The achievements of UW-Green Bay alumni must be measured by much more than career advancement and professional success. The most recent issue of Inside featured graduates who have made their communities better places through extraordinary work with schools and nonprofit agencies, and through service as volunteers.
      No matter their choice of career or whether they have stayed close to home or traveled far, our alumni share the experience of UW-Green Bay’s unique academic approach that connects learning to life. They have used that experience for the benefit of themselves and their families, and to help build a high quality of life in their communities.
      I am especially heartened when I talk with alumni who were the first members of their families to graduate from college. They frequently talk about the doors of opportunity that opened as a result of their university education.
      You’ll be reading more about this extended family of alumni and their various accomplishments in the coming weeks. The University is working with the Green Bay Press-Gazette and Appleton Post-Crescent on a special section about the 25,000-graduate milestone that will run in those newspapers close to Commencement.
      As we observe this important milestone, we must do more than simply get wrapped up in nostalgia. It is just as important to look forward as it is to reflect on past successes. We still have much more to do as we constantly strive to be Green Bay’s University of Wisconsin.
      One recurring message I hear from our region’s business leaders is that while they greatly value the work of our graduates, they need more graduates to help their businesses succeed. That is why UW-Green Bay must continue to grow.
      Working together with community and business partners, we persuaded state leaders to support Northeastern Wisconsin’s Growth Agenda for UW-Green Bay. This essential initiative will provide the resources for the University’s enrollment to grow by about 2,000 students. In the 2007-’09 state budget, we received full funding for the Growth Agenda’s first phase.

      There is much more work to do. The Growth Agenda is a three-biennia plan, and we and our community friends already have begun efforts to assure funding of the entire initiative.
      We recognize that times are tough for the state, and new steps must be taken to balance the state budget in the face of a short-term revenue shortfall. But this is precisely the time when the state must invest in those things that will make a brighter future possible for our state and its citizens.
      In the meantime, the unrelenting pressure from students to get into UW-Green Bay continues. With admissions up 10 percent from the same time last year, we soon will be closing applications from new freshmen for the 2008 fall semester. The Growth Agenda will give us the capacity to meet ongoing demand and adequately serve the growing, rapidly diversifying New North region.
      I could go on at great length about all the things that have made UW-Green Bay so special and continue to make it one of our region’s most vital institutions. If you are interested in joining the conversation, please contact me by phone at (920) 465-2207 or by e-mail at shepardb@uwgb.edu.
      Thank you for all you do to support your UW-Green Bay and for helping us connect learning to the life of our vibrant region and state.

Bruce Shepard