Campus News - WAA News
Wisconsin Originals
WAA honors "originators" with Distinguished Alumni Awards.
Seven UW-Madison alumni whose original contributions have earned them global recognition were honored in May with the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Awards, the highest honor bestowed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA).
"Through their one-of-a-kind endeavors, these UW alumni are credited with innovative and important contributions," says Paula Bonner MS'78, WAA's president and CEO. The award celebrates outstanding UW-Madison graduates whose professional achievements, contributions to society, and support of the university exemplify the Wisconsin Idea.
A graduate of UW-Madison's School of Nursing, Joanne Disch '68 is the Katherine R. and C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership at the University of Minnesota, where she directs the Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership.
"I've always worked at universities, in major idea-generating types of places," says Disch. "The power of ideas is important to who I am."
In early May, Disch ended her two-year term as chair of the national board of directors for AARP, the leading membership organization for people aged fifty and over in the United States.
She credits her nursing background with making her bso well suited for leading a board that helps set the health care agenda for more than 40 million members. She is a former president of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and a valuable member of the board of visitors for the School of Nursing.
"Despite her incredibly busy life, Joanne willingly volunteers to help with our campaign to build a new home for the School of Nursing on campus," says Katharyn May, the school's dean.
Now a professor of art and a curator at his alma mater, Truman Lowe MFA'73 is an internationally acclaimed sculptor. In 2000, he served as curator of contemporary art for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. In this role, he conceived and organized the museum's inaugural exhibition.
A master sculptor, Lowe's work bridges the traditional and contemporary, and the abstract and representational worlds of American Indian fine art. His works reflect his Ho-Chunk ancestry and culture, and often capture the beauty and force of moving water. They have been exhibited at major venues throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, Africa, South America, and New Zealand. Lowe was also the first artist commissioned by the Wisconsin Arts Board to create a work as part of the "Percent for Art" Program in the early 1980s, and in 2007, the board honored him with its Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award.
"I continue to be fascinated by water and streams - moving water, and the idea of movement ... because there has to be continual movement and evaluation in life to solve all the things we're concerned about," Lowe says.
Sheldon '51, LLB'53 and Marianne x'55 Lubar have lent their support to higher education in Wisconsin for more than a decade. A graduate of UW-Madison's School of Commerce and the Law School, Sheldon is the founder of the Milwaukee investment firm Lubar & Company and a former assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development who worked in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.
As the firm has grown, Sheldon and Marianne have used their earnings to the benefit of their home city and state. In particular, the couple's aid has reflected Marianne's devotion to reading, the arts, and education. Marianne has held prominent roles with the Milwaukee Public Library, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and UW-Milwaukee's Golda Meir Library.
But the main beneficiaries of their financial aid have been the state's two largest public universities, UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. The couple has contributed to the UW Law School and endowed both UW-Milwaukee's Lubar School of Business and UW-Madison's Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions. In 2007, they were contributors to the $85 million Wisconsin Naming Partnership at the Wisconsin School of Business.
Sheldon has also served on the UW Foundation Board and spent nine years as a member of the UW System board of regents, including a term as the board's president in 1997-98.
"The UW has been a huge influence in my life," says Sheldon. "It's nothing in particular that I learned there - it was everything about the experience. It made it possible for me to do all the things I've wanted to do."
Linnea Smith '81, MD'84 demonstrated her independent spirit by starting her own business, an exotic plants store, before she even attended college. She eventually got both her undergraduate and medical degrees from UW-Madison, and then set up a medical practice in Sauk City.
But after a 1990 vacation to Peru's Amazon region, her life took a radical turn. She was called on to treat one of the guides for a poisonous snake bite, and shortly afterward decided to leave her practice behind and start a clinic to serve indigenous people who previously had to travel fifty miles by dugout canoe to reach a doctor. Smith became the founder and medical director of the Yanomono Medical Clinic, which continues to aid people in one of Peru's remotest areas.
Now supported by a nonprofit foundation, the Amazon Medical Project, Smith's work at the clinic has saved thousands of lives. The clinic sees more than 2,600 patients a year and regularly hosts visits from American physicians who volunteer their services. Thanks to the support of Rotary Clubs and clinic visitors, the clinic now has enough staff that Smith is able to spend half of the year in the United States, working in emergency rooms to update her skills. In 1999, she published a book called La Doctora, chronicling the joys and challenges of life in one of the world's last frontiers.
"I kind of like living on the edge," she says. "I like things that are a challenge, and Peru is a challenge. I've been able to do something that I find very satisfying and fulfilling, and it makes me feel good. What more do you want out of life?
WAA also honored two graduates this year with the Distinguished Young Alumni Award, which recognizes the achievements of alumni under the age of forty.
For the awards ceremony, Shihoko Fujiwara '03 traveled to campus from Tokyo, Japan, where she is a coordinator with the Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization that combats human trafficking - a form of modern-day slavery.
With a bachelor's degree from the Division of International Studies, Fujiwara offers support to those ensnared by trafficking, educates law enforcement about how to identify victims, and advocates for improved public policy. This year, the Polaris Project is preparing to open a drop-in center as a safe place where children and women can find food, shelter, medical help, and the assistance they need to escape their situations.
While her UW education in International Studies prepared her well for the business world, Fujiwara's passion for helping fellow women in her home country led her to the nonprofit sector. She credits her supportive family and her experience as a female college student in the United States for inspiring her persistence.
"Trafficking has been the issue I really care about as a Japanese citizen, she says. "We should really bring back what we learned from college and from student life and the community."
Stephen Turner '91 is founder and chief technology officer of Pacific Biosciences, a company based in Menlo Park, California, that is developing groundbreaking DNA sequencing technology.
Turner, who earned a bachelor's in applied math, engineering, and physics, is the inventor on nine issued U.S. patents and more than twenty published applications. For the past four years, he has been leading Pacific Biosciences as it develops a DNA sequencing machine that will eventually make it possible for an individual to have his or her entire genome unraveled for less than $1,000 - a process that currently costs $200,000 or more. Today, he says his company is at the forefront of the race for what it calls the $1,000 genome.
"The $1,000 genome is a paraphrase," says Turner, "for a vision that says DNA sequencing, as it becomes less and less expensive, will generate more and more value for mankind."
Ultimately, Turner believes Pacific Biosciences' work will change medicine and the relationship between humanity and its environment. "This will transform the way we think about medicine and how it is delivered," says Turner. "Without this individualization, medicine is nearing all it can do for people.
More information about the 2008 recipients and video of the awards ceremony are available at uwalumni.com/daa.
Seven UW-Madison alumni whose original contributions have earned them global recognition were honored in May with the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Awards, the highest honor bestowed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA).
"Through their one-of-a-kind endeavors, these UW alumni are credited with innovative and important contributions," says Paula Bonner MS'78, WAA's president and CEO. The award celebrates outstanding UW-Madison graduates whose professional achievements, contributions to society, and support of the university exemplify the Wisconsin Idea.
A graduate of UW-Madison's School of Nursing, Joanne Disch '68 is the Katherine R. and C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership at the University of Minnesota, where she directs the Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership.
"I've always worked at universities, in major idea-generating types of places," says Disch. "The power of ideas is important to who I am."
In early May, Disch ended her two-year term as chair of the national board of directors for AARP, the leading membership organization for people aged fifty and over in the United States.
She credits her nursing background with making her bso well suited for leading a board that helps set the health care agenda for more than 40 million members. She is a former president of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and a valuable member of the board of visitors for the School of Nursing.
"Despite her incredibly busy life, Joanne willingly volunteers to help with our campaign to build a new home for the School of Nursing on campus," says Katharyn May, the school's dean.
Now a professor of art and a curator at his alma mater, Truman Lowe MFA'73 is an internationally acclaimed sculptor. In 2000, he served as curator of contemporary art for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. In this role, he conceived and organized the museum's inaugural exhibition.
A master sculptor, Lowe's work bridges the traditional and contemporary, and the abstract and representational worlds of American Indian fine art. His works reflect his Ho-Chunk ancestry and culture, and often capture the beauty and force of moving water. They have been exhibited at major venues throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, Africa, South America, and New Zealand. Lowe was also the first artist commissioned by the Wisconsin Arts Board to create a work as part of the "Percent for Art" Program in the early 1980s, and in 2007, the board honored him with its Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award.
"I continue to be fascinated by water and streams - moving water, and the idea of movement ... because there has to be continual movement and evaluation in life to solve all the things we're concerned about," Lowe says.
Sheldon '51, LLB'53 and Marianne x'55 Lubar have lent their support to higher education in Wisconsin for more than a decade. A graduate of UW-Madison's School of Commerce and the Law School, Sheldon is the founder of the Milwaukee investment firm Lubar & Company and a former assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development who worked in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.
As the firm has grown, Sheldon and Marianne have used their earnings to the benefit of their home city and state. In particular, the couple's aid has reflected Marianne's devotion to reading, the arts, and education. Marianne has held prominent roles with the Milwaukee Public Library, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and UW-Milwaukee's Golda Meir Library.
But the main beneficiaries of their financial aid have been the state's two largest public universities, UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. The couple has contributed to the UW Law School and endowed both UW-Milwaukee's Lubar School of Business and UW-Madison's Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions. In 2007, they were contributors to the $85 million Wisconsin Naming Partnership at the Wisconsin School of Business.
Sheldon has also served on the UW Foundation Board and spent nine years as a member of the UW System board of regents, including a term as the board's president in 1997-98.
"The UW has been a huge influence in my life," says Sheldon. "It's nothing in particular that I learned there - it was everything about the experience. It made it possible for me to do all the things I've wanted to do."
Linnea Smith '81, MD'84 demonstrated her independent spirit by starting her own business, an exotic plants store, before she even attended college. She eventually got both her undergraduate and medical degrees from UW-Madison, and then set up a medical practice in Sauk City.
But after a 1990 vacation to Peru's Amazon region, her life took a radical turn. She was called on to treat one of the guides for a poisonous snake bite, and shortly afterward decided to leave her practice behind and start a clinic to serve indigenous people who previously had to travel fifty miles by dugout canoe to reach a doctor. Smith became the founder and medical director of the Yanomono Medical Clinic, which continues to aid people in one of Peru's remotest areas.
Now supported by a nonprofit foundation, the Amazon Medical Project, Smith's work at the clinic has saved thousands of lives. The clinic sees more than 2,600 patients a year and regularly hosts visits from American physicians who volunteer their services. Thanks to the support of Rotary Clubs and clinic visitors, the clinic now has enough staff that Smith is able to spend half of the year in the United States, working in emergency rooms to update her skills. In 1999, she published a book called La Doctora, chronicling the joys and challenges of life in one of the world's last frontiers.
"I kind of like living on the edge," she says. "I like things that are a challenge, and Peru is a challenge. I've been able to do something that I find very satisfying and fulfilling, and it makes me feel good. What more do you want out of life?
WAA also honored two graduates this year with the Distinguished Young Alumni Award, which recognizes the achievements of alumni under the age of forty.
For the awards ceremony, Shihoko Fujiwara '03 traveled to campus from Tokyo, Japan, where she is a coordinator with the Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization that combats human trafficking - a form of modern-day slavery.
With a bachelor's degree from the Division of International Studies, Fujiwara offers support to those ensnared by trafficking, educates law enforcement about how to identify victims, and advocates for improved public policy. This year, the Polaris Project is preparing to open a drop-in center as a safe place where children and women can find food, shelter, medical help, and the assistance they need to escape their situations.
While her UW education in International Studies prepared her well for the business world, Fujiwara's passion for helping fellow women in her home country led her to the nonprofit sector. She credits her supportive family and her experience as a female college student in the United States for inspiring her persistence.
"Trafficking has been the issue I really care about as a Japanese citizen, she says. "We should really bring back what we learned from college and from student life and the community."
Stephen Turner '91 is founder and chief technology officer of Pacific Biosciences, a company based in Menlo Park, California, that is developing groundbreaking DNA sequencing technology.
Turner, who earned a bachelor's in applied math, engineering, and physics, is the inventor on nine issued U.S. patents and more than twenty published applications. For the past four years, he has been leading Pacific Biosciences as it develops a DNA sequencing machine that will eventually make it possible for an individual to have his or her entire genome unraveled for less than $1,000 - a process that currently costs $200,000 or more. Today, he says his company is at the forefront of the race for what it calls the $1,000 genome.
"The $1,000 genome is a paraphrase," says Turner, "for a vision that says DNA sequencing, as it becomes less and less expensive, will generate more and more value for mankind."
Ultimately, Turner believes Pacific Biosciences' work will change medicine and the relationship between humanity and its environment. "This will transform the way we think about medicine and how it is delivered," says Turner. "Without this individualization, medicine is nearing all it can do for people.
More information about the 2008 recipients and video of the awards ceremony are available at uwalumni.com/daa.
