The University of Evansville’s 157th Commencement ceremony is set for Saturday, May 9, 1:30 p.m., at the Ford Center in downtown Evansville. The event will feature the conferring of two honorary degrees.

Lee H. Hamilton will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He currently is Professor of Practice in the School for Public and Environmental Affairs, Distinguished Scholar in the School of Global and International Studies, Co-Chair for International Engagement Advisory Board, and director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University.

From 1965 to 1999, Hamilton served Indiana in the US House, where he chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. Hamilton chaired the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, and was vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission). He was co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, and co-chairman of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future. He served as a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and co-chairman of the US Department of Energy’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, and the CIA External Advisory Board. Since retirement from Congress, Hamilton has been a member of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council and the US Department of Homeland Security Task Force on Preventing the Entry of Weapons of Mass Effect on American Soil.

Hamilton graduated from DePauw University and Indiana School of Law and studied at Goethe University in Germany.

Jean C. Beckman will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Beckman began her career at UE over 35 years ago. From 1989 to 2003, she was chair of the Department of Chemistry, later dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and then interim vice president for academic affairs. Beckman’s excellence in the classroom earned her the Dean’s Teaching Award in 1997. Beckman’s service and dedication to the University earned her the Sydney and Sadelle Berger Award for Service in 2013.

She has exhibited great generosity in establishing the Beckman Endowed Research Fellowship Fund, which provides support for undergraduate research. Beckman serves the Evansville community as a volunteer and has leadership roles at Patchwork Central and First Presbyterian Church.

Beckman earned a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry, summa cum laude, from Colby College and a PhD in organic chemistry with minors in biochemistry and pharmacology from Indiana University. She is a member of the American Chemical Society, Indiana Academy of Science, Midwestern Association of Chemistry Teachers in Liberal Arts Colleges, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi.

UE will award 583 degrees to 586 graduating students during the ceremony. The event will also feature the Senior Keynote address, presentation of the University of Evansville Alumni Association’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year award, as well as the Outstanding Senior Service Awards.

For those who cannot attend Commencement in person, a video of the ceremony will stream live online at www.evansville.edu/commencement/live.cfm. The recorded video will be posted on this page the week after Commencement.

Approves Building Leaders for 2015-16

The Evansville Vanderburgh Board of School Trustees tonight (5-4-15) approved a new way of supporting schools – with Directors of School Support over each high school attendance district, consisting of a high school and the middle schools and elementary schools that are feeders to it.

Superintendent David Smith explained that through 1½ years of research and the example of success in the EVSC Transformation Zone, leadership has developed a plan to support all schools in a differentiated fashion, re-aligning people with needs and re-allocating resources to fund the changes.
Currently, 34 school principals report to the Chief Academic Officer. Through work with Mass Insight Education, “we have investigated strategies to take us to the next level,” Smith said.

Best practices identified from across the nation showed the greatest success in the clustering of schools, similar to the EVSC’s Transformation Zone model recently approved by the State Legislature as an option for school improvement strategies.

Now, five Directors of School Support will be embedded in the schools and will support one high school attendance district. The sixth Director will be over all high schools, as well as innovative model schools.

During the meeting, Smith read from a list of more than 30 individuals who have left the corporation for other pursuits in the last several years, whose positions were never filled. He said the new Directors of School Support will be funded through re-allocated monies — a combination of monies saved through not filling these positions, as well as grant monies. “We have consciously not filled many positions as this strategy has been developed,” he said. “We have looked at how to better support the needs of school leadership and revised positions throughout Central Office to more directly support their work.” The Directors of School Support will now be school-based positions.

Directors of School Support for 2015-16 are:
Bosse Attendance District: Tammy Dexter, currently assistant director of the Office of Transformational Support, formerly principal at McGary Middle School
Central Attendance District: Jackie Kuhn, currently director of language arts literacy
Harrison Attendance District: Bryan Perry, currently principal of Thompkins Middle School
North Attendance District: Audra Offutt, currently principal at Vogel Elementary School
Reitz Attendance District: Todd Slagle, currently principal at Cedar Hall Community School
High Schools: Darla Hoover, currently principal at Central High School

New building leaders for 2015-16 are:
Elementary K-5 and K-6 Schools
• Caze Elementary School: Jared Turney, principal
• Cynthia Heights Elementary School: Chastity Nisbeth, principal
• Vogel Elementary School: Travis Howard, principal
• Scott Elementary School: Kimber Scarlett, principal
• Scott Elementary School: Kim Fillingham, school administrative manager

Middle and K-8 Schools
• Cedar Hall Community School: Joe Schlosser, principal
• Cedar Hall Community School: Josh Allen, assistant principal
• Thompkins Middle School: Nicole Alcorn, principal
• Thompkins Middle School: Kara Hartz, assistant principal
• AIS-Diamond Middle School: Darrin Carnahan, principal
• Perry Heights Middle School: Jeanette Lindauer, assistant principal

High Schools
• Bosse High School: Kristie Burroughs, assistant principal
• Central High School: Andrea Campbell, principal
• Central High School: Regina St. Clair, assistant principal

Re-allocation of Personnel to Support Schools More Effectively:
• Assistant Director of Student Support Services: Cyndie Carneal
• Coordinator of Family and Community Engagement: Carrie Terry
• Director of Curriculum and Response to Intervention: Emily Smith-McCormick
• Director of Educator Effectiveness: Jane Bartley
• Director of School Transformation: Kelsey Wright
• Director of Teacher Effectiveness: Shannon Strieter
• Student Data Analyst: Debra Harrington
• Chief of Staff: Paul Neidig
• Senior Chief of District Operations: Rick Cameron
• Chief Transformation Officer: Carrie Hillyard