WAUKESHA –Two faculty members and two academic staff have been named Arthur M. Kaplan Fellows for 2007-08. 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.” The four nominees selected by the campus Steering Committee to be honored this year are: Greg Ahrenhoerster, Whitefish Bay, associate professor of English; Dean Kowalski, Waukesha, assistant professor of philosophy; Tony Landowski, Fort Atkinson, director of the Study Center; and Nancy Van Brunt, Waukesha, senior lecturer in music.         

Ahrenhoerster came to UW-Waukesha in 1997 as a writing specialist in the Study Center and has continued to show his devotion to student learning as a faculty member. He received a Kaplan Fellowship in 2000, the same year he joined the faculty, for his work in developing the UW Colleges-wide Online Writing Lab (OWL). This 2007 award recognizes his leadership in honing new ideas to assist with student retention and academic success and for his strong guiding hand as an advisor to the Literary Club, which annually publishes the Windy Hill Review. Ahrenhoerster, who holds a BS from UW-La Crosse and MA and PhD from UW-Milwaukee, was promoted to an associate professor and granted tenure in 2005.

Kowalski applies complex philosophical concepts to popular culture icons to stimulate student interest and thinking in uncommon ways, thereby making his classes active research programs. He has taught at UW-Waukesha since 2003, and, because of his approach, is sought as a teacher. With Ahrenhoerster, he developed a course on “American Idolatry: Popular Culture and the Liberal Arts.”  He published The Philosophy of the X-Files in 2007 and Classic Questions & Contemporary Film in 2004 and expects the release of his The Philosophy of Stephen Spielberg in 2008. Kowalski graduated from Ripon College and earned his MA and PhD with a minor in Southeast Asian studies from UW-Madison.

Director of the UW-Waukesha Study Center since July 2003, Tony Landowski also stepped in as interim director of the campus TRIO program – a nationally-funded program serving UW Colleges students with specific academic challenges – when the position was vacated. He also is in charge of the Academic Initiative program, focusing personal efforts on providing advice and assistance to students who can benefit from the additional help. He maintains an open-office policy for all students and is willing to meet with them off-campus at off-hours when needed.  Landowski earned a BA from UW-Madison in political science and MA from UW-Whitewater in guidance and counseling.

Four years after coming to UW-Waukesha, Nancy Van Brunt took the campus hand bells out of mothballs in 2003 and recruited a group of musicians to perform at the instrumental concert. The first semester she taught the ensemble in excess of her teaching load and without pay, gambling there would be student interest in the sound. Her risk was rewarded. Hired primarily as a music theorist, she also works with applied voice students. She helped develop a first-year-seminar class for students interested in music and has performed at several campus events – as a pianist, singer, and “Bargain Basement Santa.” She holds a bachelor’s degree in music theory, master’s in choral conducting, and doctorate in music theory with a minor in vocal performance all from UW-Madison.

With each Kaplan fellowship comes a $250 purse, 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 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.

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