I knew this would never work. Competition for national recognition as a liberal arts college is intense, particularly from the private sector where resources and flexibilities are quite different. What state legislature is going to give more funding to do less (in terms of enrollment) in order to attract and better serve those who are not state residents? We got the answer to that question when we had to fight to save one-tenth of the requested amount at a time when other campuses were doing significantly better in the legislature.
There were other strategic problems. The components of the Learning Experience are important but, precisely because of that, universities around the country are striving to implement them, and so I did not see how the Learning Experience might provide a basis for national distinction. And, Wisconsin’s out-of-state tuition is already so high that, even for Madison, we see a point of diminishing marginal returns: Increases in out-of-state tuition produce fewer total dollars because of resulting declines in out-of-state enrollments. I had also heard from local community members that they were feeling ignored or slighted by the direction UWGB was pursuing.
I thought the biggest challenge would be to “turn around” UWGB’s intention to become a nationally prominent liberal arts college seeking to attract students from out-of-state. Then, I started meeting with people on campus. I was genuinely surprised. In early meetings, I posed the hypothetical choice: nationally recog-nized liberal arts college, perhaps smaller but better... or regionally engaged university, possibly bigger. Nobody stepped forward to advocate what I had previously heard described as UWGB’s strategic direction. Folks, across the board, wanted to be engaged with the local community. More to the point, they were already actively engaged with the local community.
I found this very reassuring. Part of this follows from principle: public higher education ought to be serving the public and, for me, that means providing access. Part of this follows from strategic calculation: We depend upon public support to pursue our mission, we are in a dynamic and important part of Wisconsin, that region is our natural ally, and it makes no sense to alienate those in the surrounding community.
How do we go about engagement? Several thoughts emerged through the process of meeting with those on the campus and in the community.
• In my discussions, I found general agreement with the thought that our choice is not between regional mission and high quality. They are not “either/or.” Indeed, we fail in our role of fully serving our region if we do not provide high-quality learning experiences. And, when we provide such experiences, we will also attract our share of students from wider areas.
• We are engaged in the community, today, in hundreds of important ways. Our record is truly startling. But, the community knows of almost none of this. Marketing is important and is really something all of us should be thinking about as we go about our efforts in support of our region.
• If we are already heavily engaged in the community but few recognize it, why is that? I think an important part of the answer rests with leadership. Such engagement needs to be given stature, importance, credibility at the top.
Most important, we need to develop a sense of ownership. As I put it in many meetings, the challenge is to have the University of Wisconsin — Green Bay become Green Bay’s University of Wisconsin.
The implications became clearest in thinking about the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts. Many people in the surrounding area would ask me if the Weidner Center was part of UWGB. I was startled at first. After all, according to budget sheets, personnel rosters, organizational charts, and ownership of property and facilities, there could be no doubt: The Weidner is as much a part of UWGB as is the Cofrin Library, more a part of the University than are certain auxiliaries such as the residence halls. One conclusion would be to plaster the UWGB logo across everything coming out of the Weidner: every program, every advertisement, every ticket, every wall. I view the challenge differently. The community has a sense of ownership of the Weidner. We should strive to expand that circle of ownership to include all of UWGB.
Ownership creates expectations. Those who have a sense of ownership expect responsiveness. In meeting after meeting on campus, I asked groups if they were really ready for such a development. I got consistently positive responses. The test will come with time. How responsive can we be? How responsive will we be?
Of course, we cannot meet everybody’s desires. But, we can be responsive even if the response is to explain how, within the context of a university, we cannot undertake a particular action. But, we need to be open to hearing as well as listening if the community is to feel we are really engaged with them.
The vision I would suggest is fairly 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.
Can we do that today? In some important areas we are closing in on such an achievement. But, we simply do not have the size to be Northeast Wisconsin’s University of Wisconsin yet. More on that subject follows, later in this report