Laurie von Endt, an award-winning artist, felt good about her job as a program assistant at UW-Oshkosh. “It’s not every day that an artist finds herself working for a university art department!” von Endt quipped.

Department Chair Gail Panske nominated Laurie for this award. “Laurie went above and beyond the call of duty in picking up many responsibilities after Ellen Lloyd left her position in the department to move to the dean’s office in February,” Panske said. “She kept the department afloat for more than four months,” Panske said.

Now, Laurie must say goodbye to the art faculty and staff. She resigned at the end of July and is returning to Columbus, Ohio, where she graduated from The Ohio State University and got her start as a professional artist. “I’m going to miss the people here a lot,” she said. “This is a good group of folks and fellow artists. I was really fortunate to get this job.”

Laurie’s work has been exhibited in Wisconsin and other states. Her “Poodle Envy” was one of five “outstanding” lions selected by Ruth DeYoung Kohler, director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, in last year’s “Pride of Oshkosh” lion public art project. In 2002-2003, von Endt taught Art 101 classes for the department. In addition to her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State, she also had a master’s of fine arts from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Her art specialty is hand-colored photos. For the past four years, she also has taught courses at Fox Valley Technical College’s Oshkosh and Neenah campuses.