Chancellor: Effort Needed To Keep the UW Miracle Alive

Capstone degrees, interdepartmental faculty among Ward’s priorities Chancellor David Ward highlighted two new university initiatives – more “capstone” master’s degrees and certificates and a new interdepartmental strategic hiring plan – during his State of the University address at Monday’s Faculty Senate meeting. The capstone degrees and certificates represent one response to the rapidly changing academic environment, Ward said. They enhance academic flexibility by permitting students to complete advanced studies without enrolling in traditional master’s and Ph.D. programs, he added. The university is examining how programs and departments can be linked to create capstone degrees and certificates, which will bring a more focused multi-disciplinary approach and outcome to learning. These new opportunities will translate into enhanced marketability for undergraduate and master’s degree students, Ward said. For example, a liberal-arts undergraduate looking for an international professional opportunity in business or a graduate student in science seeking expertise in languages or humanities could benefit from interdepartmental cooperation. Ward added that many capstone degree or certificate courses could be offered through continuing and distance education. “We needed to pay attention to undergraduate education, and we did,” Ward said. “Now we need to pay attention to the first and second years of graduate school.” The interdepartmental strategic hiring plan will fund the hiring of about 12 new faculty members in the spring of 1998. They will be hired in clusters of three or four faculty who together will cross departmental lines. The intent is to develop better cross-college connections and plan for growth in academic fields that go beyond traditional areas of study. Ward said this focus on cross-college connections will offer an additional advantage in recruiting new faculty. Alumni and donors are increasingly interested in putting resources into programs rather than departments, Ward said, “so the clusters may be attractive to them as well.” Pre-proposals for the plan are due Nov. 21. (For more details.) About 10 pre-proposals will be selected for development into more detailed proposals, and probably three proposals will be funded next spring.

Chancellor David Ward encouraged the university community Monday to keep practicing good works, take part in the campus self-evaluation process and become politically active so that UW–Madison can meet the challenges of the future.

And perhaps the main challenge, Ward said during his State of the University address before the Faculty Senate, is the “zero-sum game” caused by low tuition for in-state students combined with declining state support for higher education.

“It is not the Green Bay Packers that are the miracle of this state,” Ward said. “It is UW–Madison that is the miracle as a world-class university in a state this size with its moderate wealth. The state has to decide how to treat this miracle.”

The chancellor offered his own treatment plan: State support needs to increase or tuition needs to change for UW–Madison to remain one of the world’s top universities. He said higher education should still be an important state priority, despite the emphasis that state lawmakers have placed in recent years on property tax relief, corrections and welfare reform.

That emphasis is evident in that UW–Madison has not seen a net increase in state tax dollars in eight years. Meanwhile, UW–Madison tuition for resident undergraduates – $2,860 this academic year – is the second-lowest among Big Ten public universities.

With state elections coming up next year, Ward urged the university community to travail against the combination of low state support and low tuition through political activism.

“This combination puts a threat on us for the future,” he said.

Ward expressed strong support for two specific initiatives — capstone master’s degrees and certificates and hiring of interdepartmental faculty (see related sidebar).

The chancellor began his remarks by looking back at the 1988 reaccreditation self-study, which ultimately resulted in the document A Vision for the Future, issued by the chancellor’s office in 1995 after extensive input and consultation from the campus community.

He defined the progress made on campus since then as “uneven.” But he highlighted several areas that have undergone major improvements, including undergraduate education, instructional technology, new building construction, and increases in private and federal funding. He said he hoped the current reaccreditation process – spearheaded by English Professor Joseph Wiesenfarth and required every 10 years for colleges and universities – would result in a new vision document.

Following Ward’s speech, senators discussed the annual report from the Committee on Women in the University. The report outlines the modest increase made in the percentage of female faculty members, from 17.6 percent in 1989 to 21.2 percent in 1996.

But during their discussion of the report, senators spent the majority of the time debating a recommendation from the committee to require faculty and staff who are responsible for overseeing grant money to undergo anti-harassment training. The faculty and staff, known as principal investigators, would receive training to “distinguish among ‘hostile environment,’ ‘gender discrimination’ and ‘sexual harassment,'” according to the committee’s report.

The report does not include statistics on sexual or racial harassment. But Peg Barratt, chair of the committee, said the need for training is proven by high-profile cases of harassment that “show up in the (news)paper.”

“I’m concerned that it tarnishes all of our reputations,” said Barratt, a professor of child and family studies.

Yet some senators questioned the need for mandatory training.

“I don’t think a couple of cases in the paper should be used to condemn thousands of principal investigators on campus,” said Charles Bentley, professor of geology and geophysics.

Others, including Ward, defended the recommendation, saying the training was necessary to improve the climate on campus, ensure the university’s reputation and address liability concerns.

Silvia Montiglio, assistant professor of classics, said she feels threatened not by men but by what she perceives as political correctness on campus. She said she has been concerned about harassment issues in situations such as accepting an invitation to lunch from a male graduate student.

“It’s a matter of defining boundaries,” she said.

In other action, the Senate referred back to the University Committee a proposed class attendance policy that would replace the existing policy, which dates to 1959.

The Senate also postponed until its December meeting a resolution and motion concerning collective bargaining introduced by Mathematics Professor Anatole Beck.