Business Pulse

Personally Speaking: WWU President Bruce Shepard
Personally Speaking…
with
Dr. Bruce Shepard
Interview and Photos by Managing Editor Mike McKenzie
Graciously granting
a special request,
the president of Western
Washington University
wore his CEO hat in a
visit with Managing Editor
Mike McKenzie about the
business of WWU as one
of the largest employers in
the county. He revealed
a management style that’s
taking WWU into a new
frontier with inquiring
leadership, collaborative
vision, and acute fiscal
acumen within the business
community.
For our business-centered
reader, Dr. Shepard addressed how
higher education, i.e., in this case
WWU, can and must exercise
strategies and create significant
impact on the regional economy
and companies – and the national
and global free markets, as well.
“Stewards of place” is his label
for a strong, vibrant destination
university that provides real-time
business opportunity for students
wanting that, and for businesses
wanting top-drawer students in
any field. Oh, yes, and there’s that
matter of raising funds and balancing
budgets.
When he isn’t up to his eyes in
that, you might catch him roasting
coffee, woodworking, and hanging
out with family….
Education a Top Priority
My dad was first person to go
to college in our family. He was
moving irrigation water from one
trough to another in the Central
Valley of California with a shovel
at the age of 20….migrant, agricultural
labor. The life-saver was
when he wandered down to Cal-
Berkeley, paid $17 a semester in
fees and no tuition, got interrupted
by World War II, and then went on
to get his Ph.D.
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