Category: Alumni


Dean of Faculty Ed Wingenbach Named President of Hampshire College

Ripon College announced today that Vice President and Dean of Faculty Ed Wingenbach has been named the eighth president of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. His official start date is early August. “Hampshire has made a phenomenal choice to lead them through this important period in their history. I have no doubt Ed will do […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Administration, Alumni.


James Czarnik ’89 receives Ripon College Distinguished Alumni Citation

James “Jim” Czarnik ’89 was honored with a Ripon College Distinguished Alumni Citation June 28 during Alumni Weekend. Czarnik is a colonel in the U.S. Army and for more than 30 years has served as a soldier, officer, physician and commander in special operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He also was the senior Department […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Jenan Kharbush ’09 named Ripon College Outstanding Young Alumna

Jenan Kharbush ’09 was honored with a Ripon College Outstanding Young Alumni Award June 28 during Alumni Weekend. Kharbush is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. She is a member of the Harvard Earth and Planetary Science/Environmental Science and Engineering Department’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belong Committee; and a mentor for Harvard Graduate Women in Science […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Kathryn Schultz ’89 receives Ripon College Distinguished Alumni Citation

Kathryn Schultz ’89 was honored with a Ripon College Distinguished Alumni Citation June 28 during Alumni Weekend. Schultz has spent 22 years in government service, first in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and then in the U.S. Department of State where she currently is senior advisor on South Asia, Bureau of International Security […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Ornella Umubyeyi ’13 named Ripon College Outstanding Young Alumna

Ornella Umubyeyi ’13 was honored with a Ripon College Outstanding Young Alumni Award June 28 during Alumni Weekend. Umubyeyi, originally from Kigali, Rwanda, is a hospital chaplain for CaroMont Health in North Carolina. She became a certified life life coach in 2013. She has produced and directed the documentaries “Wipe a Tear in Rwanda” (Rwanda, […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Todd Johnson ’94 receives Ripon College Distinguished Alumni Citation

Todd Johnson ’94 was honored with a Ripon College Distinguished Alumni Citation June 28 during Alumni Weekend. Johnson retired as a lieutenant colonel after a 22-year career in the U.S. Army. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been awarded numerous honors, including the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars for service in Iraq […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Ripon College remembers Hall of Fame Athletic Director and Coach Julie Johnson

Julie Heinz Johnson, revered athletic director, legendary Red Hawks Women’s Basketball Coach, and beloved ambassador for Ripon College, passed away Thursday, June 13, in Ripon at the age of 53. Johnson arrived at Ripon College as a 24-year-old basketball coach and exercise science teacher in 1990, after serving as assistant women’s basketball coach for South […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni, Athletics News.


Drew Petersen ’94 elected president of UW System’s governing board

Drew Petersen ’94 of Middleton, Wisconsin, was elected president of the University of Wisconsin System’s governing board Friday, June 7. He will determine committee memberships, sign contracts and represent the Regents in front of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the state Legislature during his one-year term. Petersen was appointed to the board by former Republican […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Zachary Morris ’02 earns $200,000 grant to help fund research

Ripon alumnus Dr. Zachary Morris ’02 recently received a prestigious scientific award of $200,000 to advance highly innovative research projects with implications for human health. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation presents the awards through its competitive and longstanding Shaw Scientist Program to early career faculty to advance highly innovative research projects with implications for human health. […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


William C. Jordan ’69 receives honorary degree from Harvard

William C. Jordan ’69, the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University. Jordan is a medieval historian. At Princeton, he also has been director of the Program in Medieval Studies, director of the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies and chair of the history […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


National security studies drew Stephanie Verbockel ’19 to Ripon College

Inspiration for a national security studies senior presentation came from a summer spent studying in Morocco for Stephanie Verbockel ’19 of Grand Chute, Wisconsin. “The Checkered Experience of Battling Islamist Terrorism: An American vs. MENA Response and How to Coordinate for Greater Success,” explored differences between American and MENA (Middle East-North African) region perspectives and […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni, Student.


Rick Estberg ’75 publishes book about Cold War experiences in West Berlin

Rick Estberg ’75 of Severna Park, Maryland, recently published his first book, Berlin Daze: Tales of a Cold Warrior on the “Island of Freedom”. Estberg graduated from Ripon College with a degree in combined foreign language and earned his master’s degree in international relations from Boston University. Berlin Daze recounts the time Estberg worked as […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Eric Fels ’19 pursuing career in sports community outreach

A career goal of working in community outreach for a professional sports organization inspired the senior seminar research of Eric Fels ’19 of Hubertus, Wisconsin. Fels, who had a double major in exercise science-sports management and history and a minor in economics, examined the impact community outreach programs of National Basketball Association (NBA) teams has […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni, Research, Student.


Lisa Mahnke ’92 takes on new role at Bicycle Therapeutics

Lisa Mahnke ’92 of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, was profiled in a release on the Associated Press Business Wire May 9, 2019. Mahnke has joined Bicycle Therapeutics as senior vice president and head of clinical. Bicycle Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide product platform. Mahnke […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Ripon College helps recognize state teachers, including A.J. Zayia ’15

Ripon College and the Wisconsin Association of Colleges for Teacher Education recently honored outstanding educators in the state. Anthony “A.J.” Zayia graduated from Ripon College in 2015. He majored in exercise science and minored in health. He is a physical education teacher at Northland Pines Middle and High School in Eagle River. Michael Schmitt is […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Academics, Alumni.


Doug Cole ’86 to be nominated by President Trump for court position

A release published on whitehouse.gov on May 3, and carried by several media outlets around the country, highlighted Doug Cole ’86 of Upper Arlington, Ohio. President Donald J. Trump announced his intention to nominate Cole to serve as judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Cole is a partner at […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


#OneDayRally hauls in more than $1M for Ripon Fund in 18 hours, 51 mins

Ripon College’s second annual #OneDayRally giving day was a success by all accounts. With more than eight hours remaining on Wednesday, May 1, the online campaign reached $940,817 and 100 percent of its initial goal for donor participation. As #OneDayRally came to a close after 18 hours and 51 minutes, a record $1,085,314 was raised […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni, Funding and gifts.


Discipline leads alumni from professional careers to art of taekwondo

After training in and teaching taekwondo for more than 30 years, Mark Henkel ’70 and Hilde Bormann Henkel ’73 of Rudolph, Wisconsin, now run Stevens Taekwondo Academy at the Stevens Point YMCA. The couple both came to Ripon College as National Merit Scholars. They both had had family members attend Ripon, and the small-town setting […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


One-act play by Anne Negri ’03 will be presented this weekend

A one-act play by Anne Negri ’03 will be produced Thursday through Sunday at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “Not a Test” addresses issues surrounding standardized testing in public schools and the lasting impact it has on those who don’t meet the standards. An article about the show was published on the local […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.


Constant adaptation enhances teaching for Madeson Walgenbach ’16

A desire to help others and to share her passion for language led Madeson Walgenbach’16 to major in educational studies and Spanish at Ripon College. “I decided to attend Ripon College because of the connections I had in the area,” she says. “I also received a good scholarship and liked the idea of attending a […]

Posted by Dale Devries in Alumni.