Category Archives: Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

Rabbi Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award Program on November 12, 2014

Posted on November 13, 2014 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Donna Hurd; photos by Mike Engelberger

Club President Tim Stadelman (left) presenting award to Jonathan Gramling

Club President Tim Stadelman (left) presenting award to Jonathan Gramling

Jonathan Gramling was awarded the 2014 Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award, 32 years since its inception in 1982.

IMG_3317Patty Loew (pictured at left with Jonathan Gramling), a past recipient of the award and Mr. Gramling’s nominator, says of him “Jonathan Gramling has devoted his life to civil rights and promoting racial equity.  From volunteering on self-help projects benefitting African-Americans in the South, to fundraising for United Farm Workers in Madison to supporting Native people on environmental threats associated with mining.  Gramling’s service has been inspirational and exemplary.”

 

IMG_3248In remembrance of Rabbi Swarsensky, Rotarians and guests viewed the 2000 award-winning video production chronicling his life.  In addition, Rotarian Mario Mendoza (pictured at right) provided the club with excerpts of the November 22, 1967, address to the Rotary Club of Madison, entitled “Thanksgiving – Holiday or Holy Day.”  The address, by all accounts, is as relevant today as it was in 1967.  Paralleling the first Thanksgiving to that of 1967, Rabbi Swarsensky penned, “The work of the Pilgrims is no longer our world.  We could not go back to it, even if we wanted to.  But the recollection of the first Thanksgiving of 1621 can have meaning for us in 1967 [and 2014], if we learned again to be grateful for the simple things in life, which are the most priceless blessings: life and health, home and love and friendship, the privilege to give of ourselves and the determination to make our country and the work a better place so that our children and our children’s children may be proud of us, as we are proud of and grateful to those who have gone before us.”

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Pictured above from left: Club President Tim Stadelman, Carol Toussaint, Mercile Lee, Sr. Mary David Walgebach, Sr. Joanne Kollasch, Melanie Ramey, Andy Davison and Mitch Javid

The Club was privileged to host 11 past recipients of the award: Sr. Mary David Walgenbach & Sr. Joanne Kollasch, Patty Loew, Richard Davis, Mitch Javid, Rotarian Carol Toussaint, Rotarian Bill Rock, Rotarian Andy Davison, Norval Bernhardt, Rotarian Melanie Ramey and Mercile Lee.

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In addition, we were honored that Rabbi Swarsensky’s daughter, Sharon Swarsensky Bilow and her husband, Paul Bilow, were able to join us for this celebration.  They are pictured above with Jonathan Gramling.

The Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award was established in 1982 and identifies individuals who have, through their voluntary efforts, made a particularly outstanding contribution to the humanitarian service in the greater Madison community, in the tradition so well exemplified by the life of Rabbi Swarsensky.   The award-winning documentary video, “A Portrait:  Rabbi Manfred Swarsensky,” that was created and produced by Rotarian Dick Goldberg with assistance by Wisconsin Public Television, provides background on Manfred Swarsensky and can be viewed on YouTube, and the Rotary office also has a copy of the video for any member wishing to view it.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Swarsensky Humanitarian Award Committee, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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Community Dialogues: Science and Practice

Posted on November 6, 2014 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Kevin Hoffman; photo by Mike Engelberger

Steve QuintanaUW-Madison Professor Steve Quintana of the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology shared interesting and practical insights into the value of community dialogues to address issues in the community such as race, ethnicity, and nationality.

He started by discussing whether racial bias is innate or learned by studying children as young as 3-6 months.  What he found was that there is an Other Race Effect (ORE) that occurs when a child is exposed to a face from an unfamiliar race.  Through brain imaging, ORE was determined to be a neurological response such as a flight or fear response.  So, even from a young age we are conditioned to react to that which is different.

While we seem to be hard-wired to react to the “other” we are also capable of change.  We often have conflicting feelings about the implicit response of ORE versus our explicit attitudes (“I don’t see race!”).  This causes cognitive dissonance that can be handled by avoidance of the “other”, rationalization (believing in stereotypes), or by actively working to change our implicit attitudes to match our explicit attitudes.

How do we effectively promote understanding and positive values?  Professor Quintana found that the most effective methodology was through experiential learning in a structured, safe and open environment (dialogue).  This means that participants agree that all members have equal status, cooperate by listening and disclosing, have a shared goal of greater understanding, and have the support of an authority such as a government, university, military institution or neighborhood.

This is the process of community dialogue:  Listening carefully enough to be changed by what you hear.  Specifically, sharing heartfelt disclosures to engage the understanding of others, respectful listening and openness, avoidance of trying to persuade or teach, and humanizing the “other” through first-person stories and experiences.

Professor Quintana has studied and used community dialogue for reconciliation and understanding in a wide variety of situations and topics, and encouraged us to find opportunities for dialogue in Madison to engage the community in improving inter-racial understanding and connection.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Club of Madison, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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“Service Before Self”

Posted on October 30, 2014 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Bill Haight; photo by Pete Christianson

Weigand Jeff“Service Above Self” is the Rotary motto. “Service Before Self” is the motto of the Air National Guard. In noting the similarity, Colonel Jeffrey J. Wiegand, commander of the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard, emphasized the role of his organization within the community.

The unit is composed of over 1,100 men and women, including 445 full-time employees .The rest are “citizen airmen” who live and work within the community 28 days a month, and train for two days. The total payroll is $58.2-million.

The 115th Wing has 35 pilots averaging about 2,000 hours of total flying time each and adding about 150 training hours per pilot annually. Maintaining flying hours is a major measure of a unit’s size and strength. Colonel Wiegand noted that his unit, as a joint state-federal entity, is less susceptible to “sequestration” which calls for the full-time Air Force to cut costs ten percent annually.

Colonel Wiegand said he strives to assure that the unit is a valuable resource to the greater Madison area. In addition to being called for overseas missions, the ANG can provide domestic assistance such as mobile medical facilities, search and rescue, drug surveillance, and bomb disposal.

The 115th  Fighter Wing is a tenant of the Dane County Regional Airport, paying part of its “rent” by providing fire and rescue services for the entire airport. His pilots also work closely with the airport to minimize noise complaints.

Colonel Wiegand sounded as much like a business leader as a military commander when he talked about his desire to maintain strong relationships within the community and provide a good place to work so highly skilled personnel can be retained after their minimum six-year reserve duty is finished. That retention rate currently stands at an admirable 60 percent.

 

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Networking, Rotary Club of Madison, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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Meet Tim Stadelman: Club President

Posted on July 24, 2014 by | 1 comment

–submitted by Andrea Kaminski; photo by John Bonsett-Veal

Tim and Rob

President Tim Stadelman (Pictured above at left with Past Club President Rob Stroud) was our speaker on Wednesday, July 23. He spoke about his past and connected it with his goals as President of our club. Tim referred to four core areas of his life – Rotary, Family, Findorff and the Community. He said all four mainstays are connected, and the first three support the community.

Tim thanked his wife Lori and sons Ross, Tommy and Justin as well as his partners and colleages at Findorff for their support. He thanked Rotary members for “the opportunity of a lifetime to lead the Club.”

The sixth of seven children, Tim grew up near Belleville. His father was a cheese maker and the family lived on the upper floor of the cheese factory. After raising seven children, his mother became a kindergarten teacher. Tim’s parents wanted all of their children to go to college, an opportunity they themselves did not have. Tim graduated from UW-Whitewater with a degree in accounting.

In August Tim will celebrate 25 years with Findorff, where he is CFO and an owner of the company. He noted similarities between Findorff’s core values and those of Rotary, including taking a long-term view, fostering strong leadership, maintaining a community focus and engaging multiple generations.

Tim gave a preview of what to expect as the Rotary Board enters the fourth year of our Club’s five year strategic plan:

  1. Marketing will continue to be an emphasis, so that all materials and messaging will have a consistent focus on core concepts;
  2. Membership development efforts will focus on building connections for members, especially those in their first few years with the Club. Each committee and fellowship group will be challenged to organize one shared activity or event with another committee or group.
  3. The Board will lead us in identifying a fourth focus area for Service, in addition to the current areas of Basic Needs, Education and Mentoring, and Civic Leadership.
  4. We will increase involvement with the Rotaract Clubs at UW and Edgewood College, as well as support a new Interact Club at Madison East High School.

Finally, Tim promised 10% more fun! District Governor Dave Warren will explain this in detail at our July 30 meeting.

 

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Posted in 1. President's Messages, 2. Meetings, Networking, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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Madison Police Chief Mike Koval Addresses Rotary on July 2

Posted on July 3, 2014 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Mark Stover; photo by John Bonsett-Veal

Police Chief Mike Koval (left) with Club President Tim Stadelman

Police Chief Mike Koval (left) with Club President Tim Stadelman

Chief Mike Koval of the Madison Police Department (brother of Rotarian Dan Koval), future Downtown Madison Rotarian – no pressure Chief! – and self-described “recovering journalism major” impressed the Wednesday luncheon meeting with thoughtful remarks about his first 3 months in the position.

Chief Koval began his talk by noting the power of words (journalism major recovery apparently notwithstanding).  He noted that police professionals are often caricatured in the media as “law enforcement warriors.”  While this makes for good drama on TV and good copy in the press, it puts off the very people he intends the department to serve.  The problem with the warrior image is that it implies an attitude of “winning at all costs without regard for collateral damage.”

Instead, the Chief prefers connotations of the word “guardian.”  A guardian operates under rules that ensure police officers are not reduced to the level of those who would do harm to the weak, elderly, infirm, or innocent.  A guardian cares for people within his/her area of responsibility and seeks to work with others to build trust.  Trust creates the ability to solve problems together for mutual benefit.

Among those Chief Koval intends to protect are those suffering from mental illness.  The Chief pointed out that earlier this year the State of Wisconsin made it more difficult for his police force to provide that protection.  The Mendota Mental Health Institute is now closed to accepting adult males detained through emergency petitions.  Instead, they need to be driven to Oshkosh to a facility there.  That puts the patient at greater distance from his/her support network.  It also makes two officers unavailable for other protective duties for about 5 hours.

Tuesday night, the Madison Common Council granted the Chief permission to pursue a legal challenge to the State’s order.  True to the character presented in the rest of his presentation, the Chief noted that he sees the Council’s action as offering him leverage to open dialogue rather than as a weapon to be used pre-emptively.

When asked, the Chief noted that if members of the Club wish to provide support in his effort to change the State’s decision they should consider exercising their civic power to address state representatives and senators on the issue.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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