WAUKESHA – University of Wisconsin-Waukesha Dean Brad Stewart announced the promotions this June of three staff members on campus. Recommended by their respective departments, the promotions were approved by the campus dean and University of Wisconsin Colleges Chancellor Bill Messner. In addition, the UW Board of Regents approved the promotion of Kent Kromarek from assistant to associate professor.
Frances Kritzer was promoted from associate to senior lecturer and Stephen Leahy from lecturer to senior lecturer.
Kritzer, of Waukesha, teaches English and freshman seminar, Leahy, also of Waukesha, teaches history. A tenured faculty member Kromarek, Whitefish Bay, teaches mathematics.
Dearly appreciated by her students for her dedication, Kritzer began teaching English composition at UW-Waukesha in1987. Ten years later, when the campus recognized a need to acclimate new students to the college experience through a formal class, she volunteered to teach it. She developed the curriculum for the freshman seminar, which now has expanded to 11 sections. It provides students with the fundamental know-how to navigate the collegiate environment and, ultimately, to succeed in getting a university education. Active in the community as well, she has served on the board of directors of the YWCA, currently is vice president of the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra and chairs the Waukesha Police and Fire Commission. She serves as president of the board of the United Way in Waukesha. A high school valedictorian, Kritzer graduated from Columbia College, Columbia, S.C., and holds a master’s degree from Winthrop College, Rock Hill, S.C.
Having taught at UW-Milwaukee for 4 years, Kromarek returned to teaching after a 3-year stint as a quality assurance analyst at Allis Chalmers, Milwaukee. He started at UW-Waukesha in 1983 and served as the campus advisor and moderator for campus participation in American Mathematical Association for Two-Year Colleges’ competitions. More recently, he has been co-coordinator of the twice-held Mathematics for Elementary Teachers Conference at which college math faculty from around Wisconsin discuss how to prepare elementary school teachers to teach math. He reads and reports on some of the more quirky, playful aspects of mathematics, from details of its history to paradoxes in democratic choice. Kromarek earned a bachelor’s degree from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Rapid City, and a master’s from UW-Milwaukee.
Leahy came to UW-Waukesha last year and teaches both on-line and on campus, concentrating on U.S. history. He developed a 20th century world history course for on-line instruction and now is working on the two-course sequence of introductory American history for it. A magna cum laude graduate of Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa, with a major in chemistry, Leahy earned a master’s degree in history from Arkansas State University and a Ph.D. from Marquette University, Milwaukee. He has taught at Viterbo College, UW-Fox Valley, UW-Oshkosh, and Marian College. Based on his doctoral dissertation, his book, From Polonia to the Potomac: The Life of Clement J. Zablocki, is due to be published soon by the Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, NY.
UW-Waukesha, which opened in 1966, enrolls the largest number of students among the 13 freshman/sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses, which are scattered around the state. The UW Colleges provide the foundation courses to prepare students for transfer to any baccalaureate institution and guarantee transfer to other UW System schools. For program, admissions or financial aid information, contact the Student Services Office at (262) 521-5200 or wakinfo@uwc.edu, or visit the Web site at waukesha.uwc.edu. |
