Jill Rinzel, Ph.D.
Jill Rinzel is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the College of General Studies at UW Milwaukee. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology at Northern Michigan University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at UW Madison. She serves as the Assessment and Faculty Development Coordinator for the College of General Studies. She teaches a variety of Psychology and Education courses, including Lifespan Development, Educational Psychology, Children’s Literature, Social Psychology, Child Development, Adult Development/Aging, and Introductory Psychology. Her main area of research focuses on teaching and learning and the role of different factors on educational engagement and critical thinking.
Jill currently serves as the Academic Program Lead for the UW Flexible Option, Associate of Arts & Sciences degree.
Gwendolyn J. Blume, Ph.D.
Dr. Gwendolyn J. Blume earned her B.A. in English, Russian, and Psychology from the University of Iowa and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a Lecturer at the UW-Stevens Point at Wausau campus. Dr. Blume teaches a wide range of courses, including composition, reading, and literature courses. In addition to face-to-face courses, she teaches online and interactive-video distance education courses. Dr. Blume’s research interests include academic reading in composition courses, nineteenth century British readers, and reading identities. She has presented at international, national, and regional conferences; her recent presentations include work on making reading matter. Previously, Dr. Blume worked as an assistant professor at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania.
Michael Gorman, M.S.
Michael Gorman is a senior lecturer of chemistry at UW-Whitewater Rock County campus. He received his masters degree in physical chemistry from UW-Madison in 1998. He’s taught within the UW System since then having taught general and physical chemistry at UW-Madison for 10 years before moving to UW-Baraboo/Sauk County in 2008 and then to UWW-Rock County in 2010. He currently teaches general chemistry sequences in the chemistry of cooking for non-science majors as well as general chemistry, chemistry for nursing, and chemistry for engineers.
Christopher Hays, Ph.D.
Christopher Hays is an anthropologist with a specialty in prehistoric archaeology. He has worked on excavations throughout the eastern United States and southern Germany. His recent research and publication focus is on the World Heritage site of Poverty Point in Louisiana. Some of his recent major publications include Early Pottery (co editor) University of Alabama Press, and Poverty Point Objects Reconsidered in the journal Southeastern Archaeology. In addition to the UW Flexible Option anthropology course, he designed and teaches online versions of Ant 100 and Ant 105 (Biological Anthropology). At UW Milwaukee-Washington County, he teaches classes on Native Americans, archaeology, medical anthropology and more. He has been teaching in the UW system for almost 20 years and thoroughly enjoys both teaching students and conducting research.
Diana Henke, M.S., C.P.A
Diana Henke is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Business and Economics of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and currently teaches in the UW Milwaukee Flex program. She has a Master of Science in Accounting degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics degree from the University of North Dakota, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Prior to teaching at the UW Colleges and UW Milwaukee, she had a career in banking for twelve years and in software sales to financial institutions throughout the Midwest for six years. Diana has served on the WICPA Board of Directors, the WICPA Board of the Educational Foundation and several WICPA committees. She has always enjoyed an interest in traveling internationally, traveling throughout Europe and to Russia, China, Japan, India, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand.
Stephanie Kernik, M.S.
Stephanie Kernik earned her Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of Iowa and dual bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Chemistry, with minors in Physics and Music, from the University of Minnesota – Morris. She’s worked in the University of Wisconsin System for the past 7 years, teaching a wide range of classes from basic algebra though elementary statistics to calculus II, and in that time earned several teaching awards.
Dorothy Kowalski, M.S.
Dorothy Kowalski is a Professor Emeritus in Health and Exercise Science, UW-Green Bay/Marinette. She received her B.S. in Health and Physical Education from Ithaca College in 1982 and her M.S. in Physical Education-Special Populations from UW-La Crosse in 1983. She taught at the UW-Green Bay/Marinette campus for 35 years, retiring in 2018. Professor Kowalski served as the UW Colleges Health and Exercise Science department chair from 2001-2010. She received the Arthur M. Kaplan award and assisted in developing the first UW Colleges Learning Community. She has taught classes in health, nutrition, fitness, drug and alcohol awareness, sociology of sport, women and sport, elementary school physical education, coaching, athletic injuries, and first aid/CPR. Professor Kowalski currently serves as the City of Marinette Common Council President.
Melissa Kozma, Ph.D.
Dr. Melissa Kozma is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Religious Studies and an affiliate of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – Barron County. Melissa holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and regularly teaches Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Philosophy and Feminism; Women and Politics; Ethical Reasoning; and Ethics and Business. Research interests include feminist ethics, social theory, and political philosophy, as well as race, public policy, and social justice. Along with Dr. Jeanine Weekes Schroer (University of Minnesota – Duluth), she is the co-author of “Purposeful Nonsense, Intersectionality, and the Mission to Save Black Babies” and “For the Love of the Feminist Killjoy: Solving Philosophy’s White Male Problem”.
K. Dubear Kroening, Ph.D.
Dr. Kroening earned his Bachelor’s degree in Water Science from Northern Michigan University in Marquette MI. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology from the University of Minnesota. He is a Professor of Biology at UW Oshkosh. His research work includes probiotic microorganisms and scholarship of teaching and learning. He has received the Teacher of the Year Award three times while working for UW-Fox Valley and has received a number of teaching awards throughout his tenure. He is dedicated to helping his students succeed.
Alexey Kryukov, Ph.D.
Dr. Kryukov received his B.S. and M.S. from St. Petersburg State University, Division of Theoretical Physics, Department of High Energy Physics of the Faculty of Physics. His Ph.D. is in mathematical physics at the same department. He earned a second Ph.D. from the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis in 1997. He is a tenured Professor of Mathematics at the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, College of General Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Kryukov’s research interests were mostly shaped during his studies at St. Petersburg University. In broad terms, these interests lie in the areas of Functional Analysis, Differential Geometry and Mathematical Physics and in Physics in Quantum Mechanics, High Energy Physics and General Relativity. These areas are all present one way or another in his research. Their combination also seems to be particularly powerful in addressing the problems of modern theoretical physics. In addition to his work in mathematics, Dr. Kryukov is interested in high quality teaching and in modern teaching methods, particularly, various forms of online education. He is trying to combine the advantages of face-to-face and online forms of education. A particular result of his work was the learning system MathEdSci produced in cooperation with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley.
Kevin Kurek
Kevin Kurek is a Computer Science Adjunct Faculty Member at UW-Oshkosh Fond du Lac Campus, UW-Milwaukee at Washington County, and Lakeland University. In his 30+ years of teaching, he has taught both Introductory and Advanced Computer Science courses while specializing in Computer Programming. He received his B.S. from UW-Platteville in Mathematics and has attended Milwaukee School of Engineering where he completed work towards a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management (MSEM). For over 35 years Kevin worked for G&L Motion Control, Inc. an industrial control, drive and motor company. While there, Kevin developed compilers/assemblers, established backup and security procedures, maintained operating systems, was a lead architect in the development of a cell control and an industrial programmable control, and had various management roles including Project Management. Kevin is currently semi-retired, devoting most of his free time to educating others.
Berel Lutsky, M.F.A
Berel earned his BS in studio art with a concentration in printmaking from UW Madison, and his MFA in studio art with a concentration in printmaking and drawing from UW Milwaukee. He has taught at several UW Colleges, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Carroll University in Waukesha, and the Avni Institute in Israel. In addition to his formal education he has worked as a printer at the “Fishy Whale Press” in Milwaukee WI, the Tel Aviv Artist’ House Printshop, and has presented workshops and done residencies at the Jerusalem Print Workshop. His work has been exhibited locally, regionally and nationally and is in public and private collections in Israel, Belgium, Japan and the US. He is currently a Professor of Art at UW‐Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus where he teaches drawing, design, photography, printmaking, and painting. Berel Lutsky was born in Buffalo NY and raised in Milwaukee, WI.
Pam Massey, M.S.
Pam received her BS in Physical Education from UW-Oshkosh and MS in Sports Administration from UW-Lacrosse. She started teaching middle school PE right out of college, then made the switch to college, being and instructor and Athletic Director at the former UW-Fond du Lac. Pam then transferred to UW-Fox in the same position, eventually becoming tenured. She is now in her 21st year at UW-Fox/UWO-Fox Cities campus as Professor of Human Kinetics and Health Education. Pam is serving as interim Campus Administrator the 2019-20 year.
David McKay, Ph.D.
David McKay earned his BA in History and Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988, his MA in American history from the University of Pittsburgh in 1991, and his PhD in American history from the University of Iowa in 2002. He has taught in the UW System since 1996 for six different campuses of what was once the UW Colleges: UW Rock County (his home campus, now UW Whitewater at Rock County), UW Baraboo/Sauk County, UW Waukesha County, UW Washington County, UW Barron County, and UW Colleges Online. His field of specialty is the political culture of the early American republic, and is a regular public speaker on the topic. He has been an academic advisor in the TRiO program at UWW-Rock County since 2016 and lives in a house full of books.
Valerie Mumm-Jansen, M.A.
Earning her M.A. from UW-Milwaukee and her B.S. from UW-Eau Claire, Valerie Mumm-Jansen is an Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She teaches the Spanish course in the Associate of Arts & Sciences program. Valerie’s research and teaching interests include studying world language teaching methodology, task-based language learning, online language instruction and course design, and global citizenship through study abroad programs.
Gregory Peter, Ph.D.
Greg is an environmental and rural sociologist with specialties in food systems, agriculture, and the environment as well as community studies and development. Greg was the Service Learning Coordinator for the UW Colleges for two years and part of the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service. He earned a B.A. in East Asian studies with an environmental studies minor at UW-Madison, an M.S. in Rural Sociology, and Ph.D. in Sociology at Iowa State University. Greg is the co-author of a book, two book chapters, several articles, and dozens of research presentations on rural sociology, sustainable agriculture, and the interface between the environment and society.
Michelle Pietzrak, M.S.
Michelle Pietrzak is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education on the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Fox Cities Campus. Michelle is a co-developer and current assessor of the HES 209 Nutrition and Weight Control competency set. Her degrees include undergraduate degrees in teaching physical education and health, corporate fitness, coaching; Master’s degree in Physical Education – Human Performance; and a Doctorate in Education – Adult Education with the projected completion date of 2020-2021. Michelle’s research interest is related to online course design in physical and health education courses to ensure alignment of objectives, outcomes, and activities that promote transformational learning that results in healthy behavioral change for students. Michelle enjoys teaching online and face-to-face formats that include nutrition, physical activity, sport and fitness management, first aid and emergency care, coaching, and concepts of personal training.
James Kenneth Powell II, Ph.D.
James K. Powell II is a senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He went to Northwestern University (1981-1985) and received a BA in Religion, specializing in Buddhist philosophy. At Cambridge University he received his MA in Theology (1985-1987), at the University of Chicago (1987-1991) an M.Div. and at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the PhD in Buddhist Studies. He has taught at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (1998-1999 and 2005-2007), Edgewood College (1997-1998), Madison College (2004-2010), the University of Iowa (2001-2002) and the University of Wisconsin (2010 – present), Central Michigan University (2013 – present). He has written three book chapters and published several articles and has maintained a Youtube Channel on religion and philosophy with over 2 million views since 2009.
Lisa Siewert, M.S.
Lisa has been teaching introductory geology & geography courses in the UW System for over 10 years. She earned a Geoscience M.S. degree from UW-Madison in 2009. Lisa’s research is focused on the melting history of the Greenland Ice Sheet during a time (125,000 years ago) when Earth’s climate was slightly warmer than today. This research was published in the journal, Science.
Jeff Suarez, D.M.A.
Jeff Suarez is an Associate Professor of Music in the College of Integrated Studies at the UW-Whitewater Rock County campus. He earned his Bachelor’s of Music in Composition/Theory and his Bachelor’s of Music Education at Central Michigan University, his Master’s of Arts in French horn performance at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, and his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jeff has performed in many jazz groups over the years including the Creative Arts Orchestra at U of M-Ann Arbor, a soloist with the Central Air Jazz Band at CMU, and many other smaller jazz combo situations. He has led the U-Rock Jazz Band at the Rock County campus since 2003 and has taught jazz history in a variety of delivery modes since 2002.
Christy Talbott, Ph.D.
Dr. Talbott double-majored in religion and music at Hiram College before earning her Bachelor’s degree in a third area, education, from Kent State University. She received her Master’s degree in Music Theory at the University of South Florida and her Ph.D. with a music theory emphasis from The Ohio State University. She graduated with honors from all four institutions. A full member of ASCAP, she composes primarily for vocal soloists and college choirs. In addition to composing, she devotes much research to student learning and presents her findings to those in the music and education fields. She has received many teaching honors including, most recently, the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching in 2015 and the Arthur M. Kaplan Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016.
Thomas Uebelherr, M.F.A.
Professor Uebelherr earned his BFA and MFA in Sculpture at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is currently a Full Professor at UW- Green Bay at Sheboygan, where he teaches a variety of art classes. He has had many art exhibitions over the years, as well as some permanent collections including “Sound Picture Radio” at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
Gillian Van Treese, M.A.
Gillian Van Treese received her M.A. English Pedagogy at Northern Michigan. She is currently a Senior Lecturer of English, in the Arts and Humanities Department of UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha, and she is the English Placement Coordinator for the Waukesha campus. Her main areas of expertise are in Composition and Reading Studies, and she is also interested in the science of learning. Gillian teaches a variety of courses intended to build students’ academic writing and reading skills, and she has recently taught a course in helping identify an academic and career plan for students. As an active participant in her discipline, she regularly presents at national and regional academic conferences.
Jack Van Treese, M.A.
Jack has a M.A. in English Pedagogy and Literature, and has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Waukesha since 2012. Since 2015, Jack has been involved with the UW Flexible Option Program. He teaches developmental English and first-year composition courses, and his research interests include issues related to student motivation, writing transfer, and writing program development.
Ryan Weaver, Ph.D.
Ryan earned a doctorate in Communication Studies from the University of Kansas with a concentration in rhetorical theory and persuasion. Ryan teaches a wide array of courses on topics ranging from public speaking, rhetorical criticism, theories of persuasion, listening, interracial communication, international communication, conflict management and negotiation, and politics and propaganda. Ryan also received a Master’s degree in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of Kansas. His research in domestic violence and sexual misconduct has been published most recently in Building Sexual Misconduct Cases Against Powerful Men (2019).