News in brief
ON CAMPUS
Jeffery Wigand to speak March 7
Former tobacco industry scientist Jeffery Wigand will speak at the Union Theater in Memorial Union Wednesday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. Wigand’s fight against Big Tobacco was chronicled in the film “The Insider.”
In 1994, Wigand shared his knowledge of cigarette product design with staff at the federal Food and Drug Administration, making him a key witness in subsequent tobacco litigation.
He continues to fight against the power of the tobacco lobby through his nonprofit organization, Smokefree Kids, Inc. He was originally slated to speak in the first of this year’s Distinguished Lecture Series last fall but had to postpone due to a scheduling conflict.
Wigand’s appearance is sponsored by the University Book Store, the American Cancer Society, Chadbourne Residential College, the Institute for Legal Studies, Associated Students of Madison, and the Distinguished Lecture Series and Film committees, two of 10 Wisconsin Union Directorate student committees that develop, coordinate and promote more than 800 events annually at UW–Madison.
Free tickets will be available at the Union Theater Box Office for UW–Madison students and Wisconsin Union members today, Feb. 28; one ticket per ID, up to four per person. The remainder of the tickets will be available to the public Friday, March 2. Box office hours are 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays.
Upcoming speakers include Ralph Nader, Green Party presidential candidate, April 17; Afeni Shakur, political activist and mother of the late Tupac Shakur, April 22; and former poet laureate Robert Pinsky, May 2. For information, contact Mark Reischel, 262-2216, mjreisch@ students.wisc.edu.
‘Languages of the Humanities’ event to honor Yvonne Ozzello
The Center for the Humanities will hold its first “Languages of the Humanities: The Yvonne Ozzello Memorial Evening” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, in the Alumni Lounge of the Pyle Center.
Seventeen humanities faculty plan to offer readings and musical presentations in 15 languages as a tribute to Yvonne Ozzello, a professor of French and Italian and associate dean of the humanities who died in 1999 from cancer.
“The evening is intended to highlight the humanities, in particular foreign languages and literature, championed so passionately by Yvonne,” says Magdalena Hauner, professor of African Languages and Literature. “It’s meant to be a window on the variety of languages we offer on campus, and an invitation to the students and the public to come and study them here.”
Presenters include: Magdalena Hauner (Czech and Swahili), Niels Ingwersen (Danish), Gilles Bousquet (French), Aliko Songolo (French), Nancy Kaiser (German), Gilead Morahg (Hebrew), Ellen Rafferty (Indonesian), Stefania Buccini (Italian), Christopher Kleinhenz (Italian), Jane Tylus (Italian), James O’Brien (Japanese), Randolph Valentine (Ojibwe), Mimmi Fulmer (Music), Martha Fischer (Music), Ellen Sapega (Portuguese), David Bethea (Russian), Alda Blanco (Spanish), Antonia Schleicher (Yoruba).
Ozzello was born in 1933 in Versailles, France. She attended the Sorbonne in 1954 and then came to UW–Madison on a Fulbright scholarship. She returned to the UW in 1969 and remained in Madison until her death. She received many awards and honors and was recognized for her gifts as a dynamic and much beloved teacher. She won the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1988 and in 1996 earned the “Officer de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques” from the French government for her contribution to disseminating French culture in the United States. Her colleagues will honor her contribution to the humanities with this annual event.
More information: Magdalena Hauner, 263-2445; Joan Strasbaugh, 263-3409.
Taraf de Haidouks debuts at Union Theater
Taraf de Haidouks, whose name translates as “band of Brigands,” will make their Madison debut at the Wisconsin Union Theater Saturday, March 24, at 8 p.m.
A village band of Gypsy lautari (traditional musicians) from the small village of Clejani, the band incorporates a dozen instrumentalists and singers ranging in age from 20 to 78. The group had never performed outside of their region before being discovered by Stephane Karo and Michel Winter, two young Belgian music fans who fell in love with the group’s music during a trip to Romania in 1990.
Taraf reveals the richness of the Romanian Gypsy tradition. Its musicians have a marvelous, flexible repertoire. Their mix of ages gives the music a unique flavor: the old men contributing soul and experience, the young speed and energy. It’s hearty gypsy music, fueled by minor-key accordion, passionate violins and a unique percussion.
Between recordings and tours throughout the Western world, the members of the Taraf return to their village of Clejani and their traditional lifestyle. Their music punctuates all the important events of the village’s social life, such as christenings, weddings, burials and harvests. The invigorating music of Taraf de Haidouks is a mix of local styles and flavors representing the richness of the Romanian folk tradition, and ranging from haunting heartland ballads to dizzying fiddle dances.
Tickets: $27 ($26 for Union members and $13 for UW–Madison students), Union Theater Box Office, 262-2201.
Take a walk in the woods
Why spend another Saturday night at the movies when you can wander the woods in the Arboretum?
It may still be cold and dreary outside, but the woods at dusk are alive with animals that spent the winter here, as well as with migrants that are beginning to trickle back.
Naturalists Sylvia Marek and Levi Wood will lead a late-winter night walk Saturday, March 10, from 6:30-8 p.m. to explore the woods under the stars.
At this time last year, woodcocks were already performing their mating rituals.
Meet in the basement of the visitors center, which can be entered on the Curtis Prairie side of the building.
Yu concert scheduled
A dance concert featuring professor, dancer and choreographer Jin-Wen Yu and friends is scheduled to open Thursday, March 1, in Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space of Lathrop Hall, 8 p.m. Additional performances are Friday, March 2, and Saturday, March 3.
Concert highlights include modern dance, ballet, tai chi, Chinese opera dance and video. Tickets are available at the Wisconsin Union Theater Box Office or at door. Cost: $15 and $10. Information: 262-1691, uwdance@education.wisc.edu.
Future of philosophy
John Searle, professor of philosophy, University of California-Berkeley will speak on the “Future of Philosophy” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, Tripp Commons, Memorial Union, as part of the Center for the Humanities “Humanities Without Boundaries” lecture series. More information: 263-3409, info@humanities.wisc.edu.
Nobel Laureate to visit International Institute
Guenter Blobel, 1999 Nobel laureate in medicine, will visit UW–Madison March 28-30, as a guest of the European Studies Alliance, the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy and the Genetics-Biotechnology Center.
Blobel has fond memories of his “beloved Madison.” In the 1960s, Blobel studied at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, earning a doctorate in oncology in 1967. He is currently professor of cell biology at Rockefeller University and founder of the Friends of Dresden charity. Blobel, who witnessed the firebombing of Dresden as a child, has donated much of his Nobel Prize money to the organization, which supports the reconstruction, restoration and preservation of Dresden’s legacy.
Blobel will speak on “Dresden: Progress in the Reconstruction of its Historic Center,” Thursday, March 29, at 4 p.m. at the Pyle Center. For information: 262-2042 or dlveatch@facstaff.wisc.edu.
NOTABLE
Parallel Press releases chapbook by Dubrow
Poet Heather Dubrow explores difficult life experiences, including the loss of parents, divorce, medical crisis, accident and injury in the 11th chapbook of the Parallel Press, “Border Crossings.”
This 12-piece collection explores some of life’s most difficult experiences, or “border crossings.” The emotion-filled collection delves into some of Dubrow’s personal experiences. She uses traditional and free-verse forms in her poems.
A chapbook is a small-format literary work, usually of poetry or essays. The chapbooks are published by the Parallel Press, an imprint of the UW–Madison libraries.
Dubrow is also the author of a chapbook titled, “Transformation and Repetition,” a play called “The Devil’s Paintbrush,” and she has published poems in The Journal of the American Medical Association, Southwest Review and Prairie Schooner. She is the Tighe-Evans Professor and John Bascom Professor in the English Department.
Each Parallel Press chapbook is $10; annual subscriptions for six are $50. Titles may be ordered by writing: The Parallel Press, 372 Memorial Library, 728 State St., Madison, WI 53706
Information: http://parallelpress.library.wisc.edu.
Course evaluations sought by ASM
Academic departments have until March 9 to submit course and instructor evaluations for fall 2000 to Associated Students of Madison, according to the Provost’s Office.
In a letter to department chairs Feb. 22 co-signed by ASM Chair Mike Dean, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Robert Skloot refers to the evaluations being public records and requests the evaluations be sent to ASM.
“Your prompt response is very important and very appreciated,” Skloot writes.
Previous notices were sent to departments last fall by the Provost’s Office and again earlier this month by Interim Provost Gary D. Sandefur. The letter requesting the information has been sent to departments every semester for the last six years.
Skloot and Dean note in their letter that legal action could result if departments fail to comply with ASM’s open records request. The UW System Board of Regents has directed campuses to make public the summary results of student evaluations, and court rulings have dictated that the evaluations are public records, Skloot says.
UW–Madison student government has prepared the Course and Instructor Evaluation Booklet for several years from the requested information. The numerical teaching evaluations are only one method of assessing instruction and often not the most accurate or informative, Skloot says.
“Nonetheless, the Provost’s Office and ASM are committed to working together to insure publication of the most complete and reliable information as required by law,” Skloot says.
MILESTONES
Skoog, plant cell researcher, dies
Renowned plant physiologist and National Medal of Science recipient Folke Karl Skoog, 92, professor of botany for 32 years, died Feb. 15 after a long illness.
Skoog arrived on campus already renowned for his pioneering work with auxin, a plant growth hormone. While at Wisconsin, he discovered a major new class of plant hormones, the cytokinins, that stimulate the division of plant cells, and regulate plant growth and development. His work has had a profound impact on agricultural and horticultural practices.
Skoog is survived by his wife, Birgit; his daughter, Karin, and three grandsons.