UW System Clipsheet
November 2, 2009
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On Campus
"Hard at work, chancellor breaks for his ceremony," Green Bay Press-Gazette, Oct. 31.
He's been on the job for months, but Thomas Harden finally received a formal welcome to campus Friday when he was inaugurated as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's fifth chancellor...
"Racist graffiti prompts rally," United Press International, Oct. 31.
Students at a Wisconsin university say they are organizing a rally to show they don't agree with an anonymous tagger who left a racist threat on campus. The threat targeting minorities was discovered last Sunday written on a bathroom stall at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Friday. In response, the university will hold activities Monday protesting bigotry...
"Wisconsin UW-River Falls / Campus rally, march to rebuff racial threat," Pioneer Press, Oct. 30.
Threats targeting minorities, written on a bathroom stall, have galvanized a college campus to demonstrate its opposition to racism. Prompted by graffiti found Sunday night that implied violence against Asian and African-American students, University of Wisconsin-River Falls will hold activities Monday protesting bigotry...
"Graffiti sparks fear, action at UW-RF," Republican Eagle, Oct. 30.
...The incident - which university leaders say is being taken as a credible threat - was swiftly denounced by UW-RF administration. Soon after, university officials met with Asian and African-American student groups, and sent out mass e-mails...
"Investigators head off threats from 125 troubled people at UW-Madison campus; program created in wake of tragedies," WisconsinWatch.org, Nov. 2.
Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they defused threats from 125 troubled students, employees and area residents under a little-known program launched two years ago in response to deadly tragedies on college campuses in Virginia and Illinois. But the program didn’t identify at least three individuals before they caused problems at Wisconsin’s flagship campus, including threats against a campus leader, a bomb threat and a murder near campus. The program, called the Threat Assessment Team, has helped keep the campus safe overall, officials say...
"UW faculty bristle at plan for new office to oversee research," Capital Times, Oct. 31.
Hector DeLuca has seen his share of contentious campus issues since arriving at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for graduate school in 1951...But DeLuca says he hasn't seen anything in recent years that has "awakened the faculty" quite like the current debate over a proposal by the university administration to create a new office separate from the Graduate School that would manage the university's $900 million in research projects...
"Biotech group places dollar value on university-driven research," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct. 30.
As the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee invests in facilities to drive innovation and economic growth in the region, the leading biotechnology trade group in the U.S. this week put a dollar figure on the value of university-driven research. The Biotechnology Industry Organization, in what it calls a first-of-its-kind study, said that U.S. economic output grew $187 billion from 1996-2007 through university technology license agreements alone...
"Alzheimer's Association chapter wins UW grant," Business Journal of Milwaukee, Oct. 30.
The Southeastern Wisconsin chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association in Milwaukee has been awarded a $126,000 grant over five years from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute (WAI)...
"UW-Barron County sees increasing enrollment," Leader-Telegram, Nov. 1.
Enrollment at UW-Barron County in Rice Lake is at a record, up 8 percent from a year ago, part of a national trend of growth at two-year colleges. Paul Chase, dean and campus executive officer, said 678 students are enrolled this fall, up from 624 in fall 2008. The number of full-time-equivalent students rose from 383 to 412, he added...
"UW-Oshkosh commemorates fall of the Berlin Wall," Oshkosh Northwestern, Nov. 1.
...On Monday, Nov. 9, Alberts and Hohbein-Deegen — now both faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh — will share their experiences as the campus commemorates the 20th anniversary of the historic event with a daylong series of presentations and exhibitions...
State
"Wisconsin Covenant to provide $1,500 grants to needy students," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct. 30.
As many as 6,000 students from low-income families who graduate from high school in 2011 will be eligible for $1,500 college grants under the Wisconsin Covenant, Gov. Jim Doyle announced Friday...
"White House reports that stimulus created over saved more than 10,000 jobs in Wisconsin," Associated Press, Oct. 30.
The White House is reporting that the federal stimulus created or saved more than 10,000 jobs in Wisconsin...The state and University of Wisconsin previously reported about 8,400 jobs were created or saved. The additional jobs were from businesses, contractors, local governments and nonprofit groups and universities other than UW...
"Gov. Doyle meets with high school juniors about Covenant," WKOW-TV, Oct. 30.
...Part of that promise is now coming true. Governor Doyle announced $1500 grants that will be made available for students from low-income families who complete the goals of the Covenant. The money will come from a private endowment by the Wisconsin Covenant Foundation, which currently totals $40 million...
"Economic recovery linked to jobs requiring technical training," Herald-Times Reporter, Nov. 1.
More than 426,000 "middle-skill" job openings — those that require more than a high school diploma, but less than a four-year degree — are projected for the state of Wisconsin by 2016, according to a study released recently by The Workforce Alliance and the Skills2Compete-Wisconsin campaign. To unleash the economic benefits of these openings, the report says Wisconsin needs to continue to invest in proper training and education...
National
"At public universities: Less for more," New York Times, Oct, 26.
...While U.C.L.A.’s money woes are extreme, they are familiar to many flagship universities. The University of Arizona, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Florida are among many that are scrambling because states are kicking in shrinking portions of their budgets. In this particularly hard year, in which university endowments have been hammered along with state coffers, federal stimulus money has helped most avoid worst-case scenarios...This fall, flagships still had to cut costs and raise tuition, most by 6.5 percent or more. And virtually all of the nation’s top public universities are likely to push through large increases in coming years...
"The whole applicant," New York Times, Oct. 26.
...Across the country, selective public colleges and universities are taking a page from their private counterparts and implementing what is commonly called a holistic or comprehensive admissions process. The trend is partly a function of rising application numbers at sought-after publics, which is a result, in turn, of the climbing cost of private higher education and a peaking population of high school seniors...
"23 private college presidents made more than $1 million," New York Times, Nov. 2.
The presidents of the nation’s major private research universities were paid a median compensation of $627,750 in the 2007-8 fiscal year — a 5.5 percent increase from the previous year — according to The Chronicle of Higher Education annual executive compensation survey...
"Paychecks top more than $1-million for 23 private-college presidents," Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 2.
...Ms. Jackson joins 22 other private-college presidents with compensation above $1-million, according to an annual survey of the compensation packages of private-college chiefs (a companion survey of public-college presidents will be released in January). A total of 110 presidents of the 419 private colleges included in the analysis reported total compensation of more than $500,000...Salary increases have probably leveled off since then, with some presidents even taking pay cuts this year. More college leaders could see their compensation dip next year, according to a recent survey of 259 private colleges by Yaffe&Company, a consulting firm specializing in executive compensation...
"23 college presidents make more than $1 million," USA Today, Nov. 2.
Presidents of 23 private, non-profit colleges and universities each earned more than $1 million in total compensation in 2007-08, and Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., tops the list at nearly $1.6 million, says a report published today in the Chronicle of Higher Education...
"Ex-president of GWU leads in pay survey," Washington Post, Nov. 2.
Former George Washington University president Stephen J. Trachtenberg received $3.7 million in pay and benefits in 2007-08, $2 million more than the total compensation that year for any other current or former leader in private higher education in the United States, according to a survey of executive pay released Monday. Compensation for presidents of private colleges and universities rose 6.5 percent in 2007-08, to a median of $358,746, according to an annual survey of 419 institutions by the Chronicle of Higher Education...
"More college presidents get million-plus," Wall Street Journal, Nov. 2.
The presidents of 23 private colleges received compensation topping $1 million in 2007-2008, nearly double the number of the prior year, according to a new survey...Presidents of large private research universities, which are generally more complex, have bigger budgets and major graduate and professional programs, were paid a median $627,750, up 15.5%...
"Ranks of millionaire college presidents up again," Associated Press, Nov. 2.
The fast-growing group of millionaire private college and university presidents hit a new record in recent years, and it's likely more college leaders will make seven-figure salaries once the slumping economy rebounds...
"Many colleges spend big to keep former campus officials on payrolls," Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 1.
Private-college presidents often have company at the top of the pay scale, including law-school deans, coaches, and medical-center staff. But another group of employees may also join them among the highest-paid on campus: former officials...
"College enrollment hits record, mostly thanks to 2-year schools," USA Today, Oct. 30.
"The R.O.T.C. dilemma," New York Times, Oct. 26.
...Harvard has not had a Reserve Officers Training Corps program on campus since antiwar protests in the 1960s shut it down. The handful of Harvard students determined enough to join R.O.T.C. must travel to Boston University and across Cambridge to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their training, under a system developed by the military that allows host universities to serve nearby campuses...
"Close the gap between the liberal arts and career services," Column, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 1.
Recent economic events have forced colleges and universities to streamline their academic offerings congruent with a more pragmatic cost-benefit approach, usually at the expense of their liberal-arts programs...Traditional reasoning about the enrichment of the "student as future citizen" can only go so far when parents who pay the tuition or students taking the courses can't see a bottom line in the form of a lucrative job after graduation. Reducing the liberal arts' enrollment problems to a lack of career development is simplistic, and no silver bullet exists...
"Insult to injury," Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 2.
Already wounded by budget reductions that came in July and before, college leaders are now scrambling to squeeze even more from coffers, daunted by the real expectation that there are further cuts still to come. With the academic year in full swing, 26 states have now seen budget shortfalls that total $16 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Adding the initial and midyear budget shortfalls together, the collective budget gaps in 48 states total $178 billion or 26 percent of state budgets -- the largest gaps on record, the center reports...
"Retention matters," Column, Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 2.
...The clear challenge is to hold costs in higher education...Institutions need to look within first -- and retention is the place to start. Out of approximately 2.8 million first-year college students each year, more than 450,000 do not return to the college or university they started with for their second year, according to 2008 statistics. In other words, 25 percent of first-year students do not return to the institution where they began their college career. What other industry do we know that successfully recruits 25 percent new clients each year, plans for an average loss of 25 percent of those new clients, and accepts this as business as usual? Significant improvement in the retention of current clients is the low-hanging fruit of revenue increases for colleges and universities...