Alumni

Lisa Werner B.M. ‘01

Lisa Werner named 2025 UW-Whitewater Distinguished Alumna for Professional Achievement

Written by Dave Fidlin | Photos by Craig Schreiner and submitted

Lisa Werner’s love of music and teaching has resulted in a harmonious lifelong pursuit of sharing her passions with the students in her midst. Many of the seeds that led to her career in education were planted at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Werner currently serves as music teacher and band director at St. Bruno Parish School in Dousman and as the senior symphony orchestra manager with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra organization.

“I’m most proud of having opportunities to show students that music is connected to everything,” said Werner, who earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from UW-Whitewater’s College of Arts and Communication in 2001.

As Werner sees it, music is intertwined with all facets of life, and it has transcended countless barriers in ways that are not always evident. This appreciation for the art form, she said, is a part of what led to her desire to share her love of music to the students in her classroom.

Lisa Werner complements her fifth and sixth grade music classes with a touch of science about ocean currents on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, at St. Bruno Parish School in Dousman. (UW-Whitewater photo/Craig Schreiner)

“Music has been a part of every culture on the planet, and it’s been a part of every element of human history on the planet,” Werner said. “Being able to connect music with things my students might not have considered has been a priceless opportunity.”

Werner is one of the recipients of the 2025 UW-Whitewater Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Achievement. The recognition is given to graduates who have exhibited distinguished professional, personal and career achievement, and for being recognized for accomplishments in their field.

Werner’s love of learning has extended beyond the walls of her St. Bruno classroom. In her role with MYSO, she helps students throughout the Milwaukee area tap into their talents by fostering an environment that encourages challenging oneself and reaching one’s full potential. She also volunteers her time at the nearby Kettle Moraine High School, directing its jazz ensemble.

Outside music, Werner’s influence has been palpable in other educational arenas, as evidenced by her participation in a unique interdisciplinary learning program in 2022, where she was one of four U.S. educators selected to perform experiments on a zero gravity flight in Florida. She has intermingled space-themed lessons into her music curriculum and, in doing so, was named the recipient of the 2022 Lowell Mason House Music Education Advocacy Award.

Alumna Lisa Werner helped to lead a band camp for junior high school musicians on July 26, 2023, at the Greenhill Center of the Arts at UW-Whitewater. Werner was one of four teachers in the country selected in 2022 to fly microgravity experiments aboard a modified aircraft that creates periods of weightlessness. (UW-Whitewater photo/Craig Schreiner)

Another notable experience took Werner to a corner of the planet few people visit. In 2024, the National Geographic Society, in conjunction with Lindblad Expeditions, named Werner a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, which gave her an opportunity to travel to Antarctica.

She has since used the experience to encourage her students to explore new horizons through music and geography. The net result has been the integration of music and geography lessons through STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) curriculum into her classroom, which has resulted in receipt of the Space Station Explorers Exceptional Educator Award.

Amid all of her accomplishments and vast experiences, Werner said UW-Whitewater remains top of mind throughout her life because of the foundational experiences she had, and the personal relationships she forged decades ago while on campus.

“I still keep in contact with all of the professors I had in college,” Werner said. “I know I can still call them up with questions, even though I know it’s been decades. I still spread good news with them. I think that really shows how great UW-Whitewater is.”

Werner singles out several of her professors for helping create the foundation that has resulted in her career in music and education. Her foray at UW-Whitewater began before admission — she had the opportunity to meet Glenn “Doc” Hayes while she attended his middle school and high school band camps on campus and Steve Wiest, her future trombone professor, who was UW-Whitewater’s director of jazz studies and trombone performance from 1990 to 2007.

Glenn Hayes, right, professor of music and conductor of the UW-Whitewater Symphonic Wind Ensemble, shares a light moment with students before they take the stage to perform on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (UW-Whitewater photo/Craig Schreiner)

“It became very obvious that was where I needed to go to,” Werner said, reflecting on the decision-making process that led to enrolling at UW-Whitewater. “I experienced what great educators they were. It made my path a lot easier, in terms of where I should go.”

Since graduating from UW-Whitewater more than two decades ago, Werner said she thinks of the campus fondly and describes it as a hidden gem that continues to offer high-caliber educational opportunities across disciplines within the state’s Universities of Wisconsin.

“UW-Whitewater’s professors are all really accessible people,” she said. “It is not just about taking classes. You’re creating these relationships. I think that’s what made Whitewater so amazing to me. I’ve got these great resources, and it extends beyond just the four years I was there. It’s extended into my professional life, and, for that matter, my personal life as well. It’s fun to get together with them and have lunch with them.”

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