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Maslowski

Ellie Maslowski was as devoted to the development and success of students as she was to her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh for nearly two decades.

As her friends in the UW Oshkosh community describe her, she treated them like extended family.

After Maslowski’s unexpected passing in January, coworkers and friends within the University staff ranks (formerly Classified staff) at UW Oshkosh have developed a scholarship in honor of her – a scholarship designed to fuel the academic journeys of those colleagues pursuing their educations here.

“Ellie was much loved and a well-respected colleague, and I think there will be many people wanting to honor her memory,” said Cindy Schultz, academic department associate in the UW Oshkosh journalism department.

The Ellie Maslowski Memorial University Staff Scholarship was established in February at the UW Oshkosh Foundation. Maslowski’s friends and colleagues created it, with the Foundation’s guidance, as a reflection of Maslowski’s long-lasting contributions helping create the Classified Staff Advisory Council on campus. Now known as the University Staff Council, that group’s formation in 2001 immediately became a model for similar employee groups that formed at institutions throughout the UW System.

The new scholarship honoring Maslowski will support part-time and full-time “permanent University staff (or equivalent) at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.” The University Staff Council Grants Committee will help coordinate selection of the recipient and determine the number of scholarships awarded annually. Applicants must achieve a “C” grade or better on applicable courses.

UW Oshkosh has approximately 400 University staff within the 1,700-employee institution.

Maslowski, 65, was well-known in the UW Oshkosh community. She worked in the Dean of Students office, helping organize the annual Odyssey program, an integral program designed to welcome incoming students, acclimate them to campus life and prepare them to take the first steps on their academic journeys at UW Oshkosh.

Within the last year, Maslowski received multiple honors for her 19 years of dedicated service to fellow employees and UW Oshkosh students.

She earned the 2011 Wisconsin College Personnel Association’s Support Staff Recognition Award and a 2012 UW Oshkosh Outstanding Performance Award, given to the University staff members whose activities, accomplishments and service are most deserving of acknowledgement.

It was her deep commitment to and support for friends and family that made Maslowski extra special to colleagues in the UW Oshkosh community.

“Ellie was a friend, an educator, a proud mother and a grandma,” said Susan Fojtik, academic department associate in the UW Oshkosh Department of Kinesiology. “She loved her family, adored her husband, loved to travel and spent summer vacations watching her children create family feasts and grandchildren swim in the lake. Ellie was an amazing seamstress, an avid reader and willingly shared her knowledge– from cooking to computer programs.”

“She was a dear friend who will long be remembered, as staff benefit from this educational opportunity,” Fojtik said. “This scholarship is a perfect way to recognize the many talents that Ellie shared with all of us over the years.”

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