IU federal relations digest

Digital libraries—With a $3 million grant from Digital Libraries Initiative—Phase 2, a multi-agency federal program with funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, IU will create a digital music libr ary to support research and education in the field of music.

http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/092900/text/monies.html

‘GEAR UP’—The IU School of Education in Bloomington has partnered with Orange County Schools and the U.S. Department of Education for a $1 million grant over five years for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). The program is aimed at getting more rural high school students to attend college.

http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/092900/text/rural.html

Upward Bound—Starting its second year headquartered on the IU Bloomington campus, the Upward Bound program, funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, gives low-income and first-generation potential college-goers a boost to ward higher education. The program operates in five IU campus cities: Bloomington, Gary/Hammond, Indianapolis, Kokomo and New Albany.

http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/092900/text/upwardbound.html

‘Five Windows in Africa’—Co-produced by IU Bloomington Teaching and Learning Technologies Lab and the IU Press, Five Windows in Africa offers a glimpse into a vast and complex continent. The interactive CD-Rom was developed through the field work of its five authors, including IU’s Patrick McNaughton, professor of African art history; John Hanson, associate professor of history and director of the African Studies Program; Ruth M. Stone, professor of folklore, ethnomusicology and African studi es; and Brian Winchester, director of the Center for the Study of Global Change. The project was partially funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

http://homepages.indiana.edu/092900/text/africa.html

‘Back Home Alliance’—A project of IU’s Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Back Home in Indiana Alliance has received a “Best of the Best” award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The program helps people with dis abilities, a group under-served by lenders and mortgage companies, become homeowners.

http://homepages.indiana.edu/101300/text/HUD.html

Bone disease—Funded by two grants from the National Institutes of Health totaling more than $1.5 million, Dr. Joseph Bidwell and his research team have identified a new gene that will help them to study bone growth. The discovery has far-reaching i mplications as the gene is an underlying factor in diseases such as osteoporosis and periodontal disease.

http://homepages.indiana.edu/101300/text/IUPUIresearch.html

H-1B visas—Legislation was recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate exempting H-1B workers hired by academic institutions from an annual numerical cap which had severely restricted use of this visa. The H-1B visa, a non-immigrant classification popularly called “the high-tech visa” by the media, is used for university professional employees, including all tenure-track appointments and many researchers.

http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/102700/text/visa.html

Mental health and illness—Bernice A. Pescosolido, Chancellors’ Professor of sociology at IU Bloomington, co-authored the recent report on the mental health research module of the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS). The general survey was funded by th e National Science Foundation. The mental health module, a partnership between researchers at Indiana University and Columbia University, was funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health. The GSS, considered the foremost survey on attitudes t oward mental health and illness, explored perceptions related to basic questions of definition, tolerance and personal experience. The effort will expand Americans’ knowledge of and attitudes about mental health and illness, including drug and alcohol dep endencies.

http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/102700/health.cgi