 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name's Adam Payne, Sheboygan County Administrative Coordinator and co-host of this program, though as you can see, my fearless leader, Chairman Bill Gehrings, not with us today. So I'm going to do my best to take the lead without his help. We're very fortunate today to have two special guests that are going to talk a little bit about UW-Sheboygan and all the exciting new developments out here, as well as some of the opportunities and challenges ahead. First Dean Ray Hernandez is with us, as well as I want to make sure I get this title correct, the Assistant Campus Dean for Administrative Services, Mr. Richard Barnhouse. Yes, the title is correct. Gentlemen, it's good to have you with us. Thank you. That's a pleasure. Ray, why don't we start with you? Please share a little bit about your role and responsibilities as Dean of UW-Sheboygan. Well, basically, you know, my title is Dean, but I'm the campus executive officer, which means that I'm in charge of the entire campus and all the operations and the programming and staffing and that sort of thing. And I also am responsible for interacting with the community, with the government and legislative leaders and business leaders and community groups and essentially be the contact with the community for the campus. And when did you start here as Dean? I started here in July of 2000. So this July, I would have completed six years. How quickly the time passed, I started as a county administrative coordinator in January of 1999. So you and I were both relatively new to our positions here and it's been certainly a pleasure working with you. Rich, turning to you, you're one of the newer kids on the block here at UW-Sheboygan. When did you start? And please share a little bit about your role and responsibilities. I came on board in August of 2004 from the University of South Carolina, which gave me some good experience in public administration and a large comprehensive university. In my role, my title, the Assistant Campus Dean for Administrative Services, I basically oversee everything outside of the classroom and everything outside of student affairs and I report directly to Ray, the dean and CEO. Some of my main responsibilities, for example, would be I'm the chief financial officer. I oversee human resources, facilities. I do some of the things with the county on behalf of the dean, information technology, food service, bookstore, the exhilaries. So really everything on campus that doesn't have anything to do with academics or directly related to student affairs. Very good. And it's been since August of 2004. It's August of 2004, so I'm coming up on entering my third year here on campus and it's been a great experience so far. A lot of exciting things going on on campus. Well, it's been great to have you. I know you two make a good team. And speaking of teamwork, I think a lot of people don't recognize that UW-Sheboygan, the buildings and grounds are owned by Sheboygan County, county government, and the state obviously is responsible for the staffing and the personnel and a lot of the administration here. So it's been a long-standing relationship and I think a very productive one. Ray, please share a little history with our viewers about this relationship, this partnership. Well, the partnership actually began in the 1930s with what was then called the Wisconsin Idea, where the University of Wisconsin was partnering up with the local units of government to provide programming to local residents. So the original UW Center, if you will, was located where Central High School is now and it was part of the center system. And then in 1963, then the current campus was built by the Townie. But the relationship has been fantastic. I mean, in terms of the University providing the programming and services for the local residents and the Townie providing the facility for the programming to happen. It's a wonderful partnership and really benefits the local citizens here. And with this relationship and obviously UW-Shaboygan here being here for, when did you say it was built in 1963? 1963, this campus would be done, yes. Clearly, there's been growth, there's been demand by the community and students to come here. And what have you seen just in the last few years from a standpoint of student enrollment? There's been a pretty steady influence over the past five years, although it's sort of leveling off right now. But we've seen a significant growth in what we call non-traditional-age students. You know, those are students that are 22 years old or older, more adult type of students to the point that we're 35% or more of our enrollment now are adult students. So we see a trend of adult students coming back to college, if you will, picking up whoever they left off and interested in pursuing more education. So about how many students in total are enrolled here now? Between 750-800 students, something like that, we've been holding pretty steady now for a couple of years in that range. That should hold for another year or two. And about two years I anticipate another spike. Very good. And one of the things I know you two have been working real hard at is improving the program and just improving the standing of this facility period. And Rich, certainly you've had a key role in that. And one of the things I know you both have been working on is creating more of a relationship with the four-year campuses. Absolutely. How does that work? Well, what we try to do is provide a greater breadth of educational opportunities here on campus. And it's something that the Dean has really done an outstanding job in developing relationships with the four-years, which allow us to offer different opportunities, educationally speaking. So this allows us, through these collaborations with some of the four-years, to offer baccalaureate degrees right here on campus so that students don't have to transfer. You know, I'm sure there was a time on campus here, probably not too long before I came, when students would complete two years and then they would have to transfer if they wanted to complete a baccalaureate degree. That's no longer the case in a number of fields, including business and management, information technologies, as well as there are really a plethora of other areas that we have collaborative degree programs with the other four-year institutions. So basically what that means is our students can stay on campus and complete their bachelor's degree right here on campus, as well as one of our master's degree in education. And the Dean is continuing to really push this, which we think is a great initiative and really allowing our campus to grow and expand. And so we've got some other things that we're considering in engineering and education because obviously there's great need in Sheboygan County for those types of professionals. So that's really been beneficial to us. And really we need to thank the four years as well for being strong partners in bringing this programming to the community because there are many students that are place-bound and really if they wanted a baccalaureate education they wouldn't be able to leave Sheboygan County. And so now we're really beginning to bring these programs right to our neighborhood, so to speak, so that people can stay, you know, their families and jobs here and they can get their complete and comprehensive education right here in Sheboygan County. So we're excited about it and we're very excited about the, you know, increasing the programs at the baccalaureate level here on campus. More opportunity we can provide to people. Yeah, right. Yeah, maybe you could talk a little bit about that. Yeah, our most recent baccalaureate offering is in nursing, Bachelor of Science in Nursing. It's a pleasure to meet the needs of nursing students who already hold a two-year degree in nursing and now about being the bachelor's option here to be able to then complete four years of nursing right here on Sheboygan. And that just started a couple years ago or has it been less than that? Yeah, it's not about a year ago. What a year ago, yeah. Yeah, and that program is very strong, you know, lots of interest in good environments. Outstanding. This is really the new frontier for us, I think. Yeah. Bringing baccalaureate education right to Sheboygan. Now, to set the stage a little bit, because I imagine a number of our viewers aren't aware that, you know, just how fortunate we are to have a campus here. There's 72 counties across the state, and if memory serves and certainly correct me, there are 13 that are two-year campuses, and obviously they're scattered throughout, and then you have how many four-year campuses? 13. 13. So 13 four-year, 13 two-year, and now Sheboygan County, the people of this community have an opportunity to come here to a two-year campus, but literally get a four-year degree. Absolutely. Which has got to help the pocketbook as well for people. Oh, sure. Oh, tremendously, yeah. Outstanding. Well, speaking of the pocketbook, times aren't getting easier from a standpoint of resources. We've had a number of challenges at the county and state level, but with that said, as you know, we need to continue to invest in our infrastructure and we need to continue to provide a strong educational system. And there's been some really nice improvements made here of late under your leadership, Ray. Certainly the HVAC system, we had a real concern there with staff and the professionals working here and some students obviously, and we put about a $2 million upgrade there. We just completed the science edition, which is about a $5, $6 million improvement here, which I think people are really beginning to appreciate. And now we're looking at a new technology center, which is just wonderful news for the campus and for this community. We just broke ground. What was it? A couple of few weeks ago. That's right. Ray, please begin by sharing a little bit about what this new technology center means to UW-Shaboygan and the students that come here. Well, what it means is that we will now be able to offer up-to-date state-of-the-art instruction in technology and provide equipment and laboratories that will meet the needs of now and today but future students who are in technology. Everything is in view with technology now. And so we have to try to remain current in that area. And then we'll also be able to provide a brand-new state-of-the-art library. And that library will be much larger and much more modern technologically advanced library that will be of use not only to our students, but also to the community at large. This is a tiny facility. And then this library, this building, will be a prominent part of our campus, right at the entrance of our campus. So it will provide access to the general public, to this facility. And that's something that we want to provide as well. Now, as you know, it was no small feat to bring this vision to reality. And frankly, if it wasn't for a member of our business community really stepping up, it wouldn't have happened. You spoke earlier about the strong relationship, the partnership between the county and the state. But we've added a third party. Why don't you touch on that a little bit? Well, you know, today the taxpayers of the town and of the state have been very generous and support, you know, the town of our supervisors and supporting this facility. But the reality is that public dollars have become tighter and tighter, you know, by district firm and we have less and less to work with. So our only alternative then in terms of trying to expand the facility is to seek some private dollars. And so this is new territory for us. And fortunately, we have some benevolent private businesses in the area who believe in education, who believe in giving back to the community, providing services to the citizens of Suburban County. And so with respect to the new technology center, a charity company stepped forward with a very generous donation of $1.8 million towards construction of that building, which represents the largest private donation to any of the 13 two-year campuses today. So Mr. Ben Salzman, the CEO there and Acuity, as you said, really stepped up. And I'm certain the vast majority of our viewers have to have seen an article in the paper or heard something about this already. But clearly the partnership between the county, the state and the private sector and just a major contribution like that is helping bring this to reality. And it's wonderful. Now, as we talk about some of the good things that have happened out here and some of the improvements over the years, clearly there are some trends or challenges that we're being posed with and rich, obviously as the financial officer and overseeing that. What are some of those trends or upcoming concerns that you may see on the horizon when it comes to the relationships that we have with the county and the state and challenges that you have to contend with? Yeah, absolutely. Anybody that receives funding from the state certainly is going through the same things and I'm certain that the county is as well. And we're seeing reduced budgets, reduced funding from the state. But like I said, that's affecting everybody who has states supported. And so we need to be doing things better with less. And I think that we're doing that through our collaborative degree programs and really with our partnership with the county quite honestly to some degree, our bread and butter. So I think those relationships are very, very important. As the state support dwindles, it's going to be the outreaching to the community, to corporations like acuity and definitely our strength in our relationship with the county. But at the same time, we need to do things for the students and make sure that we don't forget our purpose here and that's providing an education. And so by serving the students through a more comprehensive education, we also serve ourselves as far as increasing the number of students on campus and funding in that manner. So those are some of the challenges that we're facing, really a reduced budget that's coming from the state. But we're not the only ones facing these problems. And you hear about many of the four years who are increasing their enrollments for obvious reasons. You know, they're struggling just like everybody else. So we have to be creative. We have to do more with less. And this is really the time to develop those relationships with people maybe the universities haven't in the past. And so that's really how we're addressing the situation. But we're also being a lot more careful with our expenditures on campus and we're being very, very specific as to what we are purchasing and really what type of longevity we're going to get out of those types of materials. Now with the county budget, we will have our kickoff here in late June and all the departments, including UW-Sheboygan because of the building and grounds maintenance are part of that equation. The county board will adopt our budget in November and clearly because of the state caps in place, as well as just trying to be fiscally conservative, there's going to be give and take as you're aware of that happens every year. Specifically with the state level and the state budget, which obviously you're most concerned with from a standpoint of personnel and covering administrative costs and everything else that goes on. Are there any specific areas that you've gotten some feel for? I know there are a two-year operating budget, but have you gotten any guidance thus far as to some areas that you know they're going to make some adjustments in? Well, I think that we can be certain that our operational accounts and our budgets will be far, far less. Now, when I say far less, it's not detrimental, but any time you're receiving less funding and your costs are increasing, it does become a little bit of a challenge and that's what it is at this point, a challenge and it's something that we can definitely overcome. At this point, it is operational in nature and we're not looking at faculty and staff at this point and I do sense that in the next few years things may turn around again from the state side of things. So right now we're just dealing with a limited operational budget. So it's a challenge. And Ray, as he mentions these limited operational funds that you have to contend with, clearly you both know that there are certain needs that the campus has, things that opportunities or needs in the future. How do you balance tightening your belt and making some of those operational adjustments yet addressing some of the areas you know need to be addressed to improve the campus? Well, unfortunately, depending on what the legislature does in West Biennium and how deep the cuts are going to be to use every system, and something that I'm concerned about is that I'm hoping that we don't have to resort to raising tuition in order to continue operating. But my fear is that it may go that way. But it just depends on how deep the cuts go. But that's the only way. I mean, just to maintain, just to keep the doors open, as Rich mentioned, the cost is going up. And if our revenue continues to go down, there's a bridge point there that it's out of time from somewhere. Right, right. And it would be the same, but I think that might be an area that would be impacted, would be the tuition. And that's a very, very important component. And I'm glad you brought that up. At this point in time, as far as our institution is concerned, the 13 to year colleges, approximately 60% of our revenue comes from tuition and approximately the other 40% comes from the state. And it wasn't too long ago that that equation was flipped, that ratio was flipped. So we have seen some significant change in probably six to eight years, I would guess. And as Ray said, as the state support does dwindle, revenue has to continue coming in to keep the doors open and the revenue is the tuition. So we've talked about some of the really nice improvements that have occurred out here. And clearly the partnership that's been strengthened with now the business community stepping up for the science building, for the new technology center. And I anticipate, as you've both suggested, we're going to see more of that in the future. With that said, we continue to have these real pressing financial concerns in part borne by the state because when they have a budget crunch that tends to trickle down to the local level, the county is certainly going to be subject to that as well as all levels of government. And very recently, we had some referendums in this county, as you know, asking for more support for certain programs and services. And all of them, all of them were not successful. All of them failed to be successful from a standpoint of raising taxes. So in light of those trends, I'm sure some of viewers who are listening to this who have been following some of the developments out here are wondering, well, how is it? How is it with the trends being what they are with taxes and the concern as a whole? How is it that we're able to still make these investments at UW-Shaborgan? Or why are we making these investments to the extent we are at UW-Shaborgan? How would you respond to that? Well, I would say that tax revenue is generated from people who pay taxes. And so if you have the better educated workforce that you have, you know, the more interim the light that you make and the more taxes that they're able to pay. So we're actually investing in the future tax base for the county by providing this education in facilities, I mean, just simply put. Yeah, absolutely. I would agree with that. I look at it as money in the bank and a very solid investment. And there is a difference between an investment and an expense. They both look the same on paper, but they're not. And education is absolutely an investment. And I think that the county has been very wise. Obviously, I have some bias in this, but I think the county has been quite wise in investing in education in the local campus because it's going to ensure, to a great degree, that the residents, as they grow up here or educated here, stay here, create businesses, pay taxes, et cetera, et cetera. So I think that's very important. And it's obviously, Sheboygan County is one of only 13 counties that has this local opportunity. And so I think the county's been very wise in investing because you're setting aside funding that you could do other things with in order to invest in the county's future. And I think that ultimately that's the important thing is that you're investing in the future. And when you say county, obviously, that's in the broadest sense, meaning the county board, the county taxpayers. Yes. One of the things that I know I feel so strongly about living in this community and raising my family is we have so much going well for us, whether it's UW Sheboygan, our school system that just has received national recognition for being the top two or three in the country. When you look at our economy here, it's starting to diversify more. And clearly it's going to continue to diversify with the opportunity for people to come here and get a good education. So all of that is so important to our local economic development and quality of life. And I'm sure obviously you're here, Rich, because of the position, but clearly people, when they move to a new area to raise their family or settle down, they look at the quality of the schools and the quality of life. And I just think we're so fortunate to have a pretty nice package here. Well, we only have a couple of minutes remaining. And in those couple of minutes, are there any other areas that you just wanted to touch on briefly or any other positives that you wanted to share about UW Sheboygan, especially if someone's never come up here and checked this place out before? Yeah, I was certainly intrigued to do that, especially with the new building going on and all the excitement that's happening around that. And people need to familiarize. I think people probably are not as familiar as it perhaps should be about everything that we have to offer out here. And we have so many things going through our continued education program, through our pre-college program, summer programming. We already touched on our baccalaureate degree programming. It's a different place. I run into people all the time out in the community and said, oh yeah, I was out the center back in the 70s or 80s or whatever. I encourage them to come out because it's a much different place than it was even 10 years ago. And also, you mentioned off the air here, but I know that you're working on what, a new garden or some type of, maybe you want to mention that briefly. Yeah, the bookworm gardens, yeah. It's a group of people who would like to site a garden here on the campus that's specifically designed for early childhood, you know, children. It's immediately based on children's literature. So it'll be about two ways of interacting with gardens for children that we're hoping to have presented out here in the next couple of years. And that's a pretty, I mean, that's a multi-million dollar investment. A pretty large investment, yeah. And then our partnership with the UW Extension, I see that expanding. I see more programming opportunities and services through the UW Extension since we're now part of the same family under one chancellor. I anticipate much more collaboration between us and providing services to the county. Very good. Rich, anything final that you wanted to share? Yeah, I would say that although geographically we're the campus on the hill, philosophically we are not the campus on the hill. And we want members of the community to make use of our campus. We want people to be actively engaged in our campus whether it's for an academic reason or not. We have a lot to offer here, whether it's through our theater which is thriving and we have a lot of community members who come up here in our part of our theater and theater program, whether they're patrons or whether they're actually acting in some of our plays and musicals. As Ray touched on, we have an outstanding continuing education department and we do rent out space to the community. We are quite simply not the campus on the hill and we're a member of the community and we want the community on our campus. Very good. Well, Dean Ray Hernandez, Assistant Dean Richard Barnhouse, appreciate you being our guest today and for those of you who have the opportunity to view this program, don't hesitate to come on up to UW-Shaboygan and take a look around and these two are always so open and willing to meet with people and they have an outstanding staff and if you want to check out the new science edition or get a feel for what this campus has to offer, please don't hesitate because this is our campus throughout for all the people in Shaboygan County and please make use of it. So again, thank you for your time and thank you for all your hard work. Thank you for having us. Until next time, on behalf of Chairman Bill Gehring, myself, Adam Payne, County Administrative Coordinator and the full Shaboygan County Board. Thank you for joining us. Thank you.