Campus Connection

[caption id="attachment_8871" align="alignright" width="400"] Lalita Pandit Hogan, English, stands with UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow. During an All-University Address Wednesday, Gow announced that Hogan was honored with the UW System Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award.[/caption] In the next couple years, the UW-La Crosse community will see new faces in key leadership positions and watch new building projects get off the ground. The university will prepare to launch a major fundraising campaign centered around student scholarships and continue to build a diverse and inclusive environment. But those initiatives come with the ongoing challenge of declining state support for higher education, explained UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow during an All-University Address Jan. 18. A budget lapse means UW-L will be returning $1.9 million to the state. While UW-L is able to meet that requirement, it will be much more difficult if UW-L is expected to make continued cuts during the 2013-15 budget cycle, says Gow. Diversity Gow noted that while UW-L does a lot to enhance campus diversity, there is still work to be done. The racist and hateful graffiti found on Eagle and Wimberly Halls fall semester was an example. “While we’re concerned that these incidents occur on our campus and continue to do all we can to prevent them, it’s healthy for us to keep the conversation going on how to make this an inclusive place,” explained Gow. One way to promote inclusivity and diversity is to attend the UW-L Awareness Through Performance production at 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, in Graff Main Hall Auditorium. The shows are free. Another opportunity is Diversity Dialogues from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, in Valhalla, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition. Watch this film on UW-La Crosse's Ethnic and Racial Studies minor, which was shown during the Chancellor's Address. This film was created by Todd Bunnell and Kevin Clash at Interact Communications in Onalaska. Construction projects Centennial Hall saw a lot of traffic after opening at the start of fall semester. Throughout the semester, 485 classes were scheduled in the new building each week and the university hosted 985 special events in the Hall of Nations, lecture halls, and classrooms. Gow discussed various future campus construction projects during his address, including a parking ramp and police station, a new science building and student union.

• The parking ramp and police building project will be presented to the UW System Board of Regents in February. Construction is expected to begin in June and be completed by July 2013. The project includes about 600 parking spaces and will be built on the gravel lots west of the Cleary Alumni & Friends Center.
• The pre-design study for a new, state-of-the-art Cowley science facility was in August 2011. UW-L will start the architect selection process for the project in the spring, with the goal of beginning the design process in the fall.
• Since September, a steering committee has been involved in a pre-design study and planning process for a potential new student center. Cartwright Center was initially constructed in 1958 with additions in 1964 and 1984. The building has deferred maintenance needs for plumbing, heating, electrical, and other issues amounting to about $26 million. UW-L student leaders and the steering committee will be updating the campus about the options for a new student center or addressing the deferred maintenance of the existing building during spring semester. A student referendum will likely be held in April to decide how best to proceed.

New leadership searches

• Finalists are being identified in the provost search.
• On-campus interviews for finalists begin at the end of January for the dean of the College of Science and Health search.
• Finalists will soon be identified in the director of the School of Education search.
• The search begins for the director of Continuing Education & Extension.
• Madeline Holzem, current associate director of Human Resources at Florida Gulf Coast University, has been named director of Human Resources. Holzem begins in February.
• A search will be starting for a full-time affirmative action officer.
• Kathy Kiefer, director of admissions, will be retiring the end of spring semester and a search will begin for this position.

Fundraising for scholarships UW-L is preparing to launch its next fundraising campaign, which will be focused primarily on student scholarships. The campaign could begin as early as mid-2013. The UW-L Foundation awarded more than 600 scholarships totaling more than $600,000 during the 2011-12 school year. The goal is to double that amount. A committee has been collecting input from the campus community to determine additional fundraising needs throughout the campus and help prioritize them. University Advancement and the UW-L Foundation ask for the university community’s continued help in identifying potential donors that might help UW-L with private support. [caption id="attachment_8868" align="alignright" width="770"] A video on UW-L's Institute for Ethnic and Racial Studies was shown during the Chancellor's All University Address on Wednesday. Find out more at www.uwlax.edu/EthnicStudies/[/caption]