UW System Interim President Tommy Thompson Resigning; UW-W Chancellor Henderson Comments

Tommy Thompson, on January 7, announced that he will be resigning from his position as interim president of the UW System effective March 18, 2022. Thompson has served in that role for the past 18 months, succeeding President Ray Cross after a failed search for a successor. It is hoped that a new president will be named in the near future. Thompson’s letter may be viewed here.


UW System Regent President Edmund Manydeeds III issued the following statement on January 7:
“Tommy Thompson was the right man at the right time. His leadership has helped carry us through a
pandemic and set the standard for managing during a crisis. As important, President Thompson has been a
relentless champion of the University of Wisconsin. It showed in everything he did as System President. He
raised the profile of public higher education in our state and ensured that it is relevant, not only to students,
parents, faculty, and staff whose leadership we entrusted to him, but also to all Wisconsinites.
“He answered the call as one of Wisconsin’s greatest public leaders by accepting this role in spite of the
challenges in front of him. We are proud of what he accomplished in his time here and consider him, as
always, a lifelong friend of the University of Wisconsin. We were fortunate to have such a strong advocate
and evaluator lead the UW System.”



UW-Whitewater Interim Chancellor Jim Henderson issued the following statement on January 7:

“On behalf of the Warhawk family, I’d like to extend my deepest appreciation to President Tommy Thompson for his service to the UW System and the state of Wisconsin. He has led the System through one of the most challenging times in our history with unmatched energy and passion. We couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic champion of UW-Whitewater and the state universities as a whole — someone who fundamentally understands our collective educational, economic, and cultural impact and fiercely promotes our contributions. His tireless advocacy and efforts to provide the universities with resources to carry out our unique missions have been critical to the success of our students and will be felt for years to come. And we will always remember his embrace of the Warhawk Strut!”

Whitewater Students Named to Dean’s List, Honor Roll at UW-Madison

Editor’s Note: This information was recommended to the Banner by Alison Gunnink.

Several Whitewater students were recognized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the Fall 2021 Semester:

Austin Kaja, Dean’s List

Caroline Crowley, Dean’s List

Carson Ellenwood, Dean’s List

CC Liang, Dean’s List

Connor Steinke, Dean’s List

Grace Ejnik, Dean’s Honor List

Jaden Henneman, Dean’s Honor List

Milena Maroske, Dean’s List

Mohamed Mohamed, Honor Roll

Nick Kuzoff, Dean’s List

Reid Gunnink, Dean’s List

Jeff Arnold Returns to UW-W as Interim Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs

Editor’s note: The following announcement was posted at UW-W on January 10.

Message from Chancellor Henderson on Administrative Affairs leadership 

Dear University Colleagues,

As we continue our search for a permanent vice chancellor for administrative affairs, I wanted to share with you that Taryn Carothers has decided to step down from the interim vice chancellor role, and to resume her previous position as controller, effective January 10, 2022. Since September of 2020, Taryn has led the Administrative Affairs unit and served as a critical campus leader as we secured resources and navigated the logistics of the COVID-19 pandemic, and collectively worked to solidify our university budget. I’m very appreciative of her service and glad to have her remain part of the Warhawk Family.

I’m pleased to announce that Jeff Arnold will assume the role of interim vice chancellor for administrative affairs starting January 10, 2022.  Jeff is well known to our community as he served as vice chancellor from 2011 to 2017 after a 25-year career with UW System. His appointment provides us with an extremely knowledgeable expert in budget planning, financial administration and UW System financial policies as well as invaluable experience with the UW-Whitewater budget. Jeff is an experienced and respected leader with a passion for higher education and UW-Whitewater. He served all of the UW System institutions for more than 10 years as the director of financial services, holds a business degree from UW-Madison and is also a Certified Public Accountant. 

Thank you in advance for supporting our Administrative Affairs colleagues during this transition. We have secured the assistance of the search firm Isaacson, Miller in the search for the right vice chancellor for administrative affairs, and they will be working with us to hire someone by the end of the spring semester.  I look forward to working with their team and our search committee to find the right candidate to help lead UW-Whitewater’s administrative team.  

Jim Henderson
Interim Chancellor

Whitewater Hosts Large JV Challenge Series Regional

On Saturday, January 8, the Whitewater Wrestling Team hosted a huge wrestling tournament at Whitewater High School called the WWCA JV Challenge Series Regional. This is a tournament sponsored by the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association and provides the junior varsity wrestlers an opportunity to compete for a state championship through the coaches’ association. It is a great opportunity for the JV wrestlers around the state to get some extremely great competition.

Whitewater was the host for 28 schools traveling from as far away as River Valley and Union Grove. The tournament is all one division, so students from Division 3 to Division 1 all descended into Whitewater on Saturday. These 28 schools brought 263 wrestlers to compete in this event, with as many as 26-person brackets to work through, in an attempt to place in the top four and earn the right to advance to the state championships in Wausau.

The Whitewater team did very well all day, from Friday evening with setting up six mats, Saturday competition, and then finally the clean-up of the entire area on Saturday evening. On the mat, Whitewater wrestlers did very well. There were not any disappointments as far as how the team competed. Sure, there were disappointments in not qualifying for the top four, but there was outstanding competition to work through, and nearly everyone secured at least one win on the day.

Highlights of the day included the Whippets having three team members place in the top two and one third place, all qualifying for Wausau. There was a 5th member of the team who took 5th and will be an alternate in case someone ahead of him cannot go.

Traysen Thomason took second place and lost a tough overtime match in the finals. He was full of energy all day as he hammered his way to the finals. He had his goals set all day for heading to Wausau.

Sebastian Cuellar also took second, losing a tough match in the finals. In the semifinals, he wrestled extremely well, getting a victory that went into three overtimes. 

Yovanni Rojas-Reyes claimed second after a heart breaker in the finals. He wrestled very well all day, adjusting to every opponent’s style.

Hector Arnodo earned third place Saturday after his match against Janesville Parker. Hector all day was looking to score as many points as possible every match. He did what he said, and won by tech fall in his third place match. 

Armando Villarreal took 5th at 220. He had a tough road through the wrestle backs but sealed the deal by pin over Muskego. As stated, Armando is an alternate, so if a competitor who placed ahead of him is unable to go, he will have the opportunity.

As Coach Bruski stated, “Overall everyone seemed to wrestle well. We had good matches and bad matches, and everyone did their part for the team. Effort was far from depleted as the day turned into a long one. I think the overall goal was for everyone to place and get the opportunity for a fun overnight trip to Wausau. I’m looking forward to heading up north with wrestlers in a few weeks as it gets more experiences for our JV program. The Wausau tournament is tough and just what we need as we are nearing the last half of wrestling season. So, we are looking forward to taking this momentum from this weekend and keeping it going.”

As an entire program the coaches could not be prouder of the effort given by the team, wrestlers and managers, putting this event on. The group not competing had the daunting task of working tables, which can get to be a very long day for them. They did absolutely outstanding with their job, and when the tournament was over, did an outstanding job with the clean-up of the six mats that were used and picking up garbage in the stands. The wrestlers and managers should be commended for giving up an entire Saturday so Junior Varsity wrestlers around our area had this opportunity. 

Article and Photo Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org

Whippets Pin Down Eagles

On Thursday night, January 6, the Whippet Wrestling Team hosted the Eagles of Jefferson in a Rock Valley Conference Dual Meet. In the end, Whitewater pinned them down with a 69-12 victory.

On the night, Whitewater had a total of 10 pins, 1 injury default, and 1 decision. This is the most pins the coaching staff has witnessed in a dual meet in the 16 years they have been together at Whitewater.

Mason Nobs

Getting pins for Whitewater included Jarvis Porcaro, Connor Friend, Cooper Hammond, Marcus DePorter, Aaron Porras, Carter Friend, Mason Nobs, Payton Lyon, Mason DePorter and Leo Ortiz. Winning by injury default was Victor Hernandez, whose opponent injured himself during a pinning combination by Victor and could not finish the match. CJ Tomomitsu won by a 9-2 decision.

This dual meet is likely one of the most entertaining that I have been a part of as it was extremely exciting with the pins and the excitement in the crowd made it a lot of fun. We had a nice contingent of parents, high school students, and a special set of bleachers for a group of the youth wrestlers.

The Whippets are next in action on Friday when they travel to Edgerton to participate in the Rock Valley Conference Duals. They will have 4 conference duals that will all be very competitive for the team.

Article Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org
Action Photo Courtesy of Bob Mischka
Other Photos Submitted by John Schimming

Fostering Conversations with Law Enforcement

Editor’s Note: The following information was provided by Walworth County.

The public is invited to attend an open forum with officers from the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office, City of Elkhorn, City of Lake Geneva, and the City of Delavan on Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.  at Matheson Memorial Library in Elkhorn. A virtual attendance option is available. The conversation will focus on relationship building, what’s happening in our local communities, community resources, and more. This event is being hosted by the Elkhorn Area School District Resiliency Coalition.

Boys’ Basketball Falls to McFarland

It was a rough night for the Whitewater High School Boys’ Basketball Team, as McFarland took control early and cruised to an 89-53 win on Friday, January 7th.

Wyatt Nickels had 17 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Whippets. Jake Hintz scored 13, and Arno Crowley added 8 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome McFarland’s balanced scoring and aggressive defense.

The Whippets next play at home against Evansville, on Thursday, January 13th, at 7:15.

Article Submitted by Dwayne Lange

#FlashbackFriday with the Historical Society: Winter Downtown c. 1910

It’s time once again for #FlashbackFriday with the Whitewater Historical Society. This month we are featuring winter photos taken by local amateur photographer Andrew Scholl between c. 1895 and 1910. Over 400 glass plate negatives taken by Scholl are in the historical society’s collections.

This week’s image is a rare one showing the full western block of the north side of Center Street. Taken during the winter, it features a real “one horse open sleigh” in the foreground. And note the two gentlemen in their heavy fur coats to the right of the picture.

Join us next week for another winter Scholl image.

(#2825GP Whitewater Historical Society)