*Friday, Feb. 1, Sheboygan County Chamber’s First Friday Forum will feature speaker Cecilia Retelle, senior director of education policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce. Retelle is from Madison but currently works and lives in Washington, D.C. During the forum, she will provide an overview of national trends in education. The forum, scheduled to run from 12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m., will also address career and technical education, common core state educational standards and the state’s skills gap. The event will be held at Sheboygan Town and Country Club, W1943 County Rd. J in Sheboygan. Cost to attend is $30. Chamber members and their employees can attend for $15. For more information, visit www.sheboygan.org.
*Friday, Feb. 1, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Urban Studies Program will present a panel focused on Urban Home Ownership and Neighborhood Vitality during the Foreclosure Crisis. The event will also feature an exhibit of student projects from the 2012 Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures summer field school, sponsored by Historic Milwaukee, Inc. The panel discussion will be held at the Milwaukee City Hall Rotunda, 200 E. Wells St., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Carrie Beranek in UWM’s Urban Studies Office at 414-229-4751 or at beranekc@uwm.edu.
*Now through Sunday, Feb. 3, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan is displaying “Wisconsin Confidential: An Exhibition without Borders.” The exhibit features more than 600 postcards of Wisconsin submitted from people across the country and world. The postcards give visitors an opportunity to see different parts of the state in ways they haven’t before. Postcards include Wisconsin cityscapes, signature attractions, mascots and more. The arts center is located at 608 New York Ave. in Sheboygan. For more information about the exhibit or center, visit www.jmkac.info.
*Tuesday, Feb. 5, the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) will hold a class focused on “The Power of QuickBooks – The Basics.” The course will touch on the basics of QuickBooks in managing business finances with training in paying sales tax, invoicing, recording cash sales, depositing payments, creating customer statements, recording and bill payments. The class will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at WWBIC Milwaukee, located at 2745 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in Milwaukee. Cost is $50. For more information or to register, visit www.wwbic.com.
*Thursday, Feb. 7, the Waukesha County Business Alliance will host a professional development seminar titled “Leadership by Choice! Creating Conscious Leaders & Businesses” from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Country Springs Hotel, 2810 Golf Rd. in Pewaukee. The event will include breakfast, roundtable networking and a presentation by Christine Hill, president of Collaborative Nature. Hill will discuss emotional and social intelligence, different kinds of conflict styles and how different conflict styles affect an organization. The seminar costs $20 in advance for Alliance members, $25 at the door for Alliance members and $30 for nonmembers. For more information, or to register, visit www.waukesha.org.
*Thursday, Feb. 7, Target Free First Thursday will grant free admission to visitors at the Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Dr. in Milwaukee. Admission is free from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the first Thursday of each month, courtesy of Target. For more information, visit http://mam.org/calendar/events/.
