Wednesday, October 30, 2013 VOLUME 32 / NUMBER 10 www.uicnews.uic.edu facebook.com/uicnews twitter.com/uicnews NEWS UIC youtube.com/uicmedia For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago Photo: Sarah Cole Kammerer Photography During her nine-month Fulbright fellowship in India, Sarah Cole Kammerer (center right) lived in the rural town of Chakradharpur, where the people spoke various languages and conditions were far different from Chicago. “I thought I would never be able to connect with people from a place so different from my home,” she says. “But I was able to see, in many ways, how similar we really are.” Read more on page 11. Finding community far from home INSIDE: Profile / Quotable 2 | Campus News 5 | Police 6 | Calendar 8 | Student Voice 9 | People 10 | Postgraduate 11 | Sports 12 Ranga Chandrasekaran feels at Honoring UIC’s award-winning Ready for Halloween? These No. 1 soccer kicks it on with fifth home onstage employees students are! Horizon win More on page 2 Special section More on page 9 More on page 12 2 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I OCTOBER 30, 2013 profile Send profile ideas to Gary Wisby,[email protected] Ranga Chandrasekaran feels at home onstage By Gary Wisby As an experiment, Mahendran agreed to direct two plays for the Chicago troupe. He first stepped onto a stage at age “We did our rehearsals on Skype, tele- and 4, and whenever Ranganathan Chan- videoconferencing,” Chandrasekaran said. drasekaran isn’t working in theater — “Then he spent 10 days with us in person. We directing, writing or acting in his own sold out shows in Chicago and Milwaukee. plays — there’s a gaping hole in his life. He’s my friend, mentor and guide. Working For example, the frustrating six-year gap that occurred with him was a big, big step for me.” after he joined UIC and had to concentrate on achieving Triveni’s most recent production, staged in tenure. October, was “Honeymoon Couples.” “I felt a big vacuum,” said Chandrasekaran, who goes by “Most of what we do are comedies,” the Ranga, his full name being a mouthful. playwright said. “That’s what audiences expect “Something serious was missing. I discovered I was from us. There is enough drama on TV and in missing the theater side of me.” movies. Chandrasekaran, associate professor of information “We try to address immigrant-related and decision sciences in the College of Business Admin- themes. They’re laced with humor. I look back istration, rounded up a few friends who were feeling a on my experience and it’s full of comedy.” similar need and began staging plays for Indian immigrant That experience began early for Chan- groups. drasekaran. He founded a theater group that, in a short span of “There was no TV and we couldn’t afford three years, has presented more than 30 shows all over the movies,” he said. “My grandfather would tell country. me a lot of stories from Indian mythology, and “I started reliving my college days,” he said. I would narrate them to other kids. “I was able to balance my work” — he’s director of grad- “My grandfather heard me and put me on uate studies for management systems — “and my theater.” a stage.” “I was immensely happy.” In elementary school he performed when- His theater company is called Triveni Arts. Triveni is ever he got a chance, and “I bloomed into a Sanskrit word that stands for a union of arts — music, a writer and director in the 10th grade,” he literature and theater. recalled. “I would gather all the children in my “Sometimes we do musicals,” Chandrasekaran ex- neighborhood, write a skit and stage it.” plained. “I usually write, act and direct. One of his teachers took note of his talent “We started staging full-length plays, and local Indian and gave him opportunities to perform, and publications started writing about us,” Chandrasekaran before long he was on local TV, presenting a said. “Once they heard about us, there was no going back.” 15-minute skit. Since forming in 2009, Triveni has mounted five pro- Chandrasekaran continued his theatri- Business faculty member Ranganathan Chandrasekaran founded Triveni Arts. “I was ductions, ranging from 1½ to 2½ hours in length. cal activities in college, adding knowledge of able to balance my work and my theater,” he says. “We’ve done performances coast to coast,” he said. sound and lighting. Then, in graduate school, “That’s where my summers are spent.” he joined a theater company and staged a num- Illinois University for a year. He joined UIC in 2001. The troupe has performed in New York, San Francisco, ber of his own plays. Chandrasekaran is a three-time winner of the paper Miami, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Houston and Cincinnati. At UIC, Chandrasekaran directs new research into health awards competition by the Society for Information Man- Next summer it will present plays 15 to 20 times all over care informatics, electronic security and privacy. agement. He received the Best Teaching Case award at the the country. “I work with professors from the colleges of Medicine and International Conference on Information Systems; at UIC, There are about 15 people in his troupe. Nursing on how technology can make a difference to busi- he received the Favorite MIS Professor award and Teaching “We live together on weekends,” he said. “We go to nesses,” he said. “One of the industries that’s been lagging Recognition Program Award. somebody’s house to rehearse, and bring our kids along. It’s behind is health care.” His wife, Srividya Ranganathan, is a software professional like my extended family.” Chandrasekaran grew up in Chennai, India. At the Birla in UIC’s Office of Business and Financial Services. She’s a In 2010 he had the opportunity to work with Indian Institute of Technology and Science he stood first in the mas- dancer, and their son, Rishabh, 9, began stage performances as theatrical performer Y.G. Mahendran after the actor’s U.S. ter’s degree program. He took his Ph.D. at the Indian Insti- a violinist a year ago. They live in Westmont. tour was canceled. tute of Management in Ahmedabad. “My theater experience helps in the classroom,” Chan- “I had to convince him,” Chandrasekaran said. “It took He worked two years as a management consultant for Ex- drasekaran said. me 30 minutes on the phone.” eter Group in Cambridge, Mass., before teaching at Southern [email protected] quotable “We love each other and have lived together for 30 “Our success depends on having that early industry “One of the reasons Chicago works even better than years. Why do we need to get married?” engagement.” San Francisco or New York is that it’s got neighbor- hoods like this where community theater can move in.” John D’Emilio, professor of gender and women’s studies Kapila Viges, director of UIC’s new EnterpriseWorks Chi- and history, on marriage equality, Oct. 27 New York Times cago business incubator, one of several university ventures David Perry, professor of urban planning and policy and to benefit startups, Oct. 27 Chicago Tribune Great Cities Institute fellow, on the outlook for Portage Park and its shuttered namesake theater on Chicago’s Northwest Side, Oct. 23 WBEZ OCTOBER 30, 2013 I UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu 3 UIC, City Colleges partner in bridge to sciences By Brian Flood Retention and graduation rates will be tracked during and after the funding Backed by a $1.4 million federal period to gauge the success of the pro- grant, UIC will launch a new program gram’s student support system. to increase the number of underrep- The participants’ educational and resented students who pursue degrees career paths after graduation will be and research careers in the behavioral followed to gauge the program’s success and biomedical sciences. in elevating the number of students The five-year grant from the Na- from underrepresented backgrounds tional Institute of General Medical that enter graduate programs, receive Sciences, one of the National Insti- doctoral degrees and pursue research tutes of Health, partners UIC with the careers. City Colleges of Chicago. The program also aims to foster col- The program will bolster recruit- laborations and professional develop- ment, training, mentorship and ment opportunities between UIC and degree completion in health-related City Colleges of Chicago faculty that fields for students from underrepre- will enhance the educational experience sented backgrounds. for participating students, Allen-Meares Beginning in 2014, the Behavioral said. and Biomedical Sciences Bridges to Current partnerships between UIC the Baccalaureate Program will recruit and the City Colleges include the Guar- 58 students — 18 in the first year and anteed Admission Transfer program, 10 in each of the remaining four years which offers City Colleges students — who qualify to transfer to UIC guaranteed undergraduate admission from the City Colleges. A UIC program will recruit 58 underrepresented students from the City Colleges. “Researchers from underrepresented to UIC after successful completion of Participants will pursue their UIC populations are in high demand, given persistent societal health disparities,” says Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares. their first two years of college, and an degree in one of three areas aligned NIH-sponsored Bridges to the Doctor- with their research and career interests: nursing; public for baccalaureate studies at the end of their freshman year. ate for Minority Nursing Students program in the College of health; or liberal arts and sciences in subject areas such as The program’s public health track will teach knowledge Nursing. biology, chemistry, psychology or physics. and skills not only in basic sciences, but in two disciplines — The new program is also tied to UIC’s role directing the “Researchers from underrepresented populations are in epidemiology and biostatistics — that are considered critical Illinois State Board of Education’s Health Science Learning high demand, given persistent societal health disparities,” to understanding public health problems.