Insight on Business

40 | I NSIGH T • N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 6 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m W hat a difference a year makes. When the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a UW-Green Bay request for the first major restructuring of academic administration in two decades last December, it was unknown how long it would take the organization's new model to gain traction. A year later, there's traction and a whole lot more going on at the campus located in the state's third largest urban area. And the architect of the plan to reorganize, Chancellor Gary L. Miller, couldn't be more energized about the incredible strides made by his team in just 10 months. His enthusiasm is contagious on campus and in the community at large. Miller says the new structure is cost neutral but growth positive, enabling deans to be more active and effective in targeting enrollment, outside grants and fundraising, along with new partnerships and community engagement specific to their programs. "Make no mistake, life in Green Bay is all about the commercial sector that supports both the economic vitality of this region and the quality of life created for those who live here," noted Chancellor Gary L. Miller. According to Miller, the creation and integration of a four-colleges model is an engine designed to drive job creation and improvements in the social condition. "e more coordinated and bigger the engine, the better it is for our community," Miller says. Getting Down to Business T he last year has not only seen the establishment of four freestanding colleges (e Austin E. Cofrin School of Business, the College of Health, Education and Social Welfare, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Science and Technology), it has also seen four leaders step into roles that are among the most significant in the University's 50-year history. UW-Green Bay Professor John Katers was named founding Dean of UW-Green Bay's College of Science and Technology in April. In June, Susan Gallagher-Lepak was appointed as the Dean of the College of Health, Education and Social Welfare, and in mid-July, Scott Furlong was named Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Douglas A. Hensler, Ph.D., a former colleague of Miller's from Wichita State University, was also tapped this summer to be a critical piston in the engine, and lead the charge for the Cofrin School of Business. Hensler knows his way around a business school, serving as Dean of the Craig Business School at Fresno State and Dean of the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State during his career. "In Doug Hensler, you are getting an internationally known, thoughtful business leader and an academic scholar who will bring entrepreneurial ideas and global connections to UW-Green Bay's Cofrin School of Business," said Ravi Pendse, Ph.D. Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Brown University. "He will be a great resource for the University and an amazing advocate for the business school." Gaining TRACTION Business and Community Priorities Front and Center at UW-Green Bay Special Sponsored Section

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