The Dane County Almanac Weblog: Stem Cell Article Index

Biographical Sketch

William Robert Benedict

Upon graduating from Earlham College in 1959 with my political science BA degree I accepted a job offer at the Oesterlen Youth Center, a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed adolescents. Oesterlen is located in Springfield, Ohio.

While at Oesterlen I met and married Patricia Sue Orsborn from East Liberty, OH and received my master of social work degree from Ohio State University, College of Social Work. I served as both a social group worker and later as the Director of Residential Services.

During the ten years at Oesterlen we had three of our four children. I earned a comprehensive social studies certificate from Wittenberg University and a teacher’s license from the state of Ohio. I also completed a year of clinical supervision as a certified group psychotherapist by the Group Psychotherapy Association. I resigned from Oesterlen to accept a position as Instructor at Ohio State University School of Social Work. After just a little over one year I resigned to become a psychotherapist at the Clark County Comprehensive Mental Health Center in Springfield.

Our family moved from Springfield to Edgerton, WI and lived on nearby Lake Koshkonong for one year before moving north about twenty miles to Stoughton, WI, in late 1972 near Madison, WI. Here our fourth child was born and I began what would turn into a thirty year job commitment to Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin & Upper Michigan, first as a clinical social work supervisor and group therapist before becoming a program planning and evaluation specialist and later Director of the agency’s Continuous Quality Improvement Program.

In this professional capacity a colleague and I developed and had copyrighted a goal-attainment scaling (GAS) case record management and program evaluation system called, Eval-U-Treat. This application was modeled after Dr. Thomas J. Kiresuk’s Goal Attainment Scaling methodology. See: Goal Attainment Scaling: Applications, Theory, and Measurement, 1994. I also had published the very first articles on how to use this methodology to evaluate a staff training program as well as a human service organization. During the 1970s Eval-U-Treat applications were installed in mental health and social service organizations across the United States and Canada.

I was divorced in 1994 and retired from LSS in 2003. I have been blessed with a new partner. Suzanne Ellen Bergen and I have been together for well over a decade and are now domestic partners. We enjoy tennis and traveling especially to visit my children and grandchildren. Prior to my retirement I wrote a book entitled “The Benedict Family 1830 – 2001: The Legacy of William Robert Benedict.” You can find a copy in the Earlham library.

Since my retirement I have pursued my political and social justice advocacy aspirations.

I presently serve on two boards: The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and the Wisconsin Coalition for Aging Groups. I now also write regularly and I have drawn from my favorite sociologist, Dr. Talcott Parsons, in a recent published article, “Clarifying values can help reform politics.” I spend most of my time advocating for campaign finance reform and for state funding for stem cell research. I have been extensively published in both these areas in the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times. If you would like to read more about these issues and others you may explore these writings here in my blog. Your comments would be especially welcomed and appreciated.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Stem Cell Article Index

The following stem cell articles appear in this blog:

July 21, 2010 - Declaration of Cooperation Brings Hope
June 23, 2010 - Ownership of human tissue a big issue in curbing health costs Cap Times
April 23, 2010 - Wisconsin’s Annual Stem Cell Symposium Notes
April 2, 2010 - Stem Cell News Alert – 2010 Annual Stem Cell Summit
March 21, 2010 - (Stem Cell) Record’s Request Revealing - WSJ
Feb 5, 2010 - Obama’s Tax Proposal
Oct 10, 2010 - Fail-safe clause of intellectual property law has been ignored to citizens’ detriment. The Cap Times
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Sept 15, 2009 - Stem Cell Awareness Day
July 27, 2009 - New prez affects Wisconsin’s Discovery Institute The Capital Times
May 22, 2009 - Cures for chronic diseases will shake up system The Capital Times
May 9, 2009 - Action steps for chronic disease health advocacy & education associations
May 13, 2009 - If not now, then when? The Capital Times
May 3, 2009 - Protect Wisconsin’s Cutting Edge Science WSJ
April 7, 2009 - Science without ideology: The future of stem cell research
April 3, 2009 - State Funding of stem cell research: A public health care benefit for all citizens
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Jan 4, 2008 - National Association of Social Workers, Wisconsin Chapter Member Request Change in state policy on stem cell research
Oct 19, 2008 - Stem cell research “gold standard” resource in Wisconsin CWAG/Advocate
Oct 2008 - Wisconsin’s stem cell initiative needs strategic plan WSJ
April 28, 2008 - Tier 4 insurance plans are a pretext for what will follow
April 2, 2008 - Let’s follow California’s lead in health care costs The Capital Times
Mar 24, 2008 - A public health care benefit for all Wisconsin’s citizens
Feb 11, 2008 - Governor’s speech misses mark on stem cell innovation WSJ
Oct 3, 2008 - Consider fairness in stem cell research WSJ
Sept 9, 2008 - Demand payback on biotech strategy WSJ
July 21, 2008 - State must protect investment in stem cell research The Capital Times
June 26, 2008 - Legislature: Commit on stem cell research WSJ Your Views
Feb 2008 - The Stem Cell Initiative is the Public’s Business

Dec 6, 2007 - Stem cell debate is needed WSJ
Oct 19, 2007 - Now is time to set up oversight WSJ
Oct 18, 2007 - Make sure taxpayer gets payback from funding stem cell research The Capital Times

Dec 15, 2006 - Cutting edge policies for cutting edge science WSJ
Nov 25, 2006 - Taxpayers need state’s stem cell investment WSJ

My email address is: bergentown@sbcglobal.net

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Saturday, July 3, 2010

Stem Cell Article Index

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