Academic Support and Community Service Units

RESEARCH AND RESOURCE CENTER FOR CAMPUS CLIMATE

227 Graff Main Hall; (608) 785-5092
www.uwlax.edu/campusclimate

The primary goal of the Research and Resource Center for Campus Climate is to build community to enhance the campus climate while serving students, faculty, staff and the greater La Crosse community. The Campus Climate Office strives to foster an inclusive, collaborative, social justice approach to achieving equity across the entire campus. The office sponsors/supports:

Educational Programming & Trainings (e.g. Awareness through Performance, Intercultural Sensitivity Trainings, Work/Life Balance, etc.)
Cultural Events
Community Outreach
Diversity Related Organizations, Committees, and Offices.
Assessment of Campus Climate

The Campus Climate Office also hosts the Hate Incident Reporting Form. The purpose of this confidential reporting form is to monitor the occurrence of Hate Incidents both on and off campus. The identity of the victim will be kept confidential. Completing this form will not necessarily result in criminal or university action; however, the type of incident and/or the victim's willingness to take further action will determine whether or not additional steps will be taken. This form can be found here.

CONTINUING EDUCATION AND EXTENSION (CEE)

265 Morris Hall; (608) 785-6500
continuinged@uwlax.edu
www.uwlax.edu/conted

CEE works with faculty and departments to extend the instructional, research and public service resources of UWL to individuals and organizations in western Wisconsin communities and in other parts of the state. Some programs attract national and international audiences.

Graduate and undergraduate credit courses are offered off campus for part-time students, primarily K12 educators and health and human service professionals. Some courses are offered in partnership with the Cooperative Education Service Agency (CESA) #4. CEE also administers the Master of Education-Professional Development (MEPD) Learning Community program in partnership with the School of Education.

Conferences, workshops and other noncredit instructional programs are conducted for selected professional audiences, as well as the general public. Noncredit certificate programs are offered in gerontology and autism spectrum disorders. Learning in Retirement programs are offered specifically for older adults. Continuing education units (CEUs) or health education continuing education contact hours (CECHS) are awarded when appropriate.

Science, humanities, and arts enrichment classes also are offered for upper elementary, middle and high school students.

Credit outreach courses and most noncredit instructional programs are offered in partnership with UW-Extension. Distance learning technologies are used for selected audiences.

CEE staff work with faculty and off campus individuals to host conferences and annual meetings of professional associations and other organizations.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES (ITS)

103 Wing Technology Center;
(608) 785-8774
itssupport@uwlax.edu
www.uwlax.edu/itssupport

ITS provides a variety of services including electronic mail, personal file storage, library catalogs and databases, and Web services including details on campus events, directories of people and services and other information. Students can access their academic information, tuition and fees, and register for classes online using the TALON system. Many courses offer online resources through the campus supported course management system. Many of these resources are available on or off campus through Web based systems, requiring only an Internet connection. Computing and network information resources are widely used to support instruction, research, student services and communication and to create a community of shared inquiry. Principles of responsible use, to which all users are bound, are included in the student and staff handbooks and are available electronically on the Web or from the ITS Support Center.

General access computer laboratories in several locations on campus are available to students on average 80 hours per week during each term and provide access to computers running Windows and Macintosh operating systems along with a wide variety of application software. Laser printing is provided through the student technology fee. A schedule of open hours of these laboratories is available each term on the Web at www.uwlax.edu/gca.

The Information Technology Services (ITS) Support Center provides technical assistance, consulting and problem solving on campus standard software. Assistance is available by phone or on a walk-in basis. The ITS Support Center also maintains a Web site with self-help and support resources at www.uwlax.edu/itssupport. Free technology training for all students is available on all campus-supported applications.

The campus network reaches all buildings, including residence halls. Residence halls have individual network connections in each room plus access through a computer laboratory in each hall available to residents. Wireless network connectivity is available in many academic buildings and public areas on campus for students with mobile computers.

Educational technologies provides assistance in a variety of areas including audio, video and photography services, faculty development for using technology to enhance learning, and Web page development.

Distance Education facilities are located in Wing Technology Center, Morris Hall, Graff Main Hall, and the Health Science Center.

LA CROSSE EXERCISE AND HEALTH PROGRAM (LEHP)

221 Mitchell Hall; (608) 785-8683
www.uwlax.edu/sah/lehp/

The LEHP program, in conjunction with the La Crosse area medical profession, comprises two community service units, Adult Fitness and Cardiac Rehabilitation, as well as professional units in research and educational services. Based on laboratory evaluations, individualized programs of diet and exercise are developed by UWL faculty and technicians in cooperation with area medical personnel. Graduate assistants and undergraduate fitness majors assist during exercise periods in the Mitchell Hall pool and field house or during individual testing sessions in the College's Human Performance Laboratory. The LEHP offers an opportunity for practical experience, particularly to students who major in exercise and sport science and health education. Both the graduate degree program in clinical exercise physiology and the undergraduate program in exercise and sport science fitness emphasis enroll students who rely heavily on the LEHP units for their clinical work and supervision opportunities.

LA CROSSE MEDICAL HEALTH SCIENCE CONSORTIUM, INC.

3065 Health Science Center;
(608) 785-5150
www.uwlax.edu/lmhsc/

Founded in the fall of 1993, the consortium is a partnership between UWL, Western Technical College, Viterbo University, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, and Franciscan Skemp Healthcare Mayo Health System. As a multi-institutional partnership, the consortium works to enhance healthcare, strengthen medical health science education, and encourage applied research initiatives. In response to community and local needs, it encourages new solutions, programming, and ideas. The consortium also seeks the grants to make those initiatives possible. The consortium continues to develop projects that address emerging health care issues in the region.

The Health Science Center (HSC) building, located between the UWL and WTC campuses, is another consortium initiative. The HSC, which opened in 2000, is home to UWL and WTC health science academic departments, classrooms, and laboratories; the Student Health Center; Three Rivers Dental Clinic; Gundersen Lutheran classrooms; advanced facilities for research; and the consortium offices. On behalf of UWL, the HSC specifically supports academic programming in physical therapy, occupational therapy, clinical laboratory science, nuclear medicine technology, radiation therapy, physician assistant education, clinical microbiology, human physiology, as well as the collaborative UW-Madison/Gundersen Lutheran baccalaureate nursing program. In conjunction with the interactive educational programs, the HSC contributes significantly to the economic and higher educational wellbeing of the 7 Rivers Region.

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY ARCHAEOLOGY CENTER (MVAC)

Archaeology Center and Laboratories Building
(608) 785-8464
www.uwlax.edu/mvac

MVAC is an archaeological research, preservation and public education unit of the sociology/archaeology department that conducts excavations, surveys, and a precollegiate education and public programs. MVAC preserves sites and collections, and works with archaeologists in the sociology/ archaeology department to provide opportunities for student participation in archaeological research. The center trains students in archaeological methods. The archaeology laboratory is a location for much course-related student research, and contains space to curate artifacts recovered from field projects. Field studies are conducted regularly to learn about the prehistoric and early historic cultures of the upper Mississippi River Valley. The MVAC Web site contains much information on the archaeology of the upper Mississippi River.

MURPHY LIBRARY RESOURCE CENTER

(608) 785-8507
murphylibrary@uwlax.edu
www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary

Murphy Library Resource Center houses library holdings, computer facilities, curriculum-based collections and historical collections, and is the campus gateway to academic electronic information resources. Specialized facilities for computer instruction, group learning, and student support services are integral parts of the library.

The facility provides a variety of seating, individual study carrels, and group study rooms, a café, and other welcoming spaces. The building and addition contain over 680,000 volumes in open stack collections, including books, maps, periodicals, and microfilm. An online catalog allows users to find materials in local, other University of Wisconsin, and regional catalogs. The catalog is part of an integrated system that links library holdings, full text electronic materials, and request forms into a single interface.

The library is rich in international and multicultural materials, supporting campus diversity by providing circulating books, reference materials, multimedia collections, and electronic materials that represent a wide spectrum of peoples, groups, races, ethnicities, and choices.

The special collections/area research center contains the university archives, rare books, over 3,000 hours of oral history interviews, a 130,000image photo collection, 5,000 books on Wisconsin history, and is a regional depository for State Historical Society records and documents.

The periodicals collection consists of more than 20,000 full text journals available electronically through subscription databases, nearly 900 current print subscriptions, over 200 current electronic subscriptions, and a bound back file of more than 50,000 volumes. A searchable periodicals holdings database provides specific location and linking information for all print and electronic periodicals available to Murphy Library users. The microform holdings consist of more than one million microforms including periodicals, deep back files of newspapers such as the New York Times, government publications, and various other titles.

Computer facilities include dozens of desktop computers, laptops available for checkout, and wireless access throughout the library. Electronic library materials are available campus wide, and in most cases from off campus. Through the library Web site, students are able to access more than 200 subscription databases, 20,000 periodical titles, and library services such as electronic reference, electronic course reserves, book renewals, and more. An adaptive technology room is provided for people with special needs.

The multimedia collection consists of videos, DVDs, CDROMs, and other audiovisual materials, and is located in the library's curriculum center. These materials can be checked out or viewed using facilities within the library. The library is a selective depository for state and federal documents and provides access to hundreds of thousands of government documents, including print, microfilm, and online collections. The interlibrary loan/document delivery department provides prompt access to materials not available at UWL through its participation in a variety of integrated systems that facilitate sharing among libraries throughout the world. By cooperative agreement, students also may use the libraries of Viterbo University, Western Technical College, the La Crosse Public Library, and area medical centers.

For more information about Murphy Library, please visit the Web site at www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/.

UW-L PLANETARIUM

020 Cowley Hall; (608) 785-8669
www.uwlax.edu/planetarium

The planetarium has served the university, area schools, private groups, and the general public since 1965. Several thousand people attend presentations at the planetarium each school year. Bright stars and major constellations are pointed out in the simulated sky at public programs on Monday evenings. Each program also includes a multimedia presentation on various subjects in astronomy and space science. A music, light and laser show, "Album Encounters," features rock artists on Thursday evenings.

RIVER STUDIES CENTER

4043 Cowley Hall; (608) 785-8261
www.uwlax.edu/biology/rivercntr

The River Studies Center, created in 1972, is a non-curricular unit established to focus on research and informational programs pertinent to the Upper Mississippi River and its related resources. During the past 30 years, the center has expanded its research program to other aquatic resources, including rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands across Wisconsin, the Upper Midwest, and the nation. The center has extensive interdisciplinary collaborative partnerships with several state and federal agencies and with other universities, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the National Park Service, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The research of center faculty addresses resource issues and environmental problems of pressing regional and national concern, such as environmental pollutants and contaminants that have caused widespread degradation of our aquatic resources. Faculty affiliated with the center are highly competitive and successful in securing financial support for sustained aquatic environmental research. Scholarly investigations by the center have provided research opportunities to nearly 100 graduate students and more than 250 undergraduates.

SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (SBDC)

120 Wimberly Hall; (608) 785-8782
www.uwlax.edu/sbdc

The SBDC helps business owners start and grow their businesses through research, onsite programs, advising and educational programming. As one of Wisconsin's Small Business Development Centers, the SBDC taps statewide resources to help business managers solve business challenges. It provides businesses with information and guidance in starting, maintaining and expanding a small business including innovative, high potential businesses. Funding from the Small Business Administration supports the counseling.

Case studies sometimes are conducted by advanced students under faculty supervision. There also are internship and independent study opportunities.

In partnership with UW-Extension, the SBDC provides noncredit continuing education programs for business people in a seven-county region. Topics include business plan development, marketing, sales, finance, human resources, and other small business concerns. The Supervisory Management Certificate Program provides practical training for both new and experienced managers. In addition, the SBDC provides speakers, programs and trainers to individual firms and groups.

Some research is conducted for area businesses such as feasibility and impact studies. Local economic data is accessed through the SBDC Web site.