University of Wisconsin System campuses submitted $5 billion worth in new building construction and renovation project requests to system leaders ahead of the 2021-2023 state budget process, but the plans might face resistance in the state Capitol.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s education fund found in a study that 65% of college students nationwide have skipped textbook purchases despite concerns about their grades. Students who skip meals or have lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic are even more likely to forgo textbooks.
Interim University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson and UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank teamed up Wednesday to address the Wisconsin Counties Association at its annual legislative exchange, responding to the governor’s budget announcement and sharing financial updates.
The Wisconsin bills would allow students to join teams only that correspond to their biological sex as assigned by a doctor at birth, unless the sport is classified as “coed.” It would apply to public and private schools, as well as the University of Wisconsin and technical colleges.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison received a record 53,800 freshmen applications this year, with increases among in-state, domestic and international students.
“Our students expect to engage with our outstanding faculty and with one another – both in and out of the classroom – and they expect to do that in-person, in one of the best college towns in America – Madison,” President Manion said. “That means we are committed to teaching and learning in classrooms, and in-person, this fall.”
After changing the high school’s nickname from “Indians” to “Warhawks,” the Weyauwega-Fremont School District is now also looking for a new logo for the district.
The school district was in the process of trademarking its “WF” logo when it was contacted by the University of Wisconsin, which objected because it’s too similar to the Badgers’ “Motion W” logo, according to district administrator Phillip Tubbs.
UW spokesman John Lucas said the school does not proactively monitor school districts. But because Weyauwega-Fremont attempted to register its logo as a trademark, the university was notified and deemed it necessary to act to protect its trademark.
Some Madison high school students are scrambling to take standardized tests even though most colleges and universities, including the University of Wisconsin System, scrapped ACT and SAT testing requirements during the pandemic.
The University of Wisconsin System leadership praised Gov. Tony Evers 2021-2023 budget proposed last week, as it nearly doubled the already-ambitious initial request to help UW pull out of its financial deficit.
Wisconsin lawmakers must implement permanent rule changes by May to meet federal guidance on university cases of sexual assault and misconduct, though the provisions are not likely to last long under President Joe Biden’s administration.
As a professor for 49 years, at one of the UW System’s two-year campuses, I would like to answer President Thompson’s question with a resounding NO! Please, leave the two-year colleges alone! Give our new relationship with the four-year campuses time to grow.
Gov. Tony Evers delivered his $91 billion budget proposal last week, including $191 million in new investments in the University of Wisconsin System over the 2021-2023 biennium.
Noted: According to the announcement, the clinics will collaborate with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, the University of Wisconsin System, local public health departments and other local partners.
Chancellors from UW-River Falls, UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire have pledged to plan for a fall semester with in-person classes and “a traditional college experience.”
Gov. Tony Evers wants to spend $2.4 billion on building upgrades across Wisconsin — nearly half of which would be spent on University of Wisconsin System campuses.
Gov. Tony Evers proposed an increase of $190 million in investments in the University of Wisconsin System over the 2021-2023 biennium as part of a budget proposal delivered this week that prioritized funding for technical colleges and college access and affordability.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wants to spend about $2.4 billion over the next two years on state building projects, with about $1 billion of the proposed money going to the University of Wisconsin System.
Letter to the editor: University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson has an idea for Wisconsin’s outstanding two-year universities. He’s wondering if they should be combined with the state’s technical school system. As a professor at one of UW System’s two-year campus for 49 years, I would like to answer President Thompson’s question with a resounding “no.”
Letter to the editor: The campuses have been severely underutilized for the past several years, ever since the concept of regionalization was implemented. Many thought returning to our roots (Richland started as a branch of Platteville) would be the saving grace for the campus, but that hasn’t proven to be the case.
But three of the governor’s major spending priorities deserve broad bipartisan support:
Students at UW-Madison have to prove they’re COVID-negative before entering buildings and must get tested every three days. University officials even wrote to students this week, in part, “If you miss multiple tests, or if there is a pattern of missing tests, sanctions could be applied.”
At least three-fourths of all University of Wisconsin System classes will be in-person this fall according to system interim President Tommy Thompson.
University of Wisconsin System interim President Tommy Thompson told campus chancellors to aim to have at least 75% of their courses in person next fall, with the hope that COVID-19 vaccines will allow a return to some normalcy.
’It is time for us to plan to resume as much of an in-person campus experience as possible this fall,’ UW System President says.
Thompson announced the plan to chancellors this week and said that they were all “very supportive” of the new goal. Given that about 20% of courses were taught virtually even prior to the pandemic, Thompson said this goal will bring System schools back to previous levels of in-person education while maintaining the benefits of online courses.
At UW-Madison, 82% of classes this spring semester are fully online, according to System data. That’s up from 64% of classes delivered remotely last fall.
’Every day we hear the lies, myths and negative stereotypes…It is up to us to replace these with historical facts,’ WLHC founder says.
It’s a challenging time for colleges and universities, and for the students who want to attend those institutions to prepare for life in a rapidly changing world.
“Especially now, with COVID, we are seeing that (high school) seniors especially are having a difficult time getting prepared for college,” UW-System President Tommy Thompson said at a Feb. 3 press conference announcing plans for a new precollege pipeline initiative.
A new college program at the University of Wisconsin is challenging curiosity and preparing students for the future; aimed at giving young students exposure and pushing them to their potential during the coronavirus pandemic.
Noted: Also last week, Tommy Thompson, the interim president of the University of Wisconsin (UW) system, floated the idea that the University’s 13 branch campuses be consolidated with the 16 technical schools in the Wisconsin Technical College System.
In 2018, the UW System went through a restructuring proposal that aligned 13 two-year UW Colleges campuses with its comprehensive universities. These schools are now called branch campuses. They offer two-year degrees aimed largely at students who may eventually want to transfer to a four-year university to earn a degree.
Noted: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s business school jumped 27 spots this year to No. 19 in the Economist’s ranking, which could put the program on the radar of prospective students, said Assistant Dean Blair Sanford.
“To be top 20 in a respected ranking, that has some extra clout for us,” she said.
UW-Platteville has received approval to build what will be Wisconsin’s largest state-owned solar array.
“Tommy’s perfect for this job,” he said. “He’s an interim so he’s got nothing to lose. But he also doesn’t see himself as a caretaker there to keep the plants watered. He’s got the prestige and political ability to make changes. He’ll make decisions for the good of the System that a new president may be unwilling to do.”
Four hundred of those letters went out last weekend, according to WBAY-TV.UW-Oshkosh says most of the letters went to students with incomplete applications. The school says the mistake was due to a glitch with a software update.
The State of Wisconsin Building Commission approved a $69 million package for UW-System building renovation projects, including $12.2 million in funding for UW-Madison building projects Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday.
he UW System wants to encourage Wisconsin high school students to consider a future in higher education.The system will launch a pipeline program to help guide high school students in preparing for, applying to and enrolling in one of its 13 universities.
There’s a lot you could do with $88 million.
You could, say, pay for full scholarships for 3,200 students to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for one year.
UW-Milwaukee has “apparently never filed” a report detailing foreign gifts and contracts — a requirement under the law — according to a Jan. 15 letter the department sent to Chancellor Mark Mone informing him of the agency’s “preliminary inquiry.”
UW System President Tommy Thompson is continuing to push for an increase in the UW System’s operating budget ahead of the governor’s budget address next week.
Evers’ office announced Monday he has appointed John W. Miller to the UW Board of Regents, an 18-member board that passes policies and rules for the University of Wisconsin System campuses.
First, education is king. Don’t ever allow UW-Madison to be anything but a premier, world-class institution. State and private dollars invested now will be leveraged considerably by virtue of the fact that most of the federal investment will go to expanded research at universities such as UW.
Miller attended the University of Wisconsin Law School and graduated with his degree in 2006. He previously worked as a congressional staffer for Wisconsin’s 4th Congressional District and became president and CEO of his family’s company, Miller-St. Nazianz, Inc. in 2008.
Quoted: “While the majority of people have debt loads we wouldn’t consider to be outrageous, there are a lot of people exiting higher education and carrying pretty significant burdens into the workforce,” said Cliff Robb, a consumer science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
New figures show the University of Wisconsin System saw $317.7 million in lost revenue and additional expenses between March and December as universities continue to weather the widespread budgetary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new policy taking effect this fall will make it easier for students in the University of Wisconsin System to suspend their coursework without academic or financial penalty under certain medical circumstances.
COVID-19 has caused the “biggest financial disaster” the university has ever seen, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said. Through federal stimulus money, furloughs, pay cuts for leadership, travel restrictions and targeted budget cuts to different units, Blank said she’s optimistic the financial gap can be resolved over the next two years. But she also renewed her case for giving the university borrowing authority.
In a novel initiative to address a series of challenges on Wisconsin campuses — projections of declining enrollment, recruiting and supporting students of color and the damage of COVID-19 — five universities are putting counselors in targeted high schools to help guide students to higher education.
University of Wisconsin students assisting at COVID-19 vaccination sites this semester can receive $500 in tuition credit for their work, the UW System announced Friday.
Quoted: “Think about it — our hospitals and clinics are near capacity because we have a heavy caseload of COVID right now,” said Mary Hayney, a pharmacy professor at UW-Madison.
“We need to find other people to … administer vaccines to the public. So students are a resource that can be tapped to do that because they have the skills and are ready to go,” she said.
“UW nursing and pharmacy students are needed on the front lines of vaccination activities throughout Wisconsin,” Thompson said in a news release. “This $500 tuition credit will assist our students in serving in clinical, campus, Tribal, and other community settings. UW nursing and pharmacy students exemplify the new Wisconsin Idea – where there’s a challenge, the UW System is part of the solution.”
A $500 tuition credit is now being extended to UW system nursing and pharamacy students working at coronavirus vaccination sites.
Noted: Lewis, an assistant professor of mathematics at George Washington University, decided to hire Rai before he had any idea that the pandemic would push the course online. He had gotten the idea from Harry Brighouse, a philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who has written about having a student worker critique his teaching. The move online meant Lewis’s discussions with Rai covered different ground than the professor had initially imagined — he thought they’d talk more about issues like how much class time he should spend on particular topics. But it ended up being an especially good semester in which to have a thoughtful observer.
Noted: Annika Kersten Wellman, a senior studying nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says she believes that the administration should at least go for a middle ground of $30,000 in federal loan forgiveness per borrower. That amount would be closer to the national average of student debt and “will help correct the inequity that is student loan debt,” she said.
Wellman, who said she was lucky that she didn’t have to take out loans for her education, supports student loan forgiveness as a way to address the disproportionate burden of education debt on people of color, something that Warren and Schumer have emphasized in their support of student loan forgiveness.
This season was contingent on securing funds for weekly testing. UW Systems Interim President Tommy Thompson raised money to make it happen.
“President Thompson is and has been focused on strategies to combat COVID-19 on UW System campuses given their inherent congregate settings,” Mark Pitsch, spokesman for the UW System, said. “He has championed a culture of responsibility that includes wearing a mask, social distancing, hand washing and a robust testing strategy.”
In a panel discussion Monday evening, UW System Interim President Tommy Thompson said he didn’t pursue a plan to lift the ongoing freeze on in-state undergraduate tuition because Republican legislative leaders told him it could jeopardize the system’s budget request.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, then-Secretary Tommy Thompson and his staff at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services established an operations center near his office to better coordinate responses to emergency crises.
He said Republicans told him if he asked for a tuition increase the system’s budget wouldn’t go anywhere.
Delgado joined the board in 2014, where he was “a champion of higher education as a way to improve lives and communities in Wisconsin while holding the UW System accountable,” Board of Regents President Andrew Petersen and Interim UW System President Tommy Thompson said in a joint statement Monday.
University of Wisconsin Regent José Delgado died Sunday. In addition to his service in higher education, Delgado was a lifelong engineer and, most notably, founder of American Transmission Company.
