President Katharine C. Lyall
Farewell to Marcia Bromberg
I want to say publicly how much I appreciate all that Vice President Bromberg has been able to accomplish in her three years at UW System Administration. She has brought new ideas and fresh approaches to the ways we manage our business; she has increased significantly the level of collaboration among our institutions in planning and implementing some of our most important (and most expensive) infrastructure systems; and she has made us more proactive in addressing management problems and achieving efficiencies. We will all miss her sense of humor, her good common sense, and her Cajun dancing. Marcia, most of all, we’ll miss you at Mardi Gras! Thanks for your important contributions to the UW System and good luck in your new assignment.
Presentation of Ameritech Diversity Gift
Report on Fall 1999 Enrollments
I want to report to you, as I do every November, on our fall 1999 enrollments across the System. As you know, we have been managing enrollments systemwide since the mid-1980s to ensure that we balance enrollments with available resources and maintain solid educational quality for our students. We have been able to do this in relation to the size of the graduating classes coming out of Wisconsin high schools so that Wisconsin’s access rate-the percentage of immediate Wisconsin high school graduates who are admitted to a UW institution-has remained at or above 30%. Nationally, the access rate is about 20%, so Wisconsin continues to provide significantly greater opportunities to attend college than most other states.
You have in your folders a table showing preliminary fall 1999 enrollments. Systemwide, we have enrolled 27,064 new freshmen and have on our campuses a total of 130,211 FTE students. This is about 2,000 FTE (1.6%) above our target for this year. The additional 1,000 FTE “access” slots funded in the 1999-01 budget just approved by the Governor will help us maintain this access while cushioning the impact on support per student. In the absence of this funding, we would have had to manage next fall’s admissions downward much more tightly.
President’s 7th Annual Report
You have in your folders my seventh annual President’s Report on the University of Wisconsin System. As you read this report, I hope you will note the UW System is expanding our boundaries to meet the demands of students and the Wisconsin economy. This means expanding our boundaries both geographically and technologically into the larger world.
Other Good News
- Congratulations to Chancellor Sorensen and his Foundation for surpassing their ten-year fundraising goal of $10 million! This fall, the UW-Stout Foundation reached $20 million in assets, an exceptional effort that is making the margin of excellence in support for lab equipment, faculty grants, and endowed professorships. Pat Reisinger, Assistant Chancellor of Development and Alumni Services, deserves congratulations for leading this effort so well.
- UW-Parkside-Jonathan Shailor didn’t win the recent Chicago Marathon, but the people and the program he ran for were big winners. Shailor, an associate professor of Communication at UW-Parkside, raised $1,200 for the Parkside Prison Project through his “Run To End Violence.” Held at the Racine Correctional Institution (RCI) in Sturtevant, the Parkside Prison Project allows inmates to learn literature, music, writing, and other subjects from UW-Parkside professors.
- UW-Green Bay-The new Cofrin Arboretum Center for Biodiversity at UW-Green Bay will promote education, research, and community services that help to conserve plants and animals of the western Great Lakes region. A priority is making available some of the vast array of information on birds, mammals, and plants from the University’s Richter Natural History collections and from the University Herbarium. The Center will help the University maintain its position as a leader in the study of environmental issues.
- UW-Stevens Point-Charles Young, a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point associate professor of music, has been named the 1999-2000 Wisconsin Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for his extraordinary dedication to teaching, commitment to students, and innovative teaching methods. A composer and saxophonist, Young’s incorporation of technology into instruction has been embraced by his colleagues and appreciated by his students.