NEWSLETTERSpring 2013 |
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| IN THIS ISSUE | |
Peter Yarrow and Dave Obey Event
"People can overcome their differences, and when united, move toward a world of greater fairness and justice," says Peter Yarrow, legendary folk singer and songwriter of Peter, Paul and Mary fame. Yarrow (on guitar) will join former congressman David Obey (on harmonica) for an evening of musical entertainment scheduled for May 2, 2013, 7:30 pm at the UW Center for Civic Engagement Theatre.
For over four decades Yarrow toured with the renowned folk group, and co-wrote such legendary songs as Day is Done, Light One Candle, and Puff the Magic Dragon. Peter, Paul and Mary became known for espousing social causes and reclaiming folk-music's potency as a cultural and political force. As a life-long activist, Yarrow has lent his support to causes ranging from the Vietnam War to anti-bullying campaigns. In the past decade, his Don't Laugh at Me program has helped shift the American educational paradigm to educating the whole child, in character, heart, and social-emotional development, and is now utilized by over 22,000 schools nationwide. Most recently, Yarrow performed a benefit concert for Sandy Hook community members.
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The concert, presented by Marshfield Clinic and supported by additional generous sponsorship, is planned as a fundraiser to help finish construction of the David R. Obey Civic Resource Center, located in the UW Center for Civic Engagement on the University of Wisconsin - Marathon County campus. Cost for the concert is $50 per person and includes an hors d'oeuvres reception. A cash bar will also be available. Corporate sponsorships are available.
Registration is available here. The CCE Theatre is located at 625 Stewart Avenue, Wausau.
For more information on the program, contact connie.nikolai@uwc.edu.
Philip Jenkins Named Speaker for the James F. Veninga Lecture on
Religion and Politics
Philip Jenkins will be the featured speaker for the second annual James F. Veninga Lecture on Religion and Politics. Dr. Jenkins is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities at Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, and author of the acclaimed Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses and Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, And Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe For The Next 1,500 Years. He is a contributing editor and columnist for numerous journals, including Studies of Religion, The American Conservative, The Christian Century and The Atlantic, and his primary research areas include global religious violence, terrorism, Native American spirituality, and the Catholic Church sex abuse scandals.
Jenkins' work has addressed such topical issues as the media's interest in the so-called "crisis of celibacy" and whether the Catholic Church is more likely than other organizations to be involved in misconduct. He has also studied parallel processes of what he calls "holy amnesia" in Islam, Judaism and Christianity, in which violence in sacred texts become symbolic action against one's sins.
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The second annual lecture will be free public event organized In collaboration with UW-Marathon County and UW Colleges/UW-Extension, and generously supported by the B.A. and Esther Greenheck Foundation, The series in named in honor of James F. Veninga, former Campus Executive Officer and Dean at UW-Marathon County and founder of WIPPS who spent his career connecting university resources to address challenging public issues.
The inaugural lecture, held in 2012, featured Dr. Martin Marty, Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago and well-known author of more than 60 works, Munir Jiwa, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Center for Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, will be the featured speaker in 2014. Munir's interests focus on Islam and Muslims in the West, media, Islamic aesthetics, religious pluralism, and interfaith dialogue, and his lecture will focus on contemporary Islam in the U.S, and Islam, globalization and the influence of electronic and social media on current events, such as immigration and the Arab Spring.
For more information on the program, contact jean.greenwood@uwc.edu
Ethical Issues with Dale Murray ~ 2012-2013 WIPPS Fellowship Project
Frac Sand Mining, Habitat Conservation Plans, and the Effect on the Karner Blue Butterfly in Wisconsin (a project conducted by 2013 WIPPS Fellow Dale Murray)
Hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") provides not only the promise of accessible and plentiful reserves of natural gas, but also the possibility of cheaper and cleaner energy, enhanced job creation, increased national security, and a viable "bridge" fuel to still cleaner alternative sources in the future. While fracking for natural gas is not practiced in Wisconsin, frac sand mining (the extraction of silica sand for use in the fracking process) is, with several new mines and processing facilities cropping up throughout the central and western portion of the state. Environmental ethicist Dale Murray, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County and the University of Wisconsin-Richland, is studying the possible effects and ethical implications of frac sand mining on the Statewide Karner Blue Butterfly Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP) for his 2012-2013 WIPPS Fellowship project.
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HCPs are documents that allow for the taking of individual members of endangered species under provisions of the Endangered Species Act in partnerships devised between non-federal and federal agencies charged with protecting species, and private landowners charged with providing, conserving and monitoring critical habitat for endangered species. Murray's project will also focus on the possible effects of frac sand mining on human communities in Wisconsin, especially concerns about water use, air pollution, noise pollution, land scarification, and increased stress on transportation infrastructure. Murray hopes to investigate the interstices of these concerns by investigating two specific aspects of HCPs- community participation and monitoring – that serve as crucial component structures within models of empowered deliberative democracy.
About Dale Murray
Dale Murray holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County and the University of Wisconsin-Richland. He is the author of Nozick, Autonomy and Compensation (London: Continuum Press, 2007). He has taught numerous classes in environmental ethics, made several public presentations in the field (involving such ethical issues of habitat conservation plans, e-waste, and community supported agriculture) and published on the subject. In addition, Dr. Murray has written several articles and reviews in biomedical ethics, political philosophy and the philosophy of sport. He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled The Global and the Local: An Environmental Ethics Casebook.
WIPPS Fellow Spotlight ~ Corrie Norrbom, 2013 WIPPS Community Fellow
Corrie Norrbom, M.D., is a practicing family physician, a proud UWMC alumnus, an engaged citizen/scholar, a mom, and the 2013 WIPPS Community Fellow who is organizing the upcoming June 13 and 14 summit, Preparing for the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace: A View from Wisconsin.
After attending Mayo Clinic Reviews last November to learn what Minnesota is "doing to prepare for ACA implementation," Norrbom wondered, "What is Wisconsin doing?" When she began asking around, "the people I thought would be 'in the know' were not." So Norrbom, who, by nature is not given to making them, made a New Year's resolution to "put ideas into action." She decided to educate herself and Wisconsin citizens about the ACA, "and help us all make good decisions about the upcoming choices we will face in the new healthcare marketplace."
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When asked why she is so passionate about not just healthcare and the ACA, but also her role in public healthcare activism, she invokes a number of "inspirations": time spent in medical rotations that took her to Canada and New Zealand, where she observed alternative healthcare delivery systems; a family history of political engagement that included a brother who served as mayor of Eland at age twenty-two; a stint on her local school board; mentorship by "physician leaders" throughout her medical career; the guidance and idealism of engaged educators such as Jim Veninga, former dean of UWMC, and John Frey, former director of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health; an unwavering commitment to her own patients; and a belief in the power of educated people with "really good ideas" to make a difference for their communities.
"There are so many misconceptions (about aspects of the ACA implementation) that I want to help dispel," Norrbom says. She feels the June summit should help to reduce some of the "fear-mongering" she sees in the media, and make the goal of citizen-education possible. Norrbom notes that the summit is organized to present a wide-range of perspectives that will enable a non-partisan, moderate approach to educating attendees. "I never thought I'd be lobbying to create a workshop session that presents the insurance broker's perspective, " she notes, but she realized that the brokers' views are key, and they are important stakeholders whose needs and actions will also be held accountable to the public they serve. Norrbom avers that the people who will be most adversely affected (by the new mandates) will be those who are the least franchised – the uninsured, and people who are shifted off Medicare. "My hope is that the summit will present diverse approaches that will help all citizens find common ground," she adds.
For more information contact corrie.norrbom@uwc.edu.
Guest Editorial – Preparing for the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace in Wisconsin, by Corrie Norrbom, M.D
(Corrie Norrbom is the 2013 WIPPS Community Fellow and co-organizer of the upcoming WIPPS conference: Preparing for the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace: A View from Wisconsin.)
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is complex and poorly understood by the public at large, as well as by providers of medical care, hospital/clinic systems, insurance companies, and businesses. At the heart of the ACA is the individual mandate for health insurance and the concept of health insurance exchanges ( "the marketplace"). In October, enrollment in the marketplace will begin. On June 13th and 14th, WIPPS will host a conference titled Preparing for the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace: A View from Wisconsin to help all Wisconsin citizens navigate the new marketplace.
On November 16, 2012, Governor Walker announced that Wisconsin would opt to use the federal health insurance exchange as opposed to developing its own state-run exchange. Another major decision by the Walker Administration occurred in February of this year, in which federal money to expand Medicaid coverage was declined.
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Across all sectors, there is uncertainty as to how the establishment of the federal health insurance marketplace in Wisconsin will affect the overall delivery of health care. This summit will address the need for education about the marketplace and encourage meaningful dialogue and discussion about topics surrounding it. Regardless of one's political viewpoint, it is time to think about optimizing the accessibility of quality health care in the state of Wisconsin in an affordable way.
Essential to the success of the federal marketplace is the interplay between private health insurance, the choices of businesses to insure employees, the role of Medicare/Medicaid, as well as the ability of people to navigate within the system. At the conference, experts and key stakeholders will lead cutting-edge public discussions about the path forward in Wisconsin.
The summit begins on the evening of June 13 with "Ready or Not: What the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace Means for Wisconsin," a session that is free and open to the public. The June 14 full-day program features speakers Robert Laszewski, President, Health Policy and Strategy Associates; Jackie Garner, Acting Director of the US Department of Health and Human Services Region V; and Brett Davis, Wisconsin Medicaid Director. There will also be a lunch presentation by Minnesota State Senator Tony Lourey about the challenges and opportunities in creating a state-run marketplace.
Panel discussions include:
• "Federal Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicaid: What Does It Mean for Wisconsin?"
• "To Insure or Not to Insure: Costs and Benefits of Opting Out"
• "From Medicaid to the Marketplace: Accounting for Low-Income Enrollees"
• "Making the Marketplace Work: Challenges and Opportunities in Creating an Effective Exchange"
• "Helping Wisconsin Citizens Navigate the Health Insurance Marketplace"
Panels will feature perspectives from patient advocates, hospitals/health systems, the insurance industry, physician leaders, small businesses, large businesses, labor, public health, and the Walker Administration. Look for upcoming registration details on the WIPPS website, or for more information contact corrie.norrbom@uwc.edu.
People of Rural Wisconsin ~ Project Update
The People of Rural Wisconsin Project records and preserves the stories of dairy farmers, cheesemakers, loggers, and others who grew up or made a living in rural Wisconsin. This "community listening project," funded by a generous grant from Marshfield Clinic, has been conducting oral interviews in Central Wisconsin since of the summer 2011. Project co-organizer, Ed Janus, a former farmer and author of Creating Dairyland, has been giving lectures, training interviewers, and leading focus groups on the importance of citizens taking time to learn the history of their fellow rural citizens' unique voices and in the process helping all participants discover how "listening deeply " creates and "binds" community.
Recently, Janus has been working with a group of former Alice in Dairyland(s) to discover and share how their "Alice year" enriched, changed and shaped each participant, and how the role of women in rural Wisconsin has changed over the 65 years of the Alice program. Janus worked with Debbie Crave, a former Alice and marketing director for Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, to interview Margaret McGuire Blott, the first Alice. Margaret was 18 years old in 1948 and a student at UW - Whitewater when her father's friend submitted her name and photograph to the Department of Agriculture to enter her in the competition.
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In a way, Margaret "invented" the Alice role, traveling to New York and L.A. to appear on the most important radio shows of the era, and working hard to represent her state and make her hometown of Highland, Wisconsin proud. Margaret especially remembers the 10-foot tall mechanically operated Alice, modeled after her, that was a popular attraction at the Wisconsin State Fair for many years. The automaton (voiced by young women in a room with two-way mirrors) "chatted" with fairgoers about the wonders of milk production in Wisconsin.
The People of Rural Wisconsin Project plans to archive these unique stories on its forthcoming project website, and is currently recruiting people who are interested in participating as interviewers or interviewees to share stories about rural life.
For more information, or to volunteer, contact Emily Schreiner at emily.schreiner@uwc.edu.
Meet our NEW WIPPS Interns
Bennett Javenkoski
Joined the WIPPS staff for the spring 2013 semester. He received his bachelor's degree from Beloit College in 2010, where he enjoyed a highly-interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum. He is assisting on a number of projects, including the organization of the upcoming June 13 -14 healthcare conference, Preparing for the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace: A View from Wisconsin. Additionally, Javenkoski is working with a UW faculty research team preparing to study the effectiveness of job retraining for displaced mill workers. This fall he will be attending UW-Madison to pursue a master's degree at the La Follette School of Public Affairs.
Gulshat Gurbanova
Joined the WIPPS staff as a spring 2013 intern. Gurbanova is from Turkmenistan, in Central Asia (originally part of Russian until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991), which is now an independent nation. In 2010, Gurbanova matriculated at Saint Petersburg State University and is currently an exchange student attending North Central Technical College in Wausau, Wisconsin, where she is majoring in economics. Her future plans include obtaining her baccalaureate, pursuing a master's degree in Europe, and returning to Russia for a career in auditing. At WIPPS, she is working as a programming assistant on a wide variety of projects.
Oxford Study Abroad
We still have a few seats available for August 2013 Political Development and Social Entrepreneurship study abroad course in Oxford, England. The second annual trip is organized by the UW Colleges in coordination with UW-Madison and the Said Business School. For more information and to register for the course, contact connie.nikolai@uwc.edu