UW-Green Bay Celebrates at the 2025 Alumni Awards

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On Thursday, March 27th, UW-Green Bay recognized four alumni and two honorary alumnus at the 2025 Alumni Awards Reception & Dinner in front of family, friends, UW-Green Bay staff and faculty, fellow alumni and past recipients. Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients: Randy Charles ’87 and Wendy Wimmer ’97. Outstanding Recent Alumni Recipients: April Garza-Leon ’14 and Jose L. Villa ’16. The Honorary Alumni Recipients were Kathy and Larry Treankler. Congratulations to all!

Vice Chancellor Dr. Dawn Crim emceed the event with Chancellor Mike Alexander presenting the awards to our recipients.

Click to advance slideshow or view the album on Flickr.

– Photos by Sue Pischke, Marketing and University Communication.

2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Randy Charles ’87, recipient of the UW-Green Bay Distinguished Alumni Award during the 2025 Alumni Awards Reception & Dinner on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in the Phoenix Room in the University Union. He co-founded Port City Bakery in 1989. Port City operates four production facilities in Green Bay and one in Burnsville, Minnesota and employs over 600 people. Charles graduated from the UW-Green Bay in 1987 with a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration.

Wendy Wimmer ’97, recipient of the UW-Green Bay Distinguished Alumni Award during the 2025 Alumni Awards Reception & Dinner on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in the Phoenix Room in the University Union. She is a technology journalist, author, speaker, moderator, creative writer and adjunct instructor. Wimmer graduated from UW-Green Bay with a bachelor of arts in English in 1997. She went on to receive a master of arts degree in English from UW-Milwaukee and a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature/Letters from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 2020.

2024 Outstanding Recent Alumni Awards

April Garza-Leon ’14, recipient of the UW-Green Bay Outstanding Recent Alumni Award during the 2025 Alumni Awards Reception & Dinner on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in the Phoenix Room in the University Union. She is the Manager of Nursing Education at Aurora BayCare Medical Center, which plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of nursing by focusing on education and professional growth. Garza-Leon received her bachelor of science in Nursing in 2014 from UW-Green Bay and her master of science in Nursing from UW-Oshkosh.

Jose L. Villa ’16, recipient of the UW-Green Bay Outstanding Recent Alumni Award during the 2025 Alumni Awards Reception & Dinner on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in the Phoenix Room in the University Union. He is currently Vice President of Commercial Lending with Fox Communities Credit Union. Villa graduated from UW-Green Bay with a bachelor of science in Business Administration in 2016.  He went on to earn his MBA from St. Norbert College in 2024.

2025 Honorary Alumni Award

Larry and Kathy Treankler, recipients of the UW-Green Bay Honorary Alumni Award during the 2025 Alumni Awards Reception & Dinner on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in the Phoenix Room in the University Union. The Treanklers are active community leaders and generous supporters of UW-Green Bay. Their support of UW-Green Bay goes beyond their generous financial funding through leadership training, mentorship, and internship placements in helping student athletes both on and off the court or field by offering their time and expertise. The Treanklers have funded multiple building projects, including the Aldo Santaga Stadium, the King Park softball stadium renovation, the renovated women’s basketball locker room, and early supporters of the engineering programs within the Richard J. Resch School of Engineering.