Almanac

L&S dean search panel named
Chancellor John D. Wiley has appointed a search-and-screen committee to help in identifying a successor to retiring College of Letters and Science Dean Phillip R. Certain. The 17-member committee will seek nominations, recruit applicants, select finalists and submit those names to Wiley for consideration. The panel will be led by John Schaffer, professor and director of the School of Music.

Other members: Sandra Arfa, faculty associate in English; James Burgess, member of the L&S Board of Visitors; Judith Burstyn, chemistry professor; Mary Czynszak-Lyne, program assistant in the L&S Honors Program; Richard Davidson, psychology professor; John T. Koehler, undergraduate student; Robert B. Miller, business and statistics professor; Charles Read, School of Education dean; Tori Richardson, assistant dean of L&S Student Academic Affairs; Marsha Seltzer, social work professor; Thomas Sharkey, botany professor; Aliko Songolo, African languages and literature, and French and Italian professor; Karen Steudel, zoology professor; Barbara Wolfe, economics and population health studies professor; Deborah Zurbuchen, human resources assistant in the medical school; and a graduate student to be named.

In January, Certain announced his decision to retire on June 30 following a 34-year career at the university, including an 11-year stint as dean of the campus’s largest academic unit.

Historian wins press award
A renowned scholar of Spanish fascism has won the first Elizabeth A. Steinberg Prize from the UW Press. The press recognized Stanley Payne, Hilldale-Jaume Vicens Vives Professor of History, for his book, “Fascism in Spain: 1923-1977” (1999), the first comprehensive history of Spanish fascism in any language. Books eligible for the new award, to be given annually in honor of UW Press editor-in-chief emerita Elizabeth A. Steinberg, are authored or edited by faculty or staff from any UW campus and published by the UW Press.

Food donations sought
Food-pantry donations can be dropped off at Memorial Union near the Langdon Street entrance; by the Central Reservations Office on the second floor by the main entrance; and on the fifth floor in the Wisconsin Union Directorate office.

OCR reports activity
During its first six months, the Office of Corporate Relations had contact with more than 300 companies in Wisconsin and beyond, made presentations to more than 30 business and community groups and organizations, and conducted six workshops for faculty, staff and entrepreneurs. Chancellor John D. Wiley established the office in mid-2003 to make university resources more accessible to business.

Backward glance
From Wisconsin Week of March 2, 1994: The Division of Information Technology launches a top-to-bottom reorganization to better meet the growing demand for Internet and e-mail services. … Memorial Library opens InfoLab, the largest computer lab on campus with 106 computers. … UW–Madison students vote to restore student government in the form of the Associated Students of Madison. Students voted in 1993 to disband the Wisconsin Student Association. … Transportation Services introduces the concept of “Transportation Demand Management,” a long-term plan to improve the environment, open up parking spaces and eliminate congestion by encouraging alternatives to driving to campus. … The UW Comprehensive Cancer Center receives a $2.5 million gift from the estate of the late Irma Spettel, a Milwaukee widow who lost her husband to cancer in 1970.