Paul Rusk ’77, MA’91

Photo courtesy of Naomi Halverson

“We must always remember that we — the people of this nation — should and can be ‘the powers that be,’ ” said Paul Rusk ’77, MA’91 (pictured here with his mother) in a speech during UW–Madison’s 1977 spring commencement. Rusk, then student government leader and senior class president, urged new Badger alumni to get involved in their communities in the post-Watergate era. Today he’s served almost two decades as a Dane County [Wisconsin] supervisor and executive director of the Alzheimer’s & Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin. Recalling his speech, Rusk says, “I wanted to leave a message that we, as new, young graduates, had our whole lives in front of us, and we really could substantially make changes in the world.”

Published in the Summer 2018 issue