Chancellor Deborah Ford was among a group of Women of Influence winners who were honored at a sold out awards luncheon event on June 12, 2015 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Ford was nominated and won in the Education Leadership category. This was the 16th year that the Milwaukee Business Journal honored and recognized Milwaukee-area women who are making a difference at work and in the community.

According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, “Ford, chancellor since 2009 and one of four female chancellors in the UW System’s 26 campuses, is pushing to ensure diversity in academic leadership, which is still largely male-dominated in Wisconsin and around the country. Leading a university is a different proposition in an age of shrinking budgets and shifting student needs.  One approach Ford has taken is to broaden the tent, reaching out to businesses and putting a focus on retaining the school’s large first-generation student population.  The pride in her voice is audible as Ford describes Parkside’s recent graduation ceremony, with the highest retention rate in history.  About 60 percent of those graduates were the first in their families to earn diplomas.  Another tool is keeping tabs on the community and on employers’ workforce news.  Ford serves on the boards of Milwaukee 7, Racine Area Manufacturers & Commerce, Kenosha Area Business Alliance, and on workforce development boards for each community.”
 

One behalf of your friends and neighbors in the Village and Town of Somers, congratulations Chancellor Ford! 

 

UW-Parkside Chancellor Deborah Ford and University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross

(Photo by Jacqueline Klapproth Nelson)

John and Deborah Ford

(Photo by Jacqueline Klapproth Nelson)

 

Friends of UW-Parkside: Tom Nelson (Executive Committee Member of both UW-Parkside Advisory Board of College, Business, Economics & Computing and the Foundation Board,
 and Jackie Nelson (Somers Website Manager and Somers Village/Town Historian)

(Photo by Jacqueline Klapproth Nelson)