The University of Wisconsin’s Madison Initiative Oversight Board hosted an open forum Monday evening to hear the second round of proposals to be potentially funded by the money gained from tuition increases and private donors.
This forum heard presentations from members of several departments ranging from the School of Business to the Division of University Housing.
Although the total number of proposals was not declared, this second round of proposals was dominated by the 84 proposals from the College of Letters and Sciences. This is a stark contrast compared to the 28 total proposals that were submitted during the first round of submissions, according to ASM Chair Tyler Junger.
“The forum gives students the opportunity to hear the pitches,” Junger said. “This gives us the chance to communicate with the people who wrote the proposals.”
According to Junger, the proposals are evaluated by the board on a scale of one to four, with one being proposals that are well prepared and have the potential to be funded, and four being proposals that are in their beginning stages and should be retooled.
Among the numerous proposals discussed during the forum, a vast majority of which had to do with faculty hires. Karen Hanson, assistant registrar in the Office of the Registrar, presented a dual proposal for an expansion to the catalog of classes and a class schedule builder.
According to Hanson, the expansion to the online course guide would include professor-provided content, where the instructors would have the opportunity to explain their teaching styles and also to post a video clip from past lectures.
Hanson said this proposal came as a result of the students’ demand for information on how potential courses were taught.
The second part of Hanson’s proposal asked for funding for an optimized class schedule builder for the students. Hanson characterized this proposal as being beneficial to students because it would allow them to have more of a choice in scheduling, as they would be presented with numerous potential schedule scenarios.
According to Hanson, both proposals would be established through the MyUW course guide if they were to be funded.
Another proposal came from John Hoffmire, director of the UW Center of Business and Poverty.
Hoffmire’s proposal included potential funding for the training of individuals who would be able to complete students’ tax forms free of charge and an online financial literacy training course for students.
Hoffmire said the difficulty of the tax forms stems from its overall length and, in turn, funding for this proposal would eliminate students missing out on possible tax reductions. Hoffmire also said his second proposal for an online financial literacy course would aid students in becoming more financially intelligent, especially during these rough economic times.
According to Junger, a huge improvement from the last round of proposals is the fact that the students are now involved in the evaluation process. The General Oversight Board, which consists of ASM Vice Chair Tom Templeton and ASM School of Education Rep. Joe Koss, will be evaluating the written proposals over winter break.
