The University of Evansville will mark the holidays with Christmas on Campus today, December 4. The celebration will include photos with Purple Santa, ice skating, carriage rides, Candlelight Advent Vespers and the lighting of the University’s Christmas tree. All of the day’s activities are free and open to the public.

The complete schedule for Christmas on Campus follows:
Photos with Purple Santa
Ridgway University Center
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
A special visitor from the North Pole kicks off Christmas on Campus. Everyone is invited to tell Santa what’s on their wish list for Christmas this year, and have their photos taken with him  Since Santa will be visiting on a Purple Friday he’ll wear his purple suit to support the Aces.

Snow Globe Photos
Library Terrace
5:30 – 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Stand inside a life-sized snow globe that will be set up outside of the UE library and have a picture taken. This is a great chance to create a unique holiday photo.

Ice Skating
Memorial Plaza
5:30 – 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Enjoy ice skating on Memorial Plaza. The ice will be artificial so it won’t matter how cold it is or isn’t outside!

Advent Vespers
Neu Chapel
7:30 p.m.
This service will include selections by UE’s choirs, organists, Christmas carol singing with candlelight, and readings from sacred scripture in the beautifully decorated Neu Chapel.

Carriage Rides
Outside Ridgway University Center
8:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Get in the holiday spirit by taking a horse-drawn carriage ride outside of Ridgway University Center.

Cookies and Hot Chocolate
Bower-Suhrheinrich Library Lobby
8:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Come in from the cold and warm up with hot chocolate and cookies in the lobby of the UE library.

Kettle Corn
May Studio Theatre Plaza
8:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Enjoy a snack of kettle corn on the plaza of the May Studio Theatre.

Lighting of the Christmas Tree and Caroling
Outside Graves Hall
8:35 p.m.
UE President Thomas A. Kazee will flip the ceremonial 6-foot light switch illuminating the newly planted Norway spruce tree, the University’s campus Christmas tree. Neu Chapel Organist Patrick Ritsch will lead carol singing following the tree lighting.

All are welcome to come share their faith, fellowship, and a simple supper with our seminarians, Ambrose and Tam, tonight from 5:00-5:45 pm at the Newman Center. These small group sessions are a great way to not only meet fellow students but to also ask and reflect about your faith. We hope to see you there!

Please call/text Kristel at (812) 760-8610 for more information!
 

All are welcome to join us for Wednesday night Mass this evening at 9:30 pm in Neu Chapel. Father Christopher Droste will be here to celebrate Mass with us and will be available for Confessions starting at 9:00 pm. We hope to see you there!

Please call/text Kristel at (812) 760-8610 for more information.
 

This Wednesday's I-House is the last presentation of the semester and it features Ireland with Saorlaith O'Callaghanas the presenter! Saorlaith is majoring in business, and her favorite hobbies are travelling, going out with friends, and dancing. Her favorite part about UE is meeting different people from all over the world!

Make sure you come out at 7 p.m. to our usual place on the second floor of Ridgway University Center to hear all about Ireland!
 

Come join us December 3, in Room 162, Schroeder School of Business Building, for the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Club's call out meeting (5:30 pm) and Star Wars Party (6 pm). If you have any questions, contact club president Julia Wickersham at jw488@evansville.edu. 

Free off site paper shredding by Piranha Mobile Shredding will return to the campus once again on Wednesday, December 9, from 9:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. All UE students, faculty, staff and alumni can take advantage of this free service by bringing paper to the Piranha truck in Koch parking lot. Paper will be shredded offsite.

So, if mounds of paper are taking over your office, home, or room, this is the time to gather those old files, receipts, cancelled checks, tax forms, etc. No need to take out the staples or paper clips. Avoid identity theft by having confidential information permanently destroyed.

Please no telephone books, magazines or newspapers. Also, please note that there is a 100 lb. paper limit per visit (number of visits is not limited).

The Health Center will be offering free and confidential HIV testing on December 4 from 9:00 a.m. - noon. Please call 812-488-2033 to make your appointment. 

The annual Faculty/Staff Appreciate Sale is Thursday, December 3, from Noon to 6:00 p.m., in the UE Bookstore. All Faculty and staff employees can register for door prizes and save 20% on their purchases during this time. If you have questions please contact the Bookstore. 

Meet, eat and discover leadership at Lunch and Lead! We invite you to our final session of the semester on Wednesday, December 2, 12:00 pm-1:00 pm. This week’s presentation is Leading through Mentorship with Patrick Odoyo. Bring your lunch and meet us in Eykamp 253-255, Ridgway University Center. All members of the UE community are welcome.

UE's all-female a Capella group, Ladies in Pink, and the all-male a Capella group, Trebles Without a Cause, join together for their end of the semester concert. The concert will feature contemporary tunes along with a few familiar Christmas jingles. Come join us for the fun on December 5 at 3 p.m. in Shanklin Theatre! 

The PT Club's final meeting of the semester will be December 3 at 12 pm in Room 100 in Koch Center. We will be electing our new officers and celebrating the semester's end! Please come and join us! 

The Department of Mathematics Colloquium is set for Thursday, December 3, 4:00-5:00 p.m. in Room 304, Koch Center. The speaker will be Greg Oman, assistant professor of mathematics at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. His topic will be “An Independent Axiom System for the Real Numbers.”

“It is well-known that the set R of real numbers is the unique model of the complete ordered field axioms,” Oman says. “It is also known that the axioms are not independent. In particular, one can prove the commutative axiom of addition from the other axioms for a ring with identity (this is a common textbook exercise). In this talk, I will show that the completeness axiom is, algebraically, a very strong assumption. In fact, it makes the majority of the algebraic axioms redundant. I will then present an independent axiom system for the reals. This talk should be accessible to all faculty as well as undergraduates with some exposure and/or interest in logic and proofs.”

The women of Chi Omega will be serving a huge variety of their favorite foods on Saturday, Dec. 5 in Eykamp Hall, Ridgway University Center. Tickets are $10 for early admission (5-5:30 pm) or $8 for regular admission (5:30-7:30 pm) and are available from any Chi Omega, or at the door. Proceeds benefit the Make-a-Wish foundation. Come enjoy a delicious dinner to support an amazing cause! 

The TIAA-CREF representative will be on the UE campus on Tuesday, December 8, for individual counseling sessions. To schedule an appointment, call TIAA-CREF at 1-800-732-8353 or 317-706-6200. The sessions are held in the Clifford Rare Books Room of the University Libraries (room 158). If you have any questions, call Carol McCraney at 488-2943. 

Any current student needing their official transcript must submit an order no later than 5pm on Wednesday December 10. Orders placed after 5:00 pm will not be processed until Monday December 21. NO EXCEPTIONS.

You can place your order through: www.getmytranscript.com.

If you have any questions contact the Office of the Registrar. 

Attention December 2015 graduates - If you have earned a military honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions, are on active duty, or in active drilling status, please notify the Cherie Leonhardt in the Office of Veterans Affairs at cl29@evansville.edu or call 488-2141 ASAP. The Office of Veterans Affairs and UE VETS have a special graduation gift for you! 

The bi-weekly payroll for December 18 will be direct deposited on Friday morning, December 18. The monthly payroll for December 31 will be direct deposited on Thursday, December 31. As all employees have direct deposit, you will be able to view your online pay advice through WebAdvisor on the morning your pay is direct deposited.

Since the Office of Accounting/Payroll will be closed during the holiday break at the time of the monthly payroll on December 31, you will not receive a courtesy email notification that your pay advice is available. However, you may log on to WebAdvisor and view/print your pay advice or contact your bank to confirm the deposit into your bank account.

If you have any questions, please contact Gloria Spencer at ext. 2159.
 

As employees will not return from the Christmas holiday break until after the normal time card entry deadline of Saturday, December 26, for the January 1, 2016 bi-weekly payroll, the Office of Accounting/Payroll is asking all staff to enter their time on WebAdvisor for the pay period December 13 to 26 by Wednesday, December 16. Supervisors are asked to approve timecards by Thursday, December 17.

If you have any questions, please contact Gloria Spencer at ext. 2159.
 

Graves Hall is collecting the following donations for the Evansville Rescue Mission and the Christian Life Center this Christmas season: new gloves, mittens, socks, hats scarves for men, women and children. These items can be placed on the Christmas tree in the lobby of Graves Hall. We are also collecting new or gently used coats for children in grades K-5. The coats can be placed in the box in the lobby of Graves Hall. Also, men's toiletries for the Evansville Rescue Mission (body wash, shampoo, shaving cream, deodorant, disposable shavers, toothpaste, toothbrushes, body lotion) can be put in one of the designated boxes in the lobby of Graves hall. Please No travel sizes; No bar soap; No items containing alcohol. Thank you! 

Faculty, staff and students - volunteers are needed to assist with the open times on Saturday, December 5, at three different locations.

• Salvation Army Bell Ringing at the Washington Ave. Schnucks
• Gift Wrapping for the Holiday AIDS project at Barnes and Noble.
• Aurora Gingerbread House Competition at the Old National Events Plaza (formerly the Centre)

Use this link to support our local nonprofits this holiday season.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/805094eaea62f4-christmas 

The residence halls will be closed for winter break from noon on December 17 to noon on January 8. Students participating in official University functions or other approved activities have the opportunity to apply for Winter Housing. Simply submit an Online Winter Request Form (hyper link this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WinterHousing by noon on Reading & Study Day to be considered. For more information about Winter Housing, contact the office of residence life. 

Assistant Professor of Political Science Richard W. Maass, who teaches a course on terrorism and counterterrorism, has published an article on discrimination and counterterrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks on the Monkey Cage at the Washington Post.

Maass says that "the bottom line is, rather than discriminating against the broader population a terrorist group wants to represent, counterterrorism policies need to effectively discriminate between those actually responsible for the terrorist threat and the vast majority who prefer nonviolence and pose no real threat."

Read the full article here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/11/30/want-to-help-the-islamic-state-recruit-treat-all-muslims-as-potential-terrorists/

Scott Wylie and Matt Rowe both recently had TEDx Evansville talks posted to the TEDx YouTube site. 

Wylie’s talk is titled “Intentional inclusiveness in community renaissance.” In it, he discusses how throughout history, social justice movements have brought about opportunity and change and been confronted with barriers and set-backs. He explains that it is imperative that we engage in intentional inclusiveness – inviting everyone to the party. Only by including their parents equally in the benefits of economic development and quality of life improvements can we experience a true renaissance.

Rowe’s talk, “In my neighborhood: A primer on architectural styles in Evansville,” is a virtual tour of Evansville's Riverside Historic District. It includes examples of popular 19th century architectural styles and how to distinguish between them. The city's 1974 Historic Preservation Ordinance prevents exterior changes to these historic structures, but they face new challenges with increased development nearby.

Wylie teaches in UE’s PSA and OL programs and serves on the University’s Neu Chapel and Theatre Society Boards. Rowe also serves on the Theatre Board and volunteers in many ways at the University.

To view Wylie’s talk, go to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsbKZwFnVas

To see Rowe’s talk, go to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDpKIp3culs

As part of a Philosophy 121 action project to reduce the amount of littering and pollution in the Ohio River in Evansville, 510 cans were donated by the student body. This was a total of 15 pounds. Thank you to the student body for your support! 

A 10-0 run to start the game helped the University of Evansville men’s basketball team cruise to an 88-56 victory over Alabama State on Tuesday night at the Ford Center.

D.J. Balentine, who scored a game-high 26 points, scored five of those ten while either scoring or assisting on the first 11 buckets of the night for the Purple Aces (6-1). The senior was 10-of-13 from the field, hit four of his five triples and dished out eight assists. He has recorded four or more assists in all seven games this season.

“Give our guys credit, they had one day to prepare and came out sharp,” head coach Marty Simmons said. “We were ready to go and got off to a good start and were able to sustain it. When we pass the ball and are unselfish like tonight, we are a fun team to watch.”

Evansville finished the night shooting 68.6% and was credited with 26 assists. Eight of those came from Balentine while Jaylon Brown had 5 and Blake Simmons notched four. Egidijus Mockevicius recorded his fifth double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds on a 5-for-7 shooting night.

Adam Wing shot a perfect 6-6 to tally 12 points while Brown hit all three shots and four free throws to register 10. Simmons had nine while David Howard checked in with 7. Willie Wiley had his best game of the season, seeing 14 minutes of action and notching five points and four boards.

“We came out and played sharp; Coach Simmons had us ready to play,” Brown said. “We wanted to start on the defensive end and turn that into offense.”

Pacing Alabama State (2-4) was Corvon Butler. He hit six of his 11 attempts to lead the Hornets with 13 points.

A first half that featured 20 points from D.J. Balentine and the Aces shooting 78.6% as a team saw UE take a 55-22 lead at the half. Evansville scored the first 10 points of the game before Jamel Waters hit a trey for ASU just over three minutes in. That is as close as the Hornets would get for the remainder of the contest.

Mockevicius hit a layup just a minute later to reestablish the 10-point advantage and UE rolled from there. At the 12:45 mark, Balentine drained his second 3-pointer of the game to put Evansville up 26-6. UE led by as many as 35 in the final minute on a Harris Brown free throw before Butler hit a shot for the Hornets to make it a 55-22 game at the break.

It was the same story in the second half was the lead went as high as 43 as UE opened the half on a 10-0 run in the first four minutes. The Aces had another solid half of shooting, knocking down 13 of their 23 second-half shots to finish the game at 68.6%.

Included in the latter half was a monster slam by Sergej Vucetic that brought the crowd to its feet. Balentine commented on what the moment meant for the team.

“Everyone on our team works so hard and we were so excited for him to have that moment,” Balentine explained. “He did well when he was in there. Sergej is really well-liked by the crowd, so we were happy for him and the other guys to get a lot of minutes.”

With its sixth win of the season under its belt, the Aces head south to face Murray State on Saturday evening. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. in Murray, Ky.

- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville men’s basketball, log on to the sport page on GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics_MBB.

- DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.

- TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.
 

The final leg of a 6-game road trip to begin the season will take place on Wednesday evening as the University of Evansville women’s basketball team is at Bowling Green for a 5 p.m. CT game.

It marks the final game of a long trip that has seen the Aces play its first three games in Ohio before traveling to California last week. A loss to Santa Clara on Saturday night have the Aces sitting at 1-4 as they head north to Bowling Green.

In the trip to California, Kerri Gasper was the top player for UE. The freshman finished the two games averaging 11.5 points per game on her way to a berth on the Cal Poly/ShareSLO Holiday Tournament. She recorded 12 points against Montana State as she hit all four free throws to go along with a pair of 3-pointers.

Sara Dickey was the leading scorer in the game against MSU, posting 13 points while hitting five free throws and a pair of triples. Dickey continues to be the top scorer on the squad, registering 16.0 points per game through the first five contests.

The Falcons enter Wednesday’s game with a 3-2 mark. BGSU has a pair of wins over Missouri Valley Conference teams as they defeated Illinois State and Bradley in the opening week of play.

Lauren Tibbs leads a trio of Falcons averaging double figures. Her 11.6 points leads the squad. She also has a team-best 8 rebounds and his shooting 58.1% on the season. Miriam Justinger checks in at 10.4 PPG while Sydney Lambert has notched 10.2.

Evansville is finally at home on Saturday when they face Murray State inside the Ford Center at 1 p.m.

- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville women’s basketball, log on to the sport page on GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics_WBB.

- DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.

- TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.
 

For the second time in three weeks of action this season, University of Evansville senior Egidijus Mockevicius has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week.

It was another stellar weekend of action for Mockevicius as he set a Wooden Legacy rebound record with 46 in the 3-game tournament and 21 in the game against Santa Clara. He averaged a double-double for the week with 14 points and 15.3 rebounds while hitting 54.8% of his attempts.

Mockevicius began the week with 13 points and 9 rebounds versus Providence. He also blocked four shots against a larger Big East team. On Friday, Mockevicius hauled in a career-high 21 rebounds while scoring 8 points. His 21 caroms was the single-game Wooden Legacy record and was the most for an Evansville player in over 30 years. The center continued his efforts in the tournament with a 21-point, 16-rebound effort against UC Irvine.

He blocked a pair of shots in each of the final two games. Mockevicius was named to the All-Tournament Team for his efforts. He was the only player on the squad that did not play in the championship game.

- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville men’s basketball, log on to the sport page on GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics_MBB.

- DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.

- TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.