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Engbers Named To Indiana Commission for Higher Education

Governor Eric Holcomb has reappointed one trustee to the University of Southern Indiana Board of Trustees and named two new trustees to the board. Returning trustee Jeffrey L. Knight of Evansville was reappointed to serve a four-year term. Knight was first appointed to the board in 2006 and has previously been reappointed in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

New trustee appointments are Christina M. Ryan of Newburgh, Indiana, and student trustee Josi Barscz of Huntington, Indiana. Ryan will serve a four-year term, while Barscz will serve a two-year term as student trustee.

Ryan serves as chief executive officer of The Women’s Hospital at Deaconess Health System, Inc.  She has been an administrator at Deaconess since 1999 when she was recruited to help with the initial plans, construction and successful opening of the Women’s Hospital in Newburgh, Indiana. Ryan served as director of Women and Children Services at St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Northwest Indiana from 1989 to 1999, where she worked on a federal grant and was awarded $7 million to help reduce infant morbidity and mortality for the cities of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago. She was appointed by the Mayor of Hammond to oversee the grant funds and programming and opened a prenatal clinic for the indigent, as well as a pediatric intensive care unit and new birthing center.

Ryan’s civic and community involvement includes serving as the Southwest Division Chairman for March of Dimes, as a board member for Building Healthier Communities and the Leadership Evansville Public Schools Foundation Board, as secretary for the Advisory Council for Infant Mortality, The American Hospital Association Governing Council for Maternal Child Health, and on the Welborn Baptist Foundation Advisory Committee for Movement.

She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing with a minor in psychology from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, and a master’s degree in health administration from Indiana University.

Barscz, USI Class of 2022, is a biochemistry major with minors in Spanish and military science. She is a participant in the Honors Program and currently holds a 4.0 cumulative GPA. She works as an academic skills tutor at USI and is a member of the Army ROTC. She is involved in a number of groups and activities including Emerging Leaders, Timmy Global Health, American Chemical Society, American Sign Language Club and the Rugby Club.

The student trustee, a voting member of the nine-member USI Board of Trustees, brings a student’s perspective to the governing board. The student trustee must be a full-time student, a U.S. citizen and resident of Indiana, have a 2.5 GPA or above, and have completed 24 semester credit hours at USI.

The USI Board of Trustees has nine trustees and must include one alumnus of the University, one current student and one resident of Vanderburgh County. Trustee terms are for four years, except for the student term, which is two years.

Additionally, Governor Holcomb appointed Dr. Trent Engbers, USI assistant professor of political science and director of USI’s Master of Public Administration Program, as the faculty member of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for a two-year term.

By Abrahm Hurt
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Zionsville attorney John Westercamp announced Thursday that he will challenge embattled Attorney General Curtis Hill for the 2020 Republican nomination.

Thirty-year-old Westercamp has practiced law at Bose McKinney & Evans since 2014 where he focuses on representing clients in mergers and acquisitions matters and in negotiating, procuring and drafting economic development agreements.

“I feel like Indiana’s given me so many great opportunities, and it’s important that we keep a pro-life, principled, conservative Hoosier in the attorney generals office next November,” he said at a news conference.

Westercamp formally announced his candidacy on Thursday in Indianapolis and three other locations: Elkhart, Fort Wayne and Evansville.

Westercamp said he would bring a private sector perspective to the office because he works with small and medium-sized Hoosier companies.

He said he would also like to address the number of robocalls across the state.

“Too little has been done to address this issue,” he said. “If elected I would work with the state to negotiate contracts with telecom providers that would require those providers to use big data to reduce the number of robocalls Hoosiers receive on their cell phones.

Hill, the current attorney general who has served since 2017, was accused of sexual misconduct after a March 2018 party at the end of the legislative session.

The four women—Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster; Niki DaSilva, a legislative assistant for Indiana Senate Republicans; Samantha Lozano, a legislative assistant for Indiana House Democrats; and Gabrielle McLemore, communications director for Indiana Senate Democrats— say Hill was drunk, made sexual comments and groped them.

Hill has denied wrongdoing, threatened to sue his accusers and has refused to step down from his position despite Gov. Eric Holcomb and legislative leaders calling for his resignation.

“I think the distractions around the attorney’s general office is not good for the state of Indiana, and we need new leadership,” Westercamp said.

Last October, a special prosecutor appointed to look into the allegations, decided not to file charges against Hill. However, the Indiana Supreme Court disciplinary commission has filed a 10-page complaint against Hill, accusing him of committing both felony-level and misdemeanor battery while acting “with the selfish motive to arouse his sexual desires” in March.

A hearing on the disciplinary charges before retired Supreme Court Justice Myra Selby will be held starting Oct. 2. Hill could face the loss of his law license, which in turn could cost him his elective office because Indiana law requires the attorney general to be licensed to practice law.

The four women also filed a civil lawsuit against Hill and the state claiming they have been subjected to harassment and discrimination since making their complaints more than a year ago.

Westercamp has never run for public office, but he has served as a delegate to the Indiana Republican convention in 2008 and 2014.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in management and his master’s in finance from Purdue, and was graduated from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law in 2014.

Attorney general candidates are nominated at their party conventions and not by primary elections. The Indiana GOP will name a candidate at its 2020 state convention.

Abrahm Hurt is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.