Ripon Magazine Winter 2023

Winter 2023

VOLUME 56, ISSUE No. 1

Ripon Magazine (ISSN 1058-1855) is published twice annually by Ripon College.

Postage paid at Ripon, Wisconsin. Copyright © 2023 Ripon College

postmaster : Send address changes to Ripon Magazine, 300 W. Seward St., Ripon, WI 54971

Editor: Jaye Alderson, email: AldersonJ@ripon.edu, phone: 920-748-8364

Editorial Assistants: Loren Boone, Ric Damm, Ian Stepleton ’98

Student Assistant: Isabella Cuttill ’25

Design: Ariel Esser

Photography: Ric Damm

Office of Constituent Engagement: 920-748-8126

Please send career updates or changes of address to alumni@ripon.edu.

Ripon College prepares students of diverse interests for lives of productive, socially responsible citizenship. Our liberal arts and sciences curriculum and residential campus create an intimate learning community in which students experience a richly personalized education.

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4 INFRASTRUCTURE ENHANCEMENT

With a $35 million strategic infrastructure plan, Ripon College is moving forward to renovate and expand Farr Hall of Science and a new on-campus athletics stadium across from Willmore Center. Both projects will break ground this spring.

10 ILLUSTRIOUS SCIENCE ALUMNI

From 1851 through 2023, Ripon College science alumni continue to have a strong impact on the world. Here, we take a look back at some of them and their major accomplishments.

26 THE RIPON COLLEGE FAMILY EMBRACES ONE OF OUR OWN

When the pandemic delayed the Commencement ceremony of Mohammad Nafisi ’22, a network of alumni made sure that he was able to return to Ripon from California for the event, and then on to Australia to reunite with his birth family.

28 STANDOUT STUDENT-ATHLETE ACHIEVEMENT

Cormac Madigan ’22 caps an outstanding season both athletically and academically with a very special recognition: Academic AllAmerica Division III Football Team Member of the Year.

DEPARTMENTS:

28 Sports

34 Around the Clocktower

36 In Memoriam

45 Remarkable Ripon

ON THE COVER: A conception of the new face of Farr Hall of Science . This view faces west toward Bartlett Hall.

LEFT: Brenann O'Leary ’25 of Hailey, Idaho, left, and Catherine Skoglund ’26 of Roberts, Wisconsin, test the impact of caffeine on the metabolism of a small aquatic animal during an introductory biology lab taught by Assistant Professor of Biology Ben Grady.

Moving forward with a shared vision

As this letter and magazine reach you, I have been part of the Ripon College campus community for more than six months. Dick and I have immersed ourselves in both campus and community activities. We have enjoyed cheering on the Red Hawks at multiple sporting contests and supporting our students at fine art events — with stops at Knuth Brewing Company and Fox and Crow Bistro in downtown Ripon along the way. We welcome you to join us! Dick and I have fallen in love with living on the prairie and enjoy hosting College gatherings at the President’s House.

Since my appointment, the College has begun plotting a course for our future. In collaboration with faculty, staff, students and other key College stakeholders, we have begun developing a comprehensive strategic plan which will touch on all faucets of the College. As part of our continued growth plan, we are continuing the work of my predecessors with the help of committed friends and alumni like you. The College has announced a $35 million infrastructure plan which includes:

• Renovation and expansion of the Ripon College Science Center

• A new on-campus stadium

• Residence hall upgrades

We plan to break ground on the science center and stadium during Inauguration Week April 18-22. Celebrating the theme of “Forever Ripon,” I will communicate our shared vision for Ripon College throughout the week, concluding with the Inauguration Ceremony on April 22. All are welcome to attend.

The last six months also have been filled with travel as I have embarked on the “Presidential Welcome” tour with stops across the country. I enjoy meeting so many College friends and alumni. Your enthusiasm and passion for this institution is palpable and energizing. These fun events also provide me with a unique opportunity to discuss upcoming projects to solicit feedback, input and generate excitement. If you haven’t attended one yet, I encourage you to join us.

In the following months, I will continue to share key messages and next steps as we position Ripon as a premier liberal arts institution.

VICTORIA N. FOLSE PRESIDENT

I enjoy meeting so many College friends and alumni. Your enthusiasm and passion for this institution is palpable and energizing.

Kassidy Walters ’23 honored with national servant leadership award

People who support others have influenced Kassidy Walters ’23 of Greenfield, Illinois, since an early age. “I had a great mentor, which was my great-grandmother, who taught me how to serve within my community by delivering meals to the elderly,” she says.

“In 2018, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. My hometown community and my college community were the biggest supporters I could have asked for and really showed me how to serve and be loving to a person in need.”

Her active leadership and mentoring on the Ripon College campus led to her receiving the inaugural Servant-Leader Youth Exemplar Award in the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership’s Hall of Fame selections.

The event recognized individuals and organizations who demonstrate exemplary servant leadership, a form of leadership that emphasizes leading through good character, focusing on the well-being and advancement of others and of the communities to which they belong. Walters was the only student recipient.

President Victoria N. Folse and Vice President and Dean of Faculty John Sisko accompanied Walters to the awards ceremony at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. “The mission of Ripon College is servant leadership-driven,” Sisko says. “One of our guiding goals is to help students and the members of our larger community establish positive trajectories for personal and professional growth and success.”

In his letter of recommendation for Walters to receive the award, Sisko says Walters is a “natural leader” and “truly exemplifies what it means to be a servant leader for the good of the Ripon College campus community.”

Walters is a double major in exercise science-human performance and psychology and

plans to study sports psychology in graduate school. At Ripon, she competes with distinction on the women’s basketball team, serves as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and participates on the Diversity Coalition Committee and Campus Christian Fellowship.

“Whether it’s planning events for student-athletes or helping support other groups on campus, I want to make an impact in someone’s life,” Walters says. “I’ve been able to help lead groups on campus to listen to one another, include others, volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, volunteer at our local elementary schools to read to kids and give back to our food pantry here in town.”

Walters became particularly focused on giving back after the help she received during her health treatments. “From my coaches, professors, administrators, I’ve had great mentors in my life. I made a promise to myself to do my best to serve and give back to my community just like they did for me in a time of need,” she says.

“Student leadership means being able to lead others through example and through my actions. Being able to serve has made a big impact on my life and others. This award has helped open my eyes in understanding that my everyday actions really do add up.”

From receiving support during her time of need to providing support and mentoring to others, she comes full circle

Kassidy Walters ’23 as a guard on the women’s basketball team.

Kassidy Walters ’23

Infrastructure plan will bring energy, enhanced opportunities to campus

as Ripon College implements a $35 million strategic infrastructure plan. Included will be the renovation and expansion of Farr Hall of Science, a new on-campus stadium and upgrades to residence halls.

The first phase will prioritize a $24.5 million investment in the science center and an $8.5 million investment in the campus stadium, both of which are projected to break ground this spring. Planning for upgrades to the residence halls has commenced and the College hopes to finalize plans within the next year.

In February 2022, the Ripon College Board of Trustees authorized the College to begin preliminary exploration on both the science center and stadium. In just eight months, the College has documented $15 million in cash and pledges specifically designated for the infrastructure enhancements, 80% of which is designated for renovation of Farr Hall.

“The primary reason we have been able to move so efficiently on these projects is in large part thanks to the profound generosity of Ripon College alumni and friends,” says President Victoria N. Folse.

Folse inherited the initial and conceptual infrastructure plan from the previous administration but has led the campus through the critical planning phases since her tenure began July 1, 2022. “The energy from the internal and external campus community has been palpable, and my colleagues and I will rely on that energy to continue pursuing our fundraising goals for these critical initiatives,” she says.

Running parallel to leadership gift discussions has been a process led by Vice President and Dean of Faculty John Sisko and Athletic Director Ryan Kane. They have led two separate core planning teams comprising faculty, administrators and staff through the multifaceted design and build process with Boldt Co. and Kahler Slater architectural firm. Kahler Slater continues its collaboration with Ripon following the successful openings of Willmore Center in 2017 and the Franzen Center for Academic Success in 2019.

The strategic infrastructure plan will serve as one element of a formal strategic planning process that has just commenced at Ripon College under President Folse’s leadership. Innovative academic programming, growing the endowment and student enrollment and retention all will play a crucial role in the new strategic plan which will be communicated and implemented in April.

“

The primary reason we have been able to move so efficiently on these projects is in large part thanks to the profound generosity of Ripon College alumni and friends.”

VICTORIA N. FOLSE ripon college president

The face of campus is changing

Miki Canak ’26, left, and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Bryan Nell ’09 work together in the lab in Farr Hall of Science.

Farr Hall improvements to enhance science education

A range of aesthetic

and functional improvements to the existing building will include instrumentation upgrades, lab flooring, benches and mechanical improvements, LED lighting and the enhancement of active learning/ technology classrooms.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields have been garnering an increasing focus. “Farr Hall was built in 1961 with a partial renovation in 1997, so a comprehensive renovation and expansion is long overdue to advance our STEM infrastructure,” says John Sisko, vice president and dean of faculty. “However, regardless of the state of the building, Ripon has sustained the sciences as an area of academic excellence on campus. This upgrade will confirm our commitment to Ripon’s strength and reputation in the sciences, while better meeting the STEM learning needs of current and prospective students.

The program and infrastructure design has been informed by Kahler Slater and the Farr Hall/ Science Programs Faculty Task Force Report on expanding learning and program areas at the College. “With this project we are renovating and expanding a building, but we are also examining new curricula and science programs with the aim of renovating and expanding science education at Ripon College,” Sisko says. Patrick Willoughby, associate professor of chemistry, says, “For decades science students at Ripon College have been high achievers in the classroom and laboratory while also making important contributions to the surrounding community. The proposed project will ensure these dedicated students have the facilities they need to be successful in their journey to become scientists, healthcare professionals, and industry leaders.”

Chris Othon, associate professor and chair of physics, adds, “The new space provides many new opportunities for student projects and community events that are really exciting, such as the makerspace which is designed for student projects and the stargazing platform which will make observational astronomy much easier and much more inclusive.

“I see these new spaces as fostering greater interactions between our students and manufacturing and technology companies in the Fox Valley. This will bring new opportunities for technical curriculum and 21st century skills to students at Ripon College.”

A rendering of what a new biology lab in the science center may look like.

A new addition to the building will feature an open-concept community space.

“ This upgrade will confirm our commitment to Ripon’s strength and reputation in the sciences, while better meeting the STEM learning needs of current and prospective students.”

JOHN SISKO vice president and dean of faculty

An idea of what a new physics lab could look like.

New stadium will energize campus

157,000 square - foot stadium

2,000 seats in grandstand

renovation and expansion of Farr Hall of Science, Ripon College also is embarking on the construction of a new 157,000-squarefoot on-campus stadium. The stadium will be located on the underutilized lower Sadoff Field between Willmore Center and the residence halls.

The project is expected to supplement the student-athlete experience at Ripon College as well as greatly enhance the vibrancy of campus life at an institution committed to providing a dynamic residential living and learning environment.

The stadium will house the Ripon College football and men’s and women’s soccer teams, but also will serve the entirety of the student body and Ripon community through potential intramural offerings, concerts and other student life programming.

Included will be a 2,000-seat grandstand and press box, a formal entrance on the corner of Thorne and Union streets, viewing opportunities on Sadoff Hill, locker rooms for football and soccer, lighting for evening programming and a branded game-day experience.

Ground will be broken on the $8.5 million investment this spring with a projected opening in the fall of 2023.

Ryan Kane, athletic director and head men’s basketball coach, said the new stadium will align Ripon College with other schools in the Midwest Conference, which already have their own on-campus stadiums. “I am excited about

adding a communal space to our campus that will serve our entire Ripon College community as well as provide growth opportunities inside our athletic department,” he says. “There is no doubt that this project will be a gathering space not only for our student-athletes but also for our students, faculty, staff and community members at large.

“After the stadium opens, the College no longer will utilize the shared field model with the Ripon Area School District; however arrangements are in place for continued shared services between the Ingalls Field outdoor track and indoor Willmore Center at Ripon College. While we have enjoyed a healthy and long-standing relationship with RASD, which we plan to continue, both sides understand the benefits of autonomous stadiums given scheduling and logistical challenges that we have faced in recent years,” Kane adds.

An investment in athletic facilities already has proven prudent. Since the opening of Willmore Center, the updated health and wellness facility, in August 2017, enrollment by student-athletes has increased by 44% and now stands at 49% of all Ripon College students.

“The construction of an on-campus stadium is proof of the commitment to athletics and our student-athlete experience,” says Jake Marshall ’10, new head football coach and offensive coordinator. “Our players will have the best facilities in our conference, and the location will allow our students and fans to make the Red Hawks game day atmosphere one of the best in the region.”

Along with the

THORNE STREET

Illustrious science alumni

Ripon has a long tradition of alumni who have gone on to impact the world. Here is merely a sampling of some of our science alumni and their career accomplishments.

Major: Chemistry Glass science authority. Wrote standard handbook for the glass industry, taught at Alfred University.

RAYMOND

Major: Physics. Worked in the lab of Thomas A. Edison and on early audiometer and audiogram in the engineering department of Western Electric Co. in New York City.

OTTO JULIUS

Class of 1909

Major:

Major: Physics. Electrical engineer who helped advance early telephone technology at American Telephone and Telegraph Co. (AT&T) and Bell Laboratories; inventor of m-derived filter and Zobel Network, a type of filter section based on the imageimpedance design principle.

MARY

Major: Chemistry. Professor of chemistry and first female faculty member at University of Kansas for 22 years; scientific researcher at Kresge-Hooker Science Library, Wayne State University, in Detroit, for 10 years; author of Discovery of the Elements (1933), published in seven editions over 35 years and multiple languages.

Class of 1902

Major: Science. Awardwinning bridge designer and consulting civil engineer; developed design and construction of the rigid-frame bridge and wrote an authoritative book on the subject.

Major: Physics. Pioneer in spectroscopy; has a moon crater named in his honor

JOHN G. FRAYNE

Class of 1917

Majors: Physics and mathematics. Physicist and sound engineer. Co-wrote classic textbooks in these disciplines. Won Scientific or Technical Academy Awards in 1941 and 1953, and an honorary Academy Award in 1984.

SAMUEL R. SCHOLES, Class of 1905

L. WEGEL, Class of 1910

ELVIRA WEEKS, Class of 1913

ZOBEL

WELLES COOKE, Class of 1879

Scientific course. Ornithologist, called “father of cooperative study of bird migration in America.”

ARTHUR GUNDERSON HAYDEN

WILLIAM F. MEGGERS, Class of 1910

HARRISON

Major: Physics. Professor of physics at Brown University for 44 years; investigated surface physics and directed Brown’s Electronics Laboratory, the world’s leading center of research on low-energy electron diffraction

Established Ripon’s William Harley Barber Distinguished Professorship in honor of his former professor; and the Harrison E. Farnsworth 1918 Chair in Physics.

ELDA EMMA ANDERSON Class of

1922

Majors: Physics and mathematics. Helped develop the atomic bomb at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico; in the aftermath, led development of the field of health physics.

ROBERT R. RIESZ, Class of 1924 Majors: Physics and mathematics. Physicist, helped develop the artificial larynx at Bell Laboratories.

DANIEL TRAINER, Class of 1950

Major: Biology. Did environmental work, wrote three books and more than 140 publications, only the third American to receive the Distinguished Service Award of the Wildlife Disease Association; developed the first graduate program in environmental diseases at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

FLOYD MELVILLE SOULE, Class of 1923

Majors: Physics and mathematics. Pioneer in oceanography, was an authority on the Arctic, went on numerous oceanographic scientific expeditions with Marine Biological Laboratory and was the civilian senior physical oceanographer and chief scientist for the International Ice Patrol, operated by the U.S. Coast Guard.

DUNCAN E. REID, Class of 1927

Major: Biology. Professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard University, author of Controversy in Obstetrics and Gynecology, standard textbook on the subject.

RICHARD COE FROEDE Class of 1951

ANN EWING, Class of 1941 Majors: Chemistry and physics. Science writer who coined the term “black hole” in space terminology.

RODERICK ESQUIVEL, Class of 1949

Major: Biology. Medical doctor, professor, politician, former vice president of the Republic of Panama.

Major: Biology. Served in the U.S. Air Force for 21 years, retiring as a colonel; taught pathology at University of Arizona Medical School; chief medical examiner for nine Arizona counties; civilian Distinguished Scientist in Forensic Sciences in Washington, D.C.; named this country’s first Armed Forces Medical Examiner

“HARRY” EDWARD FARNSWORTH, Class of 1918

MICHAEL TINKHAM, Class of 1951 Majors: Physics and mathematics Superconductivity physicist.

ARTHUR A. MYRBERG JR., Class of 1954

Major: Biology. One of the world’s leading figures in animal bioacoustics, zoology, animal behavior; more than 90 published papers.

ALEXANDER HENRY LEVIS, Class of 1963

Majors: Physics and mathematics. Sc.D. in mechanical engineering, 30 years at George Mason University; senior research scientist at MIT; served for three years as the chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force

JONATHAN MURASKAS

Class of 1978

Major: Chemistry. Medical doctor and leading neonatology expert on premature babies; comedical director, Neonatal ICU; director of NeonatalPerinatal Research, Loyola Medicine. Doctor for the then-world’s smallest baby to survive birth.

PETER BOCK, Class of 1962

Majors: Physics and drama. Expert on artificial intelligence; NASA scientist; engineering and computer science educator at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

THOMAS REINECKE, Class of 1968

Majors: Physics and mathematics Rhodes Scholar, quantum physicist at U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

CHERYL ROFER

Class of 1963

Major: Chemistry. Worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 35 years. Acquired high-quality UVVIS spectrum for UF6 for laser isotope separation; pioneered using elementary reactions to describe catalysis; developed supercritical water oxidation to destroy hazardous wastes; blogs on Nuclear Diner and other venues.

PHIL MCCULLOUGH, Class of 1969

Major: Biology. Clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; on medical staff at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Distinguished Life Fellow of American Psychiatric Association. Established Ripon’s Patricia and Philip McCullough 1969 Professor in Biology.

JEFFREY W. BANTLE

Class of 1980

Majors: Physics and mathematics. NASA chief flight engineer

ROBERT WAGNER, Class of 1978

Major: Chemistry. Director of the Section of Nuclear Medicine at Loyola University Health System, interpreting diagnostic studies, performing therapeutic procedures, teaching students, residents and fellows; research using novel radiopharmaceuticals; training hospitals on managing radiation accident victims.

AL KLAPMEIER, Class of 1980

Majors: Physics and economics. Aircraft developer; co-founder and former CEO of Cirrus Design, CEO and president of Kestrel Aircraft Co., CEO of One Aviation Corp.

KENT TIMM

Class of 1981

Major: Biology and selfdesigned major in presports medicine Three-time Olympian in the sports medicine department in the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Australia and Salt Lake City. Also a sports physical therapist for Pittsburgh Penguins, athletic trainer for Pittsburgh Steelers and athletic trainer at Carnegie-Mellon University.

LISA MAHNKE, Class of 1992

Major: Chemistry. CEO and president, Nerviano Medical Sciences-US, Boston, Massachusetts, chief medical officer and board member of NMS Inc.

KYLIE AINSLIE, Class of 2011

Majors: Biology and mathematics

Infectious disease modeler at Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) in Utrecht, Netherlands.

LARRY HUEBNER, Class of 1983

Majors: Physics and mathematics Mission manager within NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program Office.

SHANNON MCKINNEY-FREEMAN, Class of 1998 Majors: Chemistry and biology Associate member, principal investigator and associate director of faculty development, Department of Hematology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee; vice president, International Society of Experimental Hematology.

SAM SONDALLE

Class of 2011

Majors: Chemistry and biology. Completed the M.D./Ph.D. program at Yale School of Medicine in 2020. Currently in clinical training as an Albert J. Solnit Integrated Resident/ Fellow in Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.

ZACHARY MORRIS

Class of 2002

Majors: Chemistry and biology. Rhodes Scholar, radiation oncologist and physician/ scientist, vice chairman and endowed professor of human oncology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

BRIAN L. FREY

Class of 1991

Major: Chemistry. Senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, six U.S. patents, more than 50 publications with 200 citations.

HILARY SMITH UYHELJI, Class of 2007

Major: Biology. Principal research geneticist with the Federal Aviation Administration

RAYMOND ALLEN, Class of 2015

Major: Chemistry-biology. Ph.D. in biology from Duke University, postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison at the Center for Limnology. Centers research on Indigenous-produced knowledge in science.

Patrick Kerstein ’07 inspires love of research in his students

Patrick Kerstein ’07 works in his laboratory at the School of Health Sciences at Purdue University. He is conducting research that he hopes could contribute one day toward restoring sight for some individuals.

hen Patrick Kerstein ’07 was a student at Ripon College, he valued his time in labs at Farr Hall.

“The science-based courses at Ripon almost always include a lab section,” he says. “While at Ripon, I thought this was the norm at all schools, however, I have learned that lab sections are rare at most schools outside of their introductory course.”

Fifteen years later, Kerstein continues to value giving students an opportunity to work inside the lab. Today, he’s an assistant professor in the School of Health Sciences at Purdue University, a member of the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, and runs his own lab where, naturally, he mentors others.

“As assistant professor, I have expanded on (several) research projects and have begun training both undergraduate and graduate students in my own lab,” he says.

In fact, it may be this aspect of his work that he values the most. Kerstein’s research is highly technical, yet firmly rooted in what he learned at Ripon College.

“I worked one summer at Ripon College as a research assistant for Dr. (Bob) Wallace collecting and sorting rotifers. This opportunity provided me insight into what it’s like to work in a research lab and inspired me to find a position in a research lab after graduation,” he says, adding that “my education at Ripon provided me with a strong foundation not only in the sciences, but in public speaking and writing. These skills have set me up well for a career I didn’t know I would be interested in when I left college and

allowed me to forge a path into a new area of biology. I think it’s always important to keep an open mind as you progress through your career and not shy away from learning about alternative pathways you may take.”

After graduating with a major in biology as well as a minor in chemistry, he sought out lab opportunities, ultimately working as a lab technician in a neuroscience laboratory at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

“During these two years, I discovered both my passion for research and an interest in neuroscience,” Kerstein says, noting that he then joined UW-Madison’s neuroscience program to earn his doctorate. “As a Ph.D. student, I studied the development of the nervous system,” he says.

This is where Kerstein began his specialization in neuroscience, which continues to be his field of research. “My dissertation focused on the molecules and genes important for nerve growth and guidance in the brain and spinal cord,” he says.

Following his doctorate, he joined the Vollum Institute at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, where he continued this work before joining Purdue in 2021 as an assistant professor. “The focus of my research (at the Vollum Institute) was to identify the genes that instruct specific nerve cells, or neurons, to form the correct connections,” Kerstein says.

Kerstein and his students at Purdue’s new Kerstein Lab are taking further steps in this research. They’re working to identify specific genes involved in the development of each of the 100 different types of nerve cells in the

retina, which could lay the groundwork to be able to “re-engineer or regenerate the retina after injury or disease.”

It’s the kind of research that could help lead to important advancements to restore sight for some individuals. “We (also) are trying to determine the molecular reasons why the optic nerve is susceptible to diseases, such as glaucoma and optic neuropathies. The longterm goal will be to identify druggable targets to slow or reverse the disease,” Kerstein says. It’s a long road toward progress in a field such as this, and he is focusing on short-term progress for now. “My immediate goal is to get my lab up and running. I am also currently applying for several research grants with the hopes that I will have a steadier flow of research funding in the future,” Kerstein says. “In the long term, I see myself taking on additional leadership roles within university research centers and in graduate education. However, my passion is planning and analyzing lab experiments with trainees, and I wouldn’t want any additional roles to take away from that.

“While I like to think my research is really important, the truth is that the greatest impact I will have on my field is the mentoring of students who work in my lab. … My approach to mentorship is deeply rooted in the small class sizes and individual attention I received from the faculty in classes and research labs at Ripon College.”

IAN STEPLETON ’98 ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR OF JOURNALISM

left This image shows a cross-section of a mouse retina captured by a confocal microscope. Each color represents a different immuno-labeled cell type. Patrick Kerstein ’07 is researching mouse genetics as one step toward finding ways to regenerate or re-engineer a human retina following injury or disease.

right Fluorescently labeled cells called amacrine cells appear to glow in this top-down view of a retina. According to Patrick Kerstein ’07, the processes of these cells connect with neighboring nerve cells to help detect visual features, such as object-motion.

Patrick Kerstein ’07 started the Kerstein Laboratory at the School of Health Sciences at Purdue University. As an assistant professor there, he values the opportunity to mentor students, much as he was taught in laboratories at Ripon College.

Ripon education allowed Jennifer White ’03 to reach for the stars

The next time you look at images taken from outer space, think of someone from close to home.

In the photos taken of Earth by Landsat 8 and 9 satellites, Ripon College graduate Jennifer White ’03 of Pasadena, Maryland, had a role in their success.

When man-made objects orbit the Earth without colliding into debris, White’s team may have eyes on their safety.

When a new space telescope is launched later this decade, software developed by her team will be vital in its launch and eventual mission peering into deep space.

And it all started with a love of astronomy and encouragement from her professors at Ripon College.

A double major in physics and mathematics at Ripon, White bonded with the late Professor Mary Williams-Norton, who helped White become one of 16 students nationwide to attend NASA Academy during the summer before White’s senior year.

“Both Professor Norton and Professor (Brad) Halfpap were encouraging whenever I had a crazy idea to apply to NASA internships or other programs,” White says.

This laid the groundwork for opportunities that came later with NASA. From 20042006, White worked as a research associate at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Years later, she joined a.i. solutions, a company that does contract work with NASA.

This enabled White to be assigned to several high-profile projects, such as the Landsat program. According to NASA’s website, “The NASA/USGS Landsat Program provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence. Landsat data give us information essential for making informed decisions about Earth’s resources and environment.”

Such images are used to show how topography changes following a natural disaster, for instance. The images also are used as evidence of the effects of climate change, with the Landsat photographic record stretching back to 1972. It can be viewed free at earthexplorer.usgs.gov.

This doesn’t make White a glorified photographer; rather, her role on Landsat 8 and 9 is as a flight dynamics engineer.

“I was part of a team that monitored the orbital path of our satellite(s),” she says. “On a daily basis, we would calculate where the spacecraft was using the on-board GPS … and use that solution to determine where the spacecraft would be in the future…. This information is used to determine where and when the spacecraft will be over specific points on the Earth so the instruments can take images at the correct time.”

“My primary goal for this position is to ensure that each subtask has good communication and knowledge of what is happening with each other,” she said, noting that her “various experiences at Ripon have helped me immensely” in taking on these leadership roles.

White recalls participating in the launch of Landsat 9 on Sept. 27, 2021. “We had worked so hard for years to prepare the ground system, learn how we would perform maneuvers, and participated in simulations that it felt unreal to be sending it to space,” she says. “Then there was the moment we executed the maneuver: I knew that I had written the commands for the sequence to perform the burn, many people had reviewed it, and we had performed simulations of it, but there were still butterflies in my stomach just hoping everything worked as it should. In the end, it did all work.”

During this time, she also became a certified NASA Conjunction Assessment and Risk Analysis (CARA) Collision Avoidance Operations Engineer. The CARA group works with the 18th Space Defense Squadron and NASA non-manned missions in order to assure the safety of the NASA satellites and the space environment for all missions.

Jennifer White ’03 watches as the time ticks down for the liftoff of the rocket carrying the Landsat 9 satellite. White was a member of the flight dynamics team for the Landsat 9 project.

Jennifer White ’03 currently is task lead for the Roman Space Telescope Flight Dynamics Analysis group, as well as the task lead for the CARA (Conjunction Assessment and Risk Analysis) group.

“There have been several events that have created a large amount of space debris, and there are more satellites being launched all the time, so it is becoming ever more prudent to ensure satellites that can maneuver do so” with a limited likelihood of collision, White says. “... We work with NASA missions, private companies and foreign nations because we all want to preserve the orbit regimes for future science programs, and technology that will enhance all of us on Earth. … Being a part of the team that helps protect that and specifically NASA missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope is very exciting!”

Since joining the group, she’s moved into a su-

pervisory role as the task lead for CARA, which means that it’s her job to ensure that subgroups within CARA communicate successfully. That accounts for three-quarters of her time at work these days. The other 25%? Task lead of a new endeavor known perhaps only by deep space aficionados.

White is the head of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Flight Dynamics Analysis group, which is in the process of creating software that “will assist the flight dynamics group during the launch and mission lifetime of the Roman Space Telescope.”

According to NASA, “The Roman Space Tele-

scope is a NASA observatory designed to unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter, search for and image exoplanets, and explore many topics in infrared astrophysics.”

That love of astrophysics grew at Ripon College, where she remembers a positive and nurturing experience that prepared her well for what became an out-of-this-world career.

“Ripon prepared me to be open-minded and provided me with the opportunity to learn how to learn and not be afraid to go for what you want,” White says.

Jennifer White ’03, second from left, stands with coworkers in the Landsat Mission Operations Center. White has worked on both the Landsat 8 and 9 projects, which actively collect data about the Earth for scientists to use for a variety of research projects.

IAN STEPLETON ’98 ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR OF JOURNALISM

“Ripon prepared me to be open-minded and provided me with the opportunity to learn how to learn and not be afraid to go for what you want.”

— JENNIFER WHITE ’03

“In research, you get to understand processes more deeply and help contribute to our understanding of the world. This can lead to biomedical breakthroughs and things that will help people’s health in the future.”

— BRIAN FREY ’91

Brian Frey ’91 works as part of a team to advance medical knowledge

Scientific research often is based on a team dynamic more so than individual work, says Brian L. Frey ’91 of Madison, Wisconsin. He is a senior scientist doing research in the Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has 50 publications which have been cited more than 2,000 times, and he also is an inventor with six U.S. patents.

“I like learning how things work,” Frey says. “I like the variety of working on interesting new studies that have a high failure rate, as well as working on smaller tasks that are more routine and work out every time.

“In research, you get to understand processes more deeply and help contribute to our understanding of the world. This can lead to bio-medical breakthroughs and things that will help people’s health in the future.”

Frey graduated from Ripon College with a major in chemistry and a minor in mathematics. The Ripon community — classmates, professors, co-workers, friends and family — “helped me to succeed in science and in life,” he says.

Important people he met through Ripon include his wife, Becky Hustad ’91, and numerous inspiring professors such as Rich Scamehorn, who taught Frey’s first college chemistry class and later guided his senior research project.

Frey later received a Ph.D. in chemistry from UW-Madison.

“I truly blossomed at Ripon College, so much so that after earning my Ph.D., I became a chemistry professor at Lake Forest College to help other students blossom. But it turns out that was not my calling,” Frey says. “I realized early on that it was a struggle for me to try to teach broadly to dozens of students at the same time. Mentoring students one-on-one is my forte. I love small-group and individual interactions.”

He returned to UW-Madison and became part of a research team of 15 people. There are always multiple projects going on involving several team members, and often led by

a graduate student. Frey says, “I help guide research projects, design experiments, and analyze data; I write grant proposals, research papers and reports; and I manage the budget for this large research group.

“A large part of science is applying your area of expertise and thinking about how ideas in your field can impact other areas of science. You keep trying to push the envelope and forge new directions.”

One research project he is working on involves collaboration with a professor in the surgery department working to engineer the growth of functional vocal cord tissue in the lab. The long-term goal is to repair or replace human vocal cords that have been damaged by trauma or cancer of the larynx.

“He does the biology part by figuring out what the cells need,” Frey says. “I do the analysis aspect. My main area of work is analyzing proteins. When looking at the engineered tissue, I compare that to native vocal cord tissues: what’s similar, what’s different, what changes are needed in the growing conditions.”

Frey also has mentored numerous Ripon College students over the past 20 years, creating significant experiential value and publication co-authorships that those Ripon students effectively used to out compete other graduate applicants. These students include Bridget Campion ’03 (Minnesota), Jessica Jarecki ’04 (Wisconsin), Jenan Kharbush ’09 (Scripps Institute), Sam Sondalle ’11 (Yale) and Lincoln Wurtz ’17 (Mayo Clinic).

Each of these students have since earned Ph.D.s with Sondalle and Wurtz engaging in highly competitive M.D./Ph.D. dual-degree programs. Kharbush and Sondalle each have won Ripon’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

“All of the Ripon students were motivated, intelligent and productive students,” Frey says. “They are destined for high-level things and for going to grad school, and this gives them higher-level research experience. I really thank Professor of Chemistry Colleen Byron for introducing those students to me and

for keeping alive a strong Ripon connection these past couple of decades.”

Frey’s other Ripon contributions include giving seminars for the Department of Chemistry and assisting Byron and her summer researchers by empowering them to use databases more effectively and by providing access to UW laboratory spaces. These students include David Knapp ’18 (Georgetown Law School), Paul Kremer ’18 (Ph.D. program, Georgia Tech) and Eva Schaible ’19 (Creighton Medical School). Frey received Ripon’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2021 for outstanding professional achievements and dedicated service to Ripon College chemistry faculty and students.

“Science is fascinating,” Frey says. “It’s rewarding and it’s also a struggle. Chemistry is really interesting and at the center of so much science. I have spent my time as a chemist learning how the world works and striving to improve medical care.”

JAYE ALDERSON COLLEGE EDITOR

Brian Frey ’9 1 is part of a 15-member research team at UW-Madison, contributing both active research as well as guidance and management of other projects in progress.

Liberal arts, Ripon professors led Liz

Walsh ’14 to her dream career

Liz Walsh ’14 looks for a drone bee at BeeWeaver Honey Farm in Navasota, Texas. Walsh is a research entomologist at the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Unit in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Liz Walsh ’14 felt lost.

As a junior at Ripon College in about 2012, she had lost confidence in her plan to become a high school English or biology teacher. “I enjoyed both subjects very much and I thought I could keep students’ attention talking about either sex and death (the vast majority of English themes) or poop and sex (the vast majority of biology connects to metabolisis or reproduction),” Walsh says.

But teaching no longer interested her. What was she to do with her life? So Walsh did what so many Ripon College students do. She unloaded her worries onto her advisor.

“It was an emotional meeting on my end for poor Dr. Bob (Wallace),” Walsh recalls, “but he reassured me that I had plenty of other options: with my grades and passion for beekeeping, he asked me why I wasn’t considering doing something with research?

“That was extremely good advice.”

With the varied tools Ripon College’s liberal arts education provided her, Walsh pivoted into what would become an exciting field of study for her. Today, she’s with the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a research entomologist with the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Unit in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She and other scientists use genetics to improve honey bee breeding and health.

“There’s still so much to learn!” Walsh says. “We’re making new discoveries in honey bee biology all the time, so getting to help make some

of those discoveries is beyond fun and exciting.”

Dr. Bob’s advice carved a clear niche for Walsh toward bee research, and Walsh flew toward it. Even her English professors were on board: Professor David Graham, for instance, allowed her to use Sylvia Plath’s poems on honey bees for a seminar focus.

“Dr. Bob and Dr. (George ‘Skip’) Wittler were very encouraging of my exploratory work with honey bees as an independent study and as a senior seminar topic,” Walsh says, adding that she “never really considered (bee research) as an option for myself until Dr. Bob suggested considering it.”

Prior to graduating from Ripon in 2014, Walsh joined an undergraduate research experience at Texas A&M University, and later received her doctorate degree there after researching how pesticides impact honey bee queen health. A postdoctoral fellowship took her to Alberta, Canada, for further research on honey bee diseases.

“I knew that I wanted to continue to do practical honey bee research and that the best place to do that was likely in the USDA,” Walsh says, explaining that in her current role, “I’m able to do the work that I’ve always wanted to do and to see the difference I’m making when a beekeeper stakeholder gets excited about my findings.”

Given continuing — though decreasing — concerns about bee colonies collapsing, Walsh finds herself at the heart of an important effort. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Once thought to pose a major long-term threat to bees, reported cases of CCD have declined substantially over the last five years. … The USDA is leading the federal government response (to this problem).”

Walsh’s current research examines how the environmental stressors honey bees en-

Liz Walsh ’14 marks bees with paint as a part of her research for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She joined the USDA in May 2022, and enjoys the work. “Some days I spend in the field doing beekeeping, others I spend in the lab doing dissections or DNA or RNA extractions, yet other days I have meetings with collaborators or am writing. It’s fun for me to have a job with this much variability because there’s never enough monotony to be bored.”

Liz Walsh ’ 14 , a researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is establishing a lab that studies honey bees. “I am able to conduct experiments which then lead to new information that beekeepers can utilize to make management decisions within their apiaries.”

counter may affect traits that are either bred into, or out of, honey bee stocks. She’s also researching honey bee reproductive health, particularly as it relates to drone (male honey bee) behavior.

“Drones are understudied compared to queens, so it’s fun to work with them because we know relatively little about their reproductive behaviors and the mechanisms for their choices,” Walsh says, adding that her lab is growing. “... In a world where food scarcity is already an issue, honey bee health becomes an important aspect of human health. My work directly helps improve and maintain honey bee health,” she says.

She even gets to use numerous facets of her Ripon education in her work. Whether they are the writing techniques she picked up in the English department or the tenets she learned from her biology classes, Walsh sees her investment in a Ripon College education pay off time and again.

“I hadn’t realized how much the different things I learned in various departments would combine to be helpful to me in my career,” she says, adding that it’s a career that continues to put a smile on her face, day after day. “I have my dream job,” she says. “I’ve never had a job where I was so excited to go to work every day, so this is exciting and humbling to me.”

IAN STEPLETON ’98 ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR OF JOURNALISM

ME M O R I E S of Farr

Hall

Ripon College is excited to be moving forward with a $35 million strategic infrastructure plan which will address the renovation and expansion of Farr Hall of Science, a new oncampus stadium and upgrades to residence halls.

Farr Hall was built in 1961 with a partial renovation in 1997, and a lot of learning, exploring and socializing has gone on inside since then.

Here, alumni share some special memories of times there.

During my years at Ripon, in addition to class credits and grades, we had a requirement to collect a certain number of “convocation points” each semester by attending events on campus. My favorite was the series on movies and the cinema-graphic arts. Before and after each weekly viewing, we discussed why the movie we were about to watch added to the movie arts. I still love going to a movie theatre today.

Nicholas “Chip” Retson ’69 Aiken, South Carolina

I came to Ripon thinking I would major in the sciences but ultimately majored in English. Nevertheless, I remember summer orientation and the late Professor (Mary) Williams-Norton’s demonstration of the night sky dome. Also, early morning biology lectures with (George) “Skip” Wittler. Zachary Norton ’07 Chicago, Illinois

Extracting rat liver homogenate in organic chemistry. Yeesh! Competing for 2 a.m. slots at a teletypewriter for homework on the PDP/I room filling computer. Little did I know that in 11 years it would lead to a new career.

I eventually became an IT project manager for the government specializing in moving applications off mainframes to the new “micro” and “mini” computers that were developed in the early 1980s. Somebody in management saw my Ripon transcript that had a computer science class on it. Got two promotions out of it, too.

Marty Morris ’73 Lincoln City, Oregon

I hope I never forget Dr. (Dino) Zei, perhaps the best teacher I ever had, and his twosemester History of Science course. It’s a rare teacher who can inspire that kind of interest and excitement in his course. Not a typical science course but a wonderful way to be in Farr Hall.

Dissecting a cat in Dr. (David) Brittain’s biology class.

George Gitcho ’67 San Antonio, Texas

I did have quite a few classes in Farr Hall for biology, chemistry and physics. Some of the lectures or labs were quite interesting, but they were also hard work. The Computer Center was also in the basement of Farr Hall, and in my final years I spent a lot of time there. We had a Digital PDP model minicomputer, using teletypes for keyboard and typewriter output and paper punch tape for program storage by students. The high-speed printout was at 10 characters per second.

Lawrence ’77 Vinton, Virginia

Hanging out with my best friend in the chem lab at night making petri dishes when he accidentally set the agar on fire. I panicked, but he just, oh, so casually reached over and smothered it. It was the smoothest reaction I’ve ever seen. We also had chair races in the halls, and even though I was an English major I slept on the couch pretty often since most of my friends were chemistry majors and I would help out as needed.

Nicole Olson ’11 Glendale, Wisconsin

As a chem major, I spent endless hours in Farr Hall, in class and in the labs. However, my favorite memories were from the movie series in the auditorium.

My favorite room at Farr Hall had to be the auditorium. It was used for some of my biology and chemistry lectures, but it was also used for other large meetings, and it was the location of Friday Night Movies (only one dollar in 1972).

Alan

Terry Hoffer ’74 Danville, Vermont

Dino Zei

Now Professor Emeritus of Biology Robert Wallace in the classroom in 2014.

There were rag-tag, dissolving, animal mounts in the small student lounge room, including a bill-fish on the wall that had seen better days. A great memory is how Bob Wallace began each new semester of microbiology by entering the room, in full Renaissance regalia, shouting “Bring out your dead!” He also taught us to make beer — a craft which I practice to this day. With a focus on environment and botany, I enjoyed a spring break in the Sonoran Desert with Brooks and tended the Farr Hall greenhouse for Wittler my senior year. Heads up — latexproducing plants are sticky. Probably my best memory is my senior project, supported by advisors Wittler and Brooks, in which I tested the efficacy of selenium (stinky element in garlic) to prevent herbivore depredation on farm crops. I chose to grow hydroponic soybeans in the lab’s incubator, with various levels of selenium through the fall semester. It made the entire first floor of Farr Hall smell like an Italian restaurant.

Jim Peksa ’85

greenhouse.

Mark

I was in the greenhouse working on my independent study project in late winter/ early spring — developing procedures to remove lead pellets from Rush Lake sediment ice cores — when the greenhouse imploded. Professor (Robert) Wallace scurried in to find me under the benches, glass everywhere. The look on his face was priceless. Followed by a no-nonsense, “Are you OK?”

Samantha Grant Henriques ’95 Kapaa, Hawaii

Weekend dissections, or counting fruit flies, or waiting for an organic chemistry reaction.

A. Bauer ’69 Pewaukee, Wisconsin

I was a biology major, class of 1985. As such, I spent the bulk of my class time in Farr Hall with great educators like Bill Brooks, Bob Wallace, Skip Wittler and many others.

Ringle, Wisconsin above George “Skip” Wittler, now professor emeritus of biology, in the

right Associate Professor of Physics Christina Othon, left, and Emily Tetzlaff ’20 of Kaukauna, Wisconsin, work in the laser lab in Farr Hall of Science in 2019.

Randal Scroggins ’17 works in the lab in 2017 with Colleen Byron, professor of chemistry and the L. Leone Oyster 1919 Chair in Chemistry.

Besides the 15-minute power naps between classes on the couches in the biology lounge and creating excessively large explosions for Dr. (Earle) Scott’s chemical demonstration textbook in the main lecture hall, my strangest memory involved flies. After returning back from the National Speech Tournament at Arizona State at the end of spring break of my senior year, I was summoned emergently to the biology department on Sunday. Before I left, I was preparing for a study to test Dr. (William S.) Brooks’ and my theory of potential leaf extracts as fly repellents (used in hawk nests), and I had ordered 10,000 fly pupae before I left. Unfortunately, Farr Hall had been kept abnormally hot over break due to a thermometer problem, and all of my pupae had hatched that weekend early due to the excessive heat, and the entire building was now overrun with houseflies. They were everywhere, ceilings were black, they had filled offices, and were covering the windows. It was like something out of a horror movie.

Favorite memories: Biology with Dr. (William S.) Brooks, chemistry with Dr. (Richard) Scamehorn, hanging out with Donald Steward ’78 … Michael Gibbs ’79 San Antonio, Texas

love at first sight My dad and I did a campus visit the summer between my third and fourth year of high school. Farr Hall was only two years old at the time and looked state-of-the-art. It was one of the main reasons I chose Ripon College.

cell biology Sophomore year. Professor Karen Weinke (now Karen Holbrook) taught this fascinating course. She was an amazing lecturer. Incredible professor. She would write an outline of her lecture on the blackboard then lecture the whole hour without notes. I loved the microscopy in the labs for this course.

environmental science was taught by Dr. Bill Brooks. My first realization that we had to take care of the planet. He was an avid ornithologist and I remember his office having lots of stuffed bird specimens.

lab assistant Junior year I was selected as one of four lab assistants in the biology department. Our job was to set up labs for freshman and sophomore beginning biology courses, then attend the labs and help answer questions the students would have. Even though I was only two years older, the freshman students seemed so much younger. Phil McCullough ’69, Sue Garrett Boyd ’69 and Mary Sorenson ’69 were the other lab assistants. The four of us had desks in a small office for lab assistants. We all thought it was so cool to be a lab assistant.

Scott Nyquist ’69 Naples, Florida

I used to be a lab assistant for Dr. (Mark) Kainz’s microbiology class. Once, while making a batch of agar for an upcoming lab, I hadn’t realized that the large flask I was preparing the agar in had a crack across the bottom. I must have briefly picked up the flask of boiling solution and then placed it back on the hot burner. Next thing I knew, the entire glass had shattered, and the solution went flying across the lab bench, the floor and me. Caught me completely off guard, and I looked up in shock to see I was directly in view of Dr. Kainz’s open office, who watched it all happen. Whoops! After graduating from Ripon College, I ended up going to medical school and am now a pediatrician. Safe to say, I have taken many science courses along the way! However, Dr. Kainz’s microbiology course still ranks as my all-time favorite science class.

Alyssa Nycz ’16 Menominee, Michigan

Going to movies in “The Pit” (Bear Auditorium). I was exposed to so many wonderful classics and became a lifelong fan of classic movies as a result.

Kathryn Schultz ’89 Fairfax, Virginia

As a chem-bio major, I spent hundreds of hours in Farr Hall.

Farr Hall under construction

I spent days chasing flies with a shop vac and for the rest of the semester, anytime anyone saw a fly, I was the immediate suspect.

Bradley McDonald ’88 Milbank, South Dakota

The Ripon connection endures through generations

Ripon connections

make the world a smaller place. Mohammad Nafisi ’21 was living in San Francisco, California, doing an internship and finishing his last semester online. He knew no one there, but there were new friends just waiting in the wings.

Bill Neill ’67 and his wife, Judy Wilkinson Neill ’68, who lives in Ripon, had met Nafisi at a local church. When they learned of his California dilemma, Neill appealed to classmate Nancy Wadley Keough ’67 and she “took it from there.”

Keough and her husband, Jim, live about 120 miles south of San Francisco. They made contact, “and a wonderful friendship ensued,” Keough says. “He is an engaging young man, and the three of us, me, my husband and Mohammad, just hit it off.”

“We learned that Mohammad had made LOTS of friends at Ripon. We met frequently with Mohammad and shared many fun lunches and dinners.”

“It was a beautiful feeling to know a Ripon alum in northern California,” Nafisi says. “Nancy was super kind to take me lunches

Nafisi ’21 reuniting with his family in Australia.

Nafisi ’21 at the 2022 Ripon College Commencement.

who have absolutely no connection to Ripon except their long friendship with me and who had never met Mohammad, they also contributed.”

The funds provided for round trip travel to Ripon, new clothes for the ceremony, spending money and money for presents Nafisi wanted to give to three of his professors.

“I was so grateful when I heard that Nancy was taking the initiative to raise money to send me back for the graduation,” Nafisi says. “I was shocked and felt blessed. I was so grateful to see the fundraising effort completed, giving me a chance to visit Ripon again.”

and I hope to pay it forward.”

In August 2022, Nafisi left the United States to join his family in Australia, where they had emigrated from Iran. He had not seen them in more than six years. His new visa was approved, and he returned to the United States in late February.

and dinners.

got

know each other and learned about how Ripon has changed over time. I loved to hear about their travel stories and have a piece of my alma mater in a distant state.”

When she learned that Nafisi would be financially unable to return to Ripon for his Commencement ceremony in May 2022, she made it her mission to get him to Ripon.

“I contacted classmates, other alumni and my Kappa Delta sorority sisters to see if we could put together a sort of small homemade Go Fund Me effort to get him there,” she says. “Suffice it to say it was a resounding success to the point that when I shared it with two of my high school friends

He says the ceremony meant so much to him because a large portion of his time at Ripon was during the pandemic. “While I loved my time and memories, being back at the almost pandemic-free graduation sounded marvelous.

“I kept the fact that I was going back for graduation a secret to most of my friends. It was a delightful experience to see them after a year and sharing memories again. It felt like I got the ending I wanted. Just like a cliché fairytale, the story ends on the best note possible. Seeing that strangers and Ripon alumni funded my travel expenses made me tear up about the community we have at Ripon. Their generosity means the world to me. I love the willingness of everyone to help

Contributing to Nafisi’s support were Nancy Wadley Keough ’67 and Jim Keough of Pebble Beach, California; Bill Neill ’67, retired director of charitable gift planning, and Judy Wilkinson Neill ’68 of Ripon, Wisconsin; Sue Boothroyd Loomer ’67 and Norm Loomer, professor emeritus of mathematics and computer science, of West Bend, Wisconsin; Kathy Santimays Dunn ’67 of Salisbury, North Carolina; Jane Person ’65 of Petaluma, California; and high school friends of Keough’s, Mary Kaye Fisher and Karen Whedon.

JAYE ALDERSON COLLEGE EDITOR

above left Sue Boothroyd Loomer ’67, left, Norm Loomer and Mohammad Nafisi ’21

above right Nafisi ’21 and Nancy Wadley Keough ’67 at a farewell sushi lunch.

“ It was a beautiful feeling to know a Ripon alum in northern California. I was moving to San Francisco for the summer and did not know anyone there.”

MOHAMMAD NAFISI ’21

We

to

Cormac Madigan ’22: Academic All-America

Division III Football Team Member of the Year

Capping his standout final season playing Red Hawks football, Cormac Madigan ’22 of Rosendale, Wisconsin, received one of the most prestigious academic honors in all of college athletics: Academic All-America Division III Football Team Member of the Year by the College Sports Communicators. It recognizes his achievements in both athletics and academics.

The program selects an honorary sports team comprising the most outstanding student-athletes of the season for positions in various sports. Madigan was named a running back as one of only 25 selections from across the country for the Division III first team. Then, out of that select group, he was named Team Member of the Year. He was one of only five team members to achieve a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.

A video interview with Madigan can be viewed on the Academic All-America Team website at ripon.edu/Madigan.

“It’s a great honor that shows just how much the Ripon College community can help individuals excel,” Madigan says. “This honor wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible professors and coaches I was fortunate to learn from and the teammates and peers who have worked with and supported me throughout the years.”

Madigan was the cornerstone of a Ripon program that turned in its best season in more than a decade, posting a 9-1 record and scoring nearly 40 points per game. He became Ripon’s all-time leader in rushing yards with a career total of 4,139 yards on 651 carries. This season, he totaled a league-best 1,491 all-purpose yards and 14 touchdowns in 10 games. He also led the Midwest Conference with 1,150 rushing yards and ranked second with 115.0 rushing yards per game and an average of 6.4 yards per carry.

He finished the regular season as Ripon’s leader in receptions, grabbing 28 catches out of the backfield for another 341 yards and three more scores.

Other honors this season included:

• Midwest Conference Offensive Skill MVP.

• Midwest Conference Elite 20 Award for highest achievement both academically and athletically.

• Player of the Year by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.

• Player of the Year in the Wisconsin Private College Football Awards.

Madigan is a chemistry-biology major and plans to attend medical school. Patrick Willoughby, associate professor of chemistry and Madigan’s faculty research advisor, says, “Cormac is one of the most hard-working and motivated students I have encountered at Ripon College. His accomplishments expand beyond the classroom and athletic field, and he has been an inspiration to us all.

“One of our first conversations was in the Career Center during his first year where

he said he wanted to become a physician. Since then, he has been focused on this career trajectory and has become one of the most accomplished students to graduate from Ripon. What makes Cormac unique from other highcaliber students is his ability to enhance the lives of others during his journey. In the face of navigating the requirements of an aspiring physician, Cormac performed at the highest level while placing the interests of teammates, fellow students, and surrounding community ahead of his own. He achieved a perfect GPA and high MCAT score while working third shift as a medical scribe, researching the use of enzymes for making pharmaceuticals and volunteering to monitor bluebird activity.

“The fact that these accomplishments are mirrored by a similar résumé on the football field makes Cormac uniquely inspiring. On his one day off from preseason football workouts in August 2022, Cormac traveled to Chicago to present at the American Chemical Society National Conference. We left at 6 a.m., returned at midnight, and he was back on the field the following morning.”

Ron Ernst, Ripon’s now-retired head coach and defensive coordinator, adds, “Cormac is the epitome of what it means to be a student-athlete. Along with being such a good student in the classroom, Cormac had the utmost respect from his teammates and the coaching staff.”

He says Madigan displays an “unbelievable” work ethic, mental toughness and a fire and drive to succeed at everything he tackles, both on and off the field. “I would often find him working out on the treadmill in the athletic center, not watching movies or listening to music, but rather studying notes for his next pre-med class,” Ernst says.

Madigan says his final football game as a Redhawk was emotional. “I’ll never forget the bittersweet feeling of beating Lawrence at home this year, winning the first conference championship for the football program in more than 20 years,” he says. “The mix of joy and sorrow that came with knowing this would be my last time running the ball into the end zone at Ingalls Field.

“My experience as a student-athlete will be a great asset in my future medical career. The ability to receive and apply feedback, work with others towards a common goal, and work well under pressure are all crucial skills that I honed during my time at Ripon College as a student-athlete.”

opposite During the final football game of the season, in which Ripon clinched a threeway tie for conference champion, Cormac Madigan ’22 was a standout.

above right Honing his skills for his future career as a physician, Cormac Madigan ’22 works in the chemistry lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry Patrick Willoughby.

left Cormac Madigan ’22 plays as a member of the baseball team in spring 2022.

“ I would often find Cormac working out on the treadmill in the athletic center, not watching movies or listening to music, but rather studying notes for his next pre-med class.”

RON ERNST

retired red hawks head football coach

Fall Season Champions

CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONS

The Ripon College women’s cross country team claimed the Midwest Conference Cross Country Championship for the first time in history. Ripon has had a women’s cross country team since 1987.

FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS

In their final regular-season game, the Red Hawks beat longtime rival Lawrence University 82-0. They ended in a threeway tie for first in the Midwest Conference standings, with Lake Forest College and Monmouth College. Lake Forest won the tie breaker to advance to the Division III playoffs.

Retiring Head Football Coach Ron Ernst, who was named Coach of the Year in the Midwest Conference and the Wisconsin Private College Football Awards, holds the Doehling-Heselton Trophy. The trophy represents the oldest college football rivalry in Wisconsin, between Ripon and Lawrence University, dating back to 1893. The Red Hawks now have won 21 straight games against Lawrence and lead the all-time series, 67-46-7.

Quarterback Jarrett Zibert ’24 of Las Vegas, Nevada, was among seven Ripon players named to the Midwest Conference AllConference First Team. He threw for 1,622 yards and 17 touchdowns and added 376 yards and another five scores on the ground. Zibert was the Red Hawks' secondleading rusher this season.

SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY finished third at the Midwest Conference (MWC) Cross Country Championship in late October. This qualified the Red Hawks to compete in the NCAA North Regional meet where they finished 13th, an increase of eight places from 2021. Sam Forstner ’23 of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, placed 22nd in the regional and was named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association’s North Region Team.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY For the first time in school history, the team claimed the MWC Championship. The team totaled 34 points and placed four student-athletes in the top 10 of the race. They finished 10th at the NCAA North Regional meet. Mikayla Flyte ’23 of Coloma, Wisconsin, received the MWC’s Women’s Cross Country Performer of the Week on back-to-back occasions in late September and led the team at the MWC Cross Country Championship with a second-place finish.

MEN’S SOCCER lost a 2-0 match to Grinnell College in the MWC semifinals, finishing their season with an overall record of 8-8-3. In conference play, the Red Hawks recorded 4 wins, 4 losses and 2 ties, placing them third in the MWC. Abner Contreras ’26 of Round Lake, Illinois, was named a First-Team defender and received Newcomer of the Year honors, while Eli Dietzel ’24 of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and Finley Manning ’26 of St. Johns, Newfoundland, were named Second Team. Head Coach Marco Rhein ’12 was named MWC Coach of the Year. Abner and Dietzel also were selected to the Wisconsin All-State Soccer Team. Kalan Narance ’23 of Waupun, Wisconsin, Jacob Oppeneer ’24 of Hingham, Wisconsin, and Kaleb Schroeader ’24 of Iron Ridge, Wisconsin, were named to the Academic All-District Team.

WOMEN’S SOCCER The team earned the MWC’s Team Sportsmanship Award, the second straight and fourth in the last five seasons for the Red Hawks. The team closed out the 2022 season with an overall record of 4-11-3 and a conference record of 1-6-1. Midfielders Cielo Gutierrez ’26 of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Kaley Kowal ’24 of Carol Stream, Illinois, were voted as Second-Team, All-Conference selections.

VOLLEYBALL went 3-5 in conference with an overall record of 5-21. Named to the 2022 Academic All-District Women’s Volleyball Team were Sophia Brinker ’25 of Wentzville, Missouri, Lydia Ellis ’23 of Dorr, Michigan, Bella Kasuboski ’25 of Racine, Wisconsin, and Arynn Mathieu ’23 of Byron, Illinois. Inesha Wiseman ’23 of Hazel Crest, Illinois, was named Second-Team, AllConference.

FOOTBALL The Red Hawk football team turned in one of its best seasons of head coach Ron Ernst’s impressive career. The team finished 9-1 on the season that saw the Red Hawks average 37 points per game. Ripon began the season with an eight-game win streak and wrapped up the campaign with a perfect 6-0 record at home heading into the playoff tilt. The Red Hawks’ season concluded with a share of the MWC Championship title, the school’s first since 2001.

Fifteen players received All-Conference recognition from the Midwest Conference.

First Team: Running back Cormac Madigan ’22 of Rosendale, Wisconsin, also voted the league’s Offensive Skill MVP; offensive linemen Cameron Bott ’23 of Madison, Wisconsin; wide receiver Kaipo Magsayo ’23 of Chandler, Arizona; quarterback Jarrett Zibert ’24 of Las Vegas, Nevada; defensive line Dylon Ross ’23 of Moline, Illinois; linebacker Damean Netzler ’24 of Redgranite, Wisconsin; and kicker Erik Flores ’24 of Yuma, Arizona.

Second team: Offensive line Keshon Cleveland ’23 of Tolleson, Arizona; wide receiver Parker Campana ’23 of Madison, Wisconsin; defensive line Quincy Di Loreto ’22 of Madison, Wisconsin, and Desmond Murphy ’24 of Bryan, Texas; linebacker Brad Guell ’22 of Tomah, Wisconsin; and defensive back and special teams Zach Bunders ’23 of Wauzeka, Wisconsin, defensive back Fletcher Dallas ’25 of Reedsville, Wisconsin; and defensive back and return specialist Jake Davies ’24 of Ripon, Wisconsin.

Ernst was named the MWC’s Coach of the Year by both the MWC and WFC.

Ripon’s top two finishers were Alison Denamur ’25 of Elcho, Wisconsin, left, the bronze medalist; and Mikayla Flyte ’23 of Coloma, Wisconsin, the silver medalist in the 6k race.

Bob Wood ’09, director of cross country and track and field, smiles as Grace Engebretson ’23 of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, left, Isabelle Willett ’24 of Ripon, Wisconsin, and Natalie Pakosz ’23 of Frankfort, Illinois, celebrate.

Winningest Head Football Coach

Ron Ernst goes out with a

bang

AFTER 32 SEASONS

with the Red Hawks, Head Football Coach and Defensive Coordinator Ron Ernst has officially thrown in the playbook.

In his historic final season, Ernst led the Red Hawks to an overall 9-1 record, which included a share of the school’s first Midwest Conference (MWC) Football Championship since 2001. The season was the team’s best in more than a decade and earned Ernst Coach of the Year honors from both the MWC (his second during his career) and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (his fourth).

“It’s a real honor to be named Coach of the Year for the Midwest Conference and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association,” Ernst notes. “It’s an award that is shared by the coaching staff and all the players.”

Titles like this are nothing new to Ernst who retires as the MWC’s winningest football coach. Ernst led the Red Hawks to 27 winning seasons, producing a win percentage of .629 with a total of 193 wins and 114 losses. This production earned Ernst induction into the Ripon College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009.

Of his many coaching accomplishments, Ernst is most proud of the bonds he has established with his coaching staff and players. “What I will miss most about coaching at Ripon College is the relationship with the players and my fellow coaches,” Ernst said. “I really enjoyed practice and just shooting the breeze with the players in the hallway, on the bus, etc. I had such great young men, so I’m really going to miss the relationships that were built with them.”

2009

inducted into wisconsin football coaches association hall of fame

The feeling is mutual. Former Red Hawks player and Ripon College Athletics Hall of Fame member Bill Schultz ’97 says, “Some will say that Ron’s legacy is defined by his wins and losses. His players will tell you his legacy is defined by the ‘getbetter-every-day’ winning culture, familyfirst mentality and the importance of developing off-the-field relationships along with making a positive contribution to your community.”

During his tenure at Ripon, Ernst also served as assistant athletic director and professor of exercise science.

“Ron has dedicated most of his professional life to Ripon College and the Ripon

27 winning seasons

College football program, and he has left a significant and lasting impact on both our school and our team,” says Ryan Kane, director of athletics. “We wish Ron, his wife, Janet, and his family all the best in a truly well-deserved retirement.”

As Ernst’s lifestyle changes to spending more time traveling and with his grandchildren, his passion for coaching does not change. “In retirement, I plan to stay as busy as I can,” Ernst says. “I’ve got some irons in the fire that I’m exploring, and I’m sure whatever I do coaching will be a part of it.”

SAWYER DAMM RIPON, WISCONSIN

Freesia McKee: Poetry helps us focus and witness

Poetry can touch everyone’s lives, according to Freesia McKee, Wisconsin’s Own Library’s poet-in-residence at Ripon College for the fall semester of 2022-2023.

The poet-in-residence program is sponsored by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Wisconsin. The group’s collection of books by Wisconsin authors, Wisconsin’s Own Library, has been housed at Ripon College since 2007.

“Poetry has a unique ability to tell the truth,” McKee says. “It allows us to slow down and spend time with one thought and one subject, to stop and notice what we can’t usually notice. Also, poetry can help us become good writers in any discipline or job. In annual reports, business proposals, lab reports, there is a lot more creativity in those genres than one might think.”

McKee came to love the written word and the power of communication early. She grew up on the south side of Milwaukee and loved reading and libraries. She first stepped foot on the Ripon College campus as a high school forensics competitor.

“I remember walking up the main lawn long, long ago,” she says. While studying for a bachelor’s degree in gender and women’s studies at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, she took a poetry class. “I felt a depth of focus I hadn’t felt before,” she says. “I was interested in activism and social change. There is a lot of room to talk about social justice topics in poetry. Also, being a poet is a great way to find community. In all of the places I’ve been, there are poets to meet.”

She earned an MFA in poetry from Florida International University, worked in the nonprofit sector in Milwaukee, then began teaching writing in 2017. She has taught at several colleges, in public workshops and online courses.

Her work has been published in numerous venues and received honors such as the 2018 Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry from Cutbank literary journal and the Christopher F. Kelly Award for Poetry from the Academy of American Poets.

At Ripon, she taught the course Eco-Poetry: Artistic and Ecological Connections through the English and environmental studies departments. “Eco-poetry is the intersection between

culture, social justice and environment,” she says. “We’re existing in multiple crises right now — environmental crises, pandemic crises, social justice crises. Eco-poetry is a way to bring light to what’s going on.”

She says her writing focuses on the influence of personal and collective histories on how we experience place and being in community. Her work at Ripon often included daily walks through the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy and being outdoors. “Being in the place shaped our eco-poetry class,” she says.

Now that her semester is complete, she has joined her partner in Illinois, will teach Introduction to Creative Writing and Fiction at Western Illinois University during the spring semester, and continue writing.

“As a poet, I’m inspired by points of tension, questions that cannot be answered, and the dynamics of apathy and disconnection,” she says. “As a teacher, I’m inspired by several of my own former teachers who weren’t afraid of pedagogical experimentation and naming social justice issues in the classroom. As a human, I’m inspired by artists, activists, birds, seeds and trees.

“Poetry helps us cope, witness and survive. It’s art. It’s necessary.”

JAYE ALDERSON COLLEGE EDITOR

AROUND THE CLOCKTOWER

1. Ripon achieves record-breaking year

Following the most successful fundraising year in Ripon College’s history in FY’21, loyal supporters from around the world came through once again with a second record-breaking year in FY’22. More than $26 million was committed in FY’22, half of which was designated to the new science center and stadium projects.

The total from the fifth annual #OneDayRally giving day, held April 27, 2022, was $1,414,881, raised from a record total of 2,217 donors. The online campaign garnered a spirited show of support to sustain the Ripon Fund, Red Hawks Club in athletics and Friends of the Arts; and ultimately to support current and future Ripon College students.

photo: Ben Chambers ’23, left, and Bryson Patterson ’23 write thank-you notes to donors during #OneDayRally.

2.

Ripon places well in national rankings

Ripon College again has been placed on national rankings for undergraduate education.

• Ripon is ranked the top school in Wisconsin for promoting social mobility by U.S. News & World Report

• Ripon is included in The Princeton Review’s 2023 edition of The Best 388 Colleges. Ripon also was named to its Best Regional Colleges list for the Midwest.

• Ripon was named to Money Magazine’s 2022 Best Colleges in America and Best Liberal Arts Colleges lists. The list ranks schools that successfully combine quality and affordability.

3. $150,000 humanities grant to promote regional network

A project to strengthen the humanities at Ripon College through regional collaboration has received a $150,000 Humanities Initiatives for Colleges and Universities grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant will fund a three-year effort to reimagine humanistic study for the 21st century and support a plan to bolster humanities education by connecting faculty and students with cultural institutions across the southern Fox Valley region.

“Developing a Diverse and Sustainable PlaceBased Humanities Education through Regional Partnerships,” led by Ripon College Professor of History Brian Bockelman, is included in the NEH’s first round of funding for the year and is one of only two Humanities Initiatives grants awarded to Wisconsin colleges and universities in this cycle. The focus will be on humanities education and establishing a regional network of collaborations among local places, people and organizations. The project is aimed to improve the quality and content of humanities classes, grow humanities enrollments and develop a model for revitalizing the humanities at liberal arts colleges in predominantly rural environments.

4. Lillian

Brown earns fellowship, presents solo play performance

Assistant Professor of Theatre Lillian Brown has received a Mellon Faculty Fellowship from Associated Colleges of the Midwest. At the post-graduate level,

Mellon Faculty Fellowships offer tenure-track appointments at an ACM college to new Ph.D. or terminal master’s degree graduates whose backgrounds and life experiences will enhance diversity on the ACM campuses.

She also presented a solo performance of her original play “The OREO Complex,” in July in Ripon, then in festival performances in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, Missouri.

5. It’s a small world for Ripon College alumni

Jon Muraskas ’78 of Palos Park, Illinois, and Bob Wagner ’78 of Burr Ridge, Illinois, see each other nearly weekly. They have worked in the same building, just five floors apart, since 1987 for the Loyola university health System. Muraskas is a neonatologist, has cared for more than 25,000 sick newborns and is in the Guinness Book of World Records three times for caring for the two smallest newborns in the world (8.5 and 9.5 ounces) and the smallest twins in the world. Wagner is a recognized expert in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine.

Combined, they have published more than 350 scientific abstracts and peer review manuscripts, given more than 300 invited presentations nationally and internationally, received 15 grants, served on more than 30 medical school/ university committees, received more than 70 teaching awards and other recognitions, and have mentored thousands of high school, undergraduate, medical students and physicians.

“Jon has been a friend, Ripon College roommate all four years, and professional colleague now for over 50 years,” Wagner says.

Payton Rahn ’22 of Omro, Wisconsin, received a $10,000 scholarship from the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee. The scholarship is a significant honor to both its recipients and their institutions.

“The NCAA awards 21 scholarships to both men and women (42 total) each season (fall/winter/ spring) across all NCAA divisions, so it’s a pretty big accomplishment given it’s across all divisions,” says Ripon College track coach Bob Wood.

Rahn is using her scholarship toward tuition at Marquette University Law School. At Ripon, she studied politics and government and English.

The 2022 session of Summer Opportunities for Advanced Research (SOAR) had 22 students and 13 faculty members participating across nine disciplines. While summer research projects in the past focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines, SOAR offers collaborative research and creative activity with faculty in all disciplines. Weekly meetings for all students include professional development workshops, social events and community service.

“It was a brilliant summer,” says John Sisko, vice president and dean of faculty. “The college continues to grow and flex its muscles as a research entity — with a special focus on faculty-student collaboration.”

He says the summer research experience allows students to envision themselves as bona fide researchers and to consider graduate school after Ripon. He says that research experience is becoming an important factor in graduate schools admissions. Further, Sisko says, “summer research gives our students a leg up on the competition when it comes to national scholarships and fellowships.”

Associate Professor of Physics Christina Othon and Associate Professor of Chemistry Patrick Willoughby were program co-coordinators for SOAR 2022.

Strazzante

photo : SOAR students present results of their summer research during poster presentations.

Announced for 2023

Alumni award recipients for 2023 have been announced by the Alumni Association Board of Directors.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI CITATION

• Nancy Wadley Keough ’67 of Pebble Beach, California, Career Achievements, Service to Community

• Justin W. Niebank ’78 of Franklin, Tennessee, Career Achievements

• Jerry L. Waukau ’78 of Keshena, Wisconsin, Service to Community

OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD

• James-Mark Ooko-Ombaka ’16 of Nairobi, Kenya, Service to Community

ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

• Jacob L. Gahart ’13 of Tucson, Arizona, football

• Taylor T. Koth ’13 of Jackson, Wisconsin, basketball, baseball

• Michelle M. Matter ’13 of Fort Collins, Colorado, cross country, track and field

• Adam D. Sellner ’13 of Irmo, South Carolina, track and field

• Kirk P. Wilderspin ’99 of Batavia, Illinois, football

• Stephanie Rieuwpassa Willms ’13 of Union Grove, Wisconsin, softball

These awards will be presented during Alumni Weekend at the 1851 Awards Dinner on Friday, June 23. The full schedule and registration details for Alumni Weekend will be shared in the spring.

6. Chemistry-biology majors present at national meeting

Cormac Madigan ’22 of Rosendale, Wisconsin, and Milo Mathews ’22 of Ripon, Wisconsin, presented a poster at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society Both are chemistry-biology majors.

7. Payton Rahn ’22 receives $10,000 NCAA scholarship

8. Scott Strazzante exhibits His photos of Whitney Houton

Photographs of Whitney Houston taken by Scott Strazzante ’86 of Mill Valley, California, were featured in a show and sale as part of the OnChain Media+Entertainment “Women of Authenticity” series.

is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for the San Francisco Chronicle and an author. The photos were taken at a concert in Illinois in 1991.

9. Second year of SOAR continues research opportunities

10. Alumni award recipients

KEITH F. WEILAND of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Sandy Springs, Georgia, who attended Ripon in the 1940s, died Oct. 14, 2022. When he was 18, he was drafted into World War II and served in the Army Signal Corps. His job was maintaining telephone systems between Germany and France. He attended the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design, then had a career working for various architectural firms in Michigan, including his own firm started with partners and as a principal in the firm Lane, Riebe, Weiland Architects. His work included fire stations, schools, commercial and office buildings and homes. He also was active in the community. After moving to Georgia, he remained active in architecture work well into his 90s. He enjoyed traveling around the world. Survivors include four children.

JOHN N. “JACK” ZNEIMER ’48 of Sarasota, Florida, died June 28, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in English and participated in Phi Kappa Pi (Merriman). He earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and was a veteran of World War II. Survivors include two sons and one daughter. His wife, EILEEN HESS ZNEIMER ’49 , died in 2020. A daughter, CARY ZNEIMER FAIRCHILD ’72 , died in 2014.

ALLEN K. HALL ’49 of Longmont, Colorado, died Dec. 24, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in mathematics and physics, participated in Sigma Chi/Omega Sigma Chi and was commissioned through ROTC. He received a Master of Arts from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master of Divinity from Nashotah House, an Episcopal seminary, in 1985. He served in the Army during World War II, then in the regular Army in Germany, Korea and the Panama Canal Zone, retiring as a major in 1967. He was a software engineer with IBM before being ordained. He served several churches in Colorado and for a year in New Zealand, and served as needed after retiring. Survivors include his wife, MARY LOU BECKER HALL ’49; two daughters, including SUSAN HALL BEAMON ’71 ; and a grandson, KONNER FELDHUS ’17

EILEEN HESS ZNEIMER ’49 of Portland, Oregon, died Oct. 3, 2020. At Ripon, she majored in English and participated in Ver Adest, theatre and Alpha Phi/ Kappa Sigma Chi (Duffie NGirls). She also wrote for the literary magazine. She completed a teaching certificate in English from Indiana University and later taught. She earned a master’s degree in English from Purdue University. She and her husband lived in New York City, Iowa, Madison, Wisconsin, and Hessville, Indiana. She was active in the community and enjoyed books and road trips around the United States and Europe. Survivors include two sons and one daughter. Her husband, JOHN N. “JACK” ZNEIMER ’48, died June 28, 2022. A daughter, CARY ZNEIMER FAIRCHILD ’72 , died in 2014.

NANCY THULIN KANDUTSCH ’50 of Surry, Maine, died Aug. 29, 2022. At Ripon, she majored in biology

and participated in Ver Adest and Alpha Xi Delta/ Kappa Theta. She especially enjoyed sailing and was a gourmet cook. She also was an artist and for many years led the Blue Hill Drawing Group. She also supported oppressed peoples’ struggles from Cuba to Palestine, and of the antiwar and civil rights causes domestically. Survivors include her husband, ANDREW KANDUTSCH ’50 ; and two sons.

PETER J. POWELL ’50 of Chicago, Illinois, died Dec. 15, 2022. At Ripon, he studied philosophy and participated in Ver Adest, music, student government and Sigma Chi/Omega Sigma Chi. He also was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received an honorary degree and Distinguished Alumni Citation from Ripon. He was ordained to the priesthood at Nashotah House Seminary in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. His career was devoted to serving the Native American community. In 1961, he founded St. Augustine’s Center. He was a scholar of the Plains Indian and wrote several major works including People of the Sacred Mountain, which won both the 1982 National Book Award in History and the Anisfield-Wolf Award in Race Relations. Survivors include four children.

MARY JANE WERNER ROBERTS ’50 of Oceanside, California, died April 7, 2022. At Ripon, she studied English and participated in College Days and Alpha Chi Omega/Alpha Gamma Theta. She enjoyed birding and had been a member of the Audubon Society since 1972. Survivors include her children.

RICHARD R. MARQUARDT ’51 of Bloomer, Wisconsin, died Sept. 17, 2022. He attended one year at Ripon. He worked on the family farm and he and his wife hosted four FFA Farm Exchange individuals from New Zealand, England, Australia and Germany. He was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, serving as past Church Council president, Sunday school teacher and choir member, and was instrumental in the establishment of St. Paul Lutheran School. He was also active on multiple boards throughout the area, including 17 years on the Bloomer School Board. He enjoyed leading 4-H, playing softball, traveling to Australia and New Zealand, fishing, woodworking, and cutting and polishing rocks. Survivors include his wife, Emogene; one son and three daughters.

CHARLOTTE STIBBE OLSEN ’51 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, died April 9, 2022. At Ripon, she majored in biology and participated in Ver Adest and Alpha Delta Pi/Pi Tau Pi. She was a teacher and spent the last 27 years of her career at the prestigious University School of Milwaukee high school. Nick-named “Aunt Char,” she taught biology flavored with a heavy dose of wisdom about life skills. She enjoyed traveling. Survivors include a sister, JUDITH STIBBE DE LEEUW ’60

LOIS HOEFT PERRINE ’51 of Normal, Illinois, died Aug. 17, 2021. At Ripon, she studied English, psychology and Spanish. She participated in Ver Adest, drama, music and Alpha Xi Delta/Kappa Theta. Her

first husband, NORMAN E. LADD ’51 , died in 1988.

DORMAN C. “D.C.” “ANDY” ANDERSON ’52 of Tulsa, Oklahoma, died Jan. 1, 2023. At Ripon, he majored in economics and participated in Ver Adest, golf, Theta Chi/Alpha Omega Alpha and Partners in the Legacy. He received a degree in geological engineering from Oklahoma State University. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict. He worked for Tenneco Oil Co. and then for 25 years with Transok Pipeline in Tulsa. He enjoyed traveling and volunteering in the Broken Arrow community. He served on various local boards and committees, including 17 years as a member of the Broken Arrow School Board. Survivors include his wife, Janice; two daughters; and a brother, M.R. ANDERSON ’54

ROBERT D. HOVEY ’52 of Mission Hills, Kansas, died Dec. 11, 2022. At Ripon, he participated in ROTC, Sigma Chi/Omega Sigma Chi and Partners in the Legacy. He attended law school at the University of Kansas. He joined his father’s law firm in 1954 and worked there 50 years to the day. He was member and president of Phi Kappa Pi/Merriman Fraternity, The American Royal, The Saddle and Sirloin Club, Vanguard Club and The Kansas City Club. He enjoyed spending weekends at Yellowbarn Farm and outdoor activities, watching university basketball and summer trips to Colorado. Survivors include his wife, Eugenia; and four daughters.

MARJORIE MILLER SWARTZ ’52 of Modesto, California, died Oct. 23, 2022. At Ripon, she studied biology and psychology. She lived in California, Texas, New Mexico and Mississippi, settling in Modesto in 1985. She worked for the Modesto Credit Union for 17 years until her retirement. She loved animals and enjoyed cooking, especially desserts. She was Lutheran by faith. Survivors include one son and two daughters. Her husband, DONALD L. SWARTZ ’52 , died in 1997.

RICHARD L. EDWARDS ’53 of West Bend, Wisconsin, died Feb. 16, 2022. At Ripon, he participated in athletics and ROTC. He was a longtime resident of Kewaskum, where he participated on city baseball, basketball and golf teams. He helped develop the Wigwam Restaurant, was a member of Kewaskum Kiwanis from 1958-1998 and the Kewaskum School Board for 10 years. When he moved to Long Lake in 1978, he served as Osceola town clerk and organized and developed the Long Lake Fishing Club, an environmental, educational and philanthropic organization. He was a loyal Packers and Brewers fan and loved to fish and golf. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn; two daughters, including ANNE EDWARDS HASKIN ’74 ; and a son-in-law, BRUCE G. HASKIN ’73

ANNE BARBER HALLOCK ’53 of Longmont, Colorado, died Sept. 30, 2022. At Ripon, she studied biology and participated in Ver Adest and Alpha Phi/ Kappa Sigma Chi. Her father was WILLIAM HARLEY

BARBER , a longtime professor of physics at Ripon. Anne was an Army wife for 30 years, moving 50 times and hosting countless diplomatic and professional engagements. She also worked in an academic lab, an art gallery and a school for deaf children. She lived in Pueblo West, Colorado, for 45 years while her husband was a professor at the University of Southern Colorado. She was a founding member and elder in Pueblo West Ecumenical Church. Survivors include her husband, RICHARD G. HALLOCK ’53; one son and one daughter; and a sister, JANE BARBER

EMERSON ’46

PATRICIA COZART KOSSORIS ’53 of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, died May 29, 2022. At Ripon, she majored in biology and participated in Ver Adest and Alpha Phi/Kappa Sigma Chi. She was a lab technician and a secretary for her husband’s business until her retirement. She was an excellent bridge player and loved to ski, play tennis and travel. Survivors include her husband, GERALD “JERRY” KOSSORIS ’53 ; and three sons.

PAUL W. PRETZEL ’53 of Pasadena, California, died Sept. 18, 2022. At Ripon, he studied economics, philosophy and political science and participated in Ver Adest, debate, ROTC and Phi Kappa Pi/Merriman. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps; was ordained a Methodist minister from Garrett Theological Seminary, serving in Wisconsin and Chicago; and earned his doctor of theology from the School of Theology in Claremont, California. He ran a private practice as a clinical psychologist for 50 years. He also had staff positions with Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center and Hospice of Pasadena, consulted for numerous organizations, was an assistant professor at California State University, Los Angeles, founded Valley West Counselling Service and wrote the books Understanding and Counselling the Suicidal Person and many professional articles. He was devoted to his pets and animal welfare. Survivors include three daughters and a stepdaughter.

RONALD M. STERR ’53 of Tomahawk, Wisconsin, died Nov. 21, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in history and physical education, participated in Ver Adest and Phi Delta Theta/Alpha Phi Omega, and was commissioned through ROTC. He lettered in football, basketball and track. He served in the U.S. Army as a company commander at Fort Gordon, Georgia, then served in the Reserve Corps. He retired from the military in 1981 as a lieutenant colonel. He spent years at Merrill Senior High School as a history teacher, assistant football coach, head baseball coach and chairman of the social studies department. In 2010, he was inducted into the Merrill Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a member of Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church and a lifelong sports enthusiast. Survivors include one son and one daughter.

BARBARA BUCKLEY WINKLER ’53 of Stephenson, Michigan, who attended Ripon in 1949-1950, died Dec. 20, 2022. She also attended Mount Mary College in Milwaukee and met her husband, ROBERT D. WINKLER , at Ripon. She was a longtime resident of Mukwonago where she and her family farmed. The family also lived in several Wisconsin locations,

Colorado and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She enjoyed writing, painting, card games and sports. Survivors include four sons and two daughters.

DAVID G. COCHRANE ’54 of Wild Rose, Wisconsin, died Aug. 25, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in economics, participated in Ver Adest and Sigma Nu/Theta Sigma Tau, and was commissioned through ROTC. He received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Marquette Dental School. He served as a 1st lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Division in Germany, then practiced dentistry in Sun Prairie for 27 years, in Wild Rose and then for 19 years at Dental Associates in Appleton. He helped initiate a program to establish dental care for migrant children in the Wild Rose area, the impetus for La Clinica Dental Clinic in Wautoma, and did volunteer dentistry in Native American reservations. He enjoyed music, hunting, fishing, traveling, hiking, biking, downhill skiing and sports. Survivors include his wife, Carole; and six children.

JANE ANN FURZLAND STELTER ’54 of Evans, Georgia, died Oct. 30, 2022. At Ripon, she majored in English and participated in Ver Adest and Alpha Chi Omega/Alpha Gamma Theta. She taught high school English and Spanish in Madison, Wisconsin, while her husband finished medical school. After her husband’s enlistment in the U.S. Army, she traveled the world as a military wife. At all of their locations, she volunteered for a variety of organizations. Her interests included music, quilting and art. Survivors include one son and two daughters. Her husband, GERALD P. STELTER ’54 , died in 2014.

DORIEN SCHMIDT HAMMANN ’55 of Plymouth, Wisconsin, died Oct. 13, 2022. She retired as a health unit clerk with Sheboygan Memorial Hospital. She volunteered with various organizations including Cub/ Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, PTA, F.I.S.H., her church, bowling league and Meals on Wheels. She was a member of Crystal Lake Golf League and enjoyed traveling by RV and bicycle, sporting events, children’s activities and live theatre. Survivors include two sons and one daughter.

FRANCES JOANNES WINANS ’55 of Delray Beach, Florida, died Jan. 1, 2023. At Ripon, she majored in English and history and participated in Ver Adest, music, College Days, athletics and Alpha Chi Omega/ Alpha Gamma Theta. She studied education at National Louis University. She had lived in Florida and New Jersey. She was a featured soprano and toured for two years with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. In New Jersey, she performed at the community theater and acted in national television commercials. She was a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan and enjoyed bridge, travel, entertaining and singing. She also enjoyed golf and accomplished the rare feat of making six holes-in-one during her lifetime. Survivors include two daughters.

JOHN T. “JACK” FEHLANDT ’57 of Sun City, Arizona, died Oct. 23, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in economics and participated in student theatre and Phi Kappa Pi/Merriman. He served in the U.S. Army for a number of years and spent time in Japan. In Illinois, he was involved in local politics in Villa

Park and then in the Village of Streamwood where he volunteered on the plan commission, zoning board and Veterans Memorial commission. He was elected to the Board of Trustees and as village president for four years while working full time in the banking industry in Chicago. He started his own home inspection business in 1992. He moved to Arizona in 2016. He enjoyed traveling and hot air ballooning.

RICHARD L. ROEMING ’57 of Brandon, Wisconsin, died Nov. 14, 2022. He attended Ripon College for one year. He worked in a variety of jobs, ultimately retiring from J.J. Keller in Appleton in 1997. He was a devoted Christian and held leadership roles at Bethel Reformed Church. He also served on a number of community boards and was a long-time hospice volunteer with Agnesian Health Care. Survivors include one son and one daughter.

ROBERT P. “BUZZ” HUMKE ’58 of Middleton, Wisconsin, died Jan. 11, 2023. At Ripon, he participated in Phi Kappa Pi (Merriman). After serving in the U.S. Navy, he received degrees from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Indiana University Bloomington, both in park and recreation administration. He worked in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Peoria, Illinois, parks departments and for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, ending his career as director of Madison School and Community Recreation. He was active in his church choir, Madison Urban Ministries, disaster relief work projects and Habitat for Humanity; and was a lifelong athlete in softball and numerous outdoor activities. He enjoyed camping, traveling and writing songs, and he was the author of two books. Survivors include his wife, ELLEN LUEBKE HUMKE ’59 ; two sons and one daughter.

THOMAS F. “TOMMY” LANGE ’58 of Whitewater, Wisconsin, died July 16, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in history and was a member of ROTC and Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He served in the U.S. Army from 1959-1970, was stationed in Korea for more than a year and achieved the rank of captain. He also served in the National Guard. He then had a 30-year career with the United States Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service as a tax auditor. He also devoted 45 years of service to UW-Whitewater Warhawk athletics as a volunteer, supporter, contributor and fan. He was inducted into the Warhawk Athletics Hall of Fame and received the Distinguished Service Award.

PETER J. MORTENSON ’58 of Madison, Wisconsin, died Sept. 30, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in economics and participated in WRPN, student theatre and Sigma Nu/Theta Sigma Tau. His professional positions included operations manager at WKOWTV; program service director at D’Arcy Advertising Co., Chicago; vice president of Stoffels/Mortenson, Madison, Wisconsin; marketing services manager at Wick Building Systems, Mazomanie, Wisconsin; and vice president-account supervisor at Lindsay, Stone, & Briggs. He retired in 2001. He was a member of Gov. Lucey’s Blue Ribbon Commission to study the implications of cable TV, and the Madison Advertising

Federation, from which he received the Silver Medal Award in 2006. He was a long-time member of the First United Methodist Church. He enjoyed reading, music and the outdoors. Survivors include his wife, Jean; one son and one daughter.

ARNOLD WESTCOTT “WES” LELINE JR. ’59 of Fernandina Beach, Florida, died July 12, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in speech communication and participated in Sigma Chi/Omega Sigma Chi. He began his real estate finance career with Northwestern Mutual Life, where he rose to the position of regional manager. After a number of years with First Fidelity Companies, he became executive vice president of NCNB Mortgage, a subsidiary of one of the predecessors to Bank of America. He rejoined First Fidelity as a director and was involved with the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and various peer groups. Survivors include his wife, Bonnie; and one daughter.

DIANE ROCHELLE UHL ’59 of Tucson, Arizona, died April 6, 2022. At Ripon, she majored in speech communication and participated in Alpha Delta Pi/ Pi Tau Pi. She received her master’s degree in speech correction/special education from Northwestern University. She taught in public schools for 33 years. After retiring in 1993, she and her husband traveled full time in an RV to all the continental states. She was a longtime member and benefactor of the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

RAYMOND A. VANDE MOORE ’59 of Naples, Florida, died Nov. 17, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in economics, played varsity tennis for three years, was a member of Sigma Chi/ Omega Sigma Chi and was commissioned through ROTC. He served as a captain in the Army and then became self-employed, working as a manufacturers’ sales representative until retiring at 67. He lived half the year in Florida and half in Wisconsin. He enjoyed playing tennis, golf and bocce ball. He also was an avid Green Bay Packers fan. Survivors include two sons.

VERNE CLARK LEWELLEN JR. ’60 of Harrisonburg, Virginia, died Nov. 5, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in history and participated in athletics. He worked in sales for the majority of his career in Montgomery County, Maryland, and moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in retirement. He was a member of Muhlenberg Lutheran Church in Harrisonburg. He was an avid Green Bay Packers fan and participated in many sports as an athlete, coach and spectator. He enjoyed vacationing in Chincoteague, Ocean City and Wisconsin, and on fishing trips to Canada. Survivors include one son; and a great-niece, JENNIFER DONOHUE ’12

DAVID H. REDEMANN SR. ’60 of Lakewood, Washington, died Sept. 14, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in physical education, participated in Phi Delta Theta/Alpha Phi Omega and was commissioned through ROTC. He received a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in several parts of the world, his favorite being Kailua, Hawaii. After two tours in Vietnam and 30 years of

military service, he retired as a lieutenant colonel. He enjoyed camping, traveling, grandchildren’s sporting events and activities, and holiday dinners. Survivors include his wife, Donna; one son and three daughters; and grandchildren, including DAVID H. REDEMANN III ’14

JAMES E. GUETHS ’61 of Shawano, Wisconsin, died Dec. 21, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in physics and mathematics and participated in drama, musicals, athletics and Lambda Delta Alpha/Delta Upsilon. He received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Connecticut. He was a professor of physics and later the assistant vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, helping to create the Koehn Institute and formed an academic advisory committee. He then became vice president of Wisconsin National Life Insurance Co. in Oshkosh. He was a co-author of the book “The Academic Intrapreneur.” He retired to Shawano, where he was a member of Peace United Church of Christ and enjoyed reading, playing cards, gardening and hunting. Survivors include one son; two daughters; and stepchildren.

AKIRA “AKI” TOMITA ’61 of Kawasaki Shi city, Japan, died Oct. 22, 2022. He received a degree in business administration from Greenville College. He worked for 10 years in the Tokyo office of Chemical Construction Corp, New York, as the general office manager. He then returned to his hometown near Kanazawa Shi city. He worked for one of the major local home builders until his retirement. He then worked part time building a resort facility on Guam, U.S.A. Survivors include his wife, Tomoko Tanaka Tomita; and two children.

LINDA FOSTER ADAMS ’62 of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died Sept. 9, 2022. At Ripon, she studied history and drama and participated in music, theatre and Alpha Phi/Kappa Sigma Chi. She was a member of the Ninety-Nines, the International Organization of Women Pilots. She participated in many local telethons and political events by flying VIPs in from Des Moines in her own Cessna 172 (N3807L). Her greatest joy was singing and playing guitar or piano. She also was a writer and wrote “Luke Letters,” a subscription series for children, which was inspired by her own favorite dog. Survivors include one son and two daughters.

PETER E. BERGLUND ’63 of Albert Lea, Minnesota, died Jan. 24, 2023. He attended Ripon before joining the Army National Guard. He ran multiple businesses over the years, including a sporting goods store, car dealership and medical supply company. He enjoyed spending time at his cabin in Isabella, Minnesota, during the fall and summer months, where fishing and hunting grouse were among some of his favorite outdoor activities. He also was an avid reader and enjoyed cooking. Survivors include two sons.

CHARLES C. “CHOOKIE” KILANDER III ’63 of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, died Jan. 15, 2023. He also attended the University of Wisconsin. He owned and ran a food brokerage business with his

father and later was an investment broker with AG Edwards. He was a member of the Lake Area Club and snowmobile clubs. His passion was sailboat racing on Lac LaBelle from the 1950s-1980s. He transitioned to race management, serving on race committees for the Lac LaBelle Yacht Club, Inland Lakes Yachting Association throughout the Midwest, and international regattas in Key West, Florida, and the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Savannah, Georgia. He enjoyed traveling and cruising the Caribbean. Survivors include his wife, Ann; three sons and one daughter.

ARTHUR L. SCHARFF ’63 of St. Louis, Missouri, died July 26, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in history. He ran Smith Scharff Paper Co., a wholesale distribution business that his father had started in the 1930s. He then founded Presidents Council, which enriches executives’ leadership skills and wisdom in monthly peer discussions. He was an active volunteer, including as an adviser of his temple youth group, a foster parent, advocate for the Forest Park playground, and executive board member for Logos School. He helped raise millions of dollars for these and other nonprofits. Survivors include his wife, Susie; one son and one daughter.

JANICE NELSON GEIBEL ’64 of Lockport, Illinois, died March 31, 2020. At Ripon, she majored in history and participated in Alpha Delta Pi/Pi Tau Pi. She retired after 36 years of teaching, 35 of which were at Taft Grade School in Lockport. After her retirement, she served for eight years on the Taft School Board. She enjoyed shopping, traveling with her husband and spending time with her grandchildren. She was a lifelong Lockport High School basketball fan and attended many games with her friends. Survivors include her husband, Henry; and one son.

KENNETH L. GLINSKI ’64 of Sellersburg, Indiana, died Jan. 10, 2023. At Ripon, he played football for two years before joining the military and serving in the U.S. Army for four years. He was the first in his family to earn a college degree, graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay while working full time and raising a family. He became a human resources executive in the paper industry. He enjoyed polka dancing, playing the accordion, sailing, cards and pool. Survivors include one son and two daughters.

FREDERICK R. ROGUSKE ’64 of New London, Minnesota, died Nov. 26, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in mathematics and economics and participated in athletics and Phi Delta Theta/Alpha Phi Omega .He received a master’s degree in business administration from Emory University. In the early part of his career, he worked for several companies including Green Giant, American Continental (golf carts) and PALS. He then founded his own Tree N Turf Services business in 1976 and founded or acquired multiple other businesses in Kandiyohi County. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and serving international missions throughout the world. He visited more than 80 countries, 70 of them with his wife. Survivors include one son and one daughter; and a sister, CAROLYN ‘SAM’ ROGUSSKE MACKLEM ’71 . His wife, BARBARA

HODSDON ROGUSKE ’65 , died in 2022.

BRIAN L. PATTERSON ’65 of Santa Cruz, New Mexico, died Nov. 14, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in biology and participated in Theta Chi/Alpha Omega Alpha. He earned a master of business administration from Northwestern University. He served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, worked in the financial industry in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and in computer programming for Analysts International and Medtronic. He found great joy in the outdoors, including watersports, camping, hiking, fishing, skiing and biking. He enjoyed traveling to participate in birding. He was a devoted woodworker and enjoyed building and fixing things. He volunteered with the Rio Arriba Adult Literacy Program, Española Community Market and Camino de Paz School and Farm. Survivors include his wife, Denise Wilder; and three sons.

SCOTT C. MATHOT ’68 of Loudon, Tennessee, died Sept. 9, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in mathematics and physics and participated in athletics and Phi Delta Theta/Alpha Phi Omega. He completed his MBA in 1970 from Indiana University and completed Harvard University’s Advanced Management Program in 1988. He worked in various management roles for Timken Co. until his retirement in 2000, including locations in Colmar, France, Columbus and Canton, Ohio and Keene, New Hampshire.HampsAfter his retirement, he was an active leader in the Tellico Village community. He also served with the Kiwanis Club. He enjoyed volunteering, boating, watching the Green Bay Packers, traveling the world and golfing. Survivors include his wife, Karen; and three sons.

DANIEL J. DYKSTRA ’69 of El Macero, California, died Jan. 4, 2023. At Ripon, he majored in history and participated in music, student government and Lambda Delta Alpha/Delta Upsilon, and he was commissioned through ROTC. He studied law at the University of Arizona and labor law at George Washington University. He was an attorney, including work at the Corps of Engineers.

GARY E. SCHEUERMANN ’69 of Noblesville, Indiana, died Aug. 20, 2021. At Ripon, he majored in history and participated in football and Phi Delta Theta/Alpha Phi Omega. He served in the U.S. Navy. He enjoyed Packers football, tennis and tinkering on any project. He also enjoyed watching his grandchildren play sports and traveling with his wife. Survivors include two sons. His wife, NANCY QUICK SCHEUERMANN ’69 , died Aug. 10, 2022.

NANCY QUICK SCHEUERMANN ’69 of Noblesville, Indiana, died Aug. 10, 2022. At Ripon, she majored in philosophy and participated in student government and Alpha Phi/Kappa Sigma Chi. She was deeply committed to her faith and enjoyed volunteering, traveling, having lunch and playing cards with her friends. She also enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, watching them play sports or showcasing their musical talents. Survivors include two sons. Her husband, GARY SCHEUERMANN ’69 , died in 2021.

JEREL G. REYNOLDS ’72 died Dec. 23, 2019. At

Ripon, he majored in history. He was a co-owner of Britches Excavating. Survivors include a sister, LORI REYNOLDS ’83

WILLIAM “MICKEY” MC NEILL ’73 of Carbondale, Illinois, died June 15, 2022. At Ripon, he studied political science and French. At Ripon, he and RON COOPER ’72 formed a singing group, The Soulsations, which won honors at Ripon’s Winterfest for three years. He received two master’s degrees from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and he was a dedicated social worker for the Department of Social Services for the State of Illinois for more than 30 years. Survivors include one daughter.

LINDA LANDIN KAROW ’74 of Silver Spring, Maryland, died Dec. 1, 2022. At Ripon, she majored in psychology and participated in Alpha Delta Pi/Pi Tau Pi. Survivors include her husband, Jay Karow; one son and one daughter.

GEORGE H. “CHIP” SENTENEY ’74 of Madison, Wisconsin, died Dec. 28, 2022. He graduated from Ripon and received a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked for many years as a trial attorney in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and was a member of the Wisconsin Trial Attorneys Association. He was an avid Wisconsin sports fan and enjoyed traveling, visiting every state, Europe and Thailand. He enjoyed fishing, history, the ocean, the outdoors and visiting the arboretum to look at wildlife. Survivors include his wife, Sukanya; and one daughter.

DONALD MORRIS HIGBIE JR. ’77 of Basalt, Colorado, died April 27, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in biology. He then held a summer internship at Harvard Medical. His love for diving took him to Maui, Hawaii, then work as a divemaster in Cayos Cochinos, an island in Honduras, and Maya Ha, a resort in Mexico. He and his wife survived two small plane crashes into the ocean and, with their daughter, Hurricane Mitch while living in the Caribbean. After returning to Colorado, he volunteered with the Independence Pass Foundation bike race, was involved in local environmental conservation, and, with his daughter, located Boreal toads, thought to be extinct in the area, and guided Colorado Parks and Wildlife to their habitat. Survivors include his wife, Dana; and one daughter.

HENRY CLAY POTTER ’80 of Highlands, New Jersey, died July 27, 2022. He worked at the Chicago exchanges but soon focused his professional pursuits on financial investing. He was an avid sailor from an early age and enjoyed sailing and racing small boats on the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers and sailing a sloop in and around Raritan Bay.

REDOUAN EL YOUNSI ’90 of Tetouan, Morocco, died Oct. 8, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in French, computer science and a self-designed major in international commerce and management. He also participated in athletics. In Morocco, he worked for his family’s business, Haddou El Younsi and Fils, which produces and exports natural essential oils and spices. He also was elected secretary general for the Tetouan Chamber of Commerce and a member of the industrial branch and president of the electoral body commission. His

duties included meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Morocco and visiting Washington, D.C., as a part of a delegation of the Association of the Mediterranean Chamber of Commerce. Survivors include his wife Awatef Tbatou; two sons, including MEHDI EL YOUNSI ’20 ; and a niece, DINA EL YOUNSI ’96

COREY J. WILCOX ’99 of Richfield, Wisconsin, died Aug. 16, 2022. He attended Ripon for a year as an athletic recruit before graduating from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with a degree in pre-med/ pre-vet studies. He worked for the Marathon County Health Department, U.S. Department of Agriculture, CH2M Hill and Arcadis. He also ran a breeding program for Vizsla hunting dogs, Wyldfire Vizslas, and was vice president of the Central Wisconsin Vizsla Club. He served as head coach of the Germantown Hornets Youth Wrestling program. Survivors include his wife, Rachel Monaco.

DANIEL P. PACER ’00 of Chicago, Illinois, died Nov. 29, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in business management and played baseball for hall of fame coach Gordie Gillespie, the same coach his father had played for in college. He received a master’s degree in e-commerce technology from DePaul University. He was a senior web developer for Stats Inc. in Chicago and for Americaneagle.com. He enjoyed all sports, including Cubs games, Bears games, golfing and playing on summer softball teams. He ran numerous half-marathons and completed the Chicago Marathon in 2017 for charity. He loved science and technology, animals, cooking and trying new recipes. Survivors include his father, Tom Pacer.

ERIN B. VASCONCELLES ’00 of St. Louis, Missouri, died Jan. 22, 2023. At Ripon, she majored in psychology and participated in student government, volleyball and Alpha Chi Omega/Alpha Gamma Theta. She received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Bowling Green State University. She conducted extensive research at Bowling Green State University and Kansas State University with primary discipline in sports psychology. She completed post-doctoral study at Vanderbilt University and then joined the University of Missouri, St. Louis in 2010 where she served as a licensed psychologist and clinical lead and training coordinator. She was an avid sports fan and enjoyed Broadway shows, was an expert on orchids, loved nature and animals, and supported the Stray Rescue Shelter in St. Louis.

JUSTIN M. LINDBERG ’10 of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, died Aug. 21, 2022. At Ripon, he majored in business administration and participated in Phi Beta Lambda. He provided IT services through his business, Release2 LLC, served as president and vice president of Lakeside Evening Kiwanis and was part of the Connections Community Church family in New Holstein. He enjoyed playing the board game Settlers of Catan, music, fine dining, gaming, building computers and traveling, especially to Eastern European countries. This past year, he traveled twice to volunteer at a Ukrainian refugee center on the border of Romania. Survivors include his mother, Lori Thalmann; and his companion, Natalia.

Faculty & Staff

Honorary Life Trustee THOMAS E. CAESTECKER of Green Lake, Wisconsin, and Kenilworth, Illinois, died Oct. 6, 2022. He graduated from Georgetown University, served in the U.S. Navy and held several leadership business positions, lastly as an investment broker and president at Markham Investments LLC. For Ripon College, he served as Trustee from 1985-2002, gave the gift to build a new wing of C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts and supported several major initiatives. He received an honorary degree and the 2017 Founders’ Day Award. He also supported the Green Lake Association, Green Lake Festival of Music, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Caestecker Public Library in Green Lake. Survivors include one son, Thomas E. Caestecker Jr., of Wilmette, Illinois.

SEALE DOSS , professor emeritus of philosophy from 1964-1999, died Aug. 3, 2022. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, math and philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. He spent eight years as a newspaper reporter, columnist and assistant editor. He taught at the University of California and University of Washington. At Ripon, he received three May Bumby Severy, Class of 1908, Awards and the Senior Class Award. He served in the U.S. Army in Korea, Germany, Vietnam, the Middle East, and Latin America, commanding several Army Reserve and Army Special Forces groups. An avid paratrooper, he made more than 780 jumps, completing his last at age 89. He received the Army’s Legion of Merit in 1974. His books include Elementary Logic for Philosophy Students and several novels. Survivors include two sons, JONATHAN DOSS ’ 83 and VONELLY DOSS ’ 88 , and one daughter, ERIKA DOSS ’ 78 ; and a son-in-law, GEOFFREY THRUMSTON ’ 78

EVELYN M. KAIN of Madison, Wisconsin, and Palm Springs, California, professor emerita of art, died Dec. 30, 2022. She earned a degree in art history from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna, Austria, where she lived for 13 years. She taught at Ripon from 1983-2011, was the Helen Swift Neilson Professor of Cultural Studies and received the James R. Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1994. She performed with Collegium Musicum, Ceresco String Band and the college choir for decades. Fiber arts were her greatest passion. As an art historian, she wrote and lectured about medieval art, women artists and Vienna 1900, and translated scholarly books from German to English. She enjoyed writing in several mediums, gardening, hiking, biking and reading. Survivors include her husband, EUGENE J. KAIN , associate professor emeritus of art; and two sons.

JACK W. POWERS of Brevard, North Carolina, a professor of chemistry at Ripon from 1957-1969, died Oct. 28, 2022. He served as a Scoutmaster for Troop 40 while in Ripon. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue University in 1957 and completed post-graduate work at the University of

Utah and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He later worked for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and Davidson and St. Andrews Presbyterian Colleges in North Carolina. He also ran a consulting firm, was active in arts and historical societies and church activities, and enjoyed golfing, camping, fishing and creating artwork. Survivors include his wife, Ruth Ollhoff Powers; two sons and two daughters.

ESTELITA L. SALDANHA of Harpswell, Maine, an assistant professor of psychology at Ripon from 1950-1954, died March 22, 2019. He received degrees from the University of Lisbon and University of Nebraska; and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He was a researcher at the Medical Research Council, Cambridge University; associate professor at Wells College in Aurora, New York; and professor at the University of Southern Maine, Portland, from which he retired while continuing to teach part time into the 1990s. He specialized in behavioral and educational psychology. He was an editorial reviewer for numerous psychology textbooks and a contributor of research papers to the Acoustical Society of America. He was an avid gardener and enjoyed opera and classical music. Survivors include two sons and one daughter.

LEROY “LEE” SCHOENFELD of Westfield, Indiana, died Oct. 31, 2022. He was an assistant professor of physical education and coached wrestling at Ripon College from 1963-1967. He attended the University of Wisconsin on a football scholarship, received his bachelor’s degree in education and biology from Luther College and his master’s degree from Wittenberg University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1952-1954 during the Korean War. He retired from DePauw University, where he taught and coached wrestling, golf and football for 23 years. He helped with the Greencastle High School swim team and for 30 years during summers was assistant director of Camp Voyageur in Ely, Minnesota. Survivors include one son and one daughter.

MARY E. WILLIAMS-NORTON of Poynette, Wisconsin, professor of physics and astronomy at Ripon from 1975-2012, died Sept. 27, 2022. She received her bachelor’s degree from Bates College and her master’s and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. At Ripon, she was the Harrison E. Farnsworth 1918 Chair in Physics and chair of the department. She designed Physics Fun Force, where Ripon students worked with elementary school students; was a director of Project Madog, a collaboration between Wisconsin and Welsh schools; and facilitated Ripon’s study-abroad program in Wales. She worked tirelessly to promote education and science. She also was an enthusiast for Welsh culture and heritage, was an avid knitter, quilter and seamstress, led Girl Scout troops and loved cats, antiques, Pocket Dragons and murder mysteries. Survivors include her husband, Gregory A. Norton; two daughters, including JEANNE NORTON ’99 ; and a grandson, MAXWELL DUNDAY ’26

Megellas, a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was a paratrooper and one of the most decorated soldiers of the 82nd Airborne during World War II. He died April 2, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Showing their respects at his funeral were several high-ranking officers, including Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James C. McConville, Army Chief of Staff; and Maj. Gen. Christopher C. LaNeve, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.

During World War II, Megellas had singlehandedly knocked out a German tank, rowed across a Dutch river in a flimsy boat under enemy fire and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.

WWII hero James Megellas ’42 laid to rest at

A funeral with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery saw Lt. Col. James “Maggie” Megellas ’42 laid to rest Sept. 2, 2022.

He was featured in his autobiography, Way to Berlin: A Paratrooper at War in Europe in 2003 and the documentary “Maggie’s War: A True Story of Courage, Leadership and Valor in World War II.” John Ratzenberger of “Cheers” fame played him in the 1977 Hollywood movie “A Bridge Too Far.”

On one of his visits back to campus, Megellas praised the environment of Ripon that led to his success and that of many others. He said his ROTC training gave him and other Ripon cadets a sense of togetherness, of something greater than themselves and a lot of camaraderie.

But the environment of Ripon, itself, was an even greater factor, he said. “What we did get and take with us from Ripon — you’ve

SMALL-WORLD EXPERIENCE

at any time and they would help you. … It was that environment that made us into the soldiers that we were.”

He said his fellow Ripon soldiers “carried the colors of this College forward,” and Ripon contributed to the success of the men of his generation. “It produced young men who excelled in what they did, and I’m proud to say that I was one of them.”

JAYE ALDERSON COLLEGE EDITOR

Katherine “Kitty” Norton ’76 of Burke, Virginia, right, had a touchpoint with the funeral for James Megellas ’42. Her daughter-in-law, Sgt. Adrienne C. Doctor, left, is a member of The U.S. Army Band (“Pershing’s Own”). A trumpeter, she plays regularly at funerals in Arlington National Cemetery, including Megellas’. “Prior to the funeral, she read about him and watched a documentary on his life,” Norton says. “She saw that he had graduated from Ripon in 1942 and … was particularly honored to play for Maggie.”

Scholarly Publications & Presentations

scholarship: a scoping view to advance sport management research,” published in the European Sport Management Quarterly; published "The Other side of the Picture: The wave of ‘Orientalism’ and the FIFA 2022 World Cup" in the DER Journal (Norwegian Arab platform); and the blogpost “The Imaginative Muslim World in the Eyes of Western Sport Management Academia” with the North American Society for Sport Management.

involves changing methodological features that are rarely empirically compared with the previous design. This paper presents an example of how typical methodological changes can differentially elicit congruency effects across age groups.”

conference in berlin , germany : Vice President and Dean of Faculty John Sisko presented a paper, “On the Role of Nous in Anaxagoras’ Cosmogony,” at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, July 20, 2022.

The two-day conference involved eight invited presenters, representing top international universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Humboldt and McGill. The presented papers will be published in Human and Divine Nous from Ancient to Byzantine and Renaissance Philosophy and Religion (Brill, 2023), being edited by Dr. Ilaria Ramelli of Cambridge University.

Sisko says Anaxagoras (500-428 BC) published only a single treatise and that treatise has not survived in its entirety. Just 22 fragments survive as quotations in treatises written by other Greek philosophers. Together, these fragments amount to just 118 lines of text, he says. This will be Sisko’s seventh published paper on Anaxagoras.

narcissism and war : A study by Assistant Professor of Political Science John P. Harden received widespread media attention.

“Looking Like a Winner: Leader Narcissism and War Duration” was published in September 2022 in the Journal of Conflict Resolution. It was shared around the world and he subsequently was interviewed by outlets such as Newsweek, Salon, International Business Times and IFLscience.

He also was quoted in the articles “How Can We Predict a Nuclear War,” published in Newsweek magazine; and “Narcissism and War,” published by Political Violence at a Glance, run through the UC Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation.

race , religion and gender in sport : Umer Hussain, assistant professor of business and sports management, focuses his research on understanding the intersection of race, religion and gender in the sporting context.

• He co-wrote “The Muslim community and sport

• He was quoted in “Will Players Help Raise Awareness About the Horrors Surrounding the World Cup?” published in The Nation International; in an article published by Play the Game; and in “The Untold Stories of Qatar and the FIFA World Cup,” about the controversy surrounding the World Cup being hosted in November in Qatar, the first Middle Eastern County to do so.

• He presented a research paper focusing on Pakistani-born English cricketer Azeem Rafiq at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) annual conference in Las Vegas Nov. 9-12; and two research papers to which Hussain contributed were presented by his co-authors at the Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand (SMAANZ) annual conference held in Melbourne and hosted by the Swinburne University of Technology.

new chemical process : Associate Professor of Chemistry Patrick Willoughby has a paper published by ACS Publications. Two of the student co-authors are Ripon College alumnae: Sierra Thein ’22 of Oostburg, Wisconsin, a chemistry major; and Abbigail Grieger ’22 of Fargo, North Dakota, a chemistry-biology major. The paper describes a collaboration between Ripon College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison which started while Willoughby was on sabbatical.

“In this study, we discovered a new chemical process for synthesizing amino acids by using two enzymes,” Willoughby says. “The two enzymes work together to make previously unreported amino acids. The enzymes are grown in bacteria cells, and the cells are used directly as the catalyst just like any other chemical.

“In addition to being a green and sustainable process, this study provided fundamental organic chemistry insights into how one of the enzymes was working.”

faculty - alumni collaboration : An article by Professor of Psychology Kristine A. Kovack-Lesh, “Inconsistent flanker congruency effects across stimulus types and age groups: A cautionary tale” was published last summer in the journal “Behavior Research Methods.”

“The flanker task is a common measure of selective attention and response competition across populations, age groups, and experiential contexts,” the abstract states. “Adapting it for different uses often

Kovack-Lesh’s collaborators included Chelsea Grahn Andrews ’15 of Madison, Wisconsin, who majored in psychobiology at Ripon and received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Rebecca Leuenberger ’19 of Racine, Wisconsin, who majored in psychobiology at Ripon and received a degree in nursing from Rush University.

addressing gender - based violence : Associate Professor of English Ann Pleiss Morris has a chapter in the book Trauma-Informed Pedagogy: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in the Classroom, published in summer 2022. Her chapter is titled “The New Spectators: Facilitating Conversations Between Early British Women Writers and Twenty-First Century Students.”

The book addresses gender-based violence and how educators, mentors and public facilitators can address the subject in teaching spaces, curricula, texts and conversations with greater care and understanding.

faculty - student paper on bioone . org : Associate Professor of Biology Robin Forbes-Lorman and Miye Aoki-Kramer ’20 of Seattle, Washington, had a paper published on BioOne.org, a database of research in the biological, ecological and environmental sciences. The paper is titled “Litter sex composition has sex and context-specific effects on juvenile play behavior in Sprague-Dawley rats.”

Aoki-Kramer was a biology major with minors in educational studies and chemistry. She now teaches eighth-grade science and sixth-grade environmental studies in the Seattle Public School District.

slate . com podcast : Sarah Frohardt-Lane, associate professor of history and director of the Environmental Studies Program, spoke on the podcast “One Year: 1942” that came out on slate. com Oct. 20, 2022. She talks about her research on rubber rationing during World War II.

historical expertise : Professor of History Rebecca Matzke was a commentator on the panel “The Social World of Jack Tars: The Royal Navy and British Maritime Culture 1815-1940” at the North American Conference on British Studies annual meeting in Chicago Nov. 11-13, 2022.

She also presented the talk “More than Rosie the Riveter: U.S. Women in World War II” Dec. 7, 2022, at the Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Public Museum. Matzke is a longtime member of the Oshkosh Public Museum’s Board.

insight through poetry : Associate Professor of English Megan Gannon has two poems published in the fall 2022 issue of The Heartland Review literary magazine. The poems are titled “Dispatch from a Familiar Fairy Tale”; and “Dispatch on the Golden Ratio.”

presenting wisconsin art : Rafael Francisco Salas, professor of art and chair of the Department of Art and Art History, was the guest curator for an exhibit for the Museum of Wisconsin Art. “Strange Lands: The work of Tom Antell, Chris T. Cornelius, and Sky Hopinka” ran Oct. 7, 2022, through Jan. 8, 2023, at the museum’s satellite location inside Saint Kate — The Arts Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.

teaching religion online : Brian Smith, professor emeritus of religion, has a paper in the journal “Teaching Theology and Religion,” published by the University of California Berkeley. “Teaching Religion Online to Nontraditional Students” describes the work he did for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh while also teaching full time at Ripon College. He says that three-fourths of those enrolled in undergraduate programs today are nontraditional students. He has taught online world religion courses for nontraditional learners since 2004 (64 courses, totaling more than 1,000 students) at UW-Oshkosh. His work also positively informed his classroom teaching at Ripon because he incorporated online discussions by his students at Ripon to enhance student participation.

quad alliance : Professor Emeritus of Politics and Government Martin Farrell spoke about the Quad Alliance Oct. 4 for the Great Decisions lecture series at Mead Public Library in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The informal alliance between the United States, India, Japan and Australia is committed to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

Ripon College in the news

• Associate Professor of Psychology Julia Meyers-Manor was quoted in several recent articles that had widespread publication: “Cats: The strange and fascinating history of our feline friends,” published Sept. 6 on livescience.com; and “Comfort dogs are greeting Uvalde students for their return to school. Here’s how canine visitors can help after tragedy,” published Sept. 7 by CNN.

• Kelly Millenbah ’90 of Mason, Michigan, has transitioned from being the interim dean to the dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. Her new role was highlighted in media outlets such as WIA (Women in Academia) Report and Michigan Farm News in November.

endangered wild buckwheat : Assistant Professor of Biology Ben Grady gave an invited research presentation Oct. 17, 2022, for the biology seminar series of Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. His talk, “Clean energy and conservation: the story of Tiehm’s wild buckwheat (Eriogonum tiehmii),”addresses a wildflower known to grow only in a small, 10-acre patch of the Silver Peak Range in Nevada. It grows in unusual soil, with high levels of lithium and boron, which is toxic to other plants, and is a critical part of the ecosystem there. Tiehm’s wild buckwheat is in immediate danger of extinction because of a proposed lithium mine and effects of climate change. In the photo, Grady works in the field in Yosemite in California.

• Henrik M. Schatzinger, professor political science, was a guest speaker Nov. 8 during election coverage on the Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin television station. He was among a group joining two anchors virtually to provide commentary on the election throughout the night.

• David Eggert ’77 of Appleton, Wisconsin, was featured in a profile Nov. 8, 2022, in the Ripon Commonwealth Press newspaper. He is an orthopedic surgeon with Orthopedic & Sports Institute of the Fox Valley and expanded his practice to Ripon about 10 years ago. The feature can be read at ripon.edu/Eggert.

• Mike Missak ’01 of McHenry, Illinois, as recognized in several media articles in November in advance of his annual participation in collecting toys for Toys for Tots, the U.S. Marine Corps’ charitable program. He organized the event through the Jeep owners group Jeeps on the Run. Before this year’s 10th anniversary event, the group has donated more than $1 million in toys and donations to the community.

• Paul Schoofs, professor emeritus of economics and Patricia Parker Francis Professor of Economics Emeritus, continues to give regular interviews on the local 98.7 The Great 98 radio station; and on WFDL AM and FM (1170 and 103.3).

Zach Messitte’s presidential portrait installed

A portrait of Ripon College’s 13th president, Zach Messitte, has joined portraits of other previous presidents in the North Reading Room of Lane Library. Messitte served as president from 20122021.

“I wanted something that was very different” from the more formal portraits of previous presidents,” Messitte said. As a longtime admirer of the work of Professor of Art Rafael Francisco Salas, Messitte asked Salas to create the portrait.

“It was an honor and a pleasure to work on this painting,” Salas says. “The Messitte

family owned examples of my artwork, as well as that of other local artists, and I was excited to say yes to the project. Zach and I worked together to find a composition that included one of his favorite places in Ripon, the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy.”

Messitte is depicted standing casually in the prairie right behind the president’s house at 1 Merriman Lane. He wears his signature Ripon scarf.

“During the course of my work, I also wanted to include a biographical note, a detail that was even more specific to President Messitte’s time at Ripon,” Salas

says. “Messitte began the tradition of handing out commemorative coins to incoming first-year students. I was always struck by the symbolism of this, so I included a coin in the right-hand corner of the painting, tucked into the grass of the prairie.”

Messitte says, “I am thrilled with Rafael’s portrait and touched that he included the presidential coin in the prairie grass. I’ve had family and friends who say that he captured the way I stand and tilt my head, I think the scarf is unique and, of course, I love the clouds. They are really his signature.”

Zach Messitte, left, and Rafael Francisco Salas unveil Messitte’s presidential portrait.

Elda Emma Anderson, Class of 1922: Atomic bomb and its aftermath

Elda Emma Anderson did critical work on the development of the atomic bomb that would be used to end World War II, then worked the rest of her life to help to develop a new scientific field with the goal to better understand and minimize harm from radiation.

She was born Oct. 5, 1899, in Green Lake, Wisconsin. At Ripon, she studied physics and mathematics and participated in YWCA, Latin Club, Women’s League and Math Club, and she served as an assistant in physics and a Department Fellow in mathematics. She received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wisconsin.

Anderson was dean of physics, chemistry and mathematics from 1924-1927 at Estherville Junior College in Iowa, where she also taught chemistry; and principal of the high school in Menasha, Wisconsin, from 1927-1929. In 1929 she became a professor in the new physics department of Milwaukee-Downer College, which later was merged with Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She became head of the department in 1934.

She had been researching spectroscopy, the study of the absorption and emission of light and other radiation, and was recruited in late 1941 to work in the Office of Scientific Research and Development at Princeton University. She began work on the

Manhattan Project, the code name for the U.S. government’s secret project to develop an atomic bomb to help speed the end of World War II.

She was transferred to Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico in 1943 where a team of scientists worked closely together and in secret to develop an atomic bomb quickly before Germany was able to do so. She said the three years at Los Alamos were the most hectic of her life, working up to 18 hours a day every day except for Christmas.

Anderson produced the lab’s first pure sample of uranium-235, a key component to the development of the bomb. She was present at the Trinity Event, the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert, July 16, 1945. Intent on the flash of light and billows of smoke, she’d forgotten the sound that would follow and was jolted when the massive sound of the explosion reached her a few minutes later.

She returned to teaching in 1947, but her research in atomic physics made her aware of the harm radiation could do to living things. A new field of science, health physics, had been established to study and prevent the effects of radiation on human health.

In 1949, Anderson became the first chief of education for the Health Physics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Anderson published “Manual of Radiological Protection for Civil Defense” in 1950, helped establish a master’s degree program in health physics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and organized international courses in Sweden, Belgium and India through the World Health Organization.

She held several positions with the Health Physics Society, established in 1955, and served as the secretary and then chairman of the American Board of Health Physics, a professional certifying agency created by the Health Physics Society.

The Elda E. Anderson Award is given annually by the Health Physics Society to an outstanding young health physicist.

She died April 17, 1961, of leukemia, a blood cell cancer, and breast cancer, which may have been exacerbated by her work in radiation. She was 61.

JAYE ALDERSON COLLEGE EDITOR

HISTORICAL FICTION

Dedication of Ingram Hall an earlier science building

December 18, 1900 2:27 p.m.

Based on historical documents, College Archivist

Andrew Prellwitz presents a fictionalized account of the dedication in 1900 of Ingram Hall, an earlier science building on the Ripon College campus.

Professor Charles Dwight Marsh rushed out of Middle College. The dedication ceremony for the new Ingram Science Hall was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Snow had recently fallen on campus and the red vitrified brick building to the south of East College stood gloriously in contrast to the original cream-colored exteriors of East, Middle and West. An even greater contrast was that between Ingram and the white clapboard building to the west. That building, which served as the College’s chemistry laboratory, was called the Observatory and had been erected in 1877, just six years before Marsh had arrived on campus in 1883. In addition to serving as space for chemistry, the College

had purchased a transit telescope and a chronograph from the Mitchell Observatory in Cincinnati and needed a location for these scientific instruments. There was no biological laboratory or even a biology professor on campus until Marsh.

Marsh walked quickly between East and the new science building on his way to the Congregational Church. He pulled open the door and hurried in to find a seat in a pew near the back next to his colleague, Professor Charles Chandler. Just as he was seated, the Rev. Pearse Pinch, an 1875 alumnus of the College, rose to give the invocation. In the front row of the church, nine men in dark suits and with white hair lowered their heads – the Trustees. Marsh, as the current dean of the College, was well-acquainted

with all of them: Samuel M. Pedrick, Albert G.Farr, William H. Hatten, the Rev. Samuel T.Kidder, pastor of First Congregational Church, Orville J. Clark, George Field, Dr. Storrs Hall, D.D. Sutherland and, at the far right, Orrin Henry Ingram.

Ingram, with his full beard and broad shoulders, looked like he had spent his youth wrestling the pines of Wisconsin’s north woods. By the age of 27, Ingram had started his own saw mill in the Chippewa Valley and soon became president of several lumber companies. At the conclusion of the prayer, Ingram smiled at the Reverend and walked up the four steps to the lectern. “Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. A few years ago while President Rufus Flagg was spending a few

weeks of summer vacation with me at my home in Rice Lake, he expressed his aspirations for creating something great for science at Ripon College. He, along with the esteemed science faculty — Marsh, Chandler and Clarissa Tucker Tracy – were very convincing in the necessity of a modern science building at Ripon College. And while I have provided funds for about half of the costs of construction, it has been a joy to see the community come together to support this collective dream.

“However … It has come to my attention that there is still a debt of $2,695.52 left on the accounts for the building. I will pay half of this debt if the other half is raised by my fellow Trustees.” A loud murmur fell over the assembled crowd. Hands from the first row were raised. Pledges from the other Trustees were announced and within two minutes the money to settle the debt was raised. The crowd applauded loudly. Then in a surprise, Ingram announced, “Thank you gentlemen! However, I will pay the remaining debt in full if the pledges you just made are dedicated to the equipment fund!” And again, the crowd applauded, this time thunderously. As the clapping subsided, Ingram continued. “Thank you! Thank you! It is now my honor to present these keys to the new science hall to President Flagg.” The audience clapped loudly and President Flagg walked up the steps to take the keys and to shake hands with Ingram. Ingram took his seat next to the other Trustees and Flagg.

Charles Dwight Marsh at right Histological lab Middle Hall, 1899 below Ingram laboratory

“In connection with the formal acceptance of the keys on behalf of the Board of Trustees, it may not be improper for me to make a few remarks on certain spiritual gains which in some measure have come and in a vastly larger measure may come from the achievements of science …”

“... We give honor to God by whose favor we are permitted to possess this noble building. We honor those who have contributed of their means for its erection. Especially honor him who, though residing in a distant part of the state, has been the principal contributor. His presence today honors us. We are glad that this hall is to be known as Ingram Hall.”

Following his speech, President Flagg sat down in the audience and the afternoon’s festivities concluded with a speech by the guest of honor, Prof. John M. Coulter. Coulter was currently a professor of botany at the University of Chicago but he had also served as president of Lake Forest College and Indiana University and taught previously at Hanover College and Wabash College. Coulter rose to the podium and the crowd of faculty members, students, trustees and alumni silenced immediately.

“In the dedication of this new building to college education, it seems fitting to discuss some features of the American college in general and the significance of science in education in particular. The American college is exceedingly hard to define, for its two foundry lines …”

Marsh’s thoughts jumped back 17 years. At that point, the science department was hard to define. He had been hired to teach both chemistry and biology and worked alongside Chandler, who relinquished his duties in chemistry to focus on physics. Although the College had been reorganized only since 1863, he was the 12th professor in 20 years to teach either chemistry, physics or astronomy. Most of his predecessors left after a year or two. Only Tracy, who specialized in local botany, had outlasted them all and was still teaching. Upon arriving at Ripon, Marsh worked to quickly define the various sciences as they would be taught and added these descriptions to the catalog. The focus for biology in the early years was zoology. The College catalog in 1884 read:

Zoology: In the terms of the preparatory course, a few typical forms are dissected, drawings of the dissections being required, and classification of animals is studied from Packard’s Zoology. Some systematic work on insects is undertaken, and a classified collection is required of each student.

The term of the college course is mostly taken up with a detailed dissection of the cat. Occasional lectures are given on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology. The laboratory work occupies from eight to ten hours per week. The object of the course in Zoology is two-fold: to gain a knowledge of the structure and classification of animals, and to obtain that discipline in accurate, independent observation, which it is the

peculiar province of the natural science studies to impart. Opportunity for practical systematic work upon the collections is given to such students as desire it and are qualified for it.

Laboratory work in those early days was somewhat rudimentary. It took some convincing of President Edward H. Merrell to allow Marsh some room in Middle College for the College’s first biology laboratory. The space eventually was outfitted with compound microscopes including a large Thoma microtome used for slicing specimens for examination. The laboratories in the new science hall would be a huge advancement from those early days. The biology department would be on the first floor, with chemistry and physics sharing the second. The third floor would house laboratories for all three disciplines. Marsh’s office also would be on the first floor along with the library and museum. Both the library and scientific collections had grown in recent years. Marsh had used his connections on the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey to acquire a set of Wisconsin minerals and fossils. Tracy constantly added many species of local plants to the herbarium. Her work, along with the 1,300 specimens donated from the collection of Jeremiah Walcott, made for an enviable collection.

Chandler, seated to Marsh’s left, shifted his weight and accidentally nudged Marsh. Marsh awoke from his thoughts. Coulter cleared his throat and continued with the speech.

“Hard to define...”

Orrin Henry Ingram

“Colleges, until recently, were steeped in medieval precedent, and have clung with wonderful tenacity to primitive conceptions of culture. Their regeneration began with the introduction of the laboratory method and the recognition of individualism, and as a consequence they have become the centers of intellectual freedom. The mission of a college seems to be more a crusade against superstition than against ignorance. …”

‘Medieval and primitive is right!’ Marsh thought to himself. When Marsh arrived in 1883, President Merrell was on the warpath with the Rev. Stephen Newman. Newman was the pastor of the Congregational Church but was also a man of science. He was also on the Ripon faculty as a professor of mathematics and astronomy. As the story goes, Newman had planned to teach a class on natural history, which would have included a discussion of Darwin, but Merrell didn’t allow it. This and other antagonistic views with Merrell led Newman to resign from the College. He kept his position at the Congregational Church for a short

time but eventually left Ripon in 1885 to become president of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Marsh must have kept his views on Darwin to himself until Merrell resigned in 1891.

After nearly 45 minutes of speaking, Coulter was finally wrapping up.

“The value of the university is not in proportion to the bigness but to its inspiration. The Good Spirit cares not for the size of the buildings or the length of its list of professors and students. It asks only, in the words of the reformer Hutten, if ‘Die Luft der Freiheit weht? —whether the winds of freedom are blowing.”

Coulter nodded his head gracefully as polite applause erupted from the audience. He walked over to the empty seat next to President Flagg and sat down. Flagg returned to the stage to announce that the audience was welcome to tour Ingram Hall at a reception that evening.

Ingram Hall served as Ripon College’s science

building and later as a classroom building until 1969 when it was demolished. C. Dwight Marsh left Ripon College in 1903 to finish his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He went on to a successful career with the United States Department of Agriculture and became an expert in poisonous plants of the American West.

1 Ingram library

2 Upper campus, 19th century

3 Observatory

4 Ingram under construction, October 1899

ANDREW PRELLWITZ ASSOCIATE LIBRARIAN – USER SERVICES, COLLEGE ARCHIVIST

300 West Seward Street Ripon, WI 54971 ripon.edu

Change Service Requested

Flash Back 1948

Herbert Priestly, associate professor of physics, left, and Richard W. Nelson, instructor of physics, examine new equipment for the department in 1948.