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New UW-Eau Claire chancellor connecting with community
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| Dr. Brian Levin-Stankevich is the new chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, bringing with him a background as a leader in chamber of commerce and economic development organizations in the state of Washington. Contributed photo.
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By MARK GUNDERMAN
Not long after he moved into the chancellor’s office at the University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire, Dr. Brian Levin-Stankevich mingled with alumni — including local business leaders — at the Leinie Lodge in Chippewa Falls.
The now-annual alumni event at the Lodge has grown in popularity, and through it Levin-Stankevich got an early glimpse of the connection the Chippewa Valley feels with one of its two public universities.
Levin-Stankevich knows the importance of an institution of higher education connecting with its community, including the business community, and that is reflected in his background.
He served on the board of directors of the West Plains, Wash., Chamber of Commerce just before coming to Eau Claire. He served terms as president, past president, and government affairs committee chairman.
Levin-Stankevich was also a member of the board of trustees of the Spokane, Wash., Regional Economic Development Council.
In Eau Claire, he immediately sought connection with the business community. He’s been meeting with some pretty impressive business people: Charlie Grossklaus of RCU; Jeff West, who recently sold Silicon Logic Engineering; Mickey Judkins, owner of Details and a leader in various economic development efforts; Linda Clark and Mike Swenson of Xcel Energy; Ken Vance of car dealership fame; Pat Quinn of Ayres and Associates; and Tom Kell, recently retired of Kell Container — just to name a few.
Dr. Brian Levin-Stankevich tours Kell Container with now-retired owner Tom Kell, a good friend and benefactor to the university. Contributed photo.
Some of those people are also involved in a Regional Initiative Task Force.
“We’re looking to do an inventory as to where we are as far as resources and options for the area,” said Levin-Stankevich, who’s getting a feel for the strengths, challenges and business history of the Chippewa Valley.
“People here have done a really good job, given the history and the loss of jobs with the departure of Uniroyal,” he said. “There seems to be a good dynamic with the business community. There are good things happening with the revitalization of downtown.”
Levin-Stankevich said a region must constantly be in the process of examining its business clusters, their needs, and their outlooks for the future. UW-Eau Claire and other institutions in the region must ask how they can lend support.
He alluded to this part of the university’s mission in his first State of the University Address.
“We contribute to the economic vitality of the Chippewa Valley as a major employer: by enhancing the talents of the region’s population; by interacting with area business and industry as interns, advisers, analysts and leaders; and by preparing the future leaders of this region and the state,” he said.
“Continuing to expand this role is, for me, a given. We will look for the best opportunities to contribute to economic development in ways that also further the academic mission of this university.”
However, it is important to note Levin-Stankevich’s views on the priorities of the university. He plans to be a very student-centered chancellor.
“Our core role is to teach students. What else we do is extra,” he said.
But Levin-Stankevich also recognizes that teaching students in itself is a kind of economic development activity. Because of national and world trends, higher education is naturally assuming a larger role in economic development.
A decade ago, technical colleges and some small colleges were very attentive filling the need of “what kind of careers do we prepare people for,” Levin-Stankevich said.
Universities traditionally took a broader view of their role, holding firm to missions such as being centers of research and providing students with broad-based education. To some, the idea of “training” was anathema to a university’s goals.
But since the turn of the century — and even in the years preceding — the nation started to see greater economic challenges from overseas. The United States began a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.
Fields such as genetics and nanotechnology began to take off, and the university suddenly had a much greater role in the changing economy.
“That has led to more integration between the university and the region in economic development,” Levin-Stankevich said.
This is true both inside and outside of the classroom.
“For many students, learning is changing, too,” he said.
The trend in higher education is turning to more applied learning. Obvious examples can be found in the sciences, but the trend touches all fields, even history.
“We have students going out and doing local history projects all the time now,” Levin-Stankevich said.
That, in turn, can touch economic development through the tourism cluster.
“This brought universities to places that business always wanted them to be,” he said.
UW-Eau Claire is already connecting with the business community in many ways. Students involved in urban planning are out in the field locally. The Economics Department is doing analytical studies for communities. And, of course, the university has a very strong nursing internship program with St. Joseph’s Hospital and Marshfield Clinic.
The Materials Science lab — and UWEC has an excellent one — is able to do analysis and make specific recommendations relevant to business.
And UW-Eau Claire is heavily involved in the Chippewa Valley’s nanotechnology initiative.
Because of Chippewa Valley Technical College President Bill Ihlenfeldt’s leadership in starting a nanotechnology degree program there, many people associate nanotechnology with CVTC. Its program and the effort to expand the region’s presence in the field are cooperative ventures. Even CVTC students in the nanotechnology program must take some of their classes at UW-Eau Claire or UW-Stout.
The National Science Foundation recently awarded a grant to the three institutions to further develop curriculum for the program.
Nanotechnology is, after all, only a new application for some very old disciplines.
“It’s still biology, physics and chemistry,” Levin-Stankevich said.
The hands-on history projects and the Material Sciences lab are examples of how the university connects to the business community through the classroom in fulfilling its core mission of teaching students.
But there are a great many of those “extras” as well. The university is home to a Small Business Development Center and also one of the state centers to assist entrepreneurs. Continuing education for professionals in the field has long been part of the university’s mission.
There’s more coming. Levin-Stankevich said preliminary reviews of a state audit found that all the state’s universities are heavily involved in the economic development of their regions. To further this role, universities may be asked to identify a point person for economic development activities.
“Business needs an entry portal to the university and its resources,” he said.
Through his lengthy and distinguished career in academia, Levin-Stankevich has often heard people call for those at the university to become more involved in the community. He doesn’t disagree with the importance of such involvement and the need to expand it.
However, the university’s faculty and staff are typically every bit as involved, if not more so, in community activities as people employed in the private sector.
And the university as an institution connects in ways that are hard to see without looking at the big picture of everything a university does in its various missions.
Following state and national trends, and following the leadership of Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s connection to the business community should continue, and grow.
Mark Gunderman is editor of Chippewa Valley Business Report. He can be reached at (715) 738-1607 of at mark.gunderman@lee.net.
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