Alumni & Continuing Student Profiles

Erin Rodriguez Martell (Class of 2004) earned her Rhetorical Leadership Concentration as part of an M.A. in Communication. Her undergraduate degree is in English from Marquette University. Erin now works as an Equal Opportunity Assistant for the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The OFCCP is responsible for conducting reviews of companies that hold federal contracts to ensure that Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity requirements are being met.

After completing her Rhetorical Leadership Concentration, Colleen Simmons (Class of 2005) won a fellowship to devote part of the summer to attending a “Visual Rhetoric” workshop at Northwestern University. Colleen is employed as a Catalogue Development Specialist for ICM, a company that markets children’s learning products to teachers. In her leisure time, Colleen volunteers as a wildlife counselor for the Humane Society. Colleen’s undergraduate degree is from UWM in English.

Stacy Siebert (Class of 2006) returned to school after a career as a paralegal in the Dane County District Attorney’s office in Madison. Stacy’s decision was motivated by a passion for social change regarding domestic violence and a desire to examine and be empowered to address how language and social order perpetuate that problem. She will complete her Rhetorical Leadership Concentration in Spring 2006. During the summer of 2005, Stacy earned a scholarship to attend the two-week Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She discussed her experiences at a departmental colloquium October 2005.

Mary Roffers is working on a Rhetorical Leadership Certificate as she pursues her Ph.D. in Anthropology at UWM. Mary’s fieldwork centers on the Lac du Flambeau tribe, and her writing includes work on racism and spirituality. She is active in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and at UWM’s Center for Instructional and Professional Development. She has a daughter in graduate school at Ohio State University in the school of education, a daughter who is working on her Ph.D. in developmental biology at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis, and a son-in-law in law school at St. Thomas University in St. Paul.

Robin Scholz (Class of 2007) received a BA in both Communication Arts and Political Science from UW-Madison. Before entering the Rhetorical Leadership program in Fall, 2005, Robin spent the summer traveling through Italy. One of Robin’s interests is the political consequences of “translated” rhetoric, as connotative differences affect perceptions of leaders, followers, and those who “overhear” such conversations.

Communication Department
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201
Johnston Hall Room 210 — Tel: 414-229-4261
2512 East Hartford Avenue
Please direct questions and comments to RL Program Coordinator
Updated on August 20, 2006