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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

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Education is Wig's heritage

CLC PROFILE: JEFF WIG

By JENNIFER STOCKINGER

Staff Writer

Brainerd and education run through Jeff Wig's blood.

Wig grew up in Brainerd, was a 1981 Brainerd High School graduate and his parents, Ruth and the late Don Wig, were both school teachers in the Brainerd lakes area for many years.

"Teaching is in my blood, but I wasn't going to go anywhere near it," said Wig, who now lives on Hartley Lake in Brainerd with his family.

Well, Wig couldn't stay away.

Wig - the Central Lakes College's dean of enrollment management - has three college degrees and has been associated with CLC since 1990. In fact, Wig attended CLC as a student when it was called Brainerd Community College in the early '80s.

Jeff Wig, Central Lakes College dean of enrollment management, paused recently in his office. Brainerd Dispatch/Clint Wood
» Purchase reprints of this photo.

Wig tried journalism classes then economics before business clicked for him.

"I was working at Airmotive Enterprises at the Brainerd airport since I was 16 and I could see how business classes applied to the real world," said Wig. "I later did an internship at Bremer Bank and one of the vice presidents at the college was looking to hire and it was a good opportunity."

Wig, who earned his business and finance degree at the University of Minnesota in 1988, taught business at the community and technical colleges in Brainerd. He was involved with the merger of the two colleges in 1995.

Wig wanted to learn more so he earned his technical college licensure from Bemidji State University in 1996 and his master's degree in business administration from St. Cloud State University that same year.

A year later, Wig became a business planning consultant for CLC's Small Business Development Center, while he continued to teach. Wig assisted many businesses with strategic analysis, marketing, financial projections and business planning. Wig helped various types of businesses, including small fish farms, resorts and gift shops. Wig helped 180 businesses that either were new or were expanding in the past 10 years.

"It feels good to help others and to make a difference," said Wig. "I still have people who drop by my office to let me know how their business is doing. Often times people will come in to talk with me about their business ideas or financial projections. There are small business owners who have no one to bounce ideas off of and they can come here and we can do that."

Jeff Wig

Age: 44.

Family: Married to Laurie, a Forestview Middle School teacher; two daughters, Katie, 13, and Rebecca, 10; and a West Highland terrier named Digger.

Favorite movie: "Casablanca."

Favorite book: "The Winter of Our Discontent," by John Steinbeck.

Favorite sports team: Twins.

Favorite college memory: "Winning the Brainerd Community College 8-ball pool tournament in '82."

Favorite meal: Crab legs.

Your bucket list: "I'd like to take a religious class and a foreign language class."

If you were a Powerball winner: "I'd pay off all my debt and a good chunk of it would go to a charity like the Central Lakes College Scholarship Foundation. And then I'd buy a 30-year-old float airplane."

Wig's career changed directions in 2005. Wig took a sabbatical leave to be one of the chairs of the CLC Enrollment Task Force to work on increasing enrollment. The college began new enrollment events, including Find Your Future Day in 2006 and Catch a New Career Night in 2007. Wig said these events helped bring several hundred prospective students to the college.

Last year a pilot program called Easy Enrollment Days began to help increase enrollment. As part of this program, a prospective student can come in and complete everything necessary to become a CLC student, from applying for financial aid to registering for classes.

This past January, Wig filled the new dean of enrollment management position to continue his work with enrollment. CLC turned the academic dean into an enrollment dean position with added responsibilities. Wig's job is to increase enrollment by starting new initiatives.

Wig said one of the larger initiatives involves sponsoring the Commerce and Industry Show on March 28-29 at the Brainerd Area Civic Center. The college has always had a booth at the show, but Wig said this year it will have a larger presence.

"We plan to go to all the booths this year and see who has a connection with the college," said Wig. "We'd like to show the deep roots of connection the college has with many people in our area."

Another initiative is the Bridges Career Academies where the college is working with area high schools and the Brainerd Lakes Chamber. High school students in the program participate in rigorous classes in business administration, pre-engineering, nursing, manufacturing/technology and health sciences. Wig said the initiative helps build strong partnerships and in return brings prospective high school students to CLC.

This past fall, Wig said overall enrollment was up 10 percent from 2006 in terms of total credits enrolled. In addition, the number of part-time students increased 27 percent and distance education enrollment increased nearly 25 percent from 2006.

"We're very happy with these gains," said Wig. "And very pleased with the even stronger relationships we've built with area high schools through our concurrent enrollment program, which is where high school students take college courses in the high school."

JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.

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