Jay Rothman’s Post

Today, the Wisconsin Joint Committee on Employment Relations approved long delayed and well-deserved pay plan increases for tens of thousands of the UWs faculty and staff. The Universities of Wisconsin continue to lag on national public funding, ranking 42 of 50 states. If we are to provide the education our students deserve & parents expect, we must invest in the people that make it happen every day. Today’s action helps us not fall further behind.

Supporting a new Engineering Building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a no-brainer. I have been saying for months that Wisconsin is in a War for Talent and that the Universities of Wisconsin are the state’s best talent generator. I have also said that if Wisconsin can’t develop the talent for our state’s employers, they’ll look elsewhere. But don’t take my word for it. Listen to what the leaders of some of Wisconsin’s top employers – companies that do business across the country and around the world – told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “It just seems like such an easy decision that you want to expand the premium engineering school in the state to help fuel the economy," said Oshkosh Corp. CEO John Pfeifer. "It's pretty straightforward to me." Pfeifer told the newspaper that the company is continually hiring engineers and that he would prefer they work in Wisconsin. But if it can’t find them here it will go out of state. "I would love to hire more kids from Wisconsin, but what ends up happening is we export work out of state because we just can’t find the staffing in our Wisconsin offices," said Andy Platz, CEO of Mead & Hunt. It hired 300 people last year and has the capacity to hire another 100 – but there just aren’t enough engineers to hire, Platz told the newspaper. Oshkosh Corp. and Mead & Hunt are among the nearly four dozen companies and business groups that are calling on the legislature to fund the Engineering Building. If we don’t do it now, the costs will only go up in the future. Everyone should be able to get behind this project. Keeping and growing jobs in Wisconsin benefits everybody and should be a top priority. The War for Talent is real and it is urgent. Let’s do everything we can to help Wisconsin win it.

The people of Wisconsin take great pride in our universities, and we think our new name, our new identity, best reflects the collective role our 13 public universities play in the economic and social fabric of Wisconsin. We are the Universities of Wisconsin, 13 universities with one mission. A constellation of campuses that provide a network of opportunities to make Wisconsin ‘Future Ready. For All.’ 

Today, I am announcing that the UW System has a new identity: the Universities of Wisconsin. 

The UW System exists to help the State of Wisconsin. I have been a resident of Wisconsin my entire life. Shrinking our budget, when we need to invest in Wisconsin talent to win the war for talent, would have serious consequences. We don’t have enough engineers, nurses, data scientists in our state. These jobs are going to leave Wisconsin unless they are filled here. I know that from working in the private sector. The competition for talent is real and it is urgent. I look at the gulf in terms of what the UW System requested in its budget – which was 1/2 of inflation – & what is being discussed by some in the legislature, and it is really serious. As we move into a technology driven knowledge economy, the investments we make or do not make now will define Wisconsin’s future. The reductions being discussed in the face of a $7 billion budget surplus and compelling needs for increased investment will have consequences to the access and affordability students and families have come to expect of Wisconsin’s public universities. We recently retained an independent firm to help look at our structural deficits, and state funding will determine the access we can provide now and into the immediate future. We remain optimistic and believe there is bipartisan support for investing in higher education so that Wisconsin can compete in the war for talent.

The new SHEEO (State Higher Education Executive Officers Association) State Higher Education Finance report is out for the most recent year: public funding for the University of Wisconsin System is still among the lowest in the country, 42nd of 50 states. Other notable data points: - Wisconsin is the ONLY state in the U.S. where per-pupil revenue at the two-year system EXCEEDS such funding for the four-year system. - Funding our state’s technical colleges is absolutely vital. However, Wisconsin has the third largest gap in public funding on a per-pupil basis between the two-year and four-year systems. - Overall, Wisconsin public appropriations for four-year universities is 69 percent of the national average. Wisconsin’s economic future depends upon our ability to educate the engineers, data scientists, nurses, and teachers our state needs – to name a few. We must win the war for talent. We are hopeful Wisconsin will invest in developing the human capital and talent Wisconsin needs.

As President of the University of Wisconsin System, I am inspired by our brilliant, hard-working students like Dina. Each student has unique story that demonstrates why investing in public higher education is critical.   

So many first-generation students like Grace realize that a UW System education will reward them in many ways in the future. These students have skin in the game and their hard work pays off.  

Our universities are helping build our economic future right now. We provide opportunities for students like Mitch to achieve their dreams – and fill key workforce needs. That’s good for Mitch – and good for Wisconsin.