The news that the Ku Klux Klan will hold a rally in our community has shocked and appalled the students, faculty and staff of Hanover College. The organization’s bigotry and violence have no place here, and what the KKK represents is completely counter to the values of the college and what we believe to be the values of this community.

As one of the largest employers in the region and as an institution that recruits more than 300 students to be new residents of Jefferson County every year, it is imperative to the college that our region be a welcoming and hospitable place for all people. It would be easy to ignore a few outside agitators planning a protest, but we see the upcoming event as an occasion to affirm a shared community commitment to respect, equality, kindness and justice. We must ensure that hate — under whatever mask it hides — can never be at home here.

As educators, we know that “teachable moments” can come in unlikely situations. We ask our neighbors in Jefferson County to turn this unfortunate situation into a positive lesson on the value of diversity and need for inclusivity, committing ourselves to being an even better place to live and work for all people.

Sincerely,

Lake Lambert, Ph.D.

President

Barbara Garvey and Dan Murphy, two longtime Hanover College faculty members, recently sat down for a 45-minute discussion about the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The conversation touched on a variety of related topics, including the uniqueness of the candidates, Neil Postman's vision, gerrymandering and even forecasting the final result.

Garvey, a retired professor of communication, taught at Hanover from 1977-2013 and earned the College's Arthur and Ilene Baynham Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1987. Her areas of expertise include presidential rhetoric, political advertising, gender communication and leadership, and first ladies.

Murphy, a professor of American history, is a 1981 Hanover graduate and has taught at the College since 1988. He was the founding director of Hanover's Center for Free Inquiry and served as program director of the symposium series. His specialties include modern American history, American cultural and military history.

Their conversation follows.

Uniqueness of this Presidential Election

Dan Murphy

I think there is something to be said that this may be the most extreme case. These are the first candidates whose unfavorabilities together go over 100 percent, which is rather remarkable. I do not know if we even have data from 1972, when you are running [Richard] Nixon versus [George] McGovern, but I would be surprised, even there, in that fraught election, that you would have the same kind of numbers.

Late 19th century, you had candidates who were more party people, rather than personalities. You go 1884, Grover Cleveland had an illegitimate baby, they said, and James Blaine, who was involved in railroad shenanigans, so both were being lambasted by the other side, and probably drove there favorabilities down.

I am not sure it is anything like what we have here.

Now, we have two people who were around for so long. We have known [Donald] Trump since the 1980s and Hillary [Clinton] since, at the very least, the early 1990s.

Barbara Garvey

That is a long time.

Murphy

So, the American people have been living with these folks for a long time. So, yes, some presidents come out of nowhere. Woodrow Wilson in two years, he goes from being governor of New Jersey to president. Barack Obama, who is elected to the Senate in 2006 – in 2004 he makes his famous speech – so in two years, he does the Wilson thing and he is president of the United States and nobody knew him. George W. Bush, I guess maybe people had seen him with his father, or something like that, but he is governor of Texas, which is somewhat prominent, but still, off to the side. Then the next thing you know, he is president.

We have not had anybody quite like this [Trump and Clinton].

Garvey

No, I think there would be an interesting comparison with the first Bush and [Michael] Dukakis. Not the hatred towards them, but, for a long time, the American public looked at both of them like “do we want either of these people for president?”

But, this is what Hillary had hoped would happen with her [national Democratic] convention, Bush’s rise after his convention not only went up, but stayed up. And then the famous Dukakis commercials with the helmet down over his eyebrows – which he very honorably said “no that did not keep me from winning the election” – but there were just a series of things. Bad moves. Bad moves.

But, I do think, in fairness to both Trump and Clinton, [regarding] the media, it is impossible not to talk about the bad things with the media. The media have stirred up the very worst about them and, if we had the kind of media today of just 25 years ago, maybe they could have found somewhat of a better place. But, you know, it is just a disaster.

Neil Postman’s Views

Garvey

I want to talk about Neil Postman.

Murphy

I am a big Neil Postman guy!

Garvey

Me, too! We were in the middle of such wonderful conversations and then, just presto, he passed away, it was just like overnight. But, because historians love Neil Postman, communication people loved him, English people loved him, he was the true liberal arts person. There is no doubt about it.

We brought him [Neil Postman] to campus. He made, I honestly believe, the biggest impact on campus as anybody ever did. We had a question-and-answer session in the afternoon and it was standing-room only. That night it was standing-room only.

Here is what he said. It was about 1989, roughly, when he came.

Murphy

It was roughly right after “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” which was probably his masterpiece.

Garvey

Yes, it is. When he talked about amusing ourselves to death, it was not about the “ha, ha, ha, ha kind of amusement.” It was that it would bring out the weakness in our whole thought process that would do a number of things, all of them bad.

Murphy

What he was talking about was the problem of making our main mode of communication television.

Garvey

Exactly!

Murphy

As opposed to print. Print, by its very nature, compels logical, reasoned, orderly, linear argument. With television, it is the image. And he pointed out, a simple example he gave, that tells you could not do Shakespeare’s “King Lear” with smoke signals. It is impossible for that mode of communication to convey what is in “King Lear.” And he would point out that television, which we were increasingly turning to, is not a media that is conducive to rational and linear thought.

And he used the very, very, very famous example – I think for the election of 1984 – over and over again, Leslie Stahl at CBS wanted to do a strong, hard-hitting piece on Ronald Reagan. So she did a series of pieces on Regan during the course of a week. She really nailed him. But, while she would be standing speaking or doing the narration, they would be showing these pictures of Reagan in the rose garden, meeting veterans or greeting foreign leaders. She got a call from Michael Deaver, Reagan’s public relations guy, who said “thank you so much, Leslie.” And she said “why, I was trying to nail him.” He said “it does not matter. Thank you so much.”

The point was, they did some polling with this, Reagan’s ratings went up. People blocked out what she was saying and they just simply saw the good images of him being presidential. And that was what the medium conveyed.

So, Postman went on to talk about how speeches become shorter. Well, speeches are now boiled down to soundbites. [Abraham] Lincoln and [Stephen] Douglas would get up and debate for two hours at a pop and then rebut for two hours.

Garvey

At one of them, Lincoln sent people home for dinner so they could be rested, so they could come back and listen to him for four more hours. Could you imagine that today?

Murphy

Our people complain if a debate goes over an hour. We are worried that people will collapse and so forth. These guys [Lincoln and Douglas] were doing it for eight or 10 hours a day.

Garvey

But it was their sport. That was the entertainment to them, like a national football league game or baseball.

Murphy

It was, Postman would argue, the nature of the media had implicated this sort of appreciation of people.

Another one of his famous lines is was “you could have Lincoln come back and recite the Gettysburg Address on television” - which was very atypical of the 19th century, it was only like two minutes long – you come back, recite that, “and most of the audience would not know what he said.” Because they could no longer comprehend the grammatical structures and the words, the diction and all the rest that goes into it.

Garvey

What is truth? He was still working on that at the time of his death. What has been done to truth?

Of course, he would say we went from an oral society to a printing society to the television society. And each time, the definition of truth changed. But, with technology as it is today, people feel more-certain than they have ever felt that they have the truth and anyone who disagrees with them, you are wrong. Because I have the truth.

Actually, at a time when we are more confused, we have less specific information. We have what Postman talked about as misinformation. That we live this society where, because of technology, we should know everything there is to know. But, for all kinds of reasons, we ignore most of it or get it all messed up. And then selectively pay attention to only what I like. We are trapped by incoherence, by misinformation. We adore the images that soothe us and make us happy.

If he were alive today, what I think he would be talking about the most is that we want the images that soothe our discontent by allowing us to be the most discontent. You know that sounds very convoluted, but he was worried at the time of his death that we were moving farther and farther to not saying anything good about our country, not saying anything good about politics and that we were just wanting the person who could best capture the anger. A good example is negative advertising that does not teach, but is based on anger and misinformation. In this election, there is data to suggest that, unlike the past elections where the negative ads got people to vote, this time, the negative ads may be causing people not to turn out to vote.

Murphy

Substituting reasons and arguments with images. It was just at that time, in the 1980s, you had cable television taking over. Then, of course, at the end of his life, is just when the internet was moving along. What we have seen is a fragmentation of sources of information and entertainment for people.

When I was a boy, you had the three networks. If you were lucky, you lived in a big city where there would be an independent [station] or something like that. If you were really lucky, you might have four. That was it. You have a newspaper. Maybe two, or something, in your town. That was it. Everybody watched the same programs because you were only choosing from maybe three possibilities at any given time. Then you had reruns in the summer so you could catch up on the ones you did not watch. Then with cable, all of the sudden, boom. So now, when you look at a really popular television program, and if they get 10 or 15 percent of the market, that’s amazing success.

Garvey

That’s considered very high.

Murphy

That’s huge compared to the days when, I forget, the last episode of M-A-S-H or something would get the whole country watching it. The Lucy Show with virtually everyone in the country was watching when she gave birth. Or just any normal week. Whatever it may be, everybody shared the same things in common. We do not have that anymore. And the same thing has happened to information sources.

As Postman was saying before, alright, if I am alt-right, I have all kinds of whacky sites I can go to. If I am right, I can go to the National Review Weekly Standard. If I am left, I can go to Politico, New York Times, whatever it may be. If I am alt-left, I can go to various whacky left sites where I can find my comfort anywhere.

Garvey

And I stay, I stay in my comfort.

Murphy

So you have some people who think the United States is just the pit of all hell, and some other people who think it is the greatest place that is being torn down by these folks, and you have all these different narratives and it is very hard. That is one reason why it is so hard to get people to unite and work together.

Campaign Rhetoric

Garvey

I want to ask you a question related to the history of rhetoric. I may be the very last person refusing to go to our last stage, which called is post-modern. I know there are lots of different definitions for post-modern. The way we use it is, basically, there is no hope for rhetoric any more. People are so self-absorbed that if your argument is not what they already believe, you cannot reach them. Well, I am hanging on. I am not there yet. I am closer than I ever thought I would be. I am not there yet.

But here is what I want to ask you. One of my favorite modern rhetoricians, came out of the 1950s. Tzedek, the Hebrew word for justice, is was what Chaïm Perelman was all about. And he said we will be okay as long as we have a universal audience. He knew the number of particular audiences was on the rise - and you can imagine if he was saying that in the 1960s and 1970s what he would think about today. We have examples of the election right now about the particular audiences. But we must have a universal audience of enough people who say there are certain standards and we will not pass those. And we understand we cannot always have things all our way and we may argue endlessly about where we are going to compromise, but it is there and it is political rhetoric that takes us there. Our political system will function as long as we have the universal audience.

What is your response about “is there still a universal audience?”

Murphy

I think there is the possibility, but you are facing the fact that people have comfort zones and we have structurally made it easier for people to have comfort zones. The classic would be the way that gerrymandering - thanks to, again, computers - gerrymandering, which was always a fine art, has become even more of a fine art.

Garvey

The Democrats did it in the 1960s. We think of it right now as the Republican thing that has been done, but it has always been done by our political [parties].

Murphy

They missed their decade because they won at the right time. If the Democrats win in 2020, they will do it. It goes back and forth. The Obama political machine in 2012 made this sort of micro-targeting a fine art. [Senator] Rob Portman in Ohio has done a brilliant job, in what should otherwise be a tough year for Republicans in that state.

Garvey

Yes, he is going to be re-elected.

Murphy

He has buried his well-known opponent ...

Garvey

... Who was a former governor ...

Murphy

... By apparently slicing the population into 22 different groups. And going after all these 22 different groups with 22 different messages. Thereby, solidifying their base.

I think there is some hope.

Garvey

It is working on both sides.

Murphy

I think, if we had a leader who – we could have a whole big discussion on whether we think presidents become too much of the imperial president. The president does consummate that audience. I think Obama sort of had a chance. He was headed that way in 2008 and 2009, then he went to a different direction. He went partisan.

Garvey

Some of his top critics were in his own party.

Murphy

That is why he, in the end, had to emphasize the micro-targeting because he could not do a Reagan. He was going to be out of the cards.

Garvey

Let me ask you this. When you have Mitch McConnell, standing up on the day of your inauguration, saying publicly, not secretly, but publicly, I have only one goal and that is to make sure this president is a one-termer.

Is it possible for Obama to have had the universal audience?

Murphy

Yes. If he was willing to compromise.

Garvey

But see, the Democrats would say he compromised too much.

Murphy

Yes, and [Senator] Harry Reid has not been the paragon of civility.

Garvey

Yes. We can keep backing down. If so and so would have been stronger. If so and so …

Murphy

It has always been that way. Whomever you have. Even in the classic instances of senate-president work. A good example, we are learning more and more about the Eisenhower administration. It is one reason Eisenhower’s stock has been rising as president. This is a classic instance of a president and a senate majority leader of the opposite party, who has intense ambitions of his own, coming together to pass all sorts of important legislation.

Garvey

But, going back to the gerrymandering and select groups, look at how we lost Senator [Richard] Lugar. Will the back-home groups allow their elected officials to compromise with the other side?

Murphy

I do not think I would go Lugar and gerrymandering. With Lugar, you could really see it coming. He was out of touch.

The problem is that right now, for both parties, the Democrats, right at the moment, are reduced to their safest, most-left wing seats. The Republican are the same way. There is no doubt that makes it hard.

I do not think many people shed tears for him, but think of the passion of John Boehner, who was this fairly traditional – I mean he was a conservative guy. But a fairly traditional politician.

Garvey

He did work somewhat with others. Yes.

Murphy

Who was ready to work. In his way, capable and effective, who could do some interesting things.

Garvey

I would agree with that. And he got thrown out because of his willingness to work with others.

Murphy

Not the bulk of his caucus …

Garvey

The small group with the biggest voices. Do you admire him? There are all these jokes right now about what he is doing in his golf cart and waving.

Murphy

His perpetual tan.

The Election Stretch Run

Garvey

Voter turnout, I think, is going to determine the next president. Do you agree?

Murphy

That gets back to people do not like these candidates. I think this is going to be one of the most difficult campaigns to predict because you have two candidates who, in some ways, break kind of traditional modes.

You have got [Donald] Trump, who is not really a politician, and you do not know what he is going to say from day to day. It appears that more discipline and control has taken over his campaign when this woman, Kellyanne Conway, took over. He has been much more on track compared to when you think back to June and July.

Garvey

And the Democrats are deeply concerned that the controlled Trump's rise in the polls cannot be stopped.

Murphy

But he is still Donald Trump. Whatever you have to say about him. To some people he is great. He is not a politician, so you do not know what is going to happen.

Hillary [Clinton] has her own problems as a person and so forth. And with Hillary, whatever is going on with the health, there is this sort of build-in set of scandals. The drip, drip, drip about the emails.

You just do not know what is going to happen. Which shoe is going to drop, because there is all this baggage in both of their closets. This could be a very unpredictable election.

Garvey

I would hate for my reputation to depend upon being able to predict this outcome. I predicted she would never run for the Senate. I predicted she would not run the second time for president. So I cannot tell.

But, I would say, and this goes back to what you were saying, about the lack of fitness. Actually, that has now become a physical term rather than the mental term. There is a political communication period called surfacing where the candidate begins to see if a primary run is possible. [Judith] Trent says after surfacing starts and into the primaries, the candidate tries to minimize the issues to have as little possible bothering him or her during the general election. There are two extremely important things for the candidate to accomplish before the general election - raise money, and lots of it, and that is a whole big problem – all of the money. And the other thing is “am I fit to do the job?”

Now, fit used to mean mentally fit. I wrote a small piece about this in the Hanoverian years ago when [Ross] Perot was in the mix. We had that whole election asking the question is Bill Clinton fit, is Bush fit, is Perot really fit to do this job? By my recollection, that was the first time that we were going into the polls having not decided they were fit.

Well, today, we have the other, the actual physical fitness and, of all things, not only did Trump have this goofy Willy Nelson-looking guy that wrote something about his health, he now is going on the Dr. Oz Show to say this is what my other doctor found out about me. Dr. Oz has said, well I am not going to ask him any hard questions. I am not going to ask him anything he does not want to talk about.

I think we are going into the polls just as confused about the fitness.

[Libertarian Party nominee] Gary Johnson, also, made some people question his fitness when he had to ask what was Aleppo, the center of the Syrian refugee crisis.

We are in the greatest political soap opera ever. The soap opera takes on a life of its own and is totally unpredictable. What may be next? Will Hillary overcome her defensive mode? She gave a very successful speech in North Carolina when she returned to the campaign, but in the press conference afterwards, she was back to very defensive communication when she was questioned about her health episode and what not telling Tim Kaine meant about their relationship.

Will Trump break his leash and say something that has Kellyanne Conway distraught? Is Trump, Jr., saying they cannot release tax information, because it is a document of 12,000 pages, just more on the soap opera.

Never the less, there are bad things that happen to candidates that can be controlled.

But, instead, we continue to have candidates needlessly hurting themselves – and you think, don’t they learn anything from the past; when they get with their rich donors, they get so comfortable, they are just so in love at the moment. And occasionally, and we have had classroom experience where it is going so well, and we let down our guard and it is great. But, the candidates get into so much trouble.

Obama in trying to say to the rich Californians, “well you have got to understand people in Pennsylvania and Ohio, it is bad, and so what do they do? They cling to their God and their guns.” Whoa! Terrible thing to say. Well, then [Mitt] Romney did not learn, because he gets with his rich Florida group and makes the “47 percent” comment. And then Hillary did not learn that maybe calling supporters on the other side deplorable - not the best move. Her supporters are arguing we really wanted her to do that, whatever, then people argue it is true, it is not true.

On Hardball, Chris Matthews, who was quoting Tip O’Neil, said “you never get anywhere calling the other side bad names.” I think probably, in her supporters' heart of hearts, they wish Clinton would not have said that.

So it is just not the things that you cannot control that can cause difficulty for candidates, but also the things they do to themselves.

The End Result

Garvey

I am going to stick my neck out and Dan, I want you to do the same – and keep in mind I am always wrong about her – I think she [Hillary] will win. It is far from a done deal. And if she wins, I think it may be, in terms of popular vote, 0.4 percent. Just a drop. And by electoral college, maybe 20 votes.

Back when everybody was saying after her perfect convention it was going to be a blowout, I said no, it will not be.

You want to take a guess?

Murphy

One Neil Postman note. Here we have a presidential candidate who is going on Dr. Oz. Bill Clinton started it on The Arsenio Hall Show.

Garvey

And talking about his underwear.

Murphy
Imagine George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or FDR, much less Ike …

Garvey

... Thomas Jefferson! But Dan, this is not long ago. Today is different ...

Murphy

… going on some show.

Garvey

And being told we will not ask you any hard questions or anything you will not like!

Murphy

Well, that is the way they all are.

This is the first election where we have two people who are the two oldest candidates. He [Trump} will be the oldest and she [Clinton] is slightly younger. Very close.

We were talking about people are not sure of their fitness, because both of them are up there. There is the fitness in terms of experience and so forth. Something we have not talked about it is the moral fitness.

Trump who has had an equivocal career and Hillary with her serial lying about …

Garvey

Well, what about Trump and his many wives? There would have been a time that would have ruled him out. To be fair, has Trump been looked at as carefully as Hillary Clinton?

Murphy

All the “Bill” [Clinton] baggage she has. Even the FBI director has said she lied about her server on multiple occasions.

So here we have the unenviable situation, that the United States, in the year of our Lord, 2016, is looking at two people very large numbers of people not only do not think are fit to be president on qualifications, looking at their records, but are just not fit morally. They do not have the character.

Garvey

And people, I think, are voting on their version of a moral question. But voting on the other side. I do not like either of them, but I believe this person I can stand a little better than the other.

Murphy

When I have gone onto sites or listened to the radio, the liberals are saying “you have got to vote against Trump” and the Republicans are saying “you have to vote against Hillary.”

Garvey

Anything, just not Hillary. The Democrats say anything but Trump.

Murphy

So, you have this election. It is like you are holding your nose voting for one because you cannot stand the other one more.

Garvey

And that takes us back to Nixon. You look at the advertising around Nixon.

Murphy

Even Nixon had some positive achievements going into 1972. Yes, that would probably be the closest to our time. But, again, I do not think either Nixon or McGovern had quite the animosity before Watergate really kicked in.

To project, on the fundamentals, it ought to be Hillary’s race to lose. So, I guess I would say, if you had to push me, I would give her a 51 percent chance of winning. I think, though, there is a vast milling, deep sense of unsettlement and anger and anti-establishment. I think it could carry Trump in if he is able to convince enough people he is not that dangerous.

Nearly 25 percent of all high school graduates are interested in studying for a career in science, technology, engineering or math. Beginning in the fall of 2017, Hanover College will offer majors in engineering and engineering science for incoming students.

Hanover’s engineering programs will be grounded in the ideas, skills and experience of engineering while remaining within the College’s liberal arts environment and tradition. The curriculum will require a liberal arts foundation and include a standard load of general education courses, as well as tracks in general, mechanical, electrical, electromechanical, computer and geological engineering.

“We want to offer an alternative for the student who wants to study engineering AND a breadth of subjects, learn a language and even study abroad,” said Hanover President Lake Lambert.

Careers in science and engineering are expected to grow at twice the rate of the overall U.S. labor force through 2018. U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics estimate the field of engineering could grow by as much as 10 percent in the next 10 years.

In addition to interest from prospective students and faculty members, Hanover’s engineering programs are also the result of strong community partnerships with local manufacturers which provide internships, including Grote Industries, Inc., Arvin Sango, Inc., and Vehicle Service Group, LLC.

“We are looking forward to the pipeline of fresh, new talent coming from Hanover and doing what we can to support the new program,” adds Dominic Grote, president and chief executive officer of Grote Industries in nearby Madison, Ind.

Hanover's faculty approved the engineering programs in May. The curriculum, featuring an array of new courses, will be developed in the coming year.

Hanover College will host the Southeastern Indiana Regional College Fair, Thursday, Sept. 29, in the Horner Health and Recreation Center. The event, which runs from 6-7:30 p.m., is open to all high school students and parents in the surrounding counties free of charge.

The college fair will feature representatives and information from more than 50 colleges and universities.

In addition to opportunities to meet with college admissions officials, Richard Nash, Hanover’s director of financial assistance, will present two financial aid sessions. College fair attendees can choose to attend a session at 5:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. Both will sessions be held in the Horner Center, room 102.

Hanover College continues its efforts to reach high-school and middle-school students in the region through a relationship with radio station 98.9 Radio Now. The College and popular radio station will host live remotes at two key events in Louisville, Ky., in the coming months.

The first remote will be Saturday, August 27, prior to Rachel Platten concert at the Kentucky State Fair. College representatives will appear at the 98.9/iHeartRadio booth from 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

The second remote will be Friday, Sept. 30, before kickoff of the St. Xavier–Trinity high-school football game at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Admission representatives will be at the 98.9 Radio Now booth from 5-7 p.m.

Hanover previously served as a sponsor for the radio station's summer concert series, holding live remotes and giving away tickets prior to the Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato & Nick Jonas concerts.

Construction projects near the James Graham Brown Campus Center signal the street’s transition to a pedestrian path. The road in front of the Campus Center, to be blocked by three removable bollards, will no longer be used for regular vehicular traffic. The access road between Lynn Hall and Faculty Office Building will be used for deliveries to the Campus Center. Parking will be limited to two handicapped spaces in front of Science Hall.

Eric Holcomb ’90 has been selected by the Indiana Republican state central committee to be the party’s candidate for governor in the November election.

Holcomb has served as Indiana’s lieutenant governor since March when he was chosen to replace Sue Ellspermann, who resigned from the office.

He previously served as campaign manager and deputy chief of staff for former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels. In 2011, he was named Indiana Republican Party chairman and a member of the Republican National Committee. He later worked as chief of staff for U.S. Senator Dan Coats.

While at Hanover, Holcomb majored in U.S. history with a focus on the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era. He also served two terms as president of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) fraternity.

Following graduation from Hanover, he was stationed in Jacksonville, Fla., and Lisbon, Portugal, during a six-year stint as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy.

Should Holcomb win the gubernatorial election, he would become the fourth Hanover graduate to serve as Indiana governor.

Mike Pence, a member of Hanover’s class of 1981, served as the state’s 50th governor from 2013-2016 before being named to the current Republican ticket as vice presidential candidate.

Thomas Hendricks, an 1841 graduate, was Indiana’s 16th governor from 1873-1877. He later became U.S. vice president under Grover Cleveland and died of illness after serving more than eight months in office.

Albert Porter, a member of Hanover’s class of 1842, served as Indiana's 19th governor from 1881-1885.

Indiana’s 31 private, non-profit colleges and universities will welcome students, parents and others from July 18-22 to learn about the college selection process and experience the personality of each campus through tours, informational sessions and conversations with current students and staff. All activities are free.

Hanover will be offering daily tours at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. No registration is required.

The Princeton Review cites campus visits as the “most important part of your research” when determining which institution to attend. Students are better prepared to decide what university is right for them after they know how the campus feels and how they fit into the picture.

“By visiting a campus, students and families discover Indiana private colleges are within reach, financially and otherwise,” said Richard Ludwick, president and CEO of the Independent Colleges of Indiana. “ICI colleges and universities give millions of scholarship dollars to students all four years, making top-flight higher education a dream come true for tens of thousands. We want this week to be a gateway to discovering that dream realized.”

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has been selected as running mate for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The announcement was made by Trump’s campaign Friday, July 15, and comes prior to the start of the Republican National Convention, July 18, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Pence, a 1981 Hanover graduate, is completing his first term as Indiana governor. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd district from 2001-2003 and represented Indiana’s 6th district from 2003-2012. He won Indiana’s 2012 gubernatorial election and took office as the state’s 50th governor, Jan. 14, 2013.

“Mike has a deep passion for public service and has long-sought to make a positive difference in the lives of Indiana residents,” states Hanover President Lake Lambert. “Whether Democrat, Republican or Independent, or whether at the local, state or national level, Hanover is proud when the call to public service is accepted by alumni like Mike. Personally, I wish him and his family well in what will be, undoubtedly, an exhausting election campaign.”

Pence, who is the third Hanover graduate to serve as Indiana’s governor, was presented with the College’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2005. He returned to campus in 2008 to receive an honorary doctorate of laws and deliver the commencement address.

A history major and Dean’s List student while at Hanover, Pence served terms as president of United Campus Ministries Board, Vespers and Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) fraternity. He was a member of Hanover Christian Fellowship and The Triangle staff (student newspaper). He also delivered the senior class address during his graduation.

Should the Republican candidates be victorious in November’s presidential election, Pence would become the second Hanover graduate to serve as U.S. vice president.

Thomas Hendricks, a member of the Hanover class of 1841, was Indiana’s 16th governor. He became U.S. vice president under Grover Cleveland after the duo won the 1884 presidential election and, later, died of illness after serving more than eight months in office.

William English, an 1843 Hanover graduate, was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1880. English, who ran with presidential hopeful Winfield Scott Hancock, lost a close election to the Republicans James Garfield-Chester Arthur ticket.

Albert Porter, a member of Hanover’s class of 1842, served from 1881-1885 as Indiana’s 19th governor.

Eric Holcomb, a 1990 Hanover graduate, currently serves as Indiana’s lieutenant governor. He was nominated by Pence in March to complete the term of outgoing official Sue Ellspermann.

Contact Rhonda Burch at (812) 866-7014 or burch@hanover.edu.

Bill Nye the Science Guy, internationally acclaimed physicist Michio Kaku and comedian Sal Vulcano headline the Hanover Enrichment Series’ 2016-17 season. The series, presented by Tricia and Will Hagenah with additional support from German American Bank, will also include an array of performances by Hanover’s theatre department and chorale and music ensembles, as well as diverse art exhibitions.

Vulcano, perhaps best-known for his work on truTV’s hidden-camera prank show, “Impractical Jokers,” will perform his stand-up routine Friday, Oct. 28, in Collier Arena. He will be joined by national-touring comedians Dan Soder and Chris DiStefano.

Nye, world-renowned scientist, author and media personality, will appear Friday, Nov. 18, in Collier Arena. Nye, on a national tour to speak about climate change, science, and space exploration, returns to campus after a standing-room-only appearance in 2009.

Kaku, one of the world’s most prominent figures in science, will speak Friday, March 10, in Collier Arena. He is a global authority on Einstein’s unified field theory and the prediction of trends affecting business, commerce, and finance based on scientific research.

General admission tickets to see Vulcano, Nye or Kaku cost $10 each. Tickets for students and children high-school age and younger are free. Admission is free for those with a Hanover ID card. All tickets must be reserved at hanover.edu/arts.

The Hanover College Theatre Department will present three main-stage works during the coming academic year. All productions will be presented, free of charge, on campus at the 100-seat venue, The Other Place.

Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame” will be staged Sept. 29-30 and Oct. 1. William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” will be presented Nov. 16-17 and 19-20. Tennessee Williams’ “Night of the Iguana” will be performed Feb. 9-12.
In addition to the three full-length plays, the College’s annual offering of student-created 10-minute plays will take the stage March 23-26.

All performances will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Hanover’s instrumental ensembles, under the direction of David Mruzek, will offer five public concerts.

The College’s Orchestra and Jazz Band’s fall concert will be Wednesday, Nov. 16, with a 7:30 p.m. performance in Fitzgibbon Recital Hall, Lynn Center for Fine Arts.

The Concert Band will make its first appearance of the season Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the recital hall.

To promote the holiday spirit, Dinnertime Christmas Carols will be performed Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 5 p.m., in the J. Graham Brown Campus Center.

Hanover’s Orchestra and Jazz Band will present a spring concert Wednesday, April 5. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Fitzgibbon Recital Hall.

The Concert Band will perform Thursday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the recital hall.

Hanover’s chorale ensembles, under the direction of Madlen Batchvarova, will offer campus three performances during the year.

The Hanover College Choir and Chamber Singers’ fall concert will be Sunday, Oct. 30, at 2 p.m. in Fitzgibbon Recital Hall.

The Hanover College Choir, along with the Madison-Ohio Valley Community Chorus and the Louisville Festival Orchestra, will present Handel’s "Messiah," Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. in the recital hall.

The Hanover College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers’ spring concert is slated for Saturday, April 1, at 2 p.m. in Fitzgibbon Recital Hall.

The Griener Art Gallery, located in Lynn Center for Fine Arts, will host exhibitions by professional artists, as well as works by Hanover students and alumni.

The current works of Jonpaul Smith will be on display Sept. 9-Oct. 1. Smith, a 2002 Hanover graduate, also studied at the University of Cincinnati. More on Smith at jonpaulcsmith.com.

“Common Threads: The Art of Denise Furnish, Ehren Reed and Penny Sisto” will be presented Oct. 7–Nov. 11. The exhibit features fiber art in unique way, connecting the material to the human experience.

Koichi Yamamoto will present an artist talk and workshop, Saturday, Nov. 12. Yamamoto, who has exhibited internationally, combines traditional and contemporary techniques in printmaking. More at yamamotoprintmaking.com.

Andrew Cozzens blends natural and synthetic processes to create his works, which display Jan. 16–Feb. 10. More at andrewcozzens.com.

The efforts of Hanover’s senior studio art students will be shown March 24–April 14.
“Creating Reality,” showcasing the works of Julie Baldyga and Dorothy Hawkins, will run May 1-26. Baldyga, who works primarily in oil pastel and soft sculpture, creates unique scenes of heaven. Hawkins uses photography to depict an elaborate world with dolls in narrative scenes.

The President Honors the Arts will be held Thursday, April 13. The annual event, set to begin at 7:30 p.m. in the recital hall, features performances and works from College’s top students in music, theater, creative writing, art and art history.

Admission to Hanover’s chorale and instrumental performances, as well as President Honors the Arts, is free for all ages.

Hanover Enrichment Series

Presented by Tricia and Will Hagenah with support from German American Bank