The University of Wisconsin-Madison unveiled a $75 million gift Wednesday for a new engineering building that just last year seemed doomed to be delayed.
The Levy surname will grace a second UW-Madison building, as prolific Madison-area philanthropists Marv and Jeff Levy have pledged $75 million in support of the College of Engineering’s new building.
University of Wisconsin Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor hosted a media roundtable with student journalists Tuesday. Updates on campus initiatives, financial and housing needs and free expression were prominent in the discussion.
A lot has been on University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s plate since the spring.
Between a 12-day pro-Palestine encampment and juggling the university budget process, she’s had to carefully tread an upcoming election with a student body that has divided perspectives. Mnookin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor sat down with campus media Tuesday to discuss free speech efforts, the affordable housing shortage and protest culture.
Newly released reports for five of Wisconsin’s public universities paint a much better financial picture than the other universities, some of whom have had their financial viability called into question.
For years, national surveys of students and families have shown the cost to attend college heavily influences where high school students choose to enroll. Educators in Wisconsin have taken that seriously.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison launched Bucky’s Tuition Promise in 2018. The program covers a student’s tuition for four years if the family has a household income of $65,000 or less.
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman is defending a leadership decision to lay off tenured faculty as a necessary response to declining enrollment and lagging state aid.
The Universities of Wisconsin last week listed the demolition and replacement of the Humanities Building as one of its top priorities for the next state budget. The UW Board of Regents approved the request. Now Gov. Tony Evers should include it in his budget request to the Legislature next year.
Tuition and student fees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the system’s flagship campus, now total $11,606 a year for in-state undergraduates. The total cost to attend the university for a year is about $30,000 when factoring in room and board, educational supplies and other costs.
With only one dissent, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a plan Thursday from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that will include the layoff of 35 tenured faculty members.
The board overseeing Wisconsin public universities voted to lay off 32 tenured University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professors, marking the first large-scale application of a Republican policy put in place nearly a decade ago.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents will decide this week if they’ll ask the state Legislature for an $855 million budget increase in the next two-year budget.
The state public university system is leaning heavily on a low national ranking in a bid seeking $855 million from the Legislature.
Wisconsin ranks 43rd among 50 states in funding its public four-year universities, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. The advocacy group represents the UW System, as well as other state university systems.
President Jay Rothman said during a brief Zoom news conference Monday that his administration plans to ask regents on Thursday to approve asking for the money as part of the 2025-27 state budget. The request is only the first step in a long, winding budget-making process.
Universities of Wisconsin schools would keep in-state undergraduate tuition steady for the next two academic years if lawmakers hike state aid by $855 million of state dollars as part of the upcoming budget cycle, UW system President Jay Rothman said in a budget request Monday.
The Universities of Wisconsin’s top priorities in its next capital budget are tearing down and replacing two failing 1960s-era monstrosities: Cowley Hall at UW-La Crosse, and the towering concrete fortress known as Mosse Humanities building at UW-Madison.
Weeks before a deadline to submit budget requests to Gov. Tony Evers, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman provided a glimpse of his ambitions for increased state funding of higher education.
Federal funds received by the Universities of Wisconsin are not expected to be affected should the constitutional amendments pass.
The state Legislature has formed a study committee to discuss possible reforms and restructuring of the Universities of Wisconsin.
Following December’s deal between the University of Wisconsin System and the Republican-controlled budget-writing committee, a new committee will recommend legislation to address future plans for the UW System.
Communities that have lost a two-year Universities of Wisconsin branch campus will be eligible for up to $2 million in grants.
The state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved releasing $20 million to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation for a grant program to assist communities in redeveloping shuttered campuses.
The state budget committee on Tuesday approved the release of $27 million for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to cover grants aimed at creating a regional tech hub and to help communities affected by UW shutdowns. The committee also approved money for the Department of Corrections to cover the costs of youth who are serving adult sentences.
Following a showdown between the Legislature and Universities of Wisconsin over funding last winter, a new group will study the future of the state’s public universities and issue recommendations.
Last week, Gov. Tony Evers announced he’s seeking an $800 million budget increase for the Universities of Wisconsin in the state’s next two-year budget. He described it as the largest increase in state funding in the UW system’s history.
Gov. Tony Evers said he will ask the Legislature to give the Universities of Wisconsin system more than $800 million in his next budget. This would be “the largest biennial budget increase in our UW system’s state history,” Evers said.
The announcement comes a day after the regents voted on their annual operating budget, which leaves seven universities with budget shortfalls for the upcoming year and has the UW system propping up one of its schools, UW-Oshkosh, after it became the first in UW system history to deplete its savings and run a cash shortfall in the millions.
One university has completely depleted its unrestricted reserves — a first in UW System history — that will require the UW System to step in and loan some of its own reserves. And some of the universities projecting to close their deficits in the coming year still need to make “substantial” cuts to achieve that goal, UW officials told the UW Board of Regents at a Thursday meeting on the UW-Milwaukee campus.
The University of Wisconsin System’s chief diversity officer has resigned after a year on the job and amid Republicans’ targeting of campus diversity efforts.
A year of deep cuts has significantly lowered the Universities of Wisconsin’s total debt, but it’s still projected to be $17.4 million in the red through 2025, according to information shared during the UW Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
In other states, a lack of trust between those parties has led to chaotic results. In Wisconsin, the Republican-led state house held up millions of dollars in funding for the state university system over disagreements on DEI spending, kicking off a war of attrition that lasted over six months and nearly derailed the University of Wisconsin system budget.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is requesting that the state budget committee release $20 million meant to create a grant program that would support communities where a University of Wisconsin branch campus has closed.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday called on Republicans who control the state’s budget committee to release previously approved state funds set aside to aid communities facing the closure of several Universities of Wisconsin branch campuses.
Members of the Legislature’s Joint Audit Committee voted Tuesday on party lines to approve an audit of all diversity, equity and inclusion activities within the state’s executive agencies — a move that runs counter to policies and priorities laid out by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Republican lawmakers are ordering a review into initiatives that aim to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within state government.
Legislative Republicans plan to put the use of diversity, equity and inclusion positions within state government and the Universities of Wisconsin under a microscope with a new audit approved Tuesday.
In December he forced Universities of Wisconsin regents to freeze diversity hires, re-label about 40 diversity positions as “student success” positions, drop an affirmative action hiring program at UW-Madison in exchange for funding to cover staff raises and construction projects. Vos said after the deal was complete that he wanted an in-depth review of diversity initiatives across state government.
The review of how state agencies are using DEI was promised by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, after a protracted battle between top GOP legislators and the Universities of Wisconsin over programs to support people of color and other historically disadvantaged groups.
Across the country, state lawmakers are cutting funding to their most prominent public universities.
That dwindling support for higher education was the subject of a panel at UW-Madison earlier this evening – and the School of Education’s Dr. Taylor Odlewas one of the panelists.
Gov. Tony Evers announced a push Friday calling on the Legislature to approve more funding for the Universities of Wisconsin.
Evers called it the largest increase in state support for the university system in more than two decades.
Gov. Tony Evers is calling on the GOP-led Legislature to increase funding for the Universities of Wisconsin after the system’s leaders released a slate of third-party financial audits that showed half of its schools are in financial trouble.
UW system President Jay Rothman proposed the 3.75% increase last week, and the Board of Regents unanimously approved the hike Thursday at a meeting at UW-Platteville. No one spoke in opposition to the increase during the meeting.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Thursday approved tuition increases that average 3.75% for the system’s 13 universities, about $387 more per year. With annual tuition and segregated fees factored in, the increase amounts to 4.4% for 2024-25, the university said.
The base tuition rate for resident undergraduates will increase by 3.75 percent. This is the second increase in two years since a tuition freeze was lifted. Tuition increased by an average of 5 percent for this school year.
Resident undergraduate tuition rates would rise 3.75% for the 2024-25 academic year, without including fees or room and board. Seven universities in the UW system are proposing even higher increases on top of the 3.75%, Rothman told reporters Thursday morning.
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman on Thursday announced the intent to raise tuition by 3.75%, saying the increase is in line with inflation and is necessary to maintain the UW system’s educational quality.
Wisconsin’s in-state undergraduate students will see a tuition hike of 3.75 percent in the fall, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman announced Thursday.
The closure of two University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee branch campuses will lead to the layoffs of tenured faculty members under a policy that’s previously been applied just once.
The University of Wisconsin System wants to increase tuition for in-state undergraduates by 3.75% next school year, UW System President Jay Rothman said Thursday.
If approved, it would be the second consecutive increase for resident students after a decade of seeing their base tuition rate frozen. Tuition increased by an average of 5% this school year.
A controversial state budget deal hammered out last year for the University of Wisconsin system stoked criticism from all sides — from its original proposal, initial rejection, and eventual passage — according to nearly 1,000 pages of emails, text messages, and other communications The Chronicle received in response to an open-records request.
Another bill that took months to take shape was a deal between Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents. Vos wanted to do away with positions related to DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion. In exchange, he agreed to approve UW staff raises and building projects that were included in the state budget.
Evers, who was critical of the deal, eventually signed off on multiple components, including $700 million for building projects like a new engineering building at UW-Madison and guaranteed admission to the UW for the top-performing students in each graduating class across the state.
Renovations and buildings requested at UW-Madison included: A Camp Randall sports center replacement at $285 millionA replacement engineering building at $347.3 million Music Hall restoration at $39.8 million.
The GOP-controlled state Senate fired eight Democratic appointees Tuesday, including two members of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents who voted against a controversial deal limiting campus diversity positions in exchange for state funding.
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.
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 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.
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.
Vos said in October the raises would not be approved until the UW System made concessions on it’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to The Badger Herald. The Board of Regents voted to accept a deal in December exchanging pay raises and other funding for the “reimagining” of certain DEI positions, according to The Badger Herald’s previous coverage of the deal.
