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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: 10/31/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
October 28, 2007 Guest column: By Bruce Shepard
As chancellor, I frequently refer to the school as Green Bay's University of Wisconsin to emphasize the community's — indeed, the entire region's — ownership of this increasingly important regional asset.
And, today, I proudly do so because this community again stepped forward to show how strongly it feels about its university.
Events of just the last few days and weeks have shown what happens when a community displays such commitment and support.
One highlight of the new academic year is the opening of the spectacular Kress Events Center, the long-overdue student recreation, health and events center. Every time I look at this magnificent addition to the campus landscape, I think of the student-state-community partnership that made it possible.
Our students made it clear a decade ago that such a facility was needed to provide them with enhanced health and fitness opportunities and to accommodate important and popular campus events. Our Division I athletics program, a source of pride for our university and community for decades, also was in need of much-improved facilities.
The students got the ball rolling by agreeing to raise their fees to generate the first $15 million for the project.
Then, the community and state kept the momentum going. The state of Wisconsin, prodded by our area legislators, committed $7.5 million to the project. But there was a catch: The state money would be forthcoming only if we raised an additional $7.5 million.
Community donors, many of whom said how impressed they were by the student commitment, matched the state contribution — and then helped us reach our overall goal of $11 million in private funding. We are so grateful to all of the community members who made the Kress Events Center possible, including the lead donors: the George F. Kress Foundation, Bob and Carol Bush, and David and Mary Ann Cofrin.
I cordially invite the entire community to the Kress Center on Saturday, as we celebrate the center's grand opening prior to the women's basketball game between our Green Bay Phoenix and Northern Michigan.
Even as we celebrate the opening of the Kress Center, we are witnessing another extraordinary example of a community supporting its university.
From the time I arrived in Green Bay, community members emphasized to me the region's need for a larger university. It quickly became clear to me that the community understands the importance of higher education at a time when our region is undergoing a major economic and demographic transition. The community understands that for its university to be successful, that university must relentlessly adapt and change — and grow.
With the community's encouragement, we developed a plan called Northeastern Wisconsin's Growth Agenda, which would provide the resources to grow UW-Green Bay's enrollment more than 35 percent.
Community members successfully carried the Growth Agenda message to the Board of Regents, and then to Gov. Doyle. Just this past week, the state Legislature added its stamp of approval to the Growth Agenda by providing initial funding for it in the 2007-09 state budget.
The Kress Center and the Growth Agenda are only the latest examples of how the people of Green Bay and Northeastern Wisconsin have stepped forward at critical times to support their university.
You recognize how important this institution is to building a bright future for our region. We recognize that you have high expectations for us to serve our students and region in a cost-effective manner.
So on behalf of Green Bay's University of Wisconsin, I offer you our thanks and ask that you please accept our applause.
Bruce Shepard is chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Phone: (920) 465-2207. E-mail: shepardb@uwgb.edu.
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