Awards Wednesday to kick off Ivy Tech’s O’Bannon Institute

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Awards Wednesday to kick off Ivy Tech’s O’Bannon Institute

TV JOURNALIST TOM BROKAW TO SPEAK AT SOLD-OUT FUNDRAISER THURSDAY NIGHT

By Mike Leonard 331-4368 | mleonard@heraldt.com
April 10, 2013

With longtime television anchorman Tom Brokaw speaking Thursday night and a spate of panel discussions Friday, Ivy Tech-Bloomington will offer plenty for the public to consume as it celebrates its 10th annual O’Bannon Institute for Community Service with the theme “Building the Next Great Generation.”

Not as prominent but equally important is the awards ceremony the campus will stage Wednesday to honor faculty, staff, students and community partners.

“One of our campus goals at Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington is to model a service-oriented learning environment,” Chancellor John Whikehart said in a prepared statement. “In the past year, through volunteerism and service learning, Ivy Tech-Bloomington has contributed a total value of $1,185,995 in the communities we serve.”

In the 2012-13 academic year, 3,546 students in 76 service learning classes contributed nearly 33,000 volunteer hours in the Bloomington campus service area of Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Morgan, Monroe, Orange and Owen counties. Ivy Tech calculates that the effort amounts to a $729,513 contribution from classes that have service components written into the curriculum.

In volunteer hours alone, Ivy Tech students, staff, and faculty reported nearly 21,000 volunteer hours at 80 agencies or organizations for a total value of $456,482.

The values assigned to service learning and volunteer hours were compiled using measures from Independent Sector, a coalition of about 600 nonprofits, foundations and corporate giving programs.

“This year’s totals are nearly $300,000 more than last year’s Ivy Tech contributions in the community,” said Chelsea Rood-Emmick, the executive director for the Center for Civic Engagement at Ivy Tech. “We’ve seen some tremendous growth in service-learning and volunteer programs, and we’re celebrating that at this year’s O’Bannon Institute for Community Service.”

Awards to be given Wednesday, beginning at 4 p.m. in the student commons, include:

• The Community Partner Award to the Area 10 Agency on Aging.

• The Ivy Tech Waldron Community Partner Award to the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation.

• The Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship Community Partner Award to Art Sanctuary in Martinsville.

• The Excellence in Student Volunteerism Award to Jessica Troxel, a volunteer at the Recovery Engagement Center since 2010.

• The Excellence in Faculty/Staff Volunteerism Award to Chanden Strunk in the Human Resources Office.

• The Excellence in Volunteerism Award goes to Amy Brier, art instructor.

• The Jeanine C. Rae Humanitarian Award goes to student Jonathan Holland, who has done extensive work with at-risk populations, including people struggling with addiction recovery and those re-entering society after incarceration.

• An inaugural John R. Whikehart Civic Engagement Award will be introduced and presented to the person who “epitomizes” the award, Chancellor John R. Whikehart.

Other institute events

Brokaw’s Thursday night’s address at the annual O’Bannon Institute fundraising dinner is sold out.

Friday’s panel discussions are open to the public but require reservations and a canned goods or free-will cash donation to benefit the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

Sessions include:

• “The Next Greatest Generation: Boomers, Gen X, Y or Z?” 9:30-10:30 a.m. Panelists include Katharine Byers, Indiana University; Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg, Illinois Policy Institute; Robert Soto, Ivy Tech; Gary C. Steinhardt, American Legion. Moderator is Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, attorney.

• “The Greatest Innovation: Education — But whose model?” 10:45-11:45 a.m. Panelists include Gerardo Gonzalez, IU; Brent Kent, StudentsFirst; David Pillar, Jackson Creek Middle School; Suellen Reed, former state superintendent for public instruction. Moderator is Bryan Newton, Aiken Technical College.

• “The Greatest Debate: Equality — How and when do we ever achieve it?” 1-2:15 p.m. Panelists include Byron Bangert, Bloomington Human Rights Commission; Jean Capler, Fair Talk; Sheila Suess Kennedy, IUPUI; Danny Lopez, Indiana Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs; George Taliaferro, former Indiana University and NFL football player. Moderator is Debby Knox, WISH-TV news anchor.

• “Conversation with Judy O’Bannon: Reflections on the past 10 years of the O’Bannon Institute,” 2:30-3:30 p.m. Moderator is Bob Zaltsberg, The Herald-Times editor.

More information about the annual O’Bannon Institute for Community Service can be found online at http://obannon.ivytech.edu.

Tom Brokaw. Courtesy photo

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