New grants fund chemistry faculty/student research

Kurt Wiegel	Sanchita Hati	Scott Hartsel

In the UW-Eau Claire chemistry department, recent external grants totaling more than $360,000 are funding faculty/student research that could contribute to the development of better computer monitors, more effective antibiotics and improved cleanup of toxic waste sites.

Dr. Kurt Wiegel, assistant professor of chemistry, has received a $180,000 National Science Foundation grant; Dr. Sanchita Hati, assistant professor of chemistry, has received a $150,000 Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institutes of Health; and Dr. Scott Hartsel, professor and chair of the chemistry department, has received a $34,500 Research Corp. grant.

These most recent awards add to an already impressive track record for the department in terms of grant monies received, said Hartsel, who noted that in the past five years UW-Eau Claire's chemistry faculty has brought in more than $4.6 million in external grant funding. Full story.

Hotel to house up to 130 UW-Eau Claire students

Charles Major

As has happened in 10 of the past 13 years, a number of UW-Eau Claire students will be housed in an area hotel this fall.

The university can accommodate 3,905 students in its residence halls, and requests for housing have exceeded that number by approximately 130, said Charles Major, UW-Eau Claire director of Housing and Residence Life.

The Plaza Hotel, selected following a bidding process, will house the additional students for the fall semester, Major said. Among those living at the Plaza will be approximately 60 returning students who already have volunteered to live in alternative housing should the need arise. The intent is that no freshmen will be placed in the hotel, he said. Full story.

History students assist with Cable museum exhibit
Ten undergraduate and graduate history students at UW-Eau Claire spent the spring semester helping put together elements of a companion exhibit to "Between Fences," a Smithsonian Museums on Main Street Exhibition, which has been on display in the northern Wisconsin town of Cable since May 31. The exhibit will end July 12.

"Between Fences" began last fall with the selection of six Wisconsin communities of under 10,000 people to host the traveling exhibit for six weeks each. The communities of Waupaca, Hales Corners, LaFarge, Sauk Prairie, Clear Lake and Cable were asked to create companion exhibits focused on local history and aligned to the themes of the Smithsonian exhibit, which reveals how central the fence is to the American landscape and how it helped shape our history. Full story.

Two more receive Austrian teaching assistantships
Two more recent graduates of UW-Eau Claire have been awarded U.S. English Teaching Assistantships in Austria. The assistantships are offered through a program of the Austrian Ministry of Education and administered through the Fulbright Commission in Austria.

Sarah Park Eaton	Michelle Dins Mc Auly

Sarah Park Eaton, Rice Lake, and Michelle Dins Mc Auly, Clintonville, are UW-Eau Claire's most recent alumnae to receive the Austrian Fulbright Program assistantships. A third assistantship, awarded to May German education graduate Trisha Monka, Manitowoc, was announced in June.

Eaton, who recently received her secondary teaching license from UW-Eau Claire, will teach English and American culture at two schools in Oberwart, a town of about 8,000 people located in the province of Burgenland. Mc Auly, who graduated in May with a double major in art and German, will working as an English teacher's assistant in the cities of Bregenz and Lauterach in the province of Vorarlberg. Full story.

Summer Events series continues with Peter Phippen Group concert, short film screenings

The Peter Phippen Group

Innovative flute performer Peter Phippen will start the fifth week of the University Centers Summer Events series tonight at UW-Eau Claire, when the Peter Phippen Group will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. in Schofield Auditorium.

Summer Sounds series to present
UW-Eau Claire flutists
UW-Eau Claire professor of music Dr. Tim Lane, alumnae Breta Borstad and Jeanne Kolis, and student Lexi Zunker will present a recital of flute duos, trios and quartets in a Summer Sounds series concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 13, in Phillips Recital Hall of the university's Haas Fine Arts Center.

The concert will include music by composers J.B. Boismortier, Guillaume Dufay, William Byrd, George Koechlin and William Sydeman, among others. Full story.

Photo corner: Summer spruce-up
An employee of Hagen Decorators painted the ceiling of the breezeway between Schofield Hall and Davies Center July 2. The breezeway's walls and benches as well as many guardrails across campus also are being repainted this summer, said Terry Classen, UW-Eau Claire director of facilities planning and management. (Photo by Bill Hoepner, LTS)

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.