BLUE BLACK Stout News for Stout Alumni, Parents and Friends Winter 1998 UW-Stout Alumni AssociationOutlook Good time for a good cause Event raises more than $20,000 toward academic honor scholarships It was some enchanted evening, according to revelers at the first Chancellor’s Scholarship Ball in the Great Hall at UW-Stout. The chancellor donned his tuxedo and danced until the midnight hour with more than $20,000 being raised for scholarships. “The response for the first year of this event was exceptional,” Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen said. “I was impressed with the attendance and the enthusiasm.” The idea for the ball finally came to fruition after having been danced around for half a dozen years. “We wanted something that would focus on the community and the university together to support students coming to our campus,” the chancellor said. A social hour was followed by an epicurean dinner and dancing. Ball goers danced to the music of Legend, which performed music from the ‘50s and ‘60s. “The objective of the ball, of course, was to earn scholarship dollars,” stated Sue Pittman, UW-Stout alumni director and co- chair of the organizing committee. “But beyond that, the enjoyment and great camaraderie made the evening very special. In fact, it more than exceeded our expectations.” Benefits from the event are directed toward the Chancellor’s Academic Honor Scholarship Fund which awards $1,000 to incoming UW-Stout freshmen who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class. In the fall of 1997, 84 students were awarded a Chancellor’s Academic Honor Scholarship. This particular scholarship fund has been in existence for about seven years. It became a project of Sorensen’s when he first arrived at UW-Stout. “Stout wants to attract the cream of the crop, and if there are two or three schools a young person is considering, this may be one way to sway them in our direction,” Sorensen said. Two examples of students benefiting from the scholarships are Nancy Dellbrugge, a graphic communications management student from Cameron, and Craig Rykal, an applied mathematics major “The objective of the ball, of course,“ from Chetek. “It was a good reward for doing well,” Dellbrugge said. She used her scholarship money toward tuition. Rykal agreed was to earn scholarship dollars. that the recognition was important, not to mention the money, But beyond that, the enjoyment and which he used to purchase a computer. “In my program, that (a great camaraderie made the evening very special. computer) is pretty much necessary,” he said. The event was such a success that the date for next year’s ball .”In fact, it more than exceeded our expectations.” has already been set. “It could not have been accomplished without Sue Pittman the great committee made up of members from Stout and the community,” Pittman said. “The committee was creative, hard working and enthusiastic, and the excellent results reflected that.” Persons interested in a gala holiday soiree of fine dining, dancing and socializing that at the same time contributes to academic scholarship should plan to attend the Second Annual Chancellor’s Scholarship Ball to be held Dec. 11, 1998. “It’s a good time for a good cause,” Sorensen said. Industrial Foundation Welcomes Class Reunions Design New Leadership Scheduled Expertise from two colleges New board president and five new members Dates set to celebrate the classes of ’47, ’48 and ’49; combined for cookware designs. among changes in foundation leadership. classes from the ’30s; and the classes of ’58 and ’68. Page 2 Page 6 Page 9 Stout Outlook ◆ 1 University News Cooking up bakeware ideas Industrial design students get “real-world” experience with MIrro project UW-Stout industrial design students have tried their of Human Development. The Mirro Company provided hands at designing sports shoes, rollerblades and tools, information and insight, Pratt said, as well as product to name just a few items, working closely with such well- samples and funding. known manufacturers as PUMA, Rollerblade, and Black Two classes worked on the project, one taught by and Decker. Pratt and the other by UW-Stout instructor David Morgan. Their most recent endeavor: bakeware. Mirro Each took just a little different perspective. Pratt (Wearever) of Manitowoc, approached UW-Stout after approached the project from an ergonomic angle while a Mirro industrial designer, Deborah Lonneman, a Stout Morgan pursued the cultural perspective, looking at the graduate, informed the company of the kinds of projects utensils of other cultures and how they are used. the university has worked on. Students came up with many innovative ideas, Many of the students, by their own admission, are according to Pratt. There was everything from new kinds less than connoisseurs in the kitchen. But that doesn’t of handles to bakeware for children to designer bakeware matter, according to UW-Stout industrial design professor for the bachelor pad. Ben Pratt. “Mirro loved the stuff,” Pratt said. “The quality and Industrial design trains people to research and get the the quantity.” Several UW-Stout students were asked to necessary knowledge and material they need to design a present to the marketing and engineering departments at particular product. Pratt knows this from experience. Mirro. Before coming to UW-Stout, Pratt worked as an industrial “Any time a company has produced essentially the designer at Johnson and Johnson. He was asked to same product for a long time, there is the possibility of design an endoscopic hemostat for cholecystectomies. getting tunnel vision,” Pratt said, noting that by working “Any time a company“ He had no background in the medical field, but by the together both the company and the students benefitted. has produced essentially time his extremely extensive and intensive research was UW-Stout students provided a fresh perspective and the same product for a long time, complete, Pratt was able to complete the design for an new ideas. At the same time, they were exposed to instrument used to stop bleeding during gallbladder creative, quality cooking as well as designing for a there is the possibility surgery. manufacturer. .”of getting tunnel vision.” At UW-Stout, students were able to tap into the And according to Pratt, “Mirro was presented with knowledge and expertise of Peter D’Sousa, department some ideas they could go to market with.” Ben Pratt of hospitality and tourism, and Carolyn Barnhart, College Design for the digital age New art concentration to prepare multimedia designers With the development of new information delivery citing as an example the packaging of a perfume bottle interest in focusing more on digital design rather than in “To maintain“ systems, designers knowledgeable in the use of electronic or an advertisement in a magazine. “However, it’s static, traditional print-based media. “The concentration will media are in increasingly great demand. Digital it’s stationary. The computer environment is nonlinear. also attract to UW-Stout a number of students who have Stout’s position of dissemination of information will change how consumers There is a litany of things you can provide, even animation a specific interest in multimedia design, as opposed to leadership in art will inform and be informed, educate and be educated, and sound.” graphic design,” he said. and design in the next millennium. Recognizing this, UW-Stout’s The new digital design concentration, multimedia “Multimedia requires that the designer be educated department of art and design has developed a new design, will focus on creative problem-solving as graphic in the use of electronic media and other technologies education, concentration in the bachelor of fine arts degree in art— design does, DeLong said, “but it will go further with while being able to incorporate humanistic aspects of we knew this multimedia design—which will accept its first students regard to human interface with this principally visual, how we interact with those technologies,” DeLong said. was the direction next fall. time-based medium.” “Students in this new concentration will acquire the “Design is at the core of information dissemination, DeLong said that existing or planned facilities will ability to create, organize, refine and evaluate products in which we regardless of the media used—print, film, TV, electronic meet the needs of the new concentration. Room 176 of that integrate text, sound, images and data in an interactive .”needed to go.” or interactive,” said professor Paul DeLong, the program Micheels Hall, as a result of an extensive laboratory environment.” director. “To maintain Stout’s position of leadership in modernization project, has current equipment and Initially the program will admit 30 students. Paul DeLong art and design education, we knew this was the direction software appropriate for the new curriculum. Two other Enrollment in the new concentration will be adjusted in which we needed to go.” studios which will be renovated in the remodeling over time in response to demand, placement and This new concentration will be parallel in structure to project will also serve the new concentration. It will be resources. other design concentrations. The program grew naturally necessary to hire only one new employee, a specialist in “People are clamoring for this,” DeLong said, adding out of the present graphic design concentration where multimedia, DeLong said. that this is seen as a trend that will continue because of computers have played a roll for years. DeLong said that A principal aim of adding this new concentration, the proliferation and popularity of electronic media in the new electronic way of communicating made it according to DeLong, is to provide curriculum for the mass culture. necessary to add to the current curriculum. students who are enrolled or might be enrolling in UW- “Graphic design is all around us,” DeLong said, Stout’s graphic design concentration and have a particular 2 ◆ Stout Outlook BLUE BLACK Technology teamwork Ph.D.