Congratulations, farewells and hellos at the CommNS

Molly Wirz (back row, second from right) and other SoHE MS cohort members on a Fall 2019 class visit to Walnut Way in Milwaukee.

The end of the academic year always brings the bittersweetness of bidding farewell — and saying thank you — to our student team members who are graduating.

Congratulations to the following Master of Science in Human Ecology 2021 grads, and critical members of our CommNS team: Molly Wirz, CommNS webmaster extraordinaire and Betsy Parker, CommNS nonprofit operations and infrastructure consulting specialist.

Molly is joining the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps team at the Population Health Institute as a Design and Evaluation Analyst. Betsy is planning to return to her position as Nature Net Director at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center – but with a new sense of understanding of and commitment to human ecological connections and meaningful nonprofit governance. She is looking forward to applying her skills and learning in this position and potentially in other leadership opportunities as they (surely will) arise.

Congratulations also to Calli Hughes, who served as our Fundraising and Revenue Models programming intern this spring.  Calli graduates in May with her BS in Community and Nonprofit Leadership.

Molly, Betsy, and Calli, thank you for your tremendous contributions to our work!

Dr. Troy Williams (right), when he was a PhD candidate, at ARNOVA 2019 in San Diego with UW-Madison colleagues Mary Beth Collins and Dr. Mark Sidel.

We’d also like to wish a special congratulations to Dr. Troy Williams, recent graduate of the Civil Society and Community Research PhD program.  Troy, you brought so much great energy and wisdom to our school in your years with us.  Thank you for your work as a lead project assistant for the POWER Collective, and your contributions as a thought leader on civil society, community organizations, and the nonprofit sector.

Luckily, we’re welcoming some new team members to the CommNS this summer, who will help us to continue to grow and build.  Welcome to our new staff:

Mai Chia Xiong: Civic Health of Wisconsin Intern

Kayleigh Dietz: Graduate Student Web Manager

Janessa Thao: Undergraduate Fundraising and Development Intern

Vivien Ahrens: Co-Create Graduate Research Assistant

Kelly Fagin: Undergraduate Fundraising and Development Intern

Cuauhtemoc Guizar: Undergraduate Outreach and Administration Intern

Chandani Bhandari: Graduate Student Outreach and Infrastructure Intern and Co-Create Project Assistant

Bethy Olson: Undergraduate Outreach and Administration Intern

Welcome also to the new additions to the families of our faculty colleagues Dr. Kasey Keeler and Dr. Jennifer Gaddis!