The Senate Committee on Universities, Technical Colleges, Children and Families held a public hearing on Wednesday, December 4.  The Committee heard the following bills relating to UW System:

  • SB 497– recognizing teaching hours for providing certain extension services of the UW System
  • SB 537– veteran-related tuition grants
  • SB 228– Marquette University School of Dentistry rural scholarship program

The State Building Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday, December 12, 2019 starting at 9:30 a.m. See the attached meeting notice for more details. The agenda for this meeting is available on the DFDM website. 

 

The Senate Committee on Universities, Technical Colleges, Children and Families will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, December 4 starting at 9:30 a.m. The Committee will hear the following bills relating to UW System:

  • SB 497– recognizing teaching hours for providing certain extension services of the UW System
  • SB 537– veteran-related tuition grants
  • SB 228– Marquette University School of Dentistry rural scholarship program

See the public hearing notice for more information.

The Assembly Committee on Government Accountability and Oversight will hold an Executive Session on Wednesday, December 4 starting at 10:00 am. The committee will consider the following bill relating to UW System:

  • AB 370– state debt guaranties; delegations by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System; organizations affiliated with the UW System; and standards of conduct for certain UW System employees

UW System President Ray Cross testified in opposition of this bill at the public hearing. View testimony documents here.

See the Executive Session notice for more information

 

Are you interested in learning how state education policies stand throughout the Unites States? The Education Commission of the States has a resource that tracks education policy on a wide variety of education topics including enacted and vetoed bills, state education policy watch list, and an archive of state policy tracking for the 1996 through 2016 legislative sessions. Visit the State Education Policy Tracking website to see the resource.

Experts from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Education Commission of the States, National Conference of State Legislatures and State Higher Education Executive Officers, discuss higher education policy developments that occurred in the states during the 2019 legislative sessions, major state policy trends in higher education and the policy outlook in statehouses next year.  Visit the Education Commission website to view the recorded webinar.

The next Board of Regents meeting will be hosted by UW-Whitewater on December 5-6. Supporting materials are available to view at the Board of Regents website

 

On Thursday, November 21, Governor Tony Evers signed AB 38- University of Wisconsin research contracts into law as Act 36. The bill will streamline the process by which UW System faculty members can enter into research contracts involving the university and an organization with which the same faculty members are connected. Currently, if a university faculty member enters into a research contract with an organization with which the faculty member is involved, the contract must undergo a 45-day passive review process by the Board of Regents if the contract is worth more than $250,000. This delays getting beneficial research into the market that can improve lives and communities. AB 38 eliminates the passive review process and lifts the contract threshold, but it requires the Board of Regents to create a policy on management plans that institutions must adhere to, ensuring all research contracts continue to be appropriately managed. See the UW System news release for more on President Cross’s response on the bill signing.

The Governor also signed into law AB 189- Transferability of courses between the UW System, Technical College System, and Tribally controlled and private colleges as Act 46. This requires the number of credits under the Universal Credit Transfer Agreement to increase from 30 to 72 credits by the 2022-23 academic year, and it encourages institutions to enter into program-to-program articulation agreements that focus on high demand fields of study.

Lastly, the Governor signed into law SB 142- Late Payment of tuition benefits for student veterans enrolled in the UW System of Technical College as Act 47. This bill puts into state statute a prohibition that prevents the UW System and technical college system from taking any adverse action against a student who receives federal veteran benefits for tuition if the benefits are not paid to the institution by the institution’s deadline for tuition and fees. UW System institutions are already compliant and do not take adverse action in these cases. Congress also passed the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act on December 31, 2018, at the federal level with the same type of prohibition.

The UW System facilitated an event with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) on November 21 at the Fluno Center in Madison. The full-day workshop explored the unique missions of foundations and affiliated organizations and national trends surrounding these organizations.  Some of the topics covered were:

  • History of Foundations and National Trends
  • Annual and longer-term Risk Management
  • Alignment between University and Foundation
  • Best Practices for Board Governance
  • What to Measure and Report to the Board of Directors

Please e-mail Julie Jonuzi, at njonuzi@uwsa.edu, if you want a copy of the presentation and materials that were distributed at the workshop.

President Ray Cross, Regent President Drew Petersen, and Regents Jason Plante, Cris Peterson, Edmund Manydeeds III, and Karen Walsh joined UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt and UW-Stout Interim Chancellor Patrick Guilfoile on Wednesday, November 20, for a series of events at UW-Eau Claire for the seventh stop of UW System’s All In Wisconsin tour. The tour is intended to demonstrate the value both UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout bring to the western part of the state. A full recap of the event can be found on the UW System news release.