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| Educating the Chancellor | ||||
Summary |
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| Engagement Engagement with the surrounding community emerged as the strongest theme in “educating the Chancellor.” This emphasis draws upon our earliest roots, “Communiversity,” and, when combined with interdisciplinarity and the integrated learning environment, completes the reality of a truly “connected university.” The vision is simple: When anybody in our area has a need, they think first of contacting UWGB for help. In the arts, in local government, in business, in teacher education, in nursing, in ecosystem management, in whatever. And, they think to do so because they have found us to provide prompt and valuable responses. Excellence Across the Board Facilities and Infrastructure We have outstanding facilities. We have plans in place to address areas of greatest need: University Union, Phoenix Sports Center, Events Center, and Library. The Student Services area needs to be remodeled to accommodate modern approaches to providing student services. We share with campuses across the UW System and across the country the challenge of an increasing backlog of maintenance issues. Academic Advising Our academic plan (interdisciplinarity, many minors, individualized student-centered academic plans) places unusual burdens upon this key component of student success. Our need to fully respond to that responsibility emerged as a major concern and high priority for the campus. Teaching and Learning Today, faculty must regularly “retool” not only as scholars but also as teachers. Our faculty are innovating in the classroom and seeking to keep abreast of pedagogical developments within their fields. This, though, is too often one faculty member at a time. We need to develop institutional strategies for systematically supporting and investing in our development as teachers. Research and Creative Activity Precisely because we are an institution dedicated to fostering learning, we set high standards for the continuing scholarly engagement of our faculty. Our research and creative activities directly involve our students and very often directly serve our surrounding communities. Diversity UWGB, across the board, is embracing the vision of a more diverse future. It is a vision in which students, faculty, and staff come to UWGB because we are a community known for enjoying and celebrating the strength and the richness found in a campus as diverse as the society the University exists to lead and to serve. Gender Equity Our campus aspires to be a place students, faculty, and staff — men and women alike — seek out because it is a community known for the priority it attaches to effectively addressing issues of gender equity. It enables success in an atmosphere where we hold each other responsible for assuring a deeply collegial and fully respectful treatment of all faculty, staff, and students. Toward that goal, we are about implementing the recommendations of the Report on Equality for Women, seeking approaches to child care, and, through the newly created position of Ombudsperson, can now learn of and address situations unsupportive of women. People We recognize that the retention and recruitment of the very best faculty, staff, and classified colleagues must be our top priority for all rests upon that foundation. We seek to maintain an environment of mutual respect in which no role nor any person is less important than any other. Education for the 21st Century Learning for a Lifetime The Green Bay Idea is more relevant that ever. Today’s students prepare for a first job but also for careers that do not yet exist. And, for societal challenges we do not yet know. The unique University of Wisconsin-Green Bay approach, what might be called “the connected university,” provides education relevant for today and the learning abilities demanded by unpredictable tomorrows. Learning for a lifetime. The Learning Experience Credible evidence is accumulating that the Learning Experience initiatives were on target. However, we cannot achieve those targets simply by adding on to what we are already doing and, as resources are available to do so, must proceed in stages, setting priorities based upon greatest consequences for enhancing student academic success. High initial impact and academic advising appear to be at the top of the list. |
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General
Education We recognize the opportunity to use general education to consistently engage students, from their very first class, in the Green Bay Idea, making more effective and more targeted use of the time and energy we currently invest in the general education of our undergraduates. Internationalizing the Campus This emerged as a major theme for UWGB as we address a changing external environment. Many exciting responses are in place or in the works. The Provost has engaged faculty and staff in development of a promising plan for maintaining and accelerating internationalization of the campus. Complete Learning Environment What students learn in the classroom depends critically upon the quality of the support they receive outside the classroom. This is increasingly recognized at UWGB and is an essential feature if our connectedness as a university is to involve more than the academic sphere. Liberal Arts/Professional Programs We recognize the interdependencies between the liberal arts and professional programs: Each requires that the other be strong. Liberal arts form the essential core upon which professional programs depend; strong liberal arts majors would not be fiscally possible in the absence of the students attracted to UWGB by the professional programs. This is another component of being “the connected university,” and our budgeting approaches must support these interdependencies. Professional programs in general are, arguably, the epitome of interdisciplinarity and practical problem solving but, at UWGB we expect more: By further incorporating components of the Green Bay Idea, our professional programs become distinctively “Green Bay” and better prepare students through “learning for a lifetime.” Graduate Education Most of our enrollments will continue to be at the undergraduate level. But, first and foremost, we must be a university responding to the needs of our students and our region. That is the consideration that shapes our evolving blend of undergraduate and graduate programs. Distance Education Having focused upon building our strength as a residential campus, we simply have not engaged, as a campus, in discussion of what the role should be for distance education. We need to have those conversations. Community groups want us off our campus, better serving audiences traditionally not well served by higher education. This opportunity takes on greater importance if we are to accept “community engagement” as a significant component of a future in which we emphasize being “the connected university.” Getting There: The Means How do we achieve our aspirations? There are no simple “magic bullets.” But, we have a number of means at our disposal. They include: Engagement, Growing the University, Retention, Partnerships, Marketing, Institutional Grants, Advancement, Governance, and, critically, renewed attention to Budgeting and Planning. Conclusions: Our Strategy and Agenda Our Strategy The Connected University: – interdisciplinary learning to last a lifetime, – engagement with the community, – access to high-quality programs that serve student and regional needs and fully funded growth. Major Agenda Items for the Year Ahead – Priority elements of the Learning Experience: “high-impact” initial engagement and academic advising. – General education. – Programs to serve region and allow funded enrollment growth. – Internationalizing the campus. – Major Facilities: Planning for University Union, the Phoenix Sports Complex, The Events Center, and the Library projects; doing the Laboratory Sciences and residence halls projects. – New campus master plan. – Capital campaign. – Child care and monitoring progress on recommendations of the Report on Equality for Women. – Diversification of faculty, staff, and students. – Integrated strategic budget and planning procedures. – Further engaging surrounding communities in Northeast Wisconsin's University of Wisconsin. |
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| Office
of the Chancellor, David A Cofrin Library, Suite 810, University of Wisconsin-Green
Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 Phone: 920-465-2207 E-mail: shepardb@uwgb.edu Comments to: Chancellor's Web Manager Revised: 7/31/06 |