Champions of Parkside Success Awards

Michael P. Haubrich is the founder and president of Financial Service Group, Inc., a fee-only financial life planning firm located in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. He earned his Certified Financial Planner™ designation in 1986 and is also a Certified Senior Advisor™.

After graduating from UW-Parkside in 1988 with his Bachelor of Science in business management, Mike has remained actively involved in many areas of the university. In addition to serving on the UW-Parkside Foundation Board for more than 10 years, including a term as president, Mike has been an advocate for Ranger Athletics, theatre and arts programs, and funded the Dixon Fagerberg Endowed Scholarship in Teacher Preparation. In 2016 he established the Michael P. Haubrich Business and Innovation Space on campus, providing meeting and working space for students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding business community.

In addition to his personal commitment to UW-Parkside students’ success, Mike is passionate about connecting others to opportunities to support the university.

Kitty Picken is the daughter of the late businessman Robert Picken and stepdaughter of the late Rita Tallent Picken, who was instrumental in the founding of UW-Parkside. In the university’s early years, Rita Tallent Picken was the Director of School and Campus Relations and later became an assistant to Chancellors Wyllie and Guskin. Rita also served as a UW-Parkside Foundation Board member from 1987-1989.

In Rita’s memory, Kitty contributed $3.5 million – the largest gift to the UW-Parkside Foundation to date – to name UW-Parkside’s Rita Tallent Picken Regional Center for Arts and Humanities. This gift provides ongoing support for programs and student opportunities in the arts and humanities. The Picken Arts and Humanities Scholarship is a competitive, four year-renewable scholarship opportunity open to all disciplines within the College of Arts and Humanities.

Sara Volker graduated in the class of 1950 from Horlick High School. In the fall of 1950 she began her studies as a science major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was contemplating an education in pre-med.

In the fall of 1951, after two and a half semesters, Sara left school with mono and did not return as she married her sweetheart, Ralph Neubauer in August of 1952. While raising three children, Sara decided to complete her education. She enrolled in the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in the fall of 1978. With two children still at home, she began taking one class per semester, pursuing her love of study, always fascinated by geography, cartography, and geology. She dove into her studies and graduated cum laude in May of 1985.

Having had a tremendous experience at UW-Parkside, Sara became a UW-Parkside Foundation Board member and has been a dedicated donor for more than 30 years. The Neubauer Family is so grateful for UW-Parkside and the wonderful opportunities it affords thousands of local students.

Frances (Fran) Bedford’s dedicated support has been pivotal in providing “the gift of music” to UW-Parkside students. A UW-Parkside professor emeritus of music and accomplished musician, Fran gifted the university with a state-of-the-art space dedicated solely to music performances, the Frances Bedford Concert Hall.

While this gift has received the most public recognition, Fran has a history of supporting the university and, particularly, music initiatives dating back many decades. In 1999, she established the Frances M. Bedford Endowed Scholarship for Music to provide direct support to UW-Parkside students.

David R. Beach and Carmen M. Rigau were dedicated community volunteers and supporters of UW-Parkside’s cultural programming. David, an associate professor emeritus of psychology, served UW-Parkside for 35 years until his retirement in 2007. 

He and Carmen, a former school counselor, have given generously to help support UW-Parkside’s music noon concert series and have sponsored multiple guest artists to provide master classes and concerts, bringing diverse musical experiences to UW-Parkside students and the wider community. 

In 2017, David and Carmen established the Beach-Rigau Gift of Music Endowed Scholarship.

Following the death of Mary Frost Ashley in 2006, members of her family established the Mary Frost Ashley Charitable Trust to continue her charitable work in the community. Today, the Trust is known throughout southeastern Wisconsin for its support of community needs such as health, human services, and most prominently, education.

Melvin Scott Thomson left many marks on UW-Parkside as a professor in Biological Sciences for 22 years and as department chair from 2003 to 2007. Following his retirement in 2014, Scott and his wife, Alice, established the Thomson Research Fellows Fund to continue his legacy of teaching, research, and service.

The Fund provides funding for UW-Parkside undergraduates to conduct field-based or laboratory research in collaboration with faculty members. This hands-on experience gives students outstanding preparation for graduate school and careers in the sciences. Although Scott passed away in March 2016, his passion for scientific discovery lives on through the Thomson Research Fellows Fund.

Created in 1999, the Mahone Fund provides educational opportunities for economically deserving youth and supports healthy lifestyle initiatives in communities of color. The Fund offers the Career Exploration Organization (CEO) initiative, matching youth with business mentors to create a pathway for success. Their commitment is deepened through the Forward Together Scholarship for students transferring to UW-Parkside from Gateway Technical College, leading the way for student success in southeastern Wisconsin.

Peter Jensen and Eugene and Mary Kasakove established the Katharine E. Jensen Memorial Scholarship in memory of Katharine Jensen, who died tragically in 2003 while a UW-Parkside student.

Dr. Rich Walasek, a professor of geography at UW-Parkside, provided many years of service to the student scholarship program through his leadership of the university’s scholarship applicant review process. He also conducts annual fundraising for the Mabel Duncan Endowed Geography Scholarship and the Redlin Walasek Scholarship.

Walasek and his wife, Peggy, an educator in the Kenosha Unified School District, established the Redlin Walasek Scholarship to honor their families and their own commitment to educating the next generation of leaders in our community.

Snap-on Incorporated partners with UW-Parkside in many ways to provide student opportunities. This recognition focused on the company’s support of scholarships for UW-Parkside students: the Joseph Johnson Memorial Scholarship, for children or grandchildren of current employees or franchisees, and the Snap-on Incorporated Engineering Scholarship.

The engineering scholarship supports students in UW-Parkside’s consortial engineering program in partnership with UW-Milwaukee, creating direct pathways for future technical leaders.