By Sunil Gopalan
WSO Vice President
In February, WSO’s Board of Directors announced its intention to hire an administrative assistant as our first staff position. I am excited that we had many excellent and qualified candidates respond to the call we put out later that month. We are humbled by and grateful to everyone who reached out and expressed an interest in helping WSO with this new phase for our organization.
I am pleased to announce that Rebecca Gilman of Argyle, Wis., has accepted our offer to step into this role. She will be assisting with a number of tasks for our organization, including some membership related ones where you all will have a first-hand chance to interact with her. We know that her talents will allow us to streamline our operations and lay the groundwork for the next stages of our organizational growth and evolution.
Rebecca Gilman
Rebecca has been a part-time resident of Wisconsin since 2006 and is now here full-time. She fell in love with birds at her grandmother’s farm in Alabama, where she grew up. A WSO member for many years, she completed a block for Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II in Green County. She has been a visitor services volunteer with both the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Forest Service. She also is a regular volunteer for The Prairie Enthusiasts, a Field Trip Ambassador for the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, and a Wisconsin Master Naturalist.
A playwright and professor of dramatic writing, Rebecca taught at Northwestern University for 13 years. She is an artistic associate at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, a member of the board of directors of the Monroe Arts Center in Monroe, Wis., and a council member of The Dramatists Guild of America.
Previously, she served on the board of directors of the Illinois ACLU and on the fundraising committee for The Night Ministry, an organization that provides health care and housing to Chicago’s homeless.
