Academic Affairs

-Accounting program is the Best Undergraduate-only Program in the United States as measured by the 1st Time CPA pass rate.  –Nearly $600,000 bought in through CBA grants and entrepreneurial activity. –Inaugurated Russell G. Cleary Distinguished Leadership Lecture Series. -Numbers of CBA majors have increased 300 between Fall 2012 and Fall 2015. -Over 50% of graduating students indicate they already have a job before graduation in their major or will be pursuing full-time continuing education. -Voted in a new CBA mission statement.-Wittich Remodel is starting. -30% of CBA faculty are new since Fall ’14.  

-9 Searches successfully concluded in FY16 including 7 faculty, 1 Associate Dean, and 1 Marketing Specialist for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. –La Crosse SOUP featured an entire entrepreneurship class with a student group winning $800 and then followed up with a crowdfunding appeal that raised $10,000 for the student projects. -SBDC during calendar year had 341 clients.  Over $4.6 million in loans or equity were reported for business startups or expansions.  257 people were served in programs ranging from basic short or lengthy close programs. Across the last two years, SBDC has worked with faculty to have 24 business projects with over 250 undergraduate students participating.  

Accountancy Department students were again above the national average on first time pass rate of the CPA exam.  Several personnel changes occurred during the year, including an IAS and tenure track leaving prior to the Fall 2017 semester.  A retired faculty member covered two sections of Audit, an adjunct from the community covered Fraud, and existing faculty had overloads to cover course demand.  A new IAS was hired January 2017 and a new tenure track is scheduled to start August 2017, and the department remains in search mode for two tenure track faculty. 

                The 34th Annual Accountancy Banquet was held in April 2017, sponsored by many accounting firms and businesses that recruit UWL accounting majors.  Scholarships provided by individuals, firms, and businesses aggregating over $100,000 were given to students.  202 people attended the banquet.

   The department plans to continue with the department strengths of preparing students for careers in accounting and success on the CPA exam, obtaining internships, and helping students obtain full-time employment upon graduation.  

The economics department engaged in the first major revision to the Major in nearly two decades. The results of the changes are documented in the Final Report of the Curriculum Redesign Grant written by the PIs Lisa Giddings, Betsy Knowles, and John Nunley:
“The Curriculum Redesign Grant (CRG), received for the period of July 1, 2016 to July 1 2017, grew out of our departmental deliberations over the curricular and assessment issues that we acknowledged over the past five years. The CRG team had an extremely productive grant period that resulted in what we hope will be seen in retrospect as the initial steps toward transforming the curriculum and assessment of the Economics Major. The Curriculum Redesign Committee itself, department brainstorming, and evening fall retreat were all firsts for the Department of Economics. The Committee accomplished five major goals over the course of the grant period: (1) the adoption of departmental values for our students; (2) the adoption of a new set of learning outcomes for the major that reflect stakeholder input - including current majors, alumni, and peer institutions; (3) a mapping document that links the new major learning objectives and economics course learning objectives; (4) an additional course requirement for our majors that addresses one of the learning objectives identified in the redesign process; and (5) development of an assessment plan which considers the curriculum revision.”

The Economics department continued with it speaker series bringing the following scholars to campus:

• 10/14/16 Rod Fort University of Michigan "Monetary Cost of Concussion: The Case of Major League Baseball Players."
• 10/27/16 Bryan Caplan George Mason University
• 11/4/16 Tonmoy Islam Elon University
• 2/17/17 Andy Young Texas Tech University
• 3/24/17 Ming Tsang Hamilton College
• 4/28/17 Jari Eloranta, Appalacian State Univ "Did the Rich Countries Win? Correlates of Aggregate Mobilization in the Two World Wars"
• 4/28/2017 Russ Sobel The Citadel
• 5/4/2017 Melissa Thomasson Miami University The Swan Song of the Country Doctor? How Flexner Changed the Practice of Medicine

The economics department continued with the Critical Thinking and Communications (CTC) conferences where upper level undergraduates present their classroom research in a poster styled event. We had one held in the fall and the other in the spring, with the spring event anchored by an Honors Student Presentation. Additionally we held two major conferences with nationally recognized speakers. 

• Symposium on Operations and Economics of Competitive Sports Teams on April 11, 2016
• New Institutional Economics and Economics History Conference on September 25, 2015
Betsy Knowles, Economics, one of six UWL faculty members selected for the 2016 Eagle Teaching Excellence Award and she also helped to lead the first ever assessment commons for the university.
Betsy Knowles, Lisa Giddings and John Nunley received a curricular redesign funds for their proposal entitled “Revisiting and Revising Competency in the Economics Major”.
We had four outside seminar speakers in addition to the conferences:
• Shatanjaya Dasgupta on Friday, April 1 in 203 Wimberly Hall, 3:30-5:00 PM Shatanjaya Dasgupta is from the Department of Economics at Beloit College. She presented "Paying for Violence? Spousal Abuse and Son Preference in India"
• Kristen Monaco on Friday, December 4, 2015 in Wimberly Hall. Kristen Monaco, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor presented “The Requirements of Jobs: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Survey”
• Josh Hall on October 9, 2015 from West Virginia University presented “Does School District and Municipality Border Congruence Matter? A Spatial Hedonic Approach
• Chris Vickers on Friday, February 5 in 203 Wimberly Hall, 3:30-5:00 PM. Chris is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Auburn University. He presented "Income Inequality in the Great Depression".

We also financially supported several other events on campus with faculty time and or Money. Nabamita Dutta helped facilitate the South Asian Film Festival to which the Economics department also contributed money. We also contributed to the talk on the rise of Islamophobia in the U.S.

Department of Finance:
Annual Report Submission to Digital Measures, 2016 - 2017
The 2016-2017 academic year was very productive for the faculty and students in the Department of Finance. Drs. Yuree Lim, Jared Linna and Adam Stivers, who have specialties in Corporate Finance and Investments, respectively, joined the faculty in Fall 2016. This brought the department to seven tenured or tenure-track faculty, two full-time instructional academic staff members and two part-time instructional academic staff members. Of the seven tenure track faculty, six have less than three years’ experience at UW-L. Finally, Maureen Spencer ably supports the department as our ADA.

The department offers an undergraduate Finance Major and a Risk, Insurance and Financial Planning (RIFP) concentration within the Finance Major. It also supports the local MBA program and the UW Consortium MBA program. There are approximately 400 majors, of which approximately 300 have declared Finance as their first major. Career Services reports 129 Finance Degrees were awarded in 2015-2016. This is approximately one-fourth of the degrees granted by the entire college (477) and we are the second smallest department. Career Services statistics suggest 94% of responding Finance Majors are employed in a finance-related area and 80% of responding Finance with a Concentration in Risk, Insurance and Financial Planning are employed in a related field.

Regarding curriculum, the department continues to expand its offerings of online courses. During the 2016 -2017 calendar, Principles of Financial Management (FIN 355), Principles of Investments (FIN 380, Summer 2017), Money & Capital Markets (FIN 390), and Foundations of Financial Management (FIN 720, MBA Consortium Foundations Course) were all offered online. The finance major case course (FIN 485) is offered fall and spring as a writing emphasis course within the major. Kaplan-Schweser continues to support Advanced Financial Analysis (FIN 447), each spring semester. This is an excellent and nationally unique opportunity for our students as Kaplan-Schweser is the international leader in CFA training and their corporate headquarters is here in La Crosse.

The department continues to be active in service to the UW System, university, college, and community. Following is an abbreviated list:

• UW System: Tax Sheltered Annuity Review Committee
• University: It Make$ Cents! financial literacy program, Faculty Development, Instructional Academic Staff, UWL Online Advisory Board, Joint Promotion Committee,
• College: Assurance of Learning Task Force, International Business Advisory Committee, Delta Sigma Pi Professional Fraternity Advisor, Scholarship Committee, and Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and Graduate Curriculum Committee.
• Department: Assurance of Learning, Bylaws, Curriculum, Library Liaison, Financial Management - Student Organization, Spellman Fund Oversight, Temte Scholarship, CFA – Advanced Financial Analysis
• Community: Board of Directors for Marine Credit Union and Marine Credit Union Foundation, President of Viroqua Food Cooperative Board, and Advisory Board for Wisconsin Mutual Insurance Company

On the personnel side, Dr. Hua Dai submitted her resignation on June 20, 2016. Since this event occurred at the very end of the last academic year, how the IS department handles its impact will be reported in next year’s annual report.

As of early February, 2016, The IS department had 77 major students and 25 students in the IS minor program. With an additional 18 students in the Health Information Systems Management (HISM) minor program, the Department had a total of 120 students. While the enrollment in the IS major has been stabilizing around 80 students in the past four years, the size of the HISM minor program has shrunk significantly last year. This has contributed to some required courses having low enrollment levels. Although the average SCH of the department did not suffer from a few low-enrollment courses due to our increase of the size of the IS 220 course sections, we will endeavor to raise the enrollment of the HISM minor next year. The demand for IS 220 has been persistently high, resulting in our offering of two summer online sections again.

For the UW consortium HIMT program, the enrollment had reached 160 in the spring of 2016. With the help of Dean Milner, Dr. Wen cleared the concern of AACSB accreditation on offering the degree within the CBA. Dr. Wen then took the program through UW-L’s approval process and obtained UW System’s approval in June 2016. Once the Provost office brings the program through the HLC this summer, UW-L will officially accept students in the coming fall semester. The program is the first profitable online consortium program in the UW System, the partner institutions will start profit sharing in AY 2017.

During Academic Year 2015-16 the four IS tenure-track faculty have had 3 refereed articles published or accepted by high quality academic journals, and 5 refereed conference proceedings articles published. This record includes one article in “A” category journals in the IS field. Many new research projects are underway as several manuscripts are currently under review or preparation for submission.

Drs. Dai, Haried, Wen and Yang all received the 2016 CBA Summer Research Grant.

General Summary

1. Enrollment in courses was high: In the Fall Semester of 2016, 1,228 students were served in MGT courses, plus 36 students were taught by MGT faculty in BUS 310 (total: 1,264 students). In the Spring Semester of 2017 1,183 students were taught in MGT courses, plus 25 students were taught by MGT faculty in BUS 450 (total: 1,208 students). The number of Management majors leveled off (Fall, 2016 = 370 1st MGT majors) after several years of increases (e.g., Fall, 2015 = 377 1st MGT majors, up from 364 in Fall, 2014, 343 in Fall of 2012 and 290 in Fall of 2010). 111 B.S. degrees in Management were awarded in 2015-16 (the most recent data available), the second-largest in the CBA.
2. During the 2016-17 academic year, current faculty and staff had 5 articles published or accepted in Peer-Reviewed Journals (if one includes former dept. faculty with ‘in press’ articles based on work done at UW-L, the number rises to 9 articles). Current dept. faculty also wrote 2 book chapters and had 2 other publications. Faculty members had 12 professional conference presentations and 4 community and UW-L (or other UW-school) presentations. Many of the conference manuscripts are currently under review.
3. Dr. Christa Kiersch was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, to be effective, July 1, 2017.
4. Four college-level grants were funded.
5. Several faculty were nominated to receive a (Provost’s) Eagle Teaching Excellence Award in Spring, 2017.
6. Dr. Gail Gillis is retiring after eleven years at UW-L, effective May 28, 2017. Chancellor Gow has conferred Emeritus status.

Update on New Programs/ Initiatives

1. The interdisciplinary Health Analytics Minor (HAM) was approved and will be housed in the Department of Management; Mary Hamman in Economics will be its first director. Several MGT courses will be electives within the major starting Fall, 2017.
2. Due to software challenges accurately recording student contact hours (SCH) in interdisciplinary BUS (“Business”) courses, the most popular BUS courses were re-labeled with their departmental prefixes. BUS courses commonly taught by Management faculty were re-labeled as MGT courses.
3. The MGT major will be changed: MGT 328 (a principles and history of management thought course) will become an elective; instead, MGT majors can take either MGT 385 (a survey course in Human Resource Management) or MGT 420 (an Entrepreneurship course).

Existing Programs/Initiatives Requiring Additional Monitoring or Redesign

1. The Dept. participated in the Integrated Core (MGT 308, MKT 309, FIN 355). The program allows students to provide clients with specific consulting that allows the students to apply knowledge from the three courses – and to see the interrelationships among the different disciplines.
2. The Dept. continued to house the Sustainable Business minor, with 59 declared minors (Feb., 2017).

Summary of International Activities and Opportunities Offered

1. The Department participates in the Global Consulting Program in Slovakia each summer, where student teams work on “live” client projects for businesses, nonprofits, or U.S. agencies in that country.
2. In Summer, 2017, department faculty will participate in a study abroad program in London, England, teaching “Green Operations Management” and MGT 449.

Summary of major plans for upcoming year

1. Hire a second Business Communications faculty member (a “full-time adjunct”).
2. Implement the new (required) Business Communications (MGT 301) course for CBA students.
3. Participate in the College “self-study year” for AACSB re-accreditation.
4. Encourage faculty to actively engage in research and to publish in high-quality journals.
5. Participate in CBA efforts to revitalize graduate education programs and to implement the new Health Analytics Minor.

Number of Majors is Increasing: The Marketing major is currently the largest in the college with 485 Marketing majors in Fall 2016 and 464 in Spring 2017, up approximately 10-13% from last year (2015-16) and an increase of 80% from five years ago (2011-12). The number of Marketing majors is currently the highest it has been in the past two decades!

Staffing: The department currently has 9 full-time faculty members and this past year hired an adjunct lecturer at .25 load each semester. The average student-to-faculty ratio for 2016-17 exceeded 50:1, much higher than the 19:1 university average.

UW-L Sales Competitions: The Marketing Department hosted its fourth UW-L sales competition for Marketing students. Eighteen students competed in the competition; 24 business professionals served as judges and buyers and 12 businesses supported the competition by providing financial support and/or judges.

Plans for next year, internally, include reexamining the marketing curriculum and continued work on updating department by-laws. Externally, the department continues to focus on increasing engagement with the business community and advancement initiatives to support student scholarships and development.

Challenges for next year include the department still being relatively young with 4 of 9 faculty entering only their 2nd and 3rd years at UW-L, combined with a limited number of senior (tenured) faculty; and, the growing number of marketing majors putting pressure on class sizes and advising loads. With the upcoming accreditation visit, there is also increased pressure and scrutiny to publish, and to do so in higher level outlets.

The 2015-2016 academic year was successful for the College of Liberal Studies (CLS).

Some highlights from this year include:

The CLS New Faculty Mentoring Program celebrated 10 years of assisting faculty in transitioning to life at UWL; two faculty received Fulbright Awards; CLS units sponsored important events such as the first annual Social Justice Week, the South Asian Film Festival, and Creative Imperatives; Military Science received the 3rd RTC Brigade’s “Most Improved Program” award for excellence in programming; Music and Theatre Arts sponsored galas that raised scholarship dollars for students in both programs; and the new Ed.D. in Student Affairs Administration, approved in June 2015 by the Board of Regents, received Higher Learning Commission approval in December 2015.

The Dean’s Office experienced significant staffing changes. A new Dean assumed the role on July 1 and three new Faculty Fellows were selected to help fulfill integral duties resulting from the loss of an Associate Dean position in 2014-2015. A new Budget Officer was hired to replace a retirement and the upper administration approved a new Assistant Dean position effective July 1, 2016.

Some of the most significant work in the College included strategic planning, initiating a rebranding of public materials (brochures, newsletter, web), enhancing fundraising processes, strategically enhancing community partnerships, evaluating international programs such as the 2+2 program, and curricular innovations (including new minors and initiating revision of the College core). All of these accomplishments were done against a backdrop of significant budget cuts that resulting in the loss of seven faculty and staff lines and loss of other budget (S&E, travel) to CLS departments.

The 2015-2016 academic year was successful for the College of Liberal Studies (CLS).
Some highlights from this year include:

The CLS New Faculty Mentoring Program celebrated 10 years of assisting faculty in
transitioning to life at UWL; two faculty received Fulbright Awards; CLS units sponsored
important events such as the first annual Social Justice Week, the South Asian Film Festival, and
Creative Imperatives; Military Science received the 3rd RTC Brigade’s “Most Improved
Program” award for excellence in programming; Music and Theatre Arts sponsored galas that
raised scholarship dollars for students in both programs; and the new Ed.D. in Student Affairs
Administration, approved in June 2015 by the Board of Regents, received Higher Learning
Commission approval in December 2015.

The Dean’s Office experienced significant staffing changes. A new Dean assumed the
role on July 1 and three new Faculty Fellows were selected to help fulfill integral duties resulting
from the loss of an Associate Dean position in 2014-2015. A new Budget Officer was hired to
replace a retirement and the upper administration approved a new Assistant Dean position
effective July 1, 2016.

Some of the most significant work in the College included strategic planning, initiating a
rebranding of public materials (brochures, newsletter, web), enhancing fundraising processes,
strategically enhancing community partnerships, evaluating international programs such as the

2+2 program, and curricular innovations (including new minors and initiating revision of the
College core). All of these accomplishments were done against a backdrop of significant budget cuts that resulting in the loss of seven faculty and staff lines and loss of other budget (S&E, travel) to CLS.

This was the inaugural year of the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology, and faculty continued to excel at teaching and remained active in scholarship and service. Dave Anderson served his first year on the American Research Center in Egypt Board of Governors, Tim McAndrews served on the Society for American Archaeology Public Education Committee, and Christine Hippert was elected President of the North Central Council of Latin Americanists and is organizing the 2016 NCCLA Annual Meetings here at UWL next Fall. Liz Peacock presented her most recent research at the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies in Ukraine, and Vincent Her presented his recent research on Hmong culture in China at this year’s International Conference on Hmong Studies and has been learning Mandarin Chinese to support this ongoing research. Additionally, two of our faculty were recognized at the 2016 CLS Recognition of Excellence event: Kate Grillo (CLS Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award) and Connie Arzigian (CLS IAS Excellence Award). Finally, Professor Emeritus James Theler’s ongoing contributions to MVAC and the Archaeology Program are highlighted in the Spring 2016 Capstone CLS Newsletter. Overall the department had a strong year for faculty scholarship yielding 6 peer-reviewed publications and 11 international presentations. Our students were also well represented at UWL’s Celebration of Undergraduate Research, at the UW System Symposium and NCUR.

Having had a faculty member recruited from us last spring by Florida State University, we conducted a successful search hiring our top candidate, Dr. Amy Nicodemus, from the University of Michigan. Dr. Nicodemus, an archaeologist and physical anthropologist, has expertise in both faunal analysis and European prehistory (particularly the Bronze Age).

Finally, we completed the Self-Study Report for our upcoming Academic Program Review (2016-17), a very satisfying process that revealed the many significant contributions our new department brings to UWL.

The 2016-2017 academic year in the Department of Art continued to make progress on numerous fronts. With personnel, we successfully hired Ah Ran Koo as the art educator. Ah Ran extended some of the changes we made last year to the Art majors and applied them to the art educators. This will result in a more streamlined program and avoids some of the redundancies in the program. She also completed her doctoral studies at The Ohio University. Jennifer Terpstra successfully completed her post-tenure review. The fruits of the massive curriculum changes to the major and minors are beginning to pay dividends as we have seen an uptick in the number of both majors and minors. We continue to monitor this closely and seek feedback from the students as to how to improve the department programs. Our Gallery hosted eight shows this last year and the restructuring of the leadership of the Gallery has allowed us to do more advanced planning for the 2017-18 academic year.

We have completed significant outreach activities to the community. We participated in the Arts & Communication Day in the fall and continue to be the most popular draw among the students. We hosted the Visual Arts Classic in March and drew the most schools and students to the event in recent years thanks to the efforts of the art teachers in the region. Finally, we hosted in the Gallery the Wisconsin 3rd Congressional District High School Exhibition that attracts talented high school artists and displays the winning art works. We continue to seek ways to form positive connections with the schools and the community. Faculty and students successfully were awarded grants to support their work and research.

The CST Department had a very successful and productive year. This is particularly noteworthy given the serious staffing challenges we faced in the fall. In addition to a faculty shortage, we also lost IAS GQA positions. We welcomed several new IAS members in the fall semester. A sudden resignation in October resulted in four faculty and IAS members taking on overloads mid-semester. The CST faculty and IAS members deserve recognition for keeping a positive spirit as we navigated a successful year, in part due to most individuals exceeding expectations for workload.

We welcomed Dr. Beth Boser as a first-year faculty member, and she contributes to two emphasis areas (Broadcast/Digital Media and Advocacy/Communication Criticism), the research core curriculum, and our general education program. In addition, her expertise has been an important addition to our ongoing work in streamlining two of our emphasis areas. We were thrilled to receive approval to search for, and then secure, three excellent colleagues who will begin in the fall.

The unusual semester did not stop productivity among our faculty members. The past year brought in over $20,000 in grants, 12 publications in the way of journals, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, and nine faculty/IAS presenting competitive submissions at six different conferences. Eight individuals served as reviewers for journals and conference divisions. The amount of service generated by CST faculty and staff is abundant, and our leadership is felt across campus and in our discipline-specific organizations.

We have nearly completed all of our assessment mapping, and our work on Task Stream is up-to-date. We have revised important policies, including our supplemental teaching policy, merit policy, and post-tenure review process. We completed our work on two new interdisciplinary minors, both housed in CST and available for students now (Leadership Development and Digital Media Studies and Design). We were thrilled to secure a new scholarship donor, host our first outstanding alumni award-winner at a celebration of excellence, remain actively involved in Creative Imperatives, and continue to support undergraduate research. Coming up, we are exploring options for program entry and will continue to work on curriculum revisions and a strategic plan.

In 2016-17 the English Department coordinated the first annual La Crosse Reads initiative, funded by a $14,000 NEA Big Read grant in addition to $11,780 in matching grants from local sources. La Crosse Reads brought two nationally-recognized speakers to La Crosse—formerly incarcerated poet, memoirist, and activist Dwayne Betts and social justice educator and literacy scholar Dr. Deborah Appleman—in addition to offering other, more intimate local events—a community conversation, a member of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, film screenings and community meet-ups at cafes. Over 1500 people attended these events. In addition, the department expanded the La Crosse County Jail Reading Program. Our Professional Writing Speaker Series continued with a total of nine speakers in 2016-17. We partnered with the History Department’s Hear Here Project to bring Wisconsin Poet Laureate Kim Blaeser to campus to speak about place-based writing and to make a public Call for Poems that will culminate in a public reading and awards ceremony during ArtSpire 2017. Our student-edited literary and arts journal, Steam Ticket, was published this spring, and the student-run English Club continued to produce the University-wide creative works journal, The Catalyst. The department helped to host the area public schools' Battle of the Books event. The China 2+2 program added a new partner: Beijing Information Science and Technology University. The department held its sixth annual College Writing Symposium featuring presentations by ENG 110/112 students. Students in the Literature emphasis capstone course, and in linguistics courses, also presented their work in public forums, and the department’s colloquium series hosted six presentations by faculty and IAS.

Our faculty and IAS are highly active in teaching development, scholarship, publication, and in service commitments, as their individual reports show. In 2016-17, three faculty members were promoted: Drs. Rebekah Fowler and Kate Parker to Associate Professor and Dr. David Hart to Professor. Fourteen English instructors were nominated for the Eagle Teaching Award; Dr. Lindsay Steiner won the award. Dr. Bryan Kopp won the CLS Recognition of Excellence Award for Teaching. One of our recent English Education alumni, Kelly Denk (2015), received the Early Career Educator Award from the School of Education. Curriculum development also continued; the department’s collaboration with ART and CST led to a successful proposal for a new minor in Digital Media Studies and Design; and we approved a new framework for the majors that will structure a number of curriculum revisions in 2017-18.

he Department of Ethnic and Racial Studies Faculty have made great strides, during the 2016-17 academic year, in further solidifying and developing the ERS Program, in reaching out to students, and in making connections to the local community. Most notably, ERS Faculty assisted faculty from around the College of Liberal Studies in developing and establishing a Hmong/Hmong American Studies Certificate which will be available in Fall 2017. The Department's outreach to students continued in Fall 2016 with the annual Halloween workshop; this year's event, organized by Dr. Breaux, was “Is your costume racist?"

Additionally, faculty worked with many groups around campus including Dr. Elegbede's work with the Islamaphobia workgroup, and Dr. Breaux's work with the Social Justice Institute.  For the overall program, the Department expanded upon key processes and criteria for promotion, retention, tenure and post-tenure for both faculty and IAS in their by-Laws, began the process of fully assessing the ERS Minor. For community outreach, ERS faculty consistently accepted invitations to assist, or give presentations at public schools, community events, and local organizations.  Further, ERS assisted UWL students in gaining valuable training and experiences outside of the classroom including providing monies for ERS minors to attend the Annual American Multicultural Student Leadership Conference, and to present research at the Western States Political Science Associations Meetings in Vancouver.

Finally, and most exciting, the Department of Ethnic and Racial Studies recommended that Dr. Richard Breaux be promoted to Associate Professor, and this recommendation has been forwarded to the UW-System Board of Regents for approval.

The Environmental Studies Minor continued to show strong enrollment, with 93 declared minors from across all three colleges. We continued our tradition of experiential learning for students enrolled in our classes, contracting for buses for 84 field trips, the majority of which are conducted during regular class periods. We also hosted guest speakers in a total of 55 class sessions, increasing student engagement with the local community. To improve our communication with students, we made substantial changes to our web page, linking a new ENV calendar feed and the SustainUWL Facebook page, and creating new pages to list information about electives offered each term, environmental studies-related majors on campus, and internship opportunities. To promote our program with UWL instructors, we hosted an Instructors' Networking Event for UWL faculty whose teaching and research intersects with environmental studies. We successfully recruited a new full-time IAS member and a new ADA, and said goodbye to two instructors who decided to leave the University.

The Department of History had an extremely productive 2016-2017 academic year.  During the year we successfully promoted two faculty members (Gita Pai, Kenneth Shonk) and three of our faculty received tenure (Julie Weiskopf, Gita Pai, Tiffany Trimmer). During the year the department also completed a History Minor curriculum restructure as part of its larger Tuning and Mapping program, which is intended to better guide students through their educational experience and better prepare them for their futures.

Members of the department also developed new courses and made foundational changes to the major’s introductory and capstone courses. At the end of both fall and spring semesters, the department organized its senior capstone course symposia. The Department of History hosted the Regional National History Day competition. To fulfill its goals in community engagement, the department worked to expand the Oral History Program. Department members have also kept busy conducting scholarly research. In addition to dozens of conference and service presentations, the department has produced 50 projects published or accepted. Including, but not limited to, two academic books, three book chapters, and four journal articles, one edited volume, two exhibits, and one performance series.

In an effort to continue its contributions to the academic achievements of UWL faculty members of the Department of History have sought and received multiple internal and external travel, research, and development grants this year, including a Fulbright Fellowship (Julie Weiskopf). The Department of History also had a faculty member on a Fulbright Fellowship to India to do scholarly research (Gita Pai). The Department of History also restructured its bylaws. The department looks forward to continuing to continuing its work in 2017-2018.

No report submitted.

The 2016-2017 year was busy for the UW-La Crosse Music Department and included a number of changes . The Department saw two faculty members retire at the end of the academic year.  Dr. Gary Walth and Ms. Karyn Quinn both devoted over 50 years of combined instruction for our department and their dedication to our students will missed.  We have hired two full time interim Instructional Academic Staff: Jeff Erickson will be teaching applied saxophone and instrumental Jazz and Christopher Hathaway will be director of choirs and teaching Choral music education classes for our department during 2017-18. We are planning on conducting searches for continuing full time positions in the Fall of 2017. Nicole Novak, our new ADA joined our department in August.  

An extensive renovation of Annett Recital Hall began in January which adds new handicapped seating and will update most of the 40+ year old facility.  A feasibility study for a new and appropriate concert venue for our department began in spring 2017. Special signature events for our department included our second annual Music Department Gala, Marching Band Day, the La Crosse New Music Festival, The Jazz Residency, Swinging Yuletide, Big Band Cabaret, Flute Day and our Honors Recital to name few. 14 music majors presented their capstone senior recitals this year.

In addition to the dozens of concerts presented by our ensembles each semester we presented faculty recitals, performances and/or clinics by guest artists, Cole Burger, Ted Moore, Brandon Ridenour, Lindsay Garritson, Dr. William Elliot and the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. The UW-La Crosse Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. Thomas Seddon, was again selected for a performance at the 2017 College Band Directors National Association.  Scholarship, creative and professional activity from the department includes compositions, residencies, research presentations and grants.

This year has been a productive year for the Philosophy Department. Department faculty had 5 peer reviewed publications and gave 20 professional presentations. The faculty were awarded six faculty development grants for teaching (totaling over $10,000), Krizan was a Co-Principal on an NEA funded grant associated with the NEA Big Read ($14,000), and Ross received a faculty research grant ($8350). Faculty also were active at university, professional, and community service. Dr. Tim McAndrews served the second of two years as the department’s Co-Chair with Dr. Eric Kraemer, both of whom will complete their service as Co-Chairs on June 30. In February, Dr. Sam Cocks was elected next Chair of the department and will take over in that role on July 1, 2017. Additionally, Dr. Mary Krizan was unanimously supported by the departmental for tenure. Drs. Glass and Scherwitz retired and were both granted Emeritus status.

Notable service positions include Chair of UPAC (Cocks), and members of JPB (Kraemer) and GEAC (Krizan). The department also advanced the Ethics Minor proposal and supported the Neuroscience Minor (housed in Psychology) through the CLS Academic Oversight Committee.

In terms of assessment, the department successfully completed their transition to Taskstream for both General Education and Program Assessment and their next three-year program assessment plan (2016-19) was approved by the UPAC. Notably, the department completed its APR 3-year progress report and it was accepted by the APR committee. Moreover, the department, under Dr Sam Cocks’ leadership, completed the seven-year APR Self Study, we selected and have scheduled the external reviewer, and the department is on schedule to complete the APR process by the end of AY 2017-18.

Finally, the department’s ADA, Mandy Wagner, moved to the Biology Department and after a long search was replaced by Mary Conrad who has acclimated quickly to the ADA position.

The Department completed the APR process this year. Dr. Nick Bakken was on sabbatical for the spring 2017. Two faculty members, Drs. Marina and Norris, were successfully promoted to associate professor. One faculty member, Dr. Cooper Stoll, was awarded tenure. The Department focused on developing student major recruitment materials. We are in the process of finalizing a video featuring past graduates and current faculty that will appear on our website and we completed publication of a brochure for the sociology major. The number of Sociology majors increased by 8%, Sociology minors by 22%, and Criminal Justice minors by 7%. One tenure-track faculty member resigned from the department because we were not able to successfully find an academic position for her spouse in the area. The Department was given approval to search for a replacement and will start that search in July 2017.

Faculty published two books, four articles, and presented 19 papers at professional conferences. Faculty supervised approximately 15 individual undergraduate research projects in addition to their regular teaching workload.

Having completed its fifth year as an academic department, the SAA Department experienced some significant accomplishments during the 2016-17 year. The SAA faculty, a mixture of ranked faculty and student affairs practitioners who hold full-time administrative appointments across campus, have provided high level teaching, scholarship, research mentorship, and service to the SAA community throughout the year. However, it is the faculty’s extensive work on the development of an Ed.D program in Student Affairs Administration and Leadership that will have the most significant impact on the future of the SAA program and represents the top accomplishment of the department for the past year. Launched in May 2017, this applied doctorate program is described below:

• Approved by the UW System Board of Regents in June 2015, the Student Affairs Administration & Leadership (SAA) Ed.D. received Higher Learning Commission (HLC) approval in December 2015. This applied doctoral degree option will be an online 54-credit program that students will be able to complete in three years.
• The mission of the SAA Ed.D. program is to prepare student affairs professionals for advanced positions of leadership in diverse institutions of higher education.
• The program is designed for individuals who are working in student affairs at the post-secondary level while completing this cohort model program on a year-round basis.
• The SAA Ed.D program will be part of a unique cooperative doctoral partnership with three other UW institutions. Students from the Ed.D programs at UW-Green Bay (First Nations), UW-Oshkosh (Educational Leadership), and UW-Stevens Point (Sustainability Education) will join the SAA students in two 3-credit shared courses and 9 credits of elective courses.

This year began with a very successful run and remount of our SummerStage production of All Shook Up. We sold the show exceptionally well and had a very successful scholarship remount. The fall semester began with our world premier production of 26 Pebbles, a new show by playwright Eric Ulloa dealing with the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy from 2012. We were doubly fortunate to not only have the opportunity to fully produce this play for the first time ever but we were also able to secure funding to bring the playwright, Eric Ulloa to campus for the week leading up to our opening. Eric was able to work with our students, providing them an opportunity not often afforded to actors (student or professional) – working with the person wrote the piece they were performing. It proved invaluable to our students and an opportunity they were very appreciative of having been given. Eric was wonderful with our students and in fact the publicity of our production (mentioned in the NY Times) resulted in other theatres and universities requesting the rights to produce the show.

26 Pebbles was selected by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival as one of 6 out of 40 college and university productions from the region (Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana) to perform at the regional festival in Indianapolis, IN in January of 2017. It was a tremendous honor to be chosen and the cast performed to a standing room only audience of 700 at the University of Indiana. We were proud to represent UWL. That show was followed by Silent Sky and the semester was finished off with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. All were well attended an exposed our audience to an all but forgotten female astronomer and the comic brilliance of Christopher Durang. Second semester began with our production of Company followed by our children’s show We Will Share the Sky and the semester finished up with our production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Again, the second semester productions were well received and attended.

In addition to our regular season of seven fully-staged productions, we produced 10 senior acting recitals, hosted a workshop for Rufus King Middle School, hosted a welcome BBQ for incoming Theatre students, participated in the SAC Recruitment Day, faculty and students attended the WI High School Theatre Festival for potential recruitment, brought Karen Olivo, Broadway actress to campus for Creative Imperatives where she also conducted a master class with our theatre students as well as an evening Q&A session with Ms. Olivo open to the public, faculty also conduced several workshops for the Creative Imperatives Festival and collaborated with the Financial Aid Office to create and produce the Money Monologues, an event to promote financial literacy to students.

WGSS continued work on revamping our recruitment and advising processes, our major and minor, and our assessment plan. Our goals are to attract an increasingly diverse group of majors and minors, and to develop a coherent process for students to better understand the skills they are developing in college and the many ways they could and will use those skills after college, as citizens, in their webs of relationship, as members of communities, and as productive members of society in whatever way they choose. We want our graduates to leave UWL having had many intentional opportunities over their time with us to consider their options.

To this end, the department finalized new student learning outcomes and sub-outcomes and designed new rubrics for assessing each sub-outcome. Mapping our courses to our new learning outcomes enabled us to identify where gaps between our aspirations and our current realities are likely to appear, and to begin planning for how we will address those weaknesses before students reach the courses in question. We began work on a sophomore seminar and on redesigning our capstone course. Individual instructors began developing new assignments or revising current courses to meet our new student learning goals. And we continued our work to design a new cross-disciplinary social justice minor.

WGSS continues its support of the Self-Sufficiency Program, a free pre-college bridge program designed for low-income parents aspiring to success in college. The director of SSP successfully inspired the community of La Crosse to consider the housing needs of low-income student-parents, serving as a consultant and advisor to the new 3 Rivers Scholar House that will open to residents in fall 2017.

This year I wish to highlight/point you towards the professional and community engagement activities of SAH faculty and staff that enhance the educational experiences of our students. These activities include: Service learning activities that provide field and research experiences for our students; for example, ESS, HEHP, HP, and RMTR programs include student service/community engagement activities in the areas of fitness, health and wellness, rehabilitation, and recreation in community and business organizations as well as in senior and assisted living facilities. Examples of on-campus service programs include the La Crosse Exercise and Health Program (LEHP) which provides adult fitness and cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs to community members and are medically supervised and staffed by ESS faculty and students; the Exercise Program for Adults with Neurologic Disorders (EXPAND) which is a program that links Physical Therapy Education with a community need to provide adults with neurological disorders a place to learn how to maximize their health and wellness; and the free OT Adult and Pediatric Laboratories in which OT students develop and implement, under faculty supervision, treatment plans for individuals who are not eligible for therapy services by other providers.

SAH faculty obtained more than $2.8 M in new external grant and contract funding to support educational and research projects (that include student researchers). These funds include U.S. Department Education support for ESS’s Adapted Physical Education program, NSF support for an REU in Mathematical Ecology, WiscAMP/NSF support for a summer undergraduate research program intended to increase retention and graduation of under-represented students in STEM fields, a U.S. Department of Interior contract, a Minnesota state contract and a Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute grant for research studies of methylmercury in rivers and wetlands in Minnesota and Wisconsin, WiSys support for a research study of Highland Cranberry anti-viral properties, and a NIH support for research studies on aging, in particular, on how oxidation, part of the aging process, affects the molecular mechanisms that power muscles.

In 2016-2017 the Biology Department replaced nearly 20% of its workforce.  Three new faculty, two instructional academic staff and a new ADA joined us:  Drs. Elizabeth Peitzman (human anatomy & physiology), Jaclyn Wisinski (cell biology), and Amy Yu (genetics) are tenure-track hires, Drs. Jason Freund (Ecology/Aquatics/Organsimal Biology) and Bill Haviland (human anatomy & physiology Lab Coordinator) are IAS and Mandy Wagner is our new ADA.  A majority of the tenure-track positions in the department are now held by females.   A new biology concentration in Plant and Fungal Biology started in the fall of 2016, and a multi-departmental Neuroscience minor will be brought to the UCC in the fall of 2017.  Summer, 2016 saw the initiation of the Mathematical Ecology REU in collaboration with the math department.  Faculty and staff maintained their scholarly productivity and active engagement in undergraduate and graduate research education.  They submitted more than 20 educational, research, and service grants during AY 2016-2017; new funding from external grants exceeded $650,000.  Biology faculty authored 19 peer-reviewed publications or book chapters with several publications focused on SOTL.  In addition, faculty and staff, along with undergraduate or graduate co-authors, made more than 75 presentations at regional, national, and international science conferences.  Service to the university, professional societies and the La Crosse community continued as a strong component of Department activities.  For example, Dr. Jenny Klein is the vice-president of GROW La Crosse, which focuses on creating active science learning environments in gardens and on farms for local school districts, and Dr. Megan Litster is on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers.

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty and staff continued to excel at teaching while remaining very active in research and service activities. Seven chemists received multiple nominations for the UWL Eagle Teaching Excellence Award. The new course, CHM 413-Environmental Chemistry Laboratory was offered by Kris Rolfhus for the first time. Three chemists received awards from the La Crosse-Winona section of the American Chemical Society (ACS)–Dan Grilley and Todd Weaver for “Exceptional Dedication to Chemistry Education & Development,” and Rob McGaff for “Groundbreaking Chemistry Research.” Sandra Koster was recognized by the national ACS-Committee on Community Activities as a chemistry “Volunteer of the Year” and featured in Chemical and Engineering News. Our ACS-Student Affiliate chapter (“chem club”) advised by Basu Bhattacharyya, Nadia Carmosini, and Ben Haenni, was again recognized nationally with an Honorable Mention Award. Six faculty received UWL Faculty Research grants for the 2017-18 AY (Carmosini, Gorres, May, McGrath, Schenck, Weaver). Four patent applications were filed by chemistry faculty members this year (McGaff, Monte). Dan Grilley was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor, and Eugenia Turov was promoted to Lecturer. We searched successfully for an organic chemist, Dr. Valeria Stepanova, to replace retiring Prof. Bruce Osterby after his 34 years of dedicated service to UWL.

The Biochemistry Major received national accreditation from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), making it the first and only biochemistry program in the UW-System to be recognized for its high quality in this manner. Biochemistry graduates are now officially certified by the ASBMB. We continued to use one-time internal funding to upgrade and modernize our laboratory instrumentation and notably acquired a state-of-the-art FTIR to replace an obsolete model. The department completed and submitted its comprehensive, six-year, “Periodic Review” to its main accrediting body, the ACS-Committee on Professional Training and began preparing the UWL Academic Program Review self-study report for submission in 2017. The new department Strategic Planning Committee completed its initial survey efforts, presented findings to the department, and made initial recommendations for the 2017-18 AY following an all-department retreat at the end of the spring semester. We began initial preparations to move into the new science laboratories building in fall 2018.

The Department continues to see very strong demand for its programs both from new first year students and existing UWL students switching majors. In the last few years the number of majors has more than doubled with an increase of minors as well. The UWL Computer Science program has a reputation of excellence within the state and the upper midwest for its strong curriculum, broad array of upper level electives and all tenure track staff. Demand for graduates continues to be exceptionally strong.

The Department hosted the Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium (MICS) in April of this year. This was the 50th year of the conference having been started at the University of North Dakota in 1967. The conference was attended by 250 CS faculty and students from the upper midwest and included programming and robot competitions and presentations on undergraduate research. UWL programming teams placed 1st and 3rd out of 60 teams totaling 180 students. The Best Graduate Student Paper award was won by a UWL MSE student.

The department has expanded it core offerings with the recent introduction of a three course sequence in computer engineering and is reorganizing the hardware related content of the 270, 370 sequence. These changes will better support upper level requirements and complement the computer engineering sequence.

The Distinguished Lecturer Series in Computer Science this year was Prof. Shafi Goldwasser (MIT). Prof. Goldwasser was the 2012 ACM Turning award winner which considered to be the Nobel Prize of Computer Science. Prof. Goldwasser spoke on problems in cryptography.

No report submitted.

The Department of Geography and Earth Science continues to offer strong programming and opportunities for students. The Department conducted a revision of the Geography: Environmental Science Concentration Major and the Earth Science Minor, led by Dr. Joan Bunbury and funded by a UWL Curriculum Redesign Grant. The extensive revisions provide students with enhanced learning experiences. The Department continued implementing assessment of program SLOs. Assessment for several courses within the physical geography and techniques curriculum were conducted for the first time.

Debra Gerke is the new ADA with a 50% appointment, shared with the College of Science and Health. Krista Anderson (Physics ADA), has a 25% appointment to assist her. Ms. Gerke provides extremely valuable support to the Department faculty and students. However, this split arrangement is problematic, as there is no longer an ADA in the office full-time to provide continuous office support and management.

Faculty published 6 research papers and gave 11 conference presentations, and were particularly active in international activities. Dr. Colin Belby undertook field work in Belize with Dr. Gerrish (Biology) and Geography major Karl Radke, mapping marine habitat along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Dr. John Kelly served on a Master’s thesis committee for a graduate student in Morelia, Mexico, and conducted research in Mexico on conservation preserves. Dr. Daniel Sambu continued his research examining community wildlife conservation in rural areas in Kenya and co-lead (with Dr. Weiskopf, History) a study tour to Tanzania.

Geography students also were active in research. Two students (Karl Radke, Charlotte Peters) received UWL Undergraduate Research and Creativity Grants and another (Alex Engelson) received a CSH Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship. Thirteen students presented at the UWL Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creativity and 3 presented at national conferences (the American Association of Geographers and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research).

The Health Professions (HP) Department consists of four graduate programs: Medical Dosimetry (Med Dos), Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT) and Physician Assistant (PA), and two undergraduate programs: Nuclear Medicine Technology (NMT) and Radiation Therapy (RT).  The department offers three undergraduate service courses, including one general education course. Student demand for the HP Programs is very strong based on applications received and student credentials of those applying.  Pass rates for all the HP programs remain excellent, well above the national average. Based on students surveyed, all obtained a job within 6 months of graduation.  The Physician Assistant Program had their on-site visit this spring.  The HP department had 1 retirement, 1 resignation and are continuing searches for 2 open positions.  Faculty scholarship has been productive and incorporated student researchers (over 17 faculty/student publications and approximately 20 faculty/student poster presentations at national and state conferences).

HP prides itself on faculty/student service and outreach activities.  Student placements occurred at over 230 clinical sites across the US in 2016-2017.  Faculty mentored OT and PT students have served over 100 clients through the OT adult and pediatric clinics and the PT program’s Exercise Program for Program for People with Neurological Disorders (EXPAND).  Interprofessional programs involving Viterbo and the Go Baby Go continue to bring students together for unique learning activities from different HP programs. Faculty/student service learning activities have been influenced over 20 community-based organizations and nearly 500 participants.  Faculty were involved and received recognition based on their service to the college, university, and their respective professional organizations.

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics had a very successful and productive year. Following up on last year’s Department name change, this year a new course prefix was added. All statistics courses now have a STAT prefix. The number of undergraduate majors and minors continues to rise, and the collaborative Online Masters Degree in Data Science, with Jeff Baggett as the Academic Director, is in its second year and is growing rapidly, with 38 students, of whom 7 were enrolled through UWL in Fall 15 to 219 students with 44 enrolled at UWL Spring 17.

The level of scholarly activity in the Department continues to be high. Dr. Tushar Das published a research monograph through the American Mathematical Society (AMS), and there were eighteen articles in journals or conference proceedings accepted/published by twelve different faculty members. Seventeen additional articles were submitted. Drs. Bennie and Eager successfully ran the first summer of the UW-La Crosse REU in Mathematical Ecology, and the students involved attended and gave presentations at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

Faculty in the Department are also involved in a wide range of service activities at all levels. Department members chaired two joint committees, two Faculty Senate committees, and four college-level committees. Dr. Allen also chaired the Search Committee for the new registrar. Drs. Chen and Vidden continue their networking with local companies and organizations resulting in several student internships. Several students were accepted to attend REUs or other programs over the summer. Once again, the Department had a great crop of graduating seniors. One of the Murphy Award winners was a Statistics Minor, and the other was a Statistics Major. Multiple mathematics or statistics graduates will be attending graduate school in Fall 2017.

The Department of Microbiology graduated thirty two Microbiology majors and twenty seven Clinical Laboratory Science majors in May 2017, concluding a busy year of curriculum revisions, scholarly activity and service.  We restructured the format and reduced the credits required for two core 400-level courses, microbial genetics and bacterial physiology from five to four, improving flexibility for students and faculty to pursue elective offerings.  The Microbiology minor was restructured to improve flexibility for students.  All these changes were approved by UCC.  

Our proposed dual CLS B.S./Clinical Microbiology M.S. degree was approved by UCC and GCC also.  In scholarship, faculty submitted eight research grants worth $708,771 including four external grants to NIH and USDA and three UWL grants.  Five grants were funded for $50,542.  Eleven research articles were submitted by faculty, of which three were published in refereed journals, three in non-refereed journals and the remainder under review or revision.  Faculty reviewed 20 research articles or grant proposals for professional journals or grant agencies.  One patent application was submitted for an antibiotic against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.  Faculty mentored twenty five undergraduate students in research, with six students presenting their work either at the UWL Celebration of Research, the American Society for Microbiology regional meeting in Iowa in October 2016.

 In service, Microbiology faculty made strong contributions.  In the CSAH, our faculty served on the College Committee, Scholarship Ceremony committee, Sabbatical, Biosafety, Distinguished Speakers and Dean’s Distinguished Summer Fellowship Committees.  At the university level, our faculty served on Faculty Senate, the Graduate Education Leadership Board, Grad Council, Graduate Academic Program Review, UG Academic Program Review Committees.  The department continues to engage the community both at local elementary and middle schools, and through providing expertise in collaborative grants with Gundersen Clinic and research with personnel at BioCreations Inc., and USGS scientists at UMESC.

Producing Scientists & Engineers

• The UWL Physics Department continues to be a top performer in the nation. According to the American Physical Society’s (APS) most recent rankings, the Department is one of the top five schools nationally for the average number of physics degrees conferred (27 during 2012-2014, the most recent compilation) by a Bachelor’s Degree-only institution.
• UWL physics students continue to excel in research, with 39 majors participating in projects with faculty mentors. Students take part in campus-based research projects as well as prestigious Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and Internships. Students continue to successfully apply for UWL and external agency funding to support their summer research work.
• In the fall of 2017, 20 UWL physics majors will transfer to an engineering college as part of the Physics Department’s Physics/Engineering Dual Degree program. In the spring of 2017, the University of Minnesota – Duluth’s Engineering programs (mechanical, electrical, civil) became the newest addition to this initiative.
• Enriching Students, Faculty, & the Campus Community
• Dr. Shuji Nakamura of the University of California Santa Barbara and co-winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics served as the Physics Department’s Distinguished Lecture Series in Physics (DLS) speaker on October 13-14, 2016. Dr. J. Michael Kosterlitz of Brown University and co-winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics will be the speaker at the 18th annual DLS on October 26-27, 2017.
• Dr. Sarah Demers of Yale University served as the Public Lecture Series speaker on April 27-28, 2017. Physics majors obtained a grant to fund Dr. Demers’ visit and they were very interested in both her science and career story.

During the 2016-2017 academic year, the Department of Recreation Management and Therapeutic Recreation successfully renewed their accreditation through the National Recreation and Park Association Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism, and Related Professions. Along with the renewal of accreditation, the Tourism Research Institute (www.uwlax.edu/center/tourism-research/) officially launched in February 2017. The mission of the Tourism Research Institute is to promote and support research in the areas of travel, tourism, and recreation in Wisconsin and the greater Midwest region. The Institute seeks to fulfill its mission by partnering and collaborating with public and private organizations involved in the travel and tourism industry. The institute will include faculty members across campus to meet a variety of research needs, including opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to engage in tourism-related research.

With the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee approval of program and course revisions for the Recreation Management Program, the Program launched courses for their generalist degree and will also have three emphases. Emphases include: Community Recreation (non-profit organizations, municipal government, MWR, and camps); Tourism; and Outdoor Recreation (outdoor education, environmental education, and adventure programs). The Generalist includes completion of the core and a minor of the student’s choice. Therapeutic Recreation majors scored high on the national certification exam. The National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) 2016 report stated that over 98% of UWL Therapeutic Recreation (TR) majors, first time test takers, passed the NCTRC exam to become a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS).

The national passing rate for this period was 88%. The UWL TR majors are guided by a strong curriculum (www.uwlax.edu/rec-management-and-therapeutic-rec/undergraduate-majorsminors/), and a 560-hour, semester long internship that is focused on 69 job tasks or competencies that must be meet. With such dedicated faculty and highly motivated students, it is not surprising that the students in RMTR are flourishing.  

TBD.

DES had another productive year with ongoing curricular development, campus community involvement, and scholarship activities. Dr. Adrienne Loh began her 3-year term as Chair.  Dr. Rita Chen (MC-EA) was promoted to Associate Professor and also won a Provost Teaching Excellence Award.  Ten junior faculty successfully underwent contract or non-contract reviews.  We also had one resignation - Dr. Jude Harrington.  

We expanded the number of sections of Foundations courses (which are General Education courses required in all teacher education programs), this year serving over 700 teacher education majors across almost all teacher education programs in EDS 203 and EDS 206.  An additional ~300 General Education students were served in EFN 205. We continue to adjust our curriculum to best prepare students, this year revising the Literacy curriculum for ECMC and MCEA majors, requiring that all DES majors take courses in global education and English language learners, and procuring nearly $80,000 in instruction-related grants.

 DES faculty and students were active in campus initiatives such as Creative Imperatives, Social Justice Week, Widening the Circle, and Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Productivity, and continue to be highly engaged with our area school partners, supporting 11 Professional Development Schools.  DES faculty were also very productive in their research, procuring nearly $30,000 in funding, publishing 17 papers/book chapters, and making 69 presentations.

 As always, departmental members continue to be heavily involved in service to the college, university, professional organizations and the community (for example, 12 faculty serve on Faculty Senate committees and 7 serve on Consulting Boards of Directors in the community). DES also revised Merit, Retention, Tenure, and Post-Tenure review sections of our bylaws.

Finance

Finance faculty have a substantial role in supporting the UWL MBA program as well as the online MBA program through the UWS consortium. The Finance Faculty provide instruction for two of the core MBA courses and one to three electives per year (both on campus and through the consortium).

Information Systems

Dr. Wen taught one section of the BUS 755 class to the MBA program in spring, 2017.

Management

1. Due to low enrollment in the MBA program, we did not offer the usual number of in-person electives. Nevertheless, among faculty in the department, there was strong commitment to graduate business education in general and to the MBA program.
2. The MBA curriculum is being examined by the college-wide Graduate Committee and the department is participating in that effort.

Marketing

The department actively participates in the UW-L on-campus MBA program and the UW Consortium Online MBA Program. The department has historically team-taught (with Finance) the Introductory UWL MBA Course (BUS 730 Decision Framing I) and Module 3 of the UW Consortium Online MBA program, which is UW-L’s contribution to the Consortium (BUS 760/UW Consortium 713 Global Management).

This was a year of leadership transition as Joci Newton took over as Program Director for Rob Dixon while he continues to serve as external chair to another department. All of the students who completed their residency in 2017 found full time positions for 2017-18 academic year highlighting our continuing streak of 100% placement.

This year saw some of the earliest offers with everyone finding a placement before the year ended. For Fall 2017 we offered 18 students the opportunity to study at UWL and 12 accepted. Student highlights include a 100% passage rate on the PRAXIS II exam based on the NASP training standards.For the current second year students, all twelve travelled to the National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention in San Antonio, TX and presented their research posters (i.e., capstone projects). This continues our active participation in presenting research on the national level.

The prestigious Bernice Krolasik Memorial Scholarship, awarded to one non-traditional age school psychology graduate student, was presented to our very own Jessica Showen at the 2017 Wisconsin School Psychologist Association Spring Convention. We had two students receive individual honors at UWL this year: Jessica Showen also won the CLS Graduate Student Recognition Award, and Rochelle Zabadal won the CLS Graduate Student Academic Achievement Award. Rob Dixon put in a lot of work developing a proposal for a program expansion for an online cohort; however, current resource limitations are not able to support expansion of the program at this time.

Having completed its fifth year as an academic department, the SAA Department experienced some significant accomplishments during the 2016-17 year. The SAA faculty, a mixture of ranked faculty and student affairs practitioners who hold full-time administrative appointments across campus, have provided high level teaching, scholarship, research mentorship, and service to the SAA community throughout the year. However, it is the faculty’s extensive work on the development of an Ed.D program in Student Affairs Administration and Leadership that will have the most significant impact on the future of the SAA program and represents the top accomplishment of the department for the past year. Launched in May 2017, this applied doctorate program is described below:

• Approved by the UW System Board of Regents in June 2015, the Student Affairs Administration & Leadership (SAA) Ed.D. received Higher Learning Commission (HLC) approval in December 2015. This applied doctoral degree option will be an online 54-credit program that students will be able to complete in three years.
• The mission of the SAA Ed.D. program is to prepare student affairs professionals for advanced positions of leadership in diverse institutions of higher education.
• The program is designed for individuals who are working in student affairs at the post-secondary level while completing this cohort model program on a year-round basis.
• The SAA Ed.D program will be part of a unique cooperative doctoral partnership with three other UW institutions. Students from the Ed.D programs at UW-Green Bay (First Nations), UW-Oshkosh (Educational Leadership), and UW-Stevens Point (Sustainability Education) will join the SAA students in two 3-credit shared courses and 9 credits of elective courses.

Interest in the Master of Software Engineering degree (MSE) remains strong especially for the 5-year track that allows students to complete both the BS and MSE degrees in five years. Many prospective students who visit the department specifically ask about this program. It is clearly a distinguishing feature for UWL. While no curricular changes were made to the program this last year, the department is constantly aware of the need to make sure the program remains meaningful to practicing software engineers.

The MSE contract programs with Wuhan University and the South Central University for Nationalities (SCUN) continue to show strong interest. Each cohort is at UWL for two years (first year coursework, second year capstone project). Each cohort has been averaging ten students.

In March 2017, management and delivery of the Graduate Reading Program was moved to the Institute for Professional Studies in Education.  Curriculum development and approval is through a partnership between IPSE and DES.  DES faculty also serve the graduate School Psychology program by delivering required courses in their program: EFN 705, RDG 601, and SPE 715. DES faculty also teach CI 695, a professional development course with graduate credit for in-service teachers.  The last few students in the SPE Masters program are completing their programs in 2017-18; the program was officially suspended in Spring 2017.  Dr. Ann Yehle teaches in the Educational Leadership program offered through IPSE.

The Health Professions (HP) Department has four graduate programs: Medical Dosimetry (Med Dos), Occupational Therapy (OT), and Physical Therapy (PT).  These graduate programs are all accredited, continue to attract a strong and competitive applicant pool, have high pass rates on terminal/board certification exams (above the national average), and have good employment prospects for graduates.  Exceptional faculty/student research has resulted in over 17 publications, over 20 presentations at national and state professional meetings, and resulted in several external grants and contracts.  Service learning opportunities engage the students in many unique faculty supported programs within the greater La Crosse community.  Clinical internships, either regionally or nationally, foster professional learning opportunities so students are ready to practice in their chosen field.

In terms of curricular developments, in June 2016 the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved the creation of a UWL Department of Microbiology Master of Science degree program.  Additionally, the Department developed a Dual Degree program in Clinical Lab Science (BS) and Clinical Microbiology (MS) which was approved, and a Seminar Paper track for the Microbiology MS degree, which is still in the approval process.  Now that we have our own Masters entitlement, we have begun work on program assessment and generating our own set of policies and guidelines.  

In Fall 2016 the Department enrolled three new students in the Microbiology program, and four students in the Clinical Microbiology emphasis.  Approximately twenty graduate students were actively engaged in thesis research, working with mentors in the Microbiology Department.  Approximately five students completed their thesis and graduated by May 2017.  Two graduate students acted as teaching assistants for MIC 100 Microbes and Society Labs, while four graduate students were prep room assistants, helping to prep lab classes.  Two other students received research assistantships and one student was awarded a NSF fellowship.  Graduate students received six RSEL grants to aid their research for a total of $10,746, and presented their work at UWL’s Celebration of Research, as well as regional and international conferences.  

Graduate faculty served on many graduate student thesis committees, ranging from two to twelve per faculty member, with five faculty serving on at least eight thesis committees including BIO as well as MIC graduate students.  A grant was received from Graduate Studies to explore the Professional Science Masters degree as a new path in our program.  Initial work will include surveying potential employers for interest, and exploring collaboration with the College of Business to offer graduate students training in project management and financing.