Molly Rae Joins Oak Bank as Human Resources Manager

For Immediate Release

Contact: Karen Virnoche, 608.441.6000
kvirnoche@oak.bank

Molly Rae Joins Oak Bank as Human Resources Manager

Fitchburg, WI – Oak Bank, Fitchburg’s community bank since 2000, welcomes Molly Rae to the team as a Human Resources Manager.

Rae comes to Oak Bank with more than nine years of experience in human resources. In her role at Oak Bank, Rae’s responsibilities include recruiting and onboarding new associates, managing benefits and payroll programs, and helping ensure compliance with local, state, and federal employment regulations.

“Molly comes to Oak Bank with great enthusiasm and is a wonderful addition to our team,” said Terry Taylor, Oak Bank President.

“I hope to bring fresh ideas to Oak Bank to help our associates be successful in their roles and continue to build on the already incredible culture at Oak Bank,” said Rae. “What we do behind the scenes, if you will, creates the best possible banking experience for our clients.”

Rae lives in Madison and is a very active volunteer, leading a co-ed professional business fraternity supporting the Ronald McDonald House. Rae is thrilled to be one of the newest Packers season ticket holders after 25+ years on the waitlist.

About Oak Bank
Oak Bank has been deeply rooted in the Fitchburg community and Madison area for 23 years, meeting the financial needs of homeowners and businesses by offering top-notch service, quick answers, and creative solutions, all while supporting over 125 local nonprofits each year. Visit oak.bank to learn more.

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Wisconsin Union: Limited-Edition Purple, Teal Mini Terrace Chair Purchases Will Support Suicide Prevention Efforts, Mental Health Resources at UW–Madison

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2023 

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Communications Director
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-8862

READ RELEASE ONLINE: union.wisc.edu/about/news/2023-mini-chair

LIMITED-EDITION PURPLE, TEAL MINI TERRACE CHAIR PURCHASES WILL SUPPORT SUICIDE PREVENTION EFFORTS, MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES AT UW–MADISON

MADISON – The purchase of the Wisconsin Union’s limited-edition, mini, purple and teal version of an iconic symbol of summer in Madison, Wisconsin, called the Terrace chair, will support the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s suicide prevention efforts and mental health resources for students with a portion of each sale going to University Health Services’ (UHS’) Suicide Prevention Fund.

The Wisconsin Union team will place about 860 of the purple and teal mini chairs, measuring about 4 inches tall, on the shelves of the Badger Market at Memorial Union for sale on May 1, where they will remain on sale while supplies last. If some of the mini chairs remain on May 15, the team will also make them available in its online Terrace Store. The Union does not anticipate creating more of the purple and teal chairs.

The Wisco Industries team in Oregon, Wisconsin, crafted the chairs and painted them purple after which the Wisconsin Union, including UW–Madison students, hand-painted flecks of teal, making each chair completely unique. Design inspiration was drawn from purple and teal ribbons that are used to raise awareness and support of suicide prevention.

The UHS and the Wisconsin Union teams began discussing the creation of the limited-edition chair and how it could support suicide prevention and mental health promotion efforts for UW–Madison students in summer 2022.

“The Terrace chair is a symbol of joining together as a community, so it’s a fitting extension of its identity to support the well-being of UW–Madison students,” said Mark Guthier, associate vice chancellor for student affairs and executive director of the Wisconsin Union.

The Suicide Prevention Fund at UHS helps fund suicide prevention programs and mental health resources at UW–Madison, including population-level prevention efforts and clinical services and support for students.

“Supporting the mental health of UW–Madison students is central to our work at UHS,” said Jake Baggott, associate vice chancellor for student affairs and executive director of UHS. “All members and supporters of our Badger community can play a role in suicide prevention and contribute to a culture of care at UW–Madison.”

UHS offers confidential, no-cost mental health services to UW–Madison students, including daily drop-in counseling opportunities through Let’s Talk, individual counseling, group counseling, and psychiatric care.

UHS also offers a 24-hour mental health crisis line at (608) 265-5600 (option 9) for students and anyone concerned about a student’s well-being in addition to training and education on suicide prevention created for University team members and students. Additional suicide prevention resources are available at uhs.wisc.edu/prevention/suicide-prevention.

In addition to purchasing teal and purple mini chairs, those looking to support the University’s mental health and suicide prevention initiatives can make tax-deductible donations directly to the Suicide Prevention Fund here.

In recent years, the Wisconsin Union’s other limited-edition mini chairs have included a cow-print chair in 2019, which supported the UW School of Veterinary Medicine’s building expansion project, and a 2020 chair that featured a painting of the Earth and benefited the UW–Madison Green Fund. Patrons can still purchase a limited supply of cow-print mini chairs in the Union’s online Terrace Store and in the Union’s Badger Markets at Memorial Union and Union South. 

On an ongoing basis, customers can purchase mini red, green, yellow and orange Terrace chairs and tables in the Badger Markets at Memorial Union and Union South as well as in the online Terrace Store.

Patrons can purchase full-size red or white Terrace chairs and tables exclusively in the online Terrace Store.

Sales of the regularly available mini and full-size Terrace furniture help the nonprofit Wisconsin Union provide free and low-cost events, activities and services; its spaces; and Union student leadership opportunities, some of which provide academic stipends of up to 80% of students’ in-state tuition.

Yellow, orange and green Terrace chairs rose to fame with their presence at the Wisconsin Union’s outdoor dining and entertainment space, called the Memorial Union Terrace. The trademarked sunburst design of the chair purportedly first appeared with its current design in the 1960s at the Terrace. About 2,000 full-size Terrace chairs sit on the Memorial Union Terrace from early spring to late fall each year and have come to mark the start of summer in Madison and a time of outdoor gathering in the community.

To purchase the limited-edition, mini, purple and teal chairs, while supplies last, patrons can visit the Badger Market at Memorial Union beginning May 1 and, if supplies continue to be available, can also shop for the chairs in the online Terrace Store beginning May 15.

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About the Wisconsin Union

The Wisconsin Union enhances the lives of members and visitors through recreational, cultural, educational and social opportunities. Formed in 1907, the Wisconsin Union is a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Union and its tradition of providing experiences for a lifetime: union.wisc.edu.

UW–Madison Division of the Arts to host Sri Vamsi Matta and Marlon F. Hall as 2023–24 Interdisciplinary Artists-in-Residence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2023

Media Contact: aryn kresol, Arts Residency Programs Coordinator at UW–Madison Division of the Arts, akresol@wisc.edu

URL: go.wisc.edu/Matta

Link to media assets: https://uwmadison.box.com/s/1c187t0l7tpdhunjhieqlfl8w0z6qj42 

Link to article: https://artsdivision.wisc.edu/2023/04/18/iarp-artists-2023-24-announcement/ 

UW–Madison Division of the Arts to host Sri Vamsi Matta and Marlon F. Hall as 2023–24 Interdisciplinary Artists-in-Residence

Madison, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts is excited to announce two artists selected for the Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program (IARP) for the 2023–24 academic year: Sri Vamsi Matta and Marlon F. Hall. Sri Vamsi Matta (Bengaluru, India)is the inaugural academic-year-long Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence. Marlon F. Hall (Tulsa, OK) is the Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence for the Spring 2024 semester.

While in residence, each artist will teach an interdisciplinary course and participate in public programming with campus and Madison communities. The Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program provides students with extended learning experiences with a working artist, increases diversity of teaching staff on campus and strengthens programmatic ties among individual departments, programs and other campus and community arts entities.

Beginning in August 2023, the Division of the Arts and the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures will welcome Sri Vamsi Matta, a Bangalore-based theater and visual artist, to UW–Madison through May 2024. For the Fall 2023 semester, Vamsi’s residency will include teaching a 3-credit course, Whose Art Is It Anyway? Explorating Folk Performance from South Asia structured around central questions such as: What are some rules that govern performance culture globally? Who set these rules? Can they be broken? How? Throughout the course, students will examine the appropriation, weaponization, dilution or valuation of particular performance practices from historically marginalized South Asian and American artistic communities by dominant groups. The course will also juxtapose the history of these performance styles with models of contemporary artists in South Asia and the US who have subverted these “classical” forms for activism and political assertion. 

Vamsi’s residency will continue during the Spring 2024 semester with public programming with campus and Madison communities, and a residency-long engagement with a UW–Madison based theater and storytelling group, leading up to a final production entitled “BLUE.” An original musical written by residency lead Zara Chowdhary and Vamsi, “BLUE” will be devised in collaboration with First Wave Scholars, Indian and Indian American poets, Black, Brown and white musicians and artists. Dates for public programs are to be announced.

The residency is presented in partnership with the Division of the Arts and the Department Asian Languages and Cultures, with Jamal Jones, Assistant Professor, as lead faculty and Zara Chowdhary, Lecturer in Hindi, as residency lead. Co-sponsors for the residency are the Department of Theatre and Drama, Department of History, Center for Visual Cultures, Center for South Asia, Center for Humanities, International Learning Community, Center for Research on Gender and Women, and the Human Rights Program.

In January 2024, the Division of the Arts and the Art Department will welcome Marlon F. Hall as the Spring 2024 Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence, concurrently with Sri Vamsi Matta. Hall’s residency will include teaching a 3-credit course, The Olive Tree; Growing Community Engaged Storytelling from Irritation to Intrigue, centered in community art that nourishes social healing in Madison. The olive tree nourishes the soil it’s planted in just as much as the soil nourishes it. From social irritation to ethnographic intrigue to art-making innovation, the course will provoke questions like: What irritates you about society? How can we develop purposeful listening in the community? How can the responses to these questions become an art-making process? 

Throughout the course, students will explore topics such as the power of community meals, listening to community stories and creating ethnographic films, audio narratives and large-scale photography as community-based healing installations. The residency will also feature public programming with campus and Madison communities throughout the semester, including site-specific installations and film screenings to be exhibited in public spaces all over the city.  

The residency is presented in partnership with the Division of the Arts and the Art Department, with Faisal Abdu’Allah, Professor and Associate Dean of the Arts, as lead faculty.  

About the Artists

Sri Vamsi Matta, or simply Vamsi, is a Bangalore-based Theatre and Visual artist. His practice is influenced by his Dalit identity, experience and location. Dalit is the political identity of communities formerly known as “untouchable” and considered the lowest within the Hindu Caste System, and thus oppressed by its discriminatory scriptures, social structures and norms. The identity and histories of his community and family inform the questions, topics and mediums that Vamsi engages with through his work. As a student of science, Vamsi’s work is rooted in rigorous research. As the child of a writer, he has grown up around stories and finds that they are his route to not only entertain and educate but to organize people and challenge hegemonic and oppressive structures of power.

Marlon F. Hall is an artist and anthropologist whose work is rooted in social practice and grown from anthropological listening. Marlon integrates community engagement and storytelling as a process for cultivating healing in communities that have experienced political, cultural or systemic trauma. As a renowned art-making storyteller, he has served as a Lecturing Fellow for Duke Divinity Leadership Education, an Artist-in-Residence for the Princeton Theological Seminary and the Visual Anthropologist and Social Media Archivist for the Greenwood Art Project. He was recently named a Fulbright Specialist by the U.S. Department of Educational and Cultural Affairs and a 2021 Tulsa Artist Fellow. Currently, Marlon is engaged in Cultural Amnesia Therapy in Tulsa where he is working with local creatives and community advocates to help communities rebuild after the 1921 Race Massacre. His latest project features one of his carefully curated Amnesia Therapy Salon Dinners in partnership with The British Council and The Kenya Pavilion at the 2022  Venice Biennale. Through socially engaged art-installations, large-scale photography, ethnographic films shaped as visual poems and carefully designed salon dinners, his work focuses on revealing the resilient nature of the human spirit, using memory to inform imagination and helping communities reclaim their identity.

About the Presenters

The Division of the Arts’ Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program (IARP), originated through the Cluster Hiring Initiative of the Office of the Provost, brings innovative, world-class artists to the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. Since 1999, the program has hosted over 40 residencies involving more than 100 guest artists from 20 different countries, engaging over 60 university units and community organizations. All residencies center interdisciplinary arts, recognizing that interdisciplinarity can break down barriers and silos, advance intellectual artistic diversity and give opportunities to people who do not fit into the traditional modes of inquiry and practice (see the Division of the Arts’ guiding principle of The Arts for Everyone, Everywhere). The program often brings together artists, faculty, staff and students from various disciplines across the arts, sciences and humanities, sustaining the Division of the Arts’ mission tounify and catalyze the arts at UW–Madison.

Asian Languages and Cultures is home to nearly twenty faculty whose research and teaching specialities include the following: traditional medicine in India; the history of yoga; diversifying contemporary mindfulness practice with insights from Tibetan Buddhism; human rights in Thailand; Chinese ghost stories; traditional poetics and philology; sociolinguistics and discourse analysis of the Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian languages; analysis of classical Japanese tale fiction, early modern comedic narratives, manga, anime and Japanese counterculture.

The UW–Madison Art Department is a national leader in the cultivation and production of creative expression and the visual arts. The undergraduate and graduate degree programs set the practical, critical-thinking and collaborative foundation for students to excel in any area of artistic focus: painting, printmaking, graphic design, sculpture, ceramics, metalsmithing, glass, furniture-making, papermaking, photography, digital media, video, performance and more. For more than a century, the Art Department has set the standard for arts learning: established the first glass-blowing lab in the country; the printmaking programs are consistently ranked the best in the country; the art metals program is ranked among the top three; and it’s home to internationally acclaimed faculty members and visiting artists.

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Associated Bank welcomes Dennis Haefer as business banking team leader for Madison

MADISON, Wis. – April 11, 2023 – Dennis Haefer has joined Associated Bank as senior vice president & business banking team leader for all of Dane County.

Haefer brings 35 years of business banking leadership and relationship management experience to Associated Bank. He has extensive experience assisting business owners in almost every industry, with an incredible understanding of the Dane County business community. 

“Supporting local entrepreneurs, helping them grow and succeed, is my passion and part of my DNA,” said Haefer. “I enjoy helping our business customers with their banking needs, serving as their point of contact here at the bank.”

Haefer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and mathematics from UW-Madison. In the community, he participates in various committees and boards.

He is located at 7722 Mineral Point Rd.

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ABOUT ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP
Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE: ASB) has total assets of $39 billion and is the largest bank holding company based in Wisconsin. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Associated is a leading Midwest banking franchise, offering a full range of financial products and services from more than 200 banking locations serving more than 100 communities throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. The company also operates loan production offices in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas. Associated Bank, N.A. is an Equal Housing Lender, Equal Opportunity Lender and Member FDIC. More information about Associated Banc-Corp is available at www.associatedbank.com.

Valerie Renk Joins One Community Bank Advisory Board

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Ameilia Abraham
One Community Bank
608-838-3141
aabraham@onecommunity.bank

Valerie Renk Joins One Community Bank Advisory Board

(March 2023) – One Community Bank is proud to welcome Valerie Renk, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Dane County, to the One Community Bank Advisory Board!

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Valerie on the One Community Bank Advisory Board. Her deep commitment to non-profit and under privileged communities is inspiring. We are thrilled to have her passion as we continue investing in our communities,” said Jim Walker, Advisory Board Independent Chair.

Valerie is passionate about improving our communities through home ownership and below market financing. She has been with Habitat for Humanity Dane County for over 10 years. She earned her bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism from the University of Wisconsin Madison.

“I look forward to working with this group of leaders,” Renk said. “Learning and sharing how financial inclusion can improve lives right here in our community is important to families and the economy.”

Valerie has served on several esteemed boards and believes in bringing a better life to underserved communities. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and reading.

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One Community Bank is one of the largest community banks in south central Wisconsin. The locally
owned bank has 10 bank locations and $1.8 billion in assets. It provides creative solutions to both
businesses and consumers, with an intense focus on serving clients, supporting colleagues, and investing
in its communities. Regularly named one of Madison’s best places to work, One Community Bank serves
the communities of Oregon, McFarland, Waunakee, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Middleton, Adams, Oxford,
and Grand Marsh.