Capitol capsules
Hinshaw advocates for research support
Making the case for university-based research, the federal granting agencies that support it, and student aid, Graduate School Dean Virginia Hinshaw testified before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee April 4.
Hinshaw urged the panel, the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, to continue increased support for biomedical research.
Specifically, Hinshaw supported increased funding for the National Institutes of Health, which has received budget increases of 15 percent for the past two fiscal years. Continuing that trend, she said, is critical for continuity and stability in the research environment.
“We need to keep that momentum going, instead of reverting to the old boom-and-bust cycles that characterized NIH funding in the past,” Hinshaw said.
Emphasizing that modern biomedical research is hampered by an aging infrastructure, she encouraged lawmakers to factor those concerns into budget decisionmaking as well: “Great research ideas are constantly being generated by our faculty, staff and students, but pursuing those ideas requires modern facilities and equipment, along with the analytical and communication tools rapidly emerging through computer technology.”
Hinshaw spoke on behalf of the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education, the Council of Graduate Schools and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
Pell Grant hike derailed
A $400 increase in individual Pell Grant awards, intended to raise the maximum individual grant to $3,700, cleared the U.S. Senate but was derailed by the House.
The amendment, attached to the Senate’s fiscal year 2001 budget resolution by U.S. Sens. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was an effort to keep higher education affordable, Feingold says.
“Pell Grant is the key that enables many individuals to graduate from college,” Feingold says, citing a 23 percent erosion in the value of Pell Grants over the past 25 years.
Pell is a key program for UW–Madison undergraduates because it goes to the students with the greatest needs, according to Rhonda Norsetter, special assistant for federal relations to Chancellor David Ward.
Legislature winds down
After approving a few items including AB 736 covering study abroad grants, the state Senate adjourned the 1999-2000 legislative session. Both the Senate and the Assembly are scheduled to meet on May 2 to consider a few more bills that have passed both houses of the legislature, but are in different forms.
No other legislation will be taken up; bills that did not pass will have to be re-introduced in the next legislative session beginning in January 2001. To see a list of all legislation of interest to UW–Madison that passed the legislature this session, visit: http://www.news.wisc.edu/chancellor/staterelations/.
Panel to study state-local partnerships
Political science professor Don Kettl will chair a governor’s commission that will study how state and local governments can best provide the most efficient and cost-effective service. Research Park director Mark Bugher and professors Steve Malpezzi, business, and Allan Odden, education, also have been appointed to the 31-member commission.