PEOPLE
Faculty and Staff
Jacob Hundt
Director & Faculty
Jacob Hundt played a central role in the founding of Thoreau College in 2015 and now serves as Executive Director, as Board Member, as a Faculty member leading courses in literature, philosophy, and sustainable agriculture. He grew up on a dairy farm in the Driftless Region of southwestern Wisconsin and was one of the founding students of the Youth Initiative High School. He studied and gathered inspiration for transformation in higher education at Deep Springs College, the American University in Bulgaria, and the University of Chicago Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences, earning a BA in History and an MA in Social Sciences. Since 2004, he has worked as a trained Waldorf high school teacher and guidance counselor at Youth Initiative High School and was a founding board member and instructor of the Driftless Folk School. Jacob is passionate about the importance of the liberal arts for our civilization and motivated to create a model that enables students to freely choose a post-secondary education dedicated to the cultivation of thinking, feeling, and willing.
Liz Franklin
Board, Faculty, and Administrative Coordinator
Liz has played several roles in the development of Thoreau College. She served as Registrar of the Driftless Folk School for two years, was a founding member of the Thoreau College Board, and served on the staff of Thoreau’s Garden. She now coordinates administrative and leads courses as a member of the Faculty. Liz and her family moved to Viroqua in 1993. Since that time she has served on the Board of Trustees and the Development staff at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School, and as Development Officer and Administrator at the Youth Initiative High School. She was a founding Board member of the Viroqua Food Co-op, and currently serves on the board of the Threshold Care Circle. Liz sees the impulse behind Thoreau College as a profoundly practical response to the deep and urgent questions of the rising generation.
Frank Wildingway
Movement, Food, Gardening, & Performance Arts
Frank is a vocational creative interested in exploring the reasons for why we are here and what we are doing here. He is a jack of many trades, a professional cook, a grandfather, a gardener, a ceremonial person and a long time student of the martial and healing arts with particular emphasis on cultivating awareness of the inner landscape. He lives in Viroqua.
Arwyn Wildingway
Board & Gardening
Arwyn Wildingway teaches gardening and greenhouse management as the director and leading light of the Thoreau’s Garden Greenhouse enterprise . She is a mother and step-mother of five young adults, partner of artist Frank Wildingway, and long-time employee of the Viroqua Food Co-op. Before moving to Viroqua in 2004, she was a carpenter, market gardener, and homeschooler on a central Pennsylvania homestead. Loving all plants, she has started the Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School garden, initiated the building of the attached PRWS greenhouse, and helped PRWS take over running the Growing for Good greenhouse and spring garden center, before transitioning this enterprise to the stewardship of Thoreau College. As a Wisconsin Master Gardener for over 10 years, her passion for sharing plant wisdom has actualized in hundreds of hours of community service. Ask her a plant question, and watch her light up!
Justys Grenier
Wilderness Expedition Leader and Coordinator
Justys Grenier has spent the last few years working as an outdoor educator with Voyageur Outward Bound School, and is an enthusiastic experiential learner himself. He is passionate about the gifts spending time outside in community can bring to people, and has dedicated himself to learning how to help facilitate this. He grew up exploring the creeks and rivers of southwest Wisconsin and feels at home in a canoe on those waters.
Liam McGilligan
Drama, Development, Viroqua Shakespeare Festival
Liam McGilligan is an actor, artist, scholar, and citizen from Madison, WI who first came to Viroqua as a student in the Thoreau College 2021-22 Metamorphosis Year Program. He holds a B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program, graduating in 2020. He is passionate about the arts and storytelling as a vehicle for developing greater self-knowledge and cultivating authentic community and relationships in these uncertain times!