Elsewhere

(Elsewhere summarizes developments on other UW System campuses and in the system administration. For more system news, visit: http://www.uwsa.edu/univ_rel/wn.htm.)

Research shows discrimination against Hmong-Americans
A UW-Eau Claire faculty member says he was surprised at the similarities of experiences between African-Americans and Hmong-Americans in his recent study because media and social scientists often portray the two groups as very different.

Jeremy Hein, associate professor of sociology and anthropology, says his research in interpersonal discrimination against Hmong-Americans parallels a Florida study of African-Americans and their experiences of everyday racism.

Hein finds that of 48 Hmong-Americans in his sample, seven reported they never had experienced any type of interpersonal discrimination, mostly because they were isolated from contact with Americans due to old age. Verbal harassment is the most common form of interpersonal discrimination and most likely to be remembered as the worst incident by Hmong-Americans.

In an effort to analyze interpersonal discrimination between two ethnic groups, the basic research focuses on the groups’ daily living experiences. The two groups do not have the same histories, but strong similarities exist in their daily lives. The stories of African-American and Hmong- American subjects are almost the same.

Consortium could open $5 billion Asian market
UW-Milwaukee is a founding member of a new effort to deliver online graduate degree and professional certificate programs to thousands of students in Asia.

Associate Provost and Dean of University Outreach Susan Kelly says the Global University Alliance, headquartered in Hong Kong, is an online education provider for distance-learning students.

“The alliance is an effective and efficient way for us to deliver UWM resources to a world of new prospective students,” Kelly says.

Other UW System campuses may be able to offer some of their online programs through UWM’s membership in the alliance. “This is a terrific opportunity to enhance the UW System’s global reputation as a respected provider of quality higher education,” Kelly says. “At the same time, it works to promote the entire state of Wisconsin as an important center of innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Educators review study of student sexual activity
Students at UW-River Falls probably are not as sexually active as their fellow students think they are, says Alice Reilly-Myklebust, coordinator of student health services who has reviewed a survey of the student sexual activities.

“This may create a certain amount of anxiety in students,” Reilly-Myklebust says, “because they think there is something going on out there that they are missing out on. They may feel there is something wrong with them, because they aren’t having more sexual experiences.”

Sexuality among college students, including those at UW-River Falls, was the topic of a recent daylong conference, “Sex and the American College Student,” at UW-River Falls. The gathering was the first of its kind in the Midwest, and one of only a few of its kind to be held in the nation.

Among other activities, the conference reviewed a recent study of 1,000 UW–Madison students between 18 and 23 that found 75 percent of males and 60 percent of females are sexually active.

Issues addressed by speakers at the conference included an overview of sexual activity among college students, a discussion of sexual development and sexual orientation, and a look at the ways women are objectified through media and advertising.