Dean’s Message

Dear Friends,

I am so pleased to have been able to join the UW-Fond du Lac campus as Dean and CEO on July 1, 2010. Since my move to the area, I have been impressed with the community’s commitment to education and to an area I strongly support – the arts, in all of its forms.

At UW-Fond du Lac we have launched the Creative Campus concept. The Creative Campus concept can be found on campuses across the country and demonstrates a commitment to interdisciplinary engagement, creative problem solving, and student exploration of new ideas and original works.

Along with our 2010-2011 ESFY (Engaging Students in the First Year) theme of The Aesthetic Experience, our Creative Campus activities include guest artists in residence, art exhibitions, musical concerts and university theatre productions.

Beyond the arts, our Creative Campus efforts include service-learning, independent research projects, and student presentations of their work in large settings. UW-Fond du Lac students have also been involved in a number of important service-learning activities in our community. You can read more about some of these initiatives in the articles that follow in this report.

Campus and community activities that have involved UW-Fond du Lac students, faculty and staff this past year have been very impressive and reflect a commitment to engagement, to a holistic and broad-based view of higher education, and to a broad-based liberal arts education.

Our campus commitment to creating caring, inclusive communities and to fostering student engagement in diverse perspectives has been clear through our HEDIT (Higher Education Diversity Initiative Team) collaboration with Marian University, MPTC and Ripon College to present an interactive workshop entitled “Diversity Matters Now!” The Multicultural Club continues to highlight diversity issues through educational and cultural experiences. Our commitment to diversity broadly defined is a commitment to providing our students with the perspectives that they will need to become globally aware citizens and leaders.

As we face serious state-wide budget cuts, and while we continue to provide a world class educational experience with the lowest tuition in the University of Wisconsin System, we will rely more and more on the generosity of private giving for scholarship assistance to our students and general campus support for professional development of our faculty and staff. I appreciate the tireless efforts of the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac Foundation on behalf of this campus and for generous, caring individuals and groups in our area for their financial gifts.

I invite you to visit the campus at any time to meet with students, faculty and staff for a first-hand look at campus facilities and activities.

Sincerely yours,


John N. Short
Campus Dean and CEO

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