New UW-Whitewater Chancellor delivers State of the University speech
By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
Beverly A. Kopper delivered her first State of the University speech Aug. 24 as the 16th chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the Young Auditorium.
Kopper, who served as UW-W’s provost and vice-chancellor for academic affairs from 2010 to her appointment as chancellor by the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, effective July 1, will be inaugurated Friday in Young Auditorium. The inauguration is open to the public.
Kopper began by describing the logo on a pin given to attendees as they entered – “a symbol of the rich tradition of excellence that we have here at UW-Whitewater (that) also symbolizes the sense of family that we have.”
“It is absolutely critical for our future for us to sustain and to really nurture that sense of family and that we continue to be to be a place where everybody wants to come and work,” she said.
Kopper announced the university has been selected for the fifth straight year as a recipient of a Carnegie Foundation Classification for Community Engagement award, one of 361 institutions across the United States and named by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel as a top workplace in southeastern Wisconsin.
Turning to the topic of UW-W’s budget, Kopper indicated the university’s share of the biennial cut of $250 million from the University of Wisconsin System for 2015-16 is $5.8 million, resulting in eliminating about 40 positions, increasing non-resident undergraduate tuition by 3.55 percent and increasing graduate tuition by 2 percent. The remainder will come from central funds. In addition, funding for new UW-W buildings was removed from the budget and the major renovations for Heide and Winther Halls have been significantly delayed, she said.
By way of historical context, Kopper said more than half of UWW’s funding in 1975 came from the State of Wisconsin, whereas today state support is about 10 percent.
“Every effort was made during this process to ensure that we maintain a high quality experience for our students. That’s been goal number one, priority number one, as we began this process looking at the budget cuts and it has continued that way,” Kopper said. “We also remain a committed campus to our students, of course, but also to our faculty and our staff.
“We have no plans for layoffs, we have no plans for outsourcing, and we have no plans for an early retirement incentive program.”
Despite concerns related to the budget cuts, Kopper said it is important to “revel in the fact that we are a place that students really want to be at and that are excited to be at. Interest is higher than ever for students and their families that they want to come to UW-Whitewater.”
Complementing “a campus-wide discussion related to our strategic plan,” Kopper said she is launching a taskforce that will have input from across campus with ideas for how to best manage the budget cut and how to take advantage of many innovative practices already in place.
As part of the UW System budget, the Board of Regents adopted a policy with language similar to state statute related to protect tenure.
“Let me reassure you,” Kopper said. “That we remain committed to tenure and we are committed to our rich tradition of academic freedom and shared governance.”
Kopper reported the incoming freshman class has about 2,100 students selected from more than 7,200 applications, the highest number ever. She also said this is one of the most diverse on record, with nearly 16 percent of the class comprised of under-represented minority students, 39 percent first-generation college students and 18 percent non-resident students.
“And the good news is as well is that this year’s class has the highest average ACT score – 22.67 – and highest GPA – 3.28 – that we’ve seen in the past four years. So we’re bringing a very diverse and a very strong class,” Kopper said.
Academic advising and the “equity gap” are two challenges facing the university, Kopper told the audience.
“Advising is an area that I fear from students that they have some concerns about related to some areas,” she said. “This fits perfectly in with our strategic plan that we will be focusing on this year and it also relates to closing the equity gap.
“We have to address the equity gap. Quite simply, there is too wide of a gap related to our under-represented minority students and other students. Our gap between URM (under-represented minority) students and non-URM students for retention and graduation rates fluctuate a great deal – between 4 and 16 percent. The UW System goal is 4 percent. The average graduation gap has fluctuated between 15 and 26 percent, and the UW System goal is 9 percent.”
Kopper also noted that the typical profile for under-represented minority students has improved in terms of their ACT scores and their average high school GPA.
“So closing that gap is imperative (and) the existence of this gap is counter to our mission,” she said. “Even beyond our mission, closing this gap is simply the right thing to do.”
In concluding her speech, Kopper kept it simple.
“I am honored to be your chancellor and every day you inspire me. So let’s have a great year.”
Also taking the stage
Interim Provost John Stone provided information during the event about the Higher Learning Commission accreditation process that has changed from essentially a “self-study” and a once-in-10 years accreditation visit, to process that now also includes more “touches” between the Higher Learning Commission and UW-W and documentation about compliance with federal regulations regarding credit, clock hours and the tracking of and response to student complaints.
In reviewing the findings of the Higher Learning Center report 10 years ago, Stone noted that the accreditation team found evidence of “a remarkable esprit de corps on this campus about finding the problems and solving them collectively together.”
The event ended with a conversation between Kopper and Floyd Bellman, a 1980 UW-W graduate who served on the search committee for chancellor after Richard Telfer’s decision to retire. Bellman shared some of his personal educational experiences and talked about what he learned as a member of a chancellor search committee.
Kopper said Bellman most recently served as partner and vice president of Harris Associates, an investment advisory firm based in Chicago, and at the time of his retirement was responsible for overseeing $14 billion in assets. Bellman is a member of the UW-Whitewater Foundation Board, the College of Business and Economics Advisory Board and the Finance and Business Law Advisory Board.
Bellman recalled being told that as part of the search committee, he would learn more about the university than he ever imagined.
“For me that was an understatement,” Bellman said.
Bellman said three meetings had the most effect on him – those where chancellor candidates met with the campus management and governance groups, a listening session with student government, and a listening session with representatives of the City of Whitewater.
“The people that were there represented City of Whitewater government, the business community and the K-12 school system,” Bellman said. “There is no doubt in my mind that there is a close and fully engaged relationship between the community of Whitewater and this university, and that is really powerful.”
During the event, Stone also introduced UW-W’s most recent faculty and staff award winners – Susan Huss-Lederman, Languages and Literatures W.P. Roseman Excellence in Teaching Award; William Dougan, Management Faculty Service Award; Ellen Boldt, Languages and Literatures Instructional Excellence Award for Academic Staff; Michael Bennett, Languages and Literatures, Outstanding Research Award; Susan Kidd, Curriculum and Instruction, University Faculty/Staff Academic Advising Award; Miguel Aranda, University Honors and Undergraduate Research Programs, University Staff Excellence Award; Janice Nordin, Registrar’s Office, University Staff Excellence Award; and Carrie Lencho, Continuing Education, Service Excellence Award for Academic Staff who was absent.
A collection of photographs taken by campus photographer Craig Schreiner, whom Kopper described as “a true artist who has the ability to capture the Warhawk spirit” were shown.
In a touching moment prior to Kopper’s speech, the audience consisting of faculty, staff, students and community members stood and silently reviewed the names of UW-W faculty and staff who died the preceding year.
