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UW-Eau Claire students satisfied with their college experience

Professor Thomas J. Bergmann dies

Free UW-Eau Claire Summer Session programs kick off with Peter Phippen

Susan Krueger named Woman of the Year by Mental Health Association

David Franks receives service award from local agency

Ted Wendt resigns, accepts new position in California
Ted Wendt, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UW-Eau Claire, has resigned to return to his academic roots in the California State University system.

Wendt, who joined UW-Eau Claire in July 2000, will become associate vice president for faculty affairs at California State University-Stanislaus. He will serve as the chief personnel officer for faculty and also will supervise the faculty development center, which coordinates professional development programs, ranging from sabbaticals to technology training. Full story.

UW-Eau Claire students satisfied with their college experience
More than 90 percent of students at UW-Eau Claire are very satisfied or satisfied with their overall experience at the university, according to the 2002 ACT Student Opinion Survey completed this spring.

The 90.6 percent satisfaction rate is identical to the rating in 1999, the last time the survey was completed. UW-Eau Claire students' overall satisfaction with the university is well above the public and national averages, the survey indicates.

"Students report being satisfied with almost every aspect of university life," Chancellor Donald Mash said, noting that small classes, attentive faculty, an attractive campus, a first-rate library and quality recreation programs are just a few of the campus features students rated high in the survey. "Clearly our students appreciate being part of a vibrant living and learning community that offers exceptional experiences in and outside their classrooms." Full story.

Professor Thomas J. Bergmann dies
Thomas J. Bergmann, 56, professor of management and marketing in the UW-Eau Claire College of Business, died May 30 at his home in Altoona after a short battle with cancer. He also served as assistant dean of student affairs and director of research in the College of Business before his retirement in May.

Bergmann joined the UW-Eau Claire College of Business faculty in 1975. A former director of the master of business administration program, he taught courses in human resource management, entrepreneurship, compensation theory and administration and a variety of graduate courses. He received an Excellence in Scholarship Award in 1991 and was recently awarded a Faculty/Academic Staff Member Excellence in Service-Learning Award in recognition of his mentoring dozens of service-learning students.

Bergmann served as faculty adviser for the student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management at UW-Eau Claire and was active in the Regis High School Community.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, his master’s degree from Loyola University of Chicago, Ill., and his doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

Bergmann is survived by his wife, Marilyn; sons Joseph Bergmann and William Bergmann; daughter Mary (Christopher) Vijayapal; grandson Connor Vijayapal; brother William (Karen) Bergmann; mother-in-law Lucille Burke; other relatives and many friends. He was preceded in death by his parents.

In lieu of flowers and plants, the family suggests memorials be directed to the Human Resource Scholarship of the College of Business (through the UW-Eau Claire Foundation) or the Regis High School Foundation.

Funeral services were held June 3.

Free UW-Eau Claire Summer Session programs kick off with Peter Phippen
An outdoor concert by ethnic flutist Peter Phippen will highlight the first week in an eight-week series of free Summer Session Programs at UW-Eau Claire on Monday,
June 9.

The Summer Session Programs show will begin at 7 p.m. on the Central Campus Mall. Refreshments will be sold. Audience members are invited to bring blankets or folding chairs for lawn seating. In the event of rain, the concert will be held in Schofield Auditorium. Full story.

Susan Krueger named Woman of the Year by Mental Health Association
For the past 11 summers Susan Krueger, a senior lecturer in the biology department, has packed up her family and traveled to the Appalachians in West Virginia to work as volunteers. This summer is no exception.

Working with the Passionist Volunteers, headquartered in New Jersey, they spend three or four weeks doing children's programs, delivering summer lunches to poor children, and doing home repairs such as roofing, painting, flooring and sheet rocking. The houses have dirt floors, no running water and no sewers.

Later in the summer, Krueger will fly to New York City to work with the Passionist Volunteers in Brooklyn's poverty-ridden Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

For her efforts to improve the lives of others, Krueger received the Mental Health Association's Woman of the Year Award May 22. The annual award is given to a woman from the Eau Claire area for improving the lives of others through her profession or community service. Full story.

David Franks receives service award from local agency
David Franks, professor of special education, received the Reta and David Martell Distinguished Service Award at the ARC Eau Claire's annual awards banquet May 9.

According to Barbara Shafer, executive director of the Arc Eau Claire, which advocates for the rights of citizens with cognitive disabilities, Franks was nominated by a group of Eau Claire area educators who wanted to recognize his more than 40 years of dedicated service in the field of special education.

Chris Hambuch-Boyle, an early childhood special education teacher at the Lowes Creek Early Learning Center, said she and 11 of her colleagues recognize Franks as a university leader in his efforts to get special education student teachers into Eau Claire area classrooms early in their academic careers. 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. Monday for publication in the following week’s issue. E-mail submissions to Liz Wolf Green at greenew@uwec.edu are encouraged. Faculty/staff news items are published on a space-available basis.