UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #712
BORN, STEPHEN M.

BORN, Stephen M. (1940- )
Professor, Urban and Regional Planning; Graduate student
At UW: 1966-

Interviewed: 2005	
Interviewer: Robert Lange
Length: 8 hours, 53 minuets

Family background; Education; Work for Shell Oil; PhD studies at UW-Madison; Campus protest; Dissertation research;  Desert Research Institute; Water resource and land management; Director of the Inland Lake Project; Department of urban and regional planning; Faculty recruitment; Funding problems; Student recruitment; Teaching; UW-Extension; Outreach projects; Ground water management and planning; Research; University administration; State Office of Planning and Energy; Non-governmental conservation and environmental organizations. 

First Interview Session (May 23, 2005): Tapes 1-5

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:40	Born in Chicago; details his interesting family background. Father became left wing labor organizer. Two other brothers had successful and different careers. Father was poetic and interested in the humanities.

00:03:55	Father met his mother in Minnesota; she had been sent west from her family in New Jersey.

00:05:00	SB was first raised in New York; surrounded by his mother's Russian Jewish family. Mother's family was very progressive.

00:05:50	His father came back from the war and became a labor organizer for a farm equipment union. The family moved a lot during the early years.

00:06:35	SB's social values were formed by his family's progressive political tradition.

00:07:25	First mention of the environment and his lifelong interest in fishing.

00:07:35	His mother was killed in a car accident in 1948. Father sent SB back east to be raised by his mother's family for awhile. Father re-married and SB came back to the Midwest.

00:08:10	He moved to the south side of Chicago in a small town called Stickney.  Fishing happened in polluted waters close to what is today (2005) the Stevenson Expressway.

00:09:20	High school experience; class leader. High school senior class president.

00:10:45	High school biology teacher named Bob Wallace who was a significant intellectual force for Steve and took him to the University of Illinois to consider it for college.

00:11:25	Influence of father's organizing and public speaking skills on SB was apparent in junior and senior high school.

00:12:20	Leadership and productive attributes.

00:13:35	Planning for college. Worked at "hideous" jobs to raise money for school. Worked in a packing house with many men of color and immigrants. Worked in a chemical plant. Had significant blue collar work experience. Always motivated to work hard.

00:16:35	Worked on average 70 hours a week and thrived on it. Work and avocation had a seamless interaction.

00:17:35	 University of Illinois. Father pushed a career in science. Fishing had introduced him to the subject of ichthyology. Freshman year studied with a famous geologist, first raising career possibilities.

00:18:45	Geology became focus in his sophomore year at UI and led to first field camp experience.

00:19:20	First experience out west; first trout fishing. Came back committed to geology.

00:20:05	Senior year. Eminent paleontologist Bill Hay had an impact on SB's subsequent teaching career. Professor Frank Rhodes, at field camp, was also impressive and went on to become president of Cornell University. Steve was very active in the social life of his fraternity and was learning useful social skills; his father was unhappy with Steve's involvement. Very good bridge player. Considered a career with IBM.

00:23:15	Applied to graduate schools; very taken with the western US. University of Oregon and University of New Mexico. Stayed with geology because of a long letter from Walt Youngquist, professor at University of Oregon, laying out a whole panaromic view of the field of geology. 1961-1963. Oregon experience was very important; personal development experience.

00:26:50	Master's thesis focused on the study of sedimentary rocks/continental drift as perceived in SW Oregon; geological sciences gave a first-rate base for all subsequent work.

00:29:20	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:15	Stephen Born did not go directly for his PhD.  He got first job in petroleum exploration. Work in surface mapping.

00:33:10	1963. A lot is beginning to happen. Already anti-war; aware of US Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon, who was opposed to the war. Also first heard of Wisconsin's US Senator Gaylord Nelson at this time. Two roommates on the way to Vietnam.

00:34:55	Draft board. Considered Coast Guard. Took a job with Shell Oil; deferment was extended. Also married by this time. Shell Oil got Steve a critical career deferment; search for energy. 

00:36:25	Shell Oil Career. Considered working for the Peace Corps. Working on continental shelf and looking for oil north of Point Reyes, CA. Taking core samples. Ocean fishing for salmon. Preparing leases for sale for drilling. Cutthroat oil business. Very physical. Worked on the rigs.

00:41:50	Shell Oil career moving on and up. Brash. Appearance in LA office.  Playing bridge. Brilliant and brash would be hallmark characteristics of Steve's career. Proud of personal sense of integrity.

00:44:20	Went to Bellaire, Texas for training in the Shell Research Lab. Courses from pre-eminent M.K. Hubbert geo-physicist. Then went to Bakersfield, CA. Synfuels development from tar sands.  Then to Ventura, CA, corporate suburb. Really a rising star at Shell Oil at this point. 1966.

00:47:55	No interest in the "bottom line" of Shell. Old progressive interests re-awakening. Could see Shell Oil as exploitive. Sensitive to water issues.

00:49:40	Could foresee what a Shell Oil career meant; ie, going to NYC or New Orleans, not wanting to live in either place. Was going to be sent to Europe for "charm school" for corporate high life. Was also developing stronger interest in water. Boom and bust cycle of the oil industry.

00:53:00	If ever going to do PhD, had to do it now before getting "locked into" the benefits of Shell Oil. CEO of Fortune 500 Company as a possibility.

00:54:10	PhD applications to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Cornell. UW Madison professor of geology Bob Dott was a very strong influence on decision to come here.  Shell made a strong offer to have him work on coastal issues.

00:57:10	Ethical issue on leaving Shell or not.

00:58:15	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1	

00:58:35	Stephen Born relates his decision-making process in leaving Shell Oil and coming to UW-Madison to pursue his PhD.

00:59:40	The vice president of Shell Oil and advising had an influence on SB’s decision and his subsequent outlook on assisting young students.  The company kept SB on the payroll and helped finance his education.

01:00:00	He summarizes his experience at Shell Oil.

01:06:50	SB reviews the different value systems upon which he drew; these were based in his experience at Shell as well as his father’s life.

01:08:05	He relates his disaffection with a corporate lifestyle.

01:10:15	SB came to Wisconsin and met Bob Dott.

01:11:40	Dott and David A. Stephenson both supervised his dissertation.

01:13:50	SB talks about the anti-Vietnam War movement on campus.

01:15:00	He mentions his political activity while working for Shell.  He campaigned for a candidate who proposed to nationalize the oil industry.

01:17:20	He talks about information and misinformation about the Vietnam War.

01:20:40	SB describes consulting work he did with Stephenson on industrial waste water.

01:22:00	He talks about the genesis of his dissertation topic.  He went to Reno, Nevada to conduct research at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and Center for Water Resources with Professor George Burke Maxey.

01:23:10	Martin Mifflin also helped SB find a topic doing research on Pyramid Lake in Nevada.

01:25:50	He mentions Margaret M. “Peg” Wheat, who was conducting research on Paiute Indians in the same area.

01:26:49	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2

01:26:55	Stephen Born continues to talk about Peg Wheat and her research on Paiute Indians.

01:29:55	He describes his dissertation proposal.

01:30:50	While conducting his research, SB became involved in a case on tribal water rights.  The level of Pyramid Lake had dropped precipitously as a result of its use for irrigation.  SB developed some expertise on water diversion and land management.

01:36:10	He gave testimony at the Nevada legislature during hearings on an interstate water compact.

01:40:40	While conducting his research at the Desert Research Institute (DRI), SB chronicled the formation of mud lumps and included it in his dissertation.  He became increasingly involved in institutions dealing with water and land management in Nevada.

01:44:20	SB mentions a miner he met in Nevada.

01:47:30	He describes his career options at the time.

01:49:45	George Burke Maxey offered SB a job at the DRI.

01:52:40	Several people at UW brought SB in to interview for a position with the Inland Lake Project.

01:53:10	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 3/Side 1

01:53:25	Stephen Born interviewed to work for the joint Department of Natural Resources and UW-Extension Inland Lake Project.

01:54:35	He talks about a seminar given by Bud Jordahl.

01:57:45	SB was appointed as a specialist in UW-Extension and served as director of the Inland Lake Project.

02:00:00	He describes his work for the project, during which he was also completing his dissertation.  He became an expert and gave testimony in Washington.

02:03:00	SB talks about his management and leadership style as director of the Inland Lake Project.  He illustrates his style by relating anecdotes about the inadequate work of his landscape architect colleagues and his struggle with USEPA to fund a national conference on lake rehabilitation.

02:12:10	He summarizes his approach to academics, research, and practical results.

02:18:55	SB joined the department of urban and regional planning in 1971.  He talks about the faculty of the department.

02:20:10	He relates the history of the department from its interdisciplinary roots in the 1940s to its establishment as a department in 1962.

02:22:00	He talks about the “Omnibus” curriculum and the split within the department between rival camps of faculty.

02:24:07	End of side.

Tape 3/Side 2

02:24:10	Stephen Born continues to discuss the debate in the department of urban and regional planning between Leo Jakobson and Irving Fox.  Chancellor Irving Shain threatened to shut down the department.

02:25:50	Carlisle P. Runge from the Law School was brought in to chair the department.  Runge hired SB and they co-taught courses on government and natural resources and regional planning.

02:29:30	SB intended to return to the western United States after five years at UW.  He relates how he became sidetracked by social life and the progressive tradition at Wisconsin.

02:34:00	He talks about family issues.

02:36:50	SB describes several career options open to him in the early 1970s.

02:37:55	He talks about achieving tenure.

02:42:00	The planning program of the department of urban and regional planning was interdisciplinary.  

02:47:00	He discusses the professional and applied orientation of the program.

02:48:50	SB thinks the department lacks funds and resources because it lacks a specific disciplinary home within the College of Letters & Science.  The department rejected being merged with the department of landscape architecture and the agriculture school.

02:53:15	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 4/Side 1

02:53:35	Stephen Born discusses attempts to stabilize the department of urban and regional planning (URPL) during the 1970s and 1980s.  SB worked with Carl Runge and others to discuss the possibility of a federated structure with the Center for Public Policy and the LaFollette Institute.

02:56:20	In the end, state funding went exclusively to the LaFollette Institute.

02:57:10	SB worked on integrating the UW-Extension branch into the department.  He served as chair of the newly integrated department from 1979 to 1983.

02:58:40	Public funding cuts presented problems for the department.  He talks about a strategic review.

02:59:40	The quality reinvestment program hit URPL hard and criticized the department for having weak students and a faculty light on research.  

03:01:50	Both the School of Agriculture and the department of landscape architecture proposed merging with URPL.  The result was the addition of seven new faculty appointments through an agreement with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

03:05:00	SB chaired the department again from 1998 to 2002.  He talks about planning his “exit strategy” for retirement and discusses at length his attempts to recruit and retain faculty members.  He also discusses several tenure cases.

03:16:00	URPL faced a dire predicament in face of severe funding shortages in the reinvestment program and a lack of wealthy benefactors.  SB predicts that a unified department of planning and landscape architecture will emerge in the near future.

03:18:10	End of side. 

Tape 4/Side 2

03:18:20	Stephen Born continues to discuss the history of the department of urban and regional planning (URPL).  

03:19:30	He talks about the premium placed on teaching.

03:20:10	URPL relied heavily on public sources of funding, such as Housing and Urban Development.  Therefore cuts in public spending at the state and federal levels hit the department especially hard.

03:21:25	SB discusses the national rank and reputation of URPL.

03:22:10	He criticizes the level of campus support for students in URPL and for computer resources.

03:23:20	He talks about student recruitment.  The department’s approach to recruitment caused friction with the Graduate School.

03:25:35	SB discusses efforts to recruit a diverse student body.  URPL developed a bridge program with Cleveland State.  Again, the department’s approach caused conflict with David Ward at the Graduate School.

03:31:35	He thinks the diversity recruitment push has been unsuccessful.

03:33:15	SB describes an affirmative action case brought against URPL.

03:36:50	Two students accused URPL professors of anti-Muslim bias.

03:38:10	He talks about other diversity issues in the department such as gender and sexual orientation.

03:40:15	Carl Runge and Bud Jordahl were important figures in SB’s career.

03:41:00	SB describes the contributions to the department of Harvey Jacobs, Jack Huddleston, and Elizabeth Howe, among others.

03:45:40	He talks about the public obligations of URPL.  He is optimistic about the future of the field in general but thinks its place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is at a critical juncture.

03:48:10	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 5/Side 1    

03:48:20	Stephen Born continues to discuss the future of the field of urban and regional planning (URPL).  He wonders if funding will be available to support URPL departments at both UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee.

03:50:35	He thinks a merger between URPL and landscape architecture would amplify the resources available to students, particularly because URPL currently has no teaching assistantships.

03:53:10	SB describes his courses on regional planning, government and natural resources, and water resource policies and institutions.  He screened students for enrollment in the water resources course.

04:00:00	He continues to discuss his pedagogy and his students’ work.

04:05:10	SB discusses workshops on water resource policy and their impact on state legislation.

04:10:00	He talks about working with students and recommending them for jobs.

04:14:45	SB describes the careers of his former students.

Tape 5/Side 2

04:17:25	Stephen Born continues to talk about his former students.

04:21:33	End of side.  End of tape.

Second Interview Session (July 20, 2005): Tape 61

Tape 6/Side 1

00:01:00	Stephen Born began working as a specialist and director of the Inland Lakes Demonstration Project for UW-Extension in 1969.  He talks about the impact of his work on public policy.

00:02:35	He became the chair of the Environmental Resources Center to deal with interdisciplinary matters and outreach education programming in the early 1970s.

00:04:10	SB describes his long-term UW Extension programming: river protection planning and management, ground water planning and management, state coastal management, evaluation approaches, local watershed stewardship, and land use planning and conservation.

00:05:50	He summarizes his outreach projects.

00:08:20	He talks about emerging trends in public policy.

00:10:00	SB illustrates the interrelationships among his research, outreach work, programming, and public policy by describing efforts to improve river protection and management.  He talks about the Kickapoo River Conservation Project.

00:14:40	He continued to teach while working for UW-Extension.

00:15:00	SB discusses his involvement in dam removal issues.

00:18:10	He talks about ground water planning and management and the Ground Water Education Project.  SB was the representative for Governor Anthony Earl in drafting Wisconsin’s ground water legislation.  He was also the co-author for a guide on ground water protection for local governments.

00:23:10	The ground water issue became very contentious in the 1990s as the Perrier company wanted to move in.  SB and his graduate students produced a report on modernizing ground water management.  He comments on the role of Wisconsin as an experimental ground for public policy.

00:28:30	SB talks more generally about his experience working for UW-Extension.

00:29:40	His research has addressed the theory and practice of integrated environmental planning and management, inter-agency coordination, and community-based watershed planning and management.

00:33:15	SB co-chaired the Waters of Wisconsin project.

00:35:50	The working climate at UW-Extension was ideal before certain administrative changes in the 1990s.  When SB began working for Extension, the administrators were very supportive of his various programs.

00:40:20	He talks about the controversial chancellorship of Gene Evans.  He also discusses his outlook on university administration in general.

00:46:05	End of side.

Tape 6/Side 2

00:46:07	Stephen Born continues to discuss his perspective on the style of university administrators.

00:46:40	He resumes his discussion of the working environment at UW-Extension.

00:47:50	SB explains that he severed ties with Extension after conflicts with newly-appointed program directors.  He became fed up with poor leadership by Extension administrators.

00:56:55	He speculates as to how technology will impact the future of outreach programs, county extension offices, and the role of the university in these initiatives.

01:08:34	End of side.  End of tape.

Third Interview Session (July 6, 2005): Tapes 7-8

Tape 7/Side 1

00:00:25	Stephen Born discusses his research, particularly on formal and informal institutional aspects of lakes, ground water, and rivers.

00:03:55	He talks about his collaboration on a USGS-funded research project.

00:05:30	Research on integration.

00:09:40	Interest in fisheries management.

00:13:10	He talks about the publication of Exploring Wisconsin Trout Streams.

00:17:50	SB worked with the NSF on the State Science Engineering Technology Project.

00:20:30	He discusses working with state agencies.

00:21:25	SB and Bud Jordahl co-authored a piece on the Wisconsin Idea.

00:25:15	His river water expertise was aided from building community-based partnerships and the Four Corners Project.  He describes his research on watersheds.

00:27:40	SB discusses his research on evaluation.

00:30:55	End of side.

Tape 7/Side 2

00:31:00	Stephen Born continues to discuss his research into evaluation.

00:32:40	SB talks about the broad range of topics on which he has published.

00:46:00	The disposition of Letters & Science deans toward the department of urban and regional planning (URPL) was affected by the service-learning orientation of the department.  URPL wound up being under-funded.

00:55:00	SB describes the relationship between URPL and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

00:56:40	David Ward clashed with SB over URPL admissions.  He characterizes his relationship with Ward.

01:01:45	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 8/Side 1

01:01:50	Stephen Born continues to talk about his relationship with David Ward, the dean of the Graduate School.  He thinks Ward obstructed his candidacy for the directorship of the Institute for Environmental Studies.

01:04:30	SB discusses Donna Shalala’s chancellorship.

01:14:45	He describes his relationship with Katharine Lyall, president of UW System.

01:17:10	SB talks about John Wiley as chancellor.

01:18:25	His major grievance against administrators was that resources for planning programs were never forthcoming.

01:20:15	SB worries that the erosion of state support for the university and research has endangered the land grant university scheme.

01:29:28	End of side.

Fourth Interview Session (July 7, 2005): Tapes 8-10

Tape 8/Side 2

00:00:25	Stephen Born was State Director of Planning and Energy during the governorship of Patrick Lucey.

00:02:10	SB relates how he became involved in government work after his work for the Inland Lakes Demonstration Project.  Bud Jordahl mentioned SB’s name to Lucey.  He began working as state director in 1974.

00:05:55	He describes the history of the state planning operation and its evolution into the Office of State Planning and Energy.

00:08:20	SB focused on such issues as land use and environmental development as opposed to health, education, and social services because there were separate offices to deal with the latter set of issues.

00:09:35	Primary authority for this state office derived from the governor.

00:11:40	SB explains the functions of the Office of State Planning and Energy during his directorship. In the area of information management, his office established the Land Use Information Program.  

00:13:25	He describes the policy analysis and research functions of the office. 

00:16:45	The office set up cabinet-level groups in state government to coordinate economic development and land use issues, among others.

00:19:25	The Office of State Planning and Energy also developed new programs such as the Coastal Zone Management Program.

00:21:40	SB describes the public awareness component of his work for the state.

00:23:10	The office was involved in legislative analysis, budget development, and speech writing for the governor.

00:26:20	He relates a story about land use planning in order to illustrate the nature of his work at the Office of State Planning and Energy.

00:30:50	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 9/Side 1

00:30:55	Stephen Born continues to relate a story about his work for the Office of State Planning and Energy and the interrelationship of the diverse functions of the office.  Personal relationships and networks were crucial to much of his work.

00:35:15	SB relates another anecdote about the development of a state land use program.

00:49:30	He thinks 1974-77 was the heyday of Wisconsin state planning.  He discusses the tactics behind successful planning: recruiting the right people, information analysis, and obtaining credentials and links to decision-making power.

00:53:00	SB describes Governor Patrick Lucey and their working relationship.

00:56:30	He resumes his discussion of the proper tactics of successful planning.

00:59:00	SB summarizes his work for state government.

00:59:30	He left the Office of State Planning and Energy after a conflict with the Lieutenant Governor, Martin Schreiber.

01:01:20	He talks about the erosion of the state planning function after he left.

01:01:40	End of side.

Tape 9/Side 2

01:01:42	Stephen Born continues to discuss the history of the Office of State Planning and Energy after his departure.  

01:06:20	SB describes his relationship with state legislators on transportation issues.

01:13:40	He talks about his work in energy policy and describes numerous energy conservation initiatives.

01:21:00	SB had a great deal of public exposure as the voice for the state’s planning and energy policies.  He was never interested in becoming a state representative but he did entertain the possibility of running for governor.  He talks about some other potential political appointments.

01:31:25	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 10/Side 1

01:32:20	Stephen Born discusses his network of friends.  He credits Bud Jordahl with augmenting his interpersonal skills.

01:41:50	SB worked with non-governmental organizations.  He talks about the value he placed on links with people from outside the academic field.

01:51:15	He offers some closing comments on his career and he talks about his son.

01:55:10	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END