1978 - 1988 Edward M. Penson

Dr. Edward Penson was the first Chancellor hired at Oshkosh who came to the school from a top leadership position at another University.  At Salem State University in Massachusetts, Penson led a school, that while smaller than UW Oshkosh, shared a similar origin as a state Normal School and current mission as a regional university.    

Penson grew up in Miami, Florida and was a speech pathologist by training earning degrees from the University of Florida and Ohio University.  He worked at Ohio University for 20 years as an instructor and later, provost, before moving to Salem.   

When he arrived at Oshkosh in 1978, Penson’s main challenge was to improve the school’s--and its students’--reputation.  One approach to this was to change the University’s enrollment criteria. Penson ended the previous administration’s “open enrollment” criteria that helped build back enrollment numbers and began to accept only increasingly academically qualified individuals.  Penson's belief  was that as standards increased, it would attract more quality students and slowly enrollment would grow.  In 1986, UW Oshkosh qualified as a national merit university after enrolling numerous National Merit scholars for three years in a row.    

Outwardly, Penson rigorously engaged the community like no other Chancellor before him.  He was a member of a great number of area boards and organizations, including diverse institutions like the Paine Art Center, the Chamber of Commerce and Chamco, the city’s economic development organization. To help remedy a point of long contention with the city, the Penson administration approached the Faculty Senate and convinced them to move Spring Break to occur over St. Patrick’s Day despite its inelegant division of the semester into six and eight week sections.     

Penson also delighted in the social aspects of the job.  Entertaining at the Chancellor’s residence in the Oviatt House, his wife Georgann proved to be an excellent partner in lobbying faculty and visitors alike to further the University’s mission.  An active man in his fifties, Penson delighted in the University’s athletic programs.  When Penson left the University in 1989 it was a stronger, more respected and rigorous school then the one he arrived at.  After leaving, Penson and Georgann moved to Florida where they pursued their careers as a University consultant and state environmental administrator respectively.