MUNCIE, Ind. - Three of the four Hoosiers chosen to spend a month in Italy next summer under Rotary International sponsorship have ties to Ball State University.

The group is participating in a Group Study Exchange in June 2000 with Rotary clubs in the Italian province of Umbria and several provinces along Italy's Adriatic coast.

Chosen for the team are John Horowitz, Ball State associate professor of economics; Ball State alumnus Andrew Peralta, a Greenfield architect, BS’91 environmental design and BA’94 architecture; and Angel Marie(Hart) Strubbe, a New Palestine High School language teacher and a 1995 Ball State graduate.

The 44 Rotary clubs in central Indiana invited young professionals 25-40 to participate in the exchange.

The program allows men and women in the early stages of their business and professional careers to travel abroad and share vocational information with professionals in another country. Team members spend four to six weeks studying the host country’s institutions, economy, and culture, while observing how their own professions are practiced abroad.

The counterpart team from Italy visits Indiana in April 2000, staying in the homes of local Rotarians.

Ball State connections with the program were also evident among last year's team. Two alumnae Valory Myers, BA ’97, and Cheryl Williamson, BA ’82, MA ’84, were part of the team to the Rhone-Alpes region of France led by Martin Limbird, director of International Advancement at Ball State and a member of the Muncie Sunrise Rotary Club.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Martin Limbird by e-mail at mlimbird@bsu.edu or by phone at (765) 285-8129.)