Current News and Events
Everyone is welcome to enjoy a day of activities, art, and music on Tuesday, April 4th, from 11-1PM and 5-6:30 PM at Liberal Arts, rain or shine! This event is open to the public at no charge.
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., attendees can enjoy music, art, henna painting, and yoga on the Labyrinth in front of the Liberal Arts Center. At 5 p.m., Tom Drury, Instructor of Music, and Dr. Norma Rosas-Mayen, Professor of Spanish, will give a musical performance in Kleymeyer Hall, located in the Liberal Arts Center.
Following the performance from 5:15-6:30 p.m., there will be a roundtable with audience Q&A focusing on the similarities and differences in belief between various major world religions. Panelists include Dr. Greg Brown, Center for Communal Studies; Dr. Rocco Gennaro, Professor of Philosophy; Dr. Sukanya Gupta, Associate Professor of English; Jo Olson, Liberal Arts Adjunct Professor, Dr. Mary Lyn Stoll, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Manuel Apodaca-Valdez, Associate Professor of Spanish, Amira Alashi, sociology and world languages and cultures student, and and Todd Mahooty, a member of the Taos Pueblo native American tribe.
Associate Professor of Political Science, Dr. Matthew Hanka, appeared on WNIN Lawmakers to discus local, state, and federal governments with WNIN's John Gibson.
The Vagina Monologues
Past News and Events
What is Happening in Your Community? Why Community Development Matters
Matthew J. Hanka - Foreword By Sue Ellspermann - Contributions By Trent Engbers; Ramona Harvey; Mohammed Khayum; Helen Rosenberg; Anne Statham And John I. Gilderbloom
Communities are not static or stationary organisms. They are fluid and dynamic and change over time. The role of community development in the change and transformation of a community is critical to improving and enhancing the quality of life of the community and its residents. This book examines how community development changes a community and why that change matters, while also examining the relationship between community development and social capital. When a community improves its social capital, change can happen because people can leverage their networks to produce better results for themselves.
Rotary selects USI’s Davidson as 2021-22 Global Scholar
USI political science and Spanish double major graduating senior Cameron Davidson was selected by the Rotary’s Southern Indiana District for its 2021-22 Global Grant Scholarship. The $40,000 award will help fund Cameron’s pursuit of a master’s degree in Global and International Studies from the University of Salamanca in Spain, where he will focus on nationalism and conflict management.
Statham Community Engagement Award Recipient
We are pleased to announce the first recipient of the Statham Community Engagement Award, Anna Ardelean, a junior majoring in political science. The award comes with a $1,000 prize that recognizes Anna’s commitment to community work.
Anna has made a difference on the USI campus with her community involvement. She has been working to bring a voting location to USI since her freshman year. She recognized the need to increase youth voter turnout and has been fighting to make voting more accessible for her peers ever since. After surveying students and faculty, collecting petitions, talking with administrators, researching election law, meeting with public officials, and jumping over numerous barriers, Anna is still preparing to present her proposal to the Vanderburgh County Elections Board in 2021. This month, Anna will be hosting a postcard campaign to display public support for this new polling location, where she hopes to collect 500 postcards to send to the elections board. If you are interested in helping with this effort, Anna will be tabling with the postcards on campus during the week of April 19. Stop by, fill out a card, and leave it with her. This new polling site will be helpful in generating student participation in elections and also provide local residents an alternative site to cast their votes.
Anna is the inaugural recipient of the Anne and Bettye Statham Community Engagement Award. This annual award is open to all College of Liberal Arts majors who are in good academic standing. The award was established in honor of a mother/daughter who have made contributions to our local community. Anne Statham is Professor Emerita of Sociology at USI; she launched the Service Learning Program during her tenure as a faculty member and has done many community projects of her own. Her mother also has a BA in sociology, and spent much of her adult life working as a volunteer and paid staff member for the Girls Scouts of Southwest Indiana. In that capacity, she contributed significantly to the lives of many young women, and also to efforts to advanced diversity and social justice in the local community.
Law Day
Indiana Court of Appeals Oral Argument - 10 a.m. (CST)
The Court will hear State of Indiana v. Andrew M. Royer, 20A-PC-955, a post-conviction relief case out of Elkhart County. A moderated Q & A with the Judges will follow the Oral Argument on Zoom.
Careers in the Legal Field - 2 p.m. (CST)
Join us for a moderated panel with area legal professionals.
Law Day Keynote Presentation - 6 p.m. (CST)
Tune in for a fascinating conversation with Harvard Law Professor and Deputy Prosecutor for the Hague Penitentiary Institution, Alex Whiting.
Exploring Graduate Studies in Liberal Arts on February 2-3
Virtual Event Zoom ID: 963-8310-0161
There will be events for everyone. Some will be geared toward freshmen & sophomores and others toward juniors & seniors. Ask your instructors for extra credit! Join the POLS faculty to learn about graduate school and the Master of Public Administration Program on:
Feb 2: 2-4 PM Graduate Studies at USI with Dr. Trent Engbers
Feb 3: 10-11:30 AM Graduate School 101 with Dr. Matt Hanka
Check out the full program at https://www.usi.edu/liberal-arts/graduate-programs/exploring-graduate-studies-in-liberal-arts/
Community of Scholars Lecture-Elections 2020 with Abdul Hakim Shabazz
October 26, 2020 at 7PM
USI faculty, students and alumni join forces to perform benefit reading of The Vagina Monologues
The University of Southern Indiana will present a two-night-only benefit reading of Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 26, and 7 p.m. on Friday, February 28 in Forum II of the Wright Administration Building on the USI campus. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. The event costs $8 at the door. All proceeds go to Willow Tree of Posey County, working to help women and girls coping with sexual assault and domestic violence. Read more...
USI students and faculty at Homeless Connect 2019
Over 700 people registered for Homeless Connect of Southwest Indiana this year to receive services such as legal advice, tax preparation, job applications, haircuts, lunch, and much more. Students and faculty from USI helped with the event that took place at the OLD National Events Plaza on March 21, 2019. Dr. Matt Hanka, director of the Commission on Homelessness for Evansville and Vanderburgh County, oversees Homeless Connect. Read more...
USI to celebrate 21st anniversary of The Vagina Monologues & the founding of V-Day
The University of Southern Indiana will present a two-night-only benefit reading of Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 20 and 7 p.m. on Friday, February 22 in Forum 3 of the Wright Administration Building on the USI campus. Doors will open at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 20, and at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, February 22. The event costs $8 at the door. Ninety percent of proceeds go to Willow Tree of Posey County, working to help women and girls coping with sexual assault and domestic violence. Ten percent of proceeds go to the V-Day Action Fund for women who have been incarcerated. Read more...
Dr. Hanka at TEDx Evansville 2018
In his talk "How Housing First Puts Us on a Path to End Homelessness," Dr. Matt Hanka discussed homelessness at TEDx Evansville on Friday, October 26, 2018 at USI's Performance Center. He shared new approaches to addressing homelessness by providing shelter first so that chronic homelessness is prevented. Helping the homeless overcome the difficulties that put them on the streets in the first place is a long term process that should not be a precondition of housing.
Berger Lecture - The Majority Minority: Why Women are Underrepresented in American Politics and What Difference Does it Make?
Date: September 20th, 2018.
The University of Southern Indiana Political Science, Public Administration and Philosophy Department welcomes Dr. Marjorie Hershey, professor of political science at Indiana University, as she presents at the 2018 Sydney Berger Lecture. The lecture will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, September 20 in Carter Hall, located in University Center West on the USI campus. Hershey’s lecture, “The Majority Minority,” is free and open to the public.
Hershey’s talk will explore the underrepresentation of women in American politics and how that underrepresentation affects our lives. She asks, “If we elected more women to Congress, executive leadership, and state legislatures, would we have different types of policies? A different political tone? Less partisanship- or more?”
Dr. Hanka on President Trump's visit to Evansville
Dr. Matt Hanka discussed President Trump's visit to Evansville on Eyewitness News on August 30, 2018.
Political Science and Public Administration Alumni-in-residence
Chad Horrell '04
Chad Horrell ’04, a director with the Washington D.C.-based DCI Group, presented ‘See’ of Opportunities: Navigate with Purpose. Chad’s talk included topics such as the valuable application and use of a USI degree in Indiana and across the nation, as well as the importance of identifying goals and striving every day to achieve those goals. The Alumni in Residence program is a pragmatic, engaging conversation with USI students about opportunities offered to them. As part of Chad’s conversation, he also discussed how his own USI education prepared him for a career in the nation’s capital. An Evansville native, Chad graduated from USI in 2004 with a degree in political science.
Wednesday, April 11,2018, 10 a.m.
Liberal Arts Center’s Kleymeyer Hall
Indiana Political Science Association Conference
March 16, 2018
USI hosted the Indiana Political Science association Conference in Carter Hall on March 16, 2018. Next year the conference will be at the University of Indianapolis.
Dr. Matt Hanka was named administrator of the Commission on Homelessness
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke named Dr. Matthew Hanka as Administrator of the Commission on Homelessness for Evansville and Vanderburgh County at the organization’s February 2018 meeting. In this volunteer role, Dr. Hanka will provide leadership for the Commission, a group of local government representatives and community leaders working together to prevent and end homelessness in the region.