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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: 6/7/07 |
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Reprinted from: Appleton Post-Crescent April 8, 2006 UW Regents support growth at Green Bay campus System leaders consider plan for development By Kelly McBride
Board of Regents President David Walsh, speaking in UWGB's University Union during the group's April meeting, said on Friday the community presentation advocating university growth from 5,400 to 7,500 students was the best of its kind he's seen.
"It was remarkable because it was a clear expression of the community, and in particular the business community's need for us to invest in this university," Walsh said during an early afternoon break. "This is a time in which we need to convince the Legislature that, rather than limiting spending, we need to invest."
Civic and business leaders from around the community joined UWGB Chancellor Bruce Shepard to promote his enrollment and diversity plans, termed Northeastern Wisconsin's Growth Agenda.
Shepard also presented the plan Thursday during a meeting of the regents' Business, Finance and Audit Committee. The two-day regents meeting concluded Friday.
Elements of the plan include:
• Increasing head count to 7,500 during the next three budget biennia.
Regent support for the plan is crucial, UWGB officials have said, because funding it could be difficult in light of the current state budget crunch. And obtaining that support couldn't happen without community and regional backing, Shepard said.
"We knew that this university's going to be empowered to better serve our community only if the community demands it," Shepard said. "We saw a very important presentation of the effectiveness of that this morning."
An increased commitment to higher education in Northeastern Wisconsin is necessary, in part, because the region's economy is changing to a more knowledge-based system, said Larry Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of Schreiber Foods.
"Our industry is in the middle of change," he said. "While there is a new economy going on, the old manufacturing needs to change. ... We need people and we need highly educated people. We need UWGB to grow."
Unlike in the past, achieving that higher level of education doesn't necessarily mean attending just one college or university, said Jeff Rafn, president of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. It's therefore crucial to ease the processing of transferring from one institution to the other.
Looking back even five years, Rafn said, the relationship between the UW System and the technical college system is vastly different than it once was. Maintaining and increasing levels of cooperation will mean greater strength for the education and economy of the entire region, he said.
"I've got students who are ready, willing and able," he said, "and who want to continue their education."
Just as important as numerical growth, the panelists said Friday, is ensuring that the increasingly diverse population of Brown County is reflected in the UWGB population. Ensuring opportunity for — and retaining — minority students is a key component of growth, said Paul Linzmeyer, president of Bay Towel.
"That's our work force of the future," Linzmeyer said. "Many of the minorities that are coming here, the parents have (lower) education."
Failing to adequately address the diversity issue will amount to no less than a "social and economic train wreck," Linzmeyer said.
Walsh and other regents who spoke Friday doled out praise for Shepard's growth agenda. But that was just one step in a process that will look to the state for financial backing to make it a reality during the next six years.
The regents didn't vote on the growth plans Friday but will consider them during the next system budget cycle. Support from Madison also will be a key factor, Shepard said.
"This is really the first step," he said. "Going public was something we'd studied for four years. The next step is the governor's budget this December. ... Then after that, the Legislature."
Many panelists Friday spoke of not only the necessity but also the urgency of pushing the growth agenda.
"We are embraced as Green Bay's University of Wisconsin," said Diane Ford, vice president and controller at WPS Resources Corp. "Letting UWGB grow to meet the needs of this region is a serious issue."
On the Web
On the panel
Kelly McBride writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
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