Northland professor seeks Wisconsin Assembly seat
May 9—SUPERIOR — An associate professor at Northland College hopes to take her teaching to the political classroom.
Angela Stroud, who teaches sociology and social justice, was in Superior on Wednesday, May 8, to gather signatures and meet with people on the western end of the newly adopted 73rd District as she launches her campaign to serve in the Wisconsin Assembly.
Maps adopted by the Legislature in March reshaped the district to include communities near Lake Superior's southern shore in Ashland, Bayfield and Douglas counties.
Stroud is the third Democrat to file a candidate registration statement with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Laura Gapske of Superior and John Adams of Washburn also filed the form.
But Gapske said she doesn't plan to run for the seat and will be endorsing Stroud.
"The new maps definitely played a role," Stroud said. "It's a great time to be a Democrat in Wisconsin, and there's a lot of opportunity in this election. And I was just looking at the state of things in terms of our democracy. I was doing research on political divisions and the kinds of things that are pulling us apart. The more I learned, the more I realized I could keep working to explain these issues or try to do something about it. So I decided to jump in and do something about it."
An educator for 14 years, Stroud said she moved to the area about 12 years ago for the job at Northland College in Ashland and fell in love with the area. She grew up in south Texas, 10 miles from Reynosa, Mexico, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and women's studies at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and Master of Arts and doctorate degrees in sociology at the University of Texas in Austin.
"I had no idea how incredible this place would be," Stroud said. "I completely fell in love with Ashland and Lake Superior and the whole region. I am totally smitten."
Stroud said a lot of the work she has done at Northland College has been about getting students involved in the community and helping young people develop a sense of meaning and purpose.
"As a professor, it's really rewarding to do that kind of work in the classroom," Stroud said. "But I feel like it's time to do more now, expand that ... there are solutions here."
And there is a lot of work to do, Stroud said. She said from changing the way cities and towns are funded — everything from infrastructure to schools — and protecting Lake Superior.
"This is the Lake Superior district and protecting the lake is something that unites everybody in this district," Stroud said.
