Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has named an associate professor of physics from the University of Southern Indiana (USI) to serve on the Indiana Higher Education Commission (ICHE).
Dr. Kent W. Scheller teaches all levels of the physics curriculum in the Pott College of Science and Engineering at USI. He started a two-year term and will attend his first ICHE meeting on August 12 in Gary, Indiana, at the IU Northwest campus.
“My interest in the commission position is simply the evolution of my desire to positively impact education at all levels,” Scheller said. “As a scientist, I don’t have to look far to see the need for a more highly educated populace. I do not operate under any misconception that I have answers to all of the questions – nor do I have an agenda. What I do have, though, is an understanding of the basic issues, experience in educational policy-making, and a desire to be a positive voice.”
His teaching skill and methods are cited by faculty and students alike for engaging students’ imaginations and encouraging them to apply physics to their daily lives. Scheller’s service efforts on campus include a third year serving as vice chair of the Faculty Senate in addition to committee work with the strategic plan committee, the core curriculum committee, and faculty affairs committee. He received the H. Lee Cooper Core Teaching Award at USI in 2007.
A native of Haubstadt, Indiana, Scheller is active in the community. He is president of the South Gibson School Board of Trustees and president of the Sts. Peter and Paul School Board of Trustees. He earned a baccalaureate degree in physics from the University of Evansville, and both a master’s degree and doctoral degree in nuclear astrophysics from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife Amy are parents of Nicholas, 13 Abby, 7 and Jacob, 5.
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has 14 members, nine from Indiana’s congressional districts, three at-large members, a student representative, and the faculty seat. The commission is a coordinating agency of the state government. It helps define educational missions of Indiana’s public colleges and universities, reviews budget requests from those institutions, plans and coordinates postsecondary education in Indiana, and approves new programs or campus expansions.
