College of General Studies Transformation Team Charge – Fall 2023

Waukesha

1. Engage Waukesha County, shared governance and other stakeholders in discussion about the future of the campus and needs of the region; 
2. Maintain in-person education at the existing campus, subject to the support of key local stakeholders; and 
3. Renegotiate the existing memorandum of agreement and lease with Waukesha County to reduce underutilized space, with consideration given to potential space needs of the nursing program, demand for continuing education, and community rental requests. 

President Rothman assigned a team of Universities of Wisconsin (UoW) employees, led by Alison Steil, to provide expertise and support to UWM as we work through transformation issues with the respective counties to renegotiate the current memoranda of understanding and leases.   

The directed changes at the branch campuses will also require significant collaboration on additional issues including student academic needs and support, academic offerings, accreditation, budget, enrollment management operations, facilities, governance, human resources, IT, operational structures, student services and other areas. 

Structure

To respond to the UoW directive, UWM formed the College of General Studies Transformation Team (CGSTT), with the following structure:  

Executive Sponsors

Mark Mone	Chancellor
Andrew Daire	Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affair
Robin Van Harpen	Senior Vice Chancellor of Finance & Administrative Affairs

Co-Chairs

Kathy Dolan	Distinguished Professor, Political Science, College of Letters & Science, and Chair, University Committee
Scott Gronert	Dean, College of Letters & Science

Guiding Principles

In planning and implementing actions to meet the directive, the CGSTT will incorporate and/or be mindful of the following principles: 

• Become “One UWM”, providing smooth pathways between associate and bachelor’s degree programs, providing transitions between locations, utilizing a common course catalog, using aligned admissions processes, and building a sense of belonging to one institution.  
• Place student-centricity at the forefront of UWM offerings. 
• Embrace and explore more bachelor’s, as well as master’s and doctoral offerings opportunities in Waukesha, the third largest county in our state, with a growing population and expanding presence in advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and construction. The selected offerings will meet market need and demand in Waukesha. 
• Explore higher education offerings in Washington County that meet market need and demand.  
• Plan for necessary approvals: internal/governance, Board of Regents, Higher Learning Commission, and other(s). 
• Follow Regent, UoW, UWM, and other relevant policies and procedures.  
• Complete financial analysis of all plans. 
• Develop project plan and timelines for technical implementation. 
• Address impacts on employees.  
• Communicate, as coordinated by the Co-Chairs and supported by the Division of Marketing, Communication and University Relations, to the following groups:  
  • Students 
  • Employees 
  • Shared governance groups 
  • County stakeholders 
  • UoW/Regents/Legislators  
  • Technical college partners  

The Executive Sponsors will rely on the work of the CGSTT as UWM makes decisions about the future.  Hence, it will be of paramount importance that CGSTT participants, which includes the Co-Chairs and Work Team members, work in concert with faculty, staff, and student governance and administrative groups for input and guidance.  

The Executive Sponsors are grateful to the commitment of each participant who will make this process successful by including participative decision-making, engaging shared governance, valuing and being respectful of all colleagues, being mindful of UWM’s financial status, communicating openly, and focusing on positive student, academic, research and employee outcomes. 

Charge for Co-Chairs

The College of General Studies Transformation Team Co-Chairs will: 

1. Receive updates from and review output from Work Teams outlined below and provide updates and guidance to Executive Sponsors to ensure UWM can meet the UoW directive. 
2. Coordinate with and report to the UoW team on key milestones/deliverables. 
3. Represent and communicate the restructuring process to UWM’s three campuses, with support from the Division of Marketing, Communications and University Relations.
4. Track local problems, issues, and challenges and raise them, as needed, with the UoW team and Executive Sponsors.  
5. Provide local context and process expertise to the Work Teams described below, as appropriate, including assisting with involvement of institution subject matter experts, including governance representatives.

Work Team Charge

Work Teams will be formed to address specific goals, which are detailed below. The Work Team Leads and members will:  

1. Identify issues, challenges, and opportunities to be addressed within the goal, and take appropriate action to meet their goal by the provided deadline. 
2. As specific strategies and tactics are formulated to implement their assigned goal, create written action plans that include priorities, timelines, responsible parties, and other details.  
3. Communicate at a regular cadence to be determined with the CGSTT Co-Chairs, regarding progress and needs of the Work Teams to meet their goals. 

Given the wide breadth of issues to be addressed in the goals, each team will be comprised of sub-groups of individuals who have expertise on a given topic or operational responsibility in a given area. The Work Teams will invite subject matter experts, including CGS employees and UWM shared governance representatives, as appropriate, to address their goals. CGS employee(s) will be involved in all Work Teams. The CGSTT Co-Chairs may appoint and charge additional Work Team(s) as needed to address needs that have not been identified or if deemed appropriate. 

Goals

Goal 1: Close the Washington County facility by June 30, 2024, including ending in-person associates programming at Washington County. 

Work Team Leads: Simon Bronner and Suzanne Boyd 

Timing: This work has either already started or should start immediately and be completed on or before March 1, 2024.  

1. Transition Washington County students programmatically. This work started the week of Oct. 16 and is being led by a “Student Transition Team” based out of the College of General Studies and Division of Enrollment Management.  
2. Resolve accreditation and teach-out issues associated with closure.  
3. Determine the future of individual appointments for CGS employees and other UWM employees assigned to the Washington County campus. This includes ensuring that the needs and questions of employees directly impacted by closure of Washington County facility are addressed.  
4. Negotiate and manage facilities transition and future arrangements, including: 
   1. Termination of current Washington County agreement, including timing, closure of facility, and potential future partnership including facilities.  
   2. Resolve facilities/moving issues for Washington County facility.  
   3. Address IT, Lab, and Scientific Instrumentation issues.   
   4. Negotiate for new space at Moraine Park Technical College or elsewhere in Washington County, if needed. If the need for new space in Washington County is not known or can only be partially addressed during the active period of this Work Team, this desired action will be addressed and/or continue to be addressed in Goal #4. 
5. Assess and revise foundation agreements and relationships, particularly to scholarships.  
6. Assess financial impact relating to Washington County closure and loss of tuition and set targets for expense and FTE reductions.

Goal 2: Explore the future CGS organizational structure. 

Work Team Leads: Kathy Dolan, Scott Gronert and Lisa Hager 

Timing: This work should start immediately and the recommendation to the Executive Sponsors should be submitted on or before February 7, 2024.  

Determine the future structure of College of General Studies (CGS) with options of:  

1. Dissolve CGS such that CGS faculty and instructional academic staff are moved into other UWM college(s)/unit(s), as appropriate and according to UoW/UWM policies, by June 30, 2024, or  
2. Move CGS in toto into a UWM college/unit, by June 30, 2024.  

In this analysis, determine the organizational home/structure for current CGS faculty and staff, as needed. Implementation of the decision will follow on a timeline to be determined.  

The Executive Sponsors considered the option of retaining the current structure of CGS, however, determined that option is not feasible. Given the UoW directive, any future structure of the current CGS must yield a positive revenue budget and align with the “One UWM” premise described in the Guiding Values. The Executive Sponsors have deemed a positive revenue budget and alignment with the “One UWM” premise is not possible without change to the current status of CGS.  

Goal 3: Plan future programming, particularly in Waukesha 

Work Team Leads: Kay Eilers, Ron Gulotta, Drew Knab, and Kris O’Connor

Timing: Start immediately; conclude part (a) on or before January 12, 2024, and parts (b) through (f), on or before April 1, 2024.  

Examine future programming offerings for Washington County, based on demand and needs, and new/additional programming in Waukesha, based on demand and needs. Examination of future offerings will include discussions with other regional institutions of higher education, including local technical colleges. Please note that current Waukesha programming is intended to be maintained but should also be examined for new opportunities, including more bachelor’s programs, as well as master’s and doctoral offerings.  

1. Conduct analyses of market demand and needs and local demand (meeting with business leaders, K12 leaders, student focus groups and surveys at WCTC and MPTC, and analysis of the noted technical college’s enrollment and transfer data. This will include examination of continuing education needs.  
2. Determine future academic programs, including bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral to be delivered at the Waukesha Campus.  
3. Determine future bachelor’s degree completion programs to be delivered on the Waukesha County Technical College campus.  
4. Determine future adult credentialing, bachelor’s degree completion program needs, and dual enrollment needs at Moraine Park Technical College and/or Washington County.  
5. Assuming that cohort is the best model to ensure UWM is not overcommitted and affords the greatest flexibility for both bachelor’s degree completion at WCTC and MPTC, and for new bachelor’s degree programs at Waukesha Campus, establish necessary/minimum cohort size and accompanying instructional needs for a ‘cohort’ to make along with process for determining when to offer cohorts.  
   
   Note: A definition of “cohort” will need to be determined. The current cohort model for Nursing works effectively but such a model requires commitment from the inception and maintenance of the cohort pace through the program. Such an approach aligns with some professional programs, but not with students exploring their future field of study. On the other hand, any program needs a minimum cohort size to be sustainable. As a result, UWM may explore very popular majors or those that align with a cohort model. 
6. Establish ‘One UWM’ admissions process for students which includes setting up infrastructure.   

Goal 4: Develop a detailed plan on how to effectuate needed changes based on outcome of Goal 3 by June 30, 2024. Implementation of the plan would follow a timeline to be determined with monthly check-ins from the Co-Leads to the Co-Chairs, starting in December 2023. 

Work Team Leads: Greg Ahrenhoerster, David Clark, and Jason Puskar, with Kathy Dolan, Scott Gronert and Lisa Hager as needed for implementation efforts.  

Timing: Start immediately and note details in goal language. 

1. Future space needs/use of facility.  
   1. This includes any additional actions needed for the action outlined in Goal 1(d)(4), to negotiate for new space at Moraine Park Technical College or elsewhere in Washington County, if needed. 
2. Develop recruitment and Associates/BA “Career Paths”.  
3. Align AAS and Bachelor’s GERs.  
4. Achieve ‘one catalog’ at individual course level, if needed pending details of other goals. 
5. Maximize enrollment and net revenue opportunities.  
6. Determine tuition and scholarship rates for students in Waukesha County.  
7. Student services including auxiliaries and segregated fees.  
8. Academic approval and accreditation requirements.  

Schedule: The Work Teams will provide regular updates at a cadence to be determined by the CGSTT Co-Chairs and provide a final set of recommendations to the Executive Sponsors and Co-Chairs on or before dates outlined above.  The CGSTT will remain in place until June 30, 2024, at which time the structure and membership needed for the ongoing work will be re-evaluated.