Allen Luke

Anyone familiar with the success of the Walt Disney Company knows that: "It's all about the Mouse!" In other words, the image and brand that is Mickey Mouse.

As manager of special events at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., Allen Luke gets to experience the success of the Mouse every day.

Luke is originally from Burlington, Wis., and attended St. Mary's High School. His journey to UW-Parkside is like that of many alumni. "I got married young," he said. "We had a beautiful baby girl, I worked full time for two years and then enrolled at Parkside."

Because he was able to take most of his classes two days a week, Luke was able to continue working. And that's rather important when you have a couple of other people depending on you.

Luke also describes the UW-Parkside experience the way many alumni do: openness and accessibility to faculty; professors with real-world expertise in their field; and passion.

"I chose Parkside because of it's proximity to Racine and because it was a state school," he said. "Many of my economics and business professors had previous actual business experience and I could relate to that very easily. Richard Keehn was a great example of that ... majoring in economics, how could you not relate to his degree from the University of Chicago?

"I was and still am struck by the passion of all my Parkside professors--Richie Rosenberg, Larry Duestch, Tom Peterson--great professors, great education, great experience."

For Luke, at Walt Disney World, it's all about the Mouse; at UW-Parkside, it was all about the experience.


AT A GLANCE:

Graduated: 1974
Job: Manager of Special Events
Company: Walt Disney World

ABOUT THIS STORY:

Story Status: Archived
Publish date: 5/9/2007

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