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Gift of Giving
Recruiting the best teachers
Accounting professorship crucial to hiring quality faculty members
Great professors inspire students, use innovative teaching methods, help students get jobs and expand academic knowledge.
At UW-Whitewater, "Embrace our Future: A Campaign for Students" is helping to fund professorships to attract and retain high quality faculty members.
One of these efforts, in the College of Business and Economics, has secured $600,000 toward an endowed accounting professorship.
"We have a long history of excellence in accounting. It's been one of our strongest programs for many years," said Christine Clements, dean.
More on the accounting professorship story »
Fiskums honor daughter's memory
Art gallery a fitting tribute
Robert and Yvonne Fiskum
When visitors enter the new James R. Connor University Center, they will be greeted by an expanded student art gallery thanks to the generosity of Robert and Yvonne Fiskum.
The Roberta Avonn Fiskum Art Gallery is named in honor of the Fiskums' daughter, a talented UW-Whitewater art student who died in October 1993. Besides excelling in fine art and graphic design, Roberta was an accomplished potter, cook and church organist.
Her mentor in college, art professor Amy Arntson, described Roberta as "an extremely creative, talented individual whose work showed a special sensitivity and intelligence."
A Tribute to Laura Ferris
Scholarship honors generosity of woman who helped so many
Arlis Greiling '63 at her home in Longmont, FL
Memories. Everyone has them - fond recollections of a special person, a favorite place or a moment in time. Arlis (Van Laanen) Greiling, a 1963 alumna, has fond memories of her college days at Wisconsin State College-Whitewater that take her back to 611 W. Main St.
Greiling wasn't planning to go to college. She couldn't afford it- the room and board, tuition and books, and all the rest of it - until her sister told her about Laura Ferris.
Ferris, known at the time as Mrs. George Ferris, was a tall, slender, delicate and well-educated woman. She was born in 1877 and lived in Whitewater with her husband, George, a prominent attorney. George died in 1956, leaving Laura alone in a large home on Main Street. After his death, she graciously invited female students with a financial need to live in her house, room and board free. These students were called "Laura's girls."
Launching Dreams
Chopp, Wenaas and Burrows Scholarships
Joshua Roe, Candace Smith, James Gapinski
The Joseph Chopp Scholarship did more than help Joshua Roe '08 pay for college. It helped launch his dream of becoming a physician specializing in tropical diseases.
Roe, who will graduate in May with a perfect grade point average in the rigorous cell biology and physiology honors major, is currently applying to medical schools.
He said the Chopp Scholarship helps distinguish him from other, equally talented medical school applicants.
More on the Chopp Scholarship story »
Commitment to Education
Scholarship grows from rural roots to urban education
Ralph and Richard Quinney
Two brothers, farm kids born in 1934 and 1936, leave in different directions, achieve success in seemingly divergent fields and, more than 60 years later, arrive in the same place and come to the same conclusion.
That conclusion, to remember not only the spirit of their parents but their devotion to education and farming, led Ralph and Richard Quinney to establish the Alice and Floyd Quinney Scholarship. And in a turn of the sociological screw that reveals a logical twist, the Quinneys' lifetime of rural service will reward someone devoted to teaching in an urban setting.
After their mother died in 1999, "we sat down and tried to think of some way that would give us a chance to create a remembrance of them ... something in their names that would give students some assistance in getting an education and in going out into the community where they are needed," said Ralph Quinney.
J. William Schmitz
Had a Passion for Theatre
J. William Schmitz
During his student days, J. William Schmitz '63 spent a lot of his time helping others shine.
He loved dance and theatre but was more comfortable working off the stage than on it. He put his show talents to use behind the scenes, building sets and running lights for the productions.
Today, more than 40 years later, Schmitz is still shining a spotlight on theatre and dance at UW-Whitewater. He died on Sept. 19, 2007, at age 70, but a gift from his estate will boost scholarships for new and continuing students in those arts for years to come.
