Jon Knopik ’78
(
Saint Cloud, Minn.)
has joined Lakewood Health System
as community outreach coordinator
for Psychiatric Services. He will serve
as an educational resource for the
community and contact for healthcare
providers. He has more than 20 years
of experience in public education and
working with older adults.
1980
s
Kent DeYoung ’80
(
Mesa, Ariz.)
retired after 25 years of working in
public finance in Arizona. His last
position was chief financial officer for
the Higley Unified School District in
Gilbert.
Katy Smith ’84
(
Winona), the 2011
Minnesota Teacher of the Year, has
been named one of just 32 NEA
Pearson Foundation Global Learning
Fellows. She is a parent education
teacher with the Winona Area Public
Schools Community Education Early
Childhood Family Education Program.
Katy earned her bachelor’s in social
work at WSU.
Elizabeth (Colapietro) Vozzola ’84
(
West Hartford, Conn.) has been
appointed to a three-year term as
director of the Honors Program at
the University of Saint Joseph. She
is a professor of psychology at Saint
Joseph.
Michael Kramer ’86
(
South Bend,
Ind.) has been appointed chair of the
Department of Communication Stud-
ies, Dance, and Theatre at Saint Mary’s
College in Indiana. Michael’s five-
year-old daughter, Daisy, just started
playing soccer and Fiona, who is two,
likes to climb things.
William Ihrke ’87/’03
(
Plainview,
Minn.) coached the Minnesota All-Star
Football Game. Bill is the highly suc-
cessful head coach at Plainview-Elgin-
Millville High School and began his
coaching career while still a student
at Winona State. His team won a state
title in 2002 and he has compiled a
132-57
record in 18 seasons.
James Herbert ’88
(
Marine on St.
Croix, Minn.) is vice president and
branch manager at First State Bank &
Trust. He manages two brances in the
Stillwater area. He’s been married
to wife Esther, who attended WSU
in 1989, for 23 years. They have four
boys, Shane, Eric, Ryan, and Cole.
Dan Schumacher ’89
(
Channahon, Ill.)
is the new director of intercollegiate
athletics at Chicago State University.
He was formerly at Lewis University in
Romeoville, Ill., and has also worked
in athletics development at Winona
State.
1990
s
Andy Siegal ’90
(
Visalia, Calif.) has
been named offensive coordinator at
the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The Illinois native was most recently
director of league development
for the World Professional Football
League. He earned his bachelor’s in
physical education at WSU and played
football and wrestled.
Join Us
on
@
winona.edu/WinonaStateU
@
winona.edu/WinonaStateAlumniandFriends
Advocating
for
Children
Victor Vieth ’84, the executive director
of the National Child Protection Training
Center, has been awarded the Pro
Humanitate Award for Child Advocacy,
North America’s premier honor for child advocacy.
Victor is founder of the NCPTC, which is the largest provider of
training and technical assistance to child protection professionals
in the United States. The center, headquartered on the Winona
State campus, provides forensic interview training in 20 states
and in Columbia and Japan. Victor is an advocate for reforming
undergraduate and graduate training of child protection profes-
sionals and has helped implement reforms at dozens of colleges,
including the Child Advocacy Studies program at WSU.
In making the award, the North American Resource Center for
Child Welfare said that Victor has demonstrated “the courage to
challenge political and conventional barriers to improving child
welfare services.”
