DePauw University Academic News

Spud Dick '10

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

DePauw started a freshman quarterback in the second game of the 2006 football season. He was undersized at 5'10", inexperienced at the college level and perhaps the most exciting thing about him was his name: Spud.

If you haven't heard senior Spud Dick's story before, the answers to your questions are yes and no, respectively. Yes – the name comes from short-lived Budweiser mascot Spuds MacKenzie. And no – his real name is Gerry, which he shares with his father and grandfather. (As it turns out, Spuds wasn't the dog's real name, either.) Days after his birth, Dick's great uncle suggested the nickname as a way to distinguish him from the elder Gerrys. The name stuck.

"My mom called me Gerry until I was 4 or five so I knew what my real name was," Dick says.

Now a four-year starter, the quarterback's name is his least compelling story. Dick holds or shares nearly every record for his position at DePauw. In regards to the record that matters the most to many players and fans – that of wins against rival Wabash College in the Monon Bell Classic – Dick has two so far. The 116th contest between the schools on Saturday, Nov. 14 gives Dick a shot at a third.

"I was fortunate to start the Monon Bell game as a freshman, but I don't know I really appreciated until my sophomore year how much it means to everybody in the community, the alumni and the students here," Dick says. "We have coaches who played in front of 100,000 people who say that there's nothing quite like Monon because it's such a fierce rivalry."

"The fun thing about this week and Monon is it's the one week during the year you feel like a Division-I quarterback," Dick adds. "You do four or five interviews a day leading up to the game and the game is televised. This is the one week when you do feel like you're part of the big time."

Most people know of Spud Dick the quarterback, but he says the balance being a student-athlete at DePauw is heavily weighted on the other side of his life.

"I'm more of a student at this level," says Dick, an economics major and Management Fellow. "The academic course load that we have here mandates that you spend a majority of your time on school."

When he was looking for a college to attend, Dick considered DePauw's emphasis on academics to be an advantage. Football was definitely part of his decision – just not all of it.

"The more I visited the DePauw campus, the more I felt that it was the place for me," Dick says. "The rigorousness of the academics, the atmosphere on campus, Management Fellows and the football program – the combination of those things was something that none of the other schools I looked at came close to matching."

"I took one economics class in high school, but I only developed a real interest for it once I got here," Dick says. "I've taken more courses than what I've needed for the major. I've looked at classes just to fill credit hours and I find myself going back to economics."

After DePauw, Dick hopes to enter the business world. He spent the 2009 spring semester, in a Management Fellows internship at RICS Software in Indianapolis, founded by DePauw graduate David B. Becker '75.

The choice to participate in intercollegiate athletics, especially at the position he plays, means that Dick doesn't get much free time. On top of studying for exams, writing papers and practicing with the team, he estimates he spends six or seven hours a week reviewing film.

"When some students get a break, they'll go play video games or hang out with their friends," Dick says. "I pop open my laptop and watch game film."

The team's 200-page playbook grows as well, adding dozens of plays as the season progresses.

"It really forces you to learn how to manage your time," says Dick.

Dick gives credit to DePauw Offensive Coordinator Dustin Ward, who played quarterback at the University of Illinois, for much of the success he's had.

"When I came in as a freshman we had a great running back in Jeremiah Marks," Dick says. "We were a run-heavy offense, and that took a lot of pressure off of me. ... [Ward] has turned it into more of a mental game. I've had to learn the offense inside and out, and that's allowed me be as successful as I've been."

Asked what he's most proud of from his time at DePauw, Dick has a lot of possibilities to choose from. He doesn't name a record he holds or a game he's won. His answer reaffirms what college athletics is all about.

"I've been able to maintain a high GPA – 3.5 or above – and we're going to the playoffs for the first time ever in our history," Dick says. "Being able to perform at a high level both on and off the field is my proudest accomplishment at DePauw. Definitely."

Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School in Indianapolis opened its doors in 2004 in what was once a grocery store. Tindley, a charter school for students in grades 6-12, has a remarkable track record for its short history, i.e., notable ISTEP scores and college acceptance letters that line the entrance hall of the school.

From the start, Tindley has been supported in a variety of ways by DePauw alumni. John T. Neighbours '71, Alan P. Hill '81 and Kenya-Taray Delemore '96 served on the board of directors. Patrick J. Terry '94 was director of operations and four DePauw alumnae have taught at the school: Rosalie Pettigrew '96, Nickola M. Baker '94, Maggie C. Coyne '99, and Courtney Lindsey '05. James K. Baker '53, former chair of DePauw's Board of Trustees, is currently serving on Tindley's board of directors.

Marcus C. Robinson ’94, an English major at DePauw, is Tindley principal and CEO. Robinson worked in college admissions after graduating and realized that he was working with students too late in the game. He has devoted countless hours to his current job and is passionate about his mission as principal. “This has been the most exciting work of my career,” Robinson says.

“We started out as a high school for only students in grades 9-12, but that shifted. We knew that the school needed to be intentionally organic and created to be shifted and moved,” Robinson says. “The vision is the same as when we started - upon graduation, students will be qualified to attend selective colleges and universities.

“We decided that we needed to meet kids earlier than ninth grade. This brought up some issues because there were no elementary foundations to support the work for an accelerated charter school,” Robinson says. “We added the middle school grades, and now we can’t blame anyone for what the students come to us not knowing.” (in above photo: Larson, Loescher, and Robinson)

In order for students to be successful in school, Robinson stresses the importance of building relationships with their families. “We work to earn the trust of our families,” he says. “They may say, ‘I may not understand or agree, but I trust.’ Parents will accept reform if the reform is coupled with success.”

Robinson is available 24/7 to talk with parents. “Each parent has my business card with my home and cell phone numbers. I tell them to call me,” Robinson says. “Wouldn’t you call your doctor over the weekend if your child became sick? Then why wouldn’t you call me if your child got a failing grade on an exam?”

“We need audacious teachers and effective instruction and curriculum design,” Robinson says. That’s why every Friday afternoon the students go home at noon so teachers and administrators can have time for professional development. “Teachers need time to continually refocus and improve practices.”

Progress reports are sent home every Friday. “Positive peer pressure works. For students who have grown comfortable with bad grades, we push them not to be comfortable,” Robinson says. “We reinforce our expectations and then celebrate and applaud the students’ achievements.”

Siri A. Loescher ’84 is one of the school’s founders and academic dean. “At DePauw, I considered dropping a history class taught by Professor Emeritus of History Roderick A. Clifford. He convinced me to stick with it. He said, ‘I’ll teach, you think,’”Loescher says. That bit of advice stayed with Loescher and, over the years, has influenced her to expect the same of Tindley students. “We compel them and guide them. They can’t give you what they’ve never experienced.”

“We’re a building full of believers. Tindley is a school of choice,” Loescher says. “Nothing gives credibility like believers,” Robinson adds.

ShaDe’ Nicole-Kirby Watson ’13 (at right) was class valedictorian at Tindley last spring and came to DePauw already having experienced college-credit courses. At Tindley, juniors and seniors take college-credit courses from Anderson University adjunct professors and graduate from Tindley with two transcripts. Not all colleges and universities accept the university credits. It depends on the school, and students know this when applying to colleges.

“At Tindley, the teachers stay with you until you get it right,” Watson says. “If all teachers stayed until students got it right, then they’d all do well.”

Amber E. Wright ’13 (at left) graduated from Tindley last spring as salutatorian. “I now know why Tindley is considered a prep school,” Wright says. “At Tindley we worked a grade ahead. I feel very prepared academically to be at DePauw.”

James D. Larson ’05, history major and secondary education minor at DePauw, teaches social studies at Tindley. “Tindley is the only school in Indianapolis, and one of a few schools in the Midwest, that implement and search for innovative ideas for education reform, especially for urban education,” Larson says. “Tindley defies all conventional notions of schooling and instead values what works for the students we serve.”

Larson credits DePauw with preparing him to teach at Tindley. “Einstein described a liberal arts education as knowledge acquired beyond textbooks,” Larson says. “I think DePauw prepares students to work at places such as Tindley by exposing them to the broader socio-political issues facing our nation and world and by asking students the question, what are you going to do about these problems?

“More concretely, the curriculum at DePauw, like other liberal arts schools, is not about inculcating you with a toolbox of skills that will help you be successful in a certain career. Instead, it introduces you to a host of burning questions that our world is in desperate need of solutions for,” Larson says.

Professor Alicia Suarez

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common blood-borne infection in the United States and worldwide – surpassing even HIV/AIDS – yet most people know little about it. Assistant Professor of Sociology Alicia E. Suarez, who studies the affects of stigma on those who have HCV, offers an explanation for this divide.

"HCV is transmitted blood to blood," Suarez explains. "That means it mainly affects intravenous drug users. Hemophiliacs and people who receive blood transfusions are affected as well, but that's very unlikely now that blood is screened. Suffice it to say that HCV is not culturally visible."

The disease itself can be symptomatically invisible, as well. Many people don't know they've been infected until they're diagnosed with some sort of liver disease, such as cirrhosis.

"As many hepatologists will say, most people will die with HCV, not from it," Suarez says.

Suarez's area of specialty is sociology of health and illness – research that looks at illness experience. In the United States, that experience is typically related to ever-increasing life spans.

"Disease in our society is characterized by chronic illness," Suarez says. "One hundred years ago – or in less-developed countries today – it might have been more characterized by what we would call acute illness, which either goes away or kills you quickly. Instead, we live a long time and often with some sort of illness."

Whereas a biologist might examine how a pathogen affects organ tissue, Suarez studies factors external to the disease that can affect a person's quality of life. While these approaches to illness are different, she argues that they are complementary.

"Taking a look at medicine through a sociological lens provides vast insight into how we treat patients and understand illness, disease and inequalities in health," she says. "Medical schools are recognizing this and requiring students to take courses that look at the social and cultural aspects of health and illness."

To understand a disease, Suarez says you need to be able to put a face with it.

"You have to show students the big picture with statistics, but you also need to personalize it," she says. "I invited people who are HIV-positive to come speak to a class. It's not just a statistic anymore – it's this person who lives in Indianapolis who's sitting with us and talking about his illness. Numbers affect a person's perception, but giving a voice to the disease gives students a way to relate other than the behavior associated with the disease."

Suarez's ultimate goal is to reduce stigma associated with HCV, both among the public and medical community, so that people who are infected with it are more likely to seek and receive help.

"People think that if they tell someone they have HCV, they'll risk stigmatization," she says. "But if they don't tell, they won't have access to social support. There's a lot of research that shows that having support is very important for people who are ill. It's a Catch-22."

Suarez conducted research on this phenomenon in the American South that revealed the cultural complexity of HCV. She found that a respondent's race could greatly affect how he or she experienced the disease. In general, African-American respondents were less willing to disclose their illness to others, while white respondents reported significantly higher feelings of stigmatization. She has shared her findings at conferences across the country, including ones sponsored by the American Liver Foundation and Washington State Department of Health. She hopes that her work will both help fight the spread of HCV and improve the quality of life for those who suffer from it.

"All sick people deserve access to treatment and knowledge about their illness," Suarez says. "How people get a disease doesn't mean they should be treated with any less dignity."

Trash Our Runway

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

On Oct. 9 there was standing room only in the Richard E. Peeler Art Center auditorium. The enthusiastic audience was there to see the first annual Trash Our Runway: A Recycled Fashion Show Contest. The event was co-sponsored by DePauw Environmental Club and Student Arts Council.

Inspired by the popular television show, Project Runway, Carolyn M. Tubekis ’10 developed the DePauw version of the fashion show with an environmental focus. “The purpose of the event was to spread a message about sustainability and to challenge students to think about where their clothes come from,” Tubekis says.

Project Runway is a reality television show for fashion designers who are looking to make their break into the fashion industry. The contestants are often restricted in time, theme and materials. Their fashions are judged - resulting in elimination of one or more designers each week.

Trash Our Runway was similar in that student designers were restricted in the materials chosen. All of the materials had to be recyclable and re-used – nothing new could be used, to create a wearable garment. As the models walked down the runway, music blared, and a panel of three DePauw faculty members judged the completed fashions.

The panel included Anne F. Harris, associate professor of art and chair of the Art Department; Kaytie A. Johnson, director and curator of University galleries, museums and collections; and Carol S. Steele, associate dean of academic affairs and sustainability coordinator.

Tubekis and event coordinator Jessica Adele Kane ’12 were also designers for the contest. “We get used to being stuck in a market where everything is made for us,” Kane says. “This experience was empowering. It made us more aware that clothing can be made from recycled things.”

Materials used in the designs included newspapers, magazines, hubcaps, old t-shirts, plastic bags, cardboard, discarded neon duct tape, film canisters and film negatives.

“One of our goals for this event was to have fun. It was incredible to see almost posh, couture designs made of recycled materials – or trash! The designers took something ordinary and made it extraordinary,” Tubekis says.

The designs were judged based on creativity, craftsmanship, environmental consciousness and presentation. The first place winner was Brianna L. Schmall ’11 (at left), who designed a dress made out of cereal boxes, magazines and plastic grocery store bags. Stacie M. Grissom ’11, who used old t-shirts and tied them into rosebuds to make a dress, won second place. Kelsey T. Floyd ’12 and Kane were third place winners with a dress constructed of plastic trash bags that they ironed together.

Schmall didn’t have much prior experience as a seamstress, but her creativity and perseverance contributed to her first place win. “My main challenge was that I didn't know how to make a dress form,” Schmall says. “It was definitely a lot of trial and error as far as the fitting went. I thought the event went really well. It's great to see people come to events that support student art.” Her winning dress will be on display in the Peeler Art Center.

“This was indeed a great endeavor by the students: I loved the energy, good humor and goodwill of all the students involved,” Harris says. “DePauw is at its best when student initiatives thrive, and Trash Our Runway articulated a great set of ideas: artistic ingenuity, cultural know-how and environmental consciousness.

“I often think of the liberal arts education as training students (and professors) to come up with complex solutions to the world's complex problems,” Harris says. “Global warming is about as complex as it gets in terms of politics, science and culture, and seeing the disciplines of art, fashion and industry brought together in this show was one of a great many welcomed steps in moving environmental concerns into popular culture.”

Jared P. Norman '12

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Through music, sophomore Jared P. Norman found a way to bond with and learn from others. Now he's learning how to teach what he loves at DePauw's School of Music.

"Music and art are something people have in common no matter where they're from," Norman says. "You don't necessarily have to understand it to appreciate it. You can hear a song in a different language and not understand exactly what the words are saying, but you can still be moved by it – it can still affect you. Everyone should have a way to connect with other people, whether it's music, theatre, film, art or something else."

Norman grew up in a musical family. His father plays the guitar and banjo, and his mother plays the piano. His older brother is a member of Indiana University's Marching Hundred, and his younger brother performs in a show choir. "It's something that we all understand and appreciate," Norman says. By the time he started looking for a college to attend, he already knew what he wanted to do with his life.

"In middle school, I had a great choir teacher who taught me that teaching music is something that can really impact someone's life," Norman says. "In high school, I had a director who reaffirmed that for me. I knew then that teaching music was what I wanted to do with my life."

With that in mind, Norman didn't want to try to fix something that wasn't broken. His high school was nearly the same size as DePauw, and the kind of familiarity that students have with their professors in DePauw's School of Music reminded him of the relationships he formed with the teachers and directors who mentored him in high school.

"I knew that I wanted to go to a school of music and that I also wanted a lot of attention from the faculty," Norman says. "I didn't want to be another number. When I visited DePauw, I felt like it was a very close community, and that's why I chose to come here. I knew that I'd soon know the other students in the School of Music, as well as the professors and teachers."

At DePauw, Norman hasn't limited himself to just music. In addition to being a member of DePauw Cappella and singing in the Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church choir, he has participated in five theatre productions at DePauw. He most recently starred as the title character in Tartuffe. The 17th-century comedy tells the story of a con man, Tartuffe, who feigns piety to influence a wealthy man into giving up his property.

"My role as Tartuffe was something that I think did really well," Norman says. "He's a lot different than I am. He's manipulative, and there's an agenda behind everything he says. As he's manipulating a man in the play, he's also making advances on the man's wife. Portraying him was a challenge for me at first, but as the production went along I learned how to get out the smarminess of the character. After the performance, there were people who told me, ‘I don't ever want to be alone in a room with you' and ‘there were times when I just wanted to get up and punch you during the play.' I heard that and thought, well, I did my job!"

As a member of the Student Arts Council (SAC), Norman is getting a head start on finding creative ways to involve students in theatre. This year, as part of ArtsFest 2009 (Nov. 1-7), the Council is producing Insomniac Theatre, during which participants have 24 hours to write, cast, rehearse and perform a play.

"It's something I'm really excited about," Norman says. "With Insomniac Theatre, we find people who love theatre, but either aren't music or theatre majors, or just don't have the time to put on a production. Being involved in SAC and being able to get art out to the community and the rest of the campus is something I've enjoyed."

Norman has also become involved in areas outside of the arts. He joined the first-year mentor program this year, hoping to duplicate his own experience as a freshman for others, and found new friends in his fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta.

"Greek life was something foreign to me when I came to DePauw, but not being forced to rush right away gave me time to understand the different houses, and I found a place where I felt comfortable. My fraternity gave me the chance to get to know people outside the School of Music and it's great to have that outlet."

"DePauw is the one place that I knew would allow me to do everything that I wanted to do," Norman says. "I can't see myself at any other university."

ArtsFest 2009: Art & Power

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

ArtsFest 2009 banners are lining campus sidewalks, fliers announcing a plethora of events are posted and the weeklong celebration of arts at DePauw has begun! ArtsFest 2009: Art & Power runs from Nov. 1-7. ArtsFest has been an annual event since 2002. This year’s theme promotes exploring the intrinsic power of art to change people and change the world. Click here for a complete calendar of events.

Sunday, Nov. 1 marked the first day of the celebration with Art Attack for children in the Greencastle community. Always a popular event, more than 250 people attended. It was held in the Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts, and it was a day full of performances and art activities for children that were primarily organized and offered by 25 DePauw student organizations. The organizations included many Greek houses, Panhel, Student Arts Council, Association for African-American Students, Feminista!, Building Tomorrow, Center for International and Experiential Learning, Poetry Club, A Midwestern Review, Music Educators National Conference, Asia Club, Committee for Latino Concerns, DePauw Cappella, Gospel Choir, Color Guard, XCell, Public Parts Ltd Improv Troupe, Wamidan, WGRE and D3TV.

Children plunged into a wide array of art forms: face painting, poetry writing, mask making, knitting, cave painting and Chinese calligraphy art. They also participated in yoga, belly dancing, instrument exploration, puppet making and puppet shows.

“Art Attack is an excellent outreach opportunity with the Greencastle community, and a great atmosphere in which to better familiarize kids with the joys of art,” Gigi Jennewein Fenlon says. Fenlon is ArtsFest coordinator, coordinator of arts publicity and marketing, and part-time assistant professor of communication and theatre.

A veteran Art Attack student coordinator, Laura M. Durham ’11 is a communication and English writing double major. “I’m involved in Art Attack because someday I hope to be involved in arts administration. I really enjoy putting together art events and being a part of the end product,” Durham says. “Art Attack was so rewarding last year, and I was excited to be apart of it again this year.”

Durham is also participating in another ArtsFest event: Insomniac Theatre, a 24-hour event that starts on Nov. 6. “We write, direct, rehearse and perform the plays all in one day. We did this last year, and it went really well so we're going to try it for a second time!” The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 in Kerr Theatre in the Green Center for the Performing Arts.

Gerard J. Pannekoek ’11 is an English writing major, member of Student Arts Council and an Art Attack student coordinator. “This year we started Artsfest week with Art Attack in hopes that it would give the Greencastle community a chance to see what the rest of the week has to offer. Art Attack not only introduces art to kids in the community, but also addresses a DePauw initiative to bridge the gap between the Greencastle community and the University,” Pannekoek says.

“Art Attack is absolutely wonderful,” says student coordinator Jacqueline R. Keyes ’11, a philosophy and English literature major. “I love that kids and parents in town can come and participate in so many different arts activities. There really was something for everyone to enjoy,” Keyes says.

A continuing event throughout ArtsFest week is Graffiti Wall: A Representation of Power Through Art. A workshop on Nov. 2, led by graffiti artist Daniel D. Sanchez ’10, will demonstrate how graffiti uses the power of words and images created through individual artistic expression to portray important feelings and beliefs. All are invited to add to the Graffiti Wall located outside of Julian Science and Mathematics Center, which will be on display for the duration of ArtsFest. The event is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural and Community Life. Click here to read more about Sanchez as a graffiti artist.

Fenlon says that ArtsFest and Art Attack wouldn’t be possible without the students working with her who are involved in all aspects of the event. “There is absolutely no way I could do this without them. They are all extremely talented,” Fenlon says.

Ashley E. Odle ’10, an English writing and communication double major, is also editor of the Arts@DePauw electronic newsletter. “My responsibilities include designing and managing the Web sites that give brief, detailed and linked information about ArtsFest that is provided to the community. It's great to see our campus come together in different ways with the children and the families from the community,” Odle says.

Arts marketing and publicity associate Andrea E. Hutchinson ’11 is responsible for designing the posters and banners seen around campus. She is a studio art major with a focus in photography. “This year's poster wasn't so much my design, but I worked to alter the colors and information presented,” Hutchinson says. “The committee decided to use the work of Soviet artist Alexander Rodchenko because his constructivist style played well with the Art & Power concept of this year's ArtsFest. With my work on ArtsFest this year, I have learned about the great artist Rodchenko, Soviet Russia and Lilya Brik - the woman's face who appears on the poster.”

“It’s been a great experience, but without Gigi Fenlon, the efforts my colleagues and I put forth would be in vain,” Hutchinson says. “She really gets the ball rolling.”

Fenlon has been ArtsFest faculty sponsor and coordinator for the last six years. “The history of ArtsFest began in 2000 when the creative and performing arts were the topic for exploration by one of DePauw’s top advisory boards, the Board of Visitors. They concluded that DePauw did too little to celebrate the strengths in theatre, creative writing and visual arts,” Fenlon says. “It was suggested that we might accomplish the goal of promoting the strengths of all programs through collaboration.”

As a result, the Arts Coordinating Council, composed of representatives from all of the arts programs, was formed, and ArtsFest emerged from their collaborative efforts. “ArtsFest has been making strides annually at its mission to raise awareness of the depth and breadth of the arts at DePauw,” Fenlon says. “It allows us to do exactly what the Board of Visitors intended. It showcases arts - in collaboration. Many different departments and organizations are involved, and it’s significant that ArtsFest is still going and continuing to grow,” Fenlon says.

The Ashia Project

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

On the return leg of her 2007 spring break trip, senior Tia M. Malcom sat waiting for her connecting flight from Atlanta to Indiana. She started a conversation with the person sitting next to her, a young Cameroonian man on his way to a peace conference at the University of Notre Dame. Malcom, who had always wanted to visit Africa, took advantage of the chance encounter to pepper him with questions about his home country.

"It was my plan when I came to DePauw to travel to Africa, especially with opportunities such as DePauw's Winter Term," Malcom says.

The two continued their conversation by e-mail during the following months. One day, the young man wrote to Malcom that his parents – "Daddy", a doctor, and "Mommy" Ebanja, as they ask their guests to call them – had hosted international visitors previously. If she was interested, they would host her as well. The offer combined many of Malcom's academic and personal interests.

"From the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be a doctor," says Malcom, biochemistry major and recipient of a Martha Weddell Nicholson Scholarship, awarded to rising senior female students who plan to pursue a career in science, medical school or other graduate degree in science. "I was interested in HIV/AIDS and wanted to see if I could do anything to help. I'm also a Bonner Scholar, and I do a lot of volunteering along the lines of social injustice. You hear and see things about Africa, but I needed to experience it for myself before I could say I understood what was happening there."

Malcom contacted a traveler from Germany who had stayed with the Ebanjas before and he had only positive things to say about his hosts. Now certain that she wanted to go to Cameroon, she arranged an independent study project to take place during Winter Term 2008.

It didn't take long for Malcom to get a taste of life in the African country. Shortly after leaving the airport in Douala, Cameroon's economic capital, she was welcomed by the local police force, a ragtag group of young men with automatic rifles.

"I was riding home with Daddy Ebanja, and we were pulled over by guys with AK-47 rifles strapped over their shoulders," Malcom says. "I had been there for only 20 minutes, and I was already freaking out. Daddy Ebanja eventually offered them enough money, and they released us. Those stops were pretty normal, though. Whenever I rode with Mommy Ebanja, she would just speed through them, and I always thought, what would happen if they just shot at the car? And while I was there, a man was shot and killed after arguing about having to pay money to pass."

In Tiko, the Ebanjas' home, Malcom was able to experience Cameroon in a way that no vacation could have matched. She helped to prepare local cuisine with the family, and she spent time in Dr. Ebanja's clinic, observing and documenting his many patients. In a country where one-fifth of the population lives on less than $1 a day, a nutritious meal is a luxury and modern medicine is even more so. Even though Dr. Ebanja provides service on a pay-what-you-can basis, patients often turned to his services only after their illness had progressed past its initial stages – having first opted for traditional healers who draw upon the culture's deep faith.

"A mother brought in an infant one day who was having a hard time breathing," Malcom says. "He'd been sick for a month and had cuts all over his body from a traditional healer. He was anemic, had parasites, malaria and a bacterial infection. He died the next day. That was hard for me to deal with. I felt so angry because Dr. Ebanja doesn't charge if a person can't afford it, and the child would have been treated had he been brought in sooner."

Dr. Ebanja's ability to provide medical services was further complicated by issues surrounding his clinic. The aged property was poorly equipped to serve as a medical facility, even by Cameroonian standards, and its owners were increasingly pressuring him to find a new location. He had started construction on a new building, but without private donors, his open practice wasn't generating enough money to pay for everything.

By the end of her visit, Malcom felt guilty about even having the option of leaving. She had been introduced to the Cameroonian word ashia, used frequently by those she'd met in Tiko, but a word without an English equivalent. When we use the word sorry, we often mean, "Sorry, but there's nothing I can do." Ashia means "sorry and," as in "I'm sorry, and I'll help you."

When Malcom returned to DePauw, she began editing the video footage she filmed during her trip, turning it into a short documentary. "I named it The Ashia Project to say, yes, I saw this, and now I'm showing other people to try to help," she says.

As she was piecing together the documentary, Malcom began to think of other ways she might be able to help the Ebanjas. When Ambassadors for Children (AFC) founder Sally Brown visited campus, Malcom approached her to ask for advice. Brown, impressed with Malcom's commitment to the issue, helped make The Ashia Project (TAP) an official chapter of AFC. With AFC's support, Malcom incorporated TAP as a nonprofit, and her goal became to find enough money – $400,000 – to finish the clinic that Dr. Ebanja started.

As the scope of TAP grew, Malcom sought help from others in order to make the fledgling nonprofit look and operate like a respectable organization. She modeled some of her own goals on the experiences of Sharon M. Crary, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry who has done service work with Lacor Hospital in northern Uganda.

"I found it to be almost overwhelmingly difficult to complete the foundational work necessary to allow U.S. citizens to contribute to improving the healthcare of children in the neediest communities abroad," Crary says. "However, Tia seems to have conquered this obstacle with ease. She jumped at an opportunity that she saw to collaborate with Ambassadors for Children, and she has successfully achieved nonprofit status for her Ashia Project. ... The persistence with which Tia continues to care about and act in support of the people she met in Cameroon is truly remarkable to me."

Senior Carolyn M. Tubekis, a Bonner Scholar and studio art and English writing double major, has helped Malcom with the creation of marketing materials, such as TAP's Web site, brochures, new videos and the organization's logo. During TAP's first on-campus event, held during Old Gold Weekend 2009, parts of the logo were decorated by DePauw students and professors.

"It is exciting for me to see The Ashia Project taking on such an artistic look," Tubekis says. "It's a way I can relate naturally to the cause, and after seeing DePauw students getting really into their logo pieces, I see that artistic expression is a wonderful way to get new people connected as well."

TAP's first major event, planned for spring 2010 in Indianapolis, will officially launch the fundraising efforts for the new clinic. Malcom isn't certain she'll meet the goal she set, but without being asked she has already accomplished a great deal. In fact, the Ebanjas continually insist that she not neglect her studies. But ashia, the word and the project, have become part of who Malcom wants to be.

"I always felt like becoming a doctor was my ultimate goal," she says. "Now I feel like it's just another step toward what I want to do with my life."

Read more about The Ashia Project at its Web site, www.theashiaproject.org.

Video Blitz at Prindle

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

It's a Friday night, and you're in college. What are you doing?

If your answer is, "I'm at a campfire, eating dinner and s'mores while debating the points of a TEDTalk," you probably already know about Video Blitz, a monthly event hosted by the ethics interns at DePauw's Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics. If not, the next two Blitzes at 6 p.m. on Oct. 9 and Nov. 12 will give members of the DePauw community a chance to unwind before their weekends begin.

Video Blitz evenings begin with a TEDTalk chosen by the ethics interns. For the unfamiliar, TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, began as a yearly conference devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading." TEDTalks are a selection of 20-minute presentations from sometimes famous, often brilliant speakers, made available to the public on the TED Web site. Among the hundreds of speakers who've given TEDTalks are Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell, who connected happiness and spaghetti sauce, and neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor, who gave a firsthand account of how her brain changed during a stroke. The September Video Blitz featured a talk by journalist Carl Honore, an advocate for doing things more slowly.

"If you think about how we try to make things better, we speed them up," Honore mused in his TEDTalk. "We used to dial, now we speed dial; we used to read, now we speed read; we used to walk, now we speed walk and, of course, we used to date, now we speed date. ... We're so marinated in the culture of speed that we almost fail to notice the toll it takes on every aspect of our lives. On our health, our diet, our work, our relationships, the environment and our community. And sometimes it takes a wake-up call to alert us to the fact that we're hurrying through our lives, instead of actually living them; that we're living the fast life, instead of the good life."

Following the TEDTalk, attendees discuss the topic over dinner and a campfire dessert in Prindle's Nature Park setting. Junior Matthew T. Brauer, who attended the September Blitz, had a different take on the hurried nature of college life.

"I'm not sure it's always so much about slowness as it is about purposeful activity," he says. "It's worth stepping back and asking yourself, why am I doing what I am doing? Is it simply to be busy because that is a habit I've developed, or I am busy because I am passionate about the things I am doing? If you are dedicated to something, you may spend a lot of time on it, but you won't rush through it; and it will be both more workable and more rewarding."

For Brauer, the event provided a good way to slow down while reflecting the University's emphasis on intellectual engagement.

"It was a good chance to do something thoughtful, but also relaxing - a good discussion for its own sake, outside of the classroom," Brauer says. "I thought it was really telling that DePauw students were willing to come out to the Prindle Institute on a Friday night and take some time to have a discussion with a purpose and get to know some new people. President Casey has been talking a lot about intellectual engagement, and I think we want that. This is a great example of a way to make that a reality, and it shows that students will respond."

"We wanted the discussions to be student-run," says lead ethics intern Hallie M. Moberg '11, who organizes the events with five other undergraduate interns. "Professors may know a lot about many of the topics we feature, but we wanted an environment where all participants could be open with their thoughts."

Organizers have arranged for shuttles to leave from the Hub food court in the Memorial Student Union Building, beginning at 5:40 p.m. "Prindle may not be on campus, but transportation and a way to get there should never be an issue for students," Moberg says. The ethics interns are all certified drivers of their own vehicles and of the Safe Ride van, so transportation is always available for the Video Blitzes as well as for all events at the Prindle Institute.

"I think students want to talk about issues that are important in their lives and in the world, but there's not always a venue to do so," Moberg adds. "The Prindle Institute is always there for students. It's a place where students can go for an event such as Video Blitzes, or even to get away from the business of campus to reflect on everything."

For more information about the event or transportation to and from the Prindle Institute, e-mail prindleinstitute@depauw.edu with your questions. The event is free and open to all.

Professor Dave Berque

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Dave Berque, professor and chair of computer science and Tenzer Family University Professor in Instructional Technology, has quite a few feathers in his mortarboard. He was named 1997 U.S. Baccalaureate Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and received a 2007 Mira Award for Education Contribution in Technology. He has received more than $1 million in external grant funding, much of it used to support research that involved DePauw students. He also holds three patents—two computer science-related and one for a clamp used for stringing tennis racquets—and has performed stand up at a comedy club.

It's possible that many of those things wouldn't have happened had it not been for a fire.

"When I was a graduate student, I was teaching a course with more than 100 students," Berque recalls. "The course dealt with very technical content that I would write on the blackboards at the front of the room. Most of the time, everyone would be so busy taking notes that they couldn't pay attention to what was going on. One day, four or five weeks into the class, there were seven students who had their hands in the air at the same time. I was excited that they wanted to ask something. But when I called on one of them, he pointed up at the ceiling and said, ‘I don't have a question. I just want to let you know that the lights are on fire.' There were literally flames coming out of the light fixtures. Later, I realized that I was in a room with more than 100 people, that the room was on fire and only seven people noticed it. And I wasn't one of them. I was so busy copying technical content onto that board, and they were so busy copying it into their notebooks that we weren't even aware of the environment, let alone thinking about the material we were studying. That got me thinking about how technology could be used to enhance the classroom dynamic."

Hired by DePauw in 1992, Berque started work on DEBBIE (DePauw Electronic BlackBoard for Interactive Education), an electronic, collaborative notetaking and classroom interaction system that would replace paper in the classroom. The system allowed teachers to share notes electronically with every student in the class, eliminating the note-taking tedium that distracted Berque's students from engaging with the course material. "The vision was always that every student would have a computer during class someday," Berque says. Without an established hardware platform—in 1992, computers weren't standard in every classroom, let alone pen-based computers for each student—the approach went through multiple prototypes, including one that used light pens that could be used to write on standard LCD displays. Over time, more and more interactive features were added to the software—features that enabled students and faculty members to engage each other in multiple ways during class.

"One of the things that has been really good about working at DePauw is that if I wanted to try something that was experimental, I could," Berque says. "People have been willing to let me use facilities to try new things, and colleagues have tested experimental ideas in their own classrooms. A lot of those experiments have paid off. And when the ideas did not work, I always got plenty of constructive criticism."

About 10 years ago, it became clear that Tablet PCs (pen-based laptops) would become an affordable classroom computing platform, and, through several grants from Hewlett-Packard, Berque's work eventually began to take advantage of the pen-sensitive laptops.

In 2003 Indianapolis-based DyKnow was founded to enhance, extend and commercialize the prototypes that had been developed at DePauw. The result was DyKnow Vision, a software package that is now used in classrooms at DePauw and around the world. Berque serves as a consultant to DyKnow helping with pedagogical and software design issues that arise, and several DePauw graduates work at the company, including founder and CEO David B. Becker '75.

Berque first became interested in computer science as a pre-med student. "I was told that computers were becoming more important in medicine, so I took a class because I didn't have a background with them. I just loved the computer science course, and I had to drag myself away from it to do my other work. At some point I thought, why should I drag myself away from something I enjoy and I'm good at? Why not just study what I like? So, I decided to major in computer science instead of pursuing pre-medical requirements."

"The college that I attended had a saying: If you came to the school knowing what you wanted to major in and hadn't at least seriously questioned it before you left, then the school wasn't doing its job," Berque says. "It was OK to question your major and come back to it, but it was part of the liberal arts experience to explore."

That notion shaped Berque as a student and again as a professor known for integrating other disciplines into his courses. He and Professor of Psychology Terri L. Bonebright, with whom he collaborates on his educational technology research, developed a first-year seminar together called The Science of Design, which examines the design of everything from doorknobs to software interfaces. ("In a perfect world, I would really love to go back to school to study psychology," Berque says.) Another of Berque's courses on human-computer interaction—his area of specialty—fuses computer science, psychology and several other disciplines.

"Computer science is a great field for people who are interested in the liberal arts because most of the time you're connecting the discipline to something else," Berque says. "I definitely encourage students to explore around the boundaries."

Just as Berque has encouraged his students to survey other disciplines, the computer science department has made sure that the major is open to all students, regardless of their initial level of experience.

"There are some schools where you can only be successful in the major if you've already started down that path before coming to college," Berque says. "We're very careful to have an introductory course here that's open to all students. Computer science isn't about playing computer games or using Internet technology—it's about problem solving and critical thinking in the context of developing solutions to a wide range of fascinating problems. Anyone can begin the study of this at DePauw because their previous technology background really is not an issue."

An approach to education that is based on problem solving and critical thinking, Berque believes, is what prepares students for success in any field.

"The one thing we can be pretty sure about the world is that it will continue to change," he says. "There's no way a student is going to leave college having the exact information they need to be equipped for the rest of their lives. The only way students can be prepared for the future is to learn how to continually grow and how to critically analyze the new things they come across, so they can solve problems that have not even been formulated yet."

Meet Steve

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Steve Langerud, the University's director of career development, thinks that students need to re-frame their approach to finding a career. "Instead of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?' I ask, ‘where can you do what you do well and care most deeply about?'" he says.

It's a strategy that Langerud has used before. He recently served as assistant dean for University of Iowa's College of Law, where he helped students and alumni find rewarding work in the face of intimidating personal debt. "They ask me if they can work somewhere where they don't have to sell their souls," he told the National Law Journal in 2007. His work as an organizational development consultant—a business he still operates—gave Langerud the credibility to answer that question. In his work, he has spoken with countless people who were discontent with their careers because those individuals had only asked themselves what they wanted to be and not what they wanted to do.

"My job, I think, is to prevent a mid-life crisis by getting students to think about these things now," Langerud says.

To that end, Langerud can expect plenty of support at DePauw. In 2008 President Brian W. Casey said that the University would "rise and fall on the strength of its intellectual life." Casey began an ongoing conversation with the faculty, encouraging them to seek ways to spread intellectual curiosity beyond the walls of the classroom. These discussions, Langerud believes, also speak to the strength of a liberal arts education: clarifying to students the depth, breadth and value of their talents.

"There are professional bloggers and experts on green energy now, jobs that couldn't have existed until recently," Langerud says. "A liberal arts education teaches students to make connections between their education and the things they'll learn in their professional lives—the Internet and writing, or climate issues and health—and adapt as the market changes."

The number options available to liberal arts students shouldn't be paralyzing, however. "Some students are interested in so many things that they have a hard time deciding on a career path that they feel will last the rest of their lives," Langerud says. "They think to themselves, I don't know what it is I want to do, so I'll wait until I do to talk with somebody. But when they are most confused is exactly the time when we should sit down and talk. We can help students discern that path and develop a plan."

In order to accommodate students with busy class schedules, Langerud and Assistant Director of Career Services Erin A. Mahoney '86 welcome Tuesday and Wednesday walk-in appointments at the Career Center (304 Harrison Hall). So far, Langerud says he's been pleased with the number of word-of-mouth referrals, and he hopes that every DePauw student visits the Career Services Center at least once.

The Career Services Center has also planned a series of Thursday brown bag workshops, walk-in appointments and fairs at the Memorial Student Union Building. On Thursday, Oct. 8, representatives from more than 40 organizations will be in attendance at the Career Exploration Day Fair, held in the Student Union ballroom from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. More information about upcoming workshops and events can be found on the Career Services Web site.

Steve's Tips

Langerud offers three tips for students who are looking to succeed in the job market:

1) Use social media to create a professional identity.

One of the most difficult transitions is from student to professional, but social media makes it easy to establish yourself within a new profession.

Establish a LinkedIn page. Professionals don't exchange résumés - they connect on LinkedIn. You can present the same information as your résumé with a more easily digested, dynamic and professional tool that's always a mouse click away.
Determine which books and magazines professionals in your field are reading and read them! Be aware of the key issues, trends and developments that will help you identify leaders in your field.
Identify and actively participate in professional blogs. It is a quick way to establish yourself and learn about a profession.

2) Develop professional relationships with your new DePauw family.

Nepotism is good! Specifically, use alumni as resources to develop professional relationships. Although some students are reticent to approach alumni because they feel alumni may be too busy, important or intimidating, nothing could be further from the truth! Here is what we know about all people:

Everyone loves to talk about themselves.
Everyone is proud of their work ... and wants to talk about it.
Everyone wants to help a young person.

Your approach should be to engage alumni and other professional contacts so that they can do these three things for you. The outcomes include learning about a new professional field, establishing a new relationship that you can turn to for support, and finally, accessing job or internship opportunities that you simply would not have without this relationship.

3) Get some experience!

Aristotle said, "What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing," while Woody Allen noted that "80 percent of success is just showing up." Experience is where Aristotle and Allen meet. At DePauw, we just know that experience matters.

DePauw offers students a menu of experiential opportunities to "show up and do" that is unmatched by other colleges. Whether through internships, Winter Term service trips or independent research projects, DePauw students are pushed to explore their passions, reflect on the meaning of their experience and create their own path. Furthermore, these experiences are what graduate schools and employers look at as proof of a liberal arts education.