Category: Higher Education/System

At $51,000 a year, UW-Madison alums 10 years into their careers typically earn more than the median salary of their peers nationwide who make $34,343. That figure falls in the middle of the pack among Big Ten schools.

The Obama administration over the weekend unveiled the revamped college information website it created instead of its original plan to rate colleges, releasing a trove of new federal data about the nation’s colleges and universities.

The University of Wisconsin System’s administrative office eliminated 36 positions in a cost-cutting measure a spokesman said will help it cope with state budget cuts.

The University of Wisconsin System has eliminated 36 positions from administration and academic affairs offices as part of streamlining efforts to become more efficient and nimble, according to UW System President Ray Cross.

The University of Wisconsin Extension is seeking approval to broaden the goals laid out in its mission statement and start offering new degree programs in the fields of business and management.

Column from Russ Feingold, former U.S. senator who is running to regain the seat he lost in the 2010 election to now U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Jesse Stommel, a UW-Madison scholar of digital teaching and learning, is leaving the University of Wisconsin-Madison behind, he wrote on his blog Wednesday, saying “We are in George Orwell territory in the state of Wisconsin.”

When the guiding mission of the state’s public higher education system for more than a century was on the line in January, stunned educators accused presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker of trying to kill the Wisconsin Idea in his proposed state budget. The debate drew national attention.

On the pale gold walls of University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Chancellor Andrew Leavitt’s office are a black-and-white photo of an ultrahigh vacuum surface science chamber and framed strip charts of an auger electron spectroscopy and x-ray photo electron.

The University of Wisconsin’s ongoing adult education arm wants the authority to grant business degrees. The Board of Regents’ education committee will hear proposed revisions to UW-Extension’s mission statement on Thursday that would allow it to grant business certificates, associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees through the UW System’s Flex Option program, which allows adult students to earn credits by demonstrating real-life experience.

The Board of Regents’ education committee will hear proposed revisions to UW-Extension’s mission statement on Thursday that would allow it to grant business certificates, associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees through the UW System’s Flex Option program, which allows adult students to earn credits by demonstrating real-life experience.

The University of Wisconsin’s ongoing adult education arm wants the authority to grant business degrees.

Going to college today is a very different experience than it once was. The cost has soared, and the great recession cut into many of the assets that were supposed to pay for it. This week All Things Considered is talking with young people — and in some cases their parents — about the value of school and about their choice of what kind of college to attend.

So far, Bruce Harreld, the newly named president of the University of Iowa, has made one decision that faculty members have applauded. Harreld, whose selection was opposed by faculty leaders and many other academics, said he would not seek the position as tenured professor that the Iowa Board of Regents offered as a possibility.

The University of Iowa Faculty Senate, for the second time in nine years, issued a vote of “no confidence” Tuesday in the Iowa Board of Regents, the latest escalation in a contentious presidential appointment.

Someone looking to find out what percentage of UW graduates stay in the state, or how many degrees are granted in health-related fields, or the graduation rates at different UW campuses will be able to find those answers on the new site, System spokesman Alex Hummel said. Also: Ned Kalin, chair of the UW Psychiatry Department, has won an international prize for his work in uncovering signs of anxiety and depression in the brain, the university announced Friday.

Two days after faculty members peppered J. Bruce Harreld with questions about his qualifications to run a major research university, Iowa’s statewide Board of Regents named him on Thursday as president of the University of Iowa.

The high-stakes race to find a seat in a chemistry class at three University of Wisconsin System campuses began anew Wednesday with the start of another academic year. But one campus did get some good news in the new state budget approved over the summer.

UW System president Ray Cross and several members of the UW Board of Regents listened to the concerns and feedback from local healthcare professionals during a listening session on Tuesday.

In the spring of 1990, Scott Walker, then a senior at Marquette University, decided to leave college before finishing his degree. A job in finance had opened up at the American Red Cross in Milwaukee, and Mr. Walker, now the governor of Wisconsin and a Republican candidate for president, leapt at the opportunity. “Certainly, I wanted an education for more than a job,” he has since said, “but my primary purpose was to get a job.”

University of Wisconsin officials want the public’s help in crafting a new strategic plan for the universities and colleges around the state.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay marks a major milestone as students head back to class: Its 50th anniversary is this week.

The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point is looking to a much different future, but the Chancellor is saying that isn’t all bad.

University of Wisconsin System officials will visit nine UW campuses over the next two months for a series of listening sessions they say is aimed at hearing what people around Wisconsin want out of their higher education system. The sessions will help inform the UW System’s strategic plan for the coming years, officials said Monday, and will be aimed at making the system more responsive to the needs of the public.

The task force, which met in Madison on Thursday, is made up of faculty members from around the state and is expected to recommend new tenure policies in April.

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross is coming to La Crosse next week, and he wants to hear from you.

The 20-member tenure ask force, with members from university campuses across the state as well as UW Colleges and UW Extension, is to report by April to the Board of Regents, which will have final say on the policies. The panel will recommend procedures for determining when the criteria for an economic or program change warranting layoffs is met, and who has the power to make that determination.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is seeking an increase in the fee paid by prospective students to apply for admission and is considering participating in the Common Application starting next fall.

It’s no secret that science courses, particularly at the first- and second-year levels, can be dry. The classes are big, the content is wide but typically shallow, and professors often resort to lectures. There’s a lot of talk among science educators about how to make these courses more interesting, to attract students and retain them as majors, but much of the conversation thus far has focused on improving individual faculty members’ teaching. And that’s not a bad thing: one innovative teacher in a department is better than none.

St. Anthony, the largest K-12 Catholic school system in the country, has named a new president, school officials announced.

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois — Appleton native Barbara Wilson has been named interim chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

While incoming college roommates are haggling over who will bring the microwave and who’s responsible for the TV, Gov. Scott Walker and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are squabbling over solutions for college affordability.

Coming off the release of her ambitious $350 billion plan to make college affordable, Hillary Clinton took aim at Republican candidate Gov. Scott Walker, accusing him of gutting funding for Wisconsin’s colleges.

A proposal to merge University of Wisconsin System colleges with the state technical college system — on top of a plan to regionalize the UW colleges — threatens to slam the door to education for Wisconsin students who need it most, said UW-Marshfield/Wood County associate professor Kelly Wilz.

UW-Madison faculty urged Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to open up talks on the possibility of merging the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Technical College System.