2006-2007 Commencement Speakers
May 12, 2007
Video Archive
STUDENT
Dana Marie Laufenberg
Video
Dana Marie Laufenberg, from Blanchardville,
Wisconsin, is receiving her degree from the
College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental
Sciences (CAFES). Dana has assumed numerous
leadership positions within CAFES including
tenures as President and Vice President of
the CAFES Student Advisory Council. Dana
has been active with numerous student organizations
including membership on the UWRF Rodeo Team
and representing the Rodeo Club as their queen
in 2003. Dana is a past recipient of a scholarship
from the Wisconsin Rural Opportunities Foundation.
STUDENT
Nikki K. Peters
Video
Hailing from Clear Lake, Wisconsin, Nikki
Peters is receiving her degree in Speech Communication
and a minor in Agricultural Studies. While
attending UWRF, Nikki has been involved in
the Agricultural Education Society, National
Residence Hall Honorary, Student Organizations
Committee, Smiles 4 Kids, and Relay For Life.
She has also served as a Resident Assistant,
Hall Manager, and received the Chancellor's
Award. After graduation, Nikki will be pursuing
her Master's Degree in College Student Personnel
at Bowling Green State University .
2007 DISTINGUISHED TEACHER
Dr. James M. Madsen
Video
Dr. James Madsen is professor of physics and
chair of the UWRF physics department. Madsen holds
a B.S. with a double major in applied math, engineering
and physics from UW-Madison and a Ph.D. in applied
physics from the Colorado School of Mines. Prior
to his arrival at UWRF in 1989, he was a postdoctoral
research assistant in physics and polymer science
at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst from
1987 to 1989, and an IBM graduate fellow with
the physics department of the Colorado School
of Mines from 1985 to1986.
While at UWRF, Dr. Madsen has been involved with
the IceCube project, which involves neutrino astrophysics
research at the South Pole. Several students have
worked in Antarctica with Dr. Madsen on the project
which involves detector simulation of ice-based
neutrino telescopes. Dr. Madsen has given numerous
presentations on the IceCube project throughout
the world and assisted the Baton Rouge Museum
of Natural History with an IceCube exhibit.
Dr. Madsen is a member of the Wisconsin Association
of Physics Teachers and the American Physical
Society. Madsen has received several National
Science Foundation grants for his research and
his work has been published in the International
Journal of Thermophysics, Journal of Geophysics
and Engineering, Nature, Astroparticle Physics,
the Journal of Low Temperature Physics, and other
scholarly publications.
He has been involved in several community service
initiatives including serving as a host family
for international students, UWRF community classroom
presentations, and talks at Rotary International
and numerous public and private schools in the
St. Croix Valley . He has been a past judge for
the West Central Wisconsin Regional Inventor's
Fair and for science and math fairs in the area.
In 1997, Dr. Madsen helped establish the Western
Wisconsin Polymer Physics Laboratory on the UWRF
campus, which supports the research of four students
each year who work in conjunction with the local
plastics industry.
UWRF Chancellor Don Betz stated that Dr. Madsen, “exemplifies
the characteristics we associate with an exceptional
educator, namely, intelligence, unbounded
curiosity, persistence, accomplishment, and a
life-long commitment to helping students learn.”
2007 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI
Dr. John E. Clemons
Video
UW-River Falls 2007 Distinguished Alumnus Dr.
John Clemons, a Chippewa Falls native, graduated
in 1957 with a bachelor's degree in agricultural
education. Attending the UW-Madison medical school,
he earned his doctor of medicine degree in 1962.
He completed an internship and residency at Gundersen
Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse,
Wis., in the early 1960s and stayed on
at the hospital throughout his 27-year practice.
While at Gundersen Lutheran, Dr. Clemons founded
the otolaryngology department (ears, nose and
throat), established a treatment center for head
and neck cancers, and created the first cleft
lip and palate clinic in western Wisconsin .
Dr. Clemons gained national and international
recognition by introducing an improved
procedure to reattach a severed ear. Applying
microscopic techniques for surgery on fine bone
structure, he developed what the Academy of Facial
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery now calls the “Clemons
Technique.” The method has also been applied to
assist in reattaching other body parts.
To better serve patients unable to travel to
La Crosse , Dr. Clemons began an outreach
clinic in Winona, Minn. The practice became a
model for other departments at Gundersen Lutheran,
and today more than 135 outreach clinics operate
at 44 locations outside the city. As a teacher
and mentor, Dr. Clemons inspired numerous young
physicians. He taught for a short time at the
University of Iowa and also served as a clinical
professor with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Clemons has published numerous medical articles
and has been an active participant in civic affiliations, including
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and other educational and
community organizations.
View
commencement addresses from previous ceremonies
