Featured Articles

Campus greets Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson

Governor's campus visit to highlight Institute for Discovery

Jazz Ensemble I members still jazzed after West Coast trip

Scholarships to benefit first-generation students

Professors to lead Central Europe travel seminar

Women's History Month events continue

Regents grant Donald Mash emeritus status

No University Bulletin next week

Campus greets Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson

	Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson spoke to the campus community during her March 7 welcome reception in Davies Center's Tamarack Room.
Marge Hebbring, GEAR UP program director, greeted Dr. Larson as other faculty and staff members waited to welcome her. (Photos by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC)

UW-Eau Claire faculty, staff, emeriti and student leaders welcomed Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson during a reception March 7, her first official day at the helm of the university. Larson told the university community that she's committed to helping the campus maintain its excellence and achieve its goals as the university searches for and hires a new chancellor. "My goal and objective as the interim chancellor is to do what is in the best interest of UW-Eau Claire … and I will be here as long as I am needed," Larson said during the reception that gave her a chance to mingle with dozens of members of the faculty and staff. Larson said she is "deeply honored and delighted" to be back at UW-Eau Claire, a campus that gave her her first tenure-track faculty position and her first administrative position. "I spent 18 wonderful years here," said Larson, who worked at UW-Eau Claire from 1973-1991. "This community is the best place I have ever lived. It feels great to be home." Full story and more background on Larson.

Governor's campus visit to highlight benefits
of Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Gov. Jim Doyle will hold a 10:45 a.m. press conference Friday, March 18, in Phillips Hall 174 to highlight the benefits to Wisconsin of an Institute for Discovery on the UW-Madison campus. The Institute, part of a strategy to keep Wisconsin at the forefront of biotechnology, health sciences, and stem cell research, will be up for approval Friday afternoon by the Wisconsin Building Commission. Read more about the Governor's overall strategy for maintaining Wisconsin's leadership in scientific research and about the Institute for Discovery. Also read a related Wisconsin State Journal article.

Jazz Ensemble I members still jazzed
after 'phenomenal' West Coast trip

Members of Jazz Ensemble I posed for this photo last year along the Chippewa River.

It's been said that some of the most important kinds of learning don't happen in a classroom, and members of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Jazz Ensemble I recently experienced that truth in a very real way. Early in January the group traveled with Bob Baca, director of the jazz studies area at UW-Eau Claire, to the West Coast to attend the International Association for Jazz Education Conference in Long Beach, Calif. The group joined more than 8,000 musicians, educators, industry executives and students from 45 countries at the event, recognized as the largest annual gathering of the global jazz community. That was followed by several days of learning and bonding with fellow jazz students at Mt. Hood Community College and local jazz musicians in Portland, Ore. Those who know Baca know he's a man of almost boundless enthusiasm, so it may not come as any surprise that he described the trip as "phenomenal." But in this case, his students agreed with him wholeheartedly. "Life-changing" was an adjective that several of them echoed. "This trip really helped establish in my mind the idea of jazz as a community of artists, rather than just a genre of music," said sophomore Adam Braatz, Sun Prairie, a pianist with the group. Full story.

Scholarships to benefit first-generation students

Arnold and Lois Domer

First-generation college students attending UW-Eau Claire and Chippewa Valley Technical College will benefit from scholarships established at both institutions thanks to the generosity of the Arnold and Lois Domer Foundation. The Arnold and Lois Domer Foundation has established $1,000 annual scholarships at UW-Eau Claire and CVTC in memory of Arnold and in honor of Lois, both longtime Eau Claire residents and business owners. Arnold Domer died in November 2003. The Domer gift to UW-Eau Claire is recognized as a contribution to Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence, the UW-Eau Claire Foundation's comprehensive campaign to benefit UW-Eau Claire's people and programs. More information on the UW-Eau Claire Arnold and Lois Domer Scholarship is available online. Full story.

Professors to lead central Europe travel seminar

Budapest, Hungary, will be one of the cities visited during the August travel seminar in central Europe. (Contributed photo)

UW-Eau Claire professors Dr. Paulis Lazda, Dr. Irene Lazda and Teresa Sanislo will lead a travel seminar to the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Latvia Aug. 2-29. The seminar will explore the history, culture, music, art and cuisine of central Europe. Side trips will include visits to Auschwitz, the Berlin Wall, the Stasi Museum, Wenceslas Square, the Hungarian Terror Museum and meetings with central European diplomats and academics. The estimated cost of the travel seminar is $2,395 per person for full-time students and $2,620 for non-students and includes health insurance, lodging, two meals per day, activities (museums, concerts, operas, etc.) and transportation while in Europe. Flights are not included. Participants must obtain their own passports. Cost is subject to change based on the U.S. dollar/Euro exchange rate. A $600 payment is due by March 31. To register or for more information, contact UW-Eau Claire Continuing Education by calling (715) 836-3636 or (866) 893-2423 or sending e-mail to CE@uwec.edu.

Women's History Month events continue

Regents grant Donald Mash emeritus status
The UW System Board of Regents passed a resolution of appreciation that grants emeritus status to former UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Donald Mash at the board's March 10-11 meeting in Madison. As of March 1, Chancellor Emeritus Mash began his duties in Madison as executive senior vice president of the UW System. Read the Day 1 and Day 2 news summaries from the regents' March meeting.

No University Bulletin next week
The University Bulletin will not be published next Monday, March 21, because of Spring Break. The next issue of the University Bulletin will be published on March 28. Have a great Spring Break!

University Bulletin
Published weekly during the fall and spring semesters by the UW-Eau Claire News Bureau. News items and notices should be sent to the News Bureau, Schofield 201, by 10 a.m. Monday 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.