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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/3/06 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
March 19, 2006 Commentary: Chancellor chats about UWGB Shepard discusses the university's place in the community, the campus master plan and his move to Wisconsin University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard recently answered questions for Press-Gazette readers.
A. I could go on and on about the major awards earned by our outstanding faculty, staff and students or the strong support our community has shown for its university. But for my wife, Cyndie, and me, the real highlights are the people, the many friendships we have formed here in Green Bay, among the good people of the community, the dedicated and talented faculty and staff on campus, the alumni we visit around the region and across the nation and the many students we get to enjoy whether on campus, in the community or in our home.
Q. What has been your biggest disappointment?
A. Working all my professional career on the West Coast, I felt blessed to be able to come to Wisconsin because I knew it was a state with a public higher education system recognized around the world. But, more importantly, its citizenry was known and admired for a belief in the connection between support for quality education and brighter futures for our children. What I have experienced, though, is a failure of our elected officials to carry on the tradition established by their predecessors of investing in higher education. Any resultant disappointment is offset, of course, by the enormous local support I find for UWGB from our community and our area's elected representatives.
Q. UWGB is finalizing the second campus master plan in its history. What do you think will be most noticeable for students and the public if the plan becomes a reality?
A. A campus master plan is a way of bringing together groups on campus and in the community to hear their ideas and their dreams for the campus. Having undertaken that process, we now have a plan that will allow for thoughtful growth, that addresses issues such as sustainable development and finding your way around campus, and that preserves the key values of what my peers from other UW System schools have told me is the most attractive campus in the state. As Green Bay's east side continues its remarkable growth, the public is going to find, in a decade or so, that our campus is no longer "way out there." Instead, it will be a green oasis amidst that development and used and enjoyed by the public for cultural, athletic and educational events.
Q. What role do you see the Weidner Center playing in the local fine arts community?
A. I expect it to continue to have a leading role. The university has stepped forward to fund a "roots model" that will provide campus and community fine arts performances. Other entities are committed to bringing in additional exciting programming, and I am expecting we will be seeing more details on this programming as these entities announce their plans. Beyond that, it's really going to be the community that decides what it wants from its performing arts center through the purchase of tickets, philanthropic and other support.
Q. Critics are using a recent survey to lambaste the UW System. In a nutshell, state residents surveyed believe the UW system has too many administrators, its personnel aren't wise stewards of tax dollars and money is spent for things other than educating students. What is your take on the survey?
A. The results are disturbing for those of us who do see, daily, how tightly budgets are stretched and as we are having to cut further and further into real flesh: library services, student health services, class and laboratory sections, public safety. The idea that higher ed is bloated and that we can cut and cut without affecting flesh is, unfortunately, a fantasy that some have found convenient to pander to.
Q. If the public's perception is wrong, what will change it?
A. Clearly, we in higher education must do a better job of getting the correct facts out. But that alone will not suffice. Those we elect to provide us with leadership must step forward and really lead. That, I am encouraged to report, is now happening in a serious way among key elected leaders serving us in Madison as well as private sector leaders. In fact, when the Board of Regents meets on our campus in April, many concerned and committed business leaders and elected officials from our community will be there to present the case for the growth of UWGB.
Q. Universities have symbiotic relationships with the communities in which they are located. How would you evaluate UWGB's relationship with the community?
A. From the day I arrived, I have preached a very simple vision: to have the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay be Green Bay's University of Wisconsin. The key is to earn a sense of community ownership. The corollary, stated with equal passion, is, "communities support universities that support communities." I carry around a handout that lists the hundred-plus ways UWGB and the community are connecting. They range from providing expertise and assistance with myriad community projects to our presence on the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College campus, and the Paper Technology Transfer Center downtown. Our faculty and staff are very involved in our community, serving on local boards and volunteering for community causes. We are, though, too small to have a "platform" sufficient to fully serve a community undergoing critical economic and social transitions. That's why the university needs to grow to really help the region achieve its potential.
Q. Diversity has been a hot-button issue in Green Bay. How are efforts to increase diversity in the student body and faculty going?
A. Every year, the numbers improve. Now, we have a long ways to go but, in terms of numbers of students, retention of students, the composition of our faculty and staff and the quality of their experience, trends are all running in the right direction. This is, in my mind, the single most important challenge UWGB faces if we are to truly be Green Bay's University of Wisconsin helping our community and our region continue to prosper. Our wealth is to be found in the developed talent of our people, all our people.
Q. What is the No. 1 thing the public doesn't know about UWGB that you wish it would?
A. It is the special, extraordinarily high quality of the academic experience that we offer. We have an approach to education unlike that at any other university in the country. We emphasize practical, hands-on problem solving from multiple perspectives. We call it "connecting learning to life," and it is how I firmly believe we best prepare students for careers and societal challenges not yet known. I also hear from employers about the high quality of our graduates entering the work force.
Q. On a personal note, how was the adjustment to Green Bay for you and your family?
A. Born and raised in California and then having spent 30 years in Oregon, I was not prepared for the extraordinary sense of community and commitment to actually doing the work necessary to make this a better community. Here, people chip in to help out. It can be big things as people work together through a church or a fraternal organization, through a club, through The Salvation Army or YMCA, to make sure a community need is met. It can also be little things. During the blizzard several weeks ago, driving home I got thoroughly stuck in a drift as both night and the temperature were rapidly descending. Not to worry. In minutes and unasked, neighbors appeared with shovels and snowblowers and I was soon home.
About the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Founded: 1965.
About Bruce Shepard
Age: 58.
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