Featured Articles

Campus-community discussion to focus on preparedness for university education

Academic Affairs seeks new IRB chair

Budget management measures now in effect

UW System Board of Regents February update

Campus campaign gifts can support colleagues' extraordinary efforts

Help Desk/BITS to hold open house
Feb. 13

Black History Month events continue

CCI to faculty, staff: Ride the bus!

Mogensen Lecture to feature family storytellers

Reserve tickets now for Aldo Leopold Banquet

Summer Session registration dates announced

Students to offer kids' foreign language classes

Photo corner: The hot and cold of it

Campus-community discussion to focus
on preparedness for university education

		Top row, l-r: Don Christian, Scott Oates, Rebecca Martin. Bottom row, l-r: Erik Hendrick-son, Carmen Manning.

Representatives from UW-Eau Claire, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the UW System will lead a discussion about high school preparedness for the university from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Plaza Hotel, Eau Claire. "Preparedness for Successful Transition to the University: A Campus and Community Discussion about University Education" will include brief panelist presentations followed by discussion among panelists and audience members.

Presenters at the free event will include Don Christian, dean of the UW-Eau Claire College of Arts and Sciences; Scott Oates, UW-Eau Claire associate professor of English and member of the DPI English Language Arts ADP/P21 Design Team; Rebecca Martin, UW System senior vice president for academic affairs; Erik Hendrickson, UW-Eau Claire professor of physics and astronomy; and Carmen Manning, UW-Eau Claire associate professor of English.

The event is co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Sciences and UW System administration, with the cooperation of the Wisconsin DPI. More information.

Academic Affairs seeks new IRB chair
UW-Eau Claire Academic Affairs is searching for a tenured faculty member to assume the position of chairperson of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB chair is responsible for education on and oversight of research involving human subjects, with the goal of protecting the rights and welfare of those subjects. The candidate selected will begin in Summer 2008 as assistant to the chair of the IRB and will assume the chair position in December 2008. The deadline for application is March 3. See position description and application information.

Budget management measures now in effect
In his recent State of the State address, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle acknowledged fiscal uncertainties and challenges the state may face as a result of the slowdown of the national economy. In response to these challenges and as preparation for possible operations funding reductions in the 2008-09 fiscal year, the governor directed immediate implementation of certain management measures by all state agencies in the areas of position vacancies, out-of-state travel and leases.

UW System Board of Regents February update
On Feb. 8 during its two-day meeting in Madison, the UW System Board of Regents unanimously voted to adopt new salary ranges for the UW-Madison chancellor, the chancellors at the comprehensive campuses and the UW System president. The new salary ranges will be effective July 1, 2008.

On Feb. 7, UW System President Kevin Reilly opened the regents' meeting by unveiling specific action steps that have grown out of the Advantage Wisconsin strategic planning process. One of the proposed action steps is the creation of a new UW personal development transcript, or a dual transcript, that would essentially capture real-world, out-of-classroom experience such as service-learning projects. (See related news release.)

For complete details, see the Day 1 and Day 2 summaries of the regents' February meeting.

Campus campaign gifts can support colleagues' extraordinary efforts
Funds from the UW-Eau Claire Foundation often help enhance extraordinary efforts put forth by faculty and staff.

For example, support through the Foundation (most notably a $50,000 gift from alumni Tom and Jeannie Flesch) helped Dr. Randal Dickerson, associate professor of music and director of the Blugold Marching Band, take a band of 60 students and grow it to 202 students in just seven years. The Blugold Marching Band is now the largest marching band of any NCAA Division III school in the nation.

Through participation in the UW-Eau Claire Foundation's 2007-08 "Leap at the Chance" campus campaign, faculty and staff can similarly support extraordinary efforts by their colleagues and benefit the university's people and programs. Full story.

Help Desk/BITS to hold open house Feb. 13

UW-Eau Claire's Learning and Technology Services Help Desk and Building Information Technology Skills (BITS) offices invite all students, faculty and staff to an open house from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, in the new Help Desk/BITS facility, Old Library 1106. Participants can tour the new facility, learn about the services offered and enjoy refreshments.

With the move to this complex, the Help Desk and BITS offices were combined to provide a single access point for assistance and to reduce redundancies in services.

Black History Month events continue

Jesse Dixon Jr.

UW-Eau Claire's Office of Multicultural Affairs continues this week to present activities in celebration of Black History Month.

On Thursday, Feb. 14, Jesse Dixon Jr., director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, will present the second of three sessions of a Black History Month Dialogue on Diversity from 2:30-4:30 p.m. in  the Presidents Room, Davies Center. The sessions focus on the California Newsreels film series "Race — The Power of an Illusion," and Thursday's session will examine the series' second episode, "The Story We Tell." Full story.

CCI to faculty, staff: Ride the bus!
UW-Eau Claire Clean Commute Initiative members encourage university faculty and staff to consider riding the Eau Claire Transit buses one or more days a week. University employees may ride the buses for free by showing a Blugold ID.

CCI members invite faculty and staff to learn more about options for riding the bus at an information table between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, in the east lobby of Davies Center (near the Service Center). Bus schedule information and route planning assistance will be available from an Eau Claire Transit representative and CCI members. More information.

Mogensen Lecture to feature family of storytellers

Sadarri, Rick and Autumn Joy Saskill

A family of storytellers using dance and language from many cultures will be featured at the fifth annual UW-Eau Claire Martin Mogensen Education Lecture this month.

Sadarri and Rick Saskill and their 13-year-old daughter, Autumn Joy, will present "One World — Many Stories," a series of multicultural stories suitable for all ages. Their presentation, sponsored by the College of Education and Human Services, will begin at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Phillips Recital Hall of the Haas Fine Arts Center. It is free and open to the public. Full story.

Reserve tickets now for Aldo Leopold Banquet

UW-Eau Claire's Environmental Adventure Center will host the third annual Aldo Leopold Banquet from 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in the EAC, located in the basement of Hilltop Center. The banquet honors the conservation legacy of Aldo Leopold and aims to further foster the idea of developing a land ethic.

The banquet will include a rustic-themed menu and a predinner program featuring five guest speakers: Buddy Huffaker, executive director of the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo; Tex Hawkins, watershed biologist; Duke Welter, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Board secretary and Trout Unlimited leader; Dr. Sean Hartnett, UW-Eau Claire professor of geography; and Dr. John Hildebrand, UW-Eau Claire professor of English. Hartnett and Hildebrand teach the Aldo Leopold land ethic in their UW-Eau Claire classes.

Cost for the event is $18 per person. The banquet is expected to sell out quickly, so early reservations are requested. Full story.

Summer Session registration dates announced
Priority registration for UW-Eau Claire's Summer Session 2008 is under way, and open enrollment begins Feb. 22. The three-week Summer Session will run May 19-June 6; the eight-week session will run June 8-Aug. 1.

This year's Summer Session offers nearly 200 undergraduate and graduate courses, 70 of which are online. Courses will be offered through the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the College of Education and Human Sciences. Full story.

Students to offer kids' foreign language classes
UW-Eau Claire students enrolled in the curriculum and instruction course "Teaching Foreign Languages in Grades 1-9" will offer free exploratory classes in French, German and Spanish for area children in grades 1-5. During the spring semester, the students will offer beginning German, French and Spanish classes, as well as continuing Spanish.

Classes will meet from 4:10-4:50 p.m. on Thursdays, March 13-May 8, in Hibbard Hall. There will be no class on March 20.

To register, go to the foreign languages department Web site; contact the department of foreign languages at 715-836-4287; or contact Anne Hlas, assistant professor of Spanish and foreign language education, at 715-836-3528 or hlasac@uwec.edu.

Photo corner: The hot and cold of it

Hot halftime show, extra-cold Polar Plunge

Hot Halftime Show — Blugold women's basketball fans waited outside Zorn Arena Feb. 6 after burnt popcorn in the concession stand triggered a fire alarm during the Blugold women's basketball game against UW-Oshkosh. Fans eventually returned to the stands after the OK from the Eau Claire Fire Department, and the Blugolds won 74-42 — apparently unfazed by the delay of game. Read game details. (Photo by Rick Mickelson, LTS)

Extra-cold Polar Plunge — Blugold women's soccer team members braved the extreme cold Sunday, Feb. 10, to participate in the annual Indianhead Special Olympics Polar Plunge on Half Moon Lake in Eau Claire. Because of weather conditions (the wind chill during the event was 30 below zero), event participants were not allowed to fully submerge themselves in the lake but instead dipped various body parts into the cold water. Other UW-Eau Claire students, faculty and staff members also participated in the fundraiser; see a Feb. 11 Leader-Telegram article quoting some of them. (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. Wednesday to ensure 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.