Campus Connection

Alumni Association launches new appreciation program

[caption id="attachment_5304" align="alignnone" width="685"] UWL employees who are ‘Eagles @ Work’ were invited to a reception in March to recognize their dedication to the university and share stories with fellow alums.[/caption] Tara Delong is like many alumni who are now working at UWL — she never thought she would be. She took a nontraditional path to teaching in UWL’s Therapeutic Recreation Department. The double alum worked in patient care for 20 years before returning to the classroom. “Teaching was not on my radar,” says Delong, ’94 & ’12. “It’s been a pleasant and challenging transition, but I like what I’m doing.” Delong is one of 320 alumni who found a way back to campus as an employee. “I feel invested and some sense of duty to this environment,” she says. “I want to do everything I can to help everyone succeed.” A new ‘Eagles @ Work’ initiative by the UWL Alumni Association recognizes alums like Delong who decided to come back and work for their alma mater. “You don’t always know who the other alums are, so I think this will be really cool,” says Delong. [caption id="attachment_5306" align="alignleft" width="300"] Marisa Barbknecht, ’06 and ’09, lecturer in Microbiology, during the Eagles @ Work event.[/caption] “We felt that it was important to recognize the loyalty and dedication of our alumni working on campus because they play a key role in the success of the institution,” says Emma Sutkay, alumni engagement coordinator. “We really saw this event as an opportunity to let this special group of employees know that we appreciate all of their hard work and to encourage them to keep sharing their UWL pride.” UWL employees who are ‘Eagles @ Work’ were invited to a reception in March to recognize their dedication to the university and share stories with fellow alums. The Alumni Association hopes it creates more connections like Eric Gansen and Josh Buchholtz. The two both participated in the track and field team as students, happened to live in the same building as undergraduates and both returned to work at UWL about eight years ago. Like Delong, neither thought this is where they would end up. Gansen had his eyes set on getting into the industry world while working toward a doctorate. The UWL alum had already interned with General Electric and was ready to put his knowledge of optics, which he honed in Professor Gubbi Sudhakaran’s lab, to use in the business world. That all changed while he was conducting postdoctoral research in Colorado. Gansen, ’97, started thinking about becoming a faculty member instead. “I never thought it was a possibility that I would end up back at UWL,” he says. “It was dumb luck that UWL had an opening when I was looking.” But UWL ended up being the perfect fit for him. He has the opportunity to teach students and do research — often alongside students. “I really enjoy writing papers and I wasn’t ready to give up research,” says Gansen. “I like to think destiny brought me back here,” says Buchholtz, ’00. [caption id="attachment_5309" align="alignright" width="350"] From left, Troy Richter, ’89, and Doug Kuenn, ’84, now work in Residence Life at UWL.[/caption] Buchholtz recently led the UWL Men’s Track and Field team to its fifth national title since he started. UWL has won an NCAA III record 30 national titles in the sport. “As proud as I am of the championships, I’m prouder that we continue to be recognized for our high academic performance and that our student athlete GPA continues to be higher than the student body average.” The physical education major credits the success to the high number of faculty and staff members on campus who have and continue to show a genuine interest in student’s life in and out of the classroom. “The people want to be a family,” he says. Reasons like that make it no surprise to Buchholtz that there are so many alumni working at UWL. “It takes a lot of people to make this place great,” says Buchholtz. “The alums just bleed a little deeper maroon.” - written by an Eagle @ Work, James Bushman, ’11