| |
Guest Column, Green
Bay Press-Gazette
August 21, 2004
REMARKS
AND ESSAYS:
Learning opportunities
By Bruce Shepard
With Labor Day just around the corner, it is only a matter of days before
the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus is energized by the arrival
of thousands of students for another academic year.
It’s a hectic time, no doubt, and for our new arrivals – and
their parents – a time of apprehension and some anxiety. But it’s
also a time of great excitement and an eagerness on the part of our students
to learn, and to grow as individuals and citizens.
Each year, I find myself invigorated by the influx of students –
both the confident veterans and the tentative newcomers, many of whom
are the first members of their families to attend college.
The statistics show that UW-Green Bay is among the most competitive universities
in the Midwest. After spending time with our students, I don’t need
to look at statistics to know we have topnotch students who are a credit
to their families and communities.
At UW-Green Bay, we have additional reasons to be excited about the start
of another school year:
• We are opening and dedicating the renovated Laboratory Sciences
Building. The $15 million face-lift for the Lab Sciences Building will
transform a 35-year-old facility into one truly fit to meet 21st century
research needs. For that, we thank Wisconsin taxpayers.
• We are opening another residence hall, the 122-bed Tom Haevers
Hall. This new home to mainly juniors and seniors is the third residence
hall to open at UW-Green Bay in three years, increasing our on-campus
housing capacity to nearly 2,000 students.
• We are offering programs at UW-Green Bay’s Downtown Learning
Center at Washington Commons. The center will help us meet the educational
needs of the community, help Green Bay maintain a vibrant downtown and
give the people of Green Bay a greater sense of ownership of their University.
The opportunities for learning available in these new facilities are excellent
examples of UW-Green Bay’s campuswide call to action: Connecting
learning to life.
The Lab Sciences building will help UW-Green Bay attract top students
and faculty in the sciences. Nurtured by our high-quality faculty, today’s
students will become tomorrow’s scientists, researchers and thinkers.
Their brain power will fuel our region’s and state’s business
and industry, especially in high-tech areas.
Enabling more students to live on campus expands their opportunities to
fully participate in student life. Our figures show that students living
on campus are more likely to stay in school than those who have not had
the experience. The idea that student learning occurs not only in the
classroom but in activities across campus is central to a UW-Green Bay
education.
The Downtown Learning Center not only will provide UW-Green Bay’s
services more conveniently for community members, but will build on campus-community
connections. These connections – from alumni living and working
in the community to University students working with elementary schoolchildren
– are prime examples of what “Connecting learning to life”
is all about.
As we welcome our students, I also want to offer you
an invitation to visit the campus. I am confident you will see why we
are so proud of UW-Green Bay’s contributions to the quality of life
and economy of Northeastern Wisconsin.
But don’t just take my word for it. Look around the campus and talk
with students, faculty and staff. Then let me know what you think by stopping
by my office in Room 810 of the David A. Cofrin Library or sending me
an e-mail at shepardb@uwgb.edu.
After all, it’s YOUR University. I want you to value it as much
as I do..
|
|
Office of the Chancellor
David A. Cofrin Library, Suite 810
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, WI 54311-7001
Phone: 920-465-2207
Comments to:
Chancellor's Web Manager
Revised
7/31/06
E-mail: shepardb@uwgb.edu
UW-Green
Bay Home
|
