Happenings

EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

Lands’ End, the Dodgeville-based retailer, marked Breast Cancer Awareness Month last October with an Every Step of The Way Initiative that encouraged employees and customers to get active and support each other through activities like walking, running, hiking, and biking in honor of loved ones, sharing support on virtual bulletin boards, or making a donation. Though Lands’ End has supported the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for years, last year the annual campaign took on a new meaning. CEO Jerome Griffith’s daughter Samantha was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. Griffith and his wife, Elke, led the way on the initiative by embarking in late September on a 7-day trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro—the tallest mountain in Africa—to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. “Everyone tells you (climbing Kilimanjaro is) the hardest thing that you’ll ever do in your life,” says Griffith. “I was told that you’ll be freezing cold, and you won’t feel your feet and you won’t feel your hands. And you just won’t care because you’ve got other concerns, and they were correct.” The company donated over $100,000 in 2021 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), UK-based Future Dreams, and Germany-based Pink Ribbon Charities, towards funding for research.

Elke and Jerome on Kilimanjaro Valeria Tatera, Healing

WISCONSIN ARTISTS BIENNIAL

The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) and Wisconsin Visual Artists (WVA) announced 52 exhibiting artists for the 2022 Wisconsin Artists Biennial, selected from more than 400 Wisconsin artists who submitted nearly 1,200 entries. The 2022 exhibition will showcase cutting-edge works by emerging and established Wisconsin artists from throughout the state, representing a wide spectrum of media and diverse perspectives. The Wisconsin Artists Biennial is a competitive exhibition open to all artists over the age of 18 living in Wisconsin with $10,000 in awards. The first-place winner receives $5,000 and a solo exhibition at MOWA in 2024. Previous Biennial winners include Nina Ghanbarzadeh, Mark Klassen, S.V. Medaris, Warrington Colescott, and Tom Uttech. The 2022 Biennial jurors are: Dan Gunn, an artist, writer, and adjunct Assistant Professor at the Art Institute of Chicago; Phyllis McGibbon from Isolde Press, an artist who works in a range of graphic media; and John Salminen, a renowned watercolor artist and art educator. The Biennial exhibition opens with a party at The Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend on Saturday, February 12 from 2:00–4:00 pm.

FELLOWS IN THE NEWS

Casey Nagy Celebrated biologist Jo Handelsman’s new book, A World Without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet, published in November, 2021 by Yale University Press, addresses a soil loss crisis accelerated by poor conservation practices and climate change. Writing for a non-specialist audience, Handelsman celebrates the capacities of soil and explores the soil-related challenges of the near future. The book describes the complex connections among climate change, soil erosion, food and water security, and drug discovery, and also considers lessons learned from indigenous people who have sustainably farmed the same land for thousands of years. Jo Handelsman is the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and a Vilas Research Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UW–Madison.

Robert Mathieu was one of four professors who received a 2021 Hilldale Award from UW–Madison for distinguished contributions to research, teaching and service. Mathieu, a leader in science education, founded the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning in 2003 with a $10 million National Science Foundation grant. The center and its learning community train 500 future faculty each year to excel in both research and teaching. He helped expand the CIRTL network from 3 founding universities to 42 today. He was also a founding member in the development of the WIYN Observatory in Arizona, a major addition to the astronomical research capabilities of the university. “(Professor) Mathieu is a remarkable, transformative force within the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has left significant, impactful and lasting marks through all of his engagements with the university’s research, teaching and service missions,” astronomy department chair Rich Townsend wrote in his nominating letter. Mathieu has also received a WARF Named Professorship for his research into the dynamics of star clusters, the evolution of stars and binary star populations.

Mike Lieurance, UWL University Marketing and Communications

WOMEN IN SCIENCE

A new program to support women interested in pursuing careers in mathematics, sciences and engineering was launched in fall 2021 at UW–La Crosse. The first Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Living Learning Community has 14 students majoring in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics living in the same residence hall. Most of them are also taking a new first-year seminar course taught by Associate Professor of Biology Anne Galbraith. In the seminar, “STEM Strong: Why Women Matter,” students learn about historical obstacles such as the strategic abolition of women practicing medicine in the early 1900s, and about the accomplishments of female scientists and mathematicians like Jocelyn Bell, who discovered pulsars, and Katalin Kariko, whose research was part of the foundational work for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. The students also participate in social activities such as a STEM scavenger hunt, hikes in the La Crosse River Marsh, and conversations with recently graduated female STEM majors and with female STEM faculty. The learning community was the brainchild of College of Science & Health Dean Mark Sandheinrich and Victoria Carlson of the UWL Residence Life Office. “Historically, and to society’s great detriment, women were discouraged from pursuing careers in mathematics, sciences and engineering,” notes Sandheinrich. “The Women in STEM Living Learning Community is meant to foster a supportive environment for students to develop personally and professionally in preparation for life-long careers in STEM.” The goal is to have a new Women in STEM cohort each September.