UW-Madison provost Paul DeLuca is looking to restructure UW-Madison's graduate school, but some faculty and staff are concerned about the proposal's budget, specifics and transparency.
The proposal would decouple the current structure—in which Martin Cadwallader acts as dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor of research—into two positions to help the graduate program comply with increasingly complex federal financial and safety regulations and increase federal advocacy.
The Faculty Senate's University Committee formed a team that, by semester's end, will determine whether the problems match DeLuca's prescription, according to Committee Chair Bill Tracy.
""The process … at least seems like it has moved very quickly and I think it's a question about, ‘Where's the faculty and academic staff involvement in the process?'""
Faculty from the sociology department recently presented a resolution to the Faculty Senate that would prohibit restructuring without ample research and specifics, like a detailed budget, which DeLuca said may cost ""a couple of million dollars"" per year.
""I think before you change a structure that has led to this kind of success … you need to put your finger on some very significant problems, and the threats [DeLuca] cited … are really not serious threats that demand a structural change,"" biochemistry professor Colleen Hayes said.
""Shared governance is part of our genetic coding at this institution,"" DeLuca said, ""but I want to stress that our failure to act does put us in a threatened position. Something needs to be done.""
The next town hall meeting is scheduled for Oct. 14 at noon in the Ebling Center of the Microbial Sciences Building.
