Featured Articles

Search begins for new UW-Eau Claire chancellor

Carole Halberg receives System excellence award

Jeff Oliphant named to WATA Hall of Fame

Sri Lanka: Staffer reports on tsunami recovery efforts

Acclaimed filmmaker to discuss documentary

Contest introduces new COB Web site

Kind hears concerns about financial aid cuts

Blugold gymnast qualifies for NCAA meet

Search begins for new UW-Eau Claire chancellor
Nominations are being sought for individuals to serve on the UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Search and Screen Committee. Those interested should be aware that serving on the committee represents considerable responsibility and commitment of time. Read full details on the number and categories of nominees to be elected and the timetable for the selection of the Search and Screen Committee.

Faculty and academic staff interested in serving on the committee should submit their names by Wednesday, April 6, to the following individuals. (In all instances, "faculty" includes instructional academic staff with faculty status.)

• Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences: Contact Erik Hendrickson, chair of the Arts and Sciences Nominating Committee, at 836-5834 or hendrije@uwec.edu OR submit your nomination at the Arts and Sciences Nominating Committee meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, in Schofield Auditorium.
• Faculty in the College of Business: Contact Dean V. Thomas Dock at 836-5509 or dockv@uwec.edu.
• Faculty in the College of Education and Human Sciences: Contact Sandra Schulner, assistant to the dean, at 836-3264 or schulnss@uwec.edu.
• Faculty in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences: Contact Dean Elaine Wendt at 836-5287 or wendtle@uwec.edu.
• Faculty in the McIntyre Library: Contact Bob Rose, library director, at 836-3715 or roserf@uwec.edu.
• All academic staff (except those with faculty status): Contact Connie Russell, chair of the Academic Staff Nominating Committee, at 836-3629 or russelc@uwec.edu. Note: Academic staff should submit biographies with their nominations.

Nominations for on-campus administrators and community members should be forwarded by April 11 to Susan Johnson, Office of the Chancellor, at 836-2327 or johnsosu@uwec.edu. The chancellor, in consultation with her executive staff, will select names of two administrators and four community members. Individuals selected will be contacted for biographical information and their names and bios forwarded to UW System for final committee selection. More information regarding the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee selection process.

Carole Halberg receives System excellence award
Carole Halberg, president of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation and special assistant to the chancellor, is the winner of the UW System's 2005 Academic Staff Regents Award for Excellence. Halberg will receive the award — which recognizes her dedication, excellence of performance, personal interaction, initiative and creativity, and outstanding achievement — during the UW System Board of Regents' April 7-8 meeting in Madison. "It's an honor to be recognized for doing work that I enjoy at a place that I love," Halberg said of her nearly 25-year career at UW-Eau Claire. "My greatest joy is knowing that what I do as a fundraiser and communicator makes a difference in the individual lives of our students, faculty and other people in this region." Full story.

Jeff Oliphant named to WATA Hall of Fame
Jeff Oliphant, assistant professor of kinesiology and director of UW-Eau Claire's athletic training education program, will be inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Fame this week. Oliphant, the youngest person ever selected for the WATA's Hall of Fame, will be inducted April 8 during the WATA annual business meeting and symposium awards banquet. Induction into the Hall of Fame is the highest honor a WATA member can receive from the organization. Oliphant said he's particularly excited that two UW-Eau Claire students also will be recognized during the WATA awards banquet. Senior Toni Marousek will receive one of two $1,000 WATA student scholarships given annually to the top upperclassman in the state. And sophomore Stephanie Lopez will receive the WATA Founding Fathers Scholarship that's awarded each year to a first-year student who demonstrates significant leadership skills. Full story.

Sri Lanka: Political factions vying for aid control hamper tsunami recovery efforts, staffer reports

Rita Webb, shown here helping with cleanup efforts in Sri Lanka following December's tsunami, described her activity in this photo as "hauling debris one gunny sack at a time."

Amid ongoing factional fighting and the widespread grief and trauma suffered by the victims of last December's tsunami, the people of Sri Lanka are doing the best they can to recover from the disaster, reported UW-Eau Claire academic staff member Rita Webb in a recent e-mail to friends and colleagues. Webb escaped injury Dec. 26 when tsunamis hit several countries on the Indian Ocean, including Sri Lanka, where she has been working since September 2003 as a member of a team from the Nonviolent Peaceforce organization. Webb, who initially planned to work in the small island nation for two years, will extend her stay so she can see her organization's project through to its conclusion. Read Webb's recent e-mail describing Sri Lanka's tsunami recovery efforts.

Acclaimed filmmaker to discuss documentary
Filmmaker Ziad H. Hamzeh will visit UW-Eau Claire to discuss "The Letter," his controversial documentary dealing with the subject of black Muslim immigrants post 9/11, on Thursday, April 7. UW-Eau Claire's International Film Society will present screenings of "The Letter" at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, April 7-10, in Davies Theatre. On Thursday Hamzeh will talk about the film and answer questions immediately after each screening. Refreshments will be available in the Skylight Lounge adjacent to the theater. "The Letter" premiered theatrically in New York City in February 2005 to rave reviews from every major New York newspaper, as well as Variety, LA Weekly, and The Christian Science Monitor. It was named Best Documentary at the Boston International Film Festival and was chosen to open the 2004 Amnesty International Film Festival. Full story and ticket information.

Contest introduces new COB Web site
To introduce its new Web site, the UW-Eau Claire College of Business is having a contest for undergraduate and graduate business students. The first 15 UW-Eau Claire business students who correctly answer a series of Web hunt questions by April 18 will receive a 128 MB Flash Drive. The new Web site was launched in early February. Read more about the site's development.

Kind hears concerns about financial aid cuts

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind listened to the concerns of area residents, including UW-Eau Claire students, faculty and staff, during a town hall meeting March 30 in Davies Center. The focus of the meeting was on possible cuts in financial aid for college students. UW-Eau Claire was one of several stops for Kind, a member of the House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee, who will use input from town hall meetings to help develop a congressional plan for making changes to the Higher Education Act later this spring. Read related Leader-Telegram article (free registration required). (Photo by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC)

Blugold gymnast qualifies for NCAA meet UW-Eau Claire senior Alison Eagles, pictured at right on the beam during the Jan. 15 UW-Eau Claire invitational meet, is one of only four Division III athletes to qualify for the NCAA North Central Region meet April 9 in Salt Lake City. Full story. (Photo by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC)

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.