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To hear Genella Taylor Stubrud tell it, she is on a journey that has just begun: "I am a work in progress who will learn from ups and downs, triumphs and trials, mistakes and great things," she says. To her students, she is an inspirational leader. At UW-River Falls, Stubrud is working to increase the number and diversity of K-12 science and math educators statewide, a program she models after her pioneering efforts at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota. There, she created an Academy of Math and Science, a program to empower historically underrepresented students interested in careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) — particularly as educators. A Normandale student writes: "Genella has made a difference in how I think about my future. Because of her, my family is more proud of me."
"It is when I reflect on what was given to me that I realize my education and training at the UW was a bargain."
Stubrud grew up in Milwaukee, the daughter of a single mother raising seven children. She enrolled at UW-Madison, barely 17 and ill prepared for the rigors and responsibilities of college life. She found support from academic advisers, teachers, and fellow students and flourished after working as a tutor for middle school girls. "If I can do it, you most certainly can," Stubrud would tell her struggling pupils. "The experience of serving others and being a leader, a mentor and a role model inspired me."
She went on to earn a PhD, and now calls herself a servant leader. "I will work to serve, to lead, and to give back," she says. "I decided to return to the UW System to give back to my home state what was so generously provided to me."
"Sometimes I worry about my student loans," admits Stubrud, who recently became a new mother. "It is when I reflect on what was given to me that I realize my education and training at the UW was a bargain."
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In her own words...
| 01 |
What do you most miss about campus?
Well, there are a few things that I miss. The first is being able to walk down the street and see someone I know from a class, from work, from life in Madison. The ability to be connected there is so awesome! The second thing I miss is, well, State Street. I miss being able to meet someone for coffee, have a great meal no matter what I have a taste for, and I miss being able to pick up a book or CD without much hassle at all. The third thing I miss is well, a tie... I miss the Unions (Memorial and Union South) and I miss the libraries (all of them). I miss the Unions as places to connect and to get orange-custard chocolate chip ice cream (do you see the themes?), and also places to relax. I miss the libraries as places to do research, and for uninterrupted reading time... something I don't get much of. |
| 02 |
What was your favorite class?
My favorite class was the Freedom Ride traveling classroom with Craig Werner, Tim Tyson, and Steve Kantrowitz in summer 2001. This course helped to contextualize and bring life to many years of readings, discussions, and papers. The experience of the course helped to breathe life into my understanding of the struggles of those who paved the way for me in all my identities. |
| 03 |
What is the one thing every UW student must do?
Take a class with Craig Werner... and go to a home football game. |
| 04 |
What is the greatest benefit of a UW degree?
The greatest benefit of (multiple) UW degrees for me has been that I can use my degrees as instruments of motivation for those who think that college — and more so college success at a prestigious school — is unattainable. I always say, "If I can do it, you most certainly can! Let me help you." |
| 05 |
What was your first job?
Wow! I have had so many. I worked at McDonalds for like three weeks while in high school. However, I believe my first "long-term" job (besides babysitting) was as a waitress at George Webb in Milwaukee. I actually started off as a bus-person (cleaning tables after patrons had finished eating). I then served as a hostess, eventually becoming a waitress. I worked for George Webb for three or more years. Even while in college those first years as an undergraduate, I would go home on weekends and holidays to work third shift. Wow, that takes me way back... I think I still have my name tag somewhere! |
| 06 |
Who is your hero? Who or what inspires you?
I have several "heroes." The first is Jesus Christ who gave his life for me without even knowing me. Could I do that? So many military service men and women are doing the same thing. God gave his only son as a sacrifice for my sins and so that I might live. As a new mother, I am almost certain that I would not be able to bear such sacrifice. Again, the families of military service men and women give such of themselves. The humility and honor that goes with that level of sacrifice is amazing. I bestow great levels of gratitude to them all.
My mother is another hero. My mother — who until I was a young adult, dedicated her whole life to her family — is an amazing source of inspiration. She lived most of her life with only an eighth-grade education, going back to school in the early '90s for a GED, and then a technical college degree, and then in 2002 or 2003, a bachelor's degree from UW-Milwaukee. It was not formal education or things that motivated my mother, it was love... the love of humanity, of life, and of her family that drove her and that continues to drive her. It is all of that which gives me great honor to be her daughter.
Okay, so for the final source of daily motivation, I must tell you about my admiration for Nelson Mandela. Whenever I think that I am having a "bad day" or that things are not "going my way," I think about Nelson Mandela (whom I have a great framed photo of in my office at UW-River Falls). This amazing man endured years of physical and emotional torture, in captivity and out, but endured, paving the way for others to have lives of freedom and opportunity. Again, the sacrifices that he made so that others may have life astound me, truly motivate me, and truly humble me.
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| 07 |
What are you reading now?
I just finished The Shack by William P. Young. Awesome! Right now, I am reading passages from the Bible to my tummy... my soon-to-be-born son. We have named him Solomon (we hope the ultrasound was right) and because of that, I am reading all of the stories of King Solomon to him from the Bible. |
| 08 |
What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
I had a friend once say to me, "Just do you!" I now say this to myself every day.
I can only be me, and anything else would be a caricature of who I am and who I continue to strive to be. I may not be perfect; I may not be "most liked" or "most successful" or any of those things. However, I am a work in progress who will learn from ups and downs, triumphs and trials, mistakes and great things.
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| 09 |
What's on your iPod?
Um, I am so embarrassed. I don't have an iPod as I am either in my car with a multi-disc CD changer or at a computer where I listen to pandora.com or nicknice.podomatic.com. By the way, Nick Nice is also a UW alum and a great friend of mine since our undergraduate years.
In my car I am currently listening to Atmosphere's When Life Gives you Lemons album; Seether's One Cold Night album; Ben Harper's Live from Mars album; Jay Z MTV Unplugged; Everlast's Whitey Ford Sings the Blues album; Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album; and the Ray (Ray Charles) Movie Soundtrack. I have a pretty eclectic taste in music.
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| 10 |
What is your proudest UW achievement?
Besides this? Earning my doctoral degree. I did not have enough faith that I was able to meet such a challenge and succeed. With a lot of support and love, I finished. At the end of that journey, I realized that I was at the start of another. Let me have many more great UW, general life and world achievements. |
| 11 |
What's your favorite quote?
"God determines who walks into
your life ... it's up to you to
decide who you let walk, who you
let stay, and who you refuse to
let go." — Unknown
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| 12 |
What occupies your free time?
Besides thinking about how to positively change the world? Lately my attention is on preparing for the baby and a new life as a mom. In general, I love to fish, to hike, to camp, and have a newfound interest in hunting: from city girl to outdoor enthusiast. |
| 13 |
What would you be if you hadn't chosen your current career path?
My career path chose me, so I am not sure I know. I actually wanted to be a medical doctor, researching blood platelets to understand genetic anomalies and infectious diseases. I also wanted to practice pediatrics with a specialty in pediatric care of terminal illness. Okay, do you want a chuckle? For a while, I wanted to be an FBI profiler. I don't know what happened to that. |
| 14 |
Do you prefer Mac or PC?
PC for sure. |
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Are you a cat person or dog person?
I am a cat person married to a dog person who won the battle. Our eight-year-old dog's name is Bonnie. She is the source of hours of entertainment. After she passes on in a few years (or however long it takes) I may get to re-visit having cats. Our dog doesn't like them, and she runs the show at our house. |
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