After years of slow erosion of funding and enrollment, higher education in Wisconsin faces a flash flood. Financial challenges had been accumulating for the state's public colleges and universities, brought on by a tuition freeze, stagnant state funding, and demographic trends. Now COVID-19 threatens to wash away key pieces of a system that will…

This chapter presents the state of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin System as an ongoing case study for best practices in systematic, intentional, statewide programming and initiatives connecting undergraduate research and economic development.

In the early 1960s, Clark Kerr, the famed American educationalist and architect of the California public higher education system, took up the task of describing the emergent model of the contemporary American university. Multiversities, as he called them, were the large powerful American universities that packaged the provision of undergraduate,…

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF; 2006), science and engineering jobs constitute a growing sector of the United States economy. The number of science and engineering degrees has lagged behind this occupational growth. In describing Wisconsin's technology profile, Winters, Strang, and Klus (2000) report that the state is nationally…

While the Milwaukee region's economic base is rooted in its manufacturing history, many believe that the region's future prosperity will be tied to its ability to successfully transition its economy into one that is based on knowledge and innovation. Indeed, fostering innovation has become the call to action for business and political leaders…