Happy Trails

Hey All - Well, our numbers look good, and we're ready to put this class to bed. So, I'm gonna hop on my horse and ride it into the sunset....or into another Wyoming vacation, as the case might be. Though, no ranch this time, just Yellowstone.

Soon, the freshman class will be hitting our campus for Orientation in June, and we will start the cycle all over again for the class of 2011. But for now, enjoy the break.

Happy Graduation, everyone!


Kris

May 1

May 1 is the date that all colleges and universities aim for. It is the day that students need to tell us their intentions on enrolling....either, "Yay, I'm coming in the fall," or "Sorry about that, but I am headed somewhere else." Although we do our best trying to predict what an 18-year old is going to do, it is hard.

Our year this year looks good but there are still a lot of unknowns. Will the economy mean that students might live at home and commute at higher numbers? I know I have received a few phone calls to that effect in the past few days. Will our competitors take more students off their waitlists? Will financial aid come through in the amount students expect? All of these factors come into play this time of year. For me, I'll know more on Monday when I get a report on cancellations.

Ultimately, I hope students make the best decision for themselves and make it based on the priorities that are important to them. But in the meantime, we all wait.....

Kris

safety first

Hi All - As I was listening to NPR on the drive in to work this morning, I was reminded that today is the anniversary of the Columbine shootings. Although Columbine sticks in many of our minds, the sad fact is that violence in schools is not a new phenomenon - in fact, the deadliest school violence occurred in 1927 in Bath, Michigan when a bombing left 45 people dead.

We are asked about campus safety frequently when talking to prospective students and parents. They are not necessarily interested in crime statistics - although some are - but rather are asking the basic question of whether their daughter or son will be safe.

Last year, I served on a campus working group called the Emergency Response Team. The ERT has been testing and implementing a variety of protocols in case of a campus emergency. So far, we are finding that a combination of both high-tech and low-tech methods are effective in alerting the campus community to any kind of emergency - weather, human, etc. For example, we now have cell phones registered to send text messages; Voice over Internet Protocol phones which can display an alarm; an emergency screen that displays on our computers; loudspeakers in all buildings; and emergency messages that can be piped through our fire alarm system. For more information: http://emergency.uwec.edu/

Our campus police http://www.uwec.edu/police/index.htm works in tandem with the larger Eau Claire city police to respond to various emergencies and then, of course, less serious campus issues. Our campus has emergency phone in parking lots, an escort service for late-night walking assistance, locked residence halls, and lots of programming for safe choices regarding alcohol use and sexual encounters.

It's next to impossible to prepare for or prevent every random possibility. And we all need to use common sense as individuals. But I hope parents and students know that we take their safety very seriously and want the next 4 years of their lives to be healthy, challenging, productive, and safe ones.

Kris