News in Brief
LEADERSHIP
Chancellor search moves forward
Members of the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee have closed applications and nominations for a successor to Chancellor David Ward.
Nominees were given a deadline of Sept. 11 to accept their nominations and to submit materials for the committee’s consideration.
The committee has been appointed to search for a successor to Ward, who will step down Dec. 31.
The committee is chaired by Bernice Durand, professor of physics. The group will recommend an unranked list of candidates to the president of the UW System.
UHS names director for prevention services
Susan Crowley has accepted the position of University Health Services director for prevention services. She will begin work Monday, Oct. 16.
Crowley, who is currently the director of Dane County Human Services, will oversee a variety of UHS prevention projects that help create and maintain a healthy campus community.
The position oversees the Campus Community Partnerships Team, which encourages students to engage with their communities; the Environmental Health Program, which oversees food service and environmental health issues on campus; the RWJ Project, a major grant to reduce high-risk drinking and its negative consequences in the campus community; Academic Connections, bridging between UHS and UW academic departments; and the Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Prevention Resources, the state information center on alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse, and a host of other issues.
Crowley replaces Carol Lobes, who retired in July.
COMMUNITY
Alternative commuting promoted
The university will use a $33,200 state grant to help entice more campus employees to ride the bus, carpool, bike or walk to work.
Transportation Services will contribute $8,300 to the marketing campaign that begins this month. Planned activities include identifying UW employees who live within a quarter-mile of bus stops with direct service to the university, using Madison Metro’s geographic information systems technology. Those workers will be mailed free bus tickets and bus schedules.
“This campaign will raise awareness about alternative transportation options available to UW employees, as well as educate the campus community about Transportation Demand Management and its importance to the university and the city of Madison,” says the university’s grant application to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Transportation Demand Management is a university program that encourages faculty and staff to use alternative forms of transportation – busing, carpool or vanpool, bicycling, walking – to commute to campus.
The university offers many incentives to increase the use of alternative transportation. These include pre-tax savings on city bus passes for employees, park and ride programs, flex parking, an emergency ride home program and bus passes for students.
Yet there is room for improvement, according to Rachel Martin, the campus’s transportation demand management coordinator. Figures show that more than 60 percent of university faculty and staff do not use an alternative form of transportation to get to work. Campus employees driving alone to work significantly contribute to traffic congestion in downtown Madison, as UW–Madison is the largest employer in Dane County.
She stresses that alternative commuting has many benefits, including improved air quality, reduced traffic congestion and cost savings for commuters, the city and state.
Other planned activities from the grant to raise awareness of alternative transportation include:
- Placing a “bus wrap” on a campus bus to highlight the benefits of alternative commuting.
- Updating the transportation demand management logo and slogan, creating ads to be placed in the campus newspapers, placing transportation demand management banners and flags, and developing alternative commuter campus kiosks.
- Publishing a “Commuter Alternatives” newsletter for insert in Wisconsin Week, and developing a commuter recognition program as part of the planned newsletter.
- Printing a university bicycle brochure that lists campus bike routes, locations of tire inflators and safe riding tips.
The university will promote alternative commuting during Transportation Demand Management Week, Sept. 25-29. Transportation Services will highlight a different form of commuting each day during the week.
Booths will be located at Library Mall (Monday), E.B. Fred Hall (Tuesday), Union South (Wednesday), WARF building (Thursday) and Bascom Hall (Friday). Free bicycle adjustments, refreshments and T-shirts will be given away each day.
Blue Cross conversion gets regent endorsement
The UW System Board of Regents has authorized acceptance of the funds from the conversion of Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin to a for-profit stock corporation.
Under the plan, proceeds from the sale will be split by the UW–Madison Medical School and the Medical College of Wisconsin to improve public health. The board authorized nominations for the plan’s oversight and advisory committee.
Kitchen, golf projects approved
The Memorial Union kitchen will undergo a $1.78 million modernization project under a plan approved by the UW System Board of Regents. The regents also increased the University Ridge Golf Course Improvement Project by $100,000 to finish the driveway extension and new parking lot.
ON CAMPUS
Washington Post writer to visit
John Berry, who has covered the economy and the Federal Reserve for the Post since 1978, will serve as this semester’s business writer-in-residence at the university.
During a week-long residency, Oct 9-13, Berry will speak to journalism and business classes, consult with individual students and faculty and talk with Madison business and media professionals.
Berry’s stories are carried by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service and are widely used in the United States and abroad. He is a frequent contributor to the International Herald-Tribune, and his work has appeared in Fortune, Financier and Central Banking.
Berry’s residency is part of the ongoing Business Writer-in-Residence program, sponsored by the School of Business, School of Journalism and Mass Communication and University Communications, with support from the UW Foundation.
Emeritus lecture series features retired scholars
“Eloquence and Eminence,” the emeritus lecture series, begins its seventh year on Sunday, Sept. 17, when Robert Kimbrough, emeritus professor of English, will speak about “Robert Frost: Trial by Existence.”
The Division of Continuing Studies and the Institute on Aging sponsor the award-winning series. The free Sunday afternoon lectures are open to the public and held in Memorial Union from 2-3 p.m. (See Today in the Union for location.)
Upcoming lecture topics, presenters and dates are: “Why Good People Leave Wisconsin: The Case of Frederick Jackson Turner,” Allan Bogue, environmental studies and history, Oct. 15; and “Did God have a Choice?” Robert March, physics, Nov. 19.
In spring, the Eloquence and Eminence series features: “My Life with Gilbert & Sullivan,” John Barker, History, Feb. 18; “Out of Silence: From Language Disorders to Poetry,” Robin Chapman, communicative disorders, March 18, and “Jane Austen’s Men,” Joe Wiesenfarth, English, April 29.
No registration is required. For a complete listing of speakers, contact professor Emily Auerbach, 262-3733; eka@mail.dcs.wisc.edu
LEARNING
Kimberly-Clark sponsors scholarships for students
Kimberly-Clark Corp. has pledged $462,000 over the next five years to sponsor 15 annual scholarships and fellowships at the university that are geared primarily toward building a more diverse and better-educated work force.
The scholarships for engineering and business majors will be awarded to minority and women students. Several are renewable throughout the students’ academic years. The diversity affairs office of the College of Engineering will administer 10 of the scholarships.
Totaling $66,000 in the first year, the scholarships are part of a new partnership between the university and Neenah-based Kimberly-Clark.
Paul S. Peercy, dean of the College of Engineering, says the partnership is designed to strengthen Kimberly-Clark’s recruiting efforts and UW–Madison’s alignment with industry needs.
“We have a long-standing, dynamic relationship with Kimberly-Clark,” Peercy says. “Their commitment in supporting diversity is an important step in helping qualified students who otherwise couldn’t afford it to obtain an excellent engineering and science education.”
Kimberly-Clark will sponsor internships and co-op jobs for students. Coupled with frequent on-campus contact with company managers and executives, Lewis says the effort will enhance education and assist Kimberly-Clark in recruiting top students for full-time jobs.
“We are very grateful for this generous gift from Kimberly-Clark,” says Andrew J. Policano, dean of the School of Business.
“It will assist our efforts to enhance career opportunities in business for women and students of color,” Policano says.