Investigators were searching for a cause and UW-Green Bay officials began preparing loss estimates Saturday after fire gutted the main storage shed within the Physical Plant complex. The fire was reported at about 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Green Bay Fire Department units battled the blaze, which is believed to have started inside the building, for almost four hours. No one was injured. The shed, the brown metal pole building located nearest to South Circle Drive and just west of the Stores/Physical Plant headquarters building, housed equipment and nearly a dozen light vehicles including tractors, skid loaders and small utility trucks used in grounds and maintenance work. If the contents and building are a total loss, as appeared possible Saturday, damage estimates would easily surpass several hundred thousand dollars, given the loss of vehicles alone. While no heavy snow-plowing equipment was affected by the fire, an immediate concern will be replacing the light vehicles used in sweeping paths and areas near buildings. UW-Green Bay's Safety and Risk Office was in contact Saturday with UW System risk management and insurance representatives regarding the loss.

It brings nearly a million dollars per year to the University, is a key component of Plan 2008 for diversity, and is a major force in extending college opportunities for disadvantaged students. "It" is the package of federal programs known as "TRIO," and next Saturday (Feb. 26) marks the start of a national campaign to promote awareness of the program. Watch for more in next week's LOG ONline, including an update on TRIO's status at UW-Green Bay, a report on last year's expansion of the Upward Bound program, and a welcome for its new director.

The number of Menominee County, Mich. residents who take advantage of a partial tuition waiver has increased over the past three years, recent reports show. The agreement involving UW-Green Bay and UW College-Marinette makes the cost of tuition here $2,346 per semester for Menominee residents who use the waiver. That's higher than the $1,575 in tuition and fees paid by Wisconsin residents, but much lower than the $5,000 or so charged of most out-of-state students. The program was initiated, in part, to assist Menominee County students (who benefit from reduced or resident tuition their first two years at Marinette) in finishing their bachelor's degrees 50 miles down the road at UW-Green Bay. Since fall of 1997, 46 students have used the tuition waiver.

Congratulations to the coaches and players of the Phoenix women's basketball team, who took command of the MCC race with a commanding 75-64 win over UW-Milwaukee before an overflow crowd of 1,500 at the Phoenix Sports Center on Saturday. The first-place Phoenix hit the road with a pair of games in Chicago this week before closing out the regular season with games a week from Thursday, and Saturday, at the PSC. Their conference tournament is March 10-12 in Detroit.

The UW System Institute on Race and Ethnicity has awarded three Faculty Reading Seminar Grants to UW-Green Bay. The seminars focus on one or two books with racial/ethnic themes. The first grant went to Hye-Kyung Kim, HUS, and E. Nicole Meyer, HUS, for their proposal including the books The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama and Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. Participants include Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges (URS), Michael Wreen of Marquette Univeristy, Margaret Gonzalez, community member, and students Brent Schroeder, Donna Kaminski, Angela Olson and Renee Wotachek.

Reading Seminar Grant (2 of 3)

Also receiving a reading seminar grant was a group headed by Donna Rich (HUB) on the book The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing by Lori Arviso Alvord and Elizabeth C. Van Pelt. Participants for this proposal are Angela Bauer-Dantoin (HUB), Jane Rank, Safety, community member Margaret Davenport and students Cindy Splett, Michelle Cullen and Lisa Schneider.

Reading Seminar Grant (3 of 3)

The third proposal was submitted by Regan Gurung (HUD) and includes the books Guns, Germs and Steel: the Fate of Human Societies by Jared Diamond, Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South by Hale Grace and Because it is Bitter and Because it is My Heart by Joyce Carol Oates. Participants include Andrew Fiala (HUS), Aeron Haynie (HUS), Jennifer Snyder-Duch (Com Proc), Martha Ahrendt (Art History) and community members Mary Blahnik, Lori Legois, John Pennington, Chico Ramirez, and Lise Ramirez.

"Watching Trees Move: Measuring and Modeling the Spatial Dispersion of Tree Species" is the topic of a presentation by scientist Eric Ribbens (Class of '86, now at Western Illinois University) at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, in LS 224. His research focuses on how plants get distributed and established, and the implications of limitations of those processes on plant populations, particularly for rare plant species. The free event is supported by the annual heirloom plant sale.

A presentation on how law enforcement is changing to address school safety is the focus of a breakfast forum on campus Wednesday (Feb. 23). The Outreach and Extension program features Appleton Police Chief Richard Meyers, moderator Sue Todey of the Green Bay schools, and local law enforcement leaders James Lewis and Tom Hinz as panelists. Call Outreach, ext. 2480, if interested.

What's Shakin' with Shakespeare?, Got Paint?, Fairy Tales, What Happens After I Flush? Come On Over, Rover!, Exploring Outer Space, Creations With Clay and Hands-on Rocketry are just a few of the classes offered by UW-Green Bay's Summer Discovery Program. Registrations for this program for pre-k, elementary, and middle school students are now being accepted. Children may register for one or two classes per day, either morning or afternoon, or both. Each class will last two hours and 30 minutes each day for five days. The cost of each class is $58 ($60 for Pre-Discovery). For more information, call ext. 2775.

The Brown County Association for Retarded Citizens is holding an information session about its Citizen Advocacy Program, which fosters mentoring relationships between people with disabilities and individual volunteers. The meeting will be held before the Green Bay Gamblers game on March 1 at 6 p.m. at the Arena. Seating for the game is free, but limited. You can register to attend by calling Sue Premo (Class of '86) at 498-2599 ext. 339.

UW-Green Bay will be a site for testimony at 4 p.m. Monday (Feb. 21) on passenger rail service in Wisconsin. The videoconference site is IS 1034.

Freshman and Theater scholarship recipient Shayne Steliga has received word that his original one-act play, "Blood Stain," is a winner in the Wauwatosa Playhouse one-act competition and will be produced at the Playhouse on April 7, 8, 14, and 15.

Publications by Ismail Shariff, URS, include "The Emerging Global Economy and the Developing Countries" and "Dimensions of Agricultural Development". These articles were in the International Journal of Development Planning and the Economic Planning Journal, respectively.

John R. Stoll, PEA, is co-author of "A Longitudinal Perspective on the Social and Economic Characteristics of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico Charter and Party Boat Industry" in Proceedings of the Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute.

The poster for last season's production of Lysistrata won a Citation of Excellence in the "Advertising for the Arts" category in the 1999 Northeastern Wisconsin American Advertising Awards competition. Toni Damkoehler, events coordinator for Performing Arts, COA, did the illustration and designed the poster.

LOG ONline is prepared for University of Wisconsin-Green Bay faculty and staff by the Office of Marketing and University Communication. To submit a Brief, a Publication, a news item, an announcement, or just plain feedback, UW-Green Bay employees can call ext. 2626 or e-mail us at Log@uwgb.edu.