UW System Clipsheet

"Lower UW pay raises are requested," Associated Press, Nov. 29.

University of Wisconsin System president Kevin Reilly has halved his recommendation for faculty pay raises because of the growing financial strains on the state government...

"UW System announces money-saving measures," Daily Cardinal, Dec. 1.

With Wisconsin facing a $5.4 billion budget deficit, the UW System will be forced to economize, and university officials announced last week measures to save money and cut spending. One of these measures will be to shrink UW faculty and staff pay raises, according to UW System President Kevin Reilly...

"UW System scales back pay recommendation," Daily Kenoshan, Nov. 28.

...This year, university leaders must submit that recommendation amidst unprecedented economic turbulence, while important questions about an anticipated budget deficit remain unanswered. UW System President Kevin P. Reilly today released his recommendation for the 2009-11 pay plan, scaling back by more than half a long-range plan to bring Wisconsin salaries in line with those offered by competing colleges and universities...

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"UW System president makes pay recommendation for faculty," WISC-TV, Nov. 28.

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly on Friday announced his recommendation for 2.5 percent annual pay raises for academic faculty and staff, but many professors said that increase falls too short...

"UWS, UW System respond to state budget shortfall," Superior Telegram, Nov. 29.

As students prepare for final exams at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, faculty and staff will prepare for a test of its own: Maintaining the university’s commitment to education as Wisconsin faces a $5.4 billion budget shortfall. Chancellor Julius Erlenbach scheduled a campus-wide summit to discuss the state’s budget Dec. 10. The goal of the summit is to figure out how the university can continue to put education first while responding to state belt-tightening...

"University administrators explore cost-cutting options," Wisconsin Public Radio, Nov. 28.

The UW System is looking for ways to save money. This involves restricting travel for faculty, and could include letting some students earn a degree in three years, and possibly cutting some programs...

"University committee to see new leadership," Badger Herald, Dec. 1.

With control of the state Assembly now favoring Wisconsin Democrats, all committees — including the one most closely tied to the University of Wisconsin’s fate — will see new leadership. According to Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, who sits on the Colleges and Universities Committee, the speaker will appoint a new committee chair within the next two weeks. “The new chair will be someone who is familiar with the university system and is very supportive of the university,” Black said...

"UWSP will prevail through tough economic times," Column, Stevens Point Journal, Nov. 28.

...These days of uncertainty that affect each of us at home also pose an array of challenges to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Our concern is intensified because we know that our ability to produce a well-educated professional workforce is vital to the long-term economic stability of our community, our region and the nation...(Author: Linda Bunnell, Chancellor, UW-Stevens Point).

"UW-Stout starts process to deal with budget crisis," Column, Leader-Telegram, Nov. 28.

...It will be a few weeks until we know what effect the state's massive budget deficit will have on UW-Stout and Wisconsin's other public universities. But we already have put in operation our procedures for handling this "crisis," as Gov. Jim Doyle called it...(Author: Charles Sorenson, Chancellor, UW-Stout).

"University of Wisconsin Marathon County students not as debt-ridden," Wausau Daily Herald, Nov. 30.

As a full-time student at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County, Cheng Le of Wausau makes sacrifices to keep his finances in order. While University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point students took on more debt last year, students at two-year colleges save money by completing their general education requirements before transferring to a four-year college...

"UVM dean a finalist for Wisconsin position," Burlington Free Press, Nov. 29.

The dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Vermont is a finalist to become chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay...

"James Huff Stout inducted into Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame," Dunn County News, Nov. 28.

James Huff Stout, founder of the Stout Manual Training School in 1891 — now the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University — was among the first group of individuals to be inducted into the recently-created Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame. Ten individuals received the inaugural honor posthumously Nov. 6...

"Ahead of the Bell: European stem cell patent ban," Associated Press, Nov. 28.

European patent regulators have confirmed an earlier decision that inventions that use or destroy human embryos can't be patented, turning down a patent application by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's research arm...

"European agency rules against stem cell patents," Reuters, Nov. 29.

European regulators on Thursday ruled against allowing a patent on developing human embryonic stem cells, a decision that could stifle research by stem cell companies for commercial purposes...

"Fire Leckrone if hazing continues," Editorial, Wisconsin State Journal, Nov. 29.

It's time to put director Mike Leckrone and his UW Marching Band on notice. Either Leckrone gets the band to stop the senseless, repulsive hazing of younger members, or UW officials replace Lekrone with somone who can...

"Q&A, video: The governor in his own words," Green Bay Press-Gazette, Nov. 30.

For the first three quarters of this year, the state of Wisconsin seemed to be in comfortable fiscal shape following passage of a budget repair bill in March — and then came the meltdown, Gov. Jim Doyle said last week..."I do believe very strongly that we should not cut the schools in a way that does harm to our educational system...That doesn't mean the schools are going to get everything they want or everything that I would like to give them. They're going to have to be part of this, but it can't be in a way that harms the education our kids are getting...

"College students not getting enough financial aid forced to drop out," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec. 1.

...This perfect storm of economic circumstances has caused Gustafson and her parents to decide she's dropping out after her first semester. She'll come home, work two jobs and attend a local technical college when she can afford it. While enrollment at many colleges appears to be holding steady, some administrators are preparing for a coming wave of students like Gustafson...

"Milwaukee 7 looking past downturn to viable clusters," Column, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 29.

...Having helped to start companies and having watched the entrepreneurial boom in Dane County, I've become more convinced that Wisconsin has to grow its own companies, small and large. The 115 new companies in the University Research Park in Middleton have created more than 4,000 jobs. With less fanfare, the Milwaukee Technology and Innovation Center has filled to 85% and probably is in need of expansion. The proposed Innovation Campus for the new engineering school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee could fill that need...

"Is State of Wisconsin's energy conservation spending paying off?," Wisconsin State Journal, Nov. 28.

When night falls on the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Chamberlin Hall, administrators can't save energy by turning off the air units that heat, cool and ventilate the building — they're afraid the aging units might not reliably switch back on in the morning. But a project now in planning will replace those units with more efficient models that will help cut energy use in the physics department hall by an estimated 67 percent — saving a projected $900,000 a year in a single building. In the face of tight budgets and rising energy costs, the state is spending borrowed money now to seek long-term savings on gas and electricity used by its vast system of buildings around Wisconsin...

"College president fights campus binge-drinking," USA Today, Nov. 27.

...But tonight, at least, Grove won't be calling Frostburg State President Jonathan Gibralter to inform him of a student fatality. This may be what winning looks like in the battle against destructive binge-drinking on college campuses. "I don't have any arrogance about this," said Gibralter, whose anti-binge-drinking efforts have attracted attention beyond Frostburg's 5,200-student campus in far-western Maryland. "I don't feel I have the answers. All I can say is we're trying the best we can. We may be only one party away from a disaster"...

"Going off to college for less (passport required)," New York Times, Dec. 1.

...With higher education fast becoming a global commodity, universities worldwide — many of them in Canada and England — are competing for the same pool of affluent, well-qualified students, and more American students are heading overseas not just for a semester abroad, but for their full degree program...

"Why stem cell companies in Wisconsin and beyond will finally catch the eye of investors," Column, Wisconsin Technology Network, Nov. 26.

...Today, the picture has changed. President-elect Barack Obama is all but certain to repeal Bush's order once he moves into the White House in January. That will make it possible for the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies to fund merit-based research involving stem cells produced from new lines or techniques. That will enable U.S. researchers to begin the job of catching up to their colleagues around the world, who are surging ahead in nations ranging from the United Kingdom to South Korea, and from Australia to Singapore...

"Colleges are not going hungry, but are in need," New York Times, Nov. 28.

In a more normal year, the alumni fund-raising plea that turns up in the mail right about now seems perfectly in tune as the day for thanks gives way to a month of giving. But this year is different. Huge numbers of people have lost their homes to foreclosure. Unemployment is on the rise. And a good chunk of the United States automobile industry could wither away within months, taking hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs with it...

"Changing the tuition discussion," Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 1.

If tuition policy is a vexed question in normal budget years for public universities, it will be especially challenging to discuss public policy on the subject this year. States are facing record deficits and many public colleges are seeing enrollment and application increases — a formula that could combine to create large, unpopular tuition increases. In this environment, the leaders of a national association of public universities hope to shift the debate -- calling for better information about what really is going on with college costs, and also urging colleges to consider some potentially radical ways to control their costs...

"Asleep at the desk: Undergrad education gets a boost," Ars Technica, Nov. 30.

...The University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of many poster children for teaching woes at large universities. With nearly 30,000 undergraduates, introductory classes can be staggeringly large, a situation that does little to facilitate valuable student-instructor interaction. Hoping to chip away at the problem, four professors at Wisconsin started the Teaching Fellows Program in 2003 to prepare graduate students for their teaching appointments in the sciences. The program, though small, has been successful enough to warrant publication in the Friday edition of the journal Science...