Blugold View Online 2021
UW-Eau Claire online magazine for alumni and friends
Over a year of unprecedented challenge, change and achievement, Blugolds have continually shown what they're made of, teaching us all that it is often the toughest climbs that bring the sweetest summits.
Welcome to the second online edition of the Blugold View, a collection of stories highlighting the unforgettable year since our last issue. What can be found in this 2021 edition?
- Recognition and celebration of Blugold creativity and ingenuity pressing on through a global pandemic.
- Glimpses at groundbreaking collaborative medical research made possible through UW-Eau Claire’s partnership with Mayo Clinic Health System.
- Highlights of the progress made toward goals in equity, diversity and inclusion — the building blocks of an inclusive and anti-racist campus and community.
- Updates on new people, places and programs — critical elements in attracting and retaining future Blugolds.
As you click through the pages of this 2021 Blugold View Online, remember that every student success story, every incredible project, program or facility happens because we are a community of Blugolds who care deeply about education and about Eau Claire. On campus and beyond, the adopted motto of our Alumni Association is "Once a Blugold, always a Blugold," and being an active participant in the university community needn't end with your time as a student. Each inspiring story you will find here provides food for thought in the ways that you too can get involved, how you can make an impact with your time, talent and treasure. Great things happen when great people decide to make a difference. Connect with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundation or contact foundation@uwec.edu to find out how.
Beauty day and night
Featured stories
While we can never tell the complete story of all that transpires in any given year at UW-Eau Claire, we do have major initiatives and projects to share that are certain to make alumni proud. Follow the links below to read up on several priority developments that took place throughout the 2020-21 academic year.
More progress despite more challenges
Throughout 2020, Blugold faculty, staff, alumni and students continued to prioritize the campus EDI goals , creating a new center, building an alumni network and forging community connections to support equity, diversity and inclusion.
Responding to COVID-19
From early scrambles to develop online learning to the recent major campus contributions to vaccinating the campus and community, Blugolds have met every COVID-19 challenge head-on.
Partnering with Mayo Clinic
Evidently, COVID-19 and its limitations on higher education is no match for the robust and cutting-edge spirit of innovation at UW-Eau Claire, where 2020 brought unseen advances in STEM and medical discovery.
Campus updates
For a year that in so many ways felt frozen in an alternative reality, things sure kept moving and shaking here at UW-Eau Claire. We have seen the Flesch Family Welcome Center progress near completion; the hiring of an experienced and energetic new vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and student affairs; investment in a large-scale sustainable public art project to beautify the landscape; exciting new partnerships; and the much-anticipated return of Blugold baseball to the varsity athletics program.
And all that is just some of what happened, apart from our ongoing academic excellence — so much excitement to share!
Updates + Announcements
New to Blugold Athletics: Women's lacrosse
It has been such an honor to be entrusted with building the lacrosse program. We have come to compete, win and put UWEC on the map as a lacrosse program that makes sure our students have diplomas and championships. That is something I will never stop pursuing — that is what our students deserve.
Tackling COVID-19: A photo diary of response
The following photo collection of images helps to tell the success story of UW-Eau Claire responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. With forward-thinking and cautious optimism, Chancellor Schmidt and campus leaders painstakingly planned and coordinated every step of the initial closure through the return to campus for fall and spring semesters — always following CDC and Eau Claire City-County Health Department guidance in putting the health, safety and education of Blugolds first.
These images are arranged in reverse chronological order because it's just more fun to see the best news first — the vaccines! Photo credits here and throughout the Blugold View pages to the talented and dedicated campus photography professionals, Bill Hoepner and Shane Opatz.
Facing a pandemic in stride
Leading by example
Chancellor Schmidt was grateful to receive his shot and encouraged all faculty, staff, and students to be vaccinated. Blugolds fly together!
Mass community site open
On March 18, Gov. Evers announced that Zorn Arena would become host to a federally funded mass vaccination site, only the second such FEMA-managed site in the state.
Fast, efficient and safe
The FEMA site hit the 5,000-shot mark in the third week of April, making tremendous strides in the effort to reach herd immunity in the community.
Creating a safer campus
A key factor in the plan to bring all faculty and staff back to campus is the rate of vaccination, so getting as many people vaccinated as possible has been the ongoing target.
Top-notch coordination
Jodi Thesing-Ritter, center, has been one of the lead coordinators of the vaccine clinic efforts at Zorn Arena.
Skills in practice
By April, 244 nursing students had been fully trained to administer vaccines and had been doing so at nine clinic sites in the state.
Rescue in a bottle
The first COVID-19 vaccinations were administered on campus on March 17 to a group of 100 prioritized, eligible faculty and staff and a small number of students.
Keeping the community informed and safe
Testing site services include antigen testing and an immediate, confirming PCR test in line with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services' existing protocol for anyone testing positive.
Answering the call for community health
Blugold faculty, staff and students worked as volunteers at community testing sites like this drive-up site at Memorial High School in Eau Claire.
A different kind of chem lab
Dr. Sudeep Bhattacharyay, shown here in a computational chemistry class, spent much of 2020 studying the COVID-19 virus through computer models like the one on the screen.
They're back!
By early September campus was in full swing, and compliance to the Blugold Flight Plan showed how much our students wanted to be back.
Learning all proper precautions
Students in the athletic training program learned how to use personal protective equipment and other safety measures while treating patients.
High tech temps
Thank goodness for no-touch thermometers. Just imagine how much total time they have saved over tens of thousands of tests!
Fast and easy testing
Chancellor Schmidt was one of thousands to undergo COVID-19 antigen testing on campus, a service first offered to students in September 2020, and subsequently to the community.
New use for grand spaces
What do you do with ballrooms when all events are canceled? You turn them into hugely spacious classrooms!
Plenty of fresh air
Thanks to all the upgrades and improvements to the campus mall and Garfield Avenue, instructors have had ample outdoor classroom space as an option for moving class outside.
Safety first
Complete sanitizing of tables between users in Davies Center helped students know they could take their needed meal breaks free from worry.
Old auditorium, new purpose
It took creative thinking to get students back on campus, such as utilizing areas like Schofield Hall for additional lecture space.
Navigating safely
With gorgeous biking scenery like this, it’s much easier to get used to wearing a face mask in shared spaces.
The band is back together!
Music and theatre arts department faculty and staff helped to establish guidelines for students to safely play instruments, including adapted masks for mouthpieces.
One way traffic
With careful planning and spacing protocols, the Marketplace food court was able to fire up the grills once again to feed the campus community.
Flight Plan tips
It did not take long for Blugolds to get the hang of maintaining the safe 6 feet of physical distance, and gentle reminders helped the transition.
Well managed move-in
Move-in day on campus is always a scramble, and with extended days and hours, along with carefully planned assigned times, the residence halls were safely filled for 2020-21.
We're all in this together
Chancellor Schmidt delivered his Blugold Breakfast remarks via livestream on Aug. 25, a speech in which he outlined steps for the safest possible return to campus for students, faculty and staff.
Never miss breakfast
Complete with boxed meals to go, the Blugold Breakfast was a virtual event this year, upholding the tradition of this annual meeting to begin the academic year.
How far away? We did the math
With computer-aided-design for space allocation, facilities management moved and reorganized classrooms so that 77% of fall classes could safely follow an in-person or hybrid instructional model.
Safety? No sweat
Crest Fitness Center and the McPhee Strength and Performance Center were adapted for spacing, and a reservation system was put in place to ensure safe workouts for students, faculty and staff.
Doing what it takes
A familiar sight by spring 2020, ubiquitous and necessary signage still serves to remind Blugolds entering buildings that face masks are required for all at UW-Eau Claire.
Handy checklists
Digital displays across campus were used to help remind Blugolds of symptoms that warrant testing and the ways to differentiate COVID-19 from common colds or influenza.
Added breathing room
Typically bustling campus locations like this Davies Center dining space were reduced to 50% capacity to allow proper distancing and unmasking while patrons consume food and beverages.
Never far from reach
Prior to the September 2020 start date, 650 wipes containers and 575 hand-sanitizer pumps were placed throughout all academic buildings, hallways, classrooms, residence halls and office spaces.
Safety message in a bottle
Since last August, 10,536 Blugold students, faculty and staff have received the “Landing Gear” kit: a water bottle containing two washable UWEC face masks, a digital thermometer, instructions for the Blugold Protocol mobile app and general safety tips.
Take a seat, just not this one
Determined to make the most of our prized outdoor spaces, facilities staff marked off seating areas to limit capacity and provide appropriately safe, distanced patio seating for pairs.
Valued input from students
In July 2020, Chancellor Schmidt began working with all campus stakeholders, including students, to plan the soonest, safest return to in-person instruction as circumstances would allow, with hopes that a fall semester date could be realized.
It fits!
Science may still be unclear as to whether birds can contract the COVID-19 virus, but like his fellow Blugolds, Blu is not taking any chances!
Staying connected to the Blugold family
The UW-Eau Claire Alumni Association and Foundation both exist to promote and enhance the overall success of Blugold students and graduates. As you enjoy the inspiring stories shared in this 2021 Blugold View collection, consider growing your own connection to campus through these two organizations. One thing that has become clear to everyone over the last year is that living out our values is central to happiness and lifelong success. Staying connected to UW-Eau Claire, a place that helped to forge your future, is an excellent way to live out the value you place on education.