RAYMOND CROSS: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM
In 2011, when he became chancellor of University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension, he had been enjoying a 13-year run as president of Morrisville State College in upstate New York. That was when union members occupied the state capitol in Madison, WI. “I had to be escorted by police for a meeting with the governor,” he recalls. “I was thinking, ‘You were nuts to come here.’” But Raymond Cross, PhD ’91, survived the ordeal and forged many friendships and alliances, and today he is president of the entire University of Wisconsin System—13 state universities including the one in Madison. “This job involves interconnectedness with faculty and administrators and legislators,” he explains. “It’s a delicate dance. My role is to help the university explain the value it brings to the people of the state.” Cross touts the so-called Wisconsin Idea, which holds that the university must provide value to everyone in the state. A native of Big Rapids, Raymond was working at Ferris State University when he enrolled at MSU for his doctoral program. “I have very fond memories of driving to East Lansing and keeping my life in balance,” he recalls. “It was a great experience. MSU really prepared you well to understand factors that are not necessarily in the surface of things.” Raymond touts former professors Louis Hekhuis and the late Eldon Nonnamaker as his two favorites. He recalls one class taught by Nonnamaker about budgeting in higher education. “The teaching was brilliant,” he says. “At one point, we moved into role-playing, and we were all given notes on the people we played.” Raymond says that students received different information, which led to unexpected results. He played a president, and did not understand why one dean was supporting another. “It turned out they were having an affair,” he says with a chuckle. “Eldon wanted us to understand that there under-the-table alliances are often at work. I disputed him then, but some years later, I encounted the exact same situation. I called Eldon and told him, ‘I owe you an apology.’”
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