Making a difference | |
 Gerald L. Bepko IU Vice President for Long-Range Planning and Chancellor of IUPUI. |
It is easy to take it for granted that any university in any given community will educate professionals for careers that touch the everyday lives of others. But, with increasing frequency, we hear about IUPUI alumni whose accomplishments are especially no
teworthy.
Our new Indianapolis mayor, Bart Peterson, has tapped many alumni for key administrative positions, including the city’s top public safety posts, Chief of Police Jerry Barker and Fire Chief Louis Dezelan. Robert Turner, director of public safety; Carolyn Coleman, director of metropolitan development; Greta Hawvermale, director of public works; Steven Campbell (communications director, Mayor’s Office), Anthony Overholt (chief litigation counsel), and Julie Randolph (assistant deputy mayor) are all alumni of the IU School of Law–Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Business Journal’s annual “40 under 40” list of business and professional leaders who have achieved success before their 40th birthdays regularly includes IUPUI graduates. The April 24 issue listed six: four law alums—Peter S. Beering, d eputy general counsel, IWC Resources Corporation; Carolyn Coleman (mentioned above); Melissa Proffitt Reese, partner, Ice Miller Donadio & Ryan; and Marya Mernitz Rose, assistant general counsel and assistant corporate secretary, Cummins Engine Corporati on—and two IU Kelley School of Business graduates: Keith D. Slifer, senior vice president of LaSalle Bank; and Brent Tilson, president and chief executive officer of Adminiserve Inc. But there’s more to taking pride in successful alumni than counting holders of prominent public positions. There are those whose accomplishments touch our everyday lives profoundly but in less public ways. Your dentist more likely than not graduated from the IU School of Dentistry at IUPUI. It very well could be that the cancer regimen that saved a loved one’s life, the social worker who advised the caregiver of a dying patient, the physical therapist who rehabilitated a child’s limb, the biopharmaceutica l agent that ameliorated a debilitating health condition and the skin graft that healed a devastating burn were there because of education and research undertaken on the IUPUI campus. The faculty member who helped a student overcome anxiety about returnin g to school…the librarian whose knowledge of Internet resources helped a colleague write a successful funding proposal…the software an employer used to streamline corporate training…are other examples of the pervasive community impact a university provide s. IUPUI has made a commitment to be the best of the nation’s urban campuses in service to our city and state. One measure of the degree to which we meet that commitment is the success of our graduates. This issue of Home Pages illustrates some notable examples. (See the center section Pages I-IV to read how IUPUI is impacting the community and making a real difference for the people of Indiana.) http://www.iupui.edu/ |
IU Home Pages
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Publication date: September 29, 2000
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Copyright 2000, The
Trustees of Indiana University