Dr. Willard Pulkrabek, the author of Engineering Fundamentals of the Internal Combustion Engine, taught mechanics and thermodynamics for nearly 24 years in the Mechanical Engineering department, where he was the resident expert on engines. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Dr. Pulkrabek worked with 3M and taught at both the US Naval Academy and the Colorado School of Mines before joining UW-Platteville, a school he selected for its emphasis on teaching. In a 2004 interview just prior to his retirement, Dr. Pulkrabek said of his career: " UW- Platteville has a very good Mechanical Engineering department and we have a good staff. I ' m proud to have been a part of it."
A father of three, Pulkrabek was involved in local church and volunteer work until his passing in 2015.
Tammy Salmon-Stephens( BS Industrial Engineering, 1994; MS Engineering, 2007), worked as a project manager and then a finishing supervisor for Perry Graphic Communications before rejoining UW-Platteville, where she manages the College of EMS Student Success Programs, including the Women in EMS program, the EMS Advising Office, the College of Menominee Nation Program, and CenterPOINT.
Tammy Salmon-Stephens recently ushered the extraordinarily successful Women in EMS Program to a prestigious honor, ABET’ s Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity.