By Sofie Schachter
To celebrate our alumni excellence across the arts, health, and education, the School of Education selected three trailblazing UW–Madison alumni to honor with a Distinguished Alumni Award. These awards recognize talented alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their field.
The three award recipients — Tania Isaac, Julie Côté, and Tony Evers — were honored at awards ceremonies on Nov. 16 including presentations by each of the honorees.
At the first of three events held in the Education Building’s Wisconsin Idea Room — and following a welcome by School of Education Dean Diana Hess and an introduction from Dance Department Chair Jin-Wen Yu — Tania Isaac was the first award recipient to deliver a presentation.
Isaac earned her BS in dance, with honors, from UW–Madison in 1997. She would go on to receive an MFA in performance and choreography from Temple University, and a master of public administration from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.
Isaac today works to create innovative practices in civic, social, and cultural impact through program analysis, thoughtful collaboration, narrative development, policy research, and strategic planning. First presented during a 2006 residency at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, her open(living)notebook, developed from years of workshops, lectures, conversations, and performances, takes a systems approach to using theories of creative process as a tool for building healthy organizational culture and maximizing organizational impact.
In her speech, she reflected on her history at UW–Madison, where she is now, and the steps in between.
“In my professional life to date, I have grown to embrace the interconnectedness of culture and policy of creative thought and inspired social design,” Isaac said. She continued: “What I was offered (at UW–Madison) was a way of learning that encompassed a rigorous search for meaning, communication, knowledge, and connection.”
In the second ceremony, award recipient Julie Côté spoke following an introduction by Andrea Mason, who chairs the Department of Kinesiology.
Côté earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in kinesiology/biomechanics from UW–Madison, and completed her PhD and postdoctoral training at the Université de Montréal.
Today, Côté is a professor with the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at McGill University. In September 2023, she was named the director of the Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute at McGill, where she previously served as interim director. She teaches biomechanics and ergonomics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and directs two research laboratories: the McGill Biomechanics of Occupations and Sport Lab and the Occupational Biomechanics and Ergonomics Laboratory of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal.
Côté spoke about her experience as a college athlete turned dedicated academic during her time at UW–Madison.
“When I think about my time as a Badger,” she says, “I gained not just (skills, ideas, and values) from the track and field team, but from being an overall student on campus.”
Also honored on Nov. 16 was Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who spoke following introductions from UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Professor Anjalé Welton, chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.
Evers earned three degrees from UW–Madison: a BS in biology, a master’s from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and a PhD in educational administration from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. He now serves as the 46th governor of Wisconsin.
Evers told the audience about entering UW–Madison as a freshman in 1969, and paying for college with just a summer job.
“This institution has made me,” Evers says. “All these things that happened to me positively in my life are because of this institution, in particular, the School of Education. It’s been an extraordinary ride.”
Watch all three events and listen to the honorees’ full presentations.