Baron scholarship recipient juggles studies, family, work

Alex Hancock

When Shawn Cassiman gets up at 3:30 a.m. to do homework, she has to be extra quiet so she won’t wake her son and daughter.

The first recipient of UW–Madison’s Alma Baron Second Chance for Women Scholarship, Cassiman dropped out of high school at 17 and didn’t return to school for nearly 25 years.

“Even then, I took a year off to help my eldest daughter with her baby before finishing my BA in psychology at UW-Superior last May,” Cassiman says.

Cassiman was chosen for the Baron scholarship on the basis of financial need and potential for academic success based on her career experience and other work. The scholarship is funded by Alma Baron, an emeritus professor in the Executive Education Program at the School of Business who experienced a lengthy interruption in her education before returning to UW–Madison to complete her degree.

The recipient can be an undergraduate, graduate or professional student, but she must be a woman older than 45 who enrolls for six or more credits during the fall and spring terms. The scholarship is renewable for up to five years.

After moving to Madison from Ashland last summer, Cassiman enrolled in the Master of Science in Social Work/PhD program in the School of Social Work. Her two younger children — Rayona, 11, and Eddie, 10 — live with her in Madison. She also has three adult children — Gennifer, 26, of Ashland; Ian, 25, of Madison; and Benjamin, 21, of San Francisco.

“All five of my kids have offered me a lot of emotional support in my academic endeavors, as have my parents,” she says. “I couldn’t have made it this far without all of their help.”

Cassiman is focusing on research in her graduate program, which usually takes five to seven years to complete.

“Of course, the program has a strong clinical component as well, and my field placement is proving very beneficial, but I’ve come to love research,” she says. “I love immersing myself in new information and discovering how much one area of study influences many others.”

While attending UW-Superior last year, Cassiman carried out a qualitative-research project focusing on four low-income women who had returned to college. Her current research includes a group project comparing the social welfare systems of Sweden and the United States, particularly as they affect women.

“My research will always have a feminist focus, but the more I do, the more I find I need to learn and the broader my focus becomes,” she says.

In addition to her full-time course load and her research, and spending time with her children, Cassiman devotes 14 hours a week to her field placement at the Kennedy Heights Community Center on Madison’s north side.

“It’s an excellent placement for me, and I’m learning all the time there,” she says.

The few free hours she carves out are used for knitting and weaving. Cassiman is helping to organize a knitters group at Eagle Heights, where she lives. She also helps Rayona and Eddie get to their various out-of-school activities, which include violin, ballet, cello and soccer.