The Scoop

IPFW names business school dean

Verbatim announcement issued Thursday:

Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) is pleased to announce the appointment of Otto H. Chang as the new dean of the Richard T. Doermer School of Business and Management Sciences and as the Paul E. Shaffer Professor of Accounting, effective August 1, 2008.

In making the announcement today, (May 15, 2008), Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan Hannah said, “Professor Chang is a highly regarded accounting and business educator specializing in taxation, management and international accounting, business ethics and philosophy, corporate governance and social responsibility. We are very pleased that Professor Chang will be joining us at IPFW. He will bring new dimensions in international business and ethics to an already successful business curriculum, building on the good work of outgoing Dean John Wellington in earning reaffirmation for AACSB accreditation and expanding the Doermer Schools role in the region.”

Born in Taiwan, Chang received a bachelor’s degree in economics from National Taiwan University. He continued his education at the University of Illinois in 1978 where he completed master’s and doctoral degrees in accountancy. Chang’s teaching career includes the University of Wyoming, Texas Christian University, and California State University at San Bernardino (CSUSB). At CSUSB he was the chair of the Department of Accounting and Finance and the associate dean for administrative affairs.

Throughout his educational career, Chang has received numerous awards and recognitions for teaching, research, and service to the universities and communities in which he has lived and worked. His professional activities include more than forty publications, with several appearing in major academic journals such as the Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of American Taxation Association, and Management Accounting. He is often called upon to conduct professional workshops in his areas of specialization for top-level management from all over the world and he serves as a consultant to major firms in the United States and China. He has served as president and officer for a number of professional and business organizations in several Pacific Rim countries.

“I was attracted to IPFW because DSBMS is an institution characterized by a vision of excellence, dedicated faculty and administrators, motivated and eager-to-learn students, and a vibrant and supporting business community,” Chang said.

“My goals are to build on the school’s strengths by enhancing student learning and faculty professional development; dramatically increase service to and partnership with corporate, employer, and industry associations; and improve the school’s contribution to regional economic development through internship, co-ops, and engaging faculty intellectual contribution. I believe the merging of academic excellence and community service is both a mandate and an unavoidable trend for business education. I want DSBMS to become a model for business education in the future.”

Fantasy fishing. Really.

The Journal Gazette’s Ben Smith chats with Rick Persyn, a Spencerville guy who knows how to pick his anglers. Somehow, this guy who doesn’t fish much and isn’t all that hot for the fantasy scene is leading the FLW Fantasy Fishing league.

How’d he do it? Check out this reel-life fantasy:

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/SPORTS/805150329

ATV crash without helmet kills Markle boy, 6

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/LOCAL/805150316

Vera Bradley's Baekgaard, Miller named Living Legends

Verbatim announcement issued by the Indiana Historical Society:

The Indiana Historical Society is pleased to announce the list of individuals who will be named Indiana Living Legends in 2008.

Birch Bayh, Scott Jones, David T. Wong, Barbara Baekgaard and Patricia Miller will be honored at the Indiana History Center at the annual Living Legends Gala on Friday, July 18, 2008.

Each year, the Society honors extraordinary Hoosiers for their statewide and national accomplishments in a variety of areas and disciplines.

This year’s honorees were selected from more than 150 nominations by a committee of civic and corporate leaders, volunteers and IHS trustees. Mary Ann Bradley and Jane Schlegel, both IHS trustees, are the co-chairs of the Indiana Living Legends 2008 event.

The Living Legends event also serves as a fundraising event that assists the Indiana Historical Society in fulfilling its mission to be Indiana’s Storyteller by providing programs and resources throughout the state.

In addition to generous corporate sponsorship from partners OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc. and Fifth Third Bank, individuals and companies are invited to support the IHS mission by attending the event. Tickets can be purchased individually or by table-cost to attend is $250 per person or $2,500 for a table of 10. Those wishing to attend a patron’s reception with the Living Legends may purchase patron-level tickets for $350 per person or $3,500 for a table of 10.

For additional information or to receive an invitation, please contact the IHS Development Department at (317) 233-6578.For more information on programs and events of the Indiana Historical Society, call (317) 232-1882 or (800) 447-1830. Information is also available at www.indianahistory.org. Since 1830, the Indiana Historical Society has been Indiana’s Storyteller, connecting people to the past by collecting, preserving, interpreting, and disseminating the state’s history.

A nonprofit membership organization, the IHS also publishes books and periodicals; sponsors teacher workshops; provides youth, adult, and family programming; provides support and assistance to local museums and historical groups; and maintains the nation’s premier research library and archives on the history of Indiana and the Old Northwest.

Birch Bayh

Birch Bayh was a member of the United States Senate from 1963 to 1981, where he served his home state of Indiana, and was part of historic legislation affecting the American presidency and individual rights of women, minorities and youth, including Title IX to the Higher Education Act, the Equal Rights Amendment, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He has been a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and authored the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which is recognized for its role in promoting the biotechnology revolution. He also authored initial emergency relief legislation which provided a framework for the establishment of FEMA.

Currently, Senator Bayh is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Venable LLP, representing individuals, businesses and public entities. Working with the firm’s Legislative and Regulatory practice, he counsels corporate interests with business before all three branches of government helping to ensure that their voices are heard in the public dialogue.

Senator Bayh has spent several years working to secure compensation for those Philippine citizens denied their human rights by the Marcos regime and has recently been involved in efforts to secure a National Popular Vote for President. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Purdue University and a degree from the Indiana University School of Law. He volunteered and served two years in the United States Army and in the Army of Occupation in Germany.

Scott Jones

Scott Jones, a creator of modern technology, was born in 1960. Driven by curiosity and creativity, Mr. Jones emerged from formal education prepared to make sparks fly in the technological world. After graduating with honors from Indiana University with a degree in computer science with a focus on chemistry and biology, Mr. Jones worked as a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the early 1980s, establishing a footing in robotics, vision systems, optical storage, parallel computing, the Internet and other leading-edge technologies.

Mr. Jones is Chairman of Gracenote, one of the first companies to develop the music recognition software that is now at the heart of several Internet music products, such as Apple(r)’s iPod and iTunes. His business leadership roles also include Chairman of Gazelle TechVentures, Chairman and CEO of IndyRobotics, Chairman of Grow Indiana Media Ventures, and co-founder, Chairman and CEO of ChaCha Search.

An active leader in his community, Mr. Jones serves on numerous boards, including the Indianapolis Zoo and The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. In 1994, he established the Scott A. Jones Foundation, which provides tools for a cross-section of all children to reach their full potential through educational and cultural activities. Today, as a technological pioneer, community leader, philanthropist, serial entrepreneur and inventor, Mr. Jones continues to be passionately focused on making the world a better place.

David T. Wong

David T. Wong, Ph.D., President of DT Wong Consulting, LLC, is an internationally renowned biochemist and neuropharmacologist. He worked at the Lilly Research Laboratories from 1968 until his retirement in 2000 as a Lilly Distinguished Research Fellow.

He is a co-discoverer and co-inventor of several centrally acting drugs, which have revolutionized the fields of psychiatry and neuropharmacology, including Prozac for the treatment of depression (1986) and related disorders (1988); Strattera for attention deficit disorder (2003); and Cymbalta for depression (2004), diabetes neuropathic pain (2004) and general anxiety disorder (2007).

Dr. Wong has received several notable awards for his contributions to science, including the Discoverer’s Award, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association in 1993; the Pharmaceutical Discoverer’s Award, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression in 1996; the Outstanding Achievement in Research, Development and Innovation Award, Indiana Health Industry Forum in 1996; the Outstanding Achievement in Neuroscience Research Award, Lilly Neuroscience, Eli Lilly and Company in 2000; and the Excellence in Science Award, U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce in 2002.

Dr. Wong has published more than 160 papers and book chapters in the fields of neuropharmacology and biochemistry and is an inventor or co-inventor for some 35 U.S. Patents. Dr. Wong is an adjunct professor, Neurobiology, Department of Psychiatry, at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Nankai University in Tianjin, China.

Barbara Baekgaard and Patricia Miller

Barbara Baekgaard and Patricia Miller co-founded Fort Wayne-based Vera Bradley Designs in 1982, which has grown into an internationally recognized brand. Vera Bradley designs and manufacturers cotton-quilted handbags, travel bags and accessories, and has recently expanded to include eyewear, tableware, rolling luggage, home furnishings, stationery and men’s ties.

Ms. Baekgaard leads the design team, while Ms. Miller is in charge of marketing and business operations. In 1994, the personal loss of a dear friend to breast cancer inspired Ms. Baekgaard and Ms. Miller to add a new dimension to Vera Bradley.

They established the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. To date, the Foundation is the largest donor to the Indiana University Cancer Center, with more than $4 million in past gifts and an additional pledge of $6.8 million in June 2007.

Ms. Baekgaard’s many honors include Country Living Entrepreneur of the Year (2007) and the Gifts and Decorative Accessories Industry Achievement Award (2006). She attended Marymount College in New York and Barat College in Lake Forest, Ill.

Ms. Miller has served as Indiana’s Secretary of Commerce and CEO of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and was named the Indiana Business Leader of the Year by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce in 1997. She is a graduate of Indiana University.

2nd look at Harrison Square apartments

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080514/LOCAL/805140311

Bus fares rising, routes cut?

The state says Citilink, the Fort Wayne public bus system, didn’t follow tax laws.

It could cost an extra quarter to ride the bus, or your route could be cut, to make up for a $500,000 budget deficit.

Wendy Barrott, board member, told The Journal Gazette’s Ben Lanka that the public transit group lost $518,339 after the state rejected its property tax levy appeal in February.

The appeal was made last year after it was determined the tax levy – the amount of taxes collected by the system – did not increase with recent annexations, including much of Aboite Township.

Barrott said this meant bus service was expanding but Citilink didn’t get new money to pay for it.

To see the rest of this story, please see Lanka’s story in Wednesday’s Journal Gazette.

All things Komets

Wednesday’s Journal Gazette includes more photos, stats, opinions, listings on the record-breaking Turner Cup champs. Grab a copy of The Journal Gazette before the big end-of-season blowout at Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday night.

FWCS shifts principals

Verbatim announcement from Fort Wayne Community Schools:

The Fort Wayne Community Schools Board of School Trustees on Monday approved several administrative changes for the 2008-09 school year. The personnel changes approved Monday follow several other changes approved April 28.

Below is a list of the changes at the principal level.

*Rebecca Dennis, Croninger Principal

Rebecca Dennis was hired by Fort Wayne Community Schools in January and has been serving as interim principal at Croninger. She has more than 21 years of experience as an elementary school teacher in Florida, Ohio and Indiana and was an adjunct instructor at Ivy Tech Community College in Marion for six years. Prior to joining FWCS she served as principal of Southern Wells Elementary School for two years and as principal of Triton Elementary School in Bourbon, Ind., for a year and a half.

*Carlton Mable, Wayne Principal

Carlton Mable will move from principal of Lakeside Middle School to principal of Wayne High School, effective July 1. He started with Fort Wayne Community Schools as a teacher at Miami Middle School in 1995. Before taking the principal position at Lakeside in 2004, he served as a teacher at Wayne High School and assistant principal at Blackhawk Middle School.

*Gale Powelson, Bloomingdale Principal

Gale Powelson is moving from assistant principal at Northcrest Elementary to principal of Bloomingdale Elementary. She joined FWCS in 2007 after spending 12 years in East Allen County Schools as a teacher and administrator.

*Matthew Schiebel, Shawnee Principal

Matt Schiebel will move from principal at Northwood Middle School to principal at Shawnee Middle School. He joined FWCS in 1987 and served as a science teacher at Blackhawk Middle School from 1988 until he became an administrative intern at Geyer Middle School in 2001. In 1997 he was named the FWCS Teacher of the Year and was one of 10 state finalists. He became assistant principal of Lane Middle School in 2002 and moved to principal of Northwood in 2004.

*Dawn Starks, Washington Principal

Dawn Starks will officially become the principal of Washington Elementary School where she has been serving as interim principal since March. She was hired by FWCS as a teacher at Lindley Elementary in 1993. Prior to moving to Washington, she served as assistant principal at Weisser Park, where she had been since 2006.

Administrative Interns

Four teachers will move into the district’s administrative intern program for the 2008-09 school year, a program designed to train future district leaders.

*Jill Carboni will be an administrative intern first semester at North Side High School and second semester at Shawnee Middle School. She started with FWCS in 2006 and is currently works with the Title I program at Miami Middle School.

*Mark Harmon will be an administrative intern first semester at Anthis Career Center and second semester at Wayne High School. He was hired by FWCS in 2002 to teach chemistry, physics and integrated math at South Side High School, his current position.

*Carrie Kennedy will be an administrative intern first semester at Nebraska Elementary and second semester at Memorial Park Middle School. She was hired by FWCS in 2001 and is currently an interventionist at Lane Middle School. Prior to joining FWCS, she worked as a teacher in Indianapolis.

*Robin Peterman will be an administrative intern first semester at Towles Intermediate School and second semester at Waynedale Elementary. She started with FWCS in 2006 and currently works with the Title I program at Abbett elementary. Prior to joining FWCS, she worked as an instructor of Adult Basic Education in Elkhart and a teacher at Churubusco Elementary School.

I spy $3.95 at the pump

Buckle your seat belts, folks. Gasoline stations around Fort Wayne are starting to post signs Tuesday morning for regular, unleaded gasoline at $3.95 a gallon.

Fort Wayne 311 “calls” now online 24/7

Verbatim statement issued Monday by the city of Fort Wayne:

In continuing to make City government as responsive as possible to residents, Mayor Tom Henry announced today that the six most common requests to the 311 call center can now be made online.

Reports of potholes, missed garbage or recycling collection, abandoned vehicles on public or private property, or a streetlight out can be made by clicking on the 311 logo on the homepage of www.cityoffortwayne.org.

“Expanding 311’s services to the City’s Web site is another step to providing open and accessible services for our residents and taxpayers,” said Mayor Henry. “By providing these forms online, we now make 311 services available to people who might not have time to call during the workday or simply prefer to use the Web.”

The Web site will assign a tracking number to online requests. These requests can also be tracked from the site. Reports need to have relevant information to the request including make and color of an abandoned vehicle and its location, street address for potholes and details about a missed garbage or recycling pick-up.

Additional online reporting forms will be made available in the coming months.

The 311 call center, “one call to city hall,” handles non-emergency service requests from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Every report is assigned a tracking number to provide accountability and follow through.

Fort Wayne’s 311 call center, the first such center in Indiana, was launched a year ago. It has received 95,000 calls since January.

The call center can be reached by calling 311 within the City limits or at (260) 427-8311. The center’s e-mail address is 311@cityoffortwayne.org.