New ISO Music Director from Poland

Conductor Krzysztof Urbański (pictured) becomes the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s seventh Music Director effective 1 September 2011, according to an announcement today by the ISO. At age 28, he is the youngest music director among major orchestras in the United States. Urbański will return to Indianapolis to conduct in concerts on 20 and 21 May, and will lead the ISO in its Opening Night Gala in September 2011.

In April of 2010, Urbański made his U.S. debut with the Indianapolis Symphony and returned for a second visit during Marsh Symphony on the Prairie in June. In September, the ISO’s search committee unanimously voted to appoint Mr. Urbański to the post, and the ISO musicians overwhelmingly supported the recommendation.

Urbański graduated from the Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in 2007, and in the same year, was the unanimous First Prize Winner of the Prague Spring International Conducting Competition. He works regularly with all the major Polish orchestras, including Sinfonia Varsovia, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra and served as Assistant Conductor to the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra from 2007-2009.

Urbański, who was born in Pabianice, Poland, and his wife Joanna currently reside just outside Warsaw. He will become an Adjunct Professor of Music (Orchestral Conducting) at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music when his tenure with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra begins in 2011.

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Purdue's Global 4-H

Indiana 4-H Global Programs sent two groups of students to Poland and Japan, while students from Japan visited Indiana.

The program has held a partnership with Meiji Gakuin High School in Tokyo, Japan for nearly 30 years. Ann Williams, an extension educator for DeKalb County, and Tiffany Henson, a 4-H'er from Dearborn County, left for Japan on 15 July for a three-week stay.

Williams and Henson are learning about the Japanese education system and culture. Williams is living with a high school teacher, and Henson is staying in a high school student’s home.

While Williams and Henson tour Japan, 21 students from Japan are visiting Indiana to learn about culture and 4-H programs during their 3-week visit to 19 counties. The Japanese youth arrived on 21 July and are staying in the homes of 4-H families.

Global 4-H Programming also has maintained a six-year partnership with part of southern Poland. This summer, three adult representatives and 13 Indiana 4-H youth visited Poland for three weeks. The group learned about the 4-H system in Poland, lived with Polish families and toured cultural sites and cities.

To date, 58 people from Indiana have visited Poland through this program. Next year students from Poland will visit Indiana.

For more information on Global 4-H programs, email Lee Stanish.

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Students Participate in US-Polish Exchange

The first 15 high school students from Poland arrived in the United States last weekend under the U.S.-Poland Parliamentary Youth Exchange Program established by U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R.-IN).

The program sets up academic exchanges for American and Polish secondary students under 19 years old who have been accepted for up to one academic year of study abroad in a credit-approved program.

Unfortunately for Indiana, they're not coming to the Hoosier state.

The first three weeks the Polish students are in the U.S., they will live with American families in either Des Moines, Ia., or Chicago, Ill. They will attend a local high school for two weeks, followed by a one-week internship with a civic organization or in the office of a local government leader. The fourth week will be spent in Washington, D.C. at a week-long Civic Education Workshop.

After the Polish students have completed their program, 15 American students and two educators from the same U.S. schools will fly to Poland to participate in a similar four-week program. The exchange culminates in a week-long summer camp that will bring the American and Polish students and educators together.

According to Lugar's office, the senator has consistently advocated for student exchange programs. He authored the legislation that established the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, which provides 250 full scholarships annually for American high school students to live with a host family and attend school in Germany for a year.

Additionally, Lugar and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) laid the groundwork for the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the State Department, which hosts more than 300 international students from countries including Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Turkey.

For more information, contact Mark Hayes, 202:224-8370.

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UIndy Basketball Star Named MVP in Poland

Former University of Indianapolis superstar David Logan (pictured) was recently named the Most Valuable Player of Poland's Dominet Banke Ekstraliga basketball league, reports the UIndy news bureau.

His phenomenal campaign, which also included an All-Star team nod, was highlighted by his team's advancement to the Finals, where it eventually fell to five-time defending champion Prokom Trefl Sopot.

The 6-1 guard has spent three years playing professionally in Europe. He originally signed with Edimes Pavia in the Italian League, averaging 17.1 points per game in 12 contests with the club. He then went on to Ramat-Hasharon in Turkey, where he played in 22 contests and averaged 15.4 points per game. He has played in Poland the past two seasons, playing for Polphamra-Pakmet Starogard before his stint with the Turow squad.

The Indianapolis native compiled 2,352 points in his fabulous career at UIndy.

Polish Academy of Sciences Honors IUPUI Prof

The Polish Academy of Sciences held an international conference on dynamical systems last week in honor of Michal Misiurewicz (pictured).

The professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of dynamical systems, reports the IUPUI News Bureau.

The conference, held 30 June - 5 July in Bedlewo, Poland, brought together participants from more than 50 universities in 20 countries. Dynamical systems is the study of change, ranging from the regular motion of a planet's orbit around the sun to the chaotic long term behavior of weather models.

Misiurewicz received his doctorate in 1974 from Warsaw University and taught there until 1990. He came to IUPUI in 1992.

Kimball Electronics Expands in Poland

Kimball Electronics Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Kimball International, Inc., has announced that the company's Kimball Electronics-Poland facility has been awarded a major new business program to manufacture automotive steering systems for the European market.

Kimball Electronics Group is a global contract electronics manufacturing services company that specializes in durable electronics with applications in the automotive, medical, industrial controls, and public safety industries.

Kimball International, based in Jasper, Ind., has manufacturing operations in the U.S., Mexico, Thailand, Poland, Wales, Ireland, and China.