"An optimistic path:" An interview with Interim Chancellor John Chenoweth

John Chenoweth became UW-River Falls’ newest Interim Chancellor on March 1, 2025. Chenoweth has served as an Interim Chancellor in the Universities of Wisconsin System before, at UW-Whitewater, from 2023 to 2024. He also served as UW-Whitewater’s Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs until he assumed his new role at UW-River Falls. 

“I’ve been a department chair, an Associate Dean, a Dean… an Interim Chancellor, a Provost, and an Interim Chancellor again,” he said. “I’ve done it all.” He has also worked in teaching, as an assistant professor of computer science at East Tennessee State University.

Chenoweth arrives at a turbulent time in UW-River Falls’ history. 

The university’s financial difficulties have caused budget reductions in departments across campus, as well as pauses and freezes on hiring and the Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program. Meanwhile, the construction of the Science and Technology Innovation Center, UWRF’s $116 million academic building, is nearing completion. In addition, Chenoweth is the third person to hold the position of Chancellor within the last year: Chancellor Maria Gallo left the university on Sept. 6, 2024, and Interim Chancellor Michael Martin left on March 1.

The budget deficit is a top concern for many at UW-River Falls.

Chenoweth said that, after his time at UW-Whitewater, this is an “area of expertise” for him. “I’ve done a lot of financial work, so as [UWRF] has wrestled with its financial situation, hopefully I bring some skills and ideas in that space, and in enrollment as well.”

UW-Whitewater has experienced similar difficulties in this area. The university reported a budget deficit of over $500,000 for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which is reduced from $7.9 million in 2023. UW-River Falls reported a $7.1 million deficit in 2023.

Chenoweth is hopeful for UWRF’s future. “[I’m] optimistic in terms of the financial situation,” he said. “The enrollment numbers are positive, and I think that [if] all of those [numbers] continue in the direction they’re headed, it’s a really optimistic path.”

He acknowledged the efforts of UWRF’s faculty, staff, and students in making this possible: “We have really good people doing really good work.”

While optimistic, Chenoweth said that there are still areas of uncertainty. First and foremost is Wisconsin’s state budget, which will determine how much funding UWRF, and the other Universities of Wisconsin System schools, receive from the state for fiscal year 2026. 

In 2024, the UW System received 18% of its total funding from the state, after $32 million was cut from its budget, to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from the universities. This sets Wisconsin at ​​43rd out of 50 states in funding for its public universities. “It’s time Wisconsin escapes the bottom 10 in public funding and [moves] up to the middle,” said UW System President Jay Rothman. Rothman, and the UW System, hopes that the $855 million it has requested from the state of Wisconsin would improve this ranking.

Chenoweth said that the state budget would be released in May, June, or July of this year.

Enrollment is another area of uncertainty, especially with UWRF’s participation in the Direct Admit Wisconsin program. “There are still question marks around all of that,” Chenoweth said. “Once the state budget is passed, it will be clear as of that day.” The next level of clarity, he added, will be in fall 2025, when UWRF’s enrollment numbers are finalized. 

Chenoweth believes that it is more important for UWRF to maintain its current recruitment and retention initiatives than to introduce new ones. He said that, as Interim Chancellor, his role will be to elevate programs and ideas that have been successful in the past.

“We should always be looking at our programs. We should always be looking at how we drive student recruitment and retention,” Chenoweth said. The university will have to “follow through” with its efforts to secure a stable future, he added. “There's always a risk that, when it starts to look a little sunnier, you stop doing the work or think that you don't have to do it.”

The UW System mandated that its universities with budget deficits eliminate those deficits by 2028. Once UW-River Falls can achieve the goals in its strategic enrollment plan, the university will then be able to focus on “[continued] growth,” Chenoweth said.

Much of this relies on the success of the Science and Technology Innovation Center. Chenoweth will likely oversee SciTech’s opening, which is set for January 2026. “President Rothman wants to make sure that campus understands this is not someone coming to campus for a few months,” he said. Interim Chancellors can hold their position for up to three years.

One reason that SciTech is important is because of the opportunities it creates for collaboration between the university and local businesses. “A campus has to be engaged with the local and regional economy,” Chenoweth said. “The business community in River Falls relies on the university to help drive ideas….. That reach extends well beyond the local community.”

SciTech will be home to the SciTech University and Business Collaboration Center, or UBCC, which will allow employers to work with students and faculty “through internships, collaborative research projects, presentations, strategic discussions, product design, and joint professorships,” according to UW-River Falls’ website.

“There's really positive outcomes when our students are engaged with the business community [and] other organizations in the community,” Chenoweth said. One area where students could be involved is “in the startup space,” he added. UBCC has been positioned as such a space. UW-Whitewater has one of its own: its University Innovation Center.

An example at UW-River Falls is the Wuethrich Family/Grassland Dairy Center of Excellence, which recently raised $180,000 in donations from the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. 

State support is still essential, however. “There’s no way we replace state contributions… with donor contributions,” Chenoweth said. “Engagement with the business community… can drive some financial support to the institution, but the reality is that it also drives state support.”

If the state of Wisconsin sees that its universities are able to contribute to businesses and the economy, it may see those universities as more valuable and more deserving of funding. For the UW System, including UWRF, it’s not only about education, it’s also about results.

And it’s vital. “I think our best chance of ongoing financial support from the state is that engagement,” Chenoweth said. The state of Wisconsin provided over $111 million of SciTech’s $116 million budget, while the remaining $5 million came from donations. To secure the funding, UWRF outlined the benefits that the project would provide for the state and for donors.

“It’s critical to make sure we’re living up to our commitment,” Chenoweth said.

It isn’t only about proving the value of the university, however. “We should be identifying the projects that will be the most meaningful to our students,” Chenoweth said. “I think that [when] you focus on the long-term success of the students, the rest… should fall into place.”

“You have to maximize the return on a new building because you don't get them that often,” he said. The question is, he added, “How do we just leverage that as much as possible?”