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WINONA, Minn., April 23, 2002 -- A change in the Winona State mascot,
the Roman warrior, is being considered, university Vice President Jim
Schmidt confirmed. "We want to make the mascot more identifiable
with the university," said Schmidt. Something more animated and modern
would be good, he said. One goal is to create a standard image "that
everyone recognizes as our mascot," said Schmidt. He said the University
of Minnesota's Goldie the Golden Gopher is a good model. Schmidt said
changes would be phased in slowly. "As stationery and things are
replaced we will simply replace them with the new mascot items,"
he said. The university's tightly controlled alumni groups, including
the Warrior Club, have already approved a change, Schmidt said. Details
are still being worked out, he said. Something as memorable as the Fighting
Irish of Notre Dame would be good, he said. Schmidt said that Jostens,
a school memorabilia supplier, has provided some possibilities but all
were lacking."Some were too old, some where too young, some just
looked nasty," said Schmidt.
WINONA, Minn., April 21, 2002 -- The Winona State University Foundation's
annual campus fundraising campaign has nearly matched the $233,624 pledged
by faculty and staff members last year, said Nancy Brown, the director
of fund development About 715 faculty and staff members can donate to
the in-house campaign, she said. Gifts that aren't earmarked by the donors
for special purposes go 60 percent to scholarships, said Brown. In all,
the Foundation collected about $3 million last year from donations, fundraisers,
and investments, said Brown. Because the foundation is not a part of the
university, it need not adhere to state restrictions on spending, which
means that it can help with projects that can't qualify for state funds.
The foundation, however, is controlled by an independent board, Brown
said. The board considers requests for Foundation funds on their merit,
Brown said: "The WSU Foundation has said no to the university in
the past."
WINONA, Minn., April 17, 2002 -- A two-year-old Winona State program
to promote school pride, Purple Friday, has given away $1,000 in bookstore
gift certificates, said university promotions assistant Debbie Block.
Every week two $10 gift certificates are given, one to a student and one
to a prof, for wearing purple. "We are getting a good response,"
said Block. "Four years ago in the bookstore we didn't sell one purple
sweatshirt," said store manager Karen Krause. "It is nice to
look across the campus and see purple," said Krause. Krause said
Purple Friday was a response to a call from university President Darrell
Krueger for an incentive for students to wear purple. Block expects the
program will resume with fall classes.
WINONA, Minn., April 16, 2002 -- The Winona State University computer
science department received a $4,960 state technology update grant. Prof
Mingrui Zhang said that the grant will fund new software that will make
teaching more efficient. Zhang plans to break up students into groups
to figure out a variety of software together. Students will conduct mini-seminars
for other students to share what they've learned in their groups.
WINONA, Minn., April 10, 2002 -- A Winona State University prof is creating
a first of its kind teaching program for the computer. Rod Winters has
a $1,000 grant for his G-Stem project, a set of 14 CD lessons for teachers
in training: "Ours is the first grant proposal of its kind to be
approved. We are kind of on the cutting edge." The G-Stem project
will teach methods of educating K-12 students to meet Minnesota's 11 categories
of learning, including reading, listening, viewing, writing, speaking
knowledge and skills. Winters said that the G-Stem CDs will help create
a lesson plan for each course. Nearly every public university in Minnesota
has expressed interest, he said. If G-Stem is successful, a followup project
will deal with higher-level classes, he said.
Winona State University construction contracts are caught in the state-ordered
spending moratorium. The head of the university's budget office, Scott
Ellinghuysen, said renovation work that wasn't already under contract
won't be done. The moratorium, ordered Feb. 28, is in effect through June
2003. WSU political expert: Campaign reform bill not panacea WINONA, Minn., March 28, 2002 -- A Winona State University political
scientist said that the campaign finance bill passed by the U.S. Senate
is not enough to solve the problem of soft money. "Anything short
of public financing will not solve this," said prof Jim Bromeland.
With sufficient public financing for campaigns, Bromeland said, candidates
could be enticed to agree to give up money channeled by special interests
through and advocacy fronts and political parties. "Most important
is the soft money ban," said Bromeland. The campaign reform bill,
which Bromeland sees as flawed, made it through the Senate by the 60-40
minimum vote. It is expected to be signed by President Bush. Bromeland
said the Enron scandal and Enron's connection with the Bush administration
put pressure on Republicans to pass the bill.
WINONA, Minn., March 21, 2002 -- The Enron scandal has caught attention
of accounting profs and students, but no curricular changes are likely
as a result at Winona State University, said department chair Jim Hurley.
"We have always emphasized ethics," said Hurley. "Now we
have one more case study." Enron and its accounting firm, Andersen,
have been accused of hiding liabilities. Hurley faulted the Enron-Anderson
relationship: "The Arthur Andersen accounting firm had a contract
to do Enron's auditing. Losing contracts may tempt accounting firms into
compromising their independence." Andersen was put into a position
of covering up for Enron to keep the lucrative contract that Enron offered,
he said: "Audits should be by independent firms. Hurley's advice
to accounting students: "In the long run the things you do will catch
up to you."
WINONA, Minn., March 20, 2002 -- A moratorium on state contracts, ordered
out of St. Paul, means that Winona State cannot sign up new guest speakers
or performers until June 30, 2003, university Comptroller Scott Ellinghuysen
said. The moratorium is aimed at reducing the number of temporary workers
hired for short-term projects, Ellinghuysen said. The contract work for
the proposed science building or remodeling in the decrepit Minne classroom
building will still go ahead as planned, said Ellinghuysen. "If anything,
maybe the smaller projects will not get done in Minne," said Ellinghuysen.
WIthout new speakers and performances, which are funded largely from student
activity fees, might activity fees be cut? Contract work, said Ellinghuysen,
"will still be budgeted because it is mandatory, so the money will
be spent eventually." The moratorium has been in effect since March
1, so all currently scheduled performances, including the Sugar Ray concert,
will not be affected, he said. Also, Ellinghuysen said, the freeze excludes
instruction-related hiring.
WINONA, Minn., March 3, 2002 -- A vice president at Winona State University
doubts that tuition reciprocity will be eliminated, in spite of one legislator's
proposal. Vice President Steve Richardson called the chances of eliminating
reciprocity "slightly lower than nil." Interstate reciprocity
agreements allow students from neighboring states to attend Minnesota
colleges at their home-state tuition costs, rather than pay high out-of-state
tuition -- a deal that State Rep. Joe Opatz, D-St. Cloud, has tried to
wipe out for several sessions of Legislature. Said Richardson: "I
doubt that anything really will happen." Even if Optaz succeeds,
said Richardson, the effect would be managable. "If the reciprocity
ends, students from Wisconsin will only pay a couple hundred more,"
he said.
Dorm arson probe points to a WSU student WINONA, Minn., Feb. 2, 2002 -- All evidence is that Lourdes dorm arsonist
at Winona State University was a student who lived in the West End dorm,
fire Lt. Larry Strange said. At 4:30 a.m. the people who access were only
students, Strange said. The fire, in a second-floor hallway alcove, forced
the evacuation of the huge building. None of the 560 tenants was hurt.
Strange said the arson ignited a cultural diversity poster surrounded
by a ring of hands. "About nine of the hands were set fire to individually
along with the poster," said Strange. A woman living across the hall
from the alcove said she heard the door to the stairway slam shut and
heard footsteps going down the stairs, but she was too late to see the
arsonist making a run for it, Strange said. He said anyone with information
should call the his hotline, 457-8266. Informants can be anonymous, he
said. WSU arsonist faces 20 years, $20,000 fine WINONA, Minn., Feb. 1, 2002 -- The fire set in the Lourdes dorm at Winona
State University on Jan. 17 could be considered arson in the first degree
and punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, said city
fire Lt. Larry Strange. The arson investigation is continuing with tips
offered during campus interviews and from anonymous phone calls, Strange
said. Arson is the only possible explanation, he said, noting that the
fire was started at several points in a wall display in a second-floor
alcove. Nobody was hurt.
Lourdes disaster averted; damage minimal WINONA, Minn., Jan. 20, 2002 -- The dorm supervisor who put out the fire on the second floor of Lourdes Hall Thursday night, Robyn Hjorth, saved that floor and the kitchen on the level below from thousands of dollars in damage. Dorms chief Michael Porritt said that the water from the sprinkler system could have saturated the carpet and flowed down into the kitchen area, possibly forcing a shutdown. Damage was limited to scorched walls in a two-foot by five-foot area that could be repaired with $10 worth of paint. Had the fire not been extinguished quickly, damage easily could have exceeded the $250,000 that Porritt has in a replacement and rehab account. The $250,000 fund is intended for general repairs and special projects like new carpeting for the Prentiss-Lucas dorm and Lourdes.
WSU gives up on Tonic concert, almost WINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2001 -- An offer to the Los Angeles guitar trio
Tonic for an acoustic concert has been withdrawn by Winona State University.
Student Activities Coordinator Joe Reed had given Tonic two weeks to respond
to the offer. Reed had offered $8,000 for a show between Sept. 8 and Sept.
22. Reed said he will wait before making an offer to another band. It
is possible, he said, that Tonic might still express interest.
WINONA, Minn., July 16, 2001 -- The spring Nelly rap concert at Winona
State, the biggest in the university's history, was a financial success,
according to the university's student activities director. Ticket revenue
totaled $50,000, which meant that only $10,000 of a $15,000 line-of-credit
from the student activity fund was needed, said Joe Reed. The outgo ledger:
Bio students raising money for super terrarium WINONA, Minn., April 26, 2001 -- A plant sale at Winona State University is raising funds for a $20,000 terrarium in the proposed $30 million campus science building. The bio department's four resident iguanas now live in a simple glass tank on the second floor of the Pasteur science building. "We really need to control temperature and humidity," said prof Robin Richardson. She said the terrarium would be open to the public and could be used to teach nursing students the therapeutic uses of nature. The plant sale, sponsored by the Biology Club, the pre-veterinarian program and the Tri-Beta academic society, includes poppies, cabbage, sweet peppers, corn and beans grown by bio students since December. Large plants are $2, smaller plants $1. WSU prof: War with China unlikely WINONA, Minn., April 26, 2001 -- A pro-European bias would prevent the
United States from defending Taiwan if China invades, a Winona State University
political science professor said. "No doubt about it, if it was England
or France it would be different," said Lee. Any U.S. public enthusiams
for battling China would dissipate quickly, he said: "All it would
take is a couple thousand American dead." Lee sees war with China
as unlikely: "Chinese just like to do a lot of saber rattling."
Lee, who is 50, said: "It is hard to imagine in my lifetime that
China can militarily be strong enough to overcome Taiwan and the U.S.A."
The Chinese government, he said, is "not stupid." About Bush
approval of arms sales to Taiwan, Lee said it would only postpone the
inevitable reunification of the two nations. If war comes, he said, it
would likely be triggered by a zealous low-ranking officer, Lee said:
"There is a difference between the decisions made by a low-ranking
officer and the calculated decisions at the higher levels of government."
Weather putting WSU baseball prospects in peril WINONA, Minn., April 12, 2001 -- The eighth game of Winona State University's
baseball season was canceled by Coach Gary Grob due to bad weather. Yet
more rain Wednesday was too much for the home game against Grandview College
of Des Moines. "This is a very strange, unusual and frustrating year,"
said Grob. In his 34 years of Winona State coaching, Grob has averaged
about six cancellations a year for weather. It's possible, he said, that
Winona State will not have completed enough games to qualify at tournament
time, Grob said: "The weatherman will decide the conference winner,"
he said, noting too that Bemidji State and the University of Minnesota-Duluth
may not be able to qualify either.
Chinese student wary of news on collision crisis WINONA, Minn., April 6, 2001 -- A Saint Mary's University student from
Beijing does not believe what is being said in U.S. or Chinese newspapers
about the recent midair collision between Chinese and U.S. military planes.
Ting Yao, 19, who is studying business, has read newspapers from both
countries on the web and doesn't see the reporting as fair on either side.
"Chinese people are very mad at the U.S. government because the newspapers
in China like to say the bad things about the U.S.," she said. Yao
worries that the incident might provoke the United States to block China
for the World Trade Organization membership. "WTO membership will
be good for China and the U.S.," she said. "China will sell
more in the U.S., and the U.S. will sell more in China." About the
airplane collision, Yao said the United States should compensate the family
of the Chinese missing pilot. Speaker: Genetics data may jeopadize everyone WINONA, Minn., March 19, 2001 -- Everyone carries 10 to 30 genetic posibilities
for disease, which means everybody has a stake in legal protection in
the work place, a bioethicist told a Saint Mary's University audience.
"We are all diseased and disabled," Reilley said, which "is
probably a good way to view the world." It's a concept that can help
people decide on what limits public policy should place on genetic information
that is disclosed to insurance companies, he said. Reilley said that every
American under age 30 has a genetic blueprint, also called DNA, on file
with the government. Aboutthe future of genetics, Reilly said these questions
need answering: Search for Marek successor under way at Tech WINONA, Minn., March 15, 2001 -- The Southeast Tech aviation courses that Bob Marek gave up when he left teaching because of cancer last spring are being taught by Chad Reed, one of his former students. Reed had been serving as Tech's marketing director but switched to teaching when Marek went on medical sabbatical. Reed said Marek, an aviation enthusiast, had "a real passion for the industry." Whether Reed will continue with Marek's courses depends on a search for a permanent replacement that's under way. The courses; Metal Structure, Non-Metal Structure and Aviation Batteries.http://indee.info/BRIEFS/01/03marH.html Japanese student: Let sunken ship be WINONA, Minn., March 11, 2001 -- Contrary to a Japanese government call
for the United States to raise a training ship sunk by a U.S. submarine,
a Japanese student at Winona State University said to let the ship lie.
It would be pointless, said Tomomi Inoshima. The families may indeed want
the bodies recovered, but they are just chasing after life that is already
gone, said Inoshima. More lives could be put in danger trying to recover
the bodies, she said. The U.S. Navy has decided against recovering the
ship, which is 3-1/2 miles deep off Honolulu. WSU launches five-year image plan WINONA, Minn., March 1, 2001 -- A five-year marketing plan for Winona
State University was unveiled at a news conference. University President
Darrell Krueger said the campaign, created by Winona ad agency Mediawerks,
is aimed reaching future students and promoting a positive image. The
campaign will include television, radio and newspaper ads in the Twin
Cities, southern Minnesota and La Crosse, Wis. Krueger acknowledged negative
perceptions from continuing news coverage on tuition increases and possible
staff cuts. He hopes the campaign will create a "great legacy"
to attract quality students from the swell currently in grade school. |
News Stories: WSU profs, staff donations pass $233,000 WSU's purple giveaway: $1,000 so far WSU prof plans group-learning for software WSU prof devising CD teacher training WSU's Lyceum program escapes budget freeze WSU political expert: Campaign reform bill not panacea WSU prof hopes lessons learned from Enron Budget freeze hits unsigned WSU speakers, concerts WSU exec doubts Opatz tuition plan will pass Dorm arson probe points to a WSU student WSU arsonist faces 20 years, $20,000 fine Lourdes disaster averted; damage minimal WSU gives up on Tonic concert, almost WSU's Nelly balance sheet looks good "Lemon Parade" rockers invited to WSU Bio students raising money for super terrarium WSU prof: War with China unlikely Weather putting WSU baseball prospects in peril Chinese student wary of news on collision crisis Speaker: Genetics data may jeopadize everyone Search for Marek successor under way at Tech Japanese student: Let sunken ship be WSU launches five-year image plan
Contact Andrew Weldon at aman9822@hotmail.com for further information. |