Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau, Director UW School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS), shared how the UW is advancing AI.
“The term AI is actually older than computer science,” Arpaci-Dusseau said. “The idea couldn’t advance until there was the computing power and speed to carry it out.”
Arpaci-Dusseau says he sees their work growing from a department to a college, bridging all colleges/schools with three impacts: technology, applications, and society/policy.
“Steve Jobs once said computers are a bicycle, making the mind more efficient. Our challenge is teaching students to multiply impact, yet know the underlying infrastructure to recognize good answers.”
The Rotary Club of Madison bid a fond and funny farewell to now Past President Jason Ilstrup and welcomed new Club President Anthony Gray with anticipation and enthusiasm.
President Anthony good-naturedly proclaimed meetings will start and end on time from now on and predicted continued success for the club.
Thank you Past President Jason! We appreciate you – if not your singing voice! We know your work with the club is far from over.
Welcome President Anthony! We know the club is in good hands.
If you missed the meeting, and Melanie Ramey’s cameo on Jason’s blooper reel, be sure to watch this week’s video on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/3nw9uY6fo_A.
For decades, Oscar Mireles has dedicated himself to volunteer community leadership and public service in the Madison area. Deeply inspired by his heritage and the values of social justice, equity and education, Oscar has been a tireless advocate for underserved communities, particularly the Latino population in Madison. His commitment to empowering others through education, poetry and civic engagement embodies the values of unity, compassion and inclusivity.
As a community leader, Oscar has significantly impacted Madison’s cultural and educational landscape. He is the long-serving Executive Director of Omega School, where he has helped thousands of marginalized individuals obtain their GEDs and unlock opportunities for a better future. Under his leadership, Omega School has become a beacon of hope for adults seeking to further their education. Furthermore, he founded the culture and arts focused non-profit, Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development (LOUD) to share art from BIPOC artists with the community. Oscar has been a key figure in promoting arts and culture in Madison, most notably through his work as a poet and as Madison’s first Latino Poet Laureate, with three published anthologies.
Oscar’s influence extends far beyond his professional life. He has served on numerous boards and committees, lending his leadership and vision to organizations including, but not limited to, the City of Madison Cultural Planning Committee, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art(MMOCA), the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, the Friends of PBS Wisconsin and the Latino Consortium for Action.
His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards and accolades over the years, including the Dane County Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award, the Literacy Advocate of the Year Award from Wisconsin Literacy, the Outstanding Educator Award from the 100 Black Men of Madison, the Friend of Education Award from Gov. Tony Evers.
In addition to his leadership and advocacy, Oscar is a passionate mentor to young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. His work as a mentor has inspired countless students to pursue their dreams and give back to their communities. His poetry, often centered on the Latino experience and issues of social justice, has touched the lives of many and created greater awareness of the challenges faced by marginalized groups.
Described as someone who brings different groups together, despite, and because of their differences, the Rotary Club of Madison congratulates Oscar Mireles on receiving the Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award for his lifetime of service and leadership.
Each year, our club recognizes up to six members for their service to our Rotary Club in one of the five avenues of service which are club, community, international, vocational or youth service. Today, I am going to introduce you to a Rotary Club of Madison 2024 Youth Service Award recipient.
Nick Curran is a CPA and owner of Numbers 4 Nonprofits. He joined our Rotary Club in 2014.
During his 10 years of membership, Nick has mentored three students who have received college scholarships from our Madison Rotary Foundation. He has also helped purchase gifts during our annual gift drive for children in need in our community during the holidays. During COVID, we were pleased to see Nick and his children singing some of our feature songs for our online meetings.
Nick is our club’s assistant treasurer, a role he has held since 2021, and serves on our Budget & Finance Committee. I also learned that outside of Rotary, Nick was an Ironman finisher in 2022.
We are pleased to recognize Nick with our Rotary Club of Madison Youth Service Award, and he received a special pin and certificate for this recognition, and our club has provided 200 Paul Harris Fellow points to Nick for this recognition as well.
On February 21, former Downtown Rotary member, Alison Prange, shared with us the role the 2024 Host Committee plays in working with the National Republican Committee to prepare Milwaukee and Wisconsin for the invasion of 50,000 additional visitors including 5,000 delegates attending the National Republican Convention July 15th to the 18th. She is the COO of the Host Committee, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization.
Alison emphasized the role of her organization is to help the RNC have a smooth convention by facilitating 8,000 vendors in their effort to serve the convention and its attendees who will spend $200M as well as promote Milwaukee and Wisconsin to 24 million television viewers.
Tania Ibarra, co-founder of Step Up: Equity Matters) and Jeannine Bindl (Step Up: Equity Matters advisor, facilitator and project manager) described their organization’s journey as a start-up in Madison which began as a volunteer organization in 2014. By 2019, the organization added its first full time employee. The growth of the organization began to address the big DEI problems in our local organizations and to help them build the confidence and skills to keep moving forward for diversity, equity and inclusion improvements.
The Step Up: Equity Matters change management process includes assessment, strategy development, and implementation in that order – while recognizing that the process is not strictly linear. It is critical that the business’ leadership be a sponsor of the process and committed to the plan. The plan takes 3 – 5 years to fully create positive and sustainable change. The speakers indicated that, to be successful, business leaders must see the lack of diversity, equity and inclusion as a business problem to be solved at all levels of the organization. Their ‘Recognize – Own – Disrupt’ approach was described as ‘never easy’ and ‘never linear’. Continuous learning, and open feedback from all levels within the organization will help lead to inclusive growth.
Emotional intelligence is key in this process – clients must learn to understand their emotions and biases (while recognizing that the word, bias, is emotionally loaded). The speakers are clearly committed to their mission. They have guided many local businesses and organizations to continuous learning by embedding DEI in leadership, all business functions and employee learning opportunities. They definitely made it clear that DEI is good for business, and we know it is good for Rotary.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 