News in Brief
LEADERSHIP
 Roger Howard |
Howard appointed interim associate vice chancellor
Roger Howard, a longtime associate dean of students, has agreed to serve as interim associate vice chancellor for student affairs.
Howard will serve in this position, a key administrative role in the area of student services, while the university seeks a permanent associate vice chancellor for student affairs.
“Roger brings to this new position extensive expertise and insight from his years on campus as associate dean of students and assistant to the vice chancellor for academic affairs,” says Paul W. Barrows, vice chancellor for student affairs.
Howard’s other previous positions include residence hall housefellow, residence hall director and assistant dean of students.
The appointment and position are part of an administrative reorganization meant to better integrate a broad range of student affairs and services. The university has reorganized student-related functions under one vice chancellor, Barrows, who now supervises the Registrar’s Office, the Office of Student Financial Services, Undergraduate Admissions, the Dean of Students Office, University Health Services and student diversity efforts.
Howard will assist Barrows in developing a new vision for student affairs and services, Barrows said in announcing the appointment to deans and directors.
Letters and Science appoints student academic affairs leader
Judi Roller has been appointed to lead the Student Academic Affairs office in the College of Letters and Science.
As an associate dean, Roller will assume responsibility for Letters and Science advising programs, including the Cross-College Advising Service, which guides students who haven’t declared a major through their academic programs. L&S advisers typically work with more than 17,000 undergraduates every year.
 Fall found in new calendar This photo is among 14 full-color images of some of the most beautiful places on campus included in a new calendar produced in a unique partnership between the university and The University Book Store. More than $10 of the $12.95 retail price goes to the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund. The 14-by-20-inch wall calendars for the year 2000 are now available at all University Book Store locations. Each month’s double-page spread in the “Memories for a Lifetime 2000 calendar” captures memorable moments in photos from the UW–Madison Office of News and Public Affairs. “Thanks to the generous support of The University Book Store, the Undergraduate Scholarship Fund is growing,” says Peyton Smith, university sesquicentennial coordinator. For more information or to order by phone, call (800) 957-7052. |
Roller also will oversee honors and enhancement opportunities, mentor programs, summer programs and implementation of faculty academic policies.
Roller says an immediate goal will be to work closely with Ann Groves-Lloyd, new director of the reorganized Letters and Science Career Advising and Planning office. “We will be developing assessment plans to measure the effectiveness of the total program,” Roller says.
Roller comes to UW–Madison from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, where she served as associate provost for academic programs and services for three years. Before that, she held a similar job at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
“We are all impressed with her ability to assume a key role in L&S,” Letters and Science Dean Phillip Certain says. “The students will learn quickly about her orientation toward serving their interests, and faculty and staff will welcome her as a dynamic new colleague.”
Roller succeeds Janet Vandevender, who retired in July. Vandevender restructured SAA into three major divisions: advising; providing services, information and support; and fostering community within the largest college at UW–Madison.
LEARNING
Language, literature and culture scholars to gather
How might all faculty more fully and deeply integrate language, literature and culture curricula? That question and other issues will be on the table Oct. 15-16 at a symposium to launch the Global Languages, Literature and Culture Forum.
Organizers of the new forum conceive of it as a framework for discussing topics of mutual interest to faculty, staff and teaching assistants in language, literature and culture.
Forum director Gilead Morahg, professor of Hebrew and Semitic studies, predicts it will become increasingly important for many disciplines to incorporate knowledge of other cultures as globalization becomes the norm. The forum will examine these expected changes as one of its primary issues in coming months.
“The rapidly changing world of global connections and international communication has created many more domains in which cross-cultural familiarity is vital,” he says. “Globalization of business, technology, politics, education and many other areas has resulted in a demand for the knowledge of more languages and a better understanding of other cultures.”
UW–Madison already is a leading center for the teaching of languages and their related cultures, Morahg says. The forum will foster cooperation and collaboration among various academic units, he says. Faculty and staff in all departments and programs are invited to take part in the forum’s inaugural symposium, “A Necessary Nexus: Language, Literature and Culture,” Oct. 15-16, Pyle Center, starting at 9 a.m. Information: 262-3204.
NOTABLE
COWS hosts economist
Economic Policy Institute economist Edith Rasell will tour Wisconsin Oct. 6-8 to discuss Social Security and offer a progressive solution to its funding shortfall.
Rasell’s tour is co-sponsored by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a research and policy institute at the UW–Madison. She will speak at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, at the Madison Senior Center, 330 W. Mifflin Ave.
A senior economist at EPI, Rasell specializes in Social Security, Medicare and health care issues. Before receiving her Ph.D. in economics, Rasell was a family practice physician. She has written numerous reports about Social Security, including EPI’s new report, “Fixing Social Security: The Clinton Plan and Its Alternatives,” which examines the current state of the program and efforts to reform it.
Rasell has traveled to several states in recent months to create greater public awareness of the purpose of Social Security, the current financing mechanism and the variety of options for insuring its solvency.
EPI is a Washington, D.C.-based research organization, founded in 1986 to widen the debate about policies for achieving healthy economic growth, broadly shared prosperity and opportunity in the U.S. and worldwide.
 Marantz Henig |
Prolific author to be science writer in residence
Robin Marantz Henig, a prolific author, columnist, essayist and writer of articles about science and medicine, has been named a 1999 Science Writer in Residence.
Henig, has written seven books, including treatments of the life of monk and genetics pioneer Gregor Mendel, aging in women, senility, and emerging viruses. In addition, she has written scores of articles for such venues as the New York Times Magazine, Discover, the Washington Post, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Vogue and Ms., among others.
Henig has won numerous awards, including 1994 Author of the Year from the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the William Harvey Award from the American Medical Writers Association and the Howard Blakeslee Award in Science Writing from the American Heart Association. She is a member of the USA Today Editorial Board and a board member of the national science writers association.
As a science writer in residence, Henig will spend a week on the UW–Madison campus beginning Monday, Oct. 18. She will give a free public lecture, “Writing ‘The Monk in the Garden’,” on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union (check Today in the Union for a room number). Her talk will focus on how she approached writing a book about the life of Gregor Mendel and the history of genetics in a way that is lively, literary – and true.
Henig will spend most of her time on campus working with students, faculty and staff interested in science writing.
The Science Writer in Residence Program was established in 1986 with the help of the Brittingham Trust. It continues with the support of the UW Foundation and has brought to campus many of the nation’s leading science writers, including three whose work subsequently earned them the Pulitzer Prize. The program is sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the UW–Madison Office of News and Public Affairs.
MILESTONES
 Richard M. Amasino |
Amasino gets national honor
Richard M. Amasino, professor of biochemistry, will receive the 1999 Alexander von Humboldt Award during a ceremony in Madison Wednesday, Oct. 27. One of the most prestigious awards for agricultural research in the United States, the von Humboldt carries a $15,000 prize and a $5,000 scholarship for a student to study agriculture in Germany.
Recently, Amasino and his colleagues identified a key gene that determines whether plants behave as annuals or biennials.
Memorial service to honor Kloeck-Jenson family
A memorial service in honor of the Scott Kloeck-Jenson family will be held 3-6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, at Allen Centennial Gardens, 620 Babcock Drive.
Scott, 34, a doctoral candidate in political science and leader of the Land Tenure Center’s project in Mozambique, his wife, Barbara, 34, their daughter, Zoe, 5, and their son, Noah, 2, were killed in a car accident in South Africa in June.
Memorials may be made to the “Scott and Barbara Kloeck-Jenson Memorial Fund” and sent to the Land Tenure Center, 1357 University Ave., Madison, WI 53715.
For more information, contact Patty Grubb, 262-0297.
Search on to fill workforce equity position
The university is seeking applications to fill the position of assistant vice chancellor for workforce equity and diversity. The deadline to apply is Friday, Oct. 15.
The assistant vice chancellor for workforce equity and diversity promotes increased employee diversity throughout the university; oversees the Equity and Diversity Resource Center; and ensures campus compliance with affirmative action/equal employment opportunity regulations.
The position reports to the vice chancellor for legal and executive affairs and the provost.
The opening was created when Greg Vincent accepted a position this summer at Louisiana State University. For more information, contact 263-7400.
ON CAMPUS
Diversity dialogue Thursday
The university is sponsoring a community dialogue on diversity Thursday, Oct. 7, as part of its effort to contribute to President Clinton’s Initiative on Race.
The Campus-Community Dialogue features a panel roundtable and general discussion to be moderated by Linda Greene, associate vice chancellor and professor of law. The dialogue will run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St.
Panelists and audience members will be asked to comment on the current climate and context of race-related issues; important projects they are planning to address diversity; what issues and concerns are not being addressed; and how the higher-education community can work better with the larger community to address these issues.
 Sports crew afield ESPN’s “College Game Day” crew, (L-R) Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, broadcast live from Madison for the recent Wisconsin-Michigan game at Camp Randall Stadium. Photo: Jeff Miller |
The community dialogue is one of several events planned this week as part of the university’s Campus Dialogues for One America. For information, contact LaMarr Billups, special assistant to the chancellor for community relations, 263-5510.
Geology Museum presents colorful ‘Colorado classics’
A collection of colorful minerals from Colorado is the focus of a special exhibit through October at the Geology Museum.
Highlights of the exhibit include: Colorado’s state mineral, amazonite; the state gem, aquamarine; and specimens of rhodochrosite, a glassy, rose-red mineral.
In addition to the exhibit of Colorado minerals, the museum has a new exhibit of Cambrian-age fossils from the famous fossil-laden shales of British Columbia.
Admission to the exhibits and to the museum is free.
The museum is located in Weeks Hall, 1215 W. Dayton St. Museum hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday.
Actor Lawson on campus
Stage, television and screen actor Richard Lawson will be available for an informal conversation at the Multicultural Center Main Lounge, Red Gym, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, for a public lecture, “Dreams Into Action.” Friday at noon, he’ll show clips over lunch in the Multicultural Center mezzanine. Lawson’s recent film credits include “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998) and “Wag the Dog” (1998). Lawson also created the role of Lucus Barnes on the soap opera “All My Children” and continues to appear on the show.