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EAU CLAIRE, Wis.-- Gregory Ruff, a twenty year old student is leaving the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire for bigger cities and bigger aspirations as he plans to transfer to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. After several years of experimenting with different majors and universities Ruff has finally found his true love, International Studies. His first endeavor began in 2004 at UW-Stout in the Multi-Media Design program, but felt that it was too time consuming and constrictive. Ruff then traveled to Eau Claire to follow his dreams of being a famed international news reporter. After several semesters; much to the regret of his parents, Ruff eventually discovered the International Studies major at UW-Milwaukee, and immediately decided on yet another change in course. This time however, he is certain Milwaukee is the place for him. He has always been fascinated with the complex political webs constantly being weaved in the Middle East and Africa, and is excited that Milwaukee has a concentration that will allow him to specialize in those regions. Ruff comes from a large family; for example he has 23 cousins, and that is just on his father’s side. With a family that big, there are bound to be big expectations to live up to, Ruff’s family is no different. His late Grandfather was a reporter for a local paper in Fargo, ND, and has a book published containing clips of his work, titled “Jerry Ruff’s Notebook.” Ruff has one uncle who writes for the Associated Press in Iowa, and another uncle who is a sports writer in Rochester, MN, and his own father is a managing editor at Red book Learning, a children’s book publisher. He also has an older brother who graduated from UW-Madison, a twin brother who is currently studying psychology at the University of Minnesota, and a sister who graduates from high school this spring with dreams of being an artist. Ruff deals with these pressures and expectations as he deals with most things, sarcasm. “I would aspire to the United Nations, but they don’t pay well.” Ruff has a self diagnosed problem with “not taking anything seriously,” which he credits to watching too much Jon Stewart on TV. When friends and family ask him if he thinks this “attitude” will be a problem for him in his very serious selected line of work, he simply says “no,” and “I think it will be helpful, people in politics need to lighten up.” Ruff has always loved history, because he really enjoys learning about the strange and interesting things people have done in the past. “People in history have been known to do some silly things,” he said. As for the international aspect, he remembers being glued to the TV when he was a young kid watching Peter Jennings on the news talking about international current affairs. Ruff has many interests outside of history and the international community, most of them less serious. He spends much of his free time keeping up on the current news of the day, playing video games, watching movies, and pursuing his love of digital photography. In 2006, Ruff submitted a photograph to the International Photography Awards, and came out with an honorable mention; not bad for an amateur. When at home with his family in La Crosse, he loves to spend time with his two dogs, Lucky and Rocky. Lucky is 13-year old mild tempered mutt, and Rocky is a 3-year old adventurous Daschund with a taste for danger and a knack for getting into sticky situations. Ruff remembers when he first got the dog; he developed the bad habit of going into the bathroom and swatting the cabinet doors under the sink with his paws until the door would bounce open, and then proceed to sift through the trash looking for something good to eat. The first time this happened “Rocky earned himself a trip to the vet to get his stomach pumped by eating half a bottle of aspirin,” said Ruff. Sarcasm and silliness aside, Ruff is confident he can enter the political fray with little difficulty, “I spend around two to three hours a day just reading the news,” Ruff said. Ruff knows starting over at a new university can be difficult, but enjoys the challenges involved, “Hey, by this time I should be a pro at this.”
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