WURHA 2018
Friday, February 9th through Sunday, February 11th, 2018
GOLD MEDAL LEADERS
Rachel Heilgendorf
Co-Conference Advisor
Rachel is one of the conference co-advisors. She attended Marquette University where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Writing Intensive English. During her time at Marquette she was heavily involved with housing, through their Residence Hall Association (RHA) and their National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), as well as through campus jobs. During her tenure at Marquette Rachel was given the opportunity to go to many different housing leadership conferences, including two WURHAs! Through these experiences Rachel became passionate about student leadership and decided to pursue a career in higher education. Currently, Rachel is working toward her Master’s degree in Student Affairs Administration through the University of Wisconsin -La Crosse online program and is the Leadership Graduate Assistant at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. In her position she has the pleasure of working with and advising great student leaders in RHA and NRHH, and of course, WURHA! In her free time, Rachel likes to read, watch the Bravo channel, explore Eau Claire, and travel (even it is only back home to Milwaukee). Rachel is so excited that UWEC is hosting WURHA 2018 and cannot wait to have different Wisconsin schools experience all UWEC has to offer!
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Katy Braunsky
Co-Conference Advisor
Education: Bachelors degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point (2010)
Masters degree in College Student Personnel Administration from the University of Central Missouri (2012)
Housing History: As an undergraduate, Katy was involved with RHA and NRHH, and enjoyed working summers on the Housing Project Crew. Throughout her time there, she attended several conferences, including a WURHA at UW Eau Claire- wow! As a graduate student at UCM, she served as the Leadership Hall Director, advising USHA (United Student Housing Association), and completed her ACUHO-I summer internship at Salem State University. During her professional career, she served as a Hall Director at Iowa State University, and had the opportunity to advise both a MACURH delegation and UNI RA delegation. During these past 3 years at UWEC, Katy served as the Student Programs Coordinator, but has worked for the past 2 years as the Interim Assistant Director. During this time, she has advised RHA, NRHH, and conference delegations, and has been a member of the UMR ACUHO-I Conference Program Committee for the past 3 years.
Hobbies and Interests: Katy enjoys spending time with her family; especially her husband (Mike) and dog (Bailey). She’s also involved with the Chippewa Valley Theatre Guild, and has been in 3 musical productions while living in Eau Claire. She also enjoys music, photography, traveling, gardening, being at home, and taking her dog to “puppy class.”
Katy feels blessed to have the privilege to work with such amazing students and staff members, at UWEC. She is thrilled be supporting the WURHA 2018 conference team!
Whitney Hanson
Opening Ceremony/Banquet Advisor
Whitney is the Advisor for the Opening Ceremony and Banquet. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, where she studied Psychology and Sociology and she is currently in the final year of her online Master’s in Student Affairs Administration program through the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. Whitney works at UWEC as the Supervisor of the Think Tank, a resource center for Housing staff and orgs., and the Campus Cab, a free shuttle service for students. In her free time she spends time with family and friends, enjoys the outdoors, reads, and draws or paints whenever she gets the chance. And, having grown up in Eau Claire, she loves taking advantage of all the fun things there are to do on the weekends in and around the city. This is Whitney’s first time being involved with a housing conference like WURHA and she is very excited for the opportunity to act as an advisor for WURHA 2018!
Linda Pratt
Philanthropy Advisor​
Linda is a hall director at UWEC and has also assisted in the Dean of Students Office. She completed her undergraduate degree at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois and her graduate degree at Northern Illinois University. She has been involved in EDI work in Housing as a supervisor of the Peer Diversity Educators and currently serves on the Housing and Residence Life committee Risky Business. Linda is committed to mental health initiatives, in particular, suicide prevention, both on campus and in the community. In her “free time,” she enjoys reading and biking. She has been involved as an advisor to student committees for both the GLACURH and NACURH conferences held at UWEC, and she is very excited to be a part of WURHA 2018, advising the Philanthropy Committee.
Chad Franson
Spirit and Awards Advisor​
Previous Education: Bachelors degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Northern Iowa; Masters degree in College Student Personnel Administration from the University of Central Missouri
Role at UWEC: Hall Director, Murray Hall
Involvements: NRHH Advisor, WURHA Spirit and Awards Committee Advisor
Passions, hobbies, fun facts about you: Chad enjoys going to flea markets and festivals, watching Disney movies, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. A fun fact about Chad is that he has visited Nicaragua, China, and six countries in Europe.
Conference Experience: Chad has attended UMR ACUHO Conferences, MACURH, the White Privilege Conference, and MoCPA. This is Chad's first year being involved with WURHA.
WURHA 2018: Chad is excited for his first experience with WURHA. He is thrilled for others to see how welcoming of a community Eau Claire and UW-Eau Claire is!
Greg Baumgart
Technology Advisor
Greg Baumgart attended UWEC for his bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, and received his master’s degree in student affairs from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. Greg serves as the Hall Director for Haymarket Landing at UWEC and is serving as the Advisor to the WURHA Technology chairs. In addition to his role as a Hall Director, Greg serves as a College Coach for Blugold Beginnings, and as a mentor in the Q’Nnect program for LGBTQIA+ students. While not working, he enjoys cooking and baking, brewing kombucha, collecting more plants (you can never have too many!), and DIY-ing anything he can.
Greg is quite fond of student leadership conferences, having attended them himself! He attended both WURHA and GLACURH as a student leader, and worked in the Davies Student Center supporting NACURH when UWEC hosted in 2014. As an advisor, he also attended the Northern RAP conference (an RA leadership conference in California). Greg is really looking forward to WURHA 2018 and ensuring that all technology needs are met!
Deb Newman
Housing/Registration and Finance
I am the Associate Director of Housing and Residence Life and have had the privilege of working with residence hall students and apartment residents for thirty years. One of my hobbies is to entertain students periodically with “old people stories”. I attended the University of Iowa for my Bachelors degree in biology and my Master’s degree in teaching. I also enjoyed paraprofessional and graduate roles in housing on that campus. Prior to my experience here, I worked at the University of North Dakota and Ball State University. I have had advising roles for NACURH on three different campuses, as well as advising roles for GLACURH conferences, a MACURH conference, and several state conferences. I also enjoyed working with the Indiana Residence Hall Organization as an advisor for several years. In my spare time I am involved in animal rescue and often have foster kittens in my home for students to help me socialize. In my fourteenth year here at UWEC, I am committed to this amazing institution and it’s terrific students and I look forward to hosting WURHA 2018 on our campus this year.
Lissa Greer
Programming Advisor
Lissa is currently a Hall Director at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She also supervises the Peer Diversity Educators (PDE) student organization and works as Assistant to the Dean within the Dean of Students Office. She completed her undergraduate degree in Mass Communications, Public Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Her graduate degree was obtained from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education. Fun fact about Lissa is that she was a student athlete in college (volleyball) and studied abroad in Valladolid, Spain to complete her minor in Spanish. She is passionate about student affairs and is so excited to experience her first WURHA Conference serving as programming advisor.
Ryan Banazack
Social Media and Website Design Advisor
Ryan is a hall director at UW Eau Claire and has been here for 18 years. He completed his undergraduate degree at UW Eau Claire and his graduate degree online through UW La Crosse. He has been an advisor for Towers Hall Council and TV-10 for many years. He has worked with many housing facility issues and serves on the Residence Hall Design Committee that has been working on the Towers Renovation and the construction of a new residence hall. When Ryan has some free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, 5 kids, and 2 dogs that all live in Towers North. Ryan has been an advisor for multiple housing conferences such as WURHA, GLACURH, and NACURH as a conference advisor and has advised chairs when UW Eau Claire has hosted those conferences as well. Ryan is advising the Social Media and Website Committee for WURHA 2018.
Quincy Chapman
Hospitality and Entertainment Advisor
Director of Housing & Residence Life at UWEC
Number of years working in housing: 22
Number of years working in student affairs: 25
Number of WURHAs attended: 8
Number of GLACURHS attended: 9
Number of NACURHS attended: 3
I started collecting PEZ dispensers in 1993 at a gas station on the way to a housing leadership conference. Since then, I have purchased at least one (but usually several) PEZ on every road trip to a housing conference. I have 225 PEZ. That’s is some sweet leadership travel!