WAUKESHA – Four members of the faculty and academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha have been named Arthur M. Kaplan Fellows for 2000-01. The faculty and staff enhancement program honors Kaplan, who retired in 1993 as vice chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges, and recognizes outstanding contributions to education made by UW Colleges faculty and academic staff.The award is conferred to individuals who make “significant and innovative improvement of instruction or of service to students.” The four nominees selected by the campus Steering Committee to be honored this year are: Janet Brown, Brookfield; Karl Kosler, Wauwatosa; and Victoria Paaske and Alan Parker, both of Waukesha.Director of the campus Study Center and TRIO Program, Janet Brown works tirelessly to make a college education achievable. Under her leadership, the Study Center has developed highly effective student support programs, such as freshman seminars, tutoring, intrusive advising, and an online writing lab open to students throughout the 13 UW Colleges. The federal TRIO Student Support Services program, for which she continues to write successful grant applications, serves students not only at UW-Waukesha but also on three other campuses of the UW Colleges. It provides assistance to low-income, special need, and first-generation college students. Brown started at UW-Waukesha in 1977 as a reading specialist and assumed the director position in 1981. She completed a Ph.D. in urban education from UW-Milwaukee in 1987.
A professor of mathematics, Karl Kosler has earned a reputation among his peers for being able to help even the most “mathematically challenged” students grasp the concepts needed to proceed in science work. He prepares study guides and sample test questions for his students and arranges for those who are struggling to get additional one-on-one tutoring in the Study Center. In his teaching he incorporates real problems in the social and natural sciences rather than using fictitious, textbook “story problems.” Educated at UW-Milwaukee (bachelor’s, master’s, Ph.D.), Kosler taught there and at St. Norbert College, DePere, WI, before coming to UW-Waukesha in 1983.Affiliated with both the Study Center and the Mathematics Department, Victoria Paaske teaches math and serves as a senior administrative specialist. Largely responsible for developing a very student-friendly curriculum for remedial mathematics, she has learned from the students she teaches. Paaske also writes computer programs to track students in the TRIO program, making sure they succeed and do not drop out. She has used her skills to assist other departments as well. In addition, she is a sought-after instructor for college algebra classes. Paaske, who came to UW-Waukesha in 1991, earned a master’s degree in education from Carroll College in 1995.The campus mycologist, Professor of Biological Science Alan Parker’s enthusiasm for botany, especially fungi, reaches well beyond the classroom. Any opening question on his beloved subject allows him to launch an explanation, to the advantage of his students. Ever the teacher, he remains as patient as he is effusive. He sometimes opens his lab on Sunday evenings to accommodate current and former students, and he tutors alumni who are working toward a degree elsewhere. Truly an expert in his field, he is past-president of the Wisconsin Mycological Society and occasionally has assisted in emergency rooms with suspected mushroom poisoning cases. He holds a Ph.D. from University of Illinois-Urbana and has been teaching at UW-Waukesha since 1976.With each Kaplan fellowship comes a $250 purse, matched by the Friends & Alumni Foundation of UW-Waukesha. 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 UW 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. The awards can be presented at each of the thirteen UW Colleges campuses. |
