, creating potential conflicts of interest.

 “It’s not just what’s said or written but what stories are covered and the frame for the story,” Steele tells the Times. “It’s the questions that are asked and not asked in an interview, and who gets interviewed.”

Steele, Phyllis W. Nicholas Director of DePauw's Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics and the University's Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism Ethics, adds, “You do have to wonder why a sports journalist, or any journalist, would wander in this kind of ethical minefield without recognizing the consequences.”

Access the full story at the newspaper's website.

One of America's leading experts in journalism ethics, Robert M. Steele has been called a "journalism treasure" by Steve Buttry of the American Press Institute. Steele was recently named a Fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, the highest honor SPJ bestows upon a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession.

Learn more in this previous article.

February 15, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "DePauw University head coach Kris Huffman recorded her 400th career win on Sunday as No. 14 DePauw defeated Sewanee, 87-41," reports NCAA.com. Amy (Symons) Hughes, a 1993 DePauw graduate, writes, "Huffman (400-99 career) reached the milestone in just 18 seasons on the bench. The win was also DePauw’s 63rd consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference home win, a conference record that will be retired as Sunday was the Tigers final home game of the 2010-11 season and they will be competing in the North Coast Athletic Conference next season."

Access the item by clicking here.

Also available is this article posted yesterday and a video segment by Terre Haute's WTHI-TV. 

The Tigers are 20-3 overall this season and 13-1 in the SCAC.  Their next game is at Birmingham Southern 6 p.m. (CST) Friday.

For the latest information, visit the official online home of the DePauw women's basketball team.

February 15, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — As a Chicago Tribune article points out, "for most humble and hard workers, the past has shaped who they have become." Christopher Nelson points out that "Brad Pitt made a few extra bucks as the most handsome refrigerator mover ever, Jerry Seinfeld used to sell light bulbs over the phone and Fidel Castro practiced law in Havana."

Nelson writes, "Steve Langerud is a workplace consultant and is director of professional opportunities at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. He frequently speaks with clients and students about the link between their past and present professional lives. He starts the conversation by opening with his own evolution of early experiences."

According to Langerud, "The items from the past that make brief appearances on my resume today, like most of us, were deeply formative experiences even if they are not exactly on point for our current work."

The text notes, "Summer high school jobs included working in a greenhouse and driving a dump truck. When he spent some time in Europe, Langerud not only worked for an archaeologist in southern France but he was also a street performer ... Don't see a relationship between circus tricks and professional consulting? Well don't look too hard because there is none. So why does Langerud keep it on his resume? Because it makes him seem better rounded, more interesting."

"In my work today, I want clients or employers to have a sense of breadth in my experience, both topically and geographically, and that I've had a lot of fun along the way," declares Langerud. "Sometimes, we just get too serious when we write resumes and we need to add a sense of our personality and experience."

Read the complete article -- "Previous jobs on resume can be good conversation starters" -- at the Tribune's website.

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. Yesterday he offered thoughts on when to consider changing jobs in a story posted at CNN.com. Last week he was cited in a CNBC.com report on employees and sick days.

Langerud is available to help current students and DePauw alumni plot their career paths. Visit DePauw's Office of Civic, Global and Professional Opportunities here.

Also: Yo-Yo Ma to be Featured at 'DePauw Discourse 2011: Empowering Society Through the Arts'

February 15, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "Recognized as one of the world’s greatest musicians, Yo-Yo Ma’s talents know no boundaries of genre or culture," said President Barack Obama today as he presented Ma with the Medal of Freedom.  A total of 15 individuals were honored at the White House ceremony, including America's 41st President George H.W. Bush, sports legends Bill Russell and Stan Musial, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and investor Warren Buffett.

As announced last month, Yo-Yo Ma will be the featured artist of "DePauw Discourse 2011: Empowering Society Through the Arts," scheduled to take place September 29 - October 1.

"Since performing at the White House for President Kennedy at the age of seven, he has recorded more than 75 albums, won more than a dozen Grammy awards and established himself as one of our nation’s most acclaimed and respected artists," President Obama said. "His music has bound us together and captured our imagination, and the United States proudly honors this prolific cellist and ambassador for the arts."

Read more at the website of the Washington Post. Watch video of the ceremony here.

Yo-Yo Ma's upcoming visit to DePauw was noted in the February 6 edition of the Indianapolis Star.

February 16, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Mona Bhan, assistant professor of anthropology at DePauw University, will be among the speakers at a Stanford University symposium, March 5 & 6.  The program, "Grounding Kashmir: Experience and Everyday Life on Both Sides of the Line of Control," is being presented by Stanford's Center for South Asia and the University's Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies.

A synopsis states, "Disputed between India and Pakistan since 1947, the border region of Kashmir has tragically become the most contested and militarized zone in the world today. Research on this enduring South Asian conflict has been over-determined by a myopic security perspective, which centers on the changing contours of 'Kashmir policy', interstate rivalries, and local insurgencies. But how has ordinary life, relationships between generations, and life prospects been shaped by decades of insecurity, violence, and dispossession? How can we make sense of the multiple lineages of the dispute, and the different ways in which it has imposed itself on political subjectivities in the affected regions? And, most basically, why does the dispute continue to persist? These key concerns will centrally frame the symposium on 'Grounding Kashmir.' The presentations at the symposium will collectively illuminate the diverse trajectories of the Kashmir dispute through a historical, ethnographic, and literary lens, focusing on social imaginaries, everyday realities, and cultural politics."

Read more by clicking here.

Also: 2011 Putnam County Relay For Life Information

February 16, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "DePauw seniors Tyler Archer and Roddrea Smith began the formal presentation" at yesterday's kick-off breakfast for the 2011 Putnam County Relay For Life, reports today's Banner Graphic. "After a slideshow, Smith announced the national theme, 'Making a World with More Birthdays,' as well as the local Putnam County theme in relation to the national one, 'Superheroes to the Rescue.'" (photo courtesy Banner Graphic)

The annual event -- which brings together the Putnam County and DePauw University communties for an event on the DePauw campus benefitting the American Cancer Society -- is set for April 30 - May 1 at Blackstock Stadium.  Two Tuesday events formally launched the fundraising effort -- a breakfast at the Putnam Inn, and an evening get-together at DePauw's Memorial Student Union Building.

Michael Logli writes, "As of the evening event, there were 57 teams total. According to Rachel Romas, liason to the American Cancer Society, the goal is to raise $157,500 and host 125 teams. Last year, the event raised $155,000 and hosted 112 teams."

Read the article at the newspaper's website and visit the official online page for Putnam County Relay For Life to learn more or register.

A video shot and edited by Ken Owen '82, executive director of media relations for DePauw, provides a glimpse at the opening of the 2010 event, which was moved indoors to DePauw's tennis and track center because of inclement weather: [Download Video: "2010 Relay For Life Video" - 6003kb] or via YouTube.

February 16, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "This Clinton analysis is important in that it gives us insight to how the government will approach such leaks going forward," Jeffrey M. McCall, professor of communication at DePauw University, tells the Christian Science Monitor. Dr. McCall is quoted in a story recapping Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Tuesday speech, titled "Internet rights and wrongs: choices and challenges in a networked world."

In the address, reports Gloria Goodale, Clinton examined "the power, promise, and perils of the Internet, a force whose potential to influence world affairs has been evident in the pro-democracy movement sweeping the Middle East ... (She) also took the opportunity to clearly state the Obama administration position on the WikiLeaks saga, calling the leaked documents 'stolen' and saying their publication raises serious questions about how to balance freedom of speech with legitimate security needs."

Access the complete story at the Monitor's website.

Jeff McCall is a 1976 graduate of DePauw and author of Viewer Discretion Advised: Taking Control of Mass Media Influences. Frequently called upon by major media outlets to discuss media matters, McCall has been cited in articles published by more than 100 newspapers. He was quoted in a January Monitor article previewing the State of the Union address and an Arizona Republic analysis of the impact of the ABC News program Nightline.

February 16, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Legislation that would decrease the "drug-free zones"  around Indiana schools, public parks, and housing and apartments from the current 1,000 feet to 200 feet has been shelved by an Indiana Senate committee.  People arrested dealing drugs in such areas face longer prison sentences, if convicted. DePauw University students who have testified on the issue say the concept is flawed, noting in the past that "in Marion County and other urban areas, schools, parks, youth programs and especially churches exist in such high density that the law would create vast overlapping zones that encompass entire neighborhoods and communities." (photo: DePauw senior Sally Reasoner testifies at the Indiana Statehouse)

Today's Indianapolis Star notes, "A study by DePauw University students found that 53 percent of the area inside I-465 is in a drug-free zone. Sometimes, the students found, offenders facing the enhanced charges had been selling drugs in their own apartments with no children present," writes Heather Gillers.

State Senator Greg Taylor (D- Indianapolis) tells the newspaper that increasing the area of the zones five-fold "will penalize my constituency in greater numbers."

Access the story at IndyStar.com.

Learn more about the statehouse testimony by DePauw students of Kelsey Kauffman, part-time assistant professor of University studies, in this previous article.

February 16, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Bill Lynch, who served as DePauw University's head football coach in 2004 before leaving for Division I Indiana University, is returning to his alma mater, Butler University, "in a newly created fund-raising role," reports the Indianapolis Star. "Lynch, 56, a Hall of Fame athlete for the Bulldogs, will become associate athletic director of development March 1. He reunites with athletic director Barry Collier, a close friend since they were basketball teammates in the 1970s."

Lynch, who was head football coach at IU the past four seasons, says, "Obviously, there are things I will have to learn, but you have to be active in fund-raising as a coach."

David Woods notes, "As a football coach, Lynch has a career record of 100-97-3 in stops at Butler (36-12-3), Ball State (37-53), DePauw (8-2) and Indiana (19-30)." He also served as an assistant coach for the USFL's Orlando Renegades. (at right: Lynch with Indianapolis Colts QB and Ubben Lecturer Peyton Manning at DePauw's Kresge Auditorium; October 26, 2004)

Read more at IndyStar.com and in the Chicago Tribune.

Lynch's DePauw team defeated Wabash College 14-7 in the 2004 Monon Bell Classic. Highlights from the game can be seen here: [Download Video: "2004 Monon Memory" - 7774kb].

February 17, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. —  Newsweek has called Lee Hamilton "Mr. Integrity," while USA Today recently noted that the veteran statesman "is one of the last of the Washington 'wise men,' figures who ruled Congress, led Cabinet agencies and shaped foreign policy during a less partisan era." On Tuesday, March 15, Hamilton, a 1952 graduate of DePauw University, will return to his alma mater to deliver a Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture, "The U.S. Role in the World After Afghanistan and Iraq."

The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Meharry Hall of historic East College.  As with all Ubben Lectures, the speech is presented free of admission charge and the public is invited to attend.

Lee H. Hamilton served for 34 years in Congress representing Indiana's ninth district, from January 1965 to January 1999.  He then became president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., a post he held until late last year, and continues as director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. (at right: Iraq Study Group co-chairs Hamilton and James A. Baker III with President George W. Bush)

During his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, Hamilton was chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also chaired the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. The Democrat established himself as a leading congressional voice on foreign affairs, with particular interests in promoting democracy and market reform in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, expanding U.S. markets and trade overseas, and overhauling U.S. export and foreign aid policies. His tenure in Congress coincided with many significant historical events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Arab/Israeli peace negotiations, and the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Hamilton also has been a leading figure on economic policy and congressional organization. He was chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, working to promote long-term economic growth and development, global market competition, and a sound fiscal policy. As chairman of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress and a member of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee, he was a primary draftsman of several House ethics reforms, and he worked to promote integrity and efficiency in Congress.

Hamilton remains an important and active voice on matters of international relations and American national security.  Currently he is co-chairman, with former White House National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.  He was co-chairman, with former Secretary of State James A. Baker, of the Iraq Study Group, which in December 2006 made recommendations on U.S. policy options in Iraq.  He was co-chairman, with former Senator Spencer Abraham, of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future, which issued a report in September 2006 calling for reform of the nation’s immigration laws and system.  And he was vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission), which issued its report in July 2004. (at right: Hamilton with DePauw student journalists in 2006)

In recent years, Hamilton served on the Baker-Hamilton Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos, served on the United States Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission), and was a member of the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform. 

Hamilton is author of Strengthening Congress; How Congress Works and Why You Should Care and A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress. He co-authored (with former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean) Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission. (at left: retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Hamilton appear together in a recent public service announcement)

Hamilton's service in government has earned him numerous awards, including the Churchill Award for Statesmanship; the Eisenhower Medal for exceptional leadership; the National Conference on Citizenship Citizen of the Year Award; the United States Capitol Historical Society Freedom Award; the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Freedom From Fear Award; the Indiana Historical Society Living Legends Award; the Jefferson Awards for Public Service; the American University Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies Distinguished Public Service Award; the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; the Paul H. Nitze Award for Distinguished Authority on National Security Affairs; the American Political Science Association Hubert H. Humphrey Award; the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service; the Center for National Policy Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award; the American Political Science Association Outstanding Legislator Award; and the Knight of the French Legion of Honor, the highest honor bestowed by France for those who have achieved remarkable deeds. In 2006 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. (above: Hamilton delivering the commencement address at DePauw; May 5, 1998)

Lee Hamilton was named one of "America's Best Leaders" for 2007 by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Times' David Brooks opined of Hamilton, "The country is hungering for leaders like him: open-minded, unassuming centrists who are interested in government more than politics."  The Chicago Tribune's Mike Dorning declared, "In an era of politics dominated by partisan warriors, Hamilton commands respect across party lines. And at a time when retiring members of Congress routinely rush out the door to lobbying firms where they can sell their influence to the highest bidder, he passed up the chance for big money and retains unquestioned independence." The Los Angeles Times' Doyle McManus stated, "In the polarized Washington of 2010, there aren't many politicians who win deep respect from both sides of the political divide, but Hamilton has always been able to do that."

"This is one of the finest men in my lifetime to come near the halls of the United States Congress," Republican Jim Leach said of Hamilton at a tribute dinner for Hamilton last fall in the nation's capital. Leach added, "Of all the members of the Democratic Party that I served with, Lee stood for common sense, realism with a dose of decency."

Hamilton has received more than a dozen honorary degrees, including one from DePauw in 1971 (seen above left with then-DePauw President William E. Kerstetter). 

As an undergraduate, Hamilton majored in history and was a star player on the Tiger basketball team.  He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982 and the DePauw Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. Before his 1964 election to Congress, Hamilton practiced law in Chicago and Columbus, Indiana. His wife, the former Nancy Ann Nelson, is a fellow member of DePauw's Class of 1952.

Established in 1986 through the generous support of 1958 DePauw graduates Timothy H. and Sharon Williams Ubben, the Ubben Lecture Series was designed to "bring the world to Greencastle." Earlier in this academic year, the Ubben Series welcomed Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, on December 8, 2010. Rebecca Skloot, author of the bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, was on campus September 9, 2010, as an Ubben Lecturer.

Other previous guests have included Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Tony Blair, Benazir Bhutto, Elie Wiesel, General Colin Powell, Jane Pauley, F.W. de Klerk, Robert M. Gates, Howard Dean and Karl Rove, Shimon Peres, Willy Brandt, Spike Lee, Jason Reitman, Naomi Wolf, Richard Lamm, Ferid Murad '58, Mike Krzyzewski, Liz Murray, Jesse Jackson, Eric Schlosser, E.O. Wilson, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, Greg Mortenson, Barbara Bush, Todd Rundgren, Ross Perot, General Wesley Clark, Andrew Young, Bob Woodward, Paul Rusesabagina, David Plouffe, George Will, Paul Volcker, Jim Alling '83, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ralph Nader, Harry Belafonte, John Major, Julian Bond, Gloria Borger, Steven D. Levitt, Liz Murray, David McCullough, Bill Bradley, Ken Burns, David Gergen, Sister Helen Prejean, Paul Tsongas, Gwen Ifill, Jim Lovell, Brian Mulroney, Alan Simpson, Frank Warren and Mary Frances Berry, among others.   (at left: Tony Blair with Tim and Sharon Ubben; March 3, 2008)

To view a complete roster of Ubben Lecturers -- which includes links to video clips and news stories -- click here.

February 17, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Art and music merge for "Percussion at Peeler," an annual event where contemporary musical performance and contemporary visual art come together to provide an enriched aesthetic experience in a nontraditional setting on the campus of DePauw University. The 2011 edition of the event -- which is presented free of admission charge --  will take place in the lower level of the University Gallery at the Peeler Art Center on Wednesday, February 23, at 6:30 p.m.

This year's concert will feature solo and small group works for percussion performed by student musicians from the DePauw School of Music in conjunction with the exhibition "Image Transfer: Pictures in a Remix Culture." The audience is encouraged to move around the space and enjoy the exhibition as well as the music. 

The percussion group is led by Amy Lynn Barber, professor of music, and the exhibition is under direction of Kaytie Johnson, director and curator of University Galleries, Museums and Collections.

The percussion program will consist of contemporary works that complement the artworks on view in the exhibition, providing a dynamic way of making connections between performed music and contemporary visual art. Students selected one of the art works to use as inspiration for a group improvisation entitled, "Image Transfer: Musical Remix." The informal format gives the performances a casual feel, allowing the audience to interact with the performers on a much more intimate, engaged, level. Solo works by American, European and Japanese composers in a variety of styles are also on the program.

Guests are invited to a reception in the lobby immediately following the performance.

About the Exhibition:

"Image Transfer: Pictures in a Remix Culture" is an exhibition that investigates the resurgence of the appropriation, recuperation, and repurposing of extant photographic imagery in recent art.  Artists, as both producers and consumers in today’s vast image economy, freely adopt and adapt materials from myriad sources.  Images culled from the Internet, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, television, films, personal and public archives, studio walls, and other works of art are all fair game.  Image Transfer brings together artists who divert commonplace, even ubiquitous, visual materials into new territories of formal and idiomatic expression. (at left: Lisa Oppenheim, The Sun is Always Setting Somewhere Else, 2006; looped slide projection of 15 slides, 35mm Kodak Ektagraphic slide projector, courtesy of the artist and Harris Lieberman Gallery, New York)

The exhibition proposes that these artists mark the progression of intuitive practices that are thoroughly at ease with today’s hyper-fluid circulation of images.  In our digital age of fair use and open source, these attitudes demonstrate how far traditional notions of the authority and primacy of source materials have shifted toward a fluent rethinking of the way we value and interact with images.

Concentrating on a dozen artists, Image Transfer includes photography, painting, drawing, collage, projection, and installation.  Growing out of the legacies of Pop, Conceptual Art, the Pictures Generation, experimental film, and avant-garde design, the exhibiting artists employ tactics of transferring, accumulating, and recombining existing images to construct new images, objects, and situations.  Notably, the techniques of cut-and-paste, re-photography, double exposure, and other object-oriented studio practices commingle with photocopying, scanning, and the commands of editing software.  Artists who work across these multiple platforms reflect a systemic evolution that broadly parallels aspects of DJ culture, television and film production, and the DIY movement.  The proliferating phenomena of remixes, mash-ups, montage, and collage (and the technologies that enable them) inform an alternative perspective for contemplating developments in visual art that resonate with wide-ranging cultural trends.

The exhibition opens February 22 and continues through May 6.  Learn more here.

February 17, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Michael L. Smith, retired executive vice president and chief financial officer of Anthem, Inc. and 1970 graduate of DePauw University, has joined the board of directors of Hulman & Company.  Smith was one of four new members added today to the company's board, expanding the panel to 8 members.

"As we strive to position Hulman & Company to be more competitive and relevant in this marketplace, the current board believes we can strengthen our position by calling upon the successful business expertise of these additional board members," noted Mari Hulman George, chairman of the board of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one of Hulman & Company's holdings.

A member of DePauw's Board of Trustees, Mike Smith chairs the Commission for Higher Education in Indiana and serves on a number of other boards. He was chairman, president and CEO of Mayflower Group, Inc. from 1989-95. He started his business career with Arthur Andersen after graduating from DePauw.

Learn more about today's announcement at the websites of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star and Chicago Tribune.

Last June, Smith was one of three DePauw alumni inducted into The Indiana Academy for their lifetime of achievement and contributions to the cultural, scientific, literary, civic, religious, and educational development of Indiana. Details can be found in this previous story.

February 18, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — The DePauw University School of Music welcomes guest artists Elizabeth Brightbill (flute) and Andrew Gabbert (cello), who comprise the innovative chamber music duo, Terra Voce, on Monday, February 28. The campus and public are invited to a free performance in the Judson and Joyce Green Center for Performing Arts, Thompson Recital Hall,  at 7:30 p.m.

Earlier in the day, the musicians will sit down for a "brown bag" lunch from 11:40 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in the Green Center's Great Hall. Students, faculty, staff and others are welcome and encouraged to stop by for what promises to be an engaging conversation about the music industry today. Brightbill and Gabbert will share the challenges of reinventing their careers as independent musicians after leaving the structure of full-time orchestral positions, as well as the benefits and fulfillment they are rewarded with as stewards of entrepreneurship. The informal discussion is open and participants should feel free to inquire about other related topics.  

Since forming Terra Voce in 2006, Gabbert and Brightbill have delighted audiences with their virtuosity, engaging, conversational style of presentation, and their genre-expanding programs that explore diverse musical styles, traditions, and cross-cultural influence. They have appeared on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, in the Christ Chapel Chamber Series at New York City's Riverside Church, and as finalists in the National Flute Association's Chamber Music Competition.

Together with three other flute and cello duos, Terra Voce has formed a commissioning circle and premiered the consortium’s first commission, Dviraag, by Asha Srinivasan in 2009. Subsequently, they performed this work at the 2010 Society of Composers National Conference, to much acclaim. Terra Voce released their debut CD in 2009.

Elizabeth Brightbill held the position of principal flute with the Tulsa Philharmonic and Opera orchestras for ten years and has also performed with the Richmond Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and the Britt, Wintergreen, and OK Mozart Festival orchestras. As a chamber musician, she has performed in numerous concerts and educational presentations in Terra Voce and as a member of the Tulsa Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet. She has appeared as soloist with the Tulsa Philharmonic and has performed in concerts at several National Flute Association conventions. A recipient of multiple awards, Elizabeth was named winner of the NFA's 2007 dissertation competition for her research on the flute music of Shulamit Ran, and was a semi-finalist in the 1993 NFA Young Artist Competition. She was second runner-up in the 2004 Myrna W. Brown Artist Competition and was awarded a graduate fellowship at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she earned the Doctor of Music degree. She has taught at a number of colleges across the country and currently teaches at Mary Baldwin College, Longwood University, and Eastern Mennonite University in central Virginia.

Prior to the creation of Terra Voce, Andrew Gabbert held titled positions with the Tulsa Philharmonic and Opera orchestras for eleven years. He has also performed as soloist with the Tulsa Philharmonic and the National Repertory Orchestra, and has recorded on Centaur Records as the principal cellist of the Chorus Civitas Orchestra. He has previously been a member of the Baton Rouge Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra and Terre Haute Symphony. Summer festival appearances have included the Wintergreen, Britt and Sunriver Festivals, the Texas Festival-Institute at Round Top, OK Mozart with the Solisti New York Orchestra, and Light Opera Oklahoma. As a chamber musician, he regularly presented educational concerts as a member of the Tulsa Philharmonic String Quartet/Quintet. He has taught as a visiting instructor at the University of Oklahoma, and as a graduate assistant at Louisiana State University. He currently teaches at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia and maintains a private studio.

Founded in 1884, the DePauw University School of Music is one of the oldest in the nation and has an established tradition of educating leaders in virtually every facet of music, including performers, educators, composers and administrators. Learn more here.