Chancellor Rebecca Blank outlined ideas to move the university forward in a speech Wednesday that launched the Fall 2013 University Roundtable Series.
The talk highlighted the same topics as the State of the University speech she addressed to Faculty Senate Monday.
Blank charted priorities that included creating collaborative research networks, contributing to the state and working toward financial stability.
Blank said her highest priority is to rectify a compensation issue she is “embarrassed by,” where a centralized human resources system has led to some staff receiving salaries lower than living wage.
Although changes to give her more control of compensation could take years to institute, she said she plans to establish a Critical Compensation Fund like one that existed last year in order to raise certain salaries.
Blank said she is excited about emerging changes in the delivery of education such as the Massive Open Online Courses the university recently launched. Blank said she would like to secure funding for a Center for Educational Innovation, which would lead the way on training instructors to utilize new teaching techniques and would also spearhead research and evaluation of new ideas.
“We know too little about what works and what doesn’t work,” Blank said. “There’s a lot of rhetoric out there without very many experimental results.”
To wrap up the speech, Blank countered those who see her role as trying to “fix” UW-Madison.
“That’s exactly the wrong approach,” Blank said. “What you want to do is find out what’s great about the place and build on that. If you want things to improve you can leverage off what’s already excellent.”
