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Category: Higher Education/System

UW-Madison extends program to pay tuition and fees for teachers who start their career in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Public Radio

For Maddy Rauls, teaching is a family business.

The fourth grade bilingual English language arts teacher in Waunakee has several aunts who are teachers, and her dad was her high school’s chemistry teacher.

When she started school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in September 2017, a career in teaching was on her radar, especially because she loved babysitting and working with kids at summer school. When she liked the education classes she took her first couple of years, that sealed the deal.

Despite financial hurdles, undocumented college students in Wisconsin chase their dreams

The Capital Times

According to the 2019 American Community Survey, undocumented students account for over 427,000 students in U.S. higher education. Students who are eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — a policy which grants work permits and protects young people who entered the U.S. unlawfully as children — account for less than half of the undocumented student population.

 

Wisconsin Senate ends with votes on youth prison, schools

Associated Press

Legislation passed includes a bill that would force UW System schools to use objective criteria for admissions. The measure would outlaw criteria based on race, national origin or religion. The bill’s supporters say UW’s current criteria is subjective and opaque, leaving the public no way to determine what standards an applicant must meet to be accepted. System officials say they don’t test applicants on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. The Senate passed the measure 18-13. The Assembly approved it in February. It now goes to the governor.

 

UW Madison announces changes to Farm and Industry Short Course program

Wisconsin State Farmer

UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) announced they will alter their Farm and Industry Short Course (FISC), beginning in 2023.The program will switch from a for-credit, on-campus residential experience lasting 16 weeks, to a more flexible, non-credit format. The residential program will end this spring when the current class of Farm and Industry Short Course (FISC) students receive their certificates.

UW System student health worker initiative gets funding boost

WisPolitics

A UW System initiative will provide incentives to twice as many student health care workers with additional funding from the Wisconsin Partnership Program.

This UW School of Medicine and Public Health program is providing $500,000 for the effort, doubling the total funding for the incentive program that was announced in December 2021. The state Department of Health Services provided the initial funds.

Thompson visits UWO before stepping down as system president

FOX 11 News

University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson is stepping down from his role later this month. But before leaving, Thompson is visiting UW campuses around the state.

UW System interim president and the longest-serving governor in Wisconsin Tommy Thompson announced his resignation back in January.

Monday, Thompson showed his gratitude for his time as president at the UW-Oshkosh campus.

Wisconsin Senate to end with votes on youth prison, schools

Associated Press

Agenda includes a bill that would force UW System schools to use objective criteria for admissions. The measure would outlaw criteria based on race, national origin or religion. The bill’s supporters say UW’s current criteria is subjective and opaque, leaving the public no way to determine what standards an applicant must meet to be accepted. System officials say they don’t test applicants on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion.

UW System conducting facilities review after gas leak sent 17 students to hospital

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison has no plans to do widespread installation of detectors in its dorms, some of which also lack alarms in residential areas. But university spokesperson John Lucas said that’s because most campus buildings, including dorms, are heated via steam generated off-site at campus heating plants, not through fuel-burning appliances. He said UW-Madison has detectors in areas where there is gas usage, which is generally isolated to laundry rooms and commercial kitchen spaces.

How Inflation Affects Universities

Wall Street Journal

Universities must ensure that attending is affordable for most Americans. In a country that values education, college has become less of a luxury and more a necessity for a successful career. As such, colleges and universities must combat inflation by passing the cost to donors and governments, rather than students.

—Jackson Walker, University of Wisconsin, journalism and English

What Cliff? Data and the Destruction of Public Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed

Let’s look at some Wisconsin population data. First, the state increased in population between 2010 and 2021, and official data estimate that 65 of 72 counties gained population during this period. Yes, reliable data from researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, project slight decreases in total K-12 enrollments statewide in the coming years. This is hardly a “looming demographic crisis,” particularly since many students do not enroll in higher education immediately after high school.

The Fed’s new playbook for fighting inflation risks doing more harm than good, top economists at Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley say

Markets Insider

That new playbook, as promising as its goals are, might be a mistake, the chief global economists of Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley, as well as economists at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin, said in a recent paper. Looking at inflation and employment for more- and less-advantaged groups, the team found that the balance between maximum employment and stable prices would be hard to achieve without serious risk.

Tribal leader decries Wisconsin bills to bar lessons on systemic racism in State of the Tribes address

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Holsey made the remarks during the annual State of the Tribes address before the state Legislature on Tuesday afternoon, hours before state lawmakers passed a bill that would effectively bar University of Wisconsin System instructors from teaching systemic racism. Gov. Tony Evers is expected to veto the bill.

In marathon session, senators vote to fund youth prison, restrict teaching race, limit safety net

Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin senators held a marathon session Tuesday, passing measures that would fund a replacement for a troubled youth prison, restrict government safety net programs, limit the ability of the University of Wisconsin System to teach about diversity and race, and call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution.

Wisconsin Assembly passes parental bill of rights, MPS breakup bill

Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: A number of the day’s bills were directed specifically toward the operations of the University of Wisconsin and state technical college systems.

Those bills that passed include:

Legislature approves education bills, putting election-year talking points into focus

Wisconsin State Journal

The wide-ranging bills the Assembly approved include a proposal by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, AB 884, that would specify that if any University of Wisconsin System institution requires a course in diversity or ethnic studies, students could instead complete a course on the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. That bill passed the Assembly 60-34 and Senate 21-12 along party lines.

UW-Madison program helps high school students prep for college

Spectrum News

The days of Gabrielle Acevedo walking into class at Rufus King High school are ticking away one-by-one. As a senior, there are roughly 100 days until she graduates. But, she knows what she wants to do after the gets her diploma. “Personally, I’ve always known what I wanted to do,” Acevedo said. “I’ve had the same dream since I was a little girl.” That dream is to go to the University of Wisconsin and eventually become a physician assistant or a doctor. She credits her readiness for college to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence, known as PEOPLE.

Tommy Thompson says he will spend the coming weeks deciding whether to again run for Wisconsin governor

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson plans to decide by the end of April whether he will run for his old job.

A late entry into the Republican primary would further scramble a race that was disrupted a week ago when state Rep. Timothy Ramthun launched his bid for governor. Thompson said he’d been briefed on the findings of a recent poll and thought his chances were good.

Transgender lawyers gearing up to fight anti-trans bills

The Washington Post

Harvard is just one of many schools — including Columbia University, New York University, the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin at Madison — with student organizations that center queer and trans people of color. Many law schools maintain chapters of OutLaw, an LGBTQ student group.

Tony Evers calls for education spending, $150 checks to residents in state of the state address

Wisconsin State Journal

Evers, who is seeking a second term this November, also touted the billions of dollars of federal stimulus funds he has allocated over the course of the pandemic to businesses and farmers. Adding to that, he announced on Tuesday plans to spend $25 million of those funds to freeze tuition at University of Wisconsin System for two years and another $5 million to expand counseling and provide mental health programs for members of the Wisconsin National Guard.

Evers calls on Legislature to approve $150 taxpayer refund

Wisconsin State Journal

Evers also announced that he was tapping $25 million in federal pandemic relief money to pay for continuing a tuition freeze at the University of Wisconsin System for another year. The Legislature lifted the tuition freeze for this year, but the UW Board of Regents opted not to raise tuition. Evers is providing funding to pay for the current freeze and another year, the 2022-2023 school year.

Evers announces in-state tuition freeze, mental health investment for UW System campuses

The Badger Herald

Evers, who is the 46th Wisconsin Governor, gave his State of the State address at the Feb. 15 joint convention of the Wisconsin Legislature. In his address, Evers announced plans to address rising gas prices, a struggling job market and supply shortages. While Wisconsin families have faced much of the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, Evers said he wanted to account for students in higher education who have been under considerable stress throughout the pandemic.

Tommy Thompson bids farewell as UW System president

Wisconsin Public Radio

In an emotional farewell speech to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, UW System President and former Gov. Tommy Thompson called on state lawmakers to direct part of a record budget surplus into public universities. He said UW System campuses shouldn’t be considered an expenditure but rather an investment in the future.

Wisconsin agencies and nonprofits working to address economic issues can start to do so with a new round of WEDC grants

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: According to the WEDC, the first round of projects included public-private partnerships to train and attract health care workers throughout rural Wisconsin; develop next-generation advanced manufacturing employees in west-central and southeast Wisconsin; expand affordable, high-quality child care in Door County, Green County, and south-central Wisconsin; create pipelines of young, educated workers in Milwaukee; train construction and skilled craft workers throughout the state; foster a culture of entrepreneurship in Kenosha; and enable incarcerated individuals to earn undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin System.

Tommy Thompson bids farewell as UW System president

Wisconsin Public Radio

In an emotional farewell speech to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, UW System President and former Gov. Tommy Thompson called on state lawmakers to direct part of a record budget surplus into public universities. He said UW System campuses shouldn’t be considered an expenditure but rather an investment in the future.