2010s

Year/Mo.	Visitor	Event Description
2010 March 23	William T. Boehm retired senior vice president at Kroger Co. and president of Kroger Manufacturing, and UWRF alumnus Photos by Kathy M. Helgeson	Lecture: "Ethics Do Matter," presented by the spring 2010 Executive-in-Residence, who focused on three key elements necessary in the decision making process; Boehm also spoke with students in Associate Professor Brenda Boetel's World Food and Population class [sponsored by the College of Business and Economics]
2010 March 26	George Kuh Chancellor's Professor of Higher Education at Indiana University Bloomington, and director of the Center for Postsecondary Research Photo by Kathy M. Helgeson	Presentation: Dr. Kuh spoke to faculty, staff, students, and guest about high impact educational practices, including specific recommendations for UWRF based on data from the National Survey of Student Engagement, an assessment instrument he founded; his visit was part of events leading to the inauguration of Chancellor Dean Van Galen
2010 April 26	Vaness M. Gezari, Washington, D.C.-based writer who covers national and international affairs; Jason Motlagh, freelance journalist based in Istanbul whose reporting focus includes India, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka; moderated by Dr. Patricia Berg, UWRF journalism professor	Lecture: "Fragile States from Sudan to Afghanistan" [Working Journalists Seminar Series, sponsored by UWRF Journalism Department and The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting]
2010 September 25	Golden Dragon Acrobats	Performance: Traditional dance, spectacular costumes, and ancient and contemporary music created a performance of breathtaking skill and beauty for the large audience, held in Abbott Concert Hall [Wyman Performing Arts and Speakers Series]
2010 October 1	Heide E. Erdrich author (National Monuments, Fishing for Myth, The Mother's Tongue) and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibway	Conference: Erdrich spoke at the fourth annual Undergraduate Conference on Critical and Creative Engagement [sponsored by the UWRF Literary Society and UWRF English Department]
2010 October 1	Chan E. Park associate professor of Korean Studies at the Ohio State University	Concert: Infusing East Asia Workshop, Dr. Park entertained and educated the audience about Pansori, a popular form of Korean traditional music usually performed by a singer and a percussionist
2010 October 7	Elaine Tyler May History and American Studies professor at the University of Minnesota	Lecture: "Security Against Democracy: The Legacy of the Cold War at Home," Dr. May's lecture examined democracy and security during the Cold War [4th annual Edward N. Peterson Lecture Series, sponsored by the History and Philosophy Department]
2010 October 14	Kenneth W. Morris CEO of Apercu Group and a nationally-known author and speaker on diversity issues and effective leadership	Lecture: "Building Your Brand: A Leadership Fundamental" delivered by the Fall 2010 Executive-in-Residence, who also spoke to students in the classroom [sponsored by the College of Business and Economics]
2010 November 16	Johan de Meij award-winning Dutch composer	Concert: "The Music of Johan de Meij," with de Meig conducting the UWRF Symphony Band and Saint Croix Valley Symphony Orchestra
2010 November 18	Jeff Zeleny national political correspondent for The New York Times	Presentation: Zeleny spoke about the 2010 election to students in the afternoon and again in the evening to approximately 300 students and community members [Working Journalists Seminar, sponsored by the UWRF Journalism Department, The New York Times, and the American Democracy Project]
2010 November 18	Sha' Cage Minneapolis-based spoken word artist	Performance: the talented Cage presented a thought-provoking spoken word performance to a packed house, which also featured UWRF student performances [sponsored by the Black Student Union and Falcon Programs]
2010 November 30	Boyd Huppert KARE-11 TV journalist and UWRF alumnus	Guest Speaker: in the Principles of Journalism class, where Huppert described his storytelling process and gave career advice
2010 December 2	Kurt Zuelke director of the National Animal Disease Research Center and UWRF alumnus	Lecture: "Science, Medicine, and Agriculture: A Perfect Mix for Building Your Dream Career," presented to about 100 students and other interested persons; Dr. Zuelke's visit was part of a developing collaborative research relationship between the UWRF Tissue and Cellular Innovation Center (TCIC) and the National Animal Disease Research Center (NDAC)
2011 February 24	Manal Hamzeh assistant professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at New Mexico State University	Speech: "De-veiling the Hijabs and Arab-Muslim Feminisms," this year's Women's History Month featured speaker; UWRF Assistant Professor Michelle Parkinson said that "Dr. Hamzeh's talk is particularly important because of her unique perspective as herself an arabyyah/muslimah in exile from her home country of Jordan, and her work on the hijab, or veil, in relation to young Muslim women"
2011 March 23	Brad Hewitt president and CEO of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans	Lecture: "Social Business and Social Capital—What's Old is New Again" delivered by the spring 2011 Executive-in-Residence, who also spoke to students in the classroom [sponsored by the College of Business and Economics]
2011 March 31	Wing Young Huie award-winning cultural photographer	Presentation: "Identity and the American Landscape" [Working Journalists Seminar Series, sponsored by the Journalism Department]
2011 April 11	Tim Wise renowned anti-racist writer and educator	Lecture: "Challenging Racism, Privilege and Denial in the Age of Obama," Wise examined his book Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama; a goal of this event was to encourage a discussion about the impact and influence of race [Social Justice Series, sponsored by the Ethnic Studies Department, Falcon Programs, Residence Life, and Women's and Gender Studies Department]
2011 October 27	Dale Lindquist president and CEO of Fiberstar, Inc.	Lecture: "Reflections, Contemporary Venture and Vision of an Entrepreneur," presented by this semester's Executive-in-Residence [sponsored by the College of Business and Economics]
2011 October 27	Howie Padilla public information officer for the Saint Paul Police Department	Lecture: "Reporters and Public Relations Professionals: Fraternal Twins" [Working Journalists Seminar Series, sponsored by the Journalism Department]
2011 November 17	Temple Grandin professor of Animal Science, Colorado Sate University	Presentation: "The World Needs All Kinds of Minds," Grandin, internationally renowned public figure and pioneer for the autistic community and as a designer of livestock facilities that improve animal welfare and productivity, spoke to classes during the day and gave a public presentation to an overflow crowd in Abbott Concert Hall in the evening [sponsored by the College of Agriculture]
2011 December 12	David Swensen chief investment officer for Yale University, former member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and UWRF distinguished alumnus	Presentation: "Pioneering Portfolio Management," given to campus and community members in the University Center Photos by Kathy M. Helgeson
2012 January 27	Valerie Purdie-Vaughns assistant professor of Psychology at Columbia University	Presentation: on stereotype awareness and action for faculty, staff, and students at the University Center; "Staff and faculty require ongoing dialogue about how to talk about race and identity," Dr. Purdie-Vaughns advised
2012 February 24	Leonard Foy jazz trumpeter and professor of trumpet/jazz studies at Depauw University's School of Music	Concert: RADD Jazz Series guest artist Foy played trumpet with the UWRF Jazz Ensemble in Abbott Concert Hall, kicking off the 2012 UW-River Falls Jazz Festival; Dr. Foy also played with the UWRF Faculty Jazz Group and with Stolen Moments in the Falcon's Nest for a UWRF Jazz Club Cabaret Concert
2012 February 29	Michelle Alexander long-time civil rights advocate, litigator, and author	Lecture: Alexander spoke about her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness [Wyman Performing Arts and Speaker Series, sponsored by Falcon Programs]
2012 March 20	Duchess Harris associate professor of American Studies at Macalester College	Speech: "Black Feminist Politics in the Age of Obama," Dr. Harris was the Women's History Month featured speaker
2012 March 22	Duchesne Drew managing editor of operations at the Minneapolis StarTribune	Lecture: "The StarTribune's Digital Strategy," Drew gave insights about the newspaper's digital plan [Working Journalists Seminar Series, sponsored by the Journalism Department]
2012 March 27	Clarke Garry, UWRF Biology professor emeritus, and Gaylord Schanilec, artist Photo by Kathy M. Helgeson	Presentation: "Mayflies of the Driftless Region," a book authored and illustrated by the pair; the presentation was for the 10th anniversary of Celebrating Research, Scholarship and Creative Achievement (CRSCA) [sponsored by Chalmer Davee Library]
2012 March 30	Jon Scholl, president of American Farmland Trust, and Martin Lowery, vice president of external affairs for the National Rural Electric Co-op Jon Scholl photo by Kathy M. Helgeson	Keynote Speakers for the inaugural Rod Nilsestuen Legacy Event, "Feeding the World, Sustaining the Land, Inspiring Cooperative Action"
2012 April 3	S. Mark Tyler founder and president of OEM Fabricators, Inc., in Woodville Photos by Kathy M. Helgeson	Lecture: In "Defining and Achieving Success" Executive-in-Residence Tyler drew from his personal experiences to demonstrate that setbacks, failures, and difficulties need not be barriers to success; Tyler also spent time with students in the classroom [co-sponsored by the College of Business and Economics and WESTconsin Credit Union]
2012 May 4	Cloud Cult, Jeremy Messersmith, The Bad Habits Brass musical groups	Concert: for Finals Fest [sponsored by Falcon Programs]
2012 October 1	Julie L. Bushman executive vice president at 3M and UWRF alumnus	Lecture: "Transformational Leadership," delivered by this semester's Executive-in-Residence; Bushman spoke to a management class in the morning, participated in a luncheon, and delivered her lecture in the afternoon in the Riverview Ballroom [sponsored by the College of Business and Economics]
2012 October 3	Zach Wahls same-sex marriage advocate and author of My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family	Presentation: "What Makes a Family?" Wahls shared his experience growing up with two mothers and becoming a celebrity after testifying at a court case challenging same-sex marriage in Iowa, and encouraged UWRF students to take advantage of the same social media and Internet sites that helped make his issue famous [Wyman Performing Arts and Speakers Series]
2012 October 24	Ron Johnson U.S. Senator from Wisconsin	Presentation: on the state of the economy to the Political Science Senior Seminar class, and another to the general public in the University Center
2012 October 26	Rudy J. Koshar professor of History, German and Religious Studies at UW-Madison	Lecture: "On Stillness: European Political Fiction in the Age of Extremes," presented to students, alumni, and the community in the University Center [Edward N. Peterson Lecture Series, sponsored by the History and Philosophy Department]
2012 October 30	Petrona Melgarejo U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigator	Presentation: Ms. Melgarejo spoke about how the EEOC enforces federal discrimination laws; the presentation was in Spanish [sponsored by the UWRF Spanish Professions Association]
2012 November 8	Lee Tien senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in free speech law, including intersections with intellectual property law and privacy law; Tien also worked as a journalist before joining the EFF	Lecture: "Electronic Frontier Foundation" [Working Journalists Seminar Series, sponsored by the Journalism Department]
2012 November 16	Bernard Lafayette, Jr. an authority on nonviolent social change and a civil rights activist involved with the Freedom Riders and SNCC in the 1960s	Lecture: "My Pilgrimage to Kingian Nonviolence," presented by Dr. Lafayette, an associate of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; he outlined his journey from Tampa, Florida, where he was born, to his understanding of the effectiveness of King's nonviolent approach
2012 December 4	Diego Higuera owner of a successful company, Simply ¡Tíenda!, located in Bogotá, Columbia	Lecture: Higuera spoke about his personal and professional experiences in doing business between the United States and Colombia, about volunteer opportunities, and his time working in Forest Lake in a Spanish immersion school; the presentation was in Spanish [sponsored by the UWRF Spanish Professions Association]
2013 February 22	Mike Stern one of the premier jazz and jazz-fusion guitarist, six-time Grammy nominee	Concert: RADD Jazz Series guest artist Stern played guitar with the UWRF Faculty Jazz Group in the Falcon's Nest and with the UWRF Jazz Ensemble in Abbott Concert Hall [sponsored by the UWRF Music Department and the UWRF Office of Student Life] Photos by Kathy M. Helgeson
2013 March 13	Jose Antonio Vargas Vargas wrote the June 2011 cover story for Time magazine titled "We Are Americans, Just Not Legally" and brought the term "undocumented Americans" into popular discourse as a way to describe the country's 11.5 million undocumented immigrants; Vargas founded Define American, a nonprofit organization, to elevate and reframe the immigration conversation	Lecture: "How Do We Define American?" [Working Journalist Series, sponsored by the Journalism Department, and the Wyman Series, sponsored by the Office of Student Life]
2013 March 20-21	Fang Man Chinese-born composer living in the United States; she is currently a research assistant professor at the University of South Carolina	Commissioned Composer Concert: world premiere of "Concerto for Piano, Percussion and Wind Instruments" on March 21 [the Commissioned Composer Project is sponsored by the Music Department] In the photo to the left, Man (on right) explains layers in her work to music education students and UWRF Associate Professor Kristin Tjornehoj in a KFA music room on March 20
2013 March 21	Ruth Evans professor of English at St. Louis University and executive director of the New Chaucer Society	Lecture: "Two Become One?: Sexual Anxieties in Late Medieval English Romances," Evans spoke in the Kinnickinnic Theater as part of Women's History Month [sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies program]
2013 April 5	Jon Scholl president of American Farmland Trust Photo by Kathy M. Helgeson	Keynote Speaker: "What Are the Best Uses of Rural Land and Water Resources in the 21st Century" for the world to feed itself as its population continues to grow [Rod Nilsestuen Legacy Event]