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UW Board Of Regents Examining Hiring Practices To Increase Non-Academic Hires

Work Group Will Make Recommendations On New Hiring Practices For Top Positions

UW System logo
Phil Roeder (CC-BY)

The University of Wisconsin System regents have formed a new panel to work on increasing the number of job applications with non-academic backgrounds.

Board of Regents President John Behling announced members of the new panel Monday that will make recommendations on new hiring practices for top positions. The changes, if any, would not affect faculty. Instead, it could open the pool of applicants to positions such as chancellor, vice chancellor and other UW System administrators.

Hiring for such jobs can take up to a year under current practices. With such a long wait time some applicants withdraw from the running, said UW System spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis. She said the work group in no way reflects on the qualifications of people who now hold upper level positions.

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“The goal here is to develop a diverse group of qualified applicants, and we need to be nimble enough to hire them quickly so we’re not losing out,” she said.

One of the group’s tasks will be to figure out how to reach out to possible applicants in the private sector, instead of academia.

Almost all UW System chancellors and provosts have backgrounds in higher education, said Joe Heim, a retired UW-La Crosse professor of political science and public administration.

The Legislature’s finance committee added provisions in the state budget in May blocking the regents from adopting policies requiring them to consider only faculty or people with tenure or terminal degrees for top positions.

UW-Madison requires its chancellor and vice chancellor to have held tenured positions, said Heim, a member of the newly formed panel and former chair of the UW-La Crosse Faculty Senate.

Job positions are often published through journals of higher education, so qualified applicants in the private sector may not be aware of openings, Heim said.

“I think what the regents want to do is expand the pool just a little bit and at least allow for people with broader experiences that might be relevant to an academic environment to still have a chance at being selected,” Heim said.

The working group does not have any meetings scheduled as of yet, and hiring process recommendations should come this fall, Marquis said.

Regents Vice President Drew Petersen will chair the group, which also includes: Regent Gerald Whitburn, Regent Tracey Klein, UW-Stout Chancellor Bob Meyer, UW-Extension Provost Aaron Brower, UW-Plateville Vice Chancellor Rose Smyrski, UW System Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs James Henderson, and UW System Senior Associate Vice President of Human Resources and Workforce Diversity Shenita Brokenburr.