ONLINE: Badger Pride Brunch Panel

press release: Every year, Madison celebrates Pride in August. Although our community may be physically distant right now, nothing can keep us from celebrating together!

You’re invited to a virtual brunch to celebrate Madison’s Pride weekend with LGBTQ+ alumni and allies. Join our live program featuring:

• a welcome from chief alumni officer Sarah Schutt
• a message from Tammy Baldwin JD’89, the country’s first openly gay person elected to U.S. Senate
• a live panel discussion with current and past LGBTQ+ leaders, moderated by Tiffany Lee MA’15, the Crossroads coordinator at the UW’s Gender and Sexuality Campus Center

To make this party even more fun, you can whip up one or more of our suggested brunch dishes below to enjoy while you participate in the event. It’s not required, of course — but who doesn’t love brunch?

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This event is hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Association^®.

Moderator

Tiffany Lee MA’15 (she/her/hers) is a Black queer femme from York City. She has her master’s degree in gender and women’s studies from UW–Madison. She is currently a social justice educator and the coordinator of Crossroads. Crossroads is an initiative centering and advocating for queer and trans students of color on campus. It is a split position between the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center and the Multicultural Student Center. She is also a spoken word artist and a content writer for the online magazine The Body is Not an Apology.

Panel

Shaun Aukland ’10 (he/him/his) is a global business manager for Google’s large customer travel team, consulting with and creating technology solutions for some of the travel industry’s biggest companies. He was named one of the “Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing” by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International. He is known for actively recruiting Badgers for nontechnical roles at Google, with a focus on students who are traditionally underrepresented in the tech industry. He has also served on the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Alumni Advisory Council since 2019.

Tammy Baldwin JD’89 (she/her/hers) was born and raised in Madison. In 1998, she became Wisconsin’s first female member of Congress and the nation’s first openly gay challenger sent to Congress. She served seven terms in the House of Representatives before she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, becoming Wisconsin’s first female senator and the first openly gay member elected to the Senate. She was elected for a second term in 2018. Today, Senator Baldwin serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee; the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP); and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (special prerecorded message)

Ace Hilliard ’14, MS’18 (he/him/his) is a Black, queer, and trans first-generation college graduate, as well as a POSSE scholarship recipient from Chicago. He has a bachelor’s degree in community and nonprofit leadership with a certificate in gender and women’s studies and a master of science degree in educational leadership and policy analysis with a focus in student affairs. He is currently working as an advisor in Adult Career and Special Student Services in the UW’s Division of Continuing Studies. He is also the outreach and recruitment coordinator for the Badger Ready program as well as an advisor to the Kappa Gamma Chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Inc. Hilliard’s work in the student affairs field has continuously surrounded race, gender, and sexuality, advancing inclusivity of all people — especially in higher education and Greek life.

Autumn Kent (she/her/hers) is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She studies hyperbolic geometry in low dimensions and enjoys drawing, taking photographs, and writing poetry. She is an advocate and mentor for members of the LGBTQ community in mathematics, and — as one of few trans women in tenured positions in mathematics — she keeps this responsibility close to her heart.

Suggested menu:

Morning Pick-Me-Ups

Coffee, tea, or fresh-squeezed juice

Mosse Mimosa — 3 oz. orange juice, 3 oz. champagne or sparkling grape juice

Pride Punch — grape juice, cranberry juice, orange juice, club soda, chopped fresh fruit

Savory Selections

Lysistrata Frittata (gf option) — seasoned and beaten eggs poured over your choice of vegetables, protein, and cheese and then baked

GSCC Brunch Salad (vg/gf option) — roasted sweet potato, avocado, fresh berries, and seasonal vegetables on a bed of mixed greens drizzled in a lemon vinaigrette dressing

Ten Percent Society Scramble (vg/gf option) — scrambled eggs or tofu sautéed with your choice of herbs, spices, vegetables, and protein

Sweet Selections

Hansberry Pancakes — a stack of fluffy pancakes served with berries, maple syrup, and butter

Paula Bonner Overnight Oats (vg/gf option) — oats soaked overnight in the milk of your choice with optional toppings such as peanut butter, dried fruit, nuts, or granola

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs (vg/gf option) — your favorite red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple fruits arranged on a skewer with optional yogurt dip