Featured Articles

Charter Bank gift supports business internship initiative

Billie Sparks builds national reputation in math

Collaboration responsible for new Chippewa Valley Museum exhibit

Acclaimed Amadeus Trio to perform April 7

Senior Americans' Day a success

Lou Cannon to speak at the Devroy Forum April 24
Lou Cannon, a former The Washington Post reporter and current contributing editor to the California Journal, will be the featured speaker at the sixth annual Ann Devroy Memorial Forum April 24 at UW-Eau Claire.

Cannon's presentation, titled "Why We Write: Reflections of a Reporter and Biographer," will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Schofield Auditorium.

Cannon is best known for his biographies of Ronald Reagan and his social history of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In addition to his contributions to the California Journal, the former Post reporter is a free-lance writer who lectures and writes on the presidency, police issues, the media and California politics. Full story.

Charter Bank gift supports business internship initiative
In the summer and fall of 2000, southwestern Wisconsin native Anna Schrader was a business administration and psychology student at UW-Eau Claire and an intern at Silicon Logic Engineering. Well before her December graduation SLE offered her a full-time position, and by January 2001 she was working in corporate communications for the Eau Claire firm.

Increasing numbers of UW-Eau Claire business students now are likely to repeat Schrader's progression from student intern to full-time employee for a Chippewa Valley firm. A new initiative will develop internship opportunities for College of Business students with businesses in the Chippewa Valley, thanks to a $25,000 pledge from Charter Bank Eau Claire to establish the William Boyken/Charter Bank Internship Fund through the UW-Eau Claire Foundation. Full Story.

Billie Sparks builds national reputation in math education
The year was 1962. Billie Sparks, now a math professor at UW-Eau Claire, was in the 10th grade and on his way home to Arkansas after a summer math enrichment program at the University of Oklahoma. An old black man leaned over the bus seat, looked him in the eye and gave him some unforgettable advice. "Whatever you do, don't be a nothing," the old man said.

Sparks went on to become a junior high and high school teacher before earning a doctorate and master's degree in mathematics from George Peabody College for Teachers (now a division of Vanderbilt University) in Nashville. But he has never forgotten the old man's directive.

"I guess you could say he was my 'mysterious stranger.' Those words have stayed with me in everything I do," says Sparks, who has been on the UW-Eau Claire faculty for 34 years. "I took it to mean that if I'm going to do something, I'll do my very best." Full story.

Collaboration responsible for new Chippewa Valley Museum exhibit

This photograph of Sally and George Hayden on their farm in Rock Falls is just one of more than 500 photos UW-Eau Claire alumna Jeanne Nyre took for the "Barn Stories" interactive DVD.

A new 5,000-square-foot exhibit currently under construction at the Chippewa Valley Museum will include an interactive DVD titled "Barn Stories," the result of collaboration between several UW-Eau Claire alumni, an art faculty member and UW-Eau Claire's art department.

According to museum designer Jeanne Nyre, a 1984 graphic design graduate of UW-Eau Claire, "Barn Stories" started as a series of oral history interviews with three regional farm families, funded by a grant CVM received from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Nyre, who grew up on a dairy farm, produced the DVD interactive, based on these original interviews, along with co-producer Sara Anderson. Over the course of a year, Nyre followed the farmers going about their chores, taking more than 500 still photographs, asking questions and recording the sounds of work in the barn and in the field. Full story.

Acclaimed Amadeus Trio to perform at UW-Eau Claire April 7
The Amadeus Trio will perform Monday, April 7, at UW-Eau Claire. The Artists Series concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Gantner Concert Hall of the Haas Fine Arts Center.

The ensemble will perform Beethoven’s Variations in G major, Op. 121a, “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”; Trio Brasileiro, Op. 32, by Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez; and Tchaikovsky’s Trio in A minor, Op. 50.

Celebrating 10 seasons of acclaimed performances to enthusiastic audiences, the Amadeus Trio is generally acknowledged as one the foremost piano trios in the world. Recognized for their virtuosity and musicianship, the three artists — pianist Marian Hahn, violinist Timothy Baker, and cellist Jeffrey Solow — also enjoy award-winning solo careers. Full story and ticket information.

Senior Americans' Day a success

Nearly 400 seniors celebrated the 15th annual Senior Americans' Day by attending the "Senior Fiesta" March 18 at UW-Eau Claire. The event, hosted by UW-Eau Claire and Continuing Education/Extension and presented with a south-of-the-border flavor, included keynote speaker Mary McBride, 50 workshops, 56 exhibits, music and remarks by Chancellor Mash.

Senior Americans' Day is designed for adults, 55 and older, to dispel the myths of aging; reinforce the positive aspects of aging; provide information to help meet the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of older adults; and provide an opportunity for socializing.

University Bulletin
Published weekly during the fall and spring sessions 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 Liz Wolf Green at greenew@uwec.edu are encouraged. Faculty/staff news items are published on a first come, first-served basis.