Our proposal is built, I hope you are noting, upon years of listening. But, also, upon years of research as we try to understand strengths, weaknesses, and strategic opportunities.

Here is but one small illustration. We have done a lot of basic research in order to understand how minority and non-minority students are doing upon entering UWGB and the factors that might provide insights into their and our performance.

Graphed, you see first-term UWGB GPAs by minority status and school district of origin. Here, we find something we think very important and a strategic advantage for our campus. As has now been confirmed in a recent extensive national study, it is the nature of the school district of origin and not minority/majority status that explains college success.

Most of our students already come from our area, of course, and that will only increase as the Phuture Phoenix pipeline flows. What we find in this graph is that our students from Brown county, whether minority or not minority, equally out-perform students from other metropolitan districts. More evidence, we believe, of the high return that would result from a strategic investment in UWGB.