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Regents ask state to increase compensation for employees

Historical houses project supported by NEH consultation grant

From UW-Eau Claire employee, student, alumnus to U.S. soldier

Center for Awareness of Sexual Assault providing student services

Proposals sought for study abroad programs

Calling all faculty/staff experts!

Voter turnout impressive

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"I hope we have realized that it is disastrous to let people fall behind," said Regent Mark Bradley of Wausau .

The full board approved a measure informing the state Office of Employment Relations and the Legislature's Joint Committee on Employee Relations (JCOER) that a total pay plan increase of 5 percent in each year of the 2005-07 biennium is necessary to move university employees closer to salaries in the national market. Those state entities are responsible for recommending that state funding be approved for use in a university pay plan.

The resolution approved Friday recommends an additional 2 percent pay plan increase in each year of the 2005-07 biennium for faculty, academic staff and university senior executives. This increase, coupled with the recommendation the Regents included in their biennial budget request, would bring the total pay plan increase to 5 percent. Full story.

Historical houses project supported by NEH consultation grant

Kate Lang, interim director of the Center, is directing the historical houses project.	Johannes Strohschänk, professor of German, came up with the idea for the project.

Representatives of UW-Eau Claire, the Chippewa Valley Museum and the Waldemar Ager Association are working together to develop a single interpretation of three local historical houses - the Ager House near Luther Hospital, the Schlegelmilch House in downtown Eau Claire and the Anderson Log House on the museum grounds.

The UW-Eau Claire Center for History, Teaching and Learning and the history department received an $8,705 consultation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the project, said Kate Lang, associate professor of history and interim director of the Center.

The consultation grant is the first step, said Lang, who directs the project. "Our goal is to develop an interpretation of these houses, not as a celebration of the past, but as a way to help visitors understand the houses' place within the broader context of immigration to the Chippewa Valley," Lang said. "We believe a new interpretation will bring the people who lived in these houses to life as dynamic members of their communities." Full story.

From UW-Eau Claire employee, student, alumnus to U.S. soldier
Anna Gates, Carrie Peterson, Richard Insteness and Patrick Rothbauer all have at least two things in common: UW-Eau Claire and a call to duty. They are among several UW-Eau Claire students, employees and alumni who have served or are currently on active duty in the U.S. Military.

Carrie Peterson and Anna Gates value their close friendship as they serve together in Iraq.

Anna Gates, a junior criminal justice major at UW-Eau Claire, is a member of the Chippewa Falls-based 264th Engineering Group, which was activated in December 2003. She has been at Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq, since February.

Serving with Gates in Tikrit is Carrie Peterson. Her commitment to UW-Eau Claire is nearly as strong as her commitment to her country. Peterson is a senior criminal justice major; she has worked with the campus grounds crew during the summer; and her mom is Debbie Peterson, a program assistant in Career Services.

Richard Insteness, joined UW-Eau Claire in 2000 as a information systems technician in Computing and Networking Services. He has been a member of the 1st Battalion of the 128th Infantry of the Army National Guard based in Eau Claire since 1984, and his unit was activated in June. Insteness was at Camp Shelby in Mississippi before going to California to complete desert training. He is home on leave for a few more days before being deployed to Iraq sometime in November.

Patrick Rothbauer, graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 1986 with a degree in mathematics. He teaches at Cadott High School and is married to Karen Rothbauer, a program assistant in the Center for International Education. Rothbauer is a Sergeant First Class with the 1st Battalion of the 128th Infantry of the Army National Guard. Along with Insteness, he was activated in June, trained in Mississippi and California and will go to Iraq later this month.

To learn more about these soldiers, read a story written by Kris Bremness, Human Resources, with contributions from Linda Glenna, economics. The story first appeared in the fall issue of Classified Clips.

Also, if you have news to share about staff or students serving in Iraq, send information to Liz Wolf Green.

Center for Awareness of Sexual Assault providing student services

Traci Regis, CASA's new victim services coordinator.

UW-Eau Claire students who are dealing with sexual assault issues are receiving help on campus through the 1-year-old Center for Awareness of Sexual Assault, according to CASA's new victim services coordinator.

Several students have called the 24-hour hotline seeking support and services since the hotline was established a year ago and a support group for sexual assault survivors is active, said Traci Regis, CASA's victim services coordinator. In addition, Regis has been meeting with classes and sharing information about sexual assault issues in a variety of other ways.

"We're trying to get the word out because we know that sexual assault issues are a part of any college community," Regis said, noting that national data indicate one in six college women has been the victim of a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault in the last year. "We want students to know there is a safe place for them to talk about these issues, whether they've been a victim or if someone close to them has been assaulted." Full story.

Proposals sought for study abroad programs
The Center for International Education recently announced a new opportunity for UW-Eau Claire faculty to teach abroad. Faculty are invited to submit a proposal to lead a program abroad in the summer of 2006. Based on accepted proposals, CIE plans to develop short-term program options for UW-Eau Clair students, led by UW-Eau Claire faculty.

The proposed programs should be approximately six weeks long and located at one site. All programs will carry six credits. Faculty leaders will teach one course and supervise one directed study course. Courses should be general electives and should not have a foreign language requirement. Programs cannot be proposed for countries with U.S. State Department travel warnings or in cities where UW-Eau Claire has ongoing group programs. A list of these locations as well as the policies and procedures for proposing a program were mailed to faculty in late October.

Proposals are due in the Center for International Education no later than Feb. 1, 2005. If you have questions, want to discuss an idea or need another copy of the proposal guidelines, please contact Susan Lochner or Karl Markgraf at 836-4411.

Calling all faculty/staff experts!
New and existing faculty and staff members are invited to be included in UW-Eau Claire's online Experts Directory. Check it out and decide if you'd like to participate.

The campus experts listed are available to provide comments to the media on a variety of topics and issues and may be available to speak to service and professional groups.

To participate, fill out the online submission form. If you already are included in the Experts Directory, please check your listing and send changes by e-mail to Ann Hoffman at hoffmaa@uwec.edu.

The UW-Eau Claire News Bureau, which updates the directory, hopes to offer the community a more extensive list of topics and a wider representation of UW-Eau Claire's faculty/staff expertise. Sign up today!

Voter turnout impressive

Evan Kruzitski, a freshman undeclared major from Stevens Point, registers to vote on election day. According to the Eau Claire County Elections Office, 2,800 ballots were cast in Davies Center Nov. 2.	Brooke Tweedale (left), a freshman elementary education major from Madison, checks with a Voters Project volunteer prior to voting.
This UW-Eau Claire student passes the time by reading "The President," Miguel Angel Astorias' Nobel prize-winning novel about a president and his schemes to dispose of a political adversary. Although the election victory went to President George W. Bush, nearly 61 percent of voters who cast their ballots at Davies Center chose Sen. John F. Kerry. (Photos by Rick Mickelson, TLTDC.)

More than 40 UW-Eau Claire students requested military academic leave during the spring 2004 semester, and another 29 students took military leave this fall.

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.