MADISON, WI (May 10, 2021) — Recently, the chair of the Wisconsin state senate’s Universities and Technical Colleges Committee released a report recommending major changes to the UW System, including restructuring campuses into regional districts and eliminating the long-standing tuition freeze. What data informed these recommendations? What do industry leaders think about this report? How might these changes impact costs, operations, quality of education, and economic development statewide?

On the next UW Now Livestream, a panel of leaders will discuss ideas about the future of the UW System. The talk will be moderated by Mike Knetter, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association.

Featured guests:

Katherine Lyall, PhD, as president of the UW System from 1992 to 2004, holding one of the longest presidencies in the UW System’s history. She was also the UW System’s first female president. Lyall is known for instituting some of the system’s first online courses and degrees, establishing the first annual accountability “report card” to citizens, prioritizing economic development, and many other achievements. Currently, she serves on the board of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and is a professor of economics at UW–Madison.

Cory Nettles, JD, is the founder and managing director of Generation Growth Capital Inc., a private equity fund focused on buyouts and providing growth capital to small businesses and lower-middle market companies in the upper Midwest. Previously, he served as secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. Nettles is a current board member for several corporate and nonprofit organizations, including the United Way of Greater Milwaukee, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Milwaukee World Festival, Teach For America, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, and many others.

State Senator Roger Roth (R-Appleton) is the chair of the Universities and Technical Colleges Committee. He was elected to represent the 56th assembly district in 2006 and elected as state senator of the 19th senate district in 2014. In his first term as senator, Roth served as the chair of the Workforce Development, Public Works, and Military Affairs Committee. For the 2017–18 legislative session, he served as president of the senate; at the age of 38, Roth is tied for the youngest senator to hold this position.

Ananth Seshadri is a professor and the Todd E. and Elizabeth H. Warnock Distinguished Chair of the Department of Economics at UW–Madison. His research interests include macroeconomics, public finance, intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status, and racial wage disparities. A consultant on the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, he also serves on the board of editors of the Journal of Economic Literature and on the executive committee for the Michigan Retirement Research Center.

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