Publications

Connections
A Newsletter for the Viterbo College Community
Vol. 12   No. 14  November 23, 1998
 

Happy Thanksgiving!
I want to wish everyone in our college community a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving.
Because the holiday vacation begins for faculty and students after classes on Tues., Nov. 24, the College Forum scheduled for that afternoon at 3 p.m. is canceled.
Happy Thanksgiving!
—Bill Medland, President.
 

CD-ROM features ‘Virtual Party’
Alcohol 101, an educational CD-ROM program addressing informational issues related to alcohol use among college students, is available for student and staff use. The disk and headphones are available for check-out at the library; additional copies of the disk are available from Anne Ellefson in the SDC, x3807.

The program has been installed on several campus computers. Specific sites include MC 304, PC # 35, 36, 38, and 40; and the Library, PC # 52. Headphones are required for this software.

Alcohol 101 features interactive video, audio, graphics, and text to encourage learners to explore key issues often associated with high-risk alcohol choices among college students. The program involves attendance at a “virtual party.” As party guests make choices for themselves and others, the program provides feedback about potential outcomes of such choices. Scenarios relating to drunk driving, sexual assault, binge drinking, date rape, and overdose are integrated into the party scene.

Completion of the entire program is likely to take two hours; however, “guests” may leave the party at any time via the escape button.
 

The touch that refreshes
Students in the Body Mind Therapies class will be offering three types of massage to the Viterbo community during the week of Dec. 7-11 in the SDC. Sign up with Judy Thesing, x3825, or drop in and take a chance that there will be an opening. The students will ask you to fill out a brief evaluation of their massage.

No disrobing will be necessary except for taking off your shoes and socks for a foot massage. Each massage will take approximately 10 minutes. Choose one type so others can have a chance at getting their turn. Each massage will begin with a brief relaxation/breathing period. You may sit at a chair or on the massage table. Relaxing music will be used and we ask that you keep talking to a minimum.

The types of massage are:
• Head, Face, Neck, Shoulder—10-15 minutes, no lotion used.
• Hands—10 minutes, lotion/oils will be used.
• Feet—10 minutes, lotion oils will be used.

Schedule of times:

For more information or questions contact Joan Keller Maresh, x3690.
 

Bits and pieces
Casual Dress Day
Wed. Nov. 25 Jeans Day (because of Thanksgiving vacation.)Proceeds go to Museum of Modern Technology: AND La Crosse/Epinal Cultural Exchange Association.

Local food pantries need help! Bring non-perishable food items to MC front desk, along with your $1 on each casual dress day in Nov. and pick up complimentary recipe ideas: Eat smart Thanksgiving dinner.

Employee Christmas Party, Fri, Dec. 11, at the Baus Haus. Social hour: 6-7 p.m., dinner: 7-8 p.m., dance: 8 p.m.-midnight. Cost: $7. Menu: roast top sirloin, stuffed chicken breast or vegetarian lasagna. Watch your mailbox for further information.
 
 

Arts & Entertainment
1998 Teenie Beenie with Display Raffle. Viterbo School of Fine Arts and Viterbo Arts for Young America will be raffling off a 1998 McDonald's Teenie Beanie display with the twelve 1998 teenie beanies. Chances are $1 each or 6 chances for $5.

The drawing will be held at 10 a.m on Mon., Dec. 7, in the FAC atrium just in time for Christmas giving! Money from the raffle will support the programs presented as part of Viterbo Arts for Young America School Series and Viterbo Arts for Young America Family Series.

Raffle tickets will be available in the Main Theatre Lobby during the  following performances:

Chances are also available in the FAC office from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m., Mon.-Fri. Questions, call x3737.

The Viterbo College Concert Choir will have you in the holiday spirit when they present Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 5 and again at 2 p.m. on Dec. 6 in the FAC Main Theatre.

A Day For Dancing, by Lloyd Pfautsch, presents nine carols intended to accompany dancing.

The Artaria Quartet of Boston, will perform Puccini’s Cristantemi.

The Viterbo College Women’s Chorale and the Artaria Quartet will perform Alleluia, Amen from The Place of the Beast by Randall Thompson.

Tickets are still available for both performances. For ticket information, call the Box Office, x3100.
 
 

Viterbo people
Twenty-two Viterbo nursing students attended the annual convention of The Wisconsin Nurses Association, held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Student Nurse Association in Eau Claire, Oct. 23 & 24. This was the second largest representation from one school in the state. Nursing faculty attending included Judy Anderson, Rose Kreutz, Vicki Moss, Delayne Vogel, Pat Wessels, and Pat Zander. Two of the conference sessions were presented by Viterbo Nursing alumni: Mary Lou Gerke ’74 and Loretta Baxter Baehr ’80.
 

Kudos to…
ADVANCE student Sandra Walsh recently had an article about her research project published in a national newsletter called Memo to Mailers, United States Postal Service, Volume 33, Number 9, Sept.’98. The article addressed her project to eliminate addresses with”1/2” as part of the street number in La Crosse. From her research she determined that a mail carrier could save a minute per address per day, or 695 hours per month, that carriers used in handling mis-sorted mail. Sandy is a Delivery Supervisor at the La Crosse Post Office. Congratulations, Sandy, for this recognition of your research.

Additionally, Sandy has agreed to deliver the student response at Commencement on Dec 19. The ADVANCE staff is proud of Sandra’s leadership in these efforts.
 

Social Action Theatre Group to perform
UWL’s Social Action Theatre Group will perform LIVE at Viterbo at 6:30 p.m. on Tues. Dec. 1 in BNC 122, sponsored by Sociology/Social Work Club. Watch next Connections for details.
 

Campus Ministry News
Oxfam America! Today, Monday, Nov. 23. Fast during lunch or dinner meal with a bowl of rice and glass of water.

Hunger Banquet during dinner meal will represent the unequal distribution of resources.

Wealthy countries comprised of 1/4 world population use 3/4 of world resources.
 
Volunteers are needed in many ways for the upcoming 17th annual La Crosse Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Prior to Thanksgiving Day volunteers are needed to pick up food and prepare tables. On Thanksgiving Day persons are needed to prepare and serve food, deliver meals to shut-ins and transport people to and from the La Crosse Center.

Last year the Viterbo College community donated over $200 to the La Crosse Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Please place your contribution in an envelope and forward to Earl or S.Sue. Make checks payable to: La Crosse Community Thanksgiving Dinner.

If you are interested in helping with a meal on Dec. 3 at Place of Grace, please sign up in the back of the College Church.
 
 

Wisconsin atlas to be published
The La Crosse County Historical Society is sponsoring a program in honor of the state’s sesquicentennial at 7 p.m. tonight,  Mon., Nov. 23, in the public library auditorium. Learn about Wisconsin history and the making of an atlas with the Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild! Members of the guild will give a presentation on Wisconsin history and the making of their soon-to-be published book: Wisconsin’s Past and Present: A Historical Atlas. The authors will highlight aspects of state and regional history, and speak about the power of maps in education. The speakers will discuss Wisconsin history and the tasks involved in producing the atlas.

The program is free and open to the public. Questions can be directed to the La Crosse County Historical Society at 782-1980.
 

V-Hawk sports update
by Jerry Smith
Coaches remain optimistic despite setbacks

Some people look at a half a glass of water and say it is half full. Some people look at the same glass of water and say it is half empty.

Unfortunately, there are too many of the latter.

But not at Viterbo College—at least in Athletics.

Even when the chips are down and things are going absolutely awry, the coaches at Viterbo seem to keep optimistic. Maybe they’re great people. Maybe they’re just a little bit crazy. Or, maybe they all have their feet firmly on the ground and are totally realistic about things. That’s the one that gets my vote.
Here are a couple of examples that lead me to this conclusion:

• Women’s soccer: Although Luis Holguin and the V-Hawk women played sometimes with no substitutes, they kept their heads high and made it through the season. They could have copped an attitude about it, but Holguin kept the entire season upbeat. The final result was a 6-11-1 record, which was a step up from last year.

• Women’s Volleyball: With a record of 4-31, it’s hard to find many positives, if any. Not so with Mark Jenkins and the volleyball team. They were able to take something positive out of every match and build on that for the future. Kudos to Jenkins and his staff.

• Men’s soccer: What can I say about this team? They made it to the Midwest Region Tournament after taking both the Midwest Classic Conference regular-season title and the MCC Tournament crown. And they did it in a season that was supposed to be a rebuilding one and one chocked full of injuries. That speaks volumes for Bruce Erickson and his staff.

• Women’s basketball: Injuries and ineligible players (transfers) have reduced Bobbi Vandenberg’s team to just nine healthy bodies, with the biggest loss coming when the V-Hawks’ top returning scorer in Heidi Behnke tore her ACL in her knee and put her on the shelf for the season. Yet, Vandenberg still believes her team can make a run for the MCC title. You can’t get much more optimistic about that.

• Men’s basketball: The injury bug has put a damper on the defending MCC champs’ season, too. The V-Hawks’ top returning scorer in Mike Brudos is out for the season with a broken wrist, while nagging injuries have left the team unable to scrimmage in practice on some nights due to numbers. While it has left Todd Eisner and his staff asking why, they still believe in the team and its ability.

These, and many more examples, say a lot for Viterbo College Athletics.
 

Missing Lumen issues
The search is on for some missing issues of the Lumen. The following issues are needed to complete the archives’ collection:

If you can supply any of these missing issues, or share them long enough to make copies, please contact S. Frances Claire, in the archives, x3268. Archive hours are 9:30 -noon, M-F.
 

Faculty, staff appreciation day at the bookstore

Invitations for the Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day at the bookstore have gone out. If you or someone you know did not get an invitation, please call the bookstore, x3848, and one will be sent. See you at the bookstore Dec. 4!
 

Winter commencement reminder
The winter commencement ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., Sat. Dec. 19 in the FAC Main Theatre. There are 93 graduates. All full-time faculty and professional personnel are expected to attend graduation and be in academic attire.

Please plan to assemble and line up in the first floor hallway of the FAC by 10:15 a.m.

There will be a reception immediately following commencement in the FAC lobby.
 

Attention faculty:
If you would like to rent faculty regalia for the December graduation, please order from Tim at the bookstore, x3848, no later than Mon. Nov. 30.
 

News you’ll notice
by Sam Hinton, SGA President
Congratulations to the newly elected Student Government Association (SGA) Freshman Representatives on a remarkable election. The voter turn-out was one of the best in SGA history and there were several close races in the polls. The new Freshman Reps are: Cassandra Becwar, Nick Johnson, and Jason Von Langen. I have every confidence that these freshmen will represent the freshmen class with distinction and look forward to witnessing their contributions to SGA.

As I said in my first Connections column, SGA has been taking steps to become more available to the students. One of these steps has been implementing regular office hours in the Student Union where students can talk to their SGA Representatives. We have received a few student concerns I would like to take this opportunity to discuss.
First, many students have been wondering what has happened to the volleyball court that used to be located in the back of the Student Union. The volleyball court is in the process of being moved to a new area located in back of the Student Activities Center (SAC). SGA, along with Physical Plant, is working to develop the newly acquired space, which will also include an outdoor basketball court. The area behind the Student Union is being converted into a courtyard that will contain benches and more sidewalks so students don't have to cut across the grass. It's possible that the sidewalks will be put in this semester, however, it depends on how early the snow falls. The manner in which the new volleyball court and the Marian Hall Courtyard are developed is up to the students. So, if you have any ideas of how to improve these areas, please contact SGA!

Another concern students have brought up is the lack of availability and working equipment in the SAC. To address this concern SGA has formed the Athletics Improvement Committee. This committee has met with students to hear their concerns and various SAC authorities to discuss the options for improvement of the space. One popular complaint is that the SAC is too small for everyone to use the facilities. This is often because athletics teams have priority in the gym and the weight room. According to SAC officials, the facility was built for only 800 students and cannot accommodate the current needs of the college. There are future plans for additional SAC space as part of the Vision 2005 project, but there is currently little opportunity for expansion due to budget constraints.

Another problem is that the SAC is often locked up when it is supposed to be open. This problem is apparently a result of SAC work-study employees not showing up for their scheduled shifts. Since there is a limited number of eligible work-study employees, reliable replacement workers are hard to find. Right now SGA is working with the SAC to correct the situation. We are also exploring other possibilities such as limited passes to WWTC's athletic facilities or other area fitness centers. If you have any suggestions, contact us! We'd like to hear what you have to say!

We've added a student concerns page off of our SGA Home Page www.viterbo.edu/students/sga/index.htm    in order to let you know what some student concerns are as well as explanations of why things are the way they are, or what steps are being taken to improve the situations. Thanks, everyone for your input so far! I hope you'll continue to stop into the Student Union Office, call us, x3802, and e-mail us at: SGA@mail.viterbo.edu with your concerns. You've been a great help!

Quote
It is the marriage of the soul with Nature that makes the intellect fruitful and gives birth to imagination.
—Henry David Thoreau