Featured Articles

David Shih appointed UW-Eau Claire's EDI Fellow

Vice chancellor finalist to visit campus Dec. 1-2

Former 'economic hit man' to share plan for sustainable, stable world

Participants sought for study of military nurses

NOTA spring issue receives national recognition

UW-Eau Claire designers receive six ACUI awards

High school students explore STEM opportunities

David Shih appointed UW-Eau Claire's EDI Fellow

Shih

Dr. David Shih, associate professor of English, will serve as UW-Eau Claire's first Campus Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Fellow.

Shih — who will report to the chancellor — will work closely with students, vice chancellors, academic departments and other units including Admissions, Affirmative Action, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

As EDI Fellow, Shih will focus on equity, diversity and inclusivity issues, including:

• Pedagogy and curricular initiatives
• Student and employee recruitment and retention strategies
• Promotion and follow-through for the Equity Scorecard
• Coordination with UW System and campus leaders on equity, diversity and inclusiveness projects
• Coordination of a campus climate survey and follow-up focus groups.

Shih's appointment is a partial reassignment of duties. He will continue to teach in the English department. Full story.

Vice chancellor finalist to visit campus Dec. 1-2
The last of four finalists in the search for a vice chancellor for administration, finance and facilities at UW-Eau Claire will visit campus today, Dec. 1, and Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Greg Garber, assistant professor of finance and accounting at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., will speak at two one-hour forums open to faculty, staff and students at 2 p.m. Dec. 1 and at 10 a.m. Dec. 2. Both forums, which will be identical in format, will be held in Davies Theatre.

Finalists who previously made campus visits are David Dadds, administrator of the department of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; Nathaniel Jones III, chief financial and administrative officer of the William Jewett Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College; and George Hollins, university business manager at The University of Iowa.

Links to all of the finalists' curriculum vitae and a link to a finalist feedback form are available online.

Perkins

Former 'economic hit man' to share
plan for sustainable, stable world
John Perkins, bestselling author of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," will discuss his plan for a sustainable and stable world during a Dec. 8 lecture at UW-Eau Claire.

The Forum will present his address, "Geopolitics, the Future and You: A Call to Action," at 7:30 p.m. in Zorn Arena.

Perkins has lived four lives: as an economic hit man; as the CEO of an alternative energy company; as an expert on shamanism and indigenous cultures; and as a writer, who, through his 2004 book about his experience as an economic hit man, revealed the corruption turning the American republic into a widely despised global empire.

As an economic hit man, Perkins worked to convince Third World countries to accept large loans. Once these countries were crippled with these debts, the U.S. government and international aid agencies allied with it were able to control the countries. In his Forum presentation, Perkins will discuss the epiphany that initiated his personal change and the reasons he is optimistic that we can create societies our children will be proud to inherit. Full story.

Participants sought for study of military nurses

Cheryl Lapp, associate professor of nursing (standing), and student researchers (from left) Allison Quinn, Emily Skurla and Heather Nichols are conducting a study on re-entry to civilian life for nurses who have served in active war zones. Also participating in the research project is graduate student Phillip Seep. (Photo by Rick Mickelson, LTS)

Four UW-Eau Claire nursing students and their professor, Dr. Cheryl Lapp, seek participants for a research study of military nurses.

The study, "War and Its Aftermath: A Study of Nurses Who Served in Iraq and Afghanistan," will focus on the process of re-entry into civilian life for nurses who have recently served in combat or near-combat situations in active war zones.

Lapp said the study was inspired by the historical contributions of nurses in times of war. She and her students viewed the documentary "Vietnam Nurses," narrated by actress Dana Delaney, who won two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of nurse Colleen McMurphy in the television drama "China Beach," which aired from 1988-91. Now that a whole new generation of nurses has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lapp and her students hope to find out if there have been advances since Vietnam, when nurses, like soldiers, returned home from war with little preparation for what they would encounter and had no debriefing process.

Anyone interested in learning more about or participating in this study may contact Lapp at 715-836-5629 or lappca@uwec.edu. Full story.

NOTA spring issue receives national recognition
NOTA, UW-Eau Claire's creative arts organization, was awarded an honorable mention in the AIGA BlueRidge 2008 Flux Student Design Competition. NOTA received the award for its spring 2008 issue.

Juniors Kaleb Durocher, Wisconsin Rapids, and Lee Wegener, Hartland, and sophomore Ben Larson, Hudson, NOTA's art directors and designers, said the award-winning issue was a product of intense labor, creativity and collaboration. They also said the entire staff was honored to be recognized alongside top schools at the national level in the competition.

"This award coincides with NOTA's shift toward a top-tier, professional catalog of creative work on campus," Durocher said. Full story.

UW-Eau Claire designers receive six ACUI awards

The Fresh Start Farmers Mart logo, above, designed by 2007 UW-Eau Claire graduate Maria Nocenti, and the Intermezzos logo, below, designed by student graduate designer Sarah Hicks, were among designs recognized at the Association of College Unions International regional conference.

The work of two UW-Eau Claire graphic designers was recognized with six awards at the Association of College Unions International regional conference Nov. 7-9.

Receiving honors were student graphic designer Sarah Hicks and 2007 UW-Eau Claire graduate Maria Nocenti, both of Green Bay. Both artists created the work while employed in the University Centers information design services area.

Hicks received two first-place awards, one for her logo for Intermezzos Café and another for her poster for The Forum presentation by John Perkins.

Nocenti received a first-place award for her logo for Fresh Start Farmers Mart, a mini farmers market on campus, and a second-place award for her series of promotions for the Fresh Start Farmers Mart. She also received first place for her poster for the International Film Society presentation of "Casshern" and second place for her design promoting the Campus-Community Connection, an event that introduces students to city resources, community service agencies and retailers. Full story.

High school students explore STEM opportunities

Above, Doug Dunham, physics and astronomy faculty member and director of UW-Eau Claire's Materials Science Center, discussed the relationship between materials science and nanotechnology with Prescott High School students during a Nov. 25 tour of the university's STEM facilities. Below, Erik Hendrickson, physics and astronomy, presented a physics demonstration to another group of Prescott students. (Photos by Bill Hoepner, LTS)

Eleven UW-Eau Claire faculty members presented demonstrations and gave tours of the university's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) facilities to 86 Prescott High School students Nov. 25. The event was organized at the request of the high school students' counselor as a way to familiarize the students with UW-Eau Claire's STEM majors and to help them know what to look for when searching for colleges, said Creanna Cote, UW-Eau Claire's STEM admissions counselor. During the event, groups of students went through four 30-minute stations of demonstrations, lab visits and tours. The Prescott High School counselor had participated in an Oct. 21 STEM event attended by 16 area high school counselors. That event, hosted by UW-Eau Claire's Admissions office, provided the counselors with an overview of the university's STEM programs and gave them the opportunity to meet and talk to STEM faculty members, Cote said. Cote noted other recent STEM program promotion activities, including online chats between prospective and accepted STEM students, faculty and admissions counselors, as well as phone calls by current students to accepted STEM students. The recent STEM activities are among UW-Eau Claire's efforts as a partner in the Chippewa Valley NanoSTEM Initiative, a collaboration between UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout and Chippewa Valley Technical College to provide the education and training needed for the Chippewa Valley region to embrace important emerging technologies in the STEM fields. "We hope for many more events and partnerships in the future with admissions and the STEM faculty so we can highlight the excellent opportunities for students going into math and science at UW-Eau Claire," Cote said.

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.