UWM Alumni magazine, Fall 2011

Magazine of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Vol. 13, No. 2 Fall 2011

Black, Gold and

GLOBAL

Alumni

Table of CONTENTS

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Chancellor: Michael R. Lovell Vice Chancellor for University Relations and Communications: Tom Luljak (’95) Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations: Patricia Borger Director of Communications and Media Relations: Laura Porfilio Glawe (’89) Editor: Nancy A. Mack (’71) Associate Editor: Angela McManaman (’00, ’08) Assistant Editor: Laura L. Hunt Graphic Designer: Mario R.Lopez Photography: UWM Photo Services UWM Alumni is published two times a year for alumni and other friends of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Send correspondence and address changes to: UWM Alumni, UWM Alumni Association, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 alumni.uwm.edu.

Phone: address changes 414-906-4667 all other inquiries 414-229-4290 ISSN: 1550-9583

Not printed at taxpayer expense

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1 Panther & Proud

2 Quotable & Notable 4 New @ UWM

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BLACK, GOLD AND GLOBAL

International studies and experiences are essential to a 21st-century education

14 TWO UWM DEGREES MAKE ONE U.S. AMBASSADOR

Luis Arreaga’s journey took him from Guatemala to UWM… to the U.S. Embassy in Iceland

16 A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY UWM education major Alicia Skeeter retraces the Freedom Rides of 1961

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STUDENT BY DAY, TRAVELER FOR LIFE

A two-continent independent study on a 40-year-old dirt bike

20 2011 UWM Alumni Association awards 26 Panther Athletics 29 Class notes 30 Career Questions 32 Autism through a new lens 34 Telling Milwaukee’s stories 36 Doctors’ advice

On the cover: UWM is black, gold – and global. The university’s degrees are as far-reaching and relevant as today’s world.

Photo montage by Mario R. Lopez

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PANTHER

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PROUD

CHANCELLOR’S WELCOME So much of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee infrastructure is either being renovated or built anew that it seems quite fitting for our alumni magazine to be emerging with a new design. As could be said for many parts of our university: “Welcome to our new look.”

It came as no surprise to me that the redesign of our alumni magazine will include a stronger emphasis on our alumni. Although my tenure at this university is relatively short, I quickly learned of the great appreciation that UWM alumni have for their university and the difference it has made in their lives.

I am continually impressed by the significant professional accomplishments and community contributions made by alumni. You are going to be learning a lot more about these individuals on the pages of this magazine.

One last observation I can offer about UWM alumni pertains to just how many of you there are. At recent public speaking engagements, I have been asking for a show of hands of how many UWM graduates are in the audience. I have come to expect many hands to be raised – and also to expect a significant audible response from the audience when they realize Panthers are everywhere. You’ll be reading stories about them on these pages.

Again, welcome to our redesigned UWM Alumni.

Michael R. Lovell Chancellor

CHANCELLOR MICHAEL R. LOVELL Michael R. Lovell was officially approved as UWM’s eighth chancellor by the UW System Board of Regents in May and was formally inaugurated on Oct. 14. He joined UWM in 2008 as dean of the College of Engineering & Applied Science, and had served as interim chancellor since October 2010.

ROTC MEMORIES

The article that described the impact that veterans have on UWM that appeared in the most recent issue of UWM Today (Spring ’11) brought back a lot of memories that I have not thought of in years.

I attended UWM in the “dark ages” when tuition was $75 a semester and there were far fewer students than attend today. At the time I attended UWM, enrollment in ROTC was required of all male students. I had to take ROTC even though I had just completed a two-year

tour of duty in the Navy! So every Tuesday I put on my U.S. Army uniform (WWII leftovers) and dutifully trooped off to school for classes in military history, maintenance of the MI rifle and other related classes.

I had about 8 or 9 months to go before I completed my Navy reserve obligation. It happened that my reserve meeting night was Tuesday. So I would leave for school in the morning dressed in an Army uniform, come home in the evening, have dinner and dress up in my Navy uniform for my reserve meeting.

I’m sure my neighbors were confused and probably thought that my widowed mother was “keeping” servicemen in her house.

I had come from two years in the NAVY where you never questioned authority. So my fellow vets laughed at me and with me at my situation. I completed my ROTC obligation and gladly turned in my uniform at the end of my freshman year.

Today I assume there is no requirement for all freshmen males to take ROTC. Too bad. I did gain something from the experience. Down through the years I have had a great time telling that story at cocktail parties.

Thanks once again.

Yours truly, Michael Clark, BA Journalism ‘64 Coopersburg, Penn.

VET STORY SOARS

Thank you for the excellent coverage of UWM student veterans (Spring 2011). It should be required reading for all students, faculty, staff and families. I appreciate the quotes by professors and other UWM personnel.

Now, we need to make more progress on the important tasks needed to improve support services and graduation outcomes for our student veterans.

Patricia Arredondo Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UWM

Letters to the UWM Alumni editor: Letters to the editor must relate to UWM. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author’s mailing address, UWM college or school attended, academic program where applicable and year(s) of graduation. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity or factual accuracy, or to reject letters of unsuitable content. Letters may be critical where appropriate, but should be cordial in tone. Opinions expressed in the “letters” section do not necessarily reflect the views of UWM. Submissions will be accepted via USPS or email: Letters Editor, UWM Alumni, Mitchell B95, 3203 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53211; alm5@uwm.edu

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QUOTABLE

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FILM GRAD WALKS WITH WARHOL, WRITES BOOK

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homas Kiedrowski (BFA Film ’00) has been walking in the footsteps of Andy Warhol for years. Now he’s written the book to prove it.

“Andy Warhol’s New York City: Four Walks Uptown to Downtown” sifts through 80 sites that figured prominently in the life, work and legend of Andy Warhol.

Kiedrowski isn’t worried the book will put his intimate, independent “The Andy Warhol Sites Tour” out of business. What didn’t make it into the book are more than 200 additional Warhol sites, which he offers during his by-request-only tours.

Kiedrowski consulted archives, newspapers, even phone books, and interviewed New Yorkers who knew the artist well.

“There were so many contradictory stories about him. I wondered, ‘How could all this be real?’ Andy was great at creating his own gossip. He thought it was hilarious.

Andy Warhol in the Silver Factory 1966 © Gretchen Berg

Win a copy Want to win an autographed copy of Kiedrowski’s book, courtesy of publisher The Little Bookroom? Log on to the Alumni Association Facebook account at facebook.com/uwmalumni.

There you’ll find more about Kiedrowski and Andy Warhol. The first person to wall-post the correct year of Warhol’s premier NYC solo exhibition will receive a copy. All entries must be posted to the official Alumni Facebook page.

“I became determined to get beyond Andy Warhol the mythmaker…he was not instantly a guy who wore this wig and did all these things.”

UWM NAMED TOP 25 FILM SCHOOL – in the world

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on’t take our word for it. Read The Hollywood Reporter, July 27 edition.

Its inaugural list of the world’s 25 best film schools recognizes institutions from the coastal (Cal Arts and USC to NYU and RISD) to the scenic (Prague’s FAMU, Colorado Film School) to the elite (France’s La Femis, Beijing Film Academy).

That’s some distinguished company for UWM and the Peck School of the Arts, whose Department of Film occupies spot No. 20 on the Top 25 list.

“We are truly honored to be recognized in the Hollywood Reporter’s inaugural list of top film schools, especially since we are in such excellent company with other leading film programs,” says Peck School of the Arts Dean Wade Hobgood. “For more than 40 years, our film faculty have been guiding undergraduate and graduate students to create an artistic voice with a mastery of creative, conceptual and technical skills.”

The Reporter agrees: “UWM is far from the coastal film capitals,” states its review, “but its small program trains mainstream talents.”

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PRINCETON BOOSTS PANTHER PRIDEWATER COMES HOME

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WM makes two big appearances on the pages of the Princeton Review: as one of the best and one of the greenest colleges or universities in the U.S. Last spring, the Review included UWM in its Annual Guide to Green Colleges, noting (groan) the university’s location in the “Beer Capital of the World.”

Things got more serious as the Review noted UWM’s commitment to minimizing runoff into Lake Michigan with a stormwater master plan and green roofs to absorb rainfall. Green highlights also include auctioning unwanted furniture and equipment, and the Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling Initiative that transforms old drywall into new gypsum or aggregate for concrete.

This year marks UWM’s second appearance on the Green Colleges list.

And, the Review’s “2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region” lists UWM as one of the “Best in the Midwest” colleges or universities based on the strength of our academic programs and student surveys. This puts UWM in the top 25 percent of four-year colleges in the U.S.

LEEDing the UW System

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lack and gold shines even brighter at UWM since the U.S. Green Building Council named the university’s Cambridge Commons the first LEED Gold Certified building in the University of Wisconsin System.

University administrators, developers and Milwaukee environmental leaders worked together to shape a 750-bed student residence at a competitive price using the latest in green building materials.

The residence opened to students last September.

An emerald courtyard and wall of native trees and foliage are all that stand between the residence and the river. Even during dry spells the courtyard is hydrated with rainwater, which collects in a 20,000-gallon cistern under the building’s west lawn.

Cambridge Commons earned high marks for other features that include: • Electronic weather vane that monitors weather conditions and can alert building staff when additional watering is needed to counter the effects of prolonged exposure to sunlight or high temperatures.

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• Green roof that absorbs water to minimize runoff to the Milwaukee River and deflects the sun’s rays.

• Individual temperature and bathroom controls in each suite. Occupants can modify their bedroom temperature within a five-degree range. In the bathroom they can choose between a toilet flush of 1.1 or 1.8 gallons. Full-sized refrigerators in every suite are more efficient than their miniature counterparts.

• Rows of solar panels that reduce the commons’ utility expenses.

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NEW

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Filming a TV spot for the new Powerful Ideas. Proven Results. campaign.

WM has launched Powerful Ideas.

Proven Results., a major new student-recruitment marketing campaign.

Print, television, billboards and the Internet will be used to deliver the message that UWM is the best choice for both traditional and nontraditional students seeking undergraduate and graduate degrees.

“This campaign comes at a critical time for UWM. It is more important than ever that UWM continue to attract a well-qualified and diverse student body. This campaign will help us do so by putting a spotlight on the great work being done by faculty, staff and students, in the classroom and the research labs,” says Chancellor Michael R. Lovell.

@ UWM

The results-driven campaign aims with laserlike focus on the results and accomplishments realized at the university in recent years – and those expected in the near future.

“A lot had happened in the previous five years to strengthen the UWM brand,” says Tom Luljak, vice chancellor for university relations and communications. “People knew things were changing at UWM. Extensive audience research told us we had really moved the needle forward in terms of public perception of UWM, and that set the stage for Powerful Ideas. Proven Results.”

A primary goal of the campaign is to generate interest and awareness of UWM’s academic offerings among prospective students and parents in a media market crowded with more than 25 competing institutions of higher education.

Do you know UWM well? Do you have a Powerful Idea to share? Visit power.uwm.edu.

NEW ADDRESS FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS

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enovations and relocations related to the university’s acquisition of Columbia Hospital moved quickly this summer, and the latest permanent resident of UWM’s Northwest Quadrant is now open for business.

The Honors House opened it doors to some of the university’s best/brightest students Sept. 1. Honors House is located on the corner of Newport and Maryland avenues, former home of the Columbia Hospital School for Nurses. All faculty, advisers and staff of the UWM Honors College have made the move into the renovated space, where most honors courses will be held. The new Honors House also boasts two study centers for students and subsidized, student-only parking in the Northwest Quadrant parking structure.

BADER GIFT SUPPORTS NEW SCIENCES COMPLEX

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An artist’s rendering of the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex.

ilwaukee philanthropists Isabel and Alfred Bader have made a gift of $1.6 million to UWM for the construction of the new Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC).

KIRC will be the first new building on the UWM campus in more than a decade. The Physics Department will be the anchor tenant.

When completed in 2015, KIRC will combine at one campus location researchers

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working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The facility will foster collaborations among university scientists and industry partners.

UWM’s Center for Gravitation and Cosmology, which will be housed in KIRC, will be named in honor of UWM Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics Leonard E. Parker, former director of the center.

UWM’S ‘BIG BUILD’ GETS UNDER WAY

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he expansion of UWM moved beyond the planning stages and into execution over the summer with groundbreaking on two major building projects, both described as “transformational” for both the university and the Milwaukee region.

Innovation Park In August, UWM and the UWM Real Estate Foundation officially launched construction on Innovation Park, a 71-acre site near the largest academic health cluster in Southeastern Wisconsin.

When completed, Innovation Park is expected to spur strong and enduring partnerships between academia and industry, attract businesses to Milwaukee and lead to new products, spinoff companies, workforce development and jobs.

The event celebrated the beginning of work on the site’s roads and infrastructure. In 2012, a separate groundbreaking event is planned for the first new building at Innovation Park – a 25,000-square-foot business accelerator facility funded in part by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA).

Purchased from Milwaukee County for $13.5 million, the site will include not only academic research and industry facilities, but also

privately developed housing and a wildlife habitat.

School of Public Health UWM also kicked off construction of an addition to the new graduate-level School of Public Health in July, naming it in honor of Joseph J. Zilber, the late business, civic and philanthropic leader, whose support was vital in establishing the school.

The school will partner with the city’s Health Department in conducting academic research and combating public health problems.

The ceremony was held at the former brewery complex near N. 10th St. and E. Juneau Ave., just west of downtown Milwaukee, where a 30,000-square-foot addition is being built onto an existing building that is being remodeled.

The event concluded with a ceremonial “concrete pour.” The concrete was poured into forms, which were then signed by city and university officials. The signed blocks will be incorporated into tables that will be used in the student café.

HISTORIC HOME FOR JEWISH STUDIES The Greene Memorial Museum building is now the home of the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies at UWM. The historic campus building was remodeled with the help of a $2 million donation from the Baye Foundation.

The Center for Jewish Studies was created in 1997 and supports a multidisciplinary undergraduate major and minor in Jewish Studies. The center also offers conferences, workshops and free public lectures.

The restored building was designed by noted Milwaukee architect Alexander C. Eschweiler in 1913, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Until 1992, it housed a small geology museum, but has been used for storage since then.

The center was renamed for the parents of Pearl Berkowitz, trustee of the Baye Foundation.

An opening dedication is set for Sunday, Nov. 13, from 2 to 4 p.m.

The renovated Greene Memorial Museum is now home to the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies.

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Top: Dignitaries gathered for the groundbreaking on UWM’s Innovation Park.

Above: Chancellor Michael R. Lovell signs a concrete block that will be incorporated into café tables at the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health.

UWM degrees are as far-reaching and relevant as toda

BLACK, GOLD A

UWM Interim Provost Johannes Britz (left) and Dick Kawooya, a Ugandan lecturer in the School of Information Studies, are both involved in efforts to bring access to communication technologies to more Africans.

ay’s world

AND GLOBAL

By Laura L. Hunt

Earlier this year, Milwaukee native Katie Gajeski (’11 MS Biological Sciences) landed what could arguably be the choicest internship for a student in public health – and found herself with a role in an international public health emergency.

While she was interning at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami struck, causing radiation leakage from two nuclear reactors.

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ith potassium iodide as the only remedy WHO could offer the Japanese, Gajeski was asked to compile a study of whether it really prevented radiation poisoning.

Though she didn’t travel to the devastated island, Gajeski’s once-in-a-lifetime internship was as global as it gets.

The world has become a smaller, more interconnected place. Even those who never leave Wisconsin increasingly communicate, live and do business with people abroad or from a foreign country.

“International studies and experiences are not just an add-on to a degree. They are essential to a 21st-century education,” says

Patrice Petro, vice provost for international education and director of the Center for International Education (CIE). “Just look at local companies like Kohler, based here but doing business worldwide.”

For Kohler employees, like Laura UbbelohdeKorff (’07 BA Global Studies-Management, BA German), it means her office isn’t that far from where she grew up in Sheboygan Falls.

But she hosts overseas customers and travels often in her job.

“Since my career started with Kohler, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to France, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa,” she says.

In the last decade, UWM has experienced impressive growth in its international academic

Alumnus Ramidu Mirissage surveys the factory floor at Briggs & Stratton’s headquarters in Milwaukee.

Mirissage was the first student chosen for the company’s international internship, in which he worked at Briggs’ facilities in both Milwaukee and China.

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programs, research, study-abroad options, and international student recruitment and retention.

From foreign language-specific floors in its residence halls to research partnerships with universities in other countries, UWM – still the hometown university – is also now thoroughly assimilated into the international landscape.

UNIQUE NEW MAJOR The university was an early player in bringing a world view to its coursework and outreach. In 1960, UWM established the Institute of World Affairs to engage the community in discussion about international issues. It offered the first interdisciplinary International Studies degree program in Wisconsin. Then, in 2005, came the innovative bachelor of arts degree in Global Studies.

The major, which now enrolls nearly 400 students, combines liberal arts and professional education with opportunities to develop cross-cultural competencies. Unique in the nation, the degree program requires eight semesters of a foreign language, one semester of study abroad and an international internship.

The first of four tracks, the Global Management track, created with the Lubar School of Business, began recruiting among already enrolled students around 2001. That was when Brian Thompson (’07 BA Global Studies-Management, BA Russian) heard of it.

Thompson had entered UWM with the specific goal of eventually living and working abroad.

He was looking for an international business program, but felt that the addition of a foreign language would help him stand out from other business grads. He was among the first to

enroll in the Global Studies degree program.

Today, he works for an oil field services firm – a Fortune Global 500 company – in Surgut, Russia. The real value of the Global Studies degree, he says, is the cultural literacy skills he learned. “It provides the framework to understand the cultural perspective and to respect the importance of that,” he says. “I didn’t realize how I’d need that until I started working abroad.”

In addition to Global Management, the Global Studies degree now offers three other tracks – Global Communication, Global Security and Global Cities.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ‘GATEWAYS’ For some, a language turned out to be the major they discovered through the back door.

Like many undergraduates, Jacob Gill (’11 BA Global Studies-Communication) couldn’t decide what to study in college. So he took some time off and started a business servicing Asian cars. After a work-related trip to Indonesia, he returned with an enthusiasm for Asian culture.

At UWM he signed up for first-semester Japanese, but the class was full. So he took the one remaining seat in the Chinese class.

His junior year, he landed an internship at CNN China.

Gill’s story is familiar to Jason Jones, UWM assistant professor of Japanese (Department of Foreign Languages and Literature). Pop culture and personal interests often act as “gateways” that attract students to foreign language study.

Jones himself discovered Japanese as a kid

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UWM RESOURCES FOR-CREDIT STUDENTS: • UWM’s Center for International Education (CIE) puts international internships, study abroad, language instruction, public programs on world affairs, advising and international student services all under one roof. uwm.edu/cie • College of Letters and Science Language Page: languages.uwm.edu NONCREDIT STUDENTS: • UWM’s School of Continuing Education offers noncredit classes and certificate programs in 22 languages and serves more than 1,200 students a year. www4.uwm.edu/sce/dci.cfm?id=681

DID YOU KNOW? • The Center for Celtic Studies was the first outside of Ireland to receive program funding from the Irish government.

• More international students are enrolling. Since 2007, international student enrollment has increased 21 percent.

• Since 2000, enrollments in UWM’s for-credit language courses have risen by 57 percent.

• The Polish language program was established by a mandate from the state Legislature in 1978.

• Each semester, 100 students are enrolled in UWM’s English as a Second Language program. Many of them then apply for admission to the university.

• The School of Continuing Education offers noncredit classes in 22 languages, ranging from American Sign Language to Thai.

• Each year, $160,000 is given to undergraduates who study abroad through the Wisconsin Study Abroad Grant. Other aid is available, and students can choose less-expensive, short-term study-abroad options.

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through a love of console video game systems.

When he couldn’t get the latest version of “Final Fantasy” in the U.S., he bought an import and tried to guess at the Japanese dialogue.

Learning the language became an obsession that fueled a career. An African American who grew up in a single-parent home in Chicago, Jones says learning a language takes you in directions you might not expect.

“I lived for 12 years in Japan,” says Jones, who joined the UWM faculty in 2010. “I can’t imagine that I would have done that if I hadn’t learned Japanese.”

Today, the university teaches the secondlargest number of languages among Wisconsin colleges and universities, including languages not offered anywhere else in the state, like Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa and Namibia.

Students anywhere can now enroll in for-credit German, Chinese and Afrikaans courses online through UWM. And last year, the French-to-English master’s degree in translation became available entirely online.

ALUMNI AND INDUSTRY TIES Not all study- and intern-abroad opportunities require proficiency in a foreign language. Some are short-term trips. All are transformative.

UWM students are building water systems in Guatemala, restoring medieval churches in Italy, working for multinational companies in Europe and China, participating in hands-on sustainable development in Romania, researching volcanoes in Iceland and documenting pollution-induced decay of cultural artifacts in Mexico.

Ramidu Mirissage’s work-study program at Briggs & Stratton turned global when he was chosen as the first student in the company’s new international co-op program.

Mirissage (’11 BS Mechanical Engineering) spent half of his senior year in Milwaukee, where he interned part-time at Briggs & Stratton and took classes on campus. The other half was spent working at the Briggs small-engine facility in central China, while studying at Chongqing University (CQU).

“I’m really glad I had a chance to do this,” he says. “You get to know how the people there think and work differently, and also understand their culture better.” Mirissage was born in Sri

Lanka and moved to Brookfield from Maryland with his family four years ago, just as he was ready to begin college.

The benefit of the new international co-op to UWM students is obvious, says David Yu, interim dean of the Graduate School, who is from Taiwan.

“We should learn how the engineers in China work in order to collaborate and compete with them,” says Yu. The arrangement is now a model, he says, for other such industry co-ops.

UWM engineering alumni made the unique partnership possible, Yu says. Several faculty members at CQU are UWM graduates, who proposed more joint research and student exchanges between the institutions.

STRONG GLOBAL ASSETS Joint degree programs with foreign universities are one way UWM draws international students to campus. But the cultural diversity of UWM faculty and the

“It’s such a different environment,” says alumnus Brian Thompson of living in Russia. “Even the littlest things are interesting. You can’t just go through life on autopilot. You’re always processing new information.”

Alumnus Jacob Gill got to practice his Chinese language skills when he interned at CNN in China in 2009.

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Left: Alumna Laura Ubbelohde-Korff, who works in international business development at Kohler Corp., traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend the Asia Pacific Distributors Conference.

Right: Jason Jones, assistant professor of Japanese (left), poses with a rickshaw driver in Kyoto, Japan. Jones lived in Japan for 12 years before coming to UWM in 2010.

global locations where they do research also recruit foreign students.

Nearly a thousand international students are on campus from 78 nations.

Some are lured by highly ranked graduate programs, such as those in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP).

International study has always been a hallmark of SARUP programs, as the 18 flags displayed in the school’s commons area attest, says Dean Robert Greenstreet, who is British.

They represent the countries where SARUP students have studied during Greenstreet’s long tenure. UWM students have access to study abroad in 32 countries, but not all are associated with every school or college.

In fact, SARUP alumni recently established a travel scholarship in the dean’s name (see opposite page).

Linking UWM internationally in the area of water research and policy is a high priority of the new dean of the graduate-level School of Freshwater Sciences. David Garman, a citizen

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of both England and Australia, has international contacts that will serve the school and Milwaukee well, showcasing UWM’s expertise at international centers for water technology and policy, such as Singapore and Stockholm, says UWM Interim Provost Johannes Britz.

Britz, who came to UWM as a visiting scholar from South Africa in 2001 and later became dean of the School of Information Studies (SOIS), has been involved in exploring the challenges of bringing communication technologies to Africa.

Through Britz’s efforts, SOIS is a member of multiple international collaborations of academics and policymakers exploring this and the impact of international copyright law in Africa.

He says he’s pushed to further internationalize UWM because it’s good for Milwaukee. “I came here as an international hire. I fell in love with the place, the lake and the people,” he says.

AND

TRAVEL TRIBUTE FOR UWM ARCHITECTURE DEAN

By Laura L. Hunt

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t’s expensive to be a doctoral student, says Sara Khorshidifard.

It’s not just the cost of tuition. The quality of your research, she says, is only as good as the resources available to accomplish it.

Those resources include money for traveling to her native Iran, where her research is centered. Khorshidifard studies socially constructed public spaces and place-making in the city of Tehran.

Her wish for additional resources came true recently with a new scholarship funded entirely by alumni of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. The fund honors the longevity of the school’s dean, Robert Greenstreet.

Now in his 30th year of teaching at UWM’s 44-year-old school and his 21st as dean, Greenstreet is the longest continuously serving dean of any architecture school in the nation.

“The scholarship focuses on travel because of my international roots and commitment to overseas travel and study for our students,” he says.

Khorshidifard illustrates the impact of that devotion to global architectural education. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Tehran and then began looking for a highly ranked institution for her doctoral program.

She says she narrowed it to three and ultimately chose UWM because of its stellar reputation.

More than 80 individuals have made gifts in support of the scholarship.

One of those, Theresa “Terry” Olsen, says that the one building people immediately identify with Milwaukee is

Sara Khorshidifard with Dean Robert Greenstreet

the Santiago Calatrava addition to the art museum. She credits Greenstreet with playing a pivotal role in bringing the Spanish “starchitect” to the city.

“It draws people to Milwaukee, where they can experience the wealth of what the city has to offer, including work by our school’s local alums,” says Olsen, a project architect at TKDA in St. Paul, Minn.

“I’m proud to claim UWM SARUP as my alma mater and Bob as my dean – both then and now.”

Interested in joining the tribute to Greenstreet? Contact Debra Mitchelson at 414-229-2573 or mitched@uwm.edu.

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TWO UWM DEGREES MAKE ONE U.S.

AMBASSADOR

By Deanna Ding

An open mind, diverse résumé and UWM prepared a double-alumnus for his latest career move: the U.S. Embassy in Iceland.

I Ambassador Luis Arreaga

t’s been one year since the U.S. Senate confirmed Luis Arreaga’s nomination to the top foreign service job in Iceland.

President Barack Obama nominated Arreaga for U.S. ambassador to Iceland in April 2010, within days of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Arreaga recently talked about the Icelandic environment and economy, the Foreign Service and how a master’s in management (’76) and doctorate in economics (’81) from UWM paved the way for his successful diplomatic career.

Q. What influenced you to choose UWM for graduate school?

A. I am from Guatemala and knew I wanted to come to the United States. I was looking for a place with a supportive network, and we had a family friend in Milwaukee. I visited, looked around and really liked it. The Economics Department had a family feel and very supportive professors.

Q. How did your UWM education prepare you?

A. UWM has been very, very good to me, and I am proud of my degrees. Right out of UWM, I joined the Foreign Service as an economist focused in the area of economic development. My economics training provided excellent preparation for the work, especially

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the courses in econometrics and economic development. Being bilingual was also an asset.

Q. What are some of your best memories of UWM? A. Markos Mamalakis helped me see the world and global issues from a new perspective. Swarnjit Arora was always generous with his time and made a difficult subject very accessible and interesting. I also recall great classes by Professors Boris Pesek and John Walter Elliott.

Q. What is the day-to-day life of an ambassador like and what do you hope to accomplish professionally while in Iceland?

A. My days include everything from working with U.S. companies that want to do business in Iceland to providing help to U.S. citizens living in Iceland. I might meet with a business owner to brief him/her on the realities of conducting business in Iceland.

Our countries share many similar values, but the cultural approach may be different.

I might also help coordinate the process of getting an airplane carrying a sick U.S. citizen onto the ground and getting that person medical assistance. When Eyjafjallajökull erupted, our embassy organized a conference for representatives from airlines, aircraft manufacturers, the FAA, and U.S. and

European government agencies to discuss the lessons learned.

My job changes from day to day, but ultimately it is all about building relationships and building ties between people. It is my job to facilitate and enable contact between people and organizations. I need to be a generalist and a problem-solver.

Q. Iceland has some of the cleanest water and air in the world. What can the U.S. learn from Iceland regarding environmental protection and geothermal projects?

A. Iceland and the U.S. make great partners on environmental issues, especially in the area of geothermal energy, because Iceland has depth of expertise while the U.S. is the largest producer of geothermal energy.

We signed a bilateral agreement for research and development to leverage both countries’ strengths – Icelandic know-how plus the U.S.’s ability to provide capital and infrastructure – in order to develop new technologies and share that information with the world.

We’ve brought in African officials so that they could see geothermal power generation in action and understand how it might be used in the eastern valley area of Africa, where there is tremendous potential to implement this technology. Iceland is fortunate to sit on a hot spot for magma, but what is needed worldwide is the ability to transport this type of energy and technology to other parts of the world.

Q. What about Icelandic culture has surprised or fascinated you?

A. Iceland is one of the best places in the world to live. It is both highly traditional and very modern at the same time, and people are proud of their history and origins. They will be the first to tell you about Leif Ericsson! The family unit is very powerful and greatly valued, as are the arts and culture.

I find it interesting how direct Icelanders are. There are no double entendres, and they will say exactly what they think in a very polite and nonconfrontational manner. Every place in the world has its uniqueness and extremes, and I believe they are all worth trying and experiencing.

Hiking along the Solheimajokull glacier requires solid footwear, like the crampons (metal cleats) that UWM trekkers attached to the bottoms of their boots. They were in Iceland in 2010 on a study-abroad trip to study glaciers and volcanoes.

Q. In August 2010, geosciences students and faculty traveled to Iceland to study glaciers and volcanoes. Why is Iceland a great destination for study-abroad or fieldwork experiences?

A. Iceland grows an inch a year because it straddles separating tectonic plates over the mid-Atlantic ridge, and its volcanic activity is caused by its unusual proximity to the magma beneath, which is called a geological “hot spot.” Iceland is literally a living laboratory for students to study energy and more.

Icelanders are extremely entrepreneurial and technologically savvy. Internet penetration is almost 100 percent, and there are many high-tech companies based here. Genetics research is another large industry in Iceland.

So there are diverse and high-quality opportunities for student learning related to the sciences, business and technology. There is a rich educational tradition of exchange, and Icelandic students are encouraged to study abroad. Experiencing the world is a value that is ingrained in the Icelandic culture.

Most important for any U.S. student coming to Iceland is to make sure to get out and meet the local people. They will find a very open and welcoming society where hard work, independence, endurance and success are valued. After all, Icelanders literally carved their history out of a rock in the middle of the ocean.

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JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY A

50TH ANNIVERSARY

FREEDOM RIDE

By Kathy Quirk

UWM education major Alicia Skeeter got to go back 50 years to immerse herself in the Civil Rights Movement this spring.

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he was one of 40 students from around the country selected to take part in a Student Freedom Ride May 6-16, re-creating the Freedom Rides that started in 1961 to challenge the South’s segregation of accommodations in interstate travel. The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) series “American Experience” aired a documentary on the rides May 16. (To see the film, student blogs about the ride and additional background, go to pbs.org/wgbh/ americanexperience/freedomriders/).

One of her favorite parts of the experience was the opportunity to talk with the original 1961 Freedom Riders, both on the bus and in stops along the way, says Skeeter. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the older generation and the younger generation to come together to honor these people who took part in historic events,” she says.

Skeeter, who is a junior this fall, is majoring in educational policy and community studies. She has always been interested in issues of social and racial justice and education, and found the UWM program a perfect fit.

It was an amazing experience to talk to the original Freedom Riders and learn from them, says Skeeter. “I think one of the most important things I learned from them was the importance of the commitment to activism. Those riders were committed to the point of death; they even signed wills before they left.”

The bus trip retraced some of the routes of the 1961 Freedom Rides, stopping at historic civil rights sites and cities throughout the South, starting in Washington, D.C., and ending in New Orleans.

SHADOWS OF HISTORY It was interesting to see the changes that have taken place in the South in 50 years, says Skeeter. In some of the cities, the 2011 riders were greeted with cheers and receptions. But in Aniston, Ala., where the original Freedom Riders’ bus was firebombed and riders attacked by mobs, the shadows of history still seemed to linger and reactions were more subdued, says Skeeter.

The town is creating a memorial to the events of 1961. “I had kind of mixed feelings about that,” says Skeeter. “I wouldn’t want it to be used to attract tourism.”

To Skeeter, one of the most moving moments on the tour was when their bus pulled into New Orleans. The 1961 Freedom Riders had planned

to arrive there on May 17, the anniversary of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed school segregation. However, when many of the Freedom Riders were jailed in Parchman, Miss., the trip was cut short.

“They never officially ended their trip,” says Skeeter, so the 2011 bus trip was the completion of a historic journey. The riders were greeted by cheering crowds, music and a huge celebration.

“New Orleans had waited 50 years for the Freedom Riders to make it. It was such a special moment, especially for the original riders who were on the bus.”

Photographs courtesy Alicia Skeeter

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Above: Alicia Skeeter with Bob Singleton, one of the original Freedom Riders of the 1960s.

Opposite page: Alicia Skeeter and fellow Student Freedom Rider Ryan Price of Drake University at a historic civil rights site in Aniston, Ala., where the original Freedom Riders’ bus was firebombed.

Student by day,

traveler for life

By Angela McManaman

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an T. Peters sped away from Merrill Hall last January to make an adventure-travel documentary during a two-continent independent study. On a dirt bike, the

40-year-old Natasha “Danger” Suzuki.

The sophomore journalism student returned to UWM in July. He condensed time-lapse footage and images from his two cameras (including a helmet-mounted video camera) into the five-

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minute film “Mexico.” It got 8,000 hits in 30 hours on YouTube (search “Natasha and Danito”). Visit dantpeters.com for more on his solo study journey from Milwaukee to Bogotá.

Or find him on campus, where he’s planning an 18-credit fall semster, including courses in Spanish and Arabic, and an internship with a film/ interactive production company.

3 UWM Alumni is seeking original photography as part of a new feature for our newly designed magazine. Send us digital files or printed copies of your photography (no originals, please), or send us a link to your work. UWM Alumni accepts submissions via USPS: Alumni Photos, Mitchell B95, 3203 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, WI, 53211; or via email: alm5@uwm.edu.

1. Peters savored his arrival in Guatemala in April.

2-3. Alejandra Morales concentrates on math homework while her family of nine prepares dinner in their three-bedroom apartment. Peters lived with the family for several weeks, joining the family business selling gum and candy to tourists. Before he left Guatemala City, Peters helped Alejandra’s father, Alex Morales, get a driver’s license, registration and eyeglasses. He now drives a taxi, which provides a more stable income for the family and is safer.

4. It was early morning in Guadalahara when Natasha’s headlight went out. The shops were closed and it was too dark to ride. But it’s never too early to make/eat chicharrón, as Peters learned from the gentleman in this photo.

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2011 UWM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS

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rom one of the greatest saxophone virtuosos in the world to a first-year teacher who raised her own money so her students could buy their own books…meet the recipients of the UWM Alumni Association’s 2011 awards. Awardees were honored at the UWMAA Awards Ceremony and Annual Meeting in May; the Special Life Achievement, Alumni Citizenship and Distinguished Alumnus award winners also were recognized during Spring Commencement ceremonies.

SPECIAL LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD This special award is designed to recognize outstanding and original life experiences and accomplishments. In the history of the UWM Alumni Association, only 11 alumni have received the award.

Frederick L. Hemke, ’58 BS Music Frederick L. Hemke is recognized as one of the world’s greatest classical saxophone virtuosos and a leading authority on the instrument.

He is the Louis and Elsie Snydacker Eckstein Professor of Music in the School of Music and Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University, where he has spent more than 30 years.

He also has served as a visiting professor at many of the leading conservatories in Europe, and has dozens of solo and chamber music recordings to his credit.

He has performed regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and has recorded nearly all of the major orchestral works involving the saxophone.

In addition to his work with the CSO, Hemke has performed with the St. Louis Symphony, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the

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New Zealand Philharmonic and the Stockholm Philharmonic, as well as with university and chamber ensembles throughout the world.

Hemke also is known as an inspiring teacher. His students hold faculty positions at universities and conservatories around the country.

Hemke is a consultant to Rico International, a leading producer of saxophone and clarinet accessories. The Hemke Signature Series reeds are extremely popular among leading saxophonists. He also is an artist-clinician for The Henri Selmer Company based in Paris, France, one of the leading manufacturers of saxophones.

In addition to his degree from UWM, Hemke received the Premier Prix from the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris in 1956, a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in 1962 and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from UW-Madison in 1975.

Hemke has an incredible sense of loyalty to his friends and to UWM. The university is prominently listed on his vita, biographical material and website. He constantly makes people aware of his academic background and training, and spreads the word about UWM worldwide.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARDS The Distinguished Alumnus Award celebrates outstanding UWM graduates whose professional achievements and commitment to the community bring honor to the university.

ART AND DESIGN Michael Gericke, ’78 BFA Art Michael Gericke has become one of the most recognized and influential international graphic designers working today. Since 1986, he has been a partner in the New York office of Pentagram Design, one of the world’s most preeminent and respected design firms.

Gericke’s images and design programs are known for their simplicity and clarity. He has produced comprehensive identity programs for a wide range of clients, including “One Laptop Per Child,” an initiative with MIT that will provide

low-cost computers to underprivileged children around the world; Public Radio International; AirTrain JFK; CBS’s television coverage of the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympic Games, and the FIFA World Cup soccer championships held in the U.S. in 1994.

He has received hundreds of awards, and is regularly invited to be a juror for international design competitions. He also is a frequent lecturer at universities and professional organizations, and has mentored younger designers.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Gericke has been involved in the design and rebuilding efforts for Lower Manhattan. His projects include major graphic programs for virtually every structure that will be built at the former World Trade Center site.

Gericke’s work appears regularly in international design collections and is represented in the permanent collections of the Paris Musee de la Poste, the Warsaw Poster Museum, the Hamburg Museum of Arts and Crafts, Japan’s Ogaki Museum and the Library of Congress.

ART AND EDUCATION Dean H. Nimmer, ’68 BFA, ’70 MFA A professor emeritus of painting and drawing at the Massachusetts College of Art, Dean H. Nimmer is an accomplished artist, award-winning educator and successful author in the field of art and art education. He has empowered generations of artists through his enthusiasm and creativity.

Nimmer has led workshops and lectured on his techniques for teaching intuitive creativity to students at many colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad.

His book, “Art from Intuition,” includes more than 60 innovative projects that encourage readers to explore new ideas and experiment with a variety of media and techniques that stimulate the imagination. Many teachers across the country have adopted the book as a text for their classes.

Nimmer has exhibited his work in more than 200 solo and group exhibitions worldwide. His “1,000 Drawings” project traveled from Boston

to Germany, France, Spain and Japan.

In 2010, Nimmer received the Distinguished Teaching of Art Award, given by the 16,000-member College Art Association, in recognition of his contributions during a 34-year career as an educator.

Following his “retirement,” he continues to teach as an adjunct professor at the Holyoke Community College and teaches special-needs students in grades two to eight at Curtis Blake Day School in Springfield, Mass.

BUSINESS AND ARCHITECTURE Lawrence J. Schnuck, ’78 BS Architectural Studies, ’86 MARCH with Honors Lawrence J. Schnuck is a design architect and senior principal with Kahler Slater, a 102-yearold architectural design firm headquartered in Milwaukee.

Schnuck leads the team that specializes in the design and planning of university buildings, with a focus on medical and health sciences learning environments. During his 24 years at Kahler Slater, a number of facilities he has designed have been recognized with awards from organizations including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), AIA Wisconsin, the Associated General Contractors of America, the State of Wisconsin Department of Facilities and the U.S. Green Building Council.

Schnuck is on the examining board of architects, landscape architects, professional engineers, designers and land surveyors for the State of Wisconsin, and served for many years as Wisconsin’s representative on the National AIA Committee on Design. More recently, he has served as president of the Wisconsin Architectural Foundation.

In addition to his professional practice, Schnuck has served as adjunct faculty at UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and is involved in a number of community ventures.

In 2010, he was recognized as the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Friend of the Year.

Schnuck served for two years as president of the UWM Alumni Association Board of Trustees.

He is a staunch supporter of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Health Sciences.

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2011 UWM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS

Joo Photography

MUSIC AND EDUCATION Kevin P. Stalheim, ’81 MM Music–Conducting Kevin P. Stalheim is the artistic director and founder of Present Music, Milwaukee’s internationally acclaimed new-music ensemble.

Celebrating 29 seasons, Present Music commissions, performs, records and tours the music of today’s most important living composers. More than 55 new works by composers from around the world have come into existence because of Present Music and Stalheim.

Present Music is the recipient of many local and national grants, including the Rockefeller Foundation’s Multi-Arts Production Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Readers Digest/Meet the Composer Commissioning Program and the Aaron Copeland Fund for American Music.

Stalheim matches performance venues to the concert performed to offer a consistently fresh experience for Present Music patrons. Locations like Turner Hall Ballroom, the Milwaukee Art Museum, St. John’s Cathedral and the Wherehouse offer an unexpected change of scene for attendees.

Under Stalheim’s guidance and instruction, Present Music nurtures the next generation of composers through the Creation Project, which provides composers-in-residence to Milwaukee schools and community groups. Every year, hundreds of young people gain the experience of creating their own musical works, which are then performed by student musicians and heard by hundreds of audience members.

In addition to his master’s degree from UWM, Stalheim earned a BM in Music from Oberlin Conservatory in 1976.

ALUMNI CITIZENSHIP AWARD The Alumni Citizenship Award recognizes UWM graduates who have performed significant voluntary service beyond the call of business or professional duty.

Brian J. Bear, ’80 BMS Medical Science After graduating from UWM, Brian Bear went on to receive his MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1984, and currently is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College.

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For more than 20 years, he has provided exceptional care and treatment to women and their families. His patients speak highly of his knowledge and skill as well as his ability to explain medical conditions in clear language, explore options collaboratively and work as a true “family partner.”

Bear was named a Top Doc by Milwaukee Magazine in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008, an honor bestowed by fellow physicians. In 1999, he was named one of America’s Top Docs in Ob/Gyn. Bear distinguishes himself further through his work outside of his practice to benefit women’s health, including educational presentations and volunteer work with groups such as ABCD (After Breast Cancer Diagnosis).

For the past five years, he has dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to Global Medical Brigade trips to Honduras. This program develops sustainable health initiatives and provides medical services in areas of the world with limited access to health care.

Each year, Bear, along with student volunteers and other health care professionals, travels to Honduras to set up and operate mobile medical clinics that treat thousands of patients and provide workshops on health issues for the community. Bear goes beyond his medical duties there to take time to mentor the student volunteers, many of whom aspire to become doctors, and to serve as a leader to the entire group.

GOLD AWARDS The GOLD award recognizes recent graduates who have achieved a measure of success in their field, bringing credit to themselves and to the university.

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING William C. Jensen, ’99 BS Architectural Studies, ’01 MARCH William C. Jensen is vice president of architecture and engineering at Ryan Companies U.S. Inc., based in Minneapolis. A prolific and award-winning architect, he has won design awards with recent projects including Epic Systems Corporate

Campus, Verona, Wis.; Davenport Courthouse, Davenport, Iowa; and TianXing Roosevelt Centre, Dalian, China.

Jensen’s design for Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia won seven national awards from organizations including the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In addition, he mentors future architects and is a tireless supporter of fellow UWM architecture alumni.

In addition to his UWM degrees, Jensen has earned a Certificate d’Architecture from the Ecole Speciale d’Architecture in Paris, and Construction Project Management Certification from New York University.

He is a leader in his profession, tackling complex development-industry projects in challenging economic times. For example, HSI recently completed the development and construction of the Derse Inc. National Corporate Headquarters in Milwaukee. The $11 million, 160,000-square-foot class A manufacturing facility is owned by Schultz and his partner Brett Haney. The building is one of the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver industrial buildings in the State of Wisconsin.

Awards received for this project alone are the Hunziger Construction 2008 Sustainable Project of the Year, The Business Journal 2009 First Place Real Estate Award – Best New Industrial Development and the Wisconsin Builder/Daily Reporter 2009 Top Projects.

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION PECK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson, ’05 MFA Film Kyja KristjanssonNelson is an independent filmmaker and video artist, and a faculty member in film studies at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

She has had over 150 public screenings of her films in juried festivals and shows worldwide. “Landslag” (2004) and “Portraits & Testimonials #1-#6” (2004-06) have been acquired for the permanent collection of the National Film Archive of Iceland.

Kristjansson-Nelson is the recipient of numerous grants, awards and residencies, including a highly coveted Bush Artist Fellowship (2007), a Fulbright Scholarship with a year’s study in Iceland (2005-06), and a Yaddo Residency in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (2009).

Before studying at UWM, KristjanssonNelson earned an AS in Filmmaking from the Minneapolis Community Technical College and a BIS in Film Studies, Film Production, and Icelandic Language & Culture from the University of Minnesota.

LUBAR SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Ryan D. Schultz, ’99 BBA Real Estate and Urban Land Development Marketing Ryan D. Schultz is principal, co-owner and cofounder of HSI Properties LLC, a full-service commercial and residential real estate company.

Megan Sampson, ’09 BS Education Megan Sampson began her career at MPS’s Bradley Tech, where she started “New Books for Great Kids,” an initiative to help inspire a love of reading in her students.

In addition to raising more than $1,000 for her 80 students to purchase books that personally interested them, she made sure that they could get to a bookstore. Each teenager received an envelope containing a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble and two bus tickets.

Sampson’s efforts were rewarded in ways both personal and public – including being named a recipient of the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English Nancy Hoefs Memorial Award for Outstanding First-Year Teacher 2010.

She now teaches at Wauwatosa East High School.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCE Christopher L. Brace, ’01 BSE Electrical Engineering, BS Physics After graduating from UWM, Christopher L. Brace continued his studies at UW-Madison, earning MS and PhD degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is now an assistant professor in the departments of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics at UW-Madison.

Brace is a recognized expert in the field of interventional oncology, thermal tumor ablation and related imaging science. He has authored over 30 articles and book chapters, has delivered invited presentations at regional, national and international conferences in his field, and holds several U.S. and international patents.

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Panther PRIDE Discover the impact of your alma mater.

VISIT: power.uwm.edu.

2011 UWM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS Brace is the founding member of NeuWave Medical Inc., a medical-device start-up company that was formed as an extension of his doctoral work.

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES Laura E. Lewandowski, ’91 BFA Music, ’09 MLIS As the school librarian and instructional technology leader at two Milwaukee public schools, Laura Lewandowski has distinguished herself through her work in information literacy for high-needs and bilingual students, helping them gain access to the information they need to succeed.

She wrote a successful competitive grant to completely remodel and enhance collections and services at Lincoln Avenue School. Through the Target School Library Makeover Program and its nonprofit partner, The Heart of America Foundation, the library will be fitted out with new eco-friendly design elements, furniture, shelving, flooring, fresh paint and new computers.

Target will complete the library by donating 2,000 new books and awarding each student seven new books to start their very own at-home libraries.

COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE Jacqueline Graham, ’99 BS Biological Sciences

Prior to attending UWM, Jacqueline Graham had completed an undergraduate

degree in public relations at UW-Madison and was a highly successful PR professional for several years.

But she knew that medicine was her true calling. She enrolled at UWM to complete a second bachelor’s degree to be fully prepared for the challenges that lay ahead in medical school.

Graham graduated summa cum laude from UWM, went on to medical school at UW-Madison and then completed her residency in anesthesiology at Ohio State University Hospital. She is now an anesthesiologist at Adena Regional Medical Center in Chillicothe, Ohio, an underserved area near Appalachia.

To put Graham’s success in context, of all the physicians in the U.S., less than 1 percent are African American anesthesiologists. Dr. Graham is among those elite few.

COLLEGE OF NURSING Mary Jo Baisch, ’06 PhD Nursing Now an assistant professor in UWM’s College of Nursing, Mary Jo Baisch has made outstanding contributions in the field of community health, and has been instrumental in helping shape public policy to foster better health outcomes for all of Wisconsin’s residents.

Baisch has focused her teaching and research on nurse-led community health practice. She was a member of former Gov. Jim Doyle’s Wisconsin Public Health Council, and has served on committees and advisory groups for government and nonprofit organizations. She also helped provide leadership to UWM’s Community Nursing Centers, which provide primary and preventive care to uninsured and underinsured low-income populations.

In 2009 Baisch received the Public Health Nursing Creative Achievement Award from the American Public Health Association in recognition of her contributions at the local, state, national and international levels.

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HELEN BADER SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WELFARE Rachele M. Klassy, ’07 MSW

Rachele M. Klassy’s primary interest in acquiring her Master of Social Work degree was to provide services to persons in the criminal justice system. Following graduation she pursued employment in a very challenging area in the Milwaukee correctional system.

Working as a psychiatric social worker and psychiatric social worker coordinator in the Milwaukee County Office of the Sheriff, Klassy’s duties include performing suicide, psychosocial, mental health and AODA assessments, crisis intervention, the deescalation of dangerous and volatile inmates, and crisis counseling.

Though dealing with potentially traumatic scenarios, Klassy has remained passionate and dedicated to serving this population and their mental health needs.

FOR MORE For more on our award winners: uwm.edu/ alumni; click on “Awards.”

Nominate an outstanding alum: Guidelines and nomination forms at uwm.edu/alumni; click on “Awards.” More info: Erin Harrass, eph@uwm.edu.

PANTHER Athletics

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

ONE TO WATCH With the soccer season winding down, we put our Athletics Department friends on the spot and asked them to name One to Watch on each of our fall and winter sports teams.

MEN’S BASKETBALL Tony Meier Senior Tony Meier will lead an excellent group of returnees for the Panther men’s basketball team this season. Last year, Meier excelled in the classroom and on the court, earning Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association ScholarAthlete honors while leading the Panthers to the Horizon League regular-season title and the National Invitation Tournament berth.

Meier was the Panthers’ third-leading scorer (12.0 points per game) and rebounder (4.3 boards per game) last season. He was named league Player of the Week after the final weekend of the regular season and was the UWM/ROTC Athlete of the Month in December.

He is also a regular member of the Horizon League Honor Roll, UWM Honor Roll and UWM Dean’s List, and is a two-time winner of the Faculty Athletic Representatives Award. He has a 3.638 grade-point average as a business major.

Angela Rodriguez Angela Rodriguez was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Year as a freshman a year ago and will look to lead the Panthers into the 201112 campaign and beyond.

Rodriguez started 29 of the 30 games overall, setting UWM freshman records for minutes played (1,100), 3-pointers (67) and free-throw percentage (.857). She finished second on the team in scoring at 12.6 ppg and was also tops with 89 assists.

A sharpshooter from long range, Rodriguez finished 14th in the country in 3-point percentage at .421, a clip that was second among all freshmen in the country. She started things with an impressive debut, becoming the first-ever freshman to lead the team in points and rebounding in a season opener when she recorded 16 points and grabbed seven boards against Oklahoma.

WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD Samia Taylor Junior Samia Taylor highlights a strong list of returners for the women’s track & field team.

Over her first two seasons with the Panthers, she made up a dominant corps of competitors in the triple jump and emerged as a leader in the event at the end of her sophomore season in 2011. In her first two seasons, she

squads broke school records, with the 400 medley team also breaking the league record.

MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING

has repeatedly broken school records in the event, while competing against the other top two athletes in the event in school history.

At the end of the 2011 season, she broke the school record at three of four meets and won a league championship in record fashion. She also qualified for and advanced past the NCAA preliminary meet.

She became the first Milwaukee woman to compete at the NCAA Championship Division I meet in a field event and was awarded the program’s first-ever NCAA AllAmerican award in the triple jump when she earned honorable mention honors.

MEN’S TRACK & FIELD Durell Busby Junior Durell Busby has emerged as a unique all-around athlete for the men’s track & field team.

A native of Tobago, the hurdler, who maintains sophomore eligibility outdoors, has repeatedly broken school records for the 60m hurdles indoors and the 110m hurdles outdoors in his first three active seasons (two indoor and one outdoor) in a Panther uniform.

At the 2011 league outdoor meet, he broke a league record in the preliminaries of the hurdle event, before an unfortunate call went against him in the finals. He still contributed to an unprecedented eighthstraight outdoor title and 16th-straight overall. He won a league title in the javelin throw, his first collegiate attempt at the event. In addition to that win, he also reset established school and league records in the event.

Busby is the only Panther in school history, man or woman, to hold school records in both a track and a field event.

Nathan Welchlin Nathan Welchlin will look to help lead the Milwaukee men’s swimming team to its third-straight Horizon League title in 2011-12 after helping the squad earn the championship his first two seasons as a Panther. In those two seasons, he has participated in the finals of five events at the league meet and placed fifth or higher four times.

The CollegeSwimming.com Division I Mid-Major Honorable Mention All-American member recorded 13 individual victories as a sophomore last year after recording an impressive 21 individual wins as a freshman – leading the team both seasons.

Just halfway through his collegiate career, Welchlin already holds school records in the 200 freestyle (1:38.04) and as a member of the 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle and 800 freestyle relay teams. In addition, he holds a pair of Milwaukee freshman marks and three Klotsche Natatorium records. He is also a member of the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING Emily McClellan Emily McClellan set the bar high as a freshman swimmer, becoming UWM’s first-ever – and also first female from the Horizon League – to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships. She went on to be named a 2011 First-Team CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major All-American.

She was named the Horizon League Women’s Athlete of the Year, the Women’s Performer of the Meet and the Horizon League Women’s Newcomer of the Year after an amazing performance in the Horizon League Championships, winning league titles in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breast and 200 IM, setting new league records in each event.

In doing so, she became the first female league athlete to sweep all three top honors and was also a member of UWM’s league champion 400 medley and Second-Team AllLeague 200 medley relay teams. Both

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WOMEN’S TENNIS Maddy Soule Junior Maddy Soule will look to lead the Panther women’s tennis team to even greater heights when the dual-match season begins early next year.

Soule was UWM’s best player a year ago in her first season as a Panther, helping Milwaukee to 11 overall wins and back into the Horizon League Tournament. After transferring from the University of Montana, she set a school record with 24 singles wins and added a team-high 16 doubles victories.

She earned Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and All-League First Team recognition, becoming UWM’s first league Newcomer of the Year since 1995. She was also the first Panther to earn First-Team AllLeague honors since 1998, and was named the team’s Most Outstanding Player.

Soule also shared the team’s Iron Panther Award, an honor given by the training staff to the hardest-working member of the team at team and individual workouts.

BASEBALL Paul Hoenecke Paul Hoenecke will hit the diamond as a senior in 2012 as the most experienced returning player for the Panthers. The versatile, do-it-all athlete has seen action in over 150 games during his first three seasons, playing five different positions – third base, second base, first base, designated hitter and, for the first time in his career a year ago, catcher.

Named First-Team All-League and also to the league’s All-Newcomer Team as a freshman, his talents are not limited to the field, where he has batted .300 in his career with 176 hits, 92 runs batted in and 93 runs scored. Hoenecke was named to the Capital One Academic All-District baseball team last year and has appeared on the Horizon Academic All-League squad two years in a row after compiling a 3.48 GPA as a finance major.

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CLASSNOTES

1960s Richard Maruszewski ’73

Warren Gerds (’67 BS) has released his second book, “Tales of a Newspaperman: Ice Bowl and Lombardi Through Time.” Gerds, of the Green Bay (Wis.) PressGazette, visits people, places, and events in a sweeping collection of stories from his career.

1970s

Linda Angel (’72 BS) recently released a book, “I Should Have Known Better: Seven Steps from Me to We.” The book is filled with insights and research about dating and relationships as well as the successful relationship stories of 22 couples.

Jill Fargo ’75

Richard Diemer (’72 MS) is now performing all the warranty and non-warranty amplifier repairs for 23 Southern California Guitar Center stores.

Richard Maruszewski (’73 PhD) recently retired from the Mathematics Department of the United States Naval Academy after serving there for 27 years.

Harold (Hal) E. Mattson ’77

Jill Fargo (’75 BS) was selected as the National Nurse of the Year in the category of Management for the NurseWeek Nursing Excellence Awards. Fargo, who oversees the medical/surgical

units, Short Stay Unit and float pool at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (Calif.), was honored for her exceptional management of nursing and patient care services.

documents three extraordinary performance works from Curmano – his 2,367.4-mile Mississippi River Swim, 40-day Death Valley Desert Fast and three-day live burial.

Curmano is an award-winning artist who exposes the rough edges of “life as art” through extreme performances in the environment.

Owen Klatte (’76 BS) worked as animation supervisor at Rising Sun Pictures in Adelaide, Australia, on portions of the film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.” He oversaw the animation of the dementors, decoy detonators and horcrux sequences.

Harold (Hal) E. Mattson (’77 MBA) was awarded the Mission Viejo/Saddleback Valley Elks Lodge No. 2444 Distinguished Citizenship Award. The award recognizes Mattson’s outstanding and meritorious service to humanity in the Southern California Saddleback communities of Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Ladera Ranch, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest and Rancho Santa Margarita.

Paul Schmitz (’76 BA) has been appointed a member of the White House Council for Community Solutions. Schmitz is the national CEO of Public Allies, a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting young people through full-time community service and leadership development programs. Schmitz founded Public Allies Milwaukee in 1993, was promoted to vice president and chief strategist in 1997, and was appointed national CEO in 2000.

Juan Carlos Campuzano (’78 PhD) won the 2011 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize “for innovations in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which advanced the understanding of the cuprate superconductors, and transformed the study of strongly-correlated electronic systems.” Campuzano is currently a University of Illinois at Chicago Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and is a Distinguished Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory.

Martin P. Choren (’77 MARCH) is a new partner at Plunkett Raysich Architects. He has been with the firm for more than 14 years. Plunkett Raysich has offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

William Curmano (’77 MS) has released a new DVD titled “The Search.” The compilation DVD

THEY GREW TO SERVE With the theme “We Grew to Serve,” members of the UWM Class of 1961 gathered during commencement weekend in May for their 50th Reunion. A highlight of the Friday reception was a performance

by Musica Elegante (inset), a Latin band led by classmate Nicholas J. Contorno, noted musician and retired director of bands and orchestra at Marquette University. Duly inducted into the Golden Society of Alumni, the Class of ’61 led the Class of ’11 at the Sunday afternoon commencement ceremony.

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CAREER QUESTIONS

TAKING THE ROAD LESS PAID Recharging a career with internships, volunteerism

Cindy Petrites, assistant director of Alumni Career Services, answers your career questions.

Considering a career change or returning to the workforce? If you thought that internships and volunteering were only career-building experiences for college students, think again.

But how do you find a short-term work experience that will facilitate your career change or return to work? How do you identify or create a high-quality volunteering experience?

UWM alumna Martha Carrigan (’84 BA Communication), president and CEO of Big Shoes Network Inc., says that if you are trying to make an internship happen where one is not posted, be ready to show lots of initiative, communicate and set appropriate expectations.

“Tell your friends, neighbors, college, family, the person standing in line next to you at the grocery store you are looking for an internship,” she recommends. She found her first internship through the sister of a good friend.

“Landing a paid internship is great, but the greater likelihood if you’re making one happen is finding an unpaid internship,” she counsels.

“Yes, you are doing work for an organization, but they are also training you.”

For those trying to create their own internship, alumna Christina Relacion (’03 BA Journalism & Mass Communication), communications manager at the Scleroderma

Foundation, suggests conducting informational interviews with people in your target field and checking in with organizations of interest.

A yearlong fellowship changed Relacion’s career. After working as a radio producer and freelance writer, she found that she loved the work but not the schedule. A public relations fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin caught her eye because of its openness to career changers and its connection to health care, a longtime interest.

“It was a completely new realm for me,” she said. “I loved it from the start.”

While she kept her radio job part-time, the full-time, paid opportunity gave her the chance to learn public relations and marketing in a hospital environment. It evolved into a full-time job after the fellowship ended and gave her a background that paved the way to her current position.

Volunteering can be another good strategy for gaining exposure to a new role or getting back to work. First, think about what you want to learn and what skill set you’d like to contribute.

Deborah Wild directs Jericho Road Worcester, which employs skills-based volunteers as board development specialists, strategic planners and in related positions.

MY NEW JOB: Tobey Libber (BA ’74, MSW ’76) After a job search of nearly two years and a few visits to Alumni Career Services, alum Tobey Libber is the new executive director of Jewish Family Services Housing Inc. He manages properties and social services for older adults in the Milwaukee area.

Previously, he worked as program officer for the Helen Bader Foundation and was director of planning and community services for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, in addition to multiple board membership roles.

As he searched for an advanced nonprofit leadership role, Libber found himself branching out into different areas of the nonprofit world and exercising new skill sets, including networking through social media.

He also found himself at the Golda Meir

Got a question? Send it via email, with the subject line “Career Question,” to petrites@uwm.edu. More information on UWM alumni career services is available on the Web at www4.uwm. edu/alumni/career_services/.

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Library. “I loved the buzz and energy around Golda Meir Library. It brought back memories of my college years.”

Through Alumni Career Services, also on the UWM campus, he accessed résumé advice and interview assistance.

Despite adapting his job search to the 21st century, he sometimes worried that he might never find another job after being downsized.

A sense of determination helped.

“I would get knocked down every time like a fighter getting a punch to the jaw, but in three or five days I was back at it again.

Persistence and keeping in touch with contacts ultimately made the difference.”

Here’s Libber’s advice for the current job seeker: “Interviewers want to hear passion.

CLASSNOTES

Relationship building, she says, is crucial to creating a vital volunteer experience. After identifying one’s reasons for volunteering – beyond altruism – and which organizations align with one’s personal values, she recommends establishing “an authentic relationship with at least one person at the nonprofit.

“Try to envision if you can actively collaborate with this person over a period of time,” she encourages. “If you don’t feel that ‘click,’ keep looking.” She also recommends staying within your area of expertise and saying “no” if a proposed project seems overwhelming.

“If you DO take on a project, do everything you can to achieve its objectives. It can be devastating for your self-esteem and the nonprofit’s morale if you leave before completing agreements.”

Carol Fishman Cohen, author of “Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work,” says that asking yourself a few strategic questions can help you find a volunteer experience that will make a difference for you while you’re making a difference.

“Will it be an experience I can talk about in an interview when I am looking for a job in my chosen field?,” she asks. “Will there actually be a product I can show someone? If not, will I meet practitioners in the field who I can learn from even if I need to do some grunt work? If the answer is no to these questions, I would think twice.”

Marilyn Holt-Smith (’78 MBA) is CFA, CEO and senior portfolio manager of Holt-Smith Advisors, which has been named one of the Top Guns of the Decade by Informa Investment Solutions PSN, an independent national money manager database.

John Rindt (’78 BBA) was recently appointed president of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers. Rindt, executive vice president of the Surety Division of JDW Insurance of El Paso, Texas, has more than 25 years of experience in the surety industry.

John Rindt ’78 Diana Ahmad (’79 MA, ’73 BA), associate professor of history and political science at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been named 2011 Woman of the Year by Missouri S&T in recognition of efforts to improve the campus environment for women and minorities.

Jeff Eagan (’79 MA) has completed his detail as senior program manager for sustainability initiatives at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

He returned to the Department of Energy, where he coordinates energy efficiency and environmental protection programs.

John A. Jancik (’79 BS) is summiting the high points of the Scandinavian countries to raise funds for “50 for Tibet,” a nonprofit he founded to help preserve the Tibetan way of life.

They want to know how you will positively impact their organization or company. So when you interview you need to adjust the way you approach your interview accordingly.”

Theodore Mayer (’79 BA) recently retired from the United States Army after a career that began in 1972 and ended in 2010 at the rank of colonel and a final position as Ilinois State Military Inspector General.

1980s

Mary L. Kwas (’80 MS) has had her second book, “A Pictorial History of Arkansas’s Old State House: Celebrating 175 Years,” published by the University of Arkansas Press. Kwas is a research associate with the Arkansas Archeological Survey in Fayetteville.

Denise Hruska (’83 BS) has been named associate editor at Claims Journal, a property and casualty claims news website and daily digital newsletter for claims adjusters and other related professionals.

Jeanne M. Kreuser (’83 BA) and Joanne Kreuser (’86 BFA) have opened Mill Street Folk Art Gallery in the historic Village Centre of Menomonee Falls, Wis. The gallery will feature folk artists, with an emphasis on textile arts including their own nationally recognized painted canvas figural work. They have been featured in Early American Life Magazine several years as two of the nation’s top American folk artists.

Scott R. Georgeson (’84 MARCH) has been named to the American Institute of Architects’ prestigious College of Fellows, an honor awarded to members who have made contributions of national significance to the architectural profession. Georgeson was selected to receive this honor for his design expertise in theaters and performance venues.

Lynn Javoroski (’85 BS) has been named a Fellow of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). She has been a specifications writer and active in CSI since 1995, and has served on committees and task teams at the national, regional and chapter levels. She has also held various offices at the regional and chapter levels and is currently the region director for the Milwaukee Chapter as well as the chapter membership chair.

Michael Koren (’85 MS) was named 2010 National Middle School Teacher of the Year in August by the National Council for the Social Studies.

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Ariel Keane (right) with filmmaker Shu Ling Hsieh < In a scene from the documentary, Ariel Keane works to identify different types of rocks in a science class at Shorewood High School.

‘WHAMMO…THE WORLD CHANGES’

AUTISM

THROUGH A NEW LENS

By Kathy Quirk

Mark and Linda Keane hope a UWM alumna’s documentary about their 21-year-old daughter, Ariel, will give viewers a new perspective on autism. “It shows Ariel as Ariel, happy and full of life,” says Linda Keane.

S

hu Ling Hsieh’s documentary, “I Am Beautiful,” about Ariel Keane, who was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, had its premiere in June.

The documentary, billed as a story of determination, achievement and hope, follows Ariel’s journey from toddler to adult and her day-to-day life with friends and family.

“I think Ariel is a good character for a film,” says Hsieh (’05 MFA, Performing

Arts–Film), “and there are few films about autism.” Hsieh got to know the Keane family while doing another documentary at Shorewood High, where Ariel attended school.

Mark Keane is a professor of architecture at UWM, and Linda Keane is a professor of architecture and environmental design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since Ariel was diagnosed, both have become advocates for autism awareness, research and education.

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“You get the diagnosis that your child isn’t developing normally, and whammo…the world changes,” says Mark Keane. Ariel was then 2-1/2. “It’s been a long journey,” he says, but Ariel is now 21, a high school graduate, and making the transition to the world of work.

Autism is defined as a complex range of neurological disorders impacting a child’s development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills.

“The general perception is that this person is sub-intelligent,” says Linda Keane, but many autistic children are fully intelligent, though learning can be more challenging because of communication and interaction issues.

Ariel, for example, doesn’t often initiate conversations, but she responds readily to questions. “Her receptive speech is much better than her expressive speech,” says Linda Keane. Ariel started intensive therapy early, first with her family and then with the Wisconsin Early Autism Project. She is the youngest member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Waisman Center autism study.

Throughout her school years, her parents worked with Ariel and her teachers to adapt classroom lessons to the way she learned.

(The film’s premiere was at Lake Bluff, where Ariel attended elementary school.)

Over the years, the Keanes developed a year-by-year curriculum in graphic novel form, “Ariel–Superhero,” that they share with other parents of autistic children. They’ve

CLASSNOTES also created an annotated PowerPoint, “From Toddler to Teenager to Transition,” about raising their daughter. Autism is four times more prevalent among boys than girls, Linda Keane says, so sharing their experiences was particularly important for parents of girls.

With an increasing number of children being diagnosed with autism, films like “I Am Beautiful” can help increase public awareness and offer a positive outlook for other parents, Mark Keane says. At one time, autism was diagnosed in one in every 10,000 children; today it is one in 110.

A HOPEFUL PORTRAIT Ariel and the family quickly became used to having Hsieh around, quietly filming. “She’s almost invisible,” says Mark Keane. A close relationship soon developed between the tiny filmmaker and tall, blonde Ariel and her family.

Although Hsieh researched autism before starting the documentary, she says, “of course, I learned a lot more working on the film.”

In addition to following Ariel around during her daily activities twice a month over a year’s time, Hsieh integrated the family’s home movies, including some of Ariel’s time in therapy. The documentary, which Hsieh finished in 2009, opens with Ariel and her family as grand marshals of the Fourth of July Parade and ends with Ariel’s graduation from Shorewood High School.

One of the goals of the film for both the Keanes and Hsieh was to share a hopeful portrait in contrast to many media portrayals that focus on tragedy or stereotypes. Ariel lives at home, is trying out jobs to see what suits her and is surrounded by a loving, supportive family that includes three siblings, James, Brie and John. “As academics we believe everyone can learn at any time in their life,” says Linda Keane. “Ariel is still learning and we plan to support her to reach her full potential. It’s been a wonderful journey.”

Hsieh, who is now working as a video production specialist in Taiwan, hopes to submit “I Am Beautiful” to public broadcasting and enter it in film festivals to get a broader audience.

(The Keanes are also making it available – email lkeane@saic.edu.) “I am happy to help people to know more about autism,” says Hsieh.

She plans to continue to seek out other filmmaking opportunities. “I love images and I love observing people through a lens. I can’t think of any job that is more interesting than making films.”

James Dallman (’86 BS Architectural Studies) and partner Grace La of Milwaukee-based La Dallman Architects have received the Rice Design Alliance’s third annual Spotlight Award.

The international award, which recognizes exceptionally gifted architects in the early phase of their professional careers, carries a cash prize and invitation to lecture at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. La Dallman is the first United States practice to receive the prize. The firm was featured in the Summer 2008 issue of UWM Today. La is an associate professor of architecture at UWM.

Grace La and James Dallman ’86 Todd R. Seelman (’86 BA) has been voted president-elect of The Non-Resident Lawyers Division of the Wisconsin Bar Association.

Terrence S. Schultz (’88 BBA) is president and co-owner of EFCO Finishing Corporation, which recently was named one of the Top Ten Businesses of 2011 by the Waukesha Business Alliance and BizTimesMedia.

the vantage point of the end of the Great Recession, the manual provides practical advice to get real estate agents productive and profitable even in a difficult market.

Christine Wodke (’89 MS) has founded Team CMT, an organization to raise awareness of CharcotMarie-Tooth Disease, an inherited disorder that affects the peripheral nerves and can lead to disability.

1990s

Shirley R. Berry-Butler (’90 MS) has published a second book, “Rites of Passage: A Program for High School African American Males.”

It examines Rites of Passage programs and whether they are an effective educational tool to improve academic performance and self-confidence among African American high school students.

Jeffrey Holzhauer (’90 BS) has been named a partner at Plunkett Raysich Architects. He has been with the firm for over 19 years.

Plunkett Raysich has offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

Steven A. Kieckhafer (’90 BS) has been named a partner at Plunkett Raysich Architects. He has been with the firm for more than seven years. Plunkett Raysich has offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

Gregg R. Golden (’91 BS) has been named a partner at Plunkett Raysich Architects. He has been with the firm for more than 13 years. Plunkett Raysich has offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

Jason Puestow (’92 BS) has been promoted to director of Construction Administration Services at Plunkett Raysich Architects. Plunkett Raysich has offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

Scott E. Allen ’89 Scott E. Allen (’89 BA) has released a book, “Success Guide for Real Estate Sales: Thriving in Tough Times.” The book gives new perspectives on classic approaches to real estate sales. Written from

Jason Puestow ’92

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TELLING MILWAUKEE’S

STORIES

By Laura L. Hunt

If it happened in Milwaukee between 1968 and 2007, Clayborn Benson (’87 BFA) probably captured it on film. A videographer for WTMJ-TV for a whopping 39 years, Benson was only the second African American in the profession in Milwaukee when he began. Today, he’s focused on events far more vintage.

After nearly 40 years as a TV photojournalist, Clayborn Benson spends most of his time at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum that he founded just after earning his degree.

L

ast fall, Clayborn Benson was inducted into the prestigious Silver Circle by the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the organization that awards the Emmys. The Silver Circle honors individuals who have made significant contributions to their local television markets in careers of at least 25 years.

That would be Benson. He was there to tell the public the sometimes unflattering news about their city, covering stories like the Jeffrey Dahmer murders, the crane collapse during Miller Park construction and the polarizing death of Ernest Lacy while in police custody. He also covered bigger stories, traveling to Somalia in 1992 to cover the war. Getting the story was his commitment to viewers and it satisfied “the

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rebellious spirit that existed in me,” he says.

The veteran news photographer also has mentored a slew of black photojournalists who came after him, including Cary Edwards, now chief photographer at WISN-TV, and Derrick Z. Jackson (’76 Mass Communication), who today is an editorial writer for the Boston Globe.

The camera kept Benson in school. He remembers being involved in the audiovisual club in middle school and at West Division High School. “I process information through the visual aspect of things, through the lens. I had the eye for it,” he says.

Though he wanted to go to college after high school, he didn’t have the grades for it. Instead, he took photography training at Milwaukee Area Technical College and through the military.

Almost immediately, he began mentoring young African American students interested in photography.

Jackson remembers the long car rides he shared with Benson on their way to cover the Green Bay Packers while Jackson was still in high school and college. “He made me feel good about my choice of journalism even as I was working on the weekends while my friends were dating. Kids like me were pressured to pursue careers for the money. He taught me that it was OK to love a craft.”

COLLEGE AT MID-CAREER In the middle of his highly successful career, Benson embarked on his film degree at UWM. “I was hired as a photographer because of affirmative action,” he says. “Nobody said that to me, but I knew it. So I felt that I had to prove I was worth it. I took the initiative myself to be as good as I could be.”

Going back as an adult student was tough, he recalls. But UWM offered him admission

CLASSNOTES Linda Schieble (’92 BA) has been appointed director of development for the American Lung Association in Wisconsin.

Her responsibilities include special events planning and execution, sponsorship identification and solicitation, and staff management.

through the Academic Opportunity Center, which supports underprepared students.

“I was clearly lost that first semester – at one point leaving a class and not returning,” he says. But he credits his family with keeping him from quitting, and his overall grade-point average rose to 3.2.

For his final film project, he produced a three-hour documentary called “Black Communities/ Wisconsin,” which featured the history of housing, migration and trade skills among African Americans in Milwaukee. The film, which was made with the backing of a UWM grant, was shown on WTMJ-TV and WISN-TV in Milwaukee, and on public television stations throughout the state. It is available through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System.

“Going to college elevated me. It brought me up 10 feet high,” he says. It also inspired a new direction in his professional life – a love of sharing history.

When speaking about African American history in the state, Benson enthusiastically recites a half-dozen “firsts” in black history here, including the first law banning racial segregation in public accommodations (1895).

The same year he finished his degree, Benson established the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, and won a grant to house it at 2620 W. Center St. Since his retirement, he runs the museum full time.

He also gives his time to UWM causes, serving on the UWM Emeritus Board since 2003 and as the African American Alumni Association president from 2007-09.

When America’s Black Holocaust Museum closed in 2008, after the death of founder James Cameron, Benson acquired Cameron’s papers and effects. With the help of UWM students who are archiving the materials, the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Musuem will mount a large exhibit in the near future. (Cameron received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from UWM in 1990.)

Meanwhile, says Jackson, what’s impressive is that Benson is still mentoring people. “In fact, he’s mentoring an entire community.”

Carol Pritzlaff (’94 MS) has been awarded the Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee’s Woman of Influence Award in the Community category.

Douglas Ryan (’94 BS) has joined the Nashville office of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) as vice president in the firm’s Office Brokerage Group.

Formerly the director of commercial sales with Interior Design Services Inc., Ryan has more than 15 years of commercial real estate experience.

Linda Schieble ’92 Marc Rodriguez (’93 BA), assistant professor of history and concurrent assistant professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, has published “The Tejano Diaspora: Mexican Americanism and Ethnic Politics in Texas and Wisconsin” (University of North Carolina Press).

He is currently writing a second book, “Rethinking the Chicano Movement,” for Routledge Press.

D. Scott Davis (’94 MARCH) is a new partner at Plunkett Raysich Architects. He has been with the firm for more than 15 years.

Plunkett Raysich has offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

Thomas J. Margetta (’94 BS) has been appointed to the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch Police Council of Standards.

He has also achieved 9-1-1 Call Center Partner status with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for the Boca Raton (Fla.) Police Department.

Thomas J. Margetta ’94

Douglas Ryan ’94 Laura Downing (’95 MLIS) wrote two entries for the Arkansas Encyclopedia of History and Culture, an online encyclopedia, and has two more entries under way along with four book reviews for the “SPARKS Children’s Book Review,” published online by the Arkansas State University Department of Teacher Education.

Downing has been at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro since graduating from UWM. Sean Rutter (’95 MS, ’90 BBA) has joined PwC US as a tax partner in PwC’s Milwaukee office. Rutter has expertise in serving large multinational companies, both publicly held and private-equityowned, in the manufacturing and consumer products sectors. His focus areas include tax accounting and international tax. Prior to joining PwC, Rutter was a tax partner for six and a half years with Ernst & Young, and earlier in his career a tax manager at PwC. John Holz (’96 MARCH) has been named a partner at Plunkett Raysich Architects. He has been with the firm for more than nine years. Plunkett Raysich has offices in Milwaukee and Madison.

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DOCTORS’ ADVICE

UWMAA BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2011-12 The UWM Alumni Association has elected five alumni to serve a three-year term in the recent UWMAA Board of Trustees election. Their term began on July 1, 2011: Benjamin H. Butz (’04 BBA, ’07 MPA), Associate Executive Director, Executive Director Inc. (EDI) Adam S. Drake (’00 BBA), Partner/Vice President, Highland Investment Advisors LLC Rita Nawrocki-Chabin (’00 PhD), Professor & Director, Licensure to Master’s Program in General Education, Alverno College Dele Ojelabi (’99 MS), CEO, Comcentia LLC Julie A. Schuetz Esch (’91 BA, ’94 MS, MUP), Budget & Policy Administrator, Milwaukee County Department of Transportation and Public Works The following alumni have been reelected to serve a three-year term: Marshall L. Gallant Sr. (’73 BS, ’79 MS), Retired (MPS), Adjunct Faculty Kathryn D. Gilbert (’80 BFA), Associate Professor, Dance & Theatre Department, Alverno College Frederick J. Sitzberger (’78 BBA), President and Partner, Sitzberger Widmann & Company S.C. The following slate of officers was also approved: President: Allyson D. Nemec (’90 MARCH), President, Quorum Architects Vice President: Ellen L. Suttner (’91 BBA), Business Development Executive, Genesis 10 – Business and Technology Consultants Treasurer: Fil Carini (’88 BBA), Chief Administrative Officer, United Way of Greater Milwaukee Secretary: Kathryn D. Gilbert (’80 BFA), Associate Professor, Dance & Theatre Department, Alverno College

M

ore than 2,500 new graduates received their degrees in May at UWM’s two commencement ceremonies.

In addition, two alumni received honorary degrees and were invited to give the spring commencement addresses.

Both are Wisconsin natives and the first in their families to attend college.

George R. Blumenthal (’66) was nominated by the Physics Department for an honorary doctorate in Astrophysics and Leadership in Higher Education. The 10th chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz, he was cited for his distinguished research and teaching career as a theoretical astrophysicist and for his leadership in resolving serious and persistent conflicts between UC Santa Cruz and various government and citizens’ groups, setting a new standard for reconciling similar conflicts in the UC system.

Blumenthal spoke at the morning ceremony.

After graduating in physics from UWM, he said, he applied to a number of prestigious graduate schools. He decided on UC San Diego, in part because it had an excellent physics department, including a Nobel Prize winner, but also because it had a pretty good male-to-female student ratio and was close to the beach.

“But when I got there, I was petrified! I was surrounded by students from the top private universities in the country. I wondered if I was as well-prepared as I needed to be to compete with them. By the end of my first quarter, I had learned that the education I got here at UWM was every bit as good as what students got at Harvard, Princeton and MIT. That was decades ago, but it’s still true today.”

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Gale E. Klappa (’72) is chairman, president and CEO of Wisconsin Energy Corporation, and holds the same position with Wisconsin Energy’s principal utility subsidiary, We Energies.

Nominated by the Lubar School of Business, he received an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree.

A much-honored business and civic leader, Klappa played a pivotal role in the creation of the Milwaukee 7 (M7), a regional, cooperative economic development platform for the seven counties of Southeastern Wisconsin, with a mission of attracting, retaining and growing diverse businesses and talent. He also served as co-chair of UWM’s 2006 comprehensive campaign, which raised a record $125 million for the university, and is a member of the Lubar School’s Business Advisory Council.

Klappa told the afternoon commencement audience that his motive for enrolling at UWM was less than stellar. His high school sweetheart from Wisconsin Rapids was attending the university on a full-ride nursing scholarship; he turned down a scholarship to a major Catholic university to be near her.

“There was only one problem – less than a month into our first semester – she dumped me!

It was then that I learned two important lessons.

First, even though I chose UWM for the wrong reasons, this was still a great place for me to be.

And second, it might have been helpful to think a little more broadly before leaping to a lifechanging decision.”

Klappa graduated cum laude with a degree in communication.

CLASSNOTES

Tony Mallinger ’97

Tony Mallinger (’97 BBA) has been promoted to president of Metal-Era, a commercial roof edge and roof ventilation company based in Waukesha, Wis. In his new role, Mallinger will oversee all of Metal-Era’s business segments. He will provide direction to the company through strategic planning, new product development, operational and financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, and market growth. Before his promotion, Mallinger served as Metal-Era’s chief operating officer and vice president of sales since 2001.

Kristin Gaardner (’98 BBA) has recently joined Archway, a leader in marketing fulfillment services, as vice president of human resources.

Sean Walker ’98

Ann Narus (’98 MSW, ’83 BFA) has been named advanced certified hospice and palliative care social worker at Heartland Hospice in Milwaukee.

Sean Walker (’98 BBA) has been named a partner in Clifton Gunderson’s Milwaukee office.

Clifton Gunderson is ranked as one of the nation’s largest certified public accounting and consulting firms.

E. Doreen Tomasi ’99, ’98

E. Doreen Tomasi (’99 MSW, ’98 BSW) is serving in the U.S Air Force as a mental health flight chief. She is currently stationed on the island of Guam and has been selected for promotion to the rank of major.

2000s Linda Marquardt ’04, ’87

Fancesca Abbate (’02 PhD) was promoted to the rank of associate professor in the English Department at Beloit College. Her fields of specialization include the craft and theory of poetry, modernist and contemporary poetry, composition and the work of American women poets from 1865 to the present.

Her poetry has appeared in a wide range of literary journals. Her service to the college community includes advising and mentoring students through the college’s Initiatives Program and serving as an active member of a curriculum design team that developed proposals for a new college curriculum that took effect this fall.

Angela Pittman Taylor (’02 MA) was named the first vice president of public relations at Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. Pittman Taylor also leads company diversity efforts as the co-chair of the Baird Business Diversity Council.

Vanessa LaCoste (’03 BBA) was elected board president of ArtWorks for Milwaukee, a local nonprofit.

Victoria C. Lindsay ’06

Linda Marquardt (’04 MA, ’87 BS) earned National Board Certification as a Middle Childhood Generalist. Marquardt teaches in the South Milwaukee School District. A 1997 inductee into the Athletic Hall of Fame, she still enjoys running and weight lifting.

Brian Anderson (’06 BS Political Science) spent nine months in Africa serving as the clerk to the chief justice of Rwanda’s Supreme Court. Part of Anderson’s job was to provide assistance as Rwanda’s judicial branch is transitioning to a hybrid of common and civil law.

Jaclyn DeGrand ’08

Victoria C. Lindsay (’06 BA) has been promoted to assistant media buyer/planner at INLINE MEDIA, the largest media specialty firm in the Rocky Mountain region.

Jaclyn DeGrand (’08 BS) is a member of the Class of 2014 at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg.

Mara Lord (’08 MBA) has been named the Medical College of Wisconsin’s first chief of staff.

Lord has served as the Medical College’s director of strategic planning for the past two years.

Matthew Saje Kult (’09 MS, ’07 BBA) of Ernst & Young LLP was awarded the AICPA’s Elijah Watt Sells Award for earning the highest cumulative scores on all four sections of the CPA Exam.

Ryan English (’10 MS, ’09 BS) recently joined Hanson Professional Services Inc.’s St. Louis office, serving Hanson’s Department of Defense market.

FALL 2011 UWM ALUMNI

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Ryan English ’10, ’09

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