Dr. Ostrom Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

Indiana University professor Elinor Ostrom has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, an achievement that honors a lifetime of groundbreaking research, teaching, and scholarship.

She is the first woman to win the prize in economics, which has been awarded since 1969. She shares the award with Oliver Williamson, Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus of Business, Economics, and Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ostrom was recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons.

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Lotus Festival: World Music & Arts

The Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, set for 24-27 September in Bloomington, has so much going on it's hard to settle on just one aspect.

For example, here are just some of the performers scheduled to appear:

# Rahim AlHaj / Friday
Virtuoso Iraqi oud

# Bajofondo / Saturday
Electrotango from Argentina

# BLK JKS / Saturday
Psychedelic, Afro-futuristic rock from South Africa

# Cara Dillon / Friday, Saturday
Irish traditional song

# Forro in the Dark / Saturday
Northeastern Brazilian party music

# Hanggai / Saturday, Sunday
Folk music from Inner Mongolia & China

# Huun Huur-Tu & Carmen Rizzo / Friday
Electronica meets throat-singing from Tuva

# Kinobe & Soul Beat Africa / Friday, Saturday
Ugandan song, dance, & drumming

# Srinivas Krishnan & Madras Broadcast / Saturday, Sunday
Indian fusion

# Little Cow / Thursday, Friday
Ska/rock/funk/Gypsy fusion from Hungary

# Los de Abajo / Friday, Saturday
Salsa, punk, and rock from Mexico

# The Megitza Quartet / Friday
Roma and East European world fusion

# Occidental Brothers Dance Band International / Friday
Central & West African dance music

# Orchestra of Tetouan / Friday, Saturday
Traditional vocal & instrumental music of Andalusia & North Africa

# Parno Graszt / Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Hungarian Gypsy music

# Salaam / Saturday
Middle Eastern & North African traditional music

# Väsen / Thursday
Contemporary instrumental folk music from Sweden

# Vishtén / Saturday, Sunday
Acadian traditional music, song, and dance

# Watcha Clan/ Friday, Saturday
Global fusion from France

# The Zolfonoon Ensemble of Iran / Saturday
Classical Persian

Did you know that the festival honors Lotus Dickey (1911-1989)? The folk singer, songwriter, and musician from rural Orange County, Indiana, wrote tunes and songs that drew from his family and community, as well as from country singers and fiddlers he heard on the radio. Each year, the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival honors Lotus Dickey's memory with a set of music or an interactive workshop that introduces new audiences to his music and the old-time traditions of the United States.

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Global Gifts Expands to Bloomington

Indianapolis-based not-for-profit fair trade store Global Gifts is expanding to Bloomington, reports Inside INdiana Business.

The store is expected to open tomorrow (25 August) at 122 North Walnut Street, Bloomington, with grand opening celebrations scheduled from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. 11 and 12 September. The grand opening will include in-store activities, free fair trade coffee and chocolate samples, live music and a ten percent discount on all merchandise. Global Gifts features handcrafted items from 35 different countries.

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Cook Enters Global Partnership With Swiss Company

Bloomington-based Cook Medical has formed an alliance with Switzerland-based LMA Urology Ltd. for the treatment of stone disease, reports Inside INdiana Business. Under terms of the global partnership, Cook will market and distribute a device from LMA designed to break down stones. Cook says the deal will help ensure an effective medical treatment option is available for people with urinary stones.

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Lotus World Music & Arts Festival

The 16th annual Lotus World Music & Arts Festival will take place 24-27 September in Bloomington.

The first Lotus was in 1994 (three small venues downtown; about 800 people attended). It was launched by a handful of people on the local music scene, including James Combs, (a rock musician in a band called Arson Garden), Shahyar Daneshgar (a classically trained musician from Teheran who had settled in Bloomington), and Lee Williams (a booking agent).

The first festival committee thought about calling the event the Bloomington World Music and Arts Festival, but decided to go with “Lotus” instead for two main reasons. 1) The lotus flower grows all over the globe (including Lake Lemon in Monroe County); it expresses beauty and universality. 2) Many of the festival planners had known the Orange County old-time musician Lotus Dickey (1911-1989). Lotus was a kind, curious, talented, and generous musician, and that spirit was something the planners wanted to capture with the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival.

The festival is organized by the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation – a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization with a staff of three full-time people and many volunteers.

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International Business Owners to Visit Bloomington

The Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership, a program of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, will host seven international business owners, reports Inside INdiana Business (although no dates for the visit have been announced).

The group will learn about the city's growing presence as a life sciences hub, participate in a brief tour and visit local life sciences organizations. Representatives include a provincial governor, business owners and agency directors from Angola, Egypt, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal and Serbia.

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Bloomington Company Buys British Columbian Firm

Bloomington-based Author Solutions (ASI) has announced the acquisition of the publishing assets of Trafford Publishing of Victoria, British Columbia.

Since its founding, Trafford has helped more than 15,000 authors from more than 120 countries publish and bring to market nearly 20,000 new titles.

Author Solutions is a leader in indie book publishing, said to be the fastest-growing segment of book publishing.

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Bloomington Connects with Ukraine

Bloomington's Herald-Times and Kafa, a thrice-weekly in Ukraine, are in the fifth year of a partnership that benefits both small newspapers (the Herald-Times has a circulation of 28,000, and Kafa, published in the Crimea, has a circulation of 35,000). The two were paired by the Ukraine Media Partnership Program operated by the non-profit International Research and Exchanges Board.

Political Imaginaries in Latin America

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at Indiana University Bloomington will hold a two-day workshop on the topic, "Political Imaginaries in Latin America: Reverberations within the Contemporary Left", beginning on Friday (4 May).

Participants in the workshop will include scholars and former activists from the U.S. and Latin America. The workshop will be held in the Indiana Memorial Union's Maple Room at IU Bloomington from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday (4 May).

On Saturday (5 May), the workshop will be conducted at the Four Winds Resort at Lake Monroe from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

This two-day event is free and open to the general public.

Sponsors for this event include The College Arts and Humanities Institute, Multidisciplinary Ventures Grant from the Dean of Faculties, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies and LACS at the University of Michigan.

For more information, contact the CLACS office, 812:855-9097.

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies was founded in 1963 (originally as the Latin American Studies Program) as an umbrella organization uniting Latin Americanists from all campuses of Indiana University. Currently, there are approximately 90 affiliated faculty in 16 departments and seven professional schools who teach and/or conduct research on topics relating to Latin America.

SOURCE: IU Media Relations

7th annual Lotus Blossoms Educational Outreach

Lotus Blossoms, the seventh annual celebration of cultural arts and diversity sponsored by the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation, takes place this month in Bloomington and south-central Indiana.

Outreach programs visit more than 20 schools, but there are also events for the general public: two concerts, a lecture, and an array of free "meet the artists" Q&A sessions and demonstrations.

A "world bazaar" is open to the public on 24 March.

Featured artists are Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia (pictured); Ecuadorean folk group Andes Manta; Rwandan singer, dancer, and drummer Jean-Paul Samputu; and storyteller-musicians Sparky and Rhonda Rucker.

The Schedule of Public Events gives the details. The first one is tomorrow (7 March) and the last one 27 March.

For information on the schools schedule, click here.

Oz in Indy -- it's official!

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Trustees of Indiana University today (March 1) unanimously approved the appointment of Michael A. McRobbie (left)as the 18th president of the 187-year-old institution with eight campuses and more than 97,000 students.

McRobbie, currently the interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at IU Bloomington, has been a senior administrator at IU for 10 years. With an education grounded both in philosophy and science, he came to IU in January 1997 as vice president for information technology and chief information officer. Six years later, he was given the additional responsibilities of vice president for research.

McRobbie, 56, a native of Australia, will replace Adam W. Herbert, who announced last year that he would not serve beyond the end of his contract. Although Herbert's five-year contract runs through June 2008, he has said he would step down earlier if a replacement were found. McRobbie will officially take over as president on July 1, 2007.

And, that's the official word from Indiana University's press release, issued today.

Australian to head Indiana University?

According to The Indianapolis Star, Michael McRobbie, Indiana University's chief academic officer, will be named the new university president tomorrow.

The Star reports that "McRobbie, who is from Australia, arrived at IU in 1997 as vice president for information technology and chief information officer. His role expanded to vice president for research six years later.

He was named interim provost and vice president for academic affairs in Bloomington about a year ago.

IU Bloomington's Annual Middle Eastern Festival

"The Arts of the Middle East Festival" kicks off Thursday at Indiana University Bloomington, running through 10 February.

Most of the events are free, and all are open to the public, including Middle Eastern dance, talks on art and ethnomusicology, art demonstrations, films, presentations of Middle Eastern folktales and poetry, and lectures.

For a schedule, check the website.

Foreign Firms Invest More in Indiana

Inside INdiana Business reports today on two new international connections for Indiana companies.

In the first item, it says that Switzerland-based Leman Cardiovascular subsidiary Hancock Jaffe Laboratories is partnering with Bloomington's Cook Medical to develop products in the field of tissue engineering and processing for minimally invasive cardiovascular products.

The second notes that CTS Automotive Products in Elkhart was awarded a production program by a Korean based vehicle manufacturer for its Seat Belt Tension Sensor (BTS). With production starting in the spring of 2007, the CTS Seat Belt Tension Sensor will be integrated in seat belt assemblies for small SUVs built in Mexico for sale in North America.