Celebrating AlumniAicardo Roa-Espinosa MS’85, PhD’89 President, SoilNet LLC Four of WAA’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners (from left): Carol Toussaint ’51, Dennis Dimick

Celebrating Alumni

Annual Report 2011

150 Annual Report 20

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Dear Members and Friends,

It’s tempting, in this anniversary year, to turn WAA’s annual report into a

sesquicentennial report — to talk about all that the association has done, all it’s

created, and all it has become over the last 150 years. But that would mean that,

instead of this brief report, we’d have to send you a massive book — something

about the size of your college calculus text. But we aren’t doing that — if you’d

like to see highlights of the previous 149 years, you can find them at our special

anniversary website, uwalumni.com/150.

Instead, we’ve focused these pages on the highlights from year number 150.

And it’s certainly been an eventful year, complete with a Rose Bowl appearance,

an overhaul of our membership program, a legislative battle over the New Badger

Partnership, and the departure of UW-Madison’s chancellor of the last three years.

Through all the upheaval, WAA has kept its focus on building and maintaining

this great university, so that it will continue to be a resource for the state and the

world, and so that it remains a legacy for future generations of Badgers.

We feel that WAA’s accomplishments this year have been built on a solid

tradition of a century and a half of advocacy, and that’s why you’ll find several

nods to the past interspersed among these pages. We hope you’ll notice how our

activities this year are in tune with the association’s founding mission and with the

university’s goals for the future.

On, Wisconsin!

Paula Bonner MS’78 Renée Ramirez ’83

President and CEO Chair of the Board

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Alumni Weekend and Class Reunions

For more than a century, Badgers have

returned to the UW-Madison campus to

meet up with old friends, see what’s new on

campus, and honor their alma mater at reunions.

In the late 1890s, WAA began sponsoring

the first class reunions on record, called Alumni

Day. Activities were tailor-made to entertain

Badgers of the day, including picnicking along

the shoreline, boat rides on Lake Mendota, and

fireworks and performances by the Glee Club

and Pep Band. An alumni reception and ball in

the gymnasium capped off the festivities. In the

following decades, classes began experimenting

with elaborate and exciting ideas for Alumni Day,

ranging from renting elephants for a parade to

talent contests.

Today, WAA continues the tradition by host-

ing the 50-year class reunion as well as Alumni

Weekend. The spring celebration is filled with

traditional events such as campus tours and en-

tertainment at the Memorial Union, along with

a few new twists. This year, alumni gathered for

the first-ever Wisconsin Fish Fry as part of the

weekend’s activities — sure to be a hit for many

reunions to come.

6 Celebrating Alumni for 150 Years

Alumni Weekend. The name says it

all — an entire weekend devoted to

alumni of the University of Wisconsin-

Madison: celebrating their accomplish-

ments, reconnecting them to campus,

and adding to their favorite Badger

memories.

This year’s festivities (April 28–May

1, 2011) continued a tradition that’s

been going on since the 1890s. Only,

instead of picnicking along the shoreline

of Lake Mendota and taking in a per-

formance by the Glee Club as our fore-

Badgers did, today’s alumni enjoyed the

inaugural Wisconsin Fish Fry, complete

with an authentic polka band.

To help commemorate WAA’s

150th anniversary, Alumni Weekend

also debuted the All-Alumni Celebra-

tion, featuring this year’s Distinguished

Alumni Award (DAA) winners. Held

at the new Union South, alumni and

Badgers Enjoy a Distinguished Weekend

Badger friends begin their Alumni Weekend celebration with a Wisconsin Fish Fry.

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friends met and mingled over food

and drink, while honoring this year’s

domestic Distinguished Alumni Award

honorees and other award winners.

(The four international DAA recipients

will be honored at the Red Tie Gala in

October.)

“When I came to Wisconsin, I

acquired all the traits to make my

life better: character, honesty, and a

passion for what I was doing. ... I am

a testimony to the American Dream,”

said Aicardo Roa-Espinosa MS’85,

PhD’89, president of SoilNet, LLC.

Then, after a day of campus-wide

open houses, WAA put on a free alumni

party at the Memorial Union that in-

cluded ice cream, entertainment, prizes,

a visit by Bucky Badger, and more.

“We’ve never had an Alumni

Weekend like this before,” said Jeff

Wendorf ’82, WAA’s vice president

of programs and outreach. “With

so many new and different kinds of

events, it was a special chance for

alumni, friends, families, and the entire

Madison community to interact on

campus for a whole weekend.”

To top things off, for the first

time this year, Badger Spirit Day took

place during Alumni Weekend. It gave

attendees even more reason to break

out their red attire and join those from

across Wisconsin and around the globe

in highlighting the valuable role UW-

Madison plays in the world.

“When I came to Wisconsin, I

acquired all the traits to make

my life better: character, hon-

esty, and a passion for what I

was doing. ... I am a testimony

to the American Dream.”

Aicardo Roa-Espinosa MS’85, PhD’89

President, SoilNet LLC

Four of WAA’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners (from left): Carol Toussaint ’51, Dennis Dimick MS’74, David Walsh ’65, and Aicardo Roa-Espinosa MS’85, PhD’89.


The past year reverberated with WAA’s

150th anniversary theme, “Celebrating

Alumni,” stretching to every corner of

the WAA universe — from membership

to the website and social media efforts

to programs and events.

More than sixty alumni chapters

around the country kicked off the

anniversary with special Founders’ Day

celebrations that featured a sesquicen-

tennial focus, highlighted by a video of

WAA and alumni history.

In addition to the new Alumni

Weekend experiences that debuted as

part of the anniversary (see previous

page), WAA also hung special 150th-

anniversary banners on lightpoles

across campus, as a colorful reminder

of the contributions of alumni.

WAA brought together hundreds

of alumni, faculty, staff, and students

on the lakefront near the Memorial

Union Terrace for its 150th birthday

bash on June 23, 2011, three days

shy of its exact 150th birthday. Party-

goers enjoyed music by a Civil War era-

themed band to mark WAA’s founding

year, as well as their first taste of Mad

Grad Medley, a commemorative ice

cream made specially by the Babcock

Hall Dairy.

“The party was a fantastic UW

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moment as we celebrated our birthday

with a new Babcock flavor, created by

and for Badgers,” says Paula Bonner

MS’78, WAA’s president and CEO. “Mad

Grad Medley marked one of many ways

alumni are celebrating WAA’s century

and a half of service, no matter where

they are.”

WAA solicited more than 500

flavor ideas from alumni, and the five

best were selected and voted on by

nearly 3,000 graduates. In the end, a

tasty blend of vanilla ice cream, Door

County cherries, and chocolate was

selected as the winning recipe.

Also at the birthday party, WAA

presented the university with new

street signs to mark key intersections,

leaving a lasting legacy for future gen-

erations. The signs are white with black

lettering and borders and feature the

university crest, replacing the tradi-

tional green street signs.

But perhaps the biggest moment

is saved for October 14, when WAA

invites all UW alumni and friends to its

150th anniversary Red Tie Gala. The his-

toric moment on campus will celebrate

150 years of UW alumni and traditions

while driving toward a goal of raising

$150,000 for the Great People Scholar-

ship, which provides need-based aid to

students.

Held at the Wisconsin Institutes

for Discovery Town Center, the gala is

Madison’s premier Homecoming eve

event. Hundreds of alumni and friends

of all UW eras — along with Badger ce-

lebrities — will arrive to a luminous red-

carpet scene and dance to live music,

dine on gourmet appetizers, local beers,

and wines, and mingle with classmates

and special guests.

For more information on the

anniversary, see uwalumni.com/150.

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As one of its 150th anniversary initia-

tives, WAA led the charge to organize

the first-ever campus board summit.

The goal was to facilitate cross-campus

communication by bringing together

the boards of visitors from the various

schools, colleges, and departments

to discuss critical issues facing the

university.

Participants received a joint

invitation to the inaugural All-Campus

Summit from WAA President and CEO

Paula Bonner MS’78; UW Foundation

President and CEO Mike Knetter; and

former Chancellor Biddy Martin PhD’85,

who all spoke at the event. The sum-

mit, which kicked off WAA’s Alumni

Weekend, was held at the Kohl Center

in April. Some 559 alumni representing

fourteen campus boards attended.

The historic gathering came at a

pivotal time in state budget negotia-

tions, and it provided an opportunity to

meet and make meaningful univer-

sity connections around the issues of

shared priorities and the role of alumni

engagement.

“It was inspiring to see the caliber,

the diversity, and the sheer number of

people crowded onto the Kohl Center

floor, and to realize that they were all

engaged alumni who were volunteers

on campus boards,” says WAA board

member Jeff Wiesner ’83.

Board Synergy

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Martin opened the program with a

state of the university address. Bonner

traced the history of alumni advocacy

over the past 150 years, and the deep

and lasting changes that involvement

has brought about — including the

creation of the Memorial Union, along

with the founding of the Wisconsin

Alumni Research Foundation and the

UW Foundation. Knetter spoke about

changes in the economy and the im-

portance of private giving, especially for

need-based aid. UW-Madison faculty

Barry Burden, professor of political

science; Pamela Oliver, professor of

sociology; and Dhavan Shah, professor

of journalism, led a panel discussion on

a new business model for the university.

The summit also served as a show-

case for student arts, as the MadHatters

and other student musicians performed.

The boards of visitors were asked

to take official positions in support of a

new business model for UW-Madison

(at that point called the New Badger

Partnership), and many opted to do so.

Tentative plans call for organizing

another campus summit in the next

three to five years.

To listen to Paula Bonner’s remarks

at the All-Campus Board Summit, go

to uwalumni.com/annualreport.

Speakers at the All-Campus Summit included (above from left) Paula Bonner, UW Foundation president Mike Knetter, and former Chancellor Biddy Martin, with a performance by the MadHatters, a student a cappella group.

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Bucky — Making a name for himself

Believe it or not, Bucky Badger hasn’t

always been around to roam the sidelines

during UW-Madison sporting events, tousle a

giddy child’s hair, and generally spread Badger

spirit. In fact, the badger itself didn’t become

the UW’s official mascot until the inception of

intercollegiate football in 1889.

Throughout the ensuing decades, a variety

of badger mascots were presented to fans, but

none possessed the “it” factor until 1940, when

professional illustrator Art Evans of Garden

Grove, California, drew a badger sporting a

cardinal-and-white sweater.

In 1949, a student brought the mascot to

life for the first time by wearing a badger outfit

with a papier-mâché head at that season’s

Homecoming game. But the mascot still needed

an official name, because he’d answer to every-

thing from Benny and Buddy to Bernie, Bobby,

and Bouncy. So a contest was staged to name

the popular mascot once and for all. The winner

was Buckingham U. Badger, or Bucky for short.

The name apparently came from the lyrics in a

song that encouraged the football team to “buck

right through that line.”

And the Badger faithful have been cheering

Bucky’s name ever since!


Student interns from 2010 (from left) were Katy Ziffer ’11, Jeff Cartwright x’13, Elise Yafet x’12, Michael Hebert x’13, Alyssa Connolly ’11, and Katherine Bach ’11.

Always a Badger

The alumni association continued to

successfully engage with students and

developed and expanded new program-

ming and services for recent grads

during the past year.

WAA built on two successful tradi-

tions in expanding its reach to students

— The Red Shirt™ program and the

Wisconsin Alumni Student Board’s All-

Campus Party.

Beginning last fall, the alumni

association made a concerted effort to

reach out to students in its marketing

efforts for the Red Shirt program, which

benefits the Great People Scholarship

to provide need-based financial aid to

students. The program is now enter-

ing its fourth year. A dedicated team of

marketing interns helped WAA reach its

targeted fundraising goal of $25,000

for the second year in a row last year.

And in spring 2011, All-Campus

Party celebrated its tenth anniversary.

The popular celebration has grown

from a few events to a weeklong,

campus-wide extravaganza attended

by more than 25,000 students.

Building on successful student

programs like these, one of the as-

sociation’s most critical alumni initiatives

came in addressing a drop in engage-

ment of alumni five or fewer years

removed from graduation. Increasingly

over the years, WAA found these recent

graduates admitting difficulty in finding

where they fit into the real world once

they handed in their caps and gowns.

“When you graduate,” says Chris

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Friederich ’08, “you are just trying to

find opportunities outside our little

campus universe by branching out and

finding different hobbies to occupy

your time outside work.”

WAA took steps to address this

gap in Madison and across the country,

and young Badger alumni are now

finding new ways to connect with each

other and their alma mater through a

new suite of WAA events and ser-

vices. These personal and professional

resources specially designed for recent

grads include involvement and leader-

ship opportunities with local U.S. chap-

ters, alumni networking and job-search

tools, social-event listings, and more.

WAA began

expanding event

programming in

Dane County for

recent grads this

past winter with

events surrounding

men’s basketball

and hockey games,

performances at

Madison’s Overture

Center for the Arts,

and monthly happy

hours at Madison

restaurants. Mark Murphy ’09 says

WAA’s recent-grad events are a great

way to stay in touch with his friends

from college.

“I went to the basketball game

with WAA in January and it was a

great time,” says Murphy, describing

a Madison event that gathered young

alumni to attend a pregame reception

and then a men’s basketball game.

“It’s good to get together with my old

roommates, and to come downtown

to catch the Badgers play.”

For more on WAA’s recent-grad

programming and services, visit

uwalumni.com/alwaysabadger.

Mark Murphy ’09, Adam Beyer ’08, and Tommy Caceres ’08 joined other recent grads to attend a Badger hockey game at the Kohl Center in March.

“WAA’s recent-grad events are a great way to stay in touch with my friends from college.” — Mark Murphy ’09

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Over the last year, WAA’s Alumni Learn-

ing program has regularly seen the stu-

dents become the teachers — previous

UW-Madison students, that is.

“We’ve made a concerted effort

to invite more and more alumni to

speak at our events and shine the spot-

light on them,” says Sarah Schutt, who

recently returned to her role as WAA’s

director of alumni learning after work-

ing for the UW’s Division of Continuing

Studies. “Our alumni are doing some

amazing things in the world. So it’s

only natural to want to tap into their

expertise and keep them involved with

the university. Plus, it really enhances

our programs and offers attendees an

even richer Badger experience.”

In April 2011, WAA welcomed five

distinguished UW-Madison graduates

back to campus for a panel discussion

entitled Today’s Media: Insights on the

Changing Nature of Television News.

The panel of prominent, award-winning

alumni working in the media today

included Jeff Greenfield ’64, senior po-

litical correspondent, CBS News; David

Tabacoff ’71, senior executive producer,

Alumni Learning Gets in Tune with Its Audience

Fifty alumni enjoyed an insider tour of Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. The event was one of the popular Made in Wisconsin learning programs.

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Fox News; Jill Geisler ’72, senior faculty,

Poynter Institute for Media Studies;

Peter Greenberg ’72, travel editor, CBS

News; and Chris Bury MA’77, national

correspondent, ABC News. Moder-

ated by UW journalism professor James

Baughman, the event focused on the

challenges and opportunities facing TV

news, and provided a fascinating discus-

sion about the outlook for broadcast

news in the future.

Then in June, alumni and friends

ventured to the not-so-frozen tundra

of Lambeau Field in Green Bay for one

of WAA’s most popular alumni learning

programs, Made in Wisconsin. During

this installment, Aaron Popkey ‘94,

John Jones x’74, and Jason Wied ’95,

UW alumni who work for the Green

Bay Packers organization, gave attend-

ees unparalleled access to the stadium.

They also let everyone try on an actual

2011 Super Bowl ring.

Those are only a couple of ex-

amples of how Alumni Learning has

expanded the role of Badger alumni in

its endeavors — and the results have

been simply harmonious.

“ We’ve made a concerted

effort to invite more and more

alumni to speak at our events

and shine the spotlight on

them.” — Sarah Schutt

The Today’s Media panel was led by journalism professor Jim Baughman (far left). Alumni panelists included Jeff Greenfield ’64, Chris Bury MA’77, Jill Geisler ’72, David Tabacoff ’71, and Peter Greenberg ’72.

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No holes in this story

When it comes to Badger hockey, fans have

plenty to cheer about. That might have

something to do with the combined ten NCAA

national championships the men’s and women’s

teams have won throughout their histories. Or

maybe cheering is just another way for fans to

keep themselves warm. Either way, one of their

favorite cheers is “Sieve!”

It’s a chant that rings through the rafters ev-

ery time opposing goalies give up a goal. A sieve,

for those that don’t know, is a pan with a screen

on the bottom. To call a goalie a sieve is to imply

that he/she, too, is full of holes.

And while some want to give Wisconsin credit

for coming up with the “Sieve!” cheer, that can’t

be substantiated. What fans can take credit for is

being among the most loyal hockey supporters

in the nation. In fact, attendance for the Badger

men’s team has been near the top in college

hockey every year since the team moved to the

Kohl Center in 1998.


WAA’s anniversary year was an impres-

sive one for its chapter program, with

many new start-ups joining long-

established groups in celebrating the

sesquicentennial.

Nearly a dozen chapters re-

grouped after a long period of inactiv-

ity or started anew, fueled by Badger

spirit, dedicated alumni, and in one

case, a desire to rebuild after tough

times. In New Orleans, a pair of UW-

Madison alumni reached out to their

fellow Badgers to rebuild their UW

community after several tough years

following Hurricane Katrina.

“The response from local alumni

[was] amazing,” says Serena Pollack

’97, who, along with Jeffrey Hoffman

’01, helped get the Bayou Badgers

chapter back on its feet this past Octo-

ber after a decade of dormancy. “From

brand new graduates, to those twenty

Alumni Take Chapter Program to Next Level

“From brand new graduates, to

those twenty or thirty years older

than us, they’re all just excited to

get together with other Badgers.” — Serena Pollack ’97

Serena Pollack ’97 and Jeffrey Hoffman ’01 jump-started the WAA chapter in New Orleans.


or thirty years older than us, they’re all

just excited to get together with other

Badgers.”

Hoffman and Pollack weren’t

alone. Similar desires to rebuild UW

networks and organize opportunities

for Badger camaraderie happened all

over the country, from the revitalized

Twin Ports chapter (Duluth, Minnesota,

and Superior, Wisconsin) to the New

Jersey and South Florida chapters.

New chapters joined established

ones in celebrating WAA’s 150th

anniversary. Eighteen chapters were

awarded Bascom status this year — the

most so far. The honor was initiated

three years ago to highlight chapters

that go above and beyond in providing

exceptional support for local alumni

and maintaining a strong connection

with the university.

Chapters also found multiple ways

to celebrate WAA’s big birthday. They

hosted sesquicentennial Founders’ Day

celebrations in spring 2011; birthday

parties in summer 2011 featuring Mad

Grad Medley, WAA’s 150th anniver-

sary ice cream made specially by the

Babcock Hall Dairy; and many launched

Bucky’s 150th Drive for School Sup-

plies, collecting items such as back-

packs, colored pencils, and kid-friendly

scissors to bolster support for local

schools in their communities.

“We’re extremely proud of the

increasingly important role our chapter

volunteers play in their communi-

ties,” says Jeff Wendorf ’82, WAA vice

president for programs and outreach.

“Their work in their local areas is criti-

cal to our extension of the WAA brand

to our nearly 400,000 alumni across

the U.S. and the world.”

New Orleans Badgers cheer on the team at a game-watching party.

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If the Wisconsin Alumni Association

needed any more reason to celebrate

after already enjoying an exciting Rose

Bowl run in January and turning 150

years old in June, WAA members gave

them one. Thanks to long-time mem-

bers who have loyally supported WAA

for years and new members recently

welcomed into the fold, WAA saw its

membership numbers grow to more

than 40,000 dedicated Badgers this

year for the first time in decades.

“I can’t be more proud of the Bad-

ger alumni and friends who are staying

connected to the University of Wiscon-

sin-Madison by being WAA members,”

says Paula Bonner, WAA’s President and

CEO. “Our members are a huge reason

why the Wisconsin Alumni Association

is able to continue connecting, enrich-

ing, and serving all alumni, and why

we’re still around today to celebrate

our 150th anniversary.”

One of the ways WAA was able

to achieve this milestone was through

the new UW-Madison Commemorative

Alumni Directory. WAA reached out to

UW-Madison’s nearly 400,000 alumni

WAA Members Make 150th Anniversary a Banner Year

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to produce this comprehensive directory

— which was its first one in ten years

— and used the directory as a member-

ship incentive. Alumni not only realized

what a great resource the directory was

for staying connected — but also what

a valuable resource WAA is.

These new members then got to

take part in a dynamic year of exclu-

sive offers — including stylish license

plate frames for Life Members — and

new ways to show their commitment

to the university. WAA’s new giving

levels give members a chance to make

additional contributions, since WAA

relies on member dues and additional

contributions for a quarter of its oper-

ating budget. The giving levels include

Big Red, Super Badger, Distinguished

Alumni, and Founders’ Society. And, as

another way to commemorate WAA’s

birthday, a special, limited-time 150th

Anniversary level was created. All those

giving at that level receive an engraved

bookmark. Put it all together, and

WAA members are really taking their

Badger spirit to the next level.

“Our members are a huge reason why the Wisconsin Alumni

Association is able to continue connecting, enriching, and

serving all alumni, and why we’re still around today to celebrate

our 150th anniversary.” — Paula Bonner

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Bowling with the Band

It was good to be a Badger in 1952. (But,

really — isn’t it always?) That year’s football

team featured the UW’s first Heisman Trophy

winner — Alan Ameche ’56 — and it won the

Big Ten title and went to the Rose Bowl, the first

time Wisconsin had ever played on college foot-

ball’s greatest stage. But though the team earned

its passage to Pasadena, it looked as though the

UW Marching Band was going to be stuck in

Madison on New Year’s Day 1953.

Enter WAA.

The alumni association launched a cam-

paign called “Bucks for the Band.” UW grads

and friends responded with high enthusiasm and

open wallets, to the tune of $56,000. That was

enough to send the band to California, outfit

them in new uniforms, and produce a film about

their experience.

That WAA campaign helped establish a

tradition of sending the Best Band in All the Land

out on the road with the Badgers whenever they

go bowling, introducing the world to the joys of

the Fifth Quarter.


Everything came up roses for the

Wisconsin Badgers during the 2010

football season. With an 11-1 record,

including an impressive win over then-

number-one-ranked Ohio State, the

Badgers were crowned Big Ten cham-

pions and headed to the Rose Bowl for

the first time since 2000. And WAA

was there every step of the way.

In partnership with Wisconsin Ath-

letics, WAA offered the official Badger

Bowl Tour and transported more than

3,200 UW alumni, friends, and fans to

Pasadena. It was WAA’s largest athletic

tour since the Badgers last played in

the Rose Bowl.

To ensure everything went off

without a hitch, WAA came up with

a game plan that would have made

UW head coach Bret Bielema proud. It

included four tour packages, eleven to-

tal charter flights (and one 747) flying

out of Madison and Milwaukee, and

twelve different hotels.

When WAA’s travelers finally

arrived in Los Angeles, the city was

transformed into Wisconsin West, and

Badger spirit was everywhere. And

the atmosphere got even more festive

thanks to the special excursions and

access WAA provided. From the pep

rally at the pier to the exclusive New

Badger Fans Enjoyed Some California Dreaming

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Year’s Eve parties with appearances by

Barry Alvarez and Ron Dayne, nothing

dampened people’s spirits … not even

the final score.

That’s because, while the Badgers

weren’t victorious on the field, the

Badger faithful who traveled with WAA

definitely had a winning time overall.

Sheri Hicks, WAA’s travel director,

provided another reason to celebrate

this past year, thanks to her twenty-

fifth anniversary of serving alumni

travelers. When she started in 1986,

WAA offered twelve international trips

a year. Now, the association has one

of the leading alumni travel programs

in the country, visiting more than forty

international destinations a year —

including this year’s first-ever tour to

Uganda. What a ride it’s been!

Rose Bowl fans of all ages celebrate in Badger style.

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The Fightin’ Bob Club

We all know the Wisconsin Idea — that

the boundaries of the university are the

boundaries of the state (and beyond). But the

boundaries of the state (and beyond) are also

the boundaries of the alumni association — and

this twist on the Wisconsin Idea is due, in part,

to one of the UW’s most famous alumni, Robert

“Fightin’ Bob” La Follette.

Long before he was a governor, senator,

or standard bearer of the Progressive Party, La

Follette was a Badger, graduating in the Class of

1879. One of his classmates was Charles Van Hise

1879, 1880, MS1882, PhD1892, who would go

on to be president of the UW. The two worked

together to articulate the Wisconsin Idea.

La Follette was a loyal alum. In 1885, when

he was a young state legislator, he introduced a

resolution calling for “a committee of three alumni

[to] be appointed in every county of the state … to

guard the interests of the university … and to act

as a link between the graduates in general and the

alumni association.”

In other words, La Follette was an early

advocate of the chapter program that today rep-

resents the UW and its alumni in more than 100

cities around the globe. Fight on, Fightin’ Bob.


In 2011, the university reached a tip-

ping point in its long effort to gain

more management flexibilities for the

University of Wisconsin, and WAA ef-

forts played a role in winning the struc-

tural modifications for UW-Madison

and all the UW System institutions.

As public budgets tighten in Wis-

consin and around the country, and as

the cost of higher education continues

to climb, a national conversation is

growing around the question of how

Helping the UW Gain More Flexibility


to fund state universities. This past

spring, Wisconsin landed at the crux of

that conversation, and WAA attempted

to keep alumni informed of UW-

Madison’s positions and to keep the

university informed about alumni opin-

ions. On Wisconsin Magazine covered

the UW’s desire for more flexibility in

an article in its spring issue. And using

electronic media and mailings, WAA

encouraged alumni to express their

opinions to campus leaders, legislators,

and local media.

Major efforts included a tele-

phone conference WAA organized in

May, which drew some 20,000 alumni

around the state. WAA also convened

the first-ever All-Campus Summit,

bringing together the boards of visitors

from schools, colleges, and departments

around campus to focus on the issue.

UW-Madison now has the ability

to develop and implement its own

personnel policy, which will help sig-

nificantly as the university

prepares to deal with the

latest round of budget

cuts.

In addition, the

advocacy campaign put

the focus on the future

of higher education in

Wisconsin. “We helped

draw the state’s atten-

tion to the university’s

importance as an economic engine,”

says WAA president and CEO Paula

Bonner MS’78. “As a global research

institution, UW-Madison is one of the

state’s most valuable resources. We

want everyone in the state to see that

we need to nurture the university’s

excellence.”

This conversation will continue

this year with a legislative study of

the funding and structure of the UW

System, and Bonner expects alumni

to be fully engaged in this conversa-

tion. “UW-Madison’s deliberations are

just one part of a national discussion

about how to fund and support higher

education,” says Bonner, “and I know

that Wisconsin alumni are poised to

influence the debate and work toward

creative solutions. We really appreciate

all of our graduates and their excep-

tional commitment and dedication to

the university.”

JEFF MILLER

, UN

IVER

SITY

CO

MM

UN

ICA

TION

S (2)


In its anniversary year, WAA worked to

create new ways to spread the joy of

being a Badger around the globe.

“The UW’s influence continues to

grow in Asia — as does Asia’s influence

on the university,” says Kim Santiago

de Madera ’88, WAA’s director of inter-

national relations. “Our alumni include

important officials and entrepreneurs in

nations with fast-rising economies. We

want to be sure that those grads stay

connected to the UW, and that we can

continue to attract top students from

these nations to the university.”

In November, WAA helped coordi-

nate a trip to China for former UW-

Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin, which

included a visit to Beijing and special

events in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The

latter featured an alumni reception with

more than 100 Taiwanese alumni, and

a special audience with Hung Mao Tien

MA’66, PhD’69, Taiwan’s former minister

of foreign affairs and former national

policy adviser to the island’s president,

and Wu Den Yih, premier of Taiwan.

Reaching Out To International Alumni

From left: Paula Bonner MS’78, Ravi Khanna ’76, MS’77, Jose Madera MS’92, Ashok Bhargava MS’69, PhD’75, Kim Santiago de Madera ’88, Hiroshi Amashita, Karin Odegard, and Bjorn Odegard ’61. The group attended a diversity event at Madison’s Monona Terrace in July.

GLEN

N TR

UD

EL


To highlight the UW’s long-

standing role as a global institution of

research and learning, WAA honored

four international graduates with

Distinguished Alumni Awards. They in-

cluded Dong-Soo Hur MS’68, PhD’71,

known in South Korea as Mr. Oil for his

leadership of the petroleum company

GS Caltex; Krishna Ella PhD’93, whose

Hyderabad, India-based firm Bharat

Biotech has supplied 1.5 billion af-

fordable vaccine doses to more than

sixty-five countries; Kamoltip Payakv-

ichien MA’71, who works with the

Thai Farmer Project to train farmers

to create new income streams; and

economist Stephen Roach ’68, author

of The Next Asia and former chairman

of Morgan Stanley’s Asian businesses.

In January, WAA launched its first

alumni chapter in India, located in Delhi,

“to enthusiastic response,” according

to chapter president Ravi Khanna ’76,

MS’77. Another chapter is planned for

the southern Indian city of Chennai.

Khanna was among a group

of twenty international alumni who

visited campus in July. Hosted by WAA,

the group especially enjoyed a tour of

the new Union South and the Wiscon-

sin Institutes for Discovery. “It was such

a pleasure to meet alumni from across

the globe and to feel the Badger bond-

ing among all of us,” Khanna said.

Fellow visitor Bjorn Odegard of

Norway added, “I have always appreci-

ated being a member of WAA. ... The

hospitality and warmth we continuously

met was a true inspiration that revital-

ized within us the Wisconsin Idea.”

WAA also worked to increase the

campus conversation about the UW’s

role on the global stage. With more

than 15,000 graduates living outside

the United States, UW-Madison is posi-

tioned to exert influence on internation-

al relations, commerce, and scientific

exchange — and WAA is making every

effort to keep those alumni connected

to their Badger roots.

International Distinguished Alumni honorees were (from left) Stephen Roach ’68, Ka-moltip Payakvichien MA’71, Dong-Soo Hur MS’68, PhD’71, and Krishna Ella PhD’93.


The 2010–2011 fiscal year was a highly

successful one for WAA’s bottom line,

as the association added more than

$700,000 to its overall assets this year,

funds that will help support WAA’s

endeavors in the future.

Membership saw a significant

boost due to sales of the all-alumni

directory, the first directory WAA has

helped produce in more than a decade.

Each directory sale included a year’s

dues, and in 2010–2011, membership

revenue topped $1.2 million, more

than $117,000 ahead of budget and

$83,000 ahead of the previous year.

The Badger football team’s ap-

pearance in the Rose Bowl brought an

increase of more than $250,000 in net

revenues, due to tour sales, BADGER

HUDDLE® attendance, and associated

sales. Altogether, athletic tours helped

push the association’s travel income to

$644,000, more than $450,000 above

budget.

In all, overall revenues were

$600,000 ahead of budget for

2010–2011.

At the same time, WAA’s expenses

were also greater than budget projec-

tions, in part due to the cost of fulfill-

ing new memberships, and in part due

to taking on special projects, including

the Rose Bowl tour and WAA’s advo-

cacy efforts for state relations, career

programs, international outreach, and

student scholarships. Budgeted total

expenses were just under $5 million

and actual expenses totaled just under

$5.4 million.

Still, revenues outpaced expenses,

and WAA also saw its UW Foundation

fund increase in value by more than

$670,000, double the expected figure

of $307,000. Adding that to the rev-

enue surplus meant that the associa-

tion saw an increase of $713,805 in

its net assets this year, rather than the

forecast loss of $70,500.

Financials

BRYCE RICHTER, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS


Revenuen 28% Royaltiesn 26% Membershipn 25% Services to UWn 16% Registration Fees n 5% Other

Operating Revenue — FYE June 30, 2011

Expenses

n 40% Alumni Programs n 22% Member Servicesn 16% Administrativen 16% Campus Programsn 6% Student Programs

Operating Expenses — FYE June 30, 2011

0

$2,000,000

$4,000,000

$6,000,000

$8,000,000

$10,000,000$10,000,000

$8,000,000

$6,000,000

$4,000,000

$2,000,000

WAA Balance Sheet — FYE June 30, 2011

n Assets n Liabilities n Net Assets

WAA Balance Sheet

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

This annual report was paid for with private funds by the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

© WAA 2011

Archival photos courtesy of University Archives.

Distinguished Alumni Award photos provided by honorees.

The cover image of Bucky Badger is an illustration from the mural in the Red Gym’s On Wisconsin room painted in 2003 by

Avis and Tony Erickson.

To view this report online, visit uwalumni.com/annualreport.

Documents

Celebrating AlumniAicardo Roa-Espinosa MS’85, PhD’89 President, SoilNet LLC Four of WAA’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners (from left): Carol Toussaint ’51, Dennis Dimick