Interim chancellor Morgan of UWL makes her pitch to have the job full-time

Three finalists for chancellor of UW-La Crosse have now spoken to campus audiences about why they want the job.

Each candidate talked at a separate forum this week, and Wednesday’s event featured the current interim chancellor, Betsy Morgan. She’s had the position since December, and has been a psychology professor and provost during 30 years at UWL.

“I am a product of public education, and I believe in public education,” Morgan told an audience at the Cleary Center. “The privilege of my career has been to work as a faculty member and an administrator, and to work with people who genuinely inspire me, and when I say people, I talk about our students, our faculty, and our staff.”

Morgan says she likes being an administrator, and likes new challenges, including the challenge of heading the local campus. She was a provost before becoming chancellor in December, after Joe Gow was fired from the post in a pornography scandal.

Morgan says that when she first sought a college teaching job, “this was, in fact, the only job that was offered to me.”

“But I stayed for 30 years because I love it here,” she says. “I love the campus, I love our students, and I’ve grown to love the community.”

Morgan and two other candidates, James Beeby of New Hampshire and Christopher Olsen from Indiana, will be considered by a selection committee on campus. The new chancellor for UWL is expected to be named by Easter.