Grant to give UW System faculty advantage
in competition for research funds
The WiSys Technology Advancement Grant (WiTAG), aimed at stimulating inventions from faculty at UW System campuses, was approved recently by the board of directors for WiSys Technology Foundation Inc. and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). UW System President Kevin P. Reilly and Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, made the announcement June 19.

The WiTAG program will allow researchers to collect early, quality data to support federal grant applications by hiring post-doctoral fellows and research assistants, and provide other support for faculty to conduct research and development. The grant is expected to provide a competitive advantage to UW System faculty as they compete for federal, state and private funding for long-term research that will drive economic development throughout the state.

WiSys will initiate the program in July. All faculty and staff are welcome to submit pre-proposals, from which a limited number will be invited for a full proposal, which will then be evaluated by external experts. The grant process will be open throughout the year and will not entail an application deadline. Full story and related Wisconsin Technology Network article.

Amanda Hill

Scholarship to fund student's study in Thailand

Mai Youa Lee

UW-Eau Claire sociology major Mai Youa Lee has been awarded a $5,000 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study in Thailand for the 2006-07 academic year. This fall Lee, a junior, will enter the Thai studies program at Thammasat University in Bangkok.

Lee, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Thailand in 1980, visited Thailand last summer during a six-week study abroad program offered through UW-Eau Claire's Center for International Education. During one field trip, she lived with a Hmong-Thai family for four days. That experience left her wanting to know more about both her own Hmong culture and about Thailand, the adopted country of so many Hmong people.

"Being Hmong in America, I am not exposed to a lot of the Hmong traditional language, ceremonies and lifestyles," said Lee. "Some ancient rituals that my ancestors have practiced for thousands of years I do not completely understand. This study abroad opportunity will help me to fill in the missing gaps in my own culture, and at the same time learn another culture." Full story.

Cyberbullying is June 28 'Let's Do Lunch' topic

Parents must be aware that the Internet and other electronic messaging devices are increasingly being used by middle and high school students to threaten and harass their peers, says a UW-Eau Claire assistant professor of criminal justice who has been studying the effects of cyberbullying and will give a noon-hour lecture hosted by the UW-Eau Claire Alumni Association.

Dr. Justin Patchin will present "Cyberbullying Among Adolescents: What Parents Need to Know" from noon to 1 p.m. June 28 at Sweetwaters restaurant as part of the "Let's Do Lunch" series.

"Cyberbullying is the unfortunate byproduct of the union of adolescent aggression and electronic communication, and its growth is giving cause for concern," Patchin said. "It is clear that cyberbullying has real implications for adolescent development and that parents must be proactive in addressing this form of adolescent aggression." Full story.

Teachers finish first of summer history institutes

Nick Hockings, founder of Waswagoning, a re-creation of an 18th century Ojibwe village on the Lac du Flambeau reservation, shows the summer institute participants traditional skills of the Lac du Flambeau tribe. (Contributed photo)

Last week a group of 34 Wisconsin K-12 teachers wrapped up the first of three summer institutes in the program Making Americans, Making America: Community, Citizenship and the Constitution. The ultimate goal of the program is to improve history teaching in rural Wisconsin schools by expanding Wisconsin teachers' knowledge of Wisconsin and American history and by helping them engage their students more fully by utilizing historical locations and resources in their own areas.

The program combines the stories of different ethnic groups in Wisconsin with the role of American citizenship and American constitutional history in the lives of these people. This summer the teachers are studied Native Americans; next summer they will study European immigrants from about 1820-1920; and the third summer they will focus on groups that arrived in the 20th century.

The program is funded by a Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education and is a partnership between eight CESAs, the UW-Eau Claire history department, the UW-Eau Claire Center for History Teaching and Learning, and the Chippewa Valley Museum. Full story.

Billy Krause Trio performs tonight;
Jazz at Noon series concludes this week

The Billy Krause Trio will present a free Music on the Mall concert tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. on the Central Campus Mall. The three-man acoustic group performs both familiar and obscure, but always enjoyable, non-mainstream music. Billy Krause, Chuck Roll and Mike Quick are veteran musicians who have worked for over 30 years in many formats — as solo artists, in small ensembles, and in table-thumping electric roadhouse bands. Audience members are invited to bring blankets or folding chairs for lawn seating. Refreshments will be sold, and popcorn is free.

Also this week, the Jazz at Noon series concludes with shows by the John Raymond Combo (Monday-Tuesday), the Josh Gallagher Group (Wednesday), and the Randy Pingrey Combo (Thursday-Friday) from noon to 1 p.m. on the Central Campus Mall. A variety of grilled lunch items will be sold. More information.

Summer Bulletin
Published weekly during the summer session by the UW-Eau Claire News Bureau. News items and notices should be sent to the News Bureau, Schofield 201, by 10 a.m. Thursday for publication in the following week’s issue. E-mail submissions to Julie Poquette at poquetjm@uwec.edu are encouraged. Faculty/staff news items are published on a space-available basis.