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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/26/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
July 22, 2007 Budget appropriation critical to UW-Green Bay, By Karen Lincoln Michel
Shepard said that was how some UW-Green Bay board trustees described the situation last week after the state Assembly scaled back proposed increases to the campus's growth agenda over the next two years.
Funding to meet goals of the growth agenda, which allows for expansion to accommodate 2,200 more students in the next 10 years, was included in Gov. Jim Doyle's original budget and the state Senate's version.
"This is a critical juncture," Shepard said Wednesday in a question-and-answer session. "It's weighing very, very heavily because we have put four years of hard work into trying to serve our region, and it is hanging in the balance right now with the Assembly budget."
Shepard said the Assembly funded about two-thirds of the growth agenda proposal, totaling about $1.1 million.
"But then they made cuts to our base budget that will total somewhere around three times that amount," he said. "So that, to me, is not truth in packaging. That's suggesting there's going to be growth when, in fact, we will be shrinking because there will be substantial cuts to this university."
He described Northeastern Wisconsin as a region in transition, and said UW-Green Bay plays a critical role in its success.
He said the strength of the manufacturing base is shifting from the plant floor to innovative ideas while the region's demographics are becoming more diverse.
Also, he said, the campus has built relationships with Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and other schools in the area to help smooth a student's transition to college. The pipeline is being laid, he said, but the campus needs more resources to accommodate the flow of new students.
As the campus prepares to help the region make the transformations, Shepard said, it needs to count on state funding. If it doesn't come through, he said, the result would be disastrous.
"I tell everybody in Madison: You're creating a train wreck up here if you don't fund the growth of this campus to help our region," he said.
Still, he said, he is hopeful that state lawmakers of both parties can reach an agreement to adequately fund the growth agenda.
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