Over winter break Gov. Scott Walker visited UW-Eau Claire, volunteerism took place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a discount for incoming students was approved, and the University of Wisconsin MBA program ranked in the top 10 U.S. News & World report.

Although students were gone over winter break, various events and activities happened at Eau Claire.

Gov. Walker visits campus
Walker visited campus to discuss his proposals for increasing affordability for higher education in Wisconsin, according to Chancellor James C. Schmidt’s blog post “Chancellor’s Blog: Leading for Wisconsin families.” This visit was considered “completely inappropriate” by many Facebook users, who commented on UW-Eau Claire’s post welcoming Walker to campus on Jan. 12.

“Ew. Glad I am done there and don’t have to share space with a guy who has destroyed education at all levels,” Ashley Nicole said in a comment on the post.

There are hundreds of other comments, all of them negative, on the Facebook post.
Cyndy Storm summed up the many of the comments of students, alumni and staff.

“But isn’t UWEC on break right now? Not many students are there to turn out and protest all he has done to hurt education in Wisconsin,” Storm posted.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
About 50 Eau Claire students, faculty and staff spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day volunteering, WQOW reported. The majority of volunteers came from Americorps ECLIPSE, which is a program allowing Eau Claire students to partner with area preschoolers to help them prepare for kindergarten.
Volunteers spent their day in various places around the region, including Community Table, Feed My People Food Bank, The Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Chippewa Valley, Hope Gospel Mission, and the Eau Claire Humane Association.

Tuition Discount
The Eau Claire Board of Regents approved a tuition discount which will allow future students to receive a 25 percent discount if they graduate within four years.

The plan provides students with the opportunity to study abroad, pursue internships and participate in research. This program will begin Fall of 2016 and will allow UW-Eau Claire students to continue receiving the discount up to five years after graduation, according to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire website.

“This innovative program is good for graduates, good for employers and good for the state of Wisconsin,” Chancellor James C. Schmidt said, “because it will help close the knowledge and skills gap that exists today and beyond.”

UW MBA Consortium
U.S. News & World report ranked The University of Wisconsin MBA Consortium in the top 10 online MBA programs for 2015, which puts it in the top five percent of MBA programs across the country.

Although many criteria contributed to the ranking, one of the most heavily weighed was student engagement. Students’ involvement in the international organization, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, is considered an important part of their engagement because AACSB accreditation, which the UW Consortium has obtained, is achieved by less than five percent of all business schools in the world.