University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

News Bureau

TIP SHEET   Week of Sept. 22, 2003
Current topics of interest in higher education in western Wisconsin

Story Idea
UW-Eau Claire has hired its first full-time, tenure-track assistant professor of Japanese thanks to a grant from The Japan Foundation salary assistance program, which is providing two-thirds funding for the position. The grant was obtained through the efforts of the Center for International Education, the foreign languages department and the UW-Eau Claire Foundation. UW-Eau Claire has offered first-year Japanese for a decade. Enrollment in the courses has remained high. A growing number of students who studied Japanese in high school want to continue their Japanese studies at an intermediate or advanced level. And students returning from study abroad programs in Japan often want to continue learning the language when they return. The university hired Tomomi Kakagawa to fill the position, which is the only full-time Japanese professorship in northwestern Wisconsin. Karl Markgraf, director of the Center for International Education, can provide details and contact information for others involved in the project. You can reach him at (715) 836-4411 or markgraf@uwec.edu.

Story Idea
Alexandre Dossin, assistant professor of music, was recently awarded the First Prize and Special Prize for the best performance of the Sonatina Espanola by J.J. Castro during the second Martha Argerich International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dossin, who joined UW-Eau Claire’s music faculty last year, has performed in 15 countries during the last 20 years and is a prizewinner in several national and international piano competitions. Dossin will perform in Eau Claire in October. Dossin is available to discuss his recent accomplishments at the prestigious competition in Argentina. Other music faculty also are available to comment on the significance of Dossin’s achievement. You can reach Dossin at (715) 836-5842 or dossinas@uwec.edu.

Story Idea
Rania Masri, a human rights activist and environmental scientist, will speak Sept. 23 and 24 at UW-Eau Claire. Masri, an Arab-American and director of the Southern Peace Research and Education Center at the Institute for Southern Studies in Durham, N.C., will give a speech titled “Reconstructing or Deconstructing Iraq” at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 in the Tamarack Room of Davies Center. Masri also will participate in a panel discussion titled “Women’s Perspectives on the Middle East” from noon-2 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Hibbard Penthouse. The events are sponsored by UW-Eau Claire’s Staff & Faculty for Peace and Justice, which discusses efforts to achieve peace, justice and a world free of war. Masri will be available to talk with reporters at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Tamarack Room. For more information, contact Theresa Kemp at (715) 836-2042.

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Judy Berthiaume, Director
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu

Updated: September 22, 2003