Chapter Sixteen: 1984—1985

Weidner was exuberant. Facing the faculty and staff at breakfast at the start of his 20th year as chancellor, he touched briefly on the sources of his sunny outlook: an enrollment topping 5,000, not counting extended degree students; an increase in new freshmen of 13.6 percent—the “best news,” to Weidner, because of its potential for growth in the years ahead; success in the University's nearly completed capital campaign, to the tune of $2.15 million in hand or in pledges toward a $2.2 million goal; and the anticipation of special events throughout the academic year to mark the 20th anniversary of the legislation that had created UW-Green Bay in 1965.

One such event had already taken place. Just a week earlier, the UW Board of Regents had visited the campus for the first time in 11 years. With pardonable pride, Weidner scheduled their monthly meeting in the just-completed addition to the University Commons, now rechristened the Student Union. During the regents' visit he also presided over ceremonies re-naming the Socio- Ecology Building in memory of Lester G. Wood, one of the early supporters of a degree-granting university in Green Bay.

Still to come were dedication programs for other campus facilities, academic conferences and special lectures, and a celebration honoring the University's “founding fathers.” The spring commencement capping the year would bring back Fred Harvey Harrington, president emeritus of the UW System, as the principal speaker. It was during Harrington's administration that the Wisconsin Legislature had authorized the development of UW-Green Bay; Harrington himself had recommended the appointment of Weidner as chancellor.

In previous years, addressing his colleagues in the annual back-to-school ritual, Weidner had usually focused on the state of the University and the outlook for the future. So the meditation that followed—a look backward at the roots of the academic plan—was as uncharacteristic as it was unexpected. It was also brief. Weidner ended his story with the opening of the new campus in 1969, when the elements of his academic philosophy were about to be tested in the “real world” of a functioning institution.

Weidner chose not to enlarge on the “good news” theme—perhaps because the record of recent history was speaking eloquently for itself.

By September 1985, enrollment was secure and growing steadily. Weidner's cheerful report to his colleagues was no one-time surprise; over a 10-year period, the campus population had increased by more than 50 percent. The class of new freshmen was the largest since 1970, and half were Brown County residents. The student body also reflected a nationwide trend: 35 percent of all students were 25 years old or older; 10 percent had finished high school at least 10 years earlier. Commented Registrar Ronald Dhuey on the surge of older students, even among those just beginning university studies: “The long-expected decline in new freshmen of traditional age seems to be a reality this year.” And other local statistics confirmed the “new vocationalism” that was drawing the attention of higher education writers across the country. While UW-Green Bay students were moving out of majors in the humanities, they were expanding enrollments in business administration and accounting, nursing, social work and a new program in information and computing science.

Changes under way for several years in the academic program were now firmly established. A student selected a major in an interdisciplinary program or a major in a discipline coupled with an interdisciplinary minor. Some general education and distribution courses could be chosen from some of “regular” offerings in the humanities and fine arts, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics. Degree nomenclature had been simplified. The one-of-a-kind “master of environmental arts and sciences” (MEAS) had disappeared from the vocabulary; instead, graduate students pursued studies toward the master of arts or master of science in community human services, environmental administration or environmental science. And area teachers had the opportunity to begin and complete a master's degree in education without traveling to a distant campus. By the fall of 1985, qualified students could take all their course work at UW-Green Bay for one of three master's degrees in education offered by UW-Milwaukee or a graduate degree in reading from UW-Oshkosh.

Under Vice Chancellor William Kuepper, the academic affairs office had largely completed its evolution into an administration on the “dean model.” Reporting to the chief academic officer were three associate vice chancellors of equal responsibility and authority. Each was assigned to oversight of a group of academic units as well as some all-university functions. By the beginning of the 1985-86 year, Kuepper had left the University temporarily to serve the UW System in Madison as interim vice president for academic affairs. But the structure he had put in place remained intact under David Jowett, recruited from the faculty to fill the post of interim vice chancellor.

The cumbersome “associate vice chancellor” label was soon changed to dean. Dean Leander Schwartz presided over programs in the physical and biological sciences, and Dean Robert Bauer over arts, humanities and social sciences. (The third slot, for supervision of graduate and professional programs, was vacated by the departure of Tom Hogan in 1985. While others performed the duties of the position, it remained unfilled until 1988.)

The original vision of the “academic core” of buildings—four large complexes arranged symmetrically around the library—remained only three-quarters complete. But facilities for housing and for serving students, largely financed by student rents and fees, were filling out the campus master plan. A grant from the Walter trust for road and site development had paved the way for four new residence halls; up-front money for their construction came from the capital campaign. By fall 1985, residence halls and apartments were filled to capacity, with 790 men and women living on campus. Student activities were spreading into the theater, lounge, multi-purpose rooms and nooks and crannies of the new $1.3 million Student Union, for which student government had authorized a $26 hike in student fees. A Cofrin family gift to the capital campaign had purchased the last parcel of land to complete the 4 1/2-mile arboretum trail system and build an observation tower off Bay Settlement Road.