College of Letters & Science
IN FOCUS
June 2021, Vol. 11, No. 6
Telling
the story of the sea
UWM filmmaker’s documentary screened at Milwaukee Film Festival
Teacher of the Yea
Contents Feature Stories UWM grad is Teacher of the Year Alum gives economics talk at Nobel Summit JAMS instructor shows film at MKE Film Festival Chemistry student studies drug-resistant germs Geosciences alum at NASA at Commencement
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Columns Congratulations, graduates! Best wishes, Retirees! In the Media People in Print Upcoming Events Laurels and Accolades Program Spotlight Alumni Accomplishments Video Story
Published College the
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of
of each month by the
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L&S Dean: Scott Gronert In Focus Editor: Deanna Alba
When Susan Richardson’s students take a test and come across the word perpendicular, they’re not fazed, even though they’ve learned the concept in German as “senkrecht auf einander.” “We have kids who never learned math in English, and they’ve never heard the word perpendicular in class, yet when they take standardized tests they score as high or higher than students who are learning all these terms in English. They understand the concept,” said Richardson, a third-grade teacher at Milwaukee’s German Immersion School.
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The Department of Public Instruction recently selected Richardson as one of five teachers of the year for Wisconsin. She is a graduate of UWM’s MAFLL (master of arts in foreign language and literature) program. Another teacher with UWM connections honored was Koren Jackson, a special education teacher at Milwaukee Public Schools’ Transition High School. She completed the School of Education’s special education program as a post-baccalaureate student.
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Children’s “brains are like sponges”
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Richardson sees the selection as an opportunity to share her passion for giving all children the opportunity to learn other languages. “When you catch kids in this linguistic window between ages 4 and 7, their brains are like sponges,” she said. “They can absorb so many more vocabulary words than an adult. They’ll have more bridges, synapses growing in their brain.” And while she teaches in German, any language learned in a good immersive environment is a benefit. “If it’s German, fantastic. If it’s Spanish, ‘fantastico.’ Their brains will benefit for life.” Besides, she adds, “The more languages you know, the more doors open to you.” Milwaukee German Immersion School is a public school with 600 students, and has the mission of educating urban students using German as the core language of instruction. All classes every day are taught in German, except for a 30-minute period at the end of the day focused on English language arts and literature. While a few of her 28 students come from families with German backgrounds, Richardson said, most do not. Like learning a secret language
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2 • IN FOCUS • June, 2021
Richardson’s own journey into another culture began with her German grandparents, who lived just down the road from her family when she was growing up in Sheboygan.
ar stresses value of language
UWM alum Susan Richardson teaches third grade at Milwaukee’s German Immersion School. (Photo courtesy of Susan Richardson)
Talking to them in German was like learning a secret language, a code, she said. So, when she went to high school, she selected German, of course, and decided to become a teacher. “I had this drive to become a teacher. What better way to serve others?” She completed her undergraduate education at Carthage College, majoring in German, history and secondary education. After graduating, she decided to have an adventure and immerse herself in the German language. She set off to Germany with a one-way ticket and $300 in her pocket – “I still can’t believe my parents let me do that.” She started teaching English and planned to stay for a year or two. But then she met a young man, and ended up staying seven years. She and Andrew married, and their first child was born in Germany. They eventually emigrated to the U.S. and had two more children. Those children are now in eighth grade, high school and college. Her husband teaches German at Brookfield Academy. UWM “a perfect fit” When Richardson decided she needed to exercise her brain and expand her horizons, she decided to come to UWM for the MAFLL program.
“UWM was the perfect fit. Because I love all things language and linguistic-based and of course German.” As a busy mother of three who was also substitute teaching, she appreciated the flexibility of UWM’s program. “They are aware that the average student is not 20; they have day jobs, they have other commitments.” In appreciation of her experiences, Richardson has reached out to UWM to invite German students and aspiring teachers to visit her classroom. This year, the Wisconsin Teacher of the Year program expanded to honor five rather than four teachers. The teachers will be be part of a council advising the state Department of Public Instruction on policy. Richardson is glad teachers are being given more of a voice. And, of course, she has a subject she’s passionate about already. “I’m honored to be chosen as a teacher of the year because it gives me a platform to encourage more people to learn a language, she said. “We live in a global society riddled with racial, political and cultural tension, but every effort toward greater intercultural competencies plants seeds of acceptance and open-mindedness.” By Kathy Quirk, University Relations College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 3
A summit with the lau
Economics alum addresses i When the Nobel Prize committee wrote to ask economist Dr. Gary Hoover to speak at its first-ever summit in April, he deleted the email. “I thought it was a joke. I thought, no Nobel Prize people are going to be contacting me,” he laughed. “I’m just waiting for them to ask me for my credit card because I’m convinced this is a scam.” But his colleagues thought it might be real. They urged Hoover to follow up. So, he sent a message back, requesting proof. If this was really the Nobel Prize committee, he said, surely the members could get a former winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics to confirm it, since there was one listed on the preliminary program. “A couple of days later, the laureate sends me an email and says, ‘This is real,’” Hoover said. Even so, he was still skeptical – “Email addresses can be faked,” he defended – until a colleague who actually sat on the Nobel Prize committee reassured him. “‘The Nobel Prize doesn’t make mistakes. If they contacted you, that means they want you,’” Hoover recalled. And so, UWM alum Gary Hoover was added to the Nobel Prize summit speaker lineup, joining a list of distinguished individuals from around the globe – names like former Vice President Al Gore, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Nobel Prize winner the Dalai Lama. The Nobel Prize Summit The Nobel Prize committee, famously known for selecting Nobel laureates to recognize outstanding achievements in science, literature and other fields, hosted its firstever summit in April in partnership with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Titled, “Our Planet, Our Future,” the virtual event brought together Nobel laureates, leading scientists and researchers, policymakers, business leaders, and others to answer the question, “What can be achieved in this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all of humanity?” While the summit placed a heavy emphasis on climate change, Hoover was there to address another avenue of sustainability: Income inequality.
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Dr. Gary hoover, an economist at Tulane University and a UW-Milwaukee alumnus, delivered a presentatio
Hoover is a leading expert on that particular subject. He is a professor of economics at Tulane University and the executive director of the university’s Murphy Institute. His work focuses on how economic policy affects income distribution, both vertically, between different socioeconomic classes, and horizontally, across different demographics within the same socioeconomic class. His talk for the Nobel Prize summit focused on the gap
between rich and poor. In a healthy economy, education is usually a means for increasing income and moving up in socioeconomic class. However, when that promise of economic mobility is violated – Hoover pointed to 2011 Egypt when people with Master’s degrees could find no jobs beyond driving taxis as an example – then the economy suffers and unrest begins to build. “Having (an income) gap isn’t a bad thing, but having no bridge is bad. You have to have a bridge,” Hoover added in an interview after the summit. “If people can’t (move
ureates
income inequality at Nobel Prize Summit Even months after the event, he’s a bit incredulous that he was asked to be a speaker and rubbed virtual elbows with so many of the world’s top leaders and thinkers. He’s been asked to present at panels and conferences before, but nothing like this. “An undergraduate from UWM is giving all of these national and international talks. That doesn’t happen every day,” he said. The value of UWM
on on income inequality at the virtual Nobel Prize Summit in April.
up), you’re going to have problems. You’re going to have more Occupy Wall Streets. You’re going to have more Arab Springs. ... Income inequality never works anywhere on the globe in any time period in history.” Hoover delivered his talk in a virtual chat room hosted by Ahmed Best, known for playing Jar Jar Binks in the “Star Wars” franchise, and attended by several guests, including Joe Robert Cole, who co-wrote Marvel’s “Black Panther.” “I didn’t know who either one of these two guys are,” Hoover admitted, “which is probably better. I think I would have been a lot more nervous had I known who I was going to be on the panel with. It was nuts.” The Nobel Prize Summit was broadcast around the world. In the days that followed, Hoover received multiple emails in different languages, asking follow-up questions about his work.
Economics is a personal field for Hoover; growing up, his mother was the hardest-working person he knew, but the family never seemed to have much money. A high school teacher directed him towards an economics class so he could understand how labor and the economy worked. After high school, he did a stint in the Army to pay for college at UWM, where he majored in economics. Economics professor James Gary Hoover Peoples was his advisor and the two still collaborate on research today. After graduating, Hoover traveled to St. Louis to earn his PhD, and then worked at the University of Alabama and at the University of Oklahoma. At each place, he both taught economics and helped departments learn to recruit and retain Black faculty members. He began working at Tulane in January and presented at the Nobel Prize Summit in April. “I’m here now, at the Nobel Prize summit, because of my training at UWM,” Hoover said. “The training I received there was good enough to get me here.” And next time, he probably won’t delete an email from the Nobel Prize committee so quickly. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 5
Something to Sea
In her coastal Chilean town, Julieta is the only woman on the boat crews that venture out on the ocean each day trawling for fish. Gloria faithfully tends her brother’s empty grave in the symbolic cemetery that overlooks the sea. Both remarkable women’s stories are told in a short documentary titled, “The Women and the Sea.”
Camila
Guarda But there’s a Velasco third remarkable woman: The one holding the camera.
Her name is Camila Guarda Velasco, and her documentary was just screened at the Milwaukee Film Festival in May. “Nobody is more shocked than me of where this little film has gone to,
Julieta is the only fisherwoman among a slew of men who venture onto the ocean each day to fish. Julieta is featured in the documentary “The Women and the Sea” by UWM journalism, advertising, and media studies lecturer Camila Guarda Velasco. Photo courtesy of Camila Guarda Velasco.
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and now here, in the Milwaukee Film Festival? I’m so, so happy,” she said.
In addition to being a documentarian, Guarda Velasco is a former television reporter and a current instructor in UWM’s Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program, where she teaches documentary filmmaking, broadcast journalism, and visual storytelling. “The Women and the Sea” is her first film, and it’s already garnered several awards and has been shown at domestic and international screenings. And it all started as a thesis project. From filming to festival Guarda Velasco is from Chile. She spent seven years as a broadcast journalist covering breaking news all around Latin America, but the constraints of journalism – like the fact that she rarely had time to take deep dives into any one story – inspired her to look
for a change of pace. She found it in Northwestern University’s MFA program for Documentary Filmmaking. “The Women and the Sea” is Guarda Velasco’s final project for her MFA, earned in 2019. In the final year of the program, students are tasked with creating their own short documentaries. During her time as a reporter, Guarda Velasco had heard of “symbolic cemeteries,” which honor those who died at sea, their bodies unrecovered. “I thought, wow, that’s so evocative, to have these empty tombs for these fishermen overlooking the ocean. In our MFA, when they told us to start thinking about what story we wanted to tell, I immediately started thinking of that one,” she said.
Journalism instructor’s documentary lands at Milwaukee Film Festival So, back to Chile she went – this time, to tiny coastal village of about 5,000 people. Guarda Velasco visited several times in 2018, getting to know the town’s residents and striking up easy friendships with two women in particular – Gloria, who has tended her brother’s grave in the symbolic cemetery for 30 years, and Julieta, the town’s only fisherwoman. After shooting her footage over the course of her trips, Guarda Velasco edited her footage together, workshopped the cuts in her classes at Northwestern, and finally arrived at a finished project. The documentary program gave students small grants to help them enter their works in festivals, and Guarda Velasco’s documentary has been screened in Chile, France, Canada, and in various festivals throughout the United States, including in Milwaukee. “The first thing I did when I got (to Milwaukee) in 2019 was go to the Milwaukee Film Festival. I just loved it. It was so fun,” Guarda Velasco said. “When submissions opened up, I thought, it would be so good to get into this festival! I swear, I never thought I would get in. But I did!”
From filming to friends The documentary opens on Julieta’s boat, rocking on whitecap waves as the crew hauls in net after net of crabs and fish to fill large buckets that will later be sold to the town’s restaurants and food stalls. Julieta, who began working when she was 11 years old to support her family, and the other men in her crew trade jibes as they handle the boat and equipment. Meeting Julieta was a pleasure, Guarda Velasco said, but filming her was a challenge. Julieta invited Guarda Velasco and her co-producer out on the fishing boat to record her and the crew. The filmmaker was determined that she would not get seasick.
she places flowers at her brother’s tombstone and tidies up around any other markers that are showing signs of neglect. “The ocean gives, but takes away,” Gloria muses as she sits and stares over the achingly blue water, white grave markers behind her. “It takes more than it gives.” Continued on Page 8
“The Women and the Sea” is an award-winning documentary by Camila Guarda Velasco.
“I lasted about 10 minutes,” she said ruefully. “I had to put my camera away and I only had my little Go-Pro to film with. It was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had in my life. I thought I was going to die, at one point – either from falling off because of the waves, or because I was just so sick.”
• Best Latino Shorts, Documentary Festival de Cine Latinoamericano 2020
Interspersed with Julieta’s day are shots of Gloria, an older woman who, every Sunday, traverses a rocky beach and climbs a flight of crumbling stairs to reach the symbolic cemetery on a cliff overlooking the ocean. There,
• Offical Selection “Best Documentary Short” Competition - Festival Internacional de Cine Antofagasta 2020
• Best international Latino Short Film - Latin Film Market 2020
• Semi Finalist - European Cinematography Awards 2020 • Semi Finalist - New York Cinematography Awards 2020 • Nominated for “Female Fimmaker Showcase” award - Shortcut 100 International Film Festival 2020
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 7
Documentary success
Continued from Page 7
Camila Guarda Velasco interviews Gloria, a Chilean woman who appears in Guarda Velasco’s documentary “The Women and the Sea.” Gloria has faithfully tended her brother’s empty grave in a symbolic cemetery for the last 30 years. Photo courtesy of Camila Guarda Velasco.
That’s the heart of the film, Guarda Velasco says: Two women whose lives are touched by the ocean, taking and giving. “I have this woman in her 60s who is the only fisherwoman in these all-male crews, and I have this other woman who tends this symbolic cemetery,” Guarda Velasco recalled. “It was something that immediately made sense to me, to have both of these women representing life and death at sea.” Guarda Velasco is still friends with both Julieta and Gloria. They keep in touch via messaging apps and Guarda Velasco hopes to return to Chile to visit when it is safe to travel. She’s taken the lessons she’s learned from both women back to her classroom at UWM. “This semester I taught a seminar class about ethics and representation in documentary filmmaking. We talk about who has the right to tell a story,” she said. “I learned that it’s so important to get to know your subjects first, to get to know the community first, to make sure you are not invading them in any way. That is something that I’ve been repeating so much this semester.” The Milwaukee Film Festival ran from May 6-20. You can view a trailer for “The Women and the Sea” at https://vimeo.com/340063464. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
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Camila Guarda Velasco’s documentary “The Women and the Sea” is an awardwinning documentary and was screened at the Milwaukee Film Festival in May. Image courtesy of Camila Guarda Velasco.
Undergraduate researcher targets drug-resistant bacteria Drug-resistant bacteria are a growing threat to the health of the world. Larsen Birdsong hasn’t even graduated yet, but he’s helping tackle the problem. Birdsong, who is majoring in chemistry and biochemistry, is an undergraduate researcher in associate professor of chemistry Alan Schwabacher’s lab. He’s focused on synthesizing a chemical compound that will target aspects of drug-resistant bacteria to knock out their defenses and make them treatable by antibiotics. He presented his research at the virtual UWM undergraduate research symposium in April. It was a great experience to culminate his literal years of research experience at the university. “At a big school like Madison, you can’t really do undergraduate research. Here, it was a lot better. That’s specifically why I chose UW-Milwaukee,” Birdsong said. He began his work the summer before his freshmen year by participating in UWM’s UR@UWM summer research program, which allows incoming first-years to spend their summer working with UWM professors on various research projects.
Chemistry and biochemistry major Larsen Birdsong presented his research at UWM’s virtual Undergraduate Research Symposium in April. View his presentation above.
it,” Larsen said. “That’s, of course, important, because bacteria, as evolution goes, are getting more and more resistant to drugs.” The problem is, that compound is expensive, difficult to make, and yields very little effective material.
Birdsong’s job is to synthesize an analog compound that Birdsong kept at it when he became a full-fledged student. will be easier and more efficient to make. It can be slow going, but that’s how research works, he said. “I got involved in my current research when I was going through a list of available research projects, and Dr. Schwabacher’s research really interested me. I emailed him, we had a meeting, and now I work in his lab!” Currently, Birdsong is focusing on drug-resistant, or gram negative, bacteria. “Gram negative bacteria are resistant to drugs because they have an outer membrane made up of many proteins, and particularly a ‘beta-barrel.’ It’s like a beta sheet wrapped (around) the bacteria,” he explained. “Those beta barrels are made by what we call the BAM – the beta-barrel assembly machine.” Other researchers have already found a strand of RNA, which codes the genetic material for proteins, that disrupts the BAM. Unfortunately, RNA does not a good drug make; the human body breaks down the foreign RNA before it can work against drug-resistant bacteria. So, those researchers made a compound that mimics the function of that particular RNA. It inhibits the BAM. “When that’s inhibited, the proteins on the outside (of the gram-negative bacteria) won’t be composed correctly and will allow other antibiotics to get into the cell and kill
“I’ll run a reaction, work it up, and see if it worked. If it didn’t work, I’ll try something new,” he added. “There’s no textbook you can go to to make sure what you’re doing will work. You just have to wait and see. That’s science. You’ve got your hypothesis, and then you’ve got all of your testing to test it out.” He and other members of Schwabacher’s lab are still working toward their goal, but Birdsong says his early results do show some promise – “in my undergraduate opinion,” he hastened to add. “I think that a lot of the things I’ve been doing have worked well and shown that it’s possible.” And in the meantime, his research has taught him a lot, and not just about bacteria. “I’ve learned about how chemical synthesis works, which is really interesting. I’ve learned a lot of good lab techniques,” Birdsong said. “I’m really lucky to have the experience at Milwaukee to be able to do research.” View Birdsong’s presentation at https://bit.ly/3yLNhGZ.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 9
Alum’s child
Congratulations to the class of 2021! The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee held a virtual Commencement on May 16, 2021. We in the College of Letters & Science wish our graduates bright futures and much happiness as you venture out into the world beyond college. Congratulations on your outstanding achievements! College of Letters & Science graduate Darian Dixon delivered the Commencement address. Dixon majored in geosciences and graduated in 2015. He now works at NASA where is he currently the Mastcam-Z data management lead on the Mars Perseverance Rover. Below is the entirety of the UWM Commencement, including well wishes from graduating students, Darian Dixon’s address, and the list of UWM graduates. The College of Letters & Science graduates begin at 2:07:46. Watch the video here or on YouTube at https://youtu.be/A25EZp4xF4w.
Darian Dixon spent his childhood nights staring at the glowing stars and planets adorning the walls and ceiling of his bedroom. But weighed down by his circumstances on Earth, he wondered if he’d ever get much closer to space than that. “I was a poor Black boy with an uncertain future in a single-parent household, a prime recipe for a ‘statistic,’” Dixon said. Once, when mother Gloria was between jobs, she called him into her room and sat him down. “She holds up two pennies and tells me, ‘Sweetheart, this is all we have now.’ But she also told me this wouldn’t be for long. And come hell or high water, we would find a way.” Gloria was right. And today, Dixon’s path has taken him all the way to the surface of Mars. The 2015 UWM graduate, who delivered the commencement address at UWM’s 2021 spring graduation, plays a key role on NASA’s $3 billion Perseverance Rover, which landed on Mars in February. Dixon is Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z data management lead. His duties involve guiding the two Mastcam-Z cameras, which are part of the rover’s array of nearly two dozen cameras. They’re capturing panoramic stills to help scientists learn more about the planet’s atmosphere, landscape and soils. And he teamed with colleagues to quickly ensure Mastcam-Z footage of the inaugural Ingenuity helicopter flight was received back on Earth as soon as possible. Moreover, the Perseverance mission isn’t Dixon’s first Martian experience. He’s also been involved with the previous rover mission, Curiosity. For both missions, Dixon has handled the data storage, coding and programming needed to take thousands of images and transmit them 150 million miles to Earth.
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dhood dreams took him to Mars “There are a lot of ones and zeroes that speak in a language that only the rover understands,” Dixon said. Using their command of coding, Dixon and his team tell the cameras how to point at, focus on and acquire images. Without them, humans would never see what the rovers see, including one of the most famous images taken by Curiosity in late 2019 and known as the “gigapixel.” At 1.8 billion pixels, it’s the highest-resolution picture ever taken on any exoplanetary body. It took four days for the team to write the commands, verify them and instruct the camera to create the image. “It turned out to be spectacular,” said Dixon, who lives with his wife in southern California. “We pulled it off without a hitch.” Dixon’s interplanetary journey began in earnest at UWM, and his connection to UWM started long before began he earned his bachelor’s degree in geosciences. He grew up near campus and his mother attended UWM. In fact, some of his earliest memories are of being with Gloria in the Student Union. Along the way, Gloria inspired and encouraged him to dream and believe despite their many challenges. She’s now community giving manager at the Washington state corporate offices of BECU, the country’s largest nonfederal credit union. “Watching her climb to where she is has been an integral part of my journey and my motivation,” Darian Dixon said. With support from Gloria and his “amazing stepfather,” Troy Hubbard, Dixon enrolled at Dominican University in Chicago, then transferred to UWM. Although he wanted to find a field that would lead to a space-related career, he initially majored in political science. “I was terrified of taking classes that I thought would be too difficult or
Darian Dixon poses in front of a model of the Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2012. (Photo courtesy of Darian Dixon)
a career path that would be too hard,” Dixon said. But eventually, he found the courage to pursue his first love, as well as support at UWM to do just that. “A week after I decided I wanted to go into geology and into the space industry, I was in Professor’s Lindsay McHenry’s office talking to her about my interest in Mars and planetary geology.”
stars on his bedroom walls.
He worked alongside faculty members on undergraduate research projects, graduated, and later earned a master’s degree in planetary geology at Western Washington University. Next stop: Mars.
That’s why he’s passionate about inspiring other students to follow their dreams, too, especially students of color. He encourages them to pursue careers in the STEM-related fields of science, technology, engineering and math. He’s chatted with UWM students during Geek Week and will share his story with new UWM graduates at the 2021 Spring Commencement.
Working with the Mars rovers means adjusting his sleeping and waking cycles to Mars time, which is 40 minutes a day longer than Earth time. The effects, he said, are like a permanent case of jet lag, but the rewards are well worth it. When asked about the value of space exploration, he can list all of the products and knowledge the work has produced. But for him, it comes down to the sense of possibility that began when a little boy stared at those sparkling
“We’re exploring the final frontier. It’s something that fills our hearts with awe and wonder,” Dixon said. “I don’t think you can put a price on that. You just get to look up and be happy that you are part of something that is much bigger than humanity.”
He knows that they, like him, can start with two cents, reach for the stars and capture a planet. By Kathy Quirk, University Relations
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 11
Best wishes to Letters & S
Over the course of the past two years, we have bid a fond farewell to ma
Unfortunately in 2020 and 2021, we were unable to celebrate in-person as we usually do to send ou retirement. Whether their dreams lead them to new hobbies, travel, volunteer work, or just free time to s contributions to Letters & Science! Thank you to all of our retirees for their dedicated servic
Below is a list of faculty and sta David Allen
Professor
JAMS
Evelyn Ang
Sr. Lecturer
Communication
Joan Baumgart
Sr. Administrative Specialist
History
Jay Beder
Professor
Mathematical Sciences
Allen Bell
Associate Professor
Mathematical Sciences
Peter Blewett
Sr. Lecturer
English
Atsuko Borgmann
Sr. Lecturer
Foreign Language & Literature
Mary Buley-Meissner
Professor
English
Robert Clare
Sr. Lecturer
Biology
George Clark
Professor
English
Mike Darnell
Assistant Dean
Dean’s Office
Patricia Fefer
Program Assistant
Steven Frost
Professor
Human Resources and Labor Relations Biological Sciences
Donna Genzmer
Director of Cartography and GIS
Geography
Susan Gordan
Sr. Lecturer
Physics
Joseph P. Gray
Professor
Anthropology
Timothy Grundl
Professor
Geosciences
Carol Hirschmugl
Professor
Physics
Yang Ho
Clinical Professor and Director
Actuarial Science program
Douglas Howland
Professor
History
Guilherme Indig
Associate Professor
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Georgette Jaworski
Academic Department Associate
Philosophy
Donna Ge
Gregory Jay
Professor
English
Robert Jeske
Professor
Anthropology
Timothy
Stellia Jordan
Sr. Lecturer
Spanish
Gwynne Kennedy
Associate Professor
Josepha Lanters
Professor
English and Women’s & Gender Studies English
Barbara Lettermann
University Services Associate
History
Susan Lima
Associate Professor
Psychology
Michael Liston
Professor
Philosophy
Paul Lyman
Professor
Physics
12 • IN FOCUS • June, 2021
Some faculty a online bulletin boa may leave your Please feel fre message for any faculty or staff wh your life here
Jay Be
Peter Bl
Barbara Le
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David Pe
Mary S
Caterina Hans Vo
Science retirees, 2020-2021
any of our wonderful faculty and staff in the College of Letters & Science.
ur new retirees on their way. Nevertheless, we hope each and every one enjoys a happy and healthy spend with family and friends, we wish our retirees all the best and will greatly miss their knowledge and ce and commitment to teaching, research, and making UWM a valuable community partner.
aff who retired in 2020 and 2021.
and staff have ards where you warm wishes. ee to leave a of the following ho have touched e at UWM!
eder
Janna Masch
Financial Specialist
Dean’s Office
Yair Mazor
Professor
Foreign Language & Literature
Bonnie Murphy
Financial Specialist
Biological Sciences
Bairbre Ni Chiardha
Sr. Lecturer
Celtic Studies
Bonnie North
Sr. Broadcast Specialist
WUWM
Julie Oliver
Professor
Biological Sciences
Kathryn Olson
Professor
Communication
David Osmon
Professor
Psychology
Neal Pease
Professor
History
Bernard Perley
Associate Professor
Anthropology
Jenny Peshut
Academic Department Associate Distinguished Professor
French, Italian, & Comparative Literature Chemistry & Biochemistry
Mai Phillips
Sr. Administrative Program Specialist
Cindy Piercy
Assistant Dean
Conservation & Environmental Science Dean’s Office
Anne Preuss
Sr. HR Assistant
Dean’s Office
John Richards
Sr. Scientist
Anthropology
Patricia Richards
Sr. Scientist
Anthropology
Robyn Ridley
Associate Professor
Psychology
David Petering
lewett
Deborah Ritchie-Kolberg Program Assistant Doug Stafford Sr. Scientist
Sociology
enzmer
Sally Stanton
Sr. Lecturer
English
Grundl
Doug Steeber
Professor
Biological Sciences
Mary Stone
Outreach Specialist
Psychology
Caterina Sukup
Sr. Accountant
Dean’s Office
Richard Tierney
Associate Professor
Philosophy
Trudy Turner
Distinguished Professor
Anthropology
Hans Volkmer
Professor
Mathematical Sciences
Nancy Wolf
University Services Associate 2
Geosciences
Robert Wood
Sr. Lecturer
Physics
Yi Ming Zou
Professor
Mathematical Sciences
ettermann
Pease
etering
Stone
Sukup olkmer
Chemistry & Biochemistry
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 13
In the Media and Around the Community Deteriorating dams on the Grand River in Michigan pose a threat to residents of Lansing, Michigan, graduate student Ryan Filbin (Geography) stated in an article published by the Lansing City Pulse. Students in the Conservation and Environmental Science capstone class, taught by Neal O’Reilly, gave a presentation on preserving oak savannahs at the Lynden Sculpture garden in early May. Social media can play an important part in journalism and history, Marc Tasman (Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) noted in a Fox6 News interview about a shooting at Midtown Center. The station called on his expertise again to discuss how home surveillance videos posted to social media have become a tool to fight crime, and WUWM Radio asked him to explain its role in social justice movements. Tasman was also a keynote panelist in May for a book launch of “Self-Representation in an Expanded Field: From Self-Portraiture to Selfie, Contemporary Art in the Social Media Age” (MDPI Books) for which he contributed a chapter.
Why is there a statue of Gandhi outside of the Milwaukee County Courthouse? Chris Cantwell (History) asked that question of WUWM’s “Bubbler Talk” show and received a very thorough answer. The pandemic depressed gas prices last fall, Kundan Kishor (Economics) observed in an article published in the Washington County Daily News. Elana Levine (English) assessed how talk show television and cable TV in general has changed for Yahoo! Finance in an article about the ending of Ellen Degeneres’ talk show. Bettina Arnold (Anthropology) gave an invited lecture at the University of Cambridge’s MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research via Zoom on May 17, 2021.
14 • IN FOCUS • June, 2021
Partisanship and polarization within the government reared its head after the Civil War, Hong Min Park (Political Science) said in an article for The Dallas Morning News, though the U.S. has a long history of amity across the aisles as well. Declining church membership in the United States isn’t a sign that America is more secular; rather, it may just be less outwardly Christian, Chris Cantwell (History) said in a Spectrum 1 News piece. Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s popularity has dropped as the country’s economy stagnates, which may explain the Kremlin’s harsh crackdowns on any sign of opposition, John Reuter (Political Science) told CBC News. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal talked to Madeline Redell (‘20, BA Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) about one local bar’s method of stress relief for new graduates: Throw an ax at your old textbooks. Paul Engevold (Greenhouse) discussed the rare bloom of one of the UWM Greenhouse’s Corpse Flowers on WUWM Radio. Human remains found at the site of a proposed golf course in Sheboygan County are likely from Woodlandera Native Americans, dating back sometime between 500 B.C. and 1200 A.D., Jennifer Haas (Archaeological Research Laboratory) told Wisconsin Watch. The Baltic states’ embrace of dominant free market ideas after gaining their independence in the 1990s led to two decades of underdevelopment, Jeffrey Sommers (African and African Diaspora Studies and Global Studies) opined in an interview with the Lithuanian publication LRT. He also analyzed the impact of such policies on the Latvian economy in a Latvia Public Media interview. Tim O’Brien (Sociology) noted in a Washington Post article that fewer Americans than ever are associated with a church, but that doesn’t mean that the country has grown more secular.
People in Print Marc Levine (emeritus History) discussed Milwaukee’s egregious racial segregation in an article published by Wisconsin Watch. Several police reform bills have been circulating in the Wisconsin Legislature following a year of Black Lives Matter protests. Paru Shah (Political Science) explained the most prominent bills for WUWM Radio. Margo Anderson (emerita History) commented on the Census Bureau’s announcement that it intends to use synthetic data to protect respondants’ privacy in an article published by the Associated Press. In an article for Truthout.org, Rachel Buff (History) reminded readers that the feel-good stories of migrant families separated at the border under a Trump-era rule gloss over continuing deportations. David Pacifico (Art History) co-edited a special edition of the Journal of Archaeology and Education dedicated to teaching and learning online. Pacifico’s introductory chapter (co-authored with Rebecca Robertson, Humboldt State) introduces the main themes of connection and community in online courses. Pacifico’s individual chapter reports on archaeological research he conducts with UWM students online using satellite imagery.
Robin A. Fritche, Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, and Jae Yung Song (both Linguistics). 2021. Do adults produce phonetic variants of /t/ less often in speech to children? Journal of Phonetics, 87. https://bit.ly/3tF6c27
Brian J. Butterworth, Ankur R. Desai, Stefan Metzger, Philip A. Townsend, Mark D. Schwartz (Geography), ... and Ting Zheng. 2021. Connecting LandAtmosphere Interactions to Surface Heterogeneity in CHEESEHEAD 2019. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 102(2): E421-445. https://bit.ly/3ihsV2z
Jon D. Kahl, Brandon R. Selbig, and Austin R. Harris (all Atmospheric Science). 2021. Meteorologically stratified gust factors for forecasting peak wind gusts across the United States. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Online. https://bit.ly/3vwKwai
Sarah E. Riforgiate (Communication) and Michael W. Kramer. 2021. The Nonprofit Assimilation Process and Work-Life Balance. Sustainability, 13(11): 5993. https://bit.ly/3ySFEP4
Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece (English and Film Studies). 2021. Technologies of Blackness: Aldo Tambellini, Psychedelia, Widescreen, Media. Cultural Critique (112).
Upcoming Events Bestselling Author and NFL pro talk math Join the College of Letters & Science on June 2 for a virtual conversation with New York Times bestselling author Jordan Ellenberg and John Urschel, former guard with the Baltimore Ravens. Ellenberg is the author of “SHAPE: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else”. He and Urschel will discuss mathematics over Zoom.
Join the Planetarium for full moon fun! In June, the UWM Planetarium and Urban Ecology Center will team up to provide some late night exploration through both the City of Milwaukee and the night sky. Join in on a hike through Riverside Park as Planetarium Director Jean Creighton teaches about the moon and other celestial bodies. Registration is required. Please pick the attendance fee that is right for you and your guests.
This event is in partnership with Boswell Books.
When: June 23 at 7 p.m.
When: June 2 at 7 p.m.
Where: Riverside Park
Where: Zoom
Register at: https://bit.ly/3fW4SDi
Register at: https://bit.ly/3vIaxDr
Questions? Email programs@urbanecologycenter.org. College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 15
Laurels and Accolades Undergraduate student Jay Stahl (Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) was named a junior board member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) in the organization’s ChicagoMidwest chapter. The board, made up of students and young professionals, is the first of its kind for NATAS, which oversees the Emmy Awards and promotes excellence in the television broadcast industry. The junior board members are explicitly tasked with engaging younger members of the broadcast industry. (https://bit. ly/3bnUin7) He also accepted a position as an intern for the Wausau Daily Herald. Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece (English and Film Studies) and Richard Grusin’s (English and Center for 21st Century Studies) co-edited book, “Ends of Cinema,” was longlisted for the 2021 Kraszna-Krauz Moving Image Book Award. Mark Schwartz’s (Geography) “Spring Indices” models, which predict the start of spring across the United States, are being used as one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Indicators in a newlyrelaunched website detailing climate change and its effects on the population. Min Gyu Kim (Physics) was selected to receive one of two 2021 Outstanding Young Research Awards
(the AKPA OYRA) from the Association of Korean Physicists in America. The award presentation will be held during the Association of Korean Physicists in America/Korean Physical Society joint symposium in May.
Kimberly Blaeser’s (English and American Indian Studies) poem, “About Standing (In Kinship),” was published in Poetry Magazine. “Tonsorium” was published in “Sheltering with Poems: Community and Connection during COVID,” and the lyric essay, “Body Language,” was published in Notre Dame Magazine. She also presented a feature reading as a part of Kimberly Blaeser Denison University’s Beck Series and presented “Native Arts & Indigenous Flourishing” as part of an NEA Big Read event at Eastern Illinois. Finally, her poetry collection, “Copper Yearning,” was selected as Book of the Month by the nationally syndicated radio program Native American Calling. She was the featured guest on the live broadcast April 28. Students in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program raked in handfuls of Milwaukee Press Club Awards this season, earning both more Gold awards and more awards total than any other Milwaukee university. Scroll to Page 20 in the program to see a list of collegiate award winners. Jennifer Deroche (Advising) received the 2021 ACN Advisor of the Year award from the UWM Advisors and Counselors Network. The award recognizes the hard work of those whose primary job responsibility is advising/ counseling students.
Min Guy Kim
Spotlight on Italian On April 29, 2021, via Zoom, the Neapolitan painter Francesco Fiscardi gave a talk about his painting “Milwaukee as Seen from Space,” to UWM students of Ojibwe and Italian, with a discussion afterward. The encounter was organized by Dr. Margaret Noodin, Department of English, and Dr. Robin Pickering-Iazzi, Department of French, Italian, and Comparative Literature. An article about the event was published in The Voice of New York. 16 • IN FOCUS • June, 2021
Francesco Fiscardi
Alumni Accomplishments Will Bott (‘15, BA Sociology and Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) is the co-founder of an app called bLinkup, designed to help people connect with potential new friends to forge connections and relationships outside of social media. The app, created in 2018, recently launched at UCLA. https://bit. ly/2SK3dZI
Zav Dadabhoy (‘88, BA Sociology) has been named the interim president of Bakersfield College in California after the college’s president left the role. Dadabhoy was previously the Vice President of Student Affairs at Bakersfield College and is the most senior member of the college’s executive team. https://
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bit.ly/33FjJw5
Zav Dadabhoy
John Quinnies (‘21, BA Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) joined the Wisconsin Patch team as a field editor, drawing on his university experience working for UWM publications. https://bit.ly/3vZKaJ9
Molly Connor (‘14, PhD Psychology) was promoted from assistant to associate professor with tenure at St. Mary’s College in Minnesota. Connor has been a member of the university’s psychology faculty since 2014. https:// bit.ly/2RZ4USK
Geraud Blanks (‘14, BA African and African Diaspora Studies and Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies; ‘16, MA Media Studies) is the 2021 winner of the Abele Catalyst Award presented by Milwaukee Film. This is the first time the award has been given to an employee of the organization; Blanks is Milwaukee Film’s Chief Innovation Officer and Geraud Blanks co-founded its Black Lens program in 2014. In 2019, he was hired full-time to start what is now known as the Cultures and Communities Film Festival, now in its third year in September. https://bit. Katharine Miller (‘96, BA Communication) was named the executive director of the newly-created philanthropic organization Front Porch Communities Foundation. Miller previously led the Covia Foundation. https://bit. ly/2Ticp7H
Rebekah Bain (‘21, MA History and MLIS) was accepted as a junior fellow in the Library of Congress’ summer internship program in the Library’s Manuscript Division. https://bit.ly/3bUTAxN Ethan Duran (‘20, BA Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) joined Patch.com as a reporter covering the MIlwaukee suburbs of Brookfield, New Berlin, and Wauwatosa. https://bit.ly/3buAq1G
Video Story The No. 1 challenge Latinx students face is access to sufficient funding to complete their degrees. PALM (Promoting Academics in Latino Milwaukee) is an ongoing scholarship fund created to retain and graduate Latinx students at UWM. Meet Michael Vazquez, a political science major who received the Puente Award in 2021. https://youtu.be/oLxjkzHV6cY
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 17
Congratulations to the Class of 2021 Letters & Science graduates! We are so Panther Proud! Pictured here is Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies major major Lexi Schroeder. Photo by Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies major Jay Stahl.
