PAGE 6A Stevens Point Journal SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2010 Patterson From Page 1A house painter, working long hours in the hot Southern sun. His mother stayed home until later in life, then went to work for Kmart for more than 20 years. Their experiences ingrained in them the importance of education, and they passed that on to Patterson. "My dad would say, If you don't want to have to do what I have my entire life, you have to get an education," Patterson said. "They knew how hard life had been for them, and how it hard it was to make a living and support your family.
"So at every turn, they emphasized how important it was to get a college education." That didn't mean he took to learning like a fish to water, though. He grew up in Camden, a town of a little more than 15,500 near the Louisiana border where boys could ride their bikes around town without parents worrying, and school wasn't a top priority. "I spent first grade running away," Patterson said. "Being with my mom at home was, I thought, a much better deal than being in first grade." But that changed in fifth grade, when he found himself in the classroom of Betty Jo Willis, who happened to be his neighbor. Willis taught Patterson to like school and enjoy the pursuit of learning.
"She taught me that I could when others were certain I could not," he said in a 2002 commencement address at Oklahoma City University. With Willis' help and the support of his parents, Patterson fell in love with education. Every day after school, he would do his homework on a wooden desk his father built, filling the labeled slots algebra, geography, history with completed homework. That desk is in his home to this day, a reminder of those times when he would rather have been anywhere but that chair, but kept at it. Throughout his career, Patterson has sought to instill an appreciation of learning in those around him, especially young people.
It starts at home with his daughter, Susan. Now 23, she just finished her first year of law school at the University of Oklahoma. He has paid particular attention to first-generation college students, in whom he sees a bit of himself, and has worked tirelessly to afford them the same opportunities he had and to share with them the value of hard work. "I think he feels it's really important for one generation to pass on values and knowledge to the generation that follows," said Tom McDaniel, OCU president. "And a university is a great place to do that." Whole different skill set After stints at a local junior college, where he paid his first $60 tuition bill with money from his job at McDonald's, and Kemper Military School, Patterson joined the U.S.
Army in the late 1960s. With the draft in full swing, he chose to enlist, which gave him at least some choice of where he ended up. He chose military intelligence. "I said, Gosh darn, this sounds interesting," he said. Before long, Patterson was specializing in counterintelligence.
His duty, during the Cold War, was to safeguard U.S. secrets from the Soviet Union. The structured nature of Army life produced a focus on organization that still stands out to Patterson's colleagues and friends. One of his best friends in Oklahoma City, Bill Speller, couldn't help but bring up Patterson's tidy home in northwestern Oklahoma City. The house itself is immaculate, but the closet is on an even higher level, with special sections for different items.
"Tve never seen anything so neat in my life," said Speller, owner of Speller Oil Corp. "I'm an engineer, and I don't organize that well." In the provost's office at OCU, just outside Patterson's door, there is a special set of manila files maintained by his secretary. Each upcoming meeting has its own file, and as the time approaches, Patterson fills the folder with documents and notes pertaining to the meeting. This methodical approach means Patterson is never caught unprepared. When Susan Barber, the associate provost at OCU who has worked with Patterson for eight years, interviewed him at the Waterford Marriott Hotel in Oklahoma City when she led the provost search committee, she came away thinking, "I don't know ifI even need to meet the other candidates." His preparation was impressive.
"One thing I remember him talking about was enrollment issues, where enrollment would go in the next 10 years," Barber said. "He'd actually looked at demographics of states that would have a surplus of graduating seniors, and states with a decline. "Oklahoma, relative to other states, would be flat or declining, so he talked about OCU needing to start developing a plan beyond the Oklahoma market." Patterson's campus visit to UWSP followed a similar script. He presented a rough outline of what his first 100 days as chancellor would look like, and in a meeting with university employees and community members, he talked of how UWSP could begin enlarging its student body by increasing the number of international students. Almost not an educator Patterson almost never took the first step toward an academic career.
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www.wausaucommunitytheatre.org Bernie Patterson, left, meets with the Institute of Interfaith and had a job waiting in Minneapolis, but before he could report, President Jimmy Carter froze all federal hiring, and the job evaporated. His next thought: Why not try teaching? So he took a job teaching criminal justice at Valdosta (Ga.) State University, where he worked for 12 years. While there, he took a two-year leave of absence to complete his doctorate in criminology at State University of New York at Albany, writing a dissertation on the stress police officers face. Then one day, the dean of the college of arts and sciences called Patterson into his office and offered him a new associate dean position the school was creating. Without knowing what the position entailed, he took the job.
There, working with Dean John Upchurch, Patterson began forming the approach to being a university administrator that friends and colleagues say makes him so successful. "He was a great mentor and really understood not only the educational process, but he understood 1 people, and how you really need to interact with them to accomplish a common goal," Patterson said of Upchurch. Now, his co-workers and friends quickly cite his ability to meet people and work with all different types as a key to his administrative success. But he also puts in the time and effort needed to work with every player. He attends sporting events, concerts, performances.
He gives time to every part of the university. One instance in particular stands out to Jeanne Hoffman Smith, a member of OCU's Board of Trustees and a university donor. A small department was moved out of a college, a move that many people involved with the university disliked. Patterson was the administrator sent in to make sure people didn't just walk out. He had meetings, often one-on-one, with people such as Smith, taking chunks of his day to explain the decision.
And every time, Smith said, he was upfront and honest. "He argued with me but helped me understand the other side of it," Smith said. "He doesn't tell you anything just to make you feel better." Community relations When Patterson came to Oklahoma City in 2002, most of his work was done Dialog in his Oklahoma City inside the university. The provost is the chief academic officer of a university, and can often be seen as the campus face, while the president or chancellor is the community face. But before long, he began to weave himself into the local community.
His penchant for quickly developing strong relationships, and the fact a friend, Speller, said he's never seen Patterson in an awkward situation, is perfect for a public face. Patterson joined the Rotary Club, sat on an education and economic development committee at the Chamber of Commerce, and became a board member at the United Way. "I think developing a good relationship with all constituencies will be his long suit," said McDaniel, OCU's president. But even with all those balls in the air, Patterson maintained his campus duties. He is a constant campus presence, going far beyond his role as chief academic officer.
"All of the provosts I'd been around before were such pure academicians," said Art Cotton, vice president of university advancement and external relations. "They didn't attend sporting events; Bernie does that. They didn't attend donor events; Bernie does that. They didn't attend performing arts events; Bernie does that." Leaving the lights on It's not uncommon, OCU employees say, to be heading home well into the evening and see Patterson's office lights glowing. He jokes that in the five hours a day he's not at work, he tries to sleep, but it might not be far from the truth.
He's not just putzing around the office. With days typically filled with up to six or seven hours of meetings, evenings can be the only time to actually do the work discussed in those conference rooms. "You'll come back after an event, and Bernie will have been at the same event, and you'll see the lights on in his office, and that's at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night," Cotton said. And while he constantly burns the midnight oil, he doesn't demand the same from his staff members.
He often walks around the office, telling his employees it's time to go home and see their families. Patterson leads by example. Barber and the other staff in his office describe him as a part of the office, ST. PETERS PARISH PICNIC EVERYONE 800 Fourth Ave Stevens Point, WI SATURDAY, JUNE 12 SUNDAY, JUNE 13 Grounds Open 2 pm Chicken Dinner 11-2 pm BBQ Pork Plate 4-7 pm Norm Dombrowski Happy Old Time Brass 4-7 pm Notes 12-3 pm Paddle Cake 7 pm Pat Zoromski Duane Burclaw Golden Aces Boys from Polonia 7-10 pm pm Paddle Cake 2 pm Bingo (Two $1000 Sessions) 3 pm BOTH DAYS (Special Sheets) Raffle Drawing at 6:30 pm Silent Auction Over $4500 in Prizes Mini Raffle SUNDAY Food Games CHICKEN DINNER Music Baked Chicken Bakery Potatoes Chicken Gravy Crafts Homemade Soup Greenery Vegetables Chicken Dressing BINGO Homemade Pies Cherry Bowl Ice-Cream BBQ PORK PLATE Funnel Cakes Pork Sandwiches Beer Fries Cheesy Potatoes Coleslaw Beans Beverage Dessert Hamburgers NICK POINT JOURNAL office. instead of just the leader.
He is reluctant to take praise for an ac accomplishment, often passing it off onto his staff, even if he led the project. He also takes care of his staff and keeps the office atmosphere light. His staff teases him about his sweet tooth, the fact he loves pecan and coconut cream pie and has never met a cake he didn't like, and he'll respond in kind. Every Valentine's Day, they know they'll find a red velvet cake with creamy icing waiting on the counter for the whole office. Coming home Patterson has taken what many consider to be the best path to prepare someone to lead a university.
He started at the bottom and worked his way, step by step, to the highest position. Because of that, he can work with anyone. He is as comfortable chatting with a student during lunch in the school cafeteria as he is talking with state legislators about funding needs. Either way, he's never the person in the corner of a room, avoiding conversation. One of the top items on a rough outline of his first 100 days in office is getting to know those same players here in central Wisconsin, from the students to the business leaders to the UW System administrators.
The Midwest is a whole new culture and way of life for a man who owns an all-white suit that his secretary said "reminds me of a Southern gentleman." But Oklahoma City is by far the biggest place Patterson ever has lived. Besides those eight years, his entire life has been spent in ties the size of, or smaller than, Stevens Point. He's a townie who is used to knowing most of the people he passes on the street. So during the summer evenings in Stevens Point, it won't be rare to see him cruising town in his 1978 two-tone brown Ford F-150, the same truck his dad purchased brand-new more than 30 years ago. Patterson spent seven years restoring it, scouring the country to find all original parts.
The truck, and its driver, will seem right in place. "This is more like coming home," Patterson said. Fundraiser From Page 1A giving as much money until he was here." Fundraising requires strong people skills, and many say Patterson makes a good first impression. He always offers a hand and a quick hello, but he follows up with more personal questions. How was your flight? Have you been able to find everything OK? Have you seen weather like this? It seems natural and effortless for him and can't help but put potential donors at ease.
"People feel they can talk with him immediately," said Bob Spinks, president and CEO of United Way of Central Oklahoma, where Patterson is a board member. Patterson attends so many events, such as the poet dinners, that he continually is exposed to current and potential donors. He always makes the most of those contacts, working the room and engaging just about everyone, from the smallest giver to those who, like Smith, have donated thousands of dollars. He is just as comfortable with a new parent as he is with state legislators. "He can talk to that chair, I think," said Drew Dugan, a vice president at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce who leads a committee to which Patterson belongs.
"He can hold a conversation with anyone under the sun." But in a world where fundraising is like dating, simply connecting isn't enough; you need to have a natural feel for when to ask for money. A good fundraiser doesn't just march in and ask a girl to get married. It is a fluid process that takes a keen eye to read. Patterson can read it. A Texas foundation wanted to fund academic programs at OCU but wasn't exactly sure how to go about it.
So Patterson, as provost, worked with the foundation to develop, nearly from scratch, a team teaching program that brings multiple disciplines together. The donor was so impressed it began replicating the program at other universities across the country. Patterson was able to read the foundation's intent, create a plan of action and, eventually, secure the funds. "A lot of times in fundraising, it isn't what they say, it's what they mean," said Art Cotton, vice president of university advancement and external relations at OCU. "His history with faculty and staff probably gave him those tools to be able to step in on the fundraising side." Perry Worzella has joined us For generations, U.S.
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