Dear friends,

As the fall semester winds down, I want to join you in celebrating the many achievements of our faculty who have been recognized for excellence in research, scholarship and artistic endeavors.  In this newsletter we highlight some of our faculty's impressive accomplishments and the recent awards that they have received.  I am especially delighted to recognize Elinor (Lin) Ostrom.  As both the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and the first member of our faculty in more than fifty years to earn this prestigious award, she is an inspiration to us all. 

It is my pleasure to congratulate all of you who were part of our inaugural Themester—it was a rousing success! I am delighted to tell you that more than 4,000 College students and many more members of the Bloomington community took part in the 45 courses, lectures, theater productions, and other activities that were organized by seventeen of our departments to explore the topic of Evolution, Diversity, and Change.  I am excited and looking forward to next year's Themester that will focus on Sustainability.

My very best wishes to all of you for a healthy and happy holiday season, and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Cheers,

Bennett I. Bertenthal
James H. Rudy Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and
Dean of the IU College of Arts and Sciences

• Faculty Awards and Honors
  • Natural and Mathematical Sciences
  • Arts and Humanities
  • Social and Historical Studies
• The Book Nook
• Student News

Research on workplace gossip by two Sociology professors, Tim Hallett and Donna Eder, was recently featured in the New York Times.  The topic was covered and discussed in a related blog.

• Wasserman to collaborate on $35.5 million Army research project
• Sociologist Ho-fung Hung on Chinese chauvinism, nationalism on nytimes.com
• Chronicle of Higher Education features History Learning Project
• Glassie receives Haskins Prize for lifetime achievement
• Choksy article in Diplomatic Courier on Pakistan
  Physicists celebrate restart of Large Hadron Collider
• Ethics Bowl team heads to national competition
• Tocqueville program launched
• Group behavior under threat will be focus of funded study
• Gossip in the workplace: weapon or gift?
• Physicist Roger Pynn receives Gunnar Prize from king of Norway
• Neutrino Project goes full-speed ahead
• Grant will fund summer program for social studies teachers
• Geologist Basu comments on discovery of water on the moon
• Profile of geologist Enrique Merino
• Sumit Ganguly op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal
• Creative Writing program ranks among top in nation
• Professor and alumnus share Chicago Folklore Prize
• Biocomplexity event considers the legacy of Frankenstein
• 'Animals in Art' event is part of Themester 2009
• Chemists create designer molecule to detect cyanide in water
• Biologist Rollo attends energy forum in D.C.
• Ceramicist's work on display at the Smithsonian
• CAHI hosts author A.S. Byatt
• Commentale's book dissects "The Big Lebowski"
• Baby names are influenced by momentum
• Gershkoff-Stowe gets NSF grant to study word retrieval in children
• Early human settlements in Europe are subject of study
• Dig turns up discovery at Spring Mill Park
• Geological Scientist at work: Juergen Schieber