Grads earn promotions, develop programs, win fellowships

1970s

Tony Singleton, 1973, is the vice president and regional director for Africa for Finca International, a nonprofit organization that provides microfinance loans savings and remittance services to poor people. Finca operates in 21 countries, five of which are in Africa. Prior to joining Finca he was a principal at Development Alternatives Inc. and a CEO of two East African banks that were under a management contract with Development Alternatives.

1990s

Carrie Templeton

Two 1999 grads, Carrie Templeton and Tim Casper, are now in the No. 3 spots at the Wisconsin departments of Corrections and Administration, respectively, as the agencies’ executive assistants. Templeton held the same post at Department of Revenue, where Linda Barth, a 2001 Wisconsin Women in Government graduate, replaces her. Templeton earlier was executive assistant at the Department of Financial Institutions. Her eight years of state legislative experience include service as policy director and chief of staff for a senator. Casper has held public policy positions in the governor’s office since 2003, focusing on the budget, economic development, education and health care expansion. He also worked for the Department of Health and Family Services and the Legislature.

Travis Myren, 1999, is running the Dane County (Wisconsin) Department of Administration. He was the department’s deputy director since 2002, managing 130 full-time employees and overseeing a number of county divisions and agencies. The Department of Administration oversees all day-to-day operations of county government, including the Controller's Office and the Office of Management and Budget, and the divisions of Employee Relations, Information Management, Administrative Services, Risk Management, Facilities Management and Consolidated Food Services.

Tom Eggert, 1991, has developed and directs the first graduate certificate program offered by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Business. The certificate in Business, Environment and Social Responsibility is available to any graduate student and serves to create “credentials” for anyone looking to work on sustainability issues.

2000s

Upon graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a master's degree in public affairs (2003) and a law degree (2006), Eric C. Tempelis served for three years as a state prosecutor in Green Bay. In July 2009, he was hired as director of government relations at Gundersen Lutheran Health System in La Crosse.

Amy Zeman Schanhofer

Amy Zeman Schanhofer, 2003, is development and performance improvement director with Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers, a community-based primary care service provider serving the rural southwestern Wisconsin. Scenic Bluffs targets the needs of the isolated elderly, Old Order Amish, Medicaid dental patients and Latino groups. Scenic Bluffs provides primary medical care, dental services, chiropractic services and behavioral health. In her new position, Schanhofer writes grants, and develops and maintains relationships to strengthen and support the health centers. She synthesizes performance data and identifies opportunities for improvement.

Jamie Aulik, 2006, had his daughter, Bastille Elizabeth Aulik, in December. “She’s a cutie,” he reports. He is appreciating their time together as he was to be deployed to Afghanistan in October with the Army Reserve. “It’s my second deployment, the first was to Baghdad, Iraq, in 2003-2004,” the staff sergeant says. “I’m not quite sure where in Afghanistan, but nevertheless, it should be interesting.” In his civilian life, Aulik is clerk for Manitowoc County in Wisconsin.

Bryan Gadow, 2005, received certification as a certified planner from the American Institute of Certified Planners in May 2009.

Callie Langton, 2007, won the 2009–2010 Dissertation Research Fellowship from Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is working on a special committee degree in public policy as a doctoral student in the School of Social Work. Her dissertation, "Pathways to Increasing Child Health: Implications for Policy, Research, and Practice," comprises three stand-alone papers. Two examine associations among Earned Income Tax Credit receipt and child health insurance coverage and child health outcomes; and the relationships among the presence of non-biological parents in children's homes, parental marital status, and children’s health insurance coverage status. The third paper examines cross-informant variance in health-related quality of life reporting for children.

This article appeared in the fall 2009 La Follette Notes newsletter for alumni and friends.

— posted October 9, 2009; updated October 20, 2009