The Republican-backed bill, signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Feb. 20, requires the state’s flagship public university, UW-Madison, to accept all students who rank in the top 5% of their classes at the end of their junior year, and the 12 regional UW campuses to take all those who rank in the top 10%.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will close its Waukesha campus at the end of the spring 2025 semester.
At a Monday news conference, UW-Milwaukee chancellor Mark Mone cited declining enrollment, shifting demographics and budgetary issues as reasons for the closure, which was made under a directive from Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman.
First-day nametags. At the University of Wisconsin, one professor asked students on the first day of class to create a nameplate and to fill out a notecard with their major and other personal information such as interests or involvement in campus activities.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will close its Waukesha campus at the end of the spring 2025 semester, eliminating an educational option that has been around since 1966.
A state Senate committee has recommended rejecting the nominations of two members serving on the state public university board, both of whom voted against a deal struck with the Legislature to restructure campus diversity positions.
A Republican-led committee this week recommended rejecting two of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ appointments to the UW Board of Regents after they voted last year against a divisive deal that gives the UW system additional state funding in exchange for scaling back diversity efforts.
The titles of the 150 or so posters on display in the Capitol’s Rotunda sounded just as impressive as what might be found at a symposium of doctoral students — such as “The cost of clean water: An efficiency analysis of Wisconsin’s water utilities” or “Investigating alternatives to antibiotics using phage.”
Last April the Wisconsin Examiner published an examination of the way that Native American human remains have been retained by public institutions in Oshkosh long after the passage of a federal law that was intended to speed their repatriation to the tribes that once inhabited the area.
The Universities of Wisconsin announced the Wisconsin Guarantee, which admits the state’s top performing students to state’s 13 public universities. Under the Guarantee, students who rank in the top five percent of their class at the end of 11th grade will be eligible to be accepted into UW-Madison. While students who rank in the top 10 percent are eligible to be accepted into the state’s other public universities.
Sophia Schoenfeld, a UW-Madison third year senior presented her research findings on biology and health policy. “It is amazing to see all of the research that not only my peers here at UW Madison but also at the other UW Schools are able to do,” she said. “And it speaks to the volumes of the support systems that we have in the UW System and the mentorship opportunities that are able to make something like this happen which is amazing.”
Students were accompanied by faculty advisers to share their research findings with state legislators, state businesses, nonprofit leaders, UW alumni and supporters of the annual event.
More than 150 UW System undergrad researchers present to legislators, UW leaders in Wednesday showcase.
On Wednesday, Gov. Tony Evers signed a measure that gives about $740 million in funding for capital investments to the Universities of Wisconsin, including funds for the new engineering building that rallied massive industry support.
Morna Foy, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System for more than a decade and its first female president, on Tuesday announced her plans to retire.
Foy will leave a role overseeing Wisconsin’s 16 publicly funded technical colleges that currently receive more than $625 million in annual state funding. Those schools educated nearly 288,000 students last year, more than 50% more students than the University of Wisconsin system.
In an effort to address the state’s teacher shortage, Edgewood College is launching an online program to help Wisconsin National Guard members and their spouses earn their master’s degrees and state teaching licenses.
Foy hasn’t set a final retirement date — it’ll be dependent on the timing of a search for her successor, which will be led by the system’s governing board. But it’s expected later this summer or fall, system spokesperson Katy Pettersen said.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is getting a new engineering building, a widely supported project ensnared for months in a broader political negotiation over campus diversity programs.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is one step closer to finding a new chancellor and turning the page on a scandal involving its former leader.
Sixty people applied for the job. The finalists are:
The UW-La Crosse chancellor search committee announced Friday it has selected three finalists for the position, including interim chancellor Betsy Morgan. The candidates will visit the UW-L campus next week for community question-and-answer sessions.
Eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of race in college admissions, a conservative Wisconsin law firm is drawing attention to what it says are Universities of Wisconsin programs that continue to consider race in other areas, while the state’s flagship university says it’s reviewing programs that might be affected by the court’s ruling.
The Joint Finance Committee unanimously passed the measure, although Democratic members of the committee criticized their GOP colleagues for holding back the funds in exchange for restructuring the DEI positions.
One of the last pieces in a sweeping deal between the University of Wisconsin System and the state Legislature was approved Thursday, moving campuses one step closer to the end of an extended and contentious state budget session.
The Universities of Wisconsin will receive around $32 million in funding withheld for months by Republican lawmakers amid ongoing efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campuses.
UW-Oshkosh Provost Edwin Martini released new restructuring plans to reduce the number of colleges in lieu of $18 million budget deficits.
UW-Oshkosh Provost Edwin Martini released new restructuring plans to reduce the number of colleges in lieu of $18 million budget deficits.
Students living in a Dayton Street house say they face challenges due to a steam utility project amid ongoing maintenance concerns.
In the era of artificial intelligence, cheating is only getting easier for students.
Some instructors say they can easily tell when students turn in AI-generated work. Others find it far trickier and will turn to online AI detectors for confirmation when their suspicions are raised. Educators everywhere are trying to create AI-proof assignments.
But FAFSA data this year has been delayed by nearly six months, wreaking havoc in financial aid departments and leaving students wondering if they’ll be able to afford college.
Eric Ely, who teaches in the Information School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has made some of his assignments more personal, asking students to write about topics that connect to their own lives. In a new assignment this semester, he has students engage with an AI chatbot and document the process. “Part of my job is to prepare students for life after college, right?” he said. “This is the world that we’re living in, and so I feel like I would be doing a disservice to students if I would not talk about this or limit or completely prohibit the use.”
For UW-Madison professor Dietram Scheufele, the big question isn’t what AI can — or cannot — do for college students. “What I’m much more concerned about is the fundamental disruption to our social system and how we prepare students for that,” said Scheufele, whose research includes technology policy, misinformation and social media. “The question for universities right now is why this degree will be worth something 40 years from now.”
John Zumbrunnen, the vice provost of teaching and learning at UW-Madison, said the most-asked question he gets about AI is whether the university has or will have a policy on it. UW-Madison does not, meaning students navigate at least four different class policies per semester. In some cases, individual assignments will have their own AI expectations. That’s why it’s important, he said, for instructors to offer grace in this new world.
“The answer in the teaching and learning space cannot be one-size-fits-all,” he said earlier this month at a UW Board of Regents meeting.
The University of Wisconsin at Madison plans to hire up to 50 new faculty members in AI as soon as this spring.
Assembly Republicans also made good on the final part of a deal struck in December with the Universities of Wisconsin that released pre-approved funding for employee pay raises and building projects in exchange for new limits on campus diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, known as DEI.
Until this week, Imani Lewis, a junior at J.I. Case High School in Racine, hadn’t put a ton of thought into which college she’ll attend.
Lewis wants to go into biomedicine. She was thinking about attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but planned to look at other schools.
Then she learned about the law Gov. Tony Evers signed into legislation on Tuesday, allowing high schoolers to gain direct admission into UW-Madison if they are in the top 5 percent of their graduating class.
Now, she said, Madison has jumped to the top of her list.
As political battles churn over funding for diversity, equity and inclusion at the Universities of Wisconsin, changing demographics influence how K-12 educators prepare new generations of college students.
A journalist sued the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its fundraising arm after the university denied his request for an athletic department consulting agreement that could shed more light on the name, image and likeness era of college athletics.
Lawmakers approved spending millions of dollars for a new engineering building at UW-Madison, part of a funding package sent to Gov. Tony Evers that project advocates cheered as a “long time coming.”
The Legislature on Thursday approved about $740 million in capital investments across the Universities of Wisconsin, including a new engineering building at UW-Madison that rallied massive industry support.
UW-Madison pushed its decision date from May 1 to May 15 to give families more time to weigh financial offers.
Helen Faith, director of the office of student financial aid at UW-Madison, said the “new and major” change to the application had a big impact on students. “Of course, they’re very anxious. They really want to know whether they can afford to come here,” Faith said.
With a pro-boating industry bill apparently dead in the Legislature and after a more lake-protective proposal failed to muster support among the Republican caucus, the prospect is dim for any new, statewide wake surfing law to take effect this year in Wisconsin.
But a measure to bolster the science of the impacts of wake-enhanced boating could garner more favor. A proposal announced Tuesday by Republicans would task the University of Wisconsin System with conducting a study on the effects of wake boating.
Includes interview with Yoshiko Herrera, a professor of political science.
If you’re a Wisconsin high school student ranked in the top 5% of your class, you’re now guaranteed a seat at the University of Wisconsin-Madison if you want it.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed the Republican-authored bill into law Tuesday. It was part of a broader deal the UW System struck with the GOP-controlled Legislature about diversity programming, pay raises and building projects.
The University of Wisconsin System launched Wisconsin Online, a collaboration between 13 campuses offering over 200 online degrees, on Feb. 1 to increase higher education access for students who need virtual accommodations.
ELDER-CONNORS: UVM isn’t the only college doing this. Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Wisconsin received money from the same federal program that funds UVM’s work. Glenda Gillaspy at the University of Wisconsin says they’re setting up weather stations to help cranberry farmers time their harvests, which involves flooding their fields.
The new law is one of several required under a deal brokered between legislative Republicans and UW system President Jay Rothman that authorizes about $800 million for the UW system in exchange for the reclassification of several diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, positions.
Under the bill, seniors who place in the top 10% of their high school’s graduating class could gain admission to the UW system school of their choice, except for UW-Madison, where those in the top 5% would be guaranteed admission.
The law is part of a deal negotiated in December between the Republican-controlled Legislature and UW System leaders to provide funding for university employee pay raises and building projects in exchange for a hiring cap and restructuring of university diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Top employers across Wisconsin landed on the latest Forbes report ranking midsize and large employers for the nation’s best places to work. The University of Wisconsin-Madison was ranked 113th nationally among large employers with more than 5,000 employees.
May 1 has long been the traditional decision deadline for high school seniors to commit to college. But the federal government’s delays with a new financial aid form are prompting some institutions to extend the registration deadline. The University of Wisconsin-Madison joined the growing list Monday, moving their admitted student deposit and on-campus housing contract deadlines to May 15.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the Department of Education’s new college support strategy Feb. 12. The plan aims to help universities process FAFSA information easier and simpler.
The amendment, introduced by Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, would include the University of Wisconsin System in another strike at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in state offices.
Helen Faith, director of the Office of Financial Aid at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said she worries that the delays will harm both students and schools.”What ends up happening is that our underrepresented and most fragile populations are the ones that are disproportionately affected,” said Hill.
In this episode, host Sarah Wesela interviewed writer Liam Beran on the recent Board of Regents meeting on cybersecurity.
A constitutional amendment supported by Republicans that attempts to limit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Wisconsin won approval Thursday in the state Assembly.
The chamber also advanced a Republican-authored constitutional amendment that would bar local governments and state agencies from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to anybody on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.
The recent SSTAR report — “Designing Higher Education Funding Models to Promote Student Success” — examines the importance of higher education funding, including the issues that arise when funding is distributed inequitably. Financial resources are necessary for higher education institutions to fund advising, classes and technology, according to Dziesinski. But when a university does not have enough funding it cannot adequately serve students, Dziesinski said.
“It’s a one-stop-shop that showcases the excellent online education our universities offer,” Universities of Wisconsin president says.
Despite waiver opportunities, high fees may discourage lower income applicants, expert says.
The proposed constitutional amendment before the Assembly on Thursday is the latest step in Wisconsin Republicans’ fight against government-run diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Republican lawmakers last year struck a deal requiring the Universities of Wisconsin to restructure their DEI programs, and GOP legislative leaders have said they plan to scrutinize similar programs in state agencies.
The proposal up for a vote Thursday would prohibit state and local governments, including the Universities of Wisconsin and local school districts, from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to anybody on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. It requires hiring decisions to be based on “merit, fairness and equality,” a term conservatives have used as a counter to DEI.
UW-Oshkosh faculty are pushing the Faculty Senate to hold a no-confidence vote on Chancellor Andrew Leavitt’s leadership, following his decision last fall to eliminate one in six jobs in an attempt to address the largest budget shortfall in the Universities of Wisconsin system.
During the fall 2023 semester there were fewer than 700 Native Americans enrolled at Universities of Wisconsin schools, about 0.4% of the total student population, according to system data. Yet despite that minuscule proportion, Wisconsin’s Native American tribes continue to have a large impact on the UW System.
