KENOSHA, Wis. – Chancellor John P. (Jack) Keating, the fifth chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, announced today that he will step down in August 2008 after leading the campus for more than a decade.
Keating shared this news with UW-Parkside faculty and staff at the campus’ spring semester convocation, explaining that this is the right time for him to step out of the chancellor’s role.
“Much has been accomplished over the last 10 years,” said Keating. “The campus is now poised to ascend to the next level.”
A San Francisco native who has spent more than 36 years in higher education, Keating took the helm of UW-Parkside on July 1, 1998. He has worked to increase public visibility of the campus through community outreach and engagement.
Joining Keating at the convocation today, UW System President Kevin P. Reilly praised the chancellor’s accomplishments. Reilly explained that Keating’s leadership put UW-Parkside on a solid fiscal and academic foundation. This allowed the university to extend its positive impact across all of southeast Wisconsin.
“Over the past decade, Chancellor Keating has ambitiously set out to position UW-Parkside as an engine of economic development in the state of Wisconsin – especially in the southeast region,” said Reilly. “He has successfully engaged a broad range of faculty, staff, student, and community voices to do just that.
“Jack’s forceful intellect, unquestioned integrity, and unwavering commitment to higher education opportunities for all make him a recognized leader in this region and around the state. UW-Parkside is a better, stronger institution for his 10 years as its leader,” added Reilly.
During Keating’s tenure, UW-Parkside was one of 64 universities nationwide, and the only one in Wisconsin, to be designated as an “engaged campus” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
As one of 11 comprehensive universities within the UW System, the UW-Parkside campus enrolls more than 5,000 students from 55 Wisconsin counties – the most diverse student body in the system. Leading approximately 500 faculty, academic staff and classified staff members, the UW-Parkside chancellor is responsible for an annual budget in excess of $63 million.
After earning his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Ohio State University in 1972, Keating joined the psychology faculty at the University of Washington, where he advanced through the academic ranks and was appointed founding dean and vice provost in 1989 of two new University of Washington campuses. In 1994, Keating became the first provost at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and served in that capacity until his move to Wisconsin.
Keating’s own academic research focused on human behavior before and after emergencies and disasters. This involved studies conducted in cooperation with the New York City Red Cross, and Keating served for five years on the National Advisory Board of the Red Cross in Washington, D.C. He convened and chaired an international meeting of high-rise evacuation experts in New York City to study lessons learned from the World Trade Center tragedy.
Stressing the importance of sustaining progress achieved under Keating’s leadership, Reilly pledged to begin work immediately to appoint a search committee comprised of faculty, staff, students, and community members to help identify a slate of qualified candidates to succeed Keating.
UW-Parkside alumnus Mike Falbo, a member of the UW System Board of Regents, joined Reilly and Keating at the convocation today. He announced that he will chair a special committee of regents who will work with Reilly to select the new chancellor for UW-Parkside. That appointment must be approved by the full Board of Regents.
“Our challenge is to identify a new campus CEO with the right skills, experience, and drive to keep alive the positive momentum established here during Chancellor Keating’s tenure,” said Falbo.