For the record

Reminder of inclement weather guidelines

The chancellor is responsible for determining if, for the safety and welfare of students and staff, classes will be postponed or some services suspended due to inclement weather. Some university services and functions must remain in operation regardless of weather conditions, such as University Hospital and Clinics, University Housing, University Police and power plant operations.

University Communications staff will work with the chancellor to provide appropriate announcements to the media and post them on the university’s web site. Deans and directors should receive authorization from the Office of the Chancellor before directing employees not to report for work or sending employees home.

Unless directed otherwise, employees are expected to report to work as scheduled. Each employee is expected to use discretion in determining if travel is safe. An employee who reasonably determines that travel would not be safe will not be subject to discipline for not reporting to work. Supervisors are expected to honor the reasonable requests of employees to arrive late or to leave early because of inclement weather. Employees are expected to make a reasonable effort to notify their supervisors if they cannot report to work or will report late.

Employees who are absent from work because of inclement weather normally must use available annual leave (vacation), available holidays, leave without pay or, when appropriate, accrued compensatory time to cover the absence, or they must arrange with the supervisor to make up the time. Nonprofessional employees must account for each hour of scheduled duty.

Professional employees may account for their time in a manner consistent with their professional responsibilities, as approved by their supervisors. If classes are postponed, faculty should make every effort to reschedule them at a later date.

If represented employees are directed not to report or are sent home, they will be treated in accordance with the terms of their respective collective bargaining agreements. (Note: At this time some collective bargaining agreements provide that the employee will be compensated as if the time were worked when the employer directs employees to leave work or not to report to work.) All employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements who are directed not to report or are sent home will normally be treated as follows:

• Nonprofessional classified employees may use available annual leave (vacation), accrued compensatory time, available holidays or leave without pay to cover each hour absent. Nonexempt employees must account for each hour of employment. If an employee’s supervisor determines that the work unit can benefit from services provided by the employee at other than regularly scheduled times, the employee will be allowed to make up, during the remainder of the work week, as much of the time as is beneficial to the work unit.
• Professional, classified and unclassified employees may use available annual leave (vacation), available holidays, leave without pay or, when appropriate, compensatory time to cover the absence. An employee and the employee’s supervisor may agree that the employee can account for the time of the absence in another manner.

Spring visiting Canadian studies speaker grant competition

As part of a recent award from the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Division of International Studies is seeking to enhance the presence of Canadian studies on campus.

The division will award four to six grants of up to $700 to departments seeking to bring in a speaker who will focus on topics that deal with Canada, Canada and the United States from a comparative perspective, or the evolving nature of linkages between Canada and the United States.

Deadline for submission of grant proposals is Monday, December 11. Grant recipients will be notified by the end of December. Monies awarded will be transferred to departments upon news that the speaker’s planned visit has been booked and confirmed. Please note that these funds may also be used in relation to ongoing faculty search processes, including “job talks.”

Proposals should not be more than one to two pages in length and should contain a brief biography of the proposed visiting speaker, the topic the person will speak on and the month this person will be hosted by your unit in the spring term. Proposals may be submitted electronically or on paper to olds@geography.wisc.edu.

For any questions pertaining to the application, please contact Kris Olds, Department of Geography, at 262-5685 or olds@geography.wisc.edu.

Call for teaching awards nominees

Faculty members, student organizations and university departments are invited to nominate faculty members to be recognized for exceptional teaching. UW–Madison’s distinguished teaching awards include six Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards, the Class of 1955 Teaching Excellence Award, the William H. Kiekhofer Teaching Award, the Emil Steiger Teaching Award and the Van Hise Outreach Teaching Award.

Teachers can be nominated for a specific award, including a UW System award, or the awards in general, which should be indicated in the chair’s letter. The Teaching Awards Committee will notify the nominating department if a nominee is being considered for a UW System award and whether any additional information is needed.

All nominations for faculty teaching awards, have a submission deadline of Monday, Jan. 22, and should be delivered to the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards, Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, 130 Bascom Hall. For more information, contact committee chair Richard Moss at 262-1939, or committee coordinator Paula Gray at 262-3958. For more information, visit the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards site.

Teaching and Learning Symposium call for proposals

The Ninth Annual Teaching and Learning Symposium is a two-day campus event for faculty, staff, post-docs and graduate students aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning.

The sponsors seek proposals for sessions that explore ways teachers can offer students an enriched learning experience. Examples of topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• using the world outside the campus as a classroom
• successful models of enriched, experiential teaching and learning as a part of undergraduate, graduate and professional education
• models of enriched learning in particular disciplinary/interdisciplinary contexts
• inclusive teaching practices to engage diverse students in enriched, experiential learning
• models for expanding the content of courses to include broader aspects of diversity
• using technology to enhance learning
• assessment of learning and the ways it can be used to enrich students’ learning experiences

Sessions will be 60 minutes in length and can be presentations with discussions, panels or roundtable discussions. To submit a proposal, use the OHRD online form. For questions, contact Laurie Mayberry at 262-5246 or mayberry@wisc.edu. The deadline for submissions is January 16.

2006–07 Academic Staff Excellence Awards

Chancellor John D. Wiley announces the Academic Staff Excellence Awards, which honors nine people of achievement on campus in seven categories.

Recipients for the campus Excellence Awards will be named in March and honored both in April at the Academic Staff Assembly and at a reception hosted by the chancellor on May 15.

Anyone can forward nominations for those academic staff who exemplify the sustained excellence, outstanding achievement and creative initiative that characterize this world-renowned university.

Nomination packets for all awards (including System and Regents awards) should be sent to the Office of the Secretary of the Academic Staff, 270 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive. Deadlines as shown below are firm. Follow the submission instructions for each separate award carefully. Detailed information is available at http://acstaff.wisc.edu/awards. Anyone with questions rshould contact Colleen McCabe at 263-2985, cmccabe@wisc.edu. Deadline for all awards is January 26.

Practicing Jews: Art, Identity and Culture

The George L. Mosse/Laurence A. Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at UW–Madison announces a call for papers and proposals for this historic conference to take place at UW–Madison, April 23–27.

The conference will address issues of Jewish identity in the visual arts, music, performance and literature through both theory and practice.

Deadline for submissions is Friday, December 15. Visit the conference site for more information.

Scholarship opportunities for undergraduates

Faculty and staff are encouraged to invite undergraduate students to apply for the Wisconsin Hilldale Fellowships and Holstrom Environmental Scholarships.

These awards were created to provide opportunities for undergraduates, with at least junior standing, to participate in collaborative research with faculty or research/instructional staff members. The awards provide a grant of $4,000 to the student, plus $1,000 to the faculty/staff supervisor to help defray the costs of the research. Proposals may be made within or outside the students’ major. The Holstrom Scholarships require an environmental focus. Submissions are due Thursday, Feb. 16. Application forms are available at undergraduate academic awards office.

The University Book Store Academic Excellence Awards provide $1,000 to undergraduate students who have distinguished themselves by completing outstanding projects. Students must be enrolled in a degree program during the first and second semesters of the 2006–07 academic year. Submissions are due Monday, March 5. Application forms are available at undergraduate academic awards office .