UW-RIVER FALLS ALUMNI AWARDS
Butler
Dobson
Staszko
Distinguished Alumnus Award 2015
Lifetime Achievement Award 2015
Outstanding Young Alumnus Award 2015
John Butler, an internationally renowned researcher, immunologist and professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine, was honored as the 2015 recipient of the UW-River Falls Distinguished Alumnus Award at spring commencement May 16. Butler graduated from UW-River Falls in 1961 with degrees in chemistry and biology.
William Dobson, an economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, is the recipient of the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award for the UWRF Alumni Association. Dobson, of Waunakee, is emeritus professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has served as an agribusiness economist with the Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research, been professor and chair of agribusiness at Massey University in New Zealand and served as a senior staff economist with President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisors.
Dr. Jason Staszko, a former U.S. Marine combat physician, is the recipient of the UWRF Alumni Association’s 2015 Young Alumnus Award. Dr. Staszko, of Grafton, graduated from UWRF with a degree in biology in 2000. He currently serves as the associate medical director for Emergency Services and co-director of Trauma Services at Columbia St Mary’s Hospital, Milwaukee.
Butler pioneered groundbreaking research on the antibodies of cattle and swine, mucosal immunology and solid phase immunoassay — a procedure for measuring or detecting proteins and other substances through antigens or antibodies using a solid surface. He is the author of more than 250 published articles and has received two distinguished veterinary immunologist awards. Butler was raised on a farm in Rice Lake, the youngest of seven children. Like nearly half of today’s UWRF students, Butler was the first of his family to attend college. Butler became a leader in antibody research and mucosal immunology while working at the Agriculture Department in Washington, D.C. He also spent three years in Germany performing research funded by the Max-Planck Society and the Fogarty Foundation. Butler maintains a variety of foreign scientific collaborations throughout Europe, primarily in Germany, France, Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He is a strong advocate of comparative immunology/biochemistry, basic research in veterinary immunology as well as the use of swine in biomedical research.
He graduated from UW-River Falls with a bachelor’s of science degree in 1959 before receiving his master’s of science degree from Iowa State University in 1961 and his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1969. Dobson has received numerous professional awards recognizing teaching excellence and has authored or co-authored 200 professional publications and articles.
While in medical school he was awarded a full scholarship from the U.S. Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant. In 2006, he was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where he cared for soldiers and was responsible for the staffing and daily operations of his battalion aid station. The Outstanding Young Alumni Award recognizes the accomplishments of individuals who have excelled in professional and civic accomplishments and have graduated from UW-River Falls within the last 15 years.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the accomplishments of alumni who have provided long-time exceptional service and leadership in their profession, community and a continuing interest in and loyalty to UWRiver Falls.
FALCON FEATURES FALL 2015
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