WISCONSIN A REPORTFROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION SPRING 2009 insights

With discretion Lily’s Fund ‘Great people’ Flexible funds help Girl inspires Gifts by the people, deans seize opportunities epilepsy researchers for the people Chancellor’s message In a word...

The question I have answered most often in the past six 2. Recruitment and retention of world-class faculty months is, “How does it feel to be back in Madison?” The and talented staff during a time of increased worldwide word that seems to sum up my response is “joyful.” It is a competition and the retirements of experienced teachers joy to return to a place that is so special to me, to work and researchers. with and on behalf of amaz- 3. Excellence in our approach to research, with greater ing students, staff and faculty coordination and integration of efforts and some hard and to represent this great choices that allow us to take advantage of our unique University. But this is not the strengths and comparative advantages. only word that comes to mind 4. Accountability for the best possible undergraduate when I think of my first busy education that guides students to develop the knowledge, months as chancellor. analytical skills and independent thinking required for “Idealistic” came to mind responsible global citizenship. when I looked into the faces 5. Diversity that opens the realities of the world to all of 5,000 brand-new freshmen students so they can work, play and live with people from

JEFFMILLER,UW-MADISON,UNIVERSITYCOMMUNICATIONSduring convocation last fall. every conceivable background. Carolyn “Biddy” Martin These fledgling Badgers and 6. Invigoration of the Wisconsin Idea through the I will forever share the beginning of a new chapter in our engagement of citizens and communities outside the Uni- lives. I have high expectations of them, as I am sure they versity and through improved strategic communications. have of me. This is as it should be. I save one final and heartfelt word for you. As the The job of chancellor of the UW-Madison is a huge University’s most generous and loyal donors, you have responsibility, one I accepted with enthusiasm and opti- invested in the University’s ability to sustain and build its mism. In my first six months, I am even more “enthusias- pre-eminence on the world stage across all disciplines and tic” and “optimistic,” but also “realistic,” about the issues to accomplish this in ways that are consistent with the val- we face globally, nationally, locally and right here on ues of the Wisconsin Idea. As a public university, we are campus. These three words define the balance necessary accountable to the public. At the UW-Madison, we also are to approach the challenges ahead. committed to the betterment of that public. As the financial We cannot and will not spend all our time and intellec- model for public higher education changes and we become tual capital on the problems we face in the short term. We more dependent on private sources of revenue, let us seek will take the long view, be inclusive in our thinking and forms of flexibility that will allow us to help ourselves tend to the things that matter most. On the basis of what while preserving our strong sense of social responsibility I know today from listening to my campus colleagues, and our pride in Wisconsin, the state that has made this alumni and friends around the country, to parents, legisla- university unique. For your partnership, your candor and tors and business leaders, I am focused on six priorities your support in the important work ahead, I am sincerely that will help set our course and ensure that we invigorate “grateful.” the Wisconsin Idea. Our faculty, staff and students are passionate about the potential for more partnerships and UWFYI a greater impact on the state, the nation and the world. FORYOURINFORMATION 1. Access and affordability for all students, undergradu- To learn more about Chancellor Martin and her plans ate and graduate, capable and ambitious enough to suc- for the University, go to www.chancellor.wisc.edu. ceed at the UW-Madison.

2 University of Wisconsin Foundation As the University’s most generous and loyal donors, you have invested in the University’s ability to sustain and build its pre-eminence on the world stage across all disciplines and to accomplish this in ways that are consistent with the values of the Wisconsin Idea.

W ISCONSIN insights 3 Spring ‘09 WISCONSIN Volume 7 Number 1 insights Editorial Director Lynne Johnson Managing Editor Chris DuPré Contributing Writers Merry Anderson Chris DuPré Ann Grauvogl Sue Zyhowski

Publications Production Manager Debbi Peterson Design and Layout Paul Fuchs Design insights is published 2 7 twice a year by the University of Wisconsin Foundation for donors and friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Address comments or questions to: Chris DuPré UW Foundation 1848 University Avenue P.O. Box 8860 Madison, WI 53708-8860 Phone: 608-263-0863 E-mail: [email protected] Visit our Web site at: www.uwfoundation.wisc.edu 12 19

O v e r v i e w 2 In a word... O n t h e c o v e r G r e a t p e o p l e . G r e a t p l a c e . Spring on Library Mall brings to mind 6 WPC has 20th anniversary gift— many things—emancipation from winter’s hold, the promise of rebirth and seniors for students contemplating life after graduation being 7 Modeling excellence in teaching just a few. Spring is a popular time for University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni 8 Helping them reach for the sun— and friends to visit campus, relive old just like the plants memories and make new ones. PHOTO: Jeff Miller, UW-Madison, University Communications 10 Fellowship funds seed plant breeding and genetics 12 Enabling deans to fulfill their missions

4 University of Wisconsin Foundation “Philanthropy will mean the difference between the maintenance of a great university and the evolution of an extraordinary one.”

8 10

19 20 22 30

UWFYI FOR YOUR INFORMATION

19 His fish story hooked her The University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to stay in touch with you. As primary man- 20 Wisconsin Union: Preserving the past, ager of the University’s alumni and friends building the future database, the UW Foundation continually seeks up-to-date contact information. You 22 Cardiovascular science in WIMR can update your information online by visit- ing www.uwfoundation.wisc.edu/survey. 24 Tracking global warming and health Please use the identification number located above your name on the insights mailing 26 “Pass it on” label to log in to the Web site. You will help us to maintain accurate information that is 28 Lily’s Fund inspires research shared selectively with the Wisconsin 30 Out of the blue Alumni Association and any other campus departments with which you may be 31 We had some fun involved as an alumnus, volunteer, faculty member or donor. Thank you!

W ISCONSIN insights 5 Great people. Great place.

WPC has 20th anniversary gift—for students

The Women’s Philanthropy Council decided on a gift for members to see whether the idea would fly, it became clear its 20th anniversary, and, to no one’s surprise, it will bene- that we could build a nice endowed fund for this scholar- fit students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ship effort, especially in light of the match,” she said. “One At its anniversary event in October, featuring an thing we did not want to do was take away from the sup- address from philanthropist Tashia Morgridge, Chair port Council members have for their schools or other pas- Christine Lodewick announced the Council will endow a sions on campus.” “Great people.” need-based scholarship. In a short period, calls were made, and letters went out “We were moved by the reality that these very bright, to the 25 members. “All of a sudden, the checks started to very qualified young people were perhaps being denied an flow in,” Manchester Biddick said. By the night of the cele- education through a lack of funds,” said Jean Manchester bration, the Council’s gift had grown to $75,000, which Biddick (’48 BS SOHE), the Council’s first chair. “If any- means $150,000 with the Foundation match. thing, we need to provide young people a pathway up so “We were all thrilled. This opportunity created a perfect they can make their way in the world. For our 20th example of what philanthropy is all about, giving where anniversary, it was appropriate that we do something that it’s most needed at the time. A lot of small gifts can add up symbolized our engagement with the University and our to have a tremendous impact,” Manchester Biddick said. overall vision of philanthropy.” “These scholarships certainly will change lives.” Manchester Biddick and the WPC membership got Founded in 1988, the Women’s Philanthropy Council wind of the “Great people. Great place.” initiative when the was the first such group at a coeducational institution. program was being planned. Its goals—and the one-to-one The mission of Women’s Philanthropy at Wisconsin is to match from the UW Foundation Board of Directors for inspire, encourage and advocate for women to partner unrestricted, campus-wide gifts—were in sync with the with the University to make a better world by publicly Council’s results-based approach. giving major gifts to the University area of their own “After having a few conversations with other Council passion, in their own names.

“This opportunity created a perfect example of what philanthropy is all about, giving where it’s most needed at the time. A lot of small gifts can add up to have a tremendous impact. These scholarships certainly will change lives.”

—Jean Manchester Biddick

6 University of Wisconsin Foundation Great people. Great place.

WPC has 20th anniversary gift—for students Modeling excellence in teaching

teachers and policymakers. Mary Hopkins Gibb (’55 BS EDU) was “This gift will support the Wisconsin part of the first class that graduated with Idea as classically conceived and put into a degree in elementary education from practice,” Hess said. the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She In addition to her work on controversial and her husband, William “Bill” Gibb (’53 issues discussions in classrooms, Hess has BBA BUS, ’57 LLB LAW), moved to Fort

JAMES GILL published papers on how the political ide- Devens, Massachusetts, to fulfill Bill’s ologies and goals of documentary film Diana Hess ROTC commitment, and there they met directors shape the content of their films parents who wanted to have a kindergarten on the post. and what implication this has for teachers. She has studied Mary and the parents fixed up some unused space, and how textbooks treat the events of 9/11 and the perspectives so began her teaching career. and images they include. Today, the Gibbs remain committed to education, Hess previously served as co-director of the U.S. through the creation of the Gibb Faculty Fellow Fund in Supreme Court Institute in Washington, D.C., teaching high the School of Education as well as volunteering in their school teachers about the court and its cases. When she neighborhood schools in Bethesda, Maryland. came to the University, she created a similar program for “Instead of designating this in our will, we felt that Wisconsin teachers focusing on the Wisconsin courts and making the gift at this time would allow us to be active cases, in collaboration with the Wisconsin Supreme Court partners with the School of Education,” Bill Gibb said. “It and the State Bar of Wisconsin. is exciting to see our efforts at work.” David Ross is a social studies teacher at Madison West Diana Hess, the first Gibb Faculty Fellow, is associate High School who helped Hess and associate professor professor of curriculum and instruction in the School of Simone Schweber organize a one-day workshop on the UW- Education. She has gained international recognition for her Madison campus for K-12 educators on how to teach about research and teaching about the inclusion of controversial the elections of 2008. Hess anticipated 150 teachers and political issues in curriculum. She is currently directing a teacher education students might take advantage of the multi-year study of more than 1,000 high school students opportunity. When the beautiful fall Saturday arrived, in three states, probing how controversial issues are delib- nearly 200 teachers came—ready to study indoors with erated in classrooms, what students learn from them and Hess and other experts on key political issues, the electoral what relationships exists between those discussions and process and exemplary curricula and teaching approaches. students’ civic and political engagement after leaving high They then created lessons and units about the elections for school. Data collection was completed in early 2009, and use in their home classrooms around the state of Wisconsin. Hess’ findings will be published this year. “Her research focuses on some of the most challenging “The research we do will inform what happens in class- endeavors for social studies teachers—addressing contro- rooms,” Hess said. versial issues and facilitating meaningful discussions When she learned she was selected as the Gibb Faculty about them,” Ross said. “Diana models excellent teaching Fellow, Hess was able to hire additional graduate students in the classroom, and her research fosters teaching excel- to help with her existing research projects and fund enrich- lence. In the end, students have better teachers because ment activities for social studies graduate students. A of Diana Hess.” former high school teacher, Hess is well known for her commitment to communicating research findings to

W ISCONSIN insights 7 Great people. Great place.

Helping them reach for the sun— just like the plants

It isn’t hard to imagine Bill Hoyt carefully tending a Viburnum carlesii or plucking some errant Creeping Charlie while expertly explaining the pros and cons of both. He is soft-spoken, articulate and deliberate. Last spring, when Hoyt retired as Allen Centennial Gardens head gardener, he had spent 21 years turning a 2.5-acre space that was about half weeds into a campus jewel. In his honor, and to his surprise, friends and col- leagues established the Bill Hoyt “Great People.” Schol- arship Fund. The fund is very special to him, and he explained why.

One day I was working in the gardens. It was a cold GILL JAMES afternoon in the fall. This woman walked in and was gazing around, so I asked if I could help her. She said she came back to Ann and Bill Hoyt visit and told me her story. Sometime in the 1960s or so, she came to the University from a tiny hamlet in Wisconsin. The campus was frightening, “I was privileged to work with intensely intimidating and unpleasant. She had decided to stick it out the first semester, just so she could go home with some dignity. Every motivated young women, three in partic- day, she walked to class through what is now Allen Centennial ular, who wandered into the garden. I Gardens. The Victorian house that today is surrounded by the gardens was then the home of former University President hired them and came to know them for E.B. Fred. One morning, this old man in his robe stepped out of the four years. They were intimidated and house to retrieve his paper, noticed the woman and wished her a overwhelmed by the University. It is good morning. He continued to greet her day after day. Eventu- ally, of course, she found out that he had been president of the an honor to watch someone change over University. She was so astonished that he would talk to her that she decided to stay another semester. And, by the third semester, time. They grew into themselves, and she could swim. it was like watching plants grow into I met her in the late 1990s. She had earned her degree in nursing, and her life was completely transformed from what her the sun. I hope the scholarship allows expectations and her family’s expectations had been. I think of people like her, kids who are quiet, smart and overlooked in high students of both genders to flower here.” school. I want someone to tell them to apply for this scholarship. —Bill Hoyt They might get it, and, all of a sudden, the planets in the sky will realign for them.

8 University of Wisconsin Foundation Great people. Great place.

During his two-plus decades at Allen Centennial Gar- Hoyt as co-chair of the Faculty-Staff Great People dens, Hoyt worked with literally hundreds of students, Initiative at its launch.) “One of attractions of these most of them women. Men, he observed, like to do the scholarships is that they are not restricted to a school or heavy work like dig holes or push a wheelbarrow and college,” she said. move stuff. “The fine motor activity of grooming a garden The Hoyts consider themselves extremely lucky to be appeals to women.” He believes the gardens would not be living and working in Madison. At the beginning of their what they are today without the profound help of many marriage, they relocated every three years for what they volunteer master gardeners. He also hired intensely com- called “alternate career-optimizing moves.” When they mitted young women who, he said, often had other jobs as landed at the UW-Madison, both found their perfect jobs. well as school. “Neither of us had scholarships,” Ann Hoyt said, “but “I was privileged to work with intensely motivated we always worked. We hope these scholarships give peo- young women, three in particular, who wandered into the ple—especially those who are qualified and would be garden. I hired them and came to know them for four admitted except for cost—an opportunity to achieve what years. They were intimidated and overwhelmed by the they can achieve and open doors. Essentially, if people University. It is an honor to watch someone change over can’t afford to go to college, this opportunity can change time,” Hoyt said. “They grew into themselves, and it was their lives for the better. ” like watching plants grow into the sun. I hope the scholar- ship allows students of both genders to flower here. ” Both Bill and his wife, Ann Hoyt, professor and con- UWFYI sumer cooperative specialist, School of Human Ecology, FOR YOUR INFORMATION understand the pressures—financial, academic and To learn more about the Allen Centennial Gardens, visit social—today’s students live with. She is equally thrilled to www.horticulture.wisc.edu/allencentennialgardens/Index.htm. be the co-honoree of a fund in her name, the Ann Hoyt-Bob Mathieu “Great People.” Scholarship. (Mathieu joined Ann WOLFGANG HOFFMANN WOLFGANG

W ISCONSIN insights 9 Gifts in action

Fellowship gifts seed plant breeding and genetics

Wisconsin farmers, food processors and con- “Our partnerships with the private sector are sumers will be the ultimate beneficiaries of new principled relationships designed to protect our plant breeding and genetics fellowships in the public sector missions while we train the next College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) generation of agricultural scientists,” she said. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. That work will have practical applications Thanks to a $1 million gift from Monsanto down the road, Tracy said. “These students do Company in 2008 and a $300,000 gift from Pioneer research. A lot of the research helps Wisconsin Hi-Bred International Inc. in 2007, the plant farmers and consumers.” He mentioned redu- breeding and genetics program will be able to cing pesticide use in the field, putting biofuels add in the range of 12 graduate fellows over the to work, improving nutrition derived from next five years. plants and enhancing crop resistance to “We’ll bring in very talented and bright peo- disease and insects. ple and have the opportunity to do more research “In a sense, you can say we’ll be doing at least and better research,” said Professor William Tracy, 25 percent more research, as most of us do most chair of the Department of Agronomy and plant of our research through our graduate students,” breeding and plant genetics program member. he said. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of appli- Monsanto sees the program as a strong part- cants and general interest in the field, so that’s ner. “The University of Wisconsin-Madison has a very desirable. It’s gotten us recognition on cam- long history of training outstanding plant breed- pus and in the state for having the top program in ers through its interdisciplinary graduate training the country.” program,” said Bob Reiter, vice president of Indeed, plant breeding and plant genetics at Breeding Technology for Monsanto. “This record the University is generally recognized as the of achievement combined with the diversity of No. 1 trainer of plant breeders in the last 20 years. research opportunities for students in row and “It’s just amazing, the number and quality of vegetable crops makes the University an attrac- students we see applying,” Tracy said. “This tive partner in Monsanto’s efforts to support the information filtered out and became known training of the next generation of plant breeders very quickly. This raised our profile and indicated and biometricians.” this is an area that is hot and exciting.” The graduate students also help teach CALS Dean Molly Jahn put the Monsanto and undergraduates and serve as mentors. “On this Pioneer gifts into perspective. “Plant breeding campus, we really emphasize undergraduate defines an activity that will be an essential com- research opportunities, and, in many cases, the ponent of our planetary stewardship as we feed day-to-day oversight for the undergraduate stu- our population through the coming century,” dent in the lab is done by a graduate student,” she said. “These gifts will allow us to explore Tracy said. “These teams really become synergis- revolutionary approaches toward improved tic. There’s a real mentor-student relationship WOLFGANG HOFFMANN agricultural productivity and environmental going on that’s so valuable.” stewardship while we train the next generation of plant breeders.

10 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action

W ISCONSIN insights 11 Gifts in action

Unrestricted gifts help deans fulfill their missions

As the fiscal winds blow cold, deans and program leaders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison know they need to be good stewards of their resources. Tight budgets leave them little room to move, but one source of funds allows flexibility and a means to react to opportunities as they arise. Depending on the school, college or unit, they may be called Strategic Funds, Excellence Funds or Dean’s Discretionary Funds. Regardless of the title, these resources have a huge impact across campus. They most frequently come from annual donors, in amounts from $10 on up. Some donors regularly make larger unrestricted gifts to enhance a dean’s strategic flexibility. Most notably, in 2007 the Wisconsin School of Business received 13 unrestricted gifts totaling $85 million in the Wisconsin Naming Partnership. William Hale (’68 BA L&S), retired from a career working with the federal government and ExxonMobil, has supported the Strategic Initiatives Fund in the College of Letters and Science for 20 years. “I am very appreciative of the breadth and depth of the education I received as a student in the College,” he said. “It prepared me not only for my career, but for life. “I believe my gifts are most useful in an unrestricted way,” he said. “It’s hard for me as an outsider to know the best way to allocate the money. I trust the dean to use it where it will do the most good at that time.” Large or small, these unrestricted gifts are at work every day undergirding the operations of a world-class university. Here’s a look at a few of the ways these funds are put to use.

12 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action

‘Things we can’t imagine now’

In the College of Letters and Science, Dean Gary Sandefur employs his Strategic Initiatives Fund and other unrestricted gifts with an eye on the present and a mind toward the future.

“This is flexible money that we can use for as online gifts directed to the most important needs for that year or that departments and programs month or that week,” he said. “It’s hard to surge. predict what those will be. It may be a faculty “We know now what our member who needs support with an important needs are, to some extent,” research project. It may be some remodeling Sandefur said. “But if you that needs to be done in a lab where we don’t want to have a lasting impact have other sources of funds, but it’s important on the College, giving flexi- for the research of that faculty member. ble funds allows the College “Sometimes we use it to support undergrad- to respond to special oppor- uates by allowing faculty members to hire them tunities that we can’t even on research projects,” he said. “The key thing is, imagine right now. If you look at the history of Letters

you can’t know what the need is going to be MICHAEL FORSTER ROTHBARTH, UW-MADISON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS next year, and certainly not four or five years and Science, there are depart- Gary Sandefur into the future, so it helps to have that flexible ments that didn’t exist 50 money to meet those needs.” years ago. Computer sciences is the classic In the fall semester, Sandefur provided direct example. support to faculty members for their research. “There were no departments of computer The funds also are key in keeping donors and sciences 50 years ago,” he said. “People who emeriti faculty and staff engaged with the Col- were giving then, they wouldn’t have been able lege, as well as the Letters and Science board of to designate their gifts to computer sciences visitors. because the department didn’t exist. But when “You can tell people some of the ways you the technology really began to develop, univer- used those funds, but you can’t tell them exactly sities like Wisconsin created departments of the way you’re going to use the money they computer sciences from the flexible funds that gave you,” Sandefur said. “I think our friends were available. understand the importance of flexible funds. “So you might end up supporting something Certainly money in the Strategic Initiatives that’s much more exciting than what you may Fund, that’s as flexible as it gets. I can use that have designated a gift for, because it’s new and to support the mission of the College in ways I different and hasn’t even been dreamed of yet,” see fit. We don’t use it frivolously.” he said. “We can’t tell you what it is, but I’m These days, the amount of annual giving sure it’s something that will happen.” to the Strategic Initiatives Fund is decreasing

W ISCONSIN insights 13 Gifts in action

Unrestricted gifts continued from page 13 ‘That extra touch’

In the School of Education, Dean Julie Underwood invests her Excellence Fund to help students and build community.

Sometimes both goals are achieved in one func- Hall in Memorial Union, with a topical speaker. tion, such as events the School organizes for the “The students are there, and it’s nice to be able to annual American Education give people a professional event. It’s not that Week. One activity assembled a often that a kindergarten teacher gets invited to panel of emeriti faculty mem- an event at the Monona Terrace. bers from the Department of “It gives them an opportunity to talk with Curriculum and Instruction. teachers from other districts,” she said. “It’s that “That has been the No. 1- extra touch that makes us a little bit better, a little ranked department in that area more homey, a little better connected.” for as long as U.S. News and Other notable uses of discretionary funds World Report has been ranking,” were emergency support for an art student’s said Underwood, currently act- travel to Yale University to interview for a gradu- ing provost. “The people who ate student position, software to help graduate came back to do that, they’re a students with materials to improve teaching of panel of giants, basically. We undergraduates and a series of voluntary semi- get a lot of undergraduate and nars for international students to gain perspec- graduate students to hear these tive on U.S. systems of elementary, secondary MICHAEL FORSTER ROTHBARTH, UW-MADISON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS great minds, who are no longer and post-secondary education. Julie Underwood teaching. To be able to bring Underwood is particularly proud of a pro- them back, to have some good contact with cur- gram to salute recently tenured faculty. “We ask rent students, that’s very exciting. I’m not sure faculty to do a whole lot, and then they get how else we would have funded that. We cer- tenure. We say, ‘That’s great! Bye, see you later.’ tainly wouldn’t have used state dollars, but it’s I’ve watched people have an almost post-partum a pretty special thing that will have a positive effect. You work like a dog. You get tenure, and is impact.” this all there is? It’s so anticlimactic. We really As another example, the School does not give haven’t done much to welcome them into what I a stipend to cooperating teachers, the active edu- call the community of scholars.” cators who oversee student teaching and student She started what have been dubbed “recently class observations. “Some universities pay those tenured talks.” “I created a series we do when- cooperating teachers. We don’t pay people a ever we can fit them in,” she said. Faculty, staff stipend because they do it as part of their profes- and graduate students from across the School sional commitment,” Underwood said. “Most of and undergraduates in the respective depart- them are our alumni, so they do it as part of their ments are invited. The faculty member talks commitment to us. But you can’t just say, ‘Thank about what will come next. “It gives them a you very much.’ You want to do something to public forum and serves as a launch point for thank them and something to connect them as a the rest of their careers,” Underwood said. “They group.” receive a small ‘sifting and winnowing plaque,’ The School’s way of saying thank you is an and it helps us celebrate their passage, sort of event at Monona Terrace or, more recently, Great an ‘academic Bar Mitzvah.’”

14 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action

At first, the recently tenured faculty showed and a culture that we would never use state reticence. “Now, people really think about it, and resources for. But, if we didn’t do these things, the talks start like an Oscar acceptance speech, we would be a much poorer place. They make thanking family, students, colleagues,” she said. this place more humane, more welcoming. It “These are things we use to create a community makes all the difference in the world.”

‘Like gold in so many ways’ Dean Robin Douthitt of the School of Human Ecology sees big results from the little investments she can make in students, faculty and staff thanks to discretionary funds.

“They are particularly vital now with all of our bridge funding for their state budget cuts,” she said. “Discretionary dol- students,” Douthitt said. lars are like gold in many ways. We use them to “Those funds give us a assist our many student clubs in ways that nimbleness we wouldn’t maybe before we had some state dollars to help have otherwise. with. There are special initiatives and innovative “People might not think special projects that come forward. It’s a place I that $100 means much or

can go when I need to do something strategic. that $500 means much,” she MICHAEL FORSTER ROTHBARTH, UW-MADISON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS They’ve never been more important.” said, “but when we’re in Robin Douthitt Enhancing faculty startup packages is one these pinches, those gifts mean everything.” area in which Douthitt uses her flexible funds. For instance, undergraduates in a club may “There’s always something that could be an have a plan for community service and antici- incentive for someone to come here that maybe pate some related expenses. In one such project, isn’t covered somewhere else,” she said. “Maybe human ecology students make garments for pre- it’s a special piece of hardware or software for a mature infants who are stillborn. “I can provide new faculty member’s research, and I don’t have the money for their materials,” Douthitt said. “I any state dollars I can use.” don’t need a big endowment to do that, but it For instance, a new faculty member needs to makes all the difference to these students and start a research laboratory, and some money is the families who are in mourning.” available from the Graduate School. “I am able to Sometimes a project will get on its feet cover parts not funded elsewhere, and that gets through a small dean’s grant and then find fund- us a sought-after professor.“ ing elsewhere. The School holds a welcome for In cycles where scholarship and fellowship students in the fall. It was started through a dollars are committed, the fund can cover tuition dean’s grant, and now an alumna pays for it remission for a graduate student. “Faculty mem- through an expendable gift. bers might have a delay in a grant, and they need (continued on page 16)

W ISCONSIN insights 15 Gifts in action

Unrestricted gifts continued from page 15

Douthitt often surprises donors with thank- of shocked when I call them, always apologizing. you calls. “When I travel to different cities, I ask ‘Well, I only gave you $50.’ If you do that for 10 for names of alums who have made annual, unre- years, it adds up, and if everyone did what you stricted gifts to the School for three or more con- did, it would make a huge impact on the School. secutive years,” she said. “If all of my alums gave “If you’re a student getting $100 for a project, $25 a year in a discretionary fund, it would mean that can mean the world to you.” an incredible amount to us. They’re always kind ‘Transforming the culture’ Dean Paul Peercy of the College of Engineering needs to be flexible in a shifting world.

“What we’re finding is trouble with math and science their freshman that the science, technol- years,” Peercy said. ogy and engineering fields In his second year as dean, he created a free are changing very rapidly, tutoring program in math and science for pre- and we have to change our engineering students. “I wrote a letter to all stu- education very rapidly in dents admitted who said they wanted to major in response,” he said. “Scien- engineering telling them ‘congratulations.’ We tific understanding has had confidence they could succeed, but, depend- grown deeper and wider ing on their backgrounds, they might find some in recent years, and we of the courses in math and science difficult, if not must give a deeper disci- downright hard,” Peercy said. “But because I Paul Peercy MICHAEL FORSTER ROTHBARTH, UW-MADISON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS plinary education with wanted to see them succeed, I would provide interdisciplinary breadth. them free tutoring in math and science.” It used to be that engineering employed aspects Before that initiative was started, the College of physics and chemistry to meet the needs of offered close to 95 tutoring sessions annually. society. Now, biology and health care are part of “The first year we expanded the tutoring, we had the equation. That means we need to give stu- about 425 tutoring sessions. The second year, we dents experiences in all of these areas, and, for had 630 something. And then it exploded; we some of that, I use discretionary funds.” totally transformed the culture. Last semester, we When Peercy started as engineering dean in had 3,740 sessions,” Peercy said. “So I need to 1999, fewer than half the students who entered have money to pay the tutors and to provide the college in the United States saying they wanted study materials. For that, I use the dean’s discre- to major in engineering actually graduated with a tionary funds.” degree in engineering. “Now, a lot more than half The College’s Vision 2010 initiative set out to of them graduated, but not with a degree in engi- change the undergraduate engineering education neering,” he said. to meet the world’s new needs. “I use flexible He wondered what was preventing those stu- funds for more hands-on experiences: more shop dents from earning their degrees in engineering. equipment, more lab equipment, that sort of “I found out that the No. 1 cause was having thing,” he said. 16 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action

One of engineering’s focus areas is leadership with the private sector, so we must pay market development. “I teach the Dean’s Leadership rates. There is just no way around that.” Course, and we encourage our students to take Faculty retention does not always revolve part in the more than 50 student organizations in around salary, he said. “Sometimes, it takes the College of Engineering and to enter competi- money to change research direction, perhaps to tions such as Future Car, Future Truck, Clean- support a graduate student or postdoctoral fel- Quiet Snowmobile, Concrete Canoe and others.” low. If I can’t provide that support, they will go If a student or a group of students has an idea to a university that will.” for a new club or organization, Peercy encour- The College was the last engineering school in ages that, with a caveat. “First, they must submit the Big Ten to add a differential tuition. “It just a business plan,” he said. “If that looks good, I had to be done. Engineering by its nature will use discretionary funds to help students start requires a lot of state-of-the-art equipment, new organizations, but then we would like them hands-on labs and small teacher-to-student to be more or less self-sustaining. It is in these ratios,” Peercy said. “But before we established student organizations, as well as in the Dean’s our new tuition structure, I committed that I Leadership Course, that students discover and would not disenfranchise any student, so I set develop their leadership potential.” aside money from unrestricted gifts for need- Another area to which Peercy directs flexible based aid.” money is faculty support. “The reality is, to get the kind of faculty we need, we must compete ‘Working together to maintain excellence’ When the Wisconsin School of Business unveiled its “Naming Gift” in October 2007, it marked a signifi- cant achievement: $85 million in unrestricted gifts from a consortium of donors with faith in Dean Michael Knetter’s vision for the future. BRYCE RICHTER, UW-MADISON,BRYCE RICHTER, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS e will use the bulk of those unrestricted giving to the School may “W Michael Knetter funds to invest in our most important strategic not matter as much. Knetter asset: faculty excellence,” Knetter said. “We will would be the first to disagree. use the remainder to attract the best graduate “Annual giving is more important to the students, seed new programs and fund continued School of Business and the University than ever investments in alumni engagement in the life of before,” he said. “We invest annual fund the School.” resources in the same way as we will use the With all of the publicity given that gift, some naming gift—recruiting and retaining faculty, casual observers might think "regular" annual (continued on page 18)

W ISCONSIN insights 17 Gifts in action

Unrestricted gifts continued from page 17 staff and students, fostering new programs and engaging excellence, our alumni, students and others who care about alumni. the future of the Wisconsin School of Business all will need “Our naming gift highlights the importance of alumni to play an important role.” working together to maintain excellence at the University,” The flexibility that unrestricted gifts provide cannot be he said. “It is a reminder that the School belongs to all of overestimated. “That enables a school to use its resources us, and we should all do our part in sustaining it. As our in the most effective way possible to advance strategic funding model continues to shift away from tax revenue objectives,” Knetter said. “If alumni are comfortable with and more toward tuition, program revenue and private the leadership and strategic direction of a school, they can support, we need to create a culture where more alumni do the greatest good by making unrestricted gifts.” support the School through their time, talent and financial He underlined a point that such gifts will help the Uni- resources.” versity navigate rocky shoals in the years ahead. Those alumni, he said, hold the key to a bright future. “Developing a culture of unrestricted annual giving, “Our base of more than 36,000 business school alumni and even unrestricted major gifts, will be of increasing worldwide is one of our greatest potential assets,” Knetter importance to maintaining excellence at Wisconsin,” Knet- said. “To realize the potential, we must engage our alumni ter said. “It is evident that the unrestricted tax dollars will as effectively as the best private schools and increase the not keep pace with cost inflation and will surely decline in percentage of alumni who donate each year. The 13 mem- nominal terms in the short run. We must use every means bers of the Wisconsin Naming Partnership have joined at our disposal to fill this gap. Strengthening the bond together to make a gift like no other. But even they cannot between alumni and our university and encouraging a tackle the challenges we face alone. For the Wisconsin new commitment of annual support is an important part Naming Gift to truly be a catalyst for a new level of of that effort.”

“It is evident that the unrestricted tax dollars will not keep pace with cost inflation and will surely decline in nominal terms in the short run. We must use every means at our disposal to fill this gap. Strengthening the bond between alumni and our university and encouraging a new commitment of annual support is an important part of that effort.” —Michael Knetter

18 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action His fish story hooked her

He might have been a second-year law student—and future member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents—but he was not above a little deception in order to meet an attractive cheerleader—and future circuit court judge. Jeff Bartell (’65 BS L&S, ’68 JD Law) noticed Angela Baldi’s (’69 BA L&S, ’71 JD Law) photo in biographies of the 1966 Badger Homecoming court, which appeared in the Daily Cardinal. Pretending to be a reporter doing a follow- up story, Bartell called her for a coffee date at the Union. He arrived early and was sitting in front of the fish tank peek- ing over the top of a newspaper when he spotted the attrac- tive cheerleader (it might have been her crutches, the result SUBMITTED PHOTO of a fractured foot). Maintaining the charade, he began ask- ing questions and learned they both loved music, horses Jeff and Angela Bartell and the UW-Madison. It was time to fess up. Bartell admit- ted he was not a reporter. “‘I know,’ she said. ‘You haven’t ones. Because they make use of the Union, they will be able taken any notes.’” to see the results of their gift, but, more important, they The Bartells, who married two years later, still visit the will get to enjoy it. Union often. Jeff Bartell has chaired the Union’s Board of “We’ve been very conscious of who uses the Union in Trustees and served as the Chancellor’s designee on the the course of planning the renovations. Incoming students, Union Council. At the annual holiday Tudor dinner, they visitors, alumni and friends should be able to come to fill a family table with their children, grandchildren, sib- either Union and feel welcome and in touch with what’s lings and their families. It’s a 40-year-old tradition. happening, what’s current,” Guthier said. “At the same As students, the Bartells were full-time Badgers and time, we want long-time alumni and friends to visit Memo- fully engaged in the Wisconsin experience academically rial Union and recognize the architecture, the places and and socially; as long-time donors to the University, they the atmosphere that are familiar and take them back to a continue to be active and enthusiastic. “We make our gift special time in their lives.” decisions based on what we have been involved with,” Since retiring from her Dane County (Wisconsin) Circuit explained Jeff Bartell, currently a business lawyer with Court judgeship, Angela Bartell has opened her own medi- Quarles & Brady LLP and a founding partner of the law ation and arbitration service. Today, she tries to settle the firm’s Madison office. The Bartells have directed their gifts kinds of lawsuits she tried in court. “I am working to make to the Law School and Arboretum and to athletics and peace,” she said. Given their commitment to the UW-Madi- scholarships. Their most recent gift to the Union building son and its future, the Bartells also are working to make a and renovation project is a combination of direct and difference. They’re succeeding. deferred. “The Union belongs to everyone,” said Mark Guthier, UWFYI Wisconsin Union director. “We’re grateful to Jeff and FOR YOUR INFORMATION Angela Bartell not only for their generosity, but also for For more details on the Union building and renovation their example of how to keep making memories here after project, visit union.wisc.edu/support. you graduate, with your family, with old friends and new

W ISCONSIN insights 19 Gifts in action

Wisconsin Union: Preserving the past, building the future

When Memorial Union on Langdon Street was built in 1928, it was an architectural jewel. It still is, but that jewel can use some 21st century polishing. In the 1920s, students donated an “Union.” It’s a simple word that has average of $50 each to help construct the building. In 2006, students voted to allocate a portion of their brought students, faculty, staff, segregated fees to renovate Memorial Union alumni, friends, community neighbors and build a completely new Union on the south and visitors together for more than 75 campus. The remainder of the funding will come from program support and private gifts. years. It is a word that evokes countless memories of music, art, The Wisconsin Union Initiative includes: laughter, political activism, languid I Renovation of the infrastructure, such as fire summer nights, creative expression, safety, electrical, plumbing, steam, heating and air conditioning systems quiet reflection and less quiet I Restoration of significant spaces, such as the recreation, stress-relieving silliness Play Circle, Tripp Commons, Rathskellar, Union Theater and Great Hall and exam cramming. It is the I Upgrades to provide handicapped accessibility University’s Department of Social to all major public spaces, including a new Langdon Street entrance, the corridor to the Union Theater Education, providing a place where and a theater wing elevator academic and social lives connect. It I New construction for a student study lounge, additional meeting rooms and improved Hoofer is a place where leadership, waterfront space management and organizational skills are taught and where enduring life lessons are learned.

20 University of Wisconsin Foundation JEFF MILLER, UW-MADISON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS “Union.” It’s a simple word that has brought students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, community neighbors and visitors together for more than 75 years. It is a word that evokes countless memories of music, art, laughter, political activism, languid summer nights, creative expression, quiet reflection and less quiet recreation, stress-relieving silliness and exam cramming. It is the University’s Department of Social Education, providing a place where academic and social lives connect. It is a place where leadership, management and organizational skills are taught and where enduring life lessons are learned.

W ISCONSIN insights 21 Gifts in action Translating cardiovascular science into care

Building the center tower of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is more about hope than bricks and mortar for Marv (’50 BS L&S) and Mildred (’50 BSE EDU, ’51 MS L&S) Conney. The Madison, Wisconsin, couple, who met at the Uni- versity, is more familiar with cardiovascular disease than anyone wants to be. Marv Conney’s dad was 59, his mom, 68, when they died of coronary disease. He’s had bypass surgery. Mildred “Babe” Conney’s dad was 43, her brother, 59, when they died of heart disease. Babe Conney and their son have heart concerns.

After the Conneys visited the east tower of the Wis- SUBMITTED PHOTO consin Institutes for Medical Research that opened in September, they looked more closely at the School of Marv and Mildred Conney Medicine and Public Health’s plans for the next phase of the three-tower project. They saw a place where basic scientists can understand the system, they may be University cardiovascular physician-scientists and able to understand the basis of disease. That leads to more researchers can work together in pursuit of scientific effective treatments, Moss said. discovery. The Conneys, who made a significant gift The University has a long history of cardiovascular toward construction, hope the research leads to a strength, from starting the nation’s first academic preven- reduction in heart failure. tive cardiology program and discovering that aspirin “You put your confidence in what people are doing,” reduces blood clot formation to current work showing that Marv Conney said. “It’s called trust.” embryonic and adult stem cells can become distinct types Richard Moss, PhD, director of the UW-Madison of heart cells, a first step toward regenerating heart tissue. Cardiovascular Research Center, and Matt Wolff, MD, The University’s program has been strong in the lab and chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, are two the clinic, Moss said. The tower will closely link the two, of the people with whom the Conneys feel comfortable. In moving basic researchers next door to the UW Hospitals one of those Wisconsin coincidences, Marv Conney dis- and Clinics, where physicians treat cardiovascular disease covered his dad, Nat Conney, had rented business space and work on prevention programs every day. for Conney Safety Products in a Fond du Lac building Although the UW Cardiovascular Research Center cur- owned by Moss’ grandfather, Clark Moss. When Rick rently sets up formal meetings between basic researchers Moss was young, he and his grandfather fished with Nat and physicians, chance meetings don’t easily occur, Moss Conney. “My dad loved fishing,” Conney remembered. said. What’s missing is walking down the hall, meeting a As their paths intersect again, Moss sees the center colleague and being able to say, “I have an idea: What do tower as a catalyst to quickly move cardiovascular discov- you think?” The energy generated by these chance encoun- eries made in basic science laboratories like his to patient ters can change the direction of research. care. Basic scientists work to understand the body sys- Cardiovascular’s Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic shows tems, and diseases cause dysfunction in those systems, he what can happen when physicians and researchers said. Clinicians see and treat the effects of diseases. If interact often, Moss said. The clinic’s biologists, physicians

22 University of Wisconsin Foundation JEFF MILLER, UW-MADISON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICAYIONS Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research and population scientists work together to solve the rid- program move into the center tower was their largest single dle of inherited Long Q-T Syndrome, the leading cause of gift ever for medical science research. Their ties to UW- sudden death in young people. Madison are long. Babe Conney, a Watertown native, Craig January, MD, PhD, leads clinical evaluations earned her master’s degree in math here. Marv Conney, a of the cause of sudden cardiac arrest, studying a family’s high school dropout from Ripon, earned a bachelor’s medical history, performing genetic screens and deter- degree in economics after a stint in the Navy. He moved the mining which family members are at risk. January and family business from Fond du Lac to Madison in 1964. other University scientists also are working to uncover After selling the business in 1998, her husband wanted to how genetic defects lead to abnormal heart rhythms. give back to the community, Babe Conney said. They also Their goal is to develop new therapies to restore support Alzheimer’s, MS and Parkinson’s research at Har- normal function. vard Medical Center, are on a visiting committee for the The flow of information from research laboratory to Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago the clinic improves clinical management of arrhythmias, Medical Center and have supported stem cell research at while discoveries in the clinic provide insights that stimu- WiCell in Madison. late potentially fruitful directions for laboratory research. “We have a lot of respect for the cardiovascular pro- These conversations – plus open, up-to-date laboratories gram,” Marv Conney said. “An investment in the future of built for the 21st century – make the second tower vital to scientific research is critical, and these are the guys who cardiovascular research and attracting the best researchers make things happen.” to Madison, Moss said. While the first tower in the Wisconsin Institutes for UWFYI Medical Research complex houses mostly cancer research, FOR YOUR INFORMATION the second is targeted for cardiovascular, neuroscience and regenerative and personal medicine. For more information on the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research, go to www.med.wisc.edu/wimr/index.php. For the Conneys, the gift to help the cardiovascular

W ISCONSIN insights 23 Gifts in action

Connecting global warming and health

Before polar bears became global Patz and his colleagues warming poster children, before have linked deforestation almost anyone believed Venice could be submerged, before heat to devastating malaria waves began taking regular human and global warming to tolls, University of Wisconsin- Madison Professor Jonathan Patz, increasing diarrhea, MD, MPH, saw that climate change malnutrition and a wrapped major threats to human number of insect-borne existence in one, very big package. In the early 1990s, Patz saw that diseases. The ethics crop climate change would be a linchpin up again: “Our energy- public health issue, encompassing the population explosion, per capita consumptive lifestyles consumption of resources, pollu- are having lethal impacts tion, environmental degradation and increasing ecosystem instabil- on other people around ity. “Each has diverse and broad- the world, especially reaching human health implica- JAMES GILL the poor,” he said. tions,” Patz said. “I, therefore, Jonathan Patz intentionally dove into this issue suspecting it to be one of the greatest health issues of Identifying those factors can lead to true prevention, our time.” he said. Time, it turns out, is proving Patz right, and, in 2007, he “There’s a gap between environmental work and shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental health effects,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done.” Panel on Climate Change and former Vice President Al Patz works in the gap, always looking for sustainabil- Gore. His work continues at the University, where he holds ity. “Sustainable health means health for today’s genera- dual appointments in the Center for Sustainability and the tion without sacrificing the resources for future Global Environment (SAGE), a part of the Nelson Institute generations to achieve the same levels of health,” he said. for Environmental Studies, and the School of Medicine and “If we are using up natural resources at an unsustainable Public Health’s Department of Population Health Sciences. rate, that’s not going to bode well for the health of future He also is an adjunct professor in the Johns Hopkins generations, and it’s not ethical.” Bloomberg School of Public Health and an affiliate scientist Patz’s work began outdoors. When he was a wildlife of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. biology undergraduate, Patz spent time working with pes- Health is more than the absence of disease or infirmity, ticides and thinning egg shells and climbing Colorado Patz said, so energy, transportation and agricultural policy cliffs to save peregrine falcons from extinction. He went to are all health policy. Human well being, including mental medical school (and trained in family medicine) because health and a love of life, depends on the health of the he loved biology. He was finishing a master’s degree in planet. The conditions that lead to disease often are linked public health at Johns Hopkins University when he real- to changes in watersheds, forests, biodiversity or climate. ized the importance of looking further “upstream” to

24 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action

prevent diseases and wrote one of the first review papers vulnerable to the risks are also the least responsible for caus- on the then obscure topic of the health effects of climate ing the problem,” he said. change. Patz and his colleagues have linked deforestation to dev- A second residency in occupational and environmental astating malaria and global warming to increasing diarrhea, medicine at Johns Hopkins gave him the chance to malnutrition and a number of insect-borne diseases. The arrange strategic rotations at the World Health Organiza- ethics crop up again: “Our energy-consumptive lifestyles are tion, followed by the U.S. Environmental Protection having lethal impacts on other people around the world, Agency (EPA). “Health was not on the table in the cli- especially the poor,” he said. mate change story,” he said. Making his concern known A recent $240,000 gift from a donor who wishes to remain to the EPA, Patz landed a career-changing grant and the anonymous will help Patz delve further into healthy urban opportunity to develop a new research area specifically design and the health tradeoffs from alternative energy. Phi- dealing with the human health implications of global cli- lanthropy allows Patz to initiate new research immediately, mate change. Holloway said. Often, researchers wait two years from the While Patz maintains his medical board certification, time they have an idea and submit a proposal until they can he devotes all of his time to population health. He’s start work funded by a government grant. “Two years might served as a co-editor of the first textbook on ecosystem be too long to wait,” she said. change and public health, convening lead author for the How cities are built is extremely important to health, United Nations/World Bank Millennium Ecosystem especially obesity and diabetes, Patz said. He would like to Assessment and lead author on several United Nations look at health impact assessments and benefit analyses of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. changing urban design. He also would like to build on his Patz connects land use, wildlife, water availability, work about climate change and health and look more closely energy use and global warming to health, SAGE Director at the link between health and energy policy. Tracey Holloway said. He’s an important link on campus “The world has woken up to the fact that global warming as director of the University-wide initiative on Global is both real and potentially dangerous ... and we recognize Environmental Health. “And he’s the nicest guy,” she the urgent need to end our addiction to fossil fuels,” he said. said. “Maybe one of his secrets to success is everybody “What are the potential tradeoffs of changing our energy enjoys working with him.” system?” Corn ethanol carries a steep price in energy, fertil- This is a man who rides his bike to work, even in the izer and particulate pollution. If rainforests are cut to grow coldest weather, because he figures no one would let him biofuels, the land is degraded and centuries of carbon are get away with less – and he truly believes there’s a three- lost. Acres dedicated to ethanol also do not produce food. fold benefit in less local pollution, no carbon dioxide pro- One of his recent students, a Native American, taught duction and personal fitness. The surprise may be the lack Patz the traditional philosophy in which all policy is of panic. This unassuming, friendly guy in a thick, wooly planned for seven generations. “We need to do that,” Patz sweater offers a cup of steaming mango tea to a visitor in said. “We may be living high on the hog right now, but at his dated Enzyme Building office. Piles of paper cover what expense to those who follow us?” The new gift specifi- every horizontal surface. An original oil painting of the cally targets sustainable public health, he said. “It is a timely once endangered peregrine falcon by Seattle artist Ed infusion of resources that will help us meet this challenge.” Newbold hangs behind the desk, another reminder of the link between ecology and human health. UWFYI Looking beyond melting ice caps, increasing tempera- FOR YOUR INFORMATION tures and shrinking rain forests, Patz also sees ethical To learn more about Dr. Patz’s work on climate change and its questions about first-world consumption. “Those most implications, visit www.sage.wisc.edu/people/patz/patz.html.

W ISCONSIN insights 25 Gifts in action “Pass it on”

Documentary films, by definition, document what lege of Letters and Science, said French's film illus- is real ... or at least they should. In the socially trates "the difficulty minority students have on an committed and cinematically creative hands of overwhelmingly Caucasian campus and the diffi- Harold and Lynne (’47 BA L&S) Mayer, the docu- culties the University has had in implementing the mentary became a powerful chronicle of the Ameri- ambitious and complex plan to diversify." Another can immigrant experience and the working people grant from the Mayers was awarded for a film on who built America. Their production of the much- the problems of small farming. honored, and still shown, classic film “The Inheri- The Mayers also have provided scholarship tance” (1964) did just that, winning best of festival support, specifically for non-resident undergradu- awards in Europe, Australia and the United States. ates. In a way, Lynne Mayer explained, this gift is a “The Inheritance” was innovative in technique nod to her father and the state of Wisconsin’s gen- as well as content. It is one of the first films to use erosity to a girl from the Bronx, New York. movement on still photos and segue them In the 1940s, going away to school was expen- smoothly into archival footage. It was the first film sive, so, at age 16, Lynne Rhodes happily enrolled to use dialogue over still photos, which raised the in the then new and excellent Queens College. Two standards for informing and affecting people years later, she was ready for independence and through film. “It was Lynne’s idea,” Harold Mayer adventure. said proudly. “Well, in those days you didn’t hop on a plane “The Way It Is” (1968), their TV expose of to look over a college. You asked around, learned ghetto urban education, got a White House show- what you could, and then took the plunge. And ing and an Emmy nomination; “Trouble In The hoped for the best. Family,” the first TV special with an actual family “Wisconsin,” she said, “was known to be politi- in therapy together, opened up new possibilities cally liberal, relatively affordable, even for out-of- for reality filming; Iran (pre-Khomeni), Europe, staters, and a place where an ‘independent,’ South America, Israel, strikers in Texas and North unaffiliated with sororities, could be very happy Carolina were part of their palette. and not feel left out. Last but not least, they had The Mayers have focused their lives on teaching theater, and lots of it. And I craved that. So I the mind and touching the heart through film. Doc- crossed my fingers, got on an overnight train and umentary films, said Harold Mayer, are a way of changed my life. The University opened up the “reaching people emotionally, not just through fact, world for me and taught me how provincial a New but also feeling.” Their gifts to the University also Yorker could be. I was a very lucky girl.” reflect their passion and their principles. Lynne Mayer got her time on the the Union The Mayers have, in the past, provided an Theater stage performing everything from the award to enable a Communication Arts student to bathing-suited “beauties” in “Of Thee I Sing” to produce a short documentary. Senior Brandinn Juliet’s nurse in ”Romeo and Juliet,” a 1947 experi- French received the award in 2007. As a final proj- mental production in which Romeo and his family ect for visiting Assistant Professor Julie Parroni's were black, and Juliet and her family were white. production class, he made a film on the Univer- Though she was a labor economics major, tryouts sity's diversity initiative, Plan 2008. Film history were open to all. She even won a Players award. Professor Vance Kepley, Communication Arts, Col- “What I most appreciated at Wisconsin was the

26 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action

Lynne Mayer had to apply for scholarship asked if she would finish college if she did not get the funds. She felt that even if no one financial assistance her senior checked, it would be a lie to say no and disrespect- ful to her father. In spite of her answer, Lynne year. The application for the state Mayer received the scholarship and never forgot scholarship asked if she would how much it meant to her as a non-resident stu- dent. “Today, that would not happen. I would have finish college if she did not get the been rejected because of that answer, so this is funds. She felt that even if no one where we want to help. The cost for middle-class families is devastating. They can’t get help because checked, it would be a lie to say no they’re not poverty-stricken. The first contribution we made many years ago to the UW-Madison was and disrespectful to her father. In to repay that money. When we asked how much spite of her answer, Lynne Mayer it should be, it was 10 times what I had received. I doubt my father could have sent me to the UW received the scholarship and never today,” she said. Lynne Mayer returned to New York to work as forgot how much it meant to her a writer and do public relations in support of civil as a non-resident student. rights and civil liberties. A call to CBS to do a story, and more luck, took her to Columbus, Mississippi, where she met Harold Mayer, a reporter/director wide variety of people and opportunities. Where sent by the venerable CBS correspondent Eric else would I have met a girl from India and worn Severeid. The rest, as the Mayers might say, is her sari to a big dance (without the blouse, for documented history. which, I would have been stoned in her home The Mayers have spent much of their profes- town)? Where else could I have sat on the terrace, sional lives working together—she as writer/ looked out at the beautiful lake and talked with producer, he as producer/director. Harold Mayer people of every political stripe, every artistic bent, worked for the major networks before forming his recently returned veterans, beauty queens from own company in 1961. While with CBS, he logged Amarillo, Texas? Where else could I have listened his own time at the UW-Madison campus directing to visiting musicians and orchestras that I would “Mother Love,” a television documentary about not have been able to get a ticket for in New York Professor Harry F. Harlow’s controversial psycho- City? And perhaps most important, Wisconsin was logical experiments with monkeys. a place with something for everyone. Whatever Reflecting on careers that allowed them to do your interest or peculiarities, there was an outlet the work they loved and believed in, the Mayers for you. It is the best education a person can have.” are proud to say, “We never had to do a film with She also waited tables until she got a job writ- which we disagreed.” Decades and many miles ing for WHA radio, thanks to Helen Stanley, the of film later, it is obvious: Boy, were they lucky. station’s script editor, in whose class Lynne Mayer had written a radio documentary, “The Fevered * “Pass It On,” a song about the fragility of freedom, Land.” This drama of prejudice, which WHA was written by Millard Lampell and sung by Judy produced, was later broadcast in New York City. Collins in the Mayers’ film “The Inheritance.” Every She created and wrote an award-winning half-hour generation has to win its freedom again or lose it. “You weekly drama series for WHA, also on prejudice, have to work for it/fight for it/day and night for it/ and for young people. every generation has to win it again./Pass it on.” Lynne Mayer had to apply for financial assis- tance her senior year. The application for the state

W ISCONSIN insights 27 Gifts in action

Lily’s Fund inspires research

The lab and the everyday world meet in Lily Giroux, a dark-haired, blue-eyed seventh-grader who’s tired of answering questions about seizures. At 13, her world is filled with art, school and synchro- nized swimming. (Who would’ve guessed that the girls put Knox gelatin in their hair the night before a meet and sleep on it, so it’s hard as a rock when they swim?) When Lily was 18 months old, she’d try walking, then fall like a marionette with its strings cut. She’d pop back up though, and her parents, Anne Morgan and David Giroux, figured she was just having trouble learning to walk. When Lily was about 2, they saw behaviors they questioned more and asked for an electroencephalogram. After days in a hospital with nodes glued to her head, Lily had a diagnosis: Epilepsy. The thumb sucking and hair JAMES GILL twirling were coping mechanisms after small seizures. Avtar Roopra Anne Morgan Giroux became what she called Internet possessed as she looked for information to help Lily. Years later, a newspaper story about Avtar Roopra’s research into Epilepsy is a common condition that affects a new way to control epilepsy surprised her, especially about 1 percent of the population and when she learned his University of Wisconsin-Madison lab completely changes a patient’s life. Seizures was just a mile from their home and across the street from — David Giroux’s new UW System office. from simple staring spells to violent convul- To meet Roopra is to understand that a basic researcher sions—are the most widely recognized can be as exuberant as a child waiting for Christmas morn- ing; a lab can be far from somber. “We have a blast,” said symptom. The disease can affect self-esteem, the assistant neurology professor in the School of Medicine independence and quality of life as patients and Public Health. He and his lab team—in collaboration cope with its effects on everything from with Dr. Tom Sutula and Dr. Carl Stafstrom in the Depart- ment of Neurology—have shown how genes in the brain driving, swimming and sleeping to career involved in epilepsy are controlled by metabolism. choices, pregnancy and doing well in school. Roopra's team also is showing how metabolism controls While there is no known cure for epilepsy, the same genes when they are found in breast cancer. The goal is to find ways to turn them off. treatment can control the seizures. Roopra is a molecular biologist with a ready smile who was curious about how gene levels are controlled In 2006, Roopra, his team, Sutula and Stafstrom in the brain. “The genes tell you what the story’s going co-authored a paper published in Nature Neuroscience, to be,” he said. “Then you see what they’ve been showing for the first time that the genes in rats could be involved in.” controlled with 2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2DG), a compound

28 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action that prevents glucose from being used. The gene regulatory swimming and sleeping to career choices, pregnancy and circuit stabilized and normalized and epilepsy progression doing well in school. While there is no known cure for was significantly slowed in rats fed 2DG. epilepsy, treatment can control the seizures. A model of 2DG straddles the top of Roopra’s computer Roopra made a conscious decision to follow epilepsy monitor, and he pops off the extra hydrogen atom that and breast cancer instead of basic systems research. It’s makes it different from glucose. “It still tastes sweet,” he one thing to be excited by science, he said. “If it doesn’t said. “I know because I put it in my coffee and tasted it.” help people, it’s just a chess game in your head.” For 2,000 years, people have known that diet can control Nothing motivates Roopra like an envelope from the epilepsy, Roopra said. In the time of Hippocrates, patients German parents who enclose a photo of their child who who fasted had fewer seizures. In the early 1900s, ketogenic has epilepsy, a family such as the Girouxes or a meeting diets—think Atkins diet times 20—had the same effect. The with John Newton, from the Wisconsin Dual Sport Riders, diet has worked especially for children. who raises money for breast cancer. “It puts a human “When it works, it’s like a miracle,” Anne Morgan face on this stuff,” Roopra said. Giroux said. It didn’t work for Lily, but David Giroux lost The way ordinary people give also is extraordinary to almost 20 pounds when he, too, eliminated all carbohy- Roopra, who is from Great Britain. In the Midwest, espe- drates in his diet. The 2DG research, which may or may not cially, he’s found “a philanthropic streak which you don’t help Lily, is on its way to clinical trials. find in many other places in the world. ... Anne and David Once they found Roopra and the University neurology don’t just sit around wishing someone would do something department, the Giroux family wanted more of a connec- for them; they do something about it.” tion and established Lily’s Fund for Epilepsy Research to Roopra and his lab are far from done. They discovered provide an annual award to an epilepsy researcher in the in the fall that the same master regulator that fails to shut neurology department. They hosted Lily’s Luau in January down genes in epilepsy is nonfunctional in aggressive, and raised $16,000 more for research. Along the way, they therapy-resistant breast cancers. “We’re a bunch of gene spent enough time with researchers to begin to feel like the jocks, and all of a sudden, ‘BAM,’ we found this thing,” department’s adopted children. Roopra said. Rarely can researchers say, “That’s it.” This Lily hasn’t yet been treated at or participated in any time, they could. Grad student Matt Wagner, who’s driving clinical trials at the UW Hospital and Clinics, but David the project, came to Roopra with the results at 10:30 that Giroux said, ultimately, the gift is selfish: “We want a cure Tuesday morning. By 10:45, the lab team was at The for our daughter, and we want it here – at our university.” Library, the bar across the street, celebrating. The wish is not unreasonable. Epilepsy has been a By early winter, Roopra’s team, led by Wyatt Potter research strength in the neurology department since the and Ken O’Riordan in collaboration with Assistant Profes- 1950s, when Dr. Francis Forster, the neurology chair, made sor Corinna Burger, was chasing another metabolic sensor pioneering clinical observations about reflex epilepsy. The involved in epilepsy that could work even faster than the University’s national reputation in epilepsy clinical care, one involved with glucose—and already-approved drugs research and training is considerable, said department can turn it on and off. “It was flabbergasting,” Roopra Chair Tom Sutula, whose research looks at the long-term said, remembering the first time he saw the data. “When effects of epilepsy. The department’s patient-based research it’s exciting science like that, it’s art.” also looks at the ketogenic diet and cognitive, neuropsy- chological and behavioral problems associated with epilepsy, he said. UWFYI Epilepsy is a common condition that affects about 1 per- FOR YOUR INFORMATION cent of the population and completely changes a patient’s life. Seizures—from simple staring spells to violent convul- For more information on Lily’s Fund for Epilepsy Research, sions—are the most widely recognized symptom. The dis- go to www.lilysfund.org. For more on Professor Roopra’s research, ease can affect self-esteem, independence and quality of life go to molpharm.wisc.edu/faculty/roopra.html. as patients cope with its effects on everything from driving,

W ISCONSIN insights 29 Gifts in action

Out of the blue

Jane (’64 BS EDU) and George (’61 BS L&S, ’64 MS L&S) Shinners of Antigo, Wisconsin, love surprises. When they established the Shinners Family Summer Internship Scholarship in 2006, they specified that they did not want to be involved in selecting the students who would benefit. And they couldn’t be happier with the results.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of SUBMITTED PHOTO Letters and Science Career Services Office assembles the Shinners Scholar Carly Stingl (right) and friend in Argentina selection committee, and each student chosen receives $5,000 to help take advantage of an internship that may he decided to stretch the money to cover two internships in be unpaid or offers a small stipend during the summer areas he wanted to explore. between the junior and senior years. The Shinners asked First, Rebedew participated in a 250-hour volunteer that preference be given to students who seek internships internship in the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging that are in the nonprofit, humanitarian, scientific research and Behavior, where he assisted with tasks that determined (nonprofit) or government sectors. neural responses to pain. The only undergraduate in the “The beautiful part is that you don’t know who lab, Rebedew entered data and researched articles, and they’ll select,” George Shinners said. Jane Shinners added, also helped read and analyze brain data. “They are so open to the world. Let them open their “That’s what was great about the scholarship,” wings and fly.” Rebedew said. “I could do all that extra—I had the time To date, there have been eight Shinners scholars, and to go beyond the tasks to read and learn the information.” all have chosen vastly different summer experiences. From Rebedew’s second internship of the summer was a an internship in Montana to gather information on political two-week journey to Mexico with International Service candidates and teaching school children in Tanzania to Learning, an international educational agency that pro- working in Arizona to protect a unique mountain environ- vides medical and educational teams of volunteers in ment, the Shinners scholars are a diverse group. Central and South America, Mexico and Africa. As part of George and Jane Shinners also have diverse interests. a medical team of seven students, he lived with and shad- In addition to the internship scholarship, they have estab- owed a local physician as he provided care in temporary lished a scholarship in the athletic department, traveled clinics set up in rural churches. extensively with the Wisconsin Alumni Association and Rebedew took medical histories from patients in are pleased that all five of their sons are UW-Madison their native Spanish, listened to pulmonary and cardiac graduates—with degrees from the colleges of Agricultural sounds, distributed medications, learned about traditional and Life Sciences, Letters and Science and Engineering treatments such as temazcal steam baths and generally and the School of Medicine and Public Health. came to understand how fulfilling it was to be a health- David Rebedew is a senior with a double major of care provider. biology/neurobiology option and psychology. He usually “I realized that research is something I enjoy as a hobby, spends the summers living at home in Fond du Lac, Wis- but not a career,” Rebedew said. “Seeing patients was the consin, and working full-time to save for the next year’s best. It really was the best two weeks of my life. I think I tuition. When Rebedew received the Shinners scholarship, would like to be a rural doctor, but having had research 30 University of Wisconsin Foundation Gifts in action experience also makes me receptive to being part of Shinners Scholarship was a big attraction. “I knew an clinical trials.” internship abroad was the only kind for me,” she said. Rebedew will enter the University of Wisconsin “I might have gone into debt to do it, and it would have School of Medicine and Public Health in fall 2009 through been stressful. This completely changed my life.” the Wisconsin Academy of Rural Medicine, which encour- Matthew Minami (’08 BA L&S) was a Shinners scholar ages medical students to practice in rural Wisconsin. during the summer of 2007, working a 30-hour-per-week Listeners of WSUM student radio enjoy a weekly unpaid internship for 10 weeks in the Wisconsin State Pub- Spanish radio show, “Perdido en el Siglo,” hosted by Car- lic Defender’s Office in Madison. He graduated in May lita, another Shinners scholar. Carlita’s real name is Carly 2008 with honors in his major of sociology, and he earned Stingl, and she spent summer 2008 in Buenos Aires, certificates in criminal justice and Asian American studies. Argentina, writing for the trilingual magazine LivinginAr- “This scholarship helped to relieve the financial burden gentina.com through an internship with Americas Journal- and enabled me to focus more on my internship. I had a ism Training. Stingl is fulfilling degree requirements on great experience, and that definitely motivated me to apply campus for her triple major—with comprehensive hon- for Teach for America.” Minami now is part of that pro- ors—in journalism, Spanish and the Latin American, gram, teaching seventh-grade English at a middle school Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program. Originally from in St. Louis, Missouri. “I knew Teach for America would Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, Stingl plans to return to Argentina provide me with the opportunity to help disadvantaged in 2009 to begin graduate school in a joint program with populations, just as my internship had.” the newspaper La Nacion and La Universidad Di Tella. “These are the kids who are going to do great things,” Stingl had studied abroad in high school, and knowing George Shinners said. that she could create her own internship if she won a

We had some fun. sizes on a luggage cart. Loading and moving all the lights, lenses, Many of the photos that have cameras and contraptions of his trade appeared in our UW Foundation demanded balance, precision and publications over the years are the familiarity with the best parking work of Bob Rashid (’87 BA L&S). places. Bob pushed, pulled, dragged Bob’s credits also include photos for and lifted that heavy cart from one University of Wisconsin-Madison end of campus to the other because publications. He shot the photos for it was his job, because he was a pro- the book “Backroads of Wisconsin” fessional and because he loved it. and wrote as well as photographed And at the end of a photo shoot, as

“Gone Fishing.” JAMES GILL he put the last bag into his car trunk,

On an especially photogenic day Bob Rashid Bob’s face would break into a con- last October, Bob’s heart, a good, spiratorial grin. “That was really generous and creative heart, stopped. His photos are intimate and fun,” he would say. His impish smile Working with Bob was anything honest. He didn’t take pictures; implied that if we weren’t careful, but work. He listened to our ideas, he invited you to see what he saw. we’d get caught having such a grand then produced better shots than we And what he saw was always time. No one should enjoy work this imagined. He put people so at ease interesting. Bob hauled his equip- much. But we did. that he seemed not to be there at all. ment in battered bags of various Your secret is safe now, Bob.

W ISCONSIN insights 31 WISCONSIN Non-Profit Organization insights U.S. Postage PAID University of Wisconsin Foundation PO Box 8860 Madison, WI Madison WI 53708-8860 Permit No. 810

Keeping the doors open

Today, three out of five University of Wisconsin-Madison students receive financial aid. For them the door is open. At the UW Foundation, we want to make sure it stays open to every talented student who qualifies for admission. When you make a gift to the “Great people. Great place.” initiative, you open doors. The UW Foundation will match unrestricted, campus-wide gifts to the initiative for student support dollar for dollar.

For further information, go to www.greatpeoplegreatplace.org, call 608-263-4545, or e-mail [email protected].

University of Wisconsin Foundation l P.O. Box 8860 l Madison, Wisconsin 53708-8860 l 608-263-4545 l [email protected] l www.uwfoundation.wisc.edu