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CONVENTION INFORMATION

CAMWS  - 2005

The 101st Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South will take place in Madison from Thursday, March 31, through Saturday, April 2, 2005, at the invitation of the Classics faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  All convention sessions will be held in the Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club, except for those on Friday afternoon, which will be held in the Wisconsin Union on the university campus.  There will be an opening reception in the hotel on the evening of Wednesday, March 30. 

HOTEL INFORMATION:

The Madison Concourse Hotel is located at 1 West Dayton St., Madison, WI 53703 (telephone 608-257-6000; fax 608-257-5280).  Complimentary parking for all overnight guests is available on site in an underground garage.  Attendees who are not staying overnight may park on site for a fee of $7 per day.  For more information about the hotel's facilities and services, refer to its web site:  www.concoursehotel.com.

The convention rate is $119, plus 13.5% tax, for a single or a double room; an additional person in a room costs $10.  A Governor's Club single is available for $149, a Governor's Club Double for $159.  Please make a reservation by calling the hotel directly at 1-800-356-8293 and stating that you will be attending the CAMWS Annual Meeting. Any reservation received after midnight on March 2, 2005, will be accepted on a space-available and rate-available basis.

TRAVEL TO MADISON:

By Air:  Dane County Regional Airport is served by Northwest Airlines, United Express, American Eagle, Comair, a Delta connection, Chicago Express/ATA Connection, Continental, and Midwest Connect.  Hotel courtesy vehicles (no charge) may be requested through the Courtesy Phone Center, located just past the baggage claim at the north end of the terminal.  Simply locate the Concourse Hotel phone and dial the number listed; a Concourse operator will assist you.  Rental car companies at the airport include Avis, Budget, Dollar/Thrifty, Enterprise, Hertz, and National/Alamo.  A taxicab ride to the Concourse will run between $10 and $15; ready cabs (Badger Cab, Madison Taxi, Union Cab) are located at the north end of the terminal near the rental car counters and baggage claim.

Driving directions from the airport to the Concourse Hotel:  Take International Lane to Packers Avenue/Highway 113.  Turn south (left) onto Packers Avenue/Highway 113 and follow it for 1-2 miles, heading toward the Capitol; Packers Avenue will become Pennsylvania and then East Johnson Street.  At Hamilton Street take a left toward the Capitol Square.  (Right will take you to Lake Mendota and James Madison Park.)  At the light on Dayton Street turn right and proceed to Wisconsin Avenue; you will see the Concourse Hotel just beyond the intersection of Dayton and Wisconsin, on the left side of the street.  

By Bus:  You may be able to find lower airfares if you are willing to fly to Milwaukee or Chicago and ride the bus from there to Madison.  Badger Bus (http://www.badgerbus.com/) runs eight daily round trips (roughly 2 hours each way, $30 for a round trip) between General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Union in Madison.  Van Galder Bus Company (http://www.vangalderbus.com/) runs about a dozen daily round trips between O'Hare International Airport or Midway Airport in Chicago and the Wisconsin Union (roughly 3 hours each way from O'Hare, costing $24 for a round trip; roughly 4 hours each way from Midway, costing $52 for a round trip).  

By Car:

Driving from the east (Milwaukee):  Travel Interstate 94 to Highway 30 West into Madison.  Take the State Capitol exit from Highway 30.  This is 151 South (= East Washington Avenue).  Travel East Washington Avenue straight up to the Capitol building. One block before the Capitol turn right onto Webster Street.  Travel Webster Street for 2 blocks and turn left onto Dayton Street.  Travel Dayton Street for 2 blocks; the hotel will be on your left.

Driving from the northeast (Fond du Lac and Fox Cities):  Highway 151 South becomes East Washington Avenue in Madison.  Travel East Washington Avenue straight up to the State Capitol building. One block before the Capitol turn right onto Webster Street.  Travel Webster Street for 2 blocks and turn left onto Dayton Street.  Travel Dayton Street for 2 blocks; the hotel will be on your left.

Driving from the northwest (LaCrosse or Minneapolis):  Take exit 135A from Interstate 90/94.  This is 151 South (= East Washington Avenue).  Travel East Washington Avenue straight up to the State Capitol building.  One block before the Capitol turn right onto Webster Street.  Travel Webster Street for 2 blocks and turn left onto Dayton Street.  Travel Dayton Street for 2 blocks; the hotel will be on your left.

Driving from the south (Chicago):  Take exit 142A from Interstate 90.  This is WI State 12/18 West.  Travel WI State 12/18 west for c. 4 miles.  Take exit 263 (John Nolen Drive) for c. 2 miles.  Turn left onto Broom Street and travel c. 7 blocks.  Turn right onto Johnson Street and travel c. 3 blocks.  Turn right onto Wisconsin Avenue and travel 1 block to Dayton Street.  Turn right onto Dayton Street; the hotel will be on your left.

Driving from the southwest (Iowa):  Highway 151 North connects with the Beltline Highway in Madison.  Follow Highway 151 to exit 261 (Park Street).  Travel Park Street for c. 3 miles and turn right onto Johnson Street.  Travel Johnson Street for c. 8 blocks.  Turn right onto Wisconsin Avenue and travel 1 block to Dayton Street.  Turn right onto Dayton Street; the hotel will be on your left.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

Besides a huge array of fascinating paper sessions and panels, this year's Annual Meeting includes a cash-bar opening reception open to all but especially for first-time attendees, a happy hour for graduate students on Thursday, a reception in the Wisconsin Union on Friday afternoon (with a guest appearance by Bucky Badger!), and several affordably priced group-sponsored receptions or meals: the SALVI Reception (Dulcia Latina), the Vergilian Society Breakfast, the ACM/GLCA/ACS Classicists' Luncheon, and the Women's Classical Caucus Breakfast.  Last but not least, after the perennially popular CAMWS Banquet on Friday evening, everyone is invited to eat dessert and dance away the calories at the 2nd annual CAMWS Gala Ball (no charge).  Use the convention registration form to sign up for any of the special events that interest you.

CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS:

Teachers who would like to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for attending the CAMWS Annual Meeting in Madison do not have to do anything in advance.  When they arrive at the meeting, they should simply ask at the CAMWS registration desk for a CEU application form.  Before they leave the meeting, they should return the completed form to the CAMWS registration desk, along with a check for $7.50, payable to “UW-Madison Extension.â€�

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS:

The convention hotel in Madison is conveniently located next to the Capitol Square, the focal point of the city with its strikingly beautiful, neo-classical State Capitol building (free tours offered daily).  The hotel is also adjacent to State Street, a shopping, dining, and entertainment district connecting the Capitol Square to the University of Wisconsin, several blocks to the west.

Madison's downtown is situated on a unique inland isthmus between two large lakes, providing an idyllic natural setting for a thriving and intellectually stimulating city. First named one of America's most livable cities by Life magazine in 1950, Madison has been receiving similar accolades from numerous sources over the last decade.  Just a block from the hotel is the city's latest cultural development, the $200 million Overture Center for the Performing Arts with its elegant Cesar Pelli design, anchoring the State Street district.  An overwhelming variety of ethnic restaurants (Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Moroccan, Turkish, Russian, Nepalese, Afghani, and more) provide ample options for culinary adventurers.  While the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is under reconstruction as part of the Overture Center, the university's modern Elvehjem Museum, at the west end of State Street, offers an excellent selection of visual art, and there are smaller galleries clustered around (and within) the Overture Center, as well as in the university's Memorial Union, also at the west end of State Street.  The new Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, overlooking Lake Monona, just blocks from the convention hotel, was based on a 60-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright design for that very site. The King Street District, on the east side of the Capitol Square, has its own cluster of restaurants and nightclubs closer to the convention center.  All of these urban amenities are within easy walking distance of the CAMWS convention hotel. 

Other attractions within the city include the Olbrich Botanical Gardens and the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.  Outside the city there is Frank Lloyd Wright's home, Taliesin, and his Hillside School of Architecture, in Spring Green; the Ringling Brothers' Circus World Museum in Baraboo; and the Swiss village of New Glarus, site of the annual Wilhelm Tell Festival.