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Opening
Day stroll a perfect way to connect with campus, students Greetings from UW-Green Bay, home of “Connecting learning to life!” Classes began Thursday. I am delighted to report we are off to an excellent start. I know this firsthand because, as is now personal tradition—this being already my fourth fall semester here—I blocked out my calendar and spent most of that first morning just out and about, strolling the campus: breakfast with a talkative table of randomly selected students at “the Nic,” sticking my head into offices and classrooms. A few observations from that relaxed, Opening Day reconnaissance: • I saw beautiful scenes and beautiful settings. Dropping in on classes as I entered Mary Ann Cofrin Hall through its lower-level corridor, with the sunlight beaming in from the outdoor quad and the lights on in the half-dozen, theatre-style classrooms visible from the hallway, I couldn’t help but think “bright future.” • Every classroom was full, or nearly so, something that, starting class on a Thursday before a three-day weekend, would never happen where I come from. In California or Oregon, three quarters of the students would have extended their summer through the long weekend, showing up for the first time on Tuesday of the next week. But, this is the Midwest and, as Cyndie and I are coming to appreciate in so many ways, it is very special. • How lucky our students are to have such energized faculty! As I interrupted the labs in our essentially new Lab Sciences Building at 8 a.m., I encountered dedicated star faculty (not TA’s) in the labs and at the helm: Profs. Donna Ritch and Warren Johnson in their labs teaching students they care so much about; internationally sought-after Prof. Ganga Nair arriving from service in Asia that morning after thirty-six hours of travel and no sleep to start his students on a course of more fully understanding forest science on a global scale. That's just a small sampling of the energy that, for me, became quickly contagious. |
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 I enjoy the first week of fall semester. Whether it's checking out the action when classes begin or greeting new freshmen on move-in day (here), you learn a lot about our students. • During the visits, I did enjoy, as I always do, the contrast between the intro courses populated with the looks of the somewhat anxious and unsure first-year students and the upper-division courses filled with mature, confident and engaged adults. It’s a transition that, throughout my career, I have always felt very privileged to be a part of. • Universities (and that maturation) involve much more than the activities in classrooms, labs, and studios. We have a diverse group of professionals who are a part of connecting learning to life and campus to community. As I chatted with Dennis Nellis, who handles shipping and receiving for us and who was recognized last week with a Founders Award, he captured exactly how I feel about my own job: “This isn’t really work because all the people around me are so good.” • Introduce yourself to a group of new students and, almost without fail, they mention how friendly Green Bay is. We must be doing something right with our FOCUS and Great Beginnings programs, along with a little good ol’ Wisconsin hospitality. TO NEXT PAGE |
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