UW System President Katharine Lyall said President Bush's budget proposal could benefit UW-Madison's research funding at the Board of Regents meeting Friday.
Lyall said that while the proposal forecasts deficits in 2002 and 2003, it includes increases for the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation, two sources that fuel much of UW’s research funding.
She also commended the president’s proposal to fully fund Pell grants, which subsidize tuition costs for needy students, and said she approved of Bush’s increases in international education and foreign language studies, which include $143 million for academic programs in the State Department budget and $320 million for expanded Peace Corps.
Matt Fargen, president of United Council, UW’s student governing body, said he agreed with Lyall’s comments.
“I like to see that there was an increase in Pell grants, which is significant for students,” he said. “This is a very positive thing.”
Lyall also introduced Kris Andrews, a Federal Relations staff member, at the meeting.
“Kris is hard at work helping us to focus our commitment to increase federal funds to Wisconsin and UW System institutions,” she said.
The Board of Regents also approved a $276,000 budget addition to the Southeast Recreational Facility Project and an implementation of a new Ph.D. program in Second Language Acquisition for UW-Madison.
