Featured Articles

Grant supports alcohol education training

Staff member reports on tsunami aftermath

Mike McCurry to be next Devroy Forum speaker

University employee helps save heart attack victim

Community Registration Night happens tonight

COEHS forum to address new teaching, learning strategies

Diversity book club seeks participants

Super Bowl ad research to be luncheon topic

Staff members receive seven
CASE awards

Library provides work space for students, faculty with children

Web page honors Blugold troops

Grant supports alcohol education training

Jodi Thesing-Ritter

Seventeen student leaders and staff at UW-Eau Claire will attend a daylong workshop Jan. 25 to prepare them to begin training students with the skills to prevent alcohol misuse among their peers. The program is made possible by a $3,825 grant from M&L Brands, the local distributor for Miller and Leinenkugel beer, through the UW-Eau Claire Foundation. "Our goals are to elevate the level of alcohol awareness training for our campus and to elevate our ability to disseminate information to decrease alcohol incidents on campus," said Jodi Thesing-Ritter, associate dean of student development. Full story.

Staff member reports on tsunami aftermath

Rita Webb

UW-Eau Claire academic staff member Rita Webb, currently on a two-year peace mission in Sri Lanka, escaped injury Dec. 26 when the small island country was among the nations hit by devastating tsunamis set off by a powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean. Webb, a UW-Eau Claire academic adviser and coordinator of the Adult Opportunity Office, has been on a leave of absence from the university since September 2003 as a member of a civilian “peace army" from the Nonviolent Peaceforce organization. Read an e-mail from Webb and a Dec. 30 Eau Claire Leader-Telegram article about her experience immediately following the disaster. Faculty and staff are invited to contribute to the worldwide tsunami relief effort by sending their financial gifts to the Tsunami Relief Fund in care of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation. See a recent message from Chancellor Donald Mash regarding the campus relief fund.

Mike McCurry to be next Devroy Forum speaker Mike McCurry, former White House and State Department spokesman, will be the Ann Devroy Forum speaker this year. The 2005 Ann Devroy Memorial Forum is slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in Schofield Hall. McCurry served in the White House as press secretary to President Bill Clinton from 1995-98. Prior to joining the White House staff, he was spokesman for the Department of State from 1993-95, where he earned accolades as chief spokesman for then Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Full story. The Ann Devroy Memorial Forum and Ann Devroy Memorial Fund were established in 1997 to recognize the outstanding journalistic work of the 1970 UW-Eau Claire graduate who died of cancer in 1997.

Devroy Fellow spends Break at Washington Post: UW-Eau Claire senior journalism student and 2004 Devroy Fellowship recipient Gina Duwe wrote an article describing the Jan. 20 inauguration scene in Washington, D.C. As a Devroy Fellow, she was in the nation's capital for a three-week residency at The Washington Post.

University employee helps save heart attack victim

Bob Reise, left, and UW-Eau Claire employee Bob Leidholdt stood in front of the Christmas tree Reise picked out just before suffering a heart attack in the tree lot. Leidholdt is one of a group of people credited with saving Reise's life. (Contributed photo)

Bob Leidholdt, a maintenance mechanic in Facilities Planning and Management, normally would not have been driving down Rudolph Road in Eau Claire on a Sunday afternoon. But fortunately for Bob Reise, that's exactly the route Leidholt took Dec. 4 at the same time Reise suffered a heart attack in a local Christmas tree lot. Leidholt, heading back to his Chippewa Falls home after being called in to work, passed the lot and noticed a group gathering around a man lying on the ground. After driving by the lot, "something kept telling me, 'turn around, turn around,'" Leidholt said. He did, and once at the scene he proceeded to administer CPR to Reise until EMTs arrived. "It was like he had a guardian angel that made me stop in there," he said. Leidholt received his CPR training on the job several years ago and said he would like to see the training during work hours reinstated for university employees. "After going through this, I just think it's really important," he said. Read accounts of the story in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and The Chippewa Herald, as well as a Chippewa Herald feature story about Reise and Leidholdt's first meeting after the incident.

Community Registration Night happens tonight
Community Registration Night will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today, Jan. 24, in Schofield Hall for community members interested in registering for classes as special students during the spring 2005 semester. Those who register must complete required forms, available in advance by calling (715) 836-2425 or sending e-mail to registration@uwec.edu, and pay a $100 deposit. Full story.

COEHS forum to address new strategies
for teaching and learning
Author, speaker and consultant Richard Thieme will present "The Art and Science of Partnering in Times of Radical Change" on Tuesday, Jan. 25, at 3 p.m. in Davies Theater. He will address how a global marketplace for ideas and processes challenges us to learn new ways of thinking to remain viable. Thieme, a former Episcopal priest, focuses his work on the human dimension of technology and the workplace, change management and organizational effectiveness. His work is taught in universities around the world and translated into numerous languages. He has spoken internationally, for universities and school districts, and for such prominent audiences as the FBI, the Pentagon, Los Alamos National Lab, Microsoft, General Electric and Johnson Controls. Past installments of his weekly column, "Islands in the Clickstream," were published in June 2004 as a book by the same title. Thieme's talk, open to all students, faculty and staff, will be presented by the College of Education and Human Sciences with support from the Academic Affairs Professional Development Program and the UW-Eau Claire Foundation.

Diversity book club seeks participants

UW-Eau Claire's Peer Diversity Educators organization is seeking faculty, staff and student participants for a spring semester diversity book club made possible by a UW-System Institute on Race and Ethnicity grant. Participants will be provided with copies of "this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation," edited by Gloria E. Anzaldua and Analouise Keating, and "Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads With an Indian Elder," by Kent Nerburn. (Read book descriptions.) One group of 15 will read the first book while another group will read the second book, then the groups will switch books. Discussion groups will take place throughout the semester. Faculty, staff, or students interested in participating should e-mail Sally Trnka at trnkasf@uwec.edu by Feb. 1.

Super Bowl ad research to be luncheon topic
"Super Bowl Advertising: At Work While You Play!" will be the topic of the next session of "Let's Do Lunch" at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at Sweetwaters Restaurant in Eau Claire. Chuck Tomkovick, professor of management and marketing, will be the featured speaker. Tomkovick was a researcher in the first known Super Bowl advertising effectiveness study, the results of which were published in 2004. "Let's Do Lunch" is a monthly noon-hour speaker series sponsored by the UW-Eau Claire Alumni Association that offers community members a chance to participate in interactive discussions with members of UW-Eau Claire's faculty and staff. More information.

Photo by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC

Staff members receive seven CASE awards
UW-Eau Claire Foundation, alumni relations and communications staff members received seven awards at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District V conference, held Dec. 12-14 in Chicago. The seven awards were the most won by any college or university, public or private, in Wisconsin. Gold Awards went to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation staff for the Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence fund-raising campaign and to Julie Poquette, News Bureau, and Mindy Merryfield, Publications, for e-View, UW-Eau Claire's e-newsletter for alumni and friends. Silver Awards went to the Foundation staff for their collaborative efforts with the community to raise funds for the Carson Park artificial turf project and to John Bachmeier, Alumni Relations, for his role in helping organize UW System Spirit Day and UW Day at Miller Park. Bronze Awards went to Liz Wolf Green, News Bureau, Diane Walkoff, News Bureau, and Sheila Pederson, Publications, for their work on the University Bulletin and to Ansel Brooks, Publications, and Rick Mickelson, TLTDC, for the "Experience the Eau Claire Advantage" display created for the Admissions office. Full story.

Cara Tomlinson, assistant professor of art & design, worked recently in the library's family-friendly study room while her daughter, Livia, played with dad Sean Regan, a lecturer in the department of art & design. (Photo by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC)

A family affair: Library provides work space for students, faculty and staff with children
A family-friendly study room is now available to all university students, faculty and staff in Room 2024 of McIntyre Library. The room includes a play area with toys, games and books for children as well as a computer workstation, a printer (patrons must provide paper), wireless access, study tables and chairs, a refrigerator and a campus telephone. The room key can be checked out to a family presenting a Blugold card at the library circulation desk. The room is available for three-hour time periods. Parents will be responsible for supervision and safety of their children at all times.

Web page honors Blugold troops
A new Web page pays tribute to some of the UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff members, students and alumni who are serving or recently have served in the military or who have a spouse or child who is or has been on active duty. View the "Tribute to Blugold Troops" page, which includes instructions on how to submit information for inclusion on the page.

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.