Morgridge Center’s Rouse reflects on service

Wisconsin Week: Has anything been different in these final weeks? Any sadness that it’s your final semester?

Mary Rouse: I’ve been spending my time finishing up projects or handing off projects and participating in interviews for the new faculty director. I feel very good about leaving the program in very good shape. Our current staff will all be staying, and they’re all competent and dedicated individuals.

It’s very scary from the standpoint of my always having worked in so much structure. I feel a little like I’m going into the abyss, or uncharted territories. I’ve made this point several times, and I really believe this: I’m only retiring from the university payroll and not from our beloved community. I plan to continue to make contributions if anybody wants me. (Laughs.)

WW: The last time we spoke, you talked about plans to travel and spend time with your grandchildren. Have you developed other specific plans?

MR: I’m going to take a year off but continue all my current community service commitments. I want to take some time to think about what I’d like to be doing and what I’m good at. At the end of that year, I’ll make myself available. But I don’t want to be on anyone’s payroll.

WW: You’ve always said that the Morgridge Center has been the best part of your career.

MR: Yes, I saved the best for last because it relates to my own academic interests and roots. My background is Latin and Greek. I got interested in Greek in high school and wanted to take it in college so I could read in the original language where the idea of democracy came from.

The Morgridge Center promotes lifelong commitments to civic engagement. I’ve never taught Latin or Greek, but obviously there’s this direct lifelong intellectual interest and connection. So it is very rewarding at the end of your career to be doing what you planned on at the beginning.

WW: If you could single out one thing as your biggest accomplishment at the center, what would it be?

MR: I would say on and off campus partnerships — the establishment of the formal university partnership in South Madison together with the chancellor’s office and the School of Human Ecology — to bring educational programs to the people there and to bring them into the university for mutually beneficial purposes. In addition, we have established several partnerships on campus with the School of Human Ecology, the Department of Landscape Architecture, the Institute for Cross-College Biology Education and the Center for the Humanities.

WW: When the center was coming together, it was a newer concept in higher education. Was there a “Eureka!” moment that when you first started here when you knew it would come together and become a success?

MR: Professor Gary Sandefur and I were asked by then-Chancellor David Ward to co-chair a committee that would look at expanding our public service initiatives. It was a great committee, and we could see then that we needed to have a center dedicated to supporting curricular and extracurricular initiatives to advance public service in a more intentional and structured way.

WW: You must have received some tremendous feedback from the community over the years.

MR: Oh, yes. There’s an important point to be made there, we’ve gotten rid of the old [mentality of] “I’m from the university and I’m here to help you.” That one-way outreach is completely gone. Our philosophy and our practice is to go into the community and listen and figure out what it is the community needs and wants from us and see if we can sit at the table and puzzle things out. It’s not a charity model any more. It’s a relationship where we’re meeting needs and we’re learning more than we’re giving.

WW: Could the Morgridge Center work anywhere, or is there something special about Wisconsin students that make them so engaged?

MR: What we have going for us is this incredible tradition of public service, underpinned by this brilliant concept of the Wisconsin Idea. I don’t know if people realize and appreciate how jealous other colleges and universities are of the Wisconsin Idea. That tradition of service meant that we could hit the ground running. It’s in the peer culture that service is really important.

WW: Is there one thing that inspires students to participate?

MR: There’s not one answer to that, but we know that peer influence is hugely important. Many of our students have already been involved in service and they want to follow up. And we market [community] service six ways to Sunday, any way we can think of.

WW: Going back to your career in the Dean of Students Office, what was your biggest accomplishment there?

MR: Working with all the students and always approaching them as producers, not as consumers, saying to them you are a vital and critical component of our community and I, as dean, want you to share your gifts and talents and sit at the table as equals. My expectations of students have always been very high, and that’s extremely important. This approach is probably the key reason why, in general, I’ve always enjoyed good relationships with students. I’ve respected them for their brains and talent — a thread that’s run through my career here.

WW: You were also at the helm during some pretty tough moments — the Camp Randall Stadium crush and cases where you had to notify parents of their son or daughter’s death. What was the most difficult part?

MR: Certainly, the stadium crush was one of the scariest public tragedies that I’ve ever witnessed. It’s a miracle and testament to tremendous health care professionals that no student died. That was one of the most chilling moments.

I myself had been right over in that apron at the student section where you could generally find me. Minutes before it happened, I had left and went back to the glass booth because the weather was a little too cold and I wasn’t dressed warmly enough.

Always, the deaths of students were very, very hard, and we tried to handle each one with sensitivity for family and friends. Our students are so talented and to lose one was very, very tough.

WW: If you could give a piece of advice, what would it be?

MR: Listening, followed by getting the facts before you act. I made very few decisions absolutely on my own. Always get the people in the room who know the most about the situation and talk it through before you act.

WW: What trends really stand out to you?

MR: I am concerned about the continuing abusive use of alcohol. It remains the No. 1 health problem for students. Certainly, we have not developed the strategies that we need to get fewer students to abuse alcohol.

On the other hand, we have tons of students who are productive — especially through engaged learning programs — and we’ve increased the numbers involved in community service. Those are great trends. Another area that I worry about a lot about is communication. Although we have many more communication modes, like faxes, e-mails and cell phones, I want to be sure that our students are using these tools effectively and realize that there’s no substitute to being in a room together talking.

WW: How about people over the years who stand out in your memory?

MR: I want to give great credit to my mentor, emeritus professor Joe Kauffman, who, of course, is one of the founders of the Peace Corps. He is now in his early 80s and has always been fabulous to me. I would also like to recognize Roger Howard, long-time associate dean, both for Paul Ginsburg and me. He’s a tremendous person. There are just lots of other people. Bernie Cohen, the interim chancellor who hired me, was an excellent administrator, teacher, researcher and public servant.

I certainly want to thank John and Tashia Morgridge. I can’t say enough about their generosity and understanding of the role of public service in keeping our democracy alive and well and the responsibility of higher education.

WW: I understand that you won’t be having a traditional retirement party.

MR: I have had many offers, which I have respectfully declined. I feel very strongly in my heart that whatever I’ve been able to accomplish has not been about “I” but “we” and that I’ve had these wonderful teams of people. I always tell people my hiring policy is that I hire the smartest, most talented people I can find, and they always make me look better.

I don’t want a celebration of me as an individual, but rather want to thank everyone with whom I’ve worked. I’ve had great colleagues and, of course, the students have generally been fabulous. If anybody wants to celebrate, what can they do? They can become engaged in public service or continue the community service that they’re doing. That would be the best celebration. And, if they wish, they can also stop by my office for a personal visit.