Rotary Club of Milwaukee Tuesday Speaker Series

On February 28th, we welcomed Tom Florsheim, CEO of Weyco Group. Weyco is a shoe company that has roots in Milwaukee that go back to 1906. Tom talked about the history of the company, the four different shoe brands that Weyco owns (Florsheim, Stacy Adams, Nunn Bush, and Bogs) and give an overview of where the company is today.

Grace Stanke, a University of Wisconsin – Madison student and recent reigning Miss Wisconsin, was the featured guest at this joint program with the Milwaukee Press Club. Stanke, a senior at UW- Madison majoring in nuclear engineering, was crowned December 15 and is the third Miss Wisconsin to become Miss America. She won the talent portion of the competition, performing a piece from Vivaldi, Summer/Four Seasons – Storm, on her electric violin.

Stanke will spend her year as Miss America traveling the country to promote her advocacy platform of “Clean Energy – Cleaner Future.” By encouraging worldwide change for clean, zero-carbon emission energy sources, Stanke focuses on the benefits of nuclear power and seeks to dispel myths around nuclear energy. She also seeks to inspire the next generation of female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.

This week, Director of Marquette University Law School's Poll, Dr. Charles Franklin, explained why polling isn't broken, but it isn't easy. Using data from the last few state and national elections, Dr. Franklin shared with us the trends he has found which often complicate the result of polls across the country.

“Blacks in History – Things Your History Teacher Never Taught You.” For many of us, our knowledge of the contributions of African Americans in America is limited. Traditionally, the contributions and stories of people of color in America have been omitted or ignored. During this lecture Derek examined the many contributions of African Americans and fully understand that Black History is indeed U.S. History. Derek Mosely, Director of Marquette Law School’s Lubar Center takes us on a journey where we will meet people and hear stories that will amaze and inspire.

Milwaukee’s city and county government leaders have been pushing hard for the legal authority to ask voters to approve a 1% county sales tax to address their worsening fiscal challenges. Rotarian Rob Henken, President of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum, discusses the factors that have created these challenges and why the two governments fear they’re near a breaking point. He also touches on the potential consequences if no action is taken, as well as other steps the two governments might take to improve their fiscal outlooks.

This week, Futurist David Zach gave a though provoking presentation about "The Fog of Progress" and shared a few futurist thinking tools and tips to help us look around and through that fog that surrounds us all.

The economy and markets have seen significant volatility and uncertainty over the last year with many experts noting a rising risk of recession. On January 10th, Jason Turner, Chief Investment Strategist for Wintrust Wealth Management, reviewed the factors that drove economic results in 2022 and the likely direction of the economy in 2023 and beyond. He also looked ahead to the probability that the economy could be moving into a recession and what the year ahead might hold.

On January 3rd, we welcomed Michael Belot, Senior Vice President- Ventures and Development for the Milwaukee Bucks. Michael helped spearhead the development, implementation, and activation of the strategic real estate and business growth for the Deer District. He addressed the Bucks’ impressive impact and investment in the Deer District and what’s next to come.

On Tuesday, we held our final program of the 2022 calendar year with our annual holiday program. In case you missed it, check out the program below where we learned more about our club's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, recognized our latest Paul Harris Fellows, recapped our significant accomplishments for 2022, were enthralled by beautiful performances from members of the Florentine Opera, and honored Mary McCormick for her 20+ years as RCM's Executive Director.

Through the exponential power of working together as M-Cubed, Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are transforming the future of Milwaukee through education. UWM Chancellor Mark Mone, MATC President Vicki Martin, and MPS’ Director of College & Career Readiness, Dr. John Hill highlight examples of our shared work to increase access and affordability and eliminate equity gaps that include: To better connect learning from K-12 to postsecondary education, M-Cubed brought together 600 MPS, MATC and UWM educators in 2021-22 for joint professional development, up from 400 the year before.

Educators explored best practices to improve instruction, understand students, and enable study that is personally meaningful to students. To help students successfully transition from high school to higher education, the fast-growing M-Cubed College Connections program helped 150+ graduates earn college-level credit by taking classes at both MATC and UWM, up from 91 the year before. Since 2019, participants have earned more than 5,000 college credits while still in high school, a potential cost savings of about $1.5 million. To better drive completion and unlock access to colleges and universities, M-Cubed efforts helped MPS increase completion of the critical Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by 8% in 2021-22, double the national average of 4%. The FAFSA allows students to see what grants and loans are available to help pay for college and thus opens doors for students to afford higher education. Learn more about the instrumental work of M-Cubed and its impact on public education in Milwaukee.