News in brief
LEADERSHIP
Chancellor search yields 43 candidates
Forty-three individuals have submitted applications to the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee, according to the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty.
Thirty-seven candidates requested confidentiality. The six who did not request that their applications be kept confidential include:
- Gene C. Gehrking, Plano, Texas
- Virginia Hinshaw, dean of the Graduate School and senior research officer, UW–Madison
- Larry F. Lemanski, associate vice president for research, Texas A&M University
- Keith T. Miller, dean of business, Niagara University
- Tad J. Oelstrom, superintendent, United States Air Force Academy.
- John D. Wiley, provost, UW–Madison
Applicants can request confidentiality until the finalist stage of the hiring process, when all finalists are made public.
The search and screen committee accepted new applications and nominations through Sept. 5, when the search officially closed. Nominees had until Sept. 11 to accept their nominations and to submit materials for the committee’s consideration.
UW Press names director
Robert A. Mandel has been appointed director of the UW Press.
Mandel has been director of Syracuse University Press since 1993 and will join the UW Press by early November. He earned his B.A. and M.A. from UW–Madison and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Toronto. After teaching European history for several years in Ontario, he embarked on an academic publishing career that has included stints at Praeger Publishers in New York, the State University of New York Press, Indiana University Press and Wayne State University Press, where he was press director.
David Bethea, who has served as interim director of the UW Press since July 1998, will return to teaching and research at UW–Madison later this fall. Bethea is the Vilas Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures.
COMMUNITY
SECC campaign starts next month
The 2000 State, UW and UWHC Employees Combined Campaign (SECC) will start next month with several kickoff celebrations featuring food, fun and entertainment, along with information about the campaign, which raises funds in support of more than 300 nonprofit organizations.
The kickoffs, which will all be held from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., are:
- Monday, Oct. 9, UW Health East Clinic, 5249 E. Terrace Drive.
- Tuesday, Oct. 10, UW Health West Clinic, 451 Junction Road.
- Wednesday, Oct. 11, University Station Clinic, 2880 University Ave.
- Thursday, Oct. 12, UW Hospital and Clinics cafeteria, 600 Highland Ave.
- Tuesday, Oct. 17, WARF Building lobby, 610 Walnut St.
- Wednesday, Oct. 18, Engineering Plaza, 1415 Engineering Drive.
- Thursday. Oct. 19, Babcock Hall, 1605 Linden Drive.
Employees will receive SECC campaign booklets and pledge forms soon. For more information, contact your SECC coordinator or visit: http://www.wisc.edu/secc.
University to reprint booklet
The university will reprint its undergraduate admissions booklet, acknowledging an error in judgment in altering a cover photo to include a student of color.
“Reprinting the booklet is the right thing to do,” says Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows. “We regret the error, have apologized to the student and are taking the necessary steps to maintain our credibility within the university and broader community.”
Barrows says the university is steadfastly committed to diversity and will continue to work toward a more diverse campus on all fronts.
The entire press run of 100,624 will be reprinted and the cost of that will not be from state tax dollars or tuition funds. The reprinting is a priority and should be completed within the next two weeks. The new cover photo will feature the Memorial Union Terrace, a favorite place on campus and an icon of UW–Madison.
NOTABLE
Genomics Center fires up new Sun supercomputer
The Center for Genomics has dedicated a new Sun Microsystems supercomputer that is fueling new research gains.
Projects include an RNA folding experiment that may lead to new ways of interrupting genetic functions; and a massive project in evolutionary genetics that creates “relationship trees” among more than 50 different organisms as well as sequencing and DNA chip projects.
Parallel Press issues Welter poetry
Poet and storyteller Matt Welter is the latest Parallel Press chapbook author with the release of “Our Sainted Lady Esther.”
This chapbook marks the ninth release for the publishers and features strong imagery, tongue-in-cheek elegies and dramatic narratives. The Parallel Press is an imprint of the UW–Madison Libraries. A chapbook is a small-format literary work, usually of poetry or essays.
“Our Sainted Lady Esther” is a nature-filled collection of works that reveal the invisible connections between people, places and natural elements. Welter works for the Wisconsin Conservation Corps.
Each Parallel Press chapbook is $10; annual subscriptions for six are $50. Titles may be ordered by writing: The Parallel Press, 236 Memorial Library, 728 State St., Madison, WI 53706.
Interdisciplinary artists to take up residence
Musicianship, improvisation and strategies to attract listeners’ attention will be at the forefront of an interdisciplinary residency program this year.
Renowned theatrical director Clifton Turner Davis, who will direct the University Theatre production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun,” Nov. 10-12, is the Arts Institute Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence during the fall.
In the spring, composer, performer and humanitarian Pauline Oliveros will be in residence, sponsored by the School of Music, Department of Art, Dance Program and Women’s Studies Program.
While in Madison, Oliveros also will deliver a free public lecture, “Quantum Listening: What Sound Changes Your Mind?” Sept. 29, 3:30 p.m., Morphy Hall, Humanities.
Interarts and Technology sponsors artist in residence
Composer and performer Neil Rolnick will teach, perform and produce a technology-mediated performance during his two-week residency at the university beginning Oct. 2. Rolnick is chair of the Department of Arts and director of the iEAR (Integrated Electronic Arts) Studios at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Rolnick will present a lecture/demonstration of his work Monday, Oct. 2, at 5:30 p.m. – he performs on a portable computer music system – and discuss how he plans to create the collaborative performance scheduled Saturday, Oct. 14, at 8 p.m. The performance will be set up as an Internet event for worldwide viewing and interactive web participation. Both events will be in Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall.
ON CAMPUS
Nursing grad to deliver first Littlefield lecture
Connie Curran, a registered nurse who now heads her own health services management firm, will speak about the many challenges in nursing’s future when she delivers the inaugural Littlefield Leadership Lecture Friday, Sept. 29, at 1:30 p.m. “Nursing Greatness: Past as Prologue” will be in G5/119 Clinical Science Center. Curran’s talk will be preceded by a panel discussion from 9-11 a.m. and a noon luncheon honoring nursing leaders in the community.
The Littlefield Lecture, to be held annually in the fall, honors the leadership of former Nursing School Dean Vivian Littlefield, who returned to the faculty last January.
Symposium to showcase ecology research on campus
Daniel Janzen, an internationally known expert in tropical ecology, biodiversity and conservation, will be the keynote speaker at the Ecology Group’s Sixth Annual Ecology Symposium Oct. 5-6 at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Auditorium. Janzen, distinguished professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania, speaks at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, on “Costa Rica’s Area de Conservacion Guanacaste: A Long March to Survival Through Non-Damaging Biodiversity Development.”
On Friday, Oct. 6, six UW–Madison professors will outline their ecological research in brief presentations, 1-3 p.m. Janzen will close the symposium with a second lecture, “Host Specificity of Costa Rican Caterpillars and Their Parasites,” at 3:30 p.m. Information: 265-6712.
Museum visits copper country
A collection of mineral specimens from Michigan’s Copper Country is the focus of an exhibit in October at the Geology Museum.On loan from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich., minerals from the renowned A.E. Seaman collection represent some of the finest specimens from the world’s largest native copper deposits. The Geology Museum, Weeks Hall, is open 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. Saturday.
TECHNOLOGY
Query library shows promise as student data management tool
More than 100 users of UW–Madison’s InfoAccess data warehouse recently viewed a new Query Library Web site containing pre-written queries and subsequent reports utilizing data warehouse student information extracted from the University’s Integrated Student Information System.
Provost John Wiley calls the Query Library “the first stage in a long-term commitment to making the use of data more effective on campus. … It’s a powerful way to get information in a timely and cost-effective manner.”
“This is going to meet lots of reporting needs that have not yet been met,” agrees Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows. “On behalf of the ISIS Project, I would like to thank all of those who worked so diligently on this very important and timely effort.”
Kathy Luker of the Office of Quality Improvement chairs a committee spearheading this effort. “What we need now is for the users of the data warehouse to take advantage of the queries already supplied and give us critical feedback so we can determine what’s needed next and develop a timeline for production in preparation for general campus use,” Luker says.
The “work-in-progress” Query Library site is http://substitute.doit.wisc.edu/querylib/default.cfm , with access currently limited to those users of InfoAcces.
A second Query Library presentation for current InfoAccess student data users will be 2:30-4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, 1610 Engineering Hall.