Newly elected Titans on what prepared them for, drove them to pursue local office

Austin Hammond, far right, meets with leaders in the office of Wisconsin Rep. Michael Schraa in 2022.

Imagine a database of University of Wisconsin Oshkosh alumni who have raised their hands, run for public office and, while juggling jobs and family obligations, earned seats on school boards, city councils and other public governance bodies.

Such a roster may not exist, but rest assured, alumni answering the call to public service in Wisconsin elected roles are many. One can zero in on a good sample of these civically engaged Titans with a simple scan of communities and the regions not too far from their alma mater.

Alumni-leaders cite their academic and extracurricular experiences as formative-the inspirations for their pursuits of school board seats, mayorships and in other locally elected roles.

Here are just a few examples, based on conversations we had with four UWO alumni who earned roles on eastern and northeastern Wisconsin community boards, councils and public offices in spring 2024 elections.

Menasha's new mayor

Austin Hammond, '21, who is pursuing a UWO Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree, was elected mayor of the City of Menasha in April.

Hammond is a member of the Brothertown Indian nation and a member of the tribal council. He served on the Menasha city council since 2022. His first full day leading the city of nearly 18,000 residents was his 27th birthday.

"As I got involved (on the Menasha council) I enjoyed the things we were working on at the council level and the amazing staff that works for the city," Hammond said. "The city is filled with great people… I have a heart for government and policy and serving others, and government is a good tool if you know how to use it. You can do great things with it."

Hammond gives his UWO experience a lot of credit for shaping his interest in politics and public service.

"I believe in the Universities of Wisconsin and the Oshkosh campus, in particular," he said. "It's where I was able to dig deeper into government and politics and got involved in student government… It's in student government where I met my wife. UW Oshkosh prepared me for being ready to run for public office. The campus advocates for civics and engagement with different stakeholders. That kind of culture speaks to students."

Hammond said, "student government was my thing." He started in the Oshkosh Student Government's senate and became vice president pro tempore before serving as vice president. He emerged as an advocate for university carbon neutrality, student accessibility and campus safety.

In the classroom, he cites political science and social justice professors as mentors.

"Their classes challenged me and made me view the world differently," he said. "… Having those classes where you feel challenged and want to grow, played a huge role in me wanting to get involved in elected office."

"The university creating that culture of serving each other and the community at large is beneficial."

Realtor and Wauwatosa city council member

Aletha Champine, '06, is a real estate agent in the greater Milwaukee area, living in the city of Wauwatosa. In April, she was elected to a two-year term on the 48,000-resident city's common council.

Champine graduated from UWO with a political science degree and credits some serendipitous sorority experience and thought-provoking political science courses and professors with stoking an otherwise shy student's interest in government and policy.

She said she pursued a seat on the Wauwatosa Common Council after hearing her frustrations over city inspections and development echoed among other small business owners.

"I don't know if I jumped at the opportunity, but small business owners pushed me into it," Champine said.

"Housing is important to me-nationally, it's a problem. I thought, 'If I am motivated, on a city level, I can perhaps move the needle on that.'"

Champine recalls filling in for a UWO sorority sister on the student government's Senate one meeting. "Then, in the next semester, I ran for that sorority-senator."

She said she "sat relatively quiet for the first month or two" in her UWO student government post-observing, listening and learning about the body's political dynamics, "which is what I'm doing on the (Wauwatosa) Common Council now."

"One thing I learned quickly in this position is change is the common, frustrating denominator, but change is inevitable," Champine said, noting efforts to streamline the council's deliberative processes.

"My thought is if you can streamline government in any capacity you should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, because it's amazing: It's not just about addressing the amount of meetings to garner trust and change, it's the efficiency and understanding. I personally believe if you can streamline government, you're increasing trust."

Champine also credits UWO class sizes and her eventual pursuit of a UW Business MBA consortium degree in 2013 with preparing her for public office. She even earned a post-baccalaureate degree in Chemistry at another college. But it was the four-year undergraduate UWO experience that prepared her for "the ability to survive in the wild," she said.

"Going off to college is one of those things that kids might need now more than ever," she said.

A double-dose of service: public health and school board

Susan Garcia Franz earned her MPA in May 2022, already serving the public in her career as a Winnebago County Health Department community health strategist.

She pursued and was elected to a seat on the Neenah Joint School District Board of Education in the spring 2024 election. The K-12 public school district serves more than 6,700 students.

"I decided to run for office as I had worked over the years behind the scenes with a statewide organization focused on dyslexia," Garcia Franz said. "… I felt that with the passage of (Wisconsin 2023) Act 20 that I wanted to advocate for changes needed at the district level for improved dyslexia identification and curriculum changes. I feel my experience in public health is a benefit to the school district with experience in community assessments and community resources."

Garcia Franz said the MPA journey's budgeting and public policy classes expanded her knowledge and command of tools and practices important to the governance of a large school district like Neenah's.

"UWO has helped me to understand the community inputs needed in public administration and the transparency and communication needed to make it work well," she said. "I appreciate what my master's degree has helped me with working in the public and now being an elected official."

Economics education steered him toward service back in his hometown

Dale Steinmetz was born in Oshkosh but spent his grade school years in Stevens Point. The 2021 UWO Economics graduate and senior sales specialist with a large insurance company returned to Stevens Point after graduation and, in April, won a seat on the city's council.

Steinmetz cites the combination of classroom, student living and extracurricular experiences, including his time in the College of Business's Economics Student Association, as drivers in his pursuit of local public office. A "Public Sector Economics," course, in particular, sparked his interest, he said.

"I think I took that class maybe a year earlier than I should have been able to, but it was one of those things that, holy cow, this economics thing is pretty interesting," he said.

Steinmetz also served as the president of his residence hall council in his freshman year. The following year, he stepped forward as a community development specialist with residence life. Now, he's helping lead Stevens Point, a UW community with approximately 26,000 residents, according to most recent U.S. Census bureau data.

"There are people in my (city council) district who are retired and have lived in the city longer than I have been alive," he said, noting his Stevens Point alderperson was not seeking reelection, so he was encouraged to run. He won, and he continues to acclimate to the role, the responsibilities and the realities, including "being okay with people not being okay with the calls I make."

"I like pleasing people and disliking making people unhappy," Steinmetz said. "In a position like this, even if I did everything perfectly, there will be a big chunk of people displeased with what I did… But the more I get involved, the more the curtain is pulled back for me - I can see the inner workings. I gained quite an appreciate for how complex systems can be."

He also credits his UWO opportunity to serve as an economics tutor with shaping his approach to leadership, helping "people get information they need to look at a problem."

And, as the other rookie leaders elected this spring noted, Steinmetz pointed to faculty members' passion for their disciplines, teaching and mentorship-in his case, within economics-as crucial.

"Something clicked, and I loved it," he said.

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