Summer commencement set for 9:30 a.m. Saturday

Photo by Bill Hoepner, LTS

Summer commencement exercises for 202 candidates for graduation will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, in UW-Eau Claire's Zorn Arena. The ceremony is open to everyone, and tickets are not required.

A total of 171 undergraduate students will receive bachelor's degrees, including 77 from the College of Arts and Sciences, 68 from the College of Business, 21 from the College of Education and Human Sciences and five from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Thirty-one graduate students will receive master's degrees. The graduates include nine from the College of Arts and Sciences. Four students will receive master's degrees from the College of Business, and 18 students will receive master's degrees from the College of Education and Human Sciences.

Dr. Charles Tomkovick, professor of management and marketing and recipient of the 2006 Excellence in Teaching Award, will deliver the "Charge to the Class." A reception for graduates and guests will follow the ceremony on the lawn near the clock tower on the Central Campus Mall. The rain site will be the Spruce-Tamarack Room of Davies Center. Full story.

Jennifer Lee is new director of CASE,
Blugold Parent and Family Office

Jennifer Lee

Jennifer Lee has been named director of the Center for Alcohol Studies and Education and the new Blugold Parent and Family Office at UW-Eau Claire.

Lee has been a residence hall director at UW-Eau Claire since 1994. She also served as the university's interim assistant director of housing and residence life from 2004-05. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Mankato State University and a master's degree in student counseling and personnel services from Kansas State University.

Lee's tenure working and living in the residence halls gives her insights into the lives of students that she can apply in her new position, said Kimberly Barrett, associate vice chancellor of student development and diversity.

"I am very pleased to add Ms. Lee to the student development and diversity team," Barrett said. "She brings a large UW-Eau Claire network of connections she can use to integrate best practices related to alcohol abuse prevention and parent partnerships throughout the campus experience." Full story.

All first-year students, athletes to complete
Web-based alcohol abuse prevention program
All first-year students and student-athletes enrolled for the fall semester at UW-Eau Claire will have one course completed before they enter the university's classrooms in September. Beginning this summer, the two student groups are being asked to complete myStudentBody Alcohol, an online alcohol abuse prevention program offered through UW-Eau Claire's Center for Alcohol Studies and Education.

First-year students were introduced to the course during summer orientation. They have been asked to complete the approximately 1½-hour course before arriving on campus for the fall semester.

"Offering students the myStudentBody course is an effort to be proactive in educating them about the potential effects of high-risk behaviors," said Jennifer Lee, CASE director. Full story.

Reminder: Academic year kickoff is Aug. 21 UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff are invited to attend the all-employee Blugold Breakfast and academic year opening meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 21, in Zorn Arena. Breakfast will be served starting at 7:30 a.m., and the opening meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. The meeting will include Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich's state-of-the-university address, as well as the presentation of the annual faculty and staff excellence awards. Employees are welcome to come and go to and from the meeting as their schedules require. An academic year opening meeting for evening shift employees who cannot attend the morning event is planned for 8 p.m. Aug. 21 in the Presidents Room of Davies Center.

Strategic planning update: Watch for work group proposals in August
UW-Eau Claire's strategic planning work groups will submit their preliminary proposals next week, in preparation for campus discussions in September. The proposals, as well as an online form for submitting comments, will be available on the strategic planning Web site beginning Aug. 10.

The work groups, composed of 60 faculty, staff and students, have spent the summer developing ideas to shape a vision for UW-Eau Claire's future. The work groups have focused their efforts in five areas: preparing global leaders, transforming learning, serving the public good, enhancing the campus community and effectively managing for our mission.

The campus community will be invited to learn more about the proposed ideas at a series of information sessions the week of Sept. 17, and to provide suggestions and comments at a series of interactive forums the week of Sept. 24. More details will be announced at the Blugold Breakfast Aug. 21 and on the strategic planning Web site later in August.

Three to receive Alumni Association awards
The UW-Eau Claire Alumni Association will present awards to three alumni and friends of the university Aug. 4 at a special luncheon and ceremony in conjunction with summer commencement:

Masayoshi Yamazaki

Masayoshi Yamazaki will receive the Honorary Alumnus Award. Yamazaki attended UW-Eau Claire in 1984-85 as an exchange student in the College of Business. While a student at UW-Eau Claire, Yamazaki assisted in arranging programs for visiting Japanese businessmen. Now CEO of Kaigai Aviotech Corp. in Japan, he maintains an interest educational and cultural exchanges between the United States and Japan, and he has assisted UW-Eau Claire in this regard, most recently with the visit to Japan by Dr. Donald Mash when he was chancellor.

Keith Malmstadt

Keith Malmstadt '74 (BBA) '80 (MBA) will receive the Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award. He is CEO and majority partner in Great Lake Woods Inc. and GLW Finishing, LLC of Holland, Mich. Malmstadt also has served in leadership positions with Wood LINKS, an industry-driven woodworking training program for the education system with a focus on high school students. He was named Small Business Person of the Year by the Holland Chamber of Commerce in 2005 and in 2006 he was given the United States Small Business Association's Small Business Person of the Year for the State of Michigan title.

Benjamin Licht

Benjamin Licht '02 (BA, political science) will receive the Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award. He is a senior analyst in strategic issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Licht has become one of GAO's experts in strategic planning and performance measurement and is widely consulted for his knowledge. He served as a consultant for efforts to update GAO's strategic plan, and he created a Web-based tool to help other GAO staff evaluate federal agency strategic plans and related materials. Full story.

Zorn concrete replacement project nears completion
The final steps of a concrete replacement project in front of UW-Eau Claire's Zorn arena are being completed this week. The old concrete in front of the arena's main entrance needed to be replaced due to drainage problems that caused water to run into the building, said Mike Traynor, UW-Eau Claire's associate director for facilities. Also part of the project was the construction of a new sitting wall to match the one built in 2005 as part of the historic campus gateway reconstruction. A flower bed will be situated in front of the sitting wall. In addition, a foundation including conduit for power and data lines was installed to make the site ready for the possible future installation of an electronic sign, Traynor said. It has not yet been determined if the kiosk that stood previously at the arena's entrance will be reinstalled, he added. "That decision has not been made yet, but a foundation has been installed to allow for future considerations," he said.

Final issue of Summer Bulletin
This is the last issue of the 2007Summer Bulletin. The first issue of the University Bulletin will be published Aug. 20 to coincide with the opening of the 2007-08 academic year.

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. Thursday 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.