Kyle Seidel

“He continually challenged his staff to think in terms of leadership rather than management. He continually challenged us to think about what we are as a university and where we are today, and then, about where we want to go and what we must do to get there.
He helped create a vision for the future and provided leadership to pursue it. He understood, as I once heard him say, “vision isn’t forecasting the future; it’s creating the future by taking action in the present.”

“A little known trait that he has is an uncanny capability of remembering conversations verbatim that may have taken place years ago – it’s kind of a scary thing.
He’ll use that verbatim, even if it might have been two or three years ago, to prove a point today. You better be careful what you say to him because he will remember it.”

“Once, while playing golf, Dr. Mash walked into a low-hanging tree limb, resulting in a sizable gash on his folliclely challenged head. At a banquet shortly thereafter, he graciously dealt with the expected ribbing about his golf skills and accepted the gift of a construction hard hat to wear on the course in the future.
It was never clear if the hard hat was to protect him from tree limbs or other aspects of his golf game, but that’s another matter altogether.”

“I will always remember how deeply Chancellor Mash cared about students. He always reads and carefully answers all e-mails he receives from students. I remember a time when he read a letter he received from a student to his Executive Staff. The student was thanking the university for the education he had received at UW-Eau Claire.
Halfway through the letter Chancellor Mash was overcome by the letter and had to take a break before he could finish reading the letter.The letter meant a great deal to the Chancellor because it came from a student.

Slideshow – Farewell to Chancellor Mash