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UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff support campus organizational changes

UW-Eau Claire opens 2004-05 academic year

UW-Eau Claire honors faculty and staff excellence award winners

UW-Eau Claire plans activities to welcome new freshmen

GEAR UP program secures $50,000 grant to help Lac du Flambeau public schools

UW-Eau Claire students explore at Gulf Coast Research Laboratory

S&C Bank gives $35,000 College of Business project

'Pink Sheet' Notice of Meetings available online

UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff support campus organizational changes
Faculty at UW-Eau Claire on Aug. 25 unanimously voted to support proposed organizational changes that would eliminate one college, create two new colleges and change the names of several departments at the university.

During a special faculty meeting, UW-Eau Claire faculty voted to:
   • Eliminate the College of Professional Studies, which consists of the schools of nursing, education, and human sciences and services.
   • Eliminate the School of Human Sciences and Services and move departments within that school to other colleges.
   • Rename the School of Education the College of Education and Human Sciences. The new college will include the departments of curriculum and instruction, foundations of education, special education, communication disorders, social work and kinesiology.
   • Rename the School of Nursing the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. The new college will include the departments of nursing systems, adult health nursing, family health nursing and public health professions.
   • Rename the department of kinesiology and athletics the department of kinesiology.
   • Rename the environmental and public health major the environmental public health major.
   • Rename the department of allied health professions the department of public health professions. Programs included in public health professions include music therapy, health care administration and environmental public health.

Full story.

UW-Eau Claire opens 2004-05 academic year

"We're going to keep working on the challenges as we keep our eyes on the goal - doing a great job of educating students and contributing significantly to Wisconsin's future." Chancellor Donald Mash in his "State of the University" address

Faculty and staff at UW-Eau Claire have done an exceptional job of educating students in spite of huge cuts to the university's budget, Chancellor Donald Mash told about 600 faculty and academic staff members Aug. 24 during the opening meeting of the 2004-05 academic year.

"The bottom line is the university is in extraordinarily good shape," Mash said during his seventh annual "State of the University" address. "We're doing very, very well by our students - all things considered."

U.S. News & World Report magazine again recognized UW-Eau Claire as one of the best public regional universities in the Midwest, a record-number of students applied to UW-Eau Claire this fall and state media are noting UW-Eau Claire's increasing popularity, Mash said.

"We're still an outstanding university; perhaps better than we've ever been," Mash said, crediting the hard-working faculty and staff for continuing UW-Eau Claire's tradition of excellence. "In terms of the day-to-day basic way we touch our students' lives, we have not been compromised much by the budget cuts and other challenges." Full story.

UW-Eau Claire honors faculty and staff excellence award winners

(clockwise from back left) Theresa Wells, management and marketing; Rosemary Battalio, special education; Patricia Burbach, School of Nursing-Marshfield; Bruce Taylor, English; and Patti See, Academic Skills Center. Not pictured is Susan Moch, family health nursing. (Photo by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC)

Six UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff members received excellence awards Aug. 24 during the opening meeting of the 2004-05 academic year.

Chancellor Donald Mash, UW-Eau Claire Foundation Chairman David Anderson and Lee Markquart of Eau Claire presented the awards. Recipients received a university medallion and $1,500 from the UW-Eau Claire Foundation in recognition of their commitment to excellence.

    • Rosemary Battalio, assistant professor of special education, received the Excellence in Teaching Award*.
    • Bruce Taylor, professor of English, received the Excellence in Scholarship Award.
    • Theresa Wells, senior lecturer of management and marketing, is the recipient of the Excellence in Advising Award.
    • Susan Moch, professor of family health nursing, received the Excellence in Service Award.
    • Patti See, senior student services coordinator in the Academic Skills Center, received the Administrative and/or Professional Academic Staff Excellence in Performance Award*.
    • Patricia Burbach, a program assistant for the School of Nursing in Marshfield, received the Classified Staff Excellence in Performance Award*.

* The Excellence in Teaching Award for faculty and the excellence awards for classified and academic staff are being supported by Markquart Chevrolet, Markquart Motors and Markquart Toyota of Eau Claire. The Markquart family made a commitment of more than $100,000 to build an endowment that will fund three of the excellence awards in perpetuity and to provide annual funding for these awards while the endowment builds. Full story.

UW-Eau Claire plans activities to welcome new freshmen
UW-Eau Claire’s 2,034 new freshmen will begin their academic year today with Phase II of their orientation to the university. Phase I took place during Summer Orientation, which included registering for classes.

“We know that once first-year students move into the residence halls, or as commuter students get ready to start classes, they’ll have many questions” said Jacqueline Bonneville, coordinator of new student orientation. “Phase II is designed to help answer those questions, increase students’ sense of comfort and belonging, and help them feel confident as they start classes.”

A welcome picnic for new freshmen will begin at 6 p.m. Aug. 30 on the Central Campus Mall, followed by the Convocation at 7:30 p.m. in Zorn Arena. Full story.

UW-Eau Claire GEAR UP program secures $50,000 grant to help Lac du Flambeau public schools

Chancellor Mash and Marge Hebbring (right) with representatives from SBC and Lac du Flambeau. (Photo by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC)

Middle school students at the Lac du Flambeau Public School will have a high-tech math and science lab thanks to a $50,000 SBC Foundation grant awarded to the UW-Eau Claire's GEAR UP program.

"Native Americans are the least represented in professional careers in math and sciences," said Marge Hebbring, director of the GEAR UP program. "We hope this state-of-the-art lab will increase the number of Native American students who go into science and math-related fields. It will help us better prepare middle school students for the more advanced high school courses and will introduce them to careers in engineering and technology." Full story.

UW-Eau Claire students explore at Gulf Coast Research Laboratory

Senior Rachel Peot compares a preserved specimen with the living sharks she observed during a recent cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. Peot was one of six UW-Eau Claire students to explore the gulf as part of a summer field program.

Even though Rachel Schoen attends UW-Eau Claire — far from any ocean — she has spent the last three summers learning what it takes to become a marine biologist.

Schoen, a senior from Neillsville with a double major in biology and philosophy, is one of six UW-Eau Claire students who spent a good part of their summer learning outside the classroom at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

UW-Eau Claire maintains a formal affiliation with USM, collaborating to offer students the chance for a dynamic educational experience each summer through intense, hands-on marine biology courses and a variety of research opportunities. Full story.

S&C Bank gives $35,000 for UW-Eau Claire College of Business project
S&C Bank-Eau Claire has made a gift of $35,000 to fund the remodeling of the entryway of Schneider Social Science Hall, which houses the College of Business.

The S&C Bank gift to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation is recognized as a contribution to Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence, the Foundation's ongoing campaign for the university's people and programs. Full story.

'Pink Sheet' Notice of Meetings available online
The Notice of Meetings (pink sheet) now is available online. Click here to find the link to the current week's meetings. Meetings for the following week will be posted Wednesday afternoon. A message regarding the Notice of Meetings will be included in the "Notices" section of the University Bulletin each week; however, if you frequently refer to the Notice of Meetings, consider saving the link in your Favorites.

Staff should continue to submit notices to meetings@uwec.edu no later than noon on Wednesday for publication the following week. If the deadline is not met, it is the responsibility of the committee/bodies to publish a late meeting notice. The Wisconsin Open Meetings Law requires a minimum 24-hour meeting notice. If you have questions, contact Barb Stevens or Caitlin Lee.

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.