Jay Rothman, the president of the Universities of Wisconsin, was thrust into the spotlight this year, from pro-Palestinian protests breaking out on his campuses across the state to his controversial ask for an increase of $855 million in funding.
Thomas Pyle wants to build on the momentum College Republicans drummed up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this semester.
Just more than half of the Universities of Wisconsin freshman students who benefitted from a system-funded tuition-waiver scholarship program for low-income families in 2023 were the first in their families to attend college. That’s about twice the percentage of first-generation students in the freshman class last year.
Wisconsin universities and college students could also be impacted by a shutdown. University of Wisconsin-Madison spokesperson Kelly Tyrrell told WPR in a statement that college officials are monitoring the situation.
“We would expect the largest impacts to be on research, since agencies can’t start new programs, issue new grants, or review existing applications during a shutdown,” Tyrrell said. “There may also be some impact to students, staff or faculty applying for changes in visa status during the shutdown period.”
I would be correctly described as a member of that committee with a partisan background. I did not, however, vote in “lockstep” with other members who might also be so categorized. Furthermore I would suggest many of the questions were more nuanced than the authors claimed. Additionally there were members of this committee (including some UW employees and past Regents ) who did not show, nor do I believe they have, strong partisan leanings. Instead their clearly expressed concern was for the future of the system. That was also my concern.
The State Building Commission denied a motion to allow $70 million in underspent funds to be used for a series of planned Universities of Wisconsin projects including the new engineering building at UW-Madison.
The future of UW-Madison’s new engineering building, as well as other Universities of Wisconsin building priorities, is again in limbo after Republicans on the state’s Building Commission refused to reallocate nearly $70 million in state funds.
Q: Would you support a change in the university’s governance structure or spinning off the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the rest of the Universities of Wisconsin?
A: I supported those ideas in the past, so I’m certainly open to having discussions, but our caucus has had no discussion about any of those kinds of things.
The new University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering building is again in peril.
Republican lawmakers rejected the UW System’s request to increase the project’s $347 million budget by $73 million during a State Building Commission meeting Wednesday. The ask to bump up the budget was based on increased costs and design changes, including an additional floor for business partnership opportunities.
Plans for a new, long-awaited engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison face another obstacle after the State Building Commission denied a request Wednesday to adjust funding and approve construction.
Nedweski outlined a plan to address possible inefficiencies within Milwaukee Public Schools, the University of Wisconsin, the Department of Safety and Professional Services, and law enforcement. She is known for her efforts to shut down a Kenosha Unified School District board meeting in 2021 as a member of Moms for Liberty. Nedweski and others appeared at the meeting, holding signs that read, among other things, “We do not co-parent with the government.”
The request came after bids for projects in Eau Claire came in well under budget. However, the commission shot down the request due to what Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu called a lack of transparency.
Based on assessment findings, UW President Jay Rothman foresees higher oversight involvement and visibility of the Board of Regents.
The Universities of Wisconsin, a 13-institution system, paid Huron Consulting Group at least $51 million from 2019 to 2023, WORT reported.
Meanwhile, colleges faced intensifying financial pressures, cutting programs and staff to stay afloat. Throughout much of the year, a fired University of Wisconsin chancellor fought to keep his job in what became a closely watched test of academic freedom. The presidential election and the implications for higher education as well as a growing conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs loomed over the year.
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Chancellor Michael Alexander discusses growing enrollment, cutting majors and eliminating a budget deficit while ending in-person classes at its Marinette campus.
Delays and errors in the federal financial aid process created anxiety and headaches last year for high school seniors, their parents and colleges. But experts say this year’s rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has improved in several ways.
The U.S. Department of Education released the official application on Nov. 21, after seven weeks of beta testing.
We are living in a social media world. Such platforms are our go-to, real-time sources for both breaking news and product/service marketing, and much in-between.
It follows, then, that schools for wannabe social media magnates and journalism majors are a magnet. Top candidates include American University, Arizona State University, Boston University, New York University, Syracuse University and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW System President Jay Rothman defended his agency’s $855 million budget request by saying it “gets (Wisconsin) up to average” and steps up from its low ranking. Rothman is correct that Wisconsin ranks 43rd in the country when it comes to funding public, four-year universities.
Rothman’s math also adds up. Subtracting Wisconsin’s revenue per student from the national average, then multiplying it by the total number of students in the system, does total $457 million.
We rate Rothman’s claim True.
State funding for the University of Wisconsin System was one of the biggest budget battles in 2023, and it’s looking like 2025 will be no different.
The UW System is asking for $855 million from the state Legislature in the upcoming two-year state budget, which lawmakers will craft in the coming months.
Merrifield discussed her priorities, the tech system’s upcoming state budget request and how she’ll approach conversations with lawmakers in a recent interview with the Cap Times.
Wisconsin counties with shuttered University of Wisconsin branch campuses are reimagining the properties to serve a range of purposes — including at the former University of Wisconsin-Platteville Richland.
Wisconsin counties with shuttered University of Wisconsin branch campuses are reimagining the properties to serve a range of purposes — including at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Fox Cities.
Wisconsin counties with shuttered University of Wisconsin branch campuses are reimagining the properties to serve a range of purposes — including at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Waukesha.
Wisconsin counties with shuttered University of Wisconsin branch campuses are reimagining the properties to serve a range of purposes — including at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Washington County.
In October, the University of Massachusetts said tuition and fees would be fully covered for instate undergraduates whose families earn less than $75,000 at all four of its campuses, while the University of Wisconsin made a similar announcement in August for students whose families earn less than $55,000. Last month, the University of Texas System announced it would waive tuition at all nine campuses for Texas residents making under $100,000 starting this fall.
Crowley, who has been the Milwaukee County executive since 2020 when he became the youngest county executive in Milwaukee County history as well as the first Black leader elected to the position, will also graduate at this ceremony from the UWM School of Education earning a bachelor’s degree in community engagement and education.
Wisconsin counties with shuttered University of Wisconsin branch campuses are reimagining the properties to serve a range of purposes including senior housing, K-12 classroom space, even a wedding venue.
Milfred and Hands play clips from the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board’s meeting last week with Jay Rothman, the “change agent” president of the Universities of Wisconsin.
Republicans have long urged government to run more like a business.
Well, the Universities of Wisconsin are doing just that, under the leadership of President Jay Rothman. The GOP-controlled Legislature should appreciate and reward his effort with greater funding in the state budget.
In response to TAA concerns, UW-Madison said it has increased minimum graduate assistant stipends by 14% this year as part of a four-year planned increase, with some individual programs setting rates even higher to stay competitive.
Academic programs at Wisconsin’s public universities will face more scrutiny, with a new report classifying 30% of programs as “low-enrolled.”
Of the 19 arrested, all were released. No one received a citation. UWPD noted officials will investigate each individual case and citations could be filed.
After the demonstration started, UW Police Department officers and Student Affairs staff warned the group of protesters to stop, but they refused, according to a UWPD statement.
Staff from student affairs and UWPD officers reportedly warned the group to stop their disruptions, but they did not. Officers then removed the group from the room, so the board could continue its meeting.
Demonstrators demand divestment from Israel, accuse Regents of complicity in “genocide.”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department arrested and detained 19 protesters at Gordon Dining & Event Center at 8:30 a.m. All were released without citations at this time.
For the second time this year, pro-Palestinian protesters briefly disrupted a University of Wisconsin Board of Regents meeting, continuing their efforts to demand universities cut ties with Israel.
A few dozen protesters were forcibly removed from a UW Board of Regents meeting Thursday after disrupting the meeting’s proceedings.
As the University of Wisconsin System navigates its 2024 review, sweeping proposals and financial debates bring the system’s future into focus.
The Universities of Wisconsin are set to fare better financially than earlier projected, largely due to sizeable increases in tuition at a handful of schools and unaccounted-for donation dollars for UW-Madison, the system said Monday.
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman today will release the final third-party financial review of university administration.
For decades, University of Wisconsin faculty have operated under a simple guarantee. They are state employees, but they own and control the products of their work, including syllabi, assignments and other course materials.
This understanding, however, could be upended. The UW System is proposing a new copyright policy that professors say would eliminate faculty ownership of instructional materials. The revisions are stoking alarm among professors statewide who say such a move would cheapen higher education into a mass-produced commodity.
The updated University of Wisconsin System policy framework, which went into effect Sunday, establishes categories assessing the importance and risk of UW System data to system schools.
The next casualty stemming from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s budget crisis may be the campus bookstore.
The store is one of three left across the UW System that is not run by a third-party chain. Outsourcing the operation would save some money in the short term but likely increase costs for students and lead to poorer service on campus, according to a recent report by a university task force. The report raised the question of whether there would be any long-term financial benefit to the switch.
In the place of racial, ethnic, and gender labels, some schools are embracing experiences or identities such as “low-income,” “first-generation,” and “veteran”—or simply scrapping controversial wording. After the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Creando Comunidad: Community Engaged Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Fellows program faced a complaint from the Equal Protection Project in January, it became just “Creando Comunidad.” Rather than explicitly gathering BIPOC students, applicants instead now must show “demonstrated interest or experience in promoting equity, inclusion, and social justice for communities of color.”
New Marquette University President Kimo Ah Yun’s honeymoon easing into the job was cut short Monday when faculty narrowly declared a lack of confidence in the administration.
Jen Jones remembers the meeting well, down to which chair she sat in.
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay administrators huddled together in a meeting room about a decade ago, studying enrollment and financial reports. A new chancellor, Gary Miller, had just started and took a different tact from his predecessor.
When Kelly Meyerhofer started covering Wisconsin’s public universities in 2018, she told herself she’d cover the topic for one year, two tops, before switching to something more exciting.
Now in her seventh year, Meyerhofer continues to be fascinated by the Wisconsin higher education beat.
Unions representing Universities of Wisconsin faculty and graduate workers are lobbying to meet directly with chancellors to discuss workplace conditions, saying the government councils representing them are no longer effective.
Leaders of Wisconsin’s higher education systems were cautious Tuesday in predicting what could come from President-elect Donald Trump’s call to close the U.S. Department of Education. Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said he spent time in Washington, D.C., last week where he asked Wisconsin’s delegation about this issue.
“I think the general consensus that I was hearing … was that, is it likely that the Department of Education, as it currently exists, is voted out of existence? Not highly likely, in their mind,” Rothman told a crowd in Madison.
The privately funded program, known as the Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise, covers the full cost of attendance for in-state students who are enrolled members of one of the 11 federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison rose in national rankings on federal research activity after slipping for nearly a decade.
Wisconsin state agencies have requested to spend $53.8 billion next fiscal year and $55.8 billion in fiscal 2026-27 in the state’s upcoming biennial budget.
Those are increases from the adjusted base of $49.4 billion this fiscal year with a large portion of that increase coming from the Department of Public Instruction’s $3 billion requested increase and Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed $800 million increase for the University of Wisconsin System.
The university announced the ranking change Monday alongside an announcement that it had spent a record-breaking $1.7 billion on research for fiscal year 2023, a 13.7% increase over the prior year. UW-Madison’s growth outpaced the national increase of 11.2% spent on university research and development, bringing the national amount spent to $108.8 billion.
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh started its first-ever women’s wrestling program this fall, becoming the fourth school in the state to add the sport along with UW-Stevens Point, Lakeland University, and Carthage College.
Marquette University Provost Kimo Ah Yun was unanimously elected the 25th president of the university by the school’s board of trustees.
The University of Wisconsin is also on track to collect $628 million this year. UC San Francisco received $562 million from the federal budget in 2023. The USCF School of Medicine received the most funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of any public university in that same year, totaling $789,196,651, according to the university website.
At UW-Madison, campus wards swung 14 points to the right.
Marquette University faculty members will vote next week on whether they have confidence in university leadership.
If passed, the Academic Senate’s vote against acting President Kimo Ah Yun and chief operating officer Joel Pogodzinski could send a message of disapproval in the current administration as a search for the next president is underway.
