Vol. 36, No. 84 / May 12, 2005

Studio Two becomes Jean Weidner Theatre this Sunday

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will honor the memory of its first "First Lady" with the naming and dedication of the Jean Weidner Theatre in the Edward W. Weidner Center for the Performing Arts. The theatre, formerly known as Studio Two, is an intimate classroom and performance space for the UW-Green Bay performing arts program. It will be formally renamed and dedicated on Sunday (May 15). A special plaque will be unveiled honoring the late Jean Weidner, a leading advocate of the arts, education, community involvement and UW-Green Bay's award-winning theatre program. See http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2005may.htm#dedication.

Noon dedication ceremony is open to campus community

Brief remarks by Chancellor Bruce Shepard and theatre Prof. Jeff Entwistle, and unveiling of a plaque will mark the formal dedication of the Jean Weidner Theatre (formerly Studio Two) on campus this weekend. The public portion of the program begins in the theatre at 12 p.m. (noon) Sunday the 15th.

Rain would precipitate two commencements

Be patient. A final decision might not come until 5 a.m. Saturday morning (May 14), at which time it will be posted on the commencement website at www.uwgb.edu/commencement. In the meantime, it remains the strong presumption that a single commencement ceremony will be held outdoors, if possible. Otherwise, the details of the backup plan involving two separate ceremonies in the Weidner Center, at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., are described at http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2005may.htm#rainsite.

Enrollments look strong for UW-Green Bay summer program

With the start of UW-Green Bay's summer program only 11 days away, enrollments for the revamped program are growing at an impressive pace. As of Wednesday afternoon, enrollment stood at 1,832 students, up 43 percent over the final enrollment for summer 2004. The number of student credit hours is at 5,691, up 45 percent from last year's final number. Registration for summer courses is still open. Additional registrations are expected primarily from incoming freshmen and Green Bay area students who attend college elsewhere but are home for the summer. UW-Green Bay's summer program is operating this year under a new and improved business model for handling tuition revenue and instructional expenses. It also has presumably benefited from a focused marketing and promotional campaign.

First session starts Monday, May 23

This year's summer program offers four, six and eight-week sessions. Four-week sessions run from May 23 to June 17, June 20 to July 15, and July 18 to August 12. The six-week session and an online session are June 20 to July 29. The eight-week session is June 20 to August 12. Course descriptions, schedules and other information about summer programs are available online at http://www.uwgb.edu/summercourses.

Promotional campaign reaches beyond current students

Because of changes in the revenue formula — changes that bring direct benefit to campus with higher summer enrollments — the University has upped the number of courses and sections offered (all on a pay-as-you-go basis) and is actively promoting Summer 2005. Promotion to this point has included:

• A full-page "ad" in the Inside UW-Green Bay magazine going to 15,000 alumni
• A revamped Website with a particular emphasis on new enrollees
• Flyers to Fall 2005 new freshmen encouraging them to consider value of an early start
• Taking advantage of existing communications with FOCUS students and parents
• Postcards to select local students, regardless of college attending, to look here
• New flyers (for online courses and Summer 2005) to current UW-Green Bay students
• Arranging for local and campus media coverage of Summer initiative
• Ads in UW campus newspapers where many students are from Green Bay area
• Promotion through the Alumni Association e-newsletter, various other campus newsletters

Speaking of that promotional campaign... it includes YOU

Know anybody who would benefit from earning college credits this summer? Encourage them to sign up: It's easy, with an especially large and attractive array of course offerings, and students need not be current UW-Green Bay students. An overview is at http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2005mar.htm#summer.

Shepard, Stoll mentioned in story on Green Bay/suburbs water dispute

Chancellor Bruce Shepard told the Green Bay Press-Gazette he thinks UW-Green Bay's expertise and mission should be tapped as Green Bay, Brown County suburbs and the city of Manitowoc wrangle over the issue of new Lake Michigan water pipelines. (Prof. John Stoll is already connected as a member of a three-person review team appointed by the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce). See http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_20899552.shtml.

Kingfisher Farm caretakers are 'thrust into the international spotlight'

Jon and Kandy Brouchoud, who manage UW-Green Bay's Kingfisher Farm Natural Area south of Manitowoc and live in the small home on the lakeshore site, are getting plenty of attention these days. Not for anything that involves Kingfisher directly, but for their efforts as home designers. Graduates of architecture and planning studies at UW-Milwaukee, the environmentally minded young couple submitted their "Nutri-house Concept" to a prestigious sustainable-design competition. The design was accepted... a network documentary is possible...it's big stuff... and they have told UWGB friends their winning design was influenced by their Kingfisher experience. See http://www.madison.com/tct/business/index.php?ntid=39500&ntpid=0.

More on UW System cars

If you've missed the media flare-up over the audit of UW System vehicle use — legislators were having a field day criticizing a decision made late in Katharine Lyall's tenure as president to provide a transportation stipend to System chancellors in place of fleet-car use — there's a lengthy and relatively balanced summary on the editorial page of the Racine Journal Times at http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/05/11/opinion/iq_3517692.txt. Madison news coverage is at http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=39488&ntpid=6.

Purchasing move

Purchasing and Accounts Payable is moving today (Thursday, May 12) and hopes to up and running in its new site by 9 a.m. Friday. They're in a portion of the former Wisconsin Public Television suite at IS 1038.

Phoenix softball team goes 1-1 in today's Horizon action

In its bid to become Horizon League champions, the No. 2 seeded Phoenix women's softball team defeated Wright State 2-0 this morning in its opening game of the 2005 Horizon League Championship, but lost 3-1 to Cleveland State this afternoon. The Phoenix will have to battle back through the "loser's" bracket beginning Friday (May 13), in the double elimination format, beginning with a game against either Youngstown State or Loyola at 11:30 a.m.

Follow the tourney results, pairings

The Phoenix hosts the entire tournament at the Ashwaubenon Sports Complex. The championship will be decided Saturday. To follow the action, and for updated times and pairings, go to http://horizonleague.collegesports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/05-softbl-championship.html.

Noteworthy: Another coach of the year

Jean Rivett, head coach of the UW-Green Bay softball team, was the fourth Phoenix coach this academic year to receive Horizon League Coach of the Year accolades. In just one season, she led the Phoenix to a remarkable turnaround and a second place regular-season conference finish. She joins Kevin Borseth (women's basketball), Jim Merner (swimming and diving) and Shaun Rezachek (golf) in receiving the prestigious honor this year.

Thank you, Lance Merker, whoever you are

Finally, from the Interesting Statistics Department: Higher education Web sites make up less than .01 percent of all Web sites, yet account for more than 2.5 percent of all available Web content, according to an analysis by WebsiteASP, Inc., an application service provider. On average, higher education institutions average 250 times more pages than the average site on the Web. "Looking at these statistics--excluding only the largest e-commerce and media-related sites--it has become evident that there are no harder working content managers than those at colleges and universities today," said Lance Merker, president of WebsiteASP, Inc. Thanks, Lance, and thanks, Paula, for passing this along.

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