Oral history interview with Dr. James Weeks, 2017

Brittany: My name is Brittany Hedrick, and today is Monday, March 20, 2017. I'm in the Parrish Library with Dr. Jim Weeks, Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus of The Bryan School of Business and Economics to conduct an oral history interview for the UNCG Institutional Memory Collection.

Brittany: Thank you, Dr. Weeks, for participating in this project and sharing your experiences with me.

Brittany: I'd like to start the interview by asking you about your childhood. Could you tell me when and where you were born?

Dr. Weeks: I was born November 27, 1945 in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Brittany: Could you tell me about your family and your home life?

Dr. Weeks: I was an unexpected arrival for my parents. My father had suffered an injury and he was told that they would not have anymore children, and eight years after my sister was born I showed up. So we were a family of four. My 00:01:00father, mother, and my sister who was eight years older than me.

Brittany: What did your parents do?

Dr. Weeks: My father was a police officer and my mother was a retail clerk in a ladies shop in my hometown.

Brittany: And so where did you go to high school?

Dr. Weeks: It's called Terry Sanford Senior High School now. At that time it was called Fayetteville Senior High School.

Brittany: What were your favorite subjects and did you enjoy school?

Dr. Weeks: I enjoyed school. I really didn't have any favorite subjects. I think like most students I was drawn to favorite teachers, and so it was really I had some favorite teachers as opposed to necessarily favorite subjects. There were 00:02:00some subjects that weren't favored, but that's a different story.

Brittany: And when did you graduate from high school?

Dr. Weeks: 1964.

Brittany: Okay, could you tell me a little bit about the journey after that and graduate school, what you did after that?

Dr. Weeks: After graduating in 1964, I was all set to go to Chapel Hill or to North Carolina State for college. My mother, at that time it was just my mother and me and my sister, older sister, married and moved away and my father had died. So it was just the two of us, and she suffered a stroke, and so I decided that I would go to a relatively new college, called Methodist College, there in my hometown and then transfer a year or two years later. I, like many good plans 00:03:00the plan changed, I found that I was at the right place for me as opposed to going to a very large university, and it was small enough then that they could keep tabs on me and make sure that I did the academic work that I was supposed to do.

Dr. Weeks: And after graduating from Methodist College, now Methodist University in 1968, I went to East Carolina for my MBA. And after graduating in '69 with my MBA from East Carolina, I went to The University of North Carolina at Pembroke is its name now, it was Pembroke State, as an instructor and I taught for two years and while I was there I had a mentor who told me if I really enjoyed the teaching that I probably needed to go and get a PhD. And I found that I did 00:04:00enjoy the teaching. I was all set, again, had plans to go into corporate America with my MBA, but I liked the teaching that I did when I was at East Carolina, and that's what made lead me to taking the instructor's job.

Dr. Weeks: So my journey then took me to Columbia, South Carolina where I got my PhD. And in 1974 I took my first Assistant Professor position at The University of Delaware, very fine school. They tease me that I was their token Southerner, and I think there was one other faculty member who was from below the Mason Dixon line. Wonderful institution, I would probably still have been there and 00:05:00retired there except that I did have family in North Carolina. And growing up in North Carolina, I knew a lot about Women's College and then University of North Carolina in Greensboro. When that position became available I applied for it, and it was an interesting, and a friend of mine was offered the job, a friend from graduate school, and he decided to go to another institution. So he called me up and said, "This job's available. I know you'd love to get back to North Carolina." And so I called up and applied for the job and came here in 1976.

Brittany: Could you tell me about your first days on campus and what was your first impression?

Dr. Weeks: It was pretty much as I expected. Growing up in North Carolina and 00:06:00coming to the Triad a lot, and having friends in this part of this state while in college. I was quite familiar with the Triad and with Greensboro. I'd been down to interview, so I wasn't really surprised about anything particularly. I did leave a well established university of ... State University of Delaware, so there was a little bit of adjustment coming. In my previous five years I'd been at The University of South Carolina, I'd been at The University of Delaware, and the business school at UNC Greensboro was relatively young. It was only seven years since it had been formed, so it was building, it was growing, and the 00:07:00campus was kind of tired. It's hard to believe walking around this beautiful campus now, but at that point it was not a ... it had lost some of its shine, I would say, in terms of beauty. So it was not really a surprise, but at the same time it took some getting used to.

Dr. Weeks: The people were wonderful here. We didn't even have a computer on campus when I came here. I was used to having 7/24 access to what was then the biggest computer on university campuses and so there was some of those things, 00:08:00but the people were wonderful and I came here because it was a great opportunity for me. And so with that great opportunity being kind of on the ground floor ... or maybe the second floor, not the ground floor, of something that was going to grow. I just found it a place with wonderful opportunity in terms of growth and development.

Brittany: What were your areas in focus ... what were your areas of focus in teaching practice and scholarship?

Dr. Weeks: My area was something called the field of operations management, and operations management includes service as well as manufacturing, and it's how do you produce goods or services in the marketplace. How do you do that 00:09:00efficiently, effective, serve customers, etc.

Brittany: Do you remember any social or academic events that ... anything that really stands out in your mind? And that can be just in general, among the students, or among the faculty.

Dr. Weeks: When I came, and for most of the early years ... Of course we didn't have football, still don't. Probably won't for years to come given the economic situations of football, but we weren't division one so there was not a lot of that kind of activity on campus that sometimes draws alumni students, and faculty, and staff together. But the University did have something called The 00:10:00University Concert and Lecture Series. I'm not sure what it's called now, or if it even exists. And world renowned musicians, actors, singers, speakers were brought in. I can't recall how many times a year, but I think it was something like four times a year. And it was something that not just the University community enjoyed, but beyond the University, the larger, greater Greensboro area enjoyed. So I do have fond memories of watching New York plays and other things in what used to be Aycock Auditorium, used to be called Aycock Auditorium.

Brittany: Did you have any interactions with any of the chancellors since your time here, Ferguson, Moran, Sullivan?

Dr. Weeks: Chancellor Ferguson was in his final years when I came. I think he left a couple of years after I came here, so I didn't have ... You know, I came as an assistant professor trying to figure out how to get my research done, teach, and all of that. So I didn't have the opportunity to interact with the chancellor at that stage, but I did interact with him and get to know him on a personal basis because his daughter lived next door. And after he retired he and 00:12:00I spent a lot of time raking our yards together. He was a wonderful, wonderful person. But I was not here. I did do some reading about his time here, and I think history shows he was the right person at the right time for some very tumultuous times in the '60s and '70s.

Dr. Weeks: Bill Moran came, I was still assistant professor, so he was the chancellor during my faculty life and part of my dean's life. So I got promoted through the ranks, and he had to approve that, at least officially. And as I got promoted, I took on more service responsibilities and some of those I did interact with him. But the main interaction with Bill was after I became interim 00:13:00dean in 1990, and then dean, because I was quite active in the business community as dean, and from a service standpoint and so he was active as well and there were some projects that were going on that I got the opportunity to work with him and learn from him.

Dr. Weeks: Bill also, once a year, would come and visit with the deans and have an hour conversation, at least an hour conversation. And that was something that I always looked forward to, because a good friend of his was the Dean of Harvard Business School. And of course everybody knows Harvard Business School as one of the top business schools, so he would measure me against what his friend was 00:14:00doing at Harvard or at least my knowledge of what kinds of things were being done at Harvard, and I would of course enjoy hearing from the inside, his friend, what was going on with Harvard.

Dr. Weeks: When Bill came he recognized that for this institution to move forward that something needed to be done about making it ... restoring its beauty. And so he, I think he deserved the lion share of the credit for the beauty of this campus even though he retired or stepped down. And there's been a lot that's been done with succeeding chancellors and leaders, and so that's not to detract from what others have done. It's just that Bill did the first master 00:15:00plan. He did the first capital campaign, so he really moved the institution towards building it out as a university beyond its past tradition.

Dr. Weeks: In terms of Chancellor Sullivan, I had a ... She was the chancellor during what I would call the peak years of opportunity for me and for the campus, and she was a delight to work with. And she and I worked very closely on capital campaigns, as she did with other deans. And I was very active, and I'd gotten very active in accreditation of business schools, peer review teams to go 00:16:00and look at other business schools. And by the middle of her term when I would go with the team ... The accreditation team would always meet with the provost, and the chancellor or the president, whichever the title was at their schools. And when I would come in and be introduced and they would say you're from Pat Sullivan's school, and she became quite well known. As I recall, she was appointed by President Spangler, Dick Spangler. And I heard him say on numerous occasions she was the best chancellor in the system.

Dr. Weeks: And then President Molly Broad succeeded him, and I got to know her quite well because we were on the governor's trade missions together. And then I recall we were on a trade mission in South America, and she got a call and there was a problem on the campus. And so I asked her. I said, "I hope that's not my campus," and she said, "No, if all the campuses had a chancellor like Pat Sullivan I wouldn't get these calls." And she said publicly her appraisal of Pat as one of the best chancellors she had ever seen. And then she was succeeded by Greensboro native, Erskine Bowles, and Erskine didn't, he didn't mince words. Every time he would introduce her in public, my favorite chancellor and that 00:18:00kind of thing. And she was, it was wonderful to have the opportunity to be a part of her team.

Dr. Weeks: And she had the most remarkable memory of anybody I've ever met. She could meet you and talk to you, and you could tell her a story and then six months later when she would meet you she would remember your name, she would remember the story, and she would ask you a question about that story. And she was famous for her thank you notes. I think she got up early every morning and spent about two hours writing thank you notes. And I was going through some files cleaning out some files and found my thank you notes from Pat Sullivan. She and Ed Upritchard were absolutely the best team that I've ever seen in higher education. So you can tell my impressions ... My impressions of all of 00:19:00the chancellors I've had the opportunity have been positive, but that was kind of the pre-2008 financial, great financial recession. So the years she was here from the mid '90s to I guess up to 2008 were kind of, they were special times for UNCG and growth and opportunities.

Dr. Weeks: And then Chancellor Brady came, and I really didn't have many years to work with her. The first year she was kind of getting settled and deciding where she wanted to go and then started some initiatives, but they were not initiatives that I was involved in deeply and so we didn't really have much 00:20:00opportunity to get to know each other. And of course I was retired when current chancellor, Franklin, came. My impression as a citizen of Greensboro is very positive of the movement in the direction and the engagement with the community.

Brittany: What about colleagues in your department that have made an impression on you? Anyone that sticks out?

Dr. Weeks: I hesitate to identify one, or two, or three. I would say that going back to the about my impression when I came here, I would say that the vast majority of the colleagues, the culture in the school and the culture in the 00:21:00university was expectations of excellence. High quality teaching. Teaching was first, but not the only thing. High quality scholarship and service, service in the institution. And that was kind of uniform ... I mean, not everybody, but they did more so than I had seen at the other universities that I'd been to. So while there are some that stick out in my mind maybe for being characters, that's not the question you asked.

Dr. Weeks: I would answer the question that it wasn't one or two, but it was kind of everybody, or almost everybody, set the tone for students first before 00:22:00students first was ever called students first. And staying in touch with your students, the alumni. In fact, I thought there was an irony about me coming here today for this interview, because Saturday I got a call from an alumni and she says, "I'm changing my career. I'm going to be in Greensboro, are you available Monday?" And I said, "I just happen to be available Monday," so this afternoon. And you know that was instilled as part of the culture in there. Very long answer to a short question.

Brittany: I keep hearing that from other professors too, that more so than other 00:23:00universities they really care about the students.

Brittany: How has your department, The Bryan School of Business, how has that changed over the time that you've been here?

Dr. Weeks: Dramatically.

Brittany: Yeah, so international activity, new programs, anything?

Dr. Weeks: There's not a single dimension that I can think of that hasn't changed, with the exception of what we just talked about. The University over the years has, and the Bryan School, and the department that I was in. Of course the University's changed the name of some departments and reconfigured and all 00:24:00of that, so the names of the departments that I was in as a faculty member have changed, and the configurations of the subjects or the disciplines in those departments. So I just speak from The Bryan School and generalize both my time faculty member, and then associate dean, and dean time. The culture of student first and high quality teaching has been here, and remains here. But what's changed and changed dramatically, is the programming, is the size. When you ... we are more than double what it was in '76 when I came here. The graduate level 00:25:00programming, the doctoral program.

Dr. Weeks: We looked at doing doctoral programming early in my career here, and we said, "No, we're not going to do doctoral programming in The Bryan School," because that takes a whole different ... In keeping what we had and taking on the additional mission we weren't ready for it. But over time we became so that we were able to keep the best, and carry the best forward, and then add to that. So I think the most significant change is, like the rest of society, would be the technology and the use of the technology. To go from a campus where we had 00:26:00no computer, literally. We used a computer that was called the triangle university ... TUCC, T. U ... Triangle University Computing Center, which was down in the research triangle department. You've probably never even seen the IBM cards that you load, the programs were written on it. You'd put it in a card reader and all it would take is one card to have it bent, and so you'd have to take it out, repunch the card, put it back. Today all that's done in a machine the size of this paper, a little bit thicker, that everybody has.

Dr. Weeks: So the technology changes and using that technology affected everybody. That was particularly true in The Bryan School, because we were in line with some of the science faculty, the major users. The building that we got 00:27:00into, another major change when I came here. I taught in five different buildings and all of my colleagues taught, the business school faculty, taught in five new buildings. We go that building in 1980, as I recall, or '81, and that made a huge difference. We could all be there together, we had a great teaching facility. And because of that building and the recession, the University had money left over so it could buy a computer. So The Bryan School in a way helped pay for the first computer on campus.

Dr. Weeks: But you mentioned the international ... That was an effort that our business advisory board pushed the school, and I think the community, the business community pushed all universities everywhere. And that certainly was 00:28:00true here, because we were a very global business community here textile furniture, tobacco, and apparel. The major industry here were deeply involved in NAFTA, and Asia, and Mexico, and that's how I got connected to the governor's trade missions and got to meet and do some really fun things doing that. So the internationalization and globalization of our courses, and student exchanges ... And I remember very well when we had a deans meeting where we unanimously concurred with the provost view that we should have The Office of International 00:29:00Programs and a director of that, and we grew that. And I've traveled to Malaysia, and to Europe, and all kinds of places visiting schools and setting up exchange relationships. And I don't know what the statistics are now, but for at least from the early mid '90s to when I retired in 2011, so at least 15 years, 40% of the students that went out from UNCG were business majors and 60% of the income from those other institutions were business, taking business courses.

Dr. Weeks: So we were pushed from the outside from the business community, the 00:30:00demand from the University and the students, and so we built a lot of international into the curriculum, international activities. And I would say that was maybe the most dramatic change for us, relative to the campus, in that we lead a lot of that effort. We also raised a lot of money for international so that we could supplement the University's Office of International Programs funding, and again, this was all up to my retirement and before the impact of the recession. It had already started when I was in my final two years, but nothing like it was after that.

Dr. Weeks: So other changes, I mentioned the technology, distance learning was a dramatic change on campus for everybody including us. And we weren't the leaders of that, but we were among the leaders. There was some other units on campus doing that. Community engagement, we, like many business schools, were very engaged in putting our students out. Teachers, and nurses, and those kinds of disciplines have always had their students out from a practice standpoint. Well, business schools hadn't done that a lot, but we put that into our curriculum 00:32:00where our students would be taking a course, let's say in marketing, and they would go into ... and this has grown dramatically since my retirement, go into an organization and take what they were learning in the classroom, and apply it to the organization, and come up with a plan and make a presentation and that kind of thing. And that's now spread completely across all of our programs in the business school.

Dr. Weeks: So that community engagement, and also doing service work, not for profit volunteer work relating to their classes. And then I think the change that ... One of the changes that I'm was most proud of, was that we built an 00:33:00infrastructure for student support. We were the first unit on campus to have an advisor for our majors who was not a full time faculty member. The model then was faculty members did advising, and it was academic advising, and it was really even a narrower slice than that. It was primarily what courses to take for your major. And so we with the resistance of a centralized office ... which is normal on campus, centralization versus decentralization, but then with their support we built an advising center. And then the advising center took on more responsibilities and career planning. And the career planning was done in 00:34:00cooperation in all of the internationals. We had an international office for the students, and that was done in cooperation in the '90s with The Office of International Programs.

Dr. Weeks: So we've partnered with the centralized offices and built a pretty robust student services function over there. And that helped us do a lot of things. It helped us in retention and attracting students by helping students in terms of after they graduate, either graduate school or finding jobs. And even after that we built the ... we had our first, I think we had the first school 00:35:00alumni association, we started that. We had, I think, one of the first or the first undergraduate and graduate student advisory groups. So we had a lot of interaction with our students from the very beginning all the way through their curriculum. And then as they became successful alumni the student ... Other change that I think is very important, and happened across campus, and we were doing some of this before Pat, but Pat really moved this forward and that was the student faculty and staff excellence recognitions and awards. And we were doing that in the business school, I won't say more than other units, but more 00:36:00than I knew about other units doing. And Pat elevated a lot of that and built upon that.

Dr. Weeks: So those were, other than changing everything except for the culture.

Brittany: That's a lot.

Dr. Weeks: Yes. Yeah.

Brittany: What about the types of students that you've had in your department over the years? What kind of change or continuity lies there?

Dr. Weeks: When I got here we were a growing business school, but we were growing ... not but, and we were growing at primarily the undergraduate level, because we weren't a business ... We were formed in a ... I won't say it's 00:37:00unique, but it's pretty close to unique. I've never seen another business school formed by the two departments that we were formed by. Usually it's formed out of a Department of Business Administration which is marketing, finance, management, all of the business kind of stuff you think of. We were formed by two very good departments, one was business and teacher education, and the other was economics. Those two departments at that time were as often not in a business school as in a business school. And so we were, the School of Business was formed by putting those two departments together and then going out and hiring business faculty, business administration faculty.

Dr. Weeks: And so my first year, when I came here, I think there were six business administration, finance, marketing, operations management, et cetera faculty who came in that year. And so we were hiring faculty, and growing programs and the students, but it was primarily at the undergraduate level. We had a part-time Master's MBA, we had a Master of Science in Business and Teacher Education, and Master of Science in Economics. We had three departments. So the students did, the focus there was the undergraduate students in the small 00:39:00master's programs. Well over time, we grew the master's level and then went into the PhD. So the kinds of students that I got to teach, and I didn't get to teach any of the PhD's because I was full time dean by the time, and also I probably couldn't have taught the PhD programs that we had. My background was not central for, or even a supportive area for, the PhD programs. But I taught a lot in the MBA program, and a lot of the undergraduates students. Like many other places our undergraduate students were, and like many of the faculty, first time, first generation, and so we could identity with them.

Dr. Weeks: Many of them had to work to come to school, and that's even truer today than it was then. But the majority of our students were working, commuting, they had complicated lives. Many of them were, I taught students who were older than I was who had families as well as the typical 20-year-old. MBA students were all evening, professionals. Later we added the full time MBA students, and so I guess the types would be just about every type you could 00:41:00imagine along those dimensions, and I enjoyed often, enjoyed all of them.

Brittany: How have you served beyond UNCG in professional associations, organizations, or in the community? You yourself?

Dr. Weeks: Oh wow.

Brittany: You've done a lot.

Dr. Weeks: There was some days that I've wondered whose payroll I was on. I was on the University's payroll. Okay, let me talk a little bit about the professional organizations. I got involved in the academic professional organizations and the practitioner organizations related to my discipline, 00:42:00operations management. And as a result of my senior faculty member in my doctoral program, and his status nationally ... I was his protégé, one of his protégés, and so I got involved in the professional organizations at the national level through him and his contacts. And so I pretty quickly was involved in referring journal articles and certain advisory groups to do that, and then for the largest professional organization in operations management in 00:43:00... I was about to say United States, but worldwide. I got into positions of leadership there and ended up becoming the ... I think the title was chair of the division across the United States and beyond.

Dr. Weeks: After we got our international business school accreditation, I became involved in that accreditation work, and I just finished my last school last month. I won't be doing any more of those. I did about 30 of them over my career. And so I ended up being on one of the committees, that it's the 00:44:00committee that oversees all of the different teams' work. So I did a lot of that, and got to visit a lot of interesting schools and meet a lot of interesting people. And about the same time that I got active in accreditation I got active in the international honor society for business schools, called Beta Gamma Sigma, and I was, as associate dean, was responsible for getting our chapter, and our chapter became one of the distinctive chapters in the international honor society year, after year, after year. We were one of the top 00:45:0010% every year I was dean and some years before. So I got that started here as an associate dean. I was an advisor, and then we ended up winning the Gold Cup Award when I was dean. That's the best chapter in the world and that's out of 700 chapters or something like that.

Dr. Weeks: So those were some of the UNCG professional organizations. Now in the community, I'm not sure where to start. I'll start with boards or things like boards of directors, boards of trustees, et cetera. I was on the Executive Committee for the Chamber of commerce, I was on the Greensboro Merchant 00:46:00Association's Board. I was on the Kiwanis Board. I was on the Piedmont Triad Partnership Board, on the executive committee of that. I was chair of their leadership program for a year. I was appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Trade Organization. I was on three family business, three local family business boards. I was on Cone Health and served as Vice President of Cone Health's board. I was on Canterbury School's Board and served as president on 00:47:00that board. I was on the [inaudible 00:47:08] of St. Francis and served [inaudible 00:47:11]. So that's the most, those are the most notable, and lots of other informal things besides that.

Brittany: Wow. I don't know how you found the time.

Dr. Weeks: Well there were some days that I ... Yeah.

Brittany: Well now, if I read your biography correctly, you served as Dean of The Bryan School for 21 years?

Dr. Weeks: Right.

Brittany: And according to an article that I read, that is out of the norm for someone to serve for that long. So what do you think about that?

Dr. Weeks: Yeah. It is very much out of the norm, but I'm not the longest 00:48:00serving dean by the stretch, the long stretch here at UNCG. I mean, we've had several deans who served in excess of 25 years, I think. I think Lynne Pearcey served 23 or 24, and I'm not sure if you go back in history. But you're right, business school deans, the average for a business school dean, I think the mid range is three to five years.

Brittany: So you were doing something right.

Dr. Weeks: Well, I was in the right place at the right time. Someone once said that, "Most of life is about timing," whether you're a ballerina dancer or a dean, or anything else. So someone asked me, they said, as I was getting near my 00:49:00retirement they said, "How in the world have you done this, been doing the same thing for 21 years?" And I said, "I would have done the same thing for two years, because I was in a place that was growing so rapidly, and changing, that I was growing right along with it and I just had an awful lot of good people that I would worked with and mentors." And there's all kinds of stories there that I'm not sure would be of interest. So yes, I have served a long time.

Dr. Weeks: We've talked about the things that have happened, the changes. Well, I was part of all of those. When I was getting my PhD degree the Dean at The University of South Carolina had been the executive director of the international accrediting body, and so I didn't have any choice but to learn about accreditation. And little did I know that it would play such a central role. I was responsible for a part of our initial accreditation as an assistant professor, because of my background, and then when I became an associate dean I was responsible for the accreditation. And you had to get re-accredited every five or 10 years depending on it was 10 then it changed to five. So for over 35 years I was playing a very active role in accreditation inside to make sure we 00:51:00were doing what ... And then the standards were changing, and then doing it outside as a peer review team member.

Dr. Weeks: So I think it's just, I use that as an example, but when I became dean, deans weren't active in fundraising. In fact, deans were kind of told not to do any fundraising. Fundraising was done in the development office on the campus, and that was the model that universities like UNCG at that time mainly followed. Well, you know, half way through my tenure all of the sudden I'm not only involved, part of my performance is measured in terms of how much money we 00:53:0000:52:00raised. Then another, to a previous question you asked about the changes and I said dramatic, well when I came here the dean had almost no discretionary money for anything, for faculty development. And when I say almost none I mean it was less than $20,000, for the whole school, for all the faculty. When I left, thanks to Mr. Bryan, very generous gift, and then other's generosity, we had an endowment of I think it was $22 million. So that was a dramatic change, and that allowed us to do many of the things that we were able to do.

Dr. Weeks: So your question was the length of time. That was a long period of time, but others who had similar situations have done similar terms. In fact, my good friend at A&T, served as dean for 30 some or maybe even 40 years, and he was president of the international accrediting body. He was President of the International Beta Gamma Sigma. So having a colleague four miles down the road, 00:54:00he opened a lot of doors for me in my profession and so I've just been really fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, and the right people to help me out.

Brittany: I wanted to ask you, since you have been here for so long and you've done so much, what were some of your proudest accomplishments and or contributions during your time here at UNCG?

Dr. Weeks: I think I've already kind of talked about the ones that were student focused, building the student support services, the student advisory groups, staying in touch when ... I would tell the students that I viewed them as alumni 00:55:00in waiting, that we had a student for life mindset with students. So, from a teaching standpoint, seeing those students go on and be successful and staying in touch with them and knowing about them I think all faculty, that that applies to all faculty. I used to, I won't say every day I did it, but I tried to do it every day, I tried to remember to do it every day and I think I did it 90% of the time, the first thing I'd do in the morning is I'd look in the mirror, and I would say, "Today you have the opportunity to change somebody's life. Hopefully 00:56:00in a positive way. So take advantage of it." And so that was true with the faculty, not just the students, but the faculty and staff as well.

Dr. Weeks: All the other things were important, and I think that's probably the quality with coming in to an institution that had such a rich history of quality education. I think somebody told me when I came here that the year before there had been a study and the number of female doctorates from UNCG was up there with 00:57:00the Seven sisters of the Northeast. And the Seven Sisters were like Radcliffe and those schools. So the rich, rich tradition of high quality education. And I think that over time as the student body changed in ways that very different than the Women's College profile, we've been able to make the adjustments and maintain that culture, and measured in a different way that quality.

Dr. Weeks: And another proud achievement, tied to that, is we got through some 00:58:00very difficult financial times. I won't say they were as difficult as what the University faced in 2011. I've said that people tease me about knowing when to leave, but I knew when I was going to retire six years before I retired. It was pretty easy. I was 60 and I knew I was going to retire at 66 and do something different, which I've done. But I had no idea that 2011, my successor, I started saving positions, saving money to build. When I walked into the dean's office in 00:59:001990 it was a recession. Not a bad one, but it was a recession and I was $50,000 in the red when I walked into the office. So I had to find $50,000.

Dr. Weeks: And through all of the difficult times, and even up to my last year, we were able to manage the ... We were able to manage the growth, and we were able to manage the construction, and we were able to manage the financial budget issues without firing anybody. We didn't do some rehires. So I was proud that we were able to keep that together, and I left my successor roughly 16% of the budget to be used for what I knew were going to be impending cuts, and nobody 01:00:00dreamed that that would not be enough. And I think his first two weeks on the job he got a 16.6% budget cut. So he had to find 6% more, .6% more. I think those numbers ... if the numbers aren't exactly right it gives you a sense of the magnitude, and so, again, timing. I've been smart enough to know to be born on November 27, 1945 to take us back to your first question.

Brittany: Could you tell me about how UNCG has impacted and affected your life? And then what does UNCG mean to you?

Dr. Weeks: Gosh. Obviously it's been an important part of my life. I've spent all but a few years of my professional life as an academic and educator has been at UNCG, which is my 35 years is not really that unusual for UNCG, but it is very unusual for lots of places. I didn't come here thinking I would ever be dean. I didn't come here thinking that I would stay here until retirement. I thought I'd be like most faculty, come here, get promoted, get a better job, more money, and more prestigious university, and I'd leave. So it's been a very 01:02:00important part of my life.

Dr. Weeks: The short answer to your question is it has given me the opportunity to grow and develop along with the institution growing and developing. And I've said in the mornings I'd get up and look in that mirror, and it gave me the opportunity to do that, to make a significant difference. And I think all of us as human beings want to, want to feel like we have some meaning in our life and we make a difference. And so UNCG has been that vehicle for me. That's I guess 01:03:00the short answer.

Dr. Weeks: I got to meet so many wonderful people. I got to meet heroes. I got ... This may come across as name dropping, and I don't mean it that way, but because I was at UNCG, and I was dean of the business school, I got to know and work with the governor's global institute, Governor Jim Hunt, President Bill Friday, and I never could bring myself to call either of them Jim or Bill. I got 01:04:00to meet Mr. Joe Bryan, Joseph Bryan, Joseph M. Bryan. And I never called him Joe either. I would have never gotten to meet those kinds of people. I got the people in the business community. I got to travel the world. I mean, I had a really good job. I had a ... Somebody said about working for 35 years and I said, "You know, I've worked couple of days. The rest of the time has been fun."

Brittany: We're doing these interviews as part of the 125th anniversary of the University which is an excellent opportunity for reflection, but it also helps 01:05:00us to think about where we are heading in the future. So what is the future for UNCG, and where do you see UNCG going as an institution in the next 25 to 50 years?

Dr. Weeks: If I knew that, oh gosh.

Brittany: What about The Bryan School?

Dr. Weeks: Yeah. When I reflect over the past 25 years, I see no evidence that the University and The Bryan School are going to change less over the next 25 years than the previous 25 years. I think all of the evidence for every 01:06:00organization in our society is ... Change is just coming more and more rapidly. Bigger and bigger changes, and that's ... So universities used to be considered, along with churches and religion, and along with maybe armies and military, as kind of the stability pillars of societies. Well, that's no longer true. You look at ... Those institutions are having to change just like other institutions, and so there's no question the things that are driving societal 01:07:00changes are going to be driving university changes.

Dr. Weeks: The specifics of that, I have no idea. I think technology will be a major driver, just as it will in other parts of society. The population demographics, the demand and the need for just in time learning, very specific kinds of just in time learning and relearning and relearning. The financial, in my personal view, the financial model of higher education is going to be as 01:08:00challenged as in the healthcare sector. Healthcare sector's in many ways similar, in many ways different, but certainly is probably a decade ahead of the higher education sector of our society. So the challenges, and the pressures, and the opportunities that go with them will change. And I think that what that means is the universities are going to have to change.

Dr. Weeks: There had been someone, I can't recall who it was, said, "If your organization's not changing internally as fast as the world is changing 01:09:00externally, your organization's dying. You just don't know it." And higher education is not known for its rapidity or speed of change, and that probably will be the greatest challenge facing higher education, because the world outside's changing so rapidly. Probably intense competition, even more so than in the past. We've seen kind of a start and stop, or start and fail, in some competition in higher education. I don't think that's the end of the competition story.

Dr. Weeks: The world is a more competitive place from an economic standpoint, but from an influence standpoint. And I'm very positive about for UNCG what that means. I think institutions like UNCG will find themselves better positioned. The work that is going on at UNCG now, and I've had the opportunity to learn a little bit about some of the thinking that's going on, and the strategic planning that's going on, from an outsider. And I think those kinds of things 01:11:00are necessary for the next five years, which is the first fifth of your 25 year question moving forward.

Dr. Weeks: I think institutions that are building their constituencies, strengthening their constituencies, obviously the alumni, but the communities that they serve are going to do better than those that don't. I think you've got got to get bigger. So UNCG has done that. I expect that in 25 years, I have no idea how big it'll be, but it probably won't be confined with 122 acres that we have here, but it will be bigger and it'll be more at the ... So I see the 01:12:00positive future. Continued growth, continued development, and let's see, let's think, '76 so that's 31. Okay, if I was 31 and an assistant professor this would be a very attractive place to come, and it's a great community to raise a family.

Dr. Weeks: And the communities, the community ... UNCG has kind of gone the way of the community. The business community has just been hammered globally because of competition and restructuring, and that's affected the whole community and 01:13:00it's affected ... But I think we've come out of that stronger because of the leadership in this organization, of UNCG's role, and I think that will continue. And I think Greensboro's future's very bright and if ... When, not if, when it gets stronger financially and more hiring and opportunities, then that's going to serve the students and serve the University.

Brittany: I don't think I have any more formal questions for you, but did you have anything you'd like to add about your time here at UNCG or any other 01:14:00experiences you would like to mention?

Dr. Weeks: No, I just have a profound sense of gratitude for the opportunities that I had over the 35 years. And I remember I was speaking to a student group and it was after we had gotten ... It was a student organization and we'd helped them get started, and we were talking about career planning and how you do that and everything. And so I gave my speech and very much you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to this. You need da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da and very much a recipe. And I forget, this young man kind of tentatively raised his hand, and I said, "Oh, any questions?" So he very tentatively raised 01:15:00his hand and he said, "Did you do all of that?" And I said, "You got me. No, I did not. I did not do all of that, but I did prepare to take advantage of the opportunities when they presented themselves." And I'm just profoundly, as I've said, profoundly grateful that I had those opportunities and the support of a lot of really nice people to help.

Brittany: Well, thank you so much.

Dr. Weeks: That's right. How'd we do on time?

Brittany: I don't know.

Dr. Weeks: I just talk too much.

Brittany: Oh no, it was great. It was really good.

Dr. Weeks: Good.

Brittany: Are you good on time?

Dr. Weeks: I'm great.

Brittany: Okay, great.