1950s
Sandra Baron Alberga
BS 1953 — Women’s Physical Education
Sandra reports that the COVID-19 lockdown had a pleasant side effect. She writes that the “five remaining members of the University at Madison Women’s Physical Education Department class of 1953 reached out and have established a monthly Zoom meeting.” Sandra notes that each connect from their homes: Sandra Baron Alberga in New York; Gwen Sindle Mirrielees in Florida; Connie Fried in Ohio; Virginia Nickerson Alander in Illinois; and Mary Pat Swisher Giebink from California. Writes Sandra: “We reminisce of times in Lathrop Hall, of what we are doing in retirement, and the adventures of life. By January 2022, we will all have lived and loved for 90 years.”
Dorothy Hassemer Rebholz
BS 1959 — Physical Education
After retiring from teaching physical education for five years and coaching a water ballet club for 18 years, Dorothy embarked on a different career of being a church organist/pianist for 39 years. She studied the pipe organ for 13 years in Milwaukee and currently is a musician for St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Portage, Wisconsin.
1960s
Beverly Ingram
BS 1960 — Occupational Therapy
Beverly is owner of Complete Therapy Services. She is actively working as a registered occupational therapist in home health and running the therapy corporation. Beverly reports loving having twin great granddaughters and their mom living with her. Beverly says happy, healthy, and busy is the best Badger way!
Dolores Erlebacher
BSE 1962 — Education
Dolores and her husband Albert Erlebacher (PhD 1965) are living in a retirement community in Evanston, Illinois.
Michael George
BM 1963 — Music/Adult Continuing Education
Michael is a certified mentor and chair of SCORE Madison, from 2013 to present. He is also a leadership team member for 2021-22 to build a new facility for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras.
Sandra Rosen Holubow
BSE 1963 — Art Education
Sandra recently finished curating a show of 12 artists at the Leslie Wolfe Gallery in Chicago. The theme of the exhibit was “Celebrating Survival,” referring to creating art during the pandemic. With little inspiration coming into our lives, Sandra says “we had to conjure up our own. The show was beautifully installed and was a pleasure to see and be a part of.”
Beth Soll
BS — 1965 Dance
Beth has been working on three dances for a future concert and has created a film titled, “Two Red Solos: A Formal Response.” She reports that the formal nature of “Two Red Solos” grew out of special circumstances that were both limiting and stimulating. Because of the pandemic, dancers worked on uneven ground in a beautiful, green public park next to the Hudson River. “The 50+ year age difference between dancer Abby Dias and me influenced my choreographic decisions,” Beth writes. “The quarantine rules required us to stay far apart, so I choreographed two separate solos: one for each of us. Our cameraman and editor, Ethan Mass, made it possible to create a filmed version of the two solos. In the film, we dance these individual solos at the same time, but often in two different frames.”
Leslie Steffe
PhD 1966 — Mathematics Education
Leslie has completed an invited paper, “An Historical Reflection on Adapting Piaget’s Work for Ongoing Mathematics Education Research.” This paper is for the book, “Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology in and for Ongoing Mathematics Education Research.” The book is edited by Paul Dawkins, Amy Hackenberg, and Anderson Norton.
Sherry Smith Bell
MFA 1966 — Art
Sherry curated “Go Figure” at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art in Friday Harbor, Washington. This striking exhibition expands your definition of figurative art. This exhibition of West Coast artists rans from Sept. 24 to Dec. 6, 2021.
Richard Markos
MS 1967 —Business Teacher Education
After 37 years teaching and administration in higher education at UW–La Crosse, Gateway College, Madison College, and Western College, Richard is now the owner of Markos Wholesale Apparel in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He writes, Go Badgers!
Carl Anderson
MS 1969 — Curriculum and Instruction
Carl continues to serve hospice patients of the Fox Valley area by interviewing them as they share their life story. The recorded video interviews are edited and given to the patient and his/her family. Carl’s family also continues to enjoy its cottage in Wisconsin’s beautiful north woods near Minocqua.
Jack Daniels
PhD 1969 — Education
Jacked earned his PhD after having success as an athlete in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic games, when he won silver and bronze medals in the modern pentathlon team event. Starting in 1960, Jack coached and taught at a few different universities, with the following successes over the next 50 years: seven national championship teams; 30 individual national champions; and 135 All Americans. Jack says his greatest achievement over those years was meeting his wife and raising two outstanding daughters. He adds that he always remembers his years in Madison and the great professors and classmates he was associated with.
1970s
Bjoern Gustav Nielsen
MS 1970 — Business Teacher Education
Bjoern registered and received the U.S. Trademark for “POL.ACC Politician Accountability” in August 2021.
Sandra Eisele
BS 1971 — Physical Education, Kinesiology
After teaching for two years, Sandra returned to school to complete a medical degree at Northwestern. She trained in orthopedic surgery, practiced primarily in Cincinnati, Ohio, and retired June 30 and has moved back to Wisconsin. Since two of her children are also in Wisconsin, Sandra says she is delighted to be back to enjoy the Badger and Packer state. Her husband is also a Wisconsin grad, so she says retirement here is perfect and adds, “Go Badgers!”
Kristi Denner Ebert
BS 1972 — Art Education
Kristi taught art in the Necedah Area School District for 18 years. She took a high school art program that included two general Art I and Art II classes and developed the offerings into a wide variety of choices or semester classes such as photography (camera use and film development), serigraphy, stained glass, mixed media, calligraphy, sculpture, painting, watercolor, oils, photoshop, printmaking, design, and ceramics, as well as a medley for the aforementioned classes.
Linda Tobin
BS 1972 — Art
Linda is a retired administrative law judge in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing studies in botanical drawing and illustration through the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh.
Samuel Ames
MFA 1973 — Fine Arts
A professor emeritus, Samuel retired in 2008 and taught drawing and painting at Rhode Island College from 1973 to 2009. Now living in a family home in San Diego, California, Samuel continues to draw and paint.
Patricia Dasler
BS 1973 — Occupational Therapy
Patricia says she was delighted that she was able to donate to UW–Madison to create a scholarship for doctoral students. Although “retired” she keeps herself busy by serving on two local boards of directors: Family Promise, which serves families experiencing homelessness or those families who need help with eviction prevention or rapid re-housing, and Gainesville Peer Respite Center, which is a peer based support center for wellness and recovery for those with mental health or substance issues. Keeping her hand in the occupational therapy (OT) world by serving as an OT consultant to a cluster of group homes several times a month. Patrcia takes great joy in constructing adaptive devices like waterproof mittens for a person with compulsive hand mouthing who now has open wounds on his hands. She also has the habit of checking on and contributing to the AOTA communications site for developmental disabilities.
Cathy Kaemmerlen
MFA 1973 — Dance
Now an actress, storyteller, playwright and author of five published books, Cathy is commissioned to write a fun and informative school show on the history of Rivertown, Columbus, Georgia. She has also been commissioned to write and perform Eleanor Roosevelt visits her grandmother’s childhood home in Roswell, Georgia.
George Marx
BS 1973 — Elementary Education
George co-founded and co-leads Caring White Men Sharing Together (www.CaringWhiteMen.com). He explains, “We support each other with our issues such as: parenting, our primary relationships, our careers, racism, homo/trans phobias — and much more.”
Nelson Neal
MS 1974 — Dance
Nelson gave a lecture-demonstration about Hemsley Winfield’s life and career at the Dance Studies Association Conference held at Rutgers University in October 2021. The presentation included having the participants create some improvisational choreography to some of Winfield’s original dance notes to some period music, the first African American modern dancer in 1931. Nelson also gave a presentation to a class of eighth grade students at PS 13 in Yonkers, New York, where Winfield attended and graduated in 1922. He gave the school a copy of the book he wrote: “Hemsley Winfield: Pioneer of Modern Dance, A Biography.”
Linda Jones (Byers)
MS 1975 — Curriculum and Instruction
Linda is now retired after over 40 years of work, including public school teaching, employment with South Carolina state government, BellSouth, and federal service with the Department of Emergency Management (FEMA). She writes: “Thanks to the University of Wisconsin and a Knapp Fellowship, I was able to experience several great positions in different career areas.”
Mary McCutcheon
MS 1975 — Occupational Therapy/Exercise Physiology
Retired from occupational therapy and exercise physiology, Mary now teaches Feldenkrais Bones for Life at the local YMCA and has a small private practice. She is still a high school soccer official and volunteers for a number of nonprofits.
Jim Rutledge
MS 1975 — Continuing and Vocational Education
Fully retired from work at Oklahoma State University, Jim is still doing some consulting in the areas of professional growth and development, as well as non-profit management. Enjoying the good life, he is serving as commander of the local American Legion Post and is very active in the Chamber of Commerce in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Reni Gower
BS 1976 — Art
Curatorial projects organized by Reni have appeared at the: Bellevue Museum of the Arts in Washington and the Pearl Fincher Museum of Art in Texas (“Pulped Under Pressure: the Art of Handmade Paper”); Loveland Museum Gallery, Colorado (“Flashpoints: Material/Intent /Fused”); and Jacksonville State University, Alabama (“Geometric Aljamia: a Cultural Transliteration”). Paper-based works are also on view: “2021 Shanghai International Paper Art Biennale,” at the Fengxian Museum, Shanghai, China; “Extending a Hand,” Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Exhibition Space, Pennsylvania; and “Covid Collage” solo exhibition online (Artsy) through James May Gallery, Wisconsin.
Virginia O’Brien
BS 1976 — Occupational Therapy
Virginia and her husband, who is also a UW-Madison alumnus in electrical and computer engineering (1979), moved back to Madison, their hometown, after spending the majority of their careers after college in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. She has started working at UW Health in their hand rehabilitation team. The University Hospital was one of her student fieldwork placements after completing her occupational therapy coursework, and she is so happy to now continue her career in this same field at the same place that she started her interest in hand rehabilitation.
Judy Kashman
BS 1977 — Art/Sculpture
Judy is celebrating her 30th year teaching woodworking as head wood shop teacher at Village Community School, a K-8 private school in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Katherine Keener
BS 1977 — Education/Behavioral Disabilities
Katherine retired four years ago after a teaching career of 38 years. She has volunteered for hospice since 2002 and the Red Cross blood drives in her area. She adds, “Life is good.”
Kathryn Sanoden Pearson
MS 1977 — Counseling and Guidance
Kathryn is the author of “Trailer Baby,” published by BHC Press in 2020. She infuses her professional knowledge as a psychologist into this contemporary story of family drama and socioeconomic class division. Her previously published books, “TemperTamers” and “Dynamite Emotions” by the Attainment Company in Verona, Wisconsin, are used in school settings to help students ameliorate uncomfortable emotions. Her website is https://kathrynsanodenpearson.com.
Jenene Skrupky
BS 1977 —Art Education
Jenene has an art career in glass etching.
Wayne Winistorfer
BS 1977 — Occupational Therapy
Wayne recently received the Wisconsin Occupational Therapy Association “Lifetime Achievement Award” during the association’s annual business meeting during the 100th anniversary celebration of the association.
Timothy Lonsdale
BA 1975 — English and Theatre
BS 1978 — English and Theatre Education
After 34 years in film and television production in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, culminating in the unit production manager position for the first two seasons of “Stranger Things,” Tim is back in Wisconsin and has started his own production company, Spring Lake International, LLC. He just finished directing his first short film in Wisconsin, which will be released in 2022.
Philip Althouse
BSE 1979 — Education
Philip serves as an international observer for the November 2021 elections in Honduras. The mission is sponsored by CESPAD, a Honduran human rights group, and Global Exchange, an international human rights organization.
Gregory Hauser
PhD 1979 — Educational Administration
Gregory retired as a professor emeritus from Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois.
Virginia Huber
BS 1979 — Art/Drawing and Painting
Virginia retired from Huber School, LLC, a private teaching practice offering classes and on-going private consults. She continues to mail out her watercolor handbook, “Trusting the Muses.” She keeps an active studio for watercolor and collage. More recently, Virginia has started 3D crochet portraits.
Karen Schwabe
BS 1979 — Physical Education
Karen lives in Chico, California, and has a BS in nursing from Chico State. She works for Davita Dialysis.
1980s
Andre Ferrella
MFA 1980 — Art
Andre has been working with virtual reality, creating for and assisting those who are suffering with PTSD, anxiety, and depression promoting good health, well-being, and happiness. This is the first in a series for the field of psychotherapy. Andre has also been creating an audio/video production for Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende for the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe as an apparition so that she comes alive. He has been working on a new series titled “Edgeless,” which involves artificial intelligence technology and non-fungible tokens.
Annette Numrich
BS 1980 — Allied Health/Occupational Therapy
After retiring from the Northland Pines School District in 2014, Annette has been providing services to the Birth To Three program for Forest, Vilas, and Oneida Counties in Wisconsin as a contracted provider.
Sherwood Williams
PhD 1980 — Education Administration
Retired as a public school district administrator in 1998, Sherwood started a second career by creating a flight school CAVU (Ceilings and Visibility Unlimited) serving northeast Wisconsin. He trains professional pilots from private through airline transport pilot. Sherwood was also an FAA pilot examiner, had a charter service, trained veterans, and foreign students, and was inducted into the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame in October 2021.
Terri Grasser
BS 1981 — Occupational Therapy
Terri became an independent contractor for pediatric teletherapy services after 38 years of outpatient, home-based, and school-based pediatric therapy services.
Hank Grebe
BS 1981 — Graphic Art
Hank’s photograph of REM at Merlyn’s Club appeared in an “On Wisconsin” alumni magazine article in Spring 2021. He shot many photos for Isthmus during the early 1980’s, and also visited and photographed breweries, including Leinenkugel’s, Steven’s Point, Old Style, Walter’s, and Miller.
Amy Unger
BS 1982 — Studio Art
In response to a family member joining the transgender community, Amy has created multiple images that provide LGBTQ ally support. Those in print or canvas format have been donated to a homeless shelter in Minneapolis that has specific accommodations for transgender youth. Some public schools have purchased framed work for their entry areas or offices. The images have been created digitally and incorporate symbols and flags from the LGBTQ community.
Bonnie Davidson
BS 1983 — Physical Therapy
Bonnie is happily retired after 35 years at Fairview Homecare in Minneapolis.
Jason Maloney
BSE 1983 — Secondary Education/History and Social Studies
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has appointed Jason to the Board of Veterans Affairs. The Department of Veterans Affairs receives advice from the nine-member, part-time, citizen board.
Cynthia Thompson
MFA 1983 — Dance-Performance and Choreography
Cynthia retired in July 2021 after 38 years of teaching as a professor of dance at James Madison University. During her tenure she was awarded the university’s highest teaching award and was named a Madison Scholar for her creative achievement as well as a College of Visual and Performing Arts Service Award for her work as the dance coordinator and School of Theatre and Dance associate chair. She performs/choreographs professionally with Thompson & Trammell dance company and is a continuing guest artist with Cora Dance of New York City.
Scott Butterfield
MS 1981 — Educational Administration
PhD 1984 — Educational Administration
Scott, who identifies as Winnebago, is now retired. He had served 22 years as a building administrator, eight years as a superintendent, and also served as past president of the Nebraska, Oregon and National Indian Education Associations. He was a presidential transition team member in 1992 for the Department of Education.
Carl Vieth
MS 1984 — Curriculum and Instruction
After being retired as director of corporate education with the Department of Engineering Professional Development, Carl has been busy consulting with companies and government entities to develop engineering and technical competencies within their workforce. In April 2021, Carl was elected as village president for the Village of Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, where he leads his local government.
Margaret (Peg) Faludi
BS 1985 — Occupational Therapy
Peg retired from occupational therapy in 2018 after 33 years with Sauk Prairie Hospital. Before retiring, she started teaching the Tai Chi classes there and has continued teaching those. Peg says this keeps her connected to the rehab staff that she worked with for so many years.
Peter Lernet
BSE 1985 — History
Peter now has his master’s in adult education from San Francisco State. He sometimes works as an adjunct instructor at community colleges in addition to his full-time Best Buy job.
Mary Barker
BSE 1984 — Communicative Disorders
In June, 2020, Mary retired from the Elmbrook School District after 34 years as a speech language pathologist in the schools.
Shari Tarver Behring
PhD 1985 — Educational Psychology/School Psychology
Shari is currently the dean of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education at California State University, Northridge located in the greater Los Angeles area.
Linda Wagner Berman
BS 1973 — Behavioral Disabilities
MS 1986 — Special Education
After seven years in the classroom, Linda has continued to work with students with learning differences privately for the last 38 years as a tutor and educational consultant. Currently, she is on the Board of the Friends of the Waisman Center, where she did research for her master’s degree. She also serves as a docent for the Executive Residence and for Temple Beth El. Additionally, Linda has continued for the last 45 years to volunteer for PBS Wisconsin and to participate as an on-air spokesperson for the membership drives. She says that all of her training to teach and work with individuals with different abilities has helped her throughout her life.
Marilyn Beyerl
MS 1986 — Education Administration
Marilyn is now retired and reports living the good life in West Dundee, Illinois.
Kim Hoggatt Krumwiede
BS 1987 — Art
Kim was recently named acting chair for the Department of Health Care Sciences in the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. She is currently the associate dean for academic affairs in the school and director for interprofessional practice and education at the Medical Center.
Lisa Christensen
BS 1988 — Physical Therapy
Lisa is a homecare physical therapist Minneapolis.
Liz Mohler
BS 1998 — Education Rehabilitation Psychology
Liz is a career and life coach who reports getting quite busy as the Great Resignation forced many to reexamine their lives and careers. As a career coach for over 20 years, she has pivoted to teaching online work ready programs that are now available for free on YouTube. She has coached laid off Marriott Executives and now creates custom communication and team building retreats to help managers and employees figure out their core values, find clarity, and open lines of communication, all while having fun and getting to know each other as they safely gather. Mostly in California, outside on Wisdom Walks, using a combination of coaching, Zoom and in person sessions to reconnect teams.
Andrea Reynosa
BFA 1988 — Fine Art
Andrea launched SkyDog Permaculture Lab in Callicoon, New York, and in San Fidel, New Mexico, as part of a series of earth work/agricultural investigations addressing climate change adaptation.
Christine Corrado
BSE 1989 — Secondary Education/Spanish
Christine was reelected to the Brighton (New York) Town Board to serve a second term. As a town council member, she reports frequently finding herself relying on the fundamental principles she learned as a School of Education student and applied as a Spanish teacher in her early career. As a former teacher in elected office, she has learned she is not alone. A great number of her peers in local elected office are also former or current educators, she says. Writes Christine: “Clearly, teachers are leaders, in the classroom and in the community at large.”
Tracy Honn
BSE 1989 — Art Department, Printmaking
Tracy and UW–Madison alumna Katie Garth launched Quarantine Public Library (https://www.quarantinepubliclibrary.com) in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The site offers free one-page artist’s books to print and collect at home. Several UW alumni and faculty have contributed to the initiative, which offers approximately 200 free artist’s books and has raised donations to EveryoneOn, a nonprofit that connects low-income families to affordable internet service and computers. QPL has made its way into homes and classrooms all over the world; garnered over 100,000 page views, and attracted nearly 20,000 unique visitors from over 100 countries.
Casey Hurley
PhD 1989 — Educational Administration
Rowman & Littlefield recently published J. Casey Hurley’s second book “Improving Instruction: Best Practices Told Through Teacher Stories.” His first book defines the educated person as one who demonstrates understanding, imagination, character strength, courage, humility, and generosity. The new book illustrates those virtues in teachers’ stories about how they improve instruction.
Diane Smagatz-Rawlinson
MFA 1989— Performance and Choreography
Diane retired in 2021 after 30 years as the dance/yoga/orchesis teacher and director at Wheeling High School in Illinois. While no longer teaching 180 to 200 teens a day, five classes a day, she is still hoping to remain active in the field of dance education through supporting projects and programs of alumni, artists, and educators. Diane asks if you have an idea for a collaboration feel free to contact her: https://dianerawlinson.com
1990s
Karen Digney Andriacchi
MS 1990 — Communication Sciences and Disorders
Karen is currently the chief executive officer of SALT Software, LLC, a company that develops and sells products primarily for language sample analysis.
Ronald Dentinger
BSE 1990 — Education
Ronald is now the assistant principal at Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas.
Carolyn Lazar
BS 1964 — French and English Education
MA 1990 — Education and Communication Arts
Carolyn taught French for almost 40 years in Madison, at Nicolet High School, in Boulder, Colorado, and Mesa, Arizona. She retired in 2008. She also taught English at Madison West High School in the 1980s. Carolyn says she’s still teaching conversational French for travelers in Houston. She says: “I owe my career in large part to Connie Knop, methods professor extraordinaire, and to UW. Teaching for me was the perfect job. I loved it and still do.”
Jennifer Sommerness
BSE 1992 — Special Education
As of January 2021, Jennifer has taken a position as a researcher at the University of Minnesota, at the TIES Center, within the Institute on Community Integration. The TIES Center is the national technical assistance center on inclusive practices and policies. She works with states, districts, and schools to support the movement of students with disabilities from less inclusive to more inclusive environments. TIES stands for increasing (T)ime, (I)nstructional Effectiveness, (E)ngagement, and State and District (S)upport for Inclusive Practices. The community strives for inclusion as an ongoing commitment to work for the valued membership, active participation, and learning of each and every student (especially those with significant cognitive disabilities) with their age grade peers, utilizing a wide array of school community structures, practices, and supports.
Laura Bratt
BS 1993 — Art
Elected to her first term as a Board of Education Trustee for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District in northern California, Laura is playing a key role in defining the district’s strategic direction and building policy that creates equity, deep learning, and social/emotional wellness.
Paul Rux
PhD 1994 — Administration of Higher Education
Paul has been busy as a writer, publishing 10 books on Amazon. He has served on the state board of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and has spoken at three national conferences of the World Future Society. Paul won an award from the Wisconsin State Telecommunications for rural internet technology development and is active in Rotary International. He designed and taught online courses for providers like Lakeland College and Jones International University, and has active memberships in the UW-Madison, University of Dublin, and University of Toronto Alumni Associations. Most of all, he has enjoyed being grandpa to four grandchildren.
Jean Listinsky
MS 1996 — Curriculum and Instruction
Jean is the middle school mathematics teacher at The NEARI School in Easthampton, Massachusetts. The NEARI School is a 12-month day school for learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, neurologically challenged, and mental health students ages 7-22
Robert Peterson
MS 1996 — Curriculum and Instruction
Robert has retired after 27 years as a media specialist in the Minneapolis Public Schools, 14 years with elementary students and 13 years with immigrant high school students.
Seth Blevans
MA 1995 — Ar
MFA 1996 — Art
Seth married Kathy Smith and has six sons and has been teaching in the inner city for 23 years.
Nahathai Thewphaingarm
PhD 1998 — Educational Administration
Nahathai founded a Canadian International School in Thailand five years ago and is now also a committee member and working for a political party leading the educational policy platform and campaign.
DANIEL KRHIN
MS 1999 — Educational Administration
Daniel is director of Ripon College’s U.S. Department of Education Student Support Services TRIO program. He created a unique and innovative financial literacy program for college students by receiving a private foundation grant to help students understand the importance of early planning for retirement through investing in the stock and bond markets. When students completed the sessions, they were rewarded with start-up seed money to fund their first retirement account.
Jaimie Sherling
1999 —Elementary Education
Jaimie’s memoir, “From Queens to QUEENS: How the Madison Drag Community Saved My Life,” was published in fall 2021. A preview notes: “Life is a roller coaster. The highs don’t last forever, and you can’t escape the lows. So buckle up, stock up on some chocolate, pour yourself a drink, and don’t forget to grab the tissues as Jaimie Sherling takes you on her wild adventure through breast cancer. If she didn’t get thrown off the coaster, you know there’s hope for you.”
Ting-Hong Wong
PhD 1999 — Educational Policy Studies
More than two decades have elapsed since Ting-Hong graduated and left Madison. Ting-Hong says they miss the campus, the city, and the vibrant intellectual life of the School of Education of UW-Madison.
2000s
Timothy P. Olsen
PhD 2000 — Curriculum and Instruction
Timothy is the co-author of a new study that indicates that breast cancer survivors could improve their quality of life by using wearable tech to scaffold and optimize their individual physical activities. The study indicates that survivors most in need of improvement, improved the most during the pilot clinical trial. The free article in appears in Frontiers in Oncology, and is titled, “A Personalized, Dynamic Physical Activity Intervention is Feasible and Improves Energetic Capacity, Energy Expenditure, and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors.”
Amanda Browder
MFA 2001 — Art
Amanda just finished a four-part public art installation for the Triennale Brugge 2021 in the city of Brugge, Belgium. One massive digital print that spanned the four-story building of the College of Europe and the canal in front. This installation was built with digitally donated textile images as well as objects, lace, and memories that traditionally do not work in her fabric installations. Amanda made a switch to digital for this project due to the pandemic, and had many virtual visits with citizens over Facetime and Zoom to get to know people through their digital donations and stories. As a collective, citizens in the Brugge area helped sew together three real-fabric outdoor building installations that were displayed over the Summer 2021. Even though there was a shutdown during her visit in April, Amanda worked with over 750 volunteers from the city to come to an open-air space to sew and install on the silo at House of Time, a wall at the Lace Museum, and another wall on the Library at Biekorf. All of the fabric was donated, and was put together by citizens of Brugge. The stories behind the donations and from the sewing volunteers were a beautiful representation of the city and how the personal histories can make up a city. Amanda says she will forever feel connected to the city and the people of Brugge after this experience. Learn more: https://www.triennalebrugge.be/en/installation/amanda-browder/
Marc Kornblatt
BSE 2001 — Elementary Education
Now splitting his time between writing for children and filmmaking, Marc recently combined those pursuits to release two video read-aloud of his picture books, “Eli and the Dimplemeyers” and “The Search for Sidney’s Smile. Marc’s web series, “Blue & Red, Respectful Encounters of the Politidcal Kind,” feature discussions between a young Wisconsin Trump supporter and an aging Democrat. This won the Honor Film Festival’s Best Web Series award. His latest project, “From the Heart of Gambia,” was born on Twitter when a young man, who had dropped out of school to help support his family, reached out to Marc for help. The project blends Marc’s love of teaching and filmmaking, and commitment to social justice. All of these projects are available for viewing via YouTube.
Julie Ganser
MFA 2003 — Art
After working as an advisor and administrative staff for her alma mater, the Art Department, Julie will be retiring in 2022 to pursue new challenges. She hopes to spend a lot more time making art and learning more about the art of bonsai.
Marie Warner Preston
BS 2004 — Art
Marie is a freelance science illustrator and owner at Outspoken Images. She creates artwork for authors, teachers, and researchers to disseminate information, promote sustainability, and tell stories about life on our planet. She begins a master’s program for science communication with focus on science in society, at University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand in February 2023.
Walter Rich
PhD 2004 — Curriculum and Instruction/Music
Walter is currently working for UW–Madison as a faculty associate and as the music education coordinator of the Music Education Teacher Education program.
Alexandra N Sherman
MFA 2004 — Art, Drawing, and Painting
Alexandra’s assemblages are part of the Qatar America Institute for Culture’s exhibition, “Women of the Pandemic — Creativity in Quarantine.” The exhibition is an exchange between four Qatari artists and four Americans. The show will travel to Qatar in March 2022.
Keffrelyn Brown
Ph.D. 2006 — Curriculum and Instruction
Keffrelyn was recently named the Suzanne B. and John L. Adams Endowed Professor of Education at The University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a faculty member in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies
Brad Kose
PhD 2005 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
After 11 years of school and district leadership in Madison Public Schools, Brad started a new position in July 2021 at Carroll University as the director of graduate programs and assistant professor in education.
Margaret Grunst (Strachota)
BSE 2006 — Elementary Education and Spanish
Margaret is teaching adult English language learners and the Spanish GED for Moraine Park Technical College.
Sarah-Elizabeth Baguhn
BSE 2007 — Special Education
Sarah-Elizabeth earned her doctorate in interdisciplinary health sciences from Western Michigan University. Her dissertation studied the parametric characteristics of the B6OMSI-RE, a test of orientation and mobility skills for blind and visually impaired babies and toddlers. This is an important step toward valid initial assessments and progress monitoring in this related service area for the early intervention and early childhood populations.
Heidi Hallman
PhD 2007 — Curriculum and Instruction
Heidi is a professor of curriculum and teaching at the University of Kansas, and has co-authored the book, “At the Crossroads of Pedagogical Change in Higher Education: Exploring the Work of Faculty Developers.” The book explores pedagogical change and innovation in U.S. colleges and universities and how faculty are prepared to adapt to these changes.
John Klatt
MS 2004 — Educational Psychology
PhD 2008 — Educational Psychology
Since 2018, John has been a Team USA para-athlete. In November 2021, he represented USA Karate in the World Karate Championships in Dubai. John competes in the visually impaired division. John notes that he has also maintained contact with UW–Madison Professor Robert Enright since completing his degree. This has allowed him to remain part of Enright’s research group. Recently, John contributed to publications on intergroup forgiveness. This work has implications for resolving conflict between groups of people and for peace efforts.
Diane Schwartz
BSE 2008 — Elementary Education
Diane founded an organization called Get Kids Outside. The purpose of the organization is to plan and organize outdoor adventures for school age children, such that the children are present to the wonder and awe of nature. They are based in Madison.
William Adams
BS 2009 — Athletic Training
In June 2021 William began a new position as the associate director of sports medicine research at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, where he is responsible for creating and moving forward a research program focused on injury and illness in sport.
Melissa Schieble
PhD 2009 — Curriculum and Instruction
Melissa is an associate professor of English education at Hunter College. She was awarded the 2021 James N. Britton Award from the National Council of Teachers of English for the article, “Promoting Empathetic Reading with Between Shades of Gray through a Global Blogging Project.” The article was published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. The national award recognizes inquiry within the English language arts for classroom-based research with teachers.
2010s
Tara Tindall
MS 2010 — Curriculum and Instruction Literacy
Tara is a reading teacher and specialist, and a Native American teacher leader with the Madison Metropolitan School District. She previously served as a reading interventionist for Black River Falls School District, and currently serves as MMSD Title VI Administrator, and K-12 social studies curriculum developer.
Lisa Hennessey
BSE 2011 — Secondary Mathematics Education
Lisa celebrated a decade of service at Sun Prairie Area School District this past school year. She serves as the 4K-12 mathematics coordinator for the district this year. In addition to this role, she enjoys being the choreographer for the school musical, serving as a summer school principal (previously elementary and switching to high school in 2022), and had the pleasure of stepping back into the classroom last semester for a section of geometry. This year, she serves as president-elect for the Wisconsin Mathematics Council and a member of WI PK-20 Math Alignment Task Force. Personally, Lisa recently married Tony Frank. Together, they also purchased their first rental property this year and are always looking to learn and grow in their relationships, careers, and life.
Abygail Marx
BS 2009 — Communication Sciences and Disorders
MS 2011 — Communication Sciences and Disorders
Abygail has co-authored a chapter in a new textbook coming out in December 2021 that focuses on teaching students in the communication sciences and disorders field about providing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to individuals with complex medical needs. Her co-author, Sarah Marshall, works with Abygail at UW–Madison’s Waisman Center.
Rita Pello
BSE 2012 — Secondary English Education
Rita was part of a research team that has recently published a peer-reviewed article in the School Community Journal about pre-service teaching training as it concerns family engagement, titled “What Do We Know About How to Effectively Prepare Teachers to Engage with Families?”
Charles Urness
PhD 2012 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Charles started a new position as superintendent of the School District of Jefferson in July 2021.
Yang Hee Joo
BS 2013 — Spanish Education
After graduating, Yang Hee taught Spanish at an international school in South Korea for five years, then studied teaching Korean language as foreign language at Seoul National University for a master’s degree, graduating in March of 2021.
Robert Kelchen
PhD 2013 — Educational Policy Studies
Robert began a position as professor and head of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in August 2021. He was recently listed as the 19th most influential education scholar in America by Education Week.
Erin Parker
MS 2013 — Curriculum and Instruction
Erin started a new role in August as the Eastern District interpretive services supervisor for the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority, a five-county, 13-park system in southeastern Michigan. She oversees interpretive programming, exhibits, and staff at two nature centers and an outreach unit.
Tola Ewers
MA 2008 — Curriculum and Instruction
PhD 2014 —Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Tola is the president of the Madison Symphony Orchestra Chorus, a position to which Tola was elected shortly before COVID-19 halted life as we know it. Tola is also part of a research team in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Medicine’s Division of Infection of Diseases. Tola’s primary focus is developing an online curriculum to train the next generation of infection preventionists in Wisconsin nursing homes. To thrive in both of these roles, Tola reports using the knowledge, skillset and leadership capacity developed during time in the School of Education.
Kirstin Christianson
MS 2014 — Rehabilitation Counseling
Kristin has worked in the mental healthcare field for seven years in direct service and supervisory roles. Additionally, she has been doing research on cultural competence, specifically on culturally and linguistically appropriate services standards, since 2007. She is currently a psychotherapist and researcher at Pauquette Center for Psychological Services.
Remi Kalir
PhD 2014 — Curriculum and Instruction
Remi’s book, “Annotation,” was published in spring 2021. The book is an introduction to annotation as a genre — a synthesis of reading, thinking, writing, and communication — and its significance in scholarship and everyday life. Remi is an associate professor of learning, design, and technology at the University of Colorado in Denver.
Catherine Lammert
MS 2014 — Educational Psychology (MSPE)
Catherine received an ELATE Research Initiative Award through the National Council of Teachers of English to study how teachers learn to select texts that authentically reflect racial diversity and are appropriately complex for teaching reading.
Mac Weninger
BS 2014 — Kinesiology
Mac is a medical doctor and will be graduating residency from the University of Kansas Health System, and practicing as a physician at ThedaCare in Appleton and Neenah, Wisconsin.
Saili Kulkarni
PhD 2015 — Special Education
Saili received early tenure and promotion to associate professor of special education at San Jose State University.
J Myszka Lewis
MFA 2015 — Art
“Spooky Boobs,” a collaboration between J Myska, Amy Cannestra, and Maggie Snyder (all MFA 2015 graduates) debuted a new body of work in a solo exhibition titled “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” at the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton, Wisconsin in the fall of 2021.
Maya Robinson
BS 2015 — Rehabilitation Psychology
Since graduation, Maya has continued her education both personally and professionally. Her human services career now stretches over a decade long, though she says it feels as if she has never (and may never) actually leave the classroom. Most recently, Maya has been involved with the Domestic Abuse Intervention Center, The Rape Crisis Center, The River Food Pantry, Dreamweavers Inc, and The NINA Collective. Her favorite part of the work she does is teaching people to be advocates for their own mental and physical wellness, and for their loved ones. Her degree at UW focused on disability, but what it taught her most is that all of us are a part of the same spectrum of strengths and needs. It is this common thread that allows us to understand ourselves and others better, if we let it. Going forward into 2022, Maya is hopeful to reconvene her academic education via the master’s/PhD program at UW–Madison in counseling psychology. She believes her future holds continuous opportunities to support growth and healing in her community, and she feels tremendous gratitude toward those who uplifted her when she was a struggling student, and sincerely hope she may return the favor someday.
Jaime Usma
PhD 2015 — Curriculum and Instruction
In August 2021 Jaime was elected as the new director for the School of Languages at Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia. With 38,000 graduate and undergraduate students, Universidad de Antioquia is the second public university in the country and the most important in the department of Antioquia. As the new director of the School of Languages, Jaime will be leading the graduate, undergraduate, and extension programs in six foreign and three ancestral languages at the school. Jaime will be promoting more international exchange between Universidad de Antioquia and other institutions abroad.
Angela Johnson
MFA 2016 — Art
Angela started her small business Angela Johnson Artist in 2020. Her services include: creativity coaching, custom commissions, workshops and classes.
David M. Marshall
BS 2016 —Exercise and Movement Science
David graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in the spring of 2021 and he is currently a resident physician at the University of Minnesota North Memorial/Broadway Family Medicine Residency program. He has special interests in maternal and child health, sports medicine, and public health promotion.
Hannah Andryk (Hippen)
BSE 2017 — Elementary Education
Hannah is currently working at Leopold Elementary School in Madison as a fifth grade classroom teacher. She is also currently working on her master’s degree at Edgewood College in educational leadership. She will be graduating in May 2022 with her degree and a double certification in principalship and director of curriculum and instruction.
Adam Nelson
PhD 2017 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
In 2021, Adam began working as an independent consultant in data science. He also works as a career coach helping others transition into data science.
Jeremiah Zuba Zuba
BS 2017 — Art
Jeremiah has been running his own business, MeditationCoaching.com, where he coaches driven people to live their dreams and transform their lives from the inside out.
Brenna Schneider
BS 2018 — Rehabilitation Psychology
Brenna graduated from the University of Denver with her educational specialist’s degree and now works as a school psychologist in Colorado. She provides mental health services to students in special education. She reports that her degree in rehabilitation psychology prepared her to both work with people with disabilities and provide mental health services.
Claire Armetta
MS 2019 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Claire is working at the University of California, Berkeley as a graduate advisor for the Department of Rhetoric and Department of Film and Media. She says she loves it and sends best wishes to the ELPA family.
Jeff Fleig
PhD 2019 — Education Leadership and Policy Analysis
Jeff is serving as superintendent of the Fond du Lac (Wisconsin) School District. He started this position on July 1, 2021.
Adam Mechtley
PhD 2019 — Instruction Design, Informal, and Creative Education
Adam is now director of software engineering for Gameplay at Unity Technologies, a leading provider of creative tools for aspiring and professional game creators. His group is responsible for building tools for creators of all abilities to experiment and express their ideas in games and real-time simulations.
Sally Wu
PhD 2019 — Educational Psychology/Learning Sciences
Sally joined Washington University in St. Louis as the assistant director for educational technology.
2020s
Sarah Brandt
MS 2020 — Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling
During Sarah’s undergrad in rehabilitation psychology, she stumbled across an internship opportunity at UW-Madison’s Employee Disability Resources Office. Little did she know, this opportunity would change the projection of her future education and career pursuits. This internship inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling with the goal of making employment more inclusive for people with disabilities. In the fall of 2020, she stumbled across a job posting in this same Employee Disability Resources Office. Sarah applied and was offered the job of employee accommodation specialist. She always said working in the role she has now would be her dream job, but she never knew how close she was to reaching her goal. Now, she works with employees with disabilities across the UW-Madison campus advocating for the reasonable accommodation process. Sarah says, “I love my job and am so happy to be working back on campus in the office where my passions were sparked!”
Nicholas Damiano
MS 2020 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Nicholas has entered his second year as the assistant director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He now chair the Transgender Student Alliance Committee that has made strides in supporting and advocating for transgender students at ERAU. Additionally, is partnering with ERAU’s Institutional Research Office to assess how students’ sense of belonging at a STEM and aviation university are heightened when involved in clubs and organizations.
Tanner Kattre
BA 2020 — Health Promotion Health Equity
Tanner is working in an oncology unit as a registered nurse in Minneapolis. Working with immunocompromised individuals during the pandemic has further exposed pre-existing health disparities in this population, which has pushed Tanner to be a more culturally humble, empathic caregiver.
Kristin McCloskey
BSE 2020 — Communication Sciences and Disorders
Kristin is pursuing a master’s degree in speech-language pathology at UW–Madison.
Max Puchalsky
MFA 2020 —Art
In 2021, Max received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Madison Arts Commission to develop “Solarpunk Futures,” an artist’s game for collaborative utopian visioning, working in (and against) the conventions of tabletop role-playing. He is also producing “Care Tactics,” a podcast that investigates collective care as a framework of prefigurative politics.
Henry Rothenberg
MS 2020 — Curriculum and Instruction
Henry has been teaching high school biology and chemistry at a new career and technical education high school in Tucson, Arizona.
Madison Schultz
MS 2020 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
In August 2021, Madison began a new role as an enrollment adviser for UW Extended Campus.
Thatcher Spero
PhD 2020 — Educational Policy Studies
Thatcher is working at Waseda University in Japan, where he teaches about educational policy, curriculum, and instruction relating to international and global education. In 2021, he received the Waseda e-Teaching Award for good practice for his applications of technology to maintain community and ensure equity amongst students who were forced to engage in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mary Dueñas
PhD 2021 —Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
After graduation, Mary accepted a position at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville as an assistant professor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department. She is also the new program coordinator for the College Student Personnel (CSP) program. She continues her research that attends to the critical and social structures that influence the experiences of Latinx college students. She is excited about the CSP Program, which prepares graduate students for work serving others in student affairs and higher education.
Kathleen Miller
BS 2014 — Kinesiology
MS 2017 — Kinesiology
PhD 2021 — Kinesiology
After earning her PhD under advisor Jill Barnes in the summer of 2021, Kathleen joined the National Institute of Aerospace and NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, as a postdoctoral research scholar. She is currently studying the effects of the space radiation environment on human health for exploration missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.
Brett Nachman
PhD 2021 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Brett is now serving as a postdoctoral research scholar at the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at North Carolina State University. Brett also obtained a 2021 ECMC Foundation Postsecondary Career and Technical Education Fellowship, in which he is researching CTE community college faculty members’ experiences in teaching disabled college students.
Francis Redmon
MS 2017 — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
PhD 2021 —Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Francis has been serving as the superintendent of the Quilcene School District, a small, rural district in Western Washington.