Government Relations

Washington Wire

April 2004

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Building Partnerships

Students shine at undergraduate research event

    A view of the "Posters in the Rotunda" event held at the State Capitol

“Posters in the Rotunda: A Celebration of Undergraduate Research,” brought more than 100 students and faculty from 15 UW System campuses to the State Capitol Rotunda this week to share their research findings with state elected officials, federal research representatives, and members of the public.

Dr. Corby Hovis, lead program director for research experiences for undergraduates in the division of undergraduate education for the National Science Foundation, said the kind of UW System research on display at the event helps fulfill the NSF’s mission to encourage the advancement of science and engineering through people, ideas and tools.

Dr. Corby Hovis, lead program director for research experiences for undergraduates in the division of undergraduate education for the National Science Foundation
Dr. Corby Hovis, lead program director for research experiences for undergraduates in the division of undergraduate education for the National Science Foundation

“We see undergraduate research as enriching the people and ideas aspects of what we do,” Hovis said.

The event also included remarks from UW System Senior Vice President Cora Marrett, Board of Regents Vice President David Walsh, Stan Davis, of Gov. Doyle’s office, and Mike Salmela, a senior at UW-River Falls.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle recognized the event by proclaiming “Undergraduate Research Week” in the state.

* Photos and a full program from the event are available on the Posters in the Rotunda website.

System News

UW diversity efforts at halfway point

The UW System has had mixed results during the first phase of a systemwide plan to increase diversity among its 26 campuses, the UW System Board of Regents learned at its April meeting.

"Plan 2008: Educational Quality Through Racial and Ethnic Diversity," is the UW System's 10-year plan to achieve racial and ethnic diversity throughout the UW System and “to serve the needs of women, minority, disadvantaged, disabled, and non-traditional students and seek racial and ethnic diversification of the student body and the professional faculty and staff.” The UW System was the first university system in the nation to adopt such a long-range plan. Each UW System institution is responsible for implementing the plan to best suit its needs. Key findings for the first five years included:

Goal 1: Increase the number of Wisconsin high school graduates of color who apply, are accepted, and enroll at UW System institutions.

  • Enrollment of students of color increased by 16 percent.
  • The proportion of UW System enrollment made up of students of color increased from 8 percent to 9 percent.
  • Service rates for students of color declined from 23 percent to 20 percent.

Goal 2: Encourage partnerships that build the educational pipeline by reaching children and their parents at an earlier age.

  • The number of pre-college participants increased by 145 percent.
  • UW System pre-college programs reach fewer than 8 percent of K-12 students of color.

Goal 3: Close the gap in educational achievement by bringing retention and graduation rates for students of color in line with those of the student population as a whole.

  • The second-year retention rate for students of color increased from 72 percent to 75 percent, compared to 81 percent for white students.
  • The six-year graduation rate for the most recent cohort of students of color is 43 percent, compared to 64 percent for white students.
  • The number of degrees conferred to students of color increased by 9 percent.

Goal 4: Increase the amount of financial aid available to needy students and reduce their reliance on loans.

  • State financial aid programs received increases in the 2003-05 state biennial budget, however, those increases were entirely funded by one-time reserves.
  • UW institutions have established many privately funded scholarship programs under Plan 2008.
  • Debt levels for African American and Hispanic/Latino students are higher than those of White, Asian and Native American students.
  • Over the past fifteen years, higher education costs have increased at a greater rate than median income for low-income families, but this has not been the case for middle and high income families.

Goal 5: Increase the number of faculty, academic staff, classified staff, and administrators of color, so that they are represented in the UW System workforce in proportion to their current availability in relevant job pools.  In addition, work to increase their future availability as potential employees.

  • The numbers and proportion of employees of color in the UW System have increased in every employment category, including faculty, academic staff, classified staff, and administrators.
  • A number of UW institutions have been cited for their exemplary efforts in attracting and providing services for people of color.

Goal 6: Foster institutional environments and course development that enhance learning and a respect for racial and ethnic diversity.

  • UW institutions have integrated diversity into strategic planning and academic program review.
  • The UW System Office of Academic Affairs has integrated contributions toward diversity into the program approval process.

Goal 7: Improve accountability of the UW System and its institutions.

  • UW institutions have included diversity efforts in program and performance reviews.

The board learned that while the system is making good progress, significant gaps, though lessening, remain in retention and graduation rates between minority and non-minority students, and assessment measures need more attention.

Members of the board acknowledged the progress to date, but pressed for a more aggressive attack, especially in getting more Wisconsin Latino and African-American students through the pipeline and successfully through college.

* Read the Plan 2008 update: "Report on Diversity: A Wisconsin Commitment, An American Imperative."

Research funding critical for UW-Madison, state

UW-Madison brings in approximately $600 million in extramural research support -- the third highest in the country, Martin Cadwallader, dean of the Graduate School at UW-Madison, reported to the Board of Regents in April.

Of that $600 million, approximately $420 million comes from federal sources and $160 million from non-federal sources -- equivalent to approximately $250,000 per faculty member, Cadwallader said. He added that UW-Madison plays a critical role in the creation of new companies and ensuring a dynamic economy for the region and Wisconsin.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) combined awarded more than $330 million to UW-Madison in 2002, equaling more than 70 percent of its federal research funding. UW-Madison's largest federal source of funding is the Department of Health and Human Services, from which, thanks to the doubling of funding to NIH, UW-Madison receives 54 percent of its federal funds. UW-Madison receives 19 percent of its federal funds from NSF, Cadwallader said.

Cadwallader also noted that gifts and grants from business and industry are becoming an increasingly significant source of support, and now account for 22 percent of the non-federal external research funding to UW-Madison.

Cadwallader said graduate enrollment at UW-Madison has remained steady at 9,000 students. UW-Madison confers more Ph.D. degrees in the United States than any other institution, with the exception of UC-Berkeley. Cadwallader indicated that UW-Madison has seen a 27 percent dropoff in international student enrollment since Sept. 11, 2001, similar to the dropoff seen across the country.

Cadwallader indicated that UW-Madison faces challenges in the next decade, including the ability to recruit and retain top-qualified faculty with the capacity to conduct research and scholarship in areas of national and state need; addressing infrastructure needs on the campus to enhance research capacity; and continuing to ensure that all administrative activity is processed and that policies and procedures are in place regarding human and animal subject protection as required by federal agencies.

* Read more from the April meeting of the Board of Regents:

UW System Federal Priorities available online

The collection of UW System Federal Priorities for Fiscal Year 2005 is now available through the UW System website.

Congressional offices both in districts and in Washington received a binder of these priorities in February and March. The online collection is in. pdf format, allowing users to easily find and print the documents they need.

The collection is available through the UW System Government Relations website at http://www.uwsa.edu/execvp/govrel/federal-priorities/.

Congressional Update

Congress moves slowly to reauthorize Higher Education Act

Despite the impending expiration of the Higher Education Act in September, Congress has been slow to reauthorize the legislation. Given that this is an election year, expect a potentially long stare-down session over how to best serve higher education.

To great relief of higher education leaders, Congressman Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, R-Calif., who heads the 21st Century Subcommittee, the principal subcommittee on higher education in the House of Representatives, abandoned legislation that would have prevented some institutions from participating in selected federal student-aid programs.  This was a big victory for many institutions, including those in the UW System, which were concerned that the bill would unfairly penalize students for tuition and fee increases driven by state funding decisions.

The UW System is also closely following a Bush Administration recommendation, which would eliminate the "base guarantee" portion of the distribution formula for federal campus-based financial aid programs, including Supplemental Education Opporutnity Grant, federal work study, and the Perkins Loan Program.

The Department of Education funds these campus-based programs based on a formula adopted in the 1980s. At that time, campuses were allowed to keep the funds they were already receiving -- their "base guarantee." Any new funds became subject to the formula, allowing DOE to compare levels of need to calculate a school's "fair share" of funding. Today, a school receives a "base guarantee" amount or a "fair share" amount, whichever is greater.

Following the President’s lead, there is a congressional effort to reduce and/or phase out the base guarantee. Both proposals have a potentially devastating effect on the federal financial aid available to current and future UW System students.  In fact, according to an American Council on Education analysis of the SEOG program, Wisconsin would be the biggest loser in the country if the legislation is enacted.

Wisconsin schools currently benefit from high base-guarantee amounts, due to aggressive negotiations prior to the 1980s. A preliminary UW System analysis indicates that as a whole, the UW would lose as much as $10.9 million if the Bush Administration's proposal is adopted. The effect of the proposals varies by institution and program, but all would likely see negative impacts.

It is important to note that some media reports have portrayed this issue as a battle between “rich, Ivy league schools” and “poor, community colleges.” UW System figures show that this is not a fair representation of the situation. While we agree with the premise that federal education funding should not be disproportionately allocated to wealthy universities with relatively few low-income students, these proposals are almost certain to draw money from public universities, taking support away from low-income students who attend our institutions to give it to others instead.

The UW System will continue to closely track these and other matters during reauthorization to ensure adoption of proposals that will benefit, rather than hurt, UW System institutions and students.

* Watch for a special edition of Washington Wire about recommendations to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

Feingold, Baldwin urge increased student aid

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) are out in front to encourage increases in the maximum Pell Grant award for college and university students.

Feingold, along with colleagues Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn), is calling upon the Senate Appropriations and Budget Committees to increase the maximum Pell Grant award from $4,050 to $4,500.

"At a time when the cost of a college education has reached new heights, the Pell Grant program must rise to meet
the new needs of millions of needy young Americans," Feingold said.

Pell Grants and other federal student aid should be increased to keep higher education affordable for all potential students, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) told the House Budget Committee last month.

Nationally, tuition at public colleges and universities have recently increased as much as forty percent. In the areas Baldwin represents, which include UW-Madison, UW-Baraboo, and UW-Whitewater, costs increased approximately eight percent in the last year.

“Pell Grants have provided many low-income students with the opportunity to get a college education they wouldn’t have been able to even dream of several years ago,” Baldwin said.  "It is my fear that low-income students with grades and test scores that make them prime college material may no longer even apply for this aid."

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

E-mail washingtonwire@uwsa.edu or contact Kris Andrews, Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations, UW System.

University of Wisconsin System: http://www.wisconsin.edu
Washington Wire: http://www.uwsa.edu/execvp/govrel/wwire/index.htm

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