Government Relations

Washington Wire

June 2003

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The University of Wisconsin System is pleased to present the June 2003 edition of Washington Wire. We hope you find this occasional e-newsletter to be a useful tool as the University of Wisconsin System forges new relationships and strengthens partnerships at the federal level. Please send any questions, suggestions or contributions to washingtonwire@uwsa.edu. Thank you for your feedback.

In This Edition

  • System News: Wisconsin representatives secure federal funding for UW initiatives
  • Federal Front: Congress urged to support Wisconsin science initiatives
  • State Budget: Joint Finance Committee completes work on budget
  • Recent Grants: UW Sea Grant, UW-Extension awarded federal grants
  • Regents Update: UW System to take national role in teaching and learning
  • Opportunities: DOE offers Teaching American History grants

System News

Wisconsin representatives secure federal funding for UW System initiatives

Members of Wisconsin's Congressional delegation have been instrumental in securing funds for several UW initiatives in the FY 2003 Federal Omnibus Appropriations bill.

One such effort, by Rep. Dave Obey, (D-Wausau), helped UW-Stevens Point secure approximately $2 million for the Global Environmental Management Education Center. The center will work to solve natural resource problems through international programs for faculty and students. The $2 million award, the GEM center's third major federal grant, will support a student mentoring program and training for community leaders in rural areas.

Other initiatives funded in the omnibus bill include:

More than $2 million for work at several UW-Madison research labs, including Genetic Resources Research, Fields Ag Institute, and research to improve biomass feedstock for the production of energy;

Study finds 60 percent of UW students depend on federal financial aid

A UW System report about how students finance their college educations shows that three of every five UW System students, or about 80,000 students, receive some form of financial aid -- most of which is awarded by the federal government.

In addition, the percentage of UW students who receive financial aid has grown steadily over the past 15 years, according to the summary, which was based on 2001-02 financial aid awards. The growth can in part be attributed to rising tuition, but also includes non-need based loans the federal government made available in the 1990s.

More than 80 percent of financial aid is awarded by the federal government, while state and institutional scholarships account for 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively, of total aid awarded. Federal aid primarily includes the Pell Grant and student loan programs. Approximately 27,000 needy UW students received $59 million in Pell Grants last year, while 70,000 students received $371 million in federal loans. Approximately 20,000 UW students received $20 million last year under the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant, Wisconsin’s largest student grant program.

The report says that loans comprise two-thirds of all financial aid awarded. Approximately 60 percent of UW students graduate from college with loans that total about $16,000. While debt loads have grown in recent years, Wisconsin students have low student default rates -- 2.7 percent vs. the national default rate of 5.9 percent.

Federal student financial aid plays a critical role for UW students. As Congress reauthorizes the federal Higher Education Act, the UW System will continue to encourage Wisconsin's representatives to help protect important federal financial aid for students.

* Read the full summary from the UW System Office of Policy Analysis and Research.

Federal officials offer wisdom to UW System graduates

More than 29,000 students graduated from UW System institutions during the 2002-03 academic year, and along with their degrees, many received guidance from federal officials with ties to Wisconsin.

This spring's UW commencement speakers included:

  • Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at UW-Eau Claire. His message: "When you fail to achieve a big goal, set another even bigger. That's the only way to soar..." and "Have fun along the way. Make every day as fun as beating River Falls."
  • Kevin Keane, 1987 UW-Eau Claire journalism graduate and current assistant secretary for public affairs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also at UW-Eau Claire. His message: "This is the time for our generation to step up and make a difference in the world. We need to build the 21st century. Not since the World War II generation has a generation been presented with the opportunity to shape the world so dramatically."
  • U.S. Rep Tammy Baldwin, (D-Madison), at UW-Whitewater. Her message: "Technology and events make our world seem smaller every day. Now, more than ever, it’s important to think globally -- to see how our actions affect not just our families and our communities, but our state, our country, and the world."
  • U.S. Rep. Mark Green, (R-Green Bay), at UW-Marinette. His message: "Leadership is setting a positive example and motivating others to achieve. By graduating, each of you have proven yourselves leaders. Remember this accomplishment well, remember what it took to get here today, and use it to overcome the challenges of tomorrow."

Federal Front

Congress urged to support Wisconsin science initiatives

UW System President Katharine C. Lyall has asked members of Congress to support an increase in the National Science Foundation’s FY 2004 budget to $6.4 billion, which would provide continued funding for several UW initiatives.

Rep. Vernon Ehlers, (R-Mich.), has circulated a bipartisan letter in support of the budget increase, which would match amounts granted under the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002.

NSF funding is essential for continued work in research and education in science and engineering at UW campuses. NSF funds support individual researchers as well as campus centers and programs, including UW-Madison's IceCube project, a high-energy neutrino observatory in the clear deep ice below the South Pole Station; and the UW-Milwaukee Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems, a joint effort with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to disseminate knowledge about intelligent e-maintenance systems.

UW System joins Department of Defense for Science and Technology Day

Representatives of the UW System were among the researchers, students, and members of associations and the Council on Federal Relations at this year's annual Department of Defense Science and Technology Day on Capitol Hill.

The event was sponsored by the Association of American Universities and the Coalition for National Security Research. UW-Stevens Point Chancellor Tom George joined Judy Brown, director of the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab, and Ed Meachen, UW System associate vice president for Learning and Information Technology at the June 4 reception.

The event was organized to educate Members of Congress about the role defense and university research can play in national security. UW representatives were grateful for the opportunity to meet with those interested in the recent work of the ADL Co-Lab, including Rep. Ron Kind, (D-La Crosse). They also shared how continued federal funding will allow the Co-Lab to make significant progress.

Congress moves to accelerate FY 2004 budget appropriations

Congressional appropriators and the White House have reached a deal to make an additional $5 billion available for domestic spending in FY 2004 -- resulting in added dollars for the budget bill that includes education initiatives.

The revised allocation would provide a total of $138 billion for the Labor/Health and Human Services/Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The amount is $3.7 billion above FY 2003 spending and $56 million more than President Bush requested.

The additional funding was made available by shifting a portion of the FY 2003 and 2004 defense allocations, according to recent reports in Congress Daily.

The House and Senate requested the action because the FY 2004 budget resolution called for a spending limit of $784.7 billion -- an amount less than the President's proposal -- largely impacting domestic accounts and freezing certain appropriations bills. House and Senate appropriations committees had delayed action until President Bush agreed to the request for the funding shift.

The Veterans Affairs/Housing and Urban Development/Independent Agencies subcommittee would receive $90 billion -- $3 billion above FY2003 spending and $600 million more than the the President's request. The revised allocation also means a total of $28.5 billion for the the Homeland Security Subcommittee, which is $6.6 billion above levels authorized in FY2003 and $1 billion more than the President's request.

-- The American Association of Universities contributed to this report.

State Budget

Joint Finance Committee completes work on budget

The Wisconsin Legislature's Joint Finance Committee finished work early this month on final items in the state's 2003-05 biennial budget. The committee voted last month to maintain most of Gov. Jim Doyle's recommendations for the UW System budget and did not include additional directives on how to implement the cuts.

Doyle's two-year fiscal plan called for a $250 million reduction in state tax support to the UW System, but allowed for the budget cut to be partially offset through increases in tuition.

The governor's recommendations included a tuition increase of $250 per semester at the comprehensive campuses and $350 per semester at the two doctoral campuses. This proposed offset could raise $150 million over the two years, but this additional revenue would still leave the UW System with a $100 million budget cut.

The governor also allowed for differential tuition, if recommended by students and the Board of Regents, and the committee retained the governor's recommendation for $23.6 million in financial aid increases funded through UW auxiliary reserves.

The budget now goes to the full Senate and Assembly for consideration.

* Learn more on the UW System Budget Update website.

Recent Grants

* The UW Sea Grant Institute will benefit from $1.93 million in federal funding from the National Sea Grant College Program for programming over the next year.

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, (D-Wis.), helped secure the funding, which will support Great Lakes-related research and projects at six UW campuses: UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Manitowoc.

The funding will support inquiry into the spread of aquatic invasive species and techniques to raise yellow perch, as well as research on fisheries management, population dynamics and scuba-diver safety. Sea Grant also sponsors the Madison JASON project and the Earthwatch Radio Program through the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

* UW-Extension efforts to foster economic growth in northern Wisconsin will receive a boost thanks to Rep. Dave Obey, (D-Wausau), and State Sen. Russ Decker, (D-Schofield), who worked to secure $175,000 from the U.S. Department of Labor for the Northern EDGE (Economic Development and Growing the Economy) initiative.

A conference is being planned for sometime in 2004 to highlight important initiatives undertaken through Northern EDGE, a collaboration that includes UW-Extension, UW-Superior, UW-Stevens Point and the UW Colleges.

* Read more about the Northern EDGE from UW-Extension.

Board of Regents Update

UW System announces national leadership role to advance teaching and learning

The UW System and UW-Milwaukee will work together as part of a leadership site for a national initiative that seeks to strengthen teaching through the enhancement of learning.

The UW System will serve as one of 12 national leaders in the American Association of Higher Education Carnegie Academy Campus Program in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

Such scholarly inquiry will allow the UW System to develop and share knowledge about the best ways to teach and how students learn -- knowledge which UW System President Katharine C. Lyall said is "really the core of our mission."

The leadership site will be located at UW-Milwaukee and coordinated by the UW System's Office of Professional and Instructional Development and UWM's Center for Instructional and Professional Development.

The effort may also help the UW System meet some of Congress' recent calls for increased accountability at institutions of higher education, according to Dr. Pat Hutchings of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Regents select new leadership

The Board of Regents in June selected new leaders, electing Toby E. Marcovich of Superior as president and David G. Walsh of Madison as vice president.

Marcovich, vice chair of the Regents' Executive Committee, succeeds Guy A. Gottschalk of Wisconsin Rapids as Regent president. Walsh was appointed to the Board of Regents in January. He serves as vice chair of the Business and Finance Committee and also is a member of the Personnel Matters Review Committee.

* Read more from Day One and Day Two of the Board of Regents' June meeting, held at UW-Milwaukee.

Opportunities

DOE offers Teaching American History grants

The U.S. Department of Education is accepting applications for the FY 2003 Teaching American History Grant Program.

The program supports projects that raise student achievement by improving teacher knowledge, understanding and appreciation of traditional American History. Grants will be awarded to local educational agencies, in partnership with institutions of higher education and other non-profit history or humanities organizations, libraries or museums; to develop, document, evaluate and disseminate innovative, cohesive models of professional development.

The deadline for application is July 7, 2003.

* Download details and an application package from the Department of Education.

Fed-State Review

The Wisconsin Department of Administration provides a look at how federal funding impacts the state through the Fed-State Review. This round-up of information on federal-state relations is available through DOA's Division of Housing & Intergovernmental Relations.

Events

  • REMINDER: August marks the District Work Period for Wisconsin's Congressional delegation. If your campus hasn't recently hosted your U.S. Senators or Representatives, please consider extending an invitation for a day on campus.
  • Mark your calendars for Wisconsin Economic Summit IV! This year's event will be held at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee on October 27-28, 2003.
  • Connect with Wisconsin's tech-transfer leaders at the Wisconsin Small Business Innovation Consortium’s 20th Anniversary Wisconsin Technology Awards Conference & Banquet on June 19, 2003. Visit the SBIC website to learn more about the event.

Questions or Comments?

E-mail us at washingtonwire@uwsa.edu or contact Kris Andrews, Federal Relations Coordinator, UW System.

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