Magazine of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Fall 2012 Vol. 14, No. 2
new FACE OF PUBLIC HEALTH THE
Table of CONTENTS
Alumni 16 FA L L 2 0 1 2 VO L . 1 4 , N O . 2
Chancellor: Michael R. Lovell
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Vice Chancellor for University Relations and Communications: Tom Luljak (’95) Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations: Patricia Borger
Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor of Integrated Marketing & Communications: Laura Porfilio Glawe (’89)
2 Quotable & Notable
Editor: Nancy A. Mack (’71) Associate Editor: Angela McManaman (’00, ’08) Assistant Editor: Laura L. Hunt
4 New @ UWM
Design: Mario Lopez, Gina Johnson (‘04) 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 Association P.O. Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 Phone: address changes 414-906-4667 all other inquiries 414-229-4290 ISSN: 1550-9583 Not printed at taxpayer expense
6 Campus building projects get final approval
7 Major art bequest spans Rembrandt etchings to African masks
8 THE NEW FACE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
UWM’s Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health has a bold, audacious goal
16 PURSUING A DREAM AT THE SUMMER OLYMPICS Student Shayla Schuett goes for the gold(en) opportunity
18 109 AWARDS…AND COUNTING Spotlighting UWM Senior Photographer Alan Magayne-Roshak
20 2012 UWM Alumni Association Awards 26 Panther Athletics 30 Career Questions
Like us: Facebook.com/uwmilwaukee
31 Coming up
Follow us: twitter.com/uwm
32 The aroma of success
Pin with us: pinterest.com/uwmilwaukee Watch our clips: viddy.com/uwmilwaukee
34 Class notes 36 Alum founds a refuge for veterans On the cover: The Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, which moved into its new home in Milwaukee’s historic Pabst Brewery complex in August, is focused on education and research both locally and globally. Concept and design by Mario R. Lopez
A LU M N I .U W M . E DU
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1 Panther & Proud
29 Finding the humor in aging
Watch our videos: youtube.com/uwmnews
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PANTHER
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THEATRICAL SUCCESS I recently received my first issue of UWM Alumni [Spring 2012]. I was very impressed with the quality of the magazine – from the stories to the layout. It was a pleasure to read about the impressive achievements of fellow UWM graduates.
CHANCELLOR’S WELCOME There are few things more satisfying than seeing the results of well-made plans and seeing action taken on those plans to the benefit of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and its many constituents. That was certainly the case during recent months as work was completed on the new facility for the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health in downtown Milwaukee. What’s even more important than the building, though, is the academic and research activities now taking place inside it. UWM is now better able to educate the graduate-level students who have been enrolling in our public health, and environmental and occupational health programs. The academic and research activities are greatly benefiting from leadership at the school. At many places both here in Wisconsin and in Washington, D.C., I’ve been told how fortunate UWM is to have brought in Dr. Magda Peck as the school’s founding dean. I am confident that the Zilber School will be instrumental in helping Wisconsin improve the health of our citizens, and I encourage you to read about the progress it has made and will be making on the pages of this issue of UWM Alumni magazine.
I particularly enjoyed reading about students who found success in theater, which is not an easy accomplishment. I refer to the three Peck School of the Arts alumni who became performers in the Zoological Society of Milwaukee’s Kohl’s Wild Theater plays, as well as the fascinating career change of nursecum-actor Rich Gillard. Keep up the good work. I look forward to future issues.
Zak Mazur Publications & Media Relations Specialist Zoological Society of Milwaukee
Michael R. Lovell Chancellor
SHOW YOUR PANTHER PRIDE WORLDWIDE
TELL US ABOUT IT Have a Panther Pride photo you’d like to share? Want to comment on something you’ve seen or read in the magazine? We welcome your input. Send submissions by email to alm5@uwm.edu, or by snail mail to Angela McManaman, UWM Alumni, Mitchell Hall B95, 3203 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee WI 53211. Please include your name, address and degree year(s).
Correction: The Tiphunzitsane Project featured on page 15 of the Fall 2012 issue of “UWM Alumni” is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, Grant No. R01HDO55868. The magazine’s print edition stated that funding for the Tiphunzitsane Project was provided by the National Institutes of Health.
Sibin Wu (’04 PhD Management Science) at Dali City, Yunnan Province, China
Jill Jurena (’95 Criminal Justice) at the Eiffel Tower, Paris
Where in the world have you displayed your Panther Pride? Send us a photo showing you, friends or family members who have taken the UWM name to far-flung or interesting parts of the planet (snail mail and email addresses at left). Prizes will be awarded to those whose submissions are used in the magazine.
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QUOTABLE
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FROM HARD-TO-CLEAN TO HEARTACHE, SHE WRITES ALL ABOUT IT
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here is not much Lisa Ridgely (’02 BA Journalism and Media Studies) won’t write about. Bathrooms. Tile grout. Vacuuming: “Don’t stress your arm or overuse you shoulder, wrist or elbow.” Touch points and karma also make their way into her lexicon. Nine to five, the UWM journalism grad is deputy editor of the magazines Contracting Profits and Sanitary Maintenance. With a Twitter following and regular postings about the products, techniques and economics of the contract-cleaning and green-cleaning industries, “We kind of become mini celebs to our readers,” says Ridgely. “You go to a conference and someone will walk up and say, ‘I know you. You wrote that great article about urinals.’” She’s never been one to spare readers details, from her first features as the “Safe & Sexy” columnist for the UWM Post, circa 2000, to the magazines she helms today. After graduation she took a journalism job in Roswell, N.M., then made a brief move to Los Angeles. Back in Wisconsin in 2005 and facing down a health scare, Ridgely sought distraction in the Washburn guitar that had first traveled with her to Sandburg Halls.
It’s been three years since she received a clean bill of health, and made good on a personal challenge to do something new. As a Milwaukeebased singer/songwriter – after the day job comes to a close – she now fronts Lisa Ridgely and the Fainting Room, a four-person ensemble that just released the EP “Wine in Bed,” and is in rotation on 88.9 Radio Milwaukee. “Working with a band has definitely been a new chapter in my life,” Ridgely says. In retrospect, adds Ridgely, her relationship with music began in earnest with dorm-room sessions and music classes at UWM. And one nice thing about living, performing and recording in a mid-sized city are the familiar faces and voices that chime in at venues around town.
Win a copy of “Wine in Bed.” Visit the UWM Alumni Association: facebook.com/uwmalumni.
“University Choir and Gospel Choir were these really great one-credit courses I took at UWM, and I met so many talented singers in that group. People I still see around the music scene, which is awesome.” Follow Lisa Ridgely the editor: @Janitor_mag. Follow Lisa Ridgely the performer: @lisaridgely.
NO MORE FAST FOOD FOR ‘FARM TO TABLE’ BLOGGERS
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even years after graduating from UWM, Nick Bragg (’05 BA Mass Communication) knew his diet was due for an upgrade.
help Wisconsin farmers, the ones who pour their blood, sweat and tears into producing quality and healthy food that the public can enjoy.”
“During college I relied on fast food and processed food. With cancer, heart disease, diabetes and related health issues so prevalent in my family, I had to make a change.”
This year they launched the multimedia blog “Farm to Table,” sharing research and tips on where city dwellers and diners can purchase fresh seasonal produce, including two of the couples’ summertime favorites: beets and Swiss chard.
So Bragg and his wife Kimberly Kowalczyk did their homework before their grocery shopping. They made site visits to small, local farms, interviewing the farmers, observing their techniques and, obviously, sampling the goods. From mushrooms in Burlington to cheese in Mineral Point, asparagus in Evansville to free-range eggs in Random Lake, it’s been a delicious journey. “It was satisfying seeing firsthand where our food comes from and how we could eat healthier,” says Bragg. “But our true goal is to
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Bragg says blog readers get a “behind-thescenes look at farms in the state. We are in no way compensated for anything we do. As we tour farms and interview farmers, we’re learning and sharing the knowledge with our readers. “You never know,” he adds. “We may make the switch into farming one day ourselves.” Read more at farmtotablewisconsin.com.
FULBRIGHT-MTVU FELLOW RAISES AWARENESS, VOICES IN KOSOVO
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hen you can’t speak, sing.
In the most simple terms, this philosophy inspires Albulena Shabani. But the research she’s begun as a new FulbrightmtvU fellow is in no way simple: gender, sexuality, how women heal the wounds of war through music and voice. More than a decade after the Kosovo War, Shabani (’10 BA English) says the silence around sexual violence against women in wartime remains largely, dangerously intact. “In Kosovo, rape was used as a weapon of war to emasculate Muslim men who could not defend mothers, wives, sisters, daughters. How do you talk about that?,” Shabani asks. “Most people don’t. That’s why music can be such a
powerful space for healing and creating mutual understanding. Who needs to talk when you can sing?” Shabani, whose work is affiliated with the University of Prishtina, is now crafting an open mic series with a women’s choir, Lira. The Fulbright-mtvU fellowship funds a select handful of research projects yearly that explore the power of music as a global force for mutual understanding. “Art helped me find my voice,” says Shabani. “I really had to fight for the freedom to be an artist, though. It was so taboo for a young lady to be creative outside of traditional spaces.” That’s because – before she represented Milwaukee in the 2010 Women of the World poetry slam; studied English, film, political science and women in Islam at UWM; and directed award-winning short films – Shabani had to manage her own cultural transitions and expectations.
She moved from Macedonia to Wisconsin at age 12. “As first-generation immigrants, times were tough and my family struggled a lot with poverty and culture shock. We moved lots.” Now, adds the college graduate whose parents were unable even to attend high school, “I’m grateful my family has done so well in Wisconsin.” Arriving at UWM via Tomahawk High, Shabani launched into academics, art and activism, helping bring Saul Williams and Amiri Baraka to campus. “Now I want to help Lira create a space where more women can share their voices. My job is to document this process and offer another venue for their voices to be heard through film.” Shabani is in Kosovo through June. She blogs at fulbright.mtvu.com.
PANTHER PRIDE SHINES ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA
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he university was well represented at the 65th Festival de Cannes, held this spring at its usual spot along the glittering sapphire coast of the French Riviera.
Seven films by faculty, students and alums were selected for the Short Film Corner (or Court Métrage) at the Cannes Film Festival, besting last year’s total of six UWM-affiliated films at the venue. And, for the first time, two UWM film students were chosen for the internship program at the American Pavilion at Cannes.
Greg Bishop outside the red carpet entrance for world premiere screenings in the Lumiere Theater.
Full-time master’s degree student Brian McGuire, also a programmer for the UWM Union Theatre, recalls the festival’s film market: a seemingly endless sea of cubicles, each occupied by producers and distributors promoting films. Entire buildings were dedicated to the film industries of Turkey, Ireland and India. Films from some of those, he says, will screen at the Union Theatre in 2013.
McGuire also credits the festival with inspiring his narrative-film scriptwriting and experimental filmmaking. “If you’re a filmmaker and you leave the Cannes Film Festival uninspired, there’s something wrong. Better try another career.” UWM Senior Greg Bishop returned from Cannes more committed than ever to a film career, and the contacts he made working in Cannes’ American Pavilion Restaurant should help. He recently sent one of his films to screenwriter and filmmaker Jennifer Lynch (Hollywood’s youngest female writer and director for the 1993 film “Boxing Helena,” and the daughter of filmmaker and television director David Lynch). Watch the UWM Court Métrage entries: www4.uwm.edu/psoa/film/film-festivals.cfm.
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@ UWM
NEW ENGINEERING DEAN NAMED
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rett A. Peters is the new dean of the College of Engineering & Applied Science (CEAS). He comes to UWM from Texas A&M University, where he was a professor of industrial and systems engineering. During his tenure at Texas A&M, Peters was actively involved in significant interdisciplinary initiatives, including the Texas A&M Energy Engineering Institute and the Department of Defense’s University Affiliated Research Center for Systems Engineering Research.
“What I really like about him is he’s very collaborative in nature and understands what we’re trying to accomplish here in Milwaukee,” says Chancellor Michael R. Lovell. “He sees the opportunity with all the engineering firms we have in our backyard to really work together, collaborate and go after some great things.”
FROM START TO FINISH UWM’S TWO NEW SCHOOLS EACH CELEBRATED A MILESTONE IN JUNE.
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Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72
t the harbor campus, the first stakes were driven for the $50 million addition that will become UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences. Among those wielding hammers were (from left) State Sen. Chris Larson, State Rep. Jeff Stone, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, UW System President Kevin Reilly and UWM Chancellor Michael R. Lovell.
I Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72
n downtown Milwaukee, a “race to the finish” marked the completion of renovations and an addition to the old Pabst Brewery building that is now home to the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health. Among those gathered at the dedication were Mike Mervis, vice president of Zilber Ltd. (holding sign), UWM Chancellor Michael R. Lovell (far left) and Dean Magda Peck (wearing scarf). Learn more about the school in our cover story beginning on page 8.
YEAR OF THE ARTS CELEBRATES THE PECK SCHOOL’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY
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he 50th anniversary of UWM’s Peck School of the Arts has inspired the Year of the Arts. From July 2012 through June 2013, the celebration recognizes the Peck School’s influence in the Wisconsin arts community and the impact that the arts have in every discipline and every walk of life. “For five decades, the Peck School has educated, trained and nurtured thousands of artists and art educators in every arts discipline – art and design, dance, film, music and theater,” said Chancellor Michael R. Lovell. “I am delighted by the creative and impressive Year of
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the Arts programming – including several world premieres – that will shine a spotlight on the passion, creativity and energy of our students, alumni, faculty and staff.” Collaborations have been established with more than 30 on-campus partners and more than 28 community partners, including arts, education and conference organizations. The schedule for the Year of the Arts continues to develop. For details on currently planned and newly created events, activities and collaborations, visit yoa.uwm.edu.
UWM NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST WINS TOP U.S. RESEARCH AWARD Krista Lisdahl, assistant professor of psychology at UWM, has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on professionals in the early stages of their research careers. Lisdahl is leading a sweeping study that focuses on the relationship of physical activity, marijuana abuse and brain functioning in teens and young adults. Using three kinds of neuroimaging and multiple measures of fitness among young pot users and nonusing control subjects, the project aims to better understand the cognitive consequences of a chronic pot habit before the brain is fully “wired.”
Troye Fox
Lisdahl is one of 96 PECASE recipients nationwide. She was recognized at the White House in July, where she met President Barack Obama. Funding for her award comes from the National Institutes of Health.
LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE WALKING Designing a three-dimensional map of UWM’s main East Side campus for students, visitors and faculty/staff who have visual impairments was an unusual challenge, says Dennis Manley (’85 BFA, ’91 MA).
Gazelle Arga
“You just have to think with your fingers,” says Manley, who ran the model shop in the School of Architecture & Urban Planning until his recent retirement. He and four students/shop techs built the model. The 3-D representation of campus is now installed in the Golda Meir Library for the use of anyone who wants to explore campus with their fingertips. The Student Accessibility Center will also be able use it in orientation and mobility training sessions for students with vision impairments.
PLANETARIUM TRACKS THE TRANSIT
Jacques du Plessis, associate professor of information technology, came up with the idea as part of his research on information access for those with vision difficulty.
There won’t be another one until 2117, so UWM’s Manfred Olson Planetarium made the most of the transit of Venus on June 5. Local bands Canyons of Static and Dawn of Man set the mood as hundreds of visitors lined up at a variety of telescopes to watch the planet make its way across the face of the Sun. Inside the planetarium, a special show explained the mechanics of the transit and the importance of these events to astronomy past and present.
The planetarium offers a number of programs and special events that are open to the public. Check out the website at planetarium.uwm.edu.
Kathy Quirk
So many people showed up that the refreshment table ran out of brats. Nobody seemed to mind very much – you can have a brat fry anytime, but you’ll have to wait 105 years for another transit of Venus.
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Jim Anderson for Flad Architects
A rendering of the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex.
Campus building projects get final approval
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wo building projects on the UWM Kenwood campus got the green light from the Wisconsin Building Commission in August. The Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC) and new UWM Children’s Center together total $92 million. They are part of the $240 million Milwaukee Initiative approved by the legislature and governor in 2009. KIRC will be the first new building on the campus in more than a decade, and its main tenant will be the Physics Department. The complex also will provide space for combining research in bioscience, technology, engineering and mathematics, and for fostering collaborative work with industry partners. Finally, it will house wet labs for UWM’s Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health.
“This is an important step for us,” says Geoff Hurtado (‘74 BS, ‘76 MUP, ‘88 MBA), associate vice chancellor for facility services. “The action clears the way for construction to begin early next year. Completion is expected in late 2014 or early 2015.” The project is funded by state-supported borrowing with an additional $1.6 million gift from Milwaukee philanthropists Isabel and Alfred Bader. Because the existing Children’s Center will be demolished to make way for the KIRC, a new child care facility will be located at the Northwest Quadrant (NWQ) – in the old emergency room of the former Columbia Hospital.
A rendering of the south play area at the new UWM Children’s Center facility. Qu
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Hurtado says this project will be bid by the end of this year and is expected to open in August 2013. The new center will occupy about 50,000 square feet of the southwest portion of the NWQ and include a rooftop greenhouse for use by the Department of Biological Sciences. The new greenhouse will provide more space than the present facility in Lapham Hall and will be within a short walking distance. The approvals of the KIRC and the new Children’s Center come on the heels of the opening of the new Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health downtown and the groundbreaking at the School of Freshwater Sciences at the harbor campus.
Major art bequest spans Rembrandt etchings to African masks
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WM has received a multimilliondollar bequest of artworks that will nearly double its current collection. Emile H. Mathis II, a Racine art connoisseur, collector and dealer, who died July 15, made the gift of two major art collections, the largest of its kind ever made to the UWM Art Collection. The Mathis collection includes more than 1,700 works on paper spanning 500 years, and more than 500 pieces of African art from the 20th century. The bequest also includes funds to renovate and expand UWM’s Art History Gallery, which will be renamed the Emile Mathis II Gallery.
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Courtesy the Racine Journal Times
B Y K AT H Y QU I R K
The works on paper consist of prints by many renowned artists, including Rembrandt, Whistler, Warhol, Rauschenberg, Dine and others. This collection is one of the most comprehensive of its type in Wisconsin, according to Linda Brazeau, curator of the UWM Art Collection. The Mathis collection of African art is also stunning in its breadth and depth, according to Kenneth Bendiner, chair of UWM’s Art History Department. From kente cloth to passport masks to sculpture, the collection represents nearly every country on the western and northern coasts of Africa. Bendiner noted that “with the addition of the Mathis donation, the number of objects in the UWM Art Collection, presently 4,500 works of art, is nearly doubled, and the Collection’s range of holdings is significantly enriched. The Mathis gift, which includes prints from the 15th century to the present, will, like the UWM Art Collection as a whole, be put to use as a teaching tool, giving students the opportunity to work closely with works of art.” Mathis began collecting artworks while in high school and continued to be actively involved in acquisitions and sales throughout his life. He established the Mathis Gallery in Racine nearly 40 years
ago, after starting his professional career with London Fine Arts, the largest international distributor of graphics at that time. Mathis told university officials that he wanted his prized collection to be used for teaching and learning, and displayed for years to come. “The thing that really excites me is that it’s going to be used as a hands-on collection, both the works on paper and the sculpture,” he said in an interview shortly before his death. “It will be not only a legacy,” he said, but also a strong collection that students could not only study, but work with. “Had I had those opportunities in college or university…wow.”
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1. Emile H. Mathis II in his gallery. 2. Rembrandt van Rijn, “Self-portrait in velvet cap with plume,” 1638 3. Mask, Dan, Ivory Coast
Images from the UWM Art Collection, gift of Emile H. Mathis II.
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THE FACE OF PUBLIC HEALTH B Y K AT H Y QU I R K
“ U O WP PMO RHTAUS NAINT YE XT OT RSAHOARPDEI NT AHREY F U T U R E O F P U B L I C H E A LT H E DU C AT I O N A N D R E S E A RC H ,
”
S A Y S M A G D A P E C K , F O U N D I N G D E A N O F U W M ’ S J O S E P H J . Z I L B E R S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H .
In Milwaukee, babies are more likely to die before reaching their first birthday than in Poland, Costa Rica and other less developed nations. In Wisconsin, 50 percent of the current public health workforce will be eligible to retire in the next few years.
Troye Fox
Those two statistics helped fuel the drive to establish the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
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ore specifically, the new school grew out of civic leaders’ and health experts’ concerns about the myriad complex health issues Milwaukee and other communities across the state face – infant mortality, unintended pregnancy, obesity and chronic disease, all complicated by inadequate access to healthcare, poverty and racism – as well as the need for a knowledgeable public health workforce. The school became a reality in 2009. The first group of faculty was hired, a partnership with the Milwaukee Health Department established, initial graduate degree programs approved, and students began enrolling that year. In early 2012, Founding Dean Magda Peck was hired. Most recently an associate dean for practice and engagement at the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Peck is a nationally recognized expert on maternal/child health who designs innovative leadership and workforce development initiatives and promotes the translation of science into effective programs and policies. Progress has accelerated since her arrival. The school moved into its new 56,000square-foot home on the site of the former Pabst Brewery this August. Additional wet laboratories have been approved for construction on the main campus for public health researchers. Enrollment has grown from eight students to 40 in expanding master’s and PhD programs. Efforts to recruit 10 new primary faculty to join the 16 already on board with the school are under way (see page 15). School and university officials will begin the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) national accreditation process in spring 2013.
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Backing from diverse civic leaders and Milwaukee media, university-wide support and a $10 million donation from the late Milwaukee philanthropist Joseph J. Zilber all have been critical to bringing the Zilber School of Public Health this far, says Peck. Now comes even more hard work. “UWM has an extraordinary opportunity to shape the future of public health education and Faculty and staff of the new Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health research,” says Peck. “If moved into their new home in the historic Pabst Brewery complex not the bold, audacious goal in August, and classes there started this month. The LEED-certified of creating an innovative, green building includes a renovated 33,000-square-foot building and a world-class school of new 23,000-square-foot addition housing classrooms, faculty offices, public health that will help research spaces, a teaching kitchen, areas for collaboration with make Milwaukee one of community partners and extended office space for the Milwaukee Health the healthiest cities in the Department for collaborative research and policy. nation, why even bother doing it? And so it’s what must be done.” distinction between clinical medicine and While she stresses that the school alone public health in dealing with complex cannot solve community problems, it can health issues. and will be a significant contributor to “The most powerful solutions cannot rely addressing health challenges in Milwaukee, on medicine alone,” says Peck. “Impacting the region and beyond. genetic, behavioral, social and environmental “Our work focuses on the science and factors that influence who lives well and who practice of preventing disease and disability, dies too soon requires a systems approach designing solutions that really work, and across many disciplines.” informing evidence-based policies to improve Here’s an overview of some of the public’s health,” Peck says. the interdisciplinary work already Peck views the Zilber School’s being done at the Zilber School of interdisciplinary focus on prevention and Public Health. population health as complementary to the work of Wisconsin’s medical schools and area healthcare systems. She draws a key
Alan Magayne-Roshak ‘72
THE FACE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
“ TH HE LE PGPORAOLV OI DFETAH IPSI EWCOE ROK FWTAHSETPOU Z Z L E . AND IN THIS WE WERE SUCCESSFUL ” .
A M Y K A L K B R E N N E R
FROM POPULATION DATA TO PIECES OF THE
autism puzzle
Amy Kalkbrenner is an assistant professor of epidemiology in the Zilber School of Public Health. Basically that means she studies the patterns of disease in a population and looks at how to apply this research to controlling health problems. Her research focuses on links between environmental factors, like tobacco smoke, and autism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder, making such environmental studies even more timely. She was lead author of a study published this year in an Environmental Health Perspectives special issue on autism and the environment. She and her fellow researchers found preliminary indications that women who smoke in pregnancy may be more likely to have a child with high-functioning autism, such as Asperger’s Disorder. “It has long been known that autism is an umbrella term for a wide range of disorders that impair social and communication skills,” says Kalkbrenner. “What we are seeing is that some disorders on the autism spectrum, more than others, may be influenced by a factor such as whether a mother smokes during pregnancy.”
Kalkbrenner and colleagues’ populationbased study compared smoking data from birth certificates of thousands of children from 11 states as part of the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) network. Of the 633,989 children included, 3,315 were identified as having an autism spectrum disorder at age 8. “The study doesn’t say for certain that smoking is a risk factor for autism,” Kalkbrenner says. “But it does say that if there is an association, it’s between smoking and certain types of autism,” implicating the disorders on the autism spectrum that are less severe and allow children to function at a higher level. That connection, she adds, needs further study. Because autism involves a broad spectrum of conditions and the interplay of genetics and environment is so complex, no one study can explain all the causes of autism, she adds. “The goal of this work was to help provide a piece of the puzzle. And in this we were successful.”
Troye Fox
Smoking during pregnancy is still common in the U.S. despite its known harmful effects. Kalkbrenner found that 13 percent of mothers whose children were included in the study had smoked during pregnancy.
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“ I ETN’ GS ATGHEE MCOHRAEN CD EI RTEOC T L Y W I T H T H E C O M M U N I T Y. ” P E T E R T O N E L L A T O
BY THE
numbers:
FROM GENETIC CODE TO ZIP CODE Peter Tonellato uses mathematical models and simulations as public health tools. In the school’s Laboratory for Public Health Informatics and Genomics (LPHIG), Professor Tonellato and colleagues examine and look for possible answers to public health questions using these tools. Currently the lab is focused on helping healthcare providers test best practices and suggest optimum care. For example, the Optimal Anticlotting Project, done in conjunction with Aurora Health Care and Marshfield Clinics, tests optimum dosages for warfarin, a drug widely used to prevent blood clots. Like other medications, it has benefits and side effects that can vary greatly from patient to patient. LPHIG conducts studies testing various treatment and dosing options, thus predicting the optimal treatment. To find the drug’s “sweet spot” – a dosage that prevents clots and minimizes the risks of side effects – researchers have created a cadre of avatars modeled on actual health records of (consenting) Milwaukeeans. The lab team uses mathematical models to test various doses on segments of the avatar population, whose reaction to the drug varies
based on physical characteristics derived from the medical records. “We can create an alternate Milwaukee, or 50 alternate Milwaukees, and test possible optimal treatments,” says Tonellato. This type of research can eventually help address health inequities, a key focus of the Zilber School, by teasing out information about the intertwined impact of genetics and environment. While ZIP code may be as important as genetic code in determining health, it’s important not to ignore the role of genes, says Tonellato. Using the warfarin study, for example, research has shown African Americans generally metabolize the drug more quickly than other ethnic groups. Asian Americans generally metabolize warfarin more slowly. Knowing that African Americans metabolize warfarin more quickly than other population groups doesn’t mean that all African Americans metabolize the drug that quickly. So individualized genetic testing might be
necessary – and such personalized medicine gets expensive. In public health, all factors must be considered – science, cost, policy and community impact. The challenge of this and other types of public health research is finding the will and the resources to translate the sophisticated scientific genetic knowledge into actionable public health information and knowledge. But it’s the chance to engage more directly with the community that makes public health research so exciting, says Tonellato. “In traditional biomedical scientific research, the direct impact of the majority of the work is on increasing knowledge, which is a good thing, but the vast majority of that knowledge doesn’t impact much of healthcare or public health. “We have set our goals here at the Zilber School of Public Health to make sure this knowledge and information is distributed to the community, and then have a discussion about what is feasible and practical.”
FOOD FOR THOUGHT Amy Harley, assistant professor of community behavioral health promotion, poses with Young Kim, executive director of the Fondy Food Center, at the center’s Fondy Farmer’s Market on Milwaukee’s North Side. Harley works to encourage physical access to fresh food is difficult.
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Troye Fox
activity and healthy eating, especially in neighborhoods where
Infant mortality: A COMMUNITY PROBLEM SEEKS COMMUNITY-WIDE SOLUTIONS Emmanuel Ngui states one of Milwaukee’s most sobering problems as simply as he can: “Babies are dying before their first birthday and we need to do something about it.” Milwaukee’s fetal and infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the country, particularly among African Americans. Milwaukee’s 2009-11 infant mortality rate for African Americans was 14.5 per 1,000 births, compared to 5.0 per 1,000 births for white infants. “Infant mortality is intricately related to the population’s social and economic conditions,” says Ngui, assistant professor of community behavioral health promotion. In Milwaukee, the deaths are concentrated in very specific “underresourced” ZIP codes, areas with high rates of poverty, unemployment, violence and other environmental issues, he says. These factors, individually and collectively, influence the health and well-being of women, fathers and babies, he adds. Premature births (less than 37 weeks gestation) account for half of area infant deaths, and the economic impact of caring for premature babies is enormous, he says. This is not just a problem of certain neighborhoods, says Ngui. “This is ‘our’ problem. High infant mortality for one group contributes to an overall high rate for the city, county and state. It brings all of us down.” The Zilber School has made infant mortality a major focus of its work and research. The school is involved in local and state efforts to
improve birth outcomes, including the Public Health Impact Initiative, a collaborative effort with the City of Milwaukee Health Department, UWM’s Center for Urban Population Health and other partners, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
changes in delivery of services and community awareness have already taken place.” In another project, the School of Public Health and the City of Milwaukee Health Department collaborated on two community-focused marketing campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of prenatal care and healthy behaviors. THIS IS NOT JUST A The team also launched a P RO B L E M O F C E RTA I N “Women2Women4Babies” social media campaign in NEIGHBORHOODS. THIS May 2012, featuring videos IS ‘OUR’ PROBLEM. of 100 local women recalling EMMANUEL NGUI their experiences as mothers learning about caring for their newborns and themselves.
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The Zilber School collaborated on a community-focused “Women2Women4Babies” social media campaign to raise awareness of prenatal care and healthy behaviors. The campaign featured local women sharing how to care for their newborns and themselves.
Ngui is part of the Fetal Infant Mortality Review (FIMR), a collaborative and multidisciplinary project with the City of Milwaukee Health Department that brings together diverse health and social work professionals who deal with these tragic early deaths. FIMR compiles and reviews information on stillbirths and infant deaths, and makes recommendations to address them. “We want to find effective things we can do to prevent these deaths,” says Ngui. “Some
Associate Professor of Community Behavioral Health Promotion Paul Florsheim is testing the impact of the Young Parenthood Program on pregnant adolescents and their partners. The goal of the program, done in collaboration with UWM’s Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research, is to help young parents develop relationship skills to be good parents – whether they stay together or not.
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Assistant Professor Michael Laoisa and Associate Professor Kurt Svoboda, faculty in Environmental and Occupational Health, are working on teasing out the complex interactions between genetics and environmental factors during prenatal development. The school is working across the UWM campus to make a greater impact. Susan McRoy, professor in the College of Engineering & Applied Science, with support from the Zilber School, developed and tested a cell phone application that helps remind pregnant women about checkups, healthy behaviors and other important measures to help them deliver healthy, full-term babies. Dean Peck sees these types of collaborations among healthcare systems, community organizations, and university schools and colleges as one of the strengths of the Zilber School of Public Health. “Promoting the public’s health requires us to work better together to prevent babies from being born too small or too soon, or who don’t live to blow out their first birthday candle.”
“ W B EEY MO NU DS TTRHEI AS CRHE GOIUOTN T O H AV E A N E V E N G R E A T E R I M P A C T.
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M A G D A P E C K
Sustainable agriculture and food security are important elements that UWM researchers and colleagues are using to help impact public health in Malawi (large photo, center and right insets). Other researchers are studying
T.K.
maternal and infant health in Morocco (left inset).
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MILWAUKEE AND
beyond
“While our research initiatives and educational activities will be anchored in Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin,” says Peck, “we must reach out beyond this region to have an even greater impact.” The school is already reaching out internationally. This past summer, Karla Bartholomew, an assistant professor of public health policy, and Ellen Amster, an assistant professor of history specializing in the Middle East, led a group of students to Morocco to study infant and maternal health. Lance Weinhardt, professor of community behavioral health promotion, is involved in a longstanding collaboration with Loren Galvao, a senior scientist in the College of Nursing’s Center for Global Health Equity, to help address health and economic problems in Malawi. The Tiphunzitsane Project (the word means “working together” in the local language) is looking at how food security, microfinance programs and sustainable agriculture can impact public health. The African nation is one of the world’s poorest; families have been devastated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has taken a particular toll on women and children in rural areas. Weinhardt, Galvao and their colleagues are working with other American and European academics, CARE USA, CARE Malawi and local Malawian field researchers to study how these economic interventions can help families and improve their health. More than 2,000 Malawian households are involved in the study, funded through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The project’s goal is to develop scientific knowledge and information that could be applied to other regions in Malawi and other countries, says Weinhardt. Preliminary results of the work, presented at this summer’s International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., are promising. The school’s growing collaboration with UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences also opens global opportunities for interdisciplinary research.
TWO SENIOR FACULTY MEMBERS WHO ARRIVED IN AUGUST ALREADY ARE ADDING FRESH RESEARCH FOCUSES TO THE ZILBER SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. Ruth Etzel, who comes to UWM from the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, is a pediatrician and epidemiologist who focuses on environmental health research involving children. She founded the International Pediatric Environmental Health Leadership Institute, and is the founding editor of the American Academy of Pediatrics book “Pediatric Environmental Health.” Lorraine Halinka Malcoe, who comes to UWM from Simon Fraser University in Canada, is a social epidemiologist with longstanding research interests in gender, race and class inequalities in health. She conducts epidemiologic observational research as well as participatory, community-level interventions. For the past decade, her research and teaching have focused on improving understanding of the social causes and consequences of violence against women from diverse racial, cultural and socioeconomic groups.
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Pursuing a Dream at the
SUMMER OLYMPICS
B Y B E T H S TA F F O R D
A
dream led Shayla Schuett to this summer’s Olympic Games. But she didn’t go to London for gold. Schuett attended as an official volunteer with the title “Sport Equipment Team Member.” As a student in UWM’s Athletic Training Education Program, the Games are another step toward her dream of working with elite athletes. Schuett had previous experience with the Olympics. She holds a degree in Kinesiology from Northwestern College in Minnesota. Her coursework required an internship, which she served at the U.S. Olympic Complex in Colorado Springs from January through July 2010. Drawn by the reputation of the athletic training program in the College of Health Sciences, Schuett decided to pursue a second degree at UWM. Then, with the Summer Olympics on the horizon, she applied for a volunteer spot at the official website for the Summer Games. Schuett was accepted as a volunteer in the wrestling venue and encouraged to attend a December 2011 Olympics test event – in London. “As a volunteer at the test event, I paid for airfare, lodging and food – when I wasn’t actually volunteering on site,” says Schuett. The same was true for the Summer Games.
An insider’s view Schuett says, “From picking up my credentials and uniform, to daily commuting on the ‘tube,’ everything was very straightforward and smoothly run.” Her daily routine at the wrestling venue involved checking in at 10:30 a.m. to get equipment out and ready for the first session’s 1 p.m. start, assisting with weigh-ins at 4 p.m., preparing equipment for the second session at 5 p.m., then stowing equipment at the 9 p.m. end of competition.
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Although not yet qualified to train athletes, Schuett created opportunities to observe. “For example, an athletic trainer for a U.S. team invited me to watch while he evaluated a wrestler’s elbow and explained to me the steps involved.” When she watched the medical staff run through their drills at the beginning of each day, Schuett was happy to be able to identify exactly what they were practicing. “They were going over different emergency action plans, the same training that I’d just had during my spring semester at UWM.” Between duties, Schuett observed sports she wasn’t familiar with, such as weightlifting and taekwondo. She also watched the wrestlers practice, learned a lot about that sport and met coaches from many different countries who were “really nice and eager to interact.” She worked alongside volunteers from Africa, Malaysia, Scotland and Ireland. “We became very close during a short amount of time. These are people I will be in touch with for the rest of my life.” Schuett also reconnected with two friends she had met at the Colorado Springs facility. Wrestler Clarissa Chun dramatically won the bronze medal by defeating the opponent who had bested Chun for the same medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Weight-lifter Sarah Robles placed seventh, and Schuett describes how “thrilling it is to watch weightlifters punch that weight over their heads in a quest for a personal best.” Over and over, Schuett was struck by the camaraderie and the difference in the competitive atmosphere at the Olympics. “Everybody, including the athletes, cheered for the other teams and the individuals who excelled.”
LONDON 2012
“ We became very close during a short amount of time. These are people I will be in touch with for the rest of my life.”
Courtesy Shayla Schuett
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109 awards…and counting UWM Senior Photographer Alan MagayneRoshak (’72 BA) says his interest in photography was sparked by his father, who spent World War II in photo reconnaissance. But it wasn’t until the UWM Post needed a volunteer to cover an event that he got his first official photography assignment. He had been doing cartoons and illustrations for the student paper, but after that first photo job the light went on, he jokes. “I took up photography, since making all those little lines took up so much time.” After graduating from UWM with a degree in Art History in 1972, Magayne-Roshak became the first darkroom manager/ instructor at the UWM Union Craft Center, and then landed a position with UWM Photo Services in 1973. He’s been there ever since. He recently figured out that he’s covered 69 UWM commencement ceremonies. He’s also won 109 awards to date, including University Photographers Association of America (UPAA) Photographer of the Year. His work has been exhibited in solo shows in Wisconsin, as well as in galleries in New York and in the Smithsonian’s “Portrait of America” traveling show. Two of his prints are in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s permanent collection. On these pages, we present MagayneRoshak’s most recent honors.
1 Scene in Atwater Park: Second Place, Personal Vision, UPAA 2012 Symposium. This picture was also chosen by symposium speaker Annie Griffith of National Geographic for comment during her photo critique session.
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5 2. D ragonfly on Zelazo Center column: Honorable Mention, Personal Vision, UPAA 2012 Symposium. 3. UWM Science Bag presenter Jorg Woehl: Honorable Mention, Features and Illustrations, UPAA 2012 Symposium. 4
4. “ Enigma,” accepted for the Racine Art Museum’s Wisconsin Photography 2012 Juried Exhibition running through Nov. 24 at the RAM Wustum Museum. 5. “ Abstract Figures,” accepted for the Racine Art Museum’s Wisconsin Photography 2012 Juried Exhibition running through Nov. 24 at the RAM Wustum Museum.
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2012 UWM Alumni Association Awards Sixteen alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who have distinguished themselves through outstanding achievements in their careers and civic involvement have been named recipients of the 2012 UWM Alumni Association awards. They were honored at the Alumni Association’s Signature Event May 19 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. The event featured a performance by comedian, impressionist and UWM alumnus Frank Caliendo (’96). The Special Life Achievement, Citizenship and Distinguished Alumnus award winners also were recognized during Spring Commencement ceremonies.
SPECIAL LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD T his special award is designed to recognize outstanding and original life experiences and accomplishments. In the history of the UWM Alumni Association, only 13 alumni have received the award. Mary T. Kellner, ’78 MS Educational Psychology Mary T. Kellner, president and director of the Kelben Foundation, has made significant contributions to helping children overcome economic and education disparities. Together with her husband, Ted, and their Kelben Foundation, she has invested in numerous initiatives to improve education. Among the contributions to UWM are the Kellner Professorship in Early Childhood Education, the School of Education Kellner Scholarship and the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business Kellner Scholarship. After completing her master’s degree, she worked as a counselor in the MequonThiensville and Grafton schools, helping establish a model program to help other counselors identify early warning signs for students using drugs and alcohol. As president of the Next Door Foundation, she helped develop Books for Kids, a program that has put hundreds of thousands of books
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into the hands of Milwaukee children. Through the “I Have a Dream” project, she and her husband are sponsoring scholarships for all students in the Clarke Street School first grade class of 2008 who graduate from high school ready to enroll in college. The Kellners are also leading a campaign to expand the Milwaukee College Preparatory Academy, a high-performing school chartered by UWM. In addition to her MS from UWM, Mary Kellner earned a BS in Education from UWMadison and her doctorate in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning at Cardinal Stritch University. At the time she and her husband established the early childhood professorship, she expressed her passion for education. “I’ve seen how important it is for children to get a good start, especially when they don’t come from privileged backgrounds. So many children get to school and they start behind and never catch up.”
ALUMNI CITIZENSHIP AWARD
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARDS
The Alumni Citizenship Award recognizes UWM graduates who have performed significant voluntary service beyond the call of business or professional duty.
The Distinguished Alumnus Award celebrates outstanding UWM graduates whose professional achievements and commitment to the community bring honor to the university.
Dennis R. Mcbride, ’76 BA Journalism Dennis R. McBride is the epitome of civic involvement and citizenship. He backs up his belief in Milwaukee with action, serving those who do not have a voice, both professionally and as a private citizen. As a senior trial attorney in the Milwaukee office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), McBride has litigated employment discrimination cases throughout the Midwest. In 1996, the Federal Executives Association of Milwaukee recognized his contributions with its Community Service Award. Despite a busy family and professional life, he ran for and was elected an alderman for the City of Wauwatosa in 2008. That’s in addition to coordinating the Hedge School at Irish Fest, volunteering for the Wauwatosa School District and the state Retirement Board, and writing a blog for the local newspaper. He is passionate about UWM and its importance to the future of Southeastern Wisconsin. McBride has served four terms as a member of the UWM Alumni Association Board of Trustees, one term on the UWM Board of Visitors and one year as ex officio director of the UWM Foundation. In 1986, he was inducted into what is now UWM’s Bud K. Haidet Athletics Hall of Fame, and he supports UWM sports through attendance at games and at Hall of Fame banquets. As a Wauwatosa alderman, he has been a leading advocate for the development of UWM’s Innovation Park, a technical park located near Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin. In addition to his UWM degree, McBride holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from Princeton University and a JD from the New York University School of Law.
Laurel Bear, MD, ’80 BS Medical Science Laurel Bear is a board certified pediatric specialist who has forged her own path, becoming a pediatric hospitalist (specializing in the care of children who are hospitalized) before the term was even used. Exposure to medically fragile babies at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Milwaukee led Bear to the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), where she manages the NICU Developmental Follow-Up Program and created the first program in the nation to focus on follow-up for babies requiring heart surgery prior to their first birthday. (Bear received her MD degree from MCW in 1984.)
Donald F. Gatzke, ’79 MARCH The career of Donald F. Gatzke demonstrates the power of a UWM degree. Gatzke is a professor and dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Under his leadership, UTA has risen to be one of the top design schools in the country. He has guided the establishment of two research centers at the school and an innovative graduate certificate program in real estate development that focuses on property repositioning and turnaround strategies. Gatzke is an invited juror for design awards sponsored by the American Institute of Architects around the country, and has been an adviser to several planning committees in both Texas and Louisiana. He has won multiple awards for design and research over the course of his career. Previously, he had been dean at the Tulane University School of Architecture in New Orleans.
Bear also is a teacher, role model, community leader and international volunteer as well as a wife and mother. Outside of her practice, she has served with the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center’s Steve and Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken, the Nicolet School District and the Global Medical Brigade.
There, as a member of the Vieux Carre Commission, he helped oversee preservation efforts in the French Quarter. After Hurricane Katrina hit the city, Gatzke, who was already at UTA, volunteered with a team that re-established a New Orleans planning department after most of the former department’s employees had left.
As medical director at Camp Interlaken, she also volunteers as camp doctor for a week or more each summer. In 2011, she completed two terms (six years) on the Nicolet School Board, serving as board president and vice president. For several years she has joined Global Medical Brigade trips to Honduras, contributing pediatric knowledge as well as mentoring students who also volunteer.
His loyalty to UWM shines through in the form of annual gifts and support of the STAR scholarship fund in the School of Architecture & Urban Planning.
Her husband, Brian Bear (‘81 BS Medical Science and Health Information Administration), is winner of the 2011 UWM Alumni Association Citizenship Award and a practicing OB/GYN whom Laurel Bear met while both were attending the Target MD undergraduate program at UWM. Following in her parents’ footsteps, one of the couple’s three daughters graduated from UWM in May.
George L. Kelling has assisted communities across the world in managing and confronting crime. Stan Stojkovic, dean of UWM’s Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, believes that in
George L. Kelling, ’62 MSW
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the last 40 years, Kelling has had a more significant impact on the creation of effective crime reduction strategies than any other U.S. academic or police professional. After receiving his MSW from UWM, Kelling went on to earn his PhD in Social Welfare from UW-Madison. He is now professor emeritus in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and professor emeritus in the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. He is known for his work on the importance of “broken windows” policing (take care of the little things and the big things will follow), and how police can become more engaged in their communities to improve the quality of urban life. Police chiefs describe how Kelling develops his facts, theories and significant body of work by working in the streets, neighborhoods and police cars of the subjects he writes about. He “walks his talk” – one of the reasons his work has resonated and influenced practitioners over the years. In addition to his extensive writings, Kelling has taught and mentored a generation of master’s and doctoral students who have gone on to influential positions in policing or at leading universities and think tanks. Kelling is currently involved in writing a book on policing in Milwaukee, consulting with police departments and cities around the country, and lecturing.
Lyman Tschanz, ’82 MBA Lyman Tschanz is vice president, Operations, responsible for global operations leadership in the Engineered to Order (ETO) businesses at Rockwell Automation, and has direct oversight of four of the company’s manufacturing facilities in North America and Latin America. Tschanz has more than 30 years of experience in general management and operations, mergers and acquisitions, and global business management in automotive, automotive aftermarket, electrical equipment and industrial automation industries.
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He joined Rockwell Automation in 2006 as director of operations and was named vice president, Operations, in 2008. With a team of more than 2,000 geographically dispersed employees, Tschanz has a broad knowledge of the company’s markets, customers, culture and people. Most recently, he was involved in the expansion of Rockwell Automation manufacturing in Brazil, a key growth market for the company. He has also been instrumental in the company’s manufacturing growth in Mexico, leading the development of new facilities and the expansion of existing locations in that country. In addition to his service to several community nonprofit organizations, Tschanz has demonstrated support of the undergraduate programs, student organizations and institutional collaborations at UWM’s Lubar School of Business. He has aided industry-student interaction in the areas of information technology management, engineering, and supply chain and operations management. Tschanz has also facilitated connections between industry, universities abroad and UWM. In addition, he frequently speaks to Lubar students on topics such as personal development and leadership, and preparing for life after college.
GRADUATE OF THE LAST DECADE (GOLD) AWARDS The GOLD Award recognizes recent graduates who have achieved a measure of success in their fields, bringing credit to themselves and to the university.
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & URBAN PLANNING Brett M. Leonhardt, ’05 BS Architectural Studies Brett M. Leonhardt is recognized as a versatile leader within the building industry. He is currently taking part in a scholarship-internship with The Rockefeller Group awarded to two students annually by New York University, where he is a
master’s degree candidate in Real Estate Development Finance & Investment. Additionally, Leonhardt is co-chair of the Green Buildings + Campus Planning Committee at NYU. Before taking his current position with Rockefeller, Leonhardt worked at the firm HOK in New York on projects ranging from towers of more than 1,500 feet to complex, state-of-the-art hospitals. He has been involved in the design of two Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Certified projects, and several LEED Silver and Gold projects. Leonhardt is a founding member of IMPACT, an organization at HOK that aims to connect all HOK offices in activities that support community, sustainability and volunteerism, and is a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. Leonhardt is described as someone with “a lively curiosity and generous spirit,” which includes a devotion to SARUP alumni. Founder and moderator of the alumni group on LinkedIn, he also is coordinator of alumni gatherings in New York. As a member of the leadership committee of the Bob Greenstreet Honorary Scholarship (honoring the longtime SARUP dean), Leonhardt is one of the people instrumental in raising more than $30,000 this year.
PECK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Kevin Horrigan, ’08 BFA Guitar Performance As a graduate of the world’s only bachelor’s degree program in finger-style guitar, Kevin Horrigan has promoted UWM to the world as winner of the 2011 International Finger Style Guitar Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kan. Horrigan also won the 2011 Canadian National Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, another very prestigious competition. He is the only person in history to take first place at both contests. Seven years ago, when UWM’s Peck School of the Arts created the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Music programs specializing in finger-style guitar, Horrigan was a business major at UW-La Crosse. He was taking some music electives and
found himself spending more time on those classes than he did working toward a business degree. He transferred to UWM and joined the new finger-style program. John Stropes, director of guitar studies at PSOA, says Horrigan “distinguished himself while at UWM by composing instrumental solos with a happy funk groove using extended techniques – two-hands-on-the-fingerboard, percussion, right-hand string-stopping.” Currently, Horrigan is working full time at We Energies, but the new guitar honors are helping provide inspiration to finish composing his first CD and move toward a full-time career in music performance and instruction. (Editor’s note: Horrigan was profiled in the Spring 2012 issue of UWM Alumni.)
SHELDON B. LUBAR SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Elizabeth Jacobs, MD,’09 Executive MBA Elizabeth Jacobs has distinguished herself as an educator, researcher and practicing clinician. She serves as the associate dean for research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. A nationally recognized researcher, she was appointed associate chief of staff for research at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in September 2011. One area of her responsibilities is building the research program at the center through collaborations with regional academic partners, including UWM, where she mentors junior faculty. Prior to her faculty appointment, Jacobs trained at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, the University of Arkansas Health Science Center and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. She has been a faculty member at the Medical College since 1989 and is recognized for her mentoring of young scientists. She is an accomplished clinician, and has published more than 65 original investigations. Jacobs serves as a contributing editor to journals including the American Journal of Physiology: Heart.
As part of her long-standing commitment to advancing her field, Jacobs is active on many committees and associations. She has served on a number of National Institutes of Health Study Sections, including Respiratory and Integrative Biology, and Translational Research.
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Darrell L. Williams,’07 PhD Urban Education Darrell L. Williams, principal of Casimir Pulaski High School, is an educator and scholar who has served Milwaukee Public Schools for almost 20 years. He is also a military officer with more than 20 years of leadership experience. At MPS, he has taken some of the most challenging schools in Milwaukee and created a higher level of structure, discipline and education focus, according to Latish Reed, assistant professor of administrative leadership at UWM, who nominated Williams. Williams works collaboratively with students, parents and community to improve schools. He also takes time to mentor new administrators, and has been active in the community and the education profession through numerous organizations. As principal of Whittier Elementary, he organized parents and community members to rebuild a tot lot devastated by fire. At John Burroughs Middle School, he developed the Twilight Program, an intervention for retained and overage students, offering night classes. He also established a junior chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers at the school, the only one in an MPS school. At the same time, he increased student achievement in mathematics and reading, and reduced suspension rates. His work was honored by the Milwaukee Times with a Black Excellence Award in Education.
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCE Tien Nhut Nguyen, ’05 PhD Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Tien Nhut Nguyen stands as an exemplar of UWM’s academic strength. A tenured associate professor of computer engineering at Iowa State University, Nguyen has succeeded at a university that is widely considered stronger than UWM. His training here shows that UWM’s real quality is higher than its current reputation. Nguyen was one of the very best doctoral students ever to graduate in computer science from UWM. He won the Chancellor’s Graduate Student Award for three consecutive years. His course grades were perfect and he was quite productive, publishing more than a dozen conference papers and conducting high-quality research on software configuration management. At Iowa State, he has built a talented team of PhD students with whom he has published almost 40 papers. He is on the editorial boards of two international journals and has served as a reviewer for eight others. In 2008, Nguyen was awarded the Litton Industries Professorship, which supports young faculty who exhibit a potential for leadership in electrical or computer engineering research, have a recognized commitment to excellence in teaching and collaborate with industry.
COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES Julie Kinzelman, ’02 MS Health Sciences Julie Kinzelman is an active research scientist and director of the City of Racine Health Department Laboratory. She holds an academic appointment at the University of Surrey (U.K.), where she earned her
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PhD in Public Health and Environmental Microbiology in 2005, as well as positions at UWM (College of Health Sciences and School of Freshwater Sciences) and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Her research focuses on the implementation of rapid monitoring methods and developing applied science solutions to improve surface-water quality. She is part of a network of researchers who are concerned with the health of the Great Lakes. Ongoing collaborative projects include the development and implementation of tools to identify pollution sources at Great Lakes beaches, supporting regional watershed restoration plans, developing sustainable best management strategies to improve water quality and increasing laboratory capacity for rapid testing. In the future, rapid tests will replace older methods that took up to 24 hours to notify the public of unsafe swimming conditions. Kinzelman has authored more than 25 papers and three book chapters, and has given more than 100 presentations in relation to these efforts. Her many research grants have allowed her to mentor graduate and undergraduate students from 14 different academic institutions.
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES Umashanie Reddy, ’08 MLIS Umashanie Reddy is manager of diversity services at the Calgary (Alberta) Public Library. She works closely with local immigrant-serving agencies and the federal government to serve the city’s diverse populations. She is currently managing the Library Settlement Services Project, funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This project, the second of its kind in western Canada, provides services to newcomers to help them feel welcomed and settled in Calgary.
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Before earning her master’s degree at UWM, Reddy worked in South Africa for 18 years as a librarian at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Before immigrating to Canada, she fought a lengthy battle with cancer. She earned her bachelor’s and honours degrees in Library Science from the University of South Africa with distinction, winning the faculty medal for best performance. She is a strong promoter of Canadian multiculturalism and won the Calgary Public Library’s Inaugural Dragons’ Den Award for a DVD she developed in multiple world languages to introduce newcomers to the library. One faculty member who taught Reddy summed up: “Umashanie is a remarkable person, having experienced apartheid in her home country and immigration to a new one, while suffering from a life-threatening disease.”
COLLEGE OF LETTERS & SCIENCE Amy Turim, ’06 BA Sociology Every accomplishment on the résumé of Amy Turim can be tied to her experiences and passions while at UWM. In her professional and personal lives, Turim has established herself as a recognized voice for people living in poverty. Her job at Jomela Properties in Milwaukee includes managing housing programs for families living below the poverty line and for young people emerging from the foster care system. On a volunteer basis, she lobbies for community improvement, working for the Garden Homes Land Compact on urban food gardens, youth activities and cleanups. She was chosen to join the Reader Advisory Committee by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board. Later, she became a community columnist for the paper, addressing topics such as race relations, healthy eating and housing patterns. Turim also volunteers at the Guest House, the largest publicly funded emergency shelter in Milwaukee, and has helped
advocate for homeowners facing foreclosure with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA). An outstanding representative of UWM, Turim graduated summa cum laude and was a member of both Honors College and three honor societies. She competed with the UWM Mock Trial team as a student and is still involved, serving as a coach and judge.
COLLEGE OF NURSING Kristin Haglund, ’02 PhD Nursing Kristin Haglund, associate professor of nursing at Marquette University, is a nurse practitioner, educator and researcher who focuses her efforts on two significant problems of Milwaukee adolescents – teen pregnancy and violence. She has done extensive research on adolescent sexuality, sexual risk reduction behaviors and dating violence. In 2010, she was named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to conduct research on the relationship between drinking and sexual involvement among adolescents in England. She earned her MSN and FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner) degrees at UW-Oshkosh and her BSN in nursing from Marquette. Before teaching at Marquette, she worked as a nurse practitioner for the Milwaukee Adolescent Health Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin and as a public health nurse for the City of Milwaukee. Those who nominated Haglund mentioned both her research and her teaching. One cited her ability to collaborate with others, both within the nursing profession and in other disciplines, on research. Others mentioned her leadership in mentoring students. One doctoral student she mentored wrote: “Dr. Haglund exemplifies excellence – she has found the balance between teaching and research and has done both exceptionally well. She is a shining example of the rigor and excellence that UW-Milwaukee expects of its doctoral students.”
HELEN BADER SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WELFARE Gretchen Mead, ’04 MSW Gretchen Mead is founder and director of the Victory Garden Initiative (VGI), an effort that combines her training as a clinical social worker with her interests in gardening and the environment. Mead is recognized nationally as being in the forefront of the local food movement, educating residents about the benefits of community gardening, mobilizing neighborhoods toward local food production and making possible the creation of numerous garden plots.
In part, VGI resulted from Mead’s work in direct patient care with Aurora Health Care and her view of the impact of the food system on her clients. She saw many health problems climbing at an alarming rate, especially among those who relied on cheap, overly processed staples and food banks. Mead launched VGI from her own front yard in Shorewood, Wis. The fourth annual Victory Garden Installation Blitz expanded in 2012 from a single Saturday to a week, May 19-26, with volunteers installing hundreds of residential gardens.
CHECK THE WEBSITE FOR MORE View video profiles of several award winners and other amazing UWM alumni on the Web at http://bit.ly/uwm_alumni.
NOMINATE AN OUTSTANDING ALUM Guidelines and nomination forms at uwm. edu/alumni; click on “Awards.” More info: Erin Harrass, eph@uwm.edu.
Associate Professor Deborah Padgett, chair of the UWM Department of Social Work, describes how Mead’s passion and commitment inspire students via classroom presentations. “While most social work students are invested in individual-level change efforts, Gretchen has helped them understand the importance of what social workers call ‘macro’ change and to envision how this type of change is possible.”
Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72
FR ANK CALIENDO
‘He had me nailed’ A highlight of the Signature Event was a special performance by alumnus Frank Caliendo (’96 BA L&S), best known for his uncanny impressions of, among others, George Bush and John Madden. Caliendo had the audience rolling in the aisles as he rolled across the stage, which was not necessarily why he received the UWM Foundation Chancellor’s Award at the event. Caliendo’s classmates and professors could have predicted his career. Here’s a memory from Gregg Hoffmann, senior lecturer emeritus of journalism:
“As for Frank, he was a great student…. He took a number of courses from me. I remember one at Whitefish Bay HS that started at 6:30. We’d all be tired, so I’d tell him he could do two impersonations. He’d turn around and come back as Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters, you name it. The class would be alive until 9 p.m. “I also used to take out my classes for a semesterending beer. I remember one of the last times before Frank graduated, about the middle of the night he disappeared. Suddenly, there he was in my signature turtleneck and did 10 minutes of me. He had me nailed.” FALL 2012 UWM ALUMNI • 25
PANTHER Athletics
B Y KE V IN J. O’ CON N OR, ASSOCIATE ATH L E TIC DIRE CTOR–CO MMUNIC ATIONS
MEN’S HOOPS COMES HOME TO KLOTSCHE
T
he UWM men’s basketball team will now play its home games at the oncampus Klotsche Center, Director of Athletics Andy Geiger announced this summer. The move back to campus, starting with the 2012-13 season, is designed to trigger greater student engagement in athletics and add to the campus life, culture and atmosphere while providing the Panthers with a tremendous homecourt advantage. “We’re coming home,” Geiger said. “College games belong on college campuses. We’ll be closer to our student body and be adding to the college experience and the life and culture of our campus. We can engage our students while at the same time creating a great atmosphere for all of our fans.” “We’re very excited to be returning to campus,” men’s basketball coach Rob Jeter said. “What a great opportunity to bond with our students and campus community, and to create an unbelievable atmosphere for all of our supporters. I know everyone is committed to making this move work and making it something great for our program now and in the long term.”
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While some details of the setup of the Klotsche Center now and moving forward are still being finalized, there will be seating for approximately 3,400 people, including nearly 1,500 chairback seats both behind the benches and courtside. Plans will also be implemented to improve the facility. Plus, since UWM last played regularly on campus in 2003, the university has added approximately 1,400 on-campus parking spaces, including the 618-space Pavilion parking garage adjacent to the Klotsche Center, making parking for events readily available. It is also a move that will set UWM on a path to continue to improve and grow its own facilities moving forward. “This is economically better, as now money we spend will be used to upgrade facilities we own and impact a number of our sports,” Geiger said. “This is culturally better, giving us the chance to engage our student body and build excitement about all of our athletics programs on our own campus. It is incredibly important for us to be a part of the college environment and to help create it.”
In recent seasons, UWM has played a handful of exhibition and regular-season games in the building. The highlight was last year’s 68-55 win over UIC in the Horizon League Tournament. The Panthers have played the majority of their games at the U.S. Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee for the past nine seasons. The move downtown was made for a variety of reasons, including the need to satisfy a Horizon League bylaw calling for a school’s men’s basketball facility to seat at least 5,000 people. But now UWM has a waiver of that bylaw from the league to return its games to the Klotsche Center. “From all accounts we have had a positive experience downtown, and playing there helped raise our profile and create a lot of great memories,” Geiger said. “But now is the time to move back to campus and begin to create a culture of support and enthusiasm on campus, which can only help us grow and become even better moving forward.”
DURELL BUSBY
BECK Y YOKOSH
JORDAN DIEL
Four student-athletes compete at Olympic trials UWM had an impressive four studentathletes competing at Olympic trials in various cities across the globe this summer, and the Panthers had tremendous showings, with a pair just missing Olympic berths. Durell Busby of the men’s track & field team ran in the 110m hurdles in his home nation, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and was just one spot shy of punching his ticket to London. The junior finished second overall in his trial race, but his qualifying time of 13.67 seconds was fourth-best, just missing a spot among the top three for a spot on this summer’s Olympic team.
In swimming, the Panthers had a programbest three take the pool in five events at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., highlighted by two fantastic finishes by sophomore Emily McClellan. McClellan finished an outstanding sixth overall in the 100m breaststroke with a lifetime-best time of 1:07.41. McClellan also had an impressive showing in the 200m breaststroke, vastly improving on her 40th-place seeding. She finished just over one second shy of the semifinals at 24th overall (out of 118). “The whole experience…words can’t even describe how this has affected me,”
EMILY McCLELLAN
McClellan said. “I was swimming with former Olympians and future Olympians, and I am just so honored. I went in there with nothing to lose and really just went from there. It was such an incredible week and I’m so honored and thankful.” Fellow sophomore Becky Yokosh also swam with the nation’s best in two events at the meet. She finished 99th out of 162 in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:04.38 and then took 130th in the 200m backstroke in 2:19.61. Senior Jordan Diel wrapped up the action for Milwaukee, taking 109th in the 100m butterfly, touching the wall at 55.83.
UWM claims sixth McCafferty Trophy PLUS 10TH WOMEN’S ALL-SPORTS AWARD UWM has once again staked its claim to the best athletics department in the Horizon League. The school was officially awarded the McCafferty Trophy at the Horizon League Executive Council meeting in June. This marks the sixth time UWM has won the trophy, awarded to the league’s all-sports champion. Plus, UWM claimed the Women’s All-Sports Award for the 10th time. The Panthers captured the crowns, in part, by collecting nine regular-season and postseason league titles. The women’s volleyball team won both the regular-season and tournament titles, while the women’s soccer team also won both crowns.
In fact, each team rolled through league play unbeaten, with the volleyball team becoming the first league squad to do so in that sport since 1994. The winning continued during the winter sports season, with the men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams each claiming league titles. It was the third straight title for the men, while the women built on a pair of second-place finishes from the previous two years to win the crown this season. UWM captured three additional team titles in track & field. The men won both the indoor and outdoor titles, while the women added an indoor crown to the trophy case. The men have now won 18 straight league titles, the best such streak in the nation, while the indoor championship for the women was their fourth straight.
Plus, UWM boosted its standing for the women’s award with a best-ever third-place regular-season finish in tennis and a secondplace finish in women’s outdoor track & field. UWM first won the McCafferty Trophy following the 2000-01 school year, and then claimed the award in three straight years from 2004-06. Milwaukee also won the all-sports honor in 2009. On the women’s side, UWM has won the league award 10 times in the last 12 years. Named in honor of James J. McCafferty, who served as the conference’s first commissioner from 1979-80, the McCafferty Trophy is awarded annually by the Horizon League to a member institution compiling the greatest number of performance points, based on its finish in the league’s 19 championship sports.
FALL 2012 UWM ALUMNI • 27
Milwaukee BasketBall Represent the BLACK and GOLD
CatCh all the men’s and women’s basketball home games at the klotsChe Center in 2012-13 For more information, contact the Panther Ticket Office at (414) 229-5886 or uwmtix@uwm.edu
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UWMAA BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2012-13
FINDING
THE
The following alumni have been elected to the UWM Alumni Association Board of Trustees for a term beginning July 1, 2012:
HUMOR IN
Scott M. Conger (’91 BBA), Senior Vice President, Pennant Management, Milwaukee
AGING
Stelios N. Fakiroglou (’80 BS Architectural Studies), Project Manager/ Sales, Weather-Tek Design Center, Brookfield Brentell C. Handley (’92 BA Economics), Vice President, M&I, a part of BMO Financial Group Alberto J. Maldonado (’96 BFA Inter-Arts, ’10 MS Cultural Foundations of Education), Interim Assistant Director for Recruitment, UWM David Misky (’92 BS Biological Sciences), Assistant Executive Director, Redevelopment Authority, City of Milwaukee Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72
Longtime colleagues at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jerry Resler (left) and Stuart Carlson now collaborate on “Gray Matters.” They also have written and illustrated humor pieces for the alumni magazine.
The following alumni have been re-elected to serve a three-year term: Filippo (Fil) Carini (’88 BBA), Chief Administrative Officer, United Way of Greater Milwaukee Barbara D. Cooley (’78 BS Social Work, ’91 MUP), Budget and Policy Analyst, Office of Budget and Planning, UWM
Alums Stuart Carlson (’78 BFA Art) and Jerry Resler (’68 BS Journalism) have launched “Gray Matters,” a comic strip geared to baby boomers. The strip revolves around a married couple, Gray and Emily, as they struggle to keep up with the rapid changes in society, culture, technology, the workplace, their families and their bodies. Carlson and Resler started the strip last October on a local website they created;
on April 2, it made its national debut on gocomics.com, the Universal Uclick site for comic strips. “Gray Matters” now has more than 3,700 subscribers – above average for a new strip – and had over 40,000 page views in July alone, Resler says. Here’s a sample. For more, go to gocomics. com/gray-matters. There is no fee to access the site or subscribe.
Stephanie Emons (’99 BA Mass Communication, ’05 Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management), Senior Client Service Manager, Annex Wealth Management LLC
Officers for 2012-13 are: President: Allyson D. Nemec (’90 MARCH), President, Quorum Architects Vice President: Filippo (Fil) Carini (’88 BBA), Chief Administrative Officer, United Way of Greater Milwaukee Secretary: Kathryn D. Gilbert (’80 BFA Dance), Associate Professor, Dance & Theatre, Alverno College Treasurer: Frederick J. Sitzberger (’78 BBA Accounting), President and Partner, Sitzberger Widmann & Company S.C.
FALL 2012 UWM ALUMNI • 29
CAREER QUESTIONS
Strategies From the Experts
F
inding your job search a little bit…unexciting? Job boards, networking, personal branding, résumés, cover letters, business cards, want ads. Ho-hum. If your job search is feeling stale or tired, here are some ideas from experts around the country to get you energized and motivated.
Troye Fox
Laser Networking
Have a career question? Cindy Petrites (left) and Elizabeth Mueller can help. Petrites is Interim Director of UWM’s Career Development Center; Mueller is Interim Assistant Director of Alumni Career Services. Contact Elizabeth Mueller at muelle69@uwm.edu.
Not to be confused with laser tag, laser networking is the brainchild of Linda Conklin, a career coach at the University of North Carolina. In this focused, intentional activity, you identify what you have to offer an employer and then target companies that can use your unique skills and abilities. Once you’ve developed your list of companies – say, 20 or so – figure out whom in those companies you’d want in your dream Rolodex. Then make a list of the people or groups with whom you are already connected. From the professional organization you just joined to your pick-up basketball team to the UWM Alumni Association, think creatively of your sources of connections and who might know the people you seek. Can’t reach your target? Talk to a fellow alum at the company, no matter where in the company he or she works. Chances are you’ll get good information about company culture and get a step closer. Conklin urges you to “resist the impulse to rely on the Internet and mega job search sites as your main search strategy, and humanize your job search by reaching out to your network.” People, she reminds, are the “key ingredient to job search success.”
If you build what you learn into an insightful question, says Leslie Warner, associate director of alumni career services at Tufts University, you’ll show that you’ve done your research and are well-versed in social media. But social media gurus beware, the interviewer may ask you what you think, so be prepared to answer the question, too!
Can I Get a Visual? And speaking of social media, Shama Kabani, author of “The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue,” has a site to recommend. She likes vizualize.me/, a site that pulls information from your LinkedIn profile and turns it into a visual résumé, complete with colorful charts and timelines. “Not only does it let your resume stand out,” says Kabani, “but it serves as a great branding tool on the Web.”
Check the Time It’s a time-tried strategy for dieters, researchers and those trying to cultivate a habit: See what you’re actually doing. Take a week with a Web-based time-tracking tool – there are lots of free ones out there – and keep track of what you do for your job search along with the other activities of your life. If you like, add on other features, such as when you’re most energetic and which activities give you the most enjoyment. You might find some inspiring surprises. Bonus: The software might get you motivated to reconceptualize your job search as a cool professional project.
Tweet Yourself into a Job And you thought Twitter was just for sharing what you ate for breakfast? Think again. Make a habit of following the Twitter feeds of CEOs of companies that pique your interest. Then use what you find on Twitter to prepare for your interviews.
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Visit uwm.edu/ alumni/career_services for more tips.
ALL MAJORS CAREER DAY OCT. 4 A variety of regional and national employers and several graduate and professional schools will be on campus to meet with students and alumni at All Majors Career Day on Thursday, Oct. 4, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the UWM Union Wisconsin Room. Sponsored by the Career Development Center, All Majors Career Day provides an opportunity for students and alumni from all disciplines to gain information directly from recruiters about a wide variety of careers and employment options. Internships with area businesses also can be discussed. For more information, visit cdc.uwm.edu/get_hired/attend_career_ days.cfm or email cdc@uwm.edu.
TUESDAY, NOV. 13 Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, 1240 N. 10th St. 5:30-7:30 P.M. In this issue of UWM Alumni, you’ve read about the exciting work being done at UWM’s new Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health. Meet Dean Magda Peck in person and learn more about the school and its mission at a PAAWS event at the Zilber School on Nov. 13. A highlight will be a tour of the school’s state-of-the-art facilities in the historic Past Brewery complex. The event also includes light refreshments and the chance to meet and network with fellow alumni and Zilber School faculty and staff. For more information and to register, go to alumni. uwm.edu; click on “Networking Events.” Tweet with us: @UWMAlumni and use #uwmpaaws to tell us what you’d like to see at PAAWS events. Sponsored by the UWM Alumni Association and the Career Development Center. PAAWS is a new bimonthly series of alumni networking events. These relaxed, after-work networking events provide a great forum for alumni to stay connected with fellow UWM alumni and friends, begin a career transition, and seek networking opportunities.
PANTHER PROWL OCT. 14 Get ready, get set, Prowl! Get your running and walking shoes ready for the Eighth Annual Panther Prowl 5k run/walk, which kicks off at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14. This certified course starts on the UWM campus, winds through scenic Lake Park and ends back on campus for a festive post-race party! The Prowl helps support UWM Alumni Association student scholarships. For more information on how you can participate in the Prowl as a runner, walker or volunteer, see the insert in the center of the magazine or check out the Prowl website at pantherprowl.net. Online registration is now under way. Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72
AUTUMN POW WOW NOV. 3 The 35th Annual UWM Autumn Pow Wow will be held at the UWM Union Ballroom on Saturday, Nov. 3, with the theme “Honoring Family.” Doors open at noon, with Grand Entries scheduled for 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. The pow wow is free and open to everyone. Participating alumni include Artley Skenandore (’91 MS Administrative Leadership in Education), emcee, and Head Male Dancer Dana Bzdawka (’96 BA Mass Communication). “A pow wow is a very inclusive event,” says Diane Amour, coordinator of UWM’s American Indian Student Services office. “People of all ages – babies to elders – from any walk of life and every racial and ethnic group are included in the circle. Everyone is welcome to come and take part in the dancing and camaraderie.” The pow wow includes a vendor area. A meal will be served at 5:30 p.m. Cost of the meal is $8/general public, $4/children 6-12 and elders 50+. The pow wow is sponsored by American Indian Student Services, American Indian Student Association and the UWM Student Association. For more information, phone 414-229-5880 or visit aiss.uwm.edu or facebook.com/UWMilwAiss.
FALL 2012 UWM ALUMNI • 31
aroma THE
A
OF SUCCESS
lumna Alamelu Vairavan’s career as cookbook author and food show star began with an open window on a summer night. Aromas from her kitchen brought her neighbor, Patricia Marquardt, to her kitchen. Marquardt, who came over to find out more about the source of the wonderful smells, asked Vairavan to teach her more about Indian food. As they chopped and stirred and cooked together, a friendship developed. Eventually, Marquardt, a Marquette professor of Greek, Latin and Italian, suggested doing a cookbook. Today, Vairavan (’83 BS) has published four cookbooks, contributed to two others, and is working on a fifth, due out in January. She’s offered wellness and team-building programs to many corporations, done workshops at the annual Food and Wine Experience in Kohler, and presented a sold-out workshop on “Enticing Indian Flavors” at the prestigious culinary institute, the James Beard Foundation in New York. A cooking series she did for Milwaukee Public Television (MPTV) in 2010 and 2011 was shown around the country. A new series, “Healthful Indian Flavors with Alamelu,” started in January 2012, has been picked up by PBS stations nationwide. (For more on the series, visit mptv.org). “Although it’s Indian-inspired,” she says of the show and her culinary approach, “it appeals to a wide range of people who want to eat healthier, because it includes vegetables, flavorful rice and lean meats. All the recipes are easy to prepare, and some of the spices have intrinsic health benefits, too.” The MPTV cooking series featured commentary by Margaret Pfeiffer, a registered dietitian and expert in preventive cardiology.
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A Magical Experience
“UWM really opened my eyes”
Becoming a well-known chef still amazes Vairavan. “It was a truly magical experience,” she says cheerfully. She arrived in America as an 18-year-old bride not knowing a thing about cooking – either Indian or American food. “I couldn’t even make coffee or tea,” she says with a laugh. She’d grown up eating the wonderful foods of her homeland but had never actually prepared any of them – her family had a cook. However, as she started to make her own home in America with her husband, K. Vairavan, then a graduate student in engineering at the University of Notre Dame, she decided to learn to cook so she could prepare the comfort foods of her homeland. With the support of her husband, now a professor emeritus of electrical engineering and computer science at UWM, she took advantage of an offer of a private cooking apprenticeship. Her uncle, a diplomat at the United Nations who frequently entertained, invited her to spend time at his home learning from his personal chef, a top professional. She was eager to learn and didn’t come in with any bad cooking habits, she says with a smile. “I was starting with a totally clean slate.” Vairavan and her husband eventually settled in Milwaukee and raised a son and a daughter. Recognizing her energy and intelligence, her husband encouraged her to go to college. She enrolled at UWM in her 20s, eventually earning a degree in Health Information Management in what is now the College of Health Sciences. She credits her UWM education and her husband’s support with helping prepare her for her eventual career as a nursing home administrator – and also for her current career as a cookbook author and cooking show hostess.
“I was able to take courses from different disciplines. UWM really opened my eyes,” she says. She remembers especially John Lynch in the Health Information Management program, John Schroeder in the History Department and Meg McCaffey, professor of English, who helped her develop her public speaking ability. “When I made my first speech, I was so petrified that I wanted to run away. Now I’m quite comfortable in front of an audience.” After graduating from UWM, she became director of health information management at a nursing home and went on to earn her Nursing Home Administrator license. She eventually became a consultant to long-term care facilities. However, as her cookbooks and presentations took up more of her time, Vairavan switched careers to pursue her love of home cooking and teaching people about healthy eating full time. She’s a passionate advocate of preparing food that is both tasty and healthy. Vegetables – with all their variety and “awesome colors” – are a special favorite, as are the aromatic spices that entice even children to eat their brussels sprouts and lima beans. Even with the TV show, books and corporate presentations, she makes time for numerous community programs to spread the word. Recently, she did a program for medical residents with an Aurora Health Care doctor. She’s gone into schools on “Career Day” to slice and dice with youngsters, helped nursing home residents spice up the menu in their cafeteria and advocated for healthier, more appealing food in institutions. “We need to teach people how to eat healthy.”
“ I M CA OK EU LCDONF ’FTE EE VOERN T E A , SHE SAY S WITH A LAUGH.
Alamelu Vairavan shares a couple of her recipes with UWM Alumni readers.
G R E E N B A Y PAC K E R S P O R I YA L
”
Vairavan nicknamed this green-and-gold vegetable dish for her favorite football team.
(GREEN BEANS WITH GINGER AND COCONUT) Directions
Ingredients
1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add split peas or moong lentils and turmeric. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are soft
1/4 cup yellow split peas or moong lentils* 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric 1 tablespoon canola oil 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1/4 cup chopped onion 1/2 teaspoon minced green chili 1 pound green beans (stems removed), diced (about 3 cups) 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut powder or fresh shredded coconut*
and tender. Add up to 1 cup additional water while cooking if necessary. Drain and set aside. 2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and cook until toasted. Add onion and chili. Stir for 1 minute. 3. Add green beans and stir. Stir in ginger, salt and 2 tablespoons water. Cook, covered, over medium heat until beans are crisp-tender. Stir in cooked lentils and coconut powder or fresh coconut. Serve warm.
BU T T E R N U T S QUA S H M A S A L A Ingredients
Directions
2 cups butternut squash, cubed 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida** 1 whole dried red chili pepper 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds** 1 teaspoon urad dal** 4-6 fresh curry leaves (optional)** 1 medium onion, cut lengthwise 1 small tomato, chopped ½ teaspoon turmeric powder ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste ½ teaspoon ground cumin ½ cup tomato sauce ½ teaspoon salt
1. T o easily cube squash, rub it with oil and poke with a fork. Microwave for about 3 minutes, depending on size, to soften slightly. Cut in half, remove skin, pulp and seeds. Cut into cubes. 2. P our oil in skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot but not smoking, add asafoetida powder and red pepper. Add fresh curry leaves. Be careful, since the oil may splatter when adding ingredients to the hot skillet. 3. A dd mustard seeds and urad dal and cover. Fry until mustard seeds pop and urad dal is golden brown.
4. Add onion and tomato and stir-fry for one minute. 5. A dd turmeric, cayenne and ground cumin. Stir well. 6. A dd tomato sauce and salt. Mix well. When the mixture begins to bubble, add squash and stir well. 7. C over and cook over medium heat until the squash becomes somewhat soft. Add a small amount of water (about 1 tablespoon) periodically to facilitate the cooking process. 8. Add coconut powder and stir well. Serve warm.
¼ cup coconut powder*
* Moong lentils, powdered coconut and fresh shredded coconut are available at natural food stores. Vairavan adapted this recipe from her cookbook to use easily available ingredients. ** These spices and ingredients are available from Indian grocery stores and other specialty shops, as well as online. Vairavan’s website, curryonwheels, has a link to a Brookfield Indian grocery and instructions for ordering a packet of beginner spices online.
FALL 2012 UWM ALUMNI • 33
CLASSNOTES
1940s
Antler (’73 MA,’69 BS)
Rear Admiral Margaret Rykowski (’76, ’81)
Joan Nichols Brenk (BS ’49, MS ’78) retired from the Whitefish Bay School District in June 2012 after 29 years of service in the Recreation Department, programming for adults of all ages. She began teaching kindergarten in Fond du Lac, Wis., immediately after graduating. Following her marriage she was a substitute teacher in the Shorewood and Whitefish Bay school systems. In 1963, Brenk taught English to new Americans at the Shorewood Opportunity School, which became the Shorewood MATC Center. She later was named supervisor of the Shorewood and Whitefish Bay MATC centers, as well as the training director for the former Milwaukee County Medical Complex.
1970s
Antler (Brad Burdick) (’73 MA,’69 BS) has been named a 2012 Outstanding Artist by the City of Milwaukee. The former Milwaukee Poet Laureate and Pushcart Prize winner received the UWMAA Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2004.
Edna Fenceroy (’75 BS, ’86 MS) recently authored a guide, “Minimizing Conflict Through Restorative Conferencing,” used to train mentors participating in the Milwaukee Oneness School Initiative. Rear Admiral Margaret Rykowski (’76 BS, ’80 MS) paid a visit to Chancellor Michael R. Lovell in August. Rykowski, who was in Milwaukee to observe U.S. Navy Week 2012, serves as deputy fleet surgeon in the U.S. Fleet Forces Command and deputy director of the Navy Nurse Corps Reserve Component. In civilian life she is a nursing director at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Phyllis Piano (’77 BA) has joined APCO Worldwide as senior counselor with the company’s International Advisory Council. She has more than 30 years of experience in corporate communication and reputation management.
Phyllis Piano (’77 BA)
REUNIONS PANTHER AND PERSONAL
Fifty years later, the class gathered on campus for a weekend of fun and reminiscing. Events included a special reception where class members were inducted into the Golden Society of Alumni – and received the gold medals to prove it. Eugene (Gene) Witt (right in inset, facing camera) and William Juergens had a special reunion of their own. Fellow studentathletes at UWM, they had not seen each other in years. Neither knew the other was coming to the reunion. As always, the Class of ’62 led the Class of ’12 at the Sunday afternoon commencement ceremony.
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Peter Jakubowski ’07
John F. Kennedy was President and the Twist was the dance craze when members of the UWM Class of 1962 crossed the stage to receive their diplomas.
Hal Mattson (left, ’77 MBA) is the recipient of the 2011-12 CaliforniaHawaii Elks Association (CHEA) Special Citation for Exceptional Performance in Public Relations Activity. Mattson was honored as the leading public relations chairman of the 174 CHEA lodges.
Hal Mattson (’77 MBA)
Frederick J. Sitzberger (’78 BBA) is a partner at Sitzberger, Widmann & Company SC, a public accounting firm providing audit, financial accounting, tax, business valuation, payroll and consulting services for individuals and businesses in Southeastern Wisconsin. He also is the new treasurer of the UWMAA Board of Trustees (see p. 29).
1980s Paul Hoffman (’85 BA)
Thomas A. Lipinski (’81 BA) has been named Kent State University’s associate provost for extended education in the School of Library and Information Science. David A. Loehr (’84 BS) has been named an associate vice president and designated principal by HGA Architects and Engineers in its Minneapolis office. Paul Hoffman (’85 BA) recently had his book, “Murder in Wauwatosa: The Mysterious Death of Buddy Schumacher” published by The History Press. The book discusses the reasons nobody was ever charged with the crime, as well as the main suspects, the Schumacher family and other key people involved in the investigation. James Dallman (’86 BS) is cofounder of La Dallman Architects, which was recently profiled in ARCHITECT: The magazine of the American Institute of Architects. (Partner Grace La is an associate professor of architecture at UWM.) La Dallman is currently working on the Harmony Initiative, a collaboration between the UWM Peck School of the Arts, the Milwaukee Ballet and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The firm was also featured in the Summer 2008 issue of UWM Today.
1990s
Ross Altheimer (’99 BS) has received the prestigious Rome Prize, awarded to 30 emerging artists and scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities. The 11-month fellowship will allow Altheimer to pursue his research in urban infrastructure and city design at the American Academy in Rome, beginning this month.
Ross Altheimer (’99 BS)
James Lowder (’99 MA) is the editor of “Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire,’ From ‘A Game of Thrones’ to ‘A Dance with Dragons,’” published in June by BenBella Books under their Smart Pop imprint.
2000s
Jacob A. Manian (’00 BA) has joined the firm of Fox, O’Neill & Shannon SC in Milwaukee as an associate in their litigation practice. Manian was previously employed as an assistant district attorney and principal assistant corporation counsel with Milwaukee County. He will join the litigation team of Bruce O’Neill, Mike Hanrahan and Matt O’Neill, and will concentrate his practice on commercial litigation. His past experience will also add the practice areas of general criminal and white-collar crime defense to the FOS practice.
Jacob A. Manian (’00 BA)
Meghan M. Froehlich (’06 BBA) has been named marketing coordinator of Kolb+Co., a tax, accounting and business consulting firm in Brookfield, Wis. She joined the firm in January 2011 as a tax specialist. Chris Thompson (’06 BFA) recently got some good news about “Jeff,” his documentary on Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Following its world premiere at the 2012 South by Southwest film festival, “Jeff” has been picked up for national distribution by IFC. The film, renamed “The Jeffrey Dahmer Files,” could be released early next year. Thompson was profiled in the Spring 2011 issue of UWM Today.
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ob Curry (seated directly B right of speaker) at a panel for the Vietnam Veteran Champion of Change Award. Courtesy the White House
Alum founds a refuge for vets And is recognized at the White House Dryhootch also provides a Peer Mentor Program for veterans and their families.
Peter Jakubowski ’07
Like many of his working-class buddies, Curry entered the armed services right after high school, serving in the U.S. Army from 1969-72 and co-piloting over 250 combat missions in Vietnam and Laos. He describes leaving the U.S. with a “God, Mom and apple pie” mindset, then developing doubts about the U.S. role in Southeast Asia after being “in country.” Bob Curry in front of the Dryhootch Coffeehouse on Brady Street in Milwaukee.
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B Y B E T H S TA F F O R D
Burying the dark years
t’s been quite a journey from the bluecollar Milwaukee neighborhood where Bob Curry grew up, to the Dryhootch Coffeehouse, to the White House. In May, Curry (’75 BA Economics) was among those honored in Washington, D.C., with a Vietnam Veteran Champion of Change award. Rosye Cloud, White House director of Veterans, Wounded Warrior and Military Family Policy, recognized the veterans for past military service “with dedication and courage” and current contributions to their communities “improving the lives of their fellow veterans and military families.” Curry is president and founder of Dryhootch, a nonprofit organization that provides fellow vets and their families with a “stable, substance-free environment to gather, grow and enhance their post-service life experience.” Dryhootch aims to accomplish this mission by providing social space (a coffeehouse) where veterans, their families and friends, and the general public can connect and share stories in a safe, drug/alcohol-free environment.
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Still, Curry says military service was “the most honorable part of my life, until now. I did everything I could to accomplish my mission. In comparison, working for a private company just doesn’t have the same payback.”
UWM ALUMNI
FALL 2012
Returning to the hostile homecoming that greeted most veterans then, he decided to “bury” those years. “I attended and graduated from UWM, got married, had two wonderful daughters and a bunch of great jobs in the tech industry. I was cruising along pretty good – and then the Gulf War happened.” For Curry, those images of war threw a switch that began a long downward spiral fueled by alcohol addiction. It took 10 years and court-ordered treatment for Curry to realize that he was indeed an injured veteran – mentally if not physically. In 2005, he was diagnosed as 100% permanently disabled with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). “Dryhootch was founded in 2008 to help the younger generation of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. I can’t change my past, but I can try to keep the next generation of veterans, and their families, from going through that same kind of hell,” Curry said. From its first coffeehouse on Milwaukee’s Brady Street, Dryhootch has expanded to locations on National Avenue across from the Milwaukee VA Medical Center and in Madison. Other chapters are in the planning stages in
Wisconsin and other states. As president, Curry oversees the organization’s relationships with a variety of partners and is organizing the Dryhootch Warrior Summit Oct. 9 in Madison and Nov. 8 in Milwaukee. With others who have built Dryhootch, including Vice President Tom Voss, Peer Coordinator Mark Flower and Madison Director Anthony Anderson (all current or past UWM students), Curry is looking toward passing this work on to the next generation. “We are finding that because these current wars are so long, some vets have come home, gone through their tough time and are ready to help others.” For more information (including the meaning of “dryhootch” and coffeehouse addresses), visit dryhootch.org.
Bob Curry has written a book that centers on the plight of the Hmong people who supported the U.S. during the Vietnam War. “I started writing when the first Gulf War started. As that war wound down, I threw the manuscript in a corner, then started writing again after 9/11 when the new wars started.” VA doctors thought it was important that he finish the book to work through his memories, “the way other vets might use music or art.” “Whispering Death ‘Tuag Nco Ntsoov’: Our Journey with the Hmong in the Secret War for Laos,” is available at Amazon.com.
From New York to Los Angeles, Panthers prowl the countryside. Here’s a list of upcoming regional and national events for UWM alumni:
PANTHER NATION
Wednesday, Nov. 14: Anaheim networking event Thursday, Nov. 15: Burbank networking event Sunday, Dec. 9: Chicago alumni pregame reception at the
UWM/De Paul men’s basketball game Saturday, Dec. 22: Madison alumni pep rally at State Street
Brats before the UWM/UW-Madison men’s basketball game March: Arizona alumni tailgate at Milwaukee Brewers spring
training game (date TBA) Thursday, March 14: Denver alumni networking event with
Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl (venue TBA) Events also are being planned for alums in the Racine/Kenosha and Waukesha areas. For more information and to register for these events, please visit alumni.uwm.edu or contact Sandy Botham at sbotham@uwm.edu.
GIVE THEM A
RUNNING START PLAN TODAY FOR TOMORROW’S LEADERS UWM educates more than 29,000 students annually with proven results. Your estate gift will help prepare and inspire the next generation. Remembering the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in your estate plans is an investment in our future.
DISCUSS YOUR LEGACY TODAY Contact Gretchen Miller: 414-229-3067 or gemiller@uwm.edu
FALL 2012 UWM ALUMNI • 37
the UWM campus and in Upper Lake Park.
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Milwaukee, WI Permit No. 864
Certified 5K run/walk on
Sunday, October 14, 2012 @10AM
Alumni Association and Foundation P.O. Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
Join us to make strides for UWM student scholarships!
Register online @ www.pantherprowl.net Participants will receive a high quality technical shirt & goody bag!