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Almanac

September 11, 2001

Almanac

(Almanac lists facts, figures and miscellany of campus interest. Know something, or want to know? Call us: 262-3846, or e-mail: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.)

Employee orientation planned this week
University employees new and old will have the opportunity to attend a campus orientation 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, at the Kohl Center.

Representatives from more than 30 campus departments, offices, schools, organizations and centers will discuss the resources and services they provide.

This is the first time the event will be available for all UW–Madison employees. Highlights:

  • Don Schutt presents a new employee orientation video with an address by Chancellor John Wiley.
  • Maury Cotter, director of the Office of Quality Improvement, presents UW–Madison’s strategic plan and priorities.
  • Luis Piñero, assistant vice chancellor and director of the Equity and Diversity Resource Center, discusses the importance of diversity in maintaining a world-class institution.
  • A “Know Your University” giveaway features prizes related to the campus, such as memberships and event tickets.
  • Badger Trolley will run three campus tours, and the Kohl Center will offer tours at 10:15, 11 and 11:45 a.m.

“We want employees to know they are valued, that what they do matters and that UW–Madison is making a significant contribution to the world,” says Cotter. “That only happens through the work of the university’s employees.”

Computing pleases students
A campus survey finds 87 percent of students are satisfied or very satisfied with the computing resources the university provides, a figure that has remained steady for three years.

Between March and May 2001, the Division of Information Technology conducted its ninth annual student survey in an ongoing effort to determine student awareness and use of UW computing services, and to gauge demand for new and existing services.

The survey also found a substantial increase in the amount of time students spend connected to the Internet, from 14 to 22 hours per week on average. Overall student computer ownership now stands at 88 percent. Incoming freshmen now enter college more wired than their predecessors, and are more likely to own a computer than many upperclassmen.

To get a PDF format version of the full report, visit: http://www.doit.wisc.edu/research/student01/StudentTrends01.pdf.

Is your Web page accessible?
In an effort to make the Web more accessible for all users, UW–Madison has implemented a policy setting standards for campus Web sites. To learn more, visit: http://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/.

Austen lectures now on Web
The Jane Austen in the 21st Century Humanities Festival, winner of the 2001 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Humanities Programming, can now be revisited online. Through audiostreaming, 14 lectures from the festival sponsored by the Center for the Humanities in April 2001 are available on the center’s Web site: http://www.humanities.wisc.edu.

Highlights include keynote speakers novelist and Austen scholar Margaret Drabble, and Andrew Davies, screenwriter for the BBC productions of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma.”

Backward glance
From Wisconsin Week, Sept. 11, 1991: UW System President Katharine Lyall calls for a post-tenure review system. … Journalism instructor Art Hove publishes “The University of Wisconsin: A Pictorial History.” … The UW Foundation raises its goal for The Campaign for Wisconsin to $400 million. … A private consultant is examining a campus recommendation to reorganize UW Hospital and Clinics as a “quasi-private” entity.