Vol. 37, No. 69, Feb. 13, 2006     /     Log Archive

This is the LOG newsletter for faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where we're monitoring news about the apparent quail-hunting mishap on a Texas ranch but will withhold comment until the professionals - Stewart, Letterman and Leno - have had a chance to sort it out. The buckshot stops here:

A Valentine for you: February issue of 'Inside UW-Green Bay'
Appearing in faculty/staff mailboxes tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 14) is the winter edition of the 'Inside UW-Green Bay' magazine. Tasty tidbits this issue:
   — Articles celebrating the successful launch of The Campaign for UW-Green Bay;
   — 'Sweet Life' features on alumni with careers to love;
   — A profile of dumpster-diving professor John Katers;
   — News of Distinguished, Outstanding award winners;
   — A short report on our cashless society;
   — And much more

Will new Les be more? Nobody could do more, but these four will try
Reminder: The four finalists to succeed Les Raduenz as facilities management director are on campus this week, and will make public presentations as follows, at 10:30 a.m. each day in MAC Hall Room 137:
Peter Bemis - Tuesday, February 14
Mark Keckeisen - Wednesday, February 15
Allen Behnke - Thursday, February 16
Christopher Hatfield - Friday, February 17
For resumes and more, click http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/logarchive/logarchive37/2006feb7.htm

Visiting professor hosts 'Evening in Jordan'
Prof. Ibtesam al-Atiyat, Fulbright Visiting Scholar, will present "An Evening in Jordan" from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20 in Phoenix Room C of the University Union. Al-Atiyat will take the audience - in words and pictures -to Jordan's most famous site, the city of Petra, as well as other locations that wouldn't be included on a typical tour. Topics touched upon will include Jordanian history, Middle Eastern cuisine, the tradition of coffee, tribal rituals, customs and clothing, arts and music, and Jordan's role in global politics. Guests can sample a Jordanian dessert during the Q&A after the presentation. "An Evening in Jordan" is sponsored by the Friends of the Cofrin Library. For more, click http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2006feb.htm#Jordan

Prairie expert will keynote UW-Green Bay gardening symposium
UW-Green Bay alumnus Neil Diboll, president of Prairie Nursery, Westfield, Wis., who got his start helping establish the Keith White Prairie on campus, will be the keynote speaker at a symposium, "Successful Gardening with Native Plants" from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 in Mary Ann Cofrin Hall. Registration for the workshop is available now. The one-day event, the fifth in an annual series of Thoughtful Gardener programs, is aimed at gardeners who want to explore benefits and "how-to's" of gardening in harmony with nature. Watch this space for more, or click now at http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2006feb.htm#garden

An opportunity for workstation assessment
An occupational therapist will be available for office workstation ergonomic assessments from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday, March 23, and 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday, March 27. The good news: There is no charge to your budgetary unit for this service. Anyone interested in having the therapist assess his or her workstation for ergonomic issues should contact Karen Barry in Business and Finance (Ext. 2699). Assessments will take about 15 minutes of your time. Although the assessment is provided at no cost to your department, suggested improvements will be the responsibility of the employee's budgetary unit. Based on past experience, most recommended improvements can be achieved with change in work practices, modification of existing work stations and / or modest investment for purchase of workstation accessories.

News from Regents meeting: non-rez tuition, executive pay
It was a newsy Friday at the monthly meeting of the UW System Board of Regents in Madison. Getting big coverage statewide were:
— A move to reduce "arbitrarily high" non-resident tuition to attract more out-of-state students; advocates of the change say even with the reduction, out-of-staters pay a higher share of instructional costs and thereby subsidize in-state tuition;
— A vote to increase executive pay ranges; proponents say chancellors' compensation has fallen embarrassingly below market while expectations only increase; Regents Axtell and Salas, especially, argue forcefully for the increases;
— Action to streamline the disciplinary process, an issue drawing recent attention as legislators and others complained professors convicted of serious felonies were kept on the UW payroll long after their criminal cases had been resolved.
UW System summaries are archived at http://www.wisconsin.edu/news/2006/r060210.htm

Huge night for Phoenix basketball
We haven't yet tried watching two games at once with the new video-streaming coverage of Phoenix basketball action, but tonight (Monday, Feb. 13) is the night to try. The women travel to UW-Milwaukee for a game that could decide who finishes first in the Horizon League and hosts the post-season tournament. The up-and-coming men's team hosts second-place Butler at the Resch. Each game tips at or around 7 p.m. If you're not going to the Resch, watch both at http://www.uwgb.edu/athletics/

Goff honored for 10 years with Voyageur
The Brown County Historical Society honored Victoria Goff at the Society's annual dinner meeting Sunday night for her accomplishments and 10 years of service to Voyageur magazine. Goff, who has been editor of the Northeastern Wisconsin historical publication since June 1995, is the longest-serving editor in Voyageur's 22-year history. Goff, associate professor and chair of Communication at UW-Green Bay, teaches writing, journalism and publications management and leads a travel study to Australia and New Zealand each year. She also is faculty adviser of the Fourth Estate, the UW-Green Bay student newspaper. Voyageur Publisher Bill Meindl said Goff has built on the historical magazine's strong tradition. "She took what already was a good historical publication and has made it even better," Meindl said.

Vote this Thursday in Study-Abroad Photo Contest
The Study Abroad Alumni Club and the Office of International Education invites the UW-Green Bay community to the annual Study Abroad Photo Contest. Students, academic staff, faculty and community members are all welcome to view photos and vote for their favorites snapshots from around the globe! Voting will take place in the Phoenix C room from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Thursday (Feb. 16). If you have questions about the contest, please contact the Study-Abroad Alumni Club at SAAC@uwgb.edu

Ajula Dance Troupe returns to UW-Green Bay
The Ajula Dance Troupe, a youth dance group associated with the Milwaukee Public Theatre, will offer drumming, dance, song and storytelling this Saturday (Feb. 18) at 4 p.m. in the Christie Theater in UW-Green Bay's University Union. The event is free and open to the public. See http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2006feb.htm#troupe

It's Family Weekend!
Friends and Family of current UW-Green Bay students have been invited to spend the weekend in town this Friday though Sunday (Feb. 17-19). It's Student Life's Family Weekend 2006. Common Grounds Coffeehouse hosts an acoustic concert Friday night; Saturday's events include the aforementioned Ajula performance, bowling, a Lambeau Field outing, Phoenix basketball, a craftsmaking fair, a Weidner Center show, and more; Sunday is the popular pancake-and-porkies breakfast. There's a full schedule at http://www.uwgb.edu/stulife/funstuff/specialevents/familyweekend/schedule.asp

Next cutoff date for Academic Staff development funds: April 21
The UW-Green Bay Academic Staff Professional Development Allocations Committee is happy to announce that funds remain available to assist academic staff in attending professional development meetings and programs. The next review date for requests is April 21. For more information on how to secure up to $500 in funding, please refer to the Request Form and Academic Staff Allocations Committee information found at http://www.uwgb.edu/hr/forms/index.asp?search=ASAC Questions? Contact any member of the Allocations Committee: Shane Kohl (chair), Juliet Cole, Lynn Niemi, Marlys Brunsting, and Anne Seidl.

Press-Gazette tips hat to UW-Green Bay student-athletes
The Green Bay Press-Gazette lauded the classroom achievements of UW-Green Bay student-athletes in a "quicktakes" editorial in today's edition. The newspaper said the University gets an A for the emphasis the athletics program places on classroom performance. To read the editorial, click http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060213/GPG06/602130465/1269/GPGopinion.

Web conference is postponed, re-scheduled
The GRC's web conference on U.S. Department of Education's Business and International Education Program, scheduled for February 16, has been postponed. It has been rescheduled for March 30 (Thursday), 1-3 CST in MAC-137. Details on this conference were listed in a previous LOG, at http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/logarchive/logarchive37/2006jan26.htm#research

Discussion of Michigan's economy sounds familiar
Sort of interesting, perhaps: Candidate Dick DeVos, running against incumbent Gov. Jennifer Granholm in the neighboring state of Michigan, is using language which parallels that of University officials here in Wisconsin arguing for reinvestment in this state's economy. DeVos points to talented individuals leaving Michigan because of job losses in automaking, manufacturing and other sectors. He tells voters, "I don't want to have to get on a plane to visit my grandchildren." Those who heard UW System President Kevin Reilly's address on campus in fall might recall similar sentiments:
"This state with a University of Wisconsin reduced in stature would be less of all those good things we want to be - we need to be. Unless we reverse the state's withdrawal of resources from the UW, that's where we're going. That's where our children and grandchildren will be. Or for some of them, maybe not, because they'll be in Minneapolis, or Chicago, or New York or California, or somewhere else where they've figured out how to use their public university to generate the knowledge-economy talent pool and the high-paying jobs those folks fill in a successful 21st century economy."

Adult Degree info sessions are this week
Reminder: Free informational sessions for working adults interested in the University's Adult Degree Programs are scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 18 at 9:30 a.m. at the UW-Green Bay Downtown Learning Center at Washington Commons. Know anyone who might be interested? Have them click http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2006feb.htm#adult

Entwistle is an impartial judge
In last week's LOG newsletter we mentioned that vocalist Megan LeCaptain and dancer Kailey Simon would be among those competing for scholarships this Saturday (Feb. 18) in the Miss Green Bay competition. We might also have noted that Theatre Prof. Jeff Entwistle is among those serving as volunteer judges this year. UW-Green Bay has a recent history of current students and alumni earning top honors in the competition.

State-law reminder on sexual assaults
All employees are required by law to report knowledge of sexual assaults on campus. The Wisconsin law states, "...any person employed at an institution or center who witnesses a sexual assault or receives a report from a student enrolled in the institution or center that the student has been sexually assaulted shall report to the dean of students of the institution..." This does not mean that you have to violate any confidences or provide names. It does mean that incidents are to be reported to the Dean of Students, ext. 2152.

Reminder: Aldrete uses 'Oxford Lecture' to tell Greek roots of Olympics
Prof. Greg Aldrete will open his classroom to the public for an illustrated lecture on The Ancient Greek Olympics at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15 in Wood Hall Room 213. See http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2006feb.htm#olympics

Reminder: 'The Trouble with TABOR'
Might sound like a cuddly, old-time Disney flick, but it's not. A public forum is scheduled for this Wednesday evening (Feb. 15) from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the lower-level meeting rooms of the Brown County Public Library, downtown. The event is sponsored by the non-partisan Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, which is organizing forums in communities statewide in response to some state legislators' interest in amending Wisconsin's constitution to set restrictions on local and state spending and taxation. Admission is free. All are invited.

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