Vol. 37, No. 114, May 25, 2006     /     Log Archive

This is the Log newsletter, distributed to faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. We pose the question of the day to music legend Bob Dylan: How does it feel…to turn 65? A belated happy birthday wish to Mr. Dylan, who celebrated his 65th birthday Wednesday. Yes, the times they are a-changin’. We now turn to other news of interest to Dylan fans and non-fans across campus.

McCartney, Vespia are ‘Featured Faculty’ for 2005-06
Don McCartney, a senior lecturer in Business Administration, and Kristin Vespia, an assistant professor of Human Development, won Featured Faculty Awards for the 2005-06 academic year. The awards given by the Faculty Development Council recognize consistent records of exemplary teaching and serve to showcase that teaching. Read more about the awards and award winners at http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2006may.htm#featured.

New emphasis in Adult Degree Programs
UW-Green Bay’s Adult Degree Programs will offer a new emphasis in Organizational Communication to better serve students and local employers. The emphasis in the Interdisciplinary Studies major will focus on effective communication with co-workers, customers, clients and others with whom employers and employees interact. Students will learn how to integrate cutting-edge communication practices into their professional lives and organizations. For more detail about the new emphasis, click http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2006may.htm#adultdegree.

News from the heirloom sale is good
Last Saturday’s heirloom vegetable plant sale in the Laboratory Sciences greenhouse was a success, reports coordinator Vicki Medland. Eager gardeners bought 3,200 tomato plants and 1,400 peppers. Even so, enough plants were left late in the day that latecomers still felt they had a selection to choose from. Plants left after the sale were put to good use. They’ve been donated to the Green Bay Botanical Garden for its heirloom garden demonstration plots, the Brown County Extension tomato trial garden, the Brown County Community Garden Program and the Oneida Community garden.

Let Medland know your vegetable choices…
Medland invites gardeners to let her know if there are particular varieties of tomatoes and peppers they want in 2007 that weren’t available this year. “I am already planning to offer purple tomatillos, more Boxcar Willie tomatoes, and will do my best to search out the elusive Czechoslovakian tomato,” she reports. She’s also planning to offer more of the early bearing heirlooms.

…and how your early tomatoes perform
Medland also invites reports on gardeners’ experiences with the early ripening heirloom tomatoes. “If people bought Manitoba, Siberian, Legend or Sub-Arctic Plenty, I would love to get an e-mail about how they did this summer,” she says. The e-mail address is medlandv@uwgb.edu.

Text of commencement speech is on Web
Spring 2006 commencement speaker Martin H. Greenberg’s words of wisdom for UW-Green Bay graduates are now available online. Greenberg, professor emeritus of Urban and Regional Studies, told graduates May 13 to “go out and create the future.” To read Greenberg’s commencement address, click http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/page/thenews.htm#greenberg.

UW-Green Bay has ties to Peace Corps project in Niger
Sherry Lacenski, assistant director and textbook manager of the Phoenix Bookstore, is assisting her daughter, Pita, in raising money for a well project in Tassobon, a village in Niger on the African continent. The project is part of Pita Lacenski’s work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger. Dan Moore, Outreach and Extension, has pitched in by designing a Web site for the project. To visit the Web site and learn more about the Tassobon well project, go to http://www.tassobonwellproject.org/.

Newspapers comment on free UW tuition for veterans
Daily newspapers in eastern Wisconsin commented this week on a bill to provide free tuition for Wisconsin veterans at all UW campuses and state technical colleges. The way these newspapers see it, the bill is a positive step. However, they also said the Legislature should not offset the lost tuition revenue by raising tuition for other students. To read an editorial in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, click http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/GPG06/605230451/1269. The Sheboygan Press also weighed in on the tuition issue at http://sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/SHE06/605220373/1109/SHEopinion.

Flags to be flown at half-staff Friday, Monday
Gov. Jim Doyle has directed that the U.S. and Wisconsin flags be flown at half-staff at all state buildings, grounds and military installations Friday, May 26 beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset. This will be done as a mark of respect for Specialist Grant Dampier of the U.S. Army who lost his life on May 15 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Gov. Doyle also directed that U.S. and state flags be flown at half-staff Monday, May 29 from sunrise until 12 p.m. in recognition of Memorial Day, remembering the brave men and women that served our country in the armed forces who, thoughout the nation’s history, have laid down their lives in defense of the United States of America.

High school graduates see new options
A trend toward more education for high school graduates continues, but those graduates should keep all their options open. So says a story that ran this week in the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Experts on the workplace and careers, including UW-Green Bay Career Services Director Linda Peacock-Landrum, tell students how to prepare for the future in the story, which is online at http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060524/GPG0101/605240666/1207/GPGnews.

Admissions story leads to controversy
A story about potential changes in UW System admission practices is drawing reaction from Gov. Jim Doyle and others, including Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green. The story, first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, says the System is changing its policies to consider race, income and other non-academic qualities of applicants. However, UW-Green Bay officials say the story includes some misleading information. They note that a System committee does not change admissions requirements (that happens at the campus level) and that non-academic considerations, including diversity and students’ special talents, are not new in the admissions process. They also say UW-Green Bay has no intention of turning down academically well-qualified students. The latest story on the admissions issue is at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=427256.

Retired Stout official says communicators not to blame
Last week, the Log reported the departure of several longtime officials in the UW System’s communication and university relations offices. John Enger, retired executive director of university relations at UW-Stout, responded to the development with a newspaper column in which he says “killing the communicators” will not solve the System’s problems. The column is online at http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=84908&ntpid=0.

Hutchison helps explain decline of service clubs
With involvement in service clubs declining nationwide, the Green Bay Press-Gazette went looking for reasons why. Ray Hutchison, UW-Green Bay professor of Urban and Regional Studies, provided some of the answers. To read the Press-Gazette story and Hutchison’s comments, click http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060519/GPG0101/605190556/1207.

Nordic skier honored for academic success
Congratulations to UW-Green Bay senior Nordic skier Johanna Winters, who has been named to the 2006 ESPN the Magazine’s Academic All-District V At-Large First Team. Winters, an art major with a 3.98 grade-point average, is the fifth Phoenix student-athlete selected to an academic all-district team during the 2005-06 school year. A news release about Winters’ academic honor is online at http://www.uwgb.edu/athletics/offthefield/052506.asp.

Schedules announced for men’s, women’s soccer teams
The 2006 schedules for the UW-Green Bay Phoenix men’s and women’s soccer teams show seven home contests for the men and nine home games for the women. More information about the fall soccer schedules for the Phoenix men’s and women’s teams is available on the UW-Green Bay Athletics Web site at http://www.uwgb.edu/athletics/.

Weidner Center has offer for faculty, staff on Albom tickets
The Weidner Center announced today an opportunity for UW-Green Bay faculty and staff to buy tickets to see best-selling author Mitch Albom at the Weidner on Sunday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. Faculty and staff may purchase tickets at half off the full ticket prices. To take advantage of the ticket discount, buy tickets at the ticket office window or over the phone at (800) 328-8587. For more information about Albom’s appearance at the Weidner, click http://www.weidnercenter. com/weidnermain/bellin+health+lifelines/bio-mitchalbom.asp.

Common Grounds hours through June 15
It won’t be open through the long holiday weekend, but the popular Common Grounds Coffeehouse resumes its late-spring schedule Tuesday. Serving a full coffee menu and limited bakery and sandwich options, Common Grounds will be open through Thursday June 15. Its hours are Monday (except May 29) through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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