Concert Choir receives honor during Italy tour

UW-Eau Claire Concert Choir conductor Gary Schwartzhoff received the choir's special award from Michele Capasso, president of the Fondazione Laboratorio Mediterraneo, in the Palatine Chapel of the Royal Palace of Naples during the choir's recent Italy tour. (F.L.M. photo)

UW-Eau Claire's Concert Choir and its conductor, Gary Schwartzhoff, traveling and performing in Italy with Concert Choir alumni July 8-15, received a stunning surprise before their July 11 performance at the Duomo in Naples. The Fondazione Laboratorio Mediterraneo, an organization that promotes peace, understanding and cultural exchange between the people of the two shores of the Mediterranean and the rest of the world, presented the ensemble with "un premio speciale," a special award, in recognition of their contribution to the choral art and the promotion of world culture. Full story.

Blugold graduates find strong job market
UW-Eau Claire graduates are finding jobs, and many of those jobs are in Wisconsin, according to the university's latest Career Services survey. Ninety-eight percent of the 2004-05 UW-Eau Claire graduates responding to the survey are employed or continuing their education, said Jeanne Skoug, director of Career Services. Fifty-nine percent of the graduates included in the survey are working for businesses and organizations in Wisconsin, Skoug said, noting that 27 percent are working in the Chippewa Valley. "Ten years ago only 10 percent of our graduates found employment in the Chippewa Valley," Skoug said. "Local businesses and communities are benefiting from our graduates' talent, energy and knowledge." Full story.

Campus to welcome six National Merit scholars
Six of the approximately 2,025 new freshmen enrolled at UW-Eau Claire this fall are National Merit scholars who have been awarded full in-state tuition for four years by the university. The UW-Eau Claire Foundation funds the university-sponsored scholarships. The six scholars are Paul Brandt, Eau Claire; Janelle Gergen, Stillwater, Minn.; Robert Hagen, River Falls; Ian MacMillen, Sturgeon Bay; Astri Mikkelson, Wausau; and Joshua Zamzow, Princeton.

UW-Eau Claire has participated in the National Merit Scholarship program since 1982 and averages from three to eight college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients each year. "UW-Eau Claire and UW-Madison are the only schools in the UW System that participate in the program," said Gretchen Switalski, a UW-Eau Claire admissions counselor. Switalski attributed UW-Eau Claire's success in consistently attracting top students to the university's strong liberal arts emphasis and opportunities such as outstanding study abroad programs, service-learning, student-faculty collaborative research and the university's Honors Program. Full story.

Nicholas Smiar maintains UW-Eau Claire ties
with Slovakia's Comenius University

Nicholas Smiar

Nicholas Smiar, UW-Eau Claire professor of social work, recently returned from Bratislava, Slovakia, where he was the keynote speaker at a conference celebrating the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the department of social work in the pedagogical faculty at Bratislava's Comenius University. The link between the two universities was established when, in preparation for the establishment of a department of social work at Comenius, faculty members from there visited UW-Eau Claire to learn about its social work program and review curriculum and policies. According to Smiar, in the intervening years he has visited Bratislava four times and maintained contact with Dr. Vladimir LaBath at Comenius. He noted he has seen dramatic changes in Bratislava in the more than 15 years of interchange between the universities, as Slovakia went from being under Communist rule to an independent republic. Full story.

LTS staff teaches NYSP participants
Members of UW-Eau Claire's Learning and Technology Services staff taught an introductory Photoshop class last week to youth participating in the university's National Youth Sports Program. Pictured working with NYSP participants at right are Jeri Weiser (top photo), Julia Lehman (foreground, bottom photo) and Sarah Brower (background, bottom photo). This was the 26th year for UW-Eau Claire's NYSP program, which provides youth ages 10-16 with opportunities to learn sports skills and receive information about drugs and alcohol, nutrition, careers and higher education. This year's program ended Friday with a picnic on upper campus. Due to federal funding cuts last year, it is still unknown whether the program will be offered next year, according to Lisa Schuetz, NYSP activity director. (Photos by Rick Mickelson, LTS)

Alumnus lands position with New England Patriots

Brent Hensel, holding an old Brett Favre jersey, was recently hired as curator and team librarian for the New England Patriots. Hensel, who grew up in Black River Falls, says he's been a lifelong Packers fan and will remain so, although he'll be "shifting his allegiances slightly." (Contributed photo)

A UW-Eau Claire alumnus was recently hired by the New England Patriots, not to play football but to start the team's new museum and hall of fame. Brent Hensel, the first student to complete the university's new graduate certificate in public history, left his position as the director of Boys and Girls Club of Jackson County this month to become the Patriots' curator and team librarian. Hensel, who received his master's degree in history from UW-Eau Claire in 2004, will help the Patriots start the process of building a team museum and hall of fame, scheduled to open by 2008, and serve as curator and team historian. It will be his job to inventory their collection of artifacts, help acquire items they need for the museum, and help create the museum. Full story.

Summer Session music, films continue
The following free Summer Session programs will be offered this week at UW-Eau Claire:

• Darlyne Cain

  Acoustic jazz, blues and folk artist Darlyne Cain will present an outdoor concert today from 7 to 9 p.m. on the Central Campus Mall.
• The film series "Summer Cinema Revolution: A Declaration of Independents" continues Wednesday, July 19, with a screening of the gold medal winners in the 32nd Annual Student Academy Awards competition. The films will be shown at 7 p.m. in Davies Theatre.
• Flutist Tim Lane and pianist Beverly Soll will present the second Summer Sounds program at UW-Eau Claire, featuring music by Baroque and Romantic composers including Bach, Dvorak and others. They will give a "listen at lunch" performance at noon Thursday, July 20, in The Cabin in Davies Center, and their recital will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 23, in Phillips Recital Hall, Haas Fine Arts Center.

Full story.

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.