Dr. Susan Gallagher-Lepak, Dean of the College of Health, Education and Social Welfare (CHESW), is retiring after a 40-year career. She has spent 21 of those years at UW-Green Bay. Over her tenure, she has helped build CHESW into a college that prepares students to meet critical needs in Northeastern Wisconsin. Those include the need for nurses, K-12 educators, social workers, health information specialists and community health educators. She founded the Innovation in Aging Competition (now Innovation On-Ramp) which celebrates and fosters student ideas. She also personally supports student success as a donor to endowed scholarships. We asked her about her story, her successes and her leadership at UW-Green Bay.
What brought you to UW-Green Bay?
You know, it was serendipity. I was working for quite a few years as a nurse and then finished my PhD in Rehab Psychology and began working as a licensed psychologist. My husband relocated to Green Bay and I didn’t find the position that I was looking for here. I happened to see in the Press-Gazette a listing for a tenure track nursing faculty position. It wasn’t really on my radar to teach, but I interviewed and got excited about being at UW-Green Bay and teaching in nursing. That was a great start. Timing is so important in any career
What are you most proud of over your 21 years here?
In my dean position, I’m proud to have strengthened programs in Nursing, Social Work and teacher preparation—areas where our community needs positions. A highlight was starting the pre-licensure Nursing program, putting new nurses into our community. It was a heavy lift. It took not only all the approvals from our University and UW System, but also donor support. We needed to build facilities that would align with our needs for this new program. We couldn’t have done it without tremendous donor support to build, for example, the Aurora BayCare Medical Center Nursing Skills Center in Wood Hall.
I’m also proud that during my tenure as Dean, we started the first educational doctorate program at UW Green Bay, an Ed.D. in First Nations Education. And currently, we have a new doctorate that will launch in 2024, an Ed.D in Applied Leadership. I’m proud of being part of putting doctoral programs at UWGB on the map.
Simply said, I am proud to have been of service to healthcare, the University and the community. A career in service is important. I hope my example of service will inspire others to follow in this path.
What have you learned about leadership?
When I started at the University, I wasn’t a formal leader. Then I moved into the chair role, I moved into the Dean role, and I’ve had a lot of learnings about leadership. Leadership is about working with people. It’s about working with people to prioritize the right initiatives, the right moves at the right time to create momentum. I’ve learned to work with donors and think about their desires for the University and where they can fit. People in our community want to help, and I’ve worked to be the vehicle to help them find what they’re passionate about. There’s plenty to find. I learned a lot of great lessons about leadership, and I hope I’ve been a strong leader to move the college forward and impact the university.