UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #754
HELLMUTH, PHILLIP

HELLMUTH, Phillip (1937- )
Associate Dean, College of Letters & Science
At UW: 1964-1999

Interviewed: 2006	
Interviewer: Judith Craig
Length: 4 hours

Early education; Law school; Business school; College of Letters & Science administration; Budget process; Dow riots; Deans; University-Industry Relations; Research institutes; WARF; Campus protests; Academic staff; Academic Staff Advisory Committee; Tuition appeals; Retirement. 

First Interview Session (March 15, 2006): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:53	Phillip Hellmuth was born in Chicago in 1937.

00:01:40	He describes his early education in the Chicago suburbs.

00:02:34	His father was a physician.  He began teaching at Marquette Medical School in 1954.  The family moved to Shorewood, Wisconsin, where PH completed his high school education.

00:02:57	Family history.

00:05:43	PH attended the University of Chicago.  He studied pre-med but soon decided this was not for him.  He decided to attend Marquette Law School.

00:07:30	He met his future wife at Marquette. 

00:08:15	Then he entered the MBA program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

00:08:55	He worked as a civil servant in the personnel office in 1964 but disliked this job.

00:11:48	Don Persie called PH to recruit him to the College of Letters & Science in 1966.  He also spoke with Leon Epstein about this position as assistant to Associate Dean Robert Doremus.

00:14:50	PH describes the administrative structure of the college.

00:16:50	His responsibilities for research administration included proposal conferences and budget reviews with departments.

00:18:34	PH continues to describe the structure and responsibilities of L&S administration.

00:24:15	Research-related issues he dealt with in L&S.

00:27:02	He thinks the riot era marked the end of the great era of higher education.

00:28:23	Assembling the budget.

00:31:33	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:45	Phillip Hellmuth continues to describe the budget process.

00:39:36	Selection of Dave Dean to handle budget responsibilities.

00:44:34	Dow riot and administrative response.

00:47:46	He describes Leon Epstein’s deanship.

00:48:36	PH describes Dean Steve Kleene.

00:52:30	At this time PH assumed responsibilities for the classified budget.  

00:52:50	Around 1967-68, he began taking courses for his PhD but he had to deal with regulations about being a full-time employee and a graduate student.  His thesis surveyed state universities and their residency policies.

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

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:00	Phillip Hellmuth continues to describe completing his PhD in 1981.  He describes his research on residency policies.

00:04:45	PH had served on the non-residency appeals committee from 1971 to 1985.

00:06:55	Importance of getting his PhD.

00:09:02	PH evaluates the deans under whom he has worked.  He contrasts Steve Kleene with E. David Cronon.  

00:10:30	He also talks about Chancellor Donna Shalala and her relationship with the dean’s office.

00:18:30	PH describes his interactions with Dean Cronon.

00:21:42	Working relationship with Don Crawford.

00:22:15	Dean Phillip Certain.

00:25:00	Steve Kleene.

00:26:20	PH thinks the nature of the College of L&S changed between the deanships of Epstein and Cronon.  The sense of education and funding changed and it was clear that the college had to compete to retain people.

00:29:09	End of side.

Second Interview Session (March 23, 2006): Tapes 2-4

Tape 2/Side 2

00:29:13	Phillip Hellmuth describes being offered an associate deanship at the University Industry Relations (UIR) office.  He talks about the responsibilities of UIR.

00:35:28	A committee in the early 1990s critically surveyed the UIR office under Director Steve Price.  PH became associate dean in 1994; he describes some of his work with UIR.

00:45:38	PH tried to bring in more applications to UIR from the College of Letters & Science.  He talks about some of the most active researchers, for instance from computer sciences and engineering.

00:59:11	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 3/Side 1

00:30:01	Phillip Hellmuth continues to discuss research proposals with which he dealt at the University-Industry Relations (UIR) office.

00:03:10	Researchers in Letters & Science were reluctant to participate in technology transfer.

00:03:22	Relations between the UIR and the physics department.

00:04:50	PH speaks more about the relationship between the UIR office and L&S departments.

00:09:18	He talks about the establishment of research institutes such as the Poverty Institute and the Primate Research Center.

00:12:57	PH describes tensions between UIR and WARF.

00:21:53	Physical facilities at South Hall.

00:29:13	Sit-ins at South Hall.  

00:31:34	End of side.

Tape 3/Side 2

00:31:36	Phillip Hellmuth continues to discuss dangers posed to students and staff at South Hall during the campus protest era.

00:37:10	Sterling Hall bombing.

00:39:57	Robert Doremus.

00:42:10	PH discusses developments regarding academic staff and their role in research.

00:46:15	Collective bargaining.

00:49:18	PH ran for an elected position on the Academic Staff Advisory Committee.

00:54:08	Developing rules for academic staff took two years.

00:58:45	PH served on the committee from 1975 to 1980.  He says the committee received no support from Irving Shain and Edwin Young.

01:01:30	A survey of academic staff.

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

Tape 4/Side 1

00:00:00	Phillip Hellmuth continues to discuss a survey of academic staff on the issue of collective bargaining.  High-ranking university officials construed this survey as a step in favor of collective bargaining.  The results showed 47 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed to collective bargaining, with the remainder undecided.  On every issue there was a strong majority against collective bargaining and for the Regents.

00:02:55	Bob Lampman and faculty fought collective bargaining.

00:04:03	The collective bargaining bill failed to pass the legislature.

00:05:15	Administrators in Bascom Hall modified the next collective bargaining bill.

00:06:22	PH ran for a position on the Academic Staff Governance Committee.  He chaired the committee and describes its accomplishments in governance.

00:21:35	He served three terms in the Faculty Senate.

00:25:27	He served for ten years on the non-resident Tuition Appeals Committee.

00:31:00	End of side.

Tape 4/Side 2

00:31:00	Phillip Hellmuth continues to talk about the non-resident Tuition Appeals Committee.

00:33:52	Athletic Board service.

00:43:13	Decision to retire.

00:47:43	Activities since retirement.

00:56:11	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END