From the Beginning
Preface and Acknowledgements
I believe it is important to identify the particular vantage point from which this book was written and to express appreciation to those who were especially helpful in bringing the project to completion. I am not a trained historian; therefore, the book is not in any sense a complete history of the period it covers, nor in any sense an “exhaustive” treatment of even the events recorded here. It is rather a memoir, a story or series of stories about the struggles and successes that accompanied the founding and early development of an institution of higher learning.
Material for the book was largely compiled from the files of the University’s Office of News Services and Publications while I was employed there from 1966 to 1990. Other sources include official documents and reports from other administrative offices and academic units of the University as well as articles and feature stories appearing in Green Bay’s daily newspapers, the Green Bay Press-Gazette and the Green Bay News-Chronicle. Most of the documentation can be found in the University’s
archives.
I am particularly grateful for the contributions of those faculty members, administrators and community leaders who with grace and candor shared their observations and reminiscences. Their words uniquely capture the excitement and exhilaration of the founding years,
as well as the roller-coaster periods of expectation and disappointment.
Special thanks are due to my friends and colleagues in News Services and Publications, as the office was known during my tenure: to Irene Kiefer, for her unwavering encouragement and support; to Jan Mielke, whose skill as a designer transformed the manuscript into the University’s first Internet book before she prepared it for publication; to Ginny Dell and Betsy Bassett-Piehl for proofreading the manuscript; to Nancy Matzke, Joanne Hansford and others who with accuracy and patience assembled into a model printout a patchwork of revisions, additions and corrections on computer disks.
The News Services and Publications Office was blessed with exceptional leadership in the early years from Paul D. Davis, special assistant to the chancellor and director of development, and later from Associate Chancellor Donald F. Harden. I appreciate their support and friendship.
This book tells only a small part of the history of the creation and early years of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. It is my hope, however, that it can be useful not only as a resource for a more comprehensive account of that period but also as an incentive for someone to write about the years that have followed. It is a story that deserves to be told!
Contents
- Chapter One: 1969–1970
- Chapter Two: 1950s–Fall 1966
- Chapter Three: Fall 1966–Fall 1968
- Chapter Four: 1970–1971
- Chapter Five: 1971—1972
- Chapter Six: 1972—1973
- Chapter Seven: 1973—1974
- Chapter Eight: 1974—1975
- Chapter Nine: 1975—1976
- Chapter Ten: 1976—1977
- Chapter Eleven: 1977—1978
- Chapter Twelve: 1978—1979
- Chapter Thirteen: 1979—1980
- Chapter Fourteen: 1981—1982
- Chapter Fifteen: 1982—Fall 1984
- Chapter Sixteen: 1984—1985
- Chapter Seventeen: 1985—1986
- Chapter Eighteen: 1986
- Chapter Nineteen: 1986—1987
- Chapter Twenty: Fall 1987—Spring 1989
- Chapter Twenty-One: 1989—1990
- Appendix
- Chronology
Betty D. Brown
As the cap to a long career as a writer and editor, Betty D. Brown researched and wrote this history of the first 25 years of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Brown drew on original documents of the University, as well as personal observations gained as a member of the campus community. She was the founding head of UW-Green Bay news services, joining the academic staff in 1966 and serving for many years as director of news and publications. She retired in 1990.
Brown grew up in Milwaukee and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Milwaukee-Downer College. Her professional work beyond higher education included copyreader for the Milwaukee Sentinel, public relations assistant for Bausch & Lomb Optical Company and staff writer and women's editor for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
A musician by avocation, Brown has taught and performed with symphony, chamber and show orchestras and church choirs. She and her husband, the late Rev. Donald Brown, were the parents of five children.