The recent hiring of a water consultant by the University of Wisconsin System has created controversy due to concerns the position will expand the focus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s newly established School of Freshwater Sciences past Milwaukee to include the whole state.
Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, said he does not approve of UW System’s decision to hire the consultant and is worried the addition is moving UW System away from the advancement of SFS at UW-Milwaukee.
“In order to attract serious grant money, you have to have a critical mass of academic and economic activity around a research area and that’s what we’re trying to build in Milwaukee…,” Richards said.
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said Richards’ reaction is founded on faulty information and research will not be diverted away from UW-Milwaukee as a result of the consultant’s hiring.
“We’ve done a lot to support expanded research at UW-Milwaukee…,” Giroux said. “We share their interest in water-related research and we believe UW-Milwaukee should take a lead role in this area.”
According to Giroux, the consultant was hired to examine what types of water-related research are being conducted across the campuses in the UW System and is on temporary loan from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Half of his salary is paid for by the UW System, and Giroux said the money was taken out of UW System administration’s operating budget. The other half is paid for by the DNR.
In Richards’ eyes, the money being used to pay the consultant could be put to better use with SFS.
“They apparently have $99,000 in money that they can spare, so they should invest that in paying for faculty at the School of Freshwater Sciences at UWM,” Richards said.
Giroux said Milwaukee is an area that makes sense for research as there is a large concentration of industrial and economic activity connected to freshwater, and the system believes it has tremendous potential.
SFS is currently pursuing relationships with a cluster of more than 100 water-related businesses serving the people of Milwaukee. According to the SFS website, the partnership of sorts between SFS and the water-related companies of Milwaukee would stimulate job growth for the companies.
“If we can create that kind of cluster in Milwaukee, the benefits will ripple across the entire state,” Giroux said.
Richards said he thinks the main focus of the UW System should be the relationship between the water industry cluster in Milwaukee and UWM, not water research statewide — a shift he fears the consultant will instigate.
“The consultant was never brought in to work with the Milwaukee industry cluster to help coordinate efforts between the industry and the university,” Richards said. “That’s a relationship that’s still growing. … We need to build [that relationship] stronger.”
Richards also pointed to the division of the School of Medicine and Public Health between UW-Madison and UWM — which led to the loss of accreditation for UWM — as a reason for his anxiety about the consultant being hired. He said that is something he does not want to see happen to SFS.
“We’re the place that is far and away the best place to become not only this state’s, but this hemisphere’s main city where water research and technological development will occur,” Richards said.
Giroux said SFS has already been established at UWM by a 2008 UW System Board of Regents decision followed by a 2009 approval by the Wisconsin state Legislature.
