1940s
Ruth Lercher Bornstein
BS 1948 — Art Education
Ruth has donated many of her illustrations and art works to the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, as well as to the Art on Bascom exhibit. She has also published many picture books, two novels, and a book of personal essays, many of which have received awards. Learn more: ruthlercherbornstein.com
1950s
Corinne Sue Wick
BS 1956 — Elementary Education/Speech Pathology
Corinne is happily retired from teaching public speaking at San Francisco City College, and group communication, gender and communication, and women and groups at San Francisco State University for the last 25 years. Corinne enjoys giving back to her community by volunteering in a second grade class and sharing her love of books with students. She loves living in San Francisco and spending time with her friends and grandchildren.
Carol Severson Bartz
BS 1957 — Elementary Education
Carol is retired and living in Naples, Florida.
Thomas Charles Tews
BS 1957 — Education/Speech
After a career in teaching, and serving as a principal, Thomas has retired to the Los Angeles Jewish Home.
1960s
Josephine Ward Heath
MS 1960 — Education/Speech
Josie, alongside Rosie Heath, was honored on Oct. 10, 2019 by Great Education Colorado as 2019 Champions of Education. Josie taught at Appleton Wisconsin High School and later in Texas, Colorado, and Bad Kreuznach, Germany. They were honored for championing statewide funding for K-12 and higher education, establishing a statewide youth corps, and supporting preschool for Spanish mono-language learners.
Renee Aronov Miller
BS 1962 — Art Education
After teaching elementary school for many years, Renee is retired and has gone back to school for art. She is about to graduate from the School of the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, Illinois, with a certificate is in expressive botanical art. Renee has enjoyed learning new skills and has had pictures in the last five student/faculty shows.
Sylvia Solochek Walters
MFA 1962 — Art
In the last several months, Sylvia’s color woodcuts have been shown in a number of exhibitions including: “In the Studio: Chazen Museum of Art,” Curated by Amy Gilman; Chazen Museum Director, at the Chazen Museum in Madison; “Press/Process: The Art of Prints,” Robert and Karen Hoehn Family Galleries at the University of San Diego; “Ink and Clay 44,” at the CSU Pomona Kellogg Art Gallery; and others. In addition to her studio work, Sylvia continues to serve on the Board of the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California, and volunteers at the Fine Arts Museums San Francisco.
Sandra Rosen Holubow
BS 1963 — Art/Art Education
Sandra’s work, primarily acrylic paintings on canvas and collage, has been juried into several exhibits and won an award at the recent Chicago Alliance of Visual Art (CAVA) show featuring works on Illinois. Sandra is preparing for a January 2020 exhibit focusing on the Artists of Old Town, where she lives. Old Town is an area that has traditionally been a Chicago Mecca for the arts and artists. Her long-term project is a part of a group show of 10 cityscape painters creating works on Chicago. This exhibit will open in September 2020. Sandra continues to serve as a board member of the Chicago Society of Artists, and feels fortunate to live near her two sons and four grandchildren. Sandra reports that she continues to be inspired by her family.
Marcia Richgels Potter
BS 1965 — Elementary Education
Marcia has worked in education, information technology, and nursing. Most recently, she taught classes of nurses and support staff. Marcia retired in 2010 and relocated to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Now, she is living with her sister in St. Louis, Missouri.
William Fuller
MS 1966 — Music Education
William retired in 1999. He continues playing the clarinet and saxophone in bands and orchestra. Married and living in McFarland, William is beginning his 48th year with the Madison Curling Club.
William Stewart
MA 1966 — Education/History
William retired from teaching at New Trier High School in 2000. While teaching, William volunteered with Wilmette Sister Cities and created a student exchange program that lasted 24 years and sent and received 98 students between New Trier High School and Pittwater High School in Australia. William volunteers with a local Boy Scout Council and with Equestrian Connection in Illinois. Equestrian Connection is a therapy barn providing equine-based treatment to people with special needs, including physical, mental, emotional, and developmental needs.
Jerry Apps
Ph.D. 1967 — Curriculum and Instruction
Jerry released two books in 2019, both published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press: “The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work,” and “The Land Still Lives,” with an introduction by Senator Gaylord Nelson. The former is an anniversary edition of the first book Jerry wrote 50 years ago.
Mary Lou Corbin Sicoli
MS 1967 — Educational Administration
Candi has been instrumental in working for animal welfare within the American Psychological Association (APA). In 2013, she founded Justice for Animals (JAWG), a working group within Division 48 of APA. In 2019, Candi and a few other psychologists became charter leaders of Animal Network, a group of psychologists from many divisions and interests, in order to coordinate and improve communication on issues pertaining to animal welfare. Research, practice, and advocacy are three aspects of this Animal Network.
Kathleen Briggs
MS 1968 — Curriculum & Instruction
Kathleen continues to teach at school for seniors. She specializes in traditional American patchwork patterns related to historical figures and their contributions to American history. Kathleen is working on selling her patterns and French quilting technologies online.
Barbara Sorensen
BS 1968 — Art Education
This year, Barbara’s work has been collected by the public and private sector. The Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) has acquired a trilogy of Goddesses, large-scale figurative sculptures that meld the relationship between the body and the feminine power of the earth. The series will be on permanent display in the OMA Sculpture Garden later this year. “Pools and Winds,” two large-scale high relief wall sculptures constructed out of rope, resin, and wire have been added to the Rollins College art collection. The two additions create a trilogy with “Dunes,” an earlier work that is already within the collection. “Foothills,” a 16-part modular installation made from stoneware, has also been added to the collection. Barbara is currently constructing an exciting new body of work to debut at the Cornell Museum in the next two years with the newly acquired trilogy.
Ronald A Smith
Ph.D. 1969 — Kinesiology
At 83 years of age, Ronald is still researching and writing. After publishing a book in 2018, “Nailed to the Crossbar: From the NCAA-Penn State Consent Decree to the Joe Paterno Family Lawsuit,” he is nearing completion of a book on the history of paying athletes in one form or another to participate in intercollegiate athletics in America. Ronald has tentatively titled it, “Fig-Leafed College Professionals: A History of Athletic Scholarship and Paying Men and Women ‘Amateurs.’ ” Ronald reports that graduate school has been key to the successes he’s had.
1970s
Ray Allen
MFA 1970 — Art
Ray and his wife Susan continue to make functional stoneware pottery in Tennessee, a business they’ve been running for 40 years. Ray reports that life is good. Learn more: PopcornPottery.com
Boyd Simonson
MS 1970 — Educational Administration
Boyd retired in 2012 from teaching and school administration after 55 years in education. He reports that he is enjoying retirement with his wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Michael Thomas McClish
BS 1971 — Physical Education
Michael is the owner of McClish properties.
Richard Nelson
Ph.D. 1972 — Educational Administration
Richard has retired from the University of Rhode Island and is now living in Englewood, Florida.
Robert S Newsom
MS 1970 — Educational Psychology
Ph.D. 1972 — Educational Psychology
After 19 years of owning his own company in the private sector and 23 years as a scientist with UW-Madison’s School of Education, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the College of Engineering, Robert retired in 2018 and continues to live in Madison.
Thomas John Trotta
BS 1972 — Physical Education
Thomas is happily living with his wife in a retirement community in Florida, where they enjoy playing tennis and golf, and participate in many social activities.
Laura Koller
BS 1973 — Art
After 22 happy and rewarding years working at MIT, Laura will be retiring in 2020. She has spent the past eight years at the MIT Sloan School of Management with Action Learning, an experiential learning pedagogy practiced at the school. Since 1999, more than 12,500 students have enrolled in Action Learning labs, which are structured to bring classroom learning into the field where students solve real-world management challenges. In a previous chapter of Laura’s MIT career, she published the first 500 course on MIT OpenCourseWare, now visited annually by millions of users worldwide. Prior to MIT, Laura worked in educational technology for 14 years as the creative director for a small software developer. Post-retirement, Laura is looking forward to reengaging with art.
Maureen E. (Bruns) Palmer
BS 1974 — Occupational Therapy
Maureen is the owner of Focus Point Therapy, LLC, a private occupational therapy practice in Southfield, Minnesota. She specializes in treating all ages and uses interventions that work via brain plasticity to help improve mental and motor functions, which helps to improve the safety and quality of life for those with head injuries, sleep deprivation, cognitive/memory recovery, and manual pain management. Additionally, she developed the Palmer Functional Pain Scale and started the first cancer educational and support group in Michigan. A cancer survivor herself, Maureen is passionate about helping individuals meet the challenges they face, especially those that interrupt their functional performance and goals.
Wendy Hinrichs Sanders
BS 1974 — Elementary Education
Wendy is helping to develop a child development baccalaureate degree program at a college in Ethiopia, where she has taught once a year for the past three years.
Joanne Yatvin
Ph.D. 1974 — Curriculum & Instruction
Joanne continues to write an education blog, reviewing contemporary educational practices. Learn more: joanneYatvin.org
Shehu Alhaji Suleiman
BS 1975 — Elementary Education
MS 1976 — Educational Administration
Shehu is retired and doing humanitarian jobs.
Blanche Louise Grade Griffin
BS 1963 — Elementary Education
MS 1976 — Continuing and Vocational Education
At 77, Blanche is enjoying tutoring a third-grade student at North Star, a nearby elementary school, with the Oasis Program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, once a week for one hour. Blanche and her husband also look after a twins two hours a week, and have enjoyed watching them grow. Blanche is grateful for her background in education and experience.
Jayne Reid Jackson
BS 1977 — Art
In August 2019, Jayne was a guest artist of the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts along with 70 international artists, curators, and gallerists to attend the Fifth International Mezzotint Festival in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Her mezzotints have been accepted into each of the IMF’s since 2009, and this was the first time she was able to attend along with them. The festival was a week-long celebration of mezzotint that filled three museums and included works from over 100 mezzotint artists in a competitive exhibition, an exhibition of the museum’s permanent collection, exhibitions by award winners of the 2017 festival, artists’ demonstrations by participating artists, and tours and talks by artists and curators. The artists were treated to transportation, translators, accommodations, and an award ceremony followed by dinner and fireworks.
William Rice
BS 1977 — Secondary Science Education
William taught high school science in the Milwaukee area from 1977 until 1982, when he enrolled at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Since graduating in 1986, William has practiced general small animal medicine and surgery at Lakeside Animal Hospital in Glendale, Wisconsin.
Margaret Buchen
BS 1979 — Art
Margaret is an adjunct faculty member in art foundations and printmaking, and art curator of the permanent art collection at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois. Her work was included in the Chicago Printmakers’ Collaborative 30th Annual International Small Print Show in December 2019.
Peter W.R. Lemon
Ph.D. 1979 — Kinesiology
Peter continues to serve as the director of the Exercise Nutrition Research Laboratory and the women’s varsity softball coach at Western University in London, Canada. He has published several papers and coached the university’s softball team to their 10th consecutive provincial softball championship.
1980s
Beauvais Lyons
BFA 1980 — Art
Beauvais is the Chancellor’s Professor of Art at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is presenting a one-person exhibition of his work, “Fantastic Fauna-Chimeric Creatures. Learn more: gregg.arts.ncsu.edu/exhibitions/fantastic-fauna-chimeric-creatures/
Marc A. Pieper
BS 1980 — Art
Marc is married to fellow UW-Madison alum, Susan Heeringa. They live in Sonoma, California, where they raised their three children. He continues to work as a behavioral analyst for Anova Inc. Marc earned his master’s degree in education in 1996 from San Francisco State University, and a graduate certificate from the University of Massachusetts in 2012.
Jean I. Erdman
Ph.D. 1981 — Curriculum and Instruction
Jean is a professor emeritus at UW-Oshkosh. She runs a free children’s clothing closet at two Oshkosh public schools and is active with the Winnebago County Democratic Party.
Denise Jess
BSE 1981 — Elementary Education
Denise serves as the CEO/executive director of the Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired, based in Madison.
Susan Salvi Buckwalter
1982 BSE — Elementary Education
Susan is a semi-retired human resources consultant. Though she lives in Rockford, Illinois, Susan also spends a lot of time in Green Bay. She enjoys watching Badger athletics.
Christine Benson
BSE 1983 — English
After graduating from UW-Madison, Christine earned her law degree from Marquette University in 1988. She has been practicing law for over 31 years and was recently selected as a Super Lawyer for the third year in a row.
Bonnie Davidson
BS 1983 — Physical Therapy
Bonnie retired this year after working for 35 years with Fairview Homecare in Minneapolis. Bonnie says, “I enjoyed homecare!”
Deborah Verstegen
MA 1981 — Educational Administration
Ph.D. 1983 — Educational Administration
Though Deborah is retired, she continues to research education finance. Learn more: schoolfinances.info.
Patrick Clark Coaty
BSE 1984 — Social Studies
Patrick , a professor with Orange Coast College, was selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow. He will spend a year serving professionally with the U.S. Department of State, contributing to evidence-based policymaking and implementation.
Janice Badura Schindler
BS 1984 — Physical Therapy
Janice worked with Home Health for 34 years, and enjoyed spending time with her patients in their homes and getting to know them.
Thompson Brandt
MS 1985 — Educational Administration
Ph.D. 1985 — Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Administration
Thompson has written an original piece for jazz bands titled “Sconnie Swing.” Serving as a tribute to UW-Madison and its 170th year, with echoes of “On, Wisconsin!” throughout, Thompson’s song will be performed by several high school and college jazz bands in 2019-2020. He has also written articles on John Philip Sousa’s legal entanglements and the SS John Philip Sousa, which will be published in 2020 by the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and the North Dakota Music Educator. Thompson is completing a postdoctoral degree in education law at Indiana University.
Kevin J. Gasser
BS 1985 — Kinesiology, Physical Education
Kevin currently works as the dual credit coordinator for Missouri Valley College. Additionally, he serves as an academic advisor for first-year students interested in education and exercise science, and teaches a motor development course each semester.
Robert Grechesky
Ph.D. 1985 — Curriculum and Instruction, Music
Robert was inducted into the Butler University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016 and was awarded the Butler Service Medal in 2017.
Nancy H Hornberger
Ph.D. 1985 — Educational Policy Studies
Nancy received the 2019 Charles A. Ferguson Award for Outstanding Scholarship from the Center for Applied Linguistics for her work in bilingualism and biliteracy, ethnography and language policy, and Indigenous language revitalization. Learn more: www.cal.org/who-we-are/our-founder/ferguson-award/2019-ferguson-award-hornberge
Cate Deicher
MA 1986 – Dance
Cate joined noted Rudolf Laban scholar and movement researcher Carol-Lynne Moore in presenting a workshop in New York City Dec. 7-8, 2019. “Movement Harmony ALIVE” combined two workshop topics, both mining Laban’s notions of movement harmony.
Wen-yuh Shieh
MS 1987 — Curriculum and Instruction
Wen-yuh is an associate professor with the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at the Minghsin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. After serving as the department chairperson from Aug. 2016 to July, 2019, she has been selected as a 2019-2020 Fulbright Taiwan Scholar and is currently visiting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s School of Education. Her research interest surrounds teaching and learning English as a foreign language, particularly in listening comprehension and vocabulary learning.
Kim Suhr
BS 1987 — English
Kim’s story collection, “Nothing to Lose,” was released in audiobook form in Summer 2019.
Joseph Francis
BS 1988 — Art
Joseph is currently working as a modern learning developer with GE Healthcare. He has worked as an eLearning design and development specialist for 25 years, pioneering the use of the CD-ROM and intranet for the delivery of training. Joseph also created the standard for the use of simulations and avatars in eLearning, piloted the end-to-end development process of online courses tracked through a learning management system, and made contributions to the creation of the Education Division of a Fortune 500 P&C Insurer. Joseph has been invited to speak at eLearning developer conferences across the U.S. and Europe.
Liese Pfeifer
MFA 1988 — Art
Liese will retire from UW-Madison’s School of Human Ecology (SoHE), where she has worked as the manager of the Center for Design and Material Culture. She also served as the director of the SoHE Ruth Davis Design Gallery and the collections manager of the SoHE Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection. During her time at SoHE, Liese directed the 50th celebration of the Hellen Allen Louise Textile Collection.
Vicki Spellman
BSE 1988 – Mathematics
Vicki retired from Belleville High School’s Math Department.
David Deppeler
BS 1989 — Physical Therapy
David has completed the Graduate School of Behavioral Health Sciences’ Science of Breathing Behavior Analysis certification program in order to implement body-mind inspired practices into physical therapy.
1990s
Carolyn M. Lazar
BS 1964 — Education/Speech
MA 1990 — Education/Communication Arts
Carolyn retired in 2008 from teaching at public schools in Mesa, Arizona. This fall, she returned to teaching conversational French at Arizona State University’s Osher Lifelong Institute. Carolyn says, “Once a teacher, always a teacher.”
Laurie March
BS 1991 — Education
Laurie is living in Maine with her husband and three kids. She works as an obstetrics registered nurse.
Andrea Teresa Arenas Wiley
MS 1986 — Educational Administration
Ph.D. 1991 — Educational Administration
Andrea co-authored “Somos Latinas: Voices of Wisconsin Latina Activists,” which was nominated for six national awards in 2019, and won a first-place IPPY in the women’s studies category and a first-place INDY in the social justice category. As the creator and director of the Somos Latinas digital history project, Andrea created 43 video documentaries of Latina activists over the age of 50 living in Wisconsin. In 2019, Andrea also married John Wiley, a UW-Madison Emeritus Chancellor.
Elaine Taylor Wilde
MFA 1992 — Art
Elaine is starting her third year as a full-time art faculty member at North Country Community College-SUNY, which serves two of the poorest counties in New York. Elaine also teaches art at nearby state and federal prisons. Next summer, Elaine will start an artist residency at her farm in Bloomingdale.
Andrew Kuemmel
BSE 1988 — Mathematics
MS 1993 — Curriculum & Instruction
After 30 years as a high school math and computer science teacher, Andy has joined the UW-Madison Department of Computer Sciences as a faculty associate. Besides teaching introductory level computer science courses, Andy also teaches CS 402: Introducing K-12 Students to Computer Science, a service-learning course in which teams of computer science majors lead after-school coding clubs in Madison elementary schools. Andy is hoping to offer this course, as well as other computer science experiences, to pre-education majors.
Michael H. Miyamoto
Ph.D. 1993 — Educational Administration
Michael currently serves as the interim director of Recreation & Wellbeing at UW-Madison.
Rachel Durfee
MFA 1994 — Art
Rachel will be showing her work in an exhibit titled “The Space Between” at the Overture Center in Madison Dec. 10, 2019 through March 1, 2020.
Christina Olson Miller
MS 1994 — Curriculum & Instruction
Christina is currently working towards a Ph.D. in educational leadership. She serves as the administrator of Jumpstart, an Americorps program, at St. John’s University. She enjoys watching Badger football games and staying in touch with her former UW-Madison roommates.
Paul Rux
Ph.D. 1994 — Educational Administration
Paul mentors doctoral students in educational administration from the University of Toronto, where he earned his master’s degree. He finds it exciting to work with new students and gain new insights from comparing perspectives. Paul has been teaching and mentoring online for 15 years and recommends engaging in student mentoring.
Aileen McCann Trebesch
BSE 1994 — English Education
Aileen has been teaching English and language arts at Sierra Vista Middle School in Covina, California, for 25 years. As the department chair and a member of the school’s Instructional Leadership Team, Aileen has been helping to refine their curriculum focus.
Stephen Miller
BSE 1995 — Natural Science Education
Stephen has retired after a 24-year career.
Virginia Jean Rose
MS 1996 — Curriculum and Instruction
Virginia received the first annual Westside Art Project award and exhibition from Westside Psychotherapy, LLC. The exhibit consists of original hand-colored photographs, as well as digital reproductions on canvas and aluminum. Virginia is a multimedia artist whose body of work spans 50 years, interweaving music, theatre, performance art, photography, dance, and written and spoken word. She is also a singer, songwriter, and guitarist in the duo Half Rose Half Nelson. The exhibit, which opened September 21, will run through May 2020 and can be viewed during business hours at Westside Psychotherapy, LLC.
Beth Lewis Samuelson
MS 1996 — Curriculum and Instruction
Beth directs Indiana University’s Books and Beyond Project, an intercultural collaboration of students focused on creating books for children.
John A. Zeinert
MS 1996 — Curriculum & Instruction
Before retiring in 1988, John taught history at Oshkosh High School. In the same year he earned his master’s degree, he married his wife Karen. John and Karen traveled around the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Austria. At 91, he spends much of his time in his garden, where he specializes in dahlias.
CeXochitl De La Torre
MS 1997 — Curriculum & Instruction
CeXochitl is currently in her 24th year of teaching at Alameda International, a public school in Lakewood, Colorado, where she currently teaches seventh and eighth grade science and pre-engineering. CeXochitl also serves as an advisor and coach for multiple school clubs, including the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, GE Girls, cross country, rock climbing, and e-sports. Aside from working with her students outside of the classroom, one of her favorite parts of running extracurricular activities is building community partnerships with local businesses, organizations, and universities. CeXochitl reports that she is steadfast in her passion and advocacy for students.
Rebecca Armstrong
MS 1991 — Adult and Continuing Education
Ph.D. 1998 — Adult and Continuing Education
Becky has continued her leadership role in research compliance at the University of California, Berkeley that began in 2004. As the director of Research Subject Protection, Rebecca has growing responsibilities. She initially managed the Human Research Protection Program, and now also manages the Animal Care and Use Program, and oversees the Stem Cell Research Committee. In her spare time, Becky continues to be an avid and active equestrienne, showing her three Trakehner horses in dressage, while continuing to pursue additional USEF Dressage Judging licenses beyond her current ‘r’ designation.
Linda Martin Chitturi
Certificate 1998 — Art Education
Linda has been teaching art at the K-12 levels since 1998, the last seven years with the Bellevue School District in Washington. She has been active in writing and developing curriculum and participating in state and national art education conferences. Linda was recently honored with the 2019 Washington State Middle Level Art Educator of the Year award by the Washington Art Education Association. Learn more: bsd405.org/2019/06/teacher-recognized-as-art-educator-of-the-year/
Connie J. McReynolds
Ph.D. 1998 — Rehabilitation Psychology
Connie works at California State University, San Bernardino, where she serves as the director of the Institute of Research and a professor and program coordinator of the rehabilitation counseling master’s degree. In her research, Connie has identified processes to diagnose children and adults with auditory/visual processing disorders and initiated treatment protocols that reduce the symptoms of ADHD and trauma/PTSD using neurofeedback to retrain brain functions. Learn more: neurofeedback.csusb.edu
Josie Osborne
MFA 1998 — Art
For the last 11 years, Josie has served as the director of the Design First Year Program and a served as a senior lecturer with the Department of the Arts at the UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts. For over five years, Josie has been involved in Art Builds, which brings together committed artists with social justice causes to organize and lead hundreds of volunteers in a multi-day event to develop and create impactful visuals for a visually unified movement. People come together, work together, eat together, and build community. This past year, six Milwaukee-based artists, including Josie, formed Art Build Workers. This group has led art builds across the U.S., strengthening the impact of organizations like Voces de la Frontera, National Education Association, LA and Oakland Teachers unions, and the Chicago Teachers Union. Learn more: artbuildworkers.com
David C. Gibbs
Ph.D. 1999 — Curriculum and Instruction
David retired in 2018 from UW-Stevens Point after teaching computing courses for 40 years.
Daniel John Krhin
MS 1999 — Educational Administration
Daniel developed and facilitated a new presentation for the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Support Services program, specifically the 11th annual Bridge program, where 40 incoming first-generation college students spend four days at Ripon College prior to the start of the fall semester. This new presentation addresses a very common concern for all students, but especially for first-generation students: “Selecting a major and connecting that major to possible careers.”
2000s
Pedro R. Albiter
BSE 2000 — Spanish Secondary Education
Pedro currently works with Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development, where he has worked for over 18 years in different capacities. In 2018, he was promoted to Migrant Labor Inspector. Pedro is also the founder and former president of Latinos United for College Education Scholarships (LUCES), a non-profit founded in 2005. Pedro and his family were recognized with the 2018 UMOS Hispanic Family of the Year Award for their contributions to the Latino community and support of Latinos in higher education. Learn more: luces-wisconsin.org
Amanda M. DeSua
BS 2000 — Rehabilitation Psychology
Amanda is a school counselor and has written two children’s books. “Frog slime: A child’s guide to calming down,” teaches children self-regulation strategies, while “Panda’s Pause” is about finding peace and being mindful.
Tim Olsen
BS 1984 — Secondary Education (Physics)
Ph.D. 2000 — Curriculum and Instruction
Tim works for the Madison-based startup iMETx, Inc. as an interactive experience designer, data analyst, and geospatial information technologies specialist. He also serves as a co-investigator for a clinical research trial funded by the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Tim enjoys biking, running, and yoga.
John Geittmann
BS 2001 — Secondary Education (Social Studies)
John is the southeast territory sales director for an automotive vendor. In 2014, he sold his educational fundraising company and moved to Tennessee, where he now lives with his wife and four kids.
James Trier
Ph.D. 2001 — Curriculum and Instruction
In 2019, James published a book titled “Guy Debord, the Situationist International and the Revolutionary Spirit” as a follow up to “Detournement as Pedagogical Praxis,” a book published in 2014 that he edited.
Patti Lloyd
MS 2002 — Rehabilitation Psychology
Patti is the current president of the Wisconsin Association of Higher Education and Disability and has been the disability services coordinator at Mid-State Technical College since 2002.
Judi Luciani
BS 2003 — Elementary Education
Judi has been teaching at Schenk Elementary in Madison for 15 years. Judi says, “I love first grade!”
Peter Youngs
MA 1998 — Educational Policy Studies
Ph.D. 2003 — Educational Policy Studies
Peter, alongside fellow alum Sean Kelly, is a member of a new team of co-editors of the American Education Research Journal. Peter teaches at the University of Virginia.
Nora Smith
Ph.D. 2004 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Nora is enjoying a new job in student affairs as the assistant director for Residential Education at Montana State University.
Britta Marie Urness
BFA 2004 — Art
After working as a faculty member and academic advisor with Michigan State University’s (MSU) Department of Art for 11 years, Britta recently started a position as the ArtLab Educator at the MSU Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. The position focuses on adult art-making activities associated with the museum and its exhibition programming.
Kristin Hildebrandt
MS 2005 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Kristin was hired as the registrar at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Christian Carter
BS 2006 — Kinesiology
After receiving his undergraduate degree at UW-Madison, Christian went on to earn his master’s degree in health promotion from Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. in sport physiology and performance from East Tennessee State University. He currently works as a consultant at Renaissance Periodization and is an adjunct faculty member at James Madison University.
Elizabeth Wilhelm Alderton
Ph.D. 2007 — Curriculum and Instruction
Elizabeth is an associate dean with UW-Oshkosh’s College of Education and Human Services.
Timothy Patrick O’Brien
2007 — German Education
Timothy has taught in many cities in Iowa and Wisconsin. He is certified to teach K-12 German, K-12 Spanish, and 5-12 Russian.
Susan Stuntzner
Ph.D. 2007 — Rehabilitation Psychology
Susan is the director of accessible education at Southwestern Oregon Community College and is a part-time lecturer with the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. She runs a website where she delivers an ACEp self-study program, “Resilience, forgiveness, and disability: Interventions to promote positive coping in persons with disabilities.” Her mission is to educate people and help them find new ways of coping and living life. Learn more: therapeutic-healing-disability.com
Zaynab Baalbaki
BSE 2009 — Elementary Education
Zaynab received the Positively Milwaukee Inspiring Teacher Award for her commitment and passion for education, which extends beyond the classroom and inspires others to learn and live a positive life.
2010s
Kristina Navarro
Ph.D. 2012 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Kristina is the senior associate athletic director of Rutgers University’s Leadership Development and Strategic Partnership (LDSP) office. In addition to helping to develop curriculum for the LDSP’s Leadership Academy, Kristina recently published a book, “Implementing student-athlete programming: A guide for supporting college athletes.” Learn more: scarletknights.com/news/2019/10/21/ldsp-fall-update.aspx
Zachary Harvey
BS 2013 — Kinesiology
Zachary is currently in his second year of Wheeling University’s physical therapy doctorate program.
Courtney Luedke
Ph.D. 2014 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Courtney was selected as the UW-Whitewater College of Education and Professional Studies Research Award recipient in 2019.
Samantha McCabe
MS 2017 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Samantha serves as the interim assistant dean of International Student Services at UW-Madison.
Paige R. Sprague
BS 2017 — Rehabilitation Psychology
Paige is currently enrolled in the master of science in occupational therapy program at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee.
Jeffrey Butler
BS 2018 — Art
Since returning to UW-Madison to complete his degree, Jeffrey continues to teach drawing and other classes at Madison College. He was asked by his friend and UW-Madison professor Lynda Barry to teach her Making Comics courses at UW while she is away on sabbatical. Jeffrey reports that he began with a great summer class and continues to be impressed by his talented students and their work. While having fun with students this semester, Jeffrey is also looking forward to teaching the advanced comics class in the spring.
Laura Chavez-Moreno
Ph.D. 2018 — Curriculum and Instruction
Laura was recently hired as an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She will be joining UCLA’s César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies in the fall of 2021. In the meantime, Laura will spend the next two years as a postdoctoral scholar at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
Laura Hamman Ortiz
Ph.D. 2018 — Curriculum & Instruction
Currently a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Laura works with a team of scholars to explore how a genre-based approach to writing instruction can support emergent bilingual students. Their team was awarded a Spencer Small Research Grant to support these efforts. Her forthcoming manuscript is titled, “Troubling the ‘two’ in two-way bilingual education,” which explores the positioning of identity in the two-way bilingual classrooms.
Claire Armetta
MS 2019 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Claire is currently working as an academic counselor and college specialist at San Francisco State University’s College of Liberal and Creative Arts. She is grateful for all that she learned at UW-Madison, which she reports was key to her success in her current position. Claire says, “Go Gators and go Badgers!”
Nicole Heimark
BS 2019 — Athletic Training
Nicole is currently a graduate assistant athletic trainer for the Air Force ROTC program at Indiana University, where she is working towards her master’s degree in athletic training.