Category: Accolades
Photo by Richard Hurd
WPS again named VETS Indexes 4 Star Employer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
DeAnne Boegli
Corporate Communications
608-977-7343
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com
WPS again named VETS Indexes 4 Star Employer
MADISON, Wis.—April 15, 2024—WPS Health Solutions® has earned the designation of VETS Indexes 4 Star Employer in the 2024 VETS Indexes Employer Awards for the second year in a row. The award recognizes the company’s commitment to recruiting, hiring, retaining, developing, and supporting veterans and the military-connected community.
“Competition for the VETS Indexes Employer Awards was tougher than ever in 2024, as a record number of organizations participated,” George Altman, President of VETS Indexes, said. “Even with hundreds of employers in the running, the veterans program at WPS Health Solutions stood out from the rest. Congratulations to WPS Health Solutions on this outstanding achievement!”
“WPS is honored to earn this designation and proud to serve our nation by creating a safe and inclusive place for veterans to work after their service to our country is completed,” WPS Chief People Officer Moira Klos said. “The discipline and skillsets veterans bring to work each day make WPS a stronger company.”
This year, a record 344 organizations submitted completed surveys for the VETS Indexes Employer Awards, an increase of more than 100 from last year and nearly triple the number from two years ago. Of those, VETS Indexes recognized 285 organizations across the following award levels: 5 Star Employer, 4 Star Employer, 3 Star Employer, and Recognized Employer. Not every responding organization made the cut—only those that demonstrated a strong commitment to veterans, members of the National Guard and Reserves, and military spouses. Participating organizations included companies large and small, government agencies and departments, nonprofit groups, colleges, and universities.
About WPS Health Solutions®
Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS Health Solutions), founded in 1946, is a nationally regarded benefits administrator for a variety of U.S. government programs and a leading not-for-profit health insurer in Wisconsin. WPS Health Solutions serves active-duty and retired military personnel, seniors, individuals, and families in Wisconsin, across the U.S., and around the world. WPS Health Solutions, headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, has more than 2,600 employees. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.
About VETS Indexes
VETS Indexes is a leading voice on veteran employment issues, overseeing the VETS Indexes Employer Awards, hosting the Employing U.S. Vets Conference, unearthing unique and unprecedented data on veteran employment through the Veteran Employment Benchmarking Service, and developing custom indexes, linked to financial products, that track the performance of the publicly traded companies that have established themselves as the best employers for veterans.
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Photo by Richard Hurd
UW-Madison Division of the Arts: Professor Laura Schwendinger Leads The List of Recipients for the 2024 Creative Arts Awards; Wisconsin Film Festival’s Artistic Director Earns Bartell Award
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Media Contact: Kate Hewson, info@arts.wisc.edu
Media kit: https://uwmadison.box.com/s/mlao475g6uqcp77qw3440nhcewpqk32g
News article: https://artsdivision.wisc.edu/2024/02/08/2024-creative-arts-awardees/
Professor Laura Schwendinger Leads The List of Recipients for the 2024 Creative Arts Awards; Wisconsin Film Festival’s Artistic Director Earns Bartell Award
Madison, Wis. – February 8, 2024 – The much anticipated 2024 Creative Arts Awardees have been announced by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts. Laura Schwendinger, Professor of Music Composition at University of Wisconsin–Madison, leads a distinguished list of faculty, staff and student recipients, who will be honored publicly at a special gala event on May 2, 2024 at the Hamel Music Center.
Professor Schwendinger will receive the Creative Arts Award, which recognizes and honors extraordinary artistic projects and endeavors of the highest quality carried out by tenured members of the UW–Madison arts faculty. Schwendinger is the award-winning composer of Artemisia, winner of the 2023 American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Opera award, one of the largest such awards to composers of opera, was the first composer to win the Berlin Prize in 1999 and is a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow. Staff member Hannah O’Hare Bennett, an artist and experimental papermaker based in Madison, WI is among the notable recipients this year and will receive the Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award. She holds an MFA in Design Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison (2017). She is known for her innovative techniques with hand papermaking and natural pigments, and frequently teaches workshops on those topics at art centers around the United States. Currently she is the UW–Madison campus recruiter for the International Division and lectures in the Art Department. Kaleb B. Autman, senior and a double-major in Sociology and Legal Studies, began studying at UW–Madison in the fall of 2021 as a First Wave Scholar. Autman is a documentarian working through the mediums of photography, video, and spoken word, focused on Black and Indigenous resistance and survivance. His practice employs memory and ancestral ties in centering land stewardship, cultural stewardship, and social movements. He will receive the Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Undergraduate Student Award in the Creative Arts and the Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Arts Award.
Mike King, the visionary Artistic Director of the Wisconsin Film Festival (WFF), is this year’s recipient of the Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts for his exceptional contributions to the arts community. Under King’s leadership, the Wisconsin Film Festival has become a beacon of cultural and community engagement, showcasing groundbreaking films that provoke thought, celebrate diversity, and connect people across the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus and beyond. The Division of the Arts extends its sincere thanks to the Bartell Family for their deep and engaging contribution to the arts on UW’s campus and across the Madison arts community over many decades. The multiple points of access and engagement created by this synergy between the donor and the work is the Wisconsin Idea in action.
“We’re proud of the diverse group of awardees from across UW–Madison faculty, staff and students this year, who are doing groundbreaking and innovative research intended to benefit the communities we serve.” says Christopher Walker, Director of the Division of the Arts. “There is a renaissance in the arts post COVID, and the Creative Arts Awards serves to recognize excellence and equip our talented recipients to lead the change and to go boldly with work that advances the Wisconsin Idea.”
Completing this year’s list of awardees are:
Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts
Anna Campbell, Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies
Peter Dominguez, Professor of Double Bass and Jazz Studies, Mead Witter School of Music
David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts
Anamika Singh, MFA candidate, 4D, Art Department
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Graduate Student Award in the Creative Arts
Diego Alegria, PhD Candidate, Literary Studies, English
Gabriela Yepes-Rossel, PhD candidate, Interdisciplinary Theater Studies
Graduate Student Creative Arts Awards
Fatemeh Fani, MFA candidate, photography, Art Department
Matthew Ludak, MFA candidate, photography, Art Department
Veronica Pham, MFA candidate, fiber arts, Department of Design Studies
Magdalena Sas, PhD candidate, cello performance, Mead Witter School of Music
Caroyln Spears, MFA candidate, glassmaking, Art Department
Devon Stackonis, MFA candidate, printmaking, Art Department
Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Undergraduate Student Award in the Creative Arts
Diya Abbas, Creative Writing & South Asian Studies
Kaleb Autman, Sociology & Legal Studies
Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Arts Award
Kaleb Autman, Sociology & Legal Studies
Dylan Hart, Wisconsin School of Business
Madelyn Mascotti, Art Department
Kiyem Obuseh, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Abby Sunde, Art Department
Isaac Yang, Department of Communication Arts
The 2024 Creative Arts Awards selection committee chaired by Chris Walker, and comprised Faisal Abdu’Allah, Anthony Di Sanza, Florence Hsia, Grant Nelsestuen, Jen Plants and Samara Frame (ex officio).
The Creative Arts Awards program enables the Arts Division to recognize and support research and outreach in all areas of the creative arts at UW–Madison. Eight awards are open to a variety of arts practitioners, researchers, students (both undergraduate and graduate), staff and faculty from arts academic departments, co-curricular arts units and programs. The gala awards ceremony, presented by the Division of Arts, is a celebration of diverse and groundbreaking creative arts research that spans disciplines and departments across UW–Madison.
This year’s event will hold even greater significance, as it will form part of the UW–Madison’s 175th Anniversary celebration. The gala will feature an extraordinary evening of performance and acknowledgement of some of UW–Madison’s most distinguished faculty, staff and students. The evening will also highlight notable transformative service contributions.
About The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts
The Division of the Arts advocates for, connects, and elevates the arts at UW–Madison. Our vision, “The Arts for Everyone, Everywhere,” is one by which the arts at UW–Madison are: integral to research, teaching, learning and outreach; accessible to all at UW–Madison; and impactful both locally and globally. Through the Creative Arts Awards, the Arts Division provides research support to faculty, staff, and students in the arts. Awards are made possible by the Emily Mead Baldwin Professorship Fund, Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award for Arts Faculty and Staff Fund, Suzanne and Roberto Freund, Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Award Fund, Emily Nissley, David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Fund, Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Fund, and the Division of the Arts.
Photo by Richard Hurd
Spherion Staffing and Recruiting in Madison Presented General Staffing Office of the Year Award
Local Staffing and Recruiting Company Recognized with Prestigious National Honors
Spherion Staffing and Recruiting (Spherion) in Madison announced today that it was recently presented with the General Staffing Office of the Year award for the second consecutive year during the company’s annual National Meeting. In addition, team members Loraine Burton and Becky Romens were recognized as top performers nationally.
“It’s an honor to be awarded nationally for the second year in a row,” said Kassner. “This acknowledgment reinforces the outstanding work our team does each day to make a meaningful impact for both businesses and job seekers in Madison.”
The 2024 Spherion National Meeting was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans from March 14 to 16. While there, franchisees had the chance to reconnect with each other and with members of the corporate team while participating in educational workshops that embody Spherion’s culture of continuous growth and improvement.
“It was an empowering moment for our franchise community to gather in New Orleans for our 2024 National Meeting and celebrate our 2023 accomplishments while reflecting on growth opportunities for the year ahead,” said Kathy George, president of Spherion. “Spherion has the award-winning reputation it holds today because of franchisees like Austin, whose dedication to excellence sets the standard for our organization. We’re proud to recognize the entire Madison team for their hard work and community contributions.”
Spherion brandishes the power of local through a network of independent and empowered franchisees like Kassner. Each Spherion franchisee enriches their community through connecting and facilitating employment opportunities every day—and when they’re successful together, their investments flow back into the neighborhoods where they live and work. The power of Spherion is in its local roots.
Photo by Richard Hurd
Alliant Energy named among Most Trustworthy Companies in America
Newsweek recently announced its list of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America, and for the third year in a row, Alliant Energy was included. The award list was presented on March 27 by Newsweek and Statista Inc., a statistics portal and industry ranking provider.
Photo by Richard Hurd
Madison’s Novii CPA is an accounting firm with startup vibes
Name an industry, and chances are there are at least a few startups vying to “disrupt” it with some status-quo-busting product or business model.
But accounting?
The business of preparing financial statements and filing taxes might not sound ripe for revolution. But after working with many clients who owned small businesses, certified public accountant Victoria Thayer caught the startup bug too.
“It was so inspiring to see all these entrepreneurs that just had an idea, started a business and took the leap,” Thayer said. “So I started thinking well … maybe I should give it a try.”
She envisioned a company that would help business owners understand their finances and financial options so they can achieve their goals. While many startups proffer human-replacing technology, Thayer imagined transforming the accounting industry by getting accountants to interact more with their clients and colleagues.
Last May, she quit her job as an auditor to do just that. She named her firm Novii CPA, a combination of “novus” (new) and “vision,” with an extra “i” inspired by tech startups.