Volume 14, Number 3
Featured Stories
- Keeping it old school: A very nontraditional student reflects on the life lessons she’s learnedJoAnne Potter is 72 years old. That makes her among a very small group of older seniors working on a bachelor’s degree at UWM, and almost certainly the oldest student …
- UWM alum honored with his first Grammy nominationIn 2023, the band Neutral Milk Hotel re-released a box set of the group’s complete works, including two LPs, a live album, three 7-inch singles, two 10-inch singles, two posters, …
- UWM project will document the work of Wisconsin’s first Black architectResearchers and architectural historians from UWM’s Cultural Resource Management program are documenting the work of Alonzo Robinson Jr., the first registered Black architect in Wisconsin. Robinson’s career spanned over four …
- Inaugural Chancellor Chat explores UWM scientist’s groundbreaking researchUWM research is making a difference, and UWM Chancellor Mark Mone is sharing what’s happening in a series of Chancellor Chats. Karyn Frick, distinguished professor of psychology, joined Mone for …
- A late start hasn’t slowed this undergrad researcher in testing novel breast cancer drugsAmy Reyes got a late start on her research, but she’s learned it’s never too late to make a difference. Reyes is a senior on the pre-optometry track at UWM, …
- JáSean Found It Easy to Build His Community at UWMPre-law student JáSean grew up in Chicago and transferred to UWM excited to make new friends in a new city. He says UWM provided the perfect location and community to …
- Klappa surprised with lifetime achievement award at UWM Alumni Awards; other alumni honoredGale Klappa, a UW-Milwaukee alumnus and executive chairman of WEC Energy Group, was honored with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award by the UWM Alumni Association at its annual awards evening …
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Alumni Accomplishments
- Brett Lobello (‘06, MA History) was named the new executive director of the Sheboygan County Museum in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Lobello originally hails from Wisconsin and was previously the director of regional history and genealogy at the Pikes Peak, Colorado Library District. He will oversee the 100-year-old Museum and says he will concentrate on telling the stories of Sheboygan County’s residents and communities.
- Darryl Johnson (‘94, BA Political Science and Sociology) was featured in the Shepherd Express for his role as the executive director of the Riverworks Development Corporation, a nonprofit that develops real estate projects and reinvests revenue to improve the lives of residents in the Riverwest and Harambee neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Johnson spoke about his career, the organization, and how to give back to their neighborhood.
- Nyesha Stone (‘18, BA Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) discussed how her media company, Carvd N Stone, is on its way to expanding nationally during a WISN 12 News segment. Carvd N Stone focuses on positive news and also offers student scholarships and marketing services.
Laurels and Accolades
Undergraduate student Hassan Richardson (Conservation & Environmental Science) received a Rising Star Award from Nearby Nature Milwaukee as part of their African American Environmental Pioneer awards program.
Erin Ruppel (Communication) received a $50,000 grant from Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute’s Pioneer Collaborative Curricula Program to co-develop with a faculty member at Marquette University a 2-course sequence on the art of “speaking data”. The courses are intended to help students master the nuances of data interpretation, navigate all stages of transforming raw data into actionable insights, and adeptly communicate these insights to diverse audiences and stakeholders.
Brenda Cárdenas’ (English) poem “Para los tin-tun-teros” was scored by choral composer Dr. Daniel Afonso (California State University, Stanislaus). The collaborative score with poem was published in 2023 by Hal Leonard Music and will be performed at Carnegie Hall on March 12, 2024, by the National Concert Chorus with seven other new choral compositions.
In the Media and Around the Community
Aki Roberts (Sociology) spoke to MarketWatch about national trends in motor vehicle thefts. Roberts spoke about the factors that contribute to car theft: proximity to offenders, an attractive target, and lack of guardianship.
WUWM Radio highlighted the UWM Planetarium’s plans to celebrate the Lunar New Year, with interviews from Planetarium director Jean Creighton and student worker Jordan LaScala (Physics). Marquette University’s Wire also covered the Planetarium’s Lunar New Year events.
Yahoo News and The Mary Sue tapped Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece’s (Film Studies) expertise in “trash movies” and talked to her about the poorly-rated film “Madame Web.” She was also interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio for a story on movie theater organs and led the book discussion at the Wauksesha Public Library for “My Heart is a Chainsaw” on Valentine’s Day. The bestselling book by Stephen’ Graham Jones features a main character with an encyclopedic knowledge of horror films whose town becomes the scene of a series of horror-film-like murders.
Milwaukee seems to have mixed feelings about the show “Happy Days.” Elana Levine and Michael Newman (both English) spoke with Milwaukee Magazine about what the show did – and didn’t – get right about the city.
Instead of trying to lure tourists during the Republican National Convention this summer, Scott Drewianka (Economics) recommended that suburbs think long-term and use the convention to attract new business opportunities in a CBS 58 News report. He also weighed in on a lawmaker’s proposal to use Wisconsin’s budget surplus by sending every state resident a check.
Rock & Gem magazine featured the founder of the Department of Geosciences, Dr. Katherine Greacon Nelson, along with current geosciences graduate student Allison Kusick in their article “Amazing Women with Rock-Solid Careers.”
Derek Counts (Art History) presented the latest results from excavations in southeastern Cyprus at an archaeology presentation at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois, in February.
Researchers think that a submerged stone wall may be Europe’s oldest known man-made mega structure. Ashley Lemke (Anthropology) speculated in Smithsonian Magazine and on NPR that the wall may have been used to drive prey animals toward hunters.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel drew on information from the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, created and run by UWM’s Department of History, in articles describing Milwaukee’s Layton Park and Midtown neighborhoods.
Wisconsin has had its warmest winter on record. Mark Schwartz (Geography) told Wisconsin Public Radio that the state won’t know the full impact of this anomalous season until March or April, when scientists can say whether there has been an early growing season.
Kitonga Alexander (‘14, BA; ‘23, PhD African and African Diaspora Studies) explained his project to preserve the history of Milwaukee’s Bronzeville neighborhood in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
Graduate student Sean Enfield (English) was a guest on “Across The Margin: The Podcast,” a broadcast offshoot of the literary magazine Across the Margin. Enfield discussed race, education, and burnout.
Urban Milwaukee followed the research legwork of graduate student Nicholas Miller (Anthropology) as he worked to uncover the important reasons for restoring sturgeon in Wisconsin waterways.
Several prominent Republican lawmakers, including Wisconsin representative Mike Gallagher, have decided to leave Congress. Spectrum 1 News spoke to Kathleen Dolan (Political Science) about what their departures might mean for the party and Congress.
Margo Anderson (emerita History) spoke about the U.S. Census’ use of race in an article in The New York Times.
While several universities, including those in the Universities of Wisconsin, have tuition assistance programs for Native American students, they often lack the support systems necessary to help retain those students, Mark Freeland (Anthropology) noted in the Wisconsin Examiner.
The Calvin Chimes, the student newspaper of Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, referenced Sarah Vanderhaagen’s (Communication) research in an article about the school’s history of navigating dissent.
People in Print
Benjamin Edelstein (‘15, BA Political Science) and Sara Benesh (Political Science). 2024. Recusal as Remedy: Disincentivizing Donors. State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 24(1): 77-98.
Taraleigh Davis (‘23, PhD Political Science) and Sara Benesh (Political Science). 2024. Procedural Justice and the Shadow Docket. Emory Law Journal, 73(2): 443-469.
Mark D. Schwartz (Geography) and Theresa M. Crimmins. 2024. Phenoclimatology: development and applications in North America. Physical Geography. Online.
Michael J. Mikos, Ed. And translator (Ancient and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures). 2024. Imago Mundi and Other Poems by Wojciech Wencel. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2023.