UW-Green Bay’s Kelly House wins campus research communication prize in WiSys Quick Pitch

Press Release from WiSys, April 14, 202

UW-Green Bay’s Kelly House was recognized for excellence in research communication during the WiSys Quick Pitch on April 7.
The student “pitch” competition inspires UW System students to consider the impact of their research and effectively communicate it to the public via three-minute presentations.

Kelly House
Kelly House

House, a psychology and First Nations studies student, took first place and a $300 prize for the presentation “Origins of Imposter Syndrome in Indigenous Communities.”

“I would like to commend Kelly and the other students for their excellent presentations,” said WiSys President Arjun Sanga. “It is great to see the breadth of research activities at UW-Green Bay as communicated by their impressive students.”

House is now eligible to advance to the virtual WiSys Quick Pitch State Final on May 26 to compete against student researchers from across the UW System.

This year’s campus-level WiSys Quick Pitches are taking place virtually due to continued concerns about the pandemic. The UW-Green Bay competitors presented during the same showcase as students at three other UW System schools—UW-Eau Claire, UW-Parkside, UW-River Falls. Winners were selected from each campus.

For more information about the WiSys Quick Pitch Program or to watch the student presentations, visit wisys.org/quickpitch.

WiSys is a nonprofit organization that works with faculty, staff, students and alumni of the UW System to facilitate cutting-edge research programs, develop and commercialize discoveries and foster a spirit of innovative and entrepreneurial thinking across the state.

 

####

 

Craig Sauer

WiSys | Marketing & Communications Associate

608-316-4039

@WiSysCraig

 

‘Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education’ live discussion, April 22

The next CATL “Tough Talk” will be around the book “Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education” by editors Heather J. Shotton, Shelly C. Lowe, and Stephanie J. Waterman. This book will help lead discussions about how to better support our First Nations students and support those who are trying to remove the asterisk as a signaling tool for First Nations peoples in research and practice.

Join in  Thursday, Apr. 22 from 1–2 p.m. via Microsoft Teams to discuss some actionable, tangible strategies or steps we can take to affect change at UW–Green Bay. Our discussion will be facilitated by Crystal Lepscier, UW–Green Bay’s First Nations Student Success Coordinator, and Adrienne Thunder and Steven Martin, co-authors of Chapter 2 of the book! Register on CATL’s blog, The Cowbell, for access to the reading materials and meeting link.

Teacher Appreciation Week

UW-Green Bay and WFRV team up to appreciate teachers

UW-Green Bay and WFRV are honoring local teachers that inspire, lead and impact area students in honor of Teacher appreciation Week! Submit a brief nomination description, which may include a supporting picture/image/drawing (optional) from local students.

Ten randomly selected teachers will be contacted and featured during Local 5 Live during National Teacher Appreciation Week (May 3-7), (2 per day). In addition to on-air recognition, LaJava Roasting House will be providing our 10 randomly selected teachers with a giftbox of coffee/tea/snacks to thank them for a job well done!

UW-Green Bay students create podcast highlighting members of the Latino community

See a problem. Solve the problem. See a need. Fill the need. That’s part of the Wisconsin Idea. It’s also what drove three compassionate, UW–Green Bay students to start a podcast highlighting members of Northeast Wisconsin’s Latino community. Kelly Lamas (Spanish, Social Work), Mario Huarota (Spanish Education) and Kory Brunette (Spanish) told an NBC26 reporter that they were allowed to “create what we thought would be best for our school and our goals and our mission for this project and spread awareness to the community.”

They say this podcast allows them to both practice their Spanish comprehension and showcase real people in their community that may be otherwise overlooked. To date, the students have interviewed members of the community who are bilingual therapists, DACA recipients, restaurant owners, and others.

Assistant Prof. Mario Jimenez Chacon (Humanities) is the faculty member who proposed the idea. As the project is not tied to a particular class, but the Spanish program, he hopes it will continue into the future as a long-term digital humanities project.

You can listen to the podcast, here.

UW-Green Bay Professor Shares His Story as a Hmong Refugee

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Growing up in the lush, isolated jungles of Southeast Asia, Pao Lor said it was hard to imagine a world beyond his village.“When you’re a little kid, everything is big. The trees are big. The mountains are big,” Lor said. “That’s all that you knew, and that’s all that you saw. You didn’t know what goes beyond the mountain that’s in front of you.”Thinking back on that time — tucked away from the people, cities, even wars beyond the mountains — feels “surreal,” said Lor, who now lives in Kimberly, Wis., and works as a professor at UW-Green Bay. But he’s spent a lot of time reflecting on those memories recently. Over the past few years, Lor has been working on a memoir about his childhood journey, which was published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. The memoir, “Modern Jungles: A Hmong Refugee’s Childhood Story of Survival,” recounts the first 14 years of Lor’s life, when he fled from his home in Laos to refugee camps in Thailand before eventually making his way to the U.S. Lor said he wanted to share insight into the Hmong American experience, one shared by nearly 50,000 people in Wisconsin, and capture some of the powerful memories from his youth.(Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society Press)“These memories have been playing in my head for a very long time,” Lor said.

Source: UW-Green Bay Professor Shares His Story as a Hmong Refugee

Pao Lor chronicles the Wisconsin Hmong refugee experience in ‘Modern Jungles’ – The NEWcomer

Dr. Pao Lor and his family fled the war-ravaged country of Laos when he was just five years old. After settling in Wisconsin in 1980, Lor had a fairly typical Green Bay upbringing of playing sports and looking up to icons such as Bart Starr and John Wooden.Lor, the Patricia Wood Baer Professor of Education at UW-Green Bay, cataloged his experiences navigating history, identity, and resettlement in the newly-published Wisconsin Historical Society Press memoir Modern Jungles: A Hmong Refugee’s Childhood Story of Survival. While Lor’s story is deeply personal, it also reflects a broader perspective on the refugee experience.

Source: Pao Lor chronicles the Wisconsin Hmong refugee experience in ‘Modern Jungles’ – The NEWcomer

‘Be the change’: UWO alumni couple (one a UWGB faculty member) upend careers to help bring equity to healthcare | UW-Oshkosh Today

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh alumni and married couple had each spent about a decade following a traditional career path in northeast Wisconsin. Kou, a 2009 accounting grad, climbed from rung to rung on the corporate ladder at two global corporations, most recently Kimberly-Clark Corp. Sheng, who graduated with a criminal justice degree in 2010, went on to earn a master’s in clinical social work and work for Outagamie County, then a startup behavioral health clinic. She joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 2018.

Source: ‘Be the change’: UWO alumni couple upend careers to help bring equity to healthcare | UW-Oshkosh Today

Valders’ Katherine Wagner plans to be a genetic counselor | Stellar Students

Valders High School future graduate Katherine Wagner is a 4.0 will be attending UW-Green Bay. “I will pursue a degree in biology, and hope to become certified as a genetic counselor. With this, I would like to specialize in prenatal counseling, where I can help future parents make informed decisions about starting a family based on their genetic makeup.”

Source: Valders’ Katherine Wagner plans to be a genetic counselor | Stellar Students

Regents announce outstanding UW System teachers for 2021 | Urban Milwaukee

UW- Green Bay Recipients:

Ekaterina (Katia) Levintova, Professor of Political Science and Global Studies, Department of Democracy and Justice Studies, UW-Green Bay. Dr. Levintova joined UW-Green Bay’s faculty in 2007 and teaches first-year seminars to upper-level political science courses. Her innovative, student-focused teaching blends discussion and lecture with simulations, such as asking students in upper- and lower-level courses to stage public opinion polls and a mock political campaign.

Nutrition Sciences/Dietetics Program, UW-Green Bay. The Nutrition Sciences/Dietetics program is an emphasis within the Human Biology major and currently enrolls 73 students. Three faculty members contribute to the teaching of this program – Deb Pearson, Ms. Sara Wagner, and Leanne Zhu – with Ms. Heather Masters serving as the dietetic internship director.

Source: Regents announce outstanding UW System teachers for 2021 | Urban Milwaukee

 

Marinette Campus alumna in the spotlight

Published in the Peshtigo Times

NWTC Marinette and UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus proudly celebrate alumni in Peshtigo making a difference in our region!

Every day, Ashley (Kostreva) Haile, of Peshtigo, helps others through her work as an LPN at Advocate Aurora. Haile works part-time with an ophthalmologist and a plastic surgeon.

The 2002 Menominee High School graduate found her path to nursing success through both NWTC Marinette and UW-Marinette (now UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus). Haile graduated from UW-Marinette with an Associate of Arts and Sciences in 2004. She transitioned to NWTC Marinette and earned her Practical Nursing Technical Diploma in 2006.

With her family, Haile is a long-time resident of Peshtigo. Growing up in the region, Haile chose to start local for college, “Especially because I didn’t know what I wanted to do.” Plus, staying local for college allowed her to experience leadership opportunities on the court (basketball and volleyball) as well as in and out of the classroom (Student Ambassadors and Student Senate), even in her first year of college. Transferring from UW-Marinette to NWTC Marinette was simple thanks to the communication between the two campuses. “They worked really well together to make sure my classes lined up.”

At both campuses, college success was all about connections for Haile. “Everybody was someone you knew. I felt like they were there for me. You felt important. No matter where you went, you could talk to anybody.” Haile points out that one of her instructors at NWTC was connected to one of her high school classmates and is now a coworker.

Learning local also helped her financial situation. She saved money by living at home and attending colleges with lower tuition, which also meant less student loan debt for the future. “You can get the same education starting local and saving money impacts your life for many years to come.”

Haile’s college experience included some struggles, but she points to those as great growth opportunities. “I stumbled along the way just like anyone would. I learned how to communicate—how to keep those lines of communication open, how to manage every day. Being local really helped me manage everything when it came to getting ready for the real world.”

Haile is proud to say she attended both local campuses of NWTC and UW-Green Bay. She plans to return for further schooling and is happy to hear she has local options once again. NWTC offers an associate degree in nursing and UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus offers a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Both campuses are again working together to help students like Haile reach future goals.

NWTC Marinette and UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus cheer on the great work Haile is doing and are proud to call her an alumna of our two campuses.