Dr. Molly Hinshaw (’94 BS EDU, ’00 MD), on the medical school scholarship established with husband Dr. Louis Hinshaw (’94 BS L&S, ’00 MD)

Minority Programs Create Tomorrow's Leaders

Over the years, there has been a growing effort to remove the stumbling blocks that oftentimes keep minorities from pursuing a college education. Thanks to a number of individuals who have contributed to program development and provided financial support for minority programs, these barriers are quietly disappearing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

One such promising development at the UW is the Posse Program, an innovative program that identifies, recruits and selects student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called "posses." These teams are prepared through an intensive eight-month training program for enrollment at universities nationwide to pursue their academics and to help promote cross-cultural communication on campus. UW-Madison is the first public university to participate in the Posse Program.

The concept of a posse is that a small, diverse group of talented students, carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community development. The Posse Program has had great success over the past 12 years placing 359 students into top colleges and universities. These students have won more than $27 million in scholarships from Posse partner universities and are graduating at close to 90 percent--a rate higher than the national averages at institutions of higher education.

Wade Fetzer ('59 L&S), is a big supporter of the Posse Program. Past chairman and current member of the UW Foundation Board of Directors, Fetzer is a retired partner with Goldman, Sachs & Company in Chicago, Illinois. "The United States is a multicultural society," Fetzer said. "Those individuals sitting at the bargaining tables of the next century should be more representative of this country's diverse demographics. One of the primary goals of the Posse Program is to train these students to become tomorrow's leaders."

Among their many contributions to the University, Wade and his wife, Beverly, created the Fetzer Academic Center to benefit student athletes and provided the lead gift for the Below Center for the Wisconsin Alumni Association. A donor from Atlanta, Georgia, who wishes to remain anonymous but who also believes in the importance of diversity, has funded a scholarship for students who are either minorities or visually impaired. "I have a soft spot for these students and I am excited that I can help them succeed," he said.