Connect with Southern Indiana selects eighteen to participate in 10th annual program
January 6, 2016
Eighteen individuals have been selected to participate in the University of Southern Indiana's 2016 Connect with Southern Indiana program. In its 10th year, Connect with Southern Indiana was established through a Lilly Endowment grant and is managed by USI Community Engagement. The annual program is focused on promoting active citizenship for individuals across a nine-county region in southwest Indiana.
The program is in its fourth year of using the Romain College of Business Entrepreneurship Initiative model for course content. Participants will attend 10 full-day sessions focusing on divergent and analytical thinking, idea generation, communication and strategic entrepreneurship from a community development perspective. The program will culminate with a class collaborative project in May 2016.
The class will meet on-site in a new county each Friday:
January 15 - Warrick County
January 29 - Spencer County
February 12 - Gibson County
February 25 - 26 - Posey County (New Harmony overnight stay)
March 4 - Knox County
March 18 - Perry County
April 8 - Dubois County
April 22 - Pike County
May 6 - Vanderburgh County
The Connect with Southern Indiana program is open to current USI students, faculty and staff, and Indiana residents living in Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh or Warrick counties who would like to improve the quality of life in their communities.
The 2016 class includes:
Dubois County
Lauren Haase, program assistant, Purdue Extension Dubois County
Benjamin Leinenbach, program manager, Kimball Office
Elizabeth Wertman, executive director, Huntingburg Chamber of Commerce
Gibson County
Kyla Krieg, site manager, Princeton Instructional Center, Ivy Tech Community College
Knox County
James Rall, owner/manager, Foxhound Automotive Sales-N-Service
Pike County
Leslie Tegmeyer, director, Pike County Chamber of Commerce
Posey County
Samuel Hoehn, GIS systems specialist, Vectren and My Map Guy, LLC
Monica Spencer, director, Posey County Community Foundation
MeLissa Williams, visitor services coordinator, Historic New Harmony, USI
Vanderburgh County
Alejandro Alessio, technical sales representative, Vidal Plastics
Sally Gries, director of university and community relations, USI
Leda Johnson, talent acquisitions specialist, NIMBUS, Inc.
Ashley McReynolds, director of marketing and outreach, Children's Museum of Evansville
Stephanie Norrick, project director, AARP Foundation
Ryan Vaal, senior creative services specialist, Vectren
Warrick County
Jeff France, human resource specialist, Alcoa
Joel Matherly, manager, Veteran, Military and Family Resource Center, USI
Helen Zimmerman, administrative assistant/event coordinator, Historic Newburgh, Inc.
For additional information on the 2016 Connect with Southern Indiana program visit USI.edu/connect or contact Leslie Townsend, director, at ltownsen@usi.edu.