Beginning March 2012, Ivy Tech Community College−Northeast will introduce the first in a series of programs called INSPIRE Academy. INSPIRE stands for Ivy Tech−Northeast Speakers, Performers, Intellectual exhibits and Recreational Experiences. The program is designed to be a lasting legacy for the northeast Indiana community by providing an ongoing series of events, exhibits and opportunities to enrich and inspire participants.

“INSPIRE Academy is founded on the basic principal that the community college has an obligation to the community in which it operates to do more than just award certificates and degrees,” said Patrick McCormick, program chair of the College for Working Adults. “A community college should be charged with improving the quality of life for everyone in the community in which it operates.”

INSPIRE Academy aims to provide three to five opportunities each calendar year targeting various members of the community including Ivy Tech faculty, staff and students, members of K-12 educational institutes and community members. INSPIRE Academy will be a sustainable venture that utilizes funds from Ivy Tech–Northeast’s Disney Institute fundraiser programs, along with support of campus initiatives and organizations.

“Each of us searches to find our own passion in life, whether in our career or our avocation,” said Ivy Tech Chancellor Jerrilee K. Mosier, Ed.D. “INSPIRE Academy seeks to showcase how some have found their inspiration. The sequence of speakers, exhibits and experiences are planned to inspire participants to broaden and explore their own interests.”

INSPIRE Academy 2012

March                     Reed Timmer, star of Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers”
June                       Backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail
September            Jennifer Pharr Davis, author and Appalachian Trail record holder
October                 Surprise guest and interactive demonstration

The series debut will be March 14 and will feature Reed Timmer, star of Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers,” along the Dominator and other storm chasing vehicles. This event is being put on with the help of Ivy Tech’s marketing partners, Indiana’s NewsCenter and Science Central, who will participate in interactive sessions the day of the event. A session featuring Reed Timmer will be free and open to the general public from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. March 14 in Ivy Tech’s Coliseum Campus auditorium (3800 N. Anthony Blvd.)

For more information on INSPIRE Academy, go to IvyTech.edu/northeast/inspire or contact Patrick McCormick at 260-480-4253 or pmccormi@ivytech.edu

About Reed Timmer
Reed Timmer has chased more than 400 tornadoes and hurricanes, becoming one of the world’s leading experts on severe weather. In 2003 he established TornadoVideos.net (TVN), which has become the premier source of weather footage for news and production companies worldwide. Now completing a Ph.D. in meteorology at the University of Oklahoma and starring on Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers,” Timmer leads his team from TVN into the storm, intercepting the violent winds of tornadoes with their armored tank-like vehicle, the Dominator, in an attempt to better understand the complex dynamics behind one of the most powerful atmospheric forces on the planet.