February 2001

'COWS' hits Green Bay March 6 to promote sustainability, citizen involvement

GREEN BAY - A much-publicized grassroots effort aimed at better informing the public about key challenges for the state of Wisconsin will have its first public event in Northeast Wisconsin on Tuesday, March 6.

The new Center for Wisconsin Strategy - known by the catchy acronym COWS - is conducting a pair of information sessions on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The topic will be the Center's Sustaining Wisconsin project.

The day's schedule includes:
7 p.m., Public Presentation on the Sustaining Wisconsin project; at the Ecumenical Center

4 p.m., Reception for students interested in internships and information; at the Ecumenical Center

2 p.m., Presentation on student opportunities for internships, involvement; in the Christie Theatre on the lower level of the University Union.

All events are free and open to the public.

David Wood, policy director for the Center and a key contributor to the Sustaining Wisconsin project, is the presenter. He will explain the initiative and encourage students and interested citizens to become involved.

The Sustaining Wisconsin project focuses on strategies for sustainable economic development. Organizers say the purpose of the Sustaining Wisconsin project is to get policy expertise and analysis to the local level by the 2002 election "on the bet that an informed public will make wiser choices."

Wood notes that Wisconsinites take pride in the state's quality of life and progressive tradition, but he also notes that key indicators point to increasing problems with economic stagnation, environmental trouble spots, the loss of family farms, and legislative gridlock. Sustaining Wisconsin will focus on five major areas: jobs and the economy; the environment; families and communities; children and education; and government and the election process.

Sustaining Wisconsin is the first major initiative of COWS, a research and policy center housed in the UW-Madison Sociology Department. The Center is nonpartisan, nonprofit and supported by the University of Wisconsin System, consulting fees, government grants and private foundations.

Prof. Larry Smith, an economist and faculty member in UW-Green Bay's Social Change and Development academic unit, is local coordinator of the March 6 events. The 2 p.m. presentation will be attended by students in his Global Studies class. COWS internships are available to students in varied fields of study who seek to "improve their quantitative research skills, improve their writing, and make a difference for Wisconsin's future." Wood's afternoon session will highlight the many resources and training programs that will be offered in the Green Bay area to support student interns and other participants.

The March 6 presentations in Green Bay are part of a series of public forums, media events and electronic town halls planned by the Center. More information about the Sustaining Wisconsin project and a database of relevant statistics are available on the project's Internet site at http://www.sustainingwisconsin.org/

GREEN BAY -- Thomas Glave, author of Whose Song? And Other Stories, will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1 in the Phoenix Room of University Union at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Dr. The talk is the last in a series of events for Black History Month that began February 1. The event is free and open to the public.

"These stories are never about anything but the most serious matters of existence," said New York Times reviewer David Shields of Glave's first book, published by City Lights Books.

Glave is an assistant professor of English and Africana Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He has received two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Center in Provincetown. The Village Voice named Glave a "Writer on the Verge" in 2000. He received the O. Henry award in 1997.

Born in the Bronx, Glave grew up there and in Jamaica. He traveled as a Fulbright Scholar to Jamaica in 1998-99 and in addition to his studies there, worked on social justice issues and helped to found the Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays.

GREEN BAY -- The three finalists for the post of Wisconsin's first poet laureate will be honored at a 3:30 p.m. event on Wednesday, Feb. 28 in Phoenix Room C of University Union at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Dr.

Ellen Kort, who was selected to serve as the state's first poet laureate, and Denise Sweet, and Doug Flaherty will read from their work. The free event is open to the public.

Kort, Appleton, is an adjunct instructor at UW-Green Bay. She is the author of 11 books, seven of which are collections of poetry. Her newest book, Stories in Stitches: Wisconsin Women and Their Quilts, is due out in summer 2001. Her writing has won awards including the Pablo Neruda Literary Prize for Poetry. Kort's poems have been performed by the New York City Dance Theater and recorded by Alfrie Woodard, a recording that was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Sweet joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 1990 where she teaches creative writing and chairs the American Indian Studies program. Her book, Songs for Discharming, won the First Book Award for Poetry presented by the Native Writer's Circle of the Americas and the Returning the Gift Festival Committee when it was in manuscript. Her poetry also won an award at the annual Indian Market in Santa Fe.

Flaherty is on the faculty at UW-Oshkosh. He has published in The New Yorker, The Nation, the Harvard Review, the Quarterly Review of Literature and many other journals. He has published four full-length books of poetry. Flaherty was co-founder and editor of Road Apple Review, a quarterly that received two National Endowment grants and he was a faculty adviser to the Wisconsin Review.

All three poets have traveled widely to read their work and their poems have been collected in anthologies.

GREEN BAY -- The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will collaborate in a $6 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and test environmental indicators for the coastal and near-shore regions of the U.S. Great Lakes. The award to the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) of the University of Minnesota Duluth and eight other institutions is the largest ecological grant ever given by the EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research program.

The UW-Green Bay portion of the grant is $1,372,936, according to Prof. Robert W. Howe, director of the Cofrin Arboretum Center for Biodiversity and a co-principal investigator on the project. Of that portion, $249,775 is designated for a study of birds and amphibians that will take place at UW-Green Bay and the remainder will be subcontracted out for other aspects of the study. Howe said UW-Green Bay participation means contributing to one of the most ambitious studies of the Great Lakes ecosystem ever attempted.

"If it's successful, the project will help set the stage for an objective, permanent monitoring program of the waters and near-shore environment in the Great Lakes Basin," he said. "At the same time, at least 30 UW-Green Bay students will have the opportunity to participate in field research, data analysis, and other hands-on learning experiences related to the project."

UW-Green Bay researchers already have more than 30 years of experience in working on Great Lakes issues.

The overall project is headed by Prof. Gerald Niemi, director of NRRI in Duluth. The study will identify, evaluate and recommend a portfolio of environmental indicators to measure the condition of the Great Lakes. These assessment tools will help maintain the lakes' integrity and long-term sustainability. Like medical doctors who start with vital signs and then move on to specific diagnostic tests, the 27 project experts will closely examine the health of the Great Lakes.

Environmental indicators are biological, chemical or physical attributes of an ecosystem that can be measured and monitored to provide insight on the study area's condition. For example, scientists currently monitor the spread of exotic species such as zebra mussels. Studying zebra mussel populations, relocation patterns and reproduction helps researchers evaluate the amount and intensity of human impact on certain aquatic ecosystems. Indicators provide an early warning system of potential problems and a proactive approach to integrating ecosystem management with increasing human needs.

In addition to researchers at UW-Green Bay and in Duluth, the project will include experts from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University (New York), University of Windsor-Canada, John Carroll University (Ohio) and University of Michigan. Scientists from the U.S. EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division in Duluth and research station in Grosse Ile, Michigan, are also major cooperators on the project.

Study sites for this massive project will span the 200,000-square-mile basin. Research will be broken into five major components: water quality and diatoms (a group of microscopic algae); fish and macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects, crustaceans and worms); wetland vegetation; birds and amphibians; and chemical contaminants.

The EPA has identified over 80 indicators that will be considered during the study. Based on over 500 years of cumulative expertise, Niemi and his team will compile and rigorously test what they consider to be the best and most comprehensive of existing and new indicators.

"At the end of the four-year period, we will provide recommendations to the Environmental Protection Agency on what indicators are their best bets for future monitoring efforts," said Niemi. "The EPA has provided a wonderful opportunity to critically examine which indicators can be used to determine the health of the U.S. Great Lakes coastal and near-shore regions."

The Minnesota Sea Grant Program will distribute the information to the public and management agencies across the Great Lakes.

Just as the human body has many different systems that must work cohesively, so does the environment. The Great Lakes basin, which spans two countries including eight states and one province, contains approximately 18 percent of the world's surface fresh water. What happens in one section has ripple effects across the entire basin and affects more than 36 million residents.

The population explosion along the coasts of the United States has put enormous pressure on coastal ecosystems. In order to develop the sound science required to monitor these important areas, STAR developed the Estuarine and Great Lakes (EaGLe) program. This grant is the first being awarded to four focus areas that include the Great Lakes, East Coast, West Coast and Gulf Coast.

Contacts:
Virginia Dell (920) 465-2144, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Brenda Maas (218) 720-4300, University of Minnesota Duluth

GREEN BAY - From computer camp to cartooning, and vocal jazz/gospel choir to hands-on rocketry, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay 2001 summer camps offer more opportunities than ever. Students entering pre-kindergarten through grade 12 can choose from an extensive course array.

The UW-Green Bay summer camp program is decades old; Summer Art Studio celebrates its 44th summer this year and the music camps mark their 36th anniversary.

Highlights for 2001 include:

• Computer Camp has expanded to two sessions, June 10-15 or June 17-22. The camp teaches students in grades 7-9 to design their own web pages and create presentations with sound, digital images and digital video. Students will have their own work stations and receive individual attention.

• Summer Art Studio, June 10 through 15 or July 17 through 22, offers artists in grades 7-12 hands-on experience in fashion design, ceramics, painting, architecture, photography, sculpture and other topics.

• Seven different music camps, June 10 through August 10, include guitar/bass guitar; vocal jazz and gospel choir; jazz ensemble; middle school band and orchestra; middle school band and choral; senior high band, orchestra and choral; and young explorers' keyboard. The music camps offer students experiences working with nationally known musicians and the finest music teachers in the region. Highlights for the middle school camps and the senior high camp include final performances in the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts. The guitar camp will perform in the Weidner Center's Fort Howard Hall.

• The Summer Discovery Program, three one-week sessions beginning July 30, is an enrichment program offering students entering grades 1-8 educational and recreational activities in music, science, art and other topics.

• Summer Pre-Discovery is a half-day program for four and five-year olds, held concurrently with the Summer Discovery Program. Staff to student ratio for the half-day program is no more than one to six.

Brochures and registration information are available by calling the Office of Outreach and Extension at (920) 465-2267 or 1-800-892-2118. Because enrollment is limited, students are encouraged to register early.

UW-Green Bay also offers athletic camps in basketball, volleyball and soccer with specialized camps and mini-camps for individuals, teams, advanced-skill players and specific positions. The camps are supervised by the University's NCAA Division I coaching staffs. Contact the Phoenix Sports Center directly at (920) 465-2145 for information.

GREEN BAY -A new book aimed at improving preparation for mathematics and science teachers has been released by the Institute for Learning Partnership at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The "Mathematics and Science Task Force Report," is a collaborative effort by UW-Green Bay faculty members and mathematics and science teachers from northeastern Wisconsin. The book identifies competencies that schools expect math and science teachers to have as a result of their college or university experience.

"The information in this report is relevant to practitioners in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 settings and to faculty in technical colleges, two-year colleges and comprehensive institutions," says Prof. Francine Tompkins, director of the Institute. "Even students who are planning to enter math or science teaching will be greatly informed by its contents."

Tompkins says the project that led to the book will enable educators to make more informed decisions about how to reform teacher preparation programs, adding that it will become the "gold standard" as a model of how to use research to inform practices.

The Institute for Learning Partnership, launched in 1997, brings together the resources of the University and Northeast Wisconsin's school districts and business and community leaders in order to improve the quality of education for learners in the region. "This publication is a perfect example of how the Institute is working to implement its mission," says Tompkins.

The book on mathematics and science teaching is the first in a series planned by the Institute for Learning Partnership. Similar publications in language arts, social studies and technology, and the Institute history, will follow.

The "Mathematics and Science Task Force Report" can be purchased for $8 through the Institute for Learning Partnership. The cost includes shipping and handling. Other resources for teaching and learning are available at the Institute. Call (920) 465-5555, write Institute for Learning Partnership at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311-7001, or e-mail learnpart@uwgb.edu.

GREEN BAY - The Tony-award-winning musical comedy Company will be presented at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23 and 24 and Thursday through Saturday, March 1 - 3. Performances are in University Theater, located in Theater Hall on the campus at 2420 Nicolet Dr.

Company garnered Tony awards for Stephen Sondheim for both music and lyrics in 1970, the year the musical opened in New York. Hit songs include "Side by Side by Side," "The Ladies Who Lunch," and "Being Alive." Company was the first collaboration between Sondheim and director Hal Prince. The pair went on to create more hits including Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and others.

The UW-Green Bay production is presented by the Theater and Music academic units. John Mariano is the director, with Thomas Pfotenhauer directing the instrumental music and John Plier directing the vocal music. Denise Carlson-Gardner is choreographer.

Mariano, who is setting the musical in the present, says the play has survived the years. "Two revivals in 1995-in New York and in London-were both successful," he notes.

Mariano says that Company often is called the first "concept" musical because it doesn't have a linear plot. Instead, it's an episodic look at love and marriage focused on five couples and Robert, a bachelor and turning 35. "The show was a departure from standard musical fare when it premiered and it's often credited with changing the direction of musical theater," says Mariano.

The play's significance in the history of musicals is just one reason it's a good choice, he adds. "It has a great score and is a good challenge for our students, " Mariano says. "There are only 14 people in the cast with no chorus to speak of. Everyone has to be a strong singer and everyone has a role to play-a real role, not townsperson number three."

Eric L. Lindahl portrays Robert, the bachelor best-friend. His UW-Green Bay stage credits include a major role earlier this year in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and performances in productions in 1998 and 1999.

Jeff Entwistle designed sets for the musical. Costumes are designed by Kaoime Malloy, who joined the faculty in September. R. Michael Ingraham is the lighting designer and technical director.

GREEN BAY - Presentations by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the grueling 1,049-mile Iditarod sled dog race, highlight Women's History Month at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Riddles will give a public lecture, "Storm Run," at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7 in the Phoenix Room of University Union on the campus at 2420 Nicolet Dr. The event is free.

Earlier in the day, Riddles will give the keynote presentation at the annual Women's Recognition Luncheon, from noon to 2 p.m., also in the Phoenix Room of the University Union. The luncheon is a campus celebration open to UW-Green Bay students, faculty and staff. The event is free, but tickets, available at the Union Information Center, are required.

Riddles captured the nation's attention in 1985 when she was the first female to win Alaska's Iditarod dog sled race, often identified as the "Last Great Race on Earth." She won after a daring move across the Norton Sound in a blizzard. Riddles was named the 1985 Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Federation and won the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for her humane treatment of her dogs. In addition to being a popular motivator and speaker, she continues to breed and train sled dogs, and still competes worldwide. Riddles has written three books and has extensive television and film experiences.

She is a Madison native, and spent many of her summers in Jacksonport in Door County. She lives in Homer, Alaska.

UW-Green Bay events are part of a March-long celebration recognizing women's accomplishments. The 2001 national theme is "Celebrating Women of Courage and Vision."

All events take place in the University Union. Other programs are:

• Brown Bag Lunch series, from noon to 1 p.m., Tuesdays, March 6, 20 and 27 in the Alumni Room. University faculty and staff members lead discussions on contemporary women's issues.

• Women's History Month Reader's Theater, from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 21 in the 1965 Room. Women from campus and community are invited to read their poetry and prose and the work of other women who have influenced their lives.

• Body Image, students will report on their research project on women's body image, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 28 in the 1965 Room.

• Araceli Alonso, "The Lives of Cuban Women" lecture, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29 in the 1965 Room. Alonso, a cultural anthropologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has done extensive research on the lives of Cuban women and her writing has been featured in various books.

For more information contact Linda Amburgy , Office of Student Life, (920) 465-2200, ext. 42.

GREEN BAY -- O'li-o, a new, innovative percussion quartet, will perform with guest artist Michael Spiro at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17 in University Theater at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The program is an addition to the new Chamber Music at Green Bay series that began in October.

Spiro presently is on tour with his percussion trio, Talking Drums. He has performed on hundreds of recordings and feature films and has co-produced several videos for Warner Brothers Publications. DRUM! magazine voted his recording, Bata Ketu, among the top 50 recordings of all time. Spiro lived in many countries while growing up as the son of an anthropologist and a Chinese art historian. As an adult, he made repeated trips to Brazil and Cuba to study with percussion masters. His formal training in Latin American and ethnomusicology studies was at the University of California and the University of Washington.

O'li-o members are Cheryl Grosso, Paul Massey, Peter Schmeling and Gregory Thornburg. Grosso is on the faculty at UW-Green Bay. Massey, Schmeling and Thornburg are all graduates of the music performance program. Grosso says the quartet's name refers to a hodgepodge, particularly a collection of musical pieces.

O'li-o has the first half of the program which includes four compositions by Grosso and one each by Schmeling and Thornburg.

Spiro joins the quartet after intermission, along with Solomon Ayres, Andrew Martin and Zac Schroeder. Spiro will be featured in a solo and the group will perform a traditional Afro-Cuban piece and three Grosso compositions.

Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. The numbers for tickets are (920) 465-2217 or 1-800-328-8587.

GREEN BAY -- Plunkett Raysich Architects, Milwaukee, will design the remodeling and addition to the Laboratory Sciences Building at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Construction on the $17.5-million project is expected to begin in summer 2002.

The project will remodel the entire building except for one chemistry lab, the greenhouse, and storage and mechanical rooms, and add approximately 15,600 assignable square feet to the building. Plunkett Raysich will work with Earl Wall Associates, laboratory design consultants, San Diego.

Remodeling of the Laboratory Sciences Building is the second step toward resolving significant space problems at UW-Green Bay, according to Chancellor Mark L. Perkins. A $20-million state-of-the-art classroom facility under construction will open in September. "Given the amount of work the Laboratory Sciences Building needs, it will essentially be the second new building for our University in two years," he said.

Laboratory Sciences was among the first three buildings to open on the UW-Green Bay campus in 1969 and it has not been remodeled or expanded since. Laboratories built to accommodate 16 students then, limit the number of students who can enroll in science classes now.

Dean Rodeheaver, assistant chancellor for Planning and Budget, says the Laboratory Sciences remodeling will bring all of the University's science instructional and research labs into one building for the first time, improving both efficiency and safety.

UW-Green Bay last added academic space in 1974 when enrollment was 3,700. Today, it enrolls more than 5,000 students.

Plunkett Raysich also designed Rose Hall and Wood Hall on the UW-Green Bay campus, for which the firm won an American School and University Design Award. The buildings opened in 1974.

Other Plunkett Raysich projects include buildings for the Medical College of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa. In Green Bay, the firm has provided design concepts for a proposed South Washington Street office tower for Weas Development of Milwaukee, and for a proposed office, parking, residential, and hotel structure, also downtown, for VK Development of Brookfield. Elsewhere in Northeast Wisconsin, the Woodlake shopping center in Kohler was designed by Plunkett Raysich.

GREEN BAY -- Two artists who blend art forms and non-art forms to create new meanings will open an exhibit, "Babel, Wisconsin: Printed Matter from Xexoxial Editions," on Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Lawton Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. A reception opens the display of work by Miekal And and Lyx Ish from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the gallery. The pair will give a gallery talk at 5 p.m.

The exhibit continues through Friday, March 23. The gallery will be closed March 10 through 17 for the University's spring break.

And and Ish have been collaborating since 1981 on street performances, improvised music (noise) concerts, outdoor installations and exhibits, making homemade instruments, computer art, and collaborating with other artists to produce artists' books, periodicals and music cassettes.

The Madison-area pair founded Xexoxial (ze-zok-zial) Editions to publish work by experimental writers and artists who couldn't find publishers for their unconventional creations. They've published more than 180 books and periodicals containing their own work and that of writers, poets and visual artists from the Americas and central and eastern Europe. Their use of photocopy technology allows them to publish "on demand," rather than printing and storing many copies to distribute over time.

Half of the Lawton Gallery will display work from Xexoxial Editions.

"Babel" will reign in the other half of the gallery where And and Ish, along with their 13-year-old son, will create a site-specific installation. They plan Xerox shelters where language is reassembled into visual forms of text, symbols, and markings. "A place where...language returns to its beginnings," say the artists.

UW-Green Bay Curator of Art Stephen Perkins says And and Ish take a "Cuisinart approach" to both words and images. "They take language as a plastic element to be manipulated and rearranged in order to stretch its conventional meanings," he says.

Lawton Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The gallery is located in Theater Hall, directly east of the Weidner Center.

GREEN BAY -- Are We Good Citizens? Affairs Political, Literary, and Academic is the title of a new book by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Prof. Harvey Kaye.

The book, published by Teachers College Press, is a collection of columns and opinion pieces Kaye has written for the Times (London) Higher Education Supplement, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and other periodicals including the Washington Post and Tikkun.

The essays offer a critical perspective on various associations: between teaching and parenting, politics and the culture wars, capitalism and class inequality, intellectuals and the labor movement, history and public memory, and other topics, and encourage readers to think about their own levels of social consciousness.

Kaye is on the faculty in the Social Change and Development, History and Sociology academic programs. His books include The Education of Desire: Marxists and the Writing of History, for which he won the international Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize in 1993.

GREEN BAY -- Dr. Mark L. Perkins has accepted the presidency of Towson University in Maryland.

An official announcement was scheduled for 10 a.m. EST Tuesday. Perkins will succeed Dr. Hoke L. Smith, Towson president since 1979, who will retire in June.

Towson University, located in suburban Baltimore, is the metropolitan area's largest comprehensive university. With 16,600 students; nearly 500 full-time and 600 part-time faculty; more than 75 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs; and an annual budget of about $200 million, it is among the largest public institutions in the state of Maryland.

Perkins, 51, will leave the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay after seven years as chancellor.

"I am extraordinarily proud of the things we have accomplished as a university family and community here in Green Bay," he said. "I feel confident UW-Green Bay will be successful in carrying its initiatives forward. This is an institution with a very bright future."

Perkins said his new university shares many of the same attributes that characterize the best of UW-Green Bay which, with about 5,500 students and an annual budget of $69 million, operates with similar guiding principles as Towson, but on a smaller scale.

"(Towson) is an institution that values the student learner," Perkins said. "You look at the student/faculty ratio, 16/1, and see an obvious commitment of talent and resources to serving the student. It's a place where learning is important. And that's important to me."

Perkins began as UW-Green Bay chancellor on Feb. 1, 1994. He was appointed by President Katharine Lyall, who oversees the University of Wisconsin System and its 13 four-year campuses including UW-Green Bay.

"Mark Perkins has led UW-Green Bay with energy and distinction for seven important years," Lyall said Friday. "During his leadership, UW-Green Bay founded the Institute for Learning as a model of university/K-12/community collaboration for teacher education, enhanced its business partnerships, and has produced more than 5,000 highly skilled graduates who live, work and enhance the quality of life in Wisconsin.

"We will miss his energy and leadership in the UW System. I wish Mark well - Wisconsin's loss is Maryland's gain."

Perkins has been described as an effective, energetic advocate for UW-Green Bay. He enjoyed a prominent public profile in dual roles as leader of the University community and a vigorous voice on regional educational issues.

Among his major accomplishments was collaborative leadership in creation of the Institute for Learning Partnership. The program, based at the UW-Green Bay, is a barrier-breaking partnership involving public schools, teacher's unions and the University. It resulted in a new UW-Green Bay master's degree in education, the first in the state built specifically upon the competencies outlined by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The Partnership is touted as a national model for improving teacher preparation, continuing education and community involvement in boosting K-16 learning.

Perkins's colleagues have also described strategic planning as an area of particular expertise.

Shortly after his arrival in Green Bay, Perkins led efforts to rediscover the strengths of UW-Green Bay's institutional identity, build upon them, and better define the University's niche in the higher education marketplace. The planning process highlighted Green Bay's historic emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, liberal education and problem-focused learning.

The result, in 1997, was a restatement of this philosophy as "The Green Bay Idea of an Educated Person." The University began to clearly communicate to students that as learners they are expected to address problems and approach life challenges through multiple perspectives anchored in four touchstones: a breadth and depth of knowledge about the world; a set of skills and tools that can be brought to bear on a problem; a capacity for insight and understanding that places problems in context; and a level of commitment and engagement that compels action.

With support of community leaders, faculty, staff, students and alumni, UW-Green Bay recently developed a package of proposed curricular and facilities enhancements that would position the school as a special option within the UW System and the Midwest. The "Learning Experience Initiative" promises higher retention and graduation rates, and a curriculum that will extend special, personalized learning experiences to every student.

The Learning Experience Initiative received preliminary approval from the UW System Board of Regents in August. The package carries $3.9 million in startup funding and planning money for $60 million in facilities improvements.

Donald N. Langenberg, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, said he believes Perkins's experience at UW-Green Bay makes him an ideal fit for Towson.

"I have kept an eye on the Green Bay campus because I have family in Wisconsin," Langenberg said. "I noticed that for much of the 1990s and through today, it has been on a remarkable upswing. Clearly, it's not a coincidence that Mark Perkins has been at the tiller for much of that time. So I was delighted when I heard that he was a candidate for this position. With today's announcement, I am confident that we will witness one very capable president, Hoke Smith, succeeded by another."

A summary of major advances and accomplishments at UW-Green Bay during Perkins's tenure includes milestones in academic affairs, private support, new facilities, and strategic positioning:

• Leadership secures funding for a new state-of-art classroom building, a $20 million facility that will open in August 2001. It is the first major new academic building on campus in 25 years.

• Leadership secures funding for a planned $17 million remodeling and expansion of the Laboratory Sciences Building, beginning in July 2001.

• UW-Green Bay meets its state-assigned enrollment target for six consecutive years (fall 2000).

• UW-Green Bay receives a commitment from the UW System Regents for additional funding to support the Learning Experience Initiative (2000).

• Planning proceeds for campus life projects including future expansions of the University Union and Phoenix Sports Center, estimated at $60 million (2000).

• Endowment (measured as endowment-per-student-FTE) increases nearly fivefold in seven years, from $571 per FTE in 1994 to $2,420 per FTE in 2000.

• Total endowment gains 337 percent, from a principal market value of $2.46 million to $10.75 million by fall 2000.

• Commitment to diversity is reflected in a record year for new minority hires (1999). Over the last six years, minority faculty as a percentage of total faculty increases by half, to 15 percent.

• UW-Green Bay earns its first, full 10-year accreditation from the North Central Association (1998).

• UW-Green Bay completes a $4.6 million addition to the world-class Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, a 2,200-seat concert hall (1998).

• Campus opens its first upscale "apartment suites" housing units (1996, 1998).

• Leadership secures $1.5 million in new, annual state funding for creation of the Institute for Learning Partnership, a national model for teacher preparation, continuing education and community involvement in improving K-16 learning (1997).

• The University convenes a blue-ribbon community panel to analyze the highly successful NCAA Division I Phoenix athletics program and ensure its financial viability (1996).

• Leadership completes a campuswide review of academic program array, with reallocation and reorganization for higher priorities (1995-96).

At UW-Green Bay, Perkins holds the faculty rank of professor of business administration and human development (psychology). Perkins came to Green Bay from California State University, Stanislaus, where he served as executive vice president and oversaw university advancement as well as the internal operations of the institution. He formerly held senior-level positions at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.

Perkins holds a master's in psychometrics and research design (1974) and a Ph.D in psychometrics and statistics (1976) from the University of Georgia. He received a bachelor's degree in psychology (1972) from St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Laurinburg, N.C. In 1984, he attended Stanford University's Higher Education Business Management Institute.

Perkins is a native of Richmond, Va. He and his wife, Carolyn, have two daughters, Patricia and Diana. Family, he said, and a desire to return to the Mid-Atlantic area, are additional considerations with the move.

"Green Bay is such a family-oriented place - that's one of the things I enjoy and admire about this community - but personally I have been missing something. Now, after 15 years, I am going to be within an easy drive of my mother, my daughters, my brother and sister. I'm looking forward to going home."

He has journeyed to every continent except Antarctica, and if the axis tilts and the globe warms and trees sprout from ice and rock, he'll go there, too.

Prof. Ganga V.M. Nair travels the world as an expert on trees, the diseases that kill them, and the science that saves them.

Nair brings his UW-Green Bay students along on his journeys through classroom presentations that incorporate cutting-edge information with a suitcase full of photographic images amassed in three decades as an internationally known environmental scientist.

He exemplifies faculty members whose research projects enrich campus life. Their grant-supported work brings new funding to the University and opens doors for students to participate in research and learn latest advances in the field.

"Professor Nair teaches what he does," says former student Russell Japuntich, an Environmental Sciences major. "He has incredible knowledge, yet he has so much fun teaching that his sense of humor shines through."

In a recent trip as a guest of the People's Republic of China, Nair helped lay the foundation for a cooperative project known unofficially as the "Great Green Wall of China." The challenge is to promote forest protection and productivity in a nation that has long emphasized agriculture and development.

Nair says his hope is for young Chinese scientists to visit the United States for advanced training. The World Bank and other aid organizations proposed investing at least $200 million toward reforestation and resource protection.

Longtime colleague Carol Pollis, dean emerita of liberal arts and sciences, says Nair's involvement in international projects reflects positively on UW-Green Bay and its highly regarded environmental science programs. "Just to be invited to take part is recognition of his stature in the field," she says.

Active in forest research at both the national and international levels since the 1960s, Nair has worked on projects for the United Nations in countries from Australia to Nigeria to Brazil. In recent years he's been to China, India, Italy and Germany, and he'll return to China for the "Great Green Wall" project.

He has been with UW-Green Bay since its founding, and won the first Founders Association Award for outstanding scholarship for his contributions developing disease-resistant species and chemotherapeutic treatments. He has presented at conferences worldwide, once brought the International Union of Forestry Research Organization to Green Bay, and has been a mover in the Union's efforts to promote biodiversity and protect medicinal rainforest plants.

"I don't doubt that some of the things that are being gathered will someday end up in medicine cabinets," Nair told a newspaper reporter who dubbed him "UW-Green Bay's Medicine Man."

Whether medicine man, tree scientist or world explorer, he shares his experiences with his students and tests their abilities with challenging, real-world problems.

"I will never forget getting an exam back from Professor Nair," chuckles Japuntich, a senior. "I would always wonder how much red ink he used because he wrote more on our tests than we did.

"He expects a lot, but he has so much to give back in return."

This story is written by Jennifer Justus, UW-Green Bay class of 2000

GREEN BAY - New Brain Research, a continuing series of one-day workshops exploring new brain research and its implications for practice, will hold its fifth session from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 30, at the University Union on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus. Early registration discount ends March 15.

The workshop, "Emotions: Gatekeeper to Performance," is offered by UW-Green Bay's Office of Outreach and Extension. The workshop is directed to preschool to grade 12 teachers, curriculum directors, family living educators, school social workers, occupational therapists, child care workers and parents.

Workshop leaders are Susan Kovalik and Dennis Lorenz. Kovalik is considered a pioneer in body/brain-compatible learning and is the creator of the Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) model for implementing brain-compatible learning. Her ideas have led many educators to the understanding that the biology of learning is a vital foundation for making learning-based decisions. Lorenz is an associate professor of in human development at UW-Green Bay. A neurobiologist, he teaches physiology, psychology, biopsychology, behavior and genetics and the graduate course, "Brain-Based Learning: Teaching Concepts and Strategies Related to the Function of the Brain."

Workshop topics include understanding research about how emotions affect performance; using the understanding of the role of emotions in a classroom to enhance learning; and discovering how ITI provides the framework for moving from research to application.

The New Brain Research workshop series began in spring of 1998. Each program is a stand-alone session with no prerequisites.

The $105 fee includes handouts, refreshments, lunch and parking. Registrants can save $6 by registering on or before March 15. Teachers and administrators registering as teams of four to six participants, will receive a 10 percent discount. Department of Public Instruction clock hours and continuing education units are available. For registration information, call Outreach and Extension at (920) 465-2642 or 1-800-892-2118.

GREEN BAY -- University of Wisconsin-Green Bay accounting and business administration students begin their annual volunteer income tax assistance program this week. It continues through April 15, except for the week of March 12 - 16, which is the University's spring break.

The students are members of the Volunteer Income Tax Association (VITA), a national organization that offers tax preparation assistance for low-income, elderly or disabled individuals who want help. Student Pat Schoenick is the coordinator and Prof. Marilyn Sagrillo of the Business Administration and Accounting faculty, is the adviser.

Sites, days and times for the service are:

Salvation Army
626 Union Court, Green Bay
Wednesdays, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Fort Howard-Jefferson Family Resource Center
520 Dousman St., Green Bay
Wednesdays, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

UW-Green Bay
Cofrin Library, concourse level alcove
Mondays, noon to 2 p.m.
Wednesdays, noon to 2 p.m.

The number for information is (920) 465-2051.

GREEN BAY - A public forum to hear from eight candidates for state superintendent of public instruction is rescheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12 in the Phoenix Room of the University Union on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus.

The forum was postponed in late January because of bad weather.

The eight candidates are registered with the Wisconsin State Elections Board. The two candidates receiving the most votes in a primary election February 20 will advance to the April 3 general election.

Jim Coles, Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) 7 administrator, will moderate the forum. Each candidate will give an opening statement and will respond to a specific set of questions. The audience will have a chance to pose questions.

The state superintendent heads the Department of Public Instruction, which provides direction and assistance for public elementary and secondary education in Wisconsin and distributes and administers state and federal school aid.

Candidates seeking to replace retiring superintendent John Benson are:

Tom Balistreri of Milwaukee, Jonathan B. Barry of Mount Horeb, Elizabeth Burmaster of Madison, Linda A. Cross of Waupaca, Anthony Evers of Omro, Dean P. Gagnon of Waunakee, Julie Theis of Shawano and Janet E. Van Asten of Appleton.

The event is free and open to the public. A reply prior to February 9 by fax, (920) 465-2232 or email, learnpart@uwgb.edu., is requested.

The forum is sponsored by the Institute for Learning Partnership, with support from CESA 7, the Green Bay Press-Gazette and UW-Green Bay Outreach and Extension.

GREEN BAY - An information session for those considering entering the Master's Degree in Applied Leadership for Teaching and Learning program in fall of 2001 is scheduled from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, in Phoenix Room C of University Union, at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Dr.

Members of the education graduate faculty and current program participants will discuss the program and the application process.

The 30-credit program allows educators and those in education-related fields the opportunity to work within a community of learners. The program promotes integrating students' professional experiences with their course of study.

Twenty students are admitted as a cohort and take 21 credits of core requirements and a minimum nine-credit area emphasis of study as a group. The program can be completed in two calendar years and links a classroom-based inquiry project with teaching practice or professional settings.

The minimum admission requirement for educators is a bachelor's degree with two years of successful teaching experience and current teaching license or, for those not directly involved in classroom settings, a bachelor's degree and two years of professional experience.

A reply by February 16 is requested. Call the Institute for Learning Partnership at (920) 465-5555 or e-mail learnpart@uwgb.edu to reply, to request an application packet, or for more information.