Campus Connection

[caption id="attachment_14528" align="alignleft" width="770" caption="UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow thanks Fire Chief Gregg Cleveland and members of the La Crosse Fire Department during his All-University Address."][/caption]

Gratitude and growth displayed at Gow’s all-university address

UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow’s All-University Address opened with a standing ovation. UW-L faculty and staff rose to honor members of the La Crosse Fire Department who lined up in the front of Graff Main Hall Auditorium. The department responded to two fires at UW-L within the last year. Both the Drake Hall fire Jan. 29 and the Wittich Hall fire June 16 broke out in basements, and caused smoke damage. “Thankfully no one was hurt or killed and that’s because of the work these people do to keep our students safe,” said Gow. La Crosse Fire Chief Gregg Cleveland is grateful for the communication and partnership between the fire department and UW-L. And he noted the timely evacuation of approximately 270 students during the early morning fire in January. “In my 37 years (working with fire departments), I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a building being evacuated that quickly,” said Cleveland. “On behalf of my staff, I need to thank the students for their effort, which made a bad situation better from the start.” In addition to a visit from the fire department, faculty and staff also heard from La Crosse Regent Brent Smith, newly elected president of the UW System Board of Regents. Smith acknowledged that UW-L had a lot of attention at the recent Board of Regents meeting Aug. 23 and 24 in Madison. UW-L building projects totaling $147 million were approved, including replacing 1960s-era Cowley Hall science building. Check out a video of science building needs. Smith praised Associate Professor of Mathematics Jennifer Kosiak who was honored at the Regents meeting with the 2012 Regents Teaching Excellence Award. Only two teachers from the UW System received the $5,000 award. Unlike the last few years when the UW System had to plan for cuts to base funding, this year the governor’s office has indicated there will be no cuts to the base budget for the UW System, said Smith. This provides some stability that the UW hasn’t seen in recent years and has allowed System to present some new initiatives including a new Flexible Degree, which is intended to provide new pathways for working adults and other nontraditional students, while also recognizing competencies gained outside the traditional classroom setting. Smith says the No. 1 challenge the system faces is the need to attract and attain high quality faculty and staff through competitive compensation plans. Faculty salaries at UW institutions have fallen more than 18 percent below the national average. The Regents will present a pay plan to the governor for his consideration in spring, said Smith. “Every campus has stories about what happened the last couple years in terms of losing good people who were offered packages they could not afford not to take,” says Smith. “In my view, it is the greatest threat we have as far as keeping the quality of this University of Wisconsin System.” Gow also discussed various ways the university is growing, offering more support to students and looking ahead. New hires A total of 140 new faculty and 30 staff have been added in the last four years as result UW-L’s Growth Quality and Access plan. Gow highlighted one particular new hire — Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson who became provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs on July 1. He also thanked Betsy Morgan, who served as interim provost after Kathleen Enz Finken left in December to become new provost at California Polytechnic State University. Strong enrollment Enrollment is also very strong this year, says Gow. UW-L will have about 1,900 new, entering freshman this fall. The total number of transfer students is 525. Supporting students UW-L Foundation will kick off a fundraising campaign later this academic year with the goal of raising $15 million in scholarship funds over seven years. The funds aim to help students afford college tuition as the state’s support of higher education continues to decline. UW-L’s theme Gow introduced the university theme of inclusion for the coming year. The theme is displayed on 53 banners on light poles across campus, which read “I am UW-L — United We Learn. United We Lead. United We Live.” Gow encouraged the campus community to visit uwlax.edu/united where they can sign a pledge reaffirming their commitment to empathy, civility, appreciation, respect, inclusivity and unity for UW-L. Looking ahead This academic year, UW-L will host two major events. The UW System Board of Regents will hold their monthly meeting on campus Thursday and Friday, April 4 and 5. The National Conference of Undergraduate Research will hold its annual conference on campus Thursday, April 11, through Saturday, April 13. Sustainability success With the Olympics recently completed, it was only fitting that Gow would hold up a gold medal award during his address. UW-L’s new residence hall was awarded the prestigious LEED® Gold certification. Established by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. By using less energy and water, LEED certified buildings save money for UW-L and taxpayers; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community. Although the USGBC has not completed the final certification process for Centennial Hall, the university anticipates receiving the LEED Certified Gold designation for that building as well. “Centennial Hall would make us — well, not Michael Phelps — but it would be two gold medals,” said Gow. Improvements inside and out In additions to plans in the works for a new science building, UW-L’s parking ramp is under construction and plans for a new student center are underway. UW-L also has a green light to move forward with construction of a new practice facility for gymnastics in the north campus area. Inside, buildings are also transforming as UW-L’s computer network increases dramatically from 1 to 10 GB. Academic staff excellence UW-L’s Academic Staff Excellence Award winner this year is Carla Burkhardt, assistant to the Dean of the College of Science and Health. Burkhardt has worked at UW-L for 20 years starting in 1992 with positions in the School of Education, College of Liberal Studies, and College of Science and Health. She has also served on numerous committees.