The UW School of Medicine and Public Health will no longer be accepting students into the Clinical Laboratory Science program.
The school made the decision to phase out the program, which teaches students how to work as medical lab technologists, because of Gov. Jim Doyle's call for reductions in the UW System.
However, Lisa Brunette, UW Hospital spokesperson, said the governor's office made no official request to take action in budget cuts.
""The decision was based on several factors, including the fact that this educational program is available at other Wisconsin campuses,"" she said in an e-mail. ""We are deeply appreciative of the incredibly strong and consistent support from Governor Doyle for all of our School's missions.""
Brunette said the program would be phased completely out of the school by 2012.
The 80-student program will finish training current students until they finish their undergraduate curriculum.
The decision to phase out the program was made by the School of Medicine and Public Health administration over the last several months, according to Brunette. With the deletion of the program, the school will cut $560,000 a year from their budget of approximately $502 million.""They contemplated the question that all public schools are now facing—how to cope with the national economic downturn in the best way possible,"" she said.
Doyle proposed his 2009-'11 biennial budget on Feb. 17, calling for a $174 million cut from the UW System to close the gap on a $5.4 billion deficit. Lawmakers are expected to pass Doyle's budget by the end of their session, which ends in June 2009.
