Interim Chancellor Chris Markwood spoke at the bi-weekly Student Government Association meeting on Mon., Sep. 27.

After thanking the members of SGA for their hard work on behalf of the student body, he talked about plans and directions for the near future. As part of a major initiative announced by University of Wisconsin System pPresident Kevin Reilly, the University of Wisconsin system intends to improve the graduation rate by 80,000 students by the year 2025.  The UW-Superior faculty and staff have voted to focus on the retention and success of current students. Several studies are proposed to understand the factors that cause student drop-out.

Another consideration is that graduation rates are measured by a metric of length of enrollment (four and six years), which does not take into consideration students that are not able to attend full-time, or that have to leave but come back

Markwood also talked about budget cutbacks and the role that differential tuition can play in making up a funding shortfall which is inevitable.  He requested that the differential tuition be consolidated, rather than split as it has been done in the past. Suggested areas that need to be funded are computers for Swenson Hall and aid for Natural Sciences. He reminded all present that the differential tuition has never been levied at UW-Superior without the approval of the student body.

In other SGA news, Dr. Martha Einerson, chair of the Communicating Arts Department, is heading up the search committee looking for a new chancellor. The committee of twenty will include two students, 11 members of faculty, and the balance made up by staff. There will be a web site dedicated to relaying information to the students and faculty through the search. Einerson is committed to keeping this process as open as possible.

In other business, Senator Jake Lindberg asked for help in looking at options for the smoking ban, and Graduate Student Joe Stensland was approved as Senator.