Preface

If someone had told me when I began this project in 1989 that I would devote twelve years to writing the history of the University of Wisconsin’s two-year campuses, I probably would have declined to undertake the task. Now that I am finished I am pleased that I persevered because I have learned a great deal. The history of the UW Centers (now the UW Colleges) is intricately entwined with state politics, University of Wisconsin versus Wisconsin State University politics and budgetary politics. I know that the academic community would like to think of itself as above politics but that expectation simply is not realistic. The Centers grew out of the economic woes of the depression of the 1930s and have had to struggle almost constantly to survive. Each time Wisconsin’s higher education establishment has come under scrutiny the Centers became the first, and often the only, target for solving the problem.

But the two-year campuses, with the exception of the Medford Center which was closed in 1982, have survived for several very good reasons. The Centers starred as the epitome of the Wisconsin Idea–the promise that the boundaries of the University coincide with the borders of the state–by bringing the knowledge, research, and services of the University of Wisconsin to small communities such as Rice lake, Richland Center, and Marinette. The Centers always provided live-at-home, low-cost educational opportunities to students, many of whom were the first of their families to enroll in higher education. The Centers’ faculty and staff, likewise, have always offered more personal attention to students than it is possible to provide at a larger institution. Finally, the fact that many of Wisconsin’s legislators (72%) have a two-year campus in their districts gave the Centers the ability to mobilize political support to help itself and the entire UW System.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to many persons who have assisted in this project. Chancellors Stephen Portch (who conceived this history), Lee Grugel, and now Bill Messner have supported me in numerous ways. The staff of the UW Archives, both in the Memorial and Steenbock Libraries, has been unfailingly courteous and tireless in assisting me to confirm facts and to follow leads in the thousands of University documents entrusted to its care. (Please permit me a digression here. Now that more and more business is being conducted in email and other paperless technologies, I wonder what resources future chroniclers of the UW will have at their disposal.)

I must thank the following who permitted me to interview them about their recollections: former Deans Henry Ahrnsbrak (Marathon County), Ted Savides (Baraboo/Sauk County), and Don Gray (Richland); former Vice Chancellor Daniel Van Eyck; and former media pioneer Jim Kirchstein who also piloted our chancellors across the state. They provided me with important insights and invaluable leads.

I have also greatly appreciated my faithful readers, truth-testers and occasional critics–Dean Dion Kempthorne (Richland); History Professors James Lorence (Marathon), Kerry Trask (Manitowoc), and the late Donald Dennis (Fond du Lac); former Centers Registrar Gladys Meier, former Assistant Vice Chancellor Antone Kucera, my English teacher neighbor Ruth Ghastin, and my ever-patient wife, Donna–who have critiqued the manuscript. Donna read the manuscript at least three times. Penny Sheafor, Richland’s Faculty Secretary, also has earned eternal gratitude for deciphering my penmanship and muddy directions to produce clear pages of typescript.

There is a celebratory note to the appearance of the History of the University of Wisconsin Centers in the spring of 2002. The University of Wisconsin System will mark the 30th anniversary of the merger of the state’s higher education system. Because the two-year campuses of the UW System were the first to truly experience a merger beyond changing logos and letterheads, I think the timing of this book is exquisite.

Jerry L. Bower
June 2001
UW-Richland