The Student Advisory Board is made up of volunteer student representatives from our programs who act as advocates for all distance education students. The Board advises the Distance Learning Center regarding student concerns, suggests new initiatives, and acts as a mentoring resources for new and prospective students. If you have any concerns, suggestions, or questions, please reach out to a representative.
The board meets via teleconference three times during the academic year. They discuss topics submitted by members, students, and Distance Learning Center staff. The feedback provides staff with recommendations when changes to policies are being considered. Student Advisory Board representatives also occasionally poll their classmates in the Desire2Learn discussion board to solicit additional input. If this opportunity is ever available to you, please help us out by responding to your classmate's request.
If you would like to serve on this volunteer advisory board, or have any questions, please feel free to contact the Distance Learning Center, at 800.362.5460 or sab@uwplatt.edu.
2017-2018 Student Advisory Board Members
johnsonbrad@uwplatt.edu
Home state: Minnesota
Why did you choose UW-Platteville? UW-Platteville was an obvious choice for me. With a long history of distance learning successes and the right program curriculum, I knew that I would be set for success. Also, my wife is a Pioneer Alum. Transferring my previous UW system credits into the business program was easy and gave me a big head start on earning my degree as well.
Why are you pursuing this degree? With the change in focus in my career away from a technical track, I knew that I would need to complete a business degree. Aside from the requirements for advancement, refreshing my knowledge at this point in my life would have much more impact than when I had limited experience with commerce. I have been proven right with much of my recent learning already benefitting me in my current role as the sales director for my market within the company I work for.
What field do you work in? I have worked in professional sales for over a decade, primarily in the utility industry. In addition to managing multi-million dollar lines of business, I bridge the gap between technical and business processes for my clients as they seek to solve complex problems in a highly regulated industry.
Samantha Jozwiak
jozwiaks@uwplatt.edu
Home state: Wisconsin
Why did you choose UW-Platteville? I chose UW-Platteville because of the great reputation it has, as well as consistently phenominal feedback from current students. It also was a plus that I can pursue my degree online with UW-Platteville while I work full-time.
Why are you pursuing this degree? I am pursuing my bachelor's in criminal justice, with the goal of attending law school and becoming an attorney or work for the federal government.
What field do you work in? I currently work in the real estate field, working as a property manager for a 136-unit apartment complex.
Richard Kvapil
Master of Science in Integrated Supply Chain Management
kvapilr@uwplatt.edu
Why did you choose UW-Platteville? Ultimately it was about finding the right fit of flexibility that would mesh well with my work commitments, family life, and other activities I am involved in. It also helped that I obtained my undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from UW-Platteville as well.
Why are you pursuing this degree? I initially wanted to obtain a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management, but changed to a Master of Science degree in Integrated Supply Chain Management. I already had the Engineering Management experience and wanted to broaden my skillset into something related to my current career that would potentially open other opportunities down the road.
What field do you work in? I currently work for an athletic shoe and apparel retailer as a Senior Manager of Engineering and EDI. In my role I work on a wide range of projects that involve process and profit improvements in a distribution center and garment customization shop, business process improvements at our corporate office, supply chain strategy and network analysis projects, and manage projects related to various material handling equipment, EDI transactions, WMS and other systems upgrades.
Why did you choose UW-Platteville? I am excited for this journey of project management that I have undertaken with UW-Platteville. There are greater opportunities now to pursue a passion, or to do something that one has been yearning for a long time. For me, project management is not just a profession but a way of life. It is where I learned continuous performance improvements and continuous learning. My goal is to spread the knowledge I have gained from my experience and from my learnings to everyone, and to help as many people as possible improve their projects and their lives. One of the basic principles of project management is stakeholder satisfaction. It is a good principle to live by. I incorporated this basic principle into my daily life to impart happiness to others and to improve effectives of my project delivery. I choose the Master of Science in Project Management from UW-Platteville because it suites my goal of obtaining a higher education in project management. UW-Platteville provides the right mix of real world project management and the academics, the art and science of project management. UW-Platteville is one of the few institutions that teaches a curriculum that is aligned with the Project Management Institutes’® methodology for managing projects. According to a recent statistic, more than fifty percentage of projects does not satisfactorily meet the requirements for cost, quality, schedule or customer satisfaction. Universities like UW-Platteville can create skilled project managers that can help organizations run projects more effectively and improve the value of projects to their customers.
Why are you pursuing this degree? I am a PMI® certified project manager. There are two reason why I am in the Project Management field. The first and foremost is people. Understanding what motivates people and how the project can tap into their strengths and develop them is an area that I am very much interested in. People with passion makes everything exciting. The second aspect of project management that I am interested in is the understanding of what makes projects successful. From my experience, one key factors that makes projects successful is how effectively the projects meets the needs of the customers and how usable the end-product is for them. Delivering something that does not provide value but is considered successful in terms of financials isn’t really a success. According to me, the most import aspect of a project is the customer satisfaction and how much value the customer has gained from the project. These are two aspects of project management that drives me to learn new things and improve my knowledge and understanding of delivering projects. As mentioned above, project management field is in dire need of qualified professionals who can deliver value to their organizations and to the end users. If fifty percentage of projects are failures, then consider the impact it has on the resources used and the effect on the environment. If fifty percentage of projects did not generate satisfaction or value for end-users, then those resources and effort is wasted. Project management is the profession that turns innovation into real world products. Effective project management techniques and stakeholder management can improve project selection and reduce wastage. Effective project management can not only improve efficiency and build effectiveness of the performing organizations but by reducing wastage these techniques will also improve the lives of many and the whole society will benefit from better project management. I am pursuing the Master of Science in Project Management degree to learn more about project management techniques, and to improve my project delivery. A critical aspect of project delivery that I am passionate about is sustainability. Sustainability practices are increasingly relevant in today’s world. Our environment should be a key stakeholder for all projects, and learning and managing scarce resources
so that wastage can be minimized should be a requirement for all projects. My goal is to teach sustainability using project management and promote sustainability practices in project delivery.
What field do you work in? I work in the telecommunication industry in the project delivery organization. Telecom service providers are my customers and I deliver projects and solutions to meet their needs for capacity, technology and expansions. My work involves understanding the needs of service providers, tailoring the delivery to meet their needs for schedule and other constraints and improving the end user experience and satisfaction.
What field do you work in? I currently work in the manufacturing field, which isn't something I had planned on my entire life. However, now that I'm more and more involved with the creation of products through both machinery as well as a diverse work group, I find it very rewarding at times!
ruegseggerj@uwplatt.edu
Why did you choose UW-Platteville? UW-Platteville offered a large variety of print-based courses. I did not have computer access when I started school. This gave me the largest collection of classes to choose from. Plus, they were degree specific and not just general education courses.
Why are you pursuing this degree? I started with this degree because it was the only one offered at the time in print-based. I've decided to stick with business because the degree has a variety of applications. I want to be prepared for as many things as I can be. Business is a good fit.
What field do you work in? Burial vault production and delivery. I only plan to do this until I graduate, then I will be ready to start my final career.
Michael Schwartz
schwarmi@uwplatt.edu
Why did you choose UW-Platteville? Being from Southwest Wisconsin I was very familiar with UW-Platteville, and after doing a lot of research for online schools I felt that UW-Platteville fit my educational goals. I attended UW-Richland out of High School and graduated with my associate's degree, so it was very helpful that my credits transferred to UW-Platteville, which helped me get a little closer to reaching my goal.
Why are you pursuing this degree? I am currently seeking my bachelor's degree for the integrated supply chain management emphasis area.
What field do you work in? I currently work for UW-Madison in the purchasing department. I am a Procurement Specialist, and I do the buying and contracting for the University.
Sarina Wiesner
Master of Science in Criminal Justice
wiesners@uwplatt.edu
Sheree Yates
yatess@uwplatt.edu
Home state: Illinois
Why did you choose UW-Platteville? I chose UW-Platteville because of the recognition of its master's program and for the flexibility of the online format.
Why are you pursuing this degree? Being a student of the Organizational Change Leadership program has been a fascinating experience. It has allowed me to hone my research skills while engaging with interesting and intelligent professionals across industries.
What field do you work in? I have over fifteen years of experience in the human resource field and I am actively involved with the Society of Human Resource Management in Wisconsin.