John P. (Jack) Keating became the fifth Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on July 1, 1998.
Dr. Keating is an accomplished academic social-scientist, a life-long exemplary teacher, and a committed participant in the life of his university, disciplinary, and civic communities. His academic administrative experience has progressed through department and social sciences division head, an academic deanship, a research university provost and, now, chancellor at a state university. As a regional university in the University of Wisconsin System, the Parkside campus enrolls over 5,000 students, employs approximately 500 faculty and staff, and was supported by an annual budget in excess of $41 million when he assumed his position.
On assumption of his current office, Chancellor Keating identified his two greatest challenges: increase enrollment through development of new programs; and increase visibility of the campus through community outreach and engagement.
Now in his fifth year as Chancellor, the campus achieved system-wide enrollment targets since 1999 and has grown to over 5,000 students. The campus community has organized itself to become an engaged university through adoption of an infrastructure that encourages private-public partnerships and research opportunities, service learning, and internships for students.
After earning his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Ohio State University in 1972, Dr. Keating became a faculty member of the psychology department at the University of Washington. He advanced through the faculty ranks at Washington, and was appointed Dean and Vice Provost of two new U.W. Branch Campuses in 1989. In that position he helped plan and open upper division and graduate campuses in both Tacoma and Bothell, Washington, slated to grow to over nine thousand students each by 2005. The Branch campuses were semi-autonomous from the main U.W. Seattle campus and Dr. Keating was responsible for securing funding from the state legislature, winning continuing support for each campus, hiring their founding faculties, and planning both their innovative curricula and permanent sites.
Chancellor Keating has lead UW-Parkside into the twenty-first century by encouraging the introduction and evaluation of high quality academic programs specifically designed to address identified needs in higher education in Southeastern Wisconsin. He will accomplish this growth primarily through energizing community partnerships, as well as encouraging instructional innovation and research. Under his leadership, a statewide Campus Compact emphasizing civic engagement and service learning was formed with 27 participating institutions of higher education in Wisconsin, and is headquartered on his campus.
Dr. Keating is a vigorous, experienced leader at a critical time in higher education.
