About the Authors

EARL MIHLBAUER was brought up on a farm in rural LaValle Township and the Village of LaValle in northwest Sauk County.  He graduated from Kenosha Technical Institute (now Gateway Technical College) in 1965 and from Western Michigan University-Kalamazoo in 1967.  He was one of the early pioneers to seek a B.S. degree after receiving a technical institute associate degree.  He later earned an M.S. from UW-Whitewater, and pursued graduate studies at UW-Madison.  Mihlbauer served as Director of Vocational Education for the Waunakee, DeForest, McFarland and Wisconsin Heights School Districts from 1970 to 1980.  He joined Southwest Wisconsin VTAE District in 1980 as Business and Marketing Coordinator, and in 1983, became the first Executive Director of the Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association.  He retired in 1997 to fight a serious illness, which he conquered, and today pursues an active life as a volunteer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JERALD SCHOENIKE was born in Clintonville, Wisconsin.  He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with a B.S. and M.S. Degree.  He was one of two Wisconsin educators to receive an Education Profession Development Act scholarship to attend the University of Illinois and earned a Doctorate of Education in Vocational-Technical Education in 1974.  Dr. Schoenike was superintendent of schools for Clintonville Public School District from 1983 to 1996 and served as the district administrator representative to the Fox Valley Technical College District Board from 1987 to 1997, serving as chairperson of the board for two years.  He was elected Secretary/Treasurer and Vice President of the District Boards Association.  He was the Association’s Board Member of the Year in 1996 and ACCT’s Trustee of the Year award for the Central Region in 1997.