Move-in day!

Meeting a student during day one of 2013 residence hall move-in.

I was excited to experience my first Blugold residence hall move-in day today, right along with some of our new freshmen who will live on campus this semester. Move-in is one of my favorite times of the year: It’s rejuvenating to see and feel the anticipation among new students. Today, hearing their stories about their hopes and dreams reminded me of the university community’s important role in nurturing, guiding and nudging young people as they embark on the next chapter of their lives. I love my job!

I had some wonderful conversations this morning with students and their parents about why they chose UW-Eau Claire. I even was treated to a chorus of “Happy Birthday” from some of the more than 400 returning students serving as volunteer “Hall Raisers.” Thank you for that! I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present than to meet all these outstanding members of the Blugold family. Welcome to campus, new and returning students!

A visit with an esteemed predecessor

Chancellor James Schmidt and Chancellor Emeritus Larry Schnack

It was my great honor to meet yesterday with Dr. Larry Schnack, who served as UW-Eau Claire’s chancellor from 1985-97, and who also served here on the chemistry faculty as well as in several other leadership roles before becoming chancellor. I enjoyed conversing with an individual so respected for his contributions to our university, the UW System and higher education in general. I look forward to many more conversations, Dr. Schnack!

Blugolds breaking ground

Jason Wudi, chief cultural officer for JAMF Software and a 2001 UW-Eau Claire management information systems graduate, addressed the crowd gathered Aug. 14 at the groundbreaking for JAMF Software's  new corporate offices in downtown Eau Claire.

Congratulations to JAMF Software, a company with strong UW-Eau Claire connections, on the groundbreaking for their new corporate offices in downtown Eau Claire! I had the pleasure of attending the ceremony on Wednesday.

JAMF was co-founded by Eau Claire native and 2004 UW-Eau Claire graduate Zach Halmstad, and the new corporate office is just the latest example of the company’s commitment to the city of Eau Claire.  The company has grown from four employees to more than 100 in Eau Claire alone, and their new 72,000-square-foot, $10 million building will enable them to grow their workforce here to 300 (I’m told JAMF also has about 100 employees in the Twin Cities, as well as offices in Cupertino, Calif., New York City, Hong Kong and Amsterdam). Currently, 35 percent of JAMF’s worldwide workforce are Blugolds! 

The groundbreaking was well attended, with many JAMF employees, members of the city council and business community present.  It was gratifying to hear so many of the speakers talk about the importance of JAMF’s new project to downtown Eau Claire redevelopment, and also the support expressed for the proposed Confluence Project, a $78 million public-private partnership to build a new community arts center, student housing and retail and office space at the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa Rivers in downtown. JAMF has pledged $500,000 to the community arts center portion of the project and is supporting it because of the cultural amenities it will offer to employees and the Eau Claire community.

I’m proud to see Blugolds taking this important leadership role in helping to shape the future of our community!

Discussing the future of downtown Eau Claire with Blugold alumnus Jason Wudi at the groundbreaking for a new downtown corporate office for JAMF Software.

Just ahead: Transition in leadership for UW System

Today, UW System President Kevin Reilly announced that he will step down from his post at the end of December to become presidential advisor for leadership with the American Council on Education (ACE) in January 2014 and return to teaching.

Kevin Reilly has worked diligently and devotedly over the past nine years to ensure access for all Wisconsin students to a quality UW System education. Thanks to his insightful, wise and dedicated leadership, the UW System remains strong and respected for its excellence both nationally and globally — as a place where students come first and as a key driver of economic growth in our state.

Dr. Reilly has worked to ensure that the UW System remains unified, while also recognizing the distinctive and important missions of the individual system campuses. He advocated for more flexibilities in the way our individual campuses are managed — advocacy that was key, I believe, in UW-Eau Claire receiving Board of Regents approval for the Blugold Commitment, a student-endorsed and -supported program that has opened up opportunities for all of our students to benefit from high-impact practices (like internships, faculty/student research and intercultural immersion) during their college experience.

As we enter this time of transition in leadership, I have great confidence in the future of our university system. I look forward to working with my colleagues from all the UW campuses to support our new president in ensuring the UW System's continued role in creating a bright future for the state of Wisconsin.

Saying goodbye to a much-loved Blugold

Dr. Chuck Tomkovick

As I near the end of my first month as UW-Eau Claire's chancellor, I'm amazed at the number of proud Blugold alumni, students, faculty and staff I've had the opportunity to meet on campus and out in the community. I'm saddened, however, that I never had the opportunity to meet and get to know one recently retired faculty member to whom our Blugold community must say goodbye much too soon.

Today, many Blugolds will be among those attending memorial services for Dr. Chuck Tomkovick, professor emeritus of marketing, who passed away July 25. While I never had the pleasure of knowing Chuck, I have learned much about him through the stories of so many alumni, students, faculty and staff about how he positively touched their lives in lasting ways and made an important difference at our university, in our community and beyond.

It's people like Chuck — who so intensely lived his passion for helping students become lifelong learners — who make our university such an exceptional place. I regret I cannot be there today in support of Chuck's family and friends due to my attendance at a conference out of state. But I know his legacy is one I will witness in a big way in the days, months and years to come.

Two weeks in!

Chancellor James Schmidt with UW-Eau Claire alumni (from left) Mary Durski '79 of San Jose, Calif.; Sue Schleppenbach '80 of Chippewa Falls; Julie Gamm '79 of Appleton; and Lynn Cook '79 of Chippewa Falls. The former UW-Eau Claire roommates get together at least once a year and came to campus to tour the new Davies Student Center. One of the alums also presented Chancellor Schmidt with a generous gift to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation.

It’s been an invigorating two weeks here at UW-Eau Claire, meeting students, faculty, community members, area civic and business leaders, and fellow UW System chancellors – and attending my first Board of Regents meeting in Madison.

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of meeting four outstanding Blugold alumni and former UW-Eau Claire roommates (pictured above) who came to campus to tour the new Davies Student Center as part of their annual reunion. To my great surprise and delight, one of these alums also presented me with a generous gift to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation – the first gift I’ve received as chancellor on behalf of the Foundation! We’ll be announcing more on that exciting gift in the coming weeks.

I’m looking forward to meeting many more Blugolds in the days, weeks and months to come!

State budget impact on Blugold Commitment

Governor Scott Walker yesterday signed the 2013-15 state budget into law. While Interim Chancellor Gilles Bousquet has kept me apprised of the potential impacts of the two-year tuition freeze, base and one-time budget reductions, postponement of implementation of the new personnel system, and capital budget reduction of $250 million, I want you to be aware of a new development that will directly impact UW-Eau Claire.

Significantly, when Governor Walker signed the budget bill, he included a line item veto that, in addition to the two-year base tuition freeze, also freezes differential tuition approved by the Board of Regents before June 1, 2011. This means the final phase of the Blugold Commitment will not proceed as planned. This will result in an approximately $3 million reduction to our budget. In light of this development, I will be consulting with student leaders, Academic Affairs and others to determine the potential programmatic impacts on Blugold Commitment plans for the coming year.

Governor Walker also partially vetoed a freeze on allocable student segregated fees that will allow those fees to increase during the biennium, if approved by students.

As you know, the budget includes a 1 percent pay plan that, while very modest, enables us to provide the first pay increases to many of our faculty and staff in five years. Still, we have a long way to go toward closing the nearly 20 percent gap in median salaries that exists between our faculty and those at peer institutions. It is imperative for our students that UW-Eau Claire attract and retain the best faculty and staff — pay is increasingly becoming a competitive challenge.  Recognizing that salary is not the primary motivator for our dedicated faculty and staff, we must do better, and I pledge to be a tireless advocate on your behalf.  

We do not yet know what impact, if any, the $250 million capital budget reduction will have on our two projects that were included in the budget — a new $35 million suite-style residence hall on upper campus and $12.4 million reconstruction/redevelopment of Garfield Avenue. As we learn more about these projects, we will keep you informed.