Nick Osborne (MPA ’05) began his duties as Polk County’s chief administrative officer (county administrator) in Balsam Lake, Wisconsin, on February 25. Previously, he served as assistant to the county administrator in Rock County, Wisconsin, for eight years.

The two transferable skills that the La Follette School trained me to embrace revolve around writing and data.

Hilary Shager (MPA ’05, PhD ’12) will discuss the Institute for Research on Poverty’s efforts to bring rigorous scientific evidence to bear on some of society’s thorniest problems during Wednesday Nite @ The Lab (WN@TL) January 16 from 7 to 8:15 p.m.

Bryan Gadow (’05 MPA) is teaching the Planning Workshop course for UW–Madison’s Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture (formerly Department of Urban and Regional Planning) this fall. Gadow is village administrator for New Glarus, in southwestern Wisconsin.

Teach for Nepal, co-founded by Shisir Khanal (MIPA ’05), celebrated its five-year anniversary in April 2018. Adapted from Teach for America’s model, Teach for Nepal is a movement of young leaders who seek to end education inequity in Nepal through direct service in classrooms and by working in areas that drive structural change.

Katie Sanders (MIPA ’05), executive director of the Milwaukee nonprofit organization Safe & Sound, received a Driven to Achieve Award from the Donald Driver Foundation on March 24.

La Follette School Associate Director Hilary Shager (MPA ’05, PhD ’12) will discuss Early Childhood in Action: How to Connect with Policymakers and Make a Difference on Wednesday, February 28. The presentation is part of the Families and Well-Being Seminar Series organized by UW–Madison’s Center for Child and Family Well-Being.

Led by Katie Sanders (MIPA ’05), the nonprofit organization Safe & Sound has increased its profile in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and beyond.

Bryan Gadow (’05 MPA) received the Richard B. Schmied Leadership Award from the Green County Development Corporation (GCDC) on April 25. Schmied, who served as president of the New Glarus Village Board, was president of the GCDC when he passed away in 2000.

Safe & Sound operates at the intersection of policy and practice, and it’s an exciting opportunity to see how the research plays out in community work on a daily basis.