This collection provides a thorough record of the integration of University of Wisconsin
Extension programs throughout the UW System from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s. The
collection contains correspondence between the UW Extension Chancellor's office,
particularly during the 1983-1993 tenure of Patrick Boyle, UW System faculty and staff, and
Wisconsin and federal Government officials. The bulk of the collection consists of meeting
minutes, agendas, reports, policies, and publications of UW System and collaborative
institutional bodies including the Board of Regents Study Committee on the Integration of
the Extension Function, the Systemwide Extension Council, the Special Regent Committee on
Competition with the Private Sector, and the UW System and State Vocational, Technical and
Adult Education System Joint Administrative Committee on Continuing Education.
Documents such as the June, 1983 Joint Integration Advisory Committee of UW Extension and
UW-Madison on Issues of Faculty Rights and Governance, correspondence from stakeholders like
UW Oshkosh Associate Vice Chancellor Shirley Wilbert, and an anonymous satirical poem
provide insight into the contested process of integration and critiques by faculty and
staff. For instance, in her May 9, 1989 letter Wilbert opposes the General Fee Setting
Requirements policy, which she argues prioritizes profit over the public good. August 20,
1982 correspondence between UW-Milwaukee based Arts Development Professor Tomas Echtner and
UW Extension Arts Development Director Richard Wolf reveals how School of Fine Arts faculty
at UW-Milwaukee replicated the non-credit programs offered by UW Extension without involving
Extension faculty.
In addition, correspondence between Chancellor Boyle, Governor Tommy Thompson, and
legislators including Senator Lowell Weicker Jr. illustrates how Extension officials
advocated for funding for the Small Business Development Center. Other correspondence
details controversies over programs such as the UW-Milwaukee Management Institute's December
10-11, 1985 "Staying Non-Union" workshop. In addition, an April 24, 1989 letter from Bettye
I. Latimer to Chancellor Donna Shalala details racist and misogynist comments by Professor
Jack Huffman of the Management Institute.
Related materials also include statements and presentations by faculty and staff
stakeholders at meetings and hearings such as the January 8, 1988 Public Hearing on the
Integration of the Extension Function. Testimony from stakeholders including Dean of General
Extension John Schmidt, Chancellor Donna Shalala, and Dean of the School of Nursing Vivian M
Littlefield reveal the positive impact of integration on some institutions such as the
School of Nursing and the challenges it presented for other staff like County Agent David
Hinds.
The collection also includes Inter-institutional Agreements between UW Extension and UW
System campuses, campus budgets, strategic plans, and program descriptions. These materials
detail the achievements and goals of specific UW Extension departments.
The records also detail related disputes over the structure and guidelines of the UW System
and the State Vocational, Technical and Adult Education System Joint Administrative
Committee on Continuing Education (JACCE) and policies on issues such as Competition with
the Private Sector.
Other organizations across the UW System such as the Working Group on UW System Services to
Older Adults and the Classified Staff Committee are also documented in reports, brochures,
clippings, and photographs. Further materials related to older adults include VHS tapes of
the 1993 Wisconsin Public Television program "The Coming of Age" and a lecture from the
Psychology course Optimal Aging.
