The state, UW, UW System

February Board of Regents Meeting

by  • 

uw system logoThe University of Wisconsin-Madison will host the UW System Board of Regents today and tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, February 4 and 5. All meetings will take place in Varsity Hall in Union South, 1308 West Dayton Street. Livestream coverage of the meeting is available here.

The regents meet in committee Thursday morning, and the full board meets Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank will address the regents at 1:15 pm, followed by a board discussion of the 2015-17 biennial budget proposal.

The Education Committee will discuss sabbatical guidelines for 2016-18 and hear a report from UW-Madison Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf on educational updates. On Friday, the committee, along with all regents, will discuss the engineering needs in the state, including a proposal to create new engineering programs in northwestern Wisconsin.

The Business and Finance Committee will hear the 2014 Finance Report, the 2014 Annual Trust Funds Report, and the Information Technology Report.

The Capital Planning and Budget Committee will hear presentations from UW-Madison and UW-Parkside on their respective campus master plans.

The Research, Economic Development, and Innovation Committee will hear updates on UW-Madison’s research enterprise and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation partnership.

On Friday, the regents will hear several reports, including UW-Madison’s NCAA Division I Athletics Report. UW-Madison professor Erik Brodt will receive a 2015 Board of Regents Diversity Award.

The state, UW

Elimination of the Wisconsin Idea?

by  • 

AB 21, Governor Scott Walker’s 2015-17 biennial budget proposal, contains language that seems to eliminate the Wisconsin Idea from state statutes (Section IIII below):

Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download

Full changes to Chapter 36 are here:

Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download

PROFS is deeply concerned about these changes and their potentially devastating side effects and will strongly advocate for restoring UW’s statutory commitment to the Wisconsin Idea.

ETA: A spokesperson for Governor Scott Walker said this afternoon the change in UW System’s statutory mission statement was a drafting error.

The state, UW, UW System

UW System Budget Cuts Discussed on NPR’s Morning Edition

by  • 

Governor Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million budget cut to UW System was a featured topic on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition today.

Click the link below to play. A transcript of the story is here.

 

20150203_me_wis_budget_proposa     

 

Faculty Senate, The state, UW, UW System

Walker to Deliver Budget Address Tonight

by  • 

Governor Scott Walker will introduce his 2015-17 biennial budget at 7 pm tonight. WisconsinEye, Wisconsin Public Radio, and Wisconsin Public Television will stream audio and video of the address.

The governor announced last week his budget will include a record $300 million cut to UW System and $1.3 billion in borrowing for transportation, but additional details are scant.

The Faculty Senate voted unanimously yesterday to support a resolution opposed to the funding cuts. A position on possible management flexibilities was not taken as those details will not be released until tonight.

PROFS will lobby hard in the coming weeks to reduce the size of the cut to UW System. The state faces a projected $2.2 billion shortfall in the biennial budget if state agency requests are fully funded, forcing legislators to decide how to prioritize budget requests. The first public hearings on the budget are expected next month, while the entire process is likely to continue through June.

The state, UW, UW System

Response to Governor Walker’s Call for Faculty to Teach More

by  • 

Governor Scott Walker suggested yesterday that University of Wisconsin System faculty could teach more in an effort to offset his proposed $300 million budget cut.

Walker’s comments, which also implied shared governance and faculty participation in decision-making have hindered cost-effectiveness, were made to Milwaukee radio host Charlie Sykes. Remarks about UW System begin at 12 minutes.

https://soundcloud.com/journal-broadcast-group/gov-walker-talks-bucks-arena-on-midday-with-charlie-sykes

 

Response from UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and UW System President Ray Cross was swift. Cross told Wisconsin Public Radio host Joy Cardin that faculty work on average 50-60 hours per week (18 minutes):

 

 

Chancellor Blank said that teaching is just part of the work faculty perform for the benefit of the state:

“Teaching is a core mission of the university and taxpayers should expect that faculty are spending time in the classroom. But we know that our faculty are working on behalf of the state in research, outreach and fundraising, among other capacities.”

PROFS President Grant Petty told the Wisconsin State Journal a professor’s job is much more than time spent in the classroom, likening it to the work of clergy:

“As Governor Walker knows from his own family background, a pastor’s job doesn’t start and stop with the Sunday sermon. The same is true of university professors and the classroom.”

Petty also noted that faculty are responsible for more than just undergraduate education, including graduate student teaching and advising, research and publication, continuing education, and outreach:

“I was not able to tell from the governor’s statement which of these things he thought we should do less of to make room for more of something else.”