[media-credit name=’AJ MACLEAN/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Mary Rouse, former University of Wisconsin Dean of Students and current director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service, announced her retirement this month from the university after working at UW for 38 years.

Rouse, who started as a UW Admissions Counselor in 1967, said the environment at the university has significantly changed in the past decades. During her early years, Rouse noted undergraduate students did not always have opportunities to connect with the Madison community.

“I did not feel students were valued or respected for their brains and talent,” Rouse said.

Rouse added one of the greatest changes she has seen in the past four decades has been the Board of Regents’ mandate to strengthen the undergraduate program at UW.

The university has also come a long way in treating students more as consumers and offering more programs such as orientation for incoming students, she noted. Rouse said UW is now supporting the undergraduate program more than ever before and making “quantum leaps to improve the undergraduate experience.”

Although Rouse said she believes the university has come a long way in diversity, the student body is still not as diverse as it could be.

“No one is going to be able to function well in the universe if they don’t mix with other people,” Rouse said.

Rouse also added she would like to see the graduation rate of UW students increase in the future. She noted there is no reason a student who is smart enough to begin their education at UW should not be able to complete their degree.

“I believe in 100 percent graduation rate,” Rouse said.

In her latest role outside of the university, Rouse has focused on two aspects of public service. Her work at the Morgridge Center helped students develop themselves through volunteer work by providing spring break alternatives such as Big Brother, Big Sister. She also aided students by providing them academic support.

“We support activism of our students … and volunteerism for altruistic reasons,” Rouse said.

Current students are equally active in politics compared to past students; however, today’s students’ political enthusiasm began for different reasons, according to Rouse. She said student’s enthusiasm is likely attributable to their volunteer work because it often develops a student’s passion for a certain cause.

Students become politically active in order to shape the policies they become involved with through volunteer work, she added.

“UW has sent more students to the Peace Corps than any other national college,” Rouse said.

The Morgridge Center supports students academically by providing them with out-of-classroom experience, according to Rouse. She said so far there are 80 service-learning classes offered to UW students.

“The UW can benefit from connecting to the community and the community can benefit from connecting to the UW,” Rouse said.

After retirement Rouse said she will continue to stay active in the Madison area through her work on the Board of the Bicycle Foundation, the Regent Street Market Co-op and the downtown Rotary, where she works to give four-year scholarships to area high school students.

“I am only retiring from UW, not from the Madison community,” Rouse said.