The UW System Board of Regents met on June 3 and 4 at UW Milwaukee. On Thursday the Education Committee recommended approval of UW Oshkosh’s request for a Bachelor of Science in Strength and Conditioning, which will replace the current Strength and Conditioning emphasis in the Kinesiology major. The Committee also recommended approval of faculty promotions, tenure designations and other changes of status after a discussion of the impact of COVID-19 on career progression particularly for female faculty members. In outgoing Board of Regents President Petersen’s remarks he told Regents he’s particularly proud of the increased attention to the issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion by the Board and the UW System, including the new Regents Opportunity Scholarships, which target underrepresented and underserved students. The Board committed to providing $1 million annually for these scholarships.  System has also continued its efforts to raise the profile of the UW through the All in Wisconsin campaign, which has sought to make closer connections between the businesses, communities, and people of Wisconsin and their public university. UW System President Thompson highlighted efforts to get as many people as possible fully vaccinated. Thompson noted that UW System has vaccination clinics at 11 campus locations around the state, and that the UW has administered more than 225,000 vaccinations to date. One in 20 vaccinations administered in Wisconsin overall has been administered at a UW site like the Culver Center. Thompson also talked about the fate of the UW System’s 2021-2023 budget request and stated that he will continue to strongly advocate for additional UW System initiatives. He related that a key takeaway of the JFC hearing was the proposed lifting of the UW System tuition freeze, returning tuition-setting authority to the Board of Regents. The JFC ended UW System’s $45-million annual lapse going forward. 

At the Friday meeting, committee recommendations were approved, including the approval of an enterprise contract between UW System and Zoom Video Communications, Inc. for web conferencing services. This agreement will allow consolidation of existing stand-alone contracts across the UW institutions and is estimated to save over $340,000 per year in recurring costs and over $1.1 million during the initial contract term, while increasing efficiency by standardizing the toolset across institutions. The highlight of the Friday meeting was presentation of the Board of Regents 2020 and 2021 Academic Staff Excellence Awards. 2021 recipients included Kim Langolf, Risk & Sponsored Programs, UW-Oshkosh and Project Success, UW-Oshkosh.

The Board of Regents elected Regent Edmund Manydeeds III to a one-year term as president. Manydeeds, a graduate of UW-Superior and UW-Madison, succeeds Andrew S. Petersen, who has served as president since June 2019. The Regents also elected Regent Karen Walsh as vice president. For more information Regent Manydeeds and Regent Walsh, see this link.