Latest news with #VU
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Leadership changes at Vincennes University
VINCENNES, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Vincennes University will be making two key leadership changes for the upcoming school year, as Tim Eaton, Vice President of Financial Services and Chief Financial Officer, and Dr. Laura Treanor, Provost, Senior Vice President of Instructional Services and Dean of Faculty, will be leaving the university. Eaton will be retiring at the end of June and will be replaced by Conya Wampler, the current Assistant Vice President of Financial Services and Controller. Eaton has been with the university since 1989 and 'has been instrumental in securing critical state funding, including biennial capital and operating budget requests, and ensuring long-term financial health,' said Vincennes University. 'For nearly four decades, Tim Eaton has provided steady, insightful leadership at the helm of VU's budgets and financial management, skillfully guiding the University through periods of economic uncertainty, demographic shifts, and changing public funding landscapes,' said Vincennes University President Dr. Chuck Johnson. Travis Linneweber, currently Vincennes University's Budget Director, will transition to replace Wampler as the university's Assistant Vice President of Financial Services. Dr. Treanor will also be leaving the university, as she has been named the next President of Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Virginia. Dr. Treanor joined Vincennes University in 2018, and since then has launched Leadership Lunch and Learn sessions, created the Trailblazer Teaching Academy and lead the American Council on Education Women's Network Indiana. 'Few have matched the tireless dedication and transformative leadership of Dr. Laura Treanor. Her extraordinary impact over the past seven years has significantly advanced Vincennes University and will be felt for decades to come,' said Johnson. Jaci Lederman will serve as Interim Provost, Vice President for Instructional Services and Dean of Faculty in Dr. Treanor's absence. 'We will soon celebrate and bid farewell to two exceptional leaders whose dedicated service and countless contributions have significantly strengthened Vincennes University; fortunately, we are also blessed to have talented colleagues ready to step into new roles, ensuring continued stability and success through these transitions and into the future,' said Johnson. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
18-05-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
Business news: Mobile library donation and doula workshop
Franciscan Health Crown Point is hosting a doula certification workshop over two weekends in July, according to a release. Doulas are trained professionals who provide continuous physical, emotional and informational support to their clients before, during and shortly after childbirth, the release said, but does not perform clinical tasks. The Franciscan Health Crown Point Family Birth Center offers free doula services to families through a volunteer doula program. The doula certification workshop will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. July 19-20 and July 26-27 at Franciscan Health Crown Point, 12750 St. Francis Drive. Participants must be 18 years old or older and attend all four days of classes to receive a certificate of completion. Registration must be completed by July 8. For more information, call 219-746-9134. Valparaiso University recently announced that LeAnn Hughes will be senior vice president of enrollment and marketing, according to a release. Hughes comes into the position after a nine-year tenure as the vice president of enrollment management and marketing at Illinois Wesleyan University. She starts at VU July 1. In this role, Hughes will oversee Undergraduate and Graduate Admission, Financial Aid, and Strategic Enrollment and Marketing Initiatives. Hughes brings 20 years of experience to the position on campus, having taken her first VP role at Tusculum University in 2005. Prior to working in enrollment management and marketing, Hughes served as the director of communications at King University, and as the director of marketing and sports development for the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce. The Gary Community School Corp. will host the Power of Partnership Parent Conference, a free conference, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. May 31 at the West Side Leadership Academy, 900 Gerry St., Gary, a release said. The event will be packed with engaging sessions, exciting activities and opportunities to connect with community resources that support education and family well-being, the release said. Included in the day will be a resource fair, massages and self-care opportunities, food and a keynote address by Crystal Melton, First Lady of Gary. Childcare will be provided. Those interested in attending can secure their spot by visiting the GCSC website and completing the registration form. For information, visit or contact jadams@ Three innovators earned investment capital for their startup concept pitches presented on May 3 during the 14th annual The PNW Big Sell pitch competition, a release said. The PNW Big Sell is sponsored by Northern Indiana Public Service Company and PNW's College of Business and Commercialization and Manufacturing Excellence Center. Nabeel Rabie earned first place and $10,000 in seed funding for their pitch, Scent Seal. Allyson Straka earned second place and $3,000 for Frozen Garden. Paul Walczak received third place and $1,000 for Yuda, an invoicing and billing app for small service providers. An on-demand recording of the 2025 PNW Big Sell can be viewed on For more information about The PNW Big Sell, visit Families with infants in the neonatal intensive care unit at Franciscan Health Crown Point now have a variety of children's books to read to their children thanks to a donation from the Northwest Indiana Literacy Council, according to a release. The new mobile lending library was donated recently by members of the Northwest Indiana Literacy Council. The mobile library was made possible in part through a $2,500 Transforming Lake County grant from the Legacy Foundation, funded by Legacy Foundation Grant Committee member Bob Spajer of Crown Point. More information about the Franciscan Health Family Birth Center Crown Point and the NICU are available online or by phone at 219-757-6330. Franciscan Health is hosting a free car seat safety event May 29, according to a release. The event — co-hosted by the Trauma Services Department and the Prenatal Assistance Program — is scheduled to take place from 3-6 p.m. at Franciscan Health Michigan City, 3500 Franciscan Way. A nationally certified child passenger safety technician will work with participants to teach them how to properly install a car seat. The child who uses the car seat must be present at the appointment in order for the technician to provide appropriate guidance. The car seat safety check is free, but reservations are required, the release said. Registration is available online or by calling 219-488-1380. The Recycling & Waste Reduction District of Porter County is inviting qualified contractors to submit quotes for the grinding of organic brush and wood waste, along with the removal and hauling of materials from four locations within Porter County, according to a release. To provide interested parties with detailed information on the project requirements, a pre-bid meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Monday at the Valparaiso Compost Site. This meeting will cover specific requirements for each location, followed by a guided site visit to Valparaiso Compost Site, Crocker/Chesterton Compost Site, Portage Compost Site and Boone Grove Compost Site. For further information, or to request additional details about the grinding/hauling process, contact the Recycling & Waste Reduction District of Porter County via email at info@ The Porter County Sheriff's Office has created a new program for full-time college students looking for part-time employment, a press release said. C-StEP is an employment opportunity designed to give the full-time college student majoring in a law enforcement-related field, real-life experience by working inside the Porter County Jail. The student must be 18 years or older and will work 24 hours per week at a rate of $17 per hour and must remain a full-time student to participate, the release said. Interested students should visit to apply and any inquiries can be sent to rtaylor@ or 219-477-3065.
Chicago Tribune
11-05-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Valparaiso University President Jose Padilla speaks at final graduation, urges grads to lean into greatness
Valparaiso University President José Padilla spoke at his final commencement ceremonies Saturday, urging graduates, 'Don't run away from greatness. Lean into it hard.' 'Maybe one of you will be a United States senator in the state or Indiana or the state of Illinois. It's entirely possible,' he said. Others will go on to greatness in their chosen fields, Padilla said. The university is searching for a new president as Padilla heads toward retirement. 'This fortress of faith, this school that punches above its weight,' will continue to embrace the graduates well into the future, he said. 'We're going to be the angels on your shoulders that will give the answers to you when you're facing the hardest questions of your lives,' he said. If the graduates live to 80 years old, their time at VU will be just 5% of their lives, but they will have outsized importance. 'These four years, these 1,460 days, will be the most consequential and impactful of your lives, he told them. 'The friends you have right here now will be your friends 20, 30, 40 years from now,' even if you don't see them for years, Padilla said. 'Forty years from now, you will still remember the professors would not accept mediocrity from you,' he told them. 'Here you know that the power of a sharp mind is magnified 10 times by a soft and loving heart,' Padilla said. 'Because of you, I'm so much more optimistic about the future of our world,' he said. Older generations have created a divided world. Padilla urged the freshly minted graduates to be repairers of the breach. 'You've got this world where you want it because they won't see you coming,' Padilla said. 'We know who you are, and they don't know what you're capable of doing.' 'Your values will guide you like a north star,' Gloria Castillo, who led The Chicago Community Trust's five-year We Rise Together: For an Equitable and Just Recovery initiative, told the graduates. 'Use your voice,' she said. 'Responsible exercise value and voice in a larger environment.' 'Make a mark on the world that cannot be erased,' she said. 'Make a difference and have some fun along the way.' New graduate Peyton Evans urged fellow grads to 'remember you hold the power to grow beyond one label.' 'College gives us more than just a degree,' she said. At VU, she met strangers who have become friends. 'Embrace every moment, both the joy and the struggles.' Evans was a member of the first class to go all four years with Beacons as the teams' name. 'When the university announced we would be Beacons, I really had no idea what that was,' she said. As a student, she learned about beacons' role in lighting the way. Among the Beacons who graduated Saturday is Isaiah Stafford, of Bolingbrook, Illinois, a point guard and shooting guard on the men's basketball team. The first game was an emotional time for him, but he singled out his work in the weight room. 'We always had a good time in the weight room,' he said. Paulette Burnett, of Oswego, Illinois, is proud of Stafford, her first grandchild to graduate from college. 'I'm so proud,' she said, holding a cardboard cutout of her grandson to cheer for him during the ceremony. Mason Greve, of Valparaiso, commuted for his first three years and lived in a fraternity house his final year. 'That pretty much changed my college experience,' making it seem less like an extension of high school, he said. 'At the end of the day, it was the best decision I could have made' to attend VU, he said. Rayne Velazquez, of Hammond, commuted the whole time. Her mortarboard was adorned with a sparkly tribute to Psalm 23 to 'give my respects to God and how he was here for me,' she said. A death in the family made her time at Valpo difficult for Velazquez, but professors helped her get through it. Many of Velazquez's classmates from Hammond went to Purdue University Northwest. 'I wanted a change in environment,' and her parents were proud of her for being accepted to Valparaiso.
Chicago Tribune
10-05-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Richard Brauer, museum's founder and namesake, inducted as honorary member into Phi Beta Kappa
Richard Brauer, former director of the Valparaiso University Brauer Museum of Art which bears his name, was inducted Friday afternoon as an honorary member into the university's chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, considered the nation's most prestigious academic honor society. It was a ceremony that cherished the values not only of a liberal education but those who strive for excellence within that learning. VU's Eta of Indiana Chapter President Joe Creech said, 'It's liberal because it signifies emancipation from ignorance.' Fifteen students were also initiated as Members in Course. Phi Beta Kappa was founded by five students at the College of Willliam and Mary on Dec. 5, 1776. Stacy Maugans, historian of VU's chapter, told the audience gathered in the Duesenberg Recital Hall at VU's Center for the Arts that those early students held discourse on history, politics, and societal issues including slavery that played an integral, though shameful, role in the nation's higher education at the time. She told those gathered that the society's motto is 'Love of learning is the guide to life.' Brauer's educational journey embodies that. He said he attended VU on the GI Bill for one year in 1947 but, 'I realized I needed to learn more about art than VU offered.' He transferred to the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago where he earned both a B.A. and an M.A. Brauer didn't give up on VU though. By 1961 he was back as a newly hired professor tasked with coming up with an art exhibition. That exhibition became the museum that Brauer directed from 1962 until 1996. 'VU's Brauer Museum of Art is arguably what it is today because of Brauer,' Creech said. Its collection of over 1200 works is focused on American and international religious art. 'His legacy of not only teaching the arts but making sure that it carried forward as part of the symbol of the university,' was the reason Brauer was unanimously voted for initiation by the Eta Chapter, said Anna Stewart, director of the Institute of Leadership and Service at VU. 'He assembled quite a collection for a small university without a big budget,' she said. That collection includes works by American greats such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Andy Warhol and Ansel Adams. As recently reported in the Post-Tribune, a controversial plan to use the proceeds from the sale of three key pieces to finance freshman dorm renovations amid declining enrollment leaves the fate of the works unclear. The three pieces are: O'Keeffe's 'Rust Red Hills,' Frederic E. Church's 'Mountain Landscape,' and Childe Hassam's 'The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate.' When given the floor, Brauer thanked and acknowledged those who worked with him on the Collection Committee. 'I enjoyed working and learning with so many different people,' he said, adding another highlight of his career which included teaching students about American painters and museum studies, was the creation of more than 300 bulletin covers by his students for services in the Chapel of the Resurrection that are preserved in the university archive. Brauer was touched by the nomination. He began his speech with a brief history of his family's German Lutheran roots and the value they placed on learning. 'It is indeed a high honor,' Brauer said. 'I cherish it.' Brauer's former colleague, retired music professor Marcia Lewis, has a long history with Brauer and his family, having given voice lessons to his daughter Lydia. 'We moved into this building when we were both on faculty,' she recalled. 'This building is a tribute to him as well. We're thrilled that he's getting this honor.' She described Brauer as 'a really warm individual who cared so deeply for the arts – all arts – not just the visual that he was in.'
Chicago Tribune
28-04-2025
- Science
- Chicago Tribune
Valparaiso University engineering students find joy in creating things that work as intended
While there is joy in creating, there might be even greater joy in creating something that works for its intended purpose, as evident by the cheering Saturday morning of the team of Valparaiso University engineering students when they realized the chocolate drizzling machine they designed and built at the behest of Opportunity Enterprises could get the job done. The project, along with 16 others, were on display at VU's annual Design Expo held at the Gellersen Center to show off the year-long project all senior engineering students must complete for their Senior Design Class. In the first semester, the students are divided into teams, given a challenge, and tasked with coming up with a plan. The second semester they build their creation. 'It's doing what it's supposed to do!' raved senior mechanical engineering major Tommy Sztuba, who looked a bit shocked in his red apron that they'd pulled it off. Fellow team member and senior mechanical engineering major Peter Mueller said it was the first time they'd run the machine through its paces. 'This is our first big project,' said senior electrical engineering major Trevor Misoh. 'On the electrical side of things I've learned a lot,' such as working with programmable logic controllers. 'It's basically the brains of the system.' VU offers a variety of engineering specialties, including aerospace engineering, bioengineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, and mechanical engineering. Rob Schickel, adjunct instructor in civil and environmental engineering, said the project requires a range of skills from the students, from creating and presenting technical reports to developing soft skills. 'They're learning how to start from zero,' he said. 'How do you talk to someone who doesn't know anything about engineering or plans?' Also important to engineers is keeping the end-user in mind. Lowell resident Garet Sencaj, the user of a myoelectric prosthetic hand, has been involved with the bioengineering department for years. He lost his hand and part of his forearm in a farming accident in 2012. 'I've taken part with the students in a couple classes. I've taken part with camps and given my input,' he said. Sencaj finds it heartening to see students interested in furthering the field of prosthetics. 'They've really advanced a lot in the 10 years that I've had it,' he said of his eighth prosthetic hand in a decade. He's gone through so many because he says he's hard on them and has also given some away to people in need and the university for study. Just the hand runs $40,000, while the socket it snaps into and the electrons that go with it are another $40,000. Sencaj left farming but has a new career as a heavy equipment operator. Students like senior biomedical engineering major Whitney Wollin are working to keep the advancements coming for Sencaj's next prosthesis. She was part of the team that built a prosthesis that can be operated through a figure-9 harness. 'When I extend my arm the back will open,' she said, demonstrating with the harness strapped to her torso, 'and when I relax it will close.' A force amplification system can be turned on to allow a load cell to record the force in the main cable 'so when I apply force the servo motor begins to rotate so I don't have to put as much force into it as when I was using the body system,' Wollin explained. She's been interested in bioengineering ever since she saw a movie when she was a little girl that involved the creation of a prosthetic fin for a dolphin. This summer she's headed off to an internship with Cook Medical in Bloomington. She's hoping it will lead to a career in prosthetics helping more people like Sencaj. 'This would be the dream, I would say, for sure,' she said, looking down and flexing the prosthetic hand. Originally Published: April 28, 2025 at 11:32 AM CDT
