August 2000

Weidner Center announces 2000-01 educational programs

Green Bay - The Weidner Center is pleased to announce its 2000-01 Educational programs, including our daytime Learning Live! Series, Educator Workshops, Master Classes and new Education Discount.

The Weidner Center is presently taking registrations for all educational programs, including the daytime performances for the Learning Live! (formerly known as Just for Kids) Series. Thirty-one daytime performances are scheduled this season, including Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Charlotte's Web, Are You My Mother?, Diary of Anne Frank and Cinderella.

In conjunction with the John F. Kennedy Center's Partners in Education program, the Weidner Center will also present five professional Educator Workshops for teachers. Students, teachers and members of the general public will again have the chance to interact with Weidner Center performers through our popular Master Classes.

Along with educational programs for our daytime Learning Live! Series, we are pleased to offer a new 30 percent Education Discount to school groups of 10 or more to certain performances from our 2000-01 Act I Season.

GREEN BAY - Nonprofit board members, staff and volunteers who want to increase their knowledge and build better boards can do both at "Building Effective Nonprofit Boards," a seminar series sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Office of Outreach and Extension.

The series — held on Tuesday mornings from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. beginning Sept. 19 — is co-sponsored by the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and the Neville Museum. All sessions are held at the Neville Public Museum with a light continental breakfast provided. Cost is $20 per session or $115 for all six sessions.

Series leaders will share their expertise in working with non-profit boards in six separate sessions beginning on Sept. 19 with Board Recruitment Techniques presented by Virginia Baeten, Executive Director, Brown County Association for Retarded Citizens. The session will focus on recruiting the right board members, identifying prospects, job descriptions and orientation packages.

The Oct. 3 session, Becoming an Effective Board Member, will focus on the difference between the roles of the board member and staff member. Topics include policy creation, fund-raising, hiring and firing and taxes. The presenter is Dale Feinauer, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

The Oct. 17 session, Board Member's Guide to Assessing an Effective Organization, will discuss assessment techniques including financial performance, program outcomes, customer feedback, analyzing key processes and examining the needs for organizational leadership. Presenting will be Lora Werner of Planning and Evaluation Associates, Inc.

The Oct. 31 session, Meetings 101: How to Run an Effective Meeting, is new to the series. The session is designed to help facilitators run meetings more smoothly and effectively, and better understand the mechanics of meetings. Carol Cortez, professor at St. Norbert College, will give tips on ground rules, agenda setting, facilitation and decision-making.

The Nov. 14 session, Mission, Vision, Values: What Every Board Member Should Know, will help board members to review their mission and establish a vision and core values. Dan Linssen of Tosca Ltd., is the presenter.

In the final session, Nov. 28, Strategic Planning: How to Begin, Ronald Menaker, Executive Director of Prevea Health Services, will discuss how to get started in developing a strategic plan.

To register contact the Office of Outreach and Extension, UW-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 or call 920-465-2102 or 1-800-892-2118, or visit the website at www.uwgb.edu/outreach/ProfEd.

GREEN BAY - Five members of the faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay received Founders Association Awards for Excellence at a campus convocation on Wednesday, Aug. 30. Awards were presented by Founders Association President Rick Beverstein, vice president of Aon Consulting.

Recipients and their awards are: Thomas Haevers, academic support; Beverly Hendricks, administrative support; Warren Johnson, teaching; Margaret Laughlin, scholarship; and Carol Pollis, institutional development.

Haevers, who received the award for academic support, joined the University in 1980 as director of housing when the institution was in the process of purchasing its first student housing - a privately developed apartment complex adjacent to campus. From nine buildings with 435 residents, Haevers has overseen development of a student housing "village" in a park-like setting, including 24 buildings with space for 1,550; fostered an active student community with a representative government; supervised staff growth; and promoted continuing technological improvements. He was cited for professionalism, foresight and solid financial management. "He has built a residence life program and housing facility that is envied by many in the UW System," said the nomination. "He understands the significance of building community, supporting students' academic pursuits, and providing 'the basics' so that students can learn."

Hendricks, recipient of the administrative support award, is a program assistant in the Extended Degree program office. She first joined UW-Green Bay in 1968, left the city for a time, returned to the University in 1976, and has been with the Extended Degree office since 1977. "She runs the Extended Degree office like a well-oiled machine," said the nomination. "She does an outstanding job of customer service for students, faculty and internal staff." Hendricks was praised for thriving on new challenges and keeping office morale high. A faculty member said, "She epitomizes the meaning of the term 'support staff'." Another wrote, "I'm not sure of Bev's title; I just know that she makes my class 'happen' every spring."

Johnson, an associate professor of Human Biology and a member of the both biology and chemistry faculties, received the award for teaching. The nomination singled out his demonstrated excellence in teaching difficult subjects to diverse students, ranging from science majors to high school students; developing courses, including the University's first molecular biology course; dedication to research in molecular biology and biochemistry and integrating that research into his teaching; and use of innovative teaching techniques. A colleague cited Johnson's "unabashed dedication" to teaching. "His pride in a course that is well taught and a student who achieves is evident and contagious," he said. A graduate now attending medical school credited Johnson for what she is doing. "His excitement and passion for his subject is what set him apart from any other professor I have encountered," she wrote. Another graduate recalls Johnson's enthusiastic first-day lecture in general chemistry, a course she - a business major - was taking only to fulfill a science elective. "No way buddy; I hate this stuff!" were her thoughts. She subsequently changed her major to Human Biology, earned a chemistry minor, graduated with highest honors, was selected commencement speaker, and entered graduate school in the sciences. "In addition to teaching chemistry, Dr. Johnson teaches his students how to learn," she added. Johnson joined the faculty in 1987. He received the Faculty Development Council's Featured Faculty award in spring 1998.

Laughlin, a professor of Education and a faculty member since 1979, received the award for scholarship. She previously received the Founders Association award for community outreach in 1987. Laughlin is co-author or co-editor of six books, and the list of her scholarly articles, book chapters, and presentations runs to many pages. Laughlin not only produces scholarship, but is knowledgeable about others', noted a member of the national educational community, adding, "She is one of the best-read individuals in education and social studies that I know." Laughlin was co-chair of the Governor's Council task force on academic standards for social studies and currently works on Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction task forces on curriculum, assessment and teacher education standards. She has been a consultant to Wisconsin school districts and her work at the national level has impact on education well beyond state and country boundaries. Laughlin has long been active in the National Council for the Social Studies and the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies. She currently is an elected member of the board of directors for the national group and is on the executive board for the state group. The Wisconsin Council gave Laughlin its 1999 award for outstanding contributions.

Pollis, dean emeritus of liberal arts and sciences, received her second award for excellence in institutional development. She also received the award in 1975, the year the awards were inaugurated. In addition to her position as dean, Pollis was a professor of Social Change and Development, Sociology and Women's Studies when she retired at the end of last academic year. Pollis joined UW-Green Bay in 1969, its second year. The nomination noted that Pollis came as a teacher, not an administrator, and for many years was a popular and effective teacher, scholar, and researcher in her area of expertise, adding, "Students gave her courses 'rave' reviews." While teaching, Pollis also served as director of Individualized Learning Programs and University Without Walls, in three separate three-year terms as chair of sociology, and for five years as chair and acting chair of Social Change and Development. She was active on many important University committees and task forces. Pollis became dean of Humanities, Social Sciences and General Education in 1988, and when the dean's office restructured in 1996, became dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The words "integrity," "commitment," "fairness," and "honesty" appeared many times in the nomination papers. Pollis was described as an excellent decision-maker, an advocate for the faculty, respectful of the views of others, tireless, and effective in difficult tasks. "I have worked for many people in my career, but never one that I respected more," said one letter-writer.

The Founders Association is a philanthropic organization that supports UW-Green Bay. A campus committee selects award recipients after nominations from the University community.

GREEN BAY - A singer with a musical vision that blends his Native American traditions with the sounds of reggae will perform from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, on the Nicolet Room patio outside the University Union at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive. The event is free and open to the public.

Casper Lomayesva is Hopi and Navaho, and grew up on the Hopi reservation in northern Arizona. He has spent the last year performing across the United States and opened for such groups as the Wailers, Tippa Irie, Burning Spear, and Culture. A New York Times feature described Lomayesva's music and lyrics as "transcending cultural and musical boundaries."

Lomayesva says he was raised on traditional music of his culture; then listened to pop and rap while he was in high school. But when he considered putting the poetry he wrote to music, he couldn't imagine himself as a rapper. When he heard reggae, he knew that was it.

"Something in the rhythm connected with the traditional music I'd been raised on," he says. And its message of awareness and responsibility meshed with the positive message of his words.

Lomayesva explains that reggae is popular on the reservation, an area so remote that it's a two-hour drive to have a pizza. Initially, residents traveled to Flagstaff to attend reggae shows, but in the mid-1980s, a group organized to begin sponsoring reggae performances on the Hopi homeland. Since the birth of "Reggae Inna Hopiland," many of the biggest names in reggae have performed there, some of them several times.

Lomayesva soon will release his second CD, "The Sounds of Reality," on his own record label, Third Mesa Music. His first and entirely self-produced CD, "Original Landlord," got much air play and positive reviews in Native, mainstream, and reggae publications.

Lomayesva will follow his appearance at UW-Green Bay with performances at Indian Summer Festival at Henry Maier Festival Park on Milwaukee's lakefront Friday through Sunday, Sept. 8 through 10.

The event at UW-Green Bay starts the 2000-2001 Contemporary Issues series of programs sponsored by the Office of Student Life.

GREEN BAY - A University of Wisconsin-Green Bay proposal to enhance the learning experience for students via smaller classes, curricular changes and increased emphasis on internships and community service opportunities has won approval from the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.

The Board voted to include $3.7 million in new funding over two years to support the "UW-Green Bay Learning Experience Initiative" as part of the 2001-03 UW System operating budget. Green Bay was one of three campuses - Madison and Milwaukee were the others - to gain support for special initiatives.

The Green Bay initiative was singled out for public praise during Regent discussion of the spending plan.

"This is a very important part of the budget," commented Regent JoAnne Brandes. "It offers something different, fills a gap and provides differentiation (for the System). It approaches the student experience much differently from other liberal arts programs."

Regent Ruth Marcene James said the UW-Green Bay plan supports the System's goals of pursuing innovation and leading the drive toward a "new Wisconsin economy." She said the initiative could make UW-Green Bay a magnet for students outside the state, as well.

"I think this is the first time, as a System, that we are breaking ground in all sorts of new dimensions," she said, "and I whole-heartedly support the Green Bay plan."

UW-Green Bay's initiative aims at lowering the student/faculty ratio and improving retention and graduation rates for students.

The goal is to hire up to 56 new faculty and 35 new staff members to move closer to a 17:1 student/faculty ratio. The current student/faculty ratio of 23:1 is highest in the System. UW-Green Bay wants to improve its second-year retention rate, now at 69 percent, to 80 percent. It seeks to boost its six-year graduation rate from 47 percent to 65 percent. Current rates are low by System standards. Officials say the improvement in the graduation rate, if achieved, would reduce the cost of educating a graduate at UW-Green Bay by about $3,000.

"Our vision is to be a quality, public baccalaureate-focused institution," says UW-Green Bay Chancellor Mark Perkins. "This initiative positions us to offer a new and real choice in Wisconsin's array of higher-education opportunities."

The Learning Experience Initiative is intended to support individualized attention for students and allow the University to reshape its curriculum and implement a learning plan with five major components:

* High-impact First Contact: focus on giving new students a strong start
* Personalized Learning Plans: allow for choice and acknowledge that one size doesn't fit all
* Competency Based General Education: provide a foundation for future learning
* Active and Integrated Learning: encourage students to learn by teaching and doing
* Putting Learning to Work: encourage learning via professional practice and community service

UW System officials say the Green Bay plan will fit the System's "New Wisconsin Economy" focus by providing more graduates and graduates with strong problem-solving skills and experience gained in internships.

Perkins says the plan builds on UW-Green Bay's existing strengths as an institution whose curriculum already emphasizes interdisciplinary programs, critical thinking and problem-solving. It also provides a "strategic differentiation" within the UW System, as the campus would become more like a small, baccalaureate liberal arts institution among the state's comprehensive and doctoral institutions.

The budget approved by the Regents now advances to the Governor and Legislature.

GREEN BAY - The UW System Board of Regents voted today (Friday, Aug. 25) in favor of a $17.5 million project to remodel and create additional space in the Laboratory Sciences Building at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The Green Bay project was assigned a high priority as part of the System's 2001-03 capital budget. It is second from the top on the list of dozens of remodeling and new-construction projects proposed for UW campuses around the state.

"This is another tremendous step forward for our campus," says UW-Green Bay Chancellor Mark Perkins. "Given the amount of work we've all decided the building needs, this will essentially be the second new building for our University in the space of two years."

Perkins noted that the state-of-the-art, $20 million classroom facility now under construction at UW-Green Bay is scheduled to be completed by fall 2001. That is about when remodeling of the Laboratory Sciences Building will begin, with that work targeted for completion by fall 2003. Together, the projects help the University address a long-term need for additional space.

"The Lab Sciences project is exciting because we have always had strong programs in the natural sciences," he said. "The renovated facility is going to enable us to continue to be a magnet for students and faculty with interest in those areas."

The Laboratory Sciences Building is located on the south end of the central campus. It is part of a three-building complex that was the first to be completed when the bayshore site opened in 1969.

Officials say that some labs built to handle 16 students are now being used for classes of up to 24 students, and other instructional spaces and offices are cramped and outdated, as well.

The project will result in remodeling of approximately 68,800 gross square feet of the 80,000 building, and the addition of 15,600 assignable square feet in new space related to the need for larger labs.

With completion next year of the new classroom building nearby, UW-Green Bay will pursue the eventual consolidation of all instructional science labs and support spaces in the four-story Laboratory Sciences Building.

The UW-Green Bay Laboratory Sciences project is ranked behind only a $21 million renovation of UW-Madison's Chamberlin Hall (physics) on the System's priority list of 26 projects recommended for construction during the 2001-03 biennium. Typically, projects at the top of the list are assured funding even if the state declines to provide support for the entire list; projects of lower priority are sometimes "carried over" or directed to re-submit at a later date.

The UW System Capital Budget now advances to Gov. Tommy Thompson, the State Building Commission and the Legislature for final approval.

GREEN BAY - Voters may face a tough choice at the polls in the upcoming presidential election, but they will face more than 80 choices if they literally try to get inside the candidates' heads at the colossal corn maze presented by Baylake Bank and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

"Candidates in the Corn" opens to the public this Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19 and 20 and will be open weekends through Oct. 30. The attraction features busts of presidential nominees George W. Bush and Al Gore in a maze cut through a corn field over 1,200 feet in length and 17 acres in size. With the heads of the two candidates over five times the size of the heads of Mount Rushmore, there is little debate that negotiating what is believed to be the United State's largest corn maze will be a challenge of presidential proportions.

In order to navigate the entire maze, 81 correct decisions need to be made. Conservative estimates by maze organizers suggest that a liberal number of paths in this year's maze may present more than just a moderate test for visitors.

The maze is based on a drawing by award-winning Green Bay Press Gazette editorial cartoonist Joe Heller and is located on Green Bay's northeast side at 2260 Bay Settlement Road, just off Highway 54-57. It is adjacent to Baylake Bank, a sponsor of the fund-raiser for UW-Green Bay athletics and student and community service groups.

Regular admission is $7 for adults, $4 for children ages 5-12, and free for those 4 and under. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 22.

Also planned are special evening events including "Ned the Dead Drive-In Theater," with an evening movie on Sept. 23; Haunted Hayrides on Oct. 20 and 21; and a "Field of Screams" haunted maze with fog machines, eerie lighting and scary surprises on Oct. 25-28. Hours are 7 to 11 p.m. for the haunted events, with $7 admission, $6 for UW-Green Bay students. Admission for Drive-in Theater is $6 for the general public and $5 for UW-Green Bay students. Maze manager Frank Madzarevic says daytime visitors can expect to spend between 60 and 90 minutes navigating the maze.

"The correct path is just over a mile long," he says. "If you start guessing wrong, there are 4.75 miles of paths, not counting the backtracking."

Organizers chose the design since 2000 is a presidential election year, with the losing candidate to be mown down after the Nov. 7 general election. Faces of Bush and Gore are ear-to-ear in the corn on a background evoking the American flag complete with stars, stripes and a UW-Green Bay Phoenix logo. The candidates' heads are 340 feet long, with 125-foot noses, and ears and mouths over 75 feet in size.

The maze took shape in June through the efforts of a team led by UW-Green Bay geography Prof. Bill Niedzwiedz, who plotted Heller's design. With volunteers and a global positioning system (GPS) from the Northeast Wisconsin chapter of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors of Green Bay, the maze makers carried a laptop computer and satellite dish into the field to set 1000 separate stakes for mowers to follow. The portrait was sculpted out of corn using equipment provided by Ariens Corp.

Madzarevic calls this year's maze of the two candidates "doubly challenging." With the recent humid weather it had already grown to better than eight feet in height by early-August. Those who get hopelessly lost will have the option of waving the white flag. Each individual or group will be issued a flag for response by trail guides stationed throughout the maze, or by a "maze master" atop a centrally located 20-foot tower.

Madzarevic says the maze is also available for use by schools, companies and other groups interested in a special outing. For more information on the maze, contact Madzarevic at (920) 465-2064.

GREEN BAY - A short presentation by local Small Business Person of the Year Paul Meinke and informational displays and presentations by a nearly a dozen business-assistance providers will mark the first-ever Small Business Resource Fair, Thursday, Aug. 31, in Green Bay.

The free fair is targeted at those who own or are starting a new business.

The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the basement auditorium of the Brown County Central Library, 515 Pine Street, in a first-time effort by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's Small Business Development Center and the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

The fair will offer information about services, programs and resources for people starting a business. Other resources include one-to-one counseling, business incubator services, microloan programs, government guaranteed loans, entrepreneurship schools, business planning workshops, mentoring, and more.

Meinke is the owner of Archetype Group, a graphic design and advertising firm in Green Bay. The Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce honored him with the award in June during a luncheon celebrating small businesses. He will be speaking about things he wishes he had known before he started his business.

In addition, business-assistance providers who are also co-sponsors of the event will briefly explain the services, programs and resources available through their organizations. Providers that will be represented at the fair include:

* Advance Business Development — A business incubator and program of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

* Great Lakes Asset Corp. — Non-profit development company certified by the U.S. Small Business Administration to make SBA loans to qualified businesses.

* UW-Green Bay Small Business Development Center — A center offering free, confidential counseling to business owners and people starting a business as well as workshops, seminars and entrepreneurship training.

* Service Corp of Retired Executives — An organization offering free, confidential counseling.

* Urban Hope — An entrepreneur school, microloan program and credit and budgeting program.

* U.S. Small Business Administration — An organization offering many programs including loan guarantees.

* Wisconsin Department of Commerce — An organization with programs for helping businesses expand or for people starting a business.

* Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corp — An organization offering training, business assistance and direct lending programs.

The event is free and open to the public; however, participants are encouraged to sign up for the fair by calling the Small Business Development Center at 920-465-2482.