Archive for March, 2012

Is this what shared governance looks like?

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

The following has been cross-posted from The Education Optimists:

For decades, the price of higher education has been rising at colleges and universities nationwide, and relatively few students and families have done so much as sniff.  While occasional concerns about affordability have been expressed, that message has been quite soft when compared to the loud statement uttered by the millions who walk onto college campuses every year, despite rising tuition and fees.  In other words, actions speak louder than words.  Colleges and universities are able to say: if we are truly charging more than you want to pay, why do you keep buying it?

(more…)

Posted in College costs, Shared governance, The UW-Madison Campus | 1 Comment »

Educational experiments and the long view.

Monday, March 19th, 2012

All this talk of educational innovation here at UW begs the question, what exactly are we innovating?

I do think that higher education research and teaching, even with a  500+ year tradition of the small class college instruction, 150+ year tradition of the German research university model and the 100+ year mission of US land grant schools, is going to change radically whether we like it or not in the next 50 years, and we should be thinking about the 50-year horizon as much as we do about the 5 year, if we think there still will be a UW as we know it. (more…)

Posted in Instruction, Web-based instruction | 1 Comment »

Ex-Stanford professor: “Universities use methods developed a thousand years ago.”

Monday, March 19th, 2012

The following interview appeared in German on today’s Spiegel Online.  It is reproduced here in English for the benefit of UW-Madison readers. – Ed.

He was a professer at the elite private university Stanford.  But Sebastian Thrun, expert in artificial intelligence, had enough of the old university ways.  In this interview, he explains why he now only wants to teach via the Web and what universities have in common with ex-girlfriends

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Thrun, you have given up your professorship at Stanford and now want change higher education with the online university Udacity . How do you explain that to your colleagues? (more…)

Posted in Instruction, Web-based instruction | No Comments »

Anecdotes don’t reflect UW reality

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

“Students should be working 40 hours a week, but these days they are taking off work to hang out with their friends and then are abusing Badger Care and the food pantries. Students need to pay attention to what’s going on around them.” — Fred Mohs, former University of Wisconsin regent and member of the legislative Special Task Force on UW Restructuring and Operational Flexibility

This is what I and several other students heard as we sat in the spectator gallery of a state Capitol hearing room. We were floored by the disconnect from reality that Mohs displayed. What’s worse is that it was not an isolated incident. It accurately reflects the task force’s primary mode of action: charting a course via anecdote. (more…)

Posted in College costs, State-University Relations, The UW-Madison Campus | 1 Comment »

Mark your calendar: Forum on human resource policies and procedures overhaul.

Friday, March 9th, 2012

In case you haven’t already heard of it, the campus is undergoing a major effort to come up with revised Human Resource policies and procedures covering all aspects of HR (compensation, benefits, recruiting, professional development, etc).   It is impossible to overstate the significance of this effort for campus personnel, especially classified and academic staff.  We encourage all to pay close attention to what the proposed changes could mean for you.

Here are a couple of opportunities coming up to get educated about the HR Design project and to ask questions: (more…)

Posted in Academic staff, Classified staff, Compensation, Faculty, The UW-Madison Campus, Upcoming events | No Comments »

Responding to decreased state support: A modest proposal.

Monday, March 5th, 2012

The Commission on Faculty Compensation and Economic Benefits has issued its annual report for 2011-2012 [PDF].  The commission rightly identifies a looming crisis in compensation for faculty and staff  at UW-Madison.  The report provides not only a thoughtful and sober analysis of the magnitude of the problem and of the role of sharply declining state support in exacerbating the problem; it also offers a fairly exhaustive itemization of options available to help mitigate the crisis; e.g., increased efficiencies, alternative revenue sources, and “temporary incentives.” (more…)

Posted in College costs, Retention, State-University Relations, The University Budget, The UW-Madison Campus | 9 Comments »

The Wisconsin Retirement System: The attack against it. How to protect it.

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Readers whose retirement plans involve the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) may be interested in these upcoming presentations/forums sponsored by the WUU and AFSCME:
“The WRS:  The attack against it.  How to protect it.”

  • Monday, March 12, 5-6 PM. Memorial Union.
  • Monday, March 19, 12-1 PM. Union South

Background: Last week there was a flurry of comments, press releases, and TV appearances from the Governor and his staff asserting that they were not thinking about doing anything at all (indeed, “zero”) to the WRS system.

The denials (here) focused on Walker’s “study” of two WRS questions: Should WRS’s current defined benefit program be replaced with a defined contribution plan (such as a 401-K)? Should participation in the program be voluntary? (more…)

Posted in Compensation, State worker benefits, State-University Relations | 1 Comment »