Welcome to the University Center’s first-ever week-long Warhawk Winterfest Feb. 1-5! Students can stop by the UC’s concourse to take advantage of the Warhawk Winterfest photo backdrop. Make sure to tag the UC in your photos on social media (@uc_uww)!

For those of you who didn't use up your all-access points last semester, you get another chance! Until Feb. 7, use your all-access points for a game of bowling, billiards or a free shoe rental — all for only one point each! Book your time slot using the UW-Whitewater app.

The Warhawk Winterfest Photo Contest is also happening! Everyone is welcome to submit up to three photos for a chance to win. Extra points awarded for showing Warhawk spirit! For more information on this contest and to submit your photos, visit uww.edu/uc/things-to-do/robertas-art-gallery.

Kudos to Rob Hodson, lecturer in the Department of Music, who will be able to lead a research team of four students to Japan, thanks to a $25,000 grant he has been awarded from the ASIANetwork consortium as part of the Freeman Foundation Student-Faculty Fellows Program. Hodson is inviting students to apply and faculty to recommend students for the field study, which will be a “deep dive” into contemporary live music cultures in Tokyo, including jazz, classical and rock/pop/vernacular. The project, which is fully-funded by the grant, is scheduled to begin in late May this year pending safe travel, with next summer as the backup option. Hodson, who teaches music theory and aural skills, speaks Japanese and has held a position at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo. Students will be given an opportunity to present research at an ASIANetwork conference.

Kudos to Rossitza Ivanova, associate professor of languages and literatures, for serving on the National Screening Committee that selected student candidates for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for the 2021-22 award cycle. In a letter to Ivanova and university administrators, Daniel Kramer, director of the program, wrote: “In addition, we wish to acknowledge your voluntary service to the Fulbright Program. The time and effort you and your colleagues spent reading and rating applications prior to the panel, and your attendance at the virtual meeting is considerable and appreciated, especially during this busy year." The Fulbright U.S. Student program offers opportunities for students and young professionals to do international graduate study, research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide.

Kudos to the outstanding faculty and staff of the School Psychology Program, whose commitment has earned the program a full seven-year accreditation from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). Graduates from NASP-accredited programs are automatically eligible for the National Certificate in School Psychology, pending passing the Phase II Praxis exam and participating in an NASP-endorsed internship program like the one at UW-Whitewater.

Kudos to students and staff on the University Center Graphics and Marketing team for a shout-out in the national Spring Swank Toolkit 2021, which shows best practices of Swank’s clients in promoting the movie and TV show distributor’s features on campuses. Swank wrote: “The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater not only does a great job of creating a Facebook event for each of their showings, but they also include lots of relevant information on their posts—including all their other social media accounts." The Swank Toolkit is distributed as a tips and ideas resource guide for its campus clients nationwide.

Kudos to Benjamin Whitcomb, professor of music, whose tribute, “George Neikrug: Memories of a Legend,” was published in The Strad online magazine. Neikrug, a renowned teacher and cellist, died in 2019 at age 100. Whitcomb also will be a guest artist on Feb. 10 and 17 at a webinar hosted by the South Carolina chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and will present in two sessions at the ASTA Virtual Conference in March: “Common Problems of Young Cello Players and How to Fix Them,” and “Producing a Golden Tone the Phyllis Young Way.”