Featured Articles

Sophomore geology major headed for Antarctica

Winona LaDuke to speak at Forum

Law Professor to speak about destructiveness of cluster bombs

13th Annual Mathematics Retreat to replace Monday’s math classes

Interest in Faculty College 2004 sought

UW-Eau Claire Web redesign nears completion

Registration for Summer Session continues

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Sophomore geology major headed for Antarctica

As a member of the research team, Josh Kinsman will be taking core samples of the ocean floor and setting sediment traps along the ice shelf.

The research team will be on board the Gould, an ice-strengthened vessel.

April 12 is circled in red for UW-Eau Claire sophomore Josh Kinsman. That’s the day Kinsman, a geology major from La Valle, leaves for a once-in-a-lifetime voyage and a chance to participate in a marine geology research project to find out why the Antarctic Peninsula is warming faster than other parts of the world.

Kinsman will join a National Science Foundation-funded research cruise to the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, the site of the famed Ernest Shackleton voyage, one of the most incredible tales of human survival against all odds. Kinsman is one of seven students and seven faculty members from the United States and Canada chosen for the expedition, which is headed by Eugene Domack, professor of geology at Hamilton College in New York.

Domack, who taught at UW-Eau Claire for one year before joining Hamilton College, has 25 years of Antarctic research experience, the last 15 in the Peninsula region. He is interested in understanding the natural record of environmental variability locked in glacial marine sediments in fjords and inner coastal basins on both sides of the Peninsula. He is currently investigating the paleorecord of Antarctica’s disintegrating ice shelves. Full story.

Winona LaDuke to speak at UW-Eau Claire Forum
Winona LaDuke, an activist for social and environmental issues, will close the 62nd season of The Forum on Wednesday, April 7.

Her presentation titled “Environmental Justice from a Native Perspective” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Zorn Arena. LaDuke’s lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a reception.

LaDuke is founding director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, a reservation-based land acquisition, environmental advocacy and cultural organization; program director of Honor the Earth; a former board member of Greenpeace USA; and co-chair of the Indigenous Women’s Network. She is Anishinabe from the Makwa Dodaem (Bear Clan) of the Mississippi Band of the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota.

In 1994 LaDuke was named by Time magazine as one of America’s 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age. She was Ralph Nader’s vice presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. LaDuke is the author of the "All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life," a nonfiction work on Native environmentalism. Full story and ticket information.

Law Professor to speak at UW-Eau Claire about destructiveness of cluster bombs
The UW-Eau Claire’s Geography Club and the Center for International Education is sponsoring Virgil Wiebe, assistant professor of law at the University of St. Thomas and international legal consultant for the Mennonite Central Committee, to speak about the effects of cluster bombs in Iraq at 7 p.m. Monday, April 5, in Phillips Science Hall, Room 007. The presentation, “Cluster Bombs in Iraq: WMD in Slow Motion,” is free and open to the public. Full story.

13th Annual Mathematics Retreat to replace Monday’s math classes

Michael Sullivan's publication, "Statistics: Informed Decisions Using Data," is used in a UW-Eau Claire introductory statistics course.

The mathematics department will sponsor the 13th annual UW-Eau Claire Mathematics Retreat on April 5. Special faculty, student and guest speaker presentations will replace all mathematics classes that day.

Mathematics faculty and students will make presentations about special topics in mathematics between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Hibbard Hall. Presentations will be made at levels appropriate for undergraduate mathematics students, high school faculty and some well-prepared high school students.

This year’s distinguished mathematical speaker is Michael Sullivan, professor of mathematics at Joliet Junior College. He will present “What is Normal Anyhow?” at 2 p.m. and “Using Simulation to Enhance Student Understanding of Statistical Concepts” at 7 p.m. Both presentation will be in Room 102 of Hibbard Hall. Full story.

Interest in Faculty College 2004 sought
Sponsored by the UW System Office of Professional and Instructional Development, Faculty College provides as annual opportunity for UW System faculty and academic staff to unite in concentrated study and discussion aimed at improving teaching and learning. Some 100 participants attend three days of intensive, interdisciplinary seminars on topics related to teaching and learning. Each participant registers for two of the four seminars offered this year, including:

    • Improving Teaching Through Scholarly Inquiry into Student Learning — Bill Cerbin
    • Want your Student to Learn More? New Ideas for Designing Significant Learning into Your Courses — Dee Fink
    • Technology— What is it Good For? — Sherry Lee Linkon
    • Teaching and Learning 101: What Every College Teacher Should Know — Greg Valde

Each campus will send a six-person delegation to Faculty College June 1-4 in Richland Center. If you are interested in attending this event or would like more information, contact Linda Carpenter by April 19.

UW-Eau Claire Web redesign nears completion
The work group chartered to redesign the upper level pages of the UW-Eau Claire Web site is nearing completion of the project.
Design, navigation and technical considerations have been finalized, while content development is continuing. The redesign has been presented to a number of groups on campus that represent faculty, staff and administration, and their suggestions have been taken into consideration as the redesign has progressed.

It is anticipated a prototype of the redesign will be completed in the coming weeks and the campus will be provided with the opportunity to review the prototype before the new Web redesign “goes live.”

Members of the Web redesign work group include Lillian Hillis and Brian Hogan, Computing and Networking Services; Mindy Merryfield and Mari Jo Janke, Publications; Michelle Karstensen, Records and Registration; Judy Berthiaume, News Bureau; and Mike Rindo, University Communications.

Registration for Summer Session continues
There’s still time to register for Summer Session 2004. Students and community members are invited to explore the wealth of educational opportunities offered at UW-Eau Claire this summer.

“We always try to offer something for everyone during summer session, and this year is no exception,” said Jan Morse, Academic Affairs. “There are more than 220 undergraduate and graduate courses to choose from this summer, including 25 Web-based courses we’re offering to help meet the needs of people who find it difficult to come to campus.”

UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff are encouraged to remind students of the many benefits of Summer Session (things like, up to three credits in as little as three weeks, smaller classes, a chance to catch up or move ahead with their degree). More information is available on the Summer Session Web site.


Last year, Eau Claire Transit, in conjunction with UW-Eau Claire, provided 278,524 free bus rides to UW-Eau Claire students (and a few staff) carrying a valid Blugold ID card.

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.