In mid-February, Historic Southern Indiana and the rest of the University of Southern Indiana's Division of Outreach and Engagement packed up and moved to our new home in University Center East.

Construction began in 2008 to turn the original USI library into an expansion of the University Center. The new University Center East is home to student lounges and restaurants, conference rooms, the Multicultural Center, the Division of Outreach and Engagement, Student Development Programs, The Shield student newspaper office, and more.

The architectural design of UC East was carefully conceived to repurpose components and materials that are manufactured in or indigenous to southern Indiana, or are of historical significance to the University and the community.

One of HSI's favorite parts of UC East, the Heritage Lounge, is right outside our office. It features the 28-foot tall Orr Iron Arch, made of Indiana limestone, that was the entrance to the 1912 Orr Iron Company building in Evansville. Beautiful rosettes made out of chair legs from the Jasper Chair Company hang from the ceiling and honor Indiana's history of furniture production.

The Heritage Lounge


Orr Iron Company

Many other regional materials are used throughout the building. The outside of the University Center Tower (known on campus as "The Cone") is covered in limestone quarried in Bloomington, Indiana. The limestone bricks were cut from the rough and irregular outer face of the stone which is usually discarded by the quarry.

Benches created from aluminum ingots made at the Alcoa Warrick Operations near Newburgh sit on the inside and outside of UC East, and the distinctive wood paneling in the Division of Outreach and Engagement’s second level area is made of poplar, a tree indigenous to Indiana.

Underground utility piping and A-blocks from Cannelton's Can Clay Corporation have also been utilized as design elements throughout the building. A-blocks are manufactured to secure the clay pipes in the kilns during the firing process. This is the first application of A-blocks as a building material.

For more information about University Center East and its regional influences, visit the USI UC East page.

Slideshows

Dr. Karen Bonnell, professor of communications at the University of Southern Indiana, has received the 2011 Darrel Bigham Historic Southern Indiana Faculty Engagement Fellowship Award for a third installment of "Snapshots of Southern Indiana," a 30-minute television program used to promote tourism in southern Indiana. Bonnell received the award in 2008 for the second installment of "Snapshots of Southern Indiana," which focused on Indiana's original territorial capitol at Vincennes, the state's first capitol at Corydon, and the Native American settlement at Angel Mounds.

The 2011 award includes a $4,000 stipend that will be used to fund Bonnell's latest "Snapshots" program called "Southern Indiana African American Heritage Project." Bonnell's project will involve research, planning, and production of still photographs, video footage, and video interviews at multiple historic sites in Indiana including Corydon, Evansville, and Princeton. The material will be organized for public display at the Evansville African American Museum and edited into a television documentary for WNIN-TV. The episode will be available to other public television stations for potential statewide broadcast.

Historic Southern Indiana is sponsoring the symposium "1811: The Year of the Decision," the second of four annual educational symposia that will be held to commemorate the War of 1812 Bicentennial. This year's event will take place on June 25.

The history departments at the University of Southern Indiana and Vincennes University are assisting with the program. The event will be held at the Indiana Center for Applied Technology on the Vincennes University campus in Vincennes, Indiana. The symposium will feature scholarly lectures and panel discussions.

This year’s theme will deal with the events of 1811 that were leading up to the War of 1812, most notably the Battle of Tippecanoe. The speakers include:

Dr. Jonathon Hooks, Mississippi University for Women – Redeemed Honor: The President-Little Belt Affair and the Coming of the War of 1812

Dr. Lisa Morales, North Central Texas College – America is Destined to Win! Congressional Debates in 1811 and the Strange Financial Reasoning behind the War of 1812

Dr. James Buss, Oklahoma City University – 'Which of these articles has your father broken?': Historical Interpretation on the Middle Ground

Keynote speaker: David Skaggs, Bowling Green State University (Retired) – The Military Apprenticeship of William Henry Harrison.

The year 2011 marks the 200th anniversary of the first successful steamboat voyage down the Ohio River. Communities along the river are holding special events to celebrate the journey that changed the course of American history.

Museum exhibits, a steamboat symposium, river festivals, and reenactments are among the many events planned. The Belle of Cincinnati and the Belle of Louisville will also be visiting cities along the Ohio River for lunch and dinner cruises. Built in 1914, the Belle of Louisville is recognized as the oldest river steamboat still in operation.

For a full schedule of events, visit the Rivers Institute Steamboat Bicentennial calendar.

Indiana's Historic Pathways
A kick-off meeting will be held on April 14 at 1:00 EDT at the Jackson County Visitor Center in Seymour, Indiana. Please join us if you are interested in helping develop Indiana's new byway.

The 2nd annual Indiana's Historic Pathways teacher workshop is set for October 4, 2011 at the Paoli Community Learning Center in Paoli, Indiana.

Ohio River Scenic Byway
The Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio committees traveled to Clarksville, Indiana in March to attend a tri-state workshop sponsored by the Hoosier National Forest.