The following Class Notes were received recently in the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Alumni Relations Office:
’64 Judith Grosenick (EHS), of Eugene, Ore., has been honored by the Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation as Volunteer of the Year. She has served the organization for four years as a trustee and is currently president of the Eugene Downtown Lions organization.
’65 Philip Baranowski (EHS), of Green Lake, retired from the Moraine Park Technical College District Board after 32 years of service. He was appointed to the board in 1979, while he was superintendent of the Green Lake Public Schools.
’69 Ronald Griffin (LS), of Oshkosh, is semi-retired after a career in environmental safety and health management. He is currently serving the Military Veterans Museum and Educational Center as a secretary and librarian/archivist. Griffin also is the district commander of the Oshkosh AMVETS, or American veterans.
’71 Jeffrey Dworak (EHS) joined Dworak Bus Service, a family business, in 1971. In 1991, he sold the majority of his interest in the company to pursue a teaching career in the Kewaunee School District.
’71 Esther Szambelan (MST), of Racine, will celebrate her 70th year as a Racine Dominican Sister. The Sisters of St. Dominic of Racine are a religious community that has a 149-year history of serving the area.
’71 Kathryn (Mortwedt) Hanson (N), of Eau Claire, is a columnist, feature writer and newspaper reporter at the Sawyer County Record in Hayward. She is a retired federal executive.
’71 Gwen (Coleman) Tatera (EHS), of Appleton, is a retired teacher turned author. She wrote “Tales from the Teacher Patrol,” a humorous book about all of the funny things she’s heard kids say throughout her teaching career. Tatera also plans to publish a humorous diabetic calendar.
’81 Leslie Galloway Sherard (B) has been hired as the director of diversity and inclusion programs by Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, a Catholic, nonprofit organization.
’82 Thomas Griffith (B), of Verona, is a vintage car collector. He recently sold an extremely rare 1931 BMW IHLE 600 Sports Roadster to a Japanese millionaire.
’83 Kevin Dimmel (B), of Eden Prairie, Minn., has been hired by Rollx Vans as a sales associate. He will sell converted minivans and full-sized wheelchair vans.
’84 Donald ‘Don’ Smiley (LS), of Milwaukee, is the president and CEO of Summerfest.
’85 Joy Smith (LS), of Lakeland, Fla., published her second e-book, “Hidebound,” a science fiction novella.
’85 Daniel Thome (B), of Appleton, is the managing director at Cleary Gull Inc., an investment banking firm based in Milwaukee.
’89 Dawn (Greening) Hacker (LS), of Plymouth, is the mother of a 9-year-old son and 6-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. She is an active volunteer in many local organizations, including her church and children’s school.
’89 Edsel LaBillois (LS), of Oshkosh, is showcasing oil paintings titled “Buildings and Trees” at the Art off Main Gallery. His work is available for sale and a portion of the sales will go toward Arc-Winnebago County Disability Association.
’95 Chad Schreiber (LS), of Plymouth, resigned as women’s volleyball coach at Lakeland College. Schreiber was one of the most successful coaches in Lakeland’s history and plans to spend more time with his family. He will continue as head coach of USA Volleyball’s Badger Region boys youth national team.
’96 Scott Baumbach (LS), of Sun Prairie, began this year as the new secretary of the state Department of Workforce Development in Gov. Scott Walker’s cabinet.
’96 D. Holly Lifke (MBA), of Neenah, was appointed vice president for commercial underwriting at Society Insurance. She has been with Society since 2000.
’98 Rebecca (Belling) Abler (LS), of Neenah, was promoted to associate professor of biological sciences at UW-Manitowoc. She has been teaching there since 2005 and was awarded the Regents Diversity Award in 2009.
’98 Jodi (Downs) Immel (B), of Larsen, and her husband, Mike, added twin girls to their family in January. The Immels have four children: Brady, Jenna, Tess Ann and Laney Mae.
’98 Jeff Lyon (LS) and his wife, Georgia (Belling) Lyon ’98 (LS), spent the summer in Cambridge, filming their movie entitled “Main Street Meats,” which will be released next spring. They both co-own their production company, Golden Tooth Productions.
’01 Chad Doran (LS), of Appleton, is a video journalist for NBC-26 in Green Bay. He began his career while in college as a sports photojournalist, and has been with NBC-26 since 2006.
’01 Jody (Weiland) Heipp (EHS) and ’02 (MSE) has been approved by the Slinger School Board to remain associate principal of Slinger Middle School and summer school director. She taught in the district from 2002 to 2008, before becoming middle school associate principal.
’03 Matthew Besant (LS), of Lake Delton, has been named a financial representative for Country Financial. Besant also is a member of the Delton Fire Department.
’04 Edward Nieskes (MBA) and ’07 (MS) was appointed vice chancellor of administrative and student life services at UW-Stout. Nieskes joined UW-Stout in 2008 and has been serving as interim vice chancellor since June.
’04 John Walton (LS), of Atlanta, Ga., will marry Dana Buss in September, which also will mark his fifth year on the Atlanta Police Department.
’05 Maria Brenny-Fitzpatrick (MSN), of Waunakee, is the co-founder and team leader of the UW Acute Care for Elders Interdisciplinary Consult Team in Madison. She works as a certified geriatrics nurse practitioner.
’05 Wendy (Kraemer) Schlies (EHS), of Fond du Lac, has been hired by the Plymouth School District to teach physical education at Riverview Middle School.
’06 Katherine Seibel (EHS) and ’10 (MSE) was hired as a student services coordinator at UW-Manitowoc.
’06 Sarah (Papenfuss) Tellefsen (LS), of Kailua, Hawaii, is currently a graduate student at Chaminade University of Honolulu. Tellefsen is pursuing a degree in counseling psychology and hopes to become a marriage and family therapist.
’07 Evan Cherone (LS) joined the athletics staff at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. She and two other trainers will cover all 14 NCAA Division II varsity sports.
’08 Lindsay Bahn (N), of Berlin, and her sister, Michelle Bahn Palma, traveled to Ethiopia this summer with World Medical Missions to work at Soddo Christian Hospital. The sisters hope to establish a practice together, specializing in women’s health.
’08 Brian Resop (N), of Hazelhurst, received a master’s degree in nurse anesthesia from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago, Ill.
’09 Stephanie Unke (LS) operates her own photography business, Kaye Photography, in downtown Fond du Lac. She specializes in weddings and engagement photos but also does children, family and senior photos.
’10 Alexander ‘Alec’ Augustine-Marceil (LS), of Marshall, is a lieutenant in the Army currently serving in Afghanistan as a part of the Kandahar provincial reconstruction team. Provincial reconstruction teams are joint civilian-military organizations that work on economic development, government and reconstruction projects.
’10 Saravanan Shanmugabaskaran (B), of Racine, is the founder of Tuna Traffic, an Internet and marketing company.
’11 Lindsey Baade (MSN) joined ThedaCare Physicians in Clintonville as a family nurse practitioner. Her areas of special interest are women’s health, prenatal care and pediatrics.
’11 Jeffery Baudry (LS), of Oakfield, graduated from the Infantryman One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga.
’11 Alyssa Coopman (EHS), of Two Rivers, has been hired by the New Holstein School District as a sixth-grade language arts teacher, after serving as a long-term substitute teacher for the district.
’11 Kylie Hodges (LS), of Madison, was picked out of 1,500 applicants to drive the Oscar Mayer Wiener-mobile across the country as a brand ambassador. She has been interviewed live on CNN American Morning and featured on the homepage of AOL.com.
’11 Lori Hoover (LS), of Oshkosh, is pursuing a master’s degree in urban planning at UW-Milwaukee.
’11 Justin Lloyd (EHS), of Fond du Lac, has been hired by the Plymouth School District to teach fourth grade at Horizon Elementary School.
’11 Zachary Mersberger (B) received the Financial Executives International Outstanding Student Award, which honors the top College of Business seniors from Wisconsin. Mersberger has joined the family firm, Mersberger Financial Group, in Sheboygan Falls.
’11 Debra Strick (EHS), of Waunakee, will be teaching fifth- and sixth-grade students with emotional behavior disorders at the Waunakee Intermediate School.
’11 Shannon Ward (EHS) has been accepted into the North American Ambassadors of the English Language and Culture program in Spain. Ward hopes to earn an equivalent degree to her ESL degree through a Spanish university.
ABBREVIATION KEY
COLLEGES
• AAS — Associate of Arts and Science Degree
• B — Business
• EHS — Education and Human Services
• LS — Letters and Science
• N — Nursing
GRADUATE DEGREES
• GMBA — Global Master of Business Administration
• MA — Master of Arts
• MBA— Master of Business Administration
• MPA — Master of Public Administration
• MS — Master of Science
• MSE — Master of Science in Education
• MSN — Master of Science in Nursing
• MST — Master of Science in Teaching
• MSW — Master of Social Work
Send items for future Class Notes.