Dexter Filkins, a reporter for The New Yorker and The New York Times who has reported on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, will speak on Nov. 10 at the “Iraq War in Retrospect” symposium planned in UW Oshkosh’s Reeve Memorial Union.

The free, public symposium, co-sponsored by Military Veterans Museum, Inc., is the culmination of a week-long lineup of UW Oshkosh programming and events titled “War Through Their Eyes: Eyewitnesses, Combatants & America’s Newest Veterans.” Speakers, film screenings, art exhibits and forums will take place on campus throughout Veterans Week 2012, November 6 through November 10. Veterans Day is Sunday, Nov. 11.

The Saturday symposium welcomes a broad audience of participants to publicly examine and help preserve the diverse experiences of the Iraq War, said UW Oshkosh Department of History Prof. Stephen Kercher.

“Dexter Filkins is recognized, and has been rightly honored, as one of our era’s most skilled, exhaustive and thorough war correspondents and storytellers,” Kercher said. “He and his work embody what the Iraq War in Retrospect is all about.”

“Our special objective with this symposium is to really give a broad range of analysis, in a scholarly yet accessible way,” he said. “We are inviting a diverse audience to join us and consider the experience of journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan, the way filmmakers interpret the experience of these wars, the experience of the medical professionals who served, the experience of people who objected to the wars. And, finally, we need to provide a context for the geopolitical forces that accounted for these wars taking place in the first place. You can never talk about the experience of veterans without examining why they were sent to war in the first place.”

The Oshkosh-based, nonprofit Military Veterans Museum, dedicated to educating the public about the experience of war veterans, worked with UW Oshkosh to secure the grant making Filkins’ keynote visit and the Nov. 10 symposium possible. The partners’ collaboration is funded by a $10,000 major grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council.

Military Veterans Museum is also working to raise funds and complete its new “Fields of Honor” museum honoring and preserving the experiences of U.S. war veterans south of Oshkosh, near U.S. Highway 41 and State Highway 26.

“Dexter Filkins has dedicated himself and his work to sharing the experience of war through the stories, service and sacrifice of its veterans,” said Larry Smerling, vice president of Military Veterans Museum’s board of directors. “Both his presentation and the rest of the Iraq War symposium’s programs are strongly aligned with the mission of our organization and, most importantly, they will deeply involve the public, educators, historians and veterans themselves.”

• Free, online registration for the Nov. 10 symposium will be available starting the week of Oct. 8 at the UW Oshkosh Veterans Week website, www.uwosh.edu/veteransweek.
  

Dexter Filkins, contributed photo by James Hill

Before his tenure with The New York Times, Filkins worked for the Los Angeles Times, where he was chief of the paper’s New Delhi bureau, and for The Miami Herald. In 2009, he was part of a team of Times reporters who won a Pulitzer Prize for covering Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has received a George Polk Award and two Overseas Press Club awards. Most recently, he was a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. He lives in New York City.

Filkins’ presentation is just one component of the day-long Nov. 10 symposium. Students, staff, war veterans and archivists from the UW Oshkosh Department of History, UW Oshkosh Veterans Services Center, Military Science Department, American Democracy Project and Forrest R. Polk Library are also involved in the event’s sponsorship, coordination and content.

“A veteran’s war-time experience is a seminal moment in his or her life,” said Shawn Monroe, Veterans Resource Coordinator at UW Oshkosh. “An opportunity to better understand that moment is an opportunity to frame veterans’ personal stories within the larger canvas of the human experience. The Iraq War Symposium provides a rare opportunity to examine the factors, the players, the effects and experiences of our society in near-real time.”

The symposium will include six, 90-minute sessions moderated by UW Oshkosh professors, featuring special panelists, including Iraq War veterans who attend UW Oshkosh and who are members of area communities. The sessions’ subjects range from the role of women in the war, the work of war journalists and correspondents, how media and film have portrayed the war and the preservation of veterans’ memories and records in a digital era.

Kercher said the symposium will also feature a “memory corps” project, encouraging veterans of a digital, and often delete-able era, to preserve their artifacts and experiences for the sake of their historical value. UW Oshkosh Archivist Joshua Ranger is helping coordinate the effort.

“It will ultimately be an interdisciplinary program, looking at the Iraq War through different lenses but prioritizing the lens of the veteran,” Kercher said. “We want to make sure we have eyewitnesses — the reporters are those people with the eyes and ears we’ve relied upon to develop our sense for what these wars were like for everyone involved. The symposium also addresses the experience of veterans, both on the battlefield and in their difficult transition on the home front.”

Registration for the free symposium will be available soon.

The UW Oshkosh Veterans Week lineup leading into the Saturday, Nov. 10 symposium and Veterans Day will be equally engaging. The list of speakers and events follows:

• Tuesday, November 6, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Reeve Union Theater); Vietnam War Veterans panel discussion led by Greg Olson, Department of Communications.
• Wednesday, November 7 (time TBD) (Sage Hall, 1210) Co-sponsored by the Women’s Advocacy Council; Screening of the film “Lioness,” with a talk-back panel led by female Iraq War veterans.
• Thursday, November 8, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Sage 1210) Co-sponsored by the International Film Series; Screening of the film “In the Valley of Elah,” with talk-back led by Kelly Wilz, UW Marshfield film professor who has written about Iraq War films), Troy and Frances Perkins and war veterans.
• Friday, November 9, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., (Reeve Union Theater and Steinhilber Gallery); “War Through Their Eyes: Warriors & Nurses at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh” event coordinated by UW Oshkosh’s Grace Lim and Shawn McAfee, who, in collaboration with UW Oshkosh students, developed the original “War Through Their Eyes” multimedia project in 2009.

Learn more:

• Military Veterans Museum Inc.
• UW Oshkosh Department of History
• “War Through Their Eyes: From UW Oshkosh to the Middle East and Back”
• Wisconsin Humanities Council

Slated to open April 1, Oshkosh’s downtown hotel (the former City Center Hotel) will re-open its doors with a brand new everything. The 176-room waterfront property is currently undergoing from-the-ground-up renovations. Upon its reopening, it will be a state-of-the-art business hotel anchoring the city’s downtown and serving as an economic catalyst for the entire community.

The UW Oshkosh Foundation and local hoteliers Richard Batley of RB Hospitality in Neenah and John Pfefferle of Pfefferle Companies Inc. in Appleton took over ownership of the hotel last February. The dedicated partners—with the rallying efforts of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation—are bridging campus and the Oshkosh community, said UW Oshkosh Foundation President Arthur H. Rathjen.

To complement the downtown hotel,another state-of-the-art facility—a 22,000-square foot Alumni Welcome and Conference Center—will be built just blocks away along the water on the southern edge of the UW Oshkosh campus. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held Oct. 13.

“Both projects expand the synergy of the partnership between the University and the community,” Rathjen said. “A renovated, full-service convention hotel will enhance our community, serve area businesses, support scholarships and internships and complement our plans for the Alumni Welcome Center.”

To-date, the hotel has been gutted of its original interiors, the elevator has been modernized and the lobby has been opened up for a living room area and business center, said Mark Spielbauer, construction project superintendent.

The interior design phase begins this fall; individual hotel rooms, the ballroom and the restaurant along the waterfront will be beautified with a modern-day look.

Once up and running, the UW Oshkosh Foundation, in collaboration with its private sector partners, will oversee and manage the investment in the project. No state or tuition dollars will be used in the renovation or the project’s financing, Rathjen said.

To learn more about the UW Oshkosh Foundation, visit uwosh.edu/foundation

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Alumni Association’s Board of Directors elected seven new members to serve three-year terms, beginning in fall 2012. The new members include Stephanie Masaros Briggs ’00 and MSE ’02, of Madison; Ann Duginske ’11, of DePere; Bret Goodman ’71, of Glendale; Mark Joel ’98, of Oshkosh; Colleen Merrill ’09 and MBA ’10, of Oshkosh; Jason Richter ’00 and MBA ’12, of Menasha; and Russ Weyers ’82, of Mount Pleasant.

The UW Oshkosh Athletics Department welcomed five new coaches into the Titan family in July.

The coaches are Pat Juckem for men’s basketball, Brad Fischer for women’s basketball, Eamon McKenna ’04,for both men’s cross country and men’s track and field, Drew Ludtke for women’s cross country and Wytse Molenaar’06, for men’s soccer.

Professor Susan Cramer took her post as the new dean of Graduate Studies on July 1. Increasing the visibility of graduate school-level education is among Cramer’s goals in her new role. Cramer has been a member of the UW Oshkosh faculty since 1990 and has expertise in instructional technology, curriculum, leadership and program planning and evaluation.

Bob Keller, J. J. Keller chairman of the board and president/chairman of the J. J. Keller Foundation, has been named Executive in Residence for the UW Oshkosh College of Business. The Executive in Residence Program integrates a regional senior executive into the life of the college. Keller will assist with classes and student organizations; participate in college programs, centers and initiatives; mentor students and faculty; and share professional experiences in and outside of the classroom. Keller graduated from UWO in 1969 with a degree in economics and received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004. He was president and chief executive officer for J. J. Keller from 1988 until 2006; during his tenure, which began in 1957, the firm grew from approximately $10 million to $200 million in sales revenue. J. J. Keller currently employs about 1,200 associates.

Places

Horizon Village opened its doors to students this academic year. The five-story, 340-bed residence hall has been under construction since November 2010 and replaced the former Breese, Clemans and Nelson residence halls. The building was formally dedicated during Fall Fest on the Fox.

Kolf Sports Center underwent a renovation in summer 2012. The main field house athletic floor and the bleachers were replaced to make the facility more up-to-date and guest friendly.

Renovations are underway at Oshkosh’s downtown hotel. Last February, the UW Oshkosh Foundation along with local hoteliers closed on the sale of the property. Now, the 176-room waterfront property is being transformed into a state-of-the-art business hotel, which is intended to anchor the city’s downtown and serve as an economic catalyst for the entire community. Read more here.

Pride

UW Oshkosh and Fox Valley Technical College joined forces with a new agreement that allows students in aeronautics pilot training and aircraft electronics programs at FVTC to transfer credits into a UWO aviation management emphasis. The agreement became official in July.

UW Oshkosh awarded its first-ever doctoral degrees at the institution’s 138th spring commencement ceremony in May. Four students—Morgan Bailey, of Oshkosh; Amber Geocaris Carriveau, of Green Bay; Anna Christian, of Appleton; and Vicki Ray, of Appleton—are the first to obtain a Doctor of Nursing practice (DNP) degree. See photos from commencement here.

In April, the Arbor Day Foundation named UW Oshkosh a 2011 Tree Campus USA in honor of its commitment to effective community forestry management. This is the second year of recognition for UW Oshkosh.

A second group of students from Oman’s University of Nizwa “graduated” from UW Oshkosh in July. More than 20 Omani students studied at UW Oshkosh for several weeks as part of a business cultural exchange program partnership called Global Horizons. The program is part of a long-lasting partnership and friendship that has existed between the two academic communities and schools since the mid-1990s. While in Oshkosh, the group visited New North businesses and industries and met with leaders and legislators.

In this video, hear Povletich talk about his latest book, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Photos courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ndBjzU0IbQ

“It’s a very dynamic, growing campus,” said Steve Buss ‘86, president of the UW Oshkosh Alumni Association. “It’s a great place to learn, it’s a great place to come back to.”

The center—“the University’s new front door”—is slated to be built along Oshkosh’s Fox River, adjacent to the Wisconsin Street Bridge, on the southern edge of campus. It will offer the more than 80,000 UW Oshkosh alumni a home away from home.

Alumna Linda Bailey Boilini ’74, who also is a board member, gets excited when she thinks about a finished UW Oshkosh Alumni Welcome and Conference Center.

“If we utilize the beauty of the Fox River and build along it, we can make this campus even more spectacular than it already is,” she said.

The center will house a 460-person ballroom, four breakout rooms for 70 to 80 people and a 48-person executive board room, making it the ideal spot for meetings, educational conferences, lectures, weddings, corporate dinners and receptions.

The facility also will house the UW Oshkosh Alumni Relations, Foundation and Business Success Center offices.

• UW Oshkosh Alumni Welcome and Conference Center
• New UW Oshkosh Foundation Funds
• UW Oshkosh Foundation

Contribute online or mail your gift to the UW Oshkosh Foundation, 842 Algoma Boulevard, Oshkosh, WI 54901.

Blevons Northwestern Mutual Insurance Scholarship will be awarded to students with an insurance major, minor or emphasis, based on grade-point average, letters of recommendation, personal statement and interest in an insurance career.

Delta Sigma Phi Scholarship will be awarded to incoming male freshmen with a cumulative high school grade-point average of at least 3.5 and a history of leadership and involvement in extra-curricular activities. Delta Sigma Phi is a national social fraternity dedicated to making a difference in the lives of young men.

Faculty and Staff Sponsored Nursing Scholarship will be funded through contributions from College of Nursing faculty and staff, and will recognize and aid nursing students.

Golden Titan Endowed Scholarship is funded through contributions from Golden Titans—alumni who have graduated more than 50 years ago. The scholarship will be awarded to full-time students with a minimum grade-point average of 2.5. Preference will be given to first-generation college students and applicants with financial need.

Kenneth W. Morrison Memorial Scholarship honors a former professor in the College of Education and Human Services who taught at UW Oshkosh 1967-2000. The scholarship will be awarded to graduate students majoring in counseling who demonstrate potential for becoming an effective counseling professional.

Oshkosh Community Dragon Boat Scholarship is a financial need-based scholarship available to Winnebago County residents seeking to fulfill their personal, academic or career goals through a UW Oshkosh degree program. The award is funded through proceeds from the annual Oshkosh Community Dragon Boat Race and Festival, held each September in downtown Oshkosh.

Schierstedt Scholarship was established by Bruce and Susan Schierstedt, both of whom are UWO alumni and retired staff members. Bruce spent 23 years in academic computing and the College of Education and Human Services. Sue was executive director of the Wisconsin Family Business Forum for 15 years. The scholarship will be awarded to a full-time undergraduate student enrolled in the College of Education and Human Services who is in need of financial support.

Soo-Young Moon

Miles Maguire, an associate professor of journalism and the faculty adviser for UW Oshkosh’s David J. Lippert Chapter of Kappa Tau Alpha, was awarded a $1,000 research grant from the national organization of the journalism honor society in December 2011. He will use the grant to continue his research of “genius journalists” who have received “genius grants” from the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

UW Oshkosh’s College of Business welcomed David Krause ’89, as its new director of development and alumni relations. In his new role, Krause will work with staff to develop college advancement initiatives, coordinate events and establish and cultivate relationships with alumni.

The Wisconsin Family Business Forum welcomed Cathy Huybers as its new executive director. Huybers will work to establish and maintain relationships with community partners.

Places
On Oct. 22, 2011, UW Oshkosh invited “graduates” of the former Swart elementary school back to campus for the historical dedication of Swart Hall. UW Oshkosh (formerly known as the Oshkosh State Normal School) was a leader in educating teachers and broke new ground when it became the first of its kind in the nation to start an actual kindergarten.

UW Oshkosh is moving forward in planning for a state-of-the art Alumni Welcome and Conference Center. The riverfront center will serve as the new front door to the University and will house UW Oshkosh Alumni Relations, Foundation and Business Success Center offices. Read more about the Alumni Welcome and Conference Center.

An innovative new Veterans Resource Center, designed to support military veterans entering or coming back to school at UW Oshkosh, was dedicated on Nov. 7, 2011, in honor of Veterans Week. Read more about the Veterans Resource Center and its new coordinator here.

Opened in 2007, the award-winning, $21-million, 104,000-square-foot Student Recreation and Wellness Center (SRWC), welcomed its one-millionth user on Dec. 16, 2011. Staff and students greeted the lucky visitor, Steven Seidl, with a mini-celebration and a handshake.

Pride
UW Oshkosh’s student-run radio station 90.3 WRST-FM participated in the first-ever College Radio Day on Oct. 11, 2011. College Radio Day was part of an initiative to get people listening to the creative spirit of student-run broadcast stations.

The UW Oshkosh public relations program, housed in the journalism department, has become the first in the state to be certified through Certification in Education for Public Relations (CEPR), an outside review sponsored through the Public Relations Society of America. So far, only 29 universities have received the certification and UW Oshkosh is the only Wisconsin school included on the list.

Last September, the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) chapter at UW Oshkosh set a record when it earned its 24th Gold Award, more awards than any other chapter. Each chapter is eligible to apply for a gold, silver or bronze award each year and after achieving five Gold Awards in five consecutive years, the chapter receives the Platinum Award. The student organization also received its 20th consecutive Platinum Award this year.

UW Oshkosh’s Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC) team was awarded the inaugural American Marketing Association Higher Education Team Award for its leadership and achievements in higher education marketing. The IMC focus began in 2005 in order to strengthen and realign the University’s identity and image while re-engaging alumni, impacting student recruitment and faculty and staff retention as well as improving donor relations.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program, the first doctoral degree offered at UW Oshkosh, earned accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the best outcome possible for a new program.

Early this year, UW Oshkosh launched a new version of UWO—Everywhere You Go, a mobile app available for both Apple and Android smartphones, as well as the iPad, with great new features. The free mobile app offers students access to things they use most like dining menus, TitanCard balances and to quicklinks to TitanWeb and TitanMail. The new app also allows users to search maps to find campus locations and parking. Download the app.

Sage Hall, which refers to wisdom, boasts four stories of classrooms, study spaces and features built for and around students of the millennium, will house administration, faculty and program offices for the College of Business, along with several College of Letters and Science departments and programs.

“Sage Hall is a great step into the future at UW Oshkosh,” said Chad Cotti ‘00, associate professor of economics who now has an office and will do much of his teaching at Sage Hall.

Construction of the $48-million academic center began in 2009. The new building, which provides more than 13,000 section seats per day, helps UW Oshkosh address an academic space shortage, in part due to record-breaking enrollment increases. More than 13,600 students attended the University in the last academic year.

“With our continual increase in student enrollment, the building has eased up a bit on room scheduling constraints,” said Lisa Danielson, UW Oshkosh registrar.

Beyond 27 new classrooms, the largest lecture halls on campus integrates an enhanced audio system to support the hearing impaired and dozens of unique breakout study spaces, Sage Hall also offers students features like individual laptop plug-ins at their lecture seats, high-tech equipment and natural lighting in each classroom. “I think it’s a huge step forward for the University,” said Nathan Stepanek, of Oshkosh, a junior radio-TV-film major.

Faculty members agree. “I think this shows a reinvestment in campus,” said Denise Robson, head of the Faculty Senate at UW Oshkosh.

Aesthetics, efficiencies given equal weight
Warm colored paint on the walls, an oversized entrance off High Avenue, designated areas for student organizations and even an Einstein Bros. Bagels are among the amenities that will make those who use the building comfortable.

“I’m a real believer in the importance of aesthetics. The way it looks matters,” said Franca Barricelli, history professor and associate dean of the College of Letters and Science. “It’s more important than just being pretty. It changes the way we interact. It will change the way people feel here.”

Barricelli, who was part of the initial planning team for Sage Hall, is excited to finally see the building ready for use. Because the needs of those who will use Sage Hall now and into the future are so diverse, Barricelli said placement of classrooms, lab and study spaces were well thought out to encourage the collaboration among colleges and departments.

“The demands of a modern education aren’t well met by the existing classrooms we have,” said Cotti, who previously taught many of his classes in Clow Social Science Center, the Nursing Education building and Swart Hall. “The University has done a fantastic job of taking classrooms from the 1960s and making them useful, but older classrooms weren’t designed with multiple visual options in mind.”

Cotti said he firmly believes the way a classroom is set up affects student learning. He’s excited to teach in a setting where he can use multiple areas of his classroom to show a projection of something online while also using a white board. Plus, the size and shape of the new classrooms will allow him to see nonverbal communication cues his students are putting out easier.

“The ability to look across your classroom into somebody’s eyes and see what they are thinking matters,” Cotti said.

Navigation also is less challenging in Sage Hall than it was in the old College of Business setting.

“Students (had) a hard time finding my office, so that’ll be easier,” said Cotti, who had a small office on the top floor of Clow with many others from the College of Business. “It will be easier for students to find all of us in the College of Business. We’ll have a genuine sense of, ‘my office is right down the hall.’”

John Koker, dean of the College of Letters and Science at UW Oshkosh, agrees Sage Hall will become a great new home to the departments housed there.

“The professional colleges will now have a single identity instead of being everywhere,” Koker said. “Plus, once we make this move, the domino effect of other renovations will begin and bring other spaces into the 21st century.”

Sage Hall goes green
Features like a live green roof, sustainable landscaping and rain gardens helped Sage Hall qualify for a gold LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. To read more, visit UW Oshkosh Reinvented.

The funding hybrid of public and private dollars that made it possible for Sage Hall to open its doors this fall is a first-of-its-kind for UW Oshkosh. Launched in 2006, a multifaceted, comprehensive pride.purpose.promise. campaign targeted donors to make the project a reality.

In total, approximately $5 million in private funds were raised in support of Sage Hall.

UW Oshkosh alumni and sisters Carol (Pawer) Sanders ’89, and Terri Pawer ’79 and ’89 MBA, couldn’t think of a better way to honor their parents than to have a space in the new building — Pawer Accounting Faculty Office — named after them.

“It was an extremely emotional time, but after my mother passed away, Terri and I decided to give,” Sanders said. “We got a beautiful letter thanking us, which we gave to our dad. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more proud moment for him than when we presented him with that letter. Unfortunately, he passed away last February so he won’t be able to see the room, either.”

Ultimately, Sanders said she and her sister decided to give to the Sage Hall effort because they are believers in public education and products of a UW Oshkosh education. Their dad, Donald, was an educator in the Appleton school system for more than 35 years who put his four daughters through college on a teacher’s salary.

“We had a wonderful education and then we were populated right back into the community,” said Sanders, who works for Jewelers Mutual Insurance. “We couldn’t be more impressed with how far the UW Oshkosh experience has gotten us in our careers.”

Others, like UW Oshkosh alumnus Dave Geurden ’71, and his wife, Sharon, also gave in memory of a loved one.

The Titan-colored signage that reads, “Geurden Group Room” was an appropriate way for the Geurdens to honor their late daughter, Tammy, a 1993 graduate who loved UW Oshkosh.

“When you lose a child, you just want to keep their memory out there,” Sharon Geurden said. “My husband always felt that because he went to school there, it was important to give back. School gives you the tools for your future livelihood, and you have a responsibility to give back.”

• New UW Oshkosh Foundation funds
• UW Oshkosh Foundation

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s College of Business welcomed Kathleen Hagens ’94 and ’98 (MBA), as its new MBA program director in June. Hagens brings extensive corporate marketing experience with her to UW Oshkosh and is excited to work with area businesses, community leaders and the University community.

Loucas Petronicolos, a College of Education and Human Services associate professor, was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and will spend the spring 2012 semester at the University of Tuzla in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Overseas, Petronicolos will develop a master’s degree program and establish a scientific journal, as well as teach seminars on social justice and inclusion.

Peter Westort is packing up his life and classroom for the 2011–2012 academic year and heading to Egypt. There, the UW Oshkosh College of Business professor will teach accounting through the Fulbright Scholarship program.

The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association selected UW Oshkosh’s Pat Ebel as its 2011 NCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year.

UW Oshkosh professors Andrew Robson and David Siemers were named as winners of the American Democracy Project 2011 Community Engagement Award. Both were honored in April during the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation’s Evening of Stars. The Community Engagement Award is given to UW Oshkosh faculty or staff members who have created exceptional educational experiences for students that also address areas of public concern.

Places

Environmental Research and Innovation Center

Construction begins this fall on the Environmental Research and Innovation Center (ERIC), formerly known as the aquatics lab. Renovations to ERIC will include updating lab and staff work spaces and adding room for visiting scientists. Biogas testing in the updated facility also will begin.

A newly created Titan Transfer Center has been developed to help the more than 1,400 to-be UW Oshkosh students with the transfer process. The Titan Transfer Center, a partnership between UW Oshkosh, UW–Fox Valley and UW–Fond du Lac, is designed to meet the unique needs of transfer students.

Biodigester

As a leader and partner in building a strong and sustainable northeastern Wisconsin, UW Oshkosh dedicated a first-of-its-kind, commercial-scale dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester in May and will produce energy this fall. The renewable energy facility includes heat and power generators, which will initially produce up to 5 percent of the campus’ electricity and heat. The majority of the 8,000 tons of organic biowaste needed per year will be provided by campus and community sources with the remainder being supplied from other area partners. The biodigester is located adjacent to the Campus Services Center on Dempsey Trail.

Pride

In the midst of Earth Week in April, The Princeton Review announced UW Oshkosh, for the second year in a row, earned a place in its Guide to 311 Green Colleges, a spotlight of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada “that demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.” The book is a collaboration between The Princeton Review and U.S. Green Building Council.

International Dual Degree Program

UW Oshkosh signed its first international, dual degree program with Chungnam National University in Daejeon, South Korea. The agreement, will allow students to earn degrees from both universities.

UW System’s first-ever integrated marketing and communications conference, I.M. Comm 2011, was held at UW Oshkosh, attracting about 200 UW System colleagues. The conference emphasized the value of a strong, compelling brand, authentic storytelling and collaboration as key ingredients in the successful marketing of institutions.

UW Oshkosh has more solar thermal panels than any other state institution, private or public. The sun’s energy heats Albee Hall’s swimming pool, water in residence halls and the dishwashing water at Blackhawk Commons by the more than 170 panels throughout campus. UW Oshkosh’s newest academic building — Sage Hall — features both thermal and photovoltaic solar panels on its roof.

A new collaboration will expand the number of elective and advanced courses at UW Oshkosh. A new Japanese studies major began this fall and aims to engage students in an innovative, rigorous, multidisciplinary program that focuses on the language and culture of Japan and its significant role in the global economy. The partnership with UW–Whitewater is the only undergraduate Japanese Studies Program in the state.

UW Oshkosh finished first in Wisconsin and 14th in the United States out of 288 colleges and universities in the Grand Champion competition of “RecycleMania” earlier this year. The 10-week, waste reduction challenge annually pits campuses big and small against one another in a test of their campus recycling and waste-reduction efforts.

UW Oshkosh is the first campus in Wisconsin to achieve Tree Campus USA recognition for its dedication to campus forestry management in 2010. The basic requirements include establishing a campus tree advisory committee, creating a campus tree-care plan, dedicating annual expenditures to the campus tree care program, becoming involved in an Arbor Day observance and instituting a service-learning project. Oshkosh has been a Tree City USA for 30 years.

With the growing number of smartphone and tablet users around the world and on campus, UW Oshkosh responded to the demand and developed a mobile app, which launched in April. The mobile app — the first in the UW System to become available for the Android Market. The free application has a simple user interface and is also available for the iPhone. Download the app at www.uwosh.edu/go/mobile.