When Jim Doyle lays the welcome mat on the doorstep of the governor’s mansion, not only will the leadership of Wisconsin change drastically, but the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents may also change.

Most expect little if any turnover on the UW Board of Regents, but some have said that as many as nine new faces could occupy the conference desk at future regent meetings.

“There’s the potential for nine new members over the next six months. The board may change considerably,” Regent Jay Smith said.

“Right now we have a number of vacancies. We have a number of regents who are not confirmed,” Regent Jonathan Barry said. “A governor like Doyle would have at least two vacancies to fill by June. One is Tommie Jones, and the other is Jay Smith. It depends on how the legislature of the governor agrees to handle those appointed by the previous administration and not yet confirmed. Gerard Randall and Lolita Schneiders are not confirmed — there’s just a whole bunch that are not confirmed.”

Regents are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. In recent months, Smith said former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, hurt the confirmation process.

“Chuck Chvala really did violence with the process,” Smith said. “He wouldn’t allow anyone to have a hearing, much less be confirmed.”

Barry said Doyle “could just pull those nominations and nominate six or seven new people.”

However, Smith said he believes Doyle and the Legislature will act independent of the nominee’s partisanship. Smith said partisanship should not matter to the Legislature, because the main goal of the regents is to advocate the advancement of education in Wisconsin.

While the board may experience changes in its composition, most of the current regents believe Doyle will step in and steer the UW System in a positive direction. However, how far Doyle goes in creating a better UW System will depend on the state’s budget.

“I think that whatever Doyle’s intentions are, they will be constrained by the budget issues. I believe he will put education as his priority,” Barry said. “It would appear though that during the campaign K-12 was his priority.”

Barry said McCallum worked equally as hard to protect the UW System in the midst of last year’s budget crisis.

“As far as McCallum is concerned, I think he did protect the system,” Barry said. “We were able to trudge through tough times and negotiate a reasonable budget with him.”

“I hope we can do the same with this governor,” he added. “They both see the importance of education and the value of investing in education for our future.”