VERNA FOWLER
Verna Fowler, the College of Menominee Nation’s founding president, will retire at the end of the month.
The college’s board of trustees has unanimously chosen Diana Morris to serve as interim president, effective July 1, as a special committee conducts the search for Fowler’s permanent replacement.
Fowler, who was hired by the Menominee Tribal Legislature in fall 1992, opened the college in spring 1993. She has piloted the tribal college to standing as an accredited baccalaureate institution with a regional economic impact exceeding $37 million.
Virginia Nuske, chairwoman of the college’s board of trustees, said the board has known about Fowler’s intention to leave for several months and has begun transition planning.
“The replacement of a longtime leader, and especially of a founding president, is always a challenge for an organization,” Nuske said. “President Fowler has given nearly 24 years of time and talent to building an institution of higher learning that is an asset for our tribe, a major benefit for students in this region, and a model among tribal colleges.”
The search committee members are Lori Corn, Gary Frechette, Sarah Harkey and Nuske, with Bernard Kaquatosh, of the tribe’s human resources department, and Rachel Tuma, of the college’s human resources department, as ex officio members.
Morris, the college’s chief academic officer, has served CMN since 1997 as a faculty member and administrator.
Nuske said Morris holds relevant credentials and has extensive experience working as Fowler’s deputy on a broad range of functions.
Morris will not be a candidate for the presidency, Nuske said.
CMN is a baccalaureate degree-granting institution accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Its main campus is in Keshena. An urban campus in Green Bay serves students in the city’s metropolitan and Oneida Nation areas.
As of its spring graduation, the college has more than 1,100 alumni.
New trustees join board
The College of Menominee Nation’s board of trustees elected officers for the coming year at their June meeting. Virginia Nuske, of Shawano, was elected chairwoman, and Karen Bowman Dillenburg, of Clintonville, was elected vice chairwoman. Filling vacated trustee positions are Gary Frechette, of Shawano, Cedar Kakkak, of Keshena, and Jesse Waukau, of West Allis. The departing trustees are Georgiana Ignace, of Milwaukee, who completed 14 years of service in May; Elaine Peters, of Keshena, who completed 11 years of service in November; and the late Michael Chapman, who was board chairman at the time of his death in February. Continuing members on the board are Lori Corn, of Keshena, and Sarah Harkey, of Shawano.