From Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to Eastern folk music to The Who, Michael Alexander’s musical taste spans centuries, cultures and genres.
“People assume because of my background that I [only] like classical music. That’s not true at all,” says Alexander, the seventh chancellor of UW‑Green Bay.
Before Alexander was chancellor, he was a full‑time orchestra conductor. His own schooling began in the field of music education before he pursued graduate degrees in performance and professional conducting. Among other roles, his career included conducting the Georgia Symphony Orchestra for more than a decade. He launched a youth orchestra program during that time, engaging more than 400 students in music education annually.
That intersection of music and education would ultimately lead Alexander to UW‑Green Bay, where he arrived as provost in 2019 before becoming chancellor in 2020.
“I was just bad enough of a conductor to become a chancellor, and maybe just good enough of a chancellor to no longer be conducting full time,” Alexander jokes.
But the parallels between conducting an orchestra and leading a university are striking, he says.
“In a weird way, I do think it’s the same job,” he says. “You are trying to get a whole bunch of people who are better than you at what they do to see a common vision. Your job is to help them see … how the whole piece should come together and their role within it.”
Conducting also taught Alexander to listen closely and to anticipate what comes next. These are skills he considers essential to leading a university.
“You have to listen to a whole bunch of different ideas around what you’re doing [from] the students, the staff, the faculty, the community, the legislature, the bureaucracy of the UW system,” he says.
One of Alexander’s passions is increasing access to traditionally gatekept spaces like classical music halls and academic ivory towers. Under Alexander’s leadership, UW‑Green Bay has seen 25% enrollment growth — bucking national trends — and grown its Division of Continuing Education to the state’s second largest.
“We’ve changed a lot to help people use education to advance their lives and their careers,” Alexander says. “Not everyone will get a degree with us, but everyone who lives in Northeast Wisconsin should feel that UW‑Green Bay is a value to them.”
Music is still an active part of Alexander’s life. These days, he conducts two concerts a year with the Weidner Philharmonic at UW–Green Bay. It’s enough to scratch the conducting itch, he says, which is something he could never fully abandon.
“It’s important to how I do my current work,” he says. “I think you have to do what you love, so you can bring love to what you do.”
