UW System Clipsheet

July 1, 2009

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UW System

"Doyle's veto hasn't solved UW union controversy," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 30.

Gov. Jim Doyle used his veto pen this week to weigh in on a dispute over whether some University of Wisconsin System staff can be absorbed - without an opportunity to vote - into existing labor unions. But on Tuesday it appeared the issue may not be decided until it is sorted out before a state regulatory panel and, possibly, in the courts. Under a provision inserted into the budget, roughly 4,000 currently unrepresented academic staffers at UW campuses could have been reassigned into the unions without a vote on the matter, state officials said last week. Doyle struck that provision Monday in his budget vetoes...

"New right to unionize bothers many in University of Wisconsin System," Wisconsin State Journal, June 30. 

The new right to unionize for University of Wisconsin System faculty and staff has set the stage for a fight at the state level, as thousands of System employees could get assigned into specific unions without getting a chance to vote. Several unions say they plan to petition a state agency to bring some 4,000 to 5,000 academic staff into their folds; whether they want to or not. Some academic staff -- employees like librarians, advisers, financial aid officers, researchers and many others -- say they should have a voice on whether to join a union, a concern shared by the System...

"20,000 University of Wisconsin faculty gain bargaining rights," AFL-CIO Now, Blog, June 30.

More than 20,000 faculty members at two midwestern universities are one step closer to good union contracts. Yesterday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed the state's biennial budget, which includes a provision extending collective bargaining rights to more than 20,000 University of Wisconsin (UW) faculty, academic staff and research assistants. The same day, some 430 instructors and adjunct faculty at Western Michigan University (WMU) voted for the Professional Instructors Organization (PIO), an AFT affiliate, to represent them...

On Campus

"UWSP meets students' needs despite economy," Column, Stevens Point Journal, June 26.

The life of a university brings a steady parade of opportunities, often influenced by a similarly constant array of challenges. During this trying economic downturn, we must sharpen our focus on the future of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. We cannot lay low and wait for the storm to pass. We must plan for our future and wisely invest our resources, from our facilities and dollars to the incredible talents of our faculty and staff...(Author: UW-Stevens Point Interim Chancellor Mark Nook)...

"UW picks 5 research themes for institute," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 30.

University of Wisconsin-Madison officials ended months of intense competition Tuesday by announcing the five core ideas that researchers are to pursue in the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, to be completed in December 2010...

"Five scientists picked for Wisconsin Institute for Discovery," Wisconsin State Journal, July 1.

Computer models to outsmart viruses and scaffolds on which stem cells can grow are among five topics picked for the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, the public part of a public-private research building going up on the 1300 block of University Avenue. UW-Madison on Tuesday announced the five scientists selected to lead work in the public institute, to open in December 2010. They are among 26 faculty who applied...

"College program for poor families expands to second UW campus," Wisconsin Public Radio, July 1.

A program aimed at getting kids from low-income families interested in college is expanding. The program exposes kids to college life and mentors them in the hopes they'll return someday as university freshmen. The Phuture Phoenix program began at UW-Green Bay. Now a similar program is being worked up at UW-Eau Claire. That one will be called Blue Gold Beginnings...

"Freshmen sign up for roommate roulette; colleges play match game," Wisconsin State Journal, July 1.

...This summer, incoming college freshmen will learn the name of the person with whom they will spend nine months living in a roughly 15-foot by 10-foot dorm room...The inexact science of matchmaking differs from school to school...But at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which houses almost 7,000 students every year, a student’s fate is left up to a computer program. The same is true for UW-Milwaukee, UW-Platteville, and UW-Whitewater...

"Support smart Picnic Point plan," Editorial, Wisconsin State Journal, June 30.

Help people get to where they want to go on Picnic Point so they don't go where they shouldn't. That's the smart strategy UW-Madison is proposing for the cherished peninsula that curves nearly a mile into Lake Mendota. The public should support the Picnic Point improvement plan and thank the Ebling Charitable Trust for covering the estimated $750,000 expense...

"UW-Parkside honors alumni," Journal Times, June 30.

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside recently honored Dr. Michael Mullane and businessman Victor Misurelli with outstanding alumni awards...

"UW-Parkside hosts Environmental Survival Challenge July 6-17," Journal Times, June 30.

The Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside will host the 2009 Environmental Survival Challenge...The Environmental Survival Challenge is an eco-science service-learning experience developed in 2008 for schools in Milwaukee and western Racine counties by the Southeastern Wisconsin Service-Learning Consortium...

"KT the magnificent: An interview with Kathleen T. Horning," School Library Journal, July 1.

It's been a heck of a year for Kathleen T. Horning. In January, Horning (known affectionately to friends and colleagues as K. T.) was tapped to deliver the 2010 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, joining a list of past presenters that includes children's book greats Maurice Sendak, Philip Pullman, and Kevin Henkes, a friend and fellow resident of Madison, WI...In 2002, she succeeded her mentor, Ginny Moore Kruse, as director of the University of Wisconsin's Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC), the special collection and research library where Horning began working as a student nearly 30 years ago...

State

"Illegal immigrants now eligible for in-state tuition," Kenosha News, June 30.

Illegal immigrant students who intend to or are already attending state universities will be able to pay the same in-state tuition as Wisconsin residents as part of a provision included in the biennial budget signed by Gov. Jim Doyle Monday. While the in-state tuition measure remained in the budget, a provision that would allow illegal immigrants access to a special driver card in lieu of a regular license was not part of the final budget deal...

"Some budget gains for immigrants," Wisconsin Radio Network, June 30.

Children of parents in this country illegally will be able to pay in state UW tuition, under a provision of the budget signed by Governor Jim Doyle Monday...And it's a benefit to the state as a whole, as part of a broader strategy to make education more accessible. But there's disappointment among immigrants and supporters that the controversial issue of driving cards did not make it into the budget...

"AP analysis: Many promises broken in Wisconsin budget process," Associated Press, July 1.

Many promises were made and broken during the nearly five-month process of passing Wisconsin's new two-year budget. Gov. Jim Doyle said the middle class would be protected while he and fellow Democrats in charge of the Legislature figured out how to solve a $6.6 billion budget shortfall, the largest in Wisconsin history...All of the promises sounded good, but most didn't come true. Here's a look at some that did, and some that didn't...

"Marquette wins $900,000 grant to train teachers in science, engineering, math," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 30.

Marquette University has won a $900,000 National Science Foundation grant to recruit and educate 24 students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math - an academic grouping known as STEM - to become K-12 math and science teachers. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program provides funds to colleges and universities to pay for scholarships, stipends and academic programs for undergraduate STEM majors who commit to teaching math and science in high-need school districts. The funding, which started June 1, was awarded as a competitive grant from the federal economic stimulus package...

National

"Lenders and guarantors offer alternatives to President's loan-overhaul plan," Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1.

With Congress poised to take up legislation to overhaul the student-loan system as early as next week, lenders and guarantors are furiously circulating alternatives to President Obama’s plan to end bank-based lending. Some of the proposals would preserve a role for banks and other lenders in issuing student loans; others would carve out a place for nonprofit lenders and guarantors in a direct-loan system...(paid subscription required)

"Assessing accountability," Inside Higher Ed, July 1.

Most states don't have systems in place to measure college students' learning outcomes, and rare is the state that actually uses accountability data to drive policy decisions, a new report says. Education Sector, a think tank promoting education reform, analyzed accountability systems across the nation and found varied results in its report, "Ready to Assemble: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems." The group’s survey determined that 38 states have little if any system for measuring learning outcomes, adding that 36 states have yet to develop a method for linking college funding to performance...

"What is a master's degree worth?," Blog, New York Times, June 30.

...How do students know if a graduate education is worth it or not? What degrees are worth getting, and which are not? How does a student weigh the risks and benefits gain a higher education degree?...

"Community colleges see demand spike, funding slip," Washington Post, July 1.

Hundreds of thousands of students are likely to be turned away from low-cost community colleges across the country over the next year because of funding cuts at the very time that record numbers of students are flocking to the open-admission schools, according to education officials. The Obama administration is promising to help the country's almost 1,200 community colleges, which educate about 12 million students, or 44 percent of all undergraduates, including the majority of blacks and Hispanics. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently said that the administration was working on a plan that would allow as many as 5 million more students or laid-off workers to attend the schools, which are at the fore of retraining efforts...

"Paying college tuition with credit card gets costlier," USA Today, July 1.

Across the nation, a growing number of universities are making it harder -- and costlier -- for students to use credit cards...When students use a credit card, institutions have to pay an average of 2% to process the transaction, according to Nilson Report, a payment systems newsletter. Traditionally, colleges have borne these costs themselves. But they're increasingly rethinking these policies -- and passing costs along to students -- amid the difficult economy...

"New tool compares scholars' research strengths," Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1.

...Google Scholar, Reuters Thomson's citation indices, and Springer's AuthorMapper -- those are just a few of the products that claim to reveal which scholars and departments are having the most impact on their fields. Now status-conscious researchers (and their department chairs and deans) have a new tool to obsess over. This week the scholarly publisher Elsevier unveiled SciVal Spotlight, an online service that attempts to uncover universities' strengths and weaknesses in no fewer than 80,000 areas of research...(paid subscription required)