Athletic Board Meeting- February 20th, 2009

Hello fellow SGers,

We recently had an athletic board meeting and touched on many important things. The meeting began with an approval of the agenda and previous minutes from the January meeting. After this the new Men's Track & Cross Country coach Mick Byrne, spoke to the board about his journey to becoming the new UW coach and also his plans while coaching at UW.

Chair, Walter Dickey, presented information about the recent Big Ten Conference and noted that the main topics discussed all focused on the economy and how to save money in this tough economic climate. Later in the meeting, the board revised and discussed the proposed budget. Some things to note in the budget are that the support department cut their budget by 5%, capital projects were cut by 53%, operational sports budgets were reduced, salary increase requests were put on hold, and at the same time there were no ticket price increases. An interesting item of note is that of the 11 schools in the big ten, UW football ticket prices are third cheapest.

The AD, Barry Alvarez noted that the college game day here at UW for the Saturday night Ohio State game went extremely well. The staff at ESPN was thoroughly impressed with our fans behavior and cooperation. It also was important to host game day because the set and crew were broadcasting and reporting throughout the day from the center of the Kohl Center.

The itmes of most importance from this meeting are that on March 31st, there will be a public meeting to discuss the NCAA Self-Study Certification. This was the review of the operations of the UW athletic department. This meeting will allow for the public to voice concerns and ask questions about the certification process and results.

Finally, on March 9th at 5pm, in the Nicholas Suites at the Kohl Center we will be having a student focus group to discuss football ticket policies. It is extremely important that you show up and voice your opinions about the issues. On top of this it will be very informative to hear about the previous policies, current proposed policies, and why things are the way they are. Adam will send out an email and if you plan on attending you will need to RSVP to Megan Lee. Thats all folks see you soon.

Jake McGhee, Athletic Board Rep.

Union Design Committee 2-23-2009

The Union Design Committee met Monday to discuss decorating themes in the club, meeting rooms, WUD area, Badger Hall, the theater, student activity center, and the information technology center. Also, last week the Building Commission approved construction on the new South Campus Union, and construction has officially begun.

In the basement club area, ideas were presented of a vintage themed room with old badger memorabilia and pictures. Color schemes include chocolate browns, deep reds, and gold.

Color scheme ideas for the following rooms included:
- Meeting Rooms: Cool colors such as greens and blues
- WUD area: Cooler colors accented with chocolate brown
- Student Activity Center: Funky colors; possibly purple

Badger Hall is set to have wood floors, detailed light fixtures, and wood-paneled dividing walls. The walls separating Badger Hall and the pre-function area may be designed to lift into the ceiling to open the area between the pre-function space and Badger Hall. Currently, the pre-function space is set to have a lightly patterned carpet of a color yet to be determined.

The theater will consist of a darker color palette including badger red seats, concrete floors beneath the seats, dark grey acoustic walls, and soft seating with cup holders. It is set to hold more than 350 people.

Because of the rapid rate at which technology is changing, not much time was spent discussing the information technology center. Group study areas with large LCD screens, as well as a computer bar were among the ideas that were brought up, along with relaxed cool colors and soft seating along the windows. Sustainable materials were brought up to be used for the desk counter top.

Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated as this information can then be relayed back to the committee. Thanks!

University Assessment Council

The Assessment Council met last Tuesday, we discussed the mission of the committee, not much to report.

Last semester I remember discussing use of clickers in classrooms, here is an interesting article on the issue. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/24/bruff