Learning Experience Initiative

Vision

Goals

Improve retention rate from 69% to 80%, graduation rate from 47% to 65%

Extend UW-Green Bay's special, personalized learning approach to every student

Reposition UW-Green Bay as a new option within the UW System

Complete the campus

Building on Success

Since 1968 UW-Green Bay has grown 282%, 4,000 students — most in UW System

Student-faculty ratio is 21:1, highest in state — impeding learning

On-campus population has tripled since University Union, Phoenix Sports Center were new in 1976

Campus is outgrowing space for student life, commencement, convocations

State-of-the-art facilities are near with new $20m classroom building for 2001, $17m Laboratory Sciences renovation by 2003, three new residence halls by 2006

A Total Package

Together, curricular and facilities plans will enrich the learning environment, enhance student satisfaction, raise retention/graduation rates, provide facilities necessary for Division I Phoenix athletics practice and competition, and fulfill the community's vision for UW-Green Bay

Success of Initiative is called 'turning point' for UW-Green Bay

A multi-million-dollar plan aimed at enhancing the student experience and positioning UW-Green Bay as a distinctive public baccalaureate university has taken a giant step forward.

The UW System Regents voted in August to support UW-Green Bay's Learning Experience Initiative as part of the System's 2001-03 budget. The support was unanimous. The plan will hire at least 50 additional faculty members to lower the student:faculty ratio to 17/1 and improve retention and graduation rates.

"This is our moment," says UW-Green Bay Chancellor Mark Perkins. "We have accomplished so much as a community simply to arrive at this turning point. The goal is within our grasp... to make a fine university a truly great university."

The Learning Experience Initiative builds upon the strength of UW-Green Bay's interdisciplinary curriculum. The initiative emphasizes personalized learning, competency-based general education, student life involvement, and hands-on experience in the workforce and in the community.

The Regent budget proposes $3.7 million in startup funding and $6 million annually thereafter. UW-Green Bay students have already agreed to a tuition charge of nearly $1 million per year to help support the plan.

The Regents also endorsed planning money for possible University Union and Phoenix Sports Center expansion over the next decade. The plans address long-term space deficiencies, bring UW-Green Bay current with its peers, and support the school's academic mission. Additional classrooms will be created, as well.

Supporters say the facilities will "complete the campus" and provide badly needed space for convocation, commencement, first-contact events for students and families, student development fairs and conferences, festivals and multicultural events, campus-oriented concerts and entertainment, health and fitness activities, athletics practice and competition, and expanded intramurals and fitness activities.

"We are reclaiming our distinction as something special in American higher education," Perkins says. "We are reinvigorating this University. And we are repositioning ourselves as a unique alternative for students throughout Wisconsin, the Midwest and beyond."

Students trade in vacations for 'Habitat' labor of love

"Ninety percent of the people don't know what they're doing, at first," jokes Ron Osero.

"But they learn from each other. It's a cooperative learning experience."

Osero, a junior from Wausau who majors in business administration, is talking about the labor of love that is Habitat for Humanity. UW-Green Bay has a growing and active chapter of some 60 members.

As Osero suggests, most volunteers don't boast advanced carpentry skills. They do, however, bring enthusiasm, musclepower, and a capacity to learn on-the-job as they build quality private housing for low-income families.

This year UW-Green Bay student teams traveled to Clarksdale, Mississippi for winter break and to Albany, Georgia for spring break.

"We usually have one day as sort of a vacation day," Osero says of the spring break trips. "We'll travel and sightsee close to where we're working. But the rest of the week, you go to the worksite and then you go home."

"Home" for the week might be church basements, college dorms or other Habitat homes. Volunteers pay their own way, and raise money for building supplies. They don't finish an entire house in a single week, of course, but they get as far as they can before handing the project off to the next volunteer team, all under the supervision of an experienced general contractor.

"We do just about everything, except plumbing," Osero says. "We might do framing, rafters, sheathing, plaster-board, painting, staining, shingles, you name it."

Osero is chapter president. Other officers are Matthew Bonson of Appleton, Wendy Streblow of Elkhart Lake, and Erin VanCaster of Wausaukee.

"It's a way to give back, but it's also fun," Osero says. "On those 20- or 25-hour drives, you get to know each other really well. We're like a team, a team that's working for a very good cause."

First Hmong nurse gives back to her culture

Chua Xiong, Class of 2000, hopes her bachelor's degree in nursing from UW-Green Bay starts a trend. Xiong is believed to be the only registered nurse of Hmong ancestry working in the Green Bay area, where an estimated 5,000 Hmong reside.

"I take my education and the opportunity to be a role model very seriously," she says.

Xiong is employed by Bellin Hospital and is often called upon as a translator. "The minority patients, especially the Hmong, tend to be very passive and not vocal," she says. "I believe in quality care for all patients."

Program established by faculty couples brings scholars to study in U.S.

The Asian Visiting Scholars Program, established two years ago by two UW-Green Bay professors emeritus and their wives, has already supported travel and research in the United States by two scholars from Asian countries.

"We both have had outstanding professional experiences in Asia," says Prof. Emeritus Robert Wenger, explaining why he and Prof. Emeritus H. Jack Day and their wives Lena Wenger and Jan Day decided to establish the program.

The program has also received support from the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation.

First to arrive in February 2000, for a year-long stay, was Li Wei, an associate professor in the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Beijing Normal University, People's Republic of China. He is studying the environmental risk assessment methodology developed by Prof. Wenger and Prof. Emeritus H.J. Harris, and is investigating its potential application in China. This semester, he's also teaching a special topics course in Public and Environmental Affairs on environmental issues in China and U.S.-China cooperation on global issues.

Boi Tran Huynh, director of international education and instructor in art history at Dong Nai College of Decorative Arts, Bien Hoa, Vietnam, was here from mid-September through early November. She came to study American art and culture and, in addition to lecturing and visiting classes at UW-Green Bay, traveled to art institutions in Wisconsin, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C.

The Wengers first went to China when Prof. Wenger was a visiting professor at Beijing Normal University in 1987-88 and they have visited the country twice since. Wei and the Wengers first met three years ago during one of the couple's China visits.

Prof. Day was chief technical adviser on a United Nations-sponsored effort to assist in training staff and upgrading facilities of a provincial environmental agency in Vietnam. They met Boi Tran Huynh and became friends during some ten visits to Vietnam over the course of the project, from 1996 to 1999. Jan Day helped to teach English to faculty at the College.

"For Americans, Vietnam is a very special developing nation," says Prof. Day, explaining that because of the war, most of what Americans and Vietnamese know about each other is negative. "We're interested in building bridges."

Generosity by professor, spouse encourages students to greatness

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts." — Albert Einstein

UW-Green Bay professor Kumar Kangayappan and his wife, Sivu, have tried to encourage UW-Green Bay students to be counted among the few.

The two established the Albert Einstein/Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship in 1984 to recognize exceptional UW-Green Bay students whose work best reflects the qualities of Einstein the scientist and Gandhi the humanitarian and peacemaker.

In establishing the award, the Kangayappans struck themes shared by many whose philanthropy endows UW-Green Bay scholarships: encourage and assist students, sustain UW-Green Bay as an institution of excellence, and enhance quality education.

"In naming the scholarship, we are honoring two people who have always inspired us," said Kumar, a professor of economics and Urban and Regional Studies. "Both were seekers of truth, but in different realms."

"Einstein, as a scientist, was never satisfied with the existing set of principles. He was a skeptic, in the most positive sense of the word, always looking for the deeper truth. Gandhi, too, pursued truth — in the way one lives and conducts oneself through life. They serve as beacons for the human race."

In the last decade alone, more than ten awards of $500 have been made to UW-Green Bay students. The scholarship became fully endowed in 1995, ensuring its vitality for years to come.

Undergraduate students of junior status who have achieved a minimum gpa of 3.5 and received strong recommendation from two faculty members can apply. They must also have completed a significant research project or demonstrated through term papers, journals or other appropriate forms the potential for theoretical and applied research.

Kumar, a native of India, joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 1967. Sivu is a physician in Manitowoc.

Meeuwsens' support spans generations

Mike and Kate Meeuwsen appreciate the role the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has played in their lives. The influence of the University on their family spans three generations.

Mike, president and CEO of First Northern Savings Bank and president and COO of Bank Mutual Corporation, has been a key volunteer in campus philanthropic efforts. He serves on the Phoenix Fund Board of Directors and chaired the successful "Building for the Future" campaign to increase financial support for the University's NCAA Division I athletics program.

Kate earned a degree in music education from UW-Green Bay in 1976. She taught music for many years and recently retired from Holy Cross School. In January of 2000, Kate began a three-year term on the Founders Association Board of Directors.

The Meeuwsens' daughters, Emily and Gretchen, have been a part of UW-Green Bay for much of their lives. Both girls have taken private music lessons and have participated in summer music camps at the University. The girls have also worked at the Phoenix Sports Center as lifeguards and swim instructors. In fact, Emily is pursuing a career in athletic training as a result of her experience at UW-Green Bay. And Phoenix basketball has provided great family entertainment for nearly twenty years. "The children grew up at the basketball games," said Kate.

The Meeuwsens also support UW-Green Bay's Weidner Center for the Performing Arts. They were among the Weidner Center's initial seat donors and have continued their membership ever since. "The Weidner Center has changed the face of entertainment in Green Bay," Kate said. In fact, Kate and her daughter, Emily, had the thrill of performing together on stage at the Weidner Center.

Kate's parents, Bruce and Carol Haskin, are also actively involved on campus. They have been involved with the Learning in Retirement program for many years, both attending and teaching classes. Learning in Retirement has provided the Haskins the opportunity to explore a diverse selection of educational and social experiences.

Says Kate, "How fortunate our family is to be a part of this wonderful educational system that has provided entertainment, career goals, and volunteer opportunities."

Friends, family remember Dhuey, help new generation of students

Friends and family of Ron Dhuey wanted to see his name continue to be associated with helping students.

That's why, in the days following his death last January at age 67 after a lengthy illness, nearly $10,000 in contributions poured in to endow a scholarship fund in his name.

One of UW-Green Bay's newest scholarship programs, the Ronald A. Dhuey Memorial Scholarship, is expected to announce its first award during the 2001-2002 academic year. The grant will assist an upper-level student in the Education program who demonstrates scholarship, leadership and a capacity for community involvement.

Dhuey served UW-Green Bay for nearly three decades as its first registrar and later as associate vice chancellor for institutional research. He was one of the first recipients of the Founders Association Award for Excellence. Most of all, he was an advocate for nontraditional students, veterans and others, and a leader in UW System efforts to streamline the credit-transfer process for students.

"We saw it every day," says longtime colleague and current UW-Green Bay registrar Sally Mancoske. "He was a man who was passionate about education and its potential to make a difference in people's lives."

New academic building shoots skyward

With good growing weather and skilled construction crews, the new $20 million academic building at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has already topped out. Construction began last December and is on target for completion by fall of 2001. The three-level, high-tech facility continues to gain visibility in the world of architecture and solar energy. Wisconsin Public Service Corp., a partner in the project, has launched a website touting it as a model for building-integrated photovoltaics. The site is http://www.buildingsolar.com/

We are not alone: second Phoenix hatches

Elon College in North Carolina makes the leap to NCAA Division I this year with a proven winner as the school's new athletics mascot. The former Fightin' Christians have adopted the name Phoenix, effectively doubling the number of major-college schools with that nickname. Elon's decision followed a marketing study and much high-level discussion. UW-Green Bay went to Phoenix in 1970 when students selected the regal, mythical bird from a list nominated by classmates.

UW-Green Bay web page is Top 10

UW-Green Bay's homepage has popped up on a list of young people's favorite collegiate Web designs. A Ricks College study evaluated 500 institutions and found students reacted positively to uncluttered, colorful layouts and appealing visuals. UW-Green Bay ranked No. 7 among "Best Homepages," behind only Mills College of California and others including Cal Tech and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Dec. 6: D-Day for basketball fans

After 20 years, what's one more day? Not much, for Phoenix basketball fans. Originally scheduled for one night earlier, the long-awaited men's home game vs. the Wisconsin Badgers was rescheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 6. Scheduling of the game itself was a milestone, with the return of popular former coach Dick Bennett and his son and new assistant coach, Tony, Class of '92. It is the first time the Badger men's team had agreed to play in Green Bay.

UW-Green Bay's Thron is state's top teacher

UW-Green Bay Prof. Joan Thron has received the prestigious Teaching Excellence Award given by the UW System Board of Regents. Thron teaches in the Education and Humanistic Studies departments. She is the recipient of UW-Green Bay's fourth statewide teaching excellence award since the Regents instituted the program a decade ago. Prof. John Harris, Business Administration, received the individual award in 1996, Prof. Joseph Moran of Natural Applied Sciences won in 1993, and the Human Development unit shared top faculty honors in 1994.

UW-Green Bay scores well in U.S. News poll

UW-Green Bay shows up in "Tier 2" among Midwest universities rated in the annual U.S. News College Rankings. Among the 30 Tier 2 schools, UW-Green Bay fares well in terms of both reputation and new-freshman quality.

Music Program starts chamber series

Chamber Music at Green Bay is a new series of programs that will showcase top-flight professional musicians from the region and around the nation. Already featured were Duo Pegasus and classic clarinet and piano in October, and a visit by the renowned Trio del Sol of the University of Arizona in November. UW-Green Bay Music Profs. Kevin Collins and Scott Wright will announce spring's programs soon. "This is an exciting enhancement of our performance calendar," Collins says, "and one that we're thrilled to share with the community."

New education master's has first graduates

Educators Mary Bowers and Mary Wyman of Green Bay are the first graduates of the master's program in Applied Leadership for Teaching and Learning. The master's program was launched in the fall of 1998 and is one of the first in the country to incorporate new teaching standards advocated by a group of leading education reformers. The new graduate program is among the most visible initiatives of the Institute for Learning Partnership headquartered at UW-Green Bay.

Final enrollment: 5,505

Final totals are in for fall 2000 enrollment at UW-Green Bay, with a total headcount of 5,505. If you're keeping score, the breakdown is 3,354 continuing undergraduates, 997 new freshmen, 493 transfers, 111 re-entries, 165 "specials," 245 Extended Degree students, and 174 graduate students. The grad student count, up again this year, has increased 42 percent from two years ago.

Distinguished Alumni' is a master's grad

Gary L. Garriott of Arlington, Va., Class of '77, was presented with the 2000 Distinguished Alumni Award by the UW-Green Bay Alumni Association at a ceremony on campus on November 4. He is the first award recipient to have earned only a master's degree at UW-Green Bay. Garriott has devoted his entire career to applying innovative technologies for rural communications systems with the aim of improving the quality of life for the poor in developing countries around the world. He is director of informatics for Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA).

Quadriphonic! Music lands four at WSMA

For a college ensemble, it is a distinct honor to be selected to perform at the annual Wisconsin School Music Association convention in Madison. For a university, it is a rare honor to have not one, not two, not three, but an unprecedented four groups invited to perform. That's exactly what the UW-Green Bay Music program did this fall, with selection of the Vocal Ensemble, Concert Choir, the Jazz Ensemble, and the Vocal Jazz Ensemble for convention performances.

Salute! Record number of vals and sals