Office of Marketing and Communications

IU Northwest is pleased to announce and congratulate the following new fellows of the Center for Regional Excellence for 2006. Their projects focused on topics ranging from service-learning and student internships to external partners, or a mixture of each.

• Subir Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D. (Marketing, Business & Economics) has proposed an effective communications strategy to combat obesity in northwest Indiana. According to Dr. Bandyopadhyay, communication is key; effective communication guarantees that obese individuals will no doubt be aware of the potential health hazards. With success, the research will help hospitals and NGOs to understand how to get the message about obesity across effectively to their targeted audience.
• Spencer Cortwright, Ph.D. (Biology, COAS) and Lee Botts, (environmental activist and writer) plan to inventory ecological restoration efforts in northwest Indiana, produce a handbook and GIS map, and release the findings at a conference at IU Northwest.
• Ranjan Kini, Ph.D. and Subir Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D. (Management, Marketing, Business & Economics) plan to develop an export marketing strategy for the transportation, distribution, and logistics industry in northwest Indiana; they also plan to produce a GIS mapping of exporting companies, also in the Region. Dr. Bandyopadhyay is also involved in the first project listed, which focuses on obesity.
• Anja Matwijkiw, Ph.D. (Philosophy, COAS) is planning to write and edit a book on Lake County Ethics, along with producing a conference at IU Northwest centered on this topic. The book will address the practical and theoretical aspects of the two Ethics Pledges, as well as the historically later document, the Code of Ethics and Values. It will be co-written along with nine other authors, with topics covered ranging from the issue of how ethics intersects politics and political activity in the formation of public policy to focusing attention on education and the measures that make possible learning practices that can re-shape the person.
• Julie Peller, Ph.D. and JoAnne Scalzipti, Ph.D. (Chemistry, Biology, COAS) will investigate the use of N-doped Titanium Dioxide for the photo catalytic degradation of Cladophora in Lake Michigan; what this means is that because the alga (Cladophora) that lives along the shorelines of Lake Michigan has been growing uncontrollably over the past several years, a new method to limit its growth involving the use of the compound titanium dioxide is being tested.
• Surekha Rao, Ph.D. and Cynthia O'Dell, Ph.D. (Economics, Business & Economics, Women's Studies, COAS) plan to research the business practices of Wal-Mart in northwest Indiana, while having a special focus on how gender differences in employment, wages, benefits and Welfare internship and assistant ship for research and analysis. They will also cover the question of whether the presence in of Wal-Mart in northwest Indiana is beneficial.
• Rajan Selladurai, Ph.D. (Management, Business & Economics) is focusing on implementing Community Involvement Operations Management Projects, where students in the graduate Operations Management class work with actual companies and organizations in the Region. This is a mutually beneficial program in which client organizations will benefit from the solutions offered to problems they are facing and students will benefit from the opportunity to actually apply management skills acquired through this course in real-world situations.

The center is currently accepting proposals for Cultural Discovery and Learning until April 7, 2006. They will not, however, be accepting proposals for Sustainable Regional Vitality this spring and will announce to the campus when the next call for new proposals will take place, which will most likely be during the next academic year. The current Sustainable Regional Vitality awards are given from January until November of this year. For more information contact Tashena Lollis, interim program assistant, Center for Regional Excellence, at 219-981-5629 or email trlollis@iun.edu