WAUKESHA – After two years at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, Scott Zieher left in 1986 armed with plenty of learning and valuable experience but not a terribly great academic record. He has been chosen UW-Waukesha’s Outstanding Alumus for 2009 because of what he accomplished in the years that followed. For this he will be honored at a reception for scholarship recipients, donors and honor students set for Thursday evening, Sept. 17.

Each year, the UW-Waukesha Foundation presents the award to an alumna/us with at least 10 years distance from the campus and outstanding personal, professional, or volunteer accomplishments. While he is exceptional, he is not an exception to this formula.

The Waukesha native started college in 1983 at UW-La Crosse, but he was put on probation after his first year.  He then resorted to the UW close to home and worked at the Pizza Hut to pay the bills. He took advantage of the situation and threw open his mind, allowing his life’s philosophy to be instilled and distilled during that period. These were transformational years, he recalls, remembering the political activism and courses in jazz history, a 10-year retrospective on the Viet Nam war, social criticism through watching movies, and journalism.  With a new sense of purpose, he transferred to UW-Milwaukee and earned a BA in English in 1992.

Before he had the diploma in hand, however, he was off to New York to pursue a career in what he had just tasted as a visitor during spring break 1984. Chasing the credential that surely would give him entrée to his preferred profession, he took an MFA in poetry from Columbia University in 1996.

With so many in his family engaged in the business of education, it was both important to him and too often irrelevant. So, “I overeducated myself,” he explained. His mother was the secretary to the Principal at Butler Middle School. Siblings and in-laws also are in education, and they all fostered his vocation as a poet.

Zieher’s poetry has appeared recently in Western Humanities Review, Tin House, Knock Magazine, LAB Magazine, The Siennese Shredde, The Iowa Review and The Believer. In addition, he has written a book-length poem, the 96-page Virga, published in 2005, and a second, Impatience, will be released in September.  A third book will be published in December, comprised of photos from a deceased gay biker’s collection that he found in his apartment building’s trash.

Zieher’s penchant for the artistic reaches beyond poetry. He completed a certificate course in American Arts from Sotheby’s in 2000 and opened a contemporary arts gallery, ZieherSmith, in the Chelsea district of Manhattan in 2003, a space of 3500 square feet currently under renovation. The gallery represents a dozen artists on the international stage, with routine press from Artforum, Art in America, Art and Auction, The New Yorker, and The New York Times.

It provides him a living, as well.  He describes his work as an art dealer as “salesman” and admits he wouldn’t be able to do this if it weren’t for his wife’s business management skills. 

Zieher has sculpted a life in New York’s arts community and proudly remembers his formative years at UW-Waukesha. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” he says of his experience.

UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses. For information about programs, admission, or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at 1-888-2UW-WAUK (888-289-9285) or visit the Web at www.waukesha.uwc.edu. 

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