One and a half feet of the trademark locks of a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point professor will be cut off at the Biology Department�s spring banquet for the benefit of two causes.

Professor Bob Bell, chair of the Biology Department, pledged to cut his hair last year as part of a fundraiser for a biology education program. A hairdresser will be on hand at the department�s annual awards ceremony on Friday, April 26 in the University Center Alumni Room (5:45 p.m.) to cut eighteen inches off his three-foot length of hair, which will be donated to Locks of Love. The nonprofit organization provides custom wigs free or at low cost for children who have lost their hair due to autoimmune condition called alopecia areata or other conditions.

"It feels good to do something for somebody else," he said. While Locks of Love asks for a minimum of 10 inches, Bell is donating 18 inches because many girls helped by the organization request longer hair.

"I wasn�t looking to cut it, but I wanted a novel way to raise funds," said Bell, who has been growing his hair for the nine years he has been at UWSP.

Bell issued a challenge to alumni of the biology department last summer, offering to completely shave his head if $100,000 was raised for the Scribner Scholar program, which would provide the campus with a professor to teach biology education courses, supervise biology student teachers and lead a masters in science education graduate program.

Tuck and Kay Forsythe started the Scribner fund with a $65,000 donation to honor Kay�s parents, UWSP alumni Charles and Mary Scribner, but a total of $1 million is needed. While fund raising efforts continue, Bell decided to meet his pledge of cutting at least part of his hair before the end of the year.

"I�ll keep growing it until someone gives us the money to shave it all off," he said.

Bell feels he is helping two good causes by donating the hair to Locks of Love as well as raising money for an education program that will have far reaching effects.

"With this program we are trying to improve science education in as many aspects as we can," he said. "We�ll be training high school biology teachers for the next generation." Many of UWSP�s biology graduates stay and teach in the Central Wisconsin area, he added, so the program will enhance and improve science education in nearby communities.

It won�t bother Bell to cut his hair. "It�s just protein," said the biologist. His children feel differently, he said, because at 12 and 8 years old, the only way they know their dad is with the long hair. "The kids were among the first to suggest Locks of Love," said Bell, "and they grudgingly agreed that they could live without the hair since it was going to such a good cause."

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