Knox in the News

From the New York Times (November 30, 2009):

Two professors familiar with college basketball had a hunch that referees tended to try to keep the total fouls called against each team somewhat even. After examining 365 Division I games in the 2004-5 season, they had data to support their suspicion.

The independent study by Kyle J. Anderson and David A. Pierce concluded that N.C.A.A. men’s basketball officials tended to level the disparity between the teams’ foul totals, make more calls against teams with leads and were more likely to make calls in favor of home teams.

Anderson, a visiting assistant professor of business economics at Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, said he noticed such tendencies among officials when he played center at Division III Knox College in Illinois. Pierce, an assistant professor of sport administration at Ball State, has dabbled in basketball officiating.

Also appeared in:

Associated Press

Indiana University:

A study co-authored by a professor in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business suggests that fans do have a great impact on games and that officials often are not objective in their efforts to be fair to both teams.

An examination of 365 major conference games played during the 2004-05 college men’s basketball season found a clear pattern of an increased probability of a foul on the team with fewer fouls, the visiting team and the team that is leading.

“Whether consciously or subconsciously, officials seem to show a pattern where they try to make the number of fouls called on each team come out approximately even,” said Kyle J. Anderson, a visiting assistant professor of business economics at Kelley-Indianapolis. “That is seen as being objective or fair.

“We had suspected that, having played and watched basketball,” he added. “But once we started to run the data, I think the magnitude of the effect was much more than we had ever anticipated. We thought that this was going be a very small effect.”

Anderson and his co-author, David Pierce, an assistant professor of sport administration at Ball State University, published their findings in the Journal of Sports Sciences earlier this year. Both have ties to the game — Anderson played collegiately at Division III’s Knox College and Pierce has done some local officiating.

Walt Stinson ‘70, founder of ListenUp, is profiled in the Denver Post:

Q: Your induction into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame was partly based on your pioneering insight to the future of the compact disc. How did you recognize it as more than just an 8-track fad?A: A number of years after I moved here in 1972 to start ListenUp with my partner, Steve Weiner, the CD came out. That was 1983, the same year IBM introduced the PC and the beginning of the transition from analog to digital electronics, the beginning of an evolution.

I was involved in electronics throughout my teenage years and my first job in college at Knox College in Illinois was as an IBM intern, and I was trained to recognize this sort of thing.

When you’re young, you’re ready to focus on the future. We brought the first CDs back in aluminum suitcases, and the customs officials had never seen them before.

From the Register-Mail:

The sunshine in Galesburg was pretty much gone by noon Saturday, but the relatively mild temperatures still helped the Community Food Drive for FISH. Galesburg Broadcasting and United Parcel Service teamed up from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to fill up four of UPS’ “Big Brown Trucks” with non-perishable food items for the food pantry…..

“This truck was full when I got here,” he said. “We’re stocking up for the holidays.”

Help for Robinson was on the way, but he said he didn’t want to wait and let too much food stack up before other FISH volunteers began taking the items to the pantry.

“The plan was to start at 2 p.m., but I said ‘I can’t wait that long.’ You can’t predict the flow,” he said.

For example, he said things were busy early at Hy-Vee on Henderson Street and slow at Wal-Mart but then picked up at Wal-Mart.

Robinson said recent food drives by Knox College, Nielson School, Wal-Mart and Mabel Woolsey Elementary in Knoxville have helped restock the shelves at FISH. He showed a reporter a 10-by-20-foot room where the items from Saturday’s food drive were being stored. About one-fourth was filled by about 12:15 p.m., with many wooden pallets waiting for more boxes.

“This will be stacked to the ceiling, front to back, when we’re done,” Robinson said.

From the Register-Mail:

Last weekend, Knox College students and staff traveled to Cleveland for the Association for Black Culture Centers’ 19th annual conference.

Knox joined more than 50 colleges and universities from throughout the country at the conference, the theme of which was “Negotiating the Politics of a Black Presidency.” Keynote speakers included: “60 Minutes” correspondent Byron Pitts and Academy-Award-nominated actress Margaret Avery.

Knox has been headquarters for the national association for Black Culture Centers since 1989, when Fred Lee Hord, director of the school’s black studies program, founded it. That same year Knox hosted the first of the now annual conferences.

Hord and ABCC executive assistant Terry Duffy traveled to the conference with four Knox students.

From the Register-Mail:

T’Asia Edwards loves to dance. The Steele Elementary School fifth grader never had the chance to take lessons, so she looks online for videos of her favorite dancer Dymond Cruz, a renowned preteen hip hop dancer. But then the Boys and Girls Club presented her with the opportunity she had dreamed of.

The club teamed with Midwest Dance Group, a local modern dance company, to create Let’s Move It, a six-week dance program for students age 11 through 15 teaching them about dance and culminating in a free show at 5 p.m. Sunday at Knox College’s Harbach Theatre.

“But it’s not just about taking a dance lesson,” said Kathleen Ridlon, director of the Midwest Dance Group and assistant professor of dance and coordinator for the Center for Community Service at Knox College.

The group, comprised of Knox College students who work on a by-project basis, taught young participants the process of putting together a show, from dancing to publicizing. They kept journals and studied the history of dance. Ridlon said she hoped through these leadership experiences that the roughly 20 girls who participated would gain self-esteem as well as a knowledge and appreciation for dance.

“Through this program they’re becoming better individuals. … It’s pretty amazing how only a couple weeks can change every single one of them,” said Angelina Rosa, a 20-year-old Knox College student and Midwest Dance Group member.

From the Register-Mail:

Lomac Payton is a 77-year-old resident of West South Street who could pass for a couple decades younger….

The West South Street resident since 1965 went for a walk one Saturday afternoon and started to imagine trees in the terrace area between the sidewalks and street. He decided to make the vision a reality on his block, which runs between South Henderson and South Academy streets….

Supported by Ward 4 Alderman Corine Andersen, who also lives on West South Street, Payton got help from Knox College students on the first two phases of the great tree planting. Residents like William Franklin, who helped spread protective mulch around the young trees Thursday afternoon, also chipped in.

“During the first phase, a Knox student helped me measure and mark out where the trees would go. Knox students helped on the second phase, when we started planting. And some neighbors helped on all three phases. Alderman Andersen even donated a tree.”

So far Payton and his cohorts have planted 45 trees and 15 shrubs along the block.