UW-Madison has maintained high quality in education and research, but further efforts, including new state investment and flexibilities that will allow campus to act entrepreneurially, are essential to securing continued excellence in the future, Chancellor Rebecca Blank told the UW System Board of Regents last week. The governor is scheduled to release his budget proposal at 4 p.m. Feb. 8. For updates, visit budget.wisc.edu.

Employees will not have access to their online timesheets, earnings statements and related documents and services during a UW Human Resources System (HRS) outage that will occur in late February. The outage is due to an HRS System technical upgrade and is scheduled to begin at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and continue until the morning of Monday, Feb. 27.

Nominations are being sought for UW-Madison faculty and academic staff who want to take the Wisconsin Idea Seminar, a five-day tour that introduces them to the geography, culture and history of Wisconsin. “This foundational philosophy (the Wisconsin Idea) runs deep and reminds us that the teaching and research we do on this campus benefits and serves the people of Wisconsin and beyond,” wrote Chancellor Rebecca Blank in her call for nominations, which are due Feb. 15.  

The board overseeing Wisconsin state employee health insurance has dropped coverage of gender reassignment services. As a result, effective Feb. 1, 2017, surgical services, procedures, hormones and supplies related to gender reassignment are no longer covered for participants in the State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance Program. UW-Madison employees with questions or concerns are urged to contact the Office of Human Resources at 265-2257. More information