Rochester Badgers - Founders' Day

Speaker James P. Leary was born and raised in northern Wisconsin and, since the early 1970s, has focused his research on the folklore of the Upper Midwest's diverse peoples, with particular emphases on musical and narrative performances, on pluralism and creolization, and on public folklore.

Leary earned a B.A. in Literature from the University of Notre Dame (1972), an M.A. in Folklore from the University of North Carolina (1973), and a Ph.D. in Folklore and American Studies from Indiana University (1977). Currently Professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies and Director of the Folklore Program at the University of Wisconsin,

Leary has done research and production for numerous festivals, museum exhibits, radio programs, documentary sound recordings, and films regarding the folk artistry of Upper Midwesterners. His publications include Minnesota Polka , Yodeling in Dairyland: A History of Swiss Music in Wisconsin , Down Home Dairyland (with Richard March),So Ole Says to Lena: Folk Humor of the Upper Midwest, Polkabilly: How the Goose island Ramblers Redefined American Folk Music, and Wisconsin Folklore .

Alan Fish, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning & Management, has more than 25 years of experience with the State and UW-Madison.

At Facilities Planning and Management, Alan provides leadership in evaluating and meeting the campus’ facilities needs, including long range planning, budgeting, construction, physical plant maintenance and support services, environmental health and safety, parking and transportation, space management, and utilities. He represents the university on all facilities and construction matters before the public, UW System administration, and local, state and federal governments.

Alan has had extensive experience in budgeting, planning, financing and managing facilities for both the university and the state.

Over $1 billion in campus construction projects are currently in design or construction. Also master plans have been developed for Housing, the Unions, and Recreational Sports. An updated campus master plan for new development, transportation, open space and utilities was completed in 2005.

Before his work with the University, Alan served in several different capacities in state executive administration as well as in the state legislature.

Alan, a 1973 graduate of Luther College, has a Master of Science degree in Urban Planning from UW-Madison.

Ms. Carlson's talk provided an overview of some basic concepts required to understand human embryonic stem cells, including what constitutes a human embryonic stem cell line, where we obtain the cells, some basic terminology that is commonly used by people in the field and what the potential is for these cells to impact human health and our understanding of biology. We will review how the University of Wisconsin-Madison came to be involved in this area of research, how WiCell is involved with the University, what types of research and related activities are currently underway at WiCell and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and what the potential impact is for the state.University of Wisconsin-Madison

The highlight of the evening was our speaker, who gave a very informative presentation on the UW-Madison Athletic Department. Alicia Jackson from WAA also attended and Barry Paye, next's years club president, was our Master of Ceremonies.

Ten $1500 scholarships were awarded to Rochester area high school seniors attending
UW-Madison next year as freshman. (see Scholarships for group picture of 2005 Scholarship Recipients) They were also given a "Campus Advice" booklet which was compiled with input from last year's scholarship winners who are completing their freshman year...very interesting!

And the raffle/auction of autographed UW sports memorabilia raised over $600 for the Club's general scholarship fund. Forty six people attended the event, including the scholarship recipients.