Students experience D.C.
WASHINGTON – Junior Mia Counts got a new ID card this semester – not from Card Services on campus, but for the Pentagon Building in Washington D.C. Courts is one of 10 Notre Dame students participating in the Washington Program, a semester-long experience working, studying and living in Washington D.C. The alternative study abroad program is designed for student with specific interest in politics or journalism, and it plunges them into the heart of current affairs in the capital. “[The Washington Program] definitely thrusts you right into the middle of everything,” Counts said. “We’re not in the ‘Notre Dame bubble,’ and you can really tell because everything is in the city. It’s a good experience.” Each student in the program splits his or her time between an internship and coursework. Counts works more than 25 hours each week in the Pentagon with the AFPAK Hands program, a counter insurgency initiative run by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that works to build diplomatic relationships in the Middle East. “I’m definitely getting a different perspective on what the media tells you on what is going on over there,” she said. On Sunday night, Counts sat in one of the apartments that house Notre Dame students near Woodley Park with some of the other students in the program. They cooked dinner, watched football and talked about the presidential inauguration to happen the next day outside the U.S. Capitol Building just a few Metro stops from their home. “[The inauguration] is something that only happens every four years. … I just think it’s an incredible opportunity when you’re studying this. It’s history in the making,” Counts said. Sophomore Matt Mleczko will be among the crowd on the National Mall today. “It’ll be really neat because I remember where I was four years ago, the last inauguration,” he said. “The 2008 campaign was when I started getting into politics and to think how far I’ve come in four years – I was in algebra II class the last inauguration, and now I’m here.” Mleczko said he hopes to see President Barack Obama deliver an inaugural address that acknowledges the need to overcome bipartisanship. “Political speeches like this [are] breeding grounds for overly idealistic language, and we all celebrate speeches like that, and the next day we go back to bashing each other in Congress … I hope we can go forward after this and start seeing some action and start seeing some change after this,” he said. Despite the political divide that characterizes Washington D.C., Mleczko said Inauguration Day is a chance to set those differences aside. “People are really frustrated and are tired of what’s going on in politics, but it’s neat that people can kind of come together and be excited for this event,” he said. “My friend I’m going with is probably the most opposite political ideology you can have from me, but we’re still going together.” Junior Brian Vogt received a ticket to the inauguration through his internship in the office of Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. The experience of living and working in the capital, Vogt said, is an eye-opening look at how politics works. “You can learn a lot about how the government works from a textbook, but until you actually see what happens, there’s a big different between those two things,” Vogt said. As a new Congress begins its work after an election, Vogt said he found the influence of voters’ opinions and fundraising to be striking on the Hill. “I think everyone for the most part on Capitol Hill has good intentions and wants to do good things,” he said. “But the issue is they have to get reelected every six years, every four years, and when you have that pressure … getting reelected, keeping that job, that really influences their everyday life to an unbelievable extent.” The Washington Program attracted Vogt, a finance major, despite his lack of interest in a political career. “I really thought [the Washington Program] would be a good opportunity to see what you’re going to be up against if you run your own company or if you’re in the business world,” Vogt said. Mleczko, however, said his semester in the district is “a test run” for the kind of career he might pursue in advocacy or policy work. He is currently interning with a small advocacy group that deals with low-income programs, and his internship work will closely monitor the debates on budget and spending cuts. “Speaking from someone that’s really interested and passionate about politics, you’re right in the middle of everything going on,” Mleczko said. “What you’re reading in the papers is happening just blocks away from you, and that’s something really cool.” The day before the presidential inauguration, junior Wendy Hatch was indeed standing just blocks away from the site of today’s events. She sat at a table in front near the National Mall, passing out buttons and flyers for C-SPAN to promote the network’s Inauguration Day election coverage. As an intern in the international division of C-SPAN, Hatch said she is hoping to build experience for a future career in global politics and government work. “It’s a great way to learn a different side of politics,” she said. “You learn things [at C-SPAN] … that you wouldn’t necessarily learn in the classroom or interning on the Hill.” On her way to work, Hatch walks past the Capitol. Today, she and her friends in the Washington Program will stand in front of that same building to see Obama publicly swear his oath of office. “It’s cool to live through it and not have to watch it on the news,” Counts said, “To actually be right in the middle of it.”
A team of Saint Mary’s students participated in the 11th annual St. Margaret’s House Winter Walk on Sunday, a one-mile fundraising event intended to raise awareness and improve the lives of local women struggling with poverty.Founded in 1990, St. Margaret’s House launched celebrations for its 25th anniversary with the Winter Walk this weekend, Saint Mary’s team organizer and senior Sarah Hossfeld said.“St. Margaret’s House provides each individual with attention, helping to break the bonds of isolation, empower them and encourage them to find their strengths rather than be defined by their current struggles,” she said.According to the St. Margaret’s House website, the house “is a safe, hospitable place where women and children can receive a hot meal, clothing and help to discover their gifts, learn new skills and create a better life for themselves and their families.”“The purpose of the St. Margaret’s House Winter Walk is to walk a mile in solidarity with the women and children of St. Margaret’s House, whose everyday means of transportation is their feet, in any kind of weather,” Hossfeld said. “It is also the largest fundraiser of the year for St. Margaret’s House.”It is important for members of the Saint Mary’s and greater South Bend communities to participate in the walk in order to demonstrate local love and support toward the guests, Hossfeld said.“The guests of of St. Margaret’s House are all wonderful people who have hit a hard time in their lives, and I think that it is really important for people to see that,” she said. “Walking shows our support for the guests and allows the staff of St. Margaret’s House to continue doing the great work that it does.”People often distance themselves from what happens in the world around them, but Hossfeld said participating in the walk has the potential to open their eyes to the struggles of others.“Walking a mile on a cold winter day can really put things in perspective as we complain about scraping our cars off in the morning or walk from Le Mans to Madeleva for class at 9 a.m.,” Hossfeld said.The Winter Walk also honors Sr. Agnes Anne Roberts, who served on the Board of Directors for several years and participated as the first honorary chair for the walk, she said. A participant for the past seven years, Roberts is also known as the top walker and captain of the Sisters of the Holy Cross walk team.“She has brought so much to our organization: insight, advice, a closer collaborative relationship with Saint Mary’s College and the Sisters of the Holy Cross,” Hossfeld said. “Her role as an advisor has been crucial over the last several years as we have experienced tremendous growth.”Tags: Sisters of the Holy Cross, Sr. Agnes Anne Roberts, St. Margaret’s House, Winter Walk
Members of the first Class Council at Saint Mary’s will be announced this week. The Class Council will take the place of Class Boards, Brittany House, director of student involvement, said in an email. The Class Council will hold the same responsibility of building class community through organizing events, programs and parent weekends, similar to the current duties of the Class Boards, House said. The decision to restructure Class Boards into Class Councils was made in collaboration with current Class Board presidents and vice presidents.“The current Class Board presidents and vice presidents saw a need for change, and I worked very closely with them, as their adviser, to develop the new structure and utilized their feedback, in addition to benchmarking, to determine the new structure,” she said.The four Class Boards each had different numbers and arrangements of members, she said. The new Class Council will consist of nine members, including two representatives from each class, and an additional representative from the senior class who will be the president of the overall council, House said.In order to avoid confusion with the previously existing structure, benchmarking was conducted to determine a new name for the restructured Class Board, House said. The process determined that many schools with a similar group use the name ‘council,’ and the name was applied to the group at Saint Mary’s.“The hope is the new structure will provide more cohesion among the council, a higher level of accountability for all council representatives and a smoother transition for the first-year class representatives,” she said. “The new Class Council selection process follows the same guidelines as the other ‘big boards’ of Student Activities Board, Student Diversity Board and Residence Hall Association.”Applications for Class Council Representatives and Class Council President were due March 22. According to the application on OrgSync, positions for these ‘big boards’ cannot run as tickets. Applicants need to have a 2.5 GPA or higher and be in good academic and social standing with the College. The newly-selected members will move onto campus early this fall to prepare for the 2016-17 school year.Tags: Class Board, Class Council, SMC
The construction and renovation of the new Angela Athletic and Wellness Complex will begin next week, vice president for student affairs Karen Johnson said in an email Monday to students. The project is expected to be completed fall of 2017.According to Johnson, Angela will close May 16, and there will be no access to fitness equipment — including the indoor running track — until the project is complete. She said there will be limited fitness equipment available on campus, but the location has not yet been determined.Some fitness classes and recreation activities will still be held in Angela during the academic year, and the volleyball and basketball teams will continue to practice and play in Angela during renovation.Johnson said the majority of the athletic department offices will move to Dalloway’s Clubhouse, but all phone numbers will remain the same. Sarah Miesle, sports information director, and Diane Carter, administrative assistant, will relocate their offices to McCandless Hall.Tags: Angela Athletic and Wellness Facility, SMC Basketball, SMC volleyb
In 1981, Bay Buchanan was appointed as the youngest treasurer in American history, serving under President Ronald Reagan. Buchanan spoke Wednesday at Saint Mary’s, criticizing political correctness and emphasizing the importance of political debate.Buchanan said she has seen a tendency for people on the left to work to empower women, but only when those women have the same point of view as them.“You cannot have it both ways,” she said. “You cannot call on all women to be bold, to stand up, to be heard, not to be afraid, that this is your human right, and then to say that if you disagree with what we think is right, we are going to do everything we can to quiet you, to intimidate you, to call you names that are so offensive that you would never want to move forward and be someone who speaks out.”According to Buchanan, political correctness has impeded debates from taking place in America in recent decades.“Political correctness became the strategy of the left,” she said. “Political correctness is a strategy. It is deliberately imposed out there to quiet the opposing team, to keep you from speaking. From not debating the issue, not recognizing two sides. Not for the American people to hear what I have to say and then what a liberal might have to say and debate it and have them decide on their own.”Buchanan said it is important for everyone to strive towards being a leader in life.“Everyone should have those abilities to stand up for what is right, no matter where you are and what the pressure is,” she said. “We need people who are willing to fight for what’s right.”Buchanan said this fight is extremely difficult at times.“You have to put yourself in the position where you are having to start to build the kind of courage and fortitude that allows you to know that when the time is tough, you’ll do it,” she said.Buchanan said being a leader starts by debating, which she said is an important freedom for Americans that has been underutilized.“You want to discuss the issue, let’s discuss the issue,” she said. “Tell me why you have your position. I respect that people disagree with me. … Legitimate debate: That is what is needed in America. Then the frustrations don’t build up. It is key to our nation to have people’s opinions out there — free exchange.”Buchanan said political issues are not being addressed fully because the leaders in Washington, D.C. are not focusing on the actual issues, making them poor leaders.“We don’t have the leaders in this country we need,” she said. “The reason is they’re intimidated, they’re hesitant. They’re so afraid of losing that cushy little job of theirs that they will not take on the tough issues. … What is number one in their life is not the country, but keeping their job. ”According to Buchanan, empowerment involves learning your personal views on issues.“What is empowerment if not being able to discern for yourselves what it is you believe,” she said. “What do you think is right? What do you think a community should move towards, what policies are good for this nation, for your family, for you communities? What is right? What is important to you? And then to be able to be as vocal as you want with anyone whom you are and not have consequences that would make you feel intimidated or hesitant to be bold.“This is empowerment.”Tags: Bay Buchanan, Debate, political correctness, Reagan, treasurer
Michael Yu | The Observer The Fall Career Expo provides opportunities for students of all years to interact with and make an impression on potential employers.Gray said the fair acts as a mutual opportunity for both the students and the employers. Students are given the chance to practice important networking skills and employers are given the opportunity to talk more about their brand, she said.LoriAnn Edinborough, director of employer relations at the Career Center, said 85 companies come back the day after the fair to conduct interviews. “Every company that’s coming has an intention of recruiting Notre Dame students,” she said. “It’s a very successful tool in the whole recruitment sources.”Edinborough said the goal of her team is to ensure that employers feel welcome and have everything they need to start recruiting. She said for students, coming to the Career Expo is all about looking to the future. For this reason, the fair is not exclusively for juniors and seniors and she said she would encourage freshmen and sophomores to attend. “A lot of times freshmen will be unsure of how to approach an employer,” Edinborough said. “They certainly still need to do their research and understand the companies that they’re going to visit. Really, for a freshman, it’s really about reaching out and finding out what they should do in the next couple of years to make them great candidates for that company.”Associate vice president of career and professional development Ryan Willerton said the process of networking at the Career Fair can be broken down into three stages: meeting with a representative, interviews and a follow-up.“This is a first-impression, a first-opportunity to learn about companies,” he said. “To gain more insight about their opportunities. So those first seven seconds are critical. That really sets the tone. You want to be memorable, you want a recruiter to recognize your name.”Gray said aside from the Career Expo, the Career Center offers other resources that could help a student with their career search, such as resume reviews, interview preparation and IrishCompass, a new networking platform that connects students with alumni.“I think realizing that when you’re looking at your career development, it is not just one task. There are so many other things students can do,” Gray said. “It’s really important to look at that as a whole and not just one task at a time.”Willerton said for seniors who are worried about getting a job after graduation, it is never too late. He said the trick is not approaching the Career Expo or a pending graduation as a task. Instead, he said, students should concentrate on not just finding a job, but finding a passion.“This isn’t a transactional ‘go to the Career Fair, find a job, graduate, start in the work world,’” he said. “This is more of a transformation experience and the Career Fair is one piece of the puzzle.“It’s positioning themselves in roles, in opportunities that could really help them find success, meaning and impact in their lives. That’s the goal.”Tags: Career Center, jobs, networking, Seniors Students — from freshmen to seniors — will be donning their nicest suits and blazers Wednesday for the Fall Career Expo.The event will have a new location this year — Notre Dame Stadium, where students will network with company representatives in the concourse. The fair will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Julie Gray, associate director of career operations at the Career Center, said 242 companies will be present for the event. “Throughout the entire summer, we’re talking to employers working on logistics, working on set-up,” she said. “We generally start almost at the end of the previous year, so [in] May [we’re] sending out invitations. As soon as we can get a date booked that’s when we start reaching out to employers.”
Notre Dame student filmmakers were in the spotlight this weekend with the Film, Television and Theater (FTT) department’s 29th annual showcase of the Student Film Festival. The showings took place Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC).The festival was a representation of work from the fall semester from students enrolled in documentary, film fiction and production classes. The FTT department then selected certain movies to be featured in the festival.Rosie LoVoi Student filmmaker senior Grace Weissend recognizes the importance of the festival as an outlet for students to express creativity in the form of media. However, the students experienced multiple restraints during the process of shooting and editing the films.“There are certain limitations that come from making a student film and it’s impressive to see what students can do with these limitations in terms of budget, equipment, actors and time,” Weissend said. “It takes so much time to even make a short film.”The film festival also provided students with the opportunity to share their voices about controversial topics on campus and internationally. “It’s great to hear student perspectives on issues and hear student voices and stories,” Weissend said. “I think that’s something really empowering about the Student Film Festival.”Weissend’s film is a fictional narrative that is based on her own experience of her high school boyfriend breaking up with her in a fast-food restaurant. In addition to Weissend’s comedic flick, the festival also featured documentaries, dramas and silent films. During the preliminary screenings to choose the festival’s pieces, FTT professors placed emphasis on quality but also the scope of works.Editor’s note: Grace Weissend is a Scene writer for The Observer.Sophomore filmmaker Eileen DiPofi said that the festival is designed to allow students to explore an unchartered territory of innovation and creation.“There are a lot of creative people in the FTT department so it’s a cool way for us as students to share our voice in a way we don’t get to as often,” DiPofi said. “It’s important to hear the next generation of potential filmmakers and it’s excellent that the University provides the opportunity to share our opinions and experiment with something new.”DiPofi’s film “Smoke Break” is a silent film that equipped her with foundational knowledge to move forward in her filmmaking career. “This is the first time for me making a film so I just want to play with new things,” DiPofi said. “I wanted to see what techniques would elicit an audience. It’s exciting to hear how people will respond to the film because I’ve never had something I made be on a screen like that. The festival as a whole talks about different topics, but it will be cool for people on campus to see what film majors are doing.”Due to strict deadlines, time limitations played a major role in the production of student films. Student filmmakers senior John Haley and senior Julia Szromba only had four days to shoot footage. They travelled to Texas to interview the focus of their film, an ex-prisoner named Tony. “There was a lot of preparation beforehand contacting Tony, getting flights and funding,” Haley said. “Once we were there, whatever footage we got was all we were going to be able to use. We shot ten hours total of footage at least and when we came back it was all about editing and trying to piece together a story from all the different moments we had.”Haley and Szromba’s film “Respectfully, Tony” discusses Tony’s experience being incarcerated for 39 years with 11 years on death row for murder. Haley and Szromba visited Tony in Texas to talk about his adjustment to the world outside of prison.“The film focuses on the death penalty, but it’s just a portrait of one person,” Szromba said. “We hope it will make people rethink this very difficult issue through this one man. This is not a clear cut case. Our goal is to keep the conversation going.” In addition to the annual film festival, undergraduate students can gain filmmaking experience through the FTT program “First Time Fans.” The program allows Notre Dame alumni to return to campus during a football weekend and work with students to capture the University’s life and spirit. The media and industry club and Fighting Irish Media also further engage students with filmmaking to complement the work done in class. Notre Dame associate professional specialist Ted Mandell noted the crucial role of the audience during the festival and for movie making in general. “You can edit a film all you want but it’s not a film until you show it in front of an audience,” Mandell said. “The audience is critical to understanding how the film is viewed. These films create a time capsule of the University and the creative ideas of students at that time.”Mandell said the goal of the festival is to showcase student work and impact the audience.“You make a film for other people,” he said. “To use art to change our views and the way people see is a powerful tool. Once students graduate they’ll understand that there needs to be a purpose behind it. It’s not about the craft of filmmaking. It’s what you make that matters.”Tags: Film, FTT, Student Film Festival
Notre Dame was well-represented at the second ACCelerate festival, which took place at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C this past weekend. Organized by Virginia Tech and the Smithsonian Institution, the festival was a way for students from the 15 ACC schools to demonstrate their creativity and research at the center of science, engineering, arts and design, according to the statement on the Festival’s website.Deputy director Jeffrey Brodie said the event was a good way to captivate public attention with research.“I love the exchange of ideas between people who get to learn about one another, explore new ideas [and] get exposed to things that they’ve never seen before [and] never heard of before,” Brodie said. Theresa Olohan | The Observer Sophomore Allie Champlin poses with her display as part of the ACCelerate Festival which took place in Washington D.C. from April 5 to April 7 at the National Museum of American History.The 40 projects from the various ACC schools were grouped thematically according to floor in the Smithsonian. The first floor displayed projects about geography and the environment while the second floor was home to projects focused on the health of body, mind and community. The third floor, where the Notre Dame projects were housed, was focused on the intersection of arts and technology.Brodie said he thought the third floor was especially unique.“There’s a misplaced assumption that the rise of technologies displaces the importance and value of aesthetics and the meaning of art in our society. What the projects on that floor really indicate is that one can really enhance the other,” Brodie said, “I think the Notre Dame projects are really important because they’re connecting art and technology to advance a conversation about identity and social health.”Representing Notre Dame, senior visual communications design major Meghan Kozal’s exhibit was based off a final project for her Summer Service Learning Program. The project was designed to summarize her experience working with underprivileged middle school girls in Buffalo, New York.“I worked with the middle school girls that I was directly working with to create the part of the project that I’m displaying. For each of the eight girls, I had them fill out a little paper with some words to describe in more than just a physical description,” Kozal said. “Are they smart? Are they funny? What do they want to be when they grow up? What do they want to do in the future? What are some things theylike doing now?”For her project, Kozal designed silhouettes of each of the girls using these descriptions, the girls’ favorite lines from the program’s daily poem, as well as each of their favorite colors.“I took a picture, did a little outline and illustrator of their silhouette and just filled them with the text and we gave it to them,” Kozal said. “At the end of the summer, each of them got their own framed version.”Even more impressive than the physical exhibition of Kozal’s project was the symbolism behind it. Focusing on individual ownership of identity, the project was designed to empower underprivileged girls and give them the confidence so crucial to their development and education, she said.“Each girl’s ownership of their identity is so central to helping them in their studies,” Kozal said. “The teachers at the middle school want the girls to see that if that’s what they want to do, they can achieve that, and there will be support along the way. My family focused on my education and encouraging me to be whatever I want to be. That’s something I feel like I need to give back or to focus on in the work that I do. Empowering people who might not feel like education is the right route for them or has all of this support for them.”Also representing Notre Dame, sophomore Allie Champlin said she was equally excited about her project and the opportunity to display it in the Smithsonian. Resting atop a white podium was a wired brain Champlin had designed, filled with and surrounded by crumpled paper balls.“My project is a self-portrait in some ways,” Champlin said. “Inside and surrounding the brain are 70 crumpled paper balls which are supposed to represent the 70 thoughts that the average person has in the span of two minutes. The idea is that in the two minutes people stand at my sculpture, they are invited to unravel some of the paper balls and see some of the personal thoughts that I documented.”Deputy director Brodie noted Champlin’s project was special not only for its look but for its ability to draw in and engage those who viewed it.“The sculpture takes a look and includes within it written descriptions about thoughts and feelings. You’re making a very physical representation in a beautiful way about these ideas and what causes the viewer to explore those ideas and think about those ideas in a different way,” Brodie said.Champlin said the significance of her project lies in its ability to draw individuals into a conversation about deeper ideas and thoughts through an exploration of her own mind.“Art is always a way to discover new things about you based on what you create and sort of also using that artistic process to channel your thoughts and your emotions into your work. It’s a means of communicating those thoughts and emotions with other people,” Champlin said.This interactive nature of both Champlin and Kozal’s projects was part of what made the event so special.“It allows the viewers to come to understand it in a different way and invites them into it in a way that just viewing it doesn’t,” Kozal said. “What goals we have or positive traits about ourselves is not the kind of self-reflection that you always do. I hope that in asking people to engage with the project by writing down a goal that they’re working on, maybe that sparks them to take a concrete step in the next few days or weeks towards that goal.”Champlin said she valued the opportunity to watch visitors engage with her piece of its three-day display.“I think the significance of it is in being given the opportunity to share my project with the Smithsonian and so many people is that I can share myself and my thoughts with others.”The collaborative and thought-provoking nature of Kozal and Champlin’s projects truly demonstrates the beauty and ingenuity of the event, he said.“They’re both really wonderful examples of how art and technology come together to express a much deeper, much more important exchange of ideas,” Brodie said. “We have people here today from all over the country, all walks of life, all types of experience [and] ages. We are sharing with them not only really important technologies and creativity addressing really significant challenges in our society, but also we’re creating the opportunity for dialogue and exchange between the public and both the scholars and the younger students who were there to demonstrate their ideas.”Tags: ACCelerate Festival, Art, National Museum of American History, smithsonian, Student Research
Notre Dame was awarded a $42.4 million grant from Lilly Endowment to fund the Labs for Industry Futures and Transformation (LIFT) Network, which the University will use to strengthen and support technology, innovation and workforce development throughout the South Bend and Elkhart region, the University announced in a press release Friday.The Lilly Endowment is an endowment for “promotion and support of religious, educational or charitable purposes,” according to the organization’s website. “We are grateful to Lilly Endowment, which made this day possible, as did its encouragement of the fundamental rethinking that is often needed to respond to new challenges and changing circumstances,” University President Fr. John Jenkins said. “All of us share a common, hopeful vision for our region’s future. We who live and work in the region know that a quiet transformation is underway, and that the Lilly Endowment grant is a powerful catalyst for a brighter, resilient future.”The grant, which will last for five years, will be a collaboration between Notre Dame and the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership (SBERP), in addition to other stakeholders in the region, to “further advance the region as an economic leader in next-generation manufacturing, entrepreneurship, applied analytics and technology,” the release said.The release said leaders in the region want to see a combined $170 investment in the LIFT network. In addition to the original grant money, the Lilly Endowment also has a $4 million matching condition, according to the release.“The South Bend-Elkhart region has important core strengths, including Notre Dame’s extraordinary educational and research capabilities; a strong industrial base, especially the companies and talented employees in the area’s exceptional mobility cluster; and compelling opportunities in diversified sectors such as IT and data analytics,” Rob Smith, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for community development, said. “The LIFT Network will connect and strengthen these assets in ways that will help enhance the quality of life for the people in the region.” The long-term vision of the LIFT network is fourfold, the release said. Goals include improving research, faculty and student knowledge to support innovation in technology and business; educating and training professionals to advance to advanced sectors; ensuring that regional manufacturing companies have the tools they need to become a competitive business worldwide and to develop the region as a whole to become a center of technology and industry, the release said. “Our economic vitality, community leadership, culture of collaboration and optimism for the future are stronger than ever,” Regina Emberton, president and chief executive officer of SBERP, said. “The LIFT Network will link the region’s industrial, academic and technology assets, presenting a transformational opportunity for the ongoing development of the regional economy.”The money from the Lilly Endowment grant will empower the LIFT Network to initiate several projects, the release said. These include creating iNDustry Labs at Innovation Park to provide industry professionals with cutting-edge technology and collaboration with students and faculty; launching innovative research, development and training facilities at sites across the region; establishing applied learning programs in industry fields and introduce the LIFT Catalyst Fund to provide grants to nonprofit organizations and educational organizations to finance projects that promote innovation in the South Bend-Elkhart region.“We believe that the LIFT Network will be a catalyst for workforce and economic development in the region, enabling local employers to be more competitive, adaptive and resilient in an increasingly fast-paced global economy,” Gary Neidig, president of Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Companies, said. “As a LIFT Network member, we welcome iNDustry Labs professionals working with our team to identify areas for innovation and to increase investments in research and development so that new technologies become future opportunities for growth.”Tags: Innovation Park, LIFT Network, lilly endowment
Political science professors David Campbell and Geoffrey Layman drive the same kind of car, live on the same street, co-authored a book and share a love of teasing each other. So when they teamed up for the second time to teach a course covering the current presidential election, they made sure to use their “comedic” relationship to enhance the unique atmosphere of their course. “Because we’re friends and have known each other for a long time, I think that makes the dynamic more fun for the students,” Layman said. “It certainly makes it more comfortable for us.” Their course, “Election 2020,” examines the 2020 presidential election as it unfolds. Campbell and Layman teach the course by framing the election in a historical context and teaching the students how to understand the electoral process through the lens of a political scientist, instead of that of a partisan. And because the course covers content in real time, the professors also incorporate current events into the curriculum.“[We] go deep into the campaign as it happens. Which is, for us as professors, really teaching on a wire without a net,” Campbell said. “An event happens, we don’t necessarily know what that’s going to mean for the campaign, but we want to bring it to the students and talk about it.”Campbell and Layman first taught the course during the 2016 election. They were pleased with how the course went that year and received constructive feedback; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges for the course’s second go-around.Due to the large class size of almost 150 students, it now takes place in the 840-seat Leighton Concert Hall in order to provide enough seating with adequate spacing. “[Leighton Concert Hall] doesn’t lend itself very well to having a discussion about the events of the campaign, so … we’ve added a number of voluntary discussion sessions through Zoom,” Layman said. Instead of having essays written by individuals, the students team up to write group essays. Ahead of the most recent group essay about the Electoral College, Layman and Campbell debated each other in front of the class.“We just had a group essay about the Electoral College, and so professor Layman and professor Campbell did a debate in class where each of them took a side,” Izzy Grassel, a sophomore political science major, said. “That was actually really interesting to watch just because there’s a lot of debate about if the Electoral College should stay or go.” The class typically consists of each professor lecturing once a week. Occasionally, one of the professors will lecture twice in a row if he is more of a specialist in the subject matter, but the course is structured so Layman and Campbell have the same number of lectures throughout the semester. Also included in the course are several days dedicated to discussing current events surrounding the election.“I would say there are maybe four or five days over the course of the semester that are actually on the syllabus as just days when we’ll talk about what’s going on,” Layman said. One of these days addresses the upcoming presidential debate and will allow students to express their thoughts.“We’ll have a whole class just debriefing about the first debate and allowing students to chime in about what they thought and if it will matter,” Layman said. “We’ll set that up by the class before the first debate being all about presidential debates, how they’ve gone in the past, how they worked and what political scientists know about whether they matter.”Grassel said she enrolled in the course to further her interest in politics and become more informed ahead of the first election in which she will be eligible to vote.“The 2016 election really got me into politics in general just because it was an extremely different election. It was one of the first elections I actually paid attention to and it was an interesting situation, especially with the winner of the Electoral College losing the popular vote,” she said. “Also, this is the first election I’ll be voting in and so I just found the whole situation to be super interesting.”The 2020 election has given Grassel a much more complete understanding of components of the electoral process, ranging from Joe Biden’s nomination for his vice presidential candidate to comparing the two national conventions. “I definitely get a better view of both sides of the spectrum,” she said.For Campbell, his goal for the class is to draw students from all areas of study to explore their interest in political science and help them get a better understanding of current events from the perspective of two political scientists. “We’re hoping that this is a class that lots of students can take, and maybe not even political science majors, but students who maybe have an interest in politics but wouldn’t necessarily major in political science,” he said.Campbell hopes that the class will become a staple in the political science department come the fall of every presidential election.“We would like to think of this class as a signature class for the political science department. It’ll be offered every four years, always in the fall of the presidential election year, and we intend to keep it big,” Campbell said. “We want as many students as possible to take this class.” Tags: 2020 presidential election, department of political science, Election 2020, zoom