Connections
A Newsletter for the Viterbo College Community
Vol. 12 No. 19 January 18, 1999
Viterbo College Theatre Arts Department receives awards
The Viterbo College Theatre Arts Dept. has just returned with a number of significant awards from the American College Theatre Festival held in Indianapolis Jan 5-10.
Twenty-two Viterbo students, accompanied, by faculty members Dr. Dean Yohnk and Mary Leonard, attended the festival receiving a number of awards in the areas of acting, design, playwrighting, technical production, and artistic criticism.
Junior major Kelly Ann Behrens was awarded the National Barbizon Lighting Design Award for her work on last year’s production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.
Viterbo’s 1998 production of All My Sons received certificates of merit for its acting ensemble, direction, (Dr. Dean Yohnk), lighting, (Kelly Ann Behrens), and scenic design, (Michael Ranscht).
Viterbo actors also fared well in the Irene Ryan Regional Acting Competition. Three Viterbo Irene Ryan competitors, including senior Eric Graves, and juniors Sara Ochs and Ellie Hino, all advanced to the semi-final rounds with their partners, Abbie Barth, Jennifer Duckwitz and Jodi Jean Amble.
Only Illinois State University had more students advance into the semi-final round than Viterbo College.
Two Viterbo student playwrights were also honored. Viterbo seniors Christopher Karbo and Kerby Joe Grubb were selected as finalists in the 10-minute Original Play Competition, from a field of over 50 original plays.
New ‘Alumni Directory’ published
The newest edition of the Viterbo College Alumni Directory has been published. A copy has been given to almost every department. A limited number are still available. If you would like one for your department and have not received one, please contact the Alumni Office, x3072.
In addition to the editorial section, the book contains biographical information for all alumni, a section listing alumni according to the country/state/city where they live, a career networking section listing alumni according to current careers, an e-mail section, and class year listing.
This is a great resource for faculty and administrators planning alumni related activities.
Viterbo College Library Book Fair at Barnes & Noble
Watch your mailbox for the lemon -colored voucher to use at the Book Fair at Barnes & Noble Bookstore from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sun., Feb. 7. Proceeds will go to the Francis Clare Library Endowment Fund.
Vouchers are also attached to posters in the library, Learning Center, Student Union, BNC break area, FAC Box Office area and on the bulletin board outside the copy center.
Consider a gift from the Book Fair for your valentine!
Memos only
From: Jack Havertape
To: All faculty, administration and staff
Re: Nomination forms
Nomination forms for the Alec Chiu Memorial Award, Outstanding Teacher Award and Leadership/Service Awards are available in MC 215.
Please remember to nominate a peer for recognition at Honors Convocation. For lack of a completed nomination form, many outstanding members of the Viterbo community are not eligible for recognition.
Please note the deadline to submit all papers and letters is Mar. 9 to the office of the academic vice president.
Bits and pieces
Casual Dress Days
Fri. Jan 22: Food Pantry Day
Employee Assistance Center (EAC) is for all Viterbo employees and their families. For more information contact Franciscan-Skemp (608) 791-9530, (800) 493-3960.
24 hour Security: call x3911.
Class cancellations: Teacher class cancellation line: 796-3080 or 796-3190. Students call for class cancellations: 796-3200.
Connections is published each Monday by the Public Relations office. Copy deadline is noon Thursday. Send your announcements via campus mail to the public relations office, MC22, E-mail sakluess@mail. viterbo.edu. An edited version of each issue of Connections can be found on the Web at www.viterbo.edu at "Campus News."
A copy of Connections is placed in each employee’s mailbox.
Arts & Entertainment
Buried Child, the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Sam Shepard will be on stage at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21-24 in the Black Box Theatre. Tickets, are $2 and are available at the Box Office. Buried Child, which is directed by theatre major Eric Graves, is featured as the first play in Viterbo’s Senior Showcases.
Heidi Grant Murphy, Les Violons du Roy appearing at 7:30 p.m. on Jan 28 in the FAC Main Theatre as part of Bright Star Season. A shimmering soprano with an enchanting stage presence, Heidi Grant Murphy is one of the outstanding vocal talents of her generation.
Paired with the world-renowned Les Violons du Roy, a 15-member chamber orchestra from Quebec City, Canada, you have a show you won’t soon forget.
Grant Murphy is a veteran of worldwide performances with some of the world’s finest symphonies, conductors and opera companies, notably the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival, Frankfurt Opera, Netherlands Opera, Theatre Royal de la Monnaie and the Brussels and Santa Fe Opera.
Les Violons du Roy ("the King’s Violins") delivers magnificently incisive, rhythmically taut and refreshingly vital performances that has established them as one of the world’s premier chamber orchestras.
For ticket information, call Box Office at x3100.
Drawings and paintings by Douglas Eckheart will be on exhibit from Wed., Jan. 27 through Fri. Feb. 26 in the Viterbo College Gallery, FAC third floor. An artist reception will take place at 7 p.m. with a gallery talk at 7:30 p.m., Wed. Jan. 27.
A professor of art at Luther College in Decorah Iowa, Eckheart has been a resident of northeast Iowa for 31 years. Eckheart expresses his deep interest in nature and the uncommon natural beauty of the region. His drawings and paintings portray nature as life force or personification.
For more information on the reception or exhibit, call Ed Rushton, x3752.
Kudos to…
Jeffrey Stoltz and Shari Taylor, theatre arts, recently spent time as set designers and painters for a very worthwhile project. Both were involved in a community service project at the Children’s Museum— "Re useum," how kids can recycle junk into fun crafts.
Have news about your department or students’ accomplishments? Share your achievements with the campus community by sending us a note via "Connections." We’ll help you spread the word.
Reminder from the admissions office
Due to the Campus Preview Day on Fri., Jan. 22, the southwest corner of the FAC parking lot will be closed to parking from 8 to 10 a.m.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Read all about it... HERE!
Connections is the official newsletter of Viterbo College. Include your news in Connections to assure widespread visibility while at the same time, eliminating the clutter and waste associated with memo after memo after memo...
Campus Ministry news
by Father Tom O’Neill
The Rooftop goes electronic—inspired by the Web pages of Pope John Paul II. To begin the new year in an electronic manner, Campus Ministry will make the Rooftop news available on its newly designed Web pages. A hard copy of Mass intentions and daily readings will be posted on the bulletin boards in the College Church.
When needed, oral announcements will be made in the College Church. If you are in need of a hard copy of Mass intentions and readings, please let Fr. Tom know.
A sign-up sheet for lectors and eucharistic ministers is available each week at the entrance of the College Church. Anyone wishing to participate as a new member of Campus Ministry activities this semester may do so—just see one of the Campus Ministers for information.
Welcome all new, transfer and returning students to the second semester and to the last year before the millennium. If you would like to be involved in Campus Ministry activities this semester, or wish to become involved in new or different ones, please contact one of the Campus Ministers: Earl Madary, x3707 or S. Sue Ernster, x3708.
Have a great semester!
The January food of the month at WAFER is soup and crackers. Remember to support our other food pantries: Viterbo FAC pantry and Place of Grace.
V-Hawk sports update
by Jerry Smith
Don’t push the panic button yet
It’s been a really tough year for V-Hawks basketball up to now. Both teams are struggling to put teams away and put some distance between the number of wins and losses.
Todd Eisner’s team is 10-10 and Bobbi Vandenberg’s charges are 11-9.
Now that’s a far cry from where the women’s team was last year. They were sitting pretty with a 14-3 overall record and a 1-1 conference mark two games into the MCC schedule.
And the men, well the men are pretty comparable. At this point in the 1997-98 season, the V-Hawks were 10-8 and 1-1. They ended the 1997-98 season with a 22-9 record.
Many people look at the mid-season marks and have all but written off both teams because of their shaky starts. I’m hearing things like "they are going nowhere this year," or "the season is all but over."
But let’s not forget one important fact...the winner of the MCC tournament gets an automatic bid to the national tournament, no matter what that team’s record is at the time. And although it is impossible for the women to match their 25-5 record of last year, they are still in the hunt for the prestigious MCC title and a trip to the national tournament, just as the men are.
As they say..."It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings." And I don’t even hear her warming up. Stay on the V-Hawks bandwagon. It’s sure to start rolling again.
o Home games this week: The women face Mount St. Clare College at 1 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 23). The men face Mount St. Clare in a 3 p.m. start following the women’s tilt.
After school art up and running
The Pump House Regional Arts Center and Viterbo College are collaborating this spring to hold three after-school workshops for area middle school and high school students. Under the guidance of faculty and staff, Viterbo art education students will teach the ten week course beginning Feb. 9 and running through April 20. Classes will be held Tuesday, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
The three workshops to be offered are:
- Drawing & painting exploration,
- Intaglio and relief printmaking
- Clay workshop.
The introductory class will be held at the Pump House and the eight subsequent sessions will be held at Viterbo College.
From the copy center
UPS will again raise shipping rates as of Feb. 8. The lowest rate for a commercial one pound package for our area (2) will be $2.93. Residential addresses will be charged one dollar more than commercial, but in addition, another dollar will be charged for most rural areas (for residential addresses only). In the 546 area code, for example, this includes every address except La Crosse, Holmen and Onalaska.
News you’ll notice
by Roland "Buzz" Nelson
"How’s it look in Admissions?" Since campus community members are soon likely to ask me that haunting question, here’s what I see now, in Jan.’99. I like what I see.
Strong rates of application. I see a rate of application that has built up nicely during the months of Oct., Nov., and Dec., and this bodes well for fall enrollments. As of Jan. 1 we had 806 applications this year compared to 712 last year. I like that, given the fact that we will need over 800 applications in Jan. to enroll our goal of 400 new students by Aug.
New programs grow. I see that in the past three years the college has introduced three new programs: graphic design, criminal justice, and most recently social work. With social work in its first year of development, it is logical to compare the current rate of applicant growth in social work to those early years for graphic design and criminal justice.
In the first marketing year for both graphic design and criminal justice, each program had 10 applicants. I see social work now also has 10 applicants in its first year. That’s good.
Faculty involvement. Thankfully I recall that there was indeed faculty involvement in the first marketing year of each of these three new programs. Peter Fletcher began work with graphic design publication before Ed Rushton came aboard to help out. Similarly, criminal justice brochures were initiated by John Seem until Marlene Fisher was appointed, and Darrell Pofahl began social work marketing before Deb Daehn-Zellmer took over.
The continued involvement of faculty in recruitment for all Viterbo programs is essential, since contacts by phone or mail done by faculty remain the single most powerful marketing tool available.
I also see around me four new faces in the Admission Office, sporting names like Heather Johnson, Cindy Kothbauer, Alisa Rapp and Paul Roelke.
I like what I see. These new faces (combined with older ones named Joe and Scott) are quite capable of matriculating the growing applicant pool into 400 enrolled students come fall. To do that this staff will need to get the prospective student’s family to complete a financial aid form called the "Early Student Aid Estimator." To date some 362 Early Aid Estimators have been processed, compared to 358 with last year’s staff. That’s on target.
This same staff will also need to have made 10,102 phone calls (last year’s number) to award merit-based scholarships to prospects. With 11,501 calls made to date, I’d say that they’re on target there, too.
Then in the weeks ahead the staff will also need to call their prospects urging them to make tuition and housing deposits, as well as to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Of course, I’ll be watching that comparative data as it unfolds.
Old standby programs & the year 2000. While I see growth in the applicant pool, as well as in Viterbo’s new programs, I also see "old standby" programs like nursing with 141 applicants. That rate of application is above the previous two years, a time period marked by declines in nursing school enrollments elsewhere.
With the arrival of the year 2000, "Y2K compliance," has become the catch phrase data managers use to assess the workability of the computers used to manage such data. The Office of Admission is the first Viterbo College office to be in "full compliance," thanks to the recent work of Office Data Manager, Janice Schmidt, and Computer Services Director, Mark Franz.
So, if you were to ask me next year: "How’s it look in Admissions," I’d be able to offer you another databased, comparative reply. I like the looks of that, too!
Amusing irrelevant facts
When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.
Did you know…
The most printed sentence in the English language is "Close cover before striking."
The world’s oldest snack food is the pretzel (610 A.D.).
Salt is the only rock humans can eat.
Sweden consumes the most coffee in the world.
The average office chair with wheels travels eight miles in one year.
The first product to have a UPC code on its package is Wrigley’s gum.
Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams have the same colors—black and gold.