Featured Articles

UW-Eau Claire creates Materials Science Center

Nursing community relationships at
UW-Eau Claire

Jazz Festival set for April 2-3

UW-Eau Claire to host symposium on Eastern Europe

University, Marshfield Clinic researchers conduct joint study on evidence-based medicine

Campus Campaign update

Signe Ortiz dies at age 91

New to the
University Bulletin: "Did you know?"

UW-Eau Claire creates Materials Science Center

Doug Dunham, assistant professor of physics, collaborates with senior physics major Sara Chamberlin using equipment in the Material Science Center at UW-Eau Claire. (Photo by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC) View larger image.

Science faculty at UW-Eau Claire are pooling resources to provide students with more opportunities to work on research relating to materials science and to create new ways for the university to assist local industries.

UW-Eau Claire’s newly created Materials Science Center will support research, facilitate collaboration among science faculty across disciplines, promote interactions between the university and local industries, and encourage undergraduate students to do research, said Doug Dunham, assistant professor of physics and director of the new center.

“Faculty in the departments of biology, chemistry, geology, physics and astronomy already are working with students on research projects that focus on materials science,” Dunham said. “Our students are already conducting research using instruments that are often found only at large research institutions.”

But the new center will provide a more coordinated approach to research and course work, and make it easier for industries to seek help from the university, Dunham said, adding that he hopes it also will help faculty secure funding to acquire additional state-of-the-art instruments. Full story.

Nursing community relationships at UW-Eau Claire

Kelly Gruber, senior nursing student and CPR instructor, spent part of her Spring Break with seven members of the Little Red 4-H Club. The students learned CPR and developed a better understanding of what nurses do. Here they are shown watching Gruber treat a wound on Sim-Man, the patient simulator. (Photo by Bob Lieske, School of Nursing) More photos.

Jazz Festival set for April 2-3
The UW-Eau Claire music and theatre arts department will present the 37th annual Jazz Festival this Friday and Saturday, April 2-3.

Festival events will include critiqued performances, guest artist clinicians and three evening concerts featuring the Airmen of Note, the David Berkman Quartet, the Andrew Neesley Quintet and UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I, under the direction of Robert Baca, associate professor of music. Full story and ticket information.

UW-Eau Claire to host symposium on Eastern Europe
The ninth annual symposium on Eastern Europe will be held April 2 and 3 at UW-Eau Claire.

The free conference titled “East Europe in the Age of Uncertainty” will feature eight experts on East European politics who will discuss the ongoing debate over the identity of the East European states.

The keynote address will be presented by Ronald Asmus, former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton Administration and senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund. As a top aide to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Asmus was an early advocate of the NATO expansion to Central and Eastern Europe. Full story.

University, Marshfield Clinic researchers conduct joint study on evidence-based medicine

Ruth Cronje, English, said the goal of the research is to find out how clinicians understand EBM and what they think of it.

UW-Eau Claire and Marshfield Clinic are conducting a joint study dealing with evidence-based medicine, known as EBM.

The primary researchers are Ruth Cronje, an assistant professor of English, and Jim Freeman, D.O., a family physician in the Urgent Care Department at Marshfield Clinic Eau Claire Center.

Researchers are surveying Marshfield Clinic’s 1,200 physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners via a Web-based survey on EBM, using online survey software developed by faculty and students in UW-Eau Claire’s computer science department. The data collected will be used to compare and contrast changes over time as Marshfield Clinic clinicians and others embrace EBM in their medical practices. Full story.

Campus Campaign update: Faculty, staff campaign contributions top half a million dollars
UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff have been generous in their support for the UW-Eau Claire Foundation’s ongoing comprehensive fund-raising campaign — to the tune of more than a half million dollars as of mid-March.

Since the Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence campaign began in 2000, faculty and staff total contributions to Campus Campaign have averaged more than $146,000 each fiscal year, said Heidi Fisher, director of annual giving and donor relations. Campus Campaign contributions are recognized as gifts to the comprehensive campaign.

As of mid-March, faculty and staff campaign gifts and pledges since 2000 totaled $584,672, Fisher said.

“Our campus community has been a strong force in the ongoing success of the university’s first-ever comprehensive campaign,” she said. “Their gifts are benefiting departments, programs and scholarships that in turn have direct, positive impacts on students. At the same time, their generosity has shown other potential donors that employees at this university are 100 percent committed to excellence.”

All faculty and staff gifts to the Foundation through June 30 will be recognized as contributions to the 2003-04 Campus Campaign, Fisher said. Pledge cards for the 2003-04 Campus Campaign are available from the Foundation office, 214 Schofield Hall. Employees can have a pledge card sent to them via campus mail by calling 836-5630.

Signe Ortiz dies at age 91
Signe Ortiz, associate professor emerita of art at UW-Eau Claire, died March 19 in Walnut Creek, Calif. She was 91.

Ortiz, who lived in Eau Claire until the summer of 2003, taught in the UW-Eau Claire art department from 1959-79. While on the art faculty and following her retirement, Ortiz completed numerous commissioned weavings and fiber sculptures for display both in and outside of Eau Claire, including pieces for Eau Claire’s Midelfort Clinic (created in memory of Ortiz’s father, Dr. Christian Midelfart, the clinic’s founder), Grace Lutheran Church and the Ecumenical Religious Center adjacent to the UW-Eau Claire campus. Her works also were displayed at St. Olaf College and Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., and Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Ortiz is survived by her sons, Mark Ortiz, Kannapolis, N.C., and Victor Ortiz, Walnut Creek, Calif.

A memorial service and interment will be this summer in Eau Claire at a time and location still to be determined. Full obituary.

New to the University Bulletin — "Did you know?"
In this issue of the University Bulletin, we introduce a new section called "Did you know?" where you might learn a few things you didn't know about a place you may know a lot about — UW-Eau Claire.

In addition to general campus trivia, we invite you to share little known facts/stats about something that the campus community might not know about your department/office, staff, students or alumni. To submit a "Did you know?" item for consideration, send e-mail to the University Bulletin at bulletin@uwec.edu.

A 300-man detachment of Army Air Corps cadets was housed and trained on campus during World War II.

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 Liz Wolf Green at greenew@uwec.edu are encouraged. Faculty/staff news items are published on a space-available basis.