Biography/History

Created by Chapter 619, Laws of 1955, the Coordinating Committee for Higher Education (CCHE) was established to coordinate the activities of all state supported institutions of higher education. The CCHE was authorized to make studies of the University of Wisconsin and the State Colleges and report results and recommendations to the governor and the legislature, to determine which academic programs would be offered at each institution, to ascertain building needs and develop priorities for construction, and to write and submit a single, consolidated biennial budget request for all the institutions. Originally, the Coordinating Committee consisted of fifteen members, including four citizen members appointed by the governor, the president and four members of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, the president and four members of the Board of Regents of State Colleges, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The first CCHE meeting was held on January 5, 1956 at the State Capitol.

To carry out the statutorily mandated functions, the University and the State Colleges were requested to furnish jointly professional and secretarial staff for the Coordinating Committee. Nine months after the first CCHE meeting, the executive committee recommended that the staff be headed by two co-directors, one from the University and the other representing the State Colleges. Ira L. Baldwin, Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin, and Eugene H. Kleinpell, President of the Wisconsin State College-River Falls, were the first co-directors of what became known as the Joint Staff.

Chapter 56, Laws of 1961, brought county teachers colleges under the jurisdiction of the CCHE and increased the Coordinating Committee's membership to seventeen by directing the governor to appoint two members from county teachers college boards. Chapter 415, Laws of 1963, brought schools of vocational and adult education under the purview of the CCHE and further increased the agency's membership to nineteen by adding four representatives of the vocational and adult education system and restructuring the existing membership. The nineteen member Coordinating Committee comprised four citizen members, the president and three members of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, the president and three members of the Board of Regents of State Colleges, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, two members from a county teachers college board, and the president and three members of the Board of Vocational and Adult Education.

Because of the composition of the Coordinating Committee's membership and because of the joint staff directorate, the two university systems played a predominant role in all the decisions made by the CCHE. In 1964, responding to what would be a continuing controversy, the Coordinating Committee attempted to counter the influence of the two university systems by naming a representative of the vocational and adult education system as a third co-director of the Joint Staff. The following year, the legislature took action: Chapter 291, Laws of 1965, restructured the CCHE and decreased its membership to seventeen. Positions held by citizen members were increased to nine; other members were to include the president and only one member of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, the president and only one member of the Board of Regents of the State Colleges, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, one member from a county teachers college board, and the president and only one member of the Board of Vocational and Adult Education. The law also abolished the inter-locking joint staff directorate and empowered the CCHE to hire a full-time executive director and other professional and clerical staff as necessary. Carlisle P. Runge, who had served as a co-director of the Joint Staff, was named executive director pro tem in 1965. Angus P. Rothwell, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction, succeeded him as executive director in July 1966. Upon Rothwell's resignation in September 1969, Arthur D. Browne, who had held a similar position in Illinois, was named executive director. Browne remained in that position until the CCHE was discontinued in 1971.

In 1968, consistent with the executive reorganization act (Chapter 75, Laws of 1967) and with legislative policy to name administrative agencies to reflect more accurately their functions and responsibilities, the Coordinating Committee for Higher Education was renamed the Coordinating Council for Higher Education by Chapter 327, Laws of 1967.

No further major changes were made in the structure or functions of the CCHE until 1971. Then, wracked by political partisanship, its decision-making still dominated by the representatives of the two university systems, and hampered by administrative weakness, the Coordinating Council became a casualty of Governor Patrick J. Lucey's plan to merge the state's systems of higher education. Chapter 100, Laws of 1971, officially merged the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State University System (formerly known as the Wisconsin State Colleges) and abolished the Coordinating Council. Higher education in the new merged system was to be coordinated by the combined Board of Regents.

Key CCHE Administrative Staff

Joint Staff Co-Directors (1956-1965)
State Colleges:	1956-1961, Eugene Kleinpell; 1961-1964, Robert DeZonia; 1964-1965, Jim Dan Hill
University of Wisconsin:	1956-1963, Ira Baldwin; 1963-1965, Carlisle Runge
Board of Vocational and Adult Education:	1964-1965, Richard Whinfield
Executive Directors (1965-1971)
1965-1966, Carlisle Runge, pro tem
1966-1969, Angus Rothwell
1969-1971, Arthur Browne
Associate and Assistant Directors
Academic Planning:	1966-1971, William White; 1965?-1967, Gale Kelly; 1968-1970, Clauston Jenkins, 1970-1971, James Batt
Finance:	1965-1967, Harry Spindler; 1967-1971, Gale Kelly; 1969-1971, Robert Millard
Facilities:	1967-1969, Frederick Schwehr; 1970-1971, David Head
Research:	1967-1971, Joseph Lins
Information:	1966-1967, Richard Kamradt; 1967-1971, Leonard Jacobs

Structure of CCHE Membership

Relevant Law	Total Members	Citizens	UW Board of Regents	WSU Board of Regents	Department of Public Instruction	County Teachers Colleges	VTAE Board
Ch. 619, 1955	15	4	President + 4 members	President + 4 members	State Supt.
Ch. 56, 1961	17	4	President + 4 members	President + 4 members	State Supt.	2 members of a CTC board
Ch. 415, 1963	19	4	President + 3 members	President + 3 members	State Supt.	2 members of a CTC board	President + 3 members
Ch. 291, 1965	17	9	President + 1 member	President + 1 member	State Supt.	1 member of a CTC board	President + 1 member

Note

Related Agencies and Functions

The STATE RADIO COUNCIL, responsible for developing and operating the state-wide network of educational, informational, and public service radio and later, television, was created by Chapter 570, Laws of 1945. It was renamed the Educational Broadcasting Board and attached to the Coordinating Committee by Chapter 75, Laws of 1967. The passage of Chapter 349, Laws of 1967, brought another name change; the Educational Broadcasting Board became the Educational Communications Division of the CCHE. Its governing body was named the Educational Communications Board. With the termination of the Coordinating Council, the Educational Communications Division and Board were empowered by Chapter 100, Laws of 1971, to operate as an independent agency called the Educational Communications Board.

The HIGHER EDUCATIONAL AIDS BOARD (HEAB) was created in 1964 (Chapter 573, Laws of 1963) as the State Commission for Academic Facilities to administer funds allocated by the federal Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963 (P.L. 88-204) or other federal programs. Chapter 264, Laws of 1965, changed the Commission's name to the State Commission for Higher Educational Aids, and vested in it the power to establish a financial aids grant program for fulltime resident students enrolled in post-secondary educational institutions. The Commission was renamed the Higher Educational Aids Board by Chapter 75, Laws of 1967. The law also transferred to the Board both the Educational Approval Council (which was responsible for approving and supervising schools and courses for the training of veterans of the armed forces) and the State Scholarship Committee (which was charged with seeking out talented and qualified students in the state and providing scholarships based on academic achievement). Subsequent legislation in the same year (Chapter 214, Laws of 1967) transferred the Educational Approval Council to the Department of Public Instruction.

The UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM, as it existed prior to the merger law of 1971, included the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and its two year branch campuses in the Fox Valley (Menasha), Manitowoc, and Marinette; the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (Kenosha); the University of Wisconsin Extension; and the two year campus UW-Center System with centers in Baraboo-Sauk County, Marathon County, Marshfield-Wood County, Rock County, Sheboygan County, Washington County, and Waukesha County.

Prior to the merger law, the WISCONSIN STATE COLLEGE SYSTEM or, as it was known after 1964 and until the merger, the WISCONSIN STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM (WSU), consisted of nine state universities located at Eau Claire, La Crosse, Menomonie (Stout State University), Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Point, Superior, and Whitewater; and their two year branch campuses located in Barron County, Fond du Lac, Richland Center, and Medford.

The WISCONSIN STATE BOARD OF VOCATIONAL, TECHNICAL, AND ADULT EDUCATION (WSBVTAE) was established in 1911 as the State Board of Industrial Education (Chapter 616, Laws of 1911). Charged with providing post-secondary vocational and adult educational programs (and later technical educational programs), the Board was the first system of vocational and adult education in the United States. It was renamed the State Board of Vocational and Adult Education in 1937 (Chapter 349, Laws of 1937) and renamed again in 1965 as the State Board of Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education (Chapter 292, Laws of 1965).

The creation of COUNTY TEACHERS COLLEGES was first authorized in 1899 by Chapter 268, Laws of 1899. Counties in which there was no state college operating an elementary education department were permitted to appropriate money to organize, equip, and maintain a county teachers college. These schools offered two year programs culminating in a certificate in elementary education.

Recognizing the need to maintain high standards in teacher preparation, the Coordinating Committee went on record as early as 1960 recommending legislation requiring four years of collegiate training as minimum preparation for teachers. In 1962, the CCHE recommended that no state aid be made available for county teachers colleges beyond June 30, 1968; the recommendation was followed in 1966 by another that no state aid should be made available beyond 1966-1967 to county teachers colleges if their enrollment fell below fifty full-time students. Finally in 1968, the CCHE recommended legislation that county teachers colleges cease to operate beyond 1971-1972 regardless of the source of revenue. County teachers colleges did not, in fact, close until 1976 (Chapter 189, Laws of 1975), almost five years after the CCHE itself had been abolished.

The SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION is a constitutional officer who directs the Department of Public Instruction. The department is responsible for directing and supervising public elementary and secondary education in the state.