Continuing with our celebration of this year’s CALS Awards recipients, we are sharing information about the winners of the Arthur J. and Ellen A. Maurer Extra Mile Award, the Robert R. Spitzer Teaching Excellence Award and the WALSAA Outstanding Advisor Award.

Liza Chang

Liza Chang, recipient of the Arthur J. and Ellen A. Maurer Extra Mile Award, is the First-Year Program Manager in Academic Affairs. Liza consistently exceeds expectations to benefit QuickStart and other first year students, ensuring that they have a positive experience and impact on the CALS community and greater university.

Liza’s unique mentorship style actively identifies her students’ potential and encourages them to surpass their greatest possibilities. In addition, she helps her students articulate and refine their future plans by helping them set clear, tangible goals to avoid overcommitment and burnout.

Liza’s passion for others is not something that can be acquired but rather is a fundamental part of who she is. She never waivers from her value of inclusivity, and she always strives to promote equity within education and research. She builds upon the formal networks already established to give each student unique experiences in which they can explore their values and strengths. Liza embodies everything that you hope to see in a mentor at a land-grant university, as she continuously forms connections.

Andrew Stevens

The recipient of the Robert R. Spitzer Teaching Excellence Award is Andrew Stevens, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Andrew is an exceptional teacher who goes above and beyond to ensure the success of his students. As an early-career tenure-track scholar with heavy research responsibilities, Andrew faces many competing demands on his time.

Despite these pressures, he has taught several different courses in the last three years, won a departmental teaching award, published a peer-reviewed article on the assessment of student learning, published two peer-reviewed teaching case studies, and won an award for that as well.

In addition to Andrew’s teaching and research responsibilities, he is also a great advisor and cares about student development both intellectually and mentally. He is the placement officer for Ag and Applied Econ Ph.D. students and does an excellent job in helping students perform well in the job market.

Andrew has an exceedingly strong record of commitment to and excellence in teaching and mentoring.

Theodore J. Halbach

Theodore Halbach is the receipient of the 2023 Wisconsin Agricultural and Life Sciences Alumni Association (WALSAA) Outstanding Advisor Award. Ted is relentless in his efforts to improve the education and career readiness of Animal and Dairy Sciences students. He excels at identifying needs and finding creative solutions and resources to address them. Ted’s leadership of the department’s undergraduate recruiting activities has been very successful. The yield rate for prospective students in the Dairy Science major – meaning the percentage of admitted students who enroll in the major – is the highest in CALS and probably the institution.

Ted has excelled as an advisor to undergraduate students, both as the official academic advisor of dozens of students in the Dairy Science major, and in the broad sense, as a mentor, advocate, career counselor, classroom instructor and pioneer of high-impact educational activities that have benefited hundreds of CALS students over the past 25 years.

Ted has made tremendous contributions to the Animal and Dairy Sciences Department, CALS, UW–Madison, and Wisconsin agriculture over the past quarter century, and he continues to do so each day.