After conducting a national search, the University of Evansville has named Michael Austin as the University’s executive vice president for academic affairs. He will begin his new duties on July 1.

The search process was extensive. Four finalists were chosen from a large pool of candidates. Each finalist visited campus and interacted with a faculty, staff, administrators, and a group of University of Evansville trustees. The search committee surveyed those who had met with the candidates and then made the recommendation to offer the position to Austin. 

Austin earned his PhD in English literature from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He earned his MA and BA degrees in English from Brigham Young University. Austin comes to UE from Newman University, where he was provost and vice president of academic affairs and a professor of English. During his career, he has also served as dean of graduate studies at Shepherd University, and chair of that school’s English and modern languages department.

Austin is the author of several books, including Useful Fictions: Evolution, Anxiety, and the Origins of Literature, That’s Not What They Meant! Reclaiming the Founding Fathers from America’s Right Wing, and Re-Reading Job: Understanding the Ancient World’s Greatest Poem.

The University’s housekeeping service, WFF, will have a job fair today until noon, in Eykamp Hall, Room 253, Ridgway University Center. Light refreshments will be served. This event is open to UE students and to the public. Anyone interested in a job with WFF is welcome to attend! WFF offers part-time work and flexible hours that are ideal for a college student's busy schedule.

For more information, please call 812-488-2045.

The University of Evansville and St. Mary’s Hospital for Women & Children are offering a class on financial preparedness for new and expectant parents on Thursday, April 7, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The class will be in the St. Mary's Gift Conference Room.

While the class is free, registration is required. To register, go to stmarys.org and click the "Class or Event" tab, or call Terry Cooper at 812-485-6016.

This class is for those having their first child and for those who are welcoming another baby to the family.

Topics to be addressed in the class include household financial planning, taxes and insurance, and resources available for those needing assistance.

Happy Spring Break! The libraries will observe the following hours during this time:

Friday, March 4: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday, March 5-6: CLOSED
Monday-Friday, March 7-11: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 12: CLOSED
Sunday, March 13: 3:00 p.m. – midnight

There will be no after-hours while the library is closed for holidays or semester breaks. After-hours resume on Sunday, March 13.
 

The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations has started working on event planning for Family Weekend 2016 (September 23-25.) If your student organization or department would like to have an event for families or parents during this weekend, please complete the "Family Weekend 2016 Event Participation Form" by March 29, by clicking here.

Like past years' successful events, we would like to have a lot of student and department participation! If you would like to volunteer assistance, or if you have ideas, please contact us at alumni@evansville.edu or call 812-488-2586. 

Joe Atkinson discusses From the Ashes, the documentary he edited about the 1977 UE plane crash, in an article now available on the Sporting News website. The crash killed 29 people, including the entire UE men’s basketball team. Atkinson is a UE alumnus and digital multimedia specialist at the University.

The documentary has been submitted to six festivals, and Atkinson has released a trailer of the film.

To read the article and watch the trailer, go here.

Sophomore Sarah Pfleiderer, a creative writing major, has had her poem "Selkie Weather" accepted for publication by Mangrove, the University of Miami's literary journal. The poem is based on Sarah's interest in Celtic myth and legend and is forthcoming in Mangrove's next issue. 

The University of Evansville Men’s Basketball team overcame a 17-point deficit to take a late lead, but a shot at the buzzer by Wes Washpun gave UNI a 56-54 win over the Purple Aces in Sunday’s Missouri Valley Conference Championship game.

“Congratulations to UNI and Coach Jacobson. They do things the right way, and I have a ton of respect for them,” Aces head coach Marty Simmons said. “As I told our team in the locker room, I could not be more proud of a group of young men as I am ours. The resilience they showed to fight back was great. Our young men earned a lot of respect from a lot of people around the country for how hard they fought.”

Trailing 35-18 early in the second half, the Aces (25-9) made a furious rally and took the lead with two minutes left. UNI (22-12) did not give up, tying the game back up before Waspun hit the game-winner at the buzzer.

D.J. Balentine registered a game-high 20 points in the game, hitting eight shots while dishing out five assists. Jaylon Brown posted 18 in the game, hitting seven buckets. Both were named to the All-Tournament Team for their efforts. The duo also combined to score the final 28 points of the game for UE.

Egidijus Mockevicius reset his own Arch Madness St. Louis mark, hauling in 19 rebounds. Mockevicius recorded 18 on Friday against Missouri State as he now has the top two rebounding efforts since Arch Madness moved to St. Louis in 1991.

UNI had the upper hand in the first half as their defense held the Aces to just 23.1% shooting in the period while taking a 32-18 lead into the halftime break. Jaylon Brown broke a scoreless tie at the 17:16 mark as he hit the first bucket of the game. The Panthers came back with five in a row before Blake Simmons hit a three to tie it up.

Over the next four minutes, UNI reeled off eight in a row, including three free throws by Wes Washpun and a triple courtesy of Wyatt Lohaus to go up 13-5. The Aces got mired in a 1-for-12 stretch from the field as the Panthers were able to extend their lead to as many as 17 points at 26-9 inside of six minutes remaining.

Evansville fought back to get within 12 in the final two minutes before UNI extended its lead to 14 at the half.

After the Panthers went back up by 17 at 35-18 in the opening minutes of the second half, the Aces fought their way back. A triple by Brown combined with four tallies from Adam Wing saw UE cut the gap to single digits at 35-26 with 16:08 remaining. The run continued as a Brown layup got the Aces within four at the 9:43 mark before the gap was cut to a possession with 6:52 on the clock after a Brown triples.

With 3:39 left, Balentine struck again as his bucket gave the Aces their first lead since 2-0. That field goal gave UE a 48-47 edge. The teams would swap the lead two more times before a Washpun jumper put UNI up 54-52 with 50 ticks remaining.

On the ensuing possession, Balentine drew a foul and hit both free throws to tie it up as 25 ticks were left. UNI played it out and a miracle shot from Washpun hit the rim, bounced up, then down through the net to give UNI the win.

UE will have a week to await its postseason destination. Stay tuned to GoPurpleAces.com for full coverage.