UW-Waukesha Professors, Staff Named Kaplan Fellows

WAUKEHSA - Three faculty and one academic staff member at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha have been named Arthur M. Kaplan Fellows for 2012-13. The faculty and staff enhancement program recognizes outstanding contributions to education made by University of Wisconsin Colleges faculty and academic staff.

The award is given to individuals who make “significant and innovative improvement of instruction or of service to students,” according to the terms of the fellowship. The recipients selected by the UW-Waukesha steering committee are as follows: Bill Schneider, lecturer of philosophy; Sue Kalinka, director of student development; Lisa Hager, assistant professor of English; Shubhangi Stalder, professor of mathematics.

Schneider was recognized for his work with the dual developmental learning communities over the past two years. He is a member of the Retention and Academic Success Committee that designed these learning communities for students who test into developmental math and writing. The committee wanted to make sure that these students were taking at least one for-credit course that would allow them to use the reading and writing skills they were working on in their support courses. Schneider volunteered to create a section of Philosophy 101 that would be appropriate for these students but also upheld the rigor of the course. This forced him to find new readings and causes him to break things down into smaller chunks for his students. He also works closely with the academic initiative advisors to make sure they are helping the students succeed. Schneider started college at UW-Fond du Lac, graduated from UW-Oshkosh and earned a master’s degree from the University of Rochester. Schneider has been teaching at UW-Waukesha since 1995.

Kalinka was nominated for her work on the Campus Climate Committee. She makes sure this committee remains relevant on campus for students, staff and faculty. Kalinka keeps the committee on task and has the ability to frame its discussions while at the same time bringing out the best of everyone on the committee. When programing campus events, Kalinka always keeps student enrichment foremost in mind. She also played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in helping the new Student Veterans Resource Center and LGBTQIA Resource Center get started. Kalinka, who began at UW-Waukesha in 2000, holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from UW-Parkside and a master’s in educational psychology and guidance from Eastern Illinois University. She has done additional graduate work at UW-Madison.

Hager serves as co-advisor of Pride Alliance. While a club dedicated to LGBTQIA issues is not new to the campus, it was after Hager joined the UW-Waukesha staff in 2009 that the club took off. Pride Alliance has been at the forefront of increasing awareness regarding LGBTQIA issues as well as working towards creating a campus climate that is safe and welcoming for all students. Pride Alliance hosts a variety of outreach activities each year, including Pride Prom, sex-positive sex education workshops, and campus climate discussions focused on bettering the experiences of LGBTQIA students. UW-Waukesha is better able to serve all students due her dedication and hard work. UW-Waukesha is now identified as a safe and welcoming campus by current and prospective students. Hager, who joined the UW-Waukesha faculty in 2009, earned her bachelor’s in English from the University of Georgia and her master’s and Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida.

Over the course of the past two-plus years, Stalder has, in collaboration with Paul Martin of UW-Marathon County, developed and implemented a major revision in the presentation of the UW Colleges’ Math 091 and 105 courses. She and Martin have combined the content of the two courses into a single course, allowing students who have tested into the non-degree credit Math 091 course the opportunity to earn four credits that will count toward their degrees. Beyond that, their use of a “flipped classroom” (where the students watch lectures presented on YouTube as their homework while doing traditional homework-style problems in the classroom setting) has produced very positive results. Stalder transferred to UW-Waukesha in 1995 after teaching for two years at UW-Marathon County. She earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Pune, India, where she had studied classical Indian music, and master’s and doctoral degrees in mathematics from UW-Milwaukee, where she also held teaching assistantships.

With each Kaplan Fellowship comes a $250 award, matched by the UW-Waukesha Foundation. The recipients can use the money to further enhance their creative approaches to education.

Former UW Centers (now Colleges) Chancellor Lee Grugel established the award in 1993 on the retirement of Kaplan, who had served the Colleges for eight years in the capacities of vice chancellor, provost and acting chancellor. Kaplan was committed to improving the quality of instruction and service to students at UW Colleges campuses.

UW-Waukesha

UW–Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 UW Colleges campuses with more than 2,000 students.  These freshman/sophomore campuses and UW Colleges Online comprise the UW Colleges. They offer an associate of arts and sciences degree and prepare students of all ages and backgrounds for baccalaureate and professional programs. In addition, UW-Waukesha offers several collaborative bachelor’s degrees through UW-Milwaukee and UW-Oshkosh.

For information about programs, admission or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at 262-521-5040 or visit the Web. You can follow the campus on Facebook or Twitter.