Vol. 38, No. 72, March 8, 2007     /     Log Archive

Today is Thursday, March 8, and an early getaway day for those taking spring-break vacations. Us? Staying right here for slush-melt season, grateful for the slight warmup, and delighted the frost is finally leaving the walls of the long, inclined tunnel (often as cold as an indoor luge track) which connects the Library and Rose Hall. In warm and cheery news today:

Capital Campaign yielding new student scholarships
A Web site to debut March 19 will spotlight the generosity of donors who have created more than a dozen new scholarship endowments in the past year alone. Expanding student scholarship offerings is a focus of The Campaign for UW-Green Bay, the institution's comprehensive, $25 million capital campaign. Look for a new scholarship/donor story each week, prominently visible and accessible from the main homepage at www.uwgb.edu.

Profs. Joan, Mike Thron endow scholarship as tribute to friend, colleague
Made public today are details of UW-Green Bay's newest student scholarship, the Julie Brickley Memorial Scholarship, created with a five-figure gift from Profs. Emeriti Joan and Michael Thron. The Throns were longtime friends and academic colleagues of Brickley, an award-winning professor who passed away in 1998. The memorial fund will provide for at least $500 in scholarship assistance to be awarded annually to a continuing student or students. In tribute to Brickley, who began her UW-Green Bay career as an English instructor in 1967 and championed the University's writing-across-the-curriculum initiative, the Throns have designated that recipients be chosen by the Composition Program. Applicants may come from any academic major. The foremost criterion is "significant interest in writing as a way of learning and of sharing knowledge, in any discipline."

Quote from the Throns
"Julie Brickley believed passionately that language lived at the heart of learning in every discipline. She brought its joy and beauty to her daily teaching and its analytical precision to her work as a scholar and university committee member. Her distinctive, ink-penned commentary on thousands of student papers took each writer deeper into the subject at hand. We remember, with gratitude, her encouragement, her intelligence, and her enthusiasm for living."

Brickley remembered as devoted teacher, founder of Women's Studies program
The new Julie Brickley Memorial Scholarship honors a founding UW-Green Bay faculty member who retired in 1992 following a distinguished 25-year career. Brickley, a specialist in literature and women's studies, received the Founders Award for Excellence in Teaching and won praise for her warmth, sincerity and rapport with students both inside and outside the classroom. She was founder and chairperson of the Women's Studies program. Having started pursuit of her own academic career at mid-life, she was an advocate for both returning adult students and the causes of equal pay and wider career opportunities for women. She chaired the Faculty Senate in 1990-91, and helped introduce the University's writing-across-the-curriculum initiative. Brickley died at her home in Sturgeon Bay in 1998, at age 72, following a brief illness.

Need for scholarships
Building the University's scholarship endowment for deserving students is a focus of The Campaign for UW-Green Bay. Worth noting:

• UW-Green Bay's current scholarship endowment, still relatively modest, results in qualified students (both freshman and continuing) being shut out.

• Total debt is on the rise for graduating seniors — two-thirds have student loan debt.

• Financial need, already great, will be greater still if the University succeeds in reaching out to traditionally under-served, first-generation and low-income populations.

Hammersmith a finalist for Eastern Illinois post
UW-Green Bay Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Sue K. Hammersmith is a finalist for the presidency of Eastern Illinois University. The university, located in Charleston, Ill., announced today (March 8) that Hammersmith is one of three candidates to replace Louis V. Hencken, who will retire in June. Campus visits and interviews are scheduled for later this month. Eastern Illinois is an institution of approximately 10,000 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students.

Grosso's 'Life in Music' is topic of next downtown program
A distinguished music educator, composer and percussionist will discuss the rigor and rewards of a life in music in the next lecture in UW-Green Bay's "Downtown Third Thursdays" series. Frankenthal Prof. Cheryl Grosso will talk Thursday (March 15) about "A Musical Journey for Life," from 3:40 to 4:20 p.m. at the Baylake Bank Learning Center, 301 N. Adams St. For more, click http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2007mar.htm#downtown.

Doyle visits for Phuture Phoenix experience
First Lady Jessica Doyle observed UW-Green Bay students in action as Phuture Phoenix mentors at Washington Middle School, Green Bay, on Wednesday (March 7). Governor Jim Doyle has acknowledged the Phuture Phoenix program as a model for his "Wisconsin Covenant" proposal to boost college participation rates. "Much of what we're doing here is modeled after what has been done in Green Bay," the governor has said.

Need project-management pointers? SBDC has 'em
The UW-Green Bay Small Business Development Center is offering a two-day program, March 27 and 28, on techniques used by professional project managers. For more, click http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2007mar.htm.

A national coach-of-the-year honor for a UW-Green Bay alumnus
Tony Bennett, Class of '92, Humanistic Studies, and a strong candidate for consensus NCAA Division I coach-of-the-year honors, is already the recipient of one such national honor: Basketball Times magazine announced its choice this week. Also, Bennett was officially named PAC-10 coach of the year. His Washington State team is 24-6 and ranked 11th in the nation entering the league's post-season tournament tonight.

*****

Tony and Dick (it used to be "Dick and Tony," remember?) are the subjects of a lengthy sports feature in this week's Los Angeles Times at http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dwyre6mar06,1,7924069.column?page=1&coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true.

Opening-round win for No. 22 Phoenix
The UW-Green Bay women's basketball team (26-3) kept on track for the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with an 81-58 quarterfinal victory over Detroit at the Phoenix Sports Center last night. For a game recap, click http://uwgbathletics.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/030707aaa.html.

Times set for semifinals, finals at Phoenix Sports Center
By virtue of their Wednesday night win, their 23rd straight, the Phoenix women have earned the right to host the final two rounds of the Horizon League post-season tournament. In Friday's semifinals, top seed UW-Green Bay will host dangerous UW-Milwaukee (No. 4) in the late game at 7:30 p.m. No. 2 seed UIC will face No. 3 seed Butler at 5 p.m. The championship and automatic bid to the NCAAs will be decided two days later, at noon CDT Sunday. The Horizon's Web page has all details at http://horizonleague.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/07-hori-w-baskbl-tourney.html.

No. 1 in the nation... in free throw shooting
What makes a team great? Accurate free-throw shooting, for one thing. The UW-Green Bay women's basketball team entered play this week as the top FT-shooting school in the nation — at an incredible 81.1 percent. How good is that? It was within a tenth of a point or two of equaling college basketball's all-time, single-season accuracy mark. (An uncharacteristic 14-for-21 night vs. Detroit, still better than most, has since lowered the average to a still-amazing 80.4%.)

Next game, too, to be televised on Time Warner state sports channel
First things first: Brian Nicol is bar none, the best color analyst we've heard do a college basketball game all year. (His UW-Green Bay communications coursework and experience as a former Phoenix SID definitely contributed to an impressive debut with Wednesday night's quarterfinal opener.) That said, Time Warner's state sports network (on Cable 32 in the Green Bay area) will again carry Horizon League action Friday night. Sunday's title game will be available only to satellite subscribers of ESPN-U.

Under pressure: Phoenix no shoe-in for a bid
UW-Green Bay might need to win the league tourney for a berth in the NCAA Division I women's basketball field. That's the gist, anyway, of a Press-Gazette article from yesterday. Despite a 23-game winning streak and a Top 25 ranking, the team might find its achievements discounted by the complicated computer formula that helps the NCAA selection committee make its at-large invites. A down year for UW-Green Bay's conference, the Horizon League, lowers the Phoenix's so-called "power rating." Click http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/GPG020101/703070613/1229.

More LOG Friday...
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