Category Archives: Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

July 10: Ribbon in the Sky: Soul, Funk, and the Enduring Power of Black Art

Posted on July 12, 2024 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Kevin Hoffman

Professor Alexander Shashko of UW Madison and a lecturer in African American history, gave an illuminating overview of the exceptional and significant impact Black art, and music in particular, has had on American and world culture. From the times of the enslaved to the present-day Black music in its various forms (Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Soul, Funk and more) is the communication medium that expressed hope, survival, innovation, identity, joy and greatness through and between generations. If we want to understand the world and young people and what they are experiencing, Professor Shashko urge us to listen to contemporary music – not just the melody but especially the words and what they are saying.

If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/hfpOSng1TVY.

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, UW-Madison, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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June 12: RI President Gordon McInally Addresses Club

Posted on June 17, 2024 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Ellsworth Brown

Through the invitation of club member Ed Futa, Rotary International President Gordon McInally addressed Downtown Rotary’s meeting, which included invited clubs in and around Madison.

President McInally’s Rotary year is nearing an end, but the theme he has chosen– Create Hope in the World—will endure because it describes in five words what Rotary International does.  He shared moving incidents that reinforce the theme:

  • In 2022 he vaccinated a Pakistani child with two drops of fluid on his tongue, eliminating his risk of polio.
  • In northern India, at a school funded by the Rotary Foundation, he spoke with an eight-year-old student who said that her education was the “key to the golden door and a noble future.”
  • Also in India, he spoke with a woman of 46 who appeared to be 70.  Rotary gave her a grant for medical care a prohibitive 12 hours away, cataract surgery and her first pair of glasses, enabling her to earn a living and see her grandchildren for the first time.

These are examples of how Rotary holds hope in the collective hands of our worldwide clubs’ members.

If you missed our meeting last week, you can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuZM_NjsnRc.

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Posted in Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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May 22: Oberhauser Shares How to Save the Monarch Butterfly

Posted on May 24, 2024 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Valerie Renk

Dr. Karen Oberhauser, conservation biologist and UW-Madison Arboretum Director, told Rotarians that Monarch Butterfly populations have been declining in the last three decades. Loss of breeding habitat and hot/dry conditions translate to less feed and are to blame. Twelve of the 100+ milkweed species needed are native to Wisconsin.

Oberhauser then shared how we can help:

  • Landscape your own home with flowers that bloom throughout the summer; Kentucky bluegrass is invasive.
  • Plant milkweed and colorful flowers in rights-of-way not mowed, crop buffers and land already protected.
  • Contribute to science and conservations organizations; mitigate climate change.

If you missed the program this week you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/vJALctE5Ocg. 

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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May 8: Building and Sustainability

Posted on May 10, 2024 by | Leave a comment

submitted by Joy Cardin

Not only are sustainable building practices good for the environment, they’re good for business according to Ben Austin, the Sustainability Lead at J.H. Findorff and Sons, Inc.

Austin outlined some of the reasons why businesses should prioritize sustainability during his presentation before the Rotary Club of Madison.

Saving money on energy costs is one of them, taking advantage of grants and tax credits available to address the climate risk through the Inflation Reduction Act is another.  Businesses can also support the health of a building’s occupants by having better air ventilation systems and they can also attract and retain younger workers, who care deeply about the climate change issue, by practicing sustainability. 

If you missed the program this week you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/STGswGVoeQA

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Posted in Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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April 24: The Weather Guys on Wisconsin Weather

Posted on April 26, 2024 by | Leave a comment

submitted by Jessika Kasten

On April 24, Professors Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, affectionately known as the “Weather Guys,” answered questions regarding, “What’s up with Wisconsin Weather?” They confirmed that climate change is real based on a wide variety of data and factors, and likely played a role in Wisconsin’s warmest winter on record in 132 years in 2023-2024. The professors provided hope to the group that it’s never too late to reverse climate change, but cautioned that even when we do, it may take generations to relax back to the weather of the mid-20th century.

If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/jOZZNb7mm_g.

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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April 17: Is It Fair to All Concerned?

Posted on April 22, 2024 by | Leave a comment

submitted by Ellsworth Brown

Is it fair to all concerned?  No, this is not about our Rotary Club. 

Gavin Luter, club member and Director of the University Alliance, and Tim Swadley, Mayor of Stoughton, explained that their combined efforts advanced the Wisconsin Idea as representatives of a program identified as the UniverCity initiative.

The UniverCity initiative trades on two assumptions, first that as strong as a college education is, it is inherently still limited, often to whatever a teacher and classroom can provide; and second, cities and towns in Wisconsin have unmet needs—e.g. analysis, ideas, planning—which they can’t afford and for which they do not have the resources to manage themselves.

Consultants can provide objective viewpoints, cost analysis, and surveys, for example, and selected groups of students can provide these and other services, advancing community development as well as their own skills and teamwork experience.  This arrangement is directed as virtually any project that the community selects, fulfilling assistance in whatever way the client—the town or city—has identified:  tourism, parks, roadways and crossings, affordable housing, surveys, health and well-being, solutions to the opioid crisis. . . all ideas can be considered.

If you missed our meeting last week, you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/NW7yEF-fX0w.

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

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