SB 497

This bill requires the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

to recognize as teaching hours time spent by state specialists providing certain

extension services.

Under current law, the Board of Regents must develop and implement a plan

that includes 1) policies for monitoring teaching workloads of faculty and

instructional academic staff, including requirements for reporting the number of

hours each spends teaching; and 2) policies for rewarding faculty and instructional

academic staff who teach more than a standard academic load. These teaching hours

reported are included, as aggregate data, in an accountability report submitted to the

governor and legislature and are included, as aggregate data or individually

reported data, directly or by link on the accountability dashboard portion of the UW

System's Internet site.

This bill requires the Board of Regents' plan to recognize as teaching hours, for

state specialists who provide extension services in the field of applied agricultural

research at UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, or the UW-Madison College of

Agricultural and Life Sciences, the time spent by these state specialists teaching

graduate students and teaching Wisconsin farmers.