On Thursday, May 19, the parking area in front of Olmsted Administration Hall will be closed for a photo shoot. In addition, three parking spots in front of Koch Center for Engineering and Science will be blocked off that day for admission visitors.  

This summer on Thursdays join the Office of Diversity Initiatives to "Rethink Diversity Through Mindshifting Dialogue," from noon-1:00 p.m. in Room 272, Schroeder School of Business Building.

Session dates and topics are:

June 2: Diversity: A Double-Edged Sword. A conversation about why diversity is a reality and should be a priority.

June 9: Exploring Ism’s that No One Really Talks About.

June 16:  Just Ask Me: What we know and don’t know about gender and sexual orientation.

June 23: Cat Calls, Compliments, and Come Ons: A Conversation about sexist micro-aggressions.

June 30: Responses to Racial Incidents on Campuses across America. Case Study Reviews.

July 14: What does that mean, and what should I call you? Exploring Trending Terminology.

July 23: Celebrating Differences When Everybody is __________except for __________.

July 28: Tactics for Professionals to Help Make UE More Inclusive.

Each session will be one hour long and will be interactive. Participants will be able to think and dialogue about how to rethink everything they ever knew about diversity by providing solution-oriented steps and strategies as well as resources for participants.

Participants must RSVP to lw161@evansville.edu by 5:00 p.m. on Monday of the week of the session they would like to attend.

Sessions are intended for any campus member (faculty, staff, or administraton). Anyone attending at least six sessions will be given a certificate of completion of diversity, and Inclusion at UE at the end of the sessions.

For more information contact LaNeeca Williams at lw161@evansville.edu or by phone at ext. 2413.

Employee health screenings will be held June 7-9 from 7:00–11:00 a.m. in UE Medical Clinic. Employees who are enrolled in the HRA Insurance Plan are eligible to attend and receive HRA credits.

Employees can only schedule their appointments for the health screenings on AceLink. An employee can schedule up to two appointments (employee and spouse) when they sign in to AceLink.

An 8-hour fast is required, and a 12-hour fast is recommended because triglycerides are included with the blood fat/cholesterol testing. Hydration is important when fasting. Water and black coffee are allowed prior to testing.

ES 103: Fundamentals of Environmental Science will be offered online in Summer Session II, June 20 - July 22. This is a non-lab course that satisfies the Core Outcome of Scientific Literacy. Please contact Joyce Stamm at js383@evansville.edu for more details. 

The employees of the University of Evansville are again invited to play golf with other UE employees on Thursday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. during the summer months. The UE golf outing this week will be at Thunderbolt Pass. You can reserve your tee time by contacting Debbie Kassenbrock in the Center for Academic Advising at dk26@evansville.edu by 2:00 p.m. on the Wednesday prior to the outing. 

Using a gift of diverse native plants from the Native Plant Garden in the Koch Center for Engineering and Science Courtyard, professor of biology Cris Hochwender has collaborated with Gena Garrett, education program coordinator for Wesselman Nature Society on her Serve Indiana grant.

Together with Harper Elementary School, Garrett is establishing several plots of native plants to help elementary students engage in outdoor ecological experiences. By establishing gardens in the school’s yard, children will be able to see the wildlife that utilizes a diverse array of native asters, mints, legumes, and milkweeds, thereby allowing students to experience nature and learn about native species in parallel with their established curriculum.

If you are interested in helping with this project or other educational opportunities associated with Wesselman Nature Society, please contact Garrett at ggarrett@wesselmannaturesociety.org.

If you are interested in organizing an educational tour for a UE group, please contact Hochwender at ch81@evansville.edu.

Plants donated from the UE native garden will help fulfill the required $500 local in-kind portion of the grant.

Lorena Andueza and Jamelyn Wheeler will present their research on how to express refusals in American English and three varieties of Spanish (Peninsular, Argentinian, and Venezuelan) at the third International Conference of the American Pragmatics Association (AMPRA) in November. Andueza is a UE assistant professor of Spanish, and Wheeler is a UE English education graduate who will start working on her master’s degree in linguistics at Indiana University this fall. Their research project was funded by the UExplore committee and UE’s dean of the William L. Ridgway College of Arts and Sciences.

Michael Roscoe, director and chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Science, has been selected to serve as a facilitator for the Physician Assistant Education Association's Program Directors 101 Retreat. The retreat will be held July 28-August 1 in Potomac, Maryland.

Assistant professor of creative writing Katie Darby Mullins will be talking about Billy Joel on the Song Show on WNIN on Saturday, May 21, at 9:00 a.m. She has been a guest of The Song Show with Brick Briscoe three previous occasions: once with her musical memoir, a second time as a Joni Mitchell expert, and a third time to mourn the sudden death of David Bowie. You can listen on 88.3 or WNIN.com.

UE alumus Nathan Andrew Edmiston, 24, of Scottsdale, Arizona, formerly of Rushville, Illinois, went home to be with the Lord on Wednesday, May 11, in Scottsdale.

He was born June 14, 1991, in Macomb, Illinois, the son of Charles and Gretchen (Bockhorst) Edmiston.

Beginning at the age of 10, Nathan volunteered at the Princess Theater in Rushville.  He was so committed to the theater that he was offered a paid position.  During high school, he volunteered and was a member of the stage crew and was a blood donor. He graduated from Rushville High School in 2010.

While a student at UE, Nathan served as photo editor and chief photographer for Student Publications, including the LinC.  He won first place in sports photography from the Indiana Collegiate Press Association, served as a justice with the Student Government Association Supreme Court, and was involved with the Institute for Global Enterprise.  He was a member of UE’s Venturing Crew where he enjoyed his love for hiking and camping. 

Nathan studied abroad at Harlaxton College in England.  This is where he developed his love for everything British, including BBC Television.

He interned one summer as the communication assistant for the World Fair Trade Organization in Culemborg, The Netherlands. Nathan also interned as a district detective aide with the Washington, D.C. Police Department, while attending American University for one summer. 

He earned his bachelor’s degree in communication, with minors in psychology and political science from UE in 2014.

In December 2014, he joined the Walmart Corporate Headquarters, in Bentonville, Arkansas, to serve as a licensing compliance specialist.  Currently, he was working at Yelp! in Scottsdale as an ad operations associate, having joined them in January.

Jesus Christ was the center of his life and expressed in many ways, including his membership with the First United Methodist Church in Rushville, and involvement with churches in every community where he lived.  He served on a mission trip to Mexico as a teenager, as a floor minister at the SchuyLight Christian Coffee House in Rushville, and as a member of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at UE as publicity coordinator.

He recently reached his goal, three months early, of running 500 miles in one year, and set a new goal of 750 miles for the current year. He enjoyed traveling, storm chasing, Cardinals baseball, and the Green Bay Packers.

Surviving are his parents Charles and Gretchen Edmiston of Rushville, his sister Sarah Edmiston of Jacksonville, his brother Ben Edmiston and wife Therese of Naperville, his niece Kyleigh Grace Edmiston, his grandmother Catherine Edmiston of Abingdon, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.  He was preceded in death by his grandparents Robert Edmiston and Gene and Mary Bockhorst.

Services will be at 11:00 a.m., Friday, May 20, at the First United Methodist Church in Rushville, with Reverend Grant Armstrong officiating.  Interment will follow in the Christian Neck Cemetery, north of Rushville.  Visitation will be from 3:00-7:00 p.m. on Thursday at the Wood Funeral Home in Rushville. 

Memorial contributions may be made to UE to support students' travel to Harlaxton College, or the First United Methodist Church for youth mission trips.

Charitable donations may be made to:
University of Evansville
1800 Lincoln Avenue, Evansville IN 47722

First United Methodist Church
PO Box 208, Rushville IL 62681
 

The University of Evansville Baseball team can finish anywhere from third to seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, but head coach Wes Carroll and his Purple Aces team will be more concerned about picking up momentum this week at Indiana State going into next week’s conference tournament.

“We need to get back to playing Evansville baseball,” Carroll said. “Hopefully, we can play our style of baseball this weekend and get some confidence and momentum going into next week. I think that will be crucial for us.”

The Aces (26-23, 8-10), who started off the MVC season with four consecutive series victories have dropped from second in the standings down to fifth after falling in back-to-back series against Dallas Baptist and Southern Illinois. This weekend marks another chance to move back up into the top half of the conference as the Aces will be taking on the second-place Sycamores (32-18, 11-7).

Both ISU and SIU own 11-7 league marks entering the final week, which is 2.5 games off the pace of conference leading DBU (34-16, 13-4 MVC). SIU will be squaring off with fourth-place Bradley (24-19, 8-9 MVC), while both Wichita State (19-33, 8-10 MVC) and Illinois State (17-32, 7-10 MVC) check in just behind the Aces at sixth and seventh in the standings. Preseason conference favorite Missouri State (30-19, 4-13 MVC) sits in eighth place.

If the Aces are to be successful next week, Carroll believes that the process will need to start this weekend, beginning with an Aces offense that managed just five runs over three games last week against SIU.

“We need to get back to being a scrappy kind of offensive club at the top of the line-up,” Carroll explained. “Our on-base percentage hasn’t been great these last two weeks, so we need to focus on getting on base, and then having the guys in the middle of the line-up step up and drive in the runs. We haven’t been able to get those big innings, and that will be really important for us these next two weeks.”

UE’s offense has been one of the biggest bright spots in 2016, but with the loss of power hitter Jonathan Ramon, other hitters will be expected to step up and fill his shoes. Ramon, a senior, became the first UE hitter in over six years to hit double-digit home runs earlier this season, but he’s in line to miss the rest of the year due to injury. However, despite this loss, UE may still be able to replace his production in aggregate as every player with an at-bat this season has recorded a home run. Korbin Williams, who joined Ramon with 10 homers earlier this month, leads the pack, and Trey Hair isn’t far behind him with eight round-trippers to go along with a team-best .351 batting average.

In all, four Aces players own .300 or better averages, but no one has touched the success of Boomer Synek in league play. A senior out of Northbrook, Illinois, the catcher is hitting .394 in MVC games with a .469 on-base mark. Fellow senior Josh Jyawook has been impressive as well, hitting .373 with a team-best 13 runs batted in.

Meanwhile, the Aces will once again turn to Patrick Schnieders and Alex Weigand on the mound. The duo has started in every MVC series so far this season, but they’ve only recorded a winning decision twice as the UE bullpen has combined to pick up the other five victories. The duo is slated to pitch on Thursday and Friday, respectively, and Saturday’s starter for the regular season finale has not yet been determined.

First pitch at Bob Warn Field is slated for 5:30 p.m. Central.
 

Fourteen conference softball student-athletes have been named to the 2016 MVC Scholar-Athlete first team, including 10 repeat selections, as voted on by the league's softball sports information directors and announced by the Missouri Valley Conference office yesterday.

Representing the University of Evansville was junior Chandra Parr, who was named an Honorable Mention.

One of the most dependable players in the MVC, Parr lived up to that bill in 2016. She finished the season second on the team with a .300 average and bumped that up to .308 in MVC games. She showed solid power, ranking second on the squad with six home runs and 23 RBIs.

Her top offensive effort came in an 11-1 win over Chattanooga as she went 3-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. She belted two home runs in a series-clinching 7-4 win at Illinois State and also made a difference with a long ball in the series winner at Indiana State. Parr was also named an MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention a season ago. The accounting major has a 3.58 GPA.

In order to be eligible, student-athletes must have at 3.2 GPA or higher, be at least a sophomore in athletic and academic standing, and meet certain playing requirements.