Chapter Twenty: Fall 1987—Spring 1989

The search faltered. After seven months the committee abandoned its efforts to fill the position. But before the end of the academic year, without a candidate in sight, Outcalt announced a reorganization of the vice chancellor's office. The changes, he said, followed several months of informal consultation and discussion, and reflected several principles:

• The vice chancellor's staff would include three deans, each with supervision of a group of academic areas having certain common administrative challenges. Each dean would also have oversight of selected campuswide programs so that they would retain a campuswide perspective.
• The dean positions would be named according to the following areas of line authority and responsibility: dean of arts, sciences and graduate programs;dean of humanities, social sciences and general education; dean of professional studies and outreach.
• Incumbent Deans Robert J. Bauer and Leander Schwartz would continue in newly defined roles: Bauer as dean of professional studies and outreach and Schwartz as dean of arts, sciences and graduate programs. The third position would be filled later through an internal appointment.
• Part-time administrators would be appointed for three areas of responsibility: international programs, faculty development and exchange; general education; and graduate programs.

And after a reactivated search that attracted 100 vice chancellor candidates, Kuepper won the position on a permanent basis, effective June 1, 1989.

“His performance (in an interim role) together with his record of previous accomplishments made him very competitive on a national scale,” Outcalt said, commenting on Kuepper's appointment. “We feel, too, that his credibility in carrying out the job at UW-Green Bay and at the UW System level has only been enhanced by his showing against a national pool of outstanding candidates.”

Kuepper's appointment completed the first major administrative reorganization to be undertaken in 14 years. The process internally had consumed almost four years, starting with an institutional self-study that was the first step toward renewal of accreditation.

To outside observers, the new order took visible form with the relocation of academic affairs offices to the eighth floor of the library. For the first time in University history, senior administrators and academic deans occupied the same floor of the same building. During the summer of 1988 Outcalt and his staff had moved from Wood Hall, and Kuepper and the three deans from Theatre Hall, taking quarters near the offices of Associate Chancellor Donald Harden and Assistant Chancellor Cyril Backes.

University watchers noted, as well, the successful conclusion during 1988-89 of long-termefforts to strengthen and broaden the credit curriculum:

• Accreditation of the undergraduate social work program by the National Council on Social Work Education. The evaluation team pointed out as a special strength the field experiences offered with Northeastern Wisconsin human service agencies.
• Addition of a Chinese language course to spring semester credit offerings. It was the first non-Western language to be taught at UW-Green Bay , and the first course in Chinese to be available in the area.
• Establishment of an engineering program in collaboration with the College of Engineering and Applied Science at UW-Milwaukee. Starting in fall 1989, students completing two years of work in the Northeast Wisconsin engineering program at UW-Green Bay could be admitted to upper-level courses at UW-Milwaukee on the same basis as UWM students.
• Initiation of a pilot program for interdisciplinary study of “great works” created from the Renaissance to the 18th century. The program was developed by David Galaty of the humanistic studies faculty and funded by a $180,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A number of first-time offerings targeted specific needs of a growing and changing region: a conference for health professionals and social workers on the health-care beliefs, practices and needs of the Hmong people; a workshop on economic development for American Indian communities; a one-day seminar on social trends in Northeastern Wisconsin, planned especially for human service workers; a seminar on small-business basics for young entrepreneurs, aged 15 to 30.

Other programs sponsored or hosted by the University continued successful traditions.

For children and youth, the link to the campus during the year might well have been a daytime performance of The Wind in the Willows, the fifth children's theater production to be staged in five years by students and faculty. Or a lecture-demonstration in a middle-school auditorium by a professional dance company that would perform the same evening in the University Theatre. Or a summer week of instruction and practice with other youth who had come to a UW-Green Bay music camp from every corner of the state.

For some, a UW-Green Bay connection meant a dinner-table tour of a foreign land in the Student Union or a basketball contest at the Brown County Arena. Others looked ahead to the day when a community-campus performing arts center would forge an enduring link between town and gown.

Public officials and private citizens, as well as members of the campus community, had dreamed of such a facility for at least 25 years. Half a dozen schemes had been proposed to provide a new building or renovate an existing one; all had fallen by the wayside. Then came a telephone call to Chancellor Emeritus Weidner on New Year's Day of 1987. On the line from Florida was Dr. David Cofrin, a native of Green Bay and a benefactor of the University. Cofrin had more than friendly greetings on his mind. He almost immediately brought up the subject of a conversation that had engaged the two men a year or two earlier, when Weidner was still chancellor of UW-Green Bay. Talking on that occasion about the “unfinished business” of a campus master plan adopted in 1968, Weidner had mentioned in particular a performing arts center. His vision, he told Cofrin, was of a facility that would be built on the campus but shared with the community.

There had been other conversations about the continuing efforts of individuals and groups to provide such a center in Green Bay. But until the telephone call from Florida, the two men had not again discussed the subject at length. Now Cofrin was saying, “Is there still some interest in the project? Write me a note about it. Let me know the current thinking on the subject.”

The note was written. And in mid-April Chancellor Outcalt could announce that Cofrin and his wife, Mary Ann, had made an initial pledge of $4 million to support construction of a performing arts center and promised an additional $195,000 for advance planning. Other funds for construction and maintenance would be sought through private gifts and a grant from the state, Outcalt said. The center would be located on the campus, but operated on behalf of the whole community.

Dean Robert Bauer was named by Outcalt to head an eight-member planning and steering committee. Other members from the University were Linda Erwin, director of arts and performances, and Jerome Abraham and Richard Sherrell of the communication and the arts faculty. Appointed from the community were John Gilman, Frederick L. Schmidt, Robert H. Schroeder and Nancy Stiles. Gilman was president of a group that had worked unsuccessfully to promote a performance facility in downtown Green Bay. Schmidt was president of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra board and Schroeder of the Civic Music Association board. Stiles had been active in theater circles in the Milwaukee area and in Green Bay.

By July the committee had developed and refined preliminary plans on the basis of suggestions from local arts groups and their own research. The main auditorium would seat 2,000 rather than 1,500 as originally envisioned, and would be the largest performance hall in Wisconsin outside Milwaukee. A dance studio would be added. Rehearsal space would be enhanced for use also as a recital hall, meeting room or reception area. The lobby would be designed to accommodate such events as chamber music concerts as well as arriving patrons and intermission traffic. The building would include an administrative center, lounge, workrooms and storage areas.

Progress on the performing arts facility hit a snag in December, as UW regents debated and eventually tabled a request to use the $195,000 in gift money to hire a planning consultant. But the matter was soon resolved. Because such a center had been included in the approved master development plan for UW-Green Bay, UW officials said, it would be appropriate to receive private and public funds for the purpose. A regent committee approved use of the funds at its February meeting. Two months later the State Building Commission added its blessing, clearing the way to hire Robert Lorelli, principal of a New York City theatrical design firm.

Events moved swiftly after that.

In April 1988, one year after the Cofrin gift was announced, the donors returned for a celebration. At a reception that marked the kick-off of a campaign for private funds, David Cofrin proposed that the center be named for Chancellor Emeritus Weidner. The suggestion was greeted with a standing ovation.