Campus ’empire builder’ retires

One of Bruce Braun’s first projects after he retires June 30 will be to help his son-in-law build a shed in his back yard.

It hardly seems like a major task for the retiring assistant vice chancellor for facilities, planning and management, who oversees what Braun calls a “vast empire” of buildings and equipment, likely valued at more than $5 billion.

“It’s time for someone who is younger and has more energy to step in,” says Braun. “I want to do some personal projects and travel while I am still young enough.”

Braun came to UW–Madison in 1995 with 30 years of government service already under his belt, including various jobs in the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Administration, as well as two years as the associate vice president of physical planning and development at UW System.

Braun says speaking out against bad policy decisions was what kept him and many others in his generation of government administrators on the move.

“That’s why people like me, [Vice Chancellor] John Torphy and [former facilities, planning and management administrator] Mike Lovejoy bounced around state government so much.” Braun says. “I think between the three of us, we covered every major state agency. There are not too many of us old hands around anymore.”

Through the years, Braun says he has watched the process of building and renovating state facilities become more difficult.

When he first started working in state government, Wisconsin had a part-time Legislature and two-year terms for the governor. But Braun says Wisconsin’s modern state government, with a primarily full-time Legislature and powerful executive branch, has placed many more controls on entities like the university system.

“These days, you can’t build anything bigger than a doghouse without saying “Mother, may I?’ to several layers of state bureaucracy,” Braun says. “I had to become a master at working the bureaucracy.”

These days, the university must get approval from the state Division of Facilities Development for projects costing more than $30,000. Projects costing more than $100,000 require state Building Commission approval, and anything more than $500,000 requires legislative approval.

“You can hardly paint a classroom for less than $30,000 anymore,” Braun says.

For all the frustrations of dealing with Wisconsin’s system of government, Braun is proud of the more than $1 billion in construction projects he has overseen, especially the new Chemistry Building that opened in fall 2000.

“When I came to the university, that project had already been declared dead and we were able to resurrect it,” Braun says. “It felt good to get a major academic facility built, along with successes in non-academic projects like the Kohl Center and utility upgrades.”

He also points to the partnership between the university and Madison Gas and Electric Co. that will put a new co-generation power plant on campus. The plant will be designed to supply energy to the community, and boost heat and air conditioning for campus buildings.

Braun even helped create a nonprofit real estate development corporation of citizens and officials who plan developments and may develop more joint ventures like the co-gen plant.

“Joint ventures with private partners make sense for us at this time.” Braun says. “They help us complete projects that would be almost impossible when left solely to the current state process and they bring other resources to the table.”

Braun says dealing with government red tape will continue to be a frustration for his successor. John Harrod, physical plant director, will become the interim assistant vice chancellor.

“We already have a lot of projects in the works, which is good because with the state’s structural deficit and state debt concerns, getting either reduced controls or additional capital resources will be challenging,” Braun says.

Braun is willing to consult on future university projects, if he is needed. But for now, the building project to which he plans to give his immediate attention is his son-in-law’s shed.