|
|||||
 | |||||
|
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: 6/2/08 |
|
|
In
the News Archive - Year:
May 25, 2008 UWGB's chancellor leaves lasting legacy Shepard will be president of Western Washington University By Kelly McBride
But at last weekend's University of Wisconsin-Green Bay commencement ceremonies, the outgoing chancellor and his wife couldn't help but take an emotional break from all the hubbub.
Bruce Shepard got choked up during the alma mater. Cyndie cried openly. And when all was said and done, the chancellor passed the symbolic torch.
"Presidents always wear a medallion, which is a (signal) of the office, and it goes from one chancellor to the next," Bruce Shepard said Thursday. "And I had to tell my secretary that, this time, you keep the medallion — I don't. And I couldn't get those words out. I just couldn't get them out."
Shepard's successor at UWGB has not yet been named.
The transition to Shepard's next gig — president of Western Washington University — is about more than just him, more than the university, Shepard said. It's also about the larger connection to the community — one of his priorities since he became chancellor in 2001 — and about Cyndie, who often was as visible on campus as her husband.
"We really are a team, and it's clear that that's what the community wanted," Bruce Shepard said, "and we advertised ourselves as such. Anybody who watched how we worked realized we were very much a team."
Two of the most visible components of their partnership have been the school's growth agenda, spearheaded by Bruce, and its pseudo-pipeline program, Phuture Phoenix, which Cyndie co-founded.
The former seeks to grow UWGB's student population from 6,100 to 7,500; the latter, to raise college aspirations for thousands of young people who might not otherwise consider it.
Both the Shepards and university officials have expressed optimism about those plans going forward, even though Bruce won't be at the helm. He's laid the groundwork for success, said Scott Furlong, UWGB's dean of liberal arts and sciences and a member of the search committee that helped bring the Shepards to campus.
"I think Bruce's legacy, if you want to call it that, is going to be his and Cyndie's ... ability to reconnect our campus to the community, strengthen the ties that the campus had with Green Bay and the northeast Wisconsin community. That is what he did the best and honestly, the search committee was pretty clear — we felt that was one of the biggest needs. He took that and he ran with it."
Toward the end of the week, the pair was operating their partnership from different states — Bruce taking care of business here and Cyndie house-hunting in Washington.
"I've always been one to believe you should work as a couple," Cyndie Shepard said. "There are a lot of jobs where that doesn't work well, but this is one where you can work very well as a team."
| |
