Our Board

Wisconsin Humanities' 25 volunteer board members hail from all parts of the state. We seek members whose experience, training, interests, skills, cultural background, and community ties bring diversity, energy, and expertise to our programs. Approximately half of our board membership is drawn from the academic community and half from the community at large. New members are ordinarily elected to three-year terms at our February meeting, and assume office in June. Six members are appointed by the Governor.

Nomination Form PDF ➞

Jenifer D. Cole *

Chair
Middleton

Jenifer's Bio ↓

Jenifer Cole is a Policy Initiatives Advisor with the WI Department of Workforce Development (DWD). She has held various positions in state government since 2010, including serving as the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Women's Council and DWD's Legislative Advisor. Jenifer sits on several other boards and committees, such as the City of Middleton Community Development Authority and the President’s Council of Cornell Women. Jenifer was appointed to the Wisconsin Humanities board by Governor Tony Evers in 2019 and lives in Middleton.

Ann Huntoon

Tomahawk

Ann's Bio ↓

Ann Huntoon is a semi-retired Public Health Nurse at Oneida County Public Health Department. Prior to her move to the Northwoods, she was the Executive Director of the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra in Stevens Point. She has served on the boards of Create Wisconsin, the Association of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestras, and the League of American Orchestras. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2020 and lives on a quiet lake with her husband and varied menagerie north of Tomahawk.

David J. O'Connor

Vice-Chair
Madison

David's Bio ↓

David J. O'Connor is the American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). He is originally from and is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabe) in northern Wisconsin. At DPI, he supports school districts' efforts to provide instruction on the histories, cultures, and tribal sovereignty of the American Indian nations and tribal communities of Wisconsin, which is often referred to as Wisconsin Act 31. He also supports the education of Indigenous students. David joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2023 and currently lives in Madison, WI with his two daughters Ava and Ellie.

Laura Damon-Moore

Monona

Laura's Bio ↓

Laura Damon-Moore is a Library Strategist and Consultant at a nonprofit organization called WiLS (Wisconsin Library Services), where she supports libraries of all kinds across the state of Wisconsin with strategic planning and other projects. She is a librarian by training and has co-authored two books on creativity and community in libraries, Incubating Creativity at Your Library (ALA Editions, 2019) and The Artist's Library: A Field Guide (Coffee House Press, 2014). Laura is the instigator of IArtLibraries, a project that spotlights the unique role of libraries in their communities' creative landscapes. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2024 and lives in Monona with her family.

Mary Lynne Donohue**

Sheboygan

Mary's Bio ↓

Mary Lynne Donohue was an attorney before retiring and serving as an alderperson.She has taught administrative law at law schools in Bulgaria, Poland, and Lithuania through the Center for International Legal Studies. She has served as Treasurer of the State Bar and on the Board of Governors, as well as numerous committees and boards, and ran for Assembly for the 26th district. She currently serves as President of the Sheboygan School Board. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2018 and lives in Sheboygan

Eloisa Gómez

Milwaukee

Eloisa's Bio ↓

Eloisa Gómez is the former Director of U.W. Extension-Milwaukee County and in her retirement is a public speaker and community outreach consultant. Eloisa helped to found Comité por el Voto Latino/Latinx Voter Outreach in 2017, a committee of the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County and continues as a volunteer. Eloisa is a poet and the co-author of the prize-winning book, Somos Latinas: Voices of Wisconsin Latina Activists. She was a writer in residence for Write On Door County, a non-profit organization in Fish Creek, Wisconsin whose mission is to inspire and engage writers. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2024 and lives in Milwaukee.

Susan Frost

Green Bay

Susan's Bio ↓

Susan Frost is the founder of Frost Marketing Communications where she has spent decades pioneering innovative marketing strategies. She is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, teaching in the Cofrin School of Business and the Humanities Departments. In addition, she provides training in the applied humanities for public servants and business. Frost holds a master’s degree in Modern Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Actively involved in her community, she has held board positions with organizations including the Brown County Neville Public Museum, the Brown County Historical Society, and the Green Bay & De Pere Antiquarian Society and currently serves on the Dudley Birder Chorale Board, and is a member of the De Pere Rotary Club. She lives in Green Bay./p>

Danielle Hairston Green

Madison

Danielle's Bio ↓

Danielle Hairston Green holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Prairie View A&M University, a Master’s degree in Community Psychology & Social Change, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Penn State University. She is the Institute Director for Human Development and Relationships with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Co-Host for the Moth In Madison (Live Storytelling Slam), and the 2nd VP of the Madison Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. She founded Embracing ARMS, Inc., which is a nonprofit organization with a vision to engage students and empower parents to take charge of their health, education, and safety within their communities. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2024 and lives in Madison.

Jimmy Gutierrez

Milwaukee

Jimmy's Bio ↓

Jimmy Gutierrez is a news reporter for WUWM, Milwaukee Public Radio. Before joining WUWM, Jimmy was a senior editor for TED’s Audio Collective. He’s also a service journalist who directed the relaunch of the Detroit Documenters program for Outlier Media. His community-based work in Milwaukee was recognized with a John S. Knight Impact Fellowship from Stanford University. He was also the season one host of the Wisconsin Humanities podcast, Human Powered, and is a storytelling workshop consultant for Odyssey Behind Bars, which teaches Wisconsin state prisoners how to tell their own stories. Jimmy grew up on the south side of Milwaukee, was raised in MPS schools, and was a Milwaukee Firefighter. He’s a graduate of MATC and UW-Milwaukee.
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Lara Karpenko

Milwaukee

Lara's Bio ↓

Lara Karpenko has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Notre Dame and is Professor of English at Carroll University in Waukesha where she also serves as the Director of the Carroll University Center for the Humanities. Her work as Director of the Center for Humanities finds opportunities for undergraduates to share their work in public-facing forums. In this vein, she has recently founded the Journal for Undergraduate Research in the Humanities. Edited and produced by undergraduate students, JURH aims to be the flagship journal for undergraduates looking to publish academic work in humanities-based fields. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2024 and lives in Milwaukee.

Brian Jackson

Lac du Flambeau

Brian's Bio ↓

Brian Jackson is assistant professor on the faculty of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Epidemiology and Social Sciences and the President of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association. He is the former Cultural Connections Coordinator at Lac du Flambeau Public School and has years of experience working with students and families as an advocate for Native education and cultural inclusion. He developed the American Indian Studies – Wisconsin Act 31 curriculum used as the guiding principle throughout Wisconsin’s public school system. He joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2021 and lives in Lac du Flambeau

Chong Moua

Madison

Chong's Bio ↓

Chong A. Moua is a professor in Hmong Studies and History at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Her areas of focus are Hmong history and ways of knowing, Asian American immigration, race, and citizenship, and Vietnam War culture. Her scholarly expertise and experience with community-based research has contributed to public history, art and community exhibits, and K-12 curriculum development at the local and national level. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2025 and lives in Madison.

Everett L. Marshburn

Milwaukee

Everett's Bio ↓

Everett Marshburn is a producer at Milwaukee Public Television, where he has produced “Black Nouveau” since 2006. He previously worked for Maryland Public Television for more than thirty years, where he became Vice-President for Regional Productions. He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, the Wisconsin Black Media Association, and the Beta Omega Epsilon Fraternity, Inc. and has received numerous awards, including five Emmys. He served on the Maryland Humanities Council from 1986- 1992. He joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2021 and lives in Milwaukee.

Ruth Olson

Madison

Ruth's Bio ↓

Ruth Olson was the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures and taught Folklore courses at UW-Madison through the Department of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies, as well as the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic. She is one of the founders of Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture, a network of teachers interested in integrating local culture into existing curricula. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2022 and lives in Madison.

Jim O'Connell

Treasurer
Stevens Point

Jim's Bio ↓

Jim O’Connell coordinates the undergraduate arts management program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the Wisconsin School of Business and has spent 46 years managing and programming performing arts, most recently at Wausau’s Grand Theater. Jim serves as a regular grant review panelist for the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin’s Community Arts Grant Program and for the Wisconsin Arts Board’s Creation and Presentation Program. He is also a board member and treasurer of the Association of Arts Administration Educators. Jim joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2023 and currently lives in Wausau

Carrie Van Hallgren *

Spring Green

Carrie's Bio ↓

Carrie Van Hallgren is Assistant Dean for Academic Administration and Operations of the College of Liberal Arts and Education at UW-Platteville. Prior to coming to UW-Platteville, Carrie served as Managing Director at American Players Theatre for eight seasons. As a non-profit theater leader, she has worked with Milwaukee Shakespeare, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Her higher education experience includes producing and teaching theater at Davidson College, University of Minnesota, and UW- Madison. Born and raised in Platteville, she currently lives in Spring Green with her family and was appointed to the Wisconsin Humanities board by Governor Evers in 2023.

Kate Rericha *

Sturgeon Bay

Kate's Bio ↓

Kate Rericha is the Senior Grants and Development Manager at Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Egg Harbor. An arts educator with teaching experience in a variety of environments, Kate has served her local and state communities through leadership positions on the boards of Create Wisconsin, Egg Harbor Business Association, and Help of Door County, and has been a grant review panelist at the state level. She lives in Sturgeon Bay and was appointed to the Wisconsin Humanities board by Governor Evers in 2023.

John Viste**

Harshaw

John's Bio ↓

John Viste of Wausau served as Country Director of American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) in Beirut, Lebanon, and has decades of experience working in the Palestinian territories and Egypt with CARE International, Associates of Rural Development, Save the Children UK, and JumpStart International. He is former Program Manager of the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service. He joined the WH board in 2018 and lives in Harshaw.

Scott Schultz

Osseo

Scott's Bio ↓

Scott Schulz is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, career print and broadcast journalist, and former executive director of the Wisconsin Farmers Union. He has an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree in reflective storytelling. In 2001, he founded The Heartbeat Center for Writing, Literacy and the Arts and continues to serve as that nonprofit organization’s president and executive director. The organization’s mission is to use writing and the arts to help people find place on the land. One of The Heartbeat’s major projects is its Veterans Expressing Themselves project, in which veterans are helped to find their voices, healing and identity by telling their stories. Scott produces a podcast that uses veterans’ voices to help other veterans heal unseen wounds. He is the author of the book, Rural Routes and Ruts: Roaming the Roads of Rural Life, and maintains a blog, www.ruralroutes.blog. He joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2024 and lives on a small farm south of Osseo.

Margaret Nettesheim Hoffmann

Milwaukee

Margaret's Bio ↓

Margaret Nettesheim Hoffmann has a PhD in History and is the Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Humanities at Marquette University. She has held a number of positions within higher education including a dual role between Marquette and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana for Humanities Without Walls (HWW), a consortium of humanities centers at sixteen research universities throughout the Midwest and received the Excellence and Innovation in Graduate Education Award for her work from the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools in 2022. She has received grants from the Mellon Foundation, Economic History Society, Serve Wisconsin, and has published her work with Bloomsbury, Adam Matthew, and Marquette University Press. She serves on boards with the American Council of Learned Societies, the Milwaukee Turners, and joined the Wisconsin Humanities Board in 2025. She lives in Brookfield.

Nerissa Nelson

Stevens Point

Nerissa's Bio ↓

Nerissa Nelson is a faculty librarian at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, where she teaches, provides research support, and leads library programming and outreach. She coordinates the library’s Foundation Collection, supporting local nonprofits in their grant-seeking efforts. Appointed by Governor Tony Evers to the Wisconsin Women’s Council in 2019, she now serves as its Vice Chair. Nerissa’s community involvement includes service with CREATE Portage County and the Stevens Point Arts Grants Committee, where she helped establish the city’s first Arts Advisory Council. A former ballet dancer who performed in Chicago and Boston, she continues to teach adult ballet in the community. She is active in faculty union and shared governance work on her campus, having served as co-president of her AFT-Wisconsin local and as chair of the UWSP Common Council. Her recent scholarship includes work on predatory publishing and digital, crowd-sourced writing that connects lived experience to collective action. She joined the Wisconsin Humanities board in 2025 and lives in Stevens Point.

Anne Katz

Madison

Anne's Bio ↓

Anne Katz is the executive director of Create Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s community cultural development organization, whose mission is to grow Wisconsin creatively and ensure investment in the arts and creativity as a force for economic, workforce, and community success.Before she joined the organization as director in 1995, Katz was the director of development, education, and outreach for the Madison Civic Center. She has worked in administrative roles with a number of other arts organizations in Madison and around the country, including the City of Madison Arts Commission, Madison Festival of the Lakes, and Madison Repertory Theatre; Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, CT; and The Big Apple Circus; New Dramatists, Inc.; and The Feld Ballet in New York City.

Katz is a graduate of Brandeis University with a BA in theater arts and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. In addition to serving on the Wisconsin Humanities board, she serves on the boards of the UW-Madison/Extension Board of Visitors, Wisconsin Downtown Action Council, Leadership Wisconsin, and the national Make Music Alliance and is a past president of the board of directors of Wisconsin Rural Partners and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Joseph Salmons

Madison

Joseph's Bio ↓

Joe Salmons is a professor of Language Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His teaching and research focus on language broadly, especially speech sounds and language change. He works with his students to increase our understanding of language in Wisconsin, including how people here speak English and how that is changing today, as well as issues connected to language and immigration. He co-founded and still works with the UW-Madison Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures. He has just finished a book called Dialect. Joe joined the WH board in 2026 and lives in Madison.

* Governor’s Appointee as of 11/1/23

** Associate Member as of 6/15/24

Our Board

Jenifer D. Cole *

Ann Huntoon

David J. O'Connor

Laura Damon-Moore

Mary Lynne Donohue**

Eloisa Gómez

Susan Frost

Danielle Hairston Green

Jimmy Gutierrez

Lara Karpenko

Brian Jackson

Chong Moua

Everett L. Marshburn

Ruth Olson

Jim O'Connell

Carrie Van Hallgren *

Kate Rericha *

John Viste**

Scott Schultz

Margaret Nettesheim Hoffmann

Nerissa Nelson

Anne Katz

Joseph Salmons

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