wisconsin alumni association – On Wisconsin https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com For UW-Madison Alumni and Friends Thu, 19 Jan 2023 23:27:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 A UW Dreamer https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/a-uw-dreamer/ https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/a-uw-dreamer/#respond Thu, 11 Nov 2021 15:18:31 +0000 https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/?p=32900 Gayle Williams Langer portrait

Somewhere in the universe, Langer is wearing Badger red.

Gayle Williams Langer ’83, former executive director of the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA), passed away in September.

While spending her early years on farms in Waushara County, Wisconsin, Langer dreamed of attending the UW. She boarded a Greyhound bus at age 17 and headed for Madison with no funds, no job lined up, and no place to live. She eventually learned about a scholarship that allowed her to earn a marketing degree from the Wisconsin School of Business.

Fulfilling another dream, Langer married in 1958 and went on to have two children. She solidified her bond with the university when she joined the Wisconsin Alumni Association in 1959 as an executive assistant, working for WAA directors John Berge 1922 and then Arlie Mucks ’47. In 1979, she started the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board, an organization that prepares students to become alumni leaders and is still going strong. In 1989, she became WAA executive director, serving in that role until 2000.

According to Paula Bonner MS’78, whom Langer hired in 1989, one of Langer’s key contributions was reestablishing partnerships with the university, so that the association served not only alumni and students but also the campus. She also raised funds to renovate the Alumni Center, enhanced WAA’s alumni communications, and strengthened the association’s ties with international and diverse alumni.

Langer was a recognized leader in higher education, as well as a champion for women in the advancement industry. She was a trustee and officer of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). As the first woman to chair CASE’s Midwest district, she was the recipient of the organization’s Distinguished Service Award. She served as chair of the Big Ten Alumni Directors and as director of the Council of Alumni Association Executives, a consortium of 90 alumni associations throughout the country.

Donna Shalala, former UW chancellor and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, says that “Gayle taught me a lot about the university and the Wisconsin community. … I loved sitting in her office, following her around at tailgates, and absorbing her enthusiasm and love for the Badgers.”

In retirement, Langer remained active in numerous community organizations, including helping to start a Madison chapter of Gilda’s Club and serving as a grant writer for nonprofits.

Bonner, who succeeded Langer as WAA executive director, says that “Gayle was a leader who made a positive difference for WAA, for the university, and in the lives of many. There’s no doubt that somewhere in the universe, Gayle Langer is wearing Badger red.”

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The Wisconsin Idea Is Having a Moment https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/the-wisconsin-idea-is-having-a-moment/ https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/the-wisconsin-idea-is-having-a-moment/#respond Wed, 27 May 2015 14:07:27 +0000 http://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/?p=14264 BG9A3864

Alumni at the Wisconsin Ideas showcase in Naples, Florida, including Betty Roller ’55, enjoyed sitting for caricatures that featured quotes about their UW experiences. Photo: Nick Shirghio.

From faculty showcases to national news, alumni weigh in on this cherished Badger principle.

The Wisconsin Idea was on global display this spring in more ways than one, and alumni who hold the concept dear loomed large in the national conversation.

In March, alumni in Naples, Florida, hosted the first “Wisconsin Ideas” event — a showcase of top faculty, inspiring students, and a “state of the university” address by Chancellor Rebecca Blank. Together, the evening’s highlights celebrated the education, innovation, and discovery that rightly earn UW–Madison the descriptor world class.

It’s a traveling event that’s bringing a Wisconsin immersion experience to alumni and donors across the nation. Next stops include Milwaukee, New York City, and San Francisco.

“Wisconsin Ideas” drew an impressive crowd of alumni, who — during presentations on promising Alzheimer’s research, as well as virtual reality, climate, and the science of prizewinning Wisconsin cheese — fondly recalled their own UW education and reflected on the power of the Wisconsin Idea.

“Our alumni are diverse in so many ways, but yet we share that bond of having been here,” says Paula Bonner MS’78, WAA’s president and chief alumni officer. “As alumni have responded to their sense of pride and being part of something that’s known as the Wisconsin Idea — our tradition of solving problems and making a difference in the world — there’s a unifying thread about being part of the University of Wisconsin.”

Just a month earlier, thousands of alumni made their own impression on the world with swift and vocal reaction to a version of the Wisconsin state budget that proposed “editing” state statutes that describe the Wisconsin Idea as part of the UW System mission. The proposal would have removed the phrases “the search for truth” and “improving the human condition,” in favor of adding language about meeting the state’s workforce needs.

Reaction to the proposal appeared globally in news reports and social media, where a resounding number of alumni were not shy in their displeasure, sharing how much the Wisconsin Idea meant to their education, and still inspires as they sift and winnow in their lives today.

In April, Governor Scott Walker assured that the final document would preserve the articulation of the Wisconsin Idea. For alumni, that could make this the first season Wisconsin State Statutes appear on summer reading lists.

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On Top of the World https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/on-top-of-the-world/ https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/on-top-of-the-world/#respond Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:49:57 +0000 http://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/?p=9190 Machu Picchu

Bucky Badger gets around. When this group of alumni took him to Machu Picchu in Peru on a Wisconsin Alumni Association tour in 2007, he got up to about 8,000 feet above sea level. With the assistance of WAA, various incarnations of Bucky have been to all seven continents and floated on every ocean. The alumni travel program is marking its fiftieth anniversary this year, and as part of the celebration, it held a photo contest. This shot, submitted by Dan Cloutier ’75, received an honorable mention. See the grand-prize winner and other images at uwalumni.com/travel.

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Half a Century on the Road https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/half-a-century-on-the-road/ https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/half-a-century-on-the-road/#respond Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:19:18 +0000 http://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/?p=9117 WAA travel

WAA Travel celebrates fifty years of tours around a world that keeps changing. This year the Wisconsin Alumni Association is celebrating fifty years of offering tours across the country and around the globe to Badger grads and friends. The Badger spirit hasn’t changed much in all that time, but the rest of the world has changed a lot. Follow WAA’s travel highlights in the bottom portion of these pages [download PDF, 715k] while the top notes cultural developments over the last half-century that have changed the way we look at travel.

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