Good News
Wisconsin at the Olympics
The extraordinary array of world-class talent at the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City included a good-sized delegation from UW-La Crosse. They were there running a venue, providing healthcare, and doing research.
One of those present was Carl Foster, professor of exercise and sport science, who was invited by the International Olympic Committee to conduct research on performance of the long-track skaters. Foster has been involved with speed skating since 1979, learning how those elite athletes perform and how they can perform better. He and John Porcari received a grant from the International Olympic Committee to look at pacing patterns and power production among long-track speed skating athletes.
“At higher altitude there are fewer air molecules for wind resistance, so a skater can pour his or her power into the start and almost coast to the finish, while at lower altitude with more air molecules, he or she must reserve strength for the finish,” Foster says.
Foster who works with the U.S. Speed Skating team says, “I don’t coach the athletes, I coach the coaches.”
Wisconsin skaters won three of the 8 medals in speed skating.
UW Student Paper Awards
Student newspapers at UW-Madison (Badger Herald, Daily Cardinal) and UW-Platteville (Exponent) have won a number of awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for excellence in general reporting and photography and sports reporting. Our student newspapers are important teaching and learning opportunities for our students to learn about the complexity of issues, the need to check facts, and business practices.
New Learning Innovations Leadership
David J. Ward will complete his tenure as interim director of UW Learning Innovations on March 15. UW-Extension, UW System, and UWLI are indebted to Dave for his calm, assuring guidance, his wise counsel, and his fiscal acumen. During Dave’s tenure, UWLI on-line enrollments grew 50%, its dotORG services were re-focused and reinvigorated, and its relationships with key stakeholders and potential partners were substantially strengthened. The new LI Director, Barbara Emil, comes to us as former director of University of Florida’s statewide virtual university. We look forward to her leadership of this important UW enterprise.
UW-Madison Number in Peace Corps
The U.S. Peace Corps has just announced that UW-Madison ranks No. 1 in current Peace Corps volunteers, with 96 serving alumni; this is 20 more than the No. 2 university, University of Michigan. Since inception of the program in 1961, Madison has provided 2,473 volunteers who serve and return with a wealth of knowledge about foreign languages, economies, and cultures. We can be very proud of this record.
Petretti Fieldhouse Links Region
The new Petretti Fieldhouse at UW-Parkside is serving as a genuine regional center. Recently, the Kenosha Expo moved its annual Chamber of Commerce event to the Fieldhouse and drew a crowd twice as large as last year. We anticipate similar use of the Fieldhouse by Racine organizations. Credit for creating this facility goes to Regent Alfred De Simone, Chancellor Jack Keating, and Acting Chancellor Gordon Lamb, all of who kept the dream alive to completion.
Saludos Hispanos Award to UW System
I’m pleased to tell you that Saludos Hispanos has named the UW System as one of the nation’s 100 top educational opportunities for Hispanics, by “providing high standards of education, career planning, and counseling to Hispanic students.” Systemwide, our institutions enrolled 3,058 Hispanic students, and more than 800 new Hispanic freshmen this year. Our listing on the Saludos Hispanos website should raise the visibility of UW for Hispanic students nationally.
Record Numbers of UW-Milwaukee Students Study Abroad
UWM’s overseas programs are enjoying unprecedented enrollment. During the UWinteriM short term in January, 69 students participated in study abroad programs-more than double the previous year. Spring semester, 156 UWM students will be studying in Paris, London, Dublin, Santiago, and in partnership institutions throughout the world. So far, that’s a 71% increase from 2001. As a result of increased funding available for these programs, faculty are designing and leading more overseas academic programs this year than in the university’s
history. New scholarship opportunities such as the Wisconsin grant also are making it easier for students to study overseas. Another new source of funding for short-term study abroad programs is the bachelor’s degree in global studies (BAGS), which is being developed as part of The Milwaukee Idea’s Global Passports initiative. Plans are under way for UWM faculty to direct fifteen study abroad programs this summer.
UW-Milwaukee Aids Low-Income Taxpayers at Clinic
Low-income taxpayers needing help with a federal income tax notice or IRS audit can get free advice at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC). Translation services in Spanish and Hmong also are offered free of charge. UWM’s graduate tax students, alumni from UWM’s M.S. in Management taxation program, and tax faculty work independently of the Internal Revenue Service to offer the service. UWM’s LITC was awarded a $70,000 grant from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to support clinic activities for 2002.
UW-Stout receives Baldrige Award at Washington, D.C. Ceremony
President Bush yesterday morning in a Washington, D.C. ceremony presented Chancellor Chuck Sorensen on behalf of UW-Stout with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. As you know, UW-Stout is the first university to receive this much sought after award. The award brings prestige not only to UW-Stout but also to the UW System. Senior Vice President David Olien represented System Administration at the ceremony.
For more information:
- UW-Stout news release
- President Bush’s remarks
WAA Sponsors March Madness Contest
The Wisconsin Alumni Association, in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin System, is sponsoring an online March Madness trivia contest. Starting Monday (March 11) and running through March 22, WAA will post a trivia question on its website at www.uwalumni.com. Two daily winners will be picked from the correct answers. At the end of the contest, WAA will randomly select two names from those who submitted correct responses. Each winner will receive a basketball signed by the members of the UW-Madison men’s basketball team. Log on and try your luck!
MEPP Program Wins International Continuing Education Award
UW-Madison’s Master of Engineering in Professional Practice (MEPP) has won an international award for continuing education. The MEPP program has received the Outstanding Credit Program Award by the University Continuing Education Association, to be presented at UCEA’s annual conference in Toronto this April. For this award, MEPP competed with traditional on-campus as well as distance continuing education programs at UCEA member institutions across North America.
The Master of Engineering in Professional Practice (MEPP) degree prepares engineers for success in project and program management by providing advanced courses in engineering, communications, management, and computer skills most needed in today’s work place. MEPP’s flexible Internet-based delivery incorporates daily interaction with a world-class faculty and project-based learning with engineers from leading organizations.
MEPP students are engineers with demanding full-time jobs, most of whom travel extensively and need to deal with long and often unpredictable work schedules. The 30 students selected for admission each year progress together through a fixed, two-year curriculum. The program’s format builds a highly supportive learning community to enable and sustain students’ success. Organizations represented among the 82 students admitted in the first three years of the program include: Harley-Davidson, Boeing, GE Medical Systems, Motorola, Hamilton Sundstrand, Kohler, Rockwell, Trane, Mercury Marine, Kraft, AT&T, Caterpillar, Eli Lilly, Eaton, Genentech, Kellogg, Dean Foods, John Deere, Pharmacia and the U.S. Army.
Key criteria used by UCEA in MEPP’s selection were demonstrated performance in meeting educational objectives, cost effectiveness, and significant contribution to the field of continuing education. MEPP has achieved a course completion rate of 98 percent and an on-time (within two years) graduation rate of 92 percent.