Introduction The Growth Agenda New Mission Advancement Building the Campus Institutional News Sustainability,         Environmental Awareness Weidner Center Phuture Phoenix Diversity International Education Outreach, Community Service Lectures, Cultural Enrichment Intercollegiate Athletics Faculty/Staff Students Transition		Annual Report to the campus, community, and UW System | December 2007 The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Bruce Shepard, Chancellor The Growth Agenda Achieving success with a community's vision for a bigger UW-Green Bay The 2006-07 academic year was a make-or-break test for winning final approval of what has become known as Northeastern Wisconsin’s Growth Agenda for UW-Green Bay… and for fulfilling community aspirations for the hometown campus.       The rallying cry “We need a bigger university” had been heard around Green Bay for decades. Enrollment at the state-supported school, effectively frozen by funding limits and other factors, has remained within a few hundred students of 5,500 since the mid-1980s. Periodic and informal growth proposals had been floated by campus and community, but to little avail. Meanwhile, demand for services and enrollment continued to build.       The year 2006 proved different, however, when a concerted, coordinated community campaign resonated first with UW System administration, then the governing Board of Regents and eventually the Governor’s Office.       The growth plan had taken root soon after the arrival of Bruce Shepard as chancellor in fall 2001. Over the next year he undertook an extensive situational analysis of his new University and spoke with literally thousands of alumni, community supporters, faculty, staff, students and business leaders across the region. He would report back a powerful and striking consensus: UW-Green Bay must grow in student enrollment and program offerings in order to more fully serve the needs of a dynamic region in social, demographic and economic transition.       Shepard declared his No. 1 priority as chancellor to advance this “Growth Agenda.” Embracing an expansive philosophy for UW-Green Bay, he noted there was general agreement that a headcount of about 7,500 students would more appropriately match the institution’s size and scope to regional needs.       This argument for state reinvestment in public higher education was appealing. UW System Regents and administrators amplified and embraced similar themes in their own calls to grow not only Green Bay, but other campuses across the System.       What follows is a summary of major developments during the academic year that ultimately led to success in fall 2007 when the State Legislature approved the Governor’s request to fund the first phase of university growth with the 2007-09 biennial budget.   top of page    |     continued . . .
Office of the Chancellor, David A. Cofrin Library, Suite 810 University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI  54311-7001 920-465-2207 | E-mail: Chancellor's Web Manager Rev. February 7, 2008