The University of Wisconsin System announced Thursday 18 different growth agenda projects that received funding, totaling $1 million in support over the next year.
Twelve different system schools received funding for projects aimed to increase higher education enrollment and retention, including UW-Madison.
Within the entire growth agenda there are three main goals: produce more graduates, stimulate more well-paying jobs and strengthen the surrounding community, according to UW System spokesperson David Giroux.
“We need to reach out to people that are not always represented here on campus,” Giroux said. “First-generation students, low-income and minority students; in various ways these populations in Wisconsin are not well represented on college campuses.”
The funding will be distributed under four main categories: UW System KnowHow2Go Network, collaboration with PK-12 on math preparation, veterans’ assistance and closing the achievement gap.
The sole UW-Madison project to receive funding is “Closing the Achievement Gap, GenChem Course Reform: A Two Pronged Approach,” which is aimed at reforming general chemistry, one of the largest gateway courses on campus, according to a UW System statement.
An example of a project receiving funding under the veterans’ assistance program is “Veterans Information Portal,” which was created through UW-Extension to “provide easy access to information about the academic options and support services available for veterans at any of the 14 UW institutions and 16 Wisconsin Technical College districts in the state,” according to a statement.
“We have a tremendous obligation to the men and women who have served our country,” Giroux said. “But we also know these people have unique needs.”
At UW-Eau Claire, two programs were awarded funding. One aims to develop a better system to help with the transition between high school and college math.
Another, titled “Dismantling Racism Works,” aims to create a work and learning environment beneficial to every person regardless of their race or background, according to Marty Wood, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UW-Eau Claire.
The program consists of faculty and staff workshops to help them recognize how institutions are set up for the majority and how to develop a teaching method and environment to counteract that, according to Wood.
Some common issues Wood said they will look into are whether or not the departments evaluate professors’ teaching differently if they are teachers of color, if the community has an atmosphere of acceptance and ensuring teaching practices are not unconsciously excluding minority races.
“We do a fairly good job, not a perfect job, of teaching white students, but sometimes first-generation students and students of color are left behind,” Wood said.
Funds for the grants came from the UW System’s overall grant funds. Normally, funds for the growth agenda come from a surplus in the overall grant pool. Although hard economic times expended the surplus, Giroux said UW decided to draw on overall grants because of the importance of the growth agenda projects.
