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Academic Staff Award Winners Oral History Project
Introduction
Each year, UW–Madison honors nine academic staff members for their achievements and dedication to excellence. “As these awards richly illustrate, our academic staff members are scientists and scholars, communicators and creators, managers and mentors,” Chancellor Rebecca Blank says. “They inspire our students, strengthen the work of their colleagues, educate the world and ensure that the mission of this institution never falters.” Since 2016, the Oral History Program has collaborated with the Secretary of the Academic Staff’s Office to document the award winners’ backgrounds and experiences working at UW- Madison.
Gallery
Below are the seven 2021 UW-Madison Academic Staff Award Winners who contributed to this project. Images compiled from the UW News webpage.
Interviews
What follows is the list of award winners who have contributed to the project. Click on any hyperlinked name to access their oral history. Note: Also included with each narrator’s name is their oral history number and the year that they won. More interviews below will be added to our online collection, so check back for more updates. And note: we have dozens and dozens of other oral histories with current & former academic staffers. So, please contact the University Archives to find out more about other academic staff oral histories in our collection.
| Mary Ann Croft (1587, 2016) | Janet Batzli (2106, 2021) |
| Ronald Harris (1588, 2016) | Maila Jones (2127, 2021) |
| Jeanne Hendricks (1589, 2016) | Joy Schelble (2163, 2022) |
| Bethany Pluymers (1586, 2016) | Brenda Spychalla (2157, 2022) |
| Susan Carpenter (1703, 2017) | Dale Wilson (2156, 2022) |
| Mohammad Fayyaz (1710, 2017) | Desiree Bates (2313, 2023) |
| John Street (1702, 2017) | Aaron Dingle (2252, 2023) |
| David Tobin (1701, 2017) | Alissa Ewer (2251, 2023) |
| Araceli Alonso (1471, 2018) | Bill Kreamer (2282, 2023) |
| Mike Kinderman (1876, 2018) | Barb Anderson (2413, 2024) |
| Margaret Mooney (1849, 2018) | Ben Griffiths (2395, 2024) |
| Bruno Browning (1954, 2019) | David Hart (2423, 2024) |
| Karen Mittlestadt (1956, 2019) | Claire Huhn (2402, 2024) |
| Kim Lord-Plummer (1955, 2019) | Teddy Kaul (2414, 2024) |
| Rick Strickland (1960, 2019) | Karla Schubert (2409, 2024) |
| Michael Westphall (1957, 2019) | Scott Mellor (2499, 2025) |
| Kim Marie-Beld (2096, 2021) | Andrew Ruis (2494, 2025) |
| Pelin Cengiz (2132, 2021) | Jenni Hart (2506, 2025) |
| Steven T. Cook (2111, 2021) | Jeff Henriques (2503, 2025) |
| Kevin Niemi (2110, 2021) | Chuck Konsitzke (2502, 2025) |
| Manuela Romero (2109, 2021) | Emily Hall (2504, 2025) |
| Alberto Vargas (2097, 2021) | Michelle Kelly (2505, 2025) |
| Tom Zinnen (2122, 2021) | Ron Kuka (2518, 2025) |
The Oral History Program would like to thank Heather Daniels, Jake Smith and Lesley Fisher. All of whom are with or were with the Secretary of the Academic Staff Office. All interviews were conducted by Distinguished Oral Historian Troy Reeves, and this webpage was created by 2021 OHP staffer, Alec Kirkwood, and is updated periodically by Reeves.
For more information about the awards program, visit the Secretary of the Academic Staff Office’s webpage. For more information about this project or the UW-Madison Oral History Program visit the Oral History Program webpage or email (troy.reeves@wisc.edu).