♦U.S. Small Business Administration is seeking nominations for awards in celebration of the 47th National Small Business Week. Indiana Small Business Week awardees will be recognized in our state late spring 2010. There are various awards for the small business community along with advocate awards for those that support or promote small businesses. Award Categories for Small Business Awards are: Small Business Person of the Year; Small Business Exporter of the Year; SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year; Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Business of the Year; Community Rural Lender of the Year; and Entrepreneurial Success Award. Champion Awards categories are: Financial Services Champion of the Year; Home-Based Business Champion of the Year; Minority Small Business Champion of the Year; Small Business Journalist of the Year; Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year; and Women in Business Champion of the Year. Employees may nominate a candidate. Individuals may self nominate. Individuals may be nominated for only one award category. All nominations must be received at the SBA Indiana office or postmarked by Nov. 13. To obtain a nomination package, or for more information, contact Sharon Murff at 1-317-226-7272, Ext.123, or e-mail sharon.murff@ sba.gov.

♦IPFW Appleseed Writing Project Fall Conference “Learning to Write and Writing to Learn — Best Practices across the Curriculum” will begin at 8 a.m. Sept. 26 with registration in the Walb Union lobby and keynote address at 9 a.m. in the Classroom Medical Building lecture hall 159, for area K-16 educators. Keynote speaker is Harvey Daniels. Breakout sessions will be held throughout the day. Cost: $75 for full-time educators, includes food and materials. Preregistration is encouraged to guarantee meals and materials. Register online at www.ipfw.edu/awp or call 481-6619. For information, contact Karol Dehr at dehr@ ipfw.edu or call 481-6074.

♦TQM Network scheduled events: Eliminating Misery on the Job will be 7:30-9 a.m. Oct. 1 at the TQM Network Learning Center, 825 Barr St. Speaker will be Kristen Bissontz of Team@Work. Cost: Free to members; $100 nonmembers. How to Manage Change in your IT Environment — a Case Study Review will be 7:30-9:30 a.m. Oct. 2 at Parkview North, 10501 Corporate Drive. Speaker will be Clifford M. Clarke, president of C2 IT Advisors. Cost: Free to members: $19.99 for nonmembers. For Six Sigma Belt training, call for price structure and registration information. To register, call Jamie at TQM, 557-7665 or register online at tqmnet.com.


♦Johnny Appleseed Chapter American Business Women's Association will meet at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 7 at Bob Evans Restaurant on Coliseum Boulevard. Speaker will be Dick Loney of Crime Stoppers. Any retired woman or business woman is welcome to attend. For reservations, call Eunice at 456-4218.


♦Environmental Compliance Seminar, presented by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and EHS Technology Group, will be Oct. 13-14 at the Indiana Chamber Conference Center, Indianapolis. The latest policies of the federal Clean Air Act and state regulations will include: federal and Indiana environmental laws and regulations; fundamentals of air pollution control management; Clean Air Act fundamentals; hazardous waste management practices; planning for an emergency and annual chemical reporting; and how to survive an EPA inspection and address enforcement actions. Cost: $599 chamber members; $629 nonmembers. Register online at indianachamber. com or call 1-800-824-6885.


♦Building a Safer Workplace in a Down Economy, a free workshop presented by Advanced Consulting & Ergonomics and Indoff, will be Sept. 29 at Ivy Tech Community College Northeast, 3800 N. Anthony Blvd., for safety professionals, plant managers, human resource managers and other business leaders. The conference will address the new Amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act and what you can do to ensure a positive outcome when disability claims come your way, innovative approaches to providing on-site care and cost-effective strategies for building a safety culture. Attendees are invited to submit existing challenges and concerns in advance of the workshop to be addressed at the end of the day in a free consulting session by sending e-mail to sfowler@advanced ergo.net. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Seating is limited, so please register either by e-mail to tambler@ advancedpt.com or call 1-317-390-5590, Ext. 232.


♦Handling the Workers Compensation Case from Start to Finish, presented by the National Business Institute, will be 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Hilton Indianapolis North, Indianapolis, for in-house counsel, worker's compensation administrators, insurance claim/risk managers, human resources professionals and paralegals. The seminar includes an overview of laws and concepts, procedures for preparing your case, determining the value of the claim, medical issues during the claim, settlement options (including MSA and MSPA), hearings practice and procedure and recovery from third parties. Cost: $355 first registrant; $345 each additional; $335 anyone with three or fewer years of professional work experience. Free snacks and refreshments. Lunch on your own. Register online at www.nbi-sems.com/ or call 1-800-930-6182.

♦Summit Computer Training Services, 3939 Parnell Ave.: Windows XP Advanced, Word 2003 Intermediate, Word 2007 Basic, and Access 2007 Intermediate will be Sept. 28. Visio 2003 Advanced, Excel 2003 Intermediate and Excel 2007 Basic will be Sept. 29. Project 2003 Advanced, PowerPoint 2003 Advanced, PowerPoint 2007 Basic and Word 2007 Advanced will be Sept. 30. Word 2003 Basic, Access 2003 Intermediate and Excel 2007 Basic will be Oct. 1. Daily and Saturday classes are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. All classes come with a training manual, one year of phone/e-mail support and a free refresher for one year. Group rates are available. For more information or to register, visit www.summitCTS.com/ or call Sarah Geist at 755-6409.


♦ExecuTrain, 7337 W. Jefferson Blvd.: Access 2003 Advanced and Excel 2003 Power User will be Sept. 28. Photoshop CS3 Advanced and HTML 4.0 will be Sept. 28-29. CompTIA Server+ Server Installation, Configuration and Maintenance will be Sept. 28-Oct. 2. PowerPoint 2007 Advanced will be Sept. 29. Crystal Reports 11 Advanced will be Sept. 29-30. Outlook 2007 Advanced and Visio 2003 Advanced will be Sept. 30. Dreamweaver DS3 Advanced will be Sept. 30-Oct. 1. QuickBooks 2007 Basic and Word 2007 Basic will be Oct. 1. InDesign CS3 Basic, Access 2007 Basic and CompTIA PD+ Printer and Document Imaging will be Oct. 1-2. Outlook 2003 Basic and Word 2003 Basic will be Oct. 2. Daytime classes are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Evening classes are available 6-9 p.m. Costs include all courseware. Corporate pricing available. To register, call 432-9077. For information, visit www.etfortwayne.com

Neighborhood Connection Lifelong Learning Classes: COMPUTER BASIC SERIES progresses through the basics. Basic Windows XP and e-mail will be 9-11 a.m. Mondays, Sept. 28-Oct. 19 at Anthis Career Center, 1200 S. Barr St. Cost: $79. ONE NIGHT PC WORKSHOPS: All classes in this series are at Anthis Career Center, 1200 S. Barr St., and are at a cost of $29 each. Back Up Your PC will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. Sept. 29. PC Tips & Tricks will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 6. Working with Windows Registry will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 13. MIC

Access 2003 Beginning will be 6-9 p.m. Mondays, Sept. 28-Oct. 26 at Anthis Career Center, 1200 S. Barr St. Cost: $135 includes text and materials. MICROSOFT OFFICE:
Make Your Own DVD Movie will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursdays, Oct. 1-22 at Anthis Career Center, 1200 S. Barr St. Great alternative to traditional scrapbooks. NOTE: Class size is limited. Bring no more than 60 pictures on disk or CD-R to the first class and a blank writeable DVD-R to the last class. Cost: $119. BUSINESS: Creativity in Business will be 6-8 p.m. Oct. 5 at Lane Middle School, 4901 Vance Ave. Cost: $23. For a complete catalog of courses or to register for any listing, call 467-1075 Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Register online at www.neighborhood-connection.org.


♦IPFW Division of Continuing Studies, 2101 Coliseum Blvd. E.: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT: SBDC's Business Law will be 6-8 p.m. Oct. 6. Cost: $40. SBDC's Government Contracts — Rules of the Game will be 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 6-Nov. 3. Cost: $145. Pre-License Real Estate Sales Course will be 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 3-Dec. 5. Cost: $405. Sales Presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint will be 2-3:45 p.m. Thursdays, Oct. 1-8. Cost: $129. Project Management Certificate Program and Capstone Review will be 6-9 p.m. Oct. 6. Cost: $120. COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY: Microsoft Windows Intermediate will be 6-9 p.m. Mondays, Oct. 5-12.Cost: $135. Microsoft Word 2007 Intermediate will be 1:45-4 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 6-27. Cost: $149. SBDC's QuickBooks — How to Work the Numbers will be 6-9 p.m. Mondays, Oct. 5-Nov. 9. Cost: $210. LANGUAGE: Conversational French Intermediate 1 will be 5:30-7:20 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 6-Dec. 22. Cost: $159. Italian Language and Culture Beginning 2 will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 6-Dec. 8. Cost: $199. PERSONAL ENRICHMENT: Organizing to Downsize — Preparing for the Transitions in Life will be 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 6-20. Cost: $69. Protection Planning will be 6-9 p.m. Oct. 6. Cost: $52. For information, visit https://learn.ipfw.edu or to register, call 481-6619.