April 5, 2002
The Advisory Board meeting took place at the Pioneer Student Center. Jeff Mazanec, Chair, welcomed everyone. Introductions were made.
Dean Shultz gave an update on the current budg et situation and how it affects UW-Platteville. The governor’s proposal is to cut $41.5 million to the UW System. Joint Finance proposal is to cut an additional $21.8 million. This is a very severe cut and will hurt UW-Platteville tremendously. It appears that the Senate will propose less cuts than the governor’s budget. The economic stimulus package cuts affect the Fox Valley and Agriculture initiatives. The focus of the Special Projects Committee will be to lobby the conference committee for the Fox Valley initiative.
The impact to the University is about a $1 million giveback. This would mean that the College of EMS currently has nine faculty positions open. Four of these will be filled. In additional, all three positions in the CS/SE department will be filled. Ullrich Hall renovation will begin this summer in preparation for the CS/SE program.
An update on the International Initiative program was given by Rich Shultz. Germany and Sweden partnerships are coming along great. Lisa Riedle and Carol Beals are implementing some policies and procedures within the College of EMS for our program. A student will be going to Turkey next fall. There is some interest in Australia also. Rich Shultz and two other individuals will be traveling to Cork, Ireland. We are hopeful that this opportunity will also permit students to incorporate a co-op into their plan.
The Joint International Masters program in Computer Science is being developed. This partnership would include Darmstadt (Germany), Moscow (Russia), and UW-Platteville. The first semester of study would be at the home institution, second semester would be at a visiting institution, and the third semester would be at the home institution. This program will be offered on a pilot basis with permission from UW-System.
The Fox Valley Initiative was fully funded at $531,000 with three positions. The budget cuts have resulted in a reduction to 1.75 positions next year with $230,000 budget. Three mechanical engineering courses will be offered next fall. One new faculty has been hired at this time. Another faculty member along with a project manager will also need to be hired in the future.
The Janesville Initiative is in the beginning phases of planning just in case money becomes available. The Chippewa Valley Initiative will not be going at this time. Discussion followed.
Rich Shultz detailed the committee assignments for the afternoon sessions and the board broke for lunch.
Committees met in groups from 1:00-3:00 after which the advisory board reconvened.
Nominations were accepted for the vice chair positions of each committee. They are as follows:
Nominations for officer positions for the Advisory Board are as follows:
Dan Bartel made a motion to cast a unanimous ballot for these nominations. Arnold Mohlman seconded the motion. Motion carried.
The Special Projects Committee shared a letter they drafted to the Budget Conference Committee along with a summary sheet. Dan Bartel motioned to endorse the letter and summary page. John Voelker seconded. Motion carried.
Sue Babb shared information from the Concept Development Committee. The forms that are being developed look great. There will be continued involvement to keep student informed and expand to other countries. Some international exchanges are looking for an industrial experience for their students. The committee will be looking at alumni for contacts and as well as benefits for companies. A web site will be developed. Jim Schneller volunteered to assist with this project.
Kevin Hagen gave a committee update for the Program Committee. They decided to develop a survey to distribute to faculty querying their areas of expertise and interest in working with industry. They discussed ideas for identifying faculty skills, coordinating a list of people that actually buy the services, developing a link to UW web page for these services, and coordinating marketing efforts.
Jeff Mazanec thanked everyone for coming. Rich Shultz thanked Jeff for his term as Chair of the Advisory Board. The next meeting will be Friday, October 4, 2002.
Meeting adjourned.