For museum curator and president of the Swiss Center of North America, Bekah Stauffacher ’01, Badger bonds last a lifetime.
“My connection to the UW hasn’t faded. I still feel like I’m a part of it, even though I’m not a student, even though I’m not enrolled. I still feel like there are, not even threads, but ropes between the university and me,” she says.
Stauffacher earned a degree in anthropology from the UW and worked in archaeology throughout her 20s. In 2008, she transitioned into tourism, working at Destination Madison and later the New Glarus Chamber of Commerce.
In 2024, Stauffacher combined her love for heritage and tourism, joining the Swiss Center of North America as president and CEO. The Swiss Center of North America is the only organization on the continent dedicated solely to preserving and sharing Swiss culture and heritage.
Stauffacher says in the 25 years since graduation, her connection to the UW has stayed strong, and it continues to shape her professional and personal life.
“I still feel like there are so many resources and people at the UW who are open. If you need help, they’re there,” Stauffacher says. “I think that’s just so valuable and so rare. I’m really grateful to have been a part of it.”
Favorite late ’90s or early ’00s music?
I saw Tom Petty at the Kohl Center, and that was really neat, but I tended to like the smaller, indie bands. I went to The Annex and to Luther’s Blues, which were great places to see bands. I liked Great Big Sea and The Pogues. Live music was a big deal.
Memorable late ’90s or early ’00s movie or TV show?
When I was in college, Friends was peak frenzy, and the character Rachel was pregnant. I remember we were all putting in guesses for what she was going to name the baby. For movies, I remember going to see Good Will Hunting at the Orpheum on State Street.
Favorite UW sporting event you attended as a student?
Hockey was a big deal for me and my friends. We would get season tickets to the hockey games. We thought it was very smart of us, because when you were sitting outside at football games, you were open to all kinds of weather. But hockey was inside and just perfect, and live hockey was so much fun to watch.
Favorite late ’90s or early ’00s tech?
It felt like technology was changing really fast. The internet was kind of new, and we were just learning how that worked. Going to college was the first time most of us had any access to that. It was the Wild West with chat rooms and all sorts of internet weirdness.
Stand-out Y2K bug memory?
I remember on New Year’s Eve of 1999 going into 2000, everybody thought the world was going to end. That night, I remember being up around the capitol and people had brought big, chunky desktop computers, and they were smashing them on the ground outside of the capitol, thinking they didn’t need them anymore. That was bizarre.
Favorite campus-area hangout?
I lived in the Lakeshore dorms, and my friends and I spent a lot of time walking on Lakeshore Path. We didn’t have a lot of money, so we would get a giant Big Gulp from one of the convenience stores, and we would just walk for hours and talk. We’d go down to Picnic Point and find a dock to sit on.
On the south side of Van Hise, there was this really big tree that had this bench around the bottom, and nobody ever sat there. It was the most private, away-from-the-world little place. We would go and sit there and discuss all of our problems.
Favorite late ’90s or early ’00s trend?
Travel was super crazy cheap; this was before 9/11. With your student discount, you could get round trip tickets to other countries for like $150. You could just go for a few days and take a long weekend. If you had friends where you were traveling, you didn’t have to pay for much. The travel was so cheap, it was just amazing.
Did any UW courses or professors have a lasting influence on you?
Professor of archaeology Jim Stoltman. He specialized in upper Midwest and Mississippian archaeology, and he spent a lot of time at Cahokia, which is one of the major archaeological sites of North America. He taught us about the site and about Mississippian culture. When it was time for me to choose my own field school, I ended up going to Cahokia, mostly based on him.
He was a pretty big deal in the archaeology world, so we were a little starstruck by him. He was always so enthusiastic about all of it, not only his archeological specialty, but archaeology in general. It was very contagious.
The professors and instructors at the UW were always top notch. For such a huge university, they were always willing to talk with you and give you extra help or attention if you needed it.
Best memory from your time at the UW?
I remember feeling a “holy cow, here I am” kind of moment. I was in the Social Sciences building a lot for anthropology classes, and the Carillon Tower is right there. They would have free carillon concerts twice a week, and it just always felt like, I can’t believe I’m here. I can’t believe I’m part of this.
When you’d be sitting on a ledge and the carillon is going; and there’s people everywhere; and everybody’s talking about amazing ideas; and you just felt like you were right in the middle of somewhere you wanted to be. That really stuck with me.
How did your time at the UW shape your career path?
I earned an anthropology degree, and I then did an archaeology field school. The UW certainly prepared me for that. I met a lot of people at the UW that I worked with later in the archaeology field, both people with undergraduate degrees and a lot of grad students. Actually, I married an archaeology PhD from UW–Madison. It’s really shaped a lot, not only my professional life, but my personal life. We still are pretty close with a lot of the people we met through the UW. It was a really positive experience.
What accomplishments are you most proud of from the last 25 years?
I am really proud of what I accomplished at the New Glarus Chamber of Commerce because this is where I live and this is a small town. If I made our downtown healthier and we have a better business district, or if I brought the arts to our town — I feel like I was changing where I live, where my family lives, and where my friends live in a really positive way. That’s something that I always really liked about tourism and nonprofit work — you’re improving things for friends and family.
At the Swiss Center, I have my own museum. That’s like a dream come true. We’re going to be opening a digital catalog to the public in the next couple months. I have hand cataloged thousands of things by myself, and that is a major accomplishment. It’s the most boring thing on the back end, but on the public end, it’s going to change everything. I’m so excited about it.
How would you sum up your time at the UW?
It was life changing in the best possible way — the people you meet and the resources that are available to you and just learning how to be an adult and navigate adulthood in a safe area. Looking back on it, how valuable that was is amazing.
