Featured Articles

'Hotel Rwanda' subject to speak at Nov. 2 Forum

Memorial service honors Branden Atherton

Biology faculty acquire genetic analysis system

Event to explore 'Careers in the Common Good'

Blugolds to host two conference events this week

Campus to hold International Folk Fair Nov. 6

Career Services announces Alumni CareerLink

Seminars help teachers explore diversity issues

'Hotel Rwanda' subject to speak at Nov. 2 Forum

Paul Rusesabagina

Paul Rusesabagina, the subject of the Oscar-nominated 2004 film "Hotel Rwanda," will speak at The Forum in UW-Eau Claire's Zorn Arena Wednesday, Nov. 2. The presentation, titled "Hotel Rwanda: A Lesson Yet to Be Learned," will begin at 7:30 p.m. Rusesabagina was a hotel manager who sheltered 1,200 refugees from certain death while, for two months in the spring and early summer of 1994, the Republic of Rwanda, an east-central African nation of more than seven and a half million people, was decimated while the world watched. Rusesabagina's Forum lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a reception. His visit is the catalyst for a day of reflection and discussion on campus. From 1 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Student Life and Diversity Commission of the Student Senate will host a conference in Davies Theatre titled "Reflection of Humanity." The Peer Diversity Educators also will present a workshop titled "Visit to Albatross," an exercise that illuminates how ethnocentric biases play out in our daily lives and our interactions with others. Following the conference, the UW-Eau Claire International Film Society will present a special pre-Forum screening of "Hotel Rwanda" at 5 p.m. in the Council Fire Room of Davies Center. Full story.

Memorial service honors Branden Atherton

A family member placed a rose next to a photo of Branden Atherton during an Oct. 26 memorial service in UW-Eau Claire's Gantner Concert Hall. Up to 300 people gathered to honor the UW-Eau Claire music education student who was killed along with four others in an Oct. 16 bus accident on Interstate 94 just west of Osseo. Atherton, a student teacher at Chippewa Falls High School, was traveling with the Chi-Hi marching band when the bus collided with an overturned semitrailer truck. Read a Leader-Telegram article about the memorial service. UW-Eau Claire student Jessica Rozga, a junior management major from Franklin, remains hospitalized at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield with injuries sustained in the accident. (Eau Claire Leader-Telegram photo by Shane Opatz)

Biology faculty acquire genetic analysis system

Julie Anderson, assistant professor of biology, explains data displayed by the new gene-sequencing instrument recently acquired by the UW-Eau Claire biology department. Looking on are senior biochemistry/molecular biology students Amy Croswell, left, and Megan O'Brien, seated, and biology professor Lloyd Turtinen. (News Bureau photo)

UW-Eau Claire science students preparing for careers involving genetics and genomics will benefit for years to come from a genetic analysis system recently installed in the biology department. The department purchased the $120,000 gene-sequencing instrument, called a CEQ 8000 Genetic Analysis System, thanks to a Genomics Educational Grant from Beckman Coulter Inc., a life science research and diagnostic company and manufacturer of the CEQ, and matching funds from UW-Eau Claire. Students in the lab sections of several different courses and those working with faculty members on research projects will use the CEQ. Julie Anderson, assistant professor of biology, and Lloyd Turtinen, professor of biology, were awarded the $60,000 grant, which was matched by funding from the biology department, College of Arts and Sciences, Provost's Office and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Full story.

Event to explore 'Careers in the Common Good'
UW-Eau Claire's Center for Service-Learning will present "Careers in the Common Good," a career fair aimed at encouraging students to consider government and non-profit sector career options, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in the Council Fire Room of Davies Center. "Career opportunities in the non-profit and government sector are often an almost invisible part of the career options presented on campuses," said Dr. Donald Mowry, director of the Center for Service-Learning, "yet a nonprofit sector position will likely offer more opportunities for responsibility, leadership, and immediate growth than would be available in a private, profit-oriented sector position. In addition, these career paths offer something the private sector does not — a career with a central mission devoted to working towards a better world for all." Full story.

Blugolds to host two conference events this week

At left, Blugold soccer player Maria Iaizzo helped her team compete against Augsburg College in early September, and volleyball standout Molly Menard went up against opponents from UW-Superior later in the month. The Blugold soccer and volleyball teams will host conference events this week. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, the Blugolds will host a conference quarterfinal volleyball match against rival UW-Stout in the McPhee Physical Education Center. The Blugolds are the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, while Stout is the No. 6 seed. On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5, the conference champion Blugold soccer team will host the conference Final Four tournament on the Bollinger Fields. Full story. (Photos by Rick Mickelson, LTS)

Campus to hold International Folk Fair Nov. 6

UW-Eau Claire's International Folk Fair will be from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, in Davies Center. The fair, coordinated by the university's Center for International Education, is the largest international festival of its kind in the area. Serving as a cultural exchange between exhibitors and visitors to the fair, it includes educational activities for children, live music, colorful cultural exhibits, dancing, art and craft displays, history, language, culture and a variety of ethnic food. More than 40 countries and cultures will be represented at the fair, which is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Fay Bobb at the Center for International Education, (715) 836-4411 or bobbfa@uwec.edu. Full story.

Career Services announces Alumni CareerLink
UW-Eau Claire is offering a new career service to alumni. Alumni CareerLink, offered free of charge by the university's Academic and Career Services, is an online searchable database that will allow alumni employers to list job openings and search profiles of available candidates. It also will allow alumni seeking employment to search for positions and to list their own profiles for employers to view. To list themselves either as an employer or candidate seeking employment, alumni can go to the Alumni CareerLink Web site, www.uweccareerservices.org, and follow the directions for posting their information. The site will allow alumni seeking employment to list themselves anonymously if they wish to keep their job search confidential. Full story.

Seminars help teachers explore diversity issues

Deb Patee

Area teachers have a new opportunity for professional development aimed at helping them make their school climates and curricula more gender inclusive and multiculturally equitable. Although the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum is in its 20th year of establishing teacher-led faculty development seminars in the United States and in English-speaking international schools, SEED — Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity — is relatively new to Wisconsin and the Chippewa Valley. Deb Pattee, UW-Eau Claire assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, facilitated SEED seminars for eight years in Minnesota for the Winona School District before bringing them to Eau Claire when she joined the university faculty last year. Now she is teaming with South Middle School health education teacher Stephanie Rowe to offer the seminars to local teachers. The seminars are scheduled once each month throughout the school year and are free of charge except to participants who opt to take them for three graduate credits. Discussion topics will include issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, age and disability. The group will explore these topics through a variety of activities, including readings, videos, exercises, journaling and interacting with guest speakers. Full story.

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 Julie Poquette at poquetjm@uwec.edu are encouraged. Faculty/staff news items are published on a space-available basis.