Visiting with Purple Santa is a holiday tradition each year at UE during our campus festival, Winter on Walnut. While we have gone virtual this year at the Holiday Hub, keep your UE tradition alive by meeting with Purple Santa virtually on Friday, December 4th.

No registration is required. Participants will get an opportunity to meet with Purple Santa on Zoom in a break out room. Be sure to take a screen shot to get your annual Santa photo!

Friday, December 4
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/91201377011?pwd=UGZNVHFjaVlqYmNEUkp5Sm1lTmNTZz09
Meeting ID: 912 0137 7011
Passcode: 035935

Note: The Zoom virtual doors will close at 5:45 p.m. to allow all participants an opportunity to meet with Purple Santa within the allotted timeframe.

Questions: Contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at 812-488-2586 or alumni@evansville.edu.

The holiday season is finally upon us! In previous years, UE has held a Christmas on Campus event that includes carriage rides, a tree-lighting ceremony, Vespers service, a visit from Purple Santa, and more. Health and safety guidelines prevented us from having our on-campus event, but we still wanted to find a way to celebrate with our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Let’s welcome the spirit of the season with The Holiday Hub!

The Holiday Hub is an online page that incorporates many of the well-loved elements from our annual event, along with materials for the virtual environment we have come to know so well. We invite you to check out all of the fun and festive content, which includes video messages, coloring pages, a Vespers message, and more. There may even be a visit from Purple Santa!

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season while you are home for the holidays.
 

The Ohio River and You

Why you should care and what you can do.

What’s runoff?

When water flows, it picks up dirt, dust, and debris with it. On a roadway, those pollutants could include sediment, metal, rubber, oil, fertilizers, antifreeze, cigarette butts, pesticides, etc. The Ohio River, which supplies six states their daily water, is in dire need of assistance to help combat runoff and keep the water clear!

What can you do?

Try carpooling or using bikes as your mode of transport. Do not over-fertilize your yard or use an environmentally-friendly fertilizer. Make sure your car is not leaking any sort of fluid before you drive it. Try and limit your one-use items and find more sustainable options, but most importantly…

DO NOT LITTER!

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is one of the notorious greenhouse gases that give rise to climate change. The United States has one of the highest average carbon footprints per person, leading with 16 tons over the global average of nearly 4 tons.

Why is it important?
With the issue of climate change, conservation, and the countdown for the world to achieve zero emissions, people are starting to build more sustainable lifestyles. Understanding the concept of carbon footprints is a crucial step towards achieving that lifestyle.

Learn more about how you can reduce your carbon footprint in the attached Newsletter.
After you read the newsletter: Take this survey: http://ow.ly/tYdD50Cuxcf.

Article by Student Cecilia Thon.

There is still time to register for Winter Intersession courses. The online courses run December 10, 2020 to January 15, 2021, and students may take up to two courses. For registration and payment deadlines and information, visit the Registrar area.

On November 3, 2020, UE insurance partner announced a few changes to the UE international insurance program including the following:

• Europ Assistance, UE’s international travel assistance partner has changed its name to Generali Global Assistance (Generali). However, services remain the same.
• The new GardaWorld program now provides expanded information offerings (country briefings, alerts, medical network, and additional security information) and a mobile phone app that can be downloaded for real-timed information and alerts.

For more information, please visit the Risk Management and Travel websites located on UE MyPortal.

Nick Harmon, assistant professor of physics, received a National Science Foundation (NSF) award for the proposal "Investigating Spin Currents from Nuclear Field Gradients". The $117,000 award over three years will be used to fund research in the field of 'spintronics' where the tiny magnetic nature of electrons (called spin) is used in addition to its charge for practical devices. Specifically, Dr. Harmon and UE physics students will investigate, using theoretical and computational methods, how nuclear spins can cause electron spins to flow which is a necessity for most spintronic applications. Students on this project will also have the opportunity to visit an experimental group (Prof. Paul Crowell) at the U. of Minnesota where experiments, similar to what are described in the proposal, are performed.

Aside from research, another aspect of the grant is to mainstream concepts from quantum mechanics using spin as an example. This will be done by bringing research examples into the classroom, creating curriculum where students outside the traditional physics program will confront these topics, and addressing issue regarding quantum science in world affairs to the UE/Evansville community.

Associate Professor and Chairperson Todd Matteson has three of his works chosen for FILLED UP: A Ceramic Cup Show.

The cup, one of ceramics more iconic images, has been used as a metaphor, a sculptural element, a sculptural foundation and a functional daily piece of dinnerware.

The exhibition is in historic New Harmony, IN, at the NHGCA, December 5, 2020-January 29, 2021. Whether you choose to fill your cups with beverages, food, pencils, or ideology, this exhibition will feature over 100 handmade creations from artists across the country. This exhibition is made possible in part by the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, Lenny and Anne Dowhie Trusts, and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts. Paul Andrew Wandless, artist, author, educator and curator, was the juror.

Motivational Factors Underlying Aversive Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer by Dr. Campese and colleagues was published in the November issue of Learning & Memory as the featured cover piece.