Featured Articles

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to perform

Chancellor to hold strategic planning dialogues

Regents urge legislators to pass state budget

ENPH grad student works as WHO intern

Dual Choice enrollment starts today

Online depression screening tool available

Organ donation/transplant event set for Oct. 10

Money Smart Week Wisconsin events planned

United Way/SECC fund drive begins this week

Concerts to feature student ensembles

Photo corner:
Sun warms Blugold Homecoming celebration

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to perform

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will perform a program of Berlioz, Mozart and Tchaikovsky at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at UW-Eau Claire. The Artists Series concert will take place in Zorn Arena.

Chancellor to hold strategic planning dialogues
Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend two campus dialogues with Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich focusing on UW-Eau Claire's campus culture and academic mission. The informal discussions will address issues raised by the recently released strategic planning work group proposals and the subsequent input from faculty, staff and students.

The first dialogue, focusing on UW-Eau Claire's campus culture, will be from noon-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, in Room 227 of the Nursing Building. The conversation will address such questions as:

• How must UW-Eau Claire's culture change if we are to implement the new proposals?
• Who will our students be in 2020? Primarily residential/traditional? What about continuing education opportunities? Graduate education?
• What's best for our future - contraction or growth?
• What principles should drive our financial decision making?

The second dialogue, focusing on UW-Eau Claire's academic mission, will be from 4-5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22, in the Hibbard Hall Penthouse.

Students, staff and faculty are invited to come when they can to either or both sessions and stay as long as their schedules allow. Attendees should bring a lunch to the sessions; beverages will be provided.

Outcomes of both dialogues will be shared with the University Planning Committee, which will draft the final strategic plan.

Regents urge legislators to pass state budget
At its October 4-5 meeting on the UW-River Falls campus, the UW System Board of Regents passed a unanimous resolution urging state legislstors to pass a state budget that covers the system's ongoing operating expenses. UW System President Kevin Reilly explained that unless UW System universities receive sufficient support for programs and services, the system will be challenged to launch its "Growth Agenda for Wisconsin," which would expand enrollments and boost scientific research.

In other business, Donald Christian, dean of UW-Eau Claire's College of Arts and Sciences, participated in a presentation to the regents on the UW System's participation in the Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) program, which seeks to ensure that higher education institutions provide students with the kinds of learning they will need to succeed and make a difference in the 21st century. The UW System was named the first official pilot partner to the LEAP Campaign in 2005. View presentation.

The regents also passed a resolution lauding UW System students for the thousands of hours of service they perform each year, and UW System Executive Senior Vice President Don Mash provided an update on Advantage Wisconsin, the UW System's strategic framework designed to support the strategic planning efforts of individual system campuses.

For more on the October regents meeting, see the online Day 1 and Day 2 news summaries.

ENPH grad student works as WHO intern

Messie Squire

A UW-Eau Claire graduate student in environmental public health spent three months last summer as an intern for the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Messie Squire, who is from Sierra Leone and received her bachelor of science degree in environmental health from Solusi University in Zimbabwe, worked in the food zoonoses (diseases or infections that are naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans) and foodborne diseases department of WHO, concentrating on research that works to track and monitor chemicals found in food that can cause illness. Full story.

Dual Choice enrollment starts today
Each year employees enrolled in one of the state group health insurance plans have the opportunity to change from one health insurance carrier to another or to add eligible family members who are not currently covered. This year, the Dual Choice enrollment period is Oct. 9-26. The effective date of any change is Jan. 1, 2008.

In early October, Dual Choice booklets will be e-mailed to eligible employees. E-mail messages will include a link to the Department of Employee Trust Fund (ETF) Web site to obtain the "It's Your Choice" booklet. 

Open enrollment for ERA, DentalBlue, and Spectera will also be included in this year's open enrollment. 

Online depression screening tool available
In observance of National Depression Screening Day Oct. 11, UW-Eau Claire's Counseling Services and Employee Assistance Program invite university students, faculty and staff to take a simple, anonymous online depression screening. (Users may be asked for a keyword when logging in. If so, the keyword is "UWEC.") The tool is helpful to those who may be experiencing symptoms of depression in determining whether to seek treatment, said P.J. Kennedy, director of UW-Eau Claire Counseling Services. The online screening tool is available year round via the Counseling Services Web site, Kennedy noted. Full story.

Organ donation/transplant event set for Oct. 10
An event to raise awareness about organ donation and transplants will be held Wednesday, Oct. 10, at UW-Eau Claire. During "Raising Awareness About Organ Donation and Transplant: The Gift of Life!," representatives from the University of Wisconsin Organ Procurement Organization in Madison will provide information on the Central Campus Mall and in Davies Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A general presentation from 4:30 to 6 p.m.in the Council Fire Room of Davies Center will be followed by presentations from two people whose lives have been touched by organ donations. Full story.

Money Smart Week Wisconsin events planned
UW-Eau Claire will participate in Money Smart Week Wisconsin Oct. 7-13. The week of programming is part of a public awareness initiative to increase financial wellness among Wisconsin citizens. It is aimed at building financial knowledge so students and staff can deal with their money more quickly, confidently and shrewdly, said Jacqueline Bonneville, acting associate dean of student development. Programming will include sessions on paying for college, scholarship searching, budgeting, utilizing financial advisement services, studying/retiring abroad and money management. The sessions are free and open to all students, faculty and staff. See complete schedule of events.

United Way/SECC fund drive begins this week

This week all UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff will receive packets for the 2007 United Way/SECC (State Employee Combined Campaign) fundraising drive. Funds raised for the United Way campaign go to the United Way of Greater Eau Claire, and SECC contributions go to Community Health Charities Wisconsin. The packets will include a combined pledge card and brochures for both fund drives. For more information contact Barbara Bowers, campaign coordinator, at 836-3871 or bowersba@uwec.edu.

Concerts to feature student ensembles
Several upcoming musical events will feature the talents of UW-Eau Claire choral and instrumental ensembles:

• The Blugold Marching Band will give a special stage performance at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, in UW-Eau Claire's Zorn Arena. The performance will include a celebration of "Blugold Traditions" as well as the band's new international show, "What's Hot," a collection of current music from around the world. The concert is a prelude to the band's invitation performance for Pope Benedict XVI and an estimated crowd of 100,000 people during the pope's 2008 New Year's Day blessing in St. Peter's Square in Rome. Full story.

• The music and theatre arts department will present its annual Clearwater Choral Festival on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 12-13. The event will begin with the A Cappella Extravaganza at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Schofield Auditorium. On Saturday, the UW-Eau Claire Voice and Choral Area Concert will begin at 1:15 p.m. in Gantner Concert Hall of the Haas Fine Arts Center and include performance by the Women's Concert Chorale and The Singing Statesmen. The final event, the Clearwater Choral Festival Concert, will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday in Gantner Concert Hall. The concert will feature the UW-Eau Claire Concert Choir, the Mankato East High School Concert Choir and the UW-Eau Claire Honor Choir. Full story.

• UW-Eau Claire's Symphony Band and Wind Symphony will present a concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, in Gantner Concert Hall of the Haas Fine Arts Center. Full story.

Photo corner:
Sun warms Blugold Homecoming celebration

Unseasonably warm and sunny weather made for a pleasant UW-Eau Claire Homecoming celebration Saturday, Oct. 6. Top photo: LaNette Flunker, senior lecturer of management and marketing and UW-Eau Claire's 2007 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award, was Homecoming parade grand marshal. Middle: Members of The Singing Statesmen decided on a "Braveheart" theme for their parade entry. Bottom: Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich handed out candy along the parade route. Behind him was the Altoona High School Marching Band.	Photo by Bill Hoepner, LTS
	Photo by Rick Mickelson, LTS
	Photo by Rick Mickelson, LTS

Photo by Rick Mickelson, LTS	The Blugold football team kept the celebration upbeat with its 31-29 victory over the UW-La Crosse Eagles. See game details. Top photo: Senior Marc Davis, starting offensive lineman for the Blugolds, received a victory hug from his mother, Terese Tomanek. Middle: UW-Eau Claire alumna Susan (Whitney) Huston, a 1992 elementary education graduate who now teaches at DeLong Middle School in Eau Claire, was lead singer in the band "Home Grown Tomatoes," which performed during the Fifth Quarter postgame celebration in Carson Park. Bottom (left to right): Alumni Amy Croswell '07, Lori Scardino '07, Manuela (Crego) Coffey '99 and Darian Hall '01 enjoyed the alumni gathering in the park.
Photo by Bill Hoepner, LTS
Photo by Bill Hoepner, LTS

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.