Lofty aspirations

By 2025, the program aims to enroll 1,000 new undergraduate students and 400 new graduate students, attract between $10 million and $15 million in new research funding from federal and private agencies, hire 100 new faculty and researchers and create 650 new jobs.

Val Klump, dean of UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, said about a third of the money requested would go toward scholarships for undergraduate students and another third to hiring faculty and staff. The rest would go toward marketing, recruitment and office staff overseeing the collaboration.

“The whole idea is to recruit more students to Wisconsin and to offer them something unique to the nation,” he said.

Details aren’t finalized, but the program may encourage or require students to spend time on a different UW campus than their own institution. Faculty within the collaborative may also engage in inter-System sabbaticals, Klump said.

Practical strides