Spring 2008 / www.lafollette.wisc.edu
LaFollette Notes
News for Alumni & Friends of The Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Alum uses collaboration to put food on tables of Chicago’s poor
F
or Kate Maehr, the summer between
her first and second years at the La
Follette Institute was a study in contrasts.
She held two internships. The position
with the City of Madison fit better with
her initial career goals, but her internship
with the YWCA set her on a different
path. She worked with the YWCA’s
executive director, who forged a coalition
that launched a job-training program to
prepare low-income women to become
certified nursing assistants.
“I experienced firsthand the power of
networking, how powerful a tool collaboration can be — and how well-managed
nonprofit organizations can move quickly
to address community need,” Maehr says.
“While I came to La Follette thinking
that I wanted a career in government, the
YWCA experience opened my eyes,”
Maehr says. “At the end of the summer I
realized government probably wasn’t for
me, and I began to focus more on the role
See Collaboration on page 7
La Follette community
responds to need
to support students
La Follette School photo by Bob Rashid
A
Alumni share career advice with students through speed networking
Lilly Shields, left, and Catherine Hall, center, listen to Maureen Quinn, a 2006 alum and a Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau analyst, at a speed-networking session that connected 16 students
with 13 alumni for five-minute conversations about careers. See page 2 for story and photos.
2 grads lead embassies in Greece, Angola
T
wo La Follette School alumni are serving as U.S. ambassadors in Greece and
Angola. Dan Mozena, class of 1973, was
accredited as ambassador to Angola upon
presentation of his credentials to President
José Eduardo dos Santos on January 9,
while Daniel Speckhard, class of 1982, was
sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Greece in
November.
Speckhard’s last posting was as the
deputy chief of mission at U.S. Embassy
Baghdad, following a year as director of the
Iraq Reconstruction Management Office.
From 2003 to 2005, Speckhard served
as director of policy planning. He advised
and assisted the secretary general, senior
NATO management and the NATO
Council on strategic issues. From 2000 to
2003, he was NATO’s deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs, covering
political relations with the countries of
Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former
Soviet Union, and the Mediterranean.
See Ambassadors on page 4
ttracting top students to the La Follette
School for this fall is going to be a
little easier, thanks to the generosity of
our alumni, friends, faculty and staff.
I’m very pleased to report that alumni
and friends of the school responded to
the challenge issued by all our faculty and
three staff members to match dollar for
dollar up to $8,000 in gifts. We met our
goal in early March.
In the course of long-range planning,
faculty have said repeatedly that the school
needs to increase student support. Our
university-funded
fellowships are no
longer competitive
with what other firstrate public affairs
institutions around
the country offer.
To increase the value
of the individual
package, we considered reducing the
From the Director
number of students
Barbara Wolfe
we support.
Now we won’t have to do that, at least
for next year. Sixty-three alumni and friends
sent in checks or made online payments
ranging from $20 to $1,000 in response
to our challenge, helping us top our overall
$16,000 goal. They joined the more than
See From the Director on page 8
2 / La Follette Notes
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Spring 2008
Participating alumni
Sarah Archibald, 1998, associate
researcher, University of Wisconsin–
Madison School of Education
Kate Battiato, 2007, policy consultant,
Wisconsin Association of School Boards
Nina Carlson, 2007, policy advisor, Office
of Governor Jim Doyle
Monique Currie, 1994, budget and policy
analyst, Wisconsin Department of Health &
Family Services
Patrick Fernan, 1990, attorney, Wisconsin
Department of Transportation
From left, Career Development Coordinator Mary Russell, 2007 alum Nina Carlson, student
Carissa DeCramer and 1979 alum Ron Luskin chat. Luskin works in marketing and business
development for Arnold & O’Sheridan Consulting Engineers and serves on the La Follette
School’s advisory Board of Visitors.
Speed-networking connects alumni, students
W
hen the whistle blew, no one paid
much attention. The 16 students and
13 alumni were so engaged in their conversations that the students delayed getting up
and moving on to the next alum.
They gathered in early February for the
La Follette School’s first speed-networking
session. The whistle signalled the start of a
new four-minute period for participants to
introduce themselves and for the students
to quiz the alumni about their jobs, career
paths and advice they might have.
For alumni, the event gave them the
chance to learn about what is going on at
their alma mater, share their experiences
and scope out potential employees.
John Montgomery, deputy administrator of the Division of Administrative
Services for the Wisconsin Office of the
Commissioner of Insurance, says he
appreciated meeting students in a relaxed
atmosphere before hiring would start.
“The gathering enabled us to let
students know we’re interested in them
and view the La Follette School as a
good place to recruit,” he says. Š
Political consultant and 2002 alum Shawn Pfaff, left, talks with Elijah
Sheehan, a master of public affairs degree candidate.
La Follette School photos by Bob Rashid
Brian Larson, 2005, attorney, Whyte
Hirschboeck Dudek
Ron Luskin, 1979, Arnold & O’Sheridan
Consulting Engineers
John Montgomery, 1977, deputy administrator of the Division of Administrative
Services, Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance
Ben Monty, 2003, legislative analyst,
Legislative Audit Bureau
Shawn Pfaff, 2002, consultant, Capitol
Consultants Inc.
Maureen Quinn, 2006, legislative analyst,
Legislative Audit Bureau
Kay Schoenherr, 1992, director of human
resources, University of Wisconsin School
of Medicine and Public Health
John Vander Meer, 2006, legislative aide,
Wisconsin Legislature
Kay Schoenherr, 1992, human resources director for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, shares
her perspective.
Spring 2008
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
La Follette Notes / 3
News from alumni and friends
1980s
Marisel Ayabarreno-Hernandez, 1981,
is a partner at the law firm of Jacobs Burns
Orlove Stanton & Hernandez in Chicago. The
firm concentrates on union-side labor law and
the federal Employee Retirement Income Security
Act. In February 2008, Hernandez was appointed
commissioner of the Board of Election Commissioners for the City of Chicago. The board
administers all elections for the city of Chicago.
Victoria Lenz Joyal, 1984, has established a
strategic research, marketing and sales development firm specializing in credit unions, drawing
on her more than 20 years in not-for-profit financial services at Thrivent Financial and Credit
Union National Association. She helps her clients
understand and integrate marketplace trends and
opportunities into their strategic marketing plans.
Upon graduation from the La Follette Institute,
Joyal spent a year working for Professor Dennis
Dresang as a research analyst with Wisconsin’s
Task Force on Comparable Worth. “That’s where
I became well-versed in the politics of presenting
data and analysis!” she reports.
1990s
After more than eight years as a successful attorney litigating on behalf of and against private and
public entities great and small in Boston and, later,
San Francisco, Jason Gerlach, 1994, now has
two of his own ventures to keep him busy — in
addition to his children, Daniel, age 3, and Sydney,
6. He is president and chief operating officer of an
artisan chocolate company, Allie’s Edibles, that he
and his wife, Alison, founded. He also is a Realtor
in the San Diego, California, area. “I look back
fondly on my time in Madison at La Follette and
wish all alumni, faculty and staff the best,” he says.
Theresa Mintle, 1991, became the chief of staff
to the chairman of the Chicago Transit Board last
summer after serving several years as the Chicago
Transit Authority’s general manager of government and community relations. “Since winning in
January the long-fought battle to secure additional
mass transit funding, I now get to focus on many
new challenges and experiences, including a new
appointment to the CTA Pension Trust,” she
reports. “I thoroughly enjoy coming to work
every day.” She served on the La Follette School’s
advisory Board of Visitors from 2002 to 2007.
Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, Clerk and 2006 alum Jamie Aulik, right, inspects nomination paperwork, which allows a candidate’s name to appear on the ballot, for a county
board candidate. Outside of work, Aulik helped organize and was elected president of
the first chapter of the Veterans of Modern Warfare in Wisconsin. The organization aids
veterans who have served since August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and touched
off the Gulf War. “VMW provides information about benefits, assistance in obtaining
those benefits, camaraderie with other veterans and legislative advocacy on issues
important to the newest generation of veterans,” says Aulik, who was in the middle of
administering his first election as county clerk. He served in Baghdad in 2003-2004, has
been a member of the Army Reserve for 11 years and holds the rank of staff sergeant.
2000s
Rebecca Webster, 2003, has been appointed
commissioner on the Indian Arts and Crafts
Board, an entity within the U.S. Department
of the Interior that promotes the economic
development of American Indians and Alaska
Natives of federally recognized tribes through
the expansion of the Indian arts and crafts
market. An enrolled member of the Oneida
tribe of Wisconsin, Webster serves the tribe
as a staff attorney. She provides legal advice
on real estate, probate, planning, land use,
zoning and environmental concerns. When
she is not practicing law, she creates Iroquois
raised beadwork, which has won several awards.
She has dedicated herself to preserving Oneida
culture, arts and crafts by teaching others to
create traditional corn husk dolls, moccasins,
outfits, fans and silver jewelry.
See News from Alumni and Friends on page 4
Display your
school pride and
support students
Premium vinyl peel-andstick car window decals
featuring a ‘La Follette
School of Public Affairs,
University of WisconsinMadison’ design are
available for $6, including shipping. Checks
can be made out to La
Follette School Student
Association and sent to
LSSA
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Information:
lssa@lafollette.wisc.edu
4 / La Follette Notes
1992 alum Steven
Semmann dies
Steven Semmann, 44, of
McFarland, Wisconsin, passed
away in November 2007 at
home surrounded by his loving
family. He graduated in 1992
from the La Follette Institute
of Public Affairs.
He worked
for the
Wisconsin
Supreme
Court
and had a
significant
hand in
developing
the ConsoliSteve
dated Court
Semmann
Automation
Programs case management
system. He continued his career
as court administrator for District
VI, then assistant director of the
Sentencing Commission. He
most recently was director of the
Statistical Analysis Center for
the Office of Justice Assistance.
Part of a close, extended family,
Steve enjoyed watching his
daughter dance and his sons
play hockey and soccer. A member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran
Church, he served as Sunday
school teacher and as vice
president and president of the
church council. He was a leading member and soloist of the
UW Varsity and Marching Band.
Steve was diagnosed with
glioblastoma brain cancer in
May 2006. Throughout his
journey and struggle with this
disease, Steve taught people
about faith, courage and grace,
all with a touch of humor.
Survivors include his wife of 15
years, Beverly; daughter Kristin;
sons Brian and Jacob; three siblings, Cindi, Tim and Mike; and
his parents, Miriam and Ronald
Semmann. Ronald received his
master’s degree in 1980 from
the Center for the Study of Public Policy and Administration, the
La Follette School’s precursor.
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Spring 2008
News from Alumni and Friends from page 3
After 21/2 years at the White House (in the Office
of Management & Budget and the Communications
Office), Alex Conant, 2003, is now the press secretary for the Republican National Committee.
After spending a few years in Philadelphia,
Ceri Jenkins, 2004, is pleased to be “working
again with the great folks at La Follette via my
new position as the coordinator of the UW Evidence-Based Health Policy Project. The project is
a collaboration between the UW Population Health
Institute, La Follette and the Wisconsin Legislative
Council. We connect policymakers with timely,
non-partisan, evidence-based research.” She adds
that her 2-year old son, Liam, keeps her quite busy.
Dan and Rachel (Weber) Frisk, both class
of 2001, are proud to announce the arrival of
their son, Joseph Daniel, on June 17, 2007. The
Frisk family resides in Annandale, Virginia, with
Dan working for the Congressional Budget
Office and Rachel working for the U.S.
Government Accountability Office.
Hilary Murrish, 2002, married Ian Benedict in
November 2007 in Denver, Colorado. The couple
live happily in the Washington, D.C., area.
Network via the Web
You’re invited to join the La Follette Alumni
Group on LinkedIn, a professional networking
web site. Joining will allow you to find and
contact other La Follette members on
LinkedIn. This group helps members to
‹
reach other members of the La Follette
community — current students and alumni
‹
accelerate careers and business through
referrals from La Follette Alumni Group
members
‹
know more than a name — view rich
professional profiles from fellow
La Follette Alumni Group members
Here’s the link to join:
www.linkedin.com/e/gis/39199/57C421450A06
Information
Career Development Coordinator Mary L. Russell
608-263-2409 ‹ mrussell@lafollette.wisc.edu
What’cha’ Been Doin’?
Please tell us about your work, travel, awards,
family or volunteer efforts. If you tip us off on a
classmate’s triumphs, we’ll track down the details.
To share your news, update contact information
or ask a question, send a note to alumni@
lafollette.wisc.edu. Or go online: www.
lafollette.wisc.edu/alumnifriends/intouch.php
Amy Brennan, 2000, is a lobbyist with Glauberman & Pollak, a firm specializing in non-profit
advocacy in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois.
She spent two years as legislative director with the
Illinois Department of Human Services. Prior to
heading up the legislative office at DHS, she served
as a legislative staffer with Illinois Speaker of the
House Michael J. Madigan and managed legislative
campaigns with the Illinois Democratic Party.
Julia Styles Hastie, 2005, married John
Hastie on September 29, 2007, at the Pres House
in Madison, Wisconsin. In October, she started a
job at North Park University in Chicago planning
service trips for undergraduate students to international locations. Š
Ambassadors from page 1
During this period, Speckhard received the
NATO Service Medal for his crisis management work.
A member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mozena directed the Office of Southern African Affairs from 2004 to 2007,
providing leadership to the U.S. relationship with Angola. Mozena’s priorities were
developing and supporting U.S. policies to
help southern Africa fight HIV/AIDS,
strengthen democracy, improve governance, enhance regional stability and promote economic growth to reduce poverty.
Immediately prior to returning to Washington as director, Mozena was deputy chief
of mission in Lusaka, Zambia, where he
began his Foreign Service career in 1982.
In his most rewarding assignment,
Mozena served as officer-in-charge for
South Africa and as deputy director for
Southern African Affairs during South
Africa’s transition from apartheid to
democracy. Mozena assisted with thenPresident Nelson Mandela’s historic state
visit to Washington. Mozena was also posted to then-Zaire, where he and his wife
had served as Peace Corps volunteers. Š
Spring 2008
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
2 revel in baseball team’s league championship
T
wo La Follette School alumni are looking forward to summer and the chance to defend
their baseball team’s season title in the Men’s
Senior Baseball League of Southern Wisconsin,
which is for players 28 and older.
Left fielder and May 2007 grad Lamont Smith
was one of the Bulldogs’ younger members. Shortstop Mike Heifetz is vice president of governmental affairs for Dean Health System and SSM Health
Care of Wisconsin. He graduated from La Follette
in 1991 — when Smith was in sixth grade. “I didn’t realize how much of the generation gap we
were covering last summer,” Smith says.
“What he really means is, ‘I knew the old guy
had a LaFollette brain, but didn’t know he could
still play ball,’” Heifetz counters, adding that Smith
was “an awesome addition to the team.”
With a record of 10 wins and four losses, the
Bulldogs won the season against league rivals the
Raptors, winners of the 2006 league title.
In the matchup against the Raptors, Heifetz
was part of a key double play during the seventh
inning. Then, in the bottom of the ninth with two
outs, the Raptors had runners on first and second,
with the game-tying run on second. The Raptors’
cleanup hitter lined a base hit to Smith in left
field. He threw out the lead runner at home to
articipation in a La Follette School seminar led
to Sue Schultz running for the town of Onalaska’s clerk — and, in part, to being named Mrs.
Oktoberfest as part of La Crosse, Wisconsin’s
annual celebration.
Schultz decided in 2003 to run for clerk after
she graduated from the seminar the La Follette
School runs in partnership with Wisconsin
Women in Government, a bipartisan organization
Marc and Sue Schultz, aka Mrs. Oktoberfest, attend the
St. Paul Winter Carnival banquet. Schultz completed the
Wisconsin Women in Government seminar and went on
to be elected the town of Onalaska’s clerk in 2003.
Workshop brings
2 alumni together
Two La Follette School grads
met at a workshop for leaders in
the civil access to justice community in early October.
For most of the baseball season, Lamont Smith, left,
reports he wanted to strangle Mike Heifetz because he
was inconsolable when he struck out or made an error
at shortstop. The two La Follette alumni played together in a Madison-area men’s league in 2007.
end the game.
The Bulldogs won with a final score of 5-4.
“We had a great time,” Smith says, “and our
being on the same team was a pretty funny chance
meeting of two alumni.”
“We are lobbying to change the team name to
the Fighting Bobs,” Heifetz adds, “but the other
guys aren’t going for it.” Š
WWIG seminar alum reigns as clerk, Mrs. Oktoberfest
P
La Follette Notes / 5
promoting women’s participation in public affairs.
“After I finished the class, I felt I was ready to
run for public office, something I had wanted to do
for quite a while,” she says. She won the 2003 election and was re-elected in 2005. After voters and the
town board decided to make the clerk an appointed
position, the board named her clerk in March 2007.
As clerk, Schultz keeps the town of Onalaska
running. She maintains the web site, updated the
town’s emergency plan, keeps records and assists
residents. She serves on the town’s new hall committee and as secretary for the plan commission.
Being named Mrs. Oktoberfest recognizes
Schultz for more than her governmental work; it
honors her community involvement with a hunger
task force, community gardens, and a canoe and
bike race. As Mrs. Oktoberfest, Schultz visited
schools, nursing homes and Oktoberfest events.
This summer she will be in about 20 parades.
The WWIG course added to the skills she uses
as clerk and as Mrs. Oktoberfest. “The WWIG
seminar helps a person to understand herself better, the workings of government and the world,”
Schultz says, “all of which make you a better person in whatever you choose to do and where life’s
experiences lead you.” Š
1997 alum Matthew Weber
organized the gathering in
Traverse City, Michigan, as part
of his job as manager of program
assessment for The Resource for
Great Programs Inc. 2007 alum
Kevin Murphy blew into town
after honeymooning in Mexico.
He is grants coordinator for the
Louisiana Bar Foundation.
“We joked about whether they’d
even recognize him when he
returned to work in New
Orleans,” Weber says. “It was
fun to see a fellow La Follette
grad outside Wisconsin.”
Š
Alum seeks to keep
judicial post
Six months into his appointment
as circuit court judge for Wisconsin’s Outagamie County,
1986 alum Mitch Metropulos is
campaigning to keep his job.
Appointed
circuit court
judge by
Wisconsin
Governor
Jim Doyle
in August
2007 to fill
out a term
that ends in
Mitch
July, MetropMetropulos
ulos was
facing an April challenge from
Outagamie County District Attorney Carrie Schneider. Results
were pending at press time.
Metropulos had been an assistant district attorney since 1987,
most recently in Winnebago and
Outagamie counties. He holds a
joint degree in law and in public
policy and administration. He is
active in restorative justice and
domestic violence prevention.
6 / La Follette Notes
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Spring 2008
Faculty news
Dennis Dresang served on the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee
to help keep an eye on the spring race for
Wisconsin Supreme Court. The State Bar
of Wisconsin established the group as an
independent monitor of judicial elections.
A study released by the National Research
Council in February finds that radioactive
cesium chloride in devices used by hospitals, blood banks and universities poses a
risk to society. If the radiation sources are
stolen, they could be used to construct a
so-called dirty bomb. The study recommends policies that would result in cesium
chloride irradiators being gradually replaced
by X-ray devices. Dave Weimer served
on the committee that prepared the study.
New reports on the Milwaukee school
voucher program provide baseline data
comparing private school students who
receive vouchers to students in the Milwaukee Public Schools. John Witte and
fellow researchers reported preliminary
findings in a five-year study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program at a
Madison news conference in February.
Donald Moynihan has won the
Dimock Award from Public Administration
Review for best lead article of 2007. He coauthored the article, “The Role of Organizations in Fostering Public Service Motiva-
tion,” with Sanjay K. Pandey. In January,
Moynihan talked to government officials
and academics in Singapore about the use
of networks in crisis response, drawing on
his 2007 report to the IBM Center for the
Business of Government, “From Forest
Fires to Hurricane Katrina: Case Studies
of Incident Command Systems.”
“Financial Regulation, Monetary Policy, and
Inflation in the Industrialized World.” Yackee will receive the Best Paper by an Emerging Scholar Award for her 2007 paper written with Jason Yackee “Is Agency Rulemaking ‘Ossified’? Testing Congressional, Presidential, and Judicial Procedural Constraints
from 1983 to 2006.”
Renewable energy technology needs more
public and private investment Gregory
Nemet tells Nature and the Chronicle
of Higher Education. Both publications
featured his research showing the decline
of research and development by the energy industry and the U.S. government. This
lack of investment will make abandoning
fossil fuels difficult, he notes.
As worries about the economy grow, so do
demands from news outlets for Menzie
Chinn to share his expertise about the
value of the dollar against other currencies,
the U.S. economy and the effects of the
federal tax rebate. In January, he, Charles
Engel and Donald Nichols met with
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President
Charles Evans for a free exchange among
policymakers and economists about the
economy. Chinn will present work this
spring on exchange rates at an International
Monetary Fund conference and on the renminbi’s value at Goethe University in Frankfurt. In May, he and Engel will convene
two conferences on the global economy.
Bob Haveman and Barbara Wolfe
again were visiting professors at Australian
National University, where they conducted
research and engaged with faculty and students. Each presented research and attended conferences. Rumor has it they also
took in some of the Australian Open and
checked out a few South Australian wines.
The Midwest Political Science Association
is honoring Mark Copelovitch and
Susan Yackee in April. Copelovitch and
David Andrew Singer will receive the Kellogg/Notre Dame Award for the best
paper in comparative politics for 2007,
Pamela Herd and co-author Madonna
Harrington Meyer are getting good play
on op-ed pages around the country as they
highlight economic and health disparities
women encounter in old age. They draw
on their new book, Market Friendly or Family
Friendly? The State and Gender Inequality in
Old Age, published in fall 2007. Š
Student on Fulbright, La Follette professor do lunch — in Beijing
G
iven that La Follette School faculty
often go the extra mile for students,
Melanie Manion’s offer to buy student Allison Quatrini lunch is not too surprising.
However, they had lunch in Beijing.
Manion took time out from a workshop on constructing legal institutions for
anti-corruption efforts at Peking University in mid-January. In China since August
on a Fulbright scholarship, Quatrini had
arrived in Beijing in December to start her
research at Peking University.
“I wanted to connect Allison and Professor Xie Qingkui, who is one of the
most prominent public administration
scholars in China,” Manion says. “It is
practically impossible to get anything done
in China without good friends, and I’ve
known Professor Xie for 20 years.”
Allison Quatrini pauses in front of Tianchi
Lake, Changbaishan, Jilin Province, China.
Xie heads the Chinese Local Government and Local Administration Research
Center where Quatrini is examining the
link between the election and selection of
local government officials and the practice
of Confucianism in a Leninist context.
Before arriving in Beijing, the international public affairs student spent almost
four months in Harbin in northeastern
China working on her language skills.
Manion and Xie collaborated on a
survey project in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Manion tries to see him every time she
travels to China to conduct her research on
corruption and Chinese politics and policy.
Xie joined the lunch group and gave
Quatrini suggestions for contacts to help
her plan her field research. “I especially
appreciated his taking us to his office so I
could find him easily again,” Quatrini says.
“I told Professor Xie that this working
relationship makes him sort of a grandfather, as he was my mentor and Allison is
my student,” Manion says. Š
Spring 2008
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Collaboration from page 1
that nonprofit organizations
can play in addressing need
within a community.”
The flexibility of La Follette’s academics meant
Maehr could take classes
that fit her interests, including a spring 1996 urban
planning course on central
cities in which she learned
about food systems. While
the class was in Chicago for
three days, Maehr heard
that the Greater Chicago
Food Depository had an
opening for a director of
individual giving. “When I
got back to Madison, I con- Greater Chicago Food Depository Executive Director Kate Maehr (class of 1996)
tacted them — I was gradu- gives U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois a tour of her agency’s training and distribution facility in December. They discussed the need for increased funding for
ating that semester — and
the rest is history,” she says. federal nutrition programs like those the Food Depository administers.
Twelve years later,
Maehr is forging her own networks and collaboraMaehr’s commitment has won her recognition as
tions as executive director of the Greater Chicago
one of Chicago’s “40 under 40” to watch by Crain’s
Food Depository, which annually distributes more
Chicago Business and as a Leadership Greater Chicathan 40 million pounds of nonperishable food and
go fellow. She is a sought-after leader and speaker
fresh produce, dairy products and meat to almost a
among food banks nationwide through the Amerihalf-million adults and children through 600 food
ca’s Second Harvest food bank network.
pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.
She attributes these achievements in part to her
Becoming development director in 1999, Maehr
experience at La Follette. “The lessons I learned
led the Food Depository’s capital campaign, a fourand skills I honed at La Follette — the need to ask
year, $30 million effort launched in October 2001
questions and to understand the impact of policies
to build the agency’s new food bank and training
and decisions, the importance of measurement and
center. The 268,000-square-foot facility doubled the
accountability — have been critical to my success,”
ability to distribute food. The training center runs
she says. “A month doesn’t go by that I don’t think
programs to help men, women and children gain
about something I studied in public management,
tools to break their individual cycles of poverty.
microeconomics or quantitative analysis.”
The Food Depository is a model for similar
“Bottom line — my experiences at La Follette
organizations throughout the nation and the world.
sharpened my commitment to public service, gave
It has been featured numerous times in media
me critical tools that I use daily and left me with a
outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, the New York
passion for building strong and effective organizaTimes, Business Week, Time and NBC Nightly News.
tions that address critical community needs.” Š
Support tomorrow’s leaders
Your financial gifts help La Follette School students
Š Write a check payable to UW
Foundation-La Follette and send it to:
Alumni and Friends Giving
La Follette School of Public Affairs
University of Wisconsin–Madison
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison WI 53706
Š Donate online via credit card at:
www.lafollette.wisc.edu/giving/
Š
Questions, comments or concerns?
Please contact Karen Faster
kfaster@lafollette.wisc.edu
(608) 263-7657
La Follette Notes / 7
1994 grad shares
energy expertise
Kevin B. Cronin, 1994, assistant general counsel to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, writes that he attended
the Eastern Regulators Regional
Association meetings in Tallinn,
Estonia, in September. On
behalf of the U.S. Agency for
International Development, he
participated in three days of discussions with regulators, public
policy advisors and senior technical staff from 12 countries.
Also on behalf of U.S. AID, he
earlier served in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as an independent consultant to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission.
For the U.S. Department of
Energy, he served in Manila
as an independent consultant
to the Philippines’ Department
of Energy and the Philippine
Energy Regulatory Commission.
Š
Trade journal features
business course project
The trade journal Inside Supply
Management featured work by
La Follette School student Todd
Kowalewski. He and a classmate in a School of Business
global sourcing class developed
a method for corporations to
evaluate potential locations
for building new facilities.
They used databases Kowalewski
learned about in his La Follette
courses to devise a spreadsheet.
“What intrigued Inside Supply
Management was that we were
able to do the analysis using
data accessible to anyone via
the Internet,” says Kowalewski,
who presented the model to the
Madison chapter of the Institute
for Supply Management.
8 / La Follette Notes
www.lafollette.wisc.edu
Spring 2008
From the Director from page 1
85 people and organizations who already
had donated to the University of Wisconsin Foundation in support of La Follette
School students and programs in 2007.
Every donation, no matter the amount, is
important and enhances our programs.
In other news, the school has been
busy hosting speakers. They include:
Laurence E. Lynn Jr., professor emeritus
of public management at the University
of Chicago, Lois A. Vitt, founding director of the Institute for Socio-Financial
Studies, and William A. Fischel, professor
of economics at Dartmouth College.
Hermann Habermann, former deputy
director of the Census Bureau, planned
a late March visit, while Julian LeGrand,
named one of the top 100 intellectuals
in the United Kingdom, was to present a
talk in early April.
Admitted prospective students will take
a look at the La Follette School up close
Support the La Follette School
Your gifts make a difference. Information
is online at www.lafollette.wisc.edu/giving/
— or call 608-263-7657.
this spring at our Visit Days. Our guests
hear presentations from our faculty and
staff, socialize with our students and see
how our small program fits their academic
and professional interests.
One of our prospective students was
fortunate to be in Madison the day of
our alumni reception in February. This
annual gathering drew 100 people, 48 of
them alumni and friends of the school —
including former career advisors Terese
Berceau and Mary Woodward, two graduates of the Wisconsin Women in Government seminar and several loyal friends
who assist our students with career
development.
Our visitor encountered an ideal sample of our alumni, with people who graduated in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and in the
current decade. Some had retired; others
were just starting their careers. All had a
story to tell about La Follette or their
work in public affairs.
The Madison function followed an
alumni gathering in Washington, D.C., that
also was highly successful, with 60 people
stopping by our reception at the hotel
housing the Association for Public Policy
Analysis and Management’s national conference in November. Ten of our faculty
were in town for the conference, which
takes place in D.C. in odd-numbered years.
We plan to be there again in 2009, and
we look forward to the opportunity to
reconnect with all alumni in that area, as
well as with those of you attending the
APPAM conference from outside the
Washington area. Š
Don’t miss the party. Update your postal and electronic addresses at http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/alumnifriends/intouch.php
Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs
University of Wisconsin–Madison
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison WI 53706
LaFollette
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
Paid
Madison, WI
Permit No. 658