Multiple Struggles Plague UW-Milwaukee Merger

The University Committee at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee held a meeting this week to discuss the university’s upcoming merger with UW-Waukesha and UW-Washington County; it quickly became evident that several issues and deadlines are plaguing the merger.

“I’m really concerned about where we are,” said UWM Provost Johannes Britz. On top of everything, Britz pointed out that a number of high school students have mistakenly applied to UWM who intended to take classes in Washington County or Waukesha. It is expected that this issue will be resolved in the upcoming months.

Last year, it was announced that UW-Waukesha and UW-Washington County will merge into one college with three separate campuses. The extension will go into effect on July 1st, 2018. While the merger is showing promises of expanding opportunities for the three colleges, several issues are affecting the process as the July 1 deadline is quickly approaching.

These issues were heavily emphasized during the University Committee’s meeting.

One major issue is the naming of key positions for the new campus. An interim dean still has yet to be determined, while department chair and other key positions must be filled by April 15. Britz joked that this deadline felt like an April Fools joke.

Finances are also a cause for concern ahead of the merger.

Britz spoke with the UW Colleges Provost Karen Schmitt, who stated that enrollment from last year is down 22-25 percent at UW-Waukesha and UW-Washington County.

“That is a huge impact on their campus… and that translates directly into the budget,” said Britz.

Many committee members let out an audible gasp at the revelation.

“If you have 20-30 percent less students and 62 faculty for fall, you can start doing your calculations that we will have to introduce change… the implications for me is very clear that when July 1st comes we will have to do academic planning from a budget perspective,” said Britz.

Another issue comes with the restructuring of a new curriculum for the new college. University Committee chair Kristian O’Connor talked to officials from both UW-Washington County and UW-Waukesha who have voiced their concerns with the newly proposed curriculum, which includes a “re-imagined” associated degree.

“They’re for the degree long term, but they’re really nervous about everything that has to be done yet on-top of the restructuring… in general there is angst across both campuses on the workload yet to be done,” said O’Connor.

Provost Britz stated that UWM will also be in charge of taking over many prominent aspects of the merger, which includes marketing and enrollment management.

“They are short staffed or no staff and there’s confusion now,” said Britz.

Britz did try to keep the committee in good spirits, however.

“There are other positives if you think long-term… I do see the opportunity to link this college with WCTC and Alverno,” said Britz.

Towards the end, he summed up the main cause of all of these issues.

“Getting through this budget and the lack of clarity on information and the timeline combined with the detail of what we need to know with a changing set of information doesn’t make it that easy,” said Britz humorously.

Britz said that he feels positive overall, though, to which the committee burst out in an anxious laugh.