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It’s
not that UW-Green Bay has been inconsistent in delivering its product. To the
contrary. This institution’s commitment to interdisciplinary, problem-focused
learning has been a strength since Founding Chancellor Ed Weidner welcomed the
first incoming class in 1968. &nbps; Despite this, it was very early in the process of “Educating the Chancellor” that people on campus and in the community brought to my attention a series of concerns and opportunities that, in my own mind, I organized under the general heading “marketing.” Included were outdated notions in the community concerning the nature of our academic programs; apprehensions about our assumed strategic direction; and little knowledge of the many, many things Green Bay’s University of Wisconsin was doing for the community beyond our Division I athletics program and our Weidner Center for the Performing Arts. Most unfortunate has been this University’s long struggle with the word “interdisciplinarity.” As an organizing principle for our academic efforts, it is magnificent, and ever more relevant. As a word, however, it will never make it on a bumper sticker. Eyes glaze over when the word is mentioned. And we seldom have, in marketing situations, the time necessary to really make it clear why multiple perspectives are increasingly important. And why this is distinctly “Green Bay.” So, the people who love UW-Green Bay — students, alumni, those of us who enjoy the privilege of serving this institution — have always had to put things into our own words to describe this relationship to others. Some, of course, did this exceedingly well. Others, as is to be expected, not as successfully. The key point is, at either extreme, our collective efforts were not as effective as they might have been if we had been coherent and consistent in reinforcing our basic message. Focus and simplicity are necessities. Otherwise, opportunities are lost. So, we set up a marketing committee to come up with recommendations. Its members are faculty and marketing practition-ers from across campus who, I understand, were more than cognizant that while lots of programs and areas at UWGB have been involved in marketing, sometimes operating independently, there was relatively little synergy being achieved. The Marketing Council’s analysis and recommendations can be found online, at www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/marketing/plan.htm. As I’ve mentioned before, we can be proud of this work. When I sent copies of the draft plan to marketing professionals in business in the area, asking for their analysis, words including “brilliant” came in response. Not bad. When the draft was circulated within our campus community — and its hundreds of thoughtful, not-shy-about-sharing-an-opinion, articulate critical thinkers — we received some helpful feedback and many positive comments. Even better. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaTOP OF NEXT COLUMN |
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In “Connecting Learning to Life,” we have a theme that communicates
on several levels. “Connections” captures both the academic connections
in “multiple perspectives” and the real-world connections of practical
problem solving. With our University’s focus on responding to the needs of
Northeastern Wisconsin, the emphasis on connecting could not be more pertinent.
Keeping “learning” central in our marketing theme also had strong appeal
to me. It’s not just learning but “learning for a lifetime,” the
idea that a UW-Green Bay education prepares students for that first job but also
for careers that do not yet exist. I’ll touch upon all this, briefly, at the April 16 student research session. We’ll not borrow much time from your touring the exhibits. We will communicate why this gathering is the perfect place to talk about “connections,” and why now is the perfect time to sharpen our image. One last topic that is of particular importance in the current budgetary environment: Marketing is too often heard as a synonym for “advertising.” Not true. Marketing involves providing coherence and focus to all the messages that an organization unavoidably communicates in the normal course of events. We are not developing new marketing materials, and the new theme and “look and feel” is being phased in as we work through the usual and routine cycle of updating and then reprinting publications like catalogs and such. The Marketing Council will soon follow through with communication regarding the phase-in of the “Connecting” theme on Web pages and the like. There is no “marketing budget” or budgetary impact associated with this plan. In concluding, I would like to shift to a topic that I’m sure has been at the forefront of your thoughts in recent days. I wish to express this University’s deepest concern for the many at risk as war in Iraq proceeds. While events unfold on a global scale, our focus also turns inward to our special UWGB community. We have taken extra steps regarding the safety of those on our campus, certainly, but also concerning the many students we have studying in far away places. In these troubling international times, UWGB must rededicate itself to its important role as part of society’s proud public investment in finding paths to a peaceful and secure world. We do so certainly through curricula that increasingly emphasize an international dimension but, primarily, through our unwavering commitment to discussion and debate that is wide-ranging, open, and unfettered by intimidation from any direction. While big issues are debated, effects are felt at the level of families, friends, and colleagues. Here is where I find my thoughts turning as we worry about the employees and over one dozen UWGB students who, through recent military activation, are now serving their nation. We are proud of their dedication and fervently hope that they are all soon back among us. My best, Bruce  Bruce Shepard |
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