Life Sciences Communication

LSC and UW Cooperative Extension Unveil New Environmental Communication Newsletter

There is widespread evidence that human behavior can have harmful effects on the environment. But despite the strong link between human behavior and environmental degradation, many people continue their daily activities, paying little attention to ecological concerns, even when they are aware of how they might live more sustainably.

A new, free newsletter, “Environmental Communication and Social Marketing,” has been created by faculty from the UW-Madison and UW Cooperative Extension to address this problem. The newsletter teaches innovative, psychology-based strategies for promoting behaviors that positively impact the environment.

This publication is multidisciplinary, drawing from the social and natural sciences to highlight practical, evidence-based approaches that encourage sustainable behavior. It focuses on a range of issues that are crucial to protecting natural resources in Wisconsin such as adopting storm water management practices, preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species and restoring habitat for wildlife and fish.

“Environmental Communication and Social Marketing” is expected to be published three times per year in both print and Web versions. To subscribe to an e-mail version of this newsletter, send an email to join-ecsm@lists.wisc.edu. In addition to the newly launched website, there is a PDF version of the newsletter and more details at UW News. For information about covering this new publication, contact Bret Shaw, Co-Editor of the newsletter and Environmental Communication Specialist for UW Cooperative Extension and Asst. Professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication, at brshaw@wisc.edu or 608-890-1878.

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National Science Foundation Honors LSC Grad Student

Congratulations to LSC doctoral student Andrew R. Binder for receiving an Honorable Mention in the 2008 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program! Andrew was the only student in the field of communication honored this year by NSF. His application received highly favorable reviews from social science scholars, who all recognized his excellent record of research and his promise as a future communication scholar.

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Wisconsin Top-5 in Mass Communication

The recent Academics Analytics / Chronicle of Higher Education Faculty Productivity Rankings have Wisconsin ranked #4 in mass communication again. This makes Wisconsin one of only two programs that held their top-5 ranking in mass communication since last year. UW-Madison overall was also ranked #15 in the nation, ahead of Cornell, NYU, Brown, and the University of Chicago in terms of overall faculty productivity.

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LSC Graduate Student Participates in Restoration Work in New Orleans

Kate Tillery Danzer, a Master’s candidate in LSC and the Gaylord Institute for Environmental Studies, recently made a trip to New Orleans with UW-Madison’s Water Resources Management team in an effort to determine the possibility of restoring Bayou Bienvenue, a cypress swamp near the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.

Read more in this article published in Madison’s The Capital Times newspaper.

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LSC Assistant Professor to Participate in the New Agendas in Science Communication

LSC Assistant Professor Bret Shaw is participating in the New Agendas in Science Communication conference being hosted at The University of Texas at Austin February 22-24, 2008. The conference will bring together 20 scholars from across the nation whose work is shaping the future of science communication research and teaching. Research presented at the conference will be published in Science Communication: New Agendas, which is expected to be published in the fall of 2008. The book is part of a communication research series edited by Roderick

Hart and Stephen Reese of the University of Texas at Austin and published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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Wisconsin Ranked #4 in Mass Comm

“The recent Academics Analytics / Chronicle of Higher Education Faculty Productivity Rankings have Wisconsin ranked #4 in mass communication again. This makes Wisconsin one of only two programs that held their top-5 ranking in mass communication since last year. UW-Madison overall was also ranked #15 in the nation, ahead of Cornell, NYU, Brown, and the University of Chicago in terms of overall faculty productivity.”

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Welcome New Staff: Sue Patera

Sue Patera joins the Life Sciences Communication’s support staff team in September.
Sue serves as main receptionist for our department. She assists faculty and students
in the registration process. Sue provides clerical assistance to the LSC undergraduate and graduate programs.

Sue comes to LSC with many years of  academic unit experience at another UW campus. Prior to arriving in Madison, she worked at UW-Eau Claire. While at Eau Claire, she served in the department of English providing similar types of support. She also spent several years working in the Media Development Center managing film and video rental equipment and in the UW-Eau Claire’s Housing & Resident Life Center assisting students with their housing assignments and needs.

Welcome, Sue!

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Bret Shaw Hired as Assistant Professor in LSC Focusing on Environmental Communication

Bret Shaw joined the Life Sciences Communication faculty as an Environmental Communication Specialist, beginning July 1. In addition to other duties, he will develop Extension and outreach campaigns dealing with natural resource management issues such as water quality, land use, and environmental conservation. He will then use his skills as a researcher to assess the impact of tsuch campaigns.

“I am delighted to be joining the Department of Life Sciences Communication. The mission to improve environmental communication in the state is one I am deeply committed to - and I look forward to working with Extension to improve Wisconsin’s communities and ecosystems,” said Shaw.

Bret received his Ph.D. in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his teaching experience related to strategic communication. After completing his graduate studies, he worked for three years as a market research manager at America Online where he shaped strategy and marketing communications for the market-leading AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service.

“Bret brings to the position the important combination of real-world campaign experience and a superior research record. His cutting-edge profile at the intersection of scholarship and application has meant that his work is constantly in the news,” says chair Hitchon McSweeney.

Since 2003, Bret has worked as a scientist at the Center for Health Enhancement Support Studies at the UW-Madison on various national initiatives funded by the National Institutes of Health and private philanthropic organizations. His recent research has focused on how people with chronic health conditions benefit from online support and tailored information systems. He has published in a diverse range of peer-reviewed journals including Health Education Research, Health Communication, the Journal of Health Communication, CIN: Computers, Informatics and Nursing, American Behavioral Scientist, Information Technology and Behaviour and the International Journal of Medical Informatics. Bret has received national and international media attention for the studies he has published.

Bret has previously worked on strategic communication campaigns for non-profit environmental organizations, and plans to explore relationships between health and the environment. Some of his initiatives include using quantitative and qualitative methods to understand people’s attitudes and behaviors as they relate to environmental issues, examining interrelationships between the environment and health, deploying traditional and new media strategies to build awareness about the environment, and empowering opinion leaders to advance environmentally conscious principles in their communities.

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LSC to Move to a New Location in December 2007

The Department of Life Sciences Communication is bracing to move to a new location beginning in December 2007: historic Hiram Smith Hall.

The move was prompted by the growth within the department and the demands and expansion of LSC’s neighbor, the Department of Biochemistry.

For LSC, the “new” building is actually an old home. Built around 1890, Hiram Smith Hall has housed a variety of departments over the last century. It was even home to components of Agricultural Journalism as far back as the 1960’s, according to Emeritus Professor Larry Meiller. Named after a former Board of Regent member and progressive Wisconsin dairyman, Hiram Smith Hall was the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s first building constructed for agricultural studies, a discipline central to the university’s land grant mission.

Tucked between Agriculture Hall and the Soil Science Building, Hiram Smith Hall was originally the headquarters for the beginning dairy farmer and cheese-making programs. It is one of the oldest buildings on campus, says Frank Kooistra, Associate Dean of Planning and Administration.

“This is a great opportunity to preserve a historic building while making upgrades that otherwise weren’t possible for the LSC department,” Kooistra said. “While old, it is a building of significant historical stature that will be fitted to meet the needs of human comfort and of the department.”

Hiram Smith Hall offers more space for students and faculty, and renovations will be tailored to meet the advancing needs of LSC. While remaining historic on the outside, the building will be fitted with high-speed cabling and will contain state-of-the-art computer, video, and radio labs, as well as classrooms, and offices to house the growing graduate program.

The new location for LSC will provide some other perks. When the nearby Microbial Science Building on Babcock Drive is complete, a patio will extend between it and Hiram Smith Hall, showcasing a deli for students and faculty.

Hiram Smith Hall is located at 1545 Observatory Drive. To see a map of its location, visit (http://www.map.wisc.edu/). LSC students, please be aware that you will begin spring semester 2008 in a new building!

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Vilas Award

Professor Dietram A. Scheufele received the Vilas Associate award for research on how the public integrates interpersonal communication into its understanding of scientific issues in media accounts. He will be conducting research over a two-year period to explore the processes by which public understanding of science is enhanced by discussion, and the anticipation of discussion.

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