GLBT council to honor alumni at July 22 brunch

The Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Alumni Council has selected Martha Popp, Gigi (Virginia) Kaeser and Gregory W. Schultz as 2001 GLBT Distinguished Alumni. The GLBT Alumni Council will recognize their accomplishments at the tenth annual alumni brunch on Sunday, July 22, from 10 a.m. – noon. Presentations will take place in the Marquee Room of the Madison Civic Center. The public is invited to attend.

Receiving the Distinguished Alumna award, Popp, a 1988 graduate, serves as an educator and activist, and has worked vigorously to ensure that every child in every K-12 school learns to respect and accept all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. She is a member and co-founder of the local chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, where she works to educate administrators, teachers and students about GLBT issues. She also works successfully to promote change at a systems level.

Popp is able to do all of this while serving as an “out” role model for her students at Middleton High School.

Kaeser, a 1969 graduate, will be honored with a special ally award. She is the photographer of “Love Makes a Family: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents and Their Families,” which Booklist named as one of the 10 outstanding gay and lesbian books of the year. Kaeser co-founded and co-directs Family Diversity Projects, a non-profit organization based in Amherst, Mass., that works to eliminate prejudice through education.

For more than 30 years, Schultz, a 1970 graduate, has demonstrated critical and selfless leadership in business, civic and humanitarian causes. His love for and involvement with the University of Wisconsin–Madison began with his campus days, when he served as a house fellow, on WSA committees, and as a member of the Wisconsin Singers, Phi Gamma Delta and Delta Epsilon. Schultz maintains his connection to UW today as a member of the Bascom Hill Society and as a WAA life member. As a business and civic leader, he is CEO of Maxxco, LC, producer of nationally known On-Track Seminars, and has also had leadership roles in The First Earth Run, the largest UN-sponsored global awareness event in its history. With his son Alex, he currently co-chairs a task force for “Henry & a Special Friend,” a free juvenile AIDS awareness publication translated into several languages and distributed globally via the Web.

The Annual GLBT Distinguished Alumni Brunch has served as a time when alumni, students, family and friends can recognize the accomplishments and contributions of outstanding alumni. During the brunch, the council also updates its efforts to support and encourage a positive social and academic environment throughout the university community for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender students, faculty and staff.