May 2012
In Every Issue

IU has adopted a policy on programs involving children, instituting steps designed to increase the safety and protection of children who take part in university-sponsored programs and in activities on IU campuses.

IU's 2012 Athletics Tailgate Tour kicked off May 9 in Indianapolis. The tour gives IU fans the chance to mingle with and hear from IU's head coaches.

Jacqueline A. Simmons, an IU alumna and office leader and partner in the Indianapolis office of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, has been named university vice president and general counsel, effective July 1. Simmons will succeed Dorothy Frapwell, who retired this month after nearly six years in that role and more than 35 years in the university's legal department.

The Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences invites faculty and students of public and private colleges and universities to submit abstracts, papers and session proposals for consideration at the academy's 83rd annual conference. This year's conference will take place Friday, Oct. 12, at IU Northwest with a keynote speech by IU Distinguished Professor Elinor Ostrom, recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
Today's feature
Creativity. Collaboration. Innovation. All are skills that can be developed through play, a mission supported by Playground Ideas USA. The nonprofit organization is directed by Jon Racek, a lecturer in the Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design department in IU Bloomington's College of Arts and Sciences. His low-cost playground designs are built on-site by locals using colorful, sustainable materials and pictorial instructions. In the past few years, he's overseen the installation of slides, swings and monkey bars all over the world, including Peru, the Philippines and Kenya. More »

As part of IU's Summer Festival of the Arts, the Jacobs School of Music has assembled a Summer Music series of more than 40 free and ticketed events from June 13 through July 27. Among the highlights: Pressler and Friends; "Birth of the Cool" jazz; live music to accompany the silent film "The Phantom of the Opera"; and the performance of all 16 Beethoven string quartets.

Wetlands scientist Christopher Craft, a SPEA faculty member at IU Bloomington, has received the 2012 National Wetlands Award for Science Research, presented by the Environmental Law Institute May 10 at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should adopt a more systematic approach to tracking potential problems with prescription drugs after they are approved, an Institute of Medicine committee said May 1 in a report co-authored by an IU bioethics expert.

IU Communications has launched a blog initiative designed to help the media and general public keep abreast of activities, breakthroughs and the range of educational, cultural, scientific and research developments that occur at a vibrant Big Ten university.