  {"id":27483,"date":"2026-01-07T15:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/?p=27483"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:48:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:48:57","slug":"otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kudos to Wilkistar Otieno, associate professor, industrial &amp; manufacturing engineering, who was recognized as one of Wisconsin\u2019s 32 most influential Black leaders of 2025 by Madison 365.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Madison365, a nonprofit online news publication, has published annual power lists recognizing Wisconsin leaders from different racial and ethnic groups since 2015. The purpose of the lists is to \u201chighlight the beauty of the diversity across our state,\u201d according to Henry Sanders, Jr., the co-founder and publisher of Madison365.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Otieno joins notables including 51ÁÔÆæ Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Andrew Daire, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/madison365.com\/wisconsins-40-most-influential-black-leaders-for-2024-part-2\/\">recognized on the 2024 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See the entire list of 2025 honorees on the news organization&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/madison365.com\/wisconsins-32-most-influential-black-leaders-for-2025-part-5\/\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kudos to Wilkistar Otieno, associate professor, industrial &amp; manufacturing engineering, who was recognized as one of Wisconsin\u2019s 32 most influential Black leaders of 2025 by Madison 365.com. Madison365, a nonprofit online news publication, has published annual power lists recognizing Wisconsin &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":19330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kudos to Wilkistar Otieno, associate professor, industrial &amp; manufacturing engineering, who was recognized as one of Wisconsin\u2019s 32 most influential Black leaders of 2025 by Madison 365.com. Madison365, a nonprofit online news publication, has published annual power lists recognizing Wisconsin &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T21:56:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-08T20:48:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2024\/05\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Otto\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Otto\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura Otto\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565\"},\"headline\":\"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-07T21:56:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-08T20:48:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":118,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/\",\"name\":\"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025 - College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-07T21:56:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-08T20:48:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/537\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"woman looking at camera with manufacturing equipment in background.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565\",\"name\":\"Laura Otto\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura Otto\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/engineering\\\/author\\\/llhuntuwm-edu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025","og_description":"Kudos to Wilkistar Otieno, associate professor, industrial &amp; manufacturing engineering, who was recognized as one of Wisconsin\u2019s 32 most influential Black leaders of 2025 by Madison 365.com. Madison365, a nonprofit online news publication, has published annual power lists recognizing Wisconsin &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/","og_site_name":"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","article_published_time":"2026-01-07T21:56:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-08T20:48:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2024\/05\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Laura Otto","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura Otto","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"Laura Otto","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#\/schema\/person\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565"},"headline":"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025","datePublished":"2026-01-07T21:56:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-08T20:48:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/"},"wordCount":118,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2024\/05\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/","name":"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025 - College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2024\/05\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-07T21:56:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-08T20:48:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#\/schema\/person\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2024\/05\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2024\/05\/Wilkistar-Otieno-1.jpg","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"woman looking at camera with manufacturing equipment in background."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/otieno-named-one-of-wisconsins-most-influential-black-leaders-of-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Otieno named one of Wisconsin\u2019s most influential Black leaders of 2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/","name":"College of Engineering &amp; Applied Science","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/#\/schema\/person\/2f360a26f3df4ff8f31b58e43d772565","name":"Laura Otto","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a25d6450ea441d1a0a92cfcac5c88d413d72cb7a72eb8721a3c4bc0b8b290f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laura Otto"},"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/author\/llhuntuwm-edu\/"}]}},"meta_fields":{"_edit_lock":["1767905342:685"],"_edit_last":["685"],"feat_img_video":[""],"feat_img_gallery":[""],"feat_img_caption":["feat-img-caption-on"],"breadcrumbs_display":["breadcrumbs-on"],"otp_nav_display":["otp-on-mobile"],"post_layout":["post-layout-theme"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["25"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["60"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["1"],"_thumbnail_id":["19330"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1767905267"],"_uwm_wg_content_review_log":["a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:11:\"reviewer_id\";i:0;s:6:\"status\";s:5:\"reset\";s:10:\"entry_date\";s:19:\"2026-03-01 02:11:11\";s:16:\"priority_content\";s:0:\"\";s:4:\"note\";s:43:\"Content review reset at start of new cycle.\";}}"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/836"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27483"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27511,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27483\/revisions\/27511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}