WAUKESHA – Selected for her personal accomplishment as well as her contributions to the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, Joan Berg will receive the Outstanding Alumna award for 2001 at ceremonies Saturday, September 29, at the UW-Waukesha Field Station. She attended here in 1973-75.
As a young mother, she wanted to create a nest egg for later years. With the youngest of her three children entering kindergarten, Joan Berg, then Crnkovich, enrolled at UW-Waukesha to study nursing. She and her husband, Michael, had visions of enjoying vacations together, and they knew they would need extra money to do that. Joan’s education would provide her with a profession that suited her and could generate those additional funds. The school was close to their New Berlin home and a good place for her to start because it was not as intimidating as the larger campuses.
Joan, who had graduated in 1960 from Greendale High School, found UW-Waukesha to be just what she needed. “The professors were fantastic people. We still keep in touch,” she says. “If not for them – they were so kind, so generous with their time – I would not have made it. They gave so much practical encouragement for older students.” She lists a roster of teachers whom she appreciated, many of whom she still contacts periodically: Betty Murnan-Smith, Jane Burgess, Gene Braun, Anna Campbell, John Knight, Robert Spleas, Robert Calhoun, David Hundhausen, Terry Rozga . . .
When she plunged into school, Joan also started working as a nursing assistant at Elmbrook Memorial Hospital, giving her some real life experience to add to the academic instruction.
“There was such a nucleus of terrific teachers,” she recalls, “so motivating and never threatening,” that she was able to complete her basic courses in two years in spite of the family and work obligations. “They helped me overcome the fear of failure,” she credits. “I owe it all to UW-Waukesha.”
She transferred to UW-Milwaukee to finish her degree, graduating in December 1978 and then smoothly moving into a position in the Ob/Gyn department at Elmbrook. Later she did cardiac care at St. Luke’s Hospital and then home care for 10 years before returning to Elmbrook. Now she is a nurse educator conducting prenatal classes for pregnant women.
While she succeeded in establishing the career she planned to use as a supplement to family resources, it instead became the one she would rely on to support her children when her husband died. Now her children have grown. Son Michael lives in Michigan, Christopher in Hartland, and daughter Sandy in Wales (WI). Joan regularly gets the opportunity to care for all of her 6 grandchildren.
She’s generously given time back to her alma mater as well. She served on the Friends & Alumni Board from 1983 through 1995, holding elected positions of secretary in1985-86, and vice president in 1988-89, 1992-93, and 1993-94. She participated with committee work, helping on the Founder’s Day Committee, the Theatre Support Committee, and the Membership Committee. Commenting on the last of those, Lynn Knight, director of University Relations at UW-Waukesha, says, “She was our very best caller!” in making contact with former students through the annual “stay in touch” phonathon.
Joan Berg lives in Brookfield.
Each year the Friends & Alumni of UWW, Inc., recognizes an outstanding alum who completed work at UW-Waukesha at least 10 years earlier, has contributed to the campus as either a student or an alum, and has had outstanding academic, civic, or professional accomplishments. |
