For the record

Nominations sought for Classified Employee Recognition Awards

The nomination process is under way for the 2007 Classified Employee Recognition Awards, which recognize classified employees who have done outstanding work for the university community.

Nominated candidates are evaluated on key factors that include promoting excellence within the work unit, performing well under pressure, developing innovative solutions to everyday problems and participating in public service activities outside normal work responsibilities.

The deadline for submitting a nomination is Friday, Feb. 23. A committee will review the nominations and make the final choices.

Recipients will receive a commemorative plaque, paid registration to an employee development program of their choice and a cash award. Those individuals will also be officially recognized in Wisconsin Week and be honored for their achievements at a special spring ceremony.

For more information, please visit the Classified Employee Recognition Award.

Global Studies accepting applications for graduate fellowships

Applications are now being accepted for two graduate fellowships awarded by Global Studies. Scott Kloeck-Jenson International Internship Grants are awarded to doctoral students interested in undertaking practitioner internships on social justice issues, and Scott Kloeck-Jenson International Pre-dissertation Travel Grants are awarded to support summer travel for doctoral students exploring potential field research sites.

These fellowships are awarded in fond memory of Scott Kloeck-Jenson (1965-99). Kloeck-Jenson was born in Minnesota and received his B.A. from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., in 1987. After two years with the Peace Corps in Lesotho, Kloeck-Jenson began studying his Ph.D. in political science at UW–Madison. He completed his M.A. in 1993 and then embarked on his doctoral research with prestigious Fulbright and MacArthur fellowships. Kloeck-Jenson and his family traveled to Mozambique so he could undertake fieldwork on rural poverty in Zambezia province. While conducting his dissertation research, Kloeck-Jenson was appointed the project director in Mozambique for UW–Madison’s Land Tenure Center. On June 23, 1999, Kloeck-Jenson, his wife, Barbara, and their two children Zoe and Noah were killed in a car accident in South Africa. This internship is named after Kloeck-Jenson because of his commitment to international understanding and research serving social justice.

The deadline for applications is Friday, Feb. 16. The program is open to students of any nationality who are enrolled in a doctoral program at UW–Madison. Projects related to global studies themes will receive particular attention. Specific requirements for each fellowship, further details and application materials are available at the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowships site. Three copies of the entire application package (including application forms, letters and transcripts) must be received no later than 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16. All application materials should be sent or delivered to Global Studies, 301 Ingraham Hall.

An invitation for art submissions

Artists who produce wall-hung art are invited to apply for exhibitions in the Arboretum’s Steinhauer Trust Gallery.

The deadline is Wednesday, Feb. 28. Send proposals, five slides or electronic images, and return-postage-paid mailers to: Pat Brown, UW–Madison Arboretum, 1207 Seminole Highway, Madison, 53711, or e-mail to pabrown1@wisc.edu.

Artwork will be juried for appropriateness to the mission and goals of the Arboretum, including works with themes, explorations and materials that focus on plants, animals and landscapes that are native to Wisconsin, and works that consider the relationship between humans and the land.

Faculty, staff invited to apply for Wisconsin Idea Seminar 2007

Faculty and staff interested in learning about the state of Wisconsin and the university’s relationship to the state should apply for the Wisconsin Idea Seminar, a five-day study tour of the state May 21–25.

The tour introduces faculty and staff to the Wisconsin Idea, the commitment to use university expertise and resources to address the problems of the state. Nominations are due to dean’s offices Thursday, March 1. The program is for recently tenured faculty, new faculty, new associate deans, new department chairs and lead academic staff with statewide responsibilities.

The 2007 bus lecturers are Arne Alanen, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Bill Barker, College of Letters and Science. Walter Dickey, Evjue-Bascom Professor of Law and director of the Remington Center for Research, Education and Service in Criminal Justice, will address “Criminal Justice Issues” Thursday, May 24.

The tour will include visits to the Aldo Leopold Shack in Baraboo; a dairy farm in Fond du Lac; UW–Oshkosh; Bemis Co., Inc., in Oshkosh; the Oneida Nation; Seaquist Orchards in Door County; the Green Bay Correctional Institution; and the Milwaukee Public Schools.

Each sponsoring school or college provides $500 per participant to cover room and board. All other costs are covered by a generous grant from the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Capital Times.

For more information and for nomination forms visit the Wisconsin Idea Seminar or contact Miriam Simmons, 262-9970.

Volunteers needed for sleep research

Healthy, nonsmoking volunteers are needed as control subjects for research investigating the effects of sleep apnea on vascular function. The researchers are recruiting men and women between the ages of 21–50 who do not have sleep-disordered breathing and who are at least 25–30 pounds above ideal body weight. The research consists of one in-laboratory study of three to four hours conducted at the William S. Middleton Veterans Administration Hospital. Reimbursement will be made at the rate of $25 per hour of participation. In addition, reimbursement will be $50 for wearing a portable oxygen sensor during one night’s sleep in the participant’s home. For more information, call Beth Dunlap at 256-1901, ext. 17550.

2006–07 Academic Staff Excellence Awards

The Academic Staff Excellence Awards will honor nine people in seven categories. Recipients of the awards will be named in March and honored both in April at the Academic Staff Assembly and at a reception hosted by the chancellor on Tuesday, May 15.

Nomination packets for all awards should be sent to the Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff, 270 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive.

The submission deadline is Friday, Jan. 26. Follow the submission instructions for each separate award carefully. Detailed information can be found at Academic Staff Excellence Awards. Contact Colleen McCabe at 263-2985 with questions.

Call for nominations for the 2007 L&S Academic Advising Awards

The College of Letters and Science will present two annual advising awards, one for faculty and one for academic staff. A prize of $3,500 will accompany each advising award.

Nominations for these awards are solicited from faculty, academic staff and students. All nominees must be currently employed either full or part time by the college and engaged in student advising.

Nomination materials with a vita and three letters of support, one of which must be from a student, must be forwarded to Cynthia Paine, Office of the Dean, 105 South Hall, by Friday, Feb. 2.

A selection committee representing various campus constituencies, including students, will be appointed to review nomination materials and make recommendations to the dean.

Learn more at Advising Awards for the College of Letters & Science.

Call for teaching awards nominees

The faculty Distinguished Teaching Awards include six Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards, the Class of 1955 Teaching Excellence Award, the William H. Kiekhofer Teaching Award, the Emil Steiger Teaching Award and the Van Hise Outreach Teaching Award.

All nominations for faculty teaching awards, including a UW System award, have a submission deadline of Monday, Jan. 22, and should be delivered to the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards, Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, 130 Bascom Hall. For more information, contact Richard Moss at 262-1939 or Paula Gray at 262-3958, or visit the Committee on Distingushed Teaching Awards.

Annual Undergraduate Symposium

The Ninth Annual Undergraduate Symposium is a one-day forum designed to showcase undergraduate students’ creativity, achievement, talent, research and service-learning across all disciplines through oral presentations, poster sessions, exhibitions and performance. Most freshman and sophomore participants become involved through programs such as the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Upper-class students often share their accomplishments from work in seminars, service-learning courses, honors courses, independent studies, practicums and theses.

This year’s Undergraduate Symposium occurs Thursday, April 12. It is open to all UW–Madison students enrolled during the 2006–07 academic year, including those who graduated in December.

Students may present work they did at any time during the academic year, including in fall courses. Applications will be due in February through the symposium Web site. For more, contact Laurie Mayberry at 262-5246.

Lectures Committee supports spring 2007 lectures

The Lectures Committee is soliciting applications from departments, academic programs and registered student organizations for support of public lectures to be held during this academic year.

Potential applicants should read the document “Policies and Guidelines for Requesting Lectures Committee Support.” To be considered by the committee, applications must conform to specifications in this document and must be submitted on current (2006–07) forms. Access this document and the support request form online at the Lectures Committee site or call 262-3956 to request paper copies.

The committee reviews new applications once each month. Applications are due by the 15th day of the month. Refer to the schedule below to determine the time period for submitting a new request:

If the date of your proposed lecture occurs in:	Submit your application:
April	any time prior to Feb. 15
May	any time prior to March 15
June	any time prior to April 16

The committee urges applicants to submit requests as early as possible to ensure funding availability.

For questions or additional information about the Lectures Committee, contact Joe Farrenkopf at 262-3956.

Religious observances policy

Due to the university’s multicultural community, there are bound to be conflicts between mandatory academic requirements and religious observances. Major religious observances celebrated by Muslim and Buddhist students also occur during the semester. A listing, though not exhaustive, of religious holidays is available at Interfaith Calendar. You also may obtain a copy of the listing from the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, 262-3958, 130 Bascom Hall.

A student’s claim of a religious conflict should be accepted at face value. A great variety of valid claims exist for religious groups, and there is no practical, dignified and legal means to assess the validity of individual claims. State law mandates that any student with a conflict between an academic requirement and any religious observance must be given an alternative means of meeting the academic requirement. The law also stipulates that students be given means by which they can conveniently and confidentially notify an instructor of such conflicts.

Please adhere to the following three guidelines that have been developed to provide clarity for both students and instructors: (1) Announce early in the semester that students must notify the instructor within the first two weeks of class of the specific days or dates on which he or she requests relief. Including this information on your course syllabus is another appropriate method to make sure your students are informed of the policy; (2) Makeups may be scheduled before or after the regularly scheduled requirements; and, (3) It is understood that instructors may set reasonable limits on the total number of days claimed by any one student. Occasionally, students may not fully understand the necessity for prior notice, and under these circumstances the secretary of the faculty urges instructors to be as flexible as possible. The policy seeks to be sensitive to the needs of individual students.

Please advise teaching assistants of this policy.

Finally, on a different but related topic, the faculty secretary urges fairness, compassion and sensitivity when any instructor, whether faculty or teaching assistant, is approached by a student requesting class time off due to a family emergency. Demonstration of understanding in such a circumstance may be important to the student in getting through the crisis.

Anyone with any questions should not hesitate to contact the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, 133 Bascom Hall or 262-3956.

Calendar for spring 2007

• Advising available: January 16–19
• Last day to cancel registration without transcript record: January 21
• Instruction begins: January 22
• Wisconsin Welcome: January 23–29
• Last day to drop courses or withdraw without notations on transcripts: January 31
• Last day to add courses without departmental/deans’: permission February 2
• Last day to drop courses (undergraduates, specials, guests and professionals): March 23
• Spring Recess: March 31–April 8
• Passover (first day): April 3
• Good Friday: April 6
• Last day to withdraw without academic penalty (undergraduates and specials): April 20
• Last day to drop courses (graduates): April 20
• Last class day: May 11
• Study day: May 12
• Summary period: May 13–19
• Commencement Ceremonies:
  • Doctoral/professional commencement May 18
  • Master’s & Bachelor’s commencements May 19–20

Regardless of the date of the commencement ceremony, the official date of degree conferral on the diploma will be Sunday, May 20.

In accordance with Faculty Document 488a, faculty are asked not to schedule mandatory exercises on a day when a religious observance may cause a substantial numbers of students to be absent from university functions.