Graduation Commencement UWRF

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

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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

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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

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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.

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