Wartell: Build more bridges, IPFW

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - In an interview with NewsChannel 15 this week, departing IPFW Chancellor Dr. Michael Wartell said he'd like to see the campus build three additional bridges over the next decade, in addition to other steps he would like to see the school take to move forward.

Wartell has been the chancellor for almost two decades and has helped change the look and feel of the campus through measures that have included adding new bridges, buildings, and residential housing. The result has been record enrollment of more than 14,000 students.

While preparing for a retirement that university policy forced upon him because of his age (Wartell is 65), the outgoing chancellor talked with NewsChannel 15 about his legacy and the campus's future:

Q: "What accomplishment here are you most proud of, and why?"

A: "I think for me the most gratifying aspect is the satisfaction that students, faculty, and staff have in being here. We have an environment here that's incredibly supportive of individuals. And when we're voted the best place to work in northeast Indiana, or we're in the top 10 percent of a 3,000,000 employee database that's a national database for employee satisfaction, those kinds of things are really the most gratifying."

"The better our staff and faculty feel about working here, the better job they're going to do for students, and that's our goal."

Q: "This seems like a bigger and better campus [than two decades ago]. Does that have anything to do with this self-esteem turnaround?"  

A: "Oh, sure. Self-esteem goes with success and we've had a great deal of success at most of what we've done."

"The building projects have added a lot of excitement. The fact that we were growing, that things were changing on the campus and changing in a positive way, that makes people feel good about -the changing and the environment- makes them feel good about the university. But at base, it's how you treat people that really makes them feel right about the university and makes them feel that they want to do their jobs."

Q: "If and when you revisit this campus in 10 years, how do you hope it's changed? How do you hope it's grown?"

A: "I'm really a proponent of bridges and there are folks who say 'Bridges, oh, you don't need bridges.' But they're important symbols of our growth and they've become in some ways iconic of this campus."

"I'd like to see the dream of the bridges continue [see next-to-last paragraph of story]. We need to have retail available on campus for the students living here. We need to expand housing. We need to have more students living on campus."

"We need some changes in athletic facilities. We originally designed the baseball and softball fields in a way that allows foul balls from the baseball field to hit the softball field. Actually, our star pitcher got a concussion as a result of one of those hitting her."

"I want to see doctorates offered on this campus [in nursing, education, business and possibly engineering]. More master's degrees. More research done on the campus."

Over the next decade, Wartell hopes IPFW adds three bridges: one over Coliseum Boulevard  linking the campus to Ivy Tech, one over St. Joe Road connecting to the north campus, and another over Coliseum Boulevard linking Memorial Coliseum to the Holiday inn.

Wartell said he treats people at IPFW like his own family, and said the interaction with them is what he'll miss most about the job. He does have the option to stay at IPFW to teach, which he said he will probably do at least short-term.