We do everything we can to help the field and to train quality graduates. We are the biggest program of this kind in the state, and we are always working to provide the field with more respiratory therapists.
Fresh out of Bay View High School more than 30 years ago, Dwayne Schlund and a few of his buddies bundled into a car and drove to Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Oak Creek Campus.
They planned to sign up for some classes. Schlund had no idea what he wanted to do. He began leafing through the college’s course catalog.
He came across a job description for a respiratory therapist: a healthcare professional who diagnoses, treats and manages patients with breathing or cardiopulmonary disorders.
“I had asthma, so I actually knew what a respiratory therapist did,” Schlund recalled. “So in about 15 minutes, I decided to do that. It turned out to be a pretty good decision.”
Indeed it has. Schlund graduated from MATC in 1994, worked at Froedtert Hospital for 12 years and started teaching full time at MATC in 2005. A year later, he became the chair of the Respiratory Therapy program.
And this month, he notched another impressive career achievement: He was named the Wisconsin Respiratory Therapist of the Year by the Wisconsin Society for Respiratory Care.
Schlund is the second respiratory therapist associated with MATC to win the honor. In 2025, instructor Jessica George was named the state therapist of the year.
“We do everything we can to help the field and to train quality graduates,” Schlund said. “We are the biggest program of this kind in the state, and we are always working to provide the field with more respiratory therapists.”
Schlund was nominated for the award by Franz Schuttenhelm, director of the respiratory therapy program at Western Technical College in La Crosse, and MATC instructors Lisa Gustafson and Christina Pano.
“I wholeheartedly believe that Dwayne is exceptionally deserving of this award,” Gustafson wrote in her nomination. “His dedication, leadership, and ongoing commitment to advancing the respiratory therapy profession, supporting students and colleagues, and advocating for faculty make him stand out as an outstanding role model and leader. The impact he has made on both the MATC community and the broader WTCS (Wisconsin Technical College System) network is truly remarkable and worthy of recognition.”
The nominators praised Schlund for developing learning agreements with the University of Mary in North Dakota and Lakeshore Technical College in Sheboygan, refreshing the college’s curriculum, and expanding MATC’s program. The college added classroom space and a simulation lab at the Downtown Milwaukee Campus, where about 30 students are in the program. In January 2027, about 15 students will begin taking classes at the Mequon Campus.
He also was recognized for working to get more respiratory therapists into the workforce — a goal of the state and national respiratory therapy organizations.
“Everyone needs respiratory therapists,” he said. “This is a career where you can come in and save lives. You can make a direct impact on people in the most critical situations.”
Respiratory therapists work in hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, rehabilitation facilities, clinics and home care. They make a median salary of $40 per hour (about $83,000 per year), according to federal labor statistics.
Still, it’s not a career for everyone, Schlund said.
“You should be able to handle stressful situations and handle the realities of healthcare, in all its glory and gore,” he said. “Emergency personnel see everything right away, but respiratory therapists are the next ones to see it.”
Schlund received his award at the Wisconsin Respiratory Education Symposium in Wisconsin Dells on April 21, and he almost missed his big moment. The morning of the conference, his mother fell and was taken to the emergency room. He went to the conference, but stepped outside to finalize a work matter and speak to his mother’s doctors as the presentation began.
“When they announced my award, I wasn’t in the room,” he said. “I was in my car on the phone. People kept telling me I had to come back in. So I got to make this kind of grand entrance.”
Schlund thanked his wife of 14 years, Raquel, who is also a respiratory therapist, for giving him the time to do so much at MATC. “Without her, none of this would have been possible,” he said.
And after more than three decades in the field, Schlund has no plans to leave anytime soon. “There are still things to navigate. I want to get Mequon up and running, then we’ll see what the next thing is,” he said.
Learn more about MATC’s Respiratory Therapy program
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 35,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 45 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.