“Lester O. Schwartz: A Retrospective,” an exhibit of work by the longtime Ripon College art faculty member, will run Aug. 1 through Sept. 21 at Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts in Fold du Lac. The exhibit is organized by the artist’s daughter, Tanya Schwartz-Roeper ’88 of Ripon. An opening reception will be held from […]
A closing reception for the exhibit “Rafael Francisco Salas: For God and Country” will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, at Portrait Society Gallery, 207 E. Buffalo St., fifth floor, in Milwaukee’s historic Third Ward district. The event is free, food and drinks will be available, and Salas will talk at 7 p.m. […]
An opinion piece by Brian Smith, professor of religion and the Van Zoeren Family Chair in Religion, Ethics and Values, was published Sunday in the Cap Times on Madison.com. “Brian H. Smith: Will we now see civilly disobedient clergy?” addressed the many people of different faiths staging demonstrations and being arrested for protests against current […]
Dr. Andrea Young has been named the next Vice President for Finance and Director of Strategic Initiatives at Ripon College, effective July 29. As Vice President for Finance, Young will oversee all business and financial functions of the College, and is the primary administrative liaison to the Board of Trustees on matters related to finance, […]
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 […]
The annual Choral Institute of the Green Lake Festival of Music will be held Thursday, July 18, through Saturday, July 20, on the Ripon College campus. The institute will host singers from the local area and from around the United States. The institute will conclude with a free concert on Sunday, July 21, celebrating the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Suwannee Swing Saloon, a Florida band that performs western swing, classic country, the blues and jazz, will perform a free, outdoor family concert Thursday, July 4, on the Ripon College campus. The concert is sponsored by Ripon College and is part of the Green Lake Festival of Music’s 40th anniversary season. The musicians include Wisconsin […]
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 […]
“Rafael Francisco Salas: For God and Country,” an exhibition of work by the Ripon College associate professor of art, will open with a reception from 6-8 p.m. Friday, June 21, at Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee. The gallery is located at 207 E. Buffalo St., fifth floor, in the Historic Third Ward district. Salas also […]
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 […]
Nature has always been a central part of my life. I was lucky enough to turn this passion for the natural world into a career as a scientist and educator in the field of biology. My areas of research focus broadly on evolution, ecology and conservation. Specifically, I study a group of fascinating plants that inhabit some of the most inhospitable North American desert areas, the wild buckwheat (Eriogonum). Additionally, the complexity and rarity of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem have always interested me. Currently, students in my research lab at Ripon College are investigating the diversity of insect pollinators (bees, butterflies, etc.) in prairies of Wisconsin. There is still a lot we can learn from the species around us!
At Ripon College, I teach courses ranging from Introductory Biology and Environmental Studies to advanced courses in Plant Diversity, Flora and Vegetation, and Conservation Biology.
I started teaching at Ripon College in 2019, joining the math and computer science department with a specialty in applied mathematics. At Ripon, my teaching focuses on mathematical modeling (including modeling within courses like calculus), statistics and data analysis. I have also been able to do both modeling and research projects with senior math majors as part of their senior thesis.
Before coming to Ripon, I taught at Beloit College, and did research in computational neuroscience in Tokyo and Boston. My research includes action potential propagation across gap junctions (with applications to epilepsy), and neocortical processing during sleep. I use both mathematical modeling and data analysis extensively in my research.
While I was always drawn to math because I always loved puzzles, I also love music because I love to sing. While in college, I wanted to become an opera singer, and studied many languages and theater along that goal. I still sing, on occasion, and am always up for a puzzle or a game!
American soprano Erin Bryan has been praised for her “deft” operatic characterizations and a voice that is “a lyric soprano of exceptional beauty.” Recent engagements include Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Anne Sexton/#2 (Transformations), and the Governess (The Turn of the Screw), and she is featured as Young Anne/#1 on the recently released world-premiere recording of Conrad Susa’s Transformations. An advocate for new music, she enjoys frequent collaboration with living composers, including the Midwest premiere of Laura Schwendinger’s Kay Ryan Songs and the world premiere of Dangerous New Avenues, a chamber duet for soprano and percussion by Justin Giarrusso. She has just completed her second season with the innovative Fresco Opera of Wisconsin, where she was heard in works by Mozart, Verdi, Floyd, and Bellini.
Dr. Bryan holds degrees from Lawrence University, where she studied with Steven Spears and Patrice Michaels, and the University of Louisville, where she studied with Edith Davis Tidwell. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied with Paul Rowe. Her research concentration is largely in the area of vocal repertoire, with particular emphasis on eighteenth-century opera.
As a member of the music faculty at Ripon College, Dr. Bryan instructs courses in applied voice study, vocal pedagogy, lyric diction, and musicology, and she also enjoys regular collaboration with both the school’s choral program and the theatre department.
I serve as the director of bands and music education at Ripon College. I direct the Symphonic Wind Ensemble – our main concert band – and the Rally Band, our athletic band. I also teach all of our music education courses, and oversee the music education major. Other courses that I teach include music history and theory courses, and music technology. Like most professors at Ripon, I also contribute to our Catalyst curriculum. My research interests focus on the social structures within school bands, including social induction, belonging, and hazing.
I have a Bachelor of Music Education from UW – Eau Claire, and a Masters in Music and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from UW – Madison. Before Ripon, I taught for five years at UW-Richland, and for thirteen years in Wisconsin’s public K-12 schools.