Rick Peterson

Author: Rick Peterson

New Exhibition Opens September 22 at Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center Galleries

APPLETON, WIS. — Sculptor Kristin Gudjonsdottir will deliver the opening lecture Friday, September 22 at 6:00 p.m. for the latest exhibition at Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center galleries. A reception will follow. Both are free and open to the public.

Gudjonsdottir, who creates her work from reused materials, will exhibit a mixed media installation titled Seekers in the Kohler Gallery. Gudjonsdottir attended the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts in Reykjavik, Iceland, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California College of Arts and Crafts. She has shown her work in New Jersey, North Carolina, California, Washington, Montana, and Illinois, as well as in her native Iceland.

The Hoffmaster Gallery will feature Made in Japan: Recent Ceramics by Valerie Zimany. Zimany, a Lawrence University Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Art and Art History, has an interest in ceramics and Japanese art. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from Kanazawa College of Art in Japan and her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Penn. She has exhibited her work in both the United States and Japan.

The Leech Gallery will feature Asian Art in the Permanent Collection. This exhibition will include a series of 18th century Chinese ivories of eight immortals from Chinese myth, two ceramic horses from the T’ang period, and a couple of Buddhist sculptures.

The exhibition will run through October 29. The Wriston Art Center galleries are open Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, noon-4:00 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays. For more information, call 920-832-6621 or visit www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston.

Lawrence University Tubist Earns Bronze Medal at International Competition

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University musician Stephanie Frye earned third place honors in the Tuba Artist Division of the 21st annual Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival held in mid-August at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Mich.

A senior from Beverly Hills, Mich., and a student in the tuba studio of Marty Erickson, Frye was one of 144 musicians from around the world in the competition. She was the youngest performer to advance to this year’s finals, receiving $500 for her bronze medal performance. This was the second straight year Frye was named a finalist in the tuba artist division. Prior to Frye, the last undergraduate student to be a finalist at this festival — Carol Jantsch in 2004 — earned a position with the Philadelphia Orchestra earlier this year.

Founded in 1986, the festival honors the legacy of long-time Michigan State University music teacher and band director Leonard Falcone (1899-1985). The festival is considered one of the premiere international euphonium and tuba competitions in the country and is the only annual festival of its kind.

Earlier this year, Frye was a semifinalist at the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference held in Denver, Colo.

The Princeton Review Cites Lawrence University As One of Nation’s Best Colleges

Lawrence University has been recognized for its outstanding undergraduate education by the Princeton Review in its 2007 edition of the annual book “The Best 361 Colleges,” which was released today (8/22).

Only about 15% of the four-year colleges and universities in America, as well as two Canadian universities, are included in the book, which features student survey-based ranking lists of top 20 colleges in more than 60 categories, ranging from best professors, administration and campus food to student body political leanings, interest in sports and other aspects of campus life. The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book 1 to 361 in any single category.

Lawrence was cited among the top 20 institutions in the nation in three of the book’s student-survey categories: 12th in how accessible professor’s make themselves to students outside the classroom; 12th in how accepting the campus is to the gay community; and 20th in how popular college theatre productions are on campus.

The various ranking lists in the 2007 edition of “The Best 361 Colleges” are based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 115,000 students — approximately 300 per campus on average — who attend the 361 colleges profiled in the book. A college’s appearance on one of the 60 lists is a result of a high consensus among the surveyed students about that subject. The 80-question survey asked students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them.

Lawrence University Cited for Academic Excellence, Distinctive First-Year Program in U.S. News’ Annual Best College’s Guide

For the eighth straight year, Lawrence University’s academic excellence, including one of the country’s most distinctive first-year programs, placed it among the top quarter of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report’s 20th annual “America’s Best Colleges” report released Friday (8/18).

Lawrence was ranked 53rd among 215 leading national colleges and universities in U.S. News’ “Best Liberal Arts Colleges” category. Lawrence was the top-ranked institution in the national category from Wisconsin and Illinois.

In addition, Lawrence was again cited in U.S. News’ distinctive “First-Year Experiences” category for its signature curricular program, Freshman Studies. Lawrence has been included in the first-year experiences list every year since 2001 when U.S. News first introduced its “Programs to Look For” feature. The first-year experiences list is one of eight specialized categories the magazine uses to highlight what it calls “outstanding examples of academic programs that are believed to lead to student success.”

The specialized categories are not distinguished by institutional size or type, but include those cited as “stellar examples” most frequently in a survey of college presidents, chief academic officers and deans of admission. Institutions featured in the special categories are identified alphabetically rather than by a numerical ranking. Lawrence joined Duke, Princeton and Stanford universities, among other institutions, that were cited for distinctive first-year programs.

For the fourth year in a row, Williams College of Massachusetts earned the magazine’s top ranking among national liberal arts colleges, while Amherst College and Swarthmore College were ranked second and third, respectively.

In compiling its annual “America’s Best Colleges”guide, U.S. News & World Report evaluates nearly 1,400 of the nation’s public and private four-year schools, using data from 15 separate indicators of academic excellence such as selectivity, graduation rates, student retention, faculty resources and alumni satisfaction. Each factor is assigned a “weight” that reflects the magazine editor’s judgment as to how much that measure matters. Each school’s composite weighted score is then compared to peer institutions to determine final rankings.

Institutions are divided into several distinct categories. In addition to the best liberal arts college category that measures national institutions like Lawrence, other rankings are based on universities that grant master and doctorate degrees and colleges that are considered “regional” institutions such as St. Norbert College or UW-Oshkosh.

Lawrence University Receives Record $15 Million Gift for New Campus Center

An anonymous donor has given $15 million to Lawrence University toward the construction of a new campus center university officials announced today. The donation is the largest philanthropic gift in Lawrence’s 160-year history — surpassing an $8 million gift for the construction of Hiett Hall — and represents a major milestone in the funding of the proposed $32.7 million facility.

“The Trustees of Lawrence have made a new campus center the highest capital priority for the college,” said Lawrence University President Jill Beck in announcing the gift. “An unprecedented gift of this magnitude will help make that priority a reality.”

Plans are being finalized for the construction of a 100,000 square-foot facility that will house the campus’ dining services and provide much needed space and support for student organizations and extracurricular activities. The new campus center will replace outmoded and outgrown facilities located in the Memorial Union, built in 1951, and Jason Downer Commons, the main dining hall since 1968.

“Lawrence is by design a residential college and residence life is an integral part of a Lawrence education,” said Beck. “The new campus center, which will be made possible by the remarkable generosity of this anonymous donor and others, is a very important next step in enhancing the quality of the life for students at Lawrence.”

The campus center, which is being designed by Uihlein-Wilson Architects of Milwaukee and KSS Architects of Princeton, N.J., will be located on the Fox River bluff along John Street, just east of Lawe Street and next to Sage Hall.

The center, to be built on four levels, will feature large amounts of glass for natural light and outstanding views of the Fox River. Building highlights include an outdoor cafe, a campus store, a mail room, a 150-seat cinema, a “Great View Room” for special events, a dining hall as well as conference rooms and offices for student organizations and administrators. The center will be connected to the main campus via a wide, landscaped “land bridge” over Lawe St.

Lawrence Academy of Music New Horizons Ensembles Looking for Participants

The Lawrence Academy of Music will host an informational session for its New Horizons Band and Orchestra on August 22 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Shattuck Hall, room 163, located in the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, 420 E. College Ave.

The New Horizon ensembles offer adults the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument in a band or orchestra—even if they have no prior musical experience. As a member of a New Horizons Music ensemble, adults have the opportunity to meet new friends and work as a team to learn music for concerts and other performances in the community. New Horizons ensembles perform many times each year in venues ranging from formal concerts to parades to parks and retirement and nursing homes. There are also a number of annual music institutes that participants can attend that cater to New Horizons musicians in locations such as Door County, Aspen, Colo., Lake Placid, N.Y., Palm Springs, Calif., and Sydney, Australia.

Each ensemble offers three 10-week sessions. The New Horizons Band, which includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, meets Tuesdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning September 12. The New Horizons Orchestra, which includes violin, viola, cello, and string bass, meets Thursdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning September 7. Both ensembles meet at Trinity Lutheran Church, 209 S. Allen St., Appleton. The cost is $99 per 10-week session or $270 for all three sessions.

For more information on the New Horizon Music ensembles or to register, call 920-832-6632, e-mail acad_music@lawrence.edu, or visit www.lawrence.edu/dept/acad_music.

Human Behavior, National Security, the Arts Explored in 2006-07 Lawrence University Convocation Series

An award-winning researcher on stress, an expert on national security strategy, a theatre executive and an acclaimed social commentator will join Lawrence University President Jill Beck on the college’s 2006-07 convocation series.

Beck will kick off the series Thursday, Sept. 21 with her annual matriculation address, officially opening the college’s 157th academic year. All convocations are held in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel beginning at 11:10 a.m. and are free and open to the public.

Robert Sapolsky, a biologist, neuroscientist, nature writer and Stanford University professor will speak Tuesday, Nov. 7. Since graduating from Harvard in the mid-1970s, Sapolsky has divided his time between field work in Kenya, where he has lived with a group of baboons and highly technical neurological research in the laboratory. His expertise spans pecking orders in primate societies — human as well as baboon — as well as understanding how neurotransmitters function under stress. He is the author of several well-received books, including “A Primate’s Memoir,” which details his more than 20 years’ work as a field biologist, “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers,” a primer on stress and stress-related disease and “The Trouble with Testosterone,” a collection of provocative essays on relationships between biology and human behavior.

Juliette Kayyem, a specialist on counterterrorism, homeland security and law enforcement, visits the campus Tuesday, Feb. 6. A lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Kayyem spent two years as a congressional appointment on the National Commission on Terrorism, a federally-mandated review of how the government could better prepare for growing terrorist threats. She previously served as a legal advisor to former Attorney General Janet Reno, focusing on a variety of national security and terrorism cases. She is the co-author of the 2005 book “Preserving Liberty in an Age of Terror” and the co-editor of 2003’s “First to Arrive: State and Local Response to Terrorism.” Kayyem serves as a national security analyst for NBC News.

Ted Chapin, president and executive director of New York City’s Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, will speak Tuesday, April 17. Chapin, who attended Lawrence in the early 1970s, oversees all the divisions within R&H, including Williamson Music, the Irving Berlin Music Company, R&H Theatricals and the R&H Concert Library. As a 20-year-old college student, Chapin served as a “go-fer” on the set of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical “Follies.” He kept a diary of his experiences as an insider and 30 years later used that diary as the basis for the book “Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical ‘Follies.’” He has served as chairman of the Advisory Committee for New York City Center’s “Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert” series since its inception and is currently a member of the Tony Administration Committee.

Author and social commentator Susan Faludi will be featured at the annual honors convocation on Tuesday, May 22. The recipient of a Pulitzer Prize in 1991 while working as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Faludi earned national attention for the best-selling book “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women,” which examined the attacks endured by women in the wake of the feminist movement of the 1970s. The book earned Faludi the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1991, she followed up with an analysis of the forces that shape the lives and attitudes of men in another ground-breaking book, “Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man.”

Lawrence University Honors Six Alumni for Career Achievement, Service at Annual Reunion Celebration

Arthur Ullian was living what many would call “the good life.” Running a successful real estate development company in Boston that included the Eliot Hotel provided a comfortable lifestyle — influential friends, sailing and skiing trips, frequent travels abroad.

That life, however, took a sudden and dramatic turn on the morning of July 5, 1991, when an innocent bicycle ride on a quiet country Massachusetts road ended tragically. Ullian was unexpectedly flipped over the handlebars of his bike, landed on his chin and hyper-extended his neck. Despite wearing a bike helmet, he suffered a bruised spinal cord that left him a quadriplegic.

Undeterred, Ullian turned his personal tragedy into public advocacy, putting his political, entrepreneurial and financial experience into helping others through neurological research.

Ullian will be among six Lawrence University alumni who will be honored for their career accomplishments and service June 16-18 when the college hosts its annual Reunion Weekend celebration. More than 900 alumni and guests from 38 states and six countries are expected to return to campus to participate in the weekend-long festivities. Two alumni will be recognized with distinguished achievement awards and four will he honored with service awards during the annual Reunion Convocation Saturday at 10:30 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

A 1961 Lawrence graduate, Ullian will receive the Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award. Named in honor of the second president of Milwaukee-Downer College, the Briggs award recognizes alumni of more than 15 years for outstanding contributions to and achievements in a career field.

Since his accident, Ullian has devoted his life to advancing neuroscience research and raising public awareness on the cost of neurological disease through a variety of organizations and committees. For the past 13 years, Ullian has served as president of the National Council on Spinal Cord Injury, becoming a fixture at congressional hearings where he passionately advocates for increased funding for research. During his NCSCI tenure, he has collaborated with the Christopher Reeve Foundation, the Laskar Foundation and the Dana Alliance, among others.

In addition to his NCSCI presidency, Ullian is currently serving the second four-year term of an appointment that began in 1999 on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health. The committee advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the NIH on biomedical research, medical science and biomedical communications. From 1996-99, Ullian also served as a member of an advisory panel to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), helping review scientific applications for financial support for biomedical research and training on disorders of the brain and nervous system.

In 2005, he was named to the Harvard University Stem Cell Advisory Committee and currently serves as chairman of the Boston-based Task Force on Science, Health Care and the Economy, which examines factors related to biotechnological innovation that will combine to alter medical knowledge and practice, outcomes and costs in the coming decades.

The American Academy of Neurology Foundation recognized Ullian’s efforts on behalf of neurological disorders in 1996 with its Public Leadership in Neurology Award. In 1999, Ullian became just the second recipient of the “CURE” Award, which honors exemplary service and dedication to the field of spinal cord injury research. The Boston-based mentoring organization Partners for Youth with Disabilities honored him for his contributions to the disabilities community in 2004 and that same year, Rutgers University presented him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Growing up on a 50-head dairy farm in Sauk Prairie gave Catherine Statz an early appreciation for rural life and the value of cooperatives. Since graduating from Lawrence in 1996, Statz has dedicated her career to advancing the quality of life for farm families, rural communities and all people as the education director for the Wisconsin Farmers Union in Chippewa Falls.
Statz will receive the Nathan M. Pusey Young Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes Lawrence alumni of 15 years or less for significant contributions to and achievements in a career field. The award honors the 10th and youngest president of Lawrence and an exemplary figure in higher education in the 20th century.

As the WFU’s education director, a position she has held since 1997, Statz coordinates a variety of cooperative education programs for its members, their children and the general public. Among her duties is serving as director of Kamp Kenwood on Lake Wissota, a camp she attended herself from the time she was nine years old until she graduated from high school. The camp, which specializes in securing products and services from local farmers, businesses and co-ops, was featured in the 2001 Wisconsin Public Television program “Camp Co-op.”

As camp director, Statz organizes and leads learning opportunities about family farms, cooperatives and social justice for more than 200 youngsters each summer. Among the array of educational and team-building activities she oversees are campfire sing-alongs, where she puts her B.M. in voice performance to work, and “theme nights,” when she utilizes her B.A. in English for a primer on Grendel by staging “Beowulf Night.”

For the past seven years, Statz has collaborated with the Minnesota Farmers Union to organize the annual College Conference on Cooperatives in Minneapolis. Each year, 80 post-secondary students and faculty from throughout the Midwest meet for a three-day educational conference on the challenges facing the cooperative environment and the future face of co-ops.

She also has been instrumental in developing the international Building Cooperative Futures youth program. Started as a pilot program in 2003 with the help of a $5,000 grant from the Cooperative Foundation of St. Paul, Minn., the program has grown into an annual conference held each May to provide a collaborative, cross sectional approach to cooperative education for young adults.

Last month, Statz led a delegation of American representatives to this year’s conference in Manchester, England, where 100 participants gathered from 10 countries. Manchester is near Rochdale, widely considered the birthplace of the modern cooperative movement and conference participants visited the legendary store — now a small museum — on Toad Lane where the first co-op was launched.

In 1999, the Association of Cooperative Educators honored Statz with its William Hlusko Memorial Award to Young Cooperative Educators in recognition of outstanding achievement in cooperative education.

Jose Hernandez-Ugalde, a 1996 Lawrence graduate and native of Costa Rica, will receive the George B. Walter Service to Society Award. Named in honor of Walter, a 1936 graduate, former faculty member and dean of men at Lawrence who believed strongly that every individual can and should make a positive difference in the world, the award recognizes alumni who best exemplify the ideals of a liberal education through socially useful service in their community, the nation or the world.

For the past four years, Hernandez-Ugalde has served as Costa Rica’s country director for Cross-Cultural Solutions, an international organization founded in 1995 that provides individual and small-group volunteer experiences in 10 countries. The program is recognized for its on-site support and education for volunteers and the year-round presence it maintains in the communities it serves.

Since joining CCS, Hernandez-Ugalde has established two volunteer centers, one in his childhood hometown of Ciudad Quesada and a second in Cartago, the country’s oldest and third-largest city.

Praised as “an ambassador who connects North American and Latin American experiences” by those who have worked with him, Hernandez-Ugalde is responsible for hiring and supervising all in-country CCS staff members. He also matches volunteers from around the world with locally-run partner programs that include everything from working with deaf children and creating positive activities for at-risk youth to helping provide care for nursing homes patients. Beyond placing participants with volunteer opportunities, Hernandez-Ugalde plays a central role in immersing volunteers in the local culture and the lives of the people they are there to help.

His personal interests center around incorporating the arts into his home community and he serves as a liaison in nearby San Carlos for the National Theater Company located in the capital city of San Jose.

Prior to joining CCS, Hernandez-Ugalde worked with the Foreign Service Foundation for Peace and Democracy, where he specialized in conflict resolution and the elimination of child labor. He was a visiting faculty member at the Close-Up Foundation in Washington D.C., teaching courses on civic education and democracy and has served as a protocol official for the United Nations Conference on the Environment.

Margaret (Banta) Humleker, Kathleen (Karst) Larson, and Peter Kelly will each be presented the Gertrude B. Jupp Outstanding Service Award. The award honors Jupp, a 1918 graduate of Milwaukee-Downer College who was named M-D Alumna of the Year in 1964 for her long volunteer service to the college and recognizes Lawrence and Milwaukee-Downer alumni who have provided outstanding service to the college.

Humleker, Fond du Lac, a 1941 graduate, served the college as member of the Board of Trustees for 24 years and has spent more than 30 years as a class secretary. She has served on numerous reunion gift and steering committees over the years and has been a Lawrence representative at college presidential inaugurations. A second generation Lawrence graduate, Humleker also had two sons and a granddaughter earn degrees from Lawrence.

Larson, McAllen, Texas, a 1960 graduate, holds the distinction of being the longest serving class secretary in Lawrence history — 42 years and counting. In addition, she is a long-serving reunion steering committee member and former board member of the Lawrence University Alumni Association. She also has served as a Career Center contact, an admissions office volunteer and was instrumental in helping Lawrence launch LENS, an electronic alumni newsletter.

Kelly, West Newton, Mass., a 1987 graduate, will be recognized with the college’s highest alumni service award at the youngest possible age — during his 20th class reunion. He has served in numerous lead volunteer capacities since leaving Lawrence, including co-chair of his class’ 10th reunion gift committee. He spent three years as a member of the executive committee of the Lawrence University Alumni Association and has been an ambassador peer solicitor the past three years. He also has been active as a Career Center contact and admissions volunteer.

Lawrence University Cites Brandenberger, Carr, Barrett for Scholarship, Teaching Excellence

Physicist John Brandenberg was honored as the first recipient of Lawrence University’s new Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity Award Sunday, June 11 at the college’s 157th commencement. Brandenberger was one of three faculty members recognized during graduation ceremonies.

Karen Carr, professor of religious studies, was presented Lawrence’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, given annually for outstanding performance in the teaching process, including the quest to ensure students reach their full development as individuals, human beings and future leaders of society.

Faith Barrett, assistant professor of English, received the Young Teacher Award in recognition of demonstrated excellence in the classroom and the promise of continued growth.

The new Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity Award recognizes professional accomplishment in scholarship or creative activity. The award is intended to symbolize the importance of excellence in scholarly and creative work for advancing the mission of Lawrence University, with preference given to those who have demonstrated sustained programs of excellent work for a number of years and whose work exemplifies the ideals of the teacher-scholar.

Brandenberger, the Alice G. Chapman Professor of Physics and a member of the Lawrence faculty since 1968, previously was recognized in 1995 with the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

A specialist in laser spectroscopy and time-resolved flourescence spectroscopy, Brandenberger has played a leading role in earning national recognition for Lawrence’s physics department as one of the country’s best undergraduate programs. His research on atomic structure has been supported by grants from the Research Corporation, the National Science Foundation, NASA, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the General Electric Foundation and the Keck Foundation. In 1999, Brandenberger became the first physicist in Lawrence history to be elected a Fellow in the American Physical Society for his contributions to physics education in America.

In presenting him with the inaugural new award, Lawrence President Jill Beck cited the “imagination and energy” Brandenberger brings to the classroom and the laboratory.

“For generations of Lawrence students, you have provided a model for the conduct of scientific investigation in the context of a liberal education,” said Beck. “Your success as a scholar has shown in dramatic fashion that high quality research can be done at an undergraduate institution and can serve as an important part of students’ education. Your creative, intelligent and forceful advocacy for scholarly work is truly remarkable.”

A native of Danville, Ill., Brandenberger is a graduate of Carleton College, which honored him with its Distinguished Achievement Award in 2001. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in physics at Brown University.

Carr, who joined the faculty in 1987, becomes just the seventh person to be recognized with both the Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Young Teacher Award in the 32-year history of the awards.

A scholar on the history of Christianity and 19th- and 20th-century religious thought, Carr is the author of two books, “The Banaliization of Nihilism” and “The Sense of Anti Rationalism: The Religious Thought of Zhuangzi and Kierkegaard,” a comparative study of religious epistemology.

“Your success at teaching students the nature of early Christianity and the complexities of such thinkers as Nietzsche and Kierkegaard made it clear that you have a special ability to take the most difficult ideas and make them come alive, without ever oversimplifying them,” Beck said in presenting Carr her award. “If the mark of a good liberal education is being able to use knowledge to understand what is vital for the human experience, you have clearly been successful with your students.”

Carr, who grew up near Buffalo, N.Y., earned her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and her master’s degree and Ph.D. in religious studies at Stanford University.

Barrett joined the English department in 2003. A specialist in 19th-century American literature, much of Barrett’s scholarly research has centered around poetry of the Civil War era. She served as co-editor of “Words for the Hour,” a 2005 anthology of American Civil War poetry. She also has two books in progress, “‘To fight aloud is very brave”: American Poets and the Civil War,” which examines works of both popular poets as well as unpublished poems written by soldiers, and “Letters to the World: Emily Dickinson and the Lyric Address.”

Beck credited Barrett for “creating a sense of excitement” about poetry and literature in her classes.

“Students praise your ability to challenge them and to help them reach new levels of accomplishment in both writing and critical analysis,” said Beck. “It is clear that a great deal of your success comes from your individualized learning style that is based on a high level of rich interactions with students. Your teaching has established a balance between attempting to cover a set of important points and allowing students to take responsibility for their own learning.”

Originally from Hartford, Conn., Barrett earned her bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from Swarthmore College and holds a MFA degree in poetry from the University of Iowa. She also earned a master’s degree and her Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley.

Hortonville, Pittsville High School Teachers to be Honored as Outstanding Educators at Lawrence Commencement

Hortonville High School biologist Jackie Dorow and Karen Brownell, a mathematics teacher at Pittsville High School, will be presented Lawrence University’s Outstanding Teaching in Wisconsin Award Sunday, June 11 during the college’s 157th commencement. Both will receive a certificate, a citation and a monetary award.

Established in 1985, the teaching award recognizes Wisconsin secondary school teachers for education excellence. Recipients are nominated by Lawrence seniors and are selected on their abilities to communicate effectively, create a sense of excitement in the classroom, motivate their students to pursue academic excellence while showing a genuine concern for them in, as well as outside, the classroom.

A native of Greenville and a graduate of Hortonville High School, Dorow joined the faculty of her alma mater in 1974. During her 32-year career, she had taught general biology, honors biology, botany, zoology as well as anatomy and physiology. She has served as the chair of the biology department the past four years and also leads Hortonville’s North Central Accreditation School Improvement Committee.

In nominating Dorow for the award, Lawrence senior Angie Geiger, a 2002 Hortonville graduate, praised her former teacher for her enthusiastic and nurturing style in the classroom.

“Ms. Dorow’s classes were nothing short of a challenge,” Geiger said in her nomination. “The assignments, projects and presentations demanded that we put forth the effort to become fluent in the language of biology. Ms. Dorow is a teacher any Lawrence student would adore and any colleague would admire. She changed my life and helped me discover my destiny as a biologist.”

Recognized as Hortonville’s Teacher of the Year in 1989, Dorow is a member of the National Science Teachers Association, the National Association of Biology Teachers and the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at UW-Oshkosh in biology and her master’s degree in education at Aurora University.
Like Dorow, Brownell also returned to teach at her own former high school. Since joining the Pittsville High School faculty in 1976, Brownell has taught virtually every math course, including algebra, geometry and calculus. She also has served as the coach of the school’s math team during most of her tenure. Under her direction, Pittsville has been a consistent top-five finisher in the annual Central Wisconsin Math League Competition, including a string of nine consecutive first-place finishes in the 1980s and ’90s.

Lawrence senior Amalia Wegner, a 2002 Pittsville graduate, cited Brownell’s unflinching determination among the reasons why she was a special teacher.

“Ms. Brownell has never given up on a student,” Wegner said in nominating her for the award. “She believes in every one of her students. In turn, her students try their best because they know someone is trying to help them succeed.”

Wegner recalled Brownell spending her lunch hour, free period and after-school time to tutor a particular student who was struggling.

“When no one else was there to help, Ms. Brownell is there. She is a great teacher who goes above and beyond her duty for her students.”

Outside the classroom, Brownell has coached the girls’ volleyball team for 28 years, winning eight conference titles and making four trips to the state tournament, including second-place finishes in 1986 and 1995. She also has served as Pittsville’s track coach for the past 17 years.

A member of the National Education Association, Brownell earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from UW-Stevens Point.