Attending: Cherie Barta, Catherine Chan, Scott Cooper, Julie Dresen, Karen Havholm, Jalal Nawash, Julie O’Leary, Nigel Rothfels, and Lissa Schneider-Rebozo.
Congratulations to Lissa Schneider-Rebozo on receiving UW-River Falls’ Paul B. and Robert Dykstra Faculty Excellence Award for 2020!
- UW-System Symposium Update – Jalal Nawash provided an update on the plans for the event, which will be held virtually on April 28th. UW-Whitewater has selected the Forager One platform and is working on logistics so that student registration can begin on February 15th. Jalal reviewed the plans for the day, which include an astrophysicist keynote speaker and a job/career panel for students. One announcement has been sent out for the event and another will be sent as soon as some additional details are determined.
- Students may register February 15 – March 20
- Campuses will be invoiced for student registrations; no registration fee for faculty or guests
- Information is being been shared with the private colleges via WAICU – thanks to Julie Dresen
- Jalal is still waiting for a decision from UW-System regarding financial support for the event this year; Jalal and Julie O’Leary will draft a letter to President Thompson on behalf of WisCUR emphasizing the importance of the Symposium for students and encouraging continued support
- Please encourage students to register!
- Opportunities for outreach to state legislators – Julie O’Leary recapped a December meeting with Jeff Buhrandt and David Specht-Boardman about ways to keep undergraduate research visible at the legislature in the absence of Research in the Rotunda. There is some interest in promoting the UW-System Symposium to legislators with more discussion planned this month when David’s successor, Kathy Divine, starts her job. Julie will follow up with Jeff on this.
- Campuses may wish to do their own outreach to legislators around their campus research days.
- Allison Steil has been hired as Director of Federal Relations for UW-System, taking over for Kris Andrews who departed last year. Julie O’Leary met with her to provide an introduction to WisCUR and invite her to learn more about undergraduate research on our campuses. Allison can be contacted at asteil@uwsa.edu
- Status of campus summer undergraduate research programs – A quick check-in with those on the call about plans for/status of summer programs indicated that campuses expect to proceed with their usual summer programs with COVID-19 protocols in place. A discussion about opportunities to work together on student professional development activities over the summer was deferred to the March meeting.
- Next meeting date – Julie will send a when2meet poll for a March meeting date. Agenda items for next meeting: UW-System Symposium update, coordination opportunities for student professional development