Featured Articles

Finalists named for research and sponsored programs assistant vice chancellor post

Building Commission approves spending for Davies Center project, new building planning

American Indian Awareness Month kicks off today

Domestic Violence Vigil set for 7 p.m. tonight

Students' springs research project wins award

University Centers announces position changes

Continuing Education to host Central Europe tour

Project benefiting teachers of American Indian children gets second year of federal funding

Photo corner: International students practice language skills during children's story time

Finalists named for research and sponsored programs assistant vice chancellor post
UW-Eau Claire has named finalists for the position of assistant vice chancellor for research and sponsored programs:

• John Falconer, director of the Office of Sponsored Programs at the University of Nebraska at Kearney;
• Karen Havholm, UW-Eau Claire interim assistant vice chancellor for research and sponsored programs; and
• John Pascarella, associate professor of biology at Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Ga.

Each finalist will interview on campus this month. Dates and schedules are currently being confirmed. Each finalist's campus visit will include an open session, as well as meetings with various groups of faculty, staff and students.

See the finalists' letters of application and curriculum vitae on the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Web site. Watch future issues of the University Bulletin for the finalists' campus interview dates and times.

Building Commission approves spending for Davies Center project, new building planning
The State Building Commission approved March 19 a $48.8 million plan to redevelop UW-Eau Claire's Davies University Center, as well as $1.1 million for planning for a new academic building on campus.

Both projects still must be approved by the Legislature and the governor. The Davies Center project would be funded by student segregated fees, which could begin rising next fall. Students would pay an additional $125 per semester by 2010 to fund the project. No tax dollars would be involved in the development or operation of the building.

Davies Center, built in 1959 with major additions in 1964 and 1976, is one of the oldest buildings on campus and also one of the most heavily used. A large majority of UW-Eau Claire students who participated in a December 2005 survey regarding the future of the student center supported redeveloping the facility. (See related Leader-Telegram and Pioneer Press stories, as well as a December 2006 university news release.)

The $1.1 million in planning funds would allow UW-Eau Claire to move forward on a new academic building that would primarily house the College of Education and Human Sciences, which now has programs scattered throughout a number of academic buildings. Brewer Hall and Campus School, constructed in 1952 and among the oldest buildings on campus, would be demolished to make way for the new building.

American Indian Awareness Month kicks off today

Logo design by UW-Eau Claire student Daniel Prescott

UW-Eau Claire will celebrate American Indian Awareness Month by hosting activities throughout April. An opening reception from 3:30-5:30 p.m. today will feature reflections on past, present and future American Indian contributions by Paul DeMain, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin (Bear Clan). DeMain is CEO of Indian Country Communications Inc., chairman of the Navajo Times Publishing Co. and a member of the board for the Sequoyah Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The reception, presented by the UW-Eau Claire Native American Student Association and the American Indian studies program, will be in the Tamarack Room of Davies Center. See the complete American Indian Awareness Month activities calendar.

Domestic Violence Vigil set for 7 p.m. tonight
A Domestic Violence Vigil will be held at 7 p.m. tonight on the UW-Eau Claire Central Campus Mall to honor and remember those affected by domestic violence.

Students' springs research project wins award

UW-Eau Claire students Jeremy Hinke and Mike Molnar collect water samples for their DNR research project. (Contributed photo)

Two UW-Eau Claire seniors won the Best Undergrad Poster Award Feb. 23 at the Wisconsin Groundwater Association annual meeting.

Michael Molnar, Menomonie, and Jeremy Hinke, Phillips, won for their research poster titled "Estimating Recharge Areas for Large Springs in St. Croix County." Their project, funded by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, details the results of work begun by other UW-Eau Claire students in 2005 and completed by Molnar and Hinke in 2006.

Their research was considered the preliminary step in implementation of Wisconsin Act 310, which addresses the DNR's concern over the negative impact of urban sprawl on the state's surface water and groundwater quantity and quality. Full story.

University Centers announces position changes
Charles Farrell, director of University Centers at UW-Eau Claire, has announced the following position changes resulting from a reorganization of unit staff:

• Christopher Buckley is the new buildings and grounds supervisor for University Centers.
• Beverly Soll has been appointed assistant director for Activities and Programs.
• Karen Stuber has been appointed assistant director for Event Services.
• Candice Wilson has been appointed assistant director for business and administration in Davies Center.

Full story.

Continuing Education to host Central Europe tour
UW-Eau Claire Continuing Education/UW-Extension will sponsor a Central Europe travel seminar from July 30 through Aug. 25. Tour highlights will include the following:

• Auschwitz
• the Stasi Museum in Germany
• Wenceslas Square in Prague
• the Terror Museum in Hungary
• concert halls and opera houses throughout the region
• works of the old masters of art in Dresden and Vienna
• the great churches in Vienna Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow and Riga
• the pilgrimage site of the Black Madonna at Czestachowa.

UW-Eau Claire faculty members Dr. Irene Lazda, associate professor of foreign languages, and Dr. Paulis Lazda, professor of history, will serve as tour guides. They will be joined by several guest experts during the tour. Full story.

Project benefiting teachers of American Indian children gets second year of federal funding
A project to enhance the knowledge of northern Wisconsin teachers who serve American Indian children will continue a second year with a $65,200 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality Grant Program.

Karen Horan, UW-Eau Claire professor emerita of art and curriculum and instruction, is the project director for "The Visual Journal/Book Arts Project: Teaching Language Arts Across the Curriculum." The project began last year with funding from the same program. It's one of 16 UW System projects to receive funding this year from the grant program.

"The grant allows us to bring these opportunities to a new group of teachers," said Horan, who wrote the grant with Mary Kuzma, an alumna and former UW-Eau Claire instructor. Full story.

Photo corner International students practice language skills during children's story time in McIntyre Library

Shhhhhh — Damien Parsoud, a UW-Eau Claire foreign exchange student from France, gestured as he read "Bear Snores On" by Karma Wilson to children gathered for a story time session March 28 in the McIntyre Library Instructional Media Center. Parsoud was one of six foreign exchange students who were guest readers at the session. The students, who are enrolled in ESL 201, "Integrated Skills," worked beforehand with education reference librarian Kati Tvaruzka, who taught them how to select appropriate books and gave them tips on reading to groups of preschoolers. (Photo by Bill Hoepner, LTS)

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.