A dozen winners will be honored at UWM’s 2026 Alumni Awards Evening on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, at the Pfister Hotel. Presented by the UWM Alumni Association, these awards recognize remarkable standouts who make new waves in the lives of countless people every day.
The honorees embody how UWM alumni are making a worldwide impact. They’ve earned recognition with Emmy and Grammy awards, as well as from the National Academy of Medicine, and garnered many other accolades.
They include internationally acclaimed injury and violence prevention researcher Dr. Steve Hargarten, emergency medicine professor and founding director of the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. UWM is also proud to present its University Partner Award to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation for its unwavering support of UWM and the broader community.
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available for the 2026 UWM Alumni Awards Evening now, and everyone is invited to celebrate this amazing group of awardees.
The full list of winners below represents people across generations who are doing amazing things in their careers and communities. UWM is proud of these exemplary alumni, partners and friends.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Steve Hargarten ’71
Professor of emergency medicine, Founding Dean for Global Health and the founding director of the Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin
Hargarten has devoted his life to improving the lives and health of others, practicing emergency medicine in Wisconsin for over 35 years. He continues teaching medical students and residents, with the goal of influencing their careers to help make communities healthy and safe. His research interests sit at the nexus of injury, violence prevention and health policy. He’s currently leading research studies of wound ballistics to strengthen the care of injured patients and inform policy. He’s a sought-after advisor and mentor nationally and internationally, having served roles for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
Exemplary Alumni Service Award
John Kissinger ’79
Chief executive officer, GRAEF
With GRAEF since 1984 and CEO since 2012, Kissinger has been involved in hundreds of building and infrastructure projects, including the Milwaukee Art Museum addition, the Wisconsin (Baird) Center and the Lambeau Field renovation. His extensive community service includes serving on the Employ Milwaukee board, as well as the boards of the UW-Milwaukee Foundation and the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County.
Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award
Gary Hoover ’93
Executive director of the Murphy Institute, professor of economics and affiliate professor of law, Tulane University
Hoover is a leading voice and researcher in the field of economics, especially in the areas of ethics, political economy, and poverty and income redistribution. He’s the founding and current editor of the Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy. He serves on the board of the National Tax Association and is on the advisory board of the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.
Josh Rosenberg ’06
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker; executive vice president of production, Breakwater Studios
What started with Rosenberg’s broadcast journalism degree from UWM has turned into an award-winning filmmaking career. He’s worked for Oprah Winfrey on projects with Steven Spielberg, Beyoncé and many other luminaries. He’s overseen the Oscar-winning short documentaries “The Last Repair Shop” and “The Queen of Basketball,” and he’s won an Emmy Award for producing work on the Breakwater Studios and Netflix film “The Turnaround.”
Impact Award
Dr. Andrew Haig ’80
President and co-founder, International Rehabilitation Forum; emeritus professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, University of Michigan
Haig’s long and distinguished academic career has established him as an expert in rehabilitation medicine for clinical care. He’s won dozens of awards in his field and founded the International Rehabilitation Forum as a nonprofit consortium that fosters medical rehabilitation in low-resource countries and organizes medical professionals worldwide to respond to catastrophes. He advises governments and has built the IRF into an official partner of the World Health Organization.
Deepak Arora ’22
Founder and CEO, Wearable Technologies
Arora’s motivation for founding Wearable Technologies is as poignant as it is personal: to prevent others from the pain and loss he and his family experienced when his daughter drowned. The longtime IT and health care technology executive leveraged his artificial intelligence expertise into developing wearables that scan environments for danger and alert caregivers about potential accidents before they happen. It’s led to a partnership with Froedtert South for remote patient monitoring and acclaim from USA Today and CIO Tech World.
Honorary Alumni Award
Jim Cook
UWM distinguished professor emeritus of chemistry and biochemistry; emeritus member, Milwaukee Institute for Drug Discovery
Since his arrival at UWM in 1973, Cook has forged a legacy of teaching and research that resonates throughout the academic and medical fields. He laid the foundation for the renowned Milwaukee Institute for Drug Discovery, authored nearly 600 papers, has more than 100 patents and mentored 80 doctoral students. One of his drug compounds has FDA approval for clinical trials for treatment of depression, and it looks promising for treatment of schizophreniaand Alzheimer’s disease.
University Partner Award
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Since 1976, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation has provided crucial support to UWM’s mission, with total giving exceeding $40 million. That support has led to groundbreaking research efforts, thousands of student scholarships and programming that improves lives throughout the community. UWM is proud of the longstanding partnership with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, which continues to be a catalyst for community change by investing in people and organizations that lead to transformational impact.
GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade) Awards
Kathryn Henry ’16
Grammy Award-nominated soprano opera singer, IMG Artists
Henry is captivating audiences around the world with her powerfully compelling voice, described as blending dignity with sorrow, maintaining a shimmering warmth. She’s sung with the Metropolitan Opera, is a finalist in the Paris Opera Competition, and her performance in “The Lord of Cries” earned a Grammy nomination for Best Opera Recording. She’ll make her European debut in spring 2026 in Bonn, Germany, playing Desdemona in Verdi’s “Otello.”
Tou Jim Lee ’19
Marketing manager, Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce
Lee joined the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce as an intern in 2016 and now leads the multimillion-dollar organization’s infrastructure, branding and business workshops in support of entrepreneurs across Wisconsin. He’s also the founder of Nova Boba, a galaxy-themed boba/beverage business, and the co-founder of Our Scholarship, a nonprofit that supports Hmong and Southeast Asian students.
Carrie Mahone ’18
Co-host, “Jammin with Juice” morning show
Nicknamed “Noni Juice,” Mahone hosts the morning show “Jammin with Juice,” livestreaming culture, conversation and community weekdays from 7-9 a.m. Central Time. You may recognize her as an in-game host for the Milwaukee Brewers and Marquette University basketball, and she’s won the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association award for Best Online Personality.
Obiageli (Oby) Nwabuzor ’16
Director, social drivers of health strategy, Advocate Health
Nwabuzor is a first-generation Nigerian American whose work intersects with public health, real estate development and systems innovation. As founder of Envision Growth, a real estate development firm dedicated to building healthy people and communities, she’s led more than $4 million in new projects, including an affordable housing initiative for early childhood educators. In her Advocate Health leadership role, she also advances strategies that strengthen community health and impact.
