The Office of Admission is excited to welcome approximately 60 families tomorrow for the Summer Purple Visit Day. While on campus, the visitors will have the opportunity to explore their area of interest, take a tour of the University, meet with many other campus representatives, and enjoy lunch on campus.

Lolly’s Pop Bar (recently featured in the Courier & Press) will also be on campus on Friday to offer our visitors a sweet treat.

Members of the campus community can visit Lolly’s Pop Bar during the hours of 1:00-3:30 p.m. on the front oval (storm location is the first floor of Ridgway University Center) and purchase a bar for $3.50. 

Please offer our visitors a warm UE welcome!

We have created our own “e” as part of The City of Evansville’s “E is for Everyone” campaign.

Please like, comment, retweet, or share the posts on social media from your own accounts. The more shares we get, the more likely they’ll be to feature our “e” on their website. Here are the links for quick access:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UniversityofEvansville/photos/a.182447210434.163770.32494285434/10155251552230435/?type=3&theater

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UEvansville

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVpMQcNltee/?taken-by=uevansville

Annual blowing of mulch into large campus beds will take place the week of June 26. Areas to be blown will be Olmsted Hall, the Schroeder School of Business Building, and the Sesquicentennial Oval. Some parking may be restricted during this process. We appreciate your assistance. 

As you know, the University has signed an agreement with Chartwells, a new food service provider. In addition to general dining options beginning this fall, Chartwells will also be the catering services provider to the campus community beginning tomorrow, Friday, June 23.

On this date, please direct all catering requests to the new catering e-mail address at UEcatering@evansville.edu. Sodexo’s service to the University ends today, Thursday, June 22. After this date, any requests sent to the existing catering@evansville.edu address will automatically be forwarded to the new address.

Chartwells Catering Contact Information
UECatering@evansville.edu
Kellie Short
Director of Dining Services
765-641-4262

Read more about Chartwells’ services, including menu favorites from Starbucks and Chick-fil-A, on our website here.

An exciting home opener against Indiana University highlights the 2017 University of Evansville Volleyball schedule. 

The home opener versus the Hoosiers is set to take place on Friday, September 8 at 7:00 p.m. as part of the Dunn Hospitality Invitational. It will be the first game at the newly-remodeled Meeks Family Fieldhouse while also marking the naming ceremony for Lois D. Patton Court.

“I am excited for this year's schedule, as it offers a good balance and preparation for our 2017 fall roster,” Purple Aces head coach Manolo Concepcion explained. “The majority of teams that we are facing in pre-season simulate the type of opponents that we will face in the MVC, so it allows us to get tested right away and opens the door for the six new players we have to transition effectively into what is considered to be the best mid major conference in the nation.”

“It is also great to continue the tradition of bringing a big time school to visit us each year.” Concepcion added. “This time, it creates what could be the most interesting rival for our community yet - Indiana University (who is coming for the first time in the history of our volleyball program). They will represent our first home match of the year. A game people would not want to miss; especially because of the event itself, where we will be inaugurating our brand new Taraflex Floor, making us the first program in the MVC to play in this type of international level material. A night that would also give us the opportunity to honor one of the most transcendental people that have ever worked in our department – Lois Patton - with a special dedication ceremony.”

On August 25, the season officially begins with a trip to the Western Illinois Tournament. UE will take on Chicago State, Manhattan, and Western Illinois over the 2-day event. The second non-conference tournament will take place on September 1 and 2 as the Aces make their way to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for the Redhawks Invitational. In that tournament, the Aces will play Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Morgan State, and Southeast Missouri State.

Home play commences on September 8 with the dedication of Lois D. Patton Court as UE welcomes the Indiana Hoosiers for a 7:00 p.m. match. A pair of contests are on tap on September 9 as Evansville takes on UAB and UT Martin. A trip to Muncie, Indiana, wraps up the non-conference slate as the squad will take part in the Ball State/Butler Tournament. Ball State, Butler, and Duquesne are the opponents.

Missouri Valley Conference play starts with a trip to Terre Haute to take on Indiana State on September 22. Three days later, the first home league game is on tap as the Aces welcome Illinois State to Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

A pivotal home stretch in early October will see the Aces play three home MVC matches in four days. They take on Drake and UNI in a regular weekend schedule before hosting Bradley on October 9. Another important MVC weekend will take place on October 27-28 when Missouri State and Southern Illinois come to town. The Bears are coming off of an NCAA Tournament berth last season.

November 9 and 10 will mark the final home matches of the season when new league member Valpo along with Loyola make the trip to Lois D. Patton Court.  

Another native of Lithuania has joined the University of Evansville Men’s Basketball program as Purple Aces head coach Marty Simmons has announced the signing of Dainius Chatkevicius to a grant-in-aid to begin playing at UE this season.

“Dainius is a big, athletic forward that we are excited to add to our team,” Simmons said. “He is a strong, physical player who will give us some good depth inside.”

Chatkevicius, a 6-8 forward from Klaipeda, Lithuania, spent the last two seasons playing at Vincennes University. In two years, he helped the Trailblazers to a 58-11 record, including a 32-3 mark last season.

A force on the boards, Chatkevicius set his career mark with 13 caroms in a win over John A. Logan on February 13 of this year. Vincennes advanced to the final eight in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, falling by just two points in the quarterfinals to South Plains.

Prior to his time at Vincennes, Chatkevicius played at the prestigious West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Florida.

Effective immediately - central receiving is now accepting the newest version of the in-house office supply order form (dated 6/2017) which includes updated pricing. The revised in-house office supply order form is available on the central receiving and purchasing websites in AceLink. Please note that previous versions of the in-house form will no longer be accepted as of July 2. Please e-mail your questions to centralreceiving@evansville.edu or call ext. 2197.

Submitted by Kim Winsett kw83@evansville.edu

UE welcomes Katie Whetstone, PT, DPT, SCS, as assistant professor of physical therapy and assistant director of clinical education.

Whetstone is a 2012 graduate of UE’s doctor of physical therapy program and a 2013 graduate of the University of Evansville/ProRehab Sports Residency Program. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise science and is a board certified specialist in sports physical therapy through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties.

She continues to be involved in the sports residency program as a clinical mentor and assists with curriculum development. Whetstone also continues to serve in the clinic as a physical therapist specializing in the treatment of both traditional and recreational athletes at all levels.

Her special interests include the application of injury prevention programs, the female athlete, and the clinical development of sports clinical experts.

When the University of Evansville Volleyball team takes to the floor for their home-opening contest on September 8, they will be playing on Lois D. Patton Court inside the Meeks Family Fieldhouse on a brand new Taraflex floor.

The department announced the naming updates on Thursday. Formerly Meeks Family Court, the fieldhouse will house the Purple Aces Volleyball and Women’s Basketball teams. 

New amenities of the facility include:
- New bleachers on the west side of the facility
- Chairback seating
- Taraflex floor for volleyball (First facility in the MVC to do so)
- Resurfaced women’s basketball floor
- New baskets
- Upgraded sound system
- New main videoboard, score/stat board, LED scoreboard on each sideline and two video sideline boards
- Updated volleyball netting equipment

UE is also excited to honor women’s sports pioneer Lois D. Patton by naming the volleyball and women’s basketball floors in her honor. Patton will be on hand for two naming ceremonies in the regular-season openers for the volleyball and women’s basketball squads. The first ceremony will be on September 8 when the UE volleyball team opens up the facility against Indiana University. A second will take place on November 12 for the women’s basketball home opener versus Murray State.

Patton, who was the 2016 recipient of the John Sanders Spirit of the Valley Award, began her career at UE in 1966 with one goal in mind – to give females the opportunity to compete at the highest level of collegiate athletics. It is appropriate that the first regular-season contest on the court bearing her name will see the women playing at the highest level, welcoming the Indiana Hoosiers.

The naming also comes as the Missouri Valley Conference celebrates its 25th year of women’s athletics in 2017-18.

“This is a very unique honor,” Patton said. “It was quite a surprise, I never expected anything like that. It would be nice to put all of the student-athletes and coaches names on there that have been there who have been working towards this since the beginning.”

“When I started, we did play IU in basketball in the mid-1970s. We were competitive with their B team in the 70’s but now we are competitive with their A team,” Patton added.  

She continues to be an active supporter of Purple Aces athletics to this day and the present administration knows just how important her contributions have been.

“Lois Patton has been such an integral part of women’s sports history at UE,” UE director of athletics Mark Spencer said. “This is the perfect way to recognize her for all of her work and dedication to UE athletics as a whole. She has been a great representative of the University of Evansville and we are very proud to recognize her in this way.”

Senior associate athletic director for internal operations and senior women’s administrator Sarah Solinsky echoed those sentiments.

“We are excited to recognize Lois Patton, a true pioneer in women’s athletics, by naming and dedicating the volleyball and basketball courts to honor her contributions to UE,” Solinsky said. “This will be a special year for women’s sports with the facility renovation, court celebrations for Lois and celebrating the 25th anniversary of women’s sports in the MVC.”

University Symphony Orchestra/String Chamber Ensembles are calling for musicians! Students, staff, faculty, and administrators are invited to play in the University Symphony Orchestra and String Chamber Ensemble. The University Symphony Orchestra meets on Monday at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. The String Chamber Ensemble meets on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. in the Krannert Hall of Fine Arts. Come join us!

E-mail Chun-Ming Chen, director of orchestral activities, at cc319@evansville.edu for more information.

Submitted by Chun-Ming Chen cc319@evansville.edu

The employees of the University of Evansville are again invited to play golf with other UE employees on Thursday afternoons during the summer months. The UE golf outings will be on Thursday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. at Fendrich golf course.

You can reserve your tee time by contacting Debbie Kassenbrock in the Center for Academic Advising at dk26@evansville.edu or 488-2605 by 4:30 p.m. on the Wednesday prior to the outing. 

It is time to renew “PAADS” (pre-approval authorization for distribution services) forms for the new Fiscal Year 2017-18 (June 1, 2017 through May 31, 2018). An approved PAADS pre-authorizes a requestor based on specified account numbers and dollar amounts to make requests for copy services and in-house office supplies without obtaining approving signatures for every distribution services request form.

The renewal process is simple. Print, complete, obtain authorized signature from your budget approver and submit the form via campus mail to administrative services/general services. The PAADS form is located on both the copy services website and central receiving website on AceLink Areas under Forms & Instructions.

Note - employee status changes (requestors and approvers) during a fiscal year will void a PAADS and a new approved PAADS will be necessary. 

For questions, please contact Terry Voges at ext. 2941 or tv35@evansville.edu or Kim Winsett at ext. 2940 or kw83@evansville.edu.

Samantha Scott has been promoted to the position of university controller, replacing Donna Teague, who was recently named vice president of fiscal affairs and administration. Samantha has been with the University for four years as the director of accounting, audit and payroll. Please join us in wishing her the best in her new position.

Young C. Kim, associate professor of political science and director of international studies, recently presented at the conference of the International Studies Association in Hong Kong, China, on June 16.

In his paper titled "Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa," Kim attempts to find answer to the question of why Sub-Saharan African states vary greatly in their levels of democracies although their democratic transitions happened almost simultaneously.

Pengcheng Xiao, assistant professor of mathematics, has published one research paper in Pattern Recognition Letters with his collaborators. The paper is titled” A new image classification method based on modified condensed nearest neighbor and convolutional neural networks.” You can read the article on the Science Direct website.

University of Evansville senior right-handed pitcher Connor Strain was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft on Tuesday afternoon.

Strain was the 280th overall pick in the draft. The fifth-year senior recorded a 2-5 record in 2017, but put up stellar numbers. He posted an impressive 2.62 ERA in 14 starts. Strain fanned 68 batters in just over 68 innings of work.

“We are thrilled as a program to see Connor get drafted in the 9th round by the Dodgers,” UE head baseball coach Wes Carroll said. “He has had a great career in an Aces uniform and he is ready for the next step.”

The 2.62 ERA accumulated by Strain in 2017 was second-best in the Missouri Valley Conference and tops among all full-time starting pitchers. He was recognized for his efforts with a berth on the All-Conference First Team. Over the course of his senior campaign, the Shelburn, Indiana, product had a scoreless streak of 15 innings while allowing just two runs over five starts in the month of April.

“It is great to see another developed player out of our program get the chance to play at the next level,” Carroll added. “We hope to see him up with Kyle Freeland very soon.”

UE's own Native Plant Garden in Koch Courtyard was used as a plant source for species used in Wesselman Woods’ new Pollinator Garden, one of that nature preserve’s newest educational outreach efforts. UE’s Native Plant Garden contains over 100 plant species that are native to Southwest Indiana. Come visit the native plant garden throughout the summer, while it undergoes a facelift. Contact Cris Hochwender (ch81@evansville.edu) if you have any questions about the native plant garden or restoration efforts at UE.