{"id":13682,"date":"2026-08-05T09:30:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=13682"},"modified":"2026-08-05T09:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T14:30:26","slug":"from-the-shop-floor-to-the-shoreline-nontraditional-student-joe-wallace-finds-his-calling-in-environmental-science","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/from-the-shop-floor-to-the-shoreline-nontraditional-student-joe-wallace-finds-his-calling-in-environmental-science\/","title":{"rendered":"From the shop floor to the shoreline: Nontraditional student Joe Wallace finds his calling in environmental science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Joe Wallace is not your typical college student. At 46, the University of Wisconsin-Superior senior is a parent, a longtime blue-collar worker and, prior to his graduation in May, something of an \u201celder statesman\u201d in his academic program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before returning to college, Wallace worked a string of physically demanding jobs, including welding and construction, while raising his two children \u2014 daughter Jax, 14, and son Logan, 8. An injury on the job ultimately forced him to rethink his career path and prompted a long-considered pivot back to science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always had science in the back of my mind,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That passion has led him to a second act marked by academic success and meaningful undergraduate research. Wallace graduated in May with a double major in\u00a0biology<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0environmental science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Work Ethic Built Early<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hard work has always been central to Wallace\u2019s life. Raised in Duluth, he grew up helping his late father, Steve, support the family through what Wallace describes as a \u201cliving off the land\u201d mentality \u2014 hunting, fishing and gardening were part of daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wallace landed his first job at 11, mowing lawns and pulling weeds in his neighborhood, and he has been steadily employed ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While his father modeled a strong blue-collar work ethic \u2014 first as an insulator and later in construction \u2014 Wallace said his mother, RaeAnn, influenced him in a different way. She returned to college later in life and earned an accounting degree. Today, she manages payroll for the St. Louis County courthouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe showed me it\u2019s never too late to go back to school,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovering the Science That Stuck<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Wallace\u2019s fascination with science took hold early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrowing up, I fell in love with ecosystems,\u201d he said. \u201cI enjoyed tracking animals and predicting their behavior. And my 10th-grade biology class completely blew my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His interest in water quality was shaped by his surroundings along the St. Louis River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always looked at the river and wondered why it looked so dirty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At UW-Superior, Wallace\u2019s curiosity turned into hands-on research through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship<\/a> (SURF) program, encouraged by his academic adviser, Andy Breckenridge<\/a>. Under the mentorship of Professor Raymond Lee<\/a>, Wallace studied turbidity and water clarity in the St. Louis River Estuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using tools such as a Secchi disk, Wallace measured how deeply sunlight penetrates the water \u2014 a key indicator of water quality. His work earned recognition from the Izaak Walton League, which awarded him grant funding to support his research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was later invited to present his findings at the St. Louis River Summit, held on campus in March, with the hope of publishing his research in an academic or scientific journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lee, assistant professor of environmental science and GIS at UW-Superior, described Wallace as an exemplary student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoe is a nontraditional returning student who previously worked as a handyman, welder and sales associate at Burger King, among other jobs,\u201d Lee said. \u201cHe did well in my introductory GIS and undergraduate research courses and caught the research bug.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee mentored Wallace during the SURF program on what he called an ambitious project involving extensive water-clarity sampling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis work caught the eye of conservationists in the local chapter of the Izaak Walton League,\u201d Lee said. \u201cJoe is an exemplary nontraditional student \u2014 and an outstanding student in general.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As graduation approached, Wallace remained open-minded about his career path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know I want to work with ecosystems, whether that\u2019s water quality or forests,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m also interested in regenerative agriculture. I want to help us move forward sustainably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also plans to continue his education and hopes to find an employer willing to support graduate studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advice From an \u2018Elder Statesman\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As one of the older students in his program, Wallace embraced his role on campus \u2014 often with humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m even older than some of my professors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wallace values the relationships he\u2019s built with students of all ages and said he often helped classmates who were struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that I was a role model,\u201d Wallace said, \u201cbut I did mentor or tutor a bit when I could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To other nontraditional students considering a return to college, Wallace offers simple advice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBelieve in yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to chase your dreams \u2014 and it\u2019s never as scary as it seems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Written by UW-Superior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/uwsuper.edu\/about\/news\/from-the-shop-floor-to-the-shoreline\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Wallace is not your typical college student. At 46, the University of Wisconsin-Superior senior is a parent, a longtime blue-collar worker and, prior to his graduation in May, something of an \u201celder statesman\u201d in his academic program. Before returning to college, Wallace worked a string of physically demanding jobs, including welding and construction, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[110],"story_category":[150,146],"class_list":["post-13682","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-superior","story_category-featured","story_category-research-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/13682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=13682"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=13682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}