Fall 2020 in PDF Format

FOR UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON ALUMNI AND FRIENDS FALL 2020

Badgers vs. the Pandemic Meet UW heroes in the fight against COVID-19. Page 22 Vision Protesters kneel near Memorial Library, showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Following the killing of George Floyd by Minneap- olis police on Memorial Day weekend, demonstrations began in cities around the country, including Madison, where they centered on the capitol and State Street. Photo by Jeff Miller On Wisconsin 3 THE “DIDN’T MISS A SPOT” POLICY

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Shakuntala Makhijani examines Lab mix Beau at the Dane County Humane Society. See page 46. BRYCE RICHTER DEPARTMENTS

2 Vision 7 Communications 9 First Person

OnCampus

11 News 13 Bygone Remote Learning 14 Calculation Pandemic Financial Fallout 17 Conversation LaVar Charleston 18 Exhibition Online Art 20 Contender Tamara Moore

OnAlumni FEATURES 52 News 53 Tradition Multicultural 22 Heroes of the Pandemic Student Center From treating COVID-19 patients at the height of New 54 Class Notes York’s crisis to 3D-printing face shields, everyday Badger 60 Diversions heroes are helping where they can. 63 Conversation Jim Lovell

66 Destination Ian’s Pizza 30 Journalism’s Last Best Hope BRYCE RICHTER Thanks to resourceful young reporters, local news makes a comeback. By Jenny Price ’96 36 Can We Trust the Polls? The UW’s Elections Research Center has an innovative plan for analyzing the presidential race. By Preston Schmitt ’14 42 “Ratso” Gets His Due Living legend Writer Larry “Ratso” Sloman MS’72 has worked closely with Jim Lovell. celebrities ranging from Howard Stern and Mike Tyson to Bob See page 63. Dylan — and now he’s chasing his own rock-star dream. By Hugh Hart Black Lives Matter on State Street. 46 It’s About the Animals — and See page 12. Humans, Too Sandra Newbury DVM’03 heads UW–Madison’s Shelter Medicine Program, which helps animal shelters save more NASA pets’ lives — and improve staff welfare at the same time. Cover Illustration by By Stephanie Haws ’15 Joe McKendry

On Wisconsin 5 6 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 Communications

Sterling Hall Memories campus alphabetically, but it was SOCIAL SOLIDARITY [In regard to “The Blast That of no strategic importance vis-à- In the aftermath of George Changed Everything,” Summer vis the Vietnam War. Moreover, Floyd’s death, UW–Madison 2020 On Wisconsin]: I’m a phar- no right-minded individual would campus leaders, student macy graduate, and on the night want to impede the improvement organizations, and alumni of the bombing, I was working as of beer! the night pharmacist at the old David Pomeranz ’77 took to social media to call for UW Hospital, right across Char- Brookline, Massachusetts justice and amplify the Black ter Street from Sterling Hall. Yes, Lives Matter movement. I was actually a firsthand witness Two years ago, we attended Below is a sampling of tweets. and most likely the first person the Madison “Sixties Reunion.” on the scene immediately after Imagine our surprise to discover Student Affairs the explosion. As with the other a plaque [on Bascom Hill near the @UW_StudentLife alumni quoted in your article, the Sifting and Winnowing plaque] We know that the events of the impact of that era and bombing called Reform and Revolt. [It] past week have been painful, had a profound impact on my life states that our protests mobilized and many of you are hurting. and remains a vivid memory. “thousands for and against the We are here for you. We are Steven Schmidt ’68 war.” We do not remember a here to provide support and Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin single demonstration for the war, resources, and we are here to only against. This [is] a distortion build community. The pressure wave from the of history. In addition, the plaque bomb cracked my bedroom states that the bombing of the window and left me on the floor, Army Math Research Center put UW–Madison Diversity short of breath. Cold War–era “a tragic conclusion on a period @uw_diversity conditioned response led me to of protest.” Undeniably tragic as We’ve put together a list of wonder “was this it?” Once the that was, it did not put a conclu- resources for our White com- newspaper articles were written sion on a period of protest. We munity members who want to and the tragedy fully realized, continued to demonstrate and educate themselves about sys- further protest felt pointless, and protest until our activism helped tems of racial oppression and our collective prospects both in to end the war in 1975. how they can change behaviors and outside the university felt Bette Gordon and 28 others; and become more effective very dark indeed. There was still for their names, visit the com- antiracist allies. diversity.wisc. some joy to be found in music, ments section for First Person at edu/resources-for-white-allies yes — but beyond that, we draft- onwisconsin.uwalumni.com. age male students in particular felt, having survived strontium Escape Artist Black Cultural Center isotopes in our milk, the polio As a Gallistel granddaughter, I @UWMadisonBCC pandemic of our childhood, and grew up spending time at Camp The BCC is in solidarity with the 1957 flu epidemic (from which Gallistella [“Paradise on Men- those in the fight for Black I had almost passed) … what was dota,” Summer 2020]. I loved liberation sparked recently by to be our hope? For me it was every bit of it, especially singing the murder of George Floyd. immersion in environmental around the campfire. I was less We acknowledge the lives of studies — thank you, UW, for enthusiastic about the firm rules Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, that opportunity. Hang on, stu- Grandma maintained, which Ahmaud Arbery and the many dents, to what you have! required me to leave through the others. Remain connected as John Laumer window one memorable evening. we gather resources & organize Returning the same way later spaces of support. My father, Y. Pomeranz, was on, I appeared to escape notice. hired in July 1970 as director of Lucie Seward the U.S. Barley and Malt Labora- Russell Wilson tory. Upon hearing of the bomb- Wrestling Hero @DangeRussWilson ing of the Army Math Research The documentary Wrestled BLACK LIVES MATTER. Center, our mother was sure that Away [mentioned in “A Story #BlackOutTuesday “they” would go after the Barley of Almosts,” Summer 2020] is and Malt Lab next. It took all of terrific. I highly recommend it my brother’s and my best efforts and am thankful for the story of Rose Lavelle to convince her that “they” were wrestler Lee Kemp. He is one of @roselavelle not going to do that. Yes, the my heroes. #BlackLivesMatter lab was the next U.S. facility on Kevin Phillips #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd

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8 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 First Person

Dear fellow Badgers, Fall 2020 As we begin a new fall semester, we are facing challenges few of us could have imagined one year ago. I know the pandemic has impacted COEDITORS Niki Denison, Wisconsin Foundation and the lives of everyone in our Badger community, bringing disruption to Alumni Association (WFAA) all and tragedy to some. Dean Robbins, University Communications Here at the UW, COVID-19 has forced us to rethink and rework all PUBLISHER of our operations, from classrooms to dorms to research labs. Wisconsin Foundation and When we’re immersed in the day-to-day demands of a crisis, we all Alumni Association need to pause occasionally and remember why our work is important. 1848 University Avenue Madison, WI 53726-4090 For those of us at UW–Madison, the students often provide the reminder 608-263-4545 we need. Email: [email protected] So I was delighted when Alan Chen ’15, MD’20 got in touch in mid-July. Web: onwisconsin.uwalumni.com Alan first wrote to me as an undergraduate, to say he was having a ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER wonderful time here and learning a lot. John Allen, WFAA Alan and his family are Chinese immigrants. He arrived here in the WRITER second grade, speaking no English, and grew up in Minocqua, where his Preston Schmitt ’14, University Marketing parents saved up to open a small restaurant. They took one vacation day CLASS NOTES/DIVERSIONS EDITOR every year. One of their dreams was to see Alan become the first in the Stephanie Haws ’15, WFAA family to earn a college degree. ART DIRECTOR Alan earned his undergraduate degree here at the UW, and this May, Danielle Lawry, University Marketing he received his medical degree from our School of Medicine and Public DESIGNERS Health. He is now caring for patients in a busy emergency room in Chi- Christine Knorr ’97 and Danielle Lamberson cago and hopes to return to Wisconsin to practice emergency medicine Philipp, University Marketing with a focus on public health. PRODUCTION EDITOR COVID-19 has temporarily changed much of what we love about Eileen Fitzgerald ’79, University Marketing UW–Madison. I don’t know when we’ll be able to cheer for the Badgers PHOTOGRAPHERS at Camp Randall Stadium or greet one another with a hug. Jeff Miller and Bryce Richter, University But there are a few things I am sure about. Communications First, UW–Madison will continue to provide an outstanding educa- DESIGN, LAYOUT, AND PRODUCTION tion that is one of the best values in the country. Remote learning can’t Kent Hamele ’78, Kate Price ’09: University Marketing; Nicole Heiman, Megan Provost replace the classroom (and out-of-classroom) experiences that the UW ’20; Chelsea Schlecht ’13, Erin Sprague ’94: is known for, but our Smart Restart campus-reopening program worked WFAA with faculty and staff over the summer to design thousands of classes ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES that will be engaging and rigorous. Madison Magazine: 608-270-3600 Second, we will continue to be a center for leading-edge research. ADDRESS CHANGES AND As I write this, we have 293 COVID-19-related research projects DEATH NOTICES underway or proposed — including several clinical trials and a vaccine 888-947-2586 in development. Email: [email protected] Third, our commitment to the Wisconsin Idea will remain strong, Quarterly production of On Wisconsin is as we share discoveries and innovations with the state, the nation, and supported by financial gifts from alumni the world. and friends. To make a gift to UW–Madison, please visit supportuw.org. Finally, we will invest in creating a campus that is welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and antiracist. The nationwide protests demand- The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) is open to all alumni, students, and friends of the ing that the U.S. make good on promises of justice and equality have university. WFAA encourages diversity, inclusivity, and created an opportunity for all of us to listen, read, reflect, and work participation by all of these groups in its activities and does not discriminate on any basis. toward change. In this moment of uncertainty, I take comfort — as I hope you will — Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this magazine. Please read it first. in the values that have guided us for 172 years, allowing us to open the doors to opportunity for deserving students like Alan Chen. Those values will help us find the best way forward and continue to change lives. Be well and keep in touch.

My best, CHANCELLOR REBECCA BLANK

On Wisconsin 9 WHEN DOCTORS

NEED

FACE

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BADGERS

ENGINEER A DESIGN?

PUBLISH IT ONLINE? DELIVER.

PARTNER WITH FORD?

AND JOHN DEERE?

MILLIONS AND COUNTING.

YOU’RE ON, WISCONSIN.

wisc.edu OnCampusNews from UW–Madison A Smart Restart VIRTUALUW.NET The UW plans to welcome students, faculty, and staff back to campus — with safety measures in place.

As an unprecedented spring semester came to a close, many Badgers couldn’t help but wonder what the COVID-19 crisis would mean for fall. Would students be able to return to UW–Madison? The question didn’t have an easy answer. As spring turned to summer, 6,000 UW–MINECRAFT UW System and campus leaders remained agile, gauging feedback from viral tests per When UW students were sent students, families, and employees and consulting with public-health week, at mini- home from campus in March, experts, campus stakeholders, and peer universities to determine next mum: the UW’s Ryan Wenzel x’21 didn’t want to steps. On June 17, UW–Madison announced “Smart Restart,” a plan for Smart Restart say goodbye. He didn’t want to plan calls for leave Memorial Union or Science the fall semester that aimed to facilitate in-person learning opportunities a capacity to while also prioritizing the health of everyone on campus. process at least Hall or even Chadbourne. The plan proposed a full curriculum, composed of in-person and this many tests So he decided to build all his virtual courses, from the first day of instruction on September 2 to to track spread of favorite campus spots at home, Thanksgiving recess. After the break, courses and final exams would the disease on his computer. His tool of only take place remotely. For students unable to return for in-person choice was Minecraft, the multi- instruction — such as some international students and those who pre- player online game. ferred not to — the university would offer alternatives. “I used to play [Minecraft] a After Smart Restart was announced, campus leaders held virtual lot in middle and high school, so I Q & A sessions with students and families. An informational website, was eager to start playing again. smartrestart.wisc.edu, also provided details and publicly communicated I also thought it was the perfect updates. Throughout the summer, hundreds of faculty and staff con- way to connect with the campus tinued their involvement with the plan, following guidance from local, community as everyone was state, and campus health and safety experts, according to John Lucas, physically separated.” assistant vice chancellor of University Communications. With friends Chris Bravata, “Nothing is more important to us than providing a safe, healthy, Matt Ciolkosz ’18, and Dylan and welcoming environment for teaching and learning,” he says. “We Nysted x’21, he put together a are fortunate to have so many students, faculty, and staff who care so series of challenges based on deeply about UW–Madison. It’s been an all-hands-on-deck effort, with UW buildings. Hosting the game every unit across campus pitching in.” at virtualuw.net, they invited At press time, the plan was still to begin in-person instruction in other Badgers to join in the fun, September. Smart Restart calls for a three-part testing protocol, with and by midsummer, more than free testing available for all students, staff, and faculty; required testing 40 had registered. Wenzel played for those living and working in residence halls; and routine surveillance for around 200 hours over the testing. Additionally, the plan requires masks in all indoor public spaces, course of the spring and early expects physical distancing in classrooms, uses new cleaning/hygiene summer and has constructed procedures, urges self-monitoring for symptoms, and employs contact several campus icons. tracing for those who test positive. “I wanted to start with the Some classes with fewer than 50 students are to be held in person buildings in the Bascom Hill and in large classrooms to allow for physical distancing. Classes of more area, such as Science Hall and than 100 students are to be available only through remote channels, as Memorial Union, because I felt are many classes between 50 and 100 students. Residence and dining that those are the most iconic halls are open to residents and housing staff only. And for at-risk faculty and historic UW buildings,” he and staff, Lucas says, the Office of Human Resources has implemented says. “I personally wanted to an accommodations and flexibilities process. start with building Chadbourne A national spike in COVID-19 cases in summer forced UW leaders to Hall, which has a special place continually examine the plan. For updates on the fall semester since On in my heart after living/working Wisconsin was printed, visit news.wisc.edu/covid-19-campus-response. there for two years.” STEPHANIE HAWS ’15 JOHN ALLEN

On Wisconsin 11 OnCampus BRYCE RICHTER

THE ROCK ON ROCKS During his last in-person lecture in March, Professor Stephen Meyers asked his Geoscience 100 students to dream big about the class’s future with the pandemic threaten- ing to force them apart. They made a whimsical request: an interaction with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson about rocks. Meyers, who draws analogies to the actor in his class, reached out to The Rock on Twitter. Such an inquiry to an A-list celebrity is almost certain to get lost in a black hole of millions (and millions) of mentions. But a few days later, The Rock responded with a string of charming tweets. His favorite geological place? Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, where he spent much of his childhood. His favorite geoscience topics? Seismol- Painting for Peace ogy, paleontology, and oceanogra- The boarded-up storefronts displayed boldly painted messages: Love, Unity, phy. “Mother Nature rules,” he wrote. Change. And his favorite rock? “Well, All along State Street, local artists transformed a scene of despair and from the three scientific classes of destruction into a blocks-long exhibit of hope and remembrance. In late May, rocks — sedimentary, metamor- peaceful protests during the day devolved into unrest overnight, with many phic, and igneous. I would have downtown buildings experiencing broken windows. At dawn, volunteers filled to go with the big, brown, bald, the streets to clean up debris while store owners covered window openings with tattooed Rock,” he joked. “And if all plywood. By mid-June, the City of Madison had commissioned 140 local artists, your 428 students want a big fat A in many of them people of color, to create 112 vibrant murals covering the blight. this class, then that better be their Like others across the country, the city has experienced sustained — and favorite Rock, too.” largely peaceful — protests since the police killing of George Floyd in Minne- Meyers featured The Rock’s apolis. The message is clear: Black Lives Matter, and it’s time for reform to end tweets in his final remote lecture in systemic racism. May. The recorded talk, titled “Liv- UW–Madison students Daniel Ledin x’22, Molly Pistono x’22, and ing in an Uncertain World,” looked Courtney Gorum x’23 (pictured above, left to right) painted a tribute to vic- something like a short film. Meyers tims of police violence and racial injustice, encircling a colorful solidarity fist climbed to the top of his house, with their names. “With the whole movement going on, we wanted to do some- transforming his flat rooftop into a thing and contribute to our community,” Gorum told WISC-TV in front of the giant chalkboard to map out Earth’s mural at the downtown Community Pharmacy. systems and filming the dramatic Several campus properties were also damaged during the protests, including scene with a drone. His video con- the Chazen Museum of Art, Memorial Union, Ogg Hall, and Alumni Park. cluded with a poem for his stu- As businesses began to repair their windows, the City of Madison worked dents. “When I look at you,” Meyers to collect the murals and plan an exhibit. For weeks, State Street was unrecog- wrote, “I see billions of years and a nizable. But for the artists, it was a massive, collective canvas for change. world of possibilities.” “We will always remain in awe of the strength and courage it took for them Truly, after a geoscience lecture by to transform broken glass and broken hearts into something powerful and beau- The Rock, anything seems possible. tiful,” said Karin Wolf ’97, MS'06, arts administrator for the City of Madison. PRESTON SCHMITT ’14 PRESTON SCHMITT ’14

12 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 OnCampus Bygone Remote Learning UW ARCHIVES S05820

In the spring of 2020, Badgers program ran until 1899 and was UW professors The broadcast reached 70,000 stu- took their courses to go as a pan- reinvigorated in 1905 under the Harold Engel, Lee dents by 1938 and offered programs demic sent students away from direction of university president de Forest, and such as Journey in Musicland, Let’s the campus they love. Although Charles Van Hise 1879, 1880, H. B. McCarty Draw, and Afield with Ranger Mac. these drastic measures were cer- MS1882, PhD1892. The pro- MA’30, seen In 1931, WHA also premiered here in the tainly unprecedented, the notion gram lives on today as Independent 1930s, used the Wisconsin College of the Air, of rendering courses mobile and Learning and reaches students of all radio to broad- which featured educational pro- adapting them outside the tradi- ages and regions. cast university- gramming geared toward adults. tional classroom space is no novel The Wisconsin Idea inspired caliber lectures Its first course instructed listen- concept at UW–Madison. the university’s initial attempts at into homes ers in touch typing. Some of its Professor Richard Ely — the distance learning via technology. around the state. original programs ran for nearly same Ely whose contested work Physics professor Earle Terry 35 years, and while they now may led the Board of Regents to estab- MA1904, PhD1910 built the be relics of radio’s past, the UW’s lish the university’s commitment to university’s first radio transmitter, educational programming is still “continual and fearless sifting and possibly as early as 1902. Eventu- alive and well as University of the winnowing” — directed the UW’s ally dubbed 9XM-WHA, the sta- Air on Wisconsin Public Radio’s first correspondence-study pro- tion broadcast news and weather, Ideas Network. gram upon his arrival at the univer- and in the 1930s, it became a Remote education at UW– sity in 1892. By 1895, the program medium for education. Madison has come a long way offered 63 courses in subjects rang- In 1931, WHA debuted its from snail-mail correspondence to ing from botany and bacteriology groundbreaking School of the Air, pandemic-induced online courses. to foreign language and literature. which drew on the UW School However sophisticated and wide- For one 16-lesson course, students of Education in collaboration spread distance learning may paid four dollars, plus the postage with teachers at Madison public look today, it all started with pen, for mailing coursework. schools to develop programs for paper, and the twist of a dial. The correspondence-study elementary-age children. MEGAN PROVOST ’20

On Wisconsin 13 Calculation Pandemic Financial Fallout ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELLE LAWRY

The Cost of a Crisis The COVID-19 pandemic has in- most areas show either a drop in serious,” says Vice Chancellor for flicted unprecedented budget short- revenue or a rise in costs. The red Finance and Administration Lau- falls on universities everywhere, and bars indicate the financial deficit rent Heller, “is the unprecedented UW–Madison is no exception. of each category, compared to the degree of uncertainty we’re facing In an email to faculty and staff, UW's previous budget. among all of our activities simulta- Chancellor Rebecca Blank noted For the last several months, uni- neously. Our campus is like a small that the costs to the UW are sub- versity financial analysts have been city, with highly diversified sources stantial, and she outlined a series considering a multitude of factors, of revenue. This is usually a real of cost-reduction measures, includ- including whether students would strength, but in the current envi- ing a hiring and salary freeze (with return to campus in the fall, and if ronment it means we’re facing many limited exceptions) and employee so, what type of instruction would risks and unknowns all at once.” furloughs. be offered; what the costs of sig- Still, Heller noted that the cam- The figures below represent an nificant preparation and mitigation pus was in a strong financial position attempt, current as of press time, efforts would be; and whether the before the crisis, and he expects a to gauge the financial fallout for the athletics season would be cancelled. quick rebound once a reliable treat- campus for the fiscal year 2020–21. Since the pandemic situation is ment or vaccine is found. “We’ve While the university expects more ever-changing, projections shifted been here for more than 170 years funding in some areas — summer from week to week. “What has and we’re planning on being here for term tuition and federal funding — made this crisis different and so at least another 170 more,” he says.

SUMMER TUITION 4,000,000 Pandemic Expense Impact**

PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS* 11,000,000 Testing 11,950,000 Mask Distribution 3,127,000 AUXILIARIES 52,000,000 Other PPE 18,794,000 Online Classes 7,000,000 ATHLETICS 56,000,000 Total 40,871,000

FALL/SPRING TUITION 83,000,000 Enrollment Contraction (fall/spring)

PANDEMIC EXPENSES** 41,000,000 WI/MN -5% -5% Domestic 20% 15% GIFTS 36,000,000 International 30% 20%

RESEARCH 76,000,000 Spring 2021 Retention STATE APPROPRIATIONS 86,000,000

GENERAL OPERATIONS 14,000,000 95.11% (fall students who return for spring semester) FEDERAL RELIEF 14,000,000

Total $437,000,000

20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440

GAIN LOSS

*for nontraditional and international 2tudents

14 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 OnCampus HEALTHY MINDS INNOVATIONS Scientists Zero in on COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn the attention of UW–Madison scientists in all corners of campus: geographers mapping the movement of people, mathematicians modeling the spread of the virus, and communications researchers testing ways to deliver public health messages. It even stretched to the South Pole, where IceCube Neutrino Observatory CALM IS A CLICK AWAY scientists donated the computing power they use for astrophysics cal- Stressed out during the pandemic? culations to study proteins in novel coronavirus infections. How about trying a guided meditation Prominent virology labs got an early start. Working toward a vaccine on YouTube? with Madison-based FluGen, UW professor of pathobiological sciences Last March, Healthy Minds Innovations Yoshihiro Kawaoka has been studying how SARS-CoV-2 is trans- created a video meditation series in a col- mitted and causes COVID-19. A study of hamsters showed the animals laboration with the UW’s Center for Healthy develop infections deep in their lungs with severe damage similar to Minds. The project advances the center’s human patients. Importantly, infected hamsters developed antibodies mission: to cultivate well-being through a protecting them against future infection and responded well to treatment scientific understanding of the mind. with antibodies from the blood of other hamsters that had been infected. “During this challenging time, we feel a “This shows us that convalescent sera, still experimental in moral obligation to disseminate the insights human patients, may be part of an effective treatment for COVID-19,” and practical wisdom we’ve gleaned over the Kawaoka says. years to help people cope more effectively,” UW Health and the School of Medicine and Public Health have been says Professor Richard Davidson, who studying that very treatment, joining dozens of research sites testing directs the Center for Healthy Minds and whether newly infected patients improve with transfusions of anti- leads some of the meditations himself (pic- body-rich blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors. Infectious disease tured above). “Research shows that medita- specialist David Andes has also led a UW–Madison group in a trial tion can help us become more resilient and of a drug, ruxolitinib, meant to quell the “cytokine storm,” a danger- decrease our distress.” ous overreaction of the immune system sparked by the virus in many The Center for Healthy Minds conducts patients. Lisa Arkin, assistant professor of dermatology and pediatrics, studies on qualities of mind that affect is studying “COVID toes,” trying to understand why the disease causes well-being. Drawing on this research, bruise-like blisters and bumps on the toes of children. Healthy Minds Innovations develops tools From the outset of the pandemic in Wisconsin, David O’Connor to create a kinder, wiser, more compassion- and Thomas Friedrich ’97, PhD’03 of UW–Madison’s AIDS Vac- ate world. cine Research Laboratory began parsing the genetic sequences of virus As the pandemic spread, the nonprofit samples from patients. They found that limiting travel was working in saw a dramatic increase in demand for its Wisconsin, as Madison and Milwaukee outbreaks were unrelated. Most services. The YouTube meditations have of Madison’s infections involved versions of the virus introduced from drawn viewers from around the world who Europe, and Milwaukee’s largely grew from versions of SARS-CoV-2 are anxious about the future. introduced from Asia. How do they feel at the end of a session? O’Connor, Friedrich, and medical school professor David Beebe To quote their chatbox comments: “Peace- ’87, MS’90, PhD’94 are now working on a saliva test for the virus. ful.” “Hopeful.” “Inspired.” CHRIS BARNCARD DEAN ROBBINS

news feed

Tommy Thompson ’63, JD’66 can The UW has been After 25 years as a UW astronomy now add “interim UW System ranked 20th professor, associate dean, and president” to an already formidable nationally and interim dean, Eric Wilcots couldn’t résumé. “The University of Wis- 26th worldwide be better prepared for his new job consin System is the state’s most by the Center for as dean of the College of Letters & valuable asset,” said the former World University Science. Wilcots extols the liberal Wisconsin governor and U.S. secre- Rankings. Yet arts as a means of “preparing our tary of Health and Human Services, more proof that students to succeed in the world “and I will be its biggest advocate Badgers rule the after graduation and as an approach

BRYCE RICHTER (2) RICHTER BRYCE and its toughest evaluator.” planet. to creating new knowledge.”

On Wisconsin 15 OnCampus BRYCE RICHTER

CORONA-NOMICS

If you’re having a hard time picturing the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Noah Williams can help you out. Williams, a professor of economics and director of the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Econ- omy (CROWE), has been tracking the state’s economy closely since the pandemic reached the university. And CROWE graphs the data out and posts those charts online, giving snapshots of Wisconsin’s recovery week by week. “We’ve always been tracking the official data,” Williams says, “but we’ve tried to do really high-fre- quency updates beginning in the middle of March. There was a lot of damage happening, and if we didn’t post frequently, we were afraid we’d miss a lot of what was going on.” Going Out in Style How to salute graduates during Throughout the pandemic, CROWE has been a pandemic? It takes creativity, and the Wisconsin School of collecting data not only on unemployment and retail Business rose to the challenge with a May 9 light show called sales, but also on employee working hours, foot traffic “Business Badgers Light the Way Forward.” From 9 p.m. to in Wisconsin’s bars and restaurants, spending at midnight, the east façade of Grainger Hall glowed red with online and brick-and-mortar stores, and more. The a four-story display featuring graduates’ names, exploding center estimates that the state’s unemployment rate fireworks imagery, UW iconography, and congratulatory peaked at 21.5 percent in May, and Williams believes messages. There was no mistaking the symbolism: these that reopening has been uneven. graduates have a bright future. After the state’s Safer at Home order was lifted shortly before Memorial Day, economic indicators began trending upward again, Williams notes. But for What’s the idea behind the new crest some industries, the dip was so low that it may take a logo that will begin appearing on all long while to fully recover. “Things went down so fast in March and April,” he UW Athletics uniforms? In a word, says. “It was much worse than we were expecting and inclusion. The black W, which is much worse than initial reports. But in the following typically in white, was proposed by months, I suppose we were due for some upside student-athletes to show solidarity surprises.” CROWE’s reports and data are available online at with Black and other underrepre- crowe.wisc.edu. sented communities at UW–Madison. JOHN ALLEN news feed

What’s the key to futuris- To ease the pain of physical UW–Madison is striving to increase student tic “flexible electronics” distancing, the Wisconsin Union voter participation through the nonpartisan like foldable phones and is offering some of its favor- ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The roll-up tablets? Believe it ite recipes for you to make at university hopes for another or not, it might be wood. home; see union.wisc.edu/dine/ impressive turnout New UW–Madison research union-dining-at-home. Turns this fall after recently shows how a wood product out the Rathskeller’s legendary receiving a platinum — cellulose nanofibril paper tater tot seasoning is almost as seal for a 2018 student — can create a functional good without the Lake Mendota voting rate above 50 microwave amplifier circuit. view. Almost. percent.

16 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 Conversation LaVar Charleston

Outrage. Pain. Exhaustion. Charleston is Even with a PhD, I’m looked at which is that education should LaVar Charleston MS’07, inspired by as a criminal, and it has to be influence people’s lives beyond PhD’10 went through an emo- the Black Lives because of my color. This is a the boundaries of the class- tional wringer in May when he Matter protests constant reminder that system- room, we should be leading the that arose after learned of George Floyd’s death George Floyd’s ic racism does indeed exist. way with an inspiring and per- under a Minneapolis police death. See meating vision for antiracism, officer’s knee. For an African onwisconsin. How do you define the Black for social justice, for equality, American man, the scenario felt uwalumni.com Lives Matter movement? for diversity, for inclusion. And chillingly familiar. “If you’re in for an extended It’s a response, an objec- we’re working toward that, so the Black community, you know Q & A. tion, and a refusal to accept I’m encouraged. someone this has happened state-sanctioned violence and to: discrimination, abuse, and anti-Black racism, which has What is the UW doing? violence at the hands of police,” permeated society for as long as I’m seeing the campus commit says Charleston, associate we can remember. The move- to hiring more folks of color. dean for equity, diversity, and ment connects Black people and I’m seeing the chancellor tell inclusion and clinical professor others around the world with a folks of color that they matter, of educational leadership and shared desire for justice, free- which is a strong statement that policy analysis at the UW–Mad- dom, and human rights. must be backed up by action ison School of Education. “You and accountability. The office of envision yourself, your father, What is UW–Madison’s role admissions has a whole team of your nephews, your kids, your at a time like this? recruiters, led by a new assis- grandparents in that space.” It’s important that the univer- tant director, that is focused on Charleston is inspired by sity affirm Black lives among diversifying the campus. And the Black Lives Matter protests our students, faculty, and staff. schools and colleges are imple- that arose after Floyd’s death. Because of the Wisconsin Idea, menting diversity leaders like In the midst of tragedy, he sees myself, as well as programs and hope — and believes UW–Mad- initiatives that help equip folks ison is uniquely positioned to with tools to be antiracist. lead at this crucial moment. Why is change essential How did George Floyd’s right now? death affect you personally? The liberties for one in this It recalled a time when I got country must be the liberties pulled over for speeding. A gun for all. So until everyone is was pointed at my head, and free, none of us are free. And the officer’s hand was shaking. that’s what the Black Lives Mat- Whenever a policeman drives ter movement is about. by me or pulls me over, still, my heart begins to race a bit. Interview by Dean Robbins Photo by Bryce Richter Exhibition Online Art TOP LEFT: NISHA IYER. BOTTOM LEFT: CHAZEN. RIGHT: HELEN LOUISE ALLEN TEXTILE COLLECTION

While we’re all practicing physical distancing, online Top left: Crested textiles to support her teaching and research. resources from the University of Wisconsin–Madison gecko from the A pioneer in her field, Allen was an early adopter can make you feel a little closer to campus and appre- Cool Science of historical and anthropological perspectives in ciate art from afar. So get ready to make a virtual visit. Image Contest. the study of the textile arts. Her original vision to Start out at the by vis- Bottom left: advance understanding of cultures and their history Chazen Museum of Art “The Umbrellas” iting go.wisc.edu/virtualchazen. There are more than by Christo and via the textile arts remains at the heart of HLATC’s 23,000 works of art in the museum’s collections, rep- Jeanne-Claude. mission and continues to inspire artists and design- resenting the entire spectrum of art history. Maybe Right: Kumiseva ers. The teaching collection spans 16 centuries and you’re looking for something specific — go ahead and pattern by Katsuji 108 countries. search the collection or browse by geographic region, Wakisaka. While museums are a natural place to look for object type, and century. Follow @ChazenArtUW on art, the UW’s 2020 Cool Science Image Contest Twitter for suggested reading and viewing. recognizes the beauty found in science. Eyeball-lick- Next up, the Helen Louise Allen Textile Col- ing geckos, wiggling brain cells, and a whole plan- lection (HLATC) at the School of Human Ecology. et’s worth of weather are among the winners of the Visit go.wisc.edu/virtualtextile to explore more than 10th-anniversary contest. You can view a gallery of 9,000 objects in the 13,000-piece collection. Allen images and videos at go.wisc.edu/csic2020. was a home economics professor who taught weav- There’s a lot to see online, so don’t be afraid to ing, textile history, and the history of interiors from make multiple visits. You won’t find any lines. And 1927 until her death in 1968. During her career, she the hours? Always open. traveled widely and amassed approximately 4,000 KÄRI KNUTSON

18 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 OnCampus BRYCE RICHTER

Wish You Were Here If you want to experience the beauty and vibrancy of the UW–Madison cam- “This is a tough pus, you can now do so anywhere there’s an internet connection. Campus tours have gone virtual. The tours launched in March, after the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in time to be com- Wisconsin, though the desire for virtual tours existed long before. “I began thinking about this two and a half or three years ago,” says ing out of school, Greer Davis, the associate director of undergraduate communications and marketing in the UW’s Office of Admissions and Recruitment. “We but I know your realized that a lot of people wanted to come to the university but never visited here.” These audiences include international students, those with education will disabilities, and those without the means to travel to Madison. “We wanted to showcase campus for them,” Davis says. last you a life- The arrival of coronavirus accelerated the effort. Beginning March 11 — two days before campus closed for spring break, and as it turned out, the rest of spring semester and summer term — the admissions office teamed with time. And re- the Office of Campus and Visitor Relations to put together a series of video tours, shooting 20 in just a few days. Potential students can now see much of member: we’re the campus area, from State Street in the east to the medical campus in the west, and from the ancient Red Gym to the still-under-construction Chemis- Badgers. We try Building. All the tours are available at apps.admissions.wisc.edu/map. Although the fall application cycle had closed by the time the pandemic never give up. arrived, Davis and her colleagues wanted the tours to be ready, as prospec- tive students tour campus year-round. “We didn’t plan to do this because of COVID,” says Davis. “But it cer- On, Wisconsin!” tainly became a huge priority, knowing how much of an impact campus — CBS News correspondent Rita Braver ’70, tours make.” in one of the many video shout-outs to JOHN ALLEN spring 2020 graduates from celebrity alumni

news feed

Ohio State University profes- UW engineers To ensure safety during the USA Hockey has named sor Daniel Tokaji has been have developed pandemic, Big Ten teams will Abby Roque ’20 the named dean of the University a medical face play only each other this fall. Women’s Player of Wisconsin Law School. shield that pro- If the season proceeds as of the Year. Mean- Tokaji admires the law school’s vides a clear view planned (fingers crossed!), while, Badger scholarly excellence and of the wearer’s the conference guidelines women’s hockey devotion to public service, face while filtering will affect UW football, set a record for and he plans to strengthen virus particles volleyball, field hockey, and crowd size in its commitment to diversity, through surgical men’s and women’s cross 2019–20.

UW MAKERSPACE; JEFF MILLER JEFF MAKERSPACE; UW equity, and inclusion. fabric. country and soccer. Coincidence? Contender Tamara Moore If Tamara Moore ’14 has her Moore is the only Anyone who watched Moore COVID-19 pandemic restrict- way, there won’t be any barriers active female play at the newly minted Kohl ing in-person contact and the left to break. coach of a men’s Center from 1998 to 2002 will police killing of George Floyd The former UW star has college basket- recognize her coaching philoso- leading to unrest in Minneapo- competed with men throughout ball team and phy: high-pressure defense and lis, where she still lives. the first African her trailblazing time in basket- fast-paced offense. Recruited “[Being a trailblazer] means American woman ball. In the 1990s, she became to hold that as a nearly six-foot forward, a lot to me, especially in the the first high school girl to play position. Moore transitioned to point times we’re in right now, with in the Minneapolis inner-city guard in college due to the a lot of the injustices going on all-star game for boys. Ear- team’s lack of depth. She made in the world,” Moore says. “It’s lier this year, she was named it look easy, still holding the been a real whirlwind of emo- the head coach of the men’s UW’s all-time career records for tion. But being able to not only basketball program at Mes- assists and steals and ranking take women to the next level abi Range College in northern seventh in points. She returned but to take minorities to the Minnesota, becoming the only to Madison and finished her next level is an honor.” active female coach of a men’s degree in Afro-American stud- Moore stays in touch with a college basketball team and the ies in 2014 and was inducted in number of past teammates and first African American woman to the UW Athletic Hall of Fame in rivals who have made their own hold that position. 2017. marks on the men’s basketball In between, Moore compiled As a player, her smooth ver- world: San Antonio Spurs assis- hall-of-fame numbers and a satility and lockdown defense tant coach Becky Hammon; National Invitation Tourna- earned her a first-round selec- New Orleans Pelicans vice pres- ment championship at the UW; tion in the 2002 WNBA Draft. ident of basketball operations competed for nearly a decade “I like being able to think the Swin Cash and development professionally in the WNBA and game faster than somebody coach Teresa Weatherspoon; overseas; played for, coached, plays the game,” says Moore, and University of Maine men’s and owned men’s semipro who speaks with the same pace assistant coach Edniesha Curry. teams; and founded a men’s and energy she exhibited on the Moore is the second woman to semipro league, the Official court. “I have a really good pho- lead a men’s college basketball Basketball Association. tographic memory. If you run a program, following Kerri-Ann “My résumé speaks for play once, it’s like, ‘Okay, I see McTiernan’s career at Kingsbor- itself,” Moore told ESPN in April. you.’ You run it twice? Now I get ough Community College in the And that singular journey is why it. The third time? Now I’m going 1990s. she’s hardly intimidated by the to steal it.” Without a single campus deep-rooted skepticism about Moore counts among her visit, Moore has managed to women coaching men. mentors Faith Johnson Pat- recruit 15 players to Mesabi “I’ve been able to earn terson x’85, a Minneapolis high Range and has conducted team [my players’] respect with my school coaching legend who workouts via Zoom videoconfer- knowledge of the game. And played for the UW in the 1980s, encing. Her short-term goal is to I’m not just a talker — I’m a and Jane Albright, who led the turn the team, which stumbled doer,” Moore says. “So I’ll get UW’s program to its heights to a 6–19 record last season, out there. I’ll practice with the from 1994 to 2003. Like them, into a junior-college power- team. Has there been some she’s hoping to build a program house. Long term, her sights are resistance every now and then? in which players treat each set on the NCAA Division I and Yes. But I don’t take it as it’s other as family, not just as NBA levels, where a woman has because I’m a woman. That’s teammates. yet to rise to head coach. just the coach–player relation- “Jane taught me the impor- “I think my ultimate goal will ship.” tance of three positives to one be to come back and possibly critique, especially as a point coach at the University of Wis- guard,” Moore says. “I was consin,” Moore says. actually talking to my players And who would bet against about this today: ‘You guys have her? to realize that it’s more impact- PRESTON SCHMITT ’14 ful when a teammate hears PHOTO BY KURT STEPNITZ something positive before they hear anything of a critique.’ ” Moore entered an unprecedented coaching job at an unprecedented time, with the HEROES OF Badgers are battling coronavirus on THE multiple fronts. PANDEMIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOE MCKENDRY

On Wisconsin 23 Louis Pasteur pioneered the rabies vaccine, and Jonas Salk the polio vaccine. By contrast, conquering coronavirus has been a team effort. UW–Madison faculty, staff, and alumni are playing a part, and not just in the laboratory. Badgers have joined the fight across a range of professions, whether treating patients on the front lines or delivering food to grocery stores. Here are eight heroes who’ve stepped up during the pandemic, determined to put the Wisconsin Idea into action. Hats off to them and countless others who will — with courage and creativity — help us through this crisis.

The Doctor JESSE CHARLES ’08, MD’14

“The patients came in like all the others: feverish, coughing, and short of breath — each one of them afraid, each one of them alone,” says Jesse Charles ’08, MD’14. “I evaluated them, made sure they had water and blankets — anything that could provide them some measure of comfort. Sleep, that most essential of medicines, was completely inaccessible.” Jesse has seen the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic firsthand. A physician in tiny Winthrop, Washington, he left home in early April and flew to New York, where the pandemic’s effects were worst. When New York governor Andrew Cuomo issued a public call for help, Jesse volunteered to serve at one of the state’s hard-hit medical facilities. When he arrived, the Brooklyn Health Center, where he was assigned, had already grieved the death of five staff members caused by the virus. In the three weeks that he was there, Jesse cared for his patients’ health and worked to connect them with their loved ones. Although his willingness to go the extra mile couldn’t change the trajectory of the virus, it at least gave them the opportunity to say goodbye. Jesse and his identical twin, Joel ’08, MPH’12, to be helpful to our neighbors, visible and invisible, MD’14, are dedicated doctors and advocates for both near and far.” marginalized communities. Having grown up in a Despite the challenges he faced and the deaths low-income neighborhood in Green Bay, Wisconsin, he witnessed in New York, Jesse found solace in they became aware, at an early age, of the ways that the continued care he was able to provide for two injustice pervades public policy, leaving some popu- patients he originally saw in the ER. One patient in lations more vulnerable than others. particular, a reticent man with whom Jesse strug- “This virus has laid bare what we already know gled to connect, took him by surprise. to be true,” Jesse says, “that health and well-being “On the morning that he walked out of the hos- is a luxury in this country, that sickness is a burden pital, he broke down in tears and hugged me,” Jesse we do not share equally, that even without this virus, says. “He’s the only person I’d hugged, other than my each year 245,000 people die because of poverty — partner, in over a month. We agreed that someday, 175,000 because of racial inequity.” when the world is right again, I will come back to Joel admits to complex feelings regarding his New York, and we’ll get coffee. Then we will be able twin’s decision. He found the idea of Jesse volun- to have a real conversation, one where neither of our tarily caring for patients at the epicenter of our faces is hidden.” nation’s pandemic to be both frightening and pro- NICOLE HEIMAN foundly moving. “His decision to put himself at risk for the good The Vaccinator of the community inspired me,” Joel says. “In these KRISHNA ELLA PhD’93 times, there is a great need for all of us who have been given the privilege of security and the power of Growing up in Tamil Nadu, India, Krishna Ella leadership to reflect on what sacrifices we can make wanted to be a farmer. That dream shifted when

24 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 route of infection by coronavirus and influenza. Intranasal delivery is more effective at inducing multiple types of immune responses. “We believe that an intranasal vaccine … will bring about a superior form of immunity in the form of mucosal immunity,” says Ella. “Mucosal immunity has the ability to generate a memory response to pathogens.” Bharat Biotech, which can produce almost 300 million doses per year, has commercialized 16 vaccines, including one for the H1N1 flu that caused the 2009 pandemic. “It would be immensely gratifying to have CoroFlu become a successful, safe, and effective vaccine that could be administered to the world,” Ella says. NIKI DENISON Rosie the 3-D Printer APRIL WEIR MS’07, MBA’13

Rosie the Riveter is an American icon. Grease- stained and muscular, she symbolized the effort to remake U.S. industry during World War II, a new he won a scholarship to study in the United States collection of laborers who entered the workforce and discovered a passion for science. Ella eventually to help the country set aside consumer goods and made it his mission to provide vaccines at afford- provide frontline soldiers with tanks and planes and able prices to some 5.8 billion people in develop- machine guns. ing nations. His company, Bharat Biotech, was the If the effort to stop COVID-19 is a war, then April initial tenant in India’s first biotech park. It paved Weir may be its Rosie. When she learned that front- the way for what is now known as Genome Valley line health care workers lacked personal protective in Hyderabad and became so successful that it equipment (PPE), she began producing it from her prompted a UW–Madison Distinguished Alumni own home, relying on her 3-D printer. In time, she Award in 2011, along with more than 100 other united 40 other 3-D-printing enthusiasts to churn awards over the years. out thousands of face shields. Now Ella is primed to meet another urgent, “The quarantine started on March 13, and on worldwide need: a COVID-19 vaccine. Fulfilling a March 14, I saw an article about someone [print- dream to collaborate with his alma mater, he’s teaming shields],” she says. Intrigued, she used her 3-D ing up with UW–Madison faculty and alumni to fast- printer to create a shield from an open-source design, track CoroFlu, which could undergo human clinical working at her home in Waunakee, Wisconsin. trials as soon as this fall. “Through a friend, I got connected to GHC [Group Bharat Biotech will manufacture the vac- Health Cooperative, a Wisconsin health services cine, conduct clinical trials, and produce CoroFlu provider], and they said they needed 500 to 1,000 for global distribution. The company is working a week. So within days I got the idea, we did a test with Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a UW professor in the print, changed the design, got a commitment from Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the School GHC, and assembled a team of printers in the area.” of Veterinary Medicine, and Gabriele Neumann, a Weir’s career connects a wide variety of disci- senior virologist at the school. The two are among plines. She came to the UW to study biochemistry, three cofounders of the vaccine company FluGen. but after earning her master’s, she left to work in Ella says that his company was already collaborat- the pharmaceutical industry. She came back to the ing with FluGen on a flu vaccine, known as M2SR, UW for an MBA, and currently she works for InClin, when the pandemic struck, and they realized that a a company that manages human clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine could be integrated with it. pharmaceutical companies (including ones that are Kawaoka’s lab will insert gene sequences from searching for COVID-19 therapeutics). SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes the On Christmas 2019, Weir gave her husband, disease COVID-19, into M2SR so that the new vaccine David Hauptman, a 3-D printer. Hauptman wanted will also induce immunity against the coronavirus. to learn to play violin, and so he and Weir created a CoroFlu, like M2SR, will be delivered intrana- system to print violins based off a design from the sally rather than through the intramuscular shots famed Stradivarius. After taking the design through that deliver most flu vaccines, mimicking the natural 200 iterations, each with its own small change, that

On Wisconsin 25 charity],” Weir says, to help supply health care workers. “Large groups of nurses would come to us, and their institutions weren’t supporting them or providing them with PPE. So they got together to pay for it themselves, and I don’t feel right charging them.” Other clients include churches and even a choc- olate shop. Weir says that she and her team will continue to supply shields as long as they’re needed. There will be plenty of time to fiddle when the pandemic passes. JOHN ALLEN The Inventor HAU LE

COVID-19 created a common problem in patient rooms around the country: medical teams wanted to treat patients with a highly contagious disease without spreading the illness themselves. A persistent lack of personal protective equipment for health care workers put both them and their patients at risk. Enter the BADGER: the Box of Aerosol and Droplet Guarding and Evacuation in Respiratory infection. Designed by UW–Madison surgery professor Hau Le and a team of UW doctors, engineers, and the Sector67 makerspace, the BADGER is a person-sized negative pressure isolation chamber. Think of it as PPE that surrounds a patient rather hobby evolved into a “side gig,” in Weir’s words: a than a doctor or nurse: while regular PPE keeps a word-of-mouth business manufacturing violins out virus-free zone around each health care worker, the of polylactic acid (PLA), a variety of plastic. In just BADGER keeps an infected zone contained around a a few days, Weir and Hauptman can create a violin patient. This allows health care professionals to give — all but the strings and chin rest — in any color, treatment without risk of exposure to coronavirus. at relatively low cost. Before that business really got going, the pandemic hit. It quickly became clear that medical facilities lacked sufficient PPE, so Weir turned her efforts to making face shields. Though potential designs were available online for free, they weren’t always practical. A face shield is essentially made of two pieces: a clear screen and a headband to hold the screen in front of the wearer’s face. While a 3D printer’s PLA could easily make the headband, the clear screen was more difficult. “I was trying to find this plastic, the actual shield part, and it was impossible,” Weir says. “I couldn’t find it anywhere in the country, or else, if I did find it, it was ridiculously expensive, and then you have to find someone to cut it. It was just a mess. So I thought, what if we just use transparent paper? And that’s what this is — like overhead projector paper.” With overhead projector sheets in place of the shield, Weir refined her design to print the head- bands so that they could be attached using a standard office three-hole punch. The entire product costs as little as $1. Weir and her team of volunteers have provided nearly 1,000 shields to GHC and hundreds of others to people who need them. “Eventually we started a GoFundMe [online

26 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 “The device has a reusable clear shell and other disposable accessories,” says Le. “The accessories are commonly available in any hospital, such as surgical gloves, tubing, filters, drapes, tapes. Put together, they create a semi-sealed device that does the job. We designed it so that it could be made easily and cheap.” Though Le’s primary appointment is in the Division of Pediatric Surgery, he’s also affiliated with the UW’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. He says his design took inspiration from an intubation shield created by Taiwanese physician Hsien-Yung Lai to protect anesthesiologists as they were plac- ing breathing tubes in patients. Le then improved the design by turning the shield into a semi-sealed chamber. Working with Peter Adamczyk and UW– Madison Engineering Support for COVID-19, Le saw the design become a prototype to test at UW Hospital. The BADGER is also available as an open- source design from the UW’s MakerSpace, and Le hopes that it will inspire others to develop further improvements. “The purpose,” he says, “is to spread the word so that other places can build their own devices based on the work that we’ve done.” JOHN ALLEN The Researcher BILL HARTMAN suggested a nationwide plasma study, the Food and Somewhere in the blood of COVID-19 survivors, Drug Administration put the effort on a fast track. Bill Hartman believes, may hide a key to saving the The UW Hospital is one of a collection of medical sickest patients. facilities in all 50 states trying convalescent-plasma Hartman, an assistant professor of anesthesi- treatments. ology in the UW’s School of Medicine and Public The plan, however, has limitations. Only a few Health, is leading the UW–Madison segment of a people are qualified to donate plasma: those who nationwide convalescent-plasma study, an effort to had previously tested positive for COVID-19 and see if doctors can use the blood of survivors to help now test negative. And a donation only provides treat others. enough plasma to treat three patients. Still, Hartman “Plasma, the liquid part of the blood, is what believes the effort has shown remarkable success. holds the antibodies,” he says. “If we can take that Further, he notes that it’s important that so many and put it into people who are sick, we hope we can health care facilities are taking part in the study, as make treatment more effective.” it helps researchers collect a great deal of informa- Convalescent-plasma therapy isn’t new. The con- tion quickly. “This way we can pool a lot of data into cept dates back to the early 20th century as a treat- one database,” he says. “Hopefully, at the end [of the ment for diphtheria and Spanish influenza. More study], we’ll know a lot more, and our patients will recently, doctors used plasma therapy to treat coro- feel better.” navirus-caused diseases such as SARS and MERS. JOHN ALLEN Early results indicate it helps patients with severe COVID-19, too. The Medical Epidemiologist “There isn’t what we call a Lazarus effect,” says HANNAH KIRKING ’04, MD’10 Hartman. “It’s not like you get a treatment and sud- denly you’re all better. But we hope that [patients’] Over the past decade, Hannah Kirking has served in immune systems get a boost so that they can more various capacities for the Centers for Disease Control effectively fight off the infection.” (CDC) in Atlanta. Last November — just a month The process has relatively few dangers, as it’s before the first known transmission of COVID-19 no different than giving a patient a blood transfu- in China — Kirking volunteered to fill a temporary sion. So when researchers at the Mayo Clinic first position in the center’s respiratory viruses branch.

On Wisconsin 27 an unreported hotspot. For a month, she visited patients and studied the disease while living in a guest house with no running water and scarce elec- tricity. “Even lessons learned in Africa, when we didn’t have enough lab tests or lab capability, have come in handy now with this new virus,” she says. Kirking studied biomedical engineering as an undergraduate at the UW and worked briefly for General Electric. Longing to interact with patients directly, she returned to Madison for her medical degree, setting the path to her consequential role in the fight against COVID-19 today. “I had a good medical education, which you can get at a lot of places, but there was a really strong population perspective at UW,” Kirking says. “I learned it’s not always about the individual. It’s a collective let’s-help-all mentality that, as I’ve moved around, I’ve appreciated more and more.” PRESTON SCHMITT ’14 A Nurse Back in Action BETH SOMMERFELDT ’81

They called from across the country, some gasping for air, others simply needing a reassuring voice to calm their fears. For several weeks during the height of the pandemic, retired nurse Beth Sommerfeldt fielded calls to the UW Health COVID-19 hotline. She joined “Needless to say, I am still here,” she says. hundreds — perhaps thousands — of other retired And fortunately, she was prepared. health care workers pressed back into service as Kirking, a medical epidemiologist and a lieu- the coronavirus began its deadly march across tenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service, the country. has traveled the world to fight new outbreaks of “There was no hesitation,” Sommerfeldt says, infectious diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis, and recalling her response to the request from UW Ebola. In January, she was assigned to the first case Health, her former employer. “That’s how I’m wired. of human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 in If I’m needed, I’m going.” the U.S., flying to Chicago to help conduct contact Tapping decades of knowledge, she and the other tracing and establish infection-control measures in retired nurses staffing the hotline triaged the needs the hospital. of callers — sometimes providing hygiene guidance Her role has since focused on “answering the or an understanding ear, other times setting up video unanswered questions around this virus,” she says. visits with doctors or calling an ambulance. When On Wisconsin spoke to her in May, she was “The first time I heard someone struggling to investigating household transmission of COVID-19. breathe made it all very real,” says Sommerfeldt, She’s since taken on a leadership role to oversee the who retired in 2018 after 37 years in nursing and CDC’s other field epidemiological studies, with the lives in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. short-term goal of learning more about the preva- Working the 3 p.m. to midnight shift, Sommerfeldt lence of asymptomatic cases and whether children came to expect rising levels of panic and anxiety transmit the virus. from callers as nightfall came. One 31-year-old man, Kirking describes epidemiology as “a toolbox of hyperventilating, feared he wouldn’t wake up if he ways to answer health-related questions,” noting that went to sleep. her past experiences involved similar elements of case “People were so afraid of the unknown,” she says. identification, contact tracing, and lab testing. “It’s just “I tried to provide some perspective. It was such an now needed on a much faster timescale,” she says. unusual situation. We had a whole society consider- As Ebola ravaged parts of Africa in 2014, ing their own mortality at the same time.” Kirking was one of the earliest CDC officials on Every shift varied, just as no two days were alike the ground. She traversed muddy roads to a rural in Sommerfeldt’s nursing career. The UW School of county in Liberia, almost immediately identifying Nursing prepared her well for this, providing both

28 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 “In the first few weeks of the pandemic, there were real shortages,” Alder says. “And people were saying, ‘Oh my God, I have to get dairy products!’ ” The solution to delivering those products? Good old Badger ingenuity. Alder bought the best masks she could find for her drivers — ones that allowed them to breathe while lifting heavy cases of milk. She instituted policies for wiping down surfaces in the trucks and the office, along with taking drivers’ temperatures every day. One of the hardest challenges for this friendly, family-owned business was maintaining physical distance among employees. “We’re not spending a lot of time chitchatting out in the parking lot or in the office anymore,” Alder says. “Everybody comes in, gets the job done, and goes home. Still, there’s a feeling that we’re all in this together.” Ever since earning a degree in home economics education at UW–Madison, Alder has been inspired by the Wisconsin Idea. As much as possible, she uses what she learned at the university to benefit the community. Right now, that means keeping trucks on the road. “There’s demand for dairy products, and I’m glad we can keep delivering sufficient quantities,” Alder says. “So when people go to the grocery stores, they can find them quickly and get on home with them.” DEAN ROBBINS • the technical skills and the overall mind-set to excel, she says. “It was a fabulous education. They gave me the foundation to be a learner for the rest of my life.” Sommerfeldt’s part of the coronavirus response was small, she insists, though many would argue crucial. “The frontline nurses are the real heroes in all this,” she says. “I think of them as humanitarian rock stars. They are willing to put their lives on the line for a disease we know very little about.” DOUG ERICKSON The Food Provider DEB ALDER ’77

We all need food, which means trucks have to roll from distribution centers to grocery stores. During a pandemic, that’s easier said than done. How do you keep the drivers safe? And how do you keep their families safe, given drivers’ exposure to so many people in the course of their deliveries? Every time they return from a shift, they could potentially infect someone at home. Enter Deb Alder, owner of the Alder Companies in Delavan, Wisconsin. While some firms went on hiatus at the start of the pandemic, Alder found herself running an essential business that had to keep delivering milk, cottage cheese, and yogurt in Wisconsin and Illinois as casualties mounted.

On Wisconsin 29 JOURNALISM’S LAST BEST HOPE YOUNG REPORTERS USE NEW STRATEGIES TO BRING LOCAL NEWS BACK FROM THE BRINK.

BY JENNY PRICE ’96

As the death count from COVID-19 The stakes have never been higher for media outlets to find a way to keep going. Conventional wisdom began to rise across the country last had written print journalism’s obituary many times spring, Peter Coutu ’18, a reporter for the over before the pandemic, as revenues declined Virginian-Pilot, earned a somber nick- and outlets changed owners or shut down entirely. Experienced editors and reporters took buyouts and name from a reader: the Grim Reaper. were not replaced. And polls showed Americans had Coutu reported early on in the pandemic about lost trust in the news media over concerns about bias potential problems stemming from the region’s lack and accuracy. of hospital capacity, which struck the reader as being But there are signs of hope for journalism, start- somewhat alarmist. Coutu wasn’t deterred. He con- ing with a 2018 Gallup poll that found that almost tinued to tally new cases and share his findings with 70 percent of those who have lost trust say it can be readers via a daily tracking website, even sending restored with accuracy, lack of bias, and transpar- additional information to readers who asked for it. ency. In recent months, websites for local newspa- He also investigated the state’s low rate of testing pers and larger media outlets like the Washington and the issues exacerbating the spread of cases in Post drew more readers following the arrival of nursing homes. the pandemic in the United States, according to a “I try to run at every story like the information New York Times analysis. And an Associated Press can be lifesaving,” Coutu says. poll last spring found that more than two-thirds of

On Wisconsin 31 THÉ PHAM

“I try to run at every story like the information can be lifesaving.”

— Peter Coutu ’18

Americans trust information from the news media to more incidents in the future.” about the coronavirus outbreak either “a moderate Coutu developed his approach to handling sensi- amount” or “a great deal.” tive stories during his undergraduate studies at the If trust in the news media is poised to make a UW, where he was a reporter for the Daily Cardinal. comeback, it will germinate in the daily work of local With help from Culver, he learned how to get on journalists. Their ranks include recent UW–Madison sources’ wavelength and make his intentions clear. graduates using skills they developed in the School of “It makes sense that some people don’t want to talk Journalism and Mass Communication that hold the to the media, and they are going to be a little bit upset promise of preserving their rapidly evolving profes- if you reach out,” Coutu says. “I’ve tried to just be as sion’s essential role in a democracy. explicit as possible when communicating why I’m “A lot of people think this generation of 20-year- reaching out and what’s the point of the story.” olds is a selfie-addicted, social-media-loving, vapid Culver says this approach — transparency — is group of people,” says Kathleen Bartzen Culver ’88, essential to building trust with readers. “We need MA’92, PhD’99, an associate professor and director to do more to say why we make the choices that we of the UW’s Center for Journalism Ethics. “That is make, because what seems completely normal to you not who shows up in my classrooms. That’s not who’s inside the newsroom feels abnormal to people on the out in these newsrooms.” outside,” she says.

LESSONS IN TRANSPARENCY WHAT JOURNALISM DOES WELL In the months after a city employee killed 12 people In recent years, there’s been a push for change like and wounded four others at a municipal building in this across the profession. “I think there’s mys- Virginia Beach in May 2019, the Virginian-Pilot staff tery about how we go about our work. Let’s just be debated the value of follow-up stories. Some readers more transparent about how we pursued the story,” thought the newspaper was milking the incident. Washington Post editor Marty Baron noted in 2017 Nevertheless, Coutu says he felt responsible for at an inaugural ethics summit hosted by the Poynter investigating complaints about a toxic work culture Institute for Media Studies. in city government. “You don’t want to come across For the last four years, Culver has done her part as passing the buck for who’s responsible for the to transform the practice of journalism, putting on shooting, because obviously the shooter is,” he says. what she calls a “road show” focused on truth and “At the same time, what I’ve heard from experts on trust. She delivers this talk mainly in community this subject of workplace violence is that it’s key to centers, churches, and libraries. She focuses on how really interrogate these things, because it can lead the future of journalism depends on reporters being

32 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 more accountable, defending the value of their work, pandemic could affect pregnant women and accom- and engaging more with audiences. She cites a Gallup modations for people with disabilities, and advice poll in which 71 percent said a commitment to trans- from epidemiologists on how people could guard parency is very important, alongside accuracy and against exposure to the coronavirus during ongoing an unbiased approach. public protests against police violence. “I’ve never seen a more important time for jour- “I routinely get pushback saying that I don’t write nalism ethics, and I’ve never seen stronger ethical about the ‘positives’ enough,” Heim says. “I try to practice among the group of individuals like these respond to most negative emails I get. Usually, people [recent journalism school graduates],” she says. don’t write back. But sometimes they do, and some- Culver’s public talks explore people’s distrust of times that can start a good dialogue.” the news media. Frequently, she says, it arises from Before COVID-19, Heim covered stories ranging their assumptions about liberal or conservative bias. from how farmers are dealing with climate change In response, she points to media’s important role in to whether local retailers were selling liquid nicotine reporting on topics like money, security, and health. — better known as “vape juice” — without federally Culver thinks health stories, in particular, exemplify required child-resistant caps. She also reported on the valuable service that local journalism provides, the revelation that Ascension Health, which oper- such as reminders about when to get the flu shot or ates clinics in Wisconsin, shared the personal health availability of COVID-19 testing. “That’s the kind records of millions of Americans with Google. of thing that journalism does well but doesn’t get Most of the calls and emails Heim received in enough positive attention for,” she says. response to the Ascension story were positive, but one woman called to accuse her of fearmongering. ACCOUNTABILITY MATTERS The caller said a nurse at her local clinic insisted In her role as a health and science reporter for the they did not share patient data. Heim took the time USA Today network based in Appleton, Wisconsin, to explain the release happened at the national Madeline Heim ’18 (a former On Wisconsin intern) level, and that’s why the nurse may not have heard received positive and negative feedback in equal about it. measure in the first few months of the coronavirus Culver is greatly encouraged by Heim’s approach. outbreak in the United States. Her reporting included “It should make us very optimistic, because the news stories about the state’s testing capacity, how the media ultimately are accountable to the public,”

WM. GLASHEEN she says. And Heim’s work demonstrates the benefits a single journalist can bring to a community. “Sometimes it’s exhausting and heartbreaking. Other times I can see that I’ve made a difference, and that feels good,” Heim says.

THE STORIES NO ONE TELLS During her six months as a digital producer for WTMJ in Milwaukee, Alexandria Mason ’17 worked at a breakneck pace to mine police reports, tweets from public officials, and other sources for her stories. It was her first job after finishing her undergraduate studies at the UW and graduate school at the University of Southern California. Mason experienced firsthand how much viewers rely on local news. She fielded between 15 and 20 calls a day, answering questions about weather- related school closings and even Green Bay Packers scores. Last year, Mason moved on to Black Nouveau, a weekly news program on Milwaukee PBS. She uses “Sometimes it’s exhausting her reporting skills to find stories about African Americans that don’t usually find their way to and heartbreaking. Other the nightly newscasts. “Young Black people turn on the news and see a lot of people who look like times I can see that I’ve made a them in mugshot form,” says Mason, who is African difference, and that feels good.” American. “We don’t see a lot of positive stories.” As a Milwaukee native, she knew there were — Madeline Heim ’18 other narratives to show viewers. In recent months,

On Wisconsin 33 DENZEL TAYLOR

“I hope for future stories that I can continue to connect with people and show myself as a credible she worked on stories about its impact on the com- reporter and producer who’s not munity, particularly the disproportionate numbers trying to make a gimmick out of of African Americans getting the virus. She produced a piece on a Milwaukee church their experience.” partnering with Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks and several Black-owned restaurants to feed — Alexandria Mason ’17 hundreds of families in need. And she interviewed the owner of a once-bustling nail salon to show the she’s covered a fellowship program for young Black effect of closures on Black-owned businesses. men to bring more of them into early childhood “It’s a responsibility I take very seriously,” Mason education jobs and profiled Corey Pompey, the first says. “I think this pandemic feels a lot scarier than Black director of bands at UW–Madison. She also those of the past because there’s really no escaping previewed an art exhibit that paired portraits of the information overload. Everyone has a platform African American and Latino men with their own and a theory and in some cases a conspiracy. So the words imagining their lives beyond stereotypes. best I can do is make sure I’m providing accurate “When you’re talking to more underrepresented information on whom this pandemic is impacting groups about really sensitive issues, it’s hard to get and who is working to help.” people to put their stories forward and just be completely open and honest,” Mason says. “I hope for THE KEY TO THE FUTURE future stories that I can continue to connect with Early in the spring semester — two months before people and show myself as a credible reporter and Marquette University shut down in response to producer who’s not trying to make a gimmick out of the coronavirus outbreak — 22 students crowded their experience.” around a conference table in an advanced report- After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, ing class. Their professor, Dave Umhoefer ’83, is Mason began work on a miniseries highlighting a veteran journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for young people finding their voice in the burgeoning local news reporting at the Milwaukee Journal protest movement. When COVID-19 hit Wisconsin, Sentinel. Umhoefer joined the faculty as director of

34 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism WHAT DO YOU in 2017. He reminded students that the national media THINK OF LOCAL would descend on Wisconsin in the summer as the NEWS? battleground state planned to host the Democratic National Convention. But Umhoefer didn’t want his students to follow the lead of countless reporters who would have dropped into — and just as quickly dropped out of — the same barbershops and diners Nearly 6 in 10 to extract quotes from residents. Instead, he tasked Americans consider their them with looking at the presidential primary local newspaper an impor through the eyes of potential voters in predomi- tant symbol of civic pride or nantly African American and Hispanic Milwaukee one of the most important neighborhoods where turnout was high in 2008 and symbols of civic pride in their 2012 but shrank in 2016. community. (Knight Founda- He stressed that his students could only build tion) credibility with local residents and political orga- nizers by going back multiple times to speak with them to understand what’s motivating voters. Umhoefer told students to be respectful and thoughtfully approach people in communities 76 percent of where they have no existing relationships. This is Americans across the polit- not a discussion that would have taken place in the ical spectrum have “a great Journal Sentinel newsroom just a few years ago, deal” or “a fair amount” of says Umhoefer, who was 23 when he began working trust in their local television for the newspaper. “We came out of the ivory tower, news, and 73 percent have and we did what we did,” he says. confidence in local news- The students adapted to working remotely once papers. This compares to 55 they scattered back to their hometowns, interview- percent for national network ing their newly developed sources about their prefer- news and 59 percent for na- ences and enthusiasm for the November election and tional newspapers. (Poynter uncovering perspectives that might not have been Media Trust Survey) shared otherwise. “I think the mainstream media have to be better at connecting with people on their terms, not us dic- tating what kind of stories we think are important to them,” Umhoefer says. “It takes more effort. And the 86 percent idea is, you get a much deeper story and then you can of Americans say everyone come back and do another one, because you weren’t should have access to local there just as a one-off. You’re building a reputation news, even if they don’t pay as somebody who cares about getting the full story for it. (Knight Foundation) and treating people with respect.” Culver agrees that local news organizations should invest time and energy into getting their reporters out into communities, but she empha- sizes that readers and viewers must understand 1 in 5 Americans has those efforts cost money, especially when outlets supported local news in the have been hit hard by the pandemic and some are past year by subscribing to, already shuttered. donating to, or purchasing a “We are following this pandemic globally, but we membership to a local news are living it locally. I think that’s why we see both organization. (Knight Foun- traffic and trust ticking upward in some polls,” she dation) says. “Local news outlets should be investing in practices that we know build trust. But all of us should be investing in the community news that we need now more than ever.” •

Jenny Price ’96 is a former On Wisconsin coeditor and worked as a reporter for the Associated Press. JEFF MILLER (BOTTOM LEFT)

36 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 CAN WE TRUST THE POLLS?

After the failures of 2016, the UW’s Elections Research Center makes a significant contribution to the upcoming presidential election.

BY PRESTON SCHMITT ’14

On Wisconsin 37 Katherine Cramer ’94 walks into a small WHAT WENT WRONG IN 2016? western Wisconsin diner expecting to meet On the night of the 2016 election, as surprise results some regulars over coffee. She’s led through rolled in, the right delighted in what it saw as a mas- a curtain in the back to a discreet, L-shaped sive failure by the polling establishment. The left felt table, where a group of locals gathers every betrayed by it. But both sides have appeared united morning to bet on a game of dice. in their distrust of polling since. She’s an outsider by any measure — a younger “No one anticipated that 2016 would be so con- political scientist at UW–Madison hoping to shoot sequential for the polling field,” says Courtney the breeze with a klatch of older rural men. She dis- Kennedy, director of survey research at the Pew arms their skepticism with her familiar Wisconsin Research Center. accent and knowledge of the local dice game. Sensing a pivotal moment for the industry, the Cramer is here to listen as they discuss their American Association for Public Opinion Research political views. One of the first topics is her employer, (AAPOR) asked a national committee of pollsters the state’s flagship university. to sift through the data and figure out what went “The ones who end up going to the UW, going to wrong. Chaired by Kennedy, the committee began the top-tier schools outside the state, usually have with a controversial question: did the polls really parents who [are] educated and know what the game fail? is to be played. … Their parents are probably gradu- The Elections The answer is complicated. ates and have probably really nice jobs,” says one of Research Center Collectively, national polls accurately estimated the men, with the others nodding. “These are poor launched a the popular vote. They showed Democratic nominee people up here.” battleground poll Hillary Clinton with a three-point lead, and she won From 2007 to 2012, as Cramer met regularly with in Wisconsin, it by two points — one of the most precise margins Michigan, and this group and 26 others around the state, she came Pennsylvania since the advent of modern presidential polling. to recognize the resentment in that response. Rural to identify key Likewise, most state-level polls correctly indi- distrust of urbanites and so-called elites bled beyond trends. cated a competitive race for Electoral College dele- higher education into nearly every issue. As one of gates, which would actually determine the outcome. the dice players concisely put it: “I think you’ve for- Before the election, RealClearPolitics averaged state gotten rural America.” polling and reported a nearly even count of delegates. And in 2016, election polls did. “The polls on average indicated that Trump was one Wisconsin, which had voted for a Democrat state away from winning the election,” stated the for president every election since 1988, swung for postmortem report that AAPOR published in 2017. Republican nominee Donald Trump in 2016 — to What some polls missed was the increase in the shock of pollsters, pundits, and the public alike. support for Trump in northern swing states, where The main reason? Rural voters carried the state he completed an unlikely sweep of Wisconsin, for Trump by a 27-point margin, according to exit Michigan, and Pennsylvania. polls. Eight years prior, Obama had won them over The final Marquette University Law Poll found by nearly 10 points. 46 percent support for Clinton and 40 percent for Cramer’s unconventional fieldwork informed Trump among likely voters in Wisconsin. Polls told The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness a similar tale in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Polling in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker, which aggregators and political pundits put the likelihood she published in March 2016. Just months before of a Clinton victory between 70 and 99 percent, the election, Cramer’s book diagnosed precisely viewing those three states as part of her “Blue Wall” what polling in key swing states would miss come of support. Fewer than 80,000 voters combined — November — a rural rebuke of the status quo. less than one percent in each of those states — top- “Tapping into emotion is not about an issue or pled it. even about partisanship. It’s about people’s sense of “Most of the models underestimated the extent who they are in the world,” Cramer says. “I think it to which polling errors were correlated from state came out of the blue to pollsters because they weren’t to state,” wrote Nate Silver, founder of the polling necessarily asking about these latent feelings — peo- aggregator website FiveThirtyEight, following the ple’s sense of distribution of resources, or respect, election. “If Clinton were going to underperform or shared values.” her polls in Pennsylvania, for instance, she was also As the polling industry applies lessons from likely to do so in demographically similar states such 2016 and looks to regain public trust, UW–Madison as Wisconsin and Michigan.” is diving directly into the discussion. Earlier this The AAPOR committee chased every popular year, the Elections Research Center launched a theory for what went wrong with polling in those battleground poll in Wisconsin, Michigan, and states — including the “shy Trump voter” effect, the Pennsylvania, hoping to identify and quantify trends belief that some of his voters were reluctant to reveal like the one Cramer discovered. their intention. For that one, it found no significant At stake? An essential tool of democracy. evidence.

38 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 JEFF MILLER JEFF

What the committee did find was an unprecedented change in voter preference late in the campaign. Roughly 15 percent of voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania waited to make a decision until the final week of the race, when most polls were no longer actively in the field. “Normally, those late deciders aren’t much of a factor,” Kennedy says. “Historically, they break about evenly between the two major-party candidates, so it kind of washes out. In 2016, in those battleground states, they broke for Trump by wide margins — 15 to 20 percent.” Such a divergence would have been difficult for pollsters to anticipate, but the committee did identify a significant failing. Many polls, especially at the state level, neglected to adjust for an overrepresentation of college graduates in their samples. And those voters turned out strongly for Clinton. “People with higher levels of formal education tend to be more likely to take polls,” Kennedy says. “And we’ve known this, frankly, for a long time.” In elections past, polls could get away with not weighting for education, assuming they accurately adjusted for more predictive demographics like gender, age, and race. But that’s because Democrats successfully courted some white working-class voters. Not long ago, especially among union workers, they were a key constituency of the Democratic base. “And in 2016, Trump turned that on its head,” Kennedy says. In a way, election polling’s reckoning was inev- itable. Local news organizations have historically led or cosponsored polling efforts. And the quantity and quality of state-level polling has followed the trajectory of declining media budgets. “It is a persistent frustration within polling and the larger survey research community that the profession is judged based on how these often-under- budgeted state polls perform relative to the election outcome,” the AAPOR report concluded. “The industry cannot realistically change how it is judged, but it Cramer diag- polling gap. In 2015, the Department of Political can make an improvement to the polling landscape.” nosed what Science established the Elections Research Center And UW–Madison answered the call. polling in key to centralize the research of more than a dozen fac- swing states ulty members across disciplines. missed in 2016: THE BATTLEGROUND POLL a rural rebuke of Many of the center’s experts have earned national “Wisconsin is the quintessential battleground the status quo. reputations, appearing regularly in the New York state,” says Barry Burden, director of the UW’s Times, the Wall Street Journal, PolitiFact, and other Elections Research Center and professor of politi- media. Burden alone fields as many as 10 requests cal science. “Almost magically, the forces that would from journalists per day, with recent topics ranging help Republicans and the forces that would help from caucus-reporting technology, to diversity on Democrats seem to be in a perpetual balance.” the presidential ticket, to mail-in voting, to the elec- Most notably, while urban areas like Madison and toral consequences of a pandemic. Milwaukee are turning out strongly for Democrats, The experts are called to testify in court and leg- rural voters in the northern and western parts of the islative bodies about their research. The Washington state are gravitating to Republicans. State Senate, for instance, asked Burden to share his And yet, aside from the highly regarded Marquette findings on the effects of same-day voter registra- poll, the state lacks consistent public-opinion surveys tion, which the center had studied in Wisconsin. to capture such trends. To reach the broader public, they post to Twitter UW–Madison was uniquely positioned to fill this during debates, election nights, and other major

On Wisconsin 39 JEFF MILLER

political events. “[The work] requires a level of Burden says and Michigan. The center plans to conduct several vigilance to keep up with current events,” Burden surveys can more surveys before November’s election. says. “One of the things my colleagues and I can offer shed light on an The battleground poll continues a legacy of elec- is putting these events in context of research and election beyond tions research at the university, though conditions the question of broader patterns.” who voted for have vastly changed over the past two decades. The Elections Research Center partners with the whom. data company YouGov and media entities to conduct THE LANDLINE ERA public-opinion surveys. One survey made headlines From 1998 to 2008, UW political scientists ran the during the 2018 Senate hearing on sexual assault Wisconsin Advertising Project, which analyzed pres- allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett idential and statewide campaign ads aired on TV in Kavanaugh. UW researchers recycled questions more than 200 media markets. It pulled back the cur- from a survey in 1991, when Justice Clarence tain on how candidates communicated with voters. Thomas faced sexual-misconduct allegations. Around the same time, the UW Survey Center They found almost no movement in public opinion administered the Badger Poll to measure statewide on whether the respective nominations should go public opinion. Cramer, who’s now an affiliate of the through if the allegations were true, with around Elections Research Center, served as the faculty 70 percent of respondents in both surveys saying it director of the Badger Poll. She started to notice should not. (However, respondents in 2018 indicated overlapping trends in polling results and her field- they were much more likely to vote against a senator work. “Many people thought that rural areas of the if he or she supported the nominee.) state didn’t get their fair share of state taxpayer dol- Encouraged by past efforts, the center launched lars,” she says. the 2020 battleground poll, immediately contribut- The Badger Poll’s methodology was to sample ing to the political discussion. Its first poll results in some 500 Wisconsin residents by randomly selecting February dispelled a pervasive cable-news narrative. households with active landlines. It mailed notices to Throughout the 2020 Democratic presidential pri- households, redialed numbers as many as 10 times, mary, the networks used exit-polling data to demon- and intensively trained interviewers to keep poten- strate that the top motivation for Democratic voters tial respondents on the line. Those efforts helped the was “electability” — whoever had the best chance Badger Poll, which ran 32 surveys between 2002 and to beat Trump. 2011, regularly achieve a response rate of roughly 40 But Burden wondered whether that was the percent. result of Democratic voters being faced with a false Now, such a response is a fantasy. If you’re will- dichotomy: do you care about the issues or beating ing to answer a call from an unknown number, you’re Trump? When the UW’s poll offered more options part of the 1 to 2 percent response rate that even to respondents, it found that 37 percent predomi- high-quality phone surveys strive for today. nantly supported a primary candidate because of key For as long as polling has existed, technology has issues, 22 percent because of his or her chances to uprooted methodology. And with the public becom- beat Trump, and 20 percent because he or she was ing more difficult — and costly — to reach, pollsters the most qualified to be president. are getting creative. The UW’s polling partner, And to no one’s surprise: the poll also showed a YouGov, is an entirely online operation that’s find- close race between Trump and several of the then– ing ways to forgo representative sampling without Democratic candidates in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, sacrificing quality.

40 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF POLLING average error margins since 2003–04. By 1936, the Literary Digest had accurately pre- So where does that leave us for 2020? dicted the winner of every presidential election of the past 20 years. That year, it embarked on one of TRUST POLLING TO DO WHAT? the most ambitious polling operations of all time, As I talked to the experts in this story, I started with mailing out mock ballots to 10 million people. the same question: “Why is polling important?” “When the last figure has been totted and In March, I read Jill Lepore’s New Yorker article checked, if past experience is a criterion, the country “The Problems Inherent in Political Polling.” She will know within a fraction of 1 percent the actual argued that polling, like endeavoring to gauge public popular vote,” the Digest declared. opinion via social media, is flawed. “Democracy The magazine’s straw poll predicted that requires participation, deliberation, representation, Franklin D. Roosevelt would lose in a landslide to and leadership — the actual things, not their simu- Alf Landon and win just 43 percent of the vote. He lation,” she wrote. won 61 percent. I, too, had become a skeptic. That cataclysmic error — the result of selection But the experts reminded me that — beyond the bias with a disproportionately affluent mailing list horse-race polling numbers that tend to populate the as well as a high rate of nonresponses — ushered in headlines — collecting public opinion can serve a the modern era of scientific public-opinion polling. critical function of democracy. George Gallup and Elmo Roper, with much smaller “If you think about a society where there’s no but more representative samples, both predicted polling, the leader of that country can just go out Roosevelt’s reelection and went on to found polling and say, ‘Well, I know the public feels this way,’ ” enterprises that remain active today. (The Digest Kennedy says. “Contrast that with a society where folded 18 months later.) there are a lot of independent pollsters and all of For some 50 years, representative sampling their data converge, so that, ‘Oh, actually, the public easily differentiated the good polls from the bad. But has this other attitude.’ It provides a reality check for as communications technology has evolved, the craft people in office.” of high-quality polling has become much more com- Collecting public According to Burden, surveys can shed light on plex. Whenever a new, pricier technology emerges opinion can serve an election beyond the question of who voted for — landlines, cellphones, the internet — polling must a critical function whom. “Public opinion polling asks voters directly, adapt to it slowly or risk skewed samples because of of democracy. ‘What are you thinking? What matters to you? lack of widespread access. The internet has posed What are your positions on the issues? What would another problem: while pollsters can access lists of you like to see government do? What is your ideal every mailing address or phone number, there’s no vision of society?’ ” master list of emails, making it impossible to recruit I had also lost sight of the golden rule of poll- a representative sample digitally. ing: that the results represent a snapshot in time, not The UW’s polling uses an opt-in panel of people a prediction. For pollsters, it’s a clichéd disclaimer. whom YouGov has recruited online and compensated But for a public and media eager to speculate on who for participation in other surveys (such as product will win, misinterpreting polls as predictions can testing for companies). While it’s not representative lead to false expectations and big surprises. sampling, YouGov collects a wide range of personal Through high-quality polling, insightful pub- information from its participants, which it uses to lic-opinion analysis, and research-based commen- accurately weight the sample to the larger popula- tary, UW experts are demonstrating a responsible tion. YouGov’s polls have called nearly 90 percent way forward for our political dialogue. They’re of recent political races correctly, according to uncovering how voters feel, not projecting what FiveThirtyEight. they will do. Cramer discovered rural resentment YouGov has learned to innovatively adjust for the old-fashioned way: “polling by walking around.” variables beyond demographics, including political As for the question everyone is asking — “Should I ideology, volunteerism, and news consumption. Such trust the polls after 2016?” — I saved that one for last. measures have helped it address polling’s familiar “My response is, ‘Trust polling to do what?’ ” foe: the overrepresentation of people with college Kennedy says. “Are you asking me if you can trust degrees. polling to call the winner in a close election? I would “This is not a fly-by-night internet operation,” say no. It’s not up to that task. But if the question is, Burden says. “They are staffed by a lot of academics ‘Can I trust polling to tell me how the public feels and political scientists who understand the scientific about Donald Trump? About [House Speaker] Nancy goals we have.” Pelosi? About health care? About the response to the High-quality polls seem to be navigating this new COVID-19 pandemic?’ landscape effectively. The 2017–19 election cycle “Yes, polling is absolutely up to that challenge.” • was one of the most accurate on record for polling, according to FiveThirtyEight, with the lowest Preston Schmitt ’14 is a staff writer for On Wisconsin.

On Wisconsin 41 WILLIAM BEAUCARDET

Sloman has always stood out as a character, prompting Joan Baez to anoint him “Ratso” early in his career for his unkempt appearance and manic demeanor.

42 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 WILLIAM BEAUCARDET “Ratso” Gets His Due Known as a colorful chronicler of counterculture figures, Larry Sloman MS’72 is finding his direction home as a singer-songwriter.

BY HUGH HART

“It was four o’clock on a brandy-soaked paper: the Army Math Research Center had been October Thursday morning in Greenwich bombed. That was my introduction to Madison.” A few days later, Sloman talked his way into Village as about 20 friends and assorted becoming music editor for the Daily Cardinal. He hangers-on gathered in the shuttered-to- interviewed a wide array of artists, including Liza the-public Other End to hear Bob Dylan Minnelli and Merle Haggard. In late 1972, he and jazz musician Ben Sidran ’67 and his friends pick a few tunes.” launched the late-night show The Weekend Starts So goes the lede in Larry Sloman’s 1975 article Now on Madison’s NBC affiliate. The live broadcast for Rolling Stone, written just three years after he’d featured C-grade horror movies and weekly “ser- graduated from the UW with a master’s degree in monettes” delivered at three in the morning by “the sociology. Over the ensuing decades, Sloman has Reverend L. J. Sloman.” continued to chronicle counterculture milestones “I wore a straw hat with uncommon panache as a reporter, ghostwriter, and a clerical collar over “MADISON WAS A LOT and all-around character. As seen in the Netflix doc- a Hawaiian shirt,” Sloman umentary Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story says, laughing. “I’d sell OF FUN ... I GRAVITATED by Martin Scorsese, Sloman, embedded as a reporter condos in the Holy Land, on the singer-songwriter’s 1975 tour, earned the nick- crazy stuff like that.” IMMEDIATELY TOWARD name “Ratso” from Joan Baez because he reminded After earning his mas- CRIMINOLOGY AND her of Dustin Hoffman’s hustler inMidnight Cowboy. ter’s, Sloman moved back to After writing On the Road with Bob Dylan, Ratso New York, where he shared DEVIANCE.” went on to coauthor bestselling memoirs by Howard an apartment with folk- Stern and Mike Tyson. Distinguished by his six-inch singer Phil Ochs while filing goatee and raspy New York accent, Sloman occa- freelance articles for Rolling Stone. One afternoon in sionally works as an actor and has appeared in such 1974, he spotted Bob Dylan behind the wheel of a car movies as the 2019 indie thriller Uncut Gems. Last parked in front of an Elizabeth Arden hair salon. “I go year, the Queens-born hipster released his debut over to him and say, ‘Hi Bob, my name’s Larry, and I’m album, Stubborn Heart, at the age of 70. a writer for Rolling Stone.’ Immediately, Dylan’s wary, Looking back on his eclectic body of work, throwing me this attitude, so then I said, ‘By the way, Sloman credits the UW as a formative influence. I’m Phil Ochs’s roommate.’ And Dylan just melts.” “Madison was a lot of fun,” he says. “I gravitated Dylan warmed to Sloman’s subsequent review of immediately toward criminology and deviance, Blood on the Tracks. One year later, Sloman showed which really informed what I do, because everything up at an after-hours jam session in Greenwich Village I’ve written about is to some extent filled with devi- where Dylan and his entourage were testing out songs ant subject matter.” for the impending Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Supported by a full scholarship, Sloman showed As dawn approached, Sloman recalls, “We all got up in Madison in August 1970, the day before Sterling into this cherry-red Cadillac 1973 convertible. Besides Hall was blown up. “Coming from New York, you the fact that he had numerous drinks, Bob is not a very think you’re at the epicenter of the antiwar move- good driver to begin with, so we’re swerving all over ment,” Sloman says. “But my first night in Madison, the Village. We wind up at the Kettle of Fish [bar], I heard this loud bang and thought it must be a car and Bob says to me, ‘Why don’t you cover the tour? backfiring. I wake up in the morning and see the I’d rather have you do it than anybody else.’ ”

On Wisconsin 43 KEN REGAN

“WHY DON’T YOU COVER THE TOUR? I’D RATHER HAVE YOU DO IT THAN ANYBODY ELSE.”

Above, left to Describing his rapport with the famously press- because it helped me through some tough times, and right: Play- shy Dylan, Sloman says, “I think one of the reasons I thought it might help you.’ And he goes, ‘Thank you, wright-actor Bob appreciated me is that I had that New York swag- Ratso!’ That’s when we bonded.” Sam Shepard, ger, that New York attitude. On the tour, I’d tell him, After spending most of his career telling other Larry Sloman, Bob Dylan, and ‘Come on man, you’re just a Midwest Jew. You’re not people’s stories, Sloman found his own voice as an cinematographer a real New York Jew like me.’ And he loved it!” artist a couple of years ago when he started writing David Myers Following the publication of his Dylan book, songs with Brooklyn musician Vin Cacchione and confer in 1975 on Sloman penned a history of marijuana culture called singing them in the studio. the Rolling Thun- Reefer Madness, then cracked open a new chapter “My idea was to do a tribute album to myself, fea- der Revue tour, of his career by ghostwriting Howard Stern’s 1993 turing my famous friends. Never in a million years did during which they were filming memoir, Private Parts, and its sequel, Miss America. I think that I would be the vehicle for these songs.” the movie Renal- “Here’s a guy who’s so brash and confident Sloman changed his mind after he brought the do and Clara. behind the mic, and such a brilliant interviewer, demo to his friend Hal Willner, whose producing cred- yet he was really insecure and had a lot of issues,” its include Lou Reed, Tom Waits, and Lenny Bruce. Sloman says. “We included a lot of personal stuff “I go to Hal’s studio and say: ‘Tell me if I should in the second book, like his obsessive-compulsive be singing this song?’ I play it for him. Hal lies back, disorder. Howard is just as much a neurotic Jewish eyes closed. Song’s over, he opens his eyes, leans for- workaholic as I am. And he deserves every ounce of ward, and goes, ‘What are you waiting for?’ I took success he’s achieved.” that as a yes.” Sloman went on to write a Harry Houdini biog- This year, Sloman has played his singer-song- raphy before embarking on an especially memorable writer role to the hilt while promoting Stubborn collaboration with boxer Mike Tyson that yielded the Heart. He performed on the Outlaw Country Cruise 2013 bestseller Undisputed Truth. in the Bahamas alongside Kris Kristofferson and “He had such a great story, from rags to riches Lucinda Williams. There’s more to come, if Sloman to rags again,” says Sloman. “When Mike was in has his way. prison, I mailed him a copy of Nietzsche’s autobiog- “It’s not like I’m going to be Adele or anything,” raphy Ecce Homo.” Years later, Sloman flew to LA he muses. “But if I can just keep putting out albums and pitched his ghostwriting skills to Tyson, now and having fun, I’d love to keep doing it.” • out of prison. “The meeting’s over, I’m halfway out the door, and Mike calls out, ‘Ratso, did you send Los Angeles writer-musician Hugh Hart ’72 has reported me that Nietzsche book because you thought I was on movies and TV for Fortune magazine, the Los Angeles Superman?’ I said, ‘No Mike, I sent you Ecce Homo Times, and Wired.

44 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 COURTESY OF LARRY SLOMAN

Sloman (left) poses with Emily Jillette, boxer Mike Tyson, and magician Penn Jillette. Sloman collaborated on an autobiography and a memoir with Tyson.

AFTER SPENDING MOST OF HIS CAREER TELLING OTHER PEOPLE’S STORIES, SLOMAN FOUND HIS OWN VOICE AS AN ARTIST.

Sloman’s career has spanned WILLIAM BEAUCARDET reporting, ghostwriting, and acting. In 2019, the Queens-born hipster released his debut album, Stubborn Heart, at the age of 70.

“IF I CAN JUST KEEP PUTTING OUT ALBUMS AND HAVING FUN, I’D LOVE TO KEEP DOING IT.”

On Wisconsin 45 46 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 It’s about the Animals — and Humans, Too UW–Madison’s Shelter Medicine Program provides a needed Sandra New- resource for at-risk animals and bury DVM’03, director of those who care for them each day. UW–Madison’s Shelter Medicine Program, is BY STEPHANIE HAWS ’15 pictured with her 14-year-old PHOTOS BY BRYCE RICHTER rescue pup, Peanut. Newbury started the UW program I sit next to Sandra Newbury DVM’03 in more than five her silver Subaru hatchback — Peanut, years ago. her 14-year-old rescue pup, is in the backseat — as she tells me about her weekend in northern Wisconsin. “I’m a white-water kayaker, so I go up north almost every weekend,” she says, adding that she kayaks elsewhere in winter. It’s a Wednesday morning in October 2019, and we are en route to an animal shelter in Illinois, where Newbury — the director of UW–Madison’s Shelter Medicine Program — will meet with a group of fellows who are there to learn how to improve the welfare of shelter animals. Known as the Northern Tier Fellowship, it’s one of several efforts that the program, housed within the UW’s School of Veterinary Medicine, carries out for veterinarians and shelter leaders around the world. Started more than five years ago by Newbury, the program is a leader in the relatively new field of shelter medicine, which focuses on caring for animals in need. The program conducts its work through education and outreach-based research — findings based on work with shelters rather than through clinical trials. Each year, this particular fellowship invites shelter directors and managers in northern states to visit shelters that the program has previously worked with to gain exposure to new ideas and practices that help improve animals’ lives. Among the many practices covered during the fellowship, the program staff emphasize an unexpected point: in what can be an emotionally taxing field, human welfare is critical to improving animal care.

On Wisconsin 47 It’s a Balance population. Being open about her outside interests, Back in the car that afternoon, Newbury, Peanut, Newbury says, is part of the program’s effort to teach and I return to Madison to meet a second group of veterinarians and shelter staff the value of work–life fellows at the Dane County shelter. This time, Peanut balance. She leads by example, and sometimes she shares the backseat with three mewing kittens, who will build in time for yoga and other activities during are being transferred to help lower the Illinois shel- the fellowships. ter’s cat population. The kittens — whose mother “You can see how sheltering could really be no longer wanted them — will receive the attention consuming. A lot of the time, especially in shelter they need at the Dane County shelter. medicine, I think, people try to solve the problem,” That morning, Newbury demonstrated to fel- she says, noting that workers will sometimes bring lows how to identify and manage overpopulation; animals home rather than allow themselves distance she noticed that the shelter’s number of cats was from work. “What I try to teach, especially my veter- over capacity and made recommendations to lower inarians, is to balance their lives so that their career it, such as starting a cat adoption sale and relocating in sheltering will be sustainable and that they won’t the kittens to a different shelter. just come in, work in shelters for a year, and be so Now on our drive to Madison, I learn that burned out that they never want to help again.” Newbury isn’t only a white-water kayaker — she is also a local circus performer and an aerial dancer, A Need for Structural Change and she has a residency through the Overture Formerly a full-time artist, Newbury was inspired Center for the Arts to teach circus arts to children to volunteer for a local shelter after seeing stray cats at Madison’s Lussier Community Education Center. near her Chicago studio. As she gained more respon- She decided to give circus performance a try after sibility in the shelter, she saw firsthand veterinari- enrolling her son in classes. ans’ limited involvement and was concerned by their “I’m pretty open about it,” she says of her hobbies. lack of knowledge about shelter care. “I used to keep it secret, and then I was like, ‘I think “At that time, there really weren’t veterinarians people should know because everybody knows I work who were interested in animal shelters,” she says. really hard at what I do, and I love what I do as a pro- “There was no such thing as shelter medicine.” fession, but I also love these other things that I do.’ ” Stephanie In addition, veterinarians working in shelters Loving things outside of the profession is import- Koester ’11, assis- were often criticized for their role in making eutha- ant. Although the reasons aren’t fully understood tant director of nasia decisions, especially those made to control yet, veterinarians have high suicide rates. According the UW’s Shelter crowding. No one wants to be called “Dr. Death,” to a 2019 study from the Centers for Disease Control Medicine Pro- and veterinarians would quit after a year, contrib- gram, says hello and Prevention, female veterinarians are 3.5 times to a kitten at the uting to a shortage of professionals and creating a as likely and male veterinarians are 2.1 times as Dane County Hu- knowledge gap and missing skill set for animal care likely to die from suicide compared to the general mane Society. and welfare. Even later on, as Newbury helped build a shelter medicine program at the University of California– Davis in the early 2000s, there was misunder- standing around what program staff meant when advocating for population management. “People thought that all I wanted to do is euthanize animals,” Newbury says. “I got to a point where, when I would give presentations on this, I would say at the beginning, ‘If at any point you think I’m saying I want you to euthanize more animals, euthanize animals faster, or anything of the kind, please stop me and raise your hand, because I don’t mean that, and I want to try and clarify that right at the time.’ ” Starting in her early years of working for a shelter, Newbury sought to counter the spiraling negative trends she was noticing. She created a protocol to make the most of the shelter’s limited veterinarian access, providing staff and volunteers with methods to try when a problem arose with one or more animals. If the protocol didn’t help an animal, that informed staff members that the animal needed the veterinarian’s attention — maximizing the veterinarian’s time and helping as many animals as they could, as quickly as possible.

48 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 “I realized pretty early on that what was needed Shakuntala for a grant that would soon create UW–Madison’s were these structural changes to animal shelters, Makhijani, a Shelter Medicine Program. instead of just trying to deal with each individual 2020–21 Mad- problem — which of course doesn’t mean you don’t die’s Shelter Limits to Superpowers Medicine intern, deal with the individual problem. It’s just a way of conducts a In a highly emotional field in which animals are in dealing with it more efficiently,” she says. wellness check need of homes and at risk for health and behavioral Even with the protocol, Newbury was frustrated on Beau, a problems, it’s natural to want to help every animal. by the shelter’s problems, such as outbreaks result- Labrador mix. However, this feeling can often translate into shel- ing from a veterinarian’s distrust of vaccinations in ter staff members taking in more animals than they cats. That’s when she reached out to the UW’s School can manage, which may lead to ongoing problems. of Veterinary Medicine, seeking input from Ronald Today, the UW’s Shelter Medicine team provides Schultz, now a professor emeritus in the Department veterinarians and staff with the guidance they need of Pathobiological Sciences. “I decided I should go to increase adoption rates and improve animal care, to vet school after all, because there needed to be while also helping them work within limits that set veterinarians who knew about animal shelters,” she up both shelter animals and workers for success. says. “I think if I had actually known that I wouldn’t The program’s staff members teach shelters a be an artist [anymore], I don’t think I would’ve done series of best practices aimed at upping adoption it — but I’m glad I didn’t know, because I’m really rates and enhancing animal care, such as giving vac- happy with what I do.” cinations upon intake, decreasing animals’ lengths Following veterinary school, she became the of stay, and increasing shelters’ capacities for care. medical director at the Dane County Humane They also recommend making adoption applications Society before working for UC–Davis, where she and processes more approachable and less discrim- helped build the first shelter medicine program at inatory; giving each animal separate spaces to eat any university. (The director of that program, Kate and defecate; and offering preselection, permitting Hurley, was the first in the world to become a res- visitors to view animals and apply for adoptions ident in shelter medicine.) Although employed by before pets’ holding periods are over. UC–Davis, Newbury continued living in Madison These efforts also mean setting limits, which can and teaching at the UW. Meanwhile, a few other be counterintuitive, Newbury says. For instance, the universities, such as the University of Florida and program encourages staff to monitor pet intake and Cornell, started their own shelter medicine pro- think critically about whether being in a shelter is grams. Then, in 2014, Newbury was invited to apply the best choice for an animal.

On Wisconsin 49 “There is recent research to show that, for exam- Uri Donnett, the says. “Even though it’s scary, it’s less scary than poor ple, cats are significantly more likely to get back Maddie’s Clini- welfare and the chronic effects of poor welfare on home if you just leave them where they are than cal Instructor at the humans, the animals, and the population.” if you pick them up and bring them to an animal the Dane County Humane Society, shelter,” she says. “For a really long period of time, examines a A New Support Network people would pick up every cat that was out walking kitten during a On the third and final day of the Northern Tier around and bring it to an animal shelter, but national health check. Fellowship, the full group of fellows reconvenes reclaim rates for cats were 1 to 2 percent.” to discuss strategies in a conference room at the To help shelters implement these practices and DoubleTree Hotel on West Johnson Street in function within their limits, the program empowers Madison (where Peanut makes the rounds to say them to tailor practices to their individual needs. If hello). Through these conversations, Newbury and a shelter does not have a full-time veterinarian, for her team not only give shelters recommendations for example, the program works with staff members to improving animal welfare, but also foster a support enforce protocols that help them work efficiently. network that, not long ago, didn’t exist. “There are limits to your superpowers, and so They allow time for the group to talk about what you’ve got to be sure that you’re using them effec- they observed the days prior and be candid about the tively,” Newbury says. “We talk a lot about making hurdles they face at their own shelters. Some fellows choices for how [shelters are] investing their express concerns about bringing the new practices resources and energy and time.” back to teams who are resistant to change. When consistently executed, these methods help “I end up saying this once every fellowship: It shelters stay in what Newbury calls the “positive is important to try what you’re trying,” Newbury cycle.” That means shelters adopt out animals more says to the group. “It is also important sometimes quickly, avoid overpopulating, and increase their to recognize that if a particular [person or organiza- capacities for care so staff are able to give more tion] cannot be motivated, to not just stay and bang attention to each animal. This compares to a “vicious your head against the wall forever. Because your cycle,” in which shelters are not effectively manag- passion and your power are important in the field. ing these factors, leading to issues such as overpop- If it turns out that you cannot effect change in your ulation and higher risks of infectious disease and own organization, there are other organizations that behavioral problems in animals. will welcome you where it wouldn’t be so hard.” This approach helps shelters manage environ- As the discussion continues, Newbury empha- ments where stress levels can run high, as veteri- sizes the support the program provides. narians and staff are required to make choices that “One of our [past veterinarian] fellows once said can be matters of life and death for animals. that, when she was trying to implement a new rec- “Every time we [visit a shelter], it’s scary, but ommendation at her shelter, she felt like there were we’ve seen [our practices] work enough times that 12 [veterinarian fellows and program staff members] we believe, and we know, [they’ll] work,” Newbury standing behind her helping her. And we were just

50 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 laughing. We were like, ‘There are. We’re here,’ ” “I have no hesitation if I have a question — whether Newbury says. “That is a huge reason that we started it’s medical or administrative — I know that I can pick these fellowships.” up the phone and call [the program],” she notes. “And During a break, I speak with Marta Pierpoint, that kind of professional support is priceless.” who attended the program’s inaugural Northern Tier At the conclusion of the fellowship’s final day, Fellowship and returned as a mentor for its second Newbury says she’s “overwhelmed” with happiness year. She tells me it’s hard to count the number of knowing that the fellows will leave feeling more ways the fellowship has helped her. knowledgeable and empowered to make change at “You’re not only learning from the experts at the their shelters. University of Wisconsin. You’re learning from your “[Our work is] about the animals, but these peers, and you’re taking away big-picture thoughts, are great people, and they’re trying so hard to do and you’re also taking back small things that you can these amazing things, and so whatever we can do implement,” says Pierpoint, who is executive direc- to support [them] is incredible to me,” she tells me. tor at the Humane Society of Western Montana. Some members of “There is so much emotion surrounding the field of An attorney by training who practiced law for the UW’s Shelter sheltering.” eight years, Pierpoint served as a longtime volunteer Medicine team As we sit, surrounded by fellows chatting before at the shelter before becoming its director. On her pose with Peanut heading home, I can’t help but notice the camaraderie in July. Top first day in the role, however, the shelter received row, from left to among the group. It’s difficult to believe most of them dogs with distemper — something she knew little right: Makhijani, had just met in the course of the three-day fellowship. about at the time. “That is how I was connected with Newbury, and And I’m not the only one who notices. Dr. Newbury, and she was incredibly helpful to our Donnett. Bottom “I mean, look around, everybody’s so happy, shelter and to me personally in getting through that.” row, from left to they’re all talking to each other. It’s so nice to see Now, as a mentor, Pierpoint can use the knowl- right: Eliza- that,” Newbury says. “This is a safe place.” beth Roberts, a • edge she’s gained from the program to help other Maddie’s Shelter shelters in her area, further expanding the support Medicine Res- Stephanie Haws ’15, a staff writer for On Wisconsin, network. And if she has any questions, she knows ident; Peanut; wagged her (fictitious) tail at the chance to report this whom to call. and Koester. story. For more photos, visit onwisconsin.uwalumni.com.

On Wisconsin 51 OnAlumniAlumni News at Home and Abroad

Safer — and More Connected — at Home Check out these new ways to engage with campus. COURTESY OF AMBER STATZ Nurse Amber Statz ’16 , who helps save COVID-19 patients at Boston’s Massa- chusetts General Hospital, was featured in an “It’s What Bad- gers Do” video.

Every year since 2008, the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA) has created designs for The Red Shirt™, which serves as official Homecoming garb, and In April, the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) then asked alumni to vote for solicited photos of Badgers around the world who are doing their part to their favorite design. WAA then help during the pandemic. The result, “#ItsWhatBadgersDo” (uwalumni. 128Number of sells the T-shirts, with a portion com/go/IWBD), was featured on social media, in the weekly Flamingle, “likes” for WAA of the proceeds going to student and in other newsletters. You can continue to find shout-outs on social immediately scholarships. This year’s edition media that recognize other Badger helpers, as well as short videos about after it joined drew some 6,500 votes. To order individual alumni and pandemic initiatives. the WeChat the shirt (detail shown above), It’s just one of the ways that WFAA is reaching Badgers remotely as social-messaging visit uwalumni.com/shop/ traditional in-person events are canceled due to the pandemic. platform in July theredshirt. (along with 124 You can also share alumni photos and stories for a “Wish You Were “wow”s) Here” scrapbook that celebrates Badger nostalgia at uwalumni.com/go/ scrapbooks. So far, the scrapbooks have highlighted commencement photos and stories; favorite Terrace photos and memories; Homecoming; 2,782 and top nature spots on campus. Number of WAA VIRTUAL SEND-OFF Week in Review, an overview of some of the UW’s top stories that followers on Wisconsin Alumni Association are highlighted on the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Instagram WeChat as of chapters typically host send-offs press time (@wisalumni) and Facebook pages each Friday, directs viewers to for high school graduates who uwalumni.com for more in-depth coverage. It’s a way to help alumni are preparing to become Bad- and friends stay informed about the UW at a time when they may be 6,079 gers. This year, due to the pan- feeling both isolated and busier than ever before. Number of WAA demic, 28 WAA chapters instead If you’re nostalgic for the Terrace — or you’re missing the sight views on WeChat opted to host one virtual send-off of Bascom Hill — WFAA has the next best thing: Badger backgrounds as of press time for students and their families that bring the campus to you. Visit uwalumni.com/support/virtual- from around the country. backgrounds to download a UW screensaver or video-call background. So far, the site has logged nearly 22,500 downloads. And The UW Now livestream panels with university experts have continued to update viewers on topics related to the coronavirus, the UW Marching Band, campus traditions, and other issues. To watch past livestreams, visit go.wisc.edu/waa-youtube. Even during quarantine, the opportunity to reconnect with some of the best times of your life — and to stay informed, inspired, and involved — is just a few clicks away.

52 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 Tradition Multicultural Student Center DR. ROBERT SAN JUAN MS’01,PHD’06

Shiloah Coley ’20 has a hard Members of the for the Black, Latinx, and APIDA national climate and Black Lives time imagining what her time at Alpha Kappa (Asian, Pacific Islanders, and Desi Matter movement. the university would have been Delta Phi sorority American) cultural centers and The COVID-19 pandemic has like without the Multicultural Stu- performed at the celebrates heritage months for forced the MSC to shift a lot of dent Center (MSC). annual Multicul- those groups, as well as planning its programming online, and staff tural Orientation “For Black students and other and Reception in other events. When people hear members have relied on social students of color, it can be really 2019. the words multicultural student media to promote initiatives, isolating on campus, especially if center, says Balderrama-Trudell, highlight relevant events in the you might be coming from a back- most of them think of a cultural Madison community, and remind ground that’s much more diverse,” center space. “And while we are students to take care of them- says Coley, who interned at the that,” she says, “[we focus on] selves during troubled times. At center for three years. “So having much more than that by provid- press time, Balderrama-Trudell a network of people to support you ing social-justice education and expected that the MSC would and nurture you can be really vital. leadership and involvement both hold its annual welcome and ori- … The MSC played a really crucial for students internally and for the entation events for students of role in my ability to blossom on larger campus as well.” color this fall, along with cele- this campus.” The MSC hosts an annual brating Latinx Heritage Month in Since the center was founded social-justice leadership retreat, mid-September, in a format that in 1988, it has become an integral as well as brown bags, workshops, allows for COVID-19 safety mea- part of programming for students and panels throughout the year. It sures. of color, says interim director Ida also offers leadership training to Whether the center offers Balderrama-Trudell MS’09. its 65 affiliated student organiza- in-person or virtual experiences, “The MSC staff provides experi- tions, including groups such as the there’s little doubt that it will con- ences and community that con- Wisconsin Black Student Union, tinue to change students’ lives. tribute significantly to a sense of the Multicultural Greek Council, As Michael Penn II ’15 wrote belonging for students of color and and the Filipino American Stu- in a Facebook review in 2017, “I’m assists in helping them have their dent Organization. Currently, the almost two years out of school, and unique Wisconsin experience,” center is partnering with Univer- I’m still welcomed whenever I’m she adds. sity Health Services to provide back around. The [MSC] is a safe The MSC, which is located in support spaces for students of haven. I’m forever grateful for it.” the Red Gym, provides a home color in response to the local and NIKI DENISON

On Wisconsin 53 OnAlumni Class Notes

50s–70s past 82 years: they misplaced Resources; and Liz Hotaling Wisconsin state senator Fred Bucky! But I have found him,” McAuliffe ’88 in its Office of Risser x’50, the longest-serv- Mari writes. “He is J. Arden Legal Counsel. ing state legislator in U.S. Trine, my loving father.” history, is retiring at the end 80s of his term at age 93. He was Joseph Williams MA’80 first elected to the Wisconsin “There is magic all around, but has taken the helm as director Assembly in 1956 and to the you have to believe in it; you have of the Seattle office at the U.S. state Senate in 1962, and he’s Department of Energy’s Pacific the last surviving World War II to lean into it. It’s there. You just Northwest National Laboratory, veteran in both the state’s and have to see it.” which — with a focus on earth nation’s legislatures. Risser, Liz (Mary Elizabeth) Miller Dawes ’85, in a TEDx Talk in sciences, chemistry, and data who never missed a legislative January analytics — aims to enhance roll call, has served as both the the nation’s energy resiliency Senate minority leader and as In February, Jeanne and security. The office houses Senate president. Among his Gelner Blievernicht MS’65 more than 130 researchers and many accomplishments, he is was inducted into Valparaiso support staff. Williams was the main author of Wisconsin’s University’s Athletic Hall of previously the sector lead of Clean Indoor Act, he drafted Fame. She participated in the Information and Communi- the Capitol Master Plan, and he Intercollegiate Tennis Cham- cations Technology (ICT) for made it possible for those over pionship, reaching the doubles Washington state’s governor the age of 60 to audit courses at semifinals from 1959 to 1961 and was ICT’s director of eco- the UW at no cost. and the singles quarterfinals in nomic development. Former Oakland A’s owner 1960 and semifinals in 1961. She Keith Williams ’81, a pro- Lew Wolff ’57 sat down with competed in many other tour- fessor at Concordia University former MLB commissioner Bud naments, such as the Midwest in Saint Paul, Minnesota, has (Allan) Selig ’56 at Netflix Collegiate Badminton Tourna- been awarded the university’s headquarters in Los Gatos, ment — which she won. Gelner highest honor for faculty and California, in February to talk Blievernicht later went on to a staff: the Poehler Lectureship. about Selig’s new book, For high school officiating career Williams’s career began as a the Good of the Game. Money and was an inaugural member high school art teacher, and he raised from the event, which of the U.S. Lacrosse Michigan later obtained a faculty position was sponsored in part by Wolff, Chapter Hall of Fame. Now at Muskingum College before was donated to student scholar- retired, she lives in Southfield, joining Concordia University ships for a Jewish K–8 school in Michigan, with her husband, nearly 30 years ago. He has California. This past April was David Blievernicht MS’64, chaired the university’s art also the 50th anniversary of the PhD’71. department for more than 20 Brewers’ arrival in Milwaukee; Jim Ciha ’78 of Grand years and has served on the Selig played an integral role in Junction, Colorado, must not board of the National Council acquiring the team. be afraid of heights. In August BOOK NEWS? on Education for the Ceramic J. Arden Trine ’59, of last year, he completed his See page 60. Arts — including a term MBA’60 of Madison has deeply 25th “14er,” a hike on a peak of as president. embedded Badger love within 14,000 feet or higher, in Colo- CLASS NOTES Liz Cunningham Henry his family. His four daugh- rado. This particular hike was SUBMISSIONS ’83, MBA’96 and Joe Henry uwalumni.com/ ters, six grandchildren, and atop Mount Princeton, which go/alumninotes • of J. Henry & Sons appeared in sons- and daughter-in-law are has an elevation of 14,197 feet. Class Notes, the Chicago Tribune last year all devoted fans, writes daugh- The state has more than 50 Wisconsin for the award-winning bour- ter Mari Trine ’87. Mari’s 14ers, “and that means many Foundation and bon made on their 2,000-acre sister Malani Trine MS’94, more adventures for [me] in the Alumni Asso- Wisconsin farm. The bourbon PhD’00 is also a grad. Arden, a future,” Ciha writes. ciation (WFAA), utilizes deep red corn kernels retired UW–Oshkosh professor, The Connecticut Depart- 1848 University developed at the UW in 1939, is heavily involved in the UW’s ment of Energy and Environ- Avenue, Madison, and, according to the publica- Participatory Learning and mental Protection (DEEP) is WI 53726 tion, J. Henry & Sons is the only Teaching Organization and has filled with Badgers:Michael bourbon maker in the world attended Grandparents Univer- Geigert ’78 works within using this variety. The couple’s sity® four times. “I submit not DEEP’s planning and standards, sons are Joseph Henry ’14 too humbly that the UW admin- Bureau of Air Management; Bill and Jack (John) Henry ’19. istrators have been perpetrating Foreman MS’99 in its fisher- Although it hadn’t origi- a hoax on Badger fans for the ies program, Bureau of Natural nally been her plan to become

54 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 Recognition Kennedy and Schroll CHRIS SCHROLL a cheesemaker, Pam Umstadt REWARDS Hodgson ’84 of Plymouth, REVOLUTION Wisconsin, is one of two women A few months into the in the nation with the title of COVID-19 pandemic, a master cheesemaker and works mother emailed Fetch for Sartori Company. “I loved Rewards to say thank you. how cheesemaking engages all Pregnant with her of your intellect, and your body, fourth child, on bed too,” she told the Wall Street rest, and unable to work Journal in January. “It can be because of the pandemic, quite physical work at times.” she wrote that the points In 2013, Liz (Mary Eliza- she’d earned through the beth) Miller Dawes ’85 and mobile rewards app were (Robert) Scott Dawes ’84 enough to help her and of Sandringham, Australia, her family get by during cofounded the Robert Connor tough times and purchase Dawes Foundation in memory what she needed for her of their son, who aspired to new baby daughter. row in college. The foundation “Things like that let supports research and care you know you’re mak- for pediatric brain cancer, and ing a positive impact,” early this year, it sponsored says Tyler Kennedy ’13 its fifth annual “Connor’s ERG (at left), vice president Challenge” — its biggest to of operations for the date, with 12 U.S. and Austra- company. “It’s more than lian rowing teams participating saving a few bucks on and raising more than $70,000. groceries. It’s helping people in a time of need.” Liz also recently gave a TEDx The Fetch Rewards concept is simple: shoppers scan store receipts, Talk about her foundation work earn points on participating products, and redeem those points for gift and daily life. “There is magic cards. all around, but you have to CEO Wes Schroll x’15 (above right) got the idea for the app as a soph- believe in it; you have to lean omore, when he moved into his first apartment and started shopping for into it,” she said. “It’s there. You his own groceries. He wondered why stores were asking him to sign up just have to see it.” for frequent-shopper programs instead of the brands he was far more Robert Gabbay PhD’85 loyal to. He approached Kennedy about designing a brand-loyalty app is now the chief scientific and for a Wisconsin School of Business assignment. They then traveled the medical officer at the Ameri- country, winning enough money in business-plan competitions to start can Diabetes Association. His developing their product. research focuses on innovative They continue to seek easy ways for consumers to save on every- models of diabetes care in an day purchases, build relationships with their favorite brands, and have effort to improve outcomes a little fun. (Users might receive a special Mother’s Day message, for and patient experiences. Prior example, or see a shower of digital confetti to celebrate savings.) to starting in his new role, Schroll is the ideas guy, closing sales and looking ahead to the next Gabbay was the chief medical big thing; Kennedy brings those ideas to life, managing the staff and the officer and senior vice president processes. “We’ve been working together for almost eight years now, at Joslin Diabetes Center and and it’s been awesome to see our partnership strengthen over time,” associate professor at Harvard Schroll says. Medical School. The company grew from two employees to 165 spread out across In January, Laurie Jink- locations in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and the Madison ins ’85, MA’87 was sworn in headquarters. as speaker of the Washington Today, upward of three million shoppers per month access rewards State House of Representatives. from more than 325 brands in dozens of categories — from health and She is both its first woman and wellness to beauty products to food and beverages — and Fetch is first lesbian speaker. Jinkins continually teaming up with new partners. In the coming year, planned has served in the house since upgrades to the app include expanding where and how shoppers can 2011, and in that time has save and a feature that helps track spending habits. chaired the House Civil Rights “No amount of savings is too little,” Schroll says. “Everything adds up and Judiciary Committee and and can make a difference.” served on the Health Care and WENDY HATHAWAY ’04

On Wisconsin 55 Recognition Stefanie Spear ALEXA SCHINDEL Wellness Committee and the Appropriations Committee. Her brother Todd Jinkins ’96, a smokejumper firefighter who was the cover subject of On Wisconsin’s Winter 2016 issue, was unable to attend her swearing in because he’d been called to help fight the Australia wildfires. 90s Robert Behnke ’90, a graduate of the UW’s Farm and Industry Short Course (FISC), was honored at the course’s alumni reunion earlier this year PLASTICS POLLUTION with the 2020 Friend of FISC During her senior year, Stefanie Spear ’90 was aghast at the amount of Award. The award recognized trash generated by the Memorial Union. The English major and a student his contributions to both FISC photographer followed garbage trucks to the landfill to capture images and the Wisconsin Agricul- of the mounds of refuse. Spear then documented her findings in an envi- tural and Life Sciences Alumni ronmental newsletter, Affinity, that she circulated on campus. Association. A dairy farmer in Three decades later, she’s taken her advocacy to new depths. In Brooklyn, Wisconsin, Behnke January, she took part in the north Pacific Ocean leg of eXXpedition, a has also been recognized by the two-year sailing voyage by a team of women researchers attempting to Holstein Association USA with bring attention to oceanic plastic pollution. Spear sailed 960 nautical a Herd of Excellence award, miles from Panama to the Galapagos Islands. and he’s been a leader in milk She was one of 300 women chosen from more than 10,000 appli- production across the world. cants for the trip. Many were “citizen scientists,” members of the gen- Inspired to give back during eral public who collect data to augment scientific research. the pandemic, the founder and “We hope to make the unseen seen,” says Spear, the founder of CEO of private aviation com- EcoWatch, one of the nation’s largest environmental news sites. “You pany Wheels Up, Kenny Dich- can look across an ocean that looks beautiful, but there are microplas- ter ’90, recently partnered tics out there. It’s everywhere, and it’s a huge issue.” with Seattle Seahawks quarter- Plastic, which is the most common debris found in the world’s back Russell Wilson x’12 and oceans, harms sea life when creatures ingest the particles. Aboard his wife, Ciara, on a “Meals Up” a 73-foot boat, Spear helped take readings of the concentration and initiative to donate 10 million global distribution of microplastics on the ocean surface and underwa- meals to Feeding America. Wil- ter. “You can be 500 miles from shore,” she says, “and you’ll find plastic son is a brand ambassador for fragments. It’s shocking. Wheels Up, as is fellow Badger “One of my goals is to bring the message home,” adds Spear. “I’m J. J. Watt x’12. “We’re excited working with local high school students to get them engaged in the about the potential of being plastic-pollution fight. One of the ways we’re doing that is to explain to able to give back and everybody them the three levers of change: consumer behavior, corporate respon- coming together to make a dif- sibility, and policy.” ference,” Wilson said on CNBC She also operates Stellar Consulting, which works with people and in March. organizations that push for social change. Activists have heralded the The Wisconsin Hospital banning of some single-use plastic items — such as grocery bags and Association has welcomed drinking straws — in communities across the United States. But the Mark Grapentine ’90, JD’97 challenges remain formidable. Near Spear’s suburban Cleveland home, as its new vice president of 22 million pounds of plastic have been dumped into the Great Lakes, communications. He spent the according to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. While she is some- previous 16 years at the Wis- times pessimistic about the problem, Spear says she can’t imagine consin Medical Society, most giving up. recently as its senior vice pres- “The trip was life-changing in the sense of connecting to the planet, ident for government relations. connecting to people, and connecting to a cause that really matters,” In between earning his degrees, she says. Grapentine — a political science ANDREW FAUGHT and journalism double major

56 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 OnAlumni Class Notes

— was a sports reporter and professional learning. In 2009, been funded by entities such news anchor in Madison. He she also became an Ironman as the National Institutes of also spent five years working triathlete. Health and the Department of in the Wisconsin state capitol Derek Schmidt ’95 of Defense, also holds a doctorate as chief of staff to former state Dubuque, Iowa, has taken the in veterinary medicine and a senator Peggy Rosenzweig, reins as chief financial officer master’s degree in reproduction as a policy adviser to former and chief operating officer at and obstetrics from the veteri- governor Tommy Thompson Flexsteel Industries, a man- nary school at the University of ’63, JD’66, and as a legislative ufacturer of upholstered and Ljubljana in Slovenia. Prior to assistant to then–state repre- wooden furniture that distrib- joining the WPI faculty in sentative Scott Walker. utes throughout the U.S. and 2006, she worked at Advanced Gwyn Beattie PhD’91, Canada. New to the company, Cell Technology. the Robert Earle Buchanan Schmidt brings more than 25 Founder Tara Hallam Distinguished Professor of years of experience to the roles. Ingalls ’97 is celebrating Bacteriology for Research and He most recently served as the 20 years of business at Mad- Nomenclature at Iowa State senior vice president and chief ison-based Tingalls Graphic University, is serving as the financial officer for Crescent Design. For the fifth consec- interim chair of its Department Electric Supply Company. utive year, her company also of Plant Pathology and Micro- earned InBusiness magazine’s biology. Beattie, who joined the “I learned how to prepare a role, Executive Choice Award for university in 1995, is a pio- best website-development neer in the field of phytobiome both musically and dramatically, company. science and studies the ecology but I think more importantly, my Last year, Nancy O’Neale and genomics of plant-associ- ’97 founded Detroit Business ated bacteria. She has earned teachers got me to really love Hub Group (DBHG), a business the Iowa Board of Regents opera passionately.” consulting company for which Award for Faculty Excellence Brenda Rae ’05, speaking with Wisconsin Public Radio about she now serves as president. and works in multiple leader- her UW experience DBHG helps nurture new busi- ship positions, such as chair of nesses, especially those owned the public policy board for the Congratulations, Brenda by minorities. She is also the American Phytopathological Williams MA’95, for earning executive director of the Women Society. the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Who Inspire nonprofit, where The American Associa- Award from the Wisconsin she helps women start their own tion of Nurse Practitioners chapter of the American Soci- businesses, and is author of Fire has named Alyce Good- ety of Landscape Architects Your Job! Be Your Own Boss! man-Abraham ’92 the Nurse (ASLA). Williams, a principal With a decade of sales experi- Practitioner of the Year for with architecture firm Quinn COVID-19 ence, O’Neale is a member of the the state of Kentucky. Good- Evans, focuses on historic Because of National Association of Women man-Abraham specializes in landscapes, advocating for the circumstances Business Owners. women’s health and urogynecol- conservation and stewardship surrounding the Fresh Scoop, a podcast of ogy at the University of Louis- of culturally significant sites. novel-coronavirus the Morris Animal Founda- pandemic, we ville Physicians. She has collaborated with the recognize that tion, recently hosted Jessica The Daily Record named National Park Service and some of this Czederpiltz Quimby ’97, Martha James-Hassan ’93, the Smithsonian Institution, alumni news may DVM’03 to discuss chronic an assistant professor in the cochairs the ASLA Leadership have changed kidney disease in cats. Quimby School of Education and Urban Group of the Historic Preserva- since it was is an associate professor in the Studies at Morgan State Univer- tion Professional Practice Net- submitted to us. Department of Veterinary Clin- sity in Baltimore, a recipient of work, and has earned additional We apologize if ical Sciences at Ohio State Uni- its 2020 “Maryland’s Top 100 accolades such as the national we have not been versity, and part of her research Women” award. James-Hassan ASLA Honor Award and an able to capture examines cats’ aging kidneys to the most recent chairs the policy committee ASLA National Merit Award. events. better understand what might for the Baltimore City Board Worcester (Massachusetts) make them inclined to disease. of School Commissioners and Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has The Morris Animal Foundation is president of the Maryland promoted Tanja Dominko supports studies that seek solu- Association of Boards of Edu- PhD’96 to professor of biology tions for severe health problems cation. Her research focuses and biotechnology. Dominko, in animals. on best practices for cultural who previously earned the Slo- Shanghai Public Health fluency, behavior management, venian Ambassador of Science Clinical Center has used con- leadership development, and Award and whose work has tinuous temperature sensors

On Wisconsin 57 OnAlumni Class Notes from VivaLNK, a health care ropolitan Opera in New York 10s solutions company founded City. When asked by Wisconsin Researcher Sarah Ives ’12 by CEO Jiang Li PhD’98 Public Radio in February what of San Francisco is working to that is located in both the U.S. abilities she developed at the develop a universal flu vaccine and China. Used to help fight UW, she referenced her experi- that would help fight against the the spread of coronavirus, ence studying abroad in Italy as seasonal flu as well as pandemic the sensor is directly applied well as the opportunity to per- strains. Ives, who is director of to patients to continuously form in three leading roles as an contract research at Distributed monitor their changes in body undergraduate. “I learned how Bio, was featured in Netflix’s temperature. The tool allows to prepare a role, both musically Pandemic: How to Prevent an health care workers to monitor and dramatically, but I think Outbreak, which was released temperatures remotely, lower- more importantly, my teachers in late January. The docuseries ing risk of patient-to-caregiver got me to really love opera pas- helped bring Ives’s work to light transmission of the virus. sionately,” she said. globally, and since the COVID- Heather Figi ’99 of A Badger air high-five 19 outbreak, the company has Eugene, Oregon, is presumably goes to Julie Eddy Van de also launched efforts to create plenty busy as a registered Kamp ’07, who was named a a treatment. nurse, but her story doesn’t 2020 Top Woman to Watch in Bess (Elizabeth) Don- stop there. In 2014, the former Transportation by the Women oghue ’14, manager at Frank music major founded the Music in Trucking Association, a non- PR NYC — an agency with cli- for Young Violinists project, profit that strives to empower ents such as Netflix, MGM, and which offers articles, tutorial DEATH NOTICES • women in the industry. Van the Academy of Motion Picture videos, and an online store that NAME, ADDRESS, de Kamp is vice president of Arts and Sciences — had quite features some of her own com- TELEPHONE, AND customer experience at U.S. a year. She was an associate positions and arrangements. EMAIL UPDATES Xpress, where she has worked producer for the filmLavender , alumnichanges@ for more than a decade. Since which premiered at the 2019 uwalumni.com • 00s Alumni Changes, joining the company, she has Sundance Film Festival. She Urban designer Tom Rog- WFAA, 1848 embodied its customer-first also launched the Northwoods ers ’01 has been promoted to University Ave- mind-set. Film Festival, held in Woodruff, principal at SmithGroup, an nue, Madison, WI In April, David Scharf- Wisconsin, in August of last architectural firm with loca- 53726 • 888-947- man ’08 appeared on ABC’s year. While on campus, Dono- tions throughout the U.S. and 2586 Shark Tank for Specialty ghue reported for the Badger in Shanghai. Based in Madison, Cheese Company’s Just the Herald and worked for the Wis- the former landscape-architec- OBITUARIES Cheese product, a snack bar consin Union Directorate Film ture major creates opportuni- Brief death inspired by the cheese that Committee as well as the Rev- notices for ties in unexpected spots. The Wisconsin Alumni melts off a grilled cheese elry Music and Arts Festival. firm has designed places such as Association sandwich and into the pan. Kudos, Kiana Murphy the Detroit Riverwalk and the (WAA) members The televised appearance ’15, who was one of 10 schol- Milwaukee Harbor District. and friends was a memorable one, and not ars selected by the Woodrow Emilie Amundson ’02 appear in Badger solely because of his Styro- Wilson National Fellowship was recently appointed to the Insider, WAA’s foam-cheese top hat, tie, and Foundation as a Woodrow cabinet of Wisconsin gover- magazine for its orange suit. He turned down Wilson Dissertation Fellow nor Tony Evers ’73, MS’76, members. You offers from sharks Kevin in Women’s Studies this year. also may submit PhD’86, serving as secretary full-length obit- O’Leary, Lori Greiner, and The fellowship, which provides of the Department of Children uaries (with one Mark Cuban. “I’m feeling a little recipients with a stipend to and Families. She previously photo each) for disappointed,” he said on the apply toward research-related was chief of staff at the Wis- online posting at show of not securing a deal. expenses, supports promising consin Department of Public uwalumni.com/ “My wife, my family, every- doctoral candidates whose work Instruction, where she has also go/alumninotes. one who pours their heart and addresses women’s and gender worked as the director of liter- soul into making such a great issues. Murphy, a PhD candi- acy and mathematics and as the product — I’m disappointed for date in English at the University English language arts consul- them that I couldn’t bring home of Pennsylvania, studies the tant. Prior to that, she was an a deal, but I hope they’re proud figure of the Black girl in Black English instructor and school of me anyway.” Scharfman’s women’s writing and art. She founder in New York City. parents run the Reeseville, joins cohorts of previous fel- Opera singer Brenda Wisconsin–based Specialty lows, some of whom have gone Rae (Klinkert) ’04 recently Cheese Company, and he and on to earn the Pulitzer Prize or performed the role of Poppea in his wife, Connie, run the Just become a MacArthur, Guggen- Handel’s Agrippina at the Met- the Cheese brand. heim, or Fulbright Fellow.

58 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 Contribution Social Work Patron JASON LEE When cofounders Kelly Montgomery MS’16, Jaye Gardiner PhD’17, and Khoa Tran PhD’18 created JKX Comics while students at the UW, they did so with the goal of using comics to increase scientific literacy among the general public. Although trans- lating science into a comic can be a challenge, it doesn’t deter the group. “It’s never going to be perfect,” Tran told Science News in June. “But we really want to instill that curiosity in people to then learn more and further investigate the topic.” JKX Comics’ most recent work, Gilbert’s Glitch Switch, was released in March, and 11 more FULFILLING A PROMISE are available online for free. When Joel Berman lost his wife, Sandra Rosenbaum ’72, MS ’76, in Shawn Michels ’18 of 2017, he knew exactly how to honor her memory. A UW–Madison social Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, work alumna, she had encouraged Berman to support scholarships for is marketing Steady Shot, a social work majors, because she knew that many of them had to aban- device he conceptualized for an don their graduate studies due to lack of funds. entrepreneurship class during Berman fulfilled that promise by starting a scholarship fund, but his junior year at the UW. Rosenbaum had no idea just how far he would go to fulfill her dream. Michels, who was diagnosed Berman went on to amplify his original gift to a transformative com- with Type 1 diabetes at age 16, mitment of $25 million, prompting UW–Madison to name its School of developed lipohypertrophy — a Social Work in her honor: the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. lump under the skin that results The gift, the largest in the school’s history, is another way for from an accumulation of fat at Berman, the founder and former CEO of Iatric Systems, a health care the site of insulin injections technology company, to honor his love for Rosenbaum. — because he could not suffi- “I felt I wanted to do more,” says Berman, who also serves on the ciently reach or rotate between College of Letters & Science Board of Visitors. “It makes me feel good to different injection sites. Steady say to the world, ‘I love my wife,’ and I wanted her name to be associated Shot is a piece of plastic that fits with a place she loved.” over the needle to help users Rosenbaum was inspired by her mother, Harriet ’48, a New York effectively inject in a wider social worker who spent her career helping teenage girls in the Long variety of areas. “I believe in Island area. Although Sandra worked in the field for only a short time, what I’m doing, and I think I’ve those years remained a key part of her life. got a real potential to impact “Sandy used to love coming back to Madison to visit the Terrace, eat a lot of people’s lives here,” some Babcock ice cream, and drive the loop around campus over and Michels told the Capital Times over,” Berman says. “It was literally like sacred ground to her.” in February. Berman’s attachment to the school is strong. He makes a point of Muaaz Shakeel ’19 of reading every student-essay application to the Harriet Rosenbaum McFarland, Wisconsin, has Scholarship, and he enjoys meeting the winners each year. He relishes nearly 240,000 subscribers the opportunity to help make a difference for future generations of to his YouTube channel. He social workers. “The values of helping people, which meant so very provides gamers with insights much to my wife, will be forwarded by this gift,” says Berman. into how to make their own Stephanie Robert, director of the Sandra Rosenbaum School of YouTube videos. In February, Social Work (shown above with Berman and a photo of Rosenbaum), he also became the social media adds, “With this exciting announcement, the school becomes one of the manager for Pipeline, a start-up few named schools of social work in the country.” that helps clients turn stream- The gift will endow faculty positions, bolster scholarships, assist ing into a career. PhD students, and benefit many other areas. It will also allow the school to further diversify its student body, support an inclusive environment, Class Notes/Diversions editor Stephanie and expand its work around issues of racial and social justice. Haws ’15 has lost track of what day it is. NIKI DENISON

On Wisconsin 59 Diversions

Richard Smith In her memoir, Against MS’62, PhD’67, My Father’s Will, professor emeritus Jane McCall Barry in the UW’s Depart- PhD’76 of Glouces- ment of Curriculum ter, Massachusetts, and Instruction, has recounts her efforts authored Tales from a to affirm herself by Twilight House. In this breaking away from collection of poems traditional gender and short stories, roles — which entailed Smith, a resident of painful conflict with Bradenton, Florida, her father. Following shares the benefits of his death, Barry faced living in what he calls the emotional pain of a “twilight house,” or a rejection while staying continuing-care retire- true to her principles. ment community. Café Culture: For THE BOUNDARIES OF Following the Sandy Lovers of Coffee and PERSONHOOD Hook Elementary Good Design by Rob- MAGGIE WALSH Released in August, Tom- School shooting in ert Schneider ’81, boyland: Essays by Melissa 2012, Sharon Cohen MS’85 of Hopkins, Faliveno ’06 (left) of Brooklyn, ’71 of Newtown, Minnesota, gives read- New York, shares a personal Connecticut, says she ers a worldwide view narrative while taking an intri- sees how the tragedy of cafés and coffee cate look at identity. Opening continues to affect the shops, showcasing 37 with a scene from June 1984, greater community. spaces in 28 cities. when an F5 tornado tragi- She has coauthored The curated collection cally tore through Barneveld, Disaster Mental of photography and Wisconsin — just miles away from Mount Horeb, Health Community succinct text inter- where the author grew up — Faliveno delves into Planning: A Manual twines coffee and the ways her Midwest upbringing shaped and for Trauma-Informed design, showcasing complicated her self- Collaboration, which modern architecture image. She ponders how where we are raised provides mental-health while highlighting defines us — even long after we’ve left — and advocates with a guide the stories of each questions the meaning of girlhood, womanhood, for developing disaster establishment. queerness, and class. plans that prioritize Tomboyland is a publication of Topple Books, long-term emotional Tim Bakken MS’82, Amazon Publishing’s imprint with Joey Soloway well-being. JD’85, a professor of ’87. Soloway, who is the creator of the television law at the U.S. Mili- series Transparent, writes in the book’s introduc- A History of the Uni- tary Academy at West tion, “Melissa explores the boundaries of land, versity of Wisconsin Point, has released The safety, intimacy, and personhood, asking who we System by Patricia Cost of Loyalty. The might all choose to be if we knew we’d be received Brady ’72, JD’76 book takes a “coura- with love and acceptance. This is a book for those takes a detailed look at geous and damning among us who can’t be defined and those who the origins of the UW look” at the nation’s don’t want to be.” System through the armed forces. Bakken, In June, Tomboyland was included in Oprah present day, draw- one of few federal Magazine’s list of LGBTQ books that are “changing upon decades of employees to win a ing the literary landscape” this year, and it also previously unpublished whistleblowing case appeared in Esquire. Publishers Weekly called it sources. Brady, a Mad- against the U.S. mil- a “winning debut collection” while Kirkus Reviews ison resident, served as itary, argues that its said the book is “an expressive voice evolving the UW System’s chief culture has produced deliberately, resisting having to be one thing or legal officer from 2002 failure in every war the other.” to 2010. since World War II.

60 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 Submit your book news at uwalumni.com/go/bookshelf and visit goodreads.com/wisalumni to find more works by Badger alumni and faculty.

Inspired by a true Erica Mather ’97 event, The Assignment provides an “in-your- by Liza Goldberg face” guide for readers Wiemer ’86 of Mil- to break free from neg- waukee demonstrates ative body image and the dangerous effects become their authentic of discrimination and selves in Your Body, anti-Semitism. When Your Best Friend: End a favorite teacher the Confidence-Crush- instructs students to ing Pursuit of Unreal- argue in favor of the istic Beauty Standards Nazis’ plan to extermi- and Embrace Your nate the Jews, class- True Power. Mather mates Logan and Cade intertwines practices are horrified. They with her personal decide to take a stand. experiences to help readers apply the les- A GLIMPSE INTO LGBTQ EAST AFRICA Judith Gwinn sons to their lives. This Is How the Heart CELIA TALBOT TOBIN Adrian PhD’93 of Beats: LGBTQ East Africa by McFarland, Wiscon- UW nutritional sci- acclaimed photographer Jake sin, wrote from the ences alumnus Cole Naughton ’10 (top right) and perspective of her Adam ’09 of Denver award-winning foreign cor- late sister Nancy in has coauthored The respondent Jacob Kushner Nancer the Dancer: Whole Health Cook- ’10 (bottom right) is part of a Myositis and Me. The book, which contains photobook series on LGBTQ

book recounts Nancy’s more than 70 healthy, communities around the COLEEN JOSE 20-year fight with plant-based recipes globe. It introduces readers dermatomyositis, that range from simple to East Africans through a a rare autoimmune to more elaborate collection of portraits. disease that she named options. It also shares The book concentrates “Reuben” to separate it cooking strategies and on the lives of a persecuted from herself. “[Nancy] wellness tips, and it group: same-sex relations are was just a uniquely answers some of the illegal in more than 30 African special person; she most commonly asked countries. Uganda introduced had more texture and nutrition questions. a law in 2014 that would further criminalize same- pizzazz than a lot of sex relationships, making them punishable by people,” Adrian said In Mixed-Race in the death in some cases. There were calls to introduce in an interview with US and UK: Compar- a similar bill in 2019. The photobook captures the Ravenswood Produc- ing the Past, Present, stories of subjects who have fled their homeland tions in Madison. and Future, coau- for the United States to escape discrimination. thor Jennifer Sims Amid a time of unpredictability surrounding refu- The Enterprising PhD’14 of Huntsville, gee rights, it sheds light on the risks that members Musician’s Legal Alabama, discusses the of the LGBTQ community in East Africa face. The Toolkit by David racial-formation theory book’s publisher, the New Press, writes, “This Is Williams DMA’95 to examine the social How the Heart Beats is a record of LGBTQ forced provides a step-by-step construction of being migration unlike any other, following this com- guide for those work- mixed-race in both munity from its darkest moments to an uncertain ing to launch a creative countries. Aimed at future.” enterprise. Williams, a an audience of academ- Naughton, whose work focuses on present-day lawyer, musician, and ics and students, the queer identity, has been published by the New York artist-rights advocate, book reveals similar- Times, TIME, the Washington Post, and more, and uses accessible lan- ities and differences Kushner has appeared in publications such as the guage to help musi- between the nations, New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the Guardian. Their cians navigate business putting them in histori- book includes essays by activists Ruth Muganzi and legal jargon. cal context. and Cynthia Ndikumana.

On Wisconsin 61 A WISCONSIN EXPERIENCE

ALL ITS OWN

APPAREL | ACCESSORIES | GIFTS | GEAR

62 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 UWALUMNISTORE.COM Conversation Jim Lovell

It’s safe to say Jim Lovell x’50 What brought you to the With Apollo 13, What was it like seeing is unique among former UW stu- University of Wisconsin? Lovell pulled off Earth from outer space? dents. Who else has flown four When I was in high school, the one of the most Earth got very small, and I daring recover- space missions, two of them to Navy offered two years at any ies in the annals could put my thumb up and hide the moon? After making history college you wanted to go to, as of aviation. it completely. It gave me the with Gemini 7 and 12, he and two long as you studied engineering. thought that that was my home crewmates became the first as- After that they would send you back there, and I hope I get back. tronauts to orbit the moon with down to Pensacola for flight Because it was really just a small Apollo 8 in 1968. That would training. So that’s how I started dot in space. have been enough to make his at the University of Wisconsin. I name, but Lovell’s most astonish- enjoyed my time at the universi- How did you feel when the ing feat was yet to come. ty quite a bit, and the training I oxygen tank exploded in In 1970, the Apollo 13 mission got there and at the Naval Acad- the middle of the Apollo 13 was 55 hours into its journey emy gave me the skills to work mission? to the moon when commander in the space program. It didn’t take long to figure out Lovell radioed Mission Control that landing on the moon was with these immortal words: off. And when I saw the oxy- “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” gen escaping from the rear end A tank had exploded, causing a of my spacecraft, I realized sudden drop in oxygen and pow- that the command module was er. Almost 200,000 miles from essentially dying, and we had Earth, Lovell, Fred Haise, and to use the lunar module to get Jack Swigert kept their cool to home. Amazingly, the explosion pull off one of the most daring re- occurred at just the right time coveries in the annals of aviation. to allow a safe recovery. If it had You can read about it in Lovell’s occurred once we were in lunar book, Apollo 13, or watch the Tom orbit, or on the lunar surface, we Hanks movie of the same name. would never have left the moon. For a living legend, Lovell is remarkably approachable. On How did you keep your cool the 50th anniversary of Apollo during the crisis? 13, the 92-year-old hero discuss- You just have to take a posi- es a life’s journey that included tive attitude and not give up. two crucial years at the UW. Between the crew and Mission Control, we tried to solve one Why were you attracted problem at a time. It was a big to flying? sigh of relief when we finally I grew up in Milwaukee in the splashed down and saw the 1930s, and all guys at that time water go over the window. were interested in airplanes. In high school, I read a pamphlet Interview by Dean Robbins about reaching extreme altitudes Photo courtesy of NASA using liquid-oxygen-type rockets. In my senior year, a friend and I built a powder rocket that went about 60 feet and blew up!

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64 On Wisconsin FALL 2020 MY

UW OUR GIFTS REPRESENT OUR LOVE OF THE ARTS AND OUR COMMITMENT TO THE UW.

My late husband, David, became an honorary Badger through his love of auditing classes. When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he wanted to give back to a university that had embraced him. It is a great pleasure to know that students and faculty will benefit from our gifts for many generations to come.

Jon E. Sorenson ’85

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LEARN HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN UW LEGACY. Jennifer McFarland | 608-308-5311 | [email protected] Destination Ian’s Pizza JEFFMILLER (4)

Founded on Frances Street 19 years ago this Halloween, Ian’s Pizza has become synony- mous with Mad- ison and the UW. Established by Ian Gurfield and Lexy Frautschy ’05, the by-the- slice shop has Ian’s endeared itself to the city added franchises The essence of Ian’s is the variety COVID-19 has made life diffi- on State Street, with good food and a slice of Mad- on Madison’s of toppings available by the slice. cult. Much of the business at the ison’s values. During the Black east side, and in According to marketer Zach Chap- Frances Street location comes Lives Matter protests in 2020, Denver, Seattle, man, mac-and-cheese remains from students, but the UW sent the shop provided pizza to march- and Milwaukee. Ian’s most popular type, followed students home in March. “For- ers, even though demonstrations by Smokey the Bandit, a barbe- tunately, pizza is a good delivery caused the restaurant to close. cued chicken and bacon pizza. business,” says Chapman.

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