News & Events

(UW-W press release) Beginning in fall 2021, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will offer a major tailored to students who have their sights set on law school or careers in legal professions. The new legal studies major, housed in the Department of Political Science, includes coursework on constitutional law, gender and law, ethics, legal writing and research and a required legal internship. 

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved the legal studies major on Friday, Feb. 5, at its regularly scheduled meeting.

The legal studies major will eventually replace a popular legal studies emphasis within the political science major, according to Jolly Emrey, associate professor of political science and chair of the Department of Political Science, which resides in the College of Letters and Sciences. Emrey was instrumental in developing the major and shepherding it through the application process.

“We know there’s a demand for a program that provides students with the transferable skills that will allow them to hit the ground running in any legal profession and give them a leg up when it comes to applying to and being successful in law school,” said Emrey.

Emrey credits Susan Johnson, associate professor of political science, Joan Cook, interim associate provost and director of academic assessment for UW-Whitewater, and Angela Harlan, professor of mathematics, as being critical members of the team that developed the curriculum and a proposed budget for the new program. 

The B.A./B.S. in Legal Studies will be a multi-disciplinary program that will allow students interested in careers in a legal field to take a full range of courses in public law, private law (business law), political institutions, public policy, and theory and ethics, and hone their skills in quantitative and information literacy through applied coursework.

“Courses within the major are housed in departments in three colleges across the UW-Whitewater campus,” said Emrey. “Linda Yu, professor of finance and business law in the College of Business and Economics, and Kathy Brady, professor of communication in the College of Arts and Communication, were very supportive during the proposal phase of the new program, and curriculum from both departments is featured in the legal studies major.”

Creating a new major allows for a curriculum more intensely focused on legal topics such as the history of American Indian law and policy, international law, gender and law, environmental law and policy, and journalism and the First Amendment.

“Assistant Professor of Political Science Monica Lineberger, who recently joined UW-Whitewater, brings an expertise in comparative legal systems and international law to our already strong foundation in American legal systems,” said Emrey. “Other critical points of strength in this major are UW-Whitewater’s focus on student success, our department’s track record with placing students in challenging and prestigious internships, and a number of great alumni who are happy to connect with and mentor current students.”

Recent graduate Brian Martinez, who earned a B.A. in political science with an emphasis in legal studies, was afforded a unique view of the legal system through an internship with an alumnus, Chief Judge Jason Rossell of the Kenosha County Circuit Court, who earned a B.A. in history with a minor in political science in 1999 at UW-Whitewater.

“I was able to be right on the front lines of the legal system — attending trials, arraignment hearings, seeing it all. I was given the opportunity to participate in a ride-along with Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and was able to see the entire legal process: first the arraignment hearing and then the actual trial, all the way to sentencing,” Martinez said. “I got to experience family court, criminal court, juvenile court, and voir dire, which is jury selection.”

Martinez, who eventually plans to attend law school and possibly specialize in election law, now serves as a legislative aide for State Senator Robert Cowles, who represents Wisconsin’s 2nd District. He is already putting the skills he learned in the legal studies program to use on the job.

“Not only am I constantly reading and writing, which is a major part of legal studies, we often have constituent cases that go far beyond basic knowledge of past and current legislation, and you have to call the Wisconsin Legislative Council and ask for all the information they have on a particular issue,” he said. “I’ve been sent 6- to 7-page ‘brief statements.’ I have to read it, understand it and distill it down to something manageable — and to do so you have to understand the statues and terminology. Dr. Emrey really drilled learning your Blue Book inside and out, and I’ve learned to always have my Blue Book on hand, especially when creating citations for letters and emails.” 

Alumna Kayla White, who earned a B.A. in political science with an emphasis in legal studies in 2019, first met Emrey when she took her law and society course, POLI SCI 204. White’s experience exemplifies the opportunities the legal studies program provides.

“Jolly was integral to my falling in love with law. It’s the way she teaches it.” 

Emrey reached out to White about a prized internship opportunity with the American Civil Liberties Union in Milwaukee.

“I had no intention of interning at the ACLU,” said White. “But she said, ‘You’ve got to do this.’” 

Interning for an organization that’s nationally recognized opened up a world of opportunities for White.

“I prize my internship because it opened up my eyes to see that the law can be a helping profession,” said White. “And it led to the opportunity I had to observe the presidential elections in El Salvador, which in turn led to working on a case on El Salvador’s Supreme Court and running an immigration clinic in San Vicente. Now I’m working with a LGBTQ refugee shelter in Sonsonate. That is really the work of my heart, and I’m so thankful the ACLU internship opened that door for me to do such meaningful, life-changing work.” 

White, who talks about her experience with Professor Emrey and her internship with the ACLU in “Meant to Be a Warhawk” and elaborates on the opportunities in El Salvador that the internship opened up for her in “Driven to Opportunity,” will be attending law school in the fall of 2021. Her coursework at UW-Whitewater leaves her feeling confident she will be successful.

“The program sets people up for success with the writing course, and the constitutional law I studied is on par with what I can expect in law school. The program gets you a step ahead of where you need to be.”

Emrey added, “Brian and Kayla are two examples of qualified students who found our legal studies emphasis through their coursework in political science and put it to excellent use. By creating a legal studies major, we hope to signal to prospective students who are interested in going to law school that UW-Whitewater is an excellent place to do their undergraduate degree.” 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in legal occupational areas is expected to increase by 5 percent between 2019 and 2029, representing 67,000 new jobs.

For more information about the B.A./B.S. in Legal Studies at UW-Whitewater, contact Jolly Emrey, chair of the Department of Political Science, at emreyj@uww.edu or 262-472-1124.

(Our House Senior Living press release) Whitewater seniors at Our House Senior Living are excited for this upcoming Valentine’s Day. As they spread love throughout our home, we are looking for love around the community too! This year, we have a special mailbox for Valentine cards for our residents. Everyone is invited to send a Valentine to a resident(s) at 945 E. Chicago Street, Whitewater, so that we can spread the love. Every HEART sent is a HEART in our home that is touched and filled with love. Love can be spread in many ways. Another fun and exciting way that we can spread love to our residents is to adopt a grandparent. We have contacted our local florist, Floral Villa Flowers & Gifts here in Whitewater. To adopt a grandparent, it is a $10 donation, with the donation one of our special residents will then be “adopted,” as they will receive a carnation and a balloon for Valentine’s Day. Let’s spread the love throughout our Whitewater community.

(Family submission) Whitewater native, Tom Schmeling, 53, has been named president and CEO of Dalsin Industries located in Bloomington, MN.  Dalsin is celebrating 75 years in business and is a privately held OEM of high-end wood pellet grills sold under the Memphis Grill brand and is a precision metal contract manufacturer for many solar energy companies as well as customers in the recreational vehicle, bus and utility truck industries.  Tom has spent 30 years building a career in operations, sourcing and sales/marketing.  He has worked for companies like Newell-Rubbermaid, Mercury Marine (Brunswick), Polaris and Arctic Cat.  Tom and his wife, Jaimie, have spent their careers raising their family in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and Maple Grove, Minnesota, and now reside in North Hudson, WIsconsin. Tom enjoys the outdoors, golfing, playing tennis, time with his family including his children Nate, 26, Hannah, 20 and Leah 18 and their three goldendoodles. 

By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
January 29, 2021

The City of Whitewater appears to be moving forward to exercise an option to soon close all but one of its existing Tax Incremental Districts (TIDs) and temporarily “extend” the remaining TID for one year rather than allow it to stay open until 2027. TIDs are the mechanism for communities to utilize the popular economic development tool known as Tax Incremental Financing (TIF). The TIF tool is highly regulated by the State of Wisconsin and the City uses its financial advisory firm, Ehlers and Associates, to guide them through the process.

If the Common Council decides in favor of exercising the option an expected $2 million of funding would potentially be available to acquire land or infrastructure to enhance economic development. This would be the second major utilization of complex federal and state funding options to help reduce the city tax burden. The Council last month voted to use over $800,000 from a closed out economic development revolving loan program to help finance a proposed water tower project that will replace a 131-year-old water tower. The replacement is expected to expand water capacity to support future city development and resolve a reported water pressure problem on the city’s far west side.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our community to once again gain access to the TIF financing economic development tool,” said Cathy Anderson, the Whitewater Community Development Authority’s (CDA) Director, and lead economic development officer for the City of Whitewater.

At the January 28 CDA meeting Anderson and Ehlers and Associates TIF expert Greg Johnson recommended that the CDA pass a resolution urging the City’s Common Council to act next month to begin the process to exercise the option of close-out and one-year “extension.” They advised that communities are only allowed to have 12% of their property value designated as TID districts. The City’s existing six districts apparently reach that limit which has temporarily taken away the TIF economic development tool from the City. The CDA followed through on the recommendation after a lengthy discussion.

The WI Department of Revenue ‘TIF Manual’ defines TIF financing as “…a financing option that allows a municipality to fund infrastructure and other improvements, through property tax revenue on newly developed property. A municipality identifies an area, the Tax Incremental District (TID), as appropriate for a certain type of development.” “…as property values rise, the municipality uses the property tax paid on that development to pay for the projects. After the project costs are paid, the municipality closes the TID. The municipality, schools, county, and technical college are able to levy taxes on the value of the new development.”

Your property tax bill, although sent to you by the city, generates tax revenue for the county, school districts and the area technical college. The closed Whitewater TID districts would apparently mean greater revenue for the other units of government as that revenue currently goes exclusively to support development activities during the often 20-to-30-year life of a given TID. Most of the Whitewater TIDs were created over 20 years ago and could technically stay in place for several more years although many of the original projects in each of those TIDs have been completed or found to be unfeasible for one reason or another.

The one-year temporary extension of the city’s largest TID, an area roughly encompassing the Industrial Park and Downtown area, could generate some controversy as the other taxing districts would not be able to use the proceeds from that district for an additional year. A one-time option of temporarily extending the single tax district for a year would allow the City to use the proceeds in that year to take steps to make housing more affordable and potentially provide funding for housing rehabilitation. City Manager Cameron Clapper told the CDA that although the City would not need official concurrence from the other governmental units (county, school district and technical college) for the extension of the remaining TID, those agencies will be actively involved in advising how the use of the one year of the remaining single TID revenue would be used. He put forth the proposition that adding more city residents with children by enhancing the affordability of city homes would be a benefit to the school system and other municipal partners.

(UW-W press release) State of the University Address – Feb. 1

Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to watch Chancellor Dwight C. Watson’s State of the University Address at Noon, Monday, Feb. 1.

UWW-TV will livestream the event at http://uwwtv.housing.uww.edu/