Alumni News
Compiled by Paula Wagner Apfelbach '83

90s

From Uniontown, Ohio, we received this update from David Cohen '90: He and his spouse, Dawn Sommers '90, met at the UW and were married at the Memorial Union in 1994. Specializing in the American presidency, Cohen received a PhD in political science from the University of South Carolina in August, and then started as an assistant professor of political science at the University of Akron in the fall. He writes, "We still think of Madison as the greatest city in the world."

The new chief of staff for Wisconsin State Senator Peggy Rosenzweig (R-Wauwatosa) is Madisonian Mark Grapentine '90, JD'97. He was previously a policy adviser to former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson '63, JD'66.

Stacy Vogel Laszewski '90 has become a vice president of finance for the graphics and direct marketing groups of Milwaukee's Brady Corporation, an international manufacturer of identification products.

Dan Ross MS'91 is finishing his term as president of the Board of Action Wisconsin, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equal rights organization. In this volunteer position, Ross has testified before Wisconsin state legislators on proposals affecting domestic partner benefits for UW-Madison employees — a matter of personal interest, as he is a computer programmer at the university. Ross was also honored in July by OutReach, a Madison LGBT community center, as its 2000 Man of the Year.

Ripon [Wisconsin] College Assistant Professor of German Jennifer Redmann MA'92, PhD'96 was among the twenty-four professors, chosen nationally, who traveled to Germany last summer as part of a three-week Fulbright Scholar German Studies Seminar titled History and Memory: Jewish Past and Present in Germany.

In January, Chris Ann Olson Drosdick '94 and her spouse, Jon, launched JC Technology Solutions in Cleveland, Ohio. They serve as the principal owners of the IT consulting firm, providing services in Ohio and Georgia. The couple lives in Hudson, Ohio.

As part of its minority scholarship program for first-year law students, the Foley & Lardner law firm has awarded $5,000 scholarships to Marco Antonio Espinoza MA'96, a UW Law School student, and to Joycelynn Watkins '96, a student at Northwestern University's School of Law. Espinoza previously worked as a TV news photographer and editor, and now volunteers as a translator at a neighborhood legal services center. Watkins is studying for an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in addition to pursuing her law degree. Prior to law school, she worked at M&M/Mars in management and quality control.

While in nursing school at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Esther Miller '97 met others who shared her interest in health care in Latin America. Finding no opportunities to volunteer their health-promotion skills abroad, they created their own opportunity in November 1999: Nursing Students Without Borders (NSWB). The group's mission includes promoting health empowerment through education and expanding the perspectives of nursing students. NSWB is currently working with the Red Cross in San Sebastian, El Salvador, and in agricultural migrant labor camps in the Charlottesville area.

Writes Jennifer Polk '97, "I am one of the lucky people who turned a much-loved college activity into a career. A large part of my college life was spent volunteering with Habitat for Humanity...which opened my eyes to poverty, activism, and service, while teaching me construction skills. I now work for Habitat for Humanity International in Americus, Georgia, managing the national Collegiate Challenge spring break program that involves UW-Madison students and eight thousand others from across the country, building with Habitat during their spring breaks. Students raise more than $700,000 for building homes and work on hundreds themselves. I hope that my story is an example of the well-rounded citizens who leave UW-Madison."

Compiled by WAA's Alumni News Editor, Paula Wagner Apfelbach '83, who wonders why a female mannequin isn't called a womannequin...

Alumni News: early years, 40s-50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s

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