 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name's Adam Payne, County Administrative Coordinator and co-host of this program. Although my co-host and fearless leader and County Board Chairman, Bill Gehring could not be with us today. I am very pleased, however, to have our guest, Dean Ray Hernandez with us to talk a little bit about the roles and responsibilities, not only of his position, but some of the very exciting activities and developments that have occurred out here at UW Sheboygan. So, Dean, it sure is good to see you. Well, I'm glad to be here, Adam. Thank you very much for having me. Ray, please start sharing a little bit about your background and what attracts you to the position. Well, my background is, I've been in the higher education business for about 18 years now, started out as a faculty member and moved up to the faculty rank to professor and then I began slowly evolving and doing more administrative type of roles starting with the department head, then associate dean and then ultimately a campus dean, which I am at this point. What attracted me to Subwaygan to this campus was the fact that it's a small campus with close ties to the community. That is important to me. I like the feeling of being very involved and closely tied to the well-being of the community. And so that was attractive to me about this campus. And you were hired as the dean here in 1999? No, in 2000. In 2000. Yeah, so I've just finished five years. Well, you've clearly had a very successful track record in that short period of time. And as you said, UW-Subwaygan is part of the community and there's really an interesting partnership between UW-Subwaygan, the state, and Subwaygan County. Please touch on that a little bit. Well, that partnership dates back to the 1930s when UW-Madison saw the need to provide programs to other parts of the state. And the university system entered into agreements with local units of government. Whereby, in this case, the county would provide facilities and the state or the UW system would provide the programs and the staff for those programs. And so this was during the Depression era and the state at that time needed to provide some type of program into citizens across the state, not just from the Madison area. And so that's how this partnership began and so it has a long history. It's been here ever since the 1930s. Yes. And I think a lot of people yet recognize that the grounds here, the buildings, are actually under county ownership. As you pointed out, the county owns the buildings and the facilities here and the state is responsible for the operations and they hire good people like you and your staff here to provide the education and operate the facility. What's happened with the enrollments out here? I know there's been a lot more demand. How has the enrollment changed, say, in the last five years? We've seen significant growth in enrollment over the past five years. As the trend has been that more and more people are seeing the need to pursue higher education and that has translated into enrollment growth at all universities. But certainly here at UW-Shibuya, we've seen steady growth. We've seen an increase in the number of what we call non-traditional students. These would be working adults, folks who are place-bound if you will, who are working in raising families and in the community. So they don't have the luxury of traveling to one of the four-year campuses. And so we've seen a pretty good increase in enrollments by those types of students. And another thing that's happened in the past five years, along with the numbers going up, and I'm pleased to say that we've seen the diversity of the student population go as well. We've seen increases in numbers of students of color and other underrepresented groups who are finding access in higher ed. So these are all very positive things that have happened in the past five years. What's the total enrollment out here today? Approximately. In terms of headcount, a little over 800 students. A little over 800 students. Yeah. And when I arrived here, we were maybe about 550. I'll be darned. Very good. Now there's been also more discussion of late about the two-year campuses across the state. There's 13. 13. And whether or not some of those two-year campuses should become four-year campuses. And one of the more recent initiatives has been the two-years actually can funnel students into a four-year degree. Can they not? Yes. What's that relationship? How does that work? Well, historically, these campuses have been playing the role of a transfer institution. So that students come here and basically complete the first two years of a four-year degree. So after two years, they were transferred. The trend that we're seeing because of those non-traditional students and the place-bound students I was mentioning earlier, there was a need to provide them with opportunities beyond the first two years. And so we began collaborating with the four-year institutions to actually bring the last two years of a four-year degree right to our campus. Okay. And so we've collaborated with UW-Miracchi. We have four degrees there. Miracchi degrees that can be earned right here. We have a one-four-year degree with UW-Stout in industrial management. We have actually a one-graduate degree program that's a master's in education that is delivered by UW-Oscar. Okay. And our most recent program, we just, last week, finalized the agreement with UW-Oscar and that's a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Completion degree and we'll be enrolling students between next fall and that one. Outstanding. So this is how we're responding to the needs in the community. The fact that the state of Wisconsin ranks, I think, 35th in the nation as far as Bachelor's degree holders in the state and so the Board of Regents and the legislature want to address this. You know, they want to increase the number of people within the state that hold Bachelor's degrees and so that's how we're going to attract the kind of jobs in the industry if we have the educated workforce that's required for those jobs and so it's tied to the autonomy of the state. And so, you know, this is some important, these are important collaborations that we're involved in. And by UW-Shaboygan offering now a four-year degree, essentially here in a number of the areas that you just mentioned, that helps the local economy because then parents and grandparents and those who might be supporting a person going to school won't have as high of an expense if they went to a UW-Madison or another four-year campuses. Is that correct? Absolutely. Not only is the tuition less, but you don't have the expenses of housing and travel and all the rest of it is associated with that. Folks can live right at home and many times keep their job while at the same time finishing up their registration. Now, those who are watching this program and particularly if you have an interest in going back to school or if you have a son or daughter who is interested in looking at what UW-Shaboygan has to offer, if you haven't been here for a while, let me tell you that you're in for a pleasant surprise because we've had a number of improvements out here. I know that Dean Ray Hernandez took the lead in initiating a complete overhaul of the air conditioning and heating units here, about a $1.8 million upgrade and most recently, the UW-Shaboygan Science Edition, which was just a tremendous project that was completed last year. Can't recall the day we had the final ceremony. Yeah, it was right in the summer. And a summer. Please share with our viewers a flavor for what they can expect if they come up here for a visit. Well, in terms of the HGSE system and mechanical upgrades, all of our buildings now have been upgraded so they're very comfortable. They're well lit. We have no problems in terms of keeping the buildings in drama or tools, whatever we tried. And of course, the resulting energy savings have been tremendous. Just in terms of utility costs, we've seen a steep decline in those expenses, but we've seen a sharp increase in the comfort level. So that's always good. Yes, we just completed the Frank G. and Frida T. Bratz Science Building, so named because the Bratz family donated $500,000 towards the construction of that facility. But we finished the science building, but what that allowed us to do then was to take the old science labs and to work them into regular classrooms. But they're state-of-the-art classrooms, but we needed about eight new classrooms for the campus, so they're very nice, very ample, well-attributed, very comfortable classrooms. So we've got more classroom space and we have a new science building with state-of-the-art science teaching facilities, which are fabulous. They're beautiful. They're just beautiful. And again, that's the partnership between the county and the state and the private sector. And the private sector. The Bratz family was obviously very generous and it's named very appropriately. So why was that important to UW-Chabuagan? Why is that important to the community to have a science addition and some of the upgrades that you speak of here, but particularly the science addition? What value does that bring to the community in UW-Chabuagan? Well, it brings, it allows us to, it provides students attending here access to, you know, state-of-the-art first-rate teaching facilities. You know, the facilities that were, the science teaching facilities that were previously a new building were, you know, built in the 60s. They were 40 years old. And so they weren't keeping up really with the new tourism, you know, the new programs that are involved in science and technology. We weren't able to deliver the kind of instruction that today's science student requires in order to be successful when they transfer or go on to the four-year institution or to a four-year degree. So they just weren't getting the preparation that this new facility allows us to do. And beyond that, now we're able to expand our program offerings. You know, I just mentioned the nursing degree program. This is going to help support that. There's some potential new programs in the sciences and engineering, for example, and other scientific fields. The biotech, you know, the biotech field is now, it's fast becoming a priority for our state in terms of economic development and training of future employees and types of industry. And so I think this building will then allow us then to move in those directions with our tourism and our programming and so providing our citizens with many more opportunities in those areas. Right. Real investment in the community. Now, speaking of investments, you just briefly touched on the $1.8 million HVAC upgrade here and a four-and-a-half million-dollar science addition that now students are enjoying. And I think many people maybe have heard, but perhaps not, that you're very shortly going to be breaking ground on a six-plus million-dollar technology center. Yes. Again, in part, thanks to Acuity. Touch on that if you would, please. Our facility, again, with the idea in mind of having this campus cheap up and bring it up to date with the current needs of students and the community at large, our technology, along with biotech and those kinds of things, technology certainly is a major component of the future of our state and an area in which we need to provide education and programs. So we need to have a center that would focus on technology. And then also our library, our current library, is also outdated, and we weren't able to maintain a library that would support all of the new programming and all of the new curriculum that we're trying to bring online. So this new building then will provide that. It will provide the state-of-the-art technology teaching center as well as a new library that will first support everything else that we do on campus. And so the costs of that building, then, the building that we really have, you know, the estimates were in excess of the tap that the timing has on the facility. So we were fortunate to have a corporate partner and a jury who also understands the need and is willing to support those needs. So they stepped up and said that they would donate $1.8 million towards construction of such a facility. Acuity and Mr. Ben Salzman have certainly shown their commitment to the community not only in bringing, I think, $500, $600 new jobs just down the street here. I think we read in the paper just yesterday or the day before that they're going to be putting up one of the the tallest flagpole in the nation in the country which kind of speaks to the pride that not only they have but the community has in the area. And then to step up and contribute $1.8 million to a learning center as important as this. It really speaks well. Yes, it initiates a very forward thinking on their part because this center then will not only train and provide future employees for them but future employees for other businesses in the area and so forth. So it's very forward thinking on their part. Anything you see out on the horizon, speaking of forward thinking, you have, again, in your short tenure, proven yourself to be a forward thinker and have worked with both the public and private sector to bring many of these projects to fruition. Anything else that you see out on the horizon from a standpoint of the organization here or what we might expect 5, 10, 15 years from now? Well, I believe we'll see a continuation of the trend of bringing more bachelor degree programs to the campus and maybe someday even the U.S. Department will offer its own program where it won't be a degree of one of the other four years but a standalone program here. I see that as a potentiality as well. And I see increasingly more and more partnering with community groups and businesses and organizations to provide programming and support of the campus. We have some organizations right now that are looking to locate some facilities here that will benefit the community. One is a children's garden that is being planned that would be available for public use and children to utilize a very beautiful garden based on children's literature. There's a group that wants to bring a little... Excuse me. A baseball diamond. A baseball diamond wants to locate it on the campus. And so I see even more participation by the community on our campus. Not only in terms of educational programming but recreational programming and so forth. I see that interesting where this campus becomes more and more a focus, a center of gravity if you will for the community in terms of services that we provide. That's a pretty nice vision. Now all of this future programming and the projects that have happened to date and that are going to be happening in the near future of course that takes money. And one of the trends that have been occurring of late at any level of government is some belt tightening or concern about the increasing property taxes or taxes of any kind. And I know as a state operated facility you rely on state funds for a lot of the program that occurs out here. The state is in the midst of their next budget process. And how at this point does that appear to affect UW-Shabuagan specifically? Well if there are any cuts to the UW system budget any cuts to the system budget would impact us in terms of reduced revenues coming in. So right off the bat it would impact our ability to absorb any more drugs than enrollments because we might not be able to hire additional part-time faculty. We may lose some staff if it turns down that we have to lose positions because of the budget cuts. We will probably lose them in support services. So that means that students may not be won't be able to get the level of advising and other types of support that they're accustomed to. When it comes to our campus it might take a little bit longer it might be a little bit more problematic in that respect. For the students it might translate into tuition increases which we don't like to see but as you know when a revenue stream starts to diminish at the same time it tosses our interest somewhere you gotta find resources. What are you hearing thus far at the state level do you sense that the UW system is going to take a hit or do you think it might be more status quo? I'm afraid with the deficit being the way it is I think our agency everyone's going to be part of the solution. We're hoping then to minimize that impact but that's where it hurts us the most is our ability to provide to access the students that they're expecting. Now I've got a loaded question for you some of our viewers watching this program today might be thinking well since the trends have been what they have the last few years with state and local budgets and everyone's being asked to tighten their belts and do more with less how is it that we were able to make the investments that we were at UW-Shabuigan the improvements that have occurred the last few years how do you justify that? Well the main way I justify it is if we don't make the investment whatever our economic picture looks like today in this state if we don't make the investments in education that we need to it's going to be much worse in the future it's the bottom line because the future economy of this state and of this area is going to be more and more dependent on the level of education of the people and the times of job skills and training and education level if we don't invest now we're going to be hurting down the road in my estimation I agree we only have a couple of minutes remaining Dean Ray Hernandez is there anything else that you'd like to share with our viewers in the couple of minutes we have left? Basically to say thank you Adam and the members of the tiny board for the support you've shown for this institution and it's been a pleasure working with you and the tiny board chair and the other members of the tiny board and I'm just grateful for the support that we've received from the town for this institution it's kind of you to say and no doubt no doubt that Dean Ray Hernandez has played just a huge part in making some of the very important and needed improvements occur out here I think sometimes UW Sheboygan is one of the jewels of this community and one of the best kept secrets frankly I know the Dean's done a lot to get the community more involved and more aware and certainly the success he had with getting partnerships established with the Bratz family and acuity and all the other activities that he mentioned earlier certainly reflect well on the Dean and the entire UW Sheboygan campus but this is just a fabulous fabulous community organization UW campus and I hope that if you haven't had a chance to come out here of late please take the time to do so it's something else so Dean thank you so much for being our guest today my pleasure I'm sure Chairman Bill Gehring would have really liked to be here today in particular because he is a graduate of UW Sheboygan and I know shares the Dean's pride in the activities and the campus itself so on behalf of Chairman Bill Gehring myself Adam Payne and the Sheboygan County Board thank you very much for joining us today and we'll see you soon