Outlook Magazine - Fall 2025

Trailblazer Alumni Award Leslie Barlow (’11)

Chancellor’s Award Dean Weidner

Studio Art alum Leslie Barlow is a visual artist, educator and cultural worker from Minneapolis. She believes art and art making are both healing and liberating, and her oil paintings are monu ments to community members and explorations into how race entangles the intimate sphere of love, family and friendship. “Receiving the Trailblazer Alumni Award from UW-Stout is an incredible honor. My time there shaped the foundation of who I am as an artist and educator. I’m grateful to the mentors who saw something in me before I could fully see it in myself — and I carry that forward in how I support emerging artists today,” said Barlow, an assistant professor of drawing and painting at University of Minnesota. Barlow, who is represented by Bockley Gallery, is founder of PF Studios, an emerging artist studio program, part of the nonprofit Public Functionary. She also helped launch Creatives After Curfew, a mural collective, and is founder of ConFluence, an annual art and science fiction convention. She has received the McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, the Jerome Hill Fellowship, the 20/20 Springboard Fellowship, and five Min nesota State Arts Board grants. Her work has been published in art journals and is exhibited in collections throughout the Twin Cities. “Leslie thrives as a visual artist and agent of change,” said nominator Ali Riehle (’11) . “She is a trailblazer in every sense: a bold, visionary artist; a mentor and educator; and a builder of community. Leslie pours energy into uplifting others and building community.”

Dean Weidner, visionary founder and chairman of Weidner Apartment Homes, has received the Chancellor’s Award for his advocacy for edu cation and workforce development and his pro found impact on students within UW-Stout’s real estate property management program. Over his career, Weidner has donated $2.5 mil lion to UW-Stout, through the University Foun dation & Alumni Association, to strengthen the real estate property management program and ensure students’ success. His contributions have established the Weidner Center for Residential Property Management, two University Foun dation scholarships, an ambassador position to aid in student recruitment, as well as support for the renovation of Heritage Hall, the home of the REPM program. “My long-term investment into the program at UW-Stout reflects my confidence in the curricu lum that is being taught to students; the fact that educators in REPM have prior industry experi ence and can help to personalize the education with real world examples,” Weidner said. “The workforce of the future requires an adapt able mindset of lifelong learners who continu ously upgrade their technical skills as well as the soft skills that are valued by employers,” he added. “By partnering with colleges and univer sities, Weidner Apartment Homes can help shape the education of the upcoming workforce and embed the requirements of the industry into the curriculum. In this way, we are helping to create the workers we need, instead of merely trying to find them on the open market.”

University Partner Award Great Northern Corporation

Great Northern Corporation received the Uni versity Partner Award in recognition of its long standing and transformative partnership with UW-Stout, particularly in providing program funding and equipment that directly enhances the learning experiences of packaging students. One of the most impactful elements of the partnership is the Great Northern Corporation Collaboration Experience course, a cross-dis ciplinary class where packaging and graphic design and interactive media students work in teams to design packaging for a Great Northern real-world client, providing an experience that mirrors the challenges and opportunities stu dents will encounter in the workplace. Great Northern provided $100,000 to fund the sponsored collaborative course. Zach Schmidt knecht (’99) , general manager of the Chippewa Falls location, collaborated with team members Kris Johnson (’94) and Sarah Murawski (’00) to develop the course. “Great Northern supports UW-Stout’s packaging program because we believe in investing in the future of our industry. UW-Stout’s hands-on approach aligns with our values of innovation, collaboration and continuous learning. The uni versity consistently produces graduates who are not only technically skilled but also ready to con tribute meaningfully from day one. Supporting the program is a natural extension of our com mitment to building a stronger, more sustainable packaging industry,” Schmidtknecht said.

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Outlook 2025