Though he hails from Puerto Rico and has never been to Israel, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chancellor Carlos Santiago, Ph.D., displays a dedication to the Jewish state that has drawn attention from the Jewish community.
“I’ve had links to the Jewish community both before I came here [in July 2004], and once I got here I continued to work with the Jewish community,” said the chancellor in a telephone interview with The Chronicle last week.
Santiago, who as chancellor is the chief administrative officer of UWM and exercises oversight over its half-billion dollar budget, will be the recipient of the 2008 “Builders of Israel Award” at the State of Israel Bonds’ 33rd annual tribute award dinner on Tuesday, June 24, at The Pfister hotel in Milwaukee.
Santiago is considering joining the Israel@60 Community Mission Trip to Israel in February 2009.
“The closest I’ve been is Cyprus,” said Santiago. “But I would love to travel to Israel.”
Joshua Matza, president and CEO of Development Corporation for Israel/State of Israel Bonds will deliver a welcome address at the dinner; Timothy Crain, adjunct assistant professor at the UWM Center for Jewish Studies, will be the guest speaker.
Past winners include former governor Tommy Thompson, Senator Herb Kohl, Sue and Allan H. (Bud) Selig and former Milwaukee mayor Henry Maier.
Santiago expressed humility and gratitude for being selected to receive the prestigious honor.
“I don’t think anybody plans on getting an award like this,” he said. “If you look at the past recipients, it is a very impressive list. It’s a great honor to be included in such a significant list of people.”
Though Santiago has only been in Milwaukee for four years, three past recipients of the award said that he is the natural choice for this year’s honor.
“UWM is probably the most important institution in the southeast part of the state,” said Sheldon Lubar, who along with his wife, Marianne, received the award in 2003 and will chair this year’s tribute.
“[UWM] has a big faculty, a large budget, 30,000 students … and Santiago is leading the university forward, developing it as a research university,” said Lubar, noting the plans for a new engineering school near the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa.
“When he accomplishes that goal [of building the engineering school], it will be a huge job creator and attract a lot of investment in businesses to Milwaukee,” Lubar said. “The Jewish community is one that puts the highest value on education, and he represents just that.”
Betsy and Michael Green, the general chairs of the State of Israel Bonds in Milwaukee and the 2006 recipients of the award, cited Santiago’s activism in the Jewish community on campus as reasons for his selection.
“He supports and coordinates the Hebrew studies major and minor and the certificate programs in Jewish studies and peace studies and conflict resolution,” said Betsy Green.
“He was very instrumental in getting [a new building for Hillel Foundation-Milwaukee] and encouraged the international student program, which welcomed five students from Israel in the Spring of ’08,” Green continued. “He is certainly bringing the university into the recognition that it truly deserves.… It was a very easy decision [to select him].”
“He’s a figure that is bigger than life in Milwaukee and a very important and recognized person,” added Michael Green. “People respect what he’s done for the community as a result of what he’s done for the university.”
Controversial speakers, divestment
Despite that lofty praise, some in the community may wonder where Santiago’s allegiances lie in light of three recent appearances at UWM by speakers who presented controversial views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Self-described former terrorist Walid Shoebat, outspoken Israel critic Norman Finkelstein and conservative writer/activist David Horowitz all lectured at the university in the last six months, each sparking some form of protest/confrontation between Israeli/Palestinian interests.
Santiago stated that neither his views nor those of the university are reflected in the speakers that are brought to campus by student groups.
“I don’t make the decisions on who comes to speak on campus, said Santiago. The student groups decide on that.”
“My role is to ensure that the campus is an open institution where a wide range of opinions are heard … and to ensure the safety of the audience and the speaker. We think that diversity of opinion is important and that the university should provide a forum for that.”
In recent years, various pro-Palestinian faculty members at other UW campuses have publicly called for their institutions to divest from Israel, or Israeli companies. Santiago stated flatly that he has not encountered any such effort, either at UWM or at the schools he has worked at in the past.
Santiago believes that is highly unlikely to happen at UWM, but if it did, he said that he would investigate the objections to investing in Israel and would make sure that any decision would be “vetted in the appropriate channels.”
However, he explained, “The fact that I have accepted this award says something about my belief in Israel’s right to exist and defend itself.”
UWM as an institution is restricted in the investments it can make, but the UWM Foundation, which is an independent, nonprofit organization, currently holds $25,000 in Israel Bonds, according foundation president David Gilbert.
That is the total amount of money the foundation has invested in Israel Bonds to date, according to Gilbert, but both he and Santiago stated that the foundation’s investment committee is considering making a larger investment in the near future.
Santiago does not exercise any authority over the foundation, but he does serve as an advisor to it and is a member of the foundation’s board of directors due to his position as chancellor.
Among Santiago’s other plans is to expand the Jewish curriculum at UWM.
“One of the things I would like to see is a larger presence of Judaic Studies [at UWM],” he said. “We moved some dirt for Hillel, but I would really like the [Jewish] academic presence to grow here with more scholars in Hebrew, and Judaism in general. It would help the university, and the community would benefit as well.
“Our ties to the Jewish community go back a long time, [including] having Golda Meir here; our library is named after her, and I want to continue to build on that tradition.”
There will be a reception at 5 p.m., dinner will begin at 6 p.m. Cost is $100 per person. For more information, contact 414-351-1777.
The following is a mini-bio of Chancellor Santiago and a list of his accomplishments at UWM, mostly compiled by his staff and printed on the invitation to the tribute award dinner honoring him (not included in print edition of The Chronicle):
Carlos E. Santiago is the seventh Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In this position, he is the chief administrative officer of the university with oversight of its half-billion-dollar annual budget, and a partner with a great number of constituents on and off campus.
- Completing the record-setting Campaign for UWM, the most ambitious fund-raising effort in university history, at 25% in excess of its goal more than a year early. Already, campaign resources are being invested in new scholarship programs.
- Developing Access to Success, the campus blueprint to enhance access to higher education while promoting greater success for all students. Progress is also being reported for growing and diversifying the student body. Since Fall 2004, total enrollment has grown nearly 8% to an all-time high of 29,358 (Fall 2007).
- Securing a historic reinvestment in UWM by the State of Wisconsin: $10 million in new funding through the 2007-2009 state budget. Already these resources have been targeted for hiring new faculty clusters in areas key to the university’s and Southeastern Wisconsin’s future: advanced automation, biomedical engineering, health care and freshwater science.
- Initiating a master planning process to create a template for regional growth away from the university’s extremely compressed primary campus.
- Creating the UWM Research Foundation to support research and innovation at UWM by providing funding for scholarships and grants, and by engaging in corporate partnering activities. Along similar lines, the Research Growth Initiative is substantially expanding UWM’s research enterprise through investing its research dollars in selected proposals of exceptional quality. Early results suggest that UWM is in the right direction, with fiscal year 2007 funded research reaching an all-time high of $33.8 million—-a 31% increase from the previous year.
- Increasing and strengthening doctoral programs—-the lifeblood of a growing research institution. With 20 doctoral programs in place upon his arrival, Chancellor Santiago has encouraged further expansions. The latest total is 25 programs with more under development.
- Building new university residence facilities, a key to students’ academic success and neighborhood stability. RiverView Residence Hall is the first undergraduate housing facility built by the university in decades and offers a glimpse of future student-living options for UWM students.
Chancellor Santiago also holds the academic rank of Professor of Economics at UWM. As a labor economist, he has regional expertise in the Caribbean and Central America, with special emphasis on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Latino population. His research interests include labor market issues, problems of structural adjustment and debt, and labor migration to the United States.
He is the author or co-author of five books, the latest being “Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary Portrait” (with Edna Acosta-Belén, 2006), which was recognized as a Choice selection by the American Library Association. Dr. Santiago has published more than 30 articles and book reviews.
Chancellor Santiago has a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University (1982) and M.A. degrees in economics from Cornell University (1979) and the University of Puerto Rico (1975).
Chancellor Santiago was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and this year celebrate his 34th year of marriage to Azara Santiago-Rivera, an Associate Professor in the UWM Department of Educational Psychology. They have three daughters and one grandson, John.
On being the recipient of the Builders of Israel Award, the Chancellor commented, “I am proud to accept this honor on behalf of myself, my family and the campus community at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Our university has a long history of building bridges with cultures, religions and countries, and it is with deep appreciation that I receive this recognition from Wisconsin State of Israel Bonds.”
We applaud the Chancellor for bringing a dynamic and visionary breath of fresh air to the University and to Milwaukee. We look forward to his continued success in his many endeavors as he guides the University along the path of growth, excellence, and greatness. We hope to be able to share many years with him as he shows us what it means to be a scholar and a leader of the highest caliber.
In short: Israel Bonds
• Started in 1951 by first Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to help bolster Israel’s fledgling economy following the war of independence
• Goals of Ben-Gurion: 1) obtain millions of dollars for national infrastructure and immigrant absorption, 2) engage Diaspora Jewry in building the Jewish state
• Doubled first year sales expectations, selling over $52 million in 1951
• Has now sold over $27 billion, including over $1 billion in 1997
• Has never defaulted on a payment of principal, maturity amount or interest in its 57 year history
• Fitch and Standard & Poor’s recently upgraded Israel Bonds’ investment grade to ‘A’
• Proceeds of Israel Bonds go to Israel’s Finance Ministry to help fund projects in key economic sectors such as agriculture, industry, energy, transportation, communications and water resources
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