By the numbers
Early estimates for Anderson University’s fall 2008 enrollment:
Residents of Smith and Martin halls may be the envy of Anderson University this year.
A crew of volunteers swarmed around the residence halls on Anderson University’s campus Thursday waiting for a car, any car, to be unloaded.
As Dean Branson, director of student programming, pointed tightly-packed vehicles toward temporary parking spaces, returning students and some experienced parents waited for any chance they had to help another freshman into the dorms.
“They’re responsible for unpacking, but we get their stuff up to the room as quickly as we can,” Branson said.
Cars came loaded with all the comforts of home — lamps, rugs, television — downsized to fit into each of the single rooms that most students must share with an unfamiliar roommate.
“We have to know that the people coming here have never done this before,” Branson said. “So we have to make them feel at home.”
Hominess is what attracted Nathan Breneman to AU. The freshman from Dublin, Ohio, said the size of the campus made the school seem like a good fit. He was settling into Dunn Hall on Thursday, but said he wasn’t nervous about starting classes, although he was worried that living without his own car would take a lot of getting used to.
His parents were also wondering about how their lives would be different with their oldest son out of the house.
“I just know the home will be a lot quieter,” said Jenny, Nathan’s mother. “He’s the talker. He’s the one who always has something going on.”
Nathan is one of an estimated 600 new undergraduates enrolling at AU this fall, the school reported. The university expects the size of its full-time freshman class to increase between 12 and 15 percent this year, but exact figures will not be known until late September.
Approximately 80 percent of new undergraduate students are coming from Indiana or neighboring states, but 47 states and 30 countries are represented in the total undergraduate population of about 1,850 students, the university reported.
Callie Zelber and Kelly Thomas moved into Rice Hall on Thursday. Strangers less than a year ago, the two girls met though Anderson University’s new social networking site for accepted students, a Web site that lets people seriously considering AU to talk.
Admission’s counselor Christy Kihm said lots of students had found roommates using the site. “It was a big hit.”
Zelber, of Indianapolis, and Thomas, of Miamisburg, Ohio, said they connected over their shared love of the Disney princesses, and now their dorm room is festooned with images of Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.”
The girls said it was a challenge to decide which clothes to bring, and they both made a point to pack photographs and their beloved teddy bears.
With five days left before classes start, Kelly said she’d be using the time to relax, meet some new people, and if there’s time, find out where her classes are. dresser to herself, she joked that it was a good excuse to go buy more clothes.
VIEW FLICKR PHOTO ALBUM OF 2008 MOVE-IN DAY
—Barrett Newkirk is a reporter for the Herald Bulletin. Story republished with permission.
Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 65 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.
Rebecca Vanatta has only two children in school, yet her annual spending on clothes and supplies sometimes tops $15,000. [Editor's note: Rebecca is a M.Ed student and currently working on her school administration license in the School of Education].
That’s because the art teacher at Anderson High School spends money out of her own pocket to make sure the kids in Anderson’s public school system get what they need — whether it’s for books, belts or field trips.
Martin Hall and Smith Hall are both receiving much-anticipated renovations and upgrades this summer. Martin was completed in 1958, and Smith was completed in 1964. This renovation will be the first that either hall has received.
Anderson University was recently awarded a Spring 2008 Recycling Bin Grant from the National Recycling Coalition and the Coca-Cola Company. This fall, numerous bottle-shaped recycling bins will be placed around campus to promote recycling at AU.
AU was one of 75 grant recipients chosen from 1,100 applications and one of only two grant recipients in the State of Indiana. The recipients represent a cross section of community groups, local governments, colleges and non profit organizations across the country.
The Weinstein Company is enlisting the help of 1990 AU alumnus, Cory Edwards to write and direct a live-action musical version of Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock.
The film is based of HBO’s Emmy-winning first TV series, Fraggle Rock, which premiered in 1983 and ran for five seasons. The series tells the adventures of an underground civilization’s inhabitants, portrayed by Jim Henson’s Muppets.
Kathleen Dugan stood with her arms folded, each hand clutching the opposite elbow, as if she were looking for something to hold onto and found only herself.
Her 11-year-old twins, who were diagnosed with autism eight years ago, had been suspended from school a few days earlier.
Hannah, annoyed that vocabulary study was going to interrupt her reading, threw a dry erase board, which accidentally struck another child. Ed threw a chair when two kids he’d been working with wanted to put a label at the top of a map instead of the bottom.
Now, Dugan’s pair of fifth-graders lurched up and down the hallway at the Indianapolis Art Center. Hannah, wearing pink Crocs, brown cords, and a lilac T-shirt and cardigan, was blinking excessively. Ed, in a blue polo shirt, jeans and Nikes, was putting his hands up to his face. Both bit their bottom lips and stared at the floor as often as they looked up at their own portraits on the wall.
Dugan, a 47-year-old associate professor of art at Anderson University, stood still, finally, after rushing to arrive for the reception for her exhibition, “Facing Autism.”
To Dugan, it feels as if she’s always running late, always struggling to keep it together.
A DVD of an earlier interview played in the background, where the artist described her work, attesting to her children’s battle against the fastest-growing disability in the country, the words “problem” and “so hard” echoing through the gallery.
“You have these stretches where they’re functioning pretty well. You think maybe we can do this,” Dugan said. “But then you hit a bad stretch, and it rears itself up, and they tantrum—you’ve never heard such screaming—and you think, ‘How am I going to cope with this?’ ”
Twenty years ago—when Dustin Hoffman gave his Oscar-winning performance in “Rain Man”—autism was diagnosed nationally at a rate of roughly 1 in 2,000.
Today, the rate is 1 in 150.
Better recognition, shifting diagnostic rules and expansion of the autism spectrum itself are part of the growth, but there is also an alarming increase in incidence, and the medical system is struggling to keep up.
When Hannah and Ed were diagnosed in 2000, all doctors and educators could tell Dugan was to go to Riley Hospital for Children, even though the wait for a first appointment could last 12 months. Now, the wait is roughly four months, at what is now known as the Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center, an outpatient center that started as a much smaller facility in 1997.
“It was two people,” said Dr. David Posey, chief of the clinic. “Now, we have a staff of 21. But we could use more providers.”
Dugan soon found she would not only have to educate herself about autism, but educate people in the education field, as well.
“The challenge with children with autism is that there’s never one way of doing things,” said Dr. Cathy Pratt, director of the Indiana Resource Center for Autism. “What works with one child may not be what the next child needs.”
And the public still has a poor sense of what autism means.
Art is Dugan’s way of combating this ignorance. Using blunt brush strokes in bold colors, she portrays the world according to children with autism—a world that is frightening and nonsensical—showing the difficulties they face and the dignity they possess.
“If you’re a parent of a child on the spectrum, you become an activist by default,” said Dugan’s husband, Mark Tourney. “Most of what has been done has been done by parents.”
Dugan said that what she’s done is to paint the beauty of suffering.
But the pain isn’t on the canvas. The kids there are happy. Perhaps uncomfortable, or bewildered, but not in pain.
The suffering is in the artist.
Things used to be easier.
In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Dugan was a young Hoosier in Bloomington, caught up in the modern art scene, graduating from Indiana University with a BA and BFA, then heading to New York for a summer art program at Queens College. Before long, she was on her way to Yale for an intense MFA program.
She eventually returned with her husband to Indiana, where she received grants and awards throughout the region. She worked at Marian College and Franklin College and took a role in the art department at Anderson University in 1992.
But an art career is hard enough to pursue, said Tourney, let alone with twins who have autism.
Dugan poured her frustration into her art, and that was possible only after a Lilly Scholars Grant she received through the university. The grant allowed her to spend the past three years painting and putting together a symposium, featuring Posey, Pratt and Susan Pieples, president of the Autism Society of Indiana. It was held at the arts center in April, Autism Awareness Month, before an audience of about 80, including parents and professionals. Dugan donated her honorarium to cover the food.
“My art provides me with the respite I need when I have no control,” said Dugan, “and my faith helps me to understand that the control I seek is not mine to orchestrate.”
Dugan accepts that Ed can figure out the surface area of a cylinder but can’t make regular eye contact; that Hannah can speed-read and comprehend books at a 12th-grade level but can barely keep up with a conversation among her peers.
“I started to come to the realization that it’s a journey,” said Dugan, as Ed lay down on a bench and Hannah snuggled into her mother’s side. “It’s not going to be fixed. It’s long-term.”
It’s bittersweet, too.
Dugan recently had to separate Ed and Hannah. They were bickering in the yard. Ed was pretending to drill for oil. Hannah was chastising him for contributing to global warming. Such scenes are difficult to deal with even as they are a joy.
Even the suspensions from school wrought some tenderness.
Ed, as they were driving from school, sensed his mother’s unhappiness and said, “Mom, I’m really sorry. I know I’m messing up your day.” Hannah made her own gesture, giving Dugan her Mother’s Day present—a scented candle made in an after-school program—early.
“They do have empathy,” said Dugan, “for those they love.”
And that can be seen in the paintings.
Dugan requires you to deal directly with the subjects, and the subject at hand.
Ed averts his gaze, yes. Hannah, too, looks down and away.
But they do that when they’re happy.
—Konrad Marshall is a reporter for the Indianapolis Star. Story republished with permission.
Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 65 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.
AU junior Eryn Britt was selected to participate in the 500 Festival Princess Program on Saturday, May 17 for her dedication to academics and service.
Britt was one of 33 selected participants from an applicant pool of over 250 other Indiana collegiate women. Finalists were chosen for their communication skills, poise, academic performance and community and volunteer involvement.
Britt explained why she decided to take part in the program, which helps promote the Indy 500 race. “I grew up five miles from the track. The race has always been a part of my life, and I’ve always been interested in the tradition of the 500.”
Britt is involved in several campus and community service activities. This past year, she was a resident assistant in Martin Hall. She is a fellow in the Center for Public Service, and has volunteered with After School Fun. Additionally, she has traveled to Honduras with Tri-S and Ghana with her church.
Through the program, Britt has taken part in various community outreach and service opportunities. She has read books to elementary school classes, helped with an opening day youth softball event, led tours of the track, helped with a mini-marathon and other events.
Britt is majoring in Biology and Teach Science major and minoring in Chemistry.
—David Hynds is the Web Content Specialist for Anderson University.
Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 65 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.
For years, Krista Allen has used her free time to help others in need.
In high school, her older brother started a program to give meals to the homeless, so Allen helped with that and other social projects. Since she started at Anderson University, she has gone on several mission trips within the United States, and one to Nairobi, Kenya.
Today, Allen will be one of the 640 students to graduate from Anderson University.
But shortly after that, she will leave on her next adventure: an 11-month internship in Ethiopia.
“I think when I have some time to sit down and think about it, there will be some fears, especially with leaving everyone here, but right now, I’m very excited and I’m awaiting what will come,” the 22-year-old said.
Allen, who calls Lexington, Ky., home, said she had learned a lot of skills during her four years at AU that she could bring with her when she goes to Africa.
Allen will work for Remember the Poorest Community, a group started by an evangelical church in Ethiopia. As a project manager for RPC, Allen will write for the newsletter of the organization, as well as work on site with women and children on the street.
“Part of what I’ll be doing in Ethiopia is writing stories of women and children that the organization helps,” she said.
Before Allen goes off to Africa, she will spend two weeks in Costa Rica with a social organization at AU.
“We’ll be helping to do some painting work at a homeless shelter,” she said.
While Allen is excited to graduate, she said she would miss some aspects of college.
“There are parts of it I’ll miss a lot,” she said. “I’m glad to not have papers or tests, but I’ll miss the people. I’ll miss the community we’ve developed. I’ll miss the activities provided for us, all the things to do in the community and on campus.”
—Jessica Kerman is a reporter for the Herald Bulletin in Anderson. Story republished with permission.
Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.
Baby could hardly keep his eyes open by 2 p.m.
The beagle-mix puppy was in high demand at Anderson University during “Rent-a-Puppy,” a fundraising event for social service organization Alacritas.
“It’s good publicity for us and the shelter,” said 20-year-old Samantha Smith, president of the group.
For $1, students could play and pet and cuddle with one of the six puppies out for rent.
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