a
WSU President
Dr. Roy Wilson
greets students.
Head Of The Class
WSU's new leaders focus on strategies for success.
Robin Schwartz
Contributing Writer
T
he start of a new school year is
filled with hope, promise and
unlimited potential — oppor-
tunities to learn, grow, pursue dreams
and accomplish goals. Roughly 20,000
students and 6,000 employees will return
to the Detroit campus of Wayne State
University in a matter of days as Dr. Roy
Wilson begins his second year as president
of WSU. He has a host of major issues to
tackle including enrollment, retention,
curriculum and improving the graduation
rate.
"An increasingly important metric of
the value of higher education is readi-
ness for the job market:' Dr. Wilson said
during his official inauguration in April.
"In states across the country, there is a
growing expectation — indeed, a demand
— that public universities train students
with specific skills that are sought by the
workforce. Businesses are clamoring for
graduates with the skills and knowledge
to start contributing on day one. There is
legitimacy in this concern, and we must
rise to the challenge:'
Dr. Wilson grew up in Japan and
attended high school in Washington, D.C.;
he's an ophthalmologist and a gradu-
ate of Allegheny College, the University
of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard
Medical School. This year, he'll receive a
base salary of $483,000 to lead the third-
largest university in Michigan, which
includes a medical school and law school
and has a budget of about $1 billion a year.
He describes Wayne State as "a place of
light:'
"Let that light shine:' Dr. Wilson told the
inauguration crowd. "Let it shine for the
young boy from east Detroit who lives a
tough life today but dreams of a better one
tomorrow. Let it shine for a young woman
from a Midwestern rural town today
who pictures herself as an internationally
renowned surgeon, or a grandmother who
finally pursues her dream of earning a col-
lege degree:'
As we get set to enter the 2014-2015
academic year, Dr. Wilson talked to the
Detroit Jewish News about some of the
challenges that lie ahead.
JN: Wayne State has positioned itself as
having an urban mission in a larger region
that's very diverse but also among the most
segregated in America. How will WSU's
urban mission attract more students?
Meet WSU's Provost,
Margaret Winters
A
s chief academic officer at
Wayne State University, Provost
Dr. Margaret Winters of Grosse
Pointe yields a tremendous amount of
power. All of the deans report to her, she's
involved with academic programs, bud-
gets, hiring tenure-track professors, the
development of new programs, student
affairs and more. Dr. Winters, who is
Jewish, is also focused on recruiting stu-
dents and making sure those who attend
WSU get their diplomas.
"We want to see them succeed:' she
says. "We've been finding ways to get
them better funding, to declare a major
early and to identify as students — get-
ting more involved with activities, being
part of a department. Last year, we had a
4 percent increase in our six-year gradua-
tion rate:'
Dr. Winters has been with Wayne State
since 2002. She became provost a year
and a half ago. She's held several other
administrative positions and is a professor
50 August 28 • 2014
JN
of French and linguistics in the depart-
ment of classical and modern languages,
literatures and cultures.
She's also vice president of the board
of the Sholem Aleichem Institute, a
Yiddish-based group, and a member of
the board of the Cohn-Haddow Center
for Judaic Studies. Winters grew up
in New York City and graduated from
Brooklyn College, the University of
California Riverside and the University
of Pennsylvania. Her husband, Geoffrey
Nathan, is a linguistics professor in WSU's
English Department.
"We are very much interested in mak-
ing the wider Detroit area understand that
Wayne State has an awful lot to offer; she
says. "Our campus is one of the safest in
the state. We have a lot of programs that
should be of interest to Jewish students —
a Jewish studies minor, the Cohn-Haddow
Center for Judaic Studies which sponsors
a variety of programs and activities, and
we also teach Hebrew:'
Dr. Wilson and Provost Margaret Winters lead a delegation of visitors to the
university.
Provost Winters speaks English, French,
Italian, Yiddish and some German. Her
hobbies include cooking and travel. She
also recently joined the board of the
Grosse Pointe Jewish Council. In addition
to recruiting and graduation, improving
academic services and helping the univer-
sity develop a strategic long-range plan
are also high priorities.
"Detroit is exactly the right size:' she
says. "You can get involved in urban
issues in a way that you couldn't in a city
like New York. There's so much to do and
so many places to really contribute. I hope
people will give Wayne State a chance.
Come see the campus. It's a beautiful,
urban campus — we have faculty and
staff who care. We have intellectual rigor,
a growing honors program and a lot of
support services. Midtown Detroit is now
one of the hottest places around. It's an
exciting place to be right now — there are
so many opportunities!"
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