The UW Board of Regents approved higher pay ranges for top University of Wisconsin officials Wednesday. This approval makes it possible for chancellors and vice chancellors to receive larger raises on all University of Wisconsin campuses.
Formerly UW System President Katherine Lyall's salary could range from $275,608 to $336,854. Now, however, her salary can range from $280,249 to $342,526. Her current salary is set at $304,980.
The wage range was also increased for UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley. Wiley's 2002-'03 salary range began at $274,327 and ended at $335,288. For 2003-'04 the salary range increases to between $279,282 and $341,345. Wiley currently makes $303,350.
The regents said no tax dollars go to pay the increases, a touchy topic with the current state budget crisis.
The regents voted on the new salary minimum and maximum increases based on what they expect similar schools in other states will offer to their top officials. The regents approved the salary ranges by voice vote at a teleconference Wednesday. The regents met at Van Hise Thursday.
Representatives of the Associated Students of Madison voted Thursday to support Chancellor Wiley's decision to fund the international student surveillance system, Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, from the university's base budget.
ASM Chair Austin Evans said the resolution showed ASM's appreciation for Wiley's decision that included ecognizing the need of international students and for absorbing the cost into their own [university] budget.""
Evans said he hopes their formal letter of appreciation will help keep student needs a high priority among UW-Madison faculty and staff.
""We just wanted to ... encourage the university to make similar decisions like that in the future,"" he said.
UW-Madison will be a welcome part of a $350 million initiative to research potentially lethal diseases through the Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Research.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary and Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson announced Thursday that UW-Madison will be part of a collaboration of 11 Midwestern institutions selected as the new research centers.
The centers will focus on the development of diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine products for anthrax, botulism, tularemia, hemorrhagic fever viruses and plague. The project will research the detection, prevention and treatment of illnesses that can be caused by biological agents such as pathogens that could be used in bioterrorism as well as emerging diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the West Nile virus and drug-resistant bacteria.
The RCE will receive more than $7 million in funding per year for the next five years. More than a dozen UW-Madison faculty and staff will be working on researching the disease which may have far-reaching public-health consequences in the next few years.
