Elsewhere

(Elsewhere summarizes developments on other UW System campuses and in the system administration. For more system news, visit: http://www.uwsa.edu/univ_rel/wn.htm.)

Gifts, grants, contracts top $800 million
UW–Madison generated $693.5 million in gifts, grants and contracts in the past fiscal year.

The amount represents 80 percent of the total $867.4 million received by all UW System campuses. The system total increased 29.3 percent during the previous year, says a report presented to the Business and Finance Committee of the UW System Board of Regents.

Of last year’s total, $540 million, or 62.3 percent, came from federal government sources. Federal awards were $68.5 million higher than the previous year, while non-federal gifts, grants and contracts grew by $30.9 million. Federal awards for research increased by $57.7 million over the prior year, with UW–Madison accounting for $55 million of that increase.

“It’s a reminder,” says Deb Durcan, UW System vice president for finance, “of the economic impact a successful, nationally ranked research university can have, especially in its ability to attract federal grants to a state that would otherwise receive relatively few federal dollars.”

Among other institutions, UW-Milwaukee generated $43.6 million, while UW-Extension generated $32 million. The Business and Finance Committee plans to discuss trends in gifts, grants and contracts income at the Oct. 4-5 Regents meeting at UW-Eau Claire.

Pondrom gets teaching award
Cyrena Pondrom, professor of English, UW–Madison, was one of three faculty honored Sept. 7 with UW System Board of Regents Teaching Excellence Awards.

Each winner receives $5,000 for professional development purposes.

“These awards reflect the UW System’s vigorous commitment to teaching,” says UW System President Katharine Lyall. “The caliber of teaching and the depth of dedication to undergraduate education demonstrated in the nomination materials are a tribute to the excellence to be found in college classrooms throughout the UW System.”

As a teacher, Pondrom emphasizes the content of each piece studied, whether the course is a small graduate seminar on avant garde literature, an undergraduate survey of modern American poets or a live statewide call-in radio broadcast on contemporary writing. She addresses “what basic issues are involved, what values are proposed or challenged, what concepts of order or disorder are implied.”

During nearly 38 years in the English Department and Women’s Studies Program, Pondrom also has brought innovation to the many administrative duties she has assumed.

Jake Blanchard, associate professor of engineering physics, also was nominated by UW–Madison for the award.

Cost overruns covered
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has agreed to provide the UW System with $6 million toward $8.5 million in utility cost overruns from the last biennium. The funds will be transferred from unused balances in the Department of Corrections’ contract fund account. The remaining $2.5 million will be paid from the 2001-03 energy appropriation.

Hospital affiliation extended
The Joint Finance Committee has recommended the continuation of the UW Hospitals and Clinics Authority lease and affiliation agreements, and requested that the Legislative Audit Bureau conduct an audit prior to the Finance Committee’s next review of the agreements in five years.