Spring Break
'Living' Stankevich
Reporter spends day in the life of UW-Eau Claire Chancellor
Brian Reisinger
Issue date: 3/15/07 Section: Campus News
Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich sat hunched at his desk at about 9 a.m. on a recent morning, perusing and signing paperwork. It was some of the only idle silence he would experience.
Within a half hour he had held discussions with two key administrators on numerous topics - from pending meetings to campus architecture to the UW System's budget - involving millions of dollars, thousands of students and countless interests.
"That's the fun thing with the job," Levin-Stankevich said in his slow, measured manner of speaking, a grin creeping across his sturdy face. "There's certainly no monotony here."
Now in his second semester at UW-Eau Claire, by most accounts it's that good-natured, thoughtful, yet candid attitude that characterizes the chancellor who introduced himself to the campus as "Dr. Brian."
"You feel like you're talking with a real person," Student Senate President Chris Wagner said. "It's nice to see that he's human."
Being human, the chancellor said, is important to him, even though "a certain level of decorum" can be part of the job.
"I don't like to stand on formality," he said. "It kind of gets in the way of people being themselves."
Those people can include on any given day community leaders, legislators, personnel and students as the chancellor heads up both the university's outward relations and internal administration.
"I would say he's a really quick study and able to shift gears quickly," said Mike Rindo, executive director of communications.
But the head administrator student leaders call genuine and colleagues consider deft said he was once an unsure student at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
"I did all sorts of things the studies say don't do," he said of his early undergraduate career, in which he "floundered" amongst aspirations of being a jock (he was on the hockey team for one semester) and slumping grades.
Levin-Stankevich found focus - which he said was the missing component - in his sophomore year, thanks to an inspiring professor.
Within a half hour he had held discussions with two key administrators on numerous topics - from pending meetings to campus architecture to the UW System's budget - involving millions of dollars, thousands of students and countless interests.
"That's the fun thing with the job," Levin-Stankevich said in his slow, measured manner of speaking, a grin creeping across his sturdy face. "There's certainly no monotony here."
Now in his second semester at UW-Eau Claire, by most accounts it's that good-natured, thoughtful, yet candid attitude that characterizes the chancellor who introduced himself to the campus as "Dr. Brian."
"You feel like you're talking with a real person," Student Senate President Chris Wagner said. "It's nice to see that he's human."
Being human, the chancellor said, is important to him, even though "a certain level of decorum" can be part of the job.
"I don't like to stand on formality," he said. "It kind of gets in the way of people being themselves."
Those people can include on any given day community leaders, legislators, personnel and students as the chancellor heads up both the university's outward relations and internal administration.
"I would say he's a really quick study and able to shift gears quickly," said Mike Rindo, executive director of communications.
But the head administrator student leaders call genuine and colleagues consider deft said he was once an unsure student at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
"I did all sorts of things the studies say don't do," he said of his early undergraduate career, in which he "floundered" amongst aspirations of being a jock (he was on the hockey team for one semester) and slumping grades.
Levin-Stankevich found focus - which he said was the missing component - in his sophomore year, thanks to an inspiring professor.
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