One on One With Joe Gow

I had the chance to sit down for a one on one interview with our Chancellor to find out more about himself and his hopes for the university in the future as it celebrates its Centennial. We talked about many things and hopefully you all will get to know Joe Gow a little bit better by this.

TR: First of all, where is your hometown?
Joe Gow: "Well it's hard for me to say home town, because I moved a lot but I spent first grade through freshman year of college in Pennsylvania.

TR: Very cool, what did you study in college?
Gow: "I went three schools just for my undergrad, not many people know that. First year I went to a place called Westchester University. Then I went to New York University and then I transfered to Penn State for my junior and senior years. I started in Business and then changed to Journalism. I went to Alabama for graduate school for Speech Communication and then my doctorate at Penn State also for speech communication. So I've been a number of places.

TR: What brought you to La Crosse?
Gow: "Well its just a dream come true. I knew after awhile I wanted to be a leader of a great university. When I was selected I just couldn't say no."

Q: So what is your favorite part about La Crosse and Wisconsin?
Gow: Basically the people, particularly the students here at UW-L."

TR: You're in your Junior year as Chancellor of UWL, immediately you were a bit of a celebrity on campus. How did that all come about?
Gow: "Well, it in the past my inclination was that students did not really know much about who the Chancellor was. So I made it a point to be a visible figure and they really like that."

TR: What do you think of all the attention?
Gow: [Laughs] "Well I think it's great, I mean who wouldn't want that?"

TR: So we all know your a guitarist, who are your musical influences?
Gow: "Hard rock of 1970s and blues of the 50s. So Led Zepplin, it all comes together there. I am in a band now with a faculty member and lawyer and will be playing a show at the Popcorn Tavern on November 13th at 10:45pm We will be playing lots of stuff like Jimi Hendrix and Cream."

TR: Are you a sports fan?
Gow: "I used to play a lot when I was younger but now I only run and lift weights for exercise. I love to watch football. Right now I'm pretty interested in what Brett Favre is trying to do at his age, it's pretty remarkable."

TR: I'm sure you're pretty preoccuppied but do you have any hobbies?
Gow: "Yeah its busy, but I always make time for music and of course films. Me and my wife are members of Netflix."

TR: What's on your Ipod?
Gow: "Well put it this way, in my car CD-player I've got the tubes, John Lee Hooker, and Van Halen."

TR: During your time here at La Crosse one of your major staples are your frequent emails. Who thought of that?
Gow: "I came here from a bunch of smaller schools of only about 1,500 students in Nebraska, and we have almost 10,000 students and almost 1,000 people work here and I thought, 'How can I reach all of these people?' So coming from a journalism background, I thought why don't I write some notes? Some people reply back to me but I don't always have time to do a lengthy reply but I do try to connect."

TR: What is your crowning moment to date for you as Chancellor?
Gow: "Defininitely the passing of Growth, Quality, and Access was a big day for me. Of course I cannot take credit for it all as many, many people put hard work into it but it was an important achievement for UWL."

TR: What was your childhood dream?
Gow: "I wanted to be a rockstar. Hey, I still want to."

TR: What is your proudest memory?
Gow: "Well at my last job they wanted to offer me extra salary and I said I don't need the money and I'd like to give it back and I'm pretty proud of that. The basic thing is it isn't about the money, but about the opportunity."

TR: Any guilty pleasures?
Gow: "I'm pretty straight-forward. I like what I like."

TR: What would attempt if you knew you could not fail?
Gow: "I usually try to do things I want to do, and being Chancellor of this university is one of those things."

TR: Very true and you may not be a rock star but at least you are one on campus. Finally, what is the major thing who hope to accomplish here during the rest of your time as Chancellor?
Gow: "To keep the university moving forward. So that when you graduate in 10 or 15 years and people ask you where you went to college and you say University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. They say "Wow, that is a great school." That's what I'm trying to do.

Thank you to Joe Gow for allowing for this interview to be taken place. As UW-L is entering its second century, we should feel confident that we are be well guided by a qualified and down-to-earth guy.