Kenneth Germanson, who will be receiving an honorary doctor of humane letters at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee commencement May 20, says he is somewhat overwhelmed and a little amazed at the honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt kind of ridiculous at first. Those opportunities usually go to people who are celebrities, or have a lot of money to build buildings,\u201d Germanson said. \u201cI\u2019m neither.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other hand, says the longtime labor leader, journalist and community activist, he accepts the award on behalf of many. \u201cI am pleased that the university has chosen to honor people who are part of the labor movement and social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, he said, he\u2019s in good company as an honorary doctor with a well-known conservation leader and fellow journalist, Dan Egan, author of \u201cThe Death and Life of the Great Lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both will receive their honorary degrees at the \u201cblack\u201d ceremony, which begins at 9 a.m.<\/p>\n
It is a pleasure, Germanson said, to receive this honor from a university whose birth he championed many years ago. Germanson was one of a group of students who advocated for the formation of a four-year public university in Milwaukee in the late 1940s.<\/p>\n
Germanson started his education at the old University of Wisconsin Extension Division, which offered a two-year program at several sites in Milwaukee. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism and economics from UW-Madison in 1951, and joined with other students and graduates in leading a \u201cMission to Madison\u201d campaign to establish 51ÁÔÆæ, which was eventually created in 1956. \u201cWe just made some noise,\u201d he says in typical understated fashion.<\/p>\n
Having a four-year campus in his hometown was personal to him, says Germanson. \u201cThere was no way I could have afforded to go to Madison or Marquette for four years when I graduated from high school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After newspaper jobs in the Milwaukee area, Iowa and South Dakota and service in the Navy, Germanson took a reporter\u2019s job at the Milwaukee Sentinel, becoming active in the union, Milwaukee Newspaper Guild Local 51. He went on to become a staff representative of the State, County and Municipal Employees Union District Council 48, representing public workers. In 1968, he joined the Allied Industrial Workers Union, now part of the Steelworkers Union. He eventually became assistant to the international president before retiring from labor work in 1992 to start another 25-year-long career in social services.<\/p>\n
As a member of the staff of Community Advocates, Milwaukee\u2019s largest agency serving low-income families, he was part of efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect, provide health care to low-income families and reduce gun violence. His co-workers were mostly younger, mostly female and mostly African-American, so it was a great learning experience for him, he says. \u201cI loved that work.\u201d<\/p>\n
He retired from that job in 2016 at age 86, but he remains active in social justice, progressive and racial justice issues. He also served as president of the Wisconsin Labor History Society, and led a campaign to get Wisconsin to include the teaching of labor history in public schools. He remains president emeritus of the organization.<\/p>\n
His interest in social justice and labor issues grew out of his upbringing in the Depression and World War II, he said, as he watched neighbors and families struggle because of the shortages, job losses and family members sent overseas to fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy high school buddies and I used to hang out on the corner late at night and talk about politics.\u201d Those interests sparked his decision to pursue the dual degrees in journalism and economics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw economics as the way to social justice. I was really curious about how to reach a greater equality of incomes in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
An 18-month stint as a writer for a Catholic magazine also cemented his interest in social justice issues. \u201cThat was a time when the church seemed to care about poor people and ordinary people,\u201d he says bluntly, \u201cthough they are getting back to that more now with Pope Francis.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and his wife, Ann, were married more than 50 years. \u201cShe was smarter than me,\u201d he recalls proudly, adding she graduated with a Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota. They met as young reporters on a newspaper in Iowa. He and Ann, who died last year, raised five children on Milwaukee\u2019s south side.<\/p>\n
Throughout his careers in journalism and community work, Germanson was involved in many community activities, serving as president of the board of the former Planning Council for Health and Social Services, a founder and leader of Community 19, a neighborhood group formed in the troubled 1960s to improve racial relations in his far south side area, and also as a member of other boards and committees. His many awards include the Frank P. Zeidler Community Service Award (2014) of the City of Milwaukee; the Witness to History Award (2010) by the Milwaukee County Historical Society; the Eugene V. Debs Award of the Midwest Labor Press Association (1982), as well as numerous awards for his advocacy on health care issues of low-income families.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t like to sound too profound or sanctimonious, he said with a smile, but here\u2019s how he sums up his life and work: \u201cThe quest to do good in the world is really my motivating factor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kenneth Germanson is a longtime labor leader, journalist and community activist who was one of a group of students who advocated for the formation of a four-year public university in Milwaukee in the late 1940s. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":59082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[125,122],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[261],"uwmnews-feed":[167],"class_list":["post-59078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-alumni","section-campus-community","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-graduation","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association"],"yoast_head":"\n