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Mission and Integrity
Discussion
UWM has systems and processes in place to ensure that it operates with integrity and in a fashion consistent with its mission. The University is attentive to the needs of its internal and external constituents. The one area that the Self-Study team identified as a limiting factor with respect to mission is the overall System structure and its degree of responsiveness to UWM’s unique mission within the System and the state.
Apart from the system-wide Board of Regents, there is no formal board or community decision-making institution for the UWM campus. There are advisory committees, but no equivalent to a board with formal oversight and planning authority, which poses problems for integrating community partnerships into the formal processes of the institution. The Board of Regents has the authority to delegate authority to “committees of the board,” and perhaps this option of creating board subcommittees for particular campuses could be investigated. See 36.09(1)(f):
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The board shall delegate to each Chancellor the necessary authority for the administration and operation of the institution within the policies and guidelines established by the board. The board may also delegate or rescind other authority to Chancellors, committees of the board, administrative officers, members of the faculty and students or such other groups as it deems appropriate.
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Because the campus is a unit in the System, it does not have the autonomy to control its own destiny. Most planning and proposals for innovation must pass through a System filter. The advantages of being part of the system include centralized buying and policymaking; for example, for library database acquisition and information technology. The disadvantages relate primarily to institutional flexibility. The campus has difficulty responding rapidly to changing circumstances. Its capacity to restructure administratively, develop new academic programs, and articulate a vision is constrained by the coordinating activities that must take place with other campuses and with the central administration. To fulfill its mission as a research university, UWM must compellingly articulate its unique needs to the Board of Regents, the UW System, and the people of the state of Wisconsin.
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