Twenty-eight faculty and staff members received awards for outstanding contributions to UWM at the 2017 Fall Awards Ceremony Oct. 11.<\/p>\n
From a staff electrician who navigates damaged campus electrical systems after hours to a researcher mapping out the connections between estrogen and Alzheimer\u2019s, the 2017 fall awardees covered a wide range of academic disciplines, and their work has enhanced operations and inspired discovery in every corner of campus.<\/p>\n
While many of the awardees were recognized for landmark research and scholarship, original writing and dedicated teaching, staff who extend UWM expertise and resources into the greater Milwaukee community also were acknowledged. Individuals honored for these efforts include the co-founder of an influential meteorological service based at UWM and the director of a prized UWM facility that has become a Milwaukee gem, the UWM Manfred Olson Planetarium.<\/p>\n
Liam Callanan, associate professor, English<\/strong><\/p>\n Since his arrival in 2005, Liam Callanan, a prolific author in his own right, has taught both the graduate students in the creative writing program as well as undergraduate literature and writing classes.<\/p>\n Callanan has also been creative in designing courses, notably the popular \u201cThe Art of Fiction: Harry Potter & Literature of Magic,\u201d taking students on an exploration of magic in literature, and putting J.K. Rowling\u2019s work in context with Chaucer, Shakespeare and Goethe, among others.<\/p>\n Evidence of his effectiveness as a teacher are the achievements of his students, some of whom have gone on to the Iowa Writers\u2019 Workshop (the top creative writing graduate program in the country) and one who sold a script (based on a story from the class) to Netflix.<\/p>\n A representative evaluation from a student reads: \u201cPersonable to the students and obviously enthusiastic about the material, which is infectious. He is very intelligent, but never condescending \u2026 The most enjoyable professor I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n Candance Doerr-Stevens, assistant professor, curriculum & instruction<\/strong><\/p>\n Early one recent summer session, a theater education major walks into a roomful of future science and math teachers. A few weeks later, the student completes the course, calling it one of the best she\u2019s ever taken.<\/p>\n An atmosphere of inclusivity, a sense of surprise and delight over mastering new technology are common experiences for students in Candance Doerr-Stevens\u2019 classrooms.<\/p>\n \u201cCandance always showed excitement when teaching and knew her subject matter very well and also how to apply it,\u201d writes one student. \u201cEverything I am learning I’m incorporating into my teaching goals.\u201d<\/p>\n Teaching at the intersection of education and technology, Doerr-Stevens encourages her students to not only read and write, but to role play, tweet and tutor \u2013 the last task fulfills a service-learning criterion.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents the two of us share have told me repeatedly about how exciting and relevant Dr. Doerr-Stevens\u2019 classes are as technology continues to change literacy practices with each new device or application innovation,\u201d says a nominator.<\/p>\n In addition to the personal warmth and infectious enthusiasm documented in her evaluations, students and colleagues also note Doerr-Steven\u2019s strengths in organization and expectation setting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe part I really enjoyed about Candance\u2019s class was, as an education major, her transparency,\u201d writes a student. \u201cWhile explaining what was scheduled for class she would always also explain the rationale, the benefits, and learning outcomes for doing these exercise or assignments.\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin McLeod, associate professor, mathematical sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n Kevin McLeod has demonstrated an extraordinary enthusiasm for educating and inspiring students working at the most basic levels of mathematics.<\/p>\n Students have responded with lavish praise:<\/p>\n Yes, these are math<\/em> students.<\/p>\n Professor Jonathan Kahl notes that students\u2019 positive experiences reflect \u201ccountless hours of behind-the-scenes pedagogical and professional development.\u201d<\/p>\n McLeod has developed a \u201cstudent centered\u201d teaching style incorporating active learning, which he uses to more fully engage students in math that they may previously have found to be mystifying and intimidating.<\/p>\n McLeod\u2019s passion for teaching has also infected his colleagues in the math department. \u201cI really can\u2019t list all the ways in which Kevin has fostered my development as an educator over the past 10 years,\u201d wrote associate professor Suzanne Boyd.<\/p>\n Aaron Buseh, professor, nursing<\/strong> \u201cFocus\u201d describes his dedication to committee work. As chair of the Institutional Review Board Committee, Buseh maintains high ethical standards for the university\u2019s expanding research portfolio by informing UWM scientists of policies regulating research involving human subjects. During the Zilber School of Public Health\u2019s first years, Buseh was a formative adviser, serving on the school\u2019s curriculum and recruitment committees.<\/p>\n Whether interviewing men with HIV\/AIDS or talking to reporters about the Ebola virus, Buseh makes compassion, clarity and confidentiality hallmarks of his public health scholarship and advocacy. Buseh grew up in rural Liberia, which became an epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Reporters from Australia to Milwaukee benefitted from his clinical and historical perspective on how epidemics can spread \u2013 and be contained \u2013 in unstable environments.<\/p>\n \u201cHe enlarged his heart to make Milwaukee and the academic environment here a type of second home to which he gave the lessons of his upbringing in West Africa,\u201d says another nominator. \u201cHow lucky we have been.\u201d<\/p>\n Buseh\u2019s students are perhaps the luckiest of all. As program director of the nursing doctoral program, he has organized forums for more than 100 current and incoming students. Buseh mentors McNair scholars, consults on pilot studies and personally serves as major professor to 12 doctoral students.<\/p>\n Paula Rhyner, professor emerita, health sciences<\/strong> For nearly two decades, Rhyner was the campus coordinator of the Faculty Mentoring Program. Through her tireless work in that role, she has contributed to the success of hundreds of UWM junior faculty in their progress toward tenure and promotion.<\/p>\n Colleagues describe her as reliable, trustworthy and competent to lead practically any charge given to her.<\/p>\n She has a particular talent for connecting people and has helped develop broad, collaborative networks and interdisciplinary research in the general health fields.<\/p>\n Most recently, she answered the call to lead the reorganization of the School of Continuing Education, helping to transform how the university offers these courses, while improving the school\u2019s efficiency and financial viability.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether as a member of a governance committee or of an ad-hoc working group, Paula brings her A-game to the issues that make UWM a better place to work and learn,\u201d said UWM Vice Provost Dev Venugopalan.<\/p>\n Miren Boehm, associate professor, philosophy<\/strong><\/p>\n Miren Boehm is a leading voice in an emerging reinterpretation of 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume \u2014 viewed by many as the most important philosopher to have written in the English language. Hume is perhaps best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, skepticism and naturalism.<\/p>\n Boehm examines Hume\u2019s views on metaphysics and epistemology, focusing primarily on his masterpiece, \u201cA Treatise of Human Nature,\u201d published in 1739. While the treatise has traditionally been interpreted as a set of powerful skeptical challenges to any philosophical or scientific system, Boehm has delved deeply into the text, revealing within long-neglected passages a systematic, constructive foundation for the sciences \u2014 ranging from \u201cLogic, Morals, Criticism, and Politics\u201d to \u201cMathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Natural Theology.\u201d As part of this \u201cfoundational project,\u201d Boehm argues, Hume challenges Isaac Newton\u2019s conception of absolute space and time, introduced 52 years earlier.<\/p>\n UWM Associate Professor of Philosophy and department chair Richard Tierney points out that \u201cher work has already achieved a remarkable degree of recognition and has begun to exert a significant amount of influence for someone so early in her career.\u201d<\/p>\n Harvey Bootsma, associate professor, School of Freshwater Sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n Harvey Bootsma has helped reveal how fundamental properties of lakes \u2014 size, geologic setting, biotic composition and climate \u2014 influence and interact with the surrounding ecosystem. He has studied nutrient cycles and the impact on aquatic ecosystems of external stressors, such as invasive species, climate variability and land use.<\/p>\n Freshwater Sciences Dean J. Val Klump writes, \u201cHarvey\u2019s work has untangled some of the unpredictable ripple effects of the dreissenid mussel invasion that have completely reengineered the lower Great Lakes, and have permanently altered the Lake Michigan ecosystem.\u201d The new paradigm that Bootsma\u2019s lab has helped elucidate is helping guide policy and management decisions of fisheries and natural resource managers throughout the Great Lakes region.<\/p>\n Bootsma\u2019s work has had a similar impact in Africa, where his studies of tropical Lake Malawi, one of the African Great Lakes, date back to his graduate work in the late \u201880s. His exploration of nutrient cycling, water quality and sanitation issues has led to partnerships with local governments, as well as environmental and economic improvements.<\/p>\n Freshwater Sciences Assistant Dean for Advancement Eric Leaf writes, \u201cDr. Bootsma\u2019s exceptional research is helping to produce tomorrow\u2019s Great Lakes and water experts, while also having direct and significant impact on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Dawn Erb, associate professor, physics<\/strong> Calling her \u201cone of the emerging stars of U.S. astronomy,\u201d Max Pettini of the University of Cambridge points to two \u201clandmark\u201d papers by Erb. The first was a study of the composition of galaxies in the distant, early universe, which has shed light on the processes that shape galaxies and their synthesis of heavy elements from hydrogen and helium. The second identified galaxies thought to be analogous to far younger primordial galaxies believed to be responsible for the \u201cphase transition,\u201d in which neutral intergalactic gas became a plasma of charged particles. These ancient galaxies are too far to be seen in detail, but the analogs could offer insights into a key period in the evolution of the universe.<\/p>\n Erb\u2019s thesis adviser, Charles Steidel, Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, notes that \u201ceach one of her papers is a major piece of work that sets the standard for the field.\u201d<\/p>\n Erb has received a National Science Foundation Early Career Grant and multiple highly competitive Hubble Space Telescope observing grants.<\/p>\n David DiValerio, associate professor, history\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n David DiValerio\u2019s book, \u201cThe Holy Madmen of Tibet,\u201d is a study of a peculiar and surprising strain of Buddhism that also offers a unique lens on the study of religion. DiValerio\u2019s subjects are yogins who burst forth from their 15th<\/sup> century monastic lives to shock their communities with bizarre behavior quite at odds with the common view of Buddhist monks as serene contemplatives.<\/p>\n One contemporary account describes a yogin whose \u201cnaked body was rubbed with ashes from a human corpse, daubed with blood, and smeared with fat. He wore the intestines of someone who had died as a necklace\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n DiValerio places this behavior in the context of political, religious and cultural battles taking place in Tibet when these yogins flourished. His translations of biographies from the period give a unique authority to his critical examination of the lives of these Tibetan \u201cmadmen.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Quintman, associate professor of religious studies at Yale University, called the book \u201ca major and lasting contribution to the study of Tibetan religious and cultural history.\u201d<\/p>\n Christine Evans, associate professor, history<\/strong><\/p>\n An avid scholar who digs deeply into texts others might overlook and whose writing shows clarity and liveliness whether on the op-ed pages of the New York Times or in a richly researched account of Soviet-era television, Christine Evans is the 2017 recipient of the Robert A. Jones and Mary B. Jones Award for Research in the Humanities.<\/p>\n A history professor and coordinator of the Russian and Eastern European Studies Certificate Program, Evans also is author of \u201cBetween Truth and Time: A History of Soviet Central Television\u201d (Yale University Press, 2016).<\/p>\n Rigorous scholarship is one indicator of the book\u2019s prominence: oral histories are referenced, and popular Soviet television programs \u201cSeventeen Moments of Spring\u201d and KVN are accounted for and compared to similar genres of television across Eastern and Western Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cI found (the book) one of the richest and most dependable resources on socialist mass culture,\u201d writes one reader and nominator.<\/p>\n The creative, engaging style and structure of Evans\u2019 book also earns praise from readers and scholars.<\/p>\n \u201cDeploying an impressive industry, intelligence and imagination, [Evans] takes the reader into the interior of a world largely unstudied,\u201d writes a fellow historian. \u201cBy mining a variety of archives, she has come up with a work of profound originality that is a major contribution to the study of the postwar Soviet Union.\u201d<\/p>\n Karyn Frick, professor, psychology<\/strong> \u201cKaryn Frick is considered a global expert on how estrogen hormones affect memory,\u201d said Joanne Berger-Sweeney, president and professor of neuroscience at Trinity College. \u201cHer contributions to the field span molecular underpinnings to behavioral influences.\u201d<\/p>\n Frick has had an extremely impressive record of grant funding in a low-funding environment. She currently serves as principal investigator or co-investigator on four extramural and two intramural research awards, totaling close to $4.6 million.<\/p>\n Recently elected as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Frick is compiling and editing a book that will become the standard reference for the role of estrogens in cognitive functioning \u2013 a project she was asked to lead by several publishers acting independently.<\/p>\n Through her teaching and mentorship, she has inspired hundreds of trainees, particularly women and minorities, to pursue careers in neuroscience.<\/p>\n Josepha (Jos\u00e9) Lanters, professor, English<\/strong><\/p>\n Josepha Lanters has developed an international reputation as a scholar of modern and contemporary Irish drama, Irish satire and contemporary Irish culture.\u00a0 She is the author of four books and more than 80 scholarly articles and book reviews.<\/p>\n Early in her career, Lanters published two acclaimed books on Irish drama: \u201cMissed Understandings: A Study of Stage Adaptations of the Works of James Joyce\u201d and \u201cUnauthorized Versions: Irish Menippean Satire, 1919-1952.\u201d<\/p>\n Most recently, she is the author of the forthcoming \u201cThe Theatre of Thomas Kilroy: No Absolutes\u201d (Cork University Press).<\/p>\n Lanters\u2019 2008 monograph, \u201cThe \u2018Tinkers\u2019 in Irish Literature: Unsettled Subjects and the Construction of Difference,\u201d has been praised for its examination of the role of tinkers in Irish literature, but also as an ethnographic examination of a marginalized caste of Irish people. Eamonn Wall, Smurfit-Stone Professor of Irish Studies and professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, favorably compared the book to Edward Said\u2019s \u201cOrientalism,\u201d a classic critique of western views of Asia. \u201cLanters, like Said before her, probes literary works and how they have been read to reveal their deeper, hidden truths.\u201d<\/p>\n Marius Schmidt, professor, physics<\/strong><\/p>\n Marius Schmidt is using physical methods to investigate the structural dynamics of biological molecules, primarily proteins. He has advanced an imaging technique called time-resolved macromolecular crystallography to femtosecond resolution. At a rate of 10 trillion frames per second, his ultra-slow motion movies have captured a biological process fundamental to vision known as trans to cis isomerization, which involves the transformation of a molecule into another one with the same atoms, but in a different arrangement.<\/p>\n As Arizona State University physics Professor John Spence says of Schmidt\u2019s work, \u201cTo make a movie of a protein absorbing a photon is a truly remarkable achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n Schmidt has created the movies using the world\u2019s most powerful X-ray laser beam, the Linac Coherent Light Source, housed within the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University. He is a major player in BioXFEL, a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center that uses this X-ray laser to image proteins to determine their biological structure.<\/p>\n Beginning with his nearly $900,000 NSF CAREER Award in 2010, Schmidt has attracted over $6 million in external funding, and 300,000 Euros, as a principal or co-principal investigator.<\/p>\n Ching-Hong Yang, professor, biological sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n Ching-Hong Yang has made many significant research contributions to unraveling how bacteria can cause diseases in plants, and he has developed novel methods to manage those diseases.<\/p>\n His discoveries in studying the microbial populations of the phyllosphere (leaf surfaces) have changed the way we looked at the phyllosphere. It was a microbiome study before the advent of widespread microbiome research.<\/p>\n Yang has identified the mechanism of virulence in many bacterial pathogens and is developing strategies to inhibit it.<\/p>\n \u201cHis work opened the door to a realization that these pathogens also use \u2018stealth\u2019 components to initiate disease and suppress plant defense responses prior to unveiling the big guns of degrading enzymes,\u201d said James Borneman, a professor of microbiology at the University of California, Riverside. Sarah Weller Morgan, clinical associate professor, nursing<\/strong> In addition to developing new courses in the college, Morgan made college history by being its first educator to win the Certification for Nurse Educators from the National League for Nursing.<\/p>\n As director of the Nursing Learning Resource Center, she is a certified educator in health care simulation learning and is leading the effort to integrate simulation learning in UWM\u2019s three health professional schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough Dr. Morgan\u2019s innovative and exploratory teaching style, the NLRC provides real world learning opportunities for nursing students in a safe and guided environment that allows for comfort in skills and a smoother transition into the development of becoming a nurse,\u201d wrote Elise Peters, teaching assistant in the college.<\/p>\n \u201cShe routinely uses simulation, online learning, active learning, case-based scenarios, group discussions and role playing in her classes,\u201d writes Barbara Daley, interim associate dean of the college.<\/p>\n In the community, Morgan tirelessly promotes health and well-being to underrepresented populations. She has served on the Cream City Foundation, chaired the Diverse and Resilient board and the Milwaukee Police and Fire Commission. She recently received the Bayard Rustin Award for LGBT Leadership, established to honor those who work behind the scenes to improve lives through social justice.<\/p>\n Leah Rineck, senior lecturer, mathematical sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n Leah Rineck focuses on innovating mathematics instruction at UWM, particularly for students in developmental classes.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the best examples of her success is the large numbers of her students who complete not only her developmental mathematics course, but are so motivated to continue learning that they also complete the college-level math course,\u201d writes one nominator.<\/p>\n Rineck collaborates with STEM-aligned schools and colleges for summer bridge programs, leading the math portion of Engineering & Applied Sciences\u2019 program. Many of her bridge students elevate their math placements upon completion. She attends monthly algebra-readiness seminars of the M3 <\/sup>UWM, MATC and Milwaukee Public Schools collaborative.<\/p>\n In addition to completing her doctorate in urban education, Rineck presents at conferences and shares her new findings with UWM and M3<\/sup> colleagues. She goes out of her way to make sure she knows how students learn best. For the many returning veterans in her classes, she has researched \u2013 and shared \u2013 effective teaching and learning strategies. She received the ARC (Accessibility Resource Center) Excellence Award for her support of students with disabilities. Rineck has also started a department book club, focused on \u2013 of course \u2013 improving teaching and learning.<\/p>\n Due in part to her dedication and innovation, approximately 70 percent of first year students complete developmental mathematics, compared to a historic rate of 55 percent. Retention rates have increased from 75 percent to a persistence rate of just under 90 percent.<\/p>\n Cary Gabriel Costello, associate professor, sociology<\/strong><\/p>\n Cary Gabriel Costello is among UW System\u2019s most notable voices when it comes to system policy regarding gender identity. Often, zir (note: Costello prefers to use the pronouns ze and zir) experiences as a trans individual seeking equity in health care access and quality and transparency in insurance laws and regulations informs other members of the campus and UW System community.<\/p>\n In classrooms and committees, Costello continues this leadership. Ze directs the LGBT+ Studies Certificate Program, a role ze stepped into after a colleague departed. No additional compensation was provided, but zir leadership has ensured that a popular UWM program, which is also the state\u2019s oldest freestanding LGBT studies program, remains a protected and valued campus asset. Zir work for the program is a direct contributor to UWM being named a Top 25 LGBT-friendly American university by Campus Pride. An active long-term member of the Chancellor\u2019s Advisory Committee for LGBT+ Advocacy, ze is asked for input on nearly every initiative and is looked up to as an authority on best practices when it comes to LGBT+ initiatives.<\/p>\n Those who don\u2019t know Costello from zir classroom or committee work may have attended zir spring 2017 talk, \u201cSex and Gender Have Never Been Binaries.\u201d A collaboration with UWM Equity & Diversity Services, this talk helped to illuminate the fact that biological sex exists on a spectrum and also summarized the history of the conceptualization of gender as a binary.<\/p>\n Yael Gal-Ben Yitschak, lecturer, foreign languages and literature<\/strong><\/p>\n Yael Gal-Ben Yitschak\u2019s students learn a 3,000-year-old language using 21st<\/sup> century technology. Since she came to UWM in 2012, the Hebrew studies lecturer has created an entire curriculum of interactive smartboard activities, which engage her first- and second-year Hebrew students and further their learning. Her students not only learn the language, but also develop presentation, collaboration and communication skills.<\/p>\n Other language programs have adopted Ben-Yitschak\u2019s teaching methods, changing the way foreign languages are taught at the university. Thanks to her efforts, UWM\u2019s Language Resource Center received its first Smart Board for instruction. She has gone on to train over 80 instructors from all university language programs through her Smart Board Pedagogy workshops.<\/p>\n In fall 2017, she will help the Hebrew Studies program offer its first fully online Hebrew course, which will teach students at universities that don\u2019t offer Hebrew courses.<\/p>\n Above all, her innovations serve student success. As one nominator wrote: \u201cYael will never use technology simply because it is new and trendy. She is always guided by her concern for her students\u2019 learning and what will help them to better achieve their learning goals.\u201d<\/p>\n Georgette Jaworski, academic program associate, philosophy<\/strong><\/p>\n For 10 years, Georgette Jaworski has helped the Philosophy Department manage its budget, helped the faculty, instructional staff and teaching assistants with their instruction, research and travel needs, assisted the undergraduate adviser and handled questions from those who stopped by the office.<\/p>\n In August 2016, she was asked to take on more duties when the office\u2019s other academic program associate left for another position just as the department was gearing up for a new academic year.<\/p>\n \u201cShe had to assume responsibility for course scheduling and for everything to do with our graduate program and other responsibilities as well,\u201d writes William Bristow, associate professor and chair of the department, in nominating her. In addition, she had to train a part-time employee who was brought in to replace the other program associate.<\/p>\n \u201cGeorgette\u2019s work in this period was heroic, and we in the Philosophy Department and in the UWM community at large owe her a great debt of gratitude (a debt piled on top of our debt of gratitude for her extraordinary service during normal times),\u201d Bristow says.<\/p>\n With an internationally ranked master\u2019s program and 20 teaching assistantships, Jaworski\u2019s workload increased. The end result of the downsizing of office staff, adds Bristow, was a cost savings without an adverse impact on programs because of Jaworski\u2019s extra work.<\/p>\n \u201cOur graduate program had a good year this past year (excellent placement, excellent recruitment) despite the challenges, and we owe this in no small part to Georgette\u2019s extraordinary contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n Giulio Leonardelli, electrician, facilities services<\/strong><\/p>\n Giulio Leonardelli responded after hours to assist the Milwaukee Fire Department during the April 8, 2016, theater building fire. Good thing he did. Firefighters were prepared to shut off electricity to the campus\u2019 entire southeastern quadrant, which would have further hampered operations after the fire. Leonardelli had a better solution. With the fire department\u2019s permission, he entered the smoke-filled building and shut off the damaged building\u2019s electricity. When asked if he needed a schematic to find the correct panel, he said, \u201cNo, I know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGiulio does whatever it takes to resolve issues, no matter the time of day,\u201d his nominator wrote. \u201cHis willingness to come in off hours to resolve electrical issues has minimized damage to campus equipment and property.\u201d<\/p>\n His quick work to restore power in the Northwest Quadrant after a January flood prevented damage that could have cost UWM thousands of dollars. The theater building fire wasn\u2019t his first time assisting first responders with major electrical problems. Leonardelli\u2019s repairs to campus high voltage equipment continue to make UWM a safe place to work and learn.<\/p>\n Bonnie Murphy, financial specialist senior, Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health<\/strong><\/p>\n Bonnie Murphy\u2019s dedication to the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health extends far beyond her primary job as the school\u2019s financial specialist senior. In her regular job, she assists faculty with budgeting and financial planning, while trying to minimize the school\u2019s expenses.<\/p>\n She has also given her time to the school outside the office by taking on the roles of building chair and event facilitator. After the previous building chair retired, she spent 18 months making sure that school ran smoothly. She coordinated events and organized the building calendar. She worked closely with the assigned security officer to keep the building safe, and processed requests for security ID scans. She also assisted with orientation of new faculty and staff.<\/p>\n She also served on the school\u2019s Dean Search and Screen Committee, and participated in interviews with candidates. She scheduled meeting rooms, coordinated with University Relations, hired catering and ensured that all candidates had successful visits.<\/p>\n The nominator wrote that this award recognizes \u201cher incredible contributions to the school\u2019s success.\u201d<\/p>\n Maurina Paradise, academic department specialist, Electa Quinney Institute The Mooshkine camp for eighth- through 12th-grade students focuses on science, technology, environment, art and mathematics. The NARCH camp is a 10-day residential program that gives Native American students from Wisconsin reservations the opportunity to visit Milwaukee and learn more about health and science careers.<\/p>\n \u201cMaurina goes above the call of duty in ensuring students have a safe space for academic enrichment, recreation and arts programming during their visit to UWM,\u201d writes Patricia Najera, an outreach program manager who nominated Paradise.<\/p>\n Paradise has helped lead a detailed review of office expenses, streamlining phone lines and centralizing printing.<\/p>\n She is actively involved in the multicultural network in Bolton Hall, attending monthly meetings with advisers and staff from American Indian Student Services, the Black Cultural Center, African American Student Academic Services, Southeast Asian-American Student Services and the Roberto Hern\u00e1ndez Center.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is an absolute pleasure to work with Maurina Paradise,\u201d says Najera. \u201cShe has so much energy and is a great support to all of us at EQI.\u201d<\/p>\n Jean Creighton, director, UWM Manfred Olson Planetarium<\/strong><\/p>\n As director of the UWM Planetarium, Jean Creighton has more than doubled the number of visitors to the facility between 2005 and 2016. Over the decade, about 100,000 people have come to the planetarium \u2013 equivalent to one in six people in the city of Milwaukee.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Creighton is an ambassador who translates science and makes it accessible to the rest of us,\u201d writes collaborator Robin Mello, UWM associate professor of theater. \u201cShe has taken the Manfred Olson Planetarium out of its respected, yet obscure, position and turned it into a vital and dynamic Milwaukee-based institution.\u201d<\/p>\n She has also partnered with other UWM departments, such as English and theater to produce shows that highlight the influence of space and the night sky in our culture.<\/p>\n Creighton also is a persistent voice for UWM research through her extensive public engagement efforts. This includes being selected by NASA for a SOFIA flight and talking about it in a TEDx talk and also on her monthly radio interview on WUWM-FM.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our current political climate, where science and objectivity are under attack, Jean\u2019s work in science communication cannot be any more critical,\u201d says nominator Philip Chang, associate professor of physics.<\/p>\n Michael Westendorf, director of operations, Innovative Weather<\/strong><\/p>\n As director of operations at Innovative Weather at UWM, Michael Westendorf plays an essential role in fulfilling each part of its three-fold mission: providing community and business partners with customized, reliable risk assessment forecasts, giving UWM students hands-on meteorological experience, and providing WUWM listeners and web visitors with frequent, dependable weather forecasts.<\/p>\n Westendorf manages Innovative Weather\u2019s day-to-day activities, training of meteorology students and staff, client recruitment and integration into the operation.<\/p>\n \u201cMike is the embodiment of UWM\u2019s service to the community,\u201d says Paul Roebber, director of Innovative Weather and UWM distinguished professor of mathematical sciences. \u201cHe comports himself in that role exceptionally well. Without someone of Mike\u2019s personal and professional qualities and dedication, it would have been impossible for the program to begin, let alone to continue. Mike is simply essential to its operation.\u201d<\/p>\n A 1996 graduate of the UWM Atmospheric Sciences bachelor\u2019s program, Mike helped found the Atmospheric Sciences Club at UWM. After post-undergraduate research with Roebber on high-resolution modeling and radar analysis, Mike\u2019s weather-related employment included director of operations at Minneapolis-based Weather Eye and severe weather assistant at WTMJ-TV under then-chief meteorologist Paul Joseph.<\/p>\n Susan Yorio, clinical associate professor, communication sciences & disorders<\/strong><\/p>\n Susan Yorio embodies the term \u201cabove and beyond,\u201d and since joining the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2007, the veteran speech pathologist and clinical associate professor has provided extraordinary leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cSusan\u2019s vision of how people can work together successfully has led to new levels of collaboration between faculty and the clinical academic staff within the department,\u201d said Carol Seery, associate professor and department chair.<\/p>\n Along with teaching, Yorio and her students treat clients in the UWM Speech and Language Clinic, and she also involves students with meeting their clients in settings outside the clinic.<\/p>\n Yorio has given generously of her free time to coordinate free diagnostic and remediation services in K-12 classrooms, churches and community agencies across Milwaukee. She also organizes an annual speech and language screening for children who attend the UWM Children\u2019s Center.<\/p>\n Others have also noticed Yorio\u2019s drive and commitment. Among her numerous awards, Yorio this year was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Wisconsin Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology Association.<\/p>\n Connie Jo, assistant dean, College of Letters and Science<\/strong><\/p>\n Service to UW-Milwaukee: 1971-2016<\/em><\/p>\n Over the course of 45 years of dedicated service, Connie Jo has made a profound impact on the development and evolution of UW-Milwaukee into the vibrant and diverse environment it is today. Her contributions are well-known across the UW System, the university and particularly in the College of Letters and Science where she embodied the college\u2019s institutional memory.<\/p>\n Jo\u2019s commitment to academic advising and student success, curricular development, administrative excellence and governance are cited by faculty, staff and higher education peers throughout Wisconsin. She assisted in all levels of program development, ushered in new programs through campus-level faculty governance and ultimately the UW System.<\/p>\n Described as having laser-like attention to detail and enduring patience, Jo quickly gained the respect of those who worked with her. Known as a problem solver, she significantly contributed to the preparation and improvement of campus policies and procedures that continue to guide and govern UW-Milwaukee today.<\/p>\n Jo\u2019s designation as a distinguished academic staff member is a rare and telling testimony of her unfaltering advocacy and influence, including her leadership roles with educational organizations regionally and nationally. Jo is described as exemplifying the virtues of dedication, sacrifice and involvement in causes beyond herself. Her mindset has been infectious and inspirational \u2013 nobody was a stranger and everyone was worthy of a voice, an education and proper representation.<\/p>\n James A. Sappenfield, professor emeritus, Department of English<\/strong><\/p>\n Service to UW-Milwaukee: 1966-2005<\/em><\/p>\n James Sappenfield exemplified scholarly and collegial qualities throughout his 39-year career with UW-Milwaukee. He joined UWM in 1966, which was a nascent yet challenging time for the Department of English. He was a steadying force who brought others together during a tumultuous period of building a truly merged department from what many considered to be two disparate entities \u2013 the former Wisconsin State Teachers College and the University of Wisconsin Extension.<\/p>\n Sappenfield produced internationally recognized scholarship and recruited exceptional research faculty. He significantly improved the academic quality and reputation of the university and played a significant role in the university\u2019s academic growth.<\/p>\n A devoted teacher of early American literature and an intrepid administrator, Sappenfield served three terms as chair of the English Department, and as associate dean in the Graduate School and interim dean of the School of Fine Arts. His contributions and vision led to the English Department becoming one of the first at UWM to be ranked nationally. Over his time serving as department chair, Sappenfield created a competitive and well-respected doctoral program that continues to significantly shape Wisconsin\u2019s literary landscape today.<\/p>\n Much of Sappenfield\u2019s scholarship was dedicated to Cooper, Hawthorne and Melville. He edited numerous Cooper novels and a three-volume edition of Irving’s \u201cThe Life of George Washington.\u201d His love of literature and travel were foundational to his teaching of students in Germany, Egypt, Poland and England.<\/p>\n Sappenfield is remembered as a dependably kind, generous, supportive and collegial academic and administrator who mentored students and faculty at all points during their careers. Before his death in 2011, he patiently taught others how to navigate the university and how to serve others with consistency, respect and high standards for scholarly excellence. He is described as an unsung hero.<\/p>\n George Sosnovsky, professor emeritus, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Letters and Science<\/strong><\/p>\n Service to UW-Milwaukee: 1966-1993<\/em><\/p>\n George Sosnovsky is a giant in UW-Milwaukee\u2019s transformation from a teaching university to a top-tier research university. The legacy of his work in organic chemistry and commitment to excellence had a major role in UWM becoming a R1 university. Decades ago, his vision laid the framework for the UWM Chemistry Department including the current building design that he sketched into a working model.<\/p>\n Sosnovsky\u2019s work was not only transformative \u2013 it had lifesaving impact on thousands of individuals. During his tenure at UWM, he developed an internationally recognized research program in two interrelated areas of organic chemistry \u2013 the synthesis, study and use of free radical organic molecules and the development of such molecules as potential anti-cancer drugs. His research interest in medical chemistry provided a foundation for the Milwaukee Institute for Drug Discovery.<\/p>\n Sosnovsky is recognized nationally and internationally in his field. In 2007, he received the highest honor from University of Innsbruck in Austria for his contributions to chemistry and to the international community of chemists. His scholarship is evidenced by authorship of more than 170 papers, several patents and the publication \u2013 after age 90 \u2013 of a book he co-authored.<\/p>\n He continues to support the next generation of scientists through his endowment of the Sosnovsky Lecture Series in Cancer Research, the annual Sosnovsky Award for outstanding graduate students and the national George and Christine Sosnovsky Award for Cancer Research awarded biennially through the American Chemical Society.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twenty-eight faculty and staff members received awards recognizing their work to make UW-Milwaukee a better place at the 2017 Fall Awards Ceremony Oct. 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":52076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[122,126],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[207],"uwmnews-feed":[167,149,343,154,158,153,166,147,152,163],"class_list":["post-52054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-campus-community","section-campus-news","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-teaching","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-engineering-applied-science","uwmnews-feed-health-professions-sciences","uwmnews-feed-health-sciences","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-graduate","uwmnews-feed-public-health","uwmnews-feed-continuing-education","uwmnews-feed-freshwater-sciences","uwmnews-feed-nursing"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
UWM Faculty Distinguished University Service Award<\/h2>\n
\n\u201cBalance\u201d captures Aaron Buseh\u2019s graceful productivity in navigating community service, teaching and research in the College of Nursing. \u201cDr. Buseh\u2019s community engagement and service leadership endeavors are inextricably linked to his scholarship\/research and teaching domains,\u201d a colleague wrote.<\/p>\n
\n<\/u>Paula Rhyner is an outstanding citizen of the campus and has been throughout her career at UWM, contributing at all levels \u2013 university, college and department.<\/p>\nOffice of Research\/UWM Foundation Research Award<\/h2>\n
\n<\/strong><\/u>Dawn Erb is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of galaxy formation and evolution.<\/p>\nUWM Research in the Humanities Award<\/h2>\n
UWM Research Foundation Senior Faculty Research Award<\/h2>\n
\n<\/u>For half of the human population, Karyn Frick\u2019s research is of particular importance. Alzheimer\u2019s disease affects women far more often than men. Frick\u2019s work has found evidence that plunging levels of estrogen in menopause is part of the reason.<\/p>\n
\nYang\u2019s research on virulence has shown promise as an alternative to antibiotic use in agriculture. In 2013, he co-founded a startup company that is trying to capitalize on this basic research. The investors in this company have provided follow-on funding to UWM for additional research on his work.<\/p>\nUWM Academic Staff Outstanding Teaching Award<\/h2>\n
\nSarah Weller Morgan is a clinical associate professor in the College of Nursing and director of the Nursing Learning Resource Center.<\/p>\nLGBTQ+ Champion of the Year Award<\/h2>\n
Joanne Lazirko Award for Excellence in Teaching with Technology<\/h2>\n
UWM University Staff Outstanding Service Award<\/h2>\n
\n<\/strong>Maurina Paradise is an academic department specialist working for the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education. She manages fiscal information and supports a variety of programs sponsored by the institute. In addition to supporting and encouraging students visiting the institute, she has created and organized two summer camps for Native American students.<\/p>\nUWM Academic Staff Outstanding Performance & Service Award<\/h2>\n
Ernest Spaights Plaza honorees<\/h2>\n