Featured Articles

New student center to be town hall meeting focus

Joint Finance Committee to hold hearing on campus

Alumnus gift to benefit chemistry department

Former Student Senate presidents establish fund

Comments on revised mission statement welcome

International Poetry Reading participants sought

Spectator receives eight WNA awards

Forum speaker to address health effects of stress

First Provost/CETL Lecture set for March 26

Sustainability expert to speak March 30

New student center to be town hall meeting focus
Members of the UW-Eau Claire campus and greater Eau Claire communities are invited to a town hall meeting Tuesday, March 24, to discuss the proposed new student center on campus.

The open town hall meeting will run from 5:30-8 p.m. in the Alumni Room of Davies Center.

During the meeting, architects from the Philadelphia-based architectural firm Burt, Hill and the Wisconsin-based firm Bray Architects will provide an overview of the project. The formal presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Full story.

Joint Finance Committee to hold hearing on campus
The Wisconsin State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance will hold a public hearing on the proposed state budget from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, March 27, in Gantner Concert Hall of the Haas Fine Arts Center at UW-Eau Claire.

“Our state is faced with extremely tough choices in this budget. Nearly every aspect of state government is going to have to do more with less,” said State Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) in a news release. “The budget hearings … give people in Western Wisconsin an opportunity to influence the hard decisions that must be made.” See news release.

Alumnus gift to benefit chemistry department

Wampfler

A UW-Eau Claire alumnus has designated a portion of his individual retirement account to create a UW-Eau Claire Foundation endowment benefiting the university's chemistry department.

Gene Wampfler, a 1966 chemistry graduate who now lives in Albuquerque, N.M., said he believes the UW-Eau Claire chemistry department is one of the best in the state and he wants it to remain competitive.

"I want the chemistry department to be able to maintain its standing and continue to improve, but to maintain a competitive edge the department needs the ability to keep modernizing its equipment and attracting quality faculty. That's what I hope my gift does," Wampfler said.

The gift is expected to amount to several hundred thousand dollars when the endowment is realized. Full story.

Former Student Senate presidents establish fund
Two former UW-Eau Claire Student Senate presidents recently made gifts to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation to support a new Student Senate Opportunity Fund.

Randall Paulson, who was Student Senate president from 1983-84, and Randall Newton, who was president from 1984-85, supported the fund, which will provide money for activities, including leadership development, not covered in the senate's regular budget.

Paulson, a 1984 UW-Eau Claire political science graduate, is now an assistant state public defender in Milwaukee. Newton received both a bachelor's and a master's degree in business administration from UW-Eau Claire, in 1986 and 1987, respectively. He is an ACS EMEA controller for Honeywell International. Full story.

Comments on revised mission statement welcome
More than 130 faculty, staff and students recently submitted comments to the University Planning Committee about the proposed mission statement.

“The response from the campus was thoughtful and encouraging,” said Mary Jane Brukardt, special assistant to the chancellor for strategic planning. “The UPC reviewed every comment and has made several revisions as a result.”

On April 7, the UPC plans to take the revised draft to the Senate Executive Committee to ask for its support in presenting the draft to the full University Senate April 14.

The UPC welcomes campus comments on the revised mission statement until April 7. The revised mission statement and an anonymous comment form are available on the strategic planning home page.

International Poetry Reading participants sought
Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to participate in UW-Eau Claire's third annual International Poetry Reading from 7-9 p.m. April 29 in the Council Fire Room, Davies Center.

All those interested can submit a short poem in any language but modern English to event organizers. Prospective readers should send an e-mail to Dr. Jeff Vahlbusch at vahlbujb@uwec.edu with "poetry reading" in the subject line. The message should include the reader's name, e-mail address and chosen language. Readers will be scheduled as time permits with as many languages included as possible.

Prospective readers should send Vahlbusch an electronic copy of a poem (under 40 lines) with an English translation in a Microsoft Word file. Poems should be sent with bibliographic information and translation as soon as possible, but midnight April 15 is the deadline. Full story.

Spectator receives eight WNA awards
UW-Eau Claire's student-run newspaper, The Spectator, earned an unprecedented eight awards at this year's Wisconsin Newspaper Association Conference Jan. 29-30 in Green Bay.

The Spectator took second in the "General Excellence" category. Individual awards went to senior Janie Boschma, senior Claudia Lozano, sophomore Kim Paul Acheson, senior Theresa Schneider and sophomore Breann Schossow.

In addition, Boschma received one of two Wisconsin Newspaper Association $1,500 scholarships. Full story.

Forum speaker to address health effects of stress

Sapolsky

Stanford University neurobiologist Robert M. Sapolsky will present "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, in UW-Eau Claire's Zorn Arena as part of the university's Forum series.

Sapolsky, recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant, is known for his work on the effects of stress on brain chemistry and human health. In his book, "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers," he explains the human response to stress and its effects. The physiological responses experienced by humans and animals are identical, but because humans do not resolve conflict as animals do, through fight or flight, years of unresolved stress can make the human body ill. His lecture will include the human capacity for preventing problems associated with stress. Full story.

First Provost/CETL Lecture set for March 26
UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff are invited to the first Provost/CETL Lecture, "Student Evaluations of Instruction at UW-Eau Claire," at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in the Presidents Room of Davies Center.

The event will include a panel discussion by Dr. April Bleske-Rechek, psychology; Dr. Matt Evans, physics and astronomy; and Dr. Kate Lang, history, of the findings of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning's Student Evaluation of Instruction Learning Community. The panel presentation will be followed by a discussion moderated by Marty Wood, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs; Andrew Phillips, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies; and Robert Eierman, interim CETL director. More information.

Sustainability expert to speak March 30

Gips

Sustainability expert Terry Gips will give a presentation from 5-6:30 p.m. March 30 in Schofield Auditorium at the UW-Eau Claire.

Gips' presentation, titled "Taking the Natural Step to Sustainability: A Win-Win-Win for Business, Communities and the Earth," is free and open to the public.

Gips, the president of Sustainability Associates, is an agricultural economist, sustainability business consultant, independent Natural Step Framework instructor, speaker and author. He has more than 30 years' experience in global environmental leadership, government policy, sustainable development, business management and consulting.

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.