Date: October 20, 2008
Contact: Carol Connelly, Director,
Media & Communication Services, ext. 5267, cconnelly@pnc.edu
PNC's Dworkin and Hengst Honored by Society of Innovators
A photo of Dr. Dworkin may be found at http://www.pnc.edu/cd/news/newsphotos/dworkin.jpg
A photo of Dr. Hengst may be found at http://www.pnc.edu/cd/news/newsphotos/hengst.jpg
Westville – Purdue University North Central Chancellor Dr. James B. Dworkin was recently selected for Honorary Lifetime Membership in the Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana.
Dworkin has been chancellor of PNC since January, 2000. Since then the campus has steadily increased its enrollment. Bachelor's degree offerings increased from six to 17 and a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) was added. A facility has been added in Valparaiso to reach out to Porter County students. PNC – Porter County now includes a full service undergraduate building and a graduate building that is home to the MBA program. Plans are now under way for a new Student Services and Activities Center for the Westville campus. Dworkin has also been involved with promoting economic development in LaPorte, Porter and Starke counties. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota and has lent his expertise to the region as needed.
Also selected as a member is Richard Hengst, Ph.D., PNC professor of Biology and
director of Graduate Studies. Hengst has a long history of teaching and research in the field of dinosaurs, teaching PNC students in the classroom and on several trips to dinosaur digs in Utah . He also uses on-line teaching to involve younger students across the country in his dinosaur expeditions both in the United States and elsewhere in the world.
In 2007, the Society of Innovators inducted Judy Jacobi, PNC assistant vice chancellor of Marketing and Community Relations, as a member.
The Society of Innovators celebrates creativity and engages the diversity of Northwest Indiana by seeking out and rewarding innovators from all walks of life in recognition of their work to enhance the quality of life in our communities and around the world. The Society covers Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Starke, Newton , Jasper and Pulaski counties. Launched by Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana Northwest, the Society is the first organized effort to recognize innovators in Indiana and one of two major initiatives in the Midwest . The other is The Chicago Innovation Awards launched seven years ago and championed by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. To view the Society Fellows from last year, go to www.innovatenow.us and click on the “innovation leadership” section under the Society of Innovators.
This year, 38 individuals and 16 teams were inducted as Members into the Society of Innovators. From these members, six Fellows and a recipient of the Chanute Prize for Team Innovation were named. Other new LaPorte County Members include Dr. Peter C. Kesling, Kesling Associates, of LaPorte, who was named a Fellow for his lifetime of contributions that have influenced the orthodontic field worldwide through TP Orthodontics and Kesling and Rocke Orthodontics.
Dean Kaesbier, of LaPorte, was named a Member for creating a membership-owned supply and marketing partnership that brought together four regional agricultural cooperatives.
In total, 124 individuals and project teams from various walks of life have been selected for membership in the Society since 2005.
“The Society of Innovators is proud to be inducting our largest ‘Class of Innovators' for 2008 - 2009,” said Roy Evans, Ph.D., chair of the Society and associate professor of Civil Engineering Technology at Purdue University Calumet. “Our members are as diverse as this region. But they share a passion to find new and better ways and to make sustainable contributions to our region, state and world.”
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