Vol. 39, No. 124, May 30, 2008     /     Log Archive

Today is Friday, May 30. For more than a century May 30 was widely known as "Decoration Day," until an act of Congress codified the celebration of Memorial Day on the last Monday of May, starting in 1971. Actually, every day is a good day to honor the service members — soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen and women — who have fought and died defending the United States. In news now:

Remembering Dorothy Blair (1921-2008)
Word has been received from Naples, Fla., of the death of philanthropist and friend of the university Dorothy Blair. She died May 20 after a short illness, at age 87. Mrs. Blair and her late husband, John P. Blair, were devoted friends of the University of Wisconsin and its Green Bay campus. Their generosity is visible on the landscape — the bronze "Doe with Fawns" sculpture by renowned wildlife artists William and David Turner at the Nicolet Entrance — but especially in the academic enterprise at UW-Green Bay. In October 2003, Mrs. Blair announced a $1.5 million gift with the family foundation to create this institution's first endowed chair, the John P. Blair Endowed Chair in Communication today held by Prof. Timothy Meyer. It was and is the largest single academic gift to UW-Green Bay not related to facilities. Throughout her lifetime, Mrs. Blair was a generous philanthropist, both locally and nationally, and the Minnesota native was an avid golfer, skilled pianist and devoted supporter of wildlife and conservation causes. She is survived by a brother, Dr. Robert W. Rieman of Waterford, Mich.; her sister, Marilyn Laurion of Madison, Wis.; and partner and friend John Graham of Naples. Fuller Funeral Home of Naples was in charge of arrangements. It is expected a memorial service will be held in November.

Shepard recalls Mrs. Blair as 'visionary' supporter
UW-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard expressed his sadness at the passing of Mrs. Dorothy R. Blair. He noted that Dorothy and her late husband, John P. Blair, were among the first to receive UW-Green Bay's highest community honor, the Chancellor's Award, in 1972. Shepard recalls a lunch with Mrs. Blair several years ago at which she related memories of her first visit in the late 1960s when Founding Chancellor Edward Weidner showed the Blairs the "field of dreams" that would soon become a university campus. Comments Shepard today, "Dorothy and John, looking at those open fields and dreaming great dreams, were able to foresee what was to come in much the same way Ed Weidner did. They, too, were visionaries. The Blairs believed in our cause, our calling, and took a position at the forefront in making those dreams reality. UW-Green Bay is forever indebted to them. We mourn the passing of Dorothy R. Blair."

History of Blair legacy at UW-Green Bay
Newcomers to campus might recognize the name from the professorship, or from the boardroom portrait of John P. Blair at the foot of MAC Hall's main staircase. John Blair was a broadcast-advertising titan of the mid-20th century who had strong UW ties. For the "back story," revisit the news release archive for the announcement of the Blair Professorship in 2003.
http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/archive/2003oct.htm#blair2

Search committee will be announced Monday
We thought today (Friday) would be the day UW System announced appointment of the search and screen committee to help identify the next chancellor for UW-Green Bay. Not so fast. (Maybe Brett Favre is reconsidering his deal as one of three "community reps" unless he can do it by cell phone from his tractor. Somebody check Chris Mortensen's answering machine.) Anyway, we'll have the real news next week.

Sanders grabs CASE national honors with 'South Park' parody
Todd Sanders, Student Affairs webmaster, has been selected to receive a silver medal in the 2008 Circle of Excellence Awards Program sponsored by CASE (the Council for Advancement and Support of Education). Fifty-seven entries were judged nationally and the silver medal was awarded in the Electronic Media: General Information Features category for the "South Circle — The South Park Parody" episode of last year's Stuff2Do, a video-blog calendar. It's archived at http://www.uwgb.edu/stulife/s2d/07sep19-30.asp.

Come visit the AIC staff in their new digs
The American Intercultural Center has moved to the University Union Room 150. Their new suite mate is the Office of Student Life. Come visit at the new location! Questions? Call 465-2720.

Summer fitness classes! Start now at the Kress!
Fitness coordinator Dianne Bornhoft-Blanch at the Kress Events Center shares the following schedule:

MWF, 7 to 7:45 a.m., Yoga
MWF, 7:45 to 8:45 a.m., Aqua Cardio Toning
MW, 12:05 to 12:50 p.m., Pilates

Pilates starts on Monday (June 2) and continues every Monday and Wednesday to Aug. 27. Yoga and Aqua Cardio Toning are currently running. Classes are held at the Kress Events Center in the aerobics room, and the pool. The classes are free to those with memberships. Memberships are free to students; faculty and staff memberships are $22 per month or $215 per year.

Shorewood's Thursday lunches again generate funds for staff development
The Shorewood Golf Course clubhouse has agreed to offer a series of lunch fundraisers that will run Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. starting this month (May 2008). Shorewood will serve its regular menu along with a special on each date with 10% of all proceeds going to the fundraiser. The funds will supplement current funds for ongoing education, training, and other activities set up for all Classified Staff employees. The Classified Staff Advisory Council is a co-sponsor.

Tears of joy in Green Bay: The Phoenix has landed
R. Aileen Yingst shed tears of joy when NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander touched down safely Sunday on the surface of the red planet. "It was very exciting. I feel for all those people and the hardware they worked on," Yingst told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Earlier this year, Yingst, a planetary geologist and director of Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium headquartered at UW-Green Bay, was part of an all-female team to control NASA's Rover Spirit as it roamed the surface of Mars. Read more here: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080526/GPG0101/805260532/1978/GPGlife.

TV's Korman a Green Bay favorite
News that comic actor Harvey Korman died Thursday at age 81 brings back memories. Press-Gazette columnist Warren Gerds describes the Emmy award winner's local ties — and recalls a sold-out Weidner Center show (with partner Tim Conway) — at http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080530/GPG05/80530019/1978/GPGnews.

Smaller (or delayed) raises for some University and state workers
Wisconsin Public Radio reported earlier this week on the revised pay plan for state employees. UW faculty and academic staff and nonunion state workers will receive a 1 percent raise on July 6 and a 2 percent increase June 2009; before the latest fiscal concerns, that order would have been 2 percent now, 1 percent later. Scan down the list at http://www.wpr.org/news/newsheadlines.cfm.

Shepard remarks on raise situation
In a campuswide e-mail, Chancellor Bruce Shepard weighed in on the Joint Committee on Employment Relations approval in flip-flopping faculty and academic staff pay raise dates. "Whatever the timing, the percentage adjustments are woefully inadequate. The committee's action in delaying the bulk of the increase is further discouraging news. Overall, the decision not to address the need for competitive salaries will have a negative impact on our efforts to keep and also recruit the outstanding caliber of people we have at UW-Green Bay and at other campuses in the UW System. It comes at precisely the time when we should be investing in those entities that can help our region and state reach their vast potential," Shepard wrote.

Cornell provost to lead UW-Madison
Cornell University Provost Carolyn 'Biddy' Martin will be the next chancellor at UW-Madison, UW System officials announced this week. Martin has been on the Cornell faculty since 1985 and for the last eight years was the Ivy League school's chief academic and chief operations officer. "I am thrilled to be recommended as the next chancellor of UW-Madison, one of the world's truly great public universities and my graduate alma mater," Martin said. The Board of Regents is expected to act on the appointment at its June meeting. Her vita is available at http://www.chancellorsearch.wisc.edu/docs/Martin.pdf.

Journal-Sentinel lays out challenges for new UW-Madison chancellor
The state's largest newspaper outlines the challenge ahead. "Some have claimed the job of chancellor of UW-Madison is second only to the governor in importance to the state's livelihood. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps. But not by much." Read more at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=756366.

Some see hiring as milestone for diversity
The University of Wisconsin-Madison and its chancellor-designate aren't making a big deal out of it, but gay rights observers and others are noting that it is believed the UW is set to become the biggest university to have an openly gay leader. The Green Bay Press-Gazette played the AP story at http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080530/GPG0101/805300611/1207/GPG01.

UW-Madison to revisit raising engineering tuition
A hot topic lately concerns the Board of Regents' upcoming vote on a proposal to raise tuition for UW-Madison engineering students. Click http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080529/GPG0101/805290670/1207/GPG01.

Decker: Blame UW-L for financial aid problems
Hmmmm. Influential State Sen. Russ Decker fired off a guest column to the La Crosse newspaper saying an editorial mis-characterized the reasons the Legislature did not approve UW-La Crosse's proposal to use revenue generated from a tuition increase for financial aid. Click http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/05/29/opinion/editorial/01guest29.txt.

Briefs
Marlys Brunsting, coordinator of library automation at the Cofrin Library, has published "Reference Staffing: Common Practices of Medium-Sized Academic Libraries," in volume 18 number 2 of The Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, a special issue on common practices.

On May 16, Prof. Meir Russ of the UW-Green Bay management faculty, along with Riccardo Paterni (a UW-Green Bay alumnus and founder and president of Professione Lavoro), and Jeff Pallini (president, Fosber America, Inc.) taught a five-hour videoconference seminar for graduate students and business professionals enrolled in the University of Pisa's "Governance e Strategia Aziendale" master's program. The seminar, "Knowledge Management Applied to After Sales Service," was supported by the UW-Green Bay Professional Programs in Business.

You can submit material for inclusion to the Office of Marketing and University Communication at Log@uwgb.edu. Past issues are achived at http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/logarchive/logarch.htm.