Bruce Shepard

Bruce Shepard

November 2001 - June 2008

Shepard was chosen the fourth chancellor of UW-Green Bay in 2001 and served six and one half years before leaving to accept the presidency at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.

At UW-Green Bay:

In his first year on the job, Shepard met with more than 2,000 people community- and campus-wide to gauge local sentiment. Those meetings led to the development of Northeastern Wisconsin's Growth Agenda for UW-Green Bay, an ambitious plan to grow the University's enrollment to 7,500 students, an increase of nearly 40 percent, and to better serve a dynamic, rapidly diversifying region. The plan won significant community and legislative support.

Under Shepard's leadership, UW-Green Bay also enjoyed success in private fundraising. The Campaign for UW-Green Bay raised more than $21 million of its $25 million goal, including $11 million for the Kress Events Center. The Kress represented the first campus construction project based on the three-way support of community, student fees and state bonding. When the facility was dedicated in fall 2007, it gave the University long-overdue improvements to student recreation facilities, a home for Division I athletics, and a 4,000-seat events center.

Fundraising during Shepard’s tenure also yielded several new named professorships, and the University realized the achievement of a longstanding pledge to create the first fully endowed chair at UW-Green Bay, the John P. Blair Endowed Chair in Communication.

In addition to the Kress Center, construction at UW-Green Bay included the overhaul of the Laboratory Sciences Building, University Union and Student Services area and the addition of three residence halls.

Other major achievements and initiatives at UW-Green Bay under Shepard's leadership included:

• development of the "Connecting learning to life" campuswide theme.
• regional partnerships with educational institutions, local governments and businesses, Native American tribes and community organizations.
• creation and growth of the Phuture Phoenix program, an innovative program that encourages at-risk youngsters to stay in school and go on to higher education.
• a recommitment to UW-Green Bay's tradition related to sustainability and environmental awareness. UW-Green Bay was one of four campuses selected by Gov. Doyle to pilot an energy-independence initiative.

Education:

Bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Riverside

Prior to joining UW-Green Bay:

Shepard was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Eastern Oregon University. He began his teaching career at Oregon State University and in 1988, was named to an administrative post in the office of the provost and vice president for academic affairs. By the time he left Oregon State in 1995, he was director of undergraduate academic programs. He had taken leaves from Oregon State to spend a year as a policy analyst with the USDA Forest Service in Washington, D.C., and a year as a visiting fellow at Mitchell College of Advanced Education in Bathurst, Australia.