Voice Shorts

River Falls will collect food and clothes

Several organizations on the UW-River Falls campus will be collecting food, clothes and other items that are in good shape May 3-12 to donate locally.

The items will be collected in front of residence hall lobbies. Students with furniture or other big items are to contact Joan McDonald at 760-1775 to arrange a pick up time.

Organizations participating in the event are Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Leadership Development and Service Committee and Campus and

Community Fighting Hunger and Homelessness.

Finals Fest features Reel Big Fish

Reel Big Fish, Mike Doughty, The Pettit Project and Jester’s Panic will begin to perform at 5 p.m. May 5 at the Outdoor Amphitheatre.

Doughty is scheduled to perform at 6:30 p.m. and Reel Big Fish is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m.

Admission will begin at 4 p.m. The cost is free and open to the public. Food will be available for purchase from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The event is part of Finals Fest, which is an annual event at UW-River Falls held the Saturday before finals week.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/finalsfest.

Health Services hosts new event for finals

Student Health and Counseling Services will host the event “Cruise Through Finals” from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. May 7 on Hathorn Hall’s front lawn.

The event is free for students and is intended to give relief to students during finals week and includes professional massages, refreshments, games and prizes, hair up-dos and Root Beer Floats.

For more information, contact Jennifer Elsesser at 425-3755.

Graduation ceremony to be held at Knowles

The spring 2007 graduation ceremonies will be held May 12 in the Robert P. Knowles Building.

The first ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. and will include students from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, the College of Business and Economics and the College of Graduate Studies.

The second ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. and will include students from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education and Professional Studies.

For more information, visit www.uwrf.edu/commencement.

RF holds workshops for outdoor activities

The St. Croix River Institute at UW-River Falls will hold workshops and courses involving canoeing, hiking and fly-fishing May through August.

The institute is a collaborative effort between the University and the National Park Service.

For a list of courses offered and their times or more information, visit the institute’s Web site at www.uwrf.edu/ogs/stcroix or contact the institute at 425-3256.

Prof receives teacher of the year accolades

Physics professor Jim Madsen has been selected as UW-River Falls 2007 Teacher of the Year.

Chancellor Don Betz said Madsen was chosen for his characteristics that the University associates with an exceptional educator, namely intelligence, unbounded curiosity, persistence, accomplishment and a lifelong commitment to helping students learn. He also said the UWRF faculty is represented well with the selection of Madsen this year.

Hudson recognized as a top small town

Hudson, Wis., was recognized by Midwest Living magazine as a top small town to visit in the Midwest, according to the Husdon Star-Observer.

Hudson was listed as No. 58 in an article called “The 100 Best Small-Town Getaways.” The honor was announced in the June 2007 issue of the magazine, which is published in Des Moines, Iowa. Midwest Living is considered one of the nation’s top travel publications, according to the newspaper.

The honor was announced in the June 2007 issue of the magazine, published in Des Moines, Iowa. Wisconsin led the list of honorees with 15 towns being recognized.

The article was the cover story for the June issue. Wisconsin Gov. James Doyle sent his congratulations in a letter.

He wrote: “ congratulations on this prestigious honor and for your role in putting Wisconsin in the national spotlight. Thank you for your vision and ongoing efforts to make Wisconsin a leading travel destination in the nation.”

AmeriCorps promotes youth services

AmeriCorps members from across Wisconsin traveled the state in a big yellow school bus and stopped in various cities to promote youth service and community involvement.

The bus left UW-River Falls at 9 a.m., April 26 for a mini conference. Dubbed “R.I.S.E. UP Wisconsin! The Ride to Inspire Student Engagement,” the tour aimed to to motivate high school and college students to lead their friends to create their own solutions to problems within the community through service learning and civic engagement.

Students travel to Taiwan to study culture

UW-River Falls professor of marketing Darryl Miller and a group of students visited Taiwan during spring break to learn more about the people, culture and history of the East-Asian country.

The spring break study tour was the second that UWRF students and faculty have taken to Taiwan and to study at Shih Chien University and Shih Hsin University in the city of Taipei.

UWRF plans to bring more students in the future. There are also a handful of students who have spent the entire semester in Taiwan.

It allows students to gain appreciation for other cultures and compare them to their own.

Miller will be returning to Taiwan this month to teach a course at Shih Chien University and is hoping a professor from Taiwan will come to UWRF next year.