In Focus Magazine: March, 2025

Volume 15, Number 3

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Alumni Accomplishments 

Lawanda Chambers (‘15, BA Psychology) was named one of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” list, which honors 40 young people making an impact in Milwaukee. Chambers is a licensed professional counselor with LIFE Wellness and Counseling Services, specializing in trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and addiction. 

Jim Paetsch (‘94, Master of Public Administration) was named to the Milwaukee Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 Hall of Fame.” The Hall of Fame honors past 40 Under 40 awardees for their ongoing accomplishments. Paetsch is the founder of Milwaukee 7, an organization that creates a cooperative development platform for the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin to attract and retain businesses and talent. He recently retired from the group. 

Melissa Krause (‘23, BA Communication) received a $4.25 million grant from the Flexible Facilities Program (FFP) to fund the construction of a new library and community center in Freemont, Wisconsin. The facilities will serve more than 2,000 people and provide spaces for children and senior citizens. Krause, the Freemont Library Director, credited a grant writing class at UWM taught by Associate Professor Maria Novotny (English) for much of her success. 

Reggie Newson (‘05, BA; ‘05, MA Political Science) was named the CEO of Wellpoint Care Network in February. Wellpoint is a community organization that aims to care for Milwaukeeans’ health by addressing generational trauma and promoting family and community stability. Newson was previously the Chief Community Impact and Advocacy Officer at Ascensio Wisconsin and has also served as the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. 

Su Cho (‘21, PhD English) and Canese Jarboe (‘24, PhD English) were named 2025 National Endowment for the Arts Fellows in Poetry and will receive $25,000 each. Cho will join Vanderbilt University’s MFA program as an assistant professor in the fall of 2025. Jarboe published their collection Sissy (Garden-Door Press) in 2024 and was also a 2024 Tallgrass Artist-in-Residence. The NEA Fellowship program is one of the most prestigious in creative writing. These fellowships “represent the agency’s most direct investment in American creativity. The goal of the fellowships program is to encourage the production of new work and allow writers the time and means to write,” according to the NEA website.    

Laurels & Accolades 

Associate Professor David Pacifico (Art History) and teaching assistant Kaily Carson (Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery) led a month-long collaboration with Escuela Verde, a Milwaukee Public Schools charter school in the Silver City neighborhood. They presented bilingual discussions on the history of art in Latin America and hosted high schoolers at the Mathis Gallery to view “Revolutionary Realism: Art After the Mexican Revolution.” 

In the Media and around the Community 

The world faces a mass extinction event, and Wisconsin species are staring down the barrel. In an article by the Wisconsin Examiner, Teaching Professor Chris Young (Conservation & Environmental Science) commented on the degradation of habitats like oak savannahs, and Professor Emily Latch (Biological Sciences) spoke on methods to help battle the decline of species, like genetic tracking. 

Amid confusion over President Trump’s threatened tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, CBS 58 News turned to Avik Chakrabarti (Economics) for an idea of their potential economic impact. 

Professor Rebecca Neumann (Economics) explained how the global supply chain and tariffs impact the price of goods in an article published on The Krazy Coupon Lady. 

Architectural historian Justin Miller (Anthropology) is documenting the work of Alonzo Robinson, Jr., Wisconsin’s first licensed Black architect. TMJ4 News reported on Robinson’s – and Miller’s – work. Miller is also scheduled to give a talk about Midcentury religious architecture in April as part of the Arts at the Waelderhaus 2025 spring schedule. 

Assistant Professor Kidiocus King-Carroll (African & African Diaspora Studies) explained the history of soul food on Fox 6 News and how it is an intrinsic part of Black culture in America. 

Alumnus Asamoah Nkwanta (‘84, MS Mathematical Sciences) spoke about his journey as a Black mathematician for a documentary broadcast by PBS, and recalled the unlikely support he received during his time at UWM. 

The Milwaukee Record highlighted a spring event series hosted by the Center for 21st Century Studies titled “Slow Knowing: The Pace of Being Human,” which examines how to slow down in a fast-paced world. 

TMJ4 News highlighted the work of Nateya Taylor (‘23, MS Urban Studies) in an article that featured Taylor’s documentary, “Something in the Water.” The film sheds light on Milwaukee’s challenges with lead pipes and their disproportionate impact on the city’s Black residents. 

As tech billionaire Elon Musk exercises his influence on U.S. politics, Jeffrey Sommers (Global Studies and African & African Diaspora Studies) discussed the possibility of Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire in a piece for CounterPunch that was reprinted on TheAnalysis.news. He also commented on Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to Munich in February in a separate article for CounterPunch.  

People in Print 

Associate professor Sara C. Vanderhaagen (Communication). 2025. Memory work and rhetorical activism. In Oxford Handbook of African American Women’s Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Published online ahead of print. 

Joshua J. Hatzis, distinguished professor Mark D. Schwartz (Geography), Toby R. Ault, professor Alison Donnelly (Geography), Amanda Gallinat, Xiaolu Li, and Theresa M. Crimmins. 2025. Building spring development indices for woody species in the conterminous United States. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 364. Online. 

Michael Hansen and distinguished professor Kathleen Dolan (Political Science). 2025. “Cross-Cutting Identities in American Politics: Gender, Party, and Attitudes on Gun Reform.” American Politics Research, 53(3). Online first. 

Graduate student Kristine Koyama (English). 2025. Decolonized bodies of land and children: Sarah Winnemucca’s landback project in “Life Among the Piutes.” Decolonizing Bodies: Stories of Embodied Resistance, Healing, and Liberation (eds. Carolyn Ureña and Saiba Varma). New York: Bloomsbury. 

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.