UW System Board of Regents President Andrew Petersen and Vice President Michael Grebe recently replied to the letter PROFS sent outlining concerns about the lack of faculty, staff and students on the UW System President Search and Screen Committee. Their reply is here.
UW, UW System
December Board of Regents Meeting
by Michelle Felber • • 0 Comments

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will meet at UW-Whitewater Thursday and Friday, December 5 and 6. All meetings take place in the James R. Connor University Center, 228 Wyman Mall. Livestream coverage of the full board portions of the meeting is here.
Regents meet in committee Thursday morning:
- The Audit and Business and Finance Committees will meet jointly to discuss the annual external audit and the Legislative Audit Bureau Report on Personnel Systems Recommendations.
- The Audit Committee will hear a presentation on key risks in higher education and discuss the internal audit and internal controls and enterprise risk management.
- The Capital Planning and Budget Committee will hear a presentation from UW-Whitewater on deferred maintenance and consider several capital projects and lease agreements throughout UW System.
- The Research, Economic Development and Innovation Committee will preview the Regent Scholar Grant Program and hear presentations on transforming communities through data and high tech food production.
- The Business and Finance Committee will hear reports on compensation, faculty turnover, operational excellence and trust funds and consider several contractual agreements, including six at UW-Madison.
- The Education Committee will consider several new degree programs and hear reports on UW-Madison enrollment, the Wisconsin Partnership Program, and the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin.
The full board meets Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Thursday, UW System President Ray Cross and UW-Whitewater Chancellor Dwight Watson will speak before the board moves into closed session. Friday, the board will hear a report from Regent President Andrew Petersen, including updates on chancellor searches at UW-Green Bay and UW-Stout and the UW System president search.
PROFS, The state, UW, UW System
Faculty Senate Resolution on UW System President Search Committee
by Michelle Felber • • 0 Comments
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate voted unanimously yesterday to pass a resolution (below) objecting to the composition of the Search and Screen Committee for the new UW System President. The resolution also called for the Board of Regents to add faculty, staff and students to the committee. Similar resolutions have passed at every comprehensive and doctoral campus within UW System.
Regent President Andrew Petersen named members of the search committee in early November, drawing criticism from governance groups and legislators. The letter PROFS sent to Petersen urging him to include governance groups on the committee is here.
PROFS, UW, UW System
December Legislative Update
by Michelle Felber • • 0 Comments
This legislative update was distributed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate meeting today. The senate meets the first Monday of every month at 3:30 pm in Room 272 Bascom Hall during the academic year, October through May, except in January.
The state, UW System
Assembly Democrats Urge Regent President to Add Governance Groups to Search Committee
by Michelle Felber •
Twenty-two Democratic members of the State Assembly sent a letter to Andrew Petersen, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents President, last week urging him to add members to the Search and Screen Committee for the new President of UW System. The committee currently has no representation from faculty and staff and just one student, the non-traditional student Regent.
The letter-signers included every Madison area representative whose district is entirely or mostly in Dane County.
PROFS also contacted Petersen with serious concerns about the composition of the search committee. That letter is here.
PROFS, The state, UW, UW System
Mark Cook Bill Signed Into Law
by Michelle Felber •
Governor Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 38 into law last Thursday, November 21. The legislation, named after the late UW-Madison Animal Science professor Mark Cook, streamlines the process by which University of Wisconsin faculty members can enter into research contracts involving the university and an organization with which the same faculty members are connected.
This bipartisan legislation was a top priority for PROFS and was the result of the work of the PROFS Entrepreneurial Work Group, which was led by Cook before his untimely passing.
UW System President Ray Cross said “This law will help accelerate the critical research UW System does to benefit Wisconsin and the world. We’re grateful to the Legislature and Gov. Evers for their bipartisan support of this new law.”
Thanks to Governor Evers for signing the bill and to Representatives Dave Murphy (R-Greenville) and Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) and Senators Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac) and Fred Risser (D-Madison) for authoring the bill.

