Dave Dwyer and Mark Gruenwald, professors of mathematics at the University of Evansville, have been awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

The grant is one of 30 awarded out of over 400 proposals submitted to the NSF’s TUES program (Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for extending and broadening the work of successful pilot projects related to undergraduate STEM education. It is one of only two such grants awarded for projects related to mathematics.

“This grant is not just a tremendous honor for Dr. Dwyer, Dr. Gruenwald, and the Department of Mathematics, but it is also a wonderful example of the quality of the faculty at the University of Evansville,” said UE President Thomas A. Kazee. “Their project has the potential to revolutionize the way calculus is taught across the nation. By funding this grant, the National Science Foundation affirms the remarkable commitment Professor Dwyer and Professor Gruenwald have made to scholarship and teaching.”

The grant supports the second phase of Dwyer and Gruenwald’s Resequencing Calculus project, which builds on work that was funded by a $150,000 NSF grant awarded in 2009. Under the first grant, Dwyer and Gruenwald revised the standard three-semester calculus sequence to better meet the emerging needs of students in a variety of STEM disciplines, wrote a 700-page textbook to support the first two semesters of this sequence, piloted the sequence at UE, and identified supporters of the redesigned sequence at other institutions.

Phase 2 of the project entails completing the three-semester textbook, testing and assessing the textbook and the sequence at four other universities (Valparaiso University, Millikin University, the University of Central Missouri, and the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota), and campaigning for broad and sustained adoption of the revised sequence.

“A close look at the order and choice of topics in the mainstream calculus sequence is long overdue, especially in light of the ever-increasing role of mathematical and statistical modeling in fields such as chemistry, biology, and economics,” said Dwyer. “For too many students and at too many institutions, mainstream calculus sequences as they exist now are a poor fit.”

According to biochemist Kristy Miller, chair of UE’s Department of Chemistry, “Students in chemistry and the life sciences would benefit from exposure to certain topics that are usually not covered until the third semester of calculus, but most of these students do not have room in their schedules for a full three-semester sequence.”

“One of the goals of the Resequencing Calculus project is to rearrange the ordering and choice of topics in the mainstream calculus sequence to better fit the needs of today’s students,” Gruenwald added. “Our approach more closely connects calculus instruction with its application in STEM fields, and it facilitates deeper and earlier exposure to both upper-level math courses and upper-level courses in STEM disciplines where calculus is applied.”

A number of UE faculty members will serve in an advisory capacity to the project, including Mohammad Azarian, Erin Davis, Clark Kimberling, and Adam Salminen in the Department of Mathematics; Jeff Braun in the Department of Physics; and David Unger in the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. Brian Ernsting, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as an internal assessment advisor. Teams of undergraduate math majors at UE will contribute to the development of the text and related materials.

Dwyer and Gruenwald will also be assisted by faculty and students at each of the pilot institutions, an external professional assessment team, and an advisory board consisting of national leaders in various STEM professional organizations.

To learn more about this project, please visit the Resequencing Calculus website.

Source: Evansville.edu

(EVANSVILLE, Ind.) October 8, 2012 – Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and Leadership Evansville
Executive Director Lynn Miller-Pease announce more visioning sessions for VOICE that include
partnerships with local educational institutions, beginning with Ivy Tech Community College. VOICE is
Evansville’s community-wide, citizen-driven vision process that allows community members to share
their ideas, hopes and visions for Evansville’s preferred future.

Meeting Dates:
• October 10, 2012 @ IVY Tech Community College, 5:30- 7:30 p.m.
• October 29, 2012 @ University of Evansville Ridgeway University Center, 4- 6:30 p.m.
• November 14, 2012 @University of Southern Indiana Carter Hall, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Through facilitated sessions, VOICE aims to bring together diverse members of the community to
discuss their dreams for Evansville in an open forum. The facilitation is led in such a way that respectful
conversations will occur, all voices will be heard, and opinions will be documented, ensuring that the
entire community has the opportunity to take part in creating a desired future.

“This is really about building trust amongst the members of our community and learning that if we all
join together and have civil dialogue about our future desires and current issues, we can create a strong
society that will thrive and grow. Through this effort, I am confident that Evansville will become a place
where people from all over will want to live, work and play,” said Mayor Lloyd Winnecke.

Multiple VOICE sessions will be held throughout the year in order to obtain feedback from people of all
ages, all ethnic and religious backgrounds and multiple neighborhoods.

“I firmly believe that communities with a shared vision, and an appropriate processes to capture, record
and inspire action around common goals can achieve healthier, more vibrant futures,” said Miller-
Pease. “The approach we are taking with VOICE is allowing citizens to actively create and participate in
envisioning their own their own future, so they can dream big and be part of making it happen.”

The VOICE Process
• Leadership Evansville will facilitate discussion sessions at easy-to-access public locations, such
as Evansville Public Library System branches and Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
schools. The sessions will be advertised in neighborhood newsletters, the newspaper, television,
radio and Internet.
• Comments from each session will be available to the participants and the public. A summary and
detailed notes will be posted on the VOICE Web site within one week of the session.

•

Once all comments are collected, additional community sessions will occur to verify that the
information collected truly represents participants’ opinions.

•

Then, common themes and ideas will be grouped by topic area to serve guidance for those
organizations, businesses, universities, individuals and government bodies with interest in that
topic to move forward with further research and planning toward a common goal.

About the Leadership Evansville Facilitation
Since 1977, Leadership Evansville has been known for its superior processes and excellence in
facilitation and leadership in the community. Its programming is researched, tested, evaluated, and
refined. It continues to be emulated by leadership programs around the country because it is at the
forefront of best practices. The LE facilitation method brings together people with different talents,
gifts, and perspectives leaders committed to using diversity and creativity for the betterment of the
community. It encourages individuals to make a commitment to create a better community, and to
take responsibility for making sustainable changes. These attitudes, skills, and processes are taught
to adults, youth, organizations, not-for-profits, businesses, educational institutions, neighborhood
associations, churches, and other leadership programs. LE’s most recent projects include facilitations for
the Glenwood Leadership Academy, Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Race and Gender Fairness,
and the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana.

Michael Eric Dyson, a renowned scholar, ordained Baptist minister, and public intellectual, will present “It’s All in the Numbers: The 99 Percent Occupiers, the 47 Percent Victims, the 14 Percent Unemployed, the First Mormon Candidate, the 44th President and the 2012 Elections” at noon Friday, October 26, in Mitchell Auditorium, located in the Health Professions Center at the University of Southern Indiana. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Dyson is the author of 16 books, including New York Times bestseller Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye; Holler if You Hear Me; Is Bill Cosby Right?; and I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr. He also is well known for his diversification of college curriculum, teaching courses on hip-hop music artists Shawn Corey “Jay-Z” Carter and Tupac Shakur. Dyson was named one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans for 2012 by Ebony magazine.

A sociology professor at Georgetown University, Dyson’s innovative scholarship and cultural criticism focuses on race, religion, popular culture, and contemporary issues in the African American community. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgetown, Dyson was the Avalon Foundation professor of humanities in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught at DePaul University, Chicago Theological Seminary, University of North Carolina, and Columbia and Brown universities.

He is host of the radio-syndicated “The Michael Eric Dyson Show,” which addresses social, cultural, and political issues in a contemporary vein. He has made appearances on The Today Show, Nightline, O’Reilly Factor, The Tavis Smiley Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, Rap City, Def Poetry Jam and The Colbert Report, among others.

Admission is free and the event is open to the public.

The St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently recognized the University of Southern Indiana Business and Engineering Center in its annual Design Awards competition. The project received a Merit Award in the Architectural Category and was one of four built projects honored this year. The awards were presented on September 20 in a ceremony in St. Louis, Missouri.

Mark Rozewski, vice president for Finance and Administration, attended the ceremony.

The Business and Engineering Center was featured on the cover of a special section of the St. Louis Business Journal anouncing the AIA Design Awards.

Designed by HOK of St. Louis, the Business and Engineering Center unites the University’s business and engineering programs. The 122,500-square-foot facility brings together faculty and students from the College of Business and the Pott College of Science and Engineering. Hafer Associates of Evansville served as architect-of-record.

The building dedicates space to both programs but is designed to facilitate an interdisciplinary curriculum. The central atrium serves as a communal room with a tiered amphitheater, collaborative areas, and small quiet spaces.

“While each discipline has its own focused space, we’ve created shared spaces within a common atrium to encourage engagement among students of both colleges,” said Jeff Ryan, project designer and HOK vice president.

Specialized spaces for the business curriculum include a set of sales learning suites; several learning labs for decision support/negotiations, project management, web development, computer hardware/software, and entrepreneurship; a stock market simulation room; and several lecture halls.

Engineering-specific spaces include labs for environmental engineering, vibrations study, computer-aided drawing, biomechanics, fluid mechanics, heat/thermodynamics, communications, digital systems, optics/modern physics, power and machines, surveying and materials testing; a design center; and a dedicated rooftop antennae space for communications experiments.

The building design visually connects to the campus through a window wall in the atrium that offers a panoramic view of Reflection Lake and surrounding woodlands. A monumental stair activates the atrium and sustains the visual connections as it reaches the upper levels, which includes a 52-seat board room, a lake-view study lounge and a balcony.