Breaking ground on a campus centerpiece

UW-Stout broke ground on a Jarvis Hall renovation and expansion project this summer. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

The addition will be the home of the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, including the emerging areas of biotechnology and nanotechnology.

The $43.2 million project will remodel 66,400 square feet of the current building and add a three-story addition and one-story classroom wing totaling 90,900 square feet. There will be space for science instruction, research, general assignment classrooms, as well as space for the mathematics, statistics and computer science department.

An outdated classroom wing with 11,400 square feet will be demolished and replaced.

The original Jarvis Hall was built in 1970. Named for John Jarvis, who served as vice president of Academic Affairs from 1962 to 1973, Jarvis Hall has served as the primary instruction area for the sciences at UW-Stout.

Sustainable eating

The first UW-Stout student to enter the Xcel Energy Young Entrepreneurs’ Written Business Plan Competition brought home the prize.

Ryan McKone, of Superior, Wis., won first place in the fourth annual competition, which was held at UW-River Falls April 18-19.

McKone, a business administration major, wrote a business plan for Crush, an urban eatery that would be the area’s first LEED-Commercial Interior certified restaurant. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a green building rating system for environmentally sustainable construction.

According to the plan, Crush would specialize in local artisan cheeses, small-batch cured meats and great wines. Crush also would use local suppliers and offer a rotating menu, focusing on fresh, seasonal and locally grown products in a trendy, casual atmosphere.

McKone received a $1,000 cash award for his winning entry, and his name has been inscribed on the Traveling Lydecker Award.

UW-Stout realigns and adds programs

One of UW-Stout’s biggest strengths is its academic programs. Since July 1, the programs have been reorganized into four new colleges to further strengthen the university’s mission and polytechnic identity.

The realignment creates four colleges: The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences; the College of Management; and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A Center for Interdisciplinary Collaboration also will be created, and the Graduate School remains unchanged.

The former structure included the College of Technology, Engineering and Management; the College of Arts and Sciences; the College of Human Development; the School of Education; and the Graduate School.

No academic programs, outreach units or positions were eliminated as a result of the realignment, which had received approval from the Faculty Senate and the Senate of Academic Staff.

“The realignment positions UW-Stout to meet the current needs of faculty, staff and students and positions the university for increased competitiveness and future growth,” said Provost Julie Furst-Bowe, who led the realignment process for Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen.

“UW-Stout's new program alignment creates the necessary synergy, a basis
for collaboration, that will strengthen programs,” Sorensen said. “With the rapid changes taking place in all areas of the workplace, academic programs must be able to adjust to meet those new demands. We owe this to our students.”

The realignment is designed to achieve five major goals:

• It groups similar programs, departments and disciplines in units so they are better able to address common issues.

• It capitalizes on trends and opportunities that have emerged during the past decade, such as increased student interest in health and human service related programs, the growth of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) as a concept in education, and an increase in the number of management programs at UW-Stout.

• It strengthens UW-Stout’s polytechnic identity and positions the university among its national polytechnic peers. It also expands technology transfer and outreach efforts to more fully recognize economic growth and collaborative partners.

• It develops an administrative structure that is more descriptive and understandable to internal and external audiences, including potential faculty and staff hires.

• It provides a more coordinated approach to interdisciplinary and collaborative programs and facilitates joint appointments, team teaching, and faculty-student research initiatives.

Under the new model, the UW System Board of Regents is considering a UW-Stout proposal that calls for adding 17 new bachelor’s and master’s degree programs over the next seven to 10 years.

“It is an ambitious plan,” Furst-Bowe said. “Currently UW-Stout has a relatively small number of undergraduate majors, and it is our goal to expand our program array in areas consistent with our mission and our polytechnic designation.”

UW-Stout is finalizing the planning for two new engineering programs: a Bachelor of Science degree in plastics engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering. Both of these programs are pending final approval from the Board of Regents, which is needed before the degree programs can be offered in the fall of 2008.

Six other undergraduate and graduate degree programs have been given planning permission from UW System officials: Bachelor of Science degrees in professional studies, applied social science, science and technology education (dual certification) and science education. Master’s degree programs in science and technical communication is being planned, as is a master of fine arts program.

“Ideas for these programs came from faculty groups working with area professionals to meet needs in high-demand employment areas,” Furst-Bowe said. “This plan will benefit students as they will have additional majors to select from — majors that will lead to jobs in engineering, teaching and the social sciences.”

The other programs are in various stages of development and review by UW System officials. The complete list of the programs is available at the provost's Web site.

Where there are rocks, students help people roll

From left, Ryan Marsel, Scott Harbarth, Jon Breen and Steven Swoboda. Photo courtesy of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

A case study in lean manufacturing systems meets real world at UW-Stout — with an emphasis on “world.”

Last winter, manufacturing engineering students at UW-Stout worked with a team of industrial engineering students at Başkent University, located in Ankara, Turkey. The two university teams developed a new manufacturing process for Ankara-based Kifas Manufacturing — the maker of custom wheelchairs and supplies for individuals in the Middle East who have low income and are disabled. The company works directly with humanity aid agencies, such as the Red Cross.

During winter break, the UW-Stout students traveled to Turkey and, along with the Başkent students, finalized and implemented a new plant layout. The layout will increase production from 50 wheelchairs a month to 250.

The new layout also will ease the introduction of a new line of all-terrain wheelchairs into the manufacturing process. The rugged wheelchairs are being manufactured to withstand the harsh terrain in developing countries.

Going for the gold, in Olympic suit design

The design work of Ryan Muraro, a junior from Waukesha, Wis., may soon be in the international spotlight.

Muraro designed the suits to be worn by British speed skater Phil Brojaka and by the Ukrainian speed-skating team — all possible contenders in the next winter Olympics.

Brojaka, who dates Muraro’s sister, asked Muraro to design his speed-skating suit in 2007. In one night, Muraro sketched 20 ideas, and Brojaka picked one. The suit went into production nine months later. Brojaka already is wearing the suit in competitions.

Because of that success, Brojaka’s agent approached Muraro about designing suits for the Ukrainian speed-skating team. In two hours, Muraro sketched five designs, and one has been produced.

Muraro, who studies industrial design in UW-Stout’s art program, hopes to design additional suits in the future.

Student earns Coast Guard achievement medal

Petty Officer Jodie Bray-Commings, of Spooner, Wis., did not hesitate to offer her assistance last summer when the I-35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. She patrolled the disaster site by boat, providing security for rescue operations and transporting key, high-profile personnel to necessary locations. Bray-Commings was on stand-by duty when President Bush toured the disaster site.

Her performance during the aftermath of the disaster was just one example of why she was named the 2007 Ninth Coast Guard District Reserve Enlisted Person of the Year.

Admiral Thad W. Allen, the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and its highest ranking member, presented Bray-Commings with a medal and citation for “superior performance of duty” March 21. The citation, which also documented her other heroic efforts, covered her service to the Coast Guard Station in Duluth from August 2006 to March 2008.

Bray-Commings is a student majoring in technology education.

An education that transcends cultures

Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen and Provost Julie Furst-Bowe were keynote speakers at the second annual International Symposium on Excellence in Education, hosted by e-TQM College of Dubai.

Sorensen focused his presentation on leadership. Furst-Bowe spoke about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

The e-TQM College is the first online higher education institution in the Middle East. It specializes in the area of Total Quality Management and related topics.

While there, Sorensen signed a memorandum of understanding with e-TQM that outlined potential programs the two institutions can share, such as curriculum and faculty exchanges.

The two universities match in several programs including business management, hospitality and tourism management, golf enterprise management and teacher education.

Wacky machine contest builds complicated burger

The School of Education’s technology education program hosted its first Rube Goldberg Machine Contest for Wisconsin high school teams March 11.
The contest brings the cartoons of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Rube Goldberg to life. For the contest, teams are given a simple challenge for which they must create a machine — an assembly of ordinary objects and mechanical gadgets — to solve the problem in a convoluted way.

This year’s challenge was for teams to assemble a hamburger in a minimum of 20 steps — the more steps, the better the machine.

Andrew Behnke, a sophomore from Loyal, Wis., was the student coordinator who launched UW-Stout’s event for high schoolers. As a high school senior, Behnke was the captain of his school’s Rube Goldberg team. His team won the regional contest and also placed second in the national competition.

Behnke plans to launch a collegiate contest at UW-Stout next.