For Immediate Release
Contact: Daniel Wackershauser, Marketing and PR Specialist
Phone: 608.822.2303
Mail: 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, WI 53809
Date of Release: September 16, 2026
Kane Johnsrud Reflects on 35-year Career at Southwest Tech
Fennimore -When Sherry Kane Johnsrud first arrived at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in 1989, she was looking for something more than the manufacturing jobs she had been working. Thirty-five years after becoming a Southwest Tech employee, Johnsrud has built a career defined by creativity, change and a connection to the college’s students and employees.
A Fennimore native, Kane Johnsrud graduated from Southwest Tech’s one-year Word Processor Specialist program in 1990. She later returned to earn an associate degree in Marketing in 2005.
Kane Johnsrud began working part time at Southwest Tech in 1991 as an alternative delivery secretary in the media center while also working half time with Grant County Economic Development, which had office space on campus. In 1992, she was hired full time as a designer.
“The creativity and the variety,” she said of what she enjoys about her work. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something new pops up that you have to design for. So, you’re always learning.”
Her career has spanned a remarkable evolution in graphic design technology. Early projects involved physically cutting and pasting elements onto paper, developing photographs, reviewing contact sheets and sending hard copies and numbered photos to printers. Kane Johnsrud eventually transitioned from programs such as PageMaker to Adobe InDesign and the Creative Suite.
She is especially proud of creating GED/HSED gift boxes in 2023 to provide a consistent, meaningful way for the college’s outreach centers to recognize student achievement.
Kane Johnsrud also enjoys working with Southwest Tech student employees, particularly those studying graphic design. The relationship, she said, works both ways. “They teach me things too,” she said. “They’re in the classrooms. They’re learning the latest techniques. I’m learning just as much from them as they are from me.”
After 35 years, Kane Johnsrud said the people, students and opportunity to be creative continue to make Southwest Tech a special place to work. “I just really enjoy campus. I enjoy the people,” she said. “I’m inspired every day by student stories. I just really enjoy what I do, and I feel very lucky that I found a career that I grew up with.”