FCGS Renamed for Richard G. Lugar

Marian College in Indianapolis announced today that it is renaming its global studies center to The Richard G. Lugar Franciscan Center for Global Studies at Marian College. The center has been directed by Dr. Pierre M. Atlas, a political science professor at the college, since its founding in 2004. The center sponsors an academic program in global studies for Marian College students as well as the Global Studies Speaker Series, a platform for public discussions and workshops featuring international diplomats, journalists, academics, clergy, and global activists. Senator Lugar (pictured), who grew up in the neighborhood near Marian College and attended Shortridge High School, has been a longtime friend of the college.

French Optical Company Acquires GK Optical

Essilor a multinational firm based in France, has acquired GK Optical, a group of two prescription laboratories in Greenwood and Fort Wayne. Essilor, a manufacturer of opthalmologic optics, produces 195 million eyeglass lenses each year. Its brands include Varilux® (progressive lenses), Crizal® (multiple-coating lenses), Transitions® (variable photochromic lenses), Airwear®, Nikon® (high-technology lenses) and Xelios™ (corrective lenses for sunglasses).

Chinese Delegation Plans Visit to Anderson

The city of Anderson will welcome a visit from a delegation of eight Chinese from Anderson’s sister city of Yuhang District, Hangzhou, next Friday (14 December), it was announced by Mayor Kevin S. Smith. The visit is in response his November 2006 trade mission (pictured) to the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Ningbo and Hangzhou. He noted that, "While in Hangzhou, we formalized a sister-city relationship between our two cities. Business in China begins with relationships and this visit to Anderson will further our cultural, educational and business exchange." The eight Chinese visitors will include six men and two women, representing government, health, education, art and culture for the Yuhang District. Anderson is the only Indiana city these Chinese will visit while in the United States. Mayor Smith and city of Anderson representatives, Anderson University officials and business leaders will participate in a state dinner on Thursday night (13 December). Anderson Mayor-Elect Kris Ockomon and other representatives of the new city administration have been invited by Mayor Smith to participate in all of the events with the Chinese delegation to assure continued relationships and business opportunities. Friday (14 December) will include a breakfast and meeting with city officials, a press conference, visit to Anderson University and the Falls School of Business, a tour of the Paramount Theater, luncheon at the Flagship Enterprise Center, tour and meetings at the Flagship Enterprise Center and the Flagship Education Center.

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.

New BMV Rules Are Problematic

The new Indiana law requiring a valid Social Security number in order to obtain an Indiana Driver's License is having all sorts of unintended (and negative) consequences. The Japan-America Society of Indiana has issued an information sheet for their members that has relevance to many of us. Check it out here. It may help you resolve your BMV dilemma!

"The State of India's Democracy"

A new book co-edited by an Indiana University professor marks the 60th anniversary of India's independence and subsequent transition to democracy and will receive major recognition when released there next week, according to the IU News Bureau. The new book, The State of India's Democracy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), will be released in New Delhi next Tuesday (11 December) in a ceremony at the official residence of Mohammed Hamid Ansari, vice president of India. It will be widely distributed nationally afterwards. It already is available in the United States. Sumit Ganguly (pictured), the Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian cultures and civilizations, professor of political science and director of the India Studies Institute at IU, co-edited the book.

Danish Company Acquires Peerless Pump

One of Indianapolis' oldest industrial businesses, Peerless Pump Co., has been sold to Grundfos Group, a pump-making giant headquartered in Denmark, for an undisclosed price, reports the Indianapolis Business Journal. Peerless, whose origin dates to the 1920s, had been owned by Monaco-based Thyssen-Bornemisza Group since 1976. Peerless manufactures pumps for fresh water. Much of its $110 million in sales is generated by pharmaceutical plants, offshore oil platforms and other industrial projects. Peerless also sells to municipalities and to office buildings for fire protection. Its fire protection pumps move water to upper floors of some of the world's tallest buildings, including the Sears Tower in Chicago and Taipei 101 in Taiwan. According to Grundfos, its current sales in North America are $300 million. "The U.S. pump market alone is estimated to be $6 billion, so the business potential for Grundfos is huge. With the latest acquisition, Grundfos expects to double sales within a four year period reaching $600 million."

KVK Koetke GmbH Comes to New Castle

A German company is opening a plant in New Castle because the weak value of the American dollar lowers the cost of the investment, according to a report by the Indianapolis Business Journal. Founder Claus-Dieter Koetke told The Star-Press of Muncie that he located the facility in the eastern Indiana city because the person who will be president of the facility, Chad McClung, lives in nearby Connersville. The $3 million project by KVK Koetke GmbH will be located in an existing building and will employ 25 workers by 2010. The plant will pay workers $18 an hour. KVK Koetke GmbH produces customer-oriented hollow parts for technical parts of the automobile industry, heating technology, medical technology as well as for the packaging industry and other branches of the thermoplastic resins industry.

"Indians Indians" -- East Meets West in Indy

East meets West at the Garfield Park Arts Center, 2432 Conservatory Drive, Indianapolis, during a unique event beginning at 6 p.m. Friday (7 December).
The India Association of Indianapolis and the Arts Center will present a program combining artistic and cultural elements from Native American and Eastern Indian societies through a celebration of fine art, photography, regalia & customary dress, music and dance. The exhibit will feature works by renowned architect and artist K.P. Singh, contemporary Eastern Indian artist Gautam Rao, and cultural documentary photography by Chris Pehlivan. Enjoy a performance featuring world-renowned Miles Davis’ veteran tabla player Badal Roy (pictured) and former Paul Simon bandmember, flutist Steve Gorn. Native-American Pow-Wow dancers will join Eastern Indian musicians for a once-in-a-lifetime performance for the entire community. And, it's all open to the public at no charge!

IU, IUPUI Collaborate with University in Russia

Indiana University has been awarded a two-year, $400,000 federal grant for a project in which faculty and students from two IU campuses will work with a Russian university on language learning and the study of public health and health policy, according to the IU New Bureau. The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, will provide $199,093 in the first year and is expected to provide a similar amount the second year. It was awarded to the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at IU Bloomington in partnership with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. IU will collaborate on the project with Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Ronald Feldstein (pictured), professor and chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, is the principal investigator for the grant.

Chinese Ambassador Postpones Visit to Indy

According to John Clark Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, Chinese ambassador to the US Zhou Wenzhong (pictured) has had to postpone his visit to Indianapolis, which had been scheduled for Thursday (29 November).

$60 Million to AMPATH

AMPATH, a program that grew out of the partnership between Indiana University School of Medicine and the Moi (Kenya) University Teaching and Referral Hospital, has received a 5-year, $60-million grant to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in Kenya, according to the IU School of Medicine. In addition, the IU School of Medicine will augment this with $6 million over the 5 years of the grant. With this agreement, the goal is to expand the program to provide care to an additional 150,000 Kenyans with HIV by 2012, of which at least 70,000 will be on antiretroviral drugs, and to interrupt the transmission of HIV through home-based counseling and testing in communities served by 19 facilities. In addition, the partnership intends to improve and expand control of tuberculosis, and assist and engage communities and families to meet the basic needs of 20,000 orphans and vulnerable children within the first 2 years of the grant. The grant was announced in Nairobi on Nov. 19 during a signing ceremony in the Ministry of Health Headquarters attended by Henrietta H. Fore, the administrator of USAID; Robert Einterz, M.D., associate dean for international affairs at the IU School of Medicine and co-founder of the IU-Moi partnership and AMPATH; U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger; AA/AFR Katherine J. Almquist; USAID/Kenya Mission Director Erna Kerst; Joe Mamlin, M.D., IU professor emeritus and co-founder of the IU-Moi Partnership; and, Moi University and USAID administrators and staff members. (AMPATH is the Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, which now treats over 55,000 HIV-positive patients at 19 sites in both urban and rural Kenya -- locations are shown on the map.)

Graduate Law Program in Middle East

With classes scheduled to start in January 2008, Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis will become the first U.S. law school to offer an American Bar Association approved, fully-accredited law degree program in the Middle East, according to the Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis news bureau. The U.S. law school, located in downtown Indianapolis, will offer a master's degree with a focus on international commercial law at two law schools in Egypt: the Faculty of Law at Alexandria University and the Faculty of Law at Cairo University. As part of its initiative to help Egypt modernize its economy and its legal system, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded the Indiana law school a three-year, $6.7 million grant to operate the U.S. Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program in Egypt.

Festival of the Trees

"Countries of the World" is this year's theme at the annual Festival of the Trees at the Grover Museum, 52 West Broadway, Shelbyville. Christmas trees decorated in the traditional styles of 15 different countries will be on display at the museum of the Shelby County Historical Society through 2 January. There are also vignettes created by world travelers using artifacts, souvenirs and memorabilia they collected on their journeys.

Taiwan: From Within the Mist

Taiwan: From Within the Mist is an exhibit featuring the work of 21 artists in media such as painting, photography, digital imagery, sculpture, printmaking, video and multimedia installations. The exhibition, in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center at the University of Indianapolis, highlights Taiwanese avant-garde art as presented by a new generation of artists. It's sponsored by the Department of Art and Design at the University of Indianapolis, in conjunction with the Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the Culture Division of the Taipei Economic and Culture Office, and the University of Indianapolis Asian Programs. The exhibit is open to the public at no charge through 7 December -- look for free parking in the lot located on the corner of Hanna Avenue and Shelby Street, Indianapolis. For more information, call 317:788-3253.

Indy's International Festival!

See website for details!

Foreign-Language Film Series

If you'd like to work on your foreign language fluency or just learn about another culture, watching a film in your target language or culture is a good way to do it. Three opportunities are on the calendar this week:

*Wednesday: "To Live" (Chinese, 1994) at 2007 World Film Forum. 5 p.m. Free. West Lafayette Public Library, 208 West Columbia Street, West Lafayette. Sponsored by Purdue University's Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. This film, by award-winning director Zhang Yimou, covers the experiences of a small family that loses its wealth in the 1940s to the 1970s.

*Wednesday: "Everything Is Illuminated" (2005). 6-8:30 p.m. Lilly Auditorium, University Library, Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. Although in English, the showing is sponsored by IUPUI Russian Speaking Student Association. Refreshments as well as traditional Russian deserts will be provided. A quick discussion will follow the movie, which deals with a young American Jewish man (pictured), who goes on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town called Trachimbrod that was wiped off the map when the Nazis liquidated Eastern European shtetls.

*Thursday: "Midnight Sun (Taiyo no uta)" (Japanese, 2006). 7 p.m. $5; free for students. Historic Artcraft Theater, 57 North Main Street, Franklin. Sponsored by Japan-America Society of Indiana and Japan Information Center of Consulate General of Japan. Sixteen-year-old Kaoru suffers from a rare genetic disease in which exposure to direct sunlight could prove fatal. Unable to lead the life of a typical teenager, Kaoru is resigned to her fate, finding her only solace in performing as a nocturnal street musician. The safety of her solitary, insular world is jeopardized when she encounters and falls in love with Koji, who challenges her to confront the world in new ways.

Celebrating world cultures in Bloomington

Indiana University Bloomington will celebrate its international diversity on Thursday (8 November) with the IU World's Fare. Ethnic food from every continent (except Antarctica) and performances by 22 international student groups highlight this first-time-ever event. Festivities begin at 5 p.m. in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 East Seventh Street, Bloomington. IU Bloomington's celebration includes a concert by the Latin American Ensemble at Auer Hall, International Family Night (co-sponsored by the City of Bloomington), and performances at the Monroe County Library Auditorium, as well as lectures, discussions, and exhibits. The complete schedule is available here. For the first time, international students comprise 10 percent of the student population.

More Connections between IUPUI and Moi University

Peter Basara and Ruth Otunga, two professors from the Moi University School of Education, are in Indiana to learn how to improve teacher training in Kenya, according to the news bureau at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. The Indiana University School of Education at IUPUI is working on a continuing relationship with the school of education at Moi University, located in Eldoret, Kenya. The IU School of Medicine, located at IUPUI, joined forces for health care in 1989, primarily focusing on fighting the AIDS pandemic. During their stay in Indiana, the professors will visit Indianapolis schools, attend several School of Education classes and go to a professional education conference in Pittsburgh. Much of the visit is focused on creating a professional development center for educators at Moi.

India in Diaspora Captured in Photographs

Many Americans see India as the world's fastest-growing democracy or as a destination for outsourced jobs, reports the Indiana University news bureau. But another story, about perhaps the most successful migration in modern human history, often gets overlooked.

While India has a population of more than 1 billion, the sun never sets on its people, who also include between 20 million and 25 million in more than 100 other countries. It was their story that Steve Raymer, an associate professor of journalism at Indiana University and a former photographer for National Geographic magazine, set out to tell and photograph.

His expansive new 228-page book, Images of a Journey: India in Diaspora (Indiana University Press), is the first photographic record of a migration which began 200 years ago. It documents the struggle of Indian immigrants to survive and succeed wherever they have settled.