UWM Alumni magazine, Spring 2012

Magazine of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Spring 2012 Vol. 14, No. 1

CHAPTER

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Four grads get real about changing careers

Alumni

Table of CONTENTS

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

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

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

Not printed at taxpayer expense

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1 Panther & Proud

2 Quotable & Notable 4 New @ UWM 6 Collins Engineers donates ROV to UWM 7 R&D that energizes

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CHAPTER NEW

Some folks get tired of dreaming and they move on to doing – with UWM’s help

18 WHEN GOING ON SAFARI IS A DREAM AND A DAY JOB Jenny Salentine travels for a living

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COLEMAN NAMED FIRST ALUMNI FELLOW

From a $128 UWM scholarship to senior editor at The Washington Post

22 Panther Athletics 24 Career Questions 25 Coming up 26 Class notes 27 Alums rack up photography honors 28 A life with bonobos 30 Alumni find a theater home at the zoo 32 12 years later, 800-meter champ is busier, faster, more focused 35 Strumming up international success On the cover: Armando Dominguez, a former veterinarian, now teaches in a model Project Lead the Way school. UWM helped with his career transition.

Concept and design by Mario R. Lopez Photography by Troye Fox

PANTHER

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PROUD

SHOW YOUR PANTHER PRIDE WORLDWIDE

Dennis Carr (’75 MA, ’74BA) in Svatifoss, Iceland

Diana L. Ahmad (’79 MA, ’74 BA) at Lake Tahoe, Nev.

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 below). Prizes will be awarded to those whose submissions are used in the magazine.

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).

CHANCELLOR’S WELCOME On occasion, you meet an individual who embodies a concept. Elsewhere in this issue, you will meet – or become reacquainted with – one such person: Milton Coleman.

I had not met Mr. Coleman before he returned to campus this semester to accept the UWM Foundation’s first-ever Alumni Fellow award.

His professional accomplishments since earning his UWM degree are many, not least of which is his current position as senior editor of The Washington Post. His dedication to giving back to both his profession and the wider community is extremely significant, given his involvement with organizations such as the Inter American Press Association, American Society of News Editors, the Boy Scouts and his church.

All those qualities illustrate the concept that he embodies: the importance of scholarships to an access university like UWM. In his comments when receiving the Alumni Fellow award, he said the scholarship he earned to attend UWM was his “ticket to ride.” It made all the difference in his life. He said that scholarship gave him access to an education that was both a liberator and an equalizer.

Our university’s continuing emphasis on strengthening scholarships is something of which I am very proud, especially when you look at the difference just one scholarship – like the one awarded to Mr. Coleman – can make in so many lives.

Michael R. Lovell Chancellor

CHALLENGE: CAPTURE THE CAT Back in December, Chancellor Michael R. Lovell and Athletics Director Rick Costello teamed up to send Panthers magnets to all members of the UWM faculty and staff. Since then, they’ve been spotted on vehicles all over Southeastern Wisconsin – and beyond.

The challenge: The next time you spot the cat, take a photo and send it to us (snail mail and email addresses at left). Tell us your name and where the photo was taken.

We’ll publish a collection in a future issue – and award a prize to the photographer who captures the Panther farthest from home.

Student Chris Sampson shows off the Panthers magnet on his car. He scored an extra from the College of Engineering & Applied Science.

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NICOLAS GRIDER GETS YOU READING, LOOKING, LISTENING

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icholas Grider (’06 MA Media Studies) might be among the most prolific alumni artists you’ve not heard of. Yet. It’s getting easier to catch the myriad works of the Milwaukeebased multimedia artist (“West Coast conceptual with a romantic streak” is how he describes his work) since his graduation from UWM. In May the literary journal Conjunctions publishes his story “Misadventure.”

Other featured authors in that issue include one Joyce Carol Oates. Grider’s solo show “Please Please Please” is on exhibition at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena through May 13.

“Broadly concerned with ideas of masculinity in contemporary culture” as he is, Grider also embedded with

training brigades at U.S. Army “mini Iraq” simulations on the West Coast. Photos of his five training engagements can be seen at his website: Nicholasgrider.com.

Plus his new album “Blank Stare” is now available for free download at //beatzone.cz/ component/music/display/357.

Grider credits nagging feelings of unproductivity and academic rigor (learned at UWM, he says) for diverse and unrelenting creativity.

“Caffeine is a major factor,” he admits, “but it’s mostly just being haunted by the idea that I could be more productive if I tried.”

So he keeps trying. In addition to working as a portrait artist, he’s in the process of selling a collection of short stories and just joined the Milwaukee

Above:“Untitled” by Nicholas Grider, from his series “How To Do Things With Men.” Top left: “Rorschach Butterfly” by Nicholas Grider Citizen Police Academy. But if he could pick just one pursuit: criminal justice, literature, music?

“I’d have to pick fiction, which is closest to my heart. But it’s a tough call.”

‘AMERICAN IDOL’ ALUMNA NOT IDLE FOR LONG

Jerry Lexion

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Naima Adedapo’s moves got her noticed as a dance major at UWM and earned her roles on two reality shows. Now she’s recording her first solo album.

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f “American Idol” alumna Naima Adedapo (’07 BFA Dance) could do the UWM thing all over again, there’s one thing she would change.

“I wish I would have double majored in dance and voice,” she now says. “However, time would have never allowed for the both.

I’m sure if you ask any dance major in the Peck School of the Arts, their schedule is crazy enough as it is!”

But their schedule probably is not as crazy as hers. Five years after graduating from UWM and one year removed from her Top 10 finish on “American Idol,” Adedapo has a husband and two young daughters, fronts the reggae band R.A.S. Movement and recently signed a solo contract with Peak Records/eOne Music.

Her single dropped in March and is available on iTunes. A full album – “neo soul/R&B and reggae…hints of jazz,” as she describes it – is due in June.

Adedapo is thrilled by the global fan base she’s amassed through “American Idol,” but says she remains most grateful to a generous Milwaukee/UWM fan base (she sang the National Anthem at Chancellor Lovell’s Inauguration) – and one truly memorable professor.

“I want to thank everyone who played a role in shaping me as an artist and a person, including those who have become ancestors such as Ed Burgess,” she says. “I only hope to continue to make my supporters proud and to carry on the legacies of those great artists that have come before me.”

Keep tabs on Naima Adedapo the solo artist and R.A.S. Movement on Facebook.

Her official fan page is at facebook.com/ NAdedapoAI10. She’s on Twitter, too: @Naima_Adedapo.

SARUP, PSOA GRADS SEEK FELLOW ALUMS IN LOS ANGELES COMES HOME hey transferred to UWM as a couple.

Different majors kept them on opposite schedules. Amy worked late nights in the School of Architecture & Urban Planning (SARUP) building. “I had a full stereo set up at my station,” she remembers. “I would crank up the music and work at the pace of the music.”

Aaron, a film major, took the earlymorning shift in Mitchell Hall. “It was a lot easier to get access to the equipment in the morning.”

Things have changed since undergrad. Amy (Anderson) Kraft (’02 BS Architectural Studies) and Aaron Kraft (’02 BFA Film) are now married and living in Sherman Oaks, Calif., just over the hill from Hollywood.

Amy says SARUP’s demanding work ethic and excellent professors inspired her to become a licensed architect in California and Illinois. She’s now a project manager for UCLA Health System, a job that can have her managing 30+ projects at once, and wearing more hats than a Hollywood milliner.

“I always check candidates’ professional degrees, hoping to find a UWM grad,” Amy says. “I haven’t met any UWM SARUP

Photo Courtesy Amy and Aaron Kraft

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alumni here in California, but I know they’re out here.”

Aaron uses his film degree, plus a knack for troubleshooting malfunctioning equipment quickly and effectively – among the most valuable lessons he says he learned from UWM film professors – as the post-production manager at MPH Entertainment. His current assignment: “The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan.”

And despite a ranking from The Hollywood Reporter

as the world’s No. 20 film school, the Peck School of the Arts Film Department remains something of a well-kept secret, Aaron says.

“Sometimes I ask people if they’ve seen ‘American Movie,’ and if they have I tell them that a lot of the movie was shot in the Film Department. Then they’re disappointed when they find out that I wasn’t a student at the same time as Mark Borchardt.”* Even with their consuming West Coast careers, the couple says they remain on the lookout for UWM grads. Anyone reading this willing to help start an L.A. alumni chapter? *“American Movie,” which follows the misadventures of amateur filmmaker Borchardt, won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. It was directed by Chris Smith [’99 MFA] and produced by Smith and Sarah Price [’98 MFA]. Both are recipients of the UWM Alumni Association’s Graduate of the Last Decade award.

GUMBALL POETRY PROJECT INSPIRES CHICAGO KIDS

Photo: Zipter

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Yvonne Zipter (right) and Chicago Alderman John Arena at Portage Park Elementary School, which debuted the Coin-A-Phrase poetry project in March.

vonne Zipter (’75 BS Psychology) considers herself an eclectic writer.

By all accounts, including the dozens of published poems, essays and honors she’s accumulated since graduating from UWM, that’s more than accurate. She writes about herself, her greyhounds; penned the nonfiction sports book “Diamonds Are a Dyke’s Best Friend”; and was a nationally syndicated columnist for more than 15 years.

Now she’s giving some of Chicago’s youngest writers a unique publishing vehicle for their own writing: a gumball machine.

An initiative of the Chicago nonprofit Arts Alive 45, the Coin-A-Phrase poetry project debuted at Chicago’s Portage Park Elementary School on March 1. Per Zipter’s

direction, students write original poems that are popped into plastic capsules, which are then placed in gumball machines that are set out around the neighborhood. Poems retail for 50 cents each. All proceeds go the poets’ school.

In addition to essays, two books of poetry and a recently completed historical novel, Zipter excels at writing in small spaces and for big institutions. When not working as a manuscript editor for the University of Chicago Press, for example, she takes on projects like writing fortunes for gourmet cookie companies.

Check out Yvonne Zipter’s eclectic writing career at yvonnezipter.com.

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INTERNATIONAL EXCELLENCE

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hancellor Michael R. Lovell led a delegation to the People’s Republic of China in December to take part in a signing ceremony with CERNET, an affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Education.

The partnership between UWM and CERNET will dramatically increase the internationalization of the campus by bringing up to 1,000 high-performing students to UWM. The agreement also represents a new revenue stream during a time of fiscal austerity.

China has 260 million college-age students and 10 million high-performing high-school students who take an exam to get into the top 20 Chinese universities. Since only 2 to 3 million of these students get into the top schools, there is a pool of 7 to 8 million potential students to send to international universities like UWM. The CERNET agreement demonstrates that UWM is recognized as an international university. CERNET will be setting up only four programs in the U.S. Three years ago, it established an East Coast program in Massachusetts. Panthers can be proud that CERNET chose Milwaukee and UWM for its Midwest location.

EXTREME MAKEOVER: WEBSITE EDITION

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he UWM website unveiled its new look, style and navigation in January.

“The new uwm.edu is designed to appeal specifically to prospective students who will be engaged with the new ‘IAMUWM’ [I am UWM] profiles, which are video vignettes of UWM students, alumni and faculty,” said Laura Glawe of University Relations and Communications, which led the redesign effort with University Information Technology Services.

Google analytics and in-depth interviews on campus helped form the new direction of the site.

During different stages of development, the site

was shared to collect feedback, including from the Academic Deans Council and the University Marketing and University Relations committees. Usability feedback was also collected from students.

The website redesign includes several new features: • Improved navigation • Enhanced search engine • Increased use of white space on pages • Expanded landing pages

2012 RESEARCH REPORT ONLINE

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Research that energizes

RESEARCH REPORT 2012

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owerful ideas are energizing our research engine along the path to proven results.

From new lithium-ion batteries that will power tomorrow’s cars to global solutions for the freshwater crisis and new techniques for farming perch, research by world-class faculty at UWM is creating products, refining processes, coordinating interdisciplinary projects and forming powerful partnerships that effect

positive change in engineering, freshwater, healthcare, the arts, education and more.

The best of this research is already making an impact on the people and places of Southeastern Wisconsin and beyond.

The just-released 2012 Research Report celebrates our achievements. Review it online at researchreport.uwm.edu.

FOUNDING DEANS NAMED FOR NEW UWM SCHOOLS

Troye Fox

David E.J. Garman School of Freshwater Sciences

David E.J. Garman, a specialist in water resources and pollution control, has been named the founding dean of the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences.

Garman comes to UWM from the Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre (EBCRC) in Eveleigh, New South Wales, Australia, where he has been executive director since 1996. The EBCRC brings together the multidisciplinary skills of researchers, engineers and industry participants to discover novel technologies for environmental and other applications.

Garman has directed the arm of EBCRC that focuses on creating technologies based on biological systems that reduce or use waste to benefit commercial operations and the environment. He has extensive management, technical and policy experience in resource development and resource management in all aspects of pollution management.

Garman also is chairman of a publicly listed Australian company specializing in water environmental technologies, and advises a number of private companies, institutes and water authorities worldwide on research, and water-resource and pollution-

control matters. In addition, he serves as director of his own private company.

A past president and chairman of the International Water Association, Garman has also worked in Australia and China on remediation of eutrophic lakes. He has been involved in or associated with remediation projects for more than 100 lakes, from small to large systems.

The UWM School of Freshwater Sciences is the only graduate school in the nation dedicated solely to the study of freshwater issues. The school offers PhD and master’s degrees, and undergraduate research opportunities with an interdisciplinary approach, blending hard sciences with expertise from UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science and the Department of Economics as its core.

Magda Peck Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health

public health practice.

Peck serves as a member of the Select Panel on Preconception Care with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), helping shape national recommendations on the care of women before pregnancy. In addition, she serves on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Preventive Services for Women, and she is consulting with several urban communities on reducing infant mortality.

She is founding CEO and senior adviser of CityMatCH (www.citymatch. org), a national public health organization dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of women, children and families in urban communities.

Her proven record of working in partnership with other urban public health organizations also makes her a good fit for UWM, acccording to Chancellor Michael R. Lovell. The Zilber School of Public Health works in partnership with a number of organizations, including the City of Milwaukee Health Department and the Medical College of Wisconsin. A key initiative of the school and its partners is reducing the infant mortality rate in Milwaukee.

Founded in 2009, the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health currently has three academic programs – Master of Public Health, Graduate Certificate in Public Health and Ph.D. in Environmental and Occupational Health.

Magda Peck, a nationally recognized expert in maternal and child health, has been named the founding dean of UWM’s Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health.

Peck comes to UWM from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where she was professor of pediatrics and public health, and associate dean for community engagement and

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COLLINS ENGINEERS DONATES ROV TO UWM

by Laura L. Hunt

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Peter Jakubowski ’07

From left: Assistant Professor Tom Consi, engineering student Kyle Bruggink and Terry Browne, division manager and professional engineerdiver at Collins Engineering, inspect the underwater robot that Collins has donated to the lab.

ollins Engineers Inc. has a specialty in the inspection of underwater structures, such as bridge foundations and dams.

Tom Consi is an underwater robotics expert at UWM. Together they have formed a natural alliance dedicated to engineering education.

The company has recently donated a “retired” submersible called a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to Consi’s engineering lab at UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences.

ROVs, submersible workhorses that can be remotely operated from the surface, are used along with divers to perform underwater assessments. These unmanned but highly maneuverable data collectors are also used by the oil and gas industries, and by aquatic scientists.

The match is perfect, says Terry Browne, division manager and professional engineerdiver at Collins. “Dr. Consi is unique,” he

says. “There are not many college professors teaching ROV technology in Wisconsin. And Collins Engineers is the premier underwater engineering firm with the largest number of engineer-divers in the world. We wanted to help UWM succeed with its efforts in education and research of underwater technologies.”

The donated ROV – the Phantom 300 – was used to observe the condition of submerged bridge foundations and to introduce state personnel to one method of underwater inspection. The cost of a similar ROV purchased new would range between $25,000 and $35,000.

Technological advances are increasing the capabilities of these robots, says Consi. The donation will serve as a platform to support student research.

“The emphasis with this donation will be on teaching our students how to design ROVs with better functions, such as improved imaging, propulsion or tool manipulation,” he says.

Though headquartered in Chicago with offices across the U.S. and in Ireland, Collins’ second-largest office is in Milwaukee.

The firm employs six engineers who have graduated from UWM, including Karen Martens (’89 BSCE), Mike Dean (’94 BSCE), Todd Demski (’99 BSCE), Peter Busateri (’03 BAAS, ’05 MSCJ), Ken Kiepczynski (’04 BSCE) and Cory Schultz (’05 BSCE, ’10 MSCE).

Collins Engineers has been performing inspections of submerged infrastructure since 1979, yet the bulk of the firm’s work covers a broad swath of civil infrastructure services – including many notable local projects such as the Marquette and Mitchell Interchange reconstruction projects.

R&D ENERGIZES THAT

by Laura L. Hunt

Troye Fox

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he future of hybrid and electric vehicles depends on lithiumion and other advanced electrochemical automotive batteries, the principal alternative energy sources of today’s green fleets.

Research and development excellence in battery and energy storage is centered in Milwaukee, where Chancellor Michael R. Lovell has helped establish an unprecedented partnership between Johnson Controls Inc., the world’s leading supplier of automotive batteries, and Wisconsin’s two public research universities.

The multimillion-dollar investment by Johnson Controls already has produced two joint laboratories at UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science, where the company’s scientists and UWM faculty and students work side by side.

One is a state-of-the-art “dry” lab that is so advanced only a handful of organizations in the world share its capabilities. The other is a chemical and materials test laboratory supporting the research.

The company also is funding the Johnson Controls Endowed Professorship in Energy Storage Research. The position will be responsible for maintaining the research labs and supervising graduate students at both UWM and UW-Madison.

In addition, Johnson Controls is establishing a research laboratory at UWMadison and funding graduate fellowships at both institutions.

“The creation of this endowed professorship and support for research fellows will allow us to attract an internationally known scholar and the most talented students – critical steps toward making Wisconsin a recognized hub for energy-storage technology and devices,” Lovell says.

“It is our objective to establish a worldclass center of excellence for energystorage research and development focused on discovery and commercialization of advanced energy-storage solutions,” says Mary Ann Wright, Johnson Controls’ vice president of global technology and innovation. “We expect exciting new projects to develop.”

The partners are engaged in projects such as modeling battery performance. Modeling is fundamental in producing new materials for use in the anodes and cathodes – parts of a battery that facilitate the chemical reaction that creates an electrical current.

Other research includes sensors made of nanomaterials that will track critical functional indicators such as temperature, voltage and internal pressure.

UWM Chancellor Michael R. Lovell and Mary Ann Wright, vice president of global technology and innovation for Johnson Controls Power Solutions, meet in one of two labs on campus supported by and shared with Johnson Controls.

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by Kathy Quirk and Beth Stafford

Some folks get tired of dreaming and they move on to doing. And doing sometimes leads to enrolling at UWM, where nontraditional students are matriculating and graduating in record numbers. In their own words, four career changers talk honestly and passionately about their journeys: from nursing supervisor to actor, veterinarian to teacher (of middle-schoolers!), social worker to IT programmer, and marketing pro to registered nurse.

Troye Fox

Rich Gillard has been a nurse since 1987. He left a supervisory position at Froedtert Hospital to pursue a longtime interest: acting.

Nurse and careers. He has pursued an avocation – acting. In fact, Gillard is a founding member of Youngblood Theatre Company, created in 2009 by five young alumni of the Peck School of the Arts Theatre Department.

Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72

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Rich Gillard, who has been a nurse since 1987, has not changed

Rich Gillard (right) with Max Hultquist and Toni Martin in the UWM Theatre Department’s 2010 production of Noël Coward’s “Hay Fever.” Gillard graduated that year with a BFA in Theatre.

ACTOR What led you to study theatre?

I had been interested in acting and the theatre since high school, but realizing how hard it is to make a living in that field, instead combined my interest in science and people to study nursing.

After graduating and going to work at Froedtert Hospital, I pursued my interest in theatre as an avid audience member.

Then, in 2005, I took some acting classes in Chicago on Saturday mornings, followed up by private coaching by Milwaukee actor Jason Economus. That led to a small role in “The Seagull” in 2006. Suddenly, I was working with very seasoned actors – and intrigued enough to look into acting degree programs.

How did you prepare?

I began by looking at master’s degree programs in acting at UW-Madison and Chicago. I realized that commuting, pursuing a time-intensive degree like acting, and continuing to work (even part time) wouldn’t be possible. Then, the new Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre degree at UWM was recommended to me by Jason Economus.

What was different about your college experience the second time around?

I always tell people studying acting was just as – if not more – time-consuming as studying nursing. Studying acting required a different kind of concentration and learning, but it was just as demanding as the nursing program I pursued years ago. To attend UWM full time, I resigned my full-time position at Froedtert Hospital, which was a leadership role, and went back to patient care, working part time on weekends and evenings.

How did UWM help?

I felt encouraged from the time I first contacted Pamela Rehberg in the Theatre Department and told her what I was looking for. She directed me to Bill Watson, who encouraged me to “put a toe in the water” by taking the initial acting classes as a special student. But after I looked at the BFA curriculum I decided to pursue the degree program,

which is “selective and competitive.” After an audition, I was accepted into the program.

My fellow students really helped me succeed.

They were great to work with, especially considering I was significantly older than most of them. There were 13 of us who moved through the studio program together, creating a very interesting dynamic.

I may have raised the bar a bit as far as the work ethic, as an “older student.” But, there also were 20-somethings who worked exceedingly hard because of how badly they wanted to succeed as actors. It was a great experience.

What are the challenges of being both an actor and a nurse?

As a nurse, I am extremely aware of the degrees of human emotion – because I see it firsthand.

However, that nursing background also has been a hindrance.

Vulnerability is an important thing for an actor to have. As a nursing professional for 25 years, I’ve seen a lot of sad things, but still had to go ahead and work through them. A nurse develops a “shell” – and that’s not useful in the acting profession.

But, with the training provided in the acting program, that vulnerability returned. When I went back to taking care of patients while I was attending UWM, I would find myself much more touched, troubled and saddened by things.

How do your colleagues at Froedtert Hospital view your second vocation?

Everyone at the hospital has been extremely supportive and thinks it’s great that I am pursuing my vision to become a better actor.

When I first started attending UWM full time, I was cautious about how much I broadcast about what I was doing. But once people learned about it, they would stop me in the hall – as they still do – and ask me if I was acting in a play that they could attend. In fact, many people from the hospital have come to see me perform at UWM and in Youngblood productions.

Being a health care professional is difficult and demanding. I think people recognize that to go and pursue something that is your heart’s desire is an admirable thing.

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Troye Fox

Veterinarian to

Armando Dominguez works with students in Vieau School’s Project Lead the Way lab.

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Armando Dominguez, a former veterinarian from Mexico City,

switched to teaching 11 years ago. He works with Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a hands-on middle-school engineering curriculum, at Vieau School, an MPS campus on Milwaukee’s South Side. Vieau was recognized nationally last year as Wisconsin’s only model PLTW School.

TEACHER What led you to change careers?

My greatest motivation was my wife. (His wife, Rebecca, was then a bilingual teacher at Allen-Field School and now teaches at Vieau). The passion she showed for working with the kids triggered my curiosity about what I could do to maybe help some of them.

How did you prepare?

I started doing research into how to get a license, what steps I needed to take and how long it would take. Then I went through the MTEC (Milwaukee Teacher Education Center) to get my license. (MTEC, founded by the late Martin Haberman, professor of education at UWM, is an alternative teacher certification program for those who have a degree in another field.)

That took about a year and a half. Then I went on to UWM to earn my master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction. (Dominguez also has a master’s degree from UWM in Administrative Leadership).

What was different about your college experience the second time around?

The second time, you approach college at a different level. I was completely dedicated to my studies, and had a passion to absorb everything and get everything done on time. I didn’t leave anything to chance, and really spent more time with the books and immersing myself in learning teaching techniques.

The secretaries and other staff helped me deal with documents I needed, and if they didn’t know the answer to a question I had, they would get me to someone who did know.

Do you miss anything about your previous career?

I loved the interactions with the animals.

When they are in pain, they don’t understand that you’re trying to help them. So they try to protect themselves. I got bitten dozens of times by dogs and cats and guinea pigs, and I don’t miss that.

They couldn’t say thank you, but when they were feeling better, they would express it with their eyes.

What are the challenges in your new career? What do you like best?

It’s challenging to help the students succeed at school, but it’s harder when we cannot change society or the environment they’re living in outside of school. Some students have parents who are really involved, but others do not. Sometimes you have to try to convince the families or people who surround them to let them try things – this is especially true of girls studying engineering – or change the way they are thinking.

The reward is when I see students I taught finishing school, or see their smiles because of something they have accomplished, or they come back to visit and tell me, “I miss this class.” That gives me great satisfaction.

How did UWM help?

UWM was so accessible, being right in town.

I could get there after work. The library and other resources were great, and when I needed help, the School of Education always had someone available.

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Social worker to

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Sandra Mollberg, who came to the Lubar School of Business after more than 10 years as a social worker, graduated in December 2011 with a Master of Science in Management, with a concentration in Information Technology Management.

Currently, she is working for Enterforce, a managed-service provider, and is deployed to their client We Energies. Mollberg also worked at We Energies during her master’s degree studies as

Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72

an IT student specialist.

Sandra Mollberg felt that the pace of change in information technology was leaving her behind. Now she’s leading the way.

MANAGER What led you to change careers?

I always found social work and helping others very rewarding. As someone who enjoys variety and learning new things, however, I realized that I was ready to pursue something different. I’ve always had an aptitude for software, and did an independent study on computers and social work while working toward my MSW. As a social worker, I had worked with information technology (IT) as a “super user,” taken a class and read extensively.

But I could see that there was much more to learn, and that the pace of change in IT was leaving me behind.

How did you prepare?

I thought about changing professions for a while. As I researched different programs, I talked to advisors in the Lubar School about whether it made sense to go from social work to IT, and they encouraged me.

The fact that UWM honored my background by recognizing my prior master’s degree and allowing me to enter this new field at the graduate level also helped shape my decision to come to UWM. What was different about your college experience the second time around?

My first master’s degree was in my bachelor’s-degree area, so I had both experience and coursework to draw on.

This time, I hadn’t been in school for quite a while, so I had to rethink my note-taking and study habits. And while the coursework for social work required writing a number of research papers, studying IT was all projects and group work.

Also, when I earned my other degrees, I didn’t even have an email address. Now, so much academic work is done online.

How did UWM help?

Before beginning my master’s studies, I needed to take three senior-level undergraduate IT classes. As someone jumping into something new, there were times when I found myself thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?”

When I met with those professors about course material, they also discussed my background, my career change and what they would recommend. Later, during my master’s study, one of those professors served as my master’s degree advisor while another volunteered to serve as a reference.

During my research of IT programs, I discovered that the Lubar School’s information technology management faculty were internationally ranked for their research productivity. When you have professors of that caliber who also are very supportive of students, that’s the program to go into!

Advisors in the Lubar School’s Career Services Center also discussed my career goals and helped tailor my resume to fit my blended background and education.

The other master’s program students have been great – a mix of recent undergrads, experienced IT professionals and a couple others like me, forging a new path. They reinforced my learning by being hardworking, open to people with different backgrounds and fun to work with.

Finally, receiving the Lubar Scholarship made a tremendous difference in my studies, helping me focus on my education and career.

Do you miss anything about your previous career?

I miss the people I worked with, which is normal even if you’re just switching jobs.

Right now, I miss some of the students I had class with!

From my social work career, I do miss some of the clients and seeing them make positive changes in their lives. I also miss the volunteers who helped in social services.

When you discover how giving people can be, that builds you up and reinforces the positive.

What are the challenges in your new career? What do you like best?

The unique challenge in IT is how fast the field changes and how many different areas it’s possible to go into. Right now, no one area has become apparent as the one I want to pursue, but I’m getting a variety of experience in the contract work I’m doing.

One of the things I’ve recognized is that many of the skills from social work come into play with IT. During my Lubar School classes and as a student specialist at We Energies, the importance of my “people skills” was reinforced.

And in both fields, it’s important to understand the processes involved and how people fit together.

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Troye Fox

Marketing professional

Sara Olson with daughters Kate (left) and Abby. Abby was born 12 days after Olson received her nursing degree from UWM.

S

Sara Olson, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marketing, was working for a marketing firm when she decided to become a nurse. She graduated from UWM’s College of Nursing in December. Her second daughter, Abby, was born Dec. 30.

to

NURSE

What led you to change careers?

In my last position, I worked for a company that recruited nurses and helped health care systems retain them. The more I learned about nursing, the more I liked it. I particularly liked community and public-health nursing, though there are a lot of options out there. I thought nursing would give me more flexibility and time with family and friends.

How did you prepare?

I had been thinking about what I really wanted to do with my career for a while, because I wanted a work/family balance in my life. After learning more about the nursing profession, I went to information sessions at UWM’s College of Nursing. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a bachelor’s degree or go into some type of direct-entry master’s program. My husband (Nick) was very supportive of the decision.

He’s a pharmacist, and was definitely a help with the science courses.

What was different about your college experience the second time around?

I think I was better able to attack anatomy and the other science courses at 30 than I was at 18.

Now I know where I want to go in life. I have a husband and family. At 18, I was still figuring my life out.

College is important, but it’s not the only thing like it was back then. And having a toddler going through the “Terrible Twos” sometimes made it hard to focus on human growth and development for class.

How did UWM help?

I liked the fact that we had a lot of nontraditional students in my classes, even though I was still one of the oldest students. It was just nice to feel that not everyone else was 18. There were other people who had the same goals as I did and didn’t go out and party every night.

I liked that the College of Nursing guaranteed you would get a clinical rotation once you were

accepted into the program. I didn’t have time to waste. My advisor really helped me through the process. If you had questions, she answered them, and didn’t leave you to fend for yourself.

The faculty and clinical staff were great. They really get you excited about the profession and where you can go as a nurse. And, (Dean) Sally Lundeen is internationally known for her work in community health care. She has a model (the Lundeen Comprehensive Community Primary Health Care model) named for her.

Do you miss anything about your previous career?

In some ways it was a 180-degree turnaround from managing multimillion-dollar accounts to the technical skills of inserting IVs. But I think I bring a unique business perspective to the table in being able to help health care systems make the best use of resources.

I think a lot of my experiences in marketing will transfer into health care in dealing with people and being prepared to translate complex information into words that are understandable to patients.

What are the challenges in your new career? What do you like best?

The job market is a little tighter. Five to 10 years ago, they were recruiting nurses as juniors. There was supposed to be a nursing shortage, but a lot of nurses who might have retired are staying because of the economy, and others have gone back to work.

I may not get a first job in the field I want, community and public-health nursing, but that’s OK. I started as an administrative assistant in my previous career. You just need to get your foot in the door. After just graduating and having the baby, I only just posted my resume and I’ve gotten three or four phone calls.

What I like best is that I’ll be working with people to help them continue to improve their own health.

Ready to explore a new chapter in your life? UWM can help. Turn to Career Questions on page 24 for tips and insights to get you started.

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When going on safari is a

dream

and a

day job

1

F

or Jenny Salentine, the eighth time’s the charm. It took eight trips to Africa before reaching her dreamsafari destination: Botswana. The 2002 Marketing grad is a safari specialist for Colorado-based Africa

Adventure Consultants. Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro will be next.

Networking and updating her contact list helped

2

Salentine move from Mark Travel to tour guide to an international event-planning job.

“Maybe cliché, but I think it’s important to know what industry you truly enjoy and to go for it,” she says.

“I’ll never be a millionaire working in travel, but I feel so lucky to be able to be in a profession where I can continue to travel for a living, but still have a life at home.”

1. Jenny Salentine and young friends, Pusan, South Korea 2. Traffic outside Agra, India 3. African leopard perched in a tree 4. Stands selling freshly squeezed juice, Marrakesh, Morocco

Salentine shared these photos of her international adventures.

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

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COLEMAN NAMED FIRST ALUMNI FELLOW

by Kathy Quirk

One of the key lessons he learned at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was to have confidence in himself and his decisions,

C

oleman, now senior editor of The Washington Post, credits his education at UWM with laying the foundation for his long and successful professional career.

“What I learned here prepared me to compete with the best in the world,” Coleman said, as he accepted an award as the first UWM Foundation Alumni Fellow on Feb. 21.

Alumni Fellow is a lifelong designation that recognizes prominent and outstanding alumni who demonstrate leadership and accomplishment in their professional fields and personal lives. The new Alumni Fellow Program brings honorees back to campus to share their knowledge, insight and stories with students, faculty, staff and members of the community.

Coleman received his bachelor’s degree

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in music history and literature from UWM, moved into journalism starting at the Milwaukee Courier and joined The Post in 1976.

Over the years he rose from reporter on the metropolitan staff to his current position.

Among his many professional awards and honors, Coleman has served as a jury chairman for the Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism and as a judge for a number of other top journalism awards. He received the UWM Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1998.

He is president of the Inter American Press Association and immediate past president of the American Society of News Editors. Through his work with those organizations, he has taken part in fact-finding missions and given presentations on press freedom and media ethics in many

Photos by Alan Magayne-Roshak ’72

says Milton Coleman (’68 BFA Music).

Caribbean and Latin American countries.

Coleman learned Spanish to provide newsroom guidance to El Tiempo Latino, a Spanish-language weekly owned by The Post. “You have to keep reinventing yourself,” he told student journalists he spoke to.

IT STARTED WITH A SCHOLARSHIP But it all started with a scholarship from UWM that helped Coleman, who grew up in the Hillside Terrace public housing project in Milwaukee, become the first in his family to graduate from college.

“Absent that $128 scholarship, I don’t know where I’d be,” he said at the ceremony where he accepted the Alumni Fellow award. That scholarship for one semester’s tuition, coupled with workstudy and weekend music gigs at $15 apiece, helped him earn his degree.

During his two-day visit to UWM in mid-February as part of the fellowship, Coleman visited music and journalism classes, answering questions and sharing his insights. He also was part of a panel on education at the Milwaukee Press Club.

Although music eventually became a means to an end, helping him earn his way through school, the lessons he learned about how to think, how to listen, how to learn from others and not be afraid to make mistakes were critical to his future success, he told music students.

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF NEWS In journalism class, he discussed the changing nature of news and shared some of his experiences – good and bad – in the field.

Newspapers like The Post are changing dramatically into multimedia organizations, he told the students, because they are no longer the main source of information for most readers.

“My first exposure to news in the morning is on my iPhone.” Only after that, he says, does he go downstairs and read the newspaper. “Newspapers don’t dictate when I get the news.”

The multiple ways people can share

and access information offer new opportunities for journalists, he told the students, though they have led to fragmentation or “atomization” of audiences into groups united around specific interests. “You don’t have to own a printing press and a distribution channel” to practice journalism, he told one student in answer to a question about job opportunities.

In spite of the numerous sources and outlets for news, the public is still challenged to find accurate information, Coleman said, and the need for good journalists is more vital than ever.

“Democracy has to be well-informed.

The demand for accurate reporting continues,” he said, adding that with multimedia, “we are telling stories better than we used to.” The Post’s newsroom, for example, now incorporates a television studio and a Web operation along with writers and photographers.

SHARING LESSONS Coleman also shared lessons with the students about learning from mistakes, candidly talking about an editing/factchecking mistake he made that resulted in a front-page exposé identifying the wrong man as an ex-convict.

In response to a student question, he said the highlight of his journalistic career so far was leading The Post’s coverage of Barack Obama’s inauguration, coordinating the work of 60 to 70 reporters to produce four papers, four editions and three million copies.

Journalism students who talked to Coleman were impressed by his ability to understand current media while drawing on years of experience.

Ian Thompson said he appreciated hearing the perspective of an African American journalist who came out of UWM. “It was really informative,” said Sean Willey, a broadcast journalism major. “He shared real-world experiences that you can’t learn from a textbook.”

From top: With UWM archivist Brad Houston, looking over a display of materials from his days as a student activist.

Accepting the first UWM Alumni Fellow award from Chancellor Michael R. Lovell. Speaking with student Sean Willey after addressing a journalism class. Participating in a panel discussion at the Milwaukee Press Club.

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PANTHER Athletics NAMED TO HAIDET HALL OF FAME

FOUR PANTHERS

Four former student-athletes have been inducted into the Bud K. Haidet Athletics Hall of Fame. David Marshall, Lindsey (Spoden) Vanden Berg, Timeka Walker and Keith Zeise were honored during ceremonies at the Milwaukee Athletic Club Jan. 28.

DAVID MARSHALL ’98 David Marshall played men’s soccer from 1993-96 for both Brian Tompkins and Louis Bennett. The Panthers won a league title in 1993 and were runners-up in 1996, when he led the team in both goals and points.

He also was a first-team All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference and third-team All-Region selection during his senior year.

Marshall was a member of the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee while at UWM and graduated in 1998 with a degree in graphic design. After school, he played professionally for the Milwaukee Rampage, where he won a national title in 1997 and finished as the team’s second-leading scorer in 1998.

LINDSEY (SPODEN) VANDEN BERG ’04 Lindsay (Spoden) Vanden Berg played volleyball at UWM from 2000-03. She earned All-MCC and Horizon League honors four times, was an All-Region honoree twice and claimed AVCA All-America accolades in 2003.

She was the AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year and the MCC Newcomer of the Year in 2000.

Vanden Berg was a part of “nothing but success” as a player. The Panthers won four regular-season titles and played in three NCAA Tournaments during her time at Milwaukee, with her team compiling an 88-32 record in her four seasons.

Vanden Berg graduated in 2004 with a degree in marketing and has gone on to an extremely successful career as an assistant coach with the UWM volleyball program.

Lindsey (Spoden) Vanden Berg 22

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David Marshall

New Haidet Hall of Fame members pose with UWM Athletics Director Rick Costello. From left: Keith Zeise, Lindsey (Spoden) Vanden Berg, Timeka Walker, Costello and David Marshall.

TIMEKA WALKER ’07

KEITH ZEISE ’99, ’04

Timeka Walker was a standout in the sprints at UWM from 2003-07. She capped her career by being named the Horizon League Outstanding Performer of the Meet in 2007. She won seven individual league titles, including a pair in the 60 and 100 meters and three in the 200. She also was the first female sprinter in school history to run below 24 seconds in the 200.

Walker also was part of team titles in 2003, 2006 and 2007, while she set records in the 60 meter, 200 meter and sprint medley relay.

During her time at UWM, Walker was on the Dean’s List and was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In fact, she represented UWM at the national SAAC conference in 2006. She also won the UWM Athletic Board Special Recognition Award in 2006.

Walker graduated in 2007 with degrees in psychology and sociology. She has continued to help the UWM program, serving as a volunteer coach working with the sprinters.

Keith Zeise was a standout in both cross country (1993-97) and track (1994-98) during his time at UWM. In cross country, his team won the 1993 Mid-Continent Conference title and was the runner-up in the MCC in both 1995 and 1996. Plus, the team finished 11th in the Great Lakes Region in 1997.

Individually, Zeise was a two-time AllConference performer who won the league title in 1996 and served as a team captain for two seasons.

In track, Zeise captained the team in 1997 and 1998, as the team won the indoor title in 1997 and both the indoor and outdoor crowns in 1998. Individually, he won two league titles and had three other top-three finishes in the MCC. He finished his career as the record-holder in a number of events, including the mile and multiple relays.

Zeise was a member of the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee while at UWM before graduating cum laude with a degree in secondary education in 1999. He also received his MS from UWM in 2004 and has gone on to a very successful teaching and coaching career at Milwaukee’s Rufus King High School.

Timeka Walker

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CAREER QUESTIONS

OPENING A NEW CHAPTER IN YOUR CAREER

H

ow does UWM help you open a new chapter in your life? Maybe studying at UWM once helped you become the teacher, accountant, architect or ethnographer you are today. But how does UWM help those who’ve already graduated?

If you are an alum who feels undecided or stuck in the pursuit of your own happiness, read on. If you recognize yourself in the statements below, there are some great UWM resources available to you as you follow your bliss.

Cindy Petrites, interim director of UWM’s Career Development Center, answers your career questions.

Send them to pettites@uwm.edu.

RESOURCES

OARSS: Jason Kemp, 414-229-4318, (students with last names A-M); Dee Borton, 414-229-1108 (students with last names N-Z); Lisa Ori, 414-2292322 (veterans). You can also make an appointment with an advisor by calling 414-229-4618.

Career Development Center: cdc. uwm.edu, 414-229-4486; or www4.uwm. edu/alumni/career_services/ for specific information on alumni career services.

Career Transitions Center: www4. uwm.edu/SCE/careertransitioncenter. cfm, 414-227-3243.

Lubar School of Business Career Services Center: www4.uwm.edu/ business/undergrad/career/alumni.cfm, 414-229-5445.

College of Engineering & Applied Science Career Services Office: www4.uwm.edu/ceas/career_services/ alumni/index.cfm 414-229-6960.

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I need to go back to school to follow my dream.

UWM’s Office of Adult and Returning Student Services (OARSS) helps alumni who return to UWM to be successful. The office serves a wide variety of alumni, from undergraduate alumni who return to UWM to complete the education they started years ago to those who return to earn a second degree or even to take prerequisites so that they can improve their GPA for graduate school.

The office also serves alumni who are Senior Auditors, Wisconsin residents over 60 who can audit courses without being charged tuition.

OARSS advisor Dee Borton notes that the office is not only a place where returning alumni can plan their academic work effectively, but also a place to get support.

“Returning to college can be intimidating,” says Borton. “The OARSS staff gives as much support as possible for the reentry process – including assistance with the application process, advising for choice of major, referrals for resources on campus and a listening ear for concerns.”

To serve UWM’s population of student veterans, Borton notes that the OARSS office recently hired a Veterans Specialist, who provides both veterans’ benefits information and academic support.

Borton says that helping students believe that “the dream is possible” is a big way her office contributes to students’ dreams coming true.

“Often students are embarrassed to come and speak to someone at UWM because their past academic experiences at UWM do not reflect the adults they are today. After speaking with us, they are so excited and ready to go.”

SPRING 2012

My dreams conflict with my priorities.

The Career Development Center (CDC) is one of three career offices on campus that serve alumni. The CD Coffers alumni free career exploration and job-search support services, including resume assistance, mock interviews, career assessments, networking events and career teleseminars.

In 15-minute visits and 50-minute appointments, alumni can talk freely about the barriers to success that keep them from their dreams – questions like, “How do I reconcile getting my financial needs met with starting over in a field that I love?”

Assistant Director of Career Counseling Sherri Pfennig counts conflicting values as No. 1 among the reasons people leave jobs and careers, and at the Career Development Center, alumni can address these issues head on.

“A common type of alumni I see are those dealing with conflict between something they know they want and maintaining harmony with people in their lives who don’t agree to the value or see the passion they have for their career journey,” Pfennig says.

Frequently, she adds, she will work with alumni to explore how to describe their career dreams in ways that are relevant to those they care about, and how to cope with short-term or even long-term conflict in relationships. Though it’s hard and emotional work, “ultimately, it’s usually more healing than they can even begin to imagine.”

Pfennig says that a big part of her work is helping alumni to assess what’s important and sometimes to develop skills that aren’t so much about making a change as making things better.

One client, Pfennig notes, who was in a very detail-oriented job felt the need after a couple of years to work with people more. He and Pfennig worked on a plan to negotiate a more people-oriented position with his employer, and ultimately he gained greater job satisfaction from the better fit.

Whatever the hurdle, working with staff at the Career Development Center can help alumni create personalized plans that integrate both the realistic and the idealistic aspects of what they would like to have happen in their lives. “A lot of

UP…

COMING

UWM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SIGNATURE EVENT MAY 19

times people see these as conflicting,” Pfennig says, “but they don’t have to be.”

I don’t know what my dream is, but I know it’s not this.

The Career Transitions Center (CTC), part of the UWM School of Continuing Education (SCE), serves alumni and others in career transition, including those not affiliated with UWM. Program Director Rachelle Perotto notes that the experiences of alumni who use the CTC vary, but what they have in common is that they feel “stuck.” Perotto captures it this way: “I’m not sure what to do but something is making me unhappy.”

A value that the CTC brings is providing structure and guidance through a long-term career transition. Sometimes, though, the first step is just figuring out what the dream is.

“Helping them identify that dream would be a first step through assessments, counseling, and providing support and structure around how to get there,” says Perotto.

One client in the education field really wanted to leave teaching. She came to the CTC for help in updating her resume and polishing up her networking and job-search skills. With the confidence she developed through working with a CTC coach, she quickly transitioned to a career in office management in about a month’s time.

After an initial intake interview in which they’re matched with one of 10-12 professional coaches, most alumni take advantage of the CTC through a customized coaching package that consists of three career assessments and four one-hour visits with a career coach. These can take place in a coffee shop, at the library, in another place that’s convenient to the alum or even over Skype.

Another dimension the CTC adds is a close connection to the certificate programs offered through the School of Continuing Education. Perotto notes that SCE offers over 41 certificates that alumni can complete in less than a year.

Perotto says that what many clients value about the Career Transitions Center is the personal level of support and rapport it provides to clients in the pursuit of their dreams. Says Perotto: “It’s like a personal trainer.”

Join us at our annual event that honors the most outstanding alumni from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. Featuring a marquee reception, award ceremony and a special performance from UWM alumnus and comedian/impersonator Frank Caliendo (’96). Saturday, May 19, 4-6:30 p.m., Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. See inside back cover for details and tickets.

UWM DAY AT STATE FAIR AUG. 5 UWM is once again sponsoring an entire day at the Wisconsin State Fair on Sunday, Aug. 5.

Look for interactive displays and activities from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the Central Mall. Expect appearances by Pounce and our athletic teams, performances by Peck School of the Arts students, demonstrations and exhibits by UWM’s 10 schools and colleges, and a Bookstore booth stocked with caps, T-shirts and more for showing your Panther Pride at the fair.

As a bonus, the Central Mall is really, really close to the cream puffs.

UWM NIGHT AT MILLER PARK SEPT. 14 Be part of the crowd at this year’s UWM Night at Miller Park event on Friday, Sept. 14, when the Milwaukee Brewers take on the New York Mets!

Join us at 5:30 p.m. at Helfaer Field for a familyfriendly tailgate party. Special guests, including Pounce and UWM cheerleaders, will get you fired up for the 7:10 p.m. game.

Special ticket packages will be available and include the tailgate, entertainment and a game ticket. Watch the UWM Alumni Association website at uwm.edu/alumni for updates.

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 postrace 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, check out the Prowl website at pantherprowl.net. Online registration begins July 1.

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CLASSNOTES

1960s

William A. Jennaro (’65 BS) has become of counsel to the Milwaukee law firm of Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown LLP effective last November.

Mary Olszewski Pieschek’70

Patrick Fiedler ’77

Denis Kitchen (’68 BS) will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in May from the Museum of Wisconsin Art. The underground comics pioneer and well-known comics expert has also cowritten “Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary,” a definitive biography of the creator of “Li’l Abner.”

Kitchen’s previous book, “The Art of Harvey Kurtzman” (Abrams, 2009), won three national awards.

“The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen,” a collection of Kitchen’s comics, covers and illustrations from the late ’60s and early ’70s, was published

by Dark Horse Books in 2010.

Darlyne Haertlein (’69 MS, ’65 BS) has been named community relations manager for Milwaukee Public Television.

John M. Rindt ’78

Joseph E. Kerschner ’86

1970s

Mary Olszewski Pieschek (’70 BA), president of Pieschek Public Relations, Mequon, Wis., recently conducted a series of political training seminars for Egyptian women leaders in Cairo.

The seminars focused on strategic planning, grassroots organizing and advocacy communications.

Attendees included women from Cairo, Alexandria, Aswan and other regions. Pieschek’s seminars were sponsored by the Women’s Democracy Network, a program of the nonpartisan, nonprofit International Republican Institute, Washington, D.C. Pieschek and her husband, Leon, recently relocated to Mequon from Green Bay. Stephen W. Hargarten (’71 BS), founding director of the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has been elected to the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.

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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.

Phillip Kassner (’74 BS) recently published a photo essay book, “Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall.”

Thomas Vonier (’74 MARCH) has been named vice president and member of the bureau directing the International Union of Architects.

Adolphus A. Ward (’75 MS, ’74 BS) has published “Milk the Iron Cow” and “Stand Upside Down” to complete his trilogy of African American family novels.

Patrick Fiedler (’77 BBA) has joined the law firm Axley Brynelson LLP as a partner at the firm’s downtown Madison office. Fiedler’s extensive litigation background enables him to serve as a lawyer and mediator/ arbitrator in disputed matters, including tort cases, construction cases, business disputes and family-related disputes.

John M. Rindt (’78 BBA) has been installed as the president of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, an international trade association based in Washington, D.C., that serves a membership of firms with personnel of over 5,000 surety agents and brokers.

Jim Huntington (’79 BA) has recently released a book on jobs in America, “Work’s New Age: The End of Full Employment and What It Means to You.” Honora A. Norton (’79 BBA) has been named to the Governing Board of Catholic Charities Community Services in Phoenix, Ariz.

1980s

Mike Hirsch (’84 MA, ’80 BA) has been named the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Huston Tillotson University in Austin, Texas.

MacArthur Weddle (’81 BS) is the 2011 recipient of the Community Brainstorming Conference’s James Howard Baker Award for his commitment and dedication to Milwaukee’s African American community.

Weddle, vice chair of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp., is a former president of Juneteenth Day and the African World Festival board.

Douglas Keil (’83 BA) is now a senior technologist at Novellus Systems, a leading provider of advanced process equipment for the global semiconductor industry.

Novellus is based in San Jose, Calif.

Mary Ellen Stanek (’84 MBA), managing director and director of asset management at Robert W. Baird & Co., has been elected to the board of directors of Wisconsin Energy Corporation.

Joseph E. Kerschner (’86 BS) has been named dean and executive vice president of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Olafur Thordarson (’86 BS) had his lamp, UL1, featured at the Milwaukee Art Museum as part of an exhibit highlighting European design.

Joel Anthony (’88 BBA) has joined Associated Wealth Management as vice president, private banker, working with individuals to help them with their financial goals.

CLASSNOTES ALUMS RACK UP

PHOTOGRAPHY HONORS UWM photographers Peter Jakubowski (’07) and Alan Magayne-Roshak (’72) each won a First Place award in the University Photographers Association of America (UPAA) October Monthly Image Competition.

Jakubowski won in the Science & Research Category for his portrait of Ching-Hong Yang, associate professor of biological sciences, which is featured in this year’s UWM Research Report (see page 4). MagayneRoshak won in the News, Spot & Feature Category for his photo of Kevin Lovell, the chancellor’s son, spurting to the finish in the Seventh Annual Panther Prowl 5K run/walk last October.

Magayne-Roshak also won a UPAA Second Place award in the Personal Vision category for his photo of a dragonfly resting on a column at the Zelazo Center. The photo won in the Monthly Image Competition for summer pictures.

Photographs by Magayne-Roshak and Gordy Simons are featured in “Missing Milwaukee: The Lost Buildings of Milwaukee,”

by Yance Marti (Historic Milwaukee Inc., September 2011). The book presents images of a number of downtown buildings that were demolished between the late 1960s and early 1980s, including the Norman Apartments, Belmont Hotel, Metropolitan Block, Pabst Building, Chapman’s Department Store, Chicago and Northwestern Railway Depot and the Elk’s Club.

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A LIFE

WITH BONOBOS Troye Fox

by Kathy Quirk

Gay Reinartz at the Milwaukee County Zoo’s bonobo exhibit

G

ay Reinartz spends much of her time half a world away from Milwaukee, working at a remote research station in a vast rain forest in the heart of the Congo Basin. There is no plumbing, running water or electrical service, and the closest medical facility is several days’ travel via pirogue (dugout canoe).

All that is a measure of the passion the UWM alumna (’97 PhD Biological Sciences) has for her work with bonobos, an endangered primate species related to chimpanzees. Unlike chimpanzees and other great apes, however, bonobos are found only in a narrow range in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Reinartz, a scientist with the Zoological Society of Milwaukee, leads the Bonobo

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and Congo Biodiversity Initiative (BCBI). She spends six months a year in one of the most biologically diverse areas of Africa, the Salonga National Park. The park is a World Heritage Site and the only national park in the DRC currently designated for protection of the bonobo and the highly threatened forest elephant.

Her passion for the work is a mix of genuine affection for bonobos and scientific interest, and her research focuses on documenting and protecting bonobos as well as studying the environmental characteristics that influence their abundance and distribution. Reinartz is entranced by the intelligent, gentle ape, one of man’s closest relatives.

“They’re extremely smart, curious and playful, and they display a remarkable sense of humor.”

CREDENTIALS AND OPPORTUNITY

Zoological Society of Milwaukee / Patrick Guislain

Reinartz was working at the Zoological Society when she decided to return to school for her doctorate focusing on population genetics and evolutionary biology. “UWM was extremely important in helping me get the credentials to speak on behalf of conservation biology and the bonobos.”

However, it took a while before Reinartz was able to meet bonobos in the wild.

“I didn’t have any intention of doing field research,” she says. “I was the mother of two children, and I didn’t speak French [the official language of the DRC].” And in the late 1990s, the Congo was torn by a bloody civil war.

In 2001, Reinartz finally had the opportunity to go to the Salonga National Park to see bonobos in their natural environment, living in nests high in the tree canopy. She was immediately captivated, seeing the need for both research and protection of the apes and their habitat.

“Nobody had focused research there [Salonga], and their status was unknown, so there was an element of being in the right place at the right time.”

Meanwhile, zoos and zoological societies across the country were continuing a shift from just displaying animals in captivity to helping preserve species in their native habitat. It’s a broader – and more expensive – mission.

CONSERVATION CHALLENGES The BCBI, which works in partnership with the Congolese park authority and other conservation organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, reflects the complexity of efforts to preserve both creatures and their habitats, while respecting the needs and wishes of local people.

For years, outsiders and even their own government have stolen natural resources from the people of the Congo, says Reinartz, complicating efforts to enlist cooperation in preserving habitats and species. “Local villagers are pretty cynical,” she says. “They have been exploited and neglected for so long.”

Well-armed poachers engaged in the bushmeat and ivory trade, often with support of local political and military leaders, roam the national park, and Salonga park guards have limited resources for fighting back. Bonobos are often caught in snares meant for other animals, and slaughtered for their meat.

Bonobo infants are sometimes captured for sale as pets.

To counter these dangers, the BCBI is working on two fronts. The first is helping park officials protect the bonobo through training guards and providing the national park with supplies and better equipment, including hand-held GPS (global positioning system) units to help guards navigate

through the immense Salonga.

At the same time, Reinartz and others are working in collaboration with local people to enhance farming and educational opportunities, with the long-term goal of reducing hunting pressure in the national park and reliance on bushmeat as a food and income source.

AN ONGOING MISSION Reinartz continues to travel deep into the rain forest to document the numbers and locations of bonobos and identify areas of poaching activity in the national park. Because of its size and intact ecosystem, the Salonga is a bonobo stronghold and offers the best potential in the DRC for protecting the species and restoring the country’s once-sizable herds of forest elephants.

During research missions, she is always careful not to leave signs that might lead poachers to bonobos or to let the bonobos become habituated to humans.

Tropical diseases, continuing civil unrest and dangerous poachers don’t daunt her, she says, because she takes commonsense precautions, and trusts the skill and expertise of BCBI’s Congolese project team and Salonga park guards.

Reinartz’s research looks at the bonobo in terms of conserving wild populations in the DRC rather than individual bonobos in a captive setting. As a group in captivity, however, she finds them endlessly interesting. Visiting the Milwaukee County Zoo’s bonobo exhibit, she remarks that she delights in just sitting and observing them as they groom each other and play.

“I never get tired of watching them. They’re just so much a part of my life now.”

Gay Reinartz and Salonga National Park guard Bosona Etienne looking at bonobos high up in the forest canopy in November 2011.

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ALUMS FIND A THEATER HOME

AT THE ZOO

by Beth Stafford

They’re hanging with the animals! Three UWM Peck School of the Arts alumni are actors in a series of plays produced by the Zoological Society of Milwaukee.

Troye Fox

Look for UWM alums (from left) Lindsey L. Gagliano, Megan Kaminsky and Johnathan Koller in Kohl’s Wild Theater performances at the zoo this year.

L

indsey L. Gagliano (’08 BFA Theatre, BA Theatre Education), Megan Kaminsky (’10 BFA Theatre) and Johnathan Koller (’10 BFA Theatre) are delighting kids of all ages through Kohl’s Wild Theater (KWT), a partnership between Kohl’s Cares and the Zoological Society of Milwaukee.

Plays are scheduled at the Milwaukee County Zoo from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, with performances four times daily at the Kohl’s Wild Theater Stage. The stage is located in the Family Farm area of the zoo.

The actors also may be seen performing an impromptu pathway play or shorter skit during the warm-weather months at the zoo.

“KWT plays are designed to be funny and

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entertaining, yet have a strong conservationeducation message,” says Dave McLellan, theater coordinator for the Zoological Society.

Performances use drama, songs, games and puppetry to get the message across.

In addition to zoo performances, Kohl’s Wild Theater is traveling to schools, libraries, and festivals and other events within a one-hour radius of the zoo. These performances are presented free of charge.

“The best part of doing this kind of theater is the reaction coming from the children,” says Gagliano. “I will never forget the first time that the orangutan puppet came up from the back of the set and the squeals of joy coming from the audience. That’s what I get to take with me at the end of every workday – smiling, laughing, happy children’s faces.”

CLASSNOTES

A Kohl’s Wild Theater play that premieres May 26 is by Alvaro Saar-Rios, a playwright and lecturer at UWM. “Journey to the Rich Coast” is about a pair of Baltimore orioles from Wisconsin that must migrate south for the winter to Costa Rica. Studying playwriting with Saar-Rios is Flannery Margaret “Fly” Steffens, a Peck School of the Arts senior.

“UWM and the Peck School of the Arts have been such a great resource in providing new talent that is both skilled and professional,” says McLellan. “All of the UWM alums in our theater program have brought a wealth of creative energy, with the highest of professional standards.”

Gagliano has worked in Milwaukee at theater companies including Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Windfall Theater, InTandem Theater, The Alchemist Theater, Carte Blanche Studios and others. She also toured with Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre as the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz.” Kaminsky is a Milwaukee native and performed in the UWM productions “Hay Fever,” “Feeding the Moonfish,” “What I Did Last Summer” and “Arms and the Man.” After graduating, she attended Shakespeare & Company’s Summer Training Institute in Lenox, Mass. Most recently, she appeared in The Boulevard Theatre’s production of “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Kaminsky also choreographs middle-school and high-school musicals around the metro Milwaukee area.

Koller has been acting in Milwaukee for the past 13 years. Credits include Joseph in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Danny in “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” Jesus in “Godspell” and Orin the Dentist in “Little Shop of Horrors.” He also worked at the Bristol Renaissance Fair for the last five summers, starting out as a street entertainer and advancing to stage manager.

For more on KWT, visit zoosociety.org/ Education/WildTheater/.

Randy Brinkmann (’88 BBA) has joined the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants Peer Review Committee. As a committee member he is able to provide review services to other firms. Brinkmann is a shareholder at Sitzberger, Widmann & Company S.C., a public accounting firm providing audit, financial accounting, tax, business valuations, payroll and consulting services to individuals and businesses.

Mark Lewandowski (’89 BBA) has been hired by Associated Bank as a business development officer, working out of Associated’s Brookfield business banking offices.

He is responsible for developing a portfolio of business banking relationships, specializing in creating financial plans tailored to client needs in deposit accounts and services, lending services, treasury management, merchant services, employee benefits, investment and insurance services.

1990s

Venetia Demson (’90 MLS) is one of 10 recipients of this year’s “I Love My Librarian” Award, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation, New York Times, American Library Association and @ your library.

Scott Conger (’91 BBA), CTF, has been hired by Pennant Management Inc., a Milwaukee-based institutional investment manager.

Scott Conger ’91 Marilyn Rantz (’92 PhD) was honored by the American Academy of Nursing and the John A. Hartford Foundation as the 2011 Nurse Leader in Aging at the 2012 Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Leadership Conference in Boston.

Sumit Agarwal (’93 PhD) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has received a certificate of excellence from the TIAA-CREF Institute.

Tammy Gilpin-Ripp (’93 BA) has been named director of marketing for the Milwaukee Kickers Soccer Club.

Tom Alberti (’94 BS) presented “Economic Espionage: Guarding against a $200 billion national problem” at the 2011 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Milwaukee.

Susanne Carter (’94 BS) recently presented her one-woman theatrical show, “Adventures of Little Misfit,” in Kenosha, Wis. Dawn Jacques (’94 BSW) recently accepted a new position as a social worker for Eastcastle Place and Newcastle Place, two senior living communities respectively located in Milwaukee and Mequon.

Sarit Singhal (’95 BS), president and CEO of Superior Support Resources in Brookfield, earned 2012 “Forty under 40” recognition from the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Christopher Bringer (’97 BA) currently serves as the battalion executive officer, second in command, of the 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, a 525-soldier battalion based in Fort Stewart, Ga. Maj. Bringer supervises the 12 primary staff sections that plan, coordinate and direct the unit’s logistical and tactical operations.

Jennifer Dahms (’97 MS, ’94 BS) earned the Board Recognized Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders certification last August. She opened her private practice, Valley Pediatric Feeding LLC, in Boise, Idaho, in October 2008 as a specialty clinic for children with oral motor feeding disorders and dysphagia.

Robert Silverman (’97 PhD) and Kelly Patterson (’02 PhD) are co-authors of “Fair and Affordable Housing in the U.S.”

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12 YEARS LATER, 800-METER CHAMP IS BUSIER, FASTER, MORE FOCUSED

by Angela McManaman took second place in 2011) and USA Half Marathon championships this spring.

“Everyone always thinks about the Olympics as an athlete’s greatest accomplishment, but there are other world team competitions and U.S. championships that can determine an athlete’s greatness,” says McMahan (’99 BS Biological Aspects of Conservation), a member of the Hanson Brooks Distance Project since 2005 and a math/science tutor living and training in Rochester Hills, Mich.

Long-term, she plans to take on more clients or go back to school. But for now the dedicated athlete says running remains her first love and second priority – after daughter Elizabeth, age 2, and husband Tim.

Clint Austin

“WHY WOULD I STOP?”

A

fter a Top 10 finish in the Olympic Marathon Trials in January 2012 (2:32:16), Dot McMahan didn’t spend much time pondering the “what-ifs” of coming within minutes of a berth on the U.S. Olympic team.

She had carved nearly 3 minutes off her 2008 marathon trial performance, and just two weeks later was already training for the inevitable next big race(s): the USA 25k (she

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Running comes a close and very fast second, as you would expect from anyone who logs 120 miles per week during marathon build-up and classifies a two-run day – 8-12 miles in the morning, followed by a 4-miler in the afternoon – as “recovery day.”

On long runs, McMahan averages between 6-6:15-minute miles, a pace she says is both grueling and gratifying.

“My plan is to keep training through the next four years. I still have goals to reach.

I’m still getting faster at 35 years old. Why would I stop?”

One reason might have been the birth of her daughter. The McMahans decided to start a family shortly after Dot’s first Olympic Trials in 2008, the same year she wore the Team U.S.A. uniform at the World Half Marathon Championships in Rio de Janeiro.

“I thought having a child could mean that I’d never race at the same level again, so I needed to be happy with my achievements – to have no regrets, no matter the outcome

it had on my running career. I was prepared to walk away.”

Maintaining a near-daily running schedule during pregnancy wasn’t difficult. But what came after – nursing, lower-back issues and hormonal fluctuations – seriously compromised McMahan’s SI joint.

“Being out of shape didn’t bother me,” she now says. “For me, the hardest part was running with pain nearly every day for a year.”

UNSHAKEABLE FOCUS But with the support of family, coaches Kevin Hanson and Keith Hanson, and teammates, McMahan says running through the pain made her a completely different runner, and ultimately a stronger one.

“I have learned to enjoy each run without pain,” she says. “I have become mentally stronger. The little things don’t seem to bother me – shoes being too tight, having only gotten three hours of sleep, or dropping a water bottle – they don’t shake my focus.”

Three hours? Of sleep! After nearly 30 years of running, plus training wisdom from her UWM coach Pete Corfeld, McMahan has a motivational mantra to help break through that fatigue, as well.

“Coach Pete Corfeld always told me to be a better runner, I have to run. Cross-training can help, but I need running to be the majority of my training. That always stuck with me. It helps me get out the door in the afternoons when I’m beat tired.”

Passion is something else McMahan found in large doses during her time as an 800-meter champion and biology major at UWM. “My long-lasting memory of UWM was getting to know my biology professors. They were passionate about their research and area of study. Passionate people inspire me.”

For race results, records and running inspiration from Dot McMahan, visit: runbrooks. com/speaker/700-Dot-McMahan.

CLASSNOTES

CLAWS VS. PAWS CHALLENGE UWM RUNNERS PREPARE FOR MORE THAN THE PROWL

In February, Chancellor Michael R. Lovell accepted a marathon challenge from Concordia University Wisconsin’s president, the Rev. Patrick T. Ferry. UWM faculty, staff and students will run the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon as Team Paws, competing against their counterparts from CUW (Team Claws).

Training for the friendly “Claws vs. Paws Challenge” began in March. The competitors will meet at the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon starting line on Oct. 7, 2012, at 7:30 a.m. The team with the best average running time will be declared the “Claws vs. Paws” winner.

If you’re a running alumnus among us and have already registered for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon, your running time cannot be factored into the overall Team Paws average. But you can contact Team Paws member and Alumni Relations Assistant Director Amy Lensing Tate to receive an exclusive Team Paws shirt in time for race day. Reach her via email: lensing@uwm.edu, or visit: uwm.edu/clawsvspaws/.

DOT’S ADVICE

Nearly half of Team Paws is composed of firsttime runners or marathoners. UWM alumna and champion distance runner Dot McMahan offers some advice.

“The best racing advice to any novice marathoner is to start off slower than your predicted average pace,” says McMahan. “The marathon is a long race! Also listen to your body.

If something hurts, slow down and gain your composure. Then pick the pace back up when you feel better. Enjoy it or you’ll never want to do another one.”

And whatever you do as part of you in preparation for the big race, don’t do it alone.

“Everyone needs support, whether it’s a family member who knows nothing about running or a best friend who can run with you,” says McMahan. “Their knowledge of the sport isn’t important but their knowledge of you is important. Everyone needs someone to believe in them.”

Glenn Roby (’98 MARCH, ’95 BS) has been promoted by Milwaukeebased Kahler Slater to team leader of its Business Environments team.

Glenn Roby ’98 Eric Hayot (’99 PhD) is a professor of comparative literature and director of Asian Studies at Penn State.

He recently returned to UWM to deliver a lecture, “Comparative Literature in the 21st Century: Literary History after European Time,” co-sponsored by the Center for 21st Century Studies and the Department of English.

James Lowder (’99 MA) is the editor of “Triumph of The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman’s Zombie Epic on Page and Screen,” a collection of critical essays on the popular comic book and television series, published in November 2011.

2000s

Holly Colby (’00 MS) has been promoted to director of Ambulatory Services at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. In this role, she will lead the operations of medical and surgical subspecialty clinics.

Jon Duris (’01 BA) has opened his own chiropractic practice, Cream City Chiropractic in Bay View.

Susan Frost (’01 MA) has been approved as an Athenian Leadership Society Dialogue Facilitator for the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. Athenian Dialogues, part of the institute’s continuing education program, are literaturebased discussions to teach principles of leadership as they relate to municipal clerk positions and provide an opportunity to develop critical-thinking skills.

Matthew Beier (’02 BS) is coauthor of an article on the value of RN certification in the operating room. It will be published in the Canadian Journal of Operating Room Nursing in 2012.

Debra Brenegan (’02 PhD) recently had her book, “Shame the Devil: A Novel,” published by the State University of New York Press.

Christie Christie (’02 MA) authored “What Critiques Have Been Made of the Socratic Method in Legal Education?,” which appeared in the European Journal of Law Reform, 2010, Volume 12, Issues 3-4.

Steve Hyde (’02 MBA, ’00 MS) has been hired as Alta Resources’ vice president and chief information officer. Alta is a Neenah, Wis.-based sales, customer care, eBusiness and fulfillment solutions company, with operations in Wisconsin, Michigan, California and the Philippines.

Danielle Bergner (’01 BA) has joined the law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP as an associate in its Milwaukee office. Bergner will join the firm’s Transactional Practice Group, focusing her practice on real estate, municipal law and finance.

Danielle Bergner ’01

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CLASSNOTES

UWM YEARBOOKS ONLINE Lost your yearbook? Trying to locate an old photo of a classmate or favorite professor? If you attended UWM or its predecessor institutions during the 1940s, ’50s or ’60s, you may be in luck.

The UWM Libraries maintain a digital collection of the student yearbook “The Ivy,” which was published from 1942 to 1968.

The annual publications document the histories of both Milwaukee State Teachers College – later renamed Wisconsin State College, Milwaukee – and the formative years of UWM, constituting a pictorial record of the UWM campus, its administrators and faculty.

Visitors to the site can search by name, year, decade and keyword.

“UWM Yearbooks” is accessible at uwm.edu/Libraries/digilib/yearbooks/ index.html.

Jeanette Kowalik (’02 BS) received a “Well-Willed Woman” award at the 33rd Annual Black Woman’s Network Recognition Dinner in February. She was among 12 women who were recognized for their collaborations with local organizations to support issues affecting black women and the community. Kowalik is the director of Health & Life Skills at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and an adjunct instructor at Bryant & Stratton College. She is also pursuing her PhD in Health Sciences at UWM.

Jeanette Kowalik ’02 Reginald (Reggie) Newson (’03 MA, ’95 BA) has been named the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s new deputy secretary.

a great stepping-stone, and one I’ll never forget,” he writes.

Matthew (Paava) Stults-Kolehmainen ’04 Charnelle Newkirk (’04 MS) has joined the first class of Piedmont Triad Leadership Academy, a new alternative licensure program preparing individuals from four school districts in North Carolina to become principals at high-need schools.

Kristina Potrykus (’04 MBA) has been named marketing director at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee. She will focus on strengthening the casino’s brand image, coordinating all marketing initiatives and generating excitement through guest communications.

Kristina Potrykus ’04 Reginald (Reggie) Newson ’03 Nick Abadie (’04 BFA) has been named senior art director at Milwaukee-based Scheibel Halaska to help produce creative advertising and marketing vehicles for the agency’s expanding client base.

Matthew (Paava) StultsKolehmainen (’04 MS) is working on his postdoc in kinesiology at Yale University School of Medicine.

He is affiliated with a new clinic, the Yale Stress Center, designed to treat stressed individuals with exercise, meditation, counseling, medicine management and nutrition (yalestress.org). Stults-Kolehmainen also is an assistant professor in Exercise Science at Northern Illinois University in De Kalb. “UWM was

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Nicholas Dettmann (’05 BA) has written his first novel, “A Life Worth Dreaming About.”

Monica Gracyalny (’05 MA) has been named assistant professor of communication at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

Breena Wiederhoeft (’05 BFA) has been awarded a grant from the Xeric Foundation to self-publish her debut graphic novel, “Picket Line.”

Georgiann Davis (’06 MA) recently earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is now working as an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Studies at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.

STRUMMING UP

INTERNATIONAL

SUCCESS

Peter Jakubowski ’07

by Mary Rinzel

K

evin Horrigan walked into the Zelazo Center on the UWM campus on a cold winter evening, guitar case in hand.

For a few moments, the ’08 BFA Music Performance graduate sat quietly on the concert hall stage.

Horrigan had his song selected. He was ready to play. It was the tools of his trade that needed some time. Seems cold hands can prove a bit problematic when you’re the current international finger-style guitar champion.

“The primary thing about finger-style is that you play with your fingers as opposed to with a pick,” Horrigan explains, still briskly rubbing his hands together.

PERFECT TIMING Seven years ago, UWM’s Peck School of the Arts (PSOA) created the world’s only Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Music programs specializing in finger-style guitar.

Horrigan, at that time a business major at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, took notice.

“I was taking some music electives and it just didn’t feel like work. I ended up spending more time on my elective classes than I did working toward my business degree,” Horrigan says.

He had also recently discovered some finger-style guitar greats – including Leo Kottke, who, unbeknownst to Horrigan, would later receive an honorary Doctor of Music Performance degree and deliver the commencement address at Horrigan’s May 2008 UWM graduation ceremony.

Horrigan’s move toward music was happening almost simultaneously with the launch of UWM’s new finger-style performance degree.

“I felt extremely fortunate to have everything line up just perfectly,” Horrigan says. “My teachers completely shaped the way that I look at music and approach the guitar. We were not made to be one-trick ponies; we really got a full gamut.”

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 – twohands-on-the-fingerboard, percussion, right-hand string-stopping.”

Stropes says Horrigan’s “competence and his creativity served him well” at the 2011 Canadian Guitar Festival and the 2011 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kan., where Horrigan earned his international title.

“I can’t express how glad I feel to represent UW-Milwaukee with those

wins because Milwaukee really is the only place in the world where you can get my degree,” Horrigan says.

WHAT’S NEXT? Horrigan currently works full time at We Energies. He had been considering going back to school to study accounting.

His new trophies are now providing the inspiration he needed to finish composing his first CD and move toward a full-time career in music performance.

“Realistically, nothing has changed about my music now versus where it was a few months ago. What it has done is opened up some doors – actually walking through them is going to be up to me,” Horrigan says.

“At this point, I don’t think there’s any turning back because there would be too many regrets. I’m going to see this thing through and I know I have what it takes.”

Watch Kevin Horrigan perform at the UWM Zelazo Center and talk about being a “lifelong student of the guitar” at bit.ly/iamuwm_kevinhorrigan.

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Travel UWM STYLE What’s on your bucket list? Have you ever dreamed of seeing the remarkable architecture of London and Paris? How about experiencing South Africa’s magnificent scenery and wildlife while learning about its unique political history? Or perhaps taking in a breathtaking sunset at Uluru or the brilliant ecological diversity of the Great Barrier Reef?

Well, the UWM Alumni Association and the UWM School of Continuing Education (SCE) have teamed up to offer you the travel experiences of a lifetime…with a special UWM twist.

Over the next two years, you will have the chance to travel to remarkable locations around the world on tours led by noted UWM faculty and staff.

Can there be any more memorable experience than traveling to England with School of Architecture & Urban Planning Dean Bob Greenstreet, Cape Town with Provost Johannes Britz, or the Outback of Australia with School of Freshwater Sciences Dean David Garman?

There will also be opportunities to experience the “Best of Broadway,” tour the vibrant but hidden world of Cuba, sail the Florida Keys aboard the lake schooner Denis Sullivan and explore the splendid palaces, castles and churches of Poland.

The best part is that you can count on UWM to provide you with worry-free travel experiences with just the right blend of educational and leisure activities.

See the world, connect with your alma mater, make new friends and have educational travel experiences you will never forget.

Are you over age 50? Why not consider joining the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UWM. Osher members receive discounts on all UWM SCE/ Alumni travel programs.

For more information, please contact Kim Beck, SCE director of arts, humanities and science, at 414-227-3321 or kcb@ uwm.edu.

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CLASSNOTES Victoria Lindsay (’06 BA) was promoted to media planner/buyer at Denver-based InLine Media, the largest media specialty firm in the Rocky Mountain region.

Michael Mierendorf (’06 BA) began a new online arts and entertainment magazine called Cultural Transmogrifier.

He designed, created and launched the website, and continues to function as the back-end developer.

Stephanie Allewalt (’07 MUP) was selected as one of “6 Under 36” by the National Housing Institute in honor of Shelterforce magazine’s 36th anniversary.

Nicole Docta (’07 BFA) is working on a feature film called “As Goes Janesville,” which will air on PBS nationally in October 2012.

Cory Grassell (’07 MA) has accepted a position with San Franciscobased xAd, one of the largest local mobile-ad networks in the U.S. Patrick Pirwitz (’07 BA) has been hired as vice president, information security engineer, at Associated Bank.

Rachel Gonnering (’10 MA) received Top Panel Award and Top Student Award for her paper, “Training Student Employees to Effectively Apply Customer Service Principles to Their Positions of Employment in Higher Education” from the National Communication Association.

Jerry Roberts (’10 MS, ’08 BS) has been named program officer by the Helen Bader Foundation to direct grants that help nonprofit organizations and other partners spur opportunity, employment and economic growth throughout Milwaukee.

Congratulations

SIGNATURE EVENT Please join us at our annual event that honors the most outstanding alumni from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Featuring a marquee reception, award ceremony and a special performance from UWM alumnus Frank Caliendo ’96.

SPECIAL LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Mary T. Kellner, MS Educational Psychology ’78

ALUMNI CITIZENSHIP AWARD Dennis R. McBride, BA Journalism ’76

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARDS Laurel M. Bear, BS Medical Science ’80 Donald F. Gatzke, MAR Architecture ’79 George L. Kelling, MSW Social Work ’62 Lyman W. Tschanz, MBA ’82

Saturday, May 19th 4:00-6:30 p.m.

Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

CHANCELLOR'S RECOGNITION AWARD Frank Caliendo, BA Journalism ’96

GRADUATE OF THE LAST DECADE AWARDS

Thank you to our Sponsor

Brett M. Leonhardt, BS ’05 Kevin J. Horrigan, BFA ’08 Elizabeth R. Jacobs, Executive MBA ’09 Darrell L. Williams, PhD ’07 Tien Nhut Nguyen, PhD ’05 Julie L. Kinzelman, MS ’02 Umashanie Reddy, MLIS ’08 Amy E. Turim, BA ’06 Kristin A. Haglund, PhD ’02 Gretchen G. Mead, MSW ’04

Comedian, Impersonator, Impressionist Frank Caliendo ’96 BA College of Letters and Science

Tickets $45 Sold exclusively through the Marcus Center box office: 929 N. Water St, Milwaukee, 1.888.612.3500 or www.marcuscenter.org/buy.php

UWM educates more than 29,000 students annually with proven results. Your estate gift will help prepare and inspire the next generation.

Please contact Gretchen E. Miller, Gift Planning Specialist 414-229-3067 • gemiller@uwm.edu

Student: Ben Follensbee, Peck School of the Arts

Photo by: Jessica Kaminski

PAID

Alumni Association and Foundation Alumni Association and Foundation P.O. Box 413 P.O. Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413

N o n p r o fi t

Organization Nonprofit U.S. Postage Organization U.S. Postage PAID Milwaukee, Wi Permit Milwaukee, WINo. 864 Permit No. 864

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