PLATTEVILLE — Tommy Thompson left UW-Platteville the afternoon of March 4 with an impressive collection of gifts — a version of the sidewalk paver that will have his name on it in front of Sesquicentennial Hall, a football polo shirt, and his own flavor of ice cream.
The UW System president and former governor is touring all the UW System campuses through his last day as president, March 18.
“I’m going to every one of the campuses, and it’s been outstanding,” said Thompson while eating Pioneer Sweets’ Maple Nut ice cream, which was presented to him. “The response has been exceptionally nice.
“Platteville is such a unique wonderful place. I spent an hour with the students just answering their questions. It was great.”
UW-Platteville chancellor Dennis Shields said Thompson was “the first president I’ve had in my 12 years in the system that was [such] a vocal, fierce and passionate advocate for the UW System.”
Shields said in his first telephone call with Thompson it was “obvious that you knew a lot about this community and this university already.”
Thompson didn’t hesitate when asked to name his biggest accomplishment as UW System president.
“Getting the schools open” after UW campuses, along with private and public schools were closed after 2020 spring break. “When I came in, they didn’t know what they were going to do. And I made the decision we’re going to open up the schools, and had a lot of opposition from a lot of people — professors and chancellors. And I said, no, we’re going to do it, we’re going to open up because it’s for the students.
“My job, I thought, when I open them up we had to make sure that the professors and the instructors and the students and the employees were safe. So we started testing and then we started a vaccination program — I started a testing program that was the best in the country; got a lot of money from my friends in Washington that I brought out here to see it. We accomplished a lot of things.”
Thompson was the secretary of health and human services after his 14 years as governor, and that job “gave me the context … and they gave me the federal money to start a testing program in the community. They asked me if I would consider setting up a program for tests for the community, and I said sure, but you’ve got to give me the money.”
Thompson also said he wanted to change public opinion about the UW System, which he called Wisconsin’s “best asset we have next to its people. It’s time that we start up and tell people of the state of Wisconsin how important the University of Wisconsin System is, and I’ve been doing that ever since” becoming system president. “This UW System is very important to the future of Wisconsin.”
Getting UW enrollment back up requires “bringing students on campus, all the way to second and third grade,” he said. “Bring them on campus in the summertime. Get as many young people to come on campus in the summertime to see this wonderful thing and have programs for them, so they say I went to Platteville when I was in third grade and had such a great time I’m going to go back when I graduate. That’s how you get them — we’ve got to start early, we’ve got to have this campus full in the summertime with students from all ages and get them here to enjoy it.”
Thompson will be replaced by Jay Rothman, chairman and CEO of the Foley & Lardner law firm in Milwaukee.
“I hope he builds on what I’ve started here, because it’s been great,” said Thompson. “Every president will be different; he won’t be the kind of president I am, I’m sure, but in his own right he could be better. I just hope that he doesn’t change much that I’ve started for the good of the organization.”
Thompson’s leaving the UW System doesn’t mean he’s retiring, including, perhaps, from politics.
“I’m going to spend the month of April going over all the things that are available, take a look at them, and then talk to my family and then we’ll make the decision,” he said. “I’m going to consider all the possibilities.”