Alumna lives ideals, funds environmental studies fellowship

Charlotte Zieve had a somewhat unusual motivation to establish a fellowship that pays full in-state tuition for a student in environmental studies. “I get Social Security every month, and I don’t think I should,” says Zieve, who enrolled at UW–Madison in her 50s and earned her Ph.D. in 1986 from what is now the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. “I made up my mind that I would give it away.”

Zieve is used to putting her ideals into action. She was heavily involved in the environmental movement in the 1970s, when she helped preserve a large tract of land in Bayside, near Milwaukee, that is now known as the Schlitz Audubon Center.

“I remained active in the Audubon Society, and getting my Ph.D. in the field seemed like a good thing to do” once her youngest daughter left for college, she says.

“It’s not like I had been away from school for decades,” says Zieve, who earned her master’s degree in botany from UW-Milwaukee as an adult. Her bachelor’s in science is from the University of Illinois. “Going back was not that foreign to me, because I had been in school. I still marvel at the fact that as soon as you return to class, it comes right back again.”

Zieve had an apartment in Madison and would come to town on Mondays, returning to Milwaukee on Thursday nights.

“I loved the atmosphere on campus,” she says. “I loved being with the young people. It was very stimulating.”

After earning her doctorate, Zieve lectured for the Institute for Environmental Studies for five years.

She and her husband, Edward, moved to Elkhart Lake. There, she’s on the UW-Sheboygan Foundation Board, the Elkhart Lake Public Library Board, Human Growth and Development Board for the area high school and the Sheboygan Country Interfaith Alliance Board.

Zieve had five children receive advanced degrees: Two became attorneys, two got their Ph.D.s and one earned a master’s.

“I’m a child of immigrant parents who never went to high school,” she says. “I’m aware of the incredible benefit of higher education, and Madison made a huge difference in my life….

“I realize that a lot of people have a really hard time making ends meet,” she says. “To help them further their educations, to make something of themselves, is gratifying.”