Father Wild: Marquette's Transformation
Father Wild & I: A Personal Reflection
Fr. Robert A. Wild's tenure as president of Marquette began in the summer of 1996. Two years later, in August 1998, I first came to Marquette University as an undergraduate. My path through Marquette was a circuitous one- two years from 1998 through 2000, followed by a textbook "finding oneself" period that lasted through 2004. I completed my final two years and graduated from Marquette in May 2006. Life brought me back to Milwaukee and Marquette in January 2009, and I enrolled in the Masters in Communication program, which I will be completing in January 2011. If a calendar was the measuring stick, our terms at Marquette are fairly identical.
In 2004, I served as the co-chairman of Students for Warriors, a group lobbying for a return to the Warriors nickname that Marquette's athletic teams originally had. Our group worked closely with Marquette's administration, and it was here that I got to meet Fr. Wild for the first time. Students for Warriors had collected a petition with the signatures of students in support of the name change, and the two other co-chairs and I went to deliver a copy of it to Fr. Wild's office.
We expected to hand the document off to one of his assistants and leave, however when Fr. Wild found out we were there, he invited the three of us into his office. What followed was a half an hour sitdown. Obviously, Fr. Wild was interested in our group, and we certainly discussed the nickname issue a bit, but he also showed genuine interest in us as Marquette students- our majors, career goals, and the Marquette experience as a whole. We left amazed at meeting a man who, despite surely having a busy calendar, wanted to take the time to sit down and really get to know us.
I encountered Fr. Wild several more times over the course of the next year, both through Students for Warriors business, and chance encounters in my daily life. He always would take the time to stop and chat, and check up on me.
May 2005 was the infamous "Gold" decision, when the Marquette trustees chose to go in this third direction with our nickname. This was not a popular decision, and ever the activist, I was also involved in the push to repeal this decision. After a week of what seemed like incessant protest, Fr. Wild made the announcement that the University would go back on this decision, and open the process up to a stakeholder vote to choose a nickname. I telephoned his office, hoping to leave him a voicemail congratulating him on a job well done listening to the voices of students and alumni. Never ceasing to amaze me, when Fr. Wild found out that it was me calling about this, he took the call, and what followed was another long conversation discussing the issue, as well as life in general.
I served on the advisory committee overseeing the vote on a nickname, and had the opportunity to work with Fr. Wild once again. After this and my graduation the following May, our encounters were limited to a few chance meetings in the Union or on the street. That said, Fr. Wild would always take the time to stop and chat for a moment, even when he was clearly on his way to something.
It is this genuine interest in us as individuals that illustrates how much Fr. Wild embodies Marquette, and everything that the University stands for. A hallmark of Marquette's mission statement is Cura Personalis, or care for the entire person, and Fr. Wild shows this in his actions every day. I had the privilege of getting to know him on a more personal level, but I am confident that he would show the same interest in a student he had never met before.
As Fr. Wild prepares to retire, he will be remembered for a lasting legacy that he has left on the Marquette campus and its community. These are well-deserved accolades, as Marquette would not be the place it is today without him. That said, Fr. Wild made a personal impact on me, and I will always remember the way he always remembered me, and took the time to show a genuine personal interest.
In 2004, I served as the co-chairman of Students for Warriors, a group lobbying for a return to the Warriors nickname that Marquette's athletic teams originally had. Our group worked closely with Marquette's administration, and it was here that I got to meet Fr. Wild for the first time. Students for Warriors had collected a petition with the signatures of students in support of the name change, and the two other co-chairs and I went to deliver a copy of it to Fr. Wild's office.
We expected to hand the document off to one of his assistants and leave, however when Fr. Wild found out we were there, he invited the three of us into his office. What followed was a half an hour sitdown. Obviously, Fr. Wild was interested in our group, and we certainly discussed the nickname issue a bit, but he also showed genuine interest in us as Marquette students- our majors, career goals, and the Marquette experience as a whole. We left amazed at meeting a man who, despite surely having a busy calendar, wanted to take the time to sit down and really get to know us.
I encountered Fr. Wild several more times over the course of the next year, both through Students for Warriors business, and chance encounters in my daily life. He always would take the time to stop and chat, and check up on me.
May 2005 was the infamous "Gold" decision, when the Marquette trustees chose to go in this third direction with our nickname. This was not a popular decision, and ever the activist, I was also involved in the push to repeal this decision. After a week of what seemed like incessant protest, Fr. Wild made the announcement that the University would go back on this decision, and open the process up to a stakeholder vote to choose a nickname. I telephoned his office, hoping to leave him a voicemail congratulating him on a job well done listening to the voices of students and alumni. Never ceasing to amaze me, when Fr. Wild found out that it was me calling about this, he took the call, and what followed was another long conversation discussing the issue, as well as life in general.
I served on the advisory committee overseeing the vote on a nickname, and had the opportunity to work with Fr. Wild once again. After this and my graduation the following May, our encounters were limited to a few chance meetings in the Union or on the street. That said, Fr. Wild would always take the time to stop and chat for a moment, even when he was clearly on his way to something.
It is this genuine interest in us as individuals that illustrates how much Fr. Wild embodies Marquette, and everything that the University stands for. A hallmark of Marquette's mission statement is Cura Personalis, or care for the entire person, and Fr. Wild shows this in his actions every day. I had the privilege of getting to know him on a more personal level, but I am confident that he would show the same interest in a student he had never met before.
As Fr. Wild prepares to retire, he will be remembered for a lasting legacy that he has left on the Marquette campus and its community. These are well-deserved accolades, as Marquette would not be the place it is today without him. That said, Fr. Wild made a personal impact on me, and I will always remember the way he always remembered me, and took the time to show a genuine personal interest.
