Distinguished Purdue Alum: Karen Goebel
Consumer Science Professor and UW-Extension specialist Karen Goebel received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Purdue University’s College of Consumer and Family Sciences in April. Goebel received her undergraduate degree in 1962. She followed it with a master’s degree from Ball State University, and a doctorate from Michigan State University. Goebel, who has been a professor in the School of Human Ecology since 1977, will retire this year.
A popular Extension lecturer who has presented in all 72 Wisconsin counties, Goebel has focused her research, teaching and outreach in the areas of marital property law, long-term care, privacy issues, identity theft and succession planning in family-owned businesses.
Goebel has served on the Thrivent board of directors (formerly Aid Association of Lutherans). She has been a vice president of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences and served as AAFCS foundation chair. She is the past president of the Wisconsin Home Economics Association and of the American Council on Consumer Interests. Goebel currently chairs the Phi Upsilon Omicron Foundation and mentors the UW-Madison student chapter.
She has received the ACCI Distinguished Fellow Award, a Regional Research Award for Excellence from the Northeast Region Experiment Station Directors, an Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Human Ecology at Michigan State University, and a UW-Madison Human Ecology Outreach Award.
In her personal life, Goebel financed the education of a family of four orphaned girls living in Malawi, Africa. Philanthropy and giving to others is a recurring theme in Goebel’s life. “I’m inspired by distinguished women around me who give without expecting anything in return,” she said, “and the possibility that I too can make a difference in the lives of young women and families.”
Covering Kids and Families Receives New Grant
Covering Kids and Families-Wisconsin received a three-year, $444,185 grant in December 2006 from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. This funding program was created following the conversion of Blue Cross/Blue Shield to a for-profit organization.
Covering Kids and Families is a statewide, coalition of 65 agencies seeking to enroll eligible children and families in Family Medicaid programs and reduce the number of uninsured. The School of Human Ecology and the UW-Extension are lead agencies, and Consumer Science Professor Roberta Riportella serves as project director.
The new funding aims to institutionalize a process for Family Medicaid enrollment through reaching out to recipients of the state’s school lunch program.
Covering Kids and Families-Wisconsin has already reached tens of thousands of Wisconsin families and aided many in accessing health benefits. The program received requests for 95,000 copies of one brochure it created.
New funds will replace and extend previous work supported through a $900,000, four-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and several local grants. Additional national grant applications are pending.
