CNN shines spotlight on groundbreaking UW-Oshkosh hibernation research offering clues to combat human cancer, heart disease
CNN’s Vital Signs spotlight shines on UW-Oshkosh groundbreaking squirrel hibernation research.
Photos: UWO students dive in to Clash Collective pop-up thrift shop treasures
The annual Clash Collective Pop-up Thrift Shop held Feb. 3 and 4 in Reeve Union was a huge hit with students.
Donations from faculty, staff and students not only supported sustainability by diverting items from landfills but also provided essential resources to UWO students. Students could find clothing, bedsheets, kitchen items, books, board games and more, all for the taking.
There were approximately 5,000 items donated this year—about double what was donated when Clash Collective began four years ago.
Check out some photos from the event!
In Photo: UW-Oshkosh campus reveals its winter beauty
It’s chilly outside but campus is sure to warm up with the start of the spring semester.
We can’t wait to get the term started!
Check out these winter scenes around campus:
In Photo: UW-Oshkosh 2025 Midyear Commencement
Family members and friends braved frigid temperatures and filled Kolf Sports Center Saturday to celebrate nearly 600 University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh students who crossed the stage in the 2025 Midyear Commencement ceremony. The graduates earned doctorate, master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees.
The Commencement was the first for Chancellor Manohar Singh, who began as the University’s 12th chancellor on July 1.
Jacob Heron was the graduating class speaker; Kazeem Akinyele, associate professor, delivered the Commencement address.
Presentation of graduates was by Edwin Martini, UWO provost and vice chancellor.
Read more:
Video: UWO alumni, it was a great 2025!
2025 brought so much Titan pride to all of our UW-Oshkosh alumni. We can’t wait to see what 2026 brings!
Hi, Mom!: UWO students ‘call home’ with semester update
We caught up with Titans around campus to hear how the semester is shaping up and how they’re feeling as the fall semester finish line approaches.
From classes to campus life, they gave a glimpse into their journeys and success at UW-Oshkosh!…
Sidelined, unable to walk, a Titan found his stride, strength in football at UWO
UW-Oshkosh football player Nick Malueg’s dream of playing college football felt “unreachable” after a serious illness.
But Nick proved himself a model for comeback at UWO.
Hear him share more about his remarkable story and his journey back to health—and life— as a student-athlete at UWO.
UWO professor is co-author on new economics research that shows performance pay keeps workers
Ben Artz
The research shows that performance pay is associated with a reduction in workers quitting their jobs. At first blush, that might seem obvious. Of course workers should be paid well if they perform well, right? And if they’re paid well, they won’t want to leave their workplace, right? But actually, said Heywood, there are some interesting economic principles at work that have implications for how employers and employees navigate the labor market.
His paper, co-authored with his former student, Artz (now an economics professor at UW-Oshkosh), is titled “Performance Pay and Job Quits” and was published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization in November.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. What is performance pay?
Millions of people receive performance pay in many forms. Restaurant servers receive tips. Salespeople, realtors, stockbrokers, and others receive commission payments. Many workers receive bonuses for meeting sales or manufacturing targets.
John Heywood
“Performance pay is simply the linking, explicitly, of a measure of performance to earnings, and that measure of performance is, to some extent, in the eye of the firm,” said Heywood. “So, it could be your sales, it could be the number of units you made. It could be how well you dealt with customers as measured by their responses. … Sometimes it can simply be a supervisor’s rating of your performance.”
2. Performance pay has changed over time.
In the past, Heywood said, performance pay was usually linked to the number of units a person could produce. That’s known as a ‘piece rate,’ and it’s been a large part of the economy for hundreds of years – think back to the days of the cottage industry, for example, or seasonal fruit-pickers.
Generally, said Heywood, it was understood that this type of performance pay led to a low attachment between worker and employer. The worker wasn’t part of an internal work group or a dedicated long-term employee, and their earnings tended to stay stagnant. But after World War II, things began to shift. Over the past 20-30 years, there has been substantial growth in bonus- and commission-based performance pay in North America and Europe.
“Piece rates are a shrinking part of what performance pay is. Performance pay is increasingly bonuses and commissions,” Heywood said. “This made us wonder. The old view says that the workers who are paid (piece rate) should be shorter-term employees and probably quit more often and move onto the next job. The new view is, maybe these are good jobs that have an internal profile that make you want to stay, so you’re less likely to quit.”
3. Based on the type of pay, workers want to stay in their jobs.
To see if that new view was correct, Heywood and Artz began examining worker data from the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) conducted by Ohio State University. The NLS asks workers all kinds of questions about their jobs and themselves: Occupation, industry, length of tenure, job satisfaction, salary, race, gender, education, location, and so on. Most interestingly to Heywood and Artz, the NLS asked workers about the type of pay they received, including bonuses, tips, commissions, and piece rates.
“The data makes it clear that people who are paid performance pay – with the exception of piece rates, interestingly enough – are less likely to quit,” said Heywood. That held true even controlling for all other factors, like the health of the economy, a worker’s location, and even their job satisfaction.
What makes the piece rate pay the outlier?
Well, firstly, said Heywood, fewer industries pay piece rates these days. Secondly, workers paid by piece rate generally do not have earnings that naturally rise in good times and fall in bad times. A fruit picker’s ability to pick fruit is less determined by consumer demand than a salesperson’s ability to make sales.
4. Performance pay workers stay for the incentives and job resiliency.
Why do workers with performance pay tend to stay at their jobs? There are likely a few reasons, said Heywood.
First, employers often create new incentives over time, which can lead to salary growth for their employees. For example, in a sales job, all salespeople at a company typically earn the same commission rate, usually a percentage of each sale. However, as Heywood pointed out, employers may introduce incentives by assigning their top performers to territories with greater sales potential.
“Nothing’s changed, except now you’re earning more because I gave you a better territory, because you did a good job before,” said Heywood. “Stockbrokers have a similar phenomenon we learned about where you can get more resources if you’re doing a good job. We’ll give you a secretary, for example, or we’ll give you more leads from our central office.”
The second reason is that performance paid jobs reflect the state of the economy much more than typical hourly or salaried jobs. If the economy is doing poorly, sales will usually go down, and when the economy is doing well, sales climb.
“(Worker quits) are what we call very pro-cyclical. That means that when times are good, (hourly or salaried) workers quit because they think they can do better,” Heywood said. “But you don’t need to do that in a performance-based job, because when times are better, your earnings are naturally higher.”
Many career coaches advise that workers “job hop” every two to three years to seek higher salaries. But “The growth of performance pay is one thing that is cutting against what you might otherwise see as a tendency toward shorter-term employees,” Heywood noted. “If you find yourself in a performance pay job, there will be less incentive to quit, and your employer will have a greater incentive to keep you.”
So, if employers want to keep their workers long-term, or if workers are looking for a steady, long-term career, both need to think about performance pay.
By Sarah Vickery, UWM College of Letters & Science
UW-Oshkosh alumni Class Notes: February 2026
’59, ’60 Beverly (Wenzel) Bohman, of Brillion, celebrated 65 years of marriage to her husband Clarence.
’59 Patricia (Chupita) Endries, of Brillion, celebrated 65 years of marriage to her husband Bob.
Joy Smith ’85
’69, ’71 Norbert Hill Jr. (MSE), of Oneida, was the mid-year commencement speaker at UW-Green Bay.
’71 Dorothy Wenzel, of Brillion, celebrated 65 years of marriage to her husband Harold.
’72 Robert Stat, of Delray Beach, Florida, is a retired teacher who has enjoyed traveling in many European countries in his retirement.
’76 Robby Richardson, of Mount Pleasant, retired from his career in I.T. in 2009 and currently serves as chair of the Community Development Authority and Village Tourism Commission for the Village of Mount Pleasant.
’83 Keith Thomae, of Hot Springs, Arkansas, is the CEO of GERDhealthMD. Thomae is a general surgeon who has worked in academics, private practice, employed practice and at an ambulatory surgical center. He has six children.
’85 Joy Smith, of Lakeland, Florida, has written two new books, Velvet of Swords and Well Met by Water.
’85 Todd Ziegler, of Appleton, is the station manager at WLUK-WCWF in Green Bay and assumes the role of operations manager following the retirement of the current vice president and general manager. Ziegler previously spent 10 years as a production and creative services director at WUCW Minneapolis and served in a sales leadership role at WIWB (now WCWF) in Green Bay.
’88 Grant Gibbons, of Harcourt, Iowa, is the publisher of the Times-Republican and Tama-Grundy weekly publications.
’95, ‘97 Chad Bauer (MS), of Wheeling, Illinois, had a successful audiology practice for 12 years. Bauer recently sold his practice and works as a financial advisor with Edward Jones.
Chad Bauer ’95, ’97 MS
’97 Travis Froze, of Hortonville, is a Wisconsin Leads Executive Fellow through the WMC Foundation, an affiliate of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. Froze is the president of the Northeast Wisconsin Market at First Business Bank.
’98 Paul Northway (MBA), of De Pere, president and CEO of American National Bank Fox Cities, celebrated 30 years in the banking industry.
’99 Terri Kallsen (MS), of Bolinas, California, is the board chair for the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board of Standards and the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning. Kallsen is the managing partner and head of partnerships with Rose Growth Partners.
’01, ’14 Kristy (Deshaney) Deleeuw (MBA), of Appleton, is a Wisconsin Leads Executive Fellow through the WMC Foundation, an affiliate of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. Deleeuw is the vice president of enterprise transformation at Plexus.
’03 Ryan Bartow, of Greenville, South Carolina, is an assistant general manager with Boston College Football. Bartow has two decades of experience in recruiting and player personnel at the college level.
’05 Chris Stone-Sewalish, of East Lansing, Michigan, is the associate director for business operations-residence education and housing services and a doctoral candidate in the Higher Adult Lifelong Education (HALE) PhD program at Michigan State University. He has authored and co-authored multiple publications in higher education journals and edited volumes and has had papers accepted for presentation at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).
’06 Jared McKeen, of Fort Atkinson, is a Wisconsin Leads Executive Fellow through the WMC Foundation, an affiliate of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. McKeen is the vice president of implementation at Evans Transportation Services.
’07 Ian Abston, of Milwaukee, was named one of BizTimes Media’s 275 Most Influential People in Wisconsin. Abston is the founder of Forward 48, Light the Hoan and The Hoan Group.
Brett Baehman ’17
’10 Taylor Porter, of Englewood, Colorado, is the director of strength and conditioning with the Denver Broncos.
’11 Amanda Johnson (MSW), of Green Bay, is the executive director of GRIT920. Johnson has over a decade of nonprofit leadership experience, most recently serving as executive director of the Howe Community Resource Center.
’15 Alex Crowe, of Racine, is the host of Morning Edition on Wisconsin Public Radio.
’17 Brett Baehman, of Oshkosh, a former Titan athlete, has been the head boys basketball coach at Lourdes Academy since the 2021-2022 season.
’18 Gary Dodge Jr., of Neopit, was the first-place winner of the Wisconsin Indigenous Housing & Economic Development Corporation’s business pitch competition. Dodge is the owner of Noon Sky Productions, an Indigenous-owned video and production business dedicated to showcasing compelling stories through the lens of Indigenous perspective.
’19, ’25 Jacob Haase (MBA), of Appleton, is a supply chain systems specialist with Plexus and a cellist in the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras and churches throughout the state. Haase is married to ’20, ’22 Shay (Stephen) Haase (MSW).
Jacob Haase ’19, ’25 MBA
’19 Tyler Van Boxtel, of Little Chute, is a business banking portfolio manager with the Bank of Kaukauna.
’21 Steve Diehl, of Fond du Lac, received an Envision Greater Fond du Lac Future 5 Award, established to recognize up and coming leaders in the community. Diehl is a commercial credit analyst with Bank First.
’21 Noah Jorgensen, of Fond du Lac, owns Noah Lot Services LLC. Jorgenson is a financial coach and travel agent who has a monthly blog and curated film and tv lists on IMDb.
Noah Jorgensen ’21
’21 Marisah (Miller) McDonald, of Onalaska, is a registered nurse with a cardiac device clinic.
’24 Charles Kudy (MPA), of Campbellsport, is a project origination manager at Pelton Builders where he will focus on market analysis, site acquisition, feasibility studies and building strategic partnerships. Kudy was formerly the village administrator for the Village of Campbellsport.
’24 Alexandra Torres (MPA), of Milwaukee, is the director of care coordinator with Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers.
’25 Brooke Rocque (DNP), of Holcombe, is a family medicine nurse practitioner with Aspirus Gilman Clinic.
UW-Oshkosh alumni Obituaries: February 2026
‘40s
Dorothy (Durben) Peplinski ’45, Suamico, Jan. 13, 2026
’50s
Joan (Cumber) Minskey ’57, Kaukauna, Oct. 29, 2025
Ashlee (McKinnon) Sell ’54, Menasha, Dec. 1, 2025
’60s
Dennis Austin ’64, Sun Prairie, Dec. 14, 2025
William Gay Jr. ’65, Menomonee Falls, Nov. 13, 2025
Robert “Bob” Gehrke ’68 MSE, Ripon, Dec. 24, 2025
David Kaeding ’62, Madison, Jan. 6, 2026
Judith (Kurowski) Lentz ’66, Peshtigo, Dec. 23, 2025
John “Jack” Magnin ’63, Oconto Falls, Nov. 22, 2025
James “Jim” Mayer ’69, Appleton, Nov. 19, 2025
Arthur “Art” Neilitz ’66, Manitowoc, Nov. 22, 2025
Edwin Schaefer ’66, San Antonio, Florida, Dec. 14, 2025
Gerald “Gerry” Schmidt ’62, Fenton, Michigan, Nov. 29, 2025
Dale Squier ’63, ’71 MST, Kewaskum, Jan. 3, 2026
Joan (Spice) Vesley ’64, Hudson, Jan. 29, 2025
Dean Wisthoff ’60, Appleton, Dec. 3, 2025
’70s
Robert Abel ’73, Menasha, Jan. 1, 2026
Gregg Davies ’71, Beaver Dam, Jan. 5, 2026
Frank Otto ’70, De Pere, Jan. 13, 2026
Linda Rondeau ’72, Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 28, 2025
Bonnie Schmitt ’78 MBA, Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 9, 2025
Susan Sheffer-Meyer ’78, of Oshkosh, Dec. 14, 2025
Laurel Shulze ’73, Janesville, Dec. 17, 2025
’80s
James Demerath ’85, Detroit, Michigan, Nov. 23, 2025
Beverly Gilbertson ’83, Blanchardville, Dec. 3, 2025
John Harper ’81, Peshtigo, Jan. 1, 2026
Marylee Lehman ’85, Pine River, Dec. 8, 2025
Jennifer (Meininger) Piper ’83, Gallatin, Tennessee, Dec. 24, 2025
John Sweeney ’84, ’02 MPA, Sugar Camp, Dec. 7, 2025
‘90s
Lee Krueger ’92, Janesville, Dec. 2, 2025
Virginia Mewhorter ’99 MPA, Appleton, Dec. 22, 2025
James Thill ’93, Sheboygan Falls, Jan. 5, 2026
’00s
Katherine “Kate” Hackett Baer ’01, Gillett, Nov. 25, 2025
William Donaldson ’03 MPA, Baraboo, Jan. 8, 2026
’10s
Selina Vang Her ’18, ’21 MSE, Appleton, Nov. 22, 2025
Friends and Faculty
H. Gene Drecktrah, professor, associate dean, co-chair of the biology/microbiology department, UWO insect collection curator 1972-2002, long-time UW-Oshkosh Foundation Board Member, Oshkosh, Jan. 13, 2026
Donald Gudmundson, professor of business management, associate dean 1991-2008, Greely, Colorado, Dec. 15, 2025
Robert Milam, College of Business dean 1985-1995, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Dec. 13, 2025
Mary Olson, administrative assistant to the Chancellor 1980-2008, Oshkosh, Dec. 30, 2025
Gail (Floether) Steinhilber ’65, fine arts director at Reeve Union 1966-1998, Oshkosh, Dec. 21, 2025
UW-Oshkosh community remembers former biology faculty member and chair who died Jan. 13
A Celebration of Life for a former longtime faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh will take place Sunday, Jan. 25 in Oshkosh.
Harold “Gene” Drecktrah
Harold G. “Gene” Drecktrah, age 87, of Oshkosh, whose career focus was biology and microbiology, passed away Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at his home. He is being remembered as an outstanding colleague who was steadfast in his dedication to the university and its students.
Here is the link to his obituary with further information about the Celebration of Life that will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 100 Lake Pointe Drive, Oshkosh.
According to his obituary:
Drecktrah joined UW-Oshkosh in 1966 where he held multiple positions until his retirement in 2002. He was a professor, associate dean, co-chair of the biology/microbiology department, active researcher and curated the UW-O insect collection.
He was an avid UWO Titans sports fan and supported all the men’s and women’s teams. He was a proud member of the Titan Booster Club, bartender for the University Club and an active member of the athletic committee for many years. One of his proudest accomplishments was being part of the UW-Foundation board of directors. It was there he was able to contribute to the overall growth and direction of UWO, including the establishment of multiple scholarships in education and biology.
Drecktrah is survived by sons David (Jessica) Drecktrah and Daniel (Liz) Drecktrah; two grandchildren, Lucy and Brock; and a sister, Anne. He was preceded in death by his parents; and his wife, Mary, in 2002.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the UW-Oshkosh Scholarship Program.
Konrad-Behlman Funeral Home of Oshkosh is serving the family.
UW-Oshkosh community mourns passing of former College of Business dean
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‘I’m in my dream career:’ UWO graduate works behind scenes for Olympics with NBC Sports
WMTV, Feb. 6.
State Building Commission approves nearly $206 million in projects across Wisconsin, including UWO’s Polk Library
WFDL, Feb. 6
Five Qs with an Under 40: UWO alumna Jacqueline Runge
Insight on Business, Feb. 4
UWO part of MBA Consortium that earns top ranking in Wisconsin
WEAU, Feb. 4
UW-Oshkosh continues annual pop-up thrift shop for student savings and community donations
WLUK, Feb. 4