2006 UWM Alumni Association Awards

The UWM Alumni Association honored recipients of its Teaching Excellence, Distinguished Alumni and GOLD (Graduate of the Last Decade) awards at its annual Awards Ceremony Saturday at the Zelazo Center. For only the seventh time in its history, the association also bestowed a Special Life Achievement Award.

Award For Teaching Excellence

Diane Reddy

Diane Reddy, associate professor of psychology, is a nationally recognized social psychologist with research specializing in health behavior.

She encourages students to interact with her through the use of innovative teaching techniques, and structures her coursework to be challenging and thought-provoking.

Reddy has served as the Psi Chi faculty adviser since 1997, when she and the student president developed the first mentoring program at UWM for undergrad psychology students.

Mentoring continues to be a hallmark of Reddy’s teaching. She takes on numerous student research apprentices, both undergraduate and graduate, and guides them in one-on-one assignments. In addition, she has mentored economically disadvantaged, minority, and first-generation students in the Ronald McNair Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.

To help students meet community leaders and feel part of the departmental community, Reddy established opportunities such as “Meet the Faculty” days, the annual Psychology Open Forum, and the Brown Bag Luncheon Series.

She also developed community training placements for health psychology graduate students at the American Cancer Society of Wisconsin, Aurora Health Care, and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

“I would like to express how much you have meant to me and to other female graduate students as a role model,” says Sandra Hale, one of Reddy’s former doctoral students. “Your success as a researcher and instructor has been very motivating to us. But it is not success alone that serves to guide others, it is how the success was attained that is most important.”

Excellence Award for Non-Tenure-Track Instructors

Florence Johnson

Florence Johnson has a passion for preparing teachers to be effective in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), and has spent most of her life working with central city parents on educational issues.

A lecturer in the Department of Educational Policy and Community Studies, she teaches several foundation courses in education, consistently receiving commendations from her students. She also serves as an admissions counselor.

Johnson relates well to all students, but especially to those who are working their way through school, often while also raising families. Johnson regularly counsels students over the phone from her home, and has even taken the time to meet with them
at various places in the community outside of
office hours.

An excellent ambassador for UWM, Johnson serves on the boards of three community-based organizations in Milwaukee:

The Milwaukee Catalyst, a research-based organization that conducts and reports research findings on performance measures within MPS.
The Center for Teaching Entrepreneurship, an organization that helps children and youth develop entrepreneurial skills, build self-esteem and self-reliance, and learn the value of good education.
The North Central Service Club, which raises money for college scholarships for African American female graduates from local high schools.

“She won our confidence and respected who we are as individuals,” Vernon Wilkinson, a student in the School of Education, wrote about Johnson. “She has the compassion of a mother, the tenacity of a challenger, and the strength and skills of a ‘Star Quality’ teacher.”

John Gurda

Special Life Achievement Award

This special award is designed to recognize outstanding and original life experiences and accomplishments. In the history of the UWMAA, only seven alumni have received the Special Life Achievement Award.

John Gurda

Milwaukee-born John Gurda (’78 MA Cultural Geography) is the city’s most distinguished and prolific historian. He has written 18 books related to Milwaukee on subjects ranging from Miller Brewing Company and Frank Lloyd Wright to heavy industries and historic cemeteries.

latest, The Making of Milwaukee, Gurda has produced the first feature-length history of the community since 1948. Milwaukee Public Television is currently producing a series of documentaries based on the book. These will air beginning in September 2006.

Gurda is an eight-time winner of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Award of Merit, and was honored in 2000 with a permanent place on the Wisconsin Writer’s Wall of Fame at the Milwaukee Central Library.

Also a lecturer, tour guide, and columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he is a sought-after speaker and has presented 18 highly ranked programs for UWM’s School of Continuing Education since 1999. Fittingly, he also is a member of the City of Milwaukee’s Citizen Advisory Committee on the Naming of Public Buildings, Facilities, and Streets.

Distinguished Alumni Awards

Ferne Yangyeitie Caulker Bronson

Distinguished Alumna Award in the Field of Arts and Humanities

Ferne Yangyeitie Caulker Bronson (’71 BS Education) is founder and artistic director/executive director of the Ko-Thi Dance Company, and professor in the Department of Dance at UWM.

Bronson, a native of Sierra Leone, West Africa, came to Milwaukee with a vision to establish an artistic troupe that could rival any other. In 1969 she founded the Ko-Thi (pronounced ko-THEE) Dance Company, now an internationally recognized dance ensemble that is an acknowledged Milwaukee institution and cultural treasure. The words Ko-Thi come from the Shebro language of Sierra Leone and are interpreted as “seek out African roots.”

In addition, the company maintains an active school outreach program called “Drum Talk,” which has received recognition from the NEA and reaches over 30,000 school-age children annually. The company also nurtures future artists in its children’s ensemble, Ton Ko-Thi.

As a full professor of dance at UWM, Bronson created the university’s first course on the technique, history, and cultural studies of African, African-American, and Caribbean dance, and was named a Fulbright Scholar to study in Tanzania, East Africa.

She has received many awards, and has served on the Wisconsin Arts Board and on regional and national arts panels, including the 1999-2000 State Superintendent’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the Arts in Education, and the National Endowment for the Arts in 2000.

Darlene Rose

Distinguished Alumna Award in the Field of Business

Although Darlene Rose (’79 BBA Management) retired in January 2006 from her position as senior vice president and corporate officer with Johnson Controls Inc. in Milwaukee, she continues to contribute to the university and the Milwaukee community.

As an African American woman, she has served as a role model and mentor.

Rose was appointed senior vice president and corporate officer on Oct. 1, 2004, after 35 years of employment with the company. She began her career at Johnson Controls in 1969 as a computer operator. For her major at UWM, Rose chose business - and excelled at it.

At Johnson Controls, Rose quickly moved to increasingly responsible management positions, serving as vice president of corporate development and strategy for five years.

In addition to her professional achievements, Rose has volunteered her time to support a number of civic efforts. She has served on the board of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP for 12 years, and chaired the host city activities for the 96th NAACP Convention held in Milwaukee in 2005. She has received a number of awards and serves as a model, tutor, and mentor of young professionals, with a special emphasis on the empowerment of young women and girls.

Charles Edward Rupprecht (center) in rural China

Charles Edward Rupprecht

Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Field of Science

Charles Edward Rupprecht (’86 PhD Biological Sciences, ’80 MS Zoology) has achieved international prominence in the area of rabies research. He made significant contributions in the successful treatment of Jeanna Giese, a young girl from Fond du Lac, Wis., who is the world’s only unvaccinated survivor of rabies. This success has been recognized in the news media around the world and in scientific publications.

Rupprecht, who also has a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College and a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, is director of the Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

While the rabies virus kills a handful of Americans each year, it is far more common in developing countries. Rupprecht is recognized for developing rabies control measures by the Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization.

He has been the recipient of numerous federal service awards, including the Terry Amundson Presentation Award, the World Health Organization’s Veterinary Public Health Award, and the Wildlife Diseases Association’s Scott Wright Award.

James W. Shields

Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Field of Art and Design

The bold architectural design work of James W. Shields (’82 MA Architecture, ’79 BA Architectural Studies) has literally helped change the skyline of Milwaukee. He has worked on the city’s signature buildings, including the Bradley School of Technology and Trade, projects in Yankee Hill, the Humphrey IMAX Theater and the Puelicher butterfly enclosure at the Milwaukee Public Museum, Pier Wisconsin, the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and the UWM Kenilworth Building.

An associate vice president with Hammel, Green & Abrahamson Inc. in Milwaukee, and an associate professor of architecture at the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shields is a Milwaukee native whose work on cultural, educational, and religious projects has received numerous regional and national awards.

His knowledge of religious architecture is well-respected by leading liturgical consultants, and he is regularly invited to speak about religious architecture across the country.

Shields is currently the president of the Wisconsin Architectural Foundation, and was a member for 17 years of the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission, where his skills and expertise have helped save some of the city’s best-known historic buildings.

GOLD Awards

Graduate of the Last Decade

Chris T. Cornelius

School of Architecture & Urban Planning

Chris T. Cornelius (’96 BS Architectural Studies), a member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, is nationally recognized for his architectural translation of American Indian culture.

An assistant professor of architecture at UWM and principal and founder of Indigenous LLC, Cornelius was recently chosen by Milwaukee architecture firm Plunkett Raysich to fill the Plunkett Raysich Professorship. The partnership aims to join real-world project design with classroom teaching. As part of this program and in response to Hurricane Katrina, Cornelius led a project with the company and UWM students to the New Orleans area during winter break to design and build housing.

After completing his master’s degree at the University of Virginia, he was named the 2003 Native Arts Program Artist-in-Residence at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

He also won an artist-in-residence position at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz. His design work on the new Indian Community School in Milwaukee, working with the internationally respected architect Antoine Predock, has received accolades from the profession and community alike.

Jan-Ru Wan

Peck School of the Arts

Jan-Ru Wan

Currently assistant professor at the School of Art, East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., Jan-Ru Wan (’96 MFA) is an artist-educator acquiring an international reputation in the fiber-arts field.

She came to the U.S. from Taiwan to study at
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and then at UWM.

In the 10-year period since receiving her MFA, she has participated in nine solo shows and 34 group exhibitions. She was selected for two major artist residencies, one in Sausalito, Calif., and one at the Burapha University in Thailand.

As an artist, Wan is exceptionally strong conceptually and is sensitive to the mixing of materials to maximize their ability to evoke emotion and response.

She utilizes sculptural form, space, and site-
specific formats to “talk” about the human experience, the body, and the blending of Eastern and Western cultures.

With each solo show she offers a lecture and workshop, helping non-artists understand her very spiritual work.

Wan’s teaching excellence emerged during her graduate studies at UWM, resulting in a prestigious Layton Special Achievement Award. She is described as supportive of her students, consistently challenging them to work harder and think more deeply about their work.

Kathleen DeVries

Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business/
Executive MBA Program

Kathleen DeVries

Kathleen DeVries (’00 Executive MBA, ’85 BA Journalism and Mass Communication/Political Science) is an accomplished marketing executive who now serves as the vice president of planning and marketing for Duke University Health Systems (DUHS) in Durham, N.C. DUHS is a world-class health care network affiliated with Duke University Medical Center, which is consistently ranked among the top 10 health care organizations in the country.

For 16 years, DeVries distinguished herself at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, where she rose to vice president of marketing and strategic support. She joined Froedtert in 1989 as a physician liaison and quickly advanced through the ranks, becoming manager of marketing and referral development, and director of marketing and business development, before being promoted to the position of vice president.

DeVries has been a frequent guest lecturer in Professor Purush Papatla’s marketing courses in the Lubar School of Business, drawing on her experience and expertise for the benefit of UWM’s marketing students.

Daniel J. Nemecek

College of Engineering & Applied Science

Daniel J. Nemecek (’00 MS Mechanical Engineering) researches heat transfer in engines during the wet clutch engagement and disengagement process, widely used in large-scale agricultural tractors and off-highway vehicles, such as military transport and crash-fire rescue tanks.

A development engineer at General Electric Healthcare Technologies in Waukesha, Nemecek is co-holder of two U.S. patents, has developed a computer program for predicting the capacity of propulsion systems, and has designed a marine propulsion thrust simulator. He co-authored a paper presented at the 2000 National Heat Transfer Conference, and co-authored a paper published by the ASME Journal of Tribology.

Since 1995, Nemecek has been involved in the Junior Achievement Program in the Racine public schools. He also has volunteered at Goodland Elementary School in Racine, explaining how raw materials are converted into a finished product for consumer use.

Continuing his studies at UWM as a part-time doctoral student, Nemecek is leading a research group of two graduate and two undergraduate students in studying the cooling effect in clutch disks.

Rick Spenner

College of Health Sciences

Rick Spenner (’03 BS Human Movement Sciences, Kinesiology) earned a spot as a strength and conditioning coach in Major League Baseball after only three years in the minors, a short time in baseball terms. That is not to say it was an easy journey.

Spenner, a father of three, started attending classes at UWM while working full time as a director of computer services. He took one class each semester, and then increased it to two. When he was within four semesters of graduating, he increased his credit load to nine per semester. But while he was finishing his degree, ready to sit for his two certification exams - one of which included a dynamic physical portion - Spenner suffered a disastrous injury in which his triceps tendon was torn from the bone in his right arm. Following surgery, Spenner began an extremely painful recovery, but he passed all his exams.

As part of the College of Health Science’s Athletic Training Education Program, Spenner served as an intern with the Milwaukee Brewers’ minor league team, the Beloit Snappers. When the Snappers moved to Charleston, W.V., he took the strength and conditioning coach position for another minor league team, the South Bend Silverhawks. Soon after came the offer from the Brewers.

In the off-season, Spenner works with individual clients at the Ozaukee YMCA giving Adaptive Therapy. He uses his biomechanics background to help people with muscular dystrophy, arthritis, and back and other injuries to re-educate their muscles to do certain functions. He says he hopes current students realize the value of their classes. “My professors were incredible. The more I participated, the more I learned. They always challenged me, but at the same time, listened to my ideas.”

Daniel J. Cook

School of Information Studies

Daniel J. Cook (’00 MLIS, MA History, ’96 BA History), information technology manager for the U.S. Department of State, is using his information technology skills to make a difference in East Africa.

After graduating from UWM, Cook received a Fulbright fellowship to study and work in Uganda at the East African School of Library and Information Science (EASLIS) at Makerere University, Kampala. While there, he developed and presented a master’s-level course in archival theory and development, developed and implemented finding aids for the Africana Section archives in the Makerere University Library, and trained a successor.

He later returned to Uganda to conduct a public libraries tour. That seven-week research trip took him to remote regions of the country to investigate the conditions of public libraries. As a result of his findings, he organized the Uganda Book Drive Initiative, which provided donated books to libraries throughout the country.

Cook continued as a volunteer reference librarian, Web developer, and archivist at The Uganda Society Library, and taught several courses related to libraries, archives, and computers. He has maintained a research interest in the African public library system, expanding his area of research to include Eritrea and Oman.

Since 2004, Cook has worked for the U.S. Department of State as an information technology expert in U.S. embassies. Before his recent transfer to the embassy in Muscat, Oman, he worked for two years at the embassy in Asmara, Eritrea, as an administrator of unclassified and classified computer networks, telephone systems, satellite systems, and radio networks.

Cook holds numerous advanced technological certifications and a top-secret security clearance. Even as he has moved into important positions in the diplomatic corps, he has kept in touch with UWM faculty, and often visits the campus when he is in Milwaukee.

Lindsay M. Timmerman

College of Letters & Science

Lindsay M. Timmerman (’96 MA, ’94 BA Communication), an assistant professor of communication at UWM, teaches interpersonal communication while continuing to explore research related to jealousy expression in long-distance romantic relationships, jealousy expression within marriage, and how humans communicate about their pets.

Timmerman has published extensively, and has presented 24 scholarly papers at the Speech Communications Association Convention and the International Relationships Conference. Her topics have varied from the role of holiday greetings in maintaining relationships, to the effects of day care on children, to peer support in planned change, to criteria for revealing family secrets.

After earning her PhD from the University of Texas, she returned to her alma mater as a member of the faculty in 2001.

In Milwaukee, she has judged the VFW’s Voice of Democracy Audio-Essay Competition, volunteered for the Peer Mediation Program at Lloyd Street Elementary School, and was a faculty mentor in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.

She is a member of the International Association for Relationship Research, the National Communication Association, and the Western and Central States Communication Associations.

Gwendolyn M. Perry-Brye

College of Nursing

Gwendolyn M. Perry-Brye (’98 MS Nursing), an advanced-practice nurse practitioner with the Kenosha County Division of Health, has a passion for caring for those who might not otherwise receive health care.

Perry-Brye volunteers on committees and boards dedicated to providing health services, and demonstrates a vision of collaboration and innovation in the service of diverse communities. She has made numerous preventive health care presentations for at-risk groups.

She is project director of the US NOW Breast Health and Care Assistance Project Community initiative, in collaboration with the Milwaukee affiliate of the Susan Komen Foundation.

In addition, she serves on the Jane Cremer Foundation Community Events Committee, which sponsors annual cancer prevention/health information fairs for women of color. She is a member of the Kenosha Breast/Cervical Health Fund advisory committee.

A founding member and past president of the National Black Nurses Association Racine-Kenosha Chapter, Perry-Byre serves as a role model for both graduate and undergraduate students of color. She is a preceptor to UWM College of Nursing graduate students in the clinical practice phase of the curriculum.

Eric C. Jergenson

Helen Bader School of Social Welfare

Eric C. Jergenson (’95 MS Criminal Justice) recently realized his goal of becoming a special agent with the FBI.

Since graduating from UWM, Jergenson has worked in the federal government in a number of challenging positions.

Beginning in the pretrial services unit of the federal court system in Baltimore, Md., his primary responsibilities were in the pre-sentence supervision of offenders. He then moved to Chicago, and worked in the federal court performing similar pre-trial services work.

Stan Stojkovic, dean of UWM’s Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, wrote about Erik: “He represents what is best about our graduates in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare: hard work and determination to see one’s life ambitions become reality.

“Mr. Jergenson was an inexperienced student when he enrolled in our graduate school program in criminal justice back in 1993. Through his interactions with faculty, staff, and other students, he learned much that ultimately shaped his interest in federal law enforcement.”

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