Dear Mr. Lofton,

As a proud member of the Packer and Warhawk nations, I wanted to thank you and your colleague Mr. Kevin Harlan for your positive words regarding Jake Kumerow during last Thursday’s Packer game.

We are so proud of Jake and delighted that others have the thrill of watching him play as we did when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Jake exemplifies what it means to be a Warhawk: he’s talented and passionate, with an unmatched work ethic and a relentless drive for excellence.

During your discussion, you described Jake and those who have taken a similar path as coming from “nowhere schools.”

This year, UW-Whitewater is celebrating its sesquicentennial. We are a public university that is nationally recognized among the Colleges of Distinction for our teaching excellence and dedication to student success.

We are powered by a tradition of excellence in all that we do, and for many of our sports teams, including our football team, that means bringing home national championships as noted below:

• Football — six national championships
• Gymnastics — five national championships
• Men’s Basketball – four national championships
• Baseball – two national championships
• Volleyball – two national championships
• Women’s Golf — one national championship

61 Warhawks have won  individual national titles.

In 2014, UW-W became the only school in NCAA history in any division to win national championships in football, baseball and men’s basketball in the same year. The New York Times figured the odds of winning this trifecta were 1 in 38,618,370.

We also have a special mission to serve students with disabilities, and our men and women’s wheelchair basketball teams have brought home 16 national championships. Last year, one of our alumni, Jeff Glasbrenner, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated because he was the first American amputee to summit Mount Everest. Jeff, too, exemplifies what it means to be a Warhawk.

Our world-class marching band played at half-time of the Packers’ home opener last fall. Our student economics team recently became the first Wisconsin team ever to compete at the National Federal Reserve Challenge in Washington, D.C., finishing alongside Harvard and Princeton. Our American Marketing Association won International Chapter of the Year for a record 14th time, sweeping the International Sales Awards in the process. I could go on and on…

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is a premier public university that has been inspiring, engaging and transforming lives for 150 years. We are proud of the amazing contributions our students, faculty, staff and alumni like Jake and Jeff are making and we remain laser focused on continuing our legacy of success and making a true difference in our communities, the state, the nation and the world.

Forever green and gold, and Warhawk purple.

—Beverly Kopper,

UW-Whitewater Chancellor