MAILED: Oct. 24, 2001
EAU CLAIRE — Realizing
the importance of the Chippewa River Valley as a common ground for research in
many interdisciplinary fields, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire recently
established the Confluence Center for Chippewa River Studies.
The center is dedicated to
providing an open forum for UW-Eau Claire students, staff and community members
to discuss any aspect of the Chippewa River Valley.
“The interdisciplinary
approach is a more real reflection of what academic study and life is really all
about,” said Dr. Carol Hale, a senior lecturer in the English department at
UW-Eau Claire and one of the center’s five co-directors.
The center grew out of a
working group organized to assist the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
in obtaining a scientific area designation for the lower Chippewa River Valley.
When that was accomplished in 2000, the group’s goals and direction shifted,
with a new emphasis on coordinating and promoting research and instructional
activities in the region.
“Sometimes we take the
river for granted,” said geography professor and center co-director Dr. Sean
Hartnett. “The Chippewa River Valley is a world class environment, rich in
fluvial features and plant and animal communities. We want a world-class program
to go along with it.”
Along with Hartnett and
Hale, assistant professor of geology Brad Burton, associate professor of biology
Dr. David Lonzarich and UW-Extension watershed educator Darren Lochner will head
a core group of several members who have an established record of research or
activities pertaining to the Chippewa Valley.
Technical resources
available at the Confluence Center include state-of-the-art geographic
information systems databases, remote sensing images and global positioning
systems field equipment. The center will support and promote research activities
with workshops, campus and community events, an annual Confluence Center
publication and a Web site containing a variety of print, photo, map and video
tools.
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MM/NW
[Administrative Offices]
[News Bureau]
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu
Updated: Oct. 24, 2001
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