Showcase emphasizes reinvestment in UW-Madison

The 18th annual Showcase event April 5 will have posters, presentations, process improvement, and promising practices from across the UW campus. Join your colleagues and discover process efficiencies or adapt new technology and innovations within your classroom or workplace to be more effective.

Showcase kicks off at 8 a.m. in Union South’s Varsity Hall with poster presentations. Attendees have opportunities to learn about initiatives and projects that have been successfully implemented, and discuss the details with those individuals who made them happen. Whether you can spend the entire morning or just a brief time, the poster session from 8 to 11 is well worth a visit. Maximize your poster presentation experience within the Marquee Theater at 9:15, where a cross-section of approximately 20 poster presenters succinctly preview their posters on screen with accompanying descriptive narration.

Poster topics this year include new communities of practice and partnerships, time-saving administrative and technology applications, professional development approaches, research tools, and innovative educational practices for both inside and outside the classroom. Some examples include:

• The Campus Supervisors’ Network (CSN) Community of Practice
• DiscoverPD: Online Tool for UW–Madison Graduate Students
• RADD: Recover Analog and Digital Data & Aid Libraries, Archives & Museums
• New iPad Apps: Tracking and Delivering Packages in the WSB
• New WordPress Website Theme for Campus
• Portfolio Project for Summative Assessment in a Language Course
• Reflection on Understanding Race in a Supportive Environment: An ESL Reading Group
• Wisconsin Union Community Conversation: A Strength-based Strategic Thinking Process
• Improving Student Financial Aid Verification via the Portal
• Innovations in the Office of Talent Management Event Registration System
• Preparing for SOAR Application: Empowering Students and Informing Advisors

Four unique break-out sessions are scheduled concurrently with the poster session. About 45 minutes each, they are held in separate Union South meeting rooms at 8:15 and 10:15. This year’s break-out sessions focus on the user experience in website development, decision making in complex systems, best practices in research grant proposal development, and improving productivity by incorporating technology into your workflow.

At 11:15, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Laurent Heller will engage the Marquee Theater audience through his keynote presentation, “Reinvesting in UW–Madison — Leveraging Data for Strategic Decision Making.” In his first seven months as vice chancellor, Heller has been working closely with the chancellor’s leadership team on identifying opportunities for performance improvements and reinvestment in the university’s academic mission. Heller will discuss these opportunities and several techniques that can be used to leverage data to inform strategic decision making on campus.

Showcase is free, but registration is requested. A single registration will admit you to the poster session, any break-out sessions you wish to attend, and Vice Chancellor Heller’s keynote presentation.

The Office of Quality Improvement (OQI) maintains a list of the poster and break-out sessions, along with posters and presentations from prior years.

Showcase is sponsored jointly by the Office of Quality Improvement (OQI) and the Office of Talent Management, Office of Human Resources, and is open to all faculty, staff and students at UW–Madison.