Stories from the May 2005 Issue



Notes from 2420 Nicolet …

Student Research blossoms

Greetings from Green Bay's University of Wisconsin!

May is a month of delightful promise, of commencements, graduation gatherings and the end of the academic year. Even for me, a career educator whose favorite season has traditionally been "Back to School!" this time of year ranks near the top.

I hope to have the boat out by the time you're reading this but, in truth, any break will be a short one. "Back to School" at UW-Green Bay is May 23 when the first of our summer sessions begins. Nowadays, a thriving University serving a growing region is a year-round enterprise. As this Inside describes, we have a full summer in store: a capital campaign in progress, new academic initiatives, and an expanded schedule of summer course offerings.

Not much downtime for our students, either. The great majority work full time or part time, year round. Many will take advantage of those additional course offerings this summer.

Some students pursue research or internships. Just how many, and how well, was on display for the community last month when the Founders Association spring reception was held in conjunction with the student Academic Excellence Symposium. Cyndie and I posed for a group photo with Prof. Kristin Vespia and several of the 120 top student researchers in attendance. Front row, from left, are Alison Lester, Amanda Lane Brown, Kristin Mauk, Anne Brede, and Carly Chrouser, who are part of the team conducting research on the award-winning Phuture Phoenix program.

In the pages that follow, we highlight the remarkable work being done by students at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Thank you for supporting that work, in helping us "Connect learning to life." Go Phoenix!




Bruce Shepard
Chancellor

Connecting Learning to Life ...

Students Researchers, Interns make an Impact

UW-Green Bay prides itself on "connecting." Students connect what happens in the classroom to real-world issues. They are making hands-on connections in campus laboratories, in public and private settings throughout Brown County, in urban and rural locales across Northeast Wisconsin and beyond. From Baird Creek to Lambeau Field, from the Oneida Nation to nations around the world, from impossibly tiny cell nuclei to massive rock formations on the planet Mars, they are connecting. And making an impact. Read on for only a sample.

Out of the 'blue,'
mapping a nature-friendly neighborhood

The class is working with UW-Green Bay alumnus Meleesa Johnson, administrator of the Portage County Solid Waste Department, to develop property originally purchased, but no longer needed, for a Portage County landfill.

When the county began investigating residential development for the 150-acre site, Johnson called on her former professor and his class of experts to assess the area and recommend a subdivision plan that will be environmentally sensitive. The proposed site is believed to be a feeding and even a breeding ground for the Karner blue, added to the United States Endangered Species List in 1992. The ecology of the butterfly is tied to its habitat. The larvae feed only on one plant, wild lupine (Lupinus perennis), a species steadily declining because of widespread destruction of habitat due mainly to rural development.

On numerous field trips, students produced a detailed analysis including assessment of vegetation types and structure, landscape slope, elevation and aspect, soil characteristics and open space. Maps were created to establish the spatial extent of the field analysis.

With a detailed inventory of the site, students developed alternative subdivision plans based upon "conservation design" principles. Conservation design plans emphasize preservation of open space and habitat (a plus for residents) while still providing for legally defined density of development. For the Portage County site, habitat for Karner blue butterflies was the key variable.

Students may not see the results of their work for many years — if development is gradual — and sometimes not at all if municipalities choose different plans. That doesn't deter Niedzwiedz and his students from taking on new projects.

"If a site is under consideration for development, we always hope that our efforts will play a role in how the site is developed," Niedzwiedz said. "However, it is equally important that our students have the opportunity to work on complex, real-life projects, and that communities and their citizens get to work with our students as well. Over the years, our 'clients' have been impressed by the quality of our student projects."

$45 million impact?
That's what their data says

The headline in a local newspaper this February read "Brown County Veterans Memorial Complex helps fuel $45M boost in economy." But what the story missed was the "who" responsible for gathering the data.

It did credit UW-Green Bay senior lecturer Don McCartney, ultimately responsible for assembling the data and presenting the findings. It failed to mention the 20 or more UW-Green Bay undergraduate students who served in the important role of information gatherers. The students set up shop at the complex on nine separate occasions, interviewing concert- and other event-goers as to length of stay, hometowns and various tourism-related topics.

The report was used by PMI, the operator of three facilities in the Brown County Veterans Memorial Complex, to quantify the economic impact of the Arena, ShopKo Hall exhibition space and the new Resch Center during its first year of operation. The results:

• Total combined revenues-all events: $26,368,067
• Total economic gain to the Green Bay area: $45,201,001
• Total increase in earnings for Green Bay area: $13,121,187
• Resulting increase in area employment: 1,401 jobs

"The work of the students was invaluable to me and to PMI," McCartney said. "There is no way we could have collected this type of information without their help."

McCartney said the surveying provided valuable lessons for the students — the majority of them business administration majors — in conducting an intercept survey. They also were able to self-evaluate on their approach and consistency in delivery.

Power of suggestion:
Retailer tells student 'yes!'

Neat stuff. Neat store. Neat internships?

Based on a recommendation by a UW-Green Bay student, ShopKo Stores Inc. implemented a new internship program last summer. Andrew Karls, a senior, was the pilot of a program now planning for five to 10 student interns this summer.

Karls, standing at left in photo, was both student and a ShopKo employee when he opted to pursue an internship after attending the Summer Job and Internship Fair on campus. Upon realizing ShopKo didn't offer an internship program, he sought opportunities at competing stores and received offers but instead wrote a letter to the senior vice president of ShopKo.

"I wrote that I attended an internship fair and saw all these other internships around and I thought it was a need for Shopko," he said. "I thought it would be mutually beneficial for both students and the corporation."

Kristine Harring, recruiting manager for ShopKo, agreed and sent Karls to the right people to further his idea. Karls' internship took place over the course of twelve weeks last summer and was a learning experience for all involved.

"Andrew basically experienced every facet of the company on a rotational basis," Harring says. "He spent a certain amount of time in merchandising, advertising and other areas. He got a broad-based corporate view, as well as a store view, and how what we do ties together."

Harring, herself a 1998 UW-Green Bay graduate with a degree in communication, says it gave her pride to see Karls pursue his idea.

"I give him a lot of credit for doing what he did," Harring says. "He did it in a professional way. He was a valued teammate then and he still is now. The fact that he's a UW-Green Bay student is great. He has the qualities to be very successful."

In fact, ShopKo was so impressed with Karls that he was offered a position after his May graduation. He will begin training as a general merchandising manager.

Adds Karls, "Just the level of confidence I get from doing well academically gave me enough confidence to say that I had a worthwhile idea that they should look at, and I've never looked back."

Baird Creek gets boost from student researchers

By the time it reaches the city limits, it becomes something else entirely: one of the region's most visited, photographed and — thanks to local advocates with the help of UW-Green Bay and its students — most closely studied natural resources.

The hilly Baird Creek area bisected by I-43 near campus has been a hot topic in recent years. Growing residential development, calls by some citizens to expand public holdings, and creation of a non-profit Baird Creek Parkway Preservation Foundation have sharpened the focus.

UW-Green Bay student researchers are at the center. This academic year, students enrolled in the Environmental Design studio course won a competitive $10,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant to work toward a sustainable watershed plan. UW-Green Bay was the only Wisconsin winner.

National and international exposure followed. As recipients of the EPA grant, the students were invited to exhibit at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on May 16 and 17, to compete for a further award. In addition, five of the students were flown to Florence, Italy earlier this year to present the class project at "For an Ecological Future," an international exhibit and competition.

For the UW-Green Bay students, Baird Creek presents thorny problems. The watershed encompasses about 25 square miles. Water flow in most of its 31-mile length is intermittent, with only about three and a half miles of year-round flow, but the creek is an important seasonal tributary of the East and Fox rivers emptying into Green Bay. The stretch nearest campus has rapids, small waterfalls and a history as an unofficial park and picnic spot dating to Green Bay's earliest days.

To complicate matters, the watershed comes under various jurisdictions — the state of Wisconsin, Brown County, the city of Green Bay and the towns of Humboldt and Eaton — and the land it drains serves many interests: residential, recreational, commercial and agricultural.

The EPA grant proposal was submitted by Prof. Ronald K. Baba, along with Prof. David Damkoehler. The two UW-Green Bay faculty members founded the Environmental Design emphasis program at UW-Green Bay more than 30 years ago.

Students in the class are Elizabeth Bishop, Green Bay; Toni Buschke, Manawa; Erin Heise, Omro; Kristen Hodek, Green Bay; Suzanne Kohlmann, De Pere; Jason Myhre, West Salem; Christopher Schanz, Sussex; Kathryn Ten Haken, Sheboygan Falls; and Melissa Volk, Reedsburg.

They represent only some of the UW-Green Bay people involved in research at Baird Creek.

UW-Green Bay's Cofrin Center for Biodiversity was a force in organizing the "Baird Creek Parkway Bio-blitz," a collaborative attempt to catalog and photograph the area's biodiversity.

Students Nick Walton and Andy Cassini '04 were guests of honor at the Parkway Foundation's annual meeting and dinner. The pair conducted a bird study in the Baird Creek Heights and wetland areas which provided essential data for a further habitat protection grant.

In Oneida, a 'weigh better' approach to health

A smoker, and recreational drinker, Jacobsen committed to a lifestyle change via a New Year's resolution. Nine months later she was smoke-free, 40 pounds lighter and inspired. She and UW-Eau Claire student Lori Bembnister collaborated on the pilot program for the Oneida Family Fitness Center based on proper nutrition, exercise and resistance training. The pilot was so successful, it's now a part of the center's regular programming. Requirements include assessment, exercise, nutrition and exercise counseling, healthy recipes and reading material, and more. The bonus to Jacobsen was a three-credit internship earned with the approval of her adviser, senior lecturer Karen Lacey.

"The work that Tina and Lori have done is absolutely wonderful," says Maureen Cisler, a "Change Your Weigh" participant. "The biggest thing, I think, is the accountability. I have a lot of opportunity to hear from other members and they really enjoy it, too."

Capitol stars

Five UW-Green Bay undergraduate students shared research findings at the Wisconsin State Capitol earlier this spring at "Posters in the Rotunda." The event celebrated hands-on learning by UW System students.

• Kimberly Biedermann (faculty adviser, R. Aileen Yingst): "Morphology of Rocks at Mars Pathfinder Landing Site"

• Heather Bloch (Regan Gurung): "Show More, Look Better? Revealing Clothes, Body Size, and Impression Formation"

• Amy Kiley (Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges): "Perceived Crowding and Territoriality's Effects on College Student Learning: Influences of Classroom Design"

• Darryl Teske (Regan Gurung): "Does This Shirt Make Me Look Big...Enough?"

• Christina Tosh (Regan Gurung): "How Do Students Really Study (and Does It Matter)?"

Want more examples?

Students exhibiting at last month's Academic Excellence Symposium addressed topics in social work, music, computing science, history, public affairs, human development (a particularly hot field) and others. For a complete list go to www.uwgb.edu/connect/AES2005.htm.