Craig Beytien is the Corporate Relations Executive Director at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He develops and advances collaborations between industry and the university. Prior to joining UW-Platteville last fall he spent more than 20 years in higher education publishing, content development and educational technology.
“Coming into an educational environment like UW-Platteville was not a culture shock. The difference is I’m in the inside and not the outside looking in. I have a different perspective now,” Beytien said. “I come to work excited every day because I see the potential of connecting industry and education.”
Beytien notes his favorite part of his position is working with his colleagues. “I have a really amazing team. I’ve been able to work with a number of people across the departments,” he said. “They believe in what they are doing and have a passion for what they are doing. I share that passion. We are all trying to do the best we can to help support the students and our community.”
You joined the UW-Platteville Corporate Relations Department in October 2019. How has your experience been so far and what are your goals for the department?
It’s been very enjoyable and enlightening. It’s always a challenge coming into a new environment and getting acquired with all the personalities. The corporate relations department when I came in was a little under two years old. I think in many respects it was still at an ancient stage of development.
My challenge was to assess our capacity and build an appropriately scaled strategy to align with the university’s strategic plan.
Corporate Relations plays a pivotal role in helping to establish, maintain and manage the relationships that exist between corporate partners, industry and our campus. We often play the role of concierge to ensure when individual companies come to campus or express interest, we can provide them a pathway. Ensuring they’re interfacing all of the stakeholders who can help them with their recruiting, access to students and influence programs. Outreach is also a critical component of our charter. Ultimately, we provide a critical lifeline that helps companies connect with us and we with them. In terms of goals, to provide unique ways and in some cases out of the box ways in facilitating that.
Partnerships and sponsorships make an impact in the lives of UW-Platteville students, but also the communities throughout the Southwest Wisconsin region. What are the challenges and rewards of creating partnership opportunities?
There has to be mutual interest. It is very much finding ways to define and understand what the needs of the companies are and align them to our strengths and capacity. If we can do an effective job of understanding the workforce needs and education needs, we are doing more than serving the community, we are building capacity of competency that could invoke employment, increasing population and retaining students in our region. We are a very important part of the entire community, education and corporation ecosystem. If we do our jobs well, educate students to be ready for the workforce, they enter a job in the region and then they support the community at large; everybody wins.
What do you wish more people knew about corporate relations?
We are an integral part of the ecosystem. We add a layer of engagement that complements the efforts of alumni relations and other academic/industry relationships. I think it enhances our value proposition in the community. I think we’ve begun to communicate our value both internally and externally. Each and every day we seek to show our value and provide value to the campus and community at large.
What do you hope students take away from corporate partnership opportunities such as career fairs and industry day events?
I want every student to recognize we are simply here to help them identify their career path. I think about every prospective student who walks into Ullsvik Hall and who goes on a tour of campus. I think about their parents. Ultimately, it’s about the return on investment. I want students to recognize our efforts to engage them with industry.
We talk a lot about the values and stewardship of the leadership at UW-Platteville. They are invested in the corporate relations department. Look at our success of how many of our students are receiving job offers after participating in a co-op, internship or are receiving scholarships. It’s a testament to leadership who believes whole-heartedly in bringing industry in and engaging students and programming.
What are your interests outside of campus?
I’m a semi-professional magician. I been doing magic since I’ve been 7-years-old. I think every child at one time or another does a magic trick, but for some of us it becomes a life-long obsession. I also build and have created original magic. I’m also a bit of a carpenter so I like to build things. And of course, spending time with my family.