UW-La Crosse

  1. UW-La Crosse Congo alum, student revel in campus flag raising

    Photo of UWL Senior Vanessa Mbuyi Kaja raising the flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo for the first time on campus during a December 2020 ceremony. “I already knew I was accepted here in La Crosse, but this makes me feel like yes, I can call this my home,” noted the microbiology major.

    February 23, 2021

    Pierrot Mpemwangi waited nearly 20 years. Vanessa Mbuyi Kaja, three. The UW-La Crosse alum and current student hoped to see the flag of their homeland, the Democratic Republic of Congo, fly on campus. And on Dec. 18, 2020, they did. “I’m so excited. I’m so happy,” Kaja said at the short, flag-raising ceremony on a […]

  2. UW-La Crosse professor begins new podcast to spread knowledge about nuclear science

    Photo of UW-La Crosse Physics Professor Shelly Lesher

    January 29, 2021

    UW-La Crosse Physics Professor Shelly Lesher loves to talk about nuclear science. So much, in fact, that her unique approaches were noticed when she was awarded a prestigious Yale Presidential Fellowship at Yale University in 2019-20. Now she’s taking that interest online. The past five years Lesher has taught a “Navigating Global Nuclear Issues” course at UWL to […]

  3. UW-La Crosse alum stars on hit singing show “The Voice”

    Photo of Aaron Scott, a 2007 alum of UW-La Crosse, who was featured this fall on NBC's "The Voice." Scott passed his blind audition and stamped his ticket to Hollywood. Competing on the show, he says, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

    December 4, 2020

    For Aaron Scott, the road to stardom began in a dorm room. In 2005-06, Scott was a junior at UW-La Crosse — spending his days studying art education, wishing he was on the football team and experimenting with his friend’s recording software. It was the last of these pastimes that led to Scott’s recent and […]

  4. UW-La Crosse alum says dual degree program ‘opens many doors’

    Photo of Zach Heinkel, '18, a composite materials engineer with the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Bethesda, Maryland, who is part of a four-person team using 3D printers to produce masks, visors and hands-free door openers for employees at various naval facilities.

    October 15, 2020

    A UW-La Crosse alum has found an effective tool for fighting COVID-19: 3D printers. Zach Heinkel, a composite materials engineer with the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is part of a four-person team using 3D printers to produce masks, visors and hands-free door openers for employees at various naval […]

  5. UW-La Crosse offers curbside campus tour

    Photo of UW-La Crosse Admissions meeting visitors at the curbside to provide a folder of information about UWL and a map featuring QR codes to begin their own self-guided tour of campus with audio.

    August 20, 2020

    QR codes at popular tour stops provide prospective students and families a self-guided experience Curbside pickup in the age of COVID-19 is nothing out of the ordinary. From groceries to restaurant takeout, finding service at the curb is the new norm. Now curbside pickup has come to college campus recruiting. UW-La Crosse Admissions recently rolled […]

  6. UW-La Crosse alum finds success — and ways to give back — running La Crosse brewery

    Photo of Tami Plourde, ’98, a psychology major and English minor turned brewer. Plourde credits those studies at UWL for her success as being part owner of Pearl Street Brewing Co., a craft brewery in La Crosse.

    August 4, 2020

    La Crosse has a long history of breweries since its founding in the mid-1800s — Gund, Heileman and City, to name a few. For long-time craft beer enthusiasts, there’s a new keg on the block. And a UWL alum is at the helm. Tami Plourde, ’98, is a psychology major and English minor turned brewer. […]

  7. UW-La Crosse’s Carl Foster honored for scientific contributions to speed skating

    Photo of Carl Foster, an exercise and sport science professor at UW-La Crosse, who has been named to the U.S. Speed Skating Hall of Fame. Foster is being inducted as a contributor to the sport after spending three decades as an exercise physiologist for Team USA.

    July 21, 2020

    Carl Foster and speed skating were an unlikely pair, but they couldn’t have been a more perfect match. A Texas native who wasn’t exposed to the sport until after college, Foster was recently named to the U.S. Speed Skating Hall of Fame. He’s being recognized as a key contributor to the sport — the culmination […]

  8. UW-La Crosse ‘Couch Commencement’

    Photo of UW-La Crosse graduate

    June 17, 2020

    UWL held virtual ceremony prior to potential in-person event They didn’t celebrate in the La Crosse Center as originally planned. But the more than 1,700 UW-La Crosse students who attended the Saturday, May 16, commencement still got recognized that morning — and they and their families could participate from the comfort of their own couch. […]

  9. Teaching from afar: UW-La Crosse finds creative ways to engage students remotely

    Photo of Colin Belby, associate professor of Geography, taking students on a virtual field trip to Bohemian Valley near Coon Valley, Wisconsin. Belby uses a GoPro to record labs for his Earth Surface Processes and Landforms class.

    May 8, 2020

    Masks made from paper bags. Outreach to local nonprofits. Remote connections to cutting-edge software. This is how some UW-La Crosse faculty are engaging their students in remote or online formats in the age of COVID-19. “Teaching online takes months of planning and preparation, and we had to make the change in just a couple weeks,” […]

  10. UW-La Crosse alumnus works on cracking the coronavirus code

    Photo of Peter Thielen, front, working with Tom Mehoke on immediate sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, the virus that causes COVID-19, at the Johns Hopkins Hospital molecular diagnostics laboratory. Johns Hopkins APL / Ed Whitman

    April 10, 2020

    As world awaits vaccine, UWL alumnus works to sequence virus’ genome. A UW-La Crosse alumnus is on the front lines of an effort to understand — and ultimately defeat — the virus that causes COVID-19. Peter Thielen, 2005, is a molecular biologist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. As millions […]

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