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121 AN T I OC H CO L L E G E C L A S S O F 19 6 5 5 0 t h A N N I V E R S A R Y B O O K A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z N E U M A N NEUMAN JULIANA [JULI] THEN AND NOW 4 B.A. Philosophy and Religion 4 M.A., Educational Psychology, University of Chicago FAMI LY 4 Husband, Ken Dunn ADDRESS 4 2805 S. Highland Road Fish Creek, WI 54212 CONTACT 920 839-2710 920 421-2016 juliana.neuman@gmail.com I ’ L L B E R E T I R I N G on June 30, 2015, after 10 years as an accoun- tant for the Village of Sister Bay in Door County,Wis.This is not what I set out to do after graduating from Antioch! Although a philosophy ma- jor, I was always primarily interested in psychology and in working with children with special needs. My first job after graduation was as a counselor of emotionally disturbed children at the University of Chicago residential treatment center. During my time there I was trained as a therapist and earned a master’s degree in educational psy- chology. For the last three of those eleven years I worked as a class- room teacher with a multiage group of youngsters with a wide range of emotional problems and disabilities. From there I went on to create a middle school classroom for a lo- cal Montessori school that had been gradually adding grade levels since its founding as a preschool. Two years later I married and retired to start a family, although not in the conventional way. My husband, Ken Dunn, was (and is) something of an icon in the University of Chicago/Hyde Park community. A graduate student in a small U of C philosophy department called Ideas and Methods, he moved in the early 1970s from writing a the- sis on “Resources and Discontents” to establishing a not-for-profit recy- cling organization which later be- came Chicago’s Resource Center. Ken and I shared a passion for finding hands-on solutions to social/ environmental problems on a local level, so it’s not surprising that we decided to become foster parents and eventually to adopt. The first child placed with us had been aban- doned by her Polish immigrant alco- holic mother; thus began a journey into the world of fetal alcohol syn- drome (FAS). Other foster children came and went, but that little girl stayed with us and was later joined by two biological siblings. Here is a photo of us in 1982. My“victory for humanity”is thus very personal: raising those three children and finding ways to address their learning disabilities, low self-es- teem, anxiety and other psychologi- cal problems ranging from attach- ment disorder to ADHD. I’m happy to say that all three, now in their 30s, are living fairly independent lives. None of them are in jail (a common destination for FAS individuals).The two girls are married and each has two children—grandchildren who enrich my life enormously. My son lives with me and is dependent on me for managing his finances and some aspects of daily living, but he is able to hold a job and share in maintaining a household. For the past thirty years I’ve been active in leadership roles in Unitarian Universalist congregations, first in Hyde Park and now in Door County. I’ve served a combined to- tal of about 15 years as treasurer in the two organizations, as well as terms as vice president and as pres- ident. I enjoy board work and feel that I’ve been able to make a differ- ence through involvement with re- ligious education and social action projects. I’ve also been an active member of the Door County land trust. My mother purchased an abandoned farm in 1972 and helped found a land trust organization here in 1986 by placing a conservation easement on her property. I now live in the farmhouse on that property. This photo is of me speaking at the 25th anniversary of that event. So how did I end up as finance director for a Wisconsin municipal- ity? Well, when I married Ken he insisted that I manage the newly- formed Resource Center’s office.To do this I had to learn bookkeeping. My skills increased as the Resource Center grew and began to receive grants and city recycling contracts. After freelancing for other non-prof- its for several years, I was asked to
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