Each week The Spectator will showcase organizations, departments, majors or other aspects of UW-Eau Claire as a part of the centennial celebrations event known as “100 Reasons to Celebrate.”

All photos courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, W.D. McIntyre Library, UW-Eau Claire.

#79 – Management and Marketing

The UW-Eau Claire management and marketing department extends five different majors and minors to students. These include business administration, healthcare administration, international business, management and marketing.

According to the department’s website, these programs are designed to prepare students for careers as marketing communications specialists, supply chain analysts, senior consultants and more.

In order to be successful both in school and in future careers, the Eau Claire management and marketing department offers several different resources for students to utilize. These include the Sales Center and the Center for Health Administration and Aging Services Excellence (CHAASE).

Faculty members from the sales center assist students with course work, aid in developing communication and analytical skills, give opportunities to work on community service projects or gain internships and help students compete in sales competitions. The Sales Center is located in room 400D of Schneider Hall.

CHAASE supports the Health Administration minor through research, providing extra activities for students and by maintaining relationships between Eau Claire and health and aging services and professional associations throughout the country. CHAASE is located in room 226 of Schneider Hall.

Students interested in pursuing a major or minor in marketing and management or those looking for additional information can visit Schneider Hall, Room 400D or email [email protected].

#80 – Materials Science and Engineering

Currently, 100 percent of Materials Science and Engineering graduates from Eau Claire are either employed or in graduate school according to the Eau Claire website. This highly successful degree gives students an average starting salary of $60,000 a year in careers such as process engineers, quality assurance, research and development, design and manufacturing and more.

The Materials Science and Engineering Center offers students access to state-of-the-art technology and laboratories. Setting them apart from other programs, students are also given experience with cutting edge software such as Matlab, LabView and Solidworks.

The department offers only two degrees – one in materials science and engineering and the other in materials science alone. According to the department’s website, both majors “build on a foundation of math, chemistry, and physics to understand how materials are structured at the atomic or molecular level and how that structure affects the properties that we observe.”

The big difference in the two majors is that materials science looks at why changes in structure affect things such as mechanical strength. Materials science and engineering, on the other hand, focuses on how to optimize materials.

For more information about Materials Science and Engineering, students can visit Phillips Hall room 107 or [email protected].

#81 – Viennese Ball

This year, Eau Claire will be holding the 43rd Annual Viennese Ball on April 7 and 8. The Viennese Ball is a formal event, fundraiser for scholarships and a night to promote international relations for Eau Claire through their exchange program with Austria’s University of Graz. The event replicates 19th century Vienna, Austria culture. Eau Claire’s first Viennese Ball was held in 1974. In 1981 the Viennese Ball began to be held two nights in a row. In 1988, Eau Claire’s Viennese Ball was considered the world’s second largest ball after the one in Vienna itself.

According to Eau Claire’s website, the ball is modeled after the New Year’s Eve Kaiser Ball. It uses all three levels of Davies Center and offers many different styles of dance. They include waltzing in the grand ballroom, swing dancing to Big Band standards, polka, a piano bar and performances on the Bösendorfer Imperial Grand Piano.

However, music and dance are not the only things offered at the Viennese Ball. Throughout the night, participants can enjoy authentic Austrian specialties, soups, cheeses, sandwiches and brats, tortes and cheesecakes, sparkling wine, Austrian beers and American-style bar service. At midnight a tom-cat breakfast, or Katerfrühstück, is available.

Tickets are available for $47.50 for the public and $30 for UW System students, Chippewa Valley Technical College students and high school students. The midnight breakfast is $13 in advance or $14 at the Ball. These tickets can be purchased online or by visiting the service center in Davies.

For more information about the ball, students can visit http://www.uwec.edu/centers/vball/ or call the University Center at 715-836-4636.