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Welcome to the March Madness edition of the Warrior Family Association e-newsletter. The last few weeks have been especially exciting for Indiana Tech, and I enjoy having the opportunity to share some of our recent news with you. Since I began by calling this the March Madness edition, I will begin with our men’s basketball team. President Einolf and I were proud to travel to Kansas City last weekend to watch our men’s basketball team compete in the Fab Four of the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship. Our guys rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat Georgetown College, 80-71, in the semifinal matchup! The next evening, in the championship game against the College of Idaho, we were down by 23 points with 18 minutes to play, and we again rallied back to close the gap to one point! Unfortunately, we lost, 73-71, but it was a historic season for our men’s basketball team. It ended the season with a record of 32 wins and 5 losses, it won the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference regular-season championship, and it was the NAIA national championship tournament runner-up.
In other exciting news, Indiana Tech held a Day of Giving on Tuesday, Feb. 21, to support our students. Donations came in from our faculty, staff, coaches, alumni, students’ families and many friends and sponsors of our university. By the end of the day, 455 donors generously contributed a total of $110,623, which far exceeded our expectations. Each donor was able to specify what their contribution was to benefit at the university, such as a student scholarship, any one of our athletics teams, an academic program, our engineering building expansion or student engagement activities. I am grateful to everyone who helped us out on our Day of Giving and made it such a successful day.
President Einolf and I just returned from a 10-day trip where we had the opportunity to visit with alumni and our athletics teams that were competing across the country. We started in Melbourne, Florida, where our women’s softball team was playing in a spring break tournament. We spent 12 hours with our team that day! They played two games and won both—including a marathon game that took over four hours to finish due to multiple lightning delays. After the games, we went back to their hotel to spend some time with the athletes and their families while enjoying some great Italian food. We spent the following day in Florida visiting with alumni and then flew to Boston to watch our men’s and women’s hockey teams play in their national championship tournaments. The games in Boston gave us a chance to visit with the players’ families and local alumni who came to cheer on our Warriors. Our plans were delightfully interrupted when we learned our men’s basketball team reached the Fab Four of the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship (as I mentioned above). We immediately headed to Kansas City to cheer the Warriors on. Are you tired yet?! The enthusiasm of our students, their families and our alumni gives both President Einolf and me a lot of inspiration and energy. We enjoy these great experiences and opportunities to support our students!
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Big Events at Tech!
March is wrapping up, but April will bring some of the biggest events of the year. In addition to a few movie showtimes, trivia nights and social events, our student organizations will bring their members to compete in a campus-wide competition for ultimate bragging rights on April 21.
Only a week later, the Office of Student Engagement will host Spring Bling Fling. Scully Square, located in the center of campus, will have series of games, activities and free food. The night will be capped off with a dance party hosted by Fort Wayne's own DJ Big Kess. Encourage your students to go and have some fun!
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From the Office of Student SuccessRegistration for the fall 2023 semester has begun! Registration for seniors started on March 22, for juniors and sophomores on March 24, and for freshmen on March 27. Student Success Advisors for first-year students are ready to help ensure success in fall 2023 course identification for their students. If your student has not scheduled their fall classes, regardless of class, encourage them to do so soon.
Midterms and spring break have come and gone. However, there is still time to get help if needed. Schedule time with a tutor in OSS to get help with a variety of subjects, including math. There’s still time to improve your grades.
The month of March is designated as Disability Awareness month. In collaboration with some residential assistants, Indiana Tech's disability staff helped bring awareness to issues facing students with physical disabilities (e.g., wheelchairs, blindness/visual impairment, deafness) with a variety of activities mimicking what it could be like to have these disabilities. Next month, they will be highlighting neurodivergent issues. Stay tuned and encourage your students to participate.
Please take a few minutes to follow us on Instagram (we are @indianatech_oss). On this platform, we post valuable information for your students to help with their success at Tech. We are also going to start with some student engagement activities to help get students to come visit us—there will be prizes! Encourage your students to give us a follow and come visit us.
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WATCH LIVE GAMES
Whether you live across the country or around the world, don’t miss a minute of Indiana Tech Warriors athletes in action. Links to individual livestreams can be found here. If you live in the area or plan to come to Fort Wayne to watch in person, you can get your tickets online in advance here. Whether watching from home or in person, sport your Warrior pride by ordering your Indiana Tech gear through the online Tech Treasures store at the link below.
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Career Center Upcoming EventIt is that time of year again when Indiana Tech prepares for our Intern of the Year awards ceremony, which happens in May. We would like to hear about our students' performance. Nomination forms are being accepted now until March 31. Our students work hard in their internships, and we want to recognize them. We also recognize the importance of our organization/business partners and the investment they make in our students and graduates. So, we want to recognize them as well. Anyone who submits a nomination form is invited to the ceremony for lunch with us and they could possibly win an award as Employer Partner of the Year! Please help us recognize the great work of our students in their internship positions. Here’s to building the successful workforce of the future.
RISE Internship Awards Ceremony
May 3, 2023
Deadline to submit nominations is March 31
Please submit your form to careercenter@indianatech.edu
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Dr. Naga Aditya Musunuri
Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Energy Engineering
I love my work! I enjoy teaching/advising/interacting with students.
I speak up to three different Indian languages, plus English.
I hail from South India, and I enjoy cooking Indian cuisine.
I got my undergraduate degree in India, and my M.S. and
Ph. D. from NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology).
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Dr. Maximo J. Ortega
Associate Professor, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
My wife and I love hiking. Last summer, we hiked 290 miles through the north of Spain—part of a trail called the Way of St. James.
I play several instruments. In college, I was a member of a musical group called Estudiantina. The group included guitars, mandolins, an accordion and a double bass. I played the double bass.
My first teaching job was at a high school, back in Mexico. I had to grow a beard because they kept kicking me out of the teachers’ room. They thought I was a student instead of an instructor.
I was part of the largest ordination in the history of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic diocese. I was ordained as a permanent deacon on Jan. 7, 2023, along with 17 other candidates.
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Amy ShankAssistant Professor of Biology
I used to be a gymnast.
I love to travel, especially to Africa or remote locations.
I have remodeled over 100 houses for friends and family.
I still live in my childhood home.
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Final thoughts from a fellow mom
I hope many of you were able to spend some time with your students over spring break. Even though we have been traveling, Karl and I went to Pittsburgh for a day to spend some time with our sons, Nicholas and Thomas. Although it was a quick visit, it was enough to check in with them and see how they are doing. Nicholas has remained busy with his two jobs, while Thomas is busy teaching math during the day and attending his Ph.D. classes in the evenings.
We plan to take a trip out east for Easter to visit with both of our families. We are especially looking forward to spending time with my mom and Karl’s parents. A trip to NYC is also on the agenda as we are planning to see the new apartment Thomas moved into in January on Columbia University’s campus. He more than tripled his square footage, as he was living in an 88-square-foot room! From there, we plan to go to Baltimore to visit Karl’s grandmother who will turn 102 this May! She is such an inspiration for all of us. Of course, we plan to visit with a couple members of our Board of Trustees and other alumni along the way.
Our commencement ceremony in May will be here before we know it. It’s almost time for me to get tissues ready to wipe away tears as I shake the hands and give hugs to our students who walk down from the stage. If you are attending graduation for your student, please see me so I can congratulate you. Our students get to this day with a lot of love and support from you—and I want to recognize your accomplishment, too! Enjoy the spring season, and best of luck to your student for the rest of this semester!
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