The University of Wisconsin System’s Board of Regents has approved major changes to the processes used to hire some of their top administrators.
The changes, which were included in the state budget, were ratified Thursday during the board’s meeting at UW-Stout. The policy calls for the system to consider non-academic applicants for positions such as system president, along with campus chancellors and vice chancellors.
The hiring changes will also reduce the size of search committees from 17 members to 10, and release the names only the top two to three finalists for, rather than the current five.
System officials say the streamlined and expedited hiring process will also broaden the pool of applicants being considered, allowing the UW System to recruit from the private sector.
State public school Superintendent Tony Evers, who is seeking the Democratic nomination in the race for governor, was the only Regent to vote against the change – calling it a “solution in search of a problem.”
