ripon magazine summer 2014

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 1

#219 join ranks of Ripon College alumniRipon Alumni Helping the EarthCeresco: Little Classroom on the PrairieSamara Hamzé spurs campus greening effortsStudents agents of change for sustainability

MAGAZINE

S � � � � r 2 0 1 4

Snapshot: The class of 2014

2 | R I P O N C o l l e g e

S U M M E R 2 0 1 4VOLUME 47, ISSUE NO. 2

Ripon College online: www.ripon.edu

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Ripon College SoCial netwoRkS:

Ripon College prepares students of diverse

interests for lives of productive, socially responsible

citizenship. Our liberal arts curriculum

and residential campus create an intimate

learning community in which students

experience a richly personalized education.

Ripon Magazine (ISSN 1058-1855) is published twice annually by Ripon College, 300 Seward St.,

Ripon, WI 54971-0248. Postage paid at Ripon, WI. Copyright © 2014 Ripon College

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Ripon Magazine, PO Box 248, Ripon, WI 54971-0248

Editor: Jaye Alderson, email: [email protected]

Editorial Assistants: Melissa AndersonAndrew McDonnellMike Westemeier

Student Assistants: Tsering Yangchen ’14

Design: Ali Klunick

Photography: Ric Damm and Jim Koepnick

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 1

On �he Cover: Kevin Carli ’14 of River Grove, Illinois, snaps a “sel�e.” Hegraduated cum laude and received honors in sociology. Photo by Jim Koepnick

Pho�o: Compass-plant, a member of the aster family, blooms in mid-summer on the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy. Photo credit: George “Skip”Wittler, William Harley Barber Distinguished Professor of Biology andDirector of the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy.

inSide

4 Commencemen�With tweets, sel�es, famsies and good old-fashioned picture-taking, 219 RiponCollege students celebrated “The NewMedia” and received their degrees May 18.

8 Ceresco Prairie“Far Within Wisconsin’s prairies” lies the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy, a130-acre haven of native prairie, oak savanna and wetlands habitat. It is theCollege’s largest outdoor classroom and recreation area.

1� Ins�ruc�or leads campus greening effor�sSamara Hanzé not only teaches environmental studies, she also coordinatesthe President’s Sustainability Initiative. And she’s not afraid to get down anddirty while doing so.

12 S�uden�s promo�e environmen�al prac�icesRipon students are taking the lead in advancing sustainability efforts oncampus, the greater Ripon area and their home communities.

14 Ripon Alumni in Sus�ainabili��As sustainability becomes increasingly important in the global community,Ripon alumni are taking the lead in the emerging �eld. Some of them arepro�led here.

18 College NicknamesMany Ripon alumni were bestowed with nicknames during their collegeyears: some willingly and some not so much. Share their memories of howtheir special names came to be.

DEPARtMENtS:22 Sports

24 Campus Notes

28 Class Notes

36 In Memoriam


Prospective parents and studentscomparing colleges often ask me,“What makes Ripon College uniquefrom other private liberal arts colleges?”Most already understand that the smallclasses and personalized education setus apart from the big state schools, buthow is Ripon different from our historicWisconsin rivals like Beloit, Lawrenceor St. Norbert? One of the answers: ourcampus is more beautiful and better intune with the environment.

Living in the President’s House onthe lower part of campus, my familyhas the great good fortune of literallyresiding on the Ceresco PrairieConservancy, a 130-acre tract of nativeprairie, oak savanna and wetlandhabitat. When combined with theprotected 30 acres of South Woods,the entire area serves as a distinctplace of study and recreation thatincludes public hiking and mountainbike trails as well as the Patricia KegelEnvironmental Classroom. Out of ourliving room window we (includingour dog, Elena) regularly see deer,foxes, turkeys, river otters, ring neck

pheasants, sandhill cranes, rabbits andbirds galore. The century-old oak treesin our front yard and the beautifulsaplings and �owers that groundsmanager John Tobin and his crew tendare stunningly beautiful.

Our students, faculty and staff makeuse of this unique resource everyday. Biology Professor Skip Wittlerhas educated a generation of Riponstudents to better appreciate the plantand insect life on the prairie andregularly leads a summer programto northern Minnesota to betterunderstand the boreal forests. AssociateProfessor of Biology Memuna Khan’sstudy of bluebirds has opened oureyes to the rich avian life in our midst.Economics Professor Soren Hauge andAssociate Professor of MathematicsDiane Beres are leading students thissummer to Costa Rica to exploreits ecological riches and success inconserving them while promotingeconomic development.

At the urging of our faculty and stafflast year, I appointed Samara Hamzé,who teaches environmental studiesat Ripon, to be the coordinator of thePresident’s Sustainability Initiative.She has done a spectacular joband has helped us to renew ourcommitment to being good stewardsof the environment, leading thecharge to consume less energy andwater, recycle and eat more localfood, and empowering our studentsto take responsibility for our sharedenvironmental future.

Kaitlin Welzen ’15 has spent the pastyear as the student intern for SodexoFood Service, advising them on student

attitudes toward healthy eating andhow to be more sustainable with waste.Liz Walsh ’14 brought her passion forbees to Ripon the past four years. Shehas tended hives and returned theirdelicious honey to the Commons foreveryone to enjoy. This summer, wewill make the quiet, but important,improvements to better insulate ourbuildings and have more efficient air-conditioning and heating units. Andthe student-led Environmental Groupof Ripon (EGOR) also has workedclosely with Sodexo to build a hoop-style greenhouse on campus this springto ensure extra growing time in the falland spring so that our food service canuse more of our own vegetables.

Our alumni continue to make theirmark in the area of environmentalsustainability, as well. Susan Hedman’78 has been nominated by PresidentObama to be the Commissioner forthe Ohio River Valley Water SanitationCommission. She currently serves asthe Region 5 Administrator for theEnvironmental Protection Agency(EPA), directing operations in the GreatLakes region.

Our faculty, staff and students knowhow lucky we are to live in such abeautiful place. We should never takefor granted the shared responsibilitywe all have to leave Ripon a moreenvironmentally friendly institution.

P R E S I D E N t

Zach P. Messitte, President

Love for our surroundings sets Ripon College apart

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Ripon College is situated within a bucolic Midwesternlandscape with vast expanses of prairie to the south,marshy lowlands among rolling hills to the northand the deepest lake in Wisconsin – Green Lake – �vemiles to the west. Here is an account, published in theMay 1908 edition of the College Days student newspaper:

S��rs �� h� l��

The exodus of the Senior class from Ripon College on May2nd was the beginning of the greatest social event of thefour years’ course. The crowd of spectators who witnessedthis event were electrified when the Seniors mounted thesteps and platform of the C. & N. W. coach. …

For the first time in the history of the class a camping tripto Green Lake was to materialize, the treat being due tothe generosity of Mr. Wm. J. Starr, who generously loanedhis elegant Green Lake cottage to Miss Frances Fordicefor the entertainment of her class.

Arriving at Green Lake, the class made the trip to“The Boulders,” where they were at once relieved of allembarrassment by the hostess, who assured them that“the ornaments of a home are the friends who frequentit.” Miss Fordice, aided by Western Brawn, already hadcrackling flames in the fire places, and singing teakettlesin the kitchen to promote luxurious comfort and to makean early dinner possible. …”

Imagine Tomorrow, Ripon College’s �ve-yearcomprehensive campaign that launched in spring2010, has received a 2014 Educational FundraisingAward from the Council for Advancement andSupport of Education (CASE) in recognition ofoverall performance in fund-raising among privateliberal arts institutions with endowments under$100 million.

Thanks to generous support from alumni andfriends, Imagine Tomorrow achieved its initial goal of$50 million in January 2014, 18 months ahead ofschedule. The college’s endowment as of December31 was at $80.2 million, an all-time high.

Already, the College has embarked on severalinitiatives to bene�t students and create betteropportunities in the classroom and beyond:

Forty-two new endowed funds have been orare being established, including: 30 endowedscholarships; nine endowed funds to supportstudent research and special programs like theCareer Discovery Tour; and three new facultychairs — Robert Amsden, professor of theatre, isthe Doreen L. ’73 and David I. Chemerow Chairin Theatre; David W. Scott, assistant professor ofreligion, is the Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership;and Colleen Byron, professor of chemistry, is the L.Leone Oyster Chair in Chemistry.

Despite achieving its goal early, Ripon has decidedto keep to its original timeline for Imagine Tomorrowwith an ending date of July 2015. For the remainingmonths of the campaign, the College will set out toreach an extended goal of $60 million.

For more informa�ion, go �oripon.edu/imagine-�omorrow

Fund-raising campaignrecognized for overallperformance

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“The New Media,” digital technology that has altered theway we perceive our world, was spotlighted at the 148thRipon College Commencement held May 18.

David Plotz and Hanna Rosin of the online magazineSlate were Commencement speakers and honorarydegree recipients. They offered an address in nine tweetsand one sel�e.

“It is somewhat hilarious we have been invited to tell youabout new media,” Plotz said, referring to the crowd of20-something, tech-savvy graduates. He said it was roughlyequivalent to playing football in front of an audience ofGreen Bay Packers.

However good the graduates’ tech skills, habits andknowledge might be, however, Plotz and Rosin offeredlessons learned by two decades of making their own“dreadful mistakes” and how they cleaned them up.

But they ended sentimentally. “By far, the most importantdecision you’re likely to make in the next decade is notwhere you live, what you study, what job you do or howyou use Facebook or Twitter,” Plotz said. “It’s how youdecide how you’re going to spend your life, who you aregoing to spend your life with or if you’re going to spend itwith anyone at all.”

“Make this decision count,” Rosin added.

They ended their talk with a “double sel�e” photo taken on

stage with the audience of graduates and attendees inthe background.

The couple were introduced fortheir honorary degrees by Mark J.Porubcansky ’77, foreign editor of TheLos Angeles Times newspaper.

Ripon College’s Medal of Merithonoree, Doreen Conforti Chemerow’73 said, “It is difficult to express allof the emotions of this moment.” She

said she received a very generous scholarship that allowedher to attend Ripon College. As a �rst-generation collegestudent, she found the campus “welcoming, supportingand intellectually challenging.”

She encouraged the new graduates togive back to Ripon College as she hasand found ful�llment in doing so.

Sophia Kaounas of Brookings,South Dakota, was the senior classspeaker. She encouraged her fellowgraduates to “re�ect on the hardwork and dedication in each and

every one of us.” She said their Ripon College educationhas taught them how to be good people inside and outsidethe classroom, and to be compassionate and hard-workingmembers of society.

#219 �� r��s �� R��C��

p�r �c��s�y

Ch��r��

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 5

Nancy Samplawski, a science teacherwith the Juda (Wisconsin) SchoolDistrict, was honored with theDistinguished Educator Award.

Full Commencement coverage,photos and video may be accessed atr��.��/c��c��2014.

Just the stats

ClaSS of 2014: 219

double majoRS: 64

tRiple majoRS: 6

moSt populaR majoRS: psychologybusiness managementbiologyhistoryEnglishpolitics and governmentexercise science

SenioR ClaSS gift: $2,533

ClaSS paRtiCipation: 77 percent

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n�� r��s c��r��h �� With tweets, selfies, famsies and good old-fashioned picture-taking, 2014 Ripon Collegegraduates and their families celebrated their academic milestone by sharing their joy via avariety of media. These photos and up-to-the-second social media comments demonstratethe excitement of students, families, faculty and friends.

For more Commencement photos, visit ��p��.��/��2014.

Reshma@rmmch12 • May 18I can’t stop shaking out of excitement. #graduation#iskippedthecoffee @riponcollege

Reshma@rmmch12 • May 18So, I don’t know Latin. But I do have mydiploma. @riponcollege #graduation

Carrie R-D@Crocket_Awesome • May 18@riponcollege Singing (theAlmaMater) to myhusband right now, also a Ripon Grad #Class94!Super excited for AlumniWeekend! #alumnilove


Tasha Reed @LovinLandy • May 18Just graduating from college today...no big deal :) #rcgrad14 #alumstatus

Stephanie Bodeen@sabodeen • May 18@davidplotz @HannaRosin @riponcollegeFabulous address. Even my parents laughed ;)

Katilyn Raymond @kraymond12 • May 18Never thought it would be so hard to say goodbye toRipon. My home for 4 years. I’ll miss you, it has been afun ride! #alumni #2014

Anna Galle @AnnaMarieGalle • May 18I did it!!! #rcgrad14

Ripon ResLife@RiponResLife • May 18Today’s the day #RCgrad14! The sun is risingand the grass is cut-it’s time to graduate!!

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 7


The 130-acre Ceresco Prairie Conservancy is RiponCollege’s largest outdoor classroom and contains nativeprairie, oak savanna and wetlands habitat. Students inRipon’s botany, ecology and animal biology courses makeuse of the conservancy, as do students doing researchprojects on various plants and animals. Their studieshave added valuable insight into the mechanics of Ripon’sdelicate ecosystems.

“There’s a spiritual aspect to the prairie,” says George“Skip” Wittler, professor of biology and director of theconservancy project. “It’s more than just plants and animals— it’s humans, too.”

The conservancy also is part of the Department of NaturalResources’ (DNR) Glacial Habitat Restoration Program, apartnership between the DNR and Ripon College, whichaims to restore the sites prairie grasses and forbs.

Recreational users enjoy 3.5 miles of public trails and thePatricia Kegel ’56 Environmental Classroom, donated byPaul Kegel ’57 in memory of his wife.

Professor of Biology Emeritus Bill Brooks says restoring anarea of a past prairie ecosystem to Wisconsin is important.“Prairie and oak savanna ecosystems have fallen to 0.01percent of their former acreage in Wisconsin, and from6,000 acres to six acres in Fond du Lac County,” Brookssays. “The gain of more than 100 acres of restored prairieis signi�cant and provides a major area for student/faculty

research in prairie use and land restoration, and the studyof prairie structure and dynamics.”

Working in sections of 10 or more acres at a time, Ripon’sbiology department is accomplishing the prairie, oaksavanna and wetland restoration through the seeding and

maintenance of native plants, and the removal of non-native, invasive species. In the past few years, numerousRipon alumni, students and friends have joined professorsin combatting these native species.

“The non-native prairie species don’t provide the necessarycover for animals in the winter,” Wittler says. “Native

William Harley Barber Distinguished Professor of BiologyGeorge “Skip” Wittler

Little classroomon the prairieC��s�r��cy ��rs ��r ��r��s

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 9

Rebecca Shackleton ’13 of Chicago, Illinois,records data on the prairie

warm-season grasses stay upright even underheavy snow, providing needed shelter.”

In an area that supports wildlife such as deer,fox, pheasant, sandhill cranes and turkey,Brooks and Wittler believe that encouragingthe growth of the conservancy’s native plantswill, in turn, encourage other animals toinhabit the area.

“f�r R�� h�� hrs�rc �� h Crsc� pr��r�C��sr��cy �� s �� c�y�r� �s ��r�� s� y�� ,” s�ys pr��ss�r�� b��y b� w��c.“i� �s � ��ch�� r �h ��y ��r��,�s �� s � ��c ��r rcr�� c�� s�� c��.”

Professor of Biology George “Skip” Wittler leads a group ofalumni and visitors on a walk through the prairie during arecent Alumni Weekend.


“Sustainability is an idea,” says Samara Hamzé, adjunctinstructor of environmental studies and coordinator ofthe President’s Sustainability Initiative. “It helps us, as acommunity, recognize that we do not operate in silos, butwe’re all interconnected with each other.”

According to Hamzé, the campussustainability program providesa greater awareness of personalchoices among faculty, staff andstudents as regards the environment:“There are reminders aroundcampus, through tweets, emails andsigns, that individual choices dohave an impact and can positively or

negatively affect our ecosystems.”

Her Introduction to Environmental Studies course at RiponCollege can be somewhat depressing to teach, she says,because “the human effects of the planet are overwhelmingand negative. I have to offer solutions and not justproblems, to get students engaged in �xing problems.”

This goal led to her involvement on the SustainabilityAdvisory Board for the City of Oshkosh and the EnergyCommittee for the Oshkosh Area School District. “To be

involved in environmental policy-making, I had to have abetter understanding of the ecology,” Hamzé says. “Withouta fundamental understanding of ecology, we have notools for making good environmental decisions.” A plantecologist, she has studied the pitcher’s thistle for 17 years.

At Ripon College, Hamzé promotes positive practices thatalready are taking place and identi�es areas to improve.Her blog at riponcollegesustainability.blogspot.com detailsaccomplishments across campus sustainability initiatives,upcoming events and ways to get involved as well asgeneral facts about how things work on campus.

Hamzé was instrumental in launching a new student-runEcoREP program comprising Ripon College students whohelp her to raise awareness and educate fellow studentsabout environmental best practices, assist in the executionof various initiatives and collect data in an effort to measurethe impact of campus greening efforts.

This spring, she joined together with her students tocompete in RecycleMania – an eight-week, national, inter-campus recycling competition. As part of this effort, Hamzéand her students collected discarded waste around campusand donned hazmat (hazardous materials) suits to sort andanalyze the waste.

e��r�� s��s��s�r�c��r S�r H� é s��rsc��s �r�� ff�r�sSamara Hanzé and campus volunteers sort through collected waste as part of theRecycleMania competition in Spring 2014.

An extensive campus recycling program and intelligentinvestments – such as variable-speed fan systems inkitchen hoods that save $30,000 in electrical costs everyyear, and replacement LED light �xtures – are savingnatural and �nancial resources for Ripon College.

Other efficient replacements include fuel-efficient andhybrid vehicles; updated heating and cooling systems;and low-�ow showers and toilets that saved 6 milliongallons of water at Ripon last year alone.

Six water bottle-�lling stations are reducing the numberof plastic bottles purchased and discarded on campus.

The Environmental Group of Ripon (EGOR) and theRipon Outdoors Club provide a voice for students with apassion for environmental causes. EGOR has establisheda 100-percent student-run garden and programs focusedon recycling everything from batteries and cellphones toshampoo bottles and cosmetics containers.

Students now have the opportunity to serve as EcoREPSto focus on ways of reducing waste and conservingenergy in the campus residence halls.

Honey from student-run hives is served in the dininghall and sold. Food service has contracts to buy localand is recycling.

Composting bins were built on campus on Earth Day2014, https://vimeo.com/92674403, and campus-grownherbs are being harvested starting this summer.

C�� h� ��ys � �h�r�� r�� c� ��s“th� ��r��s� � R�cyc��m�� s ��

��cr��s� ��r��ss �� h�� ’r��hr�� y, �� s �s c��s� �rs�� s� ��ss �� h� firs� ��c�, r�-�s� �rr�-��r��s� �h�� ss��, r�cyc�� h��c�� r�cyc��, �� h�� s�,” sh� s�ys.

Ripon College ranked 60th out of 332 campusesnationwide; second in Wisconsin for pounds ofrecyclables per capita; and �rst in the Associated Collegesof the Midwest.

“We still have a lot of improvement to make,” Hamzé says.“As an institute of higher education that has among its corevalues ethical leadership and stewardship, it’s critical thatwe become aware of our campus impact on the planet andtake steps to address that impact.”

The student body already seems to be responding wellto Hamzé’s call to action. A Spring Cleaning recyclingevent organized by EcoREPs, student business groupEnactus, the Center for Social Responsibility and themen’s basketball team around move-out day was sosuccessful that additional Habitat for Humanity ReStoretrucks were needed to store and deliver donations of TVs,dehumidi�ers, futons, speakers, laptops, entertainmentcenters and more.

“We took 316 pieces of electronics and furniture out ofthe land�ll and donated more than 500 pounds of clothesand food to the Thrift Store in just �ve days,” says Taihua“Ray” Li ’15, lead organizer of the Spring Cleaning eventand president of Enactus. Li is a junior from Quanzhou,China, pursuing a double major in business managementand economics and a minor in mathematics.

Because of the overwhelming success of the move-outevent, another recycling drive is in the planning stages forcampus just prior to the winter break.

“The generation of students coming in recognizes thatclimate change is important and wants to know what theirpotential college is doing to address it,” says Hamzé. “Weneed to show we embody the beliefs of ethical leadershipand stewardship in our practices.”

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 11

Compost bins were constructed on campus on EarthDay, April 22, 2014.


Bees affect people’s everyday lives, says Liz Walsh ’14of Watertown, Wisconsin. They directly pollinate aboutone-third of the food we eat; bee venom is used inarthritis treatments; and queen food is used in human

fertility drugs.

“th� ��s� �� c�� h��s ��s �� ,”sh� sys.

But bees are in danger of becoming extinct because ofhuman practices, and she hopes to help reverse that.She won second place for a research report on thetopic at the Beta Beta Beta (the national biology honorsociety) conference at St. Xavier’s in Chicago, Illinois,earlier this year.

“I examined how bees treat their queen when their queenis reared in beeswax that is contaminated with chemicalsthat beekeepers put into their hives to address honey beeparasite problems,” Walsh says. “The idea was that queenswho attracted more attendants would be better taken careof and longer-lived, so the chemicals could have a largeimpact on overall colony health through their impact onqueen attractiveness.”

This fall, she will pursue a Ph.D. in entomology atTexas A&M University.

Walsh has beena beekeeper forseven years since ahigh school friendintroduced her toher hives. “I gothooked and beesjust sort of took overmy life after that, to

the point where my at-home job is at a bee-keeping supplystore,” Walsh says. Walsh has been the Dodge/JeffersonHoney Queen, and sales of honey from her own bees,Queen B Honey, have helped pay her college tuition.

On campus, she is part of EGOR, a student environmentalgroup that supports sustainability on campus. Walsh hascared for the bees in two honey bee hives sponsored byEGOR on the Ceresco Prairie.

“It’s a very rewarding hobby because the bees do all thework, but you either enable the bees to work or you stopthe bees from working,” she says.

Tsering Yangchen ’14Madison, Wis.

fsc�� h ��s ��sr�� r� ph.d.

students are seeds of change

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 13

Ripon College soon will compost a signi�cant percentageof its solid waste — something previously prohibited bycity ordinance — thanks in large part to the efforts ofKaitlyn Welzen ’15, the Sodexo sustainability intern atRipon College, and a number of faculty and staff members.

After researching the obstacles to composting on campusin the Ripon municipal code, Welzen composed a letterand gathered support and signatures from staff memberson campus, including College President Zach Messitte,Sustainability Coordinator Samara Hamzé, and members ofthe Environmental Health and Safety/Security Committee.

Now, Ripon College and other local institutions will bepermitted to compost “grass clippings, leaves, herbaceouswastes, raw fruit and vegetable food scraps, chipped treewaste, sawdust, evergreen cones and needles, egg shells,coffee grounds, paper products, or additional materialsapproved by the city.” Previously, this type of compostinghad been limited to areas zoned for residential properties.The amendment passed the Ripon City Council by aunanimous vote, 8-0.

“Perhaps the most important lesson I learned fromthis experience,” Welzen says, “is that with hard work,research and persistence, it really is possible to makechanges in the world around you.”

Welzen also noted that the ability to work with a variety

of departments, faculty and staff on Ripon’s smallcampus has allowed her to improve her communicationskills. Sarjit Singh, general manager of Sodexo Foods at

Ripon College, says she has been key to the dining staff’sincreased success in recycling efforts with cans, plastic,

paper and cardboard.

“th� s�s��y ��r�sh� �h�� i h��h S ��x h�s �� r�� h�ch�� i �� s�� c��s �� h� c ��y,”w�� s�ys. “i �� s�r��h�� h� s��s i h�� r�� hr ��h�h�s ��r�sh� �� y��r� c�r��r.”

Welzen recently got a hoop house, a type of greenhouse,built on campus near the compost bins. She also isinvolved with getting local food to be served in theCommons. Outside of her Sodexo internship, she is thetreasurer of EGOR (Environmental Group of Ripon) andits president-elect.

Andrew McDonnellWeb Content and Social Media Coordinator

S�� c�s � �h c��s,c ��y � R� �


alumni Working in sustainability

On May 22, President Obama announced his intentionto nominate Susan Hedman ’78 as Commissioner for theOhio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.

She currently serves as the United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Administrator for theGreat Lakes region, a position to which Obama appointedher on Earth Day in 2010. “A clean environment isessential to our health and our economy,” Hedman says.“At U.S. EPA, our job is to make sure that our water is safeto drink, our air is safe to breath and our communitiesare free from environmental hazards that pose healthrisks. We also help to clean up contaminated sites andto respond to environmental emergencies like chemicalspills and oil spills.”

Hedman directs the EPA’s operations in Illinois, Indiana,Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota and serves asEPA’s Great Lakes National Program Manager, where sheoversees restoration and protection of the largest freshsurface water system in the world.

She also works with 35 federally recognized tribalgovernments to address regional environmental issues.She leads a team of more than 1,000 scientists, engineers,

lawyers, environmental specialists and administrative staffin EPA’s Chicago office.

“We are making unprecedented progress by cleaning upcontaminated sites along the Great Lakes shoreline, byreducing runoff that contributes to harmful algal bloomsand by installing green infrastructure to improve waterquality throughout the Great Lakes basin,” Hedman says.

C�� ch�� s �r ��s� �� r��ch��, H�� s�ys. “u.S. epa �s ��y�� r r�� h� �� pr�s��o��’s C�� ac�� p�� y h��c��s � �� c�� c�s �h��r� ��r��y cc�rr��, �� y �r�� hs��s � r��c� ��ss��s � r��h�s� �s�s�h�� c��r�� c�� ch��.”

s�� h�� ’78pr�s�� o�� s epaR�� 5��s�r��r �r �s� �� s�r��

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 15

Growing up in the small paper mill town of Brokaw,Wisconsin, Ron Case ’62 of Lincoln, Nebraska,experienced the joys of the environment and outdoors�rst-hand. He taught wildlife biology and was director ofthe Environmental Studies Program at the University ofNebraska at Lincoln for three decades.

Case’s concern for sustainability continues in retirement.He is serving his third term on the board of the LowerPlatte South Natural Resource District, dealing with issuesthat include bicycle trails, soil and water conservation,urban storm water and �ood protection.

“Right now, we are working on sustainability issuesin water,” he says. According to Case, Nebraska irrigatesmore acres than any other state. This is a big issue asgrowing urban areas are requiring more water, andboth surface water and groundwater have haddepletion problems.

“We are looking at ideas as to where we can get our futurewater,” Case says. “It’s an interesting challenge trying tomeet the demands of both agricultural and domesticwater users.”

He says several factors come into play when lookingat more cautious use of natural resources. Some relateto religious choices and individual freedoms. He saysthe tremendous growth of the world population andenvironmental issues such as climate change will takeeducation and public acceptance to address.

“o�r �c��c �� s �s�� r��h ��c��s��,” h� �x��s. “th�y’r� ��ry sh�r�-��r� �s��c�s �� r�� c��y. H�� s��ch �r�� c��s�� c��y ��r� �� s�r��c� �c��y?”

r�� c�� ’62a��r�ss�� c��y c��c�r�s


m��m�� J��w ’03e��c�� r ��r�� s�s

Sustainability is becoming a leading force in a world ofincreasingly complex environmental and social issues.Yet only 12 universities across the country offer anundergraduate general sustainability degree.

Meghann Morrissey Jarchow ’03 of Vermillion, SouthDakota, coordinates one such program at the Universityof South Dakota where she is an assistant professor ofsustainability in the department of biology.

“It is an emerging �eld, and with environmental and socialjustice challenges looming with issues where there are noright answers, training students is important,” Jarchowsays. “Skills that are needed to deal with complex problemsare not always addressed in more traditional majors.Sustainability is an exciting new �eld that trains students totroubleshoot real-world issues.”

Careers that could bene�t from sustainability majors includenatural resources, nonpro�ts, social justice, communityplanning, promotion of businesses with environmentallyconscious practices, and consultation with businesses wantingto incorporate them, Jarchow says.

Originally from Brandon, South Dakota, Jarchow and hertwin sister, Kate Morrissey Stahl ’03, both graduated fromRipon College. Starting with her work at the Ceresco PrairieConservancy at Ripon College and continuing with herpost-graduate studies, Jarchow’s training is in environmentalconservation. She currently studies tall grass prairieconservation and using prairies for bioenergy.

“th ��r�� h�s � �� rss�� ch��s,��c�� c�� ch��, x�r ��r�y,��ss � ��rs��y �� ss � ��r�� ,”j�rch�� s�ys. “S�s��y �s �� fi�� rss �h�s �ss�s. i�’s � �r�css �r�h�� h�� h� �� h ��r�� s� �r �s�r�� c.”

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 17

“Creating chemistry for a sustainable future” is the goal ofEmily Brooks ’97, Mendham, New Jersey, in her new roleas head of applied sustainability North America for BASF inNorth America.

BASF is the world’s largest chemical company, and“sustainability means aligning economic success withenvironmental and social responsibility – in both ourinternal operations and with and for our external customers,”Brooks says. “There isn’t a single moment in anyone’s daywhere they don’t come into contact with an ingredient thatBASF produces – from paints to catalysts to vitamins toclothing dyes to medicine. This places a greater urgent focuson BASF’s global commitment to creating chemistry for asustainable future.”

The Earth’s population is set to increase to 9.6 billion by2050, and if people continue to conduct business as they dotoday, the demand for resources will be three times greaterthan the planet can supply, Brooks says.

She works with the world’s largest food, beverage, dietarysupplement, animal nutrition, pharmacology and aroma

ingredients companies to help them produce more goodswith less environmental input.

“S�s��y �s � � �h �s� xc�� c�rr��r��s �r �� s��ss ��y,”br�s s�ys. “i h�� y r�� sc��fic�� sc��fic ��r��r �� rs�rch ��y.thr �r ��r �� r ��s �� r�hs �h ��r�ch �h ��r��c �� s�y‘H�r �! i ��y �� X.’ t��y, y�r�� s ��rc��y �� y�r �� X,Y, p, C, m, Q �� R.”

Tsering Yangchen ’14

Madison, Wisconsin

e�� b�� ’97R��c�� r�� r��

“In 1974, I lived on new Scott Hall on thethird �oor. We had a grand group of guys.

They all called me c�w��. I even woremy cowboy hat at graduation. Cowboy, Iliked. Patrick ‘Duke’ Earle’76 and I had ashow on WRPN together. He popularized

calling me t��. ‘Don’t forget to listen toTex on Sunday night.’ I hated it. I wouldgo on my radio show, ‘The Sunday Night

Massacre,’ and every semester I would say, ‘I was born in Florida,raised in Massachusetts, spent summers in Rhode Island, go tocollege in Wisconsin and live with my sister in Colorado when I’mnot in Wisconsin. How do you call me Tex?’ In December 1975, Iwas cast in a student-directed production of ‘A Thousand Clowns,’and it was promoted as featuring ‘Tex’ Meyer. That’s when the namestuck. Literally hundreds of alumni think of me as ‘Tex.’ I don’t have aproblem with it anymore.”

RobeRt “teX”meYeR ’78moSCow, idaHo“Tex,” still wearing the same cowboy hat

WHATWASYOURRIPONCOLLEGENICKNAME?

Nicknames can be a very personal thing and invoke

strong memories of an alumni’s years on the Ripon

College campus and the close, lifelong friends made

here. Here, several alumni share their Ripon College

nicknames and how they came to be.

“My nickname at RiponCollege was given to meby Coach Bob Gillespie,and it was 10��. Mybasketball and baseballuniform number was 10for each sport.”

SCottkoepniCk ’88laCRoSSe,wiSConSin

Scott in action during a 1986-87basketball game against Lake Forest.

“While I had a nickname, i �v� � p�� 5�a �� . As to its origin, I leave it toothers to reveal, or not. I will not commenton the veracity of any supposed nicknamenor on the truthfulness nor falsehood of anystories attached thereto ...”

SCottReYnoldS ’74SHoRewood, illinoiS

“My nickname was s�. It must have been given to me by a fellowAlpha Phi because I think it was only my sorority sisters who called methat. I believe I was told it was the name of some famous professionalbasketball player of the time. I hated the name but got used to it.The name Sy died after my Ripon years, but I’m still in touch withNancy Davlantes ’66. When I talk to her in Hawaii or she visits me inMilwaukee, I still hear, ‘Hi, Sy!’ ”

SYlviaaSHton ’64baYSide,wiSConSin

“sp��, because my namewasMary Sfasciotti.”

maRYSfaSCiotti ’63HigHwood, illinoiS


“My nickname in college was bae,because those were my initials,(Barbara Ann Educate). I was giventhe name by my roommate, Amy OrrLarson, because I wore a necklacethat held a charm with my engravedinitials. The nickname stuck throughout my time at Ripon, and my AXOsorority sisters still often use that name — with one exception. Ginny

McGehee always called me (and still does) e��. Both nicknamesremind me of some wonderful times spent with great friends.”

baRb dolan ’78linColnSHiRe, illinoiS

“My nickname is P��z. Ifmemory serves, it has mostly todo with the fact that both I andPete Handley ’90 were members ofTheta Sigma Tau at the same time,and people kept getting us mixedup. The name Plenz has stuckwith me ever since, and it has ledto amusing situations. I lived inMassachusetts for a few years in

the early ’90s. I moved back to Wisconsin in 1995 for grad school andwent up to Ripon that fall to see if anyone was around that I still knew. Iwalked into Tau’s lounge and said ‘Hi, I’m Pete, an alumnus from a fewyears back.’ I didn’t know anyone in the room and they didn’t knowme, but I was welcomed with open arms. They plied me with questionsabout a few of the people from my era that they had heard so muchabout, including Plenz. Obviously, they didn’t know that I was he, so Iasked them to tell me what they had heard about Plenz �rst since I’d beinterested to �nd out what sort of stories had made him ‘well-known.’I have to say, my college experience was far less exciting than anythingPlenz was purported to have done! I was being entertained by my (very�ctional) exploits when my masquerade fell apart. A senior, Scott Ahern’96, came into the lounge and shouted ‘PLENZ!’ I dunno, maybe youhad to be there.”

peteR lenz ’89fRedonia,wiSConSin

“My freshman year, my nickname wasm��-g��.This was later changed tog�� after my brother

(David Gebhardt ’66) graduated. The name was used to

differentiate between my brother and me while we were

both attending Ripon.”

billgebHaRdt ’69fRankfoRt, illinoiS

Bill and Susan Hecht Gebhardt ’70 on a recent trip toSedona, Arizona

“The guys, especially in Merriman andas shown on the frat beer mug, calledme b��.”

danbenka ’61Hopewell, viRginia

Dan, left, and his brother John Benka ’60. “I am thegood-looking one on the left,” Dan says.

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 19

f�r �� a� �� m��,�s�� p��.�� /m��s14

“In the fall of 1949, I started my four-year journeyas a student at Ripon College. I was a student at theschool for only a short time when I was tagged with

the nickname of sp�� on the campus. Once thathappened, my real �rst name, Marv or Marvin, for allpractical purposes, disappeared. A personal friend ofmine, Don ‘Fish’ Johnson, a 1951 St. Norbert Collegegraduate, recently told me that Don Clauss, RiponCollege class of 1949, had carried the Spider nicknamewhen he was a student-athlete during his four-yearRipon College journey. (Clauss had a successful coachingcareer in football and basketball at Green Bay West HighSchool.) The Spider name carried on for me at Riponwhen I played on the Ripon Redmen basketball and golfteams. I also was a sports writer for College Days and aco-editor in my senior year. I wrote a sports column andas a sports editor named it ‘Spider’s Web.’ ”

maRvpRellbeRg ’53peaCHtRee CitY, geoRgia

“My older brother and I were called

s�� 1 and s�� 2, mostly withinthe Delta Upsilon fraternity, formerly

Lambda Delta Alpha. I think you catch the play on ‘s��’ from ourlast name. Actually my older brother, Dick ’61, was later because hecame to Ripon after he got out of the Marines. We roomed together atScott for half a semester then into the frat house which was LDA andjust north of the gym, now since torn down and built upon. Our mommoved up from Chicago to Green Lake so we became ‘townies’ for thelast years. My brother, Dick, departed to glory two years ago.”

RaYSCHiefelbein ’60blue SpRingS, miSSouRi

“My nickname in college was

P��f��z. This nicknamecame about when I wouldgo visit my brother, MichaelFitzgerald ’03 who was sittingat the Spanish table in thecommons at lunch time to earnextra credit. My brother and hisfriends could not use English to

say, ‘What’s up Little Fitz?’ So instead, they would say ‘What’sup PocoFitz?’ Somehow, this nickname caught on with all ofmy friends. To this day, all my college friends still call me Pocoor PocoFitz when we see each other.”

jennYfitzgeRald ’04mountpRoSpeCt, illinoiS

Jenny and her brother, Michael Fitzgerald ’03

“Back in the ’60s, there was a cartoon characternamed Waldo the Water Buffalo. I played highschool football for a coach named Waldo. My Riponfootball teammates, upon learning all of this, gave

me the nicknameW� �� W�� b�ff� �,or justW� ��. It �t with my position as adefensive tackle who was always in the mud!Very endearing!”

SCottmatHot ’68loudon, tenneSSee

“My nickname in college was

i�� b��. I got it whileplaying on the softball team, andthe ‘itty bitty’ glove I used, but thenickname has since worn off.”

bRitt SteigeR fRank ’03CedaRbuRg,wiSConSin


“I had a number of nicknames duringmy Ripon years. They were all goodand are as follows:

f�� in basketball. I was called thatout in the park at home in Chicago,and then it got picked up at Riponby Terry Cramer, Tim Barnes andthe crew.

so 101 from my DU brothers because I knew most, if not all,of the women on campus.

kW, just because.

I’m still partial tof�� even though I don’t play basketball anymore.”

kevinwaRmaCk ’79CHiCago, illinoiS

“Football Coach Jerry Thompson established

V�� as a nickname that lasted my last threeyears at Ripon College. In Merriman House, thanksto Peter Kasson, a nickname occasionally heard was

d��; I have no idea how that originated. Incorrespondence with my fraternity brothers, I sign

off as ‘V��#12’; 12 was my football numberas varsity starting right halfback and right linebackerfor three years. Ripon College played an eight-gameseason in those days; no post-season tournamentgames were allowed. Freshmen were not eligible forany varsity sport competition. The Redmen wereundefeated in 1957 with a record of 8 wins and 0losses. Our win/loss/tie record our last three yearswas 18 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie.”

RogeRvenden ’59Hampton fallS, newHampSHiRe

Roger is No. 12 in the front row.

“t��. It has nothing to do with sloth or beinghard-shelled; but rather all to do with the campus-wide Uglyman Contest of perhaps 1966 or 1967 – afundraiser for some deserving organization. I spent aphoto session prone on a lounge table as the entry fromPhi Delta Theta. I was wearing, not my birthday suit, buta brown-greenish (terrapin color, of course) rubberizedrain parka. I guess that I was so cute that I won thecontest by generating the most donations. The mostdifficult thing was telling my very proper mother that Ihad been chosen as the ugliest man on campus.”

david SiniSH ’69CollinSville, ConneCtiCut

“Andrea Topetzes Mann ’76 ofBainbridge Island, Washington:

tw� P�zz� , given to meby Ripon classmate George ‘Jeff’Gillis ’76

Ann Hodgson Bernton ’76 of

Portland, Oregon: s�� ,given to her by Ripon classmateJulie Carlson ’76

Susan Leitmann Mulligan ’76 of

Raleigh, North Carolina: l��.

“We are currently — the three of us — celebrating our 60th birthdaysin Raleigh, North Carolina, at the Mulligan home.

“Rip- on to Ripon!”

andReatopetzeSmann ’76bainbRidge iSland,waSHington

Andrea Topetzes Mann, left, Susan LeitmannMulligan andAnnHodgson Bernton

f�r �� a�� m�� ,�s�� p��.��/m�� s14

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 21


S P O R t S

For almost everyone, going off to college is a journey, nota destination. That couldn’t be truer for Ripon Collegejunior baseball player Michael Polcyn who, after threeschools in three years, has �nally settled into his comfortzone — which just happens to be where he began.

A native of Ripon, Wisconsin, Polcyn recently �nishedan extraordinary �rst season with his hometown teamin which he was named both Midwest ConferenceNorth Division and Central Region Player of the Year.He led the MWC and ranked near the top of theNCAA Divisioin III in batting average (.426), hits (60),runs scored (50), home runs (12), walks (31), totalbases (118), slugging percentage (.837) and on basepercentage (.525). He was also second in the MWC indoubles (16) and third in RBI (44).

“I never really think about individual success,” Polcynsaid. “I just play the games; if I put up some goodnumbers, that’s great because more than likely, it meansI’m helping my team win.”

Polcyn’s outstanding play has earned him both conferenceand national recognition. On the same day (April 21) hewas named MWC Performer of the Week, the exercisescience major also was selected to the D3baseball.comTeam of the Week and received Honorable Mention forthe National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association(NCBWA) Division III Player of the Week. He earnedthose honors by hitting .611 (11-for-18) with one double,three home runs and 10 RBI, as Ripon won three of fourgames from April 13-20. He also has been named All-American First Team.

you can go homeagain

b��y�r �r��s h�s s��sh�� R��

In early September, Toby Storzer, son of Coach JohnStorzer, who worked at Ripon College from 1957 to1973, was cleaning out the attic of his mother’s home.He discovered a baseball covered with signatures.

Those signatures turned out to be from all 17 membersof the 1962 Ripon College team, which won the College’s�rst Midwest Conference baseball championship againstCoe College under Storzer’s leadership.

The ball was sent to one of those players, Frank Smoll’63. Smoll had a trophy stand made for the ball andoffered it to the College. The ball now is in the trophycase of the J.M. Storzer Athletic Center, alongside theMWC championship trophy.

The Ripon Commonwealth Press reported at the timethat Coe College had won the previous �ve consecutiveMWC championships, but was soundly defeated bythe Storzer squad. The scores in the best-of-three serieswere 14-3 and 15-3. Marv Carlson ’62 pitched the �rstgame (a 6-hit gem), and Augie Hocevar ’63 pitchedan 8-hitter in the second game, striking out 13. In thesecond game, four homeruns accounted for seven ofthe 15 runs – one each by Jim Cowley ’62, Dick Konrad’64, Bruce White ’62 and Smoll. Sid Frame ’63 had fourhits in six at-bats.

H�s��r�c ��s�� c��sh�� R��

For Polcyn, the road to his success at Ripon College hasbeen anything but a straight line. He began his collegecareer at Division I the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukeewhere he transferred after one semester without havingplayed a single game for the Panthers. From there, helanded at UW-Oshkosh, where he played for two years,batting .366 with 22 doubles, seven triples, seven homeruns, 62 RBI and 74 runs scored. As a sophomore at UW-Oshkosh, Polcyn was named All-Conference and ranked�fth in Division III for runs per game.

“i �� h� ��c� �� y�� h�� i �� c�� c� �� R�� s��, �� r��y �� C��ch (er�c)Cr��s� ��r s��r�� y��rs �� r � ��ry��sy �r��s��,” h� s�ys. “i’�� R�� C�� s�� s y h�� , �� ’s ��s� �r�� r� �� r��r� �h�� h�s s�ch �r�ch h�s��ry.”

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 23


FACULty AND StAFF

riPoncollegenamesneWVice Presidentfor financeAfter a national search during thefall semester, tOM PONtO hasbeen selected and now is serving as

the new vice president for finance of Ripon College.Ponto supervises all business and financial functions ofthe College. Ponto served for more than three decadesat Kalamazoo College in Michigan and is a native ofNeenah, Wisconsin. Ponto’s appointment was coveredby the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee JournalSentinel and Fond du Lac Reporter.

MARy AVERy, professor anddirector of business management,is teaching an innovative newcourse on social entrepreneurshipand innovation. Students workindividually and in small groups with

community partners or create their own communityservice initiatives. Avery also is working with creativeenterprise consultants in the Center for SocialResponsibility to assist in the development of theImagination Network of Wisconsin, an “entrepreneursand inventors club” overseen by the Fond du LacCounty Economic Development Corporation (FLCED).

KARL BERES, professor of mathematics and computerscience, had a book review published for In the Memoryof the Map: a Cartographic Memoir, by ChristopherNorment. The review was published in Natural AreasJournal, produced by the Natural Areas Association.

JACQUELINE CLARK, associateprofessor and chair of the sociologydepartment, received the May BumbySevery, Class of 1908, Award fromRipon College, given in recognition ofexcellence in undergraduate teaching.

She also is fascinated with auctions. In February, shedelivered a sabbatical presentation on that topic at RiponCollege. In April, she presented at the annual MidwestSociological Society meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.

LAMONt COLUCCI, associateprofessor and chair of the politicsand government department, anddirector of the national securitystudies program at Ripon College, hasbeen appointed the interim director of

Ripon College’s new Center for Politics and the People.He recently had a column appear in The WashingtonTimes. In “A Day of Reckoning Over Iraq,”Colucci drawscomparisons between the United States’ withdrawalfrom Iraq and the 1745 battle of Louisbourg in Canada.He also wrote numerous columns for U.S. News &World Report.

LISA ELLIS, director of advancementservices and prospect management,received the Faculty/Staff ServiceLearning Award from Ripon College’sCenter for Social Responsibility.

RON ERNSt, professor, head football coach andassistant athletic director, became just the second headfootball coach in Midwest Conference history to reach150 career wins. The game was played Nov. 16, 2013,against Lawrence University and retained for Ripon theDoehling-Heselton Trophy, given to the winner of thisgame each year.

MARtIN FARRELL, professor of politicsand government and coordinator of the globalstudies program at Ripon College, presented thepaper “Witnessing the Greatest Peacetime SocialTransformation in Human History: Personal andProfessional Reflections on Thirty-Two Years ofStudy and Travel in the People’s Republic of China”at the 20th national conference of the Asian StudiesDevelopment Program of the East-West Center. Theconference was held in Houston, Texas, March 13-15,2014. On April 15, he was re-elected chairman of theFond du Lac County Board of Supervisors. This will behis fifth consecutive two-year term as board chair.

AMy GERREtSEN ’04, directorof Alumni and Parent Relations,received a Presidential Staff Awardfrom Ripon College in the area ofGeneral Excellence.

MICHELLE R. HERMES, associatedirector of financial aid, received aPresidential Staff Award from RiponCollege in the area of Admission andFinancial Aid.

ADAM J. JACOBI, adjunct instructor ofcommunication and forensics consultant, contributedto a new textbook, “Introduction to Debate: A PublicForum Debate Handbook,” written in both English andMandarin. The textbook also has been adapted as aniPad app in Korea. His participation resulted from hiswork with the National Speech and Debate Association(NSDA), formerly the National Forensic League, tocoordinate the development of an entry-level debatecurriculum for students in China. Jacobi taught thecurriculum in China during the fall 2013 semester.

MEMUNA KHAN, associateprofessor of biology, was quotedin an article in the Oshkosh (Wis.)Northwestern newspaper on May 24about a pair of osprey that has nestedatop a baseball diamond light pole

in Green Lake. The Green Lake Association has said itplans to work with Khan in the future to track ospreybabies. Khan says cameras currently are trained on thebirds to take behavorial data. goo.gl/Tgwx3D

SARAH MAHLER KRAAZ, professor of music,chair of the department and College organist,played a recital on the Jaeckel organ at the PorterCenter for the Performing Arts at Brevard Collegein Brevard, North Carolina, March 23. As a visitingguest artist, she also gave a lecture on 19th-century composers Fanny Mendelssohn and ClaraSchumann in a music history course for music

majors. To listen to sections of the Brevard recital:goo.gl/sfFDNy

MOLLy MARGAREttEN, assistant professor ofanthropology, wrote a chapter in the newly releasedvolume Ekhaya: The Politics of Home in KwaZulu-Natal. Itis published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pressand includes essays exploring major themes in Africanhistory and culture.

REBECCA MAtZKE, associate professor and chairof the history department, presented a paper at the60th annual meeting of the Midwest Conference onBritish Studies in October 2013. “A Deliberate Choice ofDeterrence: Foreign Office and Admiralty Cooperationin the Early Victorian Period” was part of the panelThe Formulation and Implementation of British NavalPolicy in the Victorian and Edwardian Eras, 1838-1914.

ANDREW R. MCDONNELL,Web content and social mediacoordinator, received a PresidentialStaff Award from Ripon College in thearea of Advancement.

ZACH MESSIttE, president, has had severalrecent opinion pieces published, including“College’s Rising Returns,” which ran in the Feb.6, 2014, edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel;“History lessons, with popcorn, for America’sundergraduates,” which ran in the Los Angeles TimesFeb. 12 as well as several other papers around thecountry; and “Going after the CIA’s new familyjewels,” which ran in the Chicago Sun-Times.

DIANE L. MOCKRIDGE, professorof history, received the Senior ClassAward from Ripon College as thefaculty member the senior class feelsbest exhibits a commitment to helpingstudents realize their full potential by

challenging them in and out of the classroom.

MOLLIE OBLINGER, assistant professor in thedepartment of art and art history, has work included ina group exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center inCincinnati through Sept. 14, 2014; and in an exhibitionin Rhinelander, Wis.

DEANO A. PAPE, director offorensics and assistant professor ofcommunication, received the Faculty/Staff Mentor Award from RiponCollege for promoting in- and out-of-classroom learning experiences. He

also has been named the co-director of Harvard DebateCouncil’s (HDC) summer program to teach publicforum debate to students from China.

ANN PLEISS MORRIS, assistantprofessor of English, has beenselected as a National Endowmentfor the Humanities (NEH) SummerScholar from a national applicantpool to attend one of 30 seminars

and institutes supported by the NEH. Pleiss Morris will

C A M P U S N o t e s

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 25

participate in the seminar “Tudor Books and Readers:1485-1603” at the Plantin-Moretus Museum, in Antwerp,Belgium; at Senate House Library, University of London;and at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

tODD N. POMPLUN, equipmentmanager, exercise science department,and groundskeeper, physical plantdepartment, received a PresidentialStaff Award from Ripon College in thearea of Student Life.

KEVIN RENGO, head coach ofcross country and track/strengthconditioning, ran in the 2014 BostonMarathon in April. It was his firstmarathon, and he ran in supportafter the attacks at last year’s race. He

finished the race in 3 hours, 27.57 seconds, placinghim 8,867 out of about 36,000 runners: 6,683rdamong males and 3,266th in his age division (18- to39-year-olds).

GARy S. RODMAN, assistantdirector of ITS and coordinator ofadministrative computing, received aPresidential Staff Award from RiponCollege in the area of Administration.

RAFAEL SALAS, associate professor of art, wrote areview for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel titled “MagicMud: Masterworks in Clay from RAM’s Collection,”a ceramic exhibit at the Racine Art Museum. Salasis a painter and a regular contributor to the JournalSentinel’s Art City section. He also is painting a muralin downtown Ripon this summer on the south wall of214 Watson St. The mural should be finished by thestart of Ripon College classes this fall. The project issupported by a Fourteen for ’14 grant from the Office ofthe President of Ripon College.

HENRIK SCHAtZINGER, assistant professor ofpolitics and government, and JASON StRICKLER’17 presented a new research project, “IntegratingAspects of Diversity Throughout the AmericanGovernment Course: Why, How, and With WhatEffects,” at the annual Teaching & Learning Conferenceof the American Political Science Association inPhiladelphia, Feb. 7-9. Schatzinger also will publish anarticle linked to one of the conference themes—corecurriculum/general education—in the July editionof PS: Political Science & Politics, a quarterly politicalscience journal.

PAUL SCHOOFS, Patricia Parker Francis Professor ofEconomics, was quoted in a May 6 article in the GreenBay (Wisconsin) Press Gazette newspaper about whetherthe minimum wage in the United States should beincreased. The article examines the issue from a widevariety of perspectives. Schoofs discusses the disparityin cost of living in different portions of the UnitedStates and mentions one potential solution to addressthat difficulty. goo.gl/4K5syo

BARBARA SISSON, assistantprofessor of biology, presented herresearch at the annual meeting of theMidwest Society for DevelopmentalBiology in St. Louis in September2013. Her work was part of a

collaboration with four other scientists.

BRIAN SMItH, professor of religion, made apresentation at the spring conference of the AmericanAcademy of Religion’s Midwest Region at Ohio NorthernUniversity April 4 and 5. His paper, “AmbiguousProphetic Role of the Catholic Church UnderAuthoritarian Regimes: The Chilean Bishops’ Responseto the Military Coup of 1973,” was presented as partof a panel focused on religion, politics and oppression.Three Ripon College seniors he took to the conferencepresented papers: LAtIA RODGERS, ELIZABEtHBLUM and AMANDA GESIORSKI.

tOUORIZOU HERVE SOME,associate professor of educationalstudies, contributed a chapterto a recently published book,Indigenous Discourses on Knowledgeand Development in Africa, edited

by Edward Shizha & Ali A. Abdi and published byRoutledge. He also published a well-received opinionpiece in the most popular online newspaper Lefaso.net (www.lefaso.net) in Burkina Faso on March 20,2014. The contribution took a dim view of the will ofthe president of Burkina Faso to revise Article 37 of theConstitution that limits the terms of presidency to onlytwo. This would open up the path for a dynastic rule fora president who has been in power since October 1987.

LORNA SOPCAK, associate professor of Germanand chair of the department, presented at the MidwestModern Language Association Annual Conference inMilwaukee in November. “Art and Artifice . . . am Randeder Mokkatassen: Herta Müller’s Multimedial Poetry”was part of the panel “German Literature and Culture II:German Language Poetry.”

EMILy StOVEL, associate professorand chair of the anthropologydepartment, organized a largemultinational workshop in Mendoza,Argentina, in November 2013, with thetop specialists in South-Central Andean

archaeological ceramic analysis. The workshop receivedfinancial support from the Wenner-Gren Foundationfor Anthropological Research. She also presented papersat the 42nd Annual Midwest Conference on Andeanand Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory March1, 2014, and at the 79th annual meeting of the Societyfor American Archaeology April 23–27, 2014. She alsopublished a collaborative article in Estudios Atacameños.

BOB WALLACE, professor of biology, recently wasinvited to lecture on aquatic ecology to students inthe postgraduate program at Universidad NacionalAutónoma de México in January 2014; and he madea presentation at the SICB in Austin, Texas, in January2014. He also published works in the InternationalReview of Hydrobiology. One of his collaborators wasHILARy A. SMItH ’07.

WAyNE WEBStER, vicepresident for advancement, receivedhis doctorate of education (Ed.D) ineducational leadership and policyon Jan. 31, 2014, from the GraduateSchool of Education and Human

Development at George Washington University. Hisdissertation is titled “The Influence of Philanthropy andAdministrative Decision-making Models on a LiberalArts College’s Strategic Planning Process: A Case Study.”Webster also was accepted to the Executive LeadershipAcademy 2014-15 cohort that is sponsored by theCouncil for Independent Colleges.

JEANNE F. WILLIAMS, professorof educational studies, receivedthe James Underkofler Awardfor Excellence in UndergraduateTeaching from Ripon College.

PAtRICK WILLOUGHBy, assistant professor ofchemistry, co-wrote an article that appeared in the mostrecent volume of Nature Protocols. “A Guide to Small-Molecule Structure Assignment Through Computationof (1H and 13C) NMR Chemical Shifts,” was co-writtenwithMAtt JANSMA ’06 and is based on work thetwo conducted in the Ph.D. program at the University ofMinnesota. An article in Nature’s Protocol Exchange wasco-written with SPENCER REISBICK ’14, basedon a modified protocol developed at Ripon College forconducting computational chemistry research.

KyONNA WItHERS, assistant director of studentactivities, was a leadership fellow for the NationalAssociation of Campus Activities’ National Conventionin Boston. There she co-presented “Connecting YourMinority with the Majority – Teaching Students How toCollaborate and Communicate Outside Their ComfortZone” along with student activities colleagues fromMaryville University of St. Louis and the University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ANDREA yOUNG, assistantprofessor of mathematics andcomputer science, has receiveda grant from the Center forUndergraduate Research inMathematics for the 2014-2015

school year. The grant will provide Young a stipend,fund four undergraduate research positions to workwith Young through the academic year, and coverthe costs for Young and the students to travel tothe Student Research Conference at Brigham YoungUniversity (BYU) in March 2015. It also will fundYoung’s travel to a faculty workshop at BYU in May2014. In addition, Young was selected to presenta mini-course, “Improv in the Math Classroom,”at the national Joint Meetings of the AmericanMath Society and Math Association of America inBaltimore, Jan. 15-18. She also had a work selectedby the Taylor & Francis Group as the “Mathematics& Statistics Journals Article of the Week” in April.“Improvisation in the Mathematics Classroom”originally was published in May 2013 in Primus:Problems, Resources, and Issues in MathematicsUndergraduate Studies.


C A M P U S N o t e s

AROUND CAMPUS

GRANTSAND FOUNDATIONSUPDATESince the start of fiscal year 2014, 22 grant proposals with atotal value of $1,643,000 were submitted on behalf of RiponCollege or individual faculty members. Twelve proposalshave been funded to date for a total of $847,192. Includedare $55,000 from the American Chemical Society; $135,125from Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. for an internshipinitiative; $500,000 from the Mead Witter Foundation foran expansion of their endowed scholarship; $565,000 fromthe Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the Faculty BridgeProgram; $25,000 from the Kemper Foundation for astudent-run retail business in downtown Ripon; $100,000from the Suzanne and Richard Pieper Family Foundationto support the servant leadership initiative; $2,000 from theAlliant Energy Foundation for the 2014 Summer HeritageLecture Series; $3,900 from the National Endowment forthe Humanities Summer Institute Program; and $22,150from the Center for Undergraduate Research in Math.

NEWPOLITICALCENTER LAUNCHEDATRIPONCOLLEGEThe new Center for Politics and the People was launchedthis spring, thanks to a gift from Trustee WILLIAMMCLEOD ’73. The inaugural event on April 3 featuredGAIL GITCHO ’01, communications director for theRepublican Governors Association, and BRANDONLORENZ ’02, regional press secretary for the DemocraticCongressional Campaign Committee. Other speakers wereMilwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on April 25 and U.S. SenatorRon Johnson on May 2. LAMONT COLUCCI, associateprofessor and chair of the Politics and GovernmentDepartment, is serving as the center’s interim director.http://www.ripon.edu/cpp/

SIXNEWALUMNIMEMBERS JOINBOARDOFTRUSTEES

THOMAS H. BROMAN ’76. He is chair of the history ofscience department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

SUSAN S. MEIER ’79. She is principal of Meier andAssociates and has more than 27 years’ experience inorganizational capacity building, nonprofit governanceand nonprofit management. Susan previously served as analumni trustee and is now a ‘regular’ trustee.

DAVID E. SHOGREN ’84. He is vice president ofinternational sales at Resource One, a food industrybusiness, in St. Louis, Missouri.

KIMBERLY WOOLLEY ’94. She is director andassociate general counsel, head of corporate law, forWilliams-Sonoma.

A new special graduate trustee is AUSTIN D.OLIVER ’14. He majored in politics and government witha minor in history.

KENT E. TIMM ’81 is an Alumni Board of Directorstrustee. He is a doctor of physical therapy in Saginaw,Michigan.

COLLEGEHONOREDFORFUND-RAISINGEFFORTSRipon College received a 2014 CASE EducationalFundraising Award from the Council for Advancementand Support of Education. The Overall PerformanceAward was based on the judges’ analysis of three years offund-raising data supplied by Ripon College.

CAREERDISCOVERYTOURHITSTWINCITIESOver spring break, 11 students participated in thethird Career Discovery Tour, a program committed tofurther expanding student-alumni career networkingopportunities directly from Ripon alumni. This tripto Minnesota’s Twin Cities featured 12 alumni at theMinnesota State Capitol, Target Corp., EGP Inc., CHRobinson Worldwide, Vital Images Inc., Science Museumof Minnesota and Minnesota History Center. More than70 alumni, students, parents and friends of the Collegeattended a networking reception with President ZachMessitte. Thanks to the continued financial support bythe Alumni Board of Directors, student costs for thefive-day, four-night trip were very low. The fall tour willbe to Chicago.

RIPONCOLLEGE REPRESENTEDATSPRINGBREAKHABITATBUILDDAVID WILLIAM SCOTT, Pieper Chair in ServantLeadership and assistant professor of religion, fiveRipon College students and volunteers from MarianUniversity, the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lacand Moraine Park Technical College assisted on abuilding project in Chicago during spring break inMarch. The joint trip was organized/sponsored by Fonddu Lac Habitat for Humanity. goo.gl/zoahzU

PRESIDENTIALLEADERSHIP PROGRAMBEGINSTHIS FALLThe Presidential Leadership Program will begin thisfall and provide opportunities for selected studentsto pursue personal achievement, professionaldevelopment and academic excellence. Eighteensophomores were competitively selected this springfor the program’s inaugural year. These students willmeet in a presidential book club. Other activitieswill include dinners hosted by the vice presidents,invitations to special receptions for College speakers,and similar events. Program participants will alsoreceive special guidance and preparation for becomingattractive candidates for national scholarships andgraduate school.

STUDENT NEWS

Ripon College’s Ethics Bowl Team qualified for nationalsfor the third consecutive year and placed 11th out of32 colleges and universities in Jacksonville, Florida, inFebruary. The team comprised SOPHIA KAOUNAS’14, CONNOR CUMMISKEY ’16, ZACH MATSON’17 and J.J. GRINDE ’17.

Four seniors from the Rhetorical Criticism class — BENFIRGENS, SAMANTHA GOODWIN, ALLIEPASDERA and RYAN RIEBE — were invited toattend the DePauw National Undergraduate HonorsConference for Communication and Theatre inGreencastle, Indiana, in April. Thirty top communicationundergraduate students from around the nationparticipated in scholarly dialogue, networked andreceived feedback from leading communication scholars.

MALAINEY MYRIN ’16 wasnamed Miss Fond du Lac 2014 onMarch 8. For her talent, she performeda lyrical dance to “Fast Car,” by BoyceAvenue. She stood on a platform ofbreast cancer awareness in honor of

her great-grandmother, aunt and mother, who all werediagnosed with breast cancer. Among her awards, sheearned an $8,000 scholarship to Ripon College.

RIPONMAKES BIG IMPACTONDAM IN PANAMATHIS JANUARYTwenty-two Ripon College students and friends, including Chairof the Board of Trustees BOB KIRKLAND ’81, helped on adam-building project in Panama in January. This annual service tripassists Ripon native Father Wally Kasuboski in his effort to providewater to more than 5,000 people during the dry season. A video canbe viewed here: goo.gl/KBOSMY

HISTORICALBASKETBALLPHOTOSUPLOADEDONLINESeveral historical basketball pictures from Ripon College havebeen uploaded to the Recollection Wisconsin Digital Library. goo.gl/2kQyQ4 Intercollegiate basketball teams have competed atRipon since at least 1907. The new digital collection showcasesalmost 200 photos of men’s and women’s intercollegiate andintramural basketball teams at Ripon from the early 1900s throughthe 1980s.

Photo: Don Stevens holds the ball and is surrounded by the much taller members of the Ripon College Basketball team in 1946.

BOLDTCO. RECEIVES FOUNDERS’ DAYAWARDAppleton-based construction firm The Boldt Company was honored withRipon College’s Founders’ Day Award in February. The annual award ispresented to an individual or organization in the greater Ripon communitywho exemplifies the ideals of the founders of Ripon College. The BoldtCompany Chairman Oscar Boldt; his wife, Pat; son, Tom, and his wife,Renee; Scott Morton and Bob DeKoch represented the company.

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 27

retireesROBERt DULEy, head coach ofcross country and track and field.

He had been with Ripon College for21½ years. “The student athletes atRipon College are very special, justfun to be around, very motivated and

just good people. I very much enjoyed my time at theCollege. It’s a wonderful place to be a part of. I now amcoaching basketball at Westfield Area High School, so I’mnot going to completely retire.”

JEAN HOOKER, academic supportspecialist, C.J. Rodman Center forthe Arts.

“It has been a wonderful experiencefor me for the past 16 years. Ifeel fortunate to have had such a

stimulating work environment created by the faculty, staffand students. The variety of challenging projects kept thejob interesting. I will definitely miss all the activity andinteraction with everyone.

“I am looking forward to spending more time withmy family and friends. Visiting and hiking in all thenational parks out-of-season will be a special treat. I stillwill be in the area during the warmer months tendingto the bee hives as well as gardening, painting, hikingand biking. Thank you, everyone at Ripon College, forthe fond memories.”

VIDA VANDE SLUNt, academicsupport specialist, West Hall andSmith Hall.

“I’ve been with Ripon College for 20years. Besides working and feeling likemy faculty are part-family, I have really

enjoyed the students and seeing them develop and grow.I’m very happy about my continued relationships withmany of them. My retirement will be planned aroundfamily and, hopefully, lots of traveling. Lots of adventuresare in store for me and my husband, Dennis.”

LUCINDA “CyNDI” WESt,secretary/technician in Admission.

She was with the College for 13½years. “I miss the people. They’refantastic. It was a great environmentto be in, and it was a wonderful

family that I was privileged to be a part of. I missgreeting the people and seeing all the students comingand going, seeing them go through their four yearsand seeing them in their futures. I’ve got many, manyprojects that were put on hold through the years. Ihave a lot of family, and this is an opportunity to becloser to my parents. I’m staying busy, and I hope totravel abroad with my daughter.”

MELISSA VELPEL ’16 received ascholarship to attend an archaeologicalfield school May 27-June 22 inKenchreai, Greece. Two of the three fullscholarships were reserved for HarvardUniversity undergraduates; the third

was awarded to Velpel in a national competition. Velpel isan anthropology and classical studies double major andthe third Ripon College student in four years to receive ascholarship for the field school.

The Ripon College Speech and Debate teamfinished in the top five at five different tournaments,including second place at the St. Cloud UniversityInvitational. Ripon hosted and placed third at theWisconsin State Collegiate Championships, and seniorDAVID GARCIA was crowned State Champion inExtemporaneous Speaking. At the American ForensicAssociation National Individual Events Tournament,Garcia ranked 26th nationally. Ripon attended the PiKappa Delta National Tournament for the first timein more than 20 years. ANGELICA SCHWARtZ’14, CAROLINE LUNDt ’16 and ALLISONMACKNICK ’17 were quarterfinalists; and KAtIEBIEDLER ’15 was a semifinalist. ALLISONREINHARDt ’17 represented Wisconsin in theInterstate Oratory National Championships hostedby James Madison University. She finished among thetop 35 speakers in the nation. SOPHIA KAOUNAS’14 and ANGELICA SCHWARtZ ’14 will workwith Director of Forensics and Assistant Professor ofCommunication DEANO PAPE this summer with theChina Debate Program at Harvard University.

WINtER/SPRING AtHLEtICS HIGHLIGHtS

In men’s basketball, freshman tySABIN was named Midwest RegionRookie of the Year and Sabin rankedsecond in Division-III for 3-pointshooting (50.8 pct.). ty KEtZ ’15and Sabin ranked eighth and 14th,

respectively, in free-throw shooting. KyLE LOUGHRIN’15 was named Second Team All-Conference, and Sabinreceived honorable mention. The team ranked third inNCAA Division-III (410 teams) in free-throw pct.; fourthin 3-point pct.; ninth in field goal pct.; and eighth inDivision-III for fewest turnovers. School records were setfor 3-pointers made (179) and for free-throw pct (.797).

In women’s basketball, JILLVANEPEREN ’14was namedAcademic All-American Third Team; oneof 10 finalists for the Jostens Trophy; andSecond Team All-Conference. She brokea school record for single-game assists

with 13. She is the only women’s player from the MidwestConference to be selected to any of this year’s three teams,which each consist of five players.

The swim team broke 14 school records at the 2014Midwest Conference Championships (eight for the men’steam and six for the women’s team)

The indoor track & field team broke two school records– LEXIE SCHAFFER ’14 in the women’s 200 metersAND ZACH BEEK ’15 in the men’s shot put.

In softball, KORRINE PEtERSON ’15 tied a schoolrecord with four stolen bases vs. Trinity. She finished98th in Division-III for steals per game and fourthin school history for a single season with 15 steals.CASSIE BILOttO ’14 finished her Ripon careerranking second in RBI (89), fourth in home runs (14),fifth in doubles (24) and fifth in hits (125).

In baseball,MARSHALL ZAHN’15 set a single-game school recordwith 15 strikeouts in a 9-1 win overLawrence. That record also is tied forfifth in Midwest Conference history.Named to the All-Conference team

were Zahn,MICHAEL POLCyN ’17,MItCHELLBUSCH ’15, NICK SCHMItt ’16, tOM SAWyER’15 and PAtRICK VAN DAALWyK ’15. Buschand Schmitt each were named to the ABCA All-RegionSecond Team and were D3baseball.com All-RegionSecond Team selections. Second-year head coach ERICCRUISE was named MWC North Coach of the Year forthe second consecutive season after leading Ripon to a14-2 conference record in consecutive years.

In outdoor track & field, the team set three schoolrecords – SPENCER REISBICK ’14 in the men’s triplejump; LyDIA POMEROy ’16 in the women’s hammerthrow; and the women’s 4x100 relay team of LEXIESCHAFFER ’14, LyDIA SONDALLE ’14, KARENASCHROEDER ’15 andNICOLE ZEMAN ’17.

ZACH BEEK ’15 qualified forthe 2014 NCAA Division-IIIOutdoor National Meet, hostedby Ohio Wesleyan in Delaware,Ohio. His shotput mark of 54-10 at the Midwest Conference

Championships set new school and conferencerecords and ranks ninth in Division-III this season.He also was named MWC Men’s Field Performer ofthe Meet at the MWC Championships.

Members of the cycling team, including ROSEttEREyNOLDS ’14, BEN SENKERIK ’15, CORRIE

SOPHIE KLINGENBERGER ’14 and KAtIEDREW ’14, French horn; andMAGGIE BREEN-LyLES ’16 and VERONICA DELISLE ’17, flute,were selected to participate in the National BandAssociation’s Wisconsin Chapter College All Star Band inJanuary from a record number of applicants.From left to right they are: Sophie Klingenberger and KatieDrew (French horn), and Maggie Breen-Lyles and VeronicaDeLisle (flute)

OSBORNE ’17 and SOPHIA MARCHIANDO’17, placed third at USA Cycling’s Collegiate Cyclo-cross Nationals in Boulder, Colorado, in January. Theduo of Senkerik and Osborne also made the podiumin the team relay, finishing second.

Also see the feature on junior baseball player Michael Polcynon Page 22.


the 1930s/1940s

CAROL MAAS GALGINAtIS ‘44 of PebbleBeach, California, paints large semi-abstract oils,usually based on nature.

DOROtHy NEESE EVANS ’46of Miami, Florida, sings in herchurch choir, drives and worksout with a trainer twice a week.She attends many family softball,volleyball and soccer games.

GERALDINE BIRKHOLZ ’47 of West Bend,Wisconsin, writes: “Still traveling Panama Canal,Mexico, Hawaii. Taught vacation Bible school inHomer, Alaska. It’s a great world!”

the 1950s

tHOMAS HARtNEtt ’50 of Waukesha,Wisconsin, and his late wife, Bernice, weremarried for 65 years. He shares, “We lived inRipon during my last 1½ years at Ripon Collegeafter serving in the Marine Corps during WorldWar II.”

PEtER J.POWELL ’50 ofChicago, Illinois,published “InSun’s Likenessand Power,” a

two-volume study relating to Cheyenne Indianheraldry, with the University of Nebraska Pressin July. They are part of a book series Powellbegan in 1955.

DUDLEy SAUVE ’51 ofFarmville, Virginia, hasparticipated in communitytheater for 40 years.

CAROL SIMPELAAR MAtHIS ’53 of Madison,Wisconsin, enjoys making quilts and dolls, andplaying bridge.

VERNE B. CHURCHILL JR. ’54 ofNorthbrook, Illinois, married Lori

Hochschild, Dec. 7, 2013.

JEAN SPIKINGS DAVIS ’54 of ArlingtonHeights, Illinois, taught a course in “WritingYour Memoirs” for her P.E.O. woman’s group. Sheloves reading historical books.

FRED ROEMING ’55 of Monument,Colorado, married Carol Tahse, Oct. 19,

2013. He has purchased a new winter home inGreen Valley, Arizona.

NORMAN BURKE ’56 and ARLENE FORDBURKE ’58 live in Strawberry, Arizona. Normanstill conducts Sunday services at St. Paul’s

Episcopal Church in Winslow and St. GeorgeEpiscopal Church in Holbrook. Arlene is retiredafter 50 years of nursing.

HARRIEt BRUCKMAN ROOP ’56 of CostaMesa, California, works part time in travel andrecently returned from a trip to India.

BRUCE ANDERSON ’57 of Bonita Springs,Florida, volunteers with Habitat for Humanity.

FRANK BROCKWAy ’57 of Lisle, Illinois, is inhis 50th season with the Downers Grove ChoralSociety. He also was president for �ve years. Hesang with the chorus at Ripon College and was amember of the Riponaires, a small ensemble thatrecruited at high schools in the Chicago area.

JACK FEHLANDt ‘57 of Bartlett, Illinois, retiredafter 20 years inspecting homes and six yearsteaching for a Home Inspection School, but hestill presents seminars; serves on condominiumassociation boards in Sun City, Arizona,and Bartlett, Illinois; does child care for hischurch; and teaches home safety for Habitat forHumanity. He spends half the year in Illinois andhalf the year in Arizona.

CAtHy HALL GANt ’57 of Silverthorne,Colorado, practiced law for many years andwas a judge for 12 years. She now reads once aweek to kindergarten students at a dual-languageschool, plays viola in a community orchestra,and is a bronze life master in bridge.

DUANE KOPLIEN ’57 of Weyauwega,Wisconsin, enjoys traveling, gardening andvisiting with his �ve grandchildren.

JAN RACKOW MELL ’57 of Port Angeles,Washington, enjoys a book club.

ROBERt “BUZZ” HUMKE ’58 of Middleton,Wisconsin, has a novel, “The Logging RoadGang.” It features the 1938-39 adventures ofpre-teens in a small central Wisconsin town.

JANICE HUME KONStANS ’58 of St. Charles,Illinois, is remodeling her condo in Florida.She also enjoys reading, traveling and doingvolunteer work.

StAN ROWLAND ’58 andROSE MARy SyCKROWLAND ’58 of Glendale,Arizona, served for �ve yearseach in Kenya and Uganda

through Campus Crusade for Christ. Stan nowworks with churches and helped developCommunity Health Evangelism to break poverty,plant churches and transform lives andcommunities. CHE is used in more than 125developing nations and by almost 700 differentorganizations in more than 5,000 locations. Hisbook, “Multiplying Light and Truth,” has beentranslated into Spanish, Portuguese and Korean.

He has co-written four other books and writtena number of magazine articles.

DAN ANDERSON ’59 and RONELLBRADBEER ANDERSON ’59 live in WestChester, Pennsylvania. Dan attends classes atthe University of Delaware Learning Center, andRonnie is an antique appraiser.

DAVID MIRISCH ’59 ofMissoula, Montana, is presidentof David Mirisch Enterprises, aninternational promotion �rm. Hislatest book is “The Charity EventPlanning Guide.” dmirisch.com.

VICtOR “JERRy” WOEStE ’59 of Eugene,Oregon, retired after several years as a nationaldirector of SCORE for the Oregon andsouthwest Washington district. He continues asa counselor. He retired in 1999 as a �nancialadviser with Smith Barney.

the 1960s

SUSAN HANSEN ’62 of Lake Forest, California,is semi-retired but consults with two medicaldevice corporations. She also speaks at medicaland nursing nephrology conventions.

LARRy HAMILtON ’63 ofDallas, Texas, has received RiponCollege’s Distinguished AlumniCitation. He is chief executiveofficer of Hamilton PropertiesCorp., preserving historic

buildings while revitalizing downtowns. He hashelped revitalize districts in central Denver,Dallas and Houston.

DAVID G. HARtMAN ’64 ofNew Providence, New Jersey.,has received Ripon College’sDistinguished Alumni Citation.He is retired as chief actuary andsenior vice president of the

Chubb Group of Insurance Companies aftermore than 34 years, and has been active innumerous industry and communityorganizations. He has served on the RiponCollege Board of Trustees since 1996.

ROBERt J. StORMS JR. ’64 of Norwich,Connecticut, served for more than 11 years inU.S. Army logistics, including 18 months as acaptain in Vietnam, and returned to SoutheastAsia with the Christian and Missionary Allianceas a missionary associate based in Thailand. Henow is semi-retired in Connecticut.

GARy NEI ’65 of Lake Forest,Illinois, has an adult thrillernovel, “City of Witches,” availableon Amazon.com. goo.gl/FRnQvi

C L A S S N o t e s

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 29

DICK BENNEtt ’65 of Nekoosa,Wisconsin, was featured in theWashington Post on March 27. Hisson, Tony, is coach of theUniversity of Virginia basketballteam, which was in the Sweet 16

of March Madness. goo.gl/AEid1G.

CHARLES P. BURtON ’68 of Suffern, NewYork, writes: “Finally retired and bought a‘snowbird’ villa in Boynton Beach, Florida. Nomore snow, please!”

RICHARD “GREG” DUNN ’68 of Salisbury,North Carolina, is chairman of the RowanCounty United Way’s 2014-15 fund-raisingcampaign. He serves on the United Wayboard of directors and is a past president. Hewas president of Real Reel Corp./Multi-WallPackaging from 1971 until retiring in 2011.

SCOtt MAtHOt ’68 of Loudon, Tennessee, isactive in the Stay in TV project in Tellico Village,helping residents stay in the community as longas possible.

tERRy BOGARD ’69 of Winston-Salem,North Carolina, is an associate professor inanesthesiology at Wake Forest University Schoolof Medicine.

CRIStA StALEy ELLIS ’69 of Saratoga Springs,New York, retired in 2007 as a graphic artist forthe Ayco Co., a Goldman Sachs subsidiary. Shenow enjoys painting and knitting.

JOHN ERICH ’69 of Scottsdale,Arizona, is president of theMillennium Housing FoundationInc., which provides housing forvery-low-income elderly andfamilies. He practices law at

Reinhart, Boerner.

WILLIAM GEBHARDt ’69 of Frankfort,Illinois, retired April 18, 2014.

RICK HENRy ’69 of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,retired after 40 years with the Hearst Corp., mostrecently as president/general manager of WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.

WILLIAM CHEStER JORDAN‘69 of Princeton, New Jersey, aTrustee of Ripon College, waselected president of theMedieval Academy of Americain April 2014.

AL LONG ’69 of Green Bay,Wisconsin, has been inductedinto the Ripon College AthleticHall of Fame. He played a keyrole on two Midwest ConferenceChampionship football teams. A

three-time MWC First Team selection atrunning back, Long finished his career with themost rushing touchdowns in school history(32), a mark that stood for 25 years; and otherschool records.

tHOMAS MACE ’69 of Menasha, Wisconsin,retired from NASA on Dec. 31, 2012, andmoved back to Wisconsin to care for his parents.He is starting a remote sensing consulting firm.

MICHAEL S. MALONEy ’69 of Noblesville,Indiana, recently retired from ButlerUniversity after 37 years of teaching. He plansnow to race pigeons.

MICHAEL Q. WILLIAMS ’69 of Manitowoc,Wisconsin, was elected to the Manitowoc CountyBoard of Supervisors in April 2014, exactly 40years after being elected mayor of Ripon.

the 1970s

MARK ANDREWS ’73 and JACKIE FARMERANDREWS ’73 live in Sebring, Florida. Markcycles 120 miles a week, is chairman of theSebring Hall of Fame, a member of the SebringAirport Authority Board and chairman of hisRotary Club’s cycling race held every February.

(KAtHRyN) JANE BENSON ’73 ofSteilacoom, Washington, has worked inemployee assistance programs for 18 years,first in the private sector and now with theState of Washington. She “wears many hats” intherapy, marketing, publications, training andstate emergency operations.

SARAH WRIGHt ENDSLEy ’73 of Duluth,Minnesota, has retired after working inMontessori education for 34 years. She enjoystraveling and camping.

KAtHy GRAUNKE ’73 of Seattle, Washington,last year visited England to see her father-in-law,who was studying at Oxford, and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Lady Cora,the American wife of a British aristocrat, on thetelevision series “Downton Abbey.”

DAVID GROSSMAN ’73 of Lunenburg,Massachusetts, founded the Lunenburg Ledgernewspaper in 1997 and is still is the publisher.He also publishes the annual “Apple PickingGuide” for central Massachusetts.

DANA NICHOLLS LABRUM ’73 of Bremen,Indiana, is manager of the Roger B. FrancisBranch of the St. Joseph County Public Libraryin South Bend, Indiana.

JOSEPH SANDRIN ’73 of Bayside, Wisconsin,is manager of a program supporting theKingdom of Saudi Arabia in its efforts toremediate and restore damages to the desertand coastal environments from the First GulfWar. This project is funded through the UnitedNations. He has been with CH2M HILL, whichoffers environmental and engineering consultingservices, for more than 25 years and recentlycompleted his PADI open water and advancedopen water dive certification.

GARy SHARPE ’73 of Fond duLac, Wisconsin, is completinghis fourth year as a circuit courtjudge in Fond du Lac County.Previously, he practiced law for34 years.

ELIZABEtH HENDERSONBARRAtt ’74 of Carmel Valley,California, received the “Womenin American History” awardfrom the National Society ofthe Daughters of the American

Revolution for her publications and work in thefield of local and California state history.

BIL LEWIS ’74 of Cambridge, Massachusetts, isdriving an F-150, delivering water to the peopleaffected by the spill in West Virginia.

tIM VERNIER ’74 of Tomah,Wisconsin, has alight-hearted detectivenovel, “Feckenmeyer’sMailbox.” The maincharacter owns

a restaurant, liquor store andbookstore. www.tevernier.com

MIKE BOHREN ’69 of Delafield, Wisconsin,was elected to a third six-year term as aWisconsin Circuit Court Judge in 2013 inWaukesha County.


JACQUELINE VIECELI ’74of Mankato, Minnesota, hasreceived Ripon College’sDistinguished AlumniCitation. She brings views ofphilosophers from throughout

history to the forefront of current dialog. Since2006, she has been director of the KesselPeace Institute at Minnesota State University,Mankato. Her book, A Philosophy of GlobalPluralism: A Multicultural Approach to PoliticalTheory, was published in 2013.

DAVID WHEELER ’74 ofMinneapolis, Minnesota, is thenew executive director of theNational Parkinson FoundationMinnesota, which serves25,000 families.

LEN KACHINSKy ’75 of Neenah, Wisconsin,completed his 72nd lifetime marathon byrunning the Solidarity Marathon in Gdansk,Poland, in August 2013.

KEItH SPENCE ’75 of Jacksonville, Florida,is retiring. He taught high school math andsixth-grade math and language arts; and was anelementary counselor for 24 years.

PAtRICK C. SAUNDERS ’76 of New Franken,Wisconsin, retired after 37 years in Wisconsinpublic education. He served 25 years as aschool district superintendent. He continuesto teach graduate-level coursework for twoWisconsin universities.

LINDA SEAVERSON ’76 of Ames, Iowa, hasbeen the president and co-owner of MTECPhotoacoustics Inc. (www.mtecpas.com) for28 years.

BIRGIt ABROMAItIS REtSON ’77 ofCentreville, Virginia, is a public health nurseand care coordinator with the Fairfax CountyHealth Department and Fairfax CountyPublic Schools.

REBECCA GALLOWAy ’78 of Seattle,Washington, worked for 10 years at PlannedParenthood and 14 years at the University ofWashington. She enjoys bird-watching, hikingand swimming.

DAVE HANUS ’78 of Salem, Oregon, retiredin June 2013 after 18 years in high techindustries and 18 years teaching high schoolphysics and math. He now does substituteteaching, volunteers with the theater program,directs a search and rescue group in MarionCounty and travels.

BILL SCHUMACHER ’78 of Tucson, Arizona,owns Sonoran Solutions LLC, which offerscustom computer programming.

DONNA HANSEN SCyMANSKI ’78 ofHamden, Connecticut, is retired fromarchitecture and real estate. She now writeshistorical �ction.

SUE FEItH SHANNON ’78of Saukville, Wisconsin, wasrecognized with the HenryBergh Volunteer Award at theWisconsin Humane Society Gala.

JOHN ZINDAR ’78 of JerseyCity, New Jersey, is an adjunctprofessor of internationaleconomics and politics at NewYork University’s MS in GlobalAffairs program, and received the

university’s Award for Teaching Excellence andOutstanding Service in 2013. John also consultsin transatlantic business development at theEuropean-American Business Organization Inc.,headquartered in New York City.

StANLEy J. CIESLEWICZ ’79 is with the U.S.Army and lives in Wiesbuden, the Hessen statecapital in Germany, after 15 years in Heidelberg.

StEVEN RASHID ’79 ofEvanston, Illinois, hosts aThursday night music series atthe Whiskey Lounge, 27 Live. Itprovides small-group jazz.

the 1980s

tIM BARNES ’80 of Waukesha,Wisconsin, has been inductedinto the Ripon College AthleticHall of Fame. In basketball,he played in two conferencechampionship and NCAA

Tournament teams and was co-captain of Ripon’s�rst 20-win team during the 1979-80 season.He holds school records for career rebounds andsingle-season rebounds.

RICHARD KRUEGER ’80 of DeForest,Wisconsin, married Tricia Statz, Dec.

20, 2013.

GAyLE FANOK MCMAHON ’80 of Atlanta,Georgia, celebrated 15 years at Amdocs inMarch 2014. She is on the board of directors forAlliance Française d’Atlanta.

KENt tIMM ’81 of Saginaw, Michigan, is adoctor of physical therapy at Renue PhysicalTherapy. Renue has been accepted into theU.S. Olympic Committee’s National MedicalNetwork. Kent served on several Olympicmedical teams. Stories about Kent may beaccessed at goo.gl/lwNMdA and goo.gl/CrwMjs

StEVEN WOODS ’82 and KARA ZARtNERWOODS ’85 live in Prescott, Arizona. Afterretiring from the Army, Steve is now chieflogistics officer for the Northern ArizonaVeterans Administration Health Care System.Kara teaches eighth-grade science.

BARBARA WILLIAMS CLAy ’83 of EdenPrairie, Minnesota, is the new vice presidentfor strategy/product development/productmanagement for the HomeOwnershipPreservation Foundation.

MARK FRANZEN ’83 of NewBerlin, Wisconsin, spoke at RiponCollege on March 7 about “UsingBig Data to Predict Health CareCosts.” Milliman Inc., a Wisconsinconsulting �rm, uses Big Data to

help its health insurance clients provide insurancequotes in real time. Franzen also is a member ofRipon College’s Board of Trustees.

LARRy HUEBNER ’83 of OwensCross Roads, Alabama, writes:“Still honored to be working atNASA; current activity has beenas integrated product team leadfor �ight vehicle development on

a small, low-cost launch vehicle concept.”

MIKE FRANCOLUCCI ’84 of Tucson, Arizona,is a regional manager for Raynor Corp., a garagedoor manufacturer.

GREGG HALVORSEN ’84 ofSuamico, Wisconsin, is acommercial lender in investmentreal estate for North Shore Bank inGreen Bay. His book, “Halved,” byDaniel Crowbridge (his pen name),

is about four golfers who discover that focus andconcentration can make your future. Gregg sayshe used several memories/stories from Riponwhile writing his novel. goo.gl/PWCv93

DAVE SHOGREN ’84 of Maplewood, Missouri, hasbeen appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerceto serve on the District Export Council for St.Louis. exportmissouri.info/ Dave is vice president-international for Resource One of St. Louis.

KEN CARLSON ’85 of Sauk City, Wisconsin, isvice president–planning/business developmentat Sauk Prairie Healthcare. He recently becamea Fellow of the American College of HealthcareExecutives, the nation’s leading professionalsociety for healthcare leaders.

JEAN DANCy JONES ’85 of Marietta, Georgia,is a business analyst doing telecom consultingwith CGI Inc.

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LISA ULMEN ROACH ’85 of Tinley Park,Illinois, is a manager of Master Data Systems, aSix Sigma Black Belt and a member of the CintasGlobal Supply Chain Center for Excellence forCintas Corp. in Chicago.

MAtt RUSS ’85 of Pensacola, Florida, retiredfrom the U.S. Navy in April 2010. He is anemergency medical technician for Lifeguard EMSin Santa Rosa County and a volunteer �re�ghterwith Escambia County Fire Rescue.

CRAIG BENZEL ’86 of Pulaski,Wisconsin, is now vice presidentof sales and business developmentfor the Green Bay Packers.

LOIS BRENNAN ’86 of Hingham, Massachusetts,is a global account lead for the Premier salesteam of Forester Research. She works with the adagency holding company Publicis.

CHRIStOPHER DOONA ’86 of Marlborough,Massachusetts, is a research chemist for the Armydoing research and development in combat rations,water recycling and decontaminating clothing. Heis past chair of Institute of Food Technologists-NonThermal Division and gave a keynote address in RioDe Janeiro, Brazil, in 2013.

SCOtt StRAZZANtE ’86 ofYorkville, Illinois, won �rstplace in the Visual Columncategory of the National PressPhotographers Association’sBest Of Photojournalism 2014

competition. He won for his “Shooting from theHip” in the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

ALICE GALLAGHERARCHABAL ’89 of Northbrook,Illinois, is chief developmentofficer and vice president ofdevelopment at FroedtertHospital and The Medical

College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

tED HARWOOD ’89 of The Woodlands, Texas,retired from the Army in 2013 and now is a safetyand security adviser for ExxonMobil in Houston.

AMy ROSER ’89 of San Tan Valley, Arizona, isa medical support clinical hypnotherapist andwellness coach.

the 1990s

SARA LAWSON HENRy ’90 of Minneapolis,Minnesota, is a senior instructional designer atC.H. Robinson Worldwide.

SUSAN yELICH BINIECKI ’91and her husband,Waldek, of Manhattan,Kansas, were honored atthe Polish IndependenceDay/Veterans Day event

in Milwaukee in November. They wererecognized by the consulate general of theRepublic of Poland in Chicago, the MilwaukeeCounty Board of Supervisors and theMilwaukee Common Council.

LAURIE MUELLER DZIEKAN ’91 of Random,Lake, Wisconsin, is a senior business analyst atACUITY Insurance in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

KIM GLOSE MICHALIK ’91 and her husband,Joe, of Chepachet, Rhode Island, have purchasedOakleaf Campground. They and their fourdaughters are open for the 2014 camping season.

AMy MIEtZEL ’91 of Madison,Wisconsin, opened her newbusiness, Bare Knuckle Arts,in May. The independent artcenter offers weeklong summerclasses for children in grades 1-9

in visual arts, weekend workshops for adults,family fun weeks, and art parties for everyone.www.bareknucklearts.com

tAMI O’BRION-MOHAMMED ’91 and SALIMMOHAMMED ’93 of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin,have opened their own insurance agency, PineHill Insurance. A feature about how their familyblends Christian and Muslim traditions waspublished in the Dec. 23, 2013, edition of theBeaver Dam Daily Citizen newspaper.goo.gl/4GmbK2

MAURA MURPHy ’91 of St. Louis Park,Minnesota, is assistant general counsel atGeneral Mills.

KAREN MCCULLOCH CHILStROM ’92 andher husband, John, of Austin, Texas, have a son,Joseph Christopher Chilstrom, adopted fromUkraine in January 2014.

DONALD FRANCIS ’93 and his wife, Kelly,of Platteville, Wisconsin, have a son, ZavierTodd Francis, born Feb. 17, 2013. Don is

the summer camps services coordinator for theUniversity of Wisconsin-Platteville.

MARLA MAy ’93 of Crandon, Wisconsin, is aninfusion nurse in the rheumatology departmentof Marsh�eld Clinic in Wausau.

SABRINA MCGARy ’93 ofDover, Delaware, is an associateprofessor of biology at DelawareState University and recentlywas promoted to the director ofgraduate programs.

KAtHERINE L. BRADy ’94 and herhusband, Matthew Hauschild, of Tustin,California, have a daughter, Ava Hauschild,

born in October 2012.

tODD JAMIE JOHNSON ’94 of Newport,Rhode Island, recently completed the New YorkCity and Honolulu marathons and raised $1,300for the Wounded Warrior Project. He now isteaching at the Naval War College.

JON KAMINSKI ‘95 of Mooresville, NorthCarolina, is a senior manager with Accenture.

VINCE PADILLA ’95 and AMy DEKEySERPADILLA ’95 live in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.Amy is the bene�ts manager at FairwayIndependent Mortgage, and Vince is aphotographer. Photos are at vincepad.com/blog.

RACHEL BERK ’97 married DanielBata, Nov. 2, 2013. They live in St.

Charles, Illinois.

JASON CORStEN ’97 of Marinette,Wisconsin, is a chemical operator/engineer withChemDesign Inc. in Marinette.

RANDALL WICKMAN ’91 of Fort Lewis,Washington, returned from Afghanistan wherehe commanded the Joint Unit and BorderCoordination Center between Afghanistan andPakistan, located within the fabled Khyber Pass.Col. Wickman assumed command of the 189thInfantry Brigade at Fort Lewis in May 2013.

SCOtt SCHILLER ’90 of Elm Grove, Wisconsin,is an art director, author and illustrator forCountrymagazine, a Reader’s Digest publication.He also owns The Pet Sketcher (thepetsketcher.com) and draws custom pet portraits.


HEAtHER MULLALLy ’97 of Berlin,Wisconsin, married Bret Steffen, Jan. 1,

2010. She is the community relations managerwith Community Health Network.

NAtALIE JOHNSON ’98 of Manitou Springs,Colorado, is the executive director of theManitou Art Center.

MEGAN WOLGAMOt MALVEy ’98 of St. Paul,Minnesota, is now a senior marketing managerat Ecolab. She is the in-house director for thelocal youth basketball association and coachof both her children’s teams. She also coachedher son, Ryan’s, junior robotics team (FirstLego League).

CARRIE MOORE PARMEtER ’98 ofMenomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is manager oflearning and development at Shelter MortgageCo. LLC.

JULIE MAtHERS HOGAN ’99 of Denver,Colorado, joined Hunger Free Colorado asdirector of development in October 2013. Shehas been in fundraising for 13 years.

the 2000s

PAtRICK CASEy ’00 of St. James, Minnesota,is a partner at Farrish Johnson Law Office. Hejoined the �rm in 2010 and focuses on criminaldefense, family law and civil litigation. Casey’swife, RACHEL tHOMPSON CASEy ’99, teachesin the St. James schools.

REBECCA PEtERSON HUGHES ’00 and herhusband, Nick, of Seattle, Washington, havea son, Tristan William Hughes, born May

25, 2013. Rebecca is now the director of LittleFriends School.

DAN PACER ’00 of Chicago, Illinois, has joinedBizDox as a senior programmer.

JOE BUCHHOLZ ’01 of Thornton, Colorado, is asystem administrator for Hall & Evans Law Firmin Denver. He also has a home business, Wood2.0, and up-cycles objects such as wine barrels,pallets, and old barn wood into household items.

JEFFREy MASSEN ’01 and KARALyNDEHN MASSEN ’06 of Berlin, Wisconsin,have a daughter, Evalynn Harms Dehn

Massen, born Oct. 14, 2013.

SEAN RIESENBERG ’01 and AMANDALUttENBERGER RIESENBERG ’03 live in DePere, Wisconsin. Sean graduated May 12, 2013,with a master’s degree in liberal studies from St.Norbert College. He is now a project managerwith Hurckman Mechanical in Green Bay.Amanda has completed two marathons.

ELIZABEtH WEBB BEELES ’02 of Salem,Oregon, is publications and Web coordinatorwith the Oregon State Department of Agriculture.

HEIDI FOStER DUSEK ’02 andher husband, Brent, of New London,Wisconsin, have a son, Caleb, born in

March 2010, and a daughter, EllaMae, born inApril 2012. Heidi completed her master’s degreein educational technology in August 2010. Sheis the community engagement manager for theCommunity Foundation for the Fox Valley Inc.

BRIAN FRItZ ’02 and tERA BRUSSFRItZ ’02 of Three Lakes, Wisconsin, havea daughter, Zoey Lynn Fritz, born June

10, 2013. Brian is the BMO Harris branchmanager and assistant vice president, and Terais the payroll and bene�ts coordinator for theNorthland Pines School District.

StEPHANIE JENNIGES ’02 and BUDDyHyLLBERG ’04 of Grayslake, Illinois,

were married June 22, 2013.

JEROME JAMES ’02 and KELLy KUJAVAJAMES ’02 of Chicago, Illinois, have a son,Charles Bradley James, born Jan. 1, 2014.

MELISSA KUBAI ’02 of Tucson, Arizona, ishead of ophthalmology at Veterinary SpecialtyCenter of Tucson.

JOSHUA MASON-BARKIN ’02 of San Mateo,California, is director of congregational learningat Temple Emanu-El in San Jose, California.

RyAN MORGAN ’02 and his wife, Jenny, ofMenomonee Falls, Wisconsin, have a son,Carter, born Nov. 13, 2013.

LAyNE BURKEttE ’03 and her husband,Blair, of Jackson, Wisconsin, have a daughter,Krue Hana Burkette, born Aug. 17, 2013.

BRItt StEIGER FRANK ’03 and herhusband, David, of Cedarburg, Wisconsin,have a daughter, Addison June Frank, born

Sept. 22, 2013.

LUKE HAGEL ’03 of WestBend, Wisconsin, has beeninducted into the Ripon CollegeAthletic Hall of Fame. He wasa three-time All-Conferencebaseball selection, twice as First

Team, and was named All-Region as a senior.He ranked second in school history for bothcareer stolen bases and triples, and third in runsscored and in hits. In football, Hagel was MWCOffensive Player of the Year as a senior, SecondTeam All-Region and Third Team All-American.

CURtIS MAURER ’03 andMOLLy KNEIP MAURER’03 of Neenah, Wisconsin,

have a daughter, Alea HaydenMaurer, born April 13, 2013.Molly has been inducted into the

Ripon College Athletic Hall of Fame. She wasa four-time All-Conference selection for Ripon’swomen’s basketball team, and is the only playerin school history to record at least 100 assists inmore than one season.

MIKE MAXWELL ’03 ofChicago, Illinois, has written asatirical river tour for Chicagoand is opening Saturdays in July.www.mikemaxwell.org.

ANNE NEGRI ’03 of Evanston,Illinois, had a brief residency inMarch with the Ripon Collegetheatre department. She is apublished playwright.

HEIDI RIECKMANN SCHROEDER ’03 ofWaupaca, Wisconsin, has owned Blush PicturesLLC, a photography studio, for �ve years andrecently opened a second photography studio indowntown New London.

tODD REINKE ’03 and SUSIEPEERENBOOM REINKE ’03 of Sheboygan,Wisconsin, have a daughter, Sadie Lorilei

Reinke, born Aug. 30, 2013.

CHARLIE SAPONARA ’03 and his wife,Brynn, of Visalia, California, have a son,Gordon Donato Saponara, born July 24, 2013.

KAtIE PLIER BOISVERt ’04 of Kewaskum,Wisconsin, teaches fourth grade at JacksonElementary School.

SCOtt BUCHHOLZ ’04 and JESSICAWALtERS BUCHHOLZ ’05 of San Jose,California, have a daughter, Alyssa Renee

Buchholz, born Jan. 24, 2013. Scott is a seniorquality assurance engineer for Nest LabsInc. in Palo Alto, California, which recentlywas purchased by Google. Jessica works forEnterprise Trust and Investment Co. in LosGatos, California.

CHRIStINE MACHROLI EAtON ’04and her husband, Kevin, of Hartford,Wisconsin, have two daughters, Hailey

Eaton, born Feb. 19, 2011, and Kennedy Eaton,born June 12, 2013.

KRIStEN MCCULLOUGH GRANCHALEK’04 and her husband, Gus, of Chicago,Illinois, have a son, Kipling James

Granchalek, born Jan. 13, 2014.

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JASON NUttALL ’04 and KAtHERINEMEAD NUttALL ’11 of Mauston, Wisconsin,have a daughter, Adeline Anne Nuttall,

born March 26, 2014. Both work at Mile BluffMedical Center in Mauston.

AMANDA VANStIPPEN LAtHROP ’04 ofGreen Bay, Wisconsin, has received Professionalin Human Resources (PHR) certi�cation.

LAUREN MARSHALL ’ 04 of Middleton,Wisconsin, is a physician assistant in hospitalmedicine at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison.

CANDICE NORtH ’04 of Jacksonville, Florida,had a traditional wedding ceremony withMohamed Cisse in Nouakchott, Mauritania,Africa, his hometown, in March 2014. Theyare planning an American wedding in thesummer of 2015 after she completes hermedical residency.

NICK SPAEtH ’04 of Plymouth, Wisconsin,was promoted to senior director of admissionsat Lakeland College. He also recently endedhis service as president of the college’s AlumniAssociation Board of Directors.

ELLEN VOSSEKUIL ’04 and PAULGALLAGHER ’06 of Salt Lake City,

Utah, were married Sept. 15, 2012. GWENSEFRHANS ’05 of Aledo, Illinois, officiated atthe wedding.

tOM BEAtty ’05 and ROBINROECKER ’06 of Princeton, Wisconsin,

were married June 8, 2013. Tom is an associatedirector in admission for Ripon College. Robinis a chiropractor at offices in Green Lake andWautoma; an adjunct professor in the biologydepartment at Ripon College; and helps treatstudent-athletes.

RACHEL yAtES ’04 of Portage, Wisconsin,is now director of business operations at H.G.Meigs, an asphalt and emulsion company.

WILLIAM “B.J.” DERNBACH JR. ‘05 ofVerona, Wisconsin, is the legislative liaison forthe Department of Workforce Development. InMay, he received his master’s degree in publicaffairs with a K-12 focus from the La FolletteSchool of Public Affairs at the University ofWisconsin-Madison.

SARAH tRILLER DyKStRA ’05 and herhusband, Don, of Fishers, Indiana, have adaughter, Adalena Marie Dykstra, born

Sept. 20, 2013.

JUStINA BAAtZ GUtBROD ’05 of Sussex,Wisconsin, is the staff development andcurriculum coordinator for Saint AdalbertSchool in Milwaukee. They serve about 500low-income students, most of whom speakSpanish and are learning English.

JACKI WEISS MAGNUS ’05 and VICtORMAGNUS ’06 of Princeton, Wisconsin,have a daughter, Kinzley Magnus, born

July 23, 2013, the day of their eighth weddinganniversary.

RENEA VORPAHL MERtENS ’05 of Green Bay,Wisconsin, has been promoted to a �eld claimsrepresentative at Acuity.

BRANDON MUMM ’05 and PAMELASCHUMACHER MUMM ’08 of Ripon,Wisconsin, have a daughter, Allison Karis

Mumm, born June 16, 2013.

KELSy PEtRyKOWSKI ’05 of Kula, Hawaii,teaches sixth grade at Haleakala Waldorf School.She also teaches West Coast swing dancing.

COLIN RAFFERty ’05 of Des Plaines, Illinois,graduated in March 2013 with a master’s ofbusiness administration degree from DePaulUniversity, completing a dual concentrationprogram in operations management and brandmanagement. He is the national accountmanager for the food division of Euro Centra.

tERRI KAHLER WERNER ’05 andher husband, Matthew, of Hortonville,Wisconsin, have a son, Maddex Adam

Werner, born Sept. 17, 2013.

CARSON ADLER ’06 of Madison, Wisconsin,is a development manager for Forte ResearchSystems, which makes software for medicalresearch companies.

LINDSAy BAHN ’06 of Eagle River, Alaska,commissioned with the Air Force in 2012 andis stationed at Elmendorf Air Force base inAnchorage, Alaska, serving as a certi�ednurse midwife.

ZENA BAUER ’06 of Green Bay,Wisconsin, is a senior instructional designerat United Healthcare.

ANDREW BESWICK ’06 and JESSICAFUOCCO BESWICK ’07 of Oconomowoc,Wisconsin, have a son, Tristan James

Beswick, born Nov. 5, 2012.

ZACHARy CHItWOOD ’06 of Berlin, Germany,completed his Ph.D. in history at PrincetonUniversity in June 2012. He is working onan interdisciplinary project, “Foundations inMedieval Societies,” funded by the EuropeanResearch Council.

JOE FONtAINE ’06 and KAELIN BUtCHFONtAINE ’06 of Monona, Wisconsin, havea son, Axel Luther Fontaine, born Feb. 5,

2014. Joe now is the evaluation coordinator forFocus on Energy, a statewide energy efficiencyand renewable energy program. Kaelin is abusiness analyst at Capitol Insurance.

ALISHA GARD ’06 of Stockton, California, isa server at Lou’s Fish Shack on San Francisco’spopular Fisherman’s Wharf.

KAtHERINE GILES ’06 and Brian Gilmanof Stillwater, Minnesota, have a son, LiamEmerson Giles Gilman, born June 5,

2013. She received her M.Ed. degree from theUniversity of Minnesota in May 2013, alongwith a teaching license in secondary educationsocial studies.

NEKIA MENA GOyERt ’06 and KEVINGOyERt ’07 of Fremont, California, havea daughter, Payton Annabelle Goyert, born

March 18, 2014.

NICOLE KLAAS ’06 of Fayetteville,North Carolina, married Zak Hands,

April 19, 2014.

CASEy KUEHN ’06 and his wife, Tina, ofRosendale, Wisconsin, have a son, QuintenTimothy Kuehn, born April 25, 2014.

ROSELyN MCNULty ’06 and SHANEEBEL ’07 of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, were

married Sept. 1, 2012. Rose is a training andresources representative at American Girl, andShane is a salesman at Phillips Distributing.

CAPt. MAttHEW MANGERSON ’04of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, received thenational Brig. Gen. William C. Bilo Awardin December 2013 as the Army’s bestenlisted or commissioned officer in �eldartillery. Mangerson led his unit, Battery B,1st Battalion, 121st Field Artillery out ofPlymouth, Wisconsin, to become the �rst HighMobility Artillery Rocket System in the historyof the National Guard to deploy to Afghanistanto conduct an artillery mission in supportof Operation Enduring Freedom. The unitreceived the Alexander Hamilton Field Artilleryaward. Mangerson now is the battalion trainingofficer for the 121st Field Artillery.


CHRIS NAKIELSKI ’06 of Chicago, Illinois,is the choral director at Loyola Academy inChicago. A video featuring Chris and studentscan be viewed at https://vimeo.com/90719021

ELIZABEtH REIBLE NEILSEN ’06 andMICHAEL J. NIELSEN ’07 of BeaverDam, Wisconsin, have a daughter, Claire

Elizabeth Nielsen, born Jan. 1, 2014. Elizabethis a physician’s assistant in family medicinewith Dean Clinic, and Michael is a physician’sassistant in emergency medicine at Beaver DamCommunity Hospital.

tIM PEtERS ’06 of Milton, Wisconsin, isthe shoulder coordinator for Wisconsin forDePuy Orthopaedics.

JESSE RUNDE ’06 and PAMELA DEFAttERUNDE ’07 of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, havea son, Andrew Robert Runde, born April

24, 2012. Pamela also graduated from nursingschool at Madison College in May 2013 and is aregistered nurse for the Wisconsin Departmentof Health Services.

BRyANt A. BEDNAREK ’07 and JESSICACHAtMON BEDNAREK ’08 of Berlin,Wisconsin, have a daughter, Zoey Lynn

Bednarek, born Oct. 10, 2013.

ADAM CARtWRIGHt ’07 of Verona,Wisconsin, is an associate scientist in ArrayProduction at Roche Nimblegen.

MARA EVANS ’07 of Chicago, Illinois,has delivered more than 200 babies atEvanston Hospital.

BOB FAULDS ’07 and StEPHANIE SOMMERFAULDS ’08 live in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin.Bob is a staffing manager at Baker Tilly Searchand Staffing, and Stephanie is an administrationmanager at Walgreens Distribution Center

in Windsor. She also has started a familyportrait photography business, www.BabbleheadsPhotography.com.

SANDy PAtROWSKy GEORGE ‘07 andher husband, Greg, of Menomonee Falls,Wisconsin, have a daughter, Natalie Kay

George, born April 25, 2014.

tARA RABIDEAUX JOHENEK ’07 of De Pere,Wisconsin, was featured in the April 2014 issueof Women magazine in an article are regionalveterinarians and vet techs. goo.gl/bn1Jkg.She is an associate veterinarian at Apple ValleyVeterinary Clinic in Appleton, Wisconsin.

KAtIE BRAUN JOHNSON ’07 of Racine,Wisconsin, is an independent living coordinatorworking with all disability populations forSocieties Assets.

AARON KAMMER ’07 and MICHEL BUSHKAMMER ’07 live in Superior, Colorado.Aaron is a chemist at Amgen in Boulder,Colorado, and Michel is an optometrist inNorthglenn, Colorado.

BEN KONECNy ’07 of Greeley, Colorado,married Caitlin O’Brien, Oct. 19, 2013.

Ben is an associate pastor at First CongregationalUnited Church of Christ.

ANDREA FURDEK LARSEN ’07 of SunPrairie, Wisconsin, was a coauthor withProfessor of Chemistry COLLEEN ByRONand others on “Secondary Coenzyme Q10Deficiency and Oxidative Stress in CulturedFibroblasts from Patients with RiboflavinResponse Multiple Acyl-CoA DehydrogenationDeficiency,” published in the Oct. 1, 2013,issue of Human Molecular Genetics.

tyLOR LOESt ’07 of Ripon, Wisconsin,has been promoted to assistant director ofdevelopment at Ripon College. He also hascompleted his sixth season of directing musicalsat Ripon High School

BRENDA NEMEtZ ’07 of Sussex, Wisconsin, isa museum associate at the Chaudnow Museumof Yesteryear in Milwaukee.

tyLER OttO ’07 and ALISON KRINGS’08 of Appleton, Wisconsin, were

married Dec. 1, 2013.

NAtE POLUM ’07 of Chicago,Illinois, is now the in-housecounsel at Oasis Legal Finance,the nation’s largest legal fundingcompany, headquartered inNorthbrook, Illinois.

JODI RABAS ’07 of Algoma, Wisconsin, hasopened Family First Chiropractic in downtownGreen Bay.

CHRIStOPHER REED-WADDELL ’07 ofVicksburg, Mississippi, says his wife, YuliyaReed-Waddell, joined him in the United Statesafter �nishing her immigration process in timefor their �rst anniversary. He is a FEMA Corpsunit leader with the Corporation for Nationaland Community Service.

ANDy REDLIN ’07 of Appleton,Wisconsin, married Karen Leister, May

18, 2013.

ADAM RONCHEttI ’07 of West Milwaukee,Wisconsin, is a research associate studyingmechanisms of eye development at the MedicalCollege of Wisconsin.

LACy ROURKE ’07 ofWashington, D.C., recentlyreceived Ripon College’sOutstanding Young AlumniAward. She is a strong voice forthe hundreds of still-missing

Vietnam War prisoners of war and missing-in-action veterans and their families.

ANDREW SOK ’07 of Naperville, Illinois,received his master’s degree in secondaryeducation from DePaul University. He now isthe Upper School Tech Coordinator at The LatinSchool of Chicago.

MARy StERREtt ’07 ofLouisville, Kentucky, willpresent her methadone andopioid research at ACOG’sdistrict meeting this fall, andrecently received a Resident

Reporter award at the annual ACOG meeting.She was inducted into the Gold HumanismSociety this summer. Currently, she is atWashington University for antepartumrotation work and research.

PRICE WARD ’07 and his wife, Erin“Kickie,” of Gainesville, Florida, have a son,Price “P.J.” Ward Jr., born Nov. 12, 2013.

ALEX WENtE ’07 of Kenosha, Wisconsin, isa staffing consultant at the corporate office ofCareerBuilder.com in Chicago.

LAUREN NyGREN BERtILSON ’08 and herhusband, Joe, of Ham Lake, Minnesota, havea daughter, Brielle Lynn Bertilson, born Feb.

1, 2014.

ALEXANDER CHIN ’08 of Middleton,Wisconsin, graduated from the Adler

School of Professional Psychology with hisdoctorate in clinical psychology. He is programdirector of the Pediatric Behavioral HealthDepartment at Meier Clinics. He married AshleyScarabino in September 2013.

JENNy DELANEy ’07 of Lexington,Massachusetts, and Peter Girguis of HarvardUniversity extract viscera of deep-seaclams aboard the research vessel Atlantisin March 2014. Atlantis is operated by theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institute. http://alvinveri�cation.whoi.edu/

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DAVE CZARNECKI ’08 and JORDANANDERSON ’08 of Waukesha, Wis., have adaughter, Eadalie Mae Czarnecki, born Feb.

22, 2014.

PARISSA S. DJANGI ’08 ofSelden, New York, received the“Best TA” award from StonyBrook University, New York,where she is pursuing a Ph.D. inBritish history.

JULIE NELSON KUKOWSKI ’08 andBRUCE KUKOWSKI ‘10 of Richmond Hill,Georgia, have a son, Travis James Kukowski,

born Sept. 3, 2013.

JEANNA SPERBER MAtUSZAK ’08 and herhusband, Brandon, of Green Bay, Wisconsin,have a daughter, Karli Jane Matuszak, born

Jan. 6, 2014.

ROBERt BERGFELD ’09 and ANNKENSEtH ’10 of Wausau, Wisconsin,

were married July 28, 2012. Robert is anassistant relationship manager with US Bank,and Ann is a 4K teaching assistant at the YWCA.

ALEX DUROS ’09 of Appleton, Wisconsin, isan assistant district attorney at the OutagamieCounty District Attorney’s Office in Appleton.

JOSH FREy ’09 completed his master of sciencedegree in environmental management fromWebster University, St. Louis, Missouri, andwas an honor graduate from the U.S. Army’sChemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear(CBRN) Captain’s Career Course at Fort LeonardWood, Missouri. He is stationed at CampStanley, Republic of Korea, where he is CBRNResponse Team Leader in the 501st CBRNECompany (Technical Escort).

WILL GILLIS ’09 of Shawano, Wisconsin,graduated in May 2013 from the pharmacy schoolat the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is thelead pharmacist at Shawano Medical Center.

HEAtHER KOELLER ’09 of Milwaukee,Wisconsin, graduated May 19, 2013, with amaster’s degree in early childhood exceptionaleducation from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is a special education teacher atMilwaukee Spanish Immersion School.

ALySHA tABER RICHEy ’09 and herhusband, Stephen, of Columbia Heights,Minnesota, have a son, Odin Alexander

Richey, born Aug. 13, 2013. Alysha doespersonal training. She also is organizing anonpro�t, Zealous Works, to help homelessfamilies get housing.

CAtHIE SCHULt ’09 of Savage,Minnesota, married Luke Armbrust, Nov.

16, 2013. Cathie recently was promoted tointegrated services team lead at SPS Commerce.

the 2010s

SARAH ANDERSON ’10 ofAmery, Wisconsin, is a 2014 ESAGraduate Student Policy Awardwinner and visited Capitol Hill inWashington, D.C., on April 10,2014. She was among ecologists

and biologists who visited more than 60congressional offices to talk about how federalinvestment in science research yields bene�tsto society.

AMANDA FLANNERy ’10 of Argonne,Wisconsin, received her master of sciencedegree in anthropology from the Universityof Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and also a museumstudies certi�cate. She is the archivist at theCrandon Public Library.

RyAN JENKINS ’10 of Portage, Wisconsin,has graduated with a master of science degreein bacteriology from the University ofWisconsin-Madison.

KRIStI KENDALL ’10 of Elkhart Lake,Wisconsin, is the sixth-grade languagearts teacher at HOPE Christian Schools inMilwaukee, Wisconsin.

MELISSA KLEIN ’10 of Lake Geneva,Wisconsin, completed her master’s degree inlibrary science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2013. She is a circulation assistantat Lake Geneva Public Library.

LINDSEy KUEHL LAMB ’10 of Stoughton,Wisconsin, teaches 4K in Stoughton and hasopened her own photography business, PinkDoor Photography.

NAtHAN PAUL ’10 of Neenah, Wisconsin, nowis the campus relations manager for OshkoshCorp. He oversees the global internship programand all university-related activities.

CHRIStOPHER SCHAEFER’10 of Kimberly, Wisconsin,graduated in May 2012 witha master’s degree in politicalmanagement from the GraduateSchool of Political Management

at George Washington University. In 2011,he founded the Christopher Schaefer Co.,a political consulting �rm specializing incampaigns, elections and foreign policyplatform development.

JENNI M. SCHALLA ‘10 of Madison,Wisconsin, teaches German and computers atGlacier Creek Middle School.

LAURA tEIGEN ’10 of Oshkosh, Wis., is anassociate research specialist in the Departmentof Biology and Microbiology at the University ofWisconsin-Oshkosh.

LEAH WILDE ’10 of Markesan,Wisconsin, married Jeremy Jackowski

in July 2011. They have a son, Jordy MarcJackowski, born Dec. 3, 2012. Leah is akindergarten teacher at MarkesanElementary School.

ZACH HAyES ’11 and KAtHRyNStEPANEK ’13 of St. Charles, Illinois,

were married July 5, 2013.

StACEy HAMILtON ’12 ofIncline Village, Nevada, is anadmissions counselor at SierraNevada College.

KAyLA WALLICK MENDEZ ’12 and herhusband, Odilon, of Robbinsdale, Minnesota,have a daughter, Natalie Eileen Mendez, born

May 2, 2014. Kayla is a lead teacher at JardinMagico, a bilingual daycare/preschool.

MAttHEW MUZA ’12 and ASHLEyVANDENAVOND ’13 of Green Bay,

Wisconsin, were married June 8, 2013.

JOHNAtHON SUCHy ’12 of Kenosha,Wisconsin, is a platoon leader in the WisconsinNational Guard and was deployed to Afghanistanin May 2014.

BRANDON J. tAyLOR ’12 of San Jose,California, graduated in 2013 from theUniversity of California, Berkeley, throughthe Fung Institute for Engineering Leadershipwith his master of engineering, mechanicalengineering. He is now a business and systemsintegration senior analyst for Accenture.

BRyANNE tUDOR ’12 of Beloit, Wisconsin,graduated from the local police academyNov. 15, 2013, and on June 29, 2014, withher master’s degree in criminal justice fromAmerican Military University. She has accepteda job as a police officer with the City of BeloitPolice Department.

HEAtHER VANCUyK ’12 of Appleton,Wisconsin, married Lloyd Anderson,

July 14, 2012. She has opened her own familydaycare business.

ANDREA ZAK ’12 of Ripon, Wisconsin, teaches�fth grade at the Princeton Public School. Shealso is the JV2 (freshman) volleyball coach forthe district.

AMANDA VIRtUE ’13 of Rockville, Maryland,is a communication and developmentcoordinator at The National Park Trust.


I n M e m o r i a m

WILLIAM R. LARSON ’40 of Eagle, Idaho, diedNov. 18, 1913.

IRENE GELHAR HOCHREIN ’41 of Berlin,Wisconsin, died Jan. 20, 2014.

LEONARD G. DAHM JR. ’43 of Alameda,California, died Nov. 4, 2013.

PAtRICIA tHORKELSON SCHULtZ ’43 ofRipon, Wisconsin, died Dec. 16, 2013.

GORDON “BUD” BERtH ’44 of Watertown,Wisconsin, died Jan. 29, 2014.

KENNEtH BUttERS ’44 of Pompano Beach,Florida, died Aug. 23, 2010.

MURIEL SMItH DEARDORFF ’45 of Macon,Georgia, died Jan. 1, 2014.

PAUL F. BORtH ’48 of Flossmoor, Illinois, diedJan. 25, 2014.

HAROLD H. ERDMAN ’48 of Bradenton, Florida,died Feb. 19, 2014.

HELEN “POPPy” POPOVICH BROZDA ’49 ofSanta Cruz, California, died Jan. 1, 2014

FRANCIS “FRANK” CARLBORG ’50 died Feb.1, 2014.

GARtH W. HOFFMANN ’50 of Cedarburg,Wisconsin, died Nov. 26, 2013.

EDWARD E. MULHALL ’50 of Orland Park,Illinois, died April 24, 2014.

ERIKA PREU RASMUSSEN ’50 of Appleton,Wisconsin, died Feb. 17, 2014.

JAMES M. REED ’50 of Brook�eld, Wisconsin,died Jan. 27, 2014.

tHEODORE “tED” N. BURtNESS ’51 ofCenterport, New York, died Feb. 11, 2014.

ROBERt GySBERS ’51 of Waupun, Wisconsin,died Dec. 28, 2014.

DALE DEFORRESt UtESCH ’51 of Tomah,Wisconsin, died April 4, 2014.

DONALD DUNCAN ’52 of Kansas City, Missouri,died Jan. 6, 2014.

BARBARA yOUNG MALES ’52 of HillsboroBeach, Florida, died Jan. 4, 2014.

DAVID C. CHENEy ’53 of Minneapolis,Minnesota, died Oct. 29, 2013.

MARy HOLyOKE FUCHS ’53 of Libertyville,Illinois, died March 8, 2014.

PEtER MARtIN ’53 of Sheffield, Massachusetts,died Dec. 30, 2013.

WARREN yUKON ’53 of Warrensburg, Missouri,died April 3, 2014.

BARBARA DUE ’57 of Fond du Lac, Wisconsindied Dec. 21, 2013.

CHARLES KAtE ’57 of Gardnerville, Nevada,died March 28, 2013.

JOSEPH t. LARSCHEID SR. ’57 of Milwaukee,Wisconsin, died Feb. 16, 2014.

DONNA SEVERANCE LESKER ’60 of Park Ridge,Illinois, died May 18, 2014.

ROBERt PANSCH ’60 of Chicago, Illinois, diedJan. 4, 2014.

tOMAS M. MAGDICH ’61 of Dixon, Illinois, diedApril 15, 2014.

DAVID S. PALLEtt ’61 of Poolesville, Maryland,died Sep. 29, 2013.

WILLIAM B. BEIN ’62 of Bend, Oregon, diedJan. 4, 2014.

MARGAREt LUPtON GOLD ’64 of Vista,California, died Dec. 6, 2012.

MARy E. WEBB ’64 of Evansville, Indiana, diedDec. 15, 2012.

JANE NOtBOHM-DAFFIN ’66 of Fond du Lac,Wisconsin, died May 1, 2014.

RICHARD F. WILLIAMS ’68 of Kenosha,Wisconsin, died Feb. 24, 2014.

ALLAN D. KANIA ’69 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin,died Nov. 27, 2013.

JORGE ARtURO CARRIZO-ESQUIVEL ’73 ofPanama City, Panama, died Sept. 2, 2012.

MICHAEL JAMES BENNINGtON ’74 of Ponder,Texas, died April 24, 2014.

SAMUEL F. RUBIN-MILLER JR. ’74 of Beverly,Massachusetts, died Dec. 21, 2012.

CHERI WENCL ’94 of St. Peter, Minnesota, diedDec. 10, 2012.

StACIE LIVERMORE NAPOLI ’96 of Hartland,Wisconsin, died Feb. 17, 2014.

For full obi�uaries, please visi� ripon.edu/obi�sS14

More than 650 alumni and guests attendedAlumni Weekend June 26-29. They represented34 states and Canada. The sixth annual RedHawks Golf Scramble raised more than $15,000for the Athletic Department.

This year’s reunion classes gave a combined totalof $612,654 to Ripon College. The Class of 1964,celebrating their golden reunion, came out ontop with the highest attendance at 31 percent,the highest gift participation at 60 percent, thelargest reunion class gift of $330,742, and thelargest �ve-year class gift (since the last reunion)of $643,201.

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Alumni Weekend gathersold friends, new friends

Roger Venden ’59 ofHampton Falls, NewHampshire, is grateful forall the opportunities RiponCollege has offered him.He was class presidentwhile he was in school, a

member of Phi Kappa Pi and Merriman House,and he has served as class agent for more than30 years.

Now, he also is giving back through the ProfessorEmeritus H. Jerome “Jerry” Thompson LiberalArts Scholarship Fund, honoring Thompson whoserved as coach of football and track from 1956to 1958, and professor of religion and founder ofRipon College’s religion department from 1966through 1985.

Venden attended a small high school inBrooklyn, Wisconsin, with only 11 students inhis graduating class. “My brother and I werevery good students, good athletes and verywell-disciplined by my parents,” he says. “Myparents loved us dearly, but they didn’t have a lotof money.”

Venden attended Badger Boys State at RiponCollege as a high school student, and he longedto become the �rst college graduate in his family.Through �nancial assistance, on-campus jobsand mentoring by Thompson, Venden studiedengineering but was far behind the academicpower curve of other students who had had awider range of class offerings in high school.College was a struggle for Venden.

“Sports were an outlet for me, a saving grace if

you will,” Venden says. “Jerry Thompson was my�rst mentor. He was tops as a coach, a teacher, amentor. We all loved the guy.”

After graduation, Venden was awarded a RegularArmy commission in Artillery and served twotours of duty in Vietnam, a four-year intelligencecommand assignment in Germany, and at thePentagon. He then worked for 22 years as anexecutive director for private law �rms and forthe last 14 years as president of a real estaterecreational development company.

He says Thompson always sought to giveeconomically deprived students a head start intheir careers and future successes, and that iswhat he hopes the Thompson Scholarshipwill continue.

“I really enjoyed Ripon College,” he says. “Igrew a lot and improved my self-con�dence. Iwant to give back to the school. I hope otheralumni will join me in making contributions tothe scholarship and the school.”

Helping businesseswork toward betterenvironmentalpractices is apriority for MaxKelln ’04. He is anassociate regulatorycomplianceenvironmentalattorney at FaegreBaker Danielsin Indianapolis.

“I’m working with companies oncompliance with new and existingenvironmental regulations in an attemptto avoid enforcement and litigation issuesdown the road,” Kelln says. “With theintersection between energy use andthe economy on the one hand, and ourenvironment and sustainability on theother, you really do see the confluence ofthose two issues day-to-day.”

He said many of the current environmentalstatutes, such as the Clean Water Act andthe Clean Air Act, were passed in the early1970s and are not adapted to fit a lotof companies today. New environmentallegislation will be required to deal withthat, Kelln says.

He works proactively with many Fortune500 companies, industry leaders in termsof implementing new and clean technology,he says. “There is no threat of them beingout-of-compliance in the short term, butthe new legislation will happen eventually.If they start putting in these controls now,it will cost less in the long run.”

Kelln says the air emissions and the wastewe generate today will have an impact onour environment in the long-term. “Thelonger we wait, the greater and moreirreversible these issues will become,” hesays. “Eventually, we’ll get to a tippingpoint where we might not be able toundo the adverse effects we’ve made toour environment.”

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Continue the Legacyat Ripon College

Help develop �he nex� class ofRipon College s�uden�s b� referring apromising s�uden� �o Ripon College,assis�ing wi�h college fairs, hos�ing ora��ending a recep�ion in �our area, orcon�ribu�ing �o a scholarship fund.For more ideas, con�ac� ElizaS�ephenson a� 920-748-8396; ors�[email protected].

S U MM E R 2 0 1 4 | 37

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GREENING tHE CAMPUS Richard “Rit” Higby ’38 watched as Josh Byrum of Physical Plant planted a pinetree donated to the College by Higby. Higby grew up in Ripon and had a tree farm at his home in Adams,Wisconsin. He believed in making the world as green as possible, and through the years he donated about100 trees and many bluebird houses to the College. His first donated trees are part of the Ceresco PrairieConservancy. Higby died in 2010.

F la shBACK 2009

ripon magazine summer 2014

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