February 7, 2012 at 6:09 a.m.
Kuzlik decides it's time for a change
Steps down from Extension, now with UW-Superior
Effective Friday, Kuzlik will be stepping down from his current position to become an outreach specialist and academic advisor for UW-Superior.
His new job has similarities to his old one, but now he will be working with just one specific campus and multiple counties instead of the other way around.
"This will be a switch in that I won't be county-based anymore," Kuzlik said. "I'll be attached to a specific campus - in this case it's the University of Wisconsin-Superior. It's still out of their extension department but it's specifically for UW-Superior and not Oneida County."
While his old job with Oneida County had more of a broad spectrum of goals and aspirations, Kuzlik will be narrowing his focus more with UW-Superior, with most of his time being spent working with students in the distance learning program so that they can earn a college degree without necessarily having to be on campus.
"I'll basically be helping UW-Superior create a better presence here in the Northwoods area so it won't just be Oneida County, it'll be the region - Vilas County, Price County, Forest County, Langlade County - that general north central region and letting people know we have an excellent distance learning program," Kuzlik said.
Kuzlik said he is really looking forward to being able to help people young and old achieve educational success, especially in tough economic times like these when tuition and all of the other college-related expenses can make earning a degree look next to impossible.
"It's great if you can go traditionally and leave the area and get an apartment or a dorm room and pay all of those dollars or even commute," Kuzlik said. "But that takes money and a lot of people, especially up here, can't afford to do that so the good thing about distance learning is you do it right from your own computer at your own pace."
Kuzlik said he is excited about the opportunities his new job brings, but he is also very proud of his many accomplishments during his time with Oneida County.
He said he is especially happy to have been a part of creating many sustainable programs during his years, including the Entrepreneur's Club, the annual business expo, and the Northwoods Research Summit.
"We do stuff everyday but those are the things where you look back and say they are still there, they are still going, and even though I'm going to leave this particular position they are going to continue to go and that always gives me a good feeling."
One of the more humorous aspects of this whole scenario, Kuzlik said, is that many people are under the impression that he will be relocating when taking this new job, which has led to some interesting good-byes.
"I'm going to miss the people that I worked with," Kuzlik said. "But the good news about this ... is that I'm not relocating. I'm doing this in the community. I'm going to have an office out at Nicolet College at the Northwoods Center. People keep coming up to me telling me they are going to miss me. I hope they mean that because I'm not going anywhere."
All kidding aside, Kuzlik said he is just happy to be able to move on to a new position that can really help the people of the area gain a better education while still being able to work with many of his old colleagues.
"I'm going to miss the people that I'm working with right here but a lot of the networks that I've helped get going and participated in, I will still be participating in because this kind of education, getting people to get degrees, is a big part of community and economic development," Kuzlik said. "If we can get more people to get more highly educated, those are the people that start businesses ... and that helps add to the economic development of the community."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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