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.

Butler's 17th Annual International Dinner

The 17th annual International Dinner sponsored by the International Club and International Student Services of Butler University begins at 6 p.m. Saturday (24 March) in the Reilly Room, Atherton Union, Butler.

Tickets are $25. For information and reservations, contact Melissa Trahyn, 317:940-9888.

Telemarketers Targeting Hispanic Community

Indiana's Attorney General has issued a press release warning about a telemarketing scam aimed at the Hoosier Hispanic Community.

Attorney General Steve Carter is cautioning the Hispanic community to beware of telemarketing fraud that attempts to sell consumers a variety of items such as travel packages and English courses. In some instances, the telemarketers attempt to convince consumers they are obligated to continue to make payments to the company when they are not.

“We are hearing from the Hispanic community that unscrupulous telemarketers are attempting to exploit the desire to learn English and to travel to see family and relatives,” Attorney General Steve Carter said. “Often, consumers pay hundreds of dollars upon delivery of packages that contain bogus items that aren’t what the telemarketers represented.”

Consumers should be extremely cautious when solicited by a telemarketer offering these items in particular, although fraud can occur with a variety of products. The attorney general would like to remind the Hispanic community that telemarketing calls can be reduced by registering their residential phone number on the state’s Do Not Call list by calling 1-888-834-9969 or by visiting IndianaConsumer.com.

AIW International Women's Day Gala

The Association of International Women celebrates International Women's Day with a gala Saturday, 10 March, at Meridian Hills Country Club, 7099 Spring Mill Road, Indianapolis.

Social hour begins at 6:30 p.m., with dinner seating at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $52 per person ($62 after 7 March).

For information and reservations, contact Debra Renkens.

Indianapolis Liederkranz' Cabaret Series

The next cabaret evening at the Liederkranz, 1417 East Washington Street, Indianapolis, stars Patrick Grant. His "Songs of My Homeland" will feature music from Ireland and Scotland.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, 10 March, with food and drink available for purchase.

Tickets for the show, starting at 7:30 p.m., are $12. To purchase, call Mrs. Chandler, 317:782-9216.

Tri-State Mission to Malaysia and Japan

The Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana and the Tri-State World Trade Council are teaming up with the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) to provide Indiana and tri-state businesses with a chance to visit some of the most promising markets in the world.

Business executives and city officials will visit Kuala Lumpur, Tochigi (Evansville Sister City) and Tokyo 19-30 May in an effort to identify new business partners.

At each stop, participants will have the opportunity to take advantage of tailored industry briefings, U.S. embassy-sponsored networking events, host country government briefings, site visits and one-on-one meetings customized to each company’s needs.

For information and registration, contact LaSone Gibson, 812:488-2902.

Plainfield Connects with Denmark

Plainfield-based Brightpoint Inc. has agreed to purchase Dangaard Telecom of Padbord, Denmark, in a $308 million stock deal, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal.

Dangaard Telecom is the largest wireless phone distributor in Europe, and the deal balloons the cell phone distributor's annual revenue from $2.5 billion to $4.6 billion.

International Women's Day

The annual celebration of International Women's Day starts at 6:30 p.m. 1 March in the Lilly Auditorium of the University Library of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Co-sponsored by the IUPUI Women's Studies Program, School of Liberal Arts, Office of Campus and Community Life, and University Library, the event is free and open to all.

According to Karen Kovacik, the opening reception, catered by Caribbean Flavor restaurant, will begin at 6:30 p.m. The following community groups and institutions will be represented at the reception: the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Julian Center, the Etheridge Knight Poetry Festival, Planned Parenthood, and Out Word Bound Books.

The program begins at 7 p.m. with classical Indian dance by Priyanka Dube, poetry by Tasha Jones, fiction by Joanna Wos and Claudia Labin, and a dramatic performance by Donna Edmond. Debra White-Stanley will host this part of the program.

After the featured performers, there will be another 20-minute break, and the multicultural, multilingual open mic will begin at 8:20 p.m.

Dr. Kovacik says there are only about fourteen slots left for the open mic, so please email Tiffany Kyser. if you want to be put on the list. Tiffany, a former women's basketball star at IUPUI and a wonderful poet, will be emcee. To keep the open mic portion of our program to an hour, readers are asked to restrict themselves to one page of poetry or a half page of prose. The work must have been written by a woman. Those reading in languages other than English are asked to bring a translation as well.

For information, contact Karen Kovacik, 317:274-9831.

"Everything is Separated by Water"

"Regalos/Gifts: a Public Performance" is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday (24 February) in the Pulliam Great Hall of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis.

A notice from the IMA says, "A regalo is a gift, a gesture that extends the self into another as a way to communicate. In this performance, the artist's body forms a bridge, an informational memory line, to the audience."

The artist giving the performance is María Magdalena Campos-Pons, whose work is featured in IMA's special exhibition, "Everything Is Separated by Water", open Sunday (25 February) through 3 June.

The IMA notes, "As the first in-depth exhibition of María Magdalena Campos-Pons, one of the most important Cuban artists working today, this show features 34 major works including paintings, sculptures, new media installations, and large-format Polaroid photographs that the artist produced since leaving Cuba in 1990. Campos-Pons re-assembles fragments and symbols of personal and collective memories in order to grapple with her imagined displacement from Africa, her actual exile from Cuba, and her experience as a black Cuban woman living in North America."

The exhibit was organized by the Indianapolis Museum of Art with support in part by grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Admission to the special exhibit is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors (65 and over); $6 for children ages 7-17 and college students with valid ID, and free for children six and under and IMA members.

Saturday's performance, however, is open to the public at no charge.

Iraq in Fragments: film to play in Indianapolis

"IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS" will have a brief run at Key Cinemas beginning on Friday (23 February).

Nominated for an Academy Award, it's a documentary film in Kurdish and Arabic with English subtitles, directed by James Longley and released 10 November 2006 (Running time: 94 minutes).

Key Cinemas is located on the southwest corner of South Keystone, Hanna and Carson Avenues in the Keystone South Shopping Center at 4044 South Keystone Avenue, Indianapolis.

Showtimes are 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday (23-24 February); 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday (25 February), and 1:30, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Wednesday (28 February).

According to the publicity release, "Iraq in Fragments" illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a vivid picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity. Filmed in verité style, with no scripted narration, the film power fully explores the lives of ordinary Iraqis: people whose thoughts, beliefs, aspirations, and concerns are at once personal and illustrative of larger issues in Iraq today.

After the 7 p.m. showing 28 February, a group of Iraqis and Middle East experts will lead a discussion of the film. If you would like to see the film and to participate in a discussion but can't attend that screening, please contact John Clark at Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, 317:472-9666. "If there is a big enough demand, we might set up a discussion on the afternoon of Saturday the 24th, or Sunday the 25th," he writes.

In addition to its Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, the film won Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Editing awards in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival documentary competition, and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

"Inside-Outside Japan"

“Inside - Outside Japan: the Economy, the Midwest, and the Phenomenon of Business Cultural Arbitrage" is the title of a program cosponsored by the Japan-America Society of Indiana, the World Trade Club of Indiana, the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), and the Chicago office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

The phenomenon of “cultural arbitrage” will be presented by noted author
Tim Clark, who will discuss why and how American business models are
being successfully morphed in the Japanese market to leverage gaps in
Japan, thus meeting the needs of Japanese consumers, according to the program brochure.

Is the Japanese economy back? This theme will be developed by JETRO Chicago’s Chief Executive Director, Takashi Tsuchiya to talk through the current re-emergence of the economy in Japan, a profile of Japanese subsidiaries in the Midwest, and JETRO’s current activities and programs.

The program begins with dinner at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (20 February) at the Omni Severin
Hotel, 40 West Jackson Place, Indianapolis. Cost is $35 for members of the WTC and JASI, $45 for non-members, and $25 for students.

Information: Japan-America Society of Indiana, 317:635-0123; World Trade Club, 317:261-0918, or JETRO Chicago, 312:832-6022.

Clark is an entrepreneur and writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Red Herring, Asiaweek and a number of other magazines and journals, and Clark is also the author of several books on Japan, including “Saying Yes to Japan: How Outsiders Are Reviving a Trillion Dollar Services Market”.

Today Clark serves as nonresident Senior Fellow for Tokyo-based venture capital firm SunBridge and writes the monthly Japan Entrepreneur Report. He also teaches international marketing at Portland State University (PSU), Oregon’s largest university, where he serves on the Center for Japanese Studies advisory board.

As Chief Executive Director, Mr. Tsuchiya oversees the JETRO Chicago offi ce in its activities designed to facilitate business development between Japan and companies in the 12-state Midwest region. He has served as Director of the Public Affairs Department at JETRO New York from 1985-1989, and was Vice President of JETRO Bangkok from 1997-2000. Prior to his current post in 2003, Mr. Tsuchiya became Director of the Research Planning Division, Overseas Research Department, at JETRO headquarters in Tokyo, and his current position with JETRO Chicago began in April 2005.

Hillenbrand buys factory in Mexico

Hill-Rom, the Batesville-based health care operating company of Hillenbrand Industries, Inc. has announced completion of its acquisition of a low-cost manufacturing facility in Monterrey, Mexico.

The modern facility, located in Apodoco, Monterrey, state of Neuvo Leon, Mexico, is well-positioned to serve both North American and Latin American markets. The new facility is scheduled to produce Hill-Rom's line of stretchers and bed frames for low acuity hospital patients.

Lilly's Global Sales Force to Reorganize

The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that Eli Lilly & Co. Chief Executive Sidney Taurel told CNBC this morning the Indianapolis-based drug company has no plans to slash its global sales force.

Taurel said there has been “some reduction, some reorganization” in Lilly’s sales force, but added, “we don’t see major decreases.”

The IBJ Daily Report adds that Pfizer, the world’s largest drugmaker, said recently it would cut 20 percent of its U.S. and European sales forces.

Head of Caritas in Cologne to Speak in Indianapolis

Dr. Thomas Moeltgen, Department Head at Caritas in Cologne, Germany, will speak on the role of faith-based organizations in Germany in providing health care and other social services during a "Ideas in Indiana" luncheon at Sagamore Institute for Policy Research.

The event is noon-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, 28 February in Sagamore's Third Floor Conference Room at 340 West Michigan Street, Indianapolis.

Co-sponsors with Sagamore are Indianapolis-Cologne Sister City Committee, Foundation for Lutheran Child and Family Services, Max Kade Center at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis and other private supporters.

Cost is $20; reservations are due by 23 February. Contact Pat A. Hasselblad, 317:472-7824.

Dr. Thomas Moeltgen is head of the department of matters of principles and parish relations at the Cologne offices of the Catholic social services agency Caritas. During his two decades at Caritas, he has helped develop programs for at-risk women, administer mentoring programs for students, and launch volunteer service centers. Dr. Moeltgen will discuss how Caritas is integrating volunteers into the provision of important social services and how Caritas is infusing faith-based action into the city’s ambulatory nurse system. Dr. Moeltgen holds degrees in social work, psychology and theology from the Catholic University of Applied Sciences and the University of Bonn.

Indy's International Festival, 2007 edition

It's official!

Dates for this year's International Festival are 15-18 November.

The event has outgrown the Expo Hall at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and moves to the West Pavilion.

See you there!

"Stealing Buddha's Dinner"

Stealing Buddha's Dinner (Viking Penguin, $24.95) is a new memoir from a Purdue University English professor, who shares her story about growing up a Vietnamese immigrant in the Midwest in the 1980s and how she tried to be "more American" by consuming snack food, pop culture and music.

Bich Minh Nguyen (pronounced "Bit Men Ng-win") left Vietnam with her family in 1975, when she was 8 months old. They eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Mich. Nguyen's memoir evolved from essays about her family's emigration and culture clashes in that conservative town.

Nguyen received the PEN/Jerard Award in 2005 for the memoir's manuscript-in-progress. She teaches creative writing and Asian American Literature in the Department of English, which is housed in the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue.

For more, see the news release from Purdue.



UPDATE!
The MSM has finally noticed Prof. Nguyen´s existence!

As long as the link is active, you can read a Q&A with her in the 25 March 2007 edition of The Indianapolis Star.

Hoosiers Welcome Refugees from Darfur

According to the Associated Press, "Hundreds of refugees from Sudan's troubled Darfur region have migrated to northern Indiana to make a new start."

The AP reports that "The nonprofit Web site SaveDarfur lists almost two dozen awareness groups within 150 miles of Elkhart.

South Africa on Film at IUPUI

David Hoegberg has organized a Public Film Series in conjunction with I300: South African Literature and Society, a Spring 2007 course at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Unfortunately, we've already missed the first of the series (Gavin Hood's 2005 work, "Tsotsi", based on a novel by Athol Fugard) -- it was earlier this evening.

But there's still time to mark your calendars for these upcoming showings:

Friday, February 23, 6:00-8:00 PM, Informatics Auditorium (IT 152)
The Power of One (John Avildsen, 1992)
Based on the popular novel by Bryce Courtenay, this movie tells of a
young English-speaking boy who is bullied by Afrikaners and grows up to
be a boxer. With Morgan Freeman as the boy's black mentor.

Friday, March 9, 6:00-8:00 PM, Informatics Auditorium (IT 152)
Cry Freedom (Richard Attenborough, 1987)
This powerful film tells the story of Donald Woods' friendship with
Steve Biko and Woods' efforts to get his story out to the rest of the
world after Biko is killed in detention. Stars Kevin Kline and Denzel
Washington.

Friday, March 30, 6:00-8:00 PM, Informatics Auditorium (IT 152)
Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony (Lee Hirsch, 2002)
This award-winning documentary tells the story of black South African
freedom music and the central role it played in the struggle against
apartheid. Includes extensive interview footage with South African
musical giants such as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Abdullah
Ibrahim.

Friday, April 13, 6:00-8:00 PM, Informatics Auditorium (IT 152)
Soweto Green (David Lister, 1994)
The complications and cultural divides of life in post-apartheid South
Africa set the stage for this smart and funny satire. Following the
election of Nelson Mandela, a college professor and his American bride
relocate from Beverly Hills to the teacher's motherland of Africa.

Non-English-Speaking? No problem!

The City of Fort Wayne has added language translation links to its official website.

It uses Google Translation Tools to perform the language translations from English into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic. Flag links for the respective languages can be found on each page on the City’s website.

The new initiative is designed to improve customer service to non-English speaking residents and visitors to the City’s website.

One caveat: "The automated translation services strive to perform the most accurate translations possible, but in some cases, translations may vary. Downloaded forms are not able to be translated at this time," the City notes.

Celtic Music Rocks Indy on Sunday

Hello, Indianapolis!

This is Michael Robbins with the BorderCollies. We're a Celtic band based out of Atlanta, and have a gig coming up in Indianapolis for the first time and wanted to get the word out.

It's a free concert at Northminister Church on Sunday, February 11th from
4pm to 6pm.

We're a really good band and play a variety of Irish and Scottish songs and
tunes as well as our own originals. We've been playing around the southeast
since 1999. We've recorded a Dougie MacLean song on each of our last two
CD's (and are excited about seeing him play here in Atlanta next week).

Please come out!