Blugold Nuggets - January 2008
Welcome to 2008 and a new semester at UW-Claire! We hope this newsletter is useful as your student prepares for the spring semester.
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Service Learning
All candidates for the baccalaureate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire must satisfactorily complete 30 or more clock-hours of approved service-learning activity. This requirement is intended to provide students with an opportunity to serve their community, apply knowledge gained in the classroom and enhance their critical thinking skills. Breaks and summers are great times to research options or complete the requirement. Students need to make arrangements with an advisor and paper work needs to be completed in advance of the service.
Service-Learning is a method that promotes student learning and development through participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences. These experiences are defined, planned, implemented, and coordinated collaboratively by students, the university, and the community. They offer students opportunities to apply their education in service to the community, which enhances their appreciation, understanding, and respect for others. At the UW-Eau Claire, service-learning activities may be incorporated into courses or they may be stand-alone co- or extra-curricular projects.
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Center for Service Learning |
The Center for Service-Learning assists students, faculty/staff members and community project supervisors with designing and undertaking meaningful projects that afford both rich experiences for UW-Eau Claire students and substantial benefits for the community. This web site provides information about the graduation requirement and procedures for completing it, service-learning opportunities provided by community partners, Center services, and useful resources to enhance the service-learning experience.
The Center for Service-Learning web site is updated at least once per week. Have your student check back often for new service-learning opportunity postings.
Residence Halls Opening
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Residence Halls reopen on Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 8:00 a.m. Students who moved to a new room or have a new roommate may pick up new room combinations from the residence hall front desk
Paying Spring Semester Tuition
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An electronic bill with financial aid applied will be emailed to all students UW-Eau Claire email address on January 17th. A final electronic bill will be emailed on February 6th. Payment is due in full by Friday, February 15, 2008 to avoid finance charges.
If the student elected to participate in our partial payment plan, one half of their bill is due on Friday, February 15th. The remaining half, plus finance charges, are due on Friday, March 14th, 2008. An electronic bill will be emailed to students at their UW-Eau Claire email address on February 21st.
For more information about billing contact the University Business Office.
Financial Aid Disbursement for Spring Semester
If your student's financial aid exceeds their University costs, refunds will be disbursed beginning January 22, 2008 from 8:00am through 4:00pm at the Cashier's Window, Schofield Hall 108.
If your student wishes to have their financial aid refund check mailed to them before classes begin, please complete the Refund Authorization Form
Cabaret 2008
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This year marks the Diamond Anniversary of Cabaret, which will feature a musical revue showcasing four decades of music, beginning with the 1970's. The show will feature performers from Concert Choir, Jazz Ensembles, The Singing Statesmen, University Symphony Orchestra and Women's Concert Chorale. Performances will be held in the Council Fire Room of Davies Center.
Cabaret is the largest annual production of the UW-Eau Claire music department. It has raised over $250,000 in support of on-going scholarships for music students in the voice/choral and jazz areas at UW-Eau Claire.
The production began in 1978 to provide experience for the UW-Eau Claire music and theatre arts students in arranging and staging a variety show similar to ones they might encounter in their professional careers. Today it is a student-run production with assistance from dance professor Toni Poll-Sorenson and music faculty members. All choreography, music arrangements, costuming and sets are created by students. More information is available on the Cabaret web site.
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17-19; 2 p.m. matinees are scheduled for Jan. 19 and 26. Tickets for the show and dinner are $33.75 for adults; $25.75 for children 17 and under, adults 62 and over and for students with a university ID. Show only tickets are $20 for adults; $12 for children 17 and under, adults 62 and over and for students with a university ID. Tickets can be purchased at the University.
Free Admission to Blugold Athletic Events
We often hear from students - "There's nothing to do in Eau Claire." That statement is simply not true. There are many things to do each weekend. And, what's most exciting is that many events are free. All Blugold Athletic events are free with your student's Blugold card. The opening weekend of the Spring Semester has many free events including:
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Friday, January 18 - Track and Field UWEC Blugold Open, 3:30 p.m., Olson Indoor Track
Wednesday, January 23 - Women's Basketball Blugold's vs UW-Stevens Point, 7p.m., Zorn Arena,
Friday, January 25 - Women's Hockey Blugolds vs Finlandia, 7pm, Hobbs Ice Arena.
Saturday, January 26 - Co-ed Swimming & Diving, Blugolds vs UW-Whitewater, Senior/Parents Day, 1pm, McPhee Center. Women's Basketball, Blugolds vs UW-LaCrosse, 3 p.m. Zorn Arena. Men's Basketball, Blugolds vs UW-LaCrosse, 5pm Zorn Arena. Women's Hockey, Blugolds vs Finlandia 7p.m., Hobbs Ice Arena.
Community Action Fair
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Council Fire Room | Davies Center
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
11 AM - 2 PM
Volunteer opportunities, internships and careers in the common good will be showcased at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Community Action Fair Thursday, Jan. 31. A collaborative effort of the Center for Service-Learning and the Activities and Programs office's Community Action and Lifelong Learning program, the event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Council Fire Room of Davies Center.
The goal of the Community Action Fair is to demonstrate the real connections that can be made between volunteer service during college and the range of gratifying career opportunities to be found in the nonprofit sector and government service.
One emphasis of the Community Action Fair is volunteering in the greater Chippewa Valley for the benefit of both the individual student and the community.
A number of the represented agencies provide opportunities that enable student volunteers to receive university credit or to fulfill the university's service-learning requirement.
The Community Action Fair also showcases internships and career opportunities offered by local, state and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations.The Center for Service-Learning is hosting the 2008 Community Action Fair, designed to connect students and community organizations through meaningful service projects.
BOB - Blugold Organizations Bash
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 | 11am - 2pm | Council Fire Room, Davies Center
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BOB will help your student find the campus student organization that will give them the best opportunities for friendship, involvement, leadership, and job-related experience. This membership recruitment fair is a great way for them to learn more about student organizations. Students can shop around, talk to members, and even sign up for an organization while they are there.
How the Parent Fund helps you
Each year, student callers contact alumni, parents and friends of the university to ask them to make a contribution to UW-Eau Claire. Money from the Excellence Fund and the Parents Fund help to support the university’s parents program. Last year $10,000 was designated by the UW-Eau Claire Foundation to help support a parents coordinator, to help with activities during the on-campus move in and to support other programs for parents throughout the year.
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Not only will your donation through the Parents Fund be designated to programs that specifically benefit you, they also enhance the value of your son or daughter’s education. Ranking is partly determined by the participation of parents, alumni and friends who contribute to a university. As you may know, UW-Eau Claire is currently ranked 5th among regional public universities in the Midwest by the US News and World Report. Your contribution at any level really does make a significant impact.
We will be contacting parents during the month of March this year. All of the callers are students themselves and look forward to speaking with you. Please take our call!
Changing Meal Plans
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The Meal Plan Sign up period for second semester is now - Jan. 25.
Students can change their meal plan online during the sign-up period. Log in and follow the instructions. Your son or daughter will have the opportunity to review and confirm their meal plan selection. If they have questions or difficulties, call 836.4070 or visit the Blugold Card Office
The fall semester meal plan your student chose will be considered their spring semester choice. Your student will only need to log in during the spring semester sign-up period if they want a different meal plan than the plan they selected for fall, or if you want to add Meal Plan Dollars at the beginning of the semester.
Student can add Meal Plan Dollars in any of these ways:
- Online (MasterCard or Visa)
- By phone (836-4070) (MasterCard or Visa)
- At value transfer stations campus wide (cash)
- At the Service Center (cash, check, MasterCard or Visa)
Anyone who deposits $100 or more to their Meal Plan Dollar Account will receive five Blugold Dining Guest Passes valid at The Terrace or Riverview Cafe as a Thank You from Blugold Dining.
Two More Students Win National Study Abroad Scholarships
UW-Eau Claire undergraduates continue to be successful in national scholarship competitions to fund their time abroad. Two students have won $5,000 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships for their spring 2008 semester abroad. The students are Rebecca Mai, a sophomore social studies major, for the Central and Eastern European Studies Program at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, and Tamar Reim, a junior special education major, who will study German language and culture in the UW-Eau Claire program in Wittenberg, Germany.
The Gilman, a Congressionally-funded scholarship program administered by the Institute of International Education, supports students who have been traditionally under-represented in study abroad, including students with high financial need, from diverse ethnic backgrounds, with disabilities, and from a diverse range of institutions.
Family to Family - Calling all writers!
We value your experience and wisdom, we ask for expert families to offer advice in orientation discussions, and now we want to give you a voice in the Nuggets!
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Beginning with the February issue of the Nuggets we would like to feature advice from parents and families . Articles should be between 400 and 600 words and can include a picture of you and your student. Quotes and comments from your son or daughter would be an excellent inclusion. If chosen, your article and picture will be circulated to all parents, families and university personnel who subscribe to the Nuggets. Please send articles to the Blugold Parent and Family Office by January 15th via email to family@uwec.edu. If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to contact us!
Student Health 101
It’s coming! Student Health 101 arrives in January. It is an interactive newsletter published electronically packed with health and wellness information for your students. Topics covered are eating well on campus, sexual responsibility, alcohol and other drugs, dealing with roommates, Facebook, financial issues, and more. Content is specific to the time of year and is entirely ad free. Parents will also get this newsletter to help keep up to date on health concerns of the college student. Parents also receive a separate publication “The Parent Perspective”, which looks at each issue from a parent’s point of view. A link to these newsletters will be sent each month through Blugold Nuggets and will also be made available via several sites on the UW-Eau Claire website.
