On-time to degree

Students are being penny-wise and pound-foolish when they don't sign up for at least 15 credit hours per semester. The cost is the same, dropping a course (if necessary) does not jeopardize full time status, students who take more credits have a tendency to do better academically, and it takes less time to get done. The sooner a degree is completed the sooner a career can be started, meaning earning power increases. "Full time" used to mean a minimum of 15 credit hours per semester. It was for me. Sometimes I took 18 credits. I don't consider myself especially brainy, but I worked hard at being a student. And I worked part time too.

Campus Food Service

A couple people have commented on the campus food service. I wish we had more variety, better selection, and a more complete menu. The problem is that the people running the service have only a grill to work with. There is no real kitchen. And given the recent investments of the counties in our campus, providing a new one is not on their priority list. Campuses like UWO fund theirs from segregated fees (students taxing themselves).

Becoming "Green"

UWFox is attempting to be come "greener." We are trying to reduce waste and energy consumption. So far, we've

• installed energy efficient ballasts in the lighting
• installed motion detectors so that empty rooms go dark
• intalled a water filtration system on one fountain so people don't need to buy bottled water in plastic bottles that become part of the waste stream
• designed the new Commuication Arts Center to LEED standards

I want to compliment the Fox Student Association for their leadership in this endeavor.

Do you think we are doing enough? Do you have suggestions about what else we might do?

The Value of a Place Like Fox

Recently there was a major announcement out of UW Madison concerning a huge breakthrough in stem cell research. I understand that a discussion took place among a few of our students who said some of their off-campus friends think they are attending a second rate campus by being at UWFox. When I heard about it, I recalled that Jamie Thomson, the researcher whose lab created these results, has been at Fox and that perhaps Fox students had more contact with him in one day than 99.9999% of the Madison students ever would.

One student commented that our faculty wasn't perceived as being as good as that from some of the baccalaureate campuses. Many of the marquee faculty at a place like Madison do not have much interaction with first and second year (or even undergraduate) students.

We emphasize teaching excellence, small classes etc. What are the chances of freshman or sophomore working intensely with someone like Thompson even if they are attending Madison?

Apparently there are some instructional staff at a four-year campus who have made some less than flattering references to the Colleges, despite the fact that that campus' chancellor has been quite flattering of UWFox, and would like to have more Fox students complete their education at his campus. Many universities in Wisconsin (other than Madison) are often caught between trying to replicate Research I institutions such as Madison and trying at the same time to offer many of the amenities of smaller liberal arts campuses (undergraduate attention, smaller classes, etc.) that are the hallmarks of places like Fox and Lawrence. Their faculty are expected to research and publish while carrying a larger teaching load than faculty at a flagship (Madison-like) institution. This can frustrate faculty at those institutions and often these campuses end up failing to offer the teaching excellence of a smaller campus or the generating the level of research at a larger institution.

It is unfortunate that there are still so many people who don't grasp the value of a place like Fox. But many do. Today I was at Posters in the Rotunda where our undergraduate research is featured. We had 22 participants from the UW Colleges, including students from Fox, Manitowoc, and West Bend. I spoke at length with one of Dr. Rudd's students, a woman who received a bachelor's degree from Lawrence University and (gasp!) came to Fox to prepare herself for pharmacy school. She told me that she had been a 4.0 high school student and thought that she should go to Lawrence because it's perceived as a "better" school. Today she told me that the experience she has had at Fox parallels that she had at Lawrence, with the quality of the teaching and commitment of her faculty being identical to that at Lawrence. She said that she's a convert -- that the quality of Fox is equal to that of a school that is known to be really outstanding, but costs a whole heck of a lot more.

So what do you think Fox students? Do you sense the pride that I feel in being part of this campus? Let me hear from you!