First-Year Progress Report
Priority: Recruit and retain the best faculty and staff, and reward merit. Enhance diversity in order to ensure excellence in education and research.
Achievements related to our human resources span the campus.
Recruitment and retention
Schools and colleges report successful faculty recruitment in key areas of expertise, as well as steps taken to enhance recruitment efforts, such as offering endowed faculty chairs. Rigorous efforts — from making market adjustments to salaries to offering more rewarding teaching and mentoring experiences — are leading to successful retention of critical faculty. In addition, health insurance coverage was approved for domestic partners of faculty and staff members. The institution created new tools to evaluate and reward faculty achievements at distinct stages of the career cycle, and promoted best practices in the mentoring and tenure-review process for probationary faculty.
More than 2,000 events were offered to faculty and staff for enrichment and professional development during the year. Events ranged from Fully Prepared to Lead, a comprehensive program for leadership skills, to the annual Teaching & Learning Symposium, with themes dedicated to enriching the learning experience on campus. UW–Madison hosted a summit in collaboration with our Big Ten colleagues to build future leaders.
Diversity
Campus units are also reporting efforts to enhance diversity among faculty, staff, and students, steps that in turn enrich teaching, learning, and research.
For example, the Graduate School reports increases in enrollment of ethnic minorities every year during the past decade, the School of Business reports an all-time high for enrollment of underrepresented minority students in the school’s MBA program, and one-fourth of the Law School’s entering class is composed of students of color. To attract more minority and female students to math, science, and engineering fields, the College of Engineering is sponsoring outreach programs for middle school and high school students. And recognizing the importance of diversity beyond the campus, the School of Nursing is taking steps to teach culturally congruent nursing care.
UW Athletics completed an institutional self-study that concluded with NCAA recertification for another 10 years. The recertification process found the university and its athletics program to be a model for meeting the NCAA’s highest standards and principles in the areas of compliance, academic integrity, gender/diversity, and student-athlete well-being.
Cross-campus diversity efforts are being strengthened through a tightened and improved infrastructure, and new investments in faculty diversity.
In addition, the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE) has grown to more than 950 students, with 149 UW–Madison graduates in 2009. The First Wave Spoken Word and Hip Hop Arts Learning Community won the Wisconsin Governor’s Award in Support of the Arts and continues to receive international recognition. The Posse Program, which prepares select high school students for college and provides a network of support while in college, has expanded to bring students from New York, its fourth Posse city.
Supporting charts
Note: If you are unable to read the charts below, please contact the Office of Quality Improvement. Staff there will help explain the content of any chart in this progress report.
