WPS Health Solutions named a DAV Patriot Employer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
DeAnne Boegli
Vice President of Communications
608-512-5754
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

WPS Health Solutions named a DAV Patriot Employer
Disabled American Veterans recognizes WPS for helping veterans find employment

MADISON, Wis.—Feb. 7, 2022—Disabled American Veterans (DAV) has recognized WPS Health Solutions for its efforts to hire veterans. The national organization, based in Kentucky, recently designated WPS as a DAV Patriot Employer.

To earn the designation, WPS was evaluated on the strength of its veteran recruiting and hiring efforts, retention, and career-building efforts. DAV looked at WPS policies toward disabled veterans, active-duty, and veteran employees. DAV also examined WPS’ community outreach initiatives and support for veterans in communities where WPS operates.

“WPS Health Solutions is known for being veteran-ready. We take great pride in our corporate culture. That culture is fought for by the service of these men and women through their military careers,” said Tim La Sage, Military and Veteran Inclusion Lead at WPS. “As a disabled veteran, I’m proud to work for a company that cares about our nation’s heroes enough to help them find meaningful employment. This betters our corporation by having them as employees.”

La Sage cites WPS’ partnerships with veteran nonprofits, panel interviews that include a military veteran employee, the company’s VET (Veterans Enhancement Team) employee resource group, and the education of employees and hiring managers as reasons why all WPS employees should be proud of this DAV recognition. “The DAV Patriot Award is a humbling recognition from such a tremendous organization,” he added.

The award qualifies WPS for DAV Employer of the Year award, which will be announced in Washington, D.C., in August.

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, Wis., has more than 2,800 employees. Within the enterprise, there are three divisions: WPS Government Health Administrators, WPS Military and Veterans Health, and WPS Health Insurance/WPS Health Plan/EPIC Specialty Benefits. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

About DAV

DAV is a nonprofit charity that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families, helping more than 1 million veterans in positive, life-changing ways each year. Annually, the organization provides more than 240,000 rides to veterans attending medical appointments and assists veterans with well over 160,000 benefit claims. In 2020, DAV helped veterans receive more than $23 billion in earned benefits. DAV’s services are offered at no cost to all generations of veterans, their families, and survivors.

©2022 Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation. All rights reserved.

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It’s official: EUA Expands Reach and Services through Merger with Performa

EUA, a leading architecture and design firm has expanded its reach and service offering by announcing a merger with Performa, a De Pere, WI and Atlanta, GA based Architecture + Engineering firm. EUA’s core strengths are in architecture, planning and interior design for industries such as education, workplace, healthcare, senior living, industrial, mixed-use, community, aerospace and science + technology. Combining with Performa’s strengths in architecture and engineering in the corporate office, industrial + manufacturing, higher education and faith and mission-based markets, will give EUA an even stronger regional and national presence.

Click here to learn more about the merger.

EUA recognized as Top Workplace USA

EUA is honored to be recognized as a Top Workplace USA by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Top Workplace USA nationally recognizes companies for prioritizing their people first, creating a positive work environment within the company.

With three offices located in Milwaukee, Madison, and Denver, and active expansion efforts underway, EUA continuously strives to maintain a culture of transparency and flexibility to provide employees with opportunities and professional growth.

See more here

KW2 Receives National Women’s Business Enterprise Certification

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 19, 2022

Contact: Molly Vidal
(608) 334-0406
mvidal@kw2madison.com

KW2 Receives National Women’s Business Enterprise Certification
Certification recognizes CEO Jennifer Savino’s leadership and KW2’s continued operational excellence

MADISON, Wis.—KW2, one of Wisconsin’s longest-running full-service strategic marketing and communications agencies, announced today the company is now certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)—the largest certifier of women-owned businesses in the U.S. The national recognition is in addition to the certification KW2 received from the State of Wisconsin as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise in 2021.

“We are extremely honored to be certified both nationally and by the State of Wisconsin as a WBE,” said Jennifer Savino, KW2’s CEO and primary owner.

WBENC-Certified WBEs must go through a rigorous process to validate the business is owned, managed, and controlled by a woman or women. The certification standard is accepted by more than 1,000 corporations representing America’s most prestigious brands, in addition to many states, cities, and government entities. More information about WBENC and the in-depth certification process is available HERE.

“KW2 is rooted in the belief that every individual, regardless of life stage or circumstance, deserves to live a healthy and vibrant life,” said Savino. “We are excited at the partnership opportunities this national WBE certification brings to expand this important work.”

With women-owned businesses making up only 19.9% of firms that employed people in the United States in 2018 (according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2021), the national and Wisconsin WBE certifications enable businesses, government agencies, and organizations seeking or needing to diversify their partners for strategic marketing and communications efforts to utilize KW2 to fulfill those requirements.

BACKGROUND:
KW2 is a 35-year-old full-service digital and marketing agency with a long history of success in public health, higher education, and business services. We are a Wisconsin and nationally-certified WBE company that tackles some of society’s most challenging issues for leading organizations like The Wisconsin Departments of Health Services, Children and Families, and Natural Resources, as well as The University of Wisconsin, The Wisconsin Technical College System, and First Choice Dental. With a mission of empowering and improving lives, we believe our people grow in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where their valued insights and experiences help us build authentic relationships. Learn more about KW2’s values, results, services, and clients at kw2madison.com.

UW–Madison Division of the Arts Announces Recipients of the 2022 Creative Arts Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 13, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT: Kate Hewson, Associate Director, UW–Madison Division of the Arts | kate.hewson@wisc.edu

CREATIVE ARTS AWARDS WEBSITE: go.wisc.edu/artsawards

LINK TO PRESS RELEASE: https://artsdivision.wisc.edu/2022/01/12/caa-recipients-2022

LINK TO AWARD RECIPIENT DETAILS: https://artsdivision.wisc.edu/programs/arts-awards/2022-recipients/  

The Division of the Arts Announces Recipients of the 2022 Creative Arts Awards

Madison, Wis. – Each May, the UW–Madison Division of the Arts celebrates artistic achievement, recognizes service to the arts, and supports arts research by bestowing the Creative Arts Awards. The call for applications and nominations was released in early fall with a deadline in December. Seven awards are open to a variety of arts practitioners, researchers, students, staff and faculty from any area including arts academic departments and programs. This includes Art, Art History, Arts Administration, Communication Arts, Creative Writing, Dance, Design Studies, Music, Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies and Theatre and Drama.

Awards are split into three categories: Faculty Arts Research, Staff and Faculty Arts Outreach, and Student Arts Research and Achievement. Applications and nominations for these awards are juried by a panel of six previous recipients of the awards and campus arts research administrators.

“The Creative Arts Awards are integral to recognizing and supporting the research excellence generated by UW–Madison artists,” stated Christopher Walker, Director of the Division of the Arts. “Each of the honorees expands artistic knowledge within their specific discipline and advances the Wisconsin Idea.” Walker encourages staff, faculty, students and community members to attend the award ceremony on May 10, 2022 and thanks the donors who make the awards possible as well as members of the 2022 Creative Arts Awards Selection Committee, including Peggy Choy (Dance), Laurie Beth Clark (Art), Wei Dong (Design Studies), Florence Hsia (History), Dan Lisowski (Theatre and Drama) and Scott Teeple (Music). 

Further information about the recipients and their projects may be found online.

FACULTY ARTS RESEARCH

Creative Arts Award

Beth Nguyen, Professor of Creative Writing

Project title: Layaway

Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts 

Emily Arthur, Associate Professor of Art

Project title: Birds as a Baseline: 100 Years of Our Changing Landscape

Marianne Fairbanks, Associate Professor of Design Studies

Project title: Weaving as a Form of Building

STAFF AND FACULTY ARTS OUTREACH

Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts

Baron Kelly, Professor of Theatre and Drama

Project title: Fences

Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award

Jennifer Angus, Professor of Design Studies

Project title: A Was for Aphid, B was for Bug, C was for Cicada

Adriana Barrios, Center for Design and Material Culture

Project title: Pernicious

Emily Kammerud, Department of Pathology

Project title: It’s Okay to Look

Baron Kelly, Professor of Theatre and Drama

Project title: Fences

STUDENT ARTS RESEARCH AND ACHIEVEMENT

David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts

Magdalena Sas, D.M.A. Cello Performance

Project title: Chamber music works by Reena Esmail, Akshaya Avril Tucker and Asha Srinivasa

Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Student Award in the Creative Arts 

Undergraduate awardees:

Sophia Abrams, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Afro-American Studies and Department of Art History

Ana Tinder, Mead Witter School of Music

Graduate awardees:

Cole Bartels, D.M.A. Trombone Performance

Carlos Ortiz, Ph.D. Candidate Spanish and Portuguese

Mengmeng Wang, D.M.A. Composition

GRADUATE STUDENT CREATIVE ARTS AWARDS
Praveen Maripelly, M.F.A. Candidate of Art
Project title: Prayog: An Interdisciplinary Place

Molly Mattaini, Ph.D. Candidate of Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies

Katherine Norman, Ph.D. Candidate of Educational Psychology

Kailea Saplan, Ph.D. Candidate of Curriculum and Instruction
Project title: Teaching Artists and Antiracism in Out-of-School Time Theatre Programs

Lindsey Meekhof, D.M.A. Candidate in Vocal Performance

Project title: Staging Don Giovanni in acknowledgment of the “Me Too” Movement

Lianne Milton, M.F.A. Candidate of Art

Project title: Matrilline

Henry Obeng, M.F.A. Candidate of Design Studies

Project title: The Trail

Derick Wycherly, M.F.A. Candidate of Art

Project title: M.F.A. Exhibition

Donors that support the awards include the Anonymous Fund, the Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell family, Suzanne and Roberto Freund, Bassett and Evjue Foundations, Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Fund and Emily Nissley.

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