9 minute read
Impact
Above: Jack Kellner (center) proudly holds his Honorary Doctor of Business and Economics in 1992. He is pictured with his son Ted (left) and Dr. Hermann Viets.
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Left: Ted Kellner (center) beams with pride next to his wife Mary and Dr. John Walz after receiving his honorary doctorate in 2019.
Collaboration Café honors a legacy
Ted Kellner cannot think of a better role model in life, business and philanthropy than his late father, Jack Kellner.
“My dad was my dad, my mentor and my best friend.”
In 2020, Ted made a philanthropic commitment to MSOE to name the Jack F. Kellner Collaboration Café in honor of his father, and to celebrate the partnership Jack had with Dr. Robert Spitzer, MSOE’s third president.
Jack spent his 41-year career at Western Industries, a Milwaukee-based manufacturing firm where he served as president. There, he was introduced to Spitzer, starting the mutually beneficial partnership that is memorialized today.
“Dad worked with MSOE for two reasons. Number one, he had great respect for Dr. Spitzer and the school. Second, because of that partnership, my dad was able to hire many well-educated engineers for his company,” said Ted.
During that time, Spitzer was also working to help MSOE become financially stable. Jack knew just the guy to help—his son, Ted, who had a background in finance and investment.
Through Fiduciary Management Inc., Ted managed MSOE’s endowment for more than three decades. He, too, became good friends with Spitzer and gained a mutual respect and admiration for the university.
In 1992, Jack received an Honorary Doctor of Business and Economics degree from MSOE, which was under the leadership of Dr. Hermann Viets, MSOE’s fourth president. Ted followed in his father’s footsteps and received an Honorary Doctor of Business and Economics degree from MSOE in 2019. “Receiving an honorary degree from the same university as my father was doubly special. My dad was a wonderful human being, so if I had the good fortune of being awarded an honorary doctorate just like him, that is a great achievement.”
Jack passed away in 2001 at the age of 85. Since his passing, Ted stayed committed to the university’s mission and volunteers as a member of MSOE’s Investment Committee.
As for Jack and Spitzer, their commitments to MSOE and the value of their partnership will be illustrated each time students, faculty, staff and community members gather to share a meal in the Jack F. Kellner Collaboration Café inside the Robert Spitzer Dining Commons.
“Dad’s relationship with Bob was very special. I am pretty sure Dad is up there watching with Bob right now and is pleased to see their names together. It’s a legacy of two terrific and outstanding giants.”
Leading leaders
Rising school leaders in MSOE’s education leadership program transform futures
The events of the past year and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the critical importance of educational leaders with a wide breadth of skills including communication, crisis management, leadership and finance.
Thanks to the efforts of the MSOE Rader School of Business with the generous support of the Kern Family Foundation, rising school leaders across Wisconsin have access to an MBA in Education Leadership (MBA EL). This is an innovative program that pairs an MBA curriculum with a focus on developing leaders of great character and remarkable ability who are catalysts for change in Wisconsin schools and beyond.
Schools are often the biggest employer and the center of their local communities. As such, they need leaders who understand how to manage a large and complex organization while at the same time helping those communities thrive. The MBA EL targets rising school leaders and administrators who have a minimum of three years of PK–12 teaching experience and seek to deepen their leadership skills. Upon successful completion of the program, qualified participants receive both an MBA and Wisconsin State Principal Licensure.
More than 140 educators from across the state of Wisconsin have successfully completed the MBA EL. Chad Sova is a 2016 graduate who became the principal of Oriole Lane Elementary in Mequon last fall. Sova credits the program for helping him successfully navigate his first year in the new role.
“The challenges facing our education systems, and individual students, require innovative solutions in the space of teaching and learning,” said Sova. “The MBA in Education Leadership experience offers opportunities to think and practice beyond a traditional master’s program. Alongside learning best practices of organizational leadership, the program builds a leader’s capacity to utilize a wide range of practical tools with students, staff and families.”
The Kern Family Foundation continues to support the MBA EL program annually with scholarship aid. This year, 10 scholarships of $5,000 will be awarded to women and minorities. Graduates of the program bring the best of leadership development, business and educational administration back to their school communities. American female, but stepping out at this time in my life, I doubted myself. Thanks to MSOE and the Kern Family Foundation, I know I can do this. They have turned my dreams into a reality.”
Dr. Ruth Barratt, chair of the Rader School of Business and executive director of the MBA EL, is grateful for the opportunity to not only elevate the program but offer it to students who may have not otherwise the chance to participate.
“Educating our youth is my “The MBA in Education Leadership is one of the most heartbeat and my focus.” unique and innovative school leader training programs in SHANEL VRONTEZ DRAKE the country,” said Barratt. MBA EL STUDENT “With support from the Kern Family Foundation, MSOE Shanel Vrontez Drake, a youth pastor at is leading the way creating strong, Greater Mt. Sinai Church and a third-grade highly competent school leaders who teacher at New Testament Christian will make an impact in the lives of Academy in Milwaukee, is one of the children in Wisconsin.” recipients of the scholarship. The Kern Family Foundation is one “Educating our youth is my heartbeat and of MSOE’s key strategic partners and my focus,” said Vrontez Drake. As an adult supports the university in its mission student, she had hesitations on taking the to inspire a community of experiential leap to further her education, and how she learners driven to solve the complex might afford it. “I’m a confident African challenges of today and tomorrow.
Veterans supporting veterans
For six years, MSOE has been providing valuable resources to current military, veterans and veteran dependents through the Student Veterans Organization. The studentled group was established in 2015 to bridge the gap between military and civilian life by acting as an advocacy group to MSOE’s administration, a resource for career services, and a network for members to connect with others who have served our country.
This support system goes beyond professional resources. It has helped student vets like Adam Abbott, mechanical engineering major, find purpose, focus and friendships during his time on campus. After serving in the United States Army Reserve, conducting multiple combat tours overseas and being awarded two Purple Hearts for his service, Abbott applied to MSOE to pursue another passion: engineering.
As president of the Student Veterans Organization, Abbott explained part of the group’s mission this year is to better express their appreciation to those who have supported them, like Dick Powers ’70.
Powers has been supporting student vets since 2017. His most recent gift of support on Giving Tuesday in December 2020 helped the organization purchase furniture and supplies Adam Abbott
to upgrade the Veterans Lounge and study space. Powers has already committed to supporting the organization again on Giving Tuesday later this year.
If you ask Abbott, Powers’ support reaches beyond improving the physical and mental well-being of each student vet, it has served as motivation for them to invest in something greater.
“Dick Powers isn’t just a veteran and an engineer, he’s a personal and professional role model for us. His contributions have given us an example for how to live up to our truest potential. To apply our military experience and abilities to not only better the world around us, but put ourselves in a position to help other vets that are going through these same struggles.”
LEARN MORE: MSOE.EDU/VETERAN-SUPPORT-SERVICES.
about supporting MSOE scholarships or hear how estate gifts make an impact at MSOE, contact Greg Casey, senior director of development, at casey@msoe.edu.
Rock on!
Robert “Bob” Schober ’83 filled his days at MSOE with his two greatest passions, music and engineering. Each week, Schober balanced his electrical and computer engineering course work with a graveyard DJ shift on WMSE.
In November 2020, Schober made an estate gift to MSOE that will blend his love of music and engineering. It will support both an endowed scholarship for a student studying any field of engineering and an endowed fund for WMSE operations.
Schober’s passion for music was influenced at an early age from his brother, Jan Schober, who was the drummer in the local punk rock band The Shemps. The Waukesha band, active in the early 1980s, was often promoted and shared on WMSE. After his brother passed away in 2016, Schober was even more motivated to honor his brother’s legacy and WMSE’s support of The Shemps with a planned gift.
“MSOE and WMSE have always been important to me,” he said. “This gift is my way to give back and allow future generations to continue that great legacy and perpetuate the MSOE and WMSE tradition. Rock on!”
FACES OF PHILANTHROPY
California connections
Carmela L. Barbieri ’97 and her husband Roberto Piolanti made a $25,000 gift in support of the new Hermann Viets Tower, where they will name a collaboration room. The collaboration room is a dedicated space in the tower that will support group work and interdisciplinary projects. The renovated residence hall, which includes MSOE’s first ever living-learning communities, will open this fall.
Barbieri and her husband, who reside in southern California, have a passion for supporting educational youth programs. As a board member of the Oak Park Education Foundation, Barbieri helped raise funds and coordinated enrichment classes for elementary and middle school students attending the Oak Park Unified School District. She is looking forward to helping MSOE make connections in southern California to support recruiting efforts.
Pledging runs in the family
Alan Schneider ’70, Jon Schneider ’06 and Cheryl (Schneider) Janik ’04 made a pledge of $5,000 to support Hermann Viets Tower. The father, son and daughter trio have a mutual passion to support their alma mater. Both Jon and Cheryl lived in Roy W. Johnson Hall while attending MSOE and believe the residential student experience allowed them to focus on schoolwork while also building life-long friendships. Alan echoes that sentiment and today remains close to four of his classmates he met more than 50 years ago at the university. The Schneider family’s generous gift to the Viets Tower project was matched thanks to support from alumnus Dr. Gene Carter ’60.
